Lack of progress in peace talks between Uganda's government and northern rebels has dismayed women uprooted by 20 years of war and they want to play a bigger role in the dialogue, aid workers said on Thursday.

Leakages of highly toxic sewerage water from the Rundu Sewerage Ponds may in the near future cause the contamination of the Kavango River. Black sewerage water gushing out from these ponds and flowing downstream into the river may pose a serious health hazard for the people in the Kavango as well as the neighbouring countries of Angola and Botswana.

The UK and the other countries of Europe are signatories to children's rights conventions and yet they are systematically robbing a whole group of children of their basic, human rights by classifying them not as children but as foreigners and asylum seekers.

The third Joint Economic and Trade Commission China-Angola is taking place from the 14th to the 16th of March in Beijing. This meeting signifies the augmentation in ties between these two nations in addition to the fact that Angola is already China's largest trade partner in Africa.

"Brain-drain", or the loss of skilled professionals to other parts of the world, is a major contributor to the slow pace of development on the African continent. According to estimates by the International Organization for Migration, the continent was already losing in excess of 20,000 skilled individuals per year in the decade of the 90s. This loss of human capital continues to negatively impact the continents ability to nurture autonomous development, given that the brain drain tends to apply more to the professional skills that are most in need. Ironically, Africa, in turn spends US$ 4 billion per annum to recruit foreign experts to meet skills shortages. This amounts to 35% of development aid given to Africa.

The issue of labour migration is indeed complex, and there are a number of factors that contribute to the exodus of skilled and unskilled individuals from their home countries. Aside from the proverbial 'greener pastures', many individuals leave due to underdeveloped and exploitative labour markets in their countries, corruption and mismanagement in recruitment procedures both in the private and public sectors, as well as unfavourable social, economic and political conditions. The stark reality is that more people would probably leave if they were able to.

Beyond the din of political leaders decrying the loss of skilled people while condemning the developed world for robbing the continent of its human capital, there are no easy solutions to the problem. The introduction of oppressive emigration policies that curtail citizens' freedom of movement increases extra-legal movement of people across borders, with all the attendant risks. Until the economic, political and social conditions improve in countries, the brain-drain will continue.

Research is increasingly focusing on 'virtual participation' by citizens abroad in the development of their countries. This refers to the ability of foreign-based citizens to contribute to the development of their countries. The primary way in which this occurs is through financial remittances. According to World Bank Data, global remittances amounted to US$80 billion. In Africa alone, they amounted to US$17 billion per year, US$2billion more than the amount the continent received in foreign direct investment. Research studies have shown that although remittances have a significant impact on development, a lot more needs to be done before the true benefits are recognised.

Firstly, there is not enough widespread information on remittance patterns on the continent. This is crucial from a policy stand-point, since it gives and indication as to whether there is sufficient economic benefit from the labour migration to mitigate the brain-drain. Secondly, most countries lack the mechanisms in place to formalize and adequately exploit the potential developmental value of the remittances. As a result of this a significant percentage of remittances are informal and difficult to quantify, or positively harness.

Remittances have the potential to generate savings and investment, and overall development, but there needs to be an enabling regulatory and policy framework in place. This would allow for cost-effective and accessible money transfer facilities, rational currency exchange rate regimes and institutions that offer support to the optimal deployment of these funds. The formalization of remittances would also help to head off the potential negative effects such as unsustainable modes of consumption, economies of affection and dependency relationships, all of which impact negatively on sustainable development.

Whereas the ultimate goal is for the continent to be able to nurture and keep its human resources by creating an enabling environment, the short-term aim should be to harness this potential by opening up more channels for virtual participation. The issue of remittances must not however detract from the discourse on addressing the brain-drain, nor worse yet, be seen as an excuse for the deliberate raiding of the continent's brain-basket. If participation in the global economy is inevitable, it must benefit Africa as a major contributor.

Further Reading

World Bank - Africa Region Working Paper No. 64

United Nations - Remittances and FDI
http://www.un.org/africa/osaa/press/Promoting%20International%20support%20for%20peace%20and%20development%20%85.pdf

Global Development Research Centre
http://www.gdrc.org/icm/remittance/more-remittance.html

Institute for Security Studies
http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/Monographs/No112/Contents.htm

International Development Research Centre
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-71249-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

It is incredibly important for people involved in struggles of different kinds to have space to share and learn from one another ways and strategies to strengthen their struggles. Women's groups, youth groups, land rights activists, environmental activists, etc., all have unique ways of expressing their disgust of multinational corporations' dictatorship over the world's wealth and people's livelihood. In Nairobi, Kenya we were again reminded of the strength of this space and the contribution it offers to each of these groups, reinforcing once again that "another world is possible."

I went to Kenya with a delegation of Abahlali and Land Matters Rural Network. Part of it was to expose the delegation to this space. More importantly, was to consciously commit to the idea that this is the space for grassroots comrades who are involved in these struggles to meet their counterparts from other countries to share their experiences. Since these comrades have been part of the workshop series "connecting to the WSF" that Mark Butler was chairing, it was very important to see the connections between what they thought WSF is or should be and what it really is.

I had been in one WSF before (2005 in Brazil) and a couple conferences of a similar type. The feeling of being part of a movement that actually believes that neo-liberal globalization can be overthrown is just unbelievably overwhelming. At the WSF people are not afraid to say what they think of Bush, Blair, Israeli occupation of Palestine, World Bank, IMF, unjust agrarian reforms, destruction of natural resources for more profit, etc.

I really thought it is much more powerful when this is shared by people who are actually involved in these sort of struggles, who will not have powerpoint presentations, but speak from the bottom of their hearts about hardships they endure under neo-liberal globalization in all its forms. It made me feel so angry all over again about the way our governments buy into the deals with multinationals, masking it as ways and means to improve people's livelihoods. I heard women from La Via Campesina saying it, also people of Kenya who live in shacks of Kiberia and Korokocho, the Anti Eviction Campaign, Abahlali, women from the LM Rural Network, etc.

It also made me realize that every time the organized poor start speaking for themselves it creates a serious crisis. NGOs overtly and or covertly try by all means to undermine movements of the poor. Some South African NGOs would literally compete for space and activities with the movements of the poor. With justice in reign, efforts of the organized poor always got rewarded. This was seen as hungry children of Nairobi demanded food from one of the stalls, and got it; ABM and AEC occupied one stall for the whole week; poor people of Kenya got into the WSF for free without paying any shilling; ABM and AEC co-hosting a session with CLP in one of the rooms.

Abahlali screening their own film at the Slum Theatre.

In the final analysis, I say, WSF is indeed a space for struggles. It is a space for struggles of the marginalized groups and formations. It is itself a place to struggle, as struggles of the marginalized come face to face with the struggles of their oppressors if not sideliners. It is for struggles against loneliness and ridicule by vanguardists. It is an awkward space where there is always a ferocious clash of fundamentals, between right and left, but more increasingly between left and left.

Overall it was an excellent experience of being with comrades whose struggle I really respect. To know more about people, to get confused together about the currency, to share meals and really rely on each other for safety, and to fight together for what we believe is just.

I guess now that I am away from WSF I will find time and means to support committed comrades in their struggles to connect to the rich experience shared and discovered in Nairobi. I will journey with the formations of the marginalized as they search and discover meanings for their struggles. It will be difficult of course to learn the culture of being led, since with all resources of an NGO it is very easy to join the struggle from the front.

Thanks to CLP for their commitment to justice, it is not going to be easy but its worth doing.

Aluta Continua!!!

* David Ntseng is an activist and a member of the The Abahlali baseMjondolo (Shack Dwellers) Movement in Durban

The Darfur conflict, which has already left 400,000 dead, has destabilised Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic. At a summit in Cannes last month, all three countries agreed to respect each other’s territorial integrity, but the diplomatic activity conceals an international political deadlock over potential oil wealth.

The Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa, OSSREA is organizing a workshop, whose prime objective is to develop and in some instances upgrade the skills of participants in peace research so as to enhance teaching and research capacity of UPEACE Africa Programme partners in Africa. Letters of application and supporting documents should reach UPEACE Africa Programme no later than Friday, March 30 2007.

An interim analysis from the Rakai Health Sciences Program Data and Safely Monitoring Board indicates that there may be a heightened risk of HIV transmission to female partners of recently circumcised men if sexual activity takes place before the surgical wound is completely healed. It also calls into question whether circumcision indirectly benefits uninfected female partners of HIV-infected men.

The internet was originally created as an open space for communication and sharing of information as well as a sight for freedom of expression. It has now become a place of danger for many. Danger of exposure of a personal nature, danger to those who criticise governments and multinationals, danger to proponents of free speech. But there are ways of fighting back against censorship and attacks on privacy. Dmitri Vitaliev explains how.

Imagine teaching Biology to 9th graders and realising that the material for this day's lesson, be it on HIV or contraception, has been blocked by your friendly ISP's (Internet Service Provider) web content filter as falling into the 'pornography' category of its software. In fact, all websites containing the word 'sex' get routinely blocked, be they about online escort agencies or anthropology.

Imagine two burly types appearing at your door with questions regarding the email you sent to your overseas friend last week. Yes, you did mention in your message how unhappy you were with the elections in your country, but you clearly remember sending it just to him. How did these guys hear about it?

Imagine being exposed in your local newspaper as an admirer of communism, or fascism, or as having bad breath, venereal disease or fondness for marijuana? You had kept these secrets to yourself, merely satisfying your urge for knowledge on the Internet at home. You did not sign up to any mailing lists, did not create any accounts or logins - how did this information get out?

These and many other scary scenarios are becoming reality with ever worrying frequency. Not only people are unaware of the dangers they face when using the Internet, they are actively nonchalant to the fact that ALL email they send and the Internet sites they visit are being recorded, and this information is being stored by global corporations and governments for reasons of homeland security, financial benefit etc.

According to Reporteurs Sans Frontiers [1] there are currently 60 people imprisoned for their activities on the Internet. “Cyberdissidents” is the name attributed to those who are persecuted for publishing or seeking information online. Although the majority of such cases occur primarily in China, the trend is quickly spreading, with countries like Syria, Tunisia, Iran, Vietnam, Egypt, Lybia etc. actively pursuing and jailing those wishing to express their opinions on the World Wide Web.

Where did it all go wrong? How did the Internet - a revolution in global communication, inclusiveness and understanding turn into a watchdog ready to pounce on us for a wrong word here, a bit of curiosity there?

The first bits...

The foundations of today's Internet were laid in the 70's by the people working for ARPA (Advanced Research Project Agency) in the United States. Robert Khan demonstrated the ARPANET during a Computer Communications Conference in 1972 and laid the first stone for the grand daddy of the Internet.

According to the Internet Statistics Survey [2], there were over 1 billion Internet users in January 2006. It has become a primary method of information storage and exchange for many people. In its essence, it encourages participation and global community awareness.

In the beginning, most people assumed that the Internet would not be popular, for too much investment was needed to make it a useful source of information, similar to a library. The breakthrough came when it became clear that anyone could construct web pages and contribute to them. Amazon.com was flooded with book reviews, while enthusiasts of various sports or hobbies would start their own websites, inviting like-minded people from anywhere in the world to join them in discussions, thus creating a virtual community. People embraced the technology and the possibilities offered by the Internet.

The Internet crossed administrative and geographic boundaries with the ease and speed never seen before. It provided a pioneering method of communication, in which one's voice could be heard simultaneously by all those connected. As opposed to traditional media, where information is sourced, rationed, edited and summarised – on the Internet people choose what they want. They are not fed political propaganda, celebrity news or sports round-ups unless they choose them. Users select what they want to read, who they want to communicate with and which truth is the right one for them. We hear of events minutes after they happen without any journalist present at the scene. All it takes to tell the story one has just witnessed (with photos and possibly audio/video) to a worldwide audience and at no cost is a single person with a mobile phone, or sitting in an Internet café. Unsurprisingly, this has caused a major headache for the countries wishing to maintain political, social and religious freedoms of their citizens within their grasp and influence.

Who bytes?

The Internet was meant to be an open platform, connecting the world through a protocol that made communication easy and instantaneous. Computer software was written to assist us in difficult tasks and make this process easier and quicker to perform. Neither had considered security an important feature for the digital world of tomorrow. And both have been catching up ever since.

In essence, the Internet is just a bigger version of your office network. It is also just a bunch of computers, connected by cables, and assisted by servers, routers and modems. Even though your message on the Internet may cross an ocean via an underground cable, bounce off two different satellites and be delivered to someone's mobile phone on a moving train - the system resembles an updated version of the telephone exchange. And when you are an operator, or a wire tapper, or a jealous boyfriend - all you need to do is create an additional receiver on the communicating line and you will hear the entire conversation that goes on. The same with the Internet. Anyone can intercept and read your message on its way around the computers of the world. And so it happens.

Internet surveillance systems have been implemented at national levels for some time. In 1998, the Russian government passed a law stating that all ISPs must install a computer black box with a link back to the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB) to record all Internet activity of its citizens at their own cost. The system is known as SORM-2. The United States introduced a similar system - CARNIVORE. China’s ‘Golden Shield’ project was announced on 2001. Rather than relying solely on the national Intranet, separated from the global Internet by a massive firewall, China is preparing to build surveillance intelligence into the network, allowing it to 'see', 'hear' and 'think'[3]. A global surveillance system known as ECHELON (reportedly run by the United States in cooperation with Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) was set up at the beginning of the Cold War for intelligence gathering and has developed into a network of intercept stations around the world. Its primary purpose, according to the report [4], is to intercept private and commercial communications, not military intelligence.

Surveillance and monitoring techniques have passed from the hands of intelligence personnel to the hardware and software systems, operated by private companies and government agencies. Phone bugging and letter opening has been superseded by the technology that allows monitoring of
everyone and everything at once. Now, we are all under suspicion as a result of the surveillance and filtering systems our governments install on the Internet. The technology does not often differentiate between users as it waits for certain keywords to appear in our email and Internet searches and, when triggered, alerts surveillance teams or blocks our communications.

For instance, when surfing the Internet in Iran, if you were to type in any of the following words into the Google search engine, your query will be blocked and fail:

condom
annmarie
chandice
chastity
bath
belly
dita
ebony [5]

Apart from feeling puzzled while guessing how someone searching for the word 'bath' could be plotting to undermine the current Iranian government, you have to bear in mind that the above words are for English languages web searches, and if you wish to surf in Farsi from Iran, you would encounter many other words, including 'woman', 'human rights' and so on.

Surfing the Internet from Hoi Chi Minh city (Vietnam), you would find that access to websites from Human Rights Watch, Hao Hao Buddhism Organisation, Committee for Religious Freedom, all opposition and most pro-democracy sites and many others is blocked [6]. Your Internet browser will show a blank page, explaining that the URL (the address of the website) is not allowed. These type of denial messages differ from one filtering state to another. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, you will be presented with an online form to fill in, should you wish to protest against the censoring of a website. Needless to say that few would be willing to submit their name and address as those opposing the government policy to the communication police. Browsing to a banned website from Tunisia will just bring up a message saying that nothing exists under that name (a 403 error in techspeak). Repeated attempts of access to blocked websites will cause your whole Internet connection to crash, should you be surfing from China. Probably the most sophisticated surveillance and censorship system anywhere in the world, the Chinese filters will begin to block any Internet queries should you repeat your attempts of accessing a banned website, and you could soon expect a visit from the police to your house.

The Chinese are able to pinpoint an Internet operation from your computer to the house where you live because every time we are on the Internet we receive what is known as an IP address. It acts as a unique identifier, like a postal address, to pinpoint our computer on the global network. Any IP address can be traced back to your Internet Service Provider and, more often than not, they keep a list of which client gets what IP address at a given time. In most countries ISPs are obliged to cooperate with the local government and provide details of who was browsing under what IP. This methodology was used to crackdown a worldwide Internet paedophile ring last month [7]. Whilst we may all agree with using this technology for the purpose of catching paedophiles and terrorists, the problem arises when we realise that these methods are being used to trace and punish a wide variety of Internet users operating within international legislations and moral covenants. You and I, in other words.

Writing this article in a local café with a wireless Internet connection for its customers, I was able to perform some surveillance of my own. Choosing the unsuspecting café punters sitting around the room on their Apple laptops, I switched on a 'sniffing' program that I had downloaded for free from the Internet [8] a few minutes ago. Within 30 seconds I was able to read that Roger was writing to Jessica about meeting up next week at this very café to discuss some sort of a publishing event. If I were up to malice, I could have written Jessica another email, purporting to be Roger and change our place of meeting...

Biting back...

Newton's third law of motion states that 'For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction'. It applies to the Internet as well. In lieu of the surveillance and censorship infrastructures described above, the Internet community has come up with many options of bypassing these blocks and protecting your privacy. Tools range from a simple webpage that will help you to circumvent the censorship rules in your country to installing on your computer an anonymity system that would nullify the majority of sophisticated surveillance and filtering systems.

Whenever you cannot access a website from your country, you could ask another computer on the Internet to do it for you. This is known as using a proxy server, as this intermediary computer becomes a proxy between you and your desired website. There are numerous proxy services on the Internet, the easiest of which are web-based proxies. This means that all you need is to access a website, from which you can continue to browse the Internet unrestricted by your in-country censorship rules. A popular service is provided by Peacefire (www.peacefire.org), and if you sign up to their mailing list, you will receive news of all new web-based proxy sites they are setting up every fortnight or so.

If you have a group of friends in a country where the Internet is not censored, you could ask them to install a proxy server on their computer for you to use. A recent program, released by the CitizensLab in Toronto, has made this process incredibly simple and quite secure. The program is called Psiphon (www.psiphon.civisec.org) and will allow anyone with an Internet connection and the Windows operating system to install a web-based proxy on their computer. Your friend will then provide you with the IP number and password for accessing their proxy. Since this system is based on closed trust networks (small groups of friends), it is quite difficult for the surveillance agencies to detect and block.

A more sophisticated approach would be to join one of the anonymity networks that exist on the Internet. Browsing the Internet through such a network would disguise your true identity from any computer or website and will probably make any filtering in your country powerless to stop you. One such network is Tor (http://tor.eff.org), with an interface in many different languages and a huge team of supporters and contributors around the world. When you are using Tor, the ISP or the national surveillance agencies do not know what websites you are looking at and hence cannot prevent you from doing so. The website that receives your query does not know where this query originated. You are even hidden from the anonymity system itself - i.e. no one in the Tor network can successfully pinpoint you to a certain location.

There are many other tricks and methods to achieve a higher level of privacy and security on the Internet. They include different types of encryption - a way to make your information completely unreadable to all but the intended party; steganography - hiding text in a picture or sound file or even in other text; choosing good passwords to protect your Internet accounts and so on. There is not enough space in this article to dwell upon them all, but you could refer to numerous publications and blogs out there on the Internet.

Please note that in the world of security nothing is 100% guaranteed. You must be aware of the security provided by the tool you choose and its possible vulnerabilities. In other words, should you wish to increase the security and privacy of your operations, you must take time to study the possible risks and outcomes yourself, in order to decide which is the right tool for you and when you should refrain form using it.

Last bits...

This article touches but a tip of the iceberg of all the issues of Internet security. I hope it makes you feel a little worried for this is often the only way to bring about change in your habits and processes. If security and privacy are important to your work and leisure activities, then don't feel too comfortable next time you sit down behind a computer. There is a Big Brother out there and he is probably watching you.

But don't throw up your hands in despair. Install one of the tools mentioned above or those available on the Internet. Many do not agree with the way the Internet is being reigned and controlled. Start fighting back for that very basic reward - your rights.

Dmitri Vitaliev is the author of the recently published book titled 'Digital Security and Privacy for Human Rights Defenders' [9] (http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/manual/en/esecman/) and the co-editor of the NGO in a Box - Security Edition (http://security.ngoinabox.org) project.

[1]
[2] http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
[3] Privacy International www.privacyinternational.org - Privacy and Human Rights Report 2004
[4] European Parliament, Temporary Committee on the Echelon Interception System (2001) Report on the Existence of a Global System for the Interception of Private and Commercial Communications (ECHELON interception system) , May 18, 2001.
[5]
[7] www.wireshark.org
[9] http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/manual/en/esecman/

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/295/Genetically-modified-rice.j... introduction of genetically modified rice into Africa is being justified by presenting it as a solution to diarrhoea, responsible for 2,000,000 deaths per year (mainly children) in the global South. However there are other very simple means of reducing cases of diarrhoea such as improved sanitation and cleaner, free water supplies.

On 6 March 2007, it was reported in the media that a new variety of Genetically Modified (GM) rice containing human genes obtained preliminary approval from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for large-scale planting in Kansas. California-based Ventria Bioscience, the developer of the rice, claims that it can be used to treat diarrhea. A BBC TV report on 6 March 2007 showed images of African children in a hospital as an example of some supposed beneficiaries of the new rice.

Friends of the Earth Africa believes that our continent does not need genetically modified solutions to diarrhea and condemns the use of African children as a tool to promote the new GM rice produced by Ventria Bioscience. Diarrhea is an illness that has well-known causes, and proven, inexpensive solutions. Ventria’s GM rice is unproven, unnecessary, and a distraction from ongoing programmes to save children suffering from diarrhea on our continent.

Monitoring activities undertaken by Friends of the Earth Africa in 2006 revealed that Africa has been contaminated by illegal GM rice LL601 in Ghana and Sierra Leone, main African recipients of rice as commercial imports and food aid from the US.

The dust raised by the revelation of the contamination of the food chain by an illegal rice variety, LibertyLink Rice601 (LLRice 601), had barely settled when news arrived of new contamination episodes in other parts of the world. On the 5 March 2007, the USDA announced that it was prohibiting the planting of another type of long-grain rice after confirmation of a new case of contamination. The genetically modified contaminant detected in a long-grain rice variety known as Clearfield CL131 was not authorised for commercialisation. Therefore, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) decided to prevent its planting and distribution.

Just a few days before this latest contamination episode, it was reported that the USDA had given preliminary approval to a large-scale planting of a new variety of GM rice containing human genes. The rice, produced by a company called Ventria Bioscience, has been engineered to produce recombinant human milk proteins to be extracted from the rice for a variety of suggested uses. In the media, Ventria claims these proteins will be used in oral rehydration solutions to treat diarrhea. But elsewhere, the company says it will use them as supplements in yogurt, sports drinks and granola bars.

If that earlier contamination was worrisome, the USDA’s support for planting up to 3200 acres of Ventria’s 'pharmaceutical rice' is even more so. We are particularly concerned that this massive planting of drug-containing rice is going forward even though the US Food and Drug Administration has refused to approve Ventria’s recombinant pharmaceutical proteins as safe.

The first GM food crop containing human genes is set to raise many socio-economic, cultural as well as ethical questions, besides environmental and health concerns.

This rice is being produced by Ventria Bioscience, a biotech company based in California, USA. According to Ventria Bioscience, the rice, which will be planted on up to 3,200 acres in Kansas, is endowed with human genes that produce recombinant versions of human proteins, including bacteria-fighting compounds found in breast milk and saliva. If Ventria’s application is fully approved by USDA, this will be the largest planting of a drug-producing food crop in the US.

Ventria has been field-testing rice engineered with human genes since 1996 to produce three pharmaceutical proteins–lactoferrin, lysozyme and serum albumin. When farmers, consumers and food companies protested against their field trials in California and Missouri, concerned that the engineered crops would contaminate rice destined for the food supply, Ventria shifted to Kansas.

According to analysts, pharmaceutical (pharma) crops such as Ventria's rice pose a threat to human food supply and public health, as the proteins they contain are intended to be biologically active in humans, yet have not undergone adequate testing or received FDA approval as drugs, and thus may thus be harmful if eaten accidentally. The chances of contamination are also high when such compounds are produced in food crops grown outdoors. The contamination routes are numerous, including cross-pollination and seed mixing during commercial growing and seed production.

Ventria’s rice has already been publicized in many written and audiovisual media as an important solution to one disease that particularly affects poor children in the Third World: diarrhea. On 6 March, a BBC report showed images of ill African children in a hospital as an example of some of the supposed beneficiaries of that new GM rice.

'We can really help children with diarrhea get better faster. That is the idea', said Scott E. Deeter, president and chief executive of Sacramento-based Ventria Bioscience. The proponents of this GM rice say they want to widely introduce their products into oral hydration solution,'which is consumed by at least half of the world’s children'. They define their product as 'the Holy Grail' of rice and assert 'that is what every mother would want for their child'.

From the company’s sources, an experiment using this technology has already been conducted in Peru on 140 infants from five to 33 months in age, in hospitals attended by the poorest sectors of the population. Several reports indicate that parents of the children were not adequately informed of the experimental nature of the treatment, and at least two mothers of infants in the clinical trial reported that their infants suffered from allergic reactions, causing the Peruvian government to launch an enquiry into the experiment.

Does Africa need a genetically modified solution for diarrhea? Diarrhea is responsible for over 2,000,000 deaths every year, the majority in the Third World. Despite being a major cause of deaths among children, particularly those under five years old, today there are already well-known measures to prevent and treat diarrhea. In fact, these proven and effective measures have already reduced the mortality rate of children suffering from diarrhea from 4.600,000 deaths in 1980 to 1,500,000 to 2,500,000 million deaths today, and is regarded as one of the greatest medical achievements of the 20th century.

Simply put, when a person has loose or watery stools, he has diarrhea. If mucus and blood can be seen in the stools, he has dysentery. It can be mild or very serious and may come suddenly or remain for many days. It is known that the disease is more common among young children and especially so with the undernourished ones. A well nourished child would usually recover from a case of diarrhea even without any medical treatment. For a poorly nourished child, on the other hand, an attack of diarrhea can easily prove fatal.

One of the most prevalent causes of diarrhea is linked to the limited access to safe water supply and sanitation coverage. In Africa, nearly 40 per cent of the population has an unsafe water supply and poor sanitation coverage. The World Health Organisation (WHO) found that a reduction in the number of diarrhea cases and deaths due to diarrhea was directly related to access to safe water supply and sanitation services. As the Water Quality and Health Council indicates, 'if access to safe water and sanitation coverage were improved there would be a smaller frequency of diarrhoea cases', which consequently would mean that patients would avoid costs related to treatment expenditures, drugs, transportation and time spent going to hospital and clinics. The WHO concluded in a 2004 study that simple technologies for improvement of water and sanitation 'would lead to a global average reduction of 10% of episodes of diarrhoea'. WHO concludes that if the level of intervention was higher, the reduction of diarrhea episodes could be higher: 'access to in-house regulated piped water and sewerage connection with partial treatment of waste waters, could achieve an average global reduction of 69 per cent'.

Diarrhea is a symptom of infection caused by a host of bacterial, viral and parasitic organisms most of which can be spread by contaminated water. It is more common when there is a shortage of clean water for drinking, cooking and cleaning, and basic hygiene is important in prevention. Water contaminated with human faeces, for example from municipal sewage, septic tanks and latrines, is of special concern. Animal faeces also contain micro-organisms that can cause diarrhoea. Diarrhea can also spread from person to person, aggravated by poor personal hygiene. Food is another major cause of diarrhoea when it is prepared or stored in unhygienic conditions. Water can contaminate food during irrigation, and fish and seafood from polluted water may also contribute to the disease (World Health Organisation).

It is important to note that diarrhea usually lasts a day or two and goes away on its own without any special treatment. Only prolonged cases, however, present indications of other problems Thus, special treatment for diarrhea is needed only occasionally. What children suffering from this condition need is rehydration as they lose a lot of water through the diarrhea. There are already very cheap and accessible ways of fighting dehydration by simple oral rehydration therapy.

It is obvious from the above that the world does not require rocket science in order to combat incidents of diarrhea. More than anything else, what is needed is basic hygiene, safe water access and the provision of infrastructure that would support that. Moreover, investing in GM solutions when 'simple' solutions exist constitutes a diversion of energies from the already challenging objective to guarantee the right to clean water and sanitation.

Interventions

Key measures to reduce the number of cases of diarrhea include:
- Access to safe drinking water
- Improved sanitation
- Good personal and food hygiene
- Health education about how infections spread.

Key measures to treat diarrhea include:
- Giving more fluids than usual, including oral rehydration salts solution, to prevent dehydration
- Continue feeding
- Consulting a health worker if there are signs of dehydration or other problems
(World Health Organisation).

African children have been used once again in the media in order to facilitate acceptance for a new product which is not needed in our continent. Diarrhea is a disease with well-known causes, as well as solutions. If deaths from a preventable disease such as diarrhea are to be stopped, more efforts should be undertaken to tackle its causes and greater investments should be made in improving basic water and sanitation conditions in our continent.

We once more state that Africans do not need GMOs and by no means want 'medicine crops' beyond the ones already supplied by nature. Africans do not need these expensive, experimental fixes.

* Nnimmo Bassey is the Director of Environmental Rights Action (Friends of the Earth Nigeria)

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/295/Street-kids-Kibera-Nai.jpgCape Town's recent by-law, the 'City Streets, Public Places and Public Nuisance Act', not only adds to the vulnerability of the homeless, especially street children, by dispersing them to outlying locations around the city where there are no support mechanicisms, but may also lead to the criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in South Africa.

On 31 May 2006; the Cape Town City Council adopted a by-law relating to City Streets, Public Places and Public Nuisance after a vote yielded the result of 126 in favour and 82 against. The by-law deals with a range of issues such as trees in streets, control of goods offered for sale, the drying of washing on fences and boundaries, poison in streets and the conveyance of animal carcasses. The section which has been most problematic is that dealing with 'prohibited behaviour'. This includes intentionally touching another person or their property without consent, continuing to beg after someone has said no, starting or keeping a fire, erecting any form of shelter or sleepingor camping overnight and bathing or washing in public. The lumping together of human beings and toxic waste within one piece of legislation has sparked outrage in some quarters, with others taking offence at the references made to the poor and disadvantaged as 'nuisances'.

Despite the by-law having been adopted and published in the provincial gazette on June 23, 2006; a number of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other concerned parties raised a number of concerns with the manner in which the by-law was passed through the system so quickly as well as the fact that it seemed to be utterly contrary to the inclusive spirit of the South African Constitution. It was then decided by the city to refer the by-law for further public participation, a process which is ongoing and often seems less than transparent. A number of NGOs, including Molo Songololo, SWEAT, The Big Issue, Tutumike, One Love, the Right to Work Campaign and the South African Congress of Trade Unions (COSATU) as well as a number of others have formed a task team opposing the by-law. The task team is a coalition of organisations that work with a diverse range of interest groups in and around Cape Town, they have stated that their opposition to the by-law is not allied to party political issues, but is instead a an independent and legitimate initiative of civil society organisations to engage organs of the state in the process of constitutional democracy.

According to a joint press statement by the task team, 'Despite minor alterations and claims to the contrary from the City, this by-law remains a pernicious piece of legislation which will impact inequitably on the poorest and most vulnerable members of our communities. It undermines the legitimacy of the law-making process and makes a mockery of the notion of Cape Town as a Home for All'. Key concerns include the manner in which the by-law specifically targets marginalised and vulnerable sectors of the community, prevents the poor and unemployed from making a living on the streets, criminalises the poor and does not compliment or support broader poverty alleviation, crime prevention and development strategies. There are also concerns as to whether or not the implementation of the by-law would be in violation of such constitutionally protected rights as equality, human dignity, freedom and security of the person and freedom of movement.

The Big Issue, a member of the task team, is a socially responsible job creation project which publishes a monthly magazine, which is sold to vendors for R6 and can then be sold for R12. Vendors are then allocated pitches at various points around Cape Town (such as intersections and outside shopping malls) from which they sell the magazine.

According to Do Machin, Social Development Manager at The Big Issue, 'The provisions of this by-law are going to create a more difficult climate for vendors to do the work that supports them and their families, whilst they are in the process of trying as hard as they can to create better lives and futures for themselves and those they support'. Machin also feels that the by-laws will have a detrimental effect on the developmental work being done by various NGOs. 'From our experience at The Big Issue we know that development work with people living and working on the streets is long-term, dependent on the kind of outreach work which builds relationships of trust and includes each individual as an active partner in that work. The provisions in the by-law which allow for the fining and arrest of people who find themselves in the position of having to survive from day to day, often hour to hour, are antithetical to the development process, and will not improve the situation in the long-term, as well as being an infringement of basic human rights and dignity'.

As to why The Big Issue is member of the task team, Machin unequivocally states that 'The Big Issue's participation in the task team is based on the belief that this City and its people, especially the poorest, most marginalised and vulnerable, need and deserve something much more forward thinking, humane and realistic than this piece of legislation'.

The problem which the City Streets, Public Places and Public Nuisance by-law highlights is an insidious one which affects a number of Capetonians and is a sad remnant of our oppressive past. For some people, the poor, whether they are children or adults, are viewed as a blight, an irritation and something which is best described by the age-old adage 'out of sight, out of mind'. They are seen not as fellow human beings but rather as something dirty and unpleasant, they are described as lazy and annoying and are ignored whenever they happen to cross our paths. This class discrimination is disturbingly evident in the public submissions made to the Mayoral Committee regarding the by-law, and include such shocking sentiments as 'citizens should be able to go about their daily business unhindered by these problems, there have been many occasions when I have avoided using shopping centres due to vagrants in the parking areas and entrances' and 'the implementation of this by-law will enable law enforcement to to stop my family from being harassed by beggars, illegal car washers, car repairers, car guards and hawkers'.

The Homeless and vulnerably accommodated in Cape Town remain soft targets and if promulgated the by-law would simply add to pre-existing discriminatory practices and attitudes. Perhaps none are more vulnerable than the children who call the streets of Cape Town home. These children are misunderstood and mistrusted by the general public. According to Sandra Morreira, Director of the Homestead (a project which works specifically with street children), her biggest fear regarding the by-law is that it 'will enable the Metro police to round up the children whenever they want to, if they refuse to move on when instructed to do so and lock them up for a while. It will also give the police many more ways of hassling them and making it impossible for them to survive on the streets'.

As it is, Morreira says that there have been reports of children being forcefully removed from the CBD and dumped in Muizenberg or up Table Mountain, as well as general harassment such as pulling off their blankets and hitting the children.

Hip hop artist and founder of the Brown foundation, Ryan "Brown" Dalton spent three and a half years getting to know Cape Town's street children and now focuses on preventative work and he says that government generally employs strategies which tend to focus on getting rid of street children rather than helping them. Dalton sees the by-law as directly targeting children and adults living on the streets. 'By doing this we are criminalising the children and and introducing them to a life of crime, for very petty things. I have seen cases of children, with no history of criminal activity, being locked up for something as petty as loitering. In some of these instances the children get sent to a juvenile facility, where instead of being rehabilitated, they are introduced to gang life.' Of course, such a system then creates real criminals out of children who could have been reintegrated into society at a much lower cost.

According to Patric Solomons, Director of Molo Songololo (an NGO dealing with children's rights), 'the public has very little care for children living on the streets, they are seen as nuisances'. Molo Songololo has also received reports of children being removed from the city centre and dumped in areas such as Belville, Eerste River and Khayelitsha as well as being physically assaulted, having their possessions confiscated and officials soliciting bribes form them. Solomons says that if the by-law is promulgated the children will be harassed and criminalised and that the by-law is reactive rather than preventative. 'The by-law can be used to clean selected areas in the City of Cape Town, such an application will be equal to apartheid when certain laws applied to certain people.' Here Solomons hits upon an important point, the by-law will inevitably be selectively applied and enforced mostly in affluent areas or where there are large numbers of tourists and businesses. The by-law would make provision for people to live in informal settlements but not in doorways in the CBD, what is the difference? Whether or not the by-law is promulgated and openly enforced, one can only hope that the attitude of apathy and disdain, which many Capetonians seem to exhibit towards those who cannot afford nice houses, cars and three-ply toilet paper and are instead forced to make a life for themselves on the streets of our city. will eventually become more humane and inclusive. Until then, if you do not want to buy what they're selling or give them you're spare change, why not at least leave them with their dignity, it doesn't cost anything.

* Bronwen Dyke is assistant editor of The Big Issue Magazine in Cape Town

* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org

This joint report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the Kenya Human Rights Commission examines the Kenya police, looking particularly at illegitimate political control, the impact of that control on policing, and the reform answers that will provide a more democratic and accountable police service to the Kenyan people.

A new government bill barring imams from engaging in politics has triggered controversy in Algeria as the country prepares for parliamentary elections. In a statement Tuesday (March 13th) to Algerian daily El Khabar, Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs Bouabdallah Ghlamallah stated that "those who wish to be involved in politics have only to give up their calling as imams and leave the mosque, since the latter is built for prayers, not the practice of politics."

Mauritania is scheduled to hold a run-off round in its presidential elections on March 25th, as none of the 19 presidential candidates obtained an absolute majority (51%) in Sunday's first round.

Interim Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi has appealed for some 42 million dollars to secure his country's capital, Mogadishu, and to fund a reconciliation conference in the war-torn state.

While Australia magnanimously accepted large numbers of young Sudanese, who survived one of the most vicious wars of the last century, many have serious adjustment problems in their new home.

An independent review of the International Monetary Fund's operations in Africa says the lender's work is confused, vague, lacks transparency and suffers from a large gap between rhetoric and practice.

Michael Clemens looks at the recent surge in international labour migration and explores whether the loss of skilled professionals will stymie development in Africa and elsewhere. Conventional wisdom says that, because low-income countries need skilled professionals to develop, their migration to better-paying countries is unequivocally bad--when they leave, poor countries lose engineers' ideas, lawyers' contracts, and physicians' care.

The 50 years anniversary milestone achievement of independence on 6 March this year in Ghana did not as such mean anything to homosexuals in that country. Instead, this was seen as the opportunity to challenge government’s intentions on the day according to Prince MacDonald of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Ghana.

Most development practitioners and development cooperation agencies agree that knowledge is at the core of sustainable development processes. This increased awareness has resulted in the upcoming trend of development oriented knowledge sharing programmes, according to Margaret van Doodewvaard.

A list of aspiring candidates for the April presidential polls was to be published by Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday. But INEC officials said the list does not contain the names of candidates indicted for corruption, which clearly means the Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, whose name appears on the list of corrupt officials, is not competing for the polls.

After failing to persuade its young people to change their sexual behaviours, the South African government have announced a five-year plan to cut by half the number of new HIV infections in the country. South Africa has one of the world's highest HIV infection rates.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was on Tuesday taken to hospital after sustaining heavy injuries during torture while in police detention.

On the 2,000th day since Eritrea's "Black Tuesday" crackdown on media in 2001, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) urged Eritreans abroad to demand explanations for the imprisonment of at least 14 journalists, four of whom are feared dead.

On March 12 2007, firebrand journalist Sunsley Chamunorwa renowned for his hard-hitting editorials and commentaries at the helm of the weekly Financial Gazette was suspended over a story reportedly involving the business interests of a strong ruling Zanu-PF official.

A royal birth followed immediately by an amnesty for more than a dozen death-row prisoners, among others, is being interpreted in Morocco as a signal that the country is on the verge of making history in the Arab world by being the first to abolish the death penalty.

A number of regions of the world are reversing centuries of deforestation and are now showing an increase in forest area, according to FAO's State of the World’s Forests report, released on Tuesday 13 March.

Ugandan health officials on Monday said they would seek alternative funding for anti-malaria projects after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria declined a grant application of US$16 million because of concerns over financial mismanagement.

This week, police in Zimbabwe used tear gas, water cannon and live ammunition to crush Sunday's gathering by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of opposition, church and civic groups, in Harare's western township of Highfield. Police shot and killed one opposition activist, Gift Tandare. Lawyers and fellow opposition activists said Tsvangirai had suffered a suspected skull fracture after being beaten by police. Patrick Burnett summarises voices from the ground and highlights some key messages from articles published in Pambazuka News in the recent past. Is it a year of hope or will it all simply collapse into a quagmire?

'In pairs we were being led to the cells where there were five people dressed in police uniforms holding baton sticks who were beating the hell out of us," relates an unnamed woman opposition activist. "They would beat each pair for between 15 and 20 minutes after which they would order the pair out to fetch the next pair from the van." The woman describes how her head was banged against a wall causing her to fall down to the ground. "It took a long time according to what I was seeing and I was only praying if they could stop," she tells the camera in this video as her testimony is interspersed with shots of police brutally beating arrested protesters with batons in order to force them into a police van.

Another activist states in the same video: "We wanted the government to see and show the world at large that the Zimbabweans are suffering. The money they are getting is peanuts, it does not take them anywhere. It is the government that regulates the prices. You can hardly pay for a child at school. You have to feed the family and sometimes you have only one meal a day. We wanted to show the leadership of Zimbabwe that what they are doing is not fair."

Even video sharing site knows what's happening in Zimbabwe. This video was not testimony from Sunday's protest, though, but of a peaceful labour union demonstration in September 2006 in which 23 people were beaten and tortured. No doubt, videos of Sunday's march will find their way onto youtube, providing a valuable window into the situation – the above video already has over 12 000 views - but in the meantime compare testimonies from the video quoted above with that of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, as told to the BBC:

"It was almost as if they were waiting for me…Before I could even settle down I was subjected to a lot of beatings, in fact it was random beatings but I think the intention was to inflict as much harm as they could. I suffered injuries on the head, six stitches, body blows, a broken arm. I also suffered injuries on the knees and on my back several body blows, but I think the most serious injury was the head injury because I lost a lot of blood. They have just administered almost two pints of blood."

Police used tear gas, water cannon and live ammunition to crush Sunday's gathering by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of opposition, church and civic groups, in Harare's western township of Highfield. Police shot and killed one opposition activist, Gift Tandare. Lawyers and fellow opposition activists said Tsvangirai had suffered a suspected skull fracture after being beaten by police.

World outrage followed news of the crackdown, with calls for more stringent sanctions and renewed engagement with Zimbabwe. African leadership, long muted on the issue of Zimbabwe, was also more strident. Ghanaian President John Kufuor, also the African Union chair, said: "I know personally that presidents like (South Africa's Thabo) Mbeki tried desperately to exercise some influence for the better," as reported by numerous media. "Please don't think that Africa is not concerned. Africa is very much concerned. What can Mbeki as a man do? Are you proposing that Africa compose an expedition team to march on Zimbabwe and oppose? It does not happen like that. We are in our various ways trying very hard."

As demonstrated by the youtube video and numerous human rights reports in the past months and years, Tsvangirai's beatings are the result of long term repression to which numerous Zimbabweans have been subject over the past years.

At this stage its worth trolling through a few of the articles published by Pambazuka News about Zimbabwe over the last five years, not because they are the only record of the Zimbabwean crisis or because they comprehensively cover all the issues faced by the country, but because they show the progression of events in the country, and provide useful analysis and insight into the complex Zimbabwean situation. At times like this its important to remember that short-term political outrage shouldn't mask the long-term nature of the situation in Zimbabwe – nor the long-term nature of political inaction.

Perhaps the most useful insight into Zimbabwe's path is provided in a series of articles written in March of each year since 2002 by Mary Ndlovu, a human rights activist from Zimbabwe. Her articles take readers into the heart of life in Zimbabwe, documenting the politics and effect of the land reform crisis, the controversial elections and the downward economic spiral and its effect on the Zimbabwean people.

In March 2004, Ndlovu writes: "On our side of the looking glass, the mounting catastrophe has political, economic, social and cultural components. Most objective observers would trace the economic problems back at least to the late 1980's. Certainly the introduction of structural adjustment at the beginning of the 90's can be seen as the process which eroded the living standards of Zimbabweans, and spawned the first broad-based opposition party. It also generated pressure from interest groups such as war veterans and ambitious black businessmen who felt they had waited too long to share in the country's wealth. The government's response to these developments sent the country into the downward spiral which today ensnares us. Instead of taking the criticism and the pressure and sitting back to plan a coherent strategy of how to deal with the inter-related issues, ZANU PF panicked, saw their ruling position threatened, and from 1997 on have responded piecemeal, reactively and irrationally, bringing us to the tragedy which unfolds before our eyes."

In another article, she writes: "In February 2000, ZANU PF discovered, in a rare moment of truth, that they were unpopular enough to be defeated at the polls, in spite of all the advantages they had in controlling most of the media, the electoral machinery and all the state security apparatus. They immediately began the process of ensuring that no matter what the people wanted, never again would ZANU PF lose a vote. The electoral process would be turned into a stage-managed spectacle."

Following on from this and assessing the 2005 Parliamentary elections, Ndlovu warns of economic collapse and "dire consequences" for the region should ZANU PF take power against the wishes of Zimbabweans. She makes three points on the back of this:

- SADC unwillingness to insist that regional electoral standards be upheld appears to signal that they are not prepared to implement them for their own countries either.

- Democrats should be aware that governments cannot be trusted with the task of defending democracy, in their own countries or anywhere else.

- There is a long road ahead for the building of democracy in Southern Africa, "from the bottom up, with much struggle to claim rights against the autocratic tendencies of all the governments and ruling parties of the region".

The startling lack of progress on the Zimbabwean front is evident in Ndlovu's articles. In March last year, Ndlovu wrote that: "Certainly we know that the multiple crises which embody Zimbabwe's millennium experience are intensifying, making life barely livable for the majority of the population. The crises have engulfed the working world, the learning world, the consumer world, the world of the supermarket and even of sport. The economy limps along, agriculture crawling, tourism virtually defunct, manufacturing crippled, and mining, the one still flickering light of the economy, under recent assault from government policies. Electricity comes and goes at will, water likewise in many places; fuel supplies (black market only) are erratic and prices exploitative. Schools are places of confusion, teachers demoralized, pupils unable to afford textbooks if they manage to pay fees, and only finding bus fare for half the school days. Courts barely function, police cells are filthy putrid hell holes, prisons even worse."

Writing in 2004, Steve Kibble points out the long-term nature of Zimbabwe's problems. "The inheritance of violent colonial dispossession and dehumanisation with the response of (in Brian Kagoro's words) a 'violent and hegemonic struggle for decolonisation…culminated in a largely symbolic independence devoid of material gain for the majority black population.' This meant an authoritarian elite unable/unwilling to transform the repressive state colonial structures into democratic institutions, and the emergence of neo-patrimonialism and clientilist structures along with long lasting cultures of intolerance and impunity."

In pointing to why regional responses to the Zimbabwean situation have been muted, Kibble writes in another article that: "The 'national security' strategy of the ZANU PF elite has led to economic collapse, severe repression, flight and severe economic consequences for the region, but as yet there has been no concerted regional reaction to this in terms of security. This in turn relates to national elites being unable to formulate a path directed to human security, and largely because of their lack of engagement with and mistrust of new social forces (which of course are not themselves necessarily united or coherent)."

Kibble questions how to shift the security focus from military to human security to focus on those without power and those affected by poverty, environmental degradation and human rights abuses. Values would include peace and the promotion of human rights. "It may not seem obvious when there seem more immediate concerns, but the fight against repression in Zimbabwe illustrates much of this, and involves what values postcolonial states and regions should have, their road to development, democracy and overcoming of colonial and apartheid structures, all of which pose human security dilemmas."

Patrick Bond and David Moore, in April 2006 ask what can be done to offer solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe: "…the real solidarity action ahead may revolve around COSATU and broader civil society forces. They must shake free of Mbeki's influence and establish a strategy for longer-term support. This would more forcefully and surgically target Mugabe and his cronies, and nurture the unpredictable resurgence of Zimbabwean protests, which certainly still lie ahead." More broadly, one could add to this the need for pressure on the African Union and other regional and international human rights bodies.

Perhaps the last word, before noting that based on the progression of events in Zimbabwe the happenings of the last week are hardly surprising and without concerted effort on behalf of all stakeholders worse will surely follow, should go to Ndlovu, writing in 2006: "The tension of expectation is building as the people's misery becomes unsustainable. Will this be the year, and if it is, will it hold hope for the future, or will we simply all fall down together?"

* Patrick Burnett is contributing editor of Pambazuka News
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/broadcasts/davidodwar.jpgDavid Odwar, an artist and cultural activist from Uganda, speaks to Robtel Pailey from Pambazuka News about his experiences of growing up in Uganda and his brother's abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army. He recounts his subsequent exile in the UK. David then returned to Uganda where he set up an arts centre for the local community to explore and express the traumas of war through art, and established the project ''.

Music in this podcast is brought to you by Busi Ncube from Zimbabwe, kindly provided by Thulani Promotions.

1. Programmes Manager - Eastern African sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI. Closing date 30th March 2007)

This is a senior position in the organization and the candidate should have an African Feminist Orientation. She will report to the Executive Director. The Programmes Manager will take charge of all the organization’s programming and advocacy work and will coordinate the programme departments and ensure delivery of outputs.

2:Communications and Networking Programme Officer (EASSI) Closing date 30th March 2007)

Will be in charge of ensuring that EASSI’s programmes, activities, values, plans and other relevant information is communicated to EASSI’s constituency and wider networks.

For further information on both jobs: Email: [email][email protected] and Website:www.eassi.org

The adoption in 2003 of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa was a major landmark in the life of the newly refurbished African Union. African feminist activists wasted no time in forming a pan-African network of women’s rights groups – Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) – that embarked on campaigning to get the fifteen ratifications needed to make the Protocol operational. Thanks to these efforts the Protocol came into force in November 2005. Experience had taught SOAWR members that for a regional human rights document like this Protocol to have real meaning for the women of Africa, it was crucial not only to have universal ratification but also to facilitate the implementation and popularisation of the Protocol. Therein lay the primary objective behind this edited collection. The book attempts to move the Protocol from the position of formal gender justice to substantive gender justice, by breathing life into its text, hence the metaphorical title, Breathing Life into the African Union Protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa. The objective is realised in a blend of astounding clarity, conciseness, and sharp analyses. The size of the book certainly belies its enormous value.

It has come to our attention that on Sunday 11 March 2007, Mr. Gift Tandare, a Zimbabwean citizen was shot and killed by police in Highfields, a suburb in the capital city of Harare. He was on his way to a prayer meeting. Zimbabweans from different walks of life had agreed to spend their Sunday, the traditional day of Christian worship, in collective fellowship as comfort to each other.

Human rights defenders are increasingly using computers and the Internet in their work. Although access to technology is still a huge issue around the world, electronic means of storing and communicating information are getting more and more common in human rights organisations. These issues are dealt with in a new manual published by Front Line.

An incisive new article by Akwe Amosu takes a critical look at Sino-African relations, in which she states that China’s march into Africa has reminded pundits of those two proverbial elephants fighting. Evoking the battle between East and West, they opine that it will be the grass that suffers - except in this instance, the people are the grass and one of the elephants is their own governments.

Dear colleagues:

You probably have already heard about the tragedy that befell Malian families in the Bronx this past Wednesday night. Eight children and their mother were killed in a fire which devastated a three-storey building in the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is so hard for the communities here to come to terms with such a terrible tragedy. The fire is suspected to have been caused by an electric heater in the basement.

Members of the community and throughout New York are responding kindly to the families and friends undergoing great pain at this time. African communities within the New York boroughs are also collectively reaching out in different ways.

If you can in your individual capacity reach out to the families, I believe that your gesture will be very much appreciated. The African Services Committee is collecting donations to help victims of the fire, including those were were injured and are currently in the hospital. Here is the website of the African Services Committee. I plan to go over to the Bronx tonight to pay my respects.

Thank you for your kindness and please feel free to pass this on to anyone who can help

Doreen Lwanga

Radio reporter Hassan Sade Dhaqane and several onlookers were arrested by government troops in the Mogadishu neighbourhood of KM 4 as he was covering a mine-clearance operation that had drawn a crowd. The government confirmed his arrest to Reporters Without Borders’ partner organisation in Somalia, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), but refused to say where he is being held. He has not been formally charged.

The Egyptian Minister of Education, Dr Yousry Al-Gamal, has officially launched the NEPAD e-Schools Demonstration (Demo) Project at Al-Haddain Secondary School in El Behaira Governate, Egypt. The project is a joint venture of the Egyptian Government, HP Consortium, ORACLE Consortium and NEPAD e-Africa Commission.
Egypt is the sixth country to launch the project after Uganda, Ghana, Lesotho, Kenya and Rwanda. It is also the first North African country to launch the NEPAD e-Schools.

A one-year prison sentence has been imposed on Mburu Muchoki, the editor of the tabloid weekly The Independent, for libelling the justice minister and called on the government to amend the laws so that judges in future can pass fairer sentences for press offences.

European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels on 5 March failed to follow the lead of the European Parliament by imposing tougher measures against the genocidal regime in Khartoum.

World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz has pressed Burundi’s leader to crack down on corruption and reduce red tape to speed the recovery from a 13-year civil war. The cost of opening a business, at twice the average income, curbed economic growth, Wolfowitz told Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza when they met this week.

Reuters reports that a Nigerian court has reinstated a central state governor on Thursday nearly five months after he was impeached over allegations of corruption. Joshua Dariye is the third governor to be reinstated by the courts in the last four months in a sign the judiciary is not comfortable with a series of impeachments that swept across Nigeria, raising tensions ahead of landmark polls in April.

Kenya's justice assistant minister has accused the European Union (EU) members states of putting in place barriers to Kenya`s bid to recover over US$1 billion allegedly stashed in foreign banks by corrupt leaders.

Reuters reports that a rising number of unaccompanied Zimbabwean children are entering South Africa, according to a nongovernmental organisation that provides assistance to refugees and displaced people.

The Thembeka High School in Mpumalanga unveiled three new classrooms Thursday, designed entirely by three innovative learners in the province. Thulani Ndlovu, Mbali Dladla and Mduduzi Mashigo won the Public Works National 2014 Youth Foundation competition last year and were given an opportunity to improve the existing structure of their own school.

The High Court of Swaziland has dismissed a E750,000 (approx. US$100,000) lawsuit against the "Times of Swaziland" newspaper filed by the Minister for Education, Themba Msibi. The case was dismissed on grounds that the wrong parties were cited in the particulars of claim.

According to a World Bank press report, the Democratic Republic of Congo's Environment Minister Didace Pembe Bokiaga has committed the newly-elected government to a revolutionary package of reforms to boost the country’s nascent conservation efforts, and focus attention on Africa’s imperiled forests.