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Fahamu seeks executive director

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/65792

June edition of Fahamu Refugee e-Newsletter now available

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/65790

Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights

A course for lawyers and legal advisers

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/65791

New media, alternative politics

2010-07-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/65765

Remembering Lumumba

Mwaura Kaara

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65781

cc WikimediaAs the DRC commemorates 50 years of independence, Mwaura Kaara finds there’s little official acknowledgement of the life of Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first and only elected prime minister, removed from office after two months and eventually assassinated. The celebration ‘should have reflected on Lumumba’s main contribution to the Congolese struggle’, writes Kaara, ‘his articulation of the idea of a united Congo, a vision that sought to build a united nations across all ethnic and tribal divisions despite fierce European opposition.’

On 17 January 1961 Patrice Lumumba, the charismatic first and only elected prime minister of Congo, was brutally murdered. The circumstances of his death remain a mystery, the identity of his killers unknown.

In 1956 Lumumba was a post office clerk; four years later he would be prime minister. In between he had been an ‘évolué’ – one of Congo's tiny black middle class, a beer salesman and a prisoner, twice for his political motivation.

His imprisonment radicalised him and by 1958 he had co-founded a political party, the National Congolese Movement, the MNC that was distinctively pan-Africanist.

Independence Day was celebrated on 30 June in a ceremony attended by many dignitaries including King Baudouin and the foreign dignitaries and press. Patrice Lumumba delivered his famous independence speech after being officially excluded from the event programme, despite being the new prime minister. The speech of King Baudouin praised developments under colonialism, his reference to the ‘genius’ of his great grand-uncle Leopold II of Belgium glossing over atrocities committed during the Congo Free State.

The King continued, ‘Don't compromise the future with hasty reforms, and don't replace the structures that Belgium hands over to you until you are sure you can do better... Don't be afraid to come to us. We will remain by your side, give you advice.’

In his speech, addressed directly to Belgium’s monarch and ministers, Lumumba reclaimed the history and dignity of the Congolese people in their decades-long struggle for independence:

‘For this independence of the Congo … no Congolese worthy of the name will ever be able to forget that it was by fighting that it has been won, a day-to-day fight, an ardent and idealistic fight, a fight in which we were spared neither privation nor suffering, and for which we gave our strength and our blood … We are proud of this struggle, of tears, of fire, and of blood, to the depths of our being, for it was a noble and just struggle, and indispensable to put an end to the humiliating slavery which was imposed upon us by force.’

Lumumba was prime minister for only about two months before he was removed illegally from office and eventually killed. This occurred under the auspices and coordination of a section of the United Nations loyal to the Belgian government, the Belgian authorities and the US Central Intelligence Agency.

On 11 July 1960, the resource-rich Katanga province announced it was seceding under the leadership of Moise Tshombe. Belgium’s troops promptly entered in support. This move provoked a wave of international outrage, in particular criticism by the socialist bloc, spearheaded by the Soviet Union, and the decolonising nations in Africa and Asia. The Belgians withdrew in favour of UN troops, but the UN did not nullify Tshombe’s secession. Prime Minister Lumumba appealed to the UN and United States, but the imperialist powers turned a deaf ear to the new African leader. He turned to the Soviet Union, which provided loyal forces with aid and transported troops to help end the secession.

On 5 September, the pro-imperialist president, Kasavubu, illegally removed Lumumba from office. Lumumba brought his case directly to the parliament, which reaffirmed his post. In response, Kasavubu dismissed the parliament.

UN General Secretary Dag Hammarskjold publicly endorsed Kasavubu’s move. A section of the UN forces loyal to the Belgian government had earlier hampered Lumumba by closing a radio station he was using to plead his case with the people. Amid the struggle, Colonel Joseph Mobutu took power in a CIA-backed coup d’état on the side of Kasavubu and the United States. Lumumba was placed under house arrest, ‘protected’ by UN troops actively intervening against his rule.

Lumumba understood that the UN was acting as the armed forces of the Western imperialist powers. Rather than stay under house arrest, he decided to flee. As he was fleeing, he was captured by Mobutu’s forces on 1 December 1960. Mobutu handed over Lumumba to the secessionist Tshombe, who had him executed on the very night of his capture. The whole capture by Mobutu and turnover to Tshombe was orchestrated by Belgian authorities with the full knowledge and aid of the CIA.

Mobutu gained in power under the new government, eventually ruling as a brutal dictator with the support of US imperialism until he was ousted in 1997.

This year, the Democratic Republic of Congo has celebrated 50 years of independence, and amidst the noise and cacophony, the name of one of Africa’s greatest ancestor and his significant contributions to the African liberation movement has gone silent.

The meaning of the life and the work of Patrice Lumumba was rooted in his determination to fight against the forces of domination and oppression, that were represented by the European world in the most turbulent period of the history of the Congo, and as such as the Democratic Republic of Congo held festivities to mark 50 years of independence and symbolically usher in a new era breathing in new ethos and values, focus should have been to reflect on the steadfast efforts of Lumumba in his quest for the real movement of the people of Africa.

The celebration should have been to reflect on Lumumba’s main contribution to the Congolese struggle, his articulation of the idea of a united Congo, a vision that sought to build a united nations across all ethnic and tribal divisions despite fierce European opposition. A vision that paralleled his Pan-African sentiment of African unity, both ideals that were unacceptable to the imperialist powers, which sought a Congo and Africa riven with internal strife in order to be held in submission.

As the political elite in the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to suffer from the hangover of toasting with their Belgian masters, after their heavy indulgence, and celebrations marked by the entertainment parading of their poverty-stricken populace, who could not comprehend what was happening, let us reflect on and walk the legacy of Patrice Lumumba. A legacy reflected in the pan-African aims, institutions and policies of the African Union and in the guiding ethos behind the adoption of the Ezulwini Consensus, which proposes a permanent African seat in a reformed United Nations Security Council.

His ability to evoke so powerfully the extent of his people’s subjugation, derived from a rare understanding of the inherent duplicity of the colonial discourse. As Jean Van Lierde put it:

‘He was the only Congolese leader who rose above the ethnic difficulties and tribal preoccupations that destroyed all the other parties. Lumumba was the first real pan-African.’

Shortly before his assassination, Lumumba penned the following words in a farewell letter: ‘The only thing we wanted for our country was the right to a decent existence, to dignity without hypocrisy, to independence without restrictions... The day will come when history will have its say.’

In conclusion, we can say that the external enemies, (or the enemies from without), and internal enemies (or the enemies from within), led to the demise and death of Patrice Lumumba. But, fortunately, his legacy lives on.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Mwaura Kaara is the youth focal point at United Nations Millennium Campaign, Africa.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Xenophobia redux

Glenn Ashton

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65789

cc Matt-80With rumours circulating that when the World Cup is over, foreigners will be expelled from South Africa, Glen Ashton asks whether xenophobia is the right word to describe the country’s attitude towards immigrants. ‘A close examination of purported xenophobic outbreaks of violence shines the spotlight on some of our most intractable problems, that of economic marginalisation’ writes Ashton. South Africa is dealing not with xenophobia, but the consequences of ‘poverty and the lack of progressive economic transformation since 1994’, Ashton argues.

Rumours are circulating that when the World Cup is over, foreigners will be expelled. But surely it must be clear by now that South Africa has long been a melting pot and that our immigrant population is here to stay?


We must ask ourselves whether xenophobia is perhaps just a label we have slapped on a phenomenon that has been inadequately analysed or understood. Are our beliefs around xenophobia perhaps just lazy thinking? 


Do we really collectively hate outsiders to the extent that we are willing to murder them, loot their businesses and homes and go so far as to set them on fire? Have immigrants not historically contributed significantly to building our nation? This is a situation that obviously needs to be more thoroughly examined.


Were we a truly xenophobic nation then the phenomenon would manifest across all sectors of the population – across different races, different classes and different neighbourhoods. Given our history, surely there would be a trend or association between racism and xenophobia? Surely the old National Party supporters would be xenophobic, given that they were racists? After all, apartheid was built on fear and distrust of ‘the other.’


But these supposed outbreaks of xenophobia occur exclusively within one stratum of society – in poor, black communities. This fact alone provides a huge clue that we are not looking at xenophobia per se, but a rather more nuanced phenomenon. 


South Africa has attracted huge numbers of immigrants, estimated at between three and eight million people. We also know that many of our own people have moved around the country to a degree that was practically impossible during apartheid times.


Most immigrants are political or economic refugees with little option but to seek accommodation wherever it is cheapest. This is usually in the squatter camps and informal settlements around the margins of our established towns and cities. 

Here, new arrivals find themselves cheek by jowl with the poorest locals who are often internal migrants, seeking better prospects for themselves and their families on the margins of the new South Africa.

Frustration and desperation are prevalent amongst this poorly educated, often rural and disempowered population, whose lives remain largely isolated from state intervention, in the midst of a uniquely unequal society. Frustrations sometimes surface in the form of protests against a lack of ‘service delivery.’ The longer our poor and marginalised remain ignored, the more frequent and violent these protests are bound to become. 


Within these communities, immigrants are perceived as being relatively successful. Many, like the Somalis, have created a niche by providing relatively upmarket ‘spaza superettes’ in informal settlements. This has resulted in alleged police shakedowns and staggering incidences of murders and robberies. Consequently, local spaza shop owners have been implicated in stirring antipathy against Somalis.


Similar dynamics exist amongst Zimbabweans, who comprise our largest sector of immigrants and refugees, fleeing the meltdown in their homeland. Zimbabweans, like other immigrants, have often had the benefit of better education, giving them a competitive edge. They vie against locals for scarce jobs, often settling for lower wages. So, too, with other immigrant populations who will settle for less as car guards, labourers and employment in other low paid, menial work.

Many of these outsiders are familiar with dispossession, marginalisation and poverty, as bad, or worse than locals have experienced. Now they are pitted against already desperate people, in a situation that fundamentally revolves around the realities of economic survival. Desperate locals and outsiders compete in crowded proximity. Locals are (perhaps justifiably) aggrieved that their perceived entitlement to a better life in post democracy South Africa is being threatened by outsiders. The inevitable result is social volatility and violent reprisal, presented as xenophobia.


But what we are dealing with is not xenophobia but is the consequence of poverty and the lack of progressive economic transformation since 1994. Just as service delivery protests are about the continued inability of authorities to meet the requirements and demands of the most marginalised sections of society, we can make an equally strong case that these sporadic outbreaks of ‘xenophobia’ are simply another aspect of the same problem.


A close examination of purported xenophobic outbreaks of violence shines the spotlight on some of our most intractable problems, that of economic marginalisation. We must realise that the problem lies not with ‘them’ but with us. Equally, this is where the solution lies. It is just as well that government statements have indicated that our leadership has now realised that these tensions are more due to economic realities than to xenophobia. Now leadership must take action and lead in addressing these insights.


For the poor, very little has really changed since 1994. The education system has languished. The job market has stagnated or contracted, even for matriculants. Economic activity has recently diminished; wages paid for unskilled labourers remain low. Much of this is because of our slavish pursuit of same neoliberal economic policies that we inherited, waiting for the trickle down effect to take place. We may as well wait for Godot.


The consequence of all of this is that the most marginalised sectors of our society, will seek the closest available scapegoat to blame for their situation. Immigrants fit the bill, rendered prominent through their perceived successes and vulnerable through failure of civil servants like the police to protect their constitutional right for equal treatment before the law. 


Reassurances from the SA Police Services head, Nathi Mthethwa, that his officers will not tolerate any xenophobic violence are to be welcomed. Formation of a Cabinet task team to deal with this threat is also constructive. But are these approaches sufficiently nuanced? Does calling the problem xenophobia deal with the nub of the matter? Does sending in the army solve a systemic economic problem?


We can use our intelligence services to stay on top of potential hotspots. But if we do not change how we provide services to the poorest of the poor, then eruptions around ‘service delivery’ and ‘xenophobic violence’ will become indistinguishable in their results – social dislocation and spiralling violence.


We must also deal with the major problem of alleged police indifference to, and even collusion with, xenophobic outbreaks. In 2008 the police were accused of standing back and not properly protecting immigrants. If high level leadership within SAPS has not firmly informed officers of their constitutional obligation to serve all residents, whether local or immigrant, then any reassurances from the heads of police ring hollow.


We need to balance the rights of foreigners against perceptions of locals who also struggle to access state services, like adequate policing, health and social services. There is a real danger of exacerbating tensions if immigrants are perceived as having superior service access to locals and if the police are seen to take their side. 


We have neglected the poorest sectors of our society for far too long. We must face the uncomfortable reality that ‘service delivery protests,’ supposed ‘xenophobia’ and even crime are just different aspects of the same problem – that of poverty, exclusion from power, access to services and lack of economic reform. These remain the most pressing issues faced by the most marginalised sectors of society – the poor and immigrants alike. 


Unless we deal with these issues we are simply putting an imaginary lid on a pressure cooker that will blow, with unpredictable results for everyone. Permitting one sector to be portrayed and victimised as the ‘other’ is setting ourselves up for social instability and unrest, to the detriment of all.


Unequal societies are unhealthy societies. A failure to bridge this apparently yawning canyon of unmet expectations will inevitably trap us in cycles of violence against a faceless ‘other’ who dwell amongst us, be they rich, or foreign, or middle class, or from a different tribe or of a different colour.


We have faced this chasm before. Never again can we allow the concept of ‘the other’ to tear our social fabric apart. The World Cup let us rediscover and share our common humanity and our Africanness in unimaginable ways. It has equally demonstrated our ability to meet goals at planning and completing complex infrastructure projects on time.


We must build on the success of the World Cup by setting more equitable service delivery goals. We need to urgently and meaningfully address the dismal situation of the poorest, most marginalised sectors of society. We don’t need only handouts but must provide hands up. We have achieved much but have much more yet to achieve.


BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This article first appeared on The South African Civil Society Information Service.
* Glenn Ashton is a writer and researcher working in civil society. Some of his work can be viewed at www.ekogaia.org.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

When ‘Phansi FIFA, phansi’ is forbidden speech

Patrick Bond

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65767

© abhalali.orgAs the World Cup draws to its much-anticipated finale, the democratic integrity of South Africa continues to be intoxicated, writes Patrick Bond. Bond recounts a recent anti-xenophobia rally in search of a better society, which was only to result in a run-in with the law. Bond unearths the deliberate distortion of South Africans’ constitution and freedom of speech to accommodate Fifa – soon to move on, leaving little benefits behind for its host society.

Our police detention while exercising freedom of expression at our favourite Durban venue – the wonderful South Beach FIFA Fan Fest – on the weekend, followed by (taped) discussions with police, together leave me worried. They should worry you too.

Police officials say they received orders from City Manager Mike Sutcliffe that FIFA’s property rights overrule our foundational constitutional rights in a vast area stretching from the Moses Mabhida Stadium across the beachfront.

‘We can charge you and detain you until the 11th of July, FIFA is over!,’ shouted a top officer during my interrogation on Saturday.

And upon politely questioning Sutcliffe about whether we could use Durban City Hall steps for Saturday’s anti-xenophobia rally, my Centre for Civil Society (CCS) colleague Baruti Amisi (a Congolese refugee) received this email reply last Thursday: ‘It appears you are not a South African and are clearly uninformed about the role of FIFA. In brief, we are an independent country and except for the stadium precinct, FIFA have no role in running the city.’

Getting permission for the rally was, as ever, like pulling teeth. The police were informed in writing on June 19 but it was last Friday afternoon before rally approval was granted to a coalition that included the KwaZulu-Natal Refugee Council, Diakonia and the Durban Social Forum.

A group quickly brought 1000 fliers to the beach to let people know. Minutes later, visiting doctoral candidate and filmmaker Giuliano Martiniello, research student Samantha Sencer-Mura and I were accused of ambush marketing and incitement.

I was detained for hours during the both early games’ half-times, missing (thank goodness) the pain of seeing my favourite Latin American teams clobbered by Europeans. The top-heavy security force included police generals, crime intelligence, the commercial branch and even the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

We are, of course, lovers of soccer and the World Cup and haters of FIFA, like most people who give this distinction a moment’s consideration. The Zurich crew will take home R25 billion in profits, pay no taxes, ignore exchange controls, trickle nothing down, commercialise all aspects of the game, copyright words like ‘World Cup’, overcharge for everything, declare ‘exclusion zones’ that stretch for miles, muffle journalists with no-criticism accreditation requirements and trample on our freedom of expression.

Moreover, many bitter players and fans believe Joseph Sepp Blatter’s main legacy is the quaint – or, hinted Lord David Triesman, formerly chairman of the English Football Association (FA), a few weeks ago, bribe-friendly – refusal to adopt goal-line technology needed to correct egregious referee errors. (Blatter instead, apparently, focuses all FIFA’s camera-power on potential ambush-marketers in the crowd.)

Illustrating how constrained our rights are, I asked one police superintendent (name withheld), ‘What if I say “Viva Argentina!” in the fan park? No problem? What if I say “Phansi FIFA phansi”?’

‘Then you’re wrong,’ he answered. ‘You can’t say, “Phansi FIFA phansi”.’

Sutcliffe’s control fetish appears to be the central barrier. As a police superintendent put it, ‘He’s the one who has instructed us that we must enforce. He comes in our meetings.’

‘And what does he say? He says he doesn’t want any anti-xenophobia?’

The police superintendent replies, ‘No distribution of pamphlets, especially which mention xenophobia.’

Ah, the underlying problem had emerged. The reason the pamphlet was banned was not just procedural – it was political. ‘You are reminding [people] of xenophobia. Even myself I had forgot about that thing, but now you write it down.’

‘Do you think it is not a problem?’ I asked. Surely Durban police know that a city councillor is amongst those still being tried for the xenophobic murder of a Tanzanian and Zimbabwean last year, and that the streets and worksites are thick with tension and insults against immigrants and refugees.

His rebuttal: ‘It happened. Then government stopped it there.’

‘I’m sure you know that Jacob Zuma said xenophobia’s a problem,’ I replied, and that after meeting his national executive in May, the president ‘said the ANC branches must work against xenophobia’, I reminded the superintendent.

‘There is no xenophobia’, he insisted – but nervously.

Such denial parrots African National Congress (ANC) spokesperson Jackson Mthembu’s written statement earlier that day: ‘The reported xenophobic attacks by South Africans on foreign nationals, particularly from the African continent, after the conclusion of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, is baseless and without any rational’ (sic).

And yet the army is occupying the town of Denoon precisely because the threat could explode into 2008-type violence.

Behind Sutcliffe’s arrogance in declaring such a large a constitution-free zone, is the constitution drafters’ ambiguity, with the Bill of Rights potentially interpreted as allowing corporate property rights to trump human rights. Section 8(4) gives foundational rights to ‘juristic persons’, i.e. institutions including for-profit businesses like FIFA.

In 1996, alongside former ANC Member of Parliament Langa Zita and Darlene Miller (a sociologist at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), we formally warned a constitutional court certification hearing that this provision could ‘undermine the constitutional rights of natural persons to freedom of expression, freedom of association in organs of civil society, access to information, the rights to life, security of the person, and a safe environment’.

So it seems we were right, sadly. Likewise, in the US, a similar degeneration of political rights occurred this year when the supreme court lifted limits on corporate spending to influence elections.

According to professors Chris Roederer and Darrel Moellendorf – in their Juta Press book Jurisprudence – our case is an example ‘of the law serving to stabilize capitalist property relations’ because ‘the final Constitution contains no assurance that when the rights of juristic persons conflict with those of natural persons, the rights of the latter shall prevail’.

On the other hand, the 1996 constitutional court ruling against us did at least concede that section 8(4) ‘recognises that the nature of a juristic person may be taken into account in determining whether a particular right is available to such a person or not’.

That’s why the stance of the city manager and police honchos is so counter-revolutionary, against the ANC’s attested democratic values. The right to inform about a xenophobia rally during a half-time break surely should be declared a ‘particular right’ overriding FIFA’s exclusions, given how much is at stake.

If they don’t come to their senses, will we again face police detention as we leaflet the FIFA Fan Fest and stadium crowds demanding, firstly, our constitutional rights restored, secondly that FIFA finance some new township soccer pitches before they leave town with the cash and thirdly that they adopt goal-line technology!

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This article was originally published by the Centre for Civil Society (CSS).
* Patrick Bond directs the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Centre for Civil Society (CSS), which has a World Cup watch and anti-xenophobia project.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Suárez’s ‘hand of God’ save raises ethical issues

Mphutlane wa Bofelo

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65768

cc WarrenskiCheating in global sporting arenas such as the World Cup not only brings down the ‘beautiful game’, it also sends negative shock waves to the world’s spectators who lay witness to the prevail of deceit, writes Mphutlane wa Bofelo. The values of society will lose their gravity as notoriously deliberate offences on the field are attributed to the divine ‘hand of God’ with little or no retribution, warns Bofelo.

Luis Suárez’s so-called ‘hand of God’ save has once again brought into public discourse the extent to which competitive and highly commercialised sport – with its emphasis on winning at all costs – can be consistent with the principles of fairness, the ideal of sportsmen and sportswomen as positive role-models and the goal of using sports to promote values and ethics that build society. Though the official mantra of the football world-body, FIFA is ‘fair-play’ and football has been dubbed ‘the beautiful game’, several on and off the pitch antics and shenanigans has led to some critics referring to soccer as ‘a gentlemen’s sport played by rogues’. In a world in which lack of ethics and values and decline of decent etiquette ravage all spheres of life, a game such as football which puts emphasis on self-discipline, team-spirit, sportsmanship and fairness could play a critical role with regard to the promotion of a society based on sound values.

The popularity and mass appeal of football and the iconic status of some of the footballers make it much positioned to play this critical role of entrenching positive societal values. One way by which the game can play a role in this is to make an honourable and sound moral character to be one of the benchmarks of a great footballer rather than attributing greatness only to guts and muscles. But is it possible to do this while at the same time promoting the notion that a goal by any means is laudable, as long as one is cunning or fortunate enough not to get a booking? What if the ‘any means’ becomes an undetected physical attack which might go to the extent of causing an injury that jeopardises the health and football career of a fellow footballer?

Just as Diego Maradona exclaimed that his goal against England on 22 June 1986 was scored with ‘a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God’, Suárez boasted: ‘I was sent off but in the end it was worth it. I did what I had to do.’ His coach, Oscar Tabarez also came to his defence: ‘The player reacted instinctively and was thrown out of the match.’ It is one thing to instinctively, deliberately commit a foul or break the rules in an impulsive move to score or save a goal, and another matter altogether to feel good and boast about it or justify it. Human decency requires that even if at the instinctive and impulsive level you did something underhand to win in a sports game you should at least show some remorse rather than justify and celebrate the fact that you deliberately flouted the roles in a game that is grounded on the notion of fair play.

Confessing about his hand of evil goal Maradona later said, ‘I was waiting for my team mates to embrace me, and no one came … I told them, “Come hug me, or the referee isn't going to allow it”. In other words, his fellow players saw that he scored the goal with a hand and did not celebrate the goal, and he invited them to join in the deceit by celebrating with him what their eyes and conscience told them was not a legitimate goal. The message that our children who adore and worship footballers and other sports personalities get out of this is not only that the wrong means justifies the ends but also that it is cool to support the use of underhand methods by your colleagues, as long as the whole team benefit from it.

If this ‘winning at all cost’ and ‘end justifies the means’ logic and culture is exported to other areas of our lives – politics, sports, the arts, business etc – then we will be breeding the nation of shrewd, unscrupulous, charlatan and corrupt politicians, sportsmen, artists and businessmen; a society in which lying, vote-rigging, plagiarism, bribery and nepotism are the norm rather than an aberration. In fact we are already living in that society. This situation promises to be uglier if a senior person such as a coach is going to justify such a behaviour and practice from his players. Why do we bother to punish young boys who provide false ages to play in certain leagues or sportsmen and sportswomen who use steroids and various performance-enhancing drugs if we have already had public endorsement of a win at all cost, by any means, at whatever expense? As FIFA spokesperson Pekka Odriozola promises that the FIFA disciplinary committee will look into the incident and make a decision, it would seem that harmonising the ethos of competition, commercial gain, prestige and status-seeking with that of fairness, fellowship and honesty in commercial sport will remain a weighty challenge.

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* Mphutlane wa Bofelo is a cultural worker and social critic.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

South African soccer: For money or the game?

Dale T. McKinley

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65772

cc CodaAs South Africa's World Cup begins to near its end, questions continue to be asked about the tournament's legacy for the country. Highly critical of the self-serving tendencies of South Africa's soccer elite, Dale T. McKinley laments the long-term neglect of the game's developmental and social potential. Once a genuine 'people's game' in the country, soccer has, as with so much, been entirely subsumed by rapacious commercial interests, McKinley writes.

The sun has almost set on the soccer World Cup and its seeming suspension of our South African 'normalcy'. No doubt, many will try their best to continue to bask in its positively proclaimed 'developmental legacy', but, as sure as the sun will rise on the morning after, so too will the reality of that ‘normalcy’ bite us like an unhappy dog. Nowhere will this be more apparent than in the world of South African soccer itself.

It is an unfortunate fact of our early 21st century existence – whether in South Africa or anywhere else on the globe – that major sports such as soccer, just like almost everything else, have become dominated by the need to make, and accumulate, capital and power. Instead of soccer being seen and treated as a necessary and basic recreational or social need and as an integral component of people’s overall socio-economic development, we now have a situation where both participation and progress is moulded and ultimately determined by the degree to which these serve individual and commercial interests.

Historically, and particularly in relation to South Africa's past, the beauty of the game of soccer was directly linked to it being, at the most fundamental level, the 'people's game', not a game of commercial prostitution mostly dominated by self-interested bureaucrats, wannabe soccer kingpins and prima donna players. And yet, that is precisely what a large part of South African soccer has become, the trailing exhaust fumes of Fifa (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and its elitist coterie aside.

It didn’t have to be this way though. The seemingly long-forgotten Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) acknowledged apartheid’s 'distortion of sport and recreation in our society [through its] enforced segregation and gross neglect of providing facilities for the majority of South Africa’s people [which] has denied millions of people and particularly our youth the right to a normal and healthy life'. It went on to rightfully point out that such facilities should be made 'available to all South African communities' and that 'sport and recreation should cut across all developmental programmes and be accessible and affordable for all South Africans [with] particular attention paid to the provision of facilities at schools and in communities where there are large concentrations of unemployed youth'. Yet, in the 16 years since, these fine words have, for the most part, remained in the realm of stated principles and proposed policy when it comes to addressing the recognised development needs of soccer.

There are two main and interconnected reasons for this, on the one hand, a lack of political will on the part of the government to make the national sport a public concern by actively transforming – through institutional and fiscal support and policy intervention – the developmental deficit, infrastructural needs and material inequalities that afflict soccer at the grassroots level. And on the other hand there is the institutionalisation of a top-down, bureaucratic and self-serving approach (within the context of a commodified, market-driven sports philosophy) to the actual development and running/management of the ‘people's game’.

When sustained and meaningful public financial, institutional and strategic support/guidance for soccer (i.e., its democratisation and socialisation) was most needed to overcome the entrenched legacies of apartheid engineering, government pursued neoliberal macro-economic policies that effectively made it a non-player by ensuring national grants and subsidies to local municipalities and city councils were drastically decreased. In practical terms this meant that public resources (both human and material) available at the local level for sports such as soccer were virtually wiped off the map – the ‘people’s’ sport was effectively privatised (or, at the very least, ghettoised).

Decrepit infrastructure at the municipal level and public schools could not be adequately addressed and training programmes for community and school coaches were left in the hands of volunteers. The provision of basic soccer equipment and grassroots development programmes for the legions of township and school-going youth players had to rely, for the most part, on individuals, sympathetic community groups and hoped-for support from the private sector. In turn, this produced a situation in which SAFA (South African Football Association – a fully incorporated private body) became the prime source for addressing the massive organisational and developmental needs of the game. Not surprisingly, it has failed miserably.

Whether it is the sad state of community and school-level infrastructure, the pathetic financial and human resource allocations to grassroots development or the fact that it more recently took SAFA over two years to replace its former director of development with a new ‘technical director’ (present men’s under-20 national coach Serame Letsoaka), the facts speak for themselves. When appointing Letsoaka in early 2009, SAFA noted that he would be responsible for 'the development of football in the country … coming up with development plans and programmes [and] embarking on full-scale grassroots football development'. How else can one read this other than confirmation of the historic and ongoing dominance of a cynical, self-serving soccer elite?

The by-now widespread public perception that those at the apex of South African soccer officialdom are little more than a group of money-grubbing, power-mongering egoists is not without cause. SAFA continues to spend huge amounts of its time, energy and resources on glitzy public relations exercises, administrative functions, internal power struggles and outrageous salaries and perks for its top bureaucrats, officialdom and national coaching staff. In the words of ex-PSL (Premier Soccer League) CEO Trevor Phillips: 'SAFA’s preoccupation has been navel-gazing … 80% of funds spent by SAFA go toward administrative costs … I thought 2010 would be a catalyst but SAFA is endemically corrupt and institutionally incompetent.'

Indeed, many of the same faces have remained at the helm, in various positions, ever since the early 1990s and sponsorship deals have seen those individuals receiving huge payouts. Further, it is certainly no secret that a tidy sum of the billions in public expenditure on World Cup stadia as well as the expected hundreds of millions due to the local organising committee have benefited, or will soon end up in the pockets of, those who reside at the top of South Africa’s soccer world. Like most of it international counterparts, South African soccer has largely become a hostage to the accumulative demands of corporate capitalism as well as an attitude and practice in which self-interested individualism, personal and institutional power, accumulation of money and rewarding of incompetence hold centre stage.

One of the most repeated slogans on numerous television and radio soccer programmes – 'for the love of the game' – paradoxically captures the crisis within which South African soccer finds itself. Simply put, those who have the privilege of being in charge appear to have forgotten the very purpose of why they are there. The much-loved (now deceased) South African soccer star, Pule ‘Ace’ Ntsoelengoe, put it best: 'Soccer in South Africa needs to go back to where it was … the love of the game needs to be restored, especially in the administration. Soccer fans want to see us serve much better than we do today. The challenge is not how much money I leave behind when I die but to leave a legacy for my children and the youth of this country.'

On or off the field, what is needed is radical change, a return to a collective discipline, motivation, pride and passion that is at the heart of a progressive society and the game of soccer itself.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Dale T. McKinley is an independent writer, researcher, lecturer and political activist based in Johannesburg.
* This article was originally published by the South African Civil Society Information Service.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Why oh why, Uruguay?

Cameron Duodu

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65771

cc WarrenskiFollowing Ghana's controversial exit from the World Cup after Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez's goal-line handball, Cameron Duodu charges that governing body Fifa's rules must be changed to fully stamp out cheating.

To cry is the lot of all mankind
And the eyes that shine in joyous delight today
Are doomed ere long to brim over,
As the welling tears overflow
And we moan: 'Woe is today!
Woe is today!
Woe is today!'

I wonder what R.M. Ballantyne would make of that. I first heard his lines, 'To part is the lot of all mankind' from the lips of a good friend – now departed – called Kwame Asiedu Acheampong, at Kyebi Government School in Ghana.

But 'woe is today?' Why do I say that?

Did not the whole world see that Ghana had beaten Uruguay and should be the one to advance into the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup?

Was not excruciating pain inflicted upon the whole of the African continent, when Uruguay’s Luis Suárez used his hands to push back a ball that had entered the Uruguayan goal at the last minute of extra time?

Did not the referee fail to award Ghana the clinching goal?

Red card, penalty – was that what Africa wanted? No! Justice demanded that the goal be awarded so that Ghana would be the winner – the first African country ever to cross the semi-final barrier!

Uruguay cheated. Our missed penalty, heartbreaking as it was, was but a red herring.

Uruguay cheated – and was allowed to benefit from cheating.

No one on the African continent will ever forget that act of infamy, especially after they have read these defiant words of the cheat, Luis Suárez:

'The hand of God now belongs to me,' Suarez said after the match.

'Mine is the real hand of God,' he repeated. 'I made the best save of the tournament. Sometimes in training I play as a goalkeeper, so it was worth it… When they missed the penalty, I thought "It is a miracle and we are alive in the tournament."'

The question is, does Fifa (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) think it acceptable that a team should field two goalkeepers in a match?

Fifa’s rules were made by men, and are not immutable. This particularly transparent bit of cheating by Suárez is a warning to Fifa that it is in danger of creating a very bad precedent, that will henceforth be followed by a whole population of unscrupulous football player-cynics, who will do everything in their power not to lose a match. Isn’t one Diego Maradona enough in football history? Now, we’ve also got a Suárez! Cheats will be 'Suárezing' all over the place, mark my words.

As could be expected, the internet is awash with analyses of what happened to the Ghana Black Stars on Friday 2 July 2010.

The writer whose views are most cogently argued is Solomon Amanzulley Akessey of Grinnell College, USA.

He notes that the World Cup in South Africa 'has raised a long list of ethical issues against the beautiful game' that 'Fifa must address if the game is to remain beautiful'. He thinks the most pressing of these are 'deliberate hand ball fouls', like the one that denied Ghana the chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.

'If Fifa refuses to look into this problem, then the message it seeks to send is that cheating, however unethical and immoral, is useful and players can and should cheat to win.

'Uruguay clearly did it. Suárez, being the last defender on the line, deliberately arrogated the privileges of the goalkeeper to himself and handled the ball. Had he not handled the ball, it is pretty obvious that [Ghana] would have scored the goal… The rules were clear and the referee played fair and promptly showed him the red card and awarded a penalty to Ghana.

'But therein lay the problem. When a goal has clearly been denied in such an illegal way, it is simply unconscionable for Fifa to try to solve the problem in a way that does not punish the opposing team as they deserve, but rather rewards them.

'If a player is the last man on the line and he handles the ball, when he is not the goalkeeper, then it should be an automatic goal… For if a penalty is awarded, the pressure alone could make the [penalty] taker miss the shot, in which case the player who committed the foul would have been justified in committing it. And we saw [that happen] when Suárez started jumping up and down, when Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty.'

This view that an automatic goal be awarded to the team that has been fouled against has been strongly supported by no less a person than British former World Cup referee Graham Poll. Poll wrote in the Daily Mail:

'Fifa make every player wear a "fair play" badge and yet a cheats' charter exists which Luis Suárez of Uruguay exploited to help his side reach Tuesday's World Cup semi-final against Holland.

'Dominic Adiyah's header was on the way in to give Ghana victory when Suárez deliberately beat the ball out with his hand. The officials got it spot on, dismissing Suárez and awarding a penalty, but that gave Uruguay a lifeline they did not deserve. The penalty, the final act in extra time, was missed and Uruguay won the subsequent shoot-out. Referee Olegário Benquerença would have been relieved to spot the handball, but in the dressing room afterwards, his team would have discussed the sense of injustice.

'The clause in law under which Suárez was dismissed was the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. This carries a one-match ban, leaving Suárez free to play in the final should Uruguay beat Holland.

The problem is that Ghana were denied a goal, not just the opportunity to score one. A penalty goal in these circumstances would be appropriate.'

If you ask me – and I don’t want to generalise – it is not surprising that it was a Latin American country that cheated Ghana so blatantly. In Latin America, some people take football fanaticism to an almost religious level.

The most notorious incident of what might be called 'non-football football' occurred in 1969 in Latin America when, during a series of World Cup qualification matches between El Salvador and Honduras, feelings were aroused to such an extent that riots occurred, followed by an actual 'Football War' (known locally as La guerra del fútbol) between the two countries. It lasted for 100 hours or four days, during which 2,000 people were killed. If you want to look it up, it is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_war.

It was also mainly vagabond trouble in stadiums in Latin America that made it necessary for moats to be built in some stadiums to prevent football fans from invading the pitch and trying to lay their hands on referees who had angered them. In one instance, a crowd surrounded a referee and tried to strangle him.

Some readers will also recall the story of how Andrés Escobar, a Colombian player who was shot and killed after scoring an own-goal which caused Colombia to lose 2–1 to the United States, in a World Cup match in June 1994.

The world desperately needs protection from those who want to cheat in order to advance in the World Cup. Now that the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, has accepted the principle of using technology to assist referees in decision-making, all manner of cheating should be eliminated so that the world can enjoy football without any reservations. What is the point of leaving games to be decided by 'non-offside offsides', goals not given when the ball has clearly crossed the line, free-kicks given as a result of playacting on the field, etc etc, when 21st century technology can help to eliminate all doubts from the minds of referees when they are making decisions?

The most miraculous thing that technology has brought into another game that is often surrounded by controversy, cricket, is to eliminate cheating and doubts about umpires' decisions. When the cricket ball hits the edge of a bat so faintly that it is difficult for the umpire to detect whether the ball had touched the bat or not, an infra-red video can now show whether the ball did in fact hit the bat before being caught by the wicket-keeper or another player.

Video can also help detect whether a ball that has been caught 'carried', or not – that is, whether it touched the ground before being gathered into the hands of the catcher. Formerly, hundreds of hours – and thousands of words – were expended arguing over such incidents during cricket matches. One of the best bowlers of his time, Michael Holding of the West Indies – so devastating in attack that they nicknamed him 'Whispering Death' – was reduced to breaking down and crying on the pitch at Perth when biased umpiring denied him of wicket after wicket during the West Indies tour of Australia in 1975–76. The introduction of 'third umpires' who can use video to adjudicate controversial issues has ensured that such iniquities can never happen again in the game of cricket.

We live in a world that has made incredible advances in technology, which formerly 'moribund' games like cricket have been quick to utilise. But human lack of intelligence is still holding us back and frustrating us with outmoded laws in some sports, especially football. I am sure that if Blatter, the Fifa president, were to take a walk in the streets of Soweto before he departs for home, he would see fingers being pointed at him and someone saying, 'This is the man whose stupid organisation threw out the last African country from the World Cup, when it was only cheated of victory because there were two goalkeepers playing for its opponent, Uruguay.'

Everyone I have talked to after the match says simply: 'Your boys did Africa proud.' The cheating they suffered will not be in vain if it galvanises Fifa into action to eliminate, once and for all, such idiocies from the thrilling game of international football.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

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

Fifa and the maids

Oliver Meth and Dan Moshenberg

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65793

The 2010 Fifa World Cup is drawing to an end. On the pitch, it has been filled with thrilling moments and surprising turns. Off the pitch … not so much.

Ever since South Africa won the bid to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup, the government has been feeding promises and creating expectations about how good this is for the country, for the economy and for the workers and the poor.

This World Cup will make more money than any in the history of the event. A total of US$3.3bn has been raised by Fifa from television and sponsors, dwarfing the amount made in Germany.

It has also been one of the most expensive World Cups ever. Fifa has spent US$1.1bn. South Africa has paid out US$5bn getting the Rainbow Nation ready for its biggest moment since the 1995 Rugby World Cup, building stadiums, roads and public transport links.

The Cape Town seaside stadium, with 37,000sq m of glass roofing to protect spectators from the elements, is the most expensive building. It rises amid mounting claims that South Africa – where half the population still survives on an average of £130 a month – has mortgaged itself to host a football spectacular that will bring little benefit to its people.

As reported in the documentary, Fahrenheit 2010, the £68 million Mbombela Stadium has been built on the site of a school serving a poor community in Nelspruit, near the Kruger Park. It seats 46,000 and will be used for four matches, while local residents live in dwellings without water or electricity.

The stadiums are magnificent, the atmosphere and anticipation is heard through the sounds of the vuvuzela. But Dennis Brutus, late sports-justice activist, predicted that the World Cup would result in a shocking waste of resources. He said, ‘When you build enormous stadia, you are shifting those resources from building schools and hospitals and then you have these huge structures standing empty. They become white elephants.’

Former president Thabo Mbeki also made a prediction. He claimed the 2010 World Cup would be the moment when the African continent [url=http://www.sa2010.gov.za/african-legacy]’turned the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict’. Such ambitions were never likely to be fulfilled by a sports event, no matter how big and how lucrative. But the claim was grand, almost as grand as the bill paid for the event.

In the end, will South Africa have spent billions of dollars on a 30-day advert that quickly fades as the sporting world moves on? If so, South Africa will have missed a great opportunity, a defining opportunity, to think through and act on celebration.

Thabo Mbeki’s words could have provided that opportunity. The conflicts that mark South Africa today – including poverty, xenophobia, racism, sexism, environmental degradation, violence, health and well being – are not exclusively South African or African conflicts. While the world press and much of the South African press has suddenly discovered the poor of South Africa, from Blikkiesdorp to [url=http://thecitizen.co.tz/magazines/34-sports-extra/2747-beneath-the-glitter-of-the-world-cup.html]Khayelitsha to Barracks and beyond, who has discovered the particularly South African celebration?

What is there to celebrate? Since the transition from the apartheid regime, South Africa has celebrated and been celebrated for democracy, freedom, rule of law. These are fragile and important structures, which have been avoided in the current State discussion and even more in those of Fifa.

In 1994, for example, South Africans celebrated democracy, meeting by meeting, engagement by engagement.

When the Reconstruction and Development Programme was presented, in 1994, it emerged from RDP councils that had tried to include everyone. While the RDP itself has had mixed results, the process of a national critical conversation was important. It involved domestic workers and their bosses as equal participants, if not always partners.

The 1994 Women’s Charter for Effective Equality, organised by the Women’s National Coalition, emerged from a creative research and inquiry campaign that, from 1992 to 1994, attempted to include all women, where they were, not where they were meant or imagined to be. It too involved domestic workers and their bosses, and their inputs were of equal and interrelated value and weight.

And today? Other than a few very transitory jobs, what has the World Cup done for domestic workers in South Africa? Has it promoted their rights? Has it engaged or consulted them? Has it told them that, irrespective of legal status, they are full and free citizens who are covered and cherished by the Law? No.

If anything, the private lives and domestic spaces in which real democracy either begins or founders, have gone untouched and uncelebrated. Not only by Fifa but also by the media and by advocates for social justice.

There has been no engagement in any kind of consultative democratic and democratising process. And so the poor and disenfranchised simmer with resentment and a yearning for democracy.

What is there to celebrate? The games have been exciting, but games are always exciting. South Africa could have offered a precious space to witness transformation in process. South Africa once gave transformation a new importance. It was a gift the Rainbow Nation offered the world. This World Cup was an opportunity to live it at home. An opportunity squandered.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This article first appeared in Women In and Beyond the Global
* Oliver Meth is a social advocacy journalist.
* Dan Moshenberg is co-editor of Searching for South Africa, forthcoming from UNISA Press.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Doing (online) business in Africa

Dibussi Tande

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65776

cc J M 3The challenges of conducting online transactions from Africa, Ghana’s elimination from the World Cup and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s first foray onto Facebook are among the stories featured in this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere, brought to you by Dibussi Tande.

Texas in Africa comments on the challenges of conducting online transactions from Africa:

‘Ah, yes, the assumption of guilt and attempted fraud until proven otherwise. It's a strategy more and more international corporations and small businesses are using with regards to Africa-based transactions. I experienced this firsthand a couple of weeks ago when trying to check in for my Delta/KLM flights to Entebbe. Their system wouldn't allow me to check in online or at the airport kiosks. When I finally got to the front of a ridiculously long line, I was informed that Delta requires passengers traveling to certain countries to present the credit card with which the ticket was purchased in order to be allowed to check in for the flight.

‘I found out later that this is because they assume that transactions involving the purchase of a ticket to Uganda are fraudulent. The burden of proof otherwise is on the customer...

‘Fraud happens everywhere. This kind of thinking on the part of businesses certainly reflects legitimate concerns about fraud protection. Never mind that the only international fraud ever committed using any of my accounts came not from central Africa, but from Germany.

‘But it also reflects knee-jerk prejudice and the willingness to write off an entire continent of people as liars and cheaters. The consequences of this attitude are far reaching, in ways as varied as the crazy TSA decision a few months back to require extra screening of all passengers associated with Nigeria to immigration rules that assume most citizens of developing countries wouldn't want to come home to their families and homes.’

Sarpong Obed-ready to chew revisits Ghana’s elimination from the World Cup:

‘I will make this as short as possible. Ghana is sad. Africa is sad. Football lovers are sad!

‘On a night of surprises, the trickery the continent has played on other nations in this World Cup so far has come to rest on the shoulders of the landowners, albeit via the interference of the devilish workings of a foreigner.

‘My own mysticism during all of Ghana's matches was that each time I killed a mosquito in the Radio Universe studio, the Stars scored. Today, I did it twice but we lost that last penalty still. My friend who's turned 21 today predicted a 2-1 win for Ghana, but it was not to be so! We can use the 50,000 USD promised each player for something yet better. I suggest books for children.

‘However, that Uruguayan defender, Luis Suarez, who literally handed out the ball to prevent Ghana's defender Dominic Adiyiah's header in the last minute of extra-time period obviously deserves something bitter than the red card he received...
It's over and we cannot reverse anything. All heroes have their moment of blackout. Asamoah Gyan goes down as a hero, nothing more nothing less; and so does his compatriots for they have done us proud. I'm a sportsman and I know how these moments feel like when a player loses.’

Adujie’s blog lambastes the now overturned decision of the Nigerian government to ban the national team from international competitions, and the decision to outlaw begging in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde:

‘These two events in the Cameroons and Nigeria were the result of failures by the governments to have long term public policies... But instead of seeking answers through thorough examinations of the root causes of both outcomes in the Cameroons and Nigeria, the governments chose knee-jerk reactions. Governments in both nations seem to want to design and build their jet planes as they fly such planes or design and sew their shirts as they travel on public buses!

‘Banning and banishing the Super Eagles of Nigeria surely cannot be a substitute for a policy that ensures that there is a robust provision of resources and manpower for the national football-soccer team...

‘Cameroon banished and carted street beggars off of its metropolis because these fellow citizens are a public nuisance and eyesores, embedded with witchcraft and all manners of evils, at least, according to the ignorant comments made on BBC radio by some Cameroonians! But, none of their self-righteous indignation addressed the root causes of street begging and the beggar phenomenon, such as abject poverty and destitution!’

David Ajao takes a critical look at the Facebook page of Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan:

‘President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has been making waves among the young Nigerian populace on the social networking website Facebook... Through a Facebook page opened on 28th June 2010, he has systematically been sharing his belief in Nigeria and his dream for Nigeria. Things seem to be looking very good for him so far. For a page unleashed barely a week ago, he has done tremendously well with followership as he has already attracted 65,783 people at the time of writing...

‘Not only are his brief messages read with rapid attention, but thousands of Nigerians are freely giving their feedback to his messages as well. Much as his messages portray him as a humble man with a genuine drive to serve his country Nigeria, it obvious that this is a calculated attempt to win the heart and minds of Nigerians who are active on Facebook, in a bid to secure electoral victory to continue in the Office of the President of Nigeria after Election 2011...

‘Nonetheless, his attempt to reach out to Nigerians directly is laudable. If only he would keep reading as many comments as time would allow, he would surely be on the right path as he would be reading directly from some of the people he is leading. I am assuming he has a mind that can mentally filter out the sycophantic comments though. As to the sustainability or his real intentions, time would tell.’

Scarlett Lion reacts to a recent list of Failed States in Foreign Policy:

‘A couple of weeks ago, Foreign Policy ran one of those not-all-that-informed lists they called, “Postcards from Hell: Images from the World’s Most Failed States.” Normally, this isn’t the kind of thing I would even bother commenting on. I disagree with the premise, so criticizing the execution seems pointless. However, since one of my photos of Liberia is featured in the series, here comes some pointless criticizing!

‘I took this photo circa November 2009 at a market in Paynesville, a part of Monrovia pretty far from the city center. It was a nice market. I bought some lapa while I was there, took some photos, and chatted with a couple of old ladies. And for the record, let me say that’s about as hellish an afternoon as I can imagine!

‘You’ll know a failed state when you see it,” FP writes. But in my book, a list that includes Yemen and Somalia in the same breath as Ivory Coast and Liberia isn’t going to tell us that much. But the problem is not how little it tells us, it’s how many people like what it has to say: as of today, more than 4,500 people had posted a link to this on Facebook.

‘Thanks FP, for often providing great news and analysis, and every now and then providing crappy link bait.’

Scribbles from the Den republishes a special report from the Washington Diplomat about the arrest of Jerome Mendouga, Cameroon’s former ambassador to the United States:

‘After serving for 15 years as Cameroon’s ambassador to the United States, Jerome Mendouga has traded in the comfort of Embassy Row for the confines of Cameroon’s most notorious jail, as he fights to prove his innocence in a domestic scandal that has become the proverbial albatross around the disgraced diplomat’s neck.

‘Foreign ambassadors, once they finish their tours of duty in Washington, often go back home and write books or become private consultants. Others join the faculty of prestigious universities. If they’ve had an especially distinguished track record, they might be named foreign ministers by their country’s president, and — in a few cases — they end up as presidents themselves. Jerome Mendouga’s career took a very different path — taking him all the way from the comfort of Washington’s Embassy Row to the squalor of Cameroon’s most notorious slammer.

‘After serving for 15 years as Cameroon’s ambassador to the United States, Mendouga returned to his African homeland in November 2008 — and five months later was arrested and jailed on suspicion of embezzling millions in state funds, largely in connection with an aircraft deal that’s become known in Cameroon as the ‘Albatross’ affair.’

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Dibussi Tande blogs at Scribbles from the Den.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Speaking truth on behalf of Ethiopian women

Alemayehu G. Mariam

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65786

© freebirtukan.orgIt was in part Ethiopian opposition leader and activist Birtukan Midekssa’s campaign for women’s rights that led to her imprisonment by the Zenawi government, writes Alemayehu G. Mariam. Highlighting the challenges Ethiopian women continue to face, Mariam looks to Midekssa’s legacy for a vision of a better Ethiopia, in which women’s rights are recognised and in which women play a vital role in the country’s history.

WOMEN IN THE ‘PRESENT COUNTRY OF ETHIOPIA’

Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia's foremost political prisoner and first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history, enjoyed talking about an allegorical ‘future country of Ethiopia’ that would become an African oasis of democracy and a bastion of human rights and the rule of law in the continent. In Birtukan's ‘future Ethiopia’ women and men would live not only as equals under the law, but also work together to create a progressive and compassionate society in which women are free from domestic violence and sexual exploitation, have access to adequate health and maternal care and are provided education to free them from culturally-enforced ignorance, submissiveness and subjugation. But if the situation of women in the ‘present country of Ethiopia’ is any indication, Birtukan's ‘future country’ is in deep, deep trouble.

Article 35 of the Ethiopian Constitution (1995) guarantees women not only full equality but also preferential treatment ‘in the political, economic and social fields both within public and private organizations.’ Women are provided sweeping constitutional protections from ‘all laws, stereotyped ideas and customs which oppress women or otherwise adversely affect their physical and mental well-being.’ They have guaranteed property rights and ‘the right of access to education and information on family planning’ to ‘prevent health hazards resulting from child birth.’ Article 34 secures matrimonial contractual rights for ‘women attaining the legal age of marriage.’ It mandates that ‘marriage shall be based on the free and full consent of the intending spouses.’ Even before the rights of women were ‘constitutionalized’ in 1995, the ruling dictatorship of Meles Zenawi took the lead by issuing a National Policy on Women in 1993 with the aim ‘to institutionalize the political, economical, and social rights of women by creating an appropriate structure in government offices and institutions so that the public policies and interventions are gender-sensitive and can ensure equitable development for all Ethiopian men and women.’ After a lapse of seventeen years, the evidence on the status of women in Ethiopia society is horrifying and shocking to the conscience.

The 2000 US State Department Human Rights Country Report on Ethiopia[2] described the status of women in appallingly disheartening terms:

‘The Constitution provides for the equality of women; however, these provisions often are not applied in practice. Furthermore, these provisions often are in conflict with the 1960 Civil Code and the 1957 Penal Code, both of which still are in force. The 1960 Civil Code is based on a monarchical constitution that treated women as if they were children or disabled. Discriminatory regulations in the civil code include recognizing the husband as the legal head of the family and designating him as the sole guardian of children over five years old. Domestic violence is not considered a serious justification under the law to obtain a divorce. Irrespective of the number of years the marriage has existed, the number of children raised and the joint property, the woman is entitled to only 3 months' financial support should the relationship end. However, a husband has no obligation to provide financial assistance to his family and, as a result, women and children sometimes are abandoned when there is a problem in the marriage. All land belongs to the State; however, land reforms enacted in March 1997 stipulate that women may obtain government leases to land. Discrimination is most acute in rural areas, where 85 per cent of the population lives. In urban areas women have fewer employment opportunities than men do and the jobs available do not provide equal pay for equal work. As a result of changes in the Labor Law in 1998, thousands of women traveled to the Middle East as industrial and domestic workers. There were credible reports that female workers were abused and even killed in these positions.’

A decade later, the 2010 US. State Department Human Rights Country Report on Ethiopia[3] described the status of women in similar stark terms:

‘The constitution provides women the same rights and protections as men. Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs) such as FGM (female genital mutilation), abduction, and rape are explicitly criminalized; however, enforcement of these laws lagged. Women and girls experienced gender-based violence daily, but it was underreported due to shame, fear, or a victim's ignorance of legal protections. Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, was a pervasive social problem. The 2005 Demographic and Health Survey found that 81 percent of women believed a husband had a right to beat his wife. Prostitution was legal for persons over age 18 and was commonly practiced around the country. Sexual harassment was widespread [and] harassment-related laws were not enforced. The law sets the legal marriage age for girls and boys at 18; however, this law was not enforced. For example, a 2006 Pathfinder International study found that in the Amhara region, 48 percent of women were married before the age of 15, the highest early marriage rate in the country. Limited access to family planning services, high fertility, low reproductive health and emergency obstetric services, and poor nutritional status and infections all contributed to high maternal mortality ratio...Discrimination against women was most acute in rural areas, where 85 percent of the population was located. There was limited legal recognition of common law marriage. Irrespective of the number of years the marriage existed, the number of children raised, and joint property, the law entitled women to only three months' financial support if a relationship ended. A common-law husband had no obligation to provide financial assistance to his family, and as a result, women and children sometimes faced abandonment. In urban areas women had fewer employment opportunities than men, and the jobs available did not provide equal pay for equal work.’

It is manifest that in 2010, the vast majority of Ethiopian women, particularly in the rural areas, enjoy very little personal security against violence and degradation. In fact, these women believe that violence and degradation is an appropriate form of treatment for women. According to the 2005 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (‘a nationally representative survey of 14,070 women age 15-49 and 6,033 men age 15-59’) ‘81% of Ethiopian women believe their husbands have the right to beat them if they burn food, refuse sex, or go somewhere without their husband's consent’[4]. Ethiopian women are not only lacking personal security but also social security. Seventy- five percent of all Ethiopian women are illiterate, and consequently bear the heaviest burden of poverty. Maternal deaths from childbirth for Ethiopian women is among the highest in the world[5]. High HIV infection rates, child marriages and the devastating health consequences associated with them and many other risk factors have left Ethiopian women in a state of misery and despair facing a daily ordeal for survival.[6] With one of the highest birth rates in the world, Ethiopia's population is projected to increase by 20 million in the next 10 years and double to 160 million by 2050.

THANKS FOR NOTHING!

Dictator Zenawi, in a ‘victory’ speech celebrating his 99.6 per cent win in the May 2010 ‘election’, thanked Ethiopian women ‘boundlessly’:

‘We, the members of EPRDF, with great humility offer our gratitude and appreciation to the voters who have given us their support freely and democratically. We also offer our thanks to the real backbone of our organization, the women of Ethiopia who are committed to our struggle due to their realization of our track record on gender equality and who want to forge ahead on this path of peace, development and democratization. Our admiration to the women of Ethiopia is indeed boundless!’

It is disconcerting to think of the vast majority of Ethiopian women who suffer in absolute misery and wretchedness becoming a ‘backbone’ to anyone. But if we must resort to anatomical analogies, women can best be described as the rump of Ethiopian society, little valued and appreciated. Their backbones, spirit and will have long been shattered by official neglect and indifference and the daily reality of domestic violence, illiteracy, sexual exploitation, underage marriages, lack of education and grinding poverty. It is adding insult to injury to patronise them as the ‘backbone’ of a potbellied dictatorship when they can barely stand up on their own two feet. If we are to offer ‘admiration’ to Ethiopian women (and they deserve it all), it is only because of their incredible capacity to withstand unimaginably ‘boundless’ suffering, degradation, cruelty and indifference. Even illiterate women know when they are being patronised by crocodilian words of ‘humility’, ‘gratitude’ and ‘appreciation’.

MISOGYNISTIC OR CHAUVENISTIC?

I am not sure of the qualitative difference between misogyny and male chauvinism. Misogynists hate and have total contempt for women. A male chauvinist just believes women are naturally inferior to men and do not deserve equal treatment. If it is not misogyny or male chauvinism, what on earth could possibly explain the fact that ‘81% of Ethiopian women believe their husbands have the right to beat them if they burn food, refuse sex, or go somewhere without their husband's consent’? This deeply disturbing fact was historically observed only among slaves. The slave was absolutely terrified of his master and always lived in fear of his master's whims and fancy. The slave believed his master could do whatever he wanted to him because he understood himself to be his master's property. The slave, totally dependent on his master for his very existence, pinned the blame for his master's cruelty and depravity on himself. The slave believed that mistreatment and abuse by his master is his divinely foreordained destiny. Could it be that long after the odious institution of slavery has been abolished in the world, the overwhelming majority of women shackled by domestic violence, inequality, sexual exploitation, destructive traditions and customs and poverty continue to believe themselves to be chattel property (personal property) to their husbands and men?

ETHIOPIAN WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS

If 81 per cent of Ethiopian women believe they are the property of their husbands, it seems obvious that they are not aware of their human rights secured under international law. Since 1948 there have been at least ten major international conventions and protocols protecting the human rights of women throughout the world. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified by Ethiopia in 1981, prohibits as discrimination a variety of actions that compound the subjugation of women and requires state parties to take action to eliminate them. Governments are required to act and eliminate ‘social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.’ A special legal duty is imposed upon governments to ‘take into account the particular problems faced by rural women and take all appropriate measures to ensure the application of the provisions of the present Convention.’ Women have the ‘right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent.’ Children cannot give free and full consent to marriage. As parents, women shall have equal rights ‘irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children.’ It is discriminatory to arbitrarily deny women spousal support and equal custody rights at divorce. Various other conventions ensure that women are protected from involuntary servitude, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Domestic violence cannot be ignored as simple ‘family misunderstanding’ but must be prosecuted as a serious crime. The Convention on the Rights of the Child protects young girls from being forced to undergo the painful and degrading practice of genital mutilation and rape in the form of child marriages.

CALLING FOR A MOVEMENT FOR ETHIOPIAN WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS

It is manifest that the vast majority of Ethiopian women are trapped in a patriarchal and paternalistic system that exploits them sexually, socially, politically and in every other way. For centuries, Ethiopian law has ‘treated women as if they were children or disabled.’ Discrimination, abuse and mistreatment against Ethiopian women has continued for so long that it is time to end the silence and stand up and speak up against their dehumanisation. All Ethiopians, and particularly the educated ones and those in power, should publicly condemn the brutal practice of female genital mutilation. It is an atrocious and dreadful custom. All educational and informational efforts must be employed to eliminate it. The rampant violence against women must not be tolerated. It must be combated through a combination of education, information and rigorous prosecutions of abusers. If actions or lack of action speaks louder than words, it is obvious that Ethiopian men do not think much of their women's lives and dignity and could be straddling that thin line between misogyny and male chauvinism. A broad social movement needs to be established to challenge all practices that degrade women and challenge cultural and social patterns defining the lopsided power relationship between men and women in Ethiopian society.

NEW CULTURE OF WOMEN’S ACTIVISM AND ASSERTIVENESS IS NEEDED

Throughout the world women have organised effectively to form political, cultural and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights and securing effective legal protection for women. In some part of the world the label ‘women's liberation’ has been given to describe the campaign for women's rights. Those who advocate for women's rights have been called ‘feminists’ because of their efforts to change traditional perspectives on a wide range of issues covering domestic violence, sexual harassment and exploitation, economic equality and elimination of all forms of gender discrimination against women.

Labels and designations for Ethiopian women's activism are unimportant in describing the need for activism. What is important is the realisation that effective activism and advocacy on behalf of Ethiopian women is long overdue. Well-educated and well-placed Ethiopian women are in the best position to engage in activism to stop violence against women, help teach them to assert their legal and human rights and research and document the condition of women in society for informed policy-making. They are also in the best position to challenge Ethiopian men to reconsider their long held beliefs about women and encourage and show them how they can change their outdated beliefs and unhealthy behavior towards women. In other words it is possible to help Ethiopian men gain new awareness and consciousness about the plight of their women and help protect their dignity and value in society. In this regard I believe Diaspora Ethiopian women bear special responsibility to articulate Ethiopian women's issues in international forums.

YOUNG ETHIOPIAN WOMEN NEED FEMALE ROLE MODELS

I often wonder if many Ethiopian fathers seriously ponder whether our daughters have good role models in strong, ethical and assertive Ethiopian women. It pains me to think that the vast majority of girls growing up in Ethiopia today will absorb the beliefs from their mothers and society that domestic violence and sexual exploitation are acceptable; that male supremacy is the natural order of things, that they will likely be married off at a young age, have children while they are themselves children and very likely die an early death from complications of childbirth.

I truly hope that all of the young Ethiopian girls will look up to Birtukan Midekssa and understand that she stood up not only for her rights and theirs, but also that she represents the new Ethiopian woman who stood up to the arrogance of power and male chauvinism. I have no doubts that if Birtukan dropped on her knees, bowed down and begged for mercy from her captors, as do women who face the daily reality of violence and physically abuse, she would be out of prison in heartbeat. We need more Ethiopian women like Birtukan who set new moral and ethical standards for the newer generation of women who in turn can change the attitudes and beliefs of the newer generation of men so they can together build ‘the future country of Ethiopia.’

THE QUESTION: TO BE OR NOT TO BE… BIRTUKAN

When I write about my heroine Birtukan Midekssa, I often refer to her as ‘Invictus’ (unconquered).[7] Some wonder why I defend Birtukan passionately and ferociously against those who have unjustly imprisoned her and take every opportunity to humiliate and degrade her despite the universally recognised fact that she is innocent of any wrongdoing. I do so because Birtukan to me is the model of the new self-confident and dignified Ethiopian woman I hope to see in the ‘future country of Ethiopia.’ Birtukan chained in prison stands taller for the cause of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Ethiopia than any man I know. She sacrificed motherhood to her 4-year old child so that the millions of little girls in Ethiopia could grow up in dignity, without physical abuse by men, educated and equal in every way to Ethiopian boys. Birtukan has shown more backbone and spine in standing up to dictatorship than anyone I know.

We can thank Ethiopian women until the cows come home, but as long as they have little personal and social security and are valued less and subjected to violence, there will be neither development, progress nor justice in Ethiopian society. The real question is not whether Ethiopian women can be the ‘backbone’ of a political party or even society. It is whether Ethiopian men can be the backbone, indeed have the backbone, to lift their women out of the misery, suffering, degradation, insecurity and value them for their inestimable worth.

In my flights of fancy, I let myself imagine millions of young Birtukan clones growing up in Ethiopia. I imagine these young women standing up to male chauvinism and defending their rights to be free from physical abuse, sexual exploitation and discrimination. I imagine them demanding accountability from their leaders and government. I imagine them taking leadership in vast numbers in society. Then I realise that I am not really lost in imagination. I had just taken a brief detour to Birtukan's ‘future country of Ethiopia’.

I will now say of Ethiopian women collectively what I have said of Birtukan individually:

Ethiopian women condemned to abuse, exploitation and indifference, but unconquered.
Ethiopian women subjected to the wrath of men and tearful, but defiant.
Ethiopian women beaten, bludgeoned and bloodied, but unbowed.
Ethiopian women mocked, ridiculed and disrespected, but gracious.
Ethiopian women vilified, strong-armed and manhandled, but unafraid.
Ethiopia under the crushing boots of soldiers of fortune.
Ethiopian women, Invictus!
Birtukan, Invictus!

FREE BIRTUKAN MIDEKSSA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS.
WOMEN OF ETHIOPIA, UNITE!

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This article first appeared in [url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/speaking-truth-on-behalf_b_635317.html]The Huffington Post[url/].
* Alemayehu G. Mariam is professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino.
* Author's note: This is my fifth commentary on the theme 'Where do we go from here?' following the rigged May 2010 elections in Ethiopia in which the ruling dictatorship won by 99.6 per cent.[1] In this piece, I express deep regrets over the never-ending subjugation of women in Ethiopian society and call for a movement for the advancement of Ethiopian women's human rights. I urge Ethiopian women to join hands in building the 'future country of Ethiopia' that Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia's foremost political prisoner and first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history, dreamed about.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES
[1] http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/1999/246.htm
[2] http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/af/135953.htm
[3] http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FR179/FR179.pdf ; p. 244 (final report, 2006)
[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hanna-ingber-win/mothers-of-ethiopia-part_b_300333.html
[5] http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=420&Itemid=336
[6] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ethiopia-birtukan-invictu_b_404713.html
[7] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

Genocide denial and facilitation

Gerald Caplan and the politics of genocide

Edward S. Herman and David Peterson

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/65773

cc Wikipedia Responding to Gerald Caplan's review of ‘The Politics of Genocide’, the book's authors Edward S. Herman and David Peterson charge Caplan of producing a 'careless' review and of being both a 'genocide denier' and 'genocide facilitator'.

In his June 17 'review' of our book The Politics of Genocide, for Pambazuka News,[i] Gerald Caplan, a Canadian writer who Kigali's New Times described as a 'leading authority on Genocide and its prevention,'[ii] focuses almost exclusively on the section we devote to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.[iii] Caplan says virtually nothing about the rest of the book: Nothing about the analytic framework that we apply throughout, nothing about the wealth of data that we report about usage of the term 'genocide' for different theatres where atrocities have been committed, nothing about our criticisms of 'responsibility to protect' doctrine and the International Criminal Court, and almost nothing about the many other conflicts that also serve to corroborate our thesis.[iv] Instead, Caplan uses his 'review' to falsely identify the main locus of responsibility for the mass killings known as the 'Rwanda genocide,' falsely deny the central and ongoing US role in the catastrophic events in Rwanda and the DRC from 1990 to the present, and maliciously label anyone who disagrees with him a 'genocide denier' and member of the 'lunatic fringe.' Caplan even defends Paul Kagame's dictatorship, including Kagame's suppression of free elections and free speech. All of this, we believe, makes Caplan not only a genocide denier, but as he helps divert attention from Kagame's mass killings and pillage in the DRC, a genocide facilitator as well.

CAPLAN AS BOOK REVIEWER

Caplan is a careless reviewer. He accuses us of neglecting to cite a lengthy list of 45 authors ('Except for [Alison] Des Forges, plus Linda Melvern,…not a single one of the following authors is cited by Herman and Peterson'), at least seven of whom we actually do cite, four positively: Gérard Prunier on the Gersony affair in Rwanda, Fergal Keane on the Bruguière report, and Alex de Waal and Mahmood Mamdani on the conflicts in the Darfur states of the western Sudan. The fifth and sixth are William Schabas and Philip Gourevitch, both on Rwanda, neither positively. The seventh, Ingvar Carlsson, we mention in passing. (One scholar on Caplan's list who we didn't cite in our book but are more than happy to cite here is René Lemarchand. In a recent letter to Pambazuka News raising doubts about Caplan's 'credentials in commenting on the merits of the Mutsinzi report' [for our treatment of this, see below], Lemarchand writes that 'the misinformation conveyed by [Caplan] is enough to cast the strongest doubts on [the Mutsinzi report's] veracity.'[v])

Indeed, Caplan does not even maintain consistency with his own previous writings, including one work about which he seems especially proud: The 2000 report on behalf of the Organization of African Unity, titled Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide.[vi]

Caplan criticizes us for contending that the Rwandan Patriotic Front's '1990 invasion of Rwanda from Uganda was carried out not by Rwandans but by Ugandan forces under Ugandan President Museveni, the RPF being ‘a wing of the Ugandan army’.'[vii] He adds that 'There is no source given for this assertion, which contradicts almost all other histories of the invasion.' But in reality there are many sources for this assertion – and one of them is Caplan himself. Thus in his OAU report, Caplan wrote that on 'October 1, 1990,…the RPF struck with a large, well-organised force led by former senior officers of Museveni's [National Resistance Army],' with the RPF's leadership to be assumed shortly thereafter by 'Paul Kagame, Museveni's former deputy head of military intelligence….' 'Museveni's Uganda had been the birthplace of the RPF,' Caplan pointed out in the same report, 'and his government had continued to support [the RPF] as they fought their way to victory….'[viii] Taken together, Caplan's assertions go well-beyond ours in claiming RPF-origins within the Ugandan army. Yet when we assert this, Caplan accuses us of an 'extraordinary re-writing of history.'

In a similar vein, Caplan mocks us for asserting that the Rwandan field-work by the US investigator Robert Gersony in1994 belongs to a 'whole body of important but suppressed research'[ix] – 'in fact,' Caplan counters, 'the so-called suppressed research by Gersony has been well-known for years.' But looking once again at Caplan's 2000 report for the OAU, we find Caplan writing that Gersony's team 'apparently gathered the first convincing evidence of widespread, systematic killings by the RPF; the UN, however, for reasons never announced, decided to suppress the information….Gersony was told to write no report and he and his team were instructed to speak with no one about their mission….'[x]

Why Caplan would assail us over what we write about the origins of the RPF as 'a wing of the Ugandan army,' as well as the 'suppression' of Gersony's research into RPF killings, when eleven years ago, this was what Caplan himself was writing, is an intriguing question.

CAPLAN’S VERSUS THE ALTERNATIVE VIEW OF THE RWANDA GENOCIDE

The answer, we believe, is that Caplan's real purpose in writing about The Politics of Genocide is simply to discredit it for rejecting the party-line on which Caplan has staked so much of his reputation. In Caplan's words, this party-line claims that 'The signing of the Arusha agreement in 1993 proved the last straw for the Hutu Power extremists….Just before 8:30 p.m. on April 6, 1994, a private jet carrying President Habyarimana…was blown out of the sky. Logic says the deed was organized by Hutu extremists, afraid the president was selling them out….Over the next 100 days, in a carefully coordinated assault organized from the very top of the Rwandan Hutu hierarchy, at least 600,000 and perhaps closer to a million Tutsi were slaughtered….'[xi]

The counter-theme of the relevant section of our book contends that 'all major sectors of the Western establishment swallowed a propaganda line on Rwanda that turned perpetrator and victim upside-down,'[xii] with the Tutsi Paul Kagame and his Tutsi military force, the RPF, acting as both the initiators and the main perpetrators of 1994's mass blood-letting, and subordinating all else to its seizure of state-power in Rwanda. The consequences of this plan include one million or more deaths in Rwanda, several million more in the DRC, perhaps the worst protracted human crisis on the planet over the past two decades – and a supremely well-entrenched dictatorship that now celebrates its 16th year in power, preparing yet again to stage a fake election in August 2010 to rival the one it put on seven years ago, with opposition Hutu parties and candidates prohibited from running against the incumbent, and Kagame's victory by a landslide guaranteed. (Kagame was awarded 95 per cent of the reported vote in 2003.) But as our account of these real and still-ongoing genocides in Central Africa's Great Lakes region is unacceptable to a Kagame-apologist, Caplan attacks us with no holds barred.

CAPLAN’S VERSUS THE ALTERNATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE GENOCIDE’S 'TRIGGERING EVENT'

One central problem for Caplan and the faction that advocates the Kagame-as-savior party-line[xiii] is the evidence on the responsibility for the April 6, 1994 shoot-down of the Falcon-50 jet carrying the Hutu President of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana, the Hutu president of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, and ten others. Most observers – including Caplan – agree that this was a 'triggering event' or 'immediate cause' of the sequence of mass killings that followed. For Caplan et al., the Habyarimana assassination was carried out by 'Hutu extremists,' but not only is there no serious evidence for this claim, there is very substantial evidence that the shoot-down was organized by Kagame.

As far back as 1996, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) investigated the assassination, and its chief investigator at the time, the Australian lawyer Michael Hourigan, presented then-ICTR Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour with evidence that Kagame and his RPF were responsible for it.[xiv] Arbour, apparently after consultation with US officials, quickly terminated the investigation, alleging that responsibility for the assassination was outside the jurisdiction of the ICTR. This was false, as the ICTR's mandate covers events taking place in Rwanda from January 1 through December 31, 1994;[xv] but Arbour's quashing the investigation was consistent with her long-standing service to US power, both in its war against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and its support and protection of the Kagame regime.[xvi] As Hourigan told the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende in 2006, 'The only time the prosecutor [Arbour] said it was not within the [ICTR's] mandate was when I implicated Kagame.'[xvii]

Caplan explains-away the Arbour-Hourigan episode on the ground that Hourigan's witnesses were merely 'disaffected RPF soldiers,' who later recanted their testimonies. But Hourigan was an experienced investigator capable of evaluating witness evidence. Furthermore, this does not explain why Chief Prosecutor Arbour dropped the subject in early 1997, long before any witness-recantation had occurred. Nor does it explain why the ICTR never again took-up investigation of this 'triggering event' in the 13 years since – unless it was because credible evidence points to Kagame and the RPF.

The French anti-terrorism Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière's inquiry into these events concluded that Kagame needed the 'physical elimination' of Habyarimana in order to seize state-power within Rwanda before the national elections called for by the Arusha Accords,[xviii] elections that Kagame most certainly would have lost, given that his minority Tutsi were greatly outnumbered by the majority Hutu. Bruguière also noted that the RPF alone in Rwanda in 1994 were a well-organized military force, and ready to strike. And the politically weak but militarily strong Kagame-led RPF did strike, resuming their assault on the government of Rwanda immediately following the Habyarimana assassination. In less than 100 days, the Kagame-RPF controlled Rwanda. On the assumption that the shoot-down was central to the larger plan of Hutu Power and genocide, this would have required a miracle of Hutu incompetence; but it would be entirely understandable if it was carried out by Kagame's force as part of their planned program to seize state-power.

There is also the fact that the RPF launched its final assault on the government of Rwanda within two hours of the shoot-down,[xix] which suggests prior knowledge as well as plans and an organization ready for action, whereas the Hutu planners in Caplan’s mythical construction seem to have been disorganized, overmatched, and quickly overpowered. Allan Stam, a Rwanda scholar and former US Special Forces officer, has called attention to the extent to which the military maneuvers by Kagame's RPF after April 6, 1994 were 'staggeringly like the United States invasion of Iraq in 1991,' which he implies Kagame might well have learned in his stay at Fort Leavenworth.[xx] Caplan of course sneers at Stam's credentials, and pretends that he has 'no idea what this means.' But Caplan never explains how the alleged Hutu planners of the 1994 genocide were routed so quickly, while the US-supported and trained Kagame-RPF drove them from power.

Although Kagame runs a violent totalitarian state, and his regime has jailed, driven into exile, and killed dissidents at home and abroad, Caplan does not question the credibility of the witness recantations that he believes undermine the Hourigan case or the regular production of fresh witnesses that support the official Kagame (and Caplan) line. Caplan also finds the 2009 results of the so-called Independent Committee of Experts (i.e., the Mutsinzi Report[xxi]) that Kagame appointed to investigate the assassination to be 'largely persuasive,' as they (needless to say) 'pin the blame directly and fully on a group of Hutu extremists who were simply not prepared to accept the power-sharing provisions of the Arusha Accords.' Typical for Caplan, he adds that only 'genocide deniers, Hutu extremists and Kagame-haters' would reject the findings of investigators appointed by Kagame.[xxii] But these, again, are the words of a Kagame apologist, and they allow us to understand why a disciplined Kigali newspaper such as The New Times would refer to Caplan as a 'leading authority on Genocide and its prevention.'

Among the 'genocide deniers' and 'Kagame haters' who find the Mutsinzi report completely unpersuasive are René Lemarchand, the distinguished scholar on Rwanda, and Luc Marchal, the former chief of the Kigali Sector of UNAMIR (who was working in Kigali in April 1994). Lemarchand finds Caplan’s understanding of the distribution of benefits of the Arusha Agreement badly off the mark – Arusha was not a 'huge victory' for the RPF, he writes, as it gave the Hutu parties 'an overwhelming majority,' and how the shoot-down of Habyarimana’s jet was 'extremely functional' to Hutu extremists is a logic that 'escapes my grasp.'[xxiii] Luc Marchal’s co-authored 'Analysis of the Mutzinzi Report' is devastating, showing convincingly and in detail the lack of independence and limited expertise of the so-called 'Independent Committee of Experts,' and the fact that the Committee 'postulates that the authorities in post-genocide Rwanda had nothing to do with the attack of 6 April 1994,' which begs the most important question and shows the Committee to be 'motivated by ideology.' And Marchal’s analysis describes in detail the Committee’s carefully biased selection of witnesses and crude management of 'evidence.' It was 'a parody of an investigation, the script of which had been written in advance,' the 'sole intention of which was to demonstrate the total innocence of the RPF and the Machiavellian guilt of the Extremist Hutus.'[xxiv] No scholar or honest journalist could have taken the Mutsinzi Report seriously, but Gerald Caplan does.

CAPLAN’S MINIMIZING THE US ROLE IN CENTRAL AFRICA

Caplan objects to our attempts to show the very important role of US policy in Kagame's ascent to power, his takeover of the Rwandan state, and the mass killings that ensued. Caplan does this partly by flamboyant language ('elaborate American conspiracy,' 'obsessive anti-Americanism') and foolish sarcasm ('since thousands of officers from nations around the world have passed through Fort Leavenworth [as did Kagame], you'd think that the thousands of large-scale invasions they would return home and orchestrate would be better-known to the world than they are'). But mainly he does it by suppressing evidence and failing to tie things together. As noted, we mention that Kagame took instruction at the US military base in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Caplan counters that Kagame's stay there was 'very brief' and that 'it was no secret.' Would Caplan find it politically meaningless if it were 'no secret' that a Canadian youth stayed at an Al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan for even a very brief period?

More important, Caplan does not tie Kagame's Fort Leavenworth stay to a large spectrum of other supportive acts and relationships. The United States was a long-time arms supplier to Uganda and the RPF, and it did nothing in the Security Council or otherwise to interfere with the Uganda-RPF invasion of Rwanda in October 1990. (We even cite former Assistant Secretary of State Herman Cohen, who naively wondered why the first Bush administration didn’t '[inform] Ugandan President Museveni that the invasion of Rwanda by uniformed members of the Ugandan army was totally unacceptable….'[xxv]) Caplan ignores the fact that the Arusha Accords[xxvi] of August 1993 forced the government of Rwanda to allow the RPF invading forces to further penetrate Rwanda and participate in (and subvert) the government, and he fails to see that the US support for a reduction in UNAMIR troop levels in April 1994 was not an unfortunate or even reckless error, but consistent with the US policy of facilitating Kagame’s conquest. The government of Rwanda wanted more UN troops, and we cite Rwanda's UN Ambassador Jean-Damascène Bizimana, who on April 21, 1994 told the Security Council that 'in view of the security situation now prevailing in Rwanda, UNAMIR's members should be increased to enable it to contribute to the re-establishment of the cease-fire and to assist in the establishment of security conditions that could bring an end to the violence.'[xxvii] But Paul Kagame didn’t want more UN troops. Hence, the United States didn’t either. In consequence, the Security Council greatly reduced UNAMIR's troops – a bit hard to reconcile with the standard account that the locus of primary responsibility for the 100 days of killings resides with 'Hutu Power' (and killers) and their genocidal plan.

Caplan makes much of the highly publicized expressions of remorse by high-ranking members of the Clinton administration, who 'shamefacedly admitted abandoning the Tutsi,' he writes, and 'consider it perhaps the greatest regret of his/her time in office.' But expressions of regret are cheap and can cover over policies of seeming neglect that are quite purposeful. (Clinton was noted for his sympathetic 'pain' over suffering he inflicted.[xxviii]) Caplan fails to mention that Kagame and his RPF did not want any military intervention that might derail their plans to overthrow the government of Rwanda, so that what he calls 'abandoning the Tutsi' never really happened – four successive US administrations have supported Kagame and the Tutsi, and therefore the monumental mass killings under him, from the RPF’s invasion of Rwanda in 1990 through its 100 day conquest in 1994, all the way to the present. In fact, 'abandoning the Tutsis' is a form of apologetics for the actual US policy of supporting Kagame and his shoot-down and conquest – he was stopping 'genocide' and the United States should have intervened more aggressively to support this leader who was 'saving' Rwanda from Hutu genocidaires!

In short, the Clinton administration viewed the monumental losses of life from April through July 1994 and beyond in both Rwanda and neighbouring countries to be 'worth it,' in the words Madeleine Albright once used when responding to a question about 'half a million' dead Iraqi children from the US-imposed 'sanctions of mass destruction.'[xxix] As then-Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (now the US Ambassador to the United Nations) Susan Rice reportedly told her colleagues after visiting Central Africa late in Clinton's second term: 'Museveni and Kagame agree that the basic problem in the Great Lakes is the danger of a resurgence of genocide and they know how to deal with that. The only thing we have to do is look the other way.'[xxx] Look the other way – the long-standing US response to what in The Politics of Genocide we call 'benign' bloodbaths, benign because perpetrated by US allies and clients, and serving US interests. Unmentioned in Caplan's 'review' of our book, but worth emphasizing here, we found that a greater disparity exists between the number of deaths (5.4 million) and the attributions of 'genocide' (17) to the killings in the Democratic Republic of Congo than in any other theatre of atrocity we surveyed. Along with the monumental losses of life suffered by the Iraqi population first during the US-UK sanctions regime (1990-2003) and then the US-UK war of aggression and military occupation (2003-), and the few times the establishment media and intellectuals used the term 'genocide' to describe them, we doubt that three finer examples of the politics of genocide can be found in the contemporary world.[xxxi]

CAPLAN MANAGES THE RWANDA NUMBERS

Caplan derides the 'sensational estimate' by Christian Davenport and Allan Stam that one million deaths occurred from April to July 1994, and that the 'majority of victims are likely Hutu and not Tutsi.' The 'methodology employed to arrive at such an Orwellian assertion has been totally discredited,' Caplan adds. But although the Davenport - Stam methodology has never been discredited, and The Politics of Genocide makes important use of their work,[xxxii] Caplan's preferred numbers and assignment of victims, based on no discernible methodology, have long been institutionalized, and Caplan can routinely regurgitate them without fear of rebuttal.

In their 2009 article for Miller - McCune, Davenport and Stam reported the 'most shocking result' of their research: 'The killings in the zone controlled by the FAR [i.e., the Armed Forces of Rwanda] seemed to escalate as the RPF moved into the country and acquired more territory. When the RPF advanced, large-scale killings escalated. When the RPF stopped, large-scale killings largely decreased.'[xxxiii] When we keep in mind the counter-theme of our treatment of Rwanda, that all of the 'widely-accepted facts' defended by Caplan and the rest of 'serious' scholarship turns perpetrator and victim upside-down, the shock dissipates immediately. As the 'only well-organized killing force within Rwanda in 1994,' whenever the RPF advanced, a lot of Rwandans died; and whenever the RPF halted its advances, fewer Rwandans died.

For Caplan, however, as one of his section-headings states, we are merely taking the 'Hutu genocidaires' and turning them into 'dead Hutu victims.' This is hardly the case. But as Caplan himself reports that the 'lowest estimate by serious scholars of Tutsi killed during the 100 days is 500,000 - 600,000,' with some (Caplan included) who 'believe it could be closer to a million,' skepticism towards the standard model of the 'Rwanda genocide' is unavoidable. Would it not have been incredible for Kagame’s Tutsi forces to conquer Rwanda in 100 days, and yet the number of minority Tutsi deaths be greater than the number of majority Hutu deaths by a ratio of something like three-to-one? Surely then we would have to count Rwanda 1994 as the only country in history where the victims of genocide triumphed over those who committed genocide against them, and wiped the territory clean of its 'genocidaires' at the same time. If ever a prima facie case existed for doubting the collective wisdom of 'academics, human rights activists, [and] journalists' whose opinions the establishment respects, we find it here, with the alleged Hutu perpetrators routed and fleeing for their lives in neighbouring countries, and the alleged Tutsi victims in complete control.

Caplan does acknowledge Tutsi killings of Hutus, but he fails to mention our citation of a memorandum to the US Secretary State from September 1994 that '10,000 or more Hutu civilians per month' were being killed by Tutsi cadres. That is a lot of civilians per month – and these killings continued into 1995 and well beyond, as both Rwandan Hutu refugees and the Congolese Hutu already living in eastern Zaire became targets of cross-border RPF attacks. But this State Department memorandum was never made public (except as part of the defence exhibits at the ICTR),and its content did not in the least affect Clinton administration support of the RPF killers, who were busy at work in the eastern DRC at the very time President Bill Clinton delivered his fraudulent but no less celebrated apology in Rwanda. Also striking, the ICTR has never indicted a single Tutsi for any crime that falls within its mandate. This tells us a great deal about the real role played by the ICTR in securing impunity for the RPF – including its treatment of the Hourigan evidence and the 'triggering event' – while relentlessly pursuing its targets. For Caplan, this role is taken as a given and presumably just.

CAPLAN ON THE ROLE OF THE 1993 HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

Caplan objects to our comments about the 1993 International Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Abuses in Rwanda. But he neither quotes nor summarizes the case we make: that this commission participated in a destabilization and regime-change campaign in which the spotlight and accusation-propaganda of the United States and the many NGOs that flock to its side were directed at the Habyarimana government. Despite its name, the commission's actual inquiry was not into human rights abuses inside Rwanda, but rather into human rights abuses allegedly committed by the government of Rwanda, whose national territory had been under assault by the invading RPF for close to two-and-one-half-years. As commission co-chair Alison Des Forges observed (and we quote), the March 8, 1993 release of the commission's report 'put Rwandan [sic] human rights abuses squarely before the international community'[xxxiv] – that is, it put the Habyarimana government's alleged abuses squarely before the 'international community,' the invading RPF's human rights abuses barely mentioned.

We also point out that William Schabas, the Canadian member of the commission, issued a press release in conjunction with the commission's report that bore the title, 'Genocide and War Crimes in Rwanda.' ('[G]enocide is,' Caplan writes elsewhere, 'the crime of crimes.') To quote The Politics of Genocide: '[W]ith the brunt of its findings coming down against the Habyarimana government, the commission's work served to delegitimize the government of Rwanda and enhance the legitimacy of the armed forces of the RPF. As the RPF quickly used the commission's claims to justify a new killing spree, we believe the case can be made that the overall impact of this report…was to underwrite the mass killings to follow….'[xxxv] True, Caplan may not understand our point or, understanding it perfectly well, may reject it and therefore prefer to muddy the waters around it. But the general point we make about the foreign-policy tool of focusing on the alleged human rights abuses committed by a target of US destabilization and regime-change, while ignoring the abuses of the armed forces attacking it, is unmistakable, and cannot be dismissed as claiming a 'great American conspiracy in Rwanda.'

CAPLAN’S ACCOMMODATION TO VIOLATIONS OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Caplan finds no serious problem with Kagame's laws criminalizing 'genocide denial' and a litany of similar thought-crimes, [xxxvi] laws which allow someone who defends political targets accused by Kagame of promoting 'genocide ideology' to be charged with exactly the same crimes. US attorney Peter Erlinder was arrested on the basis of these laws in late May, after he flew to Kigali to take up the defense of Victoire Ingabire Umhoza, the leader of the United Democratic Forces - Inkingi party, who herself had been arrested on 'genocidal denial' charges in April.[xxxvii] Caplan justified Erlinder's arrest on the ground that Erlinder entered Rwanda with the full-knowledge that he was guilty of 'questioning the Kagame version of events,' in Erlinder's words.[xxxviii] Caplan ignores the fact that Kagame's 'genocide denial' laws and the arrests of his critics and opponents are the work of a totalitarian regime, but Caplan contends that Ingabire and Erlinder had it coming – Ingabire because 'she [told] reporters she doesn't know whether more Tutsi or more Hutu were killed' in 1994, and Erlinder because '[his] presence is like a sharp slap in the face to all survivors of the genocide.'[xxxix] Caplan shows himself to be completely committed to the version of history embedded in Rwanda's 'genocide denial' laws, and he is willing to see them enforced by state power.

Erlinder has never denied that mass-atrocities and genocide were committed in Rwanda, and that a large number of Tutsi as well as Hutu were slaughtered there. However, Erlinder finds these terrible events centred in Kagame’s RPF invasion and takeover programs and efforts – as we do. Yet as Caplan cannot even allow the possibility of a debate on this subject, Erlinder is simply a 'genocide denier.'

Caplan also takes issue with what he calls Erlinder's 'intellectual dishonesty.' According to Caplan, Erlinder, a lead defence counsel for the Hutu former Major Aloys Ntabakuze in the Military 1 trial, is guilty of falsifying the trial chamber's December 2008 Judgment in this case. As Caplan describes it:

in none of his frequent references to this judgment has Erlinder thought it worth including the following statements from the judgment: 1. ‘Indeed, these preparations [by the accused] are completely consistent with a plan to commit genocide.’ 2. ‘It cannot be excluded that the extended campaign of violence directed against Tutsis, as such, became an added or an altered component of these preparations.’

Both of the sentences to which Caplan gives the numbers 1 and 2 occur in paragraph 2110 of the December 2008 Judgment. In-between these two sentences, however, there appear two other sentences that Caplan himself omits. These sentences read: 'However, [these preparations] are also consistent with preparations for a political or military power struggle. The Chamber recalls that, when confronted with circumstantial evidence, it may only convict where it is the only reasonable inference.'[xl]

Caplan thus omits the reason given by the trial chamber for acquitting the four Hutu defendants in Military 1 of the most serious charge that can be brought against them at the ICTR: Conspiracy to Commit Genocide. As the government of Rwanda's response to the assassination of Habyarimana and the renewed military offensive by the RPF was consistent with both a 'plan to commit genocide' and a 'political or military power struggle' (the defence arguing the latter), the 'conspiracy to commit genocide' charge was rejected by the trial chamber. As we showed at the outset with respect to his carelessness as a reviewer, here Caplan recklessly accuses Erlinder of 'intellectual dishonesty,' when it is Caplan who clearly is guilty of the charge.

CAPLAN, RWANDA, AND MEDIA ACCESS

Caplan wants readers to believe that challenges to the 'Rwanda genocide' model that he guards so zealously are few and far between, that none of them are intellectually serious, and that it is only the 'vast power of the internet [which] makes them seem ubiquitous and forceful.' The 45 authors he says 'agree there was a genocide planned and executed by a cabal of leading Hutu extremists against Rwanda's Tutsi minority' may seem large in number, but Caplan worries that the internet greatly extends the reach of the 'genocide deniers,' and fringe crazies such as Erlinder, Robin Philpot, Christopher Black, Christian Davenport, Allan Stam, and Michael Hourigan (not to mention the two of us) enjoy a 'vastly disproportionate pride of place.'

To test Caplan's claim about the disproportionate coverage of the alleged 'genocide deniers,' we used the Factiva database to assemble a modest media universe, and found that whereas Caplan has had at least 22 bylined articles related to Rwanda within this media universe, not a single article by any of these six critics turned up.

Not only does Caplan himself thus enjoy a disproportionate access to the establishment media, but he has used his access to attack the so-called 'deniers' by name: Robin Philpot in three of his articles, Christian Davenport in two, and Michael Hourigan in two as well.[xli] 'Google Rwanda and you're quite likely get a deniers' rant featuring the tiny band of usual suspects,' Caplan wrote in 2009, disguising himself as a lonely voice in the wilderness, 'French Judge Bruguiere, former UN Rwanda chief Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh, Robin Philpot, former Australian investigator Michael Hourigan, American academic Christian Davenport – each enthusiastically citing the others as their proof that the entire so-called genocide was really an American imperial plot.'[xlii] The data show once again that Gerald Caplan misrepresents reality.

It is also of interest that that the poor victimized Caplan not only dominates the 'deniers' in the establishment Western media, he has access to and is appreciated in The New Times, the Kigali-based English-language newspaper that is friendly with and possibly sponsored by the Kagame dictatorship. As we noted earlier, that paper profiled Caplan as a 'leading authority on Genocide and its prevention.' This all fits our framework of analysis: the United States steadfastly supports Kagame, establishment US and Western media support also flows to Kagame, and Caplan enjoys media access while the 'deniers' are marginalized – and of course Kagame's media appreciate Caplan too. Whether in the Toronto Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, or Kigali's New Times, it is the man who repeats the institutionalized truths about Rwanda whose voice is privileged.

Caplan makes another serious error of fact, claiming that the Rwanda genocide has been given scant attention in the West. Readers of The Politics of Genocide will see the use of the word 'genocide' in the establishment media has been far greater for the Rwanda case than any other arena of mass killing in recent decades – 3,199, as compared with only 17 for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 80 for the 'sanctions of mass destruction' era in Iraq, and 13 for the period of the US-UK invasion and occupation of Iraq, both of which caused Iraqi deaths in numbers comparable to that in Rwanda 1994.[xliii]

CAPLAN, KAGAME, AND THE DRC

From the very first UN report in 2001 on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo,[xliv] the invading Rwanda Patriotic Army as well as Ugandan military commanders and civilians have been identified as leading the mass-scale looting of the DRC, and the bloodshed that accompanied it. As the two major foreign state actors at work inside the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda long had established what the UN calls 'elite networks,' structures parallel to and working in conjunction with Rwandan and Ugandan authorities, and organized to manage the 'mechanisms for revenue generation,…once their troops have departed.'[xlv] At their core, these 'elite networks' are comprised of political, military, business, and even false militia and 'rebel' fronts, and maintain their control of territory through intimidation, threats, and violence. By the late 1990s, they had already 'built up a self-financing war economy centred on mineral exploitation,' with the 'looting that was previously conducted by the armies themselves…replaced with organized systems of embezzlement, tax fraud, extortion, the use of stock options as kickbacks and diversion of State funds….'[xlvi]

The UN rejected the RPF's rationale that its armed forces' continued presence in the Rwanda-controlled area of the eastern DRC was needed to defend Rwanda against hostile Hutu forces terrorizing the border region and threatening to invade it. '[T]o use the term employed by the Congo Desk of the Rwandan Patriotic Army,' the UN's 2002 report countered, the 'real long-term purpose is…to 'secure property'.'[xlvii] By September 2002, the UN was estimating that 3.5 million more people had died in the five eastern provinces of the DRC than would have died, had the wars launched by Rwanda and Uganda for the DRC's mineral wealth never occurred. 'These deaths are a direct result of the occupation [of the DRC] by Rwanda and Uganda,' the UN's 2002 report concluded. 'Extensive mortality, especially mortality among children, is the consequence of a cycle of aggression, the multiplication of armed forces, a high frequency of conflict and its consequences, especially displacement.'[xlviii] In The Politics of Genocide, we cite a later mortality survey that estimated 5.4 million deaths in the eastern DRC through April 2007, but even this estimate is more than three years old.[xlix] Moreover, as we point out, the DRC's 'foreign exploiters are the United States, Britain, France, and other African states allied with the West – most notably Rwanda and Uganda. Hence, it is the Congo's vastly greater death toll over ten years that has been truly ignored….'[l]

Gerald Caplan has long downplayed the catastrophe in the DRC and especially the Kagame regime's role in causing this catastrophe. In his 2004 essay, 'The Genocide Problem: 'Never Again' All Over Again,'[li] Caplan refers to genocide in Rwanda and genocide in Darfur – but never once to genocide in the DRC. Instead, Caplan refers merely to the 'ongoing calamity in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo;' and in a passage that made him no enemies in the Kagame regime, he laments how 'Not a single French politician has been held accountable for allowing the [Hutu] genocidaires to escape from Rwanda to Zaire/Congo, thereby setting in motion the catastrophic wars that have since plagued the African Great Lakes region.'

Of course, in his references to the genocide in Rwanda, Caplan means only the killings attributable to Hutus, not the vast numbers slaughtered by Kagame. (Recall the '10,000 or more Hutu civilians per month' referred to in an internal State Department report.) This stress on Hutu villainy repeats the Kagame regime's rationale for its military presence in the DRC, allegedly chasing down the fugitive genocidaires. But if the UN and other reports are correct, and deaths in the Kagame- (and Museveni-) controlled areas of the eastern DRC have run into the several millions, then Caplan's evasions about their source, and the intellectual cover he provides for whatever Kagame does, make Caplan not merely a genocide denier – they make Caplan a genocide facilitator, who all these years later, is still hard at work providing cover for Kagame.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This article was originally published by Monthly Review.
* Edward S. Herman is professor emeritus of finance at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and has written extensively on economics, political economy and the media. David Peterson is an independent journalist and researcher based in Chicago. Together they are co-authors of 'The Politics of Genocide', recently published by Monthly Review Press.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

[i] Gerald Caplan, 'The Politics of denialism: The strange case of Rwanda. Review of 'The Politics of Genocide',' Pambazuka News (No. 486), June 17, 2010.
[ii] We take this description of Caplan from Edmund Kagire, 'Author Calls for Upholding 'Never Again' Principle,' The New Times (Kigali), January 8, 2010. Caplan was visiting Rwanda to deliver a lecture before the country's National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide.
[iii] See Edward S. Herman and David Peterson, The Politics of Genocide (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2010), pp. 51-68. For an electronic copy of this section of our book, see 'Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Propaganda System,' Monthly Review 62, no. 1, May, 2010.
[iv] On the analytic framework that we use to explain (largely) US media coverage of different mass atrocities around the world, see Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, pp. 15-17; and for three tables that represent attributions of 'genocide' to different theaters of atrocities, see p. 35, p. 38, and p. 72. In focusing on our treatment of Rwanda and the DRC, Caplan ignores the fact that we apply the same analytic framework to Iraq, Darfur, Bosnia - Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Israeli - Palestinian conflict, Croatia, Afghanistan, Turkey, East Timor, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In the three paragraphs that Caplan devotes to our book's thesis, he writes that he is 'not at all sure that it's helpful to explore these issues against a frame of genocide.' In fact, we study the actual usage of the term by others, as they apply it (or not) to different theaters of atrocities. But as readers of our book ought to recognize, its content is irrelevant to Caplan's 'review.'
[v] René Lemarchand, 'Doubts on the Veracity of Mutsinzi Report,' Pambazuka News (No. 467), January 28, 2010.
[vi] See Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide, International Panel of Eminent Personalities, Organization of African Unity, 2000.
[vii] Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, p. 53.
[viii] Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide, para. 6.17, para. 6.12, and para. 20.23.
[ix] See Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, pp. 57-59, where we assess the work not only of Robert Gersony (including its synopsis by a September 1994 memorandum for US Secretary of State Warren Christopher that reported the RPF was '[killing] 10,000 or more Hutu civilians per month'), but also the valuable work of the US academics Christian Davenport and Allan Stam.
[x] Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide, para. 22.9, para. 22.12, emphasis added.
[xi] Gerald Caplan, 'The Rwandan Genocide,' in The Betrayal of Africa (Toronto: Groundwork Books, 2008), pp. 78-80; here p. 79.
[xii] Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, p. 51.
[xiii] For one example of what we mean by the Kagame-as-savior party-line, see Philip Gourevitch, 'The Life After,' New Yorker, May 4, 2009. To this day, Kagame is feted in the Western metropolitan centers, but nowhere near as obsequiously as in the United States and Canada.
[xiv] See Affidavit of Michael Andrew Hourigan, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, November 27, 2006. For other sources that discuss the suppression of the Hourigan memorandum, see Robin Philpot, Rwanda 1994: Colonialism Dies Hard (E-Text as posted to the Taylor Report Website, 2004), esp. Chap. 6, 'It shall be called a plan crash'; Mark Colvin, 'Questions unanswered 10 years after Rwandan genocide,' PM, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 30, 2004; Mark Doyle, 'Rwanda 'plane crash probe halted',' BBC News, February 9, 2007; Nick McKenzie, 'UN 'shut down' Rwanda probe,' The Age, February 10, 2007; and Tiphaine Dickson, 'Rwanda's Deadliest Secret: Who Shot Down President Habyarimana's Plane?' Global Research.com, November 24, 2008.
[xv] See Statute of the International Tribunal for Rwanda, Annex, UN Security Council Resolution 955 (S/RES/955), November 8, 1994. Article 1 of the Statute states: 'The International Tribunal for Rwanda shall have the power to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda and Rwandan citizens responsible for such violations committed in the territory of neighbouring States, between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994,...' The qualification 'in the territory of neighbouring States' ought to be especially troubling for the Kagame-RPF, as many of the Hutu it killed were refugees who had fled Rwanda for what was then eastern Zaire (now the DRC).
[xvi] In 1996, the Canadian Louise Arbour was vetted for the job of Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and in this role, Arbour did everything that could b asked of her to expedite the US-led NATO bloc's war against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. See Michael Mandel, How America Gets Away With Murder: Illegal Wars, Collateral Damage, and Crimes Against Humanity (Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2004), pp 131-132, citing Carol Off, The Lion, the Fox, and the Eagle (Random House, Canada, 2000), p. 289.
[xvii] Bjørn Willum, 'Terrorattentatet FN ikke vil høre om,' Berlingske Tidende (Denmark), December 10, 2006. (»Det eneste tidspunkt chefanklageren sagde, det ikke var indenfor mandatet var, da jeg implicerede Kagame.«)
[xviii] Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, Request for the Issuance of International Arrest Warrants, Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, November 17, 2006, p. 12 (as archived by the Taylor Report website).
[xix] See Allan C. Stam, 'Coming to a New Understanding of the Rwanda Genocide,' a lecture before the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, February 18, 2009, shortly after the 22:30 mark.
[xx] Ibid, shortly after the 22:30 mark.
[xxi] See Dr. Jean Mutsinzi et al., Report into the Investigation of the Causes and Circumstances of and Responsibility for the Attack of 06/04/1994 Against the Falcon 50 Rwandan Presidential Aeroplane, Registration Number 9XR-NN (a.k.a. The Mutsinzi Report), Independent Committee of Experts, Republic of Rwanda, 2009.
[xxii] Gerald Caplan, 'Who killed the president of Rwanda?' Pambazuka News (No. 466), January 21, 2010.
[xxiii] Lemarchand, 'Doubts on the Veracity of Mutsinzi Report.'
[xxiv] Luc Marchal et al., 'Analysis of the Mutsinzi Report,' CirqueMinime, February 8, 2010.
[xxv] Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, p. 53.
[xxvi] See the Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Rwanda and the Rwandese Patriotic Front, signed at Arusha on 4 August 1993 (A/48/824-S/26915), U.N. General Assembly, December 23, 1993. A total of seven documents were gathered together as the 'Arusha Peace Accords,' the earliest the N'Sele Cease-fire Agreement dating from 1991.
[xxvii] 'The situation concerning Rwanda,' UN Security Council (S/PV.3368), April 21, 1994, 6.
[xxviii] 'The international community,' President Bill Clinton said in Kigali, 'together with nations in Africa, must bear its share of responsibility for this tragedy as well. We did not act quickly enough after the killing began. We should not have allowed the refugee camps to become safe haven for the killers. We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name: genocide.' ('Clinton's Painful Words Of Sorrow and Chagrin,' New York Times, March 26, 1998.) But from the point of view of genuine contrition, admitting to which ethical and legal lapse is more serious: crimes of omission or crimes of commission? The speaker of these words admitted the former, not the latter. As we note above, Kagame and his RPF did not want any military intervention that might derail their plans to overthrow the government of Rwanda, so that what Caplan calls 'abandoning the Tutsi' never really happened.
[xxix] Lesley Stahl, 'Punishing Saddam,' 60 Minutes, CBS TV, May 12, 1996.
[xxx] In Gérard Prunier, Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 339. Note that Prunier himself attributes this quote to an anonymous 'member of [Susan Rice's] staff' (p. 339). The claim that the 'gist of Prunier's anecdote is correct, except that participants have confirmed to me that it was Rice herself who spoke these words,' we take from Howard W. French, 'Kagame's Hidden War in the Congo,' New York Review of Books, September 24, 2009.
[xxxi] Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, p. 68, and pp. 29-38. Also see esp. Table 1, 'Differential attributions of 'genocide' to different theaters of atrocities,' p. 35.
[xxxii] Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, pp. 58-59.
[xxxiii] Christian Davenport and Allan C. Stam, 'What Really Happened in Rwanda?' Miller-McCune, October 6, 2009.
[xxxiv] Alison Des Forges, 'Leave None to Tell the Story': Genocide in Rwanda (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999), p. 93; in Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, p. 65.
[xxxv] Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, p. 66.
[xxxvi] See Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda, June 4, 2003, and its Amendments (as posted to the website of the Rwandan Ministry of Defense), specifically Article 13, 'Revisionism, negationism and trivialization of genocide are punishable by the law,' and Article 9, which commits the Rwandan government to 'fighting the ideology of genocide and all its manifestations.' Also see Law Relating to the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Ideology (No. 18/2008), Codes and Laws of Rwanda, Ministry of Justice, Republic of Rwanda, July 23, 2008.
[xxxvii] See Edward S. Herman and David Peterson, 'Peter Erlinder Jailed by One of the Major Genocidaires of Our Era – Update,' MRZine, June 17, 2010.
[xxxviii] See Peter Erlinder, 'The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: International Justice or Juridically-Constructed 'Victor’s Impunity'?' May, 2008. As Erlinder also pointed out in the same article: 'The Rwandan Government, with US and UK support, is actively campaigning to have ALL of the ICTR cases transferred to Rwanda. No one at the ICTY is suggesting transferring Croats to Serbia when the ICTY shuts down. The Kagame Regime also wants at ICTR records to be transferred to Kigali and has issued 40,000 warrants for 'genocidaires' in the Rwandan diaspora, both Hutu’s and Tutsi’s, who are making common cause to bring down a regime that the Economist called the 'most repressive in Africa' in April 2004.'
[xxxix] Gerald Caplan, 'The Law Society of Upper Canada and genocide denial In Rwanda,' Toronto Globe and Mail (Web exclusive), June 11, 2010. Also see Caplan, 'The Politics of denialism,' para. 8-12. Caplan's Globe and Mail defense of Kagame's totalitarian laws received a sharp rebuttal by the University of Texas at Austin Professor Alan J. Kuperman, 'Interpreting genocide,' Letter, Toronto Globe and Mail, June 14, 2010.
[xl] Judge Eric Mose et al., Judgment, The Prosecutor v. Theoneste Bagosora et al. (ICTR-98-41-T), International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, December 18, 2008, Sect. 2.1, 'The Conspiracy to Commit Genocide,' para. 2084-2112; here para. 2110.
[xli] Factiva database searches carried out for five sources on July 1, 2010, for all available dates. The five sources were All Africa, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Globe and Mail, and Toronto Star. The basic search parameters were rst=(afnws or mtlg or otct or glob or tor) and Rwanda and [name]. The results were then checked for items appearing under the individual's byline. Of the seven individuals whose names we used Factiva to check (Gerald Caplan, Christopher Black, Christian Davenport, Peter Erlinder, Michael Hourigan, Robin Philpot, and Allan Stam), the only bylines that we found belonged to Gerald Caplan.
[xlii] Gerald Caplan, 'Memory And Denial – the Genocide Fifteen Years On,' All Africa, April 8, 2009. This same article first appeared in Pambazuka News ('Memory And Denial – the Genocide Fifteen Years On,' No. 426, April 2, 2009), and then The New Times (Kigali), from which All Africa re-circulated it.
[xliii] See Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, Table 1, 'Differential attributions of 'genocide' to different theaters of atrocities,' p. 35.
[xliv] See Safiatou Ba-N'Daw et al., Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo (S/2001/357), UN Security Council, April, 2001; Mahmoud Kassem et al., Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo (S/2002/1146), UN Security Council, October, 2002; Mahmoud Kassem et al., Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo (S/2003/1027), UN Security Council, October, 2003; and Jason Stearns et al., Final Report of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo (S/2008/773), UN Security Council, November, 2008.
[xlv] Kassem et al., Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo (S/2002/1146), UN Security Council, October, 2002, para. 13.
[xlvi] Ibid, para. 12 - 21; here para. 21, para. 12, and para. 19.
[xlvii] Ibid, para. 65 - 96; here para. 65. As this 2002 report also states: 'The elite network's operations in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are managed centrally from the [Rwanda Patriotic Army] Congo Desk, which serves to link the commercial and military activities of the RPA' (para. 70).
[xlviii] Ibid, para. 96.
[xlix] Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, p. 43, citing Benjamin Coghlan et al., Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: An Ongoing Crisis, International Rescue Committee - Burnet Institute, January, 2008.
[l] Herman and Peterson, The Politics of Genocide, pp. 43-44.
[li] Gerald Caplan, 'The Genocide Problem: 'Never Again' All Over Again,' The Walrus, October, 2004.

The problem with polarising the debate on genocide

Oliver Kearns

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/65782

cc US Army Africa‘Gerald Caplan is right to outline various deficiencies of Edward Herman and David Peterson’s chapter on Rwanda in their new book 'The Politics of Genocide'. In important ways, however, Caplan’s review piece actually contributes to the very phenomenon he is trying to attack,’ writes Oliver Kearns.

Gerald Caplan is right to outline various deficiencies of Edward Herman and David Peterson’s chapter on Rwanda in their new book ‘The Politics of Genocide’. In important ways, however, Caplan’s review piece actually contributes to the very phenomenon he is trying to attack. Caplan’s framing of the debate over the violence in Rwanda in 1994 arguably encourages a further polarisation of that debate, making it easier for genocide deniers to make their case.

The problem with Caplan’s framing is its characterisation of both ‘sides’ of the debate. On one side are ‘the overwhelming number of those who have ever written about the genocide’. Caplan portrays this overwhelming number as holding a more unified view of the 1994 killings than actually exists. For instance, Caplan rejects Herman and Peterson’s contention that the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) ‘were perceived as serving US interests’, arguing that ‘[n]o other historian of the genocide of whom I’m aware makes this claim and no evidence for it exists’. In fact much has been written of the diplomatic support given to the RPF by the United States. Barrie Collins has documented the role of the US in pressuring President Habyarimana throughout the 1990s, often with the threat of withdrawal of international funds, to treat the RPF as a legitimate opposition movement and to concede to its demands. As Collins notes, the fact that the invasion of Rwanda by the RPF was not condemned by the ‘international community’ did indeed lead to a perception in the Rwandan government that ‘the RPF enjoyed discreet American approval’.[1]

Arguably more problematic in terms of furthering our understanding of the 1994 violence is Caplan’s characterisation of the other side of the debate. Caplan labels a number of scholars, lawyers and journalists as genocide deniers, who back up their arguments by ‘gleefully drink[ing] each other’s putrid bath water’. Included within this grouping are Allan Stam and Christian Davenport, the latter a professor of Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Davenport and Stam have compiled data on killings from April-June 1994 from a wide range of sources, including Rwandan ministries, survivors associations and human rights organisations. They estimate that while around 890,000 killings occurred in areas under the jurisdiction of the FAR (Rwandan Armed Forces), there were also 77,000 killings in areas under RPF jurisdiction. Caplan is right to note the controversy that this research has ignited – members of the research team in question have been interrogated and threatened by the Rwandan government. To brand Davenport and Stam genocide deniers, however, is quite inaccurate. To quote their research paper: ‘[c]learly evidence of genocide is evident within this analysis but it is also clear that a variety of other activities exist as well, which merit discussion and consideration within journalistic, scholarly, legal and political circles’.[2] As the two have noted elsewhere, ‘we have never denied that a genocide took place; we just noted that genocide was only one among several forms of violence that occurred at the time’.[3]

Caplan’s more specific source of outrage at Davenport and Stam is their ‘sensational estimate’ that ‘the majority of victims [were] likely Hutu and not Tutsi’. Caplan says the methodology used to arrive at this ‘Orwellian assertion’ has been ‘totally discredited’. Unfortunately Caplan does not provide any source to back this up. It is true that one could level criticisms at aspects of their Davenport and Stam’s methodology. Their claim that the majority of victims were likely Hutu is derived from subtracting the estimated number of Tutsi survivors from 1991 census data on the number of Tutsi in Rwanda. It is likely, however, that in the 1991 census the number of Tutsi was under-reported by both the Habyarimana regime and by Tutsi themselves, perhaps by as much as 40 per cent.[4] Nevertheless, in light of the fact that previous scholarly estimates have estimated the numbers of Hutu and Tutsi deaths to be much more even than the current Rwandan government’s estimate, Caplan’s name-calling with regards to Davenport and Stam and their ‘Orwellian’ estimates has arguably little merit.

We surely owe it to the victims of the violence of 1994 to develop as accurate and nuanced a picture as possible of what exactly took place during those terrible months. Gerald Caplan’s arguments make this harder to achieve. By downplaying the diversity of opinion among those who accept a genocide was carried out aimed at the Tutsi population, and by denouncing those who draw attention to the diversity of modes of violence that existed in Rwanda throughout 1994, Caplan encourages a polarisation of discussion over Rwanda, as readers accept the parameters of the debate that he presents. This will only make it easier for those who do actually deny a genocide took place to characterise those who disagree as RPF or American imperialist stooges. Such a polarisation could also have damaging consequences for the viability of holding President Kagame and members of the RPF to account for their actions over the last two decades, both in Rwanda and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kagame’s government is only too happy to see the debate polarised, since this makes it much more difficult to ensure that all forms of violence – and, crucially, its perpetrators – are documented.

* Oliver Kearns is a fourth year undergraduate in international relations & philosophy at the University of St Andrews.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

[1] Barrie Collins, “New Wars and Old Wars? The Lessons of Rwanda” in
David Chandler (ed.), Rethinking Human Rights: Critical Approaches to
International Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003): 157-175, 163.
[2] Christian Davenport & Allan Stam, “Rwandan Political Violence in
Space and Time” Discussion paper, 2009,
http://web.mac.com/christiandavenport/iWeb/Site%2040/Publications_files/rwanda031708c.pdf:
36.
[3] Christian Davenport & Allan Stam, “What Really Happened in Rwanda?”
Miller-McCune Research Essay, 6 October 2009,
http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/what-really-happened-in-rwanda-3432
[4] Marijke Verpoorten, “The death toll of the Rwandan genocide: a
detailed analysis for Gilkongoro Province” Population 60(4), 2005:
331-368.

Greed and exploitation: DR Congo's 50th anniversary

Carlo Ungaro

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/65770

cc J HWith the DR Congo having passed 50 years of independence, Carlo Ungaro reflects on a turbulent history, the originally pervasive support for Mobutu and the greed of myriad interests in destabilising the country.

On 30 June 1960, the 'Belgian Congo' obtained its independence, at a time in which a number of former African colonies were achieving the same goal.

The beginnings were inauspicious, with the visit of King Baudouin being marred first by Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba’s inaugural speech, which departed from the agreed text and contained a scathing – if well articulated and well deserved – attack on the 'white rulers' of the Congo, and secondly by an incident which appeared comical at the time, but somehow was an omen of things to come: in the course of the royal motorcade, a Congolese citizen eluded security barriers, leapt into the king’s limousine and made off with the ceremonial sword.

I was posted there – my first diplomatic posting – shortly after the murder of Patrice Lumumba. Mobutu’s (then Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Désiré Mobutu) first military takeover had taken place and had ended with his returning power to the civilians, as he had promised. A 'moderate' democratic government was then already in existence, which, by its composition and actions, gave rise to justifiable optimism for the county’s future.

Over the distance of all these years, I still occasionally ask myself 'what went wrong?', and why a land so rich both in natural and human resources (Congolese art and music are second to none in Africa, and already then there was an effervescent intellectual middle class) ended up sliding further and further into chaos and senseless violence.

It is hard to pin down a turning point. The violent rebellion in the east, with the consequent addition of foreign (mainly white) mercenaries to the equation of violence, Moise Tchombe’s seizing of power with the help of Belgian (and other Western) interests – the same figure who some years earlier had brought about the Katanga 'secession' – and the rather suspect death of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld were all dramatic events causing a rise in existing tensions, but none of them seemed decisive.

Then, in November of 1965, Mobutu (by now General Mobutu) seized power again. Those of us who had met Mobutu and who really thought we knew (and liked) the man heaved a sigh of relief. He asked for 'five years' and then he would return power to the civilians, and, of course, because of the historic precedent, we believed him. There was much enthusiasm during those first heady times – Congolese musical geniuses came up with songs and ditties such as 'Cinq ans, cinq ans, Mobutu au gouvernement' – and even normally sceptical observers, the so-called 'seasoned diplomats', had to admit that he had introduced a new dynamic style in Congolese political life, proclaiming to enthusiastically cheering crowds that he was about to abolish tribalism, corruption, poverty and other ills.

AGAIN, WHAT WENT WRONG?

Even after all these years, Lumumba’s speech is well worth listening to, and for those of us who were in Congo in the period immediately following his assassination, it had a feeling of authenticity and appeared still applicable to many – certainly not all – European residents. This could relate especially, but not exclusively, to those Belgians – mainly Flemish – who had decided to 'stay on' after a precipitous flight caused by the first 'troubles', an army mutiny, shortly after independence.

Some did not hide their contempt for the 'natives', and spoke with open nostalgia of the 'good old days' and of the recent Katanga 'secession'. In the months preceding Mobutu’s takeover, these were ardently hoping and actively working for the creation of a Tchombe government, which they felt would be more 'sensitive' to their demands. The racism, so eloquently depicted by Lumumba, was still very active, and how often did I hear the tired joke of those who would go to South Africa because they were dreaming of a 'white Christmas'.

I have read, with more than usual interest, that Louis Michel, a very influential Belgian MEP (member of the European Parliament) and a former European Union commissioner, has been trying to rehabilitate the figure of King Leopold, to whom, instead, most historians and observers attribute the responsibility for the Congolese disaster. These statements certainly appear shocking to most of us, but I believe that still today, as indeed in the 1960s, there is a hardcore school of thought in which the Congo atrocities are minimised, indeed justified, and the responsibility for the disastrous outcome of Congolese independence is attributed to a hopelessly 'primitive' mentality and to the work of well-intentioned but misinformed 'do-gooders' who have conspired to instil wrong ideas into the minds of the Congolese people.

Michela Wrong some years ago wrote an extremely pleasing and important book on the end of the Mobutu regime, and gave it the evocative title 'In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz', with, of course, a reference to Joseph Conrad’s 'The Heart of Darkness'. The temptation to explain current political events through historical analysis is always strong, but has its pitfalls and needs to be controlled. In the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, however, retracing, as it were, Conrad’s Congolese journey could be a useful exercise – as indeed, a swift perusal of the Congo’s incredibly cruel 19th century ordeal could show the reasons for its weak and fragile social structure.

It would be a mistake, however, to attribute the Congolese tragedy entirely and exclusively to King Leopold or to the subsequent Belgian colonial rule. Indeed, in later years, the colony received a rather valid infrastructure system, no worse than that which was left by other colonial powers, and, thanks to reforms in the education system, a literate, cultured middle class was also emerging.

The tragedy of the Congo, from the days of Stanley to the present, has been its immense, almost unbelievable wealth, and the uncontrolled, unbridled greed with which it has been – and is being – exploited. It has to be added that if this exploitation was perpetrated exclusively by Europeans as long as the Congo was a colony and in the immediate aftermath of its independence, in later years the scramble for the country’s riches has included many Congolese themselves working either with foreigners or on their own.

I saw this cancer growing when I was there, starting in Katanga and then spreading to the rest of the country, corrupting all those it touched, and finally bringing about the country’s total ruin.

Many of us, in 1965, really believed that Mobutu would be able to turn things around, and I am rather convinced that he, in good faith, actually believed so himself. For a while, after seizing the presidency, Mobutu remained, at least in appearance, immune from the megalomania and the paranoia so often associated with absolute power: he still was a seemingly unassuming, intelligent, humorous individual, to all appearances earnestly dedicated to the welfare and development of his country.

One of the first signals of incipient paranoia came the following year, when a former prime minister and three former cabinet ministers, clad only in their underwear, were publicly hanged for allegedly conspiring to overthrow Mobutu. Such was his charisma, however, and so deep the feeling that he was basically a 'good guy', that until the very last many of us – Congolese and foreign – were sure that a last-minute reprieve would be issued. The men, instead, were duly executed and it can be said that the spiral of megalomaniac paranoia and of absolute corruption and accumulation of wealth began more or less concurrently, although very few if any of us, the foreign observers, had an inkling of what was to come.

The last memory I have of Kinshasa is that of waiting for my final flight, in the blistering heat of Ndjili airport, thinking to myself, quite confidently, that 'things could not get any worse', while instead the deterioration was constant and lasted almost four decades, bringing the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the verge of becoming a 'failed state'.

Europeans and successive American administrations share a lot of responsibility, if nothing else for having bolstered and thus encouraged, for many years, the misdeeds of a regime such as Mobutu’s in the name of security and anti-communism. But human greed was and is the prime culprit of the situation there. We can only hope that the solemn occasion of the 50th anniversary of independence will give the Congolese and their friends the strength and the means to reverse the situation.

I can’t help, however, being obsessed by a nagging doubt, and I keep asking myself if a similar fate is, for instance, being prepared for Afghanistan. Why was the 'discovery' of vast riches there given so much publicity at a moment when Afghan civilian social structure has been weakened by three decades of conflict? The lessons of history are there, but few seem interested in learning from them.

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* Carlo Ungaro is a retired senior Italian diplomatic officer, who has spent many years of his career in Asia (Central Asia, Afghanistan) and Africa (Congo, Somalia).
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Grant land and citizenship to returning diaspora Africans

Beharane Selasie Kabaka

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/65775

cc F AMany Africans in the diaspora were taken from the continent against their will ‘during the long years of the inhumane and barbaric transatlantic slave trade’, writes Beharane Selasie Kabaka. Isn’t it therefore ‘our moral obligation as native Africans to fully accept them if they wish to return’, without subjecting them to bureaucratic procedures for the acquisition of citizenship, Kabaka asks.

It is common knowledge that during the long years of the inhumane and barbaric trans Atlantic slave trade, millions of Africans were kidnapped, shipped away and forced to serve as slaves in the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe. From its very onset slavery was vehemently resisted. Many Africans intentionally starved themselves on the slave ship while others threw themselves overboard when they got the chance, preferring death to slavery.

On reaching the Caribbean and the Americas, many Africans rebelled against their captors and fled to areas that were hardly accessible – for instance forests, swamps and mountainous areas all in a bid to escape the humiliation of slavery. The resistance to this barbaric trade continued but only gained significant momentum in 1791 with the rebellion of Haiti led by Toussaint l’Ouverture. The declaration of the independence of Haiti on 1 January 1804 by Jean-Jacques Dessalines inspired other Africans still under captivity to rebel.

On realising the dangers of slave uprisings, moderate whites began the campaign to end slavery. Slave trade was finally banned by the British government in 1807 but in earnest, the barbaric trade persisted for another eighty years in America and the Caribbean. At its twilight, the question of whether the freed slaves should be returned to Africa became a burning issue. Consequently large tracts of land were put aside by the imperialists in Sierra Leone and Liberia and many Africans were returned to the land of their ancestors.

However many freed Africans remained in the diaspora. In 1923 Marcus Garvey through his Universal Negro Improvement Association launched his ‘back to Africa’ campaign. Marcus Garvey taught that the only viable option for the African in the diaspora is to return to Africa, develop it and live in dignity. He predicted that the African shall never achieve his highest ambition and full human rights if he stayed in the diaspora. To this end Garvey through his Black Star Cruiser Liner Company procured two ships to transport willing Africans back home. Garvey’s Black Star Liner project would certainly have repatriated a considerable number of Africans had it not been frustrated by the American government and fellow black leaders most notably W.E. B. Bois, who sadly viewed Garvey as an ‘illiterate radical’.

In May 1966, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selasie, upon his return from a visit to the Caribbean acknowledged the plight of the African in the diaspora and granted 500 acres of Ethiopian land in Shasemane to Africans in the diaspora who wished to return home. Indeed a number of Africans – most notably Rastafari from Jamaica – have repatriated over the years. Sadly on the overthrow of His Imperial Majesty, the Shasemane land grant was nationalised and many of the returning Africans lost their land. To compound matters, the returning Africans in Shasemane have not been accorded citizenship rights – for instance the right to own a passport, the right to vote, the right to be employed and the right to own land in perpetuity. Denial of a right to a passport has meant that many of these brothers and sisters have been confined to Shasemane and therefore cannot acquaint themselves with the rest of the continent.

As already highlighted, our diaspora brothers and sisters were taken against their will. It is therefore our moral obligation as native Africans to fully accept them if they wish to return, without subjecting them to the bureaucratic procedures that are apparent in our laws in regard to the acquisition of citizenship. With more information and technology like DNA, many Africans in the diaspora have discovered their true roots in Africa, that is to say; the very villages from where their ancestors were kidnapped. The availability of information and experience acquired from trips to Africa has helped the diaspora Africans to learn that Africa is not the ‘dark doomed continent’ as portrayed constantly in Western media.

Many diaspora Africans endure racism on a daily basis in Europe and the Americas, in the Caribbean they are threatened by frequent natural calamities such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Thus many of them see themselves in ‘exile’ and given an opportune chance, they would wish to return to Africa and live in dignity.

It should also be acknowledged that the Africans in the diaspora do not return empty handed but with substantial financial capacity and rare skills and knowledge. It is our conviction that returning diaspora Africans shall play a significant role in the economic emancipation of the African continent. The Pan-African position is that Africa shall only be liberated economically by Africans themselves; certainly not by the mischievous West. We therefore call upon all African governments to consider granting land and full citizenship rights to all Africans in the diaspora who wish to return home. To this end we are encouraged by the to the recent pledge of free land and full citizenship rights by the Senegalese President Comrade Abdoulaye Wade to any Haitian who wishes to repatriate to Africa.

Our prayer is that this grant be extended to all diaspora Africans and that all African presidents do the same. As Pan-Africans we are concerned that many African presidents today come to power riding on the back of the Pan-African ideology but do not do anything to illustrate their Pan-African ideals when they assume office. We are convinced that granting land and full citizenship rights to diaspora Africans is a sure way through which our leaders should demonstrate their Pan-African zeal but more importantly an avenue to give African development a much needed impetus. We are also deeply encouraged by the recent invitation of the leaders of Caribbean countries to the upcoming African Union Summit in Kampala as observers. We are hopeful that in the near future our diaspora African brothers and sisters shall be given chance to fully participate and be heard at the African Union Summit in a bid to enhance the ties between Native and Diaspora Africans. LONG LIVE AFRICAN UNITY!

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* Beharane Selasie Kabaka is a Rastafari.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Zimbabwe’s inclusive government

Platform for political battles or for pursuit of socio-economic development?

Jonathan Oshupeng Maseng

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/65774

cc W E FZimbabwe’s coalition government, formed under the auspices of a Global Political Agreement in 2008, has struggled to overcome the challenges the country faces. Jonathan Oshupeng Maseng’s paper identifies and discusses the issues heightening the rift between coalition members Zanu PF and the Movement for Democratic Change, whose political battles are stalling socio-economic progress. ‘The focus must be on achieving the objectives set out in GPA rather than on political disputes advancing their own interests,’ says Maseng.

The Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe was formed under the auspices of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in 2008. The GPA had to deal with key issues in Zimbabwe which include the restoration of the economy and the rule of law, removal of sanctions, the land question, media reform, the drafting of a new constitution, and the promotion of national healing. The agreement was formed under the cloud of long-time political rivalry, between the Zimbabwe National African Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), each seeking to muscle the other out of political power.

Though there are two factions of the MDC – on the one hand is MDC-T led by Tsvangirai, on the other hand having MDC-M led by Mutambabra – Tsvangirai has for years led MDC since its formation and he has been Zanu PF and Mugabe’s political rival. As the Inclusive Government was formed, the political rivalry was coupled with the dilapidation of the economy of the country that was once the breadbasket of Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

The paper identifies and discusses the issues that have placed Zanu PF and the MDC-T at odds within the inclusive government and under the GPA provisions, with specific focus on battles for positions of power, disagreements on executive powers and authority as provided by the GPA, differing positions on constitution drafting and issues on security sector reform vis-à-vis the land audit. Having identified the issues of political contestation, the paper tries to point out how these political battles stall socio-economic progress in Zimbabwe. Furthermore contraventions of the GPA are identified and discussed as part of the sources to political battles between the parties.

INTRODUCTION

On 15 September 2008 the GPA was signed in Zanu PF and the two factions of MDC (MDC-T lead by Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC-M lead Arthur Mutambara). Under the auspices of the GPA an inclusive government was formed, retaining Robert Mugabe as president while Morgan Tsvangirai became prime minister,[1] with Arthur Mutambara as deputy prime minister. The GPA came into effect on 11 February 2009, after months of disagreement over the sharing of cabinet portfolios. Key amongst the priorities of the GPA was the restructuring of the economy and the rule of law, lobbying the international community to drop sanctions, the land question, media reform, the drafting of a new constitution, and the promotion of national healing.[2]

Since 2000, the MDC has contested every election – both the presidential and parliamentary – and has since emerged as the only political opposition to challenge Zanu PF’s hold on power. From the year 2000, Zimbabwe has witnessed continuous political battles between Zanu PF and opposition MDC over the former’s violation of human rights, violent and undemocratic electoral politics, draconian laws such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), all of which limit political and civil liberties.

The GPA was signed by long-time political rivals whom their political differences now saddled with the restoration of the depressed economy of the former bread basket of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Unfortunately, the GPA’s implementation was delayed due to disagreements over the sharing of cabinet portfolios within the inclusive government. The year 2010 marks the second year since the formation of the inclusive government and the signing of the GPA.

Having said that, this paper seeks to interrogate the relations between the signatories of the GPA, in particular Zanu PF and MDC-T in the inclusive government, and to ascertain whether these relations have been that of political antagonism between the two parties trying to entrench their hegemony in governance, or whether the focus has been on advancing the objectives of the GPA.

It goes on to analyse whether the GPA’s effective implementation has been impeded by political battles between its signatories. The paper identifies and discusses the issues that have placed Zanu PF and the MDC-T at odds with each other within the inclusive government and under the GPA provisions, which includes battling for positions of power, disagreements on executive powers and authority as provided by the GPA, differing positions on constitution drafting and issues on security sector reform vis-à-vis the land audit.

Having identified the issues of political contestation, the paper also tries point out how these political battles stall socio-economic progress in Zimbabwe. Furthermore contraventions of the GPA are identified and discussed as part of the sources to political battles between the parties.

BATTLING FOR POSITIONS OF POWER

Since the formation of the inclusive government in Zimbabwe and the signing of the GPA in 2008, the Zanu PF and the two MDC factions have been battling each other in a bid to gain the upper hand in the country’s political landscape. Hence most commentators observed that the GPA created two centres of power, that of the prime minister and that of the president, which would in the medium or long-term lead to a dysfunctional state at war with itself.[3] The GPA has experienced battles amongst the political antagonists for control and influence within the inclusive government.

Significantly the political disputes between Zanu PF and MDC have been centred on the allocation of cabinet portfolios, provincial governorships, and the status of Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono and the attorney general, Johannes Tomana. The three main political party leaders, Mugabe of Zanu PF, Tsvangirai of MDC-T and Mutambara of MDC-M have also contributed to the stalled progress of the GPA. However, the most central figure to the stalled GPA progress has been Mugabe, who has pressed Tsvangirai and Mutambara hard to agree to create ten ministerial and fifteen deputy ministerial positions in addition to the inclusive government beyond the number agreed in the GPA, in order to accommodate more allies and prevent rebellion within Zanu PF.[4] This decision to expand the number of cabinet portfolios beyond the expected number was not for the benefit of achieving the GPA’s objectives, but rather to ensure that within Zanu PF no politically disgruntled individual(s) emerged who would threaten his grip on power.

Having pleased his political allies within Zanu PF, this move however left the two MDC factions discontented with Mugabe’s actions. This was because MDC-T complained of under-representation in the government, while Mutambara of MDC-M wanted an extra slot with which to appease his faction’s vice president, Gibson Sibanda.

In the expanded cabinet, Mugabe obtained six additional ministerial posts for his allies, while MDC-T received two more, and MDC-M one minister of state.[5] Drawing inference from the above, there is unequal share of power distribution within the GPA leaving other parties unsatisfied, particularly the two factions of MDC, In an attempt to appease every party there must be equal distribution of power across the political divide, thus distributing portfolios in an equal share amongst parties within the GPA. Unequal power distribution results in other parties not being pleased, translating into political battles for control and influence, rather than focusing on the GPA objective of the restoration of the economy and the rule of law, removal of sanctions, the land question, media reform, the drafting of a new constitution, and the promotion of national healing. Indeed unequal distribution of power results in political battles.

Adding more weight around battles on ministerial portfolios distribution, is the factor of allocation of key portfolios to parties which, according to Human Rights Watch[6], has left Zanu PF with most of its power intact, effectively maintaining the status ante quo: The report indicates that Zanu PF has kept control of all the senior ministries, including home affairs, foreign affairs, justice, security, and defence. This has seen the MDC lacking real power in the government and being discontented by this fact. In addition the MDC-T wanted the appointment of deputy agriculture minister, Roy Bennett,[7] who was on trial on charges of trying to overthrow the Zimbabwean government prior to the signing of the GPA, while the government was still under Zanu PF’s unilateral rule.

President Mugabe has been refusing to swear Bennett in until the latter charges against him were cleared, while MDC-T argued that there is no legal basis for refusing to swear in Bennett.[8] Though Bennett was recently acquitted, the issue of MDC pushing for him to be sworn in, while being met by Mugabe’s resistance, has contributed largely to and fuelled tensions within the inclusive government.

The status of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana has become critical to the disputing parties. The contestation on the two revolves around the MDC’s belief that, they were re-appointed to their positions unilaterally by Mugabe, in violation of the GPA provision, which clearly indicates that the president, in consultation with the prime minister, makes key appointments under and in terms of the Constitution or any Act of Parliament.[9]

As a result, Tsvangirai has been seeking for Mugabe to reverse the unilateral appointment of both the Reserve Bank governor and the attorney general. Yet, to date, the reversal of the appointment of the two officers has not been realised.

Besides not having met the GPA requirements in the appointments, there are other unsatisfactory issues concerning appointed officers. The Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, stands accused of presiding over the destruction of the country's economy through a slew of quasi-fiscal activities as well as funding activities infringing upon people's human rights. On his part, the attorney general Johannes Tomana is accused of using his office to persecute opposition supporters and human rights activists.[10] Considering what the two officers stand accused of, arguably their roles within the inclusive government are likely to be retrogressive to GPA provisions such as article 3[11], which prioritises the restoration of economic stability and growth of Zimbabwe and articles 10, 11 and 12, which embrace and advance the entrenchment of international principles of human rights in Zimbabwe.

DISPUTES ON EXECUTIVE POWERS AND AUTHORITY

GPA article 20 clauses 20.1.4. (a) and (b)[12] state that the prime minister chairs the Council of Ministers and is the deputy chairperson of cabinet and also exercises executive authority. Based on the provision that the prime minister is deputy chairperson of cabinet, it thus means that the prime minister acts as chairperson of cabinet during the president’s absence. However the above has not been the case in Zimbabwe’s inclusive government, as the stated GPA provisions have been violated; this has been observed through the fact that Tsvangirai has been prevented from demonstrating authority, as he has not been able to chair any cabinet session in the president’s absence.[13]

Zanu PF has maintained that the GPA negotiations that allowed the prime minister to chair cabinet in the absence of the president would make the two vice-presidents, Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo redundant and cause further tension in the fractious party.[14] Consequently, this has seen the two vice-presidents alternating the chairing of cabinet in the absence of Mugabe.[15]On the part of MDC-T this has meant contravention of the GPA provisions. While boosting efforts by Zanu PF to maintain control of key state institutions and further reducing Tsvangirai to a ceremonial prime minister.[16]

Still under GPA article 20, clauses 20.1.4. (c), (d), (e) and (f)[17] state that, the prime minister shall oversee the formulation of government policies by the cabinet; ensure that the policies so formulated are implemented by the entirety of government; ensure that the ministers develop appropriate implementation plans to give effect to the policies decided by cabinet: In this regard, the ministers will report to the prime minister on all issues relating to the implementation of such policies and plans; ensure that the legislation necessary to enable the government to carry out its functions is in place: In this regard, he/she shall have the responsibility to discharge the functions of the leader of government business in parliament.

Based on these provisions of the GPA, it is clear that the prime minister oversees the formulation of policies and plans and the implementation of such policies and plans by cabinet ministers; this makes cabinet ministers accountable to the prime minister with regards to government business.

Unfortunately, there are occurrences that have further deepened disputes stemming from violation of executive powers and authority of the prime minister provided in the GPA. For instance, on the 25 January 2010, Mugabe issued a written order for all ministers to report to the vice-presidents and their permanent secretaries, but not to Tsvangirai on the execution of government business. However, the order was subsequently withdrawn, while the MDC-T considered it a blatant attempt to neuter the prime minister’s office.[18]

In this vein, the tensions around executive powers and authority provided by the GPA have emerged from the Zanu PF’s violation of such provisions, while on the other hand the MDC-T is fighting to ensure that these provisions are not contravened. The prospects for future violations of the GPA remain unknown. However, the violations that have been experienced set precedents to the GPA signatories for further violation of the agreement. This will worsen political battles between the parties, thereby compromising cooperation within the inclusive government to establish political stability that serves as a prerequisite for restoration of economic stability and growth, which is one of the primary GPA objectives.

DIVERGING POSITIONS ON DRAFTING NEW CONSTITUTION

One critical challenge to successful implementation of the GPA is the drafting of the new constitution, a process that could cause the inclusive government to collapse.[19] The political rivalry within the inclusive government has seen attempts by parties to narrow the constitution-making process to serve their own interests.[20]The battles regarding drafting a new constitution have not been limited only to political parties in the inclusive government, but have spiralled down to civil society and unions.

This has occurred in the sense that civil society activists and unions have complained that constitutional outreach programme which commenced on 7 January 2010, has been a process driven by political elites for their own purposes.[21]As a result some have even called for the international community to withdraw support for the transition until credible consultation process has been adopted.[22] This call will indeed concretise negative steps taken against Zimbabwe by the international community, in particular the EU and the USA.

These negative steps include sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the EU that are still in effect; retaining of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) by the USA, which imposes multilateral financing restrictions pending an effective democratic change and restoration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe;[23] and the reluctance of most western governments to contribute to Zimbabwe’s economic restoration and growth because of their mistrust of Mugabe.

In addition this move by civil society activists and unions intensifies the move by several western countries which have made the lifting of sanctions and increasing aid conditional upon the return of democratic rule and the pursuit of democratic reforms.[24] Considering these the steps taken against Zimbabwe, the GPA faces difficulties in being fully and effectively implemented; the economic sanctions have proven to be counterproductive because they have left Zimbabwe in a state of social, economic and political collapse prior to the formation of the inclusive government.

On the front of political parties, there is increased acceptance across the political divide that the ‘Kariba Draft’ agreed by the inclusive government three parties under Mbeki’s mediation cannot be the only reference for the new constitution, as it includes a number of potentially anti-democratic principles, such as the enhancement of executive powers at the expense of legislative or judicial authority.[25]

Many political figures believe a broadly acceptable compromise draft is likely to be ready by end of the year.[26] Though the parties have concurring views on the Kariba Draft, sharp differences on the drafting of the constitution still remain.[27] For instance, Zanu PF and MDC-T’s constitutional positions differ. On the one hand, Zanu PF intends to preserve an authoritarian centralist government, though the notion of an imperial presidency is not shared by Zanu PF vice-president Joice Mujuru.[28] The MDC-T on the other hand, wants executive authority to be shared between president, prime minister and cabinet, with internal checks and balances within the executive.[29]

Moving forward on parties’ positions on composition of the executive, the MDC-T prefers the current executive as prescribed by the global political agreement GPA, comprising a president and prime minister; however this must be effected with the exclusion of the vice-presidents and deputy premiers.[30] The MDC-T party is proposing in its position paper on the constitution an elected president, who appoints a prime minister from a party which commands a majority in parliament.[31]

On the contrary, Zanu PF is opposed to the position of prime minister, preferring the retention of the old executive comprising a powerful president, two vice presidents and cabinet as also proposed in the Kariba draft constitution.[32] Zanu PF in its position paper on the constitution states that ‘We need an executive president who shares executive authority with the cabinet and no prime minister as it results in an endless unproductive contest for power between the president and the prime minister that results in a weak state in which neo-colonialism can thrive’.[33]

Besides disputing views on the composition of executive, Zanu PF and MDC-T are at odds regarding appointment of cabinet ministers. The MDC-T believes that the cabinet should be chosen by the premier to ensure checks and balances, while Zanu PF holds a view that the appointment of cabinet ministers should be done by the president.[34]

The composition of the national assembly is also central in diverging views between Zanu PF and MDC-T on drafting the constitution. On the one hand, Zanu PF has proposed that the country be divided into the existing 210 national assembly constituent seats and 60 senatorial seats.[35] Zanu PF wants 10 seats for provincial governors, 18 seats for chiefs and five members to be appointed by the president to the Senate.[36] On the other hand, the MDC-T is proposing the direct election of 120 members for the House of Assembly and 60 senators appointed by proportional representation.[37] Furthermore, the MDC-T does not want the current system where the president appoints members and some seats being reserved, the party has indicated that there should be no unelected members of parliament.[38]

The Bill of Rights equally is of critical contestation within the inclusive government. Issues of contestation include abortion, homosexuality, sodomy and same-sex marriage. Zanu PF’s position is opposed to legalising and entrenching abortion, homosexuality, sodomy and same-sex marriage in the constitution.[39] In their view, abortion, homosexuality, sodomy and same-sex marriage are unacceptable and will be banned.[40] The MDC-T has indicated that it will not enter into such discussions, saying isssues of abortion, homosexuality, sodomy and same-sex marriage should be left for interpretation by the Supreme Court or any other court.[41]

Having observed the diverging views by the signatories to the GPA it is thus clear that the drafting of the constitution will indeed be a steep mountain to ascend for the inclusive government, unless all parties are willing to compromise their positions. Coupled with efforts by civil society activists and unions calling for non-support by the international community on GPA and inclusive government until credible constitutional consultation is realised, progress made on political, social and economic stability is likely to retrogress.

Thus continued differences by parties on constitutional drafting will hamper all efforts at socio-economic development in Zimbabwe. The most recent development is that Zimbabwe will be embarking on a constitution-making outreach programme. With consideration of the differing position on how the constitution should be drafted, the programme will be coupled with battles between the Zanu PF and MDC, with the intention of outmuscling each other to ensure the constitution caters for the parties’ interests.

These contending views have introduced an element of the country falling back to political violence as a measure of intimidating citizens to gain political upper hand over opponents, a strategy that Zanu PF has employed in the past. These elements of the reemergence of violence are intensified by press reports, which indicate war veteran’s leader Jabulani Sibanda has been forcing villagers, traditional leaders and government workers to attend campaign meetings in parts of Manicaland, telling them to support Zanu PF position ahead of the constitution outreach programme.[42]

In addition, the MDC-T has accused Zanu PF of setting militia bases to intimidate people from speaking during the outreach programme and that Zanu PF supporters are instructed to campaign for kariba draft and to whip villagers into line to support the document. Zanu PF, however, has repeatedly denied this, indicating it as untrue.[43] It is noteworthy that slipping back to violence will definitely pose a major challenge to Zimbabwe’s inclusive government and effective implementation of the GPA. This will lead the country into political and social instability, which impedes economic stability. This been evident in Zimbabwe prior to formation of the inclusive government and signing of the GPA, as the country experienced socio-economic collapse.

SECURITY SECTOR REFORMS VIS-À-VIS THE LAND AUDIT

ZANU PF held power from 1980 till the formation of the GPA in 2009. As a result, it has and still wields authority and influence on most of the government organs and institutions. As indicated earlier, key ministries that Zanu PF refuses to lose its grip on include security and defence. In the midst of the stalemate experienced in Zimbabwe since the formation of the inclusive government and signing of GPA, Zanu PF is still having a grip on security sector and firmly rejects attempts at its reform.[44]

This is coupled with major factors impeding and undermining transition which have emerged. These include hard-line generals and other Mugabe loyalists in Zanu PF who have refused to implement the government’s decisions, boycotting the new national security organ and showing public disdain for Tsvangirai.[45] Under these circumstances, farm seizures have continued virtually unabated.

Though most attention has focused on completing the GPA, Zanu PF has delayed or ignored important commitments provided in the document, such as security sector reform and land audit. Security related steps including ending arbitrary detentions and arrests and the regular functioning of the National Security Council in place of the infamous Joint Operations Command have been blocked in light of the prevailing situation.[46]

Another challenging issue on the security front is that a relatively small number of officials in the security sector are considered to use their positions and nepotistic relationship with Mugabe to exercise veto power over the inclusive government’s decision.[47] Moreover, powerful factions of generals with the support of some elements within the Zanu PF still hold a view that Tsvangirai should not be allowed to lead Zimbabwe even if he wins election, they believe that they guard the liberation heritage against Tsvangirai and the MDC, which they view as fronts for white and Western interests.[48] Hence, MDC-T officials and civil society activists have expressed fears that a coup could come shortly after MDC-T electoral victory or should Mugabe die in office.[49] This further introduces prospects of social and political disruption which will have a far-reaching negative impact on the country’s political and economic stability.

The inclusive government has difficulties to achieve the GPA’s objective of security sector reform, with the army generals and some within Zanu PF having de facto veto power to oppose any move to reform undermining their interests. This means they will effectively veto any decision that is not favourable to them, overlooking the general good of the GPA’s success for Zimbabwe and its people.

It is thus clear that, senior security sector leaders have undermined the transition process and security sector reform.[50] This has come with Mugabe’ support, as he has fully backed the military leadership, which is his last remaining line of loyal support given his fractious party.[51] Mugabe has further intensified the security sector reform attempts by indicating that Zanu PF shall not allow security forces of Zimbabwe to be subject to any security reform negotiations.[52] They are motivated by differing factors including fear of losing power and its financial benefits, fear of prosecution for political or financial abuses.[53] For instance in the past they have reportedly benefited from packages administered by Reserve Bank governor Gono through the so-called ‘quasi-fiscal measures’, as well as largesse channelled through Mugabe’s wife Grace.[54] Furthermore, a number of generals have reportedly built up substantial landholdings, either personally or through family members and other proxies, as result of farm seizures ostensibly designed to assist the rural poor.[55] Their desire to protect these holdings is a key reason why Zanu PF is opposing the implementation of the GPA requirement of conducting a transparent and comprehensive land audit because it would expose these ownership patterns.[56]

The above discussions indicate that Zanu PF is opposed to conducting a transparent and comprehensive land audit. This means the party continues to undermine and violate the GPA provisions – in this case article 5[57], particularly clause 5.9. (a), which states that parties agree to conduct a comprehensive, transparent and non partisan land audit, during the tenure of the parliament of Zimbabwe, for the purpose of establishing accountability and eliminating multiple farm ownership. In this regard Zanu PF’s opposition to security sector reform in light of the above impedes on the implementation of GPA article five agreements and economic restoration and growth, through restoration of full productivity on all agricultural land, as indicated by GPA article 5.9. (f).[58]

The importance of a land audit, though opposed by Zanu PF for reasons stated above, comes from the view that agriculture is one of the sectors identified in the GPA for parties to work together and develop a full and comprehensive economic programme to resuscitate Zimbabwe’s economy.

CONCLUSION

When discussing Zimbabwe’s inclusive government it is significant to note that politics and economics are inseparable. Therefore, to fix the Zimbabwean economy, there is need to deal with the political disputes and the parties involved should work collectively to come up with policies that restore economic stability and growth and to improve the social welfare of the people.[59] The political squabbles have a negative effect on the GPA’s successful implementation as they increase the level of antagonism and threaten the fragile economic stability experienced by Zimbabweans since the formation of the inclusive government.

The successful implementation of the GPA rests on its signatories. In this sense, if the Zanu PF and MDC continue with their disputes, the economic, social and political stability experienced since the formation of the inclusive government, will be short-lived. Without the buy-in of both Zanu PF and MDC the inclusive government has little chance of making a difference.[60]

There is need for the parties to realise that none holds unilateral control of government institutions and therefore must work cooperatively with each other and give priority to restoration of economic stability and growth in Zimbabwe. The parties within the inclusive government should act as equal partners and manage government activities on mutual respect and in accordance with the GPA provisions as this will provide ground for the lifting of sanctions by the international community as they have proven to be economically counterproductive for the country. The focus must be on achieving the objectives set out in GPA rather than on political disputes advancing their own interests. Constructive engagement, compromises and inclusivity of all stakeholders in the inclusive government is significant for successful implementation of processes such constitution drafting and security sector reform.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Jonathan Oshupeng Maseng is in the research division of the sustainable development unit, Africa Institute of South Africa, and a master's student in political science at the North West University.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

[1] E Kisiangani (2009), Zimbabwe’s inclusive government: A tentative assessment. Institute of Global Dialogue, Global Insight a focus on current issues: issue 89/August 2009
[2] Zimbabwe Global Political Agreement
[3] Ibid
[4] ZimOnline (2010), Zimbabwe’s Independent News, International Crisis Group. Africa Briefing No.59, Zimbabwe: Engaging the Inclusive Government, 20 April 2009
[5] Ibid
[6] Human Rights Watch (2009), Zimbabwe Events of 2009. http://www.hrw.org/en/node/87455
[7] Zimbabwe parties fail to agree-Zuma receives report (2010), http://news.radio.com/index.php/national-news/3600.html accessed 8 April 2010
[8] Sunday Times (2010), Zimbabwe turns to SA, again, page 2, 11 April 2010
[9] Global Political Agreement (2008), Agreement between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations, on resolving the challenges facing Zimbabwe
[10] Zimbabwe parties fail to agree-Zuma receives report (2010),http://news.radio.com/index.php/national-news/3600.html. accessed 8 April 2010
[11] Global Political Agreement (2008), Agreement between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations, on resolving the challenges facing Zimbabwe
[12] Ibid
[13] ZimOnline (2010), Zimbabwe’s Independent News Agency, Zimbabwe: Political and Security Challenges to the Transition 04 March 2010
[14] Ibid
[15] Ibid
[16] Ibid
[17] Global Political Agreement (2008), Agreement between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations, on resolving the challenges facing Zimbabwe
[18] ZimOnline (2010), Zimbabwe’s Independent News Agency, Zimbabwe: Political and Security Challenges to the Transition 04 March 2010
[19] Ibid
[20] E Kisiangani (2009), Zimbabwe’s inclusive government: A tentative assessment. Institute of Global Dialogue, Global Insight a focus on current issues: issue 89/August 2009
[21] ZimOnline (2010), Zimbabwe’s Independent News Agency, Zimbabwe: Political and Security Challenges to the Transition 04 March 2010
[22] Ibid
[23] E Kisiangani (2009), Zimbabwe’s inclusive government: A tentative assessment. Institute of Global Dialogue, Global Insight a focus on current issues: issue 89/August 2009
[24] Ibid
[25] ZimOnline (2010), Zimbabwe’s Independent News Agency, Zimbabwe: Political and Security Challenges to the Transition
[26] Ibid
[27] Ibid
[28] Ibid
[29] Ibid
[30] Zimbabwe Independent (2009), MDC-T sets out its Constitution Proposals. http://www.theindependent.co.zw/local/23713-mdc-t-sets-out-its-constitution-proposals.html Date accessed: 22 June 2010
[31] Ibid
[32] F Zaba (2010), Zimbabwe: New Constitution-Where ZANU PF, MDC-T and NCA Diverge. http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=71908&M=W& Date accessed: 22 June 2010
[33] Ibid
[34] Ibid
[35] Ibid
[36] Ibid
[37] Ibid
[38] Ibid
[39] Ibid
[40] Ibid
[41] Ibid
[42] F Zaba (2010), Zimbabwe: ZANU PF Out to Defend Mugabe’s Position. AllAfrica.com. http://allafrica.com/stories/201006180791.html Date accessed: 22 June 2010
[43] Ibid
[44] ZimOnline (2010), Zimbabwe’s Independent News Agency, Zimbabwe: Political and Security Challenges to the Transition 04 March 2010
[45] Ibid
[46] Ibid
[47]Ibid
[48] Ibid
[49] Ibid
[50] Ibid
[51] Ibid
[52] Ibid
[53] Ibid
[54] Ibid
[55] Ibid
[56] Ibid
[57] Global Political Agreement (2008), Agreement between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations, on resolving the challenges facing Zimbabwe
[58] Ibid
[59] F Zaba (2010), Zimbabwe Independent, Zimbabwe: GNU instability Blights Economic Recovery Prospects, 12 February 2010.
[60] E Kisiangani (2009), Zimbabwe’s inclusive government: A tentative assessment. Institute of Global Dialogue, Global Insight a focus on current issues: issue 89/August 2009

Journey to Funtua: In the footsteps of Tajudeen

Horace Campbell

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/65777

Thoughts of how Tajudeen had always invited me to visit Funtua when he was alive swirled in me as I travelled up to Funtua from Abuja a month ago. Tajudeen always invited me to visit Funtua in order to see his community and to see the initiatives that he was spearheading. Every time the invitation was issued, I told Tajudeen that there was still time. As I travelled to Funtua, in Katsina State, I could not help reflecting on how I had been telling Taju that we have a lot of time to go to his community in future. I told him he was still young, and that there would be so much to do. Little did I know that Taju would not be with us for too long.

I visited Funtua courtesy of the transportation laid on by Jibo of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Abuja. Both CDD and Pan-African Development Education and Advocacy Programme (PADEAP) coordinated my visit to Funtua.

But as with everything in that vigorous society, the trip was not without its own drama. One hour outside of Abuja the alternator of the hired car packed up. At first, we were unsure, and believing that it was a battery problem, we started to push the car for about a mile but then the driver said that the alternator was not working. After thirty minutes, the driver and I were picked up by a young entrepreneur who was on his way to Kaduna. I was grateful for his generosity and he dropped us off in Kaduna where we looked for alternative transport. I went into another hire to try to reach Funtua before noon; the headmaster of Hauwa Memorial College had arranged for me to address the assembly of the school and I did not want to disappoint the students. I arrived in Funtua at around noon and went directly to the PADEAP office in Funtua.

HAUWA MEMORIAL COLLEGE

We proceeded from the PADEAP office to the school that was founded by Tajudeen, the Hauwa Memorial College. The school was founded in 1998 and named after Taju’s late mother. Tajudeen had studied in the Government Secondary School in Funtua as a youth and understood the importance of a decent education for the youths from the oppressed classes. In the period of militarism and neoliberalism, all such services as education, health and sanitation have deteriorated in the society. There was a dire need for decent education for the working poor.

Tajudeen was unable to return to Nigeria at the time of the passing of his mother. This school was a testimony of his love for his mother and his view that community self-help schemes can be the basis for educating the youths.

The headmaster gave me a brief history of the school and how he was recruited by Tajudeen. He introduced me to the teachers (all university graduates), and took me to the classrooms. While we were on the tour he told me that one day before Tajudeen passed, they had taken possession of the new plot of land that had been bought by Tajudeen as a permanent site for the school. The school was now looking for the resources to develop the plot.

The facilities in the Chemistry classroom told the story that the school survived based on the sacrifices and commitment of the teachers and the administrators. Here were classrooms where the availability of basic utilities for teaching – electricity, water and access to telecommunication services were minimal or non-existent. Yet, this school – through the sheer will of the teachers – had in place an educational programme aimed at fulfilling the secondary education objectives as required by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO).

The motto of the school is ‘KNOWLEDGE IS POWER’, and I could see that the high motivation of the teachers was infectious and alive among the students. The teachers were aiming to create a learning environment free from the stresses of religious, gender and ethnic divisions. Teachers beamed as they related the successes of the students and their participation in regional examinations and competitions, placing the school firmly in the consciousness of the people of the region. The school had been placed 7th in a national Mathematics competition.

I briefly addressed the assembly of the school, conveying greetings from the wider Pan-African world and from the international community. During the question and answer session, both teachers and students asked if the friends of Tajudeen had forgotten Hauwa Memorial College. I was told that over 78 per cent of the students were on some kind of scholarship, and that the school did not turn away students who could not pay. I listened as the students and staff told of their dreams of building a new college on the land that Taju had procured.

I felt bad that I could have prepared better for the visit. I had travelled with a suitcase of books to donate to the school, but it was clear that the school survived on the commitment of the staff. These students needed much more than books. Such commitment alone could not provide scholarships or pay the salaries. When the headmaster told of his salary, I winced, knowing full well that what he earned for one month, many of us spend on one meal for an evening out. Being careful not to make promises, I told the students that the one thing that I could do was to write about the school and alert the friends and comrades of the important work of the school. We took pictures for the school magazine; the English teacher was proud of the annual magazine of the school that was produced.

When I considered the billions of dollars that were plundered from Nigeria by the political careerists, it was even clearer that decent and affordable education could only come from the political organisation of those willing to make change in the society. It is an open secret that the political leaders and their external allies organise to steal billions from Nigeria and Africa. This theft is so blatant that it is now being spoken of by the chief architects of the theft, the World Bank. I had heard the managing director of the World Bank, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala (a former minister of finance in Nigeria) speak on French TV on the US$40 billion stolen from Africa through bribery, misappropriation of funds and corrupt practices. Although the same World Bank has organised a public campaign called the Stolen Asset Recovery (STAR) Initiative, there is no real institutional or legal mechanism to give teeth to the call to return stolen assets. Schools such as Hauwa Memorial College can only fully be transformed in a society where all children are considered to be equal. The rich and powerful do not have to worry about decent education. Not only do they steal the money but they send their children to schools in Europe to be brainwashed and alienated.

Hauwa Memorial College was established at a time when the dictator Abacha was stealing billions of dollars from Nigeria. As I left the school and drove to the site of Taju’s final resting place I remembered his postcard that said that ‘Corrupt leaders are mass murderers.’ Not only were they mass murderers but these corrupt leaders were denying the youths the opportunities to develop as humans capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century.

TAJU’S RESTING PLACE

I was on the other side of the Pacific Ocean when Tajudeen passed, and so I could not join Irungu, Thomas Deve, Napoleon, Kayode, Momoh and the other close comrades who had accompanied him on his last journey home. I had vowed to make the journey to pay tribute when I got an opportunity to do so. I proceeded from the school to the graveside of Tajudeen.

His resting place is in this cemetery next to one of the few trees in the community burial ground where his mother, his sister, his brother and other family members had been laid to rest. There was a slab of concrete with the name Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem written on the concrete. I spent close to one hour in silence at this site reflecting on the work ahead and the untimely passing of Taju. I wanted to say so many things but I remained in silence.

On leaving the gravesite I asked Shehu Shuiaibu (PADEAP coordinator in Funtua) if there will be a tombstone built, with appropriate statements on who Tajudeen was and what he stood for. Shehu explained that it was against Islamic traditions to build elaborate tombstones and contributions towards such things as tombstones would go toward the general upkeep of the cemetery.

PADEAP IN FUNTUA

After lunch and booking into a hotel, I was taken on a tour of the offices of PADEAP to be shown the extensive work that they were doing in Funtua and Katsina state. Oftentimes one reads the promotional material of non-profit organisations and one can see the differences between the promotional material and the actual work. This is the case for so many international nongovernmental organisations in Africa but the public statements of PADEAP do not come close to describing the actual reach and activities of that small organisation inspired by Tajudeen and coordinated throughout the UK, Nigeria and Uganda by Christine Tominke Olaniyan. I was familiar with the work of the PADEAP offices in Kampala and its outreach beyond Uganda into the Sudan. I had met Tominke in Kampala in 2001 when we were staying at the house of Taju in Kampala.

The Funtua offices of PADEAP boasted a library and a resource room with books, papers and magazines donated by Taju; this was the space for adult literacy. PADEAP members of staff were particularly proud of the Women’s Community Education Programme. There were programmes for health, outreach hospitals, internet services and general counselling.

PADEAP was also proud of the maternal health counselling; Tajudeen had written a postcard on ‘mothers should not die giving life’ and PADEAP paid special attention to the question of maternal mortality with outreach to the local community and local hospital. The workers at PADEAP were contributing far beyond their remuneration and the MDG goals were used as a mobilising tool to reach into the state and local governments to be able to sensitise and mobilise different sections of the community. This mobilisation and sensitisation reached as far as the ranks of the armed forces.

The tour and visit to the offices of PADEAP was cut short by darkness. There was no electricity because of the frequent breaks in the supply by the electric authorities, and in order to save money the offices were closing early. Some persons were waiting to use the internet services of PADEAP. Shehu told me of the desire of PADEAP to become an internet service provider for the Funtua town and for that part of Katsina state. With a small investment of US$50,000, this organisation could become financially self-sufficient and provide services to complement the basic internet service that is tabled as ICT training in Funtua.

VISITING TAJU’S FAMILY

From the offices of PADEAP, Shehu took me to visit Tajudeen’s family and to bring my condolences after one year. I was first taken to the street where he grew up as a lad before he went off to study in Kano and later in the UK. I was introduced to the elders who sat as community arbiters. Tajudeen’s father had been a respected elder and the compound was well-known and respected. I was introduced to the second wife of his father who was still alive. After this brief visit, I was taken to the new compound where Tajudeen kept his flat in Funtua. It was a compound where all the brothers lived with their families. The older brother of Tajudeen took me from door to door, introducing me to the family members. I was shown the seven trees that were planted by Tajudeen in the compound – he loved trees and nature.

It was in this discussion that we learned of the history of the family. It was reported that the railway had attracted the older brother of Tajudeen’s father who had moved from south western Nigeria to Funtua in 1943 in the midst of the Second World War. Tajudeen’s father moved to Funtua in 1950 and it was then that the family sought to develop both as artisans and workers. Tajudeen’s father was a tailor and his mother was a home-maker as well as a trader. The family had instilled a deep respect for others. Although Tajudeen’s parents were Yoruba, they were culturally Hausa. Tajudeen spoke the languages of the North as well as Yoruba and he was a follower of the Islamic faith.

Okello Oculi had written elsewhere of the trans-ethnic identity of Tajudeen and when one listened to the history of this working family, it was clear that there was no hint of religious or ethnic chauvinism within this community. Tajudeen had excelled at school and his parents supported him to be whatever he wanted to be.

These reflections brought out the multi-dimensional life of Tajudeen and the many offers that had been made to him by top bureaucrats and politicians who believed that he could be bought. We were told about the job offer by President Obasanjo and the polite refusal by Tajudeen. Tajudeen belonged to the working people and he had placed his knowledge and training at their service. Class consciousness was not an abstract phenomenon for Tajudeen. His involvement in the Pan-African struggle and his close relationship with movement of working people had a sound foundation in Funtua. While organising for peace and democracy in numerous organisations such as Justice Africa, CDD, the Global Pan African Movement and many others, Tajudeen was not waiting for change in the future, he was organising to impact the lives of the oppressed while organising at national and international levels. Although Tajudeen had been trained at Oxford University and had hobnobbed with the ruling classes of Europe and Africa, he never lost his clarity on the struggles of the working people.

There were reminiscences of the visit to Nigeria in 1993 when the Abacha forces wanted to silence and imprison him when the Pan-African underground had to be set in motion to sneak him out of the hands of the dictators.

Tajudeen’s presence in the community was so overwhelming that many of the children continue to report sighting of Tajudeen. Some of the younger ones do not believe that he is actually gone and believe that he will return one day. So traumatic has been the sudden departure of Tajudeen that some of the brothers say that his flat and quarters have been left untouched since his passing.

MENTORING THE YOUTH

The next morning before leaving for Abjua, I met another group of youths who worked for PADEAP. They told me that Tajudeen was their mentor and that their job was to organise the youth in the North. This discussion gave me a better appreciation of the work that was being done behind the cover of realising the Millennium Development Goals. These activists had used the goals of the United Nations to shame the local government officials and use the platform to create spaces for political mobilisation and educational work. The Stand Up Against Poverty campaign had been a tool for mobilising people and for bringing people out to raise their consciousness. In 2007, Tajudeen had used his position as the deputy director of the UN MDG offices in Africa to mobilise over seven million to stand up against poverty and exploitation. The local organising in Funtua had been preceded by a two-day intensive training and sensitisation workshop. This workshop was another means of identifying new cadres who would not only work against poverty but against the political and intellectual poverty that placed the poor to fight against each other on ethnic and religious grounds.

These workshops brought Christians and Muslims, men and women, youths and other workers together. These activists were brought together along with community leaders, religious leaders, community based groups, women group, government agencies, politicians. Politicians who were anxious about any form of political mobilisation outside of the political structures watched these mobilisation campaigns jealously, but PADEAP was carving out a space for meeting and educating the youth. It was from these young activists in PADEAP that one could understand the commitment to real change in the society.

REMEMBERING THE FAMILY AND THE WORK TO BE DONE

Tajudeen had many families. His immediate family lived in London with his two beautiful daughters. Tajudeen was devoted to this family and there is now a foundation being established to ensure that the children of Tajudeen and his partner Mounira will be cared for. One step in this direction was initiated earlier this year when the Daily Trust of Nigeria, named Tajudeen as the African of the year for 2009. This honour was accompanied by a prize that was awarded to his family. It is important that there is a more systematic way to support his families, both the London family and the wider family that can be found in the Hauwa Memorial College.

Those who can visit and support should do so.

You can write to the headmaster of Hauwa Memorial College at the following address:

HAUWA MEMORIAL COLLEGE
Katsina Road
P O Box 9, FUNTUA, Katsina State
NIGERIA.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Horace Campbell is a peace activist who is working to realise the dream of the late Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem of building African unity by 2015.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Coalition call on governments to commit to goals

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/65780

Will the AU Summit 2010 taking place in Kampala, Uganda from 19 to 27 July ensure the budgetary targets for development goals become reality?

A large proportion of the African population still lacks access to food, education, safe drinking water, sanitation, shelter, land, natural resources, employment and health care. Africa, many of whose states are failing in meeting the Millennium Development Goals targets, still battles with high maternal, child and infant mortality, HIV and Tuberculosis and related diseases.

A failure in achieving progress in health and education is linked to the neglect to address the social determinants of health such as education, employment, water, sanitation, poverty and food security. Increasingly, national efforts have focused on maximizing profits and implementing policies that have had severe effects on health and well being of the population. As a result public services often do not fulfill people’s needs and past experiences such as structural adjustment programmes have led to cuts in governments’ social budgets and increased health inequalities. At the same time huge investments have gone into defence, mining and other sectors with limited or lack of priority for sectors that determine people’s health.

African heads of State have signed numerous development declarations including the Dakar Framework for Action-Education For All: Meeting Our Collective Commitments (2000); the Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Other Related Infectious Diseases (2001); the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security (2003); and Sirte Declaration on Agriculture and Water (2008). In signing these declarations, African Heads of State made a commitment to the people of Africa to improve health, education, food security and reduce poverty. These declarations and decisions, amongst other strategies, commit governments to allocate at least 20% of their budgets to education, 15% to health, 10% to agriculture and 0.5% to water and sanitation. These are not ambitious targets; for example, the 15% target for health is realistic and some countries such as Malawi have reached this target.

During the 3rd Joint Annual Meeting of the African Union and Economic Commission for Africa Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in Lilongwe, Malawi, 29-30 March 2010, Finance ministers met to address progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and in particular, realizing food security and employment. According to a pan African analyst present at the meeting, national delegations from South Africa, Rwanda and Egypt succeeded after heated debates in deleting any reference to budgetary targets for education, health, agriculture and water in the Common Position on MDGs and the conference report and resolutions. Their action calls into question the extent to which African finance ministers are committed to continental integration, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the declarations and resolutions of their own heads of state. It is evident that in countries where there has been an increase in domestic public funding for key social services, health outcomes have improved and therefore the development targets are a stimulus for action and should not be seen as a constraint on budgeting. The consequences of actions to delete budgetary targets in reports could result in a reversal in allocating the promised percentages of national budgets to health, education, food security and poverty alleviation, which could further damage the credibility of African leaders in the eyes of African citizens. Furthermore, it will weaken the power of African states to hold the international community to their promised target of 0.7% of gross national product to be allocated to development assistance and their commitment to double such assistance to Africa. Health and wellbeing should come before profit and we condemn any action that resists spending on development such as the actions taken by the finance ministers.

In July the Heads of State will be meeting during the AU Summit in Kampala, Uganda to discuss progress and state further commitments to these declarations with a focus on ‘Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa’.

This petition is based on the need to guarantee and ensure concrete budgetary targets will be adhered to and that governments need to prioritise the fundamental rights of the population above other obligations.

The petition also acknowledges and supports action taken by the African Public Health Alliance (APHA) and 15% Plus Campaign: ‘Africa Civil Society Letter To July 2010 African Union Summit on Upholding African Health and Social development Commitments.’. This letter requests that the Heads of State should support the AU Commission in working with governments and civil society to monitor and report on health gains, and ensure a 10th year review of the 2001 Abuja commitments by April 2011[1].

It also acknowledges and supports the open letter to G8 ‘Meeting Promises for Children of Africa, our future’, written by Civil Society Forum On The African Charter On The Rights And Welfare Of The Child (ACRWC) to urge them to meet their promises for external funding to African countries, noting that countries have failed to fulfill their promise for increased aid allocation to Africa. Similarly we are concerned and disappointed at the funding allocated to Maternal Health at the G8 meeting in June 2010.

We are calling on the Heads of State to adhere to their commitments to development declarations and to ensure concrete budgetary targets will be adhered to!

We are calling on the ministers of the relevant departments affected to engage with their finance ministers to ensure that they undertake to meet the related commitments!

We are calling on civil society to put pressure on their governments and in particular the relevant ministers in different countries so that they undertake to meet these commitments!

Please sign this petition following the link provided below to call on Heads of State, ministers of relevant departments and civil society to ensure the budgetary targets become real!! The petition will be shared with civil society organisations in Africa to be used as a tool to influence national governments.

www.petitiononline.com/july2010/petition.html

Sign Haitian women’s petition for return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/65778

20,000 Haitian women have already signed a petition in support of the return of Jean-Bertrand and Mildred Aristide and family to Haiti. The Aristide family has been in exile since a U.S. and France supported coup in 2004. Global Women's Strike and other solidarity organisations are coordinating a petition campaign in support of the Haitian women's petition.

The petition reads:

“We, women of Haiti, believe that Jean-Bertrand Aristide has tremendous contributions to offer towards the rebuilding of the country.

“We ask women around the world who support the popular movement of Haiti to take up this petition, add their names, and send it to President Obama and his wife Michele Obama.

“I support the call of the women of Haiti for the return of President Aristide and his family, without conditions, as required by Article 41 of the Haitian Constitution."

To sign go to:

http://bit.ly/ar8OHQ

The life and times of Hubert Harrison

A forgotten synthesis of African-American socialism and Black Nationalism

Larry A. Greene

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/65769

Hubert Harrison emerged in the first two decades of the twentieth century as one of the leading voices of Harlem radicals rejecting American claims to an egalitarian democratic heritage and commitment to such a future based on the undeniable persistence of massive racial and class inequalities. Jeffrey Perry’s exhaustive biography of Hubert Harrison elevates the lesser-known Harrison to the stature he so richly deserves as one of America’s most perceptive public intellectuals on the critically intertwined issues of American democracy, race relations and class structure. Harrison, a St. Croix immigrant from the Virgin Islands, was one of the first to combine the divergent strands of socialism and Black Nationalism. Harrison emerged as the principal black spokesman for the Socialist Party in its heyday in the early twentieth century. His ability to articulate a coherent philosophy synthesising essentially a class and racial analysis was unique among Harlem radicals and ‘soap box orators’ on its major thoroughfare of 125th Street. A future second volume will explore Harrison’s life from 1919 through the apex of the Garvey movement and the Harlem Renaissance until his death in 1927.

In this volume Perry explores the interaction, cooperation and conflicts between intellectuals and radicals such as A. Philip Randolph, John E. Bruce, Arturo Schomburg, Cyril Briggs and others in pre-Marcus Garvey Harlem. Against this background of contending local leaders and intellects in the cultural capital of black America, Harrison will distinguish himself as a pre-eminent thinker analysing the philosophical and tactical positions of nationally known black leaders like the Harvard trained historian W.E.B. Du Bois and the president of Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington. He examines the protest-oriented philosophy of Du Bois and the less militant, more accommodating approach of Washington to segregation, political disfranchisement and lynching. While critical of the Du Bois concept of the ‘Talented Tenth’ of a college educated elite leading the black masses into the promised land, Harrison was even more critical of the accommodationist approach of Washington, which he saw as little more than collaborationist. Harrison, throughout his debates with his Harlem counterparts and the ‘Tuskegee Machine’, remained true to his core beliefs of socialism and race consciousness, and a committed ‘free thinker’ unfettered from the confines of orthodox religious thought. As Perry so cogently notes, Harrison was ‘more race conscious than Randolph [a socialist] and more class conscious than Garvey [a nationalist]’ and was the ‘key link in the ideological unity of the two great trends of the Black Liberation Movement – the labor and civil rights trend associated with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the race and nationalist trend associated with Malcolm X.’ (p. 5)

Harrison became the chief black organiser, activist, and theoretician of the Socialist Party in New York City during its peak in the 1912 election. He was the only black speaker at the landmark Patterson Silk Strike that involved such leftists and International Workers of the World (IWW) notables as ‘Big Bill’ Haywood, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Carlo Tresca and Patrick Quinlan. Eventually, Harrison parted company with the Socialist Party over their failure to aggressively address the issue of white racism both within the party and nationally, as well as their indifference to the recruitment of black workers into the party. As Winston James noted in his excellent study of Caribbean radicalism in twentieth century America, ‘Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia’, ‘American socialism did not keep faith with Hubert Harrison, Harrison kept faith with socialism.’[1] The Socialist Party, according to James, ‘did not keep faith with the radical egalitarianism of Marx’, and for some black socialists like Harrison, ‘black nationalism was the last resort of a black socialist in a racist land where race is elevated above social class in politics as well as in social life’.[2] One of the many strengths of the Perry biography is the detailed exposition of the transformation of Harrison from a socialist to both a socialist and Black Nationalist, who while not rejecting socialism will put race first in the organising of black workers and the black community.

The Perry study is a comprehensive biography of Harrison which explores his genealogical and educational roots in St. Croix and his early intellectual development in St. Benedict’s Lyceum, a Roman Catholic church, with an interracial congregation and St. Mark’s Lyceum, a black Methodist Episcopal church, after his 1900 arrival in New York. It was through the lyceums that Harrison deepened his exposure to the philosophical and historical traditions of Europe, America and Africa. Through Perry’s detailed analysis of the Harrison critique of capitalism and racism in the United States, we witness the maturation of a serious working class intellect and his intellectual evolution toward socialism. Of particular importance is a five part series of articles beginning in 1911 that Harrison wrote for the Call, the Socialist Party newspaper in New York, which contains some of his most trenchant writings on racism, capitalism and socialism.

In his first article entitled, ‘The Negro and Socialism’, Harrison asserts that the so-called ‘Negro Problem’ is not one of ‘social adjustment’ or social control of relationships, and he rejected the argument of a biological basis for racism based on the idea of superior and inferior groups. Rather, Harrison found the roots of racism, like that of the class struggle, in economic relationships related to the means of production. Harrison clearly asserts a ‘materialist’ basis for the emergence of white supremacy ideology rooted in slavery and the need to rationalise that exploitative superior ordinate and subordinate nature of black-white relationships derived from that institution. The contradictions between the democratic rhetoric of the Enlightenment as manifested in the founding documents of the American republic – the Declaration of Independence and constitution – necessitated the designation of blacks as racial inferiors undeserving of the democratic and egalitarian rights of the nation and consigned by God and nature to slavery.

In his second article, ‘Race Prejudice’, Harrison argued that racism had economic causes and that capitalists deliberately fostered race prejudice, which divided workers along racial lines to the benefit of capitalism and the detriment of workers. It was in the interest of employers to maintain the inferior economic status of African-American workers and to use them as a source of cheap low-wage labour to threaten the unionisation and striking tactics of white labour. This pitting of black and white workers against each other, according to Harrison, kept the wage level as low as possible. In asserting this line of analysis, Harrison challenged the defenders of white supremacy who maintained that racial prejudice was innate and based on a natural aversion of the superior white race to the intellectual and moral degeneracy of the inferior races as seen in African-Americans. Certainly, this belief system was manifest in the speeches of southern politicians like James K. Vardaman, writers like Thomas Dixon in his novel, ‘The Clansman’ (1902), and in D.W. Griffith’s movie, ‘Birth of a Nation’ (1915).

Harrison’s third article, ‘The Duty of the Socialist Party’, in the Call series called upon the party to condemn racial prejudice and reject what he termed ‘southernisms’ or the ideology of southern Jim Crow with its demands for racial segregation, disfranchisement of black voters and anti-black pogroms throughout the south. The historic mission of the Socialist Party was to unite all workers across racial, ethnic, and religious lines. This duty involved the re-education of white workers about the threats to their economic well-being from racism, and it dictated that the party reach out to and aggressively recruit black workers. Harrison did not believe that socialism would immediately remove all racial prejudice, but he did think it would reduce the oppression on white workers and their susceptibility to racist propaganda and use as a tool to repress blacks. Perry cogently notes how Harrison considered this ‘duty’ of the Socialist Party to be sacred and virtually a litmus test of sincerity, commitment and ideology. In a following article, ‘How to Do It – And How Not’, Harrison gave advice warning against paternalism and condescension in addressing and recruiting black workers and urged party members to treat them as they would any white workers. In ‘Summary and Conclusion’, the fifth and concluding article in the series, Harrison believed that a trans-racial working class movement held out the promise of a socialist victory over capitalism and racism. In 1911, Harrison was optimistic and saw social, economic and racial justice on the horizon. Perry’s close reading of the writings of Harrison results in a clear and through analysis of his political philosophy.

In the following presidential election year of 1912, Perry explores the evolving political thought of Harrison in a discussion of a new set of articles by Harrison which appeared in the Chicago based International Socialist Review amid a growing, but not fully manifest tension between Harrison and the Socialist Party, which masked his simmering disillusionment with the party. An article that takes from Rudyard Kipling’s 1899 poem, ‘The White Man’s Burden’, Harrison’s ‘Black Man’s Burden’ depicted the suffering of African-Americans under white over-lordship. Over eight million African-Americans were disfranchised in sixteen southern states by fraud and force, lacking political rights to protect their economic rights (i.e. property and jobs). Part two of ‘Black Man’s Burden’ demonstrated how the southern state school segregation laws contributed to under funding, the creation of industrial education or ‘labor-caste schools’ and the miseducation of African-Americans. In these two articles, Harrison aimed a devastating critique at the accommodationist philosophy of Booker T. Washington, which publicly eschewed voting rights and a liberal arts college/university education. Washington’s lieutenants had successfully conspired to obtain the removal of Harrison from his $1,000 a year job at the post office for two anti-Washington articles in the New York Sun newspaper, thus causing great economic hardship to Harrison’s family. Harrison’s final article in the International Socialist Review, ‘Socialism and the Negro’, was based on an earlier pro-IWW speech, in which he asserted African-Americans, rather than constituting a reactionary hindrance to socialism, as some socialist theorists like Algie Simmons and Charles Vail claimed, were indeed the key component in the struggle by the American proletariat without which socialism in America stood little chance.

Perry’s detailed description of the Socialist Party failure to confront racism within its own ranks and nationally is quite convincing and explains Harrison’s continued criticism and his eventual suspension by the party in 1914. Despite the logic of Harrison’s analysis of the intertwined race and class problem in America, the Socialist Party was moving in a more conservative and even racist direction. The Socialist Party right wing triumphed over the left IWW members in the party, ended the Colored Socialist Club in New York, pushed through majority and minority reports at the 1912 party convention – which banned Asian immigration, and refused to take aggressive action in support of African-American recruitment. Southern white socialists supported segregated organising and Harrison’s relentless denunciation of what he called ‘southernisms’ placed him on the collision course with the party.

From this experience, Harrison entered a Black Nationalistic phase in his political evolution in which he placed ‘Race first’ before class as an organising principle in the black community. Harrison played a founding role in the organisation of the Liberty League and its weekly publication, The Voice. He embraced black self-determination, organisational autonomy and black leadership for black organisations, unlike the predominantly white-led National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Harrison’s involvement in the ‘New Negro Manhood Movement’, a belated precursor to the Harlem Renaissance, as a cultural theorist and literary reviewer is examined by the author. Perry’s work covers new ground in demonstrating Harrison’s role in establishing some of the ideological principles of Harlem newcomers and fellow public orators Marcus Garvey and his nationalistic Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and young socialists A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen. Garvey’s Negro World newspaper and the Randolph and Owen magazine, The Messenger, both borrow from Harrison. Harrison was eclipsed by the more dynamic Garvey, and although for a time assumed an editorial role at the Negro World, Harrison continued to harbour some repressed resentment at being superseded by Garvey in the hearts of the Harlem masses.

The author, in exploring with great thoroughness the political evolution of Hubert Harrison from Socialist Party spokesman and organiser to Black Nationalist activist, has raised significant questions about the ineffectiveness of the left in America and the estrangement of some its more devoted followers. Harrison’s suspension and disconnect from the Socialist Party parallels the estrangement of later black intellectuals like George Padmore and Harold Cruse from the Communist Party. Caribbean radicals did not arrive in New York with a socialist orientation. It was the more blatant and intense racism that they experienced in the United States as they moved from a majority status to a minority status, compared to the Caribbean, that steered many in this direction and generated the desire to form ethnic political alliances, according to Joyce Moore Turner in her highly informative study of Caribbean activists in Harlem.[3] Certainly, the 1910s and World War I years were radical times of assertive dissent. Yet, the estrangement of black socialists and later black communists suggest that the left did not always hear their black members, either out of a myopic ideological commitment to a political analysis that did not consider the interplay of both class and race factors in shaping the American political landscape, or a kind of racial arrogance that relegated black members to the periphery of the policy making process. For some black members, this estrangement resulted in the integration into the American political mainstream, and for others, it meant the pursuit of another strain of political radicalism; Black Nationalism. Harrison is different from some of the disillusioned in that his embrace of Black Nationalism did not mean a rejection of socialism, but a rejection of the Socialist Party.

Scholars and students of Harlem, Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean history in the United States are indeed indebted to Jeffrey Perry for this magisterial study of Hubert Harrison whom A. Philip Randolph called the ‘Father of Harlem Radicalism’. Volume one of this biography should be read in conjunction with Perry’s edited volume of Harrison’s writings, ‘A Hubert Harrison Reader’.[4] Readers will eagerly await volume two of Perry’s biography as he takes the Hubert Harrison saga from 1919 to his death in 1927, covering Harrison’s involvement with Garvey, the Harlem Renaissance, and other political and cultural currents in black America.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Jeffrey B. Perry’s ‘Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918’ is published by and available from Columbia University Press (978-0-231-13911-3, 2009).
* This book review was reprinted by Jeffrey B. Perry, and was originally published by New Politics (New Politics, Vol. XIII, No. 1, Whole Number 49, 150-154).
* Larry A. Greene is professor of history at Seton Hall University. A Fulbright fellow at the University of Muenster in Germany during 2005–06, he is the co-editor of ‘Slavery: Its Origins and Legacy’, co-author of ‘The New Jersey African-American Curriculum Guide’ and co-editor of the forthcoming book, ‘German and African-American Encounters’.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

[1] Winston James, Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia: Caribbean Radicalism in Early Twentieth Century America (London: Verso, 1998), 126.
[2] Ibid., 127,128.
[3] Joyce Moore Turner, Caribbean Crusaders and the Harlem Renaissance (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2005), 43.
[4] Jeffrey Perry, ed., A Hubert Harrison Reader (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2001).

In pursuit of progressive property rights

Review of ‘Women’s Land Rights & Privatization in Eastern Africa’

Jonathan Beale

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/65788

As global population growth and the commoditisation of land begin to stretch the seams of the planet’s resources, we may well ask ourselves: Who takes the punches? It is the poor, the young and poor, and the female and poor. It is broadly accepted by many agricultural economists that women make up the majority of the agricultural work force world-wide, yet they are far less likely to own land than men. In 2009 the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) published its African Women’s Report, which aimed at measuring gender inequality in Africa. The report declared, that in which it declared ‘women are not accessing productive resources (land and credit) to the same extent as men’ in many African countries.[1] Owing to the high level of importance attributable to women’s land rights, ‘Women’s Land Rights & Privatization in Eastern Africa’(2008), with its concern for the effects of land privatisation on women’s access to land ownership, is a highly recommendable book for review and critical reflection by those wishing to understand and contribute to present and future efforts in pursuit of gender equality in eastern Africa.

This book’s accessibility and scope are amongst its most prominent fortes. Contributors present empirical findings, from extensive research conducted in Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, in a clear and coherent fashion that is helpful for the reader’s understanding of complex issues. Contributions boast well evidenced demonstrations of the debates at play amongst those at different levels of policymaking, as well as the experiences and opinions of both women and men who are affected by the policies themselves. The reader is kept well informed of past government land rights policies and legal reform, such as Tanzania’s Ujamaa villagisation campaign of the 1970s and the later Village Land Act (1999), which attempted to navigate the potentially problematic coexistence of statutory and customary law in eastern Africa, as well as providing with decent recommendations for future policies. Writers explore a number of topics, including: The benefits of individuals using land as collateral for loans; the subsequent and potentially devastating implications involved in reducing the security provided by collective land ownership; land privatisation polices’ interrelation with customary land rights and the issues that can arise by the two systems’ coexistence. It is commendable that writers also tackle previous assumptions over land policy, which often carry the burden of western colonial legacies.

One such critique appears in Celestine Nyamu-Musembi’s chapter ‘Go Home & Clear the Conflict.’ It is worth reflecting on Nyamu-Musembi’s worthy stand as it sets the trend of the book’s critique on inappropriate land reform. This writer warns against an acceptance of the beliefs of Hernando de Soto and his Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) that the formalisation of property rights result in economic empowerment and is the step needed by ‘pre-capitalist’ society in its inevitable journey to capitalist economic development. Nyamu-Musembi presents a convincing and well evidenced case for the vulnerability of de Soto’s prescriptions to societies which have become underdeveloped by the very Eurocentric concepts and policies of the late 18th, 19th and 20th century. These policies that resonate in an assertion that only a western property rights model will pave the way to economic enlightenment, rendering traditional laws and customs incapacitated.

Ironically, however, it is through the contributors’ appreciation of these traditional laws that they occasionally allow these customs to be confined by generalisations and appear universally static. One such occasion is Ingunn Ikdahl’s refusal to critique the referenced concern of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) over customary practices’ apparent restraint on women’s access to land ownership and decision-making. Such a blanket and specific condemnation of customary ways of life without acknowledgment of the diversity at play between regions, villages and even families deserves a critique from the author. Without demanding respect for the extensive diversity of customary practices over space and time, the myriad of issues which arise when in pursuit of security for women and their land rights cannot be understood. All variants of both statutory and customary land rights are laden with progressive and regressive intrinsics.

The book fulfils a focus on land tenure and privatisation in rural areas. In so doing, it sacrifices an acknowledgment of land rights issues in urban centres in the region. To mention just one of many potential avenues, the informal settlements in and around cities such as Nairobi and Dar es Salaam present a number of issues to be explored. The reader is left asking: Have new informal land rights evolved in urban informal settlements to be accepted by their communities in divergence from both customary and state law? And if so do they present new opportunities to women or restrict their access to land ownership? If the state privatises the land and issues land rights, does this in fact reduce women’s land security through removing a system of informal communal ownership? These are questions left unanswered. In Nairobi 55 per cent of the city’s population live in informal settlements such as Kibera.[2] An investigation into such urban environments in the region would have allowed this publication to further fulfil the scope of its title.

Nevertheless, ‘Women’s Land Rights & Privatization in Eastern Africa’ is a well- researched and progressive exploration of a pressing global issue that captures the geographical and sociological variation of the topic at hand. Perhaps the most challenging of its tasks, the book succeeds to illustrate the fundamental complexities which belie the achievement of gender equality in the legal framework of land rights in eastern Africa. As Ikdahl stresses, ‘not all women are without power – and not all those without power are women’. Gender discrimination, like all breeds of the disease, can universally entrench itself in society, thus policy makers are rightly depicted to be dealing with a social phenomenon – the relationship between genders – alive with as much sensitised complexities as any other. ‘Women’s Land Rights & Privatization in Eastern Africa’ is therefore a progressive and informative contribution to the struggle for gender equality in eastern Africa, and a highly recommendable read to the pursuer of that cause.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* ‘Women’s Land Rights & Privatization in Eastern Africa’, edited by Birgit Englert and Elizabeth Daley is published by James Currey (2008), ISBN: 9781847016119.
* Jonathan Beale is an intern with Pambazuka News.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES:
[1] http://www.uneca.org/eca_resources/publications/books/awr/AWR09_FIN.pdf
[2] http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/7/2/85

Dudus, the CIA and the political patrons

Responses to ‘Gangsters, politicians, cocaine and bankers’

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/65784

A number of things impress me in the article: one, it is fully contextualised in historical terms; two, the argument is comprehensive and leaves no gaps; three, it encourages people to establish their own real identity in terms of similarities with and differences from others; four, it encourages participation through reflection and debate; five, it aims at promoting mutual respect; six, and perhaps most important of all, it identifies those qualities we need to ensure peace in ourselves, our families, our communities, our peoples and globally. And permeating it all is the courage and commitment to confront the otherwise seductive issue of global capitalism.

- GERRY GERMAN, COMMUNITIES EMPOWERMENT NETWORK

I have just read your article. It is as informative as it is frightening. Certainly, I have, in the past, received snippets of news-rumor-fiction. But I have never before been the beneficiary of a portrait as complete, and whose pieces are as numerous & varied as this. It would appear that at the level of governments few can be considered completely guiltless. My hope is that someone like this author will carry this type of investigation to its very end, and government & opposition will have the courage to acknowledge the disclosures that might arise.

- WILLIAM H. HARRISON

[url=http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65437]This article[url] traced a vicious and corrupt period in Jamaican’s history with the birth of garrison constituencies starting with West Kingston and Edward Seaga…

However it left out very important and pertinent information about the response by the PNP to garrison politics when between the periods 1972 to 1980, seven (7) PNP garrison constituencies of Central and East Kingston, Western, West Central, East Central, South & South West were created…

During the period 1980 to 1989 the JLP created two (2) garrisons, Central St. Catherine and Central Clarendon and was able to snatch back one from the PNP in West Central St. Andrew. During the 18.5 years of the PNP, 1989-2007 other constituencies were either garrisonized of near garrisoned.

Constituencies like South Central, East Central and North West St Catherine, West, Central, and Eastern Westmoreland, Central St Mary, South East St. Ann and Southern St James.

It is not by chance that many of the most notorious gun and drug smugglers during that period was able to re burnish their images and get lucrative contracts from the PNP government so much so that a World Bank report covering most of that period reported that they (World Bank) were only able to account for 52c of every dollar spend by them.

It is estimated by well-informed Jamaicans and the NDM that only about 10c for every dollar spent by the Jamaican government could be properly accounted for over the same period. Over that 18.5 years of the PNP Government, Jamaican corruption and mismanagement nearly equalled Nigeria and surpassed most Africa, South and Central American countries and may have been equal to Haiti under “Papa Doc”.

It is that corruption and the ‘mis’ use of public resources that fuelled and kept alive and active the garrison politics of today. The present JLP government in most part have continues the same policies of the past 18.5 years of PNP. It is almost impossible to distinguish the difference between the PNP and the JLP except that the faces have changed.

- MICHAEL WILLIAMS, NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT

Tears of anger and hurt stream down my cheeks as I read your article about a dearly-loved place where I grew up and for which I hold fond memories that in no way match the state of affairs you describe.

I am angry that the cancer of corruption has been festering for so long on the island. I feel hurt that the very people entrusted with the guardianship of the welfare of the state have been the ones responsible for its destruction.

Despite the distinctions you make between the achievement of the people of Haiti and those of Jamaica, I know that Jamaicans have the capacity to rise from the ashes of corruption. After all, it is the island of Paule Bogle and Nanny and the Maroons. The British met a force they had to reckon with.

Jamaicans are a proud delightful people who have it within them the capacity to overthrow the oppression of corruption and create a society where all can live in dignity without fear of one another.

- ELOISE

OUR salvation lies not in blaming others for our condition, but in our ability to effect change in our economic equation. Our grandparents cut sugar cane for the plantation owners to reap huge profits, have nonstop parties in London and other cities in England, build huge mansions, etc.etc.

Now what has really changed?
 Our political leaders have joined forces with that same class of people to control the economy and make huge and indecent profits which they use to purchase their jet planes, fly all over the world and invest their BILLIONS made in JAMAICA.
OUR children are then employed by them and paid subsistence wages.




This has to change. THESE people get tax incentives, pay no custom duties etc.
 OUR people must be brought into the economic mainstream of our economy. The all inclusive model must be scrapped, and participation opened up to our people.

- BARRY A WAHRMANN

Blessings and congrats to Horace Campbell for exposing the connections of the CIA to the drug trafficking and politicians in the Caribbean. The CIA has long been charged with trafficking, but this is the first article I have seen which extends the connection to the Carib. area.

- K.B. KOTH

I am not surprised to learn about the alleged corruption of the elected officials, law-enforcers and the Banks in Jamaica; and their alleged involvement with Drug-lords and other illegal activities.

I hope and pray that Jamaicans will one day soon embrace some good persons who truly love and care about Jamaica and the goals of moving the country forward out of debt, and from corruption. And who will make education one of its top priorities. I believe that an educated person will help to improve the economy of the country in the areas of TECHNOLOGY, AGRICULTURE, HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT, EDUCATION, to name a few. Moreover, these persons would be less likely to be lured into criminal activities.

May God bless Jamaica.

- AVRIL JAMES

Curse songs of stone

J.K.S. Makokha

2010-07-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/65766

_
BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* J.K.S. Makokha is the Kenyan author of 'Reading M.G. Vassanji: A Contextual Approach to Asian African Fiction' (2009). He teaches courses in African and South Asian literatures at the Institut für Englische Philologie at Freie Universität Berlin in Germany.
* J.K.S. Makokha copyright © 2010
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Chinese investments in Gabon’s extractive industries

Johanna Jansson

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/65779

2009 was a turbulent year for the small central African country of Gabon. El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, the country’s president since 1967, passed away in June 2009 and the presidential elections in August 2009 to appoint his successor were fraught with accusations of election rigging. Violent riots broke out in September 2009 after Omar Bongo’s son Ali-Ben Bongo Ondimba was declared winner of the ballot. Angry Gabonese demonstrators set fire to the French consulate in Port-Gentil and attacked French oil company Total’s offices, claiming that the former colonial power should have used its influence to insist on a correct and democratic election process rather than just accepting the outcome.[1]

After a few months of standstill around Omar Bongo’s passing, economic activity has now picked up again. Observers have started to discern patterns in Ali Bongo’s leadership, and the two salient features are his interest in broadening the horizon in terms of the country’s partners, and his industrialisation ambitions. Both of these issues relate to the fact that the Gabonese economy needs to be diversified since the country’s oil production peaked in 1997. In terms of the country’s partners, Ali is clearly more interested in variation than his late father, who nurtured very close ties to Paris. The new president knows that the necessary economic adjustment cannot take place simply by means of French interests, and China is one of the alternative partners with which he seeks to reinforce ties.[2]

This article provides a brief overview of the recent developments in Gabon’s extractive industries – mining, oil and forestry, with a special focus on Chinese investments. It draws on field research in the country’s capital Libreville in May-June 2010 and in September 2008.[3]

OIL

Oil remains Gabon’s economically most important commodity. The Chinese presence in the petroleum sector was substantially strengthened in August 2009 when Sinopec purchased Addax, thus gaining access to the Canadian company’s blocks in Gabon. Of Addax’s three own concessions, two are in production (Maghena and Remboué) and one is in the exploration phase (Epaemeno). Two shared blocks are in production (Etame and Awoun). Addax’s day-to-day activities have not changed with the acquisition; it still operates under the same name and management. At present, Sinopec’s and Addax’s offices in Libreville do not collaborate, and the only Sinopec team that works directly with Addax is based at the latter’s headquarters in Geneva.[4]

Prior to the acquisition, China’s presence in Gabon’s oil sector was modest. It merely included two exploration blocks (Lotus and Salsich) and minor shares of two oil-producing blocks (Ozigo and Awoun). Sinopec’s activities at the Lotus block have been without success to date. The seismic data has been difficult to interpret and only one round of drilling has taken place, in 2008, without discoveries. Over the coming year Sinopec is going to initiate a new round of analysis of the existing seismic data to plan a new round of drilling.[5]

The Salsich concession is Sinopec’s second block in Gabon. The seismic analysis was already conducted by the company’s subsidiary Sinopec Service in 2006, and the Sinopec management aims to initiate drilling work as soon as possible, hopefully in July 2010. At the time of the field research, Sinopec was preparing to launch a tender to identify the subcontractor that will conduct the drilling.[6]

Sinopec’s holdings in Gabon’s oil sector have thus grown, yet the company is far from being a dominant actor. At present, Total Gabon (France), Perenco (France) and Shell Gabon (Holland) are the most important companies in Gabon’s oil industry.[7] It has been argued that as a newcomer to Gabon, Sinopec has still got a great deal to learn and the purchase of a company such as Addax is therefore a strategy from the Chinese side to improve their capacity of operating in African countries.[8]

Gabonese stakeholders who were consulted argued that today Sinopec meets international standards in terms of business conduct, equipment and methods.[9] The issue of the initially inadequate environmental impact assessment for the Lotus block in 2006 has since long been resolved,[10] although it lingers in the minds of many Gabonese.

MINING

The growing Chinese presence in Gabon’s mining sector has received a great deal of media attention. However, the two major Chinese mining projects in the country remain at the negotiation and preparation levels. The French manganese miner Comilog is presently the only company that conducts large-scale extractive activities in Gabon’s mining sector. In the event of both the Chinese projects outlined below getting off the ground, Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) would come to dominate Gabon’s mining industry. However, this is yet to be seen. A Western diplomat stated: ‘There is a lot of talk about Chinese investments in the mining sector, but to my knowing, not a gram has been exported yet’.[11]

The Sino-Gabonese joint venture CICM(G) (le Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale des Mines [du Gabon]) Huazhou (CICMH), whose majority owner is the Chinese SOE CITIC (formerly the China International Trust and Investment Corporation), has a manganese concession in Ndjolé which, when the mine has reached its maximum capacity, will have a yearly production of 1 million tonnes. A factory is under construction in Ndjolé where 50 per cent of the mineral output will be treated, while the remaining output will be processed in factories in China. At the time of the research, negotiations over certain practical details were being finalised and production is slated to start before the end of 2010.[12] However, the project has been on the verge of starting production for almost two years. During my 2008 fieldwork in Gabon, I was told that production was to start in September that year, which did not happen.[13] Although most technical obstacles now seem to be done away with, it remains to be seen whether production will actually start according to the current timeline.

The second Chinese project in Gabon’s mining sector has not moved past the negotiation stage. The Chinese joint venture Comibel, dominated by the Chinese SOE China National Machinery Equipment Import and Export Company (CEMEC), remains in drawn-out and contentious negotiations to start work on the iron ore concession in the Bélinga mountains. Four years have passed since negotiations started and the debate surrounding the project has been laden with controversies. Notably the lack of transparency in the contract negotiations, the conditions of the agreement and the environmental implications of the project have been subject to frenzied discussions.[14]

The project is envisaged to take place according to a barter deal format, whereby the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) would provide the financing for the development of the mine and the necessary infrastructure – a loan which is to be paid back by Comibel by means of the revenues from the mine over a period of 25 years. The initial price tag was US$3.5 billion, however, when Comibel had finalised the evaluation of the project at the end of 2009, the estimation had gone up to US$5.7 billion.[15] This discouraged President Ali Bongo who, in order to bring down the costs, presented a whole new set of suggestions to the CEO of CEMEC during a visit to China in May 2010.[16]

A Chinese respondent consulted argued that secrecy and volatility are the greatest challenges to Comibel’s work in Gabon. Over the past four years, the respondent stated, the Gabonese president has made a number of unilateral changes to the Bélinga project and keeps the management of the dossier to a limited inner circle within the presidency. A recent example, the respondent claimed, is that the Gabonese Inter-Ministerial Committee, comprising of technical experts and set up specifically to handle the Bélinga portfolio, was not included in the process of formulating the suggestions made by President Bongo to CEMEC in May 2010. If the President would be more inclusive and decide to work through the committee, the respondent argued, the Gabonese side would be able to come up with technically solid, workable proposals which would be easier for Comibel to evaluate. The recent proposition was reportedly only made public orally, and Comibel was at the time of the research waiting for a technically elaborate, written proposition that they could respond to.[17]

FORESTRY

President Ali Bongo has clearly indicated that he has ambitions to industrialise Gabon and turn the country’s rentier economy into a ‘Gabon émergent’. However, the most prominent attempt to implement this ambition, a log export ban enforced from 15th May 2010, seems to have been a rash decision. The existing forestry code already comprises industrialisation plans stating that by 2012, 75 per cent of each company’s logs would have to be treated locally before exportation. Despite the fact that many of the investors were working towards fulfilling this goal by 2012, the president decided in November 2009 to speed up the process significantly through the introduction of a log export ban which is de facto illegal since it goes against the provisions of the forestry code. Yet it has been enforced, and not a single log exits Gabon at the time of writing.[18]

According to the director general of the Department of Waters and Forestry, the government will not budge on the ban, but will shortly undertake measures to support serious forestry actors in their industrialisation endeavours.[19] This remains to be seen, however, and the investors – Chinese, French and other companies alike – are now anxiously biding their awaiting the government’s next stroke.[20]

Both industry actors and civil society representatives argue that the ban risks doing great harm to the country’s forestry industry, since the investors did not get a chance to adapt to it. Many companies have already retrenched workers and more are to come.[21] While the president’s industrialising ambitions are necessary and probably well meant, this particular measure seems to be misguided. It is not yet clear whether the decision was taken on the back of economic interests of some kind, or if it simply is a result of poor advice. In the words of a French industry actor, ‘we have not yet managed to decode this move’.[22]

The Chinese actors in Gabon’s forestry sector have, just like all other actors, been affected by the ban. The Chinese private entrepreneurs who were active in log trading (négoce) and who did not have their own concessions have already relocated to neighbouring Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.[23] A representative of a Chinese forestry company estimated that since the ban came into effect, only 7-8 large Chinese forestry companies remain in the country, of which 2-3 are private.[24]

There is great variation in terms how Chinese forestry companies’ business conduct is perceived. Sunry, a subsidiary of the Chinese SOE China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO), is the Chinese company with the best reputation in Gabon. The perception among other industry actors, representatives of the Gabonese administration and local civil society is that the company is very serious with a great deal of ambition in terms of forest management planning and environmental considerations. Transport du Bois et Négoce International (TBNI), a private company, and Hua Jia (an SOE subsidiary) are perceived to be behind Sunry in terms of business conduct, but still on an acceptable level. The operations of Honest Timber and a few smaller Chinese traders and industrial actors are perceived to be highly problematic, both in terms of environmental considerations and employment practices.[25]

Locally, Malaysian and Chinese forestry companies are often perceived to be one and the same, which is mostly due to the fact that most Malaysian companies in Gabon are owned by ethnic Chinese Malaysian nationals. Malaysian companies are considered to respect rules and regulations to a lesser extent than their Chinese counterparts.[26] As stated by a representative of a Chinese forestry company: ‘The Chinese and Malaysian companies that do not behave well tarnish China’s reputation and destroy for the rest of us.’[27] The Malaysian presence in Gabon’s forestry sector is in fact slightly bigger than the Chinese, with 21 per cent of the concessions compared to the Chinese 16 per cent. French companies currently hold 40 per cent of the forestry concessions in Gabon.[28]

The impact of Chinese forestry companies in Gabon thus varies greatly. The companies that have long-term ambitions and that engage in forest management planning can make a positive contribution, whereas the less serious Chinese companies with a dire environmental record and dismal employment practices are likely to have a negative impact.

DISCUSSION

The Chinese presence in Gabon’s extractive industries is indeed growing, albeit at a fairly slow pace. As indicated in the sections above, it is only in the mining sector that there is potential for Chinese companies to take up a leading role over the decade to come. In the oil and forestry sectors, Chinese companies are not likely to become dominant actors anytime soon. At the moment, French companies are still by far the most important actors in the oil, mining and forestry sectors. In the words of a French respondent: ‘on est là, on est toujours là, on reste là’ – we’re here, we’re still here, we stay here.[29] It has also been argued that in terms of Gabon’s emerging partners, Morocco is currently more important than China.[30]

Implications of the Chinese investments in Gabon should be analysed both on a tangible and on a structural level. However, in this brief article I have only touched upon one of them. Impacts on a structural level, for social justice and for Gabon’s relations to France, have not been assessed and I will therefore not attempt to draw conclusions in this regard here. This article has merely discussed the situation on a tangible, practical level, and in this respect I argue that it is difficult to generalise about Chinese companies in Gabon. There are important differences within the group with regards to business conduct, environmental considerations and employment practices. While a number of private Chinese forestry companies are ill considered, most of the SOEs are seen as responsible corporate actors. The implications of Chinese companies’ operations in Gabon must therefore be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

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* Johanna Jansson is based at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) as the recipient of UI’s 2010 North East Asia Scholarship.
* The author wishes to thank Brainforest Gabon for funding the 2010 field research and UI for the enabling support.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

[1] Crumley, Bruce (2009). “Gabon's Rage at France's Influence in Africa” in Time. Published 04.09.2009, accessed 07.09.2009 from http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1920548,00.html
[2] Author’s interviews in Libreville with a French diplomat (07.06.2010); with a very well informed observer (07.06.2010); and with a representative of a Western oil company (31.05.2010). See also Yates, Douglas A. (1996). The Rentier State in Africa: oil rent dependency and neocolonialism in the Republic of Gabon. Trenton NJ: Africa World Press.
[3] I wish to acknowledge Dr. Jiang Wenran who was my co-researcher for the 2008 field research.
[4] Interviews in Libreville with representatives of the Ministry of Mining, Oil and Hydrocarbons (07.06.2010); with a very well informed Gabonese observer (28.05.2010); with a representative of a Western oil company (31.05.2010); and with a very well informed Chinese respondent (08.06.2010).
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Interview with a very well informed Gabonese observer, 28.05.2010, Libreville.
[8] Ibid. The other African countries in which Addax has concessions are Nigeria and Cameroon. See http://www.addaxpetroleum.com/operations For a discussion on Chinese companies’ capacity of operating in Africa, refer also to Jansson, Johanna; Burke, Christopher and Jiang, Wenran (2009). ‘Chinese Companies in the Extractive Industries of Gabon & the DRC: Perceptions of Transparency’. August: Centre for Chinese Studies, Stellenbosch University. Pages 19-22. Available on : http://www.ccs.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Chinese_Companies_in_the_Extractive_Industries_of_Gabon_and_the_DRC._CCS_report_August_2009.pdf
[9] Interviews in Libreville with representatives of the Ministry of Mining, Oil and Hydrocarbons (07.06.2010); and with a very well Gabonese informed observer (28.05.2010).
[10] Interviews in Libreville with representatives of the Ministry of Mining, Oil and Hydrocarbons (07.06.2010); with a very well Gabonese informed observer (28.05.2010); with a very well informed Chinese respondent (08.06.2010) and with a Gabonese civil society actor (26.05.2010). See also Jansson et al (2009). Op. cit. Page 16.
[11] Interview, 07.06.2010, Libreville.
[12] Interviews in Libreville with a representative of the Ministry of Mines (31.05.2010); and with a very well informed Chinese respondent (03.06.2010). See also Gaboneco (2010). “Gabon : Les Chinois signent pour le manganèse de Ndjolé”. Published 05.05.2010, accessed 03.06.2010 from http://gaboneco.com/show_article.php?IDActu=18172
[13] Interviews in Libreville with a very well informed Chinese respondent (18.09.2008); and with a respondent from the Ministry of Mines (24.09.2008).
[14] Jansson et al (2009). Op. cit. Pages 18-19. See also Africa-Asia Confidential (2009). “Iron in the soul”. Volume 2, Number 4, February. Page 5; and Africa-Asia Confidential (2010). “Beleaguered Bélinga”. Volume 3, Number 7, May. Page 4.
[15] Interview with a very well informed Chinese respondent, 07.06.2010, Libreville.
[16] Interviews in Libreville with a respondent from the Ministry of Mines (31.05.2010); and with a very well informed Chinese respondent (07.06.2010).
[17] Interview with a very well informed Chinese respondent, 07.06.2010, Libreville.
[18] Interviews in Libreville with a representative for a Chinese forestry company (03.06.2010); with a French forestry actor (31.05.2010); and with a Gabonese civil society actor (31.05.2010). See also:
-FAO (2009). “Trade startled by Gabon announcement”. Published 01.12.2009, accessed 31.05.2010 from http://www.fao.comnfe.ihb.de/fordaq/news/Sawnwood_LogPrices_21564.html
-FAO (2010). “Log ban comes into effect”. Published 25.05.2010, accessed 31.05.2010 from http://www.fao.comnfe.ihb.de/fordaq/news/Sawnwood_Prices_Plywood_23071.html
[19] Interview, 08.06.2010, Libreville.
[20] Interviews in Libreville with a representative for a Chinese forestry company (03.06.2010); with a French forestry actor (31.05.2010); and with Gabonese civil society actors (26.05.2010, 31.05.2010 and 02.06.2010).
[21] Ibid.
[22] Interview, 31.05.2010, Libreville
[23] Interview with a representative for a Chinese forestry company, 03.06.2010, Libreville.
[24] Interview, 03.06.2010, Libreville.
[25] Interviews in Libreville with the Director General of the Department of Waters and Forestry (08.06.2010); with a French forestry actor (31.05.2010); and with Gabonese civil society actors (26.05.2010, 31.05.2010 and 02.06.2010). The opinion on Sunry was also shared by the former Director General of the Department of Waters and Forestry, interviewed 23.09.2008 in Libreville. See also:
-Belligoli, Serena (2010). “EU, China and the Environmental Challenge in Africa. A case study from the timber industry in Gabon”. Page 7. Available on http://www.ies.be/files/Belligoli-F5.pdf
- Guihard-Augendre, Julienne (2010). “Le repreneur chinois de Plysorol arrêté au Gabon” in l’Union. Published 26.03.2010, accessed 27.03.2010 from http://www.lunion.presse.fr/article/region/le-repreneur-chinois-de-plysorol-arrete-au-gabon
[26] Interviews in Libreville with the Director General of the Department of Waters and Forestry (08.06.2010); with a French forestry actor (31.05.2010); with Gabonese civil society actors (26.05.2010, 31.05.2010 and 02.06.2010) and with a representative for a Chinese forestry company (03.06.2010).
[27] Interview, 03.06.2010, Libreville.
[28] Mertens, Benoit and Makak, Jean Sylvestre (2009). “Interactive Forest Atlas for Gabon”. World Resources Institute. Page 28. Available on http://pdf.wri.org/interactive_forestry_atlas_gabon_fr.pdf
[29] Interview, 07.06.2010, Libreville.
[30] Author’s interviews in Libreville with a Western diplomat (07.06.2010); and with a very well informed observer (07.06.2010).

Pambazuka News 153: Le monde entre dictature du capital et humanité

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/summaryfr/65783

How to manage $8 billion international debt

2010-07-08

http://bit.ly/a6uaeM

Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said that Zimbabwe won't be able to tap into a US$ 30 billion fund run by the African Development Bank to help member states over the next five years because it must first clear debt arrears to the AfDB, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Zimbabwe owes the AfDB a total of US$ 400 million, the World Bank US$ 1.2 billion and the International Monetary Fund US$ 140 million. Its total foreign debt amounts to some US$ 8 billion.

NGOs, West sabotaging constitution rewrite process - Zanu-PF

2010-07-08

http://bit.ly/awr9Wh

The former ruling ZANU-PF party of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has accused Western governments of trying to sabotage the country's troubled constitutional revision process. ZANU-PF's governing partner, the Movement for Democratic Change, has accused war veterans and other groups aligned with ZANU-PF of disrupting the ongoing public outreach program or suppressing views other than those they favor.

Outreach program spreads but intimidation continues

2010-07-09

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news080710/outreach080710.htm

Constitutional outreach teams have now been deployed to every corner of the country, three weeks after the program was launched in Harare. SW Radio Africa is reliably informed that the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) that is leading the reforms has this week received less complaints from its teams conducting public consultative meetings.

ZCTU slam outreach as money making venture

2010-07-09

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news080710/zctu080710.htm

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has dismissed ongoing public hearings for a new constitution as a mockery to the people of Zimbabwe, because it had “become even clearer that political parties are in charge of the process.” In a statement signed by Secretary General Wellington Chibebe, the union said the process, dogged by chaos, was meant to be a “national affair” but was now being manipulated by the three political parties in the coalition government.

Africa: “Extraordinary Lives: the story of amazing women”

2010-07-08

http://bit.ly/dm49Q7

The Urgent Action Fund – Africa (UAF-Africa)invites all to be a part of an historic project to immortalize the amazing stories of amazing women in you life. We are publishing the stories of women loved, honoured and celebrated by the people whose lives they have inspired in a beautiful Coffee Table Book. The book is titled, “Extraordinary Lives: the story of amazing women”. Through this venture we are raising funds which we will invest in the empowerment of women and girls in Africa, so that they too can believe in their own power, possibilities, worth, equality, dignity and the opportunity to inspire the lives around them.

East Africa: Caravan on Maternal Health

2010-07-08

http://eacaravan2010.wordpress.com/about/

The East African Caravan on Maternal Health was launched on July 3rd, 2010 at the Kibera D.O Open Grounds, Kibera, Nairobi. It will travel from Kenya, through Tanzania and Rwanda, before culminating in Uganda just prior to the African Union Summit where African Heads of State and Government will discuss issues of Maternal and Child Health.

East Africa: EAC and EASSI sign Memorandum of Understanding

2010-07-09

http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/view/552/1/

The EAC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) on 6th July 2010 at the EAC Headquarters. The EAC Deputy Secretary General (Productive and Social Sectors) Mr. Jean Claude Nsengiyumva signed on behalf of the EAC Secretariat while Ms Marren Akatsa-Bukachi (Executive Director) signed on behalf of EASSI.

Egypt: Early marriage

Land Center for Human Rights

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/65797

Early marriage is a form of violence against women. The young female takes a responsibility with number of consequences based on a sexual relation that she did not choose to have. Moreover, the marriage takes place at an age when the young girl is not ready neither physically nor psychologically to bear the consequences of such relation.
Early marriage is a form of violence against women. The young female takes a responsibility with number of consequences based on a sexual relation that she did not choose to have. Moreover, the marriage takes place at an age when the young girl is not ready neither physically nor psychologically to bear the consequences of such relation. The Inter-African Committee (IAC) on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children states that early marriage is: “Any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years, before the girl is physically, physiologically, and psychologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage and childbearing.

The current situation of the phenomenon and its size:

It is a fact that trustworthy statistical data is hard to obtain since most of the marriages are not registered. Data regarding marriages under 14 years old are particularly hard to obtain.

Early marriage is characteristic of rural communities. 36% of married women in rural families married under the age of 16, where this percentage falls to 1.9% in urban areas. The Egyptian population census data mentioned that 11% of females between 16 and 19 years old are currently married or have been previously. Results of a research study done by the Social Affairs Ministry, General Direction of Women Affairs “Analytical study of early marriage phenomenon” indicated that 4 out of 14 families of the research study sample in El. Hawamedya and in Badrasheen districts have married their daughters under the legal age. 3,58% of the same sample have married their underage daughters to non-Egyptian husbands and 9,6% to an elderly husband.

Field studies in the countryside indicated that parents often resort to customary marriage to avoid the law. In this case the the father receives a receipt (Isal amana ) and they sign a customary marriage contract, when the young girl reaches the legal age, the two parties destroy the customary contract and sign a new official marriage contract.


According to the Glossary of The Marriage Contract in Islamic Law in the Shari'ah and Personal Status Laws of Egypt and Morocco, "zawaj urfi" is a customary marriage (1992, 165). In The Laws of Marriage in Islam the meaning of customary marriage is further explained:
Customary marriage means a marriage which is not officially registered. When a valid contract is made by the woman's guardian in the presence of two witnesses, the contract is sound according to the Shari'a. The recording of the contract by the hand of the official entrusted with recording marriage contracts is not one of the preconditions for the validity of the contract [under Shari'a] (Uthman 1995, 54-5).
while the above statement is true with respect to the legitimacy of the marriage according to Shari'a, additional considerations exist in Egypt:
The legislator has laid out certain rules both to prove marriage and to hear matrimonial disputes before the courts. Under the Decree No. 78/1931 in respect of the regulation of the Sharia Courts, Article 99, paragraphs 4 and 5, lays two conditions for hearing a matrimonial case before the court: (i) that matrimony be proven by a formal marriage certificate; (ii) that the ages of the wife and the husband shall not be below 16 and 18 years of hijra respectively (1990, 70-71).

In order to protect against non-fulfillment of the second part (official marriage at the legal age), the girl's parents make the future husband sign a receipt which states that he has received a certain amount of money to deliver to a third party, which in case on non-payment induces responsability under the penal code.

Motives of early marriage:

The increase in rates of early marriage particularly in the countryside goes back to a number of reasons such as:
• Rural inhabitants want to have more boys and to get rid of girls who represent a burden for the family.
• Economic reasons: Poverty is still one of the main reasons for early marriage where parents get money in exchange for their daughter.
• Customs and traditions: Fear of loosing honor represented in the girl's virginity pushes families to marry their girls at a very young age. Virginity one of the bases of marriage in religious concept.
• Reinforcement of ties between families by marrying their offspring and desire to proof manhood and virility of young boys.
• Some families marry their little girls while they are still underage to wealthy Egyptians or Arabs (from Gulf countries), who are able to meet the financial conditions of such marriages.

Harmful consequences of early marriage:

• Increase in divorce rates because incompatibility between the couple.
• Depriving the little girls from their right to choose their husband.
• Forcing young girls to undertake social responsibilities before they attain maturity.
• Health problems resulting from repeated pregnancies and birth-giving.
• Increasing the birth-giving duration of women which results in health deterioration of women and of children.
• Negative impacts on sexual health.
• Negative impacts on newborns health since it is linked to mothers' maturity and experience.
• Deformation of mother's genitalia.
• Newborn deaths.
• Mothers' deaths.
• Deterioration of mother's psychological status.
• Increase in schools dropout rates because girls leave the education system to marry.
• Increase in rates of young widows (economic burden on young women usually with no education and no income and having to raise up children).
• Ill treatment of women and young girls and violation of their human rights.

Existing legal protection:

Egyptian law:
according to Article 227 of the Penal Code no marriage contract may be documented to those who have not reached the legal age of 18, for both sexes, with no prejudice to any criminal penalty provided by another law shall be punished by disciplinary for anyone who documented marriage in contravention of the provisions of this Article, the notary who contravenes this requirement, as well as holding him accountable for disciplinary reasons, and shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years and a fine not exceeding 500 pounds,”.

Yet 18,2% of women in Egypt have married for the first time under the age of 16 years old, mostly in rural areas where girls are perceived as a social and economic burden. Recently, the People's Assembly voted child law number 126 for the year 2008. The law defined the minimum age for marriage at 18 years (Years of Western calendar). Medical check up for (diseases that affect the health of the married couple) before registration of marriage contract is obligatory.

International law and international treaties:

Early marriage is a form of discrimination against children. Agreement of consent, minimum age and marriage registration stated the following:
Article 101: marriage is only recognized in case of full and free consent of both parties.
Article 2: Marriages under minimum age are not recognized.

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (also called the ACRWC or Children's Charter): Article 21: Protection against Harmful Social and Cultural Practices
1. States Parties to the present Charter shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate harmful social and cultural practices affecting the welfare, dignity, normal growth and development of the child and in particular:
(a) those customs and practices preJudicial to the healLh or life of the child; and
(b) those customs and practices discriminatory to the child on the grounds of sex or other status.
2. Child marriage and the betrothal of girls and boys shall be prohibited and effective action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify the minimum age of marriage to be 18 years and make registration of all marriages in an official registry compulsory.
The most painful and humiliating reasons for girls' early marriage are economic reasons, where girls are treated as a good used to make benefit.
It sad to be used by one's own family, but it is even worse that this is done without the slightest feeling of guilt. The prevailing fair-less social and cultural values give men freehand in deciding for women (wives, daughters and even mothers). The decisions are solely based on men without blame under various unfair pretexts all linked to being a female. Women and girls are considered as financial and social burden that families should get rid of. They are either traded through marriage for economic benefit as well as to get rid of social and financial burden, or simply for the second reason reason.

This shows the importance of legislation and follow up on law enforcement to protect female children so that we can avoid the gap between law and its application. This existing gap is supported by the paternal society which sees females as rightless creatures, and rather as a private property of men. They should obey when ordered and marry young to fulfill the needs of her family that has nothing to do with making her happiness and personal fulfillment, and without even the right to object or complain.

The LCHR calls upon the civil society organizations and state institutions to work on improving economic, social and cultural conditions of families in the countryside in order to stop violating women rights and marrying their daughters early. Sanctions should be more strict for early marriage crimes to protect the life and health of women in the present and in the future.

The LCHR provides free legal aide and receives complaints related to farmers' laborers' women and children rights on the following address:
Address: 76 st. El-Gomhuria,8th floor flat no 67 –beside El- Fath mousque- El- Azbkia-Cairo
Tel: +202-27877014 - Fax: +202-25915557
Email: lchr@thewayout.net
lchr@lchr-eg.org
Website:
www.lchr-eg.org

Egypt: The problem of female circumcision

Land Center for Human Rights

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/65796

Despite the important achievements so far in the field of women rights and the continuous efforts from both the state and the civil society to protect and promote these rights. Yet some traditional practices that seriously violate women rights still persist. Among those practices, is female circumcision, which is still unfortunately widely spread in Egypt. The government started recently combating this phenomena under increasing international pressure, where it is considered as a serious violation of women rights.
Despite the important achievements so far in the field of women rights and the continuous efforts from both the state and the civil society to protect and promote these rights. Yet some traditional practices that seriously violate women rights still persist. Among those practices, is female circumcision, which is still unfortunately widely spread in Egypt. The government started recently combating this phenomena under increasing international pressure, where it is considered as a serious violation of women rights. Talking about Female circumcision within the Egyptian society is - by no means - an easy task, where it is considered as a taboo for several reasons. This tradition is said to have started in ancient Egypt and in some parts of Africa and is still widely practiced in some of the poorest African countries, where illiteracy is prevails. Scientifically speaking, Female Circumcision is referred to as Female Genital Mutilation (cutting of female external genitalia partially or fully).

Why is it widespread?

There are several reasons explaining the widespread of the this phenomenon in Egypt, the main reasons are the following:
Customs and traditions, which can sometimes be stronger than legislation. The traditional way of perceiving females where they are considered as an economic and a social burden since birth. The desire for male newborns and the fear of having a feminine offspring is widely spread in the Egyptian society, even among educated classes. Having little girls in the family is perceived as a potential threat that must be dealt with severely in order for the family to protect itself.

Statistical facts:

Female Circumcision is widely spread among both Muslim and Christian communities, and in all social classes. According to 1995 statistical data, circumcised women represented 95%, and some recent estimation mentioned that 80% of young females have been circumcised (the percentage is higher in rural areas).

In 1996 and despite the decision of the Health Minister to ban this operation in public hospitals. This year, 14 circumcision cases were published in Egyptian newspapers. In five of the cases, victims died following the operation and the rest varied from, acute bleeding, depression, nervous breakdown and permanent handicap. The youngest of the victims was 9 years old and the eldest was 15. A study on violence against women mentioned that Female Circumcision in Egypt is around 98% in the countryside, 30% in Cairo among higher classes and 98% among the poorest. It is practiced in both Muslim and Christian communities, it is inversely proportional to the education level and is done from 6 to 12 years old.

Who practice Female Circumcision? And at what age is it done?

According to several studies, midwifes in the Delta and barbers in Upper Egypt operate the young girls mostly (some go to clinics), which is the surgical operation number one in Egypt. It is done between 6 and 10 years old, but can also be postponed to any age. It is usually done in summer, at the beginning of Ramadan and during feasts.

Damages resulting from Female circumcision:
Female Circumcision results in many physical and psychological damages, in addition to a large number of social problems. It is usually done under no or little anesthesia, and using primitive tools such as razors or even an ordinary knife. Hence, it is extremely painful and in many cases the young girl losses consciousness during the operation and some die during or after either due to shock, hemorrhage or both.

Existing legal protection:

In 1959, a commission was formed based on a ministerial decree to study Female Circumcision and provide recommendations. Accordingly, operations done by unqualified individuals ( none doctors) were banned. In addition, the cutting was partial for those who desired(upon parents or tutors request). It was also banned to do it in public hospitals, clinics and health care units. But, there was no law that clearly banned Female Circumcision or punished none doctors for doing it. The commission criminalized Female Circumcision according to a number of articles of the existing criminal law based on the following:
Female Circumcision falls under articles concerning the following crimes:
1 Physical hurt or intentional injury.
2 Indecent assault
3 Practicing medicine without license.

1- Physical hurt or intentional injury:

According to articles 236, 240, 241 and 242 of the Egyptian Criminal Law, beating, hurting or administrating damaging substances with no intention of killing is punished by the law. The sentence is decided according to the damage done.

2- Indecent assault:

Article 269 of the Egyptian Criminal Law, states that boys and girls under 18 years old are protected by the law against indecent assault even in case of the victim's consent. Parents or tutors can legally be held responsible for circumcising a young girl based on the 1st and 2nd points as partners in a physical damage and an indecent assault crimes.

Legal opinion regarding circumcision operations done by doctors:

Female Circumcision is considered as intentional physical damage crime under articles 241 and 242 (the law mentions intentional physical hurt or damage but not namely Female Circumcision), with up to three years of prison. Parents or tutors are also held responsible since they help the doctors in his crime. If the operation is done by a none doctor, two crimes are committed (intentional hurt and practicing medicine without license).

A recent law was voted by the People's Assembly, Child Law number 126 for the year 2008. This law was intended to protect children against a number of important violations, and among those violations Female Circumcision. The punishment is very weak facing such anchored tradition (three months prison and 2 to 5 thousand EGP fine). In addition, the law was not clear on family violence, and on physical punishments.

The United nations position on Female Circumcision:

The UN condemns all forms of Female Circumcision and FGM being contrary to the rights to physical and psychological health and a form of gender discrimination and violence against women.

In addition to laws, Female Circumcision is also a flagrant violation according to moral values.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
The UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 24:States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
The International Code for Medical Ethics:
The two most important parts of this code for the study of the ethics of child circumcision may be 1) the statement "Any act, or advice which could weaken physical or mental resistance of a human being may be used only in his interest", 2) the requirement to be "loyal" to his patient, 3) the requirement to "observe the principles of The Declaration of Geneva", because that document requires that a doctor must not use "medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity", and 4) the requirement that a doctor must "practice his profession uninfluenced by motives of profit."]

Recommendations:

• Coordination between state institutions and civil society in order to stop violence and violent practices against young girls and women.
• Amending the actual legislation and the existing laws and decrees so that they better protect young girls against Female Circumcision and FGM.
• The family has an important role in raising up children to respect values of gender equality and of the individual privacy.
• Civil society has to do greater efforts in fighting against anchored traditions that violate women rights.
• The law number 26 for the year 2008 must be amended to criminalize family violence against children.


The LCHR provides free legal aide and receives complaints related to farmers' laborers' women and children rights on the following address:
Address: 76 st. El-Gomhuria,8th floor flat no 67 –beside El- Fath mousque- El- Azbkia-Cairo
Tel: +202-27877014 - Fax: +202-25915557
Email: lchr@thewayout.net
lchr@lchr-eg.org
Website:
www.lchr-eg.org

Kenya: Fears of rape in slums 'trap women'

2010-07-09

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/10540379.stm

Fear of sexual violence is keeping poor Kenyan women away from communal toilets, and increasing the risk of disease, Amnesty International says. In a report on Kenya's slums, the human rights group said women and girls were afraid to leave their shacks at night. As a result they were risking contracting diseases such as dysentery and cholera, the report said.

Kenya: Women share their perspectives on conflict resolution

Global Open Day for Women and Peace

2010-07-09

http://www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=1126

As part of the Global Open Day for Women and Peace, 20 women from civil society and community-based organizations in Kenya came together in Nairobi on 7 July to discuss issues related to the inclusion of women in processes of conflict resolution, peace negotiations and peacebuilding. The consultative forum was organized by UNIFEM and UNDP in the context of the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

North Africa: Moroccan media distorts women's image, study says

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/aVfdpN

Moroccan media distorts the image of women, according to a recent survey undertaken by the communication ministry. Overall, Moroccan females believe that their image is so misrepresented and manipulated that it does not mirror the reality of Moroccan women, the survey said. Advertising and drama are the farthest from reality in terms of perception of everyday women's lives, said women whose opinions were recorded in the final report released on June 30th.

Senegal: Out of school, into marriage

2010-07-09

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89740

Twelve-year-old Rama* in Senegal’s Sédhiou region is still in school instead of wedded to a man in his 40s, after community members convinced her father to abandon the family’s plan to give her away. But in most cases family or social pressure to marry off young girls still wins out in many regions of the country, researchers and educators say.

South Africa: Help a phone call away for sex workers

2010-07-09

http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article.php?uid=20032854

The Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) and Sisonke have launched a helpline to give sex workers a voice. Micky Meji, country coordinator of the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA) said the line was initiated to give sex workers a platform to voice their concerns and fears they faced at work. “Not everyone knows where to get help for sex workers. It is not easy for sex workers to get adequate information because they are often scared of revealing what they do to earn a living,” said Meji.

South Africa: Online pornography: Bill sets off alarm bells in women's movement

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/daauS0

A draft Bill proposing a ban on sexual content on the internet and cellphones submitted to the South African Department of Home Affairs in May 2010 claims to have the best interests of women and children in mind but has set alarm bells ringing in the women’s movement. “The Bill equates women with children –taking a protectionist approach to the rights of women— and promotes state censorship,” says Sally-Jean Shackleton, director of Women’sNet, a feminist technology organisation based in Johannesburg.

Uganda: Sex workers demand rights, not rescue

2010-07-09

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89771

When Macklean Kyomya came to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, at 19, she found work as a lap-dancer in a nightclub and was soon accepting money from clients in exchange for sex. "I enjoyed the feeling of power I had over men; I had a pimp who looked after me so I was never forced to do anything I didn't choose to," she told IRIN/PlusNews. "I was still doing my A-levels, so the money helped pay my way."

Africa: Rwanda anger at South Africa Nyamwasa shooting probe

2010-07-09

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/10541021.stm

Rwanda has expressed its concern over the way the authorities in South Africa are investigating the shooting of a former Rwandan army chief of staff. Lt Gen Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was wounded outside his house in Johannesburg last month.

DRC: Cause of death unclear for activist: autopsy

2010-07-09

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE66802N20100709

An international autopsy team looking into the death of a prominent Congolese human rights activist was unable to give a conclusive cause of death. The death of Floribert Chebeya, whose corpse was found in his car last month after he was summoned to see the police chief, caused outrage and led to calls for an international investigation.

Egypt: Police officers to be tried on torture charge

2010-07-08

http://www.ifex.org/egypt/2010/07/08/officers_face_prosecution/

Two police officers are to be prosecuted for their involvement in a young activist's death in Alexandria on 6 June 2010 but the charges being brought against them do not include murder. The activist, Khaled Mohammed Said, was beaten to death outside an Internet café after being arrested by two plain-clothes police officers. His family and local human rights organisations say he had just posted a video online showing police officers sharing the proceeds from a drug deal.

South Africa: Indigenous community fight against destruction of sacred site

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/65820

In Thohoyandou, Limpopo, South Africa, a High Court judge decided on a court application which was served on members of the Venda royal family, chiefs, the Minister of Rural Development and various government departments to halt the defilement of a sacred waterfall. The complainants are members of Dzomo la Mupo (voice of the Earth) – elders and custodians of Venda sacred sites – plus members of the Ramunangi clan in whose area the Phiphidi Falls are situated.
In Thohoyandou, Limpopo, South Africa, a High Court judge decided on a court application which was served on members of the Venda royal family, chiefs, the Minister of Rural Development and various government departments to halt the defilement of a sacred waterfall. The complainants are members of Dzomo la Mupo (voice of the Earth) – elders and custodians of Venda sacred sites – plus members of the Ramunangi clan in whose area the Phiphidi Falls are situated.

The elders petitioned the court to halt construction of eight tourist chalets, a restaurant, bar and laundry at the head of the falls which, they say, are degrading the sacred site, fouling the river and angering the spirits. The construction is being undertaken by an organisation connected to the Tshivhase royal family.

For several years polite pleading and petitioning by the Ramunangi custodians has been ignored and, as a last resort, they have taken legal action. In this deeply traditional society it has taken considerable courage to go up against chiefs and royalty upon whom people rely for protection and access to land, and the custodians are at pains to point out that they hold no personal animosity towards the king or his chiefs.
The court’s decision today will halt the development for 20 days whilst a full case is prepared. After an onsite visit of Phiphidi Sacred Site this morning and seeing the destruction for himself, the Judge recognised how the Sacred Site was like a sacred church for the custodians and held that the Sacred Site must not be disturbed. If successful this case will set an important precedent in asserting cultural and custodianship rights and responsibilities for a network of Sacred Sites in Venda and elsewhere in South Africa and throughout Africa. Alternatively should the development then be given the go ahead by the court, it could have far-reaching political and ecological implications.
Central to the network of sacred sites across the Soutpansberg – the Venda heartland – is a forest from which 24 streams flow, providing water for the area’s fertile farms and smallholdings. The forest, together with Lake Fundudzi and various pools, groves and waterfalls are biodiversity hotspots which Venda makhadzi, female mediums, have always conserved. Without them, they say, rain will not fall and the land will become sick and die.
‘People turn on a tap and drink,’ said Joyce Netshidzivhe, ‘but they don’t think where the water comes from. Without the sacred sites they’d go thirsty.’
As the sacred sites are interconnected, the destruction of one will open up destruction of all sacred sites in the region.
Don Pinnock from Southern Write pointed out just before the hearing, “If the building is halted, as the Dzomo la Mupo hope, it will be a victory for traditional understandings and customs. If it fails, the way could be cleared to turn sacred sites into secular tourist attractions or simply destroyed. It also raises questions about the difference between political and custodial rights, in whose name chiefs govern, the conservation of biodiversity and whether tradition can be preserved in the face of development for gain”.
The Phiphidi development was sanctioned by a local chief, Jerry Tshivhase, and is being undertaken by the Tshivhase Development Foundation Trust, of which the BEE billionaire Mashudu Tshivhase is a director. Both men are related to one of the most respected Venda kings, Kennedy Tshivhase, a guardian of his people and their traditions, who claims to know nothing about the problem.
When a road was built through the forest a few hundred metres above the falls in 2007, the Ramunangi and Dzomo la Mupo petitioned the local chief and the government through their lawyer, Roger Chennels, but got no response. The falls were later fenced off and the indigenous custodians were told they had no right to enter ‘a construction area’.
Chennels discovered that the environmental impact assessment which sanctioned the tourist development was out of date and building was therefore illegal. Requests for the name of the contractor were rebuffed. Dzomo la Mupo then extended their petitioning to the various government departments and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.
The departments failed to respond. A sharp letter to Chennels from the King’s attorney, Anton Ramaano, demanded to know whether his client was a chief or headman, who allocated the ‘alleged’ sacred site of Phiphidi to him and did he have documentary proof. Was he aware, asked Ramaano, that the area fell within the jurisdiction of – and its people were subjects of – the king and that the Tshivhase Traditional Council was the owner?
After a meeting of Dzomo la Mupo clans last week, delegates bussed to Phiphidi and stood in silent protest at the gate blocking their access to the falls. ‘If a powerful lawyer can’t prevent the destruction of sacred sites,’ said Chief Nevhutanda of Vhutanda Forest, ‘then the next step may be that people must fight and if necessary shed blood as they did to end apartheid.’
The Dzomo la Mupo and Ramunangi replied that they were faithful subjects of His Royal Highness but that Phiphidi was not just an ‘alleged’ sacred site: It had ‘been under the custodianship of the Ramunangi since before recorded time.’

When no other official response was forthcoming, the Dzomo la Mupo brought an urgent interdict to the Limpopo High Court to stop all development at Phiphidi pending the restoration of their traditional rights. Respondents include the Tshivhase Development Foundation Trust, the Tshivhase Traditional Council, Chief Jerry Tshivhase , the departments of Economic Development and Environment and Tourism, the Minister of Rural Development and the Thulamela Municipality.

Upon the announcement today that further development and destruction of the sacred site will be halted for 20 days, Roger Chennels commented that “Over 80 colourfully dressed members of Dzomo la Mupo and the Ramunangi, all proudly wearing traditional dress and their Dzomo la Mupo badges, attended a packed court. For now we celebrate this temporary win, but this is just the beginning.”


For further information or to arrange an interview with a member of the Ramnunagi clan, or Roger Chennels, the lawyer leading this case, please contact Rowan Phillimore on 0207 428 0054 or email rowan@gaianet.org




Extracts from Statements of Support from international organisations:

The Gaia Foundation, London
We are very concerned about the destruction of one of the last and most important Sacred Sites in Venda and the violation of the fundamental rights and responsibilities of Sacred Sites custodians in the name of ‘development’ and ‘progress’. The failure of the Government, local authorities and traditional leaders to protect South Africa’s ecological and cultural heritage must be held to account.
Sacred sites are critical places for biodiversity, maintaining the resilience of ecosystems, living cultural heritage, spirituality and as sources of community governance in relation to Nature and each other. The protection of Phiphidi and the related network of Sacred Sites is essential for maintaining the health and viability of this region, especially now in the context of climate change.

Ian Mason, School of Economic Science, London
There can be no doubt that violation of these sacred places is equally violation of the people who hold them central to their lives and culture and that their relationship with such places is much deeper than one of mere ownership. Indeed, the very concept of private ownership of land, especially sacred places such as Phipidi, is alien to such peoples as it is to many peoples and cultures around the world.

The Institute for Culture & Ecology (ICE), Kenya
The greatest contribution of Sacred Sites is in their naturalness and practice of community rituals. We therefore call upon the South African Government, through the Government of Limpopo Province, and Traditional Authorities in Venda to take action and stop the ongoing destruction of Phiphidi Sacred Site and all Sacred Sites in the region. We request the Government of Limpopo Province to support the ongoing conservation efforts by the Custodians of Sacred Sites in the region to save the local Sacred Sites for future generations. We also call upon tourists to respect the wishes of the Custodians of the Sacred Sites to maintain the Sacred Sites in their natural state.

MELCA Mahiber, Ethiopia
MELCA Mahiber, on behalf of the elders we work with in Ethiopia, is in absolute solidarity with the Ramunangi custodians of Phiphidi waterfall and the Custodians of the Sacred Sites in Venda, Dzomo la Mupo, asserting their rights and ancestral responsibilities to protect their network of Sacred Sites.
We are shocked by the disrespect that those who are destroying the Phiphidi waterfall and other sacred sites are showing to the Sacred Sites and their custodians in Venda and by the failure of government, local authorities and traditional leaders to stop this. It is with profound anger and discontent that we condemn any development activities that have not sought the consent of the local communities and which destroys the ecosystem that the culture of the local communities depend on. We therefore would like to express our solidarity with the custodians of the Venda Sacred Sites and call for the immediate cessation of the destruction of their Sacred Sites.

Natural Justice, Lawyers for communities and the Environment, Cape Town, South Africa
Natural Justice strongly urges the South African government, local authorities and traditional leaders to comply with their obligations as per national and international law and require the ceasing and desisting of any excavation or building activities in the Venda Sacred Sites until full and effective consultations are held with the members of the Dzomo la Mupo and not commence any actions without their free and prior informed consent.

PORINI Association, Kenya
PORINI Association, Kenya, stands in solidarity with the Ramunangi custodians of Phiphidi waterfall and Dzomo la Mupo - the Sacred Site Committee of custodians of the interconnected network of Sacred Sites in Venda. We call on the South African Government, local authorities and traditional leaders to uphold their legal and traditional duties to protect Sacred Sites and rights and responsibilities of their custodians.


The Sacred Land Film Project, Berkeley, California
We are greatly troubled by the present developments at Phiphidi falls — of the blatant destruction of this Sacred Ssite in the name of tourism development, and of the apparent failure of the South African government, relevant authorities and traditional leaders to respect the Ramunangi's role and responsibility to their ancestors, as traditional stewards and guardians of a place of great cultural significance. Through our experience documenting Sacred Site protection around the world, we have seen that there are ways to responsibly develop tourism infrastructure without compromising the integrity and sanctity of traditional sacred sites.

Southern Africa: Zambia's dubious role in Namibia's freedom fight

2010-07-08

http://www.afrol.com/articles/36448

The difficult past of Zambia's ambiguous role in Namibia's and Angola's freedom fight is haunting current President, thus Foreign Minister, Rupiah Banda. The 1970s anti-communist Zambian regime is said to have killed Namibian freedom fighters in agreement with apartheid South Africa and Sam Nujoma. Historians confirm the allegations.

East Africa: The East African Community and the refugee question

2010-07-08

http://bit.ly/9Xkxbf

According to the World Refugee Survey 2009 statistics, the five East African Community States host a combined population of 949,000 refugees. Of this number, about 300,000 are citizens of East African States living as refugees in the territory of other Community member States. As conflicts in traditional refugee-producing Community member states abate and their citizens return home, conflict in previously tranquil states like Kenya have injected more refugees into the Community pool.

Global: Milestone victory for gay refugees

2010-07-08

http://bit.ly/dmBfyx

The unanimous decision by five judges of the UK supreme court in favour of the appellants in HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] UKSC 31 represents a milestone in legal history. It secures the rights of LGBT people in need of protection from persecution, and will bring to an end years of discriminatory policy by the immigration services.

June edition of Fahamu Refugee e-Newsletter now available

2010-07-08

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/489/JuneRefugeeLegalAidNews.pdf

Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the June edition of the Fahamu Refugee e-Newsletter, a monthly publication that aims to provide a forum for providers of refugee legal aid. With a focus on the global South, it aims to serve the needs of legal aid providers as well as raise awareness of refugee concerns among the wider readership of Pambazuka News. The e-Newsletter follows recent developments in the interpretation of refugee law; case law precedents from other constituencies; reports and helpful resources for refugee legal aid NGOs; and stories of struggle and success in refugee legal aid work. It welcomes contributions from legal aid providers, refugees, and others interested or involved in refugee legal aid.

Global: US Social Forum: Statement on Food Sovereignty

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/cg3bs5

Over a half-century ago, Mahatma Gandhi led a multitude of Indians to the sea to make salt—in defiance of the British Empire’s monopoly on this resource critical to people’s diet. The action catalyzed the fragmented movement for Indian independence and was the beginning of the end for Britain’s rule over India. The act of “making salt” has since been repeated many times in many forms by people’s movements seeking liberation, justice and sovereignty: Cesar Chavez, Nelson Mandela, and the Zapatistas are just a few of the most prominent examples. Our food movement— one that spans the globe—seeks food sovereignty from the monopolies that dominate our food systems with the complicity of our governments. We are powerful, creative, committed and diverse. It is our time to make salt.

South Africa: Landless movement welcomes violence report

Landless People's Movement

2010-07-08

http://www.abahlali.org/node/7150

As the Landless People's Movement in Gauteng we welcome the independent research report by Jared Sacks into political violence against our movement in Gauteng. We have been suffering from serious repression in Protea South, in Harry Gwala and in eTwatwa. The story of our struggle and the repression of our struggle has not been told. The world may have been watching South Africa for the World Cup but the repression of our movement has passed unnoticed. Therefore we welcome this report and the light that it shines into the darkness of our country.

South Africa: Tragic fire in Durban destroys hundreds of homes, 2 dead

2010-07-08

http://abahlali.org/node/7144

Durban - Situated not that far from the FIFA World Cup competition, the Durban informal settlement has seen more than its share of strife and hard times. A press release from the Abahlali baseMjondo, an organization made up of residents of informal settlements in South Africa, stated July 4th that 3 people had died in a fire Monday that swept through the Kennedy Road settlement; destroying some 800 homes. About 3,000 people are now homeless.

Egypt: The rights of temporary workers in the wind

2010-07-08

http://www.lchr-eg.org/112/10-20.htm

The Land Centre for Human Rights has received dozens of complaints of some temporary workers in the governmental sector and the private sector, which were affected by the violation of their rights to decent work and the lack of safeguards to protect them from displacement, segregation. To make it worse, the government agencies use such employment without editing work contracts to them, or to give them health and social insurance, in a violation to the law and conventions of international labor organization.

South Africa: Unions drop strike threat at Eskom utility

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/8XRzSD

South African unions dropped a threat to strike at power utility Eskom this week after receiving a higher wage offer, ending concerns about electricity supplies during the soccer World Cup. Widespread power cuts could also have dented manufacturing and mining companies' output in Africa's biggest economy, the world's top platinum and fourth-largest gold producer.

Emerging Actors in Africa news round-up

Sanusha Naidu

2010-07-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/emplayersnews/66000

China in Africa

NUJ Chairman In China For MDGs Confab
In a bid to build the capacity of journalists and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in developing countries on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja Council, Mr. Jacob Edi, is in China for a two-week conference Read More

China favors Sudan’s unity but will respect referendum outcome: envoy
The Chinese special envoy to Africa Liu Guijing said his government would be “delighted” to see Sudan remain united following the 2011 referendum in the South but noted that Beijing will nonetheless respect choices made by Southerners Read More

China wants 'credible' Sudan referendum, Darfur solution
Beijing wants a "credible" referendum on south Sudan's independence, and for a political solution to the Darfur conflict, Chinese envoy Liu Guijin said. China "hopes that the referendum on the self-determination of southern Sudan will be transparent and credible, which is in the interests of Sudan and serves the stability of the region," Liu told reporters in Khartoum Read More

Nigeria says three refineries ready by 2014
Nigeria's state-run oil firm NNPC said on Tuesday three new refineries will be onstream by 2014, following a deal signed with China State Construction Engineering Corp (CSCEC) in May Read More

Zimbabwe, China strengthen economic cooperation
The eighth session of the Zimbabwe/ China joint permanent commission ended in Harare on Wednesday with a pledge by the two countries to widen and deepen economic cooperation. The two countries discussed ways of enhancing various cooperation projects already being implemented and new ones in the energy, agriculture, manufacturing, transport, tourism and water sectors Read More

China Cement Maker Signs S. Africa Deal
China continued its investment in Africa’s infrastructure—and in South Africa’s deep need for cement—when a Chinese cement maker formed a partnership to build a plant with two South African companies. Jidong Development Group, the largest cement producer in northern China, has signed a partnership with South Africa’s leading black-women-owned company, Women Investment Portfolio Holdings Limited (WIPHOLD), and with limestone mining firm Continental Cement. The deal is for construction of a new $218-million cement plant in Limpopo, the northernmost province of South Africa Read More

China to build $8bn oil refinery in Nigeria
It will be the first of three refineries under a deal signed in May between Nigeria's state oil company, NNPC, and the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC). The refinery will be built in the Lekki free trade zone of Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city Read More

Chinese-built hospital risks collapse in Angola: state radio
Luanda's general hospital has evacuated 150 patients over worries that the four-year-old, Chinese-built structure could collapse, state radio reported. The patients were evacuated after the discovery of "deep cracks in the walls of the paediatrics and gynaecology wards", the report said.The eight-million-dollar hospital was built by the China Overseas Engineering Group Company (COVEC), through credit lines provided by Beijing, according to the private weekly O Pais Read More

Chinese firm begins tests on Isiolo gas pits
Kenya’s hopes of striking oil in Isiolo have been dashed with the Chinese firm prospecting in the region now shifting its activities to establishing whether the natural gas discovered there two months ago can be commercially exploited. The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is expected to bring in equipment this week that will help reopen the Boghal well in Merti division to ascertain the quantities and quality of the gas found there Read More

Mozambique requests US$130 million from China to rebuild road
The government of Mozambique has asked China for US$130 million for construction of the section of road linking Manjacaze to Maxixe in the provinces of Gaza and Inhambane, a source from the Ministry for Public Works and Housing said in Maputo Read More

China urged to explore investment opportunities in COMESA
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretary-General Sindiso Ngwenya on 22 June, 2010 urged China to enter into joint ventures with Africa's largest regional trading and economic grouping to capitalise on the Customs Union that was launched in 2009. COMESA, boasting 19 Member States and a population of more than 400 million, is endowed with vast natural and human resources that make it a fertile investment destination, Ngwenya said. "With a combined population of 456 million and a combined Gross Domestic Product of USD 450 billion, this region is very rich in natural resources, rich in human resources and land for agriculture. He said China should take COMESA as its preferred investment destination and increase trade with Africa's largest trading and economic grouping Read More

China: the master stadium builder
With poor infrastructure posing an obstacle to continental sport, many African countries have turned to China for help in the last few decades. This co-operation is not without its pitfalls. Tamale Stadium, Northern Ghana, January 2008: In the midst of the African Cup of Nations (ACN), in a press room bustling with post-match conferences, three Chinese employees responsible for the stadium’s upkeep and apparently indifferent to the surrounding brouhaha, clean the floor, windows and even the microphone stands. Despite deep cultural divisions, Asians and Africans are gradually learning to get along, and sport is no exception Read More

China Mobile Interested in Investing in Africa, Chairman Says
China Mobile Ltd., the world’s biggest phone carrier, is interested in investing in Africa, where it can boost services in rural areas, Chairman Wang Jianzhou said, reported Bloomberg. The company doesn’t have any acquisition targets in Africa yet and hasn’t identified a specific region on the continent where it would like to invest, said Wang.China Mobile is searching for investments and acquisitions to revive profit growth and expand its overseas operations Read More

China adds new voice to global lineup of English-language TV news channels
CNC World, launched last week, will be broadcast to the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America and Africa. Critics, however, are doubtful that it will be seen as more than a propaganda tool. In launching a "new source of information for global audiences," CNC apparently wants to be an English-language alternative to the dominant narratives of Western media, such as the BBC, CNN and certainly Fox. CNC will be broadcast in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America and Africa Read More

A new generation of migrant workers are getting organised in a fight to improve low pay and poor conditions.
He Zongjun earns 1 mao (1p) for each of the 1000 vuvuzelas he moulds on a 12-hour night shift at the Jiying Plastic Products factory near Shanghai. His boss Wu Yijun stopped production of vuvuzelas in April but resumed last month to meet an unexpected surge in global orders for the popular droning trumpets being heard throughout the World Cup football matches in South Africa. “I don’t watch the World Cup. I need to sleep after working a whole night,” he told the Chinese government’s Xinhua news agency. The migrant worker from the southwestern province of Yunnan, one of China’s poorest regions, earns up to 3000 yuan (£300) a month, based on the piecework rate given by the agency. The long hours and tough conditions mean he earns up to three times the wages of many Chinese labourers Read More

Air Tanzania ditches Chinese firm and partners with Air Zimbabwe
Tanzania may sever ties with China’s Sonangol International Ltd over failure by the company to invest and take over 49 per cent shares in the ailing Air Tanzania Company Ltd (ATCL) as agreed four years ago. The inaction by the company has prompted the government to fund the airline to the tune of $540 million to rescue it from collapse Read More

China Shenhua may cooperate with South Africa's Sasol on CTL project
The China Shenhua Group, the largest coal producer in China, may work with South Africa's Sasol, the world's largest coal to liquids (CTL) producer, on a CTL project in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Northwest China. Rob Davies, South Africa's minister of trade and industry, is expected to sign a joint venture agreement for a CTL project during his current visit to China. Davies is quoted as saying the project would be located in Ningxia with a total investment of about 8 to 10 billion US dollars, and would be jointly established by Sasol and a Chinese company [url= Read]http://newsystocks.com/news/3582354]Read More[/url]


India in Africa
India to help Mozambique in coal, power sectors
India has offered Mozambique a grant of $40 million for improving technical capacity in coal mining and a $25 million line of credit for rural electrification, officials said. The agreements for the two loans were signed in Mozambique’s capital Maputo by External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Read More

Indian Investment in Africa
In a speech last week at the London School of Economics, Dr. Amit Mitra, the Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry discussed the growing role of Indian investment in Africa. Despite the relatively neglected role of India in Africa compared with that of China, India’s trade with the continent has grown ten-fold over 4 years to $39.5 billion in 2008-09 (over half of the US’s $77 billion). The turning point, he noted, came in 2008 with the India-Africa summit in Delhi, which led to a doubling of credit to Africa (to $5.4 billion over 5 years), a focus on African human capital development programs, and a duty free preferential tariff scheme for the 34 least developed countries in Africa (with 94% of all tariff lines opened) Read More

Indian Investment Might Reach a Billion Dollars
Indian investment in Mozambique, particularly in mineral resources, energy and processing of agricultural products, might reach a billion US dollars in 2010-2011, according to the optimistic projections of Mahomed Rafique, director of the Mozambican government's Investment Promotion Centre (CPI) Read More

Angola-India Trade volume to reach US$ 4 billion mark
The volume of business between Angola and India could reach US$ 4 billion this year, against the US$ 3 billion recorded in 2009, PANA reported quoting the Angolan News Agency (ANGOP). The Indian diplomat said his country exported to Angola such products as meat, vehicles, trains and tractor equipment, medicines, fabrics and fibres for the textile industry Read More

India commits USD 6.7 mn to African bank
India has agreed to donate USD 6.7 million to the African Development Bank (AfDB) to conduct studies on the development projects in the continent. "India has committed a support of USD 6.7 million to the African Development Bank for the study of development projects in Africa," a senior finance ministry official told PTI. The funding support will take effect from January 1, 2011 and will extend over a period of three years Read More

Mauritius PM hails India’s cooperation against high-sea pirates, terrorism
Hailing India’s gesture to provide an off shore Patrol vessel to Mauritius, Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam appreciated India’s cooperation to his country in its fight against high-sea pirates and terrorism. Following his meet with the visiting Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna at Clarisse House in Port Louis, Mauritian Prime Minister Ramgoolam told media persons that Mauritius being a small country needed some assistance to deal with the problem Read More

Krishna in Mozambique; boosting trade high on agenda
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna arrived in Mozambique on a two-day visit during which he is expected to give a push to bilateral relations, mainly focusing on trade and energy sectors. Krishna is the first External Affairs Minister to visit this mineral-rich African nation in over a decade. India is expected to sign an agreement to extend a line of credit of $25 million to Mozambique during talks Krishna will have with the country's leaders Read More


Brazil in Africa
Zambia: Two Brazilian firms pledge US$600 million investment
Two Brazilian firms have pledged to setup businesses in Zambia in August this year with an initial combined total investment of US$600 million. The two companies Uami and Valley will venture into the mining and the energy sectors respectively. Valley which deals in energy will invest us$400 million, while Uami will invest us$200 million in its mining operations Uami has further targeted to produce over 50 Tonnes of Copper and create 1,500 jobs in its initial stages. Marcopola the Brazilian manufacturers of luxury coaches has also announced its intentions to set up a plant to maintain the Zambian fleet of buses among others. This was disclosed during a business forum held at the Pamodzi hotel. Meanwhile Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula De silva says he has great conviction that African countries are capable of competing with the other regions in the world in terms of economic trade Read More

Lula da Silva to visit Cape Verde in July
The first edition of the ECOWAS/Brazil Summit will take place on the island of Sal in the month of July, and will feature the presence of Brazilian President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, in addition to heads of state and government from the 15 member countries of the Economic Community of West African States. This summit between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Brazil was announced on February 19 by Minister of Foreign Affairs José Brito, who said the meeting was the brainchild of Cape Verde.At the time, the cabinet minister stressed the idea that the summit was aimed at “paying homage” to the Brazilian president and expanding commercial relations between South American and West African countries Read More

Brazilian President to Visit Equatorial Guinea
The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, begins his visit to Equatorial Guinea on July 5 as part of an African tour that will take place between July 4 to 12. Trade between the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and Brazil has increased in recent years. In June 2009, Brazil's Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Miguel Jorge, also visited Equatorial Guinea accompanied by a large delegation of businessmen from his country. So far this year, Equatorial Guinea has signed several contracts with Brazilian companies across various sectors, including infrastructure and construction projects, education and sports Read More

President of Brazil Concludes Visit to Equatorial Guinea
President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrapped up a state visit to Equatorial Guinea (Republica de Guinea Ecuatorial), which included the signing of multiple cooperation agreements, economic meetings, and festivities Read More

Lula: Secretary General of Africa
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president, might as well have a sign on his office door that reads: "Secretary General of Africa." This week Lula is on this ninth trip to the African continent in the past eight years as president. He has made official visits to 25 of the 53 African countries; an astonishing feat by a head of state by anyone's calculations. This week Lula is in the middle of a trip that will take him through six African countries. On Saturday he was in Cape Verde, on Monday in Equatorial Guinea, on Tuesday in Kenya and Tanzania, today and tomorrow he is in Zambia and then he finishes with several days in South Africa Read More

Brazil leader offers $240m debt waiver
Visiting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva yesterday offered to write off a more than $240 million (about Sh336 billion) debt Tanzania owes his country. Speaking in Dar es Salaam, the Brazilian leader said his country was ready to discuss the modalities of relieving Tanzania of the burden Read More

Kenya, Brazil trade pact to boost economic ties
Brazil, the world's eighth largest economy has signed six bilateral agreement with Kenya to boost trade, investments and economic ties between the two countries.President Kibaki and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva witnessed the signing of the agreement that seeks to explore investment opportunities in agriculture, manufacturing, energy, ICT, exploration of natural resources and housing.The agreements also included a pact on cooperation in energy, education and performance of remunerated services activities by dependants of diplomatic, consular, military, administrative and technical staff Read More

Brazil's Lula pays tribute to Africa's historic
Lula has made Africa a priority in his foreign policy. Brazil is committed to help Africa build a future of stability and development, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said. On his last African tour as president, he said Brazil could never repay its historic debt to the continent. His successor would have a moral duty to increase trade and investment, he told West African leaders in Cape VerdeRead More

In other Emerging News....
The Russians are coming to Africa
The Russians, who for the last two decades had forgotten that the world has a continent called Africa, are now waking up to join the vibrant club of opportunity grabbers on the continent led by the Chinese. The neglect of Africa by post-Soviet Russia was an inherent result of a strategic policy designed to extend Moscow’s sphere of influence in Africa during the Cold War. That policy took advantage of the freedom struggles in Africa to bring weapons and economic aid but without building a solid foundation for long-term cooperation[url=
Read]http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/editorial-analysis/47-columnists/2862-the-russians-are-coming-to-africa]Read More[/url]

‘Nothing new’ in Nedbank takeover talk
JUST when Nedbank thought it had heard the last of unwanted suitors keen to prise it away from majority shareholder Old Mutual , it was forced yesterday to respond to reports that yet another was making a bid for it. Sky News yesterday reported that HSBC — Europe’s largest bank — was evaluating a bid for Nedbank, the smallest of SA’s big four banks by market capitalisation. The latest speculation came after a recent report that Standard Chartered Bank , which derives up to 90% of its annual profit from emerging markets, was also keen to buy Nedbank as part of plans to expand in Africa, where it operates in several countries [url= Read]http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=114243]Read More[/url]

On top of the world: Why Brazil is booming
Not everything in Brazil is beautiful. Not the slums, or favelas, which ring cities like this one or Rio de Janeiro, or last Saturday's national glee when Argentina – neighbour and perennial rival – crashed out of the World Cup one day after the Brazilian squad's humiliating Dutch demise. ("Que desgraca!" squealed an old man when the stricken face of Diego Maradona filled the TVs in a bar on Sao Paulo's Teodoro Street.)Yet you cannot spend a day in Brazil without sensing the economic miracles happening here – first quarter growth touched 9 per cent and the helicopter pads atop the skyscrapers of Sao Paulo are buzzing with air traffic again – or hearing of the achievements of its President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, recently named the world's most influential leader by Time Magazine, in raising the country's profile on the world stage and lifting much of the population out of poverty. The somewhat lefty party-goers were not actually thinking of Lula and Brazil as they sang about daddy and his baby, but they could have beenRead More

Davies uses World Cup to lure Chinese investors
As President Jacob Zuma urged fund managers this week not only to invest in South Africa but look to an integrating southern African region and a continent that plans a free trade area from Cape to Cairo, his Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies was in Shanghai wooing Chinese investment in South Africa. Davies, who has become a bit of a hawk compared to his predecessors favouring protectionist measures, particularly on Chinese textile imports, urged Chinese companies to invest in South Africa's mining beneficiation, capital equipment and metals sectors. Davies delivered the keynote address at the China-South Africa business seminar that took place at the Portman Carlton Hotel Read More

Free-trade agreement with China not on cards
SA WILL not pursue a conventional free-trade agreement with China as this is not in the interests of the country, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says. If it were to make a conventional free-trade agreement with China, SA would not be able to compete with that nation’s economies of scale. In an interview with Business Day from China yesterday, Mr Davies said SA was not at a developmental stage to initiate discussions on a free- trade deal with one of the fastest- growing economies in the world Read More

Blogs, Opinion, Papers
The BRIC bloc
In his 2003 study Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050, the Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill estimated that within four more decades the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China would equal in size those of the G6 (US, Germany, Japan, UK, France and Italy). That shift seems well underway: In 2000 the BRIC countries accounted for a sixth of the world economy; they now account for a quarter (in equivalent buying power). While the US, Europe and Japan are in the doldrums, the BRICs go on growing. A third of world growth in the last decade has taken place in these countries. So far, so good for the BRICs, but where next? Obviously these trends are extrapolations, based on scenarios which may or may not come true, and forecasting exercises also contain arbitrary elements that ring less true when fully under the microscope. Russia, for instance, is not an emerging power, but a power in decline. In fact her problems bear comparisons with other European powers: she had an empire but lost it; her demography is in sharp regression; her neighbours are culturally distinct, and distrust her; and her economy is uncompetitive (though with plenty of raw materials) Read More

China’s Outward Direct Investment in Africa
This paper examines the empirical determinants of China’s Outward Direct Investment (ODI) in Africa. Using two data sets, a unique China’s approved ODI and a new ODI data set in OECD-IMF standard, we identify some conventional determinants and discover some interesting results of China’s ODI activities in Africa. China’s ODI seeks the African market, invests more when the local currency is relatively cheap, and prefers to go to countries with better economic conditions. In contrast to conventional wisdom, more corruption seems to draw increased ODI from China. China’s ODI targets African energy by implementing two discrete, yet ordered steps: First, it assesses and selects which country to invest in – at this stage, energy outputs in a country does not affect the probability of receiving China’s ODI. In the second step, China decides the volume of its ODI in the selected countries – it invests more in selected oil producing African countries with more energy outputs. Apparently, China’s “going global” policy has implications for its ODI activity in oil producing African countries [url= Paper]http://www.apeaweb.org/confer/hk10/papers/qian_xw.pdf]Paper Available Here[/url]

Towards a Broader View of the Politics of Global Land Grabbing
The spectre of a global land grab by foreign transnationals has captured media attention, but perhaps the bigger danger lies in the response by institutions like the World Bank. Their blindness to the international agro-industrial pressures on rural communities as well as the complex political social dynamics in rural areas are likely to entrench dispossession rather than prevent it[url=http://www.tni.org/paper/towards-broader-view-politics-global-land-grabbing]Paper Available Here [url=http://www.tni.org/sites/www.tni.org/files/Borras%20Franco%20Politics%20of%20Land%20Grab%20v3.pdf]

Export Dependence and Sustainability of Growth in China and the East Asian Production Network
The South Centre has published a research paper by its Special Economic Advisor and Chief Economist Yilmaz Akyuz, addressing export dependence and their contribution to growth in China and its supplier developing economies in East Asia, in the context of re-examining their growth strategies in light of the global economic crisis and medium term global growth prospects.The paper shows empirical evidence which suggests that in recent years the average import content of Chinese exports has been between 40 and 50 per cent. In spite of this, about one-third of growth of income in China is estimated to have been due to exports because of their rapid growth reaching 25 per cent per annum. This figure goes up to 50 per cent if spillovers to domestic consumption and investment are accounted for. The sharp contraction of exports in 2009 resulted in a swing of almost 6 percentage points from 2002-07 in their contribution to growth and this could only be partly offset by a massive intervention package Read More

Africa increases trade with China, others
A major impediment to economic development in Africa and other former colonial territories in the world has been the legacy of imperialism and its stronghold on the productive forces within these states. The phenomenon of neocolonialism has hampered so-called Third World countries from exercising their independence irrespective of the political and class character of the leadership within the developing nations Read More

China-Africa Cooperation Pushing Africa's Economic Development
Against the backdrop of China-Africa friendly cooperation, China's assistance to African countries totaled RMB 76 billion by September 2009, and issued RMB 46 billion of loans by 2008. China has assisted African countries to complete over 900 projects including textile factories, hydro power plants, stadiums, hospitals and schools, half of which being related to local people's wellbeing. When Western countries focus on "capacity building" and other "software projects", China pays more attention to investing in "hardware projects" such as roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, which deliver tangible benefits to the locals. The Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank), founded in 1994, plays an important role in offering loan support to these infrastructure projects Read More

Podcasts and Videos
Africa/ China: Sino-African Soccer and Other Relations
Unlike most reports that focus on the merchant class and blue-collar jobs, this report focuses more on the student class and white-collar workers and their movement and negotiations through a more middle class China [url=http://bombasticelements.blogspot.com/2010/07/africa-china-sino-african-soccer-and.html]Watch Here[/ur/]

Africa/China: Two Way Immigration and Stereotypes
AlJazeera's cameras return to "Chocolate City" to report China, with the influx of new African immigrants, has set the wheels rolling on a new immigration law Watch Here

Africa/ China: The Chinese Expansionist Defense
AlJazeera also looks at what China has to say for herself concerning CIF's $7 billion deal to invest in Guinea's bauxite mines, in the shadow of a junta that opened fire on demonstrators late last month, killing up to 157, and raped women in public. China's defense? "All the Western companies are still here doing business; why is no one asking them to leave?" Watch Here


BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Sanusha Naidu is research director of Fahamu’s Emerging powers in Africa programme.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Africa: Court must fight impunity, say African delegates

2010-07-09

http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/newrels/icc.html

When African delegates arrived in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, in May for the first review conference of the statue that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), they were aware that some in Africa believe that the court unfairly targets political figures from the continent. Indeed, all five cases currently being handled by the court, which is based in The Hague, involve African leaders. It was therefore notable that delegates from 30 African countries ultimately agreed that the charge of “unfairness” is flawed.

Africa: West Africa needs to work on good governance - Ban

2010-07-09

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35272

Although some West African countries have made positive gains in consolidating peace and human rights, such strides are being undercut by the paucity of good governance, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in a new report. “The resurgence of coups d’état in West Africa, which I have consistently denounced, and the major role played by the armed forces in these coups, are a reflection of the difficult civil-military relationships in situations of bad governance,” he says.

Egypt: Brotherhood gathers signatures for change

2010-07-09

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE66801Z20100709

Egypt's biggest opposition bloc, the Muslim Brotherhood, has set up a website to help potential presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei gather support in his campaign for change and political reform. The website, also joined by other opposition groups, has collected almost 3,000 signatures since its launch late on Wednesday, in a sign the banned group is capable of mustering large numbers of supporters for a cause.

Guinea Bissau: Lack of reforms could undermine progress

2010-07-09

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35267

The progress made by Guinea-Bissau following last year’s political crisis could be jeopardized unless major reforms in the areas of defence and security are carried out, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a new report. Recent months have witnessed rising political and security tensions in the country, where a series of political assassinations last year had threatened security and stability but where order was restored with the election of Malam Bacai Sanhá in the June 2009 presidential election.

North Africa: Egypt practices for bigger rigging

2010-07-08

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52055

Egypt's recently concluded Shura Council elections were accompanied by widespread reports of serious electoral breaches by the ruling party. According to analysts and opposition figures, such voting "irregularities" bode poorly for upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

Egypt: Corruption watchdogs bite selectively

2010-07-09

http://ipsnews.net/newsTVE.asp?idnews=52085

Anti-corruption watchdogs have shown their teeth, but Egypt's fat cats appear safe from prosecution as long as they stay in favour with the regime. "The state investigates corruption but usually only after officials are out of office, and only with the green light from above," says anti-corruption expert Ahmed Sakr Ashour. "We need (to prosecute) these officials while they are in office and abusing power."

Kenya: Defiant MPs stay put to demand more pay

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/9JcQcC

Anger against the push by MPs to increase their pay was on Thursday written on the faces of these Kenyans demonstrating outside Parliament. But inside the Chamber, the people’s representatives were unmoved in their resolve for more pay and refused to adjourn until the extra money was in their pockets. MPs, with the apparent support of the front bench, refused to second an adjournment motion moved by Government joint Chief Whip Jakoyo Midiwo to pave way for the break until August 10.

Morocco: Anti-corruption body reveals legal loopholes

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/drmakl

Morocco must combat corruption by adopting an overall strategy that includes more than just punitive measures, according to the Central Authority for the Prevention of Corruption (ICPC). "Punishment alone is not enough," ICPC chief Abdesselam Aboudrar said Tuesday (July 6th) in Rabat at the presentation of his group's annual report.

Africa: Market-led development aid for Africa

Good for business, bad for farmers

2010-07-08

http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/3004

USAID administrator Rajiv Shah recently gave a speech to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) in Washington, DC entitled Achieving High Impact Development: A Vision for USAID. Shah's idea of high impact development was a "distinctly American" contribution: the "culture of risk-taking and entrepreneurship." In a speech heavy with platitudes about American diversity, dedication

Africa: UNCTAD "Forgets" real risks faced by African farmers

2010-07-08

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52001

The latest UNCTAD report on science and technology repeats previous calls for a "green revolution" in African agriculture but contains no mention of the real and present dangers that the international trade and financial framework presents to African farmers. In the report, titled "Enhancing Food Security in Africa Through Science, Technology and Innovation", UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) warns that sub-Saharan Africa is very likely to miss the first millennium development goal (MDG) due to ineffective farming techniques and wasteful post-harvest practices.

Africa: Well adapted livestock key to sustainable productivity

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/91oZuK

The genetically diverse and "exquisitely well adapted" traits of Africa's livestock should be better harnessed to meet the continent's needs. Seventy per cent of Africa's rural poor keep livestock and 200 million people depend on the animals for their livelihoods. African livestock breeds have successfully survived, and adapted to, an extraordinary range of diseases and climate changes. But they are currently being displaced by "exotic" breeds imported from the developed world.

East Africa: Freedom of movement to help pastoralist lifestyles

2010-07-08

http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=89683

Pastoralists across East Africa are set to benefit as the region’s national borders are relaxed amid joint efforts to mitigate the risks associated with their migration. "With the coming into effect [on 1 July] of the common market protocol, pastoralists like the Maasai, the Pokot and the Somali who do not believe in borders as they have kin in more than one country will enjoy better freedom of movement across the borders," Augustine Lotodo, a member of parliament in the East African Legislative Assembly said. The protocol allows free movement of people, goods, services and capital across the East African Community’s five members: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi.

Global: Agroecology "Outperforms large-scale industrial farming'

2010-07-08

http://bit.ly/bs2Rfm

Governments and international agencies urgently need to boost ecological farming techniques to increase food production and save the climate,” said UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, while presenting the findings at an international meeting on agroecology held in Brussels on 21 and 22 June. Along with 25 of the world’s most renowned experts on agroecology, the UN expert urged the international community to re-think current agricultural policies and build on the potential of agroecology.

Global: Rich countries breaching WTO rules on export subsidies

2010-07-08

http://bit.ly/clazjg

Under one of the 60 or so agreements of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement), WTO member countries are prohibited from providing government or state subsidies to exporters. When most of the WTO agreements were finalised back in 1994, however, the world's richest countries obtained an exception for their export credit agencies (ECAs) -- the organisations that use taxpayers' money to provide various financial services to private corporations from their home country to assist them in doing business abroad.

West Africa: New cocoa agreement sweeter for producers

2010-07-08

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52052

The new international cocoa agreement will provide a positive shake-up in the cocoa market and ensure better prices for stakeholders, including small farmers. It also strengthens the participation of civil society and the private sector in the cocoa industry, according to Guy-Alain Emmanuel Gauze, Côte d’Ivoire’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva and president of the UN cocoa conference.

Africa: Good early increases in CD4 count reduce mortality risk

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/a8qmFI

Robust early increases in CD4 cell count reduce the risk of death for patients with HIV, even those who are severely malnourished, investigators from Zambia report in the online edition of AIDS. The large, prospective study showed that an increase in CD4 cell count of less than 100 cells/mm3 six months after starting HIV treatment was associated with an increased risk of mortality, especially for those who were malnourished.

Africa: Money no protection from HIV

2010-07-09

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89746

A new study has challenged widely held assumptions about income level in relation to HIV, finding that neither wealth nor poverty are reliable predictors of HIV infection in Africa. Previously, the argument that poverty drove HIV epidemics was supported by the World Bank and UNAIDS, as well as less reliable authorities like former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who told the International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000 that the disease was a partner with "poverty, suffering, social disadvantage and inequity".

Namibia: government lifts ban on people living with Aids

2010-07-09

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35266

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has welcomed Namibia’s decision to remove travel restrictions for people living with the virus, a move that aligns the country’s laws with international public health standards. The new legislation lifting restrictions for people living with HIV/AIDS and other contagious diseases took effect in Namibia on 1 July. Restrictions that limit movement based on HIV-positive status only are discriminatory and violate human rights, according to UNAIDS.

South Africa: Circumcision clamp slammed

2010-07-09

http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article.php?uid=20032857

HIV doctors and activists have slammed a male circumcision clamp that is being aggressively marketed in South Africa and the rest of the continent with a small study showing that it is much more painful that the surgical route and has more adverse events. In a joint statement the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society and the Treatment Action Campaign said although they supported the implementation of a country-wide voluntary male medical circumcision (VMMC) programme, they had concerns about the Tara Klamp.

South Africa: Counsellors to "give the prick"

2010-07-09

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89779

Lay counsellors in South Africa can now legally perform HIV tests, but delays in paying them and shortages of test kits are threatening a national campaign to scale up voluntary HIV testing and counselling (VCT). Before new regulations came into effect in May 2010 only nurses were allowed to administer finger-prick HIV tests, but AIDS activists had long argued that this not only added to an already heavy work load, but could also hamstring the VCT campaign aiming to test 15 million South Africans by 2011.

Tanzania: Taking the HIV risk out of road crews

2010-07-09

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89769

An initiative by the Tanzanian government hopes to reduce HIV transmission along the country's expanding road network by targeting construction crews and the communities that surround them. "The government requires that road construction companies implement HIV prevention services for their workers and for the community because this is one way through which HIV can very easily spread in a community," said Moses Kisimo, community HIV/AIDS coordinator in the northeastern district of Tanga. "The strategy is: Construct roads and also prevent the spread of HIV."

Zambia: Parents' fears slowing uptake of paediatric AIDS treatment

2010-07-08

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=52070

Diana Banda* is quickly running out of excuses to give her six-year-old son about why he has to take a schedule of drugs every day. Her son David* is HIV-positive and has been on anti-retroviral treatment (ART) for two years. But he may not learn the truth about his HIV status anytime soon as his mother thinks up one excuse after another as to why he has to religiously take the drugs.

Africa: Cameroon denies homosexuals face persecution

2010-07-09

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/10550576.stm

Cameroon's government has rejected the claim by a gay asylum seeker in the UK that he would face persecution if he returned home. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court in London ruled in favour of the man, and a similar claimant from Iran.

Kenya: Gays learn new rights as law is published

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/cYUzNN

With a view to raising awareness about available protections of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Kenyans in the Bill of Rights Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya hosted a Civic Education day on 19 June. The proposed new constitution, a summary of 18 chapters, was a theme for this day with discussions on how it will affect the Kenyan LGBT community.

Rwanda: Gay arrests peak as elections approach

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/b2jdTT

While Rwanda prepares for the upcoming presidential elections to be held in August this year, concerns are mounting regarding the future of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI) as arbitrary arrests of these groups continue to swoop the country. Naome Ruzindana, Director of Horizon Community Association (HOCA) said numerous cases of arrests and abuse of the LGBTI people have gone unnoticed in Rwanda and “this is because there is no documentation of such cases and in some instances we find out at a later stage and then when we try to follow up, the people involved do not want to cooperate and some live in fear of being re-arrested, making it difficult for them to reach out to us.”

South Africa: Nipping xenophobia in the bud

2010-07-09

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89744

A series of meetings to educate residents about xenophobia in the informal settlement of Du Noon, Cape Town, will begin on 7 July and run until the final game of the FIFA World Cup on 11 July. On 27 June units of the South African army were deployed to the township in what police described as an "anti-crime operation", after widespread reports had been circulating that foreign nationals would be attacked on 12 July - the day after the final soccer world cup match.

Africa: Observatories to gather biodiversity data

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/ceb5Xi

Scientists are pooling remote-sensing satellite data and geographical information services for two pan-African digital observatories that will provide accurate and readily accessible information on biodiversity and forest cover for policy-makers. Under a grant awarded in 2009, the European Commission's (EC) Joint Research Centre (JRC) is supporting the development of the observatories, details of which were discussed at the fourth EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF 2010).

Mozambique: Women at forefront of resisting climate change

2010-07-09

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52081

The Mozambican government has adopted various policies to address the effects of climate change, with special attention to women as studies show that they are more adversely affected by this phenomenon. The south-east African country, with its coastline of 2,700 km stretching along the Indian Ocean, has increasingly been subjected to environmental disasters over the past decade.

Nigeria: Zamfara government inaction cost communities 163 lives

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/cryEak

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) in collaboration with the Women Environmental Programme (WEP) visited communities in three local government areas – Nassarawa LGA, Dareta Village in Anka LGA and Yar Garma in Bukkuyum LGA of Zamfara State on June 17 and 18, 2010 following reports of human and animal deaths from exposure to high levels of lead from mined ore in the communities.

Africa: Foreign investors spark fear of new colonialism

2010-07-09

http://farmlandgrab.org/14168

The global food crisis of 2008 may have been superseded by the global financial crisis of 2009, but the jump in basic commodity prices that it brought about bodes ill for the developing world. In a bid to stave off a worst-case scenario of empty shelves and ration queues, many nations which rely on food imports have switched to a new strategy for food security — buying or leasing farmland overseas.

Sudan: Mega-project hits new snag

2010-07-09

http://farmlandgrab.org/14183

Jordan’s long-awaited agricultural mega-project in Sudan is facing further delays due to a dispute raised by the foreign investment company over the implementation mechanism, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Discussions between the ministry and a group of prospective investors in the mega-project are at a standstill after the investors insisted on owning the lands allocated by the Sudanese government for the project

Global: Food Sovereignty Coalition launches mobilization campaign

2010-07-08

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2010/25/c8378.html

Taking advantage of the G8 and G20 Summits in Toronto, the Food Sovereignty Coalition is warning the leaders of these countries about the global food disorder and is calling upon them to learn a lesson from it. Consequently, the Coalition is launching a mobilization campaign, the objective being to convince the G20 leaders that governments of the world should do everything possible to regain control of their national and the world's food systems, where failures are already afflicting a third of humanity.

Global: Monsanto, Big Brother of the New World Agricultural Order

2010-07-08

http://bit.ly/bTnTy6

Award-winning French journalist and filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin is the author of "The World According to Monsanto: Pollution, Corruption and the Control of Our Food Supply" (The New Press) and the creator of the film by the same name. In a review of these two projects, Leslie Thatcher writes: "What Marie-Monique Robin most effectively documents are the perverse effects - the moral, social, technological, economic and market failures - of Western society's economic organization, most specifically with respect to science and the products of science and, ultimately, with respect to the preservation of the public commons and human life on the planet.

Global: Tackling the Global Food Crisis: A Mission Unaccomplished

New Report

2010-07-08

http://bit.ly/clgNd9

A new report, The High Food Price Challenge: A Review of Responses to Combat Hunger, by the UK Hunger Alliance and the Oakland Institute, reveals that a major initiative, launched by the Group of 8 (G8), in July 2009 has failed to address the global hunger crisis, which currently affects more than a billion people.

West Africa: Aid agencies call for surge in aid

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/a7yr0N

Ten leading aid agencies have called for a 'surge' in the humanitarian effort to help 10 million people at risk of acute hunger across the Sahel region of West and Central Africa. The centre of the crisis is Niger, where seven million people, almost half the population do not have enough food. A further two million people in Chad, and hundreds of thousands more in Mali, Mauritania, parts of Burkina Faso and the extreme north of Nigeria are also suffering as a result of the crisis.

Africa: Assisting countries emerging from war

2010-07-09

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35276

Representatives from the United Nations and the African Union met in New York to discuss ways of boosting cooperation between the two bodies to support the efforts of post-conflict countries, particularly in Africa, to establish lasting peace. This was the first consultative meeting of the members of the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and the AU Peace and Security Council, and builds on the visit of the PBC to the AU’s headquarters in Addis Ababa in November 2009.

DRC: Warlord's ICC trial suspended

2010-07-09

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35274

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today suspended proceedings in the case of a Congolese warlord accused of recruiting child soldiers, saying that prosecutors have refused orders to disclose information to his defence. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, the founder and leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots in the Ituri region of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), faces two counts of war crimes: conscripting and enlisting child soldiers into the military wing of his group and then using them to participate in hostilities between September 2002 and August 2003

Global: Haiti and Mozambique most vulnerable to disaster losses

2010-07-09

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MMAO-876BVU?OpenDocument

New research identifying Haiti and Mozambique as the countries most vulnerable to economic losses from natural disasters also classifies a number of industrialised economies, including Italy, Japan, China, USA, Spain and France, as "high risk" environments for investors, insurers and business.

Somalia: Somalis protest against more peacekeepers

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/azXNSi

Hundreds of Somalis in five towns controlled by Islamist rebels protested against plans to deploy extra peacekeepers in Somalia. The protesters including veiled women and children brandishing AK-47 automatic rifles took the streets in the port town Kismayo, around 310 miles (500 kilometers) south of the capital of Mogadishu. They were chanting slogans against the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and western backed government led by former Islamist leader Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Sudan: Clashes and demos in Abyei

2010-07-08

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=89764

Tension over the future of Abyei, a flashpoint region roughly the size Lebanon on Sudan’s north-south border, erupted into armed violence and street demonstrations this week. On 5 July, gunmen mounted an attack near the village of Tajalei, about 30km northeast of Abyei town, killing five people, a police officer and four civilians.

Africa: Special FAO online forum to discuss gender, ICTs and rural livelihoods

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/9rPvQE

From 5 – 16 July 2010, a special online forum being hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization’s e-agriculture.org initiative, and will discuss the issues surrounding gender, ICTs and rural livelihoods. The forum will also be moderated by the APC’s Jennifer Radloff as part of the Gender, agriculture and rural development in the information society. (GenARDIS) project. Join e-agriculture and GenARDIS for this forum, which will look at what has and has not worked, good practices, as well as the critical area of capacity building and what can be done to empower men and women to play a bigger role in ICTs for agriculture and rural development.

East Africa: EASSy arrival will bring down prices

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/dwl8fP

The EASSy cable connecting the east coat seaboard is currently in its testing phase and will go live some time around the middle of this month. Its WIOCC shareholder consortium has always promised lower rates and better transit prices and these are on their way. But the new landing stations have energised backbone roll-out, particularly in Tanzania. All of this will leave satellite as a niche transport application in the key East African markets. Russell Southwood looks at the heady pace of change.

East Africa: Fault disrupts Seacom internet cable

2010-07-09

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10536273.stm

An undersea cable that brought high-speed net access to East Africa for the first time has been hit by a fault, knocking many in the region offline. The owners of the Seacom cable said the exact cause of the fault was "still being investigated", but was thought to originate off the Kenyan coast.

Ghana: Additional U.S.$44.7 million for E-Ghana project

2010-07-09

http://bit.ly/a3gaKa

The World Bank has approved financing in the amount of US$44.7 million from the International Development Association (IDA) to the Government of Ghana as additional funding for the ongoing eGhana Project. The original eGhana Project of US$40 million was approved in 2006 to support the Ghana Information Communication Technology (ICT) for Accelerated Development Program.

Nigeria: Facebook influences football team ban U-turn

2010-07-09

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/10525699.stm

Nigeria's president has said the hundreds of posts on his Facebook page helped persuade him to reverse his suspension of the national football team from international competition. "I have listened to your voices," Goodluck Jonathan said in a posting on the social networking site.

i-ProBono - Connecting the pro bono community

2010-07-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/65939

Does your organisation need legal help? i-ProBono is a new, free website to connect organisations that need legal assistance with lawyers and students who want to use their legal skills for the public good. Partnered with A4ID, LawWorks and the Bar Pro Bono Unit, i-ProBono has a global network of over 40,000 lawyers. It’s quick and easy for organisations to post projects on the website, ranging from legal advice, to internships, to smaller tasks like translation or research. i-ProBono will match your project instantly with the profiles of lawyers or students who can best assist you and allows you to immediately contact them through the website. It only takes a few minutes to sign up! – or you can contact shireen.irani@i-probono.com

Global: Lasting Impacts - July Issue

Innovations in Research

IDRC

2010-07-08

http://www.idrc.ca/lastingimpacts/ev-156064-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

The July issue of IDRC's Lasting Impacts is entitled "Innovations in Research". among the topics discussed: Three decades of work by the Nairobi-based World Agroforestry Centre (WAC) has turned a traditional practice — growing trees and shrubs alongside crops — into a science-based discipline. That science, agroforestry, is now recognized around the world for its potential to provide food, fodder, increase crop yields and incomes, protect watersheds, provide energy, prevent land degradation, and more.

Director of Studies - World Peace Academy

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/65794

The World Peace Academy - Swiss Center for Peace Studies in Basel, Switzerland (see www.world-peace-academy.ch), is a young institution of higher learning, which offers a "Master of Advanced Studies in Peace and Conflict Transformation" in cooperation with the University of Basel since 1 March 2010. The World Peace Academy is looking for a Director of Studies (50-60%), beginning immediately or upon mutual agreement.
The World Peace Academy - Swiss Center for Peace Studies in Basel, Switzerland (see www.world-peace-academy.ch), is a young institution of higher learning, which offers a “Master of Advanced Studies in Peace and Conflict Transformation” in cooperation with the University of Basel since 1 March 2010.
The World Peace Academy is looking for a Director of Studies (50-60%), beginning immediately or upon mutual agreement.

Your tasks:
You are responsible for the coordination and implementation of the course of studies. You advise and accompany the individual students from all over the world. Your knowledge in the field of “Peace and Conflict” and in academic work in general represents an important support for our students. Depending on your area of specialization, if there is a demand, you may occasionally teach a course within our MAS program.

Your profile:
You have a doctorate in peace studies or a related field. Preferably, you also have some practical experience in working for peace. You have high social competence, are a good communicator, team player, innovative, precise, and open for new ideas. Your organizational talent enables you to perform your tasks properly and with competence. You are fluent in English, both orally and in writing, and can also express yourself in German. You wish to participate in the development of a young institution with high motivation and idealism.

The WPA offers:
An attractive position in a multi-cultural environment. An engaged and open-minded team of colleagues. Independent work with great responsibility. Our humane working culture promotes a good balance between life and work. Vacations and social services correspond to Swiss labor laws. The position is expandable.

We look forward to a dialogue with you about a common future. If you are interested, Catherine Brunner will be happy to provide you with initial information by phone at
+41-61-534-2921.

Please send your full application with CV, picture and letter of motivation to Catherine Brunner, World Peace Academy, Güterstrasse 81, 4053 Basel, Switzerland, or email to c.brunner@world-peace-academy.ch

Regional representative in southern Africa - Open Channels

2010-07-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/65821

Open Channels is seeking to appoint an experienced individual to support its work with indigenous peoples in southern Africa, and in particular its work with San communities in Botswana. Interested applicants should submit their résumé, a covering letter and details of three references, all to be sent as attachments, by email to Open Channels’ administrator at: sallanm@tiscali.co.uk The closing date for applications is 21st July 2010.
Open Channels is seeking to appoint an experienced individual to support its work with indigenous peoples in southern Africa, and in particular its work with San communities in Botswana.

Application process
Interested applicants should submit their résumé, a covering letter and details of three references, all to be sent as attachments, by email to Open Channels’ administrator at: sallanm@tiscali.co.uk

The closing date for applications is 21st July 2010.

1. Background

Open Channels (OC) is a UK based charity which seeks to identify, support and strengthen indigenous groups in their defense of and claim to land, resources and heritage that are theirs and are at risk. OC has particular expertise in community eco-mapping, which has been used to secure resources and establish culturally based livelihoods.

OC works with San groups and partner organizations in southern Africa and has been working with Letloa Trust since 2005. Letloa Trust is the lead organization of the Kuru Family of Organizations (KFO) with a mandate to give strategic direction to the KFO, to build the capacity of members (Komku Trust, Bokamoso Trust, Ghanzi Crafts, San Art and Crafts, South African San Institute, TOCaDI, D’kar Trust), and to provide technical, institutional and financial management and fundraising support to the member organizations that make up the KFO.

The aims and objectives of the OC–Letloa partnership are:

• to secure San rights to land and resources;
• to secure San income from land-based livelihood activities;
• to support the work of Letloa Trust’s Land, Livelihoods and Heritage Centre;
• to establish local and indigenous capacity to carry out mapping work with San communities - i.e. use GIS and digital technology to generate, analyse and transform data into practical land-use management tools including maps and management plans;
• to develop skills within the San community in both the field work and data processing that go with the mapping;
• to work with San communities on the products that are needed for securing rights to land and resources and on development plans that utilize those products;
• to promote internal and cross-border linkages and information between San communities in Botswana, Namibia and Angola;
• to build and reinforce relationships between government departments responsible for San resources and well-being;
• to build dialogue and share experience of all this work within KFO;
• to set up a regionally respected programme for training San to a sufficient level to take key technical and leadership roles at local, regional and national level;
• to consolidate the internal, organizational strength of Letloa Trust.

The work is funded by a strategic grant from the UK charity Comic Relief.

2. General scope of the job

OC is seeking a regional representative whose main roles will be to:
• keep OC informed of progress and challenges in the work it is supporting in southern Africa;
• provide engaged monitoring and learning to Letloa Trust with regard to the programme of work funded by Comic Relief;
• where appropriate and as needed, provide mentoring and capacity building support to members of the Letloa team responsible for the Land, Livelihoods and Heritage Centre.

Desired results:
• to effectively track programme implementation and the operational budget, and income and expenditure management by Letloa Trust according to an agreed framework;
• to support local team members and build their capacity for self-management.

3. Services to be provided

Letloa Trust
• Monitor implementation of 6-monthly plans and overall progress relative to the agreed framework
• Track 6-monthly budgets
• Track the learning processes
• Scrutinize above three items and finance statements and provide status reports to OC administrator
• Arrange for a minimum of 3 site visits to meet with the managers of the OC-funded programme components
• If required, assist with arrangements for the mid-term and end of grant external evaluations
• Provide mentoring and capacity building support if requested.

Open Channels
• Provide written and verbal reports to OC as appropriate
• Submit formal reports after each field trip within 1 week of the visit
• Contribute to reports to funders
• Participate in telephone conference meetings with the OC board as appropriate
• Assist with the arrangement and management of external evaluations
• Be a point of contact for OC in relation to its other work in the region.

4. Organisational relationships

Services are to be provided under the direction of the OC board through the OC administrator.

5. Working conditions and schedule

• A total of 3 days per month working from own office base to manage administrative matters and maintain contact with OC and Letloa Trust.
• A maximum of 27 days per year (including travel days), for field trips, to include 3 monitoring visits plus capacity building workshops or attendance at other events as required.
• Term: 1 year from date of appointment.

6. Qualifications and experience required

• At least five years experience working with NGOs and/or on the ground projects focusing on cultural heritage and economic development of rural and/or indigenous peoples.
• Strong analytical and reporting skills.
• Experience of mentoring in management and project design.
• Familiarity with and a supportive attitude towards processes of strengthening local organizations and building local capacities for self-management.
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills.
• Proven ability to engage with people living at the very margins of the developed world.
• Fluency in English essential. Knowledge of Setswana useful but not essential. Extensive knowledge of working with and through interpreters.
• Readiness to spend time in Botswana.
• Experience of writing reports that are both evaluative and constructive.


7. Remuneration
A daily consultancy rate commensurate with international NGOs in southern Africa, plus travel and operating costs based on an agreed budget.

South African soccer: For the love of the game?

2010-07-09

http://www.sacsis.org.za/site/article/509.1

The sun has almost set on the Soccer World Cup and its seeming suspension of our South African 'normalcy'. No doubt, many will try their best to continue to bask in its positively proclaimed 'developmental legacy'; but, as sure as the sun will rise on the morning after, so too will the reality of that ‘normalcy’ bite us like an unhappy dog. Nowhere will this be more apparent than in the world of South African soccer itself.

Fahamu