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Zimbabwe MOU: Consult the people!

ZCTU

2008-07-22

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/action/49599

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) welcomes the current moves towards a negotiated settlement to the ongoing political and economic crisis which has gripped Zimbabwe for the past ten years.

While we are still of the view that President Thabo Mbeki is not the best person to lead the mediation, we take note of the inclusion of the AU and the UN on the expanded mediation team.

We are reliably informed through rumours that an expanded mediation team, led by South African president Thabo Mbeki, is currently in Zimbabwe to facilitate the signing of the MoU.

Our concern however is that, there has not been openness and wider consultation on the drafting of the MoU. On behalf of labour, the MoU has not been availed to us for scrutiny or comment. The only time we have had a feel of the MoU, has been through the media, where we are told that MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had at one time refused to sign it. Nothing more has been said about the document.

The process seems to have been left to the three antagonizing parties, that is, the MDC – T, the MDC – M and Zanu PF.

The current problems in Zimbabwe now require, not only a political solution, but concerted approach which involves all arms of the civic and political world.

Zimbabwe is not made up of supporters of Zanu PF and MDC alone, but a plethora of groupings which have to be consulted if the process is to gain wider acceptance by the majority.

On behalf of labour, we call upon the facilitators of the dialogue process to include civic groupings, churches, labour and political parties in the negotiation process.

It is our hope and wish that the above will be taken seriously for the outcome of the negotiating process to reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe and not self seeking power sharing agendas.


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

New report on Firestone human rights abuses in Liberia

SAMFU et al

2008-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/action/49610

A new report details a wide range of abuses occurring on a rubber plantation in Liberia owned by the Bridgestone/Firestone tire company. The report, titled “The Heavy Load: A Demand for Fundamental Changes at the Bridgestone/Firestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia” was published by Liberian-based Save My Future Foundation (SAMFU) and exposes poor living and working conditions for rubber tappers, a meager pension system, barriers to educational and health access, water and air pollution and violations of workers’ right to organize. The report is also one of the first examinations of the role that several different security forces operating on the plantation play in violating the rights of workers, their families and communities surrounding the plantation.

Robert Nyahn of the Save My Future Foundation said, “There is time for everything, the time for exploitation and abuse is over; it is now time for Firestone to clean up the ugly and unimaginable past and begin to make fundamental changes that reflect a company committed to contributing to the growth and development of a developing country. With our hands joined together we will no longer accept this kind of evil.”

Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studiessaid, “This groundbreaking report shows that the heaviest load in Firestone’s largest rubber operation is still being born by the women and children of Liberia. After 82 years of exploitation masked by a massive public relations campaign, Firestone must be held accountable for its continued violations of worker rights and abuse of the environment. Liberian workers and future generations need good corporate neighbors. Firestone can and must do better.”

Tim Newman, child labor campaigner at the International Labor Rights Forum said, “This report reveals the widespread abuse of workers’ rights on the Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia. As the first independent and democratically elected union leaders on the plantation negotiate a new contract, it is important that Firestone take the demands of workers and their allies to heart. Eighty two years of exploitation is enough and the time is now for a new day on Firestone’s rubber plantation in Liberia.”

Firestone has operated the world’s largest rubber plantation in Harbel, Liberia since 1926. As the report shows, rubber tappers have a daily production quota they must meet in order to receive their daily wage which is just over $3 a day. As a result of the unreasonably high quota, workers must bring family members to work with them or hire subcontractors using their meager salaries. Additionally, workers must carry two 75-pound buckets of raw latex on sticks on their shoulders and work without protective gear. Workers live in crowded shacks without electricity, running water, indoor latrines.

The new report is a follow up to SAMFU’s 2005 report on human rights violations and environmental abuses on the Firestone rubber plantation called “Firestone: The Mark of Modern Slavery.”

*The complete report can be read online by clicking here.

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

Friends of the Earth Africa on the food crisis

Friends of the Earth Africa

2008-07-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/action/49481

Members of FoE Africa from Ghana, Togo, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Nigeria, Mauritius, Tunisia and Swaziland met for five days in Accra, Ghana reviewing issues that confront the African environment. A particular focus was placed on the current food crisis and agrofuels on the continent.

FoE Africa groups deplored the characterization of Africa as a chronically hungry continent; and rejected the projection of the continent as an emblem of poverty and stagnation and thus as a continent dependent on food aid. FoE Africa reiterated the fact that the agricultural fortunes of the continent have been dimmed by externally generated neoliberal policies including Structural Adjustment Programmes imposed on the continent by the World Bank, IMF and other IFIs.
FoE Africa expressed disgust at the manner by which the burden for solutions to every crisis faced by the North is shifted unto the Africa. Examples include the climate change and energy crises wherein the burden has been inequitably placed on the continent. Africa is forced to adapt to climate impacts and she is also being targeted as the farmland for production of agrofuels to feed the factories and machines in the North.

FoE Africa resolved as follows:

1. Africa contributed very little to climate change and the North owes her an historical debt to bear the costs of adaptation without seeking to further burden the continent through so-called carbon finance mechanisms.

2. Africa must no longer be used as a dumping ground for agricultural products that compete with local production and destroy local economies.

3. Africa must not be opened for contamination by GMOs through food aid and/or agrofuels

4. Africans must reclaim sovereignty over their agriculture and truncate attempts by agribusiness to turn the so-called food crisis into money-making opportunities through price fixing, hoarding and other unfair trade practices.

5. We reject the promotion of conversion of swaths of African land into monoculture plantations and farms for agrofuels production on the guise that some of such lands are marginal lands. We note that the concept of marginal lands is a cloak for further marginalising the poor in Africa through their being dispossessed and dislocated from their territories.

6. Africa has been subsidising world development for a long time and this has to change and African resources must be used for African development to the benefit of local communities.

FoE Africa calls on all communities of Africa to mobilise, resist and change unwholesome practices that entrench servitude and exploitation on our continent.

Signed: Ghana; Togo; Nigeria; Cameroon; Sierra Leone; Tunisia; Swaziland; South Africa; Mauritius


*Statement by Friends of the Earth Africa at her Annual General Meeting held at Accra, Ghana, 7-11 July 2008

*For more information contact: Theo Anderson, Friends of the Earth Ghana, Coordinator at theokwesi@yahoo.co.uk

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

Petition: Bring Israeli army torturer to justice!

B'Tselem

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/action/49705

I hope you have all seen reporting over the past few days about the video of the shooting of Ashraf Abu Rahma in the Palestinian town of Ni'lin and the obvious abusive use of force by the Israeli Occupation Forces. If not, briefly, Rahma was handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten, and eventually shot at close range by a rubber coated steel bullet fired by an IOF soldier. The event was documented by a 14 year old girl who captured this human rights abuse on video from the window of her home. The video shows that Rahma was handcuffed and blindfolded when he was shot, and clearly identifies the face of the soldier who shot him. Residents of Ni’lin have since seen this soldier, who continued to serve his unit in Ni’lin. The shooting took place in the presence of a lieutenant colonel, who held Rahma’s arm as the soldier deliberately fired the shot.

As the petition notes: "The shooting of Ashraf Abu Rahma is consistent with the abuse that Palestinians suffer at the hands of the IOF, and consistent with the abuse that the people of Ni'lin suffer as they exercise their basic human right to protest against the construction of the illegal apartheid wall that is being built on their land....."

The petition demands that the soldier in question, his lieutenant commander, and all others involved in this incident are brought to justice. This shouldn't even be a question.

Please consider signing the petition and please circulate as they need as many signatures as possible within this week.

http://www.petitiononline.com/nilin/petition.html

Video can be watched at: http://www.btselem.org/english/Firearms/20080721_Nilin_Shooting.asp


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

What Palestine is to me

An interview with Fatima Hassan

Mukoma Wa Ngugi

2008-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/49608

Fatima Hassan, is a prominent South African human rights lawyer who was part of a South African Human Rights Delegation that in early July visited the Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The delegation undertook the mission in order to: "support those, Palestinian and Israeli, working daily, by non-violent means, to bring an end to the post-1967 Israeli occupation, to end all human rights abuses and breaches of international law, and to move towards peaceful relations and a just settlement...to express solidarity with those who are living in oppressive, restrictive and dangerous circumstances; and to to draw attention to the injustice of the occupation and its devastating consequences." Mukoma Wa Ngugi interviewed Fatima Hassan on the solidarity visit and the implications of the Palestinian struggle for Africans.
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PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Well, let's get straight to it: A Independent Newspaper article quotes you as saying "The issue of separate roads, [different registration] of cars driven by different nationalities, the indignity of producing a permit any time a soldier asks for it, and of waiting in long queues in the boiling sun at checkpoints just to enter your own city, I think is worse than what we experienced during apartheid." But the same article goes on to say that "Ms Hassan herself said she thought the apartheid comparison was a potential "red herring." Can you speak more about this?

FATIMA HASSAN: I think that the debate/discourse about whether this is Apartheid or not is not helpful. Too often people get bogged down in whether this IS Apartheid or not. And then use this as the measure of whether the situation in Palestine and Israel is intolerable from a legal and moral standpoint. Of course there are similarities in respect of the indignity and inhumaneness of the consequences of the occupation. And of course people in Palestine and Israel call the wall the 'apartheid wall' because it is premised on a policy of separation and closure.

But the context is different and the debate on whether this is Apartheid or not deflects from the real issue of occupation, encroachment of more land, building of the wall and the indignity of the occupation and the conduct of the military and police. I saw the check point at Nablus, I met with Palestinians in Hebron, I met the villagers who are against the wall- I met Israeli's and Palestinians who have lost family members, their land and homes. They have not lost hope though ---and they believe in a joint struggle against the occupation and are willing in non-violent means to transform the daily direct and indirect forms of injustice and violence.

To sum up – there is a transgression that is continuing unabated– call it what you want, apartheid/separation/closure/security – it remains a transgression.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Can you speak about the Palestinians in the West Bank and living under Israeli occupation. Are they struggling for inclusion and equal rights within Israel or for a viable Palestinian state?

FATIMA HASSAN: I think I have realised that physically and geographically --with the massive encroachment of land –that a 2 state solution may not be realistic. But it is not for me to determine the solutions for people who live there.

As for Palestinians, they stressed to us that they are against the occupation, not against Israel or Jews, but against the occupation and denial of human rights. What they want depends on who you speak to and where they live. Of course, everyone we spoke to stressed inclusion, dignity, autonomy.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Can South Africa serve as source of instruction to both Palestinians and Israelis? In what ways?

FATIMA HASSAN: In some ways yes and in some ways perhaps not. In SA we agreed to accept each other not as enemies but as people first , then we talked, and still do. As Dennis Davis from our delegation commented – 'they are talking divorce whereas we (SA) talked marriage'. There are ways in which we cannot be instructive because we have limited experience – we had invisible barriers and one road for everyone.

They have barriers, check points almost everywhere and different roads! They have children stoning other children who are trying to go to school (Hebron) – we had Bantu education and a language forced on us but not the scenarios we saw and heard of in Hebron.

We did not have deeply religious views and claims defining the injustice and land grabs. In fact faith based organisations mobilised against apartheid. In SA we have some (limited) experience on race and dealing with racism ---but not a racism rooted in religion.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Is there any instruction for the Palestinians in the South African struggle against apartheid?

International solidarity and exposure of injustice is critical. We used several means to struggle- inter solidarity and sanctions, limited armed struggle and mass moblisation. The Israeli and Palestinian joint struggle is perhaps the best place for us to offer solidarity as our struggle was also inclusive and mass based.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Do South Africans have a special responsibility to Palestinians? Is there historical solidarity between the PLO and the ANC?

FATIMA HASSAN: I think you have to ask the ANC about historical alliances…But of course they were historically linked.

Iowe any community and people around the world solidarity if they face injustice anywhere in the world or in my own country- I owe it as a human being, and as South African - because they provided solidarity to us during years of terrible race based oppression. Yes we have a special obligation to condemn and respond to injustice given our own shameful history.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: In the past African states have been very vocal in their support of Palestinians. For example in the 1970's a number of African countries cut diplomatic ties with Israel. What kind of actions can/should the present generation of African leaders take?

FATIMA HASSAN: Several small steps first- build a consensus and voice to condemn oppression and injustice in Israel and elsewhere.

Ensure that companies that benefit from building the wall and benefit from the occupation are not given business.

Ensure that they visit ordinary villagers and peace activists who are engaging in joint non-violent struggles as opposed to only meeting career politicians from one or other 'side'.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Did you get a sense of the ongoing struggle between Hamas and the Fatah movement? What in your opinion is a constructive response from Africans to this split?

FATIMA HASSAN: We only had 5 days of visits so this is impossible to answer properly. When I went to several villages there were activists who were originally part of both movements now working together to feed children, educate them and provide humanitarian relief as well as working with Israeli activists in a non-violent struggle.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What is the effect of the wall-barrier on prospects for peace and on the Palestinians?

On the wall, fence, separation barrier, I think it is the biggest mistake and obstacle to peace-- it's physical presence, its emphasis on increased security, its ability to cut off people from their land, schools, neighbours and homes and from Israelis and Jews, will and cannot make anyone think that peace is even on the negotiating table.

The parts of the wall that we saw, the many demolition orders that had to be taken against parts of the fence/ wall show an absolute failure to understand the livelihoods and lives of people on both sides of the wall- the wall has meant that thousands of Palestinians have lost access to their land and livelihoods (about 250 000 are affected– with 8000 Palestinian families in the safety zone).

The wall cuts off neighbourhoods and to me only protects settlements – might I add that that many of the settlements are actually illegal and are considered illegal outposts. For it to work they have implemented complex permit systems – even a horse needs a permit to get across. It really is a shame.
PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Do you see a one state or a two state solution? Considering that a one state solution is not even on the table, and it does not seem that Israel will allow for a viable independent and thriving Palestinian state, how do you see one of the two solutions working?

I cannot comment on the prospects because I visited for 5 days only- I do not believe that I can comment on solutions- I went to learn. Off course one must be hopeful for a single state based on human rights for all with dignity and inclusion for all.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Finally, we never get to hear about Jewish/Palestinian solidarity movements yet they exist. Can you speak more about this?

FATIMA HASSAN: There is a growing number of such movements – they may be small and 'fringe' right now but I believe that their message is simple and universal- non-violence and inclusion of all people that make up Israeli and Palestinian communities. They will grow in strength and with our solidarity.

Combatants for Peace, Anarchists against the wall, Breaking the Silence, Bereaved Parents Families Forum are just some examples…And the Popular Committees in villages, Ta'ayush, Children of Abraham as well.

Their greatest strength right now is that they see everyone as human beings in a common struggle for peace; their greatest threat is that they talk about peace and human rights – they often told us that the greatest threat to removing barriers is fear – I think they are right. People are scared in Israel and Palestine – they are scared of peace.


*Interview conducted by Mukoma Wa Ngugi, co-editor of Pambazuka News.

*For more information on the solidarity visit, please click here: South African Human Rights Delegation.


The primary intention of our visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories was to understand the reality. Rather than attempting to bring solutions, or to spend our time here debating solutions, we came to learn, and to witness first-hand the suffering, pain, anger and human rights abuses. While it is clear to us that there should be freedom and security for all who live here, our deepest concern is that suffering and human rights be addressed as the basis for moving towards a resolution. We have been deeply affected by what we have seen, and intend to engage in this regard, in our personal capacities, with all our communities and constituencies. We intend to be sensitive to the anxieties and perspectives that exist, and to use our visit to promote thoughtful discussion within and between our communities.

We also came to support what we understood to be a new and small movement of Palestinian-Israeli joint non-violent struggle. We found this, and it surprised us. Our hosts have proved that Israelis and Palestinians can and are working together to bring freedom and equality for all people in Israel and Palestine.

This work is characterised by mutual respect, true partnership, and a willingness to take personal risks for each other. We are immensely struck and moved by the courage and integrity of these people. Amidst the increasing difficulties under which all people are living, this work brings hope and the promise of a real peace, with justice, equality and security, in the future.

We would particularly like to recognise the joint work being done in occupied territory in Silwan, Bidu, Bil'in, Budrus, Na'alin and Hebron. This work is being done by the popular committees of these villages and cities, along with organisations including Ta'ayush, Children of Abraham, Anarchists Against the Wall, Combatants for Peace, Breaking the Silence, Active Stills, the Parents Circle, B'Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Coalition of Women for Peace, and Yesh Din.


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

Freedom in a fortnight: A view from the trenches

Jenni Williams

2008-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49601

This view represents a consulted way forward recommended by Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA/MOZA). We are an organisation owned by its 60,000 members who hold qualifications in daily survival and degrees in nonviolence despite the deeply polarised political environment in Zimbabwe since 2000. WOZA was born in the community and seeks to draw the attention of preoccupied politicians to people?s needs, namely bread and butter issues; or as WOZA likes to put it, bread and roses issues - bread representing food and roses representing the need for lasting dignity.

At the moment, the highway that is Zimbabwe has two vehicles going in opposite directions, Zanu PF, the so-called 'liberation war party' and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). These parties speed along preoccupied with their own importance, hardly ever taking the off-ramp to consult with the suffering masses.

WHAT DO WE WANT POLICY MAKERS TO FOCUS ON?

The reality on the ground for Zimbabweans right now is tantamount to torture. For representatives of political parties to sit at the negotiating table cutting an elite power-sharing deal whilst ignoring the crashing economy and the undeclared civil war by Mugabe against ordinary people is a crime against our humanity. We suspect that they do not understand the day-to-day struggle of ordinary Zimbabweans. As a result WOZA is determined to hold our placards up high to get their attention and demand that they address our needs.
Our placards will be drawing attention to the following points:

1. Daily life is form of torture

- We cannot get food without being forced to take sides with the ruling Zanu PF who currently controls access to all food in the country. As we have seen before during election periods, they have also banned distribution of food by international NGOs so that they can further control our fundamental need to eat. Many of our members try to get humanitarian assistance but because they speak out, are punished by Zanu PF and denied food or blackmailed into support in exchange for food. Hunger is the price for their courage.

- As Zimbabweans go about their daily activities, youth militia, police, army and war veterans subject them to harassment and intimidation. Even a neighbour can no longer be trusted, as with the widespread hunger, one can be sold out in exchange for food. Lists of names of all those that oppose the regime exist at ward, district, province and national level. This highly sophisticated ?reign of terror? was re-established between March 29 and June 27. It is an open secret that Zanu PF did not campaign in their normal violent manner in the run up to March 29 and therefore lost the presidential race. They reverted to type and put in place their structures of evil after March 29, resulting in the farcical run-off and Mugabe inaugurating himself.

2. UNDECLARED CIVIL WAR DURING THABO MBEKI'S WATCH

It was during the SADC mediation process, led by Thabo Mbeki, that Mugabe has continued and intensified his campaign of murder, mutilation, abduction and rape. As a result our placards will also state that we no longer have confidence in Thabo Mbeki. During his watch, babies have been mutilated for their parents? democratic beliefs ? their blood is on his hands. The South African mediation team stressed that the aim of the mediation was to have ?an election whose result cannot be contested?. Yet two elections have been held and the results of both are contested. A second SADC team was mandated to deal with the economic chaos but they seem to have disappeared or have become too baffled by too many zeros to do anything.

We therefore demand that:

- The Africa Union and SADC have provided a reference group to the mediation team and it is our view that the political parties also need an on-the-ground reference group made up of civic society representatives who can provide input and receive feedback.

- The status of the second SADC team dealing with the economy is clarified and their recommendations be made public so Zimbabweans can know what is to be done about the crashing economy.

- The United Nations is allowed to come in to assess humanitarian needs and set up structures to address these urgently.

3. Zimbabweans have lost faith in politicians' ability to return life to the living. We do not think power sharing or a government of national unity (GNU) can work in Zimbabwe. We need an independent and impartial transitional authority under African leadership.

African leaders should not dictate that a GNU be the only solution to our crisis. Zimbabwe is not Kenya and their solutions cannot be imposed on us, especially with our historical experiences of 1987. We need a solution to address the specific of the Zimbabwe crisis. In Zimbabwe, the military elite runs the show not only on military might but also on political partisanship. For the ordinary soldier, police officer or prison officer to keep their job they have to follow political orders. This is the situation at any police station in the country. A transitional authority would be better placed to address this problem. A neutral person from Africa must be found who, supported by Zimbabwean technocrats, can form an interim authority that will neutralise the pillars of state, including the police. The violence can only be stopped when the victims can once again report abuses to an impartial body and trust that the perpetrators will be arrested and put on trial no matter who they are. For this to happen, magistrates and judges will also need to know that they will also be watched to ensure that there is justice through the courts for all equally.

We would want an engendered transitional authority to have the following mandate during their eighteen-month term of office:

a. Stop the political violence. Depoliticise the police, army and other defence forces. Any political violence must be reported, investigated and prosecuted through the courts without any form of favour or political influence.

b. Dialogue with the business and professional community to develop policy designed to bring about economic recovery.

c. Supervise the addressing of the humanitarian crisis together with the United Nations.

d. Even constitution making has become the sole preserve of politicians. It was the constitutional referendum in 2000 that intensified political violence with catastrophic results and therefore we need an independent person to oversee the consultative process. A transitional authority must neutralise this position and return constitution making back to the people of Zimbabwe.

e. Depoliticise the issue of land reform, conduct a land audit and consult on a fair and equitable land reform programme. If the economy is to be stabilised, we need our land to be made productive fast.

f. Form a body to consult and develop a transitional justice plan of action designed to bring healing and reconciliation and then deal with justice and restitution for victims in the new Zimbabwe.

g. Bring about a truly independent electoral commission to oversee first a referendum on the new constitution and then a truly free and fair election process and a peaceful transition to the winner.

Thousands of WOZA members have been arrested for exercising their freedoms of expression and assembly. Some were even denied bail and imprisoned for marching to the Zambian Embassy to deliver a petition to the SADC chair, Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa. They remain undaunted by this repression and fully intend to continue to peacefully march for bread and roses, placards held high until their messages are taken seriously at the negotiation table and in the corridors of power. Of course if they had civic representatives at the table, their voice would be better heard than from the streets.


*Jenni Williams is the WOZA National Coordinator.

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

Interrogating official mechanisms for tackling climate change

Nnimmo Bassey

2008-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49611

Climate Change is accepted today even by die hard sceptics as a real crisis that must be urgently tackled for the preservation of the earth in a form that would sustain human and other life forms. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the best known body of climate scientists who accepts that most of the observed warming of the last 50 years is likely due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations due to human activities [1].

It has also been recognised as a human rights issue by the UN. There have been several conferences, studies and multilateral discussions on the issue. There has also been plenty of foot dragging by governments who erroneously think that prodigious carbon emission is a mark of progress and development.

We note that the global North has historically contributed disproportionately to the amounts of greenhouse gasses (GHS) in the atmosphere whereas the global South has been saddled with the impacts and is now being forced into a corner from where she has no option but to seek means for mitigation of the impacts and adapting to them as well. It is instructive as we shall see that the slant of these official frameworks and mechanisms have been intimately tied to trade and have had the main slant of opening up opportunities for huge financial benefits for polluting industries while the South will be further pushed into the debt trap through the strategies of the World Bank and other international financial players.

This paper aims to review governmental frameworks for addressing climate change with an underlying premise that there is an urgent need for the delinking of carbon emission from positive development.

The KYOTO PROTOCOL

The Kyoto protocol will effectively end in the year 2012. The protocol had set very minimal targets for reduction of carbon emissions that was to be achieved between 1990 and 2012. Major emitters such as the USA and Australia did not accept these targets. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other analysts have shown that even if the targets set by Kyoto were met, the climate crisis would not have been sufficiently tackled.
One of the key failures of the Kyoto protocol is that it did not unambiguously pin the blame for the problem on hydrocarbons. As long as this was the case, the frameworks for handling the problem were fundamentally flawed. Conventional wisdom instructs us to tackle the root causes of problems rather than the symptoms if we wish to radically pursue long lasting solutions.

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 at one of the annual conferences of the parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It finally came into force on 16 February 2005, after 127 countries (responsible for 61 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions) had ratified it. The Protocol requires that the industrialized nations should reduce their emissions at an average of 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

The delay in adoption of the protocol was largely due to the withdrawal of the USA, the global giant in carbon emission, in 2001. It is instructive to note that before the USA withdrew they had effectively influenced the language of the protocol and firmly planted the bent to carbon mercantilism or “free market” environmentalism. In fact they got the world to accept the market language and concept at the 1997 Kyoto meeting in exchange for USA support that never materialized [2]. The world is still stuck with the mindset of these untested ideas to this day [3]. The protocol was set on a market ideology and this has blocked the pathway to real and just solutions to climate change.

It is useful to note that although The USA has a mere 5% of the world’s population she emits nearly 25% of the world’s greenhouse gases from the burning of oil, gas, and coal – for driving cars, producing electricity, and running industries. With so much carbon burden, it can be seen that the country would not readily want to accede to emission caps that would help keep the earth’s temperature from rising to or above 20 Celsius over pre-industrial levels. Already the earth has warmed by almost 0.80 C since the Industrial Revolution. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its 4th report estimated that should temperatures rise to 2.0-2.40 C, greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by 50-85% relative to 2000 levels by the year 2050. If nothing is done to check the rise in temperature, up to 30 % of plant and animal species under threat of extinction.

CARBON TRADING

A major loophole in the Kyoto Protocol is that countries that are unwilling to achieve the target set by the protocol can continue with their emission binge but would compensate for such emissions in three possible ways.

1. Such countries can buy emissions rights from countries who do not exhaust their emissions quota.

2. Industrialised countries could invest in forestry and soil conservation projects elsewhere with the understanding that such projects would lead to absorption of carbon to equally compensate for their continued emissions.

3. Such countries can also invest abroad in projects that would save on greenhouse gases. Such projects are known as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and are often carried out in countries that do not have obligatory limits. They can also invest in Joint Implementation (JI) projects in other industrialised countries.

Thus, the major thrust of carbon trading and carbon offset strategies is to transfer the responsibilities for the impacts of climate change to the South while the polluters reap profits from the new business built upon disasters. In other words, actions that ought to call for penalties are now overlooked because of some queer financial mechanisms that leave the environment at the mercy of powerful polluters. Carbon trade and other false solutions as genetic modified organisms, carbon sinks, ocean fertilisation, carbon storage, agrofuels, among others, are formulas that leave aside the oil industry, the number one sector responsible for global warming [4].

These mechanisms aim to transfer the responsibilities and the impacts to the South, creating new threats for the peoples such as conversion of indigenous territories into plantations, land grabbing and displacements of populations. These mechanisms provide a cover for forests to be given to private businesses and equally aid the privatisation of protected areas and natural forests; occupation of peasant and agricultural lands, and the deprivation of the local communities of their rights and livelihoods. All these mean a subsidy to the polluter/business and a stimulus for energy guzzling countries in the North, to maintain their production and consumption models.

THE POST 2012 SCENARIO

Long before the meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December of 2007 at Bali, it was already clear that the most polluting countries are not interested in fulfilling the agreements reached in international meetings on climate. Their energies were now geared towards a post-2012 design.

A pointer to this was clear from the G8 meeting in 2005 at Gleneagles where the leaders asked the World Bank (WB) to prepare a framework to address climate change. The Bank obliged and produced a document with the title Clean Energy and Development: Towards an Investment Framework” by April 2006.

This was an excellent opportunity for the WB to position itself as a core player in governance of climate change. The bank produced its Strategic Framework on Climate Change and Development for the Bank Group in 2008 and that document is awaiting approval by the Bank’s Board later on this year. Meanwhile the WB has a new proposal entitled Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) that we will look at briefly.

The CIFs are supposedly aimed at “helping developing countries address urgent climate change challenges.” Analysts believe however that this is just another strategy by the bank to capitalize on the current concerns around climate change [5].

In mid-May 2008, representatives of the World Bank, regional development banks, and 40 industrialised and developing nations held their third design meeting in Potsdam, Germany. They came up with a final proposal that includes a Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and a Strategic Climate Fund (SCF). The SCF is to serve as an umbrella mechanism for funds previously proposed on forests and adaptation [6].

THE CIFS ARE GROUPED IN TWO DISTINCT FUNDS:

* Clean technology fund (CTF) with a target size of between US$5-10 billion. It is not clear what “clean technology” means and it is suspected that this would fund no so clean technologies such as the so-called clean coal projects.

* Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) with a size of US$300-500 million, which would be the channel for funds meant for adaptation or mitigation programmes. This fund is expected to help reinforce National Adaptation Programs of Action by mainstreaming climate resilience. It is proposed that funds made available be given out as repayable loans in ‘vulnerable countries.’ This is clearly a ploy to push impacted countries further down the debt trap hole and cannot be acceptable.

* A further fund is the Forest Investment Fund (FIF) which may be channelled through the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). This fund is to be created early 2009 and will complement existing carbon finance mechanisms.

We noted earlier that the major culprit in the greenhouse debacle is the hydrocarbons industry and that they were not targeted by the Kyoto protocol. The WB is a major funding source for hydrocarbon projects and continues to do so even after its own internal Extractive Industries Review recommended that the bank should stop funding coal projects and phase out support for other greenhouse-generating projects. The World Bank is clearly not the best agency to handle issues aimed at tackling climate change.

Oilwatch International notes that the “World Bank (WB) is one of the biggest public financiers of the fossil-fuel industry and one of the biggest intermediaries in the carbon market. Since 1992 to 2004, the World Bank has assigned $11 billion for more than 120 fossil-fuel projects (projects that represent 20% of all emissions per year). In the carbon market, the WB currently controls about $2 billion with a 13% profit on each transaction. It will now become the manager of more than $50 billion needed by developing nations to adapt to climate change [7].”

The World Bank’s attention to mitigation and adaptation in country assistance strategies has been adjudged as “inconsistent, and over the past three years, only about 30 per cent of its financing in the energy sector has met two out of the four criteria for ‘integrating’ climate change into decision making. Oil and gas projects and coal fired power continue to play a significant role in its portfolio [8].”

MARKET FORCES

Neo liberal advocates would have us believe that free market economy is the optimum space for countries to freely compete in a win-win manner. Evidence shows however that these so-called free markets are closely monitored and controlled and the market forces appear to march to order.

One case in point is the positioning of the World Bank as a key player in the efforts to slow climate change when it is known that this same entity has contributed immensely to the problem. Another case of interest is the constituting of committees for national and global climate governance. In Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is a key player in the climate framework. To imagine that the NNPC would help tackle climate change in Nigeria amounts to living in denial and making the defendant a judge in his own case.

At the global case there is the situation where an employee (Mr Harald Dovland) of a company (Poyry plc) that profits from promoting carbon trading is a key figure in the UNFCCC and in fact chairs the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex 1 Parties under the Kyoto Protocol. This working group is known as AWG for short. The company Mr Dovland works for publishes the Global Carbon Report to help ‘market observers, analysts, policy makers and carbon market professionals in finance, energy and carbon-intensive industries’ understand and exploit the carbon market [9].

AVAILABLE FUNDS

Funds available for mitigation and adaptation programmes under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol stand at over US$ 300 million. These can be accessed under four major fund groups:

1. Least Developed Countries Fund: this is made up of voluntary contributions from industrialised nations and is to be used in National Adaptation programs of Action.

2. Special Climate Fund for developing nations

3. Strategic Priority on Adaptation: this is made up of funds from bilateral cooperation agencies and includes funds assigned by the Global Environment Facility for pilot schemes.

4. The Adaptation Fund ratified at the December 2007 Bali conference. This fund would be built up from 2% of funds from CDM projects and from private donors as well. The fund would compel impacted countries to embark on the so-called CDM projects.

It is interesting to note that, according to the UNDP, multilateral aid for adaptation totals only US$ 26 million and this is comparable to the amount the United Kingdom spends on flood prevention weekly.

There is no agreement as yet about the actual design of these funds. While countries such as Austria, prefer for the money to be under the control of the World Bank board where they have representation, the UK prefers concessionary loans rather than grants because of domestic budget constraints and the US is said to support more grant finance [10].

A briefing paper by Third World Network (TWN) says that: "the design of the CIFs remain premised on an aid framework for climate change financing which places the parties to the financing in a donor-donee relationship contrary to international climate change principles and obligations". The briefing paper further states, "the language in the draft proposals implies recognition of the UNFCCC principles as merely guidance for policy agendas of the CIF, rather than as binding internationally negotiated commitments of state parties which must be respected".

ENDING AT HOME: NIGERIA

We note here that one of the attempts at claiming CDM in Nigeria is with regard to the West African Pipeline Gas Project (WAGP) using as a main plank the myth that the project would significantly reduce gas flaring in the Niger Delta. Should the application succeed, Chevron and other promoters of WAGP would receive carbon credits or financial rewards for halting a criminal activity for which they ought to be held criminally accountable. In plain language, any project that reduces or eliminates gas flaring is simply doing what should have been done decades ago and is not doing anyone a favour, but merely meeting a legal as well as ethical obligation.

As a leader in Africa, Nigeria ought to lead the way in drawing up strategies and frameworks that would lead to true solutions that would not place burdens on an already burdened peoples. Citizens have a duty to remind governments that the time of aping externally generated market based solutions that lead to further exploitation of the continent has long come. When we adopt programmes like SEEDS [11], NEEDS and even the MDGs, we must be clear that these are not home-grown even if they are outcomes of multilateral discussions. Such an acknowledgement helps to show to citizens the level of strategic thinking of governments.

Elsewhere in the South polluting corporations in the North have planted eucalyptus and other exotic trees plantations, sucked up water bodies and left the people high and dry; and claimed carbon credits in the bargain. These so called CDM projects have led to conversion of large tracks of forested lands into plantations in the name of agrofuels.

The issues we have reviewed are fundamentally justice issues and the frameworks and funds for combating climate change must recognise this. Funds must be additional to aid. The rich industrialised countries owe it as an obligation, if not a debt to places that have provided a lot of the resources they have used to transform their societies while plunging others into situations from which adaptation is now presented as the only lifeline. Carbon trading and programmes built around it are not the solution to climate change. At best it offers polluting industries opportunity to sin and reap benefits from their sins. They do this along with their supporting financial institutions. This is unfair, unjust, and unacceptable and has to stop.

The entire carbon trading sham has been rightly condemned by environmental and social justice actors, in particular the Climate Justice Now! coalition that rejects carbon trading and demands that it is time to put in place genuine solutions based on the premises of: "reduced consumption; huge financial transfers from North to South based on historical responsibility and ecological debt for adaptation and mitigation costs paid for by redirecting military budgets, innovative taxes and debt cancellation; leaving fossil fuels in the ground and investing in appropriate energy-efficiency and safe, clean and community-led renewable energy; rights-based resource conservation that enforces Indigenous land rights and promotes peoples' sovereignty over energy, forests, land and water; and sustainable family farming and peoples' food sovereignty.”

* Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action based in Nigeria.

*This Paper was presented at a Media Training Workshop on Climate Change organised by Environmental Rights Action in Benin City, Nigeria 26 June 2008.

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


Notes:

1. Larry Lohmann. Carbon Trading, A critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatisation and Power, Development Dialogue, The Corner House, September 2006

2. Patrick Bond. From False to Real Solutions for Climate Change http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bond060108.html

3. Larry Lohmann’s Carbon Trading is very informative on this and related subjects

4. Oilwatch International’s position on Adaptation to Climate Change, June 2008

5. See FoEI briefing paper entitled Why the World Bank Climate Investment Funds Should be Stopped, June 2008 at http://action.foe.org/t/3877/content.jsp?content_KEY=4176

6. Bretton Woods Project: Critical voices on the World Bank and IMF

Donor cartel undercuts finance for renewables Bank's climate funds finalised despite concerns, Update 61. 17 June 2008. See at http://brettonwoodsproject.org/art.shtml?x=561826

7. Oilwatch International Position on Adaptation to Climate Change, June 2008

8. World Resource Institute, June 2008. Quoted in Bretton Woods Project Update 61.

9. Nicola Bullard, Climate Negotiations: Who is Harald? New Internationalist, June 2008. P.26

10. Bretton Woods Project Update 61

11. SEEDS: States Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies, etc

Women worst hit by food crisis

Kathambi Kinoti

2008-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49602

The current food crisis is yet another reminder of the feminisation of poverty. Women produce most of the food in poor countries, yet they have less access to seed, fertilisers and extension services. They are also the most hungry -- about seventy per cent of the people who do not have access to enough food are women and girls. Women form the bulk of the working poor -- they toil long hours without reaping enough to enable them to climb out of the dollar-a-day absolute poverty bracket. In some countries women widowed by HIV and AIDS are routinely disinherited, and in these and many other countries women's lower cultural or legal status means that they do not own the land they till. The food crisis has inevitably taken a greater toll on women, and consequently the well-being of whole communities is affected.

Some of the grim statistics are as follows [1]:

- Food prices have risen 55 percent from June 2007 to February 2008, including an 87 percent increase in the cost of rice in March.

- Households in developing countries spend an average of 70 percent of their incomes on food, compared to the 15 to 18 percent that households spend in industrialized countries.

- Even before the food crisis hit, an estimated 7 out of 10 of the world's hungry were women and girls.

- Rural women alone produce half of the world's food and 60% to 80% of the food in most developing countries, but receive less than 10% of credit provided to farmers.
At the recently concluded United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Security Summit in Rome, delegates promised increased commitment to fighting hunger and to developing agriculture. The Summit was not intended to be a pledging conference but several donors announced that they would make financial contributions to enable countries hardest hit by the food crisis to grow enough food to feed their populations [2].

Representatives of women's organisations attending a recently concluded FAO African regional consultation reiterated the fact that "It is widely acknowledged that improved women's access, control and ownership of land/natural and productive resources, is a key factor in eradicating hunger and rural poverty. This has been restated in [several] framework[s] of international commitments. . . . However, there has not been concerted international action to address the question of women's access, control and ownership of land/natural and productive resources in Africa [3]."

The food crisis can be attributed to the global market economy; an economy that undervalues the labour of women -- productive and reproductive -- and of the poor in general. According to a statement released by the women's organisations attending the FAO African regional meeting, "The overall situation is that in the face of increased competition and conflict over land rights for mining, development, logging and other economic activities and as a result of trends towards market-based land reforms, and environmental and health disasters, African women are fast losing their already precarious access to land and resources. HIV-positive women or widows and children orphaned by HIV and AIDS risk losing all claims to family land and natural resources [4]."

Countries have often had no choice but to integrate into the global economy to the detriment of their citizens. The international financial institutions insist that poor countries' governments divest from providing adequate support to local agricultural production and food security. Protesters around the world have decried the decline of food production in favour of crops for biofuels as an alternative source of energy. The energy crisis itself is fuelled by the global market economy.

The current global economic set-up ensures that profit is prioritised over economic human rights. Notwithstanding the numerous commitments to human rights, no end to poverty is in sight. The very institutions that are charged with the responsibility of upholding and protecting human rights uphold and protect market fundamentalism. On the other hand, are there viable alternatives to the market economy? The current food crisis should serve as the impetus for an urgent quest for an alternative economy; an economy where the pursuit of profit does wreck the environment and cause hunger; an economy where human beings not only have equal rights on paper, but have equal value in reality.


*Kathambi Kinoti is a Kenyan feminist living and working in Nairobi. A lawyer by training, she has extensive experience in the field of women's rights. Kathambi is a co-founder of the Young Women's Leadership Institute, an organization that works towards the holistic empowerment of young women. This article first appeared in the Web site of the Association for Women's Rights in Development on 20 June 2008.

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

Notes:

1. Taken from Fact Sheet "The Effect of the Food Crisis on Women and Their Families" produced by Women Thrive Worldwide.

2. "Food Summit Calls for More Investment in Agriculture," FAO Newsroom, June 6, 2008.

3. "African Women's Statement on Land/Natural and Productive Resources," 25th FAO African Regional Conference (ARC), Nairobi, Kenya, June 16-20, 2008.

4 Ibid.

Africa’s Unnatural Disaster

Sameer Dossani

2008-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49607

While the mainstream media doesn’t always ignore the pressing issue of hunger in Africa, it rarely explores the root causes of this problem. Behind most news on the issue, there’s an assumption that casts hunger as a natural result of unfortunate weather conditions, coupled with bureaucratic inefficiency and bad economic planning.

With this in mind, in 2005 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a plan to “help millions of small-scale farmers lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.” In the years since, the foundation has been joined in its efforts by a number of other organizations that have founded the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

ACCORDING TO AGRA

AGRA programs develop practical solutions to significantly boost farm productivity and incomes for the poor while safeguarding the environment. AGRA advocates for policies that support its work across all key aspects of the African agricultural “value chain”-from seeds, soil health, and water to markets and agricultural education…. A root cause of… entrenched and deepening poverty is the fact that millions of small-scale farmers-the majority of them women working farms smaller than one hectare-cannot grow enough food to sustain their families, their communities, or their countries.

AGRA’s assumptions — and those of the mainstream media — rest on the premise that the Africa’s hunger problem is one of production. While production may be part of the story, it’s far from the complete picture. The heart of the agriculture crisis that Africa and the world are currently experiencing lies in the failed policy paradigm promoted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, institutions that still have enormous control over economic policy in many African countries.
WORLD BANK ROLE

The World Bank’s intervention in African agriculture began in 1981 with the study Accelerated Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Agenda for Action. Also known as the Berg Report, the study paved the way for World Bank involvement in the African agriculture sectors. The Berg Report prescriptions represent the first incarnation of the market fundamentalist policies that have been dominant in the African agricultural sector thereafter.

Since the Berg report, the World Bank has insisted on market liberalization and privatization of Africa’s agricultural markets. Subsidies of all kinds have decreased since 1981 and most state marketing boards and crop authorities have been greatly weakened or eliminated. No one — including the World Bank — denies that the net result of this policy is to expose small farmers to increased shocks. But the World Bank argues that shocks may be beneficial, in that exposure to actual market fluctuations will lead small farmers to grow high-value export crops instead of low value crops for local consumption. This “rational peasant” theory, as it was known in the 1980s, argued that small farmers shifting to high value exports such as coffee, sugar, cut flowers, etc. would ultimately bring in more money to the domestic economy, enabling rapid growth and development.

MARKET FUNDAMENTALISM

This theory — that government regulation should get be eliminated so that the market can do its job of “getting the prices right” — underlines World Bank thinking not only in the 1981 Berg report but also in their 2008 World Development Report, titled Agriculture for Development. Twenty years of the same failed policies are apparently not enough for the World Bank to change its tune.

The World Bank’s continued market fundamentalism is difficult to understand, especially in light of the fact that after more than 25 years of imposing these policies in Africa and Latin America, success stories are few and far between. Those countries that do have productive agricultural sectors (almost none of which are in Africa) either rely on huge landholders to be productive (Brazil, Argentina, Chile) or on massive subsidies (India) or both (U.S., EU). The countries that have eliminated their subsidies and privatized their grain boards, including many in Africa, are those that are doing the poorest.

In fairness, one or two changes can be seen in the World Bank’s thinking between 1981 and today. The first can be seen as an admission of failure — migration to more developed countries and the subsequent flow of remittances to families left behind, is mentioned as part of a strategy for reducing rural poverty (p. 73). While this is certainly true in the current global economy, there are few who would argue that forced migration is a path to development. Anecdotal evidence suggests that remittances may have a slightly greater correlation to development than the correlation between aid and development, but this is hardly high praise, considering the failures of the aid programs of the last 30 years.

The second concession that the 2008 WDR makes to reality (as opposed to market fundamentalist ideology) is an allowance for targeted subsidies. While subsidies have historically been a four-letter word for the World Bank, in recent years the Bank has come under fire for insisting on market liberalization in developing countries while acknowledging that developed countries have much higher subsidies than those in African countries. The World Bank’s answer to this is to continue to talk about various kinds of subsidies that distort trade and the need to stay away from those policies, while simultaneously allowing for the possibility of targeted subsidies to help the poorest of farmers who may be the most vulnerable to price shocks. This may be a step forward, but it is a small one and does little to relieve the burden of over 20 years of lost African development for which the World Bank bears a large share of responsibility.

THE REAL WORLD

If one is willing to look at the events of the last 30 years without the quasi-religious belief that free markets lead to development and growth, one would undoubtedly find that the opposite is true. In his groundbreaking work Kicking Away the Ladder (2003), Ha Joon Chang documents the development of every industrialized country, showing that protectionist policies were a fundamental part of development strategy in almost every case. The process of development that emerges from this story is not maximizing comparative advantage (for if so, the U.S. would be a sparsely populated country of fur traders and fisher people) but rather shifting comparative advantage to high value goods through calculated market distortions. In the case of the U.K. and the United States, those market distortions originally came in the form of colonialism and slavery. But market distortions continue in the U.S. today in the form of agriculture and steel subsidies, not to mention the tremendous government spending on biotechnology and defense, which largely serves as a subsidy for those sectors.

In light of these fundamentals of developmental economics, the World Development Report 2008 can be seen as an ideological continuation of the failed agricultural policies of the last 20 years, without an adequate analysis of why that period has been a failure for countries who would rely on agricultural exports as a path to development. The report does point out that a few countries (Brazil and Chile are the examples given) have successfully used agriculture to increase growth, but in Brazil and (to a lesser extent) Chile, small farmers are all but extinct, and agriculture is big business. Given the preoccupation with small farmers and poverty alleviation in other parts of the document, the examples are odd.

In addition to the failures of the free-market paradigm, the ongoing crisis of food prices has exposed global agricultural production as a disaster. Since about 1970, the World Bank, other international financial institutions and the private sector have succeeded in completely transforming agriculture from a primarily local affair to a complex industrialized process. Monocropping, over-reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers and trans-genetic manipulation have in some cases increased yields; but these practices have not led to a significant reduction in the number of hungry people in the world. The recommendations of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and the World Bank amount to insanity - recommending more of the same and expecting better results.

Perhaps most shocking is that this new push towards increased globalization and industrialization is occurring at precisely at the moment when many in the United States are moving towards a diet that is both local — produced somewhere in the vicinity of where it is consumed — and organic — produced without the use of synthetic hormones, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and genetic modification.

In the United States, Europe and elsewhere, many are beginning to understand that industrialized agriculture benefits neither those who produce nor those who consume food. In the current food crisis, more than 25 countries and the European Union have imposed tariffs, subsidies, price controls or other measures to protect consumers from the global free market. So why the double standard when it comes to Africa?

For those interested in solutions, the organic and local movements aren’t far off the mark. What producers and consumers in many parts of the world are beginning to understand is that the way that farmers have been growing food for millennia is more or less a good system. While there may be room for technology, (drip irrigation systems, for example) that innovation should not alter the food product nor add layers of cost.

Many parts of Africa have an advantage in that they have never really lost their traditional relationships with the land. The problem has been that cheaper food from Europe and the United States is often dumped on African countries, undercutting the possibility for farmers to earn a living from their production. In the case of Africa, all that may be needed is a sensible trade policy to protect those who already grow enough food for all Africans.

*Sameer Dossani is the director of 50 Years is Enough and blogs at shirinandsameer.blogspot.com, a Foreign Policy In Focus contributor where this article first appeared.

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

Lost in the Horn

Stephen Marks

2008-07-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49330

Human security should come first in seeking conflict resolution in the Horn of Africa. Favour should be shown to partners that protect their people - whether they are state or non-state actors - and not just to those who claim to protect western interests. And all states in the region should be required to conform to “the normal conventions of international conduct.”

These are the main conclusions of a new Chatham House report by Sally Healey in ‘Lost Opportunities in the Horn of Africa: How Conflicts Connect and Peace Agreements Unravel.’ The conclusions, despite their diplomatic wording, amount to a clear criticism of outside and especially Western policy in the region. But the underlying analysis provides a valuable conceptual tool-kit for challenging the concepts used more widely for understanding conflict.

The report looks at three peace processes in the Horn - the Algiers Agreement of December 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea; The Somalia National Peace and Reconciliation Process of October 2004, and the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement of January 2005.

Each of the three processes is unique, and their most obvious common feature is that the results are mixed. The Algiers Agreement has not led to a permanent settlement between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The two instruments created at Algiers to help reach a permanent peace - the boundary commission and the UN force - have both run out of steam. At least the two sides have not returned to open war. But their enmity continues, and is played out by proxy elsewhere in the region, especially in Somalia.
The Transitional Federal Government created for Somalia by the Mbgathi peace process still exists and ‘enjoys’ international recognition and legitimacy, but has proved unable to establish its authority inside the country. And Ethiopia’s intervention to install its authority by force has simply provoked an insurgency in response, part anti-Ethiopian and part Islamist. The result, in Healey’s words, has been to create “conditions that are much worse than those that existed before the peace process began.”

By comparison therefore Sudan’s peace agreement shines out as a success. The South has succeeded in establishing its own government with its own autonomous army as well as participation in government in Khartoum, and the two sides rely on the agreement text to manage their relations. But border demarcation, especially in contested oil-rich regions, bode ill for the future.

Responses to the recently completed census will be vital, and could hinder progress to the crucial referendum on independence for the South due in 2011. Lack of trust, will and capacity all have caused slippage in the past, and may again, aggravated by the Darfur conflict.

But despite these differences, common themes emerge. One is what Healey identifies as “The prevalence of identity politics and processes of state formation and disintegration.” While this may seem obvious, it leads on to another more specific common thread; the ways in which “interactions between the states of the region support and sustain the conflicts within them in a systemic way.”

This interplay becomes especially complex if we factor in the global context of the ‘war on terrorism’ as an often distorting prism through which outside powers view conflicts which have other, more complex causes.

The regional institution which might be expected to take the lead in conflict resolution [IGAD] is hampered, to say the least, by being composed of the states whose rivalry or incapacity constitutes the problem. Healey concludes that “In the long term, economic change and growing economic interdependence...seem the most likely drivers of stability.” But economic change is unlikely to take off without the stability which is supposed to be its consequence.

Healey’s four main conclusions are stimulating, and of wider application. First, she argues, is the need to take account of “the long history of amity and enmity” in the region, appreciating that present conflicts are seen by participants as “part of a long continuum of warfare.”

Outsiders should therefore recognise that their influence is limited, and their goals should be modest.

But it is also important to recognise that the state itself is often the problem. Conventional analysis in terms of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ states and the familiar ‘state-building’ approach can fail to capture key features of states such as Sudan or Ethiopia. Both these states are built around core power centres which are certainly not weak and which have historic roots, but which have been in a state of contestation and struggle, one way or another, for over a century with populations on the periphery; and in unstable border zones with a long history of resisting incorporation.

Hence the merits of the “Regional Security Complex” approach which stresses the way in which each country’s security problems interact with and often exacerbate its neighbours, in ways which make it difficult to seperate internal motives from ‘foreign’ policy.

The same two-way process can be seen at work in the influence of global agendas. As outside superpowers see the region’s problems through the tinted spectacles of their own concerns, so local actors are happy to oblige by presenting their own home-grown rivalries in terms likely to secure support from global actors.

The shifting relations of Ethiopia and Somalia to the rival Cold War superpowers in the 1970s is a case in point. More recently US insistence on seeing all conflicts in the region, however complex their causes and dynamics, through one reductionist prism of the ‘war on terror’ has arguably only made matters worse.

As Healey concludes: “It has polarised parties and reduced the space for mediation. Outsiders interested in mediation need to respond judiciously to the allegations of terrorism levied against various parties to conflict in the Horn and to seek to develop space for dialogue.”

Hence the conclusions - even-handedness to all rather than a double standard for the West’s presumed friends and presumed foes; and human security and priority for partners that respect it, rather than a military and state-based conception of security and legitimacy.

Fine conclusions - but to whom are they addressed? Here we run up against the same paradoxical circularity that Healey identifies in the Somali peace process. It may seem sensible to seek peace by bringing the various participants to the conflict together round a table, and labelling the resulting collective a ‘provisional government.’

However distasteful some or all of the participants, realpolitik must surely dictate their inclusion, as they are the actors with clout on the ground where it counts. But as they are also the problem, such externally imposed ‘solutions’ may turn out only to entrench the problem - less violently if you are lucky, but in Somalia, not even that.

But a human security and civil society based approach, however attractive, is hardly likely to commend itself to states and would-be state actors whose power derives from the rejection or perversion of such an approach.

There is no theoretical answer to this dilemma, and the practical answer can only emerge through civil society organisations and movements themselves fleshing out the idea of a truly human security-based approach and pushing it forward, with support from sympathetic elements within structures of state power. In this process, Healy’s report will be a useful resource.

Lost Opportunities in the Horn of Africa: How Conflicts Connect and Peace Agreements Unravel. A Horn of Africa Study Group Report by Sally Healy can be downloaded here.

The Horn of Africa Study Group comprises the Royal Institute of International Affairs [Chatham House], the University of London Centre of African Studies, the Royal African Society and the Rift Valley Institute.


*Stephen Marks is a research associate with Fahamu

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

New ICC prosecution: Opportunities and risks for peace in Sudan

International Crisis Group

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49686

The application by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a warrant of arrest for Sudanese President Omar Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur creates both big opportunities and big risks for peace in Sudan.

These are the first charges of genocide and the first charges against a head of state to be brought before the ICC. The judges will now have to weigh the Prosecutor’s evidence and decide – a process that could take some months– whether to issue the arrest warrant.
In seeking this warrant, the Prosecutor is acting within his mandate under the Rome Statute and from the UN Security Council, which in 2005 referred crimes committed in Darfur to him for investigation and prosecution. That mandate has been consistently frustrated by the Sudanese government – not least in its refusal to hand over the government minister, Ahmad Harun, and Janjaweed commander, Ali Kushayb, against whom warrants were issued in April 2007 – and it is important for the Prosecutor to protect the credibility of the Court by pursuing further prosecutions.

It may also prove to be the case that in initiating this process the Prosecutor will be advancing the interests of peace. That is not his official role – which is rather to act, in the interests of justice, to end impunity for those believed guilty of atrocity crimes. But it may be that the increased pressure now placed on the NCP governing regime will lead it to take long overdue steps to cease all violence, implement genuine and credible measures to resolve the Darfur crisis – including allowing the full and effective deployment of the UNAMID peacekeeping force – and fully carry out its side of the bargain to implement the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

The problem for international policymakers is that the Prosecutor’s legal strategy also poses major risks for the fragile peace and security environment in Sudan, with a real chance of greatly increasing the suffering of very large numbers of its people. Hard-liners on all sides may be reinforced, with the governing regime and other actors reacting to today’s application, and any subsequent warrant, in ways that seriously undermine the fragile North-South peace process, bring an end to any chance of political negotiations in Darfur, make impossible the effective deployment of UNAMID, put at risk the humanitarian relief operations presently keeping alive over 2 million people in Darfur, and lead to inflammation of wider regional tensions. These are significant risks, particularly given that the likelihood of actually executing any warrant issued against Bashir is remote, at least in the short term.

The best way through this dilemma may be for the UN Security Council to take advantage of the likely two to three month window before the judges’ decision on the arrest warrant, to assess whether genuine and substantial progress is in fact being made in stopping the continuing violence for which the governing regime bears responsibility, engaging in genuine peace negotiations in Darfur, expediting UNAMID deployment and advancing the CPA. If it believes such progress is being made, and that the interests of peace justify this course being taken, the Security Council could – even if the Prosecutor and the ICC wanted to proceed – exercise its power under Article 16 of the Rome Statute to suspend any prosecutions, for an initial twelve months but with such suspension able to be renewed indefinitely.

Such a decision would have to be made in light of the regime’s history of repeatedly flouting agreements it has entered into. But the need for any Article 16 deferral to be renewed on an annual basis would provide an incentive, hitherto lacking, for the regime to abide by commitments made under threat of ICC prosecution.

This is not the time to be relieving pressure on the Bashir regime – or the rebel groups who are making their own major contribution to conflict in Darfur. But the most critical of all needs is to end the horrific suffering of the Sudanese people and to ensure there is no new explosion of mass violence.
Crisis Group President Gareth Evans said that the international community now faced a hard policy choice in balancing risk and opportunity: “The Sudanese governing regime has until now utterly failed in its responsibility to protect its own people. The judgement call the Security Council now has to make is whether Khartoum can be most effectively pressured to stop the violence and build a new Sudan by simply letting the Court process proceed, or – after assessing the regime’s initial response, and continuing to monitor it thereafter – by suspending that process in the larger interests of peace”.


*For media interviews and other inquiries, contact Nick Grono, Deputy President (Operations): +32 2 536 00 64 (office); +32 485 555 945 (mobile).

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

Whither the fourth estate of government?

Charles Mkula

2008-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/49604

Malawi’s media diversity continues to grow and vary especially in radio broadcast, a sharp contrast to the previous trend in the first ten years of multiparty politics where newspaper business mushroomed with down-market tabloid papers like the Democrat, the Chronicle, the Dispatch, the Generation and others making in roads and establishing themselves for critical reading.

And as the Daily Times, Malawi News, and the Nation took a traditional and sober stand, other papers in the likes of the National Agenda, the People’s Eye, the Malawian, the Times, the Sun established themselves as either anti government or anti opposition spewing venom at opponents without regard to fairness, truth and balance – the basic tenets of professional journalism practice.

On the broadcast spectrum, the country has witnessed a boom in radio broadcast and prides itself with three broadcast stations (Malawi Broadcasting Corporation Radio one and two and Television Malawi). There are three private radio stations (Zodiak Broadcasting Station, Capital FM Radio, and Radio 101 FM) and 13 community radio broadcasters.
Most of the community radio stations are faith based apart from Malawi Institute of Journalism Radio, Joy Radio, and Dzimwe, Tovwirane, Nkhotakota and Mchinji community radio stations.

Of all the print and broadcast houses, it is public broadcasters MBC and TV Malawi that have taken the lead to defend and parade ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) agenda (though they are supposed to serve the general public as is their mandate since they run on tax payers money) while Joy Radio, privately owned by former head of state, Bakili Muluzi, has dug its heels in the ground to defend and advance the ideals of Muluzi’s United Democratic Front (UDF), the former ruling party.

The function of a media full of undue interference from politicians is evident in the operations of the four stations who broadcast to over 14 million people who take what they hear from the broadcasts as gospel truth and have no means to verify information they hear from the media houses. This interference in media freedom is sinking the country many centuries backwards.

While the four broadcasters offer educative, entertaining and informative social programmes, most of their political programmes including news bulletins leave a lot to be desired.

In their quest to please their political masters, the four broadcast houses propagate hate, distrust and divisions among the citizenry and political opponents. To say the least, the four broadcasters do not serve to inform, educate and guide the masses on their political rights and choices.

Generally, press freedom is a reality in Malawi both in practice and in terms of the law though there is need to do away with some repressive statutes; endorse the Access to information Bill into an Act and implement the Communications Act in full.

There is also need for the Media Council of Malawi and the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) to flex their muscles and bare their teeth against flouters of media ethics and professionalism that are most pronounced at MBC, TVM and Joy Radio.

Some commentators argue that the opposition should not blame MBC and TVM for its volley of insults to opposition leaders because it is no longer operating on tax payer’s money since opposition members of parliament last year refused to fund operations at the two broadcast houses. They were allocated a mere MK1.00.

But is this good reason to forsake all sanity and ride on the back of incivilty? The answer is a straight NO. Journalists at the two public run broadcast stations and private owned Joy Radio should all know that they have a profession and reputation to protect unless if indeed they do not have any.

News is just filtering in that MACRA is closing in on Joy Radio and that the station may soon close shop. But is this an answer to the problems the authorities have with the station? What about MBC and TVM? Are MBC and TVM being spared because they are state run? Has Joy been targeted because it is owned by a politician and a presidential hopeful?

It is not a sin for politicians to own media houses or for private media houses to take sides as long as they stick to the highest ethical and professional standards. However, one, even the apolitical listener, immediately notices the inflammatory language and music aired on Joy Radio. So too are MBC political programmes and bulletins full of ridicule of opposition party protégés especially Muluzi and his UDF party.

And so, as the news of the imminent closure of Joy Radio keep making the rounds, it would only be sane to treat MBC and TVM by the same measure otherwise the country may be sitting on a time bomb nurturing the death of media freedom and freedom of expression as we quietly watch growing intolerance to free media operations and as censorship silently creeps into the nation.

Suffice to note that the country still runs on old, draconian and media unfriendly laws such as the Prevention of Public Security Act, Protected Names and Emblems Act and others. All these pose a threat to free press operations especially at a time when the media fraternity has been infiltrated with political spies working behind the silhouette of journalism.

It is unfortunate that both the DPP and the UDF have gone as far as recruiting journalists to peddle misinformation and create fear and mistrust in the media industry.

Just recently, journalist Wisdom Chimgwede of Zodiak Broadcasting Station circulated a document allegedly crafted by the ruling DPP as its 2009 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections campaign strategy. The journalist floated the document on the all media practitioner National Media Institute of Southern Africa (NAMISA) e-forum for members to examine its authenticity. One or some of the members of the forum went to government authorities to report that Chimgwede was circulating damaging material to the DPP. It was concluded by the authorities that Chimgwede was a UDF operative and he was immediately removed from the list of journalists who were supposed to travel to China on an acquaintanceship trip.

As much as media freedom and freedom of expression continue to be regarded as essential ingredients to the democratization process, practices within the industry and forces that be are eroding the hard won freedoms.

And as these mishaps keeps unfolding, it is time that media regulatory or representative bodies pull their socks and become more vibrant and visible in protecting the industry and the professionalism that goes with it.

It is high time the media mobilized itself to defend the industry especially the closure of any media house; and promote ethical and regulatory journalistic professionalism.

Some years ago when Journalists Ralphael Tenthani, Mabvuto Banda and Horace Nyaka were arrested over the ghost-at-state-house story media workers downed their tools and ganged up to press for their release. So too, despite the shortfalls at Joy Radio, media freedom and freedom of expression must be protected and defended before closure of media houses becomes a norm.

Nobody else but the media itself has the sole duty to protect and defend the right to information dissemination. The role of the media in any country is prime enough to warrant the profession a place in the anatomy of the nation – the fourth arm of government after the executive, legislature and judiciary.

The four arms have a crucial role in the democratization and development processes of nations.

*Charles Mkula is a Media and Communications Coordinator for Hyphen Media Institute.

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

More resources to combat SGBV

Tina

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/49679

The article, The limits and possibilities of transitional justice, provokes some important things to think about when engaging in the victim's rights work around SGBV...It is not as simple as giving voice in the courtroom...Hopefully more resources can be put into the day to day support activities that are desperately needed.

Obama and Clinton

Alice de Tocqueville

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/49681

Certainly I agree with your analysis in Obama and Clinton: The Tightrope and the Needle. But I just wish that this whole grievance v. grievance contest could be avoided in favor of the candidates' stands on the issues.

I personally am more 'radical' than either of them, and perhaps there's not enough difference between them on issues such as war, global warming, emptying the prisons and other social issues to make a choice, but with Hilary's known history of NAFTA-backing, kicking mothers off welfare rolls with no good substitute-backing, bombing Kosovo (even, reportedly, to using nuclear weapons)-backing, among other things, I can find no way to relate to her as a woman, let alone a candidate for anything. None of the progressive women I know can stand her - we feel she still doesn't know now what she "didn't know then"!

I'm hoping that Obama is more progressive than he's daring to say, in order to get elected. This is looking dubious in light of some of the 'advisors' he's calling on: Madeline Albright!; Robert Rubin!, etc. Let's hope he's taking their advice as what not to do!

On the politics of fear

Shaakirah

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/49680

Thank you so much for your enlightening article, The limits and possibilities of transitional justice. Now some of us are actually able to analyse the issue of xenophobia with important background information that which we had no knowledge about. i must say, it was very informative and educative!

Book review: Missionaries, mercenaries and misfits

Stephen Derwent Partington

2008-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/49606

Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits: An anthology
by Rasna Warah
Author House, 2008

There is a new, East African book, edited by the excellent Kenyan columnist Rasna Warah, that for us here in the region articulates postdevelopmentalist concerns from a more relevant, specific and local perspective – indeed, in exemplary fashion employing the sort of local and grassroots perspective that such thinkers and activists claim that classical developmentalism too frequently ignores.

Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits is an anthology that brings together some of the region’s best and best-loved writers, whose individual essays enable a kaleidoscopic view of developmentalism in East Africa, its discontents, its hubris, its smugness, its ability to kill through often genuine and well-meant kindness.

In it, as the editor states in her very accessible introduction, we find young and established writers who are, if you like, reformed developmentalists and former NGOers themselves, who are diasporans who can see the industry from the ‘external’ perspective of the donors, leftists who can penetrate the sinister economic motives behind certain forms of development, fiction writers who bring a knowing wit to the debate, investigative journalists who know how to hunt down and express the real suffering of individuals and communities. And the names of the writers are those we know, as East Africans, we can respect. Among others, we have Rasna Warah, Binyavanga Wainaina, Parselelo Kantai, Sunny Bindra, Onyango Oloo, Kalundi Serumaga, Issa Shivji and Firoze Manji.


*Stephen Derwent Partington, is the Kwani? poetry editor and a member of the Concerned Kenyan Writers Initiative.

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

Book review: The wisdom of whores

Stephen Lewis

2008-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/49605

The wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS
By Elizabeth Pisani Viking Canada,
372 pages, $35

This is an utterly fascinating book. I must admit that it's been growing on me since I read it, the arguments and language reverberating in my mind. Elizabeth Pisani writes with enormous verve and acerbity, her prose alive with anecdote and metaphor. There is, to be sure, a certain adolescent touch, delighting in naughty words and vivid sexual description, but all of that is forgiven in the sweep and force of the narrative. The Wisdom of Whores is a great read.

The title is meant to convey the variety of sexual experience and the savvy that attaches to it. The text is replete with references to "prostitutes, rent boys, pimps and clients ... addicts, cops and rehab workers." The chapter on Indonesia alone is an astonishing foray into the world of female, male and transgendered sex workers, all of them imparting wisdom on AIDS. Even in the preface, Pisani talks of a trip through several Asian countries where "I encountered a world of women with penises who sell anal sex to men who are completely heterosexual. I found men who buy sex from women and sell it to men. I found heroin addicts who fly airplanes and Muslim fundamentalists who run protection rackets for brothels."

Yes, some of it is designed to shock. But as the pages turn, the interlocking universe of bureaucrats and sex work and NGOs and agencies yields fascinating insights into the pandemic. It would be a great mistake to discard Pisani because of the bizarre or the uncomfortable. There are many home truths to be found in the most unlikely of places.
The book is also a compelling challenge to most of the orthodoxy that clutters the world of HIV/AIDS. Although the great majority of material is drawn from Asia (primarily Indonesia, where the pandemic is relatively small), rather than Africa (where the pandemic is a nightmare), Pisani still manages to wander the landscape of controversy.

Pisani is a journalist turned epidemiologist. She's worked or consulted for a kaleidoscope of international organizations in a great many countries, allowing her to speak with first-hand knowledge, and to make a number of frontal assaults on conventional wisdom. Most important, perhaps, is her exasperated assertion - gaining increasing credibility in the argumentative world of AIDS - that the international response has been wrong-headed: The assumption that a generalized pandemic sweeping through a country's population, as in Southern Africa, would necessarily show a similar pattern in a country like India or China or Indonesia just isn't true. The pattern outside of Africa is a series of concentrated epidemics among "high-risk groups," men having sex with men, or drug injectors or sex workers, and there is very little evidence that the virus will infiltrate the broader population.

Now nothing is absolute in the world of AIDS, but Pisani's argument, if even marginally accurate, has huge implications for the response. If the resources, especially for prevention, are applied to a population as a whole, where the risk of contracting AIDS is minimal, rather than targeting the high-risk groups, then not only is money wasted, but HIV spreads wantonly through these hard-to-reach categories.

There's just no question that the hotshots of the AIDS establishment have resisted Pisani's thesis (also advanced by others of repute) for many a year. It's monumentally irresponsible. When the head of HIV/AIDS for the World Health Organization recently made statements much in line with those of Pisani, he was forced into a humiliating retraction by vested interests in other parts of the UN system.

The beauty of The Wisdom of Whores is that it leaves no AIDS stone unturned. The chapter on injecting drug use is stunning: I have not read before so trenchant a defence of "harm reduction." Pisani summons an overwhelming weight of evidence from around the world to demonstrate the validity of clean needles and methadone as preventive tools to stem the virus among injecting users.

On the issue of resources, she's scathing in her indictment of the way the money is deployed (an especially delicious anecdote is the story of East Timor, which, upon independence, received $2-million from the United States to fight AIDS, and there were exactly seven infected people in the entire country).

On the issue of abstinence, she's appropriately savage about the perverse policies pursued by right-wing religious groups and the Bush administration: There is no doubt in her mind - and again, the evidence is summoned impressively - that ideology has been permitted to trump science, with disastrous results. In truth, it is beyond criminal the way the Bushites, in the mindless embrace of abstinence, have undermined the use of condoms.

On the issue of numbers, Pisani insists that she never saw any deliberate inflation of the data, as has been charged by others (myself included). But she admits to the use of percentages by UNAIDS as a "beat-up" technique to raise international alarm in the hope of generating money. It was clearly a successful (if dishonourable) strategy: Resources have leaped from roughly $300-million annually in the late 1990s to $10-billion in 2007.

On the issue of testing, she has very little patience for the human rights view that all testing should be voluntary. Where Pisani is concerned, public health transcends human rights, and testing should be far more broadly applied. She effectively argues that there are two "rights" at issue, and the right of the individual to voluntary testing should not be permitted to compromise the rights of the community against infection. I will concede that even though it strangles me to say so, I see increasing legitimacy to that view.

On the issue of the tension between treatment and prevention, she comes down firmly on the side of prevention. Pisani argues that while treatment brings down viral load (the amount of the virus in the body) so that transmission from the infected to the uninfected is dramatically reduced, the fact remains that transmission can still occur, and over the long run this will continue to drive up the number of cases. It's an interesting point, but it's thin gruel, and I'd take issue with the theory. There's no reason why treatment and prevention can't be done in tandem if the powers-that-be determine to do so. It's not a Hobson's Choice.

On the issue of Africa, the argument becomes complicated, and unfortunately Africa receives short shrift in The Wisdom of Whores. But that doesn't stop Pisani from being unequivocal: "The world's greatest and most shameful monument to failed HIV prevention [is] the AIDS epidemic in Africa. In Africa, we've made every mistake in the book."

For Pisani, the fraudulent approach to Africa resides in describing AIDS as a poverty and development issue. Nuts, she says (almost literally). It's a problem of sex, a collectivity of simultaneous sexual partnerships, uncircumcised men and untreated sexually transmitted infections. And because African leaders won't face up to sex, and the international community, for fear of being called racist, won't challenge Africans on matters sexual, everyone hides behind poverty and development.

There's a touch of truth in that, although the African leadership has graduated from its state of denial, and confronts sex and stigma much more openly. The real problem lies in the lackadaisical and incestuous international AIDS establishment that has lost the energy and creativity to wage the battle.

But where Africa is concerned, Pisani doesn't stop at one critique. She makes a point rarely made, and I must admit that it gave me pause. Using an artful epidemiological calculus, she argues that it's by no means just men who have several simultaneous sexual relationships; it's also women. And to say, therefore, that the pandemic is driven solely by male sexual behaviour is to miss a large part of what's going on.

Now, I don't think that Pisani gives nearly enough credence to the absence of female sexual autonomy in relationships, married or unmarried. Nor does she come close to sufficiently acknowledging the malignant role of gender inequality (it's a lamentable lapse that nowhere in her chapter on Africa is there mention of rape and sexual violence as vectors of transmission), but she does have a point, and in the bizarre construct of AIDS, every postulate must be examined.

The Wisdom of Whores ends with the desperate question: "What the hell difference are we making anyway?" I ask myself that 10 times a day. The sad, sad truth about the Pisani book is that the rude language and controversial nostrums will allow it to be dismissed by policy makers at all levels. But it should be mandatory, not voluntary, reading: Pisani is lucid, colourful, insightful and impatient. In her last chapter, she says quite plainly that we know what to do and we're just not doing it. She's right. The worst thing that's happened to AIDS is that the same tired, intellectually ossified bureaucrats in international aid agencies, in many governments, in multilateral financial vehicles and above all in the United Nations, are calling the shots.

Elizabeth Pisani is a far straighter shooter than most of them put together.


*Stephen Lewis is the co-director of AIDS-Free World, a new advocacy group in the United States, chairman of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, and former UN envoy on AIDS in Africa.

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

Liberia: Boys of Mass Destruction - Film

2008-07-25

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=43301

In a twist of realism, a new feature film, "Johnny Mad Dog", uses a cast of actual ex-child soldiers from Liberia to portray the violent lives of youth forced to participate in armed conflict. The original script was adapted from Emmanuel Dongala's acclaimed book "Johnny Chien Mechant". Johnny, 15, and his small commando unit comprised of young boys ages 6 to 15, rip through an unnamed African country, terrorising and slaying everything in their path.

South Africa: 29th Durban International Film Festival

2008-07-25

http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?2,68,3,1556

Cinema in all its diversity will once again be celebrated at the 29th Durban International Film Festival which runs from 23 July to 3 August. Featuring more than 200 films from more than 95 countries, spread over more than 300 screenings at 26 venues across the city, the festival will bring together established masters of cinema and innovative new talents from around the world.

The Betrayal of Africa - by Gerry Caplan

Molly Kane

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/49657

On the heels of yet another G8 summit the global hand-wringing about the crisis of African development lumbers ahead with its parade of conferences, commissions and concerts proclaiming support for the poor from the seats of power. Conspicuously absent from the spectacle of solidarity is any acknowledgement of history. In fact, the discourse and politics of the West’s relationship with the African continent is deliberately, decidedly and dangerously a-historical.

Like the small boy watching the parade, who exclaims that the emperor has no clothes, Gerald Caplan has written a small but powerful book to expose this latest betrayal of Africa: the denial of context and history. A Canadian scholar and political activist with a life-long commitment to justice and African development, Caplan has made a much needed intervention in debates about Africa’s future. His book, The Betrayal of Africa, asserts that history matters, for understanding the present in which we live, and for finding ways forward to the future we desire.
The Betrayal of Africa at under a hundred and fifty pages is a true “pocket” book. As an activist living in North America, I would love to have one in my pocket at all times to distribute whenever someone asks, “So, what is the problem with Africa?” The question, while usually sincere, carries an inherent distortion. It separates Africa from its historical relationship with the rest of the world and sustains a lie that is reproduced over and over again, even by those who seek to bring about positive change for the continent.

The lie that The Betrayal of Africa seeks to expose is the contemporary version of the imperialist era’s white man’s burden. Caplan observes that the conventional explanation for Africa’s plight is two-fold. “First the problem is African – corruption, lack of capacity, poor leaders, eternal conflict. Second the solution is us – by which (he means) the rich white Western world that will save Africa from itself, its leaders, its appetites, its ineptitude, its savagery”. He then demonstrates through clear argument and solid research that this conventional view is “hokum – arrogant, self-serving and, above all, plain wrong.”

Caplan’s book is accessible and punchy, short on polemic and full of factual nuggets that inform (or remind) readers of the history of plunder and pillage that remade the continent to serve the interests of industrialization of the imperial powers, and that continues today. It is a history that left structural economic, cultural, and political legacies that must be acknowledged to be transformed. Caplan also reminds us that the story of Africa’s relationship with the West also includes solidarity in the cause of emancipation, independence and affirmation of human rights. It is this history of internationalist solidarity that he seeks to reclaim, to rescue from the current discourse of aid and charity.

“Despite the evidence, rich countries continue to insist that their interest in Africa is based on compassion, philanthropy and generosity. But all this nobility serves to conceal the real obligation of the rich world – to pay back some of the enormous, incalculable debt we owe Africa. We need to help Africa not out of our selflessness and compassion but as restitution, compensation, an act of justice for the generations of crises, conflict, exploitation and underdevelopment for which we bear so much responsibility. Many speak without irony of the desire to “give something back,” without realizing the cruel reality of the phrase. In fact, that’s exactly what the rich world should do. We should give back what we’ve plundered and looted and stolen. Until we think about the West’s relationship with Africa honestly, until we face up to the real record, until we acknowledge our vast culpability and complicity in the African mess, until then we’ll continue- in our caring and compassionate way – to impose policies that actually make the mess even worse.“

Gerald Caplan does not shy from denouncing the complicity of African elites in the betrayal of the future of the continent. . But he has intervened as a citizen of the West who is deeply and sincerely concerned about the future of humanity. His message is one of sober yet hopeful co-responsibility. He also does not shy from acknowledging the difficult prospects of bringing about positive change. But he takes to heart the advice of Eduardo Galeano, “Let us postpone our pessimism for better times”, by pointing to ways in which the West could contribute in meaningful ways to a better future for African peoples. “If the West were serious about "helping" Africa, it would not use the World Trade Organization as a tool of the very richest against the very poorest. It would not insist on private sector solutions that don't benefit the poor or create employment. It would not dump its surplus food and clothing on African countries. It would not force down the price of African commodities sold on the world market. It would not tolerate tax havens and the massive tax evasion they facilitate. It would not strip Africa of its non-renewable resources without paying a fair price. It would not continue to drain away some of Africa's best brains. It would not charge prohibitive prices for medicines. In a word, there would be an end to the 101 ways in which rich countries systematically ensure that more wealth pours out of Africa into the West than the West transfers to Africa."

The Betrayal of Africa is published by Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press (2008). It sells for $10.00. Put a copy in your pocket and pass it around.

African Blog Review – July 23, 2008

Dibussi Tande

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/49650

Africa is a Country tries to enjoy this rare moment of hope in Zimbabwe in spite of the myriad of questions surrounding the agreement:
“Of course, South African President Thabo Mbeki (and what’s left of his supporters and defenders) will claim that his policy of “quiet diplomacy” worked. That is if you don’t count the eight years of state violence on the part of Mr. Mugabe’s regime. On that last point, the reaction of the army and police (who both act like the private army of the ruling ZANU-PF party) will be interesting… There’s also the question of violence and the issue of Mr. Mugabe’s legitimacy: After Mr. Tsvangirai won a March 29 presidential election, the Zimbabwean government held back the result for a month, said the opposition had not won by a large enough margin and called a new election. Having terrorized the opposition supporters to the point where Mr. Tsvangirai felt compelled to withdraw at the last minute, Mr. Mugabe went ahead and ran against himself and declared himself President for another 5 year term. As the BBC reports, today’s agreement “…document does not address the central issue of Mr. Mugabe’s future or go into the details of a possible power-sharing arrangement.”
But let’s enjoy the moment.”


Thinking Aloud is not that charitable, and argues that the deal between Mugabe and Tsvangirai has weakened the foundations of democracy in Africa:
“… I am troubled by the sight of Robert Mugabe smiling, signaling that he has managed to salvage a victory from the jaws of public defeat. I am disturbed by the fact that losers in a democratic battle have turned into victors, sharing the spoils of victory that is not rightfully theirs…

A Government of National Unity is a compromise that has to be agreed by two parties willingly, not in the way that it has been forced down the throat of Tsvangarai! I feel sorry for the MDC and the majority of the people of Zimbabwe, like a defeated customer, they have to live with a “wrong order”…

With all due respect to Koffi Annan and President Mbeki, we have weakened our determination to instill the values of freedom and democracy in Africa. Our desperate need to seek peace at the expense of freedom has sent a message to the rest of would-be dictators that the gun always guarantees victory in Africa. Refusal to step down and handover power to the masses that peacefully choose a preferred leader can land one a safe future. Undermining the will of the people still guarantees a future! We have failed future generations in this way, we have weakened the foundations of democracy, and we have further violated and defiled the sanctity of the ballot! The warlords continue to rule!”


Daniel Molokele
This is a view shared by Daniel Molokele who publishes a scathing commentary from the Telegraph newspaper describing the agreement as a blow for democracy in Africa:
“Scores of his supporters have been murdered and thousands tortured in the cause of ridding Zimbabwe of President Robert Mugabe, yet Morgan Tsvangirai, once the opposition leader, had no shame in shaking the old dictator's hand… Less than two weeks ago, Mr. Mugabe was threatened with a United Nations Resolution that would have subjected him to a global travel ban and asset freeze.
If he reaches a deal with his opponents, Mr. Mugabe will vault from pariah to elder statesman, certainly among his African neighbours…
If so, Mr. Tsvangirai and his followers will be compensated with cabinet jobs, official residences and smart cars. Mr. Mugabe will ensure, however, that real power rests with him.
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa will claim vindication for his long years of diplomacy, much derided by Britain and his legions of critics…
Everyone will be in the government, whether they won or lost the election. The people's verdict will be ignored.
For as long as that outcome is tolerated, democracy in Africa is lost.”


Scarlett Lion
Moving on to other topics, Scarlett Lion laments about an absence of political blogs in the Ugandan blogosphere:

“The Ugandan blogosphere is vibrant - lots of blogs, lots of ideas, lots of contributors, lots of words, lots of posts, lots of comments. But where have all the political blogs gone?...

Or were political blogs never there in the first place? There's plenty of thoughts on boda bodas, Big Brother Africa, the bad weather Kampala's been having lately, being broke, and other aspects of life in Uganda that certainly aren't apolitical, but they aren't exactly government budgets and school fires either…

Though I love the window into people's lives, it's not the kind of citizen media stuff that I find exciting - the kind that fills the gap between what the newspapers are saying and what people are really thinking...
I want to know what people think about the structures that affect their lives, but I'm wondering if maybe the internet in Uganda is not the space to express them? Though there's not a very heavy hand of government involved in internet censorship, maybe self censorship is so strong the government doesn't have to be heavy handed?”


Which Way Nigeria comments on the announced visit of Manchester United football club to Nigeria, which it sees a clear case of misplaced priorities for Nigeria:

“The Business Eye Magazine of June 16-22 2008, led with the story of the upcoming ManU’s visit to Nigeria. This visit according to the magazine is estimated to cost the good people of Nigeria 2 billion Naira… This 2 billion earmarked for wastage, can be invested in our local league, upgrade our stadia and generally give sports a boost. It grieves me that Kanu is involved in this wasteful circus. Imagine the number of Nigerian children with heart problems this 2 billion Naira can bring smiles to. The money voted for this ManU basking in the sun can be used to alleviate the suffering of primary school students who have been on forced holiday because of teachers’ strike.

Don’t tell me this jamboree for English men hibernating for next season is a tourist show. What does Nigeria stand to gain from this charade? Are they coming here to establish a football academy? The Federal government just took a loan of N40 billion from World Bank to rehabilitate roads, yet we are wasting this much to watch 12 adults fooling around with an inflated balloon.
Nigerians complain about the amount of money spent on football at the detriment of other sports, yet a day light robbery is taking place and nobody seems to care.”


Scribbles from the Den publishes an investigative report into Government of Cameroon’s lobbying efforts in the United States, particularly its recent advertising supplements in the Washington Post and Foreign Affairs journal.
“If we assume that each advertising supplement averages about $250,000 (using last year’s New York Times advert as the standard), it is not a stretch to assume that the Biya regime spends no less than five billion FCFA annually, worldwide, on these ads (that is, apart from the annual retainer paid to lobbyists and PR firms around the world, particularly in the US).

Without doubt, this is money flushed down the drain since very little, if anything, ever comes from these infomercials – i.e., apart from lining the pockets of lobbyists in Washington and elsewhere, the newspapers which carry these infomercials, and high ranking government officials back in Cameroon who negotiate these lucrative deals (a review of the transcripts of the Ondo Ndong trial is instructive in this regard). After about two decades of government-sponsored ads, the generally negative perceptions in the United States about the Biya regime and/or the investment climate in Cameroon have not changed fundamentally. In fact, Cameroon’s US lobbyists will be hard-pressed to cite one example of a credible business venture that resulted from these ads.
[…]
In the end, therefore, the real impetus for change can only come from within Cameroon. Establishing less cumbersome foreign investment procedures, making it easier for foreigners to do business in Cameroon, cracking down on the endemic and systemic corruption rather than indulging in show arrests and trials that leave the structures of corruption intact, making palpable moves towards more political freedoms etc., will be much more effective than any lobbying campaign by spinmeisters in the US or elsewhere.”

* 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 Dan Lyndon

Contact FM

2008-07-23

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

Black History Month is also celebrated each October in the United Kingdom, which has had a substantial black population since the 16th century. In this interview Contact FM talks to Dan Lyndon, history teacher and member of the British and Asian Studies Association.

Climate of fear persists despite deal

2008-07-25

http://tinyurl.com/6drxxs

As the Zimbabwean government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) prepare to enter power-sharing talks, Amnesty International called on both parties to ensure there are no pardons for those who committed human rights violations in the post-election period. “There can be no lasting political solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe without addressing past human rights violations. While human rights violations must end immediately, investigations must be carried out and alleged perpetrators brought to justice,” said Amnesty International.

EU toughens sanctions against Mugabe regime

2008-07-24

http://euobserver.com/9/26523/?rk=1

EU foreign ministers have stepped up their pressure against Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean president for almost three decades, by adopting additional sanctions against his regime. The fresh sanctions will see travel restrictions and a financial embargo imposed on 37 people and four companies connected to Robert Mugabe. Similar measures against 131 Zimbabwean officials have already been in place for some time.

Text of MoU between Zanu-PF and MDC

2008-07-24

http://tinyurl.com/6zkb7c

Here is the full text of the Memorandum of Understanding signed today by the ruling Zanu PF party and the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change, one led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the other by Professor Arthur Mutambara. The historic signing was on Monday 21 July, 2008.

Weekly update on Harare - CHRA

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/49708

In line with the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)’s information blitz activities programme, we will now be sending you a weekly update on the service delivery situation and other related issues in Harare. This alert will be titled ‘Harare Last Week’ and will be sent to you every week. This is the first issue of the ‘Harare Last Week; 13-19 July 2008’.
HARARE LAST WEEK; 13-19 JULY 2008

In line with the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)’s information blitz activities programme, we will now be sending you a weekly update on the service delivery situation and other related issues in Harare. This alert will be titled ‘Harare Last Week’ and will be sent to you every week. Below is the first issue of the ‘Harare Last Week; 13-19 July 2008’.

Water supply

Most residential suburbs spent the whole of last week without running water in their homes. Residents in Highfields, Glen Lorne, Glen View, Budiriro, Glen Norah, Ruwa, Hatfield, Masasa park, Highlands and Gunhill spent this week with erratic water supply. Meanwhile residents in Mabvuku and Tafara entered their 8th week without water.

CHRA reminds the Government that the unilateral decision to give ZINWA the mandate to manage water supply in Harare continues o put the lives of the residents in danger. ZINWA lacks enough technical capacity to manage the water supply, hence the deepening of the water crisis in Harare as well as in other towns and cities across the nation. CHRA therefore urges the relevant authorities to return the mandate to manage water supply to the city council. We remind the council to step up its efforts to regain the water supply management, and save lives.

Electricity supply

Electricity supply this week was very erratic in most residential suburbs. Most suburbs were at the mercy of load shedding, getting electricity for not more than 3 hours per day. Please note that the length of the day for electricity usage is calculated from 0700hrs to 2000hrs. Areas hard hit include Highfields, Warren Park, Dzivarasekwa, Glen View, Glen Norah and Hatfield. Residents at Shingai court in the Avenues area went through their 3rd week without electricity. CHRA urges ZESA to put in place strategies that improve electricity supply or at least stick to their load shedding schedule.

Sewer and Waste Management

Sewage spillages characterize the face of most residential areas; especially the High density suburbs of Highfields, Mufakose, Warren Park, Glen Norah, Mabvuku, Tafara and Dzivarasekwa. In Mufakose and Mabvuku, raw sewage is filling up the road pot holes, while some residents have temporarily fled their homes, which have since been invaded by raw sewage! Refuse remains uncollected and pilling up in most of the suburbs that include Warren Park, Mbare, Mufakose, Mabvuku and Tafara. CHRA urges the council to urgently address this problem as it is a health risk. The Association runs a waste management programe that help address this problem, but this programe is on hold owing to the blanket ban on all NGOs and civic society field work.


Road maintenance

Most city roads are strewned with deep potholes. Such potholes are giving commuter operators and motorists a nightmare on the roads. Roads like this are common mostly in the high density surbubs such as Highfields (Canaan Engineering), Mufakose, Kambuzuma and Mabvuku. This situation is set to deteriorate further given the fact that the rainy season is approaching. CHRA urges the council to prioritize road maintenance before the rainy season destroys those roads completely. Before the blanket ban on all civic society and NGO field operations, CHRA members used to carry out voluntary popular action campaigns, some of which would see residents in different wards teaming up to repair their own roads

The bread basket

Cost of living for most residents in Harare, and indeed others across the nation continues to shoot up unabated. Prices of basic goods are increasing every day by an approximate percentage of 500%, while commuter fares are also increasing by 166% on a weekly basis. This week, commuter omnibuses were charging ZW$15 000 000 000 on Sarturday 13 July 2008, but this shot up to ZW$50 000 000 000 by Friday 18 July 2008.

The following table shows the cost of living for the past week; for an average family of six, living in Harare.


















Goods/Service Price (ZW$)

10 kg Mealie meal 600 000 000 000

750ml Cooking oil 300 000 000 000

200g Salt 100 000 000 000

6 kgs Economy Beef @ 500 billion/kg 3 000 000 000 000

Transport per week @ $ 40 billion per trip (where 1 person works in town, and 3 children commute to school, 5 days a week) 1 680 000 000 000
4 loaves of bread @ $100 billion per loaf x 7 days 2 800 000 000 000

2 kg sugar 250 000 000 000

30g Tea bags 100 000 000 000

250g Butter 200 000 000 000

6 litres of drink @$100 billion per 2litres 600 000 000 000

Total 9 630 000 000 000


Minimum wage currently stands at zw$100 000 000 000. Given that, an average family of six people needed at least ZW$9 630 000 000 000 for their basic survival in the past week, it means that most residents cannot afford the cost of living as it stands now. In that regard, most residents have resorted to walking to and from work in an effort to beat transport costs. Children are also walking to school with most of them withdrawing, while others have been transferred to local sub standard schools. Residents are walking distances averaging 15 to 20 km from their homes to work and or schools. In an effort to beat the spiraling cost of food, an average of 4 per every 5 families are now living on a single substandard meal composed of very little sadza and boiled vegetables, prepared without cooking oil or any soup. At least 3 in every 4 School children interviewed this week spend the whole day on an empty stomach, and get a single meal of sadza and boiled vegetables in the evening.

Meanwhile food aid by NGOs remains suspended, while the little aid that comes from the state is accessible by ZANU PF supporters only. Residents who are opposition supporters or civic society activists are not given any aid from the state. A CHRA official attended a recent state food aid meeting held in Mufakose on Friday 18th of July, where residents were being forced to chant ZANU PF slogans as well as those that denounce the Movement for Democratic Change, at each 15 minute interval during the meeting.

The political atmosphere

Harare’s political environment, just like in most parts of the country remains very tense. Intimidation of opposition (or suspected opposition) and civic society activists continues unabated. NGO and civic society organizations (CSOs) field work remains banned in Harare as well as the rest of the country. However the state claims that NGOs whose focus is on nutritional supplementary and HIV/AIDS treatment are allowed to carry on with their field work. CHRA recorded four cases of death threats by ZANU PF militia upon residents suspected to be civic actors, this week alone. ZANU PF militia bases remain intact in areas like Kambuzuma, Sunningdale, Dzivarasekwa and Mabvuku. The militia vow that their primary business is to make sure that there is no ‘any opposition parties activities that take place, as well as permanently dismantle the few remaining opposition parties structures in the wards’.

The militia is also raiding vendors of their food items, claiming that ‘it is the duty of the masses to feed the revolutionaries’. In some cases, vendors at such market places like Mbare, are forced to pay food stuffs to the militia as ‘trubute’ or else they loose their market stalks. CHRA recorded seven such incidences this week in Mbare. However, while opposition parties and civic society gatherings remain banned, ZANU PF continues with its public meetings and what they call victory celebrations. Residents report that they are being coerced to attend these gatherings. Information leaking from ZANU PF indicates that the state intends to maintain this suppressive and oppressive political environment as it considers the possibility of ordering fresh elections that will enable ZANU PF regain control of the Parliament; which is currently dominated by the opposition.

Conclusion

Most residents expressed their disappointment with the socio-political crisis that continues in the country. Their view is that ZANU PF is sacrificing their lives in its effort to cling onto power without the mandate of the people. Meanwhile CHRA continues to monitor and report on the situation on the ground, as one of our strategies of dealing with this crisis. CHRA warns the state that, while the residents have all along soldiered on to survive, the ‘temperatures’ are getting high, and their patience is running out.

G8 Hypocrisy

AU Monitor Weekly Roundup: Issue 144, 2008

2008-07-17

http://www.aumonitor.org

The leaders of the world’s most industrialised nations declared their intention to impose sanctions on "individuals responsible for violence" in Zimbabwe, adding that they did not recognise the legitimacy of President Mugabe’s government and calling on the appointment of a United Nations (UN) special envoy to complement an expanded mediation team. However, China, Russia and three other countries opposed the resolution in the UN Security Council proposed by the United States saying that ‘the situation in Zimbabwe did not meet the standards for sanctions’ and that the move would be ‘counter-productive’ to African-led talks to resolve the crisis. In the meantime, the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, is scheduled to meet the Chairman of the AU Commission, Jean Ping, to brief him on the developments of the mediation process in Zimbabwe. While Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade has criticised the AU decision on Zimbabwe describing it as ‘irresponsible’ and criticising the lack of protective measure to avoid a deterioration of the situation. Indeed, the ‘inability for the SADC [Southern African Development Community] or the AU to censure Zimbabwe has dealt a heavy blow to the AU’s stated objective of fostering and supporting democracy in Africa’, according to some commentators, yet, the AU has at its disposal its own mechanisms that can help bolster a negotiated settlement and restore democracy to Zimbabwe. Others, however, note the ‘hypocrisy and double standards’ of Western governments ‘reneging as always on solemn pledges to Africa, now demanding that African governments get serious about Robert Mugabe, blithely ignoring the West’s complicity in Africa’s woes and confident no one will reveal the real story’.
At the closing session of the AU summit in Egypt, the Libyan president Muammar Kadhafi praised the ‘the formation of the African federal government towards the establishment of the United States of Africa’. Following the AU decision, a donor conference was organised in Tunis to build the capacity of Regional Economic Communities (RECs), said to be the ‘building blocks’ to regional integration. In the East African Community (EAC), Burundi’s request to pay only $1 million instead of $4.5 million to the EAC 2008/2009 budget has been granted. Meanwhile in Southern Africa, SADC justice ministers met to consider the regional draft Protocol on Gender and Development before it is presented to Heads of State and Government at their Summit in August. The Protocol ‘is expected to speed up the process of achieving gender equality and equity, and improve the status of women in the region as well as addressing emerging gender issues and concerns’. In addition, civil society representatives under the umbrella of “Gender Is My Agenda Campaign” issued a formal statement and recommendations on peace and security, human rights, education, health, and economic empowerment, among others, to the AU heads of state and government during a meeting convened by Femmes Africa Solidarité ahead of the AU summit in Egypt.

In environmental news, African ministers of environment launched the "Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment" at the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) conference. Meanwhile, at the Community of Sahel–Saharan States (Cen-Sad) summit on rural development and food security, a proposed plan for the project involving a belt of trees 7,000 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide to slow the southward spread of the Sahara desert was formally adopted. The project will be monitored from Tripoli by Cen-Sad, while Senegal will provide ‘close technical cooperation’ because of its success in fighting desertification. In related news, the African Economic Research Consortium is calling for papers on Climate Change and Economic Development and on Natural Resource Management and Economic Development for the International Conference on Natural Resource Management, Climate Change and Economic Development in Africa: Issues, Opportunities and Challenges in September this year.

In transitional justice news, African leaders at the recently concluded AU summit in Egypt expressed their solidarity with Rwanda regarding foreign indictments that were filed against senior officers of the Rwanda Defence Forces by two European judges. Indeed, commentators note that Zimbabwe is the latest example in Africa where the balance between peace and justice has remained elusive, stating that ‘once again, the long arm of international law had reached into the heart of an African conflict and extinguished the possibility of a quick and peaceful resolution. Zimbabwe provides the latest evidence that a concept heralded as a way to bring justice to ordinary Africans, but driven by a largely Western-based hunger for prosecution, can instead prolong their misery.’ Meanwhile, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, requested an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir based on evidence collected related to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. The evidence is said to demonstrate that ‘Al Bashir masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups, on account of their ethnicity.’ With the peace process still stalled, the AU Chairperson and the UN Secretary-General have appointed Mr. Djibril Yipènè Bassolé as joint AU-UN chief mediator for Darfur. UN and AU Special Envoys for Darfur, Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim, will remain available for advice and engagement as required. Also in peace and security news, the Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad asserted that Iran is prepared to help resolve regional disputes in Africa and willing to share its experiences and achievements in many sectors.

While civil society expected the G8 summit to ‘reflect the gravity and urgency of the situation globally’, no ‘practical, measurable and tangible commitments with set timelines’ on critical issues such as food security and climate change were decided upon. Lastly, though Russia announced last year that products from least developed countries would be exempted from import tariffs, there is little commercial activity between Russia and Africa especially as compared to other emerging markets such as Brazil, India and China.

Peace with Justice

AU Monitor Weekly Roundup: Issue 145, 2008

2008-07-23

http://www.aumonitor.org

Following the announcement by International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Ocampo-Moreno of the application to the Court for an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur, the African Union (AU) chair, Tanzania, has said that any attempt to arrest the Sudanese President would derail efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict. The AU added that ‘the move would also affect the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in the Southern Sudan and the efforts to solve Sudan-Chad crisis’. A special report of the Executive Council of the AU states that "African states can lodge diplomatic protests objecting to the abuse of universal jurisdiction by some states, especially where a right of diplomatic protection may be more appropriate to proceed in cases concerning nationals of the states concerned". The Ugandan government has suggested that the AU Peace and Security Council investigate the alleged crimes against humanity committed by Sudanese President. Furthermore, the AU has urged the United Nations (UN) Security Council to defer the ICC process. Arab League criticisms and almost daily demonstrations in Sudan against the ICC have added weight to that call. ‘While transitional justice may be necessary and important, judicial approaches have been accused of endangering fragile peace processes by threatening the perpetrators, while some fear that non-judicial means let murderers get away.’ Lessons from other African countries remain invaluable to countries seeking peace with justice, in this vein, former representative of the UN high commissioner for human rights in Liberia, Dorota Gierycz, shares her experiences of transitional justice mechanisms in Liberia in an interview with IRIN. Meanwhile, the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) forces, which was expected to be 26,000 strong, now totals 8,000. The announcement came as UNAMID welcomed 172 Chinese military engineers.
Further in peace and security news, Zimbabwe’s political rivals signed a memorandum of understanding that commits the parties to intense dialogue for the next two weeks. The deal, facilitated by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, calls the three sides to commit to puting an end ‘to polarisation, divisions, conflict and intolerance’. Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had earlier praised the inclusion of the AU and the UN in the mediation process seeking to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe. As Zimbabwe proceeds with its mediation process, the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence (CIPEV) in Kenya began its public hearings this week. ‘Beyond the sheer scale of the violence—more than a thousand people killed and 350,000 displaced in two months of turmoil sparked by electoral disputes—the commission’s job is further complicated by its resolve to address the large number of sexual crimes committed during the violent crisis’, which the chairman of CIPEV, Justice Philip Waki, described as the ‘silent crimes in conflict situation, much ignored and underreported’.

In economic news, trade ministers from the East African Community and the United States government signed the ‘Trade and Investment Framework Agreement’ aimed at strengthening, increasing and diversifying bilateral trade, which exceeded $1.2 billion in 2007. Similarly, the AU Commission deputy chairperson Dr. Erastus Mwencha, during African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum, noted that ‘Africa must continue to pursue its interests in the World Trade Organization negotiations to secure markets for African products in the United States’. On the other hand, Refugees International, in its report, has criticised the US government’s African Command (AFRICOM) for ‘prioritizing the Global War on Terror at the expense of Africa’s most urgent security and stability needs’. The report, however, argues that ‘AFRICOM could have a long-term positive impact on the continent’s development if it brings stability that is essential for investment and growth’. Also brokering a relationship with Africa, France seems to be diminishing its sphere of influence on the continent as economic aid to the continent is at an all-time low and the downscale or departure of its military bases in France’s former colonies on the continent is anticipated.

In development news, Malawi’s Minister of Economic Planning and Development notes that Africa is the hardest hit by rising oil and food prices because it is a net food importer and infrastructures networks lag far behind the rest of the world. It is for that reason that African leaders adopted the New Partnership for Africa’s Development framework to lead the continent to prosperity. Meanwhile, African Ministers of Housing and Urban Development will meet later this month to discuss how to overcome the financial and resource challenges for sustainable housing and urban development in Africa.

In health related news, American and British scientists are suggesting that ‘a gene which apparently evolved to protect people from malaria increases their vulnerability to HIV infection by 40 per cent’, offering this hypothesis as a potential explanation for the high rates of infection in Africa.

Finally, Africa celebrated the 90th birthday of the former South African president and freedom fighter Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

Africa: AWDF activities at the Interntional Aids Conference

2008-07-24

http://awdf.org/web/index.php/news/8/59

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) will be attending the XVII International Aids Conference in Mexico, August 3rd- 8th. Activities AWDF will be involved in at the Mexico conference include the press launch of a progress document on the achievements of our HIV/AIDS fund since it’s inception in November 2005.

Africa: Communique on trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/49654

Tasintha Programme and Equality Now sponsored and organized a 3 day regional African Conference from 20-22 June 2008 in Lusaka Zambia. The Conference - with participants from Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe - gave organizations and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation the opportunity to share their experiences and strategies in working to end the trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls.
Communiqué


Regional Conference on Ending Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women

Taj Pamodzi Hotel, Lusaka

Background

Tasintha Programme and Equality Now sponsored and organized a 3 day regional African Conference from 20-22 June 2008 in Lusaka Zambia.

The Conference - with participants from Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe - gave organizations and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation the opportunity to share their experiences and strategies in working to end the trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls.

The Conference recognized that trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls is a global crime and knows no national boundaries and is a gross violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms. After examining the many causes, the Conference found that the roots of the problem include:
Gender inequality, racism, classism and homophobia
Discriminatory laws and cultural practices which impact women negatively
Poverty
The demand for paid sex
A false vision of gender roles
The political system of male dominance that creates the demand for paid sex
The inadequate social and political structures relating to the girl child and women
The media objectification of females and the normalization of male dominance and racial, class and gender stereotypes.

Best practices were shared amongst the participants of the Conference. Such practices included survivor initiated actions, state legislative actions by some countries, NGO initiated actions and actions on the international level.

In the light of the above, the Conference urges governments to put in place laws, policies and measures or review existing laws and policies that are inadequate in promoting, protecting and respecting the human rights of women and of the girl child and specifically:
to identify the presence or absence of policies and laws which address trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children;
to ratify and implement international instruments, especially the Trafficking Protocol to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crimes (the Palermo Protocol) which calls for the institution of national laws and policies to address trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children;
to identify, design and promote policies and National Plans of Action aimed at eliminating the demand for paid sex through strengthening of legislative, educational, social and cultural measures which discourage such demand;
To recognize that the legalization and/or state regulation of prostitution is not the answer but part of the problem.
To allocate sufficient resources for research as a way of understanding the causes and consequences of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women and children.
To design pro-poor and anti-poverty policies and programmes specific to local needs aimed at the elimination of gross inequality which is a major cause of trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children.

Recognizing that more people are enslaved in the world today than in the historic slavery of the 1800s, and that at least eighty percent of them are women and children, we declare ourselves to be:

The New Abolitionists

We expose and fight sexual slavery and commercial sexual exploitation everywhere.
We stand with women and children anywhere whose bodies are being sexually colonized.
We oppose traffickers and pimps as the sexual imperialists who sell the bodies of women and girls.
We oppose sex buyers who are some of the root causes of the sex market in their own countries and worldwide.
We oppose the economic and gender injustice that underlie prostitution and sex trafficking.
We demand economic alternatives, gender equality, reproductive and sexual freedom.
We support treatment programs for men who are addicted to sexual dominance.
We demand short term aids such as hotlines for sexually colonized women and children as well as for reporting alleged buyers to be investigated for creating the market for sexual enslavement and exploitation.
We demand such long term solutions as humanizing both gender roles so that “masculinity” no longer requires domination and “femininity” no longer requires being dominated, and the democratization of families so that they no longer normalize hierarchy or violence.
We call for ending political and economic instability and globalization as macro forces compelling sexual slavery and exploitation.
We oppose the legalization of prostitution and any efforts to use such occasions as the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 to promote commercial sexual exploitation, and we urge the South African government to enforce the Sexual Offences Act of 2007.
We call on governments not to permit or support the use of sports or sport activities in promoting the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children.
We support studies of the long term effects of body invasion as the most traumatic of crimes against the person.
We demand the re-imagining of sexuality – not as domination and passivity, victor and victim, or as an act that is moral for procreation only – but as a natural form of human communication that is rooted in free choice, cooperation and mutual pleasure.
We support and dedicate ourselves to organizing at every level, using every medium to gain these ends.

Authors
Anne Amadi, FIDA-Kenya
Damalie N. Lwanga, Office of Public Prosecutions, Uganda
Edda Kawala, Kiota Women Health Development (KIWOHEDE), Tanzania
Elizabeth Akinyi, Solidarity with Women in Distress (SOLWODI), Kenya
Esohe Aghatise, Coalition against Trafficking against Women (CATW)
Faiza Jama Mohamed, Equality Now
Imelda Molokomme, Nkaikela Youth Centre, Botswana
Margaret Karara, Sisters of Rwanda, Rwanda
Maria Clara Paulo Mutumba, OMES, Mozambique
Martine Chuulu, Women in Law Southern Africa (WLSA)
Mphikeleli Dlamini, PSI, Swaziland
Nontobeko Mbuyane, Swaziland
Prof Nkandu Luo, Tasintha Programme, Zambia
Rodgers Kasirye, Child Trafficking and Enslavement of Children in Uganda
Ruth Bikwa, Girl Child Network, Zimbabwe
Sara Longwe, Activist, Zambia
Sarry Xoagus-EISES, Namibia Media Women's Association (NAMWA), Namibia
Shamsi Kazimbaya, Society for Women and Aids in Africa (SWAAR), Rwanda
Seodi White, Women in Law Southern Africa (WLSA), Malawi
Wendy Issack, People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA), South Africa


Lusaka on June 22, 2008

For more information please contact: Prof. Nkandu Luo +260 1 224670 / +260 977 794206

Africa: SOAWR - Feedback on the citizen continental conference, Sharm El-Sheikh

2008-07-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/49715

Every year, SOAWR, which is a regional network of 26 civil society organizations and development partners across Africa working towards the promotion and protection of women’s human rights in Africa, attends. During the Summit, SOAWR challenges the host country to sign, ratify and/or domesticate the AU Protocol on Women’s Rights. Following the Regional consultation strategy on the same held in Tunisia, 2007, SOAWR took up the lead once again and sent press releases and other material to its members and stakeholders in the process urging Egypt, the host for the AU Summit 2008, to ratify the protocol.
Every year, SOAWR, which is a regional network of 26 civil society organizations and development partners across Africa working towards the promotion and protection of women’s human rights in Africa, attends. During the Summit, SOAWR challenges the host country to sign, ratify and/or domesticate the AU Protocol on Women’s Rights. Following the Regional consultation strategy on the same held in Tunisia, 2007, SOAWR took up the lead once again and sent press releases and other material to its members and stakeholders in the process urging Egypt, the host for the AU Summit 2008, to ratify the protocol. SOAWR recognizes that in Egyptwomen human rights defenders have tirelessly called on the Egyptian government to protect and promote the rights of women in the area of family law, civil and political rights, as well as economic and social rights.

* Objectives/outcomes /results excepted,

Objectives:

1. To challenge the host country and visiting delegates to address the issue of ratifying the AU Protocol on Women’s Rights
2. To lobby decision makers on behalf of citizens on the continent regarding important themes of the Summit and beyond

Expected outcomes:

1. To agree on common collaborative efforts and strategies towards ensuring the meaningful involvement of the citizens of Africa into the entire decision-making process of the AU.
2. A common communiqué that will serve as a lobbying tool to influence the decision-making process of the 11th Ordinary Summit.

EASSI’s expected role:
The Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) is an organisation that works towards the advancement of women in the region through monitoring Government commitments in the countries using the Beijing platform for Action framework.
During the Summit, EASSI’s role was to:

3. Participate in the press conference and outline major objectives and achievements of SOAWR
4. To address the challenges facing women under MDG 7 regarding Water and Sanitation as a basic human right for women and girl sinAfrica
5. Lobby Government representatives to ratify the AU protocol on Women’s Rights

* Evaluation of Activities against objectives, How did the project contribute to achieve the mission/goals of SOAWR?

The project provided space for SOAWR members to address many of the pressing issues facing women in the region. There were also various forums which offered space for healthy discussion and to directly challenge the delegates to ratify the protocol.

* Evaluation of Impact/change,

At the moment, it is difficult to evaluate the impact because the Summit has just been concluded.

* Challenge/obstacles/changes

Challenges included:

* Receiving accreditation for the Summit.
* Postponement of the press conference

Conclusion
EASSI is grateful to SOAWR for the organisation. There was a lot of opportunity to make positive shifts. Possibly, the next time SOAWR could arrange for more private forums which could create more impact and transformation.

Nigeria: Empowering women farmers

2008-07-24

http://www.ticad.net/achievements/nigeria.shtml

Opening new opportunities for women is a key to development, as well to strengthen efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. In Nigeria, where cultural attitudes and traditional beliefs often circumscribe women’s roles and hinder access to training and education, a women’s project is changing lives.

Somalia: First women lawyers association opens with UN help

2008-07-25

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27457

The first women lawyers association in Somalia has been established in the Somaliland region with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). “It will take time for the male-dominated legal profession to understand and accept the importance of women lawyers in society,” Antonia Lulvey, UNDP’s judiciary project manager, said.

Africa: Addressing the economic, social and cultural root causes of violence

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/49665

On 11 May of this year, representatives of 18 African Human Rights NGOs meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, to participate in the World Organisation Against Torture
(OMCT) African regional seminar on the economic, social and cultural root causes of torture drafted and adopted the Maputo Declaration Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In this document, the seminar participants - representing organisations from various countries in Africa - express their extreme concern at the erosion of the absolute prohibition against torture and urge concerted action at both national and international levels to bring an end to this practice.
Addressing the economic, social and cultural root causes of violence
African Human Rights NGOs meeting in Maputo to address the economic, social and cultural root causes of torture call on Governments to make Africa a torture-free continent
On 11 May of this year, representatives of 18 African Human Rights NGOs meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, to participate in the World Organisation Against Torture
(OMCT) African regional seminar on the economic, social and cultural root causes of torture drafted and adopted the Maputo Declaration Against Torture and other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In this document, the seminar participants - representing organisations from Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central
African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe - express their extreme concern at the erosion of the absolute prohibition against torture and urge concerted action at both national and international levels to bring an end to this practice.
The Maputo Declaration was drafted in the course of OMCT’s regional seminar on addressing the economic, social and cultural root causes of torture and other forms of violence (7-11 May 2008). The aim of the seminar was to explore the ways in which violations of economic, social and cultural rights are linked to violence and how acting on those root causes can in turn reduce levels of violence. During the seminar, participants selected, presented and collectively analysed specific situations from their own countries and identified practicalactions to address the root causes. For each case they developed concrete recommendations for Government authorities, the human rights bodies of the United Nations and other institutions, such as the European Union and private sector actors.
The Maputo Declaration Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment

The seminar participants - all engaged in fighting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in Africa - discussed the many serious obstacles placed in the way of their activities. To express their deepest concern at the present situation, they adopted the Maputo Declaration Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (see annex) in which they call on African Governments to make the continent “free from such practices”.

This seminar is part of a wider OMCT project designed to address the economic, social and cultural root causes of torture. The European Union through the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights provides substantial support for this project which is also supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation and the Karl Popper Foundation and the Foundation for Human Rights at Work.
In the Declaration, participants, “deplore the open practice and justification by certain States of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the open or silent cooperation and complicity of other States in those practices that gravely undermine our daily work and provide justification to repressive regimes that practice torture”. They also express their deepest concern at attempts by certain public figures, jurists, academics and others to undermine the absolute prohibition of such practices and the complicity of some media in justifying such unlawful treatment.
The participants encourage the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations to take practical steps to reinforce their cooperation and activities against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to strengthen their cooperation and support for civil society organisations engaged in the promotion and protection of human rights. They invite human rights NGOs from all over the world to join in the Declaration and ask for its widest circulation.
Acting on the economic, social and cultural root causes of torture
In the Maputo Declaration, the signatories also recognise “that violations of economic, social and cultural rights are very often the root causes of the torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment that our organisations fight against”. Indeed, on the basis of papers prepared in advance of the seminar, participants analysed specific cases in order to identify what action NGOs can take to end and prevent serious violations of human rights by acting on the poverty, inequality and discrimination at their roots. Among these situations were:
• Slavery like conditions of indigenous hunter-gatherer communities who, because of their weak economic position and marginalisation, are subjected to forced labour and denied most economic, social and cultural rights;
• Official violence inflicted on export zone workers calling for respect for their basic rights;
• Demonstrations calling for government action against rising food prices and deteriorating living conditions met with violent repression;
• Conflict over land allocation and mass evictions that led to armed resistance by populations and violent and indiscriminate repression by government forces;
• Torture and ill-treatment of detainees, including children, who are unable to afford legal defence and are not released from custody pending trial;
• Violent evictions of indigenous communities who, as a result, are subjected to ever graver violations of their economic, social and cultural rights;
• Eviction of an island community to make way for a hotel and casino complex.

These and other cases were analysed in working groups where they were enriched through an enthusiastic exchange of experience and ideas. The proposals for action that resulted are being further refined by participants in their own countries and, in cooperation with OMCT, may be presented to governments, international bodies and private sector actors.
The opening ceremony and the provision of a substantive framework
The opening ceremony on 7 May was addressed by Ambassador Glauco Calzuola, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Mozambique and Ambassador Thomas Litscher of Switzerland, with representatives of the United Nations Development Program and the Governments of Sweden and Finland also taking part.
In order to provide a substantive framework for the seminar’s discussions, presentations based on OMCT research and experience1 were made on how disrespect for economic, social and cultural rights can lead to violence and how the United Nations human rights system can be used to address those root causes (Dr. Michael Miller, OMCT Director of Research and Development). Presentations were also made on engaging with the European Union to promote economic, social and cultural rights and fight torture (Ms. Francesca Restifo, OMCT Researcher and Dr. Anna-Lena Svensson-McCarthy, Lawyer and Human Rights Consultant).
In addition, a presentation on how NGOs can interface with the European Union, especially on the country level, was made by Ms. Fotini Antonopoulou of the Delegation of the European Commission in Mozambique. Further, a special session was devoted to exploring how the human rights institutions of the African Union can be used to address the issue of violence and its root causes.
Guest speakers also provided participants with examples of practical responses to violence – and violence against children in particular - in Mozambique and Southern Africa. Mr Mioh Nemoto (UNICEF Mozambique) gave an overview of the socio-economic conditions of children and women in the country and presented UNICEF’s child protection activities. Ms, Nely Chimedza (International Organisation for Migration, Southern African Counter Trafficking Assistance Programme) discussed practical responses to child trafficking, and Mr.Chris Bjornestad (Save the Children, UK) presented the situation of unaccompanied and undocumented child migrants in the Southern African Region. All the presentations were followed by lively discussions with participants.
Participants expressed appreciation for having been able to deepen their understanding of the economic, social and cultural root causes of violence. They also underlined the importance of targeted action to address these root causes and called for the setting up of an African regional network of NGOs interested in the subject to exchange information and ideas. OMCT was asked to assist in this as well as to continue to provide support to African NGOs wishing to address the economic, social and cultural root causes of violence.
If you wish to adhere to the message and principles contained in the Maputo Declaration, please contact Dr. Michael Miller, Director, Research and Development, OMCT,
mm@omct.org
1 See the OMCT publication “Attacking the Root Causes of Torture, Poverty, Inequality and Violence: an
Interdisciplinary Study” (Geneva, September 2006), and the Report of the International Conference “Poverty,
Inequality and Violence: Is there a Human Rights Response?” (Geneva, 4 to 6 October 2005) both available at
www.omct.org

Appendix
The Maputo Declaration Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment

The undersigned African Human Rights Non-Governmental Organisations fighting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), meeting at the African Regional Seminar on Addressing the Economic, Social and Cultural Root Causes of Torture and Other Forms of Violence, held in Maputo, Mozambique, from 7 to 11 May 2008;

Recognise that violations of economic, social and cultural rights are very often the root causes of the torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment that our organisations fight against and that such violations can be effectively reduced and eliminated by action on those root causes;
Call for concerted action on the national and international levels in collaboration with other civil society partners to identify, address and act upon those root causes along with those violations of civil and political rights that make torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment possible;
Strongly reaffirm that torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are absolutely prohibited in all circumstances by international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and that torture and other inhuman acts constitute in certain circumstances crimes against humanity under the Statute of the International Criminal Court.
No circumstances can ever justify torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and such acts must be made criminal offences in national law. States are responsible before the international community for outlawing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, for preventing their occurrence, for prosecuting and punishing those guilty of such acts and for providing reparation to the victims;
Strongly deplore the open practice and justification by certain States of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the open or silent cooperation and complicity of other States in those practices that gravely undermine our daily work and provide justification to repressive regimes that practice torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
Further, express our deepest concern at attempts by certain public figures, jurists, academics and others to undermine the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the complicity of some media in justifying such unlawful treatment;
Emphasising that in our daily work of defending human rights and human dignity, we are witness to the devastating physical and psychological consequences that torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment inflict on the victims, such as women, men, children, youth, the poor and marginalised, indigenous peoples, minorities and others, on their family members and on society as a whole, in addition to the dehumanising effects upon those who practice torture and other forms of ill-treatment;
Welcome the conclusions of 29 April 2008 of the Council of the European Union in which it recalled “the EU’s firm position to fully comply with obligations in respect of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in the fight against terrorism, in particular the absolute prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”;
Call on all States to make similar statements categorically rejecting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
Call, in particular, on African Governments to end torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to make Africa a continent free from such practices, to end impunity by identifying, prosecuting and punishing those guilty, directly or indirectly, of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and to ensure justice, reparation, assistance and rehabilitation to victims of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
Recognise the essential role of civil society organizations in effectively ending torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and in efforts to ensure justice, reparation, assistance and rehabilitation for the victims;
Call for strengthening of the civil society organizations fighting torture and other forms of illtreatment and increased cooperation with them on the part of national authorities in the fight against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
Encourage the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations to take practical steps to strengthen their cooperation and activities against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in particular within the framework of the Guidelines to EU policy towards third countries on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to strengthen their cooperation and support for civil society organizations engaged in the promotion and protection of human rights;
Request all interested organisations to join with the World Organisation Against Torture in adhering to this Declaration and in circulating it widely, and invite organisations and individuals to transmit this Declaration to all African Governments, the African Union, the European Union, the United Nations and other relevant institutions.
· Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), Burundi
· Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), Central African Republic
· Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), Togo
· Association pour les Droits de l’Homme et l’Univers Carcéral (ADHUC), Republic of the Congo
· Centre for Security and Development Studies (CSDS), Liberia
· CLEEN Foundation, Nigeria
· Comité des Observateurs des Droits de l’Homme (CODHO), Democratic Republic of the Congo
· Comité de Réflexion et d’Orientation Indépendant pour la Sauvegarde des Acquis
Démocratiques (CROISADE), Niger
· Defence for Children International (DCI), Ghana
· Enfants Solidaires d’Afrique et du Monde (ESAM), Benin
· Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU), Kenya
· International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Kenya
· Land Centre for Human Rights (LCHR), Egypt
· Mouvement pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme et des Libertés (MDDHL),
Cameroon
· Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (RADDHO), Senegal
· Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), Zambia
· World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Switzerland
· Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Zimbabwe
Maputo, Mozambique

11 May 2008


In addition, the following organisations and individuals adhere to and express their support for the message and principles contained in the Maputo Declaration:
· African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (ACTV), Uganda
· Antenna International, Switzerland
· L’Association de Défense des Droits de l’Homme au Maroc (ASDHOM), France
· Rencontre pour la Paix et les Droits de l’Homme (RPDH), Republic of Congo -
Brazzaville
· Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Bulgaria
· Centre Action Social Réhabilitation et Réadaptation pour la Victime de la Torture
(SOHRAM-CASRA), Turkey
· Centre for Human Rights, Democracy and Transitional Justice Studies, Democratic
Republic of Congo
· Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE), Kenya
· Centro de Atencion Psicosocial (CAPS), Peru
· Khulumani Support Group, South Africa
· Jananeethi Institute, India
· Justiça Global, Brazil
· La Ligue Camerounaise des Droits Humains, Cameroon
· Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Nigeria
· Nora Wilson, Toronto, Canada
· Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Philippines

DRC: UN voices alarm at rising number of prison deaths

2008-07-25

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27435

Human rights officials with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have expressed serious concern about the living conditions in the Mbuji Mayi central prison, where at least 26 prisoners have died from severe and acute malnutrition since February. In the latest incident at the prison, located in Kasaï Oriental province, four prisoners died of hunger last week, bringing the total number of deaths in one month to 10.

Kenya: Corporal punishment: Open letter to Education Minister

2008-07-25

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/07/16/kenya19279.htm

We are writing to urge you to take decisive action on the problem of violence against children, and specifically corporal punishment in schools and in other settings. We believe that in your new role as Minister of Education, you will have a crucial function in improving the future of young Kenyans and protecting their rights.

Liberia: New report details widespread abuses on Firestone's rubber plantation

2008-07-24

http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/stop-firestone/resources/1592

This report from Liberian-based Stop Firestone coalition member, the Save My Future Foundation, details human rights, labor and environmental abuses on the Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia. The report is an update of SAMFU's 2005 report on Firestone.The report is also one of the first examinations of the role that several different security forces operating on the plantation play in violating the rights of workers, their families and communities surrounding the plantation.

Rwanda: Progress in judicial reforms falls short

2008-07-25

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/07/24/rwanda19455.htm

The Rwandan government has made notable progress in reforming its judicial system since 2004, but fair trial is still not assured, said Human Rights Watch in a newly released report. The 113-page report,“Law and Reality: Progress in Judicial Reform in Rwanda,” examines changes to the judicial system adopted over the past four years. The report documents reforms including the abolition of capital punishment, but identifies continuing areas of concern.

DRC: Displaced people resume return to their homes in north

2008-07-25

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27439

Displaced people this week began returning to their homes in the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with the help of the United Nations refugee agency. Five boats chartered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ferried the first group of 712 people – from a settlement for internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Tchomia – across Lake Albert to the town of Gobu in the Ituri district of DRC's Orientale province.

Mauritania: Bumps along the road to refugee resettlement

2008-07-25

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79349

The return of over 4,000 Mauritanian refugees who have been living in exile in Senegal for almost two decades has been smooth on the whole, but in some cases tensions are arising as refugees complain about their new living conditions and come up against difficulties in reclaiming their land.

Southern Africa: Outcry by activism groups as Zimbabweans in SA face deportation

2008-07-25

http://www.swradioafrica.com/News240708/Outcry240708.htm

As members of Zimbabwe’s political elite finally sat down for talks in South Africa on Thursday, many of their fellow citizens who sought refuge in the country are facing deportation back to the homes they fled as a result of political violence.

Africa: Help us create a Film - Resist AFRICOM

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/49682

As a collective of concerned organizations and individuals, the Resist AFRICOM campaign is comprised of organizations and individuals that are dedicated to speaking out against this extension of the military industrial complex. It is imperative that those of us that care about various wars in Africa show our support of this campaign. Whether it be the pending war in the Niger Delta or the continous tragedies in the Congo, Sudan or Somalia, it is time we come together to say: enough is enough! AFRICOM is currently staged in Stuggart, Germany and as of October 2007, it is scheduled to be a fully functional military command in October 2008.
In October 2008, the Resist AFRICOM campaign (www.resistafricom.org) is gearing up for days of action to address the official launching of the new U.S. military initiative called Africa Command, or AFRICOM. Currently, under the leadership of an African American, General William "Kip" Ward, AFRICOM is already a functioning military body and is staged in Stuttgart, Germany. The October 2008 date initiates its presence on the continent and begins a new chapter in Africa-US relations with the same ole feeling of imperialism and colonialism that Africans know too well.

As a collective of concerned organizations and individuals, the Resist AFRICOM campaign is comprised of organizations and individuals that are dedicated to speaking out against this extension of the military industrial complex. It is imperative that those of us that care about various wars in Africa show our support of this campaign. Whether it be the pending war in the Niger Delta or the continuous tragedies in the Congo, Sudan or Somalia, it is time we come together to say: enough is enough! AFRICOM is currently staged in Stuttgart, Germany and as of October 2007, it is scheduled to be a fully functional military command in October 2008. As a result, we have days of actions planned for every Friday in October:

October 3 - Panel Discussion at Howard University Symposium
October 10 - Press Conference
October 17 - Town Hall Meeting at Sankofa Bookstore
October 24 - Global Student Teach-In
October 31 - Day of Protest

Throughout the summer of 2008, Resist AFRICOM has engaged in a series of outreach endeavors to educate the various legs o the Black community, in particular, and concerned citizens, in general, about the details of this program and its historic implication. A key strategy in public education has been in connecting the dots of global militarism to domestic police brutality to gentrification to immigrant scare tactics. From attending conferences and townhall meetings to conducting political education sessions and teach-ins, it has been a summer of coalition building and organizing!

Our immediate next steps are to host a fundraiser for a potential mini-documentary to assist in educative efforts in October. This event entitled Drop the M.I.C. (military industrial complex) is tentatively scheduled for August 22, 2008 at Busboys and Poets. We have invited Hasan Salaam, a conscious hip hop artist from New Jersey, and Rebel Diaz, conscious hip hop group and recent survivors of NYPD police brutality) as well as activists and scholars to assist in this on-going public awareness campaign that not only resists AFRICOM, but is calling an end to many manifestations of global militarism.

We need your help to make this happen! We are asking that you make a donation to the Resist AFRICOM campaign via Igbo Kwenu! (http://www.igbokwe.org/donation.html) - a Pan Afrikan media group aimed at promoting indigenous Igbo culture and Afrikan justice issues.

Uganda: Museveni to extend rule with little challenge

2008-07-25

http://tinyurl.com/6p4awt

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni already looks set to win re-election in 2011, ensuring stability for the fast-growing economy despite concerns about democracy under one of Africa's longest-serving rulers. News that the 64-year-old former rebel will stand again has found favour with investors hungry for opportunities in emerging markets, but confounded opponents who have criticised his increasingly autocratic leadership style.

Zimbabwe: Ruling party says Mugabe must lead

2008-07-25

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnL5645298.html

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ruling party will not accept a power-sharing deal that fails to recognise his re-election or seeks to reverse his land reform programme, a state-owned newspaper said on Friday. The conditions, which the Herald newspaper said were agreed at a ZANU-PF politburo meeting earlier this week, could dim prospects for a deal at negotiations between Mugabe's party and two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Africa: TI-France re-files complaint targeting assets of five African heads of state

2008-07-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/49765

TI-France and the SHERPA Association have reported that a law suit was filed at the Court of Paris on Wednesday 9 July, relating to the circumstances under which huge real estate and financial capital was acquired in France by Denis Sassou Nguesso, Omar Bongo, Téodoro Obiang, Blaise Compaoré, Eduardo Dos Santos and their close associates or families.
TI-France and the SHERPA Association have reported that a law suit was filed at the Court of Paris on Wednesday 9 July, relating to the circumstances under which huge real estate and financial capital was acquired in France by Denis Sassou Nguesso, Omar Bongo, Téodoro Obiang, Blaise Compaoré, Eduardo Dos Santos and their close associates or families.

The lawsuit was jointly filed by TI-France and nationals of Gabon and Congo, represented by Barrister William Bourdon.

It communicates the same facts as those contained in another law suit jointly filed last year by SHERPA (ibid), SURVIE and the Federation of Congolese nationals of the Diaspora.

In spite of the convincing nature of findings produced by the preliminary investigation, the matter was classified.
Pursuant to provisions of the new Law of 5 March 2007, new plaintiffs - who secondly want to ask for reparation of their damage - must lodge a new complaint.

Hence, the plaintiffs are expecting that a legal inquiry will be opened in the shortest possible time. The findings of the first police investigation revealed the existence of a huge fortune and many of the facts contained in the initial law suit have been confirmed. There is little doubt that the fortune under scrutiny could not have been obtained through the salaries and official benefits of the persons concerned. Even more serious, some of these people are highly suspected of masterminding a huge embezzlement of public funds. It is for the examining judge to determine how the real estate was acquired and how the numerous bank accounts detected by the police were being run. It is equally necessary to consider the contributions made by some intermediaries in the course of the criminal operations.

TI-France considers it absolutely essential that the rights of victims of corruption to reparations are upheld.
The recovery of stolen assets embezzled by unscrupulous leaders is one of the foremost priorities of Transparency International, which played a major role to ensure that such a principle is enshrined in the United Nations Convention against Corruption (the so-called Merida Convention, 2003).

The most disadvantaged populations are often the first victims of these misappropriations. The recovery of stolen assets constitutes one of the subjects of the Convention on which there is a strong consensus among signatory countries, both in the Southern and Northern hemisphere. France, which repeatedly gave its support to this principle, has to ensure that corrupt money is not recycled through investments on its territory.

Press contacts:
Sherpa: William Bourdon – 0033 1 42 60 32 60 – William.bourdon@asso-sherpa.org
Transparence-International (France) – M.Daniel Lebègue or Julien Coll – 0033 1 47
58 82 08 – transparence@free.fr

DRC: Audit reveals $1.3bn embezzlement

2008-07-25

http://tinyurl.com/5el4bj

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Tuesday denounced the alleged embezzlement of $1,3-billion by public companies and finance officials. The embezzlement was revealed following a public audit.

Kenya: Remember Goldenberg! Cost Kenya 10% Of GDP

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/49655

Remember Goldenberg! Cost Kenya 10% Of GDP. The final opinion on the evidence reviewed is that although the above were criminal actions of an economic nature, they could only have succeeded with the necessary political backing they were provided with by officers of state who flagrantly violated the basic rules by which they were bound in virtue of their positions.
Remember Goldenberg! Cost Kenya 10% Of GDP “Our final opinion on the evidence reviewed is that although the above were criminal actions of an economic nature, they could only have succeeded with the necessary political backing they were provided with by officers of state who flagrantly
violated the basic rules by which they were bound in virtue of their positions. In sum, it was because of the culture of impunity. If that culture is to be brought to an end in Kenya, then there is a need for firm action to be taken against all those who have been implicated in this grand scheme of criminal malfeasance. If it has taken fifteen years for the whole truth to emerge, there can be no excuse for inaction now.”

Hon. Justice Samuel William Wako Wambuzi
Chief Justice Emeritus of the Republic of Uganda
Prof. Chris Maina Peter
Professor of Law, University of Dar es Salaam
Prof. J. Oloka-Onyango
Professor of Law, Makerere University

www.kituochakatiba.co.ug

The economic, financial and political events that developed in the Republic of Kenya in the 1990s and came to be known as the Goldenberg Affair were the brainchild of a Kenyan citizen named Kamlesh Mansukhlal Dhamji Pattni. In his late 20s and without substantial schooling, Kamlesh Pattni conceived a financial scheme which was to facilitate the stealing from the national coffers in Kenya of substantial amounts of money—running into millions of dollars.
This scheme involved people high up the political ladder in Kenya who in one way or another stood to gain from it and thus provided the much needed protection and cover for the scheme to take place and eventually succeed. How this scheme was conceived, who was involved, and its general effects on economic and political governance in Kenya were the subject of a judicial inquiry.

The Commission of Inquiry into the Goldenberg Affair referred to as the Bosire Commission was set up by notice in the Kenya Gazette of February 24, 2003 by the President of Kenya, H.E. Mwai Kibaki, and placed under the Chairmanship of Hon. Mr. Justice Samuel Elkanah Onderi Bosire of the Court of Appeal of Kenya. The Bosire Commission held public hearings for a period of almost two years. It began work on 14th March, 2003 and conducted its final public session on 10th February, 2005.

Over that period, about 102 witnesses were called to testify; 188 exhibits were tendered; and oral and documentary evidence was adduced. The Hansard of the sittings of the Commission ran to over 18,000 pages. Over 55 advocates appeared before the Commission. While the majority of them represented various people who had been adversely mentioned—some of who appeared and others who chose not to—yet others were invited as amicus curie to assist the Commission in its deliberations.

The Goldenberg Inquiry was one of the longest single inquiries in the history of Kenya. Moreover, it has not been cheap to the taxpayer. According to one source, the inquiry cost an average of KShs. 15 million per month. The Grand Regency Hotel sale scandal refocuses attention on Goldenberg.

The law on which the sale was based is illegal. Section 56B of the Anti Corruption and Economic Crimes Act which allows the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission to enter into out of court Settlements with corruption suspects for both civil and criminal Proceedings as it did with Kamlesh Pattni is illegal because it was deleted by Parliament on 13th September 2007 at page 3929 of the Hansard of Parliament. We are of the view that Goldenberg must not be allowed to go unpunished.

Goldenberg cost Kenya 10% of its GDP and most of the culprits identified by the Bosire Commission are still alive and over 158 Billion traced is recoverable. All that is needed is political will. We upload the following extracts from Kituo Cha Katiba’s sterling investigations of Goldenberg to enable a very simple understanding of the Goldenberg Scam.

1. What were the origins of Goldenberg?
2. Did Goldenberg International Limited follow the law?
3. Does Kenya have Diamonds and/or Gold?
4. Did Goldenberg International Limited actually deal in or export diamonds and gold?
5. If diamonds and gold were exported as alleged, what was the quantity and to whom was it exported?
6. Where did Goldenberg International Limited get the diamonds/gold it allegedly exported?
7. How did Goldenberg International Limited acquire a license to export diamond and gold?
8. How did Goldenberg International Ltd secure the monopoly to export gold?
9. How much money was paid by the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank Of Kenya to Goldenberg International Ltd?
10. What are the circumstances surrounding the payment of KShs. 5.8 billion to Goldenberg International Ltd ?
11. What were the circumstances surrounding the payment of US $ 210 million to Exchange Bank Limited (EBL) in respect of fictitious foreign exchange claims?
12. What was the fraudulent scheme of cheque-kiting by Goldenberg International Ltd and associated banks?
13. Were the moneys illegally obtained from Central Bank of Kenya, the Customs Department and the Treasury , used to fund the campaigns of any political parties?
14. What effect did the Goldenberg related civil and criminal litigation have on the administration of justice in Kenya?
15. The Broad Issues Emerging From The Goldenberg Affair
16. Specific And General Recommendations on the Goldenberg Affair

www.marsgroupkenya.org

Kenya: The connection between high food prices and corruption

2008-07-24

http://www.bulamwa.co.ke//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=82&Itemid=39

There has been a continuing debate amongst grass root Kenyans as to what is truly causing the high food prices. Theories proposed have ranged from there having been poor harvests due to lack of rain; and the after-effect of the post-elections violence and displacement; the disappearance of traditional foods from the farmers’ options of crops and that the food crisis is a global problem.While there may be some truth in these factors, Kenyans nevertheless see a clear link between the high food prices and corruption.

Southern Africa: Corruption trends across countries

2008-07-25

http://tinyurl.com/5vnw87

The fight against corruption in Southern Africa needs tougher laws against bribery and fraud, more transparent political financing, cleaner public procurement and a stronger judiciary, according to seven studies just conducted across the region in the second half of 2007.

Africa: Innovation for Sustainable Development: Local case studies from Africa

2008-07-24

http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/publications/africa_casestudies/index.htm

This report aims to shed light on how innovative solutions have arisen at the local level to address sustainable development challenges in Africa. The case studies in the volume identify the determinants of success, ongoing problems and unfinished business, and the scope for replication. The report is a contribution to the background documentation for the 16th and 17th sessions of the Commission on Sustainable Development, which has Africa as one thematic focus. Its preparation is the result of a fruitful dialogue and interaction between the UN Secretariat and practitioners in the field in Africa.

Uganda: A Millennium village thrives

2008-07-24

http://www.ticad.net/achievements/uganda.shtml

Africa faces the greatest challenges of any region in tackling extreme poverty, which afflicts the lives of millions on the continent. Despite stronger economic growth, more than 40 per cent of the population of Africa still lives on less than $1 a day, and education and health systems are inadequate in many areas. The Millennium Village in Ruhiira, Uganda shows how modest inputs can enable communities to improve their lives and livelihoods.

Africa: Cancer in Africa needs a local approach

2008-07-25

http://tinyurl.com/5pqrwn

Cancer care in Africa faces the same challenges as general healthcare, but also needs local data and targeted solutions, says Twalib Ngoma. African countries face many challenges when providing health services in general, and care of cancer patients in particular. Financial constraints are one obvious barrier. But many others exist, and need to be understood by anyone seeking to improve the situation.

Kenya: PMTCT services not reaching rural women

2008-07-25

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79440

The government's campaign to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child is failing pregnant HIV-positive women in Kenya's remote rural areas. A shortage of testing sites and trained medical staff in rural areas means many of these women are unaware of their status and that their babies are at risk of contracting the virus.

Rwanda: Military to lead the way in male circumcision

2008-07-24

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79085

The soldiers in the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) will be the first men to benefit from a government policy to use male circumcision as a tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS, according to senior health officials. Early in 2008, the Rwandan Ministry of Health declared its intention to include circumcision – scientifically proven to reduce a man's risk of contracting the virus from an infected sexual partner by as much as 60 percent – in its HIV prevention programmes. The voluntary circumcision programme is expected to start in August.

Southern Africa: Failing grades: Lesotho's lack of AIDS education

2008-07-25

http://www.panos.org.uk/?lid=23417

According to the UNICEF Humanitarian Action Report 2008, there are 16,000 children aged under 14 living with HIV in Lesotho and an estimated 180,000 children orphaned or made vulnerable by AIDS. Some of these children have been forced by the circumstances to head their families and yet there is no programme in place to educate them about HIV.

Swaziland: Aids creating a society in distress

2008-07-25

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=43303

With an HIV prevalence of 19 percent -- the highest in the world -- AIDS is having an unprecedented impact on Swaziland. Life expectancy has fallen from 60 years to 31 years, the world's lowest figure, and one in three children are orphaned or left vulnerable from AIDS. Last year, about 40 percent of the population needed food aid.

Kenya: Crisis talks as riots rock more schools

2008-07-24

http://tinyurl.com/55mxwa

The Kenya Government was jolted into action by the rising cases of student riots with Education minister Sam Ongeri chairing a crisis meeting with key players in the sector. As the key leaders in the education and security sectors were seeking a solution to the crisis that has affected over 300 schools in the last one month, Tourism minister Najib Balala said the ban on caning should be lifted.

Kenya: Teachers want Government to shut down secondary schools

2008-07-25

http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1143990917&cid=4&

Teachers’ unions are now asking the Government to shut down all secondary schools to end the mayhem, but Education Minister Sam Ongeri has ruled this out, saying it would postpone the problem. The unionists called for tough measures as one more student died in Western Province, more schools were closed and striking students arraigned in court, with no sign of let-up in the chaos that has paralysed secondary education.

South Africa: Farm workers go back to school

2008-07-25

http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/19620

Potato farmers forming part of the Western Free State Seed Growers (Pty) Ltd, in Christiana have identified farm workers skills development as a key requirement for agricultural economic growth in South Africa. The farmers in partnership with government’s AgriSETA and a private owned company, Media Works have embarked on an Adult Basic Education and Training (Abet) meant to provide adult basic education and training to permanently employed farm workers in different national languages as well as numeracy skills.

Cameroon: Homophobia fuelling the spread of HIV

2008-07-25

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79397

The persistent and increasing outbreaks of violence against members of the gay community in Africa are jeopardising efforts undertaken to combat HIV, both within this group and across the population as a whole, AIDS activists warned at a recent meeting in Limbé, Cameroon.

South Africa: JWG outraged by hate speech against lesbians and gays

Jon Qwelane and Sunday Sun Homophobia: Complaint & Demonstration

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/lgbti/49706

The Joint Working Group (JWG) a network representing 24 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) organizations throughout South Africa was outraged by a column that appeared in the Sunday Sun on 20 July 2008 (Call me names, but gay is not ok) that is filled with hate speech against lesbian and gay people.
Press Release


JWG Outraged by Hate Speech Against Lesbians and Gays

The Joint Working Group (JWG) a network representing 24 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) organizations throughout South Africa was outraged by a column that appeared in the Sunday Sun on 20 July 2008 (Call me names, but gay is not ok) that is filled with hate speech against lesbian and gay people.

The column is filled with vitriolic rhetoric aimed against lesbians and gays. It also promotes the denial of the basic human rights of lesbian and gay people. We are deeply offended that Jon Qwelane wrote such a piece and that the Sunday Sun published it alongside an equally offensive cartoon.

The Joint Working Group is of the view that the article exceeds the bounds of free speech in terms of the Constitution as it advocates hatred on the grounds of a person’s preference for having relationships with members of the same sex.

The Joint Working Group was specifically angered by the following:

· The “cartoon” accompanying the article falls in the worst tradition of the discriminatory caricature, with the insidious suggestion that same-sex relationships are akin to bestiality;

· The article continuously makes derogatory reference to gay and lesbian people solely based on their sexual orientation;

· The article is offensive to women;

· Qwelane’s approval of the abhorrent human rights abuses being perpetuated against LGBTI people in Zimbabwe as a result of Robert Mugabe’s “approach” is disgraceful.

· The writer shows a total disregard for the South African Human Rights Commission which is the structure legally mandated to protect human rights of all South Africans.

We cannot ignore the context in which such a column is occurring. The decision to publish this article was particularly irresponsible in light of the growing trend of well-publicised hate crimes (including rape and murder) perpetrated against LGBTI people in South Africa today. Views such as those of Qwelane stoke the flames of homophobia and, inevitably, lead to violence against all those who are marginalised and stigmatised in our communities’.

In light of the scandalous slander of an entire community, the JWG has decided, along with like minded organisations, immediately to lay an official complaint before the South African Human Rights Commission and the Press Ombudsman. It will also consider all other legal options for taking this matter forward so as to ensure that the poisonous pen of a writer such as Qwelane does not imperil the rights of all LGBTI people in South Africa.

For more information contact the JWG or a member organisation in your area.




Emily Craven
Coordinator
Joint Working Group
011 403 5566
011 403 5567
emily@jwg.org.za


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Organizations are planning a picket outside the newspaper’s offices next Tuesday but are awaiting permission from the Metro Police. We will forward to details as soon as they are confirmed. In addition, complaints have been laid with the Human Rights Commission, the Commission on Gender Equality and the Press Ombudsman.

We hope you will join us in condemning this hateful and homophobic display. Write about it, flood the fax of the paper, send your support to our complaint to the HRC and CGE and join us in the protest action.

South Africa: MSM Prep study to kick off in Cape Town

2008-07-25

http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article.php?uid=20032027

Cape Town researchers have announced plans to launch a pre-exposure prophylaxis (Prep) HIV prevention trial among men in the city. Prep is a therapy taken to prevent, rather than to treat, an infection or illness, and it is one strategy being studied by the University of Cape Town’s Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, as part of its effort to develop new HIV prevention tools.

Global: Authorities order bars not to serve black people

2008-07-24

http://tinyurl.com/5hr54g

According to a report appearing in the South China Morning Post, Beijing authorities are secretly planning to ban black people and others it considers social undesirables from entering the city’s bars during the Olympic Games, a move that would contradict the official slogan, “One World, One Dream”. Bar owners near the Workers’ Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises.

Africa: Crop failure intertwined with climate change

2008-07-25

http://www.ipsterraviva.net/europe/article.aspx?id=6334

Climate change has a profound effect on food security in Africa, as increasing temperatures and shifting rain patterns reduce access to food across the continent. This transpired at a conference on global warming and climate change July 21-July 24 in Cape Town, South Africa. The discussion was organised by South Africa’s Fynbos Foundation, which aims to realise investment in the media, publishing, arts and culture sectors, and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University in the United States.

Global: World Bank overstated money for environment - report

2008-07-25

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49456/story.htm

The World Bank overstated its commitment to environmental projects since 1990, possibly by billions of dollars, an internal watchdog group reported on Tuesday. The bank's official estimate for commitments to programs specifically aimed at helping the environment is US$59 billion from fiscal 1990 to 2007, according to the Independent Evaluation Group.

Kenya: Climate change wreaks havoc to pastoralist communities

2008-07-25

http://www.awcfs.org/content/view/453/1/

The scientific evidence is now overwhelming: climate change is a serious global threat and it demands an urgent global response. It currently affects and will affect basic elements of life for people around the world – access to water, food and livestock production, health and the environment. Hundreds of people could suffer hunger, water shortages and coastal flooding as the world warms.

Kenya: Government to implement report on irregular allocations

2008-07-25

http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1143990918&cid=4&

The Kenya Government will start implementing the Ndung’u report on irregular land allocation from next week, Lands Minister James Orengo has announced. Orengo said he has studied the report and does not need to consult Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki or form another commission to implement it.

Niger: Reporter to stay in prison after appeal-judge

2008-07-25

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL5716507.html

A journalist working for French radio in Niger must remain in prison after the country's prosecutor appealed on Friday against a court order this week dismissing charges of collaboration with rebels, a judge said. Moussa Kaka, who works for French state-owned Radio France International (RFI), has spent 10 months in prison. The charges against him have twice been dismissed only for the prosecutor to appeal both times against the freeing of the journalist.

Tunisia: Journalist released from prison

2008-07-25

http://tinyurl.com/6hmjax

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has welcomed the release of Tunisian journalist and human rights activist Slim Boukhdir. Boukhdir, who has been the frequent target of harassment by Tunisian authorities, on Monday was released early from a one-year prison sentence.

Congo: More children on the streets

2008-07-25

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79423

According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Congo has continued to feel the effects of a decade-long brutal civil war that ended in 2003, displaced millions of people and ravaged the economy. The war left in its wake thousands of children without birth certificates, young girls with babies from unknown fathers, and child soldiers needing demobilisation and reintegration into civil society.

DRC: Rebels accused of civilian executions

2008-07-25

http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/19633

The National Congress for the Defense of the Congolese People (CNDP) rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda (photo) is reportedly provoking fights against other militia groups and causing instability in the restive North Kivu province. Meanwhile, President Joseph Kabila's government has accused the rebel group of going on rampage and executing civilians whom they claim to be members of other militias in the area.

Horn of Africa: Urban poor the new face of hunger

2008-07-25

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79392

The urban poor in the Horn of Africa are the new face of hunger in a region where up to 14.6 million people now require humanitarian assistance due to poor rains, high food and fuel prices, conflict, animal disease, inflation and poverty.

Mali: Government, Touareg rebels agree ceasefire

2008-07-25

http://tinyurl.com/5w4aad

Mali's government and Tuareg rebels reached aceasefire agreement on Monday to end almost a year of sporadic clashes in the country's vast northern desert, Algeria's official APS news agency said. The truce came after four days of talks in the Algerian capital, Algiers, between government envoys and members of the rebel Democratic Alliance for Change mediated by Algeria's ambassador to Mali, Abdelkrim Ghrib.

Sudan: Government bombed Darfur during Bashir tour - rebels

2008-07-25

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnMCD534595.html

A Darfur rebel faction that has a pact with Sudan's government accused the army on Friday of bombing a village this week even while President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was in the region making a call for peace. Tension has grown in Darfur since the International Criminal Court's prosecutor said on July 14 he would seek an arrest warrant for Bashir for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Sudan: Restore security in Abyei

2008-07-25

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/07/22/sudan19422.htm

Tens of thousands of civilians are still unable to return to the contested town of Abyei, two months after half of the town was destroyed in fighting, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. A Human Rights Watch investigation in June 2008 documented the deaths of at least 18 civilians in the fighting in mid-May, most of them deliberately killed by Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) or allied militia.

Uganda: Museveni: 'No further negotiations with Kony'

2008-07-25

http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/19617

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni says that his government will not hold further negotiations with the Lord Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony. The President made the remarks shortly after meeting the First Vice President of Sudan General Salva Kiir who is in Uganda on an official visit. What remains is for him to sign the peace agreement,” Mr. Museveni stresses.

Africa: ICT and changing mindsets in education

2008-07-24

http://www.ernwaca.org/web/spip.php?article149

The debate is no longer whether to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in education in Africa but how to do so, and how to ensure equitable access for teachers and learners, whether in urban or rural settings. This is a book about how Africans adopt and adapt ICT. It is also about how ICT shape African schools and classrooms.

Kenya: Inside Nairobi, the next Palo Alto?

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/49685

In the republic of innovation, life is unfair. A relatively small number of places — all in wealthy countries or in China and India — create nearly every important technological advance. Consider Wilfred Mworia, a 22-year-old engineering student and freelance code writer in Nairobi, Kenya. In the four weeks leading up to Apple’s much-anticipated release of a new iPhone on July 11, Mr. Mworia created an application for the phone that shows where events in Nairobi are happening and allows people to add details about them.
Inside Nairobi, the Next Palo Alto?
By G. PASCAL ZACHARY

IN the republic of innovation, life is unfair. A relatively small number of places — all in wealthy countries or in China and India — create nearly every important technological advance.

Other places must be content with technologies made by others. Yet people in these areas are dreaming of more.

Consider Wilfred Mworia, a 22-year-old engineering student and freelance code writer in Nairobi, Kenya. In the four weeks leading up to Apple’s much-anticipated release of a new iPhone on July 11, Mr. Mworia created an application for the phone that shows where events in Nairobi are happening and allows people to add details about them.

Mr. Mworia’s desire to develop an application for the iPhone is not unusual: many designers around the world are writing programs for the device. But his location posed some daunting obstacles: the iPhone doesn’t work in Nairobi, and Mr. Mworia doesn’t even own one. He wrote his program on an iPhone simulator.

“Even if I don’t have an iPhone,” Mr. Mworia says defiantly, “I can still have a world market for my work.”

Nairobi’s challenges are many. Internet use is relatively expensive and slow. Power failures are common. The city also lacks a world-class technical university. Mr. Mworia’s professors don’t offer lessons in the latest computer languages; he must learn them on his own.

Political instability can be a problem, too. Earlier this year, Kenya suffered widespread violence after its disputed national election. For weeks, work in Nairobi came to a halt.

“If you have a bright idea in Nairobi, you can’t just turn it around,” says Laura Frederick, an American working on an online payment system in the city.

Still, Nairobi is home to a digital brew that invites optimism about its chances for creating unusual innovations. The city has relatively few wired phone lines or networked personal computers, so mobile phones are the essential digital tool. Four times as many people have them as have bank accounts. Text messages are far more popular than e-mail. Safaricom, the dominant mobile provider, offers a service called M-pesa that lets customers send money with text messages. Nokia sells brand-new phones here for as little as $33.

While engineers in the United States lavish attention on expensive phones that boast laptoplike features, in Kenya there are 10 million low-end phones. Millions more are used elsewhere in Africa. Enhancements to such basic phones can be experimented with cheaply in Nairobi, and because designers are weaned on narrow bandwidth, they are comfortable writing compact programs suited to puny devices.

“Applications are heavy in America,” says Michael Wakahe, a Nairobi code writer. “Here we have to make them light,” because simpler hardware requires smaller programs. These can have advantages in wireless systems.

The distinctive digital experience in Nairobi inspires confidence in its youthful community of programmers, bloggers and Web enthusiasts. Over the past year, about 600 people in Nairobi — most under 25 — have coalesced into a group called Skunk Works, sharing ideas and encouraging new businesses. In June, it held an all-day workshop that included sessions on using the Android phone operating system from Google, developing applications for digital maps and creating content for mobile phones.

“Possibilities are opening up for us,” says Josiah Mugambi, one of the group’s organizers.

The prospect of marrying low-end mobile phones with the Internet is earning Nairobi notice from outsiders, who wonder whether the city might emerge as a test-bed for tomorrow’s technologies. One intriguing possibility is broadcasting local television programs on mobile phones.

In Nairobi’s highest-profile validation, Google opened a development office here last September. “Africa is a huge long-term market for us,” Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said by e-mail. “We have to start by helping people get online, and the creativity of the people will take care of the rest.”

Google hired seven recent university graduates, who digitally mapped the streets and structures of Nairobi for Google Maps. The company is now doing the same for other African cities. A leading Nairobi television broadcaster, NTV, has made a deal to present whole episodes of its programs on YouTube, a Google property.

Google plans to hire more people in Nairobi and is recruiting staff in half a dozen other African cities. In Nairobi, Google chose a veteran of the city’s Internet-access industry to lead its office. The company assigned two Americans here; like the presidential candidate Barack Obama, each is the child of a Kenyan and an American.

The company’s presence has raised ambitions. “When I interview people for jobs in this office,” explains Chris Kiagiri, a Google technology officer in Nairobi, “I ask them, ‘What would you like to see Google do in this market that it has not attempted anywhere else in the world?’”

“A lot of people assume Google is trying to replicate in Africa what it has done elsewhere,” adds Mr. Kiagiri, who transferred last year from Google’s head office in California. “Sure, we want to bring existing products into this market. But we also want to organize information locally in a way we haven’t done elsewhere.”

To be truly creative in a technological backwater is to defeat geography. Even as powerful a technological force as Google might not succeed. But dreaming of greatness, Kenyans are pushing Google to expand into completely new areas.

One local programmer, Timothy Mbugua, wants Google to enhance its communication backbone so he can use it to build a money-transfer business that would charge lower rates than existing services. While it sounds daunting, Mr. Mbugua explains, “I’m only saying to Google, ‘This is what I need from you in order to execute my idea.’”

* G. Pascal Zachary teaches journalism at Stanford and writes about technology and economic development. E-mail: gzach@nytimes.com

* This article was first publish in the New York Times on 20 July 2008.

South Africa: Mozilla funds translation team

2008-07-25

http://www.tectonic.co.za/?p=2672

South Africa’s award-winning multilingual software developer, Translate.org.za, has been awarded a grant by the Mozilla Corporation to extend its translation tools. The US-based Mozilla Corporation, a subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, co-ordinates the development of popular Internet software projects such as the Firefox web browser and the Thunderbird email client.

Africa: Agenda journal on Family Politics - Call for abstracts

2008-07-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/49718

At the forefront of feminist publishing in South Africa for 20 years, the Agenda journal raises debate around women’s rights and gender issues. The journal encourages critical thinking, debate and social activism and strengthens the capacity of women and men to challenge gender discrimination and injustices.
The IBSS/SAPSE accredited and peer reviewed journal will be published in mid-November 2008. We invite contributors from all over the African continent and other countries in the South to write on the above-mentioned topics from either a research or an activism perspective. Please submit no later than 6 August 2008.
Call for Abstracts
To contribute to the upcoming Agenda journal on Family Politics

At the forefront of feminist publishing in South Africa for 20 years, the Agenda journal raises debate around women’s rights and gender issues. The journal encourages critical thinking, debate and social activism and strengthens the capacity of women and men to challenge gender discrimination and injustices.

The IBSS/SAPSE accredited and peer reviewed journal will be published in mid-November 2008.

This journal issue aims to put a spotlight on the concept of motherhood, fatherhood and the family as a “constructed” phenomenon; mediated, understood and practiced by its varied peoples. The human race places high value on the family, dubbing it ‘one of the most crucial social institutions for child rearing’. Alongside family worth are expectations and undocumented laws on the role and responsibility of the family. The mother and her “good” qualities are at the core of the debate. Issues of parenthood vis-à-vis fatherhood and motherhood are embedded in these discussions.

With an intention to particularly capture and examine motherhood and ‘family policies’ of the South, this journal investigate a number of issues including definitions of ‘family’, absent fathers vs. absent mothers, perceptions/realities of working mothers, the politics of breast feeding, the politics of adoption, unearthing motherhood myths, testing a long standing stereotype - “mothers are apolitical”, the representation of mothers/family in the media, contemporary women’s suppressive aspects of motherhood, ambiguity of parenthood, young mothers/forced into the role of mother, gay families and parenthood, maternity/paternity leave, the ‘ideal’ mother, motherhood and sexuality, surrogate mothers.
We would also like to receive abstracts for articles that will investigate the need for special courts that specifically deal with rape; the trend of ‘grooming victims’ by perpetrators; the reason for South Africa’s high rape crime rate; how committed African governments are to counter rape; the situation of men as survivors of rape - if there is not legislation around it, can men legally be raped?
We invite contributors from all over the African continent and other countries in the South to write on the above-mentioned topics from either a research or an activism perspective.

Abstracts and contributions must be written in English language and a style accessible to a wide audience. Please submit abstracts to guest editor Kristin Palitza, kristin@iburst.co.za

All abstract submissions must:
Specify the specific key area you would like to write on;
Count 200-300 words;
Include contact details: your name, institution/organisation, telephone, email and the country in which you reside/country of origin.
Deadline: Please submit no later than 6 August 2008.

Africa: ONE Africa Award - Call for Nominations

2008-07-23

http://www.one.org/africaaward/

“The ONE Africa Award has opened its CALL FOR NOMINATIONS to individuals, organizations based in Africa. The award is a one time grant of US$100,000.The deadline for receipt of nominations is August 15th, 2008.

Global: Seeking publications - Women Ink.

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/49707

Women, Ink., a project of the International Women's Tribune Centre, is urgently seeking new publications about various gender and development issues - with a special focus on those produced in the last three years by small independent and women's presses and information-producing groups in the Global South.
Women, Ink., a project of the International Women’s Tribune Centre, is urgently seeking new publications about various gender and development issues - with a special focus on those produced in the last three years by small independent and women’s presses and information-producing groups in the Global South.

Have you or your organization recently produced a book on women and socio-economic and political change in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and Central and Eastern Europe? Are you in interested in marketing and selling your publication? Both practical and academic, the Women, Ink. collection seeks books on various aspects of gender and development, including women’s human rights; conflict and peace processes; training; economics and globalization; health, sexuality and reproductive rights; political process; information communication; policy and political process an women organizing.

All publications must be reviewed to ensure a good fit and a copy of each title is required for these purposes. Titles that are selected will be featured for sale on the Women, Ink. website; in Booklink, a monthly e-newsletter that reaches close to 800 subscribers; and a promotional piece that will be published in late October this year. In addition, they will enjoy visibility at venues such as the AWID Conference in November 2008; the International Colloquium of Women Leaders in February 2009; and the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March 2009, to name a few.

If you are interested in having your book considered for this opportunity, please send a review copy to Joeyta Bose, Women, Ink., 777 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017. In addition, please write to reviewbooks@womenink.org so that Women, Ink. is aware that you will be sending Women, Ink. the publication.

Deadline: August 30, 2008.

Please visit http://www.womenink.org:80/ to explore the collection further.

Africa: 3rd EQUINET regional conference

2008-07-24

http://www.equinetafrica.org/meetings.php

The Third EQUINET Regional Conference on Equity in Health in east and southern Africa will be held at Speke Conference Centre, Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda September 23rd -25th 2009. The conference theme 'Reclaiming the Resources for Health: Building Universal People Centred Health Systems in East and Southern Africa' highlights the opportunities we seek to highlight for improving health equity in east and southern Africa.

Horn of Africa: New Rift Valley Institute course 2008

2008-06-27

http://www.riftvalley.net/

A new RVI Course covering the Horn of Africa will take place 11th - 17th October in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Under the direction of Ken Menkhaus and Mark Bradbury, this intensive, multidisciplinary course offers an introduction to Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland. It will examine the historical and cultural patterns of this diverse region and provide in-depth treatment of the contemporary issues and challenges.

Kenya: 'All the Men Have Gone': War crimes in Kenya's Mt. Elgon district

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/49663

Human Rights Watch is pleased to invite you to a news conference to be held in Nairobi on July 28, 2008. Researcher Ben Rawlence will present the findings and recommendations of a new Human Rights Watch report on Kenya: “All the Men Have Gone: War Crimes in Kenya’s Mt. Elgon District.”
All the Men Have Gone’

War Crimes in Kenya’s Mt. Elgon District

(Nairobi, July 21, 2008) – Human Rights Watch is pleased to invite you to a news conference to be held in Nairobi on July 28, 2008. Researcher Ben Rawlence will present the findings and recommendations of a new Human Rights Watch report on Kenya: “All the Men Have Gone: War Crimes in Kenya’s Mt. Elgon District.”

The Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) emerged in 2006 as a militia group that resisted government attempts to evict squatters in the Chepyuk area of Mt. Elgon district. The SLDF has since grown increasingly violent and political, supporting certain political candidates in the run-up to the December 2007 presidential election while targeting other political opponents and their supporters. The ensuing violence against civilians in Mt. Elgon by the SLDF, including rape, torture, and the seizure of property, has left more than 600 people dead. In response to this violence, a joint force made up of the Kenyan army and police was sent to Mt. Elgon in March 2008. Although initially welcomed by the local population, this government-backed security force proceeded to detain and torture hundreds, if not thousands, of men and boys, killing dozens of others. Many are still missing.

This report, based on research carried out in Mt. Elgon, documents the abusive roles and practices played out by both sides of this conflict. Both the SLDF and the Kenyan security forces have committed serious violations of international humanitarian law and Human Rights Watch urges the Kenyan government to ensure that those responsible for the violence are held accountable for their crimes.

What: Report release on the abuses perpetrated against the civilians in Mt. Elgon by the SLDF and Kenya’s joint military and police force.

Who: Ben Rawlence, Human Rights Watch Africa researcher

When: Monday, July 28, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.

Where: Fiesta Restaurant, 3rd Floor, Chester House, Nairobi

For more of Human Rights Watch’s work on Kenya, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=africa&c=kenya

For more information or to schedule interviews, please contact:
In Nairobi, Daniel Ooko: +254-736779657
In London, Urmi Shah: +44-20-7713-2788

Note to journalists: The report is embargoed until after the news conference. Copies of the entire report will be available at the news conference.

Gangs, Politics & Dignity in Cape Town

2008-07-24

http://tinyurl.com/5apdlw

This is a vivid study of the day-to-day experience of living in a working class neighbourhood on the Cape Flats. It deals with issues of criminality and the search for dignity in a harsh, economically depressed urban landscape. Gangs are the main focus of the study, but gang members are presented on a broader canvas as family members, neighbourhood friends, members of sports clubs, employees. Within this intensely claustrophobic world devout Christians and Muslims, drug dealers, cops, gangsters and welfare workers all rub shoulders.

Africa: Programme Officer - Africa Youth Trust

2008-07-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/49717

The Africa Youth Trust is seeking to recruit programme officer for its East African Youth Reinventing A Democratic And Human Rights Culture And Centering Youth Voices In Regional Law Making programme. Attached are the Terms of Reference and requirements needed for the post. CV can be emailed directly to info@africayouthtrust.org Application closes on 5th August 2008 at 4:00pm local time.
TERMS OF REFERENCE

PROGRAMME OFFICER FOR EAST AFRICAN YOUTH REINVENTING A DEMOCRATIC AND HUMAN RIGHTS CULTURE AND CENTERING YOUTH VOICES IN REGIONAL LAW MAKING

A PROGRAMME OF THE AFRICA YOUTH TRUST

1. Timing and Duration

The Programme Officer will be recruited on contract, annually renewable based upon performance, for the duration of the Africa Youth Trust’s East African Youth Reinventing A Democratic And Human Rights Culture And Centering Youth Voices In Regional Law Making program.

2. Scope of Work

This is an East African wide programme covering Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. The programme officer will work to the Terms of Reference of the AYT and carry out appropriate assignments as regards the implementation of the programme. The programme officer will be based in Nairobi at the AYT secretariat

3. Specific Tasks of the Programme Officer

The Programme Officer will provide support in the management in the implementation of AYT’s East African Youth Reinventing A Democratic And Human Rights Culture And Centering Youth Voices In Regional Law Making program

* Work closely with the Programme Manger to manage the overall day-to-day running and implementation of project activities, co-ordinate and supervise the work of other staff, ensuring efficient and effective fulfillment of their roles; give support and advice as necessary.
* Assist the programme manager in planning processes of the project, including the development of project proposals, budgets, reports and tools to monitor progress and evaluate impact of activities for effective implementation. Ensure effective and timely implementation of outlined project activities.
* Assist in ensuring the development of the programme’s networks and building of strategic partnerships with the Government, donors, the private sector and like-minded organizations and communities.
* Assist in ensuring effective communication between project and other AYT projects; ensure participation of project at other programme and organization meetings; resolve conflicts as appropriate while observing the organizational policies.
* Assist in development of contingency plans and strategies for on-going and future programming
* Facilitation of effective Information, Education and Communication (IEC) that will ensure that beneficiaries are informed, participate in, and provide feedback on all aspects of the Programme
* Provide advise on the development of a resource mobilization plan based on the project
* Undertake such other programme development activities as may be requested by the AYT from time to time
* Liaise with the programme partners and the beneficiaries to provide information on implementation and to address concerns expressed by the partners, in particular with respect to results and absorption of programme
* Assist with the design and development of Stakeholder Participation Processes.
* Link international and local best practices dealing with democracy and human rights to the programme
* Support the establishment of a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, including to monitor the implementation and achievement of the programme and, to identify successes, challenges and lessons learnt and to assist with the selection of appropriate indicators and targets and identification of available baseline data
* Conduct research and knowledge sharing, including identifying best practices and lessons learnt from other democracy and human rights programmes, both global (e.g., Canada and Sweden) and continental – e.g., Tanzania and ensure that mechanisms for dissemination are in place
* Assist with the identification of key risks and constraints to implementation and with the development of strategies to manage them
* Assist with the preparation of programme quarterly reports, reports for the workshops and annual programme reports
* Oversee efforts to assess the impact of the programme on cross-cutting issues, including gender equity, HIV/AIDS, the marginalized and people with disabilities and provide appropriate recommendations
* Support the development of internal team-building strategies including conflict management systems, time management policies, harmonized work planning, participatory budgeting.

4. Qualifications

1. Must have a graduate degree in a relevant field, such as International Relations, Business Administration, Organizational Development and any other relevant social science degree
2. Must have at least two (2) years experience in programme coordination/management dealing with development issues such democracy and human rights, and good governance
3. Should be below the age of 32 Years
4. Should be knowledgeable on issues youth development, democracy, governance and human rights issues in the context of Kenya and/or other sub-Saharan African countries.
5. Should be a team player with excellent interpersonal skills, including tact, diplomacy and high integrity.
6. Knowledge in project management
7. Knowledge in Monitoring and Evaluation
8. Knowledge in research methodologies
9. A broad knowledge of East Africa’s regional political and economic institutions
10. A broad knowledge of parliamentary processes
11. Ability to use office software programs such as MS Word, Excel and Outlook and Internet
12. Knowledge in written and spoken French is an added advantage

5. Reporting

The Programme Officer shall be directly reporting to the Programme Manager, Africa Youth Trust.

F. General eligibility

The post is open to candidates from the East African Region. Women candidates are highly encouraged to apply. AYT is an equal opportunity employer.

G. Application procedure

Please send your curriculum vitae indicating day telephone numbers, email and at least 3 referees. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Deadline for application:

5th August 2008 at 4.00 pm

Send your CV to:

info@africayouthtrust.org

Global: Institutional Fundraiser - Fahamu

2008-07-24

http://www.fahamu.org/

Fahamu seeks an experienced institutional fundraiser who will work to contribute to the long-term financial sustainability of the organisation by increasing the range and volume of funds raised from institutional donors in the North and by exploring the fundraising potential from diverse sources in Africa. The post will initially be on a part – time basis of 3 days per week. The post holder will be based in either the Kenya or UK office, but must be prepared for substantial travel both to Fahamu’s offices in Senegal and South Africa, as well as other travel related to the post. Salary: Negotiable

Further information for applying for the post and a full person specification can be found on the Fahamu website at www.fahamu.org

Global: Program Officer, National Security Human Rights (NSHR) Collaborative Fund

2008-07-25

http://tinyurl.com/6zfmnm

The Proteus Fund is seeking a strong program leader for the National Security Human Rights (NSHR) Collaborative Fund, our collaborative program supporting work to restore human rights and promote progressive national security policy. The Program Officer reports to the Proteus Fund Executive Director.

Kenya: Program Officer - Equality Now

2008-07-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/49716

Equality Now, an international human rights organization dedicated to ending violence and discrimination against women globally, is seeking to recruit a Program Officer, who will assist the Nairobi Office Director with program work and specifically in the areas of managing a fund for grassroots activism to end female genital mutilation (FGM), helping draft and publish Awaken, a semi-annual newsletter that addresses FGM, and research and campaign related to the legal defense of adolescent girls in Africa. Applications must reach Equality Now by 31 July 2008. Equality Now will unfortunately only be able to respond to short-listed candidates.
POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

Program Officer

Equality Now, Nairobi

Equality Now, an international human rights organization dedicated to ending violence and discrimination against women globally, is seeking to recruit a Program Officer, who will assist the Nairobi Office Director with program work and specifically in the areas of managing a fund for grassroots activism to end female genital mutilation (FGM), helping draft and publish Awaken, a semi-annual newsletter that addresses FGM, and research and campaign related to the legal defense of adolescent girls in Africa. Responsibilities include:

* reviewing proposals to the FGM Fund and recommending courses of action,
* conducting field monitoring visits,
* producing periodic reports to donors,
* conducting outreach and collaboration with women’s organizations and human rights organizations predominantly in French-Speaking Africa to exchange information, including on abuses against women,
* generating Women’s Action drafts, advocacy action plans for Women’s Action campaigns and participating in the implementation of these advocacy action plans,
* Maintaining and updating program files.



REQUIRED SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

1. Education: University degree preferably in law or international human rights.
2. Experience & Knowledge:
* At least five years experience in the area of FGM eradication and/or human rights violations against women.
* Experience in working with the women’s movement regionally or internationally.
* Knowledge of international human rights instruments.
3. Skills:
* Fluency in written and spoken English and French
* Ability to work effectively in a team and to travel extensively.
* Excellent analytical, conceptual and writing skills.
* Detail oriented.
* Computer skills.

SALARY AND BENEFITS

Salary is 35,000 to 45,000 USD depending on relevant experience. Equality Now offers health insurance for staff and dependent children.

TO APPLY

Send a resume and a cover letter detailing skills and experience relevant to the Scope of Work to:

The Search Committee
Equality Now Nairobi Office
P.O. Box 2018-00202
Nairobi, Kenya
Fax: 254-20-2719868
Email: equalitynownairobi@equalitynow.org

Applications must reach Equality Now by 31 July 2008. Equality Now will unfortunately only be able to respond to short-listed candidates.

Zimbabwe: Child welfare programme development officer

2008-07-24

http://www.progressio.org.uk/progressio/internal/96386/zncwc/

The Development Worker will work as a Child Welfare Programme Development Adviser with the organisation to help build its capacity in organisational development (OD), effective programme design, planning and management, fundraising, networking, and marketing the organisation. S/he will also support the building of capacity in ZNCWC’s membership, including through the development of trainings / training materials so that the membership become more effective in responding to the needs of children

Zimbabwe: Programme Adviser - documentation, knowledge management and information dissemination

2008-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/49704

The Batsirai Group is a Zimbabwean non-governmental organisation working to strengthen community responses to HIV and AIDS. Following a successful one and half year placement focussing on community mobilisation, organisational learning as well as participatory monitoring and evaluation, the organisation is currently seeking to consolidate its work in promoting community participation in HIV and AIDS interventions among its target beneficiary communities. The Programme Adviser will therefore assist in strengthening systems documentation, knowledge management, Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials production and dissemination.

Fahamu