Pambazuka News 440: US apology over slavery: Why now?
Pambazuka News 440: US apology over slavery: Why now?
Africa-China relations have gained worldwide attention, writes Adams Bodomo, and constitute the topic of much academic and diplomatic discourse. In this paper, Bodomo explores two important issues within this topic – whether the relationship between the two parts of the world is symmetrical or asymmetrical, and the exact role of soft power in this constellation. Bodomo argues that prominent economies on the African continent such as South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria have an important role to play in ensuring a symmetrical relationship with China, in which Africa can also take part in a symmetrical cultural diplomacy with China, for example through setting up African cultural institutes around the country.
This week we received the tragic news of the death of the giant of Africa, Haroub Othman. Many have been devastated by the news of the loss of such a gentle giant. We carry several obituaries and tributes to the late Haroub Othman. In this short essay, Haroub shares a revelation about Mwalimu Nyerere: Although everyone assumed public speaking 'all came easy to him, water off a duck's back', Nyerere suffered from stage fright, something he mangaged so well that no-one knew this until he confessed it in 1996. This article appeared in the maiden issue of Chemchemi.
cc Campus cults have ‘entrenched their diabolical tentacles’ across Nigeria’s institutions of tertiary education, write Kola Ibrahim and Ayo Ademiluyi, despite a mass movement against them in 1999 after five students were killed at Obafemi Awolowo University. Cults are to blame not only for the recent killing of twenty people in Edo State, but also for incidences of robbery, intimidation of students and the community and rape in a number of universities. Poor economic prospects make cultism an attractive option for youths, but there are also reports of officials allegedly using cults to protect their economic and political interests by suppressing student union activists, write Ibrahim and Ademiluyi. Noting that affected institutions lack a ‘viable, radical, independent and issue-based students' movement’, they suggest that this is what is needed to tackle the ‘monster of cultism’.
cc The Global Pan African Movement is a ’dying institution’, writes Vincent Nuwagaba, and the whole continent and Africans in the diaspora must ‘rededicate their efforts to revive it’. Dismayed by its half-hearted commemoration of the day of the African child, Nuwagaba writes that the problem is that the Uganda-based ‘global’ secretariat ‘has been reduced to a branch and extension of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and State House’. In order to de-link a mass movement from a partisan movement, argues Nuwagaba, ‘all Africans of goodwill must demand the holding of the 8th Pan African Congress and a shift of the ‘global’ secretariat.’
A coalition of over 200 civil society organisations and networks gathered at a forum New York on 23 June, before the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development. This report, prepared by the International Trade Union Confederation, contains their recommendations for the conference.
A coalition of over 200 civil society organisations and networks gathered at a forum New York on 23 June, before the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development. This is the background document the International Trade Union Confederation prepared for the conference.
cc The Kenyan government has conceded that the country has a problem with the widespread and systematic use of extrajudicial killings by the Kenya Police Force, as highlighted in a report by UN special rapporteur Professor Phillip Alston, writes Louise Edwards. Now, however, the focus must shift to action to be taken to address the problems with policing the report raises, says Edwards. ‘Police reform is a daunting and long-term process,’ Edward notes, that ‘requires substantial law reform, a radical shift in policing culture from one of impunity to accountability and the restoration of trust between police and the community.’ But, Edwards cautions, ‘None of these urgent reforms will happen in Kenya without the political and financial commitment of the government.’
cc ‘Lone-ranger’ dictators Bongo (Gabon), Nguessor (Congo) and Obiang (Equatorial Guinea) have in fact been sustained by neocolonial relationships set up by France and the international financial system, writes Khadija Sharife. Françafrique, France's postcolonial Africa policy, was designed to create structural dependence and domination by reasserting geostrategic control over natural resources through the use of black 'governors', says Sharife. Illegitimate governments representing external interests have shaped and normalised the inherited legacy of colonialism, Sharife argues. These leaders, Sharife adds, have thus subsequently ‘internalised the economic, cultural, and political imperialism and cultivated an atmosphere of compliance concerning French interests in Africa.’ Unlike the United States, Sharife notes, ‘France treads lightly, attracts little or no attention, and leaves few footprints behind.’
cc Chambi Chachage doesn’t hate America, he actually loves it ‘a lot’. It ‘could be a model for deracialising the continents’, Chacage believes, as ‘probably the only habitable continent for humans that is not really seen as a continent that belongs to a particular “race”.’ But says Chachage, America is also haunted by what President Obama describes as the 'original sin of slavery and racism', epitomised by the Atlantic slave trade and the genocide of native Americans. Chacage concludes that what he feels is actually what historian Colin Legum describes as a ‘disappointed love’ – the colonised ‘believe there has been no proper recognition of, nor retribution for, the injury of colonialism’, while the colonisers ‘feel let down because Africa has not lived up to the expectations of European liberal values.’
The late Haroub Othman, professor of development studies at the University of Dar es Salaam, 'worked very hard and was singularly dedicated to his work and his people', writes P. Anyang’ Nyong’o, in a tribute to 'a friend and a comrade'. Professor Othman died on 28 June 2009.
The Tanzanian government must ensure that thousands of Burundian refugees who have been living in the Mtabila camp are not sent back to their country under coercion, Amnesty International has said in this press release.
Don Deya pays homage to the late Haroub Othman: 'The professor. The activist. A sophisticated city gent with an amazing grassroots and rural touch. Knowledgeable, knowing and known. Wise, skilled, experienced. Self-assured and quietly assertive, yet so humble to a fault. A strategic thinker, who published prolifically, networked furiously and patiently planted small seeds now that would reap whirlwinds later. One of a diminishing breed of genuine, gentle, generous pan-Africanists who could see clearly where we were coming from and what we urgently needed to do in order to get to where we so desperately need to go.'
UAF-Africa, Rural Women Peace Link and Nairobi Women’s Hospital are lobbying for services for women and children in Mt Elgon, who have been physically and psychologically traumatised by militia conflict in the region.
Kenyan security forces beat and tortured hundreds of civilians in several communities during an October 2008 disarmament operation in Kenya’s northeastern Mandera districts, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said in a report released on 29 June. HRW is calling on the Kenyan government to establish an independent inquiry without further delay, to investigate and then prosecute those responsible.
The death of Michael Jackson, civil society in Africa, solar farms in the Sahara, the consequences of human conflict for nature and Wole Soyinka’s words on the Nigerian government’s proposed amnesty for militants in the Delta are among the topics covered in this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere.
African leaders, the majority of whom are men, will not easily see . This is because from the day they were born, society has taught them to view women in a particular image using a biased lense. Beliefs like: Women do not challenge men, do not speak in public, do not inherit/own property, have not rights over ther bodies, are unintelligent, are very evil etc are fresh in our leaders' minds and it explains why they marry/ cohabit with so many women.
This same attitude is translated into policies and the women will simply continue suffering. The Domestic Relations Bill was not passed by the Ugandan parliament because of the male dorminancy. They were also afraid that they would be criminalised first because they are victims of all kinds of violence against women. Female decision makers in Africa tend to forget that not everyone enjoys the same privileges as them, they need to remember the under privileged, especially their fellow women. Women just like men are human, with emotions and needs, please respect their rights.
cc With Kenya's exploitative elites continuing to monopolise the country's resources, Antony Otieno Ong’ayo argues that profound change is needed to halt a debilitating 46-year status quo of marginalisation and impoverishment for much of the Kenyan populace. While change will ultimately need to come from below, Otieno Ong’ayo contends, Kenya's leadership will need to moderate its relentless appetite for wealth if 'business-as-usual' is to be prevented.
A resident of Mtabila camp calls for Pambazuka readers to take urgent action to stop the Tanzanian government from forcibly repatriating Burundian refugees.
Chambi Chacage broke the news of Professor Haroub Othman's death on 28 June to friends and colleagues. Here are some of the memories, thoughts and feelings of people whose lives Othman touched, upon hearing the news of Othman's 'passing on'.
Pamoja Media is the premier vehicle for marketers looking to reach an African online audience globally. Previously, marketers both on the African continent and in the Diaspora have had a hard time connecting with the diverse African audience.
cc Chambi Chachage explores when and how ‘settlers’ or ‘natives’ become ‘citizens’, in the first of a series of three articles exploring the idea of dual citizenship with reference to Tanzania. Definitions of citizenship in modern nation-states in ‘societies other than Euro-American ones’ were influenced by how the notion developed in Euro-America and how it was ‘selectively applied in the Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America in the context(s) of colonialism, imperialism and developmentalism,’ Chachage argues. ‘It is this colouring that we need to unpack as we trace the historical and political trajectories and implications of the idea and praxis/practice of citizenship in Africa,’ says Chacage.
The media flurry surrounding the Confederation Cup over the past few weeks was a small demonstration of what’s in store for Southern Africa next year when South Africa hosts World Cup 2010. Media is an important part of such an event’s success, as well as inspiring future generations of young footballers. However, it does raise the question – where are women in sport? Women and girls continue to be left out of the sporting arena, especially when it comes to media coverage.
The African Network of Professionals ,(ANOP) is calling for participation in its major event – “The Congress of African Professionals”. The congress will be held in Accra, Ghana on 11th - 13th November, 2009 at Accra, Ghana. The theme of the Congress is “Professionalism in Africa: Problems and Prospects”. There will be a pre-congress workshop on the 10th November, 2009 at same venue.
Daouda Diallo, President of Conseil Supérieur de la Communication (CSC), Niger’s media regulatory body, on June 29, 2009 banned Niamey-based independent Dounia TV and Radio station for broadcasting a statement calling on Mamadou Tandja to resign as President of the country.
The ECOWAS Community Court hearing the case of torture brought by Musa Saidykhan, a Gambian journalist against the operatives of the Gambia’s notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA), on June 30, 2009 dismissed the preliminary objections raised by the Gambian government, the defendant in the case. According to the Community court, Saidykhan is a citizen of West Africa and that the court is mandated by the ECOWAS protocol to hear human rights violation cases brought before it.
Olivier De Schutter
It is no myth that repressive regimes are becoming increasingly more savvy in their ability to effectively employ sophisticated filtering, censoring, monitoring technologies (often courtesy of American companies like Cisco) to crack down on resistance movements. In other words, political activists need to realize that their regimes are becoming smarter and more effective, not dumber and hardly clueless.
This latest policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the fragile 2007 Ouagadougou Peace Agreement, which ended five years of fighting and territorial partition between the government and the rebel “Forces Nouvelles”. National and local authorities need to dramatically increase the tempo of electoral preparations, administrative reunification and disarmament of armed groups or the country could slide back into open conflict.
The trial of seven Gambian journalists accused of publishing with “seditious intention” will now continue at a High Court in Banjul instead of the Kanifing court where the trial began. On July 1, 2009, the accused, four newspaper journalists and three executives of the Gambian Press Union (GPU) were summoned to appear on July 3, instead of the original adjourned date of July 7.
African leaders remained united in their condemnation of the arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and called such a move a “slap in the face” on the ongoing efforts to restore peace in restive Darfur. The issuance of an arrest warrant against the Sudanese President, Bashir has been a hot issue during the African leaders' meeting in Sirte, central Libya and could end up with a total rejection of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Stakeholders met on July 1 in Harare to discuss Zimbabwe’s external debt, which threatens the welfare of its citizens who have been ravaged by a deep social, economic and political crisis. The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), a coalition of institutions and individuals focusing on social and economic justice, convened the meeting under the theme “The Economy in Transition Dialogue Conference: Towards a Sustainable Public Debt for Zimbabwe”.
Over 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes so far this year as a result of significant increasing violence in DR Congo, Sudan and Somalia, international agency Oxfam has said, as heads of state gather at the AU Summit in Libya to discuss peace and security across the continent.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced concern over the political and constitutional crisis in Niger, calling for restraint and political dialogue to resolve the issue. In a statement issued at the UN headquarters in New York, Ban said he was “deeply concerned” about the ongoing political and constitutional crisis in Niger.
Mali consumes 65 million tonnes of wood per year, which represents 90% of the country's energy consumption, according to the Malian government. Despite the adoption of a national programme for the increase in the use of butane gas and the Domestic Energy Strategy (SED), wood consumption remains high in the country.
In the third shooting incident in less than two weeks on Egypt’s border with Israel, two Somali refugees were shot dead Thursday morning by Egyptian border guards, according to a Somali refugee living in Cairo. He said that the refugees had been attempting to sneak into Israel, but were stopped and shot by Egyptian police before they were able to enter the Jewish state. At least 6 people have been killed on the border in the past month and a half weeks.
Former Guinea Prime Minister Dr Ahmed Tidiane Soumare was released on Wednesday morning after being detained for a few hours at Peleton Mobile 3 (PM3), a garrison of the gendarmerie in Conakry, according to his immediate family. The former head of the “broad-based” government under the late President Lansana Conte had been arraigned on Tuesday evening and taken to PM3 as he failed to keep his commitments of making a monthly payment for US$200,000 as promised when he was first arraigned last March.
Wael Abbas, a leading Egyptian blogger and activist who has documented police abuse in the country in recent years, staged a sit-in for 10 hours after security confiscated his computer upon arrival from attending the Talberg Forum in Sweden.
The International Rescue Committee is launching an emergency measles vaccination campaign targeting thousands of refugee children in Hagadera camp to contain an outbreak of the disease at the massively overcrowded site. The IRC has confirmed six cases of the highly contagious virus and suspects 19 other cases in Hagadera, one of three overflowing camps in Dadaab, eastern Kenya
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe met U.S. Under-Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson on the sidelines of the 13th Ordinary Session of the African Union General Assembly in Sirte, Libya on Thursday. The meeting with Carson was the first time in several years that a senior member of the U.S. administration has met President Mugabe, The Herald said on Friday.
The International Monetary Fund said Zimbabwe’s economy may be recovering after a decade of recession. “A nascent economic recovery appears to be underway,” Vitaliy Kramarenko, the IMF Mission Chief for Zimbabwe, said today in a statement. “To sustain positive economic trends and improve living standards, reform and stabilization efforts need to be stepped up.”
Elections in Guinea-Bissau to replace assassinated President Joao Bernardo Vieira are to go to a second round, the electoral commissioner says. Mr Vieira was killed in March in apparent revenge for the death of the head of the army in a bomb blast. The two frontrunners from Sunday's vote are the ruling party's Malam Bacai Sanha with 39.6% of the vote and former President Kumba Yala with 29.4%.
A survey by an anti-graft watchdog has found Kenya east Africa's most graft-prone nation with a bribe expected or solicited in nearly half of all transactions, followed by Uganda and Tanzania. The inaugural East Africa Bribery Index, according to Reuters yesterday, showed Kenya's police force was the most corrupt public institution with 66.5 per cent bribery rate.
United Nations-backed Congolese armed forces conducting intensified military operations in eastern and northern Democratic Republic of Congo have failed to protect civilians from brutal rebel retaliatory attacks and instead are themselves attacking and raping Congolese civilians, Human Rights Watch has said. The attacks on civilians from all sides have resulted in a significant increase in human rights violations over the past six months.
Kenyan security forces beat and tortured hundreds of civilians in several communities during an October 2008 disarmament operation in Kenya's northeastern Mandera districts, Human Rights Watch has said in a report. Human Rights Watch called on the Kenyan government to establish an independent inquiry without further delay to investigate and then prosecute those responsible.
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is once again calling on President John Atta Mills and other African leaders currently meeting in Sirte in Libya to condemn the systematic campaign being waged by President Yahya Jammeh’s administration to undermine media freedom and freedom of expression in The Gambia.
In 2005, the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project, which is run by the International Livestock Research Institute, set up a series of information centres throughout Ethiopia. The centres, equipped with a variety of information and communication technologies, provide farmers with information they need to develop new products and increase the yields of existing crops. The project is also attempting to improve the links between farmers and traders, creating opportunities for small-scale producers to sell to new markets, thereby increasing their incomes and helping to reduce poverty in the area.
Collecting detailed information, and making sure it is accurate, can cost a lot of time and money. It is expensive for fieldworkers to travel regularly to every project site, and the technology involved in gathering the data – often small handheld computers – can take a lot out of a limited budget. One solution is Mobile Researcher, a tiny application that can be installed on the mobile phones.
Radio is often considered to be a one-way medium, but the African Farm Radio Research Initiative is investigating ways of combining radio and ICTs to gather content and to share information among farming communities throughout rural Africa.
Efforts to guard Uganda against looming food insecurity are held back by government’s failure to encourage and sensitize farmers on what specific fertilizer types to use in order to rejuvenate the increasingly less fruitful soils. Scientists warn that despite availability of some improved seed varieties, soils in the landlocked East African country can no longer produce food sustainably to feed a rapidly growing population.
The European Commission and UNIFEM are embarking on a programme that will be implemented in Rwanda, Kenya, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and Cambodia. With a total budget of €2,450,353 for three years, the programme will focus on promoting the leadership of HIV-positive women’s groups and gender equality advocates, to ensure that gender equality priorities are identified, realized and budgeted in national HIV and AIDS responses.
Around the world, a woman dies every minute from pregnancy-related causes. Globally, there are more than 500,000 maternal deaths per year, the majority of which are in Africa where in many places the maternal mortality rate (MMR) is as high as 1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births. And these death threats are only increasing: one in every 16 African women faces the lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy and delivery-related complications, particularly those from marginalized communities and those living in poverty.
Electrogaz, Rwanda's public utility, is considering water rationing due to shortages caused by a prolonged drought in parts of the country, officials said. Environmental specialists blame the drought on climate change, with erratic rainfall and frequent dry spells combining to increase water shortages.
he United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IOM are joining forces to tap into key technical expertise among the Somali diaspora in a bid to help rebuild key governance foundations in parts of the country. Somalis with professional expertise in policy and legislation, human resources management and public financial management living in North America, the UK and Scandinavia will be targeted for temporary return for an average period of six months to provide on-the-job peer-to-peer training in their respective fields in northern Somalia initially, including Somaliland and Puntland.
In a ruling Thursday, the Delhi High Court overturned a 148-year-old colonial law criminalizing consensual homosexual acts saying that it was a violation of fundamental human rights protected under India’s Constitution. In so holding, the court reasoned that “the criminalization of homosexuality condemns in perpetuity a sizable section of society and forces them to live their lives in the shadow of harassment, exploitation, humiliation, cruel and degrading treatment at the hands of the law enforcement machinery … A provision of law branding one section of people as criminal based wholly on the State's moral disapproval of that class goes counter to the equality guaranteed under Articles 14 and 15 under any standard of review.”
The oil industry in the Niger Delta of Nigeria has brought impoverishment, conflict, human rights abuses and despair to the majority of the people in the oil-producing areas, according to a new Amnesty International report. Pollution and environmental damage caused by the oil industry have resulted in violations of the rights to health and a healthy environment, the right to an adequate standard of living (including the right to food and water) and the right to gain a living through work for hundreds of thousands of people.
Female internally displaced persons (IDPs) will again be able to learn job skills, take literacy classes and receive awareness programmes on reproductive health after the joint African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) helped reactivate women’s centres at an IDP camp in the Sudanese region.
The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General has highlighted the benefits of investing in agriculture, which she stressed is the key to a brighter future for Africa and its people. “Since time immemorial, agriculture has been the cornerstone of development in every region, not just in Africa,” Asha-Rose Migiro told participants at the African Union Assembly in Sirte, Libya.
The governing body of the United Nations trade and development agency has convened a meeting in Geneva to highlight the need to keep the food crisis affecting Africa from being forgotten as governments focus on tackling the global economic downturn. While the food crisis may not be making the headlines it did last year, food security is still a major concern in many African countries, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
More than 170,000 people have been displaced from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, since early May when fresh fighting broke out began between Government forces and insurgents, the United Nations humanitarian wing has reported. In addition to those uprooted from their homes, the fighting between Government forces and the Al-Shabaab and Hisb-ul-Islam groups have also led to some 250 deaths, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
South Africa has passed a new law that compels all cell phone users to register their SIM cards. Users who fail to register would be barred from their network services. The new law came into effect on July 1 2009. It seeks to assist the country’s law enforcement agencies investigate and combat serious crimes. In a joint statement to the public MTN, Cell C and Vodacom said all cell phone subscribers have to show proof of identity as well as present a utility bill to show proof of residence to be registered.
Barely a week after World Bank gave Mozambique $31 million to help in increasing availability of reliable communication, the country is also to have $176 million loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).The loan is expected to help uplift the southern African country's economy.
The government of Gambia is to pay compensation to the families of the 44 murdered Ghanaians in that country in 2005. Ghana's Deputy Information Minister, Samuel Akudzeto Ablakwa, said the two governments arrived at the decision in Libya after a discussion between Presidents Atta Mills and Yahya Jammeh.
The troubled unity government of Zimbabwe is locked in a "make or break" battle over the constitution that could see the party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai walk out. Members of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) boycotted a cabinet meeting led by Robert Mugabe, but sources in the former opposition group said they were not yet ready to disengage.
The co-chairperson of the Parliamentary Select Committee on constitutional reform, Douglas Mwonzora, on Friday said comments made by Robert Mugabe that the new constitution must be anchored on the Kariba Draft, were just a reflection of Mugabe’s personal view point. Mwonzora told over 2,000 delegates attending the ‘2009 people’s constitutional convention’ that Mugabe’s views were not binding on the constitution-making process. During a question and answer session many delegates had voiced concern that Mugabe was imposing the Kariba draft on the people.
The freelance journalists who were barred from covering the COMESA summit recently, have made an application in the High Court to make a court decision legally binding. High Court Justice Bharat Patel ruled in June that the Media and Information Commission (MIC), led by Tafataona Mahoso, was now a defunct body and no journalist should be required to register with it.
A meeting of a Commonwealth committee on Zimbabwe, which is set to host a roundtable discussion in South Africa next week, could pave the way for the possible readmission of the country into the 54-nation grouping. The group of former British colonies suspended Zimbabwe in 2002 after the widespread violence that characterised, and ultimately cemented, the result of the presidential elections that year. Zimbabwe then quit the grouping in 2003 after then South African President Thabo Mbeki failed to get the suspension lifted.
Zimbabwe will re-evaluate all mining contracts and introduce a "use it or lose it" policy for its mining industry under a proposed law, Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said. The vetting of mining contracts by Zimbabwe's unity government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is likely to surprise investors at a time Harare is wooing them to help repair a battered economy.
Darfur rebels signed an accord with one of Sudan's main opposition parties in Cairo on Wednesday, agreeing to push for a new transitional government, both sides said on Friday, a move that will infuriate Khartoum. The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which attacked Khartoum last year, and the opposition Umma party told Reuters the deal was a "declaration of principles" and shared ideas and did not amount to a political or military
The first evaluation of a pilot in Tanzania to provide affordable Internet access to rural communities through a shared wireless (mesh) community network has been completed, and the results look promising. Eight months ago, IICD helped the Tanzania Telecentre Network (TTN) in the rural district town of Sengerema to set up a pilot to share a wireless (mesh) community network. The goal of the network is to make Internet available - and affordable - to large numbers of people who live in the rural areas around the telecentre.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic has dealt a body blow to the delivery of health care services in countries hard hit by the disease, new research has found. The National Bureau of Economic Research at Princeton University in the United States compared data from national Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 14 sub-Saharan African countries – eight in relatively low-prevalence west African countries and the remainder in higher-prevalence east and southern African countries.
Establishing and scaling up early infant HIV diagnosis (EID) programmes is feasible in even the most remote parts of Ethiopia, reported Berhanu Gudetta and colleagues in a study at the HIV Implementers’ Meeting, held in Windhoek, Namibia in early June. Renovation of two regional laboratories making DNA PCR testing possible, coupled with the successful use of dried blood spot testing (sometimes referred to as DBS), increased the numbers of infants receiving early diagnosis and consequently improved early initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for infants aged nought to 18 months.
If HIV treatment standards in the global South do not keep up with standards in wealthy nations, history will not judge well current efforts to expand treatment in resource-limited settings, Dr Kevin M De Cock, outgoing head of HIV at the World Health Organization, told the 2009 HIV Implementers’ Meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, earlier this month.
At the closing of the UN Conference on the Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development, governments adopted an outcome document reflecting months of negotiations. The Global Social Economy Group -a coalition of social groups and networks- looked at 7 key issues that civil society deemed crucial for the success of the conference. Although some progress was made on a few issues, the overwhelming majority of outcomes falls far below what is necessary to provide developing countries with the resources and tools they need to deal with the crisis.
Concern is mounting in Kenya that the government has leased a big slice of agricultural land to the Qatari foreign investors to produce food for export. Land rights activists are questioning the rationale of such a move, claiming the land could be used for domestic food production. The activists say that they are privy to information that the government has leased 40,000 hectares of land to the Qatari administration for cultivation of fruits and vegetables for export.
Unemployment among young South Africans is hovering at 30 percent, shooting up to over 60 percent for youths in their late teens and early twenties. But tertiary education and skills development seem not to be making much of a dent in what is now regarded as a crisis. According to a 2008 report by the Centre for Development and Enterprise, a conservative think tank that researches the effect of poverty and unemployment on South Africa's economic growth rate, 65 percent of the four million youths between 15 and 24 that were available for a job in 2005, were unemployed.
This report by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) outlines the community-based approach to the decentralisation of HIV and AIDS services. The Wellspring of Hope was the first programme in Lesotho to provide HIV and AIDS treatment and care through an entire health service area as a result of this initiative.
A gay rights group in Cameroon is calling on the justice department to immediately drop charges against and release Yves Noe Ewane, arrested in May this year, allegedly for being gay. Ewane was charged under sections 74 for criminal intention, 346 for gross indecency and 347 for homosexual conduct under the Cameroonian Penal Code, following a complaint filed against him by the mother of a supposed minor who accused Ewane of having sexual relations with his son.
The government has issued a stern warning to homosexuals and their sympathisers, saying it will not accept practice of unnatural sex even if it means losing out on the much needed donor support. The Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Dr Nsaba Buturo, told journalists at the Uganda Media Centre yesterday that they are ready to forfeit any amount of donor funding that is tagged as a condition to accept homosexuality.
The World Bank has approved US$3.5 million for Liberia for its Costal Defense programme which will target three cities including Monrovia, the capital City of Liberia and two other major cities in the country, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) communiqué has said. According to the EPA communiqué, the fund is also targeted to reduce the impact of climate change and build capacity for Liberians on the magnitude of funds needed to tackle climate change.
More than 10, 000 Nigerian girls held captive as sex slaves in Morocco and Libya are to be repatriated, the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora has revealed in a statement. The girls reportedly from Edo State, the southern part of the country, aged between 13 and 17, had been held captive by sex slave traders, the statement said.