KABISSA-FAHAMU-SANGONET NEWSLETTER 34 * 7679 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU-SANGONET NEWSLETTER 34 * 7679 SUBSCRIBERS
Injecting a strong note of caution, one senior diplomat said: "The Zimbabwe delegation in Abuja was not led by Robert Mugabe."
The state government of Bahr al-Jabal, southern Sudan, on Monday declared flood-affected districts in and around Juba town to be "disaster zones", Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported on Tuesday. Local government officials said some 17,000 people had been made homeless after the Nile river burst its banks following heavy rain, dpa reported.
The Augustin Nzojibwami-led FRODEBU party faction has demanded that a people's referendum be organised so that the "Burundi people voice their opinion on the alienation of their right to elect their leaders to foreigners, the loss of its sovereignty and the partitioning of the country in G7 (Hutu) and G10 (Tutsi)".
The difficult human rights situation of women in the DRC and the need to increase women's representation in the peace process have spurred UNIFEM and the Office of the Facilitator of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue to call for the equal participation of women at the dialogue, to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 15 October.
The Rwandan Batwa pygmy people have demanded respect for their rights, saying that ignorance about their problems is the "biggest evil" to overcome. The president of the Batwa community Zephyrin Kalimba told a conference on the indigenous people of Africa, held in Kigali, that his people had been denied their land rights and evicted from their ancestral homes.
We were very sad to learn that Peter Oakley, Research Director of the International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC), died suddenly last weekend whilst on a work visit to Indonesia. It would appear, from first reports, that the cause was heart failure. There are many in the NGO sector who have had contact with Peter in many different ways and over different periods of time. His death is a great loss to all who dedicate their lives to social justice. Peter has contributed so much and inspired so many. The international NGO community will miss his sharp mind and clear insights (as well as his great sense of humour). Our thougts are with his family, Maria Cristina, Taciana, Gabriella and Louise, and with his colleagues at INTRAC.
The network for environmental education and advocacy team is a non-governmental, non-profit, independent organization for the promotion of sound environmental management practices.
A deadly fire that devastated the Pretoriuskop area of the Kruger National Park over the past two days has been brought under control.
A bull called Mwalimu helped save the lives of hundreds of cattle in Kenya's Baringo District during a recent drought by teaching other cattle to eat cactus. Two successive years of drought had so much reduced the amount of fodder available in Baringo that cattle were starving to death.
Nigerian Information Minister Jerry Gana warned on Wednesday that Mount Cameroon, across the border, could erupt again soon and pose a serious health hazard to Nigerian border communities.
The number of households affected by last month's tremors in Rungwe District southern Tanzania has risen to 259 from the previous 181 following a house to house check by ward leaders.
At least 30 people, including six children, have died in bush fires fanned by high winds across South Africa's bushveld over the past two days, police said this week.
As a new school year begins, parents face the high costs of school fees and books, as well as a generally poor economy. The financial burden of education is having a detrimental effect on the percentage of students who are able to matriculate at university.
The leading cause of death among teachers in the Central Africa Republic is HIV/AIDS according to a UNICEF study. The teacher shortage has forced numerous school closures, impacting the quality of education throughout the country.
Save the Children projects in Malawi and Mali have sought to increase school enrollment through the creation of village-based schools and curricula that foster gender quality. In Malawi school enrollment among girls is increasing, as is primary school enrollment in general in Mali.
The International Development Research Centre reports on how SchoolNet South Africa is bringing technology to schools around the country. 'As part of our mission, SchoolNet SA has chosen to focus on the use of ICTs to redress some of these injustices of the past, in order to bring about equitable distribution of resources and knowledge.'
In a follow-up to the 1990 World Summit on Children, this UN meeting will assess the progress regarding the advancement of children's rights and devise a new plan for addressing children's health and safety issues. HWR is advocating for the full protection of children's rights and calling for the US to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This World Bank report shows a strong correlation between socioeconomic status and malnutrition. Levels of malnutrition decrease as socioeconomic levels increase and vice versa. About 27% of children under five in developing countries are malnourished. Available as PDF file [37p.].
The Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights at Colby College, Maine, USA, is now soliciting nominations from human rights practitioners in the field of refugees and displaced populations in Africa or Asia for the 2002 Oak Human Rights Fellowship.
Over the last two years, North Africa, and to some extent the whole southern coast of the Mediterranean, has become a 'dead end zone' for Black African migrants. "Passing through North Africa, migrants are treated like slaves" for having committed the only 'sin' of deserting the misery, persecutions and conflicts of their countries in search of a better life, a disturbing development of European Union Migration policy.
On Wednesday, women from Africa held a regional meeting at the Gender Commission gathering. They identified priorities in the fight against racism and racial discrimination on the continent. The women observed that colonialism is a fundamental cause of racism that exists via hierarchies. Women are systematically devalued and placed at the bottom of this hierarchy. This is manifested in racial and ethnic intolerance in armed conflict, resulting in refugees and internally displaced persons, the majority of whom are women and children.
Below is a report from Denise Moorehead, Director of Communications and Public Policy at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, on the first days of the main conference and a parallel session on community-based education for children regardless of race, ethnic group or class distinctions.
President Robert Mugabe gave his seal of approval yesterday to an agreement to stop illegal seizure of Zimbabwe's white-owned farms and rein in squatters. Returning to Harare after a week-long "working holiday" in Libya, he told journalists that he accepted the deal, which was hailed as a breakthrough by Commonwealth foreign ministers when it was signed in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, on Friday. But intimidation of opposition politicians and farm invasions continued.
Based in Kampala, Uganda, Raising Voices is a non-profit international organization that works in partnership with local organizations in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania to prevent violence against women and children. Their website includes information on programmatic tools developed by Raising Voices to strengthen violence prevention efforts at the grassroots and current efforts underway within the Region.
On August 23rd, 2001, Isis-WICCE launched two research reports on Women and War. "Women's Experiences of Armed Conflict Situations in Uganda: The case of Gulu District 1986-1999" and "Medical Interventional Study of War Affected Gulu District, Uganda" are essentially two parts of the same report. The reports are available from Isis WICCE for US$5 each, and will be online by September 2001. Abstracts of the two reports are available on the Wougnet website.
In March 2001, a capacity building, training workshop was implemented by Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Forestry (MAAIF) Planning Department funded by FAO under the programme of Integrated Support to Sustainable Development and Food Security. This historic workshop generated much consciousness on gender disaggregated data (GDD) by transforming the quality of information gathering and processing. The dynamics of gender in relation to statistical information, the institution of the family in terms of division of labour, resource allocation among men and women, boys and girls, has gained particular significance.
In the resource-poor environment of rural Ethiopia parents act strategically when they marry off their sons and daughters. What assets are brought to marriage? How does society endow new couples with the assets (livestock, utensils, grain, clothing and jewellery) needed to set up a farm and family? How do husbands and wives subsequently bargain in their competition to control productive assets?
The best interests of the child are served when the mother and the father are involved in their upbringing. Changing family roles, however, are influencing the socialisation of children. Why then, is consideration of the roles that men play often absent from development programmes targeting children?
What happens when the perpetuation of war becomes an end in itself? In today’s war economies the objectives of the belligerents might not be to win the war at all costs but to profit from the war at the lowest cost. Has this been grasped by the humanitarian community? How can agencies learn how resources flow in a war economy?
Is participation always a good thing? Should every development project be participatory? Is participation sometimes not appropriate? Is a more critical approach needed?
European intransigence forced African states to back down yesterday on virtually every demand over an apology and reparations for trans-Atlantic slavery in order to save the United Nations anti-racism conference in Durban from total collapse.
Fifteen months after British troops intervened in the Sierra Leone crisis, much has changed for the better. To achieve this, the British, who ruled Sierra Leone as a colony until its independence in 1961, have established what amounts to a de facto trusteeship.
Stephen Waithaka, who farms two acres of the rich volcanic soil on the foothills below Mount Kenya, brings in two crops of corn a year, but lives in constant fear of not having enough. The fear is well founded. A comprehensive study of whether the world will have enough to eat 20 years from now concludes that Africa, at least, probably will not.
This is a series of useful lesson resources on various topics related to modern-day slavery. The two-pagers on "Bonded Labour" and "Slavery from the past..." can be used by teachers as illustrative materials in civic education, history or other social science classrooms.
A former permanent secretary wants the Attorney-General punished for commenting on a criminal case pending in court. Mr Wilfred Kimalat, a former Education PS, says Mr Amos Wako should be summoned to court for contempt for commenting on the case at a recent Transparency International workshop in the city.
Morris Walunywa is unemployed. So his older brothers, who wanted to help find him a job at the prison, did the natural thing: They pooled their meager savings of $65 and bribed the prison's chief officer to give Mr. Morris a job. The officer pocketed the money, promising to enroll Morris. But when the list of recruits was later posted, it didn't include Mr. Walunywa's name.
A parliamentary committee is considering ways of improving Parliament's exercise of its oversight function and accountability.
Amnsety International has condemned Tunisia - currently hosting the
Mediterranean Games - for its treatment of around 1,000 political prisoners
languishing in jails where they are subjected to a wide range of abuses.
'Look at us from the view of those descended from slaves, who then faced racism from descendants of those who had actually shipped them'.
When a Kenyan asks for a little tea, he may or may not have a hot beverage in mind.
The Zimbabwean government is considering holding elections earlier than the proposed April date because of the worsening economic crisis.
More than 280,000 Nigerians have at one time or another been displaced by conflicts or natural disasters over the past two years, according to figures from humanitarian organisations and the media.
During a recent visit to Mozambique's southern Gaza province, an area hit by devastating floods two-years in a row, UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown said that the "overwhelming impression" was that "normal life had been restored and sensible improvements made".
Forest dwellers from seven African countries this week appealed for compensation for livelihoods compromised by government activities, and for vindication of their human rights, AFP news agency reported.
Three independent experts are visiting the DRC, Rwanda and Somalia to assess the impact of armed conflict on women and women's role in peace building, the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) announced on Wednesday.
Reacting to widespread criticism of a military tribunal in Likasi in the southern DRC province of Katanga, some 2,000 km away from the capital, where some 100 people have been charged of conspiracy against and an assassination attempt on former DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila and current DRC President, Joseph Kabila, his son, authorities in Kinshasa have given assurances that the trial is fair and in conformity with the laws of the land, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported on Thursday.
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) on Thursday, 6 September, reported that one of its research teams, recently returned from the Afro-Arab borderlands of Sudan, had found systematic of human rights abuses, as a manifestation of racism, among a group of "97 female slaves above the age of 12 who were recently liberated from bondage."
International non-governmental organisations (INGOs) have called on the international community "to recognise that there is an ongoing crisis in Liberia and the need for continued support to INGOs in emergency, reconstruction, and development activities".
A five-day seminar for military officers and public sector institutions has ended in Accra with the Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr. Eddie Akita presenting certificates to the participants.
For challenging policemen at a check-point who wanted to extort money from the driver of a commuter bus he boarded, Corporal Agboola was shot dead.
We don't think President Frederick Chiluba was serious when he declared at a parliamentary by-election campaign rally in Kabwata on Wednesday that he was ready to invite auditors "at any time" to prove his innocence - to prove that he is not a thief.
THE Federal Government and the United Nations yesterday signed an agreement for a joint effort to combat corruption and organised crimes in Nigeria.
The removal of Mr Swaleh Slim as the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority's head of investigations drives the final nail into the squad's coffin.
A bill seeking reward and protection for persons with information leading to the recovery of looted public funds yesterday sailed through the second reading in the House of Representatives.
At the heart of your PC is the processor. It is often referred to as the brain of the machine. Computer programs send machine instructions to the processor where they are stored and executed. For example, when you save a file the processor executes those instructions and makes it happen. This short guide will explain what all the numbers and terms are which are used when processors are discussed and where to find more information - including a definition for "processor". It will also give you some information about the latest, fastest processor.
The Electronic Journal for Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC) aims to link studies and research around applying the use of technology to solve problems in developing countries. The Journal can be downloaded for free and each article can be viewed separately. This month sees the publication of volume 5 which focuses on using ICTs to assist in health care.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) held a meeting in Montevideo, Uraguay this week. The behaviour and comments of some participants and of ICANN has sparked this interesting article.
Say hello to Daypop, a search engine which scours and indexes over 1000 news web sites and weblogs for current events - just for today. From the home page, enter a query. You can specify whether you want to search news sites, weblogs, or both. Search results include the title of a site, brief excerpt, and a cache link with the cache date. (Cache refers to a copy of the page being kept on the daypop server.)
Wireless networking seems to be the new way forward in developing countries. This technology is being used innovatively and excitingly to solve communication and information needs all over the world. This story provides more encouragement to those seeking to become part of a global digital network, yet lacking resources. A technology company in India has provided a cheap Internet and telecom network which could revolutionise communication penetration in rural areas.
The Computer Society of South Africa, in association with the Meta Group and ITWeb, is searching for candidates who have made significant contributions to the growth and development of the local IT industry over the past year. If you know of someone who deserves the prestigious IT Personality of the Year accolade, please submit your nomination today. Nominations must be submitted by Wednesday, 12 September.
Migrants from countries neighboring South Africa are being blamed for the slow improvement in the standard of living of Blacks since apartheid ended in 1994. Migrants have been harassed and attacked by South Africans, and police often do not intervene. Reports indicate that other African countries are taking steps to tighten migration controls.
Discussions on migrants' rights in relation to racist, discriminative or xenophobic practices against them coming to good terms. A special spokeswoman on migrants' rights at the World Conference Against Racism assessed the substantial progress made in the realm of migrant rights before the migrant caucus, where representatives from organisations from all around the world were present.
In a slowing global economy, one sector is bucking the trend. Each year, millions of individuals, the majority women and children, are tricked, sold, coerced or otherwise forced into situations of exploitation from which they cannot escape. They are the commodities in a multi-billion dollar global industry dominated by highly organized criminal groups operating with impunity.
This resource at Devshed provides a solution to keeping your scripting code separate from your presentation code. FastTemplate separates your presentation into "Templates" - reusable parts that have simple variables embedded in them. This makes maintenance a lot easier.
Myself and one of my students have been part of the ThinkQuest International Website Design Challenge 2001. I was the Coach to my student Siyabonga Dangwane. We teamed Siyabonga up with a Singaporean and a Dutch student and Coach. They have produced a website on Autism, which Siyabonga contributed artwork to. This team consists of very hard working pupils who have produced an exceptional website on a very difficult topic. It is a great resource, and a testament to their hard work. We urgently need as many hits as possible as part of the international judging process, so please could you visit it ASAP and refer as many other people to it as you can. The site is called "Being Different; Living with Autism".
Its nice to hear from you once again on very pertaining issues especially in our region. In Zambia we have a big problem where our MMD government is already rigging the elections before even starting the election campaigns. Radio Icengelo was burned down, withdrew the license of the most popular radio - Radio Phoenix, manipulation of funds and use of public funds for the MMD campaigns, denial of any use of the public media for any different view than the brainwashing government one, a shameful exercise of issuing new national registration ID cards and register of voter. Only 2 million voters registered out of 10 million population ... These and many others are clear indicators that our elections will be 'democratically' manipulated by the ruling party. Anyhow, we'll be here to do the little we can in giving an alternative view to our people till we are locked up or declared unwanted in Zambia. Would you be so kind and also send our newsletter to Fr. Umberto - a real fighter for the rights of the 'little man'.
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is once again offering the Betinho Communications Prize. The closing date for the $7,500 USD prize, which recognizes the use of the Internet for social justice, is September 24 2001.
This practical handbook has been written to enhance the capacity of scientists involved with HIV vaccine trials to develop useful collaborations with the media, and through them, other relevant groups and members of the public." From the back cover... "Vaccine trials are a vital component in the continuing development of scientific responses to the HIV epidemic. Successful vaccine trials require the support, understanding and goodwill of many different organisations and individuals.
These submissions are based on an analysis of the existing laws in Zimbabwe and the wide consultations done with journalists in Zimbabwe. MISA-Zimbabwe is a member-driven organisation and our membership, made up of mostly media people and organisations, have made known their concerns on the Public Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill.
Journalists, newspaper executives and free press advocates from 22 countries have met in Bilbao, Spain to discuss and condemn violence against media in the Basque region. Participants in the "Terrorism Against the Media" conference also heard testimony from journalists working in violent conditions in several other countries around the world.
Fair Election Monitoring Alliance call on the media to provide voters with balanced and accurate reports in order to help them make an informed choice on October 1st. In the current atmosphere of violence and conflict, the media can play a key role in providing information and analysis.
The public affairs section of the US embassy in Kigali will officially launch 24-hour broadcasting in Kinyarwanda, Swahili, French, and English on station 104.3 FM in Kigali on Friday, Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported on Tuesday. Kigali becomes the second capital city in Africa to receive continuous FM broadcasts.
A three-day symposium on "Promoting Community Radios in the Horn of Africa" will take place in Addis Ababa from December 11 - 13, 2001. It aims at introducing and discussing the concepts and practices of community radios and their relevance to the Horn of Africa. The intent is to build on what is happening in areas of social development in the Horn and to reflect on the relevance of community radios in advancing social development initiatives. This will be accompanied by relevant experiences elsewhere in Africa that could provide learning opportunities to the Horn.
The government of Morocco has seized the 6 September 2001 issue of the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo," after the daily printed statements by the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Josep Pique insinuating that the Moroccan police had ties to the (immigration) mafia, according to Reporters sans frontières (RSF). Sources told RSF that all 200 copies of the issue were confiscated at the Casablanca Airport. "Every time a foreign newspaper writes an article that displeases the Moroccan government, it gets banned," comments RSF.
'Keep It Working' aims to be an instrument that field staff can use to support communities in managing their own water supply. The book will provide useful insights and practical guidance through fact sheets, tools and checklists. Eveline Bolt and Catarina Fonseca, Keep It Working: a field manual to support community management of rural water supplies, Delft, 2001, ISBN 90-6687-030-3, Euro 24.00
I have found your news letter very rewarding and quite rich in information. We have a fairly young resource center and the materials you have sent will definately benefit the range of readers we expect. In the near future we hope to make contributions to wards economic welfare and social justice of dissadvantaged communties where we are operating. Wishing you the best. – Elizabeth Okotchi
You may have read that in British Prime Minister's Tony Blair's second term of office in Downing Street, he wants to make Africa a personal priority. My colleague Lesley Abdela and I are therefore producing a short research paper for a United Kingdom Department of State in which we will put forward as many practical suggestions as possible on what could be done to - help reduce conflict in Africa; promote more equitable and sustainable development throughout the Continent. Both elements can benefit from fresh ('blue water') thinking and would significantly include the role of women in both conflict prevention/post-conflict reconstruction and in economic development. We have been asked to submit these new, fresh ideas quickly, and would therefore appreciate your views as soon as possible, and those of others you might forward this request to. Lesley Abdela and I will look forward to hearing from you/them. – Tim Symonds
Interested in how nonprofits are using email to reach stakeholders? The Gilbert Center surveyed 900 nonprofit organizations to find out.
I get to talk with a lot of you at conferences, in email, and on the phone, and something many of you have in common is: Information overload. Here's a tip from socialecology.org that can help you remain informed, yet sane.
The question dominating the news reporting of Tuesday’s attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon is "who". Who did it? Who is responsible? Some strategists and security experts are trying to answer "how"? But the central question is not being asked anywhere. This question is: WHY?