By the end of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society this November in Tunis, the role to be played by civil society in bridging the digital gap and democratising communications will be clearly defined. But many activists are less than optimistic about the eventual outcome, reports Inter Press Service. Until now, governments have included civil society and the private sector in discussions on all of the themes addressed, including the most controversial ones, like the issue of Internet governance. Nevertheless, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have doubts about whether this cooperation will be maintained in the future.

The Land and Equity Movement in Uganda (LEMU) reports that the District of Apac is typical of most of Northern Uganda, almost completely un-industrialised with few urban centres of any size. In a report, 'Land Rights: Where we are and where we need to go' LEMU states that the population is rural and depends entirely on agriculture for its livelihoods. Mechanisation is rare, so the only productive assets which most households own are land, a few hand tools and livestock.This is described as 'traditional' and has in recent years seen changes. The report reviews the situation of land rights in the Apac District and looks at opportunities for land rights protection work. It examines the 1998 Land Act and its implementation in practice and finds that the protection clauses for women are proving ineffective.

This is a well-written piece of work (See Congratulations.

However the following points are missing:

1. The few permanent staff who are lucky enough to have remained in those privatised firms are turned into casual labourers with very little salaries.

2. Some of the loans given to new investors are a kind of a gift because the lack of transparency makes it difficult to know if they will ever pay back.

3. The removal and exporting of the machineries in such industries has been alarming and shocking.

4. The involvement of the "honorables" as in the case of Longuza Forests makes it difficult for local people to object.

5. The high speeds that such exercises take also raises doubts.

In the G8 debate which was aired live on BBC, it emerged that that there are conditions attached to the loans and debt cancellation. How true is that?