Back Issues

AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE ON CONTEMPORARY TERRORISM

Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Anthropology, Director, Institute of African Studies, Columbia University

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/4924

Over the past few months, the media has been saturated with one or another version of a cultural theory of politics. From a simple Huntingtonian version of a ‘clash of civilizations,’ we now read more refined notions of a clash inside civilizations: specifically, we are told that ‘bad Muslims’ have hijacked Islam which ‘good Muslims’ must now prepare to defend. The implication is that the only way forward is a civil war inside a quarantined Islam.

I want to suggest that we turn the cultural theory of politics on its head. Instead of dismissing history and politics as does culture talk, I suggest we place cultural debates in historical and political contexts. My claim is simple: terrorism is not a cultural residue in modern politics; rather, terrorism is a modern construction.

Iqbal Ahmed writes of a television image from 1985, of Ronald Reagan meeting a group of turbaned men, all Afghani, all leaders of the Mujaheddin. After the meeting, Reagan brought them out into the White House lawn, and introduced them to the media in these words: “These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.”

This was the moment when official America tried to harness one version of Islam in a struggle against the Soviet Union. Before exploring the politics of it, let me clarify the historical moment.

1975 was the year of American defeat in Indochina. 1975 was also the year the Portuguese empire collapsed in Africa. It was the year the center of gravity of the Cold War shifted from Southeast Asia to Southern Africa. The question was: who would pick up the pieces of the Portuguese empire, the US or the Soviet Union?

As the center of gravity of the Cold War shifted, from Southeast Asia to Southern Africa, there was also a shift in US strategy. The Nixon Doctrine [that] had been forged towards the closing years of the Vietnam War but could not be implemented at that late stage – the doctrine that “Asian boys must fight Asian wars” – was really put into practice in Southern Africa. In practice, it translated into a US decision to harness, or even to cultivate, terrorism in the struggle against regimes it considered pro-Soviet. In Southern Africa, the immediate result was a partnership between the US and apartheid South Africa, accused by the UN of perpetrating “a crime against humanity.” Reagan termed this new partnership “constructive engagement.”

South Africa became both conduit and partner of the US in the hot war against those governments in the region considered pro-Soviet. This partnership bolstered a number of terrorist movements: Renamo in Mozambique, and Unita in Angola. Their terrorism was of a type Africa had never seen before. It was not simply that they were willing to tolerate a higher level of civilian casualties in military confrontations – what official America nowadays calls collateral damage. The new thing was that these terrorist movements specifically targeted civilians. It sought specifically to kill and maim civilians, but not all of them. Always, the idea was to leave a few to go and tell the story, to spread fear. The object of spreading fear was to paralyze government.

In another decade, the center of gravity of the Cold War shifted to Central America, to Nicaragua and El Salvador. And so did the center of gravity of US-sponsored terrorism. The Contras were not only tolerated and shielded by official America; they were actively nurtured and directly assisted, as in the mining of harbors.

The shifting center of gravity of the Cold War was the major context in which Afghanistan policy was framed. But it was not the only context. The minor context was the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Ayatullah Khomeini anointed official America as the “Great Satan,” and official Islam as “American Islam.” But instead of also addressing the issues – the sources of resentment against official America – the Reagan administration hoped to create a pro-American Islamic lobby.

The grand plan of the Reagan administration was two-pronged. First, it drooled at the prospect of uniting a billion Muslims around a holy war, a Crusade, against the evil empire. I use the word Crusade, not Jihad, because only the notion of Crusade can accurately convey the frame of mind in which this initiative was taken. Second, the Reagan administration hoped to turn a religious schism inside Islam, between minority Shia and majority Sunni, into a political schism. Thereby, it hoped to contain the influence of the Iranian Revolution as a minority Shia affair.

This is the context in which an American/Saudi/Pakistani alliance was forged, and religious madresas turned into political schools for training cadres. The Islamic world had not seen an armed Jihad for centuries. But now the CIA was determined to create one. It was determined to put a version of tradition at the service of politics. We are told that the CIA looked for a Saudi Prince to lead this Crusade. It could not find a Prince. But it settled for the next best, the son of an illustrious family closely connected to the royal family. This was not a backwater family steeped in pre-modernity, but a cosmopolitan family. The Bin Laden family is a patron of scholarship. It endows programs at universities like Harvard and Yale.

The CIA created the Mujaheddin and Bin Laden as alternatives to secular nationalism. Just as, in another context, the Israeli intelligence created Hamas as an alternative to the secular PLO.

Contemporary “fundamentalism” is a modern project, not a traditional leftover. When the Soviet Union was defeated in Afghanistan, this terror was unleashed on Afghanistan in the name of liberation. As different factions fought over the liberated country – the Northern Alliance against the Taliban – they shelled and destroyed their own cities with artillery.

[After the Cold War and right up to September 10 of this year, the US and Britain compelled African countries to reconcile with terrorist movements. The demand was that governments must share power with terrorist organizations in the name of reconciliation – as in Mozambique, in Sierra Leone, and in Angola.

If terrorism was an official American Cold War brew, it was turned into a local Sierra Leonean or Angolan or Mozambican or Afghani brew after the Cold War. Whose responsibility is it? Like Afghanistan, are these countries hosting terrorism, or are they also hostage to terrorism? I think both.]


The Question of Responsibility

To understand the question of who bears responsibility for the present situation, it will help to contrast two situations, that after the Second World War and that after the Cold War, and compare how the question of responsibility was understood and addressed in two different contexts.

In spite of Pearl Harbor, World War Two was fought in Europe and Asia, not in the US. It is Europe, and not the US, which faced physical and civic destruction at the end of the war. The question of responsibility for postwar reconstruction did not just arise as a moral question; it arose as a political question. Its urgency was underlined by the changing political situation in Yugoslavia, Albania, and particularly, Greece. This is the context in which the US accepted responsibility for restoring conditions for decent life in noncommunist Europe. That initiative was called the Marshal Plan.

The Cold War was not fought in Europe, but in Southeast Asia, in Southern Africa, and in Central America. Should we, ordinary humanity, hold official America responsible for its actions during the Cold War? Should official America be held responsible for napalm bombing and spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam? Should it be held responsible for cultivating terrorist movements in Southern Africa and Central Africa?

Perhaps no other society paid a higher price for the defeat of the Soviet Union than did Afghanistan. Out of a population of roughly 15 million, a million died, another million and a half were maimed, and another five million became refugees. Afghanistan was a brutalized society even before the present war began.

Official America has a habit of not taking responsibility for its own actions. Instead, it habitually looks for a high moral pretext for inaction. I was in Durban at the World Congress Against Racism (WCAR) when the US walked out of it. The Durban conference was about major crimes of the past, about racism, and xenophobia, and related crimes. I returned from Durban to listen to Condeleeza Rice talk about the need to forget slavery because, she said, the pursuit of civilized life requires that we forget the past.

It is true that, unless we learn to forget, life will turn into revenge-seeking. Each of us will have nothing but a catalogue of wrongs done to a long line of ancestors. But civilization cannot be built on just forgetting. We must not only learn to forget, we must also not forget to learn. We must also memorialize, particularly monumental crimes. America was built on two monumental crimes: the genocide of the Native American and the enslavement of the African American. The tendency of official America is to memorialize other peoples’ crimes and to forget its own – to seek a high moral ground as a pretext to ignore real issues.

It is a human tendency to look for others in times of adversity. We seek friends and allies in times of danger. But in times of prosperity, the short-sighted tend to walk away from others. This is why prosperity, and not adversity, is the real litmus test of how we define community. The contemporary history of Southern Africa, Central America, and Afghanistan testifies to this tendency.

Modernity in politics is about moving from exclusion to inclusion, from repression to incorporation. By including those previously excluded, we give those previously alienated a stake in things. By doing so, we broaden the bounds of lived community, and of lived humanity. That perhaps is the real challenge today. It is the recognition that the good life cannot be lived in isolation.

ADVOCACY IN IPPF EUROPEAN NETWORK

2001-12-20

http://www.ippen.org

"Advocacy is one of the most important activities for non governmental organizations (NGOs) of all kinds. For the primary mission of all NGOs is to represent people's needs and to make people's voices heard". These are words of Barbro Lennéer-Axelson, editor of the new issue of "Choices", the yearly magazine published by the IPPF European Network, on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues in Europe. Hard copies of the publication can be ordered from the website and an
on-line version will be available soon.
ADVOCACY IN IPPF EUROPEAN NETWORK
"Advocacy is one of the most important activities for non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) of all kinds. For the primary mission of all NGOs is to
represent people's needs and to make people's voices heard". These are words
of Barbro Lennéer-Axelson, editor of the new issue of "Choices", the yearly
magazine published by the IPPF European Network, on sexual and reproductive
health and rights issues in Europe.
Advocacy is the theme of this year's issue of the magazine, which provides a
definition of advocacy as conceived by IPPF EN, an overview on a variety of
experiences and tools employed in different contexts by different
organizations, with a particular focus on the European context, and in
particular on advocacy with European Institutions.
Articles include information about advocacy activities undertaken to
facilitate NGO development in Central Asia, the courageous trip of a group
of women to Ireland, the political work with European Institutions, and
about a crusade for women's rights.
Hard copies of the publication can be ordered from the website and an
on-line version will be available soon.

For more information please contact Nicoletta Confalone, Tel. +32(2)2500965

SOURCE: IPPF European Network, 12 December 2001
email: nconfalone@ippfen.org
: http://www.ippen.org

CD-ROM: YOUTH FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SENEGAL

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/4966

A newly published CD Rom “Youth Actions for Sustainable Local Development in Senegal: From Global to Local Agendas” is the result of a research initiative undertaken within the framework of the International Year of Volunteers 2001 and aiming to gather information on all aspects related to youth volunteering and participation in Senegal. “Capitalizing 10 years in volunteering actions, I wish to share with all of you this important tool for research, training, learning experiences conducted abroad, advocacy and lobbying.” - Ibrahima Kane, Founder and President of the Senegalese Youth and Human Settlements Development Network, Senegal.
CD-ROM: YOUTH FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SENEGAL

A newly published CD-Rom “Youth Actions for Sustainable Local Development
in Senegal: From Global to Local Agendas” is the result of a research
initiative undertaken within the framework of the International Year of
Volunteers 2001 and aiming to garther information on all aspects related to
youth volunteering and participation in Senegal.

“Capitalizing 10 years in volunteering actions, I wish to share with all of
you this important tool for research, training, learning experiences
conducted abroad, advocacy and lobbying.” - Ibrahima Kane, Founder and
President of the Senegalese Youth and Human Settlements Development
Network, Senegal

Due to the lack of sponsorship for publication an amount of USD 34 is
requested for the CD-Rom (covering the technical and postage).

To order please contact: rjdeh@cooperation.net

Human Rights and Social Development

2001-12-20

ftp://ftpserver.unicc.org/unrisd/outgoing/pp/dghr/ghai.pdf

New on-line publication: Human Rights and Social Development: Toward
Democratization and Social Justice / Democracy, Governance and Human Rights
Programme Paper Number 5 - October 2001 / United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD).

Living for Tomorrow Bibliography

2001-12-20

http://www.nikk.uio.no/forskningsprojekt/livingfortomorrow/bibl_index.html

The Living for Tomorrow Bibliography of background information, projects and
analyses, articles, books, resource packs useful to the project. This can be accessed selectively (via key words, such as gender, women, men
and masculinity, heterosexuality, youth, education methods, post-soviet, HIV/AIDS, safer sex).

Online training

Sustainable Development and Human Rights

2001-12-20

http://www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/english/other.shtml

Six international organizations have joined forces to create this technology resource center aimed at training on how to use the Internet effectively for social justice and sustainable development.

Urban Development

2001-12-20

http://www.id21.org/urban/

Backed by the Infrastructure and Urban Development Department (IUDD) of the UK
Department for International Development (DFID) id21Urban Poverty offers a searchable database of concise, easy-to-read summaries of development research on urban themes.

Alex Flett

Kirkcudbright, Scotland

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/4958

CULTURE SHOCK

2001-12-20

http://www.africanmag.com/

The latest project of Karyl-Lyn Sanderson - a 22-year-old, recent NYU film school graduate - is "Elusive Fortune", a documentary about the influence of western culture on young South Africans. It is at once intriguing and disturbing. In the film Karyl-Lyn interviews young Black South Africans, asking them to define themselves. Some responses are shocking. Karyl-Lyn documents the loss of traditional cultures in South Africa and the overpowering influence of the West. She talks here with the African Magazine.

SA: In search of the truth

2001-12-20

http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/archive/2001dec/features/18dec-truth.html

Jillian Edelstein spent four years recording the progress of the truth commission. Her new book, Truth and Lies, tells some of the stories that emerged. The link leads to an extract from the book.

Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

Malika Oufkir, Michele Fitoussi

2001-12-20

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786868619/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/002-1867831-2570438

While accounts of the unjust arrest and torture of political prisoners are by now common, we expect such victims to come with a just cause. Here, Oufkir tells of the 20-year imprisonment of her upper-class Moroccan family following a 1972 coup attempt against King Hassan II by her father, a close military aide. After her father's execution, Oufkir, her mother and five siblings were carted off to a series of desert barracks, along with their books, toys and French designer clothes in the family's Vuitton luggage. At their first posting, they complained that they were short on butter and sweets. Over the years, subsequent placements brought isolation cells and inadequate, vermin-infested rations. Finally, starving and suicidal, the innocents realized they had been left to die. They dug a tunnel and escaped. Recapture led to another five years of various forms of imprisonment before the family was finally granted freedom. ISBN: 0786868619, Talk Miramax Books, 2001.

Striking Back:

The Labour Movement and the Post-Colonial State in Zimbabwe 1980-2000

2001-12-20

http://www.africanbookscollective.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_History_45.html#a796

Brian Raftopoulos & Lloyd Sachikonye
In the struggles for democratisation that emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s in Africa, labour movements often played a central role in the development of opposition politics. This book examines the emergence of labour as a strong organisational and political force in the struggles against an increasingly authoritarian state in Zimbabwe. Written by specialists in the labour movement from a variety of different perspectives, the chapters discuss the political, economic, global, organisational, legal, gender and sectoral challenges faced by the Zimbabwean labour movement in its move from the margins of liberation movement politics to a pivotal role in the post-colonial struggle for a more responsible and accountable civil society and government. ISBN: 0797422862, 2001 Weaver Press Ltd.

The Key to My Neighbor's House: Seeking Justice in Bosnia and Rwanda

2001-12-20

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312261268/qid%3D1008758322/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F0%5F1/002-1867831-2570438

In the wake of genocide, it is probably impossible to achieve anything that approaches justice--and Boston Globe journalist Elizabeth Neuffer knows it. Yet this heartfelt book describes how some of the people in war-torn Rwanda and Bosnia have sought after it anyway, and why the search is so important. The Key to My Neighbor's House is ultimately an anecdotal and impressionistic document, but therein lies its power. It's difficult to forget scenes that begin this way: "Photographs of mass graves can prepare you for what you might see--a jumble of skeletalized limbs, heads, bodies--but nothing prepares you for how it smells." The reportage is marvelous. For instance, Neuffer recounts how prosecutors at a Rwandan tribunal were forced to argue "over whose motion was the most important to be printed out from the scarce paper supply." She also describes the harrowing experience of a Bosnian soldier beginning to grope her--only to discover "the steel plate inside my bulletproof vest." Picador USA; ISBN: 0312261268, 2001.

Yellow Card - Africa

2001-12-20

http://www.comminit.com/pds11-2001/sld-3406.html

A movie created to address issues of teen pregnancy and safe sex explores what happens when a boy is held accountable for his actions. Traveling road shows bring the movie to rural, hard-to reach locations. Trained facilitators travel with the road shows, teaching leaders at schools, churches, and youth clubs to use a Yellow Card support video and manual to guide adolescents through discussions about the movie's themes - including relationships, sex, AIDS, responsibility, communication, and life goals.

Authors Needed:

Gender/Women & Sustainable Resource Management

2001-12-20

http://www.kit.nl/information_services/html/gender_society_development.asp

The Editorial Team of the Gender, Society & Development series is planning a book on 'gender/women and sustainable resources management' to be published in 2002. The book will be the 6th in the series produced by KIT (Royal Tropical Institute) and co-distributed by Oxfam GB. The Team is looking for authors, especially from the South, with practical experience in the field of integrating and mainstreaming gender/women' issues into the management and use of natural resources for sustainable development.
The Editorial Team of the Gender, Society & Development series is planning a
book on 'gender/women and sustainable resources management' to be published
in 2002. The book will be the 6th in the series produced by KIT (Royal
Tropical Institute) and co-distributed by Oxfam GB. (For information on the
previous books:
http://www.kit.nl/information_services/html/gender_society_development.asp)

The Team is looking for authors, especially from the South, with practical
experience in the field of integrating and mainstreaming gender/women'
issues into the management and use of natural resources for sustainable
development. We would like to invite these persons to write a paper on
their experience, in particular the approaches used to integrate/mainstream
women, to institutionalize a gender approach or community-based approach,
the
effects on women and men, constraints, lessons learned, etc. The book will
include 4-5 papers, complemented by an annoted bibliography (150-200
references plus abstracts) and key internet resources. Persons who are
interested in contributing a paper should note that the paper would be
required by the end of April 2002. More information on the proposed book
can be found in the attached file 'Proposal and background'. We would also
appreciate suggestions of possible authors as well as for improving the
proposal.

Sarah Cummings, Henk van Dam & Minke Valk
Editorial Team, Gender, Society & Development
KIT Information Services
KIT (Royal Tropical Institute)
P.O. Box 95001
1090 HA Amsterdam
The Netherlands
m.valk@kit.nl
http://www.kit.nl


Message sent by:

Minke Valk
KIT Information Services
Information Specialist




****
Proposal and background for the 6th book in the Gender, Society &
Development series

This short text is meant as a background document for a forthcoming
publication in the Gender, Society & Development series produced by
Information Services, Royal Tropical Institute (KIT). It will be the 6th
book in the series, to be published in 2002, and distributed by KIT Press
and
Oxfam GB. Information about these books can be found at:
http://www.kit.nl/information_services/html/gender_society_development.asp

**Proposal for the 6th book in the series
Provisional title: Natural resources management: what has gender got to do
with it? A global source book

**Introduction:

A wise use of resources is the key to sustainable development, poor rural
people, women and men, are a key link to that use.

Women as well as men in the rural areas of developing countries depend on
natural resources such as water, soil, plants, and animals to secure their
livelihood. They are engaged in productive activities including farming,
animal husbandry and fisheries to provide food and an income to support
their families. Most of the people living in the rural areas are poor, and
often
are forced to overuse the resources available to them, thereby contributing
to
resources degradation. On the other hand, they have developed diverse
knowledge, perceptions, skills and practices that are valuable for the
management of natural resources for food security and sustainable
development.

Women in general are more at a disadvantage than men due to their lower
social and economic status and lack of decision-making power. They have
limited
access to land, credit, capital, technology, lack of education, training
and information, and an unfavourable legal and policy environment. This
hampers their ability to use and manage resources they need to make a living
for
themselves and their families.

Since the early 1980s considerable attention has been paid to the
relationship between women and the environment & natural resources. In 1991
the
Women's Action Agenda 21 was formulated and elaborated in the run-up of the
1992
UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). A major review and
revision of the Women's Action Agenda 21 is envisaged in the lead-up to
Earth
Summit 2002.

Increasing recognition of the interaction between poverty, and resources
and environmental degradation has led to the development of interventions
that
put more and more emphasis on working with local communities to improve the
management of natural resources. Participatory and community-based
approaches to natural resource management and sustainable development are
being
applied.

Participatory resource management projects that include women as well as
men are considered to hold the greatest promise for achieving sustainable
resource management and development, and social equity.

Understanding the environmental roles and responsibilities of women and
men in developing economies is critical to sustainable resource management
practices.

Identifying and overcoming the barriers to women's and men's full
participation in the management of resources is a necessary first step
towards the ultimate goals of poverty alleviation and sustainable
development.

**The book
The book aims to cover experiences with involving rural women and men in
sustainable resources management. It is meant for practitioners,
intermediaries and professionals working in the field of women/gender and
resources management. The focus is on interventions that aim to
incorporate women and gender dimensions, including participatory and
community-based interventions. The impact of interventions on women and men
and
the gender
relations, and on women's and men's ability to use and manage natural
resources in a sustainable way should be highlighted. Analysis should show
factors of success, constraints and lessons learned.

The book will include 4-5 papers written by authors preferably from the
South, complemented with an annotated bibliography of relevant literature
and a
section on key electronic resources. The papers should comprise 8-10 pages
including references, and editing will be done by the Editorial Team.
The book is published by KIT Publishers and Oxfam GB.

**Content of the papers
Questions that may be considered in writing:
= An introduction on how women and men are related to the natural
resources, i.e. what resources do they use, for what purpose, are there
availability problems, what are women's and men's priorities, do women and
men experience the same constraints; women's status vis a vis men's;

= What kind/type of intervention/development work has been
undertaken (community-based; project, programme; was it part of a larger
activity); have there been any benefits; if so have women and men benefited
equally;

= what type of organization has implemented the intervention (NGO,
government organization, etc.)

= how have the interventions been introduced and implemented; was
there a specific approach/method; has there been a gender analysis prior to
design and implementation; have the targeted women and men participated in
planning, implementation and decision-making; if so, have women and men
enjoyed
equal opportunities for participation;

= has the intervention affected the population's resource use,
management; has it affected the gender relations; have there been any
changes in women's and men's ability to gain access to, control over natural
resources

= were there any successes, constraints and lessons learned; has it
contributed to a more sustainable development; to empowerment of women,
and men

= What could be the way forward



---
WOUGNET-L is hosted on Kabissa - Space for change in Africa
To post, write to: WOUGNET-L@wougnet.org
Website: http://www.lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/wougnet-l

Guinea: Putting an End to Female Genital Cutting

2001-12-20

http://www.worldbank.org/developmentnews/stories/html/121101a.htm

In Guinea, as in most West African nations, female genital cutting was, until recently, common practice. Prior to 1998, roughly 90 percent of Guinean women were circumcised. While the government enacted legislation banning the practice in 1984, the law was only recently enforced as a result of several deaths, vigorous campaigning by CPTAFE, a national women's rights NGO, and the public outspokenness of the First Lady and Minister of Social Affairs.

NEW YORK: GAY AFRICANS MOVE OUT FROM THE SHADOWS

2001-12-20

http://www.africanmag.com/

The African Gay and Lesbian community in New York is shifting more and more from its barely visible position under the radar to a front and center role in African lives. And yet, for some Africans their increased visibility is incredulous. “There is one?” a gay Nigerian artist asked the other day. I had heard of one or two people but not an entire community,’’ she said.

Swazi princess dons chastity tassel

2001-12-20

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1716000/1716016.stm

Princess Sikhanyiso, the eldest daughter of King Mswati III of Swaziland, has returned home from her studies in England wearing a set of umcwasho tassels, worn by young girls as a mark of chastity. In September King Mswati, Africa's last absolute monarch, announced the tradition was being reintroduced in an effort to combat Aids, which has killed more than 50,000 people in the tiny mountain kingdom. But the move has met with huge opposition - not least of all because the king's own daughter has not been forced to comply with the rule.

Burundi: Paramilitaries Commit Killings

2001-12-20

http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/12/Burundi1214.htm

Government-sponsored paramilitary forces known as “Guardians of the Peace” have committed many killings, rapes, and other crimes over the last four years in Burundi, Human Rights Watch have charged.
Burundi: Paramilitaries Commit Killings

(New York, December 14, 2001) -- Government-sponsored paramilitary
forces known as “Guardians of the Peace” have committed many killings,
rapes, and other crimes over the last four years in Burundi, Human
Rights Watch charged today.

In an eighteen-page report entitled “To Protect the People: The
Government-Sponsored ‘Self-Defense’ Program
in Burundi,” Human Rights Watch called on the Burundian government to
disband the paramilitary force, which has been responsible for many
violations of international
humanitarian law.

The Guardians, as well as similar patrols in urban areas, were
established by the previous government as part
of a “civilian self-defense” program to combat rebel forces in the
eight-year-old civil war. A recently installed transitional government
has so far continued the program.

“The government has a duty to protect its citizens,” said Alison Des
Forges, Senior Advisor to the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch,
“but it also has an obligation to ensure that all its armed forces obey
the laws of war. Calling the Guardians ‘civilians’ does not change the
facts: they are recruited, trained, and armed by the authorities. They
act under military orders and, like soldiers, must be held accountable
for any abuses they commit.”

In many cases, authorities required unwilling participants to serve as
Guardians or as members of similar patrols in the cities even though
there was no legal process for conscripting them for such service.
Participants receive no pay and generally do not know how long they will
be required to serve. They receive no uniform or insignia. Whatever
powers they exercise are not formally established or publicly known to
other citizens.

Human Rights Watch has found that Burundian officials recruited many
children aged fifteen and younger for service in the Guardians and in
urban patrols. Supposedly recruited to defend their own neighborhoods,
many of these children were ordered into full-scale military operations
far from their homes. Some officers saw the children as more expendable
than better-trained adult troops and sent them into combat in the front
lines. Hundreds have died in military operations and
from beatings suffered in the course of training.

All parties to the civil war have used children as soldiers. The
government of Burundi has signed international conventions banning the
use of children under the age of eighteen years in combat, and military
authorities have ordered that children younger than that age not be
recruited for military service.

The report underlined the danger of preaching “self-defense” in a region
where ethnically-based violence has cost hundreds of thousands of lives
in recent years. “Telling people that they may have to take up arms to
defend themselves makes them more afraid and more open to manipulation
by ruthless leaders,” said Des Forges. “If people think the government
cannot or will not protect them, they will be far readier to attack
others.”

The report, “To Protect the People: The Government-Sponsored
'Self-Defense’ Program in Burundi,” is available at
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/12/Burundi1214.htm

It is available in French at http://www.hrw.org/french/reports/burundi2/

For more information on Burundi, please see:

Burundi: Children Abducted for Military (HRW Press Release, November 14,
2001) at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/11/Burundi1114.htm

GAMBIA: HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION STILL APPALLING

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/4833

The secretary general of a coalition of human rights defenders in Gambia, Mohammed Lamin Sillah, has described the country's human rights record as appalling. Sillah, who is also the local Amnesty International Director, told a news conference that the frequent arrest and detention of innocent citizens, including journalists and human rights activists tarnished Gambia's human rights status.
Copyright 2001 Financial Times Information

All rights reserved

Global News Wire

Copyright 2001 Panafrican News Agency

Panafrican News Agency (PANA) Daily Newswire

December 11, 2001

LENGTH: 337 words

HEADLINE: GAMBIA'S HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION STILL APPALLING

BODY:


Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The secretary general of a coalition of human
rights defenders in Gambia, Mohammed Lamin Sillah, has described the
country's human rights record as appalling.
Sillah, who is also the local Amnesty International Director, told a news
conference Monday that the frequent arrest and detention of innocent
citizens, including journalists and human rights activists tarnished
Gambia's human rights status.
"These arrests and detentions without trial makes life difficult for human
rights defenders," he said at a news conference to mark the anniversary of
the United Nations human rights declaration.
Sillah who was recently arrested and detained by the security agents for
six days said no amount of intimidation and threat will prevent activists
from advocating human rights in the country.
"The struggle is unabated and it is a life long process which must
continue. Human rights is a non-negotiable thing", he told journalists.
Sillah called on Gambia government to set up an independent and impartial
committee to recommend the prosecution of security officers accused of
massacring innocent students on April 2000.
"The trigger-happy soldiers killed fourteen unarmed and defenceless
students and they were left scot-free by an indemnity act".
He said his office at times finds it difficult to investigate cases of
human rights abuses in the country because some victims hardly report
alleged cases or are afraid to talk about them.
Sillah said that Amnesty International was still lobbying the Gambian
government to sign and ratify the convention establishing the International
Criminal Court, whose role will be to try people who commit crimes against
humanity such as torture.
"AI is also urging The Gambia to sign, ratify and implement the Optional
Protocol, setting at least 18 as the minimum age for all forms of military
recruitment".
He urged the government to respect the rights of people irrespective of
their political, religious and ethnic background.

Guinea-Bissau: concern over arrests following coup

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/4856

Amnesty International is concerned about the wave of arrests of former military personnel in the aftermath of an alleged coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau last week.
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *

11 December 2001
AFR 30/017/2001
219/01


Amnesty International is concerned about the wave of arrests of
former military personnel in the aftermath of an alleged coup
attempt in Guinea-Bissau last week.

On 3 December 2001, the Guinea-Bissau authorities
announced that armed forces and police had foiled a coup attempt
the night before, and that several former military officers and
paramilitary personnel had been arrested. These include former
Deputy Army Chief of Staff, Almane Alam Camará, and former Navy
Chief of Staff, Mohamed Lamine Sanha, who are alleged to have led
the coup attempt.

At present there is little detailed information about the
alleged coup attempt and the authorities apparently have not yet
provided evidence to support the claim, nor released information
about the number of people detained, their names and the places
of detention. However, the authorities announced that the
arrested included military officers who had previously been
involved in another alleged military revolt against the
government in November 2000.

Amnesty International today called on the Guinea-Bissau
authorities to ensure that the human rights of all detainees are
protected. The organization also reminded the authorities that
those detained in the aftermath of the alleged coup attempt
should be released immediately and unconditionally unless they
are promptly charged with a recognized criminal offence and tried
in compliance with international standards of fair trial.

Background
In November 2000, at least 200 military and paramilitary officers
-- including Almane Alam Camará and Mohamed Lamine Sanha -- and
10 civilian leaders of peaceful political opposition parties were
arrested following an alleged coup attempt. The alleged leader of
the coup, Brigadier Ansumane Mané, was subsequently killed in
disputed circumstances. The civilians were released on bail
within a week, without having charges brought against them.
Restrictions remain imposed upon them, including being prevented
from leaving the country and having to report to the police or
courts periodically.

The military officers remained in prison for about seven
months, in conditions which constituted cruel and inhuman
treatment. Many contracted life threatening illnesses in
detention, while the health of others -- already suffering from
chronic diseases -- deteriorated. They were released on bail in
May and June 2000. They have not been charged. However, they
still have to report to the authorities daily.

****************************************************************
You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main
text is not altered in any way and both the header crediting
Amnesty International and this footer remain intact. Only the
list subscription message may be removed.
****************************************************************
To subscribe to amnesty-L, send a message to <majordomo@oil.ca>
with "subscribe amnesty-L" in the message body. To unsubscribe,
send a message to <majordomo@oil.ca> with "unsubscribe amnesty-L"
in the message body. If you have problem signing off, contact
<owner-amnesty-L@oil.ca>. <owner-amnesty-L@oil.ca> handles
only messages concerning list administration. Past and current Amnesty
news services can be found at <http://www.amnesty.org/news/>.
Visit <http://www.amnesty.org> for information about Amnesty International
and for other AI publications. Contact amnestyis@amnesty.org if you
need to get in touch with the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International.

Human Rights and Social Development:

Toward Democratization and Social Justice

2001-12-20

ftp://ftpserver.unicc.org/unrisd/outgoing/pp/dghr/ghai.pdf

The World Summit for Social Development adopted a human rights framework as part of its strategy to eradicate poverty. The observance of human rights facilitates peaceful co-existence and consequently social and political stability. A democratic society is predicated on respect for human rights. This much is generally recognized. Somewhat more controversial is the third proposition underlying the Social Summit strategy—that a society that wants to achieve social justice also has to implement social and economic rights. There is a powerful school of thought that argues that social justice is the outcome of the market economic system, and not a contrivance of the state.

KENYA: Focus on clashes in Kibera slum, Nairobi

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17688&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=KENYA

After weeks marked by tension, violent clashes, killings, rioting and looting, residents of Kenya’s biggest slum, Kibera, have slowly begun rebuilding their lives. But even as an anxious calm returned this week, deep-rooted tensions remain in the sprawling suburb, home to hundreds of thousands of people.

NAMIBIA: Government fights court ruling on legal aid

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17867

The Namibian government has lodged an appeal against a High Court ruling that it provides free legal representation to 128 high treason suspects.

Niger: Human Rights Scorned in 2000

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/4881

The rights and freedoms of the citizens and communities were significantly scorned in Niger in 2000, according to the Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Niger (ANDDH). ANDDH reported that there was a "serious infringement" of the rights to life, health, education, work, physical integrity and other rights.
Copyright 2001 Financial Times Information

All rights reserved

Global News Wire

Copyright 2001 Panafrican News Agency

Panafrican News Agency (PANA) Daily Newswire

December 11, 2001

LENGTH: 255 words

HEADLINE: HUMAN RIGHTS SCORNED IN NIGER IN 2000

BODY:


Niamey, Niger (PANA) - The rights and freedoms of the citizens and
communities were significantly scorned in Niger in 2000, according to the
Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Niger (ANDDH).
ANDDH reported that there was a "serious infringement" of the rights to
life, health, education, work, physical integrity and other rights. The
most affected rights were the freedom of the press, movement and
demonstration, it noted.
These "harmful deeds were perpetrated by members of the government, civil
servants and organised groups. They were also due to conflicts within and
between different communities which plunged whole families into mourning."
According to the association, the crises within the army and the revision
by the government of the law implementing and regulating the National
Commission for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (CNDH/LF) contributed
to the infringement.
The revision was meant to reduce the independence of the commission, it
charged.
ANDDH made several recommendations, including the ratification of the
status of the international criminal court and the additional protocol to
the African Charter of People and Human Rights in order to improve the
situation of the human rights situation in Niger.
It also recommended a "fair and equitable application" of the texts related
to the right to demonstrate, maintain order as well as those dealing with
the freedom of the press, the access to public media and the "revision of
all the anti-constitutional laws."

JOURNAL-CODE: WPNA

LOAD-DATE: December 13, 2001

Nigeria: Government Inaction Costs Hundreds of Lives in Jos

2001-12-20

http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/12/Nigeria1218.htm

The Nigerian government could and should have prevented mass killings in Jos in September, Human Rights Watch said in a detailed report. As many as one thousand people are believed to have been killed in just six days as Jos, capital of Plateau State, was rocked by unprecedented violence between Christians and Muslims.

Nobel Peace Laureates call for ICC

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/4870

17 Nobel Peace Laureates signed an appeal calling for the prompt establishment of the International Criminal Court in Oslo, Norway last week.
NOBEL PEACE LAUREATES CENTENNIAL APPEAL

We, the undersigned Nobel Peace Laureates gathered for the centennial
of the Nobel Prizes, express our joy at this year's award to the
United Nations and its Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

We hope that our message of peace and justice will reach the hearts
and minds of those in and out of government who have the power to
make a better world.

We look forward to a world in which we the peoples, working in
cooperation with governments, with full respect for international
law, will enable the UN to fulfil its mission to save this and
succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

We call for the prompt establishment of the International Criminal
Court and full implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, including economic, social, and cultural as well as civil and
political rights.

We offer our support for the unrelenting, patient, and non-violent
pursuit of peace wherever conflicts may rage today or tomorrow, such
as the Middle East, Colombia, or the Great Lakes of Africa.

We commit ourselves to work for the elimination of all weapons of
mass destruction and the reduction and control of small arms and
other conventional weapons.

We call on the human family to address the root causes of violence
and build a culture of peace and hope. We know that another world is
possible, a world of justice and peace. Together we can make it a
reality.

Oslo, December 10, 2001



Institute of International Law 1904
INTERNATIONAL PEACE BUREAU Cora Weiss 1910
AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE Mary Ellen McNish 1947
Norman E. Borlaug 1970
Máried Corrigan Maguire 1976
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Colm Ó Cuanacháin 1977
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel 1980
Lech Walesa 1983
Desmond Tutu 1984
INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF NUCLEAR WAR Bernard Lown 1985
Oscar Arias 1987
Rigoberta Menchú Tum 1992
Joseph Rotblat 1995
José Ramos-Horta 1996
Jody Williams 1997
INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES Jerry White 1997
John Hume 1998

--
Jens Iverson
Information Technology Advisor
CICCtech@ICCnow.org / wfmtechnical@igc.org
NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC)
777 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, USA
T:212-687-2863x22/F:212-599-1332/Web: http://www.ICCnow.org
Email list on the ICC: ICC-info-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Rwanda's genocide tribunal on trial

2001-12-20

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1717000/1717043.stm

Carla Del Ponte, the woman who took on the Mafia and Switzerland's financial institutions, is now applying herself to the Herculean task of making the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda less inefficient.

Sudan: Nuba Judge Killed by Government

2001-12-20

http://www.nesinetwork.org

Judge Augustino Al Nur Shimela was picked from his house on 19th Nov 2001 and brutally killed by Sudan Government (GOS) sponsored militia group known as 'Nafir al Sha'abi' in Nuba Mountains, reports The New Sudanese Indigenous NGOs (NESI) network.
Sudan: Nuba Judge Killed by Government


The New Sudanese Indigenous NGOs (NESI) is hereby appealing to the world to come the rescue of its people. A clear manifestation of the barbaric and militant government which, is ruling in Khartoum is yet again with us. Judge Augustino Al Nur Shimela was picked from his house on 19th Nov 2001 and brutally killed by Sudan Government (GOS) sponsored militia group known as 'Nafir al Sha'abi' in Nuba Mountains. Indeed, we are very sad. Some of us have come to know the late Judge Augustino as an extremely humble and down-to-earth man. Although the Late never went to law school, but he did serve the people deligently. Up to the time of his death, the late Augustino served as the Chief Justice in SPLM/A (Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/Army which is opposing the GOS). His loss is a great loss to the limited cadres in the SPLM/A Nuba Mountains. We particularly mourn his loss for we remember his role in trying to bring about the rule of law and order in this remote part of the world. Through first hand information from the people of the area, NESI Network found out that the GOS particularly targets educated Nuba people through their elimination in order to suppress the rebellion in the Nuba Mountains. "The GOS thinks that by killing educated Nuba it is able to tame them and bring them back to its discriminatory rule". said Jacob Idris, NRRDO Information and Culture Officer. Simon Kallo, Assistant Regional Secretary for Education was another person the GOS attempted to kill in July this year, fortunately he was rescued by SPLA forces around the area.


The Nuba people, who joined the armed struggle for just equality and freedom along the SPLM/A forces in mid-80s are among the most marginalized people in the Sudan. The area lacks most basic living needs such as schools, hospitals, roads etc. The only mode of transport is walking, for instance.


NESI, as a civil society group hereby renews its call for the total dismantling of the Sudanese Government. The GOS, in its more than 10 years of rule has killed many skilled and educated African Sudanese. Sadly, it has also killed many more hundreds of thousands of people in south Sudan, Nuba Mountains and Ingessina Hills. This war of terror waged by the GOS has to end and the only way to end it is by removing this dictatorial regime which does not believe in democracy or freedom of worship among other basic human rights principles. However, the Sudanese cannot do it alone, the GOS has been able to rule for more than years with the power of the gun: we need the world to intervene. It is time to act now to save the souls of the remaining people before it is too late.


Nairobi, 10 December 2001


Signed by:

1. Nuba Relief, Rehabilitation and Development Organization (NRRDO): E-mail: nrrdo@maf.or.ke

2. Widows, Orphans and the Disabled Rehabilitation Association of New Sudan (WODRANS): E-mail: wodrans@net2000ke.com

3. Sudanese Women Voice for Peace: E-mail: swvp@africaonline.co.ke

4. Sudan Medical Care: E-mail: sumc@net2000ke.com

5. Relief Organization of Fazugli (ROOF): E-mail: rooblue1@yahoo.com

6. New Sudan Women Federation: E-mail: nswf@todays.co.ke

7. MRDA Mundri Relief and Development Association (Nairobi): E-mail: MRDA@maf.or.ke

Mundri Relief and Rehabilitation Association (Arua): E-mail: mrdauga@infocom.co.ug

8. Jonglei Association for Relief, Rehabilitation & Development (JARRAD): E-mail: sumc@net2000ke.com

9. Hope Agency for Rehabilitation and Development (HARD): E-mail: Address(s): C/o hard@wananchi.com

10. South Sudan Community Association (SSCA): E-mail: ssca@mitsuminet.com


===================
About NESI-Network

We are a group of local organizations known as New Sudanese Indigenous NGOs (NESI-Network). Our main objective is to work together towards achieving a just and fair Sudan for all regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion/faith etc. We are currently operational in the margenalized areas trying to alleviate the extremely poor conditions under which the people live. Our Motto is self-reliance and a dignified life-style for our people.


For further information contact the Network Desk Officer at:
NESI-Network (New Sudanese Indigenous NGOs)
E-mail: nesinet@todays.co.ke
Web-site: www.nesinetwork.org

Sudan: Student arrested and tortured

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/4864

On 7th September 2001, the security arrested Adbel Khaliq AlFatih Abdulla, a third year medical student, at Bakhat AlRuda University in White Nile province, and a leading member of the Student Democratic Front (SDF). Adel Khaliq was tortured while he was in detention, and was subsequently pressured and harassed by the security into not initiating any legal action against them.
S V T G
Sudanese Victims of Torture Group


SVTG STATEMENT: 12 December 2001

Impunity of security forces and prevention of justice in Sudan

On 7th September 2001, the security arrested Adbel Khaliq AlFatih Abdulla, a third year medical student, at Bakhat AlRuda University in White Nile province. Abd Alkhaliq is leading member of the Student Democratic Front (SDF). He was arrested at 11am from the ferry crossing the White Nile at Alduweem town. The security officers took his bag and later while he was in detention the security informed him they had found a video film containing explicit sexual material in his bag.

Adel Khaliq was tortured while he was in detention and was released at 11pm. Following his release he went directly to the hospital for treatment where he obtained a medical report confirming that he has severe bruising and swellings on his forehead and above his right eye, and had cuts to his right ear, left elbow and cuts and bruises to his left and right thighs. (SVTG has obtained a copy of the medical report).

Previously Mr Abdullah had been arrested and harassed for being an outspoken member of the SDF (Cadir Khatabi).

Abd Alkhaliq went to the District Attorney to submit a legal complaint in Alduweem city. The District Attorney informed him that it was not within his jurisdiction to take any cases against the security forces. Mr Alkaliq was then pressured and harassed by the security into not initiating any legal action against them

On the 18th of September the Security charged Abd Alkhaliq under Article 153 of the Criminal Code, 1991, “Contravening public morality”. However, lawyer Amir Mohamed Suliman, Director of Khartoum Centre for human rights and member of SVTG lawyers network, decided to take on the case and act as his attorney.

On Monday 10 December there was a court hearing to hear the defence case and hear the prime defence witness, Hisham Abdullateef. Following the session, as the witness, defendant and lawyer were leaving the building court premises they were followed by security officers to the city centre and verbally intimidated and harassed.

All three men were to take a coach back to Khartoum but were obstructed by two Security officers. The security officers are Mubarak Suliman and Yousif Abu Ugla. The officers arrested the prime witness Hisham Abdullateef who was taken to the premises of the general security in Alduweem city and has not been released as of today 13 December 2002.

Another witness, Mohamed Ahmed Abd AlGadir, the security forces in Alkawa town restricted his movement and he was not allowed to leave his town to attend the court hearing. He was ordered not to leave the town until 12 December by which time the case would have been heard.

Both Mohamed Ahmed Abdel Gadir and Hisham Abdullateef had previously complained about being harassed and threatened by the Security. Security officer Mubarak Suliman was personally involved in the harassment of the lawyer and arrest of the witnesses. Adel Khaliq had also been threatened by Mubarak Suliman and previously been subjected to torture leading to serious physical injuries according to the medical report.

The defence lawyer, Amir Mohamed Suliman, has submitted a formal complaint to the Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice, on 11 December 2001.


The threats harassment and arrest of the witnesses, defendant and lawyer is against the right to equality before the court of law expressed in Article 21 of the Constitution of Sudan 1998 and against Article 31 which states “The right to litigate is guaranteed for all persons and no one shall be prevented from the right to sue”. It is also against Article 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which prevent the intimidation of witnesses (duress), and against Articles 144, 164 and 166 of the criminal code.

Such actions are also against Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Sudan is a party.

The government of the Sudan has repeatedly resorted to repressive measures including violations of fundamental rights, when individuals have expressed criticism regarding government policies or engaged in activities, which might appear controversial to the government. Such measures represent continued repression of freedom of expression and are against many the Government of Sudan’s international commitments.

Sudanese security forces act with total impunity and are provided with virtual immunity from prosecution under the 1994 National Security Act. Amended in 1999 and 2000, this act grants security officers investigative powers that allow arbitrary searches and arrests and incommunicado detentions without judicial review.


SVTG calls upon the Sudanese government to:

Arrests of political activists
i. Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Hisham Abdullateef;
ii. Order the immediate release of Hisham Abdullateef if he is being held without charge or, in the event that he will be charged, ensure his right to a fair and impartial trial and guarantee his right to legal counsel at all times;
iii. Put an end to the harassment by security forces and ensure security officers area brought to account;
iv. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards.


Addresses
His Excellency Lieutenant General Omar Hassan al-Bashir, President of the Republic of Sudan, People’s Palace, PO Box 281, Khartoum, Sudan, Telex: 22385 PEPLC SD or 22411 KAID SD- Fax: +249 11 771 7 24

Mr Ali Osman Yasin, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Ministry of Justice, Khartoum, Sudan. Telex:22459 KHRJA SD or 22461 KHRJA SD (via Ministry of Foreign Affairs) – Fax: +249 11 7740 63

Mr Mustafa Osman Ismail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PO Box 873, Khartoum, Sudan, Telex: 22459 KHRJA SD or 22461 KHRJA SD – Fax: 249 11 7740 63

SVTG is an independent non-governmental human rights organisation, for further details on this press release or any other information please contact;
The Sudanese Victims of Torture Group
Park Business Centre
Kilburn Park Rd
London NW6 5LF
UK
Tel: +44 20 76258055
Email: Osman.h@virgin.net

US: Helms Amendment Shows 'Utter Contempt' for Safety of US Soldiers

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/4880

On Dec. 7, the U.S. Senate endorsed provisions introduced into a defense spending bill by Sen. Jesse Helms, voting overwhelmingly to block U.S. participation in an international criminal court. Despite the vote, it is increasingly clear that the International Criminal Court [ICC] Treaty will enter into force sometime next year. Alone among Western nations, however, the United States has declared its opposition to the Court in terms that have become increasingly shrill.
Copyright 2001 AScribe Inc.

AScribe Newswire

December 13, 2001 Thursday

LENGTH: 1011 words

HEADLINE: International Law Scholar: Helms Amendment on International
Court Shows 'Utter Contempt' for Safety of U.S. Soldiers

BODY:
ST. LOUIS, Dec. 13 [AScribe Newswire] -- On Dec. 7, the U.S. Senate
endorsed provisions introduced into a defense spending bill by Sen. Jesse
Helms, voting overwhelmingly to block U.S. participation in an
international criminal court.
Despite the vote, it is increasingly clear that the International Criminal
Court [ICC] Treaty will enter into force sometime next year. Alone among
Western nations, however, the United States has declared its opposition to
the Court in terms that have become increasingly shrill. America's
isolation on this issue has delighted our enemies and infuriated our
friends. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on our country,
this stand has become increasingly dangerous, contends Leila Nadya Sadat,
Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis.
Sadat is Chair of the International Law Association [American Branch]
Committee on the International Criminal Court, is the author of the leading
treatise on the international criminal court, "The International Criminal
Court and the Transformation of International Law: Justice for the New
Millennium" [Transnational, 2002]. She details her position in the
statement below:
The best way to protect American soldiers from ill-founded prosecutions in
the ICC is to ratify the treaty and opt out of the war crimes jurisdiction
of the court for 7 years pursuant to article 124 of the Statute. This will
allow us to influence the institution by having Americans in key positions
of power, but protect our soldiers from prosecutions while we observe how
the Court works. France has done this, and while no other State has felt
it necessary, the U.S. delegation negotiated the opt-out and we are
entitled to use it. In addition, the principle of complementarity ensures
that no soldier may be prosecuted by the Court if a State opens an
investigation into the conduct that is the subject of the prosecution.
Finally, as a matter of law, once we send our soldiers into combat, they
can be prosecuted by their captors, wherever they are captured. Senator
Helms evidences his utter contempt for the safety and well being of our
soldiers by denying them the possibility of a full and fair hearing at the
Hague, as opposed to the swift and potentially hostile judgment they will
face in the military courts of their captors.
The ICC is far from a "kangaroo court." Defendants before the ICC, unlike
defendants before the President's proposed military commissions, will
receive full due process rights to counsel, to an appeal, to confront their
accusers, to challenge evidence unlawfully obtained, to challenge the
court's subject matter jurisdiction and to be free from unlawful coercion.
The ICC Statute has built upon the practice of the two ad hoc tribunals for
the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and represents the most modern,
progressive and advanced consensus on international criminal procedure.
Indeed, one of the reasons that the administration apparently eschewed the
use of international tribunals in favor of its proposed military
commissions was the concern that international tribunals could not impose
the death penalty and might offer defendants too much in the way of
procedural safeguards.
In rejecting the ICC Treaty the US is alone among civilized nations.
Indeed, Senator Helms is attempting to undo fifty years of international
peace building by advocating American unilateralism as a substitute for
international cooperation. The ICC Statute was overwhelmingly approved by
the Diplomatic Conference that adopted it, and will probably enter into
force next year. This action of the Senate effectively declares war on the
world, and particularly given the need for international cooperation in the
campaign against international terrorism, is ill advised and poorly timed.
It will lead to more, not less, friction between the United States and its
allies, as well as its enemies. Indeed, it shows a disdain for
international institutions that is shocking in its extremism.
After September 11, U.S. support for the ICC Treaty has become vital. The
crimes committed on that day were so heinous and horrific that they may be
characterized as "crimes against humanity," as now defined in the Treaty.
They are crimes that the Security Council has condemned as a threat to
international peace and security, and appear to have been committed by an
international terrorist organization with a reported 3,000 operatives in 60
countries. Crimes committed on such a wide scale necessarily require an
international response, and while the ICC will not have retroactive
jurisdiction, it could play an important role in similar cases in the
future.
Ratifying the ICC statute will mute, if not silence America's critics, who
claim that we believe only in victor's justice, not universal justice. Our
speedy ratification would also lend credibility to any initiative we might
bring before the Security Council to establish an international tribunal to
prosecute the perpetrators of the September 11 or other attacks.
Importantly, it will permit us to nominate Americans for positions on the
Court and to influence this new international institution. Finally, we
should ratify the ICC Treaty to honor the victims of atrocities everywhere.
The victims of the Nazi holocaust, Cambodia's killing fields and Rwanda's
genocide, among others, deserve our unwavering commitment to make our
promises of international justice ring true. So do those who died on
September 11, 2001.
-- The views expressed in this editorial are the personal views of the
author, not of any institution with which she may be affiliated. The
author's biography is available at http://www.law.wustl.edu , and she may
be directly contacted at sadat@wulaw.wustl.edu . The editorial is available
for free and immediate use.

CONTACT:
Leila Nadya Sadat, Professor of Law, Washington University
in St. Louis, 314-935-6411; sadat@wulaw.wustl.edu
Jessica Roberts, Senior News Editor, Washington
University in St. Louis, 314-935-5251;
Jessica_roberts@aismail.wustl.edu

Ms. Mariana Rodriguez-Pareja
Outreach Liaison/ Oficial de Enlace
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court
Coalicion de ONGs por la Corte Penal Internacional
Coalition des ONGs pour la Cour Penale Internationale
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
CICC c/o World Federalist Movement -IGP
777 United Nations Plaza 12th Floor
New York NY 10017 USA
Tel: 1 212 687 2176 Fax: 1 212 599 1332
http://www.iccnow.org En español visite http://www.iccnow.org/espanol




To: email:
Unsubscribe: icc-info-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: icc-info-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Contact owner: icc-info-owner@yahoogroups.com
Get help: icc-info-help@yahoogroups.com
Get 1 post/day: icc-info-digest@yahoogroups.com
Stop email: icc-info-nomail@yahoogroups.com
Restore defaults: icc-info-normal@yahoogroups.com

Para suscribirse a la lista en espanol,
envie un email a: cecpi-esp-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Pour souscrire a la liste d'information en français,
envoyer un e-mail: reseau-cpi-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/icc-info/messages
Coalition for an International Criminal Court:
http://www.iccnow.org

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

ZAMBIA: General Election Who's Who

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17864

Zambians are scheduled to cast their votes on 27 December in general elections that will mark the end of a decade in power for President Frederick Chiluba. It will be the third time since single-party rule ended in 1991 that the country goes to the polls.

Zimbabwe: MP held in 1 ½ square metre cell

2001-12-20

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=3206

Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, the MDC MP and Treasurer who has been in detention since early November, is being held in a tiny prison cell – only 1 metre by 1 ½ metres in area. He is taken out only for ablutions and spells of interrogation, which have tended to be conducted at night for extended periods. He has been held in these conditions for over a month.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe must go

2001-12-20

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=3239

Zimbabwe's leader, Robert Mugabe, confirmed last week that he intends to hold the long-awaited presidential election in March and held his first rally on Friday. His speech and the events of the day provided a clear indication of how he intends to fight that election: polarising black and white and intimidating the opposition.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe opponent charged

2001-12-20

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=3233

The leader of Zimbabwe's opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been charged with possessing radio-communication equipment without a licence, for which he could face a two-year prison sentence.

Counting Brains:

Measuring Emigration From South Africa

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/4913

Southern African Migration Project, Migration Policy Brief No. 5.
Official South African statistics on the magnitude of emigration from the country seriously
undercount. In this paper, the authors have devised an innovative methodology which
reveals the extent of the undercount but also provides important insights into the volume and sectoral distribution of emigrants. One of the common strategies suggested for countering some of the negative consequences of “brain drain” is the mobilization of diaspora networks. The paper provides an introduction to one such network, the SANSA project.

December 18: Happy Migrants Day!

2001-12-20

http://www.december18.net/IMD.htm

The IMD is celebrated worldwide. A list of events, and press releases and statements by: UN Secretary General Mr. K. Annan; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, US; European Network against Racism, Belgium; Catholic Migrant Workers’ Relief Committee, Thailand; December 18 can be found on the December 18 website.

ETHIOPIA: Fears for displaced people in Tigray region

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17680

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has expressed fears for tens of thousands of Ethiopians in Tigray region who were displaced from their homes during the war with Eritrea, following a decision to withdraw food aid at the end of the month, a WFP spokesman told IRIN this week.

LIBERIA: NGOs call for relocation of IDPs

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17886

Two NGOs, Action Contre la Faim (ACF) and Concerned Christian Community (CCC), have called for the relocation of thousands of internally displaced Liberians who were recently forced to flee south from the northwest regions, because of renewed fighting between disssidents and government forces. The organsations said more than 10,000 IDPs are currently living in Sawmill, Bomi County.

New Bibliography on Internal Displacement

2001-12-20

http://www.brookings.edu/fp/projects/idp/idp.htm

The Brookings-CUNY Project on Internal Displacement has just published a Selected Bibliography on the Global Crisis of Internal Displacement. Authored by Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli, this 73-page bibliography compiles and catalogues available materials on internally displaced persons. It contains more than 800 items.
New Bibliography on Internal Displacement


The Brookings-CUNY Project on Internal Displacement has just published a
Selected Bibliography on the Global Crisis of Internal Displacement.
Authored by Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli, this 73-page bibliography compiles and
catalogues available materials on internally displaced persons. It
contains more than 800 items.

The bibliography includes various thematic categories: basic texts and
sources of information, web resources, early writings on internal
displacement, general overview of displacement caused by conflict and human
rights violations, displacement caused by development projects, legal
framework including the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement,
institutional framework, vulnerable groups, protection strategies, return,
resettlement and reintegration, and development strategies.

Geographical categories include region specific listings for Africa, the
Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Europe and 56 individual country
listings.

According to Project Co-Directors Roberta Cohen and Francis Deng, this
publication "is intended to prove useful to both scholars and practitioners
interested in gaining a better understanding of internal displacement and
the national, regional and international strategies being developed to
address the needs of those displaced."

The bibliography is available in PDF format from the Brookings-CUNY Project
on Internal Displacement website: www.brookings.edu/fp/projects/idp/idp.htm

If you would like to receive a hard copy of this publication please contact
Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli at gsanchez@brookings.edu The author would also be
pleased to receive from you any additional materials you believe should be
included in future editions of this bibliography, please forward these items
to the address below:

Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli
Research Analyst
Brookings-CUNY Project on Internal Displacement
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036

SA farmers offer olive branch to Home Affairs

2001-12-20

http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/news.html#olive

Northern Province farmers have given an undertaking to the Department of Home Affairs that they will no longer employ Zimbabweans who are working illegally in South Africa.

SIERRA LEONE: Over 3,500 returnees repatriated to Kambia

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17797

More than 3,500 Sierra Leonean returnees have finally been repatriated to their place of origin, in Kambia district northwest Sierra Leone. "Their return home means that peace has really returned to Sierra Leone," a UNHCR press release on Thursday quoted a woman from the hosting village in Lungi's Lokomasama Chiefdom, north of the capital Freetown as saying.

The International Migration Policy Programme

Dakar, Senegal

2001-12-20

http://www.december18.net/UN.htm

The International Migration Policy Programme (UNFPA, UNITAR, IOM, ILO) is organising a meeting in Dakar, Senegal, 17-21 December 2001. It is held in the context of the Declaration of Dakar and the related Follow-up Proposals adopted by governments on 13 October 2000 at the 'West African Regional Ministerial Conference on the Participation of Migrants in the Development of their Countries of Origin'.

The Point of No Return:

Evaluating the Amnesty for Mozambican Refugees in South Africa

2001-12-20

http://www.queensu.ca/samp/publications/policybriefs/brief6.pdf

Southern African Migration Project, Migration Policy Brief No. 6.
In 2000, an estimated 200-220,000 former Mozambican refugees remained on South African soil. The South African Cabinet decided in December 1996 that Mozambican refugees who wished to remain in the country should be given permanent residence status. This amnesty was eventually implemented between August 1999 and February 2000 by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). Unlike earlier amnesties, a number of NGOs participated in the outreach, advocacy and monitoring components of the amnesty’s implementation. This paper presents a detailed examination of the amnesty process, including its planning, the criteria for eligibility, the information campaign, the application procedures, the problems encountered and the lessons learned. Recommendations from this document can be drawn upon to develop appropriate responses to any future refugee influx to South Africa, whether from neighbouring countries or further afield.

UN Road Map for Migrant Workers

2001-12-20

http://www.chrf.ca/english/publications_eng/files/un-roadmap-intro.htm

The Road Map is a guide for migrant NGOs to the International Human Rights System and Other Mechanisms. The Road Map is a joined project by the Canadian Human Rights Foundation, Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development, Ateneo Human Rights Center and the Asian Migrant Centre.

Egypt: Al-Wafd on US pressure for law against money laundering

2001-12-20

http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011216000782&query=corruption

"I have no objection to issuing a new anti money laundering law in the crimes of planting, manufacturing and trading in narcotics, nor in the kidnapping and detention of people, nor in terrorism and the importing of and trading in weapons and ammunition, nor in the crimes of libertinism and prostitution, nor those against antiquities or related to the preservation of the environment, to the end of the crimes listed in Article 2 of the draft law on money laundering that was prepared by the government and presented to the People's Assembly for an immediate endorsement. I have no objection to that, but my objection is that the USA is pressuring us to issue that law, and imposes it on us and on other countries against the will of the government and the state agencies and institutions."

Ghana: Town Halls Can Promote Transparency

2001-12-20

http://allafrica.com/stories/200112120017.html

The newly inaugurated National Advisory Committee of the Ghana Accountability Improves Trust is to facilitate government's responsiveness to citizens at the local level and promote accountability and transparency in district assemblies.

Kenya: World Bank Launches Investigations Against Its Former Manager

2001-12-20

http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011212000241&quer

The World Bank has said that it had launched criminal investigations in the US against it's former task manager for the Kenya Urban Transport Infrastructure Project (Kutip) over allegations of corruption.

Nigeria: Budget Allocations Without Accountability

2001-12-20

http://allafrica.com/stories/200112120045.html

It has become loathsomely fashionable amongst all tiers of government in Nigeria, namely, the federal, state, local, ministries, departments, parastatals and all other government sponsored organisations to draw up or prepare their yearly budgets, that is, amounts of money to be spent in any coming year, without first of all giving proper and reliable accounts of huge sums of public money squandered in the preceding years.

Nigeria: Electoral Law in Credibility Test

2001-12-20

http://allafrica.com/stories/200112110257.html

The cloud of controversy hanging over the new Electoral Law thickened further as some members of House of Representatives filed an objection for an amendment to the law because of what they described as "a smuggled clause."

Nigeria: Judge Sent People to Collect Bribe

2001-12-20

http://allafrica.com/stories/200112120044.html

The trial of former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi and four others over allegation of attempts to murder The Guardian Publisher, Chief Alex Ibru yesterday further took a dramatic turn as Bamaiyi restated the bribery charge against the trial judge, Justice Ade Alabi accused of the same offence last week by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late head of state, General Sani Abacha.

Sierre Leone: Indigenous Business Sector is Weak

2001-12-20

http://allafrica.com/stories/200112110380.html

A commissioner at the Anti-corruption, Mrs. Neneh Daboh has described the indigenous business sector as painfully weak and disjointed.

South Africa: Holomisa slammed for Mbeki slurs

2001-12-20

http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,991039-6080-0,00.html

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota on Sunday launched a bare-knuckled attack on United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa for suggesting that President Thabo Mbeki had been involved in underhand activities surrounding the multi-billion rand arms deal.

Conscientious consumption is worth the effort

2001-12-20

http://enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/12/12142001/s_45889.asp

It is well-documented that the Gap (and its family of stores, including Banana Republic and Old Navy), Tommy Hilfiger, Nordstrom, May Co., Sears, Wal-Mart, and most of the big names in US clothing and retail use slave labor. Because they farm out clothing manufacturing to factories all over the world to increase their profit margins, it is impossible for them to insure their workers' basic rights.

Côte d’Ivoire: forum submits recommendations to President

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17801

The steering committee of Côte d’Ivoire’s National Reconciliation Forum has submitted to President Laurent Gbagbo the results of a three-month public debate in which representatives of political, religious, non-governmental, academic and other groups analysed and proposed solutions for the country's socio-political problems.

Investment Rules After Doha:

A Time to Sow?

2001-12-20

http://www.fpif.org/commentary/0111wto.html

The agreement to begin WTO negotiations on investment should serve as a call to action for NGOs, socially responsible business leaders, and others who seek to promote the global public interest. Now more than ever, it is time to mount a proactive advocacy effort based on a positive vision of what constitutes "sustainable and ethical" investment rules.

OAU Seeks to Defend Small-holder Farmers with Model Legislation

Join the campaign to support small holder farmers in Africa

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/4857

Globalization usually brings to mind images of busy cities and modern technology. The following article explains how small-holder farmers in Africa are impacted by globalized trade regulations. It also describes the Organization of African Unity's (OAU) model legislation which seeks to protect the intellectual property rights of African farmers and breeders.
OAU Seeks to Defend Small-holder Farmers with Model Legislation

Subtitle: Join the campaign to support small holder farmers in Africa


A typical farmer in East Africa is a woman who cultivates on five acres
of land. She grows enough food staples to feed her family throughout the
year. She might also join a number of her neighbors in growing some
fruit and vegetables on a communal plot. Her livestock, if she has it,
consists of chickens, some goats and perhaps a few cattle. The family
income might come from the sale of coffee from a small stand of trees
which her husband tends, and a few of her crops or chickens sold in the
local market. Her earnings pay for her children's school, medicine,
salt, clothing, hoes, a machete, and perhaps a bicycle. Her family
depends on rain for her crops, an absence of pests in her field and
seeds from her harvest for the next planting season. She does not earn
much income according to formal standards, but she is largely
self-sufficient in terms of food.

Longer text for website:

Globalization usually brings to mind images of busy cities and modern
technology. The following article explains how small-holder farmers in
Africa are impacted by globalized trade regulations. It also describes
the Organization of African Unity's (OAU) model legislation which seeks
to protect the intellectual property rights of African farmers and
breeders.

A typical farmer in East Africa is a woman who cultivates on five acres
of land. She grows enough food staples to feed her family throughout the
year. She might also join a number of her neighbors in growing some
fruit and vegetables on a communal plot. Her livestock, if she has it,
consists of chickens, some goats and perhaps a few cattle. The family
income might come from the sale of coffee from a small stand of trees
which her husband tends, and a few of her crops or chickens sold in the
local market. Her earnings pay for her children's school, medicine,
salt, clothing, hoes, a machete, and perhaps a bicycle. Her family
depends on rain for her crops, an absence of pests in her field and
seeds from her harvest for the next planting season. She does not earn
much income according to formal standards, but she is largely
self-sufficient in terms of food.

The World Trade Organization (WTO), through its agreement on Trade
Related Intellectual Property Rights (also known as TRIPS), requires all
member states to grant and enforce intellectual property rights on life
forms. Specifically, TRIPS recognizes that while plants and animals may
be excluded from patent laws, all member countries must allow for
patents on microorganisms and either provide patents or an effective sui
generis (unique) type of intellectual property rights on plant
varieties.

In Africa some individuals and corporations have already claimed rights
over a number of African life forms as the TRIPS measure permits. But in
some cases these items were developed and used by indigenous African
farmers for generations. For example, the U.S. Plant Variety Protection
office (PVP) issued a certificate on a variety of teff, the grain used
to make injera bread, which is a staple of the Ethiopian diet. Patents
and certificates were also issued on varieties of African sweet
potatoes, millet, rice, melons, sorghum and cassava.

The direct impact on the African woman described above, is that suddenly
she may be asked to pay royalties (to someone she may have never met)
for the seeds she has saved for her next planting. She will be required
to pay that royalty to the patent holder whenever she plants the same
seeds she thought were her own. When she cultivates pineapples on the
community plot, she and her friends think of their harvest as community
property and not the exclusive intellectual property of anyone person.
Thus, patents are not solicited. This reality exposes the gap between
global trade rules on intellectual property, and African traditional
methods of communal farming.

In grappling with the question of their agricultural and biological
heritage, the African group of trade ministers at the 1999 WTO Third
Ministerial meeting in Seattle took the lead in opposing the patenting
of life in any of its forms (See NewsNotes January/February 2000). They
continue to push this position as the WTO prepares for its Fourth
Ministerial in November 2001 in Qatar.

Consistent with the position taken by the African trade ministers at the
WTO, and inclusive of the need to protect communities' rights over their
resources, the OAU has drafted "The African Model Legislation for the
Protection of the Rights of Local Communities, Farmers and Breeders, and
for the Regulation of Access to Biological Resources." The OAU is urging
individual African governments to enact this legislation as national
law. Its aim is to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of
biological and agricultural genetic resources plus traditional knowledge
systems and technologies, and to maintain public and communal control
and rights over these resources.

The model legislation involves fundamental ethical and practical
questions about food security, development, social and economic justice,
communal and farmers' rights, environment, conservation and
biodiversity. It boils down to the principle of public versus private
control of humanity's basic life-support systems like food, air and,
water. It also directly challenges the WTO to recognize that people have
the right to protect community intellectual property rights and farmers'
rights according to customary practices and laws.

Action:

For background information on the Africa Model legislation, go to the
Africa Faith and Justice Network web site: http://afjn.cua.edu/
Join the campaign in support of the OAU's model legislation. Sign the
Declaration of Support developed by the Africa Trade Policy Working
Group. For details on how to sign on your organization or church
community, contact Africa Faith and Justice Network at 202-832-3412
or see: http://afjn.cua.edu/

Website address:
http://www.maryknoll.org/GLOBAL/NEWSNOTES/xNEWSNOTES/newsnote11_01/oau_sept0
1.htm

Contact Email: Kneels@igc.org or the addresses listed in the above
action

Your name: Kathleen McNeely

Your e-mail address: Kneels@igc.org


--
Kathleen McNeely
Program Associate - Africa Issues
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
P.O. Box 29132
Washington DC 20017
Tel: 202-832-1780 / Fax: 202-832-5195

The Global Development Gateway and the Central Dilemma of E-Commerce

2001-12-20

http://www.comminit.com/Commentary/sld-3600.html

The criticisms that have been raised of the GDG have mainly been of "crowding out" (of existing sites), skewed funding priorities (toward WB associated sites rather than indigenous or grass-roots developed sites), and supposed self-dealing (of WB officials). I won't go into those--they have been well presented by others and particularly on the GKD listserve. What interests me is how the strengths and weaknesses of the site(s) are so revealing of larger issues concerning Development and the very harsh realities that are being discovered about information and E-Commerce on the Net.

UK-Tanzania: Cabinet row as defence deal delayed

2001-12-20

http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,10674,620920,00.html

An embarrassed government was yesterday forced to postpone a decision on the sale of a £28m military air traffic control system to Tanzania when it emerged at a highly charged meeting of senior ministers that the hardware has already been built at a UK factory after reassurances from the Ministry of Defence that the deal would be nodded through.

UN draft resolution on World Summit on Sustainable Development

2001-12-20

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/GAEF2991.doc.htm

The Second Committee of the United Nations General Assembly concluded its work this week by approving a draft resolution on the World Summit on Sustainable Development. This resolution is expected to be approved by the General Assembly without changes when it takes up the report of the Second Committee on Friday, 21 December 2001. This resolution changes the dates of the WSSD to 26 August - 4 September 2002, advancing the conference dates by one week.

UN issues bleak African warning

2001-12-20

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1716000/1716742.stm

The head of the United Nations office in Africa has warned that the continent is failing to meet any of the development targets set at last year's UN millennium summit.

World Bank and IMF Anti-Poverty Schemes Still Rile Grassroots

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/4838

Despite a two-year focus on reducing poverty in its client countries, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are sticking to economic prescriptions that may have increased poverty and joblessness in many nations and widened the gap between rich and poor, according to a number of grassroots development groups.
Published on Saturday, December 15, 2001 by the OneWorld.net

World Bank and IMF Anti-Poverty Schemes Still Rile Grassroots
by Jim Lobe

Despite a two-year focus on reducing poverty in its client countries, the
World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are sticking to economic
prescriptions that may have increased poverty and joblessness in many
nations and widened the gap between rich and poor, according to a number of
grassroots development groups.

New efforts by the two agencies to involve civil society, as well as
national governments, in designing their economic programs--called Poverty
Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)--are still excluding poor people, who are
the intended beneficiaries, says a new report which summarizes findings by
a number of recent regional and country reviews of the PRSP process.

"Large numbers of people--particularly those who live in hardship
conditions and/or have been socially and politically marginalized for long
periods of time--are alienated from decision-making processes that deeply
affect their livelihood and future," according to the report, 'The World
Bank and the PRSP: Flawed Thinking and Failed Experiences.'

The report--compiled jointly by debt relief group Jubilee South,
Malaysia-based Focus on the Global South, African Women's Economic Policy
Network, and the Centro de Estudios Internacionales in Managua,
Nicaragua--concludes that the Bank and the IMF remain too wedded to
traditional market-led models of economic development to meet their stated
goal of cutting poverty.

"Programs are ultimately directed towards achieving the highest possible
growth which is not necessarily the same as achieving the highest possible
poverty reduction," the report finds.

Those conclusions echo other recent studies on the alleged failure of the
new poverty focus of the two Washington-based agencies whose structural
adjustment programs (or SAPs) have long been accused by development groups
of hurting the poor.

Earlier this year, a report submitted to the United Nations Economic and
Social Council by Fantu Cheru--an independent expert affiliated with the
U.N. High Commission for Human Rights--found that the World Bank and the
IMF "continue to prescribe the same medicine as a condition for debt
relief, dismissing the overwhelming evidence that SAPs have increased
poverty."

For more than 20 years, the World Bank and the IMF have provided loans to
debt-plagued and cash-strapped poor countries in exchange for their
implementation of far-reaching policies designed to encourage foreign
investment and rapid economic growth.

Among other policies, SAPs have traditionally required countries to reduce
tariffs and other import barriers, increase exports, reduce government
budgets and subsidies, privatize state enterprises, and provide tax and
other incentives for foreign investment.

Such policy prescriptions, however, generally hurt the interests of the
poorest and most vulnerable sectors of the borrowing countries, according
to critics.

In response, both the Bank and the IMF in the late 1990's dropped the
rhetoric of structural adjustment and pledged to pay much greater attention
to the needs of people living in impoverished countries, and to poor people
themselves, in designing programs for development and debt relief.

"Nothing has changed," noted Doug Hellinger, a senior analyst at the
Development Group for Alternative Policies in Washington which has led a
four-year study with the Bank on the impact of SAPs. "It's the same
structural adjustment process, and the participation [of civil society] is
at best inadequate."



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Neil Watkins
World Bank Bonds Boycott
Center for Economic Justice
1830 Connecticut Ave., NW, 4th floor,
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: (202) 299-0020 / Fax: (202) 299-0021
Web: www.worldbankboycott.org

To receive occasional updates on the World Bank Bonds boycott, join our
listserve:
Send blank e-mail to <bank-boycott-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>.



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Unlimited calling with 3-way conferencing. Only $1/Mo.
with CrystalVoice! FREE trial. Click Here.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Hb1xVB/HxbDAA/ySSFAA/xYTolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bank-boycott-unsubscribe@egroups.com



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

World Forum on Food Sovereignty

Final Declaration, Havana, Cuba, 2001

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/4847

We - some 400 delegates from peasant and indigenous organizations,fishing associations, non governmental organizations, social agencies, academics and researchers from 60 countries met in Havana to analyze the reasons why hunger and malnutrition grow every day throughout the world, why the crisis in peasant and indigenous agriculture, artisanal fisheries and sustainable food systems has worsened, and why the people are losing sovereign control over their resources. We gathered to collectively develop viable alternatives for action on a local, national and global scale, aimed at reversing current trends and promoting new policies that can guarantee a hunger- free present and future for all men and women of the world.
World Forum on Food Sovereignty
-------------------------------

Final Declaration of the World Forum on Food Sovereignty Havana,
Cuba, September 7, 2001

For the peoples' right to produce food, feed themselves and exercise
their food sovereignty.

We-some 400 delegates from peasant and indigenous organizations,
fishing associations, non-governmental organizations, social agen-
cies, academics and researchers from 60 countries met in Havana to
analyze the reasons why hunger and malnutrition grow every day
throughout the world, why the crisis in peasant and indigenous agri-
culture, artisanal fisheries and sustainable food systems has wors-
ened, and why the people are losing sovereign control over their re-
sources. We gathered to collectively develop viable alternatives for
action on a local, national and global scale, aimed at reversing cur-
rent trends and promoting new policies that can guarantee a hunger-
free present and future for all men and women of the world.

Five years after the World Food Summit, seven years after the agri-
cultural agreements of the Uruguay Round, and following two decades
of the application of neoliberal policies, the promises and commit-
ments made to satisfy the food and nutritional needs of all are far
from being fulfilled. Actually, the economic, agricultural, fishing
and trade policies imposed by the World Bank, IMF and WTO, and pro-
moted by the transnational corporations, have widened the gap between
the wealthy and poor countries and accentuated the unequal distribu-
tion of income within countries. They have worsened the conditions of
food production and nutrition of the majority of the world's people,
even of some in the developed countries. As a consequence, the right
to food and nutritional well-being enshrined in the Universal Decla-
ration of Human Rights, is not guaranteed for the world's poor. The
sustainability of food systems is not merely a technical matter. It
constitutes a challenge demanding the highest political will of
states. The profit motive has led to the unsustainability of food
systems often surpassing the limits on production imposed by nature.
The hope for a new millennium free of hunger has been frustrated, to
the shame of all humanity. The real causes of hunger and malnutrition
Hunger, malnutrition and the exclusion of millions of people from ac-
cess to productive goods and resources are not a result of fate, of
geographical location or climatic phenomena. Above all, they are a
consequence of deliberate policies that have been imposed by devel-
oped countries and their corporations to maintain and increase their
hegemony within the current process of global economic restructuring.

In the face of the neoliberal ideology behind these policies we af-
firm that:
* Food is not a merchandise and that the food system cannot be viewed
mainly according to a market logic.
* The liberalization of international agricultural and fishing trade
does not guarantee the people's right to food.

* Trade liberalization does not necessarily facilitate economic
growth and the well-being of the poor.

* The underdeveloped countries are capable of producing their own
food now and in the future if external constraints are lifted.

* The neoliberal concept of comparative advantage negatively affects
food systems. The importing of cheaper food commodities leads to the
dismantling of domestic production and the reorienting productive re-
sources towards export crops for the First World markets.

* Peasant, indigenous farmers and artisanal fisherfolks are indeed
able to meet the growing needs of food production. Intensive indus-
trial agriculture and fishing are ill-suited to solve the world`s
hunger problems.

* Current efforts to privatize agricultural and fisheries natural re-
sources are steps in the wrong direction.

* Privatization leads, among other, to massive migration to the cit-
ies and abroad supplying cheap labor to corporations and exacerbating
urban unemployment.

* Transnational food models being imposed threaten the diversity of
peoples' food cultures.

* Developed countries use food as a weapon. We recognize the efforts
of Cuba which, despite a four decades US blockade has managed to
guarantee the right to food for all of its people.

* All of the above is taking place while we see a weakening of the
real participation of the rural population in the discussion and
adoption of public policies.

The consequences of neoliberal policies

* Developed countries have reaped most of the benefits while the peo-
ples of the Third World have seen a growth of their external debt and
heightened levels of poverty and social exclusion. The international
agricultural market is cornered by a small number of transnational
corporations while dependence and food insecurity is the reality for
the majority of the rural poor.

* A number of countries continue to heavily subsidize their export
crops giving no protection to small farmers who produce for the do-
mestic market.

* Neoliberal policies are promoting a process of forced deruraliza-
tion.

* Artisanal fishing communities have been increasingly losing access
to their own resources.

* Hunger and malnutrition are growing, not because of an absence of
food, but rather because of an absence of rights.

But the eradication of hunger and malnutrition and the exercise of
lasting and sustainable food sovereignty are possible. We have seen
in practically every country countless examples of sustainable food
production in peasant and indigenous communities, as well as sustain-
able and diversified management of rural areas.

In view of the foregoing, the participants in the World Forum on Food
Sovereignty declare:

1. Food sovereignty is the peoples' right to define their own poli-
cies and strategies for the sustainable production, distribution and
consumption of food. This sovereignty centers on supporting small and
medium-size producers; it respects farmers` own cultures and diver-
sity and their own forms of fishing and agricultural production in
which women play a fundamental role.

2. Food sovereignty is primarily oriented towards the satisfaction of
the needs of the local and national markets.

3. The rights, autonomy and culture of indigenous peoples is a pre-
requisite for combating hunger and malnutrition as is the recognition
of their right to autonomous control of their territories and natural
resources

4. Food sovereignty further implies guaranteed access to safe and
sufficient food for all individuals.

5. Food sovereignty implies the implementation of comprehensive land
reform which will also give equal opportunities to women. It has to
entail equitable access to land, water and forests, as well as to the
means of production, financing, training and capacity building. Where
needed, land reform is an obligation of national governments, but
must be controlled by peasant organizations. We oppose the policies
and programs for the commercialization of land promoted by the World
Bank.

6. We support the Code of Conduct on the Human Right to Adequate Food
(put forward for consideration at the upcoming WFS FYL) as an instru-
ment for the implementation and promotion of this right.

7. We support the ratification and application of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN, 1966).

8. We support the adoption by the UN of an "International Convention
on Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Well-being" to rule over deci-
sions on an international food trade that serves human beings. [Food
sovereignty does not mean autarchy, full self-sufficiency or the dis-
appearance of international agricultural and fishing trade].

9. We oppose any interference by the WTO to unduly influence national
food, agriculture and fishing policies. We categorically oppose its
agreements on intellectual property rights over plants and other liv-
ing organisms. WTO has to be kept out of food.

10. We propose the creation of a new democratic and transparent order
for the regulation of international trade, the creation of an inter-
national appeals court independent of the WTO, as well as the
strengthening of UNCTAD as a forum for multilateral negotiations on
fair trade in food. At the same time, we propose the promotion of re-
gional networking among producers' organizations opposing the nega-
tive effects of the neoliberal practices depicted above.

11. We demand an immediate end to the unfair subsidies being given to
agricultural exports in the North.

12. We condemn biopiracy and the patenting of living organisms, in-
cluding the development of sterile varieties through genetic engi-
neering processes. Seeds are the patrimony of all of humanity. The
monopolization genetically modified organisms (GMOs) technologies
represents a grave threat to the peoples' food sovereignty. We demand
a ban on open experimentation and marketing of GMOs until there is
conclusive evidence of their impact (precautionary principle).

13. We oppose the imposition of food models alien to the food cul-
tures of sovereign nations. Food sovereignty should be founded on di-
versified systems of production, based on ecologically sustainable
technologies.

14. We consider the protection of the environment and biodiversity
and of cultural diversity a priority.

15. We support the struggles of women for access to productive re-
sources and for passing on their food cultures to their children.

16. Artisanal fisherfolks and their organizations are not to relin-
quish their rights to free access to inland and coastal fishing
grounds and the establishment and protection of reserve areas for the
exclusive use of artisanal fishing.

17. Food aid policies and programs must be reviewed. They cannot in-
hibit the development of local food production capacities. They
should also not lead to dependence, to corruption, or to the dumping
of foods that are harmful to health.

18. Food sovereignty can only be achieved, defended and exercised
through the mobilization of all of society. It requires an effective
democratization of decision-making and the development of national
and international solidarity networks.

19. We condemn the U.S. policy of blockading Cuba and other peoples
and the use of food as a weapon of economic and political pressure
against countries and popular movements.

20. Achieving food sovereignty and eradicating hunger and malnutri-
tion are possible in all countries and for all peoples. We express
our determination to continue struggling against the negative effects
of globalization, maintaining and increasing our role as social mobi-
lisers, building strategic alliances and adopting firm political
agendas.

21. We propose declaring October 16 (known until now as World Food
Day) as World Food Sovereignty Day. Keep the WTO out of food. Another
world is possible.

--
Claudio Schuftan
mailto:aviva@netnam.vn

--
To send a message to AFRO-NETS, write to: afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe afro-nets OR unsubscribe
afro-nets
To contact a person, send a message to: owner-afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.afronets.org

AFRICA: New plan announced to wipe out river blindness

2001-12-20

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/default.stm

The World Bank, USAID and African governments have pledged US $39 million for an initiative to wipe out onchocerciasis - river blindness - in Africa by 2010, according to the World Bank. The initiative is based on the "highly successful" West African Onchocerciasis Control Programme (OCP), begun in 1974, the World Bank said in a statement on Friday.

ETHIOPIA: Campaign to eradicate polio suffers setback

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17681

The largest ever polio vaccination programme in Ethiopia designed to bring about full eradication of the disease suffered a setback on Thursday after five suspected cases of the disease were discovered.

GABON: Ebola may have been contracted from monkey meat

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17745

An outbreak of the Ebola virus in the north-eastern Ogooue-Ivindo province of Gabon last week, may have been caused by consumption of monkey meat by the victims, news reports quoted the government as saying on Wednesday.

Nigeria: Generic AIDS Drug Trial Delayed for Second Time

2001-12-20

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_hiv_recent_rep.cfm?dr_cat=1&show=yes&dr_DateTime=12-Dec-01#8507

Nigeria's "long-awaited" clinical trial of generic antiretroviral drugs has been delayed for the second time in recent months.

SA: State takes Aids drug ruling to Con Court

2001-12-20

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=qw1008763561203B262&set_id=1

The Health Department has decided to appeal against a court ruling compelling the government to provide the anti-retroviral drug Nevirapine to HIV-positive pregnant women.

South Africa: Activists Await Government's Next Move on Aids Drug

2001-12-20

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/oneworld/20011217/wl/south_african_activists_await_government_s_next_move_on_aids_drug_1.html

Aids activists are waiting anxiously to see whether South Africa's government will appeal a landmark court ruling Friday that it must provide pregnant HIV (news - web sites)-positive women in state hospitals with a drug that can prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus.

South Africa: Gold Producer, Mining Unions Sign Deal on workplace HIV programme

2001-12-20

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_hiv.cfm#8556

South Africa's second-largest miner of gold, Gold Fields Ltd., signed an agreement on Wednesday with the representatives of several mining unions to create "one of the most advanced" workplace HIV/AIDS programs in the country, Reuters reports.

South Africa: government ordered to provide Nevirapine

2001-12-20

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_hiv.cfm#8555

In a historic victory for the Treatment Action Campaign, Pretoria High Court Judge Chris Botha ruled on Friday that the South African government must supply the antiretroviral drug nevirapine to all HIV-positive pregnant women in the public health system in order to reduce transmission of the virus from mother to child.

Treatment Action Campaign wins MTCT Court Case

summary of judgement

2001-12-20

http://www.tac.org.za/

On 14th December 2001, Justice Chris Botha of the Pretoria High Court found in
favour of the Treatment Action Campaign, the Children's Rights Centre and
paediatricians represented by Dr. Haroon Saloojee of Chris Hani Baragwanath and
against the Minister of Health and government on the issue of mother-to-child
HIV transmission. Judge Botha said: "About one thing there must be no
misunderstanding: a countrywide MTCT prevention programme is an ineluctable
obligation of the State."

Kenya NGO begins anti-FGM education in primary schools

2001-12-20

http://allafrica.com/stories/200112160033.html

A Kenyan NGO has launched a capacity-building peer education training programme targeting 15 primary schools in an effort to eradicate female genital mutilation.

Malawi acts to end student riots

2001-12-20

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1715000/1715569.stm

The University of Malawi has been shut until further notice following a week of violent student protests.

Profiting from abuse

2001-12-20

http://www.unicef.org/pubsgen/profiting/index.html

The commercial sexual exploitation of children assumes many forms and has many faces. Children are enslaved by a chain of actors, all of whom profit in some way. This report, a tribute to the courage of the many children who have been affected by this inhuman trade, presents the moving words of the children themselves, as well as the passionate and informed opinions of distinguished personalities and authorities. Part of the growing chorus of committed and outspoken people coalescing around this burning subject, they speak of the measures needed to counter it, as well as their commitments to ending it.

Uganda: MP Raps Defilers

2001-12-20

http://allafrica.com/stories/200112180119.html

NTUNGAMO Woman MP Beatrice Rwakimari has condemned teachers who defile their pupils in schools. Rwakimari, speaking at Maato Primary School, called upon the administration to punish culprits rather than transferring them to other schools.

Violence and Discrimination Against Students

2001-12-20

http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/children/child6.html

Many children around the world experienced violence and discrimination as a regular part of their school experience, reports Human Rights Watch. In some cases, school officials participated in acts of intolerance, ostracization, and violence directed at particular youth because of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, social group, or other status. In others, authorities failed to intervene to protect students from harassment and attacks by their classmates.

Zimbabwe: Impartial University Report is What is Needed

2001-12-20

http://allafrica.com/stories/200112170268.html

Following the tabling in parliament last week of a special report on the University of Zimbabwe, there have been serious complaints that the investigating committee presented a highly distorted report to the House.

Nigeria: Nine die in Kano gang fights

2001-12-20

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1716000/1716891.stm

At least nine people have died in gang fights in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, local newspapers report.

South Africa: Hate speech versus freedom of expression highlighted

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/racism/4837

The dispute between Cape Town based Radio 786 and the South African Jewish Board of Deputies which is now before the constitutional court has again highlighted the need for engagement on hate speech versus the freedom of expression. The matter has also raised the incompatibility of apartheid regimes' laws on media and the country's constitution.
To: IFEX Auto List (other news of interest)
From: Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), fxi@fxi.org.za

Weekly focus

Hate speech versus freedom of expression highlighted

The dispute between Cape Town based Radio 786 and the South African Jewish
Board of Deputies which is now before the constitutional court has again
highlighted the need for engagement on hate speech versus the freedom of
expression. The matter has also raised the incompatibility of apartheid
regimes' laws on media and the country's constitution.

The dispute relates to programme aired by radio station 786 in 1998, which
dealt with Zionism and the State of Israel. It is alleged that Doctor Yaqub
Zakie who was guest on the programme, raised question about the Holocaust.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies lodged a complaint against the
content of the programme in terms of Clause 2(a) of the Code of Conduct for
Broadcasters, with the Monitoring and Complaint Unit (MCU) of the then
Independent Broadcast Authority.

According to Clause 2(a), "Broadcasting licensees shall not broadcast any
material which is indecent or obscene or offensive to public morals or
offensive to the religious convictions or feeling of any section of the
population."

The IBA (now ICASA) in its position paper on revision of the IBA's Code of
Conduct for Broadcasters in April 1999, noted that Clause 2(a) which was
extracted from the Broadcasting Act of 1974 - was at odds with the freedom
of expression provisions in the Bill of Rights. The Authority also noted
that even unpopular and offensive speech is protected and that any attempt
to limit such speech carries also the potential to limit artistic
creativity.

In term of the proposed new Code of Conduct submitted to the Parliament
Communications Committee by the IBA after its 1999 inquiry, Radio 786 may
not have been in dispute with the Jewish Board of deputies had Parliament
taken the time to look at the proposed Code of Conduct.

On language, the IBA states that; "Offensive language, including profanity,
blasphemy and other religiously insensitive material shall not be used in
programmes especially designed for children." The IBA's emphasis is not on
avoiding use of offensive language but on regarding the time it is used and
audience (in this case not to be used in children programmes.)

Radio 786 is now asking the Constitutional Court to declare Clause 2 (a) of
the Code of Conduct for Broadcasters, unconstitutional on three grounds. The
call is being made firstly on the grounds that it limits freedom of
expression, secondly because it is too broad and thirdly on the bases of it
originates in the apartheid racist regime. The radio station also argues
that the Clause regulates content, which is difficult to implement.

In terms of the Constitution freedom of expression is a condition
indispensable to the attainment of all other freedoms. However, it is
subjected to limitation under section 36 of the constitution. It is also
weighed up against many other rights, including the right to equality,
dignity, privacy, political campaign, fair trial, economic activity,
workplace democracy, property and most significantly the rights of children
and women.

Another interesting development is the fact that the matter has brought into
question the constitutionality of Clause 2(a) of the Code of Conduct for
Broadcasters, which was the apartheid regime passed to prevent criticism of
its policies.

The South African government for example and other privilege organizations
in the country have often referred back to apartheid laws which are not
compatible with the constitution of the country (similar to Clause 2(a) in
order to stifle debates or deny access to information.

The Department of Justice for example still uses Section 205 of the Criminal
Procedure Acts in order to subpoena journalists despite constitution
emphasis on a free press.

The Ministry of Defense is equally guilt of manipulating the legal system to
denying access to information. Public Protector Selby Baqwa earlier this
year used Section 118(a) of the Defense Act of 1957 to bar broadcasters from
giving live coverage of the hearing into the arms deal. The Act requires the
permission of the Minister of Defence to convey information regarding
certain aspects of the Defence Force. Section 11 of the Armaments
Development and Production Act Act 57 of 1968 prohibits the disclosure by
any person, including the news media, of any information relating to the
acquisition in connection with armament by for or on behalf of the Armament
Corporation without the written authority of the Minister or other
authorized person.

It is yet another unfortunate incident that the South African Board of
Jewish Deputies would like to be identified with the same tactics that the
government is playing. It is important that the compatibility of section
2(a) of the Code of conduct for Broadcasters and the country's constitution
have been brought before the constitution. As the FXI we also agree that the
Board of Deputies have the constitutional right to be heard.

We agree that if anyone is maliciously offended they should seek recourse
however, the process should be in the spirit to encourage debate not
stifling it. A distinction between academic engagements and narrow
arguments, which have no intellectual backing, should be made to avoid
stifling of genuine debates. However, we do not agree with the use of
apartheid laws to censor free speech and the narrow definition of hate
speech in order to stifle debates.

The challenge of September 11

An interview with A. Sivanandan by the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism

2001-12-20

http://www.irr.org.uk/religion/

The events of September 11 and their aftermath, in terms of UK government policy, have thrown up a series of contradictions for anti-racists about freedom of expression, human rights, religion and Islam, in particular. CARF asked veteran campaigner and anti-imperialist writer A Sivanandan for some pointers.

Forest fragments more vulnerable to stress

2001-12-20

http://enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/12/12142001/s_45879.asp

Keeping it all together takes on new importance when it comes to forest habitat. Dividing a forest into fragments with roads, settlements, and agriculture makes the remaining habitat patches much more vulnerable to ecological stressors.

2002 Declared Year of the Mountain

2001-12-20

http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-13-07.html

War and other conflicts, and the poverty of mountain peoples, are leading to the decimation of mountain ecosystems and the species which depend upon them, the United Nations said Tuesday. Mountain forests are vanishing across the globe, prompting the organization to designate 2002 as the International Year of Mountains.

DRC: 13,000 affected by flooding in Mbandaka

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17789

An estimated 13,000 people have been affected by heavy rains and flooding in Mbandaka, in the northwestern province of Equateur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Wednesday.

EAST AFRICA: World heritage sites declared in Kenya, Uganda

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17822

The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Friday announced the addition of Lamu Old Town, eastern Kenya, and the Tombs of the Buganda Kings at Kasubi, southeastern Uganda, among 31 new sites inscribed on the World Heritage List.

MOZAMBIQUE: Heavy rains cut off Inhambane

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17839

Heavy rains in southern Mozambique have virtually made the city of Inhambane inaccessible by road, Radio Mozambique reported at the weekend.

Ocean Governance Inadequate, Warns World Conservation Union

2001-12-20

http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-11-01.html

Half the world's population is living on the coasts, and human impacts on the coastal and marine environments are growing. It will take improvements in international ocean governance to deal with fisheries depletion and deteriorating marine conditions, especially due to pollution, concludes a new report released late last month by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Political chaos takes its toll on Zim’s wildlife

2001-12-20

http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/archive/2001dec/features/18dec-zim.html

'What they don&#8217;t understand is that the wildlife is in such a delicate state that if you leave it another four months there&#8217;ll be nothing left' says a leading conservationist.

Tourism, Terrorism and Tomorrow

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/4869

Before September 11th, travel and tourism was the world's largest industry, accounting for one in every 12 jobs. When the massive $3.6 trillion industry almost ground to a halt after the terrorist attacks, the ripple effects extended well beyond the United States, exposing the vulnerability of countries too dependent on international tourism, reports the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, DC based environmental research organization.



NEWS FROM THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 13, 2001

Listen to the Traveling Light press conference (December 13, 2001)
on-line and watch an interview with author, Lisa Mastny at
www.worldwatch.org/alerts/011213.html

TOURISM, TERRORISM, AND TOMORROW
As fewer overseas travelers pack their bags this holiday season,
millions of tourism industry workers worldwide are losing their jobs.
Before September 11th, travel and tourism was the world's largest
industry, accounting for one in every 12 jobs. When the massive $3.6
trillion industry almost ground to a halt after the terrorist attacks,
the ripple effects extended well beyond the United States, exposing the
vulnerability of countries too dependent on international tourism,
reports the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, DC-based environmental
research organization.

"The aftermath of September 11 has shown us how important travel and
tourism are to the global economy, but also how over-dependence on
tourism can devastate lives and derail economies," says Worldwatch Staff
Researcher Lisa Mastny, author of Traveling Light: New Paths for
International Tourism. "Now, more than ever, it is time to put issues
of sustainability at the top of the global tourism agenda."

In the paper, Mastny discusses ways that countries can redirect their
tourism activities to make them more socially beneficial and
environmentally sound. She highlights a wide range of positive efforts
underway to minimize tourism's negative impacts and to boost its
benefits for local communities and the environment.

Revenues from tourism have been especially important in the developing
world,
which stands to suffer severe economic losses from the slowdown.
"Tourism is the only economic sector where developing countries
consistently run a trade surplus," says Mastny. "It's especially
significant in poorer countries that have few other options: for the
world's 49 so-called least developed countries, tourism is the second
largest source of foreign exchange after oil."

Businesses in the developing world are particularly worried about the
sharp drop
in bookings as the winter high season nears:

- India and Nepal, which are close to Afghanistan, are already
feeling the effects of a drop in demand.

- In October, resort company Club Méditerranée was forced to
close 15 of its holiday villages in the Caribbean, Central America, the
Middle East, Europe, an Asia.

- Operators in Costa Rica report a 30 percent decline in
bookings from last year.

- International tourism is now expected to grow by only 1.5 to
2 percent in 2001, compared with the robust 7.4 percent rise in 2000.

- The International Labour Organization estimates that as many
as 9 million of the world's 200 million hotel and tourism workers could
lose their jobs in the wake of the attacks. Nearly three quarters of
these positions are outside the United States and Europe, many in
countries with weak social safety nets.
.

Even in the best of times, the consequences of tourism's rapid growth
have not always been positive. On average, as much as 50 percent of
tourism earnings ultimately "leak" out of the developing world-in the
form of profits earned by foreign-owned businesses, promotional spending
abroad, or payments for imported goods and labor. And uncontrolled
tourism development-on mountaintops, along coastlines, or in remote
jungle areas-stresses many fragile ecosystems and cultures.

"Tourism does not have to have such negative impacts," Mastny says.
"Many governments and businesses, local communities, and tourists
themselves are already paying more attention to the social, cultural,
and environmental impacts of their activities."

Such changes can save money as well. Some hotels, tour operators, and
other businesses are taking formal steps to restructure their management
and operations along environmental lines-often at considerable cost
savings. Between 1988 and 1995, for example, Inter-Continental Hotels
reduced its overall energy costs by 27 percent, saving $3.7 million in
1995 alone. The Green Hotels Association reports that hotels that have
adopted such conservation measures and green practices have been better
able to weather the revenue loss, falling occupancies, and higher energy
costs in the aftermath of the September attacks.

In the paper, Mastny also examines the role of ecotourism, or
responsible tourism in natural settings, in protecting and enhancing
environmentally fragile areas. If done well, ecotourism can bring
benefits to both local communities and conservation. The ecotourism
sector had been growing even faster than the tourism industry as a whole
(20% vs. 7%). But Mastny cautions that some businesses are
"greenwashing" their operations, slapping on the ecotourism label
without actually changing their practices.
-END-

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Leanne Mitchell, Public Relations Specialist: 202-452-1992, x 527, or
lmitchell@worldwatch.org <mailto:lmitchell@worldwatch.org>

Lisa Mastny, Staff Researcher: 202-452-1992, x 533, or
lmastny@worldwatch.org <mailto:lmastny@worldwatch.org>

Purchasing Information: Traveling Light costs $5.00 and can be purchased
through the Worldwatch website: www.worldwatch.org
<http://www.worldwatch.org> or by calling 1-800-555-2028 in the U.S. and
1-301-567-9522 from anywhere else.

Worldwatch Email list: To receive Worldwatch press advisories and
advance releases by email, send a message to majordomo@crest.org
<mailto:majordomo@crest.org>. In the first line of text, type:
"subscribe Worldwatch".





QUICK FACTS: Worldwatch Paper 159 Traveling Light

* Between 1950 and 2000, international tourist arrivals
increased nearly 28-fold, to 698 million. They are expected to reach 1.6
billion by 2020.

* The number of people taking cruises worldwide nearly
doubled between 1990 and 1999, to 9 million passengers annually. In 2001
some 53 new vessels were on the order books.

* Each year, up to 5,000 hectares of the Earth's land
surface-an area half the size of Paris-is cleared for golf courses. One
18-hole course can consume more than 2.3 million liters of water daily.

* The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan practices a policy of
"high-value, low-volume" tourism and accepted only 7,500 visitors in
2000, at a cost of $250 each per day.

* Nearly 80 percent of international tourists come from
Europe and the Americas, while only 15 percent originate in East Asia
and the Pacific and 5 percent in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia
combined.

* The share of international tourists traveling to Asia
and the Pacific rose from just 1 percent in 1950 to 16 percent in 2000.
By 2020, Asia will be the most popular destination after Europe,
attracting a quarter of world tourist traffic. China is expected to
unseat France as the most visited country and to become the fourth
largest source of tourists.

* In 1999, international tourist spending abroad accounted
for nearly 8 percent of world exports of goods and services, surpassing
trade in such items as food, textiles, and chemicals. Tourism is also
the most rapidly growing export in the services sector, representing
more than 40 percent of world services exports.

* In some small island nations in the Caribbean and
Pacific, tourism generates more than 40 percent of GDP.

* On average, women account for 46 percent of workers in
the hotel, catering, and restaurant sectors-a much higher share than in
labor markets overall.

* The passenger jet is overtaking the automobile as the
primary means of tourist travel. An estimated 43 percent of
international tourists now fly to their destinations, while 42 percent
travel by road and 15 percent use either rail or ship.

* In 1992, aircraft emissions contributed roughly 3.5
percent of human-generated greenhouse gases-and this share is expected
to rise steadily as air travel increases.

* A 1997 study found that roughly 83 percent of the
American public supported green travel services, and that people were
willing to spend 6 percent more on average for travel services and
products provided by environmentally responsible companies.


Leanne Mitchell
Public Relations Specialist
----------------------------------------------
Worldwatch Institute
1776 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington DC 20036
Tel: (202) 452-1992 ext.527
Fax: (202) 296-7365
Email: lmitchell@worldwatch.org
Web: www.worldwatch.org



***************************************************************************
The Worldwatch Press Information list is maintained by the Worldwatch
Institute
for the global news media. Postings to this list will include advance
copies of
news releases and notification of press conferences. The Worldwatch
Institute
is a nonprofit research organization that analyzes global environmental and
development issues. Worldwatch's expert researchers are available to
provide
journalists with the latest data and thinking on global environmental and
development trends.
To remove yourself from this mailing list, send the following command in
email
to <Majordomo@crest.org>:
unsubscribe worldwatch
end
To contact the press office at Worldwatch directly, send email to
<owner-worldwatch@crest.org>

BURKINA FASO: Three years of impunity for journalist Norbert Zongo's killers

2001-12-20

http://www.ifex.org/

Three years ago, on 13 December 1998, Norbert Zongo, director of the weekly newspaper "L'Indépendant", was murdered on a road in southern Burkina Faso. RSF is stunned that the investigation is not progressing. The people behind the murder have not been troubled, thereby reinforcing the feeling that the justice system in Burkina Faso is seriously flawed.
IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT UPDATE - BURKINA FASO

12 December 2001

Three years of impunity for journalist Norbert Zongo's killers; RSF holds
the authorities responsible for the fate of Marcel Kafando, the only person
jailed in connection with the case

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

**New case and update to IFEX alerts of 16, 12 and 11 October, 1 May, 5
April, 30 and 9 March and 6 February 2001, 19, 18 and 7 December, 22 and 16
August and 19 April 2000, 17, 7 and 1 December, 22 September, 9 July, 7 May
and 18 January 1999, 22, 16 and 15 December 1998**

(RSF/IFEX) - Three years ago, on 13 December 1998, Norbert Zongo, director
of the weekly newspaper "L'Indépendant", was murdered on a road in southern
Burkina Faso. RSF is stunned that the investigation is not progressing. The
people behind the murder have not been troubled, thereby reinforcing the
feeling that the justice system in Burkina Faso is seriously flawed.
Impunity still reigns in the "land of honest men", despite the authorities'
declarations to the contrary. François Compaoré, the president's brother,
who has been deeply implicated in the affair, has only been questioned once
by the investigating magistrate. This was in January 2001, more than two
years after the journalist's assassination.

Moreover, RSF is very concerned about the health of warrant officer Marcel
Kafando, the only person to be arrested in connection with the case to date.
He is being held at the Ouadadougou Detention and Correction Centre. This
non-commissioned officer in the Presidential Security Regiment (Régiment de
la sécurité présidentielle, RSP) is a key individual in the current
investigation. Were Marcel Kafando to die today, the investigating
magistrate would have to close the case for lack of sufficient evidence to
trace the order of responsibility in the journalist's killing. Should this
happen, RSF would hold Burkina Faso's authorities responsible for the total
impunity that has characterised the affair.

RSF has written to the lead magistrate in the investigation, Wenceslas
Ilboudo, asking for permission to visit Kafando and have him examined by an
independent doctor selected by the organisation. On several occasions, the
judge has stated that his work has been slowed by the soldier's poor health.
In February, the warrant officer was arrested for "murder" and "willful
arson" by General Prosecutor Abdoulaye Barry, in the context of the Zongo
case.

Furthermore, the organisation has asked the authorities to disclose the
preliminary conclusions of the investigation into the death of Michel Congo,
a journalist from the daily "24 Heures". Congo was killed at his home on 21
October. Several theories have been put forth. The journalist's death has
been described as everything from a vulgar crime to a political
assassination. The local press and local human rights organisations have
called for the creation of an independent commission of inquiry. The
authorities must quickly demonstrate their true determination to shed light
on this new case.

BACKGROUND:
Zongo was the director of the weekly "L'Indépendant". He and three
companions were found burned to death in his car on 13 December 1998. This
date proved to be the starting point for a wave of protests throughout the
country. Since then, several dozen demonstrations have taken place in
Ouagadougou and the country's other main cities. On 7 May 1999, an
independent commission of inquiry responsible for "determining the causes of
[Zongo's] death" submitted its report to the country's prime minister. The
commission, which was set up by the authorities, questioned over two hundred
people. It concluded that, "concerning the motive for this quadruple
murder..., the investigations carried out for years by the journalist must
be examined closely, in particular his recent investigation of the death of
David Ouedraogo, the chauffeur of presidential advisor François Compaoré"
and the head of state's brother. The report also listed the names of six
"serious suspects" in the affair, who are all members of the Presidential
Security Regiment.

For further information, contact Jean-François Julliard at RSF, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: afrique@rsf.fr, Internet: http://www.rsf.fr

The information contained in this alert update is the sole responsibility of
RSF. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit
RSF.
_________________________________________________________________
DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
489 College Street, Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA
tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
alerts email: alerts@ifex.org general e-mail: ifex@ifex.org
Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/

DRC: Frédéric Kitengie still in detention

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/4871

Frédéric Kitengie was arrested in Kinshasa on 5 December by National Intelligence Agency (ANR)agents. Frédéric Kitengie was interrogated about an interview he did with Moïse Katumbi, president of the Congolese football team, who is also the brother of Katebe Katoto, a declared candidate for the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has yet to be released.
FEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT UPDATE - DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

11 December 2001

RSF asks for journalist Frédéric Kitengie's release

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

**Updates IFEX alert of 10 December 2001. For background information on the
Loseke case, see alerts of 8 November and 24 October 2001**

(RSF/IFEX) - The following is an RSF open letter to Congolese President
Joseph Kabila:

Democratic Republic of Congo

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT JOSEPH KABILA

RSF asks for Frédéric Kitengie's release

"Reporters sans frontières, an international organisation working towards
the defence of press freedom, urges you to consult with the relevant
authorities to make plans for the release of sports journalist Frédéric
Kitengie, Radio France Internationale (RFI) correspondent in Johannesburg.

According to our information, on Monday 10 December 2001, Frédéric Kitengie
was transferred to Kinshasa Central Prison, but he has yet to be advised of
his trial date. He was arrested in Kinshasa on 5 December by National
Intelligence Agency (ANR) agents. Frédéric Kitengie was interrogated about
an interview he did with Moïse Katumbi, president of the Congolese football
team, who is also the brother of Katebe Katoto, a declared candidate for the
presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It seems that the ANR agents
specifically questioned him about his ties to Katebe Katoto. On 8 December,
Frédéric Kitengie was referred to the Kinshasa High Court's Prosecutor's
Office. There, he was accused of being involved in an affair surrounding
poor financial management when he was the Radio-télévision nationale
congolaise (RTNC) news director. In 1998, deceased president Laurent-Désiré
Kabila gave 600,000 American dollars to former information minister Raphaël
Ganda towards the purchase of equipment for the public channel. The
journalist had accompanied the minister and his technical advisor, Ngoie
Kasula, on a mission to Europe for this purpose. Yet neither Raphaël Ganda
nor Ngoie Kasula have been troubled.

It is Reporters sans frontières' belief that Frédéric Kitengie has been
imprisoned for having exercised his professional duties, and that he should
never have been incarcerated. The organisation recalls that in January 2000,
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Abid
Hussain stated that imprisonment as punishment for the peaceful expression
of an opinion is a "serious human rights violation."

Reporters sans frontières is all the more shocked by this detention when one
considers that the government decided yesterday, 10 December, to celebrate
the 53rd anniversary of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". We
remind you that you have repeatedly stressed your commitment to the respect
of basic freedoms before the international community on several occasions.
In your 26 January 2001 inauguration speech, you reflected on the need to
reinforce respect for the rule of law, consolidate democracy and guarantee
human rights. You reaffirmed your attachment to human rights on the occasion
of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights' 57th session. Yet, in its
report on the Democratic Republic of Congo's press freedom situation, made
public on 10 December, the organisation Journaliste en danger (JED) notes
that twenty-five journalists have been imprisoned since you took office one
year ago.

Though Reporters sans frontières welcomes the 6 November 2001 release of
Freddy Loseke Lisumbu, publication director of the newspaper La Libre
Afrique, the organisation remains extremely concerned about the arrest of
Frédéric Kitengie, who did nothing more than exercise his journalistic
activities. We ask you to give a clear signal that you will respect your
commitments by ordering his immediate release."

For further information, contact Jean-François Julliard at RSF, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: afrique@rsf.fr, Internet: http://www.rsf.fr

The information contained in this alert update is the sole responsibility of
RSF. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit
RSF.
_________________________________________________________________
DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
489 College Street, Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA
tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
alerts email: alerts@ifex.org general e-mail: ifex@ifex.org
Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/
_________________________________________________________________

GUINEA: Photographer assaulted by police, RSF says

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17879

The Paris-based journalist watchdog Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) has written to Security Minister, Ahmadou Camara, expressing its concern over a serious assault on a photographer carried out by members of the Guinean police force in the capital Conakry on 4 December.

Mozambique: UNESCO's Radio Projects

2001-12-20

http://www.comminit.com/pds11-2001/sld-3571.html

UNESCO is one of several development partners working to support the establishment of community radio in Mozambique. They are supporting 4 on-air stations, the creation of a women's community radio network and a national coordination forum for community radio, as well as working to establish 8 new community radio stations. This is part of UNESCO's 'Strengthening Democracy & Governance through Development of the Media in Mozambique' project.

Niger: Tiémogo released

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/4836

Abdoulaye Tiémogo, the publication director of the weekly magazine Canard Déchaîné was released from jail on Decemner 7. Tiémogo was sentenced to six months' imprisonment on 19 October for "defamation", and had been in detention for seven weeks.
To: IFEX Auto List (other news of interest)
From: Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), International PEN,
dixe@wipcpen.org
Subject: Niger: Tiémogo released after seven weeks of six-month sentence

RAPID ACTION NETWORK

13 December 2001

Update # 1 to RAN 42/01

Niger: Tiémogo released after seven weeks of six-month sentence

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN welcomes the release
on 7 December 2001 of Abdoulaye Tiémogo, the publication director of the
weekly magazine Canard Déchaîné. Tiémogo, who was sentenced to six months'
imprisonment on 19 October for "defamation", had been in detention for seven
weeks.

The release came in the wake of an appeal by the publication director
against his prison sentence as well as fines and damages totalling 5.1M CFA
francs (c. US$7,100). At the opening of the appeal process, the Minister of
Agriculture, Wassalké Boukari, withdrew his complaint. The sentence imposed
on Tiémogo had stemmed from an article in Canard Déchaîné in which it was
alleged that Boukari had embezzled 200M CFA francs (c. US$278,000) from the
proceeds of gold-mining.

Whilst gladdened by the news of Abdoulaye Tiémogo's freedom, International
PEN reiterates its view that cases of alleged defamation or insult should be
dealt with through the civil courts and should not entail custodial
sentences.

For further details contact Dixe Wills at the Writers in Prison Committee
London Office: 9-10 Charterhouse Buildings, London EC1M 7AT UK Tel: + 44 (0)
20 72 53 32 26 Fax: + 44 (0) 20 72 53 57 11 e-mail: dixe@wipcpen.org

Zimbabwe: Foreign correspondents association created

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/4835

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) applauds the creation on December 7 of the Zimbabwe Foreign Correspondents Association (ZFCA), which has vowed to challenge a restrictive new press law in court.
IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

PRESS RELEASE - ZIMBABWE

14 December 2001

Foreign correspondents association created

SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York

**For background information on the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Bill and recent attacks against foreign correspondents in Zimbabwe,
see IFEX alerts of 3 December, 29 and 23 November 2001**

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 13 December 2001 CPJ press release:

ZIMBABWE: Foreign Correspondents Association created

New York, December 13, 2001-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
applauds the creation on December 7 of the Zimbabwe Foreign Correspondents
Association (ZFCA), which has vowed to challenge a restrictive new press law
in court.

The draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill would
allow only Zimbabwean citizens to work for foreign media. A Media and
Information Commission created by the bill would accredit local journalists
on an annual basis.

Authorities, who have described foreign correspondents and some local
reporters as "terrorists," claim that the proposed legislation will keep
"dangerous elements" out of Zimbabwe.

The ZFCA also plans to boycott the accreditation system mandated by the
bill, which President Mugabe has yet to sign into law.

The ZFCA's executive committee includes: Cris Chinaka of Reuters; Jan Raath
of The Times of London; Susan Njanji of AFP; and Andrew Meldrum of The
Guardian and The Economist.

For more information about press conditions in Zimbabwe, visit www.cpj.org
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide.

For further information, contact Yves Sorokobi at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New
York, NY 10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail:
africa@cpj.org, ysorokobi@cpj.org, Internet: http://www.cpj.org/

The information contained in this press release is the sole responsibility
of CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit
CPJ.
_________________________________________________________________
DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
489 College Street, Suite 403,Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA
tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
alerts e-mail: alerts@ifex.org general e-mail: ifex@ifex.org
Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/
_________________________________________________________________

Countering Terrorism in Africa

Dr. Susan Rice: US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, 1997-2001

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/4860

"The US-led anti-terror coalition is close to neutralizing al Qaeda's Afghanistan base. While this is an encouraging start, the US and other nations must address another core reality: Africa is the world's soft underbelly for global terrorism. If countries around the world intend to win the war on terror, Africa must be an important focus of our long-term anti-terror efforts."
Source: Global Development Briefing

Countering Terrorism in Africa: Dr. Susan Rice

This week the Briefing invited Dr. Susan Rice, the US Assistant Secretary of
State for African Affairs from 1997-2001, to share her thoughts on Africa's
role in the global anti-terror campaign. Her remarks follow:

The US-led anti-terror coalition is close to neutralizing al Qaeda's
Afghanistan base. While this is an encouraging start, the US and other
nations must address another core reality: Africa is the world's soft
underbelly for global terrorism. If countries around the world intend to win
the war on terror, Africa must be an important focus of our long-term
anti-terror efforts.

Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are active throughout East,
Southern and West Africa, as well as North Africa. These organizations plan,
finance, train and execute terrorist operations in many parts of Africa.
Terrorist organizations take advantage of Africa's porous borders and weak
law enforcement to move men, weapons and money around the globe. They
manipulate poor and disenfranchised populations, recruiting from the ranks
of the desperate and poverty-stricken.

To counter these conditions, the US and other nations must help those many
African countries that are willing to cooperate in the war on terror but
lack the means. Boosting investment to improve border controls and
intelligence collection, strengthen law enforcement and build effective
judicial institutions in Africa is a critical first step. It will require
tens of millions of dollars in extra aid funding in the next few years.

More fundamentally, and over the long term, the US and other countries must
appreciate that addressing Africa's development needs is intrinsically
linked to fighting terrorism. Poverty and corrupt or ineffectual government
help breed terrorism. Until many African states are more economically and
politically sound, terrorists will continue to find foot-soldiers among
their poor, young, and largely under-educated populations. To emerge
victorious in this battle, the US and other countries must open their
markets completely to goods and services from the developing world, provide
more trade and investment financing, bridge the digital divide, bolster
democratic institutions, invest more in debt relief, increase assistance for
education, build health infrastructure, treat the infected, and find a
vaccine for HIV/AIDS. Just as importantly, African peoples and African
governments will have to provide the leadership, the transparency and the
will to forge a better future. With mutual commitment and sustained
investment, we can achieve mutual security and, eventually, even mutual
prosperity.

Published by DevelopmentEx.com, Inc. (http://www.developmentex.com) The
Briefing is a free news and information service. Unauthorized commercial
reapplication, reproduction or retransmission of the Briefing, in whole or
in part, is prohibited. If you have comments or suggestions for this
newsletter please email briefing@developmentex.com

DRC: Panel briefs Security Council on resource exploitation

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17831

A UN panel on the exploitation of the Democratic Republic of Congo's natural resources told the UN Security Council on Friday that there was a need for a plan to rebuild state institutions, and that this process should be linked to an international conference on peace and development in Africa's Great Lakes region.

DRC: Plane with rebel officials crashes in east

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17809

A plane carrying at least two senior members of a rebel movement operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo crashed on Friday in Geti, Ituri province, a spokesman for the movement announced on Radio Candip.

ERITREA: Ethiopia accused of trying to scupper border hearings

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17815

Eritrea on Monday rejected accusations by Ethiopia that it is mobilising troops in the buffer zone between the two countries, and that it is providing support to the Somali radical Islamic group Al-Ittihad.

Kenya: Fresh Reports of Bases for Terror War

2001-12-20

http://allafrica.com/stories/200112170418.html

Nairobi is said to have given its consent for US and British special forces to use Kenya as a base for any military action in neighbouring Somalia, according to a report in the Times newspaper.

Liberia: General detained

2001-12-20

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1716000/1716275.stm

A Liberian general has been picked up as the capital, Monrovia, is awash with rumours of an attempted coup.

Mugabe a step closer to being untouchable

2001-12-20

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=ct20011218223642601Z514597&set_id=1

Zimbabweans might as early as Wednesday have to deal with draconian new security laws which would make President Robert Mugabe untouchable by his critics as the country gears up for the presidential election next year.

SOMALIA: Food situation deteriorating rapidly

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17925&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has expressed serious concern over the food situation in Somalia, saying it is deteriorating rapidly mainly due to drought.

SOMALIA: Nairobi peace talks delayed

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17936&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA

Peace talks aimed at bringing about reconciliation between the Transitional National Government (TNG) and factions opposed to it, due to open in Nairobi last week, failed to start because of the absence of some key faction leaders. However, efforts were now under way to get the talks started "by today or tomorrow", a Kenyan government source told IRIN on Tuesday.

SUDAN: UN adopts resolution on emergency assistance

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17926

The UN General Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution on strengthening the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance in Sudan, despite Canadian and European Union concerns about inadequacies in its wording and scope.

SUDAN: US reports progress on humanitarian access

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17835

The government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan people's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) have agreed on an internationally monitored cease-fire to cover the Nuba [Nubah] Mountains region, Southern Darfur, south-central Sudan, and on "military stand-downs" to implement a US-proposed initiative to eradicate polio, according to the United States government.

U.S. Supremacism and Weapons of Mass Destruction in the 21st Century

2001-12-20

http://www.fpif.org/presentations/011126wmd-klare.html

The problem of Weapons of Mass Destruction must always be addressed on two levels. On one level, we find the scientific and technical aspects of WMD--their design, fabrication, and destructive effects. To a great degree, discussion on this level entails an understanding of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of WMD. On the other level, we have the political and strategic aspects of WMD. This entails an analysis of international power relations and the political dynamics underlying decisions on the manufacture, deployment, and actual use of WMD.

US order sparks a new kind of terror

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/4917

By most accounts the West is winning the war against terror and terrorism. And yet, there are disturbing signs, both in the United States and Afghanistan, that their actions might be laying the groundwork for other kinds of terror.
Copyright 2001 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.

The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo)

December 15, 2001 Saturday Final Edition

SECTION: INSIGHT; Pg. A23

LENGTH: 1014 words

HEADLINE: US order sparks a new kind of terror

SOURCE: SPECIAL TO THE RECORD

BYLINE: Leonard Friesen

BODY:
By most accounts we seem to have won this war against terror and terrorism.
The Taliban has crumbled into so many stone piles and scattered caves.
North American television is even showing tapes of Osama bin Laden speaking
again.
And yet, there are disturbing signs, both in the United States and
Afghanistan, that our actions might be laying the groundwork for other
kinds of terror.
Let's look at our southern neighbour first. Few Canadians seemed to notice
a military order issued by President George W. Bush on Nov. 13. In its
present form, the U.S. president established a new system for the
prosecution of terrorists. Persons so identified can be Americans, but they
need not be.
The definition of terrorism itself is stunningly broad. It applies to those
who violate "the laws of war and other applicable laws" associated with
"acts of international terrorism."
The accused can be denied the right to challenge the information that has
been gathered against them. They might not even be allowed to know how it
was gathered. They might not even be told what it is.
They can be held indefinitely before trial, even as hundreds of
unidentified individuals remain in U.S. custody since Sept. 11, without
named cause.
The order leaves open the possibility that these trials will be held in
secret. There is no explicit assumption of innocence in the military order.
Individuals can be convicted by a two-thirds majority of the commission's
members, and it can lead to the death penalty.
What about the appeal process? Well, there is one. But it is to the
president, the one who identified the individual as a terrorist in the
first place.
It would be better to have simply made all of this up. But it's very real,
and disturbing.
Critics of this military order include human rights organizations,
political leaders in Washington, and the editors of major Canadian and U.S.
newspapers. They have suggested that this military order violates the
fundamental rights and procedures found in existing United Nations
tribunals. They charge that it violates the U.S. constitution itself and
that it bypasses Congressional checks and balances.
Others point out that Americans have long denounced the establishment of
secretive and ambiguous systems of justice in other lands, from Cambodia to
the Soviet Union. Why, now, introduce it in the United States?
And if that isn't worrisome enough, U.S. legislators are set to consider a
bill that will -- if reports are to be believed -- strike a blow to the
establishment of an International Criminal Court (ICC). Proposed
legislation will unilaterally exempt American military personnel from
prosecution in such a court. It will also ban military aid to any nation in
the so-called Third World that endorses such a court.
For Senator Jesse Helms, the ICC "has the unbridled power to intimidate our
military and other citizens with bogus, politicized prosecutions."
Perhaps, but one wonders why the president's order of Nov. 13 has not
received the same condemnation. At least the proposed ICC will implement a
system of justice that we can recognize. That is something that Bush has
not done.
In some ways, questions of justice are the luxury items of the privileged
and well-fed. For millions within Afghanistan, the only issue worth
anything concerns food and the frightening lack thereof.
A report on this besieged and beleaguered country was issued on Monday by a
coalition of North American organizations. The American Friends Service
Committee (Quakers), Mennonite Central Committee, and the United Methodist
Church Board on Global Ministries were among the groups that signed it.
Among their concerns is the belief that the United States, Canada and the
rest of the "coalition partners" are contributing to an impending
catastrophe for an estimated five million people in Afghanistan. In other
words, the very ones who have been victimized by the Taliban have now been
made to suffer for yet another military conquest.
Our concentrated bombing of major cities and populated areas has forced
thousands into less populated parts of the region, where food is scarce.
Our air strikes of humanitarian-based warehouses in Kabul destroyed food
and blankets intended for 50,000 displaced civilians. Our allies, the
northern alliance, have outdone the Taliban in disrupting and looting food
deliveries intended for crisis regions. Our allies in the south, including
Pakistan, maintain refugee camps in appalling conditions.
One report suggests that there is actually less aid getting through to
regions controlled by the northern alliance than was the case before.
Others suggest that food aid itself has been politicized, and used as yet
another weapon in this desperate struggle for survival.
Oxfam reports that "large areas of the country are now riven by
factionalism, war, looting, banditry and fear." Not all of this can be
blamed on the coalition, of course, but some of it can -- at least enough
to unsettle even those who believe that the gains to date have far
outweighed the losses.
What, then, is the way forward to a more just and global society? For one,
we might want to join our voices to those calling for one system of justice
in the United States, not two. We might want to consider that giving
unilateral power to leaders we like also means that we'll end up giving
that same power to those we dislike or fear.
We might want to urge our leaders to commit themselves to human rights for
all, even those in distant lands. We might support those calling for an
immediate and massive humanitarian campaign in Afghanistan and surrounding
lands.
Finally, we might want to declare that acts of terror don't just happen
when we are threatened, and killed; they also happen when we -- or our
proxies -- threaten others and deny them what we claim for ourselves.
Summary -- We might want to urge our leaders to commit themselves to human
rights for all, even those in distant lands.
Len Friesen of Waterloo is chairman of the global studies program at
Wilfrid Laurier University.

GRAPHIC: Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS; People from around the world, including
these travellers at Berlin's main railway station, have been watching the
Osama bin Laden video tape on television. The tape was released as part of
the U.S. effort to support claims that bin Laden was the mastermind behind
the attacks that killed thousands in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
His glee at the "successful" terrorist attack feeds the U.S. thirst for
justice, at any cost. ; Photo: Leonard Friesen

LOAD-DATE: December 15, 2001

Ms. Mariana Rodriguez-Pareja
Outreach Liaison/ Oficial de Enlace
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court
Coalicion de ONGs por la Corte Penal Internacional
Coalition des ONGs pour la Cour Penale Internationale
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
CICC c/o World Federalist Movement -IGP
777 United Nations Plaza 12th Floor
New York NY 10017 USA
Tel: 1 212 687 2176 Fax: 1 212 599 1332
http://www.iccnow.org



To: email:
Unsubscribe: icc-info-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: icc-info-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Contact owner: icc-info-owner@yahoogroups.com
Get help: icc-info-help@yahoogroups.com
Get 1 post/day: icc-info-digest@yahoogroups.com
Stop email: icc-info-nomail@yahoogroups.com
Restore defaults: icc-info-normal@yahoogroups.com

Para suscribirse a la lista en espanol,
envie un email a: cecpi-esp-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Pour souscrire a la liste d'information en français,
envoyer un e-mail: reseau-cpi-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/icc-info/messages
Coalition for an International Criminal Court:
http://www.iccnow.org

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

ZIMBABWE: Government denies accusations of violence

2001-12-20

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17868

A Zimbabwean government official on Monday denied media reports that the army had been deployed in the opposition's Matabeleland stronghold and was allegedly intimidating villagers.

Zimbabwe: Green light for Mugabe

2001-12-20

http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/archive/2001dec/features/14dec-zim.html

President Robert Mugabe’s campaign to retain power and win re-election was endorsed on Wednesday by ministers from neighbouring states who ignored reports of political violence, chaotic land reform and media repression.

Zimbabwe: inflation rockets

2001-12-20

http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/business.html#jump

Zimbabwe'S year-on-year inflation jumped to 103,8% in November, almost six percentage points above the 97,9% recorded in October.

ERITREA: AFRICA'S SLOWEST INTERNET ADAPTOR STARTS TO MAKE PROGRESS

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/4932

Although slow to adopt the internet, Eritrea is now finding that initial demand for connectivity exceeds gateway capacity. As the technology resource
person for a USAID project this year Carole Roberts describes recent developments and the future plans to meet the new demand.
As the last African country to get connected to the internet, Eritrea achieved full Internet connectivity last November 2000 with the launch of
the [url=http://www.usaid.gov/leland/eriindex.htm>USAID Leland Internet gateway</A>. Overall, the growth and impact
of connectivity in Eritrea has continued into 2001, but the unanticipated initial demand for connectivity exceeded gateway capacity. USAID responded
with a design for a system upgrade. Details are still being worked out about the rollout timeline and funding for the upgrade. In any case, as of
November 2001, sources confirmed that only the capital city, Asmara, is connected to the internet. Customers outside of Asmara must make toll calls
to connect to the internet, increasing their connectivity costs.

Sources suggest that by end of 2001 the Eritrean Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) which is in charge of the rollout, has plans to connect
the major port city of Massawa. The other cities included in the original rollout plan ­ Dekamhare, Keren, Massawa, and Mendefera and later Assab and
Berentu - were to be connected by end of FY 2000, so will be scheduled in FY2002 circumstances permitting.

The slippage of this deadline has been affected by a number of delays including the need for the gateway redesign, and other civil issues taking
precedence since May 2001. Some of these issues, including the impact of the recent war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and the reality that demobilization
has been slower getting under way than anticipated, have had major impacts on meeting many IT project deadlines and accomplishing IT productivity
goals. For example, ISPs state that they often find it difficult to provide technical support, offer training, and expand services because of shortages
of trained staff.

Control of the gateway remains with the state-run TSE (Telecommunication Services of Eritrea). In the last year, four licensed ISPs are now
operational. The three private ISPs ­ Ewan, CTS, and Tfanus ­ share gateway connectivity with the TSE operated ISP ­ TSE-I-Net. ISPs at this time are
not allowed to establish their own IP connection. Some outside agencies such as those of Denmark and others have moved to establish independent IP
connectivity. One concern is that if this trend continues, there will be insufficient customers to allow the sector to become financially viable.

Email services began last year for about 1200 users, and the numbers have been steadily growing. ISPs are reluctant to discuss customer-base numbers,
because of significant competition. This makes it difficult to estimate the current numbers and overall growth in the total customer base. However, one
indication is the steady use of and growth in Internet cafes. Up until May 2001, there were three Internet cafes in Asmara. Since then, at least two
more cafes have opened in Asmara.

The main campus of the University of Asmara was connected to the internet in November 2001. In anticipation of this, last year the University applied for
an ISP license with plans to open an internet café on campus. Over the last year, some wiring infrastructure was installed on the main campus, classes
and labs were held in the Computer Science Department, and email use was encouraged in anticipation of connectivity this year. Also, earlier this
year, a female student group, members of the Student Union, began planning a small on-campus facility for computer training for use by their group.

Another promising technology development was the May 26, 2001 launch of Ericel, the Eritrean mobile telephone service. Ericel planned a two-month
trial period before offering full service in August, but that goal has slipped. To date, services are not being offered to the public because
sources say the billing service is not yet in place. Public service will probably be offered some time in January 2001. More background information
about Ericel can be found in <A HREF="http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act_62a.html]BalancingAct Issue 62[/url].

Tfanus ISP and its associate, Eritrea Technical Exchange, have been leading the way with software development that aids the use of Ge¹ez script and the
special coding needed for email and Internet. The most important element of their research is the understanding of how to ensure that African languages
are part of Internet development, and to assure worldwide access to Internet resources. (More information about this topic is available at both http://www.tfanus.com.er and http://www.punchdown.org/rvb/email/UniGeez.html)

The economic promise of the internet in Eritrea is demonstrated by the Seawater Farms project. This integrated farm is located on the Red Sea
coast on a stretch of barren desert just north of the Eritrean port of Massawa. With some initial government support, the project has had
significant success in both producing products and attracting project partners that have contributed all types of technical expertise. Products
produced by the project include shrimp, fish (tilapia), salicornia (sea asparagus), and mangrove plantations supporting wetlands development. The
project advertises these products on the internet, in collaboration with its US partner, Seaphire (www.seawaterfarms.com). Contact them at:
info@seawaterfarms.com

There is an overwhelming need to address education and training needs. The Ministry of Transport and Communications has led in planning and
successfully managing many projects in IT rollout in the country, including a vision for rural telecenters and the latest mobile phone project. With a
new Minister recently in place, sources say that MTC is considering the issue of training needs, along with staff training and possibly even a
training center as part of the discussion of a five-year sector plan. The MTC has also had under discussion for the past year, along with University
and others, the start-up of a CISCO Academy project, as well as acquiring other training resources.

The Ewan ISP management is considering plans for a major training facility to meet the needs of businesses and of those demobilized. Resources estimate
that demobilization could eventually produce something approaching 250,000 people for integration back into society and the economy. Both Tfanus and
CTS ISPs include training as part of regular activities at their respective Internet cafes. In particular, Tfanus is attempting to improve technology
literacy rates by supporting public and private off-site IT training activities.

The author Carole Roberts is a consultant with Learning, Technology and Development. She can be contacted at: Carole_Roberts@faludi.com

[Source: NEWS UPDATE 90]

NIGERIA: NEW COMMITTEE ACTS TO ADDRESS 419 SCAM AND INTERNET FRAUD

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/4938

This new comittee aims to halt cybercrime in Nigeria.
A new inter-ministerial committee headed by Ade Ajakaiye, the police commissioner in charge of the special fraud unit has been set up. Members of
the committee were drawn from State Security Service, SSS; the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, ministries of justice, foreign affairs,
information and national orientation, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NITEL, NIPOST, Internet service
providers, private telephone operators, office of the chief economic adviser to the president and the police. Haz Iwendi, assistant commissioner of
police and force public relations officer, told Newswatch that activities of the 419 people, especially Internet fraudsters had become worrisome. He said
Internet fraud was now pervasive.

'One, it is very easy. Two, there are business centres opening up everywhere now. And people are having greater access to the Internet because e-mail
business is getting cheaper and cheaper. And with the Internet system, you can even send e-mail to so many people at the same time. All it costs you is
a few hundreds of naira,' he said. He said Internet fraud was giving a bad name to the country.

Iwendi said internet service providers were cooperating with the police to stem Internet fraud in the country. 'We have told them what we are doing. We
have asked for their co-operation in tracking fraudsters down. We are also in touch with all the network servers. When we know they are using their
network servers, we write to them and they have been very co-operative. The network services we have contacted include Hotmail, Yahoo and APEXMAIL. They
have been very co-operative when we write to them and ask them to block questionable mails. We have given them e-mail addresses which are being
monitored,' he said.
(source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?e28966216&e=6248 )

[Source: NEWS UPDATE 90]

NOTES FROM A LINUX INSTALLFEST

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/4960

Want to learn more about the Linux operating system, from a desktop user perspective? Need to get the software and install it? These notes from Karen Zgoda may be of interest. Installfests are held all over the world, including in African cities, by Linux User Groups. Read on for more info.
I attended an Linux Installfest held at one of our affiliate centers, the South End Technology Center @ Tent City, in Boston last week and thought folks might benefit from reading about my experience. Special thanks go to Mel King and the Boston Linux & Unix User Group for sponsoring this wonderful and well-attended event.

I am interested in Linux, and Open Source in general, for a variety of philosophical and practical reasons. As a Microsoft user for a number of years I was eager to learn about alternative operating systems and see what else was out there. To learn more about Linux, I went to the Open Source Development Network (OSDN) and subscribed to the OSDN Starter Bundle. Delivered daily in html or text format, this newsletter brings Open Source related content to a user who is relatively new to Open Source from Slashdot and NewsForge among others. I have also assembled a small amount of relevant Linux web sites
included at the bottom of this email to learn more about this organic community of Linux users. I wanted to use Linux for basic office applications such as StarOffice and OpenOffice, not systems administration or software development.

I was excited when Ben Cain told me about the Boston Linux & User Group and the Installfest. Steve Ronan tracked down an older laptop with an expiring beta version of XP for me to bring. My hope was not to come across as naive against a steep learning curve but as a relatively informed novice eager to learn and share knowledge with others. Overall things went pretty smoothly. In retrospect, it is very helpful to know all the system specs on your machine before installing a new operating system. Among the Linux distributions available at the Installfest, including Red Hat and SuSe, I was recommended to try out Mandrake 8.1. It was like installing software; insert the CDs, follow the instructions with
someone nearby to help with any glitches, and reboot. If installing from a CD on an older computer, make sure your CD-ROM drive can load bootable CDs. One of the fun things about Linux is that you can partition your hard drive, given available system constraints, to have both Linux and Windows and allocate how much space each partition will occupy. One of the techies set up the system to automatically load a graphic user-interface (GUI) when I turned the computer on. The interface is, in a word, beautiful and resembles a Windows or Mac in look and feel. My next project is to tinker and explore Mandrake and I can't wait. I might tinker with other distributions as well to see how they compare. If I had known the process was so easy I would have tried it months ago.

If you are looking to explore Linux, I recommend visiting the mentioned web sites and contacting your local Linux user group. These folks were incredibly helpful, friendly, and eager to share their passion for Linux. To get hooked up with your local Linux users group, head to this web site for a worldwide listing.

Additional helpful links to explore:

Duke of URL - HowTo - Linux Distribution Round-Up
http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/distroroundup/

HotScripts.com
http://www.hotscripts.com/
K12linux.org
http://www.k12linux.org/
Linux Documentation Project
http://www.linuxdoc.org/
Linux Links - The Linux Portal
http://www.linuxlinks.com/
Linux StepByStep
http://linux.nf/stepbystep.html
Linuxnewbie.org
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/
Open Source Voices
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/toc.html
O'Reilly Linux Resource Center
http://linux.oreilly.com/

Enjoy! ...Karen

Thanks to Karen for kind permission to reproduce these notes. Karen is a project coordinator at CTCNet in the United States.

ONLINE NETWORK FOR MIGRANT WORKERS' RIGHTS

2001-12-20

http://www.december18.net/intro.htm

December 18 - an online network for the promotion and protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers. Provides interactive tools, including databases, documents and a search engine.
[Source: The Drum Beat]

SENEGAL: INITIATIVES CITOYENNES LAUNCHES WEB SITE

2001-12-20

http://www.initiativescitoyennes.com

The group Initiatives Citoyennes has launched a web site that will cover internet topics, telecoms regulation and other related subjects. It will also host a discussion forum and mailing list.
[source: Batik via NEWS UPDATE 90 ]http://balancingact-africa.com]

Universal access: the profit motive

2001-12-20

http://www.panos.org.zm/dymond.htm

Virtually every household and business in rural areas throughout southern Africa want, and can afford basic telephone services provided by a commercial operator at a potential profit to the latter. Through constructive and well-thought-out policies and regulations guided by sound business practice, governments and regulators can ensure that private telephone companies provide rural communities with the telephone services needed for socio-economic development to take place. In so doing, governments can begin to meet their universal access goals both quickly and at relatively little expense.

What makes InterWorld Radio different?

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/4948

InterWorld Radio is a source of daily news bulletins and broadcast quality features for radio stations and online listeners. We commission local journalists all over the world to file reports on the critical global issues of our time - economics, human rights, environment, international trade, science and technology.
For information on how to contribute stories to InterWorld Radio, please visit the Editor's Desk Every week we upload topical 5-minute radio features to our audio bank, which is searchable by subject, country/region, or date. By visiting the web site daily, you can also print a daily news bulletin to read directly on air or to adapt for use in existing news or current affairs programmes. Most of our members choose to have these news bulletins e-mailed directly to them. Join the InterWorld Network to receive the daily news bulletin via e-mail, and also to receive notification of when new audio features are available for download. If you need help in downloading the features, which are stored on our site as audio files, please visit our Help Desk. If you want to listen online to the stories without downloading you do not need to join the Network. We also welcome Feedback from online listeners, journalists and broadcasters about the content and style of the features we are producing.

[Source: TAD Consortium December 2001 Information Update No. 3]

ACT NOW!

2001-12-20

http://www.fao.org/act-network

The African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) consists of practitioners and promoters who believe the adaptation and adoption of conservation tillage principles is a cost effective method of reducing and reversing the environmental degradation and food insecurity devastating Africa. ACT NOW! is ACT's electronic update on events and findings which may assist accelerate this process.

EARTH SUMMIT 2002 UPDATE

2001-12-20

http://www.earthsummit2002.org/es/issues/Governance/governance.htm

Governance resources available now online, which feed into the Montreal International Governance Meeting.

NUA INTERNET SURVEYS

2001-12-20

http://www.nua.com/surveys/

Free weekly email on the latest Internet trends and statistics.

Foundations Respond to United Nations AIDS Prevention Effort

2001-12-20

http://fdncenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=3500024

Responding to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call to action, several major foundations have announced that they and the larger foundation community expect to commit $100 million in new funding for a five-year project to prevent and help treat HIV/AIDS in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Gold Quill Awards

2001-12-20

http://www.comminit.com/awards/sld-3518.html

Sponsored internationally by William M. Mercer, the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Awards programme includes development communications, with a new division covering communication programmes focused on economic, social, environmental, and Third World development, including population and health issues. Deadline: February 6, 2002

infoDev core grants

2001-12-20

http://www.infodev.org/projects/apply.htm

infoDev is pleased to announce the next review of proposals for funding in Spring 2002. These are core program grants and do not include Country Gateway, E Readiness or iCSF grants. We will be reviewing all proposals received since the last round of reviews in June 2001. The deadline to submit a proposal will be February 1, 2002. Final decisions will be posted on the website by March 15, 2002.
As with the last batch review, we will continue to use a review process
which will involve both infoDev staff for the initial screening and an
external panel of peer reviewers knowledgeable in the areas of the
proposed projects.
During the peer review, all the proposals that make the initial screening
will be evaluated to compete for funding.
You may check our website two weeks after the deadline to see if your
proposal has been declined or will go to the peer review.

We have a new online submission form which can be found at
http://www.infodev.org/projects/apply.htm
We recommend that you prepare and review your proposal offline before
submitting it online to ensure quality and expedite the review process.
Again, the deadline to submit a proposal is February 1, 2002.

Jonathan Mann Award For Global Health & Human Rights

2001-12-20

http://www.comminit.com/awards/sld-2598.html

Established to honor Jonathan Mann and help to call continued attention to the vital links between health and human rights. Three international health and human rights organizations; Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, Doctors of the World, and the Global Health Council have come together as partners to support the award. Presented annually to an individual or organization, leading in health and human rights. The Award is a substantial cash prize, to allow its recipients a measure of freedom to pursue their work in this important area. Deadline February 1 2002.

INTRAC COURSE:

AN ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT APPROACH TO CAPACITY BUILDING

2001-12-20

http://www.intrac.org

DATE: 18-22 February, 2002
VENUE: Oxford, UNITED KINGDOM
A current concern and priority for managers and senior practitioners in the NGO sector is how to build the capacity of their organisations and that of their partner organisations. Southern and Eastern NGOs, other civil society groups and Northern NGOs and official agencies seek to develop and implement strategies that focus not only on programme performance but also on strengthening organisations. This course takes an Organisational Development Approach to Capacity Building, focusing on the strengthening of the organisation as its central theme. Deadline of applications: 18 January, 2002.
INTRAC COURSE: AN ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT APPROACH TO CAPACITY BUILDING

DATE: 18-22 February, 2002
VENUE: Oxford, UNITED KINGDOM

A current concern and priority for managers and senior practitioners in the
NGO sector is how to build the capacity of their organisations and that of
their partner organisations. Southern and Eastern NGOs, other civil society
groups and Northern NGOs and official agencies seek to develop and
implement strategies that focus not only on programme performance but also
on strengthening organisations.

This course takes an Organisational Development Approach to Capacity
Building, focusing on the strengthening of the organisation as its central
theme. In particular, the importance of understanding organisations and the
process of change and development within them will be addressed:
- Understanding organisations; how they work, develop and adapt in a
rapidly changing environment
- Relating understanding of organisations to the way you work, both
internally and with partner organisations
- Unpacking `capacity-building’ - what is good practice?
- Examining the roles of Northern NGOs/ donors in capacity-building
- Exploring new forms of partnership

Cost: GBP 785.00 (Price includes course fees, accommodation and meals).
Deadline of applications: 18 January, 2002.

For further information and application forms please contact:
Rebecca Blackshaw, INTRAC
ADDRESS: PO Box 563, Oxford OX2 6RZ, UNITED KINGDOM
E-MAIL: r.blackshaw@intrac.org
INTERNET: www.intrac.org

SA: GLOBALISATION

2001-12-20

http://link.wits.ac.za

The LINK Centre, School of Public and Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in conjunction with the University of Michigan School of Information has a limited number of places still available on the Global Graduate Seminar on Globalisation and the Information Society: Information Systems and International Communications Policy.
The LINK Centre, School of Public and Development Management,
University of the Witwatersrand, in conjunction with the University
of Michigan School of Information

has a limited number of places still available on the

Global Graduate Seminar on Globalisation and the Information
Society: Information Systems and International Communications
Policy

* Have you ever wondered what it takes to participate effectively in
a global virtual team?

* Are you interested in learning about computer supported
collaborative learning with students from other national and
international universities?

· Do you want to enhance your skills in global cross-cultural
communications?

· Interested in developing a better understanding of globalisation
and the organisations governing the emerging Global Information
Society, and how to influence them?

For the second consecutive year, the LINK Centre at the School of
Public and Development Management, University of the
Witwatersrand, in conjunction with the University of Michigan
School of Information, is offering limited participation in the Global
Graduate Seminar on Globalisation and the Information Society:
Information Systems and International Communications Policy
(Globalisation Seminar). In this seminar, participants will join
students from the University of Michigan, the American University,
Howard University (both in Washington DC), and the Universities of
Fort Hare and Pretoria, in an online, interactive, collaborative
learning session from 15 January to 23 April 2002.

The Globalisation Seminar (www.cotelco.net/GGS/GIS/2002/) is
directed by Professor Derrick L. Cogburn
(www.si.umich.edu/~dcogburn). Prof. Cogburn is an internationally
recognised expert in global information and communications policy
formulation. In 1995, Dr. Cogburn helped to found the Global
Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC, www.giic.org), an
association of CEOs dedicated to influencing the formation of
global information and communications policy in order to facilitate
the development of a Global Information Society. He served on the
steering committees of several G7 Information Society Pilot
Projects coordinated by the European Commission. In 1996 he
was one of the key organisers of the G7 and Developing World
Information Society and Development (ISAD) Conference in South
Africa. In 1997, Dr. Cogburn launched and became executive
director of GIIC Africa, the first regional spin-off organisation of the
GIIC. The United Nations has appointed Dr. Cogburn to several
committees and task forces, including the High-Level Working
Group on the African Information Society, the African Development
Forum, and the Committee on Development Information.

The LINK Centre (http://link.wits.ac.za/) is the leading public
policy, regulation and management educational body in the area of
information and communication in Southern Africa. LINK focuses
on capacity building in the public sector and development arenas
through quality training, applied research and consultancy services
necessary to maximise the benefits of the Information Society and
the Knowledge Economy.

Given the fundamental transformation engendered by globalisation,
it is imperative that students interested in the converging
interdisciplinary fields of information systems, broadcasting,
information and communications technology, and international
communications policy, have exciting opportunities to engage in
cutting edge educational and learning opportunities, preparing them
for these new global realities. The Globalisation Seminar is
designed to provide such a learning opportunity by breaking the
boundaries of space, time and distance.

The seminar employs a suite of web-based tools to create a
globally networked collaborative learning environment and uses a
multimedia approach to explore the socio-economic, political and
cultural implications of globalisation and the on-going development
of a knowledge-based Information Society.

The seminar meets weekly in the Computer Lab at the Wits School
of Information, from 17:00 to 20:00, from Tuesday 15 January 2002,
with an initial training session on the advanced collaboration tools
on Monday 14 January 2002 at 14:00.

While the seminar takes a global approach, particular emphasis is
placed on the responses to these issues from the perspectives of
Africa and the developing world. At different times in the course,
seminar participants will be involved in both face-to-face groups and
distributed virtual teams called global syndicates. These global
syndicates will be immersed in readings, lectures, discussions,
role-playing simulations, and guest presentations. Assignments
are designed to foster a deeper theoretical, applied and critical
understanding of globalisation and the Information Society.

Supported by the Alliance for Community Technology (ACT),
Microsoft Research, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and
the Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work (CREW).

For more information on the course content or fees, or to register,
please contact:
Felicia Currie (011-717-3904 or CURRIEN@zeus.mgmt.wits.ac.za),
Charley Lewis (011-717-3784 or lewis.c@pdm.wits.ac.za)
Prof. Derrick L. Cogburn (dcogburn@umich.edu) or
Mpaleng "M.K" Khothule (Khothule@umich.edu).



Charley Lewis

Lecturer, LINK Centre
University of the Witwatersrand

E-mail: lewis.c@pdm.wits.ac.za
Tel: + 27 + 11 + 717-3784
Fax: + 27 + 11 + 717-3910
Mobile: + 27 + 83 + 539-5242
Post: Box 81185, Parkhurst, 2120
URL: http://link.wits.ac.za

SA: Human Rights

2001-12-20

http://www.uwc.ac.za/law/people/jeremysarkin.htm

The International Human Rights Academy (IHRA) is to be held from 3 April to 20 April 2002 on Robben Island, Cape Town under the auspices of the Law Faculty of the University of Western Cape (UWC), the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghent (RUG), and the Law Faculty of Utrecht University. The
Norwegian Institute of Human Rights (NIHR), Oslo will also co-sponsor the course. The Belgian Government has generously supported the programme.
The International Human Rights Academy (IHRA) is to be held from 3 April to
20 April 2002 on Robben Island, Cape Town under the auspices of the Law
Faculty of the University of Western Cape (UWC), the Faculty of Law of the
University of Ghent (RUG), and the Law Faculty of Utrecht University. The
Norwegian Institute of Human Rights (NIHR), Oslo will also co-sponsor the
course. The Belgian Government has generously supported the programme.

The various intensive courses that make up the Academy are designed to
provide the highest quality of legal education in comparative, international
human rights and humanitarian law, with emphasis placed on the practical
aspects in the various fields.

Courses include the African System of Protection of Human Rights, European
Human Rights Law, Inter-American Human Rights Law, the Universal System of
Protection of Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International
Human Rights Law, Human Rights and Foreign Policy, International Criminal
Law and Transitional Law. Furthermore, specific topics such as the Rights of
the Child, Women's Rights, Social and Economic Rights, with special
attention to the right to food and the Prohibition of Torture will also be
dealt with during the course.

The courses aim at providing the latest legal insights, as well as recent
political developments in human rights and humanitarian law. It is intended
for young professionals and researchers to broaden and develop their human
rights experience. It is also designed to develop knowledge about the
substantive and international aspects of the promotion and protection of
human rights at the international level, and to prepare these individuals
for further research and practice in these areas.

More details can be found at www.uwc.ac.za/law/

Jeremy Sarkin
Professor and Deputy Dean
Law Faculty
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville
7535
South Africa

phone/fax 27 21 685 7004
cell 27 82 202 3329

www.uwc.ac.za/law/people/jeremysarkin.htm

SOUTHERN AFRICAN MIGRATION PROJECT

Migration Training

2001-12-20

http://www.queensu.ca/samp/Training.htm

A new executive four week course on International Migration Policy and Management is being offered in 2002 by the Southern African Migration Project in partnership with the Graduate School of Public and Development Management at University of Witwatersrand. Further details are available on their website.

US: Dissertation Fellowships

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/4925

Two UC Santa Barbara Fellowships are available to assist scholars whose
research focuses on areas significant to African,
Caribbean and/or African-American Studies. Applicants
from all disciplines are encouraged, including humanities, social sciences, sciences and interdisciplinary fields.
2002-2003 UC Santa Barbara Center for Black Studies

Dissertation Fellowship

Purpose:

Two Fellowships are available to assist scholars whose research focuses on areas significant to African,
Caribbean and/or African-American Studies. Applicants
from all disciplines are encouraged, including humanities, social sciences, sciences and interdisciplinary fields.

Eligibility:
Advanced to candidacy at an accredited university

Stipend and Tenure:
The nine-month appointment carries a stipend of $20,000. Office space and library privileges are provided.

Duties:
The recipient is required to be in residence at UC Santa Barbara during the academic year, to teach one undergraduate course and to present two public lectures. There is an expectation that the dissertation will be completed during residence.

Application:
Submit curriculum vitae, a brief description of the
dissertation project, a writing sample (approx. 25
pages) and 3 letters of reference to: Dissertation
Fellowship Chair, UCSB Center for Black Studies, UCSB,
Santa Barbara, CA 93106. The deadline is Friday, February 8, 2002. AA/EO Employer.

Our Fellows in residence for 2001-2002 are Boulou Ebanda de B'beri, Concordia University, Montreal (Film Studies) and Suzette A. Spencer, University of California, Berkeley (African-American Studies)

SA: EXPERIENCED NGO ADMINISTRATOR

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/4976

Trevor Huddleston CR Memorial Centre - New post. 50-55,000 R pa inc. Expanding NGO is seeking experienced administrator for offices and community based projects Sophiatown, Johannesburg. Mature, highly motivated person, fluent English and at least one other SA language. Computer literate, proven skills in basic accounting systems. Send cv & letter of application with refs by noon 7 Jan. Interviews 21 Jan.Start 1 March 2002.

SA: FUNDRAISER

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/4927

INTERFUND is a development agency that seeks to combat poverty and inequality, and strives to promote democracy and human rights. The successful candidate should be a motivated self starter,
able to network at a high level within organisations and has excellent interpersonal skills.
INTERFUND is a development agency that seeks to combat poverty and
inequality, and strives to promote democracy and human rights.

INTERFUND supported by the European Union seeks to fill the following
positions:


1. RESEARCH AND INFORMATION CO-ORIDNATOR
(Package: approximately R246 954 pa)

The successful candidate should be a dynamic, motivated,
self starter who will work in the Research and Information Department.

Specification of the Post
* Relevant Degree in Humanities/Development
* Basic experience in research, writing and editing
* Some experience in management and supervision
* Ability to work within a team oriented environment
* Extensive experience in civil society and developmental sectors
* Good verbal and writing skills
* Computer literate in Microsoft office, Internet and e-mail
* Basic knowledge of website
* Drivers licence

Key Performance Areas
* Co-ordinate the production and distribution of various INTERFUND
Publications
* Co-ordinate and provide strategic input regarding various research
activities in line with INTERFUND's vision and mission
* Co-ordinate Resource and Information Centre
* Co-ordinate Development Debate activities
* Co-ordinate lobbying, advocacy and information sharing activities
* Co-ordinate general administration activities for the Research &
Information Department
* Co-ordinate departmental processes and implement Performance
Management System

2. FUNDRAISER (Package - Approximately
R155 815 pa)

The successful candidate should be a motivated self starter,
able to network at a high level within organisations and has excellent
interpersonal skills.

Specifications of the Post:
* 3 days a week
* Relevant degree/diploma in Humanities/Development
* 2-4 years experience in development practice
* 2-4 years experience in fundraising
* Accountable and responsible individual
* Able to work in a team oriented environment
* Excellent verbal, writing and presentation skills
* Computer literate in Microsoft Office, Internet and
Email
* Drivers license essential

Key Performance Areas

* Fundraising expertise
* able to initiate and develop new fundraising contacts
* able to mobilise fundraising resources
* sound reporting on fundraising strategies
* prior experience in establishing fundraising database
* Sound donor research and marketing abilities
* Establish effective public relations
* Experience in proposal development
* Involvement with CSI initiatives
* Establish organised fundraising systems and procedures


3. SENIOR PROGRAMME OFFICERS
(Package- Approximately R164 505 pa)

- Democratisation and Human Rights
- Gender, Arts and Culture

Both persons will have core responsibility for implementing
INTERFUND's Human Rights and Democratisation/ Gender, Arts and
Culture Programmes.

The individuals must be self-motivated, systems-oriented,
have excellent oral and written communication skills and be able to
contribute to a vibrant team of development professionals. An excellent
understanding of the sector and South Africa's development context are
expected.

Specifications for both posts include:

* Relevant Degree in Humanities/Development
* Relevant 5 years and more experience of working in programme
implementation and development or a related field with a broad range of
civil society organisations
* Ability to work to deadlines, under pressure, including attention to
detail
* Preparedness to travel frequently - 5 to 10 days every three months
* A valid driver's license and passport
* Excellent written and oral communication skills
* Must be computer literate
* Project tracking and project financial management capacity
* Good interpersonal skills and a commitment to development

Key Performance Areas
* Grant administration and programme development including making
annual programme applications for ongoing programmes
* Project grants appraisal, implementation and reporting
* Preparation of programme budgets and disbursements
* Maintain the Project Tracking System
* Networking with donors, peer organisations, project partners and
other strategic role players
* Work in collaboration with Capacity Building Officer to facilitate
access to capacity building interventions for the sector.
* Contribute to INTERFUND's research and advocacy agenda.


4. RECEPTIONIST (Package - Approximately R96 625 pa)

The successful candidate should be an assertive,
confidential and independent worker who will work in the Executive
Department

Specifications of the Post
Secretarial Certificate of Diploma
* Experience working in a pressurised Receptionist environment
* Ability to deal with people at all levels within an organisation
* Computer literate in Microsoft Office and e-mail

Key Performance Areas
* Operating a busy switchboard
* Organising the reception area
* General Administrative duties: stationery orders and distribution,
postage and participation in Social Committee meetings
* Office maintenance duties: overseeing photocopier, fax and office
furniture requirements
* Secretarial Support : Word-processing, Minute taking, Filing, Travel
Arrangements etc

Applications should be sent to:
The Executive Director, INTERFUND, P.O.Box 32340, Braamfontein
2017,
Fax No. 011-3392740

OR
emailed to
ZaneleD@itfd.co.za

Closing date : 11 January 2002

Further information may be obtained from the Executive Director on
Tel. 011-4032966

SA: PROJECT OFFICER

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/4930

Themba Lesizwe is a newly established network of trauma services providers and specialised agencies dealing with victim empowerment and trauma support. It has a vacancy for a Project Officer, in a three year contract position.
Themba Lesizwe is a newly established network of trauma services providers and specialised agencies dealing with victim empowerment
and trauma support. It is supported by the European Union under the European Programme for Reconstruction and Development (EPRD)-
Contract 99/73200/22. Applications are invited from suitably qualified individuals for the following Pretoria-based, 3 year contract position.


Project Officer

Reporting to the National Director, the applicant will be responsible for implementing and monitoring Themba Lesizwe Grant making
programme and ensures the proper implementation of relevant financial procedures and grant making principles.

Candidate profile:
Appropriate qualifications and 3+ years experience in a similar position. Familiarity with donor-funded programmes (especially with EU procedures) and development sector an advantage. Excellent command of English, well-developed liaison skills, good communication skills (written and verbal) as well as computer literacy
essential. Proven report-writing and analytical skills. Familiarity with
grant -making systems and victim empowerment sector required. Driver's license required.

ToR available on request. Typed applications with details of three referees to reach the Themba Lesizwe by 7 January 2002 addressed to:
the National Director, P.O. Box 412 Groenkloof 0027, fax (012) 344 6301 or email to: info@santsep.co.za

The right not to make an appointment is reserved. Interviews will be held
in Pretoria in January 2002.

SA: RECEPTIONIST

2001-12-20

mailto:ZaneleD@itfd.co.za

INTERFUND is a development agency that seeks to combat poverty and inequality, and strives to promote democracy and human rights. The successful candidate should be an assertive, confidential and independent worker who will work in the Executive
Department.
INTERFUND is a development agency that seeks to combat poverty and
inequality, and strives to promote democracy and human rights.

INTERFUND supported by the European Union seeks to fill the following
positions:


1. RESEARCH AND INFORMATION CO-ORIDNATOR
(Package: approximately R246 954 pa)

The successful candidate should be a dynamic, motivated,
self starter who will work in the Research and Information Department.

Specification of the Post
* Relevant Degree in Humanities/Development
* Basic experience in research, writing and editing
* Some experience in management and supervision
* Ability to work within a team oriented environment
* Extensive experience in civil society and developmental sectors
* Good verbal and writing skills
* Computer literate in Microsoft office, Internet and e-mail
* Basic knowledge of website
* Drivers licence

Key Performance Areas
* Co-ordinate the production and distribution of various INTERFUND
Publications
* Co-ordinate and provide strategic input regarding various research
activities in line with INTERFUND's vision and mission
* Co-ordinate Resource and Information Centre
* Co-ordinate Development Debate activities
* Co-ordinate lobbying, advocacy and information sharing activities
* Co-ordinate general administration activities for the Research &
Information Department
* Co-ordinate departmental processes and implement Performance
Management System

2. FUNDRAISER (Package - Approximately
R155 815 pa)

The successful candidate should be a motivated self starter,
able to network at a high level within organisations and has excellent
interpersonal skills.

Specifications of the Post:
* 3 days a week
* Relevant degree/diploma in Humanities/Development
* 2-4 years experience in development practice
* 2-4 years experience in fundraising
* Accountable and responsible individual
* Able to work in a team oriented environment
* Excellent verbal, writing and presentation skills
* Computer literate in Microsoft Office, Internet and
Email
* Drivers license essential

Key Performance Areas

* Fundraising expertise
* able to initiate and develop new fundraising contacts
* able to mobilise fundraising resources
* sound reporting on fundraising strategies
* prior experience in establishing fundraising database
* Sound donor research and marketing abilities
* Establish effective public relations
* Experience in proposal development
* Involvement with CSI initiatives
* Establish organised fundraising systems and procedures


3. SENIOR PROGRAMME OFFICERS
(Package- Approximately R164 505 pa)

- Democratisation and Human Rights
- Gender, Arts and Culture

Both persons will have core responsibility for implementing
INTERFUND's Human Rights and Democratisation/ Gender, Arts and
Culture Programmes.

The individuals must be self-motivated, systems-oriented,
have excellent oral and written communication skills and be able to
contribute to a vibrant team of development professionals. An excellent
understanding of the sector and South Africa's development context are
expected.

Specifications for both posts include:

* Relevant Degree in Humanities/Development
* Relevant 5 years and more experience of working in programme
implementation and development or a related field with a broad range of
civil society organisations
* Ability to work to deadlines, under pressure, including attention to
detail
* Preparedness to travel frequently - 5 to 10 days every three months
* A valid driver's license and passport
* Excellent written and oral communication skills
* Must be computer literate
* Project tracking and project financial management capacity
* Good interpersonal skills and a commitment to development

Key Performance Areas
* Grant administration and programme development including making
annual programme applications for ongoing programmes
* Project grants appraisal, implementation and reporting
* Preparation of programme budgets and disbursements
* Maintain the Project Tracking System
* Networking with donors, peer organisations, project partners and
other strategic role players
* Work in collaboration with Capacity Building Officer to facilitate
access to capacity building interventions for the sector.
* Contribute to INTERFUND's research and advocacy agenda.


4. RECEPTIONIST (Package - Approximately R96 625 pa)

The successful candidate should be an assertive,
confidential and independent worker who will work in the Executive
Department

Specifications of the Post
Secretarial Certificate of Diploma
* Experience working in a pressurised Receptionist environment
* Ability to deal with people at all levels within an organisation
* Computer literate in Microsoft Office and e-mail

Key Performance Areas
* Operating a busy switchboard
* Organising the reception area
* General Administrative duties: stationery orders and distribution,
postage and participation in Social Committee meetings
* Office maintenance duties: overseeing photocopier, fax and office
furniture requirements
* Secretarial Support : Word-processing, Minute taking, Filing, Travel
Arrangements etc

Applications should be sent to:
The Executive Director, INTERFUND, P.O.Box 32340, Braamfontein
2017,
Fax No. 011-3392740

OR
emailed to
ZaneleD@itfd.co.za

Closing date : 11 January 2002

Further information may be obtained from the Executive Director on
Tel. 011-4032966

SA: RESEARCH AND INFO CO-ORDINATOR

2001-12-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/4926

INTERFUND is a development agency that seeks to combat poverty and inequality, and strives to promote democracy and human rights. The successful candidate should be a dynamic, motivated,
self starter who will work in the Research and Information Department.
INTERFUND is a development agency that seeks to combat poverty and inequality, and strives to promote democracy and human rights.

INTERFUND supported by the European Union seeks to fill the following positions:

1. RESEARCH AND INFORMATION CO-ORIDNATOR
(Package: approximately R246 954 pa)

The successful candidate should be a dynamic, motivated, self starter who will work in the Research and Information Department.

Specification of the Post
* Relevant Degree in Humanities/Development
* Basic experience in research, writing and editing
* Some experience in management and supervision
* Ability to work within a team oriented environment
* Extensive experience in civil society and developmental sectors
* Good verbal and writing skills
* Computer literate in Microsoft office, Internet and e-mail
* Basic knowledge of website
* Drivers licence

Key Performance Areas
* Co-ordinate the production and distribution of various INTERFUND
Publications
* Co-ordinate and provide strategic input regarding various research
activities in line with INTERFUND's vision and mission
* Co-ordinate Resource and Information Centre
* Co-ordinate Development Debate activities
* Co-ordinate lobbying, advocacy and information sharing activities
* Co-ordinate general administration activities for the Research &
Information Department
* Co-ordinate departmental processes and implement Performance
Management System

2. FUNDRAISER (Package - Approximately
R155 815 pa)

The successful candidate should be a motivated self starter,
able to network at a high level within organisations and has excellent
interpersonal skills.

Specifications of the Post:
* 3 days a week
* Relevant degree/diploma in Humanities/Development
* 2-4 years experience in development practice
* 2-4 years experience in fundraising
* Accountable and responsible individual
* Able to work in a team oriented environment
* Excellent verbal, writing and presentation skills
* Computer literate in Microsoft Office, Internet and
Email
* Drivers license essential

Key Performance Areas

* Fundraising expertise
* able to initiate and develop new fundraising contacts
* able to mobilise fundraising resources
* sound reporting on fundraising strategies
* prior experience in establishing fundraising database
* Sound donor research and marketing abilities
* Establish effective public relations
* Experience in proposal development
* Involvement with CSI initiatives
* Establish organised fundraising systems and procedures


3. SENIOR PROGRAMME OFFICERS
(Package- Approximately R164 505 pa)

- Democratisation and Human Rights
- Gender, Arts and Culture

Both persons will have core responsibility for implementing
INTERFUND's Human Rights and Democratisation/ Gender, Arts and
Culture Programmes.

The individuals must be self-motivated, systems-oriented,
have excellent oral and written communication skills and be able to
contribute to a vibrant team of development professionals. An excellent
understanding of the sector and South Africa's development context are
expected.

Specifications for both posts include:

* Relevant Degree in Humanities/Development
* Relevant 5 years and more experience of working in programme
implementation and development or a related field with a broad range of
civil society organisations
* Ability to work to deadlines, under pressure, including attention to
detail
* Preparedness to travel frequently - 5 to 10 days every three months
* A valid driver's license and passport
* Excellent written and oral communication skills
* Must be computer literate
* Project tracking and project financial management capacity
* Good interpersonal skills and a commitment to development

Key Performance Areas
* Grant administration and programme development including making
annual programme applications for ongoing programmes
* Project grants appraisal, implementation and reporting
* Preparation of programme budgets and disbursements
* Maintain the Project Tracking System
* Networking with donors, peer organisations, project partners and
other strategic role players
* Work in collaboration with Capacity Building Officer to facilitate
access to capacity building interventions for the sector.
* Contribute to INTERFUND's research and advocacy agenda.


4. RECEPTIONIST (Package - Approximately R96 625 pa)

The successful candidate should be an assertive,
confidential and independent worker who will work in the Executive
Department

Specifications of the Post
Secretarial Certificate of Diploma
* Experience working in a pressurised Receptionist environment
* Ability to deal with people at all levels within an organisation
* Computer literate in Microsoft Office and e-mail

Key Performance Areas
* Operating a busy switchboard
* Organising the reception area
* General Administrative duties: stationery orders and distribution,
postage and participation in Social Committee meetings
* Office maintenance duties: overseeing photocopier, fax and office
furniture requirements
* Secretarial Support : Word-processing, Minute taking, Filing, Travel
Arrangements etc

Applications should be sent to:
The Executive Director, INTERFUND, P.O.Box 32340, Braamfontein
2017,
Fax No. 011-3392740

OR
emailed to
ZaneleD@itfd.co.za

Closing date : 11 January 2002

Further information may be obtained from the Executive Director on
Tel. 011-4032966

SA: SENIOR PROGRAMME OFFICERS

2001-12-20

mailto:ZaneleD@itfd.co.za

INTERFUND is a development agency that seeks to combat poverty and inequality, and strives to promote democracy and human rights. Both persons will have core responsibility for implementing INTERFUND's Human Rights and Democratisation/ Gender, Arts and Culture Programmes.
INTERFUND is a development agency that seeks to combat poverty and
inequality, and strives to promote democracy and human rights.

INTERFUND supported by the European Union seeks to fill the following
positions:


1. RESEARCH AND INFORMATION CO-ORIDNATOR
(Package: approximately R246 954 pa)

The successful candidate should be a dynamic, motivated,
self starter who will work in the Research and Information Department.

Specification of the Post
* Relevant Degree in Humanities/Development
* Basic experience in research, writing and editing
* Some experience in management and supervision
* Ability to work within a team oriented environment
* Extensive experience in civil society and developmental sectors
* Good verbal and writing skills
* Computer literate in Microsoft office, Internet and e-mail
* Basic knowledge of website
* Drivers licence

Key Performance Areas
* Co-ordinate the production and distribution of various INTERFUND
Publications
* Co-ordinate and provide strategic input regarding various research
activities in line with INTERFUND's vision and mission
* Co-ordinate Resource and Information Centre
* Co-ordinate Development Debate activities
* Co-ordinate lobbying, advocacy and information sharing activities
* Co-ordinate general administration activities for the Research &
Information Department
* Co-ordinate departmental processes and implement Performance
Management System

2. FUNDRAISER (Package - Approximately
R155 815 pa)

The successful candidate should be a motivated self starter,
able to network at a high level within organisations and has excellent
interpersonal skills.

Specifications of the Post:
* 3 days a week
* Relevant degree/diploma in Humanities/Development
* 2-4 years experience in development practice
* 2-4 years experience in fundraising
* Accountable and responsible individual
* Able to work in a team oriented environment
* Excellent verbal, writing and presentation skills
* Computer literate in Microsoft Office, Internet and
Email
* Drivers license essential

Key Performance Areas

* Fundraising expertise
* able to initiate and develop new fundraising contacts
* able to mobilise fundraising resources
* sound reporting on fundraising strategies
* prior experience in establishing fundraising database
* Sound donor research and marketing abilities
* Establish effective public relations
* Experience in proposal development
* Involvement with CSI initiatives
* Establish organised fundraising systems and procedures


3. SENIOR PROGRAMME OFFICERS
(Package- Approximately R164 505 pa)

- Democratisation and Human Rights
- Gender, Arts and Culture

Both persons will have core responsibility for implementing
INTERFUND's Human Rights and Democratisation/ Gender, Arts and
Culture Programmes.

The individuals must be self-motivated, systems-oriented,
have excellent oral and written communication skills and be able to
contribute to a vibrant team of development professionals. An excellent
understanding of the sector and South Africa's development context are
expected.

Specifications for both posts include:

* Relevant Degree in Humanities/Development
* Relevant 5 years and more experience of working in programme
implementation and development or a related field with a broad range of
civil society organisations
* Ability to work to deadlines, under pressure, including attention to
detail
* Preparedness to travel frequently - 5 to 10 days every three months
* A valid driver's license and passport
* Excellent written and oral communication skills
* Must be computer literate
* Project tracking and project financial management capacity
* Good interpersonal skills and a commitment to development

Key Performance Areas
* Grant administration and programme development including making
annual programme applications for ongoing programmes
* Project grants appraisal, implementation and reporting
* Preparation of programme budgets and disbursements
* Maintain the Project Tracking System
* Networking with donors, peer organisations, project partners and
other strategic role players
* Work in collaboration with Capacity Building Officer to facilitate
access to capacity building interventions for the sector.
* Contribute to INTERFUND's research and advocacy agenda.


4. RECEPTIONIST (Package - Approximately R96 625 pa)

The successful candidate should be an assertive,
confidential and independent worker who will work in the Executive
Department

Specifications of the Post
Secretarial Certificate of Diploma
* Experience working in a pressurised Receptionist environment
* Ability to deal with people at all levels within an organisation
* Computer literate in Microsoft Office and e-mail

Key Performance Areas
* Operating a busy switchboard
* Organising the reception area
* General Administrative duties: stationery orders and distribution,
postage and participation in Social Committee meetings
* Office maintenance duties: overseeing photocopier, fax and office
furniture requirements
* Secretarial Support : Word-processing, Minute taking, Filing, Travel
Arrangements etc

Applications should be sent to:
The Executive Director, INTERFUND, P.O.Box 32340, Braamfontein
2017,
Fax No. 011-3392740

OR
emailed to
ZaneleD@itfd.co.za

Closing date : 11 January 2002

Further information may be obtained from the Executive Director on
Tel. 011-4032966

US: PROJECT DIRECTOR

Advance Africa Project

2001-12-20

http://www.comminit.com/vacancy613.html

Provide technical and managerial leadership to a team of highly skilled multi-national professionals in the planning, coordination, and implementation of activities to address family planning and reproductive health issues (FP/RH) within the context of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Fahamu