Pambazuka News 311: Interrogating Barbie democracy: Africa in the new millennium
Pambazuka News 311: Interrogating Barbie democracy: Africa in the new millennium
The Kenya government is launching a Digital Village Project to establish information and communications technology centres throughout the country. To jump-start the process, the programme is designed to train 1,000 digital village managers to manage the centres in the 210 constituencies in the country.
A large study of immediate versus deferred antiretroviral treatment in South African infants has found a significant advantage to immediate treatment after just eight months of follow-up, and researchers monitoring the trial have decided that the `deferred treatment` arm of the study should be closed and all children not yet receiving treatment should be evaluated to determine whether they should start antiretroviral therapy.
Laws criminalising behaviour that may transmit HIV are “the product, not of rational public health choices, but of irrational fears, which provide an inveterately poor basis for rational law-making,” according to South Africa’s Justice Edwin Cameron. Speaking last night at Birkbeck College in central London, at an event co-hosted by NAM and the National AIDS Trust, Mr Justice Cameron argued that the law’s current place in the AIDS epidemic is primarily to create “legislation specially protecting the rights of those with HIV.”
HIV prevention campaigns in Africa and Asia are often tilting at the wrong target and wasting money because of a basic lack of information about who is becoming infected in a country, David Wilson of the World Bank told the 2007 HIV Implementers’ meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, last month.
In a departure from tradition, religious communities in Algeria have become increasingly involved in AIDS education in the country. To this end, the Ministry of Religious Affairs organised a seminar on Monday (July 2nd) in Algiers, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the role of religious leaders in the fight against AIDS.
Tunisian bloggers were angered recently by police intimidation of independent magazine Kalima starting May 17th, raising questions once again about the lack of press freedom in the country. In his post, "Kalima Tunisie: libérez la parole," Tunisian blogger Cos-Maux-Polis joined the World Association of Newspapers in its condemnation of "the intimidation and repression of the independent press in Tunisia".
The UN refugee agency has begun the resettlement in the United States of some 700 ethnic Kunama refugees from Eritrea, flying out a first group of 29 from Addis Ababa after years of exile in northern Ethiopia. The refugees left Shimelba camp earlier this week and flew out from the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday evening after a pre-departure briefing by staff of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is handling the logistics of the resettlement operation.
Amid a rising number of deaths among boatpeople making dangerous voyages across the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Aden and other stretches of water, the UN refugee agency and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are calling for more action to prevent this humanitarian tragedy.
Portugal, the new holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, has promised that Africa will be one of its key priorities for the next six months. Prime Minister José Socrates, whose government took over the Union's helm Jul 1, is hoping to fulfil a long-standing Portuguese ambition of hosting a summit between the EU and African heads of state in Lisbon this December.
Less than fifteen years after the genocide that destroyed much of Rwanda's human capital, infrastructure, and socio-economic fabric, the country is set to become sub-Saharan Africa's hub for information and communications technology (ICT).
Hindou Mint Ainina presses for women's rights and political reform editing a weekly paper that regularly makes enemies. With her Quill, though, she has found ways to prod for change amid censorship and a culture where women have little power.
The Ethiopian military has forcibly displaced thousands of civilians in the country's eastern Somali region in recent weeks while escalating its campaign against a separatist insurgency movement, Human Rights Watch has reported. Both the government and rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) must protect civilians and ensure their access to humanitarian relief.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has voiced concern at the recent decision by a military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to acquit all defendants of killings, torture and other abuses that occurred during an operation by the country’s armed forces.
Three United Nations agencies are seeking $32 million from donors to help cut malnutrition rates which they warned have reached “crisis levels” among children under five living in refugee camps in Kenya.
An independent United Nations human rights expert has called on Côte d’Ivoire’s Government to ensure that the thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the divided West African country have the necessary means to make a safe and sustainable return to their home towns and villages.
Recent evidence suggests higher education is both a result and determinant of income. A report by Uganda's Economic Policy Research Center examines the impact of higher education in Uganda’s development process and identifies ways to enhance its impact.
Rising poverty in rural Uganda is linked to increasing landlessness, as the latter drives land degradation and reduces agricultural productivity. A paper published by Uganda's Economic Policy Research Centre examines the complex relationship between owning land and poverty. It identifies effective strategies and land policy guidance to address this concern.
An important debate is underway in South Africa, on whether it should protect its deteriorating textile industry. A paper published by South Africa's Poverty and Economic Policy Network examines whether implementing trade barriers will result in better domestic policy objectives. It provides a dynamic analysis on the link between textile protection and poverty.
A national gay radio show, Tuesday Night, which was elbowed by the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in 2005 returns to the airwaves in July. The show was off-air for almost two years after “the SABC placed unreasonable terms” that lead to closure broadcast, according to producers. The show promises a variety of educational, informative and entertaining programmes such as current affairs, community events, arts and talk.
Gays in Uganda call upon Minister of Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo to disclose emails expressing animosity that he claims to have received. The allegation is being condemned by a couple of gay organisations in Uganda. Victor Juliet Mukasa, chair of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), has denied knowledge of such hate mail but advised that if Buturo “is really receiving the mail, let him expose it so that it can be addressed.”
It is not often that families of murder victims petition the courts to forgive their killers. But in Uganda, almost an entire tribe whose relatives were slaughtered and children kidnapped by Lord's Resistance Army rebels are lobbying for them not to be tried before an international tribunal. Fugitive LRA leader Joseph Kony and three deputies are wanted by The Hague-based International Criminal Court on charges including mass killing, mutilation and using child soldiers. But in northern Uganda, few want them jailed.
The United Nations is supposed to play global policeman, but what happens when its own peacekeepers break the law? That's a question raised by a string of incidents allegedly involving Pakistani and Bangladeshi peacekeeping troops in war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo in 2005.
Daily Graphic - The President of Liberia, Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has urged African leaders to endorse without delay the concept of a United States of Africa. She has also prodded them to instruct, in no uncertain terms, all regional economic commissions and community institutions to formulate and adopt the road map and the time table for the achievement that goal.
“This will allow institutions to move forward in peace with progress.” she added.
The African diaspora needs a voice in the African Union and any future African unity government to reflect the influence it exercises across the world on the continent’s behalf, civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson said.
But while he supported a push for greater African integration, Jackson said issues like the conflict in Sudan"s western Darfur region and the crisis in Zimbabwe must be tackled if unity was to carry moral authority.
The UN has admitted that a report on the disputed Western Sahara region, a long-standing row between Morocco and the Polisario Front, was biased in favour of Morocco, Al Jazeera reports. A new report was issued on Monday, after Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, acknowledged the bias.
As part of the ongoing ‘Gender is My Agenda Campaign,’ aiming to mainstream gender in the African Union (AU), the women’s civil society networks have organized the 10th AU Pre-Summit Consultative meeting which was held in Accra, Ghana, on the 23rd and 24th June. This meeting precedes the 9th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union and will be the 10th in a series of consultative meetings of civil society networks concerned with gender issues and the promotion of women’s human rights in Africa.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes by almost daily fighting in Somalia's capital Mogadishu. The UN says more than 400,000 Somalis fled the city in the last five months, many of those have headed north towards Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in the north east of the country. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow reports that Bosaso, the region's largest city, is now struggling to provide for its growing refugee population.
The Accra Declaration was (www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/images/uploads/ACCRAJuly2007AUSummitDECLARAT...) adopted by Heads of States at the conclusion of the African Union Summit. The Declaration reflects some of the demands of civil society, particularly in regards to “the importance of involving the African peoples in order to ensure that the African Union is a Union of peoples and not just a “Union of states and governments”, as well as the African Diaspora in the processes of economic and political integration of our continent” and the need for “freer movement of persons, goods, services and capital” as were elaborated in the final CSO Communique on the Grand Debate (www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/images/uploads/Final_Accra_CSO_communique.pdf).
Egypt has announced that it is imposing a complete ban on female circumcision, also known as genital mutilation. The announcement follows a public outcry after a young girl died during the operation. A ban was introduced nearly 10 years ago but the practice continued to be allowed in exceptional circumstances.
A statement from the Rastafari People at the African Union Grand Debate was issued on July 2, 2007. It states: “The World Conference Against Racism declared the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade as a crime against humanity. This year, Britain and America have celebrated the 200th Anniversary of the end of that wickedness. The Republic of Ghana, for its part, has also seen fit to do something to atone for this crime against humanity and the complicity of some chiefs in the deportation of their own people into what became the MAAFA - an African Holocaust.
If it is morally and spiritually correct to talk about the wrongness of forcibly transporting African people from Africa to the Americas, then it is absolutely correct at this time to talk about the rightness of transporting African people from the land of their captivity to their ancestral homeland which is this continent known today as Africa."
Timelines and the method for Africa’s integration are to be set out according to the Accra Declaration, adopted late on Tuesday night by the 9th Ordinary Session of the African Union Heads of Summit.
“We emerged from the Grand Debate with a common vision,” AU Chair John Kuofor and President of Ghana said on Tuesday, minutes before midnight.
The World Bank announced Monday that it provided a record US$5.7 billion in credits and grants to Sub-Saharan Africa in the fiscal year ending 30 June 2007, up from US$4.7 billion in fiscal 2006.
A statement from the bank in Accra, venue of the ongoing 9th AU Summit, said the development arm of the bank – International Development Association (IDA) - provided the funding.
African nations are used to being plundered - the West perfected the art. Now the new scramble for Africa's resources is coming from the east. With a voracious economy to feed, China is devouring raw materials - oil, copper, cobalt and zinc. And it is wooing governments, including those who trample on human rights, with soft loans, aid and arms sales.
China's biggest oil company CNPC has reached a deal with Sudan to search for oil and gas in the north of the country on the coast of the Red Sea. The exploration will be carried out jointly with the Indonesian state oil and gas company PT Pertamina.
This weekend Uganda joins the growing number of East African countries which have banned the plastic bag in an attempt to clean up cities and prevent environmental damage including blocked drains.
Edited by one of Africa's foremost intellectuals, former deputy chair of CODESRIA and deputy chair of the International Council of Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (ICPHS), this work investigates how reason, an attribute of all of humanity, expresses itself in different cultures, in diverse, plural and unified forms.
The extensive and comprehenive work is divided into three parts, on explorations of 'rationality', rationalities and cultures, and theoretical and social practices. Essays in both French and English are included.
The work stems from a conferences organised by Unesco and the Centre africain des hautes etudes in Porto-Novo, Benin to coincide with the 26th general assembly of the ICPHS.
The contributors of over 36 chapters include Richard Rorty, Bonaventure Mve-Ondo, Honorat Aguessy, Abdoulaye Elimane Kane and Ariane Djossou-Segla.
ISBN: 978-2-86978-181-8, 476pp., 2007 CODESRIA
Orders - Africa,
N.America - Michigan State Univ. Press, www.africanbookscollective.com
http://www.pambazuka.org/images/broadcasts/Sindy-Mkhize.jpgSindy Mkhize of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Shackdwellers Movement of Durban speaks to Sokari Ekine of Pambazuka at the Pan African Mobile Activists workshops held in Nairobi in June. Sindy who is a member of the Abahlali Women's League discusses the pressure of living under constant attack from local government and local police and also the recent detention of members of the Kennedy Road location on charges of murder. Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement is the largest organisation of the militant poor in post-apartheid South Africa and is presently engaged in .
For more see the Abahlali website.
Music in this podcast is brought to you by Busi Ncube from Zimbabwe, kindly provided by Thulani Promotions.
ABC-CLIO is in the process of developing a comprehensive 21-volume Encyclopedia of World History. We are looking for interested scholars to prepare 500-1500 word articles with a global perspective in the area of African History and Culture. contributors will have their names associated with the entries they contribute, and will receive access to the e-book version of the entire encyclopedia (list price $1,800) for personal use. Contributors assigned 3,000 words or more will also receive a credit of $300 towards purchase of ABC-CLIO books.
The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA), the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) are pleased to call for applications for participation in the South-South comparative research seminar series they are organising within the framework of the initiative. The seminar will take place in Accra, Ghana, from 21 to 23 September, 2007.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has released a new report: "Easier Said than Done: A report on the commitments and performances of the Commonwealth members of the UN Human Rights Council". CHRI has been monitoring the performances of the 13 Commonwealth members of the Council (Bangladesh, Canada, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, UK and Zambia) and compared them with the pledges the Commonwealth countries made prior to their election in the Council.
Research Matters is recruiting a Program Officer to join the team, based out of IDRC’s Nairobi office. S/he will develop and implement projects and activities approved under the Research Matters project description and Governance, Equity and Health (GEH) prospectus, with particular emphasis on liaison with research users and close collaboration with SDC staff and partners in the field and in Berne. Closing Date is July 19, 2007.
In April 2007, equalinrights facilitated and supported a five day workshop for 21 representatives of grassroots organisations in Vihiga, Kenya. The main theme was: ’Empowering rural grassroots stakeholders to confront poverty through human rights-based approaches‘
School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of London will be hosting a conference on Migrants and making of Indian Ocean cultures on Wednesday 11 July 2007. Cross-cultural Outcomes from the dispersal and movement of peoples and cultures within the Indian Ocean will be the main theme of this Conference.
Patrice Emery Lumumba (July 2, 1925 - January 17, 1961) was the first freely elected Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Beloved by his people, he was assassinated by western interests for advocating that the Congo's vast mineral wealth be used first and foremost, to benefit the people of the Congo. A monument by Nijel PBG will pay tribute to the vision and legacy of Patrice Emery Lumumba.
Congo: Consolidating the Peace, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines President Joseph Kabila’s new government and warns that the real gains that have been made are at serious risk. While the transition helped unify the divided country and improved security in much of it, governing institutions remain weak, abusive or non-existent, and the national army is still the country’s worst human rights abuser while another crisis is looming in the East.
The Association of African Women for Research & Development (AAWORD) invites applications from suitably qualified African Women scholars/administrators for the post of Executive Secretary (ES). This position is the highest management post in the Secretariat and the successful candidate shall be responsible for the overall day-to-day management of the Secretariat and the affairs of the association. The deadline for applications is July 20th, 2007.
The Justice Initiative is seeking a Litigation Director to develop, oversee, and refine as needed the strategic direction and implementation of all litigation activity by the Justice Initiative. In carrying out this cross-cutting activity, the Litigation Director collaborates closely with staff in each of the thematic and geographic programs of the Justice Initiative. Start Date: October 2007.
The Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, says what Africa needs at the moment is 3Es rather than 3Gs. Speaking at the recently concluded 18th annual session of the Crans Montana Forum in Monte Carlo, at the ministerial panel on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), that took place in Monaco, Dr. Spio-Garbrah said that the 3Es needed urgently by the continent is "education, empowerment and employment" of the citizenry.
The Gambia's efforts to provide wireless telephones to 350 villages have been hampered by insufficient funds, the country's Communications and Information Technology Minister, Nenneh Macdouall-Gaye, told parliament.
A summit to discuss e-content strategies for the West African region under the theme:"Improving Digital Lifestyles in Sub-Saharan Africa" is due in Benin. The e-content summit is expected to be opened by the President of the Republic of Benin, H.E. Dr. Thomas Boni Yayi. Meanwhile the Benin-based World Summit Award (WSA) partner, Afrique Emergence and the Government of the Republic of Benin will be the co- hosts.
The Maltese-based international non-profit organisation, the DiploFoundation has trained a total of 265 persons on its Internet Governance Capacity Building Programme (IGCBP) from developing countries since 2003 with 45.5 per cent coming from Africa.
The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue’s Arms Programme is seeking expressions of interest from consultants to take on assignments varying in length from one to three/four months. Application deadline is 27 July 2007
One of Nigeria's main opposition parties rejected an offer to join a coalition government on Friday because it considers the ruling party's victory in a recent election was illegitimate, reports Al Jazeera. Umaru Yar'Adua, the new president, has invited the three main oppostion parties to join the government to give him greater legitimacy.
Five Somali children were killed by a land mine in the capital Mogadishu. The children were reportedly playing with the device when it suddenly exploded. The children came across the land mine when they were asked to attend the Friday prayers at the mosque. Instead, they decided to play football and in the process, they came across the device. One of the children caused the explosion by throwing it against a wall.
A special envoy of the United Nations Secretary General, Jan Eliasson, today arrives in Sudan to open fresh talks which aims to foster political negotiations among parties to the Darfur conflict. Mr Eliasson met the African Union-UN Joint Mediation Support Team in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. His discussion with the team had centred on preparations for the proposed joint international meeting on the Darfur political process in Libya.
IDS does not only travel with truckers along African highways; it flies business class with men in dark suits, crawls into marriages and lurks in playgrounds. It smiles at you every day at work and, disproportionately, affects African women and girls because of gender inequalities.These were the words of activist Deborah Williams, from Tobago, at the one-day Forum for Women Living with HIV and AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya.
International Medical Corps (IMC) has announced a temporary suspension of all its activities in and around the Somali town of El-Berde, 420km northwest of the capital Mogadishu, citing security concerns. "All IMC staff members employed in El-Berde have been urged to relocate immediately and have been offered help in evacuating to safer areas," the medical charity stated.
As mountains of garbage expand in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, the UN Environment Programme has called on the government and private sector to repair the country’s broken system for collecting trash. “Solid waste management is arguably the greatest public health threat in Monrovia,” UNEP’s Michael Cowing told IRIN. “There is virtually no waste management secto
Women in Sierra Leone stand to enjoy unprecedented rights under new laws making wife-beating a criminal offence, allowing women to inherit property, and protecting young women against forced marriage. One human rights coalition said the three laws, enacted by Sierra Leone’s parliament 14 June, will “help to radically improve the legal position of women in Sierra Leone.”
Most Swazi women who face domestic violence do not take their children and walk out of the house. "They say, 'who is going to feed me?'" Nonhlanhla Dlamini, Director of the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), told IRIN. But this is changing. An innovative SWAGAA programme to empower women economically in Swaziland's patriarchal society is helping many out of a cycle of abuse and dependency.
Ethiopian journalistPaulos Kidane, a journalist with the Amharic-language service of state-owned Eri-TV and radio Dimtsi Hafash (Voice of the Broad Masses), died in June 2007 in an attempt to flee on foot across the border into Sudan.
An editorial critical of Gabonese President Omar Bongo, Africa's longest-serving head of state, has led authorities in the capital, Libreville, to arrest a publisher and suspend his newspaper, according to news reports and local journalists. Guy-Christian Mavioga, director of the private periodical L'Espoir, has been in police custody since Thursday on accusations of offending the head of state in connection with a June 14 editorial headlined "The last days of Bongo," local journalists told CPJ.
Esther Wakilongo, a journalist with privately-owned Vision Shala Television (VSTV), was detained by Lieutenant-Colonel Anicet Muhimuzi, head of intelligence for the national police, while she was covering the parade organised for the anniversary of the country's independence in Bukavu (the largest city in South Kivu province, in the country's east). Although she presented her press card, the lieutenant-colonel seized her camera on the grounds that she did not possess "the badge granting authorisation to take pictures."
Philip Neville, the editor of the privately-owned "Standard Times" daily newspaper, was released from Pademba Road prison late on 3 July 2007 after paying bail. No date has yet been set for his trial. On 2 July, a Freetown court charged Neville with "libel", "malicious propaganda" and "publishing false news", and set very tough conditions for his provisional release.
Experts have long assumed that the violence, wide-scale rape and refugee crises are the inevitable by-products of war that fuel HIV/AIDS epidemics, but an analysis of HIV prevalence surveys from seven sub-Saharan African countries with similar recent histories found no evidence that higher HIV infection rates accompany conflict.
Swaziland's first Demographic Health Survey has found that 26 percent of sexually active Swazis are infected with HIV. The last prevalence survey, based on tests of pregnant women at antenatal clinics, had found a 38.6 percent HIV infection rate. The new figure was derived from a house-to-house survey by the Central Statistics Office for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
Pambazuka News 310: The denial of agency from Africa
Pambazuka News 310: The denial of agency from Africa
We, the representatives of the undersigned civil society organisations from Darfur, are honoured to address your august assembly on the occasion of its 9th Ordinary Session. This session comes at a historic moment when Africa celebrates the golden jubilee of Ghana’s independence as the first nation in sub-Saharan Africa to break its colonial shackles. However, despite Africa’s remarkable achievement in defeating colonialism, the continent still faces serious challenges that need to be addressed with the same resolve and vigour. An example in point is the catastrophic human rights and humanitarian situation in Darfur (Sudan). Africa is commendable for its ongoing efforts to end this unacceptable situation by African means and through the deployment of a joint AU and UN hybrid peacekeeping force in the region. In this regard we wish to pay homage to all African soldiers that have sacrificed their lives in an attempt to protect their brothers and sisters especially the most vulnerable women and children in Darfur.
The Direct Conflict Prevention Programme (DCP) of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS)-Addis Ababa office would like to cordially invite you to the launch of seven research papers relating to the debate on the United States of Africa. The launch and buffet lunch will take place at the Alisa Hotel, in North Ridge, Accra, Ghana, on the 27 June 2007 at 12h00.
These papers – five in English and two in French - address issues pertaining to the forthcoming ‘Grand Debate on the Union Government’. They provide a critical analysis of the opportunities and challenges of a 'United Africa'. In the journey towards African unity it is necessary to ask at least three questions: 1) 'Where did the journey start?'; 2) 'Where are we now?' 3) 'Where do we go from here?'. Each of the papers will address these issues from different political, economic, and social perspectives.
For queries please contact: Dr Tim Murithi on (+233) 024 98 58 252
The Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation made two awards recently for the Jaramogi Uhuru Awards for 2007. The first to HE the late Dr John Garang, first Vice President of the Republic of Sudan, President of GOSS. The second award was to Zarina Patel, the publisher of AWAZ magazine (http://www.awaaz.co.ke), and author of a number of outstanding books, Unquiet: A tribute to the founder of Kenya’s trade union movement (for review, see )
The continental civil society conference on the proposed African Union Government, organised by the Ghanaian Civil Society AU Coalition, was held in Accra Ghana, June 22-22, 2007. 100 civil society organisations from 50 countries across Africa participated in this conference entitled 'Accelerating Africa’s Integration and Development in the 21st Century: Prospects and Challenges of Union Government'. The intent of this conference was for civil society organisations (CSOs) to convene and develop a harmonised approach to ensuring that the citizens of Africa are included in the formation of a unified African government.
Interview with Professor Atukwei Okai conducted June 23, 2007 in Accra, Ghana following an address by the Professor to the 'Continental Conference on Accelerating Africa’s Integration and Development in the 21st century' organised by the Ghanaian Civil Society AU Coalition.
Professor Atukwei Okai is a widely published author and acclaimed poet. He is Secretary-General of the Pan African Writer’s Association (PAWA). This interview was conducted by Selome Araya for the AU-Monitor.
Today, several civil society organisations issued an African citizens passport to the Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Nana Akuffo Addo in a pre-summit Continental Conference organised by the AU Ghanaian Civil Society Coalition. The passport is a response to a growing demand by African citizens for an easing of restrictions on travel within Africa by African governments as a pre-condition for African citizenship.
Today, June 23, civil society organisations from across Africa met during the Continental Conference organised by the AU Ghanaian Civil Society Coalition. A communique entitled 'From a “grand debate” to grand actions for a united Africa' was adopted and will be presented to the Assembly of Heads of States. The communique states: 'There is a clear consensus among us in favour of rapidly accelerating continental integration in order to respond to current and future economic, political and social challenges. Accordingly, we support the proposal for the establishment of a Union Government. We believe that the Union Government must be a People’s Union and must be built on values of participation and democracy in its construction and implementation at continental, regional and national level. The communique full text is available at
The African Union -Civil Society Organisations Pre-Summit in Accra has ended with a call on member countries to resist pressure from European Union towards the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) in December.
Participants called on African leaders to extend the deadline for conclusion of the negotiation on the EPA by at least year years. That they said would enable African governments to conduct independent impact assessment on the EPA policies.
Interview with Andiwo Obondoh, Christian Children’s Fund.
Andiwo Obondoh is the Regional Adviser for Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) Africa, based in South Africa. In March, Emily Mghanga interviewed him on the upcoming Grand Debate on the Continental Government during the next African Union Summit, June – July 2007. This interview is one of several interviews with African citizens and CSO leaders on the AU proposal for Continental Government. Emily Mghanga of th Pan Africa Programme Oxfam edited this interview.
In response to the African Union’s invitation to the public to contribute to the ‘Grand Debate' on the formation of a union government for the continent, the Pan African People’s Assembly intends to hold a conference on June 22 at the National Theatre, Accra, where participants will deliberate on the subject matter.
Over 1,400 Pan Africanists across the continent, civil society groups in Ghana and the general public are expected to partake in the grand debate.
The 9th Assembly of the African Union Heads of States and Governments will convene from 1-3 July 2007 in Accra, Ghana under the theme, ‘The Grand Debate on the Union Government.’ It is significant that the debate takes place nearly two years since the ratification of the African Union Protocol to the Charter of African Women’s Rights, and three years since the adoption of the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, which reaffirms the commitment of African states to advance the agenda of gender equality. Both instruments provide a critical framework to address the rights of women and girls in Africa. To date, 21 countries have ratified the protocol on Women’s Rights, leaving 32 yet to ratify. The delay in ratification of the protocol by member states of the union undermines the universal achievement of continental standards on women’s rights.
Wednesday June 27, join Hugh Masekela - world acclaimed South African music legend in a Solidarity Concert on Darfur at the National Theatre, Accra. The event starts at 7pm.
This is an African civil society programme in connection with the African Union summit being hosted in Ghana.
Liberia's auditor general accused a senior economic adviser to President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of striking and threatening him in parliament after he denounced a phantom department in the presidency. Auditor General John Morlu said presidential adviser for economic affairs Morris Saytumah hit him after he told Liberian legislators he had discovered two departments in the national budget with identical roles.
From Cape Town to Algiers, many Africans welcome Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's plan for a United States of Africa with a strong voice on the global stage, but most say it simply comes too soon for a divided continent. Gaddafi, long regarded as a pariah in the West for his anti-colonial rhetoric, is touring West Africa to promote the long-standing plan for a pan-African government which will be put to a summit of the African Union on 1 July in Ghana.