Pambazuka News 600: The unresolved national question in African states
Pambazuka News 600: The unresolved national question in African states
The Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program at the Washington, DC–based National Endowment for Democracy invites applications for fellowships in 2013–2014. This federally funded program enables democracy activists, practitioners, scholars, and journalists from around the world to deepen their understanding of democracy and enhance their ability to promote democratic change.
The Nigeria Evidence-based Health System Initiative (NEHSI) is a collaborative project between the Government of Nigeria, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) with the mandate of contributing to the strengthening of the health care system to deliver effective, efficient and equitable primary health care in two states of Nigeria.
Pambazuka News 598: Biko and Marley: Great struggles, great spirits
Pambazuka News 598: Biko and Marley: Great struggles, great spirits
The French government has ordered an investigation into genetically-modified corn after a study found it was linked to cancer. France's government asked a health watchdog to carry out a probe, possibly leading to EU suspension of a genetically-modified corn, after a study in rats linked the grain to cancer.
Jalila Khamis, a Nuba woman activist, faces charges under articles 50 and 51 of the Sudanese Criminal Act of 1991. Both articles are crimes against the state and punished by death.
Two years after oil began flowing in Ghana, ordinary Ghanaians are wondering where the oil money is going. The government says there has not been much oil revenue coming in thus far, and analysts say the money that is coming in is not reaching the poor. Vast reserves of oil were discovered in Ghana in 2007, and production began almost two years ago in the Jubilee Oil Field off Ghana’s western coast. In 2011, its first year of production, Ghana brought in about $444 million - which was half of expected revenue.
South Sudan accused Sudan on Sunday of air-dropping weapons to rebels, just as the presidents of the African neighbours were about to meet to finalise a border security deal to restart oil exports. Sudan dismissed the charges and any links to rebels in the South, which seceded from Khartoum in July last year under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war. Sudan, in turn, often accuses Juba of supporting rebels in its borderlands.
Activists attending the public hearings on the controversial Traditional Courts Bill in Parliament were shocked when women were told debate and comment on the Bill were not welcome. A number of civil society organisations and rural women have travelled to participate in the public hearings on the Bill which has been widely criticised for entrenching gender inequality and possibly subjecting millions of rural South Africans to a ‘second class’ justice system. It is feared that the Bill, which is before Parliament’s Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development, in its current form gives patriarchal traditional courts enormous power to undermine the Constitutional rights of women and children.
Less than a year after Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s fatal ouster, preparations are underway for the trial of his son, Saif al-Islam, even as new facts emerge about the involvement of foreign mercenaries in the Libyan crisis and in other African wars. It has emerged that a number of unidentified white South African mercenaries were hired to smuggle the beleaguered Gaddafi and his sons to exile in Niger. Their attempts were, however, thwarted by Nato bombs shortly before rebels shot the strongman dead.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) which has been trying to broker an end to the political crisis in Mali will secretly deploy regional troops to deal with Islamist militants following request by authorities in Bamako. The regional force is expected to help flush out Islamists who have been holding northern Mali since April this year.
The practice of men marrying underage girls - which has been an accepted social norm for centuries but has been linked in recent years to the spread of HIV - was recently declared illegal in Swaziland. Known in SiSwati as ‘kwendizisa’, the marriage of an adult man to an underage girl was considered a legal 'grey area' prior to the promulgation of the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act of 2012. According to the 2005 Swaziland constitution, some customary practices are allowed unless they conflict with constitutional clauses.
Public, forceful international pressure on Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to halt ongoing executions of death row prisoners was successful - at least temporarily - leading activists to call for governments, multinationals and human rights groups to exert more sustained pressure on the government to clean up its human rights act. 'For far too long the international and regional community has been far too quiet [on Gambia] - we haven’t been able to test if pressure does indeed work,' said Sherman Nikolaus, an Amnesty International Gambia researcher, who noted that the about-turn shows the president does care about his reputation, internationally and regionally.
Free healthcare is, in theory, available to everyone in Uganda but in practice, the state system, where thousands of doctors’ and nurses’ positions are unfilled, is so run-down that patients are increasingly turning to private facilities. The crisis in the public health sector has led to threats by members of parliament to block next year’s budget unless the government finds an additional 260 billion Uganda shillings (US$103 million) to recruit staff and upgrade dilapidated health centres.
In Uganda, a new smartphone application is helping motorists hunt for the best deal on fuel, by showing users the price at different petrol stations. The application, called Mafuta Go, was created by local information-technology students and has already won an international award.
As Côte d’Ivoire gears up for a long-awaited disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme, to be conducted in concert with broader reforms to the security sector, thousands of young men are worried that they may have their weapons taken from them. Analysts say these anxieties could have partly fuelled a recent spate of attacks on military positions that killed at least 12 soldiers in August, marking some of the most significant violence since the conflict ended more than a year ago.
A Libyan army crackdown on lawless militias spread to the capital on Sunday after armed groups that have not been integrated into state institutions were ordered to disband and evacuate their bases. Commander in chief Yussef al-Mangush said on his Facebook page that the armed forces had dislodged a militia from a military complex on the highway to Tripoli International Airport, arresting militiamen and confiscating their weapons.
Kyapaloni village is deserted. The crowds in the once bustling marketplace are no more. Some homes are shut up, bushes have besieged others, and the gardens are empty of the crops they once boasted. “The government has told us to begin packing our property and not to grow crops that take more than three months to mature. They said we shall be re-located from this place anytime soon to pave way for the refinery,” says Geoffrey Kiwedde, a Local Councillor II for Kabaale Parish in Buseruka sub-county of Hoima District. Kiwedde still doesn’t know when he will have to move or when he will receive compensation for the 18 acres of land that he will give up.
Striking doctors have accused the government of failing to seek an end to their salary demands, saying it had not responded to their proposal on a return-to-work deal. The chairman of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacist and Dentists Union Dr Victor Ng’ani said their mediator, the Kenya Medical Association had sent the recommendations on Friday, but the government did not respond. In the document, the striking doctor’s recommended the forming of a sub-committee to convert a task force report on improvement of health infrastructure, into a policy paper and the absorption of self-sponsored registrars into government.
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday protested in Nigeria's second city of Kano, burning images of Barack Obama and stomping on the American flag to denounce an anti-Islam film made in the US. A crowd that included men, children and veiled women stretched for several kilometres (miles) through the city, the largest in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, condemning the film that has stirred outrage across the Muslim world.
The final quarter of the year is the main time of harvest and profit for workers in the cocoa industry, which employs full villages in southwestern Cameroon. But many cite low pay, with women, who are involved in the beginning stages of the process, saying they have no idea what products their labor yields in 'white man’s country'.
Despite a Wikileaks report that claimed Egypt was looking to attack Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam project along the Nile River, with Sudan approval, there is still hope that the two countries can rebuild a relationship based on compromise on Nile water issues. With the Nile comes a new set of issues, and with Egypt holding onto a lion’s share of water from the world’s largest river, upstream countries such as Ethiopia have taken it on their own to begin building dams and other water related endeavors, much to the anger of Cairo.
Ethiopian migrants, stranded in Yemen, are being flown home by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), with the last flight scheduled for Tuesday in an effort to help the Ethiopians leave what has become an abusive situation. According to an IOM statement, the first chartered flights occurred last week and carried over 600 migrants back to their home country in order to remove them from what officials said was riddled with human rights and human trafficking violations.
An editorial published by the Ethiopian Press Agency has called on the government to implement new strategies to protect women in the country from human trafficking. 'Thousands of Ethiopian women particularity girls are leaving for abroad due to a number of pushing and pulling factors,' began the editorial published on Friday.
This is a revolutionary novel in several respects but what captures the reader’s attention from the onset is how the author turns the tables by portraying an African woman as the herald of civilization to the benighted West.
Thirty-five years after his death, marked on 12 September, Steve Biko's legacy remains. In this lecture, celebrated novelist Ben Okri reflects on the meaning of Biko's life and writings for Africa. He concludes that there are three Africas: the one that we see every day; the one that they write about and the real magical Africa that we don’t see unfolding through all the difficulties of our time. The full transcript is available and a podcast of the lecture can be listened to here.
'Shutting the Spigot on Private Water' is a landmark report that documents how the World Bank is driving global water privatization at a chilling human cost. With original financial analysis and powerful case studies, it demonstrates how the World Bank must divest from private water projects to align its actions with its stated mission of alleviating poverty and supporting sustainable development.
Following the announcement on 21 August 2012 of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s death, Ethiopia’s new leadership should recommit the State to the full respect of its population’s human rights, especially the freedoms of association, assembly and expression, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) said in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council. The UN High Commissioner on Human Rights has expressed serious alarm about the 'climate of intimidation' against human rights defenders and journalists in Ethiopia.
Zambia has rejected a proposal by Australia's Zambezi Resources Ltd to develop a $494 million open cast copper mine in a game reserve, citing environmental concerns, a government agency said. Zambezi Resources' Zambian subsidiary Mwembeshi Resources said in March it planned to start copper production at the Kangaluwe project in the Lower Zambezi National Park by 2015. But a spokeswoman for Zambia's environmental management agency, which has to approve all huge infrastructure projects, told Reuters the project had been rejected.
Uganda’s former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ezra Suruma, has expressed doubt that the government will have the capacity to appropriately utilise expected oil revenues, given problems of corruption, weak budgertary control and lack of ability to absorb an injection of cash. 'I must say that oil frightens me as a possible source of instability if it is not carefully managed. We have had severe political instability since independence. Some of us who still carry or bear the scars of that instability are careful when looking at these issues to ensure that this instability does not come back,' he told a conference.
Two journalists at the state-censored Swazi TV were suspended from work for allowing an unauthorised item about King Mswati III to appear in a news bulletin. It concerned the traditional Umhlamga Reed Dance that took place last week. A news report about the event sourced from Channel France International (CFI) did not give the king enough respect, according to Swazi TV bosses. The report mentioned the fact that sometimes the king uses the Reed Dance to find himself a wife from the tens of thousands of semi-naked women and girls, some as young as nine years old, who dance in front of him.
High Court orders eThekwini Mayor, City Manager and Director of Housing responsible for ensuring compliance with court order, to provide houses to evicted Siyanda occupiers
Huge shopping malls are spreading social alienation, intensifying economic distortions and amplifying ecological decay.
An in-depth study warns that new and proposed dams on Southern Africa’s largest river are ill prepared to withstand the shocks of a changing climate.
'We will gather to engage in critical discussion and commemorate the life and work of Steve Biko, while we commit and re-commit ourselves to the ongoing work of Pan-Afrikan solidarity and liberation.'
The Head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom has condemned the recent killing of a Tanzanian journalist, Mr Daudi Mwangosi, and called for an independent investigation into the matter. Mwangosi (40) was killed while covering efforts by police to disperse supporters of opposition party Chadema in Nyololo village, Iringa region on 2 September.
The struggle for justice and peace in Congo has cost many human lives, caused horrendous suffering and destruction. What is needed now is for all actors to set aside their differences and hold a national dialogue in the interest of the people.
There is ample evidence to show that national independence does not mean much for most citizens of Uganda. The upcoming anniversary should be a day to reflect about where Ugandans want to take their country in the next 50 years.
With mobile subscribers on the rise and a supportive government backing new initiatives, information and communication technologies are taking off in Rwanda. Now, an innovative space invites young entrepreneurs to develop solutions-based technology for the country.
Egyptian youth expressed their discontent with the government removing a large graffiti mural on the wall of the American University in Cairo (AUC) building on Mohamed Mahmoud street in downtown Cairo late on Tuesday, which had been painted to honor those who died in the January 2011 revolution and the November clashes that occurred on the street. Activists shared a photo on social networking sites showing a man painting over the art and called on street artists to go back and redo the art scene, defying the government’s decision to 'beautify' Tahrir Square its own way.
Violence against women and girls and the indiscriminate extraction of natural resources are among the most pressing issues that indigenous peoples face today, a United Nations human rights expert said. 'A recurring issue that has come to my attention in various contexts is that of violence against indigenous women and girls,' said the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, in his statement to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In the past year, Anaya has collaborated with various countries, UN agencies and indigenous peoples in several studies and country assessments on the challenges indigenous peoples face on a daily basis. He has also made recommendations to states of good practices and responded to cases of alleged human rights violations.
Two Kenyan journalists who claim to have discovered that genocide fugitive, the Rwandan millionaire financier Felicien Kabuga, is continuing to find a safe haven in Kenya, have fled Nairobi following death threats.
Workers at Lonmin's Marikana mine, west of Pretoria, have just accepted an offer of a 22 per cent overall pay increase, ending weeks of bloody strikes in which dozens died. Police brutality and the exploitation of workers were the defining features of the strike.
SOAWR welcomes Congo’s and Guinea’s ratification of the Protocol and acknowledges this as a huge step that will facilitate achievement of economic growth and development
The restoration of term limits will return citizens' authority in the constitution as stated in article 1 of the 1995 constitution
It is a new year
Ethiopian New Year
I smell flower
Yellow flower
Ethio flavour
And there, I see her
My sweet, my lover
Red is her colour
She is far but near
She melts my heart
Like chocolate
Dark brown sweet
She is my summer
My red flower
And now am falling
My heart is warming
My soul is dancing
So don’t come winter
To change the colour
Of my red flower
It is a New Year
Ethiopian New Year
A new beginning
Let’s be forgiving
Let’s stop bittering
And start greening
Love is a winner
Basta grudger
The sky is clear
So nothing to fear
Life is so short
So why we fight
Let’s just enjoy it
As we can lose it
Before we know it
There is a New Year
And new flower
Around the corner
Yellow flower
Better than power
That makes us bitter
That feeds us anger
That kills our love
And our poor dove
It is a new year
Ethiopian New Year
Fresh flower
Breathe in the air
We shall have no fear
As we catch fire
As we desire
Deep in our heart
For love as we melt
The Segeju, a minority community at the Kenyan coast, has undergone forced assimilation perpetrated by the government over the years and is now in serious danger of losing its culture and language. The political consequences are there for all to see.
Miguna succeeds in peeling back the mask of his former boss Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and several other high-ranking actors in the national political drama. But Miguna also hides his own failings behind the mask of many words.
Capitalist agriculture is in crisis, as it marginalizes and brutalizes millions of farm workers who produce our food. The horrible accidents that claimed lives of farm workers in South Africa and Canada are markers of this crisis.
‘As an environmentalist, Hastings was a walking library of knowledge about Mulanje Mountain and the environment in Malawi.’
The voice of Bob Marley is needed now more than ever. His lyrics may well have given inspiration and solace to as many as did Martin Luther King’s speeches, and he has come to symbolize resistance to oppression.
A recent survey carried out by Polisario’s youth wing found that over 85 per cent of the young Saharawis polled were in favour of ending the current ceasefire with Morocco and returning to war.
Dear Editor
I have just read the article by Ebiem. While, of course, many people died during both the political riots before the war and during the war there is certainly another way of looking at these deaths.
I don't think he mentions the massacre in the North? I believe the final tally at the morgues there was around 7,000. The myth went up to 53,000.
I worked in both UCH Ibadan during the war where some Igbo soldiers were treated alongside Federal soldiers and in Port Harcourt after the war.
I know that the strafing of Awka and other parts of Igboland was very serious but in PH there was only one house damaged. Also the number of civilian injuries were very few indeed unlike the wars that came later elsewhere in the world.
Another thing, he mentions Biafrans as if they were different from Igbo people. Does he refer to other people from the South East? If so I doubt if they would want to be included. And finally who started the war?
In general I challenge his figures and I would like to hear other comments about this sad event in the past.
Will the West’s decision to endorse Joseph Kabila in the recent controversial DRC presidential election withstand the test of time? Is Kabila in a suitable position to guarantee peace and stability in the DRC for another five years, as the West seems to believe? The West’s intent to return to ‘business as usual’ with Kabila appears to be not only an improvident decision, but also, a clear expression of its double-standards.
President Zuma has appointed Judge Ian Farlam to head up a Commission of Inquiry into the massacre at Marikana. But is it the appropriate mechanism for dealing with the most pressing issue that needs to be addressed about Marikana: the fact that more than 34 people were killed by police on 16 August in circumstances that were, to put it in the mildest terms, highly questionable?
In the view of the Democratic Left Front (DLF), the crackdown by soldiers and police in Marikana represents a serious escalation of authoritarian repression against the working class by the ANC government. It has declared a de facto state of emergency in the mining sector.
An organisation known as the South Sudan Land Alliance has been formed to realise the land rights for all the people of South Sudan.
More than a year after civil unrest broke out in Burkina Faso, observers and analysts say despite some progress, and sustained support for President Blaise Compaoré, tension between his government and the population remains. Stability in Burkina Faso is vital for regional stability, said a Western diplomat, given the recent conflict in Côte d’Ivoire and the current situation in Mali.
A suspected cholera outbreak has killed about a dozen people in the southern Somali village of Hoosingo, in the district of Badade in Lower Juba, say government and health officials. 'One of the biggest problems we have is that we do not what this disease is,' Adan Ibrahim Dhaqane, the Hoosingo Village commissioner, told IRIN by telephone. Dhaqane said that at least 19 people had died since the outbreak started on 5 September, with 12 others sick.
In the last decade, Asian migrants have fanned out through southern Africa, opening shops in small towns and rural backwaters. While consumers in countries facing increasing economic hardships have come to depend on their low prices, local shop owners complain they are being forced out of business, pressuring governments to introduce restrictions on foreign traders. In Malawi, Chinese-owned shops and restaurants have proliferated since the country established diplomatic ties with China in 2007. But the government was recently prompted by bitter complaints from local business owners to introduce legislation preventing foreign traders from operating outside of major cities.
The controversy over 'The Innocence Of Muslims' rumbles on, with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah calling on supporters to demonstrate throughout Lebanon this week. Has this particular incident been different from previous blasphemy rows? In some ways, yes. Perhaps the most interesting was Google's removal of the video from YouTube Egypt and Libya, independent of any court order. This should be of real concern to anyone concerned with freedom on the web. While Google-owned YouTube is not the only video sharing site, its dominance is such that it can severely restrict free speech should it wish.
Two mass graves have been discovered in Kenya's coastal Tana Delta region, the number and identities of the bodies in the graves are unknown, police say. The discovery of the graves comes a week after at least 38 people were shot, hacked and burnt to death after two tribes fought over land and water in the same area. The graves were located in Kilelengwani village, the epicentre of fighting that has left 100 people dead in the last three weeks, including nine police officers.
This study analyses the political, economic and social impacts of the land and ‘virtual water’ grab in Southern Sudan. The ‘virtual water’ concept, which explains the absence of water wars through water embedded in agricultural imports, has been a major breakthrough in the study of the Middle Eastern water question. This paper shows how agricultural commodities in the form of virtual water are at the heart of Middle Eastern investors’ interests.
Rebels have set up a de facto administration in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said as the Security Council urged a political solution to the crisis rather than applying sanctions. Ladsous briefed the 15-member Security Council after his recent visit to Congo, or the DRC, and Rwanda, which has been accused by Kinshasa and UN experts of supporting the M23 rebel group. Kigali has repeatedly denied any involvement in the crisis.
The Economic Justice Network (EJN), a national coalition of civil society organisations working for socio-economic justice and equitable national development, was recently re-launched to deal with new policy threats affecting Ghanaian livelihoods. Speaking at the launch, Mr Tetteh Hormeku of Third World Network, said governments over the years had sought to deal with economic challenges confronting the country through reliance on foreign investors instead of building local capacities. He said this common policy of successive governments to provide incentives to foreign investors had led to the abuse of the rights of Ghanaians and denial of their livelihoods.
More research and better policies are needed to protect the world's most vulnerable seas, lying off the coast of West Africa and the Caribbean, local experts have told SciDev.Net. The two regions have some of the world's unhealthiest seas, according to a new index that assessed the health of seas and their benefits to livelihoods. Its methodology was published in Nature last month (15 August).
This International Organisation of Migration (IOM) research newsletter provides a comprehensive update on IOM’s migration research activities, institutional partnerships and research events for IOM colleagues and interested external readers. This edition focuses on 'The Arab Spring: Reflections on the international response one year later'.
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians protested during the revolution that led to the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak. Some of the men and women that took to the streets to reclaim their rights never came back home. The disappeared are neither dead nor alive. There are no government records about their cases, reports
From mid-June to early August this year, Sudan has witnessed nationwide protests directly calling for regime change, sparked by an alarming increase in prices. The protests were met with a massive crackdown on civil liberties, and a wave of arrests by National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Sudan’s security apparatus. While journalists were not disproportionately impacted by the crackdown, what they have experienced during the past few weeks helps paint a picture of a country on the brink of economic collapse and escalating political turmoil.
Pambazuka News 597: Libyan anti-Americanism, Somalia's imperial governance and Romney's Africa threat
Pambazuka News 597: Libyan anti-Americanism, Somalia's imperial governance and Romney's Africa threat
The Open Society Foundation for South Africa is pleased to announce the third and final call for grant proposals for 2012. Applications can be made online or application forms downloaded. The deadline for applications is 5 October 2012. For more information, please refer to the application guidelines or email [email][email protected]
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr. Jean Ping, on 14 September 2012 received a delegation led by Mr. Omar Faruk Osman the president of the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the regional African group of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). It was at the sidelines of the two-day Pan-African conference on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity held at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has slammed what it calls a 'disturbing trend' of police intimidation in Bulawayo, after the arrest of another member on Tuesday 18 September. Tuesday morning saw a group of more than fifty WOZA members march together to the Bulawayo offices of the Joint Operating and Monitoring Committee (JOMIC) to deliver letters of complaint about their treatment at the hands of the police. This followed the indiscriminate arrest of WOZA’s leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu last week.
Rock drillers at Lonmin's Marikana mine have accepted a 22% overall pay increase to end more than five weeks of crippling and bloody strikes. This increases their salaries to just over R11 000. Other workers will get a 2% increase on top of the 9% increase agreed upon earlier this year.
This discussion paper from The Corner House sets out some lessons for political strategy suggested by the experience of climate change campaigning over the past 15 years. It outlines the dangers faced by advocacy NGOs of becoming 'patzers' (blunderers) and clients of more sophisticated political actors.
Protests against an anti-Islam film produced in the United States have intensified in Tunisia and Sudan and spread in Lebanon, with three Tunisians, three Sudanese and one Lebanese killed as clashes between demonstrators and police ensued on Friday 14 September. Three people were killed on Friday and another 28 wounded in clashes at the US embassy in Tunis, which was stormed by an angry mob protesting over 'Innocence of Muslims', a film mocking Islam, an official media said, citing the health ministry.
Recent deadly clashes in Kenya stem from widespread economic frustration, chronic impunity and the ambitions of politicians seeking office, according to analysts and activists. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay noted, the timing of the latest clashes on the coast is alarming. 'In Kenya, the recent inter-communal violence in the Tana River District, during which dozens were killed, including a large number of children and women, is a grim reminder of the 2007-08 events,' she said earlier this week, referring to the killings and displacement that followed the country’s last presidential poll.
In Sudan’s newspaper district in Khartoum East, dozens of people sit beneath the trees sipping tea or reading newspapers. Most are journalists who once worked for the 10 newspapers that were either forced closed by the country’s security services or because of economic constraints that resulted after the government raised printing taxes in an attempt to prevent the media from reporting on anti-government demonstrations. Mohamed Ahmed, a former journalist for the Ajrass Elhuriya newspaper, which was closed in July 2011, is one of them. 'I have been sitting under the trees for a year and a half because the government closed my newspaper and other newspapers, that consider me to be opposed to the government, are afraid to hire me.'
Land used to power European cars with biofuels for one year could produce enough wheat and maize to feed 127 million people, Oxfam reveals ahead of today’s important EU Energy Ministers’ meeting. With the world’s poorest at greater risk of hunger as a result of spiraling food prices, the international agency is calling on the EU to rethink its dangerous love affair with biofuels. In a new GROW campaign report, 'The Hunger Grains', Oxfam warns that Europe’s growing appetite for biofuels is pushing up global food prices and driving people off their land, resulting in deeper hunger and malnutrition in poor countries.
Since the start of the month the death toll of the Ebola outbreak in the north-east has climbed from 15 to 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, defining the situation 'serious'. Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based agency, stressed that 'it is unusual that the first person to be infected was a health worker'. The areas affected by the outbreak are Isiro and Viadana (70km apart), in the Eastern Province (north-east).
A faction of Central African Republic rebel group the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace claimed responsibility Sunday for two attacks near the capital and threatened to carry out more. The CPJP last month signed a peace deal with the government, officially ending the rebellion by the largest armed group still active in the violence-torn country and raising hopes of an end to years of conflict. But the faction that claimed the attacks in two towns just north of the capital on Saturday said it did not accept the peace deal.
'It’s possible that two children died so that you could have that mobile phone,' says Jean-Bertin, a 34-year-old Congolese activist who wants to end the 'absolute silence' around the crimes committed in his country to exploit strategic raw materials like coltan. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has at least 64 per cent of worldwide reserves of coltan, the colloquial African name for a dull black ore composed of two minerals, columbite and tantalite.
The community located near the Lonmin-owned platinum mine which has been the scene of a bitter strike, wages a daily battle with air and noise pollution, intense crime and appalling living conditions. With no access to sanitation and garbage removal, the surrounding plateau is strewn with rotting rubbish. Nearby streams are polluted by sewage as thousands live out realities far from the billion-dollar industry they clock their cards into each morning.
Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud says he is willing to begin talks with the armed group al-Shabab. In an exclusive video interview with Al Jazeera's Peter Greste, he outlines his key concerns for Somalia.
The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has condemned sustained deadly violence against journalists following the killing of young journalist in Mogadishu. Zakariye Mohamed Mohamud Moallim, a young cameraman, working as freelance journalist was shot dead on Sunday evening (16 September 2012) in Nasib Bundo neighbourhood of Shibis district in Mogadishu. Men armed with pistols shot the journalist in the head and chest, according to family members. Zakariye died on the spot and the killers escaped from the scene, as said by eyewitnesses.
South Africa’s beleaguered government continues its security crackdown in Marikana, with the South African National Defence Force announcing that it deployed 1,000 soldiers to the restive mining town in the North West. 'It seems as if both government and Lonmin misread the situation on the platinum belt, and now what seemed resolvable might become an untenable situation,' Bishop Jo Seoka, president of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) said in a statement released by the Bench Marks Foundation. And as South Africans react with alarm to the scale of the security presence in Marikana, Sekoa believes the government’s most recent attempts to assert control over the striking workers threatens the gains made in negotiations.
Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki lost his temper and burst into anger when a journalist answered a phone call during an interview in the Qatari capital, Doha, a video aired by Al Arabiya showed. While Marzouki was speaking about corruption in an interview with a journalist, another journalist nearby answered a phone call, prompting the Tunisian president to burst in anger calling him 'shameless' and 'idiot'.
For the first time in more than 10 years, Cosatu goes to its national congress – starting on Monday at Gallagher Estate in Midrand – with the prospect of having the positions of two of its most senior officials – president Sdumo Dlamini and general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi – contested. Vavi's opponents say he acts as if above everyone else in Cosatu, and have taken issue with his public criticism of leaders of the ANC, government and the alliance. They want him to be replaced by KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Zet Luzipho.
The UN Human Rights Office has released a new publication on sexual orientation and gender identity in international human rights law. It sets out the source and scope of some of the core legal obligations that States have to protect the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. The 60-page booklet is designed as a tool for States, to help them better understand the nature of their obligations and the steps required to meet them, as well as for civil society activists, human rights defenders and others seeking to hold Governments to account for breaches of international human rights law.
A coalition of organisations is to submit an alternative report to the UN Human Rights Committee to inform its review of Kenya’s Third Periodic Report at its 105th Session (9 - 27 July 2012) on the implementation of the Provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in relation to torture. The report seeks to highlight the prevalent incidences of torture and related human rights violations in Kenya as serious concerns remain in this area. The overall conclusion is that whilst Kenya has endeavoured to include the principles of the ICCPR in its newly promulgated Constitution of 2010 and legislative framework, there continue to be important legislative and administrative gaps that still provide challenges towards full implementation of the ICCPR as specified in subsequent chapters.
Egyptian campaigners launched a fresh salvo against government plans to borrow from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Saturday, claiming further foreign loans would mean repeating the 'economic disasters' of the Mubarak era. Calling for a full audit of Egypt's debt bill, campaigners took aim at the ousted president's economic legacy - privatisations, soaring public debt, delapidated services and corruption - for which they hold the previous policies of the IMF and several major development banks jointly responsible.
Egypt saw a fresh wave of strikes on Sunday as transport and education sector employees downed tools to push for financial and administrative reform. In separate bouts of industrial action, workers at the Cairo Transportation Authority (CTA) and non-academic staff at universities across Egypt walked off the job.
Ethiopian ruling party the People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), has confirmed Mr Hailemariam Desalegn as country's Prime Minister. The leader picked to succeed the late Meles Zenawi last month will be sworn in when the country's parliament reconvenes next month. Mr Hailemariam also becomes chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the ruling coalition of parties.
Forces working together with the Somalia forces have confronted Al Shabaab fighters in Birta Dheer, some 60 kilometres west of the port town of Kismayu. The Saturday operation included the Amisom troops and Ras Kamboni Brigade. Birta Dheer is a heavily fortified post that had been under the control of Al-Shabaab for the past three years.
Twitter, the much beloved social networking site, is set to take on disease outbreaks, after HHS officials announced the release of a new Web-based application tool available to public health officials. US health officials say they can use data gained through the app to complement other health surveillance systems in identifying emerging health issues and as an early warning of possible public health emergencies in a community.
In this briefing, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) deal with the Pioneer/Pannar seed merger, outlining the evidence led by the ACB in opposing the merger, what is at stake for South Africa if the merger is approved and the extent to which the merger will deepen structural imbalances in the South African economy.
Cosatu wants to review its strike processes to ensure workers are happy with the outcomes, and that associated violence and intimidation are reduced. 'It is worrying...that only half of the Cosatu members surveyed in the 2012 Workers’ Survey were satisfied with the outcome of the strikes in their workplace,' the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) said. 'Public sector Cosatu members were more satisfied than their private sector counterparts,' according to Cosatu's organisational report prepared for discussion at its national congress.
The Gambian president has suspended the execution of prisoners on death row, amid an international outcry. In a statement, Yahya Jammeh said he was responding to 'numerous appeals'. Nine prisoners have been executed since his vow in August to clear death row. Another 37 inmates remain on death row.
The authorities in Uganda have charged a British theatre producer, David Cecil, for staging a play about the condition of gay people in the country. He appeared in court accused of 'disobeying lawful orders', because the play 'The River and the Mountain' was performed without authorisation. Mr Cecil was denied bail. He faces two years in jail if convicted.
Tanzania has experienced several crises since October 2010 general elections, including some which have resulted in violence and death. This Global Voices post reports on a list made by blogger Dunia Duara of events fuelled by different kinds of crises or conflicts, which recently have caused serious problems in Tanzania.
Global Voices Online reports that potential mining activity in Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park is threatening its ecosystem and that of the adjacent Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe. The two national parks, rich in wildlife and one of the last bastions of huge elephant populations in Southern Africa, are situated less than 200 kilometres downstream from the hydroelectric Kariba Dam.
This issue of South Bulletin focuses on how developing countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa are now facing an economic slowdown with a deterioration in GDP growth, exports and lending conditions. The effects of the Eurozone recession and the US slowdown are now increasingly felt in the South. Another analytical article 'Rethinking growth strategies is imperative for the South' by South Centre’s Chief Economist Yilmaz Akyuz shows how the favourable international conditions that led to the South’s high growth in the past decade have now turned unfavourable, resulting in the current economic difficulties. Thus the developing countries have to prepare for new growth and development strategies.
Tribesmen have attacked a village in southeastern Kenya, torching homes and sparking clashes that killed at least 38 people, in the latest round of tit-for-tat ethnic violence to plague the area, officials said. The vendetta between the Pokomo farming community and their Orma pastoralist neighbours already left 52 dead last month in Kenya's worst tribal killings in years.