Pambazuka News 289: World Social Forum: Trade fair to left politics
Pambazuka News 289: World Social Forum: Trade fair to left politics
The Tech Museum Awards is a programme that aims to honour and award innovators from around the world who use technology to benefit humanity in the categories of: Education, Equality, Economic Development, Environment, Health. Five Laureates in each category are honoured and one Laureate per category receives US$50,000.
The Global Investigative Journalism Conference will present the "Global Shining Light Award" for investigative journalism in a developing country or country in transition. The US$1000 award will be granted to a journalist, journalism team or media outlet whose independent, investigative reporting was broadcast or published between January 1 and December 31 2006, and which originated in and affected a developing or emerging country.
In cities around the world, but especially in Western Europe, Australia, the Persian Gulf, and North America, immigrants play a fundamental role in the labor force and the social life of cities. For North American and Australian cities, the numbers of immigrants are reminiscent of the early-20th century, although the diversity is far greater. In Western Europe and the Persian Gulf, unprecedented numbers of newcomers have arrived in the past two decades.
IGLHRC and Alternatives-Cameroun are pleased to announce the release of Nicholas Njocky and Patrick Yousseu, two gay men who have been detained in the West African nation of Cameroon for one year under Article 347 of the Cameroonian penal code, which makes sex between people of the same sex illegal. IGLHRC remains concerned about the continued detention of Alexandre Demanou, held without charge or trial since 2002.
On 15 January 2007, IGLHRC and ILGA sent a letter to the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, asking him to reconsider plans to include of a provision that would penalize homosexuality as part of an overall revision to the Rwandan penal code currently being debated. The provision appears as Article 160 in the French version and article 158 in the English version of the draft penal code currently on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
There is now a political vacuum across much of southern Somalia, which the ineffectual TFG is unable to fill. Elements of the Courts, including Shabaab militants and their al-Qaeda associates, are largely intact and threaten guerrilla war. Peace requires the TFG to be reconstituted as a genuine government of national unity but the signs of its willingness are discouraging. Sustained international pressure is needed.
Violent and organised crime threatens to overwhelm Haiti. The justice system is weak and dysfunctional, no match for the rising wave of kidnappings, drug and human trafficking, assaults and rapes, says the International Crisis Group.
A leading candidate in Nigeria's upcoming presidential elections has attacked the country's foreign-dominated oil industry for fuelling corruption in the country. "Corruption has been worse with oil because oil has brought more money," said the former Nigerian military strongman General Muhammadu Buhari, who is running a presidential campaign based on an anti-corruption platform.
The Namibian government has adopted all the right policies to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Seven on sustainable environmental practices, but its good intentions have floundered at the implementation stage. According to the director of environment at the ministry of environment and tourism (MET), Theofilus Nghitila, the country ‘‘has been doing a lot to set up the appropriate policies and regulations conducive to sustainable environmental development. It has the right policies and continues to reform policies to stay abreast in a changing world’’.
The cholera epidemic which has been plaguing Angola for nearly a year has placed the spotlight on the continuing lack of safe drinking water in that country. Over the past 11 months, the illness has spread to 16 of the 18 provinces and claimed the lives of more than 2,440 people, according to official estimates. But health workers in the country say the figure is probably much higher as many cases are not reported.
Homes ablaze. Villagers slaughtered. Women and girls raped. Survivors scattered in terror. Civilians in eastern Chad are sharing the cruel fate of their neighbours in Darfur, hostages to Sudan’s ruthless solution to rebel attacks in the region. The Janjawid militias who in recent years have laid to waste vast areas of western Sudan, form the backbone of the armed groups who are killing, tormenting and displacing civilians from targeted ethnic groups such as the Dajo and the Masalit in eastern Chad. The aim of the attacks appears to be to clear vast areas of communities primarily identified by the Janjawid as "African" rather than "Arab", and to drive them further from the border with Sudan.
Amnesty International today (25 January) warned that the demobilization and army reform programme currently underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) risks compromising the country's entire political process and future stability. In a comprehensive study, Amnesty International revealed that the national demobilization and reform process has so far been characterized by serious human rights violations, a lack of political will, and ineffective control of troops.
International child traffickers may be using Mozambique's weak adoption laws to target orphaned children, to the growing concern of the government, said a senior official from the Ministry of the Interior.
The African Union's (AU) new chairman, President John Kufuor of Ghana, appealed on Tuesday (30 January) to African governments to contribute troops to a planned peace and stabilisation force for strife-town Somalia. "We need 8,000 troops; we only have 4,000 so far," Kufuor said at the end of the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where the pan-African body is headquartered.
Primary school instructor Richard Morgan can no longer stroll between the rows of desks to teach in his classroom at the SIMS Community School. The boys and girls are crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in their blue and white uniforms as Morgan lectures from the front of the room.
The United Nations secretary-general’s representative in Guinea-Bissau, Shola Omoregie, has negotiated an end to a 17-day crisis involving the government and prominent politician Carlos Gomes Junior who had sought refuge in the UN building in Bissau. Gomes Junior, chairman of the former ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, previously served as prime minister.
Zambia's anti-corruption drive is failing because the government has been concentrating its resources on investigating the corrupt practices of the previous regime, allowing present graft in the public service to flourish, a corruption watchdog said in its latest report.
Some 50 people have been killed in the past month in clan violence over land in Kenya's western province, local government officials say. Spokesman Abdul Mwasera told the BBC more than 30 people had been arrested in connection with the clashes. Hundreds of families fled to camps after conflict began during a government land allocation programme.
The deadline for Nigerians to register for elections has been extended to Friday (February 2) because of a last-minute rush. People queued for hours to beat Tuesday's (January 30) deadline, but officials could not cope with the turnout and a new computerised registration system. On Monday (January 29), workers were given a holiday to register as the voters roll was still some 10m below its 60m target.
Allies of Mauritania's ousted leader have united to back a presidential candidate in March's elections. Correspondents say this makes Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, an independent, favourite as the 18-party coalition holds a majority in parliament. Leaders of the military junta which seized power in 2005 are not standing.
This review concerns the extent to which gender is integrated into the work of twenty freedom of expression and media development organisations supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). One of the major findings of the review reveals that virtually all organisations reviewed cited gender as an important consideration in media for development and freedom of expression work.
Women should desist from pulling each other down and strive for unity to enable them to work together and attain development in various economic spheres, the Minister of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Oppah Muchinguri, has said.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has launched a new strategy aimed at ensuring HIV-positive refugees and other displaced people worldwide have access to antiretroviral treatment, care and support, IRIN News reports. The policy addresses both long-term and shorter-term antiretroviral provisions, such as post-exposure prophylaxis for sexual assault survivors and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission.
The number of refugees in United Nations camps in northwestern Tanzania has dropped from 350, 590 in 2005 to 287,061 in 2006, below the 300,000 mark. The number of refugee camps in the country is also expected to soon decrease from 11 to eight. Yacoub el-Hillo, United Nations High Commission for Refugees country representative to Tanzania, has attributed the decrease of refugees to voluntary repatriation thanks to improvement of political situations in the origin countries of refugees.
Authorities in South Africa and Botswana deported more than 140 000 Zimbabweans in 2006, a Herald newspaper report in Zimbabwe quoted police records as saying. A total of 109 532 Zimbabweans were deported from South Africa in 2006, according to the records. That represents 300 people a day, most of whom hazard the crossing of the Limpopo River border with South Africa, which is infested with crocodiles or swollen with dangerous flood waters in the rainy season.
Supporters of African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma have hit back at the South African Communist Party's (SACP) Jeremy Cronin for saying they are unprincipled and inconsistent. "Cronin is one of the people who have consciously continued to lie about Zuma and his supporters since the [Zuma's] rape trial," the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust said.
China on Tuesday (30 January) defended its arms exports to African nations, saying they are small in scale and do not violate United Nations rules that ban weapons sales to countries at war. "On the arms exports to Africa, China takes a cautious and responsible attitude," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said shortly after President Hu Jintao left for an eight-nation tour of the continent.
Eight Burundians have accused the UN Mission to Congo (MONUC) of involvement in the fraudulent registration of non-Rwandans as ex-combatants seeking 'repatriation'. According to the Chairman of the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission (RDRC) John Sayinzoga, the eight told RDRC officials that some MONUC officials connive with one 'Mama Claude' to 'repatriate' people allegedly from the DRC for US5 per person and a further reward of Frw.10,000, after receiving their 'resettlement package'.
The pollution of rivers, lakes and acquifers from domestic and industrial wastewater discharges, mining runoff, agro-chemicals and other sources is now a growing threat to water resources in most countries in southern Africa. According to a new report titled "Water Quality Management and Pollution Control" in Southern Africa compiled by Prof Ngonidzashe Moyo, a freshwater biologist at the University of Limpopo in South Africa, and Sibekhile Mtetwa and other water resources development experts, the quality of water supplies in the Sadc region, once taken for granted, is becoming the focus of increasing concern.
Due to the drastic change in climate, most people suffer from certain air borne diseases such as catarrh and cough. For close to two months, inhabitants of the capital city have been observing drastic climatic changes. After passing through cold weather conditions, the weather in Yaounde now is extremely hot. Due to the drastic change in climate, most people suffer from certain air borne diseases such as catarrh, cough, etc.
The president of Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, Gen Mahmud Muse Hirsi, has appealed for help in tackling an environmental emergency caused by increased charcoal burning, which has been compounded by greater numbers of displaced people since 1992. Hirsi said due to the influx of displaced people and drought-induced displacement of pastoral communities - which pushed them to urban areas - more acacia trees are being burned for charcoal.
South Africa has identified science, technology and innovation as important pillars of backing a competitive economy, Deputy Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom said on Tuesday (January 30). Speaking at the South Africa-Chile Intergovernmental seminar in Pretoria, Mr Hanekom said the importance of these aspects was necessitated by the distorted economy inherited in 1994.
Farmers in Ghana will soon be introduced to an innovative agricultural market information service which will help them sell their produce across Africa. The new service known as TradeNet will enable farmers and traders across the continent to share and fix prices of various agricultural products through the use of mobile phone text messages. Farmers who sign up for the service will receive SMS alerts on whatever commodity they are interested in and also where the product is available.
Patrick Bond assesses the aftermath of the World Social Forum, held from January 20-25 in Nairobi. There were some triumphs for social justice, but also some worrying trends that emerged from the forum. Bond examines what it means for the future of the WSF concept.
A mixed message - combining celebration and autocritique - is in order, in the wake of the Nairobi World Social Forum. From January 20-25, the 60,000 registered participants heard the triumph of radical rhetoric and yet, too, witnessed persistent defeats for social justice causes - especially within the WSF's own processes.
* Kenya Social Forum coordinator Onyango Oloo listed grievances that local activists put high atop the agenda: 'colonial era land edicts and policies which dispossessed their communities; the impact of mining and extraction activities on the environment and human livelihoods; discriminatory policies by successive governments that have guaranteed the stubborn survival of pre-colonial conditions of poverty and underdevelopment among many pastoralist and minority communities; the arrogant disregard for the concerns raised by Samburu women raped over the years by British soldiers dispatched on military exercises in those Kenyan communities; … and tensions persisting with neo-colonial-era settler farmers and indigenous Kenyan comprador businessmen in hiving off thousands of hectares of land while the pastoralists and minority communities are targets of state terror, evictions and denunciations.'
* WSF organiser Wahu Kaara: 'We are watching [global elites] and this time around they will not get away with it because we are saying they should cancel debts or we repudiate them. We refuse unjust trade. We are not going to take aid with conditionality. We in Africa refuse to be the continent identified as poor. We have hope and determination and everything to offer to the prosperity of the human race.'
* Firoze Manji, the Kenyan director of the Pambazuka (www.pambazuka.org) Africa news/analysis portal: 'This event had all the features of a trade fair - those with greater wealth had more events in the calendar, larger (and more comfortable) spaces, more propaganda - and therefore a larger voice. Thus the usual gaggle of quasi-donor and international NGOs claimed a greater presence than national organisations - not because what they had to say was more important or more relevant to the theme of the WSF, but because, essentially, they had greater budgets at their command.'
* Nairobi-based commentator Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem (also writing in Pambazuka): 'The WSFs show up Africa's weaknesses whether they are held outside or inside Africa. One of the critical areas is our level of participation and preparedness. A majority of the African participants - even many from Kenya itself - were brought by foreign paymasters or organisations funded by outsiders. Often they become prisoners of their sponsors. They must attend events organized or supported by their sponsors who need to put their "partners" on display, and the "partners" in turn need to show their loyalty to their masters.'
* New Internationalist editor Adam Ma'anit: 'The sight of Oxfam-branded 4x4s cruising around flauntingly, the many well-resourced charity and church groups decking out their stalls (and even their own office spaces) with glossies and branded goodies, all reinforce the suspicion that perhaps the WSF has become too institutionalized. Perhaps more worryingly has been the corporate sponsorship of the WSF. The Forum organizers proudly announced their partnership with Kenya Airways. The same company that has for years allegedly denied the right to assembly of its workers organized under the Aviation and Allied Workers Union.'
* Blogger Sokari Ekine ('Black Looks') on the final WSF event: 'Kasha, a Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender and Intersex activist from Sexual Minorities Uganda, went up to the stage and asked to make a statement. She was asked for a copy of what she would be speaking about and gave them her piece. The organisers threw her piece on the floor and refused to allow her to speak. Kasha stood her ground saying she, like everyone else, had a right to speak here at the WSF. Despite the harassment by the MC and organisers, Kasha took the mic and spoke. She spoke about being a lesbian, about being a homosexual. She refuted the myth that homosexuality was un-African. She spoke about the punishment and criminalisation of homosexuals in Kenya, in Uganda, and in Nigeria. She said homosexuals in Africa were here to stay. Homosexuals have the same rights as everyone else and should be accepted and finally that even in Africa Another World is Possible for Homosexuals. Kasha was booed and the crowd shouted obscenities at her waving their hands screaming: "No! No! No!" But she persisted and said what needed to be said.'
These sobering observations were reflected in a statement by the Social Movements Assembly at a January 24 rally of more than 2000: 'We denounce tendencies towards commercialisation, privatisation and militarisation of the WSF space. Hundreds of our sisters and brothers who welcomed us to Nairobi have been excluded because of high costs of participation. We are also deeply concerned about the presence of organisations working against the rights of women, marginalised people, and against sexual rights and diversity, in contradiction to the WSF Charter of Principles.' (http://kenya.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/531.php)
Conflicts included arrests of a dozen low-income people who wanted to get into the event; protests to forcibly open the gates; and the destruction of the notoriously repressive Kenyan interior minister's makeshift restaurant which had monopolized key space within the Kasarani stadium's grounds.
Soweto activist Trevor Ngwane was a protest leader, but after the first successful break-in by poor Kenyans, reported stiff resistance: 'The next day we again planned to storm the gates but found police and army reinforcements at the gates. Those officers carried very big guns. Comrades decided to block the main road until the people were allowed in for free. This action took about half an hour and then the gates were opened. The crowd than marched to the Organising Committee's offices to demand a change of policy on the question of entrance. Another demand was added: free water inside the WSF precinct and cheaper food.'
Although that demand was not met, Oloo gracefully confessed the 'shame' of progressive Kenyans during the Social Movements Assembly rally. WSF logistical shortcomings reflected the Kenyan Left's lost struggles within the host committee, he said. The interior minister ('the crusher') snuck in at the last second, and the Kenya Airports Authority systematically diverted incoming visitors to hotels, away from home stays (2000 of which were arranged - only 18 actually materialized thanks to diversions).
Setting these flaws aside, consider a deeper political tension. For Oloo, 'These social movements, including dozens in Kenya, want to see the WSF being transformed into a space for organizing and mobilizing against the nefarious forces of international finance capital, neoliberalism and all its local neo-colonial and comprador collaborators.'
Can and should the 'openspace' concept be upgraded into something more coherent, either for mobilizing around special events (for instance, the June 2-8 summit of the G8 in Rostock, Germany) or establishing a bigger, universalist left-internationalist political project?
In South Africa, the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) has hosted several debates on this question, with at least four varying points of view emerging. Last July, for example, the great political economist Samir Amin presented the 'Bamako Appeal', a January 2006 manifesto which originated at the prior WSF polycentric event, and which combined, as Amin put it, the traditions of socialism, anti-racism/colonialism, and (national) development (http://www.forumtiersmonde.net/fren/forums/fsm/fsm_bamako/appel_bamako_e...).
In support was the leader of the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity, Hassan Sunmonu (also a WSF International Council member). Complaining that 'billions of ideas have been generated since 2001 up till the last Forum', Sunmonu found 'a lot of merit in that Bamako Appeal that we can use to transform the lives of ourselves, our organizations and our peoples.'
But reacting strongly against the Bamako Appeal, CCS student (and Johannesburg anti-privatization activist) Prishani Naidoo and three comrades criticized its 'last century' tone and content, which mirrored 'the mutation of the WSF from an arena of encounter for local social movements into an organized network of experts, academics and NGO practitioners.'
For Naidoo, 'It reassures us that documents like the Bamako Appeal will eventually prove totally irrelevant and inessential to struggles of communities in South Africa as elsewhere. Indeed, the WSF elite's cold institutional and technicist soup, occasionally warmed up by some hints of tired poeticism, can provide little nourishment for local subjectivities whose daily responses to neoliberalism face more urgent needs to turn everyday survival into sustained confrontations with an increasingly repressive state.'
In contrast, Nauvoo and the others, praise the 'powerful undercurrent of informality in the West’s proceedings [which] reveals the persistence of horizontal communication between movements, which is not based on mystical views of the revolutionary subject, or in the official discourse of the leaders, but in the life strategies of their participants.'
A third position on WSF politics is the classical socialist, party-building approach favoured by Ngwee and other revolutionary organizers. Ngwee fretted, on the one hand, about reformist projects that 'make us blind to recognize the struggles of ordinary people.' On the other hand, though, 'I think militancy alone at the local level and community level will not in itself answer questions of class and questions of power.' For that a self-conscious socialist cadre is needed, and the WSF is a critical site to transcend local political upsurges.
A fourth position, which I personally support, seeks the 21st century's anti-capitalist 'manifesto' in the existing social, labour and environmental movements that are already engaged in excellent transnational social justice struggle. The WSF's greatest potential - so far unrealized - is the possibility of linking dozens of radical movements in various sectors.
Instead, at each WSF the activists seem to disappear into their own workshops: silos with few or no interconnections. Before a Bamako Appeal or any other manifesto is parachuted into the WSF, we owe it to those activists to compile their existing grievances, analyses, strategies and tactics. Sometimes these are simple demands, but often they are also articulated as sectoral manifestos, like the very strong African Water Network of anti-privatisation militants from 40 countries formed in Nairobi (http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/nairobi/en/viewstory.asp?idnews=838).
These four positions are reflected in a new book released at the Nairobi WSF by the New Delhi-based Institute for Critical Action: Centre in Movement (CACIM) and CCS. The book, free to download at contains some older attempts at left internationalism, such as the Communist Manifesto (1848) and the Bandung Communiqué of the Asian-African Conference (1955), as well as the 'Call of Social Movements' at the second and third Porto Alegre WSF, the 2005 Porto Alegre Manifesto by the male-heavy Group of Nineteen, and the Bamako Appeal with sixteen critical replies.
There are also selections on global political party formations by Amin, analysis of the global labour movement by Peter Waterman, the Women's Global Charter for Humanity, and some old and newer Zapatista declarations. Jai Sen and Madhuresh Kumar of CACIM have worked hard to pull these ideas into 500 pages.
Lest too much energy is paid to these political scuffles at the expense of ongoing struggle, we might give the last word to Ngwane, who reported on his Nairobi debate with WSF founder Chico Whitaker at a CACIM/CCS workshop: 'Ordinary working class and poor people need and create and have a movement of resistance and struggle. They also need and create and have spaces for that movement to breathe and develop. The real question is what place will the WSF have in that reality. What space will there be for ordinary working class and poor people? Who will shape and drive and control the movement? Will it be a movement of NGO's and individual luminaries creating space for themselves to speak of their concern for the poor? Will it be undermined by collaboration with capitalist forces? I think what some of us saw happening in Nairobi posed some of these questions sharply and challenged some of the answers coming from many (but not all) of the prominent NGO's and luminaries in the WSF.'
* Patrick Bond directs the Centre for Civil Society: http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2007-02/01bond.cfm and is reproduced here with the permission of the author.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
African LGBTI Human Rights Defenders Warn Public against Participation in Campaigns Concerning LGBTI Issues in Africa Led by Peter Tatchell and Outrage! In order to prevent Peter Tatchell and Outrage! from causing further damage through their unfounded campaigns and press releases, we issue this public statement of warning.
The African Union signalled its strongest intention yet to pursue the dream of a United States of Africa by making the proposal the key focus of its upcoming summit scheduled for Accra, Ghana—the cradle of Pan Africanism—in the second half of 2007.
The International Institute on Sustainable development (IISD) has announced the launch of an information sharing facility that spotlights the African Union’s focus on science and technology (S&T), climate change and sustainable development in Africa. These issues will occupy a central theme at this week’s AU Heads of State summit in Addis Ababa.
Nobel peace laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Professor Wangari Maathai have appealed to Africa’s Heads of State meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to renew their commitment to improving public health by among other things, allocating 15 per cent of their national budgets to health in line with the commitment made at the special Heads of State summit in Abuja in 2002.
The 8th Ordinary Session of the African Union ended in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Tuesday. Although the theme of the summit was “Science and Technology in Africa’ it was the political and Peace and Security issues that dominated media attention. This is not unexpected because the summit is the most important political and diplomatic forum for Africa. And since the AU was launched, there have been concerted efforts on the part of Africa’s leaders to make it relevant despite many criticisms and doubts by both Africans and outsiders. One indication of this is the large number of leaders who attend these summits and the increasing openness even on the most controversial issues.
There has also been more formal and informal spaces opened up for engagement by different stake holders in Africa whether African or onternational NGOs and CSOs, business sector, think tanks, etc. Gone are the days when the summit used to be dominated by largely ‘special invitation, ‘special guest’ chosen at the whims and caprices of the bureaucrats of the Union who were generally more disposed to welcoming all kinds of foreigners, but fearful of ‘trouble makers’ from Africa!
Almost anybody who wants to engage with the AU has some access and opportunity to do so. That only a few of our NGOs and CSOs engage, is both a reflection of residual cynicism and also of the donor-driven agendas to which they are captive. On the other hand, the lack of engagement by broader social movements and popular forces is due to continuing perception that the AU is essentially a leaders’ forum and since many of them have gripes against their national leaders they are suspicious of the Pan Africanist credentials of these leaders.
That cynicism, whether amongst CSOs/ NGOs or our Social movements, is tantamount to behaving like the proverbial ostrich. There are many windows for engagement that can only become gates of opportunities if used by Africans to expand the frontiers of democratic governance and accountability of our institutions. They will not change of their own accord but as a result of constructive dialogue, or sometimes confrontational approaches, but remaining engaged all the same.
Often outsiders are quick to grasp the opportunities and significance of our institutions than we are, since we are too consumed by our own alienation from our governments. For instance could it be by accident that all major international NGOs (INGOs) have representation in Addis Ababa, monitoring, engaging and lobbying the AU on all kinds of issues? Increasingly these INGOs are appointing Africans to represent them. But these Africans will mostly be carrying out the self-given mandate of these organizations and their interests. Sometimes they may coincide with ours, but often they do not in a most fundamental sense. Our misery is their career.
The political landscape in Africa is changing and generally for the better even if the challenges of democratization and development continue in many countries. It is a work in progress that should make us focus on the larger pictures and trends instead of the ‘problems’ no matter how overwhelming they may seem.
Would it have been possible in the old OAU for Sudan to have been rejected twice in succession in its claim to assume the chair of the organization? In the old days, the argument would have been that what is happening in Darfur is an ‘internal affair’ on which Sudan’s ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity’ could not be questioned.
But these days those arguments do not hold sway anymore. We may not have collective sovereignty in place but it is no longer a case of “leave my victims to me and I leave yours to you’. We have moved from non-interference to non-indifference. What happens in all African countries is legitimate concern of other African states. A new sense of shame has arrived where bad conduct by leaders and states are frowned at, and public opportunities for rebuke are used instead of the old ‘diplomatic hush- hush’.
In the past Sudan would have threatened to leave the Union. But today, Sudan remains despite the snub. Clearly, Sudan’s rulers judge their interest better served by remaining than by leaving.
The isolation of Sudan on the Darfur issue also demonstrates how Civil Society activism in dialogue with progressive African governments, Union bureaucrats and other concerned Africans can yield positive result. It is not the noise of the US or Britain or their NGOs (who are the ones the BBC, CNN regularly quote) that has made it impossible for Sudan to become Chair of the AU. Instead there is consensus among Africans that a country like Sudan that is so flagrantly and massively abusing the rights of its own people -- orchestrating their mass death -- is just not able to speak in our name. Pressures were not only being exerted by the West: there have also been serious pressures, cajolery, all kinds of carrots and inducements on Sudan, its allies in the Arab League (which announced its contribution for Peace Keeping in Darfur only a few days before the Summit), and filial support from some North African countries in support of Sudan’s claim to the Chair. But the AU still said: NO to Al Bashir. In saying that we are saying: No to Genocide in Darfur!
Even the reluctance by many states to contribute troops to Somalia is not a weakness, but a statement that Africa will no longer act as proxies for the US or any other foreign interests. Ethiopia might wish to be the Americans’ trojan horse, but the rest of the states are not so eager.
* Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is the Deputy Director for the UN Millennium Campaign in Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He writes this article in his personal capacity as a concerned Pan-Africanist.
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
FEATURES; Patrick Bond examines the future of the WSF concept
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Modern-day slavery is alive and well, says Emira Woods
- Doreen Lwanga stirs the debate over the Hollywood blockbuster Blood Diamonds
- Shack dwellers in Durban, South African are coming together to fight crime, writes S'bu Zikode
- Henning Melber reflects on whether another world is possible
LETTERS: Regular columnist Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem faces a challenge on his NGO views
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem writes on the 8th Ordinary Session of the African Union
BLOGGING AFRICA: A round up of the African blogosphere
BOOKS AND ARTS: Betty Wamalwa Muragori gets creative about land
AFRICAN UNION MONITOR: There’s been much news coming out of the African Union this week
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: China defends African arms sales
HUMAN RIGHTS: Call for release of DRC human rights lawyer
WOMEN AND GENDER: Challenging gender discrimination in universities
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Counting immigrants in cities across the globe
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: A quick guide to the Nigerian elections
AFRICA AND CHINA: Chinese premier visits Africa
DEVELOPMENT: The politics of the water justice movement
CORRUPTION: Zambia misses the point on corruption
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: People before patents in South Africa
EDUCATION: Early childhood care and education
ENVIRONMENT: Enforcing the law in forests
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Land, agriculture and conflict in West Africa
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: New report from Article 19 on freedom of expression in Senegal
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: Open source, information sharing and Five Minutes to Midnight
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops
Activists from social movements all over the world flocked to the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre six years ago for the first World Social Forum (WSF). It was organized under the slogan “another world is possible” to demonstrate impressively the counter position to the neo-liberal globalization project as represented and pursued by those in political and economic power. These meet every January for the World Economic Forum at the posh Swiss skiing resort of Davos.
Often erroneously referred to as anti-global movement, the activists mobilizing for the WSF represent simply another global movement, challenging the current forms of capitalist hegemony (and, as many would claim, capitalism as such). The “another world” they believe is possible represents the desire for “a better world” – a world without exploitation, discrimination, marginalization. They treasure global social conditions, which would allow for human security and a dignified life for all (well, at least most, given that there are those class interests represented by human beings, who would object to the implementation of such alternatives). Six years down the line, the latest WSF in Nairobi showed that while it’s rather easy to have such visions, it’s more difficult to implement them.
Some wear and tear resulted in a gradually increasing WSF fatigue among some of those who originally with enthusiasm mobilized and participated. The initial euphoria over the global bonds between “the wretched of the earth” (Frantz Fanon) remained not without mixed feelings over growing internal differences on the future course. Already at the first WSF a manifest of anti-capitalist youth was signed, criticizing the event for what they perceived as a reactionary policy of “humanizing capitalism” instead of trying to defeat it. An alternative “celebrity culture” with its inherent hierarchical structure was also emerging and suspiciously observed. It cultivated an aura of authority - if not personality cult - around some of the perceived, styled (or even self-proclaimed) alternative development gurus.
While the local grass roots crowds gathering during the earlier WSFs contributed to far above a hundred thousand participants in each case, the Nairobi WSF as the first of its kind on African soil provided a markedly lower turn out with less than 50,000 estimated participants. Many locals were simply denied access originally, because they were too poor to pay the registration fee. Others from further away were unable to fork out the travel costs and local expenses. Instead, the dominance of world wide operating NGOs (including foundations of political parties, the trade unions and the churches) as well as representatives of other institutions more or less directly linked to state agencies played a visibly dominant role and illustrated the obvious dividing lines between grass root activists, scholars and other professionally concerned “do gooders” from different spheres and social backgrounds.
As divided was the scenery at the Moi Stadium at the outskirts of Nairobi, where the sessions took place from January 21 to 24. Among those mingling with parts of the crowd were at least three Namibians: Alfred Angula represented the organized workers, Rosa Namises the women’s movement, and Ian Swartz from the Rainbow coalition strengthened the coming out of gays and lesbians, who used the opportunity to courageously fight the notorious local and continental xenophobia.
The opening and closing ceremonies were at the centrally located Uhuru (Freedom) Park. Among the speakers to open was Kenneth Kaunda, and I was certainly not the only one wondering about the basis of his merits. The mere fact that he finally behaved somehow decent as an “elder statesman”, after messing up the country and people with his earlier politics, was certainly not good enough a recommendation to address those committed to “another world”. The junior minister from Italy speaking at the closing ceremony and a number of other political office bearers and aid bureaucrats documenting their commitments to the common (?) cause left as dubious a taste and showed that the dividing lines are a contested issue. – Certainly not everyone among the WSF organizers and activists is immune against the flirting with power.
There were numerous other visible contradictions during the days in and around the Moi sports stadium adding to the mixed feelings. Ironically, this was built in the 1980s by the Chinese, had its peak moment when hosting the All Africa Games and is these days mainly reserved for paid leisure activities by the urban middle class. Those hundreds of thousands of shack dwellers in the slums nearby look at it at best as an alien object, which does not relate to their daily struggle for survival.
The professional North-South and global concern entrepreneurs occupied the best spaces in the venue. A local telecommunication company under foreign ownership provided a so-called special offer to participants, which maximized the company profits by means of a monopoly over services secured. The ordinary people running their humble food vendor businesses at affordable costs for the bulk of participants were forced to operate at the margins. The best-placed catering outlets were overpriced. The minister of inner security owed one of them. During an earlier stage of his career he was among those who tortured the same victims of the Mau-Mau movement, who testified at the WSF to their ordeal in the anti-colonial struggle some fifty years ago.
“Another world is possible”, yes, maybe. But the road to get there is long. And not all among those attending the WSF in Nairobi are (or should be) on board. That might, by the way, include myself too.
* Henning Melber had joined Swapo in 1994. He was the director of NEPRU in Windhoek (1992-2000) and the research director at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala (2000-2006), where he is now director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation.
This article was first written for the Namibian Big Issue and is reproduced with the permission of the author.
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
The Africa Society and the Rhodes Scholars Southern Africa Forum at Oxford university has refused to allow Fahamu to sell copies of its new book ‘African Perspectives on China in Africa’ at a forthcoming seminar on China in Africa, despite a long established tradition of allowing booksellers to sell books at such events.
The organisers at St. Antony's College at Oxford University wrote to Fahamu to say that in their view the new book presents a monolithic, one sided view, and therefore would not be allowed to have the book displayed at the seminar. But how do they know it is monolithic? The book was only printed in Nairobi last week, and no copies are yet available in the UK.
Despite protests being lodged, Fahamu has still been refused the right to display the book.
We believe that this is an affront to academic freedom and an attempt at suppression of freedom of expression.
As Nigeria prepares to go the polls in April of 2007, the continent and the world will be closely watching developments in the continent’s most populous nation. This will be the first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power in the country’s history. In the run-up to the elections, focus has been on the recently-released population census figures, the perceived incompetence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as the sheer number of candidates and parties competing.
The 2006 census puts the population at around 140 million. Although most analysts consider this a conservative, if not inaccurate figure, the main area of contention is the breakdown by region. According to the census, the North is more populous than the South. Southerners dispute this finding based on population densities and geographical realities. Rather, they perceive these findings as a means to bolster resource allocation disparities, gerrymandering, and even a precursor to vote-rigging in favour of the North.
The INEC recently extended the voter registration deadline by 14 days to allow for more Nigerians to register for the polls. The electoral body has come in for heavy criticism over its incompetence. There is concern about potential vote rigging, so the manner in which the INEC discharges its duties will determine how well the election results are received by the country and the world at large.
In such a populous and political volatile country, the sheer number of parties and candidates vying for election is by no means surprising. Of the thirteen-odd main parties vying for elections, four are fielding candidates in real contention for the presidency.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is the ruling party. Its candidate is the present governor of Katsina state, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who is Obasanjo’s anointed successor. He has leftist leanings and is the only state governor untainted by corruption allegations.
The All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) is the main opposition party. Its candidate, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari is contesting elections again, having lost to Obasanjo in 2003.
The Action Congress (AC) candidate is Vice-president Atiku Abubakar. He was a founding member of the PDP but was suspended in allegations of corruption. He switched parties while in office, which has raised a potential constitutional crisis. Because the AC and the ANPP have an election pact, he will have to challenge Buhari to be able to vie for the presidency. His campaign is based on his call for a ‘power shift’ from the South to the North, whence he hails.
Former military ruler and power-broker Ibrahim Babangida has yet to find a political party to support his bid. He left the PDP after Obasanjo allegedly refused to back his bid for nomination in favor of Yar’Adua. He also enjoys wide public support in the North.
The All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate is Chukwuemeka Ojukwu. He is the former leader of the Biafra secession uprising and a cult-figure of his Igbo people. His influence is more or less confined to South-Eastern Nigeria.
The spectre of violence and upheaval still hangs heavily over the country. There has been some unrest following the removal of high ranking officials and state governors by legislative process. The prominence of former generals in politics and in the elections is also a cause for concern given the country’s past experience of military rule.
Further reading and discussions:
INEC
The Vanguard http://www.vanguardngr.com
Nigerian Village Square http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/
President Hu Jintao has embarked on his second trip to the continent in less than a year and on his itinerary are seven countries earmarked as strategic trade and investment allies. Jintao will be visiting Cameroon, Liberia, Mozambique, South Africa, Sudan, the Seychelles and Zambia. What these countries have in common is their ability to provide China with vital resources, strategic positioning and trade opportunities for its ever-expanding economy.
China’s engagement with Africa is increasingly becoming the biggest topic of debate in as far as global economics is concerned. Accelerated growth in the Asian nation’s economy has increased pressure to obtain resources. Africa is turning out to be the perfect partner for China in a relationship that is viewed by some as mutually beneficial while others see it as another opportunity for massive exploitation, with few long-term benefits accruing to the vast majority of the continent’s population.
The arguments for the Sino-African rapprochement are from the perspective of South-South cooperation and a welcome change from the kind of relationship with the west (read Europe and the US). Most of Africa continues to reel under the burden of debt, further exacerbated by the inability to find equal footing on the global economic platform.
There has however, been a growing sense of suspicion about just how much the continent will benefit from unfolding events. China’s record on issues of social justice, political freedom, human rights, environment does not pass muster. Africa’s bilateral relations with the EU, the US and the International funding agencies over the last two decades have focused on broad political and economic reforms. China seeks to access the continent’s resources, mainly oil and minerals in exchange for infrastructural development and monetary aid, both of which its new partners desperately need.
The key question is whether this new relationship will derail efforts towards political change. China is also seeking new markets for its huge cheap goods manufacturing sector. Chinese imports have had a detrimental effect on the local manufacturing sectors in Africa, and this continues to be a sore point, as evidenced by the huge trade imbalances that China enjoys with most countries on the continent.
At a global level, the West has always enjoyed a dominant position vis-à-vis Africa, dating back from colonial times. The rise of the East, namely China and to a slightly lesser degree, India, as investment and trade partners threatens their position of influence on many fronts. The finite nature of Africa’s resources means there is a likelihood of a zero-sum game where China’s gain is the West’s loss. Needless to say, the effects of China’s new move into global geo-politics will be felt for a long time to come, both on the continent and elsewhere.
Further reading:
New Yorker in DC
Beijing Action Plan http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/zflt/eng/zyzl/hywj/t280369.htm
International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/01/opinion/edecon.php
ISN Security Watch
This Report published by the Sahel and West Africa Club reviews the land reform process in West Africa and presents the recent initiatives carried out by regional organisations in support of land reform in the context of regional policies on agriculture, natural resource management, conflict prevention and security.
This policy research brief draws on the findings of a UNDP-supported book, Privatization and Alternative Public Sector Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa (Bayliss and Fine, forthcoming), to analyze the effects of privatization on the delivery of water and electricity. It concludes that privatization has been a widespread failure. This has hampered progress on the MDGs for both water and sanitation, and on many other MDGs dependent on energy.
Pressures on the use of global fresh water have reached levels unprecedented in human history. Water has become a major factor in contemporary strategic conflicts and struggles, and as a species we are beginning to glimpse the crucial importance of this simple resource. Not only is water essential to human sustenance in the form of drinking water and the use of water in agriculture, but also industrial development could not occur without it.
At the heart of the Commons movement is a simple yet powerful concept of sharing information and art for the enjoyment and the betterment of everyone’s lives. Much of this sharing is the result of widespread internet access and broadband availability, resources which many people do not have. At the grassroots is a unique youth-led organization called Five Minutes to Midnight (FMM).
Journalists interested in human rights can apply to attend a course on gender equality in September in South Africa. Organized by the Center for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, the course will cover the latest gender developments and their implications for African women. Application deadline is August 3.
A new report by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) analyzes some of the diverse approaches to equity in education and presents a framework for measuring educational equity. Today most experts agree that education systems that are “equitable” provide high-quality education to all children.
To call The Black Insider a novel may be somewhat misleading. It is a loosely autobiographical account of the author’s stay in the “Faculty of Arts,” in time of “war.” Barricaded inside his room in the building he shares with an eclectic group of tenants, Marechera comments on the war without, mirroring excellently the one that rages within. The Black Insider captures the profoundness and insanity that characterise much of this author’s work. Despite his erratic style that has the potential to lose the reader in a morass of philosophical musings, we start to see the relationships between colour and space. We see the complexity of understanding and accepting one’s identity as black or white, and the impatience of the rest of the world with the individual who struggles with this process. And so Marechera creates an inside, and an outside, and blacks and whites and we end up with a black insider on our hands, in our lives, in us even, perhaps. And then in typical fashion, that which makes Marechera arguably the problem child of African literature, there is the element of damning everything to hell.
In the end, we are confronted with the explosive violence that characterise the author’s subject matter, the kind of violence that people generally want to sweep under the rug. The cast of characters is superb and profound, alluding to a well-compiled list of authors, philosophers and scientists. There is something in the Black Insider for all.
• Annie Quarcoopome is a Ghanaian and student of Comparative Literature at Williams College. She also is a contributor the the blog Black Looks.
• Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Pambazuka News 288: World Social Forum 2007
Pambazuka News 288: World Social Forum 2007
This Reliefweb paper explores how refugees are being constructed as depoliticised subjects within a health paradigm and how the medicalised representation of refugees’ interests is ultimately detrimental for defending refugee rights both within Britain and internationally.
Spain has sent several hundred African migrants back to Senegal from the Canary Islands, officials say. Six planes flew them from the island of Tenerife to Saint-Louis in the African country's north-west. The migrants were among more than 30,000 Africans who landed in the Canaries in 2006 after dangerous sea journeys in open wooden boats. Most of those on board were Senegalese, but others were said to be from Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali and Mauritania.
Senegalese refugees in Guinea-Bissau who had recently returned to their homes in Senegal’s Casamance region on Monday were fleeing back across the border following four days of fighting. The Senegalese army said about 500 Moroccan troops are in Casamance to assist with a de-mining operation to help make the region safe for the return of refugees. Often in Casamance, where a rebellion has simmered since 1982, just the appearance of Senegalese troops can trigger flight because residents fear combat is imminent.
Non-white South Africans are at least 10 times more likely to be stopped for further questioning by immigration officers when entering Britain than their white countrymen, according to research published by the Home Office. The report also shows that non-white Canadians are nine times more likely to be stopped than their white countrymen, and that non-white Americans were more than twice as likely to be stopped as they came off flights.
Small arms, particularly the ubiquitous AK-47, are the real weapons of mass destruction in the 21st century. They are responsible for more deaths than any other, especially in Africa. AK-47s are too cheap and too available in places like the Horn of Africa (Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia), the pastoralist areas of East Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the oil-rich Delta Region of Nigeria. Something must be done to control the supply of small arms whose lucrative source is primarily the five permanent members of the Security Council, the networks of arms brokers who get them to the trouble spots of Africa, and the poverty and unemployment that provide willing hands to use them.
Voluntary Youth Philanthropists (VYP) is a Kenyan based organization, with active regional networks that has been lobbying for good governance and youth participation since its inception in 2000. The theme for the Peace Camel Caravan 2007 is “Youth leading change”. Its mission is creating awareness on leadership and peace in Kenya, targets 5 million people directly and indirectly in all eight provinces. It will start in April 2007 in Nairobi and with support vehicles will cover 1,500km in 15 days, according to AfricaFiles.
A prospective cohort study has found that HIV-positive Kenyan mothers who breastfed their babies had faster declines in CD4 cell count and body mass index than those who formula-fed. However, breastfeeding had no effect on viral load or overall mortality among the mothers after two years.
From Iraq to Nigeria, multinational corporations are ignoring human rights, entrenching a culture of abuse and impunity that is difficult to eradicate, a leading anti-apartheid activist warns. Kader Asmal, a former South African minister of education, says the abuses run from environmental degradation around the world to the more than 90,000 security contractors, engaged in murky multi-billion-dollar businesses, in war-torn Iraq.
The Open Source Centre at the Meraka Institute will be hosting a two-day colloquium from February 6-8 on the importance of ICTs to development and transformation. Issues to be discussed at the meeting include open content and open access in academia, open content and development, free and open source and accessibility, research policy and access, the digital divide, intellectual property and policy, digital rights management and free and open source software.
"Does Microsoft intend to continue to break the law by filing software patents in South Africa?" This was the question Derek Keats of the University of the Western Cape asked Microsoft national technical officer, Potlaki Maine, in an open debate held at Freedom to Innovate South Africa's workshop on software and business method patents last Friday (January 19).
The finalisation of a joint action-plan for the establishment of a so-called ’Strategic Partnership’ between South Africa and the European Union (EU) - proposed by the EU last year - would be prioritised during Germany’s Presidency of the EU, which runs from January to the end of June.
The provision of life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment has emerged as a key component of the global response to HIV/AIDS, yet little is known about the impact of this intervention on the welfare of children whose parents receive treatment. In this working paper CGD post-doctoral fellow Harsha Thirumurthy and his co-authors use longitudinal household survey data collected in collaboration with a treatment program in western Kenya to provide the first estimate of the impact of ARV treatment on children’s schooling and nutrition.
There has been resounding international awareness and recognition, accelerated by the Millennium Development Goals, that gender equality and women's rights are key to development. What has emerged on the sidelines however, is a growing debate on the value of including and encouraging the engagement of men. How can men be allies in the fight for gender equality and women's rights? This article canvasses the issues, the debate and ways that men can (and whether they should) join the battle.
This paper examines the role that may be envisioned for the courts in Angola with respect to the poor. Looking at the period from 1992 - 2004, it analyses the factors that are necessary for getting social rights litigation successfully through the courts and identifies the type of impediments which exist. The paper finds that the failure to implement social and economic rights in Angola is not primarily due to constitutional limitations, but rather due to the lack of resources among the poor as well as to lack of human and technical resources within the justice system itself.
To inform development in Southern Africa, the region needs information that is locally produced, analysed and delivered. This background paper considers the concepts of Knowledge for Development (KfD) as it applies to southern Africa, placing it within the context of regional development and cooperation plans currently being rolled out by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
This report discusses the evolution of the concept of a river basin in order to give a more politicised view of integrated water management. The paper argues that the river basin has been associated with various strands of thinking and sometimes co-opted or mobilised by particular groups to strengthen the legitimacy of their agenda. The author argues that the river basin is a political and ideological construct where the environment and political/administrative systems meet.
This paper explores the potential importance of marriage and childbirth as determinants of school-leaving in sub-Saharan Africa and identifies some of the common underlying factors that contribute to premature school-leaving and early marriage and childbearing.
This World Health Organization paper defines the Stop TB Strategy which underpins the second global plan to stop TB (2006-2015). The goal of the strategy is to reduce dramatically the global burden of TB by 2015. It aims to achieve universal access to high-quality diagnosis and treatment; reduce the suffering and socioeconomic burden associated with TB; protect poor and vulnerable populations from TB; and support development of new tools and enable their timely and effective use.
The Association for Women's Rights in Development - an international, multigenerational, feminist, agenda-setting, creative, future-oriented membership organization working for women's rights - is looking for up to two Program Coordinators to assist in the implementation of AWID's exciting new Strategic Plan.
Population Services International (PSI) is the world's leading non-profit social marketing organization, operating in more than 60 developing countries. PSI creates demand for essential health products and services by using private sector marketing techniques and innovative communications campaigns to motivate positive changes in health behavior.
This long-term training programme will provide intensive training and support for young human rights defenders in the Arab World in order to increase advocacy and monitoring capacity and foster a regional network of human rights advocates.
An international coalition of free expression groups has urged new U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to remind Tunisia of its obligations under international law to respect freedom of expression and other human rights. The IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG) says more than one year after Tunisia hosted the U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the state of free expression is as poor, if not poorer, now than it was when the conference was held in November 2005.
The African Media Development Initiative (AMDI), launched a year ago to mobilise international support for the development of African media, has called for increased resources to address the weaknesses dogging the fourth estate on the continent, according to a Pana report posted on Africa News. In a 142-page report unveiled in Nairobi, Kenya, AMDI, noted that while there had been "a massive proliferation of media during the last five years," in the 17 sub-Saharan African countries surveyed, the "professional, technical, ethical and management standards" of the sector "remain low," reports Journalism.co.za.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has reiterated its deep concern regarding the situation in Guinea. Whilst the Guinean inter-union group was meeting in Conakry to take stock of the situation following the bloody repression that had claimed 30 lives on Monday, its leaders were summoned to the palace of President Lansana Conté on Tuesday afternoon.
Many people in Africa do not have the security of formal titles to land. Policymakers can learn from the various approaches that different countries have taken to improve land tenure security. Land tenure systems reflect the influence of history, culture, population growth, urbanisation and contemporary politics. Research from the International Institute for Environment and Development in the UK examines current trends in land tenure and sources of insecurity. Using seven case studies, the paper describes new approaches to securing tenure rights in Africa.
Kumasi, with a population of one million, is the second city of Ghana and the capital of the Ashanti Region. The city is growing rapidly both in area and population. This is affecting the natural environment and the livelihoods of the people living in rural areas around the city.
Trevor Ncube, who is the publisher of the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent and Zimbabwe Standard as well as the Mail and Guardian of South Africa is seeking a High Court order compelling the Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede to renew his passport following his application for Zimbabwean citizenship.
African countries are spearheading ways to tackle climate change and have important lessons for how others can cope in future, says a soon to be released report. The report by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) at Columbia University, United States, shows how certain countries are integrating climate information into development and planning. This helps them to manage climate risks such as flood and drought, reports SciDev.
On 15 January 2007, IGLHRC and ILGA sent a letter to the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, asking him to reconsider plans to include a provision that would penalize homosexuality as part of an overall revision to the Rwandan penal code currently being debated. The provision appears as Article 160 in the French version and article 158 in the English version of the draft penal code currently on the website of the Ministry of Justice.