Language Services Associates is presently seeking speakers for African languages for their over-the-telephone interpreter service. In particular they need Fulani, Pulaar, Twi, Somali, Swahili and Yoruba.

This is the first time that the World Environmental Education Congress comes to Africa. As researchers, practitioners and policy makers we need to ensure that we contribute to the values and goals of sustainability as found in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, the UN Development Millennium Goals; Education for All and many other international directives. Standard registration booking deadline: 15 May 2007. Standard registration payment deadline: 2 June 2007.

The Distance Education and Teacher Training in Africa conference is taking place from 5-8 August 2007 in Kampala, Uganda. Interested educationalists are invited to submit abstracts under a number of streams. The presentations in these parallel sessions will be limited to 15 minutes, with an additional five minutes for questions. Abstracts must reach the organising committee not later than 31 May 2007.

Transparency International (TI) has published nine detailed country studies that analyse the implementation of anti-corruption laws in Algeria, Burundi, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, and Uganda.The studies found that the nine countries have legal gaps with respect to requirements established by the international anti-corruption instruments most relevant for the region: the UN Convention against Corruption (2003) and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and Related Offences (2003).

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/302/Nigeria_41150.jpgKola Ibrahim argues that the solution to Nigeria’s hydra-headed socio-political problems lies not with the ballot box but rather with grassroots-led social and political movments from the urban and rural masses.

The contemporary histories of Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, Greece and Ukraine have shown that it is independent political actions of the masses that can change the society.

The outcome of the Nigerian elections held in April 2007 have shown that the solution to Nigeria's hydra-headed socio-political problems can only be achieved if the mass of the working people of Nigeria take destiny into their hands and exercise political movement as a counterweight to bourgeois corrupt politics. Politicians cannot be relied upon to resolve the sufferings of the Nigerian working people.

To begin with, the clash within the rank of the ruling elite, especially that between president Obasanjo and his vice Atiku Abubakar, was never based on how to better the lot of the masses, who have been made to swallow the poisonous pills of neo-liberal capitalist economic policies over the past eight years.

In fact, instead, the cause of the rancour between the two is the question of succession. While Atiku claimed to have conceded power to Obasanjo in 2003 so as to regain it in 2007, the Obasanjo camp sees no reason why Atiku, who has served two terms in the presidency, should be 'criminalising’ Obasanjo for going for a third term in office.

The masses were presented with two sides of the same corrupt political arrangement and no genuine alternative. Both the president and his vice have acted together to implement the anti-poor, pro-rich policies of neo-liberalism. Atiku was the chairman of National Council on Privatization (NCP), which oversaw the privatisation of several government corporations and parastatals. Social service provisions were either commercialised or partly privatised. Meantime the masses were made the scapegoats of age-long corruption and mismanagement by the ruling elite via retrenchment, unemployment, unpaid entitlements, including pensions, and inflation.

The president demonstrated that if the nation he rules over could not manage its tertiary education, he could do better. The children of the poor masses who want a good education were told to either a pay Naira500,000 at Bells University's bursary or go to hell. At the same time, hundreds of acres of state farmlands were bought over by the president - or the Obasanjo Library. Followers boast of juicy packages which they try to protect as much as possible.

And whereas the so-called opposition wanted to present itself as an alternative, the past let them down. Nigerians forget the spree of retrenchment of the former AD southwest governments of the likes of Bola Tinubu in Lagos and Bisi Akande in Osun. All opposition groups bow before the almighty neo-liberal economic pills as advocated multilateral agencies of imperialist capitalism – IMF, World Bank and WTO.

Political action could not take into cognisance the plight of the poor people. In an absence of genuine alternatives, the best it could do was to use people's plight to justify their quest for power. This explains why none of them could give reasons for supporting or participating in policies that have deprived the majority. Even Obasanjo has conceded that all those who antagonise his ‘reforms’ could not provide alternatives because they all stand for the same policies.

This situation is underlined in a letter Atiku Abubakar wrote to Obasanjo in early 2006. He stated his intention to run for the presidency and praised Obasanjo for his economic reforms: retrenchment, denied entitlements, decrepit social services, looting via privatization. He promised to continue the same policies.

Neither Atiku nor the so-called opposition have suggested any alternative to neo-liberalism and market economies, rejected by the working people. Ruling class politics of survival of the fittest substitutes for radical political actions of the masses; and the masses taking the political road is feared.

Of course any concession to allow the masses to take independent political action through formation of a working people's party would lead to the diversion of the resources of the country to pro-poor policies: free education, health care, adequate salaries and pension, secure job opportunities and better infrastructures. As these could only be achieved by the stopping corruption and privatisation of national wealth, they would spell doom for corrupt ambitions.

Therefore, the ruling politicians and their estranged counterparts in the so-called opposition - which some elements of the media has wrongly tagged progressives - continue their ruinous politics. These same estranged politicians participated actively in the electoral fraud of 1999 and 2003. Many of them played major roles during the dark days of military absolutism. For instance, Obasanjo was the first head of state to plunge Nigeria to the abyss of debt and economic dislocation. Atiku was head of customs and excise, which was fraught with corruption. The masses, meanwhile, are cajoled with such hollow terms as the rule of law and respect of electoral wishes. But to expect these individuals to genuinely involve working peoples in the political process is an illusion.

The election outcome clearly indicates the futility of relying on any section of the ruling class for a political breakthrough for the people of Nigeria. While the estranged ruling class tried to use mass pressure to force the main ruling PDP party to concede to some of their demands, the ruling class maximised the constitutional flaws and illegitimate rights to authority through for example control of the INEC, the armed forces and part of the judiciary to ensure they did not lose power. Although the majority of voters were disenfranchised by the political machine of the ruling PDP through rigging and violence, the estranged opposition could not mobilise the masses to come and vote.

It is foolhardy for anyone claiming to be from a left-wing background to believe that any political gain can come by the people attaching themselves to the estranged section of the ruling class without undertaking independent, democratic, mass-based and radical political activities.

Many so-called civil society organisations - many of which derive their grants from the imperialist agencies in the West on the basis of maintaining the status quo - continue to be lethargic; instead of seeking to build a political platform of the working people of Nigeria that will seek to dismantle the stranglehold of the capitalist ruling class on our economic and political lives.

It is important to draw out lessons from last week’s farcical general election for the working masses.

First, given the present constitutional and political arrangements, the corrupt capitalist ruling class will continue to recycle itself in power, irrespective of mass opposition.

Secondly, confining the masses within a neoliberal economic framework will continue to deprive the masses of the political will to undertake independent political action.

Thirdly, in order to breakthrough this quagmire, the masses must build a fighting political alternative that is economically and politically different from corrupt opposition politics, and democratically organised from the grassroots to the national level.

Fourthly, it is erroneous for the leaders of working class organisations to believe that by confining themselves to so-called civil or legal means, that they can assume political control. Only by taking to the streets, along with other mass political actions, can they force the ruling class to abdicate power. And political alternatives must be linked to the daily struggles of the masses for democratic rights, including the right to free and fair elections.

For these reasons, mass organisations and their leaders must reject last week’s nonsensical general elections. They must immediately call for the reconstitution of the electoral body, a re-run of all elections, and convocation of a Sovereign National Conference. This should draw its membership democratically from mass organisations: trade unions, market men and women associations, student movements, civil societies and ethnic nationalities, which shall reconstitute the political and economic agenda of the country.

And this must not mean supporting other corrupt politicians. Rather it is a step towards building a mass struggle that will culminate in the reconstitution of the country in favour of the working masses.

Civil society organisations and social movements must come together and call the people to the street to take their destiny in their own hands. They must convoke a general summit of all pro-working peoples organisations, to be spear-headed by the trade unions, with the aim of forming a working people's party that will serve the interest of the masses.

I propose a week of political protests around the country to include mass processions, leafleting, rallies and mass meetings as soon as possible. The masses must fight for a democratic socialist Nigeria, where the resources of the country are used not in the interests of the already rich few, but in the welfare interests of the masses.

* Kola Ibrahim is a student activist from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, email: [email][email protected]

* Please send comments to [email protected]

In the summer of 1994, against the backdrop of the Rwandan genocide and the deterioration of conditions in Somalia, one of the few hopeful developments on the African continent came from the Zambian capital of Lusaka, where Angolans from the Government and the rebel UNITA movement and international mediators were working to end two decades of civil war that had killed 500,000 people. This article by Donald Steinberg examines the importance of including women in peace building.

As part of its Knowledge Building and Mentoring Programme, the Conflict, Security and Development Group at King’s College London, is pleased to announce a call for applications for the Peace and Security Fellowships for African Women for 2007/2008. The deadline for applications is 29 May 2007.

A new report by the International Crisis Group: 'Darfur: Revitalising the Peace Process' finds that almost a year after Sudan’s government and one of three rebel factions signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), the humanitarian and security situation has deteriorated in the troubled western region of Sudan. Despite a recent lull, the post-DPA period has seen increased combat, including further government reliance on aerial bombardment and its allied Janjaweed militia.

Men of the state security services, on Monday 30 April at about 3pm raided the office of the Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE-Nigeria) at Jima Plaza, Garki, Abuja. The heavily armed men, who came in three Peugeot cars, two 206 and a Boxer Expert van, arrested the general secretary of the alliance, Emma Ezeazu.

Women’s rights activists in Uganda have petitioned the constitutional court demanding that female genital mutilation (FGM), practised by several communities in the east of the country, be declared illegal.

This conference focuses on the inter-linkages between China, India, Brazil and South Africa (CIBS) and the global economy, including the impact of these economies on their respective regions. The main themes are growth, trade, international finance, global governance and geopolitics. Comparative studies are particularly welcome. The deadline for submissions is 14 May 2007. Final copies of accepted papers are required by 1 August 2007.

The government plans to set up ‘digital villages’ throughout the country, to ease access to information for its citizens according to a report in the Daily Nation. Information assistant minister Mr Koigi Wamwere said during the weekend that the villages to be set up in all the 210 constituencies, will facilitate easy access to information that would trigger economic development in those areas.

Paul Zeleza writes that the unfolding corruption scandal of the World Bank president, Paul Wolfwitz, is an intriguing and entangled tale of love: the personal love life of Mr Wolfowitz himself, the current love affair between neo-conservatism and neo-liberalism, and the long-standing marriage between capitalism and corruption, the development industry and the military-industrial complex, and the Northern-dominated international financial institutions and the institutionalisation of dependency and poverty in the global South.

In sub-Saharan Africa, young women are at high risk of HIV infection, with a prevalence of 21 per cent among 21 year-olds recently reported from South Africa. Now, the same team of US and South African scientists report that this prevalence occurs in young women with few lifetime partners, suggesting a much higher rate of male-to-female transmission than previously reported. The researchers report their findings in the 23 April edition of AIDS.

The UN security council unanimously approved Resolution 1754 on Monday 30 April, urging Morocco and the Polisario Front to hold direct and unconditional negotiations in order to resolve their 30-year conflict over Western Sahara. According to Magharebia News, the resolution also extends the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) by six months.

Some Tunisian bloggers are angered by the decision of Hou-Hou blog to allow the inclusion of the Gay Tunisia blog in his TN-blogs aggregator. The first angry reaction was submitted by Tunisian Doctor, who wrote, 'with the addition of Gay Tunisia to TN-blogs, I will leave you, dear blogger friends, in protest of a group whose sexual practices play no part in our culture, religion or legal system'.

The Italian government flew in 15 tonnes of aid from southern Italy to the town of Baidoa in Somalia on 1 May for distribution by the UN refugee agency to thousands of displaced people in the volatile country. The aid, including 3,200 jerry cans, 2,700 blankets, 20 tents, twn water tanks, four generators, a water purification unit and other non-food items, will shortly be moved to a UNHCR warehouse in Afgooye some 30 kilometres west of the Somalia capital, Mogadishu.

The comment is chilling under the best of circumstances, and on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May, even more so: 'I often tell people that I am a private English teacher or a computer technician. Being known as a journalist might put one's life on the line…I am forced to lie to defend my life.'

Brushing aside concerns from environmentalists and rights groups, the World Bank has said it will support the controversial Bujagali dam in Uganda with US$360,000,000 in loans and guarantees. The decision was quickly denounced by activists, who say the dam poses grave environmental risks and that Bank ignored recent studies in justifying the measure.

How might African countries attract a greater proportion of Asian foreign direct investment (FDI)? A new book by UNCTAD first looks for answers to this question through an examination of the role that FDI played in both the successful economic development strategies of East Asia, and in the Asian financial crisis. It then considers the implications of these experiences to identify the policies and institutions needed to increase Asian FDI in five countries of Africa: Botswana Ghana Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania.

According to the National Working Group on Sexual Offences, a group of 25 organisations including Childline, the Teddy Bear Clinic, People Opposing Women Abuse and the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, rape survivors are not getting the health care they need. To make matters worse, teenage girls who are raped are often scolded or branded liars by health workers attending to them, while men, gays and lesbians and sex workers who have been raped are also discriminated against.

UNHCR has launched a three year voluntary repatriation programme to help Congolese refugees in Zambia return home to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNHCR plans for up to 20,000 of the 61,000 Congolese in Zambia to return in 2007. The initial convoy, carrying 414 refugees, drove 400 kilometres from Mwange Refugee Camp in the north of Zambia to the Zambian port of Mpulungu where they overnighted.

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe warned Zimbabwe's Catholic bishops, who have become increasingly critical of him, that they are treading a 'dangerous path', according to reports published on Friday. Mugabe's comments, in the state-run Herald newspaper, come after a pastoral letter was read out by the country's Catholic bishops on Sunday calling for a new people-driven constitution to avert bloodshed and mass uprising.

Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and Chadian president Idriss Déby Itno signed a reconciliation accord in the Saudi Arabia capital, Riyadh, on Thursday, aimed at ending tensions between their two countries. The televised signing took place at a summit hosted by Saudi King Abdullah, with the deal committing each of the parties to refrain from supporting rebels in the other country.

At least 42 Rwandan Hutu rebels and four government soldiers have been killed in a crackdown by the Democratic Republic of Congo's military in the strife-torn east, the United Nations has said. The FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda rebel group) haslost at least 42 men; while four DRC soldiers have died in a combat zone north of the eastern town of Goma, it said.

Ethiopian rebels have freed seven Chinese workers who were seized in a deadly oilfield raid that was one of the worst attacks to date on Beijing's growing interests in Africa. Officials said separatist gunmen killed 65 Ethiopians and nine other Chinese in last Tuesday's pre-dawn assault on the exploration field in the barren eastern Ogaden region.

The petrol price has sky-rocketed; food prices are expected to increase by 30 per cent by the end of the year. With workers spending at least half of their wages on food, this means that the 12 per cent wage demand of the public sector workers must be regarded as an absolute minimum. In fact it is already too low. The reality is that workers wages are going to drop this year; there will be greater starvation. This is the contention of South Africa's Workers' international Vanguard League.

While there are now roughly equal numbers of women and men in South African newsrooms, women, and especially black women, are still scarce in senior and top management echelons, as well as in the hard news beats. On average, women earn 20 per cent less than men in newsrooms; and black women earn 25 per cent less than white men.

In November 2006 almost every African head of state attended the largest international summit meeting ever held in Beijing. The event highlighted just how important Africa has become to China's future economic growth - something that the Western media is only just starting to wake up to. One of the consequences of China's recent economic boom has been a parallel boom in imports. The export industries that power China's growth need raw materials, fuel and components that the rest of the Chinese economy can't supply.

In a press release, Oxfam has welcomed news that Starbucks and the Ethiopian government have agreed in principle to sign a licensing, distribution and marketing agreement this month that recognises the importance and integrity of Ethiopia's specialty coffee names, Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe. Phil Bloomer, director of campaigns and policy at Oxfam, said: 'In just seven months, more than 93,000 people worldwide have joined us in calling on Starbucks to sign this agreement.'

Considering the rapidly growing presence of cell phones in the developing world, interest in their role for advancing development goals is only natural. And, considering the demographic overlap between those most affected by HIV/AIDS and cell phone users, it only makes sense that a major focus be put on how this low-cost technology can fight this deadly pandemic.

Algeria has been ranked as the first supplier of gas to Italy in 2006, according to official figures. The company says 33 per cent of the European country’s gas needs were derived from Algeria. This shows an increase of 3.5 per cent over the 2005 figures. As a major market for Algerian natural gas export, Italy imports 27 billion cubic metres per year from the country.

In an exchange of gunfire, national government troops stationed on Anjouan, one of the three semi-autonomous islands that make up Comoros, clashed with local police on Wednesday, according to local media. Elections for each island are scheduled in June, but the archipelago's delicate power-sharing agreement hangs in the balance.

Reverend William Kebeney is a cleric working with the Full Gospel Churches of Kenya in Kipsigon, Kopsiro, one of four administrative divisions in the strife-torn Mt Elgon district, near the Kenyan border with Uganda. Kebeney deals with the spiritual and health needs (the church runs a health centre) of the affected people but talked to IRIN about the other needs, those not often addressed.

Every year in the Sahel region of West Africa, hundreds of thousands of children die, and malnutrition means millions of others will live on with permanent mental disability and physical stunting.

Esselen Street Clinic, in Johannesburg's edgy, bustling inner-city suburb of Hillbrow, houses the only health centre in Johannesburg offering medical care aimed at sex workers. Business is brisk: at 8am the first clients are waiting outside the door of nurse Tryphina Matsena, who dispenses treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Emmanuel Barasa, 17, is a former primary school pupil from the Mt Elgon district in western Kenya, along the Kenyan-Ugandan border. Barasa, who is now living with relatives in Bungoma, a neighbouring district, spoke to IRIN during a food aid distribution about the effects the fighting has had on his education.

When it comes to environmental sustainability, South Africa talks green but opts for dirty coal, according to Mathabo le Roux of Business Day. As concerns about climate change grow, the global trend is to diversify away from finite fossil fuels towards renewable energy in an effort to mitigate the impact on the environment.