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Ethiopia: Opposition party leader Mideksa re-arrested

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/action/54790

Judge Birtukan Mideksa, head of an opposition party in Ethiopia and a truly inspiring figure who is a staunch advocate of human rights, was re-arrested following her refusal to comply with a demand by the Ethiopian government that she revoke a statement she made disclosing that her prior release was not based on a formal legal pardon, but rather a politically negotiated settlement. Judge Mideksa was imprisoned in December 2008.
Judge Birtukan Mideksa, head of an opposition party in Ethiopia and a truly inspiring figure who is a staunch advocate of human rights, was re-arrested following her refusal to comply with a demand by the Ethiopian government that she revoke a statement she made disclosing that her prior release was not based on a formal legal pardon, but rather a politically negotiated settlement. Judge Mideksa was imprisoned in December 2008. She has since been held in solitary confinement, denied access to legal counsel in contravention of generally accepted human rights standards and she is at risk if not already exposed to abuse at the hands of prison guards. This torture is in addition to the psychological trauma of being separated from her four-year-old daughter and her elderly mother who is forced to care for the child.

This most recent arrest follows Judge Mideksa’s release from prison in 2007 after serving two years on politically motivated charges that generated outcry from the international community. In the days and weeks following her recent arrest, there was much discussion regarding Judge Mideksa’s case. Amnesty International, World Organization Against Torture (L’Organisation Mondiale Contre La Torture—OMCT), the Government of Sweden along with the European Union Parliament have condemned the arrest and have called for her immediate release. Nonetheless, she remains in prison and her situation is deteriorating daily.

Senators Leahy, Feingold, Isakson and Durbin as well as Representative Donald Payne have already called for Judge Mideksa’s release. Attached are their statements and letters.

The human rights situation as a whole continues to deteriorate in Ethiopia and her case is but one illustration of the suffering endured by the eighty million inhabitants of that nation.

If individuals are interested in getting the word out her case and joining with other women determined to do the same, please ask them to contact Ethiopian Women’s Human Rights Alliance at voiceofethiopianwomen@gmail.com

Zimbabwe: Hoping for a miracle

Mary Ndlovu

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/54746

cc Damien FarellHuman rights activist Mary Ndlovu considers the possible outcomes of a four-week-old ‘unholy alliance between Zimbabwe’s former ruling party Zanu PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) and the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) into a ‘Government of National Unity’ (GNU). Already the GNU has survived the arrest and incarceration of senior MDC leaders, Zanu PF’s persistent failure to implement major clauses of the power-sharing agreement on which the government is based, and a car accident widely perceived as an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, which killed his wife.

Some have been critical of the MDC’s decision to enter into a power-sharing agreement with Zanu PF before a fairer compromise was reached. But, notes Ndlovu, with the countrywide collapse of public services – from schools to electricity, hospitals, water treatment and banking – many Zimbabweans on the ground believed it was necessary for the MDC to get inside the government to begin the process of reconstruction.

There is cause for pessimism. Zanu PF hardliners seem determined to sabotage the GNU rather than work with the MDC to build Zimbabwe. Some say the MDC has been able to accomplish little since its swearing-in, and that the longer they are unable make progress on disputed issues, the more they will lose credibility and attract criticism from former supporters. Others fear the MDC will be swallowed by Zanu PF’s culture of corruption and cronyism, with Mercedes Benzes rolling out for both boys and girls alike.

But there is also cause for hope. Optimists believe that the combination of the finance ministry and several important service industries are enough for the MDC to show the people that they are concerned and are prepared to commit themselves to work feverishly to begin the formidable task of reconstruction.

Moreover, adds Ndlovu, rumours abound that the military top-brass are using the detainees as pawns or bargaining chips to obtain amnesty for their crimes, afraid to rely on the forces they command. Optimists believe hardliners won’t be able to hold the country hostage forever, as subtle power shifts begin to show themselves on the ground with a large percentage of intelligence officers and lower-ranking soldiers said to be disillusioned with Zanu PF and welcoming of change.

Nevertheless, Ndlovu is critical of the MDC’s failure to make any attempt to mobilise people to demonstrate the departure of the old and arrival of the new, with the task left to others like students and civil society groups such as WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise) to test the waters and push the police to take a position.

It is unclear whether Tsvangirai’s injuries and bereavement will create a dangerous hiatus, causing the promise of the GNU to dissipate. What we do know, however, Ndlovu contends, is that each small step will be difficult and concessions will only be won through determination, perseverance and belief that progress can be achieved. And that belief can create reality.
The unholy alliance between Zanu PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has now lasted four weeks. It has survived the arrest and continued incarceration of a senior MDC leader, the failure by Zanu PF to implement major clauses of the agreement on which it is based, and now a tragic death which the majority of Zimbabweans believe to be a failed attempt to assassinate Morgan Tsvangirai. During the past week, following the death of Morgan’s wife Susan, the country held its collective breath. The questions tormenting everyone are how much longer and how many more shocks this government can stand.

A horse and a donkey can be induced to mate, but the offspring is a stubborn, sterile mule. Will the forced pairing of Zanu PF and the MDC last long enough to produce any offspring at all?

Attempting to predict the future in Zimbabwe is a risky proposition. Generally we have become accustomed to dealing in ‘scenarios’ – the various ‘ifs’ – starting with the best case and proceeding to the worst case. And over the years we have learned that it can always get worse, and it usually does. Nevertheless, it appears that the power-sharing agreement – for which the law has been contorted like a pretzel – despite all its blemishes, may yet rescue us for the time being from a worse predicament.

The MDC, in both its formations, had little choice but to sign and enter into a power-sharing arrangement with Zanu PF. Although many observers and even participants urged caution until a fairer compromise had been reached, the complete collapse of every service in Zimbabwe, from schools to electricity to hospitals to sewage and even banks, produced severe pressure from the ground.

Millions of Zimbabweans, who so badly wanted a settlement, believed that the MDC should take the risk of failing from inside a government rather than becoming irrelevant outside, and eventually the leadership, heavily pressured by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), heard that cry and acted. But now that MDC is inside the kitchen, trying to cook up a meal with the cupboards bare and Zanu PF holding the key to the larder, they are faced with a herculean task.

Zanu PF is not a homogenous lot, but it is not always easy to see where the different interests lie. Their overall target seems to have been to absorb the MDC in the way they did ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s Union) in 1988. Then they would use the MDC to attract support from Western donors to rebuild the economy, tell SADC that everything is now in order, and by holding the security apparatus and some key ministries such as justice and information, ultimately retain control. Then they could win an election either by rigging or violence or a combination, as is their wont, and continue on their merry path.

However, many in Zanu PF must have recognised that the MDC is quite a different proposition from ZAPU – with much more widespread popularity and greater foreign recognition – and that simple absorption would probably not work. Hence, there has been the last-ditch attempt by the hardliners to be so unreasonable in negotiation and obstructive and devious in implementation that the MDC would be frightened off and withdraw.

The MDC, however, declined to walk into that particular trap, forcing the hardliners to continue with a strategy to sabotage the power-sharing and render it a sterile mule. They have put several arrows to their bow: the ongoing detention of the abductees and Roy Bennett despite the obvious subversion of the law and the courts; renewed farm invasions; and the unilateral appointments of the RBZ (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) governor, the attorney general and all permanent secretaries in blatant contravention of the power-sharing agreement and the constitutional amendment. It thus appears to many that nothing has changed and that Zanu PF has won yet another battle through shrewd tactics and the support of South Africa.

There are signs of weakness, however. Rumours abound that the military top-brass are using the detainees as pawns or bargaining chips to wring an amnesty for their crimes. Could this mean that they are afraid to make use of the forces they command? Do they doubt their loyalty? Or do they realise that without easy money they cannot retain commitment of the numbers of apparatchiks required to hold the line in the face of widespread unpopularity. They may not in fact be in as strong a position as some MDC and civil society pessimists assume.

Among the forces ranged against Zanu PF there are indeed many sceptics. They fear a repetition of ZAPU’s emasculation after the 1987 Unity Accord. They note that Mugabe does not change, is devious and manipulative and a master tactician, and that he has no intention whatsoever of sharing power and will never do so willingly.

They point to the fact that those in control in the military will not give up as they fear retribution or prosecution for crimes dating back to the early 1980s. They believe that the many thousands of Zanu PF cronies, war veterans and militia, as well as intelligence operatives who support the hardliners, will be able to use manipulation, force and intimidation to keep them in power.

They point to the fact that the MDC has been able to accomplish little in the weeks since its swearing-in and the longer they are unable to secure the release of high-profile detainees, or make progress on the other disputed issues, the more they will lose credibility and attract criticism and abuse from former supporters.

They believe the US$100 paid to civil servants for February salaries is not sustainable and there is not enough funding to repeat this gesture even in March, let alone increase the amount.

They say that nothing has changed; the police continue to beat and arrest peaceful demonstrators, the courts still follow executive and even military orders rather than the law, the media is not free, the law is applied selectively and Mugabe can still count on his supporters to fork out cash for an ostentatious 85th birthday display of contempt for the misery of the people.

And many democrats have a deeper concern about the MDC. Not only will they accomplish little, they will indeed be swallowed by Zanu PF, not so much by its structures and policies but by its culture of corruption and cronyism. Signs are already there, as the Mercedes Benzes roll out for the boys and the girls. These could have been repudiated, as could the obsequious deference to authority figures, in favour of a puritan look for the bloated cabinet.

However, there are also optimists. They are the ones who supported participation in a government of national unity as the least unpalatable option. They can point to the fact that the government has actually been formed and has not yet collapsed. They believe that the combination of the finance ministry and several important service industries are enough for the MDC to show the people that they are concerned and are prepared to commit themselves to work feverishly to begin the formidable task of reconstruction. In spite of numerous disputed issues, they have already begun and have partially reversed some of the catastrophes of Zanu PF’s control, including exaggerated increases in service charges and the ongoing teachers’ strike.

And there are now beginning to be signs of change. What a pleasure to see queues of returning teachers outside the Ministry of Education office, even though there are monumental problems to overcome before schools operate effectively. Optimists believe that the hardliners won’t be able to hold the country hostage forever, as they see a subtle power shift beginning to show itself on the ground.

There are indications – again primarily rumours – that a large percentage of intelligence officers as well as lower ranking soldiers welcome a change and are disillusioned with Zanu PF. Reports are coming from some places of revenge attacks on Zanu PF cadres and sympathisers responsible for brutality during the elections of 2008. Once again, the police are not looking very hard for the perpetrators of some of these attacks; the only difference from a year ago is that this time it is Zanu PF victims they are failing to support. There is even a report of Zanu PF councillors in some areas deserting their party as a result of pressure from the electorate. At least three Zanu PF thugs have been sentenced for brutal assaults carried out during the election campaigns.

While these may be very few cases, amongst others of continued loyalty of the police to Zanu PF, in a situation like ours, rumour can sometimes be very powerful. Obedient servants need to be very alert to changes of the wind that represent shifts in power. Those who never were devoted loyalists, and others who are simply opportunists, now see that there are in fact new possibilities.

Many are carefully calculating the advantages and disadvantages. If power really does shift and they turn their faces too late, they may get caught behind a closing door. As we witness the release of detainees one by one, they are watching to see if this is a wayward gust or the sign of a coming storm. They are taking note that many Zimbabweans are no longer afraid of their former tormentors, openly demonstrating their new-found defiance. And if enough judge that the new will outperform the old, they will themselves create that shift.

The disheartening part of this whole story is that once again the MDC are failing to use the one weapon that could be a key factor in effecting that shift, their support among the people. Not a single attempt have they made to mobilise people to show that the old has gone, and that the new is on the way. Once again it has been left to others like students and WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise)women and men to test the waters, to push the police to take a position. Where is the MDC on the ground? Where is the vision of democracy and popular participation that could dispel the muttering that the power-sharing is just a politicians’ game, by and for politicians without the people? Even the committed symbolism of hunger striking has been left to the principled in South African civil society.

Nevertheless, our only hope is with this strange aberration called a government of national unity. For all its weaknesses, for all its conflicts, the pushing and pulling, squabbling over issues important and unimportant, this creature now occupying political space in Zimbabwe is probably our only hope. If it fails, Zimbabwe will have failed and we would likely disintegrate into a nation of warlords and bandits. If it can hold together over the coming weeks and months, and make some small progress until an externally supervised election can be held, it will have done us a service.

Last week the voice of Jestina Mukoko was heard on BBC, recently released on bail. Others have emerged one by one and two by two from their prison cells, the vicious attorney general was being shunned by his own party members as he was sworn in to parliament, the Zanu PF minister who disputed the allocation of telecommunications to an MDC minister admitted that he was wrong but was ‘sent’, and it has been announced that the ‘principals’ have agreed on a formula for reallocating permanent secretary posts. Will these be the last concessions, merely gusts against the prevailing wind, or do they signal a permanent shift? Will Tsvangirai’s injuries and bereavement create a dangerous hiatus, which allows the promise to dissipate?

We can’t yet know, but each small step will be difficult and concessions will be won through determination, perseverance and belief that it can be done. Our focus has to be on the present, not the distant or even nearer future. At this stage no one can afford not to believe, including the international community whose assistance is essential. Americans have shown us that it is not too audacious to hope. Belief can create reality. The mule might still be sterile. But there is a bizarre custom amongst some Zimbabwean peoples, which might provide a more promising analogy: a rapist is sometimes forced to marry his victim and while the marriage may be intensely unhappy, a healthy child is frequently the result.

Miracles are not common, but they do happen for people who believe. If this hybrid government can pull through the horror, the anger, the distrust and despair of the past week intact, perhaps it can happen for us. Millions of Zimbabweans desperately need a miracle, and more and more are beginning to hope.

* Mary Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean human rights activist.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Appeal for Zimbabwe: 10 years of economic sanctions, that’s enough!

Aminata Traoré, Jean Ziegler, Samir Amin, René De Vos and Amadou Diarra

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/54740

cc SokwaneleEconomic sanctions against Zimbabwe are worsening the plight of ordinary citizens in an already harsh climate and should be lifted immediately, urges an ‘Appeal for Zimbabwe’ launched in Mali in February. Signatories to the petition declared that drinkable water, food and medicine must ‘cease to be deployed as weapons of war’, and reminded the UK, the US and the EU ‘of the exorbitant social and human cost of the punitive measures’ they have used in a bid to drive regime change in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is grappling with 94 per cent unemployment, the highest inflation rates in the world and food shortages affecting an estimated seven million people.

The more than 3,000 deaths and nearly 70,000 people affected by cholera in Zimbabwe, with risks of the epidemic spreading to neighbouring countries, have not been enough to end the economic sanctions Great Britain and its allies have imposed on this country since the end of the 1990s. That’s how the European Council, during its session on 26 January 2009, decided ‘to extend for another year the Common Position on restrictive measures against Zimbabwe’. Of extreme gravity, such a decision can only exacerbate a situation that is already characterised by the highest unemployment (94 per cent) and inflation rates in the world, by food shortages that seven million people suffer from, by a lack of schooling for children, as well as brain drain and labour outflow, which includes many teachers and medical staff members.

The sole wrongdoing of a Zimbabwean people deprived of jobs, income, drinkable water, healthcare and of food – all in all condemned to a veritable descent into hell – is being led by Robert Mugabe, whose ousting and overthrow have been demanded during long weeks of destabilisation and demonisation. The former colonial power, political opponents of the Zimbabwean president, NGOs and mainstream media all accuse him of having ruined the country, of violating the rights of his fellow citizens and of remaining in power through the repression of his opponents, electoral fraud and ballot rigging. With Mugabe having refused to resign, the power-sharing deal with his main rival Morgan Tsvangirai has just been concluded after four months of talks, talks during which the president of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) acquired, on top of the position of prime minister, the control of key ministries.

It’s a good thing that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries’ meeting held on 30 January 2009 led to this peaceful outcome, an outcome which has just translated into the setting up of a government of national unity. Let’s hope that President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) will live up to expectations and this crisis will only be a bad memory!

But this important step is only the start of a normalisation process. To end the agony of the Zimbabwean people, what’s required is the immediate and unconditional lifting of the economic sanctions that have widely contributed to throw former Southern Rhodesia into such a calamitous situation.

Such a reading of the Zimbabwean tragedy from the point of view of punitive measures that kill, starve and impoverish innocent people does not exempt or exonerate the Zimbabwean president and his party for the mistakes they may have made at all. It is a matter of giving a chance to peace by highlighting fundamental facts which have deliberately been overshadowed and concealed.

Let’s go back to the Lancaster House Agreement, which in 1979 ended 14 years of fierce struggle for the liberation of former Southern Rhodesia from the
claws of the racist Ian Smith. It was signed in a context in which 6,000 white farmers owned more than 15.5 million of the country’s most fertile hectares. Meanwhile, with difficulty, nearly 4.5 million blacks lived on community land, often arid, where settlers had confined them during one century. The willing buyer, willing seller principle is one of the main aspects of the plan of action which was supposed to remedy that situation. Ten years later, it had not evolved in a tangible way because white farmers increased prices and were only giving up the less fertile land.

In 1997, Tony Blair’s government made it known to Harare that it could no longer financially contribute, as agreed, to the transfer of farmland to blacks by compensating British farmers who were supposed to be expropriated. The Zimbabwean president decided then to confiscate their land without compensation. Economic sanctions are the financial, economic, social and political war machine that has been deployed by way of punishment meted out by Great Britain and its allies, particularly the United States. Let’s judge for ourselves:

- In December 2001, the United States Congress passed the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act. It comprises, among other things, the US opposition to any loan to Zimbabwe and to the cancellation of the debt by international financial institutions. This act has widely contributed to throw Zimbabwe into economic recession and turmoil and visit upon it a more and more vertiginous and astronomical inflation rate.
- In 2002, the Bush administration also implemented a programme entitled Governance & Democracy with a budget of US$6 million to support opponents (MDC, trade unions, religious groups, ‘independent’ media, etc…).
- At the peak of the land redistribution campaign, the United States opposed the World Food Programme (WPF) aid to Zimbabweans.
- In 2004, the Bush administration also opposed the support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS to help sick people in Zimbabwe.
- Since 2002, the United States and Great Britain have been urging the European Union to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe, which is in violation of article 98 of the Cotonou Agreement signed in 2000 between the European Union and the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries.
- All the funds granted by several Western countries and devoted to education, healthcare and sanitation were suspended.

Let’s add to these sanctions the usual and disastrous consequences of the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank – namely liberalisation, privatisations, low wages, and worsening living conditions – as well as the more frequent cycle of droughts to understand the deep underlying causes of Zimbabwe’s sorry plight. Other African countries escape this fate only because they live with cash injections from external funding, funding of which this country is deprived.

Sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are even more unjustifiable when they proceed from states or institutions that are non-transparent and non-democratic in their dealings with Africa if we study the rules of global trade, the terms of economic partnership (EPA) or African migrants’ re-admission agreements. They are illegitimate because they are unrepresentative of the African people whose rights they deny and trample underfoot but to which they callously pay lip service in their defence of their own interests.

Such undemocratic and murderous economic sanctions also stem from political and financial corruption insofar as by punishing leaders they consider undesirable, world powers dissuade other leaders who would otherwise be tempted to stray from the straight and narrow.

Democracy, human rights and good governance are debased, instrumentalised and discredited when powers who claim to be their representatives ridicule them or even convert them into dreadful weapons of pressure, domination and blackmail to withdraw their financing.

It’s high time to prioritise in the discussion on the present and the future of the post-colonial state in Africa, the key question, which is often overshadowed and concealed, of the control of resources as well as the initiative of change, including agrarian reform. Beyond the extreme personalisation of the political debate, Robert Mugabe’s country is, in this regard, a textbook case to meditate on at a time when you see multinationals from all over the world rushing to grab the fertile land of the continent and everything being sold off in the name of growth and the prevailing whims and supremacy of the market.

While the diagnosis is biased and the economic sanctions are deadly for entire populations, voices exhort President Obama to pursue the same course. In his turn, his ‘Yes we can’ does require a radical change in perspective, discourse and practices in terms of US foreign policy in Africa. It is of the utmost importance that he plays on the black continent, as in the Middle East, the listening and outstretched-hand card instead of carrying on with sanctions that are one way or the other nothing but a violent onslaught against destitute, helpless and uninformed people.

More practically, it means discarding and jettisoning George W. Bush’s ‘axis of evil’ theory, a theory which has inflicted on the world the aggression against and occupation of Saddam Hussain’s Iraq and the barbaric and repeated attacks of Israel against the Palestinian people, illustrated with the latest deluge of fire power unleashed on the Gaza Strip. In Africa, this theory applies to a certain extent to Zimbabwe too. The clarification of global economic, social, financial and environmental issues, in order for Zimbabweans and, more generally, Africans to be committed to the democratic process on grounds other than the mere alternation of power for its own sake and the jockeying for key positions, is the real challenge which should preoccupy and be uppermost in the minds and thinking of African leaders, sub-regional institutions as well as the African Union and the genuine allies of the continent.

It is perilous for Africa to follow the advice of the masters of this world who have sunk into the mire of a deep crisis, a crisis which serves as a potent indictment of the failure of their model of society that the moralisation of the financial sphere will neither rehabilitate nor manage to restore faith in. As for the legitimacy of political power in Africa, it is necessary to underscore that, beyond the requisite elections, it lies above all in the willingness and ability of elected leaders to trade and manage the resources of the continent in the best interests of those men and women who have elected them and mandated them to do so.

Also, the temporary lull and respite that has been attained by the SADC needs to be used to set up a lasting peace for Zimbabweans and be grasped as an opportunity for the whole of Africa to shed a different light on crises, since its customarily battered image has been considerably tarnished by the hypocrisy of lies which prevail in the analysis of the predicament of this country.

Intellectuals and other actors of critical civil society, along with African and non-African leaders who firmly believe that the black continent is not an isolated planet but well and truly the cradle and birthplace of humankind and an innocent victim of a wild, rampaging and destructive capitalism, need to analyse, reveal and dismantle the cogs of its oppressive machinery.

To give a chance to authentic and lasting peace in Zimbabwe, we join our voices to the chorus of Zimbabweans, the SADC and the African Union. We remind Great Britain, the US and the EU of the exorbitant social and human cost of the punitive measures imposed and foisted upon this country.

- We declare that drinkable water, food and medicine must cease to be deployed as weapons of war.
- We call for the immediate lifting and removal of the blockade that deprives millions of Zimbabweans of these amenities which are absolutely essential for human existence.
- We hold that it is profoundly unjust and irresponsible to make human lives depend on a top-level political power-sharing agreement.

Yes, we can! What is required is to stop mixing up British, US and European interests with the legitimate rights and entitlement of the Zimbabwean and African populations to land, food, drinkable water, healthcare, education, employment and income. WE ARE ALL ZIMBABWEANS!

Signatories:

Aminata D Traoré (essayist, Mali), Jean Ziegler (sociologist, Switzerland), Boris Boubacar Diop (writer, Senegal), Mireille Frantz Fanon (Frantz Fanon Foundation), Diadié Y. Dagnoko (teacher, Mali), Demba Moussa Dembélé (economist, Senegal), Assetou Founé Samaké (biologist, Mali), Bruno Rebelle - Souleymane Koly (choreographer, Côte d’Ivoire), Hamidou Magassa (writer, Mali), Christian Koné (journalist, Burkina Faso), Ismaël Diabaté (painter, Mali), Bibi Diawara (demographer, Mali), Lucette and Christian Morillon (France), Mamadou Goïta (socio-economist, Mali), Sarah Jane Mellor (translator France/UK), Moussa Bolly (journalist, Mali), Valerie Ngo Biem (Cameroon), Jean Michel Naud (teacher, France), Clariste Soh Moube (Cameroon), Moustapha Diaté (economist, Senegal), Aziz Coulibaly (accountant, Côte d'Ivoire), Aboubakary Gollock (economist, Canada), Amadou Gollock (consultant, Mali), Koulsy Lamko (ecrivain, activiste culturel, Tchad/Mexique), Amadou Kane Sy (Kan-si), (artiste plasticien, Sénégal), Juan Montero Gómez (Las Palmas, Iles Canaries, España), Aboubacar Demba Cissokho (journaliste, Sénégal), Oumar Dembélé (professeur d'enseignement secondaire, Mali), ZohraBouchentouf-Siagh (professeur de literature, l'Université de Vienne (Autriche), Algérie), MabroukaGasmi (communicateur, Tunisie), Nathalie M'Dela Mounier (enseignante, France), Massamba Mbaye (journaliste, Sénégal), Diagne Fodé Roland (enseignant, membre de Ferñent / Mouvement des Travailleurs Panafricains, Sénégal), Amadou Tiéoulé Diarra (avocat, Mali), Bah Djenebou (Bamako, Mali), Samir Amin (Forum du Tiers-Monde,Sénégal), Abdourahman Waberi (ecrivain, Djibouti/France), Brigitte Maître (médecin, France), Hamédine Racine Guissé, (professeur-consultant, Sénégal), Ibro Abdou (économiste, Niger), Coumba Ndoffène Diouf (professeur à l'Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) de Dakar), Révérend Louis Anatole Ntchinda (Pasteur, Cameroun), Patrick Hirtz (praticien hospitalier, spécialiste des hôpitaux, France), René de Vos (sociologue, France), Seydou Nourou Ndiaye (écrivain, directeur des editions papyrus a Dakar), Pascal Paquin (militant associatif, Fleury La Vallée, France).

If you wish to take part in this campaign, please sign the text by sending us your name, profession and address.

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

ArcelorMittal slow to yield benefits for Liberians

Rebecca Murray

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/54738

cc Kevin ZimIn the face of the global economic downturn, ArcelorMittal and its Liberian employees and subcontractors are unlikely to reap the benefits of the steel company investment in iron ore production in Liberia any time soon, writes Rebecca Murray of IPS (Inter Press Service). ArcelorMittal met with the approval of watchdog Global Witness for negotiating ‘a deal that remains profitable and safeguards the interests of the host country and its people’. In the current climate, however, Liberia is reluctant to impose conditions on investors, while contractors are willing to compromise on working conditions, fearful that unionising would put their jobs in jeopardy. The company posted losses of over US$2.6 billion globally in their last quarter.

Three exhausted railroad workers sip beer and talk on the back porch of a makeshift bar in Liberia's rural Nimba County, concealed by nightfall and the deafening din of motorcycles and a generator nearby.

‘We raised the alarm two, three times, but they have not come to our aid’, says one of the men softly, requesting anonymity for fear of losing his job. ‘They promised us once in November that they were going to come, and they would raise the salary up, but still nothing has been done.’

It is the end of another gruelling ten-hour day [mp3 file] for Liberian workers renovating the rails over 250 kilometres of railroad, from the coastal port of Buchanan to the mining town of Yekepa, on the border where Liberia, Guinea and the Ivory Coast intersect.

They work for a Brazilian-owned company Odebrecht, which has been contracted by international steel giant ArcelorMittal.

The teams hammer down tracks six to seven days a week in the tropical heat, and sleep in tents on a plywood floor. They are allotted one cup of rice and soup daily, drink well water and have their pay docked for hospital visits.

The Odebrecht company website says, ‘For every day worked, each of them receives a kilo of rice and the equivalent of one U.S. dollar to pay for their meals, in addition to monthly wages.’

However, the workers claim they earn an average monthly salary of around US$80 after taxes, which in Liberia's inflated economy leaves them struggling to cover basic necessities like rent, food, transportation and school fees for their families back home.

Yekepa, the seat of ArcelorMittal's large iron ore concession, is surrounded by mineral-rich hills and lush, dense jungle. In Yekepa's heyday, the Liberian American Swedish Chemicals Company (LAMCO) ran the high-grade ore mine from the 1950s until Charles Taylor's rebels invaded in 1989.

On the town's outskirts, jungle encroaches on remnants of that time – a vast art deco swimming pool, rusty trains, and the whitewashed skeletal remains of buildings picked clean by looters.

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel manufacturer, moved into town three years ago as part of its global mission to increase the company's iron ore production to two-thirds of the total product they purchase.

‘Liberia is one of the stepping stones to get there’, Joseph Mathews, the company's head in Liberia, told IPS.

Pushed by the incoming government of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in December 2006 to revise their original contract signed just months before her election in August 2005, ArcelorMittal pledged a US$1.5 billion, 25-year investment for the old LAMCO property. The government owns 30 per cent of the net profit, and receives a 4.5 per cent royalty fee and three million dollars annually for development projects in Grand Bassa, Bong, and Nimba Counties.

‘The renegotiation was for the rail and the port, and it became not a company asset but a government asset’, Mathews explains. ‘We get the rights to run it, control it and fix it up, then they get it back at the end of the 25 years.’

Global Witness, the UK-based corporate watchdog and critic of the company's original contract said, ‘Mittal Steel has shown that it is possible for a multinational company to act responsibly and negotiate a deal that remains profitable and safeguards the interests of the host country and its people. However, the real benefits of this contract to Liberia can only be truly assessed as the company starts its operations.’

For the past three years, President Johnson-Sirleaf has aggressively courted companies to invest in Liberia's most valuable resources – iron ore, rubber and timber – but the global economic meltdown in September 2008 has hit the country's concessions hard.

ArcelorMittal just posted a net loss of US$2.63 billion worldwide for their last quarter, and their operations in Liberia are feeling the impact. No iron ore has yet been exported from Yekepa.

ArcelorMittal CEO Joseph Matthews says, ‘We will keep our operations going along with the rail, and at one point, earlier on, we thought we would start shipping ore at the end of 2009, but that has been delayed until 2010.’

‘It will all depend on how quickly the recovery will come in... We have already put in a hiring freeze about two months ago, and our plans and hopes are to keep as much of our Liberian staff intact.’

Eugene Shannon, the minister for lands, mines and energy, is well aware of the local impact of the global slowdown. ‘To tell you a fact, we are going to be as compromising as possible. In a downturn you cannot be as hard on people as you can be when things are normal… We can't kick you out, we've got to work it out because its in our interest to keep them in, and get as much out of them.’

Yekepa's sleepy market centre is filled with youth trying to scrape by as motorbike drivers, food and electronics vendors and selling gasoline in large jars.

Thirty-three-year-old Victoria Johnson lives close by. A plumber by trade, she moved with 10 family members from Monrovia into a friend's house, and fixes pipes at ArcelorMittal's residential quarters.

‘I find small work and make about US$70 month’, she says. Johnson is one of the family's few breadwinners. ‘When the children get sick, we don't take them to the hospital, we don't have the money. We go to the drugstore.’

ArcelorMittal say they have almost 500 staff members and about 2,000 contractors on the ground. They hope to eventually increase their staff to 3,500.

Labour Minister Kofi Woods says that rules for safeguarding the company's subcontracted workers were not established in the concession contract, and they are looking at standards compliance. ‘Serious issues include wages, working conditions, health and safety’, he says.

A haggard 36-year-old guard for the security company Segal – contracted by ArcelorMittal – returns home from a night guarding the nearby Tokadeh iron ore mine. Wishing to remain anonymous, he says he works seven days a week for nearly US$80 a month. He receives no housing or health benefits, and has also been asked to vacate his home.

‘I don't know the arrangement between Segal and Mittal steel. Certainly the pay does not come regularly’, he sighs. ‘And anytime they want to fire you, they can fire you from your job.’

ArcelorMittal CEO Mathews explains: ‘We pay Segal US$150 to US$200 a man, and it's the company's decision what to pay their workers... But in the next stage, we will put these safeguards in there that you cannot take 50 per cent of what you pay and call that profits for yourself as the owners of the company.’

Darius Dahn is a union organiser in Yekepa with the Forestry Logging Industrial Workers Union (FLIWU). He recently sent over workers’ signatures to the labour ministry but concedes that organising the ArcelorMittal workforce – mostly drivers and workers at Buchanan's port – and the subcontractors is an uphill battle.

‘They are just six-month contractors and are afraid with the union issue that management will terminate their contract after it’s over.’

But ArcelorMittal begs for time. ‘There is a perception out there that a company comes in and turns things overnight’, says Mathews.

‘And looking back, our memories always give us this great picture of what the past was. It takes time to get there. I think what we end up with will be a whole lot better than LAMCO back in the sixties – it's just a whole new world and it will be a better environment.’

* Rebecca Murray, a correspondent with IPS (Inter Press Service) is a writer based in South Tyre, Lebanon. This article was originally published by IPS.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

King’ara and Oulu: Who’s next in the dirty war?

Kang’ethe Mungai

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/54737

cc JasonThe murders of the Kenyan human rights activists Oscar Kamau King'ara and Paul Oulu reveal a wide malaise across Kenyan society with regard to basic human rights, Kang’ethe Mungai writes. Stressing that the murders send a clear warning sign to human rights defenders of the existence of a ‘death squad’ likely operating under government auspices, Mungai reflects on some of the confusion around the underground Mungiki sect and its war with the country’s police. The author argues that the public deserves both greater objective information on the sect and public declarations by its leadership in order to make informed opinions detached from government rhetoric. This, Mungai contends, will enable the government and civil society to properly engage with a group of considerable appeal among the country’s marginalised youth in a peaceful way befitting the memories of campaigners like King’ara and Oulu.

The killing of Oscar Foundation Director Oscar Kamau King'ara and his deputy, Paul Oulu, brings nearer the surface a war on Mungiki that has gone on underground for many months and now opens a new, dangerous front with the targeting of civil society leadership.

King'ara and Oulu were gunned down by unknown people near the University of Nairobi hostels in broad daylight on 6 March 2009. On that day, King'ara had led a demonstration against extrajudicial executions. It was also only a day after he had delivered a scathing attack in a TV interview on top government officials he named and blamed for the killings of hundreds of youth linked to the outlawed Mungiki sect.

Kamau King’ara and Paul Oulu were people I knew as colleagues fighting for the rights of the underprivileged in society. Their killing raises disturbing questions of where we are heading as a nation with respect to the protection of the basic rights of all citizens. The Oscar Foundation director and his deputy were only doing what they knew best, advocating for the rule of law and protection of the rights of the most vulnerable citizens under the law.

I watched King’ara’s interview on a local TV station. The outstanding feature that came out in the interview was his great boldness and readiness to speak out his mind. He named senior government officials he blamed for extrajudicial executions. His killing is a major blow to achievements we have been making as a nation in the last decade or so on the right to life and guarantees around freedom of expression.

Government spokesman Alfred Mutua came out soon after King’ara’s TV interview to claim that the Oscar Foundation was receiving funds from abroad for Mungiki. He gave no evidence to back up these claims, even after being pressed to do so by journalists. When he was asked which countries were channelling funds to Mungiki through the Oscar Foundation, Dr Mutua snapped out that the journalist should go and ask King’ara that question. What did Mutua know?

Since Dr Mutua had threatened unspecified government action against King’ara and his organisation moments before King’ara and Oulu were killed, he should be treated as a key suspect and suspended from duty until cleared. He probably has an idea who killed Kamau and Oulu, why, and with the intention of sending what message to the Kenyan public and the world at large. He should be lined up to give evidence in a judicial inquiry into the killing that must be promptly ordered by Attorney General Amos Wako.

The Oscar Foundation is a fairly small organisation undertaking human rights work with a relatively great impact, mainly through consultants and King’ara’s own personal efforts. It had brought together victims of extrajudicial executions and collected a large amount of data on extrajudicial executions that it was doing its best to disseminate. It must be said however that King’ara micromanaged his foundation without strong structures for a smooth succession and sustainability beyond his tenure in office. For me, whoever killed King’ara and Oulu knew well about this weakness in the Oscar Foundation and had calculated that these men’s deaths would mortally cripple the organisation and stop it hoisting extrajudicial killings in Kenya high on the national and international agendas.

The shooting is also a warning to human rights defenders in the country that to let extrajudicial executions continue unhindered is to risk you yourself becoming an additional statistic on the long list of victims. The question on the minds of many in the fraternity is: who is next? King’ara's death is the ultimate statement (in case one had any doubts) that there is a death squad on the loose out there, ready to unleash terror on unsuspecting victims on their long, secret death-list.

If the terror gang was composed of people on a police most-wanted list whom the government had a grand plan to stop dead in their tracks, there would be room for comfort and optimism. Now the opposite is probably the case. There are strong suspicions that the death squad is actually a police terror squad acting at the behest of people in high office. Our only hope is that there will be sufficiently persistent public protest to have the squad disbanded, or prove it does not exist, if Kenya is to remain a nation governed by the rule of law.

With recent past events in mind, the murders of Kamau King’ara and his deputy mark a crucial landmark in the secret war police have publicly declared on Mungiki. To me, unless proved otherwise, the killing is a loud declaration of contempt for public opinion, a notice that the government has thrown all caution to the wind and an indication that in this operation, the law of the land or rules of common decency do not apply.

The secret war against Mungiki is taking place in a confused milieu of support by some members of the public for the war and indignation by others at the violations being committed. The dangerous lift in the coalition government over what is happening and inadequate public information on the issues in contention in the conflict do not make matters any better. Do we even clearly know who Mungiki are, what they stand for, why they act the way they do, who in government is ordering their killing and what the killings portend for the coalition government and the nation’s future?

The Mungiki of today is a far cry from the Mungiki of the 1990s. The struggle for a share of the economic cake seems to be the main preoccupation today among sect members.

The problem is that there is no office where you can walk in and ask for a booklet on Mungiki demands to the government or a Mungiki message to the people of Kenya on fairer sharing of the national cake. I have seen no Mungiki publications being openly or secretly passed around to state their case in the great tradition of underground organisations with an agenda for social change. Neither am I aware of a website where one can visit to learn more about them, ask questions and probably contribute if one so desires. Why is Mungiki so strong among the youth on the ground in Central Kenya and in the slums, and yet so weak at its interface with the rest of the Kenyan public and the world?

Members of the public deserve more objective information on Mungiki in order to hold informed opinions on the sect and its ongoing dirty war with the state. The greatest responsibility for this lies with the Mungiki leadership. The media, civil society and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) should also deliberately seek out this information and disseminate it to the public.

To me, it does not help to ask the question whether the government should or should not destroy Mungiki. We should instead be asking whether it is in the best interests of society to even attempt to destroy Mungiki, beyond dealing with criminals in their midst in accordance with the law, after answering the critical question of why Mungiki arose in the first place. This is necessary for us to avoid making the same costly mistakes George W. Bush made in his Iraq war against terrorism in not first finding out its key underlying causes.

Mungiki has substantial appeal among poor, peasant and urban youth in areas where it is active. We have seen them in intrepid singing and dancing at burials of sect members where they attend in large numbers at great peril. We should analyse the nature and source of this appeal. If Mungiki has won them by promising a better future, what do we achieve if we destroy the sect without giving the youth an alternative source of hope? Another gang with another name but with the same policies will as soon emerge to fill the gap.

A fine argument, one might say, but what about the dastardly murders and other crimes associated with Mungiki, including stripping women, extortion and illegal oathing? How do we end these? I agree that some Mungiki members have been involved in serious crime, especially widespread extortion. There are two issues in contention here. One is that so-called Mungiki extortion is tax to provide services in the slums where government has failed. The other one is claims that some of the most gruesome killings were stage-managed by the police to evoke public revulsion and elicit public support for the war against the sect. The claims are contained in a DVD recently released by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. The policeman who made the claims was himself shot dead by unknown gunmen soon after.

While I totally support the police’s lawful crackdown on all criminals – whether they are members of Mungiki, Taliban, Siafu or whatever group – we should carefully examine the other proffered perspectives of looking at Mungiki and other organised youth groups in order to understand and deal with them in a sustainable way in the longer-term public interest.

A lasting solution to dealing with Mungiki and similar organisations will only come from encouraging constructive dialogue with their legitimate leadership, as Prime Minister Raila Odinga had promised in his election campaign. Dialogue will provide a forum for public scrutiny for them to better understand public concerns, as well as where to discuss how they can possibly tone down their propensity to lawlessness, overcome their reluctance to operate within society’s mainstream and abandon their clinging to archaic beliefs. They would also be encouraged to give ideas on what alternatives the youth can be offered as incentives to voluntarily abandon crime.

Opening constructive dialogue with such youth groups will honour the memories of the courageous human rights defenders Oscar King’ara, Paul Oulu and all other innocent victims of the dirty war. It will also spare society the pains of an unnecessary war that no side can possibly ever win so long as a majority of our youth remains marginalised from the society’s economic mainstream.

* Kang’ethe Mungai the former coordinator People Against Torture in Nairobi.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Kenyans call for consultation after assassinations

Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/54744

We, the undersigned Kenyan citizens and civil society organisations, have sought this meeting following the assassinations of Oscar Kamau King’ara and George Paul Oulu of the Oscar Foundation and a student last week.

We note that these assassinations come in the context of non-implementation of agenda items one and two of the mediation process last year - that is, ending the violence and disarming and demobilising all armed groups and militias and restoring fundamental rights and freedoms;

On agenda item one, ending the violence and the disarmament and demobilisation of all armed groups and militias, we reiterate there the position of the human rights movement that the heavy-handed security approach is insufficient for the task and has also allowed for the security services to stigmatise young, un/under-employed males in low-income rural and urban areas leading to the disappearances and extrajudicial executions of the same. It has also allowed for the security services to extort money from the public on threat of the same;

On agenda item two, the restoration of fundamental rights and freedoms, we reiterate the position of the human rights movement that the constitutionally guaranteed rights of assembly, association and expression have been suspended since last year, allowing for the security services to harass, assault (including sexually assault) and illegally detain many human rights defenders seeking to legitimately and peacefully protest various government actions and inactions;

We further note that we raised these concerns at a meeting with the minister of justice, national cohesion and constitutional affairs last year, who promised us she would seek audience for us with the minister of internal security on the same – a promise that has not been honoured;

We finally note that last week’s assassinations have occasioned, as we believe they were intended to do, an atmosphere of fear and threat among human rights defenders who have consistently tried to demand that these concerns be addressed. As we speak, several human rights defenders who have documented, with evidence, these disappearances and extrajudicial executions, have received verbal threats, have had to move to safe houses within the country and have even had to leave the country;

This atmosphere of fear and threat has been fostered by the repeated statements of heads of security services, their spokespersons and the supposed government spokesperson linking human rights organisations themselves to armed groups and militias – accusations for which evidence has never been tendered to the public to support or formal charges brought against them in court;

We therefore demand:

In the immediate and short term:

1. That the government, through the president and the prime minister, publicly reiterate their commitment to full implementation of agenda items one and two – and the rights of all Kenyans to life, safety and security of the person, the freedoms of assembly, association and expression as well as the freedoms to be assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law;

2. That, concretely, the president and the prime minister, demonstrate that commitment by offering financial support to the families of those assassinated with respect to funeral expenses and livelihood losses;

3. That, concretely, the president and the prime minister, demonstrate that commitment by enabling the demonstration planned by University of Nairobi students for tomorrow, March 10, to protest the assassinations to proceed peacefully, with full support of the security services and with no negative consequences such as the closing of the University of Nairobi;

4. That the government, through the president and the prime minister, publicly reiterate their commitment to human rights defenders by ensuring that all dis/misinformation being peddled to the public about them cease and by guaranteeing their protection from the increased levels of risk and threat resulting from last week’s assassinations;

5. That, concretely, the president and the prime minister, demonstrate that commitment by proceeding with the independent investigation into the assassinations, for which the United States of America has already offered the services of its Federal Bureau of Investigations;

6. That, concretely, the president and the prime minister, demonstrate that commitment by immediately dismissing from office, the police commissioner, the police spokesperson the head of the criminal investigations unit, the provincial police officer for Nairobi and the acting officer in charge of police division at central police station among others – who all bear direct political accountability (if not legal accountability) for the harassment, assault (including sexual assault) and illegal detentions of human rights defenders;

7. That, also concretely, the president and the prime minister, release to the public any information it has regarding the supposed linkage of human rights organisations, such as the Oscar Foundation, with mungiki, by bringing charges to bear in a court of law against such human rights organisations;

In the medium to long term:

8. That the government, through the president and prime minister ensure the release to the public of any proposed laws and policies to address matters of security sector reform – such as those announced recently by the minister of internal security – to allow for public debate and discussion of the same;

9. That, concretely, the President and the Prime minister, push forward not only the laws and policies required for security sector reform, but also the core, critical and fundamental demand of the reports of both the commission of inquiry into the post elections violence and the united nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions – that for impartial, independent internal and external accountability mechanisms for all security services and the utilisation of those mechanisms to achieve individual legal accountability for all disappearances and extrajudicial executions of all individual security service members involved in the same;

10. That, concretely, the President and the Prime minister ensure the delivery to the public of a benchmarked and time-bound plan of action on implementing the security sector reform proposals of the reports of the CIPEV and the UN SR;

11. Recognising the manner in which Kenya’s security agreements with bi/multilateral bodies (notably the governments of the United Kingdom and the USA as well as the European Commission) on matters ranging from anti-terrorism to training to piracy and regional peacekeeping capacity contribute to the apparent sense of impunity and lawlessness of our security services, that the President and the Prime minister arrange tripartite discussions between the government, such bi/multilaterals and civil society on the same to ensure that legitimate security interests being so pursued are not at the expense of fundamental rights and freedoms.

In conclusion, understanding that some of these demands need consultation and discussion within the government, we request a further meeting with you on the same within a week’s time at which the President and the Minister of Internal Security are also present.

We thank you for your public statements on the concerns raised to date. We stress our willingness for dialogue with the government on these concerns (including constructive criticism on both sides). And we look forward to full implementation of agenda items one and two of the mediation process.

Signed:

Akiba Uhaki
BidiiAfrika Network Group
Bunge la Mwananchi
Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD)
Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW)
COBADES
Constitutional Reform and Education Consortium (CRECO)
Fahamu
Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK)
Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU)
International Centre for Policy and Conflict (ICPC)
Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)
Legal Resource Foundation (LRF)
Mazingira Institute
Muslim Consultative Council
National Council of Non-Governmental Organisations of Kenya
Pambazuka News
Partnership for Change
Release Political Prisoners (RPP)
Shailja Patel
Social Reform Centre (SOREC)
Youth Agenda
P Gitonga
Philo Ikonyo
Maina Kiai
Oikya Omtatah Okoiti, Concerned Citizen
Anders Sjogren, Political Scientist, Stockholm University
Rose Wanjiru
With the support of:
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)

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

Justice for Mau Mau would boost Kenyan transition to democracy

Makau Mutua

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/54741

cc WikimediaWhile Kenya is formally a democracy, it lacks the political culture for this form of governance to thrive, says Makau wa Mutua. Wa Mutua argues that the successful investigation into and accounting for of British atrocities committed against members of the Mau Mau liberation movement currently being led by the Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC) will trigger the process of national healing necessary to the sense of national identity and common purpose Kenya needs in order to succeed as a democratic state.

Since the British founded it in the 19th century, Kenya has largely been a graveyard for progressive or transformative politics. Only gradualist and conservative political projects seem to enjoy any measure of success. Although Kenya is now formally a democracy, it remains illiberal and without the requisite political culture for such a government. But the recovery and restoration of the proper history of the Mau Mau is bound to have far-reaching repercussions for transitional justice and democracy in the country.

No people can truly cohere into an irreversible nation without a psyche forged on the anvil of their history. A people without a proud historical record lacks the anchor and moor to create a great society. That is why dominant states recite and embellish their histories repeatedly and without apology. It matters little whether such history is fact, myth, or fiction. What is important is that it is the tapestry through which the national identity is consolidated and perpetuated.

A nation properly so-called cannot exist without nationalism. This ideology constitutes the sinews by which the body politic, and country’s progeny, are transformed into nationalists and patriots. Successive Kenyan governments, including that of President Mwai Kibaki, have run away from Kenyan history. Otherwise, how can one explain their disdain and amnesia about our national heroes and heroines? Why aren’t Samoei arap Koitalel, Mekatilili wa Menza, Dedan Kimathi, Syokimau, and countless others at the centre of Kenya’s official history?

In Kenya, there is no historical occurrence that is more important to the identity of the Kenyan nation than the Land and Freedom Army, known as the Mau Mau. That movement, to which Kenya owes its independence from the British imperialists, remains the pinnacle of the nation’s history. The rehabilitation of Mau Mau survivors, the reclamation of the valiant legacy of the movement, and the resolution of the pathologies spawned by opposition to it will restore our humanity.

The Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC) will lead our nation when it lodges a suit for reparations on behalf of the Mau Mau in a British court. The suit is the culmination of painstaking work by the KHRC and Mau Mau veterans and their relatives to hold the British government accountable for their atrocities. Although we shall be seeking financial damages for the veterans, the KHRC wants to emphasise that the quest for justice for the Mau Mau is priceless. It is not – and cannot be – just about the money.

As the premier human rights organisation in the country, the KHRC is primarily concerned with the creation of a Kenyan state rooted in respect for human rights, the rule of law, and democracy. We appreciate the fact that the society we want to establish in Kenya cannot be realised unless the endemic culture of impunity by public officials – which is the legacy of British colonialism and its atrocities – is tackled at the source. Nor will it be possible to fully incubate democratic reforms and practices if we turn a blind eye to the most abominable injustice in the history of the country.

National recovery and reconstruction is a long and arduous process. Unfortunately, the Kenyan state is like an alcoholic who lives in denial. That is why the Kenyatta, Moi, and Kibaki governments have refused to confront the abuses of the past, particularly those related to the Mau Mau war for liberation. It is not possible, or feasible, to ever carry out a genuine transitional justice exercise in Kenya unless we tackle the pogroms against the Mau Mau and the peoples of Central-Eastern Kenya.

It is now an internationally accepted truism that countries emerging out of periods of bitter trauma and gross atrocities must address them in order to heal the nation and start the process of recovery. Chile, South Africa, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Argentina, and even the United States have at various times addressed their damned pasts. The United States has made amends for the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War. There is pressure to address the legacy of the enslavement and brutalisation of people of African descent and the extermination of Native Americans.

In 2003, the task force that I led on a truth commission concluded, after a national dialogue with Kenyans from all walks of life, that transitional justice was indispensable to democratisation. That is why after pleas from citizens across the country, we recommended that the Kibaki government establish a truth commission to address the abominations committed between 1964 and 2002. This would have covered the abuses of the independent Kenya governments under Presidents Kenyatta and Moi. The truth commission would have revealed the truth, identified perpetrators, recognised victims, and provided justice. These would have been the foundation stones of our democracy.

Significantly, the truth commission task force realised that it was not enough for the country to only address the atrocities by post-colonial Kenya governments. We were keenly aware that many of the problems in the post-colonial state – impunity for public officials, despotism by government, atrocities by the police and security officials, the culture of corruption, landlessness, and steep gender inequities – were either a legacy of colonialism, or had been exacerbated by it. These problems were not confined to any one region or community.

That is why the task force recommended that the Kibaki government establish a committee to address the abuses in the colonial period from 1894 to 1963. Among other important issues, such the land problems at the Coast and Rift Valley provinces, this committee would have focused attention on the plight of the Mau Mau and its repercussions in Central-Eastern Kenya. It was my conviction then – and remains so today – that a successful investigation and accounting of the Mau Mau question would start the process of national healing and help consolidate and deepen our quest for a democratic state.

It is disappointing to the KHRC that a private organisation has had to spearhead this most important of national ventures without the assistance of the government, which is the guardian of the people. But we are equal to the task. We continue to raise money for the suit to pay lawyers, transport survivors and witnesses, including Mrs Mukami Kimathi, to London for the filing of the suit, and other related expenses. We urge all Kenyans, and appeal to the Kibaki government, to support the KHRC materially and morally as it seeks justice for the Mau Mau. The identity of Kenya and the future of our democracy depend on what we do with this opportunity.

* Makau Mutua is a professor of law at the State University of New York at Buffalo and chair of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC). He was chair of the task force on a truth commission in 2003.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Women leaders are key to ‘the Kenya we want’

Awino Okech

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/54742

cc SophiaA government conference encouraging citizens to tell them about ‘the Kenya we want’ via censored media channels is unlikely to yield positive change, suggests feminist activist Awino Okech. Okech calls for Kenyan women to self-organise and engage with political structures using the frameworks provided by feminism or, she cautions, history will not judge them kindly for failing to take on the issues of their time.

One of the arguments given by feminists in response to an overwhelming and slightly misguided developmental push for involving men in women’s rights projects has been that this has to be treated with caution. Caution, because we do not want a situation where men come to tell women what their rights are, and how they need to fight for them and to ‘stop being their own enemies’.

Any person gendered and performing as a woman knows the odds against her and is actively engaging her agency in response to this. However, if ‘male involvement’ – as it is popularly known – means ‘enlightened’ men engaging fellow men in stopping impunity, grand corruption and the lack of accountability that inadvertently leads to the abuse of a large majority of citizens in African countries (women), then we certainly have no problem with that.

Where am I going with this? Kenyans are currently being treated to what has been dubbed as a ‘national conference’ to discuss ‘the Kenya we want’. It is a government-led agenda, with the office of the Prime Minister Raila Odinga as its flag bearer. The conference was advertised as bringing together dignitaries, former African leaders and government officials, while wananchi were urged to give their views via the media. This is the same media that the government seeks to control with the current bill as it is. Indeed, watching the opening ceremony yesterday (4 February), one was at pains to see internally displaced persons (IDPs) still languishing in the camps represented or the teacher whose 3,000 salary increase is very slowly forthcoming. Where were they to frame ‘the Kenya we want’?

Instead what we saw were politicians, diplomatic corps, a smattering of civil society actors whom they could probably not avoid inviting, and the business sector. All the right noises were made with regard to this ‘not being another conference’ and that Kenyans should work as one. I am certain the sarcasm is not lost on the reader because we do not need politicians to tell us what is wrong with this country.

While the prime minister was making his proclamations with regard to not to tolerating bad apples in the basket, Kenyans were queuing for fuel in petrol stations due to another grand corruption scheme called Triton and emerging cartels within the energy sector. So if this government is so responsive to Kenyans and so desperately wants to listen to them, why hasn’t the Ministry Of Energy come forth to tell Kenyans – who have indicated that the Kenya they want is one with fuel – when the crisis will end and how such disappearances of fuel will be prevented once and for all.

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka made loud noises to much applause on the need for President Mwai Kibaki to stop the national bus on a kerb and deal with the pickpockets within it. Meanwhile a forlorn minister for agriculture, William Ruto, faced a tirade of accusations regarding companies that he owns and other related companies which were given licenses to trade maize subsequently exported to south Sudan, while Kenyans are starving and reduced to boiling raw fruit in order to survive.

Has the bus not run out of fuel, or are the lights in the bus switched off? Because if Kalonzo’s statement is to be taken to heart, the suspects are all known. Kenyans have indicated the Kenya they want since last year – a Kenya with affordable and accessible food!

President Kibaki laughed and in his typical style told Kenyans not to worry because there were rogues in every country, and that they should not give up. One wonders how the hundreds of Kenyans who were burnt and injured within the space of one week at a supermarket fire and subsequently at an oil tanker explosion should take heart first at the lack of efficient and enforced safety regulations in public spaces, and second the poverty that drives people to a clearly dangerous site (an oil spill) to draw free fuel in order to sell it for survival. Take heart? Is this the Kenya we want?

This morning (5 February ) as I watched German ambassador on television give a speech on the opening panel, I recognised that this was one of the few ambassadors who provided a clear and unequivocal position on the flawed elections in December of 2007. However is the destiny of this country being informed by foreign dignitaries?

All the government needed to do was gather news items from all the television stations in the last week and it would have been able to discern the Kenya Kenyans want, without a conference. But wait, the very government that is so keen on listening to its people has gagged the media. Is this public therapy for the political class necessary in a country that sits in such a precarious political situation?

As Kenyan politicians ride on the coattails of President Obama’s ‘Yes we can’ motto, one wonders why the three men at the helm of Kenya’s leadership are not in parliament plugging the holes in the bill that will ensure that the Special Tribunal is actually set up and deals effectively with those who were responsible for organising, financing and motivating for organised post-election violence, in addition to those who took advantage of the circumstances and wreaked havoc on women’s bodies. Why are they not straightening out dubious ministers who argue that the value of having a local tribunal – using the usual rhetoric of local solutions to local problems – is because we cannot, and I quote, ‘control the foreign commissioners while at The Hague (International Criminal Court)’?

A government that is so keen on listening to its citizens blatantly ignored their voices when the cabinet secured ministerial positions for those adversely mentioned in the now famous Waki report. The Kenya we want is one that ensures state accountability; will this conference drive that point home?

The Kenya we want? Surely we know that already? We also know the Kenya we don’t want and the current political dispensation is doing a good job of handing that out in good measure. One of the things that Kenyans are good at doing is laughing at themselves. We already have a slew of jokes regarding names that are likely to be heard within the next couple of years: Media Ban Okello, Post-Election Violence Kamau, Teargas Makokha, Mediation Talks Jomvu, Skirmishes Kilimo – the list goes on. Nonetheless, what the political class is failing to see is that Kenyans are no longer laughing with them. One of the advantages of this coalition government has been to show Kenyans the blatant abuse of power that any leader, irrespective of their ethnic orientation, is bound to give in to. The prime minister, once viewed as a maverick leader and supposed ‘leader of the Luo’, has lost the plot. He has lost ground within the very constituency that he is said to have held in the palm of his hands, and this is not only among the middle-class. I doubt that we still consider President Kibaki to still have the plot. I believe he lost the handle on that one in 2003.

While we contemplate the leadership possibilities for this country – for this is really where the focus must be with the 2012 general elections looming large – we must organise. First Lady Lucy Kibaki remarked – in one of her few lucid moments – on the failure of the male internal security minister to avert the seemingly non-stop disasters in the country, arguing that a woman leader would have done a better job. As feminists then, we must organise now, strategise early and claim these political structures with fervour. Through feminist analysis we, as women, know what is wrong and must act now.

As we ‘watch’ the never-ending crisis in Zimbabwe and the unfortunate but real potential of the Jacob Zuma presidency in South Africa, we must mobilise, for history will not judge us kindly if we do not.

* Awino Okech is a Kenyan feminist researcher and activist.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

South African housing department shackdweller comments evoke strong response

Ndivhuwo Wa Ha Mbaya, Joel Bolnick, Marie Huchzermeyer and Rubin Phillip

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/54739

cc Thomas SlyComments made by South Africa’s Department of Housing after a Durban High Court Judge dismissed an application by the Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers) Movement SA to declare the KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act 2007 unconstitutional have met with opposition from the church, academia and civil society organisations. In an article criticising Abahlali’s legal representatives for portraying the legislation as ‘inhumane and unconstitutional’ and ‘designed to allow the government to embark on irresponsible evictions of homeless people’, the department said that its policy was informed by consultation with slum dwellers and stakeholders including Slum Dwellers International (SDI). SDI countered that it does not support the Slums Act, which would make it legal to evict people living in informal settlements should the government choose to do so. Bishop Rubin added that independent experts have confirmed that there are serious reasons to be concerned by the legislation and that it was wrong and counterproductive to treat shackdwellers and the poor as stupid and criminal. ‘No one should fear that their fragile home will be bulldozed and that they will be banished to a transit camp far outside of the city where they work and their children attend school’, he said. A number of organisations have signed a statement in support of Abahlali baseMjondolo.

1. Working towards a slum-free South Africa
Ndivhuwo Wa Ha Mbaya

Studying the comments by the judge president of the Durban High Court, Judge Vuka Tshabalala, when he dismissed the application by the Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers) Movement SA to declare the KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act 2007 unconstitutional, it became clear that a slum-free South Africa is possible in our lifetime.

Legal representatives of the Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers) Movement SA, probably without proper analysis of the act, tried to portray this important legislation, aimed at fast-tracking housing delivery through the eradication of informal settlements and prevention of re-emergence of slums, as an inhumane and unconstitutional legislation designed to allow the government to embark on irresponsible evictions of homeless people.

To further its purpose, the Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers) Movement SA has deliberately ignored our consultative and partnership approach since 1994.

We strongly believe that if the lawyers of the movement had familiarised themselves with the Breaking New Ground (BNG) housing plan and the Slums Act, they would have realised that the act is about the elimination and prevention of re-emergence of slums, not evicting people who are already residing in informal settlements. They would have learnt that since 2004, the government has been implementing a plan to eradicate informal settlements by 2014 and that this is being done in consultation with slum dwellers and other stakeholders.

Additional research would have highlighted the fact that the government, Slum Dwellers International (SDI) and other associations representing homeless people have signed partnership agreements to work together since 2004.

To borrow from the judge president’s comments: ‘The province of KwaZulu-Natal must be applauded for attempting to deal with the problem of slums and slum conditions. This is the first province to have adopted legislation such as the Slums Act. The Slums Act … must be given a chance to show off its potential to help deal with the problem of slums … ‘

The Slums Act is inspired by the principles of our housing plan, the Comprehensive Plan for Development of Integrated Human Settlements popularly known as Breaking New Ground.

The judgment allows all provinces that have developed similar policies to finalise their legislations as soon as possible. The act not only provides remedies and instruments to eliminate and prevent the re-emergence of slums, but allows provinces and municipalities to plan the growth of cities in an integrated and sustainable manner.

The act brings to a halt the tendencies by some beneficiaries of government-subsidised houses to rent out their shacks after they have received a house. Municipalities would be able to demolish the shack and thus continue our national effort to eradicate slums. The act also ends what is commonly called ‘shack farming’, which is when people invade land and build shacks for rental and thus create havens for criminals.

The act empowers provinces and municipalities to implement and monitor regulations that prevent invasion of open land that leads to informal settlements.

By dismissing the case, the judge president has dismissed the scaring tactics of many academics and those who seek to instil fear among homeless people for their individual or academic benefits. The court has confirmed our commitment that if we stop the emergence of new slums and formalise current informal settlements, a slum-free South Africa is possible.

The judge confirmed our approach that development must be sustainable and in consultation with communities. The court has declared that the government has a housing programme that is constitutional, consultative and there is no reason for communities to fear its implementation.

The government at all levels understands the challenges of homeless people. As all provinces move to finalise their acts there is no reason to fear. This government is responsible, which it has proved over the past 14 years.

* Ndivhuwo Wa Ha Mabaya is the head of media services in the Department of Housing.
* This article was originally published by =19991]The Witness.

2. Slum Dwellers International (SDI)'s reply to Ndivhuwo Wa Ha Mabaya
Joel Bolnick

In an article that appears in your newspaper today (Working Towards a Slum-Free South Africa), Ndivhuwo Wa Ha Mabaya, head of Media Services in the Department of Housing makes the inference that Slum Dwellers International (SDI) supports the controversial KwaZulu Natal Elimination and Prevention of Slums Act.

The article argues that Abahlali baseMjondolo were mistaken in their efforts to oppose this legislation in the courts and to portray it as ‘inhumane and unconstitutional’ and ‘designed to allow the Government to embark on irresponsible evictions of homeless people’. These comments are juxtaposed with the fact that the Government and SDI ‘have signed partnership agreements to work together since 2004.’

This juxtaposition is disingenuous and misleading. SDI certainly does have a partnership agreement with the Department of Housing and tries to work closely with the Minister and her officials. This does not mean that we support everything the Minister and the Department decide to do. SDI has had a close working relationship with the Southern African Catholics Bishops Conference since 1991, but this does not mean that we are opposed to contraception and abortion.

SDI is not in the habit of making press statements and seldom makes public statements of opposition to actions and decisions of other stakeholders in the urban sector. Public declarations have a habit of compromising our capacity to negotiate with and on behalf of organised shack dwellers in the SDI network, including SDI members in over seven hundred informal settlements in South Africa.

This is one occasion, however, when a counterfactual is called for. SDI does not support the Slums Act. In this respect we agree with Abahlali baseMjondolo. This legislation may not have been drafted in order to allow the Government to embark on irresponsible evictions of homeless people. Should Government choose to do so, however, this legislation will make such actions legal. It will roll back many hard fought victories won by the urban poor since 1994.

SDI’s partnership with the State does not erase the contestation between those who want slum-free cities at all costs and those who want slum-friendly cities as a precondition for their incremental elimination. It simply locates the debate within the National and Provincial Departments rather than the courts.

* Joel Bolnick, a member of the SDI Secretariat, is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
* This article was originally published by The Witness.

3. Reply to KZN Slums Act judgment
Marie Huchzermeyer

The response of the national Department of Housing to Judge Vuka Tshabalala’s ruling on the Abahlali base-Mjondo Movement’s KwaZulu-Natal Slum Act appeal presented by Ndivhuwo Wa Ha Mbaya on February 24, is as flawed as the judgment itself.

First of all, it is no business of a judge to repeat the political statements that the ANC president and the Minister of Housing made in praise of KZN’s slum elimination efforts. It is also outrageous for the judge to suggest that the act needs to be implemented before it can be evaluated.

Further, neither the judge nor Wa Ha Mbaya show any signs of actually having read the KZN Slums Act and the national housing policy.

Wa Ha Mbaya claims that the act is ‘not [about] evicting people who are already residing in informal settlements’. I quote from chapter five, section 16(1) of the act: ‘An owner or person in charge of land or a building, which at the commencement of this act [August 2, 2007] is already occupied by unlawful occupiers must ... institute proceedings for the eviction of the unlawful occupiers concerned.’

Had Wa Ha Mbaya or the judge read the Breaking New Ground housing plan of 2004, they would have noticed that this does not mention the eradication of informal settlements by 2014. Instead, it sets out the target of reaching the full implementation of a new informal settlement up-grading programme by 2007–2008. This date has come and gone and there is still not a single completed pilot project under chapter 13 of the Housing Code or the upgrading of the informal settlement programme. Most provinces and municipalities are unaware that this programme exists; instead, they are indoctrinated by a ludicrous campaign to eradicate informal settlements by 2014.

The campaign itself stems from a misinterpretation in 2000 of the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of significantly improving the lives of 10 per cent of slum dwellers by 2020. The unfortunate slogan of ‘cities without slums’ accompanies this MDG. However, the UN states very clearly that the target is not to achieve cities without slums by 2020 – that is merely a long-term aim.

Ever since the president in 2001 mandated the Department of Housing to achieve shack-free cities by 2014, the housing ministers, their staff and their provincial and municipal counterparts have all toed the political line instead of applying their minds. This disease, it seems, has even permeated a part of the justice system in KZN (KwaZuluNatal), but it is unlikely to have infected the Constitutional Court where Abahlali now hopes to take its appeal.

Breaking New Ground does speak of the need to eradicate informal settlements, but only through structured upgrading. It further points out that ‘it is recognised that the high rates of urbanisation within larger cities and secondary towns will also necessitate the introduction of a fast-track land release and service intervention mechanism to forestall the establishment of informal settlements’. This is an indirect and positive approach to doing away with slums and it is the only acceptable approach under our Constitution and the 1997 Housing Act.

Breaking New Ground does not support the direct and negative informal settlement prevention mechanisms of the KZN Slums Act. Examples are (a) to prohibit unlawful occupation (Section 4(1)), no matter how intolerable the circumstances of the individual, and (b) to oblige owners of vacant land to ‘within 12 months of the commencement of this act, take reasonable steps to prevent the unlawful occupation of such land’ (Section 15(1)).

Along with other academics I am deeply offended that my analysis is labelled a ‘scaring tactic’ for my own ‘individual or academic benefit’. I challenge judges, politicians, officials and heads of media services to apply their minds beyond misinformed political rhetoric.

I call on shack dwellers to continue applying their minds as they did throughout apartheid and continue to do so in their everyday lives, even if it involves fear. Addressing an issue head-on is the only constructive way of dealing with fear. Let history not judge this society as complacent.

* Marie Huchzermeyer is an associate professor in the school of architecture and planning at the University of Witwatersrand.
* This article was originally published in The Witness.

4. No room for the poor in our cities?
Rubin Phillip

Since the KwaZulu-Natal Slums Act was first mooted there has been tremendous concern about a piece of legislation that has been widely condemned as a return to apartheid legislation. This concern has been expressed by a large number of organisations and individuals beginning with the shack dweller’s movement Abahlali baseMjondolo and then including the churches and the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing at the United Nations.

As Christians we believe that every person is created in the image of God and is loved by God. Our social policies and practices must strive to reflect that. No group of people are expendable or unworthy of care and consideration. We therefore take the view that it is essential that our cities be organised on the basis of care and support for the most vulnerable. Any approach to social problems that seeks to create the impression of progress by simply sweeping the oppressed out of the cities must be vigorously opposed. If this happens it will be our duty as church leaders to, once again, stand before the bulldozers.

We are therefore very disturbed by the article from the Department of Housing's head of media services that appeared in the Witness recently [1]. The article is written in praise of the KwaZulu-Natal 'Slums Act' [2] and to celebrate the initial dismissal of a court challenge to the constitutionality of the Slums Act that was brought by Abahlali baseMjondolo. Abahlali have decided to take their challenge to the Constitutional Court itself, and we await the outcome of that process with considerable interest. In our view, Abahlali are clearly correct to challenge this odious piece of legislation. And, since the judgement against Abahlali is going to be reviewed, it seems inappropriate to say the least, for the Department to crow – let alone to ridicule and undermine the seriousness and integrity of its critics, and the justice of their cause.

Our first serious briefing on this matter took the form of a report from an Abahlali task team on what was then just a Bill. All the members of that task team were shack-dwellers. They had studied the document with scrupulous care and had an obvious concern to understand properly the real meaning of the proposed legislation. Their report-back was very well balanced, taking time to highlight the positive statements and intentions in the Bill before pointing out the problems they foresaw with it. And when independent experts looked at it – lawyers, academics, housing specialists and human rights activists – they all confirmed that Abahlali were correct and that there are serious reasons to be highly alarmed by this legislation.

By contrast, the Housing Department's language displays a worrying arrogance, and indeed a contemptuous attitude to poor people and to shackdwellers. When elites talk about the poor they all too often reveal an underlying assumption that the poor are essentially stupid and invariably criminal. What else explains the Department's opening comment that Abahlali's court challenge was done ‘probably without proper analysis of the act’? What else explains the Department's casual connection of the communities where shack-dwellers live with ‘havens for criminals’? As Christians we strive to always remember that Jesus Christ was a poor man, and affirm that whatever we do unto the least in our society we effectively do unto Jesus himself.

However we live in a society where open contempt for the poor is rank. We live in a society where irresponsible spending on vanity projects, like stadia, often trumps the basic needs of ordinary people. Given how deeply ingrained these attitudes are it's hardly surprising that what the Department (repeatedly) describes as its ‘consultative’ approach, was in fact experienced by poor people as contemptuous and intimidatory. Until the rich and the powerful learn to be able to talk to the poor with respect it is surely inevitable that government policies and practices will be experienced as (and revealed to be) premised on a fundamental rejection of the poor. As religious leadership we must urge a completely different approach based on a completely new set of values. For Christians, we cannot avoid the clarity of Christ's singular message: to bring ‘life in all its fullness’. This message simply cannot be reconciled with an approach to development that ultimately means bulldozers and prison for the poor.

There is no doubt that we collectively face a massive challenge to make sure that everyone has decent housing. There is no doubt that the government has done well to build many houses over the years. But treating shack settlements as an abomination to be moved out-of-sight, and treating shack-dwellers and the poor as stupid and criminal, is wrong in principle and counter-productive in practice. The creativity, intelligence, and struggles of the poor are the greatest resource for overcoming the challenges put before us all. Indeed we need to recognise that shack settlements, imperfect as they are, have been an effective means of providing housing for the urban poor. Working with people in a respectful way should be the basis for a proper partnership that begins to change our cities to more just, equal and shared spaces where shalom reigns.

And finally, if as the Department claims, ‘government at all levels understands the challenges of homeless people’, then why are they proposing to destroy people's existing housing to address homelessness? Surely shackdwellers are correct to point out the need for better housing than the appalling conditions people are sometimes forced to endure in the shack settlements – but they are not homeless – not yet. God has promised us that there are many mansions in the Kingdom of heaven. It is our task to ensure that here on earth our cities are open and welcoming to all and that no one should fear that their fragile home will be bulldozed and that they will be banished to a transit camp far outside of the city where they work and their children attend school.

* Rubin Phillip is Bishop of Natal, Anglican Church of Southern Africa and chairperson of the KwaZulu Natal Christian Council.

6. Oppose the 'Slums Act'
Sign on statement that other organisations put their names to

The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government has passed legislation [3] affecting the lives and rights of shack dwellers. The shack-dweller movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, has challenged this law and will take their case to the Constitutional Court. But after a provincial judge ruled against the movement's first challenge, an article by the head of media services for the Department of Housing (published in the Witness newspaper on 24 February 2009) said:
‘Legal representatives of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement, probably without proper analysis of the act, tried to portray this important legislation ... as an inhumane and unconstitutional legislation designed to allow the government to embark on irresponsible evictions of homeless people. To further its purpose, the Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement has deliberately ignored our consultative and partnership approach since 1994. ... Additional research would have highlighted the fact that the government, Slum Dwellers International and other associations representing homeless people have signed partnership agreements to work together since 2004. ... As all provinces move to finalise their acts there is no reason to fear’.

In a subsequent statement, the South African secretariat of the above-mentioned Slum Dwellers International (SDI) has clarified that:
‘SDI does not support the Slums Act. In this respect we agree with Abahlali Basemjondolo’.

When the Bill was tabled in parliament in 2007, Abahlali baseMjondolo warned:
‘this Bill is an attempt to mount a legal attack on the poor’.

When he visited South Africa in April 2007, then United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Housing, Miloon Kothari, expressed his real concerns about this law. In his subsequent report to the UN, he said: ‘such legislative developments may weaken substantive and procedural protection concerning evictions and increase exemptions for landlords. They may even result in criminalising people facing eviction’.

The Geneva-based Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) have publicly detailed their concerns about this law.

Leading Wits University housing expert, Marie Huchzermeyer, has analysed this law concluding that it ‘is not only reminiscent of apartheid policy. It reintroduces measures from the 1951 Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act, which was repealed in 1998’.

Durban-based lawyer with the Legal Resources Centre, Ranjith Purshotum, has said of this law that ‘Instead of saying that people will be evicted from slums after permanent accommodation is secured, we have a situation where people are being removed from a slum, and sent to another slum. Only this time it is a government-approved slum and is called a transit area. This is the twisted logic of the drafters of the legislation’.

The Church Land Programme (CLP) was asked to check among some relevant organisations whether they supported Abahlali baseMjondolo's position regarding the 'Slums Act'. So far, during the last 24 hours following the publication of the Housing Department's newspaper article, all of the following organisations have agreed to put their name behind this statement. The following organisations:
do not support the Slums Act; and
support Abahlali baseMjondolo in its opposition to the Slums Act.

a. Grassroots movements that are part of the Poor People Alliance together with Abahlali baseMjondolo have given their support (Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, and the Rural Network).

b. in addition, the following organisations:

SACC – South African Council of Churches
Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference: Land and Agrarian Reform Initiative
AFRA - Association for Rural Advancement
PACSA – Pietermaritzburg Agency for Christian Social Awareness
KZNCC – KwaZulu Natal Christian Council
Diakonia Council of Churches
ESSET – Ecumenical Service for Socio-Economic Transformation
Ujamaa Centre for Biblical and Theological Community Development and Research, UKZN
CLP - Church Land Programme.

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

[1] ‘Working towards a slum-free SA’, Ndivhuwo wa ha mbaya, 24 Feb 2009, at: http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=19991
[2] the KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act 2007
[3] the KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act 2007

Nigerian environmentalists call for end to GM cassava trials

Friends of the Earth Nigeria/Environmental Rights Action

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/54743

cc Karin DalzielThe Nigerian government's alleged approval for field testing of genetically modified cassava plants by a US-based plant science centre puts Nigeria in danger of trading away its food future to colonialists under the guise of agricultural biotechnology, Friends of the Earth Nigeria/Environmental Rights Action (FoEN) have warned. They and over 30 local civil society groups have called for an immediate end to the trials, to be conducted by the National Root Crops Research Institute with the reported approval of the National Biosafety Committee – a body that currently has no legal power to grant such an approval. In addition to its concerns about the effects on biodiversity and human health of GM crops, FoEN says that Nigerian food security lies in building the capacity of its farmers, not in GM foods.

The alleged approval by the Nigerian Federal Government for the US-based Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre to conduct field-testing of a genetically modified cassava – ‘Super Cassava’ – in Nigeria can be likened to trading away our food future to modern colonialists that hide under the cover of agricultural biotechnology. The tests must be halted immediately, Friends of the Earth Nigeria/Environmental Rights Action, Nigeria and over 30 other civil society groups in Nigeria have said.

ERA/FoEN’s position is premised on the recently reported approval of the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) for the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike to go ahead with plans to conduct “contained” field trials of genetically modified (GM) cassava on the banks of the Qua Iboe River, Abia State. The NBC has no power to grant this kind of approval.

Details of the approval were revealed at the annual meeting of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, held in Chicago, USA on 13 February 2009, where it was announced that Nigeria’s NBC had given the Danforth Centre approval to carry out field trials for GM cassava in collaboration with NRCRI.

In its response to the development, ERA/FoEN warned that the back door approach of the biotech industry and its Nigerian allies to introduce GM crops in the country will not only endanger Nigerians, but is also a “breach” of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety which Nigeria is signatory to, and which seeks among others to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.

"Nigeria does not need any ‘Super Cassava’. The genetic modification of cassava to produce Vitamin A is fraught with many dangers to the health of Nigerians who depend on cassava as a staple. Some years back, the biotech industry engineered the so-called golden rice to be rich in Vitamin A, but one would need to eat 9 kilograms of that rice to have as much Vitamin A as one would have from eating just two small carrots. The golden rice was a golden hoax and the super cassava will turn out to be super fraud”, said ERA/FoEN
Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey in a statement issued in Lagos.

"Nigerians have used different fora to voice outright rejection of GM crops and public opinion is massively against the commercialisation of our stomachs. This cannot be done through the backdoor and we have made it clear that the solution to our food needs is with our local farmers and not with Danforth Centre, Monsanto and their local allies".

“It is very clear now that like the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the NRCRI is unfortunately becoming another front for the same companies in their push for introduction of GM into Nigeria. Why cassava? What happened to the over 40 so-called hybrids of cassava that the IITA allegedly developed, which it said have the capacity to resist diseases and solve our cassava needs?" Bassey queried.

He pointed out that the planned field testing is a well-scripted and systematic attempt by the biotech industry at breaking down Africa’s regulatory resistance to GM crops, even as he added that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation early this year awarded Danforth Centre a US$5.4 million grant to secure approval of African governments to allow field testing of GM crops.

Accordingly, he maintained that the application letter from NRCRI to the ministry of environment, housing and urban development, dated 14 November 2008, saying it would work closely with an unknown Nigerian Biosafety Office is enough evidence that the research institute is not fully informed about the structure of Nigeria’s biosafety regime hence, the need to halt the testing exercise.

Time and again we have said that the solution to Nigeria’s food crisis is in consistency in government policies with regards to involving local farmers in planning and strengthening their skills – not GM crops. It is also pertinent to remind the promoters of this misadventure that Nigeria’s biosafety law is still in draft form and is yet to be deliberated by the National Assembly. Any field-testing of GM crops is nothing short of an illegality, which must not be allowed, Bassey insisted.

Mrs. Juliana Odey, national coordinator of Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, Cross River State, said: “Cassava is our gold. We don¹t want these GM crops because we have enough cassava cuttings to feed this nation. The food problem in Africa is waste, due to lack of storage facilities. Governments should not implement policies that affect farmers without consulting with farmers.”

* Friends of the Earth Nigeria/ Environmental Rights Action is an advocacy non-governmental organisation that deals with environmental human rights issues in Nigeria.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Women farmers launch international declaration for equality

Via Campesina Women’s International Committe

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/54745

Declaration of the Women's International Committee of Via Campesina on the occasion of the International Women's Day, 2009

We, women farmers from the five continents gathered in Seoul, South Korea, in the framework of Via Campesina’s Women’s International Committee meeting, declare:

On 8 March, the International Women's Day, we reaffirm our willingness to take actions to change the capitalist and patriarchal world that gives priority to the market’s interests instead of the rights of people.

As women farmers, we demand the respect of all our rights. We demand a life with dignity and without violence, and the respect of our sexual and reproductive rights. We struggle to achieve food sovereignty and to defend family farming, the only alternative to the current food and climate crises. We want a real agrarian reform and respect for biodiversity.

We launched the international campaign against violence towards women in Maputo, Mozambique, during Via Campesina’s 5th Conference – October 2008.

At this meeting in Korea, we reconfirm our will:

- To strengthen the organisation at all levels and the struggle of women for their emancipation
- To move forward in the equity of the sexes and women’s participation in all areas of decision making
- To implement parity in our organisations
- To end all forms of violence towards women, and to break the culture of silence
- To build a global society that is just and equal.

We call women and men who struggle for peace and justice to take part in the immediate implementation of measures to eradicate all forms of physical, sexual, economic, environmental, verbal, and psychological violence. We demand an end to the violence of war.

We support our farmer sisters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in Palestine, as well as all the women in all the countries that suffer wars and conflicts.

We denounce the destructive practices of transnational companies that destroy biodiversity, steal land, create environmental disasters, force massive migrations and cause the disappearance of family farming. We commit ourselves to struggle against unjust corporate power.

All forms of inequality must be eliminated as soon as possible, whether they are social, cultural, ethnic, class or gender based.

We will struggle until we build a society that values the worth and the rights of each human being and affirms that women's rights are human rights.

* Via Campesina is the international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Ending violence against women

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/54748

The focus of many International Women’s Day activities this year was on ending violence against women.

For many years activists – both feminist and non-feminist – have been campaigning against gender-based violence (GBV), and drawing upon several international instruments, conventions and statutes that prohibit violence against women. All African states sign up to these instruments, and our intergovernmental multilateral organisations, whether at the regional or continental levels, have drawn upon some of these instruments and Africanised them in order to take our concrete, lived experiences into consideration. Having done these, the other frontline is the domestication of the laws in the national statutes of various countries through ratification. Even when that is achieved there remains the Herculean task of popularising them so that the public will know about them and sensitising the police, social workers, and the entire judicial system to take them seriously, investigate allegations and bring perpetrators to justice. Also there are many challenges about victims being sufficiently empowered to be able to report to the appropriate authorities.

No matter how good a law is it is only in its implementation that its impact can be felt. As any judicial activist knows, a law that cannot be enforced diminishes the status of that law.

Impunity arises not simply because victims do not have access to justice, but because perpetrators get away with their crimes and at times are not even aware that they have done anything against the law.

Therefore general public education and mass awareness must be sustained at various levels. This will not just be about laws but also confronting certain received wisdoms, and cultural and social practices that encourage violence against women and disempower them in voicing their pain, let alone seeking legal redress.

For instance, how many Africans (not just men but women too) will accept the charge of ‘marital rape’? There are many dubious interpretations of religion and internalised social conditioning that prevent women from accepting that they can say no to their husbands. Even girlfriends or mere female acquaintances are treated as ‘wives’ simply because they agreed to go out with a man or visit him. Imagine the reaction of many when Mike Tyson was imprisoned for date rape few years ago. Many asked, ‘What was she doing in a man’s room so late?’ But being with a man should not be interpreted as consenting to go all the way. It is a very simple definition: rape begins from the moment a women says no and a man does not stop. All kinds of specious cultural nuances are used to abet this particular crime by insisting that ‘no decent woman will just say yes like that’.

While the campaign against gender violence is gaining in momentum, it is important that campaigners do not concentrate on women alone. After all, it is generally men who batter and rape women, both in war and in peace. It is important to enter into serious dialogue with men to campaign against all kinds of gender-based violence together.

We as men must look at things and ask ourselves what our reaction would be were such violence to be perpetrated against our daughters, sisters and mothers. Our strength should not be in our fist, gun or between our legs.

* Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem writes this syndicated column in his capacity as a concerned pan-Africanist.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

In search of a river

Prespone Matawira

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimnotes/54750

At 6.50am today, International Women’s Day, I joined hundreds of women all around Harare in search of a river.

The search took me down the beautiful tree-lined Josiah Tongogara Avenue, past what Zimbabweans now know as ‘the hanging tree’. The tree where Mbuya Nehanda, a spiritual medium and revolutionary war heroine of Zimbabwe’s first Chimurenga, was hanged, after capture by colonial forces in 1896.

But the freedom from oppression for which she fought and died remains elusive. Zimbabwean women are still waging wars against oppression, a reality made even starker on 8 March.

Today the struggle takes the shape of resistance to deprivation. To the lack of a basic need – water. The entire city of Harare has been without water for the last four days.

Harare City Council, which recently reclaimed water management functions from the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), said it was battling to restore supplies.

The grapevine tells a story of sabotage. That ZINWA is withholding much-needed chemicals because of the take-back by the city council. But Harare is a city rife with rumour. The more conventional understandings speak of a lack of chemicals for water purification, an outdated and dilapidated water treatment system and a lack of electricity to run pumps.

Whatever the reason, the taps are dry and Zimbabwean women are taking to the streets.

Walking or driving, carrying plastic bottles, buckets, containers of all shapes and sizes, pushing wheelbarrows or bearing the weight of full buckets on their heads, women go in search of water. It’s a massive movement that will continue throughout the day. Like a relay. A rolling demonstration for life against all odds. It is a form of resistance.

For some women the only water source they have is unprotected, where the chances of contamination are high. There are boreholes that are also contaminated due to the overflow of septic tanks. There are schools with wells and some private residences have installed taps near the roadside of their properties for public use.

The one I found had a queue. It took me an hour to reach the tap. You learn to make the water stretch. You bath in a litre (four cups). While waiting for my turn, we talk. We talk about sanitation, cholera and how difficult it is to live in this man-made drought.

Death is always imminent in this demonstration for life. On this Women’s Day, standing around a tap on the side of a suburban road we also talk about Susan Tsvangirai.

Mainstream news in Zimbabwe has been circumspect around the details of her death. While late last night the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) reported that the wife of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, bore the full impact when the landcruiser they were travelling in was sideswiped by a USAID truck near Beatrice, causing the vehicle to veer off the road and roll three times. Today the news is more circumspect. They are giving minimal detail. Rumour, speculation and conspiracy theories are rife.

But for now, my bucket is full. Who knows what will happen next in this place where water equals life and where death is never far away.

* Prespone Matawira is a Zimbabwean feminist and activist who contributes to the new Chii Chirikuita: What's up? blog.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

What’s more free than a free-for-all?

Prespone Matawira

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimnotes/54749

In Harare now, some say heaven can be found in the middle-class suburbs of Arundel, Borrowdale and the Avenues. This heaven comes in the form of Spar supermarket and the queues of people waiting to get through the metal gates are long. After all, ‘Spar is good for you’!

Once inside you would be forgiven for thinking you are in any South African supermarket. A walk down the aisle will land you ricotta cheese for $1.10, oven-baked chips at $3.90, flame-grilled honey and mustard chicken breasts $5.60; anything and everything can be found here. People navigate their way up and down the aisles their shopping carts rolling on the well-oiled wheels of ‘hard currency’.

If you do not have the ‘ma usa’ or ‘ma rand’, you are not permitted to enter heaven. In fact currently in Zimbabwe, if you do not have the US dollar or South African rand, there is very little you can do.

Venturing out of Harare, rural women run a roadside equivalent of a US dollar store. They sell home-grown fresh produce to get forex. The vegetables are stacked in piles, each valued at a dollar: 5 bunches of Muriwo (collard greens); 6 tomatoes; 4 green mealies; 15 small mapudzi (squash); 1 large pumpkin, a big bag of groundnuts.

While the price is quoted in dollars, seeing me ruffle through rands in order to pay for the giant pumpkin, the seller, Moreblessing, quietly says ‘10 Rand’. There is no longer an exchange rate. 1 dollar=10 rand.

When the deal is done, Moreblessing tells me she needs to get foreign currency. That will buy her and her children a future. ‘I don’t want to talk about politics’, she tells me.

While she may not know that Morgan Tsvangirai is now the new prime minister, Moreblessing and many people like her in rural and urban Zimbabwe are aware of the limitations and precariousness of the Zimbabwean currency, limitations caused by stratospheric inflation, unstable exchange rates and the inability of people to get their money out of the banks.

Gradually then, Zimbabweans began trading in hard currency on the parallel market. In order to attract foreign currency back into the official market and reign in inflation, the central bank licensed some retailers, mostly multinationals, to charge for services in foreign currency. (Although no one will admit it, currently dollarisation is the greatest threat to ‘national sovereignty’ in Zimbabwe!).

But if the Zim dollar has led us to a dead-end, dollarisation has acted as a form of collective hypnosis. It’s created an illusion of possibility and freedom. If only you have the hard currency, anything is possible. All people have to do is get with the programme.

At first glance this has its merits. It’s true. US dollars can buy you access to Spar, to wealthier, healthier, more comfortable lives. But there are also problems here, for the one does not automatically translate into the other. Freedom for the mighty is slavery for the weak, and dollarisation only exacerbates this position. It’s kind of like capitalism beyond control.
While some Zimbabweans revel in the availability of basic and luxury commodities, the devil lies silently in the detail. Dollarisation is backfiring in the same way that the floatation of exchange rates back in May 2008 accelerated the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar. For some, dollarisation has translated into greater deprivation and a rising sense of injustice.

Economists argue that dollarisation can result in a rapid rise in the price of commodities, which in turn results in a sharper increase in levels of poverty. This trend is already apparent. There has been an accelerated inflation of the US dollar in Zimbabwe, which is now estimated at more than 50 per cent, compared to 5.3 per cent in the US. What does this mean in reality? It means that the prices of everything sold in US dollars in Zimbabwe are four to five times higher than in South Africa or other countries with convertible currencies.

The anaesthesia created by dollarisation has also erased the fact that with an estimated 80 per cent unemployment, foreign earnings capacity is less than 5 per cent of the population. Of course cross-border trading is rampant and besides remittances from the diaspora, there is very little other evidence to suggest that the majority of Zimbabweans have access to foreign currency.

So it is logical that the effect will be a natural and legitimate demand by those who are employed to be paid in foreign currency. This demand gained even more traction after the 11 February inauguration speech by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai when he boldly committed to pay 150,000 civil servants in foreign currency until the economy is stabilised. These empty promises are a brand of very dangerous populism. Where this money is going to come from is anyone’s guess.

But for now, the current situation presents even more challenges for an already exhausted and abused people. Not only does the country not have the foreign currency reserves, but the banking system itself is largely not a US dollar depository. This means foreign currency circulation will fall outside the banking system, which has the potential to ignite another banking crisis, as all Zim dollar accounts are now, de facto, frozen.

But as the cycle goes, with nearly everyone, licensed or not, attempting to sell goods and services in US dollars, what’s more free than a free-for-all?

* Prespone Matawira is a Zimbabwean feminist and activist who contributes to the new Chii Chirikuita: What's up? blog.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Kenyan police should protect our values and ideals

Okiya Omtatah Okoiti

2009-03-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54720

The widespread condemnation of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHRC) report condemning the police execution of suspects exposes our hypocrisy. How can we, who are demanding a new democratic constitution, be unwilling to defend such fundamentals of democracy like the right of all to a fair trial, the separation of powers, and even the right to life?
There is no doubt that the police are exposed to grave danger in their fight against armed criminals. Ill-equipped, underpaid, uninsured, without appropriate laws, and without motivation, they literally place their unprotected bodies between us and the criminals who don’t hesitate to kill them. Worse, they perform their life and death duties in a very poisonous environment.

The criminals have loads of cash to buy their freedom from the criminal justice system. And there are allegations that where the diligent cop succeeds in convicting them in court, they soon buy their way out of jail to resume their unrelenting desire for death and destruction, determined above all else to kill that cop, unless the cop kills them first.

At the societal level the culture of death reins supreme. We never hesitate to lynch petty offenders. We have neither respect for life nor regard for the rule of law, and prefer to meet out vengeance rather than justice on those who wrong us.

Apparently death is cathartic for many of us. And we cheer in wild orgies whenever police execute outlaws. We line up to view their bodies. If we had our way we could proudly hang on our living room walls pictures of the triumphant cops with their feet on the dreadlocked heads of Mungiki in imitation of pictures of the senseless white hunters who decimated our wildlife.

The minority who believe in the rule of law and civilised and regulated punishment by the state have no room to represent their views in such a sick society, where extrajudicial police killings result inevitably from our readiness to urge our policemen to function as our protective executioners.

We remain solidly supportive of the executions and reject the argument that it is not the responsibility of police to take on the role of judge and executioner. We trot out counter arguments blaming the corrupt and inept judicial process, and comfort ourselves that the executions send clear messages to the criminals that if you kill us we will gladly kill you back.

We who control the media and make up ‘society’ only complain when the victims are not poor or powerless but look like us. But even then we don’t make the categorical point that any extrajudicial execution is a travesty of justice.

The shoot-to-kill policy is based on class. The police recognise this constraint. They know that we will let them do as they wish provided they avoid murdering middle-class people. And so, slum dwellers, squatters and those at the fringes of our society live lives that can suddenly be terminated by a police bullet fired at the whim of a disoriented or hired officer. No matter how many of them die unnecessary, unjust deaths, middle-class Kenya will refuse to protest or intervene, arguing falsely that there is no alternative to killing those who want to kill you.

Our tacit encouragement of the shoot-to-kill policy poses grave dangers to public safety. Once we give policemen the licence to kill, they can frame and murder their rivals to the rapturous acclaim of a credulous public.

Hence, Wako and Ali can resign, but that won’t change a thing unless we realise that whenever the police pull the trigger, they act at our behest – we give them the gun, the environment and the licence to kill. They are our assassins of choice, and until we change, there will be more police murders, more rapes and more injustice drowned in the chorus of middle-class approval.

We must reject this and fight crime through the rule of law. There is no room for making compromises between constitutional values and necessary crime-fighting measures to protect the nation. Suspects must face justice not revenge. The right to a fair trial is a fundamental human right that the state must guarantee everyone. Suspects are entitled to due process to ensure that innocent people are not summarily executed on the pretext that they are Mungiki. It is the duty of the judiciary to decide the appropriate punishment.

When the KNCHR condemns the police for becoming judge, jury and executioner it is failure of policing that is the issue, not the defence of criminals. Mungiki is a terrorist organisation – it is impossible to defend them. However, it is equally impossible to defend the summary execution of suspects by the police, as that amounts to making a false choice between our security and our values like liberty, justice, rule of law, and democracy, values that will be the hallmark of our greatness.

Like Barack Obama said of terrorists, the message the KNHRC is sending by condemning extrajudicial killings by the police is that we should pursue the struggle against violence and terrorism vigilantly, effectively and ‘in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals’ that are captured in our constitutional doctrines and in the international treaties we have signed. As Obama put it, we should not make ‘a false choice between our safety and our ideals’.

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

Assassination of Kenyans

Ruge Story

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54751

Regarding Kenyan assassinations, the only way to eradicate organised crime is from the top, not the bottom as we are being led to believe. Get rid of the organisers (not one token one) and the protectors in whatever place govt. or otherwise and we will get rid of this menace. Other countries are always ready to forego the small fry in order to trap the big wigs, not so us. We kill even innocents in our fake quest to eradicate the menace.

Assassination of Kenyans

Orwa Michael

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54752

We shall overcome. some day. so long, but yes we shall overcome. Organize we must, Agonize not as much. But we are headed to a predictably dark segment of our nation's search for itself, perhaps we may get out of the tunnel a better people. the darkest hour is before dawn they say. Yes, now state assasinations are targeted to the powerful as much as they are targeted at the hapless, the powerless, and the very downtrodden. and this is why i say we are entering a new phase of our eventual liberation. because the state has ceased to think and is haphazard in the deployment of its instruments of violence. but the silencing of the lambs may not stop the bleating of the sheep. we shall overcome.

Assassination of Kenyans

Muigwithania

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54753

Violence – in all its many forms – is abhorrent to all who believe human life is a gift of God and therefore infinitely precious. Every attempt to intimidate others by inflicting indiscriminate death and injury upon them is to be universally condemned. The answer to Criminal gangs (Mungiki or death squads) however, cannot be to respond in kind, for this can lead to more violence and more terror. Instead, a concerted effort of all people is needed to remove any possible justification for such acts.Acts of violence are criminal acts, and should be addressed by the use of the instruments of the rule of law.

Assassination of Kenyans

Michael Hallonsa

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54754

[url=http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/54590It's a shame[/url]. Maybe Kibaki should be taken to the Hague because this are the likes of Charles Taylor and Mugabe. Using the force to kill innocent kenyans for no good reason: a case should be filed to the ICC so that the evil minded people we have can learn, Its clear that the Idiot spokesperson mutua new about the killing and he kept his word "we will deal with them".

Assassination of Kenyans

Jacob Wachira

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54755

Its saddening to read of such beasty acts by fellow human beings, trying to cover up there sins,why can the same organ of government(the police)do the job they are supposed to do,which is to protect people. It now talks volume when one Kiraithe (police spokesman) say that they dismiss the finding of extra judicial killings, rather than take the opportunity to change now and be judged by history they played a role to change ...
Let them read about the Nazi, today no one want to associate with it Hitler, even wearing the Nazi logo or anything nazi is out of fashion, no being wants to associate themselves with. I see a time when the this chapter of our Kenyan history will be remembered always and we will say Kibaki and hi government did nothing to protect the people.rather they propagated the killings of people,we cant judge if they were quilty or innocent, as thats the work the courts,this says there is alot that is rotten in our mother country Kenya,they may kill,but they will never kill the desire,the dreams of a better Kenya, and we shall hold them responsible,we may not have money,but they cant also refuse the brothers, sisters, wives,friends of the people killed not to remember them, so let them know for the 2 candles they put off,there shall be more candles lit,and the light shall illuminate the darkness n we shall see them for who they are. This is very stupid, very stupid n unfortunate.

If you don't vote, you can complain

Open letter to South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)

Rosa Blaauw and Jared Sacks

2009-03-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54719

Re: Misinformation on IEC TV ads for voter registration including the ad ‘if you don't vote, you can't complain’

Dear Chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam,

A recent television ad for the campaign for voter registration by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has a line which implies that non-voting South African citizens have no power to bring about change in this country. ‘If you don't vote, you can't complain’ shows the short-sightedness and arrogance of the current political system, which attempts to convince South Africans that voting is the most effective and only way to bring about change in this country.
We are not stating that democracy cannot help a country if democracy is defined as the people taking control over the political system. But these ads seek manipulate people. They offend our rights as citizens and undermine the constitution which enshrines our right to choose our political convictions as well as our right to protest. If the most effective way to measure democracy in a country is the way those in power treat dissent, then South Africa continues to fail as it uses both violent and manipulative means to keep people quiet.

What that one liner implies is that we, as law-abiding, tax-paying, contributing and knowledgeable citizens, cannot criticise the current political system because we boycott the vote.

It advocates that we must vote in order to make our voices heard, even if we think there are no political parties that represent our beliefs and can carry them out in an honest and incorruptible manner.

It says that the strides made by anti-voting social movements (which brought about democracy as we know it today in our country) and some politically-conscious groups (who advocate understanding of our political past; the local, global and hidden agendas behind them) were for nothing. We are condemning freedom of choice, thought and expression if a non-partisan body openly judges our right to choose whether to vote or not.

But South Africa's new social movements, taking their cue from what we have learned during the anti-apartheid past, do show us alternatives. The Anti-Eviction Campaign has stopped over 90 per cent of the evictions in their communities. Abahlali baseMjondolo has given a voice to thousands of shackdwellers fighting for their settlement to be upgraded rather than eliminated. By voting with their feet, these poor people's movements force our government officials to think about the poor and oppressed everyday rather than once every five years.

Some would argue that if you're not for something, then you're against it. Against what, exactly? Corruption at the highest levels that threatens the honourable legacy of resistance and sacrifice to rid us from oppression? Oppression still exists, in the form of economic segregation and pro-capitalist development. Whether it is the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Congress of the People (COPE), the African National Congress (ANC) or the Independent Democrats (ID), they will all continue to corrupt our voice when they vote in parliament to oppress us.

False promises are being made to millions of people who still have very little choice but to see their one vote as hope for a better future for themselves and their children. Are campaign promises and baby-kissing the only act of influence that we react to?

The irony is that power tends to corrupt, and it is no more true than in this beautiful country. Whoever is voted in as the next ruling party will succumb to the same.

The smokescreen of the voting process should not be used as a salve for all the injustices of the past and present governing systems. We believe in the right to choose and in the right to unbiased and open information that is available to the public. Voting can make a difference but only if our political and economic system is restructured first. It is unfair to accuse the non-voting public of apathy, indifference or ignorance to the state of their nation because they are unhappy with the electoral process.

Voting never overthrew apartheid or Jim Crow in the United States. It never ended colonialism or imperialism. Neither can it end the oppression of liberal democracy.

Regardless of whether one chooses to vote or not, the reality is that change has been brought about by far more than just voting.

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

Global financial crisis

B. Murray

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54756

The global financial crisis is an opportunity for all resource-rich countries, like Kenya and much of Africa, to completely change the global system. We have been told to export, grow for export, export and more export. We have ignored our own people. There are a few things that we need to import but not many, and with innovation and work we can make substitutes, use our own resources, make our own goods. It seems impossible - that is what the North wants us to think - but it is not. When Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia was under real sanctions (1965-1980), every effort went into manufacturing substitutes. Of course there was some 'sanctions busting'... oil and medicines were two things we had to import.
But now, we can produce many medicines locally, and with new solar technology, bio-fuels and geothermal energy even this can be overcome. By 1980, what Nyerere recognised as the 'jewel of Africa' was the result of developing local resources, local production and the local market. We have been fooled by the rich west - from colonialism it smoothly changed to neo-liberal globalisation, no difference - that we had to export our resources to 'grow'. In reality Africa has the resources that much of the west needs... not the other way round. Europe doesn't have the land to grow food for its people... it has to import! We must develop solar energy and geothermal energy, develop agriculture and manufacture our minerals and timber from our glorious land for the use of our own peoples. It is time for all the 'developing' countries to stop accepting that label. We are equal and different. Let us look after the common good - the lives of our own populations and our environment. Let us turn the system around. This financial crisis in the west is a huge moment of opportunity if only our corrupted governments will wake up to it and stop 'exporting' our money to their personal Swiss and Malaysian and Hong Kong bank accounts. It should be invested in local manufacturing and production instead. Africa needs a fresh look at its economic patterns. Venezuela and other South American countries are showing the way - independence from the North. A new struggle for a new form of sustainable independence.

Interview with writer

Susan Nyatanga

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54757

To start with, thanx for the interview. The past months when ever i saw an article about Zimbabwe it was always about something sad-political violance, cholera, inflation,starvation etc.Its such a relief to read on a positive topic and i do think Oliver "Tuku" has managed to fly the countrys flag high, not only the country's but Africa as a whole because issues he raises are shared by a lot of African cultures.The issue on scantly dressed women in musical videos you touched on does affect me personally, i think us women, are allowing ourselves to be used and we should wage a war against it!

On Durban II

Oscar H. Blayton

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54758

If the U.S. is to be taken seriously as a "Global Leader" it must engage the global community in dialogue. Absenting itself from Durban II is a move in the wrong direction. Such a serious mis-step signals a need for a closer monitoring of the Obama Administration's foreign policy decisions.

African Union: First things first!

Joseph Ben Kaifala

2009-03-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54718

In his inaugural address as the new chairman of the African Union (AU), Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi has vowed to pursue his vision of a United States of Africa. Gaddafi has been lobbying other African leaders since 2004 to create a United States of Africa and make him the first president. But even on a continent where hunger for power is a status quo, other African leaders appear not to be mesmerised by the political fantasies of the self-declared ‘king of kings’ and ‘leader of the Islamic leadership’, Muammar al-Gaddafi. Among the civil wars, poverty, diseases, and overall African underdevelopment, the new leader of the AU is only interested in his messianic need for a larger political domain where he can implement his despotic rule.
There is a Sierra Leonean Creole saying that a great wedding party can be predicted by the bachelor’s eve. Anyone who has witnessed the activities of the AU knows that a greater political union is a wild dream beyond the current African imagination. The problem is not that most Africans do not want to live in a common republic, but putting the cart before the horse is just a naive barricade. We can only entertain a United States of Africa when we put an end to blatant human rights violations all over the continent, poverty, poor infrastructure and horrendous leadership. The Organization of African Unity (OAU), predecessor of the AU, was created immediately after African independence from colonialism in order to facilitate an African customs and political union. The AU was created in 2002 out of the failures of the OAU, but it appears that the new baby is, as they say, like father like son.

The AU, created to promote democratic principles, human rights, good governance and a customs union, appears to be insignificant to the continent. Human rights and good governance are down the drain in Zimbabwe, Somalia and Sudan, and our dream of a customs union is hindered by individual trade agreements with the Chinese and Europeans. The recent military coup d’états in Guinea and Mali prove that democracy is a long way gone. Eleven of the first 20 countries on the 2008 Foreign Policy Failed States Index are African countries, with Ethiopia, home of the AU, comfortable at number 16 of 60 countries.

To recall the words of Kwame Nkrumah, founding father of the OAU, ‘we all want a united Africa’, however, ‘united not only in our concept of what unity connotes, but united in our common desire to move forward together in dealing with all the problems that can best be solved only on a continental basis.’ As it stands now, we have failed to solve most of the problems that can be solved using a continental framework, and the recent dismissal of Gaddafi’s plan for a United States of Africa by other African leaders indicates that we lack a common desire just yet.

The AU must put first things first by promoting development, peace and democratic rule on the African continent. Otherwise, we all know what the fate of a United States of Africa would be under President Gaddafi, a man who thinks the best model for Africa is his own country, where opposition parties are not allowed. If Gaddafi believes that silence from African leaders on the concept of a United States of Africa means approval, let him ask my grandmother, who believes that one should not waste precious time on obviously foolish issues.

* Joseph Ben Kaifala, from Sierra Leone, is a Tom Lantos/Humanity in Action congressional fellow at the US House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

If Africa does as she has done in the past

John Louis Harrison

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/54759

Review of West African blogs: When Africa finally realizes that if She does what She has done in the past, She will get the same results. Weak leadership is the problem causing corruption and other poor rule of law. Opportunities for the future of Africa have been given only to the elitist. The common man in Africa has been forgotten and no power has been given to him because of the lack of having a democracy that works.
Administrative regimes have been the order of the day in Africa and in no way does it seems to help the majority of the indigenous people of the lands that this madness takes place. I pray that the truth is told about where the arms that child soldiers use to kill and slaughter others in their own country because the ridiculous notion of they are from another tribe causes them to kill their fellow countrymen. These arms are not made in Africa so the misery peddlers that make sure the children and the warped minded leaders have access to these firearms to kill each other. Now if I can figure this out, you think that the United Nations would have a handle on these companies whom firearms are sold in all of the conflicts in Africa would be identified and brought before a tribunal of law makers, and forced to stop.

Tribute to Oscar King'ara and Paul Oulu

Beatrice Kamau

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/obituary/54736

Comrades Oscar and Oulu,
They may have shot you dead,
but they have not shot down what you believed in and stood for.
They may have destroyed your physical bodies,
but your spirit and what you believed and stood by is now more alive than ever.
They may have tried to remove you physically from Kenyans’ minds,
but the two of you are more alive now in Kenyans’ minds than ever,
more so in the minds of the helpless young widows
and children of victims of extrajudicial killings,
more alive to the whole world that has stood by you and is crying for justice in your case.
They may have tried to silence you,
but now you are shouting louder than ever,
They may think that they have silenced you,
but there will be more than ten thousand patriots that will emerge to soldier on
to wipe away the tears of your dear families and loved ones!
To cry for justice over your assassinations!
To hunt down your killers!
To carry on your work of helping the poor!
To demand for justice over your killings!

Your killers are now being haunted and tormented,
by the cries of the poor that you fought for,
by the guilt that led them to assassinate you,
and by the evil that they have always stood for.
It will haunt them and their masters to their graves.

TO THE FAMILIES OF OSCAR KING'ARA AND PAUL OULU,
MAY OUR GOOD GOD GIVE YOU STRENGTH,
ESPECIALLY AT THIS TRYING PERIOD.

As for the activist, this is a new call,
the battle against impunity intensifies now more than ever.
We are all in it and more determined that ever,
Help us oh God!

* Beatrice Kamau is the executive director of the Social Reform Centre (SOREC) in Kenya.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Africa: Film on brutal Mengistu wins 'Africa's Oscars'

2009-03-12

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7931035.stm

An Ethiopian film about the regime of the country's former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam has won the chief prize at Africa's main movie awards ceremony. Teza was the unanimous winner of the Golden Stallion of Yennenga at the event in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Director Haile Gerima's award was accepted by his sister Selome, who also co-produced the film.

Global: Screening of 'A Place in the City'

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/abcjyt

Nearly 15 years since apartheid ended, millions of black South Africans still live in self-built shacks – without sanitation, adequate water supplies, or electricity. But A Place in the City will overturn all your assumptions about ‘slums’ and the people who live in them. In this film, shot in the vast shack settlements in and around Durban, members of Abahlali baseMjondolo, the grassroots shackdwellers’ movement, lay out their case against forcible eviction and for decent services with passion and eloquence, in a political climate where grassroots campaigners like them are more likely to be met with rubber bullets than with offers to talk.

Raila Odinga's Stolen Presidency

Reveiewed by Per Lindgren

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/54780

An explosive book about Kenya’s December 2007 bungled election has been launched in Stockholm. The book, Raila Odinga’s Stolen Presidency: Consequences and The Future of Kenya written by Mr. Okoth Osewe, a Kenyan author, takes the position that the December 2007 election was rigged by the Samuel Kivuitu-led Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) in favor of Mr. Mwai Kibaki who was immediately sworn in as President in a hurriedly convened secret ceremony at State House Nairobi on Sunday December 30th 2007.
RAILA ODINGA’S STOLEN PRESIDENCY: Consequences And The Future Of Kenya By Mr. Okoth Osewe

Publisher: iVisby AB, Sweden

Pages: 464, Paper back

ISBN: 978-91-633-3972-1

Copyright: Okoth Osewe 2008

Reviewer: Per Lindgren

An explosive book about Kenya’s December 2007 bungled election has been launched in Stockholm. The book, Raila Odinga’s Stolen Presidency: Consequences and The Future of Kenya written by Mr. Okoth Osewe, a Kenyan author, takes the position that the December 2007 election was rigged by the Samuel Kivuitu-led Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) in favor of Mr. Mwai Kibaki who was immediately sworn in as President in a hurriedly convened secret ceremony at State House Nairobi on Sunday December 30th 2007. The disputed election precipitated a crisis that led to the slaughter of an estimated 1,500 Kenyans and creation of 350,000 internal refugees.

According to the book, the rigging of presidential election in Kenya was masterminded by the corrupt “Kikuyu ruling class” that had formed an impenetrable Mafia cartel around Kibaki and that worked in cahoots with ECK to allegedly steal the vote to hand Kibaki victory.

Detailed backgrounds of a group of “Fat cats who kidnapped Kibaki’s Presidency” are given in the book with top names featuring Dr. Joe Wanjui, a long time Kibaki ally, Kiraitu Murungi, Minister of Energy, John Michuki, Minister of Environment, Chris Murungaru, former Internal Security Minister, Francis Muthaura, Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet and Njenga Karume, former Defence minister. The “fat cats” are painted as corrupt and blamed for having shielded the President soon after the December 2002 election in order to maintain Kikuyu hegemony on power, promote corruption and perpetuate tribalism in government.

Using figures of Election returns from ECK and other sources, Mr. Osewe puts together a formidable compilation and analysis of statistics to isolate 473,835 votes that were allegedly added to Kibaki to give him victory with 4,584,721 votes over Raila’s 4,352,993 votes.

Names of ECK officials who were active at Kenyatta International Conference Center where the tallying was taking place, together with numbers of their IDs and cell phones are included in the compilation to advance the theory that the election rigging was an exercise that was masterminded by known people who knew what they were doing and who were acting under clear instructions. International observers cast aspersions on the credibility of results because of serious irregularities during the tallying process especially at KICC.

The volume of a book, (464 pages long) claims that the Kikuyu ruling class used ECK to rig elections because they were looting the country’s economy and plundering it’s resources through corruption and that if they lost power under the circumstances, they were bound to lose the benefits of having their man at State House with unforeseen consequences.

“Raila was set to take over power after defeating Kibaki and given the evidence on corruption that existed both at the official level and in the public domain, a driving motive that could have led Kikuyu ruling class to rig elections must have been the strong fear of prosecutions on corruption related scandals as promised by ODM in its Election Manifesto”, the book says.

US government wanted to keep Raila Odinga out of power

Taking the unequivocal position that Raila won the vote, the book details reasons why PNU, Kibaki’s Party, was floored at the polls. The book says that millions of Kenyan voters had become tired with a wealth-grabbing Kikuyu ruling class that was perpetuating tribalism through organized “Kikuyunization of government” as the masses of the Kenyan people went without food, died of treatable diseases and suffered under high inflation occasioned by run-away prices of consumer commodities.

According to the book, Kibaki was not in a position to deliver on key election promises like ending corruption because corruption is part of the system of capitalism that the Narc government inherited from Moi. The book says that Kibaki could not end tribalism either because Narc, his Party, was ideologically bankrupt and therefore ill equipped to end tribalism. Mr. Osewe argues that nobody will ever end tribalism in Kenya as long as there is no alternative to it which, he says, is class based politics.

Although the book says that ODM had no better political alternative to Kibaki’s PNU, it argues that Kenyans voted for ODM because of multiple illusions that had been built in the minds of Kenyans that ODM was better than PNU. In reality, the book says that the two parties are ideologically similar because they both practice politics from the point of view of “deformed capitalism” while they both support unworkable policies of Western imperialism which, the book says, are also responsible for the deep economic crisis Kenya has been plunged in for decades.

Within the mix of Raila Odinga’s stolen Presidency, the United States government is singled out as having had a strong interest in keeping Raila away from power because the Bush Administration was apparently uncomfortable with Raila. A deep analysis is rendered in the book to explain why the US government congratulated Kibaki soon after the vote was rigged at KICC.

For example, the book says that Raila made a big strategic mistake in signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kenyan Muslims to the effect that no Muslim would be taken to Guantanamo for interrogation and torture if he took power because in so doing, Raila was undermining US foreign policy and complicating US government’s self declared war on terror. This mistake, the book says, made the US government uncomfortable because Kenya “is a political play ground” of the US government and other European powers.

“Raila’s deal with Kenyan Muslims amounted to drawing the boundary as to what the US government could and could not do in Kenya. The message Raila was sending in the name of capturing the Muslim vote was that once he became President, Kenya would no longer be a puppet of the United States, especially on its war against terrorism”, the book says.

The author’s view is that the ODM victory at the ballot represented a “generational revolt that could topple imperialist status quo” in Kenya while it also says that if Raila took power, there was “possible ideological challenges to imperialism” by new anti-imperialist Parties and movements that could spring up in Kenya by exploiting the democratic space that a Raila Presidency was bound to open. According to Mr. Osewe, the US government was comfortable with Kibaki, the Devil it knew and not Raila, the Angel it didn’t know.

The Kriegler Report was a distortion of Kenyan history

In his attempt to “demolish the concept that the 2007 election was not rigged in favor of Kibaki”, Mr. Osewe attacks the Kriegler Commission that investigated the conduct of the election and takes the view that the “Kriegler Report” (which concluded that the winner of the Presidential election could not be determined) was “a distortion of Kenyan history” and an insult to the intelligence of millions of Kenyan truth seekers.

The book says that the Kriegler Report is dubious because it only investigated ten of the fourty eight disputed constituencies; it never interviewed key returning officers in areas of serious dispute, it kept alternative rebuttals from Civil society organizations away; it invited dubious people to give “acceptable views”; it ignored opposing views from certain dissenting Commissioners while it never examined all available data on election rigging despite having had access to this data.

The book proceeds to present missing data in the Kriegler Report from 37 Constituencies which Mr Osewe analyses to expose rigging and to argue that the Kriegler Commission cheated Kenyans because it had a pre-determined conclusion following the signing of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act 2008. The Commission is accused of violating known methods of scientific inquiry after setting its own rules to produce a skewed Report because it had a set agenda to serve internal and external interests.

"Although the Kriegler Report was accepted because of political expediency, it is a major distortion of Kenyan history, a drawback to the country’s democratization process, an insult to the intelligence of millions of Kenyans and a further exposure of the ongoing conspiracy between the Kenyan ruling class and Imperialism for the sake of “peace and continuity” that alone, can guarantee a peaceful exploitation of the country’s resources by local and international wealth grabbers", the book states.

The book also delves into the consequences of election rigging notably the resurfacing of the thorny land question which, the book says, has never been resolved since Kenya’s “flag independence” in 1963. According to the author, the land question has never been tackled because top politicians who have been holding power and their foreign backers have been the leading land grabbers who will never address the problem of landlessness because of vested interests.

In tackling the problem of landlessness, the book says that it “will not just mean a shift in government policy but a radical ideological change opposed to the free market system of government that has converted land into a commodity for sale and allowed a few fat cats to own vast pieces of land when millions of Kenyans are landless”.

Kenya: The myth of peace in a conflict zone

Compared to its neighbors, the popular view is that Kenya has been relatively peaceful. In the book, Mr. Osewe challenges what he calls “The myth of peace in a conflict zone” and advances the view that behind the much touted peace occasioned by lack of military conflicts, Kenya is the epicenter of multiple social conflicts and contradictions which exploded following the stealing of Raila’s Presidency.

"The battle that has been raging in Kenya and that rarely finds effective expression in the world media is the battle between the rich and the poor, the “haves” and the “have nots,” the exploited and the exploiter, the powerful and the powerless, the wealth grabbers and the robbed, the bellyful wanabenzi [Benz drivers] and the hungry, the millionaire tycoons and the beggars in the streets, those with food on the table and those starving, the business community and the paupers, the fat land grabbers and the landless, the tiny wealthy ruling class and the army of unemployed youth", the book says before giving a pessimistic perspective of the future.

“The truth is that the peace being trumpeted in this context has been an artificial peace because conditions for peace have not been in existence in Kenya for decades and this is how the situation will remain if key issues that led to the election of ODM are not addressed either by present or future governments”, says Mr. Osewe.

The book, whose launch in Kenya is in the pipeline, concludes with a perspective of Kenyan politics. It lists a range of issues that the Coalition government will and will not be able to address during its life while it also attempts to define the political direction of the country in the run up to next elections.

Throughout his presentation, Mr. Osewe’s style of analysis betrays a clear leftist inclination as he challenges basic concepts of free market in Kenya and “imperialist control” of the country’s politics, economy and culture. Although the author avoids the use of Marxist jargon in his formulations, he leaves the informed reader with little doubt about his ideological standpoint as a contemporary Kenyan leftist thinker and writer.

While the book blames politicians for being responsible for the country’s malaise, it attempts to shift attention to the political system which, it argues, needs to be changed because, according to the book, it is this system that allows politicians to run down the country and prompt them to rig elections when they are on the verge of losing the vote.

The book is available for purchase at www.mapambano.com while it is also selling in designated book stores across the world. Information is also available at Mr. Osewe’s official blog at www.kenyastockholm.com

Review of Francis B. Nyamnjoh’s The Travail of Dieudonné

Peter Wuteh Vakunta

2009-03-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/54703

The Travail of Dieudonné is the tale of a triple estrangement. Nyamnjoh’s protagonist is physically separated from his homeland (Warzone), beloved wife (Tsanga) and opulence associated with materialism. The writer adumbrates, ‘Dieudonné misses his home village to the point of tears’. (p. 153) Mimboland, his country of choice, is a dichotomised world where the haves and have-nots cohabitate. While Beverly Hills swims in the niceties of life, Swine Quarter – home to the underprivileged – is likened to a ‘bleeding ghetto’ reputed for its ‘muddy meanders of footpaths and shacks whose walls were delicately sustained by ant-infested wood, human excrement, dog shit…multitudes of rats and cockroaches that celebrated impunity.’ (p. 149)
Nyamnjoh’s novel is replica of the socio-political goings-on in Mimboland, a fictional country calqued on the author’s home country, Cameroon, but which could easily represent any African country in the throes of underdevelopment, bad governance and economic morass. The author’s acrimonious diatribe on the politicisation of alcoholism is a salient feature of his satirical narrative. While the pauperised masses consume alcohol to numb the pangs of hunger and frustration, those at the helm employ it as a tool to keep dissidence in leash. Dieudonné admits:

There is a strange thing that has gripped and numbed us all since the colonial days. Alcohol. Its presence is widespread. It has invaded and consumed us all, making ash of manhood and nonsense of women who dare smile its way. (p. 90)

Recourse to linguistic hybridity as a mode of writing cannot escape the reader’s notice. Nyamnjoh has a predilection for language mixing. His writing technique is reminiscent of Birago Diop’s style in Les contes d’Amadou Koumba (1961). Like Diop, he writes, ‘I am a nothing man. I am l’homme falsifié par la vérité’.(p 71) This sentence is a mosaic of English, Pidgin and French. It serves as a commentary on the poly-glossic backdrop against which the text is written. All too often, the writer juxtaposes French and English expressions as if to remind his readers that his characters are bilingual individuals proficient in both languages, as the following remark made by Dieudonné clearly illustrates: ‘Nous vivons une terre des mots pas une terre des miracles—We live a world of words not a world of miracles.’ (p. 30) This text is distinctive in its interplay of indigenised and standardised expressions.

Oftentimes, the writer spices his narrative with indigenous language expressions in order to make the discourse respond more realistically to the prevailing mentality of his characters. Dieudonné’s unquestionable faith in providence, for example, is expressed through his frequent use of the Arabic/Hausa expression ’Insha’ Allah’. (p. 32) Recourse to Africanised expressions offers Nyamnjoh the opportunity to shed light on the worldview and thought patterns of his characters. By availing himself of the technique of linguistic indigenisation he succeeds in underscoring the impact of native tongues on creative writing in Africa.

Pidginisation enables him to bridge the conceptual gap created by the use of European languages considered too poorly equipped to convey the speech mannerisms and sensibilities of Africans. The novel is replete with pidgin expressions that highlight the prism through which Nyamnjoh’s characters perceive reality, as the following excerpt illustrates: ‘Cow wey yi get tail na God di driv’am fly.’ (p. 40) One can hardly speak of this writer’s narrative technique without reckoning with the linguistic novelty that characterises his style of writing. Alternating between French, English, pidgin and vernacular languages is a technique that he uses adeptly to depict the various socio-cultural peculiarities of Mimboland. Thus The Travail of Dieudonné addresses the language question in Cameroonian literature in particular and in fictional writing in Africa as a whole.

This text is intriguing in several respects, not least of which is the significance of the act of naming. Onomastics is made to bear a stamp of cultural identity. As the protagonist points out, ‘Today I mostly remember that village as the land where each day of the week had a female name and a male name, and girls and boys were named after the day they were born.’ (p. 62) By christening his main character ‘Dieudonné’, Nyamnjoh invites an ambivalent interpretation of the nomenclature. Are Dieudonné’s travails attributable to providence – a force he fervently believes in – or to extraneous factors against which he is powerless? Is he a victim of his own foibles, notably his uncontrollable craving for alcohol? Each name in the text is imbued with some signification, a comment on the name-bearer. Chopngomna is pregnant with meaning. This government functionary is not only a spendthrift but also a compulsive embezzler. Nicknamed ‘the man with the bleeding wallet’, (p. 73) he ‘had identified himself with a proud tradition of the civil service, where a goat is meant to eat where it is tethered, and where it is normal and indeed to be celebrated, for someone “wrongly” accused of illicit self-enrichment to put the records straight by declaring: Ces sont les gratitudes et les servitudes de la fonction publique.’ (p. 73) He is associated with the endemic corruption that has become second nature in Mimboland.

Nyamnjoh’s female characters are given fancier names. The bartender at the Grand Canari bar is branded ‘Precious’ on account of her ‘slim dark-skinned beauty.’ (p. 155) Dieumerci has an undeclared lust for her because she has kept her ebony dark complexion intact.’ (p. 158) In his own words, Precious is ‘omelette nature’. (p. 158) The telltale sobriquet she has earned on account of the ludicrously small salary she earns at the Grand Canari is ‘SIDA (Salaire insuffisant difficilement acquis)’,(p. 159) which could be translated as ‘Insufficient Salary Painfully Earned’. Her boss, the sumptuous amply endowed bejewelled proprietress of Grand Canari, is named Madame Gazellia Mamelle on account of her flare for money. She ‘has a nose for money’. (p. 156)

The Travail of Dieudonné is a rap on totalitarianism. Nyamnjoh takes a jibe at Africa’s demo-dictators, the likes of President Longstay of Mimboland. By all means fair or foul these lame duck leaders manipulate elections to remain in power in perpetuity. They orchestrate wanton destruction of property and human life when faced with the likelihood of exit from power. Together with inept lieutenants like Chopngomna, they aid and abet the dereliction of duty, impunity and the misappropriation of state funds.

Bleak as this portrait may be, this novel appears futuristic. It is a harbinger of good tiding and the advent of genuine Uhuru to Africa: ‘The freedoms of the future are yet to be born.’ (p. 163) Dieudonné may be at his wits’ end, he may be an ‘objet’ to be transferred from one master to the other, yet there is hope for a better tomorrow. His faith in providence is his toughest armour against the adversities of life. As he observes, ‘The more I try and fail in my attempt to shape my life, the more I realize how my will is but a tiny bit of Allah’s grand design.’ (p. 163)

Throughout the narrative, the reader appreciates not just Nyamnjoh’s skill at storytelling but also his verve at word-smiting. In a nutshell, The Travail of Dieudonné is a virtuoso art of linguistic innovation. The only problem that the text may pose for a monolingual reader is its linguistic and cultural plurality, which requires of the reader to be not only multilingual but also pluri-cultural. But the novelist endeavours to mitigate the severity of this potential hurdle by resorting to communicative translation all along.

* Francis B. Nyamnjoh is an associate professor and head of publications and dissemination with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). The Travail of Dieudonné is available from East African Educational Publishers.
* Peter Wuteh Vakunta, a Cameroonian, is poet, storyteller and essayist whose works include Lion Man and Other Stories.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

South Africa: Youth Survival Guide

A lifestyle guide to the law in South Africa for young adults

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/54725

Covering sex, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, drugs and the law, health, violent crime, self defence, abuse, sexual assault, keeping safe, education admission, rules and regulations, exclusion, reports and records, examinations, safety, student finance, studying and training, applying for work and finding a job, work and training contracts, rights at work, losing your job, banking, income tax, spending, among other things. The Youth Survival Guide is a must-have reference for matriculants and young adults.
Youth Survival Guide

A lifestyle guide to the law in South Africa for young adults

By Various

1-919855-91-2

978-1-919855-91-2

100 x 180mm; paperback

Reference / Law

December 2008

R60


Covering sex, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, drugs and the law, health, violent crime, self defence, abuse, sexual assault, keeping safe, education admission, rules and regulations, exclusion, reports and records, examinations, safety, student finance, studying and training, applying for work and finding a job, work and training contracts, rights at work, losing your job, banking, income tax, spending, insurance, names, citizenship, parents, adoption, living together, marriage, divorce, a place of your own, rental and rental agreements, going out, home entertainment, getting around, sex and the law, cars and motorbikes, safety and driving offences, what to do in an accident, going on holiday, powers and duties of the police and courts, stop and search, arrest, courts, government and human rights in South Africa — plus full details of useful organisations and other places to get further assistance, The Youth Survival Guide is a must-have reference for matriculants and young adults.



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When death stalks our land AGAIN

Kirigo wa Wanyugi

2009-03-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/54686

Walumbe's* hand stalks our land AGAIN
Oh, each generation has to lose brilliant lives
So the rich can gorge themselves to death
while we die of hunger

Oh Walumbe's hand stalks this land AGAIN
Oi, oi, the young fall to death!
And you, fat bellied sit telling me of middle class woes
As if I care!

This time we will not sit idle
Stand by and watch the young die
To protect our gated world
our cushioned life
For none of us is safe no more no more

For each pretence and prayer we make
While all the while we know that it is we that feed
the greed and need
of those who steal from the mouths of babes
By tightening our eyelids in pretended prayer
And hope that God alone and only he can clean this stain
When you know well that in your hand
you hold this power he gave
And the least you can do is feign ignorance AGAIN
That those children are dying because you prefer
to pretend that God will come tomorrow and sort it out

Your ticket is straight to hell because you know quite well
That he gave the garden of Eden for you to tend
And every bending weed is yours to clear
And every apple tree that Adam pretends that Eve gave
Compounds the guilt of women and men who fail
When their land is on the verge of fire AGAIN
and the children, again, have to fall

At the gate, everyone will account for what they did,
when they knew, what they saw and what they heard
They will have to tell what they did
Who it was that was guzzling
And who was muzzling
While others lay dying, not even knowing
The splendours that the country could yield
The feasts galore
And the stashes of loot high piled
And the shiny shoes unearned
And the bloated belly
for different reasons
like different seasons
in one
And the burps
And the farts
And the laughter
As we swigged imported liqueur
And fed millions Unga
At troughs, unfit for animal feed

Soon the day of reckoning will come for all,
And you will have to account for your part in the masquerade

And yet you knew that all you had to do
Was stop the fires before they burnt
It was is your hand, as much as it was in mine
When our land came to an end
And the light burned out

* In Uganda Walumbe was the god of death, the brother-in-law of Kintu.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Writers and progress in east Africa

Ronald Elly Wanda

2009-03-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/54716

The history of contemporary political ideas around Africa is a neglected field in the continent and even more so outside of it. As we progress through 2009, nearing the end of the first decade of what the UN has ambitiously termed ‘Africa’s century’, it is important as Africans to re-examine and discuss our plight in relation to our development. My focus as a concerned reader and writer places emphasis on none other than the young African writer, for it is he or she that is likely to stimulate and catalogue development and historical discourses. This is because, when it comes to Africa, where African thought has been studied, expositions of metaphysical systems or discussions of critical or theoretical thoughts belonging to individual Africans are quite rare.

As a political writer, there are many moments that I can recall where I have encountered red-tape under the auspices of ‘editorial policy’ sanctioning me from expressing a certain truth, as certain publishers have feared exposing well-known dictators and other high-profile societal wrong-doers in eastern Africa, often citing their own safety concerns. Concerns which are well-founded.

In east African society today, it is still commonplace for independent journalists and writers to receive death threats, face intimidation and harassment, face arbitrary arrest and detention or be severely beaten up and tortured, while media houses risk being raided by state security agents and their publications and media equipments seized and destroyed. More recently, the Monitor and East African Standard of Kampala and Nairobi respectively have suffered this fate. On the other hand, public media on the continent still remains a monopolised government propaganda machinery; New Vision of Uganda, Kenya Times of Kenya and The New Times of Rwanda are such examples of tawdry propaganda sheets.

For decades the need for analysts to look elsewhere for ‘unofficial thinking’ has proved the motivation of newspapers and magazines such as the Eastern African Magazine, or indeed for that matter West Africa, published by Africans for Africans here in the diaspora as well as those back home in Africa.

While I remain acutely aware of my status as a pan-Africanist in the diaspora, my role and that of fellow African writers in foreign shores, so to speak, is to normalise the spirit of promoting positive African intellectualism, in spite of obvious obstacles at hand. For a start, we must pester the corrosive ‘big brother’ culture of gagging African intellectualism, for not only does it suppress the truth but it also disbands the very apex of political journalism, that of seeking thy truth and reporting it objectively without fear or intimidation.

In my view, one aspect that has continued playing a strong part against our development has been our history. Although not motivated by professional commitment to historical inquiry, nevertheless, I feel impelled to suggest that the recent past has everything to do with phenomena that are apparent in east African society today. As young African writers, we therefore need to engage with the history of contemporary Africa, both as a way of throwing new light on our remote past and as away of understanding the present. For instance, we played no part at all in the formation of the so-called ‘nation-state’. Our boundaries were drawn up by Europeans who had never even been to Africa, who disregarded existing political systems and boundaries. Fifty years later, we were given flags and national anthems, airlines and armies and told we were now ‘independent’. Five decades afterwards, that independence is now ‘dependence’.

Ever since the British government (the chief predator in east Africa) bought into the aid-agency view of Africa – ‘all Africa needs is aid’ – it has reduced its capacity to further understand the region. Aid with attached conditions is pointless for Africa. According to a recent study by the University of Massachusetts, there is more money leaving Africa than going to the continent as aid. It is estimated that the capital flight from 40 African countries from 1974 to 2004 stood at US$607 billion in 2004 compared to a total US$227 billion external debt owed by those countries. ‘While the assets are in private hands, the liabilities are the public debts of African governments’, said the report, also pointing a finger at the UK and Switzerland as jurisdictions likely to enjoy embezzled funds from Africa.

While the EU has only 23 languages in use, Africa has at least 2,000, and in east Africa alone we have well over 150. So while tribalism is an issue in our society, it is not some weird atavistic African sentiment but a logical result of our ‘imposed history’. Most people I’ve met while in east Africa speak at least three languages, intermarriages are a common thing, and in normal times, there is little personal conflict between people of different ethnicities, thanks in part to a resuscitated and enlarged union of east Africa.

In Africa, the concept of the nation-state has failed us, because it has acted as a cumulative mechanism benefiting certain elites and foreign agents to the detriment of wanainchis (Africans). Naturally it is this reason that has led wanainchis, especially those in rural areas with little education, to identify more with their own people, language, culture and society than they do with the nation-state. Therefore, for me, at the risk of simplification, the answer lies in regionalisation. Thankfully, the East African Community is one such work in progress. We ought to laud this initiative as the first stage of setting ourselves ‘free’.

The notion that Africa is post-colonial is hardly satisfactory, not least because of the continuing reference to the colonial past in this epithet. Also unsatisfactory is the suggestion from the former South African President Thabo Mbeki that Africa is now in an age of renaissance of some sort.

As young African writers of newspapers, magazines, blogs and books, it is our task to construct a history that we can claim is ours, one that positively identifies the character of Africa in its present age. After all, history can only make its weight felt on living generations through mechanisms or expositions of information that can become operational. The main task at hand is to inquire into the nature of recent times diligently and, above all, without the burden of past expectations. It may then turn out that, for all the terrible events and formidable problems of recent years (redundant discourses aside), we seen an age in which the young African writer can truly make an impact.

* Ronald Elly Wanda is a political scientist based in London.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Tears of a non-resident father: A conversation with emotions

Bhekinkosi Moyo

2009-03-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/54715

The agony of a non-resident father is one that may not be easily tolerated, yet a number of men are locked up in this phenomenon. The same is true of the few women who are also absent mothers. This piece, though, is about an absent father and how his sick son compels him to take a journey to converse with his emotional side.

A few years back I got acquainted with the expressions ‘visiting fathers’, ‘non-resident fathers’ and ‘absent fathers’ in one of my readings on feminist and gender studies. This was something with which I was familiar from my own environment and that of my friends; our fathers either worked away from home or were in polygamous relationships. We grew up in these environments and, for us, this was not just theory, it was real.

However, I knew the meaning of these concepts; I failed to comprehend the emotional dimension of being an absent parent, in particular the agony that absent fathers suffer. In retrospect, I think these concepts and the arguments associated with them appealed very much to the intellectual and not to the emotional me. I think I know today that ideas fascinate me, but emotions move me to connect with my self.

This week I intended writing about the Islamic conference of heads of state taking place in Dakar. I was also going to introduce briefly some aspects of my analysis on elections in Africa, drawing particularly from the recent case of Kenya. I was going to look at the implications of the brokered deal between Kibaki and Odinga on democracy and what it means for both the opposition and the ruling party to be in government in terms of the implementation of the agreement. What is the price on democracy and on the principles of accountability? Could it be that Kofi Annan has created a monster that is going to haunt governance in Africa?

However, I cannot write about this.

Wednesday 5 March 2008: It’s in the middle of the week and, as always, it is very hot in Dakar. There is a lot of movement in and around town. People are rushing to fill up their petrol tanks and others are stocking gas for their cookers. Apparently word on the vine is that most petrol stations will be closed and gas will not be sold during the week of the Islamic conference. All this for security reasons, just in case some lunatic decides to blow up Dakar. A number of main roads have been closed. I have also been reliably advised that ordinary people should keep away from the streets after 10pm.

I am caught up in these thoughts, particularly on how easy it is to trample on citizens’ rights for political expediency, when my phone suddenly flashes and I am interrupted by a loud SMS ringtone. ‘They are admitting Bobo’, reads the SMS.

I knew my son had been coughing and had been taken to the doctor. I never imagined he would be hospitalised.

I have always dreaded getting news of this nature while I am away. I read the SMS several times as if I do not understand its contents.

By now I am sweating and I call frantically to establish the seriousness of my small boy’s condition. The doctor says: ‘It is not something major … we will monitor him for about three to five days; you don’t have to come all the way.’ I want to get on the next available flight.

The thought of being away from my sick son kills me. I imagine all sorts of things. I can hear him in the background crying while the nurses attend to him. He cannot speak to me however (or should I say he does not want to speak to me?). I interpret this to mean many things, some of which have kept me awake for the past days. I am helpless and scared, but above all, I am angry with myself for the fact that I cannot do anything for him at the moment when he probably needs me most. I also worry about how my family, in its totality, is affected.

It goes without saying that I have not been productive in these past days.

Days go by and he is still in hospital, but he is ‘much better’, they keep telling me. I also begin to calm down, but this whole episode has left scars in my heart.

In case you are wondering what this is about, I am like my father, now a non-resident parent. I experience daily what it means to be an absent parent. As an absent father, one always dreads to answer a phone call from home. And when one eventually answers it, one is immediately rendered helpless if it demands physical presence. No matter how connected one is emotionally or spiritually with one’s family, nothing substitutes for physicality. One is always in perpetual anxiety.

The paradox is that an absent parent always wants to be in frequent touch with what is happening with the family and yet, when calls come in, such a parent is gripped by fear of the unknown.

As I write this, I am certain to be out of touch with my family for a couple of hours. I am en route to Kenya from Dakar via Bamako. I will spend a few days in Kenya and Tanzania, before proceeding to Zimbabwe for elections. I will be tormented by not knowing what is happening back home, but at the same time I am temporarily saved by non-connectivity.

In this flight, I see many men, on business trips I suppose. Very few are with their wives and children. I also see very few women on their own. However, there is a big group of women with children. It is at this moment that I see the sadness hidden behind these well-achieving men. It is the sadness of leaving their families behind.

Some years back I edited a book on child maintenance. One of the main areas that we dealt with was the issue of men who refused to support their children. I was always surprised at the callousness of such behaviour. Today, I think, though, that these men are prisoners to emotions.

I realise that what I have written about is not so much about my son and myself as it is about many men and women in the prime of their careers. They spend very little time at home. In fact, there are men I know who sleep at home but live in the office. How different are these guys from absent fathers? The professionalisation of the family has come at a heavy price. We see very little of our families and still claim that we are good parents. I realise that most men’s hearts bleed when they are away from home.

Although no survey has been conducted on the number of non-resident fathers, I am convinced that there are many out there, and a sizable portion of them are good fathers. Although their name has been tainted over the years by the bad ones, the need to transform the negativity associated with non-residency is perhaps provided by the increasing phenomenon of absent parents. There is an increasing number of women who are absent mothers as well.

A contribution from a non-resident mother would be helpful.

* Bhekinkosi Moyo is an analyst trained in political science and currently based in West Africa. He is currently with a pan-African foundation, TrustAfrica, whose interests are peace and security, regional integration, and citizenship and identity. His latest book is Africa in Global Power Play (2007).
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

China keeps it going

Stephen Marks and Sanusha Naidu

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/54830

Jeffrey Sachs, economic adviser to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, expressed the hope that ‘China can lead the world out of this crisis first’.

‘"They did not have as big a bubble as in the United States or Europe. China has got lots of foreign exchange reserves, it's got a trade surplus, it's got lots of investment. China has the wherewithal to start the recovery first. If that succeeds in this year, then that would spread to other economies", said Sachs, in Dar es Salaam for an IMF meeting.

But he did feel that the crisis could delay or dash chances of meeting UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015, especially if richer nations reacted to the crisis by slashing overseas aid or investment.

However there was little evidence of China’s economic interest in Africa slowing down as a result of the global crisis. Despite IMF criticism of the terms, China has confirmed that it will proceed with its plan to spend $9 billion on mining and infrastructure in the DRC. China’s biggest single investment in Africa will give Congo roads, railways, hospitals and schools in return for long-term supply of metals worth $50 billion at current prices.

In Algeria, China’s private telecoms company, Huawei Technologies ‘are developing two mobile phone networks for the former state monopoly, Algerie Telecom, and its private-sector rival, Djezzy, owned by Egypt’s Orascom’.

Zambia’s President Banda launched the $400 million Kariba North Bank generating project funded 85% by China’s Eximbank and built by Sino Hydro, China’s biggest power company.

In Mozambique China pledged an additional $2.5 million beyond what was originally budgeted to ensure that the new National Stadium being built by China would be ready in time for the 2010 football World Cup - bringing the overall cost to a new total of $60 million. While one of China’s oil majors, CNOOC, announced that implementation of the OML 130 project in Nigeria’s Akpo area has started ahead of its planned schedule. With CNOOC holding 45% interest in the project, it represents one of the ‘largest deep water projects to be undertaken’.


But there was also no sign that concern and debate over the downsides of China’s involvement were abating either. As Liberia prepared to sign a 25-year $2.6 billion mineral development agreement with the China-Union Company, there were fears from campaigning NGOs about provisions for resettling communities and the fiscal clauses, as well as over the capacity of both state organs and civil society to ensure effective oversight of the terms of the deal, which is reported to be due to create 3,000 jobs.

And a leading primatologist told a US Congressional briefing of her fears that China’s appetite for raw materials in the Congo basin was leading to deforestation and the destruction of crucial wildlife habitat.

In Namibia economist Julius Likela rehearsed familiar issues from discussions elsewhere in Africa in his paper ‘Whither Chinese-owned businesses’. He concludes that ‘It is important for local businesses to find out why and how the Chinese managed to penetrate the domestic market and adjust their trading methods, products and services accordingly. With or without government protection, indigenous entrepreneurs should learn to live with evolving competition’

At the same time, in a sign that major Chinese firms are seeing the need to be perceived as socially responsible, a leading Chinese telecoms equipment firm announced that it was joining the UN-sponsored Global Compact, a 7,000-member global corporate citizenship initiative based on ten principles which participating businesses are pledged to uphold in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption

But how does China see its economic role in relation to the world economy, and especially Africa? Some light has been thrown on this from the nine-day annual meeting of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress. As Western press coverage pointed out, this body bears little resemblance to the parliamentary assemblies of multi-party democracies. And this is unlikely to change, judging from the speech of its chairman Wu Bangguo, who went out of his way to stress at the body’s opening session that “we will never simply copy the system of Western countries or introduce a system of multiple parties holding office in rotation", and called for the leadership of the Communist Party to be strengthened.

However the annual meeting does provide a platform for senior government figures to present their platform and perspectives in keynote speeches, much as directors of a company present their reports to the annual shareholders meeting. It can also provide a focus for various organisations to make representations to the authorities, as when the environmental group Friends of Nature sent a letter to delegates to this year’s meeting asking them to ensure that the government’s economic stimulus package was used to pioneer a green low-carbon economy and not on polluting technologies which would undermine the government’s declared objectives on combating pollution and saving energy.

Fringe speeches and press conferences by government figures add to the significance of the event as an insight into policy trends, especially for those prepared to read significance into he nuances of official language.

Thus when Premier Wen Jiabao’s two-hour speech on the economy repeated his commitment to his $585 billion economic stimulus package the Financial Times reported that markets were disappointed that there were no new details in the speech. Markets had earlier risen on reports that the speech might contain a new stimulus plan.

However a report in the independent economic journal Caijing gave details of a revamped version of the stimulus package unveiled at a fringe meeting of the NPC by the Director of the National Development and Reform Commission which included a cut in funding for infrastructure investment and a big increase for rural public works and social programmes.

Reuters however saw the same report as indicating an increased policy emphasis on energy saving and green technology despite the budget reallocation, with tighter climate change targets for each province.

China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also held a press conference on the sidelines of the legislature meeting. For those prepared to look behind the deferential questions and standard replies, there were some interesting pointers. A central thread was the key role of continuing economic development in China’s foreign policy. As Minister Yang put it, ‘First, we should stay focused on one overarching objective, that is to make every effort to serve the goal of ensuring steady and rapid economic development in China’.

In this context he also stressed the central role China gives to the upcoming round of multilateral meetings and the need for concerted economic action - welcome news for President Obama, with whom he noted that relations have ‘got off to a good start’

There was also an interesting stress on the need to ‘strengthen consular protection to safeguard the lawful rights and interests of Chinese nationals and companies overseas. As more and more Chinese are travelling abroad and more and more Chinese companies are doing business overseas, we must do an even better job in consular protection’. Also ‘we will provide services and guidance to Chinese companies as they go global...we will continue to protect the lawful rights and interests of Chinese nationals and companies abroad’.

It may also be significant that in response to a question from a Russian agency about Sino-Russian relations he appeared to go out of his way to comment that ‘China, Russia, Brazil and India are countries with important influence in today's world. They are called the "big emerging countries". We face a lot of common challenges in many areas and also share many development opportunities. Leaders and foreign ministers of those four countries have met to exchange views. I think it will be useful to continue such practice’.

He also made specific and warm reference to the importance of Africa - and of African political support for China internationally. ‘We highly appreciate the tremendous support from our African friends and brothers on Taiwan, on Tibet-related issues, in hosting the Beijing Olympic Games and in our fight against natural disasters. Leaders from some African countries told the Chinese leaders that our countries are so poor that we have nothing to give you and all we can give you is a sincere heart. We are deeply touched by these words. We are very close brothers and friends. Not long ago, President Hu Jintao visited some African countries. During the trip, he made it clear that China will continue to support African development and support greater say and representation of African countries and the African continent as a whole in international and regional affairs’

He also took a swipe at claims that China’s interest in Africa is motivated only by an affection for her raw materials. ‘I would like to say that in developing foreign relations, China is not a country that sets its eyes only on the wealthy and oil-rich countries while looking down on those countries that are poor or without oil. You may ask African countries without rich oil and gas reserves whether they have a better impression of China or other countries. Our energy and resource co-operation with African countries is based on mutual benefit’.

And he expressly linked the two themes of international economic co-operation and aid to developing countries; ‘To maintain steady and fast economic development in China is in itself the biggest contribution China makes to the international co-operation in meeting the financial crisis. Another important contribution we have made is that we have increased assistance to other developing countries, particularly African countries. And we have called upon other countries to honour their commitments to assistance’.

All of which sounds like good news for Africa. But complacency would be misplaced. The more China’s continuing role contrasts with other actors pulling in their horns, the greater the need to ensure that African governments and civil society are in a position to make the relationship work for Africa. Perhaps the upcoming G20 Meeting in April would determine how ‘close brothers and friends’ China and Africa really are.

*Stephen Marks is Research Associate and Project Co-ordinator with Fahamu’s China in Africa Project and Sanusha Naidu is Research Director with Fahamu’s China in Africa Project

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

Sino-DRC contracts to thwart the return of Western patronage

Antoine Roger Lokongo

2009-03-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/54717

Is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on the verge of bankruptcy? Reuters reports that the DRC’s foreign reserves, which stood at over US$225 million last April 2008, fell to just US$36 million in early February 2009. The World Bank reacted quickly and Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly, the DRC’s World Bank country director, announced that the bank has proposed lending the country US$100 million in emergency funds from early March to help offset the effects of dwindling mineral export revenues.

The World Bank proposal comes as the DRC’s government accelerates efforts to secure another US$200 million from the IMF’s ‘exogenous shocks facility’ as the country awaits a rebound in demand for its mineral exports.

How viable are these amounts compared with the US$20 billion that China is proposing to the DRC, a post-conflict country? Who can explain to us how the World Bank’s US$100 million loan and the IMF’s US$200 million loan to the DRC is not going to increase its debt burden? Why should we be worried about Chinese loans and not Western ones?

In September 2007 the DRC signed a historic mining agreement with China. The agreement was conducted between La Générale des Carrières des Mines (Gécamines), the DRC’s state-owned mining company, and a group of Chinese state-owned enterprises (a kind of public–private agreement). These include China’s Eximbank, the China Railway Engineering Company (CREC) and Sinohydro.

The agreement creates a mining joint-venture between Gécamines, CREC and Sinohydro in the form of a Beijing-based company called Socomin (a joint-venture), in which the Chinese hold 68 per cent of the shares and Gécamines 32 per cent. Eximbank entered with an investment of US$9 billion in Socomin, of which US$3.25 billion will be mining investment and the remaining US$6 billion earmarked for infrastructural development.

The loan is only the first instalment of a US$20 billion package of loans to be made available over the next three years. Of the US$9 billion, a third will be pumped into the DRC’s war-ravaged mines. The other US$6 billion will take the form of a soft loan (backed by some of the country’s best mineral deposits) to finance new infrastructure (roads, railways, hospitals, hydro-electric dams, airports and vocational training centres) to be built by Chinese construction companies. Changes to infrastructure will be made primarily with Chinese labour, though Congolese local companies will be sub-contracted.[1]

The Financial Times reported on 9 February 2009 that China’s biggest investment deal in Africa is faltering as Western donors create pressure to renegotiate a minerals-for-infrastructure contract in the DRC.[2] In public statements the IMF has ‘urged the [Congolese] authorities to take all actions to ensure that the final agreement [with China] is consistent with debt sustainability’, according to the report. In Kinshasa, the report said, the government is keen to listen to the concerns of Western donors but is, at the same time, eager to pursue the deal with the Chinese.

‘Changes will come’, Victor Kasongo, the DRC’s deputy minister of mines told the Financial Times, adding that the government was awaiting the results of a feasibility study, due by June, on the ‘robustness’ of the project. ‘Congo has chosen to carry on with the IMF and World Bank economic route and at the same time to pursue development with Chinese money’, he said.

Most Western donors have said they support the deal ‘in principle’ because it gives the DRC access to capital on a scale it could not receive from anywhere else. But, led by the Paris Club of creditors and the IMF, they have raised objections to specific provisions.

The focus of concern, according to Western diplomats in Kinshasa, is that the deal would give the Chinese consortium unprecedented state financial guarantees, including some that earmark government revenues and make China a privileged creditor.

But Wu Zexian, China’s ambassador to the DRC, indicated that it would not be so easy. ‘They [Western institutions] are wrong to ask Congo to remove the state guarantee. That is blackmail’, he said. ‘This is a poor country that needs to develop. Why force the country to modify the clause? We cannot accept that. It’s discriminatory.’

On this occasion I think the Chinese ambassador has a point. The DRC was not frogmarched into a deal with China. It signed the deal in complete independence as a sovereign country. If there are clauses that need to be revised, they must be done so in that same spirit. The Western world, the IMF and the World Bank bankrolled Mobutu’s kleptocratic regime for 32 years. They lent him a lot of money which he put in Swiss banks.

The DRC has inherited US$14 billion worth of debt incurred by the Mobutu regime and various transitional governments after President Laurent Kabila was gunned down. During his short 44 month-long tenure of office, Kabila left the country with no debt, not even a penny!

One of the reasons Kabila was killed is because he refused to reimburse all the debts that Mobutu had incurred, arguing that he did not see any works that that money had done in his country. ‘If you lend money to a thief, expect not to be repaid one day’, Kabila told the IMF and the World Bank.

Now the same IMF and World Bank are putting pressure on the DRC government to ditch the deal with China as a condition to get its debt forgiven. That is clearly blackmail. The US$100 million the World Bank has proposed is just a drop in the ocean given the huge challenges the DRC faces. Any suggestion that such a drop in the ocean is actually a foretaste of a US$1 billion loan, provided the DRC ditches the deal with China, is unacceptable.

At this age of globalisation, if the DRC has no freedom to diversify its trading partners, it is still a Belgian colony, a ‘free trade zone’ as it was defined at the Berlin Conference under the trusteeship of King Leopold II.

If the DRC government tries to flex its muscles, it invites trouble. After asking, in vain, the IMF and the World Bank to forgive Congo’s US$14 billion debt inherited from Mobutu and various transitional governments, the DRC turned to China because Kinshasa was told it must abide by ‘the principle of the continuity of the state’ and pay its due. As a consequence, the government of Joseph Kabila is paying US$800 million a year just to service the debt. At the same time, the interim American government set up in Baghdad trampled the same principle and refused to respect the oil contracts Saddam Hussein had signed with France, China and Russia, let alone recognise the debts of the former Iraqi dictator!

The DRC’s deal with China must go ahead. The DRC should be allowed to exercise freedom of choice in the globalised market economy. China will help the DRC break free from the stranglehold of neocolonialism.

How does one explain Rwanda’s cyclic wars in the eastern DRC? Simple. The Tutsi insurgents are encouraged by the ‘return of the white patronage’ over the mineral-rich central African country. We have Albrecht Conze, the former political chief of MONUC (Mission des Nations Unies en République Démocratique du Congo – the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC), and now the German ambassador to Zimbabwe’s words for it. In an interview given to the Spiegel Online on 17 August 2006, Conze predicted the return of the white patronage in a country that was a Belgian colony until 1960 in the following terms: ‘It is like the West being Congo’s foster parents’ he said, ‘but it won’t be easy.’ According to Conze’s theory, support will come from a black ‘council of advisors’, another idea hatched by Western governments. ‘The plan is for well-known African politicians such as Joaquim Chissano, Mozambique’s former president, [and] Nicephore Soglo, his colleague from Benin, to make policies crafted overseas more palatable to Congo’s citizens’, he said.[3]

The project’s success ultimately depends on ‘Western states and institutions acting in a unified way’. But that is a somewhat shaky foundation. The US government’s interest in rebuilding the DRC is limited, for example. After all, the deeply Catholic country ‘contains neither oil nor terrorists’, Conze pointed out.

Conze concluded by saying, ‘By contrast, Congo’s former colonial ruler Belgium fears losing lucrative business opportunities to European competitors the moment the situation in the country becomes more transparent. The rising world power China could cause trouble too – by providing billions of dollars in loans without imposing conditions or controls in return for access to the country’s valuable natural resources. Beijing has already used this method in neighbouring Angola, where it now controls much of the oil production.’

Good heralding Mr Conze! This is one the reasons why, all of a sudden, we have another cycle of war in eastern Congo. In fact, the Financial Times reported on 31 October 2008 that the evangelical Christian Tutsi warlord Laurent Nkunda, alias Nkundabatware, who has grabbed all the headlines in credit-crunch hit Western countries, is very much against the agreement the DRC signed with China to provide US$9 billion worth of investment in rebuilding infrastructure in exchange for the country’s natural resources. This is a clear sign that Nkundabatware is being used. But who gives him the mandate to veto an agreement signed by a sovereign, legitimate and democratically-elected government with a partner of its free choice?

Nkundabatware is a proxy for Rwandan interests in the DRC, and the West is using the presidency of Paul Kagame of Rwanda to weaken the DRC completely.

At a recent meeting convened by the Royal Commonwealth Society to discuss whether Rwanda should be admitted or not as a member of the Commonwealth, one of the speakers, Andrew Mitchell, a Conservative MP and former shadow minister for international development, said that ‘he likes Kagame because he is a man of actions who has shown exceptional leadership and who is working with India to thwart China’s breakthrough in Africa.’ He meant to say the DRC, because Kagame has so far only invaded the DRC, which has signed the biggest minerals-for-infrastructure contract with China valued at US$9 billion (€6.9 billion, UK£6 billion).

The Chinese deal is an ‘infrastructure development resources-backed finance (IDRF)’ deal, a kind of barter trade which will not leave the DRC saddled with debts. It will have an impact on the infrastructure sector as well as on the agriculture sector. It will benefit Western investors, especially in the mining sector. How can you kick-start the development of the DRC after 15 years of a war of aggression without basic infrastructures? Clearly, this is where you start. China is ready to put a larger amount of money into the DRC than any other.

The mining contracts the DRC signed with Western partners were founded on the West keeping 75 per cent of the stakes. There is no single contract where the DRC gets more than 25 per cent. Is that acceptable? Take Freeport MacMoran, which wants to exploit the biggest reserve of copper and cobalt in the world situated in Tenke Fungurume, Katanga. It insists that the Congolese state should be content with a 5 per cent stake, as originally agreed, and should not revise it. Companies such as Banro hold private gold concessions – wholly owned – in South Kivu and Maniema,[4] and First Quantum wholly owns copper concessions in Lonshi and Frontier Project, formerly known as Lufua, Katanga.[5] ‘Où est le sérieux?’ as the French say.

The DRC has, more or less, adopted the liberal market economy, the fundamental principle of which is ‘you go where you get a better deal’. If it gets a better deal from China, why not put China first? Similarly, if it gets a better deal from America, Belgium, France or Britain, why not privilege such partnerships first?

* Antoine Roger Lokongo is a London-based Congolese journalist.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

[1] ‘DRC Unveils Its $9 billion minerals-for-infrastructures with China, Government Press Release, Ministry of Public Works, 9 May 2008.
[2] ‘Donors Press Congo Over $9 Bln China Minerals Deal’, Financial Times, London, 9 February 2009.
[3] See, Keith Harmon Snow, ‘Over Five Million Dead in Congo? Fifteen Hundred People Daily? Behind the Numbers Redux: How Truth is Hidden, Even When it Seems to Be Told’, Global Research, 30 January 2008.
[4] ‘Banro closes US$14 million financing’, PRNewswire-FirstCall, Toronto, 19 February 2009.
[5] First Quantum Minerals Receives Court Approval for Plan of Arrangement With Scandinavian Minerals’, Market Wires, Vancouver, British Colombia, 17 June 2008; See also: ‘First Quantum Minerals Announces Resource At Lufua Project; One Million Tonnes of Contained Copper’, CCNMatthews via COMTEX, Vancouver, British Colombia, 1 June 2004.

MPs clash over British aid to China

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/cwvp77

A cross-party row has broken out over a controversial finding by a committee of MPs that Britain should continue to supply aid to China. Hugh Bayley, a former government minister, has dissented from the main finding of a report by the international development committee that the government should provide up to £10m a year to keep an aid presence in China after aid ceases in 2011.

The toxins trickle downward

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/c4epha

“POOR countries are innocent,” says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Nigerian managing director of the World Bank. They did not contribute one jot to the global credit crunch, and their banks and firms have few links to global capital markets. For a while, it seemed as if the rich world’s mess might even pass them by. The oil-price fall of 2008 benefited oil-importing developing countries to the tune of 2% of their national incomes.

Nigeria: Growth falters on oil side, global crisis

2009-03-13

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123681456780801825.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

In Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and biggest oil producer, low crude prices are dragging down growth expectations, foreshadowing a dramatic slowdown in an economy that was teetering even in the good years. Nigeria has long struggled with a fractious federal system, endemic corruption and ramshackle infrastructure -- all factors that kept the commodities boom from lifting living standards significantly for most of the co

Africa, Business Destination

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/atepoc

Togo is like much of West Africa — small, poor and an occasional producer of sensational soccer players—but for the bank. Lomé, Togo's capital, is home to Ecobank, a 21-year-old pan-African retail and corporate bank that, according to CEO Arnold Ekpe, employs 11,000 people in 620 branches in 26 countries, with a balance sheet of $8 billion.

Italy to help Africa amid global crisis

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/asjuwr

Italy will help Africa through the global economic downturn and aid its recovery when the worst is over, an Italian government official said here on Wednesday. At a briefing after a two-day meeting concerning the impact of the global economic crisis on funding for African infrastructure, Foreign Undersecretary Vincenzo Scotti said Italy will propose "financial mechanisms that mitigate risk and foster greater funding from private groups" at this year's G8 summit on the island of La Maddalena off Sardinia.

Sudan seeks India’s help against ICC ‘targeting’ its president

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/c7upkk

Attacking the US for its alleged double standards, Sudan Friday sought India’s diplomatic support against International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s decision to indict President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide in Darfur. “Sudan strongly rejects the decision of the ICC. The targeting of Sudan’s president is political, not judicial,” Omer Elamin Abdalla, charge d’affaires at the Sudanese embassy, told reporters here.

SA's Standard takes third of Russian bank

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/ctn9ho

South Africa's Standard Bank is to take a 33 percent stake in Russian investment bank Troika Dialog, forging a major partnership deal despite the mounting economic crisis in Russia, the companies said Friday. Standard Bank will acquire the stake for 200 million dollars (158 million euros) through a convertible loan while also handing over its Russia operations and all its Russian business to Troika Dialog, the Russian bank said in a statement.

China ready to invest in Africa again

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/d79hx4

China is regaining its appetite for acquisitions in Africa as asset prices on the continent tumble, according to Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender that is partially owned by China’s biggest bank. Jacko Maree, Standard’s chief executive, said in an interview with the Financial Times that Chinese companies were readying to “turn on the taps” once more after 2007’s surge of investment into Africa fell away dramatically due to the global financial crisis.

Minmetals Seeks Metal Assets in South America, Southern Africa

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/bkkjft

China Minmetals Corp., buying OZ Minerals Ltd. for A$2.6 billion ($1.7 billion), is seeking metal assets in South America and southern Africa, taking advantage of seven-year low commodity prices to secure supplies. China’s largest metals trader may also “do some domestic acquisitions” this year, President Zhou Zhongshu said today in Beijing. It is still waiting for approval from the Chinese government for its planned takeover of Australia’s OZ Minerals, he also said.

Unwanted Indian peacekeepers

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/bvxjvm

There are many apologists for the Indian armed forces serving the ideal of world peace under the UN flag. They believe that serving in the conflict-torn areas of Africa builds India’s image worldwide, earns it long-lasting friends and secures India’s strategic and commercial interests. This news report about the Indian peacekeepers being unwelcome in Congo should come as a timely wakeup call to these misguides advocators.

Stanbic boosts China-Uganda trade

2009-03-13

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/220/673928

Stanbic Bank has partnered with the Chinese businessperson in Uganda to boost trade between Uganda and China. The partnership resulted into the formation of the China Enterprises Chamber of Commerce in Uganda (CECCU), aimed at promoting trade and economic ties between the two countries. CECCU, which was launched last week, brings together over 30 Chinese firms operating in Uganda.

China to renew Somalia anti-piracy mission

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/ca7ko9

China's navy will renew an anti-piracy mission to the Gulf of Aden when the current commitment expires in the coming months, a naval top officer was quoted as saying by state media on Monday. China's three-ship anti-piracy flotilla took up its duties off the Somali coast in January on a four-month mission and new ships will be sent to take over in late April or in early May, the China Daily newspaper quoted the navy deputy chief of staff, Rear Adm. Zhang Deshun, as saying.

The Bank Behind China's Overseas Growth

2009-03-13

http://english.caijing.com.cn/2009-03-09/110115551.html

After four months of tough negotiations, Chinese and Russian officials February 17 signed a package of energy cooperation agreements, finalizing a credit-for-oil deal worth US$ 25 billion. The package includes a plan for a pipeline connecting Russian energy fields to Chinese consumers, long-term crude oil trading deals, and a loan from Chinese banks to Russian oil firms.

Nigeria, Others Face $700bn Funding Gap

2009-03-13

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=137646

Nigeria and other developing countries face a financing shortfall of $270-700 billion to pay for their imports and service their debts this year, as the global economy falters and foreign investors withdraw, the World Bank has said. In a report published yesterday ahead of a March 14 meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers, the World Bank also said only one quarter of the most vulnerable countries have the resources to prevent a rise in poverty.

Auctioning mineral assets is way to go, says adviser to Liberia

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/atrml5

Former Mintek CEO and one-time Department of Trade and Industry DDG, Dr Paul Jourdan, played a role in making the South African government the custodian of mineral rights in South Africa. Until the new regime was enforced, mineral rights were the preserve of the private sector in South Africa, which was out of kilter with what pertained elsewhere in the Western world.

Obama seeks strengthened ties with EAC

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/afbeez

United States President Barack Obama is eager to promote good relations between his country and the East African Community (EAC), according to a letter he has written to EAC Secretary General Amb. Juma Mwapachu. In his letter, Obama expresses confidence of working together with the EAC in a spirit of peace and friendship in order to build a more secure world.

Iran signs deal to supply Kenya with crude oil

2009-03-13

http://www.eastandard.net/news/InsidePage.php?id=1144008040&cid=4&

Iran will supply four million metric tonnes of crude annually, as part of a range of deals signed last week, officials said on Tuesday. The agreed supply from Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter, is roughly equivalent to 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) by Reuters calculations. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited East Africa’s biggest economy last week, where he and his Kenyan counterpart, Mwai Kibaki, also signed a grant and loan agreement totalling 800 million shillings ($10 million), among others.

Angola wins new billion-dollar loan from China

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/cqkq4q

Angola has secured another billion-dollar (783 million euros) loan from China, state media said Thursday, to be spent on developing its agricultural sector. The southern African country has already received at least five billion dollars in credit from China to pay for its post-war reconstruction, but the World Bank believes up to eight billion dollars more has not been publicised.

Australia lifts aid ban

2009-03-13

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=5391

Australia ended a long-standing ban on non-humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe Wednesday, saying it wanted to help Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai relieve the suffering of his nation's people. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia would provide 10 million dollars (6.5 million US) for the Zimbabwe government to restore basic water, sanitation and health services.

Bennett released

2009-03-13

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=5395

Roy Bennett, the top MDC official facing terrorism charges, was finally released from remand prison today and immediately vowed to work towards the rebuilding of Zimbabwe. His release follows a Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday. He was immediately whisked away by MDC officials led by the city’s mayor, Brian James to MDC offices where he addressed journalists.

Obama extends Zimbabwe sanctions for 1 year

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/54726

President Barack Obama has extended for another year U.S. sanctions that target Zimbabwe's president and others linked to him, saying some people are continuing to undermine the country's democratic processes. The White House issued the notice on Wednesday, the same day that Zimbabwe's former opposition leader called for an end to political oppression and police violence in his first parliamentary address as prime minister.
Obama extends Zimbabwe sanctions for 1 year

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has extended for another year U.S. sanctions that target Zimbabwe's president and others linked to him, saying some people are continuing to undermine the country's democratic processes.
The White House issued the notice on Wednesday, the same day that Zimbabwe's former opposition leader called for an end to political oppression and police violence in his first parliamentary address as prime minister.

Former President George W. Bush first imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in 2003, then expanded them in 2005 and 2008. The sanctions target scores of people and companies linked to President Robert Mugabe with travel bans and asset freezes.
Obama extended the ban because "the actions and policies of these persons continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States," according to a White House statement.

Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since its 1980 independence from Britain, blames Western sanctions for Zimbabwe's economic collapse. But the longtime opposition party blames mismanagement and corruption by Mugabe's party.

Zimbabwe's inflation is the world's highest and has left most of its people dependent on foreign handouts, and a cholera outbreak has killed more than 3,800 people since August.

Mugabe and longtime opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai formed a unity government earlier this year after months of negotiations. It leaves Mugabe as president, but it remains unclear how much authority Tsvangirai will wield as prime minister.

The U.S. has said it could not support a power-sharing deal that left Mugabe as president.

Pay up or Zimbabwe deal fails, warns Biti

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/bqw742

Zimbabwe's finance minister gave warning on Thursday that the country's power-sharing government will fail, with potentially disastrous consequences, unless international donors urgently inject cash into its treasury. Tendai Biti welcomed Australia's move to boost humanitarian spending by $6,5-million but said donations channelled through international aid agencies would not save the transitional government that was sworn in last month.

Update on trial of Williams and Mahlangu

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/54775

WOZA leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, appeared in Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court again today in a continuation of their trial on charges of disturbing the peace. The matter had been postponed from Thursday last week to give the Magistrate time to rule on a constitutional application on the grounds that the sections under which Williams and Mahlangu are charged violate their constitutional right to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
News update from WOZA
9th March 2009

Update on trial of Williams and Mahlangu

WOZA leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, appeared in Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court again today in a continuation of their trial on charges of disturbing the peace. The matter had been postponed from Thursday last week to give the Magistrate time to rule on a constitutional application on the grounds that the sections under which Williams and Mahlangu are charged violate their constitutional right to freedom of expression, association and assembly.

As expected, Magistrate Msipa ruled that the application was frivolous and vexatious and that the trial should proceed immediately. This is despite the fact that there is still an appeal pending before the High Court on the merit of the charges.

The state did not have their witnesses ready however and the matter was due to be postponed to 2.15pm when defence lawyer, Kossam Ncube indicated that the defence would be placing another constitutional application directly before the Supreme Court in Harare as allowed under Section 24 sub-section (1) of the Constitution. In this section, the litigant is allowed to appeal directly to the Supreme Court if they feel that they are still aggrieved.

The matter has now been postponed to 11.15am on Wednesday 18th March for the defence to submit evidence of the application to the Supreme Court.

AU condemns assassination of president Vieira

AU Monitor Weekly Roundup: Issue 170, 2009

2009-03-12

http://www.aumonitor.org

The chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Jean Ping strongly condemned the assassination of the President of Guinea Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira hours after that of his army chief of staff, General Batista Tagme Na Wai and called on political leaders in the country to rally behind the legitimate authorities. Meanwhile, the Economic Community of West African States announced that it would send a ministerial delegation to Bissau to ‘engage all stakeholders in an effort to restore confidence among the political actors, civil society and security services and return the country to constitutional normalcy’. Elsewhere, the chairperson of the AU Commission, following a deadly suicide bomb attack that killed 11 Burundian soldiers from the African Union Mission in Somalia, reiterated the AU’s determination to support peace and stability in Somalia and promised to speed up the formation of the security sector in the country. Also in peace and security news, a new report launched by the United Nations Environment Programme analysing the links between the environment, conflict and peacebuilding through fourteen case studies argues that intrastate conflicts are likely to drag on and escalate without a greater focus on environment and natural resources in the peacebuilding process. Marking the start of the military exercise of the stand by brigade of the Southern African Development Community, the deputy staff chief of the Angolan Armed Force praised progress made since its creation up to the present in terms of the participation of member states in peace keeping operations in various parts of the world.

The African Monitor, while praising the formation of the unity government in Zimbabwe and the role played by regional leaders and former President Thabo Mbeki in facilitating the process, said that priority has to be given to addressing urgent humanitarian needs in terms of food, medical supplies and other basic necessities to restore the dignity of Zimbabweans. After the 12th ordinary summit of AU heads of State and Government called for an immediate lifting of the sanctions on Zimbabwe to ease the economic and humanitarian situation in the country and the formation of a unity government. According to some analysts, 2009 looks promising for Zimbabweans as a credible and inclusive power sharing could mobilise further international financial help.

In economic news, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, while acknowledging that the current financial crisis could have serious impact on African economies, said that recent decline in fuel and food prices came as a relief for most of the continent and that Africa could seize the moment and press on with reforms aimed at ensuring greater competitiveness. United Nations experts told participants at an ‘Electronic/Mobile Government in Africa’ workshop that African Governments failed to take advantage of technological advances that can improve the delivery of services to their citizens and urged African countries to invest heavily in infrastructure to make the most of emerging technologies.

In other news, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade hailed the transformation of the existing AU Commission into an Authority of the Union saying that it was a landmark decision in achieving the ideals of Pan-Africanism and the African peoples’ desire to achieve continental unity. African economists and top academicians met in Nairobi at a congress to deliberate on the possibilities for the adoption of a single African currency as a process of economic and political integration of the continent. Their recommendations will be presented to the June summit of the heads of state and government. The African Network of Professionals is organising the biggest gathering of professionals to share ideas and accomplishments, deliberate on political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological barriers that hamper the development of effective, efficient and sustainable professionalism on the continent.

In environmental news, African ministers who met in Namibia expressed their support for the work of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa in leading efforts to achieve a sustainable green revolution and noted that it should be complemented by investment in rural areas. Meanwhile, the AU Commission launched a new campaign aimed at reducing the risk of preventable diseases becoming major public health issues and encouraged African countries to launch national health programmes to fight the unhealthy lifestyles that are rapidly catching up with Africa’s growing middle-class.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, on his arrival in Mali on the first leg of a four-nation African tour, expressed his desire to extend China’s trade and investment links in Africa despite the economic downturn. Heads of multilateral development banks invited to a meeting by the African Development Bank to discuss responses to the global financial and economic crisis, underlined their commitment to play a counter-cyclical role to mitigate the impact of the crisis. Finally, decisions and declarations of both the executive council and the assembly of heads of state and governments are now available for download.

The ICC issues arrest warrant against Bashir

AU Monitor Weekly Roundup: Issue 171, 2009

2009-03-12

http://www.aumonitor.org

The peace and security council of the African Union (AU) condemned the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and recommended the chairperson of the AU Commission, Jean Ping, send a delegation to the UN Peace and Security Council to aimed at stopping the indictment. Elsewhere, the AU called on the authorities of Guinea Bissau to cooperate with other stakeholders in launching a full investigation into the assassination of President Joao Bernardo Vieira and General Batista Tagme Na Wai to help identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The AU Commission chairperson sent a delegation led by the Commissioner for peace and security, Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, to Madagascar for consultations with the Malagasy parties in pursuit of a peaceful and negotiated solution to the current political crisis. The AU chairperson, Libyan leader Muammar Al-Gaddafi, received representatives of the AU Commission in Tripoli to discuss key issues such as the implementation of decisions and declarations adopted during the 12th AU ordinary summit, the situation of peace and security on the continent and actions being taken by the Union to address these.

As the world celebrated International Women’s Day, the AU, while enumerating instruments and mechanisms aimed at promoting and protecting women’s rights in Africa, reiterated its commitment to eliminate violence against women and girls and said that men should be more involved in the recognition of human rights and fundamental freedoms of women.

Furthermore, the chairperson of the council of ministers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Foreign affairs minister of South Africa Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma stated that while SADC supported the integration of Africa, regional integration had to be achieved before the formation of a single AU government could be realised. The general secretary of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, a body established in 1997 to create a platform for the region’s legislators to share knowledge and experiences in governance, explains why the Forum needs to be transformed into a fully-fledged parliament to consolidate its role in advancing democracy, development, wealth creation and poverty reduction.

In other news, with the possibility that a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council could be allotted to Africa, countries like Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Libya, Senegal, Kenya, and Botswana have commenced ‘to lock horns in a diplomatic tug-of-war’ over which country is the best candidate to occupy the seat. The former president of Botswana and current chairperson of the advisory board of the newly created Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, Festus Mogae, said Africans should stop blaming others for the continent’s problems, but instead take responsibility for some of Africa’s ills. Finally, the Director of Africa Department at the International Monetary Fund has warned that the global financial meltdown could wipe out the financial successes recorded by African countries over the past decade.

Africa: Affirmative Action: Why fear women's abilities?

2009-03-13

http://www.awcfs.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=570&Itemid=1

Attempts to make sure affirmative action becomes law in a country that prided itself as having hosted the third UN Conference of women in Africa has been marred with sideshows and arguments that have seen the Bill either thrown out of Parliament or excuses given as to why Parliament cannot pass it. In some countries, however, Affirmative Action has been embraced.

Gambia: Stakeholders fight child sex tourism

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/ckshmf

Child protection Alliance in collaboration with United Nations Children Fund are making final arrangements towards the setting up of an Adolescent Neighborhood Watch Groups in five communities in the Greater Banjul Area, Gambia in a reinvigorated drive to tackle the immoral acts of sex tourists in the country.

Global: Governments urged to meet their commitments to guarantee women's rights

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/54732

The international Women Won’t Wait. End HIV and Violence against Women. NOW! campaign celebrates its two year anniversary and International Women’s Day. The campaign was launched on International Women’s Day - March 8, 2007, to demand that policy makers and donors integrate responses to violence against women in global and national AIDS programmes and allocate resources to these responses.
8th March 2009

PRESS RELEASE:

Time to act is now: 2009 the year to guarantee women’s rights

International women’s coalition urges governments to meet their commitments toguarantee women’s rights without delay

The international Women Won’t Wait. End HIV and Violence against Women. NOW! campaign celebrates its two year anniversary and International Women’s Day. The campaign was launched on International Women’s Day - March 8, 2007, to demand that policy makers and donors integrate responses to violence against women in global and national AIDS programmes and allocate resources to these responses.

While women will mark 30 years of the CEDAW and 15 years of the International Conference on Population and Development this year; and 15 years of The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 2010, we are concerned that many commitments to protect, promote and fulfil women’s and girls’ rights governments had begun to make 30 years ago remain unfulfilled. We are also deeply concerned that commitments made by governments to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010 will not met.

Norah Matovu Winyi, the Executive Director of FEMNET, a member of the campaign in Kenya, said, “We are less than a year away from 2010, and it seems clear that national governments and donors will not achieve universal access targets agreed by all. We are shocked that multilateral agencies set up to lead the world in the fight against HIV and in defence of human rights of the most at risk are rolling back universal targets as well as resource estimates required to meet these.” The campaign is especially distressed that resource estimates to address violence against women released by UNAIDS in early 2009 are considerably lower than those released in 2007. We expect all governments to meet their universal access targets, otherwise more people will die without treatment.
The Women Won’t Wait campaign also expressed concern at the continuing trend of governments criminalizing HIV exposure and transmission worldwide. The campaign noted that the trend to criminalise HIV transmission and exposure is short-sighted, ineffective and violates human rights, especially women’s rights. Further, it will undermine global AIDS prevention, treatment and care efforts.

The international coalition welcomes the new U.S. administration’s renewed commitment to women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. It recognises that the administration under the leadership of President Obama has upheld the rights of women worldwide to have control over their reproductive and sexual lives by repealing the global gag rule. "The repeal of this dangerous policy is one important step forward in restoring access to sexual and reproductive health services and promoting democracy abroad. However, U.S. investment in international family planning has declined by roughly 42% since 1995," said Serra Sippel, Executive Director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), a member of the Women Won’t Wait campaign in the U.S. "The United States should take the next step in advancing the health and well-being of the world's women and families by investing at least $1 billion in international family planning this year," she added.

The campaign calls on the US administration to advance and fund evidence informed, rights-based and gender sensitive AIDS responses, including a specific response to violence against women.

The campaign advocates that resources also need to be accompanied by clear guidelines and policies to ensure that all AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support interventions integrate community education on zero tolerance of violence. In addition, the promotion of laws and law enforcement that prevent and protect women from violence, training for health care personnel and legal infrastructures, and the availability of post-exposure prophylaxis, emergency contraception, female condoms and other female-controlled prevention ALL need to form part of a comprehensive approach to HIV&AIDS.

On International Women’s Day 2009, the Women Won’t Wait campaign once again calls for decision-makers, donors and activists to effectively address the intersections between violence against all women and girls and the spread of HIV.

The Women Won’t Wait campaign is an international coalition of organizations and networks working to promote women's health and human rights in the struggle to address HIV and AIDS and end all forms of violence against women and girls.
For more information on the Women Won’t Wait campaign:
www.womenwontwait.org

Women Won’t Wait is an international coalition of organizations and networks from the global South and North working to promote women’s health and human rights in the struggle to comprehensively address HIV and AIDS and end all forms of violence against women and girls. The coalition members are: Action Aid; African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET); Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID); Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL); Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE); Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM); GESTOS-Soropositividade, Comunicação & Gênero; International Community of Women Living with HIV&AIDS Southern Africa (ICW-Southern Africa); International Women’s AIDS Caucus; International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC); Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network; Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA); Program on International Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health; SANGRAM; VAMP; and Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA).

Global: Obama creates Women's Council

2009-03-13

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/03/obama_creates_w.html

In his latest gesture on women's issues, President Obama signed an executive order this afternoon creating a White House Council on Women and Girls. “The purpose of this council is to ensure that American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public policy,” Obama said in a statement. “My administration has already made important progress toward that goal. I am proud that the first bill I signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act.

North Africa: Morocco to boost women's political participation

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/b69arj

The Moroccan government has pledged to increase women's political representation at local levels. Following a reform of the Commune Charter that set a minimum quota of 12% for female representation, the government now intends to get the message out to the public. A national awareness campaign entitled "Women in communes: a driving-force for local governance" was launched on Saturday (March 7th).

Sierra Leone: The Special Court for Sierra Leone's Consideration of Gender-Based Violence:

Contributing to Transitional Justice?

2009-03-13

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1155205

Serious gender-based crimes were committed against women and girls during Sierra Leone's decade-long armed conflict. This article examines how the Special Court for Sierra Leone has addressed - and, in some cases, has failed to address - these crimes in its first four judgments. The June 20, 2007 trial judgment in the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council case assists international criminal law's heretofore limited understanding of the crime against humanity of forced marriage, especially through the separate concurring opinion of Justice Sebutinde and the partially dissenting opinion of Justice Doherty.

Zimbabwe: WOZA Statement on International Women’s Day, 8th March 2009

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/54777

As the world, including Zimbabwe, commemorates International Women’s Day,
members of WOZA find little to celebrate. As organisations, both local and international, take the opportunity afforded by International Women’s Day to speak out about the need for gender equality, respect for women’s right and an end to violence, WOZA joins the chorus. Yet we understand that women in Zimbabwe, and Africa as a whole, need much more than rhetoric – they need action. And actions speak louder than words.
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) Statement on International Women’s Day, 8th
March 2009

As the world, including Zimbabwe, commemorates International Women’s Day, members of WOZA find little to celebrate.

As organisations, both local and international, take the opportunity afforded by International Women’s Day to speak out about the need for gender equality, respect for women’s right and an end to violence, WOZA joins the chorus. Yet we understand that women in Zimbabwe, and Africa as a whole, need much more than rhetoric – they need action. And actions speak louder than words.

The current situation of the ordinary woman in Zimbabwe is heartbreaking.
She only lives until the age of 34 because the Mugabe regime killed a perfectly good health system. She can hardly access antiretroviral treatment and even if she does, the three meals a day she needs to take them with is impossible. She cannot put a full nutritious meal on the table for her family because Zimbabwe is no longer the breadbasket of Africa but its basket case. She cannot afford to buy food even if it is available because the Mugabe regime put the economy in intensive care and Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono put a bullet to its head when he started to remove zeros without comprehensive reforms.

A mother is always preoccupied with a better future for her children so that she can dream about sitting in the shade and being looked after for a change. But the prospects for this have been thrown out of the window by the destruction of the education system by the Mugabe regime. Educating children was already a challenge previously but in 2008 it became a form of torture for parents. Teachers left, school buildings deteriorated, text and exercise books disappeared to be sold on the streets for exorbitant prices. Government did not even bother to buy chalk, and this burden, along with that of paying teachers, fell on the parents’ shoulders.

Zimbabwe, in the throes of a political and governance crisis, failed to safeguard the rights of children to an education and their right to a better future. The untold story of Zimbabwe is the impact of the crisis on the lives of our children – how these innocent souls will bear the terrible burden of our adult hatred and intolerance.

In Zimbabwe there is now an ‘inclusive’ government but whilst it includes opposing political parties it falls far short of including women who take the time to speak out for women’s equality. WOZA does not feel represented by the mere fact that there are some women in political office. We want women to use their position to engage and consult women and further our combined interests. If one takes the time to study the 15th September 2008 Global Political Agreement, rhetoric about women’s representation abounds but they appear to be words without meaning.

Three weeks after the inauguration of this government and 29 years after so-called Independence, women are still not fairly represented in most spheres in Zimbabwe. Peaceful protest is broken up by men armed with baton sticks and women who are simply demanding their constitutional rights are beaten, arrested and detained.

On 9th March 2009, two WOZA leaders will be in the dock in Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court facing a possible five years in prison for demanding political leaders allow free access to food aid for starving Zimbabweans. In the words of a police officer, this was a crime of ‘exciting people’. In a justice system backlogged for years, with thousands of Zimbabweans in prison and unable to be fed or brought to court, the fact that this case has been prioritised is further proof that women human rights defenders continue to be harassed and intimidated merely for speaking out on behalf of their families.

So a year after WOZA members were beaten and arrested in Bulawayo whilst commemorating International Women’s Day, we still do not find anything in our hearts to celebrate. Instead we use this occasion to remind our leaders that actions speak louder than words. And to light a candle against the darkness so as to guide our steps on the road to a socially just Zimbabwe. WOZA will continue to demand bread and roses, a full enjoyment of all our social, economic, cultural and political rights and the social justice that will restore our dignity as women. By continuing to take the step forward, perhaps by the next International Women’s Day, we will have something to celebrate.

Mrs Susan Tsvangirai – WOZA mourns the loss of a mother to the nation Our troubled hearts are further burdened and saddened by the untimely death of Mrs Susan Tsvangirai. WOZA was looking forward to Susan being the mother to the nation that we have long waited for. We witnessed her dignity and strength in standing by the side of her husband during their 31 years of marriage and understand the unexpressed pain she must have endured watching her husband suffer at the hands of a brutal regime. We had hoped and prayed that she would enjoy a semblance of peace at his side as a mother of the nation. The loss of this mother of six and tower of strength to her husband is a shocking blow to the nation and all Zimbabwean women. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the Prime Minister, their children who have lost their mother and rest of their family. May her soul rest in blessed peace at last.

DRC: Militia Leader Guilty in Landmark Trial

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/dzcgbc

The conviction of the Mai Mai commander Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga and 20 other Mai Mai combatants for crimes on major charges, including crimes against humanity, by a military court on March 5, 2009, was a crucial step toward creating accountability in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch has said.

Global: 2009 Human Rights Award

2009-03-12

http://www.rfkcenter.org/nomination

The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was established in 1984 by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to honor these courageous and innovative individuals striving for social justice throughout the world. The recipients are chosen through an extensive annual selection process. Every year from February until March, the public is invited to nominate creative and courageous non-governmental human rights defenders. The nomination deadline is March 15, 2009. Nominations will not be accepted past this date.

Kenya: Rendition and torture - Kenya's counter-Terrorism: A time for change

2009-03-13

http://www.redress.org/

A new report by REDRESS and Reprieve, Kenya and Counter-Terrorism: A Time for Change, details the horrific stories of the arbitrary detention of 150 victims in Kenya from 21 different nationalities. Many of these were tortured and ill-treated; many were rendered to Somalia and then transferred to Ethiopia. There are also allegations of interrogation by foreign intelligence services, including British agents. Many of the victims have now been released, but the whereabouts of others are still unknown.

Chad: Aid agencies on high alert

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/bovy3c

Aid groups in eastern Chad are on alert for an eventual flooding of people into the area, after the government of Sudan sent out NGOs providing water, food and health care to millions of people in Darfur. The Sudanese government had expelled 13 aid groups from Darfur after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant of arrest for its president, Omar el-Bashir.

Global: Former Liberian refugee seeks to help others adjust to life in US

2009-03-13

http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/49b7de5b2.html

In the cramped basement of a public housing apartment block in New York's Staten Island, 25 minutes by ferry from Manhattan's financial district, a small group of mostly volunteer staff are preparing to open the doors of health clinic in an area that recently saw the closure of two local hospitals. The weekly clinic caters to a cross section of the blue-collar Park Hill neighbourhood; day labourers, newly arrived immigrants and former refugees, most of the latter from Liberia.

Rwanda: More Hutus return home from DRC

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/cjvenf

The number of Rwandan Hutu rebels who have left the Democratic Republic of Congo and gone home has risen substantially since the beginning of the year, Bruno Donat head of the United Nations' disarmament, demobilization and repatriation efforts in the DRC has said. The UN official credits his organisation for convincing rebel fighters that repatriation is best for them and for the stability of Africa's Great Lakes Region.

Zambia: Angolan refugees shun repatriation

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/cytrcy

More than 10,000 Angolan refugees at a camp in western Zambia have declined to return home despite the restoration of peace in their country, the state-run Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation reported Wednesday. The refugees at Mayukwayukwa in Kaoma district have lived in Zambia since 1966.

Africa: A new $5 million lawsuit against Écosociété

2009-03-13

http://www.africafiles.org/article.asp?ID=18238

Independent publisher, Écosociété, which published the book "Noir Canada" (Black Canada) that denounces the practices of Canadian gold mining companies in Africa, received a new libel lawsuit for $5 million by Banro Corporation. Écosociété is already confronted with an initial lawsuit for $6 million, launched by Barrick Gold after the book’s publication. According to the publisher, in both cases they consist of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP).

Global: Put People First! G20 national demonstration

2009-03-12

http://tinyurl.com/ar7ujl

On 28 March thousands will march through London as part of a global campaign to challenge the G20, ahead of its 2 April summit on the global financial crisis. Even before the banking collapse, the world suffered poverty, inequality and the threat of climate chaos. The world has followed a financial model that has created an economy fuelled by ever-increasing debt, both financial and environmental.

South Africa: Housing company again fails to repair substandard houses

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/54774

The Newfields Village community has once again been left in limbo by the Cape Town community housing company (CTCHC) which has stopped repairs to the defective Hanover Park houses, claiming it has no more money. We are baffled by this because even though the city sold off its shares in CTCHC last year, it is still a public entity now owned by the National Housing Finance Corporation which falls under department of housing.
The Newfields Village community has once again been left in limbo by the Cape Town community housing company (CTCHC) which has stopped repairs to the defective Hanover Park houses, claiming it has no more money.

We are baffled by this because even though the city sold off its shares in CTCHC last year, it is still a public entity now owned by the National Housing Finance Corporation which falls under department of housing.

The national home builders regulatory council says it won’t issue certificates to say our houses are structurally sound because the doors and doorframes are falling apart.

At the same time we are expected to pay rent for these houses, which have always been structurally unsound and which continue to be unsound and unsafe for us.
We believe money was allocated for our house repairs, as a result of our long struggle (see history below).

So where is this money now?

We demand the proper house repairs we were promised.

For more information, please call Newfields Village Anti-Eviction Campaign co-ordinator Gary Hartzenberg on 0723925859

BACKGROUND:

2 400 low cost houses were built by the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC) between 1994 and 2000.

Almost immediately after residents moved in, the rent they had been told they would pay (R300 per month) was hiked to about R1500 per month.

Simultaneously, the houses began literally falling apart - damp walls, inadequate foundations and poor plumbing and cracks in the walls started appearing.

The city, which owns the CTCHC, refused to do anything until the community embarked on a rent boycott.

The CTCHC houses are situated in Newfields Village, Manenberg, Philippi, Mitchells Plain and Gugulethu.

Finally after a five year struggle by the community, the National Home Builders’ Registration Council appointed an independent consultant to audit the houses.

The audit found houses with severe cracks, poor brick-laying, loose roof tiles, soil erosion, gaps between walls and door frames and rusting window frames.

The city has launched legal action against the contractors, who they say took short cuts, to determine why the 10 low-cost housing projects were so shoddily built.

The bill for the repairs so far has run to R90 million.

Despite this, new contractors doing the repairs are again taking shortcuts to maximise their profits and are installing pointless things like plastic window latches, instead of normal metal window frames and window latches.

The repairs have cost R38 000 per house so far.

What is tragic is that most members of the community spent their tiny life savings on trying to repair their homes once the defects started to appear, as did many other communities around the country in the same position - N2 Gateway flats in Langa, Mandela Park houses.

CTCHC is still trying to escape doing proper repairs.

South Africa: Pavement dwellers to serve city with notice

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/54734

On the 2nd day of March 2009, we, the Delft-Symphony Pavement Dwellers, received a notice from the Sheriff of the Court to appear in the Cape High Court on the 20th of March 2009 at 10h00. After over a year living on the road, the City of Cape Town and the Provincial Government are finally applying for our eviction. The Sheriff delivered the letter and various legal documents with the support of over 20 Metro Police, SAPS and Law Enforcement vehicles and there was a total of over 100 police present with bulletproof vests, guns and various other dangerous items.
Delft Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Release

Monday 2 March, 2009

On the 2nd day of March 2009, we, the Delft-Symphony Pavement Dwellers, received a notice from the Sheriff of the Court to appear in the Cape High Court on the 20th of March 2009 at 10h00. After over a year living on the road, the City of Cape Town and the Provincial Government are finally applying for our eviction.

The Sheriff delivered the letter and various legal documents with the support of over 20 Metro Police, SAPS and Law Enforcement vehicles and there was a total of over 100 police present with bulletproof vests, guns and various other dangerous items. According to resident Mina Mahema, one of our children got such a fright, she even asked if they [the police] come to kill us. It is clear that while the letters could have peacefully been delivered by one or two City officials, the City (as usual) wanted to intimidate residents through a show of force.

In protest, residents peacefully sang various struggle songs. While some police openly mocked us and told us to keep quiet, others sang along with us and even gave us words of encouragement saying we should not move and that we are doing the right thing.

By seeking a court order, the City of Cape Town is attempting to move us from Symphony Way into the Blikkiesdorp (Tin Can Town) Temporary Relocation Area (TRA) a government built slum. Blikkiesdorp's own residents hate the place because of the tiny government built shacks, the lack of proper facilities, and the huge crime rate. We hate the place because the TRA's are intended to hide us in dangerous ghettos that resemble refugee camps rather than vibrant communities.

Asiyi eTRAs! As the residents of Symphony Way, we refused to be removed to Blikkies!

We maintain that this is not reasonable alternative accommodation and that we cannot and will not be moved anywhere that will disadvantage ourselves and our children.

We maintain that we are human beings, not cattle to be herded into barbed wire enclosures.

We maintain that we will continue with our No Land! No House! No Vote Campaign! The City (DA) and the Province (ANC) are both supporting our eviction and move into TRAs. We will not vote for either.

South Africa: Sebokeng CPF members murder community activist

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/54785

The Radical Youth Network (RYN), along with the Anti Privatisation Forum (APF) strongly condemns the killing of Teboho “Diventsha” Tsotetsi by members of the Sebokeng Community Policing Forum (CPF). It is not the first time the community of Zone 20 in Sebokeng has experienced attacks from the people they claim to be protecting them. Sebokeng Police station has become a haven for thugs and gangsters!
Sebokeng Community Policing Forum members murder community activist

The Radical Youth Network (RYN), along with the Anti Privatisation Forum (APF) strongly condemns the killing of Teboho “Diventsha” Tsotetsi by members of the Sebokeng Community Policing Forum (CPF). It is not the first time the community of Zone 20 in Sebokeng has experienced attacks from the people they claim to be protecting them. Sebokeng Police station has become a haven for thugs and gangsters!

What residents expected was a community safety patrol turned into a hunting expedition for patrollers to target community members of Zone 20 and, as happened to Teboho, brutally beat them. “Diventsha”, as Teboho was popularly known, was seriously beaten by the ‘patrollers’ last week Friday. He laid a charge against those he identified at the Sebokeng police station; he also indicated to the police that the ‘patrollers’ took his cell phone and wallet. On Saturday afternoon, the same group of CPF members attacked him again, repeatedly beating him and accusing him of disrespecting the law. It is believed that the second attack was meted out in order to force him to drop the charges, which he refused to do.

On Wednesday 5th March, at around 17h30, the same group of men came to his home and stabbed him to death in front of his parents.

The RYN contacted the Sebokeng police station director, Mrs. HP Boschoff, concerning the violence perpetrated by her CPF ‘patrollers’ and demanded strong action be taken against those responsible for Teboho’s murder. The director promised that she will take the matter up. Today, she informed us that a case has been opened and that a suspect is in police custody and will appear at the Sebokeng magistrate’s court on Monday, 9th March.

Last year in July, the police claimed the life of another Sebokeng Zone 20 activist, Mathafeni Majobe. He was killed a day after a community protest against poor service delivery. He was last seen in the hands of the police and found dead the following morning. A case was opened and the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) also took up the matter and promised to deal with the police suspected of Mathafeni’s murder. Eight months later, the community and parents of the late Mathafeni are still waiting in vain. If there are any developments in the investigation of his murder, there is no way of telling.

The RYN together with the APF has organised a community mass meeting in Zone Phase One at 17h00 today to discuss the community’s response to the heinous killing of Teboho. With no trust in the police’s ability to abide by the law, let alone enforce it fairly, the community is demanding that the CPF stops ‘patrolling’ in Zone 20. The RYN believes that people should address the problems around crime and safety, without the involvement of these gangsters and murderers allegedly protecting us.

For more information please contact – Patrick ‘Patra’ Sindane @ 073 052 7005

South Africa: Statement from Maureen Mnisi of the LPM 8

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/54782

Comrades, as the Landless People's Movement, we were arrested on Sunday 1st March and put in custody and freed on bail of R500 each. We were eight. Our names are Maureen Mnisi, Maas van Wyk, Ivy Seno, Elsie Mkhuma, Shelia Masenodi, Gasa Radebe, Michael Dlamini and Chester Maluleka. One of us is under age (16 years). The case is remanded to the 25th of March. We appreciate your support, even on the 25th
Comrades, as the Landless People's Movement, we were arrested on Sunday 1st March and put in custody and freed on bail of R500 each. We were eight. Our names are Maureen Mnisi, Maas van Wyk, Ivy Seno, Elsie Mkhuma, Shelia Masenodi, Gasa Radebe, Michael Dlamini and Chester Maluleka. One of us is under age (16 years). The case is remanded to the 25th of March. We appreciate your support, even on the 25th.

Comrades it is very difficult for me as a leader of voiceless people to be arrested all the time when I raise the views of the landless people. It is difficult for me as mother of my children and being a single parent. It is clear that the democracy that we voted in 1994 is not for the poor and landless people in urban settlements and rural areas. We are bounded to be controlled by ANC councillors because we don't have the right to participate in our development. As soon as we try to exercise our constitutional rights the SAPS is oppressing us.

Maureen Mnisi, by cellphone text message

South Africa: Stop scoring cheap political points with lives of the poor

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/54787

Helen Zille and the City of Cape Town need to stop trying to score cheap political/elections propaganda points and be honest with the people of Cape Town (see press statement of City of Cape Town below). The so-called ‘water management devices’ are simply pre-paid meters in drag. Like the pre-paid meters which have been declared unconstitutional and illegal by the Johannesburg High Court, these devices dispense the 6000 ‘free’ litres per month/per household and then automatically cut off.
PRESS STATEMENT

Tuesday 10th March 2009

HELEN ZILLE MUST STOP TRYING TO SCORE CHEAP POLITICAL POINTS WITH THE LIVES OF THE POOR

CITY OF CAPE TOWN ‘WATER MANAGEMENT DEVICES’ ARE NOTHING MORE THAN PRE-PAID METERS IN DRAG

Helen Zille and the City of Cape Town need to stop trying to score cheap political/elections propaganda points and be honest with the people of Cape Town (see press statement of City of Cape Town below). The so-called ‘water management devices’ are simply pre-paid meters in drag. Like the pre-paid meters which have been declared unconstitutional and illegal by the Johannesburg High Court, these devices dispense the 6000 ‘free’ litres per month/per household and then automatically cut off.

The additional amounts offered to those who sign up on the patronising and discriminatory indigency register is exactly the same option given to residents in Johannesburg with pre-paid meters. As our ongoing constitutional rights water case shows so clearly, the real issues are ones of lack of administrative justice, racial and class discrimination, lack of choice of water delivery mechanism (meters) and lack of access to sufficient quantities of free water (linked to the unaffordability of access to the minimum amount deemed necessary for basic human needs/dignity – i.e. 50 litres per person per day).

Helen Zille must stop pretending that she (like all those who live in the middle and upper-income suburbs of our urban areas) is like millions of poor residents. Unlike the poor, Zille and her class ‘comrades’ can afford any amount of water they so desire for their households (which have many fewer members than those in poor communities) and have the choice of any of the water delivery mechanisms (meters). The poor have no choice. Zille’s cheap and disingenuous attempt to present herself and Cape Town’s ‘water management devices’ as anything but patronising and anti-poor, should be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.

For further comment contact:

Dale McKinley on 072 429-4086

CITY OF CAPE TOWN

MEDIA ALERT/PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

09 MARCH 2009

Mayor to have a water management device installed in her home

Tomorrow, Tuesday 10 March 2009, Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille will have one of the City of Cape Town's new water management devices installed in her home in Mowbray.

The City's water management devices are designed to measure out a specific amount of water per day so that customers can save water and ensure that they do not run up bills that they cannot pay through excessive use or leaks. These devices are set to deliver 6000 litres of free water per month, or 10 000 litres free to those people registered on our indigency database. Customers can have the device set to deliver more according to what they need and what they can afford.

The Mayor will have one of these devices installed in her own home to show that they are for the benefit of all Cape Town's residents, that they are not pre-paid water meters and that they are installed on a voluntary basis.

DATE: Tuesday 10 March 2009

TIME: 11:30

VENUE: Meeting point at corner of Woolsack Drive and Main Road, Mowbray, or call Robert Macdonald for Mayor's address

Issued by: Communication Department, City of Cape Town

Media enquiries: Robert Macdonald, Cell: 084 977 9888

Algeria: 100 observers to monitor elections

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/bzjd7e

Over 100 observers, 80 of them from the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and the UN, will be in Algeria to monitor the presidential election to be held on 9 April, Algerian prime minister, Mr. Ahmed Ouyahia, said here Wednesday. Speaking on national radio, Ouyahia said that over 20 million voters had been registered to vote following the revision of the voters' register.

Côte d’Ivoire: Identification of voters in rises to 5.4 million

2009-03-13

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30169

Calling it “significant progress” toward the much-delayed elections in Côte d’Ivoire, the United Nations mission there today announced that the number of voters identified so far in the West African nation has surpassed 5.4 million. The Mission “urges all parties involved in the identification and registration process to redouble their efforts to maintain the momentum,” Hamadoun Touré, spokesperson for the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), told reporters in Abidjan.

Gambia: Opposition leader, charged, remanded

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/caldrv

Gambian authorities on Wednesday dragged Halifa Sallah, the detained opposition leader and publisher of pro-opposition Foroyaa Newspaper, before Brikama Magistrate’s Court on three-count charges relating to “sedition and spying,” authoritative sources in Banjul informed PANA. Sallah, a respected sociologist and leader of Gambia’s opposition coalition National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD), was later remanded at the “Mile Two Central Prison” on the outskirts of the capital.

Global: Idealism without illusions: Lessons from post-conflict eections

2009-03-13

http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3099

How should the international community engage in election processes in post-conflict countries such as Rwanda, Cambodia and Sudan? This study from Princeton University argues that the international community should move towards a broader concern with fair political environments. Policymakers should not overstate the importance of electoral assistance in the short-term, nor lose sight of its ability to contribute to the conditions for genuine democracy in the long-term. Greater political will for longer-term electoral support is required.

Madagascar: Troops oust minister

2009-03-13

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7934504.stm

Madagascar's defence minister has resigned after being confronted by a group of soldiers in his office. On Sunday, a section of the army announced they would no longer obey the government and would instead follow opposition leader Andry Rajoelina. Mr Rajoelina is understood to have taken refuge at the French embassy in the capital Antananarivo.

Mauritania: Opposition rejects junta's election calendar

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/bsudt3

The vice president of the Union of Democratic Forces (RFD), the main opposition party in Mauritania, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Lematt, has rejected the electoral calendar proposed by military authorities, in power since the 6 August coup. In a chat with the press Wednesday afternoon in Nouakchott, Lematt said "This was unilaterally decided by the junta in power as part of the agenda aiming to give credence to the fait accompli."

Nigeria: Election reform 'U-turn'

2009-03-13

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7939139.stm

Nigeria's cabinet has rejected reforms that would have empowered the judiciary to pick the chairman and board members of the electoral commission. President Umaru Yar'Adua's cabinet insisted he should retain those powers. Democracy activists called the decision a U-turn and said it raised fears for the fairness of the next federal elections, due to be held in 2011.

Nigeria: Publish UWAIS report, says IAP

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/54723

Independent Advocacy Project (IAP) has urged President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to publish the report of the Justice Muhammadu Uwais Electoral Reforms Panel, set up in 2007 to propose ways for credible elections. The group has also called on the president to reconsider its decision to reverse the recommendation of the Uwais Panel on the appointment of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
PUBLISH UWAIS REPORT, SAYS IAP

LAGOS, 5 MARCH 2009: Independent Advocacy Project (IAP) has urged President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to publish the report of the Justice Muhammadu Uwais Electoral Reforms Panel, set up in 2007 to propose ways for credible elections. The group has also called on the president to reconsider its decision to reverse the recommendation of the Uwais Panel on the appointment of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The Panel had originally recommended that the appointment of INEC chairman be advertised and coordinated by the National Judicial Com-mission (NJC), which will then forward the name of the nominee to the Senate for ratification. However, there have been reports that this particular recommendation will not form part of the draft White Paper submitted to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) by the Michael Aondoakaa Review Committee. The White Paper has been endorsed by FEC.

In a statement released in Lagos today, the good governance group said: ‘The recommendation of the Uwais Panel was premised on the fact that over the years, the influential position of INEC chairman has been seen as an obstacle to the conduct of free and fair elections in the country. The Chairman as the head of the Commission is often seen as doing the bidding of the President, which means that elections have sometimes not reflected the wishes of the Nigerian electorate. This particular recommendation could enhance the independence of the elections at various levels – local, state and federal.

‘May we remind the president that the elections that brought him to power in 2007 were deeply flawed, and the creation of the Uwais Panel was meant to address such flaws. As such, not publishing its report goes against the principle of transparency and accountability, and the decision to reject its key recommendations gives the impression that the Panel was merely set up to give the impression that the president wants to promote genuine electoral reforms, while in reality, he doesn’t.’

IAP works to promote democratic development and the rule of law by promoting accountability and transparency in government, building the capacity of civil society organisations and other establishments to enable them participate meaningfully in the governance process and promoting freedom of speech and of expression.

South Africa: Elections: A dangerous time for poor people's movements

2009-03-13

http://www.sacsis.org.za/site/article/245.1

History groans with the suffering caused by authoritarian individuals and regimes that were elected to power. For this reason the only useful measure of the commitment of any political project to democracy is to see how it responds to challenges to its own position and ideas.

Guinea Ecuatorial: EU banks named in dirty money report

2009-03-13

http://euobserver.com/19/27756

Europe's biggest banks are happy to do business with corrupt regimes in Africa and Central Asia, according to a new report by UK-based NGO, Global Witness. As late as November 2007, Barclays in Paris held a private account for Teodorin Obiang, the study says. A scion of the ruling family in Equatorial Guinea, Mr Obiang in the past 10 years spent €4.5 million on sports cars even as 20 percent of children die before their fifth birthday due to poverty in the oil-rich country.

Malawi: Muluzi appears in court

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/atfy4n

Former Malawi President Bakili Muluzi appeared in the High Court in Blantyre on Thursday, but his lawyers asked for more time before the 66-year-old politician could take a plea. One of Muluzi's lawyers, Kalekeni Kaphale, told the presiding judge, Justice Mac Lean Kamwambe, that the Anti-Corruption Bureau only gave them the case file containing 80 counts on 4 March.

Africa: African leaders want bigger role in IMF, push for aid

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/c8ouog

African leaders called for a bigger say in the management of the International Monetary Fund and urged rich nations to maintain aid flows as the U.S. and Europe spend billions of dollars to rescue their own economies. “The current crisis poses the greatest danger to development in recent history,” Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete told African finance ministers and central bank governors at an IMF conference in Dar es Salaam today. “So far, Africa’s voice on this unnerving situation has been muted.”

Africa: The nettlesome question of aid

2009-03-13

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83401

Dead Aid, a controversial new book by economist Dambisa Moyo, argues that cutting off all non-emergency assistance to Africa within five years "would help stimulate growth". But in countries like Zambia, the author's homeland, such a prescription could prove problematic, given the global financial turndown.

Global: Brussels pushing finance deregulation in third world

2009-03-13

http://euobserver.com/9/27755?print=1

While EU and other global leaders have talked tough about re-regulating the financial sector in the wake of the economic crisis, they remain committed to pushing through banking deregulation in the developing world via trade deals. This strategy is undermining poverty reduction in these countries and is reproducing the same type of circumstances that led to the crisis in the first place, warns a new report published on Wednesday (11 March) by the World Development Movement, an UK-based anti-poverty NGO.

Growth in Africa poised to halve from average of past decade

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/b6s3yy

Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is poised to halve from the average of the past decade to slightly more than 3 per cent in 2009 as the continent is struck by the “third wave” of the global economic crisis, the International Monetary Fund has warned. Antoinette Sayeh, director of the IMF’s Africa department, said the crisis that began in developed economies and then hit emerging markets was hurting the world’s poorest continent via low global commodity prices, tighter credit markets and depressed external demand.

Kenya: The West gets jitters as Kenya embraces new trade allies

2009-03-13

http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1144008348&cid=14

Kenya’s dalliance with previous unlikely allies blossomed further last week when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turned his tour of the country into a window of business opportunity. As he flew out, the Iranian leader’s imprint on the country’s struggling economy left no doubts about the Middle East nation’s determination to raise its trade and investment portfolios, which hitherto were dominated by the West.

North Africa: The rise of the Maghreb

2009-03-12

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,611696,00.html

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industries joined a crowd of automotive suppliers setting up low-cost plants on Europe's eastern rim. It opened factories from Poland to Bulgaria and today has a dozen facilities in the region. But now, Sumitomo is shifting production south of Europe-to the ancient Moroccan port of Tangier and to Bou Salem, a market town set among wheat fields in northern Tunisia. As costs rise in Eastern Europe, the company says, it's getting harder to make a profit. North Africa, by contrast, offers far lower wages and plenty of eager workers.

Rwanda: Government needs $200 million for power grid expansion

2009-03-13

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE52C0H020090313

Rwanda requires $200 million by 2012 to connect 220,000 new electricity customers to the national grid, a government official said on Friday. The landlocked east African nation has 130,000 customers and available power capacity outstrips demand. Electricity supply is, however, expected to rise from 55 mw when two generation projects from methane gas in Lake Kivu are completed in three years.

Zambia: Banda launches $400 million Kariba Power project

2009-03-13

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2213422/

President Rupiah Banda has launched the US$400 million Kariba North Bank extension project and said the Government had placed emphasis on building new power stations as well as expanding the existing ones. Mr Banda said to facilitate this development in the electricity sub-sector, the Government was in the process of concluding the legislation to make the sector one of the priority sectors in the provision of incentives under the Zambia Development Act.

Africa: Cryptococcal meningitis kills half a million

2009-03-13

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/CE8A5494-4408-467B-822C-58FC529CAB33.asp

Researchers have estimated that there were about one million infections and a half a million deaths from HIV-related cryptococcal meningitis worldwide in 2006. The findings published in the February 20th edition of the journal AIDS also show that sub-Saharan Africa had the highest global burden of cryptococcal meningitis among people living with HIV.

Africa: Finance for HIV/AIDS in three African countries

2009-03-13

http://www.eldis.org/go/country-profiles&id=41956&type=Document

With increasing demand for resources to tackle the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, questions arise as to where such resources are to be found and whether they can be fully absorbed and spent. One major source of financing for HIV and AIDS control is external aid. The debate continues as to whether increased external assistance causes macroeconomic instability. The paper argues that an increase in government expenditure, combined with proper micro-management through the greater coordination, efficiency and implementation of innovative projects and programmes, will lead to a more effective response and may prevent macroeconomic instability.

Ethiopia: ARV roll-out has reduced adult AIDS deaths by 50% in capital

2009-03-13

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/7F86E7FD-EE0E-4DFE-8942-347C28DFB9CC.asp

The roll-out of antiretroviral therapy has led to a decline of about 50% in adult AIDS deaths in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, over a period of five years, according the findings of a study published in the February 20th edition of the journal AIDS. The effectiveness of antiretroviral roll-out in sub-Saharan Africa has been widely reported as encouraging despite persistent concerns about universal access and adherence. However, there are still only limited data on its effects at a population level on deaths.

Global: AIDS and gender equality: a time for new paradigms

Speech By UNAIDA Executive Director at CSW

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/54795

We are bombarded with news and reports of increasingly terrible acts perpetuated on women. In South Africa according the Medical Research Council of Cape Town University, one in four women report being abused by an intimate partner – and every six hours a woman is killed.1 In the UK according to the British Crime Survey, a reported 80,000 women suffer rape every year.[2] Research from a number of countries confirms what seems common sense: there is a strong relationship between intimate partner violence and HIV status.
AIDS and gender equality: a time for new paradigms

BY: Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS

DATE: 2 March 2009
PLACE: United Nations Headquarters, New York
OCCASION: Opening of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Fifty-third Session


Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, Esteemed friends

Caring societies are in recession

It troubles me greatly to say that caring societies are in recession.

We are bombarded with news and reports of increasingly terrible acts perpetuated on women. In South Africa according the Medical Research Council of Cape Town University, one in four women report being abused by an intimate partner – and every six hours a woman is killed.1 In the UK according to the British Crime Survey, a reported 80,000 women suffer rape every year.[2] Research from a number of countries confirms what seems common sense: there is a strong relationship between intimate partner violence and HIV status.[3]
In Swaziland, we see an alarming convergence between sexual violence and growing HIV prevalence recently estimated at 40%.[4] In many countries, sexual violence is being used as an instrument of war.

A report released just a few weeks ago confirms that human trafficking in women is widespread and increasing. In India, we are missing 40 million girls due to sex selective abortion and female infanticide.[5] These are the most shocking manifestations of gender-based discrimination – a norm that is as dangerous—as it is widespread.

As Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said and I quote, “Each of us must speak out in our families, workplaces and communities, so that acts of violence against women cease. States must honour their commitments to prevent violence, bring perpetrators to justice and provide redress to victims,”

A terrible choice driven by gender construction

But gender violence is not just about numbers. It is about every girl and woman’s dignity, and their right to enjoy all human rights.

Back in the 90s, my colleagues and I were looking for ways to give a boost to breastfeeding. We received a photograph for use in the campaign. It showed a young mother holding infant twins, her head slightly bowed.

The boy baby was the very picture of health; but the girl—she was skin and bones. Having been told that she lacked sufficient milk for both children, the mother made a choice, she breastfed the boy but not the girl. We learned that her daughter died the day after the photograph was taken.

That picture still haunts me today. Life and death choices – faced by this mother and countless women take place – invisibly – every day in far too many homes and communities.

Those decisions are shaped by deeply-engrained social norms and ruthless economic realities. But let us get real.

These realities make a mockery of the notion of choice. They are a reminder of the tragic consequences of the social construction of gender. These reflect our unjust and often male-dominated societies and even our development paradigms.
Let me be honest. My fear is that the recession in caring societies will be aggravated by the global financial crisis.

The crisis is already causing civil strife – and in its wake the position of women is further eroded.

Nothing short of a social revolution is now required to deliver on the commitments we have made to gender equality.

Universal access, social revolution and gender equality
The social revolution of which I speak is central to my vision – a future generation free of HIV.

Following on from the leadership exercised by the G8 at Gleneagles, it was here at the UN in 2006 that the world made an historic commitment—the commitment to universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. My number one priority is to accelerate access.

Our challenge is to make access a reality for all – regardless of gender, age or HIV status.

We can do this and contribute to overall development, human rights, and justice for all.

Gender equality must become part of our DNA—at the core of all of our actions. Together with governments and civil society, we must energize the global response to AIDS, while vigorously advancing gender equality. These causes are undeniably linked.

Three priority actions: integration, rights and democratic inclusion
The social revolution will require strong efforts on many fronts – some of which I have spoken about before. I want to focus on just three.

First, give women and girls the power to protect themselves from HIV. We are already facing a recession of care. We cannot allow HIV to contribute further to this burden. This requires investment in universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services.

Now is the time to join forces to fully integrate delivery of antenatal, sexual and reproductive health and HIV services. Let us seize this moment.

Second – we must respect and protect human rights. The social construction of gender will not be solved by services alone. The AIDS movement has used the power of human rights to transform society’s approach to the epidemic.

A key to HIV prevention, and also to achieving gender equality in all aspects of life including care giving, is universal access to sexuality education. Such education provides full and accurate information; it promotes gender equality and respect for human rights. This will help young people develop the skills for mutual consent in sex and marriage and put an end to violence and sexual coercion.

Third, the social revolution calls for a shift in the development agenda – poverty reduction must be accompanied by the growth in dignity and freedom. We need new models of development. Models in which women and men – including those at the margins of society – have greater control over their lives.

I am calling for the “democratization of problem-solving.” Inclusive governance must be constructed from below. And it must pervade all aspects of life. I am talking about placing prevention more firmly in the hands of women. We need wider distribution and use of female condoms.

I agree with Bill Gates that we need new tools that allow women to protect themselves – “a woman should never need her partner’s permission to save her own life.[7]” With more prevention research we can break the backbone of the epidemic.

I am also talking the critical role of boys and men in constructing more caring and compassionate societies. Programmes in different countries demonstrate that men’s attitudes and behaviours can be changed. I intend to make the democratization of problem-solving the signature of my tenure in UNAIDS.

Sharing the burden of caring

I started by sharing my fears that we are losing our caring societies. Community coping mechanisms are increasingly strained and undermined by HIV and the financial crisis. 90-percent of care-giving takes place in our homes and communities. Women provide the lion’s share of this care. Promoting a more equitable sharing of responsibilities between women and men is a practical necessity as well as a matter of rights and justice.

Redistribution of care-giving responsibilities is simply not enough. Women and girls need legislative and judiciary initiatives, policies and community-driven programmes. These are essential to ensure access to economic resources, social protection and safety nets, and access to education, skills training and employment.

We need more coordinated support for women’s groups, community organizations and faith-based initiatives that provide the bulk of care on the front lines of the crisis.

The papers prepared for this fifty-third session outline many practical steps that can be taken.
My sincere appreciation to governments for their work. I thank the ten UNAIDS Cosponsors and UNIFEM for their commitment and contribution. I also thank all civil society partners who are tireless champions in the day to day frontline struggle.

UNAIDS will ensure priority support for country programmes to promote concrete actions to achieve gender equality and protect the rights of girls and women. To do that we will build stronger links and engage consistently with women’s groups.

Join me to unite the women’s and AIDS movements
My friends, I have called for bold, collective action to achieve universal access and to achieve gender equality.

My message and my appeal to you—let us further unite the tremendous power of the women’s movement with the AIDS movement.

Think of what we have done already. Think of the four million people now on treatment.

Think of what we can further achieve if we work closer together.

Can I count on you to be bold, to come together, to achieve universal access and to achieve gender equality?

You can count on me.
Thank you!


Contact: Sophie Barton-Knott | tel. +41 22 791 1697 | bartonknotts@unaids.org
UNAIDS is an innovative joint venture of the United Nations, bringing together the efforts and resources of the UNAIDS Secretariat and ten UN system organizations in the AIDS response. The Secretariat headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland—with staff on the ground in more than 80 countries. Coherent action on AIDS by the UN system is coordinated in countries through UN theme groups, and joint programmes on AIDS. UNAIDS’ Cosponsors include UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank. Visit the UNAIDS Web site at
www.unaids.org
1 Gupta J, Silverman JG, Hemenway D et al. Physical violence against intimate partners and related exposures to violence
among South African men. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2008; 197(6): 511-541
2 Walby S, Allen J. Domestic Violence, sexual assault and stalking: Findings from the British Crime Survey. Home Office
Research Study 276. London, UK: Home Office. March 2004.
3 Decker RM, Seage GR, Raj A, et. al. Mechanisms by which Intimate Partner Violence relates to Women’s HIV Status:
Findings from a national sample of Indian-Wife Dyads. Presentation. Mumbai, India, February 2009.
4 Gulaid, J. Epidemiology of violence against children and young women in Swaziland. UNICEF Presentation to 2nd AARM.
Johannesburg, January, 2009.
5 Sahni M, Verma N, Narula D, et al. Missing Girls in India: Infanticide, Feticide and Made-to-Order Pregnancies? Insights from
Hospital-Based Sex-Ratio-at-Birth over the Last Century. PLoS ONE. 20083(5): e2224. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002224.
6 Ki-Moon B. United Nations Secretary-General Message on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against
Women 25 November 2008. Accessed on 02/03/09 at http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2008/sgsm11942.doc.htm
7 Gates, B. XVI International AIDS Conference Keynote Speech. Toronto, August 13, 2006. Accessed on 02/03/09 at
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/speeches-commentary/Pages/bill-gates-2006-international-aids.aspx

Global: Making health markets work for poor people

2009-03-13

http://www.id21.org/insights/insights76/art00.html

People use a variety of market-based providers of health-related goods and services ranging from highly organised and regulated hospitals and specialist doctors to informal health workers and drug sellers operating outside the legal framework. Many encounters with health workers and suppliers of pharmaceuticals involve a cash payment.

Zimbabwe: Cholera death toll passes 4,000 as fatality rates drop – UN report

2009-03-13

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30126

Zimbabwe’s widespread cholera epidemic has now claimed over 4,000 lives since August, and almost 90,000 people have contracted the deadly disease, according to the latest United Nations report on the outbreak. Some 2,151 new cases of cholera were identified last week, down from 8,000 per week at the at the start of the year, noted the joint UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and World Health Organization (WHO) report.

South Africa: Gangs use rape to "cure" lesbians

2009-03-13

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE52C0GU20090313

Gangs of South African men are raping lesbians in the belief it will "cure" the women's sexual orientation, an aid agency said on Friday. NGO ActionAid said in a report titled "Hate Crimes: the rise of corrective rape in South Africa" lesbians were increasingly at risk of rape, particularly in South African townships where homosexuality is largely taboo.

South Africa: Plot thickens against qwelane

2009-03-13

http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=southafrica&id=2066

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has resolved to represent the case against John Qwelane in the Equality Court. This is subsequent to Qwelane’s July 2008 column which infuriated many gay rights groups where he expressed his sheer hatred of homosexuals saying, among other things, that they are a degradation of values and traditions.

South Africa: Act II of xenophobia waiting in the wings

2009-03-13

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83444

A repeat of the xenophobic violence that swept through South Africa - killing at least 62 people and displacing 100,000 others - will return if the government continues to ignore its origins, says a report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

South Africa: Crisis in land reform: The way out is not complicated

2009-03-13

http://www.sacsis.org.za/site/article/244.1

One thing that almost everyone across the political spectrum can agree on is that land reform in South Africa is in crisis. The pace of transfer is consistently slower than planned for, and much redistributed land is not being used productively. Government policies favour land redistribution, but land use models are not so clearly defined. In the absence of creative thinking about how land can be used, government has defaulted to a position that commercial agriculture is the only viable use for rural land.

South Africa: Government takes over farm

2009-03-13

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE52C0EN20090313

The South African government took over a farm this week for the first time under a controversial new policy of taking back unproductive farms allocated to blacks as part of a land redistribution programme. Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana announced the "use it or lose it" initiative last week for farms which the black beneficiaries have left idle.

Gambia: Adjournment of editor's trial

2009-03-13

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30478

Editor of the daily The Point, Pap Saine, has had two trials in which he is facing charges adjourned to later in the month. In the first, before a court in Kanifing, near Banjul, on a charge of “publication and dissemination of false news”, the judge, Sainabou Wadda-Ceesay, ordered an adjournment until 23 March, because of the need to ensure the charges against the journalist conformed with a 2005 amendment to the criminal code.

Kenya: CPJ calls for investigation into journalist's murder

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/54722

We are writing to express our concern over the lack of progress in the police investigation into the brutal murder of journalist Francis Kainda Nyaruri. In January, the Committee to Protect Journalists urged the police to investigate Nyaruri’s murder, whose slashed and decapitated body was found January 29 in Kodere Forest near his hometown of Nyamira.
Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to express our concern over the lack of progress in the police investigation into the brutal murder of journalist Francis Kainda Nyaruri. In January, the Committee to Protect Journalists urged the police to investigate Nyaruri’s murder, whose slashed and decapitated body was found January 29 in Kodere Forest near his hometown of Nyamira.

Nyaruri was reported missing by his wife, Josephine Kwamboka, after he left his home on January 16 for an errand in Kisii town. Kwamboka spoke to her husband by phone at 11 a.m., and this was the last time anyone heard from him. His family reported his disappearance to the Nyamira police station but a missing persons report was not circulated to other stations or the provincial headquarters, local sources told CPJ.

Nyaruri had written a series of critical articles under the pen name Mong’are Mokua for the private Weekly Citizen about corruption and malpractice by local police and civil servants. The last story Nyaruri wrote before his disappearance implicated local police in a public transportation racket. Two days later, he went missing. A month prior to his disappearance, he had confided to friends and colleagues that he feared for his life after receiving a series of death threats, local journalists and friends told CPJ.

Since individuals within the Nyamira local government may be implicated in this brutal killing, we ask that Parliament put together an independent commission to ensure that there is a transparent investigation. To date, there is little progress in the police investigation and no police statement has been made to update the public regarding the investigation’s status, according to Nyaruri’s relatives and local journalists. Although suspects have reportedly given recorded statements to the Nyamira Police Department, to our knowledge, there are no suspects currently being held for this appalling crime. This lack of progress under Nyanza Provincial Police Officer Anthony Mugo Kiguchi adds to the tarnished image of the Kenyan Police Service, which has faced criticism by several members of your government for a series of extrajudicial killings.

Last month, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Justice Minister Martha Karua spoke out against the extrajudicial killings, and several parliamentarians have demanded the suspension of Police Commissioner Hussein Ali. On February 25, U.N. Special Rapporteur Philip Alston called on your office to remove the police commissioner and attorney general over the wave of alleged arbitrary police killings amid violence after the December 2007 election polls.

The pattern of impunity surrounding the murder of Kenyan journalists and citizens must end. Kenya ’s once vibrant media now often practices self-censorship, as many journalists refrain from reporting on violent attacks for fear of deadly reprisals, local journalists told CPJ.

Journalists must be allowed to carry out their work without fear of attacks from those who are meant to serve the public. We urge you to safeguard the work of journalists by asking Parliament to launch an independent commission of inquiry into the killing of journalist Francis Kainda Nyaruri.



Sincerely,

Joel Simon
Executive Director



CC:

H.E. Raila Amolo Odinga, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya
H.E. Peter Rateng Oginga Ogego, Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to the United States
H.E. Ambassador Zachary Dominic Muburi-Muita Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kenya to the United Nations
H.E. Michael Ranneberger, Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Kenya
Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communications
Ezekiel Mutua, Director of Information and Public Communications
Dennis Onyango, Spokesman for Prime Minister Raila Odinga
Robert Wood, Deputy Spokesman, United States Department of State
Russ Feingold, United States Senator, Chairman of the Subcommittee on African Affairs
Daniel Whitman, Deputy Director, Bureau of African Affairs, United States Department of State
Major General Mohamed Hussein Ali, M.G.H., Commissioner of Police , Kenya
Gitobu Imanyara, Member of Parliament , Kenya
Hanningtone Gaya, Chairman, Media Owners Association, Kenya
David Makali, Director, Media Institute, Kenya
Binaifer Nowrojee, Director, Open Society Institute East Africa
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Amnesty International
Article 19 (United Kingdom)
Artikel 19 (The Netherlands )
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Freedom of Expression and Democracy Unit, UNESCO
Freedom Forum
Freedom House
Human Rights Watch
Index on Censorship
International Center for Journalists
International Federation of Journalists
International PEN
International Press Institute
David J. Kramer, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
The Newspaper Guild
The North American Broadcasters Association
Overseas Press Club

Madagascar: Concern about journalists caught up in turmoil

2009-03-13

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30577

Reporters Without Borders has expressed its renewed concern after five newspapers stopped publishing and several journalists were threatened and physically assaulted during the political upheaval of the past few weeks. The media has become the prisoner of a hostile climate for press freedom since the start of the power struggle between the president, Marc Ravalomanana, and the ousted mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

Namibia: Government tightens screws on media ahead of polls

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/d83f29

The cancellation of a popular phone-in show on Namibia's national broadcaster has raised fears that the ruling party is clamping down on media freedom ahead of national polls this year. Last week Namibia's government broadcaster NBC shut down the morning Chat Show, saying callers deluged it with hate speech and cultural insensitivity.

Swaziland: Columnist criticizes king, gets fined ... in cows

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/d8ycc4

About two weeks ago, traditional authorities in the mountain kingdom of Swaziland slapped the nation's most outspoken political columnist, Mfomfo Nkambule, with a fine--to be paid in cows--for criticism of the administration of King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute ruler.

Zimbabwe: New daily newspaper

2009-03-13

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=5396

Zimbabwe will shortly have a new daily newspaper Mr. Trevor Ncube the chairman of the Zimbabwe Independent and the Standard newspapers announced this week. The paper to be called NewsDay will be published everyday except Sunday. The company’s other titles namely the Zimbabwe Independent and the Standard will continue to be published as at present on a Friday and Sunday.

CAR: Inclusive talks could lead to peace consolidation – UN

2009-03-13

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30146

Recent long-awaited multi-party talks in the Central African Republic (CAR) have provided a window of opportunity to make strides towards consolidating peace in the land-locked nation, a top United Nations envoy told the Security Council today. François Lonsény Fall, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, said that last December’s successful talks held in the capital, Bangui, were a result of two years of “tremendous effort” by various actors, both national – including representatives of the Government, opposition and civil society – and international.

Global: Rule-of-Law tools for post-conflict states

2009-03-13

http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3097

How can the international community help to bolster the rule of law in post-conflict states? This Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report argues that hybrid courts can have a positive impact on the domestic justice system of post-conflict states. If used effectively, the opportunity afforded by the establishment of hybrid courts can act as a catalyst for change in legal institutions and culture.

Madagascar: Mutineers 'move tanks'

2009-03-13

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7941238.stm

Dissident troops in Madagascar say they have moved tanks into the capital amid a violent power struggle between the president and opposition leader. President Marc Ravalomanana issued a radio appeal urging civilians to help defend the presidential palace.

Nigeria: Private Military Companies in the Niger Delta

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/54807

Delta is now awash with British and American private military companies (PMCs) engaged in security services for their clients in the oil and gas industry, is particularly chilling. The story titled The mercenaries take over and published on February 22, says no fewer than 10 such companies, prominent among them Control Risk—which has on its payroll the former body guard of Diana, the late Princess of Wales, Erinys International and ArmorGroup, currently operate in the restive Niger Delta, some through spurious partnerships with local companies.
Enter the PMCs in Niger Delta?
By Tony Iyare
Recent report by the highly investigative newspaper, Next on Sunday that the Niger Delta is now awash with British and American private military companies (PMCs) engaged in security services for their clients in the oil and gas industry, is particularly chilling.
The story titled The mercenaries take over and published on February 22, says no fewer than 10 such companies, prominent among them Control Risk—which has on its payroll the former body guard of Diana, the late Princess of Wales, Erinys International and ArmorGroup, currently operate in the restive Niger Delta, some through spurious partnerships with local companies.

That this practice which runs against the grain of the country’s laws that negates the operation of foreign security and para-military force, holds a looming disaster for the raging crisis in the Niger Delta, is worrying. It also evokes a disturbing picture of an imminent cataclysm in a region now credited with one of the largest concentration of small arms in the world.
With the resolve of President Barack Obama to finally bring the false security-induced Gulf War 11 to a close with the planned phased withdrawal of American soldiers, the possibility of more PMCs drifting to a new gold mine here as Iraq winds down appears frightening.
A great deal of the trillion of dollars expended in Iraq where $10 billion was spent monthly was savoured by the PMCs hired for counter insurgency, counter terrorism, intelligence gathering, private security and sometimes open combat operations.
Private Military Firms (PMFs) present a more edifying name for mercenary armies whose feverish need to rebrand their insipid role, is what has propelled their latest rebirth as PMCs or PMFs.


Essentially, PMFs offer to assist in everything from combat operations and strategic planning to intelligence support and troop training. They sell the service side of war as opposed to manufacturing the weapons of war.


PMFs range from small consulting firms that offer the advice of retired generals to transnational corporations that lease out battalions of commandos. They number several hundreds around the globe, have earned a combined annual global revenue of as much as $120 billion and have operated in more than 50 countries since the industry’s rise in the early 1990s.


The image of mercenaries and hired guns in many conflicts in Africa since the Congolese war of 1960 has been inglorious. From the Great Lakes to the Mano River where Executive Outcomes (EO), Sandline International and their ubiquitous mining concerns have ripped off the rich mineral resources of the continent, the people of those regions have been further impoverished.

As soldiers of fortune, their itchy role to undermine the stability of many countries in Africa can be gleaned from their infamous activities in the Congo, Angola, Sierra Leone and Liberia where they were freely hired by both state and non state actors. Given their ignominous role in iraq where the US has been involved in a war since 2003, it would be unthinkable to expect the PMCs to be clad in a new image in the Niger Delta.

While the Spokesman of the Defense Headquarters, Col Christopher Jemitola and his counterpart for the Joint Task Force (JTF), Col Musa Sagir, deny any knowledge of the existence of such a force, analysts anchor some of the major routing of the militants by the JTF to the supportive role of the PMCs.

It may not be too clear in what way the PMCs have been culpable in the series of JTF indiscriminate attacks by helicopter gunships which has virtually reduced some Niger Delta communities to rubble, but the series of violations cast on US soldiers in Iraq were actually carried out by PMCs numbering about 30,000 which represents their greatest involvement in any war.

Apart from their sordid role in the looting of choice artefacts and ferreting of billions of dollars from Iraqi banks, notable PMCs like CACI and Titan translators were indicted over gross human rights abuses in Abu Ghraib. United States Army investigations into the Abu Ghraib scandal found that employees of CACI and Titan participated actively in the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

A report by Army Major General George R. Fay says that a translator for Titan raped a young man. Another report by Major General Antonio Taguba also indicted a Titan contractor for advising the military police to use interrogation techniques that “equated to physical abuse.”

Other PMCs like the Blackwater forces whose personel were indicted for brute force even in the US where they were hired to maintain security in New Orleans after the destruction wrought by hurricane Katrina, were deeply involved in rights violations in Al Fallujah while Hallibuton was also guilty of over invoicing.

Although U.S. military personnel charged with abuses were court-martialled, none of the military contractors were charged. Before sovereignty was returned to Iraq on June 30, 2004, U.S. Administrator L. Paul Bremer III curiously declared contractors “immune from the Iraqi legal process..”

The neo liberal argument for privatising security and hiring the PMCs to end the various theater of operations in Africa has been hinged on efficiency and cost. Another view for contracting the PMCs for peace keeping roles is stengthened by the increasing lethargy by many Western countries to heed the UN call to contribute troops particularly to raging flashpoints on the continent.

A prominent example always bandied to underscore efficiency and cost is the clinical role of the EO which was hired by the Strasser government in March 1995 for $36 million to flush out rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) from Freetown, Sierra Leone. This is usually weighed against the huge cost of maintaining the UN Peace Keeping Force to that country, UNAMSIL. Faced with increasing hostility from UNITA which then controlled 85 per cent of the countryside, the MPLA government in Angola also engaged EO for $40 million in September 1993 and recorded significant mileage in its war against the rebel army. That explains why there has been a heightening call to contract the PMCs for $750 million to end all wars in Africa.

But this position is often times simplistic and reductionist. Apart from the ethical and moral crises evoked by hiring a mecenary army, it is not completely true that they are cost efficient. For instance the cost of engaging DyneCorp for counter insurgency in Columbia was found to be higher than the cost of using the US Army for similar operation.

The more fundamentally critical view is the possiblity of the mecenary army casting in shreds the national sovereignty of the contracting country and circumscribing its independence. We must be wary to barter what remains of the semblance of the country’s independence on the alter of privatising security.
Regulating the role of the PMCs which have the reputation of deploying quickly with proven military skills, has been problematic globally. They can neither be treated as prisoners of war (POW) under the Geneva Convention nor indicted at the International Criminal Court (ICC)..

Apart from South Africa which under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act took stern action that led to the relocation of EO’s headquarters, other countries have merely treated the nefarious activities of mercenary armies with kid gloves.

In the US, even the activities of the PMCs which carries less political baggage and are unaccountable, are not covered under the Freedom of Information Act. It is intriguing therefore whether Nigeria is not too enfeebled to regulate the mushrooming of the PMCs in the oil rich Niger Delta.

While understanding the need to stabilise the region now characterised with hijacking, gang wars and bunkering for oil production, the country’s economic mainstay, we may be threading on a minefield by contracting the PMCs to guarantee security.

It merely reinforces the paranoid that the problem of the Niger Delta is that of maintaining “law and order” rather than accelerating the pace of infrastructural development, to engender massive jobs and replace the pervading gloom in the region.

The issue of privatising security and prunning the size of the military has been a sore point. It struck a controversial tone for the retirement of former Chief of Army Staff, General Victor Malu who was piqued over the hiring of the Military Professionals Resources Initiatve (MPRI) the Virgina, USA based PMC which specialises in training to restructure the Nigerian military.

Discarding the heroic popular rage against the involvement of foreign forces in domestic squabble evinced by the upturn of the planned Anglo-Nigeria Defense Pact in 1960, the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo contracted the MPRI to conduct rudimentary training of the country’s military which Malu found awry.

That the Americans had no record of any successful peace keeping role as against the Nigerian military that has demonstrated its prowess since the 1960 crisis in the Congo, was lost on Obasanjo.

The “dial an army” image of the PMCs, which are out to fight for you
only because of the desire to reap from your hard earned dollars is
odious. The patronage of mercenary army has imperilled many nations
almost throughout history. Writing on the evil effect of mercenary
armies in The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli says,

Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous. If a prince bases the defence of his state on mercenaries, he will never achieve stability or security. For mercenaries are disunited, thirsty for power, undisciplined, and disloyal; they are brave among their friends and cowards before the enemy.
Although Machiavelli died in 1527, his prosaic thoughts on mercenary army, is still relevant today.

Iyare is a journalist and public affairs analyst.

Sudan: Al-Bashir - Fresh vista of a protracted war

2009-03-13

http://allafrica.com/stories/200903110533.html

When Manuel Noriega of Panama, was captured by a contingent of U.S. soldiers in 1989, the world was literally shaken from the heat it generated. Noriega, was then sitting President of Panama, one of the Latin American countries, known more for its drug-related image than many other things. In fact, his abduction and subsequent trial in America, was on account of this. But what seemed to make the most news was not the drug angle, but the fact that a sitting leader of a sovereign country, could be uprooted from his country and taken away in that fashion. However America, has since shown it is possible.

Sudan: Concern over abducted aid workers

2009-03-13

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30172

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he is deeply concerned at the recent kidnapping of humanitarian workers in Darfur, and once again called on the Sudanese Government to reverse its decision last week to expel 13 major aid groups. Last night five staff members of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Médecins Sans Frontières/Belgium – three internationals and two Sudanese nationals – were abducted by armed men from their office in North Darfur.

Sudan: Dire consequences after aid agencies expels

2009-03-13

http://www.theirc.org/news/dire-consequences-after-sudan0305.html

The mass expulsion of humanitarian aid organizations from Darfur is having immediate and alarming consequences, with thousands of people already being denied critical health services. The government of Sudan terminated work licenses of the International Rescue Committee and 12 other international aid groups in Darfur yesterday and today, decimating the relief effort in a region where more than two million people remain displaced and dependent on foreign assistance.

Africa: Africa 24 Media launches Stills Archive

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/54786

A24 Media has announced the launch of its much‐anticipated online stills collection, which contains some of the best photographic collections in Africa, digitised for the first time. The collection charts the past 50 years of the continent’s history, and features never‐before‐seen work from world‐renowned photographers Mohamed Amin and Duncan Willetts. With images available online; the collection is diverse in content, capturing images ranging from wildlife, culture, sports and portraits from the Maasai of Kenya even to iconic images of the late John F. Kennedy of the USA.
A24 Media has announced the launch of its much‐anticipated online stills collection, which contains some of the best photographic collections in Africa, digitised for the first time. The collection charts the past 50 years of the continent’s history, and features never‐before‐seen work from world‐renowned photographers Mohamed Amin and Duncan Willetts. With images available online; the collection is diverse in content, capturing images ranging from wildlife, culture, sports and portraits from the Maasai of Kenya even to iconic images of the late John F. Kennedy of the USA.

The collection, which has taken 3 years to digitise, will provide a valuable platform to journalists and organisations who wish to showcase their work in order to find new markets for their stills. The company anticipates positive uptake locally and internationally as the diverse images are relevant to collectors and businesses, individuals, media houses, publishers, advertisers, government agencies, educational institutions and even museums.
Speaking at the launch was friend and colleague of the late Mo Amin and veteran photographer, Duncan Willetts, A24 Media’s Editorial Director, Photography. Duncan expressed his delight saying, “The collection as it now stands contains a wealth of images from the continent that have been well-preserved and will now be accessible for generation after generation. I believe Mo would have been pleased to see his work brought to life.”

Also speaking during the launch was Joseph Munga, A24 Media’s Editor‐in‐Chief, Stills, who remarked “Through A24 Media’s stills collection the world finally gets to see this beautiful continent through our lens! It takes A24 Media to the next level and enables us to take our vision into the future by raising a new generation of African photographers. We are using new technology to give them a unique opportunity to express themselves and to share their stories with the world.”

Munga’s passion for photography dates back to his days as a student at Mo Force (the Mohamed Amin Foundation training centre). He sees a natural harmony between technology and photography, not only for delivery of content from the continent, but also as a channel for telling stories in new and unique ways on multimedia platforms. The stills collection also contains photo essays on a multimedia platform which blend stills, text and sound in innovative and emotive style.

This new way of storytelling takes the African tradition bang up to date and would be ideal for museums, educational institutions and custodians of culture across the world looking for a fresh and compelling way to engage their audiences.

A24 Media was conceived in order to enable Africans to tell their stories to the world from an African perspective, and also serves as a much needed online archive, collating and storing African stories and finally making them accessible globally, in real time, in order to preserve the rich heritage of a continent whose stories which are in danger of being lost forever.
The stills collection can be viewed on www.a24media.com under the ‘African Photography’ link.


About A24 Media
A24 Media is Africa’s first online delivery site for material from journalists, African broadcasters and NGO’s from around the Continent. A24 Media’s business model ensures that all contributors receive a wide and previously unknown exposure to their content, thereby generating sustainable and generous revenues from the sale of their stories on a 60:40 basis in favour of the contributor.
Most importantly, the contributor will continue to OWN the copyright of the original footage.

Content generators from around Africa will send their material to our main office in Nairobi where it will be verified and re‐edited as necessary to create a slick, marketable and branded story.

A unique and easily navigable system has been developed to allow broadcasters to view and purchase high‐quality video for broadcast on their TV Channels. This enhances their ability to continue sending high‐quality content to us and to reach a global audience with their stories… An African Voice telling the African Story.

Notes to Editors:
To set up interviews with A24 Media’s Salim Amin ‐ Chairman and Founder or Asif Sheikh – CEO and Founder, please contact Hajila Komora, hkomora@africapractice.com +254 20 239 6898/9
For further information on how to get involved with A24 Media please contact
Salim Amin, salim@a24media.com +254 733 513 924
or
Asif Sheikh, asif@a24media.com +254 735 967 402
For access to the stories and more information on an African voice telling the African story, visit
www.a24media.com

Africa: African governments support equitable access for all

2009-03-13

http://info-society.apkn.org/declaration/final-declaration

Representatives from 29 different African parliaments met last week in Kigali to reaffirm that “equitable access to information is a right for all” and urge governments to enact laws that promote access to information, knowledge and communication for all citizens. Traditionally seen as civil and political rights, information rights are now becoming acknowledged as rights that are also social and economic, said APC’s Anriette Esterhuysen in her presentation which was framed by APC’s internet rights charter. The charter has just been translated into its twentieth language, Esperanto.

Africa: New e-commerce system for the 3rd World

2009-03-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/54728

A radically different website is launched this week – ec3wd.com is conceived, designed, funded, written and implemented by a Scottish software developer based in Zimbabwe – Alex Weir. The intention of this site is to stimulate economic development in the Third World – the timing may be fortuitous, since the whole Global Economy is greatly in need of stimulation...
A radically different website is launched this week – ec3wd.com is conceived, designed, funded, written and implemented by a Scottish software developer based in Zimbabwe – Alex Weir. The intention of this site is to stimulate economic development in the Third World – the timing may be fortuitous, since the whole Global Economy is greatly in need of stimulation...

In fact, the site is not restricted to the Third World – individuals, companies and organisations from every country are eligible to use ec3wd.

What does the site do? What doesn’t it do is a better question. It is a submit-and-search site which encompasses Resumes (CV’s), Job Advertisements, classified adverts (all categories), domestic and foreign investment and projects, volunteers, tourism, events, downloads, e-books, educational material etc.. The whole concept and implementation is professional and hard-headed – there is no amateur woolly-thinking do-gooder weakness here.

Usage of the site is free to everyone – both material submitters and searchers. There are no restrictions to entry and no registration procedure. The site is funded by advertising (done discretely by Google adsense).

The site is not restricted to the English Language – it operates in every language in the world – because of this, Weir expects a lot of activity from Arabic countries, from China, from Russia, from South America and from the Francophone area.

It also accepts adverts via SMS/text message, which is pervasive throughout the third world as well as being a very used medium in the West. The more conventional interface of the site is webpage through PC or through mobile phone.

Searches can be extremely localised or can be global, or anything in between. Searching is done by piggy-backing on Google – the interface does some smart things to make the use of advanced Google searching completely simple.
Weir expects exponential growth of ec3wd, and has strategies for handling traffic if the takeoff is even faster than he anticipates.

The site is hosted in the USA, so don’t expect any Zimbabwean-style response times or outages.

Ec3wd stands for E-Commerce 3rd World.

Africa: Pan African alliance on E-commerce to be launched

2009-03-13

http://www.afrol.com/articles/32673

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is to launch the Pan African Alliance on E-Commerce to intensify cooperation and initiate common projects of interest in African countries, as part of a two-day workshop on Trade Facilitation and Aid for Trade which ends in Addis Ababa today.

Global: A Handbook for Civil Society

2009-03-13

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/AboutUs/Pages/NgoHandbook.aspx

Working with the United Nations Human Rights Programme: A Handbook for Civil Society is a new, user-friendly and authoritative publication on United Nations human rights bodies and mechanisms – explaining how they work and exploring the many important ways that civil society actors including NGOs can contribute to their work.

Kenya: The Kenya Indexing Project

2009-03-13

http://indexkenya.org/default.asp

Indexkenya.org is an online index of articles published in Nairobi newspapers. The focus of the articles indexed includes culture, law/governance, reproductive health, and other topics about which information is difficult to obtain. The index will ultimately include details of articles published since 1980. The actual content of an article is not provided, rather online citations describing the articles. Hard copy of any article indexed can be ordered directly from the Kenya Indexing Project. This database will be updated on a regular basis.

Africa: CODESRIA: Democratic Governance Institute 2009

Security compani es and Democratic Governance in Africa

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/54776

The CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute is an interdisciplinary forum which brings together African scholars undertaking innovative research on topics related to the broad theme of governance. The aim of the Institute is to promote research and debates on issues connected to the conduct of public affairs and the management of the development process in Africa. The Institute was launched in 1992 and has been held every year since then in Dakar, Senegal.
CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute

Theme: Security companies and Democratic Governance in Africa

Date: 03 -28 August, 2009

Venue: Dakar, Senegal

Call for applications for the 2009 Session

The CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute is an interdisciplinary forum which brings together African scholars undertaking innovative research on topics related to the broad theme of governance. The aim of the Institute is to promote research and debates on issues connected to the conduct of public affairs and the management of the development process in Africa. The Institute was launched in 1992 and has been held every year since then in Dakar, Senegal. It serves the critical function of forging links among a younger generation of African scholars and intellectuals by meeting their scientific needs in terms of access to recent documentation, participation in current debates, retooling of their research capacities and the updating of their conceptual, theoretical and methodological approaches. Increasingly, the Institute appeals to the interests of African policy intellectuals and civil society activists as well, thereby allowing a judicious mix of researchers, activities and policy makers to be achieved in the admission of participants. In general, a total of 15 African scholars from across the continent and the Diaspora and a few non-African scholars participate in the Institute each year.

Objectives

The main objectives of the Governance Institute are to:

1. encourage the sharing of experiences among researchers, activists and policy makers from different disciplines , methodological and conceptual orientations and geographical/linguistic zones on a common theme over an extended period of time;

2. promote and enhance a culture of democratic values that allows Africans to effectively identify and tackle governance issues confronting their continent; and

3. foster the participation of scholars in discussions and debates about the processes of democratization taking place in Africa.

Organisation

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

The 2009 Session: Security Companies and Democratic Governance in Africa

One key manifestation of the crisis of governance in Africa is the rise of insecurity, not only of the state but also of ordinary life in cities, on interstate highways and in the countrysides of some countries.

Although the state of human security is already now a subject of extensive research, very little is known about the evolution, growth and impact of security companies on democratic governance in Africa. The absence of a coherent and systematic body of knowledge on this sector is a major limitation to understanding the current and changing nature of state power as it impacts on populations in various African urban areas.

The issue of individual, household, community and national security in Africa is increasingly gaining currency because of a number of reasons. The perceived illegitimacy of some African governments, combined with widening gaps between the rich and poor, high unemployment rates , declining quality of educational institutions and the continuous scramble for scarce resources, has led to an increase in individual and household insecurity in most African urban areas. The search for domestic security is reflected in the increased fortification of wealthy houses by electric fences, walled and gated communities as well as neighborhood watches, community vigilante groups and armed guards. Where households can not afford to pay for sophisticated security, at the very least, burglar bars are installed on windows and voluntary neighborhood watches are established. All these activities, fed by real and imagined fears of familial and bodily harm, and the loss of domestic goods, are a response to increased insecurity.

There is evidence to suggest that IMF and World Bank Structural Adjustment programmes have created loopholes which have allowed many African governments to abdicate the role of caring for, and protecting citizens, leaving “free market forces” and private companies to fill the gap. Whether this privatization of security has led to a reduction in the size of police forces is unclear, but it has opened up areas in security provision that used to be the purview of the police. Most of these private security companies are run by former and retired police officers who have the technical know how.

Various armed struggles and civil strife have left large caches of arms in many African countries. A lucrative market in the selling and buying of arms has resulted, which provides both a threat and an opportunity for those in the business of providing security. Whether it is matter of a demand for security calling for the supply of arms, or rather a demand for security deliberately created to absorb a supply of arms, remains to be seen. In addition, the end of armed struggle or civil unrest in post – conflict states, also means that there are a large number of people with military skills in need of employment; who can easily be absorbed by security companies.

The relative demise of old forms of militarism in the forms of coups and military governance has not been replaced by the long awaited peace dividend. Instead, there has been a new military politics characterized by privatized violence, global security companies and armed conflict.

Under the Bush administration, the United States has used the guise of global democracy to enforce its National Security policy and strategy across the globe, and particularly in Africa and the Middle East. 9/11 resulted in such measures as facial and ethnic “profiling”, intrusive and intensified searches at airports and ever expanding lists of banned substances on flights, in the search for “terrorists”. Most of these security measures meant very little for the African continent but were imposed nevertheless. America’s globalised insecurities created an atmosphere of insecurity in Africa.

There is a lot of money involved in the business of providing security. Not only does good security not come cheap, but individuals pay double for the service, first in the form of taxes to purchase security services that are never provided by governments, then secondly by paying directly to the security companies. The fundamental questions that need to be addressed by this Institute are; - who gains from Africa’s increasing insecurity? (Globally locally); what is gained?

Who gains from the activities of security companies? (Globally, locally); who controls them?

But to get to these seemingly obvious questions, one needs to address a few other basic questions:

1. Is the private provisioning of security services an asset or a liability for governance and democracy in Africa?

2. What are the different types of security companies operating in different African countries? Who owns these companies? Who funds their activities? Who are the clientele? Security companies are not homogenous and may include a whole range of companies from the basic uniformed guard with only a baton stick to an armored car with heavy weapons. There are different types of security, including domestic security, industrial security, state security; and the protection of civilians.

3. A look at the evolution and growth of security companies-are security companies increasingly gaining hold in the provision of security in various African countries?

4. What factors may explain the growing insecurity in African urban areas?

5. What is the relationship between private security companies and state security organs such as the police, national armies and paramilitary and other government institutions?

6. In what ways do various governments use security companies to further strengthen and entrench their power and control over ordinary people?

7. Exploring the links between security companies and democratic governance in Africa. In particular, do the internal structures, personnel, and operations of security companies encourage or inhibit democracy?

8. Globalization and security companies in Africa.

9. What is the relationship between private security and good or bad political and financial governance and accountability in Africa?

10. How do security companies protect their individual, corporate or national clients from armed state or non- state actors?

The focus on security companies offers chances to explore the shift from blatant militarization to more subtle methodologies of exercise of state power and control. In some cases, however, there may be an adversarial or competitive relationship between security organizations and governments, and/or regional organizations, and it is useful to be aware of these tensions. It also brings into focus the dangers of accepting global rhetoric like democracy, human rights, international security without understanding the dominant hegemonic forces that drive these seemingly innocent concepts. Domestic/household security and the threat of bodily harm can be used by African governments to exploit the basic fears of their own people. If governments can not provide something as basic as security for their own people, it becomes questionable what role they actually play.

The Director

For every session of its various institutes, CODESRIA appoints an external scholar with a proven track-record of quality work to provide intellectual leadership. Directors are senior scholars known for their expertise on the topic of the Institute and originality of their thinking on it. They are recruited on the basis of a proposal which they submit and which contains a detailed course outline covering methodological issues and approaches ; key concepts integral to an understanding of the objectives of a particular Institute, and the specific theme that will be focused upon; a thorough review of the literature; a discussion of various subthemes, case studies and comparative examples relevant to the theme of the particular Institute they are applying to lead; and possible policy questions that are worth keeping in mind during the entire research process. Candidates for the position of Director should also note that if their application is successful, they will be asked to:

- identify resource persons to help lead discussions and debates;

- participate in the selection of laureates;

- design the course for the session, including the specific sub-themes

- deliver a set of lectures and provide a critique of the papers presented by the resource persons or laureates;

- Submit a written scientific report on the session.

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

Resource Persons

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

Once selected, resource persons will be expected to:

- submit a copy of their lectures for reproduction and distribution to participants not later than on week before the lecture begins;

- deliver their lectures, participate in debates and comment on the research proposals of laureates;

- Review and submit the revised version of their research papers for consideration for publication by CODESRIA not later than two months following their presentations.

Laureates

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

Applications

Applicants for the position of Director should submit the following:

1. an application letter

2. a proposal, not more than 15 pages in length indicating the course outline and showing in what ways the course would be original and responsive to the needs of the prospective laureates, specifically focusing on the issues to be covered from the point of view of concepts and methodology, a critical review of the literature and the range of issues arising from the theme of the Institute;

3. a detailed and up to date curriculum vitae

4. Three writing samples.

Applications for the position of Resource Persons should include:

1. an application letter;

2. two writing samples;

3. a curriculum vitae;

4. a proposal of not more that five (5) pages in length, out lining the issues to be covered in their proposed lecture.

Applications for Laureates should include;

1. an application letter;

2. a letter indicating institutions or organizational affiliation;

3. a curriculum vitae;

4. a research proposal (two copies and not more than 10 pages) including a descriptive analysis of the work the applicant intends to undertake, an outline of the theoretical interest of the topic chosen by the applicant, the relationship of the topic to the problematic and concerns of the theme of the 2009 Institute and

5. two reference letters from scholars and/or researchers known for their competence and expertise in the candidate’s research area (geographic and disciplinary), including their names, addresses and telephone, email and fax numbers.



An independent committee composed of outstanding African social science researchers will select the candidates to be admitted to the Institute.

The deadline for the submission of applications is set for 31st May, 2009. The Institute will be held in Dakar, Senegal from the 03- 28 August, 2009.

All applications or requests for further information should be addressed to:



CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute

Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop x Canal IV

BP 3304, CP 18524,

Dakar, Senegal.

Tel: (221) 33 825 98 21/22/23

Fax : (221) 33 824 12 89.

Email: governance.institute@codesria.sn

Website: http://www.codesria.org

Africa: Julius Nyerere Intellectual Festival week

2009-03-13

http://tinyurl.com/bxvdrx

Plans for the JULIUS NYERERE INTELLECTUAL FESTIVAL WEEK April 13th to 17th, 2009 have now been finalised. We are expecting some 35 guests from outside, including, hopefully, Frantz Fanon’s son, Olivier, and Kwame Nkrumah’s son, Gamal. Professor Wole Soyinka will deliver the inaugural Nyerere Annual Lectures, 2009. A strong delegation from our pan-African research organisation CODESRIA is expected.

Kenya: Kenya Gender Festival

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/54794

The Gender Festival is an open forum that brings together feminist and gender-focused groups, other civil society organizations/institutions, activists and other development actors working at various levels. These organizations reflect, share experiences, build capacity, strategize and plan collectively. This has also served as a networking forum for stakeholders in and out of the host country on the questions of gender, gender equality, feminism, sexuality and the intersections between these and power (both public and private).
2009 Kenya Gender Festival

Concept Note

Introduction
African women have been on the forefront of the struggle for equality, justice, peace and development even before the onset of colonialism. While women desire their personal liberation, they see that as part of the total liberation movement. Although there is no doubt that the overt leadership has been dominated by men, the seemingly unacknowledged and informal segment of society controlled by women has been the key to many of the most significant mass movements in most modern African states. It is only in the very recent past that the crucial role played by women in reproductive, communal and productive roles has become recognized and law reforms, which can actualize women’s participation in the productive and consequently decision making positions have been pursued.

Women’s participation and representation in frontline of democracy and peace processes is critical. In order for women to influence decisions that influence their lives and those of their families, their political social and economic empowerment must form part of democratic ideals that contribute to sustainable development. This cannot be achieved without their participation, as they constitute more than half the population. Democracy, peace and development thus need to reinforce goals essential to achievement of the gender equality.
Justification for the Gender Festival

As mentioned above, women all over the world are engaged in a genuine struggle. Examples include; the struggle to get their space in fair education, their voices in decision making, in health, and reproductive rights, in economic empowerment, in employment, the struggle against all sorts of injustice, against gender based violence that leaves behind the unforgettable painful mark1. In Kenya for example, the post election crisis in 2007 witnessed an increase in gender-based violence specifically and systematically targeted at women. These included targeted at women in violence meted on women in and out of the camps.

Over the past decade, international commitments to gender equality, equity and women’s empowerment have been reaffirmed in different UN conferences, and efforts to promote the same has gained momentum on several fronts in the African continent, beyond and even closer home. However, initiatives aimed at providing places and spaces for reflection and action on concepts of gender, feminism, sexuality and equality are few.

One such event that has responded to this need is the bi-annual Tanzania Gender Festival that is implemented by the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) and FEMACT. The event, initiated in 1996 creates space for women to share their experiences and gains in the women’s rights discourse.

After attending the 8th Tanzanian gender festival in 2007, Kenyan organizations promoting the advancement of women rights in Kenya were inspired by this model and saw the need to have a similar forum replicated here in Kenya. These organizations included the Daughters of Mumbi and the Kenya Human Rights Commission among others. Such a forum provides an opportunity to mainstream women rights issues through gender responsive program intervention and institutionalization.

The Kenya Gender Festival 2009

The Gender Festival is an open forum that brings together feminist and gender-focused groups, other civil society organizations/institutions, activists and other development actors working at various levels. These organizations reflect, share experiences, build capacity, strategize and plan collectively. This has also served as a networking forum for stakeholders in and out of the host country on the questions of gender, gender equality, feminism, sexuality and the intersections between these and power (both public and private).

The envisaged gender festival aims to provide a platform for different feminist and women organizations and coalitions, to pull their efforts together to highlight gender issues in Kenya and specifically as brought out in the post election scenario. Sentiments have been expressed that the events marking pre, during and post 2007 election in Kenya has brought to right the existing polarization not only in the country but also within the women movement and where there exists need to speak with one voice, for pulling together rather than pulling at each other. Also, the festival will provide an opportunity for different organizations to glean of and consolidate the gains made by past and present activities the women’s movement in Kenya. The women's movement could support to work in solidarity with the people, to address pressing needs so that they can participate and contribute effectively in their own welfare.

The overarching theme of the gender festival is “Celebrate Diversity and Promote Gender Equality”. The gender festival is also organized alongside sub-themes upon which various participating organizations can anchor their particular activities upon and in relation to their areas of expertise. The sub-themes include

* Healing, peace building and unity;
* Women’s movement-building in a diverse society;
* Men for cultural diversity and gender equality.



The festival will is a platform for:

* Networking nationally, regionally and internationally
* Stocktaking of the Women’s Movement
* Influencing National Policy
* Celebrating Women’s Gains (creatively and diversely)
* Identifying Gaps and Challenges



In a nutshell, the festival is organized towards interrogation of activities or responses of the women’s movement to certain issues; identification of best practises through the use of successful case studies; strengthening linkages between activities and responses of the women’s movement to various legal and policy frameworks dealing with women’s and human rights. Lastly the festival aims to increase accountability of the movement and its duty bearers.

Gender Festival Planning:

The Gender Festival is open to all interested organizations, institutions and individuals. Participants will take part in the event either as facilitators and presenters of workshops, exhibitors or active participants in the same. The event gives a broad spectrum of stakeholders within the civil society and government to come together, to chart out a gender transformative agenda in an organized and coordinated fashion. The forum enables gender/feminist activists and allies in civil society to advance an independent development agenda that meets the needs of marginalized groups within and beyond the country. It will also develop strategies of greater engagement of government institutions and donor agencies.

The Gender Festival is being coordinated by a group of feminist networks, women and human rights organizations. Organizations bring together issues of concern for women's movements, with a view to focus on critical analyses and diverse feminist strategies, under the overall theme. Also, other organizations interested in organizing breakaway / separate forums during the festival will cater for their logistical issues towards the same. The host organization for the 2009 Gender Festival is the Federation of Women Lawyers Kenya (FIDA Kenya).

Post Gender Festival activities:

Evaluation activities aimed at self-evaluation has been planned following the gender festival. This is to ensure feedback on whether set objective/ goals were achieved. This process is useful to inform future planning processes regarding the Gender Festival. Specific workshops and budget reports will be shared as part of the whole process.

Proposed dates

The set dates for the event are April 15-17, 2009

Venue

The Vice Chancellor’s Court- University of Nairobi’s graduation square.



Proposal Format* – Submission Deadline: March, 17, 2009

Daily Sub-themes (Please tick one):

(Day 1) - Healing, Peace-building and Unity
(Day 2) – Women’s Movement Building in a Diverse Society
(Day 3) - Men For Gender Equality

Title of presentation: _________________________________________________________________

Presenters (names of individuals or organizations): ___________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Contact Person: ___________________________________________________________________

Affiliation: ________________________________________________________________________

Contact Information: _______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

Telephone: ______________________________________________________________________

Email: ____________________ ____________________ Website: ___________________________

Length of presentation: ____________________ Language/s of presentation: _________________

Will you provide translation?: Yes____________________ No_____________________________

Brief description (* Please use provided space only.)

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________



Multiple submissions are welcome; each submission must have separate proposal. Cooperative/joint proposals by multiple organizations/networks will receive preference.

Mozambique: Development Failure or Donor Success?

Tuesday 7 April 2009 16:30 to 17:30 - Chatham House, London

2009-03-13

http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/events/view/-/id/1074/

With an annual growth of 7%, substantial foreign investment, and rapid expansion of education, Mozambique is often billed by donors as a development success. But in a new book, Do Bicycles Equal Development in Mozambique?, Joseph Hanlon and Teresa Smart argue that poverty is increasing and that a development model based on neo-liberalism and the Millennium Development Goals has failed.

South Africa: Empires, Nations and the Third World

02 April 2009

2009-03-13

http://www.hsrc.ac.za/HSRC-Seminar-310.phtml

The decolonisation of Africa from the 1950s saw the irruption on the world stage of multiple, new nation-states. Between 1951 (Libyan independence) and 1994 (the end of apartheid in South Africa), 50 states emerged. Most dramatic were the months between January 1960 and November of the same year. In eleven months, 17 new states. By the end of 1962, France's African Empire was in tatters.

South Africa: Pro-Bono Director - SACICC

2009-03-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/54793

The South African Coalition for the International Criminal Court (SACICC) was established in 2000 as a collective of volunteers who came together to promote ratification and implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in South Africa. Since South Africa enacted implementation legislation in 2002, SACICC has remained largely inactive. However, there is a growing need for expansion of ratification and particularly implementation within SADC. SACICC has been re-activated and is looking for a Pro Bono Director to lead the way.
The South African Coalition for the International Criminal Court (SACICC) was established in 2000 as a collective of volunteers who came together to promote ratification and implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in South Africa. Since South Africa enacted implementation legislation in 2002, SACICC has remained largely inactive. However, there is a growing need for expansion of ratification and particularly implementation within SADC. Also, there is a need for African support for a strong, independent and fair ICC with universal jurisdiction. Furthermore, Africa needs to enhance its articulation of informed critique of the ICC and to provide indigenous research on ICC issues which impact on Africa. There is also a need for the establishment of an African cadre of professional human rights investigators, monitors and reporters. For these reasons, SACICC has been re-activated and is looking for a Pro Bono Director to lead the way. We are therefore looking for a unique and dynamic individual, eager to take SACICC and form and shape it with energy, commitment, enthusiasm and vision. While the position is on a pro bono basis, we do not have expectations that all of the responsibilities enumerated below will be met. However, we are hopeful that the successful applicant will be able to bring strategic direction and mobilise sufficient resources to fulfill all of SACICC' short-term and long-term expectations.

POSITION:

Pro Bono Director of the South African Coalition for the International Criminal Court

LOCATION:

At this point the person could be based anywhere, working out of a 'virtual office' and on a flexible time commitment basis. The position is pro bono until the person can attract the necessary funding to sustain the organisation, and then relocate to South Africa or the SADC region

QUALIFICATIONS AND PRIOR EXPERIENCE:

The applicant must speak, read and write French and English. Spanish would be an advantage. Proficiency in English at the highest level is a non-negotiable requirement. While a law qualification is not necessary, it will certainly be an advantage. However, applicants must be able to demonstrate expert familiarity and experience with ICC issues and/or international justice and show prior experience in analytical research, strategic planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, reporting, fundraising, marketing and advocacy.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

*appointing a new Board for SACICC and contributing to SACICC's sustainability
*provide effective, accountable and transparent management
*expanding SACICC's membership within South Africa and eventually developing a regional structure and network within SADC/Southern Africa
*establish a student network and internship programme
*establish awareness raising and training campaigns for parliamentarians, army, police, the judiciary, magistrates, prosectors, CSOs and citizens
*developing SACICC's research, investigative, monitoring and reporting capabilities
*developing a cadre of professional human rights investigators, monitors and reporters in Africa
*entrenching SACICC as a major role player in the human rights sector within SADC, with emphasis on the fight against impunity, particularly through the ICC
*expanding ratification and implementation of the ICC in the SADC region
*campaigning for for a strong, independent and fair ICC with universal jurisdiction
*enhance Africa's articulation of informed critique of the ICC and to provide indigenous research on ICC issues which impact on Africa
*engage with high-level government officials, UN agencies, ICC officials, collegial organisations and grass-roots movements and vulnerable communities
*initiate our proposed multi-sector survey on the ICC in SA and then in SADC (important as the results would indicate how we position SACICC)
*lead on SACICC's presentation of awards at the first ICC review conference in 2010, in recognition of the role played by states, NGOs, funders, individuals and the private sector in promoting international justice/the ICC in Africa

Please send your CV with a brief motivation stating why you are the best person for the position to sacicc@indiba-africa.org.za by no later than 31 March 2009. For further information please contact our Chairperson, Anil Naidoo at anil@indiba-africa.co.za

Please assist us by forwarding this announcement to anyone you feel might make a good candidate.

Fahamu