Pambazuka News 410: Lessons from Zimbabwe; debates on Obama, Africom, and the food crisis
Pambazuka News 410: Lessons from Zimbabwe; debates on Obama, Africom, and the food crisis
As the world commemorates World Aids Day whose theme is Leadership and Unity to stop HIV, Aids and TB, gay rights groups in the country have said that the gay community is still marginalized in terms of HIV and AIDS programming in the country. Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, OUT LGBT Sexual Health Fieldworker, said that government does not recognise LGBTI people as high risk in their programming.
Ten Sudanese newspapers have suspended publication as part of a growing protest against state censorship, Sudanese journalists said. Reporters said on Tuesday that it was the biggest voluntary shutdown of the media since the days of British rule in the 1950s.
The European Union has said it will take "appropriate measures" to punish Mauritania after failing to restore constitutional rule, the French foreign ministry has said. Frederic Desagneaux, the foreign ministry spokesman, said on Thursday: "Given that the junta's proposals have been deemed insufficient by the international community, EU member states will examine, based on the proposals of the European Commission, appropriate measures".
Reporters Without Borders condemns the imprisonment of Abdel Fettah Ould Abeidna, the editor of the privately-owned Arabic-language weekly Al-Aqsa, in Nouakchott on a criminal libel charge. Abeidna was immediately jailed on his arrival from Dubai, from where he was extradited.
Thousands of people in a slum 20km south of Khartoum are living in makeshift shelters made of sticks and cloth after their homes were razed by the government. Local officials said 4,000 homes were destroyed as part of a government plan to reorganise the Mandela settlement to make it more habitable. Another 6,000 are due to be demolished.
Zambians are gradually turning to greener energy technologies to save trees after suffering years of extensive flooding and droughts, which could slow the impact of climate change. Charcoal-fed braziers are being replaced by those burning briquettes made of treated coal waste, which are smokeless and emit low levels of sulphur dioxide gas.
Women in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, north-eastern Somalia, are calling for greater representation in the region's parliament in the upcoming elections to reflect their role in society. Asha Gelle, the Puntland Minister of Women and Family Affairs, told IRIN on 3 December that women were demanding "to be represented at the table where decisions are made. This time around we want to make sure that our rights and interests are represented."
Environmental degradation, responsible for the dangerous displacement of sand dunes in Mauritania, has wiped out homes, livestock and livelihoods throughout the desert country. An October UN study estimated that land degradation costs nearly US$200 million annually in potential revenue losses and health care expenses.
With an HIV infection rate of 5.2 per cent, the lucrative mining sector in Guinea is particularly at risk from the epidemic. Some mining companies have begun setting up their own programmes to make up for the lack of HIV/AIDS services on offer. But they say a public-private partnership is essential if local residents are not to be excluded.
A new law that, if passed, will allow the Kenyan government to determine the content, style, manner and schedule of broadcasting, has drawn fierce resistance from the media industry. The Kenya Communications Amendment Bill 2008, which is now in its final stages of the legislative process in Kenya's Parliament, proposes to set up a communications commission appointed by the government to issue licences to broadcasters and a raft of heavy fines and prison sentences for various offences.
Africa's first communications satellite has suffered an energy failure just 18 months after its launch. The solar panels have malfunctioned on the Chinese-manufactured satellite, according to Alhassan Zaku, Nigeria's minister of state for science and technology.
Exclusive literary auction to help women worldwide
On behalf of WOMANKIND, Pambazuka News would like to promote a new short story entitled Grab Pots and Pans and Spoons and Make a Noise, which you can bid for at
Written exclusively for WOMANKIND by Jackie Kay, Ali Smith, and Jeanette Winterson, signed and unsigned copies of Grab Pots and Pans and Spoons and Make a Noise which was are available now on WOMANKIND's website!
The book, which was beautifully designed by Sarah Wood, is available as part of an online silent auction which will raise funds for WOMANKIND's work. There are only 250 copies of this 36-page story which was inspired by the words of a South African woman who benefited from WOMANKIND's work.
The Mumbai terror attacks have dominated the news headlines last week. China’s top brass still remain cautious about the country’s economic future. The Summit in Beijing has definitely sparked an interest among other emerging powers. Meanwhile, the African Union has also expressed concern that the slowdown in China may affect the continent’s strategic relationship with Beijing. At the same time, China appears to be increasing its competitive advantage for mining deals, and South Africa seems unlikely to extend Chinese import quotas. And China has pledged vaccines to assist in the Zimbabwe cholera outbreaks. This and much more in this week's round-up by Sanusha Naidu.
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) became aware of the abduction of our sister Jestina Mukoko on Wednesday from her home in Norton. We are advised that 15 armed men took her away in her nightdress whilst her teenage son looked on helplessly.
We firmly believe that these were state agents and wish to say that we hold Robert Mugabe and his party that is still illegally ruling accountable for this abduction. We demand her immediate and unconditional release.
We call on all solidarity networks to please call Norton police station +263 62 2120 and demand her immediate release.
To state agents who took her our message is simple: your identity will not remain a secret and you will be held accountable – we are mobilising – the world is watching.
4th December 2008
For more information, contact Jenni Williams through [email][email protected] / [email][email protected] or www.wozazimbabwe.org
We are concerned that the media community is sitting idly and letting politicians decide our fate. We cannot afford to allow Parliament to pass the Kenya Communications Amendment Act with its provisions that will definitely lead to our emasculation. And nobody should be deceived that this Act will be good for the media and the country. The devil is in the detail, and upon a closer look, one will discover that what the Government has done or condoned in the past against the media – the May, 2005 attack by First Lady Lucy Kibaki on hapless journalists, the March, 2006 raid by Mamlukis at the Standard, and the ban on live broadcasts early this year — will just be but a prick compared to the proposals in the Kenya Communications Amendment Act. We met Members of Parliament serving in the committee that deals with media, led by Eng. James Rege, on September 15, 2008 at their invitation to discuss this Kenya Communications Amendment Act, and gave them a raft of proposals.
International lust for the enormous mineral and resource riches of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) abetted by international indifference has turned much of country into a colossal "rape mine" where more than 300,000 women and girls have been brutalised, say activists.
Widespread rape and murder continues in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in central Africa, but Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Dr Elaine Dietsch says her annual visit to the strife-torn country puts trans-cultural midwifery, primary health care and women's and children's health into a global perspective for her.
The Confédération Paysanne du Congo (Peasant Confederation of Congo), COPACO-PRP, member of La Via Campesina in Africa, launches an appeal for international solidarity, given the armed conflict and insecurity situation that has intensified in the last weeks in the Northern province of Kivu, on the border with Rwanda.
Faced with spiraling food costs, Bunge la Mwananchi and others are calling for a mass boycott and non-violent actions on 11 and 12 December 2009.
Until the mid-20th century, many European countries grew rich on the resources of their colonies. Now, countries including China, Kuwait and Sweden are snapping up vast tracts of agricultural land in poorer nations, especially in Africa, to grow biofuels and food for themselves. The land grabs have sparked accusations of neocolonialism and fears that the practice could worsen poverty. Yet some organisations think this could be a chance for poor countries to trade land and labour for the technology and investment vital for developing their own food and energy production.
Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) calls on the International Criminal court to arrest Mswati as a perpetrator of human suffering for presiding over a crime against humanity.
The Green Belt Movement, founded by Nobel prize-winner Wangari Maathai, has a partnership with the Basque government for community-based tree planting and natural resource management initiatives in southern Mt.Kenya.
This is a story about a house with a history and about the people who lived or worked there. It captures something of the spirit of the times in worlds of politics and development, and it discusses the links which were established between Oxfam GB in Zambia and the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa. Edited by Robin Palmer, Bookworld Publishers, Lusaka 2008: ISBN 9789982240512. Also available from
This book traces the economic debates in the ANC from the Freedom Charter, to Morogoro, to the RDP and to the present. It shows that the shift to macro-economic stabilisation in thetransition to democracy in 1994 was due to international pressure and how it changed the trajectory of ANC policies.
Pambazuka News 405: Hope in USA, despair in Congo
Pambazuka News 405: Hope in USA, despair in Congo
Chris Colley’s article ‘China’s Maturing Foreign Policy’ sets out a convincing argument that the underlying principles of Beijing’s foreign relations will not dramatically change and that a growing pragmatism based on “market rationality” will dictate relationships. Given that the increase in China’s economic and political involvement in Africa is arguably the most momentous development on the continent since the end of the Cold War, the implications for the continent are of profound interest. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is now Africa’s second most important trading partner; though behind the United States it is ahead of both France and the United Kingdom, with Sino-African trade hitting approximately $US74 billion in 2007.
In this essay Chris Colley of China’s People’s University argues that the Olympics will not change the foundation of Chinese foreign policy. He argues that the most important contribution to Chinese foreign relations will be less noticeable including a newfound confidence among Chinese in their dealing with the world and a greater interest in the road China takes towards modernization. He also explains how Beijing is becoming more practical in its dealings with its neighbors.
A Cairo Administrative Court rescinded the government’s decision to dissolve the Association for Human rights and Legal Aid (AHRLA) on 26 October 2008. This followed an appeal by the association. The court ruling found the government’s decision to be legally groundless and reinstated AHRLA.
We note the rare unity of the political class in dismissing the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Post-Election Violence as inadequate and flawed. We also note the dismissive attitude of the police force towards the findings of the investigation, as well as the faultfinding by the Attorney General.
A short term military operation without a coherent EU approach combining security measures, humanitarian aid, policing and reforming efforts would not be able to address the Congo crisis in the long term, participants at a joint hearing in the European Parliament learned on Tuesday (4 November). "If we take a dispassionate look at the situation in Eastern Congo these days, it is not difficult for us to realise that a consistent and coherent EU approach would provide a different panorama than the one we face today," Joao Gomes Cravinho, Portugal's secretary of state for foreign affairs and co-operation told MEPs.
The Travail of Dieudonne is a modern version of Meja Mwangi's Going Down River Road.
The main narrative in the novel is a biography of Dieudonne, a houseboy (that colonial term that refuses to go away) to an expatriate white couple teaching at a university in Mimboland.
Mimboland is a typical African nation-state wracked with poverty due to bad governance. It is reliant on foreign aid and the unbalanced trade relationship with the West (Remember Giles Poor Story?).
Dieudonne is an exile in Mimboland. He not only ran away from his homeland because of civil war, but also to escape the horrifying reality of his father's misery.
Nyamnjoh uses Dieudonne's life story as a metaphor to capture the degrading and depressing social reality in the post-colonial Africa. His family's life is traced from the colonial era into the present. His father sacrifices his life in the service of colonial masters during the European wars — passed off as World Wars. He dies a poor man with nothing to show for his contribution, only a stump of a leg after losing one in the war.
REFLECTIONS
Dieudonne's father's mirrors that of many African foot soldiers during the so-called First and Second World Wars who came back without limbs and ended up as beggars in their homelands.
The characterisation of Dieudonne's life with his master and mistress is a replay of the colonial relationship between Africa and Europe, in some sense. He lives at the mercy of the couple. Indeed, by the time we meet him, he has worked for a number of white couples always willing to 'fire' and 'hand him over' to another white couple.
In the hands of these expatriates, he matters little. Just like his country, which grows cotton for export to Europe, he can only offer service to the foreigners.
Life collapses around him. He takes to heavy drinking that leads to a testy relationship with his employers. Eventually, he loses his wife, Tsanga.
After the departure of his wife, Dieudonne spends most of his non-working time in the 'Grand Canari', a drinking den in the neighbourhood of Swine Quarter. The latter stands as the antithesis of Beverly Hills, where the rich of Mimboland live. And it is this contrast that Nyamnjoh is challenging us to examine in his story.
INSPIRATION
However, like most postcolonial African writers, it is easy to see where his sympathy lies — with the poor. Out of the desire to speak for the poor, the author relocates the story to the 'Grand Canari.’
It is in this drinking hole where the downtrodden wash away their sorrows with whatever type of alcohol their pockets can afford. When the pocket is heavy, one can drink the most expensive spirits; when light, there are equally poverty-friendly brands.
Dieudonne's life-story and the context in which he tells it serve many purposes in the theme of the novel. On one hand, he offers the reader the opportunity to critique Africa's history, especially its neocolonialist tendencies which have led to local leaders abdicating their responsibilities to serve and instead becoming parasitic.
Also, in Dieudonne the author celebrates the resilience of the underprivileged by highlighting their enduring sense of hope or sheer desire to 'live another day.'
However, most significantly, the subtext of the novel is a call to rethink the transnational linkages and shared cultures as Africans in a world where Africans are 'junior brothers.’ Indeed, Nyamnjoh tries hard to stress the pan-African connections in this book. His references to languages, music, foods, names and cultures from across anglo- and francophone Africa are a challenge to Africans, especially students of comparative literature, to engage more with arts from beyond their localities. This stylistic tendency is evident in his earlier book, A Nose for Money (2006).
The call to engage with a broader postcolonial African reality, especially the plight of the poor, is weakened by the bilingual/multi-lingual nature of the book.
* researches and teaches literature and communication.
* Francis B. Nyamnjoh is associate professor and head of publications and dissemination with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). Nyamnjoh’s Married But Available (Langaa Publishers, 2008) is available at the both . The Travail of Dieudonne is available from East African Educational Publishers.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/
http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/404/China_in_Africa_tmb.jpgWith China’s ‘rise’ prompting new questions around the country’s strategy and the motivations behind how it conducts its international affairs and foreign policy, Stephen Marks considers the direction the country may take in light of new developments. Dispelling simplistic interpretations of Chinese indifference to human rights and environmental concerns in countries like Sudan and Zimbabwe, the author that the Asia giant has an essential interest in promoting peace, social stability, good governance and equitable development in its African partner countries.
The Somali Diaspora traces, through photographs and essays, the journey of a family from the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya to new lives in the United States. The work takes readers from civil war in Africa to the culture shock of arriving in the United States, growing roots in the Somali community, learning English, finding work, and–in a remarkably short time–participating fully in American life.
‘The Somali Diaspora is remarkable in its ambition; it is a necessary book, very much worth reading and buying, and an important addition to the work done on the Somali presence in North America.’ Nuruddin Farah
‘Having travelled many of the steps of the Somali Diaspora, Abdi Roble always photographs what he knows and cares deeply about, making these photographs as much autobiography as photojournalistic narrative. The Somali Diaspora deftly chronicles the almost irreconcilably odd collision of cultures that emerges out of relocation, but with hope and sympathy throughout. It also performs the important job of making Minnesotans, and Americans at large, look at and take stock of the society we've created that they seek as refuge.’ George Slade, artistic director, Minnesota Center for Photography
‘Opening The Somali Diaspora is like finding a hidden doorway into the lives and experiences of Somali immigrants to the United States. This book will serve to give us all a deeper sense of connection to anyone whom we may come to call 'neighbor' and 'fellow citizen.'‘ Omar Jamal, executive director, Somali Justice Advocacy Center
* For more information, including the book's table of contents, please visit the .
* Abdi Roble was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. He emigrated to the USA in 1989, where he developed a passion for photography. Roble started the Somali Documentary Project in 2003, and won the Arts Freedom Award by the South Side Settlement House in 2006. Doug Rutledge is a poet, essayist and academic.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/
Cast aside your fears
For once,
Nervously
As on the day you wed,
Have faith in the universe
that beauty can be borne
of hope,
your hope
and positive energy
which we must radiate
not on the hurts of the past
or fear of ourselves
but because
history breathes
this whispered hope
because if we cannot hope now
then when?
An estimated 100 million to 140 million girls and women worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and more than 3 million girls are at risk for cutting each year on the African continent alone. FGM/C is generally performed on girls between ages 4 and 12, although it is practiced in some cultures as early as a few days after birth or as late as just prior to marriage.
Mobiles in-a-box from the Tactical Technology Collective is a collection of tools, tactics, how-to guides and case studies designed to help advocacy and activist organisations use mobile technology in their work. Mobiles in-a-box is designed to inspire you, to present possibilities for the use of mobile telephony in your work and to introduce you to some tools which may help you. After reading the material in this toolkit you can expect to be able to design and implement a mobile advocacy strategy for your organisation.
Mozambique's government will drive the development of four 'science parks' across the country to encourage scientists to find solutions for its social, health and infrastructural problems. António Leão, national director of Mozambique's Ministry of Science and Technology, says the initiative is aimed at taking science and technology to the people.
The report by Waki Commission is unprecedented in many ways, in that for the first time in Kenyan history; sexual crimes have not only been acknowledged but also given the prominence that they deserve. The report makes grave revelations regarding sexual crimes by indicating that they were “under-reported, under-investigated and insufficiently addressed.”
Engender is a registered NGO focused on strategic interventions in the intersecting areas of Genders & Sexualities, Human Rights, Justice & Peace. We are currently seeking to fill the contract position of Coordinator of an exciting project focused on Intersexuality. Please send CV with detailed covering letter, highlighting competencies in the required areas above, by Wednesday 19 November.
It is the UN's biggest and most expensive peacekeeping operation ever. But when things got serious in the Democratic Republic of Congo the blue helmets failed to defend the population from rebel troops and instead concentrated on protecting themselves.
Struggling to make an impact on your target audience? Are issues unresolved despite your best efforts? Are you excited about the advocacy potential of the Internet, mobile phones or information design, but uncertain about how you can take advantage of them? The Info Activism camp, to be held in Bangalore, India from February 19th to 25th, helps rights advocates to make the best use of information, communication and digital technologies to achieve their objectives.
The Institute for Social and Economic Studies (IESE) will be holding its second conference, on the 22nd and 23rd of April 2009 in Maputo about "Dynamics of Poverty and Patterns of Economic Accumulation in Mozambique." IESE intends to contribute to challenge mainstream approaches to poverty and to develop the debate further by introducing new perspectives that are based upon the political economy analysis of poverty in relation with the patterns of economic and social accumulation and reproduction.
Sokari Erkine reviews the following from the African blogoshphere:
Dulce Camer
Koluki
African Loft
Jonathan Elendu
Nigerian Curiosity
Gorilla CD
Black Looks
In response to by Joseph Yav Katshung: I have been reading with great alarm for years about the massacres and genocide going on in the Congo (Zaire). Around 2003 I was outraged by the massacres of the Hema and Lendu tribes in Ituri province that killed 50,000 people and wrote poetry to protest it. The occasional articles about Congo in the New York Sun indicated that the information was heavily censored by the regime and the full extent of the atrocities wasn't known.
Recently I have read more in detail about the genocide in the Congo. The more I learn, the more alarmed I become. It seems that the primary driver of the genocide has been the fight over coltan and casserite mines which are used to produce cell phones and gold mines. In addition the other problem has been Congo's refusal to disarm the Hutu genocidal killers from Rwanda. Perhaps the most alarming thing I learned is that the leaders of the Hutu killers are being politically sheltered with asylum protection in Belgium, the U.S., France, and Germany. I sent letters to my friends asking them to support legislation in the U.S. Congress which would try to certify that coltan and casserite from the Congo is not being mined by any of the combatant parties.
I have been reading your articles and have been deeply moved by them. I read your article marking the 14th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide that touched and saddened me. I admire your efforts to support legal mechanisms both international as well as congo national to prosecute the killers and ensure justice for the victims. It seems obvious that the West is as indifferent to the genocide in Congo and Darfur as it was to the genocide in Rwanda. Tragically there is no political will at all for genuine action to stop genocide anywhere in Africa on the part of either Western or African leaders.
I am looking for the following information to continue my research and action on behalf of the Congo:
1. ethnic composition of North and South Kivu provinces before 1998 and after the recent war / genocide
2. books explaining the pre-colonial history of the Kongo Kingdom and other tribal groups that previously ruled in Congo such as Luba
3. ethnic composition of the victims of ongoing genocide in North and South Kivu provinces of Congo - including whether particular groups have suffered proportionately more deaths due to massacres as opposed to starvation and disease
4. your opinion on the efficacy of the U.S. trying to ensure that coltan and casserite in the Congo isn't produced by warlords
It is so ironic that being given such a context of human rights abuse in Angola, this year's global World Habitat Day under the theme'Harmonious Cities' was commemorated in Angola -
What kind of a society are we creating if we continue to condone demolitions of people's markets? Surely, this year's World Urban Forum should address human rights violations where people's livelihoods and homes continue to be affected by demolitions , which affect negatively on women and children.
I had the pleasure and honor of speaking with Kambale Musavuli on October 28, 2009, when I called Maurice Carney, Executive Director of , to tell him that the "San Francisco Bay View, National Black Newspaper," had posted an essay and a video I'd recommended on Congo that week and planned to post Kambale's "What the World Owes Congo," plus my own piece on Congo, and the U.S. in Congo, as I perceive it from here.
"I know who you are," I said, as soon as Kambale answered Maurice's phone and told me that he was a civil engineering student at North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College. "I just read your piece in Pambazuka and asked another editor to post it to her website."
Kambale said thanks and then riveted my attention with everything else he had to say about Congo, especially when he told me that he belonged to a tribe whose name is transliterated as Nandé, but that tribal membership is insignificant in Congo, and that the Congolese identify nationally, as Congolese. He thus quickly dismissed the usual propaganda about ethnic conflict, rather than Congo's vast mineral wealth, as cause of the horrific violence reported there.
However, even as Kambale and I spoke, renegade General Laurent Nkunda's was leading his highly disciplined, well-armed, and ruthless militia towards Goma, the capitol city of Congo's mineral rich North Kivu Province, causing the catastrophic displacement now growing worse hourly.
I had been writing a piece on what Barack Obama might mean to Africa and the Congo, from an American perspective, what former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, the U.S. Green Party's dissident African-American presidential candidate, has meant, and about the terms in which both have addressed the Congo crisis.
However, by the 29th, all observers declared Laurent Nkunda and his militia firmly in control of North Kivu, with the help of the Rwandan Army bombing, shelling, and firing across the Rwandan border, very near Goma. Nkunda then agreed to a cease fire and demanded talks with President Joseph Kabila.
Not only Eastern Congolese, but also the Congolese Army, and UN Peacekeepers had been fleeing Nkunda's militia in every direction for several days.
So, I felt compelled to put the piece I was working on aside and write an account of the worsening catastrophe, as well as I could understand it, highlighting the U.S. role as provider of weapons and military training to Rwandan President, Paul Kagama, and thus to his ally, Laurent Nkunda, in Eastern Congo.
This evening I told Maurice Carney that I'd called the Rwandan Embassy, also in Washington D.C., and quoted fleeing Congolese refugees saying, "The Rwandans are hitting us so hard that we have to run." I also told the diplomat who answered how appalled I was, but he wanted to argue about how misinformed I was, and kept insisting that Rwanda had not invaded Congo.
I told him that very mainstream press like AP, the BBC, and Reuters had quoted fleeing Congolese, including children, saying exactly these words, but Rwanda's diplomat wanted to argue indefinitely, and accused me of spreading misinformation, (passed to me, of course by the insidious AP, the BBC, and Reuters), so I signed off.
I asked Maurice Carney to send me a photograph of a vigil he and allies had organized outside the Rwandan Embassy in Washington D.C., to go with my essay for the "San Francisco Bay View, National Black Newspaper." Maurice thanked me, enthusiastically, for calling the Rwandan Embassy, and urged me to share the number and the story with as many people as possible, so here it is: Rwandan Embassy, Washington D.C., (202) 232-2882.
There's one more thing I can do right now, which is to look up the telephone numbers for the Rwandan Embassy in London, 020 722 49 832, and Toronto, 613) 569-5420/22/24.
And, if we're going to call Rwandan Embassies, I we might as welll try calling President-Elect Barack Obama's office after November 4th, (202) 224-2854.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, after failing to break the deadlock over the formation of a new Zimbabwean government at a meeting in Swaziland, referred the matter to a full emergency summit of SADC heads of state. The government of South Africa announced that it would host that 15 nation summit aimed at bringing together SADC leaders ‘to save the power-sharing deal, seen as the best hope for ending months of political turmoil and halting Zimbabwe’s stunning economic collapse’. Meanwhile, President Jakaya Kikwete and Chairperson Jean Ping, acknowledging that there was need for immediate action to prevent further escalation of the humanitarian crisis in the North Kivu Province, announced that the AU was ready to restore peace in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). An AU special envoy has been sent to DRC and to its neighbouring countries to promote ‘a holistic approach to the current crisis, building on existing instruments and mechanisms whose implementation already enjoys the strong support of the international community’.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the regional integration division of the Economic Commission for Africa has launched an Observatory to assist policy makers, member States, regional economic communities and all stakeholders with timely and relevant information on current progress, challenges and issues related to regional integration in Africa. Member States of the East Africa Community have asked experts to identify possible complications to free movement of services as negotiations for the region’s common market focus on transport policy, competition and consumer welfare, approximation of laws and various commercial policies. The first session of the AU conference of ministers in charge of social development held in Namibia was intended to develop a comprehensive social policy framework that reflects countries’ commitment towards the Millennium Development Goals.
In other news, South Africa minister of trade and industry, in his acceptance speech as incoming chairperson of the conference of African Ministers of Trade (CAMI) bureau, called for the full use African intellectual, human, historical and natural resources to realise Africa’s potential. The AU Commissioner for economic affairs announced that the commission, in collaboration with the African Development Bank, was organising a conference of ministers of finance and central bank governors to discuss the impact of the global crisis on African economies, its impact on the Bank and also examine its impact on aid to Africa. The secretary general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) said that the proposed free trade area between COMESA, the East Africa Community and Southern African Development Community would reduce the costs of doing business and give way to an Africa-wide economic community. Finally, an analyst comments on the recently concluded extraordinary session of the African Peer Review Mechanism.
Codou Bop, 2008-11-06
Codou Bop, coordinator of the Groupe de Recherche sur les Femmes et les Lois au Senegal, writes about the launch of the ‘Stop killing and Stoning Women!’ campaign by the Women Living under Muslim Law Network. She asserts the need to integrate campaign against gender violence within the broader struggle for basic human rights.
cc. With Barack Obama safely elected to his country’s highest seat of power, Bill Fletcher Jr. discusses the sense of fear and anticipation to have gripped him as the votes came in. As the wave of post-election excitement inspires the world, the author reviews the key issues revealed by the electoral process requiring attention in the immediate future, and argues that the tide of expectation around the Obama presidency will only be sustained by the regenerative role of grassroots organisational structures capable of educating and mobilising the millions of people seeking a new political direction.
I found myself facing a peculiar choice. Because I was taking election day off to do election work, I could have submitted an absentee ballot. In fact, that would probably have been the most logical thing to do. It would have saved me a lot of time. I kept procrastinating in filing for such a ballot until it was too late.
On election day I realised why I did not file the absentee ballot. Like millions of other voters, and particularly African-Americans, I had to physically touch the voting machine. In my case, it was a touch-screen computer, but it would not have mattered whether it was that or an old-style lever that I had to push. 4 November 2008 was a moment when I had to make physical contact with the voting machine and actually see my vote counted. I had to know that it was actually happening. And I needed to stand in line – in our case for two and a half hours – with hundreds of other African-Americans and wait patiently for a moment to influence history.
Irrespective of any reservations one might have regarding the proposed policies of President-Elect Obama (yeah, I get a kick out of writing and saying ‘President-Elect’) there is no question but that the election victory had a profound emotional impact on black America specifically, as well as this country generally. I can honestly say that I never expected to see a liberal black person elected president of the USA, and I was not sure that a conservative black person would be elected either. As the election returns were coming in my stomach was tied up in knots unlike anything that I have experienced since my daughter was born. I did not make predictions and I do not trust polls. More importantly, I did not trust the white electorate.
WHAT TO MAKE OF THE ELECTION?
In reviewing the stats from the election, the results are quite interesting. Obama won the popular vote by 52% compared with McCain's 46%. This is extremely significant and has not been replicated by a Democrat since Lyndon Johnson won the presidency in 1964. Nevertheless, what it also shows is that the USA is quite divided. That 46% of the vote that McCain won represented more than 55 million people. What is noteworthy is that while Obama won only 43% of the white vote, whites under the age of 30 backed him by a 66-32% margin. Latinos voted with Obama at a rate of 67% (an important increase over those who went with Kerry in 2004). Women voted with Obama at a rate of 55%, though he lost white women by 5% points (though this was better than Senator Kerry in 2004). It is also noteworthy that though Obama only received 45% of the veterans’ vote, compared with McCain's 54%, this remains significant in light of the red-baiting and terrorist-baiting that was being targeted at him. Additionally, union voters went with Obama at 60% compared with McCain’s 38%, a lower percentage than should have sided with Obama in light of the current economic crisis but which probably reflects racial divisions within the house of labour.
In my view, the election reflected several important concerns and tendencies:
- The economy: there is no question that the economic crisis had a significant impact on the electorate. 63% of voters indicated that the economy was a priority issue. McCain was never successful in crafting a message on the economy that resonated with the public
- Concern about the perception of the USA overseas: there was a sense among Obama supporters that there needed to be a change in the relationship of the USA to the rest of the world. This was, however, very unfocused
- A decline in the importance that voters attached to both the Iraq war and terrorism: with regard to Iraq this probably reflects a growing sense that the war is coming to an end and that the occupation is not a critical issue
- The next Supreme Court appointments: for 47% of the electorate this was a critical issue. This was a hot-button issue with liberals and progressives who have been watching the Supreme Court make increasingly indefensible decisions that reflect its right-wing course
- Race matters…sort of: particularly among younger voters, race was a less significant factor in influencing voter behaviour than among older voters. It is also apparently the case that the economic meltdown led many white voters to put racial concerns on the back burner. That said, the ‘racial neutrality’ of the Obama campaign took matters of racist oppression largely off the table for any significant discussion, a fact that may return to haunt the incoming administration.
Without question the Obama victory needs to be understood as a tribute to exceptionally good organisation, the initial positioning of Obama as, at least in the primaries, an anti-war candidate, the onset of the economic crisis, the candidate's continuous message of optimism, and Obama's ability to remain cool under fire.
ACT II: BEGINNING RIGHT NOW
The implications of the Obama victory will need to be unpacked over the coming weeks and months. That said, there are a few points worth noting because they will have strategic implications:
Obama's mandate is vague yet identifiable: the mandate he has received is to address the economic crisis immediately in a manner that favours regular working people. This is evident from the polls and from plenty of anecdotal information. In addition, the mandate involves changing the relationship of the USA to the rest of the world. This particular point is very unfocused but it is evident that the US voters are increasingly concerned about the perception of the USA overseas and what that means for matters of national security.
Most people were unfamiliar with the actual programmatic steps Obama is advocating on the economy, yet they were unwilling to be swayed by the red-baiting rhetoric of McCain and Palin. This may offer an opportunity for progressives to advance one or another variant of a redistributionist approach toward the crisis.
With regard to foreign policy, this is extremely complicated and quite troubling. While Obama has emphasised the need for negotiations as a first step in international relations, when confronted by forces to his right, he has tended to back down and often suggest highly questionable military and crypto-military options in handling crises, e.g., unilateral attacks on al-Qaeda bases in Pakistan. Some people around Obama seem to be advocating a get-tough approach towards Iran which itself could lead to hostilities. While the people of the USA, by and large, are not looking for more war, the ability of the political Right to manufacture the ever-present threat from right-wing Islamists (including but not limited to targeting Iran) has successfully promoted a climate of fear. This will, more than likely, be a weak point for the president-elect and a place where pressure must be placed by anti-war forces.
The world is expecting a great deal from an Obama administration: all corners of the earth erupted in glee upon news of the Obama victory. Obama will more than likely reach out to traditional US allies in order to repair the damage done by the eight years of the Bush administration. There will more than likely be outreach to Africa, though the character of that outreach is as yet to be determined. Obama, while Senator, expressed a great deal of interest and concern with Africa, and developed legislation focussing on the ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He will probably try to alter the relationship of the US to Africa, though it is not entirely clear how thorough such an alteration will be. One should expect outreach to the African Union to offer support in cases of humanitarian disasters and crises, but unless Obama is prepared to break with the whole ‘war against terrorism framework’ there may be continued militarisation of the continent (through vehicles such as AFRICOM and the Trans-Sahel Military Initiative).
Progressives will need to perfect an approach of ‘critical support’ towards the Obama administration: the corporate backers of President-Elect Obama have no interest in a transformative agenda. They are interested in stabilising capitalism generally, but especially stabilising the financial sector. They are open to selective nationalisations as long as such nationalisations do not bring with them significant popular accountability. In light of this, progressive forces will need to be organised in such a way to mount a challenge from the left side of the aisle. President Obama will need to be pushed on many areas, including foreign policy, healthcare, housing, jobs, and in general, the need for a pro-people approach to addressing the economic crisis. Taking this approach of critical support means, tactically, pointing out what has not been accomplished in the Obama agenda on the one hand, and, on the other, challenging the new administration when it advances policies that are regressive, e.g., threatening Iran or Cuba, or compromising with the insurance companies on healthcare.
Critical support also means raising issues that the Obama administration may tend to shy away from or avoid altogether, such as race and racism. Race is fused into the US system. Racist oppression and the differential in treatment between people of colour and whites remains a major part of the US reality. For that reason, progressives must push the Obama administration to address the continuing impact of racist oppression. This may lead to clashes that at one and the same time appear to be tactical, i.e., matters of timing, but are actually quite fundamental, that is, about whether there needs to be a systemic challenge to racist oppression.
None of this happens in the absence of organisation. Those who rallied to the Obama campaign came from various political tendencies and experiences, and many of them will seek to return to their ‘everyday life.’ At the same time, there are those who mobilised that are looking to be part of implementing the ‘dream’ and they will be unable to do this as individuals operating alone. If one really wants to advance an approach of critical support for the incoming administration, it will mean creating the grassroots organisational structures around the country that are capable of educating and mobilising the millions of people who are seeking a new direction. This approach, what I have described elsewhere as a neo-rainbow approach, can be used to exert pressure to ensure that the incoming Obama administration lives up to its full potential.
So many of us cried with joy and amazement on the evening of 4 November with this historic breakthrough. Our excitement cannot rest with the electoral success but must be fused with a genuine effort to create a new politics.
* Bill Fletcher Jr. is the executive editor of BlackCommentator.com and a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies. He is the immediate former president of the TransAfrica Forum and the co-author of ‘Solidarity Divided’ which analyses the crisis in organized labour in the USA.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/
Focussing on the US’ new military initiative AFRICOM, Beth Tuckey sets out the central points of consideration for the new president-elect as his administration nears its first days. Emphasising that the military might of AFRICOM must not be permitted to usurp diplomacy as the feature tool of dialogue and negotiation, the author urges the new president to curb the excesses of resource-hungry US corporations and to prioritise African security and prosperity. While his presidency may yet yield some lapses of judgment, Obama’s commitment to diplomacy and greener energy represent a worthy point of departure, the direction of which will only be maintained by the continual vitality of civil society voices.
cc. August saw a fresh outbreak of conflict in the DRC. Since then, approximately 250,000 have been displaced in the eastern part of the country. Following a brief cease-fire declared by the forces under the command of General Laurent Nkunda, fighting again erupted on the 4th of November. Ever since the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, and the subsequent wars that raged between 1996 and 2002, the country has hardly seen a moment's respite. The Kivu region has been the epicentre of the latest round of fighting. In an interview with Firoze Manji, Ernest Wamba Dia Wamba outlines the conditions necessary for a lasting peace in the DRC
Pambazuka News: After many years of silence about the killings in the DRC, the world's attention has suddenly turned to the current sweeping of Laurent Nkunda's forces around Goma. What's brought about this kind of attention?
Wamba dia Wamba: I think that the change of the balance of forces on the terrain is part of the reason. The scope of the humanitarian catastrophe forces many western people connected with media, with humanitarian organisations and also the rising interest in the situation of the DRC around the US elections. One hears that the incumbent regime would like to create hot situations either to help the Republican candidate or to create faits accomplis for the new regime to deal with. Around certain universities in the US, for example, for the first time a trend has developed to take up the issue of the silence on killings in the DRC. And, we have to add also the need for Western capitalists, after the Chinese contract with the DRC government, to re-assume their control over the Congolese resources. We hear that the idea of a Kosovo is being played, but, if it materialises it will be not for Congolese peoples’ interest but to have control over very important mineral and agriculture potential resources of the area.
Pambazuka News: The mass media in the West predictably seeks to portray the conflict as tribal. But what is this conflict about? What are the political and economic factors behind the conflict?
Wamba dia Wamba: Tribal differences have never been a cause of conflict; other conditions must prevail to transform differences into discriminations and these to lead to conflicts. There are of course many unresolved issues since the Rwandese genocide took place and many, including genocidaires, moved massively to the DRC as recommended by the international community. Nkunda, for example does use the presence of the FDLR [Forces Démocratiques de Liberation du Rwanda], still committed to retake power in Rwanda and perhaps carry out genocide, as one reason for his war. The truth of the matter is that we have to distinguish between the main objective, access and control over the resources, and the conditions facilitating that objective, the existence of genocidaires creating havoc on innocent people, the sentiments of exclusion still felt by the Tutsi Congolese, the involvement of the DRC government with those genocidaires – used as the government's marines, according to some – and the possible alliances between business people aligned with government officials of states in the region. Most of our regional governments are actually led by security officers allied to businessmen. It is said that Rwandese businessmen, among others, have been financing Nkunda to keep control of the mines and continue exploit minerals – coltan, niobium, etc – very much sought by transnational enterprises producing or distributing mobile phones, satellites, etc.
The subsoil of the whole of the DRC has almost been sold out with contracts to so-called partners. Quite a few family members of people in power, from the summit on, find themselves on those contracts. One suspects that in zones where there is no firm control by any state, weapons decide everything. In a sense, Kivu is now the weakest link of the globalisation’s chain. We need to identify the different contradictions converging there. The absence of a real state authority, apparently willed by some who are in the State, facilitates the agents of the world economy of crime.
Pambazuka News: What are the roles of Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Angola in this conflict? What's in it for them?
Wamba dia Wamba: After having experienced the destabilisation of a Mobutist gendarme state, many neighbouring countries would rather prefer having a weak Congo around, especially if they can even benefit from that weakness by engaging also in the looting of resources of the Congo. The invisible alliances in business facilitate that kind of pursuit. Certain officials in Uganda and in Kinshasa at some point did have joint business going on. Rwanda has an interest it uses contradictorily: the presence of the genocidaires to claim that its security is threatened and to keep a situation of anarchy to have access to resources on which its businessmen have been enriching themselves. Their participation in the last two rebellions made them taste the resources available in Congo and in fact want to continue enjoying them in one way or another. The task of organised government in Kinshasa would have been to find ways of legalising participation in the common exploitation of resources. This process has been very slow and one feels that the anarchy is found more profitable in the short run.
Pambazuka News: The European Union and other countries are deeply engaged in exploitation of the DRC's resources. To what extent are they culpable in the current crisis?
Wamba dia Wamba: Certain transnational enterprises were identified by the UN panel some time back: Anglo-America, Standard Chartered Bank, De Beers, etc. The nature of the minerals being exploited in the area can only be used by advanced enterprises and Africans are just intermediaries. The campaign against the DRC-China contract by the West is an indication of their willingness to control the Congo resources. The sad part is that profitability through bloody coltan being higher, they do not really care about the life of the innocent Congolese, only to reduce the miseries through so-called humanitarian punctual aid and not to eradicate violence altogether.
Pambazuka News: Are we witnessing the 'Balkanisation' of the DRC?
Wamba dia Wamba: The rebels are occupying an area of about 3 territories. It is not clear whether in negotiations they will accept to give it up. If the DRC government does not succeed in getting that territory back and if external forces support the keeping of the territory by the rebels, a small but very rich country will be formed and the impact on the rest of the country may lead to a real balkanisation. The government is being asked not to give up to that demand if formulated. Congolese people are firm for their territorial integrity.
Pambazuka News: Does the Kinshasa government have any control of the situation?
Wamba dia Wamba: Not really, that is why it has being criticising the MONUC for its own failure to arrest the war. Because of the nature of leadership we have, mostly interested in looting resources and staying in power, condoning impunity, etc.; institutions hardly function. Most of what it promised to do is not being done, including national reconciliation and building of a real national army. Even the new government being sworn in does not seem to inspire confidence in the population. Many useless dead-woods have been but behaving as if the republic is their private propriety – the so-called the parallel government have been re-included.
Pambazuka News: What should be the response of pan-Africans to the present situation?
Wamba dia Wamba: Call for a regional African Peoples’ conference, if there is a way to make this happen. What is needed even for democracy to be built in the area is that people agitate to really build a post-neoliberalist developmentalist State. In the short run, we should agitate against any possible Balkanisation, for the application of the Nairobi agreements, for the exchange of embassies between the DRC and its neighbours, Rwanda and Uganda, and for an urgent humanitarian intervention.
* Professor Ernest Wamba dia Wamba is honorary senator and vice-president of the Organizing Power of the Kongo University.
* Firoze Manji is editor in chief of Pambazuka News and director of Fahamu – Networks for social justice.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/
http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/405/zim_women_tmb.jpgHighlighting the chronic lack of representation for women within each of Zimbabwe’s main political parties, Shereen Essof asks how Zimbabwean feminism should proceed in its essential challenge to the oppressive dominance of the country’s political elites. In a nation suffering the world’s highest inflation rate and among the world’s lowest life expectancy, the author asks what these statistics mean in practical day-to-day terms for Zimbabwe’s women. With Mugabe, Tsvangirai, and Mutambara continuing to fail to settle their differences and articulate a worthwhile path for their country’s immediate future, those at the apex of political power effectively hold their entire population hostage to their decisions, a state maintained in no small part by the behind-closed-doors nature of negotiations and ultimate absence of democratic accountability.
With the DR Congo crisis presenting a complex mosaic of conflict, war, violence, rivalries, alliances, and competing interests, Jacques Depelchin reviews the background behind the country’s ongoing troubles and explores broader areas of responsibility. As the DRC seemingly destructs and self-destructs, the author asks whether people’s willingness to continue consuming mineral resources extracted from the country should more properly be situated in a tradition of Western peoples’ enjoying comforts at the expense of African populations dating at least as far back as the triangular Atlantic trade and subsequent colonial period. A fuller, more comprehensive understanding of the DRC’s history and Western history at large would reveal, Depelchin contends, an established practice of ‘doing away’ with figures deemed threatening to those in power, a practice of marginalisation that will ultimately have to be effectively tackled if future crimes against humanity are to be averted.
Reflecting on his time as United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa (2001–2006), Stephen Lewis highlights the sustained failure to facilitate female leadership and offer effective protection for women perpetrated by UN agencies and African countries’ political leaders. Drawing on examples such as the complete absence of a single woman’s voice at January’s DRC peace negotiations, Lewis emphasises the widespread lack of opportunity for female leadership and representation. Just as he underlines the extent to which violations of the DRC’s resources have been inextricably linked to violations of the country’s women, the author argues that rape has become an essential strategy of war as a means of subduing entire communities. As a challenge to this cauldron of sexual violence, Lewis argues for the pressing need for a United Nations agency for women in order to begin to tackle issues of profound inequality, oppression, and abuse until now simply neglected.
Following Barack Obama’s historic electoral victory, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem reviews the new president-elect’s global appeal and comments on prospects for the future. Cautioning against any notion that Obama’s presidency will automatically reverse the fortunes of the poor and downtrodden, the author nevertheless celebrates the historic ascendancy of an individual whose own path will serve as a potent example for others around the world.
This week’s China-Africa Watch by Stephen Marks features Chinese responses to the Obama election, details of developments in Sudan and the DRC, the Chinese railway industry in Africa, and China’s trouble in the face of global economic downturn.
If the political class strategy of denial, disparage and diverting public attention manages to kill the implementation of Waki the report, this will heighten public distrust for Kenya's criminal justice system and reinforce the culture of political impunity. We must resist vigorously the grand impunity of the political class and our government. Support full implementation of Waki report by signing this petition and forwarding this petition link to your friends.
The Elders is a group of eminent global leaders, convened by Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel to bring their experience and independent voices to the resolution of conflict and to innovative, cooperative efforts to address the great global challenges of our time. We are looking for a Policy Officer and a Communications Assistant to join The Elders’ busy team in London. Applications for both positions close on Friday 21 November 2008.
In its ongoing effort to bridge the digital divide, Nokia has introduced a range of affordable mobile devices and innovative new services specifically for people in emerging markets. In addition to Nokia's lowest cost handset to date, as well as its first handset for emerging markets with an integrated digital music player,
Nokia unveiled a range of services that leverage the power of the Internet.
The number of children dying before their fifth birthday in Kenya has risen in the past 10 years, according to health specialists. One in nine children dies before the age of five. "For every 1,000 children born, 121 die, compared with 97 in 1990," Shahnaz Sharif, the senior deputy director of medical services in Kenya's health ministry, told IRIN.
Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu have been granted bail by Justice Ndou in the Bulawayo High Court this afternoon. The two were instructed to pay bail of $200,000 each (roughly USD 1.50). Other conditions include reporting to their closest police station twice a week and not travelling outside of a 40km radius of Bulawayo Post Office without written permission from a Magistrate.
The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) is looking for a suitable candidate to fill the position of Programs Manager. This position offers possibility of gaining experience working for a leading Africa women’s Regional organisations in a very stimulating, multicultural and dynamic environment. The position will involve considerable travel within Africa and other parts of the world.
WCoZ has always advocated for peace and nonviolence in the country. However realizing the grave crisis that faces the country now WCoZ launched the “Conclude the Talks - We are Dying of Hunger Campaign”. On the 27th of October 2008, about 1000 women gathered near the venue of the SADC Troika Talks to demand a resolution of the crisis and send a message to the three political leaders and SADC Troika that the talks should be concluded urgently and efforts to restore Zimbabwe should begin henceforth.
We the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, on behalf of the women of Zimbabwe remain gravely concerned by the failure of the Political Principals to conclude the talks that will result in the resolution of the Zimbabwe’s political, economic and humanitarian crisis.
In a case that looks set to again highlight the legal and reputational risks associated with environmental damage arising from alleged corporate negligence, oil giant Shell will this week be served with a summons compelling representatives from the company's Dutch HQ to respond to accusations that its operations have caused environmental damage in Nigeria. Four Nigerian citizens, together with campaigners from Friends of the Earth Netherlands and Nigeria will file the lawsuit in the The Hague on Friday.
The misadventures of the French charity Zoe’s Ark in Chad early last year (1) finally opened to question the motives and morality of aid agencies. For the first time an organisation was criticised in the media, rather than lauded for its good intentions. The humanitarian industry’s success made it inevitable its power would be abused. After the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami, people had begun to question whether non-governmental organisations had the competence to administer the huge amounts of money they received.
This panel responds to the recent efforts of tracing the historical roots of current divergence of incomes and occurrences of poverty in the world. It has been argued that the fundamental cause of current income levels is the lack of pro-growth institutions which originated under the colonial system. This session welcomes new research that suggests new evidence and methods to explain
long term economic and social change in African countries.
Sunni Islam's highest authority has approved a woman's right to fight back if her husband uses violence against her. The declaration by Sheikh Abdel Hamid al-Atrash, who heads Al-Azhar University's committee for fatwas or religious rulings, comes after similar rulings by clerics in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
A West African regional court ruled Monday that the government of Niger had failed to protect a young woman sold into slavery at the age of 12. The landmark ruling, the first of its kind by a regional tribunal now sitting in Niamey, Niger’s capital, ordered the government to pay about $19,000 in damages to the woman, Hadijatou Mani, who is now 24.
Non-profit internet provider GreenNet has recently released a new ultra-low power computer. The tiny computer can run on a car battery for hours and uses a maximum of nine watts of electricity. Sustainable in almost every way – from its fabrication, to its distribution and consumption – the E2 also comes fully equipped with free and open source operating systems.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has accused UN peacekeepers of failing to stop rebel troops killing civilians in the east of the country. "People are being slaughtered and [UN peacekeepers] did nothing," a spokesman for President Joseph Kabila said. The comments came as regional leaders met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in Kenya for crisis talks.
Renewed violence has ended hopes of negotiating an end to Zimbabwe's political crisis, the country's main opposition party has said. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) blamed President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party for an "orgy of brutality" across Zimbabwe. The statement came ahead of regional talks in South Africa this weekend on Zimbabwe's political stalemate.
British police will not investigate a construction company accused of corruption in Lesotho, they have said. British firm Mott Macdonald were implicated in an audit of a dam project in the southern African kingdom. But the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said it will not be looking into the accusations, two years after they received them.
More than 80 percent of the population is still dependent on biomass for energy in the Southern African region, particularly, wood, cow dung and coal. It is mainly women and children in rural areas that bear the brunt of lack of access to modern, safe and affordable energy. They are the ones that collect wood and search for coal in and around operating and abandoned mines.
Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda’s forces and government-backed Mai Mai militias deliberately killed civilians in Kiwanja, North Kivu province, on November 4-5, 2008, Human Rights Watch has said. UN peacekeepers based in the area were apparently unable to protect civilians from attack. Nkunda’s forces battled pro-government Mai Mai militias on November 4 and 5 in Kiwanja, killing a number of civilians trapped in the zone of conflict.
Guinea should require its security forces to use restraint in responding to street protests, Human Rights Watch has said, after security forces opened fire on groups protesting to demand lower fuel prices. Protests on November 3 and 4, 2008 within the Guinean capital Conakry have left at least four people dead and some 20 wounded. According to witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch, numerous casualties occurred after the security forces opened fire on groups of protesters apparently in an attempt to disperse them.
The detention of political activist Alexis Sinduhije and 36 others by Burundian police on November 3, 2008, highlights the growing obstacles to the free exercise of civil and political rights in Burundi, Human Rights Watch said today. Sinduhije, well-known as a former radio journalist, has been trying since February to form an opposition political party, the Movement for Security and Democracy (MSD).
The World Bank, acting as administrator for the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA), has signed a grant agreement for US$8 million with the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) to support increased access to electricity in rural towns and villages with grid access, within the context of the Universal Electricity Access Program (UEAP) in Ethiopia.
The World Bank, acting as administrator for the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA), has signed a grant agreement for US$6.02 million with the Health Insurance Fund (HIF), a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands, to establish a community health scheme for low-income families in Lagos, Nigeria. The scheme will provide affordable pre-paid health insurance plans for up to 22,500 beneficiaries.
Nana Konadu Agyeman, the hawkish wife of ex-President Jerry Rawlings, has written to the diplomatic community and some international organizations that the impending December 7 general elections will descend into civil war (Daily Guide, 28 October, 2008).
Significant improvements in the security situation in northern Uganda have allowed about half of the more than 1.8 million people who had been internally displaced by the conflict to return to their villages, while another quarter have moved to transit sites nearer to their homes.