Reporters without Borders (RSF-reporters sans Frontieres) has expressed concern about threats which, it said, were made by Guinea-Bissau's Attorney General, Caetano Intchama, against journalists from a private radio station. In a letter sent on 11 September to Intchama, who was appointed last week, RSF asked him to apologise to the newsroom of Radio Pidjiquiti and publicly declare his commitment to press freedom.

Date: - 19 - 23 November 2001, Venue: - Kenya College of Communications and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya. The Ministry of Health in January 2001 established a functional Department of Health Standards and Regulatory Services (DSRS) as provided for in the National Health Sector Strategic Plan. DSRS plans to organize the First National Congress on Quality Improvement in Health Care, Medical Research and Traditional Medicine with the following expected outputs: Consensus on assessment tools for Systematic Monitoring and Evaluation of Quality Improvement in Health Care; Definition of National Priority Medical Research Agenda; Consensus on Strategies for integration of Traditional Medicine
with Conventional Medicine; Health Sector Position paper for Constitutional Review Commission of Kenya.

Rising death rates in South Africa due to HIV/AIDS have led to the creation of a makeshift funeral industry, Newsweek reports. Many "fly-by-night undertakers," who are unlicensed and operate out of storefronts, compete to make funeral arrangements and leave bodies to decompose while they search for the cheapest means of disposal, creating a health hazard and raising costs to the government.

The Kenyan government announced yesterday that it does not have enough money to purchase antiretroviral drugs, even though the Kenyan Parliament recently passed legislation allowing the nation to import and manufacture cheaper generic drugs.

The Bloomberg School of Public Health and Bioethics Institute, in collaboration with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Clinical Bioethics, are pleased to announce the availability of a one-year training program in research ethics for scientists from sub-Saharan Africa. The fellowship will provide funding for scientists to study bioethics and research ethics, and also to do an independent project in their home country related to research ethics. Application for 2002 fellows are due on October 1, 2001. Additional information and application material can be downloaded from The Johns Hopkins University Bioethics Institute website or by contacting Dr. Suzanne Maman.

In the aftermath of Tuesday's terrorist attacks against the United States, the United Nations General Assembly today decided to postpone its upcoming special session on children.

Globalvision News Network presents worldwide reports and commentary on the implications of the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. What can we learn from the voices of the global media?

For all their differences, the media in the Middle East - from Iraq to Israel - seem to be agreed on one thing: whoever was to blame for yesterday's carnage in the US, the attacks are the result of American policies.

After Genoa, the next stop for the global protest caravan is the Bank and Fund annual meetings in Washington DC. Conservative estimates have put the number of expected protesters at 40,000 but with trade unions announcing their backing numbers could be far higher. The Bank, Fund and government delegations are changing their plans in response.

Economic growth can be positively influenced by improved nutrition, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today in a special section of its annual report, The State of Food and Agriculture 2001 (SOFA 2001). “The impact of nutrition on labour productivity, health and education ultimately filters through to higher levels of overall economic growth.”

CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and SmarterOrg announced the launch this week of their new nonprofit e-learning course, “Budgeting For Programs and Proposals”. The course, a collaboration between the nonprofit management support organization and the for-profit application service provider, is designed to provide nonprofit-focused financial management training to nonprofit organizations and grantmakers across the country.

At eGrants, we believe that fundraising is about relationships. And online fundraising is about much more than a Donate Now! button. It's about using technology and online tools to build lasting relationships with stakeholders both on- and off-line. To that end, we supplement our online donation service by training nonprofits in the art of using technology to help build relationships.

Interactive Applications Group (iapps) is the leading choice of foundations, affinity groups and nonprofits seeking to strengthen their online presence. Whether you need a new public site to heighten your organization's visibility, or a private site to improve peer-to-peer collaboration, iapps will craft an Internet solution to achieve your goals.

Established in 1994 as a "virtual" organization, Internet Prospector is produced by a network of volunteers who "mine" the Internet for prospect research information that is published on its Web site and via a free monthly e-newsletter. The newsletter is available by subscription (http://www.internet-prospector.org/subscrib.html) and via PRSPCT-L, a moderate-to-high volume electronic distribution list created by and for prospect researchers.

While diamonds are promoted as the latest 'must have' in the world of high fashion, the international diamond industry meet with governments and civil society groups in London next week to discuss the trade in conflict diamonds - diamond sales that fuel war and atrocity in Africa but adorn the bodies of the rich and beautiful in the western world.

The show of unity between African leaders in Lusaka in July demands a response from external financial sources, says UNCTAD chief Rubens Ricupero in the organisation's 'Economic Development in Africa' report released last Tuesday. IRIN picks up on the story.

The African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) is an African, non-profit, regional health NGO whose mission is to empower disadvantaged people in Africa to enjoy better health. We have over five hundred employees throughout Africa, and Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, with country offices in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa and field offices in Ethiopia, and Mozambique and Somalia. We are searching for suitable candidates to fill the challenging position of Programme Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and Programme Development Officer in our Directorate of Programmes based at Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) says that the
Zimbabwean government needs to ensure that the new Bill does not serve the interests of the executive arm of government only.

Aga Khan Education Service, Kenya is a professionally managed and dynamic non-profit organization that operates thirteen independent schools in Kenya as well as facilitates outreach programmes for educational development. Currently AKES-K is looking for a suitable candidate to fill the position of Chief Executive Officer.

More than 3,000 Angolan refugees who have fled to the Democratic Republic of
Congo in the wake of a UNITA offensive, have made a two-day journey on foot to villages 50km from the Angolan/DRC border.

Publication of this week’s newsletter was delayed because of the tragedy that took place on Tuesday in US. All of us were deeply shocked by the loss of innocent lives by sickening acts of terrorism. Our thoughts are with the families and survivors of this tragedy whose pain and grief must be immense.

But we also feel a deep sense of unease that the horrors of war and of state sponsored terror in the south, and especially in Africa, that claim millions of lives each year, somehow do not register in the same way. Is the overwhelming response to the current tragedy, then, an expression of shock that such an event could take place at the heart of the most powerful state in the world? Or is it that different values are given to human lives depending on their geography and closeness to capital?

Terrorism always plays into the hands of the Right. It justifies hysteria, prejudice, bigotry and even the use of terror against sections of humanity in the name of vengeance rather than justice. The shock, horror and anger at the attacks in the US is understandable. There is equal anger and despair amongst the survivors of massacres in Africa – only they are denied the voice to make their anguish heard.

What is frightening about the reaction in the USA is that these acts of terror are being used to justify vengeance against the ‘perceived’ perpetrators. It took less than a millisecond to point the finger at Islam. As we go to press, there is still no clarity about who the perpetrators were. A climate is growing where very soon anyone “who is, or ever has been, a member of” an Islamic organisation will be viewed with suspicion and fear. Such prejudice will be given a boost if it turns out that Bin Laden or some other extremist Islamic terrorist group was responsible for the attacks in the USA. Somehow that is seen as “understandable”. But why is it anymore understandable than writing off all whites or Christians as potential terrorists after the Oklahoma bombing?

The US and NATO have declared the attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon as acts of war. The response, in their view, should be retaliation, not bringing the perpetrators to justice. But will bombings or invasions of Afghanistan or Iraq or Sudan or wherever really diminish the potentials of further acts of terrorism against the US and its allies? Will “taking out” what the US believes to be “rogue states” really diminish the risks? Or will they only fuel the already burning fires. Can terrorism be countered by state-sponsored terror without leading to a vicious spiral?

Outside of the US, few are really surprised that the US has become the target of terrorist attacks. For many, the real rogue state is the US. American foreign policy, its collusion with and financing despotic and totalitarian regimes and dictators, its disregard for international treaties, and, through the international financial and trade institutions, its profiteering at the expense of the poor – these are really the real causes of the latest round of attacks on the US. If America is serious about declaring war that will minimise the threat of further terrorism, then it is against these causes that it must act. There are severe consequences of US retaliation that could lead to general destabilisation, especially in the Middle East, with implications for north Africa and the horn of Africa. The impending global recession could have serious implications for developing economies; and further degeneration of international relations. This could be an opportunity for the west to begin to attend to the causes of such acts, but are they likely to take it up?

The last decade has seen the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. While the average income of the top 20% of the world's population was 30 times that of the bottom 20% in 1960, by 1990 it was 60 times, and by 1997, 74 times that of the lowest fifth. By the late 1990s, 20% of the world’s population had 86% of the world GDP, while the bottom 20% had 1% “The assets of the top 3 billionaires are more than the combined GNP of all least developed countries and their 600 million people.” Nearly one quarter of the world's people have an income that is less than $1 a day - a proportion that is rising. The UN Development Programme calculates each year the human poverty index based on a series of measures including the prevalence of illiteracy, life expectancy, degree of malnourishment, and access to health services and safe water. In 1996 over a billion people fell below this measure, the position worsening in 30 countries - the worst figures since UNDP began calculating the index in 1990. Unless concerted action is taken against the growing impoverishment of the majority, then desperation and frustration will inevitably result in violent reactions such as US has witnessed these last couple of days.

Terrorism in all its forms must be opposed. But that applies as much to state-sponsored terrorism as it does to terrorism of armed groups. Last week saw the conclusion of the World Conference Against Racism that spawned its own set of contradictions. Why, for example, should the genocidal terror carried out by Europe during the Slave Trade during which tens of millions of African were uprooted or killed be viewed as acceptable just because the perpetrators declare that the act was “legal” at the time? The whole Colonial ravage of Africa was little other than legitimised terrorism. Why was it so difficult at the World Conference on Racism to declare outrage and condemnation of these vast acts of terrorism in Africa, but so easy to find our humanity when the act is carried out in New York and Washington?

Does terrorism have the effect of revealing not only the barbarism of the perpetrators but also of our own value systems?

US rallies the west for attack on Afghanistan

U.S. Bent on Revenge for Terror Attacks

Reaction from Africa: AllAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/specials/wtc/index.html
Africa's sorrow over US terror attacks

Christians and Muslims Clash in Nigeria
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,551103,00.html
Jubilation in Nigeria on US
http://allafrica.com/stories/200109120127.html
They can't see why they are hated
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,551036,00.html
The best defence is justice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/wtccrash/story/0,1300,550464,00.html
OneWorld Special reports: after the US terror
http://www.oneworld.net/specialreports/terrorism/front.shtml

At least 50 people have been killed and several thousands forced from their homes in three days of clashes between Hausa-Fulani Muslims and indigenous Christians in Jos, central Nigeria, residents said on Monday.

The loss of three straight by-elections by President Frederick Chiluba’s Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) should be cause for concern for the ruling party in the run-up to general elections possibly later this year, political analysts told IRIN this week.

Both government and rebel forces in Sudan are continuing to use antipersonnel mines despite claiming to adhere to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines (ICBL) said on Wednesday.

Some 15 people have been killed after Karamojong pastoralists attacked a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Katakwi District, Ugandan radio reported on Friday.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has warned three of his political rivals to abandon their plans to make war against Uganda.

According to a global report released Wednesday by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), there is “a strong possibility of use of anti-personnel mines in the DRC in June 2000” by Uganda, which is a party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty that outlaws any use, production, transfer or stockpiling of anti-personnel mines.

National reconciliation in Angola should not just involve the MPLA government and the UNITA rebel movement, the war-torn country’s traditional authorities said in Luanda on Thursday.

European countries are stipulating their support for punishing those responsible for the Tuesday terrorist attacks in New York and Washington upon respect for international law and human rights.

With the Arab-American Institute in the US recording over 300 voice messages of verbal abuse or taunting, Arab and North African students are being urged to stay home and stay safe.

Amnesty International today reiterated its deepest sympathy for the victims of the heinous attacks in the USA and called upon the leaders of governments and community groups around the world to ensure respect for human rights in their wake.

The United States never was very good at listening to Muslim voices. After Tuesday's savage and unjustifiable slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians in New York and Washington, it may give up trying altogether.

Biologist Dr Michael Fay of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society(WCS) has made an impassioned appeal to save the Langoue Forest, a pristine area of more than 600,000 acres within the Congo jungle in Gabon, Business Wire reported on Tuesday.

"This is a book about evil." With these words, Berkeley launches into a gripping exploration of some of the worst African atrocities of the past 20 years, which he has covered as a journalist for the Atlantic Monthly and other publications. Berkeley argues that the violence that has permeated these societies is born of the same evil that motivated Hitler to kill six million Jews: racially and ethnically based tyranny, which, he says, is the result of Western colonization, not "age-old" hatreds. Basic Books ISBN: 0465006418, 2001.

We wish to apologise to subscribers for not having sent the newsletter out last week. A dispute occurred over an editorial prepared by Firoze Manji of Fahamu on his analysis of the terrorist attacks on the US last week. Although it was initially proposed by all parties that the editorial be published in Firoze's name, Kabissa felt it was not appropriate to issue the Newsletter with that editorial. Instead the delayed Newsletter is being published this week with this explanatory editorial. The disputed editorial is published here as a letter to the editor (see below).

The dispute has highlighted the ambiguity around the title of this section as an Editorial implying a corporate position from the three institutions. In future, we propose that this section be called more precisely Opinion to reflect our intent to stimulate discussion and debate over critical events that concern Africa. Discussions are currently underway between the three parties to set mutually acceptable procedures for the production of the Newsletter.

Signed:Tobias Eigen, Kabissa; Firoze Manji, Fahamu; Alan Finlay, SANGONeT

The start of criminal proceedings against two Zambian journalists and two political figures on charges of defaming President Frederick Chiluba has triggered off a heated debate on the role of the media in societies undergoing transition.

Greetings to you, I real like to thank you for the interesting newsletter that you are sending to me. I find it very informative and more so out of this world. Please keep up the good work of enlightening the civil society of Africa and the rest of the world on issues of concern. I real appreciate your vision and insight to make the world a tiny web(globalisation).

Three journalists were arrested by police in the Mara region while following up on ethnic clashes in the Tarime district. The arrested journalists are Dismas Ayuke of the daily Kiswahili private paper "Majira", Erick Nampesya of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and Richard Mgamba of the Nairobi-based English weekly private paper "The East African".

Pebble Bed Molecular Reactors (PBMR) are nuclear power stations which embrace technology that has proved dangerous in other regions on the planet. Despite this, the South African government is supporting a plan to build PBMR reactors throughout the country. campaign against this plan is detailed on their website.