Pambazuka News 526: Reflections on uprisings and unrest
Pambazuka News 526: Reflections on uprisings and unrest
While the recent protests in Madison, Wisconsin, may have given America’s working class ‘hint at the possibility of resistance’, the historic absence of support for ‘racialised’ sections of the working class exemplifies the stronghold of white supremacy over the US labour movement, writes Ajamu Nangwaya.
‘We have no choice but to train the next generation of African scholars at home. This means tackling the question of institutional reform alongside that of postgraduate education. Postgraduate education, research and institution building will have to be part of a single effort,’ writes Mahmood Mamdani, in a paper reflecting on how a market-driven model has affected the nature of research in African universities.
Following the ‘brutal killing’ of activist Andries Tatane ‘at a peaceful rally’ in South Africa, Emmie Chanika calls for solidarity with grassroots and civil society organisations.
Staff at the Kakuma News Reflector, an independent refugee newspaper, are once again receiving death threats because of their work, writes Qaabata Boru from Kakuma Camp in Kenya.
Commending a work which sets a ‘universal standard’ on assessing Rwanda’s gacaca courts – ‘the country’s remarkable experiment in transitional justice’ – Gerald Caplan reviews Phil Clark’s ‘The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Justice Without Lawyers’.
Abahlali baseMjondolo would like to invite your organisation/
community/area to SHACK FIRE SUMMIT that will be held at QQ informal
settlement site B Khayelitsha on 27 April 2011 from 10:00am to 13:00pm.
The aim of the event is to:
- Light candles in memory of those who lose their lives within shack fire
and the victims of shack fires.
- Explore the course of shack fire, governmental intervention, and other
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- To come up with a program/ campaign to call for electrification of all
shack settlement
For further details and direction please call our admin @ 073 412 8218.
On behalf of Abahlali baseMjondolo Western Cape
Mzonke Poni, WC chairperson
073 2562 036/ 083 446 5081
As Libya's leader struggles to keep his grip on power, one of his pet projects appears to be moving ahead at the African Union, which took initial steps Tuesday toward creating his grand plan: the United States of Africa. AU officials met Monday and Tuesday at the organisation's Ethiopia headquarters to discuss the formation of the African Union Authority, an institution that would replace the existing AU Commission with the aim of eventually bringing Africa's countries under a single unity government.
With the the third Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Intellectual Festival taking place recently at the University of Dar es Salaam and the participation of many eager people, young and old, from the region and beyond, the question many people were asking at this festival was: How is it that Nyerere, so long after his death, still exercises such influence on young people? Jenerali Ulimwengu, in this article on the East African website, says it speaks to the absence of an heir, a leader who would have emerged from the current crop of leaders to take over the mantle of Nyerere or Nkrumah.
Adilisha, Fahamu’s Education for Social Justice programme, has launched its first newsletter. Pambazuka News speaks to programme manager George Mwai about how Adilisha’s work is contributing to the emancipation of communities, by providing activists with the skills they need in the struggle for social justice. [PDF: 4.8MB].
'I hated putting my hopes too high, so I opted to say what I wished for most. And that was friends to help me in my queer revolution (as I would in theirs).' Blessol Gathoni, a young Kenyan activist, shares her experiences as a Fahamu Fellow over the past six months. Fahamu’s Pan-African Fellowship is a programme that aims to nurture a new generation of African social justice leaders. This story is an extract from the Fahamu's newly launched
In the wake of NATO’s imposition of the ‘no-fly zone’ over Libya on 31 March, there is serious scepticism around the United States Pentagon’s denial of the use of depleted uranium (DU), writes Farouk James. With the US, the UK and France now calling for a full-scale invasion, James writes, the veto powers of the UN Security Council’s permanent members should be called into question once again.
Nebiyu Eyassu cuts through the supposed benefits of foreign agricultural investments - so-called land grabs - for a country like Ethiopia. Far from boosting employment and local food security, land grabs are likely to prop up a discredited government and increase hunger.
Shell's plans to drill wells for natural gas across a large swathe of the Karoo are fatally flawed and should be rejected, according to lawyers representing local landowners. Derek Light Attorneys criticised Shell's environmental management plan submitted to the Petroleum Agency of South Africa (Pasa) this week, describing it as 'a worthless paper exercise' that was misleading, biased, unprocedural and unconstitutional. Shell's plan has set the stage for a possible legal battle over its ambitions to drill for natural gas in shale formations that cover about 90 per cent of South Africa.
Britain will send a team of experienced military officers to Libya to help support and advise the country's opposition council, the UK foreign minister has said. William Hague said that military advisers would join a group of British diplomats already co-operating with the Libyan National Transitional Council, based in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. 'They will advise the National Transitional Council on how to improve their military organisational structures, communications and logistics, including how best to distribute humanitarian aid and deliver medical assistance,' he said.
Burkina Faso's government will hold talks with soldiers to discuss issues which led to a military mutiny and days of unrest across the West African nation. The mutiny, which began with shooting near the presidential palace, triggered riots and looting in the capital, Ouagadougou, and in other towns and cities.
Uganda's opposition leader has vowed to continue protests against spiralling fuel and food prices after being charged with riotous behaviour. Kizza Besigye, whose right hand is heavily bandaged after he was hit by a rubber bullet last week as police quelled his first protest, was arrested on Monday after a scuffle with security forces. Appearing in a court in Kampala, the capital, the leader of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) remained defiant, saying he saw nothing wrong with the 'walk to work' protest, which is highlighting the plight of people who cannot afford fares for public transport.
In energy terms, China's top African oil suppliers are Angola, Sudan and Nigeria – all ahead of Libya. Around 80 per cent of Libya's oil reserves, of roughly 44 billion barrels, are in the Sirte basin – spread out between Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, a great deal of it under on and off rebel control. Beijing would hate to contemplate a balkanisation of Libya along Korea's lines – an impoverished, oil-less, Gaddafi-ruled west/North Korea opposed to an affluent, oil-rich, Western-aligned Cyrenaica/South Korea.
The United Nations has appealed for a ceasefire in the Libyan city of Misrata, saying at least 20 children had been killed in attacks by besieging government forces on rebel-held parts of the city. Libya's third city, where hundreds are believed to have been killed by shelling and sniper fire by Muammar Gaddafi's forces, is the main focus of efforts to protect civilians caught up in the Libyan leader's bid to put down an armed rebellion.
Up to 200,000 deaths from severe malaria could be averted each year if malarial countries were to switch to a more expensive but more effective drug, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said. In a report on the mosquito-borne disease, MSF said data from recent trials in Africa had shown that the drug, called artesunate, was more effective and easier to use than quinine, a cheaper malaria medicine often used in poorer countries.
A Dakar court has given Abdou Latif Coulibaly, the editor of the weekly La Gazette, a three-month suspended jail sentenced and fined him 10 million CFA francs (15,267 euros) for allegedly defaming a Senegalese businessman close to President Wade by accusing him of acting fraudulently in his dealings with the government. Reporters Without Borders condemns the way the Senegalese authorities and several leading figures close to the government are hounding Coulibaly, one of Dakar’s most respected journalists. The lawsuits that keep being brought against him constitute an unacceptable form of harassment
Reporters Without Borders says it is 'deeply shocked' to learn that deputy prosecutor Marc Ndabakeshimana has asked a Bujumbura court to sentence detained journalist Jean-Claude Kavumbagu to life imprisonment on charges of treason and defamation. The court has 60 days to render its verdict. The editor of the online newspaper Net Press, Kavumbagu has been held since 17 July 2010 because of an article about a terrorist bombing in the Ugandan capital of Kampala with a toll of 76 dead, in which he questioned whether the Burundian armed forces would be able to deal with a similar threat in Burundi.
Ghana’s investment in organic farming could transform the country’s agriculture sector and improve the country’s economy dramatically, reports Journalists for Human Rights. One small organic project is called the Abusua Sustainable Organic Farm (ASOF) is attempting to tap into the organic industry and convince the country of the benefits in organic farming.
A joint statement calling for the Ugandan Government to amend discriminatory clauses contained in the HIV and Aids Prevention and Control Bill which is set to be passed by the government, was presented on 8 April 2011 by the Uganda Health and Science Press Association (UHSPA-Uganda). 'It is impossible to prevent and control HIV and AIDS without addressing the needs and concerns of LGBTI persons. Such a law would be doomed to fail from the very start since, criminal laws such the Ugandan Penal Code hamper HIV and AIDS prevention efforts, as do provisions of the HIV and AIDS Bill,' states the memorandum.
African civil society leaders have criticised the role of developed countries, particularly the European Union (EU) in UN climate negotiations. At a press conference hosted by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), a network of over 300 organisations from over 45 countries, civil society leaders stood in solidarity with African negotiators. These negotiators were continuing to fight against the EU’s refusal to sign up to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and against the United State’s blocking tactics over the adoption of a comprehensive work plan for the negotiations for 2011.
The Shuttleworth Foundation Fellowship Programme supports individuals to implement their own innovative ideas for social change in the world. Apart from the individual Fellowship grant, it offers an enabling support structure and an existing network of social change agents. This includes technological, financial, and legal support.
The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for International Photography is currently seeking to award one social documentary photographic project produced in the journalistic tradition of Manuel Rivera-Ortiz. One project based on pressing social issues in the developing world will receive a grant of 5,000 USD to be utilised for the production or completion of a pre-approved project.
Cyberattacks, politically motivated censorship, and government control over internet infrastructure are among the diverse and growing threats to internet freedom, according to 'Freedom on the Net 2011: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media', a new study released on 18 April by Freedom House. These encroachments on internet freedom come at a time of explosive growth in the number of internet users worldwide, which has doubled over the past five years. Governments are responding to the increased influence of the new medium by seeking to control online activity, restricting the free flow of information, and otherwise infringing on the rights of users.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has welcomed the decision taken by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) on 3 March 2011 to institute proceedings against Libya before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court). 'It is the first time since its creation that the Court has been seized of an application lodged by the ACHPR on the basis of NGO communications. This is an historic step taken by the African regional human rights instruments which gives hope to any individuals whose rights are violated by a State. We are glad to have facilitated such important procedure,' said Souhayr Belhassen, President of FIDH.
In January, a Nouakchott court sentenced Oumoulmoumnine Mint Bakar Vall to six months in prison for enslaving two girls, ages 10 and 14, in the city's Arafat neighbourhood. Last month, two men and three women were arrested for keeping three young female slaves in Nouakchott. The arrests came after anti-slavery NGO chiefs Boubacar Ould Messoud, Biram Ould Dah Abeid and Aminetou Mint El Moctar launched a hunger strike to compel authorities to press charges in the case.
H. Nanjala Nyabola takes a hectic drive through Nairobi's rush hour traffic and concludes that if Kenyans learnt to treat each other with respect on the roads, then there might be more respect in other areas of life.
Just as we must condemn homophobia and support ‘the rights of consenting individuals to privacy in their sexual relations’, we must also grant far greater attention to the sexual abuse of children, argues Patricia Daley.
Tunisian activists were unanimous in calling for the abolition of the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD). However, last week's decision to bar representatives of the former ruling party from political life altogether is raising doubts among some activists and politicians. The High Commission for the Realisation of Revolutionary Goals on 11 April prohibited senior RCD members from participating in July's constituent assembly elections.
Negotiations for a new economic partnership agreement (EPA) between SADC members and the European Union appear to have been shelved with no fixed date for resumption of the protracted trade negotiations. The SADC and EU negotiating teams last met in November 2010 in Mozambique. Instead, the Southern Africa bloc seems more concerned with talks on coalescing SADC, the East African Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa into what has become known as the trilateral free trade area (T-FTA).
The speed with which Facebook has taken off on the African continent in the countries that are a bell-weather for early take-up has been impressive. Twitter is trotting behind but with much smaller number. MXit has impressive up-take in South Africa. What has been missed in this social media explosion is the significance of moving pictures through things like You Tube and Vimeo. Russell Southwood from Balancing Act argues that this surge will happen on mobiles and is not far around the corner.
Using a unique dataset from Uganda, which collected individual-level asset ownership data and women’s life histories regarding assets, this paper examines the relationships between inheritance, marriage and asset ownership. Land is the most important asset in rural Uganda. The majority of couples (both married and those in consensual unions) report owning land jointly. Men who report owning a parcel of land are much more likely than women to say they inherited the land. Inheritance is not an important means of acquisition of other assets, including livestock, business assets, financial assets and consumer durables. These items are acquired through purchase, for both men and women.
Early April saw the launch of the new World Bank Group strategy for engagement in the palm oil sector, which failed to resolve civil society concerns over several issues, including the rights of indigenous peoples and how performance standards will be applied across supply chains. The strategy outlines the conditions and standards under which the Bank will invest in the controversial palm oil sector, and brings to an end the moratorium on investments in palm oil announced by Bank president Robert Zoellick in September 2009. The original suspension followed years of pressure from civil society and indigenous peoples groups over the negative social and environmental impacts of palm oil plantations.
As part of a Global Information Network panel on 23 March 2011 at the Left Forum in the US, Pambazuka's editor-in-chief Firoze Manji .
Billed as the year when the Kenya would consolidate economic gains made during recovery from the 2008 post-election chaos and the global financial crisis, a combination of factors is turning 2011 into a nightmare year for the economy. Rising oil prices driven by the turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East and the current drought – which have affected commodity prices and food supplies respectively – are fuelling fears that the country’s economic growth could lose steam.
An editor who openly challenged the Prime Minister on government's tendencies to censor the state radio station, the Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS), was covertly told to resign if he was not happy with the government policy. Welile Dlamini, a long-time news editor of SBIS, had challenged the Prime Minister, Sibusiso Dlamini on why the station was told by government what and what not to broadcast. This was during a monthly breakfast meeting between editors and the PM, which is also attended by cabinet ministers.
Malawi's Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo adjourned to 11 April hearing of a case in which the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) is challenging the constitutionality of Section 46 of the Penal Code. The section, which was amended by parliament in November 2010, empowers the Minister of Information to ban either importation or publication of materials which, according to the minister, are not in the public interest. MHRC took the matter to court arguing that the section was inconsistent with the Constitution and therefore invalid.
Civilians evacuated from the war-ravaged western Libyan city of Misrata have described the humanitarian situation there as grim, saying families are barely able to find enough food and water, that medical treatment is hard to come by, and corpses are lying in the streets. 'We could hear the snipers picking people off in the street outside,' said Mariam Doua, a teacher in the city. 'Eventually some [rebel fighters] came to lead us to safety in the middle of the night when the militia were dozing. We covered the mouths of the children and ran out into the street, barefoot.'
The Malawian government's farm input subsidy programme was first implemented in 2005 after several years of drought and chronic food shortages left nearly a quarter of the population in need of food aid. President Bingu wa Mutharika hoped to avoid the need for future food handouts by distributing coupons for maize seed and fertilizer to the poorest 50 per cent of farmers. But the cost of fertilizer and transporting it to farmers all over the country has risen steeply in recent years and by 2008/09 the programme was draining 16 per cent of the national budget and nearly 7 per cent of GDP.
Following weeks of disputed election results, Benin President Boni Yayi has re-settled into office, leading analysts and citizens to push him to address what they see as the country’s most pressing challenges: electoral and economic reform, forging links with opposition parties, and preparing the country to face the threat of floods as the rainy season approaches.
Failure to diagnose and treat syphilis and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among pregnant women in Kenya means thousands of mothers risk losing their children or passing on the infections to their unborn children. While prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) has expanded, with more than 1,000 sites offering the services across the country, STIs - which raise the risk of contracting HIV and can lead to congenital STIs, low birth weight and stillbirths – are often missed, even when women visit antenatal care centres; an estimated 92 per cent of Kenyan women will seek antenatal care at least once during pregnancy.
A new policy on education will be in place before the end of next year, the Ministry of Education has pledged. The number of those in need of basic education, both young and old, has ballooned. The new policy is expected to tackle ways of improving access of education to this number (about 10 million children), fight cultural barriers to education such as female genital mutilation and how to keep children in school even in the worst climatic conditions like drought.
Zimbabwe’s current Inclusive Government, more commonly referred to as a Government of National Unity (GNU), was established pursuant to an Interparty Political Agreement, itself more commonly referred to as the Global Political Agreement (GPA), states this legal analysis from the Research and Advocacy Unit Zimbabwe. 'Rather than simply containing clauses which are subject to legal interpretation and enforcement, the larger part of the agreement comprises rhetoric and ideological bombast designed to facilitate political posturing and little else,' the authors state.
African countries have been told that they need to do more to share agricultural knowledge and information - including the wider dissemination of research results - if they are to drive the continent's economic growth. The recommendation is included in a four-year strategic plan, launched by the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) at its General Assembly in Accra, Ghana (12–14 April 2011). According to the AFAAS, advisory services are critical to boosting food security.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is rebuilding its power grid as part of the war-torn country's reconstruction. Originally built to power copper mines, the grid reaches just 6 per cent of the nation's people and bypasses some of its biggest cities. Rather than improve its citizens' access to electricity, the government plans to provide electricity from the rehabilitated power grid and new dam projects for mining and exports to South Africa and other countries. The rehabilitation's slow pace, ballooning costs and emphasis on energy exports raise serious concerns that it will only perpetuate Congo's great energy divide, says this page on the website of International Rivers.
The death of Andries Tatane at the hands of police officers has forced South Africans to question the direction in which the nation's law-enforcement body is moving. Tatane, a teacher, activist, husband and father of two young sons, was among a group of about 4 000 Meqheleng township residents who marched on the Ficksburg municipal offices. Observers have noted the increasing brutality of the police force over the past few years. In 2009, the police chief raised eyebrows when he called for a change to legislation that would allow police offers greater freedom to shoot at suspects.
Heavy flooding in Namibia has killed at least 65 people and displaced 60,000, damaging crops and infrastructure in the southwest African state, a UN report said. 'Sustained high water tables over the past three years mean that it may take months for the floodwaters to subside completely,' said the report by the office of the UN's resident disaster coordinator.
The top leadership of Tanzania's ruling party has resigned and been replaced by a set of politicians with a cleaner image, amid infighting over President Jakaya Kikwete's succession. The Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) old guard had been under pressure since the October 2010 general elections, which were marked by a record low turnout and saw the opposition gain ground in parliament.
Gender-based violence and the quality of health care and schooling were among the top concerns raised by refugee women in the latest round of UNHCR consultations that ended over the weekend in Zambia. The UN refugee agency's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Erika Feller, joined donors and other stakeholders in reaffirming their commitment to support and empower refugee women, at the Fifth Regional Dialogue with Refugee Women and Girls held in the Zambian capital, Lusaka.
Zambia has frozen LAP Green Network’s 75 per cent shares in Zamtel in conformity with the international community’s decision to freeze all assets belonging to Libya following the unrest in the Arab country, Zamtel managing director Hans Paulsen said in Lusaka on 15 April. The international community has been freezing some Libyan assets dotted across the globe. Mr Paulsen said Zamtel will not be affected by the new development and there is no need for customers to worry.
Healing and Reconciliation co-Minister Moses Mzila-Ndlovu (MDC) has been arrested on allegations of failing to notify police of a meeting held on Wednesday at a primary school in Lupane. Chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed Mzila-Ndlovu’s arrest. 'He has been arrested for failure to notify the police in terms of the Public Order and Security Act over a meeting they held at a primary school in Lupane on April 13,' he said.
Western calls for an international ban on trading in Zimbabwe’s controversial Chiadzwa diamonds appear to have been silenced, after a reported agreement on the country’s trade future was met in Dubai last week. It’s understood that officials in China and India have managed to persuade the European Union (EU) and the United States to soften their stance on the export of the diamonds. The Western states had been resisting growing pressure to allow Zimbabwean exports to resume, amid ongoing human rights concerns at Chiadzwa, where its feared that at least 20 people are killed a month.
Additional charges are being brought against a Nigerian being held for an alleged terror attack in his country last year, the Johannesburg Regional Court heard on Monday (18 April). Henry Okah, who was living in Johannesburg at the time, was arrested the day after the twin car bombing in Abuja, Nigeria, in October, in which 12 people died and 36 were injured. The State prosecutor on Monday said additional charges of terrorism and terror financing were being added to the charge sheet.
Jacob Zuma is facing pressure to clarify the situation of a close ally, Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Sicelo Shiceka, against whom there have been serious allegations of wasteful and possibly fraudulent use of state resources. The public protector has been asked to probe Shiceka’s spending of R335,000 on a trip to Switzerland, R640,000 in one year to stay at the One&Only Hotel, and R160,000 in eight months flying his extended family round the country. The Sunday Times has reported that there is deep unhappiness in Shiceka’s home village of Ingquza Hill in the Eastern Cape, where water has been laid on for the building of a house for the minister and a R32m tarred road is being routed past this house, which would be among the first in the area to be electrified.
Pambazuka News 525: Popular uprisings and imperialist invasions
Pambazuka News 525: Popular uprisings and imperialist invasions
The videos of six panelists who addressed the topic of the re-colonization of Africa at a Left Forum panel in the US are now online on The speakers include Firoze Manji, Andre Kangni Afanou, Eben Valentine, Tseliso Thipanyane, Kassahun Checole and Sowore Omoyele.
Information for Change
Digital Publishing in West Africa: Technology and the future of the book
A free whole-day workshop at the Nigeria International Book Fair, Lagos, for all interested in information for social change
Wednesday 11 May 2011. 09.00-17.00 in the Book Fair Halls
Keynote Address from Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Cassava Republic
Panel Speakers | Case Studies | World Cafe | Participation
Organised by Oxfam, IDRC, and CTA in collaboration with the Nigerian Publishers' Association and CODESRIA.
To register for the full-day FREE workshop, go to
Registration closes 4 May 2011
For more on the Information for Change workshops, visit www.informationforchange.org
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 April/May edition of Amandla! Magazine is now available in bookshops across South Africa. The issue focuses on two major issues confronting progressives and left activists: the up-coming local government elections and the revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East.
So is this new war all about oil or all about banking? asks Ellen Brown, an attorney and president of the Public Banking Institute. 'Maybe both - and water as well. With energy, water, and ample credit to develop the infrastructure to access them, a nation can be free of the grip of foreign creditors. And that may be the real threat of Libya: it could show the world what is possible.'
The 'Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice (RESURJ)' alliance is an international alliance of feminist activists seeking full implementation of international commitments to secure all women's and young people's sexual and reproductive rights and health by 2015. 'RESURJ by 2015' is a 10-point action agenda that places women's and young people's human rights, particularly sexual and reproductive rights, participation in decision-making, and accountability at the center of health programs and development efforts. Click on the link to read more.
Information, Society & Justice (ISJ) is producing a special issue with equal emphasis on ideas, policies and practice that can liberate bodies and minds from the imposed market solutions. The special issue of (ISJ) will also mark an international exchange of library staff and students during July-August 2011. You are invited to submit articles for consideration for publication in the December 2011 issue. Click on the link for more information.
Gay Kenya is pleased to bring you their 8th newsletter edition. The headline feature is named ‘The Law is an Arse’ and is on the de-criminalisation process, so far undertaken by the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) that seeks to make private, consensual same sex activity between adults not criminal.
Bolivia is set to pass the world's first laws granting all nature equal rights to humans. The Law of Mother Earth, now agreed by politicians and grassroots social groups, redefines the country's rich mineral deposits as 'blessings' and is expected to lead to radical new conservation and social measures to reduce pollution and control industry.
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has approved a staff-monitored program for Swaziland to help the southern African country enact tax reforms and at the same time protect social spending. The program entails IMF staff scrutiny of the authorities’ policies, but does not include formal backing of the program or any financial support. Swaziland is facing a serious fiscal crisis, with an overall budget deficit estimated around 13 per cent of GDP for the 2010/11 fiscal year ending on 31 March 2011. The crisis came from structural imbalances in both government expenditures and revenues.
This interim report from the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) in Nigeria focuses on immediate issues that merit the attention of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) and other actors. SDN noted significant variations in the atmosphere and conduct of elections in the three states (Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta). The breakdown is intended to give an indication of the overall tenor of the polls in these states as well as highlight key incidents.
According to the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), 60 per cent of Nairobi’s population lives on five per cent of the land. The city’s overcrowded slums and informal settlements, constructed from cheap materials like corrugated iron and connected to hazardous electricity lines, make them particularly vulnerable to fire. Access roads are few, making passage difficult for fire trucks.
Jennifer Madongonda, 43, shares a seven-roomed house with three other families in the low-income suburb of Budiriro, about 15km southwest of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. Seven months ago the municipality cut off water supply because they couldn’t pay the bill. Budiriro was regarded as the epicentre of the cholera epidemic that began in August 2008 and lasted for a year before it was officially declared at an end in July 2009. Chris Magadza, a researcher at the University of Zimbabwe, told participants at a recent workshop that 'clinical studies carried out on Harare's water supplies, and the results obtained, revealed that the water bodies carry a significant amount of pollutants, which pose a potential health risk'.
Results from Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission indicate that the incumbent president looks set to keep his job after winning in 21 of the 29 states whose votes have been counted. Goodluck Jonathan's ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took an early unassailable lead in Saturday's presidential elections, though results from the remaining seven states had not been declared by early Monday.
Work has begun to lay undersea communications cable along the coast of West Africa. The cable is set to give more Africans a fast internet access for the first time. The West Africa Cable System, known by its acronyms (WACS), runs 14,000 kilometres from London to South Africa.
Mutinous soldiers have rampaged through a southern town in Bukina Faso as the revolt against Blaise Compaore, the West African nation's ruler, enters its fourth day. Soldiers at a military garrison in Po, near the Ghana border, fired in the air, looting and seizing private vehicles, residents told the AFP news agency. Compaore, who came to power in a 1987 military coup, has faced a series of protests since February, staged first by students and then by soldiers. He won a new five-year term in office after taking 80 per cent of the votes in November elections.
Rebel fighters in eastern Libya fought off an attack by government troops in the town of Ajdabiya on Sunday, a day after retreating from a key oil facility around 100 kilometres farther west. Forces loyal to longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi advanced on Ajdabiya under a heavy artillery barrage in the morning and fought at close range with rebels on the town’s southern outskirts before a counterattack forced them back, witnesses said.
Since the Libyan conflict began only a few short weeks ago, some 236,000 people have crossed Libya’s western borders in search of safety and protection, including Libyans fleeing for their lives and many foreign nationals who had gone to work in Libya as migrants, reports an Amnesty International blog post. Already, around 100,000 of them have been able to return to their homes through the joint efforts of the two main international agencies that exist to assist migrants and refugees, IOM and UNHCR.
About 162,520 refugees from various African countries are residing in DRC, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) said. An estimated 79,626 Angolans are by far the largest number of refugees in the country, followed by Rwandans and Burundians who number 67,707 and 11,259 respectively. Ugandans are the lowest number, 16, behind the Central African Republic, estimated at 700 refugees.
In Eilat, the small city in Israel, refugees find their children barred from municipal schools. And in a move that has alarmed both human rights organisations and the local branch of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the municipality has hung red flags throughout the city as part of a municipal campaign against African migrants - initiated by employees of the state of Israel and financed with public funds.
Despite widespread opposition, France's Parliament has approved a law which seeks to ensure that refugees from the unrest in North Africa stay outside of the republic. Under EU laws, the country of arrival is responsible for dealing with any asylum seekers, but nearly all of the migrants are Tunisians who wish to join the 600,000-strong Tunisian community in France. France has responded by unveiling plans for barely-legal border checks and new sea patrols, which have already turned back more than 1,000 exiles.
The bodies of sub-Saharan refugees who tried to escape Libya by boat have been found in the sea with gunshot wounds according to an Eritrean priest who tracks migrants as they make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean. Father Mussie Zerai, a Catholic cleric based in Rome, told The Independent that his contacts in Tripoli have seen five bodies in a hospital that were recently washed back onto the Libyan coast. Human rights groups have called on the international community to investigate the killings and have blamed Nato for not doing more to try and locate boats that have gone missing in a corner of the Mediterranean that is now bristling with international vessels.
A three-month campaign by Addis Ababa's health bureau hopes to boost adherence to antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs in the Ethiopian capital by improving communication between patients and health service providers. A 2009 study by the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office found that on average, 72.3 per cent of patients on ARVs were still on first-line medication one year after starting treatment. 'The remaining are lost...it could be due to any number of reasons such as death or an unannounced change of location but it is a cause for concern,' said Addis Akalu, head of the disease prevention and control department at the Addis Ababa Health Bureau.
Kenyan AIDS activists are furious about a plan by the government to implement a two percent tax increase on medicines, which they say will hurt poor people living with HIV. In November 2010, Kenya's Minister for Medical Services issued a gazette notice imposing the new tax on drugs to help fund the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, the government body mandated to regulate drugs in the country. The Kenya Revenue Authority already collects a 2.75 per cent tax on medicines.
Hundreds of Burundians living with HIV/AIDS recently staged a demonstration in the capital, Bujumbura, to protest against a lack of treatment. Men, women and children lay on the ground for 10 minutes to 'show the government that if nothing is done rapidly - this week, this month - we will all die', said Jeanne Gapiya, a leading Burundian HIV activist. The protest was staged on 29 March by REMUA, Reseau de Reinforcement Mutuel des Acteurs de la Première Ligne, a network of six NGOs providing HIV treatment to more than 9,000 people.
On the International Day of Peasant Struggles, prominent farmers, fisherfolk, human rights and research organisations have sharply criticised the World Bank, three UN agencies and governments for promoting agricultural investments that are resulting in land grabbing on a massive scale.
In March 2011, The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Price Index, which tracks the price of 55 food commodities for export, rose for the ninth consecutive month. The index has now reached its highest level in both nominal and real terms since the inception of the index in 1990 (FAO, 2011). While higher food prices have benefited food corporations, they have contributed to a stark increase in poverty in developing countries. A recent World Bank (WB) report revealed that an additional 44 million people have been forced into poverty due to the drastic rise in food prices since June 2010 (WB, 2011). Having already surpassed the levels witnessed during the 2008 food crisis, the recent upsurge in food prices suggests that yet another food crisis has struck poor women, men, girls and boys.
Export Processing Zones are increasingly used as a governmental strategy to promote exports. Many of the workers in EPZs are women, who are considered flexible labour that can be paid lower wages than men. Women in EPZs suffer from additional forms of discrimination including sexual harassment, fewer opportunities for career development and no maternal protections (including layoffs as a result of pregnancy).
Residents have vowed to continue their protest against the eviction of a poor family and against Thursday’s (14 April) police brutality that has left three residents seriously injured, says a Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign press statement. Residents will submit a petition to police and fight for the rights and dignity of resident’s vulnerable to greedy banks and politicians, says the statement.
Ficksburg Magistrate's Court on Monday (18 April) for the death of protester Andries Tatane. Outside the court on Monday morning, a few police cars had arrived in anticipation of the appearance of the men from the public order police unit in Bloemfontein.
After four months of a growing crisis which threatened to tip Côte d’Ivoire into civil war Gbagbo was detained at the presidential compound on Monday (11 April) by forces loyal to Ouattara. French troops and UN peacekeepers, who had struck Gbagbo’s home in Abidjan from the air earlier, provided crucial support. The president-elect of Côte d'Ivoire has heralded 'the dawn of a new hope' since the arrest of his rival. In a television address to the nation, Alassane Ouattara said his predecessor would receive 'dignified treatment' and called on all fighters in Côte d’Ivoire to lay down their arms.
The African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday (14 April) broke its silence over the violent suppression of protests in Swaziland, calling for moves towards democratisation. 'We call on the government of Swaziland to work towards the normalisation of the political environment by unbanning opposition political parties, releasing political activists and engaging in a meaningful dialogue with opposition political and trade union leaders to find a collective solution to the socio-economic situation faced by that country,' Ebrahim Ebrahim, the deputy international relations minister, said in a statement.
Angry opposition supporters in Nigeria's Muslim north set fire to homes bearing ruling party banners Monday as election officials released results showing the Christian incumbent had gained an insurmountable lead. Witnesses said youths in the northern city of Kano were setting fires to homes that bore Jonathan party banners. Heavy gunfire also could be heard.
It is only months since the US diplomatic cables released by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks made headlines around the world with their revelations about Nigeria. Among them, allegations that Nigeria's government dropped legal action against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which is accused of running a clinical trial that killed and disabled children, after the drugs company threatened to investigate the attorney-general. But as voters head to the polls for presidential and regional elections, how many will be influenced by the material published over the last few months, and could such revelations bring about real change?
The Mozambican government has just introduced new subsidies to cushion the blow of rising food prices. But will they be enough to deflate popular protests? Alcino Moiana thinks not.
Around 7,000 stillbirths occur globally every day, with the poorest nations worst affected, a series of papers published in The Lancet suggest. An overwhelming 98 per cent of the 2.6m stillbirths each year strike middle and low-income countries, they say. Better clinical care and monitoring could halve stillbirths in poorer countries by 2020, the paper adds.
Ugandan police have fired tear gas during a walk-to-work protest in the capital, Kampala, and arrested several opposition politicians behind it. For the second time this week, people were asked to walk to work to protest against rising fuel and food prices. Police tried to arrest opposition leader Kizza Besigye, but a group of his supporters shielded him.
Two years into a supposed recovery, not only have none of the underlying contradictions that sparked the deepest economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression been resolved, but new problems are emerging, reports the World Socialist Website. The latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) report notes that 'the pace of activity remains uneven, with unemployment lagging'. Growth was 'insufficiently strong to make a major dent in high unemployment rates' with the number of jobless having increased by 30 million since 2007.
A project in South Africa supports mathematics education in schools using the web, social networking and mobile apps to deliver learning material directly to students’ cell phones. Teachers can also use the content in their classroom lessons. Students can practise mathematics exercises from a cell phone at any time and receive immediate feedback, while teaching staff only need a two-day training course to learn how to use the new service.
The international criminal justice project is gaining momentum but ‘do we even agree on what kind of justice we are asking for?’ asks Jeanne M. Woods. ‘If Africa is ever to determine its own destiny, Africa must build its own institutions, tailored to its own history and realities, as slow and as painful a process as this might be.’