KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 20
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 20
A case arguing the constitutionality of an aspect of the Western Cape education department's rationalisation programme will be tackled in the Constitutional Court today. The governing bodies of schools for children with disabilities, Education for Learners with Special Educational Needs (Elsen), are challenging the department's rationalisation programme in an appeal case.
Benin yesterday got a new government, in the wake of a controversial presidential election, with many familiar old faces in the revamped line-up. Benin's President Mathieu Kerekou has begun his final five-year term as the west African country's head of state after retaining his post in a March election which his main challengers boycotted.
Ben Skosana, the Correctional Services Minister, is to visit the Durban Westville Prison in Kwazulu-Natal today where some 2 800 prisoners have been placed under quarantine. The quarantine measure follows the treatment of about 600 prisoners for cholera-related symptoms within the maximum security section since April 28.
The latest environmental emergency in southern Nigeria's volatile Niger Delta has been brought under control by US specialists, Royal/Dutch Shell's Nigerian subsidiary said on Monday. The three specialists from the Houston-based Boots & Coots International Well Control company were flown in on Friday to the affected area, Yorla Fields, to deal with a blow-out at a well which shot jets of crude oil and gas 30 metres into the air for the better part of last week.
Burundi's President Pierre Buyoya on Sunday said the country could solve the transition problem in two phases if the signatories of the of the peace agreement so desired, Burundi radio quoted him as telling journalists in Bujumbura. President Buyoya had just returned from Pretoria, South Africa where he held talks with the mediator of the Burundi peace process, Nelson Mandela and the country's President Thabo Mbeki.
With the international focus on peace moves in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an "explosive situation" in neighbouring Burundi is being largely ignored, regional analysts warned on Friday.
A new union of armed and unarmed opposition forces in the DRC has been formed, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported on Thursday. The movement is called the "Union of Congolese forces for the Integral Respect of the Lusaka Accords and the holding of the inter-Congolese dialogue" (UFAD). The new movement's creation was announced by rebel MLC leader Jean-Pierre Bemba. It is supposed to be a uniting body of all the armed and unarmed parties.
Rwanda and Zimbabwe, the major foreign powers on opposing sides in Congo's 2 1/2-year war, will push for a speedy end to the conflict in order to deal with problems at home, President Paul Kagame said Monday.
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai arrived it his country's High Court on Monday stressing his innocence to charges which could see him barred from taking part in next year's presidential elections.
The UN Security Council on Thursday condemned the illegal exploitation of the natural resources and wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and expressed serious concern at those economic activities fuelling the conflict in the country. The condemnation followed a day-long open discussion of a report by a UN panel of experts charged with investigating the illegal exploitation of Congolese natural resources and other forms of wealth.
The Tanzanian government on Wednesday denied and termed as "unfounded" allegations by the Burundian government that it had been offering military training to Burundian rebels. Tanzanian radio quoted the permanent secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Hasan Kibelloh, as saying that Tanzania was not supporting any rebel group fighting the Burundian government.
Scores of journalists from around the world who gathered on Thursday in Windhoek, Namibia, to celebrate World Press Freedom Day have been prevented from reporting on anything other than a seminar they are attending. "This is an example of how little has changed in the region since the Declaration of Windoek in 1991," Rob Jamison of the independent 'Malawi Chronicle' told IRIN.
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, accused by the government of acts of terrorism, on Monday had his case transferred from the High Court to the Supreme Court in a decision that was expected to delay the case for at least a month. Tsvangirai was charged under Zimbabwe's draconian colonial-era Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA) for allegedly inciting terrorism.
Angolan government troops have retaken the rebel-held town of Mavinga in the southern province of Cuando Cubango a state-run newspaper reported on Monday. "Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) recaptured Mavinga on 1 May, having caused various losses to Jonas Savimbi's terrorist forces," 'Jornal de Angola' said, quoting an unnamed military source. The report added that the government has also recaptured the nearby airport, vital for supplying UNITA and for the export of raw materials.
In the course of the past 6 weeks there has been considerable interest in the publication Making Waves - Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change, written by Alfonso Gumucio Dagron and produced by The Rockefeller Foundation In this issue the focus is on some of the stories and experiences that are told in Making Waves. Next week in The Drum Beat, there will be an emphasis on the strategic lessons and principles drawn from these experiences.
Amnesty International today expressed concern about reports that civilians in Sierra Leone are being killed and injured in unlawful attacks as fighting continues along the border with Guinea.
The Rwandan government should step up efforts to resolve recent cases of disappearances and an assassination, Human Rights Watch said today. Such cases, relatively common between 1995 and 1997, seem to be becoming more frequent in a context of growing tension between Rwanda and its neighbors.
The UK Tory trade and industry spokesman, Alan Duncan, was under pressure last night to explain his alleged involvement in an elaborate operation to bust UN oil sanctions against apartheid South Africa. The claims come from two fellow oil traders who claim to have personal knowledge of his career before he entered parliament.
Fifty-one percent of South African internet users are women, up from 38 percent in March 1999, according to new survey data from Webchek. Two thirds of net users in South Africa have English as their home language and 56 percent have a third-level education. Most users tend to have high incomes, but the number of users with lower monthly household incomes is increasing.
JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies is an ejournal devoted to the promotion of the research and scholarship of African women to the global African community and friends of Africa. JENdA documents and responds to debates on women's history and studies in African social, cultural, political, and economic systems. It creates a forum for African women scholars, analysts and activists to participate on an equal footing with their contemporaries worldwide in debates, exchanges of ideas, and the creation and documentation of knowledge. JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies is published by Africa Resource Center, Inc, an organization that dedicates resources and staff to the provision of information on and about Africa.
In applying the concept of public-private partnerships, we look for public and private sector collaboration that can provide education more efficiently, effectively and with equal access. To maximize the respective strengths of public and private partnerships in the education sector and minimize their weaknesses, policymakers need to understand better the possibilities and conditions for partnerships, including the optimal legal and regulatory frameworks, and some of the benefits and costs that a partnership arrangement may involve.
Hosted by the University of Natal, the DISA project aims "to make accessible to scholars and researchers world-wide, South African material of high socio-political interest which would otherwise be difficult to locate and use." As part of that effort, DISA has recently announced the online availability of three South African journals: _Clarion Call_ (1982-91), _Pro Veritae_ (1962-77), and _Sas_ (1956-90). The journals page also lists a large number of additional titles that will be made available in the future. These include many that had been banned by the apartheid government and that were printed and distributed underground. The three journals presently available may be browsed and read by issue as digital page images. Word searching and subject searching are also planned for future versions of the site. Once completed, this archive will undoubtedly serve as an invaluable resource for scholars of twentieth-century South Africa.
Vous trouverez dans le forum général sur www.africultures.com les réactions à des articles problématiques publiés dans de grands médias: Yacouba Konaté en réponse au Figaro, Manthia Diawara à propos d'un article du Monde, Olivier Barlet à propos d'un article des Cahiers du Cinéma. On peut également y lire une contribution de l'écrivain Patrice Nganang. Ce forum est ouvert à toutes vos réactions et contributions. D'autres forums seront bientôt ouverts qui vous permettront d'intervenir dans les futurs dossiers
de la revue.
The exhibition will be held at the School of Oriental and African Studies Library, London. Monday 30 April – Tuesday 8 May.The art was produced by participants at SVTG art workshops, organised as part of the SVTG rehabilitation programme. The works to be exhibited were produced in February 2000 and have already been exhibited at the American University in Cairo and in Geneva as part of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
Visit the Photoshare Gallery to see 115 new photos from various countries in Africa. You may request these photos for print materials and presentations. All photos available free for nonprofit educational use.
New media change the form in which old media operate. Although the not-for-profit sector in Africa does not have commercial motives, its work
can often suggest ways in which new media will develop. The absence of the need for purely financial payback allows it to experiment and to meet the needs of audiences not yet part of the market. This week there has been a cluster of new announcements that focus on bringing together digital content, the internet and radio.
In this Issue: Educational Websites; New Workshops and Available Training Dates!; Adobe Activeshare: Free software for sharing photos online; Cool idea for Parent Teacher conferences.
Italian authorities are investigating the multi-million dollar trafficking of radioactive waste to north and east Africa in an exercise which could lift the lid on a colossal 'North-South' business linked to money laundering and gunrunning, say lawmakers and activists.
Liberian President Charles Taylor has reacted angrily to the United Nations sanctions imposed on his country on Monday, describing it as "unfortunate and not in the best interest of Liberia and the entire sub-region." He said: "We know that certain countries are bent on seeing that this government leaves office, but the Liberian people will stand united." But how long this "unity" will hold is anyone's guess.
More than 150 indigenous leaders from throughout the world meet this Monday through Friday in Panama to hash out strategies in defence of their rights and discuss integration processes like the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The international conference will draw up a declaration to present to the UN World Conference Against Racism and Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, slated for September in South Africa.
Brian Wilson, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Minister of State, on 4 May met representatives of the Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana governments as well as from the cocoa and chocolate industry on the issue of slave labour in the cocoa industry.
The meeting has resulted in agreement to establish a task force comprising government, industry and trade, and non-governmental organisations to address the issue of forced labour in West African cocoa production.
Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan and Thabo Mbeki - all three helped to find a dignified way out for the pharmaceutical giants. The finale on 19 April 2001 was described as an "amicable settlement." For some of those following the case closely, the end was a sort of anti-climax. It took the pharmaceutical industry three years to withdraw a case it had filed in the first place. There was no judgement. But had there been a judgement, which many expected to be in favour of the government, the world would have had an opportunity to examine what exactly the government had to say in defence of its TRIPS-compliant public health action and the arguments that industry advanced to protect its patents, an international right conferred by the WTO's Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement.
One of the world's major pharmaceutical companies, which stopped making the only safe medicine for the late, fatal, stage of sleeping sickness because it could not make a profit from it, has agreed to donate the drug, following a public outcry over shortages of medicines in Africa.
The role of free press in combating racism by dispelling stereotypes and casting a harsh light on the evils of discrimination emerged as a major theme yesterday at a panel discussion in New York that brought together United Nations officials and media practitioners to mark World Press Freedom Day.
Despite two previous United Nations conferences to tackle the problems facing the world's poorest States, the "least developed countries"remain poor, the coordinator of the group of least developed countries (LDCs) said. Speaking at a press conference on the Third UN Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which will be held in Brussels, Belgium from May 14 to 20, Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Bangladesh's top representative at the UN, said that the lack of success was because the previous conferences had not had "any worthwhile implementation." The upcoming event would be a chance to make a difference, he said.
A new study has found that some 2.5 million people have been killed in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, since the outbreak of fighting in August 1998. The International Rescue Committee says the situation this year is worse than last year with a high mortality rate especially amongst children. The death-toll is set to rise if victims in the country's western parts are included.
When democracy came to South Africa, those who fought in the guerrilla war against apartheid may have expected to return home as conquering heroes. But almost a decade after returning from exile, many are still struggling to find a constructive role for themselves, or even jobs. Neighbouring Zimbabwe, where war veterans have turned their anger on white farmers and opposition parties, has shown how frustrated ex-combatants can become a major source of instability.
Combating the spread of infectious diseases, especially HIV/AIDS and the spread of poverty, are of primary concern, financial officials said at the close of the spring meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Briefing reporters after the final session of the Development Committee, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said there was "warm recognition both of the Bank's role and of the partnership which exists between the Bank and the Fund with poverty at its center."
The Transparency International Integrity Awards 2001 are open for nominations. The awards were created to recognise outstanding courage in the face of corruption, and the deadline for nominations is 30 May 2001.
THE Land Bank's commitment to weed out corruption in its ranks was illustrated last Friday when the Scorpions anticorruption unit arrested the bank's former Tzaneen branch director, Sydney Khando, for alleged fraud involving R24m.
Denmark will not increase aid before the government makes significant improvement on governance and the fight against graft, it announced last week.
Applications Are Now Being Accepted for Global Development Awards 2001! Following the popularity and success of last year's awards competition, GDN is pleased to announce Global Development Awards 2001 with cash prizes and travel expenses valued at more than $400,000. Researchers and development practitioners can apply in 3 award categories: Outstanding Research Award, Research Medals, Most Innovative Development Project.
The Instant OnlineFundraiser: a one stop E commerce solution for raising money online and selling your campaign's merchandise.
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KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 19
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 19
As of the end of March, more than fourteen thousand scientists from 130 countries have joined in signing the open letter in support of the Public Library of Science initiative. With your help in informing your colleagues about this effort, and encouraging them to support it, the open letter can be published in May with the signatures of 50,000 scientists.
The African delegation to the International Conference on Racism in August will highlight issues of poverty, racism and gender, the SA National Non-Governmental Coalition said on Monday. After a meeting to start a joint civil society preparatory initiative, Sangoco president Mercia Andrews said: "It will be a very difficult conference because it is about the underbelly of our society at the moment. "Poverty in South Africa has a certain face... very much a rural women's face. Racism is very much tied up with economics here."
The prospect of a new international treaty on forced disappearances is the top achievement of this year's United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which ends April 27 in Geneva, Human Rights Watch said today.
Monday 16 April to Sunday 22 April 2001. The government’s campaign to encourage Zimbabweans to celebrate Independence Day – and the event itself - dominated the state-owned media in the week. Zimpapers and the ZBC both quoted government officials and sympathetic analysts as interpreting the enthusiastic response as an expression of the people’s faith in the President, the ruling party and the government’s fast-track land seizures.
International experts representing private sector forest industries involved in paper and wood products will meet this week with their FAO counterparts to discuss issues related to climate change and the paper and wood products industry, and review recent progress made in forestry and forest products certification, FAO said.
Gary Comstock claims that the precautionary principle commits us at the same time to two contradictory courses of action, that we should develop GM crops and that we should not. He concludes that the principle is therefore 'incoherent'.
COSATU’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) at its meeting today welcomed Zackie Ahmet and Mark Heywood, Chairperson and Secretary of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) for a discussion on how to take forward the campaign for affordable treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. The CEC agreed that last week’s court case victory against the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA) was a critical step toward establishing a legal framework for making medicines in South Africa affordable. It was also an important victory of activists, poor people and people with HIV/AIDS over corporate abuse of power.
Could television be a valuable tool in the fight against HIV? Who is most likely to watch television shows about AIDS? Researchers from Population Services International (PSI) investigated the impact of a soap opera dealing
with AIDS in Côte d'Ivoire.
In malaria endemic areas, pregnant women are more likely to be infected with malaria than other adults, particularly during the first pregnancy. They may not have symptoms of malaria, but infection can lead to severe anaemia and low birthweight, increasing maternal and infant mortality. What can health services do to lower the risk for pregnant women?
This is an updated compilation of documents from PAHO/WHO. It has been revised to address the needs of health professionals, particularly those involved in health facility planning, operation and maintenance. It focuses on problems in areas of high seismic risk. It introduces vulnerability assessments and practical measures to mitigate damage in hospitals, including structural and nonstructural aspects, and administrative and internal organisation.
As democratic governance in Nigeria approaches its second anniversary, the activities of the media, believed worldwide to have a significant bearing on the successful prosecution of the form of government, is once again coming under scrutiny. Media Rights Agenda, working with ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression, based in London, this month begins a Media Monitoring Project in Nigeria.
Resources on malaria from the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM). MIM is stimulating collaborative research to answer the needs of public health programs in malaria-endemic countries, modernizing communication systems used by the African research community, and strengthening research capacity and human resources where malaria takes its greatest toll --sub-Saharan Africa.
Partners fight internet fraud. E-mailing our lives away. Nigeria: Atlantic Bank Opens Shop for Internet Banking. Nigeria: Nitel's Privatisation. Gambia: Gambians Abroad May Vote in October Elections.
"Say Yes for Children" is an unprecedented attempt to rally people everywhere behind 10 overarching actions and principles needed to improve the lives and protect the rights of children and young people. A series of national and regional launches are planned for the campaign, and the international launch takes place today in London. The campaign aims to collect pledges worldwide using both the Internet and paper pledge forms. The results of the campaign will be presented to world leaders at the UN Special Session on Children in September 2001.
We hereby invite you to participate in a massive demonstration and protest against Shell and other allied companies. We have within the past months
received and collated a list of over 5,000 supporters appending their signature and disgust against the environmental award given by WEC to Shell for polluting and destroying Ogoniland.
Reverend Leon H. Sullivan, convener of the 6th African-African American Summit and world leader on Africa and related issues has succumbed to leukemia, announced his daughter, Hope Sullivan Rose.
April 24, 2001 Volume 7, Issue 17.
A British scientist has been banned from Bui National Park in Ghana, which is due to be flooded by a hydroelectric dam on the Black Volta River. University of Aberdeen zoologist Daniel Bennett says he is the only living scientist to have conducted biological research in the 1,800 square kilometer (700 square mile) reserve, which he says contains, "the last pristine wilderness in the entire Volta System."
The prototype of a new tool to help policy makers and the public visualize and track progress towards sustainable development will be unveiled today at United Nations headquarters. "The Dashboard of Sustainability" is a unique new way to present indicators of sustainable development as gauges similar to the control panel of an aircraft or car. The instrument turns a complex array of economic, social and environmental performance indicators into a simple graphic representation of a country's current position relative to an agreed consensus about sustainability.
For the latest job openings for environmental professionals.
Updates and coverage of the African Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other Related Infectious Diseases, meeting in Abuja, Nigeria this year with the mandate to find solutions to the crisis.
Koffi Annan: "Dear friends, This is a conference about Africa's future. The incidence of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases is higher on this continent than on any other. Of course, this fact is connected to Africa’s other problems. Africans are vulnerable to these diseases because they are poor, undernourished, and too often uninformed of basic precautions, or unwilling to take them. Many are vulnerable because they have neither safe drinking water nor access to basic health care. They are vulnerable, in short, because their countries are underdeveloped. And therefore the best cure for all these diseases is economic growth and broad-based development."
Malaria in Pregnancy Advocacy Brochure now available in French.
3 May 2001 will be the tenth edition of World Press Freedom Day. The World Association of Newspapers once again calls on media to make a major effort to give impact to this important occasion and by doing so to remind the enemies of a free press that they must account for themselves on the international stage.
Multimedia newsrooms are no longer a vision or a controversial challenge. They have become an existing model, to be researched and pursued. More than ever, editors need to get connected to this new reality without losing their core values on the way. The WEF Hong Kong Conference will focus on the fascinating opportunities that the new century is opening up to newspapers and at the same time insist on the discussion on how quality content can be maintained and developed while seizing the new technological opportunities.
Only a free press, they believe at the World Bank, can check abuses, promote accountability and insure more transparency — all prerequisites for better functioning markets, which they expect will reduce poverty and improve the quality of life.
MediaChannel.org - news, reports, resources and opinion. Featuring content from over 650 media-issues groups worldwide.
Consult and download most of our free publications through the publications webpage of STEP.
The Natali Prize for West African Journalism - Applications Sought from West African Print Journalists. Celebrating Journalism in the Struggle for Fair and Just Development.
COSATU’s Central Executive Committee today, at its scheduled meeting of 24-26 April, discussed the serious implications of recent allegations made by the Minister of Safety and Security in connection with alleged threats to the safety of the President, and its linkage to processes of contestation over political leadership
positions in the ANC.
Health Systems Trust publishes a monthly newsletter called UPDATE, which is also accessible via the internet. This month's issue deals with Telemedicine.
Following Court Victory, AIDS Activists Shift Focus on South African Government AIDS Drug Policies; AIDS Crisis Has Spurred Public Relations Challenges for Pharmaceutical Industry, Wall Street Journal Reports; After South Africa Court Case, 'Unified Strategy' on HIV/AIDS May Be Difficult to Find.
President Yoweri Museveni has said the Government is to extend financial grants to all private universities because of their role in economic growth of the country.
Venture Philanthropy 2001: The Changing Landscape highlights a number of issues that characterize the emerging field of venture philanthropy. One of the most compelling is that there is no commonly shared definition for what venture philanthropy is and how it is put into practice.
Course number: X12.9226 Tuition: $340 Sec. 1: Thurs. 6.20-8.25 p.m. May 24-July 12 (8 sessions)
Taught by Maria Green, lawyer and director of the International Anti-Poverty Law Center. Held in New York, USA.