Pambazuka News 502: Twilight of regimes or dawn of new eras?
Pambazuka News 502: Twilight of regimes or dawn of new eras?
Isabeau Doucet critically examines the funding promises made by the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission. Housing and employment programs have been overlooked. Mortgages and bourgeois interests are the IHRC’s main priorities, Doucet argues.
We live in a violent society, Richard Pithouse writes, but this very fear of violence is used to justify other forms of violence such as racism, xenophobia and fear of the poor. ‘… the presence of self-organised poor people in civil society is often received as a threat by all kinds of constituencies, including some of those that, be they liberal or radical, assume a right to enlighten and lead poor people from above,’ Pithouse argues.
Salma Maoulidi looks at the future of Tanzania’s 50-50 Campaign as the country prepares for a general election. The campaign is meant to bring gender parity in parliament. Maoulidi argues the process is stalling as female politicians get caught up in a game where there is no women’s agenda and where women and women’s issues are largely absent from political debates.
Guinean authorities should investigate, discipline, and prosecute any members of the security forces responsible for the 23 October 2010 attack on Dr. Mamadou Aliou Barry, a prominent human rights defender, Human Rights Watch has said. Barry was one of scores apparently severely beaten that day by security forces, amid heightened ethnic and political tensions following the postponement of run-off presidential elections. Barry, president of the National Observatory for Democracy and Human Rights (ONDH), an independent national institution, has frequently and publicly denounced acts of criminality and excessive use of force by members of the security services. He was assaulted while trying to stop members of the security forces from attacking a group of youths in the Hamdalaye neighborhood.
Senegal is credited with being a stable country in Africa but this stability cannot fully hide the political uncertainties that afflict the country. While the institutions function, the electoral calendar has almost always been respected, and the opposition is free to express itself, heavy storm clouds hang over the near future of the country. The current regime, confronted by dangers that threaten its survival, is seeking to prolong its power indefinitely which, according to Sidy Diop, could have most serious consequences.
Tom Olang’ examines the new protections against hate speech in Kenya and how oversight mechanisms protect – or don’t – minorities from hate speech.
Western policies are contributing to a sense among some Yemenis and Somalis of being 'under attack' and are drawing them towards radicalisation and militancy, says a new briefing paper from Chatham House. This threat of radicalisation, says the paper, extends throughout the far-flung diasporas of Somalia and Yemen, defying efforts at containment within the two countries and requiring new thinking about stemming the appeal of radicalism at source.
Thomas Sankara had a vision to change the way things were, by creating a model of social democracy in one of Africa’s poorest countries. Twenty-three years after Sankara’s assassination in October 1987, Mwaura Kaara calls on Africans to ‘be courageous enough to dream again and visionary enough to act on our dreams.’
Under the guise of developing ‘climate-ready’ crops, the world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are filing hundreds of sweeping, multi-genome patents in a bid to control the world’s plant biomass, according to a report released by ETC Group.
UK-based War on Want has launched an emergency fundraising appeal for South African shackdwellers’ movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo. Following attacks on the Kennedy Road settlement just over a year ago, the demands placed on the movement by people losing their homes and being dragged through the courts are beyond what the movement’s member subscriptions can cover.
A poem for voices, dedicated to those who teach and to the .
A poem dedicated to Ethiopia’s 2010 parliament members.
Caught up in a riot by passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from China, Okello Oculi connects the event with the flagging fortunes of a town in south eastern Nigeria.
Jean-Martin Tchaptchet
Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the [1.1 MB pdf], a monthly publication that aims to provide a forum for providers of refugee legal aid. With a focus on the global South, it aims to serve the needs of legal aid providers as well as raise awareness of refugee concerns among the wider readership of Pambazuka News.
The proposed seminar will focus on:
- Indo-South African Political Relations: Historical Goodwill and Current Issues
- Indo-South African Economic Relations: Challenges of South-South Co-operation
- Indo-South African Strategic Relations: Strategic Partnership and Competing Interests
- Indo-South African Diaspora Relations: 150 Years of Indian Migration to South Africa
Francoise Mukuku works as the national coordinator of a young feminist group called Si Jeunesse Savait, based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Here she describes how the organisation teaches women how to blog, broadcast radio shows, take pictures and document their lives.
A coalition of civil society groups marched to South Africa's Parliament on 27 October to protest against the draft version of a new Protection of Information Bill. 'This bill is a betrayal of all the democratic principles we fought for,' anti-apartheid stalwart Kader Asmal told the crowd. South Africa's parliament is presently considering legislation to replace secrecy laws drawn up during the apartheid era.
By 2050 the risk of becoming climate refugees as a result of rising sea level, water scarcity, and extreme weather events will cast its shadow over no fewer than 200 million people, writes Valerio Calzolaio, journalist, ecologist, ex-member of Italian parliament, and author of 'Eco-refugees: Forced Migrations Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow'. In this analysis, the author writes that today those made refugees by 'political' causes - violence or persecution by institutions or communities - are granted 'refugee' status and assistance by a UN commission. And yet climate refugees are victims of human action, too, so shouldn't they be given this same status?
The perception that women are only ever victims of conflict ignores the large numbers of female combatants, which can result in their exclusion from disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) report, 'State of the World Population 2010: From Conflict and Crisis to Renewal: Generations of Change', released on 20 October 2010, acknowledges the role women play in forging peace, but cautions against the assumptions of women as nurturers and 'natural peace-makers ... [choosing] non-violent solutions rather than conflict whenever possible'.
Uganda has had several cases of murder following HIV-positive diagnoses, including a man in the southwestern district of Rukungiri murdering his wife in 2008, the lynching of a woman in Gulu suspected of infecting a man and, in September, a 20-year-old woman in the eastern district of Soroti being sentenced to death for killing her soldier husband after she tested positive and he was negative.
The economic upswing in Zimbabwe is luring workers under 18-years-old to the now bustling mining town of Shurugwi, about 350km south of the capital Harare in Midlands Province. Tinashe Mugwira, 15, left home in January this year and walked the 50km to Shurugwi in search of work at the mines in the mineral belt known as the Great Dyke, where gold, chrome and nickel are found. 'I had always heard that these Chinese were employing young children for as long as they can work on the mines, so I decided to come here when I stopped going to school after my father fell ill and my mother could not raise money for food,' a skinny Mugwira told IRIN.
The latest New Tactics in Human Rights Project e-newsletter contains articles on domesticating international human rights law, applying global agreements to local enforcement of human rights laws and using surplus resources to provide individual assistance and strengthen community engagement. Visit to read more.
Martha Zulu dropped out of school in 2006 when she was 17 and pregnant with her first child (she would later have three more). She then married the father, Antony Zulu, an already-married farmer from the Central Province of Zambia. Her parents had also been peasant farmers, so Zulu said it made sense that she continue doing what she had grown up knowing. Yet for Zulu maize farming is not easy, especially because her husband makes all the decisions even though she does much of the work. 'The most challenging thing in our farming life is the dependence on manual labour because we do not have animals and other machinery to help ease our work,' said Zulu, who is the de-facto machinery on her farm.
The African Union (AU) has asked the United Nations Security Council to approve a no-fly zone and naval blockade of Somalia. Ramtane Lamamra, the AU's commissioner for peace and security, said the move would deter pirates operating off the country's coast and prevent fighters and shipments from reaching the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab group, and other groups fighting to topple the largely powerless UN-backed government.
In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up:
- Africa is painting a distorted picture of economic progress
- Chinese enterprises shoulder social responsibilities in Africa
- China on multi-billion dollar projects in Zimbabwe
- Rwanda reaches out to Indian businesses
- Indian Companies Push into Africa
- SA urged not to be ‘obsessed’ with Bric
In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up:
- Africa is painting a distorted picture of economic progress
- Chinese enterprises shoulder social responsibilities in Africa
- China on multi-billion dollar projects in Zimbabwe
- Rwanda reaches out to Indian businesses
- Indian Companies Push into Africa
- SA urged not to be ‘obsessed’ with Bric
The ‘failure of finance, insurance and real estate as the basis for economic recovery' is compounded by the reality that as ‘the foreclosure crisis continues, not only will millions in the USA lose their homes, but many countries who have been keeping their reserves in the US dollar will find that their foreign reserves are worthless,’ writes Horace Campbell.
Reporting to the Head of International Grants and managing a small team, you’ll lead on the delivery of our trade and climate change programme strategies, and the development of our social investment strategy as well as playing a critical role in strengthening corporate and other relationships that will enable us to fulfill our mission.
Pambazuka News 501: Integration or federation? Towards political unity for Africa
Pambazuka News 501: Integration or federation? Towards political unity for Africa
The Ugandan Rolling Stone tabloid has published an article entitled ‘100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak’ calling for the ‘hanging of homos’ in Uganda in its issue of 2 to 9 October, 2010, Vol.1, No. 5. The article shows pictures of some of the 100 alleged homosexuals and other human rights activists, alongside their names and a description of their professional jobs and private life, including where they live or work. The article also calls on the government of Uganda to take strong action against them.
On 14 October 2009 the draft Anti Homosexuality Bill was introduced to the Parliament of Uganda by Ndoorwa West MP David Bahati. Bahati’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill stipulates the death penalty for repeated same-sex relations and life imprisonment for all other homosexual acts. A person in authority who fails to report an offender to the police within 24 hours will face three years in jail. Likewise, the promotion of homosexuality carries a sentence of five to seven years in jail.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) has expressed its dismay at the Egyptian government’s ongoing policy of punishing and discriminating against individuals because of their religious beliefs. Several media reports have reported in the past few days that a group of Shi’ites, both Egyptians and non-nationals, had been arrested and questioned by the Supreme State Security Prosecutor because of their religious beliefs, information confirmed by the EIPR. The EIPR asked the Public Prosecutor to immediately intervene to secure the release of the suspects and put an end to successive Interior Ministry campaigns of harassment against religious minorities in Egypt.
A new manual: 'The Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture: Implementation Manual' addresses all the questions on implementation of this innovative international human rights treaty. Drawing on initial good practice from all world regions, the manual is designed to serve as a practical reference tool for international, regional and national stakeholders involved in OPCAT ratification and implementation.
On Saturday the 23rd October 2010 Congolese women will be speaking about the situation in the Congo and would like to invite you to join them between 3pm and 6pm at the Church Hall, Lancing Street off Eversholt Street, NW1 (Opposite Euston Station).
Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa has created a new multimedia website to present the story of Africa’s development. The website launch in Africa will coincide with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, commemorated on October 17.
Vocal actors within policy and practice contend that environmental variability and shocks, such as drought and prolonged heat waves, are important drivers of violent conflict. This paper examines the scientific evidence base for this claimed relationship, investigating whether future wars will be fought over diminishing resources. This document from the International Peace Research Institute shows that exposed societies that lack necessary capacity and knowledge to adapt successfully may face increasing asymmetries between demand and supply of subsistence resources.
Nine people have been charged in what the Environment Agency is saying is biggest investigation ever into illegal electrical waste exports from the UK to West Africa. All nine have been charged with offences under the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007 and European Waste Shipment Regulations 2006 and bailed to attend Havering Magistrates Court on November 11. In some instances, it is alleged by the agency that 'considerable sums' of money changed hands in deals to collect and recycle electrical waste while treatment costs were avoided.
Many of Congo's rape survivors took to the streets Sunday to speak out against sexual violence in a country where it has become a weapon of war. Sunday's march was organised by the World March of Women in association with local women's groups. Organisers hoped the march would combat the stigma attached to rape victims and draw international attention to the problem of rape as a war tactic. (This post contains a video)
The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) will hold its 5th Programming Conference and General Assembly from 16 - 18 October 2010, at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Nairobi under the theme: ‘The African Women’s Decade- A Road Map for Bigger Dreams’. The conference which brings together over 120 women rights activities from across Africa.
Malnutrition among children under two years of age is one of the leading challenges to reducing global hunger and can cause lifelong harm to health, productivity, and earning potential, according to the 2010 Global Hunger Index (GHI). In Sub-Saharan Africa, low government effectiveness, conflict, political instability, and high rates of HIV and AIDS are among the major factors that lead to high child mortality and a high proportion of people who cannot meet their calorie requirements. In some countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, for example Burundi, Madagascar, and Malawi, about half of the children are stunted (low height for age) due to poor nutrition.
“You cannot divorce food from fuel, they are completely interlinked. One-hundred bags of food is useless without firewood.” For millions of families around the world, cooking fuel is a critical, daily concern, with serious health and safety implications. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put this issue in the spotlight when she announced the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which aims to provide 100 million fuel - efficient stoves to people in developing countries by 2020. These stoves will make a crucial difference in the lives of the people who receive them - especially those who have been displaced by armed conflict and natural disasters.
Southern African nations need to agree on a common operational system to manage energy in the region, environmental experts advise. If they don’t, the region could experience power shortages and resulting economic deficits. The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), which was formed in 1995 as part of an inter-governmental agreement between the twelve mainland SADC countries, is an ambitious regional initiative that encourages electricity sharing and the selling of surplus to their neighbours who experience power deficiencies.
Confined field trials of genetically modified maize will begin in Kenya and Uganda this year, the US-based non-profit African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) said. Scientists from Kenyan and Ugandan government research bodies, Monsanto and research body International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) developed the 12 varieties of Water Efficient Maize for Africa (Wema) due to be planted.
omali government troops and allied forces retook the south-eastern town of Bulo Hawo near the Kenyan border on Sunday after defeating al-Qaeda-inspired al-Shebaab Islamists, officials and witnesses said. The Shebaab control large swathes of southern and central Somalia and have wrested control of much of the capital Mogadishu, where they have relentlessly attacked government and African Union forces.
President Robert Mugabe wants Zimbabwe's power-sharing government to end next year, saying the unity pact was only meant to last two years, state media has reported. 'Some will say let us negotiate and give it another life. I am reluctant because part of the things happening [in the inclusive government] are absolutely foolish and stupid,' Mugabe said in the Herald newspaper.
The UN's release of a long awaited report on crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1993-2003 is not only an opportunity to re-examine the historical record of mass violence in DRC - the scale and nature of which was often overlooked in the wake of the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda - but is also a chance to correct the terms of the deceptive and fragile peace some leaders wish to proclaim in the resource-rich Great Lakes region of Africa, writes Fabienne Hara, the vice president for multicultural affairs at the International Crisis Group.
The Rwandan government should fully respect the rights of opposition party members and allow them to carry out their legitimate activities without fear for their safety, Human Rights Watch has said. Human Rights Watch issued its statement in response to the re-arrest of Victoire Ingabire, president of the opposition party FDU-Inkingi, and the transfer from prison to a hospital of Bernard Ntaganda, president of another opposition party, the PS-Imberakuri, both on 14 October 2010. Both parties have been critical of the Rwandan government and were prevented from participating in the presidential elections in August.
A collection of human rights organisations have expressed their full solidarity with Al Dostour's journalists and Ibrahim Essa, editor-in-chief of the newspaper. They have appeal to all civil society organisations to not only guarantee the journalists' rights but to combat the government's plan to impose restrictions on independent mass media ahead of the parliamentary elections. The organisations have expressed their deepest worries over the restrictions imposed on freedom of opinion and expression in general and Al Dostour newspaper in particular.
The emergence of a new meningitis vaccine, rather than a large-scale outbreak of the disease, has prompted the current vaccination drive across West Africa. Health officials say the vaccine marks a 'revolution' in preventing the highly contagious and fatal disease. Health workers in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - the three countries selected for introduction of the vaccine - are preparing for country-wide campaigns set for December, having just completed a limited pilot phase.
A failed harvest and the effects of prolonged flooding may be fuelling an outbreak of Visceral leishmaniasis, also known as Kala-azar, in parts of Southern Sudan, say health officials. Some 6,363 Kala-azar cases and 303 deaths have been reported since the outbreaks began in September 2009, according to a UN World Health Organization (WHO) update from 8 October.
Elizabeth Njeri, a social worker at a camp for thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kenya's Central Province, frequently feels powerless, especially when faced with medical and logistical difficulties that can have catastrophic results. 'I watched two children die of pneumonia in my arms; they needed a professional health expert who could administer strong drugs, but I was helpless,' Njeri, herself an IDP, who also serves as a medical officer at the Mawingo IDP camp, told IRIN, underlining the camp's lack of access to health facilities.
An academic dispute about whether concurrent sexual partnerships are really a major factor behind high rates of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa could affect the future of prevention programmes. The relatively common practice in many African countries of having ongoing relationships with two or three partners at the same time, has led researchers to explore concurrency as a possible explanation for why parts of the continent have been so hard hit by HIV.
Hundreds of people from different walks of life - from young schoolchildren to army officials - are planting trees across East Africa in the latest activities to be registered under Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign (BTC) run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Seven presidential candidates will take part in the 31 October general elections in Tanzania, with incumbent President Jakaya Kikwete being the clear favourite. But the opposition may make important gains. Education, health and employment are some of the main issues dominating the election campaign as Tanzanians prepare for the 31 October election. President Kikwete and the CCM are expected to be rewarded by voters for the positive economic development in Tanzania during his first period.
Swaziland is one of very few African countries where hunger has become more widespread during the last decades, new evidence shows. But Swazi authorities tried to manipulate data to the UN, saying the opposite. Today, 18 per cent of Swaziland's one million people are suffering from hunger, compared to 12 per cent in 1990. In addition, 6.1 per cent of Swazi children under five are underweight, compared to 8.1 per cent in 1992.
The Ethiopian government is using development aid to suppress political dissent by conditioning access to essential government programs on support for the ruling party, Human Rights Watch has said in a new report. Human Rights Watch urged foreign donors to ensure that their aid is used in an accountable and transparent manner and does not support political repression. The 105-page report, 'Development without Freedom: How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia,' documents the ways in which the Ethiopian government uses donor-supported resources and aid as a tool to consolidate the power of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
Zambian police have arrested two Chinese coal mine managers for attempted murder after they allegedly shot and injured 12 local workers. The miners staged a demonstration on Friday to protest against poor working conditions and wages at the Chinese-run Collum Coal mine, in the southern town of Sinazongwe. The Chinese managers allegedly opened fire at the protesters because they felt threatened.
Islamist militant group al-Shabab said on Monday it would ban all mobile phone cash transfers in Somalia. The rebels released a statement ordering three local mobile phone companies which have developed the popular service in the country to stop mobile money transfers within three months. Al-Shabab argued that the transfers were 'unIslamic'.
Computer Aid has launched its first solar powered Internet cafe in Kenya in conjunction with longstanding Kenyan partners Computers For Schools Kenya (CFSK). The Internet cafe made its long journey from London to Nairobi in the guise of a standard 20ft shipping container, normally used to transport refurbished computers. On arrival the container converts into a fully functional Internet cafe for 11 users at a time.
Under a new proposal from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a trade bloc of 19 African nations, the bloc would carry out science-based risk assessments on growing commercial GM crops in any of the bloc's countries. If COMESA finds the crop safe for the environment and for human consumption, the crop could then be grown in all COMESA countries, although individual countries would retain the right to withhold, says an editorial in nature.
Upcoming international climate talks will be 'a total flop', according to Africa's leading spokesperson on climate change. Neither this year's talks in Cancun, Mexico, nor the ones in South Africa next year, will deliver a deal with set targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, said Meles Zenawi, prime minister of Ethiopia and coordinator of the Committee of Ten African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change. His statements have provoked anger from some critics who see them as undermining the African Union's stance on climate change.
Fairtrade has assisted greatly in steering agricultural in a developmental direction, despite its lack of a bottom–up approach, says this post on the blog of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape. However, in South Africa, with its stark legacy of oppression more is needed. However, Fairtrade beneficiaries need to lead the process of bottom up development, to direct the Fairtrade movement in terms of their reality and their needs.
The Rural Poverty Report 2011 from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) provides a coherent and comprehensive look at rural poverty, its global consequences and the prospects for eradicating it. Young people and children make up the single largest group among poor rural people, and the Report emphasizes the importance of creating new and better opportunities for them – in particular, with a focus on expanding educational opportunities that specifically address the skills young people will need to succeed in the rural context.
Activists have warned that Egypt telecommunication regulator’s new rules for companies sending text messages to multiple cellphones will stifle efforts to mobilise voters ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections. Reform groups in Egypt, as well as elsewhere in the region such as Iran, have increasingly relied on the Internet and cellphones to organise, mobilise and evade government harassment.
A number of central African countries overwhelmed by the brutal attacks and mounting regional destabilization caused by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have established a comprehensive plan to combat the rebel group. Ministers from Uganda, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic agreed Friday in a meeting in Bangui, the capital of the latter, to create a joint military task force, centre of operations, and border patrol capacity, all to be supervised by a representative from the African Union.
Nigerian security forces have arrested the brother of Henry Okah, a former leader of the rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), over his suspected involvement in deadly bombings in Abuja, the capital, on October 1. Charles Okah was taken into custody at his home in the southern city of Lagos on Sunday.
Tanzanian NGO Sikika and Policy Forum, a network of Tanzanian NGOs, recently undertook an analysis of unnecessary expenditures to find out if government commitments to spend more efficiently were being met. Slashing unnecessary expenditure, their report states, could enable the Tanzanian government to build more than 100 dispensaries in remote areas or buy 5,000 delivery beds to reduce the number of pregnant women who deliver on the ?oors of hospitals and clinics.
Gado depicts Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete begging for funds.
Egypt under Hosni Mubarak is economic progress with political paralysis, says Gado.
With Chile's trapped miners freed, Hollywood will be quick to capitalise on the rescue, according to Gado.
Francodus depicts Nigeria's 'one man, one vote' policy.
On Thursday October 14, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the president of Somalia, appointed Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed 'Farmajo' as his new prime minister. Mohamed, a Somali - American and a member of the Somali diaspora, is a relative unknown in the Somalian political scene. Systemically, institutional divergence prevents Somalia from establishing a strong system of national governance. The appointment came after the September 21 resignation of former prime minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke.
Two political protesters have been killed and several others injured in street clashes with police in Guinea's capital, Conakry, just days before a presidential run-off election. According to witnesses, the police were initially attacked on Tuesday by supporters of Cellou Dalein Diallo, the leading candidate contesting the October 24 poll.
Francodus wonders whether Nigeria at 50 might more accurately be seen as a 50–50 split of the country.
The Global Media Monitoring Project is the only international project that gives an idea of the gender bias of the news media. In the latest GMMP, conducted on November 10 2009, the internet news media was also analysed. The survey looked at 76 national news sites from 16 countries, and eight international news sites. Women's prescence in cyberspace news is a reflection of their presence in 'traditional' news, with a couple of caveats.
There
will be no tears of fish or even humans
this time when tides of street tidings reach us…
With many African countries marking the 50th anniversary of their independence, 2010 should have been a year of celebration but the continent’s journalists were not invited to the party. The Horn of Africa continues to be the region with the least press freedom but there were disturbing reverses in the Great Lakes region and East Africa.
How much state attention and help can you expect if the area where you live is not even marked on official maps? Not a lot, decided the residents of one of Africa's biggest slums and designed a digital map of Kibera - a great help in all too familiar emergency situations. Such information is useful to the Kenya Red Cross, which deals with 144 fires in Kibera each month.
Women in Mali have produced a video about violence against women that was aired on Mali’s national television station. The topic is not openly discussed in Mali, and the film is one step towards more openness. The 20-minute video was aired primetime on ORTM, Mali’s national television station. It shows women victims of violence (anonymously) telling their story. The stories they tell are shown as illustrations made by a cartoonist.
The ruling party in Zambia, the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) has suggested that certain government officials have been meeting opposition leader Michael Sata in a plea to recognise homosexuality, which according to activists is a conspiracy to disparage the opposition party. Amidst the recent tabling of the draft constitution currently siting before parliament, the Forum for Leadership Search revealed that it had information that some government officials have been meeting opposition leader Sata of the Patriotic Front (PF) to lobby for recognition of homosexuality in Zambia.