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Kenyans must seize democracy for themselves

Mukoma Wa Ngugi and Firoze Manji

2008-02-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/46467

It has taken over 1,500 Kenyan lives, hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people, a destroyed economy, and intensified mistrust between ethnicities that will last generations for both Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga to realize what everyone knew from the beginning: “Neither side can realistically govern the country without the other. There must be real power-sharing to move the country forward and begin the healing and reconciliation process”.

We applaud Kofi Annan for steering Kenya back to sanity. But we also have to understand that this peace deal is an emergency stopgap solution so that the wounds of rigged elections, mobilized militias, ethnic cleansing, and extra-judicial killings may not bleed the country to death.

The Kenyan people on whose backs this power sharing deal has been signed have to seize democracy for themselves if change is to be real and long lasting, and in service of the Kenyan people and not the competing politicians.

We applaud the deal for peace but also recognize the work for a democracy that serves the people and not the elite is just starting.

We have been offered the shell of democracy, but the struggle is for its content.

We call for a democracy with content of equal land redistribution because land was at the heart of this crisis.

We call for a democracy with the content of economic justice because it is our discontent with extreme poverty that was used against us by the same politicians we are going to reward with cabinet positions.

We call for a democracy with the content of justice. In 1963, our first authoritarian leader, Jomo Kenyatta, asked us to forgive but not forget British colonialism. What he meant was forgive and forget. Let justice be the keeper of our memory.

We call for a democracy that protects its citizens from the excesses of the state. The police killings of unarmed electoral protestors recalls the extra-judicial killings of hundreds of young men criminalized because they are poor in May to June, 2007.

The police force we inherited from British colonialism was trained to see the people as the enemy. We call not only for a retraining of the police, but also for the officers and politicians who gave the shoot-to-kill orders to be brought to justice

We call for a democracy that has the content of justice, if we are to end of cycle of violence and counter violence, revenge and counter-revenge.

We call for a systematic disarming of all militia and the bringing to justice all those responsible for killings, injuries and destabilization.

We call for guarantees of safe passage and return of those violently displaced from their homes. Those who have suffered loss need to be compensated.

We call on an immediate investigation on behalf of the victims of sexual violence and rape and the bringing to justice those responsible.

We call for an independent judicial inquiry into the allegations of election rigging that led to the current crisis.

We have been very good at forgetting – the February 25th anniversary of the Wagalla massacres of 1984 in which over a thousand Kenyan Somalis were killed by the Moi government just passed without as much as a murmur. The recent Eldoret Killings recall the Eldoret killings of 1992 in which over a thousand Kenyans lost their lives. We call for historical and present day crimes against the Kenyan people and humanity to be punished.

We welcome the calm that the agreement brings. But this must not be confused with peace: peace will only be possible through justice and the placing of the truth in the public arena and addressing injustice and inequality.

A process must begin now to consider whether the constitution as it exists, and as it will be amended by parliament shortly, is the constitution that can guarantee peace, or whether we need to establish one that reflects the vision and values of all citizens.

In short, we call for a democracy that serves the people, and not a democracy that dresses up thieves and political thugs in suits.

Let us make sure Kibaki and Raila do not forget that they are in power as a result of over 1,500 needless deaths and the thousands who have been displaced and the anxiety and fear of millions of Kenyans.

A true democracy is for the Kenyan people to win, or to lose.


*Mukoma Wa Ngugi and Firoze Manji are the editors of Pambazuka News.

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

The full text of the agreement signed by Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga is available at the link below.
Kenya: Agreement on the Principles of Partnership of the Coalition Government

Preamble:

The crisis triggered by the 2007 disputed presidential election has brought to the surface deep-seated and long-standing divisions within Kenyan society. If left unaddressed, these divisions threaten the very existence of Kenya as a unified country. The Kenyan people are now looking to their leaders to ensure that their country will not be lost.

Given the current situation, neither side can realistically govern the country without the other. There must be real power-sharing to move the country forward and begin the healing and reconciliation process.

With this agreement, we are stepping forward together, as political leaders, to overcome the current crisis and to set the country on a new path. As partners in a coalition government, we commit ourselves to work together in good faith as true partners, through constant consultation and willingness to compromise.

This agreement is designed to create an environment conducive to such a partnership and to build mutual trust and confidence. It is not about creating positions that reward individuals. It seeks to enable Kenya's political leaders to look beyond partisan considerations with a view to promoting the greater interests of the nation as a whole. It provides the means to implement a coherent and far-reaching reform agenda, to address the fundamental root causes of recurrent conflict, and to create a better, more secure, more prosperous Kenya for all.

To resolve the political crisis, and in the spirit of coalition and partnership, we have agreed to enact the National Accord and Reconciliation Act 2008, whose provisions have been agreed upon in their entirety by the parties hereto and a draft copy is appended hereto.

Its key points are:

* There will be a Prime Minister of the Government of Kenya, with authority to coordinate and supervise the execution of the functions and affairs of the Government of Kenya.

* The Prime Minister will be an elected member of the National Assembly and the parliamentary leader of the largest party in the National Assembly, or of a coalition, if the largest party does not command a majority.

* Each member of the coalition shall nominate one person from the National Assembly to be appointed a Deputy Prime Minister.

* The Cabinet will consist of the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the two Deputy Prime Ministers and the other Ministers. The removal of any Minister of the coalition will be subject to consultation and concurrence in writing by the leaders.

* The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers can only be removed if the National Assembly passes a motion of no confidence with a majority vote.

* The composition of the coalition government will at all times take into account the principle of portfolio balance and will reflect their relative parliamentary strength.

* The coalition will be dissolved if the Tenth Parliament is dissolved; or if the parties agree in writing; or if one coalition partner withdraws from the coalition.

* The National Accord and Reconciliation Act shall be entrenched in the Constitution.

Having agreed on the critical issues above, we will now take this process to Parliament. It will be convened at the earliest moment to enact these agreements. This will be in the form of an Act of Parliament and the necessary amendment to the Constitution.

We believe by these steps we can together in the spirit of partnership bring peace and prosperity back to the people of Kenya who so richly deserve it.

Kenya: Hanging on to a fragile peace

Pambazuka News Editors

2008-02-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/46468

Pambazuka News spoke with Wangui Wa Goro, a public intellectual, writer, translator and academic and an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Human Rights and Social Justice at London Metropolitan University about the power sharing agreement reached by Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga on February 28, 2008. Pambazuka News readers will remember her for her incisive commentary on Kenya pre and post the crisis. We spoke about the implications of the peace-deal on the larger questions of peace and justice, the meaning of democracy itself, the continuing role of Civil Society Organizations and lessons for other African countries.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: The power sharing deal has Raila Odinga as the Prime Minister and Mwai Kibaki remaining the President. We are not yet clear on exact day-to-day functioning of each – but what are your initial thoughts?

WANGUI WA GORO: I am glad that the parties have come to some agreement at the moment because it will ease the tension in the country. I am however wary because of the way in which we have witnessed the mediation process. I think that many Kenyans are skeptical about the goodwill of some in the process. As Kenyans, we are also aware of our capacity for duplicity and doubletalk ("ujanja").

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Both Kibaki and Raila formed a coalition government shortly after the 2002 elections that collapsed and in way, the violence we saw was a direct result of their inability to get along – do you a see a difference this time? Will it hold?

WANGUI WA GORO: I think the fact that the process is being witnessed nationally and internationally by all will place a huge burden on those who want to cheat unlike before when “Memorandums of Understanding” were agreed behind closed doors. This is a significant difference between 2002 and 2008.

I am however still concerned that the Kenyan people should know the outcome of the election that just took place. These agreements could undermine our confidence in the mechanisms of democracy and the institutions for this. We are bowing to the will of individuals rather than to the will of our nation and this is wrong. I hope, therefore, that this arrangement is a transitional one. We are rolling back our attainment of multipartism which should provide checks and balances.

I think the loss of life and displacements we have witnessed should act as a wake up call for all of us and the world and if the two leaders are serious and actually work together, this may work. I still believe that the civil society, other political players and the international community should continue pressing for the delivery of the agreement in order for the transitional process and justice to take place. The hard work now has a framework as does the chance for a new constitution. Kenyans will have to work hard to heal the nation and to continue to seek peace, truth and justice. I hope that these processes can heal the nation. I pray that for this alone, that peace will hold.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Do you see a continuing role for the international community? Should there be a difference between African and Western pressure?

WANGUI WA GORO: No. I think that what should matter the most is what Kenyans want and the African and international pressure should reflect that will of the Kenyan people. I see a continued role of the international community in "supervising" the agreement and ensuring that Kenya does not slide into anarchy. This they can do by using the agreement to hold individuals and their parties to account.

I hope that The Kofi Annan Team remains with Kenyans for the duration of the Transitional Period in an advisory or consultative role to ensure that we remain within the spirit and letter of the agreements. I hope that Parliament will also take responsibility for running the affairs of the country and that Kenyans find mechanisms for engaging constructively with their leaders, particularly the civil society in an organized form. We have never been here in our history.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: The civil society organizations have been agitating for an arrangement that would make peace possible. What should their role be in the post-peace deal period?

WANGUI WA GORO: The role of the civil society is now more crucial than ever. They will have to be the domestic monitors of the agreement and further, because of their knowledge and the way in which they have conducted themselves over the last two months, they will find an important role as a lobby which is not entrenched in the processes. They can engage constructively and this will be very important for the country. We have also seen the importance of their vanguard role in this process. There are many lessons to be learned here and I hope that unlike 2002, they do not let up.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: A short question- Where are the people in this deal?

WANGUI WA GORO: That is precisely the point! I believe that the discussions with Dr. Kofi Annan are continuing on the longer-term issues this coming Friday. We should wait and see what is agreed then.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Moving forward - The Kenyan society has been divided in ways we have not seen before- probably not since the end of British colonialism. More than 1,500 dead, hundreds of thousands of refugees, not to speak of an economy in tatters – how do we repair the torn fabric?

WANGUI WA GORO: On the Kenyan society being divided for the first time, this is not correct. Divide and rule tactics were part of British colonial rule. Kenya has also had very difficult moments in its history such as the assassination of Tom Mboya when the so called differences amongst ethnicities were supposed to be very high. People were very hurt then.

And many other terrible things have happened to people like Pio Gama Pinto, Bishop Muge, JM Kariuki, Robert Ouko etc. and Kenyans can see patterns here which are not ethnically driven. Some of these leaders were asking fundamental questions about injustice and inequality. We have also had a coup d'etat in 1982 when many people died, and in 1984 many Kenyans were killed in the Wagalla Massacre. In 1992 many Kenyans were displaced from the Rift Valley and many were also killed - over 1500. And between 1982 to 1990 many Kenyans were jailed, tortured, killed and exiled. These traumas have continued since independence. I hope that this disregard for life and for Kenyans stops for once and for all. All of us are important and our lives are precious in equal measure.

You will also know that those who fought for freedom have died in abject poverty and without recognition until recently. We have to have a broader understanding of our history and not allow the distortions of "ethnicism" to blind us to the class dimension, corruption, poverty and disenfranchisement of the majority Kenyans of all ethnicities, cultures and religions.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Can we reflect on the role of Western democracy on historical legacies? Does the Kenya crisis suggest there is something wrong with Western democracy? What does African democracy look like?

WANGUI WA GORO: I think that there is a difference between the cultures of practice of "democracy" and what we understand as democratic principals. Democracies are built over time through good practice over years. There must be some of the values of what is called a "good society" which people seem to understand to be in the contract for democracy such as accountability, representation, transparency and the institutions and mechanism for delivering these such as the rule of law, independent institutions such as Parliament and the Judiciary which remove entrenched power from parties or individuals..

Now, I don't think we have seen African Democracy working at its best in Kenya or much of Africa because of the kinds of legacies and traditions and practices we adopted after Independence. You will know we inherited the Constitution and some of the practices from colonial rule, in our case from Britain. For instance, the police force was used to defend the state from the people and this culture has continued. We did not have a moment of reflection of the kind of nation state we might want for ourselves. This question of regional representation and distribution of resources for instance is one;, it was raised for debate but then shelved and ignored, and is at the heart of some of the difficulties we have today.

The philosophy of forgive and forget is another. Another is the power of the presidency which grew and grew since Kenyatta and became entrenched in the constitution because people became so frightened of him and the Presidency. This continued under Moi and in 1982, Kenya moved from a de facto one party state to a de jure one party state which really entrenched Moi's dictatorship.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Is it all about what the rulers want, not what citizens want…So we need constitutional reforms that speaks to the Kenyan political reality, for example?

WANGUI WA GORO: I think that is what has come out as a most over riding desire of the Kenyan people. But as you know, fine constitutions can be written, and in fact, the first Kenyan one was not that bad. It is having it implemented that is a problem. Britain for instance does not have a written tradition but it evolves rules and values through Acts of Parliament and the law. Kenyans can use this opportunity to enshrine the kind of nation they want and BOMAS began to address this issue. I think a new constitution will be very good for Kenya because KENYANS will feel that they own it.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What does equality mean to democracy? It is a word that is assumed to be already contained in democracy, yet we see nations with vicious inequalities call themselves democratic - your thoughts?

WANGUI WA GORO: On paper, Kenya has a Bill of Rights which recognises equality. But in reality, we have seen the day to day treatment of women, people with disabilities, people of "other" religions or "ethnicities" treated badly. In public, it is difficult to pass bills against violence against women such as rape. There are no policies on the aged and it is only recently that the rights of the child have come on board.

Words are meaningless if people do not feel protected from their historic and cultural vulnerabilities. Our laws have been couched in ambiguous terms such as both recognising civil law and common law. We are not aware of what these issues mean in a diverse nation state of different ethnicities and religious persuasions so you will have one Kenyan treated differently than another because of common law which recognises the different cultures. We also do not know about each others cultures so we are limited in our arguments for Kenyan universal values. Our democracy will be most tested and beneficial when we address these issues because they lie at the heart of our current disquiet over disenfranchisement from power and lack of self-determination.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Wangui, the question of whether Kenya should be a federal state has come up quite a bit - those for it argue that resources will be distributed better - those against it that it will entrench ethnic tension. Your take?

WANGUI WA GORO: I think that a federal state would be premature. I think that if local government was strong and there was less corruption, such a system could work. As it is now, some regions have been marginalised eternally in punitive ways and naturally they will want to have federal states. Our local government has also not been representative in the political sense or professional enough, similar to the public institutions which remain in a colonial and postcolonial time warp. They need to modernize to reflect the modern Kenyan and global world. Then we have this parallel system of administration of Provincial and District Officers who are powerful but not locally accountable. I think that these arrangements cannot foster democratic engagement when power is distributed through patronage. Appointment to senior positions has also been problematic as has been corruption and the allocation of resources.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: How do we develop and implement a people's agenda?

WANGUI WA GORO: I think that the local issues matter a great deal to people. Their day-to-day lives. Having power and control over their own immediate destiny -which cannot be done by some centralized remote, and often middleclass or bourgeois administration. There needs to be genuine engagement with governance by the people, ways of holding their elected leaders to account and ways for having their voices heard and acted upon. As we have lived in Kenya, it has been hard in the past to have access to your elected leader and people are frightened of these people whom they elected. That is my recollection of Kenya as I knew it then.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Finally Wangui, what can countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa learn from Kenya? Or countries like Uganda or Ethiopia where Museveni or Meles might point to Kenya as a warning for playing around with the fire of democracy? Are there lessons to be gleaned across the board?

WANGUI WA GORO: I think we need to start thinking outside the box. I think the whole of Africa can learn from itself. There are lessons that point to the failures of the post colonial states from the North to the South. You can see the upheaval everywhere. There are particularities about each of our countries, such as the resilience of the pro-people cultures and their continuities. There are also longer traditions of institutionalization in some places like South Africa and the economic power of Apartheid is very deeply entrenched.

So we need to learn from all our cultures and see how we can improve on the particular. The cultures we cultivate are also important, such as the cultures of struggle, the cultures of fear, the cultures of solidarity. What has amazed me in these last few weeks is the strength of individuals and organizations in the civil society and the pro-people movements and their willingness to defend "the good of society".

I hope that Kenyans and our leaders are willing to give peace, truth, justice and reconciliation a try. It will be very difficult to heal our nation now that blood has flown. There is no turning back the clock and these hurts remain for a very long time. We must learn from the holocausts in our continent and elsewhere. Kenya is and can be a wonderful place.

*Wangui Wa Goro, a public intellectual, writer, translator and academic and an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Human Rights and Social Justice at London Metropolitan University.

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

Raila Odinga and his Nigerian Forty Thieves

Pius Adesanmi

2008-02-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/46447

Pius Adesamni looks at the recent Raila Odinga visit with Obasanjo and argues that African ruling classes are so prodigious in the production of political farce that all one needs to do is read African newspapers for absurd realities that no African writer has as yet to match.

Give it to politicians, the military, and other professional hijackers of the state in Africa! They are able to squeeze the juice of comedy out of the stone of unspeakable tragedies they routinely visit on their people and the continent. The most unfortunate victim of the inexhaustible creativity of the African political class, their cynical mastery of the resources of the proscenium, is African fiction. The political class in Africa constitutes the most potent threat to the health of African literature. Simply put, our politicians are driving our writers out of business.

Why do I need to spend my hard-earned money on Wizard of the Crow and Petals of Blood when Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki have manufactured realities in Kenya that Ngugi wa Thiongo’o’s brilliant imagination simply cannot match? All I need is regular internet access to Kenyan newspapers to avail myself of a direct taste of Kenya according to her politicians.

Why do I need Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People and T.M. Aluko’s One Man, One Matchet in my seminar room when the blood and flesh versions of Chief Nanga and Benjamin Benjamin in Abuja have turned Achebe and Aluko into dwarves in the business of fiction? The Nigerian ruling class is so prodigious in the production of political farce that all I need do is read Nigerian newspapers for quotidian realities that no Nigerian writer has the imagination to match.

That African politicians are constantly and permanently ahead of hapless African writers was brought home by two recent events. Ogaga Ifowodo, one of Nigeria’s best poets, wrote an essay in which he imagined a meeting between Mwai Kibaki and Umaru Yar’Adua. What did Yar’Adua tell Kibaki, Ifowodo asked? To create his hypothetical situation, Ifowodo deployed the full arsenal of his trade: sarcasm, hyperbole, allusions, and the like. At the end of the essay, Ifowodo was sure he had delivered his message effectively and unambiguously: the Nigerian presidency is so diseased, so morally compromised, that the possibility of the Nigerian government having a say in the Kenyan debacle can only exist in the realms of fiction and the most outrageous imagination. Given the rotten political pedigree of the people in charge in Abuja, Nigeria’s involvement was so improbable that Ifowodo treated it as fiction, something better left as material for the exclusive use of the African writer.

As is sadly often the case in Africa, Odinga, the politician, was miles ahead of Ifowodo, the writer. Odinga did not wait for Ifowodo’s ink to dry before hopping on a flight to Nigeria last week. His mission? Wait for it: to consult with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria’s immediate past president) and persuade him to convince Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, current president and Obasanjo’s puppet, that it was time Nigeria got involved in fashioning an African solution to Kenya’s political impasse! It has taken Ogaga Ifowodo more than twenty years of sustained production of brilliant poetry to establish his reputation as one of Africa’s leading users of the imagination. Raila Odinga and his Nigerian hosts have eclipsed this record in a couple of hours.

When I read about Odinga’s trip to Nigeria, I had a tough choice between laughing and crying. I settled for the former. To grasp the tragedy in all its unpleasant ramifications, one has to unpack Odinga’s company in Nigeria: Obasanjo and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) machinery. Of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the least said the better. Writing about Obasanjo here would turn this piece into an exposé on unbridled corruption and the defoliation of Nigeria’s destiny in two tragic installments: 1976 – 1979, and 1999 – 2007. Whenever tails are mentioned in a discussion, the toad hurriedly suggests changing the topic and moving on to other issues! So, let’s leave Obasanjo and move on to Yar’Adua and the PDP.

History’s final verdict on African political parties would be hard pressed not to record the PDP as the most vicious, most corrupt, and most visionless political organization ever to bestride the Nigerian – and African political landscape. It would be sheer travesty of justice if the National Party of Henrik Verwoerd and Pieter Botha fared worse than Nigeria’s PDP in the reckoning of history. Ever since its unfortunate formation, the PDP has been home to the worst elements of Nigerian humanity. Although it loves to delude itself as Africa’s largest political party, the truth is that the PDP is Africa’s largest assembly of funny characters with zero moral capital. Excellence in political thuggery, treasury looting, and election rigging are key attributes of membership and upward mobility in party ranks. It is significant that in a supposedly democratic dispensation, the PDP has surpassed Sani Abacha’s record of unresolved political assassinations. The rate of intra-party assassinations became so breathtaking at a point that the inimitable Wole Soyinka baptized the PDP as a “nest of killers”. Soyinka forgot to add that the PDP is also a lair of Africa’s most gifted thieves. To go through the list of party leaders – Party Chieftains in Nigerian parlance – is to be in stark contemplation of the tragedy of modern Nigeria: Olusegun Obasanjo (self-appointed Father of modern Nigeria), Olabode George, Ahmadu Ali, Lamidi Adedibu (stark illiterate, recently designated Father of the PDP!), Andy Uba, Chris Uba, and thousands of other birds of similar feather, looting the state dry in rigged political positions.

That these low-quality characters and their scions have hijacked the Nigerian state is a precise indication of the abysmally low depths to which Nigeria has fallen. Among the many sins of this dishonorable cabal and their dishonorable party, the 2007 election pretty much takes the cake. Nigerians are in agreement with the international community that the PDP’s 2007 electoral heist ranks among the worst in human history. It is unnecessary to rehash the details here. Suffice it to assert that Umaru Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s current president, is the morally compromised custodian of a purloined mandate who has been unable to rise above the debased values of his cabal and do the right thing. Rather, he has ignored the festering leprosy his diseased party has foisted on Nigeria while hypocritically making a show of his determination to cure negligible ringworm infections.

This is a snapshot of the kind of company Raila Odinga went to keep in Nigeria. The story of Nigeria’s sorry pass in the gangrened grip of the PDP cartel is globally ubiquitous: not even a blind and deaf kindergarten pupil in Siberia can claim ignorance of the Nigerian situation. What part of this narrative did Raila Odinga not understand? The ways of the African politician are truly perplexing! How did Raila Odinga arrive at the conclusion that Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and his PDP government, morally compromised perpetrators of the worst electoral heist in human history, are in any position to advise him on the way forward in Kenya? How did he determine that Nigeria’s forty thieves deserve a place at the table of serious African conversations on credible elections, good governance, and democracy? Who are Odinga’s handlers in Kenya? How could all of them have missed the fact that the people he was going to consult in Nigeria practice a version of democracy that consists in assassinating your opponent or rigging your way to political office? Do we need to translate “nest of killers” to Swahili before Mwalimu Odinga can understand that simple expression? By going to consult the worst Nigeria has to offer, Odinga has spat on the graves of the Kenyans who have lost their lives so far and added to our frustration and helplessness as ordinary Nigerians.

Nigerians are in a particularly sensitive phase of their national life. We are a beautiful country of beautiful people who have had the extraordinary misfortune of being held hostage by the worst among us. Although we once contributed exemplary characters to Africa’s leadership pool during the nationalist and immediate post-nationalist eras, we have never known democracy in any real sense. The closest we came to it was on June 12, 1993 when ‘we, the people’ voted in the only free and fair election we have ever known. Our hopes and aspirations were quashed by the same vicious enemy-cabal that aborted our dreams of post-independence nationhood and have held us hostage ever since. Sometimes, this cabal comes in army fatigues; sometimes it wears flowing civilian robes but it is the same rotten organism that perpetually recycles itself. When people who should know better invite the worst we have to offer to the table, the wound cuts deep in the Nigerian psyche. It reminds us painfully of Frostian roads not taken. And in this case, we are much more certain than Frost of what could have been had the right people taken the roads not taken.

It bears repeating: the Nigerian state, currently held hostage by a dishonorable cabal and a bloodthirsty, kleptocratic political party, does not qualify to be consulted or invited to the table when good governance and credible elections in Africa are in the agenda. If Raila Odinga was so desperate for Nigerian advice, all he needed do was ask and we would have supplied him names of Nigerians who qualify to be at the table. Nigeria has more that a hundred million names that could have given Odinga advice from an eminently moral high ground since members of the dishonorable enemy-cabal are, thankfully, in the minority and in no way represent what we have to offer as a people. If Odinga had consulted serious people before embarking on his worthless trip to Nigeria, one would have given him such meritorious names as Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Gani Fawehinmi, Patrick Utomi, Edwin Madunagu, Odia Ofeimun, Okey Ndibe, Omoyele Sowore, just to mention a few. These are among our very best, the kinds of people who still make it possible for Nigerians to defy the rape of their humanity by the jokers in the PDP and identify proudly with their nation.

If, however, Mwalimu Odinga insists on getting his advice on how to move Kenya forward from discredited African sources, we can also help him. Let him return to Nigeria and consult with all the corrupt PDP governors currently facing embezzlement charges. On his way back home, he may want to stop over in Libreville and Yaounde for consultations on credible democracy with Omar Bongo and Paul Biya. A stopover with Eugene Terreblanche in South Africa will spice up things nicely. He may then return to Nairobi and tell Kofi Annan that he has received superior advice from more credible sons of Africa!

* Pius Adesanmi is Associate Professor of English and Director, Project on New African Literatures 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 where this article first appeared. He has contributed to Counterpunch, Slepton and Chimurenga online.

** Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org This article first appeared at The Zeleza Post.

Christopher Nizza and Dara Kell talk about their documentary 'Dear Mandela'

Pambazuka News Editors

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/46432

Pambazuka News is pleased to bring you this interview with the directors of the documentary 'Dear Mandela', Christopher Nizza and Dara Kell. 'Dear Mandela' deals with the growing contradictions in post-Apartheid South Africa where the majority black poor continue to be victimized by the state through measures such as forced evictions. Abahlali baseMjondolo, a new social movement of shackdwellers is challenging the conditions as well as the state of democracy itself in the country - what one the respondents in the documentary calls "new apartheid". You can see a clip of this important and timely documentary at "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZWIZX_8ub8.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: The first question is on the title - Why 'Dear Mandela' and not Mbeki?

CHRISTOPHER NIZZA AND DARA KELL: ‘Dear Mandela’ examines how the lives of the poorest South Africans – those who had the most hope when Apartheid officially ended in 1994 – have changed in the 17 years since Mandela was released from prison. . Again and again, we heard appreciation for what Mandela did – that he sacrificed twenty-seven years of his freedom for the freedom of South Africans. The name ‘Dear Mandela’ emerged after spending time with shack dwellers who told us they saw Nelson Mandela as a ‘second Jesus Christ’. For many South Africans, when Mandela was released from prison, a ‘better life for all’, which became the rallying cry for the newly elected ANC government – finally seemed possible. The people we interviewed often wondered how Mandela would feel if he was allowed to visit the informal settlements, if he saw that conditions have not only failed to improve since the end of Apartheid, they have worsened. Mandela seemed to many of the people we spoke to, to be the one person who could change things, and so this short film almost takes the form of a plea – not just to Mandela, but to the world – to see what has been deliberately kept from view by a current South African government intent on creating ‘world class cities’ in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Can you talk to PZN about the evictions? How are they reminiscent of the apartheid government? Or is that too much of a stretch?

CHRISTOPHER NIZZA AND DARA KELL: While we were filming in Durban with Abahlali baseMjondolo, we spoke to many shack dwellers who were facing eviction. Zamise Hohlo, a sixteen-year-old girl who was born and still lives in the Shannon Drive informal settlement, told us that municipal workers came and demolished her shack while she was at work. Sitting amidst the wreckage, she told us that she was at a crossroads: she could rebuild her shack, but the municipal workers had informed her that if she rebuilt, they would just come and tear it down again.

We have found that there are stereotypes about shack dwellers that go against all of our experience in the time we spent with them. These stereotypes make it easier for the public to turn a blind eye to what is happening them, and make it easier for municipal workers to do their job of ‘clearing the slums’. One of the reasons we want to make this film is because by letting the shack dwellers speak for themselves, their dignity is respected, and our hope is that viewers will be able to see the shack dwellers not as illegal squatters who should be pushed out of the city, but as citizens of South Africa who have the same rights to housing under the Constitution.

Yes, in some ways the evictions are reminiscent of evictions during the Apartheid era. The notorious new ‘Slums Act’ certainly evokes the Native Land Act of 1913, The Group Areas Act of 1950, The Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act of 1951- acts which remove people from their communities and place them far away from the city, away from work, school, clinics. Some shack dwellers told us that what they are experiencing is a ‘New Apartheid’ between the rich and poor. Indeed, several people we interviewed said that life was better under Apartheid. The statistics suggest that life for the poorest of the poor was better under Apartheid - a UN study showed that the number of people living on less that $1 a day has doubled since 1994. These charges are sure to stir controversy and that is one of the motivations we have to continue on this project, to illuminate the rarely told story of post-apartheid South Africa’s most marginalized.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Can you talk about the role of film in bringing about change?

CHRISTOPHER NIZZA AND DARA KELL: In much of the world, the way we communicate is visual. The visual medium is a language that everyone understands from advertisements on the street to television to a growing use of the Internet. While we are working towards a longer film, we posted the 6-minute version of ‘Dear Mandela’ on YouTube and were able to share the insights and struggles of South African shack dwellers instantaneously. Within days, hundreds of people had watched the film. In an age where the gap between rich and poor is increasing globally, there is a need for stories which show not just the plight of the poor, but the fight that they are engaged in. This is one of the main ideas behind Sleeping Giant, our media collective/production company. The corporate media and even some prominent left academics tend to stereotype the world’s poor as being this unruly mass of dangerous, lazy, uneducated people unable to contribute to discussions about issues affecting them most. Through film and video projects produced involving groups like Abahlali we hope to smash those stereotypes by providing a space for people to tell the story of their plight and fight thus projecting a more realistic portrayal.

Those who are struggling to survive while organizing for a better life need our encouragement and support. The film is a celebration of the work of Abahlali as well – of the almost sacred meeting space they have created, where old and young are welcomed and respected; of their refusal to accept the broken promises of the government; of their continuing to march in peaceful protest in the face of intimidating police brutality. And so while many of the stories in ‘Dear Mandela’ are disheartening, what we want to portray is a community that is figuring out the real meaning of democracy – democracy that is a far cry from ‘one man, one vote’ – it’s what Abahlali calls a ‘living politics.’

We’ve done research, and some preliminary filming, and the six-minute film ‘Dear Mandela’ is the culmination of that effort, but we intend to return for a much longer time, where we aim to interview government officials and other relevant players, to show many more sides of a very complex situation

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What other films have you made/are making?

CHRISTOPHER NIZZA AND DARA KELL This is our first venture into the world of feature documentary filmmaking. We have both worked as editors on other documentaries, like the Academy Award-nominated Jesus Camp, State of Fear, and others. We have also led filmmaking workshops for community leaders, to both encourage the use of media in their political work and transfer the skills required to produce media.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What can other Africans and international friends do to help out?

CHRISTOPHER NIZZA AND DARA KELL: From what we could see a major problem for Abahlali is lack of resources. We witnessed how they maximize literally every rusted nail and every tattered piece of wood. This goes on to money that is raised as all funds are decided by collective how to be spent. We saw this as some money came in following the tragic Christmas night shack fires at the Foreman Road. Very careful and respectful consideration goes into how all monies are spent. It is much different then donating money to an NGO where the people living in struggle are more often not the ones making decisions. People interesting in supporting can get some ideas here (http://www.abahlali.org/node/269) on the Abahlali website. The website is also extremely rich with days worth of wonderful reading for anyone interested in this extremely important and courageous work.


*Dara Kell is a South African documentary filmmaker.  She divides her time between South Africa and New York, where she edits documentaries and leads grassroots video-making workshops. 

**Christopher Nizza is a New York born, bred and based director and editor.  He also has worked on a project in the U.S. called the University of the Poor which works to provide education and exchange in a variety of disciplines to organizations working in the struggle to end poverty forever.

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

Of Monarchs and the Power Drunk in Cameroon

Kangsen Feka Wakai

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/46445

This is the problem with Cameroon: All power in the country rests in the hands of one man, the President - Paul Biya.

He is the commander-in-chief-of the armed forces, the Fon of Fons [Chief Monarch amongst all monarchs], the chief magistrate of the land, head treasurer and of course chief legislator.

Truth be told, most of those passing for legitimate legislators and representatives of the people, and they know it, owe their seats to his benevolence. To say the least, Cameroon is a one sophisticated scheme of a neo-colonial entity.

In Cameroon, the president decides when elections are held and who participates in them. He initiates, writes and executes the rules of the contest. And as the sole architect of Cameroon’s nascent democracy, he has the executive privilege of appointing an impartial electoral commission to run the elections. During presidential elections he funds his own campaign and those of his rivals. His appointees declare and certify election results. By the way, in his 25 years in power, he has never lost an election. His party has never lost an election either. Besides, he is his party. His youthful image adorns party uniforms. He is his party's official mascot.

One of the problems facing Cameroon today is that the President has too much power. He knows he has too much power and like most rulers of his inclination uses that power to his utmost advantage with impunity. Biya is accountable to no one and uses that twist of misfortune as a means to serve his ends even if it means drowning an entire nation of over 16 million people in the process.

He is drunk with power but skillful and tactful in his execution of it. And like any effective dictator employs a team of illusionists and reality crafters to perpetuate the lie that has is his reign. The national radio, television and press corps combined form the core of his personal public relations firm. They are a much disciplined regiment and have been loyal to their paymaster.

In Cameroon, the national media is not an instrument of nation building. Its sole purpose is to glorify and celebrate a man whose sole preoccupation has been his own entrenchment in power. The idea of building a viable nation that can compete with other nations in the global economic and political realm is frightening to such a man. It is alien in his worldview and counterproductive to his motives.

So, every decree and decision is meant to tighten his grip on his subjects. The thought of a citizenry confident enough to demand what is theirs by right: freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not compatible with the Biya agenda. The idea of empowering Cameroonians threatens his reign; it is a thought that renders him sleepless. It is a pebble in his shoes.

This is where the issue of fear comes into play in the rusty machinery that runs Cameron. For Biya and his cohorts, fear is a reliable ally in their scheme to impose themselves on the country. It has become their weapon of choice in their assault on the collective psyche of Cameroonians. They employ it will face no judge or jury. In Cameroon, the men and women in uniform are above the law. In fact, they are the law. They arrest, judge, prosecute and execute.

Earlier this year, another instance of the brutality and excesses of the Cameroon police took place in Limbe, South West Province. A Cameroonian citizen but a resident in Germany was visiting relatives when one day he had an encounter with the local police. It would be his last encounter with anyone. A few minutes after a few words were exchanged he was lying in his own pool of blood, murdered. He had been beaten to death on the side of the road in broad daylight. No one intervened. No one can intervene. No one was held accountable and no one will. That is Biya’s Cameroon.

In Biya’s Cameroon riot police shoot live bullets at peaceful protesters.

In Biya’s Cameroon let it be noted for the record that in 2008, civilians can still be detained and beaten to death for verbal infractions with the police. How is this possible in this haven of peace and stability? It is possible because the man who has preponderance of power over all levels of power, Biya, has created the kind of police officer and soldier that serves his and only his interest, not the interest of the citizens they are supposed to serve and protect. The role of the soldier in Cameroon is to serve and protect the President’s interest. The military perpetuate his misrule and are paid generously. They are the first and last lines of defense against freedom in the battlefield of opinions and ideas in Cameroon.

It is their role, the military, to stuff the leechlike gods lording over Cameroon with the carcasses of protesting youth in this season of feasting. Their belches can be heard resonating from the damned walls of Etoudi across a landscape blighted with abuse of power, brutality, corruption, intolerance, lies, misrule and tyranny. They carry the laughter of the remorseless tyrant and his cohorts.

Their laughter is demented and nightmarish, one that rewards evil and celebrates vice. It is making exiles of a people. It is making beggars of a people. It is making thugs of a people. The stench of their vices is putrid. It is nauseating to the human soul. In their shortsightedness, the rulers of Cameroon pollute an entire people’s collective future as a compliment to an already tainted and bloodied past.

Geo-politically, Cameroon is within the French sphere of influence and enjoys some of the privileges that come with being a member of that unenviable fraternity. Biya has friends in high places. He owes his survival to those friends in high places. Like his brother, Idriss Derby in Chad and Omar Bongo in Gabon, he knows if push comes to shove, his friends at the United Nations Security Council will come to his aid—a booster in his toxic tonic.

Therefore it comes as no surprise that recently in Douala, forces of law and order in keeping with their oath reacted with brute force at peaceful protesters demonstrating against unjustified fuel price hikes, the banning of a popular radio stations and against an unpopular government bent on imposing itself on yet another generation of Cameroonians.

Between Saturday, February 23rd and Monday the 25th, five people have been killed in Douala and scores have been wounded. According to news reports, there was widespread looting and chaos in certain parts of the port city.

This time around no one is being fooled. Cameroonians are very familiar and intimate with the Biya agenda. They are fed up with it. Kenya is branded in their consciousness. They know that no constitutional reform in Cameroon could be intended to strengthen non-existent democratic values or institutions. They are not blind. They also know that reforms initiated by an unscrupulous regime could not be in their interest. They know it is only meant to keep Paul Biya and his cohorts in power. They are not numb and will react appropriately.

It is time for the Paul Biya era to be vanquished from our collective memory!

*Kangsen Feka Wakai is a Houston based writer and journalist. He is the author of Fragmented Melodies, a collection of poems available on www.amazon.com

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

Civil Rights Activist Johnnie Carr Dies

2008-02-27

http://tinyurl.com/2rlrj7

Johnnie Carr, who joined childhood friend Rosa Parks in the historic Montgomery bus boycott and became a prominent civil rights activist over the past half century, has died. She was 97. Baptist Health hospital spokeswoman Melody Ragland said Carr died Friday night. She had been hospitalized after suffering a stroke Feb. 11. Carr succeeded the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1967, a post she held at her death.

Review of Shimmer Chinodya's Strife

Mildred Barya

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/46446

Strife is a novel laden with, yes, strife! It is at once a family story, a national one and eventually a borderless one. The author, Shimmer Chinodya, through the Gwanangara family takes on the task of interpreting and explaining happening events first by revisiting the past to deal with the upturning, unresolved business. The spirits start talking through Kelvin Gwanangara:

‘I am Mhokoshi! I want my weapons back!’
‘I am Njiki!’ Kelvin snarls, in an old woman’s voice. ‘My spirit is roaming the forest.’ ‘I am Sabastin.’ Now a strange young man’s thin breaking voice. ‘I need rest.’
‘I am Zevezeve the porcupine. You shat and spat on me when I visited you.’
‘I am Edgar Tekere. I’m back from the war. I see blood everywhere.’

Dunge Gwanangara, after many years of living as a Christian is challenged to put aside Christianity and consult n’angas. He ends up making mistakes for he doesn’t really know how to, he’s been busy being a strict Christian. The unresolved issues only grow larger. More misfortune strikes members of his family. One of his sons becomes epileptic, another schizophrenic. Dunge’s wife—the moon huntress— hears voices. Eventually, it turns out that no one thing really works, and no one solution will come from Christianity or tradition, modernity or education, science or destiny. The past no longer holds together and science fails to offer a cure to the Gwanangara afflictions. Conflict heightens as one value weighs against another and the realization that choosing one path is no longer practical. The characters in the novel fumble about, grappling for the ‘way.’ In the words of the author, ‘Everything that can go wrong goes wrong…’ And what’s supposed to happen doesn’t happen.

The book has selfless characters who sacrifice themselves for others, and also selfish individuals who only want to depend on others, and even blame others for their misfortunes.

The most refreshing part of the novel is when the author exposes migrations and relations that link various people across Africa, rendering the current borders meaningless. The ordinary person is well integrated, it’s the elite who are confused and divided by national borders. The young, rural people have no ‘crossing’ problems, leaving Zimbabwe to go and work in Mozambique or Malawi, learn the languages there and speak them. An old woman is at ease to cross from Zambia and visit her relatives in Zimbabwe, (without papers) but the educated are lost in the legal requirements and the consequences of crossing borders without visas.

The Gwanangara family has relatives across borders and occasionally exchange visits. The sad aspect is that these visits are mostly triggered by moments of crisis; strange illnesses and death. Most of the characters are courageous and they strive to overcome the obstacles that try to pull them down.

Towards the end of the story there is a sense of ease, a mellowness softening the rough edges of strife. The Gwanangara family starts to bond, openly talking about themselves and each other without hiding behind masks. They bail each other out and hear each other out. Also, they discover the joy of involving themselves earnestly in other people’s lives. They attend the funerals, graduation parties and weddings with genuine concern and discover that some of their relatives are not as bad as they had seemed to be. ‘In fact, none of the Chivi people seem half as bad as we were made to think they were. Perhaps we should make a fresh start.’ There is a new understanding amongst relatives giving hope to open friendship and genuine love.

At the end of the narrative, Strife is not only portrayed as a family saga or a single community affair but an African one. Utilizing the drama form to conclude his story, Chinodya seems to suggest that almost every African no matter where the geographical divide must make choices as to what will work in the future and question the belief invested in science, bones or Bibles. There will be several schools of thought for influence and inspiration: education, medicine, destiny, tradition... But before arriving at a lasting solution, the past will keep calling, making coping in the present moment alone nothing but full of strife!

Weaver Press, Harare, 2006, pp 223

* Mildred K Barya is Writer-in-Residence at TrustAfrica (www.trustafrica.org)

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

UK: "Son of Man" releases in the UK

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/46434

A bold new film from Golden Bear winning director, Mark Dornford May (“U-Carmen eKhayelitsha” – Golden Bear Berlin, 2005) is being released countrywide from the 7th of March. “Son of Man” is a revolutionary film that explores an interpretation of the Jesus Christ story in a contemporary African context and should spark lively debate about its portrayal both of Christ and of Africa. Released by Spier distribution the film will begin its run at the Rich Mix Centre in Bethnal Green before branching out to sites in Bristol, Edinburgh, Cambridge and elsewhere in the UK.
Press release
“Son of Man”
www.sonofmanmovie.com

Son of Man releases in the UK

A bold new film from Golden Bear winning director, Mark Dornford May (“U-Carmen eKhayelitsha” – Golden Bear Berlin, 2005) is being released countrywide from the 7th of March. “Son of Man” is a revolutionary film that explores an interpretation of the Jesus Christ story in a contemporary African context and should spark lively debate about its portrayal both of Christ and of Africa. Released by Spier distribution the film will begin its run at the Rich Mix Centre in Bethnal Green before branching out to sites in Bristol, Edinburgh, Cambridge and elsewhere in the UK.

“Son of Man” is the second product of the collaboration between Mark Dornford-May and the performing arts group Dimpho di Kopane meaning “combined talents” and backed by Nando’s Arts and the Spier group in South Africa. Dimpho di Kopane are a talented group of performers from the townships around Cape Town who have, under the direction of Mark Dornford May, performed the stage versions of “U-Carmen eKhayelitsha” and “The Mysteries” around the world to huge acclaim.

On the back of the theatrical performances it was decided to make these stage performances into films. The initiative met with great success in the first film “U-Carmen eKhayelitsha” being awarded the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2005 and going on to critical and commercial success thereafter. The second film “Son of Man” had a great outing at the Sundance Festival and received rave reviews from Roger Ebert who called it “extraordinary and powerful”. The Seattle Weekly described it as “More moving than the Last Temptation of Christ and smarter than Mel Gibsons Passion.” Spier Distribution have chosen to launch the film at the Rich Mix Cultural Centre because of its situation at the intersection of a varied cultural milieu who will all find the film appealing. As one would expect from such a film portraying the life of Christ in Africa, there are some strong themes, like the overcoming of violence through passive resistance, which should appeal to all audiences. “Son of Man” releases on the 7th of March at the Rich Mix Cultural Centre, 47 Bethnal Green Road, Bethnal Green E1 6LA and other screening times and venues can be found at www.sonofmanmovie.com

Roundup of South African Bloggers

Sokari Ekine

2008-02-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/46384

My Haven by Matuba Mahlatjie.
Matuba Mahlatjie is a gay blogger living in Pretoria. He comments on the possibility of Jacob Zuma becoming the next President of South Africa. He is particularly concerned over the recent acceptance by Zuma to attend a luncheon by Black Journalists Forum in South Africa.
“This forum of black journalists is so anti democracy and transparency. I listened to all their excuses for barring white journalists and they did not make any sense. The truth is they are making us look like uneducated savages who are comfortable with being repellers of change.

It is unfortunate that the people (Journalists) who are supposed to help the nation eradicate the evil spirit of racism - are the ones who are painting the country black and white. All media houses in South Africa have black journalists, but I like the fact that Talk Radio 702 and e.tv deliberately sent white journalist to expose the devil that possess the Black Journalist Forum here in South Africa.”


Lesbian Rules by Madra Butler
South African ministers have taken to suggesting various alternative remedies for curing ailments and making pronouncements on why rape is so widespread.
“So there you have it ladies and gentlemen.
To be cured from aids, eat garlic and beetroot.
If you don’t want aids, take a shower, and
All we have to do to stop the electricity crisis is to go to bed early so we can grow and be cleverer and rapes only occur because people don’t have access to prostitutes.”


Bandwidth by Charl Norman is a technology blog focusing on new start ups and technology innovations in South Africa. This week he introduces 5 South African blogging platforms: My Digital Life, Amagama, iBlog (see Lesbian Rules) Blog 247 and 24 Blogs.
“Blogging in SA has really taken off with thousands of South Africans looking to their blogs to express themselves. Testament to this is the success of Amatomu.com which is responsible to sorting the SA blogosphere and Afrigator.com which indexed the thousands of blog post in a social media aggregator and directory.”
Despite South Africa having the highest numbers of bloggers in the continent the fact remains that by far the majority are white and male.


The Fish Bowl comments on an article by Dr Steven Friedman on the political and economic realities of the ANC
“The article summarises what I have been trying to push for some time. We keep trying to look at the ANC through Western prisms, when the leader of the ANC party is not usually the decision-maker. Mbeki was the ultimate decision-maker in his cabinet, but it is this type of leadership that has sparked the current "revolution" in voter sentiment. There are many players in the NEC and the NWC who hold vast business interests, the it is much more likely that a third way scenarion will occur.”


YblogZA uses the total eclipse of the moon as a metaphor for the downward spiral of South Africa largely due to the ANC.
Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of President Thabo Mbeki, told the Cape Argus that South Africans had to face the fact the rest of the world had reason to be "very concerned" about the direction in which the country was moving.

“[Moeletsi] Mbeki also criticised new ANC president Jacob Zuma for "bad-mouthing" his own country's political and justice system in a foreign country. Zuma claimed in court papers in Mauritius this week that fraud charges against him were part of a political move against him. Moeletsi Mbeki, who is deputy chairperson of the SA Institute of International Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, said: "Here we have the president of the ANC, the possible future president of the country, claiming that the 16 charges of fraud against him are part of a political campaign to keep him out of office.”


Khanya has a philosophical discussion on “political and spiritual identity and personal values” and the separation of the church and state.
“Earlier today I got a message from another blogger about the liberation struggle in South Africa and its spiritual basis. Here are some preliminary thoughts, linked to the example above. I was a member of the Liberal Party, and while the humanist student in the example I gave was not, there were several others with views similar to his. The student whose banning we were protesting against was, however, both a Christian and a member of the Liberal Party. And one of the interesting things was that people with radically different religious backgrounds and worldviews were able to work together in a political party for common political goals. Christians, atheists, humanists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims and Hindus worked together for a common political goal of a democratic nonracial South Africa. Their reasons for pursuing that goal may have been very different, and almost opposite. But no matter what the reasons, they were able to agree on a political goal and a political programme.”


Abahlali baseMjondolo is the blog of the Durban Shackdweller Movement. The members living in Motala Heights being subjected to ongoing illegal evictions, dumping of toxic waste and threats of arson. In Cape Town Delft location 1600 residents were evicted and three children were shot by the police.
“Police have started shooting people at close range in Delft. There is pandemonium and brutality. Following yesterday’s ruling in the High Court which uphold’s Thubelisha Homes and the state’s eviction order against the community, the residents decided to appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. The lawyers worked through the night doing the paperwork for this appeal.
Right now, Ashraf Cassiem, Anti-Eviction Campaign Legal Co-ordinator is still finalising the paperwork for the case to go to the Supreme Court of Appeal but the police decided to proceed with the evictions anyway. All the Anti-Eviction Campaign co-ordinators have advised the police that there is another legal case pending and they have no authority to evict until the legal process is exhausted but they are doing it anyway. This is unlawful.”


Black Looks has another report on the diamond empire of Israeli billionaire, Lev Leviev whose diamond mines in Angola have been cited for human rights violations and which fund illegal settlements in the West Bank and his real estate business in New York using underpaid workers in hazardous conditions.
“Leviev’s wealth was built while trading with a business that was a huge pillar of the South African apartheid regime. He then went on to use the proceeds to construct an apartheid reality in the West Bank.”

* Sokari Ekine blogs at Black Looks and www.africanwomenblogs.com

Interview with Peter Hallward

Peter Hallward

2008-02-28

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

Peter Hallward, author of Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment, talks over the phone with Jacques Depelchin from the Ota Benga Alliance for Peace Healing and Dignity, and visiting Professor at the Centre for Afro-Oriental Studies at the Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil, and Firoze Manji, founder and co-editor of Pambazuka News, about his book and the lessons of Haiti.
Peter Hallward's book “Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment”, published by Verso Press in 2007, is likely to become a classic reference on the most recent history of Haiti, thanks especially, to a fascinating and informative analysis of the clash between mass-based and elite driven politics. In the fierce battle over and around which ideological lens should one use to look at and make sense of Haiti's most recent history, including the overthrow and kidnapping of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, Peter Hallward's book is a welcome counterbalance to those offered by both mainstream journalism and books such as Alex Dupuy's “Prophet and Power: Jean-Bertrand Ariside, the International Community and Haiti” published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2007.

Civil groups in South Africa intensify protests at Zimbabwe embassy

2008-02-29

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news260208/sacivilgroups260208.htm

The Zimbabwe Youth Network (ZYN) and the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) have announced that there will be a huge demonstration at the Zimbabwe Consulate in Jo'burg on Wednesday, one day before another protest is due at the same location on Thursday. The Wednesday protest is being supported by numerous Zimbabwean groups, including the Crisis Coalition, Zimbabwe Political Victims Organisation (Zipovo), Civil Service Organisations Forum and both formations of the MDC.

AU Monitor Weekly Roundup

Issue 126, 2008

2008-02-27

http://www.aumonitor.org/

This week’s AU Monitor brings you analysis of the AU audit report from Dolphine Ndeda who urges that the report be popularised and implemented immediately. She notes that “one general finding of the Panel was that the AU commission is characterised by internal institutional incoherence and disarray” and calls on the incoming Chairperson and Commissioners to prioritize management and outreach reform without delay.

In economic development news, Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, explains that Africa’s improved economic growth has been “underpinned by better governance, improved macroeconomic management and increased global demand for Africa’s commodities” but notes that the improvement is insufficient to achieve the AU vision of development or commitments under the Millennium Development Goals. As a means to improve food security and household income on the Continent, Nepad’s Dr. Maria Wanzala, advocates for increased use of fertilisers suggesting that this could lead to agricultural growth of six per cent by 2015. Further, ahead of the Accra high-level forum on Aid Effectiveness in September, Governance Director of the African Development Bank, Gabriel Negatu, explains the Strategic Partnership for Africa (SPA). “The SPA is important as it serves as a forum for donors and recipient countries to reflect on the changing nature of the international aid environment, based on the principles of ‘ownership’ and ‘partnership’. It has therefore been instrumental in fostering the implementation of the Paris Declaration on aid harmonization.” Also addressing regional development imperatives, the Southern African Development Community will hold its International Consultative Conference on Poverty and Development under the theme “Regional Economic Integration: A Strategy for Poverty Eradication towards Sustainable Development” between 18 - 20 April 2008 in Mauritius.

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union issued reports from the Chairperson on the situations in Chad and Somalia. Providing an update on the situation in Somalia and the implementation of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) mandate, the report outlines the need for contingency planning for a possible United Nations operation. The report notes with concern the continued lack of troops with only two Ugandan battalions and the very recent deployment of the main body of the first of the two battalions pledged by Burundi. The report on Somalia concludes “more than ever before, swift and collective action is needed (…). Failure to effectively address the crisis in Somalia will leave a legacy of unfulfilled promises towards the Somali people, damage the credibility of the international community, as well as further undermine the prospects of peace in the country and compound efforts to promote regional stability.”

The Chairperson’s report on Chad provides an update on the situation and welcomes the initiative of the Congo and Libya to send a delegation of senior officials to Chad for consultations with the parties to the conflict. In addition, Henri Boshoff of the Institute for Security Studies emphasizes that “it is clear that if the international community, through the United Nations and the European Union, do not response more urgently, the situation in Chad, Darfur and CAR could well worsen.”

Lastly, newly elected AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping visited Kenya on Friday. Following talks with the parties and mediation team, he expressed optimism that a power-sharing deal “is just within reach”. However, since his visit, the AU led mediation talks have been suspended.

Global: Social Watch Gender Equity Index 2008

2008-02-29

http://www.socialwatch.org/en/avancesyRetrocesos/IEG_2008/tablas/SWGEI.htm

More than half the women in the world live in countries that have made no progress in gender equity in recent years. This is the main conclusion of the Social Watch 2008 Gender Equity Index (GEI) which, for the first time, shows recent evolution and trends in bridging the gap between men and women in education, the economy and empowerment.

Zimbabwe: UNICEF helps launch campaign against surging child rape rates

2008-02-29

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25796

With the number of reported cases of children raped in Zimbabwe surging more than 40 per cent in the last three years, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has joined with the Government and religious groups in an awareness campaign to fight the scourge. The Zimbabwean Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, the National Faith Based Council of Zimbabwe, and UNICEF have launched their Stand Up and Speak Out campaign against child abuse, aiming to reach more than six million of the African country’s citizens.

Sudan: Campaign demands Darfur arrests

2008-02-29

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7266243.stm

A new campaign is being launched calling on the UN to push for the immediate arrest of two men accused of war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region. Some 45 organisations have signed up to the Wanted for War Crimes campaign. The International Criminal Court named Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Haroun and militia leader Ali Kushayb as suspects a year ago.

Kenya: Crisis leads to more child abuse - aid group

2008-02-29

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN856491.html

Kenya's children run increasing risk of physical and sexual assault and face worsening food shortages in the aftermath of recent bloodshed, aid agency Save the Children said on Thursday. A disputed December 27 election sparked widespread violence that killed 1,000 people and displaced some 300,000. The aid group said over half of those were likely to be children, who were by far the most vulnerable.

Liberia: War crimes trial held up so Charles Taylor can rest

2008-02-29

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN924151.html

Charles Taylor's war crimes trial was adjourned on Thursday until Monday so the former Liberian President can rest on doctor's advice, a spokesman for the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone said. "He wasn't feeling well a few days back," the spokesman said on Thursday. "The doctor said it wasn't serious but he needed some rest. He came to court yesterday and today but the defence counsel asked for an adjournment so he could rest on doctor's advice."

Nigeria: Government denies oil rebel access to lawyers - group

2008-02-29

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN931396.html

A Nigerian rebel group from the oil producing Niger Delta accused the government on Friday of denying their detained leader access to lawyers and relatives despite a court order that he should be allowed to see them. Henry Okah of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) was arrested in Angola on September 3 and handed over to Nigeria on February 14. His detention in a secret location by Nigerian authorities has raised tensions in the delta.

Somalia: Impunity “the root cause of crisis”

2008-02-29

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76993

A culture of impunity is the root cause of Somalia's humanitarian and political crisis and unless the world urgently addresses it, war crimes and crimes against humanity will continue unabated, a civil society activist has told IRIN. "No one has ever been held accountable for these crimes," Marian Hussein Awreeye, chairwoman of the Isma'il Jimale Human Rights Centre, said.

Global: Migrant rights clinic forcibly shut

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/46425

The Legal Clinic for Refugees and Immigrants (LCRI), which provides legal aid to refugees and immigrants from a number of countries, was forcibly deprived of its office space in the Faculty of Law at Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria, on January 17, 2008. The LCRI serves a number of African clients, most recently including individuals and families from: Algeria, Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Western Sahara, and Zambia.
Legal Clinic for refugees & immigrants

PRESS RELEASE: MIGRANT RIGHTS CLINIC FORCIBLY SHUT
For Immediate Release
February 16, 2008 - Further Information: lcribg@gmail.com

The Legal Clinic for Refugees and Immigrants (LCRI), which provides legal aid to refugees and immigrants from a number of countries, was forcibly deprived of its office space in the Faculty of Law at Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria, on January 17, 2008. The LCRI serves a number of African clients, most recently including individuals and families from: Algeria, Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Western Sahara, and Zambia. Many have been in Bulgaria for some time and all face significant hardship in terms of discrimination, access to basic rights, and potential detention and deportation.

The closure was made by officials of the University during client-receiving hours and was not precipitated by advance warning. The Clinic was provided only two hours to vacate the room, and no satisfactory explanation for the action was (or has since been) provided. The abrupt closure demonstrates a brazen lack of regard for the very serious human consequences resulting, let alone the privacy of clients, the sensitivity of stored information, incoming case-support faxes and mail, the extensive and long-term efforts of student volunteers, and the constant necessity for member and client access to the collection of many years-worth of case related documents.

The university administration has refused to provide substantive information or to engage in constructive debate in shameful disregard for dramatic student body mobilization and the submission of many hundreds of student petition signatures to the Law Faculty Dean.

While the LCRI struggles to function without a centralized office, the actions of the administration - designed to close the human rights organization without opportunity for broader attention or outcry - have severely crippled the capabilities of the clinic, threatening the imminent demise of the only organization in Bulgaria providing practical training in Refugee, Migration, and Human Rights Law to students.

The consequence of the office closure on the immigrant community is devastating. While the LCRI maintains asylum seeker detention cases against Bulgaria before the European Court of Human Rights and continues to advocate before the national courts, the lack of a centralized office has severely hampered opportunities for clients, potential clients, and others to access legal counsel, obtain critical basic rights information, and operate within a safe space.

CAR: Thousands hiding in the bush

2008-02-29

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25790

A major portion of the 200,000 people internally displaced within the Central African Republic (CAR) – due to fear of armed groups – are hiding in the bush not far from their homes and international assistance must reach them there, a United Nations humanitarian official has said.

Africa: NGO calls for new MDGs

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/46439

Speaking ahead of the World Bank/ International Monetary Fund (IMF) 2008 spring meeting in Washington, United States of America in April 2008. Africa IDP Voice said it was now vital to introduce a new United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) requiring governments to prevent and reduce prevalence of Internal Displacement and put in place national , regional and international legal, policy and institutional frameworks for their protection and assistance as an indispensable part of the fight against poverty.
PRESS RELEASE 24th February 2008: WORLD BANK/IMF 2008 SPRING MEETING.

African NGO calls for new millennium development goal on Internal Displacement.

Internal Displacement is one of the biggest humanitarian, human rights and security problems facing the world’s poor today and must be given equal prominence alongside other anti poverty measures taken by governments and civil society groups, Africa Internally Displaced Persons Voice( Africa IDP Voice).

Speaking ahead of the World Bank/ International Monetary Fund (IMF) 2008 spring meeting in Washington, United States of America in April 2008.
Africa IDP Voice said it was now vital to introduce a new United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) requiring governments to prevent and reduce prevalence of Internal Displacement and put in place national , regional and international legal, policy and institutional frameworks for their protection and assistance as an indispensable part of the fight against poverty. We wish to support the concern raised by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Kin-Moon that the majority of the countries on the continent are not on track to achieve the eight goals set by 2015. Africa IDP Voice attributes this largely to World Bank supported large scale development projects and support for land reforms that undermine customary land rights in Africa, says Joseph Chilengi Executive Director of Africa IDP Voice.

Everyday, in Africa, thousands of people are being forcibly displaced from their homes and Land as a result of large scale development projects and insensitive land reforms financed and supported by the World Bank and other international financial institutions. There has been recently a sharp increase of massive forced displacements caused by World Bank driven investment and land policy reforms across Africa. World Bank supported large scale development projects all in the name of investment and infrastructure development have encouraged forced evictions, land speculation and threatened Land rights of the majority of citizens in Africa who depend on Land for their survival, said Chilengi.

Joseph Chilengi who will again be attending this years World Bank/IMF 2008 Spring meeting in Washington said ‘ the World Bank supported large scale infrastructure development programmes in Africa have lamentably failed to balance between large scale infrastructure development and internal displacement, a phenomenon that has upset African peoples achievements in the last ten years..the majority of the people in Africa have become victims instead of beneficiaries of development.

Internal displacement shatters lives and undermines human security, in particular by breaking up families and communities, terminating employment relationships, halting formal education opportunities, depriving people of adequate food and shelter and making displaced populations especially vulnerable to acts of violence and attacks. IDPs are perhaps the most vulnerable, yet least protected of the region’s’ populations with increased cases of child labour, gender based violence, child prostitution and HIV/AIDS. World Bank is creating a category people forced by circumstances beyond their control into consideration where, because of the way the society is organized, they become the responsibility of others. Others take over and handle both the broad circumstances and the small details of their lives. The development of new IDP situations and the deterioration of others over the past years therefore have created an increased need to strengthen the capacity of local and national authorities to provide sufficient protection and assistance to IDPs, an area the Bank and its partners has failed the continent in their policies Protection and assistance measures of IDPs seek to prevent, minimize and lighten the suffering of the displaced by ensuring continued enjoyment of their human rights and freedom.

“We must recognize that deteriorating situation of internal displacement are already undermining any hope of meeting the existing eight Millennium Development Goals on poverty. It is impossible to target poverty without targeting protecting the internally displaced and therefore illogical not to have a stand-alone goal calling on the States to prevent or reduce incidences of internal displacement. It is high time that an Internal Displacement Millennium Development Goal now takes its rightful place alongside the existing eight other anti-poverty pledges,” said Joseph Chilengi, “If the first aim of the Millennium Development Goals is to halve poverty by 2015, we cannot ignore Internal Displacement which is wrecking poor peoples’ lives on a daily basis,’ said Mr Chilengi.

In a recent report, Africa IDP Voice revealed that by the end of the century Internal Displacement could be responsible for the problem of more than 100 million poor people in sub Saharan Africa from human rights violations, poverty, deaths and increased diseases. “We should used this year’s World/IMF 2008 Spring meeting to highlight all the injustices perpetrated on the world’s poorest people through internal displacement. To enshrine a clear commitment by the rich countries to provide resources to address the deteriorating situation of internal displacement would have made a significant start,” Mr Chilengi added. Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are the most vulnerable of the world’s population and yet the least protected. Mr Chilengi said he is taking the same message to the World/ IMF 2008 Spring meeting.

The current eight Millennium Development Goals are:
1)Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
2)Achieve universal primary education
3)Promote gender equality and empower women
4)Reduce child mortality
5)Improve maternal health
6)Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7)Ensure environmental sustainability
8)Develop a global partnership for development

Despite increased international attention in recent years Chilengi noted, the overall response to IDPs’ urgent protection and assistance needs remain largely inadequate. While national governments have the prime responsibility to protect and assist IDPs, in practice, they are often unwilling or unable to do so. Even when Governments are dedicated to assisting and protecting displaced people, limited resources often complicates the task. The World Bank has an obligation to actively address the problem and support solutions for IDP across the region. Clearly, more needs to be done, said Chilengi.

Joseph Chilengi
Executive Director Africa
Internally Displaced Persons Voice (Africa IDP Voice)
IDP House
18 Bauhinia Avenue, Avondale P.O. Box 32368 Lusaka.
Zambia.
Email: joseph.chilengi@africaidp.org Mobile: +260-97-773258

Based and headquartered in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa Internally Displaced Persons Voice (Africa IDP Voice) works to raise awareness of the assistance, protection and development plight of IDPs and promotes their effective protection in Africa. www.africaidp.org

Global: Why is Israel still in denial over African refugees?

2008-02-27

http://tinyurl.com/345n6u

The underground bomb shelter in Levinsky Park near Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station has, in recent months, turned into a squalid, staggeringly overcrowded little refugee camp. Some 200 African men, mainly from Eritrea, sleep crammed into every possible nook and cranny in two airless, low-ceilinged rooms and a corridor. The dirty concrete floor is heaped with mattresses and blankets, and scattered with scraps of food and debris. Hanging from the walls are plastic bags stuffed with clothing.

Sudan: New site for displaced people opened in West Darfur

2008-02-29

http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/47c451bf2.html

The UN refugee agency and its partners have established a new site in the West Darfur region of Sudan to accommodate up to 6,000 internally displaced people (IDP). A first group of 143 families, or about 500 people, are expected to move in on Wednesday.

Uganda: Many Kenyan refugees too scared to return

2008-02-29

http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/47c423834.html

The security situation may have improved in areas of Kenya hit by post-election violence, but many of the thousands of refugees who fled to Uganda are still too scared to return.

Burkina Faso: Protests on price rises spread to the capital

2008-02-29

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77033

Violence spread to the capital, Ouagadougou, early on 28 February as demonstrators took to the streets to denounce the high price of food and fuel. Shops and petrol stations were shut down. The unrest took place throughout the day with young men burning tyres and igniting fires, using hit-and run tactics despite a heavy police presence. “The choice is to demonstrate or to die of hunger,” a demonstrator, who asked not to be named, told IRIN. “We have chosen to get our voice heard and I think we are succeeding.”

Kenya: Breakthrough in crisis

2008-02-29

http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/16102

Kenyan leaders have agreed to work in a coalition government starting Thursday evening, chief mediator Kofi Annan has announced. The leaders are expected to sign documents of the historic agreement. This is the long awaited goods news after a period of uncertainty. Kenya sighed with relief as the two key protagonists President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga finally settled to a coalition government with a pledge to build a stronger country.

Egypt: Strikes shake US ally

2008-02-28

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=14239

Workers at the Ghazl el-Mahalla textile mill in Egypt staged a mass demonstration last Sunday, calling for the end of the US-backed regime of Hosni Mubarak. The textile mill is the biggest in the Middle East. Its 27,000-strong workforce has been instrumental in forcing the regime into making economic concessions.

Nigeria: Poll petitions dismissed

2008-02-29

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7263534.stm

A Nigerian tribunal has dismissed both opposition petitions asking that President Umaru Yar'Adua's election last year be annulled. The panel of five judges unanimously rejected them, saying they did not contain enough evidence. Lawyers for both losing presidential candidates, Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, say they will take their cases to the Supreme Court.

Cameroon: Strike actions in five provinces

2008-02-29

http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/16130

Five of Cameroon's ten provinces are currently under severe and massive strike actions called Monday, February 25 by the Syndicate of transporters in Cameroon. These provinces include; Centre (hosting the capital city Yaounde), Southwest, Northwest, Littoral, host of Cameroon's economic capital, Douala and West.

Zimbabwe: ZEC declines to investigate Zanu-PF voter registration fraud

2008-02-29

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news270208/zecdeclines270208.htm

The provincial elections officer for Manicaland has declined to institute an investigation into reports that a Zanu-PF legislator has allegedly helped ‘illegal aliens’ to register as voters. The MDC on Tuesday approached the head of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) in Mutare, Colonel Moffat Masabeya, and informed him of reports that Zanu-PF MP for Chipinge south Enock Porusingazi, was involved in voter registration fraud.

Zimbabwe: Prisons head orders officers to vote Mugabe

2008-02-29

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN930928.html

The head of Zimbabwe's prison service has ordered his officers to vote for President Robert Mugabe and said he would resign if the opposition won next month's election, official media reported on Friday. The southern African country holds joint presidential, parliamentary and council elections on March 29 in which Mugabe faces former ally Simba Makoni and long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

DRC: Punish buyers of rebel ore, UN panel says

2008-02-29

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=333635

Buyers of minerals from rebel areas of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) should be punished under a United Nations arms embargo, a group of experts has told the Security Council. A five-year war in the vast Central African nation that ended in 2003 has left much of DRC's eastern borderlands a volatile patchwork of rebel fiefdoms and militia-controlled zones.

Global: UN tool to help nations balance food-fuel equation

2008-02-26

http://www.ethanolproducer.com/article.jsp?article_id=3756

Will governments worried about national food supplies begin restricting land available to grow feedstock for biofuels? If they do, it may be after using a new United Nations tool to analyze their countries’ food-versus-fuel balance. The instrument, now available in a test version, is from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

Africa: Africa Trade Network: Declaration of civil society organisations

2008-02-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/46380

We, civil society organisations, including farmers, workers, women's, faith-based and students' groups and organisations, call on our people to redouble their efforts to stop the self-serving free trade agreements, misleading designated as 'Economic Partnership Agreements' that Europe seeks to impose on African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, and which will destroy the economies of these countries.
CALL TO ACTION AGAINST EUROPE'S AGGRESSIVE ECONOMIC AGENDA IN AFRICA

Declaration of civil society organisations at the meeting of the Africa Trade Network, Cape Town, South Africa 22nd February 2008

We, civil society organisations, including farmers, workers, women's, faith-based and students' groups and organisations, call on our people to redouble their efforts to stop the self-serving free trade agreements, misleading designated as 'Economic Partnership Agreements' that Europe seeks to impose on African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, and which will destroy the economies of these countries.

At our meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, from 20-23 February 2008, under the umbrella of the Africa Trade Network, to review the latest developments in the EPA negotiations, we reaffirm our unequivocal opposition these agreements When the EPA negotiations were launched, civil society organisations from all over Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific and Europe warned that the EPAs were profoundly anti-developmental. We pointed out that the EPAs posed a threat not only specifically to government revenue, local producers and industries, food sovereignty, essential public services, and the regional integration of African countries; but also to the right and capacity in general of African countries to develop their economies according to the needs of their people and their own national, regional and continental priorities.

The latest developments in these negotiations have exposed even more sharply the fundamental outrage represented by the EPAs.

At the end of 2007, Europe deployed manipulative and heavy-handed tactics in an attempt to force African governments into so-called 'interim' agreements. When it became clear that no African regional bloc would agree to its demands, the European Commission, with the active support of its member states, resorted to blatant divide-and-rule tactics. Europe capitalised on the fact that, for historical reasons, a few export sectors in Africa are largely dependent on the European market. By threatening to close access to these markets and throw export sectors into chaos, Europe rode roughshod over the regional negotiating processes and instigated bilateral deals with individual countries.

The more vulnerable African governments were forced to concede to Europe's demand for 'interim' trade deals, and in the process, completely undermined regional negotiating positions.

These Interim Economic Partnership Agreements reveal Europe's true face. The deals are classical free trade agreements that clearly serve Europe's commercial and geo-economic interests. All the claims about supporting Africa's development and regional integration have been exposed as false.

Merely to secure a level of market access that is remarkably similar to previous levels, ACP countries involved in the interim agreements have had to concede to opening up their economies to historically unprecedented levels even beyond the commitments required at the multilateral level.

In addition, Europe took advantage of the circumstances to insert clauses in the interim agreements that were not even part of earlier negotiations. These include the 'most favoured nation' clause, a standstill clause that forbids countries from ever raising tariffs on imports from Europe, and restrictions and even outright prohibitions on export taxes. These provisions only serve to lock in further these countries into Europe's agenda, and prevent them from exploring other options and relations within the changing global order. This will take away their space for autonomous policy to create jobs, secure livelihoods and pursue equitable economic development and regional integration.

Throughout the negotiating process, aid has been used as a bait to lure African governments into long and protracted debates, which have diverted attention from the fundamental economic issues at stake and misled them into taking on onerous commitments. As the 'Interim' deals make abundantly clear, promises of additional financing are illusory.

The negotiating agenda for 2008 aims to deepen the above processes. Europe intends to lock in the 'interim' agreements with all their outrageous provisions as quickly as possible. This is a clear breach of the understanding on which they were provisionally initialled - namely that the deals were merely a means to avoid possible retaliation at the WTO and that any contentious elements would be renegotiated.

In addition, Europe is exerting high levels of pressure on African governments to expand the negotiations to open up the services sector and to include binding rules on investment, competition policy, and government procurement. Such rules will take away the right of African governments to manage investment and investors in ways that serve Africa's own development. The inclusion of such issues is not necessary at the multilateral level and against the expressed wishes and declarations of Africa's governments and peoples.

Today it is clear more than ever, that the EPAs are Europe's means of locking-in the fundamentally unequal relationships between Africa and Europe. Viewed from Africa, this is nothing less than re-colonisation.

It is more urgent now, than ever, that Africa's people and their allies unite in action to defeat this agenda.

To this end, We demand that:

* The 'interim' agreements that have been entered into are nullified; and, to avoid threats of trade disruption, options such as enhanced GSP Plus and Everything But Arms are utilised;
* There must be no negotiations on services, investment, intellectual property, competition, government procurement and any other new issues in order to ensure that all sovereignty on these issues is retained at the national and regional levels;
* There must be a return to our own development agendas based on national priorities within consolidated regional communities in Africa;
* Any relationship between Africa and Europe must be based on our development agenda and recognise the principles of non-reciprocity, the right to protect our domestic and regional markets, and our economic sovereignty. We salute the majority of African Governments that have so far-resisted any form of agreement with Europe. We call on these governments to work with the more vulnerable countries in order to reverse the 'interim' arrangements. We further call on the governments that have initialled agreements not to sign and for parliaments to refuse to ratify them in case they are signed.

We commit ourselves to work with our governments in the quest to achieve more equitable relationships with Europe that protect our sovereignty and autonomous developmental options.

We call on civil society organisations and other citizens groups in Europe and other parts of the world who are also resisting European free trade agreements to strengthen their active solidarity with our campaign to Stop the EPAs.

Stop EPAs!
Stop the re-colonisation of Africa!

Guinea Bissau: How to avoid a food crisis again this year

2008-02-29

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77042

According to the government’s current estimates, donors will need to provide 20,000 tonnes of food aid to compensate for expected production shortfalls in 2008. Aid experts in Bissau, however, said that if the government had better policies, and if the rains came at the right time, the country should be able to feed itself with current levels of international assistance.

Chad: Insecurity hampers HIV efforts

2008-02-29

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76967

People living with HIV in Chad risk becoming victims of the explosion of violence in the capital, N'Djamena, in early February. During clashes between the army and groups of rebels from the east of the country, health services were damaged and many organisations working to fight the epidemic were looted.

Global: Anti-HIV gel proven safe and tolerable for women

2008-02-28

http://tinyurl.com/24jh2r

A gel using anti-HIV drug tenofovir to shield women from AIDS has been proven safe for daily use and acceptable to women, study findings showed Tuesday. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of Pittsburgh to test the gel's safety, involved 200 sexually active HIV-negative women aging from 19 to 50, of whom 64 percent were married.

Africa: Home-based programmes cut AIDS deaths - study

2008-02-29

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN923764.html

Providing HIV drug cocktails to people in their homes can cut AIDS-related deaths substantially in poor, rural areas of Africa, researchers said on Friday. A study in Uganda showed that hiring local health workers to help people stick to a strict regimen of drugs cut the number of AIDS deaths by more than 90 percent.

Global: MDR TB on the rise worldwide

2008-02-29

http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article.php?uid=20031901

Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is at the highest rate ever seen in the world, according to the largest ever survey on drug resistant TB. Data from South Africa showed that 996 or almost 6% of 17 615 MDR specimens collected between 2004 and October 2007 were extensively drug resistant (XDR) TB. In KwaZulu-Natal 656 (14%) of 4 701 MDR cases recorded in this time period were XDR-TB.

Chad: Young people desperately seeking sex education

2008-02-29

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77023

Some of the young people who seek help at the Youth Information and Orientation Centre for Reproductive Health (CIOJ) in N'Djamena, capital of Chad, do not understand how they became pregnant or contracted a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Workers at the centre blame the high levels of ignorance on the failure of parents to talk to their children about sex.

Egypt: Taking aim at ignorance about HIV/AIDS

2008-02-29

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76899

Eight Egyptian men who were arrested and forced to undergo HIV tests, and the subsequent torture of the two who tested HIV-positive, has unleashed a storm of controversy in a country where people still know very little about the virus. "You can find people who know what you are talking about when you talk about AIDS, but I could say that most people who live here don't know the difference between a person with HIV and a person with AIDS," said UNAIDS Country Officer Wessam El-Beih.

Sudan: Hundreds of thousands of Darfur children not in school

2008-02-28

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/AMMF-7C9JCT?OpenDocument

About 650,000 or half of all children in Darfur do not receive an education, despite efforts by various organisations to provide schooling in camps and towns across the western Sudanese region, an international NGO said."Education is the foundation for economically viable and more peaceful societies. But the international community has been loath to fund schooling in conflict situations," Charles MacCormack, president of Save the Children US, said in a statement on 27 February. "This is shortsighted."

Nigeria: IAP plans integrity education for elementary schools

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/education/46431

In a strategic move to combat corruption and engage young Nigerians in the promotion of responsive and responsible governance, Independent Advocacy Project (IAP), the nation’s leading anti-corruption group is advocating that anti-corruption education should be included in the subject curriculum of elementary schools in the country.Corruption is a major driver of bad governance in Nigeria, as such, there is an urgent need for the design and introduction of a well thought out integrity education in elementary schools, which is naturally the formative years of young Nigerians, IAP said in a statement released in Lagos.
Media Contact:
Gbenga Ogundare
08036697277
gogundare@ind-advocacy-project.org

IAP plans integrity education for elementary schools

LAGOS: 27 February 2008.

In a strategic move to combat corruption and engage young Nigerians in the promotion of responsive and responsible governance, Independent Advocacy Project (IAP), the nation’s leading anti-corruption group is advocating that anti-corruption education should be included in the subject curriculum of elementary schools in the country.

Corruption is a major driver of bad governance in Nigeria, as such, there is an urgent need for the design and introduction of a well thought out integrity education in elementary schools, which is naturally the formative years of young Nigerians, IAP said in a statement released in Lagos today.

IAP’s Anti-Corruption Curriculum for Elementary Schools (ACCES) project is designed to support local education authorities in teaching anti-corruption education which ensures that young Nigerians are aware of their direct role now and in the future, in promoting transparent and accountable governance.

‘Education institutions, according to IAP’s surveys, the Nigeria Corruption Index (NCI 2005, 2007) are among the most corrupt institutions in the country and IAP, as one of the outcomes of NCI 2007 has therefore designed ACCES to systematically inculcate in youths, their role in the fight against corruption,’ says Gbenga Ogundare IAP’s Head of Programmes.

Adds Ogundare: ‘Addressing the problem of corruption as an impediment to the growth of democracy requires the involvement of youths in the process, especially as they are tomorrow’s leaders.’

Recent reports indicate that at least 70% of Nigerians live in poverty, earning under US$1 per day, 90 percent live on less than US$2 per day. Health and education indicators are accordingly very low. The nation’s poverty is due, in large part, to the country’s corruption problems, and ACCES aims at contributing to efforts that fundamentally addressed this from the bottom up, by working to ensure that school pupils receive anti-corruption education.’

ACCES is a long-term impact project that combines immediate gains with looking at medium and long term benefits. It seeks to ensure that youths play a crucial role in contributing, both as citizens and future leaders, to efforts at raising awareness on the adverse effects of corruption and in promoting good governance in the country.

Liberia: UNICEF to help rebuild devastated schools

2008-02-29

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25763

With only one third of Liberians reaching the fifth grade of school and children less likely to read than their parents, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced a $20 million programme to help rebuild the education system of the West African country, which was gutted during a long, brutal civil war.

Africa: Africa's lesbians demand change

2008-02-29

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7266646.stm

Lesbians from across Africa have called on African governments to stop treating homosexuals like criminals. The demand came as about 75 activists gathered at a conference in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The Coalition of African Lesbians called the conference to highlight discrimination across the continent.

South Africa: Outcry over 'racist' video

2008-02-29

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7267027.stm

Several white students in South Africa face criminal charges after allegedly forcing black campus employees to eat food that had been urinated on. A video has surfaced which appears to show the students instructing five elderly workers to drink beer and perform athletic tasks. At one point, the University of Free State employees are apparently forced to eat food which has been urinated on.

Kenya: Elders want US apology over Obama photo

2008-02-29

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN924309.html

Kenyan elders demanded an apology from Washington on Thursday ahead of a planned protest over a controversial photo of U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama in traditional Somali dress. The picture, which appeared on a U.S. Web site, showed the Democratic frontrunner donning a white headdress and robes during a visit in 2006 to the remote northeastern town of Wajir.

Global: EU exporting climate pollution to emerging economies

2008-02-29

http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/policy/index.cfm?uNewsID=125140

WWF recently released a report on "EU Consumption, Global Pollution". The report shows that the global CO2 emissions from EU consumption are 500 megatonnes (12%) higher than EU production. The countries most impacted by the EU's carbon imbalance are China, South Africa and Russia. The situation reflects the fact that the Europe mainly exports services and high-value added products while importing more energy-intensive and low-value added products. Imported goods also tend to cause more emissions because production in some countries is more pollution intensive than in Europe.

Southern Africa: Securing women's access to land - PLAAS

2008-02-29

http://www.plaas.org.za/

PLAAS is pleased to announce the launching of a new small grants project for action research on gender and land in Southern Africa: Securing Women's Access to Land - Linking Research with Action. In this initial phase, PLAAS is seeking Expressions of Interest led by community based organizations (CBOs) in collaboration with NGOs, research institutes and policy organizations for action research on women’s access and rights to land in Southern Africa (due by March 15th, 2008).

Egypt: One year in prison for blogger

2008-02-29

http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/one-year-prison-egyptian-blogger

One year ago, Egyptian blogger Karim Amer was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for the "crime" of publishing on the internet material critical of Islam and President Mubarak. The then 23-year-old former al-Azhar University student was sentenced on 22 February 2007 and the Court of Appeal confirmed the sentence on 12 March of the same year.

Niger: Three journalists interrogated

2008-02-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/46385

Raliou Ahmed Assaleh, director of Radio Sahara, an independent radio station based in Agadez, a northern town 1000km from Niamey, and two other journalists, Moussa Inne and Ben Issoufou Mohammed were on February 16, 2008 subjected to hours of interrogation by the Agadez Gendarmerie over a story the station had aired two days earlier.
Niger ALERT: Three journalists interrogated

Raliou Ahmed Assaleh, director of Radio Sahara, an independent radio station based in Agadez, a northern town 1000km from Niamey, and two other journalists, Moussa Inne and Ben Issoufou Mohammed were on February 16, 2008 subjected to hours of interrogation by the Agadez Gendarmerie over a story the station had aired two days earlier.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that the interrogation which lasted about three hours was to force the journalists to disclose the source of a story the station broadcast on February 14 during the midday news, about a civilian who had been kidnapped by unidentified men in Agadez.

The interrogation preceded an earlier attempt by security personnel and family members of the victim to intimidate Assaleh for him to reveal the source. The security men, comprising a police officer and a military man in the company of two members of the victim’s family stormed the director’s house at about 1500 hours the same day the news was broadcast.

Following the director’s refusal to reveal his source, the family filed a complaint to the Gendarmerie. The journalists were summoned and the gendarmerie have since restricted Assaleh’s use of telephone, and also seized his two cellular phones.

MFWA sources have hinted that even though no charges have been preferred against the journalists, it is likely they would soon be arraigned before the Agadez Tribunal.

Prof. Kwame Karikari
Executive Director MFWA
Tel: 233 21 242470
Fax: 233 21 221084
Email: mfwa@africaonline.gh.com
Website: www.mediafound.org

Gambia: Former state press officer faces possible jail term

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/46436

Mam Sait Ceesay, a former editor of the Daily Observer, a Banjul-based pro-government newspaper was again on February 25, 2008 arraigned before a Banjul Magistrate Court over charges of publishing false information. The journalist's appearance in court followed a brief detention on February 2, 2008 at the Serious Crime Unit of The Gambia Police Force.
The Gambia UPDATE: Former state press officer faces possible jail term for passing on information to journalist

MFWA

Mam Sait Ceesay, a former editor of the Daily Observer, a Banjul-based pro-government newspaper was again on February 25, 2008 arraigned before a Banjul Magistrate Court over charges of publishing false information.

The journalist's appearance in court followed a brief detention on February 2, 2008 at the Serious Crime Unit of The Gambia Police Force. He is being charged on two counts of publishing and broadcasting false information under Section 181 of the Criminal Code which in its amended form makes the publication of "false information" a criminal and punishable offence. He faces a minimum of one year in jail with an option of a fine of not less than 50,000 dalasis (approx. US$1,850), or both, if convicted Ceesay, also a former press officer at the office of the President of The Gambia, is alleged to had caused a publication of a false information in the the Daily Observer on September 7, 2008 that Ebrima J.T Kujabi, President Yahya Jammeh's press secretary, had been replaced.

Earlier on September 9, 2007, Ceesay and Malick Jones, a another journalist with the state-owned Gambia Radio and Television Service (GRTS), were held incommunicado for three days following over the same story. The two journalists were arraigned before the Banjul Magistrates' Court on September 12, 2007, and charged with "passing information to a foreign journalist, contrary to Section 4 of the Official Secret Acts of the Laws of The Gambia." Even though a court granted them bail, later the same day they were immediately re-arrested.

Both journalists managed to fulfill the bail conditions within a few weeks and were subsequently released. A magistrate court suspended the case on September 26, 2007, following a procedural error on the part of the prosecution.

Liberia: Threat to free expression: Legislative staff jailed six months for contempt

2008-02-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/46450

Without a legal counsel Darius Dillion, assistant to Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor, was on February 26, 2008, sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Liberia House of Representatives, for expressing his views on a bribery scandal in the Lower House. Dillion’s plea for a lawyer was ignored by the Lower House even though Liberia’s laws guarantee the right of an accused to legal counsel.
Liberia ALERT: Threat to free expression: Legislative staff jailed six months for contempt.

Without a legal counsel Darius Dillion, assistant to Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor, was on February 26, 2008, sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Liberia House of Representatives, for expressing his views on a bribery scandal in the Lower House.

Dillion’s plea for a lawyer was ignored by the Lower House even though Liberia’s laws guarantee the right of an accused to legal counsel.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that the plenary found Dillion guilty of “legislative contempt”.

A year ago, the representative for electoral district no.5 in Montserrado County, Edwin Snowe, was removed as speaker as a result of an alleged bribery case. The Lower House rejected an independent probe into the matter and instead launched an internal probe, conducted by the House Judiciary Committee.

Dillion has been a strong advocate for an independent probe into the bribery allegations. An independent investigation was also called for by representatives of many partners in Liberia, including the United Nations, the European Union and the United States of America.

Dillion participated in several talk-shows at numerous local radio stations, including Star Radio, and disclosed that the Judiciary Committee intends to expel former speaker Edwin Snowe. Dillion also alleged that the committee intends to suspend the Representatives, who initially disclosed that each Representative of the Lower House received US$5,000 to ensure Snowe’s removal.

The Plenary considered the statements as pre-judging the outcome of the probe and cited Dillion for contempt of the Legislature.

Prof. Kwame Karikari
Executive Director MFWA
Tel: 233 21 242470
Fax: 233 21 221084
Email: mfwa@africaonline.gh.com
Website: www.mediafound.org

Haiti: Haitian inspiration: On the bicentenary of Haiti's independence

Peter Hallward

2008-02-29

http://www.radicalphilosophy.com/default.asp?channel_id=2187&editorial_id=14344

Two hundred years ago last month (January 2004), the French colony of saint-Domingue on the island of Hispaniola became the independent nation of Haiti. Few transformations in world history have been more momentous, few required more sacrifice or promised more hope. And few have been more thoroughly forgotten by those who would have us believe that this history has since come to a desirable end with the eclipse of struggles for socialism, national liberation and meaningful independence in the developing world.

Cameroon: Deadly violence rages in Yaounde

2008-02-29

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7268861.stm

The official death toll from violent protests in Cameroon this week has risen to 17 as troops attempt to restore order in the capital, Yaounde. Barricades were erected in Yaounde, youths fought police in the port of Douala and three deaths were reported in the north-western town of Bamenda. President Paul Biya has accused his political rivals of orchestrating the unrest to depose him.

Rwanda: Quake survivors complain about poor shelter

2008-02-28

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/AMMF-7C9K6C?OpenDocument

Survivors of an earthquake that hit southwestern Rwanda in early February have complained that their shelter needs have not been adequately met, despite efforts to provide them with other basic necessities. "The painful day-to-day living conditions that we are currently facing remain largely forgotten, despite relief provided to us in days following the quake," said Gaston Minani, a father of five, who lost his home in Rusizi district.

Madagascar: UN food agency begins providing aid to cyclone victims

2008-02-29

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25774

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has started distributing emergency food assistance to tens of thousands of people in Madagascar, where at least 73 people have died and almost 150,000 others have been left homeless after Cyclone Ivan battered the island nation last week.

Somalia: Acute watery diarrhoea kills 11 in Belet Hawo

2008-02-29

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77038

An outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) in and around the town of Belet Hawo, southwestern Somalia, has killed at least 11 people in the past three weeks, medical sources said on 28 February. "Eleven people have so far died in Belet Hawo hospital and the villages around it," Saaid Mohamed Samatar, a doctor with the Gedo Health Consortium (GHC), said.

Kenya: Healing the children

2008-02-29

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76948

One of the greatest challenges following the post-election violence in Kenya is to restore the physical and mental wellbeing of 150,000 displaced children, many of whom have witnessed atrocities and lost contact, in many cases permanently, with their families, humanitarian workers told IRIN.

Zimbabwe: Government to promote solar energy for computers

2008-02-29

http://africa.oneworld.net/article/view/158227/1/

In the absence of a reliable supply of other energy sources, the Zimbawean Government has launched a programme to promote the use of solar energy as an alternative source of energy for computers in schools around the country, in conjunction with Mukonitronics Private Limited. The programme to be spread to all the country's provinces is also being implemented with the Zimbabwe Academic Research Network.

West Africa: Software: free West Africa?

2008-02-29

http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5524237

So as to play a part in the information society, free software could drive the computerisation of West Africa. But although migration to free software may be a development alternative, it first has to transit via organising the world of developers and navigate through the interests of governments and the private sector. The use of free software in West Africa would represent an opportunity to reduce the digital divide with the South. This approach galvanises developers who innovate freely.

Africa: Scholarship opportunities for African students - NZAID

2008-02-27

http://www.tzuk.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5799&Itemid=39

The New Zealand Development Scholarships (NZDS) scheme offers the opportunity to people from targeted developing countries to undertake development-related studies at tertiary education institutions in New Zealand. New Zealand Development Scholarships are a central part of the New Zealand Government’s development cooperation programme in Africa. In the southern and eastern Africa region, NZAID offers NZDS in the Open category (NZDS-Open) to candidates from Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia1.

Africa: ADF Regional Workshop on Nonviolent Conflict 2008

2008-02-29

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/46475

Africa Democracy Forum is pleased to announce its Regional Training Program on Nonviolent conflict from 21st -26th April 2008 in Nairobi Kenya. This training will be organized in partnership with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (Washington DC,USA) and the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS).
Africa Democracy Forum is pleased to announce its Regional Training Program on Nonviolent conflict from 21st -26th April 2008 in Nairobi Kenya. This training will be organized in partnership with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (Washington DC,USA) and the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS).

ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND
The African Democracy Forum (ADF) is an African regional network of democracy, human rights, and governance organizations, affiliated to the World Movement for Democracy at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington DC. The ADF seeks to consolidate democracy in Africa by providing opportunities for democrats to openly express their views while also acting as a platform for mutual support and the sharing of resources. Over 340 organizations and individuals working on democracy issues in Africa currently participate in the ADF activities. The Secretariat is hosted by Kenya Human Rights Commission in Nairobi Kenya.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM
Training Program.

The ADF will cover economy-class round-trip airfares and accommodation for the all the training period for successful applicants. For those who might be able to cover their own expenses, ADF will provide essential documents to facilitate their participation if selected.

Participants in this proposed workshop will gain both practical skills, theoretical and historical knowledge about the use of strategic nonviolent action to advance human rights, justice and accountable governance. The proposed program aims to empower young democracy activists in African post conflict and transitional countries with practical skills and knowledge in order to make them more effective in promoting rights through engaging in nonviolent civic action in the region and to prepare them for future leadership roles. The objectives of the program are as follows:

Ø To provide young African democracy activists with historical case studies of successful nonviolent action;
Ø To learn and watch the diverse experiences collected and assumed by the International Center on Non Violent Conflict and the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies,
Ø To educate participants about nonviolent theory and its applications; and
Ø To provide knowledge about strategy, principles and organizational considerations of nonviolent struggle.

The workshop will provide opportunities to connect with other young activists, share their field experiences, learn about the openly discuss and analyze cases studies of nonviolent action around the world, including other parts of Africa.

Eligibility:
The training program intends to bring up 30 participants (between 20-35 years of age) from all the Regions of Africa, particularly from war-torn, post conflict and transitional countries, such as Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, D R Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Thad, as well as countries that have been experiencing relatively successful democratization, such as South Africa and Ghana. Applicants must have an affiliation with a civil society organization working on Nonviolent Conflict, Conflict resolution, peace building, democracy, Human Rights and Conflict resolution -related issues in Africa. Applicants are expected to have at least 2 years of work experience their respective countries.

Sponsorship
ADF will cover economy-class round-trip airfares and accommodation for the training period for successful applicants. For those who might be able to cover their own expenses, ADF will provide essential documents to facilitate their participation if selected.

Rationale for the Program
Many countries in Africa, such as Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, D R Congo, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire have been suffering from violent conflicts, mostly intra-state conflicts (i.e., inter-ethnic conflicts), for several decades. Many conflicts have been prolonged by the absence of democratic political leadership and structures that would accommodate political voices, protect civil rights, and respect the rule of law. Young people have suffered the most from violent conflict and have been the most disempowered. Many have been forcibly conscripted as child-soldiers and have not experienced a normal childhood or education. Growing up in a period of conflict, many young people have never experienced democracy or had any democratic leaders to look up to. Despite their discouraging environments, however, many young Africans have engaged in various activities to effect positive change in their countries. Empowering young activists with knowledge and skills, and developing their capacity for future leadership, would help resolve and prevent violent conflict and promote citizen participation through nonviolent action in Africa.

While many organizations and activist groups throughout Africa have engaged in conflict-resolution projects, and while youth organizations have certainly not been exceptions, many of those projects have not fully taken into account the link between nonviolent struggle and sustainable democracy. Previous projects have focused mainly on developing personal peer-mediation and negotiation skills, such as nonviolent means for young people in schools and universities to solve their own disputes. They mostly aim to train participants to become experts in those skills.

Participants will be young activists working on such issues as human rights, the rule of law, and civic education. They will study the causes of conflict but, just as importantly, will also examine how their own community activities—defending human rights, fighting for social justice, and calling for the rule of law — puts pressure on governments to respond to citizens’ demands for basic justice, rights and freedom. Participants will also have important opportunities to exchange their ideas and experiences in the course of the workshop, as well as in such informal settings as lunches, dinners, and film screenings. Participants will develop contacts to continue their discussions and hopefully to develop collaborative efforts for advancing their issues in the region.

Becoming active members in both the Youth Movement for Democracy and the Africa Democracy Forum will be an additional benefit of participation. Participants will be included in the networks’ e-mail discussion lists and will be invited to participate in future activities.

Venue.
Nairobi, Kenya,

Agenda.
The training program will run for five days, and sessions will be conducted and facilitated by veteran activists of past civilian nonviolent struggles. Workshop coordinators will be the staff of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS).

- 1ST day : History of Nonviolent Action
- 2nd day: Setting Your Vision of Tomorrow
- 3rd day: Models and Sources of Power; Methods of Action
- 4th day: Planning, Communications and Creating Audience Impact
- 5th day: Managing a Nonviolent Movement

The workshop will conclude with a session in which participants will discuss possible follow-up activities using the skills they have learned in the course of the program. Such follow-up activities could include collaborative projects among participants, but also the subsequent training programs at the local level that they themselves will be encouraged to conduct upon their return home.

Expected Outcomes.

* Participants constitute an African Regional group of Trainers of Trainers on Nonviolent Conflict and a substantial database for all ADF follow up activities surrounding this issue,
* Participants will develop draft follow-up activities, such as small workshops/training programs, in their respective communities. The follow-up activities will strengthen civil society networks by introducing them to the field of nonviolent conflict.
* Strengthening a network of African young leaders committed to Non Violent struggle. The network will serve as a peer-review and teaching mechanism by evaluating each other’s activities and sharing information and experiences.
* An African regional Network for Nonviolent Action will be created to highlight African participant’s work as well as act as a resource and knowledge base for practitioners and trainers in Africa and elsewhere. This knowledge base will include access to training materials, grant information, scholarship information, scholarly publication material, and project ideas on reconstruction, dialogue, democracy good governance, and reconciliation models.

Partners and Sponsors
This program is hosted by the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS), in coordination with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC).

ADF would like to present its deep gratitude to these two partners for their support in making possible this program in Africa.

For questions, please contact:

Franck KAMUNGA
Coordinator Africa Democracy Forum
Gitanga Raod,
Valley Arcade P.O Box 41079-00100
Nairobi Kenya
Cell. + 254 07 22 66 53 76
Tel: + 254 020 38 74 998/9
Fax: + 254 020 38 74 99 7
www.africandemocracyforum.org

fkamunga@khrc.or.ke

Africa: CODESRIA 2008 Gender Symposium

Theme: Gender and Citizenship in the Age of Globalisation

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/46438

Participants in the 2008 CODESRIA Gender symposium will be invited to consider the mixed landscape of gender and citizenship that has been forged out of contemporary globalisation with a view to reflecting on ways of overcoming the new barriers that have emerged alongside the old obstacles that have persisted in the search for a better engendered citizenship. All those interested in proactively expressing their interest in the symposium are invited to send an abstract of the paper they intend to present not later than 30 May, 2008
CODESRIA Programme Announcement: 2008 Gender Symposium Theme: Gender and Citizenship in the Age of Globalisation Date: 08 - 10 October, 2008 Venue: Cairo, Egypt.

In the period since the beginning of the 1990s, CODESRIA has been at the forefront of the quest to harness the efforts of African scholars in both extending the frontiers of knowledge production around issues of gender, and doing so in a manner that ensures that for as many scholars as are active in its networks and at other African sites of scholarly work, gender is integrated into their frames of analyses and modes of intervention. This has been done in line with the Council’s institutional commitment, integral to its Charter mandate, to produce knowledge that is not only anchored in the realities of the African continent, but which also contributes to the progressive transformation of livelihoods; the conscious pursuit of gender equality and inter-generational dialogues; and the harnessing of multidisciplinary perspectives. The results which have been accumulated from the experience of the Council and other like-minded institutions have, at one level, culminated in an efflorescence of studies on various aspects of the gender dynamics of development, an expansion in the community of African scholars with an active interest in gender research, the networking of that community on a sub-regional and pan-African scale, and the projection of the voices of its members on a global scale. At another level, however, few will doubt that for all the progress which has been made in promoting the idea of the centrality of gender to the robustness of any social research and the completeness of any project of social transformation, a considerable amount of work still remains to be done. The challenges that are posed are many but, in summary, could be said to centre around the need to consolidate the many critiques of development that have been made from various gender - and feminist - perspectives into a comprehensive, internally coherent and consistent set of alternatives on the basis of which further advances in theory, method and praxis could be achieved. Engendering African development requires close attention not only to the analytical tools of the researcher but also to the production of a gendered critique of development that questions the very foundations on which socio-economic and political processes in Africa rest. Such a critique is a pre-requisite for the advancement of new theoretical approaches and policy instruments. In sum, what is called for today is a complete paradigm shift for which new scholarship will be necessary.

Different authors have identified different entry points for the developmental project they have in mind for Africa but these differences need not detain us here for now. What is really important to note is that it is inconceivable that the project of democratic development, however defined, can ever be successfully built without a full integration of gender into the equation. And it is precisely here that the deficits have been most in evidence in spite of all official declarations committing governments to the promotion of the rights of women and the equality of men and women. The dawn of the contemporary processes of globalisation initially fuelled widespread optimism that promised new opportunities for the expansion of the frontiers of women’s rights; several years after, this optimism has been tempered and mitigated as much by the disempowering elements thrown up by the global age as by the uneven distribution of the opportunities that have been associated with it. Particularly worthy of note in this regard are the severe limits imposed on the expansion of social citizenship by the neo-liberal ideological and policy moorings of contemporary globalisation. Concerns with issues of citizenship are as old as the history of political formations. As a research theme, citizenship has engaged the attention of scholars from the earliest beginnings of political community; as a subject for political and policy concerns, it has involved a constant preoccupation with definitions of who a citizen is, what the rights and responsibilities of citizens are, and the nature of the prevailing social contract. Theories of citizenship have proliferated over the years and are as numerous in their particular preoccupations as are the various practices of citizenship that have been developed. But for all the long and rich history behind the concept and practice of citizenship, the task of engendering it has remained both an arduous and unfinished business, characterised by unceasing struggles to lift restrictions against women - and men - that range from the patently patriarchal to the outrightly discriminatory. Thus, while it is true that humanity has come a long way from the time when the idea of the citizen was conceived and operationalised only in exclusive male/masculine terms, progress such as it has occurred has been generally slow, fragmented and uneven as to make the task of engendering citizenship a live one with relevance that is as historical as it is contemporary. Both yesterday and today, therefore, from a gender perspective, the central issues in the engendering of citizenship have included struggles for the expansion of the rights of women; the promotion of male-female equality; the reconfiguration of femininities and masculinities; the reconstitution of the public sphere to enhance the presence and participation of women; the politicisation of the personal; the reform of family law; and the redefinition of the legal requirements for citizenship.

In its historical usages, the theory of citizenship and the practices that developed around it have been predominantly confined to the rights, entitlements, duties and responsibilities of individual members of a given political community. The attributes of citizenship have, however, neither been static nor uniform, or even limited in application exclusively to individuals as opposed to communities; rather, their content and contours have shifted over time in tandem with broad changes occurring in society. As they have developed, global influences have also always been refracted into national-territorial spaces to feed into local struggles over citizenship, propelling its negotiation and renegotiation as part of on-going quests for a redefinition of state-society relations. Similarly, local struggles have resonated in the global arena as to stimulate world-wide movements for the engendering of citizenship. But of all the phases of globalisation which humanity has experienced, perhaps none has excited as much interest in the possibilities it seems to offer for the simultaneous deepening and expansion of the spaces for the exercise of citizenship in general and genderised citizenship in particular than the contemporary one. Underpinned by an information and communications revolution, it appears to promise a more mobile, integrated, and cosmopolitan world with the distinct prospects for the emergence of global citizenship.

Within the context of the opportunities offered by the structures and processes of contemporary globalisation through the creation of borderless spaces that transcend existing national-territorial boundaries, new windows for the exercise of voice, the negotiation of belonging and the expansion of recognition have been opened which have carried direct and beneficial consequences for efforts at redefining citizenship from a gender perspective. In offering new openings for both a redefinition of citizenship and a simultaneous infusion of new gendered contents into it, globalisation has had important empowering benefits both locally and internationally that deserve to be explored further. But contemporary globalisation has also had adverse consequences for struggles at engendering globalisation, these adverse consequences also manifesting themselves as much in local as in global arenas in a variety of forms. Attention has been drawn, for example, to the world-wide deficits in social citizenship that have been in evidence over the last two decades and their manifestation in increasingly feminised forms of poverty. Participants in the 2008 CODESRIA Gender symposium would be invited to consider the mixed landscape of gender and citizenship that has been forged out of contemporary globalisation with a view to reflecting on ways of overcoming the new barriers that have emerged alongside the old obstacles that have persisted in the search for a better engendered citizenship.

The symposium will, among other things, assess the:
i) Theories of local and global citizenships – and the interfaces between them - as viewed from a gendered perspective;
ii) Practices of local and global citizenship – and the interfaces between them – as viewed from a gendered perspective;
iii) Modes and patterns of the refraction of local-level concerns into global processes and struggles around gender and citizenship;
iv) Impact of global processes on local struggles for engendering citizenship;
v) Roles of local and/or global civil society in the mobilisation of gendered citizenship in the context of contemporary globalisation;
vi) Gender ramifications and consequences of the deficits in social citizenship associated with contemporary globalisation; vii) Dialectics of multiple identities and citizenship in a global age;
viii) Tensions between national-territorial administration and multiple citizenships and their consequences for the quest for an engendered citizenship;
ix) Articulation of gender and citizenship in borderless spaces;
x) Masculinities, femininities, and citizen identities in a global era;
xi) New forms of international commodification of citizenship and their gender Implications;
xii) New forms of trans-national commerce in girl and women citizens;
xiii) Gendered patterns of citizen mobility in the era of globalisation;
xiv) Cultures of Globalisation and their implications for the citizenship of women;
xv) Re-thinking citizenship in a global age: Alternatives open to women and men in the quest for gender equality.

The Symposium will be held in Cairo, Egypt, from 08 – 10 October, 2008. Participation will be both by expression of interest by those interested in being considered for invitation and direct invitation to CODESRIA scholars working in the field. All those interested in proactively expressing their interest in the symposium are invited to send an abstract of the paper they intend to present not later than 30 May, 2008; if accepted, the full papers developed out of the abstracts must be received by 15 August, 2008 for further review prior to final confirmation of selection from CODESRIA.

More information on the 2008 CODESRIA Gender Symposium can be obtained from:
The 2008 CODESRIA Gender Symposium, CODESRIA, BP 3304, Dakar, Senegal.
Tel: +221 – 33 825 98.22/23 Fax:+221- 33 824 12.89 E-mail: gender.symposium@codesria.sn Web Site: http://www.codesria.org

Africa: CODESRIA Child and Youth Studies Institute: 2008 Session

2008-02-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/46378

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the seventh session of its Child and Youth Studies Institute and invites interested scholars to send applications for consideration for selection as laureates, resource persons, and director in the session which is scheduled for September 2008. The Institute is an off-shoot of the Council’s Child and Youth Studies Programme and is designed to strengthen analytic capacity on all questions affecting children and the youth in Africa and elsewhere in the world.
The CODESRIA Child and Youth Studies Institute: 2008 Session
Date: 03 – 30 September, 2008
Venue: Dakar, Senegal

Theme: The Youth in African Higher Education

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the seventh session of its Child and Youth Studies Institute and invites interested scholars to send applications for consideration for selection as laureates, resource persons, and director in the session which is scheduled for September 2008. The Institute is an off-shoot of the Council’s Child and Youth Studies Programme and is designed to strengthen analytic capacity on all questions affecting children and the youth in Africa and elsewhere in the world. The impetus for the introduction of the Institute was strengthened by the critique emanating from African researchers of the content and context of the developmental crises facing the continent and the link between these problems and what is now generally referred to as the Child and Youth Question. The Institute is, therefore, designed as an annual multidisciplinary forum where participants can reflect together on a specific aspect of the conditions of children and the youth in Africa and, in so doing, contribute to the advancement of the frontiers of knowledge and policy. Each session is held over a period of four weeks under the leadership of a designated director.

For the 2008 session of the Institute, the theme that has been selected is The Youth in African Higher Education. This is a theme that has become crucial to explore not only because of the renewed recognition of the central role of higher education in democratic development but also on account of the rapid transformations taking place in African higher education which, on the face of it, should translate into expanded opportunities for access for the youth at a time of equally important demographic changes in African countries. Contemporary Africa has come a long way from the period when questions were posed as to the relevance, benefits and viability of higher education on the continent.

Today, not only has the principle been accepted that higher education in general and the university in particular do have a place in Africa, there is a tremendous growth in the number of institutions of higher learning which are in existence across the continent offering full-time programmes alongside the expansion of part-time and distance learning opportunities. Significantly, the complete monopoly or partial domination which the state once had in the provision of higher education is being broken with the licensing by governments of private providers. Indeed, given the rate of their establishment, it is clear that in several African countries, there are likely to be more private universities and other centres of higher education than public ones in the near future. Among the private institutions of higher education are many confessional ones founded on different religious doctrines which they seek, to a greater or lesser extent, to project into the organisation of campus life and the curriculum. Also, Africa has been a key market targeted by international providers seeking to take advantage of opportunities mid-wifed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to trade in educational services.

Yet, while the massive expansion in the higher education sector might appear at one level to signal an expansion of opportunity for the younger members of society to acquire advanced learning and training, at another level, there are several countervailing factors and processes at play that would seem to call for a deeper examination of what the transformation in African higher education might mean for the youth. For one, the state of the physical infrastructure and the infrastructure of learning in many institutions leaves a lot to be desired. For another, the massification in student numbers without a corresponding infrastructure expansion and an increase in the teaching faculty has adversely impacted upon the university/higher education experience for many young people, generating as a plethora of uncivil cultures and attitudinal shifts to which many are being socialised. Furthermore, challenges continue to exist with regard to the content of the curricular in differing higher education institutions and programmes with consequences for their relevance to the concerns, interests and circumstances of the youth. Also, the levying of tuition and non-tuition fees by many institutions of higher learning has introduced a strong dose of selectivity into the ability of the youth to access advanced training, all the more so given the sustained state of poverty and/or income collapse suffered by many households across the continent in the period since the beginning of the 1980s, and in the light of the uneven distribution of the benefits of growth that has taken place. Further still, the capacity of the higher education system to prepare the youth who are recruited for life after graduation has been limited, evidenced, for example, by difficulties encountered with employability upon the completion of studies. Finally, young Africans themselves are increasingly exploring alternative opportunities to higher education. Some of these alternatives are pursued as a function of the dysfunctionalities they feel about the higher education system vis-à-vis their interests and concerns. Through the 2008 session of the CODESRIA Child and Youth Studies Institute, participants are being invited to undertake a critical assessment of what, on the one hand, higher education means for the youth in Africa and how they attempt to make it work for them, and, on the other hand, the extent to which the higher education system meets the needs of the youth, however these needs may be defined. In undertaking the assessment, participants will be encouraged, at one level, to examine the youth both as a social category and the higher education system as a coherent, unified system and, at another level, to distinguish among different categories of youth and higher education institutions in order to tease out nuances that speak to the overarching objectives of the 2008 Institute. A critical question which the Institute will seek to address relates to the factors favouring the decision of some youths to enter and go through the higher education system, and correlation between those factors and their post-graduation experiences. The session will also explore the cultures which the youth as students have developed around the higher education system, the factors underpinning the cultures, and their impact on the environment of learning. Comparisons and contrasts between on and off-campus youth cultures will be undertaken given that a large proportion of students are compelled either by deliberate policy or on-campus accommodation shortages to live off-campus whilst studying. Similar comparisons could be pursued between confessional and non-confessional institutions of higher education in terms of the kinds of student/youth cultures that are in evidence. A critical part of campus culture are the student associations that are in place. In addition to a mapping of the types of associations that are active on the campuses of African higher education institutions, attention will be paid to their changing nature over time, the different youth constituencies they represent, and what their missions tell us about the immediate and larger hopes and ambitions of young people in the higher education system.

The aspirations which the youths carry into the higher education system, the shifts that have occurred over time in these aspirations and the extent to which they are realisable in the light of the nature and mode of functioning of the system will also be explored. Where possible, university youth aspirations and cultures will be compared and contrasted with non-university youth aspirations and cultures. Measures taken by administrators of the higher education system to respond to the youthful demographics of campuses, as well as strategies that have deployed to make higher education attractive to young people will be examined. Attention will be paid too to the gender dimensions of the youth engagement with the higher education system, including patterns of entry, participation, socialisation, domination, resistance and exit. From a broader societal point of view, the question will be addressed as to whether the higher education system is an effective site for the incubation of ambitions and innovation for autonomy and self reliance among the youth or a theatre where stalemates in the post-independence projects of development, democracy and unity are played out. For the purpose of exploring these different issues and undertaking their work, participants in the Institute will have access to the resources of the CODESRIA Documentation and Information Centre (CODICE) and the expertise of a team of experienced resource persons. Laureates Candidates wishing to be considered for selection as laureates in the Institute should normally be researchers based in African institutions and who have completed their university education/professional training. Furthermore, they should have a demonstrable interest in the Child and Youth Question. Self-sponsoring non-African candidates will also be considered for a limited number of spaces in the Institute. A total of 15 laureates will be selected from the applications received.

All candidates are required to submit an application which should include:
i) A letter of request for consideration for admission into the Institute, complete with all available contact details (e-mail, telephone, and fax);
ii) a research proposal of not more than ten pages linked clearly to the theme of the Institute and with a well-defined problematic;
iii) A current curriculum vitae;
iv) An official letter of institutional affiliation; and v) Two reference letters.

Resource Persons
Four resources persons will be selected to work with the Director of the Institute to animate the discussions and debates that would be held. The resource persons are required to deliver lectures which not only help the laureates to stimulate their reflections on the theme of the Institute but also to revise their research proposals. As such, the resource persons must have a strong scholarly track record on the Institute theme. Each resource person will be given a slot to make up to three presentations to the laureates; resource persons will also be encouraged to offer comments on the proposals of the laureates. Once selected, resource persons will be required to write up the presentations they would be making so that these can be circulated in advance to the laureates. After the Institute, they will be expected to revise their presentations for consideration for publication by the Council in a volume devoted to the theme of the session in which they participated.

Candidates wishing to considered for selection as resource persons are requested to:
i) Submit a letter of application;
ii) A copy of their curriculum vitae;
iii) An outline of not more than five pages of the issues they would like to tackle within the theme of the Institute and spread over three lectures of two hours each; and
iv) A reading list to accompany the presentation they would be making.

Director
The Director takes on the overall responsibility for managing the scientific sessions of the Institute not only in terms of designing an overall programme of presentations and discussions but also assisting the laureates to get the best out of the programme. The director is also expected to edit the proceedings of the Institute once the reports of the laureates and the revised papers of the resource persons are received. Candidates for this position should be accomplished scholars who will be able both to guide and inspire the laureates. Those wishing to be considered for this role are requested to send:
i) A letter of application;
ii) A copy of their curriculum vitae;
iii) A detailed course outline on the theme of the Institute and which should also be divided into sub-themes that they would wish to see covered during the Institute; and
iv) A bibliographic list to accompany the proposed course outline.

All applications received for consideration as laureates, resource persons and director will be screened by an independent selection committee made up of eminent scholars with expertise on the theme of the Institute. The deadline for the receipt of applications is: 16 June, 2008. Applications should be sent to:

The Child and Youth Studies Institute,
CODESRIA,
Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop (Angle Canal IV),
BP 3304, CP 18524,
Dakar, Senegal.
Tel: +221-33 825 98 22/23
Fax: +221-33 824 12 89
E-Mail: child.institute@codesria.sn
Web Site: http://www.codesria.org

Africa: CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute - 2008 Session

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/46427

The CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute is an interdisciplinary forum which brings together African scholars undertaking innovative research on topics related to the broad theme of governance. The theme of the 2008 Session is Religions and Religiosities in African Governance. The deadline for the submission of applications is set for 06 June, 2008. The Institute will be held in Dakar, Senegal, from 04 - 29 August, 2008.
CODESRIA DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE INSTITUTE

Theme: Religions and Religiosities in African Governance
Date: 04 – 29 August, 2008
Venue: Dakar, Senegal.

Call for Applications for the 2008 Session

The CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute is an interdisciplinary forum which brings together African scholars undertaking innovative research on topics related to the broad theme of governance. The aim of the Institute is to promote research and debates on issues connected to the conduct of public affairs and the management of the development process in Africa. The Institute was launched in 1992 and has been held every year since then in Dakar, Senegal. It serves the critical function of forging links among a younger generation of African intellectuals and meeting the scientific needs of these intellectuals in terms of access to recent documentation, participation in current debates, the retooling of their research capacities, and the updating of their conceptual, theoretical and methodological approaches. Increasingly, the Institute appeals to the interests of African policy intellectuals and civil society activists as well, thereby permitting a judicious mix of researchers, activists, and policy makers to be achieved in the admission of participants. In general, a total of fifteen African researchers drawn from across the continent and the Diaspora, and a few non-African scholars participate in the Institute each year.

Objectives:
The main objectives of the Governance Institute are to:
1. encourage the sharing of experiences among researchers, activists and policy makers from different disciplines, methodological and conceptual orientations, and geographical/linguistic zones on a common theme over an extended period of time;
2. promote and enhance a culture of democratic values that allows Africans effectively to identify and tackle the governance issues confronting their continent; and
3. foster the participation of scholars in discussions and debates about the processes of democratisation taking place in Africa.

Organisation:
The activities of all CODESRIA institutes centre on presentations made by resident researchers, visiting resource persons, and the participants whose applications for admission as laureates are successful. The sessions are led by a scientific director who, with the help of invited resource persons, ensures that the laureates are exposed to the range of research and policy issues generated by or arising from the theme of the Institute for which they are responsible. Open discussions drawing on books and articles relevant to the theme of a particular institute or a specific topic within the theme are also encouraged. Each of the laureates selected to participate in any of the Council’s institutes is required to prepare a research paper to be presented during the course of the particular institute they attend. Laureates are expected to draw on the insights which they gain from the Institute in which they participate to produce a revised version of their research papers for consideration for publication by CODESRIA. For each institute, the CODESRIA Documentation and Information Centre (CODICE) prepares a comprehensive bibliography on the theme of the year. Access is also facilitated to a number of documentation centres in and aroundDakar.

The 2008 Session:
Religions and Religiosities in African Governance Over the last two and half decades, there has been a major religious revivalism engulfing the African continent, side-by-side with the efflorescence of new religiosities that are manifested in private as much as they are exhibited in public. Evidence of both the religious revivalism and increased religiosities are strewn in various forms across the landscape of most African countries. The evidence includes: The emergence of new religious denominations alongside the revamping and re-composition of old ones; the spread of a generalised religious fervour that has gone hand-in-hand with innovations in modes of worship and a greater variety in doctrinal interpretations; the massive production and distribution of religious literature, paraphernalia and icons; the proliferation of institutions and places of worship in rural and urban centres, most times regardless of established city and rural master plans; the mobilisation of large numbers of people to regular religious crusades/rallies on a scale and with a frequency not commonly seen on the continent; the growth and expansion of religious broadcasts, gospel music and televangelism; the massive expansion of the social welfare function and presence of the church and the mosque; the expansion in religious associational life spanning various spheres of life and livelihood; the (re-)establishment on a massive scale of religious schools (including universities); and the emergence of religious institutions as major economic/financial players.

Although much of the literature has focused on Christian religious revivalism and religiosity, the resurgence that has occurred has not by any means been limited to the Christian faith; both Islam and “traditional” religions have enjoyed a boom in their own way, doing so sometimes in reactive competition among the different denominations and sects for the hearts and souls of the populace. Similarly, although much of the concern in the dominant literature about the revivalism taking place among Muslims has been disproportionately focused on Islamic “extremism” and “terrorism”, clearly practices which may be characterised as extremist are also present in the Christian religious revivalism that has occurred, manifesting itself in various ways that deserve to be closely studied too. At the same time, syncretism in religious practices has enjoyed a revival, sometimes translating into social movements that stake direct political claims. Furthermore, the reasons underpinning the revival in religions and the efflorescence of new religiosities have been much debated in the literature and are the objects of a continuing discussion that deserves to be engaged but which needs not detain us here for now. Suffice it to note though that much of that discussion has sidestepped the question of the impact of religious revivalism and religiosities on the governance of state and society across the continent. It is precisely this gap that the 2008 session of the CODESRIA Governance Institute is designed to fill.

In the construction of the contemporary African state system, the underlying assumption is that religion belongs to the private sphere and, in a “true” liberal, republican spirit, is to be separated from the state. Little wonder then that the framers of the constitutions of independent African countries underscored the secular status of the state and went to great lengths to inscribe the principle of the separation of state and religion into the system of governance. And yet, even in the 1950s and 1960s, as colonialism came to an end and independence was achieved, it was clear that the matter of the role of religion in governance could not simply be reduced to a legal-constitutional matter. For, many were the sociological reasons and processes that made for the interpenetration of the public and private realms such that even with the best efforts, religions and religiosities did creep, almost instinctively, into the conduct of state affairs in the same way as they were infused into the making and reproduction of the public realm. In the worst cases, direct legal and political challenges were posed by the partisans of the dominant religions and bearers of the new religiosities to the principle and practice of the secular state as to force the recognition of the role and place of religion in national life unto the national agenda. The social polarisation occasioned by such challenges sometimes resulted in violent conflicts between Christians and Muslims; clashes between religious militants and the local forces of law and order; ethno-regional conflicts in places where the spread of different religious persuasions co-terminated with geographical-administrative regions and ethnicity; sustained pressures for constitutional changes and the reform of national-territorial administration to accommodate religious claims; attempts at narrowing morality in public life to religious morality; and campaigns aimed at re-defining civic identities and the educational curricular in accordance with various religious creeds. Through the 2008 Governance Institute, the Council proposes to focus scholarly attention primarily on the implications of the religious revivalism and the new religiosities that have been experienced in Africa for governance on the continent. To this end, various governance dimensions of the resurgence in religions and religiosities will be explored. At one level, attention will be paid to the impact of the new religiosity on the governance of the public realm in Africa, that realm being understood in all-encompassing manner to include political, economic, social, cultural, artistic, aesthetic, ethical and moral dimensions that are permeated by various class, gender, ethno-regional and inter-generational relations. At another level, laureates of the Institute will be encouraged to examine the impact of religion and religiosities on the African state and its functioning, doing so from a historicized perspective that also takes on board the plethora of legal-constitutional, political-administrative and sociological-cultural challenges arising. Furthermore, the consequences of competing religious claims and religiosities on the nation-building project, especially in multi-ethnic contexts where various religious sects and denominations exist side-by-side, will be examined in-depth. Also, the role of religious associations in national politics will be explored, as will their impact on the mobilisation and reproduction of leadership and legitimacy. Of interest too will be the manner in which religious/spiritual power and temporal authority and power are interfaced in the process of governance in Africa both historically and contemporaneously. The role of religious institutions, including the media organisations they control, in the democratic processes taking place in Africa will be examined, it being understood that a central part of the African democratic project is the promotion of gender equality. The new religiosities have also been accompanied by the emergence of new social movements anchored in religion such as the Holy Spirit Movement and the Lord’s Resistance Army. The politics of those movements will be examined. The Director For every session of its various institutes, CODESRIA appoints an external scholar with a proven track-record of quality work to provide intellectual leadership. Directors are senior scholars known for their expertise in the topic of the year and for the originality of their thinking on it. They are recruited on the basis of a proposal which they submit and which contains a detailed course outline covering methodological issues and approaches; the key concepts integral to an understanding of the object of a particular Institute and the specific theme that will be focused upon; a thorough review of the state of the literature designed to expose laureates to different theoretical and empirical currents; a presentation on various sub-themes, case-studies and comparative examples relevant to the theme of the particular Institute they are applying to lead; and possible policy questions that are worth keeping in mind during the entire research process.

Candidates for the position of Director should also note that if their application is successful, they will be asked to:
- participate in the selection of laureates;
- identify resource-persons to help lead discussions and debates;
- design the course for the session, including the specification of sub-themes;
- deliver a set of lectures and provide a critique of the papers presented by the resource persons and the laureates;
- submit a written scientific report on the session.

In addition, the Director is expected to (co-)edit the revised versions of the papers presented by the resource persons with a view to submitting them for publication in one of CODESRIA’s collections. The Director also assists CODESRIA in assessing the papers presented by laureates for publication by the Council.

Resource Persons
Lectures to be delivered at the Institute are intended to offer laureates an opportunity to advance their reflections on the theme of the programme and on their own research topics. Resource Persons are, therefore, senior scholars or scholars in their mid-career who have published extensively on the topic, and who have a significant contribution to make to the debates on it. They will be expected to produce lecture materials which serve as think pieces that stimulate laureates to engage in discussion and debate around the lectures and the general body of literature available on the theme.

Once selected, resource persons must:
- submit a copy of their lectures for reproduction and distribution to participants not later than one week before the lecture begins ;
- deliver their lectures, participate in debates and comment on the research proposals of the laureates ;
- review and submit the revised version of their research papers for consideration for publication by CODESRIA not later than two months following their presentation.

Laureates
Applicants should be African researchers who have completed their university and /or professional training, with a proven capacity to carry out research on the theme of the Institute. Intellectuals active in the policy process and/or in social movements/civic organisations are also encouraged to apply. The number of places offered by CODESRIA at each session of its institutes is limited to fifteen (15) fellowships. Non-African scholars who are able to raise funds for their participation may also apply for a limited number of places.

Applications Applicants for the position of Director should submit:

1. an application letter;
2. a proposal, not more than 15 pages in length, indicating the course outline and showing in what ways the course would be original and responsive to the needs of prospective laureates, specifically focussing on the issues to be covered from the point of view of concepts and methodology, a critical review of the literature, and the range of issues arising from the theme of the Institute;
3. a detailed and up-to-date curriculum vitae; and
4. three writing samples.

Applications for the position of resource persons should include:
1. an application letter ;
2. two writing samples ;
3. a curriculum vitae ; and
4. a proposal, not more than five (5) pages in length, outlining the issues to be covered in their proposed lecture.

Applications for Laureates should include:
1. an application letter;
2. a letter indicating institutional or organisational affiliation;
3. a curriculum vitae ;
4. a research proposal (two copies and not more than 10 pages), including a descriptive analysis of the work the applicant intends to undertake, an outline of the theoretical interest of the topic chosen by the applicant, and the relationship of the topic to the problematic and concerns of the theme of the 2008 Institute; and
5. two reference letters from scholars and/or researchers known for their competence and expertise in the candidate's research area (geographic and disciplinary), including their names, addresses and telephone, e-mail, fax numbers.
An independent committee composed of outstanding African social scientists will select the candidates to be admitted to the institute.

The deadline for the submission of applications is set for 06 June, 2008. The Institute will be held in Dakar, Senegal, from 04 - 29 August, 2008. All applications or requests for further information should be addressed to:
CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop x Canal IV BP 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, Senegal.
Tel.: (221) 825 98 21/22/23 Fax: (221) 824 12 89 E-Mail: governance.institute@codesria.sn Website: http://www.codesria.org

Africa: CODESRIA Sub-Regional Methodological Workshops for Social Research in Africa

2008 Session for North Africa

2008-02-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/46449

The 2008 session of the CODESRIA sub-regional methodological workshops will explore the conditions for the employment and validation of qualitative perspectives in African contexts. To this end, the workshops will be open to all the social research disciplines. These disciplines are uniformly confronted with broadly similar difficulties of understanding social reality and the challenges posed by techniques of data collection and analysis, which, on account of their “qualitative” nature, are suspected by some to be seriously lacking in scientific rigour.
CODESRIA

Sub-Regional Methodological Workshops for Social Research in Africa: 2008 Session for North Africa
Theme: Fields and Theories of Qualitative Research
Date: 06 – 10 October, 2008
Venue: CRASC, Oran, Algeria.

Call for Applications

One of the major weaknesses of contemporary social research in and about Africa is its lack of careful attention to epistemological and methodological issues. This weakness has made itself manifest at a time when the increasing complexities of the social dynamics that shape livelihood on the continent and the wider global context call for a greater investment of effort in the refinement of the procedures and instruments of investigation and analyses with a view to achieving a more accurate and holistic assessment of rapidly changing realities. But instead of such an investment of effort, we are increasingly witnessing an astonishing neglect or misapplication of theory and method on a scale and with a frequency that calls for intervention. At one level, the neglect that has taken place has comprised a serious trivialisation of basic research protocols and their reduction to a fetishistic evocation of superficial recommendations thinly disguised with ritualistic appeals to rigour that are not reflected in the analyses undertaken. At another level, methodological issues have simply been instrumentalised in ways that ensure that narrow ideological considerations and pre-determined outcomes take precedence over science. Furthermore, it is not uncommon to come across studies in which methodological questions are outrightly ignored in the name of an alleged specificity or immediacy that amounts to the exclusion of African social realities from universal debates on the validity of scientific frames of analyses. The result is that in those debates, studies produced on Africa come across as a mix of purely literary discourses without an empirical anchorage or anecdotes hidden under a “scholarly” discourse that is not only pretentious but also vacuous. Consequently, the knowledge produced is bereft of heuristic value and simply becomes an element that, wittingly or unwittingly, justifies a predetermined set of economic, political and social policies. This is clearly not an acceptable state of affairs, if only because it impoverishes African social research. It is, therefore, high time that the social research community revisited and discussed the methodological foundations of current knowledge about Africa in order first to put an end to scientific impunity as it manifests itself within and outside Africa, and give a new impulse to the African social sciences through support programmes targeted at younger researchers.

The future of young social researchers begins with an excellent mastery of core research processes and their patient application to concrete situations as demanded by their work in the field, the archives, and the library. Unfortunately, the combination of the prolonged crises in African higher education systems and the poor example set in the writings of an increasing number of Africanists who have succumbed to the temptation to take liberties with methodological rigour mean that younger African researchers are poorly served in matters of training for independent social research. It is for this reason that the CODESRIA Secretariat has decided to convene young African researchers to methodological workshops on epistemological and methodological issues in social research designed to fill the gaps in their formal and informal training. The workshops are meant to serve as a critical space that would offer experience-sharing in the basic epistemological and empirical prerequisites for rigorous scientific imagination. The workshops will not only offer insights into the current state of the art but also provide an occasion for a critical review of contemporary research procedures, tools and theories as seen from an African perspective. The major question which the workshops will address can be summarized as follows: How can the researcher productively establish a link between dominant theoretical approaches and concrete situations in the field whilst simultaneously taking into account the state of knowledge, the techniques to be mobilized, and the evolution of African societies? In answering this question, the workshops will privilege qualitative research methods and tools on the basic premise that the popular tendency to oppose quantitative and qualitative methods is due to a wrong assumption that the former offers an exactness and “hardness” which the latter is supposedly too “soft” and “fickle” to match. Without diminishing the importance of quantitative research and methods, participants in the workshops will be encouraged to explore qualitative methods of capturing African social dynamics which do not always or often find expression, fully or partially, in figures and which are, therefore, lost to those who are wedded to rigid and exclusively quantitative approaches.

The 2008 session of the CODESRIA sub-regional methodological workshops will explore the conditions for the employment and validation of qualitative perspectives in African contexts. To this end, the workshops will be open to all the social research disciplines. These disciplines are uniformly confronted with broadly similar difficulties of understanding social reality and the challenges posed by techniques of data collection and analysis, which, on account of their “qualitative” nature, are suspected by some to be seriously lacking in scientific rigour. Each workshop will have the following concerns at its core:

i) A critical assessment of the distinction between “quantitative” and “qualitative” research with particular attention to the question of measurement in the social sciences. Participants will be taken through presentations and exercises aimed at showing that the mode of processing data that is collected depends both on the field constraints encountered and the paradigmatic options of data interpretation that are available. The procedures for the “quantification” of “qualitative” approaches will also be reviewed through discussions on the distinction between the non-metrical and “comprehensive” presentation of data and the more mathematical renditions favoured by the quantitativists.
ii) A presentation of the methodological principles of “object construction” which enables the researcher to transcend the illusions of immediate knowledge and undertake a hypothetical reconstruction of social reality. This demands that the status of the researcher, as well as the systematic role of theories and tools be subjected to intense epistemological control.
iii) An assessment of various techniques of data collection and “fact-finding” instruments available to the researcher. The usual tools of qualitative research such as interviews, observation, archival studies, and the less usual ones such as photography, will be reviewed, so as to locate their potentiality for construction of successful research projects.

The North Africa edition of the methodological workshops are designed for doctoral students and young, mid-career African researchers resident in North Africa. The working languages to be employed during the workshop will be English, French and Arabic. The session will be led by a director who will be assisted by a team of three lecturers, all with an acknowledged expertise in the application of social science research methods. Senior researchers wishing to be considered for a role as resource persons are invited to send an application which indicates their interest and includes their current CV and an outline of issues they would like to cover in four lectures of two hours each. The outline submitted should be detailed enough to enable the director of the workshop compile a syllabus for the guidance of the resource persons and laureates. Apart from the actual preparation of lectures and field visits, the resource persons will also be expected to submit a bibliographic list of texts relevant to the theme of the workshop and which can be made available to the laureates.

As to the advanced postgraduate scholars and younger, mid-career researchers wishing to be considered for participation in the workshop, they are also required to submit an application that should comprise the following:

i) A letter of motivation which should also clearly indicate the area of research or topic on which they are working;
ii) A statement of their research project (maximum of three to five pages) stating clearly the problematic that is being addressed, the kinds of field research to be undertaken, the theoretical and methodological framework being used, as well as the methodological and epistemological problems encountered;
iii) A detailed and up-to-date curriculum vitae;
iv) Two reference letters, one of which must be from the thesis supervisor and the other from the head of the department in which the applicant is registered. The reference letter from the supervisor is expected to address the relevance of the research project, the state of progress of the research and the theoretical and methodological approaches used, as well as the results expected. The reference letter from the head of the department is expected to attest to the qualities and academic potential of the candidate; and
v) A letter confirming the institutional affiliation of the applicant.

Applications will be selected on basis of the innovative nature of the research question being addressed, a commitment to gender balance that is central to CODESRIA’s institutional strategy, and the desire for a geographical diversity that will, in itself, constitute an important aspect of the learning experience at the workshops. Applications must be submitted by 08 August, 2008. They should be sent to:

CODESRIA Sub-Regional Methodological Workshops,
CODESRIA, P.O. Box: 3304,
Dakar, CP 18524 – Senegal.
Tél: +221-33 825.98.22/23
Fax: +221-33 824.12.89
E-mail: methodological.workshop@codesria.sn
Web Site: http://www.codesria.org

Africa: CODESRIA Sub-Regional Methodological Workshops for Social Research in Africa

2008 Session for Southern Africa

2008-02-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/46451

The 2008 session of the CODESRIA sub-regional methodological workshops will explore the conditions for the employment and validation of qualitative perspectives in African contexts. To this end, the workshops will be open to all the social research disciplines. These disciplines are uniformly confronted with broadly similar difficulties of understanding social reality and the challenges posed by techniques of data collection and analysis, which, on account of their “qualitative” nature, are suspected by some to be seriously lacking in scientific rigour.
CODESRIA
Sub-Regional Methodological Workshops for Social Research in Africa
2008 Session for Southern Africa
Theme: Fields and Theories of Qualitative Research
Date: 21 – 25 July, 2008
Venue: University of Bostwana, Gaborone, Botswana.

Call for Applications

One of the major weaknesses of contemporary social research in and about Africa is its lack of careful attention to epistemological and methodological issues. This weakness has made itself manifest at a time when the increasing complexities of the social dynamics that shape livelihood on the continent and the wider global context call for a greater investment of effort in the refinement of the procedures and instruments of investigation and analyses with a view to achieving a more accurate and holistic assessment of rapidly changing realities. But instead of such an investment of effort, we are increasingly witnessing an astonishing neglect or misapplication of theory and method on a scale and with a frequency that calls for intervention. At one level, the neglect that has taken place has comprised a serious trivialisation of basic research protocols and their reduction to a fetishistic evocation of superficial recommendations thinly disguised with ritualistic appeals to rigour that are not reflected in the analyses undertaken. At another level, methodological issues have simply been instrumentalised in ways that ensure that narrow ideological considerations and pre-determined outcomes take precedence over science. Furthermore, it is not uncommon to come across studies in which methodological questions are outrightly ignored in the name of an alleged specificity or immediacy that amounts to the exclusion of African social realities from universal debates on the validity of scientific frames of analyses. The result is that in those debates, studies produced on Africa come across as a mix of purely literary discourses without an empirical anchorage or anecdotes hidden under a “scholarly” discourse that is not only pretentious but also vacuous. Consequently, the knowledge produced is bereft of heuristic value and simply becomes an element that, wittingly or unwittingly, justifies a predetermined set of economic, political and social policies. This is clearly not an acceptable state of affairs, if only because it impoverishes African social research. It is, therefore, high time that the social research community revisited and discussed the methodological foundations of current knowledge about Africa in order first to put an end to scientific impunity as it manifests itself within and outside Africa, and give a new impulse to the African social sciences through support programmes targeted at younger researchers.

The future of young social researchers begins with an excellent mastery of core research processes and their patient application to concrete situations as demanded by their work in the field, the archives, and the library. Unfortunately, the combination of the prolonged crises in African higher education systems and the poor example set in the writings of an increasing number of Africanists who have succumbed to the temptation to take liberties with methodological rigour mean that younger African researchers are poorly served in matters of training for independent social research. It is for this reason that the CODESRIA Secretariat has decided to convene young African researchers to methodological workshops on epistemological and methodological issues in social research designed to fill the gaps in their formal and informal training. The workshops are meant to serve as a critical space that would offer experience-sharing in the basic epistemological and empirical prerequisites for rigorous scientific imagination. The workshops will not only offer insights into the current state of the art but also provide an occasion for a critical review of contemporary research procedures, tools and theories as seen from an African perspective. The major question which the workshops will address can be summarized as follows: How can the researcher productively establish a link between dominant theoretical approaches and concrete situations in the field whilst simultaneously taking into account the state of knowledge, the techniques to be mobilized, and the evolution of African societies? In answering this question, the workshops will privilege qualitative research methods and tools on the basic premise that the popular tendency to oppose quantitative and qualitative methods is due to a wrong assumption that the former offers an exactness and “hardness” which the latter is supposedly too “soft” and “fickle” to match. Without diminishing the importance of quantitative research and methods, participants in the workshops will be encouraged to explore qualitative methods of capturing African social dynamics which do not always or often find expression, fully or partially, in figures and which are, therefore, lost to those who are wedded to rigid and exclusively quantitative approaches.

The 2008 session of the CODESRIA sub-regional methodological workshops will explore the conditions for the employment and validation of qualitative perspectives in African contexts. To this end, the workshops will be open to all the social research disciplines. These disciplines are uniformly confronted with broadly similar difficulties of understanding social reality and the challenges posed by techniques of data collection and analysis, which, on account of their “qualitative” nature, are suspected by some to be seriously lacking in scientific rigour. Each workshop will have the following concerns at its core:
i) A critical assessment of the distinction between “quantitative” and “qualitative” research with particular attention to the question of measurement in the social sciences. Participants will be taken through presentations and exercises aimed at showing that the mode of processing data that is collected depends both on the field constraints encountered and the paradigmatic options of data interpretation that are available. The procedures for the “quantification” of “qualitative” approaches will also be reviewed through discussions on the distinction between the non-metrical and “comprehensive” presentation of data and the more mathematical renditions favoured by the quantitativists.
ii) A presentation of the methodological principles of “object construction” which enables the researcher to transcend the illusions of immediate knowledge and undertake a hypothetical reconstruction of social reality. This demands that the status of the researcher, as well as the systematic role of theories and tools be subjected to intense epistemological control.
iii) An assessment of various techniques of data collection and “fact-finding” instruments available to the researcher. The usual tools of qualitative research such as interviews, observation, archival studies, and the less usual ones such as photography, will be reviewed, so as to locate their potentiality for construction of successful research projects.

The Southern Africa edition of the methodological workshops is designed for doctoral students and young, mid-career African researchers resident in Southern Africa. The working language to be employed during the workshop will be English. The session will be led by a director who will be assisted by a team of three lecturers, all with an acknowledged expertise in the application of social science research methods. Senior researchers wishing to be considered for a role as resource persons are invited to send an application which indicates their interest and includes their current CV and an outline of issues they would like to cover in four lectures of two hours each. The outline submitted should be detailed enough to enable the director of the workshop compile a syllabus for the guidance of the resource persons and laureates. Apart from the actual preparation of lectures and field visits, the resource persons will also be expected to submit a bibliographic list of texts relevant to the theme of the workshop and which can be made available to the laureates.

As to the advanced postgraduate scholars and younger, mid-career researchers wishing to be considered for participation in the workshop, they are also required to submit an application that should comprise the following:
i) A letter of motivation which should also clearly indicate the area of research or topic on which they are working;
ii) A statement of their research project (maximum of three to five pages) stating clearly the problematic that is being addressed, the kinds of field research to be undertaken, the theoretical and methodological framework being used, as well as the methodological and epistemological problems encountered;
iii) A detailed and up-to-date curriculum vitae;
iv) Two reference letters, one of which must be from the thesis supervisor and the other from the head of the department in which the applicant is registered. The reference letter from the supervisor is expected to address the relevance of the research project, the state of progress of the research and the theoretical and methodological approaches used, as well as the results expected. The reference letter from the head of the department is expected to attest to the qualities and academic potential of the candidate; and
v) A letter confirming the institutional affiliation of the applicant.

Applications will be selected on basis of the innovative nature of the research question being addressed, a commitment to gender balance that is central to CODESRIA’s institutional strategy, and the desire for a geographical diversity that will, in itself, constitute an important aspect of the learning experience at the workshops. Applications must be submitted by 19 May, 2008. They should be sent to:

CODESRIA Sub-Regional Methodological Workshops, CODESRIA, P.O. Box: 3304, Dakar, CP 18524 – Senegal.
Tél.: +221-33 825.98.22/23 — Fax: +221-33 824.12.89 E-mail: methodological.workshop@codesria.sn Web site: http://www.codesria.org

Africa: CODESRIA: Africa and the Global Pharmaceutical Industry - 2008 Session

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/46426

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) was established in 1973 as an initiative of African scholars for the promotion of multidisciplinary research that extends the frontiers of knowledge production in and about Africa, and also responds to the challenges of African development. As part of on-going programme innovation and expansion, the Council in 2004 launched an institute on Health, Politics and Society in Africa in a bid to promote an enhanced interest in multidisciplinary health research among African scholars.
CODESRIA INSTITUTE ON HEALTH, POLITICS AND SOCIETY INAFRICA

Theme: Africa and the Global Pharmaceutical Industry
Date: 06 – 31 October, 2008
Venue: Dakar, Senegal

Call for Applications for the 2008 Session

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) was established in 1973 as an initiative of African scholars for the promotion of multidisciplinary research that extends the frontiers of knowledge production in and about Africa, and also responds to the challenges of African development. Within the broad framework of the mandate defined for the Council in its Charter, various research and training programmes have been developed over the years for the purpose both of mobilising the African scholarly community and responding to its needs. The Council also has a robust publications programme which has earned it a reputation as one of the leading academic publishers in Africa. Its training programmes are particularly targeted at younger, mid-career scholars whose need for support in advancing their reflections on conceptual and methodological questions was at the origin of the initiation by the Council of a number of annual thematic institutes. At present, CODESRIA runs annual Governance, Gender, Humanities, and Child and Youth Studies institutes; similar programmatic initiatives are under consideration for other fields of research in which the Council is engaged.

As part of on-going programme innovation and expansion, the Council in 2004 launched an institute on Health, Politics and Society in Africa in a bid to promote an enhanced interest in multidisciplinary health research among African scholars. The initiative flowed from the CODESRIA Strategic Plan 2002 - 2006 which has placed a considerable emphasis on the promotion of social science approaches to health studies in Africa and a structured dialogue between the Social Sciences and the Health/Biomedical Sciences. The initiative has also become imperative at a time when the African continent is faced with one of the most severe health crises in its history. Most symbolic of this crisis is the HIV/AIDS pandemic which has been ravaging the continent for sometime now even as such diseases as malaria continue to take a heavy toll while tuberculosis and polio, once under control, are enjoying a resurgence. The HIV/AIDS pandemic itself came to the fore in the context of a generalised weakening of the health structures and processes of African countries, as well as the decline in the average health and nutritional status of Africans, the latter speaking directly to the increased levels of personal and household impoverishment on the continent. At the root of the decline in the health status of Africans are such factors as the prolonged economic crises which African countries have faced in the period since the early 1980s, the inappropriate adjustment measures prescribed by the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) for containing the crises but which exacerbated the problems that were already being experienced in the health sector, and the massive brain drain from the sector.

Objectives:
The main objectives of the Institute on Health, Politics and Society are to:
1. Encourage the emergence and sustenance of a networked community of younger African scholars in the field of health research;
2. Promote methodological and conceptual innovations in research on African health questions through the application of enhanced social science and humanistic approaches;
3. Encourage a structured dialogue between the Social Sciences/Humanities and the Health/Biomedical Sciences as part of the quest for a holistic approach to understanding health, politics and society in Africa; and
4. Promote the sharing of experiences among researchers, activists and policy makers drawn from different disciplines, methodological/conceptual orientations, and geographical experiences on a common theme over an extended period of time.

Organisation:
The activities of all CODESRIA institutes centre on presentations made by resident researchers, visiting resource persons, and the participants whose applications for admission as laureates are successful. The sessions are led by a scientific director who, with the help of invited resource persons, ensures that the laureates are exposed to the range of research and policy issues generated by or arising from the theme of the Institute for which they are responsible. Open discussions drawing on books and articles relevant to the theme of a particular institute or a specific topic within the theme are also encouraged. Each of the participants selected to participate in any of the Council’s institutes as a laureate is required to prepare a research paper to be presented during the course of the particular institute they attend. Laureates are expected to draw on the insights which they gain from the Institute in which they participate to produce a revised version of their research papers for consideration for publication by CODESRIA. For each institute, the CODESRIA Documentation and Information Centre (CODICE) prepares a comprehensive bibliography on the theme of the year. Access is also facilitated to a number of documentation centres in and aroundDakar.

The 2008 Session:
Africa and the Global Pharmaceutical Industry African countries attained independence in the 1960s on the basis of a broad social contract between the nationalists who inherited state power from the colonial authorities and the general populace whose support was instrumental to the success of the independence struggle. At the centre of the contract was a commitment by the nationalists to an across-the-board improvement in the lives and well-being of the populace in ways which also overcame the discriminatory restrictions that underpinned colonial social policy and opened new opportunities for social advancement. The health and educational sectors occupied a pride of place in the early investments which post-colonial governments made in the social sectors; overall, those sectors witnessed an all-round expansion in the period up to the end of the 1970s. As it pertains specifically to the health sector, the primary accent was placed on developing the infrastructure for the provision of “modern” medicine to the bulk of the populace. From the primary health centres that were created to the bigger, mostly urban-based general hospitals and specialist medical centres, the expansion of the “modern” health sector was treated as a tangible goal of independence to which public investments were poured. At the same time, attention was given to the training of health personnel – nurses, midwives and doctors – both locally and abroad to staff the medical establishments which governments set up. Efforts were also made to promote local medical research – mainly through university-based medical schools – and support the development of a domestic industry – initially of an import-substituting nature - in the medical sector.

For the period up to the middle of the 1980s, most of the public medical centres that were established functioned relatively well: They were well-provisioned in most senses, including the drugs and personnel they needed to render services to the citizenry. Governmental financial subventions to meet their operational expenses were also regular even if not always sufficient. In turn, public medical establishments generally enjoyed the confidence of the public and were often the first choice of most patients on account of the quality of their services and the equipment at the disposal of their staff members. In several countries, investments were also made in the local production of basic provisions and equipment. This picture was, however, to begin to change rapidly from the mid-1980s onwards when, in the wake of the economic crises which African countries one after the other began to undergo, the health sector suffered severe setbacks from which it still has not fully recovered. Apart from the severe cut-backs in the budgetary allocations by governments under severe pressure to balance their budget, the sector was to witness a mass exodus of qualified personnel on account of a variety of factors. The brain drain from the public health sector was fuelled by the sharp deterioration of the physical infrastructure and equipment base of most health institutions; the severe shortages of drugs and other supplies that became a way of life; the deterioration in the remuneration of public heath staff; and overall environment of work that discouraged professional excellence. As if the exodus of staff was not enough, governments were also to carry out retrenchment exercises as part of their public sector reform programmes crafted within the framework of IMF/World Bank structural adjustment. The adjustment framework also became the platform through which so-called cost-sharing/cost recovery policies were introduced from the 1980s onwards, policies which, taken with the deterioration in the public health system, acted as a disincentive for continued popular access to and use of the services of the public health institutions. Furthermore, the adjustment context contributed to the demise of local medical laboratories and factories as part of a generalised experience of de-industrialisation witnessed on the continent. The full depth of the crises of public health provisioning experienced in Africa has been brought out in sharp relief by the activities and interventions of the global pharmaceutical companies that seat atop the international production and supply chain for medicines and related health services. Indeed, through the global and local strategies of the companies, it is possible to develop a political economy of the crises of the African health system in all its dimensions and inter-connectedness. During the course of the last two and half decades, both as a result of new possibilities opened by contemporary processes of globalisation and as a defensive mechanism that has, itself, become part and parcel of the globalisation of corporate activities, the international industry in the production, distribution and consumption of medicines underwent a structural recomposition that is evidenced, in part, by major acquisitions and mergers. This process of recomposition has resulted in the emergence of a group of major international pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Meyers-Squib, Pfizer, Hoffmann-LaRoche, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., AstraZaneca, Abbott Laboratory, Novartis, and Sanofi-Aventis, among others, exercising an undisputed global dominance. Their dominance spans the area of pharmaceutical research and experimentation, product development and innovation, production systems, product packaging, distribution and marketing, and the shaping of patterns of consumption. They mobilise local and external support to protect their advantages through the intellectual property rights and patents that they obtain and guard jealously. Their enhanced global and sectoral reach is reckoned to be as significant as their connections to local and international policy and political institutions, including inter-governmental agencies and organisations like the World Health Organisation, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation. Indeed, radical critics suggest that the firms collectively constitute a cartel that drives global and local health policies. In the face of the power projected by the pharmaceutical majors and the influence which they are able to mobilise, most African health systems are, perhaps unsurprisingly given their crises, easily vulnerable to the pressures which they exert in order to secure their interests. Participants in the 2008 session of the CODESRIA Institute on Health, Politics and Society will be encouraged to explore the various dimensions of contemporary global pharmaceutical industry and the way in which it impacts on the African health system in general and its capacity to respond to the health needs of the peoples of the continent in particular. Experience registered in different African countries and anecdotal evidence available points to various dimensions of the impact of the activities and practices of the pharmaceutical majors on African health systems. At one level, there are legitimate questions which have arisen about the making of public health policy in contemporary Africa and the power/influence exerted over the relevant policy processes and structures by the global pharmaceutical industry. At issue is the question of who the dominant forces are behind the public health policy choices made in Africa and what the interests they represent are. At another level, the dumping of pharmaceutical products on African markets, sometimes packaged as aid or humanitarian assistance, has had detrimental effects on the local pharmaceutical industry in some countries. Furthermore, the major pharmaceutical players have engaged in pricing policies which have contributed in no small measure to straining the health budgets of African countries and diminished the affordability of drugs by patients and other consumers of medical products. This has, in turn, pushed many African’s into a search for alternative methods for meeting their health needs, including faith healing and the revival of indigenous medicine. It has also opened a window for a flourishing market in fake medical products that take a daily toll in lives lost.

The strain placed on the health budgets of African countries by the pricing policies of the leading pharmaceutical conglomerates has not been mitigated by the transfer-pricing techniques employed by the companies through the intra-firm trade that goes on between them and their subsidiaries established in key African countries. Additionally, various ethical questions have emerged from the pilot experiments undertaken by some of the firms, with the basic approaches which they employ when they try out drugs for the treatment of diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria being questionable. Also, under the guise of the huge outlays they make on research and the protections that are offered to them by internationally-agreed rules on intellectual property rights and patents, they spare no effort to discourage the production of local generic drugs. The experience of South Africa in its quest to procure generic drugs for treating HIV/AIDS is salutary in this regard. As part of the effort they have deployed to discourage generics in Africa, the pharmaceutical majors have supported campaigns aimed as discrediting the drugs – which are much cheaper in price terms – as fakes that are both ineffective and damaging. Amidst orchestrated publicity and fanfare, the big firms have also occasionally offered price reductions on essential drugs in order to reduce the pressure mounted on them over the huge costs involved in procuring their products. South Africa has also been a leading example of African countries where the global pharmaceutical majors have attempted to build and project corporate social responsibility and participants in the Institute will be encouraged to weigh the significance of the corporate responsibility measures they have pursued on the continent.

The drug regulatory agencies in many African countries are largely under-staffed, inadequately financed and poorly equipped. In consequence, they are mostly not very well-placed to perform their duties of establishing and enforcing standards of behaviour among the firms operating in their jurisdiction. Indeed, in some cases, the pharmaceutical majors offer them equipment, funding and other forms of support to carry out their statutory functions, calling their independence into question. Links are also forged by the pharmaceutical majors with African health professionals as much for the purpose of securing a competitive edge over their rivals as for anything else. Such is the power of the firms and the extent of their reach that they have also joined not only in the pillage of Africa’s indigenous medicines but also taken out patents on local herbal remedies used in the treatment of common diseases. Furthermore, they have established a strong foothold in the growing global industry in wellness and well-being. Indeed, it has been suggested that the big pharmaceutical firms have taken a frontline role in the “invention” of diseases and of treatments for them, doing so by feeding into a momentum that characterises as illness, conditions which may not in fact require elaborate medical diagnosis and treatment. The range and variety of research and policy issues associated with the role of the global pharmaceutical industry in the functioning – and dysfunctionalities – of African health systems, and the consequences of their activities for the health and well-being of the peoples of the continent are numerous, and various multidisciplinary entry points are required for the achievement of a holistic understanding. Prospective participants in the Institute are invited to address themselves to these different entry points and other related aspects of research on health system governance in Africa. The Director For every session of its various institutes, CODESRIA appoints an external scholar with a proven track-record of quality work to provide intellectual leadership. Directors are senior scholars known for their expertise on the topic of the year and for the originality of their thinking on it. They are recruited on the basis of a proposal which they submit and which contains a detailed course outline covering methodological issues and approaches; the key concepts integral to an understanding of the object of a particular Institute and the specific theme that will be focused upon; a thorough review of the state of the literature designed to expose laureates to different theoretical and empirical currents; a presentation on various sub-themes, case-studies and comparative examples relevant to the theme of the particular Institute they are applying to lead; and possible policy questions that are worth keeping in mind during the entire research process.

Candidates for the position of Director should also note that if their application is successful, they will be asked to:
- participate in the selection of laureates;
- identify resource-persons to help lead discussions and debates;
- design the course for the session, including the specification of sub-themes;
- deliver a set of lectures and provide a critique of the papers presented by the resource persons and the laureates;
- submit a written scientific report on the session.
In addition, the Director is expected to (co-)edit the revised versions of the papers presented by the resource persons with a view to submitting them for publication in one of CODESRIA’s collections. The Director also assists CODESRIA in assessing the papers presented by laureates for publication as a special issue of Africa Development or as monographs.

Resource Persons
Lectures to be delivered at the Institute are intended to offer laureates an opportunity to advance their reflections on the theme of the programme and on their own research topics. Resource Persons are, therefore, senior scholars or scholars in their mid-career who have published extensively on the topic, and who have a significant contribution to make to the debates on it. They will be expected to produce lecture materials which serve as think pieces that stimulate laureates to engage in discussion and debate around the lectures and the general body of literature available on the theme.

One selected, resource persons must:
- submit a copy of their lectures for reproduction and distribution to participants not later than one week before the lecture begins;
- deliver their lectures, participate in debates and comment on the research proposals of the laureates;
- review and submit the revised version of their research papers for consideration for publication by CODESRIA not later than two months following their presentation.

Laureates
Applicants should be African researchers who have completed their university and /or professional training, with a proven capacity to carry out research on the theme of the Institute. Intellectuals active in the policy process and/or in social movements/civic organisations are also encouraged to apply. The number of places offered by CODESRIA at each session of its institutes is limited to fifteen (15) fellowships. Non-African scholars who are able to raise funds for their participation may also apply for a limited number of places.

Applications Applicants for the position of Director should submit:
1. an application letter;
2. a proposal, not more than 15 pages in length, indicating the course outline and showing in what ways the course would be original and responsive to the needs of prospective laureates, specifically focussing on the issues to be covered from the point of view of concepts and methodology, a critical review of the literature, and the range of issues arising from the theme of the Institute;
3. a detailed and up-to-date curriculum vitae; and
4. three writing samples.

Applications for the position of resource persons should include:
1. an application letter ;
2. two writing samples ;
3. a curriculum vitae ; and
4. a proposal, not more than five (5) pages in length, outlining the issues to be covered in their proposed lecture.

Applications for Laureates should include:
1. an application letter;
2. a letter indicating institutional or organisational affiliation;
3. a curriculum vitae ;
4. a research proposal (two copies and not more than 10 pages), including a descriptive analysis of the work the applicant intends to undertake, an outline of the theoretical interest of the topic chosen by the applicant, and the relationship of the topic to the problematic and concerns of the theme of the 2008 Institute; and
5. two reference letters from scholars and/or researchers known for their competence and expertise in the candidate's research area (geographic and disciplinary), including their names, addresses and telephone, e-mail, fax numbers.

An independent committee composed of outstanding African social scientists will select the candidates to be admitted to the institute.

The deadline for the submission of applications is set for 14 July, 2008. The Institute will be held in Dakar, Senegal in October 2008. All applications or requests for further information should be addressed to:

CODESRIA Institute on Health, Politics and Society in Africa Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop x Canal IV BP 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, Senegal Tel.: (221) 33 825 98 21/22/23 Fax: (221) 33 824 12 89 E-Mail: health.institute@codesria.sn Website: http://www.codesria.org

Africa: FMRS Summer Short Courses - Addressing the protection of Refugee Women and Girls

2008-02-26

http://www.aucegypt.edu/ResearchatAUC/rc/fmrs/Documents/Short%20courses%202008.pdf

In all parts of the world, refugee women and girls are subjected to rape and other forms of sexual and gender based violence and torture. They are often targeted for human rights abuses from different aggressors, including regular army and militia members, irregular forces and members of their own community. This course will explore the impact of this violence on women and girls, families and communities. The course will take place in the 6th floor lounge, Hill House, Main Campus at the American University in Cairo from Monday June 9 to Saturday June 14, 2008 (excluding Friday) everyday from 9 am to 5 pm.

Africa: FMRS Summer Short Courses - Advanced International Refugee Law

Monday June 2 - Saturday June 7

2008-02-26

http://www.aucegypt.edu/ResearchatAUC/rc/fmrs/Documents/Short%20courses%202008.pdf

The course will cover various advanced topics in international refugee law. Topics to be covered include the \"nexus\" requirement of the definition; the meaning of \"persecution\"; developments in the interpretation of the exclusion provisions of the Convention; the non-refoulement and expulsion provisions of the Convention; refugee rights guaranteed by the Convention; and, the interaction between the Convention and other regional and complementary forms of protection. The course will take place in the 6th floor lounge, Hill House, Main Campus at the American University in Cairo from Monday June 02 to Saturday June 07, 2008 (excluding Friday) everyday from 9 am to 5 pm.

Africa: FMRS Summer Short Courses - Meeting the Psychosocial Needs of Refugees

2008-02-26

http://www.aucegypt.edu/ResearchatAUC/rc/fmrs/Documents/Short%20courses%202008.pdf

In this course, participants will increase their understanding of the psychosocial consequences for refugees living in camps and urban settings and learn practical methods they can use to implement effective family and community based interventions. The course will take place in the 6th floor lounge, Hill House, Main Campus at the American University in Cairo from Monday June 16 to Saturday June 21, 2008 (excluding Friday) everyday from 9 am to 5 pm.

Africa: Sexuality Leadership Development Fellowship (SLDF) Programme - ARSRC

2008-02-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/46452

The Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre (ARSRC) calls for applications to its Annual Sexuality Leadership Development Fellowship (SLDF) Programme. The Fellowship is scheduled to take place in Lagos, Nigeria from July 7th – 26th, 2008. The fellowship is structured to promote sharing of ideas, team building and collaborative work amongst participants in order to nurture relationships that last beyond the fellowship period.
2008 SEXUALITY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FELLOWSHIP
SEXUALITIES, RIGHTS AND WELLBEING
July 7th to 26th, 2008

The Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre (ARSRC) calls for applications to its Annual Sexuality Leadership Development Fellowship (SLDF) Programme. The Fellowship is scheduled to take place in Lagos, Nigeria from July 7th – 26th, 2008.

Objectives:

The fellowship is designed to catalyse development in the field of sexuality by:
(1) Providing exposure to cutting-edge conceptual, theoretical and programmatic issues in sexuality, sexual health and sexual rights;
(2) Providing opportunities to conduct research or action projects on sexuality issues;
(3) Promoting mentoring of young African professionals by experts in the field; and
(4) Facilitating the emergence of a new generation of leaders.

Training Methodology:

The fellowship is structured to promote sharing of ideas, team building and collaborative work amongst participants in order to nurture relationships that last beyond the fellowship period.

The course provides an academically stimulating environment that promotes cross-cultural sharing of experiences as well as individual study incorporating rigorous intellectual work and strategic field trips and events that brings participants in contact with leaders and organizations in the field of sexuality. The venue of the training houses a library and resource centre with a rich Africa-centred collection of sexuality, sexual health and rights literature. Faculty: Multidisciplinary faculty of experts drawn from across Africa in the field of sexuality, community leadership and advocacy and public health. They provide technical assistance, especially in the development and design of fellows’ post-fellowship projects.

Audience:

This course is designed for young researchers, academicians, civil servants, programme officers, programme managers, media practitioners and others resident on the continent of Africa, aged 35 years and below with a Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent and with demonstrable experience and (or) interest in the area of sexuality, sexual health and rights. Minorities are encouraged to apply.

Training Programme:

During the three-week intensive course, participants are introduced to the emerging field of sexuality and explore both theoretical, as well as, practical dimensions of this complex field. To translate theory into practice, each fellow is encouraged to design and implement a set of activities (Research or programming) to address a specific sexuality issue in their community.

The SLDF curriculum covers contemporary debates in sexuality studies and emerging best practices in programming for sexual wellbeing including: Sexuality, rights and pleasure; Re-thinking Masculinities & Femininities; Sexual and Reproductive Rights; HIV/AIDS and Violence; Sexuality and Citizenship.

Skills Development:

Some of the skills to be gained by attending the fellowship includes - power speaking; research methods; funding research, monitoring and evaluation; team-working; and leadership.

Requirements for Application: Applicants are required to submit the following:

(1) Current curriculum vitae,
(2) Copy of their highest educational qualification.
(3) Fully completed application and sponsorship form for intending self-sponsored participants available for download from the ARSRC website: (www.arsrc.org).
Candidates from Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africaapplying for ARSRC’s scholarship do not need to submit the sponsorship form.

Please note that this course is conducted in English.

Training costs for intending self-sponsored participants Tuition fee - US$2,000 (The tuition fee includes trainer costs, background materials, supplies, in-workshop transportation, field trips, group lunch, two tea breaks and certificate awards. The fee does not cover round-trip travel to Lagos, visa fees or living expenses. Interested persons are encouraged to seek funding from donors and sponsors to cover their participation.

Accommodation - US$ 70 per night. Participants will reside at designated hotels close to the location of the training. Fee covers board and breakfast only. The sponsor is responsible for providing the participant with per diem funds for dinner and weekend lunches plus other incidental items. Compulsory post-fellowship project - US$1,500.

Scholarships:

The ARSRC offers a few highly competitive, fully-funded scholarships to qualified citizens of Egypt,Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa, who are resident in the continent. ARSRC scholarships cover tuition fees, post-fellowship grant, roundtrip travel expenses as well as accommodation, meals and incidental expenses.

Deadline for the Receipt of Applications:

Duly completed application and sponsorship forms and other documentary requirements should be sent to the address below on or before March 31, 2008.
The 2008 Sexuality Leadership Development Fellowship
Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre
17 Lawal St., off Oweh St.,
Jibowu PO Box 803,
Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.
Email: opportunities@arsrc.org
Website: www.arsrc.org

Global: Masters in International Human Rights Law

2008-02-27

http://humanrightslaw.conted.ox.ac.uk/MStIHRL/index.php

The Masters in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford is a part-time degree offered over 22 months. It involves several periods of distance learning via the internet as well as two summer sessions held at New College, Oxford. The degree programme is designed in particular for lawyers and other human rights professionals who wish to pursue advanced studies in international human rights law but may need to do so alongside their work or family responsibilities. The final closing date for the Masters is 14 March 2008 and this is to start the course in October 2008. The closing date for the 2008 Summer School is 1 April 2008.

Global: Researching Violence and Conflict - A call for papers

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/46441

The Centre of African Studies (London), based at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), is pleased to announce a two-day conference on ‘Researching Violence and Conflict: Methodological and Ethical Considerations,’ to be held at SOAS 4 and 5 July 2008. This conference will be held in conjunction with the Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies (AEGIS).
CALL FOR PAPERS

Researching Violence and Conflict: Methodological and Ethical Considerations


The Centre of African Studies (London), based at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), is pleased to announce a two-day conference on ‘Researching Violence and Conflict: Methodological and Ethical Considerations,’ to be held at SOAS 4 and 5 July 2008. This conference will be held in conjunction with the Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies (AEGIS).

Researching violence and conflict can be challenging for a variety of reasons, including security risks to researchers and informants, restricted or lack of access to informants and field sites, deterioration of the reliability of official data, and the unpredictability of the level of security in the research environment. Traditional methodological approaches (participant observation, surveys, random sampling, etc.) may not be usable without significant adaptation, and new methods may be called for. In addition, such research carries ethical challenges about how informants and information should be represented so as to protect the confidentiality of sources and to minimize the risks that the research may be used for ends which could ultimately bring harm to subjects. Current debates over the ethical implications of social scientists working for military forces capture many ethical issues worthy of examination and debate. Meanwhile, there are still challenging debates over what kinds of evidence carry weight in the analysis of violence and conflicts, representing particularly intense variants of wider debates over alternative, or mixed, methods in the social sciences.

Papers are invited that directly address methodological and/or ethical themes, or that incorporate methodological innovation and ethical considerations into the research. Possible themes to consider include:

Methodological considerations:

- How have established methodological approaches been adapted for use in conflict settings?

- What innovative research tools have been used in the study of violence and conflict (case studies welcome)?

- What problems are involved in the reliability of information in situations where rumour is rife and confirmation of data may be difficult or impossible?

- What challenges are involved in studying extreme forms of suffering while avoiding the ‘disaster voyeur’ moniker?

- How can access be obtained to all parties to the conflict and what are researchers’ responsibilities of representation and protection of informants?

- How does ethnographic research in conflict settings manage the reconciliation of information and perspectives from different levels of analysis (i.e. macro-level data vs. local level ‘field observations’)?

- How do political economists and others deal with the problems of working with data that may be of questionable reliability or may be only partially representative of conditions in conflict settings?

- What do researchers do about the real security threats that they face, and how do they collect data when they are not able to access an area?

- How have these methodological challenges affected the relationship between research and policy advice?

Ethical questions:

- How should perspectives of informants that may be reprehensible, criminal, and dangerous be represented?

- Is it desirable or possible to achieve and maintain objectivity in researching violent conflict?

- What control and responsibilities do researchers have over how their analysis is used? How might this affect their decisions about how to present their findings and the possible merits of self-censorship?

- Is it ethically responsible to provide information that may be used by military for strategic or humanitarian purposes? What are the benefits and disadvantages of working with security forces? Does the potential to influence strategic and policy decisions of parties to the conflict justify researchers’ involvement, and if so what kind of ethical code should govern such practices?
- What is the researcher’s responsibility to subjects in terms not only of protecting their confidentiality, but also helping to minimize the risk of retribution to or targeting of civilians?

- What role (if any) is there for an ‘activist researcher’ to use their research to help bring about an end to the conflict they study? What are the risks of this role?

Abstracts of not more than 500 words should be submitted for review by 28 March to:

Angelica Baschiera Centre of African Studies School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)

Thornhaugh Street Russell Square London WC1H 0XG United Kingdom or by email to ab17@soas.ac.uk

Papers selected for inclusion will be notified by 15 April. Participants will be asked to submit a finished draft of their conference paper (8000 words maximum) by 10 June. It is expected that some or all of the papers will be published in an edited volume, and conference sessions will be aimed at providing authors with feedback on their drafts to help in the revision process.

Participants from Africa are particularly encouraged to apply; a limited number of travel bursaries may be available for participants coming from Africa. We regret that financial support is not available for participants coming from other regions.

Feel free to contact the conference organizers for any further information:
Professor Christopher Cramer (Chair, Centre of African Studies – cc10@soas.ac.uk),
Professor Johan Pottier (Department of Anthropology – jp4@soas.ac.uk),
Dr. Laura Hammond (Department of Development Studies – lh4@soas.ac.uk), and
Ms Angelica Baschiera (Centre of African Studies – ab17@soas.ac.uk).

South Africa: The 17th African Human Rights Moot Court Competition

2008-02-27

http://www.chr.up.ac.za/moot/en/

The 17th African Human Rights Moot Court Competition will be held at the University of Pretoria, South Africa from 30 June to 5 July 2008. Students, academics and judges from all over Africa are invited to participate. All law faculties in Africa are invited to send one faculty representative who works in the field of human rights (dean or another lecturer) who will serve as judge in the preliminary rounds, and two undergraduate students (preferably one man and one woman) who will constitute the team representing its university at the Moot Court.

African Sacred Groves: Ecological Dynamics and Social Change

2008-02-27

http://tinyurl.com/2chgz6

African sacred groves are often described as the remains of primeval forests, ethnographic curiosities, and cultural relics from a static pre-colonial past. Their continuing importance in African societies, however, shows that this 'relic theory' is inadequate for understanding current social and ecological dynamics. This interdisciplinary book, by an international group of scholars and conservation practitioners, provides a new understanding of these forests, examining their ecological characteristics and delineating how sacred groves relate to social dynamics and historical contexts.

Africa: Executive Director - Human Rights Watch

2008-02-29

http://www.hrw.org/jobs/docs/2008/02/15/africa18084.htm

Human Rights Watch is seeking an Executive Director for its Africa Division. The executive director will be based in New York or Europe, but other locations considered. Oversight, strategy, high-level advocacy, fundraising, staff development and security, and editing reports to advance human rights protections in Africa. This position requires frequent international travel. Immediate vacancy.

Africa: Expert - Sudan ICT market analysis and study

2008-02-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/46428

The scope of the study is to perform an ICT market analysis for all ICT services - in economic and technical dimensions. The economic factors to be considered are liberalization, competition, profitability, investment, contribution to GDP, poverty reduction as well as issues about sovereignty and equity. The major technical factors are ICT infrastructure-investment and set-up/roll out, digital divide, spectrum availability, numbering capacity, interconnection, and Internet exchange point. The study should also assess the current policy and laws challenges, opportunities and shortcomings. Application deadline is 28 February 2008.
Project title: SUDAN ICT MARKET ANALYSIS AND STUDY
Application deadline: 28 February 2008
Contract duration: 35 man-days
Company: Danish Management A/S ( http://www.danishmanagement.dk/) for IGAD (under the COMESA/RICTSP: http://rictsp.comesa.danishmanagement.dk)

Objectives of the Assignment:
The ICT market in Sudan is growing fast. Therefore, the objectives are to analyze and assess the market powers, gaps and ICT sector contribution to GDP as well as the rationale for opening the market in the future.

Scope of the Assignment:
The scope of the study is to perform an ICT market analysis for all ICT services - in economic and technical dimensions. The economic factors to be considered are liberalization, competition, profitability, investment, contribution to GDP, poverty reduction as well as issues about sovereignty and equity. The major technical factors are ICT infrastructure-investment and set-up/roll out, digital divide, spectrum availability, numbering capacity, interconnection, and Internet exchange point. The study should also assess the current policy and laws challenges, opportunities and shortcomings. (see tasks in ToR)

Expected Results:
Final report to include the following:

a. Analysis of fixed, mobile, Internet, and added value services market;
b. Results of implementing the ICT strategy;
c. Financial analysis on ICT services income to the Government and contribution to GDP;
d. Analysis of the competition and liberalisation of the ICT market and market power;
e. Asset and investment made in the ICT market as well as the market capital;
f. ICT infrastructure capacity, technology and reliability as well as digital divide between rural and urban areas and the region;
g. ICT services coverage and tariffs;
h. Proposals on institutions, mechanisms and means to facilitate the development of the ICT sector; ;
i. Proposal on cyber city or smart village;
j. Indication of direct and indirect jobs created by the ICT sector. AND
k. Recommendations to address the findings of the study with an implementation action plan for the recommendations.

Location of the Assignment:
Djibouti (IGAD) and Sudan
Indicative Input: 35 man-days

Skills:
The expert should at best hold a PhD or MSc in Economics and have:
(i) Previous experience of similar consultancy work;
(ii) At least ten years experience in ICT market analysis and business development, and reasonable practical experience on policy and regulatory framework;
(iii) Being an economist of international reputation with relevant experience in the ICT sector;
(iv) Knowledge of, and experience in, the ICT sector, including costing, tariffs, policy and regulation;
(v) Experience in working with government officials is an asset;
(vi) Relevant skills and experience in ICT sector market analysis, competition, policy and regulations and be familiar with international best practices in such issues;
(vii) Excellent written and oral communications skills in English.

Eligibility (who can apply?):
EU citizens and citizens from: Angola, Burundi, DR Congo, Malawi, Rwanda, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan AND citizens of the ACP member states: http://www.acpsec.org/en/acp_states.htm

Background information:
Republic of Sudan / National Telecommunication Corporation: http://www.ntc.org.sd/index.php?lng=eng
Ministry of Science and Technology/ Sudan: http://www.most.gov.sd/
National Information Centre: http://www.nicsudan.gov.sd/english.php
Ministry of Investment: http://www.sudaninvest.org/English/Default.htm

If you find the position of interest and your - or your proposed experts - profile complies with the stated criteria, please contact us immediately and send us a short professional presentation of yourself and an updated CV with relevant similar experience (stating your age, nationality, languages spoken, education and exactly in what you are an expert). Send your application to: ictjobs@danishmanagement.dk NB: Only shortlisted candidates will receive notice.


INTERGOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY FOR DEVELOPMENT (IGAD)



Regional Information & Communications
Technologies Support Programme (RICTSP)




TERMS OF REFERNCE

FOR

SUDAN ICT MARKET ANALYSIS AND STUDY




FINAL

Proposed Start Date: 1 March 2008

Submitted: January 2008
IGAD, DJIBOUTI





I. Introduction

1. Information and knowledge are fundamental resources for economic and social development and regional integration. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) foster the development process by creating new opportunities in investment, trade, labor market, increase people’s income potential and improve the living conditions of the poor. The role of ICT in the growth process differs between countries based on their income level among other factors. Studies proved a positive correlation between ICT investment and increased productivity and competitiveness. With correct policies and regulatory environment, telecommunications has long been understood as an enabler of economic growth and development. It has increasingly been viewed not only as a significant sector within the economy by itself, but also a vital service to business and industry more generally.

2. In March 2003, Khartoum, Sudan, the COMESA Council of Ministers and the Summit of Heads States adopted the COMESA ICT Policy and Model Information and Communications Bill and urged Member States to utilise them in reforming and modernising their policy and legislation where this has not been done. The IGAD Secretariat, based on Memorandum of Understanding with COMESA, is taking on a role to facilitate the implementation of ICT reform by States and develop a programme where necessary to assist Member States in identifying changes that may be made to their policy, legislation, regulations and capacity building. That will enable Member States to have proper climate for investment

3. The ICT market in Sudan is presently occupied by 2 fixed operators, namely Sudatel and Canar and three mobile operators, namely MTN, Zain and Sudani (it belong to Sudatel). Each of the four companies has a gateway. The gateways for MTN and Zain are for their own traffic while Canar and Sudatel can carry traffic for other operators.

4. The market analysis will assist Sudan Government especially NTC in its decision making and policy in relation to open it for new players. The study will cover fixed and mobile telecommunications, internet services and IT markets. The study will be carried out with a particular focus on the economic and technical aspects of the issue, and identifies the essential factors that ought to be taken into account, together with the recommendations, formulated upon the analysis of these factors.

II. Objectives

The ICT market in Sudan is growing fast. Therefore, the objectives are to analyze and assess the market powers, gaps and ICT sector contribution to GDP as well as the rationale for opening the market in the future.

In addition to the objectives mentioned above the Ministry of Information and Communication (ICT) has taken notice of the following issues which should be considered in carrying out the study:

a) The high level dynamism of the ICT sector;
b) The impact that convergence is having in the local market;
c) The communications sector in Sudan has changed significantly over the past few years, e.g. new players in the market, introduction of new technologies and services;
d) The increase of competition in some segments and the lack of competition in other segments of the local market;
e) The wide recognition of the increasing role that ICT has and should have in the country’s social, economic and cultural development;
f) The international trend of allowing services providers to operate in a competitive environment with minimal regulatory intervention, except where competition is lacking;
g) No operator(s) should be allowed to control the ICT market; and
h) There have not been significant changes to the regulatory framework since the enactment of the Telecommunications Act, 2001 to specifically handle the above issues.

III. Consultancy Services

III.I Scope of work

The scope of the study is to cover the ICT market analysis for all ICT services taking it in economic and technical dimensions. The economic factors to be considered are liberalization, competition, profitability, investment, contribution to GDP, poverty reduction as well as issues about sovereignty and equity. The major technical factors are ICT infrastructure- investment and setup, digital divide, spectrum availability, numbering capacity, interconnection, and Internet exchange point. The study should also assess the current policy and laws challenges, opportunity and shortcomings.

III.II Tasks

In order to meet the objectives of the assignment, the Consultant will be required to carry out the following activities:

a) Analyse the fixed, mobile, Internet, and added value services market including the un-fulfilled demand;
b) Assess the implementing the ICT strategy, policy and regulations;
c) Carry out financial analysis on ICT services income to the Government and contribution to GDP;
d) Analyse the competition and liberalisation of the ICT market and the current market powers;
e) Analyse the investment made in the ICT market as well as the market capital;
f) Analyse ICT infrastructure capacity, technology and reliability as well as digital divide between rural and urban areas and the region;
g) Evaluate ICT services coverage and tariffs;
h) Make proposals on institutions, mechanisms and means to facilitate the development of the ICT sector; ;
i) Make proposal on cyber city or smart village; and
j) Analyse the customer benefits, direct and indirect jobs created by the ICT sector and contribution to poverty reduction; and
k) Analyse the findings of the study and propose an implementation action plan of the recommendations.


IV. EXPECTED RESULTS AND DELIVERABLES

The expected result is a report including the following:

a. Analysis of fixed, mobile, Internet, and added value services market;
b. Results of implementing the ICT strategy;
c. Financial analysis on ICT services income to the Government and contribution to GDP;
d. Analysis of the competition and liberalisation of the ICT market and market power;
e. Asset and investment made in the ICT market as well as the market capital;
f. ICT infrastructure capacity, technology and reliability as well as digital divide between rural and urban areas and the region;
g. ICT services coverage and tariffs;
h. Proposals on institutions, mechanisms and means to facilitate the development of the ICT sector; ;
i. Proposal on cyber city or smart village; and
j. Indication of direct and indirect jobs created by the ICT sector.
k. Recommendations to address the findings of the study with an implementation action plan for the recommendations.

V. ASSIGNMENT DURATION AND LOCATION

The assignment shall commence immediately upon signing of the Contract by the Short-Term Expert. The duration of the assignment is thirty five (35) man-days that will span over two and half calendar months. It is anticipated that during this period the Short-Term Expert will be able to conduct consultations with the key stakeholders. It is advised that the STE emphasizes a participatory approach in involving individuals from various organizations.

The Short-Term Expert will initiate the assignment at the IGAD Head Quarters in Djibouti. During the assignment, the Short-Term Expert will undertake two missions to Khartoum, Sudan.

Indicative inputs in terms of man-days are as follows:

Days of STE’s preparations 3 days
Days at IGAD Headquarters 2 days
Days of travel 2 days
Days in Sudan (1st Mission) 7 days
Days for work from home 11 days
Days in Sudan (2nd Mission presenting the report to the
National workshop) 5 days
Days of final report 5 days
=========================================================
Total number of man-days 35days


VI. TENTATIVE ACTION PLAN

The following is an indicative time schedule for carrying out the assignment:

Week1: Preparations & Travel
Travel to IGAD Headquarters
IGAD HQ
Travel to Sudan
Week2: Meetings & Interviews with Stakeholders in Khartoum, Sudan; collect information & data
Travel back home
First Draft of the report and the recommendations
Week3 – week4: Circulate Draft Report
Feedback from Stakeholders and IGAD
Second Draft of the report and the recommendations
Circulate second Draft of Report
Travel to Sudan
Week5: Present the 1st draft to stakeholders’ national validation workshop
Travel Back home
Week6: Incorporate Workshop comments and recommendations
Submit the Sudan ICT market study final report and study recommendations.

VII. CONSULTANT QUALIFICATION, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

A highly competent and skilled consultant is required. An expert should have a PhD or MSc in Economics.
The Consultants should have the following experience and submit proof of it:

(i) Previous experience of similar consultancy work;
(ii) At least ten years experience in ICT market analysis and business development, and reasonable practical experience on policy and regulatory framework.
(iii) Being an economist of international repute with relevant experience in the ICT sector;
(iv) Knowledge of, and experience in, the ICT sector, including costing, tariffs, policy and regulation;
(v) Experience in working with government officials is an asset;
(vi) Relevant skills and experience in ICT sector market analysis, competition, policy and regulations and be familiar with international best practices in such issues;
(vii) Excellent written and oral communications skills in English.

Mozambique: Doctor - AIFO

2008-02-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/46386

AIFO an Italian NGO is looking for a doctor for a project in Nampula (Mozambique). The person will be looking after the leprosy-tuberculosis programme. The person should be Portuguese speaking and have experience in infectious diseases in Africa. More specific training in leprosy and Tuberculosis can be arranged. Salary will depend upon the qualifications and experience. Inially a one year contract will be proposed that can be renewed. Interested persons should send their CV to
silvia.milella@aifo.it

Fahamu