Pambazuka News 524: Uprisings and the politics of humanitarian intervention
Pambazuka News 524: Uprisings and the politics of humanitarian intervention
A row has broken out about the infant mortality rate in Cape Town, following claims from the Democratic Alliance that they are responsible for a decrease. But critics from the Treatment Action Campaign and Social Justice Coalition have slammed the claims. 'The Democratic Alliance claims that it is responsible for a significant drop in infant deaths. It also makes much of the fact that the City of Cape Town has a much lower infant death rate than the rest of South Africa. This is both misleading and false,' say the blog Writing Rights. 'It is misleading because even under apartheid, the City of Cape Town had lower infant mortality than the homeland of KwaZulu and most other cities in the country. Historically health care is better in Johannesburg and Cape Town than elsewhere because of apartheid. It is false because any significant drop in infant mortality in Cape Town in the last decade, took place before the DA came to power.'
Two factors may shape the coming transition period in Sudan more than any other, says a new briefing from the International Crisis Group. '...first, the degree to which the South’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) allows an opening of political space in which a vibrant multi-party system can grow; secondly, the will to undertake democratic reform within the SPLM, as intra-party politics continue to dominate the political arena in the near term.'
Despite improvements in Southern Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2010 compared to 2009, job creation and poverty reduction remain limited. Charles Dan, a representative of the International Labour Organisation expressed this view at a meeting in Windhoek of Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) ministers responsible for labour. He said that GDP for Southern Africa as a whole has improved in 2010, up from negative one per cent in 2009 to 3.7 per cent in 2010. He said the real test of recovery should not be whether the economy in aggregate is back on track but whether there are concrete signs of improvement in the labour market.
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) has issued its third annual report on the state of human rights in the Arab world in 2010, with a special focus on 12 countries: Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Iraq, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Yemen. The report is entitled 'Roots of Unrest and reveals that one of the primary roots of unrest in the Arab world is a large-scale deterioration in the state of human rights, even in those countries that were, or still are, characterised by a level of ostensible political 'stability'.
Hendrik Hesselman is a small-scale farmer and picks the wild indigenous rooibos plant or cultivates it in small fields. They sell it overseas as a fair trade organic product. But as local and international markets for rooibos continue to grow, climate change is a growing threat. Mr. Hesselman explains: 'In 2003 the winter rains arrived three months late. After [the rain] in August that year did not provide enough rain to replenish the groundwater, drought set in and held this area in its grip for three years.'
Supporters of Laurent Gbagbo and presidential rival Alassane Ouattara are trading accusations over the reported deaths of hundreds of civilians in the western Ivoirian town of Duékoué. Residents of Duékoué said the killings on 30 March were a 'settling of scores' facilitated by the capture of the town by pro-Ouattara forces. Ouattara has denied his forces are responsible for the deaths of over 800 civilians, but the internationally recognised president is facing tough questions from human rights groups.
reports on media freedom in Botswana, which it says has been 'steadily eroded' over the last decade. 'The controversial Media Practitioners Act, passed in 2008, calls for all media practitioners to register with the press council, while simultaneously defining a media practitioner as anyone who transmits information. Civil society groups have filed a law suit against the state, but it has yet to have its day in court.'
High Court Judge Justice Nicholas Ndou on Thursday 31 March 2011 quashed Magistrate Gideon Ruwetsa’s ruling denying bail to Bulawayo resident Vikas Mavhudzi, who is charged with subverting a government by unconstitutional means. Ruwetsa had on Wednesday 16 March 2011 denied bail to the 39 year-old Magwegwe resident, who is facing charges of subverting a government by unconstitutional means over a comment he allegedly made on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s facebook page.
A majority of Kenyans want the six suspected sponsors of 2007/2008 post election violence to stand trial at the International Criminal Court, a new opinion poll shows. Of those polled, 61 per cent said they prefer the Ocampo Six (as the suspects are popularly known) to answer charges at The Hague-based court, the survey by research firm Synovate showed.
Despite Africa's intention to empower its continental and regional organisations, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States have failed to propose a determined solution for the post-electoral crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, writes Tiago Faia. Instead the prospect of a new civil war looms on the Ivoirian horizon.
In contrast to its North African neighbours, Algeria has yet to see sustained mass protests from a broad base of its population. Imad Mesdoua discusses why this is the case.
Though I rant and rave
And get these feelings
Of hurt and grief
Though I want to cry
But have to dry
These tears in me
She walked in breathing laboriously, holding a piece of soiled cloth to her body. She grunted as she struggled off her clothes plastered to her skin by sweat and blood. She was crying.
With the ‘Hague Six’ attempting to drum up domestic support to deflect the ICC (International Criminal Court) indictments over their role in Kenya’s 2007–08 post-election crisis, H. Nanjala Nyabola laments the willingness of the country’s ‘silent majority’ to simply ‘brush the nasty business of the post-election violence under the rug’.
Pro-democracy campaign groups are calling for an ‘April 12 Uprising’ in Swaziland. Peter Kenworthy assesses the potential impact of the campaign.
Imad Mesdoua dissects the politics of Western intervention in Libya. ‘In short, it is far too evident that Western powers are only ready to act decisively when it suits their interests,’ he writes.
Seeing the bombing of Libya only as an exercise in saving civilian lives barely scratches the surface, writes Mahmood Mamdani.
Jean-Paul Pougal
Proposing ‘grandiose solutions without first diagnosing the causes of what ails Africa and her people has never stopped the World Bank, corporations and the odd billionaire from prescribing the wrong medicine for the continent,’ writes Joan Baxter, as the Bank makes plans to ‘unlock’ the future of African agriculture.
As pro-democracy forces gear up of a protest on 12 April, this edited paper from the the Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC) shows how the Swazi economy has all but collapsed – with devastating consequences for the poor.
A haunting new anthology of life stories told by South African pavement dwellers is ‘both testimony and poetry’, writes Raj Patel, opening ‘the door to a world of compassion, of fellow-suffering, that holds you firm.’ There’s ‘too much at stake to shy from truth, and the writers here have the courage to face it directly, even if the results are brutal.’
Bernadette Lyodu looks at the relationship between forced migration and transitional justice, with reference to efforts to include refugees who fled the 2007 election violence in Kenya's transitional justice processes.
Full of ‘useful pieces of advice’, LeTava Mabilijengo’s book is a refreshing change from the usual portrayal of black women as ‘perpetual victims’, writes Norah Owaraga.
Nigeria may have foreclosed any plans to explore nuclear energy as an alternative source of electricity power generation. Minister of state for power, Nuhu Wya, who gave this hint in Lagos, said the country would explore other means of power generation in which it has comparative advantage. Following the earthquake in Japan, global concern has been raised about the dangers of nuclear plants, especially for developing countries like Nigeria.
An Egyptian panel formed to uncover illicit gains acquired during the rule of deposed President Hosni Mubarak, will question his younger son about corruption, the state news agency said on Tuesday. Gamal Mubarak held a leading post in Egypt's former ruling party. A widely-held belief that he was being groomed for the presidency helped galvanise opposition that toppled him.
By limiting access to internet, claiming to avoid obscenity and preserve gender and sexual norms, governments are actually preventing communities from exercising their rights and freedoms. The growing practice of regulation may have an impact in how people learn about sexuality and express it – especially the most affected by regulation, women and people of diverse sexualities. The Association for Progressive Communication's EroTICs project conducted research in five countries: Brazil, India, Lebanon, South Africa and the United States. The EroTICs issue paper contains executive summaries for each country.
Afrographique is a blog that aims to collect as much data as possible with the aim of presenting the information in an exciting and digestible format to all. It has graphics on foreign investment in Africa, Facebook users, African CO2 emissions and more.
'At times shocking, sometimes heart-warming', a new collection of stories compiled by author Sarah Forde, takes us into the worlds of nine teenage girls in Kenya's Kilifi district as they face the challenges of adolescence.
A search is under way for 150 migrants missing in the Mediterranean after their boat capsized in rough seas near the Italian isle of Lampedusa. Italian rescue vessels and a helicopter have saved 48 refugees from the boat, which had been carrying about 200.
'This edition of the journal is produced within the context of the 2015 deadline set by the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, which calls for gender parity within the media, as well as equal voice and fair treatment of women and men in editorial content.'
The rapid increase in attempts by foreign investors to acquire large tracts of land in Africa for
biofuel developments has generated substantial concern about their potential negative impact on
the communities living in the targeted areas. This paper from the Land Deal Politics Initiative in collaboration with The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) examines three case studies of proposed biofuel developments in Mozambique and Sierra Leone.
Developing countries must be given all the scientific, technical and legal help they need to counter the growing trade in fake medicines, says One estimate suggests that in some regions at least a third of the drugs supplied to patients are counterfeit. Detecting and identifying counterfeit drugs has become a major scientific and technical challenge for developing countries, and its urgency is becoming ever more widely recognised.
Seventy six countries around the world criminalize homosexuality, maintaining severe punishments for consensual sexual activity between adults of the same sex, says this abstract from the Journal for International Law. While political asylum may offer hope of refuge and protection, the asylum process has many problems, especially for those individuals applying for refugee status on the basis of sexual orientation.
South African families are in crisis according to a new report released by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). Titled ‘The First Steps to Healing the South African Family’, the report documents the extent of family breakdown in South Africa and the effect this is having on children and the youth. The research includes often under-acknowledged influences on children and young people that affect many issues in South Africa - from violent crime, through to entrenching a cycle of poverty, as well as the values and norms South Africans hold.
Speaker in the House of Assembly Prince Guduza says Swaziland and Lesotho signed the interim Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union under duress. He said both countries signed the agreement because they had certain export quotas to the EU. He noted that the EPA sowed a seed of confusion in the Southern Africa Development Community.
Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces should drop all charges against a blogger for his internet posts critical of the military, Human Rights Watch has said. A military tribunal is expected to deliver the verdict in the case against Maikel Nabil, who faces up to three years in prison on charges of 'insulting the military'. 'It's pretty stunning in Egypt's supposed new era of rights to see the military government prosecuting someone in a military court for writing about the military,' said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
About 34,000 southern Sudanese have fled their homes after tribal clashes over land, water and cattle in recent weeks, a humanitarian official said, adding to southern troubles before independence in July. The oil-rich south voted overwhelmingly to separate from the north in a January referendum, promised as part of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war in Sudan. At least two million died in the war, which destabilised much of the region.
The British Government’s efforts to cover up one of the darkest episodes in colonial history have been revealed by the discovery of a vast cache of documents relating to the bloody Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya. The papers, documenting efforts to put down insurgency, were spirited out of Kenya on the eve of independence and have been held in secret British government archives for half a century.
Malian men involved in same sex practices say blatant homophobia makes it difficult for them to live their lives freely and to express their sexual orientation. Although there is no law that specifically criminalises homosexuality in Mali, religion and ancestral traditions still play a huge role in the country’s society and same sex practices are highly condemned and seen as immoral by the vast majority of the population.
Another delay in court has infuriated gay rights groups in Shirley Phangisa’s rape case which has been pending for over two years now in Nelspruit’s Magistrate Court. Phangisa will only know on 6 April 2011 when the next court date will be, as the case was postponed on 1 April 2011 after the defence lawyer told the court that he had double booked himself and could not represent the accused.
Around 800 farmers protested Friday (1 April) against a government decision to seize land from a village in Gezira state, Sudan's agricultural heartland, without compensating the owners, witnesses said. After Friday prayers in the village of Fudasi, around 160 kilometres south of Khartoum, 800 demonstrators marched to the land that was appropriated by the government to build a university college.
After a month and a half of conflict in Libya, the situation of political prisoners and prisoners of war on both sides is uncertain, and their fundamental rights are at risk. More than 400 people in eastern Libya have gone missing since the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi began on 15 February, according to Human Rights Watch and the Libyan Red Crescent in Benghazi.
A new initiative was recently launched to promote government transparency and increase people's access to information in Ghana, Uganda and South Africa. The Access to Information in Africa: Transparency Models and Lessons Learned (ATI in Africa) project is coordinated by the World Resources Institute in partnership with the Centre for Democratic Development in Ghana, Greenwatch in Uganda and the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) in South Africa.
The main purpose of this United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) report is to highlight the impact and effectiveness of the participation of CSOs and NGOs in promoting development and governance in Africa. The report draws mainly from case studies in three African countries, namely, Mali, Senegal and Uganda.
Kaori Izumi is campaigning for the immediate closure of Tomari nuclear power plant in Hokkaido, amidst fears that it could become the next Fukushima Daiichi. An active fault line was found near the plant in 2009, which could cause a 7.5- magnitude earthquake.
Nascent only a decade ago in Africa, the ICT sector has been growing in recent years at an unparalleled pace. In some countries, various studies note, the 'information economy' is becoming one of the main drivers for economic growth more generally.
The office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said it may open investigations into the 'widespread and systematic' killings in Côte d’Ivoire, including the reported mass murder of civilians, saying it is gathering information on alleged crimes by all parties to the conflict. 'The OTP [office of the prosecutor] has been conducting a preliminary examination in Ivory Coast and the next step will be for the Prosecutor to use his independent...power to request authorization from the pre-trial chamber in order to initiate an investigation,' the ICC said in a statement.
The Industrial Relations Court in Blantyre has granted an injunction restraining the University Council, the regulatory authority of the University of Malawi, from 'completely shutting down' two constituent colleges of the University of Malawi. The Council ordered that the Blantyre-based Polytechnic and Zomba-based Chancellor College be sealed to prevent all academic and general staff from accessing their offices following the now seven-week-old stand-off between lecturers and Inspector General of Police Peter Mukhito. But the lecturers appeared before the Industrial Relations Court arguing that the Council's order was illegal.
With about 30 million Africans living outside their home countries, migration is a vital lifeline for the continent. Yet African governments need to do more to realise the full economic benefits of the phenomenon, says a new report by the African Development Bank and the World Bank. The report, 'Leveraging Migration for Africa: Remittances, Skills, and Investments', presents data from new surveys. The report finds evidence that suggest migration and remittances reduce poverty in the origin communities.
A landmark lawsuit filed on 29 March in US federal court seeks to invalidate Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seeds and to prohibit the company from suing those whose crops become genetically contaminated. The Public Patent Foundation filed suit on behalf of 270,000 people from 60 organic and sustainable businesses and trade associations, including thousands of certified-organic farmers, arguing the invalidity of any patent that poisons people and the environment, and that is not useful to society, two hallmarks of US patent law.
Following years of criticism from environmentalists and some governments the World Bank has proposed new rules regarding carbon-intensive coal plants, reports the Guardian. The new rules would allow lending for coal-fired plants only to the world's poorest nations and would only lend after other alternatives, such as renewable energy, had been ruled out.
It's time to put the destiny of Somalia back in the hands of the Somali people, writes Afyare Abdi Elmi.
The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) and Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) have condemned US Representative Chris Smith’s recent trip to Kenya, where he attacked the country’s new constitution and opened a new front in the international offensive of his war on women. Smith spoke under the guise of human rights at the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum. He condemned the new Kenyan constitution’s decriminalisation of abortion in emergency situations or to protect the life or health of the pregnant woman, telling audience members that 'we need a world that is free of abortion'.
On Friday 25 March, several Kenyan bloggers held a meeting in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, under the newly formed BAKE (Bloggers Association KEnya). The meeting was the 4th in an initiative by some of Kenyas veteran bloggers. Part of the background, reports Global Voices, is tension between the blogger community and the mainstream media, who bloggers feel have a lack of appreciation for blogging as a tool for the generation and delivery of news and information.
Sudan has accused Israel of carrying out an air strike that killed two people in a car near the city of Port Sudan on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Ali Ahmad Karti said one man was Sudanese, but the identity of the other passenger was unknown. There has been no comment from Israel. But correspondents say Israel believes weapons are being smuggled through the region to Gaza.
The Zambian government has dropped charges against two Chinese managers accused of attempted murder after firing on miners during a pay dispute. Xiao Li Shan and Wu Jiu Hua said the workers' behaviour, at the Collum coal mine in October, had been threatening. The shooting left at least 11 injured. China has invested more than $400m in the copper-rich country.
Many State parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) assert that they cannot fully implement the Convention because it is in conflict with Shari‘ah, or family laws and practices based on the Qur’an. This research project on CEDAW examined the reports of 44 Muslim majority and significant minority countries (2005-2010) that justify not implementing portions of the treaty based on these perceived conflicts.
Tunisian private clinics relied heavily on patients from Libya in recent years, but the ongoing Libya turmoil makes doctors and nurses wonder whether they will have a job. Libyans made up nearly 80 per cent of patients at Tunisian clinics before the recent tumult. Other foreign patients represented fewer than 1 per cent of admittances. Three clinics in the south were already forced to close.
Will the protests across Africa result in real social and political reform, or just a changing of the guard, asks Sokari Ekine.
A new book on the Niger Delta is 'an invaluable resource for understanding the complex and interrelated dynamics of violence, exploitation, resistance and social change' in the region.
Levi Kabwato interviews Professor Lloyd Sachikonye, the author of a recently launched book, ‘When A State Turns on its People: Violence in Zimbabwe’.
The human rights organisation Front Line launched its second Annual Report on Human Rights Defenders which highlights global trends and developments in the situation of human rights defenders in 2010 and analyses the situation in each region of the world. The report highlights the fact that despite some positive developments and the wave of uprisings sweeping across the Middle East at year end, overall 2010 was not a good year for human rights defenders who continued to face harassment and repression in many countries.
With the rise of the iPad, Kindle, and similar eReaders and touchscreen devices, tablet-shaped form factor computing power has become much more portable and yet sizable. This holds great promise for educators on par with the introduction of slates, which swept across classrooms at the turn of the century before last. Visit the Educational Technology Debate website for more information.
The state-controlled trade union federation that for over half a century was employed by Egyptian rulers to suppress workers' protests and mobilise voters for sham elections appears to be crumbling with the recent ouster of president Hosni Mubarak. 'There is a movement against state control of unions,' says Mohamed Trabelsi, a regional specialist on union activities at the International Labour Organisation (ILO). 'You now have many strikes and labour protests in Egypt, and workers in many sectors have started to organise and form free and independent unions.'
ARTICLE 19 has released its analysis of the Draft Law Relating to the Protection of Whistleblowers of Rwanda. The analysis highlights the weaknesses of the Draft Law and calls for its revision in the light of international standards. ARTICLE 19 says the protections offered to whistleblowers against retribution by their bosses are not wholly convincing, and the range of subjects on which a disclosure may be made is limited.
Manning Marable, African American activist, scholar and author, passed away on April 1. Horace Campbell pays tribute to a man who dedicated his life to the struggle against oppression.
‘The fog of war clouds everything for the moment; it's impossible to tell who is responsible for what -- and against whom. But it's important to look at all sides of the fighting, because when the dust settles, Cote d'Ivoire is going to be torn apart.’
The current financial crisis is likely to affect women particularly severely. In many developing countries where women work in export-led factories, or in countries where migrant women workers are the backbone of service industries, women’s jobs have taken the greatest hit. The International Labour Organisation estimates that the economic downturn could lead to 22 million more unemployed women in 2009, jeopardising the gains made in the last few decades in women’s empowerment. In many countries, however, the impact goes far beyond the loss of formal jobs, as the majority of women tend to work in the informal sector.
While the World Bank is developing a new social protection and labour strategy, its general approach to health and continuing push for privatisation of public services have come under fire again. Ghana’s national health insurance scheme, presented by the Bank as a success model for developing countries is 'unfair, inefficient and un-transparent', according to a report published in March by Ghanaian NGOs ISODEC, Alliances for Reproductive Health, and Essential Services Platform, with support from Oxfam International. It revealed that Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) - which has received technical assistance from the Bank - could be benefitting only 18 per cent of the country’s total population, despite the fact that every Ghanaian citizen pays for it through value-added tax (VAT).
Civil society organisations want to see government taking a firmer stand to stop antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) from being smuggled onto the black market. Government needs to take the theft of anti-retroviral drugs or ARVs seriously as people’s lives are at risk. This is according to the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the National Association of People Living with AIDS (NAPWA). Many HIV-positive people are now afraid to go fetch their treatment from public health facilities for fear of being victims of people stealing their medicine.
Nigerian authorities have arrested scores of opposition members in the southeastern state of Akwa Ibom in a campaign of intimidation ahead of elections, opposition lawyers and rights activists said on Thursday (7 April). More than 40 supporters of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), including governorship candidate James Akpanudoedehe, have been arrested.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned in the strongest terms possible the arrest and continued detention without charge of the director of Shabelle Media Network, Abdirashid Omar Qase and the station's news editor, Abdi Mohammed Ismail who were taken into custody by members of the National Security Agency of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The journalists were arrested on Sunday, 27 March 2011, in relation to a story that was aired concerning the failure of the President, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, to tour areas captured from the extremists group, Al-Shabaab.
The Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) at the American University in Cairo (AUC) is offering the following three short courses during the month of June 2011:
1. Introduction to Refugee Law (June 5-9, 2011):
2. Meeting the Psychosocial Needs of Refugees (June 12-16, 2011):
3. Understanding Irregular Migration (June 19-23, 2011)
Facebook campaign ‘April 12 Swazi Uprising’ has received disproportionate international media coverage for an event that hasn’t happened, writes Peter Kenworthy. But how does it tie in with democratic movements on the ground?
The GAVI Alliance has already established a panel of potential Independent Review Committee (IRC) members to support their innovative grant proposal process, and progress monitoring and evaluation system. GAVI is keen that this panel should grow and more closely reflect the demographic profile of its low and middle income partner countries. Applications to join the IRC panel are therefore invited from suitably post graduate qualified and experienced health and public health experts with a range of backgrounds. Below are English and French versions of the advert, together with links to .PDF files of the adverts.
‘While I’m finishing this article, the United Nations and France are announcing negotiations with Gbagbo in the quest to make him recognise Outtara’s victory and hand over power to Côte d’Ivoire new leader. But I still see Simone and Laurent in their wedding clothes, united by an insane destiny, with a bible in their hands.’
Sentenced to six months in prison after falling foul of Gambia’s Jammeh government, democracy and human rights activist Edwin Nebolisa talks to Pan-African Visions’ Ajong Mbapndah about his ordeal.
Renowned African American historian Manning Marable passed away on April 1 at the age of 60, days before the publication of his new biography of Malcolm X. Sociologist Michael Dyson and Bill Fletcher Jr, founder of the Black Radical Congress, discuss Marable’s legacy with Democracy Now! Watch .
On Friday 8 April the Unemployed People’s Movement & the Women’s Social Forum will be marching for toilets, electricity and housing, in Grahamstown, South Africa. 'Toilets are an important issue for the safety and dignity of our people. It is an absolute disgrace that all these years after democracy so many of our people have inadequate toilets or no toilets at all.'