Pambazuka News 175: The International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Africa: A 'disastrous' record

In the tale of the boy who cried wolf, it was the boy himself who suffered the consequences of his actions. This time, it’s two million people in Darfur, writes Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action. Writing in Foreign Policy in Focus, Booker says the role that the United States played in crying wolf about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has a direct impact on the current humanitarian crisis in Sudan. "It will be the cruellest irony and the greatest tragedy if the people of ...read more

Expanding access to tuberculosis treatment, combined with introducing HIV testing and anti-retroviral (ARV) delivery into TB programmes, could save the lives of as many as 500 000 Africans living with HIV every year and is one of the most cost-effective ways to ensure the survival of HIV-positive people, according to international health experts meeting this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

During an International Conference on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) hosted by the Kenyan Government in Nairobi during 16-18 September 2004, several statements were made by government representatives in support of the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.

The Kenyan President stated that his country will ratify the Protocol and reliable sources have indicated that the proposal for ratification is currently with the Cabinet.

The Tanzanian Deputy Minister...read more

The World Bank has launched a four-year Country Assistance Strategy Assistance (CAS) in Eastern Province. Through the programme, the bank identifies development programmes it plans to assist with, and relays information to its shareholders for their diagnosis, financial and technical assistance. Within the new CAS programme, the Government is expected to discard the stop-gap economic policy reform process which resulted in structural and implementation hurdles experienced in the past.

About 50 members of the rights group, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), have embarked on a 440 km march to Harare, to protest a proposed bill that will require all NGOs to register with a government-appointed regulatory council and disclose details of their programmes and funding. The proposed legislation also seeks to ban foreign NGOs concerned principally with "issues of governance", and deny registration to NGOs receiving foreign funding for "promotion and protection of human rights and poli...read more

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