KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 32 * 6362 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 32 * 6362 SUBSCRIBERS
Lettre d'information 30/2001
semaine du 28.07.01 au 05.08.01
Afework Tekle and Tebebe Yemane Brehan, received the most prestigious awards at St. John's College Cambridge University from the President of the American Biographical Institute (ABI) and from the Director General of International Biographical Center (IBC) at the 28th International Congress on Arts and communications, England held from 15th - 22nd July 2001.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, who is also Secretary-General of the Conference, said the Durban meeting would be "nothing less than a conference to discuss the core principles that should underpin this new century. It is an important opportunity for the world community to commit, for the first time in the post-apartheid era, to a truly global effort to address the ancient and the modern manifestations of this evil."
The United Nations refugee agency today said it was in contact with Turkish and Greek authorities over recent reports of a group of Africans allegedly "dumped" on the border between the two countries.
HIV/AIDS fact sheets produced by UNAIDS for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (25-27 June 2001) have just been published and they are available for download from the UNAIDS Web site.
The second International Conference on Children's Rights in Education will be conducted from 18-22 August 2001 in Victoria, Canada. The main aims of the Conference are to promote respect and support for children's rights and the full development of children through education. It will provide a structured exchange by international and national experts of information and perspectives on theory, research and practices relating education and children's rights.
An online Guide to the UN Trafficking Protocol is now available. The Guide is an initiative by CATW (Coalition against Trafficking in Women), MAPP, Article Premier, AFEM (Association des femmes de l’Europe méridionale) and the EWL (European Women’s Lobby). It will soon also be made available in French and Spanish.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) wish, at the outset, to express their support for the work of the European Union against trafficking in human beings and related exploitation. They do so from the viewpoint of two United Nations bodies with different but complementary mandates in this area. Both organisations believe that the present proposal to strengthen common approaches to this issue through the adoption of a Council Framework Decision is an important and timely step forward.
The U.S. State Department’s first annual report on trafficking in persons contains serious flaws, Human Rights Watch has said. "The State Department´s report is a real mixed bag," said LaShawn R. Jefferson, Acting Executive Director of the Women´s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "We´re glad the U.S. government is finally paying close attention to this important human rights abuse. But the report has some major flaws that will need correcting the next time around."
PICUM, the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, published a booklet (English only) as a result of the Experts Seminar on access to Health Care that took place on 22 and 23 March 2001. Representatives of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Great Britain exchanged their experiences in working with undocumented migrants. The publication contains besides a description of the situation in the above mentioned countries also a report of the discussions between the experts on themes such as the importance of professional confidentiality, the use of international regulations, the need for education in human rights. Copies of the publication (6.25 Euro) can be ordered at the PICUM secretariat.
President Robert Mugabe's cash-strapped government has awarded almost $1 billion in unbudgeted funds to war veterans following a 25% increment on their tax free monthly gratuities, The Standard has established.
Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change ran a gauntlet of violence, kidnappings and arrests at the weekend as the ruling Zanu PF party fought to ensure victory in a critical by-election.
Zimbabwean police detained the opposition candidate in a fiercely contested by-election for more than two hours on Sunday, the second day of a poll marred by widespread violence during months of campaigning.
Africa Action calls for the cancellation of Africa's foreign debt, which we consider in large part to be illegitimate, based on its origins and consequences. We consider the present and past attempts to deal with the debt crisis to be absolutely insufficient, and we oppose the existing debt relief framework, developed and controlled by creditors and designed to function only in their interests.
UNIFEM is supporting the African Commission's Special Rapporteur on Women and Violence, Julienne Ondziel-Gnelenga, to report on Violence Against Women at domestic, community and institutional levels, including women in conflict situations. Five field studies to assess the situation of women's human rights in Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are also being conducted. For more information, contact Hodan Addou, Programme Coordinator for East, Central and the Horn of Africa.
A Training Manual from UNIFEM (in pdf. format).
In Nigeria, two former ministers have been ordered to pay back the equivalent of more than $20m after being named by a commission examining corruption in Nigeria's cocoa sector.
Allegations around the controversial arms deal have prompted President Thabo Mbeki to earmark the issue of corruption for urgent attention - following a three-day Cabinet brainstorming session aimed at assessing government's progress over the last six months.
Excessive discretionary powers have contributed to the rise of corruption in Zambia, observed Auditor General Fred Siame yesterday.
In describing the death of an Odzi settler as murder, the state print media abandoned all the basic restrictions surrounding the reporting of incidents involving criminal charges. The purpose of these restrictions is founded upon the fundamental principle that accused individuals are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The conduct of the state media in this case has pre-empted the court investigation and raises the question of whether the trial of the white commercial farmer involved in the fatal accident may have been compromised by such unprofessional coverage.
Under the project supported by The FUTURES Group International/POLICY Project Nigeria and the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA), Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria is conducting on the Nigeria-AIDS eForum, a six-month long open discussion of key HIV-related issues among HIV/AIDS activists and advocates as well as governmental, non-governmental, multilateral and community-based organisations in Nigeria.
A patch of bare earth dotted with smoking fires has become home to the hundreds of people who arrive each day at the displaced people's camps outside Camacupa in the Angolan province of Bié.
Former refugees reluctant to return to their homes in Kono District, eastern Sierra Leone, have agreed to temporary relocation to the southern area of Taiama, UNHCR Information Officer Isa Blyden told IRIN on Friday.
Kenyan Minister for Trade and Industry Nicholas Biwott, an influential figure in the government of President Daniel arap Moi, has criticised the aid conditions imposed on Kenya as impractical, and suggested that they smack of double standards.
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has announced the full make-up of his new cabinet following parliamentary elections last month. The list contains few new faces and includes 10 ministers who failed to win seats in the election but who can hold office by presidential appointment, the BBC reported.
As villagers of Guru Guru in northern Uganda fled an attack by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), one man found himself surrounded and trapped inside his home. Unable to escape the armed rebels, Faustino Onek was abducted and forced into the bush, where he was tortured, stabbed and finally had his left arm amputated. Onek, a community elder and grandfather to 27 children, had met at least one of his attackers before: it was his nephew.
Opposition politicians, religious groups and civil society groups have come out against the cabinet line-up of President Yoweri Museveni, endorsed by parliament on 19 July, saying it was not representative of different groups in the country, despite Museveni's promises, the 'EastAfrican' newspaper reported on Monday.
A member of the Akazu, the inner circle of former president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyrimana, and also the president's brother-in-law, was arrested on Thursday at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), an ICTR statement said.
The atmosphere at the Thursday meeting between President Buyoya and Zuma, was described as "good" by Buyoya's spokesman, Appolinaire Gahungu.
WFP on Friday announced the launch of an "urgent" appeal for US $2.1 million to fund a six-month emergency humanitarian air operation to begin in early August in the DRC that will enable aid workers to reach remote areas to assess the needs of war-torn populations and set up relief operations.
A spokesman for the group of parties who supported the candidacy of Colonel Epitace Bayaganakandi for the presidency of the transitional period, Alphonse Rugambarara, reiterated that his group would not enter the transitional government led by President Buyoya and his deputy, Hutu leader, Domitien Ndayizeye.
After more than a decade in Ethiopia, Somali refugees in the eastern camp of Rabasso are preparing to return to their homes in northwestern Somalia, a spokesman for UNHCR told IRIN Thursday.
The Federal High Court has ruled to block the personal and business accounts of a number of former government officials and private businessmen accused of corruption, local press reports said Wednesday.
The Sudanese Movement for Children, which comprises governmental and nongovernmental agencies and civil society organisations, will next Friday organise a march to start from Wad Madani, the capital of Al-Jazirah State, and end at the Friendship Hall in Khartoum, as part of the global campaign "Say Yes for Children".
The governments of Sudan and Uganda are expected to restore diplomatic relations - severed in 1996, with each of the two accusing the other of supporting the other's rebel movements - through the formal exchange of diplomats next month, according to the 'EastAfrican' newspaper.
Liberian President Charles Taylor announced a general amnesty on Thursday for all treason suspects abroad and anti-government dissidents in the northern county of Lofa, news media reported.
Seventy-nine former child combatants of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) were returned to their families on Tuesday in Kailahun, after spending six weeks at an interim care centre run by Save the Children Fund (SCF)-UK.
There has been rising tension within Guinea-Bissau's army, the Senegalese news agency, APS, and other sources reported. The tension appears to centre on the future of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Verissimo Correia Seabra.
Zambia was expected to experience a huge shortage of maize, the country's staple food, the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) said on Thursday. "A maize shortage is expected this year. ZNFU estimates a shortfall of 120,000 to 150,000 mt," Songowayo Zyambo, ZNFU executive director, was quoted saying in an AFP report.
New British High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, Brian Donnely, said on Thursday that his government wanted to re-establish the friendly relations the two countries enjoyed before the current controversy over the land issue, news reports said.
The Washington Post newspaper reported on Thursday that the United States had again threatened to boycott next month's United Nations conference on racism in Durban, South Africa.
President Robert Mugabe has added three new seats to the Supreme Court by appointing three judges seen as stalwarts of his ZANU-PF ruling party, the state-controlled 'Herald' reported on Friday.
The international humanitarian organisation Oxfam says the Angolan government is responding inadequately to the needs of people displaced by the civil war. Speaking at the end of a visit to Angola, Oxfam's director Barbara Stocking said an end to the war was the only way out of the humanitarian crisis in the country, and called on the international community to support a negotiated peace.
As President Joaquim Chissano serves out his last term of office, a debate is simmering between two distinct factions in his ruling FRELIMO party to determine his successor, analysts have told IRIN.
With the introduction of its own national internet hub, Lesotho has cut the umbilical cord with South Africa. The authors of this week's story (for names see the end of the article) describe how this was achieved and Lesotho's future ambitions in this field.
Government soldiers and rebels in Sierra Leone are no longer restless since a ceasefire agreement signed last November ended 10 years of civil war. “It’s been like paradise since that time,” said Sule Musa, editor of the independent newspaper, the Advisor.
President Robert Mugabe confirmed that the Zimbabwe government would table a freedom of information and protection of privacy Bill, and replace the notorious Law and Order (Maintenance) Act.
Over the past four weeks a series of intercommunal clashes in central and northern Nigeria has left many dead or wounded and forced an estimated 65,000 people to flee their homes in Nasarawa, Benue, Bauchi and Kaduna states. Working with the Nigerian Red Cross Society, since the beginning of July the ICRC has distributed relief supplies such as blankets, buckets, soap and mats to a total of 22,500 displaced people living in improvised camps.
Overfishing is far more devastating than is commonly understood and was taking place long before its magnitude began to command public attention over the past century, say scientists.
The Malawi Digest, produced by MIDEA, raises concerns about the growing demise of democracy in Malawi. According to the Digest, Malawi is in danger of sliding back into one-party rule. There are real concerns about the government's lack of respect for the constitution and the rule of law, and the real dangers that are now faced from the abuse of human rights, the intolerance of dissent and the emergence of politcally motivated violence.
THE United States risked appearing indifferent about racism if it were to boycott the upcoming United Nations conference on the subject, South Africa's director general of foreign affairs said on Sunday."If they don't come, people will read into it that they don't see the issues as important. It will send a signal to their own constituencies and the rest of the world," Sipho Pityana told the SAPA news agency.
The following was published in "HIF-net at WHO" in response to a request on where to look for funding "for developing country NGOs undertaking not-for-profit nutrition, micronutrient and/or blindness prevention projects for the benefit of poor urban and rural dwellers/communities."
Titled "Planning for Leadership Transition," this edition of Management Sciences for Health (MSH)'s award-winning publication - The Manager -considers strategy and process for managing a leadership transition and developing leadership capacity among staff at all levels.
There have been a spate of damaging and ubiquitous viruses lately. This article explains the difference between a virus and a virus hoax. It also tells you how both can damage your computer. Throughout the article there are links to online resources: identify whether you are the victim of a virus or a virus hoax, visit websites offering free anti virus software, learn how to delete a virus FOREVER from your PC, and.. keep your anti-virus software up to date.
Software audits and licensing expenses are becoming more and more threatening. Or are they? This article mentions a threatening letter which is resulting in changes to open source software. The Business Software Alliance's (BSA) 'Truce Campaign' is not engendering support from users - and many are looking at other options. In South Africa, which is dominated by Microsoft at the end user level, there have also been threats of a 'crackdown'.
This news release about the Global Development Network (research in the developing world) describes it's mission and provides a link to the web site. It has moved outside the World Bank as an independent organisation, although still receiving funding from the WB. Take a look at the site, and tell KFN what you think.
Last year, from January to May 2000, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and The Africa Policy Information Center (APIC, now a part of Africa Action) co-sponsored "International Policies, African Realities: An Electronic Roundtable," which brought more than 500 people together, with African panelists and participants from Africa and around the world, in a structured on-line discussion on a range of African issues. The electronic discussion was hosted by Bellanet. The full report is downloadable from the web site below and the discussion is archived for all to access.
Earlier this month in Bredell, near Kempton Park on the East Rand, South Africa and some say that ‘land grabbing fever’ has hit South Africa, hot on the heels of the Zimbabwean debacle.
The land is owned by government, Transnet and a private company. Thousands of homeless people invaded the Bredell land allegedly after paying the Pan African Congress R25 a plot.
An interim Court order was granted allowing the government to evict the ‘squatters’. In coming to his decision, Judge Rabie made a reference to the irresponsibility displayed by the PAC.
Predictably, there has been a war of words between the PAC and the ANC over the land invasion. PAC leader Stanley Mogoba has warned that should the matter not be resolved satisfactorily resolved there could be a ‘revolution’. “If government wants to go the route of confrontation, they are asking for very big problems”, he said (www.iol.co.za).
ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama called the PAC “an organisation of agents provocateurs masquerading as a caring liberation movement when, in fact, they are the worst hypocrites and opportunists who will jump at the slightest opportunity to exploit the plight of our people, with the sole purpose of lining their pockets” (www.iol.co.za).
Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said that he found it paradoxical that the government was so quick to commit to a multi-million rand arms deal with not a visible enemy in sight, but at the same time so slow to respond to an issue it billed a top priority in the run-up to the 1994 general election (www.iol.co.za).
According to the South African Sunday Tribune, a group of black tenant farmers have invited Robert Mugabe to come to SA to advise them on how to proceed to get land. Joachim Hlatswayo, a tenant leader was quoted in the same newspaper as saying that they wanted to hear Mugabe’s views on land restitution and land seizure. The invitation to Mugabe has been confirmed by the Zimbabwean High Commission in Pretoria, but they noted that in terms of diplomatic protocol, only the President of SA, Thabo Mbeki could invite the president of another country for a visit.
What is clear is that the Bredell ‘land invaders’ have become political pawns. While government’s land restitution has been largely ineffective, it is equally clear that landless people are getting impatient (www.iol.co.za).
The squatters are now appealing the eviction order. In the meantime, local PAC leaders have not been able to account for the money collected from the squatters.
The Zimbabwean experience has suddenly made land grabbing an alternative to remaining landless. This week, saw the establishment of the National Landless People’s Movement. NLPA representative Lucas Mufamadi says they support “the gallant actions of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe”. He also said that land occupations are inevitable as land reform has been slow (www.mg.co.za).
Clearly, the Bredell land occupation is illegal and governments all over need to take quick action to avert this from happening by stepping up the pace of land reform and where land occupations have occurred, they must take action too.
However, should our laws not reflect an African reality as far as land is concerned? Should there be private property clauses in our constitutions, or should there be communal property provisions, or should there be both? Civil society and governments must start seriously debating this and other human rights issues to make sure that we do not prescribe to a Eurocentric definition of human rights which does not fit into the African context. The landlessness issue must be looked at from this perspective.
In the interim, government must start pouring its resources into land reform. In addition, land grabbing must be strongly discouraged.
Over the past few weeks, KFN has carried a healthy, and splendidly civilised, debate on the World Bank’s new Development Gateway initiative. Behind the candid commentary, though, are some rather bitter issues, many of them directly relevant to African politics.
First, the theory. Colonisation and ‘development’ need knowledge in order to prop up the rather shaky rationalisations upon which they rest. The World Bank has spent a great deal of time and money cornering the market in ‘development’ knowledge for precisely this reason. The tragedy is that there’s a great deal of subversive work being done by African academics, policy analysts, teachers and activists that rarely gets the coverage that headline Bank projects do.
This ‘African silence’ works to the advantage of those trying to secure the status quo. For those concerned with active democracy rather than ‘good governance’, with redistribution rather than ‘poverty’, with justice rather than ‘law’, the Bank’s site is bad news. It is hard enough, given the neoliberal domination of Africa, to shift public debate to questioning social fundamentals, much less changing them.
Now, to practice. Many comrades in the NGO world here are forced to adopt a different kind of language in order to get themselves heard not only by donors, but by governments too. The adoption of ‘the master’s tools’ is precisely the sort of compromise that many hoped would be unnecessary after decolonisation. That our politicians remain beholden to these rhetorics and policies, whether GEAR in South Africa, structural adjustment in Zimbabwe, HIPC conditions in Mozambique or PRSPs in Uganda, bears witness to the very limited extent of African decolonisation. That people believe that there are no alternatives is *precisely* because neoliberalism cannot allow the space imaginatively to entertain these alternatives. Hence the importance of the Development Gateway.
So what to do? Sadly, ignoring the World Bank doesn’t make it go away. Meeting the Bank’s knowledge offensive (and offensive is the right word) demands action. Activists have only limited resources, though, and firefighting new neoliberal initiatives takes time and energy. This time, we’re in luck. In challenging the Bank website, we can not only to reject the Bank, but do it by actively getting creative with other projects.
There are already many African organisations that have taken a stand. The MWENGO website, at for example , is a recently launched Southern African regional hub. Among the positions there are some that are openly critical of neoliberal colonial economics, and supportive of land redistribution. The chances of challenges to property rights being disseminated by the Bank? Slim.
(Although the Bank’s PR machine has swung into gear to defend its openness to other positions, there are already reasons to be suspicious. Even before the official launch, the site has already refused to post correspondence from one legal scholar, and there is reason to think merely by looking at the titles of the topic areas that some comments are liable to be more ‘on topic’ than others.)
Initiatives similar to MWENGO’s, that fly in the face of this ideological intimidation, exist elsewhere on the continent. It is our responsibility actively to support them, and to create spaces in which alternatives are thinkable not only by ourselves, but also the people with whom we work, and whom we may claim to represent.
To sign the declaration against the Bank, send an email to [email][email protected] with your Name and organisation in the subject line (no organisational endorsement is assumed).
As traditional media becomes increasingly repressive in Zimbabwe, the launch of a local web site, www.kubatana.net, is a breath of fresh air. The NGO Network Alliance Project, the energy behind the development of kubatana, has brought Zimbabwean ngos, csos and development organisations together under one online umbrella. Kubatana is a Shona word which means "working together" - an apt name when a strengthened civic response to the current social and political unrest in Zimbabwe needs to be encouraged.
Freedom of Information experts and activists across Africa will meet in Nigeria in September to map out strategies for establishing a regional network aimed at strengthening campaigns for the enactment and implementation of access to information laws throughout the continent.
OneWorld is an international non-profit Network whose mission is to harness the democratic potential of the Internet. Its website www.oneworld.net is the world's leading portal on development and human rights. We are looking for an Editor to edit OneWorld's DebtChannel.org. The DebtChannel.org Editor will be responsible for editing and updating the channel to enable it to fulfill its mission as a leading Web resource on international debt. She/he will report to the OneWorld Africa Regional Coordinator based in Lusaka, Zambia.
RWA International are looking for a communications specialist to undertake a 2 year input to carry out the following tasks: development and implementation of communications strategies and policy at national and regional level; capacity building and training in data management and modern communication methods; provide national components with communications guidelines and media materials; assist with production of media materials nationally and regionally, esp. printed publications, TV and Radio; assist with provision of timely and accurate data on animal health and disease outbreaks; represent PACE at national and international conferences etc; other duties as advised.
A collaboration between HEARD and the USAID funded Policy Project In 1998 the University of Natal established HEARD under the Directorship of Professor Alan Whiteside. The mandate of HEARD is to carry out teaching and academic and applied research on the impact and implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Southern African region. The Division currently has four academic research posts and a number of Research Associates. HEARD is now seeking a Research Director who will provide leadership within HEARD and support to the School of Economics in the Faculty of Management Studies.
Women's Human Rights Net wants civil society worldwide to protest the war, rebuild a fair society in Afghanistan and support Women's Human Rights. The Twelve Points were developed in exchanges among several women's human rights activists in New York, Asia and Latin America following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. They are intended to suggest alternatives to military action and the cycle of violence, destruction and death. Please use these suggestions in whatever way you find helpful.
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 30 * 6179 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 30 * 6179 SUBSCRIBERS
Participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) is an approach involving a wide range of stakeholders such as local people, community organizations, NGOs, and development agencies deciding together about how to measure results and what actions should follow once this information has been collected and analysed.
First National Congress on Quality Improvement in Health Care, Medical Research and Traditional Medicine at the Ministry of Health Kenya, Department of Standards and Regulatory Services. 19 - 23 November 2001, Kenya College of Communications and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya.
The Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health Program Initiative of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) supports transdisciplinary research that focuses on the development of ecosystem management interventions that lead to the improvement of human health and well-being while maintaining or improving the capacity of the ecosystem to provide a desired range of products and services.
The uses of GIS in epidemiology and public health monitoring will be explored in this course. Students will learn how to map public health indicators, identify disease clusters, and explore the geography of environmental risks.
In April 2000, IFPRI launched an Institute-wide synthesis activity on "Successes in African Agriculture," involving an extensive review of success stories in African agriculture, criteria for success and factors underlying success.
THE South African government is on a mission to rescue the UN Conference Against Racism, to be held in Durban next month, by pushing for a compromise that will keep slavery on the agenda but shelve the contentious question of reparations. The US has insisted that slavery and reparations be removed from the conference declaration or it will downgrade its delegation. Africa, on the other hand, has insisted that slavery be recognised as "a crime against humanity that is unparalleled", that the former colonial powers apologise and that reparations be paid by governments and businesses that benefited.
Divisions and infighting in the NGO sector have deepened with the recent break-up of the Non-Profit Partnership (NPP), which was established only three years ago to strengthen non-profit organisations. And the World Conference Against Racism, to be held in August in Durban, has been touched by the fallout.
Creative Associates International, Inc., known locally as CREA SA, has been contracted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement a program of grants management and technical assistance in support of the USAID Democracy and Governance
Program in South Africa.
There are a good number of articles, which would enrich our Zambian readers. What are the procedures if we would like to publish any of the articles in our Icengelo or The Challenge magazines? Thanks for your kindness in answering our request. Have a nice day in your good work.
WE REPLY: We are happy for you to use materials published in the Kabissa-fahamu Newsletter provided that the source is properly acknowledged.
Greetings. We are kindly asking friends, individuals and development NGOs to please do help in the provision of educational materials and funding the building of our Non-Formal primary schools. Schools are now closed down for next academic school year starting in September 2001. These children attending are victims of the recenly past war. The communities recently provided lands for the buildings and we are inviting people to come and see the development of the schools.Even our staff are not paid but just volunteering to teach and no better material. Please do help today. God be with you.
I am a human rights activist living and working in Lesotho. For the past 15 I have been working effortlessly for the defence and promotion of Human Rights, to the extend that I have on the other hand become a referal point for foreign agencies on human rights issues in this country. Similarly I have become a dissdent, my government has done and is continuing to do everything to silence me. For ten years I have been running a weekly, vernacular newspaper which concentrates on Rights and Good Governance. In the past three years, we added a Community Radio Station to our activities. Unfortunately, up to now we have not been able to solicite any form of support from international, regional and local human rights organisations. Pressures of work, subsequent to the demands from the public, we are intending to open an Institution that will act as a community charge office, where people can come to report matters of human rights abuse for us to take action, even by way of private litigation. However, we are aware that we won't be able to make money out of this activity, it will become just an additional burden on our meagre resources. Please advice me on the organisations that may be approached for financial and other material resources.
WE REPLY: We can well understand the difficulties that you must be facing. You might like to get in touch with the Southern African Human Rights NGO Network (SAHRINGON). They may be able to help you identify possible sources of funding.
I'd like to thank you most sincerely for your so informational news. Being an editor of 2 magazines one in Bemba and another one in English and English language not being my mother tang, I appreciate your efforts even more. I will send you our magazines in English by post and if you find something fit to publish in the newsletter, just do it. I would also appreciate if you could put on your mailing address a local radio station in Slovenia, my home country, and send them regularly the newsletter. They are hungry and thrirsdy for some original African news. Their Email address is:
I thank you for a very interesting newsletter which I am privileged to be part of the recipients. I wanted to get information on how our organisation which is the Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe (MISA-Zimbabwe)Chapter can also participate by sending its stories / information especially media related information on the newsletter for the benefit of your wider readership. We have a number of programmes that we are running and also we monitor the media on a daily basis, issuing alerts at the same time. It will be of interest to us if some of that information is carried in your newsletter. I await to hear from you in regard to our proposal.
WE REPLY: Thank you. We would be delighted to receive information from MISA-Zimbabwe on a regular basis. Please send your information to . We will shortly publish our suggestions on how to submit information that will make it easier for us to ensure your story is included.
We were hoping that the gateway was going to be as bad as people said it would be - we signed up and put up a link to our child labour campaign, which is clearly critical of the Bank and the IMF's policies (which tend to encourage governments to spend less on education). We thought it would be quietly removed, so that we could claim that our campaign was being stifled by the Bank (which would have generated some attention). But the link has not been removed. I posted it in without any prior approval - I just signed up with my personal details, and a few minutes later my information was there (3 clicks from the home page). Is this gateway really that bad?