PAMBAZUKA NEWS 148: Challenges for the African Parliament: Special Briefing
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 148: Challenges for the African Parliament: Special Briefing
Table of Contents:
* The South African "African Renaissance'' Debate: A Critique
* The Challenges of an African Renaissance in the 21st Century
* Globalisation and African Renaissance: An Ethical Reflection
* African Renaissance and African Unity in the Era of Globalisation
* Renaissance - Romantic Realism?
This work brings together in a single volume a series of public documents pertaining to Africa’s development since independence. These are various resolutions, declarations, treaties, and plans of action, which represent key moments and turning points in recent history from across the African continent. In its entirety, the collection of documents reflects how development ideas and processes have evolved from the early sixties until the present day. (Taken from: African Books Collective: Autumn 2003 new and recently published titles catalogue)
The World Bank has formally reopened a corruption inquiry into a leading Canadian engineering company which could lead to the first blacklisting of a major international firm. The move follows the conviction of Acres International in the high court of Lesotho in southern Africa, an unprecedented example of a western firm being prosecuted for bribery by a developing country. The Ontario company was the first of several to be found guilty of bribing Masupha Sole, the chief executive of the multibillion-dollar Lesotho Highlands Water Project, a massive series of dams providing water to South Africa and electricity to the tiny, landlocked country.
Two obstacles remain as a sore preventing Africa from entering the phase of self-reliant development: irrational fragmentation from a casual tearing up of the continent into incoherent real estates of the Africans and dependence on donors to finance African development. The two are dialectically linked. Weak and fragmented states depend on external sources of aid largely unable and not often in a position to mobilise internal resources. Political fragmentation has created unviable economic entities. Conversely lack of success in economic development has created weak political structures, developments and so-called failed states.
"Since Africa’s history of unequal relations with the developed world in the last three centuries or so is such that it has largely become a non-autonomous actor without the capacity to decide its own fate and future, NEPAD - by being essentially a-historical does not constitute an adequate response to the continent’s underdevelopment. It needs to be replaced by a more African-centred economic action plan that takes the continents history into account." This the central argument of this article from Africa Studies Quarterly, reproduced on the website of University of Natal's Centre for Civil Society.
In terms of women’s participation, over the past decade, progress has been made on the African continent in the area of women’s political and economic empowerment, said Prof. Maria Nzomo, Kenya High Commissioner in Zimbabwe, in a speech in October 2003. "Although the road to women’s full incorporation in the areas of development, peace building and politics is long and replete with obstacles, recent developments at the regional level provide space for optimism...Whereas the OAU was concerned with liberating Africa from colonisation, the AU and other recent initiatives are expected to focus on promoting and protecting human rights including women’s human rights, consolidating democratic institutions and culture, building new institutions to monitor and promote peace, security and development, encouraging and promoting civil society, and ensuring good governance and the rule of law."
When the new Pan-African Parliament is inaugurated in Ethiopia next week, it will confront a host of challenging issues - not least the role of mercenaries in Africa. “Mercenaries are now topical. They are in the news,” Frene Ginwala, the Speaker of South Africa's National Assembly, told journalists in Johannesburg on Friday. Ginwala was referring to the 79 suspected mercenaries who were arrested in Zimbabwe and the oil-rich West African nation of Equatorial Guinea this week. Along with four of her colleagues in the legislature, the speaker will represent South Africa in the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), which is to hold its first session from March 15 to 20 in Addis Ababa.
One of the most important instruments of the African Union (AU) is contained in the protocol calling for the establishment of a pan-African parliament. This is so because a parliament in which the voices of all Africans are heard is a necessary tool, not only to deepen democracy but also to give expression to the aspirations of Africans everywhere.
Lack of confidence in Rwanda's Gacaca criminal justice system is holding back more than 20,000 refugees who fled the country 10 years ago from returning home. Gacaca is the traditional justice system that was reactivated by the Rwanda government to cope with the huge numbers of people accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.
Imagine an Africa free from conflict, developing rapidly through an equitable and sustainable relationship with the rest of the world. In this Africa there is an entrenched culture of respect for human rights. Populations are healthy and governed by fair, transparent and accountable governments. This is the vision, but African parliamentarians gathered in Addis Ababa this week will be only too aware of the steep slope the continent faces in overcoming its many challenges so that all its people may live in harmony.
The Pan-African Parliament of the African Union has been established with the intention that it will ultimately function as a kind of continental democracy, representing all the peoples of Africa. In its initial stages it will only have consultative and advisory powers, but over time it is hoped that it will evolve into an institution with legislative powers, whose members are elected by universal adult suffrage.
In the context of the challenges facing Africa, the Parliament has many objectives relevant to Africa’s development. Some of these are to facilitate the implementation of the policies of the African Union, promote human rights and democracy, encourage good governance, and promote peace, security and stability.
The protocol states that: “In terms of its advisory powers it may examine, discuss or express an opinion on any matter, either on its own initiative or at the request of the Assembly or other policy organs and make any recommendations it may deem fit relating to, inter alia, matters pertaining to respect of human rights, the consolidation of democratic institutions and the culture of democracy, as well as the promotion of good governance and the rule of law.”
Clearly – and even in their advisory capacity - this does enable members of the Parliament to highlight key areas of concern relating to conflicts, human rights and good governance in Africa. It is therefore fitting to briefly recap on Africa’s status in key areas such as conflicts, human rights, good governance, gender equality and trade and development.
CONFLICT:
Africa began 2004 on an optimistic note. During 2003 long-standing and destructive conflicts such as the civil war in Angola were finally ended and there appeared to be a renewed commitment to brokering peace on the continent, as evidenced in efforts to resolve the civil war in Burundi.
However, the success of deals such as the one in Burundi will have to stand the test of time, while other conflicts around the continent are still cause for grave concern. In Sudan, peace talks have not prevented continued conflict in the Darfur region, while the war in Northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army and Ugandan government has intensified.
Meanwhile, several other regional conflicts, such as in West Africa and the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, are simmering and require close attention. Reports of sporadic violence in the DRC continue to surface. Zimbabwe remains a cause for concern.
Much work remains to be done before Africa can be truly at peace. African parliamentarians will face the challenge of how they contribute to conflict resolution and prevention on the African continent through oversight, reform of laws and the entrenchment of human rights.
HUMAN RIGHTS:
Protecting and enforcing human rights is one of the key challenges facing the continent. Human rights abuses are prevalent throughout Africa. According to Amnesty International’s 2003 Africa Report human rights abuses were committed with impunity across Africa in the year under review, especially in Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Sudan, Senegal, and Uganda.
Torture, ill-treatment, and secret detentions were widespread and the death penalty continued to be imposed extensively by criminal courts in 14 countries, with actual executions in Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda, said Amnesty. Freedom of expression is far from being an established right, with journalists facing extreme harassment on a daily basis in many parts of the continent.
Amnesty International points out that the Constitutive Act of the African Union (the Act) attaches a particular significance to human rights in a more comprehensive manner. This is an area where African Parliamentarians can and must intervene.
TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
Most of the countries of the world that were poorer in 2000 than in 1990 are in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report 2003. The report argues that to reverse declines, development strategies must focus not only on economic growth, but also on more equitable distribution of wealth and services. The Report also calls on developing country governments to prioritize spending on the basic services that poor people need most: “primary schools, not universities; rural clinics, not technologically advanced hospitals in big cities”.
Africa has put forward its own development plan, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) as the fix-all solution to Africa’s development problems. The plan seeks greater integration of Africa in the world economy and commits to standards of good governance across the continent. Nepad has faced criticism from some quarters, especially in civil society. Opponents of Nepad have argued that greater integration of Africa into a profoundly unfair international economic system is a recipe for disaster and say the top down implementation of Nepad smacks of the imposition of neo-liberal economic solutions for the continent.
Africa has shown strong signs of intent to deal with the unfair terms of trade it faces in its trading relationship with the developed world. During the World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico in 2003, the continent signaled that Africa would demand fairer terms of trade with the rich world.
Debt is another key problem still hampering Africa’s development. In 1996, the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC) committed to partial debt cancellation, but according to a report from the New Economic Foundation, progress since 2000 has been “glacial”, hamstrung partially by onerous conditionalities. If African governments are to free up significant resources to meet the Millennium Development Goals, it is clear that the debt situation will have to be speedily resolved.
GENDER EQUALITY
There has been some progress towards gender equality on the African continent, but it is generally agreed that the continent has a long way to go before women achieve full equality.
Five of the 10 commissioners of the African Union are women, and females hold a significant percentage of government posts in Rwanda, South Africa, Cape Verde, Gambia, Mali and Zimbabwe, according to a news report quoting the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). But less than 15 percent of economic managers in Africa are women, the UNDP says, while just 10 percent of parliamentarians and eight percent of government ministers on the continent are female. Women are also more likely to suffer from the HIV/AIDS virus and suffer more from the effects of poverty.
A big step forward was taken on 11 July 2003 when the African Union adopted the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, a supplementary protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which was adopted in 1981.
The new Protocol covers a broad range of human rights issues. For the first time in international law, it explicitly sets forth the reproductive right of women to medical abortion when pregnancy results from rape or incest or when the continuation of pregnancy endangers the health or life of the mother.
In another first, the Protocol explicitly calls for the legal prohibition of female genital mutilation. In other equality advances for women, the Protocol calls for an end to all forms of violence against women including unwanted or forced sex, whether it takes place in private or in public, and a recognition of protection from sexual and verbal violence as inherent in the right to dignity.
GOVERNANCE
Coups, counter-coups and rigged elections: Africa is notorious for its governance problems. Consensus has emerged that in looking at the social, political and economic problems facing Africa, the missing link is the absence of good governance.
In February, African leaders agreed to start a review process on the key areas of good governance, democracy, human rights, transparency and domestic business environment under the peer review mechanism of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).
According to the United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), the countries whose review is expected to take place in 2004 are Ghana and Rwanda, in April and June respectively.
Kenya and Mauritius will also to be reviewed but the process for these nations is expected to end in early 2005. The purpose of the peer review is to foster the adoption of appropriate laws, policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth and sustainable development on the continent. Nepad established the peer review mechanism in 2003 in a bid to counter Africa's reputation for bad governance.
Links to background news and information:
* Protocol establishing the Pan-African Parliament
http://www.africa-union.org/rule_prot/protocol-panafrican-parliament.pdf
* Other organs of the AU
http://www.africa-union.org/organs/Pan-African_Parliament.htm
* Meetings of African Parliamentarians on the Pan-African parliament
http://tinyurl.com/create.php
* Statement to the AU summit on behalf of the meeting of African parliaments
http://www.au2002.gov.za/docs/speeches/ginwala.htm
* An Underwhelming Response to the Pan-African Parliament
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=22592
* Africa at large: Pan-African Parliament to open March 2004
http://www.afrika.no/Detailed/4510.html
* SA wants to house African parliament
http://www.suntimes.co.za/2003/06/22/news/africa/africa10.asp
* Senegal ratification paves the way for Pan African parliament
http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/bm/Qafricanunion-parliamen...
* The new African parliament: a giant step towards unity
http://mathaba.net/x.htm?http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=40204
* The Pan-African Parliament: An opportunity for African women
http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0000608/page2.php
* African Union adopts protocol on the rights of African women
http://www.equalitynow.org/english/navigation /hub_ph01_en.html
* Pan-African Declaration on PRSPS
http://aidc.org.za/sapsn/declaration/kampala.html
* Africa united: not helpless, not hopeless
http://www.newint.org/issue326/keynote.htm
* Is Pan-African unity possible?
http://www.newint.org/issue326/colours.htm
* A History of Pan-Africanism
http://www.newint.org/issue326/simply.htm
* Ordinary people and pan africanism
http://www.newint.org/issue326/future.htm
* New meanings of Pan Africanism in the era of globalisation
http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/files/Panafri1.pdf
* Monitoring the MDG’s: A List of the MDG’s with links to key indicators showing progress
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/mi_goals.asp
* Amnesty recommendations to AU session
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGIOR630012003?open&of=ENG-2AF
RESOURCES FOR PAN-AFRICAN PARLIAMENTARIANS
Relevant organisations and useful websites
* An A-Z of African regional integration
http://www.focusintl.com/whoswho1.htm
* Africa Action
http://www.africaaction.org/index.php
* Africa Commission on Human and People’s Rights: Links
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/comision.html
* African Centre on Democracy and Human Rights Studies
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/ACOHRS.htm
* African Gender Institute
http://web.uct.ac.za/org/agi/
* Africa Human Rights Instruments
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/afrinst.htm
* African Human Security Initiative
www.africanreview.org
* Africa Information Centre
http://www.africainformation.net/
* African Population and Health Research Centre
http://www.aphrc.org/
* Africa Security Dialogue and Research
http://www.cdd.org.uk/
* Africa South of the Sahara: country and regional guide
http://gill.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/guide3.html
* African Union
http://www.africa-union.org/
* Alliance for Conflict Transformation
http://www.conflicttransformation.org/index.asp
* Alternative Information and Development Centre
http://aidc.org.za/
* Association for Women’s Rights in Development
http://www.awid.org/index.pl
* Bretton Woods Project
http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/
* Centre for Democracy and Development
http://www.cdd.org.uk/
Coalition for the International Criminal Court
http://www.iccnow.org/
* Centre for Civil Society at the University of Natal
http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/
* Development Policy Management Forum
http://www.dpmf.org/
* Dialogue Webpage for conflicts worldwide: Africa
http://www.dwcw.org/cgi/wwwbbs.cgi?Africa
* Electoral quotas for women website
www.quotaproject.org
* Fahamu - Learning for Change
http://www.fahamu.org
* FEMNET
http://www.femnet.or.ke/
* Focus on the Global South
http://www.focusweb.org/index.php
* Global Coalition for Africa
http://www.gca-cma.org/
* Jubilee Movement International
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/rweo_top.aspx?page=952&folder=146
* Justice Africa
http://www.justiceafrica.org/index.html
* Mwengo
www.mwengo.org/
* Pan-African HIV/AIDS treatment action movement
http://www.phrusa.org/campaigns/aids/news082502.html
* PanAfrican Women’s Liberation Organisation
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/pawlo.html
* Parliamentarians for Nepad
http://www.parlanepad.org
* Pan African Movement
http://www.panafricanmovement.org
* Pan African Congress Movement for Humanity
http://www.crin.org/organisations/viewOrg.asp?ID=1968
Safer Africa
http://www.saferafrica.org/
* The African Forum Network on Debt and Development
http://www.afrodad.org/
* The Institute for Human Rights in Africa
http://www.africaninstitute.org/html/institute_for_human_rights_and.html
* The Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa
http://www.sahrit.org/
* The Parliamentary centre
http://www.parlcent.ca/africa/panafrica_e.php
* The Southern African Regional Poverty Network
Http://www.sarpn.org.za
* Third World Network Africa
http://twnafrica.org/
* Women of Uganda Network
http://www.wougnet.org/
World Organisation Against Torture
http://www.omct.org
* 50 years is enough network
http://www.50years.org/
Useful Newsletters and Mailing Lists
* AF-AIDS
"A regional HIV/AIDS information network for Africa (in English and French)...Over 200 organisations working in or with African Nations in the response to the epidemic have already joined the forum." To join send e-mail to: [email protected] with the word 'join' in the subject line.
* AFRO-NETS
The AFRO-NETS mailing list has been set up to facilitate the exchange of information between the different networks active in Health Research for Development in the Eastern and Southern African Region. It is a forum for discussion that can support collaboration between the networks in the fields of capacity building, planning and conducting research, transformation of research recommendations into action, etc. The list also serves as a forum for announcing meetings, training courses and other events of interest to the networks. Subscribe by sending an email to [email protected].
* Africa Focus Bulletin
The Bulletin will feature material from a range of Africa-focused organisations. It will be limited to an average of 2 to 3 issues a week and offer selected material relevant to promoting international policies that advance economic, political, and social justice and human rights in Africa. Contact [email protected] to subscribe or unsubscribe.
http://africafocus.org
* Africa Trade Agenda
African Trade Agenda is produced by the Political Economy Unit, Third World Network-Africa. TWN-Africa is co-ordinator of the Africa Trade Network. For more info contact: TWN-Africa, Box 19452, Accra-North, GHANA. Tel, 233 21 511189/503669
Contact: [email protected]
www.twnafrica.org
* E-Africa: Journal of Governance and Innovation
To subscribe, email your name, job title, organisation and country to [email protected]. To unsubscribe, email to eaf[email protected].
* Elections Talk
Election Talk from the Electoral Institute for Southern Africa is available in both electronic format and hard copy. It will now appear fortnightly to give the latest briefing on the forthcoming elections in the SADC region. These policy briefs are written by regional experts to give you a succinct overview on the latest developments in those countries holding elections in 2004.
Contact: [email protected]
http://www.eisa.org.za/PDF/et7.pdf
* Femnet Bulletin
The African Women's Economic and Policy Network (AWEPON) is a network founded on the principle that women have the fundamental right to shape economic policies that impinge on their lives. It has partners in several African countries and works with them to strengthen the capacity of women especially at the grass root and national levels to influence the shape of economic policy. Find out more information about Awepon and other organisations by reading the Femnet bulletin. http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=20811
* Global Campaign for Education e-newsletter
The Global Campaign for Education is an independent coalition of NGOs and trade unions campaigning for the right to free, good quality education and immediate action on the Education for All goals. Their email bulletin is produced as an information resource for activists and practitioners. To subscribe, send a message with the word 'subscribe' in the subject line to:
[email protected]
http:// www.campaignforeducation.org
* Independent Advocacy Project governance news
Independent Advocacy Project (IAP), the Nigerian good governance group, promotes - through advocacy, coalition building, research, publications and information sharing - respect for good governance in Nigeria. IAP produces a monthly electronic journal and you can contact [email protected] if you are interested in subscribing.
Contact: [email protected]
* SADC Barometer
The SADC Barometer, a quarterly analysis by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), focuses on key issues and trends affecting the Southern African Development Community (SADC). For more information or comment, please contact the SAIIA SADC researcher and SADC Barometer editor, Richard Meissner on +27 (0)11-339-2021, e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected].
* Seatini Bulletin
Seatini focuses on trade issues. For more information and subscriptions, contact SEATINI, Takura House, 67-69 Union Avenue, Harare, Zimbabwe, Tel: +263 4 792681, Ext. 255 & 341, Tel/Fax: +263 4 251648, Fax: +263 4 788078, email: [email protected],Website: www.seatini.org
* Pula – A newsletter on women and ICT’s in Africa
Pula is the newsletter of the Association for Progressive Communications Africa Women (APC-Africa-Women). Pula aims to promote and profile the work and activities of women's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) initiatives in Africa and to act as a communicative tool to link women to each other and to initiatives and opportunities. To subscribe or unsubscribe email [email protected]
A selection from the Pambazuka News Archives:
* The Challenges before Africa and the African Union
http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=112
The challenges facing the African continent are enormous. On every front: economic and industrial development; scientific and technological know how; electrification; agriculture; education; healthcare; housing; telecommunications; transport; peace and stability; institutional respect for social, economic, political and human rights, and all other indices of modern society the continent is yet to fulfil its potential.
* Ensuring a pro-poor focus in Agriculture and rural development through Nepad
http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0000491/index.php
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) recognises the central role of agriculture. But the bias towards a certain model of agriculture - commercial and export orientated - points to gaps in its conception of a more wider and deeper perspective on rural development.
* Nepad: What is it? What is missing? http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0000550/index.php
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) has gone by many names. Critics have depicted Nepad as a 'neo-liberal' project, clearly contrary to the views of its supporters who see Nepad as a revolutionary plan. Whatever name and epithet one chooses, Nepad has clearly generated a great deal of debate, says this paper prepared for the labour research organisation Naledi.
* The Maputo Declaration
African Civil Society Statement To The Second Summit Of The Heads Of States And Governments Of The African Union
http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=16150
"We are convinced of the crucial role played by civil society in development and governance and further call on the AU member states to establish the necessary mechanisms to involve civil society in policy making, development planning, implementation monitoring and evaluation in accordance with the African charter on popular participation and development...”
* The role of the state in development in the SADC region: Does Nepad provide a new paradigm?
http://twnafrica.org/resdetail.asp?twnID=225
Academic discourse and development policy debates have grappled with the contentious issue of the state-market interactions in Africa’s development agenda and process, particularly since the 1960s independence era. At the heart of this debate has been the contestation over agency for development: what is the key locomotive or engine of development? This article revisits this debate and critically interrogates the extent to which the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) presents a new paradigm in development thinking in the African continent
* ‘No Longer Dinner’: African Activists speak on Cancun
http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=126
Picture this. An island strip of expensive Florida styled hotels, white beaches and brilliant blue skies, disturbed by the violence of wrought iron barriers the length of the Convention Centre and 20,000 armed Mexican police and federal paramilitary. More than 10,000 people land on the island strip for the Inter-ministerial, 3,000 accredited NGO officials - but only 180 from Africa and 30 Africa Peoples Caucus activists on the outside; 1,200 accredited media journalists, of whom fewer than 100 from Africa; roughly 600 European Commission staff, but only 10 African Union staff and consultants. While the Italian delegation consisted of 106 people, there were 45 on the Kenyan delegation and 3 on the Gambian delegation. Towards the end, long and anxious hours waiting for the secretive green room discussions to end… The tears ... and then the shouts of joy and relief when the Kenyan Head of Delegation leaked the news of the collapse of the talks at 3pm on Sunday, 14 September. Africa emerged from the talks a major negotiating player, no longer the dinner of other trading partners, but defining the direction and outcome of the talks in Cancun.
* Barriers to African Regional Integration: The International Aid System and Corporate Interests
http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=115
Why is the entire African continental economy no larger than Spain's, at $580 billion? Why is the combined GDP of the 40-plus countries that lie between South Africa and Egypt scarcely bigger than the annual turnover of ExxonMobil? There's a weary consensus that blames low prices for Africa's agricultural exports, corruption, cash-starved infrastructure and, increasingly, the devastating economic impact of AIDS. But less explored is the perverse logic of dividing Africa's small economic space into fifty sovereign entities. Regional economic integration is an absolute prerequisite for poverty reduction: expanding markets, attracting investment, and increasing savings. Unfortunately, there are powerful interests that stand in its way – mainly the politicians and bureaucrats who extract rent from their possession of sovereign privileges to tax and regulate.
>> To find more relevant articles on African issues, visit www.pambazuka.org and type your keyword in the search box to access nearly 20 000 archived articles.
>> For more articles relevant to the Pan-African parliament, visit the Conflicts and Emergencies, Women and Gender, Elections and Governance and Development sections of this edition of Pambazuka News.
The Kenyan government has withdrawn from the national conference which has been drawing up a new constitution. The announcement follows a decision by delegates to adopt a draft document reducing the president's powers. Those closest to President Mwai Kibaki say creating a powerful prime minister in competition with the president would be "both nonsensical and dangerous".
Related Link:
Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance Statement on walkout
http://kenyasocialist.org/statements/walk%20out%20on%20constitution.htm
Political tension in Ivory Coast has intensified after the ruling party accused opposition forces of plotting a coup with rebels. But a senior official of the opposition Democratic Party (PDCI) has firmly denied the allegations.
Angola is to sign a trial deal with the International Monetary Fund, paving the way for loans to rebuild the war-shattered country, officials say. Angola has promised to end fuel, electricity and water subsidies by the year's end as part of the agreement.
Chadian troops have successfully crossed into Darfur, western Sudan, to rescue cattle stolen by Sudanese militias known as Janjawid, according to UN sources. In the last couple of days, Chadian soldiers had crossed into Gogei, Western Darfur, to collect the cattle, following an agreement signed last week between presidents Idriss Deby of Chad and Umar al-Bashir of Sudan, sources told IRIN. The agreement allowed Chadian soldiers to cross into Sudanese territory to chase away "rebels", but was being used to chase away Janjawid militias, IRIN was told. On both sides of the largely unguarded 1,350-km border between the two countries, the military presence has reportedly increased in recent days.
"The government of Sudan has made no progress to ensure the protection of civilians caught up in the conflict in Darfur," Amnesty International said this week. Scores of civilians have reportedly been killed and dozens of villages burnt by the government-backed Janjiwid militias over the last few weeks.
"This is not a situation where the central government has lost control. Men, women and children are being killed and villages are burnt and looted because the central government is allowing militias aligned to it to pursue what amounts to a strategy of forced displacement through the destruction of homes and livelihood of the farming populations of the region," Amnesty International said.
The trafficking and the illicit trade in small arms has marred Africa for decades. Various national, regional and international organisations are working hard to halt this problem. The United Nations estimates that there are more than 500 million light weapons in circulation around the world. This is surely a serious cause for concern as peace and security are the fundamental prerequisites for social and economic prosperity. Millions of people in Africa have been killed while multitudes have become refugees and internally displaced, writes Khulani Qoma.
The following are excerpts from an interview that was conducted in September 2003 between CINSA, Africa Pulse and the station manager of a Soweto Community radio station, Jozi FM. The station manager takes us through a journey the station endured to sustainability, which serves as a lesson for establishing or strengthening similar initiatives in the SADC region.
With the growing number of conflicts, declining terms of trade, and growing influence of international powers in determining Africa's social and economic policies all eyes in Africa are focused on the Pan African Parliament and those elected representatives of the people who will meet this week in Addis Ababa. What will it be possible for the Pan African Parliament to deliver?
The first meeting takes place on the 10th anniversary of two historic events in Africa. One was the rise of the popular movements that led to the downfall of apartheid in South Africa. The other, a human catastrophe of immense proportions involving the massacre of nearly a million people in Rwanda in the space of a few months. If the one was achieved through the mobilisation of the majority for the goal of emancipation, the other was fuelled by pressures to comply with an externally defined agenda for social development. These events represent the extremes of hope and despair that came to characterise much of the continent in the closing years of the millennium. Every country in the region contains, albeit to varying degrees, the mixture of factors that can lead to either outcome – a future built on respect for human dignity, or one torn apart by conflicts such as those seen in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, Somalia, and which continue in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Can the Africa Parliament meet the challenge of building a democratic and just future?
Pambazuka News is Africa's widest circulation electronic newsletter on social justice, reaching more than 60,000 people every week. As a service to parliamentarians, and as a service to our readers, we have produced this special issue of Pambazuka News which will be provided in printed form to all those attending the Pan African Parliament this week. We think it is critically important for parliamentarians to be kept up to date with the latest developments in Africa. Pambazuka has become an important tool through which civil society in Africa disseminates information relevant to social justice. We believe that a dialogue between parliamentarians and civil society organisations is vital for development that ensures that the interests and the rights of the majority are protected.
This issue of Pambazuka News is dedicated to the cause of a Pan Africanism that is founded on social justice and respect for human dignity.
Farmers in the field and artisans and fishermen on the sea can use their mobile phones to check prices before they set off and find out where they will get the best offer for their produce. Manobi is a Mobile & Internet added value services operator for the agri-business sector and rural communities. Manobi had developed the T2M, a system that enables users to use their mobile telephone, a PDA or Internet in order to know in real time (i) the price and arrival status of their products at the markets, and (ii) the availability of the same products in the production sites.
UNDP and Ethiopia's ICT for Development Authority have delivered the first batch of 1,500 computers to the Ministry of Education as part of efforts to bring information and communications technology (ICT) to more than 160 high schools around the country. UNDP has provided US$3.5 million for the initiative and is seeking support from donors for an equal amount to enable all high schools to get online. Partners include the Ministry of Capacity Building and the Ministry of Education.
A collection of views from several electronic discussion groups established by the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa-UNECA in the past 5 - 6 years.
An African contingent will join an anti-war march in London on 20 March. Click on the link for more information.
Eleven international and African organisations and networks called on the new Pan-African Parliament to set an ambitious agenda as it was inaugurated in Addis Ababa. The organisations, including the African Women's Empowerment Network, Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women, FEMNET, PADEAP, Pan African Movement, Fahamu learning for Change, Fahamu SA Trust, MWENGO, Justice Africa and Oxfam GB, called on the new Parliament to embrace improving governance, giving citizens a voice and improving the human rights environment in Africa as a key priorities. For most poor people and especially women in Africa, parliaments are far removed from the day-to-day realities and challenges they face. The Pan African parliament is far from being representative (one MP for every 2.6 million people) therefore the 256 parliamentarians must go beyond being a talk shop to advance the issues that face millions of poor Africans.
A proposed Refugees Bill envisages to accord refugees a right to employment in Kenya, Vice-President Moody Awori said. Awori said if the Bill is enacted into law, refugees will be guaranteed access to housing, health care and education. The V-P was speaking in Kericho during the opening of an international conference on debt burden cancellation and the plight of refugees in developing countries. The V-P said solutions to the refugee crisis lay in the restoration of peace and stability in war-torn countries.
In Johannesburg, the Anti-War Coalition (AWC) will be joining masses of people across the world by holding a march against wars and occupations and a “Festival of life against wars and occupation”. The gathering will take place on March 20. More information is available through the link below.
Driving through Lusikisiki one is struck by the green rolling hills, the healthy looking cattle grazing in village pastures and the endless fields of maize. For those in the know, the extraordinary biodiversity of the area – with its over 1700 indigenous plants – is as impressive as the rolling hills and the maize fields. This high rainfall and fertile part of the picturesque Wild Coast is very different from so many other communal areas in South Africa that regularly experience drought. But the statistics show that not all is well in Pondoland. The district, like so many parts of South Africa, has an extremely high HIV infection rate of 24% - high for rural areas in the Eastern Cape. It also has an under-resourced provincial health department.
ACORD is an Africa led International Agency working in alliance with others to promote social justice and development. With an income of approximately £8 million p.a. we implement long-term development programmes in 18 African countries that unite practical work with advocacy, research and social action. ACORD employs some 500 staff across Africa, has its Secretariat in Nairobi and a small advocacy and fundraising office in London.
To date, there are less than 2,500 people on the national ARV programme country-wide - and nearly all of them are in the Western Cape. The National Department of Health has admitted that it will miss its target for the end of March. TAC believes the primary reason for the failure to meet this target is the Minister of Health's lack of political will. Her justification for delaying treatment is that the tender process for antiretroviral medicines is not complete and therefore these medicines will only be available in the public health system by the end of June. But there are mechanisms in South African law allowing for emergency procurement without tender that the minister could use to secure an interim supply of ARVs. The TAC demands that the Minister does so.
Rights groups in Kenya observed International Women's Day by unveiling a plan to significantly reduce sexual violence in the country within two years. The plan, titled "Towards Stopping Sexual Violence in Kenya", was launched on March 8 by a coalition of 16 women's rights organisations know as the Medico-Legal Network on Gender-Based Violence in Kenya and includes tightening legislation on sexual violence.
Calls for women to move from their cooking pots into decision-making positions are growing stronger by the day. During the celebrations of International Women’s Day, both Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Kaire Mbuende, and Women’s Action for Development Executive Director, Veronica de Klerk, called on women to take up positions of power. Four elections, namely, local, regional, parliamentary and general elections are scheduled between May and December this year.
The Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) is offering Sabbatical Research Grants to successful applicants based in Eastern and Southern Africa. Proposals may be submitted by researchers from any of the disciplines in the social sciences involving applied social and economic analysis of contemporary development issues.
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women has wrapped up its annual session with broad agreement on the need to involve men in the struggle for gender equality. At the close of its two-week session, the 45-member panel adopted an informal paper synthesizing the conclusions of discussions on the issue, which concluded that real change requires overcoming stereotypical attitudes which inhibit women's advancement and impede efforts to achieve gender equality.
To boost electronic commerce and the country's foreign exchange earnings, Uganda is working on legislation that will recognise contracts entered into electronically. Peter Edopu, principal legal officer of the Uganda Law Reform Project, said that the e-commerce law under the E-Transactions, Computer Misuse and Electronic Signatures Bill 2004, the first of its kind in East Africa will recognise electronic signatures and transactions in national and international businesses.
The Commowealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) has singled out Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as vehicles for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, the chief executive officer of CTO, said bridging the digital divide and building an information based society is the most effective way of enhancing the realisation of the millennium goals — reducing the alarming global poverty levels by a half by the year 2015.
Declaring it is not enough to focus solely on the humanitarian dimension of refugee problems, UN refugee agency chief Ruud Lubbers outlined a range of initiatives aimed at finding lasting solutions for the world's displaced. Ensuring a more comprehensive, predictable and effective response to refugee situations requires that their economic, social and political dimensions also be considered. UNHCR and a host of other partners – including the UN Development Programme and the World Bank – have developed a "Framework for Durable Solutions" which is already being implemented through specific projects in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Zambia.
Zimbabwe's fast-track land reform has had a bad press. Reports of violence and intimidation have obscured the reality that formal procedures used to settle black farmers in model villages bear a striking resemblance to earlier colonial procedures. Whilst colonial myths about African farmers as subsistence oriented and inefficient live on, evidence from south-eastern Zimbabwe suggests that the reforms have benefited some poor black farmers.
Uganda has made great strides against poverty. Many of those judged to be poor at the beginning of the 1990s had escaped poverty by the decade's end. However, a substantial minority were left behind and many others fell into poverty. Against the background of Uganda's impressive economic growth, there has been significant variation in individual experiences of poverty. What factors explain these divergences? What are the drivers, interrupters and maintainers of poverty in Uganda?
The United Nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have voiced fears that their plan to provide anti-retroviral drugs to some three million Africans with HIV/AIDS by 2005 is under threat. Although a lack of funds appears to be the basic problem, some countries involved with the project are also raising objections to the planned use of cheaper versions of medicines rather than those manufactured by well-known pharmaceutical companies.
Is there any prospect of achieving one of the key Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - getting equal numbers of girls and boys into school by 2005? Could educating girls be the key to ending world poverty? What must be done to achieve universal primary education (UPE) by 2015?
Why is sexual violence so prevalent in Africa's schools? Why is predatory aggressive masculinity condoned? What are the links between abuse in schools, lack of information and poverty? How should schools tackle abuse and intimidation of female students?
The 5th International Workshop on Resource Mobilisation (IWRM) is an annual workshop organised by the Resource Alliance. The workshop is taking place at the Birchwood Executive Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26th-28th March 2004. 220 attendees from 45 countries worldwide have already booked to attend this year's IWRM making it the largest and most international to-date. The reputation of the IWRM is obviously spreading worldwide, as delegates from countries ranging from Malaysia and India to Egypt and Ecuador are travelling to South Africa to attend this leading international forum for training and policy discussion on local resource mobilisation.
Zackie Achmat, the leader of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), spoke at the Centre for Civil Society’s first Harold Wolpe Memorial lecture for 2004. Achmat is famous for his passionate advocacy for wider access to HIV treatment in South Africa and globally. Strategic use of South Africa’s Constitutional provision for the right to access to health care has always been key to TAC’s campaigns. As South Africa moves towards celebrating ten years of a constitutional democracy, it was apt that such a high-profile civil society leader discussed the use of the constitution as a tactic to engage with the government on development issues. In this review, the authors summarise Achmat’s talk, the interesting critiques from the floor and offer their own critical analysis of the lecture and discussion which followed it.
This year is the 10th Anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. An international campaign is underway to mobilise to mark this anniversary - "REMEMBERING RWANDA". As our contribution to this campaign, we will be featuring this special section called Remembering Rwanda. We will also be publishing a special issue on Rwanda in April 2004 that will contain originally commissioned editorials covering key issues relating to Rwanda and the genocide.
Get involved! Organise an event in your institution, town, village or city. Send us information ([email protected]) about what you are doing to commemorate the anniversary and to provide solidarity to the rebuilding of Rwanda.
April 7, 2004 marks ten years since the beginning of the Rwandan genocide, when nearly a million people were killed in ninety days while the international community largely stood by. In response, the Centre for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law has launched the Rwanda Commemoration Project: Genocide in Our Time, an international initiative that seeks to raise awareness of this anniversary and the important lessons of the tragic events in Rwanda.
Next month's observance of the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide should be an occasion not only for remorse but also resolve, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in March. In a message delivered on his behalf to a symposium on the Media and the Rwanda Genocide at the Carlton University School of Journalism and Communication in Ottawa, Mr. Annan stressed the need to remember the victims "abandoned to systematic slaughter while the world, which had the capacity to save most of them, failed to save more than a handful, forever sullying the collective conscience." He also urged attention to helping the survivors.
The First Lady of Rwanda, Mrs Jeanette Kagame, will visit the UK Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, April 20th to mark ten years since the Rwandan genocide. She will be joined by Noreen Kaleeba, pioneer of HIV work in Uganda, founder of TASO and UNAIDS Community Mobilisation Programme Manager. Mrs Kagame will be the guest at an event organised by Survivors Fund (SURF), a UK based charity working to support survivors of the Rwandan genocide, and hosted by Brian Cotter MP, Survivors Fund Patron. As the founder of PACFA (Protection and Care of Families Against HIV/AIDS), a Rwandan programme which advocates for specific policies, strategies and actions to fight HIV/AIDS among women, children and families, Mrs Kagame will launch a campaign to access HIV/AIDS treatment for women who contracted HIV/AIDS as a result of being raped during the genocide.
The One World Trust's lecture by Linda Melvern on 'Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide' will take place on May 18th at 6.00pm in Committee Room 6, Houses of Parliament, London.
A bitter war of words has erupted between Rwanda and France just weeks before the central African nation marks the 10th anniversary of the genocide of 800,000 people. Western heads of state are due in the capital, Kigali, next month to commemorate the 100-day slaughter, which was sparked by the assassination of Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, on 6 April 1994. What should be a moment of sombre reflection is, however, being marred by a furious exchange of accusations, centred on a murder mystery that is as central to Rwanda's history as the Kennedy assassination is to that of the United States.
During the month of February the cultural program at the Goree Institute organized a celebration to commemorate, inform and educate various publics of the contributions of the enslaved Africans after the transatlantic slave trade. The celebration included an exhibit at the History Museum. The students at the Senegalese American Bilingual School in Dakar constructed the displays at the museum. The displays highlighted some of the contributions of Africans residing in the six region of Africa. The students made sketches of various African Americans and provided a brief summary of their contributions in French and English.
The Shuttleworth Foundation is hosting an event for innovative projects to market themselves to potential grantmakers. To this end, the Foundation invites applications from South African initiated education projects involving subject areas such as maths, science and technology for implementation in Gauteng and/or Western Cape in 2005.
Poor nations that are home to some of Africa's most arid corners will push for a fairer share of Nile waters this week, exploring joint ventures in energy and irrigation to spread the river's bounty more equitably. Organizers of the meeting of water ministers from 10 Nile Basin countries have played down reports that they will negotiate a replacement to a controversial colonial-era treaty that gives Egypt control of the river.
West African leaders and World Bank officials will meet this week in Accra to discuss the challenges of regional integration and implementing the continent's home-grown economic initiative, Nepad, in the region, officials said Wednesday. The 15-member Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said in a statement here the two-day meeting in the Ghanaian capital will take place on March 19 and 20. "The Ecowas leaders will give their views on issues in their areas of responsibility within the Nepad (New Partnership for African Development) framework. They will identify the sources and impact of conflict in west Africa, and state the needs of the sub-region in terms of infrastructure," it said.
It is 7:00 o’clock in the evening, and students at the University of Development Studies (UDS) Ghana, Navrongo campus are gathered in their various common rooms. All eyes are transfixed on a box, an electronic box: the television. They are watching Ghana Television News at Seven, the only source of up-to-date information for an information thirsty university. The University of Development Studies is the fifth state university in Ghana. For a campus with the sciences as its main focus, UDS Navrongo is in serious crisis: the university has a computer lab of about 30 computers with no Internet connection.
The Zambian government in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched its first Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report in Lusaka. The report on the eight millennium goals revealed that Zambia is way behind target and will most likely fail to achieve any of the goals with the exception of Gender Equality and women empowerment.
Communities who depend on plant and wildlife resources for their livelihood often contribute to stresses on vulnerable natural resources. An approach known as community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) sees management of human and natural resources as part of the same equation: when communities are able to increase their incomes through improved agricultural practices and alternative economic activity, precious natural resources are sustained.
Two teachers' unions have called on government to pay teachers their February and March salaries with immediate effect. In separate interviews, Primary Education Teachers' Union (PETUZ) general secretary Cosmas Mukuka and the Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) spokesperson Joel Kamoko urged the government not to take teachers' patriotism for granted.
One of Burundi's ecological jewels, Lake Gacamirinda, is in danger of disappearing. The circumstances of this problem provide a case study in what can happen when human and environmental factors combine to affect a natural resource. Philippe Njoni, Governor of the north-eastern Kirundo province where the lake is located, says the factors causing it to dry up include the drought that ravaged Burundi between 1998 and 2001.
One step forward, three steps backwards: that's how various AIDS activists, parents and teachers in Zambia are describing government's decision to ban the distribution of condoms in schools on the grounds that it promotes promiscuity. Walter Tapfumaneyi, HIV/AIDS Regional Programme Coordinator for PANOS - a non-governmental organisation - says the condoms simply afforded protection to those children who did choose to have sex.
As the blazing sun mercilessly beats down on her, Halima Abdi Adam squints and tries to find some shade under a shrivelled tree. She is one of over 3,200 Somali refugees who have ended up in the Emkulu refugee camp on the outskirts of the Eritrean port city of Massawa. Emkulu, administered by the Eritrean Office of Refugee Affairs (ORA), which in turn is funded by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), was originally intended as a transit centre for Eritrean returnees from Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of Eritreans have been applying for voluntary repatriation from camps in eastern Sudan which, for many of them, have been their homes for 30 years since they fled the fighting of Eritrea’s liberation war.
Two teachers have appeared in court charged with causing the deaths of nine students in Iringa, southern Tanzania. The primary school children were buried in a landslide while collecting sand to build their classrooms. Regional police chief Omar Mganga told the BBC the teachers contravened laws barring students from taking part in projects other than studies.
This paper looks at what the 'right to education' means in theory and practice, and outlines what a rights-based response to education in Africa would entail. It argues that although the concept of rights has become increasingly commonplace in the discourse of international development there is a massive gap between the language and practice of rights. This is starkly apparent in education, where the basic rights of millions of people are routinely violated, and particularly in Africa.
King Mswati opened parliament on Wednesday, but avoided commenting directly on the controversy surrounding the resignation of the Speaker and the country's "rule of law" crisis. "The nation knows that the administration of our justice system has been facing some challenges this past year," said Mswati, referring to the resignation of the Court of Appeal bench in protest over palace interference in the judicial system. "I have been assured that the minister of justice has engaged stakeholders on this issue, and await their views on the way forward."
Government troops and members of an armed Islamic group have clashed in recent weeks in the north of Niger, Defence Minister Hassane Bonto told parliament on Tuesday. Bonto said there were three clashes between the armed forces and the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC - le groupe salafiste pour la prédication et le combat) between 22 February and 5 March.
Ghana’s Electoral Commission on Tuesday began a two-week voter listing exercise in 21,000 registration centres nationwide to prepare a new voter’s register and supply all voters with a picture identity card ahead of December presidential and parliamentary elections. “We want to eliminate the possibilities of fraud and build confidence in our electoral systems. That is why we are insisting on a register and voter’s identity card complete with the holder’s picture,” a Director at the Electoral Commission, Henry Okyne told IRIN.
The planned trial of suspected mercenaries in Zimbabwe could raise embarrassing questions for the government over their alleged bid to buy weapons illegally from the state, defence analysts say. The key question will centre on what role President Robert Mugabe's senior aides played in any plans to procure weapons from state-owned Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI), a cash-strapped agency under the firm grip of the government. Experts said it was difficult to imagine the ZDI would agree a deal to sell arms without the approval of senior government or party officials or without an end-user certificate specifying the final destination of the weapons.
With the announcement by President Mugabe that the next Parliamentary elections will be held in March 2005, it seems reasonable to examine the playing field for these elections, and more especially because the MDC has indicated the 15 conditions that need to be addressed before it can consider participating in these elections. These conditions constitute what might be termed the “high bar” for the holding of elections in Zimbabwe. Read the 15 points by visiting www.zwnews.com.
Rwanda Youth Information Community Organization (rYico) has organised a programme of events in Brighton to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. Click on the link below for more details.
* Remembering Rwanda: Pambazuka News Special Edition Due Out In April
* Conflicts and Emergencies: Mercenaries set to worry African Parliament
* Refugees and Forced Migration: Peace prospects pull refugees home in West Africa
* Women and Gender: Gender issues in the AU, Nepad and Pan-African Parliament
* Elections and Governance: Pan-African Parliament a voice for all Africans
* Development: MDG report casts gloom over Zambia’s development
* HIV/AIDS: TAC sends letter of demand to SA government
* Education: “Massive” gap between rights education theory and practice
* Environment: Water scarcity can be fixed, says NGO
One of the hottest topics at the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) - Geneva, March 15 to April 23 - will undoubtedly be the future of the proposed Norms on Business and Human Rights. Approved last August by a UNHCR Sub-Commission of human rights experts, the Norms make the human rights obligations of transnational corporations explicit and suggest further steps towards corporate accountability. Corporate lobby groups such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) have launched a fierce counter-campaign aiming to kill off the proposal, with self-proclaimed Corporate Social Responsibility champion Shell in a leading role.
As the African Union's (AU) Pan African Parliament (Parliament) is inaugurated, it is essential for African parliamentarians and leaders to recognize the centrality of human rights and the need to incorporate them in all parliamentary activities, Amnesty International said at the beginning of the historic first session of the Parliament, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. "The inauguration of the Parliament is another chance for African governments to demonstrate their expressed commitment to the full realization of human rights in the continent. The Parliament must seek to safeguard the fundamental human rights of African peoples and the principles on which the AU is founded," Amnesty said.
President Robert Mugabe’s atrocious human rights record will come under the microscopic gaze of the UN Human Rights Commission which is meeting in Geneva for the next six weeks. It will be the second time that the UNHRC considered the crisis in Zimbabwe after South Africa in 2002 blocked an attempt by the British to pass a resolution calling on President Mugabe to reform.
Acres International has snubbed the impoverished kingdom of Lesotho by not paying a R13 million fine after being convicted of corruption and bribery. Instead, the Canadian engineering and construction company wants to pay the penalty in instalments, according to Lesotho attorney-general Fine Maema, who said he had flatly refused the request. Parent company Acres Group had a gross revenue of R1 billion in 2002, the year Acres was convicted. On Friday, Acres seemed unaware that its offer had been rejected.
Kaiser Daily Update 19 March 2004 reported that an Accelerating Access Initiative (AAI) release stated the number of HIV/AIDS patients in Africa who are receiving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) provided by companies participating in the AAI has doubled over the last six months of 2003. The AAI was established in May 2000 to improve access to HIV/AIDS treatment and care in developing countries. It is a partnership of five U.N. organizations and six pharmaceutical companies.
Pambazuka News 198: Genocide and the history of violent expansionism
Pambazuka News 198: Genocide and the history of violent expansionism
In my country (DRC) we like to celebrate, to organize ceremonies... it is our way of expression. Africa is primary a rhythmic continent. Particularly for this kind of celebration (International Women's Day), I think it was very important to celebrate.
Celebration of this kind of day allows government to have the opportunity to evaluate the importance of something. But its also an opportunity for interested people like NGOs and civil society to share their point of view, to express what they are thinking about the situation of women and to be heard. This is not to fight against men, just to have the same chance in the life.
And you know what? Just a few day after women's day our Parliament agreed a big law for all the woman of DRC. Now we share fifty-fifty (equality) with men the opportunity to be represented in government and decision-making institutions! Step by step we will arrive...
We must take all the opportunities to express our voices!
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 147: OPEN LETTER TO NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 147: OPEN LETTER TO NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA
Interims for Development has just revamped its website and launched a newsletter. The UK-based organisation works with African organisations and international companies operating in Africa to support their strategic human resources, technical needs and business development requirements. Its aim is to bridge the gap required to build African skills and capacity to take on the challenges of the 21st century.
“Africa 2005 is an international movement mobilising the African civil society and the international community to make 2005 the world year for Africa. Africa 2005 takes the year 2005 as the starting point to commit itself to increase African influence on a global level.” The organisation’s immediate objective is to unite and mobilise African and international strengths to create an equitable partnership between Africa and the rest of the world. From 2005 onwards, the organisation seeks to demonstrate Africans’ energy and drive; to change perceptions of Africa so it is seen as dynamic and proactive; and to involve people around the world to highlight a successful Africa.
The transcript of evidence recently provided by three UK-based diaspora organisations – African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), AfricaRecruit, and the British Bangladeshi International Development Group – to the House of Commons International Development Select Committee is now available. Memoranda presented by two of the organisations are also available (a version from AFFORD containing an executive summary is available at www.afford-uk.org). Subsequent sessions will focus on the “brain drain” and international recruitment issues; on remittances; and on the economics of migration, and temporary mobility schemes.
Naseem’s commentary and observations of South Asian diasporic issues may have relevance for other regions:
- “One of the more benign and virtuous aspects of globalization in the past three decades or so has been the increase in the migration of people from the poorer, labour-surplus economies of the South to the richer , labour-scarce economies of the North, as well as to some resource-rich, labour-scarce economies within the South, itself.”
- “…They remit a high proportion of their earnings to home countries and are eager to return home with some capital to start a better life in their countries. The Gulf emigrants, however, are treated as a lower species of the diaspora and command very small clout in public policy to the extent one exists in South Asian countries, which attach a much higher weight to the preference of the more affluent sections of diaspora and domestic elites. The phenomenon of elite capture is no less omnipresent than elsewhere in public policy.”
“We suggest that the question of identity, though not so deeply explored in the newer facets of African diaspora scholarship, permeates much of the cultural life of the diaspora and should be at the centre of diaspora scholarship generally. Thus the theme of our proposed workshop: Africa in the African diaspora, the diffusion of African identity.”
The African Diaspora Initiative (ADI) is an internet gateway designed to locate and highlight Africans in the diaspora, in keeping with the NEPAD plan and G8 Africa Action Plan. ADI aims to help African leaders and business leaders to access profiles, find solutions and opportunities, and to highlight dynamic, experienced, qualified and highly motivated African resources in the diaspora.
Black President is a multimedia exhibition that explores the influence and artistic legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the legendary Nigerian Afrobeat musician and activist who died in 1997. Thirty-four artists ranging from painters to rappers, who continue to be inspired by Fela's artistic genius and his dedication to justice and equality, will examine and respond to this cultural icon through approximately forty works of art. Black President is a multimedia exhibition that includes painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video, film, computer animation, music, and mixed media and sound installation. Black President was curated by Trevor Schoonmaker and organized by the New Museum of Contemporary Art.
Following the demise of the 85-year-old weekly magazine, West Africa, the London-based editorial team has launched a new virtual magazine that they hope will fill the vacuum created by West Africa’s disappearance.
Faculty UK, an Association of Ghanaian faculty members in higher education in the UK, and members of other professions interested in education, is to be officially launched in London, on Saturday 20 March 2004. Faculty UK’s broad objective is to contribute towards providing global education for the Ghanaian. Its membership consists of lecturers and other staff in higher education institutions, as well as professionals with an interest in literary and other pursuits that border on education.
As peace talks continue in Kenya between the Sudanese government and its principal opponent, the SPLM/A, the prospects of securing a sustainable peace are increasingly threatened by other issues not on the table in this process. These include intense fighting in Darfur in western Sudan and unresolved questions of democratic participation throughout the country. The humanitarian crisis of as many as one million people displaced in Darfur and across the border in Chad, is currently rated among the worst in the world. The latest edition of the Africa Focus Bulletin contains a variety of news articles and links on the crisis.
The recent ANC Youth League conference was, in every respect, a gathering of the party's crown princes. And the aristocracy arrived in a style hitherto unimaginable. Unlike in past years when delegates came in buses and taxis, this year saw a flotilla of luxury sedans and hired cars for those who had flown in. An angry delegate from Alexandra township, north of Johannesburg, said the league was becoming an elite club of MPs and civil servants. "How will we be able to reverse the [township youth's] slide from political activism...when we live in town and drive flashy cars? The youth will not bother to vote when their leaders are seen to use them as stepping stones to their individual advancement."
Tycoon Kamlesh Pattni has denied videotaping prominent Kenyans as he bribed them. The denial, almost two weeks after the raids that police informants said yielded evidence of corruption, was issued by Pattni's lawyer Bernard Kalove. In the statement, Kalove accused "the press, both print and electronic, mainstream and gutter", of having gone on a "rumour generation and rumour mongering spree" intended to suggest that "our client was captured 'bribing', or 'greasing the palms of' or 'entertaining' certain prominent personalities".
More than sixteen months after the multinational pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. announced that it would reduce the price of its first-line AIDS drug Stocrin (efavirenz, EFV) to less than $1 per day in developing countries, the offer has failed to materialize, according to the international medical humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). EFV is among the antiretrovirals recommended by the World Health Organisation for first-line treatment, and is a critical component of antiretroviral combination therapy, particularly for patients co-infected with HIV and tuberculosis (TB).
Hundreds of thousands of people in Lesotho will require international assistance for a third consecutive year due to the combined impact of another devastating drought and the worsening HIV/AIDS epidemic, warned James T. Morris, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa. “Any hopes that Lesotho’s humanitarian crisis would begin to ease this year have been dashed by yet another drought and by the increasingly devastating impact of HIV/AIDS,” Morris said.
Rich countries - working through international institutions like the World Bank - rarely help poor countries modernize and strengthen public services. But they often push them to privatize and commercialize public services, a move that they themselves would never make. Leading the tide of globalization, international financial institutions are aggressively and undemocratically promoting an ideological agenda of privatization and commercialization. “The IMF, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation care about dismantling the state,” says Nancy Alexander, director of the Citizens’ Network on Essential Services (CNES), a research and advocacy group. International financial institutions claim that such reforms help reduce poverty, but they often simply are promoting the interests of multinational corporations in water, energy, telecommunications and other industries, says this article in the publication In These Times.
Swiss Re, the world's second-biggest reinsurer, has warned that the costs of global warming threaten to spiral out of control, forcing the human race into a catastrophe of its own making. In a report revealing how climate change is rising on the corporate agenda, Swiss Re said the economic costs of global warming threatened to double to $150 billion (R1 trillion) a year in 10 years, hitting insurers with $30 billion to $40 billion in claims.
The world is "in the middle of a political momentum" to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Executive Director Peter Piot said last Thursday in Livingstone, Zambia, at the opening of a meeting of representatives from U.N. agencies and the ministers of health, education and finance from six Southern Africa countries - Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe - AFP/Yahoo! News reports.
"We need food and drugs," has emerged as the message the world should get loud and clear from People living with HIV and AIDS from the ongoing Harare, Pan African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM) conference. Speaking during a session on 'Understanding Antiretroviral (ARV) therapy' led by Francoise Louis, a Technical Advisor on ARVs with Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSFE) (Doctors without borders), a united voice of AIDS activists noted that good nutrition and drugs are critical components in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
The dimensions of peace operations in the post-Cold War era have tended to reflect comprehensive attempts at settling conflicts rather than simply policing ceasefires. As a result, international humanitarian NGOs and multinational military forces are increasingly working together in the same theatre of operations than ever before due to a strong demand for coherence of approach. This article examines the various factors impeding effective NGO-military cooperation, and offers suggestions for improvement of the relationship. It argues that given the complex nature of contemporary conflict management and resolution, involving military and non-military activities, only a well-planned and coordinated combination of civilian and military measures can create the conditions for durability of peace in divided societies.
The trading relationship between the European Union (EU) and South Africa is shaped by the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) signed in 1999. Far from giving preferential treatment to an ex-colony, the TDCA actually imposes harsher liberalisation standards on South Africa’s agricultural exports than it does on Europe’s. Research from the University of Plymouth examines the protracted and acrimonious trade talks which led to the TDCA. Evidence drawn from interviews with key players in the negotiations suggests that European desires to please the World Trade Organisation (WTO) pre-determined the outcome. South Africa has had to adopt the neo-classical economic approaches which dominate the philosophy of development across the African continent.
Driven by concerns to demonstrate ‘value for money’, bilateral donors and major Northern development agencies are becoming more selective in the types of organisations and activities they will fund and the types of account keeping they demand from recipients. New requirements are forcing small non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in developing countries to change the way they work. They might be becoming more efficient, but are they also losing their ability to respond to the needs of the communities they serve? Research from McGill University and the University of Natal examines the influence of donors on South African NGOs.
Kenya urged African countries last Thursday to stick by a 15-year global ban on the ivory trade, which it says has saved the elephant population across the continent from further decimation. The ivory trade was prohibited worldwide in 1989 after the African elephant population halved to 600,000 in just over a decade. "Even a limited reopening of the trade would signal to the consumer that it was, once again, acceptable to buy, sell, and wear ivory and would stimulate global demand and raise the prices," said Kenyan Vice President Moody Awori.
In many developing countries, stigma and discrimination together pose one of the most significant challenges to stemming the spread of HIV and AIDS. People known to have HIV often are isolated and the targets of gossip and name-calling. They can lose status and decision-making power in the household and community, many are shunned by family and friends, and they frequently lose their jobs and sometimes their housing. As a result, it is not surprising that people often go to great lengths to hide their HIV status or deny that they might have it - fuelling the spread of the epidemic. A new International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) report discusses these and other findings, based on a three-year study of HIV and AIDS-related stigma conducted by ICRW and partners in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia.
"Everywhere, women are confronting the challenges of our global world, from deepening poverty and economic uncertainty, the rising toll of HIV/AIDS on their lives and those of their children, to the violence they experience in everyday life. At the same time, in many regions, the gains that women have made over the last two decades are being lost. On International Women's Day this year, we must declare our determination to meet these challenges, and move forward."
The edition includes:
* Bruce Podobnik & Th omas Ehrlich Reifer: The Globalization Protest Movement in Comparative Perspective;
* Peter Waterman: Adventures of Emancipatory Labour Strategy as the New Global Movement Challenges International Unionism;
* Jeffrey M. Ayres: Framing Collective Action Against Neoliberalism: The Case of the “Anti-Globalization” Movement.
The Health Economics & HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) is based at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. HEARD conducts research on the socio-economic aspects of public health, especially the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The intent is to inspire health and development strategies that improve the welfare of people in and beyond Africa. HEARD's ethos is to share knowledge and transfer skills. This is accomplished by having a dedicated team of multi-skilled staff and a commitment to training African researchers.