The latest report from the International Crisis Group - Nigeria: Failed Elections, Failing State? - examines the implications of the country’s electoral injustice in April 2007, which is undermining Nigeria’s status as a democracy and weakening its position as a broker of peace across the African continent. The report calls on President Umaru Yar’Adua to reach out to the opposition to form an inclusive government of national unity, in which all major parties are represented.

According to a new report by Save the Children, half of the world’s out-of-school population – 39 million children – live in conflict-affected fragile states (CAFS), even though these countries make up just 13 per cent of the world’s population. The numbers of out-of-school children are disproportionately high for a number of reasons. Almost all CAFS are low-income countries, some lack the political will to provide education, and conflict almost inevitably leaves national institutions – including education authorities – in disarray.

The Editor/Writer will be responsible for the editing and drafting of numerous documents such as Sudan UN and Partners Work Plan (2007 Mid Year Review and Work Plan 2008); Sudan UN and Partners documents; Key correspondence related to the Work Plan and assist with presentations on the Work Plan process to key stakeholders such as Government, Donors, NGOs and UN Agencies. It will also entail field travel to Juba and to key locations with a large concentration of Agencies. Reference Code: RW_73PL5W-93. Deadline: 10 June 2007

The threat of climate change is real and potentially horrific. But, as is argued here, the whirring engine of the climate change research buzz seems to pretend that everyday threats to biodiversity in Africa have disappeared into oblivion.

George Berkley, the 18th century Irish philosopher and theologian, is most well known for the conundrum, 'If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?'

Today, this insight on the ‘truth and the existence of things’ is ever relevant to our research institutions and what it is they are doing for nature conservation. If no one perceives or documents the loss of biodiversity, then the tree will not make a sound when it falls. Because the tree did not exist in the first place.

Now the caveat of Berkley’s philosophical meandering is this: he did not claim the existence or non-existence of entities. He claimed that man’s suspicion that things exist actually enlivens the existence, and therefore makes it ‘real’. So, conservationists not only suspect existence of many as yet unnamed gems of biodiversity, but they are quite certain of their bountiful existence.

This matters a lot, because almost 300 years after Linnaeaus gave us the tools to classify and name species, scientists in the 21st century continue to make startling discoveries. Think of the Bornean leopard subspecies now dominating the headlines. In southern Africa, recent discoveries include the Upemba lechwe antelope from the Katanga area in Zambia; the scarabid insect order that was discovered on Namibia’s Brandberg, and the monotypic tree genus, Icuria, from coastal Mozambique.

And yet, the brows of our botanical research institutions are deeply furrowed. It seems they are grappling with the practical ramifications of understanding the effects of climate change on unknown species in unknown landscapes. Is it possible to study climate change effects on things you don’t know even exist and for which you have no information? James Berkley would have thought so.

The threat of climate change is real and potentially horrific. Drier and warmer weather patterns forecast increased hunger of starving bellies and thirst in barren landscapes. Nature will suffer too. And, global warming will also throw its shadow on undocumented virgin territories.

The use of surrogates is a kind of information replacement therapy useful to climate change studies. Frogs, spiders or birds can be used as methodological substitutes. Even the properties of ecosystems can be helpful in filling the void. What it actually amounts to is that nature can be helped without actually knowing for sure that it actually exists. This amazing metaphysical feat that brings together rather elegant ideas on truth and science into the real world appeases most people; except, I would imagine, the pragmatic, gung-ho field practitioner. The one-and-only bush James Bond with the khaki micro-shorts and the steely resolve to protect nature at all costs.

Thus, on how ‘science noire’ is perceived: Our James Bond practitioners work at the coal face. They require precise, unfaltering answers on how to deal with prevailing, every-day threats like poaching, the bushmeat crisis, depleting firewood trees, and the trafficking of tropical timber. Try fleecing them with hypothetical academic grey matter, and they may ridicule the desktop climate change nerds to ‘get real and get with the real programme’.

The whirring engine of the climate change research buzz seems to pretend that Africa’s everyday threats have disappeared into oblivion. But, those involved in the scourge of biopiracy and land rights conflicts, and the violations of oil multinationals thieves are all bastards who are omnipresent in the pillaging of Africa’s natural resources.

Climate change hides all this exploitation and injustice under the carpet. The very threat of the climate change agenda is that its appeal is so earnest that it makes us forgetful of the biodiversity skullduggery. It turns away political focus and public interest. It blinds budget frameworks and it softens the policing of biodiversity regulations. And this is the heart of the problem.

Quite frankly, I am bored hearing that climate change is a new vehicle for getting recalcitrant corporates around the environmental table. Almost as if to say, that, what the biodiversity agenda could not achieve, climate change can.

Climate change can leverage funding from businesses that the biodiversity movement could not. Yes, it is true and that's great. But the one magnificent achievement that makes the biodiversity movement stand head-and-shoulders above the climate change buzz is the fact that it instilled a love and respect for nature. It wooed us with the miracles of nature: rivers and mountains, gorillas in mist forests, polar bears in snowscapes, indigenous tribal groups and cultural rights. It inspired appreciation for exotic travel (think ecotourism) and ardent support of charities (e.g. 'save-the-girl-child-in-Africa'). And, it gave us big, flirtatious hearts, generosity and a sense of diversity in a complex world.

Climate change has instilled a fear of nature - a dark uncertainty and a shared global fate. The passion for nature has been replaced with diplomacy: now it is all clinical thinking, economic elbowing and political stratagems. It even raises suspicion and rivalry at work – who is the culprit who left the lights on? May the person who flew to Paris instead of taking the Eurostar rot in hell. The love affair with nature, it seems, is over.

Everything we had planned, for a sustainable future in Africa in the 1990s, post-Rio epoch, such as the protection of ecologically sensitive habitats, animal migration corridors, CBNRM models – now needs to be fundamentally rejigged. Strategies that have taken so long to devise in Africa need to be modified. Why? Because climate change says so: new objectives should examine how existing strategies must be altered in relation to climate change. This is all good and well.

But, African conservation scientists need to keep banging the drum that the conservation problems of yesterday, are still the problems of today. Instead of nodding in agreement and cosseting the new climate change dogma, scientists need to emulate the classic character of the bush James Bond. We need to be bold. Speak out, and find ways to utilise the climate change ethos to keep Africa’s everyday biodiversity issues mainstream. Needless to say, I have great respect for committed practitioners who keep a beady, slightly sceptical eye on the horizon. Or perhaps its just the fantasy of the khaki shorts that is so alluring.

No matter how one looks at it, it will become increasingly difficult to locate a secure research space for many conservation scientists, taxonomists in particular. Intrepid adventurers who obtain samples of species potentially new to science will get little joy under the new research banner. Herbaria have built their tradition on naming species. Every African country has at least two state-run herbaria. If African conservation scientists do not ‘get with the real programme’ in order to boom, then they are certainly going to bust out and turn into white elephants.

George Berkley’s oft-quoted discourse on the nature of things presents a marvellous revelation. All sorts of stuff that affect named and unnamed forms of biodiversity can take place in nature, of which we are not directly aware, like climate change. Even if we don’t hear the sound of a tree falling, it remains the human responsibility of good virtue to take action. Conservation scientists should not forget the real biodiversity issues in Africa. Cherish nature and keep the love alive.

* Janice Golding is a doctoral candidate from South Africa at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford.

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

Abdirahman Aw Ali presents the case for African Union acceptance of Somailand into the union.

It was January 28, 2007 as I boarded my plane from New York to London on my way to South Africa. I was reading the Financial Times when I noticed in an article that Kosovo was to declare statehood, and how the European Union (EU) is setting the stage for Kosovo to be an internationally recognised state. I could not help myself asking why the African Union (AU) is not playing the same role with my birth place, Somaliland?

On May 18, 2007, Somaliland Republic (former British Somaliland) celebrates 16 years of self-rule. It has had a thriving democracy since it has decided to re-instate its sovereign independence from Somalia after the fall of Siad Barre regime in 1991.

As a Somalilander myself who ran away from Siad Barre's atrocities as a young man in the late 1980s and settled in the United States, I have mixed feelings as I see my people celebrating the 16th anniversary of Somaliland's birth.

On the one hand, I am extremely proud of the people of Somaliland, and its leaders for what they have been able to achieve over the past 16 years. On the other hand, I am less excited, and amazed by lack of the AU in leading the promotion of Somaliland's cause by sending a strong signal to other African countries that they do care and that they reward peace, stability, and democracy (acknowledging people's choice).

It is very clear why the European Union is serious about the status of Kosovo. The EU is planning to avoid the risk of war and violence that would again destabilise the Balkans region. The million dollar question is why the AU is not farsighted enough to avoid a potential and imminent war between Somalia's southern leaders, and Somaliland that will undermine the stability of the whole region?

Somali's southern leaders are not known to respect the rule of law and the wishes of its citizens. This is the main reason that Somaliland people are fully determined to fight for sovereignity status following the roots of independence from Great Britain on June 26, 1960.

31 UN member states recognised Somaliland as an independent state before uniting with the Italian Somaliland on July 1, 1960 to form what was known as Somali Republic.

Somaliland is only seeking recognition within the borders received at that moment. Somaliland, not officially recognised by any state, has been functioning as constitutional democracy with a President directly elected by the people, added by a parliament and local government also directly elected by the people.

Somaliland did not even have a university for 31 years of union with the southern Somalia. Today they have four universities despite lack of recognition. They have four private owned telephone and mobile operators where they did not have any in the past 31 years of union with the south. And the list goes on.

Some people do not truly understand why the people of Somaliland decided to go alone, and break their partnership with the south. Some people even speculate that the issue of Somaliland is tied with the stability of the southern Somalia, and the union will be back when the rest of the south becomes stable. As a matter of fact, there are many reasons why Somaliland re-took its independence, and broke its partnership. But in my personal view, I would only focus on two important reasons.

Firstly, British Somaliland had voluntarily entered a union with Italian Somaliland in pursuit of irredentist dream of a 'Greater Somalia' (including parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti).

It was clear to everybody in both regions that it was never intended to stop with the union of the two regions, but to pursue the other three remaining regions.

Therefore, that dream effectively died when Djibouti got its independence in 1977, and decided to go alone without joining the existing union. If Djibouti people had that freedom to make that choice, it is only fair that the people of Somaliland can make similar choices to decide on their fate.

The main argument here is that the Somali union in 1960 did not achieve the reason it was formed which was a greater Somalia. Somaliland's voluntary union at that time was based on that formation. If that dream did not materialise, Somaliland could go alone like the other regions did where Somalis live including Djibouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

Secondly, another very crucial point that made the people of Somaliland go their separate ways from the South is the suffering and injustices that the people of Somaliland endured for 31 years of marriage. They have suffered at the hands of Southern rule governments particularly during Siad Barre's 21-year rule.

The whole world knows that those governments even bombarded Somaliland cities. Therefore, it is a trust issue. If you had a business partnership with another person and you have suffered and lost everything, and you would have to re-start your business. Would you again trust to create another partnership with that person? It is fair to say that the people of Somaliland have a trust issue with their brothers in the South, and will not join them again within a union despite a lack of recognition by the international community.

It is important to note that the AU sent a fact finding mission to Somaliland in 2005 in order to respond to the concern that Somaliland recognition would create a fragmentation of Somalia, or other AU member states.

The African Union fact finding mission in 2005 concluded 'the case should not be linked to the notion of "opening a Pandora box"', and the report recommended that the AU 'should find a special method of dealing with this outstanding case' as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, AU actions stopped there. Why cannot we Africans decide for ourselves, with Europeans doing so and the EU leading the way? I hope I can one day be proud of our African leaders through the AU leadership when I see that they are taking a far sighted approach like the EU doing on Kosovo.

The more the AU delays dealing with the Somaliland case, the more it makes the situation in East Africa difficult, and increases the risk of war and questions the credibility of the AU.

The Somaliland case is a time bomb for the African Union and the international community cannot really afford to ignore the issue. On the other hand, Somaliland's multi-party democracy system is a rarity in Africa, and the Muslim world.

The African Union needs to seriously consider Somaliland's formal application of AU membership and reward people's choice of democracy. Somaliland is a state where the power truly belongs to the people.

* Abdirahman Aw Ali is is from Somaliland and based in the USA.

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

Black economic empowerment (BEE) continues to cultivate human and natural exploitation for the benefits of few at the expenses of far too many. It turns de-colonisation into a private business for self-enrichment. Henning Melber on the ensuing kleptocracy in Namibia and the possibility of another Zimbabwean style tragedy.

A Namibian parliamentary committee hearing was told in April 2007 by the executive secretary of the state-owned Namibia Development Corporation (NDC) in liquidation (during apartheid days the 'Bantu Investment Corporation'), that the tens of millions of Namibian dollars dished out earlier as credits to black empowerment initiatives will in most cases not be repaid – even though many of the lenders are among the nouveau riche.

Limits to liberation
Ever since independence in 1990, Namibia’s government has blamed the country’s exploitation under settler colonialism for the unabated social disparities. Indeed, the transfer of political power left, as part of a negotiated settlement, the existing socio-economic structures largely untouched. The inequalities were endorsed as status quo in terms of constitutionally protected ownership and property rights. Limited social changes had to be induced inside this legally binding framework guided by a policy of 'national reconciliation' and 'affirmative action'. As a result, the privileged segment of society became racially less exclusive.

But according to the empirical evidence presented by the annual Human Development Reports of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Namibia remains among the most unequal societies in the world – despite an average per capita income ranking it as lower middle-income country. A World Bank commissioned report alerted in 2005 that these inequalities 'represent a threat to national cohesion, peace, and political stability'. A UN country assessment warned of an unfolding humanitarian crisis due to the combination of HIV/Aids, food insecurity and the ineffective delivery of critical social services to the most vulnerable groups.

Despite such concerns, the government has refused to introduce a Basic Income Grant (BIG) - demanded for years by a broad church-based alliance - as not feasible in terms of its fiscal constraints. But more than a billion Namibian dollars was spent on a luxurious new high security state house complex. Nonetheless in April 2007 it was justified as a 'pro-poor' measure during the budgetary debate in parliament. A SWAPO MP demanded in all seriousness that posh cars should be exempted from the speed limit on Namibia’s roads.

Power, privilege and poverty
Black economic empowerment (BEE) has so far served the interests of a new political-bureaucratic elite from the ranks of the erstwhile liberation movement. Those who liberated mainly themselves profitably cashed their access to the country’s resources through their political and public service offices.

Corruption and misappropriation of funds nourished a parasitic minority. This had been spectacularly confirmed by several high calibre cases of fraud and self-enrichment schemes looting pension funds and other public finances. Shady business practices illustrated in a textbook way the infamous 'fat-cat syndrome' prevailing. Prime Minister Nahas Angula called the abuse of several hundred million Namibian dollars from the state administered pension funds on get-rich-quick schemes masquerading as BEE 'just asset-stripping'.

In a revelation of self-enrichment schemes, described by the locally published Insight magazine in March 2006 as 'the mother of all empowerment deals'. Since mid-2006 another 'horde of black economic empowerment groups' have come under increased scrutiny. The deal set up between the South African oil giant Sasol and a conglomerate of locally created pseudo-firms without any proper offices, named a former trade union leader and several high-ranking government officials operating within an intricate web of pseudo-enterprises, as its main Namibian beneficiaries. As the former trade unionist declared in defence of the deal, the shareholders were 'just black entrepreneurs who needed the money and took advantage of a given situation'.

A popular school of thought within critical poverty research holds the view that it is the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of narrow privileged groups that creates and perpetuates inequalities. According to such an understanding, the analysis of power is fundamental to any examination of poverty. Privatisation of public resources results in political-administrative power as personalised power; in politics as a kind of business enterprise; and in vertical clientele relationships of a neo-patrimonial nature. The result is an increasingly authoritarian and incompetent state that rarely responds to public pressure.

The (class) struggle continues
Since independence, Namibia has produced a crypto-capitalist, petty-minded self-enriching new black elite, which spends its energy exploiting the public purse. There is an absence of a meaningful, profit-generating industrial sector, where capital would be additionally accumulated through surplus production based on the exploitation of value adding labour - which implies at least employment for a majority of people. The creation of individual wealth relies on the privatisation of natural resources (mainly in the sectors of fishing, mining, agriculture and tourism) or benefits linked to privileges in the public sector and state owned enterprises. Public procurement and other outsourcing activities by those occupying the commanding heights of the state agencies turn 'affirmative action' and BEE into self-rewarding schemes among loyal members of the erstwhile liberation movement.

Such co-optation into the ruling segments within an already existing socio-economic system is far from social transformation. BEE continues to cultivate human and natural exploitation for the benefits of few at the expenses of far too many. It turns de-colonisation largely into a private business for self-enrichment. A result of such kleptocracy is the gradual loss of legitimacy. Zimbabwe-type decay is the writing at the wall. De-colonisation of such kind is not about redistribution of (relative) wealth for the ordinary people. It is self-enrichment for a new elite and business as usual.

* Dr Henning Melber is executive director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation in Uppsala, Sweden where he was research director at The Nordic Africa Institute, 2000-2006. A son of German immigrants, he joined SWAPO in 1974. Hw was director of The Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) in Windhoek, Namibia between 1992 and 2000.

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

FEATURES: Hakima Abbas reports back on an historic meeting of Chinese and African CSOs in Shanghai held at the same time as the African Development Bank meeting.

COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Abdirahman Aw Ali on the case for African Union recognition of Somaliland
- Janice Golding considers research debates about biodiversity and climate change in Africa
- Henning Melber on black economic empowerment and kleptocracy in Namibia
LETTERS: Jens Galschiøt from Denmark on the banning of a sculpture in London
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen asks whether the new president of Nigeria will be a new Robin Hood
BOOKS & ARTS: film Review: OBberlin-Inanda: The Life and Times of John Dube; Poetess poem

WOMEN AND GENDER: South Africa’s Sexual Offenses Bill welcomed
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: AU yet to approve Darfur force
HUMAN RIGHTS: New Niger slavery study welcomed
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: Niger Delta youth shut pipeline valve
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: The accountability gap in refugee protection
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: New Nigerian leader faces catalogue of crises
CORRUPTION: Niger parliament votes out government over corruption
DEVELOPMENT: Farm subsidies a taboo at G8
HEALTH AND HIV/Aids: One million southern Africans in need of treatment
EDUCATION: Donors failing children in conflict states
LGBTI: Africa’s gays and lesbians combat bias
ENVIRONMENT: Uganda acts to save rain forests
LAND & LAND RIGHTS: Report on Rwanda’s Batwa
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: 24-hour network launched
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: Programme for low-cost PCs launched
PLUS: e-newsletters and mailings lists; fundraising and useful resources; courses,
seminars and workshops, jobs and books and publications

*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

Following an announcement earlier this month that open source patents infringed on 235 of its patents, Microsoft executives say they are not itching to file lawsuits, but rather trying to make money from their intellectual property, reports LA Times.To that end, they want distributors and users of open source programs to license the relevant Microsoft technologies, as Novell did last year.

GRA is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to bringing hope, joy and abundance to the world's most impoverished regions. By sharing ideas, volunteers and financial resources with local, community based organizations we seek to promote natural, holistic and sustainable solutions to the challenges of poverty, malnutrition and disease. The inspiration and leadership for our work comes from the communities we serve.

People with disabilities have special communication needs that are often not catered for in Kenya's training institutions. United Disability Empowerment is trying to change this. They are urgently looking for an ICT trainer with experience in communication aid programmes to deliver comprehensive computer courses to people with communication disabilities.

The African Union (AU) has instituted an audit of its institutions as debate escalates on the form of a proposed Union government. Chairperson of the AU Commission, Alpha Oumar Konaré, said the AU will finalise the audit “before it can conclude the debate of the formation of a Union government.” Existing AU institutions are the AU Commission, the Pan African Parliament (PAP) and the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC).

About one million people in need of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment are yet to receive it in four southern African states, according to Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a global nongovernmental organisation specialising in medical services. On the African continent, some 70 percent of people who need ARVs do not have access to the drugs.

The MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation (MS-TCDC) offers courses which strengthen the internal governance of civil society organisations and other courses which enable organisations to work with communities and to engage with government and private sector in policy making. There are three new courses: Project Planning and Management course; the Participatory Forest Management course; and the Basic Financial Introduction course. The courses target primarily people and organisations working in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and secondarily those from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somaliland.

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor goes on trial next week charged with instigating murder, rape and terrorism during Sierra Leone's civil war in a case prosecutors say could end impunity for African strongmen. Taylor, once one of Africa's most feared warlords, faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, including recruiting child soldiers during the 1991-2002 conflict.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday it would resume operations in the drought-affected Karamoja region of northern Uganda following government assurances on the security of staff. The U.N. agency suspended food deliveries to half a million people struggling to cope with the effects of drought after a WFP driver was shot dead on Monday during an ambush by unidentified gunmen in Kotido District

Voluntary HIV tests should be offered to all patients attending clinics, for whatever reason, in countries where AIDS is widespread, the World Health Organisation has said. Elsewhere, testing is recommended for all patients attending selected facilities, such as antenatal or sexual health clinics.

Uganda's government has scrapped plans to convert thousands of hectares of rainforest on an island in Lake Victoria into a palm oil plantation, according to the country's environment minister. The announcement on Saturday follows protests, in which three people died, over a similar project by a sugar production company.

Heads of State, foreign ministers and central bank governors from seventy seven African nations met in Shanghai, China, last week for the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) annual meetings. The location of the meetings was pertinently and historically chosen in light of growing Sino-African relations, which, at the governmental level, have reached soaring heights and dimensions. Yet to be foreseen, however, are the implications for the people of Africa and China. It is to this uncertainty that a discussion was held on the peripheries of the AfDB fanfare between African and Chinese non-governmental actors in a meeting convened by China Development Brief, Fahamu, Focus on the Global South and the Transnational Institute.

The historic meeting of Chinese, African and other Southern non-governmental actors allowed for contemplative discussion and debate among academics, researchers and civil society organisations through open and critical dialogue. Participants included representatives from China, Kenya, Egypt, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Benin, South Africa, Mozambique, Burma, the Philippines, the Netherlands, UK, USA, Brazil, India and Australia. A new and nuanced perspective was illuminated that was neither merely rejectionist nor unquestionably accepting. The meetings began with reflections on the nature of Sino-African relations exploring the charges of neo-colonialism versus the expressions of South-South cooperation and mutual aid.

At the outset of the debates, Prof. Yan Hirong of the Department of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong challenged the vilification of Chinese relations in Africa in western media. She noted the importance of putting these trade and investment relations in the perspective of global trends where China is still a small player in Africa. However, Daniel Ribeiro from Justiça Ambiental in Mozambique observed that the impact of deforestation or the removal of livelihood on a community is itself colossal regardless of the size of Chinese investments in the particular nation. It is this impact that creates popular perceptions of Sino-African relations. Indeed, journalist Wang Yongcheng suggested that Chinese people view China to be helping Africa and are disconcerted by the apparent criticism and lack of appreciation. She said that little is heard in China about any negative effects of China’s involvement in the Continent. Ali Askouri, Piankhi Institute, provided an example of where Chinese corporations have been involved in projects that have a negative impact on communities in Africa. The Merowe Dam Project in Sudan is the largest hydropower project currently under construction in Africa. It is being implemented by two Chinese contractors and funded largely by China Export Import Bank. The construction of the dam will however cause the displacement, and affect the very survival, of some seventy thousand people living along the riverbanks. In Mr. Askouri’s view, it is unconstructive to debate whether Chinese actions are worse or better than those of western States as all actors should be held to the highest standards of accountability. Rather, he turned to his Chinese counterparts to find out how affected communities can effect change in the practice of Chinese corporations in Africa.

China’s government espouses the tenets of non-interference and non-conditionality in Africa as demonstrating recognition of self-determination in contrast to the neo-colonialist conditionality of western donors. Professor Xu Weizhong from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences considered hypocritical the cant advanced by western nations that perpetuates the perception of Africa as an economic burden rather than the prop from which industrialisation of the north was achieved and continues to be upheld. And in the same vein noted that “in the end Africans must be the deciders of their own destiny and must have the right to say whether their relationship with China is good for them or not.”

The non-interference and no-conditionality policy has many critics charging China with failing to encourage good governance. But yet African participants like Ali Askouri were not asking China to not invest in Africa, in fact he noted that the affected communities along the Nile River basin of Sudan are not, per se, against the dam project, but sought avenues to constructively bring the voices of Africa’s people to the table and wondered what role Chinese civil society could play in holding their government accountable.

While Chinese civil society is growing, it is still testing its position relative to the government and the people of China. Organizations are primarily focused nationally and have little experience or knowledge of China’s actions internationally despite parallel issues of concern. Their relations with the government tend to be cooperative rather than antagonist given that influence is most effectively leveraged in China through negotiation rather than the “naming and shaming” style of western NGOs. African civil society tends to be experienced and mature in their advocacy nationally and regionally but have little understanding and exposure to Chinese political waters and processes for change. The meeting began a much-needed open dialogue that needs to be continued and increased to enhance the opportunities of Sino-Chinese relations for communities in Africa and China.

The special issue of Pambazuka News, African Perspective on China in Africa (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/282), was translated (courtesy of China Development Brief) into Chinese and distributed to participants at the meeting.

At the meeting, Hakima Abbas discussed the outcome of the meeting with two of the African participants whose attendance at the meeting was facilitated by Fahamu.

Interview with Sara Musa El Saeed, a consultant with Christian Aid, Sudan. Being a consultant most of the answers are the personal perspective of the interviewee.

Pambazuka News: Why do you feel a meeting of African and Chinese non-governmental actors is important at this time?

Sara Musa El Saeed: Until now most of Africa-China relationships (or at least in the case of Sudan) are at the political/governmental level with minimum, if any, other levels of involvement. It is felt that non-governmental sector involvement might help in maintaining fair and just relationship with communities’ rights and concerns being observed. There is complete ignorance from both Chinese as well as African civil society organisations such as existing organisations, their focus, scope, expertise etc., which are the basic information required if any future cooperation is to take place thus this meeting is hoped to provide this forum for getting to know each other.

Pambazuka News: What are your key reflections on Sino-Africans relations coming out of the China in Africa meeting?

Sara Musa El Saeed: Still, I feel the two sides don’t know each other well enough to be able to plan future plans and/or joint activities or cooperation, so I think this meeting needs to be followed up with continued dialogue and discussions as well as other more specific meetings to create windows for discussion on specific issues such as the environment, HIV/AIDS etc., just to mention a few of the issues raised during the meeting.

Also, the general public on the two sides are not aware of what is going on, how this might affect them, how to address the relations, both to maintain best benefits out of this involvement as well as stop any harmful effects that might result for the two sides. I believe that this could be the role of the CSOs on the two sides of the equation. There are many similarities in the areas of concerns such as the environment, funding, political environment that could be prohibiting at some points, HIV/ADS, funding constraints which the two sides could cooperate in solving and share their available expertise and know-how. However this needs to build trust, contacts/connections and exchange of information, which cannot happen without closer contacts and knowing each other.

Pambazuka News: How do you think African civil society can enhance the opportunities and mitigate the threat of Chinese relations with Africa?

Sara Musa El Saeed: CSOs are in direct contact with communities that might be affected by these relationships. In many cases they are in a better position to get information and knowledge of the type and effects of the relationship in the respective area/region and assess the damage that might result from it. Also and hopefully they can be the organisers of their communities to plan and act together to mitigate and address such negative impacts. In fact what I am also dreaming of is that these meetings form a discussion area for African CSOs among themselves to organise networks and regional groups in case of larger effects that might affect the region (such as in the case of forests that are shared among more than one country, dams such as along the Nile basin etc.). Also (I might be dreaming) but if the same happened among Chinese CSOs and these groups from the two sides joined hands and formed pressure groups and information exchange centres I think CSOs would be a real force to stop negative impacts of any governmental or economical agreements.

Pambazuka News: How do you envisage Chinese and African civil society organizations, academics and researchers developing alliance to enhance the opportunities for communities in Africa and China?

Sara Musa El Saeed: As I said in the beginning, there is a knowledge and information gap among CSOs on the two sides and I think it is the role of the academics from the two sides to provide this missing information through research, studies, policy analysis and reforms etc.

Pambazuka News: What concrete outcomes do you hope to implement, or be a part of, coming out of the meeting in Shanghai?

Sara Musa El Saeed: We need to start thinking of how to keep the momentum and consolidate the Shanghai meeting by setting goals and future plans, this could be done by having continued dialogue and discussions among the current group, and I would be happy to take part in these discussions and dialogue be it through emails, meetings etc. In terms of follow up action, this is something I was hoping to come up very clearly from the meeting, however I think there has been some points raised which need to be followed up and formulated in the form of future plans or follow up action and again I would be happy to help in formulating these plans. I will be sharing the report of the meeting, which I hope to get from the organisers, as well as my own report and would be discussing with Christian Aid what role they can play in future actions.

Interview with Charles Mutasa, Executive Director of AFRODAD, Zimbabwe

Pambazuka News: Why do you feel a meeting of African and Chinese non-governmental actors is important at this time?

Charles Mutasa: There is more Chinese involvement in the African continent than ever before. A lot of business deals are being sealed between African leaders and Chinese leaders. Citizen concerns over the new investors in the continent have been voiced within many civil society platforms. The Sino-Africa summits at the African Union level have signalled to the world the need to interrogate this new phenomenon. Many countries are resorting to China as a counter weight for their tired relations with the west - the “look east” policy. China has been mentioned as supporting dictatorships in Africa especially the Sudanese government over Darfur human rights abuses and, as such, there is need to interrogate the new Chinese interest versus human rights.

Pambazuka News: What are your key reflections on Sino-Africans relations coming out of the China in Africa meeting?

Charles Mutasa: There is no citizens’ involvement in the whole Sino-African relations. This needs to be factored in by building CSO networks and linkages. There is a need to identify the best practices of the Sino-Africans relations and strengthen them and at the same time do away with weaknesses or disadvantages to Africa from the linkage. There is also a need to avoid the problems Africa had with the bank and IMF and ensure that they are not repeated in Sino-Africans relations. Both the Chinese and African governments must be engaged on issues of human rights and environmental protection, among others, as they do their business. People to people relations can also better transform the Sino-Africans relations – if there relations remain solely at the political leadership level the continent will benefit very little. Thus linking CSOs, academics, experts and others will help nurture the relations for the benefit of all.

Pambazuka News: How do you think African civil society can enhance the opportunities and mitigate the threat of Chinese relations with Africa ?

Charles Mutasa: At a regional level CSOs need to use various platforms (ECOSOCC, NEPAD, UNECA, trade unions, women movements and Pan African Parliament) to engage African leadership and advise it on the best way forward. The AU must have one continental approach guiding country engagements with China - it must be strategic and based on comparative advantage. The use of research, advocacy and the media will help in this case. Exposing, naming and shaming certain deals can help ease the situation. At a national level, open and transparent country stakeholders debates and assessment of projects and deals will help.

Pambazuka News: How do you envisage Chinese and African civil society organizations, academics and researchers developing alliance to enhance the opportunities for communities in Africa and China?

Charles Mutasa: There is a need to have exchange programs between Chinese and African NGOs; the promotion of sports, competition and cultural activities; university to university linkages; joint field missions to projects; annual meetings and Sino-Africans side events.

Pambazuka News: What concrete outcomes do you hope to implement, or be a part of, coming out of the meeting in Shanghai ?

Charles Mutasa: Exchange programs between China and African NGOs, joint field missions to projects and joint research and advocacy activities.

Interview with Antony Otieno Ong’ayo, Transnational Institute, The Netherlands. Country of Origin: Kenya

Pambazuka News: Why do you feel a meeting of African and Chinese non-governmental actors is important at this time?

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo: The meeting improved the NGO’s knowledge on policy issues, relevant national legislation and policies in their respective areas of engagement as well as relevant knowledge sharing resources (this implies sharing examples, experiences and lessons with peers).

Pambazuka News: What are your key reflections on Sino-Africans relations coming out of the China in Africa meeting?

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo: The need for partnerships and programmes focusing on learning more about how CSOs use evidence to influence policy processes, improving information and communication activities. The need for Chinese and African NGOs to take advantage of new circumstances, and focus on how to make use of interactive technology since technology is not only a tool but part of a co-evolutionary process that shapes organizational forms and practices. The need to access correct information from government as a way of finding issues to raise with them.

Pambazuka News: How do you think African civil society can enhance the opportunities and mitigate the threat of Chinese relations with Africa?

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo: Engagement in the transformation of national, international and trans-national political space. The need for consultations in different geographical regions of the developing world to learn more about the role that CSOs currently play in using evidence to promote development policy and practice, and explore what they need to do better.

Pambazuka News: How do you envisage Chinese and African civil society organizations, academics and researchers developing alliance to enhance the opportunities for communities in Africa and China?

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo: Working together to generate useful insights for improved practices. Identify opportunities for small-scale collaborative work and exchange programmes (at institutional, organisational and individual consultation capacity).

Pambazuka News: What concrete outcomes do you hope to implement, or be a part of, coming out of the meeting in Shanghai?

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo: Undertaking research in any area of China-Africa relations, the impact of Chinese investment from various perspectives especially on labour and human rights issues, the impact on policy issues among African governments, writing for publications in China and Africa (for China Development Brief and Pambazuka if frameworks for such contributions are created).

There is a need for another forum where concrete issues can be discussed as a follow up to the Shanghai meeting. In this meeting, concrete measures and action frameworks can be developed whereby some clear objectives could be set and an action plan developed to help realise such objectives. They can include joint activities (research, surveys, but also experience and information sharing which can be documented and shared between NGOs in China and Africa). Some policy recommendations can be developed for use in the dialogue process with Chinese and African governments of specific issues that are the main concern of civil society in both continents. A dialogue framework can also be developed through which those participating in the China Africa relations can engage with the African and Chinese governments, investors and financial institutions concerned as an alternative voice to influence policy on behalf of the communities affected by either political or economic policies that are implemented under Sino-Africa relations.

* Hakima Abbas is AU Policy Analyst with Fahamu

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

Maybe Yar Adua will become a Robin Hood in exchange for the PDP robbery of votes.

The innaugural speech, on Tuesday, by Nigeria’s newly sworn in President, Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’ Adua, was not a speech that will make it to the list of even ‘1000 great speeches’ one has ever heard.

But with following words he defined his Presidency:

‘I will set a worthy personal example as your president.

‘No matter what obstacles confront us, I have confidence and faith in our ability to overcome them. After all, we are Nigerians! We are a resourceful and enterprising people, and we have it within us to make our country a better place. To that end I offer myself as a servant-leader. I will be a listener and doer, and serve with humility.

‘To fulfill our ambitions, all our leaders at all levels whether a local government councilor or state governor, senator or cabinet minister must change our style and our attitude. We must act at all times with humility, courage, and forthrightness. I ask you, fellow citizens, to join me in rebuilding our Nigerian family, one that defines the success of one by the happiness of many.

‘I ask you to set aside negative attitudes, and concentrate all our energies on getting to our common destination. All hands must be on deck.

‘Let us join together to ease the pains of today while working for the gains of tomorrow. Let us set aside cynicism and strive for the good society that we know is within our reach. Let us discard the habit of low expectations of ourselves as well as of our leaders.

‘Let us stop justifying every shortcoming with that unacceptable phrase 'the Nigerian Factor' as if to be a Nigerian is to settle for less. Let us recapture the mood of optimism that defined us at the dawn of independence, that legendary can-do spirit that marked our Nigerianess. Let us join together, now, to build a society worthy of our children. We have the talent. We have the intelligence. We have the ability.

‘The challenge is great. The goal is clear. The time is now.’

No one who knows Umar Yar’ Adua would have been surprised that the speech was not earth shattering. The man’s personality is not given to any speeches, small or big let alone flamboyance or dramatic gestures.

If a Man who has been a Governor of one of Nigeria’s 36 states for the past 8 years could still remain anonymous to the public in a country where even Local councillors not to talk of State governors and Ministers, will never let you forget ‘who I am’ it should tell us something about the man. It is not just that many people did not know him he appears unwilling to allow many people into his inner recesses, hence not many can say this is what makes him thick. This quality has made many to underestimate him. Instead too much attention is placed on his main sponsor, General Olushegun Obasanjo and how he imposed Yar Adua as a candidate and used ‘do or die’ machinations to ensure his election.

There is a democratic need to continue to challenge the credibility of the process but as at 72 hours ago Umar Musa Yar’ Adua is the President of Nigeria, de facto and de jure. We cannot be blaming any problems on Obasanjo anymore . As the Americans say : the buck stops at Yar’ Adua’s desk now.

Whatever role Obasanjo played in getting him to Aso Rock people in power are not known for showing too much gratitude. Look at Chiluba and Mwanawasa in Zambia or Muluzi and his successor in Malawi and long before that Ahmadu Ahidjo and Paul Biya in Cameroun.

Or reflect on the role the English Noble wannabe, Charles Njonjo, played in facilitating President Arap Moi’s takeover in 1978 and how they dramatically fell out with ‘little known’ and supposedly ‘unremarkable Moi’ who out-manoeuvred not just Njonjo, but also those within and outside KANU who thought they were better than him.

Even Obasanjo was ‘imposed’ on Nigerians by the generals and in particular the so-called Hausa-Fulani power elite. Although he is a Yoruba but was not the choice of his kinsmen and women, but it suited the interests of the ruling elites of Nigeria.

Obasanjo soon declared himself against both the political and military cliques that engineered his transition from ‘prisoner to president’ who in their arrogance (typified by IBB and Atiku) thought he would just be a pawn in their hands. Yar’ Adua therefore is not the first ‘unknown’ to become president of Nigeria. Even the first Prime Minster of the federation, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was a reluctant leader. Obasanjo in both his first regime as a military Head of state (1976-1979) and rebirth as a born again civilianised general (1999-2003) was a leader ‘against my personal wishes and desire’.

It was his second term (2003) and the sad attempt at a third term that he wanted the crown directly for himself. The worst of all the underestimated heads of state in Nigeria was General Sani ‘Viagra’ Abacha whom everyone believed could not ‘rule Nigeria for one day’. For over 5 years he remained in power through share indifference and mendacity.

If Obasanjo could use state power to transform himself from a political nonentity into a political gladiator that cornered and wasted his sponsors so can Yar’ Adua. In order for Yar’ Adua to gain any credibility he has to show himself as his own man. And all indications are that he will do that because the few glimpses into the man’s past being shared by the very few people who had been close enough suggest that he is that type of Man.

However he is unlikely to show his independence in any confrontational way. He will just ease Obasanjo into the sidelines while still publicly paying handsome tributes to his legacy, much the same way that Moi institutionalised his personal rule while claiming he was following in the full steps of Mzee Kenyatta (Nyayo!). There is nothing in the speech that will indicate any significant policy shift from Obasanjo’s market–driven neo-liberal reform agenda, stabilising the system, controlling corruption and rebuilding the deplorable infrastructure of the country and transforming economic growth into development that may deliver on the bread and butter issues to Nigeria’s overwhelming ‘poverty amongst plenty’ population. That is what the official mantra has been.

What Yar’ Adua brings to the table is contained in the first line in the concluding sections of his very brief speech that I quoted above: ‘I will set a worthy personal example as your president.’ He has set himself to succeed or fail through his own example. He has a record of being relatively above board which was one of the factors that favoured him above his more flamboyant rivals. He delivered a competent welfare administration in Katsina state.

He will need to do more than that as president before he succeeds in turning the huge debits on credibility that he is starting with and begin to build up political capital that may gain the grudging respect of disillusioned Nigerians who have always yearned for credible leadership under whom they could all feel proud again to be Nigerians.

The ‘election’ was certainly not the democratic expression of Nigerians. The paradox though is that I believe very strongly that Yar’ Adua could have won. I do not think many Nigerians believe that either Buhari or Atiku ‘won’. Therefore both could not have been denied what they did not win. The PDP denied Nigerians including PDP supporters the opportunity to vote. Instead of a democratic mandate Yar’ Adua is now saddled with Stolen goods. The only reparation that may redeem him now is to deliver on the bread and butter issues and launder the electoral robbery into a Robin Hood turn around!

* Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is the deputy director of 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 www.pambazuka.org

Zimbabwe National Students’ Union (ZINASU) commissioned research to assess how the fees charged at Zimbabwe’s tertiary institutions of Harare, Mashonaland, Manicaland, Masvingo, Midlands and Bulawayo have impacted on the welfare of students and to establish the patterns and effects of student victimization.

People are still enslaved in Niger, but an announcement that the government has agreed to sponsor an independent investigation into the issue has raised hopes for change among some human rights experts. Lompo Garba, president of the National Commission for Human Rights and Civil Liberties, the group conducting the new study, said: "Slavery as it was in the past in Niger, for example people owned by other people, no longer exists.

The Mail & Guardian, FXI, the South African Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-SA) and the South African National Editor's Forum (SANEF) are delighted by a ruling in favour of open justice and media freedom in the Pretoria High Court today. This follows an effort by the State to gag a vital nuclear smuggling case in which two individuals and a linked company are charged with smuggling components to an international syndicate.

Reporters Without Borders has been told by the Chadian government that the country's newspapers can again be published without having to obtain prior approval for each issue from a censorship committee that was set up under a state of emergency in November 2006. "This a great relief," the press freedom organisation said. "The Chadian government has finally realised that all censorship did was humiliate and undermine the press, which was unfairly blamed for many problems

MISa reports that all of the main Mozambican journalists' associations have urged President Armando Guebuza not to promulgate a bill passed by the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, earlier this month which will ban any broadcasting of trials. The bill concerns the organisation of the country's courts, and most of it is uncontroversial, dealing with such matters as expanding the powers of district courts, and introducing a new layer of intermediate appeals courts.

There are a number of beautiful art items Rwanda can make by using local materials and hands. They are promoted through associations and trainings. Women can use the chance of the advanced skills and wide markets to advance in their standard of living. They have come together, organised themselves and formed associations. They are preaching the results.

POVERTY remains a scourge that the world is grappling with, and the case is no different in Namibia, where stakeholders are meeting for a three-day conference to discuss how the country can find effective means to reduce poverty. The first national conference on poverty reduction, unemployment and entrepreneurship, which began in Windhoek yesterday, is being held under the theme 'Entrepreneurship as an alternative source to employment creation and poverty alleviation'.

Every evening, a line of young girls with yellow jerry cans on their heads and babies on their backs walks to the camp water point on the edge of the forest. They pump water under the protective eye of the young men with guns, and shy away from visitors and outsiders. These are the girls of the Lord’s Resistance Army, at the LRA headquarters on the Sudan-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border.

Despite pressure for Sudan to accept a peacekeeping force of 23 000 troops and police, a key African Union committee has not approved plans sent by the United Nations, diplomats said on Thursday. Sudan has been sent an informal copy of details drawn up recently but a formal submission cannot happen until the AU's Peace and Security Committee gives its consent.

Africa is to enter the era of rolling news this week when CNBC launches the first 24-hour information network dedicated to coverage of news and business on the continent. CNBC Africa is to go on air from Friday from its main studios in Johannesburg and will also take feeds from bureaus in Lagos, Nairobi and London.

A total of 212 villages in Senegal and The Gambia agreed on Sunday to renounce female circumcision and weddings featuring child brides. About 1 500 inhabitants from the 12 Gambian and 200 Senegalese villages gathered in Diamakouta in southern Senegal near the Gambian border for a ceremony led by Tostan, a local Senegalese NGO working to eradicate female circumcision.

South Africa's largest trade union federation will launch a campaign against "the Israeli occupation of Arab lands" this week, demanding that Pretoria impose a boycott on all Israeli goods and break diplomatic relations. South African Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, who is Jewish, told Haaretz that he actively supported the initiative - which contradicts the policy of his own cabinet.

Minority Rights Group International released a report on Batwa lifestyles and identity. The Batwa forest people of Rwanda (also known as Pygmies) are recognized as having been the first inhabitants of the land. Traditionally the Batwa were forest hunter- gatherers, living throughout Rwanda. According to recent estimates, however, out of Rwanda’s total population of just over 8 million people, only between 20,000 and 27,000 are Batwa.

A prolonged dry spell and high temperatures ravaged Swaziland’s maize crop in 2007, resulting in the lowest annual harvest on record and leaving more than a third of the population in need of food assistance, according to a report issued today by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WFP.

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) challenges our preconceptions about how software is used, produced and distributed. The software industry today generates yearly revenues in excess of US$300 billion. FOSS is software that has made its source code free, public and allows - perhaps even motivates - users to change the source code and redistribute the derivative software.

Intel, the software giant has launched the World Ahead Programme, which aims at expanding accessibility, connectivity, education and content for the world's developing communities. The programme aims at developing low-cost full-featured PCs for first-time computer users, extending Worlwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology and deployment, training 10 million more teachers on the effective use of technology in education and donating 100,000 PCs to classrooms in developing communities to promote the effective use of technology for improved learning.

The United Nations foundation seeks to recruit a PRODUCT (RED) Marketing Liaison. As a staff member of the UN Foundation, the (RED) Marketing Liaison will report to one of the Foundation’s Senior Vice Presidents in Washington D.C. As a seconded staff member of the Global Fund, the (RED) Marketing Liaison will work on a day-to-day basis with the Fund’s Manager of Private Sector Partnerships and other Fund staff members. In addition, the (RED) Marketing Liaison will work closely with (RED) staff in London and Los Angeles

"The Old Man is strong!" is a favourite chant of supporters of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, whose rule over the West African state looks set to become stronger still in parliamentary polls. An opposition boycott of the polls will leave the field clear for a sweeping victory by the octogenarian president's Sopi coalition, whose name means "change".

Niger's parliament voted Prime Minister Hama Amadou's government out of office on Thursday after opponents accused it of complicity in a corruption scandal that has shaken the world's poorest country. A majority of 62 deputies in the 113-seat national assembly backed a no-confidence vote, which meant the government of the landlocked West African state was automatically obliged to resign under the constitution.

I am grateful for your support for Zimbabwe. SA is pathetically supporting the Mugabe regime, with no indication of supporting the masses. Thousands of refugees flock to this country every day. They are called illegal immigrants, they get arrested and deported to Zimbabwe each day. They are excluded from social services. Those qualified to do certain jobs cannot get proper papers to work, especially if their skills are not listed as needed.

I suggest that Zimbabweans themselves rise up in the diaspora. Let them stand up and be counted. If the masses would be visible...then we can start talking. Let the millions of Zimbabweans in SA rise up and be counted to air their grievances. The Zimbabwean problems will be solved by those who will take the initiative!

Dr S Dube
Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Limpopo, Pretoria