Pambazuka News 524: Uprisings and the politics of humanitarian intervention
Pambazuka News 524: Uprisings and the politics of humanitarian intervention
The question no-one wants to answer!
...with a message for Gaddafi.
Climate change negotiations have not delivered what is needed to stop climate change. Following on from the outcomes of the past two years, the Durban hosted COP17 could be a defining moment for climate activists. At a January meeting of South African environmental, social, trade union, faith community and climate justice organisations, the Civil Society Committee for COP17 (C17) was mandated to facilitate civil society engagement in COP17. The C17 will work towards coordinating joint actions at and in the lead-up to COP17.
In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...
In the shadow of the extraordinary events under way in the Middle East, Djibouti's presidential vote was always going to struggle for attention. Indeed, the plight of this tiny country, sandwiched between Somalia and Yemen, remains almost completely ignored. But as the primary seaport to 85 million landlocked Ethiopians, the center of anti-piracy efforts in the Horn of Africa, and a reliable Western ally in the war on terror, Djibouti is a strategically vital country in an unstable neighbourhood.
University of Namibia students are participating in a range of activities to create awareness on the need to stamp out gender-based violence after research showed that the problem - which has become an acknowledged social challenge in the country - exists at their institution. Lucy Edwards, one of two UNAM lecturers who led the research, said that gender-based violence had lately been rearing its ugly head in various forms at the university and that both male and female students were taking a stand against it. The research conducted by Edwards and her colleague is collaboration between five universities in Southern Africa and the African Gender Institute.
Anger at Egypt’s privatisation programme, involving the transfer of billions of dollars worth of public assets to private hands, aided the Egyptian revolution that elbowed the Western-backed Hosni Mubarak out of office in February, a top army general said. Prodded by the Washington-based trio – the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Bank, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) – Egypt under Mubarak adopted an aggressive programme to sell public companies to both local and foreign investors since the early 1990s.
Martha Karua fears nothing and no one, but when her adversaries look back at her long track record in politics, they must get nervous. This previously staunch supporter of Mwai Kibaki resigned as justice minister in 2009, and will challenge all comers for the presidency at the head of her own party next year. The veteran politician has been around since the heyday of Daniel Arap Moi, who ruled Kenya from 1978 until 2002. Karua helped form the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) that won the 2003 general election, and ended nearly four decades of rule by KANU. When she entered parliament, there were six female MPs. Now there are 22 out of a total of 222.
Good practices and lessons learned on integrating gender into security sector institutions (SSIs) and security sector reform (SSR) processes in West Africa were the topics of a three-day working level regional conference organised by the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) in partnership with the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (ECOWAS GDC), the Mano River Women's Peace Network (MARWOPNET) and the Alliance for Migration, Leadership and Development (AMLD). The conference took place in Saly, Senegal, from 22 to 24 June 2010 and a report from the meeting is now available.
Across Zimbabwe, economic and political crisis has forced students to do without books, classroom furniture, teachers - the basics of a conducive learning environment. These learners cannot go to libraries, so the libraries have gone to them. In recent years, Zimbabwe’s rural schools have become notorious for their under-funding and dilapidation. For two decades, mobile libraries have formed a crucial part of encouraging a reading culture and promoting literacy in hard-to-reach places. The donkey-drawn libraries have helped spur Zimbabwe’s literacy levels according to Sylvester Nkomo, a headmaster stationed in Inyati, about 60 kilometers north-west of Bulawayo.
What’s green, controversial, 15km wide, 7,775km long, cuts across 11 African countries and is designed to reduce livestock deaths and boost food security for millions of people? Nothing yet, but the Great Green Wall project, a pipe-dream for decades, was recently endorsed by a swathe of African states stretching from Senegal to Djibouti. The project has faced opposition, despite its stated commitment to combating drought and desertification, which have exacted a heavy toll on the region as a whole. Wally Menne, a member of Timberwatch, the African NGO focal point for the Global Forest Coalition, told IRIN the organisation was sceptical. 'In our view it seems poorly conceived in terms of both ecological and socio-economic considerations. Its chances of being a success could be limited, and it may even cause more harm to the environment,' he said.
The current food shortage in Kenya might soon be declared a national disaster, but one refugee does not take hunger lying down. With eight children and a ninth one soon, Ms Husna Mohammed, 30, is taking charge of her plates of food at Dagahaley in Dadaab Refugee Camp in North Eastern Province. She keeps a vegetable garden outside her tent to supplement her food ration. Refugees at this camp receive food rations every two weeks. The amount given depends on the family size.
The course objective is to improve the capacity to inform and influence national and regional policies to improve pastoral livelihoods in East Africa, particularly on issues of access to and control over natural resources, livestock health and trade and regional and global integration.
Who should attend: Leaders of pastoral civil society groups, policy makers, including government and donors at local, regional and national levels, project staff, researchers, MPs and other key actors from the public and private sectors.
For more information on the course and fees, please contact the Course Administrator at
MS-Training Centre for Dev. Cooperation
P.O.Box 254, Arusha Tanzania
[email][email protected]
This practically-focussed course, consisting of six two-hour seminars on consecutive Monday evenings (and an additional study seminar), places international human rights law as it affects children in perspective.
The popular uprisings in the middle east and north Africa have invigorated arguments about the power of new information and communication technologies (ICT), says Armine Ishkanian on 'The new tools and technologies certainly provide unprecedented means of connecting and coordinating. But there should be caution about reproducing technologically determinist and normative arguments which are often unsupported by strong empirical evidence or rigorous research,' Ishkanian cautions.
Ivoirians who have fled across the border to Liberia have reported incidents of rape, sexual abuse and murder to NGOs and human rights groups working in Grand Geddeh and Nimba counties. Children in villages in Liberia’s Nimba County have told field workers at NGO Equip that they were forced to watch as their mothers were raped and then killed. In several cases, the children themselves were then sexually assaulted.
As thousands of people flock to the north of Tanzania in search of a popular herbal 'miracle' cure, authorities are urging HIV-positive people to continue taking their antiretroviral medication. A herbal concoction made by Ambilikile Mwasapile, a former Lutheran pastor, has drawn thousands to his home in the village of Loliondo in northern Tanzania's Ngorongoro district; believers claim it can cure several diseases including diabetes, tuberculosis and HIV. Patients pay 500 Tanzanian shillings - about US$0.33 - for one cup.
The East African region is experiencing a severe drought that has left an estimated 2.4 million Kenyans food-insecure; acute malnutrition rates of more than 25 percent have been recorded in the arid north-east of the country. According to government statistics, food prices have gone up by about 15 per cent over the past year. In Kenya's arid eastern and northern regions, health workers are noticing a higher number of malnourished HIV-positive people visiting health centres.
Humanitarians do not yet make the most of new technology and virtual teams to expedite emergency response, and deal with 'exponential' information flow, says a new report. 'The humanitarian community, though relying on scarce resources in response, is still performing [basic] tasks that computers can handle,' John Crowley, from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and the lead author of 'Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies', told IRIN.
The Muslim Marriages Bill, which seeks to regularise and regulate Muslim marriages, has been characterised by extensive consensus building, negotiation and compromise between academics, activists, religious bodies, civil society organisations and women's groups, writes Shuaib Manjra, a doctor in Cape Town and a commentator on Islamic affairs. 'The Bill is not perfect, but there are insufficient grounds to reject it entirely. Compromises are necessary to achieve the ultimate object - the protection of Muslim women in marital relationships. All that is required now is the courage of legislators and the mobilisation of those who support the Bill.'
Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has accepted a 'road map' for a ceasefire with rebels, according to a delegation of African leaders. The announcement followed a meeting between the leaders and Gaddafi on Sunday in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, just hours after NATO air raids targeted his tanks, helping the rebels push back government forces who had been advancing quickly towards their eastern stronghold. The African Union (AU) delegation was due to meet the rebels on Monday. The terms of the road map were unclear, including the matter of whether it would require Gaddafi to pull his troops out of cities as demanded by the rebels.
United Nations and French helicopters have fired rockets on the residence of Laurent Gbagbo, Cote d'Ivoire's incumbent president, in Abidjan. Sunday's violence comes after forces loyal to Gbagbo fired on Alassane Outtara, the president-elect's hotel headquarters, on Saturday. Gbagbo, who has ruled Cote d'Ivoire since 2000, is defended by about 1,000 men, while the UN peacekeeping mission has about 12,000 troops.
Nigeria's ruling party looks set to see its grip on parliament weakened after results emerging from the first of three crucial elections this month showed it losing key parliament seats. Results by voting district began trickling through on Sunday, though some areas of the country's north voted late into the morning because of high turnout, residents said, possibly delaying announcements there. Early indications showed opposition parties making gains at the expense of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).
The president of Djibouti has secured a third term in office after a landslide election victory, despite recent protests against his rule. Ismail Omar Guelleh has won 80 per cent of the votes cast, according to the country's electoral commission. The opposition had urged a boycott of polls, alleging irregularities. However turn-out was reported to be high, with almost 70 per cent of the 150,000 people registered casting their vote.
Ugandan police detained opposition leader Kizza Besigye on Monday (11 April) at his home in the capital Kampala, a Reuters witness said. No immediate reason was given. Civil society and opposition parties are planning to hold a 'Walk to Work' protest on Monday over rising food and fuel prices in the east African country.
Anti-riot police on Saturday 9 April 2011 violently stormed and suppressed a church service organised to pray for peace in Glen Norah suburb of Harare, says a Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights statement. A truck load of riot police carrying tear gas rifles and truncheons descended on the Nazarene Church in Glen Norah while the service was underway, stormed the church hall during prayer, and dispersed the congregation, which included many church, civic and community leaders.
Join us for a short documentary film: ‘Assassination: Colonial Style – Patrice Lumumba, an African Tragedy’. The film will be followed by a discussion with Firoze Manji from Pambazuka News and Vava Tampa from Save the Congo. 50 years ago Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, was assassinated as part of Belgian and US plots only 10 weeks after he took power. The event has been described as 'the most important assassination of the 20th century'.
After leaving her husband behind to protect their home, Philomene Eholi* recently fled the Ivory Coast with her mother and 11 children. Eholi is one of thousands of Ivorian refugees who have crossed into Liberia and, according to the Women’s Refugee Commission, are receiving scant attention from the international community. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) predicts that as many as a quarter of a million may soon be in Eholi’s position.
'In recognition of his contributions to the development of CODESRIA and to the advancement of knowledge production in Africa and around the world, CODESRIA has planned to hold an international colloquium in honour of one of the greatest African scholars, the Malawi-born Professor Thandika Mkandawire. This event, organised by CODESRIA in collaboration with the University of Malawi and the South Africa-based Intellectual Heritage Project, was earlier scheduled to take place in his home country, Malawi, on 2-4 May 2011...However, the recent gross violations of academic freedom at the University of Malawi has made it necessary for us to postpone this historic occasion, until such a time when our Malawian colleagues feel less threatened in the exercise of their rights as scholars and the enjoyment of the freedom of research and expression, without fear of being persecuted because of their ideas.'
Judges at the International Criminal Court last week warned the six post-election violence suspects against making public comments that might inflame tensions. But Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri, one of the key organisers of Monday’s 'homecoming' rally at Nairobi’s Uhuru Park for the six suspects, said the judges’ warning does not apply to them. During their appearance at the court on Thursday and Friday, the ICC judges cautioned the six suspects against uttering statements in public that may once again raise public tensions.
Pambazuka News 523: Glossary of greed and discontent
Pambazuka News 523: Glossary of greed and discontent
Kenya opened its first free 24-hour health clinic on Friday (25 March), aimed at driving down the HIV rate among some of the country's most at-risk groups - long distance truck drivers and sex workers. Organisers said the clinic, set up in a trailer park on the outskirts of Busia town on Kenya's border with Uganda, would offer 'moonlight' testing and counselling, as well as free distribution of condoms. Long days on the road means it is often difficult for truckers to visit conventional medical centres.
The Africa Union (AU) and the NEPAD Agency in collaboration with regional economic communities and partners officially launched the Africa Platform for Development Effectiveness (APDev) during the IV AU/ECA joint annual meeting of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance on Saturday (26 March) in Addis Ababa. Endorsed by the 15th African Union Summit of July 2010, APDev is a physical and virtual multi-stakeholder platform and organising mechanism. It aims at mobilising African policymakers, practitioners and other development stakeholders toward achieving sustainable development results.
The government of Swaziland has, and continues to threaten with prosecution, people who are expressing themselves using popular social media such as Facebook. The government has accused the Facebookers as being too critical to the government and the ruling elites in Swaziland. On 25 March 2011, the prime minister assured senators in Parliament that his government would track down, arrest and prosecute one Gangadza Masilela whose Facebook wall has been critical of the status quo in Swaziland and the leadership in the country. Masilela, who is believed to be using a pseudonym, has a large following on his facebook wall.
On 17 March, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) filed an appeal with the High Court challenging a Bulawayo magistrate’s denial of bail to Vikas Mavhudzi, who is facing charges of attempting to overthrow the government through comments posted on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s facebook wall. Through the facebook posting, Mavhudzi is alleged to have 'unlawfully or suggested' to Tsvangirai the taking over or attempt to take over the government by unconstitutional means or usurping the functions of the government.
The National Association of Non Governmental Organisations (NANGO), a membership body representing non-governmental organisations in Zimbabwe, has noted with concern the continued harassment of civil society activists by law enforcement agents (ZRP). The harassment of activists is evidenced by a disturbing chronicle of events indicative of a crackdown on civil society organisations, in particular, human rights focussed organisations.
The record of proceedings in prominent visual artist, Owen Maseko’s Constitutional challenge, is now ready for the Supreme Court after the Bulawayo Provincial Magistrates Court furnished the Supreme Court with five copies of the record including two DVD’s. The visual artist was arrested in March 2010 for staging an exhibition in Bulawayo depicting the 1980’s Matabeleland massacres carried out by troops loyal to President Robert Mugabe’s previous government. Maseko was accused of undermining the authority of or insulting the President and causing offence to persons of a particular race or religion.
On the day of the planned mass protest in the totalitarian kingdom of Swaziland, 12 April, the powerful trade union COSATU in neighbouring South Africa plans a protest march to 'invade' the kingdom in solidarity. Swazi youths fed up with the autocratic government have announced a day of national protests on 12 April through social media, in particular Facebook, following the North African model.
After banning the planned mass protests in Equatorial Guinea, government sent out massive police forces to prevent the opposition from taking to the streets on 23 March. Equatorial Guinea's main cities - the capital Malabo and the mainland's main city Bata - were dominated by heavily armed police troops to prevent any possible gathering of persons opposing the repressive regime of lifetime President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Egyptian activists are enraged by continued double standards by the judiciary, as strikers and protesters are still sent to military tribunals while an ex-Minister ordering the shooting of protesters is not. Ex-President Hosni Mubarak's Interior Minister General Habib el-Adly, accused of ordering the killing of at least 360 protesters during the uprising, is to stand trial in a civilian court.
Over 2.5 years ago Twitter shut down all operations in Africa. What they had shut down was text messaging, due to non-sustainable business relationships with the mobile operators in each country. But now, three countries have it working; Nigeria, Kenya and Madagascar. The Twitter team is working on relationships for expanding SMS service throughout a lot of countries in Africa, reports the blog White African.
Myths about land reform in Zimbabwe abound: the process is frequently described as a total failure, favouring political elites and cronies instead of the poor, lacking investment in new settlements, creating chronic food insecurity, and leading to the collapse of the rural economy. But do these media-perpetuated ideas bear any resemblance to reality? In 'Zimbabwe Land Reform: Myths and Realities' researchers found that the international media discourse on Zimbabwe land reform had little substance: the process was not a total failure, land had not all (or even mostly) gone to political cronies, investments were being made in new settlements, significant levels of crop production were taking place, and while rural economies were changing and adapting, they were not in total collapse. The full review is available at the blog Another Countryside.
Over 58 per cent of Liberian women have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). The practice is carried out through a politically influential female secret society known as the Sande society as part of an initiation rite into womanhood by the Kpelle, Bassa, Vai, Dan (Gio), Mano, Dei and Gola ethnic groups. Challenging practices of the influential Sande society could have severe repercussions. Women from non-FGM practicing communities in Liberia may also be subjected to FGM either through marriage into practicing groups or by force. Visit the Equality Now website to take action on the issue.
The 1.3 million hectare agricultural project planned in Madagascar by South Korean company Daewoo Logistics exemplified the risks of large-scale land acquisition for local people, governments, and investors alike. It also highlighted issues associated with agricultural investments of this type in terms of economic growth, equity, and social cohesion. However, despite the failure of this project and the new political context in Madagascar, the flow of agricultural investments continues. What regulations are available to govern such projects? asks the Madagascar Land Observatory.
The rise of independent candidates emerging from the structures of the ANC and its alliance partners was the biggest challenge the ruling party faced in the run-up to the May 18 general elections, Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi warned. 'These people basically showed the middle finger to everyone. It’s the biggest crisis we are facing and if we don’t stop it we are all doomed,' Vavi told the Pretoria News.
Chad's opposition parties withdrew from the electoral commission on Friday (25 March), putting at risk a delayed presidential election scheduled for next month. Three major opposition candidates in the oil-producing Central African country already said this week they would boycott the vote on concerns it would not be credible.
Over the past six months a measles epidemic has been sweeping through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is raising the alarm and calling for concerted action to halt the spread of the disease. 'The measles epidemic is spiralling out of control,' said Gaël Hankenne, MSF head of Mission in the DRC. 'Since September 2010, we have vaccinated more than 1.5 million children in response to the crisis, but the disease is spreading like wildfire. All parties involved in health in the DRC must now make this epidemic a national priority.'
The Centre of Memory at the Nelson Mandela Foundation has announced its online debut on social media platforms Twitter and Facebook. The Centre of Memory is now live and tweeting and has a dedicated Facebook page.
A Tunisian court has rejected an appeal by the party of former president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali against a ruling that it be dissolved, state media has reported. A judge had previously ruled on 9 March that Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) be disbanded and its funds seized, provoking street celebrations as one of the last vestiges of the ousted leader's rule was dismantled.
Two members of privately-owned Radio Shabelle were arrested 27 March in Mogadishu, while two other journalists have been held in the northeastern region of Puntland and the northwestern region of Somaliland for more than a week. Reported Without Borders has called for the immediately release of all four journalists and a halt to their persecution. 'The transitional federal government is doing nothing to encourage the work of the media in a country in which the constant fighting is already the source of a great deal of danger for reporters and the intolerance of the Islamist militias makes their work even more dangerous if not impossible,' Reporters Without Borders said.
Reporters Without Borders has welcomed the return of the Daily News after a seven-year closure but is disturbed to learn that one of its reporters was attacked 24 March. The newspaper has been back on the newsstands since 18 March, boldly proclaiming in an editorial in its first issue its intention to denounce abuse of authority and 'bad governance'. The Daily News reporter was attacked by supporters of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai while interviewing people at the headquarters of Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Despite Kenyan leaders' pronouncements on only trying Kenyan suspects within the country's legal system, Al-Amin Kimathi's presence in a Kampala jail suggests otherwise, says Gado.
Kenya’s Nubians are a ‘stateless people’, writes Xena Abdul, only recently part-recognised by the Kenyan government and facing day-to-day discrimination around land rights and identity.
With the 2011 Forbes List of the world’s billionaires recently released – and acutely aware of the huge volume of unaccounted for money found in offshore havens – Joan Baxter discusses the ‘highly stratified world that has become treacherously top-heavy’.
In conversation with Konstantina Isidoros, Peter Kenworthy profiles the longstanding Saharawi struggle for independence from Morocco and the gulf between people’s support for Western Sahara around the world and governments’ action on the conflict.
Lila Chouli gives a behind-the-scenes view on protests in Burkina Faso. The spontaneous protests might prove that kicking a leader out might not need a formal organisation.
With the African Union set to hold a Heads of States and Governments Summit in June under the theme ‘Accelerating youth empowerment for sustainable development’, Eyob Balcha expresses serious reservations about the union’s conceptualisation of ‘youth’ and ‘young people’.
‘The tragedy that is unfolding in front of our eyes is not just about the excesses of one industry… It is about the continued and deliberate silencing/sidelining of the majority of humanity by a tiny dictatorial fraction that, for centuries and generations has always gotten away, literally with murder,’ writes Jacques Depelchin.
IFC-funded mining projects in Africa have ‘a track record of causing human rights abuses and massive environmental damage’, writes Cyril Mychalejko. Can it really claim to be promoting ‘poverty reduction through sustainable development’?
Drawing upon a range of online reflections and social media activity, Sokari Ekine underlines the high stakes and contested understandings around the ongoing crises in Côte d’Ivoire and Libya and Egypt’s ‘post-revolution’ experience.
An international company has benefitted from a massive handout of land in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. Alemayehu G. Mariam shows what the devastating consequences of the deal will be for local people.
The Tshwane local government election battle has heated up, with revelations from whistleblower website WikiLeaks that the ANC is nervous the DA's 'day dreams' will be realised in the metro. The DA said this confirms the ANC's fears in the capital. According to a WikiLeaks cable which emerged last month, the ANC's Gauteng spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli told an American diplomat that the ANC was bothered that it could possibly lose Tshwane to the DA.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has established a $57-million fund for renewable energy projects across the continent. The Denmark-backed Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa joins two other similar green energy funds in the region worth $6-billion being run by the AfDB and twelve non-African donor countries.
The ‘disorder, revolt or revolution in Egypt’ doesn’t ‘change the nature of the debate on restitution nor does it provide any convincing excuse for the retentionists in the Western world’, says Kwame Opoku.
This campaign example from the New Tactics for Human Rights website profiles the 5-in-6 program in South Africa, which raises awareness of the widespread problem of domestic violence through a nomination campaign for male role models. By recognising and honouring local male role models, Charles Maisel taught groups of ordinary men to talk about domestic violence and to see that it is an underlying part of the other problems their communities were facing.
An LGBTI Rights Initiative from the Open Society Foundations will provide funding to local rights groups and regional networks in the developing world. It will also support global advocacy initiatives that advance LGBTI rights and complement efforts at the local level. Visit the website provided for more information.
Fierce contestations over the African state has weakened rather than strengthened states on the continent when it comes to performing their functions, said Omano Edigheji from the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa. He was speaking at an event held in Ghana to discuss the impact of the global financial crisis on Africa. The neoliberal agenda, he argued, had very little democracy. If anything, it was very supportive of autocracy. In effect, the dominant neoliberal regime supported authoritarianism. The African state has to be both developmental and democratic.
World renowned lesbian photographer and visual activist Zanele Muholi has once again been recognised for her work as her award winning film 'Difficult Love' is being screened in local and international film festivals. The film was commissioned by the SABC and is co-directed by Peter Goldsmid and Zanele Muholi. It was first screened last year at the Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The film has been described as a portrait of Muholi and her work and a highly personal take on the challenges facing Black lesbians in South Africa.
Despite the 'evident lack of prioritising' by the South African government on addressing issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, in accordance with the constitution, some of the country’s gays and lesbians say voting is a right that citizens should be proud of and have urged the gay community to make their mark in order to hold the leaders accountable on human rights. This, as South Africa gears for local government elections on 18 May, with some in the gay community indicating that they will not vote since, they say, government does not take hate crimes and other issues affecting LGBTI people seriously.
The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) announced in early March that world cotton prices had reached a new record of two dollars per pound (0.5 kg) in February. ICAC is a global body representing governments, which raises awareness and promotes cooperative action on issues of cotton worldwide. In Malawi, farmers are happy about the news, reports Inter Press Services. Malawi’s economy is highly dependent on agriculture, with cotton contributing about 32 million dollars in foreign exchange earnings.
'The Botswana Caucus for Women in Politics has failed to realise the objectives it was intended for, but we will not give up on it just yet,' says Margaret Nasha. The BCWP is a platform established to enable women from all political parties to converge and support each other in their attempts to make their mark in a male-dominated field. When it was set up 15 years ago, its membership was initially restricted to women in parliament. Nasha, the first woman to serve as Speaker of Parliament in Botswana, explained that four years in, they realised that only women from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party were benefiting from it and they decided to open membership to any active woman member of a political party.
Zambians head to the polls sometime before October and civil society groups are working hard to ensure their voices are heard. Groups which were excluded during the 2005 elections and the National Constitutional Conference that began in 2007 are mobilising to ensure they are not excluded. Four years ago, Clotilda Mwale was among those who besieged the Zambian parliament, arguing the National Constitutional Conference would not represent of the interests of all Zambians. Along with church groups and some opposition parties, gender activists were frozen out of the process; with general elections coming up in 2011, they are determined not to let this happen again.
Why are the voices of the people with the real voting power excluded from the presidential debates? Sokari Ekine reports back from the blogosphere on Nigeria’s looming election; Libya and the AU; forced removal in South Africa; female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone; and an SMS-based programme to address the security of sexual minorities in Kenya.
The US government should help ensure free and fair elections in Ethiopia by putting pressure on Meles Zenawi to implement political reforms, writes the Ethiopian Americans Council, in an open letter to Barack Obama.
'Two leaders of the social justice movement Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, are being sought by police. They are at risk of arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment,' writes AIUSA, in a call for the public to write letters of appeal to Zimbabwean officials.
The late-February lifting of the state's emergency powers law hasn't helped the women who keep a weekly vigil here for relatives who disappeared in the country's 1992-2001 civil war. 'We are prevented from demonstrating, we are still under surveillance and each time we try to march police violently shove us around and flood us with vulgarities,' said Amel Boucherf. For years she and other women whose relatives disappeared during the war have convened at the same place: the headquarters of the National Advisory Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has expressed its deep concern about the case of Ms. Iman Al-Obaidi, a lawyer, from Benghazi. On Saturday 25 March 2011, Ms. Iman Al-Obaidi declared in the presence of journalists that she had been beaten and raped by security forces agents in Tripoli. She reported that other women who may still be in detention were also victims of rape. Ms Al-Obaidi showed the journalists marks of injury. While she was testifying in Hotel Rixos, Tripoli, Ms. Al-Obaidi was forced into a car and driven away.
A key human rights bill passed by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan can help tackle abuses in the country, Amnesty International has said. It was announced that Jonathan had signed into law The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Amendment Act, which had been pending approval for six years. The bill secures the independence and funding of the NHRC, which works to protect and promote human rights.
Two weeks after establishing the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), Morocco reformed another state body. The Mediator Institution, set up in mid-March to replace the 10-year-old Diwan Al Madhalim, will have greater powers to tackle rights abuses and conduct probes. The institution will have the power to carry out inquiries and investigations, propose disciplinary action or refer cases to the public prosecutor.
Algerian contract teachers clashed with law officers on Monday (28 March) near the Presidential Palace in El Mouradia, Tout sur l'Algerie reported. At least 15 teachers were injured, according to National Council of Higher Education Teachers (CNES) spokesperson Mériem Maarouf. For more than a week, the teachers had been staging a peaceful sit-in to demand a status change.