Pambazuka News 554: After Gaddafi: Intervention and imperialism in Africa
Pambazuka News 554: After Gaddafi: Intervention and imperialism in Africa
The Ethiopian government has accused two freelance Swedish journalists of ‘terrorism’, after they entered the country with insurgents from the Ogaden National Liberation Front. With Prime Minister Meles Zenawi backing the charges against them, they have little chance of a fair trial, writes Alemayehu G Mariam.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned a campaign of intimidation against the private press which it says has seen the arrest of six journalists on alleged terrorism charges.
With the death of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, Mazin Qumsiyeh says the US and their allies may still be in for a surprise in the region.
‘From the minute a United Nations resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya became a green card to regime change’, NATO’s ‘plan A was always to capture and kill’ Gaddafi, writes Pepe Escobar.
It is almost a quarter of a century since Thomas Sankara disappeared. In the pantheon of the brave sons of Africa assassinated by the former colonists and their African accomplices, he joins people like Lumumba, Um Nyobé, Félix Moumié, Osendé Afana, Ben Barka, Outel Bono and Pierre Mulele. But today, now that Africa needs the Sankarist spirit of action more than ever, Guy-Marius Sanga wishes more people looked to Sankara as a role model
Health officials in Ghana say breast cancer is a growing problem compounded by untrained medical practitioners, a lack of equipment, and unhealthy, sometimes fatal, cultural beliefs. Historically, breast cancer has received scant attention in this West African country. International donors and institutions have been focused on communicable diseases like malaria and HIV/AIDS. Despite the fact that, according to Ghana Health Services (GHS), non-communicable diseases are the leading causes of death.
Sokari Ekine takes a look at what ‘African bloggers had to say about Gaddafi’s demise and Libya’s freedom celebrations.’
NATO’s assassination of Gaddafi ‘may well turn out to be the final nail in the coffin of the system of "international law"’, writes David Comissiong.
An AU expert with the South African Institute for International Affairs, Kathryn Sturman, says Col Gaddafi's death will have a profound effect on the AU. 'It's the end of an era for the AU. Libya was one of the big five [along with South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria] financial contributors of the organisation. It paid 15% [of its budget], and also the membership fees of countries in arrears, like Malawi,' Ms Sturman said.
Indian, Chinese and US companies are among many inking land-investment deals in Africa, including Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Sudan, Mali, and Mozambique. According to a study by the US- based Oakland Institute, foreign investors bought or leased a land area in sub-Saharan Africa about the size of France in 2009 alone. On this episode of Al Jazeera's The Stream, a discussion takes place between
Indian author and media commentator Anand Giridharadas, the Oakland Institute’s Executive Director, Anuradha Mittal and Christine L. Adamow, Managing Director of Africa BioFuel, a US company invested in farmland in Kenya and Tanzania.
Following the kidnap of three humanitarian workers from Sahrawi refugee camps on the southern Algerian border, Konstantina Isidoros is sceptical about Morocco’s narrative about who is behind the attack.
Sahrawi refugee camps have been ‘safe from any kind of security problems for the last three decades’, writes Malainin Lakhal, arguing that Morocco could be behind the recent kidnapping of three humanitarian workers, in an attempt to challenge the Sahrawi national project and terrorise Western Sahara’s supporters into stopping their humanitarian aid and political efforts.
Lecturers at Chancellor College, the main constituent college of the University of Malawi, were meeting Tuesday to decide whether the directive and assurances given by President Bingu wa Mutharika met their conditions in the eight-month academic freedom stand-off. In a surprise statement by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Mutharika said he was guaranteeing academic freedom within the conditions of service of the lecturers and ordered that four lecturers that were sacked at the peak of the wrangle be reinstated without any conditions.
The UN children's fund has denied that there has been a polio outbreak in the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar. It said that its office in Madagascar had issued a statement last week that led to the mistaken belief there had been an outbreak of wild poliovirus. In fact the last such case was detected on the island in 1997, Unicef said.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir says his country gave military support to the Libyan rebels who overthrew Col Muammar Gaddafi. In a speech broadcast live on state television, Mr Bashir said the move was in response to Col Gaddafi's support for Sudanese rebels three years ago. President Bashir said the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfuri rebel group, had attacked Khartoum three years ago using Libyan trucks, equipment, arms, ammunition and money.
Two police officers have been sentenced to seven years in prison for the assault that led to the death of Khaled Said, the young man whose murder in Alexandria has fueled the Egyptian revolution. Netizens are angry at what they describe as a lenient sentence and a slap to the revolution and its scream for justice, reports Global Voices.
Human rights campaigner Sabrina Tucci spent a month in the Sahrawi camps in Tindouf earlier this year. Despite the recent kidnapping of three aid workers, Tucci feels she can still confirm that “the camps are one of the safest places on the planet”.
Horace Campbell reconstructs ‘the decision at the highest levels’ to execute Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi and considers ‘the urgency for organising to oppose the remilitarisation of Africa.’
Following the death of Gaddafi, Libyan communities ‘will have to work together to prevent the nation from disintegrating or being recolonised,’ writes Cameron Duodu.
The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) has challenged the Gambian Government to speak out on the whereabouts of journalist Ebrima Manneh. FAJ President Omar Faruk Osman and his Vice-President Foster Dongozi took Gambia’s Justice minister Edward Gomez to task over his government’s silence regarding the whereabouts of the journalist who disappeared in 2006. In an interview on 10 October with The Daily News, a Gambian newspaper, Mr Gomez had said the missing journalist was alive, without disclosing where he was.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has demanded an explanation from Malawi on why it failed to arrest and surrender Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited the country. Malawi has been given up to 11 November 2011 to clarify why it failed to act on the court’s request when the indicted leader visited the country for the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa) summit. The Registrar of the court had sent a letter to the Malawi Embassy in Brussels on 13 October, 2011 asking for its cooperation for the arrest and surrender of President Bashir in the event that the latter entered the southern African nation’s territory. The note was not answered.
The ‘reasons put forward by the Kenyan government for this operation are demonstrably false’, writers and intellectuals have said in statement arguing against the country’s military attack on Somalia, following the recent kidnapping of three foreigners, allegedly by Al-Shabaab.
Democratic Republic of Congo’s National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) has released the official list of the presidential and legislative candidates. There are less than 40 days to election day in the Central Africa state in the poll set for 28 November. According to the list released by CENI chairman Daniel Mulundaongo, 11 candidates will be running for president while a whopping 18,500 candidates will be contesting for the 500 legislative seats.
Japanese women have launched a petition to stop the government from exporting nuclear power plants and sending food from disaster areas contaminated with radioactive waste as aid to developing countries.
Did France intervene in Libya out of desire to promote democracy, or simply to secure its business interests, asks Khadija Sharife.
The taking-control of Libya by the West and the assassination of Gaddafi may signal the beginning of the militarisation of Africa and the hastening of its recolonisation, writes Demba Moussa Dembélé.
Several books have been written in an attempt to capture Cameroonian President Paul Biya’s personality, and ‘the enigmatic aura that surrounds this African dictator’, but Fanny Pigeaud’s new account ‘surpasses them all’, writes Peter Wuteh Vakunta.
We, the undersigned African social justice activists, working to advance societies that affirm peoples’ differences, choice and agency throughout Africa, express the following concerns about the use of aid conditionality as an incentive for increasing the protection of the rights of LGBTI people on the continent.
AIDS-Free World has presented a first-ever legal challenge to the Jamaica’s anti-gay laws, arguing that by criminalising homosexuality under its constitution, Jamaica is in violation of international human rights law.
The aftermath of elections in Tunisia
Samir Amin
The people of Tunisia had a participatory and democratic election as they wanted. However, defining this achievement as ‘a revolution’ would be an error, according to Samir Amin. He argues that fundamental issues need to be addressed in order for sustainable democracy to reign in Tunisia. [=http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/77537
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Tunisia: What to say? What to do?
Freddy Mathieu
From five core observations made about the elections in Tunisia, Freddy Mathieu draws a conclusion. ‘The victory of Ennahdha marks the close of a chapter; however a lot remains to be desired. Its consolidation does not solve the important issues that led the Tunisian citizens through the revolutionary whirlwind. Instead, this consolidation makes the issues more pronounced. [=http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/77536
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Ennahda: The success story returns
Jeunesse du jasmin
The historical persecution of Muslims under Bourguiba’s regime has led to Islamists’ current establishment in Tunisia. This alone cannot explain their surprising breakthrough. Some pressing factors have led to the results. The obvious one is the deeply rooted inequalities in this country in which the social divisions have crossed over into religious rifts
[=http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/77534
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After the USA, China is doing its shopping in Europe
Jean- Paul Pougala
Europe is no longer that exemplary power that used to tower over other countries. This illusion has been maintained by baffled leaders who cannot get over it. The last Brussels summit showed once again the meaning of ‘When China awakens’.
Jean- Paul Pougala rejoices for Africans that, after 500 years, there is a new hunter on the international scene to contain the traditional predators’.
[=htttp://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/77530
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Gaddafi: The glory of the defeated
Joseph Eroumé
Lumumba backtracked towards death, Sankara challenged it, Gaddafi did not flee from it. Faced with this trilogy of destiny, Joseph Enuma proclaims: ‘Better die than give up, when one defends a just and noble cause: His own people’. For him, the murder the Libyan leader, like what happened to Ivory Coast, puts Africans in the lead to face their responsibilities and build a defense against the West and its interests.
[=http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/77531
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Rwanda-France: Can we just forget?
Bertold du Ryon
After 17 years, France bore the burden of its responsibilities in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, despite the denials. And last September when President Kagame went on an official visit to Paris he made a declaration in very certain terms that time had come to look towards ‘the future’ and not to be ‘enslaved by the past’. Thus, according to Bertold du Ryon, there comes a point in time where political and economical interests start forsaking history.
[=http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/77533
On 19 October, Chimurenga - a pan African literary & political magazine - released 'The Chronic', a once-off edition of an imaginary newspaper for the week of 18-24 May 2008, a time when xenophobic violence tore through South Africa. According to Chimurenga founding editor Ntone Edjabe, the newspaper issue seeks to 'travel back in time to stage an intervention in the past so as to reimagine the present'.
A third of humanity, mostly in Africa and South Asia, face the biggest risks from climate change but rich nations in northern Europe will be least exposed, according to a new report. Bangladesh, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are among 30 countries with 'extreme' exposure to climate shift, according to a ranking of 193 nations by Maplecroft, a British firm specialising in risk analysis. Of 30 nations identified in the new report as at 'extreme' risk from climate change, two-thirds are in Africa and all are developing countries.
The families of 90,000 Nigerien migrants forced home because of the uprising in Libya face greater hunger and poverty now they no longer receive regular remittances, the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) said. The men were mostly working on construction sites and farms in Libya, which borders Niger. An IOM poll showed 86 per cent used to send enough money to support five family members in Niger, and that their return had 'an overall negative impact' on the lives of hundreds of thousands of others living in areas hit by chronic food insecurity and underemployment.
Women in Cameroon have developed a vision for a gender-sensitive approach for their country’s nascent Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme. They have put together a roadmap to ensure that women are involved in the formulation of Cameroon’s national REDD+ strategy. The premise is that women should be given equal opportunities to learn about REDD+ initiatives, and their capacity strengthened so they can influence, participate in and benefit from the programme. The roadmap will be presented at the UN Climate Convention in Durban in December.
The briefing from the Arid Lands Information Network discusses how climate change is complicating the energy situation in many parts of Africa. For example, changing rainfall patterns have led to droughts, affecting hydropower generation in many countries. Countries need energy to increase economic production, which improves livelihood options for women and men. Energy is also needed to increase agricultural productivity, provide clean water and improve human health, and energy enables girls and boys to go to school.
This publication is the result of a collective process of reflection on the meaning and implications of
community protests for local governance by the Good Governance Learning Network (GGLN). The contributions 'seek to critically enhance government and civil society’s understanding of the importance of recognising community voice and dissatisfaction as a legitimate alternative to pre-defined and state-sanctioned modalities of public participation. The underlying concern is with the technicist, procedural and instrumentalist approach that has (by and large) come to underpin public participation in South Africa. The plea, therefore, is for more dynamic, more meaningful and more varied modes of participation to be nurtured.'
Amid the still-visible damage from election unrest in Côte d’Ivoire’s main city Abidjan is another less tangible but very real form of destruction - psychological trauma. It is difficult to say how many people need mental health care after the recent unrest, according to health experts in Côte d’Ivoire; the health ministry says it has no such figures. But health workers and residents told IRIN people seeking help with conflict-related trauma have few places to turn.
Doreen Sibanda, 27, was among the first undocumented Zimbabwean nationals to be deported in early October 2011 after South Africa apparently lifted its more than two year moratorium on expulsions imposed following widespread xenophobic violence in 2008. 'I was on my way to the shops to buy porridge for my four-year-old son when I was stopped by the police [in the inner city Johannesburg suburb of Berea] who asked for my passport and residence permit. I lied to them that I had forgotten them at home but they never gave me a chance,' Sibanda told IRIN.
Child rights activists have expressed concern over the stagnation of a juvenile justice law in Somalia's self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland, where officials say an average of 200 children are detained every month by police. According to Khadar Nour, a child protection activist in the capital, Hargeisa, children are regularly detained for minor offences and 'end up being detained with adults because there are no rehabilitation centres for children or prisons for children'.
Liberia's main opposition party says it is boycotting the November presidential election run-off unless a set of demands are addressed. George Solo, deputy campaign manager for the Congress for Democratic Change, said that the party is demanding that the head of the electoral body be changed. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the incumbent president, will face Winston Tubman in the 8 November run-off.
Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has rejected calls by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to enshrine gay rights in a new constitution. Chinamasa told the BBC that gay rights could not be 'smuggled' into the constitution because most Zimbabweans opposed it. Earlier, Tsvangirai told the BBC that gay rights were a 'human right' that should be respected.
The two cases at the International Criminal Court against six Kenyans suspected of masterminding the post-election chaos present a good opportunity for victims to get justice for the atrocious crimes, writes Shailja Patel. Kenya failed to set up a special tribunal for the purpose
The global demand for secondary education has risen exponentially, says a new United Nations report, which adds that governments, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, are having a hard time keeping up and many children are being left out. The 2011 Global Education Digest by the Institute for Statistics of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), says there are only enough seats for 36 per cent of children who want to enrol in secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa.
Cameroon's President Paul Biya promised more jobs for young people and said he would set Cameroon on the path to being an emerging nation in a speech after he was declared winner of this month's presidential election. Cameroon's supreme court said 78-year-old Biya was re-elected by a widely expected landslide in a vote that US and French authorities have said was marred by irregularities.
This report by Balancing Act analyses the nascent apps ecosystem in Africa while providing an analytical framework allowing African mobile operators or other stakeholders to decide on what strategy to adopt regarding mobile apps.
Tuberculosis is the main killer of people with HIV infection; drug-resistant strains continue to spread; and paediatric tuberculosis remains an area of neglect. In the past decade, the number of new cases of tuberculosis worldwide has barely declined, and the number of deaths remains catastrophic: more than 4,500 per day for this largely treatable disease. As a Lancet editorial has pointed out, 'A status quo in tuberculosis control is unacceptable.'
The Sudanese authorities are increasingly deporting Eritreans to their country without allowing them to claim asylum, Human Rights Watch said. On 17 October, Sudan handed over 300 Eritreans to the Eritrean military without screening them for refugee status, drawing public condemnation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, has urged governments to guarantee the free flow of information on the Internet, and to ensure that the Internet is made widely available, accessible and affordable to all. 'Governments are using increasingly sophisticated technologies and tactics which are often hidden from the public to censor online content and to monitor and identify individuals who disseminate critical or sensitive information, which frequently lead to arbitrary arrests and detention,' said La Rue, presenting his annual report to the UN General Assembly. In his report, La Rue explores how the framework of international human rights law remains relevant in determining what kinds of information can be restricted on the Internet and how such restrictions should be formulated and implemented.
Over 50 campaigners joined the family and friends of Jimmy Mubenga recently in a vigil on the first anniversary of his death. Mubenga died on 12 October 2010, after being restrained by private security guards from the company G4S on a BA flight at Heathrow airport during a deportation attempt to Angola. Jimmy's wife, five children and his wider family are still waiting, one year on, to see if the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will charge the three officers involved.
It's couched in 60 pages of near-incomprehensible economic-speak, but a radical World Bank plan to set up a new way to lend money to developing countries is being called a potential disaster for indigenous peoples, the environment and human rights, reports the London Guardian. The proposal, called A New Instrument to Advance Development Effectiveness: Programme-for-Results Lending (P4R), would lend money according to results achieved by projects.
The World Bank has amplified its rhetoric on the importance of gender equality in the context of development in recent weeks by promoting its flagship World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development and launching its Think Equal social media campaign. Unfortunately, says this article in the London Guardian, for billions of poor women and girls worldwide, the bank's track record in promoting gender equality in its investments reflects an alarming gap between rhetoric and reality.
Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, a government minister in the West African county, used his position to siphon millions of dollars for his own personal use, authorities said in two civil forfeiture complaints filed in US District Court in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. The complaints say Mangue's assets can be forfeited because he engaged in misappropriation and theft of public funds for his benefit. The US government is seeking to recover $70 million in stolen funds from Nguema.
With the US announcing that 100 troops will be sent to help combat the Lord's Resistance Army, Gary K. Busch unpacks the history of US intervention in Africa - and points to recent oil discoveries in East Africa as the real reason for the military intervention.
In July, Carmen Ludwig took part in the World Congress of Education International in Cape Town, speaking to a number of activists and occupants of land. Here are her thoughts.
The Botswana government gave the United States the green light to explore the possibility of establishing an Africa Command (Africom) base in the country when the issue was raised four years ago, American diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks show. The revelations could provide ammunition for the ANC Youth League in the disciplinary hearing by the ANC of league leader Julius Malema and other league officials. Malema has been charged in connection with his call for regime change in Botswana. He also described President Ian Khama as an imperialist puppet, in part in connection with claims that Botswana was talking to the US about an Africom base.
Malawi's fertiliser subsidy scheme, credited for transforming famine-prone Malawi into an exporter of maize, is in danger. The executive director of the Malawi Economic Justice Network, Dalitso Kubalasa, explained the government's woes in précis.'Fuel and fertiliser are scarce because the suppliers can't get the forex needed to pay for the stuff. There's no forex in Malawi's banks because Malawi has allowed itself to become dependent on a single forex earner, tobacco, and the tobacco price slumped last year. The freeze in Western aid tied Malawi's other hand, as it were,' he said.
Political parties have welcomed President Jacob Zuma’s decision to axe Cabinet members Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Sicelo Shiceka. Zuma announced in Pretoria that Mahlangu-Nkabinde would be replaced as public works minister, and Shiceka as traditional affairs and co-operative governance minister. Zuma's government had been beset by controversy for several months. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela had urged Zuma to take strong action against those involved in leases for police office space, as well as Shiceka for his abuse of public money.
Qaddafi’s shadow will continue to be felt in Libya and neighbouring countries, especially Chad, says this briefing from the International Crisis Group. 'The upheavals that preceded and followed his fall have created new and potential problems, including massive displacement of populations; tribal tensions within Libya and racist attacks against nationals of sub-Saharan countries; a possible resurgence of Islamism; and the proliferation of fighters and weapons. It is too early to say whether the changes will evolve into medium- and long-term factors of instability in the region, notably in the Sahel and Darfur.'
The Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Patrick Chinamasa on 12 October 2011 said the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act will not be amended. In his concluding remarks in Geneva, Switzerland, on the occasion of the adoption of Zimbabwe's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report by the working group of the Human Rights Council (HRC), Chinamasa defended the two laws saying they were there to stay.
This year, 44 journalists have already been murdered, says the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), which launched a review of press freedom around the world during World Newspaper Week, held from 10 to 15 October in Vienna, Austria. During the events, which included its Congress and World Editors Forum, WAN-IFRA presented the Golden PEN of Freedom to Dawit Isaak, jailed in Eritrea since 2001. The Golden Pen of Press Freedom 2011 was accepted by Esayas Isaak on behalf of his brother, who has not been heard from since 2005. The Golden Pen of Press Freedom 2011 was accepted by Esayas Isaak on behalf of his brother.
'Hungry in the City' is a collection of stories from people in developing countries around the world who explain how they are surviving in an era of higher food prices, inflation and hunger. These case studies are offered for use alongside articles on food price hikes, inflation, urban living and hunger.
The Zimbabwean government through its Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Hon. Patrick Chinamasa has only accepted 81 recommendations to improve the country’s precarious human rights situation and to improve compliance with international human rights instruments and obligations out of 177 recommendations which were tabled following Zimbabwe’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held on 10 October 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Burundi has retained the top position as the most bribery prone country in East Africa, according to the East African Bribery Index 2011. Burundi has a bribery prevalence level of 37.9 per cent up from 36.7 per cent in 2010, while Uganda and Tanzania have been ranked second and third at 33.9 per cent and 31.6 per cent respectively, both up from 33 per cent and 28.6 per cent in 2010.
Cutting off peoples’ limbs - in most cases their hands - was one of the brutal strategies used by members of the Revolutionary United Front to terrify people to support them. Some 27,000 Sierra Leoneans are estimated to have been disabled or have had one or more of their limbs amputated during the 1991-2002 civil war. In 2004 the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC), set up to try to deliver accountability for human rights abuses, issued a report recommending that amputees, war widows, children, victims of sexual violence and the seriously war-wounded, should receive reparations in the form of free education for children, free health care and skills training to be managed by the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA). But many have received nothing.
Nigeria's drive to boost the quality and processing of cassava, launched two months ago as part of a larger plan to turn the country into a powerhouse for food production, now has a leading cassava scientist at its helm. But the approach to agriculture being adopted by Nigeria has been criticised by a board member of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for failing to acknowledge the needs and capabilities of peasant farmers. John Pickett, an IITA board member and a researcher at the UK-based agricultural research centre Rothamsted Research, was concerned that industrialising Nigeria's agriculture could have 'disastrous' consequences for its farmers. 'By and large it is just about making money out of industrial agriculture. I am not in any way convinced that the green revolution has much to offer the large majority of farmers in Africa.'
In this brief, researcher William Odendaal of the Land, Environment and Development Project at the Namibian Legal Assistance Centre, examines some emerging trends and dynamics in changing power relations in rural Namibian communities due to emerging new elites and the threats to subsistence farmers’ access to communal land and natural resources. 'Land enclosures mean that powerful individuals have appropriated communal land for personal use at the expense of many communal farmers who do not have sufficient access to grazing land.'
This debt map from The Economist shows the global level of public debt, broken down by country, percentage of GDP, public debt per person and annual debt percentage change. With public debt being at the centre of the financial crisis in Europe, the map offers a fascinating insight into the levels of public debt in some countries.
In the context of the South African government's relationship with non-profits, the author of this article writes that there is growing pressure on non-profits to operate more like businesses and generate ‘earned’ income. This is being felt worldwide as governments make massive spending cuts and philanthropic giving falls in the face of global recession. 'The problem with the income-generation imperative, however, is that NPOs are established to deliver services that do not generate income. They are inherently unsuited to business as they have social development priorities that limit profitability.'
NGOs in Uganda continue to heavily depend on donations from foreign sources, says this report on NGO sustainability on the website of the Uganda National NGO Forum. 'Grants and donations to NGOs are still the primary source of income to at least 90% of NGOs. In 2010, there was a reduction in foreign grants inflow in Uganda owing to the global economic downturn and financial crisis and changes in development policies in previously major funding countries like Netherlands. Some traditionally financially sound NGOs were forced to scale-down significantly due to funding cuts.'
Europe's largest and most influential biotech industry group, whose members include Monsanto, Bayer and other GM companies, is recruiting high-profile 'ambassadors' to lobby European leaders on GM policy. Green MP Caroline Lucas said: 'This brazen attempt by EuropaBio to recruit covert "ambassadors" to "change the debate" on GM is yet further proof that the powerful GM lobby will stop at nothing to push its hugely unpopular and unnecessary products onto European citizens. We need far stronger regulation on corporate lobbyists across the EU to prevent this kind of insidious behind-the-scenes manoeuvring from seriously undermining our democratic system.'
The idea that the few dominate the many will not come as news to those gathered either to occupy Wall Street or to occupy everywhere. But up until now it has been just an intuition that a few corporations control the world. Not any more. A team of Swiss mathematicians just proved that out of over 43,000 transnational corporations (TNCs), relatively few control almost 80 per cent of the global economy. Find out who has the power by clicking on the link to this article.
With 31 October marking the point at which the global population reaches a staggering seven billion, this National Geographic page collects a year's worth of reporting looking at all aspects of population growth - demographics, food security, climate change, fertility trends, managing biodiversity.
Reporters Without Borders has called for a thorough and impartial investigation into the fatal shooting of Zakariya Isa, a reporter and cameraman for the state-owned Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), in Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern state of Borno, on 22 October. His murder has been claimed by Boko Haram, an armed Islamist movement operating in northern Nigeria.
Pambazuka News 553: Nato occupies Libya; Famine, genocide and the Senegalese Spring
Pambazuka News 553: Nato occupies Libya; Famine, genocide and the Senegalese Spring
In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...
The year 2010 endured 950 natural disasters, 90 per cent of which were weather-related and cost the global community well over 130 billion dollars. From wildfires in Brazil to record rainfall in the United States to the severe drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, it has become clear to many that quick and radical decisions need to be made about the world's future. One of the biggest advocates of this position has been the Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI) which, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank released a report recently calling on decision makers to enact quick and efficient resolutions to multiple and chronic environmental crises.
DePaul’s Program in African and Black Diaspora Studies provides its students with a systematic, interdisciplinary, and integrated course of study of Africa and the Black Diaspora. Students will have an opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in African and Black Diaspora Studies with a concentration in Africa, Black America, or Afro-Caribbean and Latin America.
In this video, Nnimmo Bassey, head of Friends of the Earth International, dismisses the biotech industry's claims that GM crops require fewer pesticides and produce higher yields.
'Because I am a Girl: The State of the World’s Girls 2011 - So, what about boys?' is the fifth in a series of annual reports published by Plan examining the rights of girls throughout their childhood, adolescence and as young women. The report shows that far from being an issue just for women and girls, gender is also about boys and men, and that this needs to be better understood if we are going to have a positive impact on societies and economies.
This book, 'Confronting Female Genital Mutilation: The Role of Youth and ICTs in Changing Africa' reports on an innovative research and action project amongst girls and boys in Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal to explore whether young people's use of information technology could contribute to the abandonment of FGM. It shows how, in the era of 'globalised citizenship', a cross-sectional vision that puts young people and gender at the centre of development can produce real change.
Stereotypes and misconceptions linked to sexual orientation and gender can have adverse consequences on the health of lesbians. The aim of this project from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association is to demystify 'myths and realities' on certain aspects of lesbian health, such as breast and cervical cancers, HIV and sexually transmitted infections and well-being.
This mapping-tool supports NGO's and service providing organisations to get an overall picture of Violence Against Women (VAW) in their country/region. What is the prevalance of the various forms of VAW? What measures are being taken by governments, service providing organisations and NGOs to address VAW? Who is working on which topic, and what are the blind spots? The tool helps to collect, to structure and to evaluate relevant information.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC) is calling for Southern African Development Community (SADC) governments to put in place policies that recognise the rights of migrants and to join forces with regional humanitarian organisations to eliminate problems faced by migrants in the region. IFRC Southern Africa representative Ken Odur said migrant 'needs' must be addressed irrespective of their legal status in a host country. IFRC and its member National Red Cross Societies in the Southern Africa region have launched a long-term and intra-region initiative that seeks to address migration-related humanitarian challenges while promoting respect for diversity and social inclusion in Southern Africa.
The Democratic Left Front (DLF) has called for the immediate release of Simphiwe Zwane, the Operation Khanyisa Movement (OKM) councillor in the Johannesburg City Council. On Friday 21 October 2011 Zwane was arrested at her home in Thembelihle – the shack settlement in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, where there have been sustained community protests for services, housing and unemployment. She is being held at the Lenasia Police Station cells. 'Zwane’s arrest confirms that the repressive organs of the state are directed at people and workers engaged in protest action.'
Tens of thousands of refugees living in Kenyan cities will continue to suffer police harassment, lack of protection, violation of their human rights and discrimination, as long as the government fails to properly implement recent legislation, says a report by the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG), International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK). 'The rights of such refugees to move freely within Kenya and reside in urban areas are currently unclear,' Sara Pavanello, a researcher with HPG at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), said during the launch of 'Hidden and Exposed: Urban Refugees in Nairobi'.
A flare-up in inter-ethnic fighting between communities in the northern Kenyan region of Isiolo over pasture and water has left at least 14 people dead and affected learning as schools closed amid rising insecurity, say officials. Borana and Turkana pastoralists clashed several times between 13 and 18 October, according to UN reports. On 14 October, for example, seven people were shot dead in Tractor village, Ngaremara Division, Isiolo. According to local media reports, they included two 12-year-old children, who were dragged out of their huts and shot as their parents watched.
Tunisian election officials are counting votes after Sunday's election, the first free poll of the Arab Spring. More than 90 per cent of registered voters turned out to cast their ballots, officials say. Tunisians are electing a 217-seat assembly that will draft a constitution and appoint an interim government.
Senegalese opposition parties are incensed after a court sentenced an activist to two years in prison. Mr Malick Nozel Seck was charged with issuing death threats to the five members of the country's Constitutional Council. In a two-page document sent to the Council three weeks ago, Mr Seck allegedly said that the lives of the members would be endangered if they approved the candidacy of President Abdoulaye Wade for next year’s polls.
Guinea’s Justice ministry has confirmed that 51 persons have been arrested and detained in connection with the failed assassination attempt on President Alpha Condé last July. The figure contrasts with another one given by Attorney-General William Fernandez last Saturday. Mr Fernandez had told a press conference that only 38 people were in custody over the case, among them 27 military personnel.
Al Shabaab militants were on the back foot on Saturday evening as they faced heavy bombardment from multiple fronts from a combined force of Kenyan troops, US drones, African Union peacekeepers and Transitional Federal Government fighters. Reports from the battlefront indicated that Kenyan troops were advancing towards four al Shabaab-controlled towns as they launched a final push to capture the Kismayu port and Afmadow in Central Jubaland.
The National Transitional Council (NTC) has declared the liberation of Libya, eight-months after the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule began. The NTC's forces were largely comprised of loosely organised local armed groups that sprang up in towns where citizens wished to see Gaddafi's rule ended. These groups remain armed, and it is unclear what role they expect to play going forward following the announcement.
In this video, Al Jazeera reports on a coalition of activists who have taken the Ugandan government to court in a landmark lawsuit regarding the cases of two women who bled to death unattended while giving birth in hospitals. The activists argue that the women's rights to life and to maternal healthcare have been violated.
The international acclaim for the Libyan revolution is being tempered by growing revulsion at the treatment of the bodies of Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim. The UN has called for a full investigation into the circumstances of the dictator's death. Video footage recording the minutes after Gaddafi's capture last Thursday, when his convoy came under Nato and rebel attack, shows an alive but injured Gaddafi pleading for his life.
A small number of photographers and poets in Kenya have started the second phase of a creative project called ‘Koroga’. Photographers create stunning, ‘alternative’ images of Kenya and poets add short text to create slides, the ‘Koroga’, that say something imaginative, something new. All of the very accessible and diverse slides are ‘free to view’ online.
Senior officials of the Hawks and the South African Police Services are conducting an illegal 'rendition' with their Zimbabwean counterparts, the Sunday Times has reported. The newspaper reported that the government agencies arrest 'suspects' and illegally send them across the Beit Bridge border to be murdered. Rendition is the illegal kidnapping and transfer of prisoner from one country to another.
Fourteen people were rushed to hospital after what police say is a grenade was lobbed into a bar in Nairobi around 1am on Monday. Anti-terrorism police have sealed off the bar - Mwaura's club - following the blast that comes soon after Kenya's recent offensive into neighbouring Somalia in pursuit of the al Shabaab militia. Witnesses said two of those removed from the bar after the blast appeared dead, but police told Nation.co.ke they could not confirm any deaths.
For millennia, people have coped with drought in the Horn of Africa, comprised mainly of drylands. Yet today, more than 13 million people there are starving because of political instability, poor government policies and failure to invest in the world's poorest people, say experts here in Changwon. Two billion people, half of whom are extremely impoverished, live in drylands around the world, according to Anne Juepner of the Drylands Development Centre at the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Nairobi. Governments often invest very little in infrastructure like roads and schools in these poor regions. Similarly, development agencies and other donors don't think these are the best places to make investments, according to Juepner.
Identity serves a large demographic that includes the LGBT community in Kenya, sex workers and likewise, the straight population.
COVAW (K) works to promote and advance women human rights through working towards a society free from all forms of violence against women. Since inception, COVAW (K) has fought and continues to fight valiantly to influence the public opinion on violence against women so that it would be regarded as a crime and a human rights violation instead of a commonplace domestic habit.