The director of a private newspaper in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, was handed a suspended prison term and a fine today, but could not appear in court after he was hospitalized as the result of poor detention conditions, local journalists told CPJ. "We condemn this verdict and call on Gabonese President Omar Bongo to deliver on his 2004 pledge to eliminate prison sentences for press offences," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

Thousands of people who fled their homes in northwestern Central African Republic are reluctant to return despite improved security conditions, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said. The 18-month conflict between government forces and the rebel Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (French acronym APRD) has displaced tens of thousands of people, especially around the towns of Kaga Bandoro and Paoua, according to aid workers.

The Amy Biehl Foundation is a non-profit organization in Cape Town South Africa whose programmes are designed to develop and empower youth in the impoverished and poverty-stricken townships, contribute to community building efforts and give children hope and a brighter future.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/314/eva-acqui-2.jpgStanding at the apex of Ducor in central Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, one can see why the country used to be a beacon of light for the continent of Africa and its Diaspora. With lush green trees standing in stark contrast to an artist’s vision of modern chromed buildings, only loss and destruction spurned by a 15-year civil war now emanate from the country’s recovering edifice. Liberia’s collapse is said to be the product of an intersecting nexus of political, economic and social realities that have replicated themselves throughout time: the indigene vs. settler dichotomy; elite/non-elite fisticuffs for power, natural resource exploitation, an over-reliance on the U.S., and civil war and anarchy borne out of entrenched structural inequities.

Social justice in Liberia has most often been equated with political radicalism, and political radicalism is most often equated with anarchy, a threat to the status quo, the colonial authority, the elites, the proxy power structure. There has been a tradition of assault from the earliest founding of the republic against any impetus to inspire a mass social justice movement for progressive Africanist social change beginning with Edward Wilmot Blyden, who W. E. B. Dubois called "a prophet of the renaissance of the Negro race" and who was inarguably one of the most significant Pan-African thinkers of the nineteenth century.

For Liberia, it is not yet Uhuru. And so, the Liberian writers in this Special Issue dissect the country’s historical trajectory into disparate parts while constructing a future that is devoid of division and factionalism. Anthony Morgan, Jr. begins by highlighting the complexities and contradictions inherent in Liberia’s checkered past. Ezekiel Pajibo and Emira Woods express their concerns about the proposed U.S. Africa command military structure that could possibly be based in Liberia. Keith Best postulates about how individual Liberians can act as change agents and advocates on their own behalf. Thomas Jaye lays out the contexts of and challenges to Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Sengbe K. Khasu discusses what may only be considered the “Liberian Condition.” Eva Acqui illustrates Liberia’s little known, yet vibrant literary tradition. Elma Shaw discusses how refugees are being reintegrated into Liberia’s societal fabric. Wilton Sankawulo, Sr. argues that it is Liberian artists who substantiate progress, who make it palatable to the average person. And last, but certainly not least, Annaird Naxela and Omanza Eugene Shaw show that war and carnage can give birth to revolutionary and transformative poetry.

Found near Liberian villages and towns in large trees or perched on light pole wires in cities, the pepper bird is a symbolic representation of what contemporary Liberian activists should replicate. Covered in majestic yellow, blue and red plumes, the indigenous Liberian pepper bird eats small pods of pepper, which contributes to its melodious alarm clock calls from a distance, as pepper is known to clear the vocal passage and make one’s message fiery hot. The pepper bird is known for waking up the community early in the morning, and these writers manifest its message in an attempt to wake us up from our reveries about Liberia’s past, present and future. The writers in this Special Issue not only offer heartbreaking and sobering reflections on Liberia’s 160 years plus of existence, they also make bold suggestions about what needs to take place to move forward.

* Stephanie Horton is a writer, editor, consultant, and founder of the Sea Breeze Journal of Contemporary Liberian Writings (http://www.liberiaseabreeze.com/).
* Robtel Neajai Pailey is a former multi-media producer for Fahamu/Pambazuka News and a graduate of Howard and Oxford universities.

*In putting this Special Issue together, we are indebted to Dr. Eva Acqui, Doughba Carmo Caranda, CoCo Harris, and Dr. Thomas Jaye for helping to create a polished product.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Eva Acqui illustrates Liberia’s little known, yet vibrant literary tradition.

Before delivering a lecture at a university in Hungary two years ago, I presented some slides to the professors of the board along with two wooden masks I had brought from Liberia, holding them in my arms as if they were my children. The professors of the board asked about my choice. I responded, “These are images of African wood carvings, masks, hailing from Liberia, the West Coast of Africa. I chose them because of the power of supremely well organised forms, the unification of form and expressive power.

These masks belong to an art with origins before recorded history; their images were chosen to illustrate permanence, universality, perfection. They correspond to humankind’s instinctive search for beauty, giving shape to fundamental beliefs and feelings, transmitting ideas, values, attitudes, from generation to generation. Thus, they are culture carriers across time and borders. They have a definite role in the evolution of culture, ensuring its continuity and bringing about innovation. They are Liberia's ‘cultural ambassadors’ to this part of the world.”

A nation survives through its culture. One of the main functions of art is to keep and build on tradition, create new values. Art is called upon to establish the future of culture. Liberia's historic experience of civil war has motivated its artists to engage their art in the struggle for the survival of their culture and nation. Art has to address spiritual and cultural needs, social needs, to develop an aesthetic, which has to act as a cultural stabiliser. Stabilising culture means to keep all traditional achievements together, innovate, and create new works of art to ensure continuity and survival.

Back in the 1990s, still at the beginning of the war, there were people who found enough inner power to take refuge in their artistry, to record events, feelings, reactions. K. Moses Nagbe's book ‘Thinking Through the Times’ was published in 1991 and was on sale in Monrovia; Aaron Fallah Brown continued to paint and write in that time of sorrow. These artists felt they had to tell the world somehow what was going on, to speak for people who did not attend universities or expensive schools, but did entrust their last words to those who they felt able and willing to carry out a very hard task: "Go and write about us. Tell the world. Let people know," convinced that the sound of their names would raise awareness and interest in their culture and fate.

Liberian literature has a valuable canon, a cultural asset to be preserved, organised, and recorded by literary history, both in Liberia and the world. It contains a chronological record of Liberia's pastoral, folk literature, with its folk songs, proverbs, folk tales, known since the 1800s. There are writers, genres, and species, from poetry to drama, important to be taught for the ongoing development of Liberia’s literary history. We find the first novel in English written by an African, Guanya Pau, by Joseph Walters, 1891. We find written poetry dating back to the 1800s; ‘Leaves from Love's Garden,’ written by Edwin Barclay, 1836-1961; ‘Echoes of the Valley,’ edited by Roland T. Dempster, 1947; ‘Poems of Liberia,’ collected by A. Doris Banks Henries, 1963. We find Liberia's novelists, Bai T. Moore, Henry B. Cole, Wilton S. Sankawulo; short story writers, such as Robert H. Brown, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley. Dramatists also occupy a notable position: Lester Parker, Kona Khasu, Peter Ballah, Kerkura Kamara, and Womi Neal have all contributed by their work to the development of a literary genre in Liberia.

Art can have a powerful transformational and restorative effect within society. Being exposed to cultural contexts provides an insight into society, too. Works of art reveal details about dominant social values of the period in which they are produced, conveying the feelings and ideas of that period, and the human experience, through a variety of details, on social, political, and environmental issues. The collaboration among art creating groups is another aspect of the social function of art: it ensures the joint effort of groups and individuals in the process of creation, in the attaining of social objectives by the aid of art. One such vital objective is peace. Artists are those who use the power of their means (word, sound, colour, image, dance, etc.) in the struggle for these supreme human values.

Liberian culture as a whole, literature especially, has several culturally vital tasks to attend to, within exercising its role of struggling for a better future, for speaking to the spiritual and cultural needs of a nation it has culturally attempted to keep up. It has to preserve its rich foundation of folk culture, consisting of customs, rites, and the related literary products, such as tales, legends, etc. The danger of myths and motifs vanishing into oblivion does exist, unless people themselves hand over this rich cultural heritage to the present and future generations, and teach them the pride of holding such an inheritance. There have been notable efforts in preserving folklore, in the writings of Wilton S. Sankawulo, A. Doris Banks Henries, Peter Dorliae, addressing the preservation of Liberia's rich folklore by bringing it into print.

Another vitally important task for Liberian writers is to keep writing, to ensure development and progress in both culture and society. Liberians have successfully responded to this “call,” whether from home or abroad, to cultivate the feeling of belonging to Liberia carrying their country's name and specificity into the future. Joining the literary forum provided by the Sea Breeze Journal of Contemporary Liberian Writings and offering their work to the reading public, aided by the Internet, many cultural personalities have contributed to the establishment and development of a body of literary work, internationally recognised. In his statement on the importance of the literary journal, Professor Wilton S. Sankawulo underlines the importance of the freedom of expression, production of literature, around the literary forum thus provided, with regard to what it represents for the generations of the future, stating that, “If we continue neglecting the development of the intellectual resources of our country in preference for that of physical infrastructure alone, we will break down tomorrow what we build today.”

However rich and valuable a culture may be, if it does not find its way to universality, it is doomed to oblivion by other cultures and peoples. Therefore, it has to integrate itself into the culture of the world, keeping its originality and yielding the best of the people it represents. It has taken centuries of evolution to reach today's multi-expression by arts' various forms: in the 1800s art was primarily concerned with ideas of truth and beauty; in the 1900s it was marked by radical breaks in modernism and postmodernism, while the 1990s and 2000s witnessed the idea of art as cultural-image making, based on survival as core of contemporary experience: artists have addressed this reality in the most powerful terms possible. For art to carry out such a function, it needs to address another critical aspect: the educational function.

The quality of aesthetic experience can be ensured only by educating art consumers towards a well-developed intellect with a thirst of knowledge and a continuous search for beauty. The engagement in cognitive activities entails the use of associations and the understanding of abstractions: the use of imagination to make a difference between what is implied and what actually exists. Glancing beyond the facades into details needs good skills of impression that help art consumers to identify, analyse, and evaluate what is experienced. All this literary work is extremely valuable to the nation's culture. The world has to know, and through its literature know the country, its people, their view of the world and its representation, for Liberian literature to be part of world literature.

* Eva Acqui, Ph.D., lives and works in Baia Sprie, Romania. She is a university lecturer, translator, award winning poet, fiction writer, and scholarly writer of feature articles and scientific papers

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Ezekiel Pajibo and Emira Woods express their concerns about the proposed U.S. Africa command military structure that could possibly be based in Liberia

Africom – Origins

February 2007, just 2 months after U.S. aerial bombardments began in Somalia, the Bush Administration solidified its militaristic engagement with Africa when the Department of Defense (DoD) announced the creation of a new U.S. Africa Command infrastructure, code name AFRICOM, to “coordinate all U.S. military and security interests throughout the continent.”

President Bush said in a White House statement, “This new command will strengthen our security cooperation with Africa and create new opportunities to bolster the capabilities of our partners in Africa.” Ordering that AFRICOM be created by September 30, 2008, Bush said, “Africa Command will enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa and promote our common goals of development, health, education, democracy, and economic growth in Africa” [1]

The general assumption of this policy is that prioritising security through a unilateral framework will somehow bring health, education and development, and that the Department of Defense can best serve as architect and arbiter of U.S. Africa policy. Navy Rear Admiral Robert Moeller, director of the AFRICOM transition team, emphasised that “By creating AFRICOM, the Defense Department will be able to coordinate better its own activities in Africa as well as help coordinate the work of other U.S. government agencies, particularly the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development” [2]

This military driven U.S. engagement with Africa reflects the desperation of the Bush Administration in its efforts to control the increasingly strategic natural resources on the African continent, especially oil, gas and uranium. In what is becoming a multi-polar world with increased competition from China, among other countries, for those resources, the U.S. wants above all else to strengthen its foothold in resource-rich regions of Africa.

Nigeria is the fifth largest exporter of oil to the U.S. The West African region currently provides nearly 20 percent of the U.S. supply of hydrocarbons, up from 15 percent just five years ago and well on the way to a 25-percent share forecast for 2015.[3] While the Bush Administration endlessly beats the drums for its “global war on terror,” the African context underscores that the real interests of the Neoconservatives is less Al Quaeda and more access and control of extractive industries, particularly oil.

Responsibility for operations on the African continent is currently divided among three distinct Commands: U.S. European Command, which has responsibility for nearly 43 African countries; U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya; and U.S. Pacific Command, which has responsibility for Madagascar, the Seychelles and the countries off the coast of the Indian Ocean.[4] All three existing Commands have maintained a relatively low-key presence, often using elite special operations forces to train, equip and work alongside national militaries. [5]
A new Africa Command, based potentially in or near oil-rich West Africa would consolidate these existing operations while also bringing core avenues of international engagement from development (USAID) to diplomacy (State Department) even more in line with U.S. military objectives.
Africom – Liberia?

Africom’s first public links with the West African country of Liberia was through a Washington Post oped written by the African-American businessman Robert L. Johnson, "Liberia's Moment of Opportunity." Johnson forcefully endorsed Africom and urged that it be based in Liberia. Then came an unprecedented allAfrica.com guest column from Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, “Africom Can Help Governments Willing To Help Themselves,” touting Africom’s potential to “help” Africa “develop a stable environment in which civil society can flourish and the quality of life for Africans can be improved.”

Let’s be clear, consolidation and expansion of U.S. military power on the African continent is misguided and could lead to disastrous outcomes.
Remember, Liberia's 26-year descent into chaos started when the Reagan administration prioritised military engagement and funneled military hardware, training and financing to the regime of the ruthless dictator Samuel K. Doe. This military "aid," seen as “soft power” at that time, built the machinery of repression that led to the deaths of an estimated 250,000 Liberians.

Basing Africom in Liberia will put Liberians at risk now and in the future. Liberia’s national threat level will dramatically increase as the country becomes a target of those interested in attacking U.S. assets. This will severely jeopardise Liberia’s national security interests while creating new problems for the country’s fragile peace and its nascent democracy.

The Bush Administration has already been given the exclusive role of restructuring the Armed Forces of Liberia. A U.S. private military contractor, DYNCORP, was tasked to carry out this function. After more than two years in Liberia and an estimated $800,000 budget allocated, DYNCORP has not only failed to train the 2,000 men it was contracted to train, it has also not engaged Liberia’s National Legislature nor civil society in defining the nature, content or character of the new army. DYNCORP allotted itself the prerogative to determine the amount of men/women to be trained and the kind of training it would conduct, (exclusively infantry training), even though Liberia had not elaborated a national security plan nor developed a comprehensive military doctrine. In fact, the creation of Liberia’s new army has been the responsibility of another sovereign state, the United States of America, in total disregard to Liberia’s constitution, which empowers the National Legislature to raise the national army.

This pattern of abuse and incompetence with the U.S. military and its surrogate contractors suggests that if Africom is based in Liberia, the Bush Administration will have an unacceptable amount of power to dictate Liberia’s security interests and orchestrate how the country manages those interests. By placing a military base in Liberia, the U.S. could systematically interfere in Liberian politics in order to ensure that those who succeed in obtaining power are subservient to U.S. national security and other interests. If this is not neo-colonialism, then what is?

The Bush Administration’s new obsession with Africom and its militaristic approach leads to an Africa policy that brings U.S. interference in the affairs of Africa along with more weapons, equipment, and military hardware than schools. By helping to build machineries of repression, these policies reinforce undemocratic practices and reward leaders responsive not to the interests or needs of their people but to the demands and dictates of U.S. military agents. Making military force a higher priority than development and diplomacy creates an imbalance that can encourage irresponsible regimes to use U.S. sourced military might to oppress their own people, now or potentially in the future. These fatally flawed policies create instability, foment tensions, and lead to a less secure world.

What Africa needs least is U.S. military expansion on the continent (and elsewhere in the world). What Africa needs most is its own mechanism to respond to peacemaking priorities. Fifty years ago, Kwame Nkrumah sounded the clarion call for a “United States of Africa.” One central feature of his call was for an Africa Military High Command. Today, as the African Union deliberates continental governance, there could not be a better time to reject U.S. military expansion and push forward African responses to Africa’s priorities.
Africom must be rejected at all cost. Further, Liberia, long suffering the effects of militaristic "assistance" from the United States, would be the worst possible base.

* Ezekiel Pajibo is executive director of the Liberia-based Center for Democratic Empowerment (CEDE).
* Emira Woods is co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Policy Studies.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Keith Best postulates about how individual Liberians can act as change agents and advocates on their own behalf.

Among the many things the late Liberian political commentator and pamphleteer Albert Porte could always be counted on to do, one that impressed me most was his readiness to say what he felt about whatever claimed his attention. As those who read and listened to him might recall, Porte’s writing and comments, as they related to life in general, liberty and government in particular, often alluded to the “perception of things,” the way things appeared or were desired to be seen, as opposed to what might have been in actuality.

It was not until I found myself at a Liberian social event on Park Hill, Staten Island, in the late 1990s, that I was able to recollect and review Mr. Porte’s constant preoccupation with the difference between substance and form. It was all there. Someone had laid it all out, leaving nothing to chance: the fragrances and accents that wafted out of the décor, the distinct flavours that exotic dishes announced. And as the familiar, singsong chitchat floated across the room, despite barely audible inflections, it seemed impossible that any addition could render the atmosphere more evocative of the old country I had left behind over a decade before.

Gradually, chilled Heinekens, Becks, Guinness and wines, perennial staples at Liberian parties, began working their charm, pulling the guests to the dance floor. Soon they were gyrating to the seductive power of soft notes and angst-filled lyrics: once again, music and dance had trumped war and the confusion it bred, bringing brothers and sisters of a region together as one. Soon, young ladies from The Ivory Coast kicked the party into gear, flaunting their signature mime of a male and female negotiating a retreat to a less-crowded place. Their performance drew appreciative attention. The Sierra Leoneans followed. No longer strangers to the social scene in Abidjan, Accra or Freetown, a few Liberian couples joined what seemed to be turning into a competition. As more guests arrived, a burgeoning circle of Liberians that had fled the war-torn country were heard rediscovering one lost acquaintance after the other. Others joined in recalling their hurried flight from home and new experiences that awaited them.

Many had not travelled outside of Liberia; they had seen Guinea, Nigeria, The Ivory ?Coast, Ghana, Sierra Leone and even Senegal represented by local business people and traders, however. So why had Liberia had not been the commercial or cultural hub they thought it was, or had the potential to become, many of those forced to travel had asked in amazement? Imagine more paved roads in the Ivory Coast than Liberia had roads, though they never would have guessed, based on how importantly Liberia’s political and educated classes perceived and conducted themselves. Still, from the launching of the U.N. to the overthrow of blatant colonialism in Africa, Liberia has had its moment in the sun. Accordingly, following the demise of apartheid, that ultimate bastion of racism on the continent, the Liberian delegation had been the first ?received by South African president, Nelson Mandela, following his ?inaugural.

But back to the party and the emotional dam that broke as our young Liberians recalled the experience of leaving home aboard departing ships with standing space only. The dancing area now a crowded deck, our young men and women broke into song! And all at the party understood that rather than a defeated people, frightened of the unknown, those on deck had been laden with excitement, and hope, that historically had sailed with the adventure of promise and anticipation of possibilities the future held. With their heads held high, those fearless and hopeful young people had braved the ocean’s depths, caring little that they possessed no more than the clothes on their backs. Their triumphant “All Hail, Liberia, Hail” and ““The Lone Star Forever” gave wings to the irrepressible human spirit known to strike fear in the hearts of those who lurk in the shadows, scheming to control or take away by guile, though none could accomplish either. And those that had not been a part of that celebration felt left out and wished they had been there as well.

Now they knew what Bertha Corbin had felt and celebrated, singing the Liberian national anthem on her way to prison over half a century before, at Tubman’s behest; for that experience, Judge Emma Walser and John Stewart walked behind the Revelation Four through the streets of Monrovia singing “We Shall Overcome” to rattle the prison bars in 1975. So let others go on calling out to and waiting on national leaders to do one ?thing or the other. What must be hammered home to those to whom the future belongs is that they burden themselves needlessly over questionable baggage passed on by the choices made by generations past; that, shorn of the burden of care and need handed down by the system their fathers opted for, they allow their nobler qualities to come out; that moving ahead as a group will not happen if individual steps are not taken, though no more than one or two might be willing to move at times; that a “great nation” and “wholesome functioning society” someday might be built on the west coast of Africa; not by leaders who promise them but by those who stand up for what they believe and feel strongly about, especially as individuals.

'Leaders’ will do no more than what the people make them do. And until then, they will do everything in their power to make people accept reality as what they say it is. Only fools abandon what has sustained them in exchange for something questionable, that another proffers. That is why our young people must follow their own minds and listen to what comes from within. That is what will sustain them. That is the lesson of Wilmot Blyden, Albert Porte and a few others!

* Keith Neville Asumuyaya Best is a poet, essayist, journalist, and author. He was a member of the Revelation Four, a group of young intellectuals who set the pace for an era of radical free speech and were imprisoned at various times during the 1970s for their political activism and journalistic activities. Copyright © 2007 Keith Neville Asumuyaya Best
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Elma Shaw discusses how refugees are being reintegrated into Liberias societal fabric.

What makes refugees decide to return to a home they left in shambles? What are the challenges to becoming adjusted and reintegrated into a society after years of absence? How are refugees being reintegrated in post-war Liberia?

What makes refugees decide to return to a home they left in shambles? What are the challenges to becoming adjusted and reintegrated into a society after years of absence? How are refugees being reintegrated in post-war Liberia?

It is early July, 2007, and at Roberts International Airport a team from LRRRC, UNHCR, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and GTZ (German Technical Assistance) is waiting to receive a group of Liberian refugees returning from Ghana. The lady from NRC is wearing a T-shirt with the map of Liberia on the front, and the words Theres No Place Like Home. I am there with Nancy Garley, herself a returnee (Yomou Refugee Camp, Guinea, 1990-1999) who now works as a Repatriation Monitor at LRRRC, the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission.

This airport mission is significant because June 30th was the deadline for refugees in the West African sub-region to sign up for Voluntary Repatriation to their home countries. The returnees we came to meet are among the last that will be transported back home with assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. All of them will be given enough bulgur wheat and split peas for four months, non-food items such as blankets, buckets and cooking pots, and a small amount of money to help them get to their final destination.
Voluntary Repatriation began in October 2004, and UNHCR statistics show that as of June 30, 2007, a total of 108,198 refugees have been repatriated with assistance. 51,237 came from Guinea; 28,701 from Sierra Leone; 19,907 from the Cte dIvoire; 5,906 from Ghana; 2,136 from Nigeria; and 311 from other countries. These asylum countries have recorded, during the same period, 50,032 spontaneous, unassisted departures.

The returnees soon file out of the Kenya Airways plane clutching the clear plastic folders that hold their Voluntary Repatriation Forms. This formthe VRFserved as a passport, and will continue to be used as official identification for several more months if they wish to apply for further assistance from UNHCR and its partners.

The 55 returnees at Roberts International Airport today consist of 16 women, 20 children, and 19 young men in their teens and 20s. They are separated from the other passengers, whisked through Customs, and led outside where they will board a large truck for the drive to the Transit Center. I ask Eunice Lloyd, a returnee who spent six years between Nigeria and Ghana, about her first impression. I dont see any armed civilians walking among us, she says with a smile. Im very happy about that. So far, so good!

At the Transit Center, a 30-minute drive from the airport, the returnees gather in a large room where they are officially welcomed by Saah Fayiah of UNHCR. Hanging from the ceiling behind him are encouraging signs. Among them:

LIBERIA CAN ONLY BE BUILT BY LIBERIANS THEMSELVES
UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL. ITS TIME TO COME BACK HOME TO REBUILD OUR MOTHERLAND LIBERIA
RECONCILIATION IS THE BEST WAY TO NATION-BUILDING

While Saah tells them about the procedure to be followed at the Center, someone passes around large bottles of Blue Lake mineral water bottled right here in Tubmanburg, Bomi County. I can see the surprise in some of the faces as they read the label that displays the Liberian flag, and I am so proudof Blue Lake and of the brave returnees and of the welcome team for giving out our own waterthat my eyes suddenly fill with tears. The returnees get their first Liberian meal, and then go through the routine: screening by the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalisation, medical screening, cash payment of transportation, pick-up of non-food items, and pick-up of food rations.

For urban-based returnees (i.e. returnees who will live in Monrovia, Montserrado County) there are a number of opportunities available through Education and Economic Recovery programs. The Monrovia Vocational Training Center, for example, offers masonry, carpentry, electronics, tailoring and other courses. LOIC, the Liberia Opportunities Industrialisation Center, provides computer training, as does many other vocational schools. UNHCR, in the Economc Recovery and Reintegration Sector, awards small business grants ranging from $100 to $500 to applicants who have skills and good business plans. Returnees who qualify for this extra assistance are able to adjust and reintegrate quite quickly, while those who come with no skills, or who resettle in other counties, sometimes find it more difficult.

Richard Johnson is a success story. He stayed in Liberia throughout the battles of the1990s, but when renewed fighting reached Monrovia in 2003 and he lost his car to the rebels, he decided he did not want to experience any more trauma. He gave away the simple metal file he used to cut keys in his small key duplicating shop, and was one of the few lucky Liberians allowed to leave on a plane that had come to evacuate Ghanaian citizens.

While Richard was at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana, he got a job with a metalcraft company in Accra. There he learned how to use a machine to cut keys, and how to melt brass to make new keys. Richard decided to return home after he saw President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Ghanaian television saying the war was over and Liberians should come home to help rebuild the country. He signed up for voluntary repatriation and came home on a ship, along with returnees from Nigeria, in April 2006.

When Richard got home he applied to UNHCR for a small business grant. He had bought a key-cutting machine in Ghana, but had no shop to work from, and no generator to run the machine. He received a $500 grant from UNHCR to help him start over. With it he got a small generator and was able to rent shop space at $40/month. Two Keys are Better than One is located on Newport Street, opposite the Duncan Alley gas station. Richard says he needs to make more people aware of his little shop, and will eventually melt brass and produce his own keys.

On 18th Street and Cheesman Avenue in Sinkor, Margaretta Guanue-Donkeh is another example of successful reintegration. Margarettas situation was a little different from most refugees. She and a younger sister started off living in Accra with their older brother, who was doing well with an import-export business. It was not until the business suffered at the hands of a dishonest partner that things became a little difficult.

During her 10 years as a refugee in Accra, Margaretta studied computer software and engineering, while her sister learned sewing. When her sister died, Margaretta took up sewing as a way to keep the girls dream alive. She signed up for lessons at Ghanas well-known KALBS school of fashion, and after a while, because of her talent and her business acumen, she was asked to work there as a manager as well. But what Margaretta wanted to do most was finish school. She had left Liberia during her junior year studying Economics at the University of Liberia. Although Ghana assisted Liberian refugees in many ways, Margaretta was not allowed to transfer credits to a Ghanaian university. Her desire to complete her degree was one factor in her decision to return home. Another was the death of her father. Her mother needed her at home. What finally prompted her to come back though, was the new government. Enthusiasm was in the air and we had a lot of hope for a better future, Margaretta says. She was confident that with her sewing skills she could work to support herself and not have to rely on anyone. Friends said it would be tough, she adds, but I told them people can make any situation better.

Upon arrival in Monrovia, Margaretta began working out of her mothers home, but business wasnt going too well and she knew she needed more visibility. With a grant from UNHCR, she built a small tailoring shop in her mothers front yard and called it Workmans Fashion from a Bible verse in II Timothy. Business improved immediately, and she now wants to buy another machine and hire an experienced tailor to help with the increased workload. In the meantime, Margaretta is giving back and contributing to national development by training two women in the skills of tailoring.

The assistance given to both Richard and Margaretta has helped them become fully reintegrated, and, through their work, is helping to revitalise the national economy. Computer trainees like Vivian Franklin, who spent nine years in Ghana, and Augustine Pardea, who was in Sierra Leone and Guinea from 1990 to 2007, also feel like they are accomplishing something and will be able to contribute to nation-building activities upon graduation. But what is being done about the non-skilled returnees who dont qualify for training or for grants, and those who choose to return to rural areas?

According to LRRRCs Reintegration Officer, Nehemiah Gbaba, NRC helps build shelters for vulnerable returnees (the elderly and handicapped) to Bomi County, while other humanitarian partners provide community-based assistance in both urban and rural areas of return. This assistance includes school renovations, construction of hand pumps (covered wells) and latrines, and, in Lofa County, rehabilitation of roads by UNHCR. The projects help the entire community, rather than only the individual returnees. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) also plays a major role in community-based assistance by establishing and empowering District Development Councils (DDCs) to identify the development needs of the community and oversee implementation of development projects.

Registration for Voluntary Repatriation has ended, and those who signed up will all return very soon. With the exception of protection, assistance to refugees who choose to remain in countries of asylum will gradually be reduced, beginning with food rations, then medication, then education. After all, the war is over and Liberia, though not fully at peace until security and justice systems are working well, is in its reconstruction era.

* Elma Shaw writes about living in post-war Liberia, and strives to balance the scale between despair and hope. Writing with a sense of history, a bit of humour, and a sprinkle of irreverence, Shaw presents profiles & photos of people, places and current events that make Liberia truly the Lone Star of Africa.

* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

We, the people of the Republic of Liberia, were
originally inhabitants of the United States of America.

Some of the early settlers . . . were formerly
inhabitants of the United States of America.
We were taxed without our consent.

They were . . .
We were made a separate and distinct class . . .
Strangers from other lands, of a color different from ours,
were preferred before us.

They were made a separate and distinct class, and against them every avenue of improvement was effectually closed. Strangers . . . were preferred before them.

-- Albert Porte, Thoughts on Change; Crozierville, 1977.

Bill shall be. George--even our greatest.
Seeing that Jimmy is now puzzled about
what seems a plain transfer of Savannah to
Harbel. To state to (or ask?) the Firestone Plantation chief
“why” is deep thinking, Jimmy. If James was buried with the
key to a diseased city, it is also deep thinking to
wonder why Monrovia has been dying since birth.
Imagine a Lazarus' relief, Mr. Poet,
in a renewed cancerous life. Would a new city--
away from this now
unmarked grave of all our pathos--be too much
for the thinking? Or the de facto national gods of
Ignorance, Disorientation, Elections and Enjoyment
sacrifice us to a vexed Atlantic, as Buchanan,
another dying city, lies hapless
for that watery knife?

* Born in Harbel, Liberia, Annaird Naxela lectures in English at CUNY/College of Staten Island and researches the development and evolution of Liberian literature. His soon-to-be-published collection of poems is entitled: ‘Memory and Migration.’

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

CEDAW), the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Kenya-based legal advocacy group Federation of Women Lawyers release a fact-finding report documenting decades of serious abusive treatment, including verbal attacks, sexual assault, flagrant neglect and filthy conditions suffered by women in the country’s maternity facilities.

Ashoka’s Changemakers.net - in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - launched an online competition designed to find innovative ways that video games can be used to help people manage their health and improve how their care is provided. The competition, called “Why Games Matter: A Prescription for Improving Health and Health Care,” challenges game developers, researchers, health organizations and others to demonstrate how games can help improve health and health care. Submit your entries by September 26, 2007 3:00 pm EST (21:00 GMT.

Possibly a quarter million people have lost their lives in Darfur, western Sudan, in ethnic conflict. The U.S. government screams its head off in denunciation of genocide, in this case. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as many as five million have died since 1994 in overlapping convulsions of ethnic and state-sponsored massacre. Not a word of reproach from Washington.

The Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites applications for three Managing editor positions. Under the overall authority of the Executive Secretary and the direct supervision of the Senior Programme Officer (Publications and Dissemination), the managing editors, will be expected to serve primarily as the officers responsible for the day-to-day management of the CODESRIA publications that fall within their portfolio. All applications must be received by 31 October 2007.

While welcoming the pardoning of 38 opposition politicians and journalists in Ethiopia last week, CIVICUS and the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP ) remind the Ethiopian government that many others, including GCAP coordinators Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie, remain in prison anxiously awaiting their verdict.

Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA) seeks to recruit a Coordinator for the Globalization and International Governance thematic programme. Deadline for receiving applications is 10th August, 2007.

Despite a thicket of troubles, from deadly illnesses like AIDS and malaria to corrupt politicians and deep-seated poverty, a plurality of Africans say they are better off today than they were five years ago and are optimistic about their future and that of the next generation, according to a poll conducted in 10 sub-Saharan countries by The New York Times and the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

The Credentials Committee of the Interim Economic Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the African Union met in Accra, Ghana, from 17-20 June 2007, to shortlist eligible candidates for the forthcoming elections to the post-interim ECOSOCC Assembly. A total of two hundred and eighteen (218) applications from African Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in thirty-five (35) countries were received and examined.

The annual International Human Rights Colloquium is a one-of-a-kind forum that brings together scores of human rights activists and academics for a week each year to learn from their peers and experts in the field, obtain a fresh perspective on their work, and lay the foundation for professional alliances down the road (networking). The colloquium will take palce in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 3-10 November, 2007.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the government of Guinea-Bissau to help end the intimidation of journalists covering the trafficking of drugs in the country and to ensure appropriate compensation is paid to the journalists who were victims of a road accident in 2005, following a recent court ruling. "We are very worried for the security of our colleagues in Guinea-Bissau," said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa office.

Reporters Without Borders has voiced concern about a rapid deterioration in press freedom in Niger, especially in the north, following the imposition on 19 July 2007 of a one-month ban on the retransmission of French public radio station Radio France Internationale's (RFI) programmes throughout the country. "There have been many press freedom violations since fighting broke out in the north of the country," the organisation said.

A National Business plan competition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme, Believe Begin Become (BBB) has awarded a 32 year old teacher of Damongo Secondary School (DASS), Prince Yakubu Tahiru an amount of US $400,000 to establish an ICT centre in Damongo, the West Gonja District capital of the Northern Region.

A new report by the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) assesses whether or not Uganda is on track to meet the information and communications technology (ICT) development objectives laid out in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Plan of Action. It provides an overview of the ICT status in the country, and presents some of the rapid changes that have happened within the country’s ICT sector. The report highlights the steps taken by the government in realising the WSIS Plan of Action, but also summarises the challenges the country faces.

Estimates are that in the first three months of 2008 — an election year — 4.1 million people, a third of Zimbabwe's population, will require food aid. Most of it will be provided by the United Nations, but so far, the government is said to be in a state of "denial", refusing to make the obligatory appeal to the UN.

Six senior police officers in Masvingo town are facing demotion after they set free several opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party activists who were arrested during a government crackdown last March. The six, whose names could not be immediately established, will be demoted from the rank of superintendent to inspector with effect from 31 July 2007.

Five years after the concept was first proposed, the so-called $100 laptop is poised to go into mass production. Hardware suppliers have been given the green light to ramp-up production of all of the components needed to build millions of the low-cost machines.

Reporting to the International Fundraising Director, this exciting new position within the International Fundraising Team will require the ideal candidate to:
Enable ActionAid country programmes to sustain and increase their income through providing great supporter care for child sponsorship and other individual fundraising products; Achieve the ambitious targets and change agenda the international fundraising strategic plan; Manage a team of international fundraising coordinators to build the capacity and capability of national operations. Deadline: 31 July, 2007

The Cornell Institute for African Development offers numerous fellowship programs for study at the graduate school. Of these, Cornell annually coordinates two of these programs, which are specifically directed to African students; the Institute for African Development (IAD) Tuition Fellowship; and the Provost South African Fund Fellowship. The Institute for African Development hereby offers links to various external Institutions and organizations with fellowships, scholarships and grants for African studies and issues appertaining to African Development.

The European Union has taken the first step towards sending a force to countries neighbouring the Sudanese conflict in Darfur. European foreign ministers in Brussels authorised their military staff to draw up plans for an operation to deploy in Chad and the Central African Republic.

Rwanda, the country of a thousand hills, has been hosting the working session of the meeting of Member States’ experts on integration in Africa. The experts’ meeting, which will last from the 23 to 25 July 2007, is holding in the Conference Hall of the Rwandan Prime Ministry and precedes the Conference of Ministers which will hold in the same venue from 26 to 27 July 2007.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today in Addis Ababa agreed to deepen their collaboration by working together on various environment-related issues in Africa, including the economic costs of climate change and how to finance the transition to a low-carbon economy.

As the 7th Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) summit is in progress, civil society organizations from the United States of America (USA) and Africa in a parallel Summit have called on the US Authorities to further liberalize their market and extend the number products under AGOA for Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA).

Special Issue on Liberia

FEATURES:
- Stephanie Horton & Robtel Pailey introduce a special issue on Liberia.
- Anthony Morgan on Liberia’s checkered past
COMMENT & ANALYSIS:
- Ezekiel Pajibo & Emira Woods on US the US military in Liberia
- Keith Best on Liberians as agents of change
- Thomas Jaye on the Truth and Reconciliation process
- Sengbe Khasu discusses the Liberian condition
- Elma Shaw on the reintegration of refugees
- Wilton Sankawulo on the role of artists in post civil war Liberia
BLOGGING AFRICA: Review of African Blogs
BOOKJS & ARTS:
- Eva Acqui on the Liberian literary tradition
- Two poems from Omanza Eugene Shaw & Annaird Naxela

PAN AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen reflects on post Blair Britain
WOMEN AND GENDER: Decades of abuse in Kenya’s maternity wards
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: A strategy for comprehensive peace in Darfur
HUMAN RIGHTS: UN probes abuse in Côte d’Ivoire
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: Mobilizing world opinion
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Migrant children face abuse in Canary Islands
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Big win for Cameroon’s ruling party
AFRICA AND CHINA: China defends Darfur stance as pressure grows
CORRUPTION: TI says major exporters still bribing abroad
DEVELOPMENT: ‘Aid for Trade’ may cut Africa’s health and education funds
HEALTH AND HIV/Aids: Programmes disregard HIV among the elderly
EDUCATION: Tanzania’s plans to raise education standards widely commended
LGBTI: Uganda’s lesbians want protection
ENVIRONMENT: Côte d’Ivoire toxic waste probe goes to France
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Zambian police prohibit demonstration coverage
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: ICTs excluded in DRC development plans
PLUS: e-newsletters and mailings lists; courses, seminars and workshops and jobs

*Pambazuka News now has a Del.icio.us page, where you can view the various websites that we visit to keep our fingers on the pulse of Africa! Visit

China defended its stance on Darfur on Friday and urged patience as Western critics warned that Beijing's reluctance to back stronger action in the troubled Sudanese region could blight Olympic Games goodwill. China has pressed Sudan to accept U.N. peacekeepers alongside African Union forces struggling to quell bloodshed in Darfur. Experts estimate that 200,000 people have died and 2.1 million been displaced there by violence involving pro-government Arab militia fighting other ethnic groups.

In Coura, a district of Mali's capital Bamako, it's now possible to monitor the health of local infants closely in real time with the launch of a new pilot project dubbed Pesinet. Initiated and funded by Alcatel-Lucent, Fondation Orange Mali, Afrique Initiatives, Medicament Export (Medex) and Kafo Yeredeme, the project aims to provide a preventative medical diagnostic service for infants between 0-5 years, based on regular checks on the childrens' weight gain.

Treating HIV-infected infants with antiretroviral therapy (ART) as early as possible, within the first six to 12 weeks of life — rather than waiting until they show signs of immunological or clinical deterioration — dramatically decreases their risk of early death, according to findings from the Children with HIV Early Antiretroviral Therapy (CHER) trial, a South African study presented at a late-breaker session of the 4th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Treatment and Pathogenesis in Sydney.

A pharmacokinetic (PK) study conducted in people on directly observed tuberculosis (TB) treatment in Botswana calls into question whether the standard TB drug dosing is really adequate for all populations, particularly among people with advanced HIV living in sub-Saharan Africa. The study, which was presented at the 4th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Sydney, Australia, found that low concentrations of TB drugs were common in the population, regardless of HIV status.

Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem reflects on the political processes in Britain after Blair and looks the fall of Thatcher and the origins of New Labour. Can you imagine, he asks, a similar situation in Africa?

In the past two weeks I have been in countries with a 'new' head. I left Yar'Adua's Nigeria for Gordon Brown's Britain. For the first time in ten years one entered Britain without having to put up with the arrogant and sanctimonious Blair and his spin doctors. The Long Good Bye is finally over. For those who think it is only African leaders who are desperate not to leave office just look at how long it took the Labour Party to get rid of their Savior-turned-Judas of a leader. Unfortunately for the Palestinians, this fraudulent prophet has been made their interlocutor. How a second-hand leader parceled by Bush could be their savior I do not know.

I must confess that I have not made the transition from Blairism to Brownism properly. Seeing Brown on television in Britain I was still looking at him like the Chancellor he had been for the past decade. But being in Britain got me thinking about the many years that I have spent in that country.

It is a big shame that Africans do not write about Westerners the way they write about us; but we keep complaining about their prejudices, inaccuracies and false knowledge about the African condition.

Two weeks safari in the Masai Mara and someone becomes an expert on our foods, lifestyles, culture, history, geography or whatever. Millions of Africans have been in the West from time immemorial, but we do not lay claim to being 'Europeanists'!

It is one of those vicarious 'benefits' of the British imperial past that as 'commonwealth ' citizens, British-resident citizens, immigrants and settlers from former British colonies (except the USA which has its own uncommon wealth in which Britain shares!) can vote and even be voted for in British elections. Being voted for has been relatively easier for citizens from the old White Commonwealth of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, though second generation descendants of the non-white Commonwealth from Asia, the Caribbean and Africa are also beginning to break into the system (though they are more successful at the local levels than in the British Parliament in Westminster).

The visibility of black MPs both in parliament and government positions including the Cabinet only serves to show how uncommon it is. They are so few that we know them all; they become instantly famous just for being black! One of the ironies of uncommon wealth politics is that many Africans have probably had more opportunity to vote and be involved in democratic politics in Britain than in their own countries. I have voted more often in Britain than in Nigeria. And this is not just because I have been away for 'too long', my peer group who did not live outside have never had many opportunities to vote since the military had been in power for most of their lives. Until recently, military rule with civilian interludes has been the order of the day. Thankfully that is now more or less over and we are now in the era of 'voting without choosing' or choosing without making any difference.

It can be argued though that even in more stable societies elections do not change much because there is too much public contentment or governing consensus among the ruling classes, and between their main political parties. Consequently, politics has become more commercialized, money and media driven, with no disagreement on fundamentals therefore reducing politics to forms of presentation largely devoid of substance. Hence the increasing democratic deficit in many Western democracies of voter apathy, especially among the young.

All that taken into consideration, and despite obvious Americanization, British politics in the 1980s and early 1990s still inspired great ideological disputes and debates, essentially because of the Thatcherite Conservative counter-revolution that tore apart the old consensus within the British political establishment. She shifted the politics to the extreme right, provoking moderates, the 'noblese oblige' type Tories in her own party, and all kinds of leftist opposition in the Labour Party, the Labour movement and eventually the whole country.

The main opposition Labour Party swung between left and right for many years, even provoking a split that led to the walkout by more openly right-wing elements who felt that the militant left had taken over the party and made it unelectable. They formed the SDP which initially attracted a lot of support from across the board among people who wanted a different kind of politics from the tribal war between the Tories and Labour. Unfortunately for David Owen and his tiny bunch, the two party system (and its ethnic, provincial and regional voting patterns) is so embedded in Britain that the room for a third party (let alone a fourth one) is extremely limited. They merged with the Liberal Party which had always operated as the halfway lounge between the Tories and Labour. Their hopes of becoming a powerful third force, holding the balance of power in a 'hung parliament', evaporated as Labour became more and more moderate and electable.

What really happened in the Labour Party was that the smarter right-wingers did not leave the party but bided their time and embarked on a long term right-wing counter revolution inside the party, involving a reform of old ideological positions and a loosening of the traditional Labourite, socialist and egalitarian conscience. The emergence of Neil Kinnock as the Party Leader facilitated the right-wing coup. He came from a staunch Labour background, solidly in the left of the party and a credible working-class hero. He sold moderation to the party and the movement and helped to begin the process of Labour recovery and electability by facing down the hard left and Labour militants. Still, he lost two elections to Margaret Thatcher but held Labour votes and increased it as the Conservatives took lower votes. Unfortunately Kinnock did not make it and lost the 1992 elections to a little known John Major after the Conservatives had committed political matricide by getting rid of Margaret Thatcher. That was the last time I was most passionately involved in British partisan politics.

I was there on the foot steps of the Old Labour Party Headquarters on Woolworth Rd in South London when Kinnock conceded victory to Major and announced his resignation to crying party supporters. The second day you could not find many people who would admit that they had voted Tory. If it was in Africa opposition supporters would have cried 'rigging' because the media and popular opinion widely predicted a Labour Victory. From then onwards I never really bothered about being active in British politics anymore even though I remained a passive supporter of the anti-Tory movement. After Kinnock it was John Smith who unfortunately died very early in his leadership. His sudden death made it possible for the brewing right-wing coup to be brought forward with Blair emerging as the Leader. Had Smith lived longer who knows if Blair would have been that fortunate? Smith was very much to Kinnock in opposition as Gordon was to Blair in power. One does the politics and the other the economics.

The party was hungry for power and in Blair they found a winner even if it was at the expense of their ideological souls. Brown continued Smith's number-crunching that made business interests to begin to take Labour seriously as managers of British capitalism. The Labour party became more middle class.

In power Mr. Blair was more of an adopted political son of Margaret Thatcher, more at home when battling the Labour party and so called OLD Labour values. The Thatcherites used to sing: 'If it is not hurting it is not working' to justify their assault on the poor and to subsidise the greed of the rich and powerful. In Blair's Britain it was punned to mean: If the Labour Party is not complaining, it cannot be right. Even when he seemed to have conquered every tendency, save for a small group of non- conformists, he would deliberately pick quarrels with the Party. He was the closest Britain got to having a truly Presidential PM and the Peoples' Party became the Leader's Party. For a few years it seemed he could walk on air and water. He took on the party and won, took on the Government and won, and then he took on the British people on many issues- but Iraq was to be his Waterloo from which his authority never quite recovered. In politics, as in real life, once an elephantine problem knocks you down then all kinds of crawling crawlers will climb on to you. Like Thatcher he was kicked out after 'winning' a consecutive third-term electoral victory.

Blair's fall from grace is proof, yet again, that whatever goes up will come down; but politicians like other human beings never learn. When they are up they never think they will come down and they always do. However there are important lessons. One, a politician is the servant of the people not their master, no matter how popular he or she may be. In a genuine democracy, as in a real consumer driven society, the citizen (i.e. customer) is always right. Two, political parties, parliament, judiciary, the media and other autonomous institutions are necessary for democracy to take root and democratic culture to be nurtured. Strong leaders influence people and institutions and sometimes destroy them. But for sustainable democracy these institutions must endure. It was not the electorate that threw out Blair or Thatcher before him, but their own political parties on whose behalf they were acting.

Can you imagine a similar situation in many African countries? The President will dissolve the party and dissolve the Parliament! Three, there must be credible alternative leaders, whether within the ruling party or outside of it, deliberately nurtured without being considered traitors or disloyal. Can you imagine if Gordon Brown had been a Cabinet Minister in some African country? Would he have retained his post breathing down the President's neck for so long? In the worst of cases he would probably be dead by now or hounded out of cabinet or politics or be in exile.

However, there are encouraging signs in some countries like Ghana, Botswana and Tanzania. The immediate Foreign Minister of Ghana, Nana Akuffo Ado had never hidden the fact that he wanted Kuffour's job, having been beaten to second place by him in 2002. Similarly, the current President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, was a runner up to his predecessor and remained Foreign Minister for ten years before becoming President. However in many countries up to now even mere suspicion of the ambition can land you in 'hot soup'. These are countries where the people are not supposed to even imagine life without the current occupant of state house. However, no matter how long it takes they will all become 'former current chairman' as Idi Amin famously said of himself!

Blair's exit also shows that sometimes people may just want a change for the sake of it. I am not sure there is much ideological difference between Blair and Brown, but there is a difference in style and presentation. In the end people just got fed up with Blair and his lectures, his missionary strictures and braggadocio. The truth though is that Brown even takes himself more seriously as an intellectual politician than Blair. Both domestically and internationally there may be more action than words, and probably less of the razzmatazz and media obsession of the Blair years. But it may well be the same difference on many issues.

With huge apologies to the Indian writer, Arundhati Roy, It's the God of Small Changes. The Conservatives remain unelectable because thanks to Blair and Brown all their clothes have been stolen by New Labour. Just like the Tories prevented a Labour victory in 1992 by having a change within with John Major. Labour may have guaranteed itself a fourth term by being rid of Blair. Unfortunately, David Cameron sounds more like a Blair clone. May be he should just vacate his post and give it to the real Blair, currently wandering like Moses in the Middle East as Cameron is getting lost in Rwandan villages in the name of showing Africa he cares. Blair did the care for Africa, and this never led him or those Africans naïve enough to trust him, anywhere.

* Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is the Deputy Director for the UN Millennium Campaign in Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He writes this article in his personal capacity as a concerned Pan-Africanist.
* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/