KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 25 * 5497 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 25 * 5497 SUBSCRIBERS
In a scathing attack on men, Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Frene Ginwala blamed the "old boys network" for destroying governments' integrity "Links established in schools and universities, in villages and on golf links all too easily slip from an old boys network into nepotism, whether based on the old school tie or ethnicity, and jobs for the boys, deals for the boys and tenders, kickbacks and commissions," she said.
COVERAGE of events in the week highlighted the extent to which the state-controlled print and electronic media are now co-ordinating their output. They provided extensive coverage of the funeral of Defence Minister Moven Mahachi, and also similarly distorted interpretations of remarks by South African president, Thabo Mbeki, on the need for land reform. They both also censored his revelation that he and other senior ANC officials had met MDC officials. In the private Press during the week, The Daily News also attracted considerable attention, this time for exposing its own bias and professional incompetence.
COSATU condemns the attempt by the so-called war veterans to render unions ineffective. This is basically an attack on the trade union movement and human rights. The ZANU PF and the war veterans approach which shows the extent of their desperations to make themselves relevant after dismally failing the poor and the working class, now has taken an extremely shorted sighted and self destructive approach in trying to win back the working class back to the ZANU PF. Factory invasion and extortion can only lead to more and more potential investors staying away and those with factories packing their bags and heed to somewhere else where there is stability.
Botswana, the country counting the largest rate HIV/AIDS in the world, hopes to have in place by the end of the year a programme of free supply of anti-retroviral drugs to patients, indicated president Festus Mogae.
A Call To Action: Media indifference leads to "skepticism, fatalism and paralysis," warns MediaChannel adviser Albina du Boisrouvray; AIDS (Un)Awareness: Media monitoring studies show how the press have politicized and distorted the issue in South Africa; The Media And The Epidemic: MediaChannel presents global
perspectives on media's role in this Special Report from November.
The production of cell phones and computer chips is a factor in the Congolese civil war, which has killed 2.5 million people. What do we do when our appetite for technology leads to devastation?
Government is set to hike tuition fees for students studying at state universities by over 2 500% from August this year, a move that is set to trigger a wave of dropouts and violent protests. Documents in The Standard's possession show that vice-chancellors from state universities recently recommended that students pay up to $70 000 a year, up from the current $1 450 and $1 650 a year, depending on the degree programme.
Millions of girls are not making it into school, despite a concerted international movement to push the cause forward. In some African countries, the gender gap is even widening. What’s gone wrong?
Two hundred schools in deprived hamlets of Upper Egypt are sending ripples through the country’s education system, making girls and women the beacons of a new learning experience.
Scientists, governments and environmental groups from around the world are planning a cooperative assessment of all the planet's wildlife habitats and ecosystems. The United Nations Environment Programme unveiled the plans at World Environment Day 2001 celebrations in New York, Tokyo and Torino, Italy this week.
This discussion on slashdot links to 2 articles about the new 'smart tags' in Windows XP. Read about the implications of this software for information integrity. One fear is that smart tags will mean links from your web site are no longer controlled by you, but by Microsoft.
This article from Scientific American provides insight into research on internet and network technologies. Learn about a vision of data linked and comprehended by machine logic. Will the future contain a Web which not only displays information but has it manipulated by web agents for daily tasks?
Mike Jensen's report on current Internet connectivity in Africa lays out the facts. He also provides commentary on the difficulty of measuring this with accuracy. The report is not confined to current connectivity, but looks at policy and future plans to increase and improve Internet access throughout Africa.
Dear Sisters and Brothers around the World: We call upon organizations and individuals around the world to express their international solidarity with the struggle of the Ghanaian people to stop the privatisation of their water services. World Bank policies require the Government of Ghana to privatise water in order to gain access to external assistance and soft loans. Five multinational corporations have bid for the urban water service in Accra, most of them with annual sales larger than the GDP of Ghana, and all of them with proven records of socially irresponsible practices. The National Forum on Water Privatisation took place in Accra, Ghana during May 16-19, 2001. At the end of four days of vigorous and exciting debate, the participants in the Forum founded the Ghana National Coalition Against the Privatisation of Water, called the "Ghana National CAP of Water" and drafted the Accra Declaration, attached below.
Composer/Producer Paul Anderson has been running 2 internet music stations dedicated to getting people focused on the crisis of Slavery in Africa.
Paul hopes to hear from organizations that are making legitimate efforts to end this situation, and to prevent it from being so low on America's foreign policy agenda. "People have to be shown that Slavery is not a thing of the past! In the hearts,and minds of all that will listen, I hope our efforts will make have an impact!"
A leading African environmentalist, Dr. Calestous Juma, has received the prestigious Henry Shaw Medal for his dedication to protecting the environment while promoting sustainable development. The award honours Juma as "one of the world's leading authorities on protecting the environment while promoting ethical sustainable development in developing countries". He called on the international community to work towards blending environmental goals with development strategies.
How times change. Less than two years ago, some of the most powerful decision-makers in the world emerged from a Washington office block to declare "very good news for the poor of the world." The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative to reduce the debts of the world's poorest countries, derided as woefully inadequate after its launch in 1996, had just been "enhanced".
A recent speech from the Dean of Science at the Botswana Technology Center (BOTEC) highlighted the need for more African scientists and scientific research. Professor Mpuchane challenged African governments to contribute more to science education.
SVTG has received confirmation that Mustafa Abdel Gadir was arrested today, Tuesday 5 June at 2:30pm. Mr Gadir, 61, is the principal defence lawyer for the NDA members currently awaiting trial.The NDA men were first arrested on 6 December 2000, following a meeting with an American Diplomat in Khartoum. Security forces alleged that the NDA members were part of a conspiracy planning to incite a popular uprising, disrupt national security and support the rebel movement with American logistical support. An appeal was lodged which was rejected and the men were rearrested on Thursday 10 May and Friday 11 May, 2001.
The United States Secret Service has provided the Nigerian government with a list of secret foreign accounts operated by highly-placed officials, a report said Monday. The numbers of the accounts and names of the officials have been forwarded to the police and the presidency, the report by the News Agency of Nigeria said.
The World Association of Newspapers is recruiting publishers world-wide for a new study on advertising effectiveness that will provide both customised results for local markets and a global presentation aimed at advertisers who are increasingly running regional or global campaigns. The Paris-based WAN announced the new project on Tuesday during the World Newspaper Congress in Hong Kong, where it unveiled the results of world-wide research showing that newspapers are an effective advertising medium, particularly when used in combination with other media.
Delegates at a forum on child labor said Wednesday that nearly 80 million children in Africa are forced to work - some as prostitutes or miners - creating one of the world's most serious child labor problems. And the number of these child laborers - children 5 to 14 years old - could rise to 100 million by 2015, said Tim De Meyer of the International Labor Organization, a Geneva-based U.N. agency.
Twenty people were killed and 17 wounded when their vehicle hit an anti-tank mine in northern Angola, news reports said Friday. Two others died later in the hospital at Malange, about 190 miles east of the capital, Luanda, the Portuguese news agency Lusa said. The blast took place Thursday on a rural road about 25 miles north of Malange, according to Lusa.
The Japanese government has suspended funding to a controversial hydroelectric power project in Western Kenya which is still in the first phase of construction. Citing "environmental disruption and corruption" in a letter to the government of Kenya, Japan's Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka indicated that suspension of funding for the Sondu Miriu hydropower dam project was "a response to criticism from environmental campaigners and differences between Kenya and Japan over further funding."
The [email protected] (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) project has made distributed computing famous. Now there are two new projects which are aimed at medical research - and your computer can help.
Cities in the developing world are at the forefront of the global struggle to achieve better living standards. How urban residents and their governments meet the challenges of rapid population growth and development will largely determine the kind of world that lies ahead.
Despite the crash of the new economy and the death of countless internet companies, "technology will not be denied," say the editors of "Innovations in Newspapers 2001," the annual world report on developments in the
newspaper industry. The report, prepared by Innovation Media Consulting Group for the World Association of Newspapers, focuses on the light-speed changes taking place in the industry and how advanced technology is changing the daily newspaper into a new entity.
The UkuShela Award is an Award for Advocacy, recognising stories about past advocacy campaigns. Do you want to help others in their advocacy work and strengthen the advocacy sector? Share your story and fill out the questionnaire. You can now submit your entry by fax or ONLINE! Fill it out and your story will be automatically entered into the competition and we will keep you updated. Up till know 20 stories have been entered in our competition for the UkuShela Award. We're looking forward to receive yours! If you have any questions, please contact Renate at 021- 461 2559 or via email.
Most cities in developing countries face the prospect of increased malnutrition and health risks if they do not improve people's access to adequate and safe food, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a statement published today. "Feeding cities means that more food needs to be produced, moved to cities and distributed within the expanding urban areas. This in turn means more lorries, greater market congestion, higher piles of garbage, greater risks of food contamination and greater soil, water and air pollution. Many cities are rapidly losing urban and periurban land suitable for food production, have insufficient and inefficient transport, markets and slaughterhouses", said Olivio Argenti from FAO.
The deteriorating economic situation coupled with a decline in cereal production is jeopardizing food security in Zimbabwe. Hardest hit will be the urban poor and households in the southern and eastern parts of the country, where a January dry spell was followed by incessant rains in February and March, which resulted in localized flooding. A Special Report issued jointly by FAO and WFP, following a crop and food supply assessment mission to the country, forecasts a drop in cereal production for the current marketing year (April 2001-March 2002) to about 1.82 million tonnes -- down 24 percent from last year. This decline reflects reduced plantings and lower yields.
In February 2000, a Senegalese court indicted Chad's exiled former dictator, Hissène Habré, on torture charges and placed him under house arrest. It was the first time that an African had been charged with atrocities by the court of another African country. In March 2001, however, Senegal's Court of Final Appeals ruled that he could not be tried in Senegal for crimes allegedly committed in Chad. The victims are now seeking Habré's extradition to stand trial in Belgium and have also filed a complaint against Senegal with the United Nations Committee against Torture. In the meantime, the case has opened new possibilities for justice in Chad itself.
On May 3, 2001, the United States failed to win re-election to its seat on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. What does it mean for the U.S., the U.N., and the world? Joanna Weschler, U.N. representative for Human Rights Watch, responds to questions from our Web site users.
The Bush administration's new energy policy proposes no strategy to keep energy investment from perpetuating dictatorships or fueling conflicts, as has happened from Angola to Sudan to Central Asia, Human Rights Watch charged today.
Twice-monthly media analysis; writing on trends in coverage on international family planning, population, development, & reproductive health issues.
Published quarterly in print & electronic format. Covers information technology for development topics & is mainly addressed to the development community.
The offshore information services market is valued at US$30 to $40 billion. Up until recently the countries that were in the running for a piece of that business were not on the African continent. Countries such as India, Russia, Ireland, Israel, Barbados, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, and the Far East have made a name for themselves with US companies for the high quality and low cost of their services. The services range from basic data entry to software engineering and the writing of software solutions. Awo A. Quaison-Sackey was an early starter in the outsourcing market and has built a business with offices in Connecticut and Accra based on it. He explains how Ghana is well placed to respond to this market.
Job Title: Coordinator Of Small Grants Programme; Location: Dakar (Senegal); Closing Date for Applications: 30th June 2001; Contact Details: UAPS President UAPS/UEPA Stele Mermoz Route de Pyrotechnie x Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop BP 21007 Dakar/Ponty Dakar SENEGAL Tel. (221) 825 59 51/824 35 28 Fax (221) 825 59 55 mailto:[email protected] mailto:[email protected]
Job Title: Assistant Coordinator Of Small Grants Programme; Location: Dakar (Senegal); Closing Date for Applications: 30th June 2001 Contact Details: UAPS President UAPS/UEPA Stele Mermoz Route de Pyrotechnie x Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop BP 21007 Dakar/Ponty Dakar SENEGAL Tel. (221) 825 59 51/824 35 28 Fax (221) 825 59 55 mailto:[email protected] mailto:[email protected]
This section of the Benton Foundation's web site is called 'funder's corner' and features interesting articles on the latest trends and resources in fundraising and grantmaking.
This site has a legal focus and provides a detailed introduction to human rights law. It features and documents national and international human rights instruments. A good research resource.
This web site is a gateway to many resources for human rights activists around the world. It provides an opportunity to access discission forums, campaigns and resources as well as to submit new resources. There are also links to other NGOs. The site is searchable.
Zimbabwe opposition boss Morgan Tsvangirai was in South Africa this week to attend the regional conference of the World Economic Forum in Durban. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader spoke to IRIN about Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis, and next year's make-or-break presidential election.
After eight weeks of debates and 12 hours of deliberation, the jury of the Brussels 'Cour d'Assises' [Crown Court] in Belgium declared four Rwandans guilty or partially guilty of war crimes committed during the 1994 genocide. The announcement came at 0230 (local time) on Friday morning. The sentences will be pronounced on Friday afternoon. The four - Vincent Ntezimana, 39, a former professor at Butare university; Alphonse Higaniro, 52, the former director of a match factory; and two nuns Consolata Mukangango, 42, and Julienne Mukabutera, 36, known as sisters Gertrude and Maria Kisito - face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The WFP said on Friday it had no knowledge of a reported threat by refugees in Dadaab refugee camps, northeastern Kenya, to stage a hunger strike in protest at a reduction in regular food rations. A general food distribution had this week been completed in the camp, and the Nairobi office of WFP would have heard of any such action if it existed, an official told IRIN on Friday.
With Central African Republic (CAR) government forces of President Ange-Felix Patasse back in "full control of the situation" in the capital, as confirmed by the French embassy in Bangui on Thursday, an increasing stream of residents who fled a failed coup attempt were returning to the city.
Over 500 refugees from the Zanzibari islands of Unguja and Pemba were now being registered at Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya in preparation for their voluntary repatriation later this month, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski reported on Tuesday.
As forces loyal to Central African Republic (CAR) President Ange-Felix Patasse surrounded remaining mutineers one week after a failed coup attempt in the capital Bangui, relief organisations issued urgent warnings of a looming humanitarian crisis.
The Brussels-based think tank, International Crisis Group, on Friday issued a report describing the performance of the ICTR as "lamentable". It said that seven years after its establishment, the ICTR had handed down verdicts on only nine individuals and not one of the alleged masterminds of the 1994 genocide - including Colonel Theoneste Bagosora who has been in prison for five years - had been brought to trial. However, the report said there were some points in the ICTR's favour. "It has provided indisputable recognition of the Rwanda genocide and has politically neutralised the 'Hutu Power' movement's agenda of Tutsi extermination." But, the report went on, "seven years on, it has still not been able to shed light on the design, mechanisms, chronology, organisation and financing of the genocide, nor has it answered the key question: who committed the genocide?".
If nothing can be written about Kenya today without the name of its President Daniel Arap Moi weaving its way into the narrative, it is a testament to the legacy his twenty three years in power has bequeathed Kenya. For in those twenty-three years, President Moi has reduced a once proud country into an economic dunghill foraged by his cronies and a political Babel in which the only common language is himself. Even more frightening is his transformation of a peaceful multi-ethnic society into a snakepit where communities are manipulated to believe that their survival depends on the annihilation of others.
Kenya has not yet gone the way of Somalia, Rwanda or Burundi. It still has a largely functioning political infrastructure for controlling ethnic conflict. It might even sound alarmist to suggest the possibility of conflict. That might well be so and violence might not be. But that is largely dependent on the decisions of the regime of President Moi in the next few months.
Kenya is set to go to elections in 2002 with President Moi constitutionally barred from running. Since 1992, when Kenya held its first multiparty elections, politically motivated ethnic violence has become the byword for elections. With Moi set to leave the scene and the ruling cabal scared of the possibility of life without power, the entire future of Kenya might be up for the toss.
In 1992 and 1997 Moi used actual violence and the threat of violence to retain power. The orgy of violence left close to 2000 Kenyans dead and thousands displaced. No one was punished and the real truth remains buried in the official rhetoric of building peace.
Since then, the map of violence and impunity has continued to grow. Close to 40% of the country is now under one form of violence or another. The northern region bordering Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan has become bandit territory. With the government focused on containing the activities of opposition politicians and other political challengers, insecurity in these regions has reached the levels of law intensity warfare, pitting rival militias of local political kingpins of the ruling party. With the political instability in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, easy accessibility of arms has transformed the conflict from a political shouting match to a deadly affair.
With the Kenyan economy growing at below zero, the economic collapse has heightened the sense of despair. The uncertainty of whether President Moi will abide by the constitution and retire from politics or will seek to cling on has not helped the situation. With Moi playing a wait-and-see game over his exit investments have continued to board up for the possible eventuality.
In the meantime, many of Moi's close allies, variously implicated in planning violence and wanton corruption are proposing a constitutional manipulation that allows Moi to continue playing a role in Kenyan politics. With Moi back in power, either as president or Prime Minister in a new constitutional arrangement, they will be able to escape accountability for human rights violations. Prosecution of the corrupt and those behind political violence in Kenya, it has been argued, will only lead to further instability and violence. Some supporters and critics of the Moi government have argued that it is time to close the chapter and move on. Time to turn the page, so to speak.
In all this, however, the cries of justice continue unanswered. Closing the chapter may be easy to speak of for those who were not been personally touched by the violence and corruption of the government. But for those who lost relative and property and the millions who have been economically disappeared there can never be a closure. A new chapter will mean addressing their loss and misery.
Kenya is now at the threshold of writing a new constitution. Closing the chapter of corruption and political violence means that the new constitution will not remember this part of Kenya's past. For those who died under police fire while fighting for a new constitution, a closure without justice is an erasure of their memory and their existence. While a new constitution is a fresh beginning, it is not a forgetting of the past.
The negotiation of the future in Kenya still revolves around Moi. He still controls the machinery of political violence. He has used this machinery to play hostage-politics in the past. Indications are he is ready to use it again to allow himself to escape the reach of accountability. Allowing Moi and his allies to escape accountability for instigating ethnic violence may buy the silence of his extremist supporters. But will it be justice?
The Action Coalition is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to facilitating the work of individuals and organizations working towards justice, human rights, a sustainable environment, and eradicating the worst aspects of poverty. The site contains information on lobbying, the WHO Tuberculosis Report, links to other sites, and 'Tools for Democracy'.
On Britain's second National Holocaust Memorial Day, the Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library, London is organising a conference focusing on four genocides of the twentieth century. Highlighting Armenia, the Balkans, Rwanda and the Holocaust, the conference will examine the history, processes, implications and responses during and after the conflicts.
An Antonov bomber attack on Barurud in northwestern Bahr al-Ghazal on Wednesday narrowly missed a World Food Programme (WFP) aircraft about to make an emergency humanitarian food drop, WFP officials confirmed to IRIN on Friday. The Antonov could only have been a government of Sudan plane, according to informed sources.
The European Union (EU) on Friday called for the Government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to immediately stop hostilities in order to create a conducive atmosphere for negotiations to end the 18-year civil war. It also encouraged Kenya, in its capacity as chair of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) committee for Sudan, to press ahead with its fellow IGAD members to reinvigorate the peace process, which has not made much progress so far.
Minister of External relations Mustafa Usman Isma'il on Wednesday admitted that the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) had captured the towns of Raga and Deim Zubier in Western Bahr al-Ghazal, southern Sudan, the 'Khartoum Monitor' newspaper reported on Thursday. SPLA spokesman Yasr Arman said the rebel movement had captured all of western bah al-Ghazal, opening up a lucrative trade corridor to the neighbouring Central African Republic and also offering access to Darfur regions in western Sudan, where people have their own grievances with the government in Khartoum, the BBC reported.
A new report on UN peacekeeping issued on Thursday recommends improved consultations between the Security Council and troop-contributing countries among the ways to strengthen field operations, UN Mission in Sierra Leone said. The report, the first by the Security Council Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations, also supports establishing regional peacekeeping training centres to increase international cooperation for operations. In addition, the group suggests troop-contributing countries cooperate in training, logistics and equipment.
Ghana's minister of defence, Addo Kufuor, has inaugurated a special committee to work out modalities for setting up a national emergency response unit, 'Accra Mail' newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing an official statement. The committee headed by Deputy Minister of Defence Edward Martey Akita is charged with identifying resources, including personnel and equipment, required to set up the unit. The unit will manage disasters around the country and will comprise doctors, nurses, paramedics, army paratroopers, firefighters and divers. This will enable the unit respond effectively to road, rail and aviation emergencies as well as disasters such as oil spills, floods, earthquakes or even communal conflicts, the report said.
Health authorities in Guinea-Bissau seized on Wednesday 140 kg of expired medicine from several pharmacies and street vendors in the capital, Bissau, as part of an effort to combat the sales of illegal medicine, the Panafrican News Agency (PANA) reported on Thursday.
Two Nigerian human rights groups have called on the police and the federal authorities to take urgent steps to end the spate of extrajudicial killings being carried out across the country, 'The Guardian' Lagos daily reported on Friday.
Two field workers from Refugees International in Washington DC have started a month-long mission to Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to assess the needs of internally displaced Liberians and those who have sought refuge in the neighbouring countries, the NGO told IRIN on Friday.
The Angolan government is to press ahead with elections next year despite the country's on-going civil war, Foreign Affairs Vice-Minister George Chicoti told IRIN on Thursday. "We will hold parliamentary and probably presidential elections next year, whatever the situation on the ground is," Chicoti said.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has told Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to respect the rule of law and publicly assure Zimbabweans and the international community that his government will conduct a free and fair presidential election next year, 'The Financial Gazette' said on Thursday.
Twelve sugar cane farms in eastern South Africa have been torched and about 1,000 black families are occupying portions of 63 sugar farms in a land dispute that has turned violent, the 'Mail and Guardian' said on Thursday. The report said that police and soldiers have been on the farms since last week to protect the farmers and to patrol the land but had been unable to prevent the arson. It added that the arson was the latest manifestation of a bitter dispute pitting the farmers, who are mostly mixed-race, against blacks who say they want back the land some 180 km north of Durban from which they were removed under apartheid.
Zambia's largest hospital began shutting down wards on Thursday, as a strike by thousands of civil servants continued to cripple government services. About 90 percent of Zambia's 90,000 civil servants embarked on the strike on 28 May, demanding that their salaries be doubled and their working conditions be improved. The government has offered 35 percent increases, the Associated Press reported.
Zambian police said on Thursday they had banned political rallies in light of a solar eclipse on 21 June and an Organisation of African Unity summit in July, Reuters reported. Opposition parties immediately rejected the ban as illegal and said they would ignore it.
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has described as "positive" the South African government's apparent shift towards a policy of engagement with his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC in the past had been kept at arm's length by a South African government pursuing a policy of "quiet diplomacy" with President Robert Mugabe.
We are pleased to inform you that the Helsinki Committee in Poland and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights are organizing the 12th International Summer School on Human Rights.
Frontier Issues in Economic Thought - A series of books by G-DAE (Global Development & Environment Institute). Offers a concise, accessible introduction to innovative new work that is expanding the frontiers of economics. Each volume includes short 2-to 5-page summaries of over 70 key articles and book chapters.
Reviews data from Demographic and Health Surveys in 11 countries in the region. This compilation of data and analysis focuses on adolescents ages 15 to 19. The chart book examines the factors that are critical for young people's healthy transition to adulthood.
Transparency International, the world's first anti-corruption NGO is hosting an Anti-Corruption Film Festival, to run concurrently with the 10th International Anti-Corruption Film Festival, 06-08 October 2001 in Prague, Czech Republic.
The Southern & Eastern African Association for Farming Systems invites you to the 8th Regional SEAAFSR-E Conference: Challenges to the Farming Systems Approach: Past, Present and Future. ABSTRACTS BY 30 JUNE!
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 24 * 4511 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 24 * 4511 SUBSCRIBERS
The Academic Council on Problems of African Countries and the Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, are convening the Ninth Conference of Africanists on the subject "Africa in the Context of North-South Relations" on May 21-23, 2002.
To create a forum and an enabling environment for the sharing of knowledge and expertise by private and public practitioners and researches in the criminal justice field focusing on modern criminal investigation, organized crime and human rights. The emphasis of this conference will be on global best practices, innovative investigative strategies and encouraging international co-operation and networking.
COSATU expresses its sincere and heart-felt condolences to the family and relatives of the fallen young Aids hero, Nkosi Johnson. The federation notes with regret that Nkosi’s premature death coincides with the International Children’s Day. It would like to regard his departure as a celebration to the bravery, dedication and unwavering commitment he exhibited in the struggle against the HIV/Aids pandemic.
The French do corruption in style. The day before Roland Dumas was sentenced for bolstering his bank accounts with about £1m of oil company Elf's largesse, a former interior minister was placed under investigation on suspicion of arms trafficking to Angola. The elder son of the late president François Mitterrand is also awaiting trial in the same "Angolagate" affair.
Ethiopian police have arrested several top officials and businessmen in the country's current crackdown campaign against corruption, said government officials Wednesday. Among the detained are former defense minister Siye Abraha and former head of the office of regional administration Bitew Belay, they said.
A benchmark for monitoring the conduct of Senators emerged yesterday with the submission to the Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, of a draft copy of a code of conduct and ethics to guide the conduct of senators in public affairs.
Research by NIPILAR and the Restorative Justice Centre. November 2000. Further details on downloading the file by email are on the RJC website.
This report documents human rights issues during the year 2000. It also reflects the activities undertaken during the year to promote human rights and to campaign against specific human rights abuses. In October 2000 Amnesty International launched a new campaign to mobilize people around the world in a collective effort to combat torture. As this report shows, the powers ranged against the human rights movement are formidable. However, so are the forces marshaled in support of human rights. The international human rights movement, is growing, diversifying and gaining strength. The outrage at injustice that led to the founding of Amnesty International 40 years ago continues to inspire and motivate millions of people determined to build a better world.
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Observateurs des droits de l’Homme (CODHO), a member of OMCT, that Diyavanga Nkuyu, Mbumba Ilunga, Mwati Kabwe, Bosey Jean-Louis and Banga Djuna, 5 children condemned to death by the Military Court (COM, Cour d’Ordre Militaire), had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. According to the same information, Nanasi Kisala was also condemned to death, but has not benefited from the presidential decision and is still awaiting execution.
As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Amnesty Committee was dissolved Thursday, by proclamation of South African President Thabo Mbeki, and the final TRC report is being prepared, AllAfrica's Charles Cobb asked John Allen, former Secretary of Communications for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and long-time Press Secretary to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to reflect on the Commission's work.