Pambazuka News 566: Nigeria's smouldering rage and a new Libya threat
Pambazuka News 566: Nigeria's smouldering rage and a new Libya threat
Some 17 erstwhile public firms that were privatised under a plan initiated in 1993 in a bid to revamp production have so far been shut down after failing to deliver, a report released recently by a technical committee has revealed. The government had at that time decided to sell the wobbling public companies to private investors who, it was presumed, could revive them following the State’s lack of capacity to run them. According to the report which has been submitted to the Parliamentary Public Organisations Accounts Committee (POAC), 17 firms out of 74 which were privatised have since stopped operations altogether.
Former president Thabo Mbeki has said he was sceptical about Twitter being a great conveyor of reliable knowledge. 'If you want to discuss knowledge which has got to do with the betterment of society I don't think it is appropriate ... Even the internet in general, blogging and so on, is not the place where you can … put all these things under theories.' In his speech Mbeki questioned whether knowledge had become 'less democratised and more compromised' as an instrument for the improvement of society. He said traditional media institutions were unable to control which political rhetoric 'caught fire' with the public.
Africa saw good economic results in 2011 with average growth of between 5.5 per cent and 6 per cent, African Union (AU) commission chairperson Jean Ping said on a visit to Libya. 'Africa progressed on average between five and a half and 6 per cent. We are nearly at 6 per cent, and seven countries are between seven and 11 per cent,' he said on his first trip to Tripoli since Muammar Gaddafi's fall.
The Auditor-General’s audited results of government and provincial departments and public entities have painted a picture of huge amounts of public funds being misused by departments and public entities. More than R20 billion spent by national and provincial departments has been found to have been unauthorised, irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure.
Masses of Angolan nationals that daily trek to Namibia for health and education services want their government to construct hospitals and schools in Angola to reduce their reliance on Namibian schools and hospitals. During a meeting recently by two Angolan governors, Eusebio de Brito Teixera, of Kuando Kubango and Antonio Didalelwa of Cunene Province and Ohangwena Governor Usko Nghaamwa at Olupale village of Kuando Kubango Province in Angola, Angolan citizens said it was time that their government constructed schools and hospitals for them.
Long-serving Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is keeping his country and the world guessing about whether he will bid for re-election in 2012 in Africa's No. 2 oil producer. Speculation over Dos Santos' intentions - under the country's new 2010 constitution he could remain in power until 2022 - has reached fever pitch among analysts, investors and oil companies watching one of Africa's fastest-growing economies.
Lecturers in Malawi have resolved to return to work to end nearly a year of academic freedom protests during a long-running impasse with the government. But with tensions and mistrust persisting, lecturers have been firm about setting out the conditions under which they will resume classes. In an exclusive interview with University World News, the spokesperson of the Chancellor College Academic Staff Union, Jessie Kabwila, 'We are in talks with lawyers of opponents of academic freedom. They are still trying to intimidate and silence us but we are reminding them every day that this is a principle [and that] we have no problem reverting to the academic freedom impasse mode at any time and for longer than 260 days.'
A security guard employed at the late General Solomon Mujuru’s farm, Clemence Runhare, stunned a court when he said he heard what sounded like gunfire two hours before he was alerted to a fire that killed the former army commander in August last year. Runhare was testifying at the Harare Magistrates’ Court on the first day of the inquest into the death of Zimbabwe’s most decorated commander. He also told the inquest, presided over by regional magistrate Walter Chikwanha, Gen Mujuru was in the company of an unidentified male passenger when he arrived at his Alamein Farm in Beatrice around 8pm on 15 August. No other human remains were found at the house when Gen Mujuru’s remains were retrieved.
Families resettled by Brazilian mining giant Vale in the Tete region of Mozambique have protested that the company had failed to keep promises it made to them in 2009. About 700 families, resettled approximately 60 kilometres away from the Moatize coal mining site, demonstrated against the lack of access to water, electricity and agricultural land at their resettlement Cateme area.
If the ICC process is to contribute to the deterrence of future political violence in Kenya, the court and its friends must explain its work and limitations better to the public, says a new report from the International Crisis Group. Furthermore, Kenya’s government must complement that ICC process with a national process aimed at countering impunity and punishing ethnic hate speech and violence.
On the anniversary of the revolution, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG), a coalition of 21 IFEX members, urges the Tunisian government to revoke its recent controversial appointments giving media personnel close to the deposed President key posts in the public service media. The IFEX-TMG also further reiterates its call for journalists to be allowed to freely carry out their work, after another journalist was attacked during a demonstration last week.
A partnership of humanitarian organizations working with community volunteers in South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has helped demobilize thousands of children formerly associated with armed groups in the province, says the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). At least 33,000 children have been demobilized across the country with UNICEF's assistance since 2004, according to Alessandra Dentice, UNICEF's chief of child protection in the DRC.
Involving men is increasingly being promoted as a key element in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and while its benefits are well-documented - in one Kenyan study it reduced the risks of vertical transmission and infant mortality by more than 40 percent compared with no involvement - it can occasionally lead to domestic discord and even violence.
Last year, a fly over of Hwange National Park (HNP) revealed increased mining activity in and around the Sinamatella area, reports 'In addition to the mining carried out by Hwange Colliery Company Limited there are now at least 3 other coal mining developments, two adjoining HNP and one actually within the Park...This mining activity is of grave concern. The associated building of roads and increased human activity is bound to lead to an increase in poaching as the area is opened up, access becomes easier, and there are more people in the area to carry out the poaching and to buy the poached meat.'
The Global Information Society Watch 2011 report investigates how governments and internet and mobile phone companies are trying to restrict freedom online - and how citizens are responding to this using the very same technologies. 'Written by internationally-renowned experts, the report brings its readers easy-to-read and yet comprehensive articles, many with policy proposals, on the most important challenges protecting human rights on the internet is facing today,' says lawyer Matthias C. Kettemann, co-chair of the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition.
Digital migration offers many benefits. However, it should be understood that these benefits will not be uniformly distributed without government intervention and civil society participation in the process. 'The challenges of the digital transition are both cultural and social,' said one stakeholder. 'Consideration should be given to the danger of privatisation and the audiovisual content of telecommunications on the national level, as this falls under national sovereignty. The digital dividends garnered by the digital transition are a common good, an important resource, the destination and use of which require vigilance.'
Reducing methane and black carbon emissions could quickly tackle climate change while improving food security and people's health, especially in developing countries, a study reports.Scientists identified 14 emission control measures that, when applied together, could reduce global warming by around 0.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, avoid up to 4.7 million premature deaths, and boost crop yields by up to 135 million metric tonnes by 2030.
An award for young women scientists in developing nations is helping to motivate female researchers and assist them in overcoming cultural barriers. The 2011 OWSD (Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World) Award for Young Women Scientists from the Developing World recognised biologists, physicists, chemists and mathematicians from Argentina, Bangladesh, Cuba, Egypt, India, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa; mathematicians and physicists from India and Mexico; and chemists from Egypt and Nigeria.
Stefan Magdalinski, the CEO of Mocality, in an update on his blog, has indicated that the company is currently not considering filing formal charges against Google. Mocality, a Kenyan Business Listing Directory, broke into international limelight after the company found that callers from Google were promising Mocality clients free websites through a non-existent partnership and without Mocality's knowledge. The data scraping allegations have embarrassed the search giant with senior executives in the company admitting wrong doing and publicly apologising to Mocality.
Often, victims of corruption find it difficult to step forward and report, particularly citizens in countries where infrastructure, public transport or uneasy internet access means they have to travel far from their home towns to make a report. Transparency International’s Legal Advice Centres are trying to bridge this gap by creating district and mobile centres to support citizens in rural areas and remote regions to make people aware of their rights and step forward to complain about corruption. District centres offer citizens a more accessible and confidential access to support, legal advice and follow-up on the corruption issues that affect their communities, with a supportive staff and in a trustworthy environment.
In this article from the online journal The Chimurenga Chronic Parselelo Kantai looks at the rise of Somali diaspora capital in Nairobi. 'Somali money was supplanting more established ethnic capital; the Indian and Kikuyu, the two most visible mercantile communities, were being outmanoeuvred. As a result, street panic curdled into open xenophobia.'
Around 47 people have been killed in tribal violence in South Sudan, the latest in a cycle of attacks that have displaced some 60,000 people in the new African nation, officials said. A youth armed group from the Murle tribe attacked Duk Padyet in Jonglei state late on Monday, mostly killing young children, women and old people from the Lou Nuer tribe, said Philip Thon Leek Deng, a local leader and member of parliament.
The World Bank has warned the international community to brace for slow growth and economic challenges in 2012 stemming partly from Europe's debt woes. The bank substantially cut its forecasts for growth in both developed and poorer nations in its twice-yearly report.
Within the past two weeks, two independent and opposition newspapers, Alwan and Rai al-Shaab, have been closed by security forces without explanation. 'These latest two newspaper closures show the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has yet to overcome his chronically repressive instincts aimed at silencing the media,” Reporters Without Borders said.'
Grady Johnson, on the site, discusses the issue of whether mapping gender violence online raises the unintended risk of spreading it. 'Feminist campaigners and activists have raised the question of the possible conflicts between the "I don't forward violence" action and the push to map gender-based violence. Does it contradict each other? How can we report on violence without spreading it, and forcing victims to relive their experience?'
‘When a colonised state gains its independence, its troubles are not over. They are just beginning.’
This edition of African Agenda published by Third World Network-Africa in collaboration with Pambazuka News examines the Durban climate change conference in November.
The Mobile Media Toolkit, published by MobileActive, is a resource to help professional and citizen journalists, news outlets, and media development organisations find, evaluate, and deploy tools for reporting and sharing content on and to mobile devices. The web-based toolkit contains a set of five primary sections, supplemented by additional features and resources that offer users articles and examples specific to certain elements of mobile media production.
The crippling strike called by labour organisations may have ended, but Nigeria is not yet at ease. The arguments the government offered for removal of the fuel subsidy ring hollow and the people are not convinced.
Security forces in Kenya are on high alert ahead of a decision by the International Criminal Court on whether to try senior government officials for masterminding violence in 2007-8 which killed 1,200 people, the Daily Nation reports. The ICC’s verdict is likely to have a significant political impact in Kenya as both men plan to vie for the presidency in the next election, which could be as soon as August. The so-called Ocampo Six are accused of murder, forceful displacement of people, torture and rape. The ICC will deliver its ruling on 23 January.
A wind of disgruntlement is blowing across Nigeria. There are fears that, unless President Jonathan steadies the ship of state, divisions within the polity and the rising discontent could be hijacked by political opportunists to cause something more catastrophic.
The Aids and Rights Alliance of Southern Africa (Arasa) has organised a meeting for rights organisations to discuss human rights issues with a focus on LGBTI issues. It brings together human rights defenders from Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa.
What did the removal of the fuel subsidy mean for the LGBT community in Nigeria amongst other Nigerian citizens? The strike and protests had one positive effect for the LGBT community in that they brought mainstream civil society activists closer to LGBT activists, something that would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago when the anti-gay bill was brought to the Nigerian parliament and no voices from the wider civil society spoke out against it. Some local LGBT activists told Behind the Mask that they regard the current situation as an opportunity to buy time and make allies in their advocacy against the anti-gay bill.
Several years ago, Lakes Kamnarok and Ol Bollosat in Kenya were vibrant water bodies that supported and shaped the ecosystems around them. But today they are shells of their former selves, due to heavy siltation caused by human activities. 'Siltation is still happening, the lake is drying up and this is threatening Lake Kamnarok and the wildlife with extinction, besides affecting the lives of people around it,' Elijah Chemitei, senior warden in Baringo County, in the Rift Valley Province, told IPS. 'Much of it is caused by upstream activities like tree-felling and charcoal-burning, agricultural activities, grazing and sand collection.'
‘Against the background chatter about nationalisation and environmental sustainability, South Africa needs to carefully consider the continued development of its vast mineral resources.’
Over the last 20 years, there has been a radical shift in public perceptions of and political reactions to asylum seekers in democratic states across the world. As numbers of asylum seekers have risen, at times dramatically, governments of all political persuasions have implemented restrictionist policies designed to prevent and deter individuals from seeking asylum. This political and conceptual transformation has been particularly marked in the United Kingdom. This paper seeks to examine the development of this restrictionist trend by exploring the conceptual foundations of New Labour’s asylum policies.
This short report examines the practice in daaras (Koranic schools) of sending boys as young as five years old out to beg for several hours a day. Often living far from home and in squalid conditions, talibés are frequently subjected to abuse if they fail to meet their begging quotas. The report updates the information used in Begging for Change (Anti-Slavery International, 2009) and recommends action to bring an end to this situation in Senegal.
Parliament has directed the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) to halt a 47 per cent power price increase which was announced last week. Legislators on the parliamentary ad hoc committee on energy slapped a moratorium on the implementation of the new power tariffs after officials of ERA failed to produce minutes of the special board meeting, which sanctioned the new tariff regime.
A philosopher accused of inciting mass murder in Rwanda will remain in detention until a hearing that may put an end to his 19 years in Canada – or may keep him here for months. The order by the Immigration and Refugee Board keeping Léon Mugesera in custody cleared up a long weekend of confusion about the next steps in the long-running case.
The Association for Political Prisoners has demanded that Egypt’s incoming parliament push for the release of all 46 political prisoners still languishing in jail from the days of the ousted Mubarak regime. The first session of Egypt’s first post-Mubarak parliament is scheduled to convene on 23 January. Under the Mubarak regime, which was overthrown in the wake of last year’s Tahrir Square uprising, tens of thousands of Egyptians were detained for political reasons.
A community in Nairobi is fighting to reclaim a historic social hall for recreational and other activities. But government inattention, corruption and local politics have made the quest very difficult.
A new book documents the struggle for democracy in Swaziland in the past year, highlighting the historic 12 April protests in the absolute monarchy in southern Africa.
Eritrea has been cleared of allegations that it was arming Al Shabaab militants in Somalia late last year.
A preliminary report by the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) concludes that the allegations were untrue.
The trial of Egypt’s ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak got underway again on 18 January, a day after his defense team said there was 'no evidence' linking Mubarak to orders to shoot protesters during the 18 days of protests that led to his downfall. Farid al-Deeb, the lead lawyer for the 83-year-old former leader, praised Mubarak, and said the court could not convict the man activists and families of those killed in January and February last year say is responsible for their deaths.
Gado thinks recent protests in Nigeria prove that the president may have run out of luck.
The deaths of tens of thousands of people during the drought in east Africa could have been avoided if the international community, donor governments and humanitarian agencies had responded earlier and more swiftly to clear warning signs that a disaster was in the making, according to a new report.
A group of vendors in Malawi's capital Lilongwe on Tuesday 17 January went berserk and started stripping naked women wearing trousers and miniskirts claiming they had President Bingu wa Mutharika’s consent to do so. It is said that President Bingu wa Mutharika on 15 January raised concerns on the way women were dressing singling those wearing miniskirts and trousers.
The widespread use of ‘sub-Sahara Africa’ makes no sense and is undoubtedly a racist geopolitical signature.
This collection of essays take a broader perspective beyond oil to look at the impact of the sector and of Asian partners on the rest of Sudan’s economy, society and politics.
‘The doctor's finding is that the marks left on his body are consistent with an assault. Our next step will be to lodge a civil case against the Minister of Safety and Security.’
While the Kenyan political elite concentrate on shoring up their own personal fortunes, the masses of the Kenyan people are turned into 'destitutes'.
A Somali National Consultative Constitutional Conference took place in December 2011 and issued the Garowe Principles. The jury is out on whether the principles will have any impact on the Somali crisis.
The report argues that the recent crisis has been a catalyst for important policy reforms, but governments have yet to address its underlying causes. The international community is avoiding deeper structural reforms.
In what classifies as modern day slavery, Ethiopian women sent to work in the Middle East have few rights and are subject to widespread abuse.
The unions have been turned into a de facto branch of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party. Bribery, pursuit of personal interest, co-option, intimidation and manipulation have made the unions less effective in fighting for workers.
‘The important struggles of the community-based movements for a better life for everyone in South Africa, their sincerity and hospitality impressed us immensely.’
Osmond Ugwu and Raphael Elobuike are Nigerian labour activists and human rights defenders currently spending their second month in Enugu Federal Prison in South East Nigeria. They are being detained on charges of attempted murder of a policeman following their arrest at a workers rally on 24 October 2011 at Enugu.
The goal of this campaign is to reach 20,000 signatures and we need more support. You can read more and sign the petition .
There are fears that the US is in the process of sending thousands of troops to Libya, but there is a way that you can vote for peace.
Mike Sutcliffe has never been Mayor of Durban. Instead Mike Sutcliffe was Municipal Manager. Stay well.
The Editor replies: Thank-you for the correction. We apologise for this error, which was made in the editing process.
Amnesty International has called for the immediate release of four activists arrested over the distribution of T-shirts calling for an end to dictatorship in the Gambia. One activist, Dr Amadou Scattred Janneh, the country's former Minister for Information and Communication, was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour for treason. Modou Keita, Ebrima Jallow and Michael Uche Thomas were each sentenced to three years with hard labour for sedition.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the arrest of 25 journalists in Somaliland recently, accusing the authorities of waging a campaign of intimidation to silence independent reporting. Reports say that 21 journalists were detained over the weekend by security forces and held in Hargeisa, Borame and Las Anod police stations. They were released 16 January, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), an IFJ affiliate, but four who had been arrested earlier remain in custody.
The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) Committee is seeking organisation's activities for the next International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in 2012 and have issued a letter relating to the day which can be read through the link provided.
Aid agencies and donors are failing to take into account the relief and security needs of women displaced by disasters and conflicts, according to Elisabeth Rasmusson, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). For example, in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkwa province, cultural practices mean Pashtun women cannot be seen by men who are not family members. So when the worst floods in the country's history devastated their homes in July, they faced serious problems. Unless the aid agencies on the ground had female assessment teams and other staff in place, these women were 'invisible' and could not even visit the toilets during the day, Rasmusson told AlertNet in an interview.
In this study, researchers found that the annual costs of FGM-related obstetric complications in six African countries studied ranged from 0.1 to 1 per cent of government spending on health for women aged 15–45 years. In the current population of 2.8 million 15-year-old women in the six African countries, a loss of 130,000 life years is expected owing to FGM’s association with obstetric haemorrhage.
In the early hours of 5 January, a 21-year-old man from Guinea-Conraky, died in Barcelona's immigration detention centre after complaining of chest pains or (according to another report) breathing problems. The young man was the second person to die in a Spanish migrant detention centre in less than three weeks. On 19 December 2011, an unnamed woman, aged 41, believed to be from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, died of meningitis hours after her admission to hospital from the Aluche detention centre, in the suburbs of Madrid.
There are some unlikely comparisons between the work lives of Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit seller who sparked the Arab revolution, and Francis Tachirev, a fruit seller in Zimbabwe. Like Bouazizi did, Tichareva earns a modest living pushing his fruit cart along Harare’s central business district, selling his wares. And like Bouazizi too, Tichareva lives in fear of the local police.
For three decades Western governments and lending institutions bankrolled a corrupt regime in Egypt that trampled human rights and stifled democracy. Now they appear ready to do it again, say critics of the military council that has ruled since removing president Hosni Mubarak last February. 'Foreign aid should not be used to support a repressive regime,' says Amr Adly, political economist at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). 'It’s in nobody’s interest to throw Egypt’s economy into a deeper crisis, but international creditors have to be quite strict when it comes to transparency.'
A magistrate in Bulawayo ruled on Monday 16 January that activists Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu will have to defend themselves against kidnap and theft charges, even though the key witnesses denied the incident ever happened and contradicted police statements. Williams and Mahlangu, leaders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), were in the Bulawayo Magistrates Court for a ruling on their application to have the case dropped without having to present a defence.
Office of the Polisario National Secretariat expressed, in a communiqué issued Saturday, its strong condemnation 'of brutal repression perpetuated by the Moroccan occupation authorities against the defenseless Saharawi citizens, who are peacefully protesting the farce of taking civilians and human rights activists to military trail.' The Office called on the UN to immediately intervene to protect the Saharawi civilians, establish a UN-mechanism to protect human rights and report about it, reveal the fate of more than 651 Saharawi missing, end the Moroccan looting to the Saharawi natural resources and eradicate the military wall that divided Western Sahara Territories, land and people.
The ad-hoc committee investigating the petroleum subsidies saga continues to unravel one bombshell after the other. The lastest discovery is that Nigeria over-imported petrol on a daily basis to the tune of 24 million litres in 2011. The difference between fuel consumed and fuel imported is 24 million liters. Nigeria pays subsidy on this 24 million litres that is not even utilised by Nigerians.
Mali's army has said it fought off attacks by Tuareg rebels, some of whom recently returned from fighting in Libya and have launched an offensive to seize several northern towns. Fighting erupted in the towns of Aguelhok and Tessalit, keeping residents indoors as gunfire was exchanged, a day after the army said it had fought off an attack in the town of Menaka by bombing rebel positions.
Recently hundreds of dead fish floated to the surface of a stream which was the only water source for a rural community in Swaziland's drought-prone eastern region. A local sugar processing plant admitted to accidentally discharging toxic effluent into the stream, and brought in water tanks to supply the community until clean-up operations could be completed. Communities like this one were at the mercy of polluters until the Swaziland Environmental Authority (SEA) was established five years ago. An environmental watchdog group comprising 16 scientists from various fields, SEA is tasked with enforcing Swaziland's 2002 Environmental Management Act as well as various international environmental treaties to which Swaziland is a signatory.
Parts of Ethiopia are still reeling from the effects of recent drought, flooding, conflict or a combination of the three, resulting in increased numbers of children dropping out of school, say officials. At least 385,000 school-children need 'emergency education assistance this school year', Alexandra Westerbeek, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) communication manager in Ethiopia, told IRIN. 'In addition, 70,000 children among [the] refugee population also need emergency education assistance.'
Many of the tens of thousands of civilians who have fled their homes following a string of deadly attacks by 'terrorist group' Boko Haram in northern Nigeria over recent weeks have not yet been able to return home - or been offered any shelter by the authorities. Local government authorities are wary of setting up camps for the displaced, says the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), as these could turn into further Boko Haram targets.
A startling revelation made by a US newspaper indicates that former Liberian President Charles Taylor was aided by American intelligence agents to escape from a Boston prison where he was awaiting extradition back to his country. The Boston Globe newspaper this week carried the report which also indicated Taylor worked as a spy for the Americans for many years. He had fled Liberia where he was wanted for embezzling millions of dollars from the government and was awaiting extradition from the US when he escaped from the Massachusetts jail in 1985.
A coalition of Sierra Leone women groups plan to stage a march to push for better security in the country. The women singled out the government for failing in its responsibilities to maintain peace during political rallies. 'Our political leaders are a disgrace,' Yasmin Jusu-Sheriff, one of Sierra Leone's leading women activists, said.
President Jacob Zuma does not want the South African military to equip itself with an aircraft carrier -- despite reports suggesting otherwise. A newspaper report claimed that Zuma had personally authorised the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to acquire an aircraft carrier as part of a project codenamed 'Project Millennium'. It was alleged the programme was established to procure a warship that could operate 'more than a dozen helicopters' and 'vertical take-off jets'.
The sweep of arrests followed a protest by journalists after Somaliland police raided the offices of a private TV station on 14 January and forced all the workers to leave and suspended the station.
A rising proportion of abortions worldwide are putting women's health at risk, researchers say. The World Health Organization study suggests global abortion rates are steady, at 28 per 1,000 women a year. However, the proportion of the total carried out without trained clinical help rose from 44 per cent in 1995 to 49 per cent in 2008.
Rwanda has suspended and put under house arrest four of its top military officers, an army spokesperson says.They are being investigated over 'acts of indiscipline' concerning alleged business dealings in mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo. One of those arrested is the military intelligence chief, who has also advised President Paul Kagame on security issues.