Current Issue

The increasing US shadow wars in Africa

Nick Turse

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83724

cc US ArmyUnbeknownst to most Americans and people around the world, the US has been steadily increasing its military footprint in Africa.

They call it the New Spice Route, an homage to the medieval trade network that connected Europe, Africa and Asia, even if today's "spice road" has nothing to do with cinnamon, cloves, or silks. Instead, it's a superpower's superhighway, on which trucks and ships shuttle fuel, food and military equipment through a growing maritime and ground transportation infrastructure to a network of supply depots, tiny camps and airfields meant to service a fast-growing US military presence in Africa.

Few in the US know about this superhighway, or about the dozens of training missions and joint military exercises being carried out in nations that most Americans couldn't locate on a map. Even fewer have any idea that military officials are invoking the names of Marco Polo and the Queen of Sheba as they build a bigger military footprint in Africa. It's all happening in the shadows of what in a previous imperial age was known as "the Dark Continent."

In East African ports, huge metal shipping containers arrive with the everyday necessities for a military on the make. They're then loaded onto trucks that set off down rutted roads toward dusty bases and distant outposts.

On the highway from Djibouti to Ethiopia, for example, one can see the bare outlines of this shadow war at the truck stops where local drivers take a break from their long-haul routes. The same is true in other African countries. The nodes of the network tell part of the story: Manda Bay, Garissa, and Mombasa in Kenya; Kampala and Entebbe in Uganda; Bangui and Djema in the Central African Republic; Nzara in South Sudan; Dire Dawa in Ethiopia; and the Pentagon's showpiece African base, Camp Lemonnier, in Djibouti on the coast of the Gulf of Aden, among others.

According to Pat Barnes, a spokesman for US Africa Command (AFRICOM), Camp Lemonnier serves as the only official US base on the continent. "There are more than 2,000 US personnel stationed there," he told TomDispatch recently by email. "The primary AFRICOM organization at Camp Lemonnier is Combined Joint Task Force -- Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). CJTF-HOA's efforts are focused in East Africa and they work with partner nations to assist them in strengthening their defense capabilities."

Barnes also noted that Department of Defense personnel are assigned to US embassies across Africa, including 21 individual Offices of Security Cooperation responsible for facilitating military-to-military activities with "partner nations." He characterized the forces involved as small teams carrying out pinpoint missions. Barnes did admit that in "several locations in Africa, AFRICOM has a small and temporary presence of personnel. In all cases, these military personnel are guests within host-nation facilities, and work alongside or coordinate with host-nation personnel."

SHADOW WARS

In 2003, when CJTF-HOA was first set up there, it was indeed true that the only major US outpost in Africa was Camp Lemonnier. In the ensuing years, in quiet and largely unnoticed ways, the Pentagon and the CIA have been spreading their forces across the continent. Today -- official designations aside -- the US maintains a surprising number of bases in Africa. And "strengthening" African armies turns out to be a truly elastic rubric for what's going on.

Under President Obama, in fact, operations in Africa have accelerated far beyond the more limited interventions of the Bush years: last year's war in Libya; a regional drone campaign with missions run out of airports and bases in Djibouti, Ethiopia, and the Indian Ocean archipelago nation of Seychelles; a flotilla of 30 ships in that ocean supporting regional operations; a multi-pronged military and CIA campaign against militants in Somalia, including intelligence operations, training for Somali agents, a secret prison, helicopter attacks, and US commando raids; a massive influx of cash for counterterrorism operations across East Africa; a possible old-fashioned air war, carried out on the sly in the region using manned aircraft; tens of millions of dollars in arms for allied mercenaries and African troops; and a special ops expeditionary force (bolstered by State Department experts) dispatched to help capture or kill Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony and his senior commanders. And this only begins to scratch the surface of Washington's fast-expanding plans and activities in the region.

To support these mushrooming missions, near-constant training operations, and alliance-building joint exercises, outposts of all sorts are sprouting continent-wide, connected by a sprawling shadow logistics network. Most American bases in Africa are still small and austere, but growing ever larger and more permanent in appearance. For example, photographs from last year of Ethiopia's Camp Gilbert, examined by TomDispatch, show a base filled with air-conditioned tents, metal shipping containers, and 55-gallon drums and other gear strapped to pallets, but also recreation facilities with TVs and videogames, and a well-appointed gym filled with stationary bikes, free weights, and other equipment.

CONTINENTAL DRIFT

After 9/11, the US military moved into three major regions in significant ways: South Asia (primarily Afghanistan), the Middle East (primarily Iraq), and the Horn of Africa. Today, the US is drawing down in Afghanistan and has largely left Iraq. Africa, however, remains a growth opportunity for the Pentagon.

The US is now involved, directly and by proxy, in military and surveillance operations against an expanding list of regional enemies. They include al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in North Africa; the Islamist movement Boko Haram in Nigeria; possible al-Qaeda-linked militants in post-Qaddafi Libya; Joseph Kony's murderous Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the Central African Republic, Congo, and South Sudan; Mali's Islamist Rebels of the Ansar Dine, al-Shabaab in Somalia; and guerrillas from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen.

A recent investigation by the Washington Post revealed that contractor-operated surveillance aircraft based out of Entebbe, Uganda, are scouring the territory used by Kony's LRA at the Pentagon's behest, and that 100 to 200 US commandos share a base with the Kenyan military at Manda Bay. Additionally, US drones are being flown out of Arba Minch airport in Ethiopia and from the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, while drones and F-15 fighter-bombers have been operating out of Camp Lemonnier as part of the shadow wars being waged by the US military and the CIA in Yemen and Somalia. Surveillance planes used for spy missions over Mali, Mauritania, and the Sahara desert are also flying missions from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, and plans are reportedly in the works for a similar base in the newborn nation of South Sudan.

US special operations forces are stationed at a string of even more shadowy forward operating posts on the continent, including one in Djema in the Central Africa Republic and others in Nzara in South Sudan and Dungu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The US also has had troops deployed in Mali, despite having officially suspended military relations with that country following a coup.

According to research by TomDispatch, the US Navy also has a forward operating location, manned mostly by Seabees, Civil Affairs personnel, and force-protection troops, known as Camp Gilbert in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. US military documents indicate that there may be other even lower-profile US facilities in the country. In addition to Camp Lemonnier, the US military also maintains another hole-and-corner outpost in Djibouti -- a Navy port facility that lacks even a name. AFRICOM did not respond to requests for further information on these posts before this article went to press.

Additionally, US Special Operations Forces are engaged in missions against the Lord's Resistance Army from a rugged camp in Obo in the Central African Republic, but little is said about that base either. "US military personnel working with regional militaries in the hunt for Joseph Kony are guests of the African security forces comprising the regional counter-LRA effort," Barnes told me. "Specifically in Obo, the troops live in a small camp and work with partner nation troops at a Ugandan facility that operates at the invitation of the government of the Central African Republic."

And that's still just part of the story. US troops are also working at bases inside Uganda. Earlier this year, elite Force Recon Marines from the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force 12 (SPMAGTF-12) trained soldiers from the Uganda People's Defense Force, which not only runs missions in the Central African Republic, but also acts as a proxy force for the US in Somalia in the battle against the Islamist militants known as al-Shabaab. They now supply the majority of the troops to the African Union Mission protecting the US-supported government in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

In the spring, Marines from SPMAGTF-12 also trained soldiers from the Burundi National Defense Force (BNDF), the second-largest contingent in Somalia. In April and May, members of Task Force Raptor, 3rd Squadron, 124th Cavalry Regiment, of the Texas National Guard took part in a training mission with the BNDF in Mudubugu, Burundi.

In February, SPMAGTF-12 sent trainers to Djibouti to work with an elite local army unit, while other Marines traveled to Liberia to focus on teaching riot-control techniques to Liberia's military as part of what is otherwise a State Department-directed effort to rebuild that force.

In addition, the US is conducting counterterrorism training and equipping militaries in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Tunisia. AFRICOM also has 14 major joint-training exercises planned for 2012, including operations in Morocco, Cameroon, Gabon, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Senegal, and Nigeria.

The size of US forces conducting these joint exercises and training missions fluctuates, but Barnes told me that, "on an average basis, there are approximately 5,000 US Military and DoD personnel working across the continent" at any one time. Next year, even more American troops are likely to be on hand as units from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, known as the "Dagger Brigade," are scheduled to deploy to the region. The roughly 3,000 soldiers in the brigade will be involved in, among other activities, training missions while acquiring regional expertise. "Special Forces have a particular capability in this area, but not the capacity to fulfill the demand; and we think we will be able to fulfill the demand by using conventional forces," Colonel Andrew Dennis told a reporter about the deployment.

AIR AFRICA

Last month, the Washington Post revealed that, since at least 2009, the "practice of hiring private companies to spy on huge expanses of African territory… has been a cornerstone of the US military's secret activities on the continent." Dubbed Tusker Sand, the project consists of contractors flying from Entebbe airport in Uganda and a handful of other airfields. They pilot turbo-prop planes that look innocuous but are packed with sophisticated surveillance gear.

America's mercenary spies in Africa are, however, just part of the story.

While the Pentagon canceled an analogous drone surveillance program dubbed Tusker Wing, it has spent millions of dollars to upgrade the civilian airport at Arba Minch, Ethiopia, to enable drone missions to be flown from it. Infrastructure to support such operations has been relatively cheap and easy to construct, but a much more daunting problem looms -- one intimately connected to the New Spice Route.

"Marco Polo wasn't just an explorer," Army planner Chris Zahner explained at a conference in Djibouti last year. "[H]e was also a logistician developing logistics nodes along the Silk Road. Now let's do something similar where the Queen of Sheba traveled." Paeans to bygone luminaries aside, the reasons for pouring resources into sea and ground supply networks have less to do with history than with Africa's airport infrastructure.

Of the 3,300 airfields on the continent identified in a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency review, the Air Force has surveyed only 303 of them and just 158 of those surveys are current. Of those airfields that have been checked out, half won't support the weight of the C-130 cargo planes that the US military leans heavily on to transport troops and materiel. These limitations were driven home during Natural Fire 2010, one of that year's joint training exercises hosted by AFRICOM. When C-130s were unable to use an airfield in Gulu, Uganda, an extra $3 million was spent instead to send in Chinook helicopters.

In addition, diplomatic clearances and airfield restrictions on US military aircraft cost the Pentagon time and money, while often raising local suspicion and ire. In a recent article in the military trade publication Army Sustainment, Air Force Major Joseph Gaddis touts an emerging solution: outsourcing. The concept was tested last year, during another AFRICOM training operation, Atlas Drop 2011.

"Instead of using military airlift to move equipment to and from the exercise, planners used commercial freight vendors," writes Gadddis. "This provided exercise participants with door-to-door delivery service and eliminated the need for extra personnel to channel the equipment through freight and customs areas." Using mercenary cargo carriers to skirt diplomatic clearance issues and move cargo to airports that can't support US C-130s is, however, just one avenue the Pentagon is pursuing to support its expanding operations in Africa.

Another is construction.

THE GREAT BUILD-UP

Military contracting documents reveal plans for an investment of up to $180 million or more in construction at Camp Lemonnier alone. Chief among the projects will be the laying of 54,500 square meters of taxiways "to support medium-load aircraft" and the construction of a 185,000 square meter Combat Aircraft Loading Area. In addition, plans are in the works to erect modular maintenance structures, hangers, and ammunition storage facilities, all needed for an expanding set of secret wars in Africa.
Fighting them over there, so we don't need to fight them here has been a core tenet of American foreign policy for decades, especially since 9/11.

Other contracting documents suggest that, in the years to come, the Pentagon will be investing up to $50 million in new projects at that base, Kenya's Camp Simba, and additional unspecified locations in Africa. Still other solicitation materials suggest future military construction in Egypt, where the Pentagon already maintains a medical research facility, and still more work in Djibouti.

No less telling are contracting documents indicating a coming influx of "emergency troop housing" at Camp Lemonnier, including almost 300 additional Containerized Living Units (CLUs), stackable, air-conditioned living quarters, as well as latrines and laundry facilities.

Military documents also indicate that a nearly $450,000 exercise facility was installed at the US base in Entebbe, Uganda, last year. All of this indicates that, for the Pentagon, its African build-up has only begun.

THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA

In a recent speech in Arlington, Virginia, AFRICOM Commander General Carter Ham explained the reasoning behind US operations on the continent: "The absolute imperative for the United States military [is] to protect America, Americans, and American interests; in our case, in my case, [to] protect us from threats that may emerge from the African continent." As an example, Ham named the Somali-based al-Shabaab as a prime threat. "Why do we care about that?" he asked rhetorically. "Well, al-Qaeda is a global enterprise... we think they very clearly do present, as an al-Qaeda affiliate... a threat to America and Americans."

Fighting them over there, so we don't need to fight them here has been a core tenet of American foreign policy for decades, especially since 9/11. But trying to apply military solutions to complex political and social problems has regularly led to unforeseen consequences. For example, last year's US-supported war in Libya resulted in masses of well-armed Tuareg mercenaries, who had been fighting for Libyan autocrat Muammar Qaddafi, heading back to Mali where they helped destabilize that country. So far, the result has been a military coup by an American-trained officer; a takeover of some areas by Tuareg fighters of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, who had previously raided Libyan arms depots; and other parts of the country being seized by the irregulars of Ansar Dine, the latest al-Qaeda "affiliate" on the American radar. One military intervention, in other words, led to three major instances of blowback in a neighboring country in just a year.

With the Obama administration clearly engaged in a twenty-first century scramble for Africa, the possibility of successive waves of overlapping blowback grows exponentially. Mali may only be the beginning and there's no telling how any of it will end. In the meantime, keep your eye on Africa. The US military is going to make news there for years to come.

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* Nick Turse is the associate editor of TomDispatch.com, where this article was first published.

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An open letter to Obama

Hakima Abbas

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83747

cc US G W‘Here you are, brother: Caught in the wheels of history, part of processes that transform the world and part of systems that destroy it.’

Dear President Barack Obama,

I hope you don’t mind me addressing you directly. I would like to call you brother, as I am known to do. Many would have me not – friends because they feel that you have left and enemies because they fear that you have not. I will, no matter, because we are of each other.

Maybe I should start with telling you who I am and why I want to address you. I am a child of a battered generation. The child of a generation whose wars were fought gallantly, with courage, at huge cost, by young people who were sent to the gallows, executed, punished for their daring. And I am of a generation who were chained to the bed from birth in punishment for the rebellion of our parents. Who were fed drugs and capitalism in equal dose of malicious silencing. You know this generation because you too are of the lost souls raised amongst the scattered bones of revolutions past and the drawn skulls of promises unfulfilled. The liberation movements of the 1960s were fading and erased by the time we saw the light but for the pained eyes of martyrs and survivors.

We were raised in the hollowed halls of neo-colonial regimes where Mobutu and Moi were called leaders in mocking irony at the memories of Machel, Cabral and Nyerere. Where Sankara and Bishop made last ditch attempts to uphold truth faced with savage reprisals by the tyranny of Thatcher and Reagan. Where Cuba was the last bastion of alternative but even the image of Ernesto fell to the commodified greed of hungry empire finding new and twisted ways to pacify revolt.

I am Black … is no longer said with pride and resistance. But, “I am Black” is how I understand myself. I am Woman, I am Queer, I am African. Yet rainbow nations disguising patriarchal capitalism will tell me that these truths are divisive. Many would rather I hide, silence, gloss all, if not parts, of me; but it is these truths of mine that create for me an anchor – a past and a present, a home and adversaries. I am addressing you today from this standpoint, as a sister, as a fighter, as a woman who seeks to stand always on the side of justice.

When you were making your great strides in the machinery that is the U.S.A, I watched from your father’s land in Kenya. I watched initially with great fear as those around me cheered in jubilation. I thought myself a coward for being so scared. I feared that, like many before you, you would become a conveniently vilified symbol of what your image does not represent. I feared for the dignity of millions of our African sisters and brothers in the U.S.A for whom promised democracy, redress and reparation have still to be realized. And I feared for your life. We heard, below your King overtones, your Malcolm words and subtle gestures, so that even veteran Black nationalists were singing your praises. And I feared their unwavering optimism, while realizing in your unmatched mobilization how ineffective we had been.

It was a hard truth to swallow. But those times taught me so much about who I am, where I am and what I am holding onto. I learnt that an anchor should hold you but cannot lead you. I learnt that Malcolm’s relevance is not in our outdated Black Power salute, nor our rhetoric, not even in our unapologetic counter to a five hundred year-old system of oppression, but that his relevance is in our ability to make his words our own, today, in this time, in our own deeds.

As you ran up against the U.S political elite, the white liberal mask was lifted once again for all to see. Those of us beautiful enough to be Black Woman, neither first nor second, were not surprised by her aristocratic tantrum calling for our allegiance and the arrogance that sought to blind class and race with femininity.

I didn’t believe it: ‘they are not ready for a Black president’ I said in bewilderment every time you crossed another milestone. I know them, I know us, and in my script of us and them, they are not ready. My script was wrong. You won. And we played Brenda’s “Black President” because it was a time to join our people in celebration. And the parallels with Mandela were indeed stark. While you were never a freedom fighter, tortured nor jailed for dissent, Madiba and Barack seem to be the conciliatory faces of false, forced nations torn at the root by white supremacy.

And with my trepidation, I couldn’t help but smile at the moment you offered, the smiles I saw on weary fighters, including my own mother who to this day has a portrait of you at her entrance that reads in bold letters – MR. PRESIDENT. You offered the hope you said you would, to the defeated generation and to the generation of our time. Those of us in between looked around incredulous, reminded that despite carrying the heavy load of burnt churches and promises, we could allow ourselves hope; that skepticism and vigilance, though it saved us from terror and assault, could not lift us into the light. We had been brave, those of us who soldiered on, alone carrying a fading torch of liberation in the wreckage of Aids, structural adjustment, the war on drugs and evangelism. Knowing that our people deserved fulfillment not just hope; forgetting how to ignite imagination.

I dared at that point to watch. Not for what you could make happen in the burning house, but, for what you might be able to offer the world from an increasingly belligerent empire. The world was restless, balancing at the tipping point of destruction. A simple “Assalam Alaikum” reverberated across the seas. And despite the open gestures, you were not able to stand firm in the stance of open palm, proving again that the system is stronger than the people who make it up. You stepped up the aggression in your speech, the threats in your voice and set the boat sailing again for leading through violence. The lid finally shut closed when you stood before the world to deny the Palestinian people their self-determination. So when we mourned the murder of Troy Davis that week, we also mourned every victim and survivor of U.S imperialism from Palestine to Oakland, DRC to Iraq.

And here you are, brother, caught in the wheels of history, part of processes that transform the world and part of systems that destroy it. I wonder in this hunt who will be writing history – the hunter or the lion? Whether we make gains or suffer setbacks, you have been part of the historical impetus towards the long awaited white strike against capitalism – Occupy Wall Street. Showing dissent to a system that works against most (though it is this same dissent that also created fascist leaning factions like the Tea Party), it seems the white population of the U.S is catching up to the global resistance and, in their focus on Wall Street, have avoided displaying your image as that of oppressor – acknowledging that the capitalists who fuel the engine of empire outrun presidents. But, I have seen them indeed occupy, the organizing space and tactics of poor, Black and brown revolution and already the whispers calling for decolonization of occupy.

They say that you are the first Gay president. Perhaps in an attempt to maintain Clinton’s title as the first Black one – as if playing the saxophone despite enlarging the prison industrial complex, attacking working Black mothers, despite Somalia and Rwanda, makes you Black. Brother, I can’t say that the gains of ‘equality’ that assist in integrating gay and lesbian middle-class white people into the patriarchal institution of marriage or the army feels to me like freedom.

I am certain that they are winning and that you are valiantly attempting to struggle against homophobia. But at my very core, I don’t want to fit their box, no matter how glossy and new it may look or how much they tell me that parts of me are acceptable (never the whole). What my Queer politic seeks is for us all to liberate ourselves from all notions that imprison our imagination to the normativity of oppression. For us all to experience whole, free, respectful, positive and loving lives in all its dimensions, accepting plurality, complexity, and self-determination from body to nation.

So when you give the orders (or is it succumb to the orders?) to bomb Africa’s North in Libya, I know that you are not the first queer president. I cried at the images of lives lost, whole cities and the continent’s infrastructure destroyed. Knowing that the empires that struck with intended disdain would soon be offering debt crippling aid to ‘help rebuild’ what they destroyed. And now is when I hope, hope that the Libyan people will not fall to the same divide along ethnic lines that has unraveled the continent thread by thread. But, my hope was soon squashed as factions and splinters unveiled in the all too common African story as a tear falls again for the vision of our powerful unity.

African peoples are facing a full frontal assault both within and outside of empire. The financial crisis that has caused white people in the U.S widespread panic and revolt, is the same economic condition that the majority of Black people there live in during economic prosperity. One Black woman, man and child is killed every forty hours under your presidency. Our potential for revolt has been met with armed occupying forces surrounding communities in the name of policing, in the same way that home-guards patrolled villages during the Mau Mau uprising. And every time another Oscar Grant is killed, Sean Bell’s murderers are acquitted, Trayvon Martin’s parents cry out for justice, another Black woman jailed, we remember that Herman Bell, Leonard Peltier and Sundiata Acoli are still in jail.

On the continent, whole lands are being stolen in the name of investment, with a shockingly ahistorical adage appended to the “For Sale” sign that reads terrus nullus. Our diversity is being patented and the unsustainable pimped to us as ‘the future’. The Europeans sell us ‘partnership’ agreements unashamedly willing a free market to exploit our resources and pimp their goods. Long gone is even mention of reparations, the paternalistic aid machinery cripples us in odious debt. While China offer ‘win-win’ alternatives, which no so-called leader of ours negotiates beyond the short-sighted proximity of their own pockets to translate into a win for our people and future. Meanwhile, we, the people, are so busy oppressing each other in the guise of morality, we have hardly noticed whose interests we kneel to.

Which is why there are generations like ours, a generation whose manifest destiny is seemingly and simply to remember: to carry from our grandmothers to our daughters the resistance cry of generations. Now, brother Barack, the winds of change are slowly raising the dust. And we have seen people on a move, attempting to rock the foundation of injustice. You have been a character in this determining act in the theatre of humankind. And as the curtain is drawn on African awakening spreading from Guinea, Madagascar and Mozambique to Africa’s North, the world has begun to pay attention. Now is when we will all decide which way history will fall and whether the lion or the hunter will live to tell the tale. I know where you have stood, I know where I will stand.

Peace,

Hakima

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* Hakima Abbas is executive director of Fahamu. This article was first published by The Feminist Wire.

* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Identity politics and the second republic in Egypt

Fatma Emam

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83742

cc K AWhereas the new regime of President Morsy says it is inclusive, it is troubling that the draft Egyptian constitution says in its first article that Egypt is ‘Islamic’ and ‘Arab’ and is ‘related’ to Africa.

An Egyptian TV anchor says: “The elected Egyptian president Mohamed Morsy is attending the African Union’s 19th presidents’ summit”. What are the connotations of this piece of news in the present Egyptian context?

This is Morsy’s first African exposure and his second international exposure after visiting Saudi Arabia. This information could have been analyzed in the media outlets, stressing the first steps of the post revolution president and his relation with his regional contexts, both Arab and African. Do these visits have contentions?

Attending the African Union summit is a regular behaviour of Egypt: to claim its presence as an African power, to use the summit as a chance to enhance its regional role in the mother continent and to solve some of the endless disputes with the African counterparts. Attending the summits and even belonging to sub-regional entities like COMESA show that Egypt is keen to interact with its African environment for political and economic reasons.

However, in this critical time in the course of Egyptian history, I do not see Morsy’s visit to Addis Abba as a political move separated from other elements shaping the Egyptian political scene.

In this regard I would love to note that the draft of the Egyptian constitution suggests in its first article that Egypt is “Islamic” and “Arab” and is “related” to Africa. And this takes the dialogue to a different level; it is not only about political relations with African states and races for possessing regional leadership. The phrases suggested in the constitutional article are starting an “identity “debate in Egypt.

Identity politics is a daily dialogue amongst Egyptians, even if they do not call it by this name. The mottos of “Islam is the Solution” and “Quran is our Constitution” of the Islamist movements in general and the Muslim Brotherhood in particular are echoed in public debates .The fierce fights for inclusion of Sharia in the constitution is a manifestation of the identity politics game, as they want to ensure and declare that Sharia is Egypt’s “fundamental and primary ” reference and they are abiding by the Islamic law.

Islamists are negating the fact that Sharia was already there in Egyptian jurisprudence in various ways, either by stating it clearly as “the” source of the legislations as stipulated in the Constitution of 1971 or through its entrenchment in the legal practice of the judiciary and the legislative bodies in Egypt. So it is obvious that it is not a new debate; Islamists want to appear as if they are the political actors who will introduce a new alternative to the “westernized secular legal regime” and they will introduce Islam as a governing system to Egypt of the Muslim majority. It is an endeavor to stress that we are Muslim and Islam is articulated in our private sphere and governing the public sphere.

And the other identity the draft is guarding is “Arab”. I think that being Arab is not a cultural or ethnic feature for all Egyptians like the Copts, Nubians and Tamazight (Berbers). Being an Arab rather is a very political affiliation of the state and it is related to the “claimed” leadership of Egypt in its “Arab” context, and it started with Nasser who tried to shape a new “identity” of Egypt after independence. An observer can do a comparison to the manner of the 22 member states of the League of the Arab States that call themselves Arab in their official name. It differs according to the unique identity of each country; although they all have a common feature that they are Arab in identity or in culture, or by ethnicity or language.

The identity politics in this suggested constitutional article is acknowledging the new affiliations of Egypt. It is not only choosing our allies and in which regional contexts Egypt will perform its political role and seek economic co-operation, but also it is shaping and declaring the identity of the second republic. And which culture and civilization will be the source of the Egyptian personality? It is obvious that there are levels of belonging, from the strongest, the most relevant to the weakest and the irrelevant. We Egyptians are Arab and in a wider circle, we are Islamic and then we have a “relation” with Africa. What is the nature of this relation? How do we articulate this relation with Africa and what are its manifestations? These are questions to be answered by Egyptian decision makers.

As for being “related” to Africa, I see this constitutional article and what it stipulated as a new indicator that Egypt’s relation to Africa is fading, and day after day we are losing our role in Africa and giving part of our share to other African powers. That was clear in Egypt’s total absence in Nifasha accords and other Sudanese affairs, and it was obvious that Qadafi was filling the gap of Egyptian diplomats in the continent. Things escalated to a worse magnitude with the disputes with the Nile basin countries.

After the news of Africa in the Egyptian newspapers talking about cooperation and ties between Egypt and fellow African nations, it shifted to talk about the race to occupy the suggested permanent seat of Africa in the UN Security Council, or that Egypt was endorsing Bashir against the rest of Africa and refusing the "violation of sovereignty". If we traced the Egyptian relation with Africa after independence, you will find the heroes of independence side by side with Nasser.

One may ask: Why do we just "relate" to Africa; don't we belong? This question is my own dilemma. Why do we choose parts of our identity to celebrate and other parts to hide and negate? Is Africa for Egypt the water of the Nile, the commercial treaties and a gate to international representation only? No it is not; I am an African, I do relate to the Apartheid struggle. I do relate to the struggle against the blood diamonds. I marched against human rights violations in any corner of the mother continent. My struggle in Egypt is a struggle against a unified prescribed identity, militarization, fundamentalism, despotism, patriarchy and corruption. I support all my African sisters in the same trench, wherever they are in Africa.

Identities are not divine; they are products of history, tradition and culture.

I belong to Africa, I do not "relate" to Africa only.

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* Fatma Emam is Research Associate in Nazra for Feminist Studies, Egypt http://www.nazra.org
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Criminalizing sex work in Kenya: The double standards

Joyce J Wangui

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83719

cc C L'Sex workers rights are human rights' - this is the slogan that Kenyan prostitutes are arming themselves with as they demand their rights.

In the recent past, sex workers have borne the wrath of police and Nairobi City Council officials who harass them and interfere with their work. Ironically, only women are arrested whenever they are found plying the age-old trade while their male clients go scot free.

The marking of International Sex Workers Rights Day on 3 March was meant to be a wakeup call for various stakeholders who perceive sex work as criminal, including government officials. But this has not seen the light of day as human rights violations perpetrated against sex workers continue.

Daughty Ogutu has seen it all. The former sex worker narrated to this reporter how she was a victim of police brutality in her ‘active’ days. “They often beat me up, hurled insults at me and arrested me.” The 28-year-old, a founding member of the Kenya Sex Workers Alliance (KESWA), decries the double standards applied by most people, when dealing with prostitutes.

“The trade involves two parties but oftentimes only the prostitute and not her/his client is harassed,” she says. The Kenyan society, Daughty says, is hypocritical. People are quick to point fingers at prostitutes but fail to see other grave ills committed in the society.

Quoting her organisation’s slogan, she says that ‘Violence against us is not only tolerated, but even expected by society. It is clear that labelling sex workers as criminals puts us at odds with law enforcement authorities who should be protecting us and it sends a message to society that sex workers are expendable. Sex workers are not criminals and violence against us must be classified as a crime.’

The sex workers umbrella body, KESWA, has been instrumental in documenting human rights abuses on sex workers. This has spurred debate and action among civil society groups, lawyers, medics and academicians who have vowed to stop the criminalization of sex workers. Among other things, the organization builds capacity among sex workers by training them on their rights.

“We train them on how they can document any violations using their mobile phones, which they can use as evidence in court.” This is very pivotal as many young prostitutes suffer in the confines of their work. Some undergo serious bodily harm perpetrated by their male clients; others are forced to render free services but they keep quiet as they don’t know where to report such abuses.

Ironically, when human rights abuses are reported to the police, they (police) turn a blind eye and fail to act. In the worst case, the same police even rape young girls who report such cases to them. Thus, the criminalization of sex work forces sex workers to live in fear of police who harass and abuse them with impunity. The society has failed to realize that majority of sex workers engage in the act as a means to an end. They are being arrested and their rights are being violated for doing work that supports their families.

“A sex worker is your everyday person; he or she does not come from planet Mars,” says Daughty, adding that anyone is a potential sex worker. In Kenya, just like everywhere else, a sex worker could be a young girl, a career woman, a housewife, a gardener, taxi driver among others. When police harass such people on the basis of engaging in criminal work, they are denying them a chance to make a living. “A sex worker could even be a sister to a police, a politician or any member of the society; so authorities should be very careful when dealing with them.”

In Nairobi as in other big cities in Kenya, the police and city council officers often conduct swoops on the streets where they arrest commercial sex workers, mostly female. As they drag them into police cells, they tell them that they arrest them for loitering, a claim that most sex workers find laughable.

“We need proper charges and not mere claims. We are ready to defend ourselves in a court of law,” says John Mathenge, the national coordinator of KESWA.

Though prostitution is illegal in Kenya, Mathenge feels that the government should legalize it, as this would pave way for a safe environment in which sex workers enjoy the full scale of their rights. In the same breathe, Mathenge implores on the policy makers to create provisions that would allow sex workers to pay taxes. “This is an industry like any other and could generate money from which the government can raise revenue.

REPEALING OF SEX WORK LAWS

Sex work in Kenya is currently regulated by a combination of colonial criminal law, recent laws including the 2006 Sexual Offences Act and municipal council bylaws. The legal code neither defines prostitution, directly criminalizes it nor forbids it.

Many feel it is illegal to live off the earnings of prostitution but are blind to the fact that this is the current situation. While the national law criminalises the involvement of third parties e.g. pimps, brothel owners or traffickers — the municipal bylaws outlaw 'loitering and importuning for the purpose of prostitution and 'indecent exposure’ which are aimed at criminalising sex work itself.

The City Council of Nairobi is considering relaxing its bylaws to allow commercial sex workers work freely in the city. In effect, the move would allow a conducive environment for a trade widely shunned by the society.

Nairobi City Mayor George Aladwa has been on record advocating for the rights of sex workers, noting that the council would harmonize its by-laws with the new constitution to allow sex workers carry out their work freely. Though he doesn’t talk of legalizing the age-old trade, the mayor says that the council would consult with different arms of government so as to complement the current by-laws in line with the new constitution and help the sex workers.

KESWA and other like-minded organizations that protect the rights of sex workers have been trying to lobby policy makers to change laws that would regulate sex work. Sex workers argue that there should be a dialogue between the government and themselves, to try and unravel the issue of de-criminalizing the trade.

“We are ready to come into a negotiating table with government,” says Mathenge who says that both parties should at least compromise.

Once the by-laws are harmonized, sex workers will operate in designated areas, set aside by the city council.

"We will certainly find places to have them operate freely without any harassment. These are people who have dedicated themselves to do their work, there is no need to continue harassing them," said an official from the council.

KESWA is in consultation with the police department to conduct awareness trainings for law enforcement officers. The training will focus on a change of attitude among the police, de-stereotyping sex trade, curbing police harassment, human rights among others. The umbrella body will also conduct media trainings that would help journalists report objectively on the issue of sex work and sexuality.

ACCESS TO HEALTH RIGHTS

The criminalization of sex work hampers the health rights of prostitutes. Due to negative stereotypes, most sex workers are not able to access basic health facilities. For the most part, they are shunned by doctors and not treated for even minor ailments.

Those who are HIV positive bear the brunt as they cannot access proper medication, including the access to ARV drugs. Unknown to many, sex workers have been very instrumental in the fight against HIV as they are part of the solution to preventing the spread of the scourge.

“Due to the nature of their work, majority of prostitutes use protection, contrary to what the society thinks,” says Daughty. But some clients come with coercion, often using big moneys to sleep with them without protection.

According to *Mwikali, a veteran sex worker in Koinange Street (Nairobi’s famous sex spot), most prostitutes want to use condoms but often times are blinded by the money. “Sometimes a client can offer me Ksh10, 000($120) in exchange of unprotected sex.” She will often take the money despite the health risks associated with unsafe sex.

Some clients adamantly refuse to use condoms with prostitutes thus endangering their health. The fact that the trade is criminalized and viewed as dirty has made it hard for prostitutes to defend their health rights. “Some clients are very violent and often threaten to harm you when you mention the use of condoms.” After all, you are a prostitute, is what they say to us.

STEREOTYPES

Sex work manifests in many forms. There are those who practice the trade in open streets, often skimpily dressed. Others prefer brothels, mainly operated by pimps.

According to Daughty, 60 percent of sex workers are career women who often supplement their income with sex work. “It is wrong to suggest that only half naked women who loiter the streets at night are prostitutes; a prostitute is your everyday woman or man.” In Nairobi, some up-market residential houses have been turned into brothels where affluent men and women engage in illicit sex, even during day time.

“But police have turned a blind eye to this. Some highly placed personalities in the country have gone scot free because money changes hands between them and police. Is this not double standards?” asks Daughty.

She adds that the society thinks that prostitutes are uneducated people and hence fall prey to police brutality. “You will be shocked that majority of sex workers are university students or career women. Some are CEOs of major corporations; but the society has failed to see this.”

Daughty argues that the use of the word ‘commercial’ while referring to sex workers is stereotypical and prejudicial. “Not all prostitutes engage in sex for money. Some do it in exchange for gifts, food, school fees and other basic needs.” Some women even exchange sex for tomatoes; that’s how dire the situation can be.

“There is nothing like a commercial sex worker. Why don’t we refer to bankers as commercial bankers or lawyers as commercial lawyers? Do you see the double standards?”

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* Joyce J Wangui is AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya.

* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Blood antiquities in respectable havens

Looted Benin artefacts donated to American museum

Kwame Opoku

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83720

cc KaDeWeGirlThe people of Benin have tried for years to have their precious works of art returned to no avail. Now the artifacts have a new ‘owner’ in America.

“The year 1897 means much to me and my people; it was the year the British invaded our land and forcefully removed thousands of our bronze and ivory works from my great grandfather, Oba Ovonramwen’s Palace." His Royal Highness Oba Erediauwa, Oba of Benin.

The American media is full of reports that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has recently received a large number of Benin artefacts as donation from a New York banker and collector, Robert Owen Lehman, great-grandson of founder of Lehman Brothers. [1] The gift consists of 34 excellent artworks from West Africa of which 32 are from Benin - 28 bronzes and four ivories. The other two are from Guinea and Sierra Leone. The Benin artefacts had been bought in the 1950s and 1970s. A quick look at the artefacts indicates that they are among the best of Benin artefacts and the press has praised the beauty, elegance, and sophistication of these works. [2]

The sophistication of the artefacts clearly points to their notorious origin: the nefarious invasion of Benin in 1897 by the British in their criminal enterprise, the so-called Punitive Expedition that culminated in the looting of the palace of the Benin king, Oba Ovonramwen, and the killing of innocent children, women and men before Benin City was burnt down by the invading army, as was their tradition whenever and wherever the British army was sent to punish recalcitrant colonial or semi colonial subjects. [3]

The Museum of Fine Arts itself refers to the 1897 invasion and looting as source of many of the artefacts. [4] However, through subtle means attempts are made, often indirectly, to lessen the criminal nature of the source of these magnificent artefacts. The history of the invasion of Benin is not fully stated and is, in many ways, distorted. A press release issued by the museum states:

“The kingdom expanded and flourished from the late 14th through the late 19th century, when it came under British influence upon the conclusion of a treaty with Britain in 1892. Five years later, after Benin forces attacked and killed most members of a British delegation en route to Benin City, the British launched the Punitive Expedition of 1897, sending military forces to the capital and defeating its ruler, Oba Ovonramwen. It is estimated that the British removed more than 4,000 objects from the Benin palace during this military action.” [5]

The statement “after Benin forces attacked and killed most members of a British delegation en route to Benin City, the British launched the Punitive Expedition of 1897”, is surely incomplete, if not misleading. Readers might not appreciate that the so-called British delegation was in fact the British Pre-emptive Force, consisting of 120 African mercenaries, disguised as porters with guns in their luggage, led by British officers that intended to unseat the Oba of Benin by a surprise attack. This force was itself surprised by a Benin attack. [6]

Readers are, of course, not informed that the so-called British delegation went to Benin after the Oba had stated in a response to a request to pay him visit that he would not be able to receive them at the time chosen since he would be involved in traditional rituals during which time no foreigners are allowed to see the Oba. Since when do people visit royalty when they have been told explicitly that the date chosen is unacceptable? The Punitive Expedition of 1897 cannot simply be presented as British response to a Benin attack. The attack was a convenient pretext for British plans that had been made long before that unfortunate visit to depose Oba Ovonramwen who was resisting British hegemonic endeavours to control trade in Benin and surrounding States. [7]

Christraud Geary, senior curator of the African and Oceanic Art Department of the Museum of Fine Arts is credited with declaring that: “We have looked at the legal situation here at the museum and we’ve come to the conclusion that the gift meets all of our standards.” The curator also added that there have been no official claims for the works of art. [8] This attempt to create the impression that there are no legal problems in connection with the acquisition of blood antiquities, which even the museum does not deny, were acquired initially under circumstances of violence and brutal force, would not convince anyone. The phrase “our standards” would need to be clarified whether they refer to standards of the museum or standards prevailing in the USA. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the Boston Museum of Fine Arts has had problems with Italy relating to its acquisition of looted artefacts from Italy and had to return some of them. [9]

What is also remarkable about the reports on the donation of the Benin artefacts to the Boston museum is that there is little mention that the people of Benin, under the leadership of the present Oba, Erediauwa, great-grandson of Oba Ovonramwen from whose palace the Benin artefacts were looted in 1897, have been trying for ages to recover some of the artefacts. However in an article at Boston. com mention was made that: “Over the years, some archaeologists and African government officials have demanded the return of the objects.” [10] Christraud Geary commented that there have been no official claims regarding the artefacts. These artefacts are records of Benin history and culture and are surely more needed in Benin than in Boston. Did anybody think about the needs of the Benin (Edo) people in this connection?

Apparently, the needs of the world have been considered by the senior curator: “What entered my thinking was that here was a wonderful opportunity to move into the public domain objects which hadn’t been seen for decades and which spoke so wonderfully of the great African culture,” he said. “In the MFA, we can share them with people of all nations. We can present their history. It’s a complex history. And that’s our role. To move great cultural objects into the public domain.” [11]

Here again, those museums that are not very keen to consider the needs of specific African peoples who have been robbed of their cultural artefacts ,are solicitous of the needs of the world at large. The curator is anxious for the “world” to see objects that have not been seen for decades. But what about the Benin people who have been violently deprived of their cultural artefacts and records of the history for more than a hundred years? Does anybody think the people of Benin should also be enabled to see their own artefacts? The height of arrogance, paternalism and insensitivity is reached when a curator declares:

“In the MFA, we can share them with people of all nations. We can present their history. It’s a complex history. And that’s our role. To move great cultural objects into the public domain”. [12]

The museum seems prepared to share the Benin artefacts with the peoples of all nations but not with the people of Benin. The museum is keen to present their history: “We can present their history. It’s a complex history” We can all agree that presenting history, especially, the history of other peoples, is a complex matter. But has anyone considered that it might be easier and better to let other peoples tell their own histories by returning to them the records of their history which have been violently looted so that they give us a complete picture? Or are other peoples, by some genetic disability, not in a position to reconstruct their history? Why must Western scholars be the only ones to tell the history of others? If curators at Western museums consider this as their role, they must rethink about their self-assigned role, especially if this directly or indirectly reinforces justifications of the injustices of an imperialist past that enabled certain countries to deprive other peoples of their material, spiritual and cultural resources [13].
Christraud Geary who considers the donation a major contribution is reported to have declared: “It’s such a major, major gift and it’s so important for understanding African creativity and African culture.” But does she not think that these objects are also important for the people of Benin, Nigeria, in order for them to understand their own culture? The needs of the deprived owners appear to be less relevant to Western museum directors and officials who are more occupied with their “universal” museums. But their “universalism” is a Western universalism which does not extend to non-Western peoples. Benin people who want to see these artefacts in Boston will not be granted visa for the United States.

Readers may no doubt recall that fairly recently there was criticism and a call for boycott when Sotheby’s announced they were going to auction Benin artefacts that were in possession of inheritors of one of the participants of the nefarious Punitive Expedition of 1897. The hue and cry against the proposed auction was such that the Galway family and Sotheby’s withdrew the artefacts from the proposed auction. [14]

It is true that a donation to a museum of looted artefacts and an auction of looted artefact are different matters but here the fundamental objections to both situations relate to their common origin: the violent looting of 1897 by the British military force. This stain of initial violence and blood attaches to the wrongful detention of the Benin bronzes. It should be noticed that donations to museums are not always guided by pure altruism as they may appear. There are tax rebates for making such donations. The donor gains in addition an enormous amount of social prestige that can be used to maximize profits in other enterprises.

During the protests against Sotheby’s, led by an NGO, the Nigeria Liberty Forum, the Nigerian Government declared its intention to request the return of all Nigerian artefacts illegally held abroad. A body was to be set up with a mandate to implement this specific objective [15]. One could expect to hear soon official Nigerian reaction on the donation of looted Benin artefacts. Most probably, the whereabouts of the artefacts looted in 1897 are now revealed for the first time to the Nigerian authorities and the people of Benin.

Regarding the statement that there has been no claim to the donated Benin artefacts, we are surprised that this very weak argument is repeated by the museum curator. It is depressing to note that famous museums such as Louvre, British Museum, Metropolitan Museum, Chicago Institute of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, resort to desperate and miserable arguments which first year university students would not dare to present. [16]

There is no rule in Municipal Law or International Law which prevents a holder of a looted or stolen object from returning it to the rightful owner even if he has not asked for it. Normally, most owners will quickly put in a claim once they are aware of the whereabouts of the object and the identity of the holder. But how can one state there has been no claims in this case? The museum itself indicates that the Benin artefacts have not been seen for decades. Indeed, many of the looted artefacts have not been seen by the rightful owners since 1897. How can they put in a claim for the artefacts when they do not know who is holding them? Most probably, the whereabouts of the artefacts looted in 1897 are now revealed for the first time to the Nigerian authorities and the people of Benin.

This unworthy argument that the owners of looted Benin objects have not put in a claim is a remarkable tradition of Western museology. The British Museum has always maintained that there has been no request for the return of the Benin artefacts even though the Oba of Benin sent a petition to the British Parliament, printed in Parliamentary records. [17] Despite this record we still hear from some museum officials, as a variation of this argument, that there have been no formal requests. How much more formal can a request be than a petition to the British Parliament? The Nigerian Government has on several occasions requested the return of looted Nigerian artefacts. As recently as 2008, the Benin Royal Family sent a demand to museums for the return of the artefacts. (Annex ll). The museum directors have till today not even bothered to acknowledge receipt of the petition, hand carried by a member of the Royal Family to the Art. At the opening of the exhibition- Benin - Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria in Vienna, and subsequently in Berlin and Chicago, the request for the return of the artefacts was reiterated. [18]

In 1968 the great Ekpo Eyo, then Director of Museums at the Nigerian Commission on Museums and Monuments, sent a request to various Western governments to return some Benin artefacts for the opening of a new National Museum in Benin City. Not a single government responded. [19]
Several resolutions of the United Nations and UNESCO have urged holders of such artefacts to take the initiative to return these artefacts. The ICOM Code of Ethics for museums requires museums to enter into discussions with owners of foreign cultural artefacts they are holding. In view of all this, can anyone honestly and seriously state that there has been no demand for the return of the looted Benin artefacts?

The patent immorality and illegality of the violent British 1897 invasion of Benin clearly calls for acts of atonement and reconciliation from the persons and the institutions concerned. It is not enough to condemn the illicit traffic in antiquities and at the same time accept artefacts that are obviously tainted with opprobrium, objects that were acquired as a result of shedding the blood of innocent persons and the destruction of their property. It is true that many Western States and their intellectuals have adopted the position that justice and morality have no place in the question of looted artefacts, especially if this concerns African people. If the Benin people had been Europeans, the attitude of Western museum directors and art collectors would have been different. The reaction towards Nazi-looted artefacts is very eloquent in this regard. Indeed some of those holding on to the blood antiquities from Benin would be the first to support recovery of Nazi-looted artefacts. The British Government and Parliament that remain deaf to the cries of the Benin people have recently passed legislation to enable recovery of Nazi looted artefacts. [20]

The movement to secure the recognition of the fundamental iniquity of robbing others of their cultural artefacts, especially where violence has been involved, is gaining ground. Recent restitutions give us some hope that even the West will finally accept that it is wrong to steal the cultural artefacts of other nations. One cannot envisage a peaceful world that accommodates such blatant violations of the human right of others to develop their culture with their own cultural products.

Holders of looted cultural objects are clearly not responsible for the deeds of their predecessors or previous possessors. But are they not also expected to make a contribution to a better world? Or would they rather continue to contribute to historical injustices against African and other peoples? These historical violations of our human right to cultural development, has inter alia, led to the present imbalance in the distribution of classical African artefacts between the West and Africa, to the benefit of the former.

Western museums should finally do something to dispel the views held in the rest of the world that they are looters dens, holding and protecting thousands of ill-gotten cultural artefacts of other peoples. These museums could make a useful contribution to inter-cultural understanding but so long as they labour under this less than favourable reputation, they cannot, at least in the non-Western world, make full use of their potentials.
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END NOTES

1. HuffPost, Museum of Fine Arts Boston Receives Monumental Boost ToAfrican Art Collection (PHOTOS) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arts/

2. http://goo.gl/XtA0K

3. K. Opoku, When Will Britain Return Looted Golden Ghanaian Artefacts? A History of British Looting of More Than 100 Objects. http://www.modernghana.com

4.Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ,Robert Owen Lehman Collection PDF. List of the Objects in the Collection.
Press Release: MFA receives gift of African art
“It is estimated that the British removed more than 4,000 objects from the Benin palace during this military action. Numerous pieces were later sold in Great Britain to defray the costs of the campaign, and were acquired by private collectors and museums in Europe and the United States. Many works of art in the Lehman Collection are known to have left Benin in 1897, and the remainder likely left at the same time”. http://www.mfa.org/give/gifts-art/Lehman-Collection

5. http://goo.gl/LP1Mh

6. K. Opoku, “Compromise on the Restitution of Benin Bronzes: Comments on Article by Prof. John Picton on Restitution of Benin Artefacts”. http://www.modernghana.com
7. Ekpo Eyo, “Benin: The sack that was,” http://www.dawodu.net/eyo.htm ,
“The Dialectics of Definitions: “Massacre” and “Sack” in the History of the “Punitive Expedition”, African Arts, 1997, Vol. XXX, No. 3, pp. 34-35. Darshana Soni, “The British and the Benin Bronzes” http://www.arm.arc.co.ukSee also the excellent rap version of the history of the British invasion by Monday Midnite, 1897 (Notorious B I G’s is Dead Wrong REMIX) http://www.youtube.com
8. http://goo.gl/gYo1l
9. K. Opoku, New AAM Standards for the Acquisition of Archaeological Material and Ancient Art: A Minor “American Revolution”?
http://www.modernghana.com
10. http://goo.gl/uHLJt See Benin1897.com: Art and the Restitution Question
Featuring a colloquium and a Travelling Art Exhibition by Peju Layiwola http://benin1897.com/
11. http://goo.gl/EVqkB
12, Ibid
13. Neil Macgregor, Director, British Museum, has expressed the view that there is a need for a new history and has emphasized the unique qualifications of the British Museum to tell the history or stories of others. See K. Opoku, “When Will Everybody Finally Accept that the British Museum is a British Institution? Comments on a Lecture by Neil MacGregor”. http://www.modernghana.com
14. K. Opoku,”They Are Selling Queen-Mother Idia Mask and We Are All Quiet”. http://www.modernghana.com
15. K. Opoku, “Reflections on the Abortive Queen-Mother Idia Mask Auction: Tactical Withdrawal or Decision of Principle?” http://www.modernghana.com
16. K. Opoku, “Would Western Museums Return Looted Objects if Nigeria and Other African States Were Ruled by Angels? Restitution and Corruption.” http://www.modernghana.com
17. Akenzua, Edun (2000). "The Case of Benin". Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence, Appendix 21, House of Commons, The United Kingdom Parliament, March 2000. http://goo.gl/NHr91 See also, “The Benin Empire”,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin_Empire
18. K. Opoku,” Opening of the Exhibition Benin-Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria, “http://www.elginism.com
19. The late Ekpo Eyo wrote: “By the end of the 1960s, the price of Benin works had soared so high that the Federal Government of Nigeria was in no mood to contemplate buying them. When, therefore a National Museum was planned for Benin City in 1968, we were faced with the problem of finding exhibits that would be shown to reflect the position that Benin holds in the world of art history. A few unimportant objects which were kept in the old local authority museum in Benin were transferred to the new museum and a few more objects were brought in from Lagos. Still the museum was “empty”. We tried using casts and photographs to fill gaps but the desired effect was unachievable. We therefore thought of making an appeal to the world for loans or return of some works so that Benin might also be to show its own works at least to its own people. We tabled a draft resolution at the General Assembly of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) which met in France in 1968, appealing for donations of one or two pieces from those museums which have large stocks of Benin works. The resolution was modified to make it read like a general appeal for restitution or return and then adopted.
When we returned to Nigeria, we circulated the adopted resolution to the embassies and high commissions of countries we know to have large Benin holdings but up till now we have received no reaction from any quarters and the Benin Museum stays “empty”.”
Museum, Vol. XXL, no 1, 1979, Return and Restitution of cultural property, pp.18-21, at p.21, Nigeria.
20. The British Parliament has passed a law, Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009 that enables owners of Nazi looted artworks now in public British museums and galleries not only to obtain compensation for the loss but to receive the looted object., The Act makes it very clear that it only applies to actions relating to Nazi seizures within a specific period. Article 3 of the Act defines Nazi era thus: “Nazi era” means the period—(a) Beginning with 1 January 1933, and (b) Ending with 31 December 1945. “. Evidently, the British Legislator wanted to ensure that Benin and other peoples, also victims of violent spoliations of their artworks, do not use the Act to bring actions to reclaim their looted objects.
Readers may wish to consult a very useful note on the Holocaust Restitution Bill by Philip Ward. http://goo.gl/9FOyb
The Art Newspaper wrote:
“The government’s major concern about Mr Dismore’s Private Members’ Bill is that amendments may be put to extend its scope. In particular, it will inevitably be seized upon by parliamentarians who are campaigning for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens. Similar moves might be made by those calling for the return of the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, the Rosetta Stone to Egypt or the Lewis Chessmen to Scotland. The DCMS is therefore expected to press for a clear wording that would preclude deaccessioning being extended beyond the 1933-45 period.”
UK parliament closer to passing bill allowing museums to deaccession Nazi-looted art Legislation expected to be limited to 1933-1945 only
http://www.theartnewspaper



ANNEX I





LIST OF HOLDERS OF THE BENIN BRONZES


Almost every Western museum has some Benin objects. Here is a short list of where the Benin Bronzes are to be found and their numbers. Various catalogues of exhibitions on Benin art or African art also list the private collections of the Benin Bronzes. The museums refuse to inform the public about the number of Benin artefacts they have and do not display permanently the Benin artefacts in their possession since they do not have enough space. A museum such as Völkerkundemuseum, Vienna has closed since some 10 years the African section where the Benin artefacts closed due to repair works.


Berlin – Ethnologisches Museum 580.

Boston, - Museum of Fine Arts 28.

Chicago – Art Institute of Chicago 20, Field Museum 400
.
Cologne – Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum 73.

Glasgow _ Kelvingrove and St, Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life 22

Hamburg – Museum für Völkerkunde, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe 196.

Dresden – Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde 182.

Leipzig – Museum für Völkerkunde 87.

Leiden – Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde 98.

London – British Museum 900.

New York – Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art 163.

Oxford – Pitt-Rivers Museum/ Pitt-Rivers country residence, Rushmore in Farnham/Dorset 327.

Stuttgart – Linden Museum-Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde 80.

Vienna – Museum für Völkerkunde 167.

Internal security officer named in Uganda land dispute

Chris Musiime, Frederick Womakuyu and Nick Young

Oil in Uganda

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83727

cc F E IA senior official in Uganda’s Internal Security Organization (ISO), Major Herbert Asiimwe Muramagi, has been named in a complex land dispute in oil-rich Hoima District where, some locals allege, last year he bought 1,200 hectares from an entity that had no right to sell it.

Members of the community in Kisukuma Parish, Kigorobya sub-county, further allege that when they resisted demands to vacate the land for the new owner they were beaten and arrested by armed police and soldiers.

When contacted by telephone on July 4, however, Major Muramagi — who is Maritime Director of the ISO, responsible for security on Lake Albert — denied involvement. “It is all lies. I do not own any land in Hoima and I have never owned land in Hoima,” he told Oil in Uganda.

Yet, immediately after this call, Josephatia Mboneraho, the Chairman of Hoima District Land Board, also contacted by telephone, said that a sale had indeed taken place, and that Major Muramagi was issued with a land title.

In a follow-up visit to Kigorobya, on July 11, Oil in Uganda spoke to a Catholic parish priest, Father James Aliomu Sabiiti, who reported that Major Muramagi had personally approached the church for help in resolving a dispute between himself and local people over the contested land.

“He is the one who requested that the parish priests handle the matter in a bid to solve the issues amicably,” Fr. Sabiiti said. “He came here and asked the fathers in this parish, as spiritual leaders, to help to mediate.”

However, the priest added that “many months have gone” since then and Major Muramagi “has been dodging here and there” without following up his request for mediation. Meanwhile, according to Fr. Sabiiti, the Major has been “putting up projects [developments]” on the land.

Community members say that at least seven houses and ten dams have been built on the land.

A complaint against the ISO officer was lodged with the Uganda Human Rights Commission, whose secretary, Gordon Mwesigye, wrote to Major Muramagi on February 12, 2012, requesting that he “desist from harassing the squatters on the land pending hearing of the matter by a court of competent jurisdiction.”

Yet the story is further complicated by the fact that, after Oil in Uganda spoke to Major Muramagi, he contacted a local councillor in Kigorobya who delivered to our office a dossier of documents which appear to show that the land in question was lawfully acquired, in April 2011, by one Christina Mirembe, and that she has paid compensation to several ‘squatters’ on the land.

What is going on? Here we present the conflicting evidence and leave our readers to judge.

TAKE 1: WHAT THE COMMUNITY SAID

Oil in Uganda staff writers visited Kigorobya in late June and were told by community members that in April 2011 Major Muramagi bought 1,205 hectares of land from a Bunyoro Teachers Cooperative Savings and Credit Society. Yet this organization, some affected locals insisted, exists in name only and had acquired the land title fraudulently.

“We protested by occupying the land and not allowing any activity to take place in the area,” said Aloysius Kyaligonza, the Local Council II Chairman of Kisukuma Parish.

In October 2011, according to Kyaligonza, a truckload of soldiers assaulted and beat the protestors, some of whom were also arrested. “We suffered silently and no district officials came to our rescue,” Kyaligonza says. He claims that Major Muramagi had intimidated or bribed almost the entire local council leadership, including local security officials, to win their cooperation.

Other residents said they had taken their complaint to the Hoima Resident District Commissioner but were then arrested and jailed.

According to Edward Bende, a 41-year-old army veteran, some 50 villagers visited Hoima Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Abdul Swammad Wantimba, on September 23, 2011.

“We told him our issue and he told us to report to police and open a case,” said Bende. “He then told us he would arrange a meeting with the buyer and asked us to return in a week’s time. To our surprise, as we were leaving, we were arrested by police. Some people had gone ahead and others were using private means, so it was only four of us who were on foot that were arrested. We were taken to court and accused of stealing 350 cows belonging to Muramagi. We were remanded to Hoima Prison for over three months and released on January 12 this year.”

He added that Major Muramagi had many animals on the land but the accused persons never stole or harmed them. “What happened was that the cows would stray and destroy our gardens, and then we would only chase them away.”

“After being released I came home and was told to resume tilling my land. I had to fill in some forms; in fact all villagers were required to fill these forms. But we refused, yet they allowed us to use some bit of the land for farming.”

Bende says he has lived in the area all his life. “Although we were not staying inside the land, we were using it for agriculture and grazing. My grandfather is buried here. Personally I had thirty acres, where I was planting cotton, maize, cassava.”

Bende further reveals that his new landlords are constantly bullying him. “The new owners are now planting pine in our gardens, which we must look after alongside our crops. If they find a tree under your care has dried up, they arrest you or threaten you.”

He and other community members also report that police in blue camouflage uniforms are now regularly deployed to guard the area.

A DISPUTED HISTORY

Local testimonies and documents passed to Oil in Uganda agree in naming the Bunyoro Teachers Cooperative Savings and Credit Society as the seller of the land in question. Behind this undisputed fact lies a complex history that Oil in Uganda is not able fully to unravel.

Deo Birinaiwe, the Secretary Manager of the Savings and Credit Society, confirmed the sale in a telephone interview, saying that Major Muramagi bought the land for 500 million Ugandan shillings (US$ 200,000)

According to Birinaiwe, the Teachers Cooperative was formed in 1951 and had acquired legal tenure of the land for a ranching scheme, but had virtually ceased to function by the late 1990s, when members asked him “to find a buyer for our land so that we put the money into the society.”

This account is bitterly contested by one Erineo Rugondo, who appears to have considerable support in the local community.

He says that in 1965 he obtained from the Bunyoro Kingdom Land Office a five-year, renewable lease for three-and-half square miles of land in the name of Kababwa Ranching Scheme. “By then there was no one keeping cows in this area. So I brought my cows, about 150 in number, from Buliisa and Masindi, here. Everyone else was growing cotton.” He insists that to this day he is the bona fide owner of the lease.

Rugondo says he also joined and became longstanding chairman of the Bunyoro Catholic Teachers Cooperative Thrift and Loan Society Ltd., which was particularly active during the 1970s, and confirms that Deo Birinaiwe served as Secretary Manager in the 1990s.

According to Rugondo, in 1991 he entrusted to Birinaiwe the task of renewing the land lease with the authorities in Masindi, where the latter was travelling on other business. Ten years passed, during which Rugondo waited to receive updated documents from the Registrar of Titles. (Birinaiwe, on his own account, spent much of this time outside the area pursuing his studies.)

When Rugondo eventually went to Masindi to investigate, he says, he found that the lease on the land had been extended for 44 years, but that it had been issued in the name of Bunyoro Teachers Cooperative Savings and Credit Society — a different entity from that over which he has presided as chair. He has since been trying to rectify what he describes as an “outright fraud” — although, until the 2011 sale, it appears not to have affected his normal operations as he and other members of the community continued to use the disputed land as before.

In 2007, as confirmed by documents shown to Oil in Uganda, Rugondo wrote petitioning the Commissioner of Lands over the case, and in 2010 he wrote to the Land Committee Chairman in the Office of the President, claiming that the file recording his original lease (LWD 3200) had been “hidden for over ten years” by Deo Birinaiwe, and that: “There is another file (No. LWD 5900) being used in the process of that land.”

Since the 2011 sale of the lease, Rugondo says, the buyer has been intent on evicting him and other users of the land — who he estimates to number about 80 families in total. He has therefore redoubled his efforts to assert his tenure rights.

His daughter, Mercy Rugadya, now resident in Kampala, made a complaint on behalf of the family and other users of the land to the Uganda Human Rights Commission.

The family also says they have filed a civil case against the Bunyoro Teachers Cooperative Savings and Credit Society with the High Court in Kampala.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

Presented with these conflicting stories and the allegations of harassment and eviction, Oil in Uganda contacted Major Muramagi to learn his version of events. In the July 4 telephone conversation, after denying owning any land in Hoima, he agreed to meet in Kampala on the evening of July 6 to discuss the case.

On the afternoon of July 6 Oil in Uganda again called Major Muramagi to confirm the appointment. After re-stating that “I absolutely don’t own any land there” he said he was unable to keep the appointment but might be able to meet on the evening of July 8. He requested that we contact him for confirmation earlier that day. However, on July 8 he did not answer repeated calls to his mobile phone.

Meanwhile, four hours after the July 6 conversation with the Major, Deo Birinaiwe phoned Oil in Uganda saying that Major Muramagi had been in touch with him and asked him to call. “It was a mistake,” Birinaiwe said, referring to what he had previously reported about the land transaction. “He [Muramagi] did not buy the land, we did not sell it to him. Christine Mirembe bought it.”

Asked who Ms. Mirembe was, Birinaiwe described her as “a Kampala lady,” adding that “I did not follow her much.” He said she had paid 300 million shillings (not the 500 million he had claimed in the earlier interview) and that the sale took place “last year sometime, around April.”

Asked why he had previously named Major Muramagi as the buyer, Birinaiwe said: “He had got interested in it, we had dealt with him for a long time, so his name was always the one that came to mind. But when I finally checked the records, I found it was Christine Mirembe.”

The following afternoon, Oil in Uganda received a call from Mugenyi Mulindambura, a local councillor for Kigoroba sub-county and chair of the Hoima District Production and Natural Resources Committee. He also said Major Murgamagi had asked him to explain the situation. It was not possible to arrange a meeting within the next few days, but on July 11 the councillor delivered to the Oil in Uganda office a packet of documents that appear to confirm Christine Mirembe as the legally registered owner of the lease to Plot 8, Bughaya Block 6 at Kyamgando, Kigorobya.

THE MULINDAMBURA DOSSIER

This file includes a copy of a sale agreement, dated April 5 2011, between Bunyoro Teachers’ Cooperative Savings and Credit Society and Christine Mirembe of P. O. Box 7026, Kampala, indicating that Ms. Mirembe bought the land rights for 300 million shillings.

Also included were photocopies of two Certificates of Land Title from the Leasehold Register (with case reference number LWB/5900). The first, dated December 18, 1987, shows a five-year lease (starting September 1, 1986) as granted to the Savings and Credit Society. The second shows a 44-year lease (starting September, 1991) as having been granted to the Savings and Credit Society on August 24, 2007, and transferred to Christine Mirembe on April 20, 2011. These were accompanied by an A3 size colour photocopy of a boundary map of the land in question, drawn up by the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys.

Also enclosed were copies of compensation agreements, dated between August and October 2011, between Christine Mirembe and six occupants of the land she had acquired. These appear to show that the ‘squatters’ agreed to accept sums ranging from 5 million to 7 million shillings (US$ 2,000 — 2,800) each in return for vacating the land.

Enclosed alongside these agreements was a copy of a Notice of Eviction, served on September 9, 2011 by the Kampala law firm Kateera & Kagumire “on behalf of our client, Christine Mirembe,” against a seventh occupant, who had allegedly accepted a Sh5 million compensation package but then refused to vacate.

On July 12, Oil in Uganda phoned Kateera & Kagumire to verify whether they were acting on behalf of Ms. Mirembe. Managing Partner, Yusufu Kagumire, a renowned conveyancing lawyer and former Chief Registrar of Titles, confirmed that Ms. Mirembe was his client but declined to discuss her business affairs or relationship to Major Muramagi.

Finally, the Mulindambura dossier contained documents relating to an alleged case of threatening violence and malicious damage.

A photocopied, handwritten letter, dated June 27 2011, from LC 1 Chairman of Ndaragi II village, Tegras Kaahwa, reports to the Kigorobya Police Post a complaint from one resident. He, the letter says, had been threatened by a group of villagers who “instructed him to take them to the manager of the Bunyoro Teachers Savings and Credit Cooperative Society investments which are being persued [sic] at their land.” They then, allegedly, “grabbed him towards the construction site [and] destroyed the construction materials at the site.”

This is accompanied in the dossier by six colour photographs of damaged construction materials, and by a Uganda Police “ammended [sic] charge” sheet, dated October 10, 2011, naming seven individuals as “threatening violence.”

It is further accompanied by a photocopy of a handwritten letter, signed on October 30, 2011 by eleven family members of a detained prisoner.

“The family of Mzee [name withheld by Oil in Uganda] with grate [sic] humbleness would like to request you kindly to release their son [name withheld] who was arrested and remanded at Hoima prison under allegations of malicious damage, theft, violence and others which happened in your farm . . . ”

The letter, signed in front of LC 1 Chairman, Tegwas Kaahwa, is addressed to one “Mr. Asiimwe Habert [sic].”

CONCLUDING PUZZLES

It is impossible from our limited research to reach any conclusion on the rival claims of Deo Birinaiwe and Erineo Rugondo over the original ownership of the contested land lease.

It is also hard to unravel claims and counter-claims about violence, arrests and detentions that have taken place since the April 2011 sale.

It seems certain, however, that this sale and later efforts to ‘vacate’ the land of its occupants sparked resistance in the community, arrests and detentions.

It is also notable that, before the sale, this 1,205 hectare plot of land was being leased for a total rent of just 120,000 shillings per year — a mere 100 shillings (US$ 04 cents) per hectare. Why would anyone, whether an ISO man or a “Kampala lady,” spend many hundreds of millions of shillings buying a lease that now has only 23 years to run? (Bearing in mind that the costs included not just the purchase price — whether 300 or 500 million — but, according to the Mulindambura dossier, significant compensation for ‘squatters’ and also the services of Kageera & Katumire, Uganda’s “oldest law firm,” according to its website, and doubtless one of the most costly.)

What expected, eventual profit could justify such expenditure? Has Bunyoro cattle-ranching suddenly become so profitable? Or is the investment linked to expectations of eventual profit as a result of “oil activities” in the area — perhaps in anticipation of compensation, if land is compulsorily purchased, for income foregone on the yields of a ‘forestry project’?

Another important question: What is the connection between Christine Mirembe and Major Muramagi? Who is the principal and who is the agent? Who is acting for whom?

Despite his denials of ownership, numerous testimonies point to the Major’s involvement in the purchase and development of the land. Deo Birinaiwe, in a third version of his story, related over the phone on July 13, claimed that the Major had initially agreed to buy the land for 300 million shillings and made a down-payment of 45 million, but “After a week, he came back and said he had changed his mind, so we refunded his money.” It was only then, Birinaiwe added, that Ms. Mirembe appeared with her offer.

Yet even after the sale, the Major has apparently been prominent in developing the land and, as the letter pleading clemency for a jailed man seems to show, in the disputes surrounding it. According to Erineo Rugondo, the Major offered him 250 million shillings in return for giving up all claim to the lease—an offer Rugondo says he rejected, although he also says he is willing to consider an out of court settlement. Other community members, including Father Sabiiti appeared genuinely baffled when told by Oil in Uganda that the Major denied ownership. “Then why doesn’t he leave us alone?” one young man asked.

The Major’s strenuous efforts to prove he did not buy the land are also puzzling. He appears to have had no trouble getting Deo Birinaiwe to recant his first version of the sale. The rapid mobilisation of the meticulously presented Mulindambura dossier, including large-format colour photocopies, was apparently intended to distance the Major from the case. But why go to so much trouble? Is this not, perhaps, a case of “protesting too much?”

Finally, the single most disturbing aspect of this case is the possibility that Major Muramagi may have used the armed force of the state to pursue private business interests, whether for his own sake or on behalf of others. Various interviewees insist that this has happened. And even Deo Birinaiwe took it upon himself, on July 13, to hint that it might. “Muramagi is a big man in this country,” he warned Oil in Uganda, “And if you want to take him on, you may suffer.”

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* This report was first published by oilinuganda.com.

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‘The Jews of our time?"

Israel's deportation of the South Sudanese

Mimi Kirk

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83751

cc S Y KJust prior to the deportations, xenophobic manifestations of Israel’s imperative to retain its Jewish majority were clear.

Planeloads of South Sudanese refugees from Israel have been landing in South Sudan’s capital of Juba over the past few weeks. Many of them had been living in the poor neighborhoods of Hatikva and Shapira in southern Tel Aviv, working in such jobs as hotel chambermaids or waiters. Israel has justified the deportations with the explanation that because South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July 2011, the refugees can now return to their home country without fear. Their calls deliberately disregard ongoing violence between Sudan and South Sudan as well as aggression between rival South Sudanese groups. The Interior Ministry announced that the South Sudanese would receive 1,250 US dollars if they returned voluntarily and would face arrest and expulsion if they refused.

Israel hosts approximately sixty thousand African refugees (termed “infiltrators” in Israeli parlance), mainly from Eritrea and Sudan. Most, fleeing violence and instability, have entered Israel through Egypt over the past five years. Israel is barred from deporting Eritrean or Sudanese refugees, as the United Nations has declared that doing so would put their lives in danger. Though South Sudan’s refugees constitute only a small fraction of African refugees in Israel, approximately seven hundred total or 0.1 percent of all refugees, the deportations have highlighted at least two noteworthy trends. The first is Israel’s resort to forcible and racially driven expulsions in an effort to retain its majority Jewish makeup. Second is the claim by some South Sudanese of a kind of essentialized religious, historical, and cultural affinity with Israel in order to foster a strategic bond.

Just prior to the deportations, xenophobic manifestations of Israel’s imperative to retain its Jewish majority were clear. At an anti-refugee demonstration in Hatikva on 24 May, Likud Member of Parliament Miri Regev stated from the stage, “The Sudanese are a cancer in our body.” A week later Israeli crowds chanted, “Deport the Sudanese” at a similar demonstration in Shapira. Other politicians have also added fuel to the fire. Interior Minister Eli Yishai recently claimed that African refugees were raping many Israeli women who “do not complain out of fear of being stigmatized as having contracted AIDS.” He recently added, “Israel belongs to the white man.” A number of South Sudanese arriving in Juba have described their recent treatment in Israel as brusque, marked by visa confiscations and arrests that barred them from clearing their Israeli bank accounts or receiving final paychecks.

Though it might not be obvious from these recent events, Israel has consistently supported southern Sudan, particularly during its first civil war with the north, and it was among the first countries to recognize South Sudan as a sovereign state last year. To Israel, South Sudan is another formerly-enslaved nation that escaped the clutches of Muslim violence and intolerance. In turn, it is often seen as “black” and “Christian” versus its “Arab” and “Muslim” neighbour to the north, though the makeup of Sudan and South Sudan is more complex than this simple division suggests. As the Sudanese academic and politician Francis Deng has consistently argued, the ideas of “racial, cultural and religious homogeneity…oversimplify and falsify a dynamic picture of pluralism [in Sudan/South Sudan].”

This simple dichotomy begets the powerful notion that South Sudan is an ally to Israel in a hostile part of the world, particularly in regard to Omar al-Bashir’s regime in Khartoum. Al-Bashir’s alliance with Iran and Hamas has particularly riled Israel, with Sudan serving as a way station for Iranian weapons en route to the Sinai Peninsula and ultimately to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. As Galia Sabar of the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University recently said, “We have a phenomenal interest in South Sudan, a Christian country in the heart of an area of great importance to us.” South Sudan presents itself along similar lines. Salva Kiir, South Sudan’s president, visited Israel in December 2011 and made such remarks as: “We have shared values. We have waged similar struggles, and we will go hand-in-hand with Israel in order to strengthen and enhance bilateral relations.” In Juba, Israeli flags are prevalent, and one neighborhood goes by the name Hai Jerusalem (Long Live Jerusalem).

As a result of this perceived affinity, some Jewish, both American and Israeli, and South Sudanese leaders alike have registered shock at the deportations. Charles Jacobs, president of the American Anti-Slavery Group, wrote an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post that called the South Sudanese “a special people” deserving of special treatment. He recounted that many American Jews, upon learning years ago of how the Muslim north was oppressing and killing those in the south, “saw [them] as ‘the Jews of our time.’” “We should continue to treat them as the very special people they are,” he concluded, asking for the refugees to have “a bit more time” to make arrangements to return home.

South Sudanese activist Simon Deng, a former slave in Sudan and a vehement supporter of Israel (the Jerusalem Post called him “the Southern Sudanese equivalent of ‘professional Jews,’ those who work in Israel advocacy”), also appealed to the Israeli government to give the refugees another year to allow them a transition period. He particularly noted that their children need to “prepare…psychologically for moving to South Sudan, a country where [they] have never before set foot.” Joseph Monyde Malieny, a South Sudanese student living in Israel, wrote a plea to “our blessed brothers and sisters of Israel” asking the government to grant legal status to the South Sudanese before repatriating them (ostensibly giving them more time in the country). He emphasized that “due to the brutal Islamic regime in Sudan, we fled death to reach your country.” Neither Jacobs nor Deng nor Malieny questioned the ultimate necessity of the expulsions or of retaining the Jewish composition of Israel.

Thus, calls from South Sudanese activists as well as those sympathetic to the refugees, while stressing the affinity between South Sudanese and Jewish people, asked the Israeli government to allow more time for the refugees to get their lives in order before deportation. This request went unheeded. The strategy had worked before in a different time and place. US support for the southern Sudanese was in large part fueled by the similar perception that Muslim northerners were persecuting Christian southerners. With a strong American evangelical lobby as well as personal support from George W. Bush and Christian-oriented members of Congress, the United States led the charge in the 2000s for South Sudan’s secession. The South Sudanese deftly used this notion to their advantage. “The SPLM [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement] effectively used Christianity and the bad Muslim/good Christian narrative to generate support for their cause in the United States,” a US government official said last year.

In this case the South Sudanese government has been complicit in the deportations, reportedly saying to refugees that “if the Israeli government doesn’t want you…go back” and even helping to coordinate the deportations. As such, the recent use of the “bad Muslim/good Christian narrative” by some South Sudanese has been less official in nature than the SPLM’s mobilization of it suggested pre-secession. Yet it is still telling of the Israeli government’s single-minded focus on the deportations that it did not entertain the meager request from prominent citizens for a bit of leniency for “the Jews of our time.” Though the people of South Sudan are seen as those “who will be [Israel’s] very good friends in a very hostile world,” the Israeli government has been more concerned with purging the country of “infiltrators” than with fostering this relationship or, indeed, than with enhancing its image internationally.

Hence, Israel’s conservative politicians have ramped up an atmosphere of radicalization with xenophobic rhetoric as well as a revised Prevention of Infiltration Law that now allows Israeli authorities to detain all asylum-seekers crossing the border for three or more years before their deportation. And the outspoken minister Eli Yishai has vowed to clear the country of all illegal immigrants in the next three years.

Regional developments have likely played a role in this increase in Israeli xenophobia. As external tensions grow, Israel both lashes out at its domestic population and uses it to distract from broader regional concerns. With recent nuclear talks between the UN Security Council plus Germany and Iran failing to produce results, both Iran and Israel have indulged in aggressive statements alluding to military action. Israeli president Shimon Peres recently said, “If the Iranians ... don't heed the warnings, the calls and the economic sanctions, the world will look to other options." And last week an Iranian General for the Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying that Iran could strike Israel within minutes of an attack. Furthermore, with the recent ascension of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (despite its curtailed power), political Islam looks as if it will play an increasingly influential role in the neighborhood. These developments are threatening to Israel, and the government has responded in part by turning inward, striking out at those it can more easily control and accelerating construction of a security fence along the Sinai border to deter African refugees from crossing into the country.

In a recent interview on Al Jazeera regarding the deportations, the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy argued that Israel’s policy of only allowing Jews to settle in the country—whether black, as in Jews from Ethiopia, or white—is “unacceptable in the modern world.” “How do you call it?” he asked. “Is there any other name but nationalism or racism?” Ali Abunimah has suggested that the South Sudanese deportations are but a dress rehearsal for mass expulsion of Israel’s non-Jewish indigenous population — Palestinian citizens of Israel—if an independent Palestinian state is established. But while Levy, Abunimah, and like-minded analysts and citizens are dismayed by the recent deportations and the philosophy behind them, governmental plans suggest that such an attitude and its resultant policies will continue — even when such plans mean an even more tarnished human rights reputation and a risk of alienating an ally that some have called “the second Israel.”

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* Mimi Kirk is Editor for the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore.

* This article was first published by jadaliyya.com.

* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Better die defending your rights than accept slavery

Fatuma Lamungu Nur

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83743

cc WikipediaThe recent Nairobi conference by Kenya, IGAD, AU and UN is another misfortune that will remain in the hearts of many Somalis, and it’s again showing how the international community is using a negative approach to resolve the crisis in Jubbaland regions.

Everyone who remembers the genocide of the Wagosha people in 1991-1993 will be in shock when he realizes that the same killers have been appointed to become judges or rulers who will maintain law and order.

Without shame the international community is buying the lies of Kenyan clan minded politicians, Mohamed Yusuf Haji (Kenyan state defence minister) and Mahbub Moalim (IGAD Secretary General), both from Ogaden clan, and have a common goal of establishing an Ogadeni entity in southern Somalia that will have strong links with ONLF and Kenyan North Eastern Province.

The blood of the thousands of Wagosha people killed in the operation “eliminate non-Darod people from Jubbaland” is still wet, and the relatives of the survivors will not be happy at all if the same perpetrators are given a fresh mandate to complete their campaign of exterminating the Wagosha people from their land.

How come a meeting to decide the fate of Jubba regions is being attended by few groups who have the backing of the big players in the region, while the others are branded names as minorities etc, while we know that the Wagosha people are the majority of these regions?

About 500 displaced Wagosha people have been killed in Puntland by Puntland security forces. Today the fate of the Wagosha people on their land is being decided by the same perpetrators of Ogaden and Majerten in Jubbaland. This is a nightmare.

Is the international community telling us who is majority and who is not in Jubbaland? The funny thing is the few Majerten clan members who have been living in some localities of Kismaayo have been recognized as majority, while the Wagosha who live in Lower Jubba and Middle Jubba are being called minority. The Ogaden only live in Afmadow district and they are recognized by IGAD, AU, UN and Kenya that they are among the major powers in Jubbaland

The only thing the killers of Jubbaland are keen to obtain is the fertile land that belonged to Wagosha community Swahili speakers in Jubbaland, so that they can continue the persecution of the Bantu people by grabbing their land and using them as slaves in their farms.

Allowing Mohamed Abdi Gandi, a refugee from Ethiopia, to attend a meeting about Jubbaland while leaving out the people who are originally from Jubbaland is also absurd.

The international community is really trying to help the Somali people, but the problem of listening to one side of the story and ignoring the other made the situation to remain the same as in 1991 when the civil war erupted in Somalia.

The Wagosha people are peaceful people, who always sought to live in harmony with other clans in Jubba region, but if someone is there to provoke and kill you, then you have every right to defend yourself.

We agree that the ongoing Somalia conflict affects the entire East and Horn of Africa region, but to tackle this problem with this approach seems to be displeasing.

Kenya claims to be sending its forces to Somalia to secure its borders, but the fact is different. Thousands from the Ogaden clan from Kenya’s North East Province have been recruited to liberate what is called the land of Jubbaland from the enemy clans, including the Wagosha Swahili speaking community. This is a dream that many Ogaden officials have been waiting to happen. In 1991, former Kenya military commander under General Mohamud Mohamed pursued the same dream by deploying Kenyan forces of the Ogaden clan to southern Somalia to fight along General Morgan forces in their ethnic cleansing campaigns.

The bigger picture of this policy is to pursue the dream of the Greater Somalia. In Garisa, the provincial town of North Eastern Province, you can easily spot the house of Dekow Moalim Sambul, the former leader of the outlawed Shifta group, which caused mayhem to Kenya and its people. He came back from Somalia in 1991, when General Siyad Barre, who supported the Shifta war, was toppled. Until today Dekow believes that the Greater Somalia dream will eventually come true.

He was recently involved in campaigning for the so called Azania state led by Mohamed Abdi Gandi; both hail from the same sub clan of Ogaden called Tolomoge.

Every year the number of residents in North Eastern Province raises, because of Somali refugees from Ethiopia and Somalia, who illegally acquire Kenyan citizenship with the support of Kenyan Somali politicians.

One of the comments on the Facebook social network posted after Garisa church attacks (on 1 July 2012) backs this argument:

“Farah Maalim as usual would want to settle scores with Government officials that he maliciously targeted for removal from NEP as they refuse to sing to his political songs. It’s so unfortunate that he now wants to use this sad tragedy of cold blood killing as a platform to fight his perceived nemesis by demanding for their removal. Mr. Deputy Speaker, if you are sincere, demand the relocation of refugees who were issued with identity cards in your constituency to Somalia. Terrorist should not be retained as voters come election.”

Shaykh Hasan Turki, one of the key Al-Shabab leaders, is among those with Kenyan ID cards. After the 1998 bombings in Kenya and Tanzania he peacefully passed through Garisa to Somalia using the Kenyan ID card issued to him by Kenyan Somalis. His family was also given the same identification cards before they relocated to foreign countries, with the help of Kenyan Somali politicians.

This is a lesson to all East and Horn of African countries that their security will be compromised if they use an unworkable approach to tackle the Somalia crisis.

The regional countries should work on teaching the Somalis the meaning of nationality and the boundaries they should live. Today in the new Somali draft constitution, the citizenship is open to everyone who speaks Somali, even if he/she was born in Kenya or Ethiopia. This should end because it’s not harming only Somalia, but the whole region.

Jubbaland has witnessed many wars, and it really needs a solution that reflects justice, so that people can live together in harmony, peace and stability.

I urge the youth, elders, men, women and girls to stand up for their rights, even by forces if they are pushed to that extent. Do not be afraid. Enough is enough. All the freedom and sovereignty you see people are enjoying did not just come in an easy way. It’s all through sacrifice. The only thing the enemy will use to threaten you is death. They have already killed your beloved ones, looted your property, and raped your sisters, daughters and mothers. You better die defending your rights, rather than accepting slavery and persecution in your land.

No matter how long it will take, do not be caught idle again as in 1991, you learnt a lot about your rights, so don’t hesitate to use your experience in defending your rights.

In one of his great speeches the former Tanzanian leader, Mwalimu Nyerere said, “We have the reason, we have the ability and the will to fight against Uganda’s Iddi Amin”. The same applies to the people of Gosha; you have the reason, the ability and the will to defend your rights in a world that is dominated by material interests, rather than morale and humanity values.


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Equatorial Guinea: UNESCO’s shameful award

Legal questions, human rights concerns surround Obiang prize

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83731

cc J DUNESCO’s decision to issue a controversial prize sponsored by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea is disappointing and irresponsible, seven civil society groups said. A ceremony to award the prize was scheduled for July 17, 2012, in Paris. Obiang, in power for 33 years, leads a government known for corruption and repression.

In a divisive 33-18 vote with 6 abstentions, UNESCO’s governing Executive Board approved a renamed prize on March 8 under the name UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences and pressed UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova, to move quickly to award it. That vote disregarded the advice of UNESCO’s legal office, which said that the prize could not be implemented, according to the organization’s own rules, due to discrepancies surrounding the source of the funding.

“It is shameful and utterly irresponsible for UNESCO to award this prize, given the litany of serious legal and ethical problems surrounding it,” said Tutu Alicante, director of the human rights group EG Justice. “Beyond letting itself be used to polish the sullied image of Obiang, UNESCO also risks ruining its own credibility.”

In a July 12 letter to delegates opposed to the prize, Bokova said that a legal opinion issued following the Board vote concluded that concerns remained but that she is nevertheless required to adhere to the Executive Board’s decision and implement the prize. In a July 13 response, the delegates protested that “UNESCO has a legal and fiduciary duty” to fully resolve the funding questions “so that there is no cloud of illegality hanging over the prize.”

It remains unclear if Obiang, who has pushed this prize as part of a major effort to improve his global standing, will attend the award ceremony, as foreseen in the program for the event. The prize was first approved in 2008 as the “UNESCO-Obiang prize.” His name was dropped from the award in the face of outrage from prominent African and Latin American intellectuals, writers, journalists, Nobel Prize Laureates, scientists, health professionals, and civil society groups who criticized the president’s poor human rights record and alleged involvement in money laundering.

Ongoing corruption investigations of members of the Obiang family in France, Spain, and the United States contribute to questions over the source of the prize’s funding. On March 5, Association SHERPA and Transparency International France requested that French judges extend France’s corruption investigation to include Obiang’s $3 million donation for this prize.

Serious allegations of corruption and money-laundering on a grand scale by the president or his family and close associates are now being examined by multiple judicial bodies internationally. Obiang’s eldest son and presumed successor, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, known as Teodorín, is wanted under an international arrest warrant issued by French judges on July 10 in connection with the case in France.

In a move that may have been an attempt to grant Teodorín immunity from prosecution, Obiang appointed his son to be Equatorial Guinea’s deputy permanent delegate to UNESCO in October 2011. In May, Obiang also named Teodorín to be Equatorial Guinea’s second vice president, a post not foreseen under the country’s constitution. Teodorin’s lawyer in France contends that the arrest warrant “is null and void because of Mr. Obiang's status” as second vice president.

French authorities have twice raided a lavish residence used by the Obiang family in Paris and seized large quantities of luxury goods valued at tens of millions of Euros belonging to Teodorín.

In a separate investigation, the United States Department of Justice has filed complaints that provide detailed allegations that Teodorín abused his prior government post as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry to extort and launder money to finance more than $300 million in high-end purchases between 2000 and 2011, including properties in Brazil, France, South Africa, and the United States with a total value of US$133 million, and $45 million in art by Renoir and other master painters.

Lawyers for Teodorín in France and the US have disputed the claims against their client.

Teodorín’s lifestyle and the prize’s stated goal of “contributing to improving the quality of human life” contrast sharply with conditions in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, where poverty, human rights abuses, and corruption are widespread and social services are inadequate, the civil society groups said.

In contrast to UNESCO’s core mandate to protect and promote media freedom and information sharing, free expression and press freedom are routinely curtailed in Equatorial Guinea. The government also fails to publish basic information related to government budgets and spending.

“Ordinary people in Equatorial Guinea have never shared in the country’s wealth or their leaders’ fancy lifestyles,” Alicante said. “If they celebrate anything as they languish in poverty, it won’t be the UNESCO prize. It will be Teodorín’s arrest warrant.”

The statement was issued by the following organizations:
Association SHERPA
Committee to Protect Journalists
Corruption Watch
EG Justice
Global Witness
Human Rights Watch
ONE

For more EG Justice reporting on Equatorial Guinea, please visit:
http://www.egjustice.org

For more background information on Equatorial Guinea and the UNESCO prize, please see the text below.

For more information, please contact:
In Paris, for Association Sherpa, Rachel Leenhardt (English, French): +33-1-42-21-33-25; or communication@asso-sherpa.org
In New York, for the Committee to Protect Journalists, Mohamed Keita (English, French): +1-212-300-9004; or mkeita@cpj.org
In Washington, DC, for EG Justice, Joseph Kraus (English, Spanish): +1-202-256-8939 (mobile); or jkraus@egjustice.org
In Washington, DC, for EG Justice, Tutu Alicante (English, French, Spanish): +1-615-479-0207 (mobile); or tutu@egjustice.org
In London, for Global Witness, Robert Palmer (English): +44-(0)-7545-645-406 (mobile); or rpalmer@globalwitness.org
In Paris, for Human Rights Watch, Jean-Marie Fardeau (French, English, Portuguese): +33-6-45-85-24-87 (mobile); or fardeaj@hrw.org
In Paris, for Human Rights Watch, Lisa Misol (English, Spanish): +1-646-515-6665 (mobile); or misoll@hrw.org
In New York, for Open Society Justice Initiative, Ken Hurwitz (English): +1-212-548-0140 (office), +1-917-319-1953 (mobile); or khurwitz@justiceinitiative.org
In Johannesburg, for AfriMAP, Jeggan Grey-Johnson (English): +27(0)11-587-5000; +27(0)83-620-0578 (mobile); or jeggangj@osisa.org

Background on human rights in Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea is an oil-rich West African country with rampant high-level corruption and disproportionately high rates of poverty, given the nation’s per capita wealth. Most ordinary citizens do not have reliable access to electricity, safe drinking water, or quality education and health care.

According to the UN’s 2011 Human Development Report, Equatorial Guinea ranks 136 out of 187 countries in the Human Development Index, despite a very high per-capita GDP of $28,857. As a result, Equatorial Guinea has by far the largest gap of all countries between its wealth ranking and its human development score. The country’s poor social indicators include high child mortality rates. Nearly one in eight children dies before reaching the age of five.

Meanwhile, the government prioritizes spending on large, highly visible infrastructure projects aimed at impressing the international community, including the $830 million Sipopo luxury complex constructed to host the June 2011 African Union summit.

The government tries to intimidate or silence dissenting voices. Political opposition figures have been unjustly detained in recent months, including Dr. Wenceslao Mansogo Alo, a well respected doctor and human rights activist who was held for four months on dubious charges. Mansogo urged UNESCO delegates to abolish the prize in a letter written from his prison cell. He was convicted and later pardoned by Obiang on June 5 but remains subject to penalties, including large fines and orders to close his clinic and suspend his medical license for several years, highlighting the hypocrisy of a prize intended to improve “the quality of human life.”

The government has sought to brand international civil society organizations opposed to the UNESCO prize as“racists,” “neo-colonialists” and “the declared opponents of Equatorial Guinea,” who “want to dirty the image”of Equatorial Guinea through“slander, prejudice, and disinformation.”

Background on the Prize
The UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences was created by UNESCO’s Executive Board in October 2008. In the wake of a global campaign against the prize, in June 2010 Director-General Bokova asked the organization’s Board to reconsider, saying the prize would post a grave risk to UNESCO’s reputation. In October 2010, the Executive Board suspended the prize indefinitely.

Despite an appeal by Bokova to withdraw the prize as “proof of generosity,” Obiang continued to push to reinstate it. The Board continued the suspension in October 2011. In November 2011, Equatorial Guinea’s government announced that Obiang was willing to “concede” that the prize would “not bear his name.” A majority of the Board voted on March 8 to approve the prize under the new name.

Unanswered questions remained, however, about the prize’s funding sources. The original prize was to be funded by the Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Foundation for the Preservation of Life. On February 9, 2012, the government of Equatorial Guinea informed UNESCO that the prize funds instead came from the public treasury.

In a legal opinion issued on March 2, UNESCO’s legal adviser concluded that the original UNESCO-Obiang prize was “no longer implementable” due to a “material discrepancy” between its stated and actual funding source and that the same would apply to any renamed prize.

After the prize was officially adopted, Bokova said she would seek a second legal opinion given the ongoing concerns about the source of the prize money. The second legal opinion reportedly asserts that the Director-General is required by UNESCO’s rules to follow the directive of the Executive Board and implement the prize.

Loud sound of silence

An ex-homeboy’s account of life in a hitherto peaceful Nigerian city that is now blood-soaked

Abdulrazaq Magaji

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83745

cc F WWhile military action may quell the eruption of violence and killing in northern Nigeria, effective action to tackle poverty is needed to rebuild a lasting peace.

My first discovery as I disembarked from the defunct Nigerian Airways Boeing 737I that July evening was the heat. It was around 6pm but even at that time of the day, the heat could, permit the choice of words, ‘fry an egg’. Maiduguri, capital of the north eastern Nigerian state of Borno is famous for its heat. But for someone coming from the equally hot North West, the heat should pose no problems. However, the four years spent in comparatively temperate Zaria, on the southern tip of the north west, had ‘weakened my immunity’ to heat. Maiduguri posed initially challenges but then, I quickly adjusted and roused myself to the reality on the ground. Not that I had any choice, anyway: I was in town for the mandatory one year national service after graduating from university. That was in 1981.

Maiduguri of those days was, like any average Nigerian town, where you could go out to have some fun, if you are the adventurous type, till the wee hours of the morning. And fun was always in abundance in Maiduguri. Indeed, one of the major attractions of Maiduguri for most fun lovers was the daily rendezvous at various joints where you get traditional Sudanese music aplenty. A trip to Maiduguri then would be incomplete without a visit to some of these tourist attractions the town boasted of. No Boko Haram, no gun-toting security personnel kicking down doors in hot pursuit of insurgents; and you need not steal glances across your shoulder, because nobody was laying ambush to spill your blood in the strange belief that murder was the certificate to unlock the doors of paradise.

But then, there was more to Maiduguri than the love for traditional Sudanese music or mere adventure or any of those things capable of catching the fancy of a young man. One thing that struck me early in the day was the healthy mix of religion and ethnicity. Like Maiduguri, the state capital, other towns in the northern part of the state could be termed, for want of a better adjective, predominantly Islam and Muslim. The southern part which is home to indigenous Christian populations of the state, and, indeed, there are many of them, enjoyed and still enjoys a good mix of indigenous Muslims. Which explains why Maiduguri, the state capital has a large concentration of indigenous Christians as well as Christian settlers from other parts of the country. No one was threatened on account of religion or ethnicity. On a personal note, top on the list of long standing friends I made in Maiduguri 30 years ago, and who I still relate with, are non-Muslim indigenes of Borno state. Until three years ago, no resident of this beautiful city could have imagined that Maiduguri would be turned on its head. How sad!

Under our very eyes and, Maiduguri and other towns in the north east have changed from places where first timers felt at home into a huge killing field where you visit at great risk. Young graduates deployed to Borno state, some of whom, like myself 31 years ago, would have considered opening shop there, have now been denied that chance. Last year, youth corps members deployed there were hurriedly evacuated. The scheme has been suspended in Borno and the adjoining Yobe. Another hurried evacuation took place at the University of Maiduguri, which served as our orientation camp 30 years ago, when scared administrators were forced to send students home. These evacuations were necessitated by repeated threats by some people that claim Western education is sinful.

The main fall-out of the poverty driven violence across the north is that, today, it is constantly on the radar of security agents because some people, on the misplaced assumption of fighting the cause of Allah and Islam, could throw bombs at worshippers. The upsurge in anarchy in hitherto peaceful and harmonious Maiduguri and other parts of the north east, in spite of a state of emergency, has got to the stage that some traditional, religious and political leaders who summoned the courage to condemn this deadly and misplaced campaign were dubbed apostates and killed. The killing of Modu Fannami, a colleague in the 1981 Graduating Class of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and governorship candidate of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) quickly comes to mind. Other moderate voices, for fear of being killed, took the cue: they either clammed up or hurriedly sneaked out of town.

Some individuals and groups have taken the initiative to get round the problem. One group, now moribund, goes by the acronym, BELT, or Borno Elders and Leaders of Thought. Hurriedly formed to find a political solution to the anarchy and made up of some of the most authentic patriots you can get in the land, BELT, for very obvious reasons, never found it appropriate to condemn the curious style propagating Islam, a religion of peace, through non peaceful means. Peace will return to the north east but not on the terms and conditions set by BELT and similar groups.

It will also not come on the terms and conditions set by gun wielding revivalists. Like other Nigerians, they may have one grouse or the other against the state or its agents but the idea of taking up arms, ostensibly to Islamise Nigeria, issuing ultimatums, killing innocent citizens and creating a fear and terror induced atmosphere is the least of the options available to the average Nigerian to seek redress. As it is today, there is no state in the so called ‘Muslim north’ that has no non-Muslims who are indigenous to that state. It is even safe to say that Borno has the largest indigenous non-Muslim population of any state in the entire Muslim north. Killing them and bombing their places of worship is not a passport to paradise. And for those who may, for some reasons, be inclined to suicide bombing as a way of pressing their case, it is assumed we all know the clear Quranic injunctions that talk of an abode in the hottest part of hell for those who take their own lives. We are not even talking of taking the life of others, be they Muslims or non Muslims.

Mark my words! Sooner or later, the military will succeed in dislodging the Boko Haram, kill or arrest its leadership and disperse what remains of its followership. But this will not restore peace, be it lasting or short lived. Real peace, which will guarantee the regular pilgrimage of those of us with strong emotional attachment to Borno and her wonderful residents, will come through pro-poor developmental programmes that will take the wind out of the sail of potential trouble makers and render violence less appealing. With the right leaders, Nigeria has all it takes to keep potential insurgents out of business and reverse the foolish but avoidable march towards becoming a failed state. This is certainly impossible when the treasury has been hijacked and is being mindlessly looted by a privileged few.


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* Abdulrazaq Magaji is a writer, journalist and former history lecturer, living in Abuja, Nigeria. He can be reached at magaji777@yahoo.com

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Surfing South Africa’s micro-protest wave

Patrick Bond

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83735

cc F E ISouth Africa suffers from far too many activists who promote a localist ideology that begins and ends with the municipal councillor, city manager or mayor. There are too many turf-conscious leaders who look inward, failing to think globally while acting locally.

The recent surge of unconnected community protests across South Africa confirms the country’s profound social, economic and environmental contradictions. But if activists fall before a new hail of police bullets, or if they lack an overarching political strategy, won’t their demonstrations simply pop up and quickly fall back down again – deserving the curse-words ‘popcorn protests’ – as they run out of steam, or worse, get channelled by opportunists into a new round of xenophobic attacks?

It’s been a hot winter, and we’re just halfway through July (the Centre for Civil Society’s Social Protest Observatory keeps tabs: http://ccs.ukzn.ac.za) Consider evidence from just the past two weeks, for example, in Johannesburg’s distant Orange Farm township south of Soweto, where residents rose up against city councillors and national electricity officials because of the unaffordable $250 installation charged for hated prepayment (i.e. self-disconnection) meters, not to mention a 130% increase in electricity prices since 2008.

Nearby, in Boksburg’s Holomisa shack settlement, 50 activists were arrested after blocking roads with burning tyres. Likewise, in the port city of East London’s Egoli township, house allocation controversies led to a brief uprising, and down the coast, high-profile Port Elizabeth road barricade protests again broke out over failing services in Walmer township.

Near the Botswana border close to Northwest Province’s Morokweng village, a dozen residents angry about inadequate state services were arrested for arson, public violence and malicious damage to school property, following months of frustrated non-violent protest; while in the provincial capital of Mahikeng, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate began an investigation into a death on July 4: “The deceased was allegedly shot and run over by a police vehicle during a service delivery protest in the area.”

In Free State Province’s capital of Bloemfontein, 300 community protesters barricaded a main road with rocks, and in a separate incident, when municipal police began forcibly removing street traders from a shopping centre, a community demonstration shifted targets: from a cruel city council to the nearest Other victims, immigrant hawkers. The protest forced 500 to flee, reviving memories of the deadly copy-cat anti-immigrant attacks of mid-2008 and mid-2010; the police arrested more than 100.

Days later, the same thing happened twice in Cape Town, at the huge Mitchells Plains township and close to the International Airport, with community xenophobes targeting Somali-owned spaza shops. Cretins from the Western Cape provincial African National Congress (ANC) executive had fuelled these flames with a blatant policy proposal aimed at outlawing foreign-owned shops.

More and more frequently, it seems, community-based popcorn protests can hang in the air long enough for opportunists to blow them onto xenophobic terrain, if the political wind shifts from left to right and residents think and act only with localistic perceptions, inconsiderate about why so many refugees are forced into South Africa thanks to Pretoria’s subimperialist political and economic policies.

DURBAN’S PROTEST SWELL

Durban may have been South Africa’s most active protest site in recent days, including high-profile middle-class demonstrations close to the town centre: a peaceful march against rhino poachers and a picket against animal abuse at the Brian Boswell Circus.

The city’s most disruptive recent demonstration was the occupation of a key spine road, Umgeni, last Wednesday by furious residents of Puntan’s Hill shack settlement. One protester was killed and two others injured, run over at 4am by a motorist who has been charged with culpable homicide, though he claims he was innocently trying to escape the blockade.

The latter incident was sparked by community ANC loyalists victimised by the ANC-run municipality’s disconnections of illegal electricity hook-ups to their shacks. They also complained of non-delivery of housing notwithstanding their councillor’s repeated promises. As a result of the protest, Puntan’s Hill activists received a new commitment from authorities that new houses would be fast-tracked and that some families would be relocated to a long-promised housing project, Cornubia, near the city’s wealthiest new suburb, Umhlanga.

Last Thursday, another Durban protest march – by AIDS treatment activists – ended at City Hall but was aimed mainly against Barack Obama, who recently cut the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS, thus canceling life-saving treatment for thousands of local residents at two downtown hospitals and an NGO clinic in Umlazi township. On Sunday, some of Durban’s treatment activists will protest again at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, in a coalition called Keep the Promise supported by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other notables.

Another Durban protest, on July 6, entailed tyre burning and a road blockade in Mariannridge, as residents blamed yet another local councillor for lack of adequate housing.

I witnessed two other manifestations of social unrest last week in South Durban. In the petro-chemical complex of Jacobs on Friday morning, the notorious corporate polluter FFS Refiners, specialising in waste oil recovery, was targeted by the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance’s 75 protesters. The company’s chief executive, Don Hunter, long denied that FFS emissions were the source of an awful ‘cats-wee’ (methanethiol) stench, but he was finally caught by the lethargic municipal environmental health department (the smell began nearly two years ago), so the protest spirit was fiery after this small but significant victory.

Racial integration of this protest, in a very divided, neo-apartheid urban context, occurred with the arrival of ‘Occupy Umlazi’ and Abahlali baseMjondolo activists. The same solidarity was offered nearby a few months earlier, when truck transport firms’ irresponsibility compelled 400 mainly working-class white protesters to invade the main Solomon Mahlangu (Edwin Swales) Drive that links South Durban to the M4 highway.

The broader struggle here is to retake the South Durban Basin’s sprawling valley from ecologically-poisonous capital and an uncaring municipality, a struggle that continues on Thursday night at the Merebank Community Centre when activists consider how to reverse the city’s $30 billion ‘Back-of-Port’ construction project. Thanks to the deepening of Durban harbour – already Africa’s largest – and its capacity to unload mega-ships holding 15,000 containers at a time, the new container terminals and proposed dug-out harbour (on the old airport site) will wipe out large neighbourhoods.

These include Clairwood, where Indian and African residents, ranging from the middle-class to shackdwellers, have been oppressed by illegal trucking and toxic petro-chemical operations for years. Just a half year following Durban’s hosting of the UN Climate Summit, the extreme emissions associated with port and petro-industrial expansion ridicule our managers’ claims to be environmentally conscious.

About 15 minutes drive south of the port, Occupy Umlazi continues on bush land taken in the huge township’s Ward 88, not far from the infamous Max’s Lifestyle Club frequented by local black elites. A large tent was erected next door to the office of ANC councillor Nomzamo Mkhize, who for the last fortnight has tried to ignore the protest. At Sunday afternoon’s meeting of two hundred residents, Abahlali secretary Bandile Mdlalose gave fearless leadership, observing that ANC supporters were doing the power structure’s dirty work in nearby Zakhele shack settlement. There, late last month, Occupy Umlazi activists Noxolo Mkanyi and Mkhayi Simelani were shot and hospitalized in a late night raid by political thugs.

A few kilometres further south, in Folweni Reserve township, teenager Mxolisi Buthelezi was fatally shot in the back with an R5 rifle while running away from police, during a July 1 service delivery protest of 1500 people. A few days before that incident, 43 people were arrested in a similar protest. Their efforts at least managed to reverse a 25% taxi price increase. The cop who allegedly killed the youth, Msizi Chiliza, committed suicide a few days later.

VIOLENCE IN THE AIR

Durban can be a wickedly violent town, rife with internecine political rivalries settled by the bullet. Bodyguards are now required by leading municipal officials – including the police chief – who have become justifiably frightened by how high the crony-capitalist stakes became after an anti-corruption investigation, the Mamase Report, fingered not only former mayor Obed Mlaba and municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe, but numerous councillors and allied businesses. Several well-connected construction firms still get housing contracts in spite of past work that is so shoddy, hundreds of their structures collapse during stormy weather.

The air of violence explains the scare last Friday night, when Durban police in an unmarked car suspiciously followed the national metalworkers’ union secretary, Irvin Jim, from the SA Communist Party’s big conference in northern KwaZulu-Natal. This raised speculation of a potential hit job given how the union is being targeted by elites for being too independent-minded and for advocating large-scale nationalisation.

Communist Party leader Blade Nzimande downplayed Jim’s concerns, claiming the men were simply guarding Durban mayor James Nxumalo but got lost. Unconvinced, union spokesperson Castro Ngobese remarked of the car’s passengers, whom Jim’s bodyguards confronted, “Surprisingly they did not know the name of the mayor, and even worse they could not produce authentic SA Police Service identification cards. The cars had false registration plates and were heavily armed.”

The incident comes just after the unsolved murder of regional ANC leader Wandile Mkhize on July 2, immediately following the ruling party’s controversial policy conference. Mkhize’s last SMS – to former ANC Youth League leader Fikile Mbalula – included the confession, “The stories and lies we fed as members to some of you in leadership further served to deepen the contradiction,” i.e., between the youth and ruling party’s national executive.

Party infighting is also blamed for last July’s hit on Durban’s leading ANC official, Sbu Sibiya, shortly after ANC councillor Wiseman Mshibe was shot dead. Several leaders of a small breakaway from the Inkatha Freedom Party – the National Democratic Party – were also executed in cold blood last year.

Every activist here is aware of the Cato Manor Police Station, located within a black township (just below the University of KwaZulu-Natal from where I write). Dozens of its recent police staff are under investigation for involvement in the station's alleged hit squad, reported to be responsible for more than 50 murders in recent years.

CHALLENGING POWER DURABLY

Many Durban civil society activists have lost their lives to assassinations or police murders over the past five years, including Mbongeleni Zondi in Umlazi, the South African National Civic Organization’s Jimmy Mtolo in New Germany, Clairwood activist Ahmed Osman, Merebank’s Rajah Naidoo, and University of South Africa student Mthoko Nkwanyana.

In such cases, just as during apartheid, assassinations can be understood as an honour: acknowledgement that activists are doing a good job targeting the local power structure, which in turn is often being squeezed by national and international pressures to clamp down on dissent, so as to more decisively impose the austerity policies generating these sorts of uprisings across the world.

South Africa, however, suffers from far too many activists and analysts who promote a localist ideology that begins and ends with the municipal councillor, city manager or mayor. There are too many turf-conscious leaders who look inward, failing to grasp golden opportunities to link labour, community and environmental grievances and protests, and to think globally while acting locally.

Most encouragingly, perhaps, in Cape Town the South African Municipal Workers’ Union and local civic organisations signaled a future direction for protest, when on July 5 several hundred marched in unity against both poor service delivery and mayor Patricia DeLille’s neoliberal version of a public works programme, which amounts to union-busting outsourcing. Declared union leader Mario Jacobs, “In the future we plan to involve more organisations and will bring thousands of people to take part.”

The tests in Cape Town are whether further community protests attract labour’s support and whether they, like others emerging across the land, succumb to resurgent xenophobia and hijacking (or repression) by ANC cadre. Across South Africa, similar efforts to unite unions with township, rural and green groups – especially by the Democratic Left Front led by ex-communists, and the Million Climate Jobs campaign based at Cape Town’s Alternative Information and Development Centre – are another test of progress.

If the wave of courageous protests continues, it is because new layers of activists are emerging whose backs are up against the wall, but who won’t give in. If police or party thugs do not intimidate them, their next step towards power will be to link up, meld micro-protests into a movement much bigger than the sum of the parts, and then make the political case: not only against a local councillor here or there, but against the broader economic system responsible for our standing as the world’s most unequal society.

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* Patrick Bond directs the Centre for Civil Society in Durban.

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The scramble for Nigeria

Abdulrazaq Magaji

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83746

cc H AThe disastrous privatisation programme in Nigeria is the epitome of greed, avarice and corruption, benefitting a tiny elite at the expense of everyone else.

A mad scramble for Nigeria has been underway since 1999. The name of the game is called privatisation. It was a programme put in place to dispose of some 1,000 state-owned enterprises and institutional buildings to a few highly placed Nigerians and their foreign collaborators. The exercise has never been transparent; it was not intended to be anyway. So far, it has been characterised, in typical Nigerian fashion, by greed and avarice. While privatisation may not be entirely dismissed, the manner in which it has so far been implemented in Nigeria leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

For decades, Nigerians have been contending with many non-performing state run enterprises and past efforts to stem the tide failed to turn things around. But while Nigerians knew this and more, and welcomed any moves at repositioning these money guzzlers, they hardly knew former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, had unpatriotic plans when he labelled all state run enterprises as corrupt and promised to breathe fresh life into them. Thereafter, the government proceeded on a frenzied and incoherent privatisation exercise that has continued to be the source of embarrassment and shame to Nigerians. Rather than handing over the enterprises to efficient private investors with the requisite technical knowhow and experience, the government proceeded on an exercise that was largely shrouded in secrecy and bereft of even the semblance of transparency. Most of the enterprises, including institutional buildings, were cornered by shady investors and their collaborators in high places in government. Even some of its most vociferous proponents believe so many things have gone wrong with the privatisation exercise. In an unusual admission of failure, the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) the body charged with overseeing the privatisation exercise, recently revealed that a miserly 10 percent of the 400 hundred privatised firms in Nigeria are properly functioning. Even at that, many sneering Nigerians and experts hotly dispute this figure.

One of the early signs that Obasanjo presided over a monumental fraud in the name of privatisation broke two months after he eased himself out of office following a failed bid to elongate his tenure. While on hand to receive a delegation from the United States Department of Energy on 17 July 2007, then director-general of the BPE, Irene Chigbue, was still maintaining that the handing over of Port Harcourt Refinery Company and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company to Blue Star Oil Services Limited was a transparent exercise which, in her words, resulted from ‘a complex five-year transaction process conducted subject to international best practice and following the adoption of a multiple-bidder competitive tender process’. Nigerians knew Mrs. Chigbue was being economical with the truth as the privatisation of the refineries, like other hastily conducted ones in the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, was not transparent and apparently carried out to reward friends and loyalists of then outgoing President Obasanjo.
The flawed transaction surrounding the refineries is just one of many examples of the haphazard implementation of the privatisation policy. As if to confirm the fear of Nigerians, the privatisation exercise, right from the beginning, has been bogged down by greed, avarice and absence of transparency. These are evident in the sale of institutional buildings such as the Apo Legislative Quarters under the guise of the monetisation programme, the ‘concessioning’ of the National Theatre, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex and the stalled sale of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), as well as reforms in the ports, and power and oil sectors. For similar reasons, the sale of national steel companies located at Ajaokuta and Aladja, Daily Times of Nigeria, African Petroleum, ALSCON, NAFCON, Eleme Petrochemicals and their attendant labour disputes, the controversial auction sale of African Petroleum and Stallion House, the sale of Federal Government properties in Lagos and Abuja, among others, have stalled with millions going down the drain.

Taken on its own, the sloppy handling of the sale of Ajaokuta Steel Company, built at a cost of $1.5 billion, is a classic example of how fraud was perpetrated in the name of privatisation. SOLGAS, the company Ajaokuta Steel Company was handed to, clearly lacked the managerial skills and technical knowhow for the big job it was saddled with. After months of squabbles with the local branch of the iron and steel workers union, Nigerians woke up one day to discover that vital components of the company had been dismantled and shipped out of the country. All an embarrassed federal government did was to query SOLGAS. The outcome of the inquiry was a termination of the agreement by the federal government after which an Indian conglomerate was drafted in by the Obasanjo administration after the Indians paid $30 million. Today, the original dream of Ajaokuta to power the nation’s industrial take-off remains a dream.

NITEL might not have been a shining example of state run enterprise but the organisation, despite its structural weakness, was paying dividends in billions of naira to the Nigerian government. Rather than reposition this goose that laid the golden eggs, Obasanjo, upon assuming office in 1999, dubbed NITEL as a corrupt organisation that needed to be privatised. NITEL was handed over to IILL Limited, a company that did not have the technical knowhow to handle the project. Worse still, IILL Limited lacked the financial muscle to finance the purchase. Eventually IILL Limited could not pay, a situation that paved the way for Pentascope, a backwater Dutch company brought in by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. It did not take much effort to discover Pentascope was a mere front. NITEL reportedly suffered a N100 billion deficit after the Pentascope debacle. After stumbling from one crisis to the other, the company was forced off the stage but not before it turned NITEL’s account into red and cleared what was left of the company’s offshore foreign currency savings. Any dream of NITEL escaping insolvency perished when TRANSCORP, a so called home grown company, was brought in as NITEL’s undertaker. 13 years on, the mad scramble for NITEL’s jugular is still ongoing, as her assets, spread across the country, have been shared and cornered by a privileged few.

A similar fate befell Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN). Until the early 1980’s, DTN was the largest Nigerian newspaper corporation with landed properties worth billions of naira. It was sold to Folio Communications as scrap. The matter was finally resolved by a Federal High Court of Nigeria ruling in January 2010 voiding the sale of 140 million shares of DTN to Folio Communications by the BPE. According to the court, Folio Communications acquired the Daily Times without paying a dime but curiously used the company’s shares and assets network to secure a bank loan to the tune of N750 million from Afribank. Folio Communications did not even bother to repay the loan before it stripped and sold off several DTN properties and assets. Another major scam concerns the fate of Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja. In the frenzy to sell off the buildings, lawmakers who arrived in Abuja believing they would be allocated the flats were momentarily stranded because the housing units originally built for the MPs had been sold to their predecessors. Though more than N25 billion was realised from the sale of the Legislative Quarters, the nation has been groaning under the burden of an annual budget of N3 billion for accommodation allowances, thereby placing a big question mark on the long term benefit of disposing of the Legislative Quarters.

The sale of institutional buildings, including eye-popping presidential guest houses, which ended up in the hands of serving public officials heightened fears among Nigerians that there was more to the privatisation process than they were made to understand. It further confirmed the fear of Nigerians that the exercise was taken advantage of primarily by residents within the corridors of power and their loyalists. Some instances will suffice: Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, bought the presidential guest house at No. 16 (now No. 12) Mambilla Street, off Aso Drive, Maitama, Abuja; Dr. Andy Uba, former Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Matters, dethroned as governor of Anambra state by a Supreme Court judgement which reinstated Peter Obi, bought the property at No. 19 Ibrahim Taiwo Street, Aso Rock, Abuja; Mrs. Remi Oyo, Senior Special Assistant to the former President on Media bought the property on Yakubu Gowon Crescent, inside the Presidential Villa; while Dr. Mohammed Hassan Lawal, former Minister of Labour and Productivity bought the property on Suleiman Barau Street, Asokoro, Abuja. Mr. Akin Osuntokun, former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and, later Honorary Political Adviser to the former president, bought the presidential guest house at No. 2 Mousa Traore Crescent, Abuja; while the official residence of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) was cornered by then IGP, Mr. Sunday Ehindero.

The criminal desperation to sell off Nigeria soon became a source of embarrassment to some of the main beneficiaries of the exercise. For instance, in March, 2007, Obasanjo’s deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar said:

The well-conceived and well-intentioned privatization programme, which was designed to transparently transfer state-owned assets to private hands to ensure better service delivery, has gradually been personalized and our prized economic assets and choice enterprises have been cornered and auctioned off to a tiny cabal of private sector interests closely associated, or in full partnership with those in the corridors of power, with little or no pretence at due process or transparency… (They) used the privatization programme to auction our crowned jewels to themselves at rock-bottom prices.

He should know because as vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar chaired the National Council on Privatisation between 1999 till he fell out with Obasanjo in 2005. Four months later, specifically in July 2007, Senator Ahmadu Ali, former chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party added his voice to what had become a national uproar: ‘This is an age when they sell off everything including the family silver. I don’t encourage all these things. I don’t see why Federal Government Colleges should be sold. I don’t see why certain things that are of national security should be sold’.

The private sector was at its infancy when Nigeria inherited its colonial capitalist economy at independence. With the first coming of the military in 1966, Nigeria, in line with the policy of non-alignment, adopted a hybrid of state capitalism and socialism with significant private participation. In 1973, the military government introduced and rolled out an Indigenization Decree which nationalised operations run by multinational corporations and brought them under state control. The result was the proliferation of more 1,000 state run enterprises funded by Nigeria’s new found oil wealth. However, the crash of international oil prices in the early 1980’s, dwindling annual profits of state run enterprises and operational problems of nepotism, excessive bureaucracy, gross incompetence in management, lack of effective control and supervision by the Government among others made increased private participation in the national economy imperative. The response of the military administration of President Ibrahim Babangida to these challenges was the establishment of the Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization (TCPC) headed by the late Hamza Rafindadi Zayyad.

Under Rafindadi, the TCPC was widely hailed for laying down enduring structures to ensure effective privatisation of state run enterprises. Its assignments and targets were the disposal of Government equities in the Nigerian capital market, the privatisation of commercial and merchant banks, cement companies etc. To build on these economic landmarks, the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) was established in 1999 as a successor to the TCPC. The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) was also established as the supervising body to BPE. These two regulatory agencies on Nigeria’s privatisation were established through the promulgation of the Public Enterprises Privatisation and Commercialisation Act 1999. But as Nigerians have come to realise, the Obasanjo idea, typical of Nigerian standard practice, altered the original programme of privatisation.

As usual, nobody will be sanctioned for the fraud and, in typical Nigerian style, buck-passing and shadow-chasing have been the game. Do Nigerians have to wait for a ‘corrective regime’ to clear the mess? Should there be a problem in dealing with whoever derailed a programme that was widely hailed at inception? Our fingers are crossed!


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* Abdulrazaq Magaji is a writer, journalist and former history lecturer, living in Abuja, Nigeria. He can be reached at magaji777@yahoo.com

* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

On the new AU boss and savage demolitions in Nigeria

Sokari Ekine

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83732

cc US D SWhat hopes does the first female AU Commission chairperson raise? The Lagos government has demolished an old community, leaving some 2,500 homeless. And Fahamu’s executive director writes to President Obama.

It is ironic that just over a month ago President Joyce Banda of Malawi made the courageous decision not to invite President Omar Bashir to the AU Summit in Malawi. [Pambazuka, ]http://bit.ly/Lyds9l] On the basis of that decision and because of the lack of support from the AU members, the summit was transferred to Ethiopia. This week another African woman was elected into the elite club of African leaders when Dr Nkosana Dhlamini-Zuma became the first woman Chairperson of the African Union. Rumidzai Dube [Black Looks, ]http://bit.ly/MyyZK4] celebrates her election as part of a “significant shift in African politics” which has seen a number of African women elected or appointed to leadership positions. In addition to Joyce Banda, she mentions, Zainab Hawa Bangura of Sierra Leone [UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict] and Fatou Bensouda of Gambia [Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, ICC]. And in Nigeria, Mariam Aloma Mukhtar became the first woman Chief Justice. [http://bit.ly/NWx85V]

For some in South Africa, Dr Dlamini-Zuma’s election is a disappointment as this would mean she would not be in a position to challenge President Zuma in the next elections. However Rumbi is hopeful the new chairperson will ‘articulate’ her vision from a feminist perspective which puts African women at the center and move away from the usual AU rhetoric.

“I am hopeful that should Dr Dlamini-Zuma’s vision for the AU be fulfilled, seeing as how it resonates largely with women’s agenda, then African women are going to be in a better position than they have been so far.......The AU has largely been about rhetoric, focusing on sugar coating a semblance of unity and Pan-Africanism at the expense of the most vulnerable members of its society, especially women. Hence despite the rape and mutilation of women in Zimbabwe, in the DRC, in Sierra Leone, Kenya and Liberia the focus of the AU’s efforts has not been on giving these women an effective remedy but about reaching compromised solutions. Of course, the peace vs. justice debate had raged on and partially consumed the African continent. So never mind the scars that Omar Al-Bashir inflicted and continues to inflict on the bodies, spirits and minds of Sudanese women and children, and men for that matter, but the AU was prepared to protect him and rescue him from the clawing paws of the huge, ferocious and African-hating mammal called the ICC than afford justice to the individual women on the ground.”

Pan African News [http://bit.ly/Mwuc24] focuses on the ‘politicking’ around Dr Dlamini-Zuma’s election much of which centered on the position being given to a South African.

“So tight was the contest that the ad-hoc committee of eight heads of state and government that was tasked to break the impasse in January had recommended that new candidates be fielded when they failed to broker a deal on who between Dr Dlamini-Zuma and Ping should be at the helm of the AU secretariat after six months of trying.”

I am prepared to give the new chairperson the benefit of the doubt even though personal endorsements by presidents Mugabe and Museveni who described her as a “freedom fighter” are cause for concern. But then much can be said for all the heads of state and maybe Dr Dlamini-Zuma will make a difference. I will be interested to hear her position on LGBTI rights when that issue comes before the AU again. Will she make waves and follow in Joyce Banda’s footsteps?

In Nigeria, Lagos State Government is constantly being held as progressive and Governor Fashola is praised for upgrading the city through a campaign to ensure people and businesses pay their taxes. He is also known for violently destroying informal settlements and removing street vendors from the city’s streets. But clearing the city of the unwanted masses in such violently destructive ways and without providing an alternative in housing or markets is not only irresponsible but also criminal and something more characteristic of a military dictatorship than a democratic government. Last week he consolidated his ‘gentrification’ of Lagos by destroying one of the oldest communities in the city, Makoko leaving 2,500 people homeless. Alashock’s blog [http://bit.ly/MsHCbz] has a vivid report of the chaos and trauma suffered by residents as security officers stormed the area. Quoting a resident he writes...

“We have been rendered homeless from a place where we were born and grew up. I am 33 years old and I was born in Makoko and all my life I have lived here. The government has demolished what we know as home without giving us enough time to vacate, nor did they provide any alternatives", Osawi said as he watched the crane level his home....... “We lamented that the time is too short and if government wants us to leave, they should provide us with alternative abodes; but we were shocked when about noon on Monday, we saw heavily armed soldiers, police and other security agents as they stormed our homes destroying things. Where do we sleep now? Families of eight, nine, ten lived here; where does the governor want them to sleep?”

Laseayoola [http://bit.ly/OiQG4h ] reports the residents were only given three days’ notice showing a complete disregard for people’s lives. All of a sudden the government is concerned with “protecting lives and property and promoting legitimate economic activity”. The way to do this is not to begin dialogue with residents towards an incremental development programme that provides housing and other amenities, but rather to displace and criminalize residents. Below is the notice sent to residents:

“He said, “You have continued to occupy and develop shanties and unwholesome structures on the waterfront without authority thereby constituting environmental nuisance, security risks, impediments to economic and gainful utilisation of the waterfront such as navigation, entertainment, recreation, etc.

“The state government is desirous of restoring the amenity and value of the waterfront, protect lives and property, promote legitimate economic activities on the waterfront, restore security, improve water transportation and beautify the Lagos waterfront/coastline to underline the megacity status of Lagos State and has decided to clear all illegal and unauthorised development on its waterfront and water bodies.

“Therefore, notice is hereby given to you to vacate and remove all illegal developments along the Makoko/Iwaya Waterfront within 72 hours of receipt of this notice.” [ Laseayoola, ”]http://bit.ly/OiQG4h]”

In another related post on criminalising the poor, YNaija [http://bit.ly/OWRfhN] reports on the arrest of five ‘scavengers’ by Lagos State officials for entering a dump illegally. However, those arrested said their troubles began when employees of Lagos State Waste Management began demanding money and it is their refusal which led to the arrests.

What does the United States mean for Africa? In particular what do we expect from President Obama? Hakima Abbas, Director of Fahamu, answers these questions in a powerful open letter to President Obama. [http://bit.ly/MyZOxX ]

“When you were making your great strides in the machinery that is the U.S.A, I watched from your father’s land in Kenya. I watched initially with great fear as those around me cheered in jubilation. I thought myself a coward for being so scared. I feared that, like many before you, you would become a conveniently vilified symbol of what your image does not represent. I feared for the dignity of millions of our African sisters and brothers in the U.S.A for whom promised democracy, redress and reparation have still to be realized. And I feared for your life. We heard, below your King overtones, your Malcolm words and subtle gestures, so that even veteran Black nationalists were singing your praises. And I feared their unwavering optimism, while realizing in your unmatched mobilization how ineffective we had been.”

There is one posted comment which saddens me. From a ‘bi-racial’ sister now a US citizen. She claims Hakima is too hard on Obama and we in Africa should not expect him to solve Africa’s problems. She misses the point. We do not expect that he solves Africa’s problems. We ask that he stops adding to those problems! That he at the very least gives some space to racism and poverty in the US and takes responsibility for how his policies affect people in far off lands.

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Ethiopian Muslims and their struggle for rights

Elyas Mulu Kiros

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83750

cc A HMuslims have always enjoyed religious freedom like other believers – until recently. Now they are fighting to reclaim their rights.

Islam has a long history in Ethiopia, after Christianity. Ethiopia was the first country that sheltered the first Muslims who called it home, escaping persecution from Arabia, their homeland. Their leader, the Prophet Muhammad, advised them to leave Mecca, and escape to Ethiopia, then Axum kingdom.

The Christian king, who welcomed them despite local opposition, granted the visitors refugee status and permitted them to practice their religion peacefully without forcing anyone to convert. The Islamic version of this history concludes that the king himself became a convert eventually, but the facts surrounding that claim remain debatable. However, the mosque that was built back then is still in existence in northern Ethiopia, in Tigray region; perhaps reconstructed, but kept in good condition.

The event above, which took place in 615 C.E., is the first Hijira, or Muslim migration. Nevertheless, the Prophet’s migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 C.E. is considered as the official first Hijira in the Islamic calendar. Since that event Islam has had a solid presence in Ethiopia. For the most part, both Muslim and Christian Ethiopians have enjoyed a peaceful coexistence, though there have been clashes due to the invisible hands of foreign powers such as the Ottomans that wanted to invade Ethiopia by proxy, encouraging lowlanders, predominantly Muslims, to fight against highlanders, largely Orthodox Christians and the decision makers in state affairs until 1974 when religion and state were formally divorced.

Though it was not perfect, Muslims did enjoy significant religious rights as citizens during the imperial government of Emperor Haile Selassie. They were free to do almost anything like every subject of the King as long as they backed off from questioning political power. And most were actively involved in business; thus, rarely posing a threat to the ruling class.

During the military dictatorship, Muslims enjoyed more or less the same religious rights as their Christian brothers and sisters. Like everybody else, they were also victims of the dictatorship.

Until very recently, Muslims had a positive relationship with the current administration. To be fair, the current system did open up a lot of space for religious freedom. The primary criticism directed at the system has never been religious disenfranchisement, but ethnic and economic; including the erosion of individual freedom. The religious freedom enshrined in the current constitution has allowed all kinds of religions to mushroom in Ethiopia. And religious groups such as the Muslims who felt marginalized in the past have welcomed this.

So what happened lately? Why is the government in conflict with the Muslim population? Why do Muslims, as a religious group, now vehemently oppose the government?

Well, the simplified answer is this: It took away their religious rights. And they are fighting it to claim their rights back. Impressively, they have been the most consistent in their non-violent struggle against the government, even as they face violence.

With freedom, both good and bad choices, depending on who judges, are available. What that means is that religious freedom, for example, can open the door for religious fundamentalism, or new religious sects can be introduced. In Ethiopia’s case, since the ratification of the new constitution, there has been a great number of religious sects, both Islamic and Christian, that entered Ethiopia from outside. And one of them is Wahhabism, a fundamentalist sect of Islam, mainly practiced in Saudi Arabia.

Following Wahhabism’s introduction, a lot has changed significantly, especially in the rural part of Ethiopia, where this sect was spread fast, through religious missionaries who were directly funded by Saudi Arabia. Followers of Wahhabism strictly oppose the mainstream Muslims; even they consider them as less pure. Their goal is to radicalize the moderate Muslims and advocate less contact with Christians, or what they consider Infidels. How do I know this? I was in the middle of it. I grew up in a small town where Muslims were divided into Wahhabis and non-Wahhabis, both going to separate mosques.

How does the government fit into this picture? And what is the source of the present conflict? There are so many rumors, politically motivated commentaries, and theories out there regarding this issue. It is a tricky subject. For groups who oppose the government: If there is any problem among Muslims, it must be purposely created by the government to divide and rule society; the government is using the Wahhabism issue as an excuse to silence dissent. Well, there may be some truth in that argument, but it is not entirely true, at least based on my personal experience.

The government surely continues to tackle the rise of Wahhabism into the mainstream. What caused trouble is the way it handled the matter. According to its critics, it went beyond its power to interfere in the national and local Islamic affairs: Installing unelected leaders that it favors and introducing an Islamic school of teaching from outside, not approved by the faithful. These are two of the many reasons that have forced Ethiopian Muslims to go out in the streets protesting. Their only demand is for the government to respect their rights, leave them alone, and self-determine their fate. And deal with the extremists in a sensible manner. They also strongly resist the government’s categorization of those that genuinely criticize it as extremists or terrorists.

What could have been solved peacefully, unfortunately, thanks to the arrogance of those in leadership, it has now the problem escalated to a point of no return. Federal police have beaten and killed protestors in the last few days. And more people are joining the protest.

Add the volatile national politics into this mix. No surprise, the government is on fire.

However, I have huge respect for Ethiopian Muslims. So far, they have been struggling for their rights peacefully as you can see it in this video. This is a sign that indeed there is hope for non-violent struggle in Ethiopia. It is up to the government now to end this conflict gracefully. Otherwise, escalating the conflict will only cost it.

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Pakistan: Historic victory for workers' rights and democracy

Khalid Mahmood

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83749

cc A BThousands of textile workers have achieved a landmark victory for precarious and informal workers in Pakistan.

Approximately 10, 000 workers from the Labour Quami Movement (LQM), a nascent power-loom workers' movement, began a 155-km march from the industrial city of Faisalabad to Lahore, the capital of Punjab, to demand that factory owners comply with minimum wages. The mass peaceful action compelled government to accede to worker demands and ensure that factory owners increased their wages by 28 percent, in line with current minimum wages in the country.

Ten days earlier, the Labour Wing of the Muslim League Nawaz had made an agreement with factory workers to raise the wages by 13 percent. However, LQM refused it, arguing that the Muslim League neither represented them nor acted in their interests. They subsequently held a mass meeting and warned the district administration of a long march on foot to the office of the Chief Minister in Lahore.

However, the district administration instead invited the LQM leadership to engage in negotiation and postpone the march. The leadership refused to cancel the march but accepted the offer of negotiation. Around 11pm that evening the administration gave in, and the demand was accepted.

The LQM is a movement of power-loom workers, which started organising in 2004 when the majority of the workers were being treated as bonded labour by the bosses of the power-loom industry. As a mass grassroots movement of workers in Pakistan, the LQM is working on expanding democracy to mobilise and emancipate the working poor and represents a paradigmatic shift in the workers' struggle. This is a new kind of unionism inspiring many in Pakistan.

POVERTY AND LABOUR RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN PAKISTAN

The successful industrial action is unprecedented in a country where few factory owners respect the minimum wage (the current minimum wage is 8000 Pakistani rupees per month, or $84). Many workers are employed on an informal basis, and routinely experience gross labour rights violations. Estimates vary, but bonded labour, particularly in the textile industry, is thought to exceed at least one million. Child labour is ubiquitous, and 14-18-hour working days common. Approximately 84% of Pakistan’s population live under the poverty line, and as the price of staples increased by over 10% in the first few months of 2011, another 6.94 million Pakistanis have been forced into poverty in 2012.

ANTI-DEMOCRATIC PRACTICES IN PAKISTAN

The growing strength of the LQH is an important signal that anti-democratic practices will not be tolerated in Pakistan. In their annual survey of workers' rights in Pakistan, the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) reports increasing police and paramilitary violence against workers in the country, as well as false imprisonment and private-sector discrimination and intimidation of union members.

The movements' victory stands in stark contrast to the workers' strike in July 2010, when more than 100 000 textile and garment workers from LQM went on strike in July in Faisalabad to secure a 17% pay increase that had been passed by the government but which employers refused to pay. In November, the Anti Terrorism Court sentenced six trade union leaders involved in the strike to a total of 490 years in jail on what the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) has described as falsified charges.

The ITGLWF strongly condemned the reportedly brutal campaign waged by employers on workers and unions in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Workers were attacked by armed men employed by factory owners. Some were shot while others were badly beaten. Factory owners and henchmen resorted to violence by throwing stones and bricks on a peaceful march of workers, while police used tear gas. Around 100 workers were arrested. 25 workers were injured, including Tahir Rana, the president of LQM Faisalabad district, who was critically injured.

Successive ITUC and ILO surveys have documented an international shift towards greater repression of the right to collective bargaining and collective action by both state and private-sector actors. In this context, the emergence of LQM as a strong democratic force in Pakistan is both remarkable and important.

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* Khalid Mahmood is director of the Labour Education Foundation, an NGO which promotes worker rights and democracy in Pakistan.

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Europa, gênese da corrupção

Jean-Paul Pougala

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83725

cc T C“Os políticos são todos corruptos” isso é o que sobressai de uma sondagem realizada na França pelo Instituto de Estudos de Marketing e Opinião Internacional TNS-Sofres, publicada pelo Journal du Dimanche de 28/11/2011 a qual revela que 72% dos franceses acham os políticos franceses “mais corrompidos”.

Esta, portanto, é a opinião de três quartos dos franceses. Esse triste record vem em seguimento a vários escândalos de corrupção política. Em 1977, na primeiríssima pesquisa para medir a percepção dos cidadãos sobre a corrupção política, 36% dos franceses julgavam serem os políticos corruptos; em 2002 esse percentual subiria para 58%.

Quando se observa a história dos escândalos políticos pode-se facilmente concluir que a corrupção política é tão velha como a própria política. Nos reinos o monarca, senhor de todo os negócios e posses móveis e imobiliárias, não precisava roubá-los ou cometer atos de corrupção para possuí-los. Só após a Revolução Francesa começaria a verdadeira corrupção política. Pode-se assim constatar um acontecimento importante, o 2 de dezembro de 1887, com a renúncia do Presidente da República Francesa Jules Grévy, como epílogo de gigantesca história de corrupção no mais alto nível de Estado. À Frente do Estado francês o Presidente Grévy constituíra − junto com seu filho Daniel Wilson, deputado do Vale do Loire, e com o general Caffarel − uma verdadeira associação de malfeitores dedicada ao tráfico de condecorações, principalmente as da Legião de Honra. Wilson e Caffarel dispunham para esse intuito de um escritório no interior do próprio palácio do Elysée de onde vendiam as condecorações por até 100.mil francos da época a homens de negócio. Antes da venda, as negociações ocorriam no interior de um bordel administrados por dois proxenetas de nome Ratazzi e Limouzin.

Quando em 30 de janeiro de 1879 − após a renúncia do Presidente da República, o duque Mac Mahon − Grévy foi eleito por 563 votos para sucedê-lo, ele, para marcar o momento de ruptura e também a sua integridade moral, afirmou em seu discurso de investidura: “Jamais virarei as costas ao povo”. Oito anos mais tarde precisou renunciar após haver virado as costas ao povo para se ocupar dos seus interesses pessoais.

Em 200 anos nada mudou; os políticos seguem igualmente corruptos, porém tudo maquinaram para ocultar os efeitos de seus atos lesivos e da sua desonestidade. Em 1879 Grévy vendia medalhas e, flagrado, teve de renunciar imediatamente. Hoje a corrupção se refinou muito na Europa e dificilmente alguém vai para a prisão.

Em 12 de dezembro de 2011, segundo revelação do jornal alemão Die Zeit, foi o Presidente da República Federal da Alemanha, Christian Wulff, quem ameaçou por um comunicado a Kai Diekmann, redator-chefe do tablóide der Bild com uma “ruptura definitiva” entre a Presidência e o grupo de mídias de Axel Springer. Wulf, que deve seu cargo de Presidente da Alemanha não ao povo alemão e sim à chanceler Angela Merkel, se deixara corromper pela esposa de um homem de negócios ao se beneficiar de empréstimo imobiliário de 500 mil euros com juros a ele favoráveis.

Em 15 de dezembro de 2011 fora o sucessor de Grévy, Jaques Chirac de 78 anos, que escapara, através de sursis da Corte de Paris, de dois anos de prisão por desvio de fundos públicos e abuso de poder na sua gestão entre 1977 e 1995, isso graças a uma “poção mágica” utilizada em toda a Europa chamada IMUNIDADE.

IMUNIDADE DOS ELEITOS

Do Reino Unido à Espanha, passando pela Bélgica, Dinamarca, Holanda, Grécia, Portugual e outros. .A quase totalidade dos países europeus votou por leis que permitem a todo delinquente, que consegue se eleger no Parlamento, não mais ter medo da justiça.

A GRÉCIA

O setor onde a corrupção mais se alastrou entre os políticos europeus é o do armamento. O exame da questão leva à compreensão do motivo para a Grécia chegar à falência, pois se descobre que um dos países que mais espoliou essa nação foi a Alemanha ao corromper políticos gregos para a compra dos mais inúteis equipamentos, ou tornando a Grécia um dos países mais fortemente armados do mundo ante hipotético inimigo que, por ironia do destino, é a própria Aliança Militar Ocidental a qual determina que, se um país for atacado, toda a Aliança virá em seu socorro. Porém o que se esqueceu de dizer é o que será feito por essa organização caso o ataque seja por uma nação da própria Aliança. Sobre esta fantasia foi gerado um vazio favorável à criação de uma psicose artificial de um inimigo fantasma vindo da Turquia, contra o qual os helênicos deveriam armar até os dentes. Isso, em todo o caso, foi o que os fabricantes de armas alemães argumentaram junto aos políticos gregos e é o que estes últimos disseram à sua população, ampliando a psicose de maneira exponencial.

Em 11 de abril de 2012 o povo grego descobriria a negociata: Akis Tsochatzopoulos, 72 anos, membro fundador do Partido Socialista Grego e Ministro da Defesa entre 1996 e 2001, foi detido na sua luxuosa mansão situada diante do museu da Acrópole na rua mais cara de Atenas. O senhor Akis fora acusado de haver recebido 20 milhões de euros para a assinatura de contratos de armamentos com empresas, principalmente alemães, das quais recebeu 8 milhões de euros para engajar o país no caminho de pesada dívida por encomenda em 2000; isso pela compra de quatro submarinos alemães ao custo de 1,6 bilhões de Euros do grupo industrial MAN, este multado em 160 milhões de Euros por contravenção por um tribunal alemão devido à prática de fazer da corrupção uma nova técnica de venda dos seus submarinos a outras nações em crise financeira como Portugal (60 milhões de dólares pagos em um só ano).

Em março de 2012 soubemos pelo jornal diário grego Khatimerini que a Siemens e a Grécia haviam fechado acordo para pôr fim a 10 anos de litígio devido à espoliação do país por esta empresa por meio de políticos corruptos. Nos termos deste acordo, a Siemens renunciava a 80 milhões de euros de propina ao Estado grego; pagaria 90 milhões de euros a este último, além de ter de injetar 100 milhões na sua filial grega. O negócio ocorreu entre 1990 e 2002, ocasião em que a Siemens alemã pagou milhões aos políticos gregos para conquistar o mercado das telecomunicações e dos transportes, muito vantajoso para a Siemens.

Até a presente data a lista de políticos alemães corrompidos pela Siemens é mantida em segredo pela Alemanha; apenas Angela Merkel, chanceler alemã, acha-se a par de todo o processo de corrupção, e também dos nomes e dos montantes destinados a cada político grego. E o nome de Akis Tsochatzopoulos, recolhido à aposentadoria por idade, parece surgir como o bode-expiatório que a Alemanha quis oferecer como engodo ao povo grego para, assim, desviar a atenção dos seus verdadeiros propósitos e dessa forma manter esses outros políticos ainda em função e forçá-los a assinar todos os planos de rigor apresentados pela Alemanha em nome de toda a União Europeia. Esse é o fato, pelo menos na opinião de Danaï Bagogiannis, membro do Comitê Político de Syriza (partido de esquerda grego contra o qual toda a Europa, incluso o Partido Socialista Francês, foram conclamados a votar nas eleições legislativas de julho de 2012). Convém relembrar que a Ferrostaal, a sucursal grega do grupo alemão MAN, forneceu provas, ante um tribunal alemão, do pagamento do montante total de 60 milhões de euros aos políticos gregos. A pergunta é: por que o único nome da lista pública é o de Tsochatzopoulos, o único eximido pela aposentadoria? Akis embolsou 8 dos 60 milhões. Quem são aqueles que cooptaram os 52 milhões restantes? Esta pergunta, ainda não respondida ante a opinião pública grega, configura um dos elementos para a perda da soberania do país, longe dos diferentes planos de austeridade, pois quando os políticos de uma nação são corruptos, toda a nação está vendida, e em dívida.

A isso se acrescenta uma curiosidade que nos leva a citar Yanis Varoufakis, professor de Economia na Universidade de Atenas, quando ele declarou a Roxane McMeeken, jornalista do The Independent na sua edição de 17/11/2011: “Enquanto os hospitais gregos carecem de tudo, o orçamento para escapar do ataque da União Europeia e do FMI é o das despesas militares”. E ele acrescenta: “A Grécia é um cliente desproporcional para o setor de armamento. Comparando-se ao tamanho do país, a imensidão do gasto é ridícula”. Aquilo que Yanis procura denunciar é o fato de que o Presidente francês Sarkozy e a chanceler alemã Merkel mostravam-se os mais engajados em todas as frentes da crise aparentando desejar verdadeiramente salvar a Grécia, todavia houve a amarga constatação de que a Grécia é o país que mais gasta sua riqueza com armamentos e torna-se até a primeiríssima cliente do armamento alemão e a tarceira da França. A Alemanha, principal fornecedor de armas à Grécia, controla 58% das suas despesas militares. E quando o plano de austeridade afeta creches e hospitais, mas não o estoque de armas, cabe a pergunta: até onde pode chegar a imoralidade política na Europa?

FRANÇA

Na França os políticos inventaram um sistema de corrupção branca acobertada e que se chama PPP (Parceria Público Privada). Sob tal sigla se ocultam as piores espoliações cometidas contra o povo francês por seus políticos. Trata-se principalmente de se privatizar na surdina os serviços públicos, entregues a empresas favorecidas por ocasião da saída de todos os políticos que deixam os postos de ministros ou deputados. O exemplo mais flagrante é o da companhia VEOLIA ex-Vivendi que doravante se acha presente em todos os setores do nascimento às pompas fúnebres e em quase todas as cidades francesas ela age em prerrogativa de monopólio privado para gerir os serviços de transportes públicos, bem como as rodovias, as águas e, a partir de agora, até as Universidades.


MAS O QUE É A VEOLIA?

Para traçar o perfil da moralidade da Veolia, presente em 60 países, convém remontar a três fatos:

- Foi necessário um referendum da população de Berlin para se tomar conhecimento dos acordos secretos assinados em 1999 entre a Veolia e os políticos da capital alemã para a privatização da água na cidade.

- Em 11 de outubro de 2011 a Administração Civil Israelense, respondendo à ONG WHOPROFIT (quem se beneficia [com a ocupação]), confirmou que a filial local da Veolia coleta o lixo israelense enterrado em território palestino, na localidade de Toyland no vale do Jordão.

Quando em 2010 Jean Luc Touly escreveu o livro “A Água das Multinacionais” para relatar seus trinta anos de serviços, findos em 2006, junto à Veolia e à máfia do sistema francês da PPP, a Veolia lhe ofereceu 1 milhão de euros para impedir a venda desta obra. Evidentemente ele recusou. Vale acrescentar que, baseado nesse livro, existe um documentário muito bem feito: “Water makes Money” cujo vídeo é acessível pelo Youtube no endereço: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wbXe5DQgZQ

- A Veolia − após convencer a cidade de Noirobi, capital do Quênia − a dispor de seus serviços de distribuição de água potável, propôs também demitir 3.500 funcionários quenianos para substituí-los por 85 funcionários franceses... Ao dobro do custo da folha de pagamento dos 3.500 quenianos.

O SEDIF (Syndicat des Eaux d’Île-de-France = Sindicato das Águas das Ilhas Francesas) agrupa 144 comunidades da metrópole parisiense para fazer frente ao grupo privado Veolia (antiga Vivendi). Ele fornece água a 4 milhões de parisienses há 80 anos. Ao longo de 30 anos uma única pessoa chefia o SEDIF: o Sr. André Santini que, durante esse longo mandato, acumulou também o cargo de Ministro da Função Pública, bem como de Deputador e Prefeito de Issy-Les Moulineaux. No documentário Water Makes Money é apresentada a prova, por documento, que em 11 de agosto de 2008 o Sr. Santini envia membros do SETIF às 144 comunidades. Porém ele se equivoca e usa papéis timbrados da Veolia. Pergunta: o que faziam os papéis timbrados do controlado em posse do suposto controlador? Que outras atividades o suposto controlador estatal faz em favor da supostamente controlada empresa privada Veolia, a ponto de dispor de, no mínimo, 144 papéis timbrados desta?

A ILUSÃO ESCANDINAVA

A FINLÂNDIA

Em todas as classificações mundiais sobre o combate à corrupção, os países escandinavos sempre se encontram no topo. As ONGs que divulgam os pontos positivos e negativos em matéria de corrupção sempre fazem da Filândia o exemplo a se seguir, a tal ponto que várias nações asianas e sul americanas enviam regularmente estagiários para lá estudarem o famoso modelo escandinavo de boa governança. Do que, verdadeiramente, se trata? Será uma realidade, ou areia lançada nos olhos? Será possível que toda a Europa possa estar mergulhada até a medula na corrupção e que apenas esse pequeno país escape?

Para responder a essas diferentes perguntas escolheremos o mais virtuoso dos três países escandinavos, a Filândia, e, para evitar que se incrimine injustamente a crise econômica como a causa de todas as modificações de comportamento, examinaremos os acontecimentos de 2002 a 2008. Por que a partir de 2002? Porque é o ano da nova lei eleitoral na Finlância. Já 2008 é o começo da crise econômica. Por que focar essa lei eleitoral? Porque é esse o principal elemento que nos indica se os políticos de uma nação são honestos ou não. O fato de tribunal algum proferir sentença por delito não significa sua não-existência, pois provavelmente os políticos desse país fraudaram o código penal para se proteger de antemão. Isso significa que nas estatísticas jamais se verá condenações por tal delito. Porém isso não quer dizer que esse país seja tão virtuoso. Uma lei pode muito bem ser promulgada para afirmar que um ato de corrupção não é um ato de corrupção; este foi o recurso de Silvio Berlusconi na Itália ao fazer votar pelo Parlamento, mês após mês, todas as leis que impediam a sua prisão, como no caso da despenalização da falsificação dos balanços de uma empresa. A lei eleitoral é reflexo de instante delicado, base da maior das corrupções noutros países europeus. O que diz a nova lei eleitoral finlandesa de 2002 sobre o financiamento de campanhas eleitorais e de partidos políticos? NADA! Não há frase alguma que trate deste assunto. E em direito positivo, tudo o que não é proibido pela lei é autorizado. O pior é que essa lei eleitoral exige a abertura de contas da campanha eleitoral ao fim da mesma, porém como não prevê sanção alguma, ninguém se preocupa com tal prestação de contas.

Esta explicação nos foi dada na primavera de 2008 pelo Presidente do grupo centrista no Parlamento finlandês, o qual jamais abriu suas contas da campanha eleitoral conducente à sua eleição em 2007. Ele teve assim de admitir que se seu partido não mostrou tal transparência foi porque recebeu muito dinheiro de homens de negócios para sua campanha e isso através de um estratagema bem enraizado da uma associação enganar o povo, sob o nomede Kehittyvien Maakuntien Suomi. Ao se esmiuçar o caso descobre-se por exemplo que, através dessa associação, o partido centrista recebeu 145 mil euros de uma empresa imobiliária denominada Nova Group. E o que é a Nova Group? É uma empresa semi-inadinplente e em vias de demitir muitos funcionários. O pior é que é seu PDG (Président-directuer general = Presidente-Diretor Geral) quem reconhecia que, além do dinheiro pago à associação clandestina, ele também pagou diretamente 125 mil euros aos caixas do partido, verba que beneficiou diretamente ao Primeiro Ministro finlandês. E o que ele recebeu em troca? Nada? Ademais pode-se constatar que sua empresa, antes à beira da falência, recobrou o fôlego após as eleições de 2007.

Interrogado sobre esses fatos esse último (o Primeiro Ministro) começou por negá-los para, em seguida, reconhecer o erro irreparável: ele: ele não queria carregar sozinho o fardo da humilhação. O Primeiro Ministro, Matti Vanhanen (centro) avaliou o caso. Todos foram corrompidos! Ele afirmou não passar da árvore que encobre a vasta floresta da corrupção da sociedade finlandesa a qual já dura várias décadas, porém é habilmente oculta do povo e do mundo. Assim, com provas, ele explicou como toda a sociedade finlandesa se achava completamente corrompida, tanto os citados sindicatos finlandesas quanto as empresas públicas, passando pelas associações subsidiadas pelo Estado as quais, por ironia do destino, são muito frequentemente as instituições que irão explicar a “teoria da boa governança” aos políticos ingênuos de alguns países africanos.

A SUÉCIA

Na Suécia a corrupção viceja no próprio coração da realeza. Quando, em 19 de junho de 2010, a princesa herdeira sueca Victoria celebra com grandes pompas seu casamento com Daniel Westling, o povo mal sabia que boa parte dos presentes de casamento era fruto da corrupção. E o maior presente foi a viagem nupcial oferecida pelo bilionário sueco Bertil Hult, Presidente-Fundador da EF education First que emprega 22 mil pessoas em 51 países no negócio das viagens pedagógicas e linguísticas. Segundo duas queixas apresentadas por cidadãos chocados com esse conchavo, foi esse bilionário quem fretou o jato privado que levou os recém casados ao Tahiti, sendo também ele quem os recepcionou pessoalmente após o desembarque e até compartilhou com eles o alojamento a bordo do seu iate, o Erica XII. Como se isso não bastasse o casal real voou para Boston, para a residência do bilionário, para lá terminar a lua de mel. A constatação desses fatos levou o colunista Peter Wolodarski do jornal Dagens Nyheter a afirmar: “É surpreendente que a herdeira da coroa sueca aceite que um milionário lhe ofereça um meio de transporte e um teto durante sua lua de mel, ainda que essa pessoa possa estar interessada (em termos de negócios) a em obter em retorno um pagamento pelos seus favores”. Ademais, numa das queixas pode-se ler: “Tendo visto que o casal, ou pelo menos a princesa herdeira, mantêm (com o bilionário) uma relação de negócios, os presentes em questão poderiam constituir um ato de corrupção”.

A NORUEGA

Também aqui iremos encontrar os traços de uma velha conhecida, a Siemens alemã que exporta a sua corrupção até a Lapônia. Em 15 de dezembro de 2007 eclode o escândalo das férias oferecidas pela Siemens aos generais noruegueses, especialmente o número dois da armada real, o vice-almirante Jan Reksten, chefe do Comando Operacional, e um dos conselheiros próximos do Ministro da Defesa e capitão de mar e guerra Arne Gronningsaeter, bem como de seis outras eminências do reino norueguês. Trata-se de férias para a prática do golfe na Espanha pagas pela Siemens. Mas em troca do quê? Em resposta a este questionamento, a penalização foi mais do que exemplar e os altos funcionários foram sumeriamente exonerados de suas funções. O reino norueguês levou assim menos de 48 horas entre a descoberta do escândalo e o expurgo no seu exército.

A UNIÃO EUROPEIA

Mesmo que a Europa defina a corrupção como um delito, mostra-se forçoso reconhecer que Bruxelas é a capital mundial da corrupção assumida. Copiadas com base no modelo norte-americano de grupos de pressão, chamados lobbys, há oficialmente em Bruxelas 3.500 empresas que se registraram como lobistas e cujo trabalho é o de fazer enorme pressão sobre os legisladores para assim conseguir leis e diretrizes em favor delas e dos seus interesses, e não mais em favor do povo. Mas na realidade existem aproximadamente 15 mil grupos em Bruxelas cujo único motivo da presença e a corrupção ativa de funcionários da União Europeia. A coisa ficou escancarada.

A Comissão Europeia que detém o poder exclusivo de propor e de desenvolver as leis e diretrizes em nível continental criou para esse fim 1.350 grupos de experts de todos os gêneros para cobrir todos os domínios possíveis de vida europeia. E de onde o caro leitor pensa que vêm tais experts para prover os cargos desses 1.350 grupos? Certamente das 15 mil empresas e organismos corruptores compostos por centenas de empresas de relações públicas e de gabinetes de advocacia, bem como de dezenas de think-thanks¹ e dos “escritórios de negócios europeus”. E assim se chega ao paradoxo desses corruptores escreverem as leis nas suas empresas para fazê-las aprovar como princípios do progresso por toda a União Europeia. Assim a sociedade civil, mesmo organizada, fica completamente sem voz e sem influência alguma em Bruxelas, esmagada pelo poderio do dinheiro das grandes firmas multinacionais, que conseguirão fazer passar pela água benta produtos cancerígenos, venenos inadvertidamente absorvidos por toda a população européia convencida de se achar protegida por seus políticos, sem por um só instante imaginar que estes preocupam-se apenas com as próprias contas bancárias.

Esta foi a experiência vivenciada por jornalistas britânicos do semanário The Sunday Times na investigação de como funciona o mecanismo de funcionamento dos lobbies. Dela resultou a prisão de três deputados por fazerem passar, com total concordância, uma lei em favor dos supostos corruptores. Em 20 de março de 2011 esse jornal nos revela que, em troca de 100 mil euros por ano, esses três eurodeputados haviam aceitado a sanção de emendas favoráveis à pseudoempresa apresentada pelos jornalistas disfarçados de lobistas. Nomes dos políticos flagrados:

- O eurodeputado conservador austríaco Ernst Strasser, nascido em 29 de abril de 1956, e antigo Ministro do Interior entre 2000 e 2004. No filme ele é visto embolsando o primeiro maço dos 100 mil euros anuais.

- O outro eurodeputado pronto a vender serviços para os quais o povo nele votara é Adrian Severin, nascido em 28 de março de 1954 em Bucareste, ministro das Relações Exteriores de 12 de dezembro de 1996 a 29 de dezembro de 1997, no governo de Victor Ciorbea. Ele foi deputado romeno de 1990 a 2007 e ex vice-Primeiro Ministro romeno. Severin enviara um e-mail aos falsos lobistas do Sunday Time onde escrevera: “Para informar que a emenda desejada por vocês foi apresentada em tempo” E ele encerra o e-mail com uma fatura de 12 mil euros.

- Zoran Thaler, nascido em 21 de janeiro de 1962, antigo Ministro esloveno de Relações Exteriores entre 26 de janeiro de 1995 e 19 de julho de 1996. Após a demissão do seu predecessor coube a ele chefiar as discussões e assinar em Luxemburgo os Acordos de Associações na EU em 10 de junho de 1996 e, no mesmo dia, o pedido oficial de adesão do seu país à União Europeia. Nas eleições europeias de junho de 2009 ele encabeça a lista dos sociais democratas e entra assim no Parlamento Europeu como membro do grupo socialista democrata dessa instituição.

Como terminou tudo isso?

Em janeiro de 2012 o European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) do Parlamento Europeu preferiu seu veredito de que esses eurodeputados não haviam violado as regras de funcionamento da União Europeias. Assim todo parece lícito nos países abarcados pela bandeira da União Europeia.


QUAIS AS LIÇÕES PARA A ÁFRICA?

Hoje, em 2012, felizmente não existe uma verdadeira corrupção no continente africano, e pelo simples fato de que nada há para se tomar lá. Aqui e acolá nos deparamos com a falta de civilidade política e econômica. O que torna ainda mais inquietante o futuro, quando o crescimento bem sustentado da economia africana fizer alastrar no continente todas as multinacionais especialistas em corrupção as quais frequentemente já tiveram 80 anos de experiência como a Veolia para dobrar a resistência de qualquer político, é o fato de que não há como nos tranqüilizarmos se a essa conjuntura juntarmos a ingenuidade lendária e habitual dos políticos de algumas nações africanas, frequentemente muito complexados quando em interação com um europeu. Importa desde agora começar a impor rigor em todas essas incivilidades dos funcionários.


- politico algum pode aceitar um convite fora de seu país sem antes conceder explicação sobre a importância desse convite para seu povo.

- tornar inconvertíveis as moedas utilizadas na África, lá onde ainda não o são, a fim efetuar um verdadeiro controle dos fluxos de capitais.

- toda a compra de veículo ou toda despesa além de certo limite deve ser sistematicamente compatível com a última prestação de contas de retorno. Essa prática está hoje em vigor em várias nações do mundo. Na Coreia do Sul, por exemplo, quando se compra um sedã alemão existe 100% de certeza de que no dia seguinte haverá uma visita do fisco.

- reprimir ou proibir comportamentos conducentes à corrupção como, por exemplo, quando um ministro eleito a duras penas vai comemorar sua eleição na cidade natal. Isso é um convite à delinquência pela corrupção, pois se dá indiretamente a essa cidade a impressão o posto obtido é para servi-la e a todos os seus habitantes, e não à nação. A partir daí não é de se surpreender que tal ministro coloque na sua agenda mais encontros cotidianos com seus contatos privados e de trabalhar pelos que o elegeram.

- A redução dos encargos administrativos em muitos setores permitirá eliminar automaticamente bom número de incivilidades. As cópias das certidões de nascimento devem ser como em muitos países do mundo: um simples documento de autocertificado para o requerente. Com base nisso deve-se punir muito severamente os contraventores que tenham prestado declarações mentirosas. Todavia o Estado deve poder infundir confiança nos seus cidadãos. Tal prática liberaria os prefeitos das tarefas puramente administrativas de assinar a cada dia pilhas de cópias de certidão de nascimento, e os redirecionaria para atividades mais úteis à municipalidade.

- multiplicar a publicidade sobre os atos dos políticos eleitos. Os cidadãos devem poder saber a qualquer momento detalhes sobre contratos assinados pelos eleitos, bem como as verdadeiras motivações na escolha dos empreiteiros no mercado público.

- a delação pode parecer moralmente repreensível, porém em vários países essa técnica de disponibilizar um número de telefone ou uma comunicação em perfeito anonimato para o acompanhamento dos procedimentos dos políticos se mostrou muito eficaz para o combate a determinadas incivilidades de funcionários.

Em todos os casos comissão alguma, expert algum poderão resolver o problema da incivilidade dos políticos na África se a população não se encontrar amplamente informada sobre os seus direitos e sobre a armadilha tribal onde os políticos os aliciam para aproveitar sua solidariedade em caso de problemas com o poder judiciário. Apenas uma população avisada e consciente pode ser a verdadeira fiadora da moralidade política. A feudalização da corrupção na sociedade europeia é a prova de que a complexidade de uma futura sociedade pode se transformar numa ilha de corrupção refinada de uma nova forma de máfia denominada PPP, capaz de se incrustar até nos projetos das Nações Unidas ou das Universidades.

Douala, 2 de julho de 2012

Lição de “Geoestratégia Africana” nº 39
Jean-Paul Pougala
pougala@gmail.com
www.geostrategieafricaine.com
P. S. Cada jovem africano deve ver esse vídeo que dura 1h44. Sim, bem sei que é longo, mas é um formidável curso para se compreender o que muito em breve chegará à África. A menos que...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wbXe5DQgZQ

1. N. T. grupos ou instituições organizados para pesquisa intensa e solução de problemas

Traduzido do francês para o português por Attila Blacheyre, Universidade de Brasília

A guide to helping Africa

Mukoma Wa Ngugi

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/83733

cc RogiroHelping Africa has become a self-perpetuating for profit non-profit business. It has become what Teju Cole calls the white savior industrial complex. This does raise the questions, are there ways in which help can actually be useful? Where help can actually do more good than harm and offer more than miracle water?

Here below, are ten ways, and I invite you to think of your own, through which Westerners can contribute to what Nelson Mandela in the struggle against apartheid referred to as a ‘profound and irreversible change’.

1. Oppose unequal trade. For every dollar given in foreign aid, two dollars are lost through unequal trade. Instead, support concrete efforts that promote equal trade such as an end to US and European farm subsidies that unfairly depress farm markets at the expense of African farmers and their families. Africa needs equal trade not foreign aid.

2. Take responsibility for your governments. Oppose policies that will do more harm than good: for example, the US African Command Center (Africom) which will lead to the militarization of US foreign policy in Africa. Or, European and American anti-terror policies that have eroded citizen rights in African countries instead of enhancing security. Instead, support NGO’s and other organizations that are working at changing US/Western foreign policies toward Africa such as Africa Action and Trans Africa Forum.

3. Oppose NGO’s that will do more harm than good. For example, the Bill Gates initiative, the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa will lead to loss of bio-diversity in addition to opening up African agriculture to GMO seeds. Instead, support efforts that call for the depolitization of food and water distribution in African countries and organizations that promote democratic approaches to food such as Food First.

4. Support African grassroot organizations that are opposed to national policies that hurt the poor e.g. Abahlali baseMjondolo, the Shackdwellers movement in South Africa. These organizations grow organically from the communities they serve and identify and cope with the problems in ways that the celebrity endorsed NGO cannnot.

5. Call for technological (scientific, internet, medical etc) democracy within and among nations.

6. Internationalize curriculum from early to university education in Western countries. This means that from an early age to adulthood, the Westerner will have an international consciousness and therefore be able to make decisions, whether it is in voting for elected officials or on which policies to support, that are informed.

7. Read what Africans read. Educate yourself on the history of the issues Africa is facing today. For example, to understand unequal trade today, read the historical book, ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’, by Walter Rodney. To understand the complexity of women’s oppression, read essays by African women such as ‘Feminism with a small “f”’ by Buchi Emechata , or novels such as, ‘Woman at Point Zero’ by Nawal El Saadawi and ‘Maps’ by Nurrudin Farah.

8. To access African voices on current political events, read African Independent media such as Pambazuka News and Africa Focus and consider making a financial donation. African independent media is in dire need of funding.

9. Support democracies with content. Call for African governments to complement the vote with economic, political and cultural equality.

10. Empathy in place of pity. Pity is outward and requires nothing beyond the occasional donation to an NGO. Empathy on the other hand leads to solidarity, to the realization that our fates are intertwined. If your need for security causes someone else’s insecurity, and your being fed leads to someone else’s hunger, the solution is not to be found in pity but in empathetic action - action that brings about irreversible people centered changes in the West and in Africa as well.

* Mukoma wa Ngugi is an Assistant Professor of English at Cornell University and the author of Nairobi Heat (Melville, 2011). Please visit www.mukomawangugi.com for more information.

Angola: Protesters detained, disappeared

Press release: Pre-election environment marred by crackdown

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83734

Human Rights Watch called on the Angolan authorities to release or appropriately charge all detained protesters and to ensure that all detainees have prompt access to legal counsel and family members. The authorities should urgently investigate alleged abductions and possible enforced disappearances of several protest organizers. Angola is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on August 31, 2012.

"The recent spate of serious abuses against protesters is an alarming sign that Angola's government will not tolerate peaceful dissent," said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The government should stop trying to silence these protests and focus on improving the election environment."

Angola has experienced unprecedented public protests since 2011 as first youth, and now war veterans, have publicly demonstrated in the capital, Luanda, and other cities.

The youth movement has called for social reforms and the resignation of President José Eduardo dos Santos, now in power for 33 years. War veterans are demanding long overdue social benefits.

Over the past year, Angolan uniformed police and plainclothes agents have reacted to the youth protests with increasingly violent crackdowns, despite their small scale, and have arrested many youth leaders, journalists, and opposition leaders.

Public protests by war veterans have gained momentum since June. War veterans in Luanda and Benguela have announced more protests before the elections unless the government addresses their demands for regular pension payments. Many of the war veterans were demobilized over the last two decades from the armies of all sides, including the ruling party, in Angola's long civil war.

On June 7, several thousand war veterans marched to the Defense Ministry in Luanda, where the army chief of staff, Gen. Sachipengo Nunda, promised to address their pension claims.

On June 20, thousands of war veterans gathered at the military signals regiment headquarters in Luanda, following an official announcement that the government would disburse one-time payments of US$550 and address pension claims. War veterans who participated in the protest that day told Human Rights Watch that the protest erupted spontaneously after they did not receive any official response to their broader pension claims.

The war veterans marched through the city, stopping at the Catholic Radio Ecclesia and the United States embassy, and came close to the presidential area, until they were barred by squads of Rapid Intervention Police, military police, and presidential guards, who dispersed the crowd by shooting teargas and live ammunition.

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that protesters were unarmed, but some participants threw stones and beat an Angolan army general who was at the scene, according to Human Rights Watch research. Human Rights Watch was not able to confirm allegations that three protesters were shot to death.

The security forces arrested and jailed more than 50 war veterans during the June 20 protest. Seventeen were allegedly released without charge on June 22, but the police, military, and judiciary authorities did not respond to Human Rights Watch's repeated requests to confirm the total numbers of those arrested, released, or still in pretrial detention. On June 25, military police arrested a leader of a war veterans' complaints commission.

Human Rights Watch research determined that at least 28 war veterans remain in pretrial detention: eight at the criminal investigation police headquarters and at least 20 at the military judicial police headquarters in Luanda. Police, military police, and court officials told Human Rights Watch that the detainees were permitted to request assistance from legal counsel, but had not done so. Family members of some detainees told Human Rights Watch they were allowed to bring food, but were not allowed to speak to their relatives.

Two war veterans who were detained for two days told Human Rights Watch that they were forced to declare on television that opposition political parties were behind the protests, and were then released without charge. They said that plainclothes security agents interrogated them separately without the presence of a lawyer at Luanda's provincial criminal investigation police. They also said they were threatened with reprisals if they refused to tell the state-owned television, Televisão Pública de Angola (TPA), that opposition parties had incited the former soldiers to protest.

One of the two veterans, Francisco Candela, who was demobilized from former União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, UNITA) rebel forces in 2003, said: "They told me that if I spoke out against the opposition parties they would resolve my situation. But if I didn't accept they would convict me for rioting against the security of the state."

Candela added that the security agents drove him and another rebel war veteran in a civilian car to the military headquarters, where TPA journalists interviewed them in the presence of the security agents. The state media have since reported extensively about the alleged incitement of the protests by opposition parties. On June 16, the Angolan Armed Forces publicly accused the opposition parties UNITA, CASA-CE, and Bloco Democrático of having instigated an earlier protest by war veterans, on June 7 in Luanda.

Human Rights Watch also spoke by telephone with José Fernandes de Barros, a former member of the ruling party's force, FAPLA (Forças Armadas Populares para a Libertação de Angola), and a signatory to a manifesto of a complaints commission that represents 4,000 war veterans awaiting their formal demobilization since 1992. De Barros was arrested on June 25 by military police and has since been detained at the Luanda military judicial police headquarters. He also said that military officials interrogated him without a lawyer present.

The commission had previously planned a protest in February but called it off.
Angolan and international law requires immediate access for every detainee to legal counsel, who should be allowed to be present during questioning to prevent coercive interrogations, Human Rights Watch said.

"The Angolan security forces have made doubtful arrests of war veterans even more suspect by questioning them in the absence of legal counsel," Lefkow said. "Interrogating detainees without the presence of a lawyer raises serious concerns of coercion."

POSSIBLE ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES OF WAR VETERAN PROTEST ORGANIZERS

The arrests of war veterans on June 20 and 25 were preceded by the possible enforced disappearance of two organizers from an ad hoc group called the United Patriotic Movement (MPU), which had organized a protest by war veterans and former presidential guards.

On May 27, the MPU organized a protest of former presidential guards in Luanda to call for the payment of overdue salaries. The Luanda authorities had been notified, as Angolan law requires. Although the presidential guards withdrew their participation to await further negotiations with the president's Military Office, other groups of war veterans joined the protest, which the security forces dispersed before it reached the presidential palace.

After the protest, an MPU leader, António Alves Kamulingue, called a Voice of America journalist and said that he had fled to a hotel in the city center because he was being followed and feared for his life. Kamulingue's family members told Human Rights Watch that they have not heard from him since that day. They have sought information about him at many police stations and all prisons and hospitals in Luanda, but the authorities deny knowledge of his whereabouts.

On May 29, Isaías Cassule, another MPU member, was apparently abducted in Luanda's Cazenga neighborhood. Alberto Santos, a former member of the presidential guard unit who is currently in hiding, told Human Rights Watch by telephone that he and Cassule had been called by phone to that meeting point by an alleged protester who claimed to have video footage of Kamulingue's abduction. Santos said he saw six men, some wearing hats and sunglasses, drag Cassule into their car. Santos managed to escape. Cassule's family members told Human Rights Watch they have not heard from him since. They had communicated his disappearance to the police and searched for him at police stations and hospitals.

Under international law, an enforced disappearance occurs when the authorities take a person into custody but refuse to acknowledge doing so or do not provide information about the person's whereabouts or fate. Among the rights an enforced disappearance may violate are those to life, liberty, and security of the person, including protection from torture and other ill-treatment.

THREATS AND REPRISALS AGAINST YOUTH ACTIVISTS AND PROTEST ORGANIZERS

The organizers of the youth protests have also been targeted and threatened for their activities, Human Rights Watch said. All youth protest leaders who recently spoke with Human Rights Watch said they felt their lives were at risk.

On June 14, Gaspar Luamba, a university student and organizer of the youth protest movement, was abducted at noon by four men in civilian clothes at a university in Luanda's Viana neighborhood. Luamba told Human Rights Watch that the assailants asked his identity and then ordered him to enter their car, warning him not to resist.

"They took me to a construction site of the Brazilian Odebrecht company and interrogated me for several hours," Luamba told Human Rights Watch. "They displayed knives and pliers and threatened to use them. They asked me whether opposition parties were funding us and how much we wanted. They threatened me and my colleagues to take drastic measures if we declined to negotiate. But they didn't hurt me." Luamba said he was released several hours later.

Another youth protest organizer, Adolfo Campos, was attacked and threatened with death by two men in civilian clothes on June 12. He told Human Rights Watch: "Two Land Cruisers forced me to stop the car at 10 p.m. on the road. I left the car, and two individuals armed with a pistol and an automatic rifle beat me in my face with the weapons. I fell on the ground and one of them pointed his gun at me. The other one said: 'Don't kill him yet. Let's go.'" He said the attackers ransacked the car, but only took his phone and left US$3,000 untouched.

A day earlier, on June 11, the well-known rapper and youth protest organizer Luaty Beirão was arrested by Portuguese authorities at Lisbon airport, after police detected a package of cocaine in a bicycle wheel, the only baggage he had taken on his flight from Luanda due to fears that the luggage might be tampered with. According to media reports, a Lisbon court quickly released Beirão from custody based on strong indications that Angolan police agents had placed the drugs in his baggage to incriminate him.

On May 23, at 10 p.m., in the second such attack in two months, 15 men in civilian clothes armed with metal bars and pistols attacked the residence of Dionísio "Carbono," another youth protest leader, who was hosting a group of youth to discuss their new call-in radio program on the privately owned Rádio Despertar. Several of the youth were seriously injured and suffered broken bones, according to Human Rights Watch research.

"The increasing use of violence, threats, and other reprisals to silence protest organizers is alarming," Lefkow said. "Angola's regional and international partners should raise their voices and urge the government to stop the violence and respect basic rights."

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on protests in Angola, please visit:

* http://bit.ly/Q72JFI
* http://bit.ly/vbntp2
* http://bit.ly/MmkMnV
* http://bit.ly/MKCBsw
* http://bit.ly/MKCE7H

* For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Angola, please visit: http://www.hrw.org/en/africa/angola

Dispatches from the AU Summit, July 2012

Fahamu - Networks for Social Justice

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83756

Ethiopia: International condemnation for using terrorism law to stifle free speech

Mohamed Keita

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83748

GOVERNMENTS / INTERGOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS

U.S. State Department criticizes Ethiopia for “politicized use” of terror law to clamp down on free speech.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy describes sentence as “a mockery of any pretense of justice in Ethiopia” and “an insidious abuse of power that should have serious repercussions from the United States and the international community.”

U.S. Congressional Black Caucus condemns Ethiopia’s use of laws “presumably intended to criminalize acts of terrorism as a sword to take down journalists who have spoken out against the government.” The statement added: “Not only does the Ethiopian government misuse national security laws, but its actions devalue its standing in the international community.”

E.U. Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton “seriously concerned” by Ethiopia sentences.

UK Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham “deeply concerned” about sentences, and “breadth of application of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation risks undermining freedom of expression and limiting political space in Ethiopia.”

United Nations human rights experts condemn use of anti-terrorism laws to curb freedom of expression in Ethiopia

African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights “gravely alarmed by the arrests and prosecutions of journalists and political opposition members, charged with terrorism and other offences including treason, for exercising their peaceful and legitimate rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association.”

PUBLIC FIGURES / MEDIA

Salman Rushdie calls Eskinder’s sentence “appalling” via Twitter. “Journalism, dissent are now "terrorism" in Ethiopia?”

George Ayittey calls for Ethiopian people to expel African Union for failing to enforce its own charter viat Twitter.

The Economist says Eskinder Nega was “Jailed for doing his job,” and describes his imprisonment as the “bad side” of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi who “likes to present himself to the world as a peacemaker and a paragon of development.”

New York Times Op-Ed by Tobias Haggman accuses U.S. and other donors of “Supporting stability, Abetting Repression in Ethiopia.”

In The New Yorker, Charlayne Hunter-Gault describes Ethiopia as “a great test case" for U.S. new Africa strategy which prioritizes democracy. “Once freedom fighters, Ethiopia's current rulers "risk turning into freedom's enemies," she writes.

In The New York Review of Books, William Easterly, Peter Godwin, Aryeh Neier, Kenneth Roth, and Joel Simon call on President Obama and world leaders to “denounce the use of terrorism charges to jail journalists and others who are exercising their universally-guaranteed right to freedom of expression in Ethiopia.”

PRESS FREEDOM & HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS

International Press Institute says decision undermines “fight against actual terrorists.”

Committee to Protect Journalists says Ethiopia has “criminalized free expression.”

Freedom Now Says Ethiopia “violates international law.”

U.S National Press Club President Calls Sentence “miscarriage of justice.”

PEN/American Center Calls for U.S. and other donors to “reflect on their partnerships” with Ethiopia.

Amnesty International says Ethiopia determined to “gag any dissenting voice.”

Human Rights Watch executive director calls sentence “draconian” via Twitter.

IFEX Says Ethiopia seeking to “stifle freedom of expression” with Eskinder’s sentence.

Khayelitsha community protests against the bucket system

Press Statement: Democratic Left Front and Progressive Youth Movement

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83736

As a result of the bucket system, many people at SST fall sick because of the fumes from the chemicals used in the bucket system. Hundreds of toddlers, young children and the elderly have been infected with TB and others have constant diarrhea. The people of SST are angry and fed up with the bucket system and with being victims of winter floods which turn many of the shacks in which people live into floating debris causing disease. Councillor Nkomeni has done nothing to help in order to get proper sanitation. Instead, Councillor Nkomeni has consistently ignored and undermined the people of SST and their pleas. He has been unaccountable. Most people at SST do not know his face. Many a times the SST community has invited him to meetings. He has failed to attend these meetings. His arrogance has made him untouchable.

The SST community has now left Nkomeni’s house and is continuing with a night protest at Lansdowne road.

At SST, thousands of people stay in inhuman conditions not because they want to but because of the négligence from government. No one wants to stay in a shack, no one wants to stay on a wetland and no one wants to use communal toilets and water taps. But all these are sustained by the policies and budgets passed by the ANC and DA governments. The misery, squalor and dire living conditions of the community of SST convince the PYM to conclude that the ANC national government, the DA Western Cape provincial government and the DA-governed City of Cape Town are all failing to deliver services to poor and working class communities. Instead, these two political parties promote policies that serve elites in Constantia, Camps Bay and other formerly white suburbs of Cape Town. The same when it comes to their pro-rich economic policies.

For many years now, the City of Cape Town has failed to build adequate numbers of decent houses for poor and working people in Khayelitsha and elsewhere in the city. Instead, its policies and budget allocations have consistently maintained high-class suburbs with over-capitalised infrastructure, while townships remain slums with deteroriating infrastructure. The money for housing has been underspent. To make things worse, the City has returned money earmarked for housing back to the National Treasury.

The situation in SST is a reality for millions of other poor and working people in South Africa. Poor and working class communities in South Africa face social, economic and service delivery crises on a daily basis. The proof of this is the large number of daily service delivery protests in the country.

Tonight’s action at SST is not a once-off action. It builds from the 27 April 2012 PYM-led march to the Khayelitsha Administration office of City of Cape Town during which the SST community demanded an end of the bucket system, decent sanitation, decent houses and jobs. The City’s response was not convincing. Over the last weekend, the SST community has continued with this struggle through protests and barricades at Lansdowne road. Tonight’s action and the ongoing protests at Lansdowne Road are an expression of the community’s anger and frustration at the City’s inadequate response and an unaccountable councilor. These actions are also a start of sustained mobilisation to change these conditions and for ordinary people to effectively claim and assert their rights to decent service delivery and public goods against the violation of these by ANC and DA policies.

The PYM is an affiliate of the Democratic Left Front (DLF).
www.democraticleft.za.net

ENDS

FOR COMMENTS, CONTACT:

Mabhelandile Twani (PYM) – 083 886 1831
Andiswa Bhabha (PYM) – 073 417 0049

New reproductive health hotline launched in Kenya

Women on Waves

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83730

Kenyan activists launched a hotline in Nairobi called "Aunty Jane”. This hotline shares information about how women can safely have an abortion using misoprostol, and to prevent post-partum hemorrhage (PPH – dangerous bleeding after giving birth). Women on Waves, Women on Web and activists from Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda supported the hotline launch, which uses software from Freedom Fone, a Zimbawean open-source initiative. Since the launch 2 weeks ago the hotline received over 50 calls.

Unsafe abortion and post-partum hemorrhage are the main causes of maternal mortality in Kenya, so this hotline could save thousands of lives every year.

To reach Aunty Jane, call:

- 0727101919
 (Safaricom)

- 0753700352 (Yu)

Aunty Jane Hotline is an Interactive Voice Response system, meaning women can access information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in English and Swahili. Aunty June gives information on PPH prevention, contraception, unwanted pregnancy and abortion, among other sexual and reproductive health topics. Because abortion is a very stigmatized topic, the launch of this public hotline is an important step forward. Callers can leave a message or sms and get a call back from a trained operator if they have specific questions or want to speak with someone.

In Kenya, one in 38 women dies from pregnancy-related causes. Unsafe abortion rates in Kenya are among the world's highest, where at least 35% of maternal deaths are caused by unsafe abortion. The unmet need for contraception and the stigma associated with abortion contribute greatly to these statistics. According to 2008-2009 data, more than 40% of births in Kenya are unplanned.

For more info:

http://auntyjanehotline.weebly.com

For information about misoprostol:

http://www.womenonwaves.org/en/page/702/in-collection/514/how-to-do-an-abortion-with-pills

(Available in Swahili)

Resources: http://www.womenonwaves.org/sw/page/1015/safe-birth-with-misoprostol

Urgent Appeal: Release protestor Mohammed Salah

The Arab Spring has reached Sudan, and its democracy activists are being imprisoned and tortured

Mohammed Salah's family

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83729

Mohamed Salah, a university student and detainee by NISS, is facing serious health risks as a result of torture and ill-treatment.

We are the parents and siblings of Mohamed Salah, a 23-year-old student in his final year at the University of Khartoum, Faculty of Science. Mohamed was arrested at 9:00 pm on Sunday the 24 June from Al Rayad neighborhood in Khartoum state. Earlier in the same day Mohamed had participated in a student’s peaceful protest at the University of Khartoum. Mohamed was detained together with three colleagues of his, one of whom was released after a few hours and the other was released earlier last week.

We were informed by some of his fellow students on the same day that he was detained by NISS. In line with Sudan national security and intelligence law as a family we are to be allowed a visit 15 days after his detention. After three days of his arrest we delivered clothes to the NISS reception office and were informed by them that they were received immediately.

We submitted our first application for a visit on July 8, 2012; on July 10 we received a phone call from NISS stating that the visit request was rejected with no explanations. Later on July 12, we received anther phone call and the visit was granted.

We saw Mohamed for the first time since his arrest on Saturday July 14 in Kober’s prison, Khartoum North. The visit was under the supervision of two NISS personnel and we were ordered not to ask Mohamed about his wellbeing and what happened to him inside the prison. The visit lasted only about 10 minutes and then we were asked to leave.

During the brief time we spent with him, we noticed that both his hands and legs were shaking and his shoulders were shivering despite the hot weather. There was also a dark bruise on his forehead that could not be missed. Another observation was that his skin colour has gone from dark brown into a very pale colour with dark spots across his hands and feet. Mohamed has chronic kidney disease, and he informed us that he has no access to clean water inside the prison.

In addition to all this Mohamed was deprived of his permanent eye classes which he can not see without, and when we brought eye glasses to the NISS to deliver to him they refused to receive them. Further NISS also refused to receive Mohamed’s study materials although he is in his final year with final exams coming up. He also missed the deadline of submitting his graduation essay, which was on July 5, which exposes him to failure to graduate this year.

Many of Mohamed’s fellow students who were in detention have spoken to us, his family, of the ill treatment, different forms torture, including ongoing beatings and use of sharp tools and sticks on regular basis against them. His condition, shaking, bruising and behaviour are in line with these reports and are indicative of torture.

What Mohamed and many of the detainees’ were subject to is clearly against the entire international and regional commitments of the government of Sudan, including The International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and the UN convention against torture to which is Sudan is a signatory. Furthermore what Mohamed is undergoing clearly contradicts the Sudanese laws and the interim constitution and its bill of rights.

Moreover, the acts of torture and ill-treatment of students and political detainees, men and women, from our perspective as a Sudanese family stand against all Sudanese ethics and values.

Mohamed, finally, has no access to legal assistance nor is he allowed to meet a lawyer in further contravention of his civil and political liberties.

We call upon the government of Sudan to:

• Immediately and unconditionally release of Mohamed Salah
• Urgently provide access for him to specialized medical care
• Allow him to receive his medical spectacles

Copy to:
- The President of Sudan, Omar Albashir.
- National, Regional and International human rights organizations.
- Sudanese Political parties and civil society bodies.
- National, regional and international media.
- The president of the Sudanese national intelligence and security service.
- The minster of Justice.

On behalf of the family:
His mother: Zainab Badreldin Mohamed
His Father: Salah Mohamed Abdelrhman
His siblings: Walaa Salah Mohamed Badreldin Salah Mohamed

To contact the family please call his father at: +249121960044 or his sister at +249910469596

« Nous marcherons nues pendant le mois de ramadan »

Sory I. Konaté

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83755

Pour les familles des commandos parachutistes du camp de Djicoroni et de celui de la garde présidentielle de Koulouba, qui ont marché lundi dernier, le Premier ministre n’entreprend rien pour réunifier les différents corps de l’armée. Elles l’accusent au contraire de les séparer. C’est la raison pour laquelle elles ont organisé cette marche dans le but de faire la paix entre les deux parties.

Elles dénoncent les arrestations opérées contre leurs maris, la dissolution du corps des commandos parachutistes et la disparition sans motif des 21 éléments du 33e Régiment des commandos parachutistes de Djicoroni. Pour elles, la première des missions du Premier ministre Cheick Modibo Diarra devait être de rassembler et non de diviser l’armée.

Tout ce que les familles savent, c’est que les leurs sont présumés être en intelligence avec le lieutenant-colonel Abidine Guindo, alors commandant du 33e Régiment des commandos parachutistes du Mali et surtout ancien aide de camp d’ATT. Celui-ci aurait échoué dans son contre-putsch, avant de prendre la poudre d’escampette et récemment rentré.

Un officier général (le général Hamidou Sissoko alias Man, ex-chef d’état-major particulier d’ATT), trois officiers supérieurs, dont le colonel Abdoulaye Cissé, commandant de la région militaire de Sikasso, ex-aide de camp du président Alpha Oumar Konaré et le commandant Malamine Konaré, pilote et fils aîné de l’ancien président de la Commission de l’Union africaine sont également accusés par la junte.

Pour les femmes et enfants de bérets rouges, ils méritent après tout le droit de rendre visite à leurs époux et à leurs pères. Sur les pancartes on pouvait lire : « Libérer nos maris injustement séquestrés », « On ne veut pas la dissolution du 33e Régiment », « Pourquoi nos enfants n’ont plus leurs droits ? ». C’est un enfant de 10 ans, en pleurs, qui tenait la pancarte sur laquelle on pouvait lire : « J’ai perdu ma mère pendant les affrontements et mon père vous l’avez enlevé, où se trouve-t-il ? ».

Un jeune passant a été jeté par terre par un manifestant pour avoir tenté de saboter la marche. De toutes les manières leur message envers les autorités maliennes et principalement les leaders religieux était clair, la libération immédiate des bérets rouges disparus avant le début de ce mois de ramadan. Faute de quoi, elles menacent si rien n’est fait, d’organiser des marches à Bamako, toutes nues, pendant le mois de jeûne musulman.

19 Juillet 2012
Source: Les Echos

Paul Biya’s Machiavellian reign over Cameroon

Peter Wuteh Vakunta

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/83726

Emvana’s well researched book titled ‘Paul Biya: Les secrets du pouvoir’ is a walk through the meanders in the skewed mind of a compulsive despot — Mr. Paul Biya, the tyrant that has misgoverned Cameroon for close to three decades. Emvana creates an interesting parallel between Paul Biya and Niccolo Machiavelli when he compares the machinations of Cameroon’s head of state with the shenanigans of Machiavelli’s protagonist in ‘The Prince’ (1977):

“ The power hungry comedian is well seated on his pedestal for more than two decades now, with this dose of Machiavellianism that renders him incomprehensible.”(10).

Those who have read Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ would be familiar with the diabolical precepts that the Italian writer propounded as modus operandi for monopolizing political power in perpetuity. In Emvana’s own words, Paul Biya is a prototype of Machiavelli’s political modus operandi: “Paul Biya is the clone of Machiavelli’s prince, attached to his throne and forever attentive.” (34). Envana underscores the point that Paul Biya is a bicephalous political beast who appears to be what he is not: “Biya governs with a mask. He is not what he appears to be. That’s why it is difficult to characterize him.” (11)

Indeed, the generality of Cameroonians find it rather hard to paint a credible portrait of the man that has abused them for decades. This is because Biya is a political comedian. Emvana portrays the Cameroonian president as “The guy that Cameroonians don’t know very well; whose ministers have only partial knowledge of who he really is. As he puts it, “Biya knows how to play the double role of a devouring big cat and that of a cunning fox. To put this differently, Paul Biya excels at the nefarious game of cat and mouse in the political arena. Emvana’s neologism “le Biyaïsme” is a label that describes Biya’s political comedy of abstraction, governmental ineptitude and injurious subjectivity. Biyaism, the highest stage of Machiavellianism, is founded on the precept of banished moral scruples: “Some sociologists have attributed to Paul Biya the epithet of Machiavellianism founded on absence of moral scruples serving the interests of an individual” (37)

Biyaism is an anti-people code that breeds apathy, dereliction of duty, and resentment. Emvana writes, “Biyaism is a theory that is transcendent, complex, rippling and iconoclastic. It is a theory that must be studied profoundly in order to steer clear of associating it with apathy, absenteeism and sloth” (27). He argues that Biya is a “Lazy king” who listens to no one else’s voice but his own. Biyaism as a governmental paradigm draws its strength from ontological sadism. According to Emvana, Paul Biya is a sadist who “…who loves to make people tremble.”(243). As he sees it, it is this sadistic penchant for deriving pleasure from the sufferings of others that has driven Mr. Biya to have recourse to occultism: “Paul Biya has a mystical relationship with power…” (29).

‘Paul Biya: Les secrets du pouvoir’ is interesting in several respects but the aspect that captivates the reader’s attention most is the ambivalent nature of the Cameroonian head of state. Emvana notes: “But everyone knows that Paul Biya and his ministers do not speak with one voice” (81). It is not just consensus that is sorely lacking between the president and his henchmen. They do not meet periodically as expected to discuss state affairs. Little wonder nothing works in Cameroon. Emvana does not mince words in his diatribe against Paul Biya and his lame duck regime. He calls a spade a spade when he labels the Cameroonian head of state an opportunist: “Biya is an opportunist but his political opportunism is soused and veiled.” (77) One other intriguing aspect of Biya’s persona is his ability to make believe; to dine with God and Mammon at the same time.

According to Emvana, Biya believes that his governmental inspiration derives from God Almighty: “His power comes from God…” (77). At the same time, Biya is an adept of sorcery. He is a member of the Rosicrucian Order. Emvana points out that Biya perceives the Rosicrucian Order as a source of protection on which he relies to hang onto power eternally: “Paul Biya probably perceives the Rosicrucian Order as a source of protection to which every politician has recourse in a bid to stay in power perpetually…” (160). This double allegiance to God and Lucifer is so mind-boggling that Emvana cannot help but ask the rhetorical question: “How can Biya worship the gods of AMOK and Christ?”(157) He observes that Biya is portrayed in the Western media as one of the most generous financiers of the Rosicrucian Order: “…French media portrays Paul Biya as one of the most generous donors of the Rosicrucian Order… ” (157). Not surprisingly, Emvana notes that: “Christian masses have always been celebrated at Etoudi before and after Paul Biya became Head of State.” (157). He insists that this ambivalence is typical of Paul Biya, a man who has dressed up in borrowed robes during his entire tenure at the presidency of Republic of Cameroon:“ This is typical of Biya. He is a political comedian who enters the scene wearing a fake costume and soon abandons his role once on stage” (158). Thus, the Cameroonian Head of State is synonymous with a political chameleon that changes colors at its whims and caprices.

‘Paul Biya: Les secrets du pouvoir’ is a scathing lampoon on the crippling ethnocentrism that has rendered the presidency of Cameroon dysfunctional. The book is also about the paranoia that has gripped the Cameroonian head of state. Paul Biya nurses a morbid fear of the press in general. He lives like a hermit at the presidential palace at Etoudi or at Etoudi-Annex in his home town of Mvomeka. Most of the time, he is gallivanting in luminous cities in western countries in search of nothing in particular and learning nothing that could improve the livelihood of Cameroonians. As Emvana points out, “He evades press interviews… He is wary of the press in general” (202).

Ironically, Paul Biya views himself as an indomitable lion. He goes by the sobriquet ‘l’homme-lion’ or Lion-Man. Emvana notes that “Biya adopted this nickname during the presidential elections of 1997” (211). The significance of this nickname is that Paul Biya subscribes to the doctrine of the law of the jungle. His political opponents acknowledge this fact. Frédéreic Kodock, for example, has described the president as “un serpent” or snake in an interview he granted the press in the past. This metaphor compares Paul Biya’s sly nature to that of a green snake in green grass.

The succession question is broached in ‘Paul Biya: Les secrets du pouvoir’. Who will succeed Paul Biya? Has Biya groomed his successor yet? What does the constitution say about presidential succession in Cameroon? These are some thorny questions that preoccupy Emvana in his narrative. Without offering a convincing response, the writer has the hunch that “…The successor shall emerge from the close circle of Biyaists. The presidential choice will be made from this small group…” (236) However, the writer cautions political observers against ruling out the possibility of an outsider emerging as Paul Biya’s successor: “However, one should not rule out the likelihood of an outsider emerging as a political successor to Paul Biya” (236). In the meantime, Paul Biya is contented with simply keeping a close watch on those hawks that are vying for succession in the post-Biya era.

The 1996 amended constitution of the Republic of Cameroon makes it abundantly clear who becomes president in the event of power vacancy in Cameroon. Article 6, section 4 of the constitution states lucidly: “In the event of vacancy at the presidency of the Republic on account of death, resignation, or permanent disability brought to the attention of the Constitutional Council, presidential elections must be conducted without fail 20 days at least and 40 days at most from the date of the vacancy” (230). The 1996 constitution designates the President of the Senate as the legal successor of Mr. Biya. However, the president of the senate cannot run for the presidency: “On paper, Biya, being the fine republican and perfect legalist that he is, knows his successor already. The statutes exist since 1996 but texts do not replace a president. From the human, practical and pragmatic points of view, Biya alone knows his successor. It is State secret” (231). The question that begs to be asked at this juncture is why there is so much brouhaha about presidential succession in Cameroon if the constitution leaves no room for ambiguity in the succession question. Emvana observes that this agitation stems from the fact that Paul Biya, in his quest for a strategist like himself may not respect the supreme law of the land in his ultimate choice of a successor. As he would have it, “The goal of this book is not to serve as apologia or panegyric. It is not an alibi for disproportionate praise, nor is it intended to be an indictment” (231).

In a nutshell, with the publication of ‘Paul Biya: Les secrets du pouvoir’, Michel Roger Emvana joins the ranks of writers like Gervais Mendo Ze and Jacques Fame Ndongo who remain firm in their belief that Paul Biya is God’s gift to Cameroonians. The book is replete with ambiguity and hyperbolic statements about the invincibility of President Biya. In the preface Emvana states upfront that his intent in crafting his book is neither to produce a panegyric laudation nor a vitriolic diatribe of Biya’s regime. Whether or not Emvana has remained true to this stated objective remains a moot point; a conundrum for readers to unravel. ‘Paul Biya: Les secrets du pouvoir’ is a book that causes both grief and glee. It is a document to be read with an open mind and composure.

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* Dr. Vakunta is professor at the United States Department of Defense Language Institute.

* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Undesirables: White Canada and the Komagata Maru, An Illustrated History

Matthew Behrens

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/83728

As Parliament passes sweeping, repressive immigration legislation, Toronto filmmaker Ali Kazimi's timely book, Undesirables, is a welcome and necessary contribution that should be required reading not only for Jason Kenney and his cohorts, but also those good-hearted folks who claim the new law violates Canada's mythic "humanitarian traditions."

The Komagata Maru was a shipload of South Asian immigrants forced to dock a half mile off the B.C. coast for two months in 1914 as a battle to determine whether they could land played out in the media, the courts, on the docks and in a variety of communities. Denied access to counsel, blockaded from receiving food and water, demonized in the press, and eventually forced to leave when a Canadian court ruled that race could be a grounds for excluding newcomers, their struggle was a signature moment reflecting an ingrained xenophobia that undergirds contemporary Canadian policies.

The book is visually stunning, thorough and wholly accessible in its historical, political and social presentation. Kazimi, whose documentary Continuous Journey also portrayed this period, outlines the extent to which Canada was built as "a white man's country," and how specific communities (largely South Asian, Chinese and African American) were systematically excluded from Canada. He also illustrates how limited numbers from these communities, in a mirror to today's wretched treatment of temporary foreign workers, were allowed in to Canada to perform menial labour, but had impossible obstacles thrown in the way of permanent residence, much less family reunification.

Importantly, he documents the wretched conditions in countries under British colonial control (from political repression to easily preventable famine and disease) that resulted in the urgent desire to emigrate not simply for a better life, but to save one's life. Indeed, many onboard the Komagata Maru were Sikhs, who paid a huge price in the struggle against British colonialism, a fact that Kazimi notes is rarely acknowledged.

As hundreds of thousands of white Europeans entered Canada in the first decades of the 20th century (on average, 200,000 annually from 1908 to 1914), a series of racist measures were imposed designed to cut off the flow of immigration from countries like India and China. Indeed, from 1907-1910, fewer than 3,000 South Asians were admitted, and only five in 1910-11. This was the era of the Chinese Head Tax, as well as specious medical examinations that turned certain classes of immigrants away for common and non-threatening afflictions, and the requirement that certain immigrants possess the then princely sum of $200 before gaining entry to Canada.

While "the yellow peril" and other racist headlines dominated the papers, racism was easily adaptable to prevailing political winds. Notably, after Britain formed an imperial alliance with Japan, Japanese men were allowed to bring family members to Canada, but Chinese and South Asians were not.

"That Canada must remain a white man's country is seen necessary on moral and political grounds," wrote future Prime Minister Mackenzie King in a 1908 report that articulated the reasons for imposing a "continuous journey" order in council that would remain for 40 years, essentially barring South Asians from entering Canada unless they came directly from India. Kazimi show that, nonetheless, British authorities were concerned about the need to soft pedal some of Canada's racist legislation so as not to inflame tensions in its colonies: after all, this was a time of growing resistance to British repression, and not all individuals who were British subjects took kindly to discriminatory treatment.

Kazimi's study also does a great service by examining the resistance of targeted communities, who formed self-help and self-defence leagues, raised money for the folks aboard the stranded ship, engaged legal assistance, and produced their own newspapers. Part of that resistance was the Komagata Maru itself, whose journey was a publicly announced challenge to the continuous journey provisions: it picked up passengers from a series of overseas ports on the way to Canada.

With no small sense of irony, once a test case for a Komagata Maru passenger got to court, government lawyers successfully argued that since First Nations had limited rights as British subjects, Canada actually had the power to restrict rights of other British subjects based on race. As Kazimi sadly concludes, "the colonization of Canada and the subjugation of its aboriginal inhabitants was presented as a legitimate precedent for denying South Asians their rights."

By the time the ship returned to India, the stench of alleged subversion had been imposed on the passengers by British colonialists, and 21 of them were shot down by British troops upon their arrival, with many more arrested.

Kazimi sees the Komagata Maru as a transformative moment for Canada, occupied India, and the rest of the British empire, but cautions against seeing this as an isolated instance. Rather, it was one of many moments in a long history that continues to this day. His superb ability to connect past and present policies both shows the parallels and explains the extent to which the "white man's country" theme threatens to remain forever stitched into the Maple Leaf.

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* Matthew Behrens is a rabble.ca columnist and a regular contributor to the book lounge.


* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Africa: Mali, Nubia and the destruction of history

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/83825

http://bit.ly/OT9IuQ

Global: Attack of the drones

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/83739

http://bit.ly/MtNYre

Global: The story of change

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/83824

http://bit.ly/NGhsTF

South Africa: Khayelitsha winter in photos

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/83684

http://bit.ly/MfaPIJ

Orengo's Sh0.5 million suit

Gado

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/83723

Trouble in Congo, again

Gado

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/83722

Women bishops

Gado

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/83721

Zimbabwe: EU to suspend Zimbabwe sanctions 'after referendum'

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/83836

http://bbc.in/NYraTF

Zimbabwe: Fears that ZANU PF planning to dismiss new constitution

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/83713

http://bit.ly/NwHh9Z

Zimbabwe: Unity government in turmoil

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/83681

http://bit.ly/LuD86C

Africa: African women set to drive continent's resurgence

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/83844

http://bit.ly/M5KQpl

Côte d’Ivoire: Law offers battered women little protection

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/83830

http://bit.ly/NrfKIH

Liberia: President says country not ready to abolish FGM

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/83692

http://bit.ly/Q4EpDc

Sudan: Court sentences woman to death by stoning for adultery

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/83705

http://bit.ly/NEqe70

Zimbabwe: Women say enough is enough

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/83819

http://bit.ly/OZkK5o

Côte d’Ivoire: Hard road to reconciliation

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83828

http://bit.ly/NGjF1s

Equatorial Guinea: Controversial UNESCO science prize finally awarded

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83753

http://bit.ly/QbeDgz

Gambia: Rights groups demand end to 'reign of fear'

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83839

http://bit.ly/Qr5511

Kenya: UK admits abuses took place in Kenya

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83697

http://bit.ly/MHzAJF

South Africa: Tracking South Africa's Syria policy

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83843

http://bit.ly/LHkXpP

Sudan: Security forces arrest lawyers

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83708

http://bit.ly/NwyJQt

Tanzania: Call for investigation into attack on doctor

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83718

http://bit.ly/Mwc88l

Angola: Guards in UK refugee death case won't face charges

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/83707

http://bit.ly/Q5vMby

Cote d'Ivoire: United Nations deplores attack on IDPs camp

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/83840

http://bit.ly/P0obc9

Global: Older people face the greater burden of displacement

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/83695

http://bit.ly/NvXbkQ

Somalia: Refugees in Horn of Africa surpass 1 million mark

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/83698

http://bit.ly/Mjt7Zv

South Africa: 'It's hell-fire in Somalia. It's hell-fire in South Africa'

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/83685

http://bit.ly/O73A5v

Sudan: Refugees suffer without aid

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/83704

http://huff.to/NLroIz

Mauritania: Rights group denounces repression of copper mine workers

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/labour/83841

http://bit.ly/NOmE6u

Swaziland: Public sector strike grows

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/labour/83691

http://bit.ly/NClyhP

Angola: Police arrest 12 at anti-government rally

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83677

http://reut.rs/Q3UwlD

Angola: Vote body accused of irregularities

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83678

http://bit.ly/Q3UIkK

Libya: Liberals lead in parliament vote

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83744

http://aje.me/LusLuZ

South Africa: ANC leadership battle at SACP conference

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83676

http://bit.ly/NxZLFY

South Africa: ANC vows to end spate of assassinations

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83831

http://bit.ly/MiA8ak

Sudan: Prisoners' relatives beaten, dispersed, says witness

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83689

http://bit.ly/MhOTNb

Sudan: The heritage of civil resistance

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83738

http://bit.ly/NBzNj8

Sudan: Unpacking Sudan's power dynamics

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83826

http://aje.me/PzDpph

Malawi: President urged to declare her assets

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/83690

http://bit.ly/MvgHQd

Somalia: Anger at corruption claims in leaked UN report

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/83699

http://bbc.in/O9ujwC

South Africa: Disgraced police boss paroled

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/83842

http://bit.ly/OjcJEF

Tunisia: Ben Ali sentenced to life in jail

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/83834

http://aje.me/OaR5Gr

Africa: Africa ready for post-2015 development agenda, says MDG report

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83703

http://bit.ly/NVDP8u

Africa: China aims to rewrite perceptions on Africa investment

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83711

http://bit.ly/NzyuCU

East Africa: Financial integration slow off the starting blocks

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83701

http://bit.ly/SG8N5x

Global: Fight for natural resources 'has only just begun'

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83683

http://bit.ly/NFp6L5

Global: Super-rich 'hiding' at least $21tn

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83838

http://bbc.in/PGO1PU

Mozambique: Stiglitz warns Mozambique about IMF advice

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83706

http://bit.ly/Ohkajh

South Africa: Proposed 15% electricity hike sparks fury

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83674

http://bit.ly/PbTtNZ

Africa: AIDS patients aren't getting enough funding, experts say

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83760

http://huff.to/Q7H93P

Africa: Drug-resistant HIV 'on increase' in sub-Saharan Africa

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83835

http://bbc.in/NrgCgc

Global: AIDS deaths, new HIV cases at 10-year low

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83740

http://bit.ly/MmOh93

Global: Punitive laws against sex workers, MSM hindering HIV responses, says report

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83709

http://bit.ly/PgQ14L

Kenya: Denied visa By US, Kenya sex workers to attend parallel 'Freedom Festival of Sex Workers'

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83687

http://bit.ly/M7oK16

Madagascar: Half a million undiagnosed diabetics

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83829

http://bit.ly/NLDsxP

Sierra Leone: Drug diversions hamper free healthcare

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83757

http://bit.ly/LA4acX

South Africa: Activists protest as Novartis ruling approaches

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83758

http://bit.ly/NBb14r

South Africa: Inequality and health

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83712

http://bit.ly/MI9giy

South Africa: Damning report on school textbooks

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/education/83675

http://bit.ly/M5oEqA

Global: Google says 'LGBT rights are human rights'

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/lgbti/83710

http://bit.ly/NEu3Je

Cameroon: Protecting forests with satellite monitoring

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/83715

http://bit.ly/LrstVK

Egypt: Legal battle to regulate Monsanto’s GMOs

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/83827

http://bit.ly/OaN0lv

Nigeria: Bonga Oil Field Spill - Shell fined

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/83688

http://bit.ly/Pe1lP3

Senegal: Overfishing, the culprits and consequences

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/83754

http://bit.ly/LuEsll

Cameroon: Palm-oil plan pits activists vs investors

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/land/83716

http://bit.ly/MwbE1W

Malawi: Can subsidies last?

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/food/83696

http://bit.ly/M8pq6q

Ghana: Report on indecent expression available

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83694

http://bit.ly/NDGVzl

Global: WikiLeaks reopens channel for credit card donations

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83737

http://onforb.es/QajLS7

Mali: One day media strike planned

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83752

http://bit.ly/NCbP7w

Swaziland: Editors suspended

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83759

http://bit.ly/MnkX29

Ghana: Understanding the roots of child labour

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/welfare/83717

http://bit.ly/NVTHaS

Madagascar: Teaching mothers to combat malnutrition

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/welfare/83702

http://bit.ly/NxCSAS

Africa: Organised crime and instability in central Africa

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83837

http://bit.ly/LIAzhp

Botswana: Green Berets train with elite forces

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83679

http://exm.nr/NQX7eY

DRC: US suspends military aid to Rwanda over Congo involvement

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83833

http://bit.ly/OTeys3

Eritrea: UN report says Eritrea reduces support for al Shabaab

2012-07-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83682

http://bit.ly/ODL1lT

Madagascar: Mutiny now under control, says army

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83832

http://bit.ly/MDIiyH

Mali: Hague court asked to investigate rebel crimes

2012-07-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83741

http://bit.ly/MxEjnl

Mauritius: Investigation exposes arms trafficking network

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83700

http://bit.ly/NgXnpB

Morocco: Morocco rebukes UN Western Sahara envoy

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83714

http://bit.ly/NwIFJM

Nigeria: Army gives villagers ultimatum

2012-07-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83693

http://bit.ly/NJZYmk

Africa: New and established African poets recognized by a new fund

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/83822

http://bit.ly/MRLS37

Global: Free Alliance Magazine subscriptions

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/83823

http://bit.ly/PzyV1X

Global: Nominations open for 2013 David Kato Vision and Voice Award

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/83818

http://bit.ly/LGUuZo

Policy-making to challenge social exclusion, inequality and marginalisation

Call for applications

2012-07-23

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/594/Call for Applications 2012 Marginalisation Course Final.docx

Regional Programme Director – Africa

Amnesty International

2012-07-23

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/83817

Fixed-term contract to December 2013
Location: London (six months) relocating to regional hub for the remainder of contract
Salary: £60,072 per annum pro rata (London);
Appropriate competitive salary when based in the regional hub

At Amnesty International (AI) we fight injustice on a global scale. To do that well, we need strong and coherent leadership across each of the regions in which we operate. Developing and rolling out our programme strategy for the Africa region that’s exactly what you’ll provide.

About the role

In this high profile role, you’ll lead both the day-to-day running and strategic development of our programme in the Africa region. Representing AI at senior level and working with a dedicated team split between London and our regional African offices, you’ll provide the strategic and political analysis that shapes and drives our human rights agenda across the region. In doing so, you’ll make sure that our work – from the way we approach research and membership campaigning to government lobbying and the content of our own publications – meet the organisation’s standards and are closely aligned with its wider objectives.

About you

You’ll need an expert knowledge of the political landscape and human rights issues in the region. You must be familiar with the international legal framework around human rights and the requirements of our campaigning work. A strategic thinker with excellent political judgement, you’ll be a powerful communicator. Most important, will be the inspirational leadership skills you bring to the role that enable you to bring out the best in a diverse and geographically widespread team.

About us

Our aim is simple: an end to human rights abuses. Independent, international and influential, we campaign for justice, freedom and truth wherever they’re denied. Already our network of over three million members and supporters is making a difference in 150 countries. And whether we’re applying pressure through powerful research or direct lobbying, mass demonstrations or online campaigning, we’re all inspired by hope for a better world. One where human rights are respected and protected by everyone, everywhere.

For more information and to apply, please visit www.amnesty.org/jobs and search for requisition ID 798BR.

Closing date: 8th August 2012.

Fahamu