Dorothy-Grace Guerrero and Firoze Manji (ed) (2008) China’s New Role in Africa and the South: A search for a new perspective. 
Back Issues
Pambazuka News 359: Where to, Zimbabwe?
The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa
Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839
With nearly 500 contributors and an estimated 500,000 readers Pambazuka News is the authoritative pan African electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa providing cutting edge commentary and in-depth analysis on politics and current affairs, development, human rights, refugees, gender issues and culture in Africa.
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CONTENTS: 1. Announcements, 2. Features, 3. Comment & analysis, 4. Pan-African Postcard, 5. Letters, 6. Zimbabwe update, 7. African Union Monitor, 8. Women & gender, 9. Human rights, 10. Refugees & forced migration, 11. Elections & governance, 12. Africa & China, 13. Corruption, 14. Development, 15. Health & HIV/AIDS, 16. Education, 17. Racism & xenophobia, 18. Environment, 19. Land & land rights, 20. Media & freedom of expression, 21. Social welfare, 22. Conflict & emergencies, 23. Internet & technology, 24. Courses, seminars, & workshops, 25. Jobs
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Highlights from this issue
FEATURES:
- Patrick Bond on Zimbabwe
- Zimbabwe Civil Society Organizations call to SADC
- Kenyans announcement on Zimbabwe
COMMENTS & ANALYSIS:
- Musa Radoli on journalism and trauma
- Salma Mlidi reflects on women's activism
- François-Xavier Nsanzuwer remembers Diagne Mbaye
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem on political parties
LETTERS: Readers' comments and announcements
AFRICAN UNION MONITOR: AU round-upANNOUNCEMENTS: Zimbabwe police raid press offices
ZIMBABWE UPDATE: Mugabe's party expects to fight run-off
WOMEN AND GENDER:Morocco seeks to criminalize violence against women
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Chad blamed for Sudan attack
HUMAN RIGHTS: Ethiopian activists released from prison
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: returning to Zimbabwe will take more than politics
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Kenyans angered by bloated cabinet
AFRICA AND CHINA: China and Angola: A pragmatic partnership
CORRUPTION: DRC mining project to face renegotiation
DEVELOPMENT: UN poverty goal faces new threats
HEALTH AND HIV/Aids: Burkinabe children educate each other about Aids
EDUCATION: Enrollment soars in South Sudan
RACISM & XENOPHOBIA: Attacks in South Africa drive hundreds from homes
ENVIRONMENT: World Bank climate profiteering
LAND &LAND RIGHTS: Land forum spins new developments
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Senegalese journalists roughed up
INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY: Web 2.0 to assist Liberia TRC
SOCIAL WELFARE: African ministers to tackle rising food prices
PLUS: e-newsletters and mailings lists; courses, seminars and workshops, and jobs
*Pambazuka News now has a Del.icio.us page, where you can view the various websites that we visit to keep our fingers on the pulse of Africa! Visit http://del.icio.us/pambazuka_news
Announcements
Zimbabwe alert
2008-04-04
According to Associated Press, police have raided their offices at a Harare hotel in what he called the start of a "crackdown." Police apparently raided and ransacked several rooms used by the party at the downtown Meikles hotel. No one was arrested. Paramilitary police in riot gear also raided a hotel used by foreign journalists in Harare and took away three or four reporters, according to a man who answered the phone at the hotel.
This is clearly an attempt to establish a news blackout as a prelude to ...?
Features
Where to, Zimbabwe?
2008-04-03
Patrick Bond
As the world waits to see what will happen in Zimbabwe, Patrick Bond argues that lessons should be taught and retaught about the dangers of elite transition between a voracious, corrupt, violent and divisive set of rulers, and an incoming crew who might not withstand the blandishments of local power-sharing and global economic seduction.
Zimbabwe's March 29 election surprised many, because although it seemed President Robert Mugabe had the machinery in place to ensure a victory even by stealth, as has happened before, the groundswell of opposition was overwhelming. By late on April 3, we don't know how many votes he won, either in reality or in the cooked books of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), but certainly fewer than 50%.
What is known, at this writing, is that a bare plurality of the 210 seats in the House of Assembly were won by Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change: 99. This was two ahead of Mugabe's Zanu-PF, with Arthur Mutambara's MDC faction getting 10 and the independent Jonathan Moyo retaining his seat. (Three more seats will be fought for in by-elections due to the deaths of MDC candidates.)
But these are official statistics, and who knows what the actual votes were, once the multiple systems of rigging are exposed, if ever they are?
As for the presidential race – for which at this time no figures have been released by the ZEC - Tsvangirai says that based on polling place reportbacks, he received 1,171,079 votes, or about 49%, with Mugabe getting 44% and Makoni the balance. (Mutambara told his supporters to vote for Makoni.)
Senate and municipal election results are also not being released as we write. In any case, the official parliamentary results are so distorted that on Thursday morning the state-owned Herald newspaper claimed, “Zanu-PF had won 45,94 percent of the votes, MDC-Tsvangirai 42,88 percent, the MDC [Mutambaraba] 8,39 percent and the minor parties and independent candidates 2,79 percent.” The Herald even claimed Zanu-PF outpolled Tsvangirai's MDC in Matabeleland South.
Though Zanu-PF has definitely lost control of parliament, such numbers justify Mugabe potentially contesting a run-off, which would be held no more than 21 days after March 29. Tsvangirai and former finance Minister Simba Makoni had a pre-election pact to unite in such an event, and it is hard to imagine that if the pact holds, Tsvangirai would not beat Mugabe outright, one on one.
Makoni, who ran solo for president with no machine behind him, never gained the open public support of key military factions and of dissident Zanu-PF politicians that his main handler, Ibbo Mandaza, had predicted.
Makoni's arrogance in entering the race – probably drawing away roughly the same votes from each main party – was again witnessed this morning. His advisor, former Mugabe spokersperson Godfrey Chanetsa, now insists that in a new government in alliance with Tsvangirai, Makoni would not “play second fiddle. He came to lead.”
As reporter Fiona Forde put it, “frantic behind-the-scenes negotiations were laying the groundwork for a government of national unity that would include not only the opposition MDC but also Zanu-PF with Makoni taking on a senior role with extended executive powers.”
Here's Chanetsa's strange rationale: "Eight percent is an illusion. Many people were afraid to vote for Simba, afraid of letting Zanu in the back door and losing their chance of getting rid of Robert. But if they got rid of Robert, do you still think they would see Morgan as the right man for the job?"
Meanwhile, an ominous dance began between Tsvangirai and the forces of imperialism. According to a Reuters report today, the MDC would gain access to US$2 billion per year in 'aid and development' – which normally is top-heavy with foreign debt and chock-full of conditions. Amongst these, most likely, are dramatic cuts to the civil services, so that the Zimbabwe central bank stops printing so much money, fuelling inflation. But the downside is the potential deepening of the country's economic crisis in the short term, as effective demand falls while more luxury goods become available thanks to foreign exchange inflows.
The key players are the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Union and the United Nations. No doubt Bush's White House is also involved in negotiations, which, if Tsvangirai persuades Mugabe to depart, may even reach fruition next week at the IMF/Bank spring meetings in Washington.
Given that Tsvangirai has chosen advisors from the International Republican Institute and Cato Institute, such a process was anticipated. It simply means that the left-leaning civil society forces that backed Tsvangirai have a huge regroupment challenge. If after an April 21 victory, many progressive Zimbabwean organisations lose cadres into an expanded state, this may recall the liquidation of South Africa's Mass Democratic Movement into the African National Congress government.
At least in Kenya, reports from Tuesday's street battles between hundreds of protesters and police show that civil society will not necessarily accept a 'supersized state' as a gimmick to seduce contesting parties into a government of national unity. “No more than 24!” was the activists' demand for a slim state so that more social spending can be spent on ordinary people, not the bloated ministers' Mercedes.
In the same critical spirit, Kenya's National Civil society Congress and Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice offered wisdom and solidarity in a statement today. Amongst their concerns, were “That SADC should review their statement that concluded that elections were free and fair while closing their ears to the significance of the undemocratic practices of the Zanu-PF regime.”
Between Kenya's tragic election last December and Zimbabwe's uplifting experience last Saturday, lessons should be taught and retaught about the dangers of elite transition between a voracious, corrupt, violent and divisive set of rulers, and an incoming crew who might not withstand the blandishments of local power-sharing and global economic seduction.
*Professor Patrick Bond is the Director of the Durban based Centre for Civil Society.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Urgent petition to SADC heads of state - Zimbabwe
2008-04-03
Zimbabwe Civil Society Organizations
Inordinate delay in announcing results is of grave concern to civil society:
We the undersigned Civil Society groups whose names are listed below have found it necessary to send this urgent petition to your Excellences in order to save our country from potentially sinking into complete anarchy if election results are manipulated.
On 29th March, 2008 the people of Zimbabwe voted for the national president, members of parliament and councillors.
The elections took place against the background of a serious political and economic crisis in the country, which has lasted for a decade. After brazen use of organized violence and torture of political opponents as Zimbabwe approached the 2008 election year, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) facilitated negotiations between the government and the opposition to end Zimbabwe 's crisis so that Zimbabweans can once again live in dignity.
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa who was mandated by SADC to lead the dialogue stated clearly that his aspiration was that the March 2008 elections needed to be held in circumstances where the outcome of such elections would not be contestable. Even though the negotiations collapsed before reaching their final conclusion, there were some changes in the electoral laws that resulted in visible changes on the ground in terms of the election management process as follows:
1. The accreditation of journalists was smoother and earlier than in previous elections even though the government erred in being selective on whom it invited to observe.
2. There were less queues at polling stations and it looked like the majority of those who wanted to vote and whose names were on the voter's roll managed to vote without undue delays or major hassles.
3. The general environment inside the polling station and around the polling station was not hostile unlike in previous elections where cases of harassment of local observers were reported. In this election there have been few reports of intimidation or harassment of human rights defenders during the election day and the period immediately after.
4. The counting and posting of results at the polling stations for all to see was very well received and ordinary people could be seen in numbers studying the results posted at the polling stations.
There were however some areas of concern as well. These will be enumerated in due course as various organizations do their individual and collective election reports as necessary. However the biggest concern that has emerged is the inordinate delay in the announcing of the election results. The counting was done immediately after the polls were shut generally around 7 pm on 28 March 2008 at the polling stations. The results were posted at the polling stations immediately and there is significant concern at the failure of the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) to announce these results more than 36 hours after the voting stopped. There seems to be absolutely no justification for this delay and the tokenistic announcement of results for 109 contested positions by 8am on 1 April 2008 is wholly inadequate.
We as Civil Society are concerned by the failure to announce the results timeously. This creates a founded suspicion in the minds of Zimbabweans that the authorities are trying to manipulate the results in order to get their preferred party candidates to win. This is especially so given that the opposition has already been expressing public concern at what they saw as measures that were being taken to manipulate the vote and rig the elections.
This delay, if it persist will result in the real likelihood of the outcome of the elections being contested and in the process undermining what ever small gains may have arisen from the SADC efforts. We are naturally gravely concerned that any contestation of the outcome of the elections is also likely to lead to escalation of conflict. With the weak rule of law environment that has been well documented before, the elections may trigger serious and potentially widespread violations of human rights in Zimbabwe .
We are aware that the Zimbabwean government has already deployed police, army and intelligence units into the major cities in anticipation of potential trouble. Of significant concern are the unconfirmed rumours that allegedly from the security branches of government that the incumbent is preparing to declare a state of emergency after announcing inaccurate results. This is consistent with the threats by the security chiefs before the elections that they are not prepared to accept the election results if President Mugabe and ZANU PF lose the elections.
We the Civil Society Organisations from Zimbabwe therefore implore the SADC and AU heads of State and Government to urgently
1. Exert the necessary diplomatic pressure to force President Mugabe to ensure that the elections are as free and fair as possible.
2. Demand that President Mugabe and his government should allow the elections results to be released immediately without being tampered with.
3. Exert the necessary diplomatic pressure to President Mugabe not to declare a state of emergency.
4. Apply pressure on the military and intelligence in Zimbabwe not to manipulate the elections results and to accept the peoples verdict in the elections
5. Call for SADC in conjunction with other international and domestic observers to investigate allegations of fraud, so that the ZEC announced results may be correlated with independent tabulation processes.
6. That SADC together with the African Union should be prepared to urgently engage in a process to assist in resolving any dispute that may arise if the results of the elections are seriously contested - particularly since the domestic electoral courts process is itself not seen as legitimate by all but the ruling party.
Dated this 1 April 2008 by the undersigned Civil Society Organisations
1. CRISIS COALITION ZIMBABWE 2. ZIMBABWE LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 3. ZIMBABWE NATIONAL STUDENTS UNION 4. ZIMRIGHTS 5. MANICALAND LEGAL PRACTITIONERS ASSOCIATION. 6. CHURCHES IN MANICALAND 7. ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM 8. ZIMBABWE CONGRESS OF TRADE UNIONS 9. NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY 10. THE SAVE ZIMBABWE CAMPAIGN 11. PROGRESSIVE TEACHERS UNION OF ZIMBABWE 12. STUDENTS SOLIDARITY TRUST 13. COMBINED HARARE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION 14. ZIMBABWE STUDENTS CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT 15. ZIMBABWE COALITION ON DEBT AND DEVELOPMENT 16. MEDIA INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA ( ZIMBABWE CHAPTER) 17. MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT ZIMBABWE 18. YOUTH INITIATIVE FOR DEMOCRACY IN ZIMBABWE
Kenyans call and solidarity with Zimbabwe
2008-04-04
Kenyans For Peace With Truth and Justice (KPTJ) and the National Civil Society Congress (NCSC)
Kenyan's call and solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe during this difficult moment in their history.
The People of Kenya, individually and through various civil society organizations grouped under the National Civil society Congress and Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ), are deeply concerned by the pace at which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has been announcing results from the elections. We applaud the people of Zimbabwe for being patient, yet very alert and vigilant to avoid the manipulation of results. We call on them to remain united, engage the state in a constructive manner, and avoid acts that violate the rights of any fellow citizen.
Civil society leaders in Kenya, having learnt our lessons during our last election, last week delivered a message to the parties and the civil society formations in Zimbabwe, to totally seal loopholes at the command center in Harare to ensure that the vote of every Zimbabwean counts equally.
Over the past year, Kenyan civil society organizations and political parties (through the Center for Multi Party Democracy (CMD) have worked closely with the people of Zimbabwe in their tortuous search for a new, democratic, prosperous Zimbabwe - the Zimbabwe they want. Representatives of Kenyan civil society organizations have been involved in constructive discussions and advocacy aimed at guaranteeing a framework for a free, fair and credible election that was finally carried out on Saturday, March 29, 2008.
This election was expected to be epic. Not only because it is historic and supremely positioned to demarcate Zimbabwe's future from her past, but also because it was a complex and momentous exercise that had to deliver civic councillors, Members of Parliament, Senators, and a President for Zimbabwe, all through the markings of a single pen at a polling centre.
We identify with the positions and calls made yesterday April 2, 2008 by the civil society groups in Zimbabwe organized for this election under the Umbrella of the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN) . We now send out the following unequivocal messages:
We regret that the SADC mediation process for Zimbabwe was so poorly handled; it did not deliver a new democratic constitutional order and establish a credible electoral process.
We regret that the people of Zimbabwe had to conduct these elections amidst an inflation rate of over 100,000%, with the rate of unemployment standing at over 80% and with nearly 5,000,000 of their nationals residing outside their country. They deserve a better country and we pledge to support them while, alongside us in Kenya, they struggle to reconstruct, reform and reconcile Zimbabwe Kenyans demand that ZEC announces the results of the Presidential vote immediately without further delay, to avoid a situation where the country may degenerate into chaos, triggered by the fear that ZEC is manipulating or tampering with the Presidential elections results.
That the international community offers the people of Zimbabwe solidarity at this moment of great need.
That SADC and the African Union take the lead in facilitating a smooth and peaceful transition in Zimbabwe They must urge Mugabe NOT to tamper with the election results.
That SADC should review their statement that concluded that elections were free and fair while closing their ears to the significance of the undemocratic practices of the ZANU-PF regime. These include the stranglehold monopoly of the media by ZANU, the criminal intimidation of the masses by the security forces, and the declaration by Robert Mugabe that votes that were to be cast for the opposition were wasted votes as he planned to retain power.
We in Kenya know too well, and indeed witnessed while on the ground in Zimbabwe, that both the political environment and the administration of the elections did not facilitate free and fair elections. The media was monopolized by ZANU-PF. Restrictive laws such as Public Order and Security Act (POSA), Access to Information and Protection to Privacy Act were applied severally.
Administratively, the voters roll was not in order. There were high counts of ghost voters on electoral rolls. Distribution of polling stations and involvement of the police officers in the polling stations contravened terms agreed at the SADC Mediation process, chaired by President Thabo Mbeki.
We demand that the security forces not interfere with the sovereign will of the people, and that African Union and SADC standards on democratic governance be applied fully. We wish to inform the security forces that as Africans, Kenyans are of the view that Zimbabwe is too important to be left to Zimbabweans alone. Our position is that "an injury to one of us is an injury to all of us"!
As we issue this statement, there is a heavy presence of (anti) riot police and army troops in the streets of Harare and Bulawayo. Combined with the delay in announcing votes, this could provoke serious civil unrest and even anarchy. We call upon Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangrai to submit to sovereign will of the people when a credible result is finally delivered by the ZEC.
We propose that the people of Zimbabwe, immediately after this nervous transition convene an African Conference on Zimbabwe. As Kenyans, we shall engage upon their invitation and urge our government to fully support the democratic re-emergence of Zimbabwe from the brink of collapse and destruction. We look forward to addressing jointly our shared agenda of reconstruction, reform and reconstruction. Kenya and Zimbabwe must regain their rightful places of leaders of the continent's struggles for democratic development and Human development.
Kenyans For Peace With Truth and Justice (KPTJ) and the National Civil Society Congress (NCSC)
April 3, 2008
For signatories click on link below.
Signed
The National Civil Society Congress
Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG)
Awaaz
Bunge la Mwananchi
Centre for Law and Research International (CLARION)
Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD)
Centre for Rights, Education and Awareness for Women (CREAW)
The Cradle-the Childrens Foundation
Constitution and Reform Education Consortium (CRECO)
East African Law Society (EALS)
Fahamu
Haki Focus
Hema la Katiba
Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU)
Innovative Lawyering
Institute for Education in Democracy (IED)
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ-Kenya)
International Centre for Policy and Conflict
Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)
Kenya Leadership Institute (KLI)
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)
Kituo cha Sheria
RECESSPA
Law Society of Kenya (LSK)
MARS Group Kenya
Muslim Human Rights Forum
National Convention Executive Council (NCEC)
Society for International Development (SID)
The 4 Cs
Urgent Action Fund (UAF)-Africa
Youth Agenda
More...
Comment & analysis
When journalists become victims
2008-04-02
Musa Radoli
While the kenyan elected leaders are battling it out over appointments to lucrative cabinet ministerial posts, Musa Radolo reports on the country’s journalists as they battle post election violence psychological trauma
A majority of the journalists in the country were either directly or indirectly hit by the problem while on duty as a result of being the first witnesses of violence victims and deadly personal encounters while covering the grisly post general elections violence which gave birth to the current jostling for cabinet ministerial posts.
The bickering over the posts that has since hit a stalemate comes in the wake of signing of a power sharing deal between the protagonists, Presdident Mwai Kibaki of Party of National Unity (PNU) and Raila Odinga of Orange Democratic Party (ODM) brokered by former UN secretary general Koffi Annan that saw the end of the violence resulting from the disputed 2007 general elections presidential results.
For the last three weeks, the badly psychologically traumatised journalists have been pouring out their extremely painful experiences during the violence that have remained to haunt them to date without getting relevant medical attention.
Post general elections violence trauma counselling sessions for media practitioners has so far revealed extremely disturbing varied traumatic experiences from the practitioners based across the country. Tearfully describing situations in which they invariably found themselves in as they discharged their duties for their respectful media houses. Making revelations of untold stories of their harrowing encounters at the mercy of marauding deadly merciless gangs or police.
Tear provoking experiences that in most cases threatened their very lives as they found themselves between hard rocks and steel. Simply because they had been identified as reporters or photographers of some mainstream media houses perceived by the violent gangs either as being pro-PNU or the ODM.
The media practitioners based in various regions of the country perceived to be ODM strongholds and working for media houses perceived to be pro-PNU were in danger just like their colleagues in a vice versa situation. The dangers were as real as those experienced by any ordinary Kenyan caught up in circumstances generated by the post election violence – perceived to be either an ODM supporter in a PNU stronghold or the other way round.
The worst experiences for the “messengers” were that despite being on duty just like the members of the disciplined forces – the police - became victims of police brutality – yet their only ammunition or tools of defence were – pens, note books and cameras. Their tools of trade.
The ministry of information and communications acknowledges the deadly risks involved saying that during the coverage of violent conflicts (post general elections), journalists and photographers often found themselves in the frontline of the events to get the best images and stories.
“This invariably exposes them to undesirable but necessary risks and experiences. Such as the gruesome images witnessed may haunt the journalists/photographers and cause them psychological illnesses that have far reaching ramifications including at work places and families,” says the permanent secretary Dr. Bitange Ndemo.
The critical question here being the serious health problems and complications they developed and experienced before during and after the last general elections. Many had never been exposed nor prepared for the gruesome scenes and risky personal experiences they encountered – especially in the post election violence.
Dr. Ndemo says that evidence gathered and symptoms reported so far range from anxiety and depression to emotional numbness and substance abuse. Post traumatic stress being another major cause for concern as it threatens the mental state of the affected media practitioners at the work place as reported by scores of media houses.
A round table meeting held in Nairobi immediately after the violence started slowing down of media stakeholders reported: “Journalists and media practitioners are traumatised but are lacking counselling to deal with the post violence trauma and the self denial.”
Another major challenge that was identified at the meeting was the urgent need to address serious issues of interpersonal relationships within the newsrooms of the different media houses occasioned by the partisanship and the huge chasm/divide the last general elections created between journalists in their places of work.
During one of the ongoing counselling sessions it emerged how a photographer with one of the mainstream media houses in the country was unable to take the harrowing and numbing gruesome pictures of the scenes he had witnessed and the deadly violence he and colleagues nearly became victims of.
The photojournalist had been assigned to cover the violence in Nairobi’s sprawling Kibera slums. What he saw and witnessed was extremely shocking and devastating beyond words. It completely paralysed him into a glaring zombie.
When he went back to the newsroom the News Editor asked: “How was the situation and Where are the pictures?”
He replied: “It was terrible. It was horrible. I have never seen anything like that. It is unbelievable. I have no pictures. I did not take any. I couldn’t. It was too much.”
It was only on further inquiry that the news editor came to establish the exact circumstances that made the photographer to be completely unable to un-sling his camera and fire away to capture the scenes. It was even later that the editor realised that he had been adversely affected psychologically and had to be taken for treatment and counselling.
This state of adverse psychological impact hit hundreds of journalists across the country who were deployed to cover the post general election violence by their various media houses. Two months after the end of the violence, they are still suffering from the post elections violence trauma.
None had been prepared nor had they ever been trained on how to handle and cope with such situations. None of the media houses had budgeted for dealing with the post general election psychological trauma for their editorial staff.
In recognition of the desperate situation in which the Kenyan journalists are still wallowing in – the post general elections violence trauma, the International Media Support (IMS) has swiftly swung into action to counsel those who are suffering. None of them had tried to seek treatment nor counselling. They had no resources or knowledge of where to go and what to do.
The initial phase of the programme targeting 150 journalists and photographers spread across the country is ironically being spearheaded by the Kenya Association of Photographers, Illustrators and Designers (KAPIDE) jointly with the Kenya Correspondents Association (KCA) and not the Media Owners Association nor the Media Council of Kenya. The target areas are those worst hit by the violence – Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu and Mombasa.
A research conducted last year by the African Women and Child Features (AWC) established that members of these two associations contribute more than 85 per cent of the news content that comes out of Kenya’s media outlets.
This percentage tends to go higher during the general electioneering years as media houses’ focus tends to shift from the city to the provinces or rural Kenya on political campaigns and elections. Members of these associations are also the worst paid and most ill equipped to carry out their duties.
Those affected say that as they found themselves in the thick of the deadly violence, unlike their colleagues reporting for the international media outlets – without bullet proof vests nor gas masks, sometimes without vehicles.
“We survived by the grace of God. Because we found ourselves taking cover as bullets from police guns whizzed all over. Some of our cars were lobbed with tear gas canisters inside. We were constantly in danger from police guns and tear gas as well as crude weapons wielded by marauding blood thirsty gangs,” said Joseph Cheruiyot.
He went on: “The situation got so bad in Kibera that if you were identified as a reporter or photographer for media houses perceived to be pro-PNU you were at risk of losing your life. Worse still people refused even to talk to the local media houses’ journalists because some colleagues covering the events for international media houses were paying out cash to get information.”
The provinces and the districts were the very areas which were hardest hit with the violence that saw more than 1200 people killed and 150, 000 displaced from their homes into the Internally Displaced People’s camps where many are still residing. Journalists/photographers based in these areas were the worst affected. Yet the most ignored by their media houses.
“The media owners and employers in the media industry should also recognise the importance of emotional psychological and physical effects that are caused by their professional hazards,” says the permanent secretary.
He argues that besides the hazards the journalists/photographers experience in the field, many employers increase their stress levels because of the demands to meet targets within specific timeframes, whereas the staff were working under difficult circumstances and environments.
The situation was not made any better by virtue of the fact that many journalists found themselves in circumstances forcing them to offer help to critically injured victims of the violence at the risk of their own lives, yet they are not trained even in the rudimentaries of first aid.
A leading psychology doctor at University of Nairobi’s faculty of medicine, Dr. Sobbie Mulindi says the post election violence trauma can cause a lot of medical complications for the journalists/photographers who were affected unless counselled and treated immediately.
Dr. Mulindi who is spearheading counselling sessions of the affected journalists says that many of the media practicing victims risked developing deadly health problems like hypertension, general heart ailments, kidney complications, nervous breakdowns among others.
“Many journalists who were affected tended to resort to alcohol and substance abuse, abnormal behaviours which can lead to disastrous consequences. Psychological trauma has to be dealt with urgently. Apart from putting at risk the lives of the affected persons, it is possible that it can also be transmitted from one generation to another,” he said.
The doctor says that immediately the violence broke out with a team of other psychological trauma experts in Nairobi mobilised counsellors based in HIV/Aids VCT centres across the country for induction and deployed to IDP camps to counsel the victims of the post general election violence.
* Musa Radoli writes for the Royal Media Group in Kenya is the Secretary General of the Kenya Correspondents Association.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Soul searching for women activists
2008-04-02
Salma Mlidi
Salma Mlidi uses the 20th year anniversary Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) to reflect on African women's activism
On March 29, 2008 the Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) began a week long commemoration of 20 years of advocacy for women’s human rights. Among activities earmarked to mark the occasion include the opening of a self sponsored office building; the launch of a Fundraising Campaign for a Women’s Media and Documentation Centre; and a book launch of TAMWA’s story in pioneering social transformation in Tanzania as experienced by members, supporters and friends.
TAMWA was officially launched and registered in 1987 by 10 women pioneers working in the media with two major aims: to agitate for a positive portrayal of women in the media; and to raise the academic and professional standards of female journalist to enable them to assume positions of influence in the media with the expectation that they will have a voice with regard media content and output in so far as its portrayal of women.
Twenty years later TAMWA has much to celebrate about. Arguably TAMWA is the foremost advocacy organization for women’s right in Tanzania. TAMWA’s command of the local media is unparralled and stems from years of capacity building and advocacy of media heads in various media institutions. Nevertheless, in Tanzania, TAMWA is best known for her work in gender based violence. Soon after her formation TAMWA made it her business to expose crimes against women that were otherwise considered taboo e.g. domestic violence and notably wife beating, incest, and family neglect; and sexual harassment in the workplace.
TAMWA also addressed the larger phenomena of sexual abuse against women and children in Tanzania contributing to the impetus of increased local responses to address the phenomena e.g. by the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association. Undeniably, Gender Based Violence (GBV) is the mother of activist struggles in Tanzania thanks to a large part to TAMWA’s relentless advocacy on the subject. Other than the ongoing Campaign on breast cancer by the Tanzania Medical Women’s Association (MEWATA) which is mainly service oriented no other advocacy campaigned has been as successful as the Campaign to Stop GBV launched by TAMWA in the mid 90’s.
Through innovative strategies like media advocacy, action research and campaigns TAMWA made sure that her advocacy agenda was current news and popular, not just with legislators and bureaucrats but with the local populace. It is not unheard of that activists visiting any village in Tanzania would be approached by concerned villagers about human rights violations against women and children in the belief that the activist who cared enough to visit them represents TAMWA. While Tanzania now has a number of women’s rights organizations TAMWA remains the most recognized and coined by men and women alike.
TAMWA’s advocacy ensured that GBV was not only named but was also unpacked and demystified. Certainly fifteen years ago many Tanzanians did not know about the prevalence of FGM in the country. Personally, I learnt about the practice in France after watching a documentary prepared by Sudanese women on alternative forms of cutting. However, building on her research work on crimes committed against women undertaken with journalist in various regions of Tanzania, TAMWA exposed FGM and made it a national agenda. Consequently, Tanzania was among the first countries to outlaw FGM and to have an active anti-FGM network at regional and national levels.
Another less publicized issue was the deaths of old women accused of witchcraft in west and north western Tanzania. TAMWA made the link between the deaths of old women to economic insecurity experienced in most poor rural communities. Access to landed resources increasingly endangered the lives of old women occupying land that younger relatives wanted to access and control. Other than changing the dominant perspective about the issue i.e. about witchcraft beliefs, TAMWA was able to lend impetus to and influence the content of the Land Campaign in the late 1990’s to address the question of women’s access and control of landed resources.
In many ways TAMWA activist trajectory informed and continues to inform my own activist trajectory. I was introduced to TAMWA in the early 90’s when I was still doing my LLB helping out in what was then know as the Library and Documentation Unit. This was the beginning of my own official activist trajectory and as Fatma Alloo, the first TAMWA Chair, puts it, “Of channeling my anger against injustice towards more productive activist enterprise”. Other than having first hand access to feminist literature from different parts of the world, I got to meet many authors and or subjects of books in the centre satiating my growing zeal for alternative leadership figures and visions.
Just as the Tanzania African Nationalist Union (TANU) Women Wing and later Umoja wa Wanwake Tanzania (UWT) was a pioneer for women’s interests pre and post independence, TAMWA pioneered autonomous women rights organizations as well as autonomous advocacy agendas. Figures that led TAMWA also offered the first real taste of female leadership outside the dominant party structure. The growth of private media houses meant that TAMWA personalities were recognized nationally, oftentimes as readily as leading government figures.
The pedestal TAMWA has come to enjoy in the civil society sector means that the successes and struggles she achieves impact on the larger women’s movement in Tanzania. Thus when in the mid nineties TAMWA suffered an organizational crisis bought on by rapid organizational growth, burn out and rifts between the ranks that otherwise would be normal in an organizational context but that spiraled to become personal because of the absence of an awareness in how to manage the health of a dynamic, visible and politically charged organization, mushrooming advocacy organizations held their breath. They were conscious that TAMWA’s failure would reflect not just in the women’s movement but also in the larger civil society sector that was beginning to attract some level of sanction on account of its work.
Perhaps the crisis appeared bigger than it actually was because the emerging activist sector while commonly survives on camaraderie, trust and enthusiasm had not had to deal with the full force of what it means to be empowered individuals. Also the age old habit of selfless devotion and sacrifice ‘serving others’ most women succumb to may have been transferred to the activist space such that some members may have felt not adequately appreciated. Indeed in an activist space the actors are many, the roles more visible and the stakes are higher such that it is not uncommon for egos to become more sensitive to criticism or doubt. Nonetheless, TAMWA survived and emerged stronger. In fact the crisis introduced the notion of organizational health and anti burn out measurers to CSOs. Following an emotional OD intervention members were able to come to terms with their reality and create a healthier space to address existing and perceived weaknesses. TAMWA had to change and since she has learnt the value of reinventing herself and her agenda making it timeless.
TAMWA’s records successes not just institutionally but also with her membership which comprises of exceptional pioneers. Edda Sanga was Chief Comptroller and acting head of Radio Tanzania before her retirement while Joyce Mhaville manages the largest private radio and television network in the country. Fatma Alloo, Halima Sheriff and Rose Kalemera all among founder members have also worked in the civil society sector serving and serve in a number of prestigious boards. Pili Mtambalike and Rose Haji work for the Media Council of Tanzania and MISA Tanzania respectively. Young women journalists who interned at TAMWA are mostly employed as media consultants and directors in the private sector. Mahfoudha Alley Hamid a TAMWA veteran was a member of the first East Africa Legislative Assembly and currently serves as Deputy Chair for the Tanzania Human Rights Commission while others like Zainab Vulu serve as Parliamentarians and others like Halima Kihemba and Betty Mkwasa in local government administration.
As I danced and ululated in celebration with women I had known and grown with for 20 years, I could not help but feel a strong sense of achievement. Members I had not seen for a number of years trickle into the new headquarters to join in the momentous occasion. There was laughter and congratulations all round. By sheer will the vision of 10 women, who the whole world seemed to ridicule had lived on, thrived and triumphed! It inspired and gave birth to other smaller social justice movements at local and national levels.
The Tanzanian First Lady, Mama Salma Kikwete graced the occasion. I was gripped by a strange disquiet as she posed a challenge to TAMWA for the next twenty years. As I looked around me, I wondered would I recognize my sisters (and brothers) in activism 20 years from now? Certainly, mostly TAMWA members and ‘official’ activists” attended the event. I would have loved to see greater participation of the population that TAMWA spent 20 years advocating for. Perhaps a public solidarity walk would have been more appropriate to facilitate a broad based commemoration. Also while there were a few men in attendance, many men representing media organizations stayed away. How could they then be seen to lend moral support to women’s human rights when such support is not felt in physical terms?
While TAMWA’s successes fill me with pride I can’t help but worry about the implications. I worry whether the agenda we have fought so hard to push is getting co-opted as more young women with activist potential are being lured by the private sector which sector is reverting to selling the sexualized image of young women. It is no secret that other than plastering images of young and supposedly successful women in marketing ads, many companies employ younger women because of the ‘sex appeal’ they offer. Another consideration is the lower wages they attract in contrast to male executives. This is not to say that young female media practitioners are not worth their salt. Rather there is a real concern around the original agenda of using the media to conscientize about and advocate for women’s human rights being compromised in the era of a liberal media and economy.
The detachment of young women from the struggles of past is palpable as most activists organizations and initiatives remain dominated by middle aged and retired women. Young professions have sold out to the liberal economy as most become preoccupied with becoming successful in the market and portraying an outer image of success through apolitical consumerism. Gender discrimination has mutated or gone underground such that young female professionals appear clueless about the struggles of past that brought about the even playing field they now enjoy. Mistakenly, and perhaps because they come armed with an education, they think this is how things were and will continue to be.
Indeed, TAMWA produced young professionals and executives who can compete with handsome pledges to her fundraiser providing much needed relief from over demanding and increasingly tightfisted funders. But I wonder if in so doing whether the women’s movement is not opening herself up to an elitist and consumerist culture that is unconcerned with the means through which she achieves her end? Or is it a matter of redefining our values?
*Salma Mlidi is a political activist.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Tribute to a man of honour: Captain Diagne Mba
2008-04-03
François-Xavier Nsanzuwera
François-Xavier Nsanzuwera reflects about Captain Diagne Mbaye, a true exemplar of Pan-Africanism who dies in Rwanda as he fought against the 1994 genocide
In April 2008, the world commemorates the 14th anniversary of the genocide of the Tutsis of Rwanda. The estimated figure of the victims of this genocide stands at more than one million people. However, as rightly expressed by the Court of Appeal of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the world will probably never know the exact number of fatalities. Speaking about the campaign aiming at exterminating the Tutsis in 1994, the Court of Appeal stated that "That campaign was successful to a dreadful degree; although the exact numbers may never be known, the great majority of Tutsis were murdered while many others were raped or otherwise harmed."
This remembrance also coincides with the closing down of the ICTR. This ad hoc international criminal tribunal, established by Resolution 955 (1994) of the Security Council of the 8th of November 1994 must complete in 2008 the trials already brought before the Court and those before the Court of Appeal by 2010.
This Tribunal closes down at a time when all the observers, including its detractors, recognize that it has reached its cruising speed, mainly in 2003.
As of today, 27 accused have been finally convicted, 27 cases are still awaiting judgement, one is pending before the Court of Appeal and 5 people have been acquitted. Two cases were transmitted to a national court of law, namely those of the abbot Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and the former prefect of Gikongoro, Laurent Bucyibaruta. The Prosecutor also requested the Court of the ICTR to authorize the transfer of some cases to Rwanda, pursuant to Rule 11 bis of the Rules of procedure and evidence.
Even if not all the torturers were apprehended and judged, the legacy of the ICTR will be considerable. Some observers tend to always assess the performance of the ICTR through numbers, namely, numbers of people judged and the financial cost. The importance of the legacy of the ICTR to the world is fundamental.
One of the achievements of the ICTR lies in the recognition of the genocide of the Tutsis. The judgements rendered by the various Courts and the Court of Appeal of the ICTR confirm that a genocide occurred in Rwanda. The already quoted decision of the Court of Appeal of the ICTR renders it clearly: "The fact of the Rwandan genocide is a part of world history, a fact as certain as any other, a classic instance of a “fact of common knowledge."
This judicial notice drawn up by the Court of Appeal, in its decision of 16 June 2006, constitutes an effective weapon in the fight against all the revisionists and those denying the existence of the genocide in Rwanda.
The jurisprudence of the ICTR contributed also to the development of the corpus of international humanitarian law. Paying tribute to the co-operation between the Government of Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, stated, during his visit to Rwanda said that "the good co-operation between your country and the ICTR has not only made possible the promotion of national reconciliation; it also played an important rôle in the development of the jurisprudence in international criminal law." (Fondation Hirondelle, 31 January 2008)
Mr Ban Ki-Moon stressed that the legacy of the ICTR is a testimony of the common fight against impunity.
On the 7th of April 2008, our thoughts will go not only to the victims and the survivors of the genocide but also to all those men and women of different nationalities, from different legal backgrounds who were the pioneers of the work accomplished by the ICTR. They were not in Nuremberg and not in Tokyo in 1945 but they were in Arusha. They brought their contribution to this building of justice, one of the pillars of reconciliation.
This memorial should also be an opportunity to think of the Just, these men and women who, while risking their lives, saved the Tutsis whose very life was threatened. At the time of the celebration of the World Women’s Day at the ICTR, the Prosecutor, Mr. Hassan B Jallow, stressed the heroic role played by Rwandan women, like Zula Karuhimbi, who saved their Tutsi compatriots during the genocide.
Today, my thoughts go particularly to a man who lost his life in Rwanda during the genocide, namely the Senegalese Captain Diagne Mbaye. He was a blue helmet of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) and he fell under a bomb. He was in the prime of life, the time when one enjoys life, makes projects and fulfils those things he/she has always been dreaming of. He was young and handsome but was also particularly courageous and so generous that he lost his life in Rwanda, far from Senegal, the country where he was born.
I do not know the exact circumstances of his death. I came to know him on the 10th of April 1994 at the Hotel des Milles Collines where my wife and I had just found refuge. This man was our guardian angel during our stay at the Hotel des Milles Collines from the 10th of April to the 28th of May 1994. During the two months that we spent at this hotel, Captain Diagne Mbaye went every day into the town of Kigali to help people in danger. Every day he would bring back to the hotel many entire families thus saving their lives.
After the genocide, several survivors recounted to us the courageous acts of Captain Mbaye. Many a survivor has bad memories of the UNAMIR. The latter reminds them of the abandonment, a sort of treason for those who believed in the Arusha Peace Accords and for those who believed in the peacekeeping mission of this force. However, some men within this institution risked their own life to save people. One can mention the commander-in-chief of this mission who, without inadequate means, remained with some few people and witnessed the tragic moments of the history of Rwanda and the world. The genocide has left its mark on his life. When he went to testify before the ICTR, General Romeo Dallaire paid tribute to the victims of the genocide. He saved the honour of the international community which gave up on the victims for three months. I have much respect for this man whose suffering makes him close to many survivors.
The courage of Captain Diagne Mbaye and his demise in the cause of Rwanda, right in the middle of the genocide, reconcile us with our mother continent. For three months, the world and Africa watched the genocide without doing anything, while the whole of mankind stared at the macabre images shown on the television screens. However, in Rwanda, some men and women of honour did what they could to save lives.
If today the younger generations must learn the history of the Holocaust, the genocide of the Armenians, the genocide done by the Khmers Rouges and the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, it is important that they also learn the history of the courageous people, like Captain Diagne Mbaye, the people who, like him, remind us of our common humanity. During the horrible times of wars and genocides, these brave men and women save our humanity, our "ubuntu". The abbot Alexis Kagame and His Lordship Desmond Tutu wrote many articles on this beautiful word of “ubuntu” that is found in several Bantu languages. In Kinyarwanda, the word “ubuntu” means generosity, humanity, the fact of being human.
During this month of painful memories, my thoughts go to Captain Mbaye who died far from his motherland and his people and to all those, amongst his comrades, who remained men of honour. Somewhere in Rwanda, somewhere in the world, each time the international community remembers the genocide of the Tutsis and the massacre of Hutus opposed to the ideology of the genocide, there are men and women who think of Captain Diagne Mbaye and at what his memory represents, namely courage, dedication to duty, sense of honour and selflessness.
*François-Xavier Nsanzuwera is affiliated with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Pan-African Postcard
Who needs political parties?
2008-04-03
Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem talks about importance of political parties and asks the question: When the nationalists were fighting for liberation from colonial rule the people raised funds for the parties - What does it say of contemporary politics that members are not able or willing to fund their own parties?
Accra is my favourite city on the West Coast of Africa, while I rank Maputo in Southern Africa first. I was in both last week for different purposes but the experience was always the same: marvellous peaceful cities by the ocean? I guess my fascination with both countries and their capital cities and the inspiration many find in them has a lot to do with Kwame Nkrumah and Samora Machel having walked those streets. In both cities I feel like being in the shadow of both larger than life figures in the Pan African Movement Both may not recognise the two cities (and the countries) now were they to rise from their graves but somehow their spirit lives or lingers on.
I was not in both capitals for holidays but for meetings. In Accra, I was attending three meetings in one, all organised by the Abuja –based Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).In Maputo I was gate crashing the annual meeting of the Regional Bureau for Africa of the UNDP.
It is one of the three meetings in Accra that I wish to talk abut this week. For two the past two years the CDD has been working towards developing a Political Parties Index (PPI) for West Africa. There are all kinds of Governance, democracy and Accountability Indexes (the latest being the Mo Ibrahim African governance index) measuring the state of our emerging or disappearing democracies, levels of popular participation, openness and transparency in the various systems competing for recognition as ‘democratic’.
It is strange that there are no Indexes devoted to Political Parties. Yet competitive liberal electoral politics is not possible without organised political parties. They provide the foundation for peacefully organising and mobilising the citizens behind alternative public policies. At least that is the theory whether they do this in practice is a different matter. Without vibrant political parties competitive politics may become capitalism without capital. There is a chequered history and experience of Political parties across Africa that makes many people to be either ambivalent or completely dismissive of them. It is not just the history of parties that induce ambiguity even contemporary experiences of parties do not inspire confidence. For instance If you are Kenyan or Nigerian where parties are more disposable than hotel towels why should you bother about them at all?
In many countries political parties are merely convenient political machines deployed during elections for the attainment of personal political ambitions of whatever cabal ‘owns’ or can appropriate the parties. Most of them have no ideology, no clear or different policies from that of their opponents but just naked desire to grab power at all cost. However political parties need not and have not always been like this. The struggle against colonialism be they the so called peaceful ones and the more militant armed struggles were led by great men and women organised in political parties and Movements. As bad as the situation may seem now there are formidable political parties in a few countries including South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, etc It is not surprising that west African examples do not readily come to mind. So what happened to all the political parties that fought for independence whether CPP/UGCC in Ghana or PAIGC in Guinea Bissau, SP in Senegal? As the region that had had the most intrusive of political interventions by the military perhaps the region has least experience of political parties as they remained banned under the various military regimes that became the norm for at least three decades in a majority pf the countries.
In West Africa you do not talk about military intervention rather the general rule was military in power with infrequent civilian interludes in many of the countries until the last decade and a half. In east Africa with the exception of the ‘coup prone’ Uganda both Tanzania and Kenya have had very long experience of party rule but they both became long term One party regimes with the consequence that in spite of Multi party politics Tanzania remains a One party dominant state whereas in Kenya KANU’s monopoly of power did not survive multi partyism and it is more or less a dead party now. Museveni’s Uganda, aided and abetted by the same Western powers that were insisting on democratisation in many other states toyed with the ‘NO party democracy’ for ten years but had to give way to a multiparty system that is still very much skewed in favour of the ruling NRM (now rechristened NRM-O, as if indicating it will end in an Own goal eventually!).
In general parties that led the independence struggles, parties of liberation movement (like FRELIMO, MPLA or ZANU-PF) and their latter day successors, the armed revolutionary groups whether EPRDF in Ethiopia, NRA/NRM in Uganda, EPLF in Eritrea, have been reluctant to transfer power peacefully. Many of them were either overthrown in military coups or disgraced out of office (Zambia, Malawi and now ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe). From popular independence parties or Liberation movements they became personal instruments of a small elite around the leader (He, who must be obeyed!) often degenerating into a demobilising political force holding on to power through dictatorship and intimidating the citizenry. They used to inspire the citizens but as they remain in power beyond their sell-by dates they put the masses to sleep if not forced them to exile or early grave! The only exception so far has been the ANC but even this relatively disciplined party with a large cadreship is facing challenges of renewal as it enjoys unchallenged political hegemony as the ‘natural party of government’.
In spite of these failings Political Parties remain very important to the democratic renewal of our states and we need to take them very seriously. Political parties are staging a comeback as coups become less doable and even less acceptable. Former military regimes have civilianised themselves (Rawlings /NDC Ghana, Compaore in Burkina or NRA/M in Uganda) while older parties are being reinvented and new ones are on offer everywhere. In some countries serious contenders for power is probably not more than one or two or a combination of them with others as merely ‘also there’. If Kenya and now Zimbabwe are anything to go by ‘grand Coalitions’ of parties may be the way forward. This may bring back more interest in political parties.
It is not only in Africa that political parties and Voter interest in them have been ebbing. In the older democracies there are continuing downward trend in active membership of political parties. In Britain for instance more young people vote in Pop Idol than in elections! In America it is difficult to know what the fundamental difference between the democrats and the Republicans are except for Personality projections. Substance has given way to form with the media, lobbyists and PR companies telling people what to think and who to vote for but packaging them as Opinion poll and public opinion.
CDD’s Index will definitely be filling a vacuum in the available monitoring tools. As a pioneering effort it is being received with caution even by those involved. How do political parties contribute to deepening or hindering democracy? Are they democratic themselves? How do they hinder or enhance the full participation of marginalised groups be they Women, Youth, ethnic/religious or other political minorities? Is democracy better served by national parties or could a case be made for decentralised party organisation that may address the political interests of marginalised groups? How do you decide which party is contributing? Is it by the number of seats in parliament or the number of seats contested? There is also the controversial area of party funding. Should there be state funding or should parties be funded by their members? Are the parties democratic themselves before measuring their contribution ore non contribution to democracy?
Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem talks about importance of political parties and asks the question: When the nationalists were fighting for liberation from colonial rule the people raised funds for the parties - What does it say of contemporary politics that members are not able or willing to fund their own parties?
When the nationalists were fighting for liberation from colonial rule the masses of peasants, workers, even chiefs and the educated elite supported and raised funds for the parties. What does it say of contemporary politics that members are not able or willing to fund their own parties? The answer to these and many other questions may provide some bases for rating the parties or raise more questions when the CDD’s first cut emerges during next year. It may raise more questions than answers but a necessary process that should interest anyone interested in the health of our growing democracies.
*Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem writes this syndicated column in his private capacity as a Pan Africanist. His views are not attributable to that of any organization he works for or is affiliated with.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Letters
China and Africa
2008-04-02
Anup Shah
Thank you for your article on China/West/Africa at http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/46990. I have always thought this has been the case; that there is china-bashing from the West while deflecting criticism of themselves, and your article provided some useful details. I will shortly add a link to it, but in the next few weeks, hope to add a bit more on my site (http://www.globalissues.org) referring to your article in a bit more detail.
Zimbabwe update
Mugabe's party expects to fight runoff
2008-04-04
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN422289.html
The leadership of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party met on Friday to decide whether President Robert Mugabe should contest a runoff vote against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe convened his politburo after the party lost control of parliament for the first time in 28 years, in the biggest setback of his rule.
Where to, Zimbabwe?
2008-04-04
Patrick Bond
http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?2,40,5,1547
As the world waits to see what will happen in Zimbabwe, Patrick Bond argues that lessons should be taught and retaught about the dangers of elite transition between a voracious, corrupt, violent and divisive set of rulers, and an incoming crew who might not withstand the blandishments of local power-sharing and global economic seduction.
African Union Monitor
AU Monitor Weekly Roundup
Issue 131, 2008
2008-04-02
www.aumonitor.org
This week’s AU Monitor brings you a report back from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) civil society workshop written by Edwin Ikhuoria of the National Association of Nigerian Traders. The workshop was convened by ECOWAS in order to strengthen the integration of the peoples of the region. While these efforts were applauded, participants noted that the vision for a people-centred approach to integration had been created without consultation at the grassroots and in the usual top-down manner. However, the workshop successfully concluded with the formation of a platform for non-state actors’ interaction with ECOWAS through nine regional organizations, who will design and submit a memoranda on the outcomes of the workshop and outlining potential future collaboration with ECOWAS.
The African Union Commission signed a joint financing agreement this week with a group of pooled fund partners from Europe, including Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The contribution, earmarked for institutional transformation, is said to total nearly US$ 6.2 million. Meanwhile, Chambi Chachage questions the “cost” of African unity and particularly challenges Tanzania’s recent intervention in the Comoros crisis while noting that the “AU is shedding its OAU cocooning charter of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states”. Troops from Comoros, supported by the African Union, took control of the island of Anjouan last week but the humanitarian and economic issues facing the island are expected to take longer to overcome. Indeed, the restoration of political stability in Anjouan will be decided when elections finally take place, which the Union government of Comoros has indicated will be held within the next three months. Also in peace and security news, former President Obasanjo of Nigeria has claimed this week that the continued conflict in Somalia is caused by the lack of political will within the international community and the rest of Africa to solve the crisis and that “the downturn in the economy of Somalia and the sufferings of many, were indications of international neglect, rather than symptoms of a ‘failed state’”.
Meanwhile, the African Development Bank is said to have made progress in aligning national lending with national priorities ahead of the high-level forum on aid effectiveness expected in September in Accra, Ghana. However, improvement is still needed in technical cooperation with donors, use of country financial management systems, aid predictability and donor structure streamlining. In other economic development news, African governments are faced with mounting popular mobilisation and unrest due to surging food prices caused by “global supply concerns and heady world futures markets”.
Finally, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) will hold its 43rd ordinary session between May 7th and 22nd in Ezulwini, Swaziland. On the agenda are the periodic state reports of Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania. As is customary, the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies will hold the forum on the participation of NGOs and the African human rights book fair ahead of the Commission session from 3rd - 5th of May also in Ezulwini. Information on the NGO Forum is also available in French. Further in human rights news, the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative and the East African Law Society are convening a roundtable on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the regional human rights system more broadly from March 31 to April 2 in Arusha, Tanzania. Alliances for Africa will be convening a similar workshop on the Protocol of the African Court for West African judges and lawyers from April 9-10 in Abuja, Nigeria.
Women & gender
North Africa: Morocco seeks to criminalise violence against women
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/6ynkew
Moroccan officials announced last week that work is in progress on a draft bill outlawing domestic violence. The ministries of Social Development, Education and Islamic Affairs will also partner on a campaign aimed at fostering a culture of gender equality.
Mauritania: Moves towards political empowerment for women
2008-04-04
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77544
Mauritania is often held up as a beacon when it comes to the proportion of women elected to political office - a 20 percent minimum quota was instituted in 2006 - but experts told IRIN once in power many women are still sidelined from taking important political decisions.
CAR: Struggling to undo the damage of sexual violence
2008-04-04
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77552
The Monam group of rape survivors in the northern town of Bossangoa in the Central African Republic (CAR) does what it can to keep going, but morale is low and money tight. "We've been left to fend for ourselves. We get little help from outside. Many of our members have died," the group's chairwoman, Pelagie Ndokoyanga, told IRIN/PlusNews.
Human rights
Ethiopia: Activists released from prison
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/35rz64
Two human rights activists have been released from prison in Ethiopia having been detained since November 2005. Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie were released on Friday after receiving a presidential pardon. The two signed a letter acknowledging mistakes" committed in relation to the 2005 elections. It is not yet clear if the pardon is unconditional.
Global: UN system vows to ensure rights of persons with disabilities
2008-04-04
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26145
More than 20 United Nations departments, agencies, programmes, and funds have pledged their support to implementing a landmark treaty on the human rights of persons with disabilities, which opened for signature a year ago this week. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted by the General Assembly in December 2006 along with its Optional Protocol, is only three ratifications short of the 20 needed to enter into force and become an internationally legally binding document.
Burundi: UN-assisted refugee returns to hits 300,000 mark
2008-04-04
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26178
The number of Burundians that have returned to their homeland from neighbouring Tanzania with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reached the 300,000 mark last month, the agency has reported. In addition, tens of thousands of Burundian refugees have also returned home on their own – mainly from villages in the north-western Tanzania – bringing the total number of returnees to 389,000.
Botswana: UN human rights committee criticises government over Bushman issue
2008-04-04
http://www.survival-international.org/news/3188
The UN Human Rights Committee has criticised Botswana’s government over its treatment of the Bushmen. The committee urged Botswana to ensure that ‘all persons who were relocated are granted the right to return to the CKGR (Central Kalahari Game Reserve)’. The government has so far only allowed those few Bushmen named in the Botswana High Court case, which the Bushmen won in 2006, to return to live in the CKGR; hundreds of others are forced to apply for permits.
Global: Human Rights Council Statement on the situation in Sudan
2008-04-04
The Human Rights Council, Guided by the principles and objectives of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Right and the International Covenants on Human Rights, Reaffirming that all Members States have an obligation to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms as stated in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and other applicable international human rights instruments...
Situation of human rights in the Sudan
The Human Rights Council, Guided by the principles and objectives of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Right and the International Covenants on Human Rights, Reaffirming that all Members States have an obligation to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms as stated in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and other applicable international human rights instruments, Reaffirming also Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/82 of 21 April 2005 and Council resolutions 6/34 and 6/35 of 14 December 2007, Bearing in mind the report by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan and urging the implementation of the recommendations contained therein,
1. Takes note of the report of the Special Rapporteur;
2. Welcomes the collaboration of the Government of the Sudan with the Special Rapporteur, including at ministerial level, and takes note with interest of its engagement with the international community on human rights issues;
3. Urges the Government of the Sudan to continue cooperating fully with the Special Rapporteur and to respond favourably to her requests to visit all parts of the Sudan and to provide her with all necessary information so as to enable her to fulfil her mandate even more effectively;
4. Calls on the Government of the Sudan to continue and intensify its efforts for the promotion and protection of human rights, by taking all possible concrete steps to improve the human rights situation;
5. Acknowledges the measures taken by the Government of the Sudan to address the human rights situation in the Sudan, but expresses its concern that, for various reasons, their implementation has not yet led to the desired positive impact on the ground;
6. Expresses its deep concern at the seriousness of the ongoing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in some parts of Darfur, and reiterates its call to all parties to put an end to all acts of violence against civilians, with special focus on vulnerable groups including women, children and internally displaced persons, as well as human rights defenders and humanitarian workers;
7. Stresses the primary responsibility of the Government of the Sudan to protect all its citizens, including all vulnerable groups;
8. Calls upon the signatories of the Darfur Peace Agreement to comply with their obligations under the Agreement, acknowledges the measures already taken towards its implementation and calls upon non-signatory parties to participate and to commit themselves to the Darfur political process led by the African Union and the United Nations, in compliance with relevant resolutions of the United Nations, including paragraph 5 of Council resolution 4/8;
9. Urgesthe Government of the Sudan to continue and intensify its efforts to implement the recommendations identified by the Group of Experts, in accordance with the specified time frames and indicators;
10. Encourages the Government of the Sudan to accelerate the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights in the Sudan;
11. Invites relevant United Nations bodies and agencies, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to continue providing support and technical assistance to the Sudan for the implementation of the recommendations of the Group of Experts, and calls upon donors to continue providing financial and technical assistance and required equipment for the improvement of human rights in the Sudan and to continue to provide support for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement;
12. Calls upon the Government of the Sudan to accelerate the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and to establish the remaining commissions, in particular the finalization of the establishment of the national human rights commission, in accordance with the Paris Principles;
13. Expresses particular concern at the fact that perpetrators of past and ongoing serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Darfur have not yet been held accountable for their crimes and urges the Government of the Sudan to address urgently this question, by thoroughly investigating all allegations of human rights and international humanitarian law violations, promptly bringing to justice the perpetrators of those violations;
14. Decides to review the situation of human rights in the Sudan at its session in September 2008.
More...
Refugees & forced migration
Zimbabwe: Returning will take more than politics
2008-04-04
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77599
It is going to take more than a regime change back home to get the several million-strong Zimbabwean diaspora to return, according to analysts. "It's both the economy and politics," said Mlamuli Nkomo, an expert in Forced Migration at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Ghana: Liberian protesters fear deportation
2008-04-04
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3547
Liberian refugees in Ghana, mostly women, protested in hopes the U.N. would help them find new homes in Western countries. Now they are in a makeshift camp, fearing mass deportation to a homeland with an 85 percent jobless rate.
Comoros: Anjouan situation worse than thought
2008-04-04
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77595
With preparations for new local elections under way, following a succesful military venture by the Comoros Union government and African Union (AU) troops to restore order to the renegade island by force, deeper humanitarian concerns have emerged. Last week a combined military force toppled Mohamed Bacar, a rebel leader who had defied demands to re-run local elections, deemed illegal by the AU and Union government. Bacar has fled and is believed to be on the French isalnd of Reunion.
Kenya: Floods hit thousands, including IDP camps
2008-04-04
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77574
At least 6,000 people have been affected by flooding following heavy rains in the southern coastal district of Taveta, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) said. Three primary schools have also been closed temporarily after being submerged," Anthony Mwangi, the KRCS Public Relations Manager said on 1 April. "The water levels in some areas are up to chest level."
Somalia: Help to stop migrants dying in Gulf of Aden
2008-04-04
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77547
The Somali consul in the port city of Aden has called on the international community to take steps to end the deaths of migrants - mainly Somalis fleeing in flimsy smugglers’ boats to Yemen - in the Gulf of Aden, and find a lasting solution to their plight.
Elections & governance
East Africa: Kenyans angry at 'bloated' power - sharing cabinet
2008-04-04
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN438829.html
Kenya's political rivals faced criticism on Friday over the size and cost of a power-sharing cabinet meant to steer the east African country back on the path to economic recovery. President Mwai Kibaki is due to name a 40-ministry cabinet on Sunday, ending a month of deadlock that threatened Kenya's chances of peace after a bloody post-election crisis.
Zimbabwe: Tension grows as results are delayed
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/2aqvus
On 29 March 2008, Zimbabweans took part in a general election to elect members of the parliament, local councillors and a president. For the first time since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980, opposition parties have a majority in the House of Assembly.
Egypt: Government detains 30 from Brotherhood as vote nears
2008-04-04
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN442356.html
Egyptian security forces detained 30 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood on Friday just days ahead of Egypt's local council elections, including a member of the group's governing Guidance Office, the group said. The detentions add to a growing crackdown that has seen more than 300 members of the country's most powerful opposition group picked up since Tuesday ahead of the April 8 vote, in which the Brotherhood is vying for seats against Egypt's ruling party.
Algeria: Opposition leader presses for international election observers
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/3q5hlo
RCD party chief Said Saadi has returned from an international tour to solicit observers for Algeria's presidential elections next spring. Some politicians view Saadi's move as an early indication of his likely candidacy. Others oppose the measure, arguing that foreign observers call Algeria's reputation and sovereignty into question.
Comoros: Citizens protest after Bacar flees
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/2wtjol
Ahmed Abdalla Sambi, president of Comoros, has urged peaceful demonstrations against France after it moved the defeated president of Anjouan island to Reunion. Mohammed Bacar fled by speedboat to the nearby French-ruled island of Mayotte after an African Union backed military invasion.
Zimbabwe: MDC demands poll results
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/5rkoc8
Zimbabwe's opposition has filed a high court application to compel the electoral commission to release the results of the presidential election, the party's lawyers said. The move by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) comes as the ruling party of Robert Mugabe, the president, met on Friday to decide whether to contest a run-off vote.
Nigeria: After River State’s flawed elections, violence expected
2008-04-04
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77606
Violence was relatively low in the run-up to local elections on 29 March in Nigeria's oil-rich Rivers State but with evidence emerging of massive voting irregularities in favour of the ruling party, human rights groups warn the worst may not be over.
Africa & China
Angola and China: A pragmatic partnership
2008-04-04
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/publications/papers/view/-/id/603/
This paper takes a fresh look at the issue of Angola and China's partnership. The study is based upon fieldwork carried out in Angola in 2007 and 2008 and includes numerous interviews with Angolan officials. It describes a pragmatic bilateral partnership, deconstructing the Chinese loans to Angola and documenting the number of Chinese workers in Angola and the impact of their projects.
Corruption
DRC: Controversial mining project to face contract renegotiation
2008-04-04
http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3719.aspx
DRC mining contract commission to push for a greater share in the Tenke Fungurume mining concession, one of the largest copper-cobalt deposits in the world. Critics charge that EIB's investment in the highly contested project before the conclusion of the contract review was "irresponsible."
Africa: Transparency and accountability In Africa's extractive industries
2008-04-04
http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=2949
How can Africa’s extractive industries be made more transparent and held more accountable? This report is intended to help to help elected political officials – particularly those in the legislative branch of government – serve as constructive leaders in improving the oversight and management of their countries’ natural resources. Reform-minded legislators should engage more proactively with international initiatives in search of workable strategies and programs to meet the specific challenges of their countries’ environments.
Kenya: World Bank again accused of tolerating corruption
2008-04-04
http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3717.aspx
Wall Street Journal editorial targets corruption in World Bank projects in Kenya, spurring renewed complaints about the Bank’s alleged contribution to a climate of loose ethics and corruption in the Kenyan government. On March 6, a Wall Street Journal editorial targeted corruption in World Bank projects in Kenya as part of that newspaper’s series of commentaries on corruption and perceived mismanagement at the Bank
Kenya: Vacuum in governance likely to fuel corruption
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/4paajs
Transparency International-Kenya (TI-K) would like to express its alarm at the apparent vacuum in the governance structures and practice brought about by the sluggish progress in the constitution of a new cabinet as stipulated in the Peace Accord. The delays are understood to be as an effort to accommodate disparate political interests with some proposing a hugely bloated cabinet.
Development
Global: UN poverty goals face new threats
2008-04-04
http://www.ipsterraviva.net/europe/article.aspx?id=5915
The UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aimed primarily at reducing poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy, are being undermined by a rash of new problems threatening to cripple the ongoing efforts by developing nations to reach their targets by 2015. With less than seven years to meet the deadline, the failures seem to far outweigh the limited successes achieved so far.
Global: World Bank calls for new 'New Deal' to fight hunger
2008-04-04
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/04/02/afx4845421.html
With skyrocketing food prices critically threatening the world's poor, the World Bank on Wednesday called on the international community to mount a coordinated fight against hunger. 'We need a New Deal for Global Food Policy,' the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, said in remarks prepared for delivery to a Washington think tank.
Africa: Investments in agriculture key to reducing poverty - UN
2008-04-04
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26190
A senior United Nations official has called for greater investments in agriculture and rural development to boost economic growth and reduce poverty in Africa, both of which are critical to achieving the global target of halving poverty and hunger by 2015. Rapid agricultural and rural development holds the key to eliminating poverty in Africa,” Kanayo Nwanze, Vice-President of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) told the meeting of African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa delegates gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Health & HIV/AIDS
Burkina Faso: Children educate children about HIV/Aids
2008-04-04
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26187
Thousands of children in Burkina Faso are taking part in peer education programmes to promote awareness among the country’s young about the scourge of HIV/AIDS under a project backed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The African Youth Network Against AIDS, the youth arm of a non-governmental organization supported by UNICEF, has sponsored a network of clubs for young people that has grown to almost 2,000 and in which sport, education and other activities are used to teach awareness about how to avoid the disease.
Global: Major gains in treating women and children with AIDS - report
2008-04-04
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26191
A United Nations report shows progress in treating children with AIDS and preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, but urges greater efforts to stem the tide of the global epidemic. According to Children and AIDS, there were some 2.1 million children under 15 living with HIV in 2007, most of whom were infected before birth, during delivery or while breastfeeding. And young people aged 15-24 still account for about 40 per cent of the new HIV infections among all people over 15 in 2007.
Southern Africa: Lesotho fourth country to see (RED) funds to fight AIDS
2008-04-04
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26192
The southern African nation of Lesotho has become the fourth country assisted by the United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to receive funds from the consumer-driven (PRODUCT) RED initiative. (RED), which gets a portion of the sales of sponsoring products for proven HIV projects in Africa, was launched in 2006 by Irish musician Bono and Bobby Shriver, nephew of former United States President John F. Kennedy.
Africa: More HIV-positive pregnant women getting antiretrovirals
2008-04-04
http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/AA3D6165-A438-4B59-AC63-DB7AFFB59B8C.asp
Only a quarter of HIV-positive pregnant women in poorer countries receive antiretroviral therapy to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, according to a UN report issued on April 3rd. Nevertheless, the report found that increasing numbers of HIV-positive children and expectant mothers are receiving anti-HIV drugs.
Global: Health workers for all and all for health workers
2008-04-04
http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/health-systems&id=36089
The Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global Action was formulated at the First Global Forum on Human Resources for Health that was held in Kampala, Uganda in March 2008. It recognises the need for immediate action to resolve the accelerating crisis in the global health workforce including the global shortage of over four million health workers that are needed to deliver essential health care.
Global: TB remains a major cause of illness and death worldwide - WHO
2008-04-04
http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/health-systems&id=36085
This World Health Organization report on global tuberculosis (TB) control compiles data from over 200 countries to monitor the scale and direction of TB epidemics, implementation and the impact of the Stop TB Strategy. The paper finds that there were an estimated 9.2 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths from TB in 2006 including 0.2 million deaths among people infected with HIV.
Education
Sudan: School enrolment soars in the South
2008-04-04
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26181
Some 1.3 million children in southern Sudan are expected to start classes this year, compared to just 340,000 in 2005, thanks to an initiative supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to boost school enrolment and strengthen the education system.
Global: Beyond the ABCs: Higher education and developing countries
2008-04-04
http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/15310/
This new CGD working paper analyzes an often neglected facet of development-higher education. While higher education was in vogue in the 1950s and 1960s, it subsequently fell out of favor. The various development paradigms, from basic needs to rural development, structural adjustment and policy reform, had little place for higher education; and the recent emphasis on institutions also pays little heed to this subject.
Racism & xenophobia
South Africa: Xenophobic attacks drive hundreds from homes in suburb
2008-04-04
http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/47ecf41c4.html
After months of sporadic xenophobic attacks elsewhere in South Africa, a series of brutal assaults on foreigners in makeshift settlements on the outskirts of the capital has galvanized government and private organizations into action. The mob attacks last month on foreigners in Atteridgeville – everyone from refugees and asylum seekers to South Africans born overseas – left several people dead and large numbers of houses looted and burned.
Environment
Global: World Bank climate profiteering
2008-04-04
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5110
The World Bank’s long-running identity crisis is proving hard to shake. When efforts to rebrand itself as a “knowledge bank” didn’t work, it devised a new identity as a “Green Bank.” Really? Yes, it’s true. Sure, the Bank continues to finance fossil fuel projects globally, but never mind. The World Bank has seized upon the immense challenges climate change poses to humanity and is now front and center in the complicated, international world of carbon finance. It can turn the dirtiest carbon credits into gold.
East Africa: Dam to face delays; vulnerability to drought raises questions
2008-04-04
http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3718.aspx
The World Bank is considering financing a hydroelectric dam between Burundi and Tanzania that would boost mining production in East Africa. But in an area prone to drought, particularly with the onset of climate change, questions remain about the project's sustainability and whether it will be worth the projected $190 million cost.
Land & land rights
Kenya: Land forum spins new developments
2008-04-04
A special two-day stakeholders' forum last week realized a number of new developments on and around Kenya's land policy. The meeting follows last year's KARA's Bi-monthly Talk Series (BTS) session on “what future for Kenya's national land policy?”. The purpose of the meeting held in Nairobi, last week, was to disseminate the findings of the studies undertaken by USAID on land and natural resources and also provide the opportunity for stakeholders to discuss issues around the formulation and implementation of Kenya's national land policy.
Media & freedom of expression
Senegal: Police rough up journalists covering protest
2008-04-04
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=26392
Reporters Without Borders condemns police use of violence against journalists covering a banned street march against cost of living increases in Dakar yesterday afternoon, and a police raid on a TV station that was broadcasting footage showing how police broke up the protest. “The security forces behaved in a manner unworthy of Senegalese democracy,” the press freedom organisation said. “Erasing pictures of clashes and preventing them being shown on TV is not an effective way of keeping order.
Morocco: IFJ calls for probe inot attack on journalists' union leader
2008-04-04
http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=6016&Language=EN
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on Moroccan authorities to investigate an attack on Mohamed Daw Serraj, a journalist and general secretary of the Syndicat National de la Presse Marocaine (SNPM), who sustained head injuries after two men assaulted him with a metal bar.
Morocco: Press rallies behind newspaper after record libel verdict
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/69rmu2
In the wake of what many are calling an "exorbitant" penalty for libel, a diverse group of Moroccan newspapers is coming out in support of Al Massae daily. The papers say the decision threatens independent journalists and free speech.
Cameroon: Nyatcha presses on against the powerful
2008-04-04
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3551
Lilianne Nyatcha has withstood intimidation for her coverage of Cameroon's crackdown on political protests and harassment of the private press. She has also trained other women to test the boundaries and follow her lead.
Zimbabwe: Police arrest two foreign journalists
2008-04-04
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03164877.htm
Zimbabwean police on Thursday arrested two foreign correspondents, including a New York Times correspondent who was covering the country's election. "I can confirm that we have arrested two reporters at York Lodge for practising without accreditation," said police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena, who added the police would identify them on Friday.
Social welfare
Africa: African ministers to tackle rising food prices
2008-04-04
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=336119
African ministers on Wednesday agreed to tackle rising food prices that have threatened the continent's fledgling stability and economic growth. Although the hike "presents opportunities for increased food production in some of our countries", the phenomenon is not sustainable and has to be tackled, they said.
Côte d’Ivoire: Protests force tax cuts
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/2w4bfv
Ivory Coast has slashed the taxes on imported staple foods after two days of violent protests in the commercial capital Abidjan over rising prices. At least one man died in the demonstrations during which police fired live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protesters blocking roads with burning tyres and barricades.
Conflict & emergencies
Central Africa: Chad blamed for Sudan attack
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/2jbyhd
Sudan has accused Chad of bombing a village in Darfur, vowing to respond to the "aggressive and serious" violations of a fledgling peace agreement. Ali al-Sadiq, the Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman, said that a Chadian military helicopter "bombed a place called Um Tamjoob" on Wednesday.
Global: Landmine deaths drop in 2007
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/32a7re
While the number of people killed by anti-personnel landmines had dropped to an all-time low this year, there was a need for continued vigilance as a closer look at the statistics revealed that nearly half a million people injured by the deadly devices worldwide may require life-long medical care, a senior United Nations humanitarian official has said.
Tanzania: Mine disaster toll rises
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/2ser9f
Rescuers are continuing their search in a flooded Tanzanian mine but hopes of finding survivors are fading. Thirteen bodies were retrieved on Monday, bringing the confirmed toll to 19, according to police. Officials say 75 were feared killed when heavy rains flooded narrow mine shafts in the tanzanite mine early on Saturday.
Burundi: Politician jailed
2008-04-04
http://www.afrol.com/articles/28498
Supreme Court in Burundi has sentenced the former Chairman of President Pierre Nkurunziza's ruling Forces for the Defence of Democracy [FDD] to 13 years behind bars. Hussein Radjabu had been found guilty of attempting to “recruit former rebels with the aim of destabilising the state" and insulting President Nkurunziza, referring to him as an "empty bottle."
Internet & technology
Liberia: Web2.0 technology to help the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
2008-04-04
http://africa.oneworld.net/article/view/159362/1/
Created in collaboration with Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, the interactive site is the first of its kind for a truth commission. Its creators hope it will play a key part in Liberia's reconciliation process, bringing video footage of the TRC's work to Liberians around the world. "By hosting videos on our website, we hope to better engage Liberians at home and around the world in the work of the TRC" says TRC Chairman Jerome J. Verdier.
E-governance in Africa: From theory to action
2008-04-04
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-113398-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
This book presents the context, theory, and current thinking on the interaction between ICTs and local governance, particularly in Africa. It discusses the shift from “government” to “e-governance,” describes the role of local-level authorities, and presents the benefits and limitations of introducing ICTs in government operations. Case studies from Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda describe local governance/ICTs projects executed by civil society organizations, academic institutions, and government authorities.
Africa: Radio engineers discuss crossborder action
2008-04-04
http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/17209
What is the world doing about this? A powerful radio in Zambia can disrupt transmission and frequency of other radios in neighboring Malawi or the vice versa. So is the case with other countries like Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique. In this line, Engineers from Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda have converged in Malawi trying to share new ways of distributing their radio frequency and transmission modules to minimize interferences and congestion in transmission channels.
Tanzania: ICT for Health network launched
2008-04-04
http://www.iicd.org/articles/ict-for-health-network-launched-in-tanzania-1
A network which will focus on ICT for Health - known as Afya Mtandao (Swahili for Health Network) - was officially launched on January 31st 2008 in Mwanza, Tanzania. The network unites Tanzanian health workers and promotes the use of ICT in the health sector by providing a knowledge-sharing platform for health workers, raising awareness if ICT in the health sector and providing ICT support services for health institutions.
Courses, seminars, & workshops
South Africa: Impacting politics with the humanities - 10 April, 2008
2008-04-04
http://www.hsrc.ac.za/HSRC-Seminar-284.phtml
How can work in the humanities be a concrete political tool? How can the knowledge of the humanities be mobilized in socially revolutionary ways? This presentation will reflect on the state of the humanities in Chile and other countries in the process of democratic consolidation and will analyse two cases. The first is the collective book writing of Hilando en la Memoria the first anthology of Mapuche women poets. And the second is the work on a Chilean national icon, 1945 literature Nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral, to produce knowledge and dialogue on gender, sexualities, the body, memory, and Human Rights.
South Africa: Writing for publication in peer-reviewed journals - 9 April 2008
2008-04-04
http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Event-340.phtml
The Gender and Development Unit are collaborating on the development of an online workshop on 'Writing for Publication in Peer Reviewed Journals on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Gender and Sexuality'. The aim is to assist experts in the field to write and publish academic papers in leading international peer-reviewed journals.
Jobs
Global: Beijing Olympics website editor - Amnesty International
2008-04-04
http://tinyurl.com/5j9r7t
Amnesty International, one of the world's biggest and most popular human rights organisations, is looking for an experienced, dynamic and extremely self-motivated editor to manage a new website in English and Chinese (Mandarin) being launched in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. The site will be a forum for debate and will have guest bloggers to help stimulate that debate.
South Africa: Library and Publications Clerk - EISA
2008-04-04
EISA Johannesburg has a vacancy for a Library and Publications Clerk, reporting to the Senior Librarian and Publications Officer in the Library and Publications Unit.
Library and Publications Clerk
EISA Johannesburg has a vacancy for a Library and Publications Clerk, reporting to the Senior Librarian and Publications Officer in t