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Haiti: Demand safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/action/43529

Sept. 30 march for disappeared Haitian fighter for human rights Haiti demonstrations : demand safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 30, 2007 - Haitians are assembling beginning 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning at Place des Martyrs in the capital city, for the annual mass march to commemorate the US-backedmilitary coup that overthrew Haitian democracy and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on September 30, 1991.
The people are answering the call from pro-democracy forces led by the September 30th Foundation, a human rights organization founded 11 years ago to advocate for the many thousands of victims of the 1991 coup. The Foundation later expanded its mission to include victims of that other overthrow of democracy in February 2004, when the US military brazenly kidnapped and exiled President Aristide and installed a coup government.

Heavy on the hearts of the marchers - and focus of the demonstration is the disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, beloved founding member and national coordinator of the September 30th Foundation. It has been six weeks since Lovinsky was last seen on the evening of Sunday, August 12, 2007 after meeting with a US human rights delegation visiting Haiti. He has disappeared and is presumed kidnapped.

Brother Pierre-Antoine is a grassroots leader and tireless fighter for the Haitian people. As a young psychologist working in Port au Prince during the 1991-94 coup, he helped establish Fondasyon Kore Timoun Yo (Foundation for the Support of Children) for street children; FAM (Foyer pour Adolescentes Mères), a center for teenage mothers; and Map Viv ("I Live"), a program of psychological and medical aid to the thousands tortured, exiled and imprisoned by the coup. The September 30th Foundation emerged out of this work. Similar to the work of Mothers of the Disappeared in Central and South America, the foundation held weekly vigils demanding justice for victims of human rights violations and release of political prisoners.

The Haiti Action Committee stands with the marchers in Haiti who are outraged over the disappearance of this valiant fighter for human rights and dignity.

We join their call on the United Nations; the government of President Rene Preval; the government of Brazil, which heads the UN military mission in Haiti; and the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince to do all in their power to ensure that Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine is released unharmed and returned safely to his family and his people.

Please continue to contact the following offices of the Haitian government, the US embassy and the UN occupying powers. Express your concern that all efforts are being made to facilitate the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, missing in Haiti since August 12, 2007.

Haitian Ministry of Justice Tel: 011-509-245-0474 UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
Tel: 011-509-244-0650/0660 FAX: 011-509-244-9366/67 Or, Fax Office of UN Secretary General in New York: 212-963-4879 United States Embassy in Haiti Tel: 011-509-223-4711, or 222-0200 or 0354 FAX: 011-509-223-1641 Embassy of Brazil in Haiti FAX: 011-509-256-0900

Silencing the Right to Speak, is Taking Away Citizenship

S’bu Zikode

2007-10-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/43547

S’bu Zikode of Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban recalls the peaceful march by residents on the 28th September which ended with the local police attacking demonstrators with batons, rubber bullets, fire cannons and the arrest of 15 Sydenham residents. He raises the questions, “do the poor have a right to life, a right to speak and ultimately a right to citizenship of South Africa?”

Not only as a leader of the Movement of Abahlali, but also as an ordinary South African Citizen, as a parent, as a father and mostly a human being I am extremely hurt. My heart is torn apart when in my own country, in a broad daylight like on Friday the 28 September 2007, it is made so clear that the poor are not Citizens. When they try to sweep up us out of the cities it is clear that we are not citizens. When they beat us to stop us speaking it is clear that we are not citizens.

It is of a great concern that thousands of Abahlali baseMjondolo members have marched peacefully to the eThekwini municipal mayor Obed Mlaba and have been received with such violence. We marched to demand no power, no position no fame, nothing from his family. We only marched for the Right to life of the shack dwellers, the farm dwellers and thousands of forgotten citizens of this country in the name of democracy, in the name of a better life for all.

What a life without shame, without conscience, without respect for vulnerable groups in our society the elderly women and children. The presence of church leaders amongst the poor has had a far-reaching reason to those in need of a church. The biggest curse is that while praying, the innocents were started to be flooded with heavy forces of water, the strong church leaders stood very firm to shield the innocents. The heavy armed members of the SAPS started assaulting the church leaders, throwing teargas, beating helpless women, shooting old women and men at the back while running to their homes.

This event took place at about 12:15pm when the innocent marchers were still waiting for the mayor to receive the memorandum of demands as arranged with him. The march had complied with the Gathering Act of SA. Without any provocation or unruliness the police decided to act on the instructions of the Mayor of non compliance with the South African Law, because he thinks being at that position means being the law unto himself.

The incident took place in my presence. I had offered myself to represent the helpless so that they may see many more, so that they may not be alone while taking their pain for as long as they still believe that we all have all the Right to life. I think this is a difficult leadership style one needs to adopt to save so many lives. Thus I think it is enough that many of us are born and die in shack fires in jondolos, that we die through various diseases associated with unhygienic conditions from the poisonous air we breath in the jondolos, that we live and die with TB and HIV/AIDS as the research confirms that the shack settlements have the highest infection of the virus. People die because of crime, floods and storms; they die while trying to find toilets in the night. We are seeing no future to our children except to the children of those in authority like Mayor Mlaba. Some of us die while trying to speak truth to power, as we get shot while marching.

After a long shooting I had received a call from the Municipality saying that a representative is on his way to receive the memorandum. But already fourteen members were arrested, four were heavily shot and two were badly wounded. This was quite disturbing. Who was going to hand over the memorandum as the police under the command Sydenham Glen Nayager had already chased everyone? In the next ten minutes I received a call saying that I must bring the Memorandum in Baig’s office as the official was very scared to come out. Then I said he must come out as most comrades have fled, wounded and harmless, and most police were gone still chasing people away down the roads. I had remained with a small group of less than one hundred with elderly people and pregnant women you couldn’t flee.

Then we had no other choice but to face the remaining police and I read the memorandum loudly to Mr. Mzi Magubane who described himself as a senior Manager from the Dept. of Housing in eThekwini municipality. Magubane has been described by System Cele as another old liar. She said that when she was still a child ‘this man used to deceive my father when he was still alive working in the Kennedy Road Committee, today he has come to bluff me.’ So Bahlali your message was sent with another dishonest man with a history of lies.

Today we have to take care of our comrades who for no reasons were imprisoned; today we have to look for money to pay bail and lawyers to represent them in court for nothing. Today like other days we have to run around doctors and hospitals to try and support the shot and hurt comrades. Today like any other day we have stood together and planned an alternative, as we shall not allow any forces to force us silent. So as long as Amandla belongs to us we shall not fear. As long as democracy is used to further the political scores of the minority and as long as there is great inequality in our society Abahlali will stand together for the dawn of true democracy where everyone matters.

As challenges increase every day for the Movement one is for us to seek for justice to take its course. I will soon be writing to the Amnesty International for a wide range of legal support on this dirty behaviour of SAPS. But all of this will not compromise any demands. We will make a follow up and engage the city in a progressive manner that seeks to see a remarkable social change for all. Our city and our country still need true leaders that do not run away from their responsibility like Mlaba. We need leaders that will act, as servants of the public and not expect to be masters over the public like eThekwini Mayor Obed Mlaba.

* S’bu Zikode Abahlali baseMjondolo - www.abahlali.org

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

Disappearing Me Softly: An Open Letter to Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar

Pius Adesanmi

2007-10-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/43548

Pius Adesanmi questions the omission of African feminists scholars from the Norton Anthology** and challenges the editors as to why “an entire continent is seen to have produced nothing of feminist theorizing “I am interested in the conscious and the subconscious processes that led you to the conclusion that Africa, an entire continent of fifty-four countries and over a billion people, has contributed nothing, absolutely nothing, to five centuries of feminist theorizing. After all, as seasoned academics in the United States, you both know that exclusions tell much louder stories than inclusions.”

Dear Sandra and Susan, I salute you both in the name of feminism, women's liberation, gender equality, and, most importantly, global sisterhood. The publication of your much-anticipated Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism: A Norton Reader is such an epochal event that I must interrupt the blissful and well-deserved eternal sleep that was eventually accorded me when the people and government of France, ever so fatherly and motherly when it comes to taking care of poor Africa, graciously returned my brain and backside to the South African government for burial in my ancestral homeland a few years ago. I join the American and the global feminist family in congratulating the two of you on the publication of this truly wonderful volume. It is obvious that feminist intellectual labor will never ever be the same again. Resounding success, I must say, has become synonymous with the long history of intellectual collaboration between the two of you. Afterall, The Mad Woman in the Attic, the first gift of your collaborative efforts to humanity, has remained the only inevitable, unavoidable bible of feminist scholarship ever since it was published.

The reference to the magnanimity of France in returning my remains to the government and people of South Africa should have given my identity away by now. However, it is always safe and wise to swear by the natural invisibility of Africa and Africans in matters of global import. And in your immediate context in the United States, it is outright foolish to assume that anybody considers anything about Africa worth knowing. Except, of course, hunger, starvation, poverty, wars, AIDS, famine, and Western charity or "giving" (apologies to President Bill Clinton). I must therefore assume complete ignorance of my identity and introduce myself. I hope you will find it in your hearts to pardon my presumptuousness if you are both already familiar with my story.

My name is Sarah Baartman, also famously known internationally as "the Hottentot Venus". I will spare you the sassy details of my story and focus only on the essential. I was lured to London in 1810 where I soon became a prisoner of Europe's rapacious and capitalistic voyeurism. I'm sure I don't have to tell you the story of 19 th century Europe and its treatment of its Others in Africa and other places. No doubt, you still remember your Orientalism - Edward Said has been a very good friend since he got here. The Europe of this period was also a formidable theatre of all kinds of exhibitions.

Zoophilism was in the air. The colored Other needed to be displayed publicly and regularly in London, Paris, and Lisbon as colonial fauna.
As fate always manages to arrange these things, I was what Europeans called – and still call- an "African tribeswoman" gifted with an exceptional backside. Europe's science promptly concluded that my buttocks suffered from a biological deformity known as steatopygia.

The lips of my womanhood were also considered to be too huge and elongated for the civilized global standards determined by the labia of white women. And so from Britain to France my backside and the lips of my womanhood became objects of visual consumption in the public spheres of White patriarchy. For an extra fee, White men could even touch my behind while I was on display.

Death eventually came calling. You must know that where I come from in Africa, death is no finality. I merely transitioned to ancestor hood in the worldview of my people, hence the reverence with which Africans treat the dead. Not so Europeans. They took their knives and carving objects, carved out my brain, the lips of my womanhood, and my backside, put them in bottles, and kept them in public display at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris. Yes, I can see you cringe. You should. All sensitive feminists should. The idea, just the idea! The bitter tragedy of a woman's most vital parts captured by men, carved out of her dead body by men, and stored in the Museum of Man! Of all places!

My parts remained in public view in that museum, ultimate evidence of patriarchy's victory over feminism, until 1974 when they were withdrawn into a private sanctuary. Finally in 2002, France returned her precious conquest to the people of South Africa.

Dear sisters, the significance of my story to the feminist cause and to global feminist intellectual labor should be quite obvious by now.
For nearly two centuries, I was an international feminist cause célèbre, the very embodiment of patriarchal control over African female sexuality, black female sexuality, and, I daresay, female sexuality. Let me be clear: the story of my body in the international economy of meaning is the story of your own bodies, the story of every woman's body. The difference lies merely in the detail or what your postmodernist colleagues would call local particularities.

Given the fact that my narrative has become one of the most formidable sites – I hate it when I sound like you academics! – of global feminist contestation and intellection, it stands to reason that any reasonable person would expect me to make a grand, celebrated entrance into your Norton volume through the work of any of the numerous African feminist scholars of international repute who have written about me. At the risk of sounding immodest, nobody would expect to pick up a summation of five centuries of feminist intellectual labor – which your Norton anthology represents - and draw a blank with regard to the story of Sarah Baartman. After all, I've been theorized, postcolonized, and postmodernized in all the faddish versions of feminisms out there. I didn't think it was possible for me to be disappeared in any serious historiographical account of feminist theory. I didn't expect to be Ralph Ellisoned.

Trust me my dear sisters, I was not motivated to write you by any narcissistic self-indulgence. You will admit, from what you now know of my story, that I am quite used to being silenced, being disappeared. I am actually more worried by the broader, deeper ideological implications of your having disappeared me softly from your Norton volume. I am interested in the stories told – or untold – by your editorial choices and options, the instinct to include and the impulse to exclude. I am interested in the conscious and the subconscious processes that led you to the conclusion that Africa, an entire continent of fifty-four countries and over a billion people, has contributed nothing, absolutely nothing, to five centuries of feminist theorizing. After all, as seasoned academics in the United States, you both know that exclusions tell much louder stories than inclusions. I know we are on the same page here.

Some people may praise you for making this volume truly global and representative by including the multi-layered voices of the Other.
They would be right if they did that. After all, you included essays by bell hooks, Hortense Spillers, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Audre Lorde, evidence of your awareness of Africana feminist voices and practices; you included essays by Gayatri Spivak and Chandra Mohanty, evidence of your awareness of the expansive field of Third World/postcolonial/transnational feminist voices and practices; the entry by Paula Gunn Allen saved the day for Native American feminisms; Gloria Anzaldua – another good friend of mine here – thankfully guarantees the presence of Chicana feminisms in your volume. In essence, the presence of these Other voices, strategically sprinkled in the text, is a laudable proof of the fact that you paid attention when Hazel Carby screamed in an article: "White Woman Listen"! You listened. You agreed with her that feminism could and should no longer be the gospel of the White western female according to Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer, Gloria Steinem, Kate Millett, Judith Butler, Diana Fuss, Elaine Showalter and others too numerous to mention. You agreed with Carby that the narratives of the French delegation – Simone de Beauvoir, Luce Irigaray, Hélène Cixous, Monique Wittig, and Julia Kristeva – should no longer be deemed universal. You agreed that Chinese women are probably better positioned to speak for and about themselves than be represented and spoken for by Julia Kristeva's About Chinese Women.

It is your awareness of these things that makes your excision of African feminist theories and theorists from your volume all the more alarming. Could it be that you imagined that the voices of the African American women you selected adequately speaks for those of their continental sisters? Possibly. If this is the case, I must tell you that African American women cannot be made to stand in and speak for continental African women. According to an African proverb, the monkey and the gorilla may claim oneness, monkey is monkey and gorilla gorilla. Perhaps you imagined that African women would be better served to find some space inside the Third World/postcolonial/transnational feminist umbrella you represented with the voices of Gayatri Spivak and Chandra Mohanty? Possibly. Could it be that you are simply unaware of the considerable body of African feminist intellection, right there in your back of the wood in the US academy? Possibly. Could it be that you just simply elected to disappear them like you disappeared me? Possibly.

I'm sure you know that Bill O'Reilly, the famous rightwing fundamentalist talkative on Fox News – has only just discovered in 2007 that African Americans are capable of eating properly with fork and knife, you know, like real, normal people. Now, I don't want you to travel that path. I don't want you to discover, in 2007, that continental African women have been theorizing feminism for a very long time in US academe and have produced a considerable body of work, one or two of which should deservedly have passed through the eye of Norton's needle. Since you included work by Alice Walker, I take it that you both know how well her theory of "womanism" has traveled in US and global women studies programs and departments. Trouble is, in 1985, before Walker used the term, Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi, a US-based Nigerian feminist scholar, had published an essay in Signs entitled: "Womanism: The Dynamics of the Contemporary Black Female Novel in English". Now, Signs is not a journal the two of you could have missed. It's the most prestigious peer reviewed journal of feminist studies in the United States. But let's assume you somehow missed it, Ogunyemi subsequently published a very important book, African Wo/Man Palava, with the University of Chicago press in 1996.

Did you also miss that? We're talking U of Chicago Press for God's sake!

There is also Obioma Nnaemeka, a formidable feminist theorist based in Indiana University. Her reputation is global. Secure. Frankly speaking, her essay, "Feminism, Rebellious Women, and Cultural Boundaries" has no business not making your Norton Reader. There is of course her formidable work on female circumcision in Africa. By the way, isn't female circumcision in Africa – genital mutilation in Western parlance – supposed to be a subject of sensational predilection for western feminists and NGOs? If not a single excerpt from Obioma Nnaemeka's edited volume, Female Circumcision and the Politics of Knowledge: African Women in Imperialist Discourses, made it into your volume, don't you think that something is awfully wrong?

There is also Oyeronke Oyewumi, an important US-based feminist theorist. The University of Minnesota Press published her book, The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses, to critical acclaim in 1997. Not even a chapter in this book is worthy of inclusion? There is also Ifi Amadiume. She teaches at Dartmouth. Her Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender in an African Society is a priceless classic. Did you also miss that? There are Molara Ogundipe and Nkiru Nzegwu. How about the Egyptian, Nawal El Saadawi and the Algerian, Assia Djebar? These two global figures of women's writing and feminist intellectual labor have written nothing that could have made the cut and rescued an entire continent? You will notice that I have refrained from mentioning any of the numerous important feminist thinkers based in Africa. I do not want to bore you. It is also better to cite those whose alterity in US academe one would have believed you couldn't conceivably have missed.

I read sadly in your preface that "our own conversations about the construction of this book has been enhanced by many colleagues and friends who have shared syllabi with us, discussed their teaching practices, and made suggestions about possible inclusions". A long list of names follows and this is where the sadness lies: that not once in all these conversations with this expansive cast of consultants did my story and the story of Africa's contribution to feminist theorizing crop up. Not one person, not one colleague across the feminist studies landscape in the US pointed out this ominous oversight – if indeed it was an oversight – to you? Obioma Nnaemeka is Susan Gubar's neighbor in Indiana for Christ's sake!

There is some good news though. There won't be a shortage of happy African intellectuals who will query the wisdom of even expecting Africa to have been included in your work in the first place. Why do we always whine and complain when Westerners ignore us, they will say?

It is not their responsibility to include us. We should include ourselves by creating our own structures, period! After all, Oyeronke Oyewumi, as if anticipating what would happen with your Norton project, had edited African Gender Studies: A Reader in 2005. Such opinions would of course ignore the simple fact that your work has a universalizing underpinning in terms of its historical breadth and its thematic scope and Africa has been excluded from this picture. They would ignore the fact that this is Norton and who says Norton says canons! They would ignore the fact that even if we were to adopt the reductionist approach that all you have done here is to reflect the multiple voices that have inflected feminist, gender, and women studies in the American academy over the years, the end product conveys the fallacious message that no African woman has been part of this process.

I know you are already wondering how an African woman, who died so many years ago with no evidence of having attended any University, happens to be so familiar with academic language and procedure. You should know the answer to that: I'm now an ancestor, a spirit. I'm not human. I'm supposed to know everything. That is what sanctions my intervention in the affairs of you mortals!

Peace and love, Sarah Baartman

**Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism: A Norton Reader (Paperback)
by Sandra M. Gilbert (Author), Susan Gubar (Editor)


* Pius Adesanmi is Associate Professor of English and Director, Project on New African Literatures ( www.projectponal.com) at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Apart from his academic work, Dr. Adesanmi publishes opinion articles regularly in various internet fora. He runs a regular blog for The Zeleza Post ( www.zeleza.com) and has contributed to Counterpunch, Slepton and Chimurenga online. Tel: (613)520 2600, ext. 1175 Visit us today at : www.projectponal.com

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

The Curse of Oil in the Great Lakes of Africa

Joseph Yav Katshung

2007-10-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/43557

The exploitation of natural resources has played a central role in the conflict in the Great Lakes region and the DRC. Joseph Yav, offers a perspective on how to transform conflicts by using resources as “tools for reconciliation and and reconstruction in the Great Lakes region.

“I hope they don’t discover oil. Then we will be in real trouble”. [Blood Diamond]

Introduction

To adapt an old metaphor, one could say, when the Great Lakes Region of Africa sneezes, the entire world including Africa catch a cold. Several interconnected elements shaped conflicts in the Great Lakes region, including the interests of neighbouring countries, competition over natural and economic resources concerns over instability and lack of security, and ethnic chauvinism, to name but a few.

The oil prospects of the Great Lakes region appear at once more dangerous. Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are sitting on what prospectors believe could be oil reserves of up to one billion barrels in the Albertine Basin which they share. At the time of writing, the oil region of the eastern DRC was the theatre of clashes culminating in killing of civilians and militaries by the Ugandan and Congolese armies. This is now leading to fears that the lake Albert conflict may spread and make a renewed cross-border conflict involving other negative forces and countries.

This may lead to another case of conflict over resources and well described in a recent movie named “ Blood Diamond” where the old man sighs: “I hope they don’t discover oil. Then we will be in real trouble”.

Yes, one could say that the old man of the above-mentioned movie is right; the Great lakes region of Africa is in real trouble. If realistic possibilities for conflict resolution and transformation are to be developed, concerns about oil and other resources will have to be addressed. This article will focus only on the issue of resources as a source of conflict or a resource for peace and reconstruction and will offer a perspective on how to transform conflicts by using resources as tools of reconciliation and reconstruction in the Great Lakes region.

History of conflict over resources in the Great Lakes Region

One of the most perplexing issues in the Great Lakes region of Africa and especially in the DRC conflict has been, and still is, that of the exploitation of the DRC’s natural resources. Illegal exploitation of the DRC’s mineral resources has been a constant feature in discussions about the war in general and especially in the eastern part of the country. There is a debate about whether the exploitation of mineral resources is a main aim for foreign intervention or whether mining initiatives is a way of financing the war effort. It has long been established that the exploitation of these resources, including ‘coltan’ (columbite-tantalite), gold, and diamonds in the eastern Congo, and diamonds, copper, cobalt, and timber in central DRC, contributed to and exacerbated the conflict in the country. Concerned with reports of pillaging of resources by the foreign forces, the UN Security Council mandated an independent panel to investigate these allegations.

In fact, in its presidential statement dated 2 June 2000 (S/PRST/2000/20), the Security Council requested that the Secretary-General establish a Panel of Experts on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the DRC. The objective was to research and analyze the links between the exploitation of the natural resources and other forms of wealth in the DRC and the continuation of the conflict. In its four reports, the UN Panel of Experts has named senior Ugandan and Rwandese armed forces officers and senior government officials and their families, who are allegedly responsible for illegal exploitation of the DRC's natural resources and other abuses.

It has also proposed that measures be taken against the states, individuals and companies most implicated in the exploitation, including travel bans, financial penalties and reductions in aid disbursements. In January 2003, in response to complaints raised by companies and some governments, the Panel's mandate was extended to 31 October 2003. In its final report from October 2003 the Panel largely documented the nexus of economic exploitation, arms trafficking, and armed conflict, stating that illegal exploitation remains one of the main sources of funding groups involved in perpetuating conflict. The Panel of Experts also listed companies based in Belgium, China, France, Germany, Israel, Spain, the UK, and the United States, that were allegedly involved in the illegal arms trade in the DRC.

Regional actors have been accused of aggression and ‘foreign adventurism’ with regard to Congolese territory and natural resources. In other words, while parties to the conflict in the DRC may have been motivated originally by security concerns, their continued presence in the DRC can be attributed to economic gains derived from the DRC. The report further stated that criminal groups linked to the armies of Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe and the Government of the DRC have benefited from such conflicts. This is critical to the peace process, because according to reports, these ‘groups will not disband voluntarily … they have built up a self-financing war economy centred on mineral exploitation’.

The rationale for intervention by neighbouring states became self-enforcing and the localised conflicts became regional. As such, the conflicts within and among the countries of the Great Lakes region require regionally based and targeted solutions, along with the cooperation of other, relevant neighbouring states.

Current situation: Oil wars in the Great Lakes of Africa?

Uganda and the DRC share Lake Albert, which has become an important new frontier in the search for oil on the continent. Lake Albert, also Albert Nyanza and formerly Lake Mobutu Sese Seko, is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. It is Africa's seventh largest lake, and ranks as the world’s twenty-third largest lake by volume. It is located in the center of the continent, on the border between the DRC and Uganda. It is the northernmost of the chain of lakes in the Great Rift Valley; it is about 160 km long and 30 km wide, with a maximum depth of 51 m, and a surface elevation of 619 m above sea level. In 1864, the explorer Samuel Baker discovered the lake; he named it after the deceased Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. The late and former Congolese president Mobutu temporarily named the lake after himself.

Conflict is arising over oil found in Lake Albert. Reserves are estimated at less than 100,000 barrels a day for about 10 years when production starts. Tensions began to rise at the end of July beginning of August when a unit of Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC), captured four Ugandan marines who had apparently strayed towards the Congolese west bank of Lake Albert. But on August 3, the situation grew serious. FARDC soldiers patrolling the lake attacked an oil exploration barge belonging to Canada's Heritage Oil Corporation and killed a British contractor working for Canada's Heritage Oil Corp. The Ugandan army retaliated and a Congolese soldier died in the short shoot-out while a Ugandan soldier was wounded.

Since then, tension has been mounting along that part of the Uganda-Congo frontier that runs north-south down the 160 kilometre-long lake - although the alignment of the border has never been precisely defined. Following the discovery of oil in the Albertine Basin, both the Ugandan and Congolese armies have been deploying heavily around the shores, with some observers saying there is now a threat of all-out war.

To ease the tensions, Congolese president Joseph Kabila and his counterpart, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, held a one-day summit meeting in Tanzania on September 8 in an attempt to sort out the border dispute. They signed an agreement to immediately pull back their troops 150 kilometers from the border to ease tensions over an oil-rich border lake. They agreed to work together to explore and exploit oil in the Lake Albert area and to lay a joint pipeline to distribute any oil and they signed the agreement in the presence of Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, diplomats and journalists. They also agreed that a joint team will begin work to demarcate the contested area of the lake. Further, they agreed to meet once a year and to raise their diplomatic missions to ambassadorial level to help improve relations.

However, few days after the meeting and agreements another military clash erupted on the lake on September 24. Reuters reported that six civilians were killed when Ugandan soldiers opened fire on a Congolese passenger boat on Lake Albert. In a conflicting version of the shooting incident, Uganda's military reported two soldiers killed, one from each country, in what it said was a gunfight during a dispute over an oil exploration vessel working on the border lake.

There is therefore an urgent need of transforming resources from source of conflict to options for reconciliation and reconstruction in the Great Lakes region.

Concluding remarks: Transforming the Oil concern from the Source of Conflict to a Resource for Peace in the Great Lakes Region
Reconciliation and reconstruction are essential elements of peacebuilding. The key to transforming conflicts is to build strong, equitable relations where distrust and fear were once the norm.

In the Great Lakes region, as in many other African countries, violent conflict has become the ‘normal’ state of affairs. Control of economic resources has become an important factor in motivating and sustaining armed conflicts. Complex political economies, which often hide behind the outward symbols of statehood and national sovereignty, have been rooted in the pursuance of conflict. The challenge therefore is to transform regional and national political ‘parasite’ economies that rely on violent conflict into healthy systems based on political participation, social and economic inclusion, and respect for human rights and the rule of law.

Accordingly, any attempt at transforming conflicts to ensure reconciliation and reconstruction in the region requires stimulating positive developments in the region. Such developments will reassure the affected countries that their security and economic interests are better served through fostering stability and improving relations with their neighbours than through allowing their neighbours’ turmoil to deflect them from their objective of peace, reconciliation, democracy, and economic development.

Moreover, in terms of ensuring security, ignoring the tensions and misunderstanding among the DRC and Uganda will have far-reaching implications for the stability and socioeconomic development of the region because resources will be diverted from human and economic development to warfare. For this reason it is important for these countries to cooperate towards the restoration of peaceful dialogue and cordial interstate relations. In this regard, armed incursions and clashes can lead to rising tensions and full-blown interstate armed conflict which, if not promptly addressed, will affect the long-term well-being and socioeconomic development of both populations.

The Great Lakes region is rich in the natural resources that are at stake for many actors in the conflict. However, natural resources also harbour potential for post-conflict rehabilitation and development. Countries should therefore examine ways of limiting the exploitation of such resources -especially oil in this case- for the purpose of funding conflict. They should furthermore seek to identify and promote the means by which such resources can be safeguarded and managed in a way that will reduce conflict and ensure benefit to the population. Equally, there is a need to develop institutions and frameworks for the integration and transformation of the informal economy to a formal economy, governed by a reasonable rule of law, transparency and efficiency, without marginalising local and regional actors.

* Dr. Joseph Yav is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo. He is also the executive director of the CERDH (Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche en Droits de l’Homme, Democratie et Justice Transitionnelle/Centre for Human Rights, Democracy and Transitional Justice Studies.) and Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair for Human Rights. Email: joyav22@yahoo.fr and joseyav@gmail.com

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

Pan Africanism and the Zimbabwe crisis

Jacques Depelchin

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/43533

I do want to commend Henning for his piece on Namibia and what is being lost in the process of clamping down on those who are seeking to heal the wounds of a liberation process which has maimed, tortured and killed some of the best among Africans.

Thank you Henning for pointing out what more could be lost if we do not raise the same voices which led to removing the shackles of apartheid. As I see it, the way truth and reconciliation processes have been dealt with, especially from the South African example, have left a lot to be desired. I am not interested in going through a step by step analysis of what was wrong. One could go for a long time. For those who are interested in seeing how a novelist has offered his view on how to go about healing, I recommend Ayi Kwei Armah's Healers which came out in 1978 as a disguised response to Chinua Achebe's things Fall Apart.

Armah's Healers, I am sure, will have its detractors, but it shows that the only way to heal from any wound, however deep is to go back to the most positive values of our societies, unflinchingly and without fear. Unfortunately, fear is one of the emotions most easily used and abused by those who want to insist on only one truth, their own.

Yet, healing, the desire to heal, like love, is one of the most universal emotions. Leaders who would lead their people toward reconciliation and healing would bring out all the burried truths which, like all truths, sooner or later, shall come out anyway. Such leaders should let go of their own fears or shame. Fears of being accused of being weak, shame of knowing specific cases of people who should never ever been tortured, maimed or killed.

To heal is probably one of the most difficult things to do because, given the dominant mindset, it is perceived as a sign of weakness to accept that something wrong has been done to oneself or to others. The dominant mindset stresses power through relentless violence. The enslavers and then the colonizers used to remind themselves that the only thing Africans understood was violence and brutal force. The more brutal the better. The dominant mindset can be seen at work in the Middle East, in Darfur, in Irak. It is highly contagious, especially among those who end up exercising state power. I remember reading about someone who had been in Robben Island (No it was not Mandela) and who had written a piece in a philosophy journal. His main point was that thefight against apartheid was a double fight: one to free the whites from themselves and then to free the blacks from the yoke of apartheid.

The equation has not changed: one has to continue fighting to free those who are in power to free themselves from how they have come to define power in the very same way as the previous holders. Real, deep, lasting healing can only happen as far away from the shackles of state power. If state or parastatal rationale is brought to bear it will derail any serious attempt to heal. Healing can only happen if all sides let go of habits and difinitions which are antagonistic to healing.

Can one heal without the help of state power? Indeed, the only way to heal is without the help of state power.

I shall stop here because it is my sense that Henning has touched upon one of the rawest wounds not just left over from colonial rule, but from way way back, from many layers. In that spirit, would it be wrong to suggest to the scandinavian countries which decided to pull away from Namibia that there are other possibilities (and, who knows, maybe they are doing it), such as encouraging European nations, the Vatican, the US, Arab nations which benefited from Atlantic and Oriental slavery to acknowledge what happened as a crime against humanity. The size of which is difficult to measure, except by going through a healing process where the primary concern is to heal from the mindset which developed out of the consequences (the benefits) of the crime. If it is started as a genuine process, then it could lead to real, deep and long lasting healing. Not just for Africans, not just for the victims, but for all humanity.

Thank you again Henning.

Review of African Blogs

Sokari Ekine

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/43531

Oluwole Akindutire of African Loft celebrates Nigeria’s 47th year of independence and asks “Nigeria at 47: Who are our heroes?” and lists 10 of his. A somewhat strange list that includes, Mungo Park, four head’s of state (3 rolled into one) and possibly the strangest of all “the British business men called colonialists”!

He does however include Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka but what about Fela and his mother Mrs Fumilayo Ransom Kuti who fought throughout her life for women’s rights? At number 10, Akindutire remembers the real heroes, those

“unsung or sometimes popular heroes who for one reason or the other became victims of the failed Nigerian project, the millions who died in the civil war and other religious or political riots in Nigeria; those felled by armed robber’s, militant’s, (occultist’s) and or assassin’s bullets; those felled by accidental discharges at check points and those who died as a result of extra-judicial killings or from political scheming and schisms; those who died because of inadequate, unavailable, unaffordable or untimely medical care; those whose careers were either truncated or compromised as a result of inefficient systems or parastatals”

The Blogazette has a more interesting question of Nigeria’s 47th anniversary – “Nigeria must stop killing poets and other citizens”

“On October 1, 2007, Nigeria celebrates 47 years of independence from British rule. Many in Nigeria and elsewhere will be asking themselves what the independence has been all about. If Nigeria were a man who had set forth from home at the age of twenty-one to lead an independent life, should he, forty-seven years later appear unable to function with maturity, certainty and fairness? More importantly, should he have the blood of his offspring on his hands?”

Women in Europe report back on the Black Women in Europe Congress being held in Vienna last week. From her account the conference was a success with much bonding of women and also the fact that the event was reported in the local Austrian press.

“Emotions ran high as discussions and debates revealed our deep desire to participate in a dialogue about what it means to be a Black Women in Europe. I wept because I was so overwhelmed at the amount of abounding love, and the intense feeling of belonging. This is something Black Women in Europe seldom feel.”

Sociolingo reports from Namibia and Senegal on indigenous language policies in schools. In Namibia children will be taught in their mother tongue from Grade 1-3 and from there on English classes will be taught in English but mother tongue languages will continue to be taught as a subject. In Senegal no decisions have been taken as yet except to say that children should “be able to learn in their own languages”.

Why South Africa Sucks . For those who doubt there are still left over racists lurking on the streets (well behind their 10ft fences in urbanland or in other shady places – this blogger reminds us of the myth rainbow nation/people in post oops – apartheid South Africa.

“Ever so often, we get comments from readers of this blog, who froth at the mouth because we are so "racist". A friend of mine wrote the following piece and he emailed it to me today.....I reckon he succinctly sums up the bottom line. To those bleeding hearts who flatly refuse to acknowledge the hard facts about SA - take note. Thanks Fred.

Everything in South Africa is so politically correct, that very few Whites want to face up to the fact of what is really happening in our beloved country!
Answer the following questions and you will realise why South Africa is fast becoming another African basket case country.”

His solution? “If each of us must seize the opportunity to take active steps to make the necessary changes, we are all destined to be slaves under depraved politicians in our own fatherland.”

Kubatana comments on the latest “Poverty Datum Line” in Zimbabwe which has risen from ZW$8.2 million in July, ZW$11 million in August to ZW12 million in September.

“Last week, the teachers rejected the government’s offer of a 91% salary increase. The increase would have added ZW$2.6 million to the present basic wage of ZW$2.9 million, making a total of Z$5.5 million dollars. But PTUZ described the offer as “pathetic,” and is standing firm on its demand for a monthly minimum wage of ZW$15 million………. As inflation spirals, the teachers’ demands have increased – they are now demanding a basic salary of ZW$18 million plus another ZW$14 million in housing and transport costs....This would put teachers just barely above the Poverty Datum Line – for now, until it goes up again. It would certainly leave them far better off than those in the agricultural sector.”

One wonders if anyone in Zimbabwe other Government ministers and senior members of the military are much above the PDL?

KumaKucha – You’ve Missed This reports on the outcome of an election rally in Uhuru Park, Nairobi following which violence erupted in the informal settlement of Kibera.

“I was very disappointed with the violence that erupted again in Kibera when Mr. Money bags Livondo decided to move with his entourage of vijana na Kibaki to Kibera after holding a rally at Uhuru Park…..I do not support political violence in any form or from supporters of anyone even my favorite Presidential candidate. I also agree that it is every ones constitutional right to vie for a civic or parliamentary seat anywhere in this Country. Freedom of movement is also every Citizen’s right.”

Sudanese Thinker links to “two new excellent blogs on Sudan”.

“Anyways, today I want to bring your attention to two excellent blogs which don’t contain the usual and annoying inaccuracies you see elsewhere.
Andrew Heavens, a journalist, has been writing a nice series of short posts at his blog. He’s now based in Sudan. Rob Crilly is also a journalist who travels to Sudan quite often. In fact he just returned from Darfur back to Nairobi recently. They’ve got some good stuff and by going through their posts, one can observe they have a deep understanding of what’s happening.”

Committee To Protect Bloggers has been reactivated after a year’s hiatus due to lack of funds. The aim of the CTPC is

“devoted to the protection of bloggers worldwide with a focus on highlighting the plight of bloggers threatened and imprisoned by their government. We support the right of bloggers, regardless of professional status or engagement in activism, to speak and we do so regardless of their ethnicity, national origin, religion or political beliefs.”

The CTPC can also be found on Face Book causes at Committee To Protect Bloggers

*Sokari Ekine is Online Editor of Pambazuka News and blogs at www.blacklooks.org

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

Weekly Roundup

Issue 106, 2007

2007-10-04

http://www.aumonitor.org

In this week’s AU Monitor, Michael Deibert argues that regional trade and integration are key to African development, while President Abdou Diouf, Secretary General of la Francophonie and former President of Senegal, speaking at the African Development Bank (AfDB) Eminent Speakers bureau, stated that “Africa’s regional integration should not be in service of globalization but in service of the continent’s development”. Further, the UN Security Council supported strengthening ties between the UN and the AU with the aim of enhancing capacities to deal with conflicts. This, after the AU peacekeeping mission suffered the loss of ten personnel and the wounding of ten others in South Darfur. AU Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare has said the assailants will bear the consequences of the heinous act.

In trade news, African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Donald Kaberuka, called for more effective channelling of these resources noting that remittances from the Diaspora amount to figures comparable to the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of many States, and in some cases remittances are as high as 750% of ODA. Also from AfDB, macroeconomist Hyacinthe Kouassi says that limited relevance of structural reforms financed by aid are the missing link in the analysis of aid effectiveness. While the World Bank has intervened on the issue of Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations, requesting that the European Union extend its end of year deadline.

In analysis on the global actors vying for influence in Africa, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is attempting to raise support for a Mediterranean Union, which would increase France’s geopolitical and economic influence in the region, while the United States increases its military presence in Africa with Africom becoming fully operational this week. Further, Penny Davies of Diakonia analyses China’s development assistance policies in a new report.

In event news, the Pan African Parliament ordinary session will be held in Midrand, South Africa from 15-26 October. The AU Monitor will bring you information, news and analysis from this meeting as soon as they become available.

Burkina Faso: Girl's death prompts search for new strategies to fight FGM

2007-10-04

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74529

The death of a 14-year-old girl from female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) has sparked shock and anger in Burkina Faso, which has been seen as far ahead of other African countries in the fight against the practice. “Sorrowful and shocking" is how Aïna Ouédraogo, permanent secretary of the National Committee for the Fight against Excision (CNLPE), described the girl's death.

Global: Educate Girls - Fight AIDS

2007-10-02

http://data.unaids.org/GCWA/GCWA_FS_GirlsEducation_Sep05_en.pdf

Growing evidence shows that getting and keeping young people in school, particularly girls, dramatically lowers their vulnerability to HIV. By itself, merely attending primary school makes young people significantly less likely to contract HIV. When young people stay in school through the secondary level, education’s protective effect against HIV is even more pronounced.

Global: Women demand voice in climate debate

2007-10-02

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39342

Calls for increased participation of women in policy-making decisions are on the rise as world leaders prepare to attend an international meeting on climate change to be held at U.N. headquarters. Most governments have largely failed to consider the gender aspects of climate change, women leaders representing numerous civil society groups told reporters at a recent news conference.

Africa: Rwanda joins push for moratorium on executions

2007-10-04

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=320570

Rwanda has joined other countries in appealing for a global moratorium on executions, saying that if its government could abolish the death penalty while perpetrators of the 1994 genocide still await sentences, no country should use it. Diplomats and human right organisations met at the United Nations to push for a global moratorium on executions with the goal of ending the death penalty altogether.

Egypt: Police detain Shi'ite Muslim activist

2007-10-03

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL03698594.html

Egyptian security forces have detained a Shi'ite Muslim activist who campaigned for more rights for Egypt's tiny minority Shi'ite population, security sources and the man's lawyer said on Wednesday. Mohamed el-Derini, who runs a Shi'ite group called the Supreme Council for the Care of the Prophet's Family, was taken from his home on Monday, and is the second Shi'ite activist arrested in two months in Egypt, lawyer Hossam Bahgat said.

Global: Human rights at Commonwealth summits

Richard Bourne

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/43542

Commonwealth presidents and prime ministers, who meet every two years in a CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) almost always say something about human rights. But there are huge differences between comments which are banal, and commitments which lead to specific action by the Commonwealth Secretariat and member governments.
Human rights at Commonwealth summits

Commonwealth presidents and prime ministers, who meet every two years in a CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) almost always say something about human rights. But there are huge differences between comments which are banal, and commitments which lead to specific action by the Commonwealth Secretariat and member governments.

The communiqué from the Valletta CHOGM in 2005 illustrates the variety of statements which are included. Paragraph 26, entitled “Promoting tolerance and respect”, was designed to address the reality of communal and religious friction in Commonwealth states. Although rather anodyne in wording it encouraged the Commonwealth Secretary-General to pursue initiatives to promote tolerance.

The results may be more significant. Don McKinnon, Secretary-General, set up a group under Dr. Amartya Sen to look at “respect and understanding” and to make recommendations to the upcoming Kampala CHOGM. Simultaneously the Commonwealth Foundation, concerned for civil society, recognised that religious bodies are part of civil society and can play a role in development. All of this activity follows on from the CHRI report of 1997, “Towards a culture of tolerance.”

The leaders in Valletta, in the wake of moves at the UN, also recognised a new human rights value for the Commonwealth – the responsibility to protect. In paragraph 37 they “agreed that the responsibility and obligation to protect populations from such acts [genocide, war, crime, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity] is a fundamental Commonwealth value, consistent with Commonwealth commitments to human rights, democracy, good government and international law.”

However in the same communiqué the CHOGM endorsed several “me-too” paragraphs, which basically say that the Commonwealth agrees with what the United Nations or international community is doing. These include paragraphs 38 (supporting the International Criminal Court), 39 (against light weapons – a campaign of the CHRI launched in 1999), 45 (backing the UN Human Rights Council), and 63 on gender issues.

Historically there have been various high points for human rights at CHOGMs. The first significant reference to abuse in a single member state occurred in 1977, with criticism of the Idi Amin regime in Uganda. Many of the CHOGMs in the seventies and eighties were concerned with racism in southern Africa; the 1983 Delhi summit was one of few that did not have a specific human rights reference as well. The 1991 Harare Commonwealth Declaration, produced after the fall of the Berlin Wall and Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, seemed at the time a disappointment for human rights activists. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a non-governmental organisation based in Delhi and working on the practical realisation of human rights in the Commonwealth, had called for a full-blown declaration on human rights, a substantial budget, and a monitoring and investigative commission.

However, as a result of advocacy by the CHRI and others, and reaction to the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni leaders in Nigeria in 1995, the Commonwealth leaders in Auckland set up the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. This was a rules committee, capable of suspending governments from Commonwealth membership, which was an international breakthrough at the time. It was followed in 1997 with discussion of sanctions against the Nigerian dictatorship.

To sum up on advocacy at the CHOGM, therefore, it is important to keep an eye on the big picture, and for activists to be energetic in pressing for implementation and in monitoring commitments. The procedure by which the Commonwealth reaches its commitments is often opaque. While the Committee of the Whole – a meeting of officials who draft much of the communiqué in advance in London – is open to lobbying, its work may not be as important as it seems.

The key political activity involves the leaders themselves, when they meet briefly for a couple of days or so in the capital hosting the CHOGM. Current political developments – such as the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa – will dominate their discussions and the media. They will weigh in on a current issue – as they did at Malta in 2005, when they wanted to influence the Wolrd Trade Organisation negotiations in Hong Kong.

Although the president of the host country will chair the meeting of Commonwealth Heads, he or she may not get their way. For example in 1999, when Thabo Mbeki was chairing the Durban CHOGM, he was still in denial over the scale of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa. Nonetheless the leaders agreed to paragraph 55, in which they pledged personal leadership in their own countries against the pandemic. It was a remarkable tribute to lobbying by a Commonwealth and civil society alliance which included medical, legal and university lobbyists.

The ideal alliance for success in CHOGM advocacy involves a cross-section of leaders who have personal knowledge of an issue, and are willing to speak up about it. Where they give a strong lead other governments and the Commonwealth Secretariat will follow.

By Richard Bourne, First director of CHRI, in London in 1990-92

Global: World Bank with serious violations of democracy, human rights and sovereignty

2007-10-05

http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3514.aspx

In its preliminary findings, the first ever Independent People’s Tribunal on the World Bank in India found that the Bank had an undue and disturbingly negative influence in shaping India’s national policies disproportionate to its contribution, financial or otherwise. A four-day Independent People's Tribunal (IPT) on the World Bank found that the Bank's policies and projects in India have led to increased and needless human suffering since 1991, among hundreds of millions of India's poorest and most disadvantaged in rural and urban areas.

Nigeria: Court allows summons in Pfizer drug trial

2007-10-03

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN347319.html

A Nigerian court allowed the federal government on Wednesday to serve a summons on U.S.-based drug maker Pfizer Inc to defend itself against a $6.5 billion lawsuit over a drug trial. The federal government and the northern Nigerian state of Kano are suing Pfizer for a combined $8.5 billion in damages over the 1996 trial of Trovan, a new drug tested on children during a meningitis epidemic.

Zimbabwe: Victory - Government to amend POSA

2007-10-04

http://africa.oneworld.net/article/view/153850/1/

The Government has conceded to the demands made by Zimbabweans to amend the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). Since its inception in 2000, POSA has been used by the ruling party to infringe on the fundamental right to freedom of association, and has been selectively applied to prohibit opposition party rallies and civic organization meetings. This has been viewed as an act of blatant disregard to the right to freedom of expression and association within a democratic society.

DRC: Thousands of refugees return home - UNHCR

2007-10-05

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74641

At least 43,000 refugees returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between January and October, with another 310,000 still in neighbouring countries, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Most of the returnees went to the provinces of South Kivu in the east, Equateur in the northeast and Katanga in the south, UNHCR stated in a report detailing figures of returns to and from the DRC.

Global: Australia cuts back on African refugees

2007-10-04

http://tinyurl.com/2mh2e8

Australia has slashed the number of African refugees admitted into the country partly because many have problems settling into the community, the government said on Tuesday. Over the past two years the intake of Africans has been cut from 70 percent of the total of 13 000 refugees to just 30 percent, Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews told reporters.

Sudan: Shortfall in South Sudan budget

2007-10-04

http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/4702603b4.html

The UN refugee agency has reported it was facing a critical shortfall of US$11.1 million for its refugee return and reintegration operations budget in South Sudan for this year. "We are in a very dire situation because if we don't get this additional support we will have to scale down or even halt our operations with serious consequences for all our activities," said Chris Ache, the UNHCR representative in Sudan. "I implore donors to give us the money we need to continue our work," he added.

West Africa: Refugee children taught wrong curriculum

2007-10-04

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74583

Ivorian children in a Liberia refugee camp have been deprived of an education based on their home country curriculum in a school that opened there over three years ago. “This is really paining our hearts,” said Aisha Berete, mother of five of the 387 children attending the Saclepea Refugee Primary School in eastern Nimba County. “[The children] are losing their Ivorian identity and how will they fit in to the Ivorian school system once we return home?”

Egypt: World Bank applauds Egypt's pro-investment reforms as workers go on strike

2007-10-05

http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3515.aspx

While the Egyptian government basked in the praise of the “Doing Business” report earlier this week, at home, 27,000 employees of the country’s largest textile mills went on strike, demanding higher wages and benefits. The Egyptian government has reacted severely to the work stoppages, sending several of the strike organizers to prison.

Zimbabwe: WOZA and MOZA activists detained

2007-10-03

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news021007/woza021007.htm

On Monday over 200 Women of Zimbabwe Arise and Men of Zimbabwe Arise activists marched through the city of Bulawayo. WOZA coordinator Jenni Williams said representatives from Harare, Mutare, Masvingo and rural Insiza joined local members to demand ‘peace’ and an end to police harassment from the brutal regime. The group of singing protestors marched from near St Mary's Cathedral, pausing to send messages of solidarity to Bishop Pius Ncube, whose courageous outspokenness against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe has often made him a target of the State.

Southern Africa: Governance in four countries shows marginal improvement

2007-10-04

http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=380

Freedom House has announced the release of new reports on the state of democracy in four Southern African countries: Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zambia. The in-depth biennial reports, part of the recently published Countries at the Crossroads 2007 report, analyze governance issues and provide recommendations to those governments that are at a crossroads in their political development.

Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai calls for free polls

2007-10-04

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/691F5642-314C-40A8-BB2A-F22AE7E5A8B7.htm

Morgan Tsvangirai has said he will not take part in national elections next year if the Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe continues political "repression" in the country. "There is no point in participating in repressive elections if the environment is not conducive," the Movement Democraticfor Democratic Change leader told supporters. But he said it was important to talk to Mugabe's Zanu-PF party "to create a free and fair election environment in this country" and denied allegations he had betrayed MDC supporters by making compromises with the ruling party.

Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe after Mugabe: an agenda for a new government and donors

2007-10-04

http://www.kubatana.net/docs/demgg/adam_smith_intl_100_days_070720.pdf

This report by Adam Smith International sets out an ambitious 100 Day Agenda for a new Zimbabwean Government. Although it is not known when a new Government will take office or what kind of government this will be, the paper argues that any new Government will face a host of extremely severe problems that have resulted from the policies pursued by the government of Robert Mugabe. In order to address these problems, it argues that Zimbabwe will need a clear plan , as well as advice and assistance from the international community.

East Africa: Program focuses anti-corruption and good governance

2007-10-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/43555

A recent capacity development program on Anti-Corruption and Good Governance held for 13 East Africans was an eye opener on public discourse, accountable leadership but above all, about ethical leadership. Drawn from the Government and Civil Society, the training conducted by Marquette University’s Les Aspin Center for Government in Washington DC, provided participants with knowledge and skills in preventive, proactive, multi-pronged, institutional support strategies for improving accountability and other good governance practices in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
By Dorah Nesoba

The Government is a public trust, yet in many countries, governments are not trusted because their operations are not transparent. At the same time their citizens do not have the necessary information to hold their leaders accountable. A recent capacity development program on Anti-Corruption and Good Governance held for 13 East Africans was an eye opener on public discourse, accountable leadership but above all, about ethical leadership.

Drawn from the Government and Civil Society, the training conducted by Marquette University's Les Aspin Center for Government in Washington DC, provided participants with knowledge and skills in preventive, proactive, multi-pronged, institutional support strategies for improving accountability and other good governance practices in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Further more, the participants were able to learn and understand how ethics infrastructure functions to improve integrity and accountability systems in both the private and public domains.

Assisted by specialists from specific government, civil society, academic and private sector institutions both in Nairobi, Kenya and later in Washington D.C. and Wisconsin, America, participants discussed the nature of ethics infrastructure and how they ensure effective oversight and implementation of accountability in governance.

The Anti-Corruption and Good Governance course is about analyzing the key elements that make up the American political system in a comparative perspective that includes Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Group work, seminar discussions, interactive lectures, strategy and skill building workshops, case studies, hands-on experience, site visits and excursions played an important role in the course, with trainees each day engaging in discussion and debates on questions raised by lectures and readings to provide a deeper understanding of governance processes and accountability.

Topics in this year's session included ethics and public policy, political leadership, ethics and accountability, educational systems, the promotion of integrity and accountability in governance, negotiation and dispute management techniques, interest group politics and corruption management as well as America's party parliamentary system and the unique aspects of each government. Human Rights Advocacy and other techniques for social action, ethnicity, politics and corruption management. Others were how civil society can ensure effective implementation at the local level, how local community oversight systems can strengthen the implementation of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), international anti-corruption protocols, international financial institutions and corruption management. Strategic planning and management, participatory monitoring and evaluation strategies, public management techniques and corruption control, community advocacy and administrative accountability. Parliamentary oversight as well as project development and implementation.

The class had the pleasure of visiting the American Parliament - the House of Representatives, the Senate, Milwaukee's City Hall and various Monuments in honor of fallen heroes of wars as well as the tombs of great statesmen including the Lincoln Memorial and John Fitzgerald Kennedy's gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery where an eternal flame burns. Trainees were able to learn more about the history of parliamentarism in America, the Constitution and how the House functions on a day-to-day basis. Of particular interest was the relatively consensual manner in which the House operates - from debates in the plenary to the more detailed work of the various standing committees. The six week programme is usually implemented in two phases with an introductory phase in one of the programme countries and being completed at the Les Aspin Center for Government in Washington DC.

In Nairobi the seminar and orientation sessions provided baseline knowledge of country-specific issues on accountability improvement strategies in the democratic and cultural environments. They also learnt how to utilize the training resources and experiences to plan and develop results-based strategies for implementation of accountability procedures.

While in America, the trainees learnt how traditions of accountability function effectively and how leadership and professional responsibility compliance and enforcement standards are implemented. The sessions are conducted by coordinator of Africa Programs Dr. Cephas Lerewonu, Centre Director Rev. Dr. Timothy O'Brien with a helping hand from Mr. Stan Greschner the deputy director and Dr. Christopher Murray. One of the most important lessons from the training is the anti-graft war and monitoring the electoral process as an integrity safeguard in America. We learnt that a vibrant democracy depends on a citizenry that pays heed to the issues and on policy makers who are in touch with constituent concerns.

Monitoring the electoral process is one of the checks-and-balances that protect the viability and honesty of election administration, as well as the participation of political parties, candidates and interest groups.

Monitoring, the trainees learnt, promotes compliance with the legal framework and deters questionable activities. Public declarations of wealth and sources of funding for elective offices increase transparency and help accountability by politicians and civil servants.

In the US, qualified president candidates receive federal government funds to pay for the valid expenses of their political campaigns in both the primary and general elections. National political parties also receive federal money for their national nominating conventions.

The funding limits the disproportionate influence of wealthy individuals and special interest groups on the outcome of federal elections. It also regulates spending in campaigns for federal office and deters abuses by mandating public disclosure of campaign finances.

Corporations, labor organizations, federal government contractors and foreign nationals are prohibited from making contributions or expenditures to influence federal, state and local elections.

The Federal Election Campaign Act also prohibits people from making contributions in another person's name and also bans one from making contributions in cash of more than US$ 100.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, qualified presidential candidates receive money from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund that is an account on the books of the U.S. Treasury. The fund is financed exclusively by a voluntary tax checkoff and is administered by the Federal Election Campaign by determining which candidates are eligible to receive funds.

To be eligible for public funds, a presidential candidate or a party convention committee must first submit a letter of agreement and a written certification in which the candidate or committees agree to spend public funds only for campaign related expenses or for convention related expenses.

They must also agree to limit spending to amounts specified by the campaign finance law; keep records and if requested, supply evidence of qualified expenses; cooperate with an audit of campaign or convention expenses; repay public funds if necessary and pay any civil penalties imposed by the commission. Communication is another tenet of American democracy cited as pivotal to state effectiveness. A Country cannot direct its Citizens without reliable communication and information flows. Countries without these ingredients from the Central Government to the lowest levels of government do not get far because far-flung regions are cut off and left to their own policies such as is the case of North Eastern Province in Kenya.

Overwhelming evidence based on the American experience suggests that for a good and accountable government to be secured countries need free, plural and independent media systems. Additionally, accountable governments will only be secured if public servants acquire the information necessary for the performance of their duties as electors and members of the court of public opinion.

Even the internal workings of the organs of the Government depend on good communication and information flows. The bigger and more complex the Country, the more it needs good communication to keep the system functioning well. At all levels, a government that cannot communicate effectively by listening skillfully and persuading capably will not be strong and effective. This is not about spin or propaganda but about the effective management of public opinion.

Effective communication and information methods determine whether or not a government is responsive to the needs of the governed and is held accountable for its actions. For where there is free flow of information about public affairs and citizens engage in debate and discussion about the leading issues of the day you will have competent citizens who will not tolerate misrule. The proper test of successful communication and information processes lies in how effectively the voice of the people and their ability to hold leaders accountable for promised outcomes are strengthened. In the guise of attempting to go the conventional direction, Kenya has been experimenting with a number of democratic tenets even though not wholeheartedly. Plural politics is allowed since 1991, but parties are denied a level playing field. The ruling party or coalition often has unlimited access to State resources unlike other parties. Public resource development planning is allowed but resource allocation is channeled from the centre and the lower implementing structures i.e. Local Authorities, operate at the whims of the Central Government. Up to only nine percent of the national budget is directly targeted to community development at the local levels.

All these are taking place against a background that does not have a deliberate system of communication, information and education. Government policy documents are in the capital City, are expensive and secretive. Concealment of public information is a harbinger for endless corruption rings.

Private media is allowed but restricted to State sanctions and times harassment. From the foregoing, the role of the media cannot be overemphasized. It is necessary for purposes of consolidating the little democratic gains. Public education and constant information flow become critical and it is only the media that can play this role.

When Kenyans went to the 2002 polls, they voted in the NARC government overwhelmingly on a reform platform. During the reign of NARC Kenyans went to the polls again and they rejected the proposed new constitution which was once again marred by a lot of violence, bribery among other issues. The 2007 general elections however, bring in another new experience to Kenyans where we have coalitions of parties the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Party of National Unity (PANU) and Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K) which have seemingly dominated the political scenario in the country, but it is likely that the former two will be the key opposing camps in the elections at the end of this year.

The election in the country is no more than political auction. Money, violence and winning go together. With a lot of money in one's hands, the more one monopolizes violence and the more the parties or coalition of parties will retain the current lot of civic leaders and MPs.

In not too distant a past, monitoring pre-poll violence, human rights discourse and practice has been an exclusive domain of urban centered institutions and initiatives. Rural and peri-urban areas have literally been rendered mere consumers of the human rights products as opposed to being practitioners and partners in the ongoing struggle for democracy and social justice. This situation has attracted immense confusion and propaganda and hence impacted adversely on the general concept of democracy and human rights discourse and practice.

Kenya is at a political cross road. It requires a steep, delicate balancing if combinations of lust for wealth, power, violence and failed constitutional reform are reflected against the upcoming 2007 General Elections.

Therefore citizens need to understand what is at stake in the political world. This understanding should include the capacity to discern their own interests in the political arena and identify the best means through which to realize them.

It has often been said that Anti-corruption measures are almost entirely led by specialists who concentrate on fixing institutions. While it is important, this kind of work is not sufficient. In the US, corruption is treated as a civil matter using the balance of probability argument as opposed to looking at it as a criminal offence that demands the proof beyond reasonable doubt (burden of proof). Through this mechanism, many perpetrators of corruption and would be executors have been fined, tried and jailed for the crimes. It also acts as a deterrent to would be offenders.

If this strategy were adopted in our county, then we would not be at a loss for words wondering what can be done to wage a more comprehensive fight against corruption.

Access to information and openness on the part of the government can also be used to promote disclosure, transform attitudes, opinions and behaviors regarding corruption while strengthening intolerance of corruption and stimulating widespread activism to combat it. However, even in America, one of the areas of development which often faces allegations of poor governance and corruption is infrastructure development. In particular, large infrastructure projects have effectively demonstrated the damage that corruption and mistrust can do, and, in other cases, the value of good communication programs. The government should not interfere with the build-up to the General elections to be held later this year. Non-interference will curtail widespread violence and vote-rigging that has been mirrored throughout the country in the past when an incumbent government wants to stay put.

That Kenya is indeed a maturing democracy is not in doubt. The need therefore to protect and enhance the democratic gains realized so far is both imperative and inescapable particularly if the face of our vision of a true multi party democracy is to be realized.

The anti-corruption and good governance training enhanced the participants' capacity and skills in concepts and practices of democracy and governance to appropriately add value to their young democracies.

There were three Tanzanians - Anna Magutu - Magistrtae; Dorothy Kaloli - Project Manager League of women voters, Pastory Nguvu - Journalist, The Guardian Newspaper. Ugandans comprised of Sylvester Oboth - Chief Administrative Officer, Tororo Local Government; Samuel Suuti -Program Coordinator, Link for Community development, Pauline Apolot - Program Manager, Uganda Debt Network; Charles Mubbale - Chief Executive Officer, Transparency International; Lawrence Banyoya - Permanent Secretary, Local Government Finance Commission. Kenya was represented by Mary Kamaara - Education Officer, Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission; Dorah Nesoba - Subeditor, The Link Newspaper; Joseph Maritim - Revenue Officer, Kenya Revenue Authority; Kingwa Kamenchu - Student, University of Nairobi; Christopher Kibett - Head, Human Resource and Administration, National Aids Control Council and Peter Leley - District Commissioner.

After the training participants are expected to develop and implement accountability initiatives that improve their performance, that help improve citizen oversight systems, and also to conduct training sessions for colleagues. They are also expected to assist in developing and establishing integrity units.

Guinea-Bissau: UN report implicates government in drug trafficking

2007-10-05

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74649

The government and the army in Guinea Bissau are implicated in drug trafficking according to the latest report on Guinea Bissau by the UN Secretary-General. “Drug trafficking threatens to subvert the nascent democratisation process of Guinea-Bissau, entrench organised crime and undermine respect for the rule of law,” the report, issued on 28 September, concluded.

Kenya: Debt blamed on graft

2007-10-04

http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=107773

Kenya’s burdensome debt to developed countries is partly the product of theft on the part of “previous leaderships,” Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju said in a prepared statement distributed prior to his address to the UN General Assembly. Since becoming a Cabinet member in the Kibaki administration four-and-a-half years ago, Mr Tuju declared in the statement, but not in his actual address, “I discovered that some of these loans were actually shady schemes, unnecessary pseudo projects whose only objective was to steal that money.”

Malawi: Corruption seen as worsening

2007-10-04

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74577

Assurances by President Bingu wa Mutharika's government that it has adopted a zero-tolerance approach to corruption have not altered the view of a leading international monitoring body that graft in Malawi is worsening. Transparency International (TI), the global corruption watchdog, said in its latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) that Malawi had dropped 28 places from 90 in 2004 to 118 this year, a three-year time-frame mirroring Mutharika's assumption of the presidency in 2004 on an electoral ticket that promised to clean up the administration.

Africa: Brain-drain still bleeding ex-colonies dry

2007-10-04

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=39446

The violence, corruption and generalised poverty marring more than three decades of independence in Portugal’s five former colonies in Africa, and five years of independence in East Timor, have been the main obstacles for development in these countries, but not the only ones. Brain drain is another phantom that is slowly but inexorably destroying hopes for progress and wellbeing for the people of Guinea-Bissau, which became independent in 1974, Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and Sao Tomé and Príncipe, which became independent in 1975, and East Timor, independent since 2002.

Global: Commonwealth Ministers meet - a real opportunity or more rhetoric

2007-10-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/43556

Ahead of the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this November, Maja Daruwala says that African heads need to lead on issues of concern to the Continent and not leave it to others to finger point.
The next two weeks will see London abuzz with various foreign ministers and permanent representatives from across the Commonwealth coming to deliberate on what gets into the communiqués of the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Meeting this November (CHOGM). The process of creating these communiqués is long drawn and organic. Issues bubble up from the earlier meetings of foreign, women's affairs, finance ministers and the like that take place in the two years between CHOGMs and also from the continuum of work developed from mandates given to the Commonwealth Secretariat by the Heads of State at earlier CHOGMS. Officials at the Commonwealth Secretariat gather together all these threads in draft paragraphs, which then get distilled by negotiations like the ones being held this week. Past mandates have included promoting and mainstreaming women's rights into the work of the Secretariat, helping ensure better election practices, raising awareness of HIV/AIDs, leading on debt forgiveness, getting reports back on progress on the Millennium Development Goals and assisting with constitution making. What the communiqués say decides future work at the Secretariat. A deal of this is concerned with providing technical assistance to countries that ask for it, raising awareness and too gently pushing unwilling governments to comply with membership obligations in the Fundamental Political Principles of the Commonwealth - founding documents which are very much based on being obedient to internationally agreed human rights standards. After governments have indicated their priorities and current concerns a consensus document goes to the Heads of State at their biennial meeting for finalisation. Secretariat officials whose full time job this is, countries that contribute the most to the Commonwealth's coffers, the host country - this time Uganda - and the more populous nations like India and Nigeria make the running. Since the Commonwealth is not on everyone's political front burner as the most influential of multilateral associations, many officials that go to its meetings are often not properly briefed and, but for a handful, civil society ignores its deliberations: perhaps with good cause. Unfulfilled promises enthusiastically made by Heads of Government lie scattered like the paper hats, torn streamers and used paper napkins after some annual lodge bash for the sad janitor to clear up into the dustbin without a trace till the next jolly occasion comes around. Nevertheless, the potential for taking real action still makes the Commonwealth's meetings a party worth attending in the hope that some, at least, of the promise will be realised. Last time around Mugabe's nervousness at being named and shamed for his terrible overlordship of 12 million of his countrymen forced him to pre-empt censure by pulling out of the association rather than face the discredit of being suspended. This time around, prior to the November meet General Musharraf, will be careful to doff his general's uniform as promised for something at least that looks like the fig leaf of democratic functioning - even if Fiji, Maldives and Bangladesh hang on to their coloured exercises in democratic governance. Because the Commonwealth works like a club of leaders acting through consensus it is in fact a very safe space for officials and governments to go beyond the posturing and really get to grips with the issues of the day. Barring a handful of very affluent countries the Commonwealth is essentially an association of grindingly poor countries where well over half the population of near 1.4 billion lives on less than $2 a day. These people need real solutions and not rhetoric. The people all know what's wrong. One of the big things that are wrong in most Commonwealth countries is policing. Every year very few nations from Antigua to Zambia - and all the other letters of the alphabet in between - escape the ignominy of being cited for abusive, violent, discriminatory and corrupt policing. Millions experience it everyday. They all know that most police forces need a total overhaul. Governments know how to do it: re-order policing; re-examine how it is actually done on the ground; make recruitment fair, training better, management result oriented, provide reasonable resources, and be strong in monitoring performance and punishing the guilty. This is one side of it, but the most important bit of the improvement project is to make police more accountable to law and less subservient, less obsequious to those momentarily in power and to create systems where the policy is laid down by government and operational responsibility for ensuring the safety and security of the population at large is in the hands of the police leadership. In other words, re-envision police establishments so that they run like essential services for the population much like a fire service or the post office and not like the coercive force of some foreign power. That old way of policing belongs to colonial times. It should not be the way our democratic governments use police. Keeping to those past values and systems is an admission of our inability to be free from the worst influences of that time and to shame ourselves as sovereign nations. Many excuses are put forward for stalling reforms of essential systems. The issue of lack of resources is always a favourite. Never mind the fact that the reform of management practice does not inevitably require or necessitate additional funding. There is, as well, a need to examine if present resources are really well spent and could not be more logically allocated to go further than present wasteful ways allow. Equally, it is more than probable that unreformed policing costs the State and its people much more through significantly impeding internal development, foreign investment and consequent prosperity.

In modern times, another crucial reason for looking at a new type of policing is the truth that unreformed policing has proved that it cannot prevent or reduce crime or calm fears about the threat from terrorism. Only policing that has the confidence of the people can do this. This is a singularly important building block for achieving good governance as well.

To help the process of moving from grandstanding to implementing workmanlike solutions to bring about good governance - a key Commonwealth concern - the Commonwealth could make a start this week by agreeing to bring together a group of experts to help it lay down a new vision of policing. The group could lay down what a new kind of policing should look like; what principles should guide this policing and how this can be brought about given that countries are struggling for capacity and resources. It could mandate the kind of future technical help the Commonwealth can provide its members so that the process of police reforms is well informed and hastened. There is very good practice on policing in the Commonwealth. Governments will not have to reinvent the wheel, but with a little help from their friends can tap into and adapt experiences of those that have gone some way toward making improvements. For instance, Nigeria has designed a very strong national police accountability mechanism. South Africa has an excellent method for evaluating police performance. The Australians and the UK are constantly struggling to defeat institutional racism and improve policing in multi-ethnic communities. New Zealand is involved in reviewing its police functioning. The experience of police reform in Northern Ireland is a lesson in creating confidence in minority groups after years of head to head conflict and the turn around of the Hong Kong police has lessons to offer on drastically reducing corruption. Pakistan's experiments in local control over local policing and, India's recent Supreme Court orders seeking to guide the reforms process, are all at the service of the Commonwealth's membership if it is willing to listen. Eighteen African nations of the Commonwealth will be represented in London this week. Later all will be at CHOGM. It seems a shame, if not down right unethical, for leaders of essentially poor countries to spend money on debating fine words rather than sincerely working toward designing workmanlike solutions to fundamental problems that are today blocking democratic and economic development. This summit is in Kampala. African heads need to lead on issues of concern to the Continent and not leave it to others to finger point. It's not always easy, but someone has to take a deep breath and take the first step. Otherwise, it is always going to be Big Brother pointing and looking askance at 'these nations' and, wondering, if anyone will ever get their act together. Commonwealth Ministers Meet - a Real Opportunity or More Rhetoric Maja Daruwala, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative The next two weeks will see London abuzz with various foreign ministers and permanent representatives from across the Commonwealth coming to deliberate on what gets into the communiqués of the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Meeting this November (CHOGM). The process of creating these communiqués is long drawn and organic. Issues bubble up from the earlier meetings of foreign, women's affairs, finance ministers and the like that take place in the two years between CHOGMs and also from the continuum of work developed from mandates given to the Commonwealth Secretariat by the Heads of State at earlier CHOGMS. Officials at the Commonwealth Secretariat gather together all these threads in draft paragraphs, which then get distilled by negotiations like the ones being held this week. Past mandates have included promoting and mainstreaming women's rights into the work of the Secretariat, helping ensure better election practices, raising awareness of HIV/AIDs, leading on debt forgiveness, getting reports back on progress on the Millennium Development Goals and assisting with constitution making. What the communiqués say decides future work at the Secretariat. A deal of this is concerned with providing technical assistance to countries that ask for it, raising awareness and too gently pushing unwilling governments to comply with membership obligations in the Fundamental Political Principles of the Commonwealth - founding documents which are very much based on being obedient to internationally agreed human rights standards. After governments have indicated their priorities and current concerns a consensus document goes to the Heads of State at their biennial meeting for finalisation. Secretariat officials whose full time job this is, countries that contribute the most to the Commonwealth's coffers, the host country - this time Uganda - and the more populous nations like India and Nigeria make the running. Since the Commonwealth is not on everyone's political front burner as the most influential of multilateral associations, many officials that go to its meetings are often not properly briefed and, but for a handful, civil society ignores its deliberations: perhaps with good cause. Unfulfilled promises enthusiastically made by Heads of Government lie scattered like the paper hats, torn streamers and used paper napkins after some annual lodge bash for the sad janitor to clear up into the dustbin without a trace till the next jolly occasion comes around. Nevertheless, the potential for taking real action still makes the Commonwealth's meetings a party worth attending in the hope that some, at least, of the promise will be realised. Last time around Mugabe's nervousness at being named and shamed for his terrible overlordship of 12 million of his countrymen forced him to pre-empt censure by pulling out of the association rather than face the discredit of being suspended. This time around, prior to the November meet General Musharraf, will be careful to doff his general's uniform as promised for something at least that looks like the fig leaf of democratic functioning - even if Fiji, Maldives and Bangladesh hang on to their coloured exercises in democratic governance. Because the Commonwealth works like a club of leaders acting through consensus it is in fact a very safe space for officials and governments to go beyond the posturing and really get to grips with the issues of the day. Barring a handful of very affluent countries the Commonwealth is essentially an association of grindingly poor countries where well over half the population of near 1.4 billion lives on less than $2 a day. These people need real solutions and not rhetoric. The people all know what's wrong. One of the big things that are wrong in most Commonwealth countries is policing. Every year very few nations from Antigua to Zambia - and all the other letters of the alphabet in between - escape the ignominy of being cited for abusive, violent, discriminatory and corrupt policing. Millions experience it everyday. They all know that most police forces need a total overhaul. Governments know how to do it: re-order policing; re-examine how it is actually done on the ground; make recruitment fair, training better, management result oriented, provide reasonable resources, and be strong in monitoring performance and punishing the guilty. This is one side of it, but the most important bit of the improvement project is to make police more accountable to law and less subservient, less obsequious to those momentarily in power and to create systems where the policy is laid down by government and operational responsibility for ensuring the safety and security of the population at large is in the hands of the police leadership. In other words, re-envision police establishments so that they run like essential services for the population much like a fire service or the post office and not like the coercive force of some foreign power. That old way of policing belongs to colonial times. It should not be the way our democratic governments use police. Keeping to those past values and systems is an admission of our inability to be free from the worst influences of that time and to shame ourselves as sovereign nations. Many excuses are put forward for stalling reforms of essential systems. The issue of lack of resources is always a favourite. Never mind the fact that the reform of management practice does not inevitably require or necessitate additional funding. There is, as well, a need to examine if present resources are really well spent and could not be more logically allocated to go further than present wasteful ways allow. Equally, it is more than probable that unreformed policing costs the State and its people much more through significantly impeding internal development, foreign investment and consequent prosperity.

In modern times, another crucial reason for looking at a new type of policing is the truth that unreformed policing has proved that it cannot prevent or reduce crime or calm fears about the threat from terrorism. Only policing that has the confidence of the people can do this. This is a singularly important building block for achieving good governance as well.

To help the process of moving from grandstanding to implementing workmanlike solutions to bring about good governance - a key Commonwealth concern - the Commonwealth could make a start this week by agreeing to bring together a group of experts to help it lay down a new vision of policing. The group could lay down what a new kind of policing should look like; what principles should guide this policing and how this can be brought about given that countries are struggling for capacity and resources. It could mandate the kind of future technical help the Commonwealth can provide its members so that the process of police reforms is well informed and hastened. There is very good practice on policing in the Commonwealth. Governments will not have to reinvent the wheel, but with a little help from their friends can tap into and adapt experiences of those that have gone some way toward making improvements. For instance, Nigeria has designed a very strong national police accountability mechanism. South Africa has an excellent method for evaluating police performance. The Australians and the UK are constantly struggling to defeat institutional racism and improve policing in multi-ethnic communities. New Zealand is involved in reviewing its police functioning. The experience of police reform in Northern Ireland is a lesson in creating confidence in minority groups after years of head to head conflict and the turn around of the Hong Kong police has lessons to offer on drastically reducing corruption. Pakistan's experiments in local control over local policing and, India's recent Supreme Court orders seeking to guide the reforms process, are all at the service of the Commonwealth's membership if it is willing to listen. Eighteen African nations of the Commonwealth will be represented in London this week. Later all will be at CHOGM. It seems a shame, if not down right unethical, for leaders of essentially poor countries to spend money on debating fine words rather than sincerely working toward designing workmanlike solutions to fundamental problems that are today blocking democratic and economic development. This summit is in Kampala. African heads need to lead on issues of concern to the Continent and not leave it to others to finger point. It's not always easy, but someone has to take a deep breath and take the first step. Otherwise, it is always going to be Big Brother pointing and looking askance at 'these nations' and, wondering, if anyone will ever get their act together.

Maja Daruwala is the Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

Global: Is the IMF's role in low-income countries conducive to reducing poverty?

2007-10-04

http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3518.aspx

Controversial both inside and outside the institution, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) strategy in low-income countries was debated at a recent panel that questioned whether or not the IMF should exit low-income countries. The role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in low-income countries (LICs) is a highly controversial issue both inside and outside the institution, as reported in the findings by the external committee on World Bank-IMF collaboration, known as the Malan Committee.

Kenya: A toolkit for addressing transient and chronic poverty

2007-10-04

http://www.pep-net.org/NEW-PEP/Group/working%20papers/papers/PMMA-2007-12.pdf

This article published by the Poverty and Economic Policy Network serves as a toolkit for policy makers addressing transient and chronic poverty in Kenya. It urges that poverty targeting criteria must take into account household sizes, gender of household head, dependency ratios, farm sizes, education attainment and geographic characteristics. The authors suggest that in Kenya, the success of education in reducing poverty depends on primary graduates excelling beyond primary schools.

Niger: Innovative food bank keeps families together

2007-10-04

http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/french/regions/africa/ner/voices/banks.htm

In Niger, a combination of recurrent drought and widespread poverty leaves the most vulnerable people unable to cope when environmental shocks occur. Now, a new type of bank provides poor farmers with access to cereal grains when there are seasonal or unexpected food shortages. The banks, managed exclusively by women, are improving nutrition, keeping families together and gathering interest in the form of grain in the warehouses.

Africa: Does the private sector care about AIDS?

2007-10-04

http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/5850

How do firms decide to provide HIV/AIDS prevention services? In this CGD Working Paper, Visiting Fellow Vijaya Ramachandran analyzes data from 860 firms and 4,955 workers in Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. She finds that larger firms, and those with more highly skilled workers invest more in AIDS prevention. Firms in which more than 50 percent of workers are unionized are also more likely to do more prevention activity.

Africa: HIV mothers 'need focused healthcare post-birth'

2007-10-04

http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=3947&language=1

Researchers are calling for enhanced healthcare for HIV-infected mothers after they give birth, following a study showing that in the two-year period after birth, mothers with HIV have a high incidence of infectious diseases. The study findings were published this week (1 October) in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

Global: UNAIDS head puts the spotlight on children and teens

2007-10-04

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=39469

The executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is urging action as concerns the transmission of HIV to children through sexual abuse, incest and early teenage sex. Many outreach programmes target HIV-positive pregnant women and young children, and progress is being made in this arena, Peter Piot told IPS during a recent conference at Harvard Medical School in the eastern U.S. city of Boston.

South Africa: Hospital project attempts to revive Johannesburg inner city

2007-10-04

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74623

A new focus on healthcare in South Africa's most densely populated inner-city suburb, is to help regenerate a community hard hit by HIV/AIDS, poverty and crime. Hillbrow used to be the most trendy and cosmopolitan area in Johannesburg; today it is thought to be one of the most tightly packed places on the continent.

Zimbabwe: Bulawayo's water crisis cripples AIDS efforts

2007-10-04

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74579

Zimbabwe's economic woes have taken their toll on Thembelihle House, (meaning 'Good Hope' in Ndebele) an HIV and AIDS nursing home in Mpopoma, a high-density suburb in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city, but the severe water shortage has been even more crippling. "This is the ninth straight day that we have gone without [running] water," Priscilla MacIsaac, Thembelihle's sister-in-charge, told IRIN/PlusNews. "It makes us feel so helpless."

Zimbabwe: People living with HIV/AIDS use new ways to handle hard times

2007-10-04

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74599

Dire shortages of such essentials as electricity and water are forcing Zimbabweans living with HIV/AIDS to combat the country's hardships with new and novel approaches. According to the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey, 18.1 percent of the population of about 11.5 million are infected with HIV - the sixth highest prevalence in the world.

Africa: Equipping universities to join the war against poverty

2007-10-04

http://www.scidev.net/content/editorials/eng/equipping-universities-to-join-the-war-against-poverty.cfm

Universities in developing countries should ditch the 'ivory tower' legacy of colonialism and enhance their links with the world outside, according to David Dickson, Director, SciDev.Net. Too many universities in developing countries sustain an image of themselves as elitist institutions, cut off from the needs and interests of the society that surrounds them.

Nigeria: President halts privatisation of Unity Schools

2007-10-04

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74602

President Umaru Yar'Adua's administration has halted an initiative of his predecessor to privatise 102 elite public secondary schools across Nigeria. “The manner and rush in which the pubic-private partnership arrangement was put in place did not give room for consideration of wider views and ideas on how best the schools could be effectively and efficiently managed,” said Education Minister Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu in a 27 September statement.

DRC: World Bank accused of razing forests

2007-10-04

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=321036

The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. The report by the independent inspection panel also accuses the bank of misleading the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) government about the value of its forests and of breaking its own rules.

Eastern Africa: La Niña: Worst is yet to come, warn climatologists

2007-10-04

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74578

Eastern Africa could face dry conditions early next year, with the possibility of seasonal rains being delayed by the effects of a climate phenomenon called La Niña, climatologists say. "The second rainy season starts now for the Horn of Africa and Eastern Africa - we expect the rains to be near normal over much of the Greater Horn of Africa," said Bwango Apuuli, deputy director of the Nairobi-based Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC) of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the regional grouping.

Global: Developing countries need help to fight climate change

2007-10-04

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24171

Senior officials from a number of developing countries have called for greater international cooperation to help the world’s poor and vulnerable States respond to climate change – the central focus of this year’s annual high-level debate of the General Assembly. Marco Hausiku, the Foreign Minister of Namibia, said climate change is a global issue with serious implications for economic growth, sustainable development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of global anti-poverty targets toward the year 2015.

South Africa: High stakes battle between mining and environment

2007-10-04

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=39470

Environmentalists and tour operators appear to be losing the battle against mining companies in Mpumalanga, a province in the east of South Africa. This confrontation - which also pits two ministries against each other - will determine the future of hundreds of lakes and rivers, and has implications for the economic sustainability of the province. All parties in the long running dispute argue that they are working towards the economic development of the province in general, and of the Mpumalanga Lake District in particular. They differ fundamentally, however, over methods of achieving this goal and over the long term sustainability of their respective plans.

Sudan: Ugandan troops accused of plundering trees

2007-10-04

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=320540

Ugandan troops looted truckloads of valuable trees from south Sudan when they were pursuing Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who were hiding in the region, a research group said on Friday. The Swiss-based Small Arms Survey said the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) cut teak trees in southern Sudan's Equatoria region during Operation Iron Fist, which had been approved by the Khartoum government.

South Africa: Police Violence in Sydenham - Testimony by Church Leaders

2007-10-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/land/43546

We are appalled and deeply disturbed by the unprovoked violent and aggressive action of the SAPS at the public gathering organised by Abahlali baseMjondolo held in Sydenham, Durban on 28 September.
Police Violence in Sydenham, 28 September 2007

A Testimony by Church Leaders

We are appalled and deeply disturbed by the unprovoked violent and aggressive action of the SAPS at the public gathering organised by Abahlali baseMjondolo held in Sydenham, Durban on 28 September. In good conscience, we cannot remain silent in the face of the SAPS’s flagrant disregard of our country’s legal provision for our hard won right to express dissent, let alone their sheer disrespect of our common humanity as children of God.
As leaders in various churches and ecumenical organisations, we were present in the march organised by Abahlali, joining with them in their call for an end to the ongoing eviction and exclusion of the poor, and the destruction of their homes. The march was extremely well prepared, with the city officials being given ample notice, and arrangements having been made with the SAPS. The march was conducted in a disciplined manner, with the clear and stated intention being to deliver a memorandum of demands to the Mayor. Whilst the marchers were waiting for the Mayor to arrive to receive the memorandum, the SAPS chose to attack the people assembled at the agreed upon venue. We wish to state clearly as eyewitnesses, that prior to this attack by the police:
• no participant of the march threatened any violence, or threw, or threatened to throw, stones or sticks or any objects at the police, or any members of the public ;
• no orders were given by the police calling for the dispersal of the people assembled, nor were any instructions or warnings given by the police;
• no “warning shots” or anything of that nature were given by the police.
What we did experience, was a completely unprovoked violent attack by the SAPS on people gathered to submit their demands to the Mayor of our city.

This thuggery is deeply disturbing, and even more so as it was led by senior officers of the SAPS. Instead of protecting members of society, the SAPS violated and betrayed their trust. We cannot allow such behaviour to go unchecked, and expect the leadership of the SAPS to be held accountable for such despicable behaviour. It was with shock that we then learned of the audacity of the SAPS in charging 14 participants of the march with “violating the Gatherings Act” and with “public violence”. The only public violence experienced in Sydenham on 28 September was that inflicted by the SAPS. The attack of the SAPS on these residents leaves us outraged.

In the face of this violent attack by the SAPS, and in keeping with our vocation as church, we will continue to stand alongside the poor as they struggle for the recognition of their own humanity and dignity. We cannot be silent whilst our brothers and sisters suffer such brutal injustice.
"In Truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of my brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me…" (Matthew 25:40).
Bishop Purity Malinga (Methodist Church of Southern Africa)
Bishop Rubin Phillip (Anglican Church of Southern Africa)
Rev. Dlamini Rev. Mavuso Rev. Mtetwa Rev. Ndlazi (United Congregational Church of Southern Africa)
Brother Fillipo Mondini (Comboni Missionary)
Dr. Douglas Dziva (KwaZulu Natal Christian Council)
Dr. L. Ngoetjana (KwaZulu Natal Christian Council)
Mr. David Ntseng (Church Land Programme)
Mr. Graham Philpott (Church Land Programme)

Further links: http://abahlali.org/node/2664 and http://abahlali.org/node/2656

Africa: Promotion of FOI laws applauded

2007-10-03

http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=5358&Language=EN

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) applauds the efforts taken by coalitions to promote Freedom of Information (FOI) Laws in Africa and reaffirms its unflinching support and collaboration with the stakeholders involved in the process. As the world commemorates the International Right to Know Day, the IFJ reiterate its support to the FOI coalitions in Africa and calls on its affiliates to join the movement in order to guarantee access to information and protection of sources in Africa.

Global: Time to involve the media in poverty reduction

2007-10-02

http://www.panos.org.uk/PDF/reports/making_poverty_the_story.pdf

Good journalism can shape public opinion and act as a lever for policy change. It can raise awkward questions and champion the views of poor people. At a time when the world is struggling to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, this PANOS report argues that many international donors are yet to appreciate that a vibrant, independent media sector is essential for development and needs support.

Guinea: Journalists punched, barred from independence ceremony

2007-10-04

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/86747/

On 2 October 2007, Ibrahima N'diaye, a journalist of the privately-owned Nostalgie FM radio station, was clubbed and punched together with other journalists by Red Berets of the Presidential Security Battalion of Guinea. The Red Berets also prevented them from covering the event. A Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent reported that the journalists were supposed to cover a ceremony being held at the National Communications Council (CNC) hall to celebrate Guinea's 50th Independence anniversary, when they had an encounter with the gun-wielding red berets.

Somaliland: Correspondent in custody

2007-10-04

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23846

Reporters Without Borders calls for the release of reporter Ahmed Aadan Dhere, who was arrested four days ago in the city of Berbera, in the east of the northern breakaway state of Somaliland, and has been held ever since at Berbera police headquarters. Dhere is the correspondent of Haatuf, a privately-owned daily based in the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa.

Zimbabwe: Intelligence services draw up blacklist of journalists

2007-10-03

http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/blacklist021007.htm

Reporters Without Borders have strongly condemned the action of the Zimbabwean intelligence services in compiling a blacklist of at least 15 journalists working for independent news media who are to be subjected to "strict surveillance" and other unspecified "measures" in the run-up to next year's presidential and parliamentary elections.

Zimbabwe: Police arrest 2 actors and journalist over satirical play

2007-10-03

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news021007/actors021007.htm

On September 29 plain-clothes police stormed the backstage area at ‘Theatre in the Park’ after a performance of ‘The Final Push,’ a new play by Daniel Maphosa, and arrested actors Sylvanos Mudzvova and Anthony Tongani. James Jemwa, an independent journalist who was filming the play, was also arrested when he questioned the police as to why the actors were being detained. The 3 were taken to a truck and their whereabouts were not known until Monday. Theatre producer Daves Guzha said the actors were held at Harare police headquarters and were then released on Tuesday.

Chad: Rebels, government initial peace accord

2007-10-04

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03406236.htm

Four Chadian rebel groups initialled a peace agreement with the government on Wednesday at talks in Libya, a Chadian official said, but the leader of the main faction said there were many points left to resolve. "The contents are secret. An agreement should be officially signed very soon in a ceremony that will bring together heads of state in Tripoli," a senior Chadian government official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters in Chad's capital N'Djamena.

Mali: Conflict over natural resources risks serious escalation

2007-10-04

http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdf/full/12533IIED.pdf

This International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) report provides insight into the local management of conflict over natural resources between herders and farmers in north-western Mali. The study finds that social, economic and environmental change within the region has led to growing pressure on natural resources and a marked deterioration in relations between farmers and herders. The paper warns that because this conflict is based on ethnicity, there is potential for serious escalation.

Somalia: fighting rocks capital

2007-10-04

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=320976

Fierce clashes erupted in Mogadishu between Ethiopian-backed Somali forces and Islamist fighters, with both sides claiming to have inflicted heavy casualties, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday. The overnight fighting was focused around the former Defence Ministry building in southern Mogadishu and resulted in a fire in Bakara market, where the Islamist insurgents often ambush police patrols.

South Arica: Rescuers save 1 700 trapped miners

2007-10-05

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=321039

Rescue teams working to save 3 200 miners trapped deep underground in a South African gold mine brought 1 700 to the surface on Thursday morning, mine and union officials said. Harmony said the rescue operation was going smoothly and that a secondary lift was bringing up batches of miners stranded underground when the electricity cable of the main lift was cut in an accident.

Sudan: U.N. Mission in Darfur jeopardised by attacks

2007-10-04

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=39499

The 15-member U.N. Security Council, which remains paralysed over the killings and military repression in Burma (Myanmar), joined hands Tuesday to condemn the "murderous attack" last weekend that killed 10 African Union (AU) peacekeepers in South Darfur, Sudan. A presidential statement, reflecting the views of the entire membership, condemned the attack and demanded "that no effort be spared" to identify and bring the perpetrators "to justice".

Sudan: Attack raises questions over hybrid force

2007-10-05

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74645

The 29 September attack on an African peacekeeping base in Darfur has raised fresh questions about the planned transformation of the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) into a hybrid AU-UN force that includes personnel from non-African countries. Ten AU peacekeepers were killed in Haskanita, North Darfur, and 50 others are still missing.

Sudan: Darfur attack kills 10 AU troops, 50 missing

2007-10-04

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=320631

Ten African Union (AU) soldiers were killed and 50 were missing after armed men launched an assault on an AU base in Darfur, the worst attack on AU troops since they deployed in Sudan's violent west in 2004. The AU called it a "deliberate and sustained" assault by about 30 vehicles, which overran and looted the peacekeepers' camp on Saturday night.

Sudan: Darfur: It is time for the African Union to act

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/43540

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Independent Advocacy Project (IAP) have called on the African Union and all African governments, including Nigeria and South Africa to act immediately to demand that the Sudanese government, armed groups and Janjawid militia in Darfur and eastern Chad to halt attacks against civilians and humanitarian agencies.
Press Statement for Immediate Release
Media Contact
Gbenga Ogundare (gogundare@ind-advocacy-project.org)
Adetokunbo Mumuni (info@serap-nigeria.org)

DARFUR: IT IS TIME FOR THE AFRICAN UNION TO ACT
Groups release 5-Point Programme for Ending Violence in Darfur on The 4th Global Darfur Day of Action

LAGOS, 17 SEPTEMBER, 2007: Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Independent Advocacy Project (IAP) have called on the African Union and all African governments, including Nigeria and South Africa to act immediately to demand that the Sudanese government, armed groups and Janjawid militia in Darfur and eastern Chad to halt attacks against civilians and humanitarian agencies.

These urgent demands are contained in the 5-Point Programme for Ending Violence in Darfur which the groups released in Lagos today to mark the Save Darfur Day. SERAP and IAP are two of several groups across the globe undertaking activities to draw attention to the plight of the people of Darfur.

In particular, SERAP and IAP invite the Nigerian and South African governments to use their influence and authority within the AU to ensure that other African governments and their international partners implement this Programme. The recommendations contained in the 5-Point Programme are interrelated, and they are all important in the restoration of peace and security in Darfur, and in establishing a culture of human rights in the country as a whole.

Specifically, the groups want:
The AU and African governments to publicly condemn violence: ‘All AU member states must speak out consistently and strongly against continuing violence in Darfur, highlighting its gravity and impact on neighbouring countries such as Chad and Central African Republic, and on peace and security in Africa. Nigeria and South Africa should provide the leadership in this regard.

The AU and African governments should ask for full protection of civilians in Darfur: ‘The AU and African governments should demand immediate end to continuing suffering and attacks against civilian population in Darfur. They must publicly ask the government of Sudan to immediately and fully implement UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 1769.

The AU and African governments must demand immediate deployment of the AU-UN hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur: ‘The AU and African governments must support a prompt and sufficient deployment of the hybrid force in Darfur by generating the necessary military, police and civilian personnel, as well as essential financial and material resources. They should work expeditiously with the UN to reinforce AMIS in order to ensure full protection for civilian population in Darfur.

The AU and African governments should publicly demand full accountability and prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed in Darfur: ‘The AU and African governments should publicly demand and declare their support for full accountability and prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed in Darfur. They should immediately and publicly call for prompt, impartial, effective and full investigation and prosecution of those suspected to be responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. They should insist on full and appropriate reparation for the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

The AU and African governments must support and invest in the establishment of rule of law and a culture of human rights in the whole of Sudan:
’The AU and African governments should work very closely with the UN and other partners to establish lasting peace, rule of law and a culture of human rights in Sudan. They should immediately establish an AU Special Commission on Sudan to draw up a strategy and plan of action for restoring lasting peace and establishing respect for human rights in Sudan. This Commission should work in consultation with the government of Sudan and must involve all segments of civil society in Sudan in its work.

‘Darfur remains a place of violence and terrifying insecurity. Ready availability of weapons has trapped civilian population in Darfur in a web of armed attacks that grows ever more complex’, say IAP’s Gbenga Ogundare and SERAP’s Tokunbo Mumuni in the joint statement.

Note for Editors
‘Paramilitary forces armed by the Sudanese government grow ever stronger while more and more armed opposition groups emerge. Fighting is often between groups – including ethnic groups – formerly on the same side. One thing has not changed: it is still civilians who pay the price. The UN estimates that 4.2 million people in Darfur rely on humanitarian aid. They include 2.2 million gathered in camps for the displaced. People are still fleeing. Between January and August 2007, according to UN figures, almost a quarter of a million people fled, some for the third or fourth time.’

Sudan: Ethiopia pledges 5,000 peacekeepers to Darfur

2007-10-04

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0484843.htm

Ethiopia on Thursday pledged 5,000 troops to a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region. The 26,000-strong joint mission is to replace a hard-pressed AU force that lacks experience, equipment and cash and has been unable to stop the conflict that has caused a humanitarian crisis in which some 200,000 people are estimated to have died.

Sudan: Government pledges $300m Darfur recompense

2007-10-04

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=320937

Sudan's president has promised to pay $300-million in compensation to the country's war-torn Darfur region, tripling a previous pledge, former United States president Jimmy Carter said on Wednesday. Carter spoke during a tour of Darfur which was marred by a heated exchange between the former president and Sudanese security who prevented him visiting a Darfur tribal leader.

East Africa: Software development support for Uganda

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/43534

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the government of Uganda and Microsoft have signed a letter of intent pledging to set up a local economic growth software centre within twelve months and a software development programme for the country. The pact was signed by Uganda's minister of Information and Communication Technology Dr. Ham Mukasa Mulira, Dr. Geoffrey Mariki, the UNIDO representative for East Africa and Mr. Louis Otieno, the Microsoft general manager for East and Southern Africa.
Highway Africa News Agency

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the government of Uganda and Microsoft have signed a letter of intent pledging to set up a local economic growth software centre within twelve months and a software development programme for the country.

The pact was signed by Uganda's minister of Information and Communication Technology Dr. Ham Mukasa Mulira, Dr. Geoffrey Mariki, the UNIDO representative for East Africa and Mr. Louis Otieno, the Microsoft general manager for East and Southern Africa.

"By forstering information and communication technology innovations and solutions, the signatories hope to enhance the role that Ugandan software developers and ICT graduates can play in the development of the country's economy," said a statement issued after the signing ceremony held on Friday at the Serena hotel in Kampala.

The signatories also believe that local ICT capacity building enables the development of solutions that are tailored to local needs and are presented in local languages. This in turn creates new opportunities for innovation, business processing, outsourcing services and industrial development.

Dr. Mariki said the developments are being built on a memorandum of understanding signed by UNIDO and Microsoft in July this year in which both partners agreed to pull their respective expertise to support small and medium sized enterprises and to foster innovation and competitiveness.

The partnership recognizes the importance of harnessing ICT for promoting sustainable industrialization as a means of improving livelihoods in developing countries particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

"Information and Communication technology is a key development tool as it contributes to increased productivity and helps stimulating a competitive knowledge based economy."

"More public-private partnerships are needed such as the one established with Microsoft to bring Africa closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goals" said Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, the UNIDO Director General.

Over the past years UNIDO in close cooperation with local public and private sector representatives and with funding from the Austrian Development Agency has developed a network of pilot district business information centres in the Ugandan districts of Arua, Jinja, Mbale, Soroti, Masakaans Kabale.

"Their main objective is to use ICT to help local entrepreneurs by increasing their productivity and competitiveness of the local private sector."

Microsoft supports this initiative in order to develop relevant ICT related services and training for the rural business community including awareness building on the benefits of ICT tools through its digital literacy programme and small and medium enterprise relevant training curriculum.

A series of training programmes and solutions are being offered through the district information business centres.

Global: New Internet tools Help to enhance development

2007-10-04

http://www.iicd.org/articles/new-internet-tools-will-help-to-enhance-development

Although a lot still needs to be explored, one thing is certain: there is a strong will to identify ways in which the latest participatory web-based tools, for example Web 2.0, can be used to improve collaboration and share experiences for the benefit of rural development. More than 300 participants from all over the world shared their experiences with Web 2.0 tools at the first Web 2.0 conference for the development sector which was held in Rome, Italy from 24-26 October 2007.

South Africa: Deploy ICTs to deliver services

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/43535

The South African E-government Learning Network workshop was held recently in Pretoria to learn about Legislative framework that governs ICT, Framework gap analysis, Feedback on the implementation of the frameworks and the way-forward for ICTs in South Africa. 'we are here to learn and understand ICT legislation, to improve service delivery and ensure compliance' said Lufuno Raliphana, director at the Department of Public Service and Administration.
Highway Africa News Agency

The South African E-government Learning Network workshop was held recently in Pretoria to learn about Legislative framework that governs ICT, Framework gap analysis, Feedback on the implementation of the frameworks and the way-forward for ICTs in South Africa.
‘we are here to learn and understand ICT legislation, to improve service delivery and ensure compliance’ said Lufuno Raliphana, director at the Department of Public Service and Administration.
Raliphana further pointed out that the frameworks that are being developed are intended to enlighten communities about policies and regulatory framework that are a pillar of the ISAD plan.
Giving the keynote address at the E-government Learning Network Workshop Pria Chetty of Chetty Law said ‘South Africa has joined other African countries in a commitment to address the challenges and barriers to access ICT’s collectively referred to as the digital divide knowing that access to ICT means access to transformative capacity of technology for all south Africans’.
Chetty also said that South Africa has taken strides in providing for legal, economic and developmental frameworks that will serve as foundations for ICTs to deliver benefits and have wide equitable applications.
Chetty also explained that Section Two of the Electronics Communications and Transactions Act, embodies South Africa’s intentions.
The objectives of the Act are to enable and facilitate electronics communications and transaction in the public interest. The ECT Act further provides legal validity to electronic communications and transactions and has ushered in an era of e-commerce in South Africa - E-bucks, Internet banking and mobile banking.

West Africa: More Rural Business Centres for Ghana

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/43536

Over 500,000 people in Ghana's rural and peri-urban communities are benefiting from the establishment of about 69 Rural Business Centres (RBCs) aimed at connecting the communities to the outside world and also to educate them on the uses and benefits of ICTs. The centres, established under the Ghana Telecom's eCommerce and Renewable Energy (eCARE) programme has been running since 2003 with just about three of such centres piloted as at 2005.
Highway Africa News Agency

Over 500,000 people in Ghana's rural and peri-urban communities are benefiting from the establishment of about 69 Rural Business Centres (RBCs) aimed at connecting the communities to the outside world and also to educate them on the uses and benefits of ICTs.

The centres, established under the Ghana Telecom's eCommerce and Renewable Energy (eCARE) programme has been running since 2003 with just about three of such centres piloted as at 2005.

The centres were designed and established with similar objectives behind the government's efforts to construct and manage Community Information Centres (CICs) in all the 230 political constituencies in the country.

The objectives are to educate and inform the rural communities on issues bothering on health, education, agriculture and gender among others and also to train the people.

The major objective for the establishment of the RBCs is to bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural communities and also to ensure that the whole of the country become part of the networked economy.

The most recent of the RBCs under the eCARE programme was commissioned last week at Abokobi, a peri-urban community in the Ga South district of the Greater Accra region.

The RBCs are made up of refurbished 20 footer shipping containers equipped with telephones, multi-media computers, copiers, scanners, printers and solar panels.

Centres commissioned recently have broadband supported internet and e-learning facilities to make them more attractive to users and to become more relevant in the face of stiff competition from mobile phones.

The eCARE centres are managed by entrepreneurs who are screened, trained and expected to make some monetary commitments in order to become part owners of the centres and thereby ensure that they are profitable.

The managers are expected to own the centres over time as profits from the running of the RBCs will be used to pay back the investment costs to the eCARE programme to be invested in other projects.

Partners in the establishment of the eCARE centres include the United Nations Foundation, UN Environment Programme and the Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment.

More partners including the UNDP are the latest institutions to collaborate with existing partners to establish five more centres at Techimantia, Nadowli, Tumu, Omanjour and Abokobi. The first four communities are located in the Brong Ahafo, Upper East, Upper West and the Greater Accra regions respectively.

The Ghana Commercial Bank and the Information Technology-Enabled Services of the Ministry of Communications also supporting the initiative to extend ICTs to rural communities.

In a most recent development, the Ghana Investment Fund for Telecom Operators (GIFTEL), administrators of the CICs, have come into an agreement with eCARE to collaborate in extending ICTs to community centres in the very remote areas which do not have electricity.

A new technology-oriented university yet to be commissioned is also lending support to the eCARE programme with the e-learning materials to make the RBCs a one stop shop for all ICT services.

The overall benefits of the establishment of the RBCs include the provision of increased access to affordable Information and Communication Technology services in Ghana? rural and peri-urban communities, bridging the digital and energy divide, providing income to the rural youth and reducing poverty in the rural communities which are homes to about 60 per cent of the estimated 20 million population of Ghana.

The programme will also increase access to computers, create awareness on ICTs in underserved-communities and offer business opportunities for entrepreneurs living in rural communities.

Africa: IWMF accepting proposals for research project

2007-10-02

http://www.iwmf.org/africa/pdfs/PROG_IWMF_RFP.pdf

The International Women’s Media Foundation seeks proposals for a research consultant to conduct a needs assessment of the current news media environment with respect to agriculture, rural development and women in Africa. The needs assessment is an integral part of the first phase of a four-year project that the IWMF will conduct among news media organizations in Africa.

Global: The Nordic Africa Institute at Frankfurt Book Fair

2007-10-05

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/43600

The Nordic Africa Institute is organising, in co-operation with Dag Hammarskjold Foundation and Council for Economic and Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) a panel debate on the topic 'Has Africa got anything to say?' Academic cultural and publishing perspectives at Frankfurt Book Fair, International Centre (Hall 5.0 D 901) , on Friday 12th Oct. 11.30-13.00.
The Nordic Africa Institute organises, in co-operation with Dag Hammarskjold Foundation and Council for Economic and Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) a panel debate on the topic 'Has Africa got anything to say?' Academic cultural and publishing perspectives at Frankfurt Book Fair, International Centre (Hall 5.0 D 901) , on Friday 12th Oct. 11.30-13.00.

In the panel researchers, publishers and journalists discuss capacity-building, opportunities and obstacles in knowledge production, publishing and dissemination in and out of Africa and also the question of gatekeepers and publishing monopolies in international publishing.

The participants are:
Prof. Fantu Cheru (previously American University, Washington DC and since 1 August 2007 Research Director at The Nordic Africa Institute);
Mr Svante Weyler (publisher and author, Sweden);
Dr Henning Melber (Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, Sweden);
Ms Tainie Mundondo, African Publishers Network (Ghana/Zimbabwe); and Prof. Fred Hendricks, CODESRIA and Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
The moderator is Dr Manfred Loimeier, (journalist, Germany)

The Nordic Africa Institute has also a stand at the Fair (Hall 8.0 L974). You are cordially invited to have a look at our publications and enjoy some refreshments.

We are looking forward to meeting you in Frankfurt!

The Nordic Africa Institute, Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, CODESRIA

South Africa: Conference, Labour Crossings: World, Work and History

2007-10-02

http://web.wits.ac.za/Academic/Humanities/SocialSciences/HistoryWorkshop/

A call for papers has been issued for Labour Crossings: World , Work and History, an international conference to be held at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa from Friday 5 September to Monday 8 September 2008, and organised by the History Workshop and the Centre for Sociological Research, South Africa, in association with the International Association of Labour History Institutions and the International Conference of Labour and Social History.

Tanzania: Mobilizing Aid for Trade: Focus Africa

2007-10-02

http://www.uneca.org/aidfortrade/

A high-level dialogue entitled Mobilizing Aid for Trade: Focus African countries will take place in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, the 1st and 2nd of October 2007. This event is organized by the African Development Bank, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in cooperation with the World Bank and hosted by the Government of Tanzania.

London: Associate Director for European Operations and Personnel, Human Rights Watch

2007-10-04

http://www.hrw.org/jobs/docs/2007/09/07/uk16828.htm

The Associate Director for European Operations and Personnel will play a lead role in the management and development of HRW’s fast-growing European operations. He or she will be responsible for creating, implementing, and monitoring systems and processes for the effective management of human resources, finances, accounting, administration, facilities, and strategic planning across all of HRW’s European locations.

South Africa: Associates Civil Society Watch

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/43538

CIVICUS seeks to recruit Associates for its Civil Society Watch Programme (CSW).
CSW seeks to expose, address and prevent threats to civil society, particularly related to freedoms of association, expression and assembly. More information:

www.civilsocietywatch.org Candidates should forward above documents and information to: humanresources@civicus.org

South Africa: Deputy Director (Communications and fundraising)

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/43537

Deputy Director (Communications and fundraising)
AFRA is an independent progressive Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), working with rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal on land rights and rural development issues.
AFRA is a progressive NGO that supports Affirmative Action. A competitive salary will be offered commensurate with skill and experience. Ranging between R12000.00 – R16000.00 excl. benefits. AFRA will only shortlist and interview those that meet all requirements. Please send a CV and a hand written letter (max. 2 pages) motivating how you meet the requirements to:

Director AFRA · 123 Loop street , Pietermaritzburg 3201 · PO Box 2517 Pietermaritzburg 3200 · Fax: 033 345 5106 Tel: 033 345 7607 · Email: lisa@afra.co.za

USA: Program Associate for Gender Integration and Program Support, Africa Education Initiative Ambassadors' Girls' Scholarship Program

2007-10-04

http://www2.winrock.org/people/jobs.asp

The Program Associate will assist the AEI-AGSP team with creating new and revising existing methods and tools to integrate gender into AGSP program activities, including specific tools and strategies to mentor and support boy scholars. In addition to gender integration support, the Program Associate will also assist the AGSP team with financial and programmatic management for approximately 30 African subcontracting partner organizations in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This position is 100% program funded. The deadline is 10 October 2007.

Zambia: Programme Officer - Radio Governance Project

2007-10-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/43532

The position will be based in Lusaka, with extensive travel to 16 project sites in Lusaka and all the provinces and will be housed within the Broadcasting Programme of MISA Zambia.
For further information Email: brian@misazambia.org.zm

Fahamu