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Kenya: Public Forum: Trade, investment and the China-in-Africa dicourse

Wednesday 2nd July 2008

2008-06-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/49112

The Africa Research and Resource Forum, The Kenya Human rights Commission and Fahamu invite you to a Public Forum

FOREST FOR THE TREES: TRADE, INVESTMENT AND THE CHINA-IN-AFRICA DISCOURSE

PANELISTS

Barry Sautman, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Yan Hairong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Dr. Musambayi Katumanga- University of Nairobi

Moderator:
Wangeci Chege, Kenya Human Rights Institute (KHRI)

DATE:
Wednesday 2nd July 2008


TIME:
4.00 P.M. – 6.30 P.M.


VENUE:
HILTON HOTEL, NAIROBI

ENTRANCE FREE


For more information kindly contact the undersigned at george@arrforum.org, lkabiru@khrc.or.ke, or stella@fahamu.org

Zimbabwe: hunger, terror, displacement and death

Mary Ndlovu

2008-06-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/49051

Since March, Zimbabwe has had no Parliament, no local government councils, no legitimate executive, and ZANU PF has ruled by decree in response to the orders of the JOC – acronym for the military junta which now controls the nation, along with Mr. Mugabe and Reserve Bank Governor Mr. Gono, who is needed to print money, writes Mary Ndlovu. SADC governments allowed the charade to continue, talked to and dealt with the illegitimate government as if nothing was wrong. If SADC fails in its self-assigned disaster management, if the AU is unable or unwilling to step into the breach - hunger, terror, displacement, and death stare Zimbabweans in the face.
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A collective and audible sigh of relief spread through Zimbabwe on Sunday evening, June 22, as word got around that Morgan Tsvangirai had pulled out of the presidential run-off election. There were, to be sure, also some voices of dismay and anger that we would now be deprived of the opportunity of speaking with our ballots and finishing the task of liberation. Both responses were based on false assumptions – first that the violence could end if there were no contested election and second that voting in a re-run would mean a ZANU PF exit.

Tsvangirai’s reasons for withdrawing were clearly stated and unassailable – under the current circumstances of torture, burning of homes, rape, systematic destruction of MDC structures, killings and arrests, there could be no valid election. What made it possible for him to withdraw at all was the shift in position by the majority of SADC governments.

The MDC and most Zimbabweans believe that Tsvangirai won the first round. He won the contest in spite of it being seriously skewed against him at every stage of the process -from the bias of the Zimbabwe Election Commission, to voter registration, to delimitation of constituencies, to placement of polling stations, to counting and announcement of results. The charade of a run-off has been played out in an increasingly surreal atmosphere, not according to the law, not for democracy or the Zimbabwean people, but for the benefit of reluctant regional leaders who insisted that the MDC accept the deceitful maneuverings of a regime which had lost the support of the people but nevertheless maintained control of the levers of power.

Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF had ceased to enjoy legitimacy to rule Zimbabwe by April 1. The first election was held on March 29, and by the end of March 30 at the latest, all results should have been announced. Instead, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, evidently directed by ZANU PF, prevaricated and delayed and began a lengthy tragi-farce, pretending that they were re-counting, validating, and engaged in every other process they could devise to avoid admitting that they had been defeated at the polls, both in parliamentary and in presidential voting. They ignored all relevant provisions of the Electoral Act, and even proceeded to re-write the Act by statutory instrument. This gave them time to delay any run-off of the presidential vote until they could put in place their evil plan to terrorise the population into submission. Mugabe brazenly re-called the cabinet which was dissolved before the election; and without even a façade of legality, they resumed their positions, and continued to receive their salaries and perks of office in spite of the fact that many had themselves been defeated by the electorate.

Since March, Zimbabwe has had no Parliament, no local government councils, no legitimate executive, and ZANU PF has ruled by decree in response to the orders of the JOC – acronym for the military junta which now controls the nation, along with Mr. Mugabe and Reserve Bank Governor Mr. Gono, who is needed to print money. SADC governments allowed the charade to continue, talked to and dealt with the illegitimate government as if nothing was wrong. Although it is now painfully clear why the delay was orchestrated, it is not so clear why regional presidents supported it.

Through the past two months, the war, which Mugabe now threatens if he is defeated at the polls, has already been raging. The tactics used to terrorise opposition supporters are those, which were used during the liberation war. Militia bases recreate the guerilla bases of the 1970’s, while all-night meetings called “pungwes” claim to be re-educating the population. Those pungwes were and are meetings where people are forced to attend, sing songs and shout slogans while they watch anyone not openly supporting ZANU PF being beaten, tortured, and killed.

In April and May, ZANU PF militia and war vets were mobilized in the rural constituencies to eliminate known MDC supporters. Houses were burned, many people tortured and killed for the political allegiances not just of themselves, but also of their children, grandchildren, parents and neighbours. In June the terror spread to urban areas, especially Harare, and also to smaller cities, with ZANU PF mobs targeting not only opposition party officials but also anyone not displaying their regalia. The police force too has been targeted. It is not to intervene in “political” situations. Hence none of the perpetrators of this violence have been arrested or charged, while the victims have frequently been locked up and accused of inciting violence.

An election in such circumstances would be preposterous, a mockery of a process in which the will of the people is to be determined. The people’s voices are to be silenced and replaced by refrains echoing the slogans of ZANU PF. They are being informed that they voted “wrongly” and force will be used to ensure that the next vote is correct. But still, until two weeks ago the SADC governments sang a chorus of hope that the election would be free and fair, trying to pretend that something resembling an election would provide a “solution” to the Zimbabwean problem.

It was only after Thabo Mbeki sent his military mission to see what was happening, and early bird SADC election observers began witnessing the devastation and horror, that we began to hear noises from Southern African governments calling on Mugabe to restrain himself. One by one they have spoken out about the violence, calling on Mugabe to stop it, and finally in the past ten days sending a clearer message that if it did not stop they would not recognize the election result. Only then did Tsvangirai take the step of withdrawing from what most Zimbabweans had seen as an unnecessary punishment inflicted on them by regional governments. He could only afford to pull out when it was clear that those who had insisted that the charade be played out had understood the true nature of the ZANU PF regime, and its determination not to be removed from office by any electoral process.

Why has Zimbabwe been forced through this hell? Why couldn’t SADC do what should have been done in April – insist that ZANU PF adhere to the electoral law, produce results at the appropriate time, and accept their defeat? Were they too blind to see the truth? Or was it too painful and difficult for them to speak the truth, too complicated to devise a strategy for Mugabe’s removal? Only they can tell us, but the consequences of their blindness, hypocrisy or cowardice are clear for all to see. They gave ZANU PF three months’ leeway to bring Zimbabwe to its terrible fate of thousands more lives destroyed, trillions more worthless banknotes undermining an already dying economy, institutions in ruins, and the fallout strewn through the region.

But those three months have only made the problem more intractable – how to remove Mugabe. SADC governments have expressed the view that the violence must stop and that a Mugabe government after June 27 will not be legitimate. But they still have the task of devising both a solution and the means to achieve it – the same task they faced in April.

What next? In spite of Tsvangirai’s withdrawal, ZANU PF appears intent on proceeding with elections, forcing as many people as possible to vote, and declaring Mugabe the winner. What will the response be? What we have gained so far from the international community, both regional and global, is an agreement that the outcome of Friday’s re-vote will not produce a legitimate government. But beyond that we have nothing.

On Wednesday the Defence and Politics organ of SADC urged Mugabe to postpone the election until a conducive environment can be established. They did not state what should occur between now and the undecided date of such election. They did not indicate any action they might take to deal with Zimbabwe after Friday. On Saturday morning, Sunday and Monday, he will still be in State House, with every probability that his militia will still be terrorizing the population. And then what?

Tsvangirai has called for a transitional authority run by the African Union, and supported by peace-keepers. The most SADC seems to be able to do is to call for further negotiations between ZANU PF and the MDC – talks which have been on-going for over a year and have achieved very little. If Mugabe’s government is illegitimate after Friday, will he still be called “President” by his counterparts, and treated as such? Who will rule Zimbabwe while the “talks” are continuing? The illegitimate non-president and his non-ministers? Will SADC, the AU and the international community in general isolate their former comrade? Will they quickly find a mechanism, a means to remove his illegitimate government and install a transitional authority that can return the country to legitimacy? Can they rise to the occasion and act strongly and urgently enough to avert further catastrophe? The AU heads of state are meeting this weekend. Can they take over where SADC has so far failed? This is the challenge, this is what Zimbabweans wait for, but with more skepticism than hope. By withdrawing, Tsvangirai has effectively handed our fate to others to decide – others who have failed to act up to now.

If SADC fails in its self-assigned disaster management, if the AU is unable or unwilling to step into the breach - hunger, terror, displacement, and death stare Zimbabweans in the face. The economy has long since failed to sustain us; the rule of law was long ago abandoned; control by the military is presently established, but the prospect of total collapse into anarchy, warlord and mob rule looms ever closer. Only four short days later, even the echo of Sunday’s sigh of relief has faded, and Zimbabweans face the future with anxiety and fear.


*Mary Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean human rights activist.

*Also read more of Mary Ndlovu's Zimbabwe analysis by clicking on the following: Mugabe could be history; Blowing Away the Rhetorical Smokescreeens in Zimbabwe; Zimbabwe: Change is coming: the first step in a long journey.

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

What next for Zimbabwe?

Janah Ncube

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/48995

SADC and other African countries need to recognise that the fate of Zimbabwe is in their hands. We are not seeking the west to rescue our country, we are calling on our brothers and sisters to help us at our most dire need. The Heads of State in the SADC region now need to stand with the people of Zimbabwe and not its political leaders, writes Janah Ncube.
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Morgan Tsvangirai dropped a bombshell by announcing his withdrawal as a candidate from the Presidential runoff elections scheduled to be held on June 27, 2008. This certainly cannot have been an easy decision for Mr. Tsvangirai who recently got the majority vote of 48% over President Mugabe’s 43%. The first time he contested as a candidate in 2002, the elections were marked with significant irregularities and he lost. This time, he does know for a fact that the majority of voters wanted him to be the next President but due to a recently introduced Constitutional clause, the next President of Zimbabwe must have 51% of the votes.

His decision has caused much chaos and confusion and a lot of people have been left perplexed and some feel betrayed by this move. Mr. Tsvangirai in his statement states his reasons for withdrawing as being state sponsored violence, his crippled campaign, the decimation of his party’s structures, the partisanship of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, MDC media blackout, the threats of war by the ZANU PF candidate and the backing they have received from the leaders of the army and the police and the planned rigging by ZANU PF.

The whole world has been following events in Zimbabwe since March 29 2008 when Zimbabwe held its harmonized elections whose results took over 2 weeks to be released. The situation has continuously deteriorated to become grim, tense and unbearable for Zimbabweans. The escalated levels of violence have seen the continuous brutal murder of ordinary Zimbabweans, their being mutilated, defaced, and having some of their body parts dismembered. There is a lot of blood being spilt in Zimbabwe right now in name of patriotism and change. As said by the Feminist Political Education Project in their April, May and June 2008 Statements, the Zimbabwe crises cannot be solved by another election. Zimbabwe could not afford it. The prevailing socio economic and political conditions in the country and the threats of war by President Mugabe certainly discredit any electoral process.

So indeed, it is a relief that one of the candidates has exercised responsible leadership and stepped down from this election to protect the lives and the good of Zimbabwean people. The iniquitous armies of security personnel, hooligans, young men and women who are being armed by the politicians to execute violence and dishonour to other Zimbabweans, are causing great loss, pain and destruction not just to people’s bodies and property but to the soul of Zimbabwe as a Nation. The social harmony in the country has been shredded.

Thus Morgan Tsvangirai has not betrayed the struggle. In the light of the 29 March 2008 vote, the women and men tortured, violated and murdered since then, he is recognizing rather that you do not negotiate with the devil, nor do you play the game using his rules in his home ground. This is wising up.

My Pastor taught me that if you want to over-ride one law, you use a higher law. That is what Ghandi did, that is what Martin Luther King Junior did. Tsvangirai needs to use a higher law if he is to win any contest against ZANU PF. To continue with the game in such skewed circumstances would have set him up to loose and worse, legitimate a farce.

If Morgan Tsvangirai had proceeded in this election, he would have facilitated for Mugabe to not just be declared a winner but to do so in blazing glory. What we know is that should it have happened, the world would have complained a bit at first and then quietly moved on as we saw in Nigeria and Kenya’s last Presidential elections.

What Zimbabwe urgently needs is a negotiated settlement which should result in a Transitional Arrangement (TA) whose mandate is to foster an environment in which Zimbabweans can exercise their right to elect a leader without being subjected to violence, fear, intimidation or desperate socio economic conditions.

This arrangement should result in a body that will be given executive powers to manage government and state affairs for a limited period. The period should be determined by the amount of time needed to arrive at a democratically developed and adopted constitution. It should also be determined by the amount of time needed to restore relative peace and calm.

It cannot be headed by either Mr. Tsvangirai or President Mugabe, but rather by a Zimbabwean leader who acceptable to all political stakeholders. She or he would be assisted by a team composed of notable citizens of various disciplines that can be entrusted to manage portfolios to resuscitate our country’s industries, social sectors and rebuild trust in national institutions. None of these individuals should be politicians in any of the political parties recognized in Zimbabwe. The individuals in this body should not be allowed to run for any elections or public office appointed for at least 6 years after they have handed power over to an elected government.

With the leadership of state security agencies making partisan statements in support of ZANU PF and also with members of these agencies currently involved in meting out violence, a peace keeping force may need to be deployed in Zimbabwe to restore confidence to the people and also ensure that when elections take place, no armed renegades will take matters into their own hands. We cannot have our country held at ransom by threats to use arms we paid for as citizens, against us.

SADC and other African countries need to recognise that the fate of Zimbabwe is in their hands. We are not seeking the West to rescue our country, we are calling on our brothers and sisters to help us. The Heads of State in the SADC region now need to stand with the people of Zimbabwe and not its political leaders. While the quiet diplomacy strategy may have made sense at a certain turn in mediating the Zimbabwe crises that strategy has not worked.

The worst has happened, the Zimbabwean government has turned against its people and the people of Zimbabwe need to know that SADC and Africa stands with them and are not colluding with Mugabe and ZANU PF. The silence by SADC and other African states loudly condones what is being done in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans and African people in general, need to know that African Heads of State are not cushioning and protecting someone who is blatantly and brazenly destroying the people he should be protecting and the country he should be building.

The one country, one-man mediation has truly been unfair considering the magnitude and complexity of the problem. To expect South African President Mbeki to handle this problem alone is to set him up for failure. He achieved much but certainly will not achieve anymore from this point on. The region as a bloc now needs to take responsibility and work together on this.

The Chairperson of SADC needs to again mobilise his peers but this time to take robust hands on responses to the Zimbabwean people. We all know that Zimbabwe has cost all SADC countries a whole lot economically, opportunity wise, stability wise and so it is to the interest of the region to solve this issue immediately.

More of African leaders need to follow the examples of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga. They should be picking up their phones and calling SADC leaders and sending their envoys to SADC countries to urge SADC to take decisive action that will change things in the country and result in a transitional arrangement.

What is clear at this moment is that we have an illegitimate violent regime holding power. This should not be allowed to stand. We have a weak opposition waiting to rule, and this is unlikely to happen soon. A Government of National Unity is an impossible option in Zimbabwe with all that is currently taking place. However, a transitional arrangement is possible and will give us the time and space for tempers to cool down, and for anger to subside and we can again dream of a Zimbabwe that we all own and are proud of.


*Janah Ncube writes this essay as a concerned Zimbabwean citizen.

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

Joint Operational Command's strategy for the Presidential run-off poll

Sokwanele

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/48997

On the 21st May 2008 the Solidarity Peace Trust (SPT) released a report titled Punishing Dissent, Silencing Citizens: The Zimbabwe Elections 2008. The report made it very clear that ZANU PF had embarked on a systematic programme of retributive violence in response to its electoral defeat on March 29th 2008. The report included an evaluation of the violence up until that point based on interviews with 681 people.

In addition to this, Appendix 3 of the SPT report contained information provided by a key informant who relayed their knowledge about the Joint Operational Command's (JOC) election strategy. Those who have been following events in Zimbabwe closely will see that much of what the source described to SPT has since come to fruition. (Appendix 3 of the report is included at the end of this mailing)

Sokwanele received similar information at the time that confirmed and supported the information that was published in the SPT report.

Our source has recently provided us with more information, this time in relation to JOC's preparations and plans for the Presidential run-off poll. Despite the fact that one of the candidates has withdrawn from the poll, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) states that the Presidential run-off election on June 27 will proceed. We are concerned that JOC's plans and strategies will continue as well.

We are so worried about the information relayed to us that we have decided to make it public in the hope that some of the obvious dangers can be averted. At this point we cannot verify whether what has been outlined to us will happen, all we can say is that our source has provided credible information before now and that much of what has been relayed to us in the past by our source has happened. There is evidence already that some of the strategies outlined below have already been taking place.

On these grounds we believe that this new information presents very real risks to safety and security of the people of Zimbabwe.

We ask that it is read carefully and that people forward the information to all their local media sources to warn of what could possibly happen.

Sokwanele has supplied various other sources with this information too, beyond this mailing

The information, conveying JOC's preparations and plans for the Presidential run-off poll, is as follows:

Zanu PF youths to be in every constituency, working with war vets, CIO, and the police to make sure Tsvangirai does not hold a successful rally. To do everything needed to frustrate his campaign.

Do everything possible to prevent MDC agents being deployed at polling stations. If necessary eliminate MDC polling agents.

All the voters in a ward should surrender their IDs to the village head, and have their names taken down. On the day of voting, the respective village heads should queue outside the polling agent with each member (voter) with a respective number. As much as possible voters shall profess ignorance of the ability to write on his/her own. Agents in the polling stations will be helping voters to mark X where it is necessary and forth with take down the patterns of voting against each individual.

The indoctrination bases are now fully armed, and most are getting logistical support from the army. Weapons held in the Darwendale armouries are to be distributed to the veterans, including bombs and grenades. Some polling stations to be bombed. MDC youths to be implicated and arrested.

War veterans to kill MDC MPs, working together with the Army and the CIO.

In the event that Tsvangirai still wins, the Nigerian scenario to be implemented. Abiola vs Abacha. MPs to be arrested and the electorate silenced. No results to be announced by ZEC in favour of Tsvangirai. All MPs who speak out shall be charged with treason and jailed.

Polling ballot boxes to be stuffed in remote areas by death squads who will be armed. They have been instructed to abduct and kill whoever gets in their way.

The elections to be ward based and the voting pattern of the 18 – 45 age group changed to make sure this group is disturbed. Results from wards to be scrapped, and the only source of information will be the constituency command centre. Life is to be made difficult for those seeking clarification on their names. Every police officer not to attend to names missing from the roll especially using radios.

Governor Gono to finance all the projects, including the buying of weapons.

All strategic points to be heavily guarded.

A lot of rigging to be done especially on postal ballot boxes. All forms of propaganda to be dismantled including the media. No officer shall watch any radio or TV station outside Zimbabwe state news. Each officer to vote in the presence of an intelligence officer.

Zimbabwe Intelligence Corps (ZIC) to provide logistics on the torturing of MDC legislators. All to be silenced. All retired generals to be recalled to national service.

More terror to be unleashed after elections. More people to be claimed, more displacements in the rural areas. Chiweshe to provide the statistics of voting patterns to assist in determining where terror to be unleashed.

MDC agents to be bribed in the rural areas – substantial amounts to be offered.

Information referred to earlier, taken from the Solidarity Peace Trust report 'Punishing Dissent, Silencing Citizens: The Zimbabwe Elections 2008'

Appendix Three: Interview with key informant on election strategy of JOC (see below)
ALL NAMES HAVE BEEN REMOVED IN ORDER TO PROTECT KEY INFORMANTS IN THIS PROVINCE, BUT ARE TO HAND. The interview was conducted on 15 April.

Firstly there was a meeting on XX April at Z Business centre at which the DISPOL (District Police Officer in Charge) B said that there might be a presidential rerun. He told the police to support the government of the day and told them that there would be a full briefing two days later.

APRIL YY MEETING, 10 AM TO NOON.

Attended by the following senior police officers:
Snr Asst Commissioner X
Asst Commissioner Y
Asst Commissioner Z (a war vet)
Asst Commissioner A
All DISPOLs were present, from all the police districts in the province
Attended by Zimbabwe National Army:
Joint Operations Command (JOC) Lt Col B
JOC Lt Col C (on list of 200 officers released last week)
Brig Gen D
Lt Col E
Attended by Prisons Services:
Asst Comm F
Asst Comm G
Attended by CIO:
Cde H - Provincial Intelligence Officer
Cde J - Regional Intelligence Officer
Attended by senior war veterans:
K - Provincial Chair, war vets
All district war vet chairs from the province
Attended by Governor of the province

The meeting was to address the Police Ward Commanders from all wards in the province. The election was ward based, and the run off will be ward based. These officers will be stationed in every ward centre in their own office. The ward commanders will be answerable to a constituency commander.

The constituency commanders are as follows:

All names of police officer commanders and cell phone numbers given for every constituency in the province, with some information on actual schools, offices to which to be deployed

L is the Regulating Authority for the area.

The protocol of command is:

WARD => CONSTITUENCY => PROVINCE => NATIONAL

THE WARD COMMAND CENTRE: STRUCTURE

Stationed in every ward command centre there will be:

Three police officers
One war vet who will be called the Chief Warden: the Chief Warden will be given a police uniform and a temporary force number
The Chief's messenger: he will be chosen from the presiding chief's neighbourhood watch force [this force normally patrols the community and can make citizens' arrests and take people to the chief who will then decide whether the case will be referred up to the police or be dealt with himself under his traditional leadership powers].
THIS INDICATES THAT EVERY WARD WILL FALL UNDER THE CONTROL NOT JUST OF THE POLICE, BUT OF THE WAR VETS ASSOCIATION AND THE TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP STRUCTURES.

There will be small radios in every polling station. At the Ward Command Centre there will be a bigger radio to transmit to the Constituency Centre.

THE BRIEFING: ASST COMMISSIONER M

The elections were completed but they may be rerun because the election was a fraud for the following reasons.

ZEC officials were bribed by the MDC to steal votes from R G Mugabe. ZEC officials have been arrested in several provinces. There will be a recount in 23 constituencies and there may be a recount of all Presidential votes. The presidential votes are now at the provincial centres and would be recounted there if necessary.
[Sec 67A allows for a recount of Parliamentary votes but NOT presidential. Sec 110 which relates to Presidential election does not allow for a recount]
Postal ballots were not counted in some centres
Some ZANU PF agents were chased away from the counting centres and therefore did not observe the count.
Some ZANU PF voters were turned away from the voting
The V11 forms (those posted outside every polling station) were tampered with at the polling stations and figures were changed and falsified outside the polling stations.
MDC paid ZEC to frustrate ZANU PF voters
Illiterate voters were cheated and were forced to vote for MDC T.
There is a need to build TEAMWORK : There should be total cooperation between ZRP, ZNA, war vets and the ZANU PF party members at the ward level to achieve the desired goal in a rerun.

[THIS IMPLIES COMPLETE POLITICISATION OF ZRP AND ZNA, as they are now meant to cooperate fully with ZANU PF structures.]

On run off day, the police should recall all people turned away, including their names, IDs and addresses.

If the country is given away through the ballot, we will not hand over power, but rather go back to the bush and start another war.

BRIGADIER N

He narrated the Traditional Leaders' role. He said democracy is very important but not the way it was introduced into Zimbabwe, where in terms of the Lancaster House Agreement, government could only take land on a willing seller, willing buyer basis until 1989. After 1989, whites started refusing to sell their land and so the problems started. Then in 1999, a political party was started to defend white interests. Do you want to give the farms back to the whites? I know you don't.

If ZANU does not win there will be conflict in the country and that will be black against black. We know the United Nations will send in peace keepers, but people will have died by then and there will be no resurrecting them. So you have to protect the revolution. If we lose through the ballot we will go back to the bush. Democracy is only for the educated.

GOVERNOR O

You have to defend the revolution. If you don't and the revolution is sold through the ballot, we will go back to the bush and fight. Is that what you want to do? I don't think so. There is no day on which this country will be handed over on a silver platter. We can't give power to anyone who has no knowledge of governance and has no support from the local voters but has support from the outside world. More instructions and strategies will be given shortly.

SNR ASST COMMISSIONER P

The role of the Chief Wardens - the war vets in uniform - is to monitor the police officers at ward level. If the vote is lost, it will be the police that have sold out. The exercise is a fast track one to achieve desired goals.

PART OF THE STRATEGY, AS EXPLAINED BY INFORMANT, IS THAT WHEN YOUTHS GO ABOUT BEATING PEOPLE UP, THEY WILL NOT BE ARRESTED. THEY MAY BE REFERRED TO THE CHIEFS VIA THE CHIEF'S MESSENGERS, AND WILL BE DEALT WITH AT WARD LEVEL THUS PREVENTING THE CASES BEING DEALT WITH BY THE POLICE AND OFFICIAL DOCKETS OPENED. THE POLICE WILL BE INTIMIDATED OUT OF MAKING RECORDS AT DISTRICT LEVEL THUS GIVING POLITICAL CRIMES IMPUNITY. THE YOUTHS ARE ALLEGEDLY BEING GEARED UP FOR VIOLENCE.

MEETING WITH THE CHIEFS ONLY:

Addressed by GOVERNOR O, AND ZANU PF MP Q

The chiefs were taken to a side meeting for them only. They were told they had to cooperate with the ruling party and with the team at ward level. They were told further instructions and strategies were to follow. They were told to urge the people to be patient. The results were being delayed so that ZANU PF could prepare and mobilise structures as once the result are released, the run off will have to be within 21 days in terms of the constitutional requirement: ie delaying the result meant delaying the beginning of the 21 day count to the rerun.

When uncle Bob and uncle Sam were friends

Mphutlane Wa Bofelo

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/48994

This is not the first time that America and the West, bankrolled and oversaw a one party dictatorship or military rule for decades only to ditch the regime when it is no longer serving their interests, writes Mphutlane Wa Bofelo. But only after dusting off blood from their hands and clothes, and presenting themselves as the moral voice, urging for war crimes against the very regime that they baby-seated, reared and mentored.
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The political and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe is traceable to the hold on the country’s policy alternatives and developmental possibilities by the restraints of the Lancaster House concessions and the constraints of the Structural Adjustment Programmes. Robert Mugabe and his ZANU (PF) implemented these programmes to the letter from 1981 up to 2000. Mugabe and ZANU’s reward was the blindness, silence and tacit collusion of the western powers in the genocidal attack on the people of Matabeleland in what is called the Gukurahundi.

Despite the fact that Mugabe and Zanu PF continued with the culture of violent clampdown on political dissidence and repression of media freedom and the freedom of association and assembly, the custodians of democracy remained prepared to portray Mugabe as an astute statesman and scrupulous ruler. For as long as he trod the path of the Washington Consensus and cracked his whip against labour and ensured that there was no room for leftists to raise their heads in Zimbabwe, Mugabe could reign on opposition to his rule by any means at his disposal.

Throughout the 1990’s, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and the G8 gave a standing ovation to the social policy path and political economy trajectory pursued by Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia. As late as 2001 political science textbooks at tertiary institutions celebrated Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Mandela of South Africa, Museveni of Uganda, and Zenawi of Ethiopia as the crème de la crème of African leaders, and hailed them as former guerillas who had woken up to the realism of running a country.

In 2001 popular disenchantment with the failure to meet liberation expectations and pressure from the war veterans forced the land reform project on the agenda of Mugabe and Zanu PF. Mugabe and Zanu PF then failed dismally to come up with a systematically designed land reform project, with clear targets, performance indicators and monitoring and impact assessment mechanisms. Instead of genuine land reform aimed at sustainable development of communities, they opted for a mixture of anarchist, populist, propagandistic theatrics and bureaucratic centralism, elite’ self-enrichment, and the politics of cronyism and patronage aimed at using the land reform project to prop up the power of the establishment.

Suddenly western governments, with the aid of the media and our ‘fuckademics’ started to shift the focus away from the suffering landless, jobless and poor multitudes of Zimbabwe - who continue to live in utter poverty and squalor - to the fate of white farmers. Both the Western governments and the White farmers in Zimbabwe never raised even a murmur of protest against the rule of Mugabe for as long as their bread remained buttered. All of a sudden, everybody forgot that Mugabe built his repressive machinery under the watchful eyes of the super powers and the so-called multilateral institutions. Nobody cared to remember the role played by the restraints of Lancaster House agreement on a legal-constitutional and peaceful land reform process in Zimbabwe and the ravages of the market forces unleashed by the Structural Adjustment Programmes on the people, economy and environment of Zimbabwe.

Whenever the issue of the war crimes against Mugabe is raised, often the focus is not the crime of the Gukurahundi or the genocidal impoverishment of the people through handing them over to the brutality of the market forces for a decade of subservience to the Washington Consensus. The focus is rather the “crime” of taking land from white farmers. When the Gukurahundi is mentioned no one speaks about the need to also charge Mugabe’s main backers throughout this period - the super powers and the Washington institutions - IMF and World Bank.

This is not the first time that America and the West, bankrolled and oversaw a one party dictatorship or military rule for decades only to ditch the regime when it is no longer serving their interests. But only after dusting off blood from their hands and clothes, and presenting themselves as the moral voice, urging for war crimes against the very regime that they baby-seated, reared and mentored. From Mobuto Seso Seko, Saddam Hussain, Charles Taylor and the Taliban to Uncle Bob—the list of rulers utilized and dumped like used condoms by Uncle Sam and his brethren is endless.

There is no prize if you guess what trajectory Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change are most likely to tread if they ascend power. My two year old son, Goitsemodimo, has whispered to me that Zimbabwe will be under the tyranny of the market and remote control by “the empire.”


*Mphutlane Wa Bofelo is a writer, activist, life-skills facilitator and performance poet who has been published in several journals, websites and anthologies and has performed at various events.

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

Statement: The people of Zimbabwe must take the lead!

South African Communist Party

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/48998

The SACP is extremely concerned at, and disturbed by, the latest developments in Zimbabwe, including the increase in violence directed at opposition members and supporters, the arbitrary arrest of opposition leaders, the trade union movement, and other sections of civil society, now culminating in the withdrawal of the MDC from the Presidential run-off.

The SACP strongly condemns the decision by the Zimbabwean government to proceed with the elections this coming Friday under these conditions. Such a decision can only create further chaos and instability and it is not in the interests of the Zimbabwean people.

The SACP therefore calls upon SADC to make an urgent intervention to create conditions for a free and fair election, including urgent measures to speedily adopt a new constitution, putting an end to politically orchestrated and all other forms of violence, and end the use of state security organs to serve the electoral and political interests of the ruling party.

It is for these reasons that the SACP pledges its continued solidarity with the struggles of ordinary Zimbabwean workers and the poor for democracy and the reconstruction of the economy of that country. It is not for us to choose which party must rule Zimbabwe, but we are in solidarity with the struggle for conditions to be created for the people of Zimbabwe to freely exercise their choice.

The SACP has over the recent years consistently pointed out and warned at the deteriorating situation in the country, and called for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to intervene and insist on the strict observance of its own protocols on free, fair and democratic elections.

At the heart of the crisis in Zimbabwe has been, a degenerating ZANU-PF, characterised by use of the state as a means to accumulation by elites located in the state, the consequent abuse of state resources, gross mismanagement of the economy, thus leading to a growing gulf between the government and the people. This has led to the alienation of key former constituencies of ZANU-PF from this once heroic liberation movement, culminating in the loss of elections by ZANU-PF on 29 March 2008. Consequently, the very arms that were used to fight a heroic and justified struggle against British colonialism have now been turned against the people. This is the tragedy of a once promising revolution led by ZANU-PF.

Much as imperialism will always try to undermine all progressive revolutions in order to establish neo-colonial regimes in its former colonies, it is disingenuous for ZANU-PF to blame all of its problems on imperialism. How come that in the 1960s and 1970s imperialism failed to win the majority of the Zimbabwean people onto its side, but now, according to ZANU-PF, the people are being successfully 'manipulated' by these imperialist forces? Any revolution that begins to turn its guns on the people is surely a revolution in deep trouble, and requires serious self-reflection by the liberation movement itself.

It is also a fact that during the mid-1990s the ZANU-PF government itself colluded with the imperialist structural adjustment programmes imposed on the people, with sections of the elite benefiting handsomely in the privatisation and outsourcing of state services. This was the beginning of the seeds of the destruction of the Zimbabwean revolution.

It is clear to us that with the latest developments Zimbabwe will never be the same again. But of serious concern to us is a danger of Zimbabwe getting into a self-destructive and violent cul-de-sac.

The SACP strongly believes that it is Zimbabwean people themselves who must take the lead in resolving the problems of that country. They have tried to do so through their vote in the last elections, but this is being deliberately undermined and frustrated by the government.

We also call for the immediate release of all opposition leaders that are detained and for an end to the harassment of all other activists who are targeted because they hold different views to that of government.

The SACP will throw its weight behind the mass activities that COSATU will be engaged in and we will intensify our solidarity work, in collaboration with all progressive forces, in our quest to find lasting solutions for the crisis of Zimbabwe.

* Statement issued by the South African Communist Party. For more information, please visit, http://www.sacp.org.za

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

Call for International intervention in Zimbabwe

Ecumenical Zimbabwe Network

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/48993

CIDSE, APRODEV and the Ecumenical Zimbabwe Network (EZN) welcome the UN Security Council statement condemning the campaign of violence against Zimbabwe’s opposition party. However, diplomatic efforts are clearly failing to provide adequate protection to the people of Zimbabwe or to guarantee a democratic electoral process. CIDSE, APRODEV, and EZN reiterate their call for the United Nations (UN) to conform with its own Security Council resolution 1674, which confirms the “Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity” as a fundamental international norm.

With no possibility for a legitimate Presidential election on 27 June, the international community should act immediately to ensure that ballots are not replaced by bullets. “What is needed” said John Stewart, Director of NOVASC, a Zimbabwean human rights NGO “is international intervention. The direct intervention of an international, African led presence to guarantee security and the protection and safety of the people is necessary. Militias have to be disarmed, disbanded, demobilised; the state security agencies must be reined in and kept under scrutiny, to prevent them continuing with their campaign of violence and terror, and to prepare the processes of a return to the rule of law and extensive security sector reform”. Concerted international action is needed to encourage and accompany a determined process to protect and assist the Zimbabwean people, while creating the conditions for legitimate elections in as short a time as possible.

Ahead of the first round of elections in Zimbabwe, CIDSE, APRODEV, EZN and partners in Zimbabwe cautioned that the elections could not be free or fair. “We fear that the government will ruthlessly use fraud and intimidation to steal the elections,” said John Stewart at the time. These fears were unfortunately well founded. .Since 29 March, the world has watched the electoral process unravel, the situation deteriorate, and the people suffer. Across the country instances of political killings, violence and torture have been well documented, with over a hundred deaths reported, thousands tortured and beaten and tens of thousands displaced[1]. The June 21st withdrawal of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) from the second round of the Presidential election must finally end the pretence of a democratic process.

In a country where more than one in four children is orphaned and an estimated four million people are vulnerable and in need of aid, the population is being intimated and lives put at risk by government restrictions on humanitarian aid distribution. Since the government’s decision of 4 June to ban humanitarian organizations from distributing aid international and local aid agencies, including CIDSE, APRODEV and EZN members, have been forced to suspend vital support to the Zimbabwean people. The poorest and most vulnerable communities are being hit hardest.

As a joint statement on May 28th from the Archbishops of Canterbury and Cape Town pointed out the violence has extended to attacks inside Anglican churches. The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference has called “for an immediate cessation of violence and all provocative statements and actions” and warns that “electoral processes and outcomes are not an excuse for breaching God’s commandments”[2] Churches worldwide joined in a day of prayer for the people of Zimbabwe on 22 June.

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

Zimbabwe…wait before you…!

Nsingo Fanuel

2008-06-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/49052

“The next day mother forced me to wear the ZANU-PF T-Shirt and to attend an everyday compulsory ZANU-PF meeting. When we arrived at the meeting place I heard war veterans boasting that they had just acquired new knobkerries to beat those who had absconded from the previous day's meeting. At first I thought it was a joke, but was shocked to see a young man being dragged in front of everyone, and thereafter being severely beaten… We are told that there is a struggle between Zimbabwe and England but it feels like a struggle between the rich and the poor in Zimbabwe” writes Nsingo Fanuel.
====

Excitement gripped me when I was finally able to go back across the border, from South Africa to visit my family in Zimbabwe. Pleased as I was, I tried to ignore all the media reports about the country's disregard of acceptable and proper treatment of human beings. Before going home, I braced myself for whatever the hell was to befall me! Imagine going back home to unpredictable situations, disastrous conditions, or even impending death - and when home is Zimbabwe this is no exaggeration. If you are returning South Africa you are immediately suspected of being MDC. Anyway, going home was the only way to please my mum!

From Johannesburg I boarded a bus directly to Harare, Zimbabwe. I paid 300 Rands for the trip and took at least seven hours to reach the Beitbridge Border Post. The border was highly-congested, with border officials dragging their feet at main checkpoints. My stay there was four hours. We left for Harare at around 5 o'clock in the morning and it took eight hours to get there.

I was shocked by the state of the capital city. There was no transport to ferry me to my small city of birth, Marondera. Familiar with my country's economic woes, I immediately settled on the fuel disaster as the explanation. However, I waited by Fourth Street, just behind Roadport for any transport, and soon thereafter a smoking, dusty, ready-for-scrap Mazda T3500 lorry arrived. I jostled alongside other stranded commuters and climbed to the back. Along the way the driver demanded Z$500 million, as transport fares. He said this was to enable him to buy fuel.

As we drove past Ruwa, a small town just outside Harare, the fuel black-marketeers waved down the driver. Only in Zimbabwe could fuel run dry, but never for the black-marketeers. Immediately, the driver parked by the roadside, but was told to restart and get fuelled hidden in a small patch of thick bush from the army or police. He complied. I tried to get as close to the black-marketeer and gathered the two were arguing over the exact price of the 'precious liquid.’ It seemed the young man was attempting to refuel the lorry before settling on the actual price.

When I arrived in the newly-crowned city of Marondera (formerly a town, and recently given a city status), I just slept overnight, eager to catch the morning bus to my mother's plot, allocated to her by the ruling Zanu-PF party. The house in Marondera belongs to my grandfather, my mother's stepfather. Currently, the four bed-roomed tiny property is home to my mother's sister, together with her three children. Her first-born is a boy, who has two younger sisters as well. The next morning I took a lift to the Baker Plots, grabbed from a Mr. Baker, a white farmer. Mr. Baker is one of the 4,000 white farmers whose farms were forcibly grabbed by the ruling government in 1997, under pressure from the late former Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association leader, Chenjerai Hunzvi.

I paid Z$200 million from Marondera to Baker's. Initially, the driver of the small, out-of-date Datsun Pulsar had asked for Z$300 million, arguing that the exchange rate of the Zim Dollar versus the South African Rand was unpredictable, thus the need to cater for the unexpected devaluation of the dollar. True to his utterances, and as I was to experience for myself during my short stay in Zimbabwe, the Z$ falls on an hourly basis. To stay on the safe side, one has to keep a close and tight guard on the 'now indispensable' Tito Mboweni product.

As I reached the place, I was greeted by a commotion of chants of slogans and shouts by ruling party youths at the local shopping centre. Then there was another shocking horror, the shelves in one of the stores were the emptiest and grubbiest in the whole world! Immediately, I rushed for my mother's plot, and when she saw me, she burst into tears, wondering how on earth God had spared me from the 'Xenophobia Attacks'. We hugged and kissed, and I told her, 'Give thanks to Abahlali baseMjondolo', to which she, who has never lived in a shack, responded curtly, 'Who the hell's that?!' I mumbled in answer to her as I felt my struggle for land and housing as an 'Umhlali’ would shock her.

When we were seated, I began by narrating how good Abahlali had been to me and told her all about the red T-shirts – at the same time pulling out the colours with pride, and showcasing the movement logo, all to her surprise. 'That's politics, my son!’ my mother worried. I continued with the different marches that I had been part of, the camp meetings, the regular fortnightly meetings, office work, drinking and eating from the same plate with the president of Abahlali. I wondered if the same could be done with the ailing and wilting Bob. I wondered at the ease by which I was proud to wear the Abahlali red. I thought about how difficult and burdening it must be to have to wear the old dictator's picture on a shirt. Free at last, ain't I?

The one and only cock was made to suffer the consequences of my return, as is the African custom. It had to be sacrificed for my arrival. How good the meal was, as my sister's authority and expertise over the rural pots proved itself! No spices, just the boiled chicken and a few grains of salt. Of course no cooking oil or any fatty additives whatsoever these days. But the meal was perfect.

The next day mother forced me to wear the ZANU-PF T-Shirt and to attend an everyday compulsory ZANU-PF meeting. She was very worried that I would be under suspicion after having been away. When we arrived at the meeting place I heard war veterans boasting that they had just acquired new knobkerries to beat those who had absconded from the previous day's meeting. At first I thought it was a joke, but was shocked to see a young man being dragged in front of everyone, and thereafter being severely beaten. A certain headman was also being accused of defecting to the opposition MDC. He however managed to save his skin because of his ill-health, otherwise he would have received the canning. But others have been ironed on their backs until they admit to being MDC and promise that they have seen the errors of their ways and that they will be loyal to ZANU-PF.

When I was to return, mother wrote a letter to the President of Abahlali, stating how grateful she was for my good upkeep. She further narrated how difficult it was to survive, mentioning the billions of ZimDollars-for-nothing needed to survive on a daily basis. To this day, I feel pity for her.

When I got to Beitbridge on my way back to South Africa, I overhead some youths openly debating on who the richest man in Zimbabwe was. All the tycoons and bigwigs mentioned in that debate are Zanu-PF loyalists. One talkative youth even went to the extent of boasting about Phillip Chiyangwa, nephew of Robert Mugabe and former MP for Chinhoyi West. The youth was saying Chiyangwa's pair of shoes could cost approximately US$5,000.00. His car could talk, he had a machine to wash his teeth, six wardrobes of shoes – from his Bulawayo-based G & D Shoes Engineering, twenty wardrobes of suits and so on. For your own information, the fallen MP was also booted out of the ruling party for allegedly engaging in espionage, selling all the 'top secrets' to the then Tony Blair-led government in England.

My question is this: if people spend government resources to enrich themselves, to the extent of living luxurious and flamboyant lives, whilst 90% of the population are suffering, even starving, what is the motive behind this? If a pair of shoes is worth a life, how come the leadership is failing to dish out its leftovers or excesses towards the livelihood of the poor? Does ZANU-PF care about ordinary Zimbabweans at all? What other assets are the ruling party cronies hiding throughout the world? We are told that there is a struggle between Zimbabwe and England but it feels like a struggle between the rich and the poor in Zimbabwe.

As the events further unfolded, some MDC youths arrived at the Beitbridge Rank, not knowing what was about to befall them. Within ten minutes of their arrival, the police began chasing them away, accusing them of serving a puppet leader, and warning them of arrest. The opposition youths could do nothing but listen to Mugabe's bees.

Immediately afterwards, an old, forget-my-past Mazda 323 dragged itself towards the rank and out came the ugliest face I have ever seen, wailing a loudhailer that 'Operation Mirai Zvakanaka' was to start in ten minutes time, therefore every street-trader, and all the ladies by the vegetable market, should 'shut down' and attend an urgent meeting. 'Operation Mirai Zvakanaka' means 'Operation Get Rightly Sorted Out', literally, 'Operation Know Your One and Only ZANU-PF Party.' In Abahlali we come to a meeting with all our different ideas and experiences and discuss things together until we see a way forward together. We are free. In Zimbabwe ZANU-PF tells you want to think. If you don't publicly say what you have been told to think, you will be beaten, sometimes even killed.

After the ten minutes were over, the meeting was held, with youths 'sorting-out' everybody who they had seen walking around without attending to the urgent call. I felt pity for Morgan Tsvangirai and his colleagues. Surely, this wasn't an atmosphere for free and fair elections. Surely, this wasn't an atmosphere for people with their own ideas to be safe. There is no freedom here.

The army is also brutalizing the people, the police have become the opposite of real protectors, and everybody is scared. What will happen to me now that my mother has been Zanufied? How will she fare if the MDC wins the June 27th run-off elections? Will I be made to carry the burden that she put herself in?

On the other hand, the 4,000 white farmers, whose farms were grabbed took their case to the SADC Tribunal. The question is this: If Uncle Bob retains power, and the farmers win the case on the 20th July, is he (Uncle Bob) going to budge, and immediately trigger a war? If he gives in to the tribunal demands, where is my mother going to go at her current old age, together with my brother and three sisters?

Or above all else, shouldn't I start a political party as soon as possible? A political party that is for land and freedom? A political party based on the full involvement of the poor, the street-traders who have been chased away from their stalls, the shack dwellers whose homes have been destroyed, the people who have been beaten and tortured? A political party in which people like my mother will be able to speak freely and will know that they will not be old and without a place where they can live and look after their children?


*Fanuel Nsingo is an Abahlali baseMjondolo activist.

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

Mugabe should be stopped!

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/48996

It is so sad that a leader who came as a new Nkrumah is going down as a Mobutu, writes Tajudeen Abdul Raheem about Mugabe. It is a grave understatement to continue to describe him as an embarrassment to Africa. He is a dangerous autocrat who does not care anymore if the whole nation crashes with him. He needs to be stopped and stopped now.
====

It is extremely sad to watch, hear or read about the tragic events happening in Zimbabwe. Not even the proverbial ostrich, notorious for burying its head in the sand no matter what is happening around, it can claim not to notice.

This week's withdrawal of the ppposition presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, is not surprising at all. In conditions such as those orchestrated by the ZANU-PF regime and its ageing revolutionary turned autocrat, holding a credible election is impossible. Mugabe has made it clear, and his security goons and freelance political enforcers have repeated it in words and brutal actions, that on no condition would he hand over power to the MDC and Morgan. So why bother to hold an election at all? Mugabe is willing to accept only one outcome: his continuation in office.

In conditions like these, an election is not an indication of democracy but a conspiracy against the masses. The issues facing Zimbabweans are no longer about electoral disputes but a one-sided civil / political war situation where the state and its agents are persecuting their political opponents and those they believe to be their supporters.

It is not only the coercive instruments and institutions of the state that are extremely and openly partisan. They also allow their supporters to operate with impunity. The army, the police, security and intelligence services, state and government officials, and party officials all operate as outlaws, while militias operate as regular officers. It is a post liberation state gone full circle. The people's state has become the enemy of the people.

The problem is political. Therefore the solution is also political. Our first responsibility is to discourage President Mugabe from his destructive self-succession in going ahead and contesting against himself on the 27th of June. If he insists, as it is likely, the immediate response should be a withdrawal of official observer teams that may have been sent there, recall of ambassadors, travel advice to nationals not to go to the country and possible evacuation of citizens. All these will signal to Mugabe that Africa is serious.

If he goes ahead with the farce, African countries must publicly state that they do not recognise his election. That should invite immediate break in diplomatic relations to demonstrate to President Mugabe that we mean business.

If western pressure alone could have done it, Mugabe could have gone many years before now. He has survived western diplomatic isolation because African states and leaders, even those opposed to him, have refused to accept Western dictates on the matter. He has exploited this to his advantage without giving back any significant concessions even to his closest allies and defenders, like Thabo Mbeki.

Mugabe has become a collective embarrassment to Africa and we need to be rid of him. It is no longer enough to say he is not alone. The fact that there are other thieves is not a plea against prosecution by those caught in the act. Those who continue to focus on Western hypocrisy and multiple standards on the matter are guilty of being accessories to the continuing suffering of the people of Zimbabwe.

As African leaders arrive this weekend in Sham El Sheik for the AU summit, we must campaign in our various countries, lobby foreign ministers, African ambassadors in our countries and our heads of state to take firm stand against Mugabe to ensure a credible political negotiation for a transitional government in which both ZANU-PF and MD and other stakeholders share power for a limited period, with an eye toward a level playing field for democratic elections. This is not possible with Mugabe therefore he needs to be eased out.

Africa has been an experimental laboratory for all kinds of transitions. Zimbabwe itself has historical memory of different transitions that were initially thought to be impossible. Ian Smith died of old age in a free Zimbabwe in spite of his atrocities against Black Zimbabweans. A negotiated settlement may indemnify Mugabe too while the cause of justice and democracy is enhanced by him seeing other people (including those he called traitors) govern the country. The handwriting is on the wall but Mugabe cannot read it; therefore African leaders should spell them out in BOLD letters to him.

It is so sad that a leader who came as a new Nkrumah is going down as a Mobutu. It is a grave understatement to continue to describe him as an embarrassment to Africa. He is a dangerous autocrat who does not care anymore if the whole nation crashes with him. He needs to be stopped and stopped NOW.

*Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem writes this column as a Pan Africanist.

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

Becoming Somaliland

Graham Freer

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/48999

You can order a copy of Becoming Somaliland from Progressio by clicking here.

Power to the people of Zimbabwe!

Mawuli Dake

2008-06-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/49050

While the authors’ analysis is spot-on with regards Mugabe, I think it falls short on the danger posed by the current opposition and the hypocrisy of the West. I personally don’t believe that an African leader should be condemned, punished or abandoned for standing up to the West. It is a quality Africa desperately needs in its leaders.

However, I think there are many other legitimate reasons why Mugabe SHOULD and MUST go. I have insisted that as Pan-Africanists and progressives, our responsibility is- an unconditional solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe. Not with Mugabe, the dubious imperialists and certainly not with an opposition that is willing to be a tool of western imperialism.

I believe Zimbabweans are not only victims of the Mugabe regime paranoia, but are also direct victims of the inhumane sanctions by the West, as well as victims of the hypocrisy of the opposition that has prevented them from forming a independent and legitimate movement that is driven and controlled by the people.

Power to the people of Zimbabwe!

South Africa: Exhibition: Home is where the heart is

2008-06-25

http://southafrica.africancolours.net/content/16778

In 2006, Mimi Cherono Ng'ok, a young Kenyan-born photographer chose to document immigrants from different African countries living in Cape Town, South Africa. Her interest in this project was sparked by the attacks of the Somali community who were living in Cape Town in 2006.

African Blog Review June 26, 2008

Dibussi Tande

2008-06-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/49042

Sokwanele the blog of the Zimbabwe civic action support group publishes the complete text of the African National Congress’ statement on Zimbabwe which is radically different in content and tone from the official position of the South African government:

“While the ANC was sceptical of the feasibility of a run-off, we deferred to the judgement of the SADC leadership and that of the political parties in Zimbabwe and lent our support to the process. However, compelling evidence of violence, intimidation and outright terror; the studied harassment of the leadership of the MDC, including its Presidential candidate, by the security organs of the Zimbabwean government; the arrest and detention of the Secretary-General of the MDC; the banning of MDC public meetings; and denial of access to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, all have convinced us that free and fair elections are not possible in the political environment prevalent in Zimbabwe today
…
The ugly incidents and scenes that have been visited on the people of Zimbabwe persuade us that a run-off Presidential election offers no solution to Zimbabwe’s crisis. In a society that is already highly polarised, a run-off election will only serve to widen the divisions. The very legitimacy of the run-off has already been severely compromised by the actions of both ZANU (PF) militants and those of state officials who do not even conceal their partiality in favour of the governing party.
…
We wish the MDC, ZANU (PF) and all the other parties in Zimbabwe the moral courage, strength and determination to urgently seek a viable solution to the profound problems facing their country.


GEF’s Outlook reports on a recent incident off the coast of Cameroon where local fishermen attacked a Chinese fishing trawler, rough-handled its Chinese occupants, and then made away with about five tons of fish:

“…this event may once again raise questions about Chinese motivation to be friendly with the continent. Analysts say that the new giant Chinese economy needs oil to tick; about 25-30 percent of China’s oil imports are from Africa.

Others also say the Chinese influx is also due to its willingness to trade without asking about people’s democratic and human rights conditions. In addition to that, they are ready to act quickly in areas of direct human interest. Instead of withholding help on the pretext of waiting for governments to come up with Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers while thousands of women are dying during childbirth, China is direct. They build the hospitals for 10 times less, if not for free. Cameroon has tasted of such Chinese largesse.

However, some questions have been troubling Cameroonian if not African thoughts: Is it in exchange of such largesse that Chinese citizens are flooding African countries en masse? Do these acts of goodwill explain why Chinese businessmen are left to do as they please in African countries? The fishermen in the [Cameroon] story seem to think that there is some connivance between authorities and the Chinese industrial fishing companies that are practically sending them out of business.”


Icheoku profiles some of the most notable political murders in Nigeria that have either not been solved or whose perpetrators are walking around free:

“Take it or leave it, until these most heinous political assassinations and murders of the century which took place in Nigeria are finally brought to a conclusive end, there will never be a real peace in that country. All the Truth and Reconciliation Commission notwithstanding! …

Over the years, several personalities have been killed by the powers that be in Nigeria and all the world is told is that their death is a mystery or that armed bandits struck. Among these notable personalities that fell victim to these political assassinations and state-sponsored murders were Dele Giwa, Pa Rewane, Ken Saro Wiwa, Bola Ige, Barnabas Igwe, Harry Marshall, Dikkibo and Funsho Williams to just name a few. To date no one directly responsible or implicated in these criminalities has been brought to book. The reason is not for lack of suspects but that these prospective suspects are deemed untouchables because they are part of the powers that be that have run Nigeria aground and for so long. Nigerians have been silent for so long! Enough is enough and let the shouting begin!”


Clive Simpkins
Reflecting on recent events in Africa such as the attack on African immigrants in South Africa or the state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe, South African blogger Clive Simpkins argues that the much-vaunted African community spirit might be more of a myth than reality:

“I'm not going to suggest Eurocentric perspectives or solutions to these various scenarios. Rather, I observe with mounting dread, that they're symptomatic of the final death-throes of the once much-vaunted African Humanism, or Ubuntu. Many of the born frees (born post 1994) don't even know what Ubuntu means. Recent surveys indicate they don’t tolerate well, people outside of their own social or other ‘groups’. They're thoroughly entrenched in the conspicuous consumption trap of I, Me and Mine (IMM as I call it). It's all about their latest bling and baubles. They can perhaps be excused, or forgiven for their cultural disenfranchisement.

But for older black South African people, I'm beginning to think that what really prevailed was the dictum of 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'. People were superficially united in their resistance to the common foe of Apartheid. With that tenuous thread gone, what we're seeing is actuality. A complete abandonment of any pretense at being our brother's keeper. Instead we persecute the brother (and sister) and cast him or her out.”


Ghana Blogs
Writing on Ghana Blogs, Michael Akenoo bemoans the unfulfilled potential of the Kente textile industry in Ghana:

“It is unfortunate however, to note that Ghana has never taken into consideration the great economic potential that the Kente industry has for Ghana. The Kente industry has been neglected and not given the necessary attention and development as it deserves to the detriment of the country. Thus, Ghana is losing heavily in terms of her economic potential in the textile industry on the world market today.

It is also unfortunate to note that many Ghanaians have developed a strong taste for wearing European clothes at work places, offices, churches, social gatherings, state functions etc. at the expense of Ghanaian clothing such as the Kente cloth, smock etc.

Opinion leaders and influential Ghanaians, who are in positions to advance the cause of the Kente industry, have failed to do so because they are somehow affected by the European cultural influence by the way they eat, dress and project themselves generally. For instance, one can often see Ghanaian lawyers, doctors, academicians etc. dressed in suit and tie to work, church, parties etc and occasionally putting on the Kente cloth, smock etc. as a way of projecting the Ghanaian culture.”


Enanga’s POV
Cameroonian blogger Rosemary Ekosso asks whether Africans should celebrate Barack Obama’s progress. Although she answers that question in the affirmative, she nonetheless explains US foreign policy in an Obama administration will not be radical departure from the past:

“But although Obama is half black (and therefore half white, though some people on both sides of the racial divide would like to forget this for completely different reasons), he is wholly American. His foreign policy will be defined first and foremost by his American-ness, not by his blackness or his any-other-thing-ness. That is why he pledged to support Israel the other day. He did not pledge to support Vanuatu, or Malaysia, or Burkina Faso. What does that indicate?

It indicates that in matters of foreign policy, he may intend to continue along certain lines. I do not know what those lines may be (with the possible exception of Israel), but I have chosen to wait and see.

More specifically, what does it indicate for us Africans? I do not think, to take an example that affects me directly, that he is going to come to Francophone Africa and send the French scuttling back to France so we can get rid of their puppets and (mis)manage our own affairs at last. I do not think of Obama as Richard Coeur de Lion or Uthman Dan Fodio. He is our brother, yes, but brotherhood has its limits. I fear he would not last six days if he tried to do anything really useful for us. He’ll have his hands full with his countrymen anyway. Oh yes, and with Israel.”


* Dibussi Tande, a writer and activist from Cameroon, produces the blog Scribbles from the Den

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

Black History Month - Interview with Floyd Webb

Contact FM

2008-06-25

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

Taking a closer look at the origins of Black History Month, Contact FM talks to Floyd Webb, film-maker and web designer based in Chicago, about the relevance of Black History Month and his predictions for the future.

This episode was produced by Contact FM 89.7

Information for change

2008-06-25

http://tinyurl.com/4fuwvc

This podcast examines the promise of new media and which features extracts from the proceedings at the Information for Change workshop held recently in Cape Town, including the keynote address delivered by Firoze Manji of Fahamu.

Zimbabwe: Amandla! interviews Tsvangirai

2008-06-27

http://www.amandla.org.za/

Amandla interviewed Morgan Tsvangirai MDC president on the current impasse in Zimbabwe and on the future policies an MDC orientated government would like to see implemented. Tsvangirai sheds light on their current strategy of seeking a negotiated settlement with ZANU PF, their dependence on the SA government, on SADC and the AU to get Mugabe to play ball

China equity fund to invest $300 mln in Africa

2008-06-27

http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN741199.html

A Chinese private equity fund set up a year ago for ventures in Africa plans to spend about $300 million on projects in 2008, its vice-president said on Friday. The China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund) was launched in June 2007 with an initial $1 billion provided by the China Development Bank and plans to eventually grow to $5 billion, the fund's vice-president Hu Zhirong said.

West Africa: ECOWAS positions for $10bn Chinese aid

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/48982

The Vice-President of ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Jean de Dieu Somda, has said that the regional body is strategising and working towards attracting a fair share of Chinese aid and investment funds to Africa, according to report carried in This Day.
This Day Online

ECOWAS positions for $10bn Chinese aid

The Vice-President of ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Jean de Dieu Somda, has said that the regional body is strategising and working towards attracting a fair share of Chinese aid and investment funds to Africa.

Somda disclosed this in Abuja at the start of the first ECOWAS-China economic and trade forum, which kicked off with the visit of a delegation from China Council for the Promotion of International Trade led by its Vice Chairman, Dong Songgen.

The delegation will be visiting the region June 15-24, which will be complimented by a China-ECOWAS economic and trade forum scheduled for Beijing between September 23 and 26 this year.

This came amidst fears by some stakeholders over cheap and inferior Chinese products in the Nigerian market. The President of the African Business Roundtable, Alhaji Babamanga Tukur, said he would wish to see Chinese industries transplanted in Africa instead of raw materials being removed from the continent for factories in Asia.
Tukur, who doubles as chairman of the NEPAD Business Group, noted also that China does not have a proper trade structure in Africa. He urged the delegation to ensure that the Chinese trade mission which is being planned for Egypt is also cited in West Africa.

The aid and funds were some of the outcomes of the China-African summit of November 3-5, 2006. Chinapledged then to double aid to the continent from the 2006 levels to $10 billion by 2009. The country was also to allocate $5 billion to China-Africa Development Fund Co. Ltd, managed by China Development Bank, to finance investment projects in Africa.

Additionally, debts by some African countries owed the Asian nation were to be cancelled and market access for African goods to China improved. China was again to construct 30 hospitals and 100 rural schools in the continent.

The Chinese trade delegation undertook working visit of Abuja Monday when it met with ECOWAS ambassadors accredited to Nigeria, officials of the commission as well as representatives of Nigerian foreign affairs, African Business Roundtable and NEPAD Business Group. The delegation is leaving Abuja today forLagos where it will be received by the Nigerian private sector, including the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

After Nigeria, the delegation is conducting similar working visit in Cote d’Ivoire with a stopover in Accra andBurkina Faso and another stopover in Niamey.

“China is a force to reckon with in the global economy. The country’s $1.3 trillion foreign reserve, unmatched by any nation in the world is proof of the Chinese trade council’s efficiency”, he added.

Activists call for international intervention

2008-06-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/49071

CIDSE, APRODEV and the Ecumenical Zimbabwe Network (EZN) welcome the UN Security Council statement condemning the campaign of violence against Zimbabwe’s opposition party. However, diplomatic efforts are clearly failing to provide adequate protection to the people of Zimbabwe or to guarantee a democratic electoral process. CIDSE, APRODEV, and EZN reiterate their call for the United Nations (UN) to conform with its own Security Council resolution 1674, which confirms the “Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity” as a fundamental international norm.
With no legitimate election possible, Zimbabwean activists call for international intervention to protect the people of Zimbabwe.

CIDSE, APRODEV and the Ecumenical Zimbabwe Network (EZN) welcome the UN Security Council statement condemning the campaign of violence against Zimbabwe’s opposition party. However, diplomatic efforts are clearly failing to provide adequate protection to the people of Zimbabwe or to guarantee a democratic electoral process. CIDSE, APRODEV, and EZN reiterate their call for the United Nations (UN) to conform with its own Security Council resolution 1674, which confirms the “Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity” as a fundamental international norm.



With no possibility for a legitimate Presidential election on 27 June, the international community should act immediately to ensure that ballots are not replaced by bullets. “What is needed” said John Stewart, Director of NOVASC, a Zimbabwean human rights NGO “is international intervention. The direct intervention of an international, African led presence to guarantee security and the protection and safety of the people is necessary. Militias have to be disarmed, disbanded, demobilised; the state security agencies must be reined in and kept under scrutiny, to prevent them continuing with their campaign of violence and terror, and to prepare the processes of a return to the rule of law and extensive security sector reform”. Concerted international action is needed to encourage and accompany a determined process to protect and assist the Zimbabwean people, while creating the conditions for legitimate elections in as short a time as possible.

Ahead of the first round of elections in Zimbabwe, CIDSE, APRODEV, EZN and partners in Zimbabwe cautioned that the elections could not be free or fair. “We fear that the government will ruthlessly use fraud and intimidation to steal the elections,” said John Stewart at the time. These fears were unfortunately well founded. .Since 29 March, the world has watched the electoral process unravel, the situation deteriorate, and the people suffer. Across the country instances of political killings, violence and torture have been well documented, with over a hundred deaths reported, thousands tortured and beaten and tens of thousands displaced[1]. The June 21st withdrawal of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) from the second round of the Presidential election must finally end the pretence of a democratic process.

In a country where more than one in four children is orphaned and an estimated four million people are vulnerable and in need of aid, the population is being intimated and lives put at risk by government restrictions on humanitarian aid distribution. Since the government’s decision of 4 June to ban humanitarian organizations from distributing aid international and local aid agencies, including CIDSE, APRODEV and EZN members, have been forced to suspend vital support to the Zimbabwean people. The poorest and most vulnerable communities are being hit hardest.

As a joint statement on May 28th from the Archbishops of Canterbury and Cape Town pointed out the violence has extended to attacks inside Anglican churches. The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference has called “for an immediate cessation of violence and all provocative statements and actions” and warns that “electoral processes and outcomes are not an excuse for breaching God’s commandments”[2] Churches worldwide joined in a day of prayer for the people of Zimbabwe on 22 June.

Biti granted bail

2008-06-27

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=19046

The High Court has freed MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti on $1 trillion bail. Biti was in detention since his arrest on June 12 at Harare International Airport after returning home from a two-month self-imposed exile in South Africa. He was charged with treason arising from allegations that he authored a document, The Transition Strategy, plotting to overthrow or alternatively subvert the constitutionally elected government of Zimbabwe.

Global: Aid from new European Union's members disregards women

2008-06-27

http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/6789.html

Foreign aid budgets administered by the European Union's most recent entrants do not pay sufficient heed to the needs of women in poor countries, a series of new studies has found. Since 2004, 12 new countries have joined the EU, most of which were formerly under communist rule. As part of the terms of their accession, they undertook to adhere to the EU's policies on development aid.

Global: Call for halt to sexual violence in conflict lauded

2008-06-27

http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=1151

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, welcomed last week’s call by the United Nations Security Council for an immediate halt of all acts of sexual violence against women in conflict situations. The Fund described it as a historical achievement that would go a long way in protecting the dignity of women and girls who are often subjected to violence as a tactic of war.

Global: Lack of cervical cancer screening 'putting women at risk'

2008-06-27

http://tinyurl.com/6l53m3

Women in developing countries face an increased risk of cervical cancer because they are not regularly screened for the disease, a study has found. Though women in low-income countries are more likely to be exposed to risk factors like smoking and unsafe sex, just 19 per cent of women in the developing world have been screened — compared to 63 per cent in developed countries.

Mauritius: Government unleashes 'women-friendly' budget

2008-06-27

http://www.afrol.com/articles/29572

The recently approved national budget on the Indian Ocean island state Mauritius is seen as unique in an African context. It puts women and gender issues right at its centre of focus. Gender activists are thrilled as money finally follows policy statements.

Cote d’Ivoire: Child sacrifice on rise in election run-up

2008-06-27

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78941

Child abduction, which is already a serious problem in Cote d’Ivoire, may worsen in the run up to presidential elections later this year as political hopefuls using traditional myths of human sacrifice to improve their electoral chances will fuel an already significant market for stolen children, according to the Ivorian police.

DRC: Prosecutors charge two Congolese warlords at global court

2008-06-27

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN739618.html

Prosecutors on Friday charged two Congolese warlords with killing 200 civilians, taking women as sexual slaves and recruiting child soldiers, as they launched the second case at the International Criminal Court. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo are both accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, sexual slavery, rape, inhumane acts and using child soldiers.

East Africa: Albino Awareness Day

2008-06-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/49080

Following the horrendous killings of albinos in Tanzania and recently in Kenya, a series of events has been scheduled to begin from June 28. The Hon MP from Tanzania who was appointed by the Country's President to help create awareness on the issue is jetting in today to help in the campaign. You can watch a documentary which was covered from Tanzania, together with an ensuing live interview between me and and a news director on Al-Jazeera TV at 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM East African time. They are bound to interview a Tanzanian at 6:00 PM on the subject of witchcraft. http://www.vimeo.com/1090988?pg=embed&sec=1090988
Following the horrendous killings of our brothers and sisters in Tanzania and recently in Kenya, we have scheduled a series of events to begin from tomorrow. The Hon MP from Tanzania who was appointed by the Country's President to help create awareness on the issue is jetting in today to help us in the campaign. You can watch a documentary which was covered from Tanzania, together with an ensuing live interview between me and and a news director on Al-Jazeera TV at 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM East African time. They are bound to interview a Tanzanian at 6:00 PM on the subject of witchcraft.

We shall have a courtesy call tomorrow with the Minister for Gender before proceeding to Thika School for the Visually impaired in the afternoon. We shall be sharing our experiences and distributing hats ans sunscreen to the kids over there.
On Friday we shall have a series of other courtesy calls to various government ministries and embassies as a way of lobbying policy makers on our rights and concerns./

We invite all of you to join us in our open day that will be held on Saturday the 29th at Sarit Centre and from 10:30 Am. We shall have speeches and presentations in addition to exhibitions by albinos on what they do for a living. You could go home with a 25 inch colour TV as part of our raffle prizes.

Lets all come out and participate in this noble event to enlighten the public on our difference. Its time you can ASK all the questions you ever imagined.
If you know of any albino - child or adult who needs either a cap or sunscreen, eye care and or social support, please refer him/her to our office located at Moi Avenue Contrust House 4th Floor.

Kindly also circulate this email as wide as possible to your friends and networks. You never know who needs most help and you could be the key!!!!!
We look forward to your presence.

Mwaura M Isaac
Public Relations and Communication
Albinism Foundation of East Africa.
For any querries and further information, 0721864949

Ghana: Public lets execution call pass

2008-06-27

http://www.ipsterraviva.net/europe/article.aspx?id=6228

A senior Ghanaian justice department official has expressed surprise that the government has failed to ban capital punishment, implicitly censuring lawmakers for their recent endorsement of two new pro-death penalty judges to the Supreme Court. The current law permitting the death penalty was ''obnoxious'', the deputy attorney general, Kwame Osei-Bempah, told IPS. ''There is no reason why it should remain on our law books.''

Kenya: Governement in row with UN Rwanda tribunal

2008-06-27

http://www.afrol.com/articles/29563

A row has erupted between Kenyan government with International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) over claims that Nairobi is sluggish in detaining Rwandan genocide most wanted fugitive Mr Felicien Kabuga. Arusha based tribunal is frustrated by Kenyan government failure to catch and hand-over genocide suspect despite evidence showing that Mr Kabuga is a frequent visitor to the country.

Tunisia: Routine abuses in the name of security

2008-06-27

http://tinyurl.com/4ckk4w

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people, including children, suspected of terrorism-related offences, have been arrested in Tunisia since the introduction of the Anti-Terrorism Law in 2003. Authorities use the broad definition of ‘terrorism’ in this law to criminalize legitimate and peaceful opposition activities.

Uganda: LRA still recruiting children - UN report

2008-06-27

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27152

Although the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) does not seem to be recruiting children in Uganda, women and children are still present in its ranks, and the rebel group is allegedly enlisting young people from neighbouring countries, according to a United Nations report.

Zimbabwe: UN Rights chief urges justice for victims

2008-06-27

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27166

The United Nations human rights chief today called for justice and accountability in response to the campaign of political violence that has marred Zimbabwe’s electoral process. The Southern African nation has been beset by deadly unrest since the first round of the presidential election on 29 March.

Chad: Water and wood shortages worsen

2008-06-27

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=42982

Every morning soon after sunrise, Fatne Abdaraman walks a short distance across the Iridimi refugee camp in eastern Chad hauling a twenty-litre plastic jug. She lines it up along with other women's containers at the water distribution point, then awaits her turn to draw her daily allotment of one of Central Africa's scarcest resources, one that underpins ongoing conflict in the region.

Global: Draft law puts asylum-seekers at grave risk

2008-06-25

http://tinyurl.com/5ca44p

In a Memorandum sent to the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) Amnesty International urged legislators to reject a proposed law that imposes lengthy prison sentences on asylum-seekers and irregular migrants, disregarding their reasons for entering the country, and allowing for their immediate deportation, without regard for their possible ill-treatment or persecution to which they may be subject upon their return. The Committee is meeting on 24 June to discuss the draft “Prevention of Infiltration Law – 2008”.

Kenya: Report on Bunge La Mwananchi protest

2008-06-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/49047

On 2nd April 2008, Bunge La Mwananchi through its network and Starehe Social Movement notified the officers in charge of Central Police Station, Pangani Police Station and Huruma Police Station of their intention to hold a peaceful procession on 31st May, 2008 starting from Jeevanjee Gardens Park to Huruma Sports Ground. The procession was to protest the unchecked escalating food prices and demand Government intervention.
REPORT ON THE BUNGE LA MWANANCHI PROCESSION HELD ON 31ST MAY, 2008 AND THE SUBSEQUENT CLOSURE OF JEEVANJEE GARDENS



On 2nd April 2008, Bunge La Mwananchi through its network and Starehe Social Movement notified the officers in charge of Central Police Station, Pangani Police Station and Huruma Police Station of their intention to hold a peaceful procession on 31st May, 2008 starting from Jeevanjee Gardens Park to Huruma Sports Ground. The procession was to protest the unchecked escalating food prices and demand Government intervention. The officers commanding the above mentioned police stations received the notification and in this regard signed our delivery book (a copy of the relevant page is annexed hereto as appendix I), promising to offer security on the day of the procession.



On 31st May, 2008 members of Bunge La Mwananchi and Starehe Social Movement began to converge at Jeevanjee Gardens at 9.00 a.m. At 10.00 a.m. the procession kicked off from Jeevanjee Gardens along Muindi Mbingu Street and on to Kimathi Street . As the procession proceeded to Nation Centre, the OCPD Mr Tito Kilonzi intercepted the procession and demanded the notification letter to the police of the procession. The copy of the notification letter was promptly provided but rather than read it, the OCPD proceeded to order his officers to lob tear gas into the crowd of about 1000 in an attempt to scuttle the procession.



In the ensuing confusion as people ran for cover, Mr Jacob Odipo and Mr Gacheke Gachihi were arrested and driven to Central Police Station. Subsequently, an additional three members of Bunge La Mwananchi (Ms. Hellen Ayugi, Mr Frederick Odhiambo and Mr Stephen Gitau) were arrested next to Teachers' Service Commission (TSC) building as they made their way back to Jeevanjee Gardens our usual meeting place.



Members of the two organizations later re-grouped at the Globe Cinema Roundabout and resolved to proceed with the procession as planned, to Huruma Sports Ground. Upon arriving at Huruma near the Redeemed Gospel Chrurch, police officers from the Huruma Police Post descended on the crowd once again with tear gas. Mr David Mulwa was arrested in the melee and detained at the Huruma Police Post later transferred to Kasarani police station where he was released after 3 days with no preferred charges.



After the procession which culminated in a disrupted rally at Huruma Sports Ground, members of Bunge La Mwananchi proceeded to the Central Police Station to follow up on their arrested colleagues. During this visit, Mr Samson Ojiayo was arrested in suspicion that he is a member of Bunge la Mwananchi and booked at the Central Police Station. The Officer in Charge of the Station refused to speak with the Bunge La Mwananchi members and instead sent a junior officer to inform the members that the arrested persons would be arraigned in court on 3rd June, 2008.



On 2nd June 2008, the Public relation officer tells Mr. George Nyongesa that "there is no way the government is going to allow you to organize and incite people against it". He adds that your group will be fought using necessary force.



On 3rd June, 2008 the six detained at Central Police Station were produced before the court and charged with taking part in an unlawful assembly (please refer to appendix II annexed to this report). The six denied the charges and were released on a cash bail of K.Shs. 10,000/= each. Before payment of the bail, there was drama for over 3 hours for alleged missing file of the accused. The file later resurfaces at 645pm and we manage to secure bail for the six. The mention dated was set for 17th June, 2008 and the hearing date for 30th July, 2008.



On 4th June, 2008, George Nyongesa visits Jevanjee Garden Park, while he is talking to a journalist from Simba FM radio; they spot a suspicious persons looking at them, so they decide to different location and immediately they start walking an unidentified man shows up and asks " if you were going like that way why have you been standing here all this time". Mr. Nyongesa and the Journalist ignore and walk on.



On the same 3rd June, 2008, several police officers were dispatched and stationed at Jeevanjee Gardens Park where Bunge La Mwananchi usually holds their meetings. That day Mr Hassan Indusa was arrested as he entered the park and taken to the Central Police Station. Mr Indusa was released on 4th June, 2008 without being arraigned in court. He was given firm instructions to inform his colleagues that Jeevanjee Gardens were out of bounds. On 5th June, 2008, Mr Mulwa was released from the Kasarani Police Station without any charges having been preferred against him.



On 5th June 2008, Bunge la Mwananchi hires Professional Centre to hold its meeting, the meeting starts at 2pm, after 30 minutes the OCS central police station is spotted in the building in company of plain clothed police.



On 8th June, 2008 Mr Jacob Odipo a resident of Shauri Moyo was ordered by the Officer in Charge of Station of Shauri Moyo Police Station to move out of Shauri Moyo (Tongore Area) along with other colleagues who also live in that estate at alleged incitement of the public.



On 12th June, 2008 the two police officers who have been stationed there on a rotational basis since the date of the procession, accused Mr Samson Ojiayo of being the chairman of Bunge La Mwananchi and ordered him to have his colleague leave Jeevanjee Gardens parked immediately. On 13th June, 2008, when the police at Jeevanjee Gardens found Mr Ojiayo in the company of two colleagues at Jeevanjee Gardens they threatened to arrest them all. After a short exchange between them, the police called for reinforcements. An officer in plainclothes arrived at the park and ominously threatened Mr Ojiayo to follow instructions, failure to which he risked his body being found on the streets just as those of Mungiki (an outlawed group). The man left a mystified Mr Ojiayo without saying much else. The deputy OCPD later arrived in the company of two junior officers and informed Mr Ojiayo that Bunge La Mwananchi members were barred from Jeevanjee Gardens and whoever would defy the officers would "disappear" since the Government is not ready to entertain nonsense. On 14th June, 2008, a journalist from Nation who was interviewing Salim Nganga at Jevanjee Gardens is forced to flee by plain clothed officers to finish the interview at Nation centre.



On 15th June, 2008, a police officer not uniformed tells Salim Nganga the list of Bunge la Mwananchi members wanted by the police. He lists the following as top 5: Gacheke Gachihi, Keli Musyoka, Samson Ojiayo, Salim Nganga and George Nyongesa and ten others.



On 15th June, 2008 at night, Helen Ayugi receives a phone call from unknown person warning her to quit activism for her own life and for her to continue with her education.



On 16th June, 2008 two plain-clothed officers stopped Mr Odipo outside the Ambassadeur Hotel and inspected the bag he was carrying. The found Bunge la Mwananchi campaign T-shirts bearing the words "Unga for 30/=" (which is our campaign against social imbalance rallying call) which they proceeded to confiscate and order him on his way.



On 17th June, 2008, Patrick Kamotho a member of Bunge la Mwananchi is arrested and kept at Railway Station while on his way to court for participating in illegal assembly. He is released the following day at 7.00am.



On 17th June, 2008 the six previously charged for unlawful assembly proceeded to court for the mention of their case only to find that their file could not be traced and their case not included on the cause list for the day. They were advised by the Registry's Chief Executive Officer to return on the hearing date – 30th July, 2008. On the same day, at about 1.30 pm, Mr Solomon Ndunda a member of Bunge la Mwananchi was arrested at Jeevanjee Gardens and taken to the Central Police Station where he was booked for participating in an unlawful assembly. After Bunge La Mwananchi members' efforts at the station, Mr Ndunda was released at 8.00 pm on the same day. Since 31st May, 2008 the police force has made it a routine to harass and intimidate suspected members of Bunge la Mwananchi and have made it difficult for the people to exercise the constitutional and individual rights of movement, assembly, association and expression difficult. As I write Bunge la Mwananchi meeting forums across the country remain police controlled and the people mentioned above fear for their lives.



Report prepared and signed by:

Keli Musyoka

Samson Ojiayo

George Nyongesa

Salim Nganga

Helen Ayugi

Jacob Odipo

Gacheke Gachihi

Steven Gitau

Zimbabwe: Boycotting the June 27 election is essential

2008-06-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/49048

"The June 27 Presidential election is not an election, but a declaration of war against the people of Zimbabwe by the ruling party." (SA Congress of Trade Unions statement 24/6/2008). This is an important call to all Zimbabweans from civil society - you must boycott the forthcoming election.
Sokwanele - Enough is Enough - Zimbabwe
PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY
Boycotting the June 27 election is essential
Sokwanele : 24 June 2008

“The June 27 Presidential election is not an election, but a declaration of war against the people of Zimbabwe by the ruling party.” (SA Congress of Trade Unions statement 24/6/2008)

This is an important call to all Zimbabweans from civil society - you must boycott the forthcoming election.
Do Not Vote in the June 27 Presidential run-off election
Robert Mugabe wants as many votes as he can get so that he can claim he is the “people’s president”. While it is clear that he will receive some votes and he has already secured the postal votes of the armed forces who were forced to vote for him, Mugabe will want to get substantially more votes than those cast for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on March 29.
We must not let this happen. The best action that we can all take to demonstrate that we refuse to accept Mugabe as our president for yet another five terrible years is to refuse to vote on Friday.

If you are forced by government agents to vote, then make sure you spoil your paper. Do not vote the dictator back into power.

However, please understand that we are not asking you to do anything that you think might endanger your safety or your life. In dangerous circumstances you must do whatever you need to do to keep yourself safe.

The only people who should vote on Friday are those who have by-elections in their wards and will therefore be asked to vote twice. They should vote for the candidate of their choice for the House of Assembly seat but should hand in a spoilt ballot for the Presidential poll.

The three wards where by-elections are being held are:
1. Bulawayo: Pelendaba/Mpopoma
2. Matabeleland South: Gwanda South
3. Midlands: Redcliff

The claim that the election cannot be cancelled

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) states that the Presidential run-off election on June 27 cannot be called off despite the withdrawal of Morgan Tsvangirai in the face of escalating violence, intimidation and the disruption of his campaign .

The ZEC cites Section 107 of Zimbabwe’s Electoral Act which states that a nominated candidate may withdraw his candidature any time “before twenty-one days from the day …. on which the poll in an election to the office of President is to be taken”.

In other words, according to this interpretation of the electoral law, if Morgan Tsvangirai withdraws his name less than three weeks before the run-off - even if the conditions have made it impossible to continue with his campaign - the election still has to go ahead.

This claim is countered by Tsvangirai and his legal team.

In a letter sent to the chairman of the ZEC, Justice Chiweshe, on June 23, Tsvangirai notes that Section 107 of the Electoral Act deals with the withdrawal of candidature from a Presidential election. He points out that the 21-day requirement refers to a Presidential election and not to a run-off. He says it would not make sense to expect a candidate from a presidential run-off election to give 21 days notice of his/her withdrawal where such election has to be held within 21 days.

He continues: “Section 107(3) makes it much clearer that Section 107 does not apply to a presidential run-off election. It provides that:-
‘where a candidate for election as President has withdrawn his/her candidature in terms of this section, the sum deposited by or on his behalf in terms of subsection (1) of Section 105 shall be forfeited and form part of the funds of the commission’.

Tsvangirai notes that no money was ever deposited for the Presidential run-off election in terms of Section 105 by any candidate. “Furthermore, there have been no rules prescribed for the conduct of a presidential run-off election and in particular the notice period set for the withdrawal of candidature by a participant. Accordingly, any candidate wishing to withdraw his candidature is free to do so at any time before such an election.”

A low poll for Mugabe will undermine his claims of legitimacy

Should the ZEC insist on disputing the interpretation of Tsvangirai’s legal team, there is a further issue that needs to be addressed. A Zimbabwean legal expert notes that the provision contained in Section 107 must be read together with the requirement that a Presidential candidate needs to obtain at least 50 percent of the vote. The intention behind the provision, he writes, is that it is necessary for a President to have substantial support from the people of Zimbabwe. The legislation therefore discourages Presidential candidates being elected by default or with only minority support from the electorate.

He notes that, if Mugabe gets fewer votes on June 27 than Tsvangirai received on March 29, then Mugabe will still in theory be elected President, but his claims to legitimacy will be greatly undermined.

And if very few people turn out to vote and Mugabe gets elected by a tiny minority, it will demonstrate that he has no legitimacy as the country’s President.

This is good news for all of the displaced people in Zimbabwe who have been concerned that they are not able to vote. And it is good news for the millions of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who wanted to come home to support their families and communities by voting for change.

Boycott by urban voters crucial

One of the biggest challenges we face is that Zanu PF will no doubt try to exaggerate the numbers of people who have turned out to vote in remote rural polling stations where there are no election observers.

To counter this problem, people in the urban areas must do all within their power to make sure that the polling stations are absolutely deserted. They must turn Friday’s election into a referendum against Mugabe’s misrule. If anyone is forced to go and vote, please make sure you spoil your ballot paper.

Why Tsvangirai withdrew from the run-off

The MDC won the March 29 elections, in spite of all the challenges they faced: the March 11 beatings, the continuous attacks on organisations like the National Constitutional Assembly, election rigging, the banning of rallies early on, vote buying, the withholding of food aid and all of the other Zanu PF strategies. It was a victory for peace, democratic change and the rebuilding of our country. The Mugabe regime was furious and since then has declared war on the people of Zimbabwe.

A free and fair election was not possible then and is totally impossible now. There are numerous reasons, but these are the main ones:
1. State-sponsored violence: The police are intimidated and have failed to protect the people of Zimbabwe. Under the direction of the Joint Operations Command, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), Zanu PF youths and the youth militia are waging a terror campaign.
2. MDC Presidential candidate’s campaign: Rallies have been banned and the MDC President has been arrested on an ongoing basis.
3. Decimation of MDC Structures: There has been a deliberate campaign to destroy the leadership and structures of the MDC. Secretary General Tendai Biti and MP Advocate Matinenga are illegally detained and over 2 000 MDC supporters, including polling agents, are in illegal detention.
4. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is partisan: The ZEC is now staffed by “war veterans” and Zanu PF militia. It is not in charge of the management of this election.
5. The media: The media is under attack and there has been a total blackout of the MDC’s campaign. Journalists are being harassed and foreign journalists have been banned from entering the country.
6. The Zanu PF Presidential candidate: Robert Mugabe has no respect for the MDC, for election observers or for the regional and international community. He has declared war by saying that the bullet has replaced the ballot. Chiwenga and Zimondi have stated they will not respect an MDC victory.
7. Planned election rigging by Zanu PF: An elaborate and decisive plan by Zanu PF to rig the election has been exposed.

Why Mugabe and Zanu PF want to continue with the election and retain power

First of all, the Mugabe regime wants the world to believe that everything in Zimbabwe is normal and that the elections are legitimate. Secondly, if they lose power, they will lose the vast sums of money that they have stolen from the country over the years - money that has made them immensely rich and the citizens of Zimbabwe desperately poor. Their greed has wrecked the entire economy of our once stable and prosperous country. Thirdly, when the change comes, they are afraid they will be tried for their crimes, notably for crimes against humanity.

Why we can now count on the support of the world
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) have all supported Tsvangirai’s call to withdraw from the election.

Zambian President Dr Levy Mwanawasa, who is also SADC chairman, said: “The current political situation in Zimbabwe falls far short of the SADC principles.” He said that the June 27 presidential run-off election should be postponed to avert a catastrophe in southern Africa.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos urged Mugabe to “embrace a spirit of tolerance and respect for democratic norms”, while at the same time appealing for an end to all acts of intimidation and violence.

Graca Machel, Joaquim Chissano, Dr Kenneth Kaunda and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu are among forty former African presidents, prime ministers, civil society heads and other high profile leaders who have called for an end to political violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said: “I think this is an embarrassment to Africa because it makes a sham of presidential elections… the time has come for the international community to act on Zimbabwe.”

The United Nations Security Council: On 24 June, the UN Security Council issued a statement condemning the campaign of violence against the political opposition which had resulted in the killing of scores of opposition activists and other Zimbabweans, and the beating and displacement of thousands of people, including many women and children.

Their statement gave legitimacy to the March 29 poll and noted that the results must be respected. It also condemned the government’s suspension of the operations of humanitarian organisations, noting this had directly affected one and a half million people, including half a million children. Not only was the statement adopted unanimously, but the Zimbabwean crisis will remain on the Security Council agenda.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters after a meeting with the 15-nation Security Council on Monday that he “strongly discouraged” the Zimbabwean government from pressing ahead with a run-off election this week.

I would like to take this moment to say how distressed I am by the events leading up to the understandable decision of …. Morgan Tsvangirai to withdraw from the run-off scheduled for this Friday,” he said. “There has been too much violence and too much intimidation, a vote held under these conditions would lack all legitimacy.”

The powerful South African Congress of Trade Unions (COSATU) has called on “the South African government, SADC governments, African governments and the world not to recognise Mugabe’s illegal government all over the world and to refuse to have any dealings with Mugabe other than ensuring that he work towards new elections strictly under the conditions of total observance of the SADC protocols.

Furthermore, planned actions by COSATU include mobilising for a blockade - a powerful reminder that Zimbabwe needs the co-operation of neighbours like South Africa to survive.

It is clear that the world has the deepest respect for the courage of Zimbabweans in the face of disgraceful violence and repression. Pressure is mounting from the African continent and from the international community. The United Nations Security Council is fully briefed on the crisis and is in possession of documents that are damning to the Mugabe regime. There is now no place for them to hide.

We call upon the people of Zimbabwe to make yet another brave stand and to ensure that the world hears their silent but powerful protest:
DO NOT GO TO VOTE ON FRIDAY JUNE 27

CAR: Bozize survives impeachment

2008-06-27

http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/19173

The Central African Constitutional Court has declared itself 'incompetent' to pass a ruling on the impeachment of General-President Francois Bozize as solicited by the former leader of the Central African bar association, Barrister Zarambaud Assingambi.

Guinea: Elections in doubt for 2008

2008-06-27

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78943

As the International Crisis Group (ICG) questions the willingness of the Guinean government to hold elections in 2008 as planned, donors and opposition party members say it is not just political will but practical concerns such as a funding shortfall that put elections into doubt. ”Conditions are not yet ready for elections in 2008 – they are not ready at a technical level, the lists are not revised yet, there has been no census, and there’s not enough money in place yet,” an analyst based in Conakry told IRIN.

Guinea: Ensuring democratic reforms

2008-06-26

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5503&l=1

The latest policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, finds that there is every chance the government will break its promise of credible legislative elections in December 2008, compromise economic revival and bury the independent commission of inquiry tasked with identifying and prosecuting authors of the bloody 2007 crackdown.

Zimbabwe: Zimbabweans begin casting their votes

2008-06-27

http://www.buanews.gov.za/view.php?ID=08062710451002&coll=buanew08

The voting polls have opened and some voters have begun gathering at polling stations as Zimbabwe enters into a second round of Presidential elections, amid international disapproval. The situation in the country's capital, Harare, is reported to be tense. About 5.9 million Zimbabweans are registered to cast their ballots at the 9 000 polling stations over the next 12 hours. The voting process is expected to be overseen by over 400 Southern African Development Community, South African and international observers.

Global: A citizens' guide to monitoring government expenditures

2008-06-27

http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3036

How can citizens monitor government expenditure? What are the best strategies for effecting budgetary change? This guide, by the International Budget Project, looks the work of organisations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It argues that civil society organisations have many opportunities to monitor budget implementation. Strategies include creating new monitoring methodologies and collaborating with the legislative branch on oversight.

Kenya: Corruption in Kenya: Facts Kenyans should know

2008-06-27

http://tinyurl.com/6rare8

Kenyan MPs should accept that their allowances are going to be taxed. More Kenyans of goodwill and means have accepted that they too will be similarly taxed so that we as a country start to take care of the poorest of the poor, and avert a return to the chaos and destruction of the first quarter of this year when mass youth unemployment exploded the myth of Kenya’s stability.

Global: Vultures of profit

2008-06-27

http://tinyurl.com/3jnqnu

Some low-profile investors are making ungodly amounts of money buying third-world debt on the cheap, then suing for the balance. Can they be stopped? More important, should they be?

South Africa: Still a long walk to freedom

2008-06-27

http://tinyurl.com/4f384q

One of the legacies of apartheid South Africa and the Bantustan system is the unequal distribution of resources between urban and rural areas, which has created a perpetual divide that even under our democratic dispensation is not being bridged. The ongoing lack of importance given to rural South Africa in the post-apartheid era, has created a rural backwater where poverty is entrenched and where people are simply abandoned and expected to fend for themselves in the face of what can best be described as state apathy.

Sudan: Government and the UN sign agreement to reintegrate ex-combatants

2008-06-27

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EGUA-7FYS2Z?OpenDocument

The Government of National Unity of Sudan, the Government of Southern Sudan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), have signed an agreement to support the reintegration of 180,000 ex-combatants and to facilitate their successful transition back to civilian life.

Africa: HIV and hepatitis coinfection studies provide conflicting data

2008-06-27

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/BC315FF5-9EC6-46DB-97AE-57B70B6814C3.asp

HIV-positive patients in Kenya have a low rate of coinfection with hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C virus, according to an international study presented to the Fourth International Workshop on HIV and Hepatitis Coinfection in Madrid on June 20th.

Kenya: Circumcision does not increase men's risk behaviour in trial

2008-06-27

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/DABD7C1F-1E43-4233-BC57-74054845BC02.asp

A substudy of the randomised controlled trial (RCT) of male circumcision as an HIV prevention method in Kisumu, Kenya has found that there were virtually no differences in risk behaviour or in STI infections between circumcised and uncircumcised men. The trial also found that risk behaviour and STI infection decreased substantially amongst both intervention and control groups during the study.

Mozambique: ARVs slowly play catch up with HIV caseload

2008-06-27

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78858

The number of children orphaned by AIDS has doubled since 2003, and the high rate of HIV prevalence has dented Mozambique's growth rates, a new report has found. The 2008 HIV and Nutrition Status Report on Mozambique, funded by the World Bank, said an estimated 441,000 children younger than 18 had lost one or both parents to AIDS in 2007, twice the number in 2003.

Zimbabwe: Aids groups remain grounded

2008-06-27

http://www.iolhivaids.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=1591&fArticleId=4475921

As Zimbabwe's political crisis deepens ahead of the presidential run-off election on Friday 27 June, and the status of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) remains uncertain, the situation for HIV-positive Zimbabweans is more precarious than ever. Nicholas Goche, the social welfare minister who regulates NGO activity, announced on 13 June that more than 400 organisations working in the HIV/Aids sector would be exempt from the blanket ban on NGO operations announced the week before.

Tanzania: Children’s perceptions of education and their role in society

2008-06-25

http://tinyurl.com/3ojlvq

This report is the result of a participatory survey of 512 children aged from 7 to 14 years from ten regions in Mainland Tanzania. Children want and need to be heard – they can provide a valuable perspective which should be taken into account by adults. As the ‘consumers’ of education, children provide useful information for those working for and with children – from policy makers to teachers. This report contains their opinions on a range of issues relating to education, such as school services (including healthcare, water supply and food), textbooks, performance by teachers, discipline, extra charges, and their desired improvements to education.

Uganda: Dozens of schools restored in the North

2008-06-27

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27124

The United Nations refugee agency has restored 134 primary schools in northern Uganda, allowing thousands of children to return to classes, after the damage and destruction caused by two decades of conflict between Government forces and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

South Africa: Citizenship, violence and xenophobia

2008-06-27

http://tinyurl.com/5fvh8g

More than 50 people died and tens of thousands of people were displaced as a result of ‘xenophobic’ violence in South Africa during 2008. A number of urgent questions resulted from these attacks: Why are foreign African migrants the targets of violence in informal settlements? What is the explanation for the timing, location and scale of the outbreaks? Was this sudden and unexpected or was it predictable? And, what are the main drivers behind this violence?

Gambia: Halake case dismissed, he remains in detention

2008-06-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/49046

A Banjul Magistrate court presided over by Buba Jawo on June 23, 2008 dismissed the case of sedition preferred against Dida Halake, detained former Managing Director of the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that it followed a request by Halake’s counsel Lamin Jobarteh. The police prosecutor had earlier sought an adjournment to enable them correct a drafted charge sheet that had been poorly written.
Gambia UPDATE: Halake case dismissed, he remains in detention

A Banjul Magistrate court presided over by Buba Jawo on June 23, 2008 dismissed the case of sedition preferred against Dida Halake, detained former Managing Director of the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that it followed a request by Halake’s counsel Lamin Jobarteh. The police prosecutor had earlier sought an adjournment to enable them correct a drafted charge sheet that had been poorly written.

Following the court ruling, the police rearrested Halake and he is now in detention at a police station in Serrekunda, the Gambia’s second largest city.

The sources said the former Managing Director is charged with sedition, following information he allegedly sent via Short Message System (SMS) to The Gambian President Yahya Jammeh. Details of that communication remain unknown.

MFWA sources said Halake, Kenyan-born journalist, had refused demotion from Managing Director to Editor of the government-controlled privately-owned Daily Observer newspaper. He has since been dismissed from the newspaper.

Before his appearance in court, he had been in detention for eleven days, far in excess of the 72-hour period that the 1997 Constitution of The Gambia stipulates. He was arrested on June12 and made his first appearance on June 23.

Prof. Kwame Karikari
Executive Director
MFWA
Accra
Tel: 233 21 24 24 70
Fax : 233 21 221084
Website : www.mediafound.org
Email : mfwa@africaonline.com.gh

Gambia: Pressure on President to respect court order

2008-06-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/49044

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is asking Heads of state for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), meeting for the 34th Ordinary Summit in Abuja, particularly its current chairman, President Blaisé Compoare to ensure that the government of President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia releases detained Gambian journalist, Chief Ebrima Manneh, unconditionally.
Press Statement:

MFWA urges ECOWAS leaders to pressure President Jammeh to respect ECOWAS court order

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is asking Heads of state for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), meeting for the 34th Ordinary Summit in Abuja, particularly its current chairman, President Blaisé Compoare to ensure that the government of President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia releases detained Gambian journalist, Chief Ebrima Manneh, unconditionally.

Following a suit filed by MFWA to the ECOWAS court to compel the government of the Gambia to free Manneh, on June 5, 2008 the court ordered that Manneh be released and compensation be paid him for the violation of his human rights.

Characteristic of The Gambian authorities, three weeks after the court’s pronouncement they have fallen silent on the matter.

Manneh has been in detention since he was arrested on July 7, 2006 by agents of the notoriously feared National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in the presence of his colleagues on the premises of the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper. Manneh's detention is claimed to be related to information he allegedly leaked to a foreign journalist who wrote a feature article on the African Union summit held in Banjul.

Of great concern is the fact that, although the journalist has been sighted several times, the last time being on July 27, 2007, the government has consistently refused to acknowledge detaining him. It has also not made any official statement on the case; neither has it made any attempt at investigating the circumstance leading to Manneh’s “disappearance”.

On January 9, 2005, President Jammeh was among 15 heads of state who signed a supplementary protocol amending the 1991 Protocol on the Community Court of Justice to include trial of human rights violations of citizens.

The Gambian government also refused to appear before the court. Five state agents who were alleged to have played various roles in the arrest and subsequent detention of Manneh also refused to appear before the court.

The position of the government of The Gambia is likely to have far-reaching and potentially dangerous implications for human rights in West Africa. Therefore we feel it is incumbent for the government of President Jammeh to honour the recommendations of the protocol, and respect the orders of the regional court.

We are appealing to free expression organisations to put pressure on President Jammeh to ensure the release of Manneh and improve on the human rights situation in The Gambia.

Issued by the MFWA, Accra, June 24, 2008.

The MFWA is a regional independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Accra. It was founded in 1997 to defend and promote the rights and freedom of the media and all forms of expression.

Prof. Kwame Karikari
Executive Director
MFWA
Accra
Tel: 233 21 24 24 70
Fax: 233 21 221084
Website: www.mediafound.org
Email: mfwa@africaonline.com.gh

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Niger: Prosecutor blocks journalist's release

2008-06-27

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=27591

Reporters Without Borders deplores the Niamey public prosecutor’s decision to file an immediate appeal against an investigating judge’s decision today to allow detained journalist Moussa Kaka to be released provisionally. The appeal blocked the release of Kaka, who continues to be held in a Niamey prison.

Senegal: Broadcasters attacked by police

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/48991

Two sports journalists were brutally beaten by Senegalese police at Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium, Dakar on June 21, 2008. The journalists, Kara Thioune of West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR) and Babacar Kambel Diang a reporter for the private radio station RFM, were punched, kicked and beaten with electric batons.
Senegal ALERT: Broadcasters attacked by police

Two sports journalists were brutally beaten by Senegalese police at Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium, Dakar on June 21, 2008.

The journalists, Kara Thioune of West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR) and Babacar Kambel Diang a reporter for the private radio station RFM, were punched, kicked and beaten with electric batons.
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that the reporters were at the stadium to cover a post-match press briefing.
The journalists were handcuffed and detained for 30 minutes before they were taken to the hospital for medical attention.
The source said Thioune bled profusely.
Another journalist, Frank Sainworla escaped the attack.
Meanwhile, the journalist union, Synpics and RFM intend to take legal action against the police for these unjust attacks.
The MFWA supports the Synpics and RFM proposed actions. We condemn the arbitrary use of force and call on the authorities to curtail the rising incidents of violence against journalists in Senegal.

Zimbabwe: The Zimbabwean issue 24 impounded by Mugabe junta

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/48990

Zimra has refused to release the consignment of 60,000 copies of the june 19 issue of The Zimbabwe, flown into Harare by a commercial carrier last week for distribution on Thursday. Despite the punitive duty of 40% plus a surcharge of a further 20% levied on "luxury times such as foreign newspapers" having been paid in foreign currency - the authorities in Harare have refused to release the papers.
Zimra has refused to release the consignment of 60,000 copies of the june 19 issue of The Zimbabwe, flown into Harare by a commercial carrier last week for distribution on Thursday. Despite the punitive duty of 40% plus a surcharge of a further 20% levied on “luxury times such as foreign newspapers” having been paid in foreign currency - the authorities in Harare have refused to release the papers.
They told our local distributor that order had come from Zanu (PF) that the newspaper was not to be released. Election observers have been notified but no action has been taken so far. This latest action follows the burning of the truck and its cargo of 60,000 copies of the Zimbabwean on Sunday of 25th May. Since then we have managed to get seven issues of the newspaper into Zimbabwe via various routes and have paid out more than SAR500,000 (SAR15=?1) in duty and R250,000 in transport charges.
Wilf Mbanga
tel 07963963547

Ethiopia: UNICEF appeals for $49 million for drought

2008-06-27

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27175

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has appealed for $49 million to assist families in Ethiopia where drought has left 75,000 children severely malnourished and 4.6 million people in need of immediate humanitarian aid. After completing a visit to Ethiopia UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hilde F. Johnson said today that the situation in the hardest-hit areas of the country is extremely serious.

Global: A micro level perspective on the causes and duration of warfare

2008-06-27

http://tinyurl.com/6m6ayf

This paper proposes an analytical framework to understand important internal links between household poverty and armed conflict. It argues that the economic behaviour and decisions of households to protect their livelihoods and economic status during conflict, and avoid poverty, matter substantially to the onset, sustainability and duration of armed conflicts because they determine the level of participation and supportof households for armed groups.

Horn of Africa: AU sends team to probe Eritrea-Djibouti clashes

2008-06-27

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN734719.html

The African Union has sent a team to investigate fighting this month between Djibouti and Eritrea close to strategic Red Sea shipping lanes, the top AU diplomat said on Friday.

Horn of Africa: How conflicts connect and peace agreements unravel

2008-06-27

http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/publications/papers/view/-/id/630/

The conflicts and humanitarian disasters from Sudan to Somalia are closely linked and a failure to understand this is undermining efforts to find peace, says a new report by Chatham House. The report is a study of three peace processes in the region dealing with the conflicts in Somalia and Sudan and between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It shows how each of these different conflicts feed into each other and exacerbate conflicts in other countries.

Sudan: Negotiators quit Darfur

2008-06-27

http://tinyurl.com/5wd45y

The UN negotiators attempting to bring peace to Darfur have resigned, admitting that their mission has been a failure. Jan Eliasson, who has been leading the UN's peace efforts in Sudan for the past 18 months, announced that he and his African Union counterpart, Salim Ahmed Salim, would stand down to make way for a new negotiator.

Ghana: Knowledge is power of service

2008-06-27

http://tinyurl.com/4mjldd

On 27 May, a group of 22 schoolteachers, ministry officials, and ICT4E Network and Project Coordinators from eight countries, braved Accra’s rush-hour traffic for an early morning visit to Morning Star; a private Secondary School in the centre of town. They toured the Computer Labs and learned about the school’s experiences with integrating ICT into the curriculum.

Global: Annual Global Development Awards and Medals Competition 2008

2008-06-25

http://www.gdnet.org/middle.php?oid=1471

Submissions are welcome for the Global Development Network’s annual competition for the Most Innovative Development Project, which carries prizes in cash and travel. The finalists will present their proposals at GDN’s Annual Global Development Conference inKuwait city, Kuwait in January 2009. Submissions are accepted for an ongoing development project implemented in a developing or transition country. Criteria include the degree of innovation and the potential for broad application of the project in other countries.

Global: Visiting Scholar in feminist perspectives on globalization

2008-06-27

http://www.carleton.ca/womensstudies/visiting_scholar_2008_2010.html

The Pauline Jewett Institute of Women’s and Gender Studies (Carleton University) and the Institute of Women’s Studies (University of Ottawa), with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), are pleased to launch the second phase of the research programme on Feminist Perspectives on Globalization.

Global: "Africa's First World War" - Call for papers

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/48988

So far, most studies of the Rwandan genocide or the Congo Wars have failed to examine these events in historical depth - under inclusion of a wider theoretical literature on mass violence - and in their broader regional contexts (i.e. including the political and socio-economic situations in Burundi,Uganda and Tanzania as well as the strategic interests of Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia etc.).
In order to fill this gap the editors of the Journal of Genocide Research welcome original and innovative papers involving the transnational and transregional approaches which are crucial for an understanding of the local dynamics that have fed processes of cumulative radicalizations in the whole region.
Call for papers
International Volume
“AFRICA’S FIRST WORLD WAR”.
Colonialism, Ethnicity and Mass Violence in the African Great Lakes Region
ed. by Dominik J. Schaller and Juergen Zimmerer

Between April and June 1994, Hutu extremists killed up to 800,000 Rwandan Tutsi in what became known as the Rwandan Genocide. The world simply looked on as those events destabilized the entire region. Almost 15 years later, it is time to take stock and to put the events into a global perspective. This seems particularly necessary because in some quarters a perception of the genocide prevails which borders on being racist. Many Western observers described the killings at the time as an “archetypical war of martial African tribes”, thus stressing the inevitability and the endemic character of violence in Africa. Nothing, however, could be more wrong: the Rwandan genocide was rather the climax of developments rooted in the time of first German and then Belgian colonial rule. The consequences of that also made postcolonial nation-building in Rwanda difficult as it became overshadowed by regular outbreaks of violence and the systematic discrimination and exclusion of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority. It was not until the overthrow of the Hutu government by the Ugandan based Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in July 1994 that an end was put to the rule of Hutu elites in Rwanda.

With that, however, violence in the region did not stop, as this also changed the geopolitical parameters in the African Great Lakes Region: the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutus and the RPF´s invasion and plunder of Eastern Congo led both to the collapse of the Mobutu regime and to what former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called “Africa´s First World War”.

So far, most studies of the Rwandan genocide or the Congo Wars have failed to examine these events in historical depth - under inclusion of a wider theoretical literature on mass violence - and in their broader regional contexts (i.e. including the political and socio-economic situations in Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania as well as the strategic interests of Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia etc.).

In order to fill this gap the editors welcome original and innovative papers involving the transnational and transregional approaches which are crucial for an understanding of the local dynamics that have fed processes of cumulative radicalizations in the whole region.

Furthermore, the editors are looking for articles analyzing the extent to which European colonial officials, scientists, explorers, missionaries and – in the Cold War period – Western development workers have contributed to the ethnicizing and radicalization of African societies. Proposals (max. 2 pages + a short biographical sketch) should be submitted no later than August 1st 2008 to both
Dominik J. Schaller (dominik.schaller@uni-heidelberg.de)
Jürgen Zimmerer (j.zimmerer@sheffield.ac.uk)

The articles, which should be a maximum of 8500 words including documentation, will be due on January 31, 2009.
There will be the opportunity for some contributors to present their papers at the 1st Global Conference on Genocide, “Genocide: The Future of Prevention”, organized by the International Network of Genocide Scholars (INoGS) in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Genocide and Mass Violence/University of Sheffield (January 9th-12th 2009).
The publication of this volume marks the launch of the Research Cluster “Gold, Gems and Genocide. Mass Violence in Central and Southern Africa from Colonialism to the Present” at the Centre for the Study of Genocide and Mass Violence/University of Sheffield (a joint project with the Department of History /University of Heidelberg; www.genocidecentre.dept.shef.ac.uk)

Soouth Africa: Web design training for non-technical people using Joomla!

2008-06-26

http://tinyurl.com/527ft2

Joomla! is a Content Management System and is for a start not complicated; Joomla makes it easy for non-technical people to create professional and dynamic websites. Why? Because it has been developed with the masses in mind. Joomla! is easy to install and administer. You do not need any programming knowledge such as HTML or PHP to use Joomla for web creation. Joomla! is easy to install, simple to manage, and reliable. Using Joomla! is like using a word-processing program.

South Africa: FLOSSNet ICT courses

2008-06-25

http://www.flossnet.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=1&Itemid=3

FLOSSNet is proud to announce a first series of ICT training courses for organisations and individuals which will be conducted in Cape Town at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). FLOSSNet is a social enterprise organisation with the mission to unlock the potential of free/libre and open source software (FLOSS) through education, training and consultancy services for the benefit of NGOs, CBOs, and small businesses in Africa.

South Africa: GHIs in Africa - PhD position: School of Public Health, UWC

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/48983

The School of Public Health is one of the research partners in a four year EU-funded research project (INCO-DEV) being implemented in three Southern African countries (Angola, Mozambique and South Africa). The study aims to understand how the rise of Global Health Initiatives (eg Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, PEPFAR etc) has impacted the architecture of development partnerships and country-level health systems’ functions. Closing date for applications: 20 July 2008.
Advert for a PhD position: School of Public Health, UWC
GHIs IN AFRICA: EXPERIENCES OF THREE AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH GLOBAL HEALTH INITIATIVES

The School of Public Health is one of the research partners in a four year EU-funded research project (INCO-DEV) being implemented in three Southern African countries (Angola, Mozambique and South Africa). The study aims to understand how the rise of Global Health Initiatives (eg Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, PEPFAR etc) has impacted the architecture of development partnerships and country-level health systems’ functions.

We are therefore calling for applications from South African junior researchers who will be part of a research team that has been put together to implement the GHIs project.

We want a candidate with experience or insight into policy and health systems research, wanting to enhance their research skills and/or complete a doctoral degree. The successful candidate will be responsible for conducting and managing aspects of the research project as well as producing research outputs in the form of reports, policy briefs and papers for journal publications. S/he will therefore need to have excellent writing and verbal communication skills and ideally experience in project management skills. A good masters degree in public health or in the social or behavioural sciences, and at least 3 years experience in service development or research are required. An understanding of the South African health system is desirable.

The interested candidates should in their application highlight their academic record and work and research experience. The applications should be accompanied by full curriculum vitae and the names and full contact details (email and postal addresses, telephone and cell numbers) of three referees. Further information on this post may be obtained from Dr Thubelihle Mathole on 021 959 2173 or at tmathole@uwc.ac.za or Professor David Sanders on 021 959 2132 or at dsanders@uwc.ac.za

Applications should be addressed to Ms Lynette Martin at lmartin@uwc.ac.za or to School of Public Health, UWC, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535. Tel. 121 959 2132, Fax 021 959 2872.

Closing date for applications: 20 July 2008

Africa: Programme intern - AfriCOG

2008-06-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/49075

Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) is seeking for qualified and experienced Programme Interns to provide support in all matters relating to the programme implementation functions of the organisation.
Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) is seeking for qualified and experienced Programme Interns to provide support in all matters relating to the programme implementation functions of the organisation.

Key Responsibilities include:
• Assist the Executive Director/Programme Officer in effective management of AfriCOG’s Programmes
• Participate in programme development, implementation and reporting activities in respect to such programmes.
• Undertake and support research under the direction of the Executive Director/Programme Officer.
• Assist the Executive Director/Programme Officer in organising and providing professional support as necessary to consultants, task forces, working groups etc, which are involved in the implementation of AfriCOG’s work plans.
• Assist in organisation of seminars, workshops , pubic events
• Any other duties as shall be assigned by Executive Director/Programme Officer

Qualifications
• A minimum first degree in law, economics or political science.
• Knowledge of project planning and management
• At least 2 years experience working in a non-governmental organization with knowledge of governance issues
• Demonstrated experience of writing in a variety of styles to suit different audiences
• High level of self-motivation and creativity as well as the ability to work independently when necessary, as well as as a member of a team.

If you feel that you meet the criteria, please send your details including contacts of three referees to admin@africog.org by July 5, 2008.We regret that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
We are an equal opportunity employer

Africa: Science writer - WARDA

2008-06-25

http://www.warda.org/warda/jobs.asp

The Africa Rice Center (WARDA) to mobilize applications from women scientists and professionals. Application Deadline: July 20 2008 or until the position is filled.

Kenya: Project coordinator - ACRL

2008-06-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/48985

African Council of Religious Leaders (ACRL) has established a project known as Religious Leaders Peace Initiative in the Horn of Africa (RL PIHA) and the position of a Project Co-ordinator. ACRL wishes therefore to recruit a suitable person for the position of a Project Co-ordinator.
Project coordinator - ACRL


JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Project Co-ordinator, Religious Leaders Peace Initiative for the Horn of Africa
Responsible to: Secretary General
Work Base: Nairobi and includes travel in the region
Contract: One year


PURPOSE:

The Christian – Muslim Leaders Peace Initiative on Somalia and the Horn of Africa was launched at the end of a Conference held in Dares-Salaam, Tanzania in February 2007. The objectives of the Religious Leaders Peace Initiative in the Horn of Africa are:

-To provide an impartial space to deliberate and chart out a coherent inter-faith approaches to peace building and conflict resolution in the Horn of Africa region;

-To facilitate an inter-faith response to conflicts and other relevant issues in the Horn of Africa region together with other partners by voicing the ethical, moral and spiritual values that must be the foundation of intra-state, regional and international relations;

-To enable religious leaders in the Horn of Africa region to develop and sustain active engagement in peace and security, human rights, justice, democracy and governance and socio-economic development through active accompaniment and engagement with peace building and conflict resolution processes; and

-To stimulate action for peace and justice in the Horn of Africa region through timely advocacy.


African Council of Religious Leaders (ACRL) has established a project known as Religious Leaders Peace Initiative in the Horn of Africa (RL PIHA) and the position of a Project Co-ordinator. ACRL wishes therefore to recruit a suitable person for the position of a Project Co-ordinator.

Primary responsibilities:

Practical coordination of the planning, implementation and evaluation of programme activities, including:

Responsibility for ensuring that planned programme activities take place in a timely and efficient manner
organisation of and logistical support for quarterly field visits to the region;
ensuring preparation for field visits (i.e. partner and funder meetings) is carried out;
acting as a point of contact in the ACRL office during field visits;
following up on actions arising from the visits.

2. Liaison with programme partners:

acting as primary contact with all programme partners (working group members, funders, Contact Group) to update and inform on programme progress and issues arising
negotiating practical arrangements with local Religious Leaders for the field visits which form the core of the programme work;
regular communication by telephone and email with all Contact Group members, particularly around programme monitoring and ensuring programme documentation (including monitoring and progress reports) is collated, received, accurately recorded and shared with relevant actors;
attending meetings of core group and contact group members;

3. Monitoring progress against programme objectives:

Convening and participating actively in debriefing meetings following field visits to evaluate and record activities;
Facilitating the write up of debriefing meetings and reflective evaluation sessions, and ensuring continuity of learning for subsequent field visits;
Acting as point of contact for and supporting the funding partners;

4. Programme and funding reporting:

Compiling accurate and comprehensive field visit reports from submissions by local Programme Coordinators and field visit personnel, disseminating these as required;
Maintaining the funding reporting timetable for the project, submitting all these reports to funders in a timely fashion;
Promote and strengthen networking, information sharing and co-ordination


Manage Public Relations, Campaigns and advocacy activities



PERSON SPECIFICATION:

Education and Professional Qualifications
Academic Qualifications
A Master Degree in social studies, international relations, conflict management and peace studies. Longer term experience may be considered in lieu of higher academic degree

Skills and experience required for this post include:

Essential:
At least 5 years experience work in related field
Leadership skills
Excellent organisational and management skills, including the ability to work on a number of tasks at once, and with tight deadlines
Strong writing skills, including the capacity to produce succinct reports
Ability to work independently
Systematic approach to making logistical arrangements, ability to be flexible and respond to last-minute plan changes
Inter-personal and communication skills - capacity to guide and support others to implement an agreed plan of action
Good interpersonal skills, including effective communication by email and telephone

Desirable:
Basic knowledge of the Horn Africa region
Knowledge and interest in inter-faith work
Some experience of working inter-faith organizations

Personal Qualities
Flexibility – ready to work in different environments and different cultures and faiths
Communication – ability to communicate with leaders and people at different levels of religious hierarchies
Stress management capacity

Language (s)
Excellent written and spoken English

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
Contract: 12 months 2008-2009
Probationary period: 3 months

Starting date:
July 1st 2008

Applications
Please send covering letter and CV explaining your interest in the job to Secretary General, by email to or by fax or post to the address below

Secretary General
African Council of Religious Leaders
P.O.Box 76398-00508-Nairobi-kenya
Tel: + (254-20) 3862233, 3867879
Fax +(254-20) 3870183
Email: admin@acrl-rfp.org
Website: www.acrl-rfp.org


Closing date for applications: 24th June 2008

Interviews
The dates for Interviews will be communicated to short listed candidates

Fahamu