Pambazuka News 403: Resisting free trade and global finance
Pambazuka News 403: Resisting free trade and global finance
Reporting to the Director of Programmes, the Manager for the Governance Institutions and Processes Department will assist in running EISA's Governance Department. Closing date for submission of applications is Friday, 31 October 2008. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. EISA reserves the right not to appoint.
The Programme Officer , reporting to the Election and Political Processes Manager, will, among other tasks, assist the EPP Manager in the implementation and management of the department's programmes, conceptualise, coordinate and evaluate projects in the area of elections and political processes, liaise on behalf of EPP with project partner organisations, and liaise with EPP project donors as delegated by the Manager.
After a series of delays, the European Commission unveiled on Friday (17 October) a legislative proposal to tackle the scourge of illegal logging. However, the EU executive has acceded to demands from some sectors of the timber trade that it police itself. Instead of requiring that traders halt timber imports to the EU from illegal sources, the commission's proposal only demands that they "seek sufficient guarantees" that no laws are being broken when the wood is harvested.
Nigeria’s government is to pass new laws to overhaul the country’s oil and gas sector before the end of the year, ramping up the pace of reform in spite of fears among Western majors that the changes could cost billions in profits. Umaru Yar’Adua, the president, hopes the new law will form the foundation for a revival of an industry where attacks on pipelines and constraints on investment have fuelled a growing sense of crisis among energy companies.
International pressure is rising fast as the rest of Africa,and the international community loses patience with Robert Mugabe’s open flouting of both the terms and the spirit of the power sharing accord. The Mugabe regime and the state-controlled media continue to parrot the tired refrain that personal travel restrictions against the Zanu (PF) hierarchy and an arms embargo, which they call
sanctions, are responsible for the country’s economic collapse.
Women must be empowered and respected, particularly by men, in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Nafis Sadik, United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region, has said at a poverty alleviation conference in Beijing, Reuters reports. According to Sadik, lack of respect for women is a primary reason for the spread of the virus.
We (the shack dwellers of Khayelitsha) would like to bring our concerns into your attention and we note with great concerns that people who are living at informal settlements within the City of Cape Town are ignored and undermined by the City and we therefore call on the City of Cape Town:
Published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), this 544-page report highlights the opportunities presented by the world's natural resource base to support development and the objectives of the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The report, which is the second in a series of Africa Environment Outlook reports, underscores the need for sustainable livelihoods, and the importance of environmental initiatives in supporting them.
This 34-page report, published by CARE, presents 7 case studies from across Africa that focus on three types of threatened environmental resources: land, forests, and water. In each case women share their stories of how the loss or degradation of such critical resources has adversely affected their lives and what they are doing to address these problems.
This 32-page report looks at the impact of desertification on women around the world and their role in dealing with the problem. It examines the way in which women in particular are affected by desertification and highlights the role they play in the management of natural resources and drylands, as well as the constraints they face.
Launched by Panos London, an international development non-governmental organisation, Desert Voices is a collection of stories and testimonies of how climate change affects individual lives in Ethiopia and Sudan. Compiled and published online, the radio and print testimonies of individuals, produced by journalists, aim to show the long term impact of desertification for the African region.
There is no greater breach of trust than knowingly taking advantage of those you have taken an oath to protect and to serve. What has been long regarded as baseless reports against members of the Kenya Police has finally been brought to the glaring spotlight of the public eye by the heart wrenching revelations made during the Waki Commission hearings. This concern is the focus of this issue of USAWA.
The petroleum potential of Africa, a key contributor of oil barrels to thirsty markets, is beginning to look dimmer because of the credit crunch and a host of endemic challenges. Certainly, Big Oil's continental land grab will continue. Countries such as Angola and those around the Gulf of Guinea continue to lease tantalizing exploration blocks in the deep waters off the Atlantic coast.
Joomla! is a Content Management System and is for a start not complicated; Joomla makes it easy for non-technical people to create professional and dynamic websites. Why? Because it has been developed with the masses in mind. You do not need any programming knowledge such as HTML or PHP to use Joomla for web creation. Joomla! is easy to install, simple to manage, and reliable. Using Joomla! is like using a word-processing program.
On October 27th, the 1st day of a landmark jury trial against Chevron in San Francisco, tell the company that you will not tolerate their human rights abuses in Nigeria or anywhere. Join us at the Chevron gas station at the corner of 9th and Howard in San Francisco in solidarity with Nigerian plaintiffs who are in Federal court nearby from 12pm-1pm. Bring your friends and co-workers.
Since 2003, photographer Abdi Roble and writer Doug Rutledge have been documenting the lives of Somali immigrants in the United States and of the people forced into the vast refugee camps that were set up in Kenya in the wake of the 1991 civil war in Somalia. In The Somali Diaspora, Roble, who immigrated to the United States from Somalia in 1989, and Rutledge trace the journey of a family from the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, home to more than 150,000 Somalis, to new lives in the United States.
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?).
The past few months have seen one of the most significant financial crises in North American and European history. The response was just as historic. To stave off regional and global recessions and restore stability and confidence in the market, northern governments are pursuing a massive and unprecedented program of government intervention, nationalizing banks, injecting massive subsidies into ailing institutions and re-regulating their financial sectors.
For the seventh conference to be held in Dakar (Senegal), papers that contribute to the understanding of the role of technology and innovation in achieving sustainable growth and development in the broadest sense of the term are invited. The conference organizing committee invites submission of full papers to be presented on the conference topics by March 31th, 2009. The event will be held on October 6-8, 2009.
Kenya has received $144.4 million in credit from the International Development Association for the Transparency and Communications Infrastructure Project (TCIP). Kenya ICT Board chief executive officer, Paul Kukubo, told the media on Friday that part of the funds $7 million (Sh525 million) will subsidise bandwidth costs for local Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) entrepreneurs.
Uganda is to benefit from $100m from the European Commission (EC) to support developing countries in the growth of information communication technology (ICT). Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, the Dean of the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology at Makerere University, on Monday said the funds would enable ICT students to carry out research in partnership with their counterparts in developed countries.
Public examinations, due to start countrywide next Monday, hang in the balance after the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA) forwarded some salary demands which have not been met by their employer. The final Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) examinations for Ordinary and Advanced level were originally supposed to start across the country on Monday this week. Grade 7 pupils write their examinations during the first week of October every year.
Zimbabwe's militant war veterans threatened on Wednesday to take action against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and urged President Robert Mugabe to form a government without him. Jabulani Sibanda, who chairs the militant grouping of the veterans of Zimbabwe's war of independence, said the Movement for Democratic Change leader was stalling a power-sharing deal, which has hit deadlock over cabinet posts.
C-Change Picks is an e-magazine that is supported by C-Change and implemented by The Communication Initiative and focuses on recent case studies, reports, analyses, and resources on communication for behaviour and social change to address health, environment, and civil society. While the first 3 issues of C-Change Picks have focused primarily on family planning, HIV/AIDS, and malaria, future editions will include information related to the environment and civil society. If you would like to subscribe, please contact [email][email protected]
Kelele is an annual African bloggers' conference which will be held for the first time in August 13th - 16th 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya. According to event organisers, Kelele is a gathering of African bloggers in the tradition of historical African societies where everyone has a voice.
Djibouti's president has said his country will have to go to war with Eritrea unless the UN acts to resolve growing tension over a border dispute. Djibouti has accused Eritrea of invading its territory and its ambassador to the UN told the BBC that Eritrea had been avoiding mediation.
Ghana's electoral commission has announced special arrangements so Muslim pilgrims going to Mecca for the Hajj can vote in polls on 7 December. The annual religious journey in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to take place between 30 November and 20 December.
Mr Mogae, who stepped down in April after two terms in office, said he was honoured and humbled by the award. Botswana is one of Africa’s most stable countries - it has never had a coup and has had regular multi-party elections since independence in 1966. Announcing the prize, ex-UN head Kofi Annan also commended Mr Mogae for his action to tackle the Aids pandemic.
Sudan’s recent legal actions against a militia commander and others accused of war crimes in Darfur hold little promise of bringing justice to victims of serious abuses, Human Rights Watch has said. Human Rights Watch accused the Sudanese government of trying to undermine investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Leaders of the Tripartite Summit from 26 African countries belonging to the three regional economic blocs in the East and southern Africa on Wednesday resolved to merge the blocs into a single regional market. The summit, bringing together leaders of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the East African Community (EAC), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), have agreed to establish a free trade bloc and a single customs union, stretching from South Africa to Egypt and from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kenya.
A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was set up in 2002 to investigate the causes of Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war, a brutal conflict during which all factions were accused of committing gross human rights violations. The TRC specifically recognised the effects of violence on women and the family structure.
As in US, the wives of Ghanaian presidential candidates are front-and-centre in the on-going electoral campaigns for the December 7 general elections.They are giving interviews, speeches and appearing on newspaper covers, television and websites. This is in contrast to Canada where wives of political leaders in the just ended general elections rarely appeared at the campaign trails.
States, while exercising their sovereign right to determine who enters and remains in their territory, have an obligation to protect the human rights of migrants, according to a new report produced by the Global Migration Group, of which UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is a member. The report was produced to mark this year’s 60th anniversary of the affirmation of universal human rights.
The detention of two activists from the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has been extended until Friday. A bail hearing in the case was held on Tuesday without them being present, after the state alleged that there was no transport available to take them to the court. Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu were arrested on 16 October and are being held at Bulawayo Remand Prison.
Hundreds of people on death row in Nigeria did not have a fair trial and may therefore be innocent, according to a new Amnesty International report. Nigeria: Waiting for the Hangman, says that those sentenced to death are poor and that more than half of the convictions are based on a confession – in many cases, extracted under torture.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the release of three journalists who have been held by kidnappers in Somalia for almost two months. Canadian Amanda Lindhout, Australian Nigel Brenan and Somali Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi were abducted on August 23 near the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The IFJ is extremely concerned about their safety after reports that their kidnappers threatened to kill Lindhout and Brennan if a $2.5 million (1.8 million Euros) ransom is not paid.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned a recent decision by the Egyptian newspaper Al Gomhoria to remove journalist Hesham Basyoni from his position after he wrote an article critical of the government. "We are extremely concerned that this is a politically motivated decision by a newspaper that claims to be independent," said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. "Al Gomhoria says that the government does not interfere with its editorial policy but if that is the case, they must explain why they have taken Hesham off his beat."
Ugandan rebel forces operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) killed six civilians in a deadly attack in the north-eastern village of Bangadi, the United Nations peacekeeping mission to the DRC has reported. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) – a notorious militia believed responsible for killing over 200 people, including 159 children, in the DRC since mid-September – looted homes and communal facilities in Bangadi before setting them ablaze on Sunday morning, according to the mission (known as MONUC).
More than 150 delegates from 71 countries are convening today at a United Nations conference in Nairobi to explore the roles of national bodies set up to protect or promote human rights in relation to the judiciary, law enforcement and monitoring of detention centres. During the three-day meeting, national human rights institutions will also report on activities undertaken as part of the Dignity and Justice for Detainees Initiative.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has confirmed its earlier decision to suspend the trial of a Congolese rebel leader accused of recruiting child soldiers to serve in his militia, but ordered that he remain in detention pending another hearing. In a ruling issued in The Hague, the ICC’s five-member appeals chamber unanimously dismissed an appeal by prosecutors against the trial chamber’s decision in June to stay the proceedings against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo.
A group of 40 Burundian students started university classes this week in the capital, Bujumbura, after becoming the first returnees to be granted scholarships by the United Nations refugee agency. The new students at Université Lumière in Bujumbura were selected to receive scholarships by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which helps to administer the German-funded DAFI scholarship programme.
Almost 14,000 people in northern Kenya have been displaced by flash floods that occurred last week, and are in need of urgent supplies such as food, shelter and clean water, the United Nations humanitarian wing has reported. Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told reporters in Geneva that at least three people were killed and 6,000 uprooted from their homes in the district of Mandera in north-east Kenya, when the River Daua burst its banks on 14 October.
Côte d’Ivoire’s fragile political stability and security situation are at risk as the country struggles to make progress in reaching benchmarks agreed to in the peace pact signed last year, according to a group of United Nations experts in a report just made public. In its final report, the Côte d’Ivoire Group of Experts warns the Security Council that security threats persist in the West African country because programmes to disarm combatants and dismantle militia remain largely incomplete.
Leading stakeholders in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry are to work together to minimise the standardisation gap between developed and developing countries through the Bridging the Standardisation Gap Fund. This was announced at the Global Standard Symposium at Emperor's Palace in Johannesburg.
President Yayi Boni has formed a new government. It is composed of 30 ministries: 6 ministries more than the previous. It is a national government since all departments of the country are represented. In this new team, there are 19 new ministry and 14 departures. The new government has 4 women instead of 6 in the previous one.
The Congolese journalist Emmanuel Pweto, working for Africanews.com and Radio RTGA Kinshasa, has won the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Award for journalism development in 2008. This award is given by the UNDP on the occasion of International Day for the Fight against Poverty. This day is celebrated each year on October 17
Two men have been sentenced to 25 years by a court in Abidjan following 500 tons of toxic waste which was dumped by a ship Probo Koala in 2006. It was chartered by a Holland oil trader Trafigura. The company said management and government reached a 150 million euro out of court settlement.
Malawi is said to be struggling to fight the stigma against HIV/AIDS. The Malawi government has managed to effectively respond to HIV/AIDS beyond what activists call average levels, but the country has failed to address human rights issues surrounding the pandemic in that country.
The head of the MDC’s women’s assembly, Theresa Makone, on Thursday said her party had lost ‘total faith’ in Thabo Mbeki’s mediation efforts to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe. ‘Although we hold him in high esteem, we have felt as a party that he has not treated us fairly to what he does to Robert Mugabe and his party,’ Makone said. The women’s assembly chairperson said what bothers the MDC is that when ever they raise an issue of concern with Mbeki, he never responds.
There are understandable concerns that internal corruption at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) will see desperately needed foreign monetary aid being diverted into different channels – this as a cash boost of millions of US dollars by the United Nations could soon be filtered through the central bank.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso's plan to grant 1.0 billion euros in aid for African farmers has run into trouble over financing, EU officials said on Friday. Barroso proposed in July to use unspent EU farm funds on a programme to buy seed and fertiliser for Africa in 2008 and 2009, helping to address what was then perceived as a global food crisis.
A cholera epidemic is spreading quickly in Guinea-Bissau, where campaigning for an upcoming election could put even more people at risk, United Nations agencies said on Friday. Some 12,225 people in the West African state have caught cholera so far this year and 201 have died, raising fears among aid workers that the water-borne disease could resurge on the devastating scale seen in 2005.
Shalini Gidoomal is a freelance journalist, writer, businesswoman and inveterate traveller, born, and currently living in Nairobi. She has worked extesively on various UK and international magazines and newspapers.
The World Bank Africa region has announced the launch of a new blog from its chief economist, Shanta Devarajan. The blog, AfricaCan.org, will serve as an online forum for the sharing of ideas about the continent's development. The objective of the AfricaCan blog is to create a platform for (1) conversation around the issues of sustainable growth and development in Africa, and (2) outreach to help promote analysis and evidence about what is working and what isn't on the continent.
Survival International has criticised the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for awarding its 'Achievement in African Leadership' prize to Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana who oversaw the eviction of the Kalahari Bushmen from their land. Festus Mogae's government evicted the Bushmen from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 2002, and banned them from hunting and gathering.
The United States justifies Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia. The Russians fiercely oppose it. Washington considers Abkhazia as an integral part of Georgian territory. Moscow recognises it as a sovereign nation. Both major powers have no dispute, however, on the question of Western Sahara's independence from Moroccan control.
Women suffering from obstetric fistula in Malawi received free medical care to reverse their condition during the country’s Fistula Week. Between Oct. 12 and 18, the Malawian government, with technical and financial assistance from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), treated more than 130 destitute women who have no or little access to health care services.
The oil interests of Angola, Brazil and Portugal could pave the way for former Spanish colony Equatorial Guinea to become the ninth member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) two years from now, despite the country’s poor human rights record.
The Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process in southern Sudan has been complex and challenging. It has been the cornerstone of the post-conflict rebuilding process – as a part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which formulated the end of the southern ‘rebellion’ in 2005. However, as this paper is keen to point out DDR is as political as any aspect of a peace process; it is not an apparatus that will simply function once all of the mechanics of programming are put in place.
Young people are susceptible to being used as perpetrators of conflicts and civil disorders, yet they remain the most vulnerable and the most affected in post conflict communities. However, young people are also the greatest resource to achieving reconciliation and reconstruction. This is because of their innovation, energy, enthusiasm and exuberance.
The Land Question (LQ) was one of the core issues behind the protracted war between the Government of Sudan and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement/Army in the southern regions of the country. This paper looks at the LQ and some aspects of the policy and institutional challenges with reference to emerging land issues in South Sudan. The paper provides a brief overview of the background to the conflict with reference to its natural resource dimension before discussing the post- Comprehensive Peace Agreement situation regarding the LQ in South Sudan.
South Africa's ruling ANC party has had its hopes dashed that a corruption case against Jacob Zuma, its presidential hopeful, would be closed. A judge who dismissed charges against the African National Congress leader last month granted prosecutors leave to appeal the ruling on Wednesday.
A surge in violence in north Darfur last month has displaced thousands of people, many of whom could be short of food and water, a UN official says. Gregory Alex, head of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) in northern Darfur, said on Saturday around 24,000 people had fled their homes after clashes between government and rebel forces near the areas of Birmaza and Disa.
Reporters Without Borders notes that Lesotho’s only privately-owned radio station, Harvest FM, was allowed to resume broadcasting yesterday after being suspended for three months. The station was forced to close on 21 July as result of a complaint by a police commissioner and a communications ministry official, who accused it of trying “to damage their dignity as individuals.” The country’s telecommunications authority said it failed to comply with broadcasting regulations.
A new candidate vaccine can significantly reduce rates of tuberculosis (TB) infection in HIV-positive individuals, according to researchers. The results of the seven-year Phase III 'DarDar' trial in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, were presented at the 39th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Paris, France, this week (20 October). This is the first successful demonstration of any protective effect against TB in HIV/AIDS patients.
The first group of election observers from southern Africa has arrived in Zambia to observe the presidential elections scheduled for 30 October. At least 25 election observers from Southern African Development Community (SADC) Election Observer Mission (SEOM) had arrived in Lusaka as of 14 October and were dispatched to different provinces with assistance of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ).
More Namibians are living up to the challenge to stop spread of HIV by getting tested for virus, with young people waiting longer to start sexual activity and use of condoms increasing, according to new 2006-07 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) just released.
Côte d’Ivoire’s electoral commission on 23 October suspended for two days the long-delayed voter registration operation, throwing into deeper uncertainty the timing of a presidential poll seen as indispensable to restoring stability. The electoral commission said registration was being suspended for technical reasons, but the operation has been fraught with problems.
A combination of political flux, higher food prices and the failure of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) - after 14 years of power - to achieve any meaningful redress of apartheid's most emotive legacy is forcing the land issue to the top of the national agenda, a few months ahead of South Africa's fourth democratic elections.
Climate experts and ministers in West Africa have committed to coordinating national efforts to fight climate change, at the conclusion of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting in Benin’s economic capital, Cotonou, on 22 October. Benin’s UN Development Programme representative, Edith Gasana, told participants “no country will be able to handle the struggle alone.”
On both occasions when Mary Atieno* gave birth in her home district of Suba, western Kenya, she knew that going to one of the health centres would be safer, but she was too afraid that the routine HIV test might reveal that she was HIV-positive. "I normally just deliver at home with the help of traditional birth attendants, because when you go to these modern government hospitals they put you through certain tests which reveal even your HIV status," Atieno told IRIN/PlusNews.
HIV programmes in Burundi have been struggling to support people affected by the pandemic since the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria rejected the country's request for funds a year ago. "It has been very hard; we have tried to use our internal resources and prioritise interventions to make sure that we cover the most important activities," Dr Jean Rirangira, the interim executive secretary of the national AIDS control council, CNLS, told IRIN/PlusNews.
For almost six months now, John Mberi*, 14, from the high-density suburb of Mufakose in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, has been taking care of his sick mother, Fortunate, who returned home from neighbouring South Africa very ill. The community attributed Fortunate's condition to food poisoning while awaiting deportation in the infamous Lindela repatriation camp in South Africa, but close family members knew that Fortunate was HIV positive.
Zambia's acting President Rupiah Banda on Friday called for peace and unity ahead of next week's presidential elections, in which he is one of the frontrunners. Banda urged his compatriots to come out in large numbers and cast their votes next Thursday to elect a replacement for president Levy Mwanawasa, who died on August 19 after suffering a stroke.
Nigeria's Supreme Court on Thursday deferred ruling on a challenge to President Umaru Yar'Adua's April 2007 election victory, but did not set a date for handing down its final judgement. Former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari and former vice president Atiku Abubakar, Yar'Adua's main challengers in last year's polls, have appealed to the Supreme Court to annul his victory in an election deemed flawed by foreign and local observers.
Attackers murdered an albino girl in Tanzania, where albinos have been targeted by witchdoctors who use their body parts for lucky charms, an official said on Tuesday. Local councillor Joseph Manyara of the western Tanzanian village where the young girl -- a grade three primary school pupil -- was murdered at the weekend said police were hunting the attackers.
Heavy fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has driven at least 1 700 people from a refugee camp, the United Nations said on Tuesday, and an aid group said a team of its medical workers has been trapped in a nearby hospital. The fighting resumed late on Monday night in the eastern villages of Tongo and Nyanzale, said Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, a spokesperson for the UN mission in the DRC.
Pambazuka News 402: Thomas Sankara, revolution and the emancipation of women
Pambazuka News 402: Thomas Sankara, revolution and the emancipation of women
Dibussi Tande reviews the following from the African blogoshphere.
Nigerian Curiosity
Hii Dunia
Vultures Dreaming
My African Father
Scribbles from the Den
Tidiane Kassé - 2008-10-12
Tidiane Kassé looks at the current state of affairs with regard to the extractive industries in West Africa. He points to the complicity of governments and major corporations in exploiting these resources without any real benefits accruing to the populations. The lack of transparency and information available to the populations of the regions obfuscates all manner of corruption and malfeasance. Panos Institute of West Africa organized a workshop for journalists in early October aimed at equipping them to provide accurate information to affected populations and spur action by civil society to confront the ills associated with the sector.
Mineral exploitation is both one of the oldest global industries and an economic sector of great importance for contemporary developing countries. In light of the new record price for minerals such as gold and copper, the sector’s influence has increased enormously over the last few years. Exploring the environmental concerns and escalation of local conflicts associated with mineral exploitation, Keith Slack reviews the continuing difficulties arising from governments’ collaboration with multinational corporations and the consequences of countries’ dependence on commodities.
The street is called Mtipesa because at the head of it is an old mkanju (cashew nut tree) where the local drug dealers sit on truck tyre wheels half buried and cemented into the ground. The mabeshte, as someone decided to call them, sit here all day, selling their wares quite openly, collecting cash from their customers while the police stroll by just a few metres away, aware that they will get a cut from the collection later.