Pambazuka News 513: Patrice Lumumba: Tributes to a fallen giant
Pambazuka News 513: Patrice Lumumba: Tributes to a fallen giant
Cameroon continues to arrest and prosecute individuals under a law that criminalizes same-sex sexual activity. This law has consequences for LGBT people beyond their unacceptable arrests and imprisonment. It drives inequality within the justice system and promotes violence within families and communities. To combat these violations, in November IGLHRC launched the report, 'Criminalizing Identities: Rights Abuses in Cameroon based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.' The report was a collaborative effort with Human Rights Watch and the Cameroonian LGBT organisations Alternatives-Cameroun and l’Association pour la Défense des Droits des Homosexuels.
In early 2011 the World Bank will approve a new education sector strategy amid trends that mean that international goals on education will not be met. Zoe Godolphin of the University of Bristol argues that the Bank’s proposed approach fails conceptually because it does not accept that education is a human right. It also fails pragmatically because it continues to advocate a template approach instead of supporting genuinely country-driven priorities in education planning.
An estimated 300,000 to 350,000 people remained internally displaced within Ethiopia in late 2010. There were reported displacements related to violence and human rights violations in Gambella and Somali Regions in 2010. Armed conflicts and localised episodes of violence have continued to cause displacement in various areas. In particular, government forces have continued to fight insurgency groups including the Ogaden National Liberation Front in Somali Region and the Oromo Liberation Front in the south of the country.
On 14 January 2011, Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced from office, and by some accounts he thereby became the first political casualty of the age of Wikileaks and social media, states this article.
One of the many places in our society where the fracturing in who counts as a full member of our national public and who does not is immediately visible is Motala Heights near Durban. Motala Heights is nestled into a valley between the factories on the outskirts of Pinetown and a steep hill that leads up to the expensive suburb of Kloof. Some of the people in the valley are poor and live in tin houses that they have built on rented land and some are middle class or wealthy and live in large suburban homes. There is also a shack settlement at the foot of the hill that leads up to Kloof. On Friday last week a bulldozer shuddered up the hill adjacent to the shack settlement, went straight to the Shembe temple and obliterated it. There was no warning of what was about to happen, writes Richard Pithouse on The South African Civil Society Information Service.
What is going to happen in Egypt on 25 January? People are calling for demonstrations and sit-ins everywhere. Who is going to participate, and where? What are their demands? Isn't it possible that some people are against the whole thing? Global Voices wraps up the Egyptian blogosphere to find out answers to these questions.
Algerian police have broken up an anti-government demonstration by about 300 people in the centre of the capital, Algiers, calling for greater freedoms. Several protesters were injured and a number are reported to have been arrested. Seven police officers were also hurt, according to state media. The leader of the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) said those held included its parliamentary leader.
Cross-border illicit financial flows from developing countries are estimated to range from US $850 billion to US $1 trillion each year. Two thirds of these illicit flows are related to tax evasion and avoidance by multinational companies operating in the South. As a result of tax dodging, poor countries lose massive financial resources which, according to the OECD, are larger than the amount received from Official Development Assistance (ODA).
The Zimbabwe GNU Watch provides an overview, month by month, of political developments under the terms set out in the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The sections profiled in monthly outputs may vary depending on events and issues raised in that particular report. Where possible, the relevant article as stipulated in the GPA has been provided.
Kenya has secured the support of the African Union Commission and Ethiopia in its bid to have the International Criminal Court defer the case against six Kenyans at the International Criminal Court and have them tried locally. AU Commission chair Jean Ping endorsed Kenya’s request, saying it is within the realm of the rights of all ICC member states. Kenya’s Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka has been on a tour of African states that the government wants to back the country’s request.
Fleeing Somalia may mean an end to dodging bullets and living in fear, but for many Somalis who manage to cross the border into Kenya, it is also the start of a long and difficult journey as a refugee. 'We have refugees who have been in Kenya since 1991,' said Salam Shahin, registration officer with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee complex, home to more than 300,000 people, mainly Somalis.
Such is the concern about the role the Ivoirian media are playing in ramping up the tension in Côte d’Ivoire that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently warned that International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments could eventually be handed down on those inciting violence. Most of the Ivoirian media is deeply polarised. The state-run Radiotélévision Ivoirienne (RTI), the most widely accessed source of news in the country, is an unwavering champion of Laurent Gbagbo and a persistent vilifier of his internationally-backed rival claimant to the presidency, Alassane Ouattara.
More mothers and pregnant women in Malawi are attending antenatal clinics since the increased training of health workers in paediatric HIV care improved services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, and paediatric HIV testing and treatment. 'I was reluctant [about] going for the voluntary HIV [test] when I got my first pregnancy in 2007,' said Fanny Yolamu, whose previous child had been delivered by traditional birth attendants.
Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised president of the Cote d'Ivoire, has called for a month-long ban on cocoa exports, in an attempt to oust Laurent Gbagbo, who remains president despite being widely considered to have lost the disputed November poll. Anyone contravening the ban will be liable to sanctions, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the government nominated by Ouattara, who is holed up in a hotel guarded by UN troops.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, on Wednesday called on European countries to increase resettlement places and support for refugees as a show of solidarity for the host countries of the world's refugees, four fifths of whom live in developing countries. Guterres made a specific request to Switzerland to consider restoring their resettlement programme.
After living abroad as refugees for years – in some cases decades – many of the half-million people who have returned to Burundi since 2002 are having to cope with a severe shortage of one of the tiny country’s most precious commodities: land. 'The issue of access and entitlement to arable land on which to undertake subsistence farming and of securing shelter [for the returnees] ... are among the most acute hurdles which continue to confront returnees,' Hugues van Brabandt, associate external affairs officer for the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, told IRIN.
Infrastructure finance in Africa is still struggling to claw back to the pre-2008 peak, just before the global financial crisis. A new survey by audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) shows traditional finance models have faltered in the wake of the recession, compounded by political and systemic obstacles that could derail a nascent recovery.
Uganda has approved the setting up of an international university that will partner with institutions from around the world to deliver accredited courses and degree programmes to students in Uganda and other East African countries as well as Southern Sudan and Nigeria. The five member countries of the East African Community, EAC, are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
The University of Ilorin in Nigeria has established the Association of West African Universities, AWAU, as a sub-regional body that will coordinate and promote the ideals of University education in West Africa. According to a communiqué signed by Dr Mahfouz A Adedimeji, deputy director of the Directorate of Information and Protocol in the vice-chancellor's office, the association was established on 10 January to strengthen and develop the capacity of leadership in universities in West Africa to address the challenges confronting the region.
A new campaign on the theme, 'Socially Responsible African Media' has been launched in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, by a group of trade unions fighting for the rights of journalists and other media workers in Africa. The group consisting of Federation of African Journalists, (FAJ), Uni Africa and their partners like the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and media-related groups across the continent are leading the campaign over a three-year period.
Embattled former SABC CEO Solly Mokoetle received a settlement of R3.4-million following his resignation on Wednesday, says the SABC. 'Mr Mokoetle was paid an equivalent of his 12 months' salary which amounts to R3.4-million inclusive of leave and other entitlements as a full and final settlement,' SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said in a statement on Friday.
Nigeria's foreign minister on Monday called on the United Nations Security Council to authorise force in Côte d'Ivoire as West African nations seek to further pressure strongman Laurent Gbagbo to quit power. Odein Ajumogobia, in an editorial published in Nigerian newspapers, said the crisis 'single handedly precipitated by Mr Laurent Gbagbo ... will inevitably lead to anarchy and chaos, or worse, a full-blown civil war' if not resolved.
It is time that the people take their destiny into their own hands, writes Mazibuko Jara. 'Can poor and working people, working with middle class people committed to social change, open the path to a new politics that can change this country? Can a modest national conference under an umbrella of democratic left politics offer any hope for the majority and those interested in social change in this country? This 1st National Conference of the Democratic Left, which will follow two weeks after the celebration of the ANC’s 99th anniversary in January 2011, is a milestone in a maturing long-term political process.'
This paper, from the just-concluded Conference of the Democratic Left, presents a perspective and argument for organising the democratic left initiative as an anti-capitalist political front. It is anchored in the premise of maximising the unity of social and ideological forces against post-apartheid and global capitalism. To stimulate debate, discussion and resolution on the political form question for the democratic left initiative this document covers the following themes:
- A strategic approach to fronts;
- Learning lessons from the history of political fronts;
- The case for a United Democratic Left Front for South Africa;
- Key issues for a Democratic Left approach to building a political front through struggle.
The ecological and economic crisis of South Africa’s transnationalising capitalist economy is also reflected in increasing hunger, increasing food prices, unhealthy diets and polluting agro-processing food production. Advancing an Anti-Hunger and Food Sovereignty Campaign challenges this reality and politicises the food question in a more consistent way. Such a campaign has to be advanced bottom up, through a participatory democratic logic for democratic left politics. These campaign notes, presented at a Conference of the Democratic Left in South Africa, intend to promote such a process and emerge out of the Gauteng Democratic Left conference held in March 2010.
There is a need to outline a programme of demands in the area of housing. Through struggle in the Western Cape some demands have come to the fore, and they might be considered to be elements of a programme in the area of housing. The discussion available through the link provided, from the Conference of the Democratic Left, held recently, may not even include all the demands that have been raised by different communities in the Western Cape, so should not in any way be regarded as definitive even of recent Western Cape experience.
Building on his acclaimed book Limits to Change, Marais examines South Africa's most pressing issues – from the real reasons behind President Jacob Zuma's rise and the purging of his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and how the African National Congress replenishes its power, to a devastating critique of the country's continuing AIDS crisis, its economic path and its approach to the rights and entitlements of citizens. South Africa Pushed to the Limit presents a riveting, benchmark analysis of the incomplete journey beyond apartheid.
'The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), strongly condemns the continuing detention of at least fourteen human rights defenders and call upon the Government of Sudan to release them immediately as their detention is arbitrary.'
Climate change is a significant and emerging threat to public health, says this publication from the Arid Lands Information Network. 'There is need for capacity building and implementation of projects to strengthen the health system response to climate change and to ensure that health is appropriately considered in decisions made by other sectors such as energy and transport.'
Maternity protection for women workers is essential for ensuring women's access to equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace. This updated review of national legislative provisions for maternity protection in 167 International Labour Organisation member states has a particular focus on how well countries’ provisions conform to the ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (no. 183), and its accompanying recommendation (no. 191). It shows that, over the last 15 years, there have been noticeable improvements in maternity protection legislation around the world.
How can non-governmental organisations (NGOs) tackle social issues such as HIV, gender equality and violence in rural African communities? A number of them, including South African Sonke Gender Justice network, Ubuntu Institute, CARE International and Zambian Women for Change (WFC) are working with traditional leaders as a gateway to reach the people in communities they are targeting.
According to the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects 2011, released on 13 January, the GDP growth rate for Sub-Saharan Africa is projected at 4.7 per cent for 2010, from a 1.7 per cent low in 2009, increasing to 5.3 per cent in 2011 and 5.5 per cent in 2012. This compares to negative growth for the United States in 2009 (-2.6 per cent) and weak recovery in 2010-2012 (2.8 per cent, 2.8 per cent, and 2.9 per cent). The World Bank notes that the recovery is due in large part to trends in commodity prices, particularly for metals and minerals as well as for oil. But it also stresses the significance of domestic demand and of expanding investment in the region, including in manufacturing and telecommunications service. This edition of AfricaFocus Bulletin contains excerpts from the report's regional annex on Sub-Saharan Africa.
Preparations for the popular Cape Town Pride, taking place from 24 February to 6 March 2011 are underway in the Mother City and organisers have promised a remarkable event that will highlight the beauty of diversity and indicate the event is not only about beautiful bodies and drag queens but about gay families, normal gay businessmen, the transgender community and the unheard voices of 'our sisters' in the townships who often face intimidation and corrective rape.
There are countless opportunities for the IT sector in Africa. This was one of the conclusions drawn by Google Ghana’s Country Manager Estelle Akofio-Sowah and local Kenyan IT entrepreneur Kamal Budhabhatti. Both were speaking in the Netherlands at the Fill the Gap event, supported by Dutch organisations IICD and Hivos. Fill the Gap is an annual event about ICT for Development (ICT4D) with a different theme each year. This year’s theme was: IT entrepreneurship in Africa.
Botswana’s government has green-lighted a massive $3bn mine in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve – in the middle of the Kalahari Bushmen’s appeal against the Botswana authorities’ refusal to allow them access to water there. Gem Diamonds announced that its application to open a huge diamond mine near the Bushman community of Gope in the reserve has been approved.
The new school year opened with hope - and hunger - in Swaziland this week: an estimated 140,000 orphans and vulnerable children are among the small, eager faces in the mountain kingdom's classrooms. Poverty and the AIDS pandemic threaten to make an early mark on the next generation.
Malawi has only voted for local government representatives once since 1994 when democracy was ushered in. The country’s constitution demands that local elections be held in the year following the national general election. Malawi has had general elections every five years since 1994, but local elections supposed to be held in 1995 and 2005 never took place. The government has never explained why. This article from IPS Africa explains the impact on ordinary citizens.
A Nouakchott court on Sunday (16 January) 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 week, three human rights activists were handed down six month sentences for taking part in an unauthorised rally over the case. The verdict against the rights defenders, including Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) head Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, was based on charges of assembling and disturbing the public peace, as well as using violence against police officers.
The dirty downside of the ICT industry is that computers have to go somewhere when they die and because they are full of potentially toxic materials they cannot simply be dumped in landfills. Uganda’s Government has sought to tackle part of the problem by banning the import of secondhand computers and sparked the law of unintended consequences. Russell Southwood talked to Shakeel Padamsey of Camara and Kyle Spencer of the Uganda Linux Group about what’s happened.
Niger's 10 presidential rivals have asked the ruling military junta to delay elections by three weeks to 20 February and to replace the electoral commission after problems with local polls held earlier this month. The presidential elections are meant to restore civilian rule after a military coup in February 2010 toppled the former president, Mamadou Tandja.
The final act of the kleptocracy by the Ben Ali family was to steal one and a half tonnes of gold, with the president's wife personally collecting the bullion from an initially reluctant but eventually browbeaten president of the country's central bank, reports the UK Independent. Within hours the allegations – denied by the central bank – had been turned into slogans on the streets of Tunis in another demonstration, as protesters vented their fury at the former first family.
A new report, released by Plan International, examines the rights of girls throughout their childhood, adolescence and as young women. The 'Because I am a Girl: The State of the World's Girls 2010 - Digital and Urban Frontiers' report looks at the prospects and perils facing girls on two of the 21st century's fastest growing areas - the boom in city populations and the explosion of IT and communication technology. While there are great opportunities, prejudice and poverty is excluding millions of girls from taking advantages of the possibilities on offer. Urban poverty, lack of proper housing and sexual harassment can make many girls feel unsafe.
A councillor in a remote district of Binga has revealed that state security agents are compiling a visual database of MDC officials that they suspect are potential candidates in the next elections. The CIOs have already taken photographs of some councilors in Binga, but others have refused to be photographed, saying they know that their images will be used to identify them when violence is unleashed during elections. SW Radio Africa spoke to Councillor Temba Toonse Kunjulu, popularly known as TTK in his Jabuba ward in Binga, who described how he was recently approached by CIOs who asked him if he would be running for a position during the next elections.
The United Nations has reinforced its nearly 9,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire with extra peacekeepers and helicopters, as senior officials called for urgent action to prevent growing post-electoral violence from degenerating into genocide. In a unanimous resolution adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows for the use of force, the Security Council authorised the immediate deployment of an additional 2,000 troops and three armed helicopters in the West African country.
An African film company is gaining global attention by producing award-winning 3D animation titles made from an African perspective. TransTales Entertainment was started in 2005 on a budget of less than 5 000 dollars by Segun Williams and Obinna Onwuekwe, and is the first film company to produce African themed 3D animation films to fill the void in animation with myriads of authentic African stories.
Poet Khainga O’Okwemba provides insight into the language of poetry.
Ghana has recently reached middle-income status but still struggles with a water deficit and widespread lack of sanitation. Despite challenges, Ghana is one of only four countries in sub-Saharan Africa on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal for water by 2015. Government estimates it will need to invest about $1.6 billion a year over 10 years for adequate infrastructure.
Poor countries that borrow from the International Monetary Fund are spending just one cent in every dollar received in health aid on improving the medical care of their populations, according to new Oxford University-led research. The study, published in the International Journal of Health Services, said there were signs that the tough loan conditions imposed by the IMF were leading to health aid being diverted for other uses, reports the London Guardian.
Laurent Gbagbo has his 'assets' seized by the army.
The latest issue of the Reject Online is now out.
This issue's highlights are:
- Scavengers of the gold mine
- Fear stalks IDP camps as mothers lose babies
- Child loses uterus through repeated sexual assault
- The great Mekatilili wa Menza
- Healer with a touch for broken hearts.
Almost two years into the trial of Thomas Lubanga for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC), several international justice experts and observers say the court has had a largely positive impact on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but some differ. Indicted for enlisting, conscripting and engaging children in armed hostilities in eastern DRC in 2002 and 2003, Lubanga, alleged leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots and of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, was detained by the ICC in 2006. His trial began in January 2009.
Cholera, though easily preventable, is one of the most deadly diarrhoeal diseases. Once someone is infected through contaminated food or water, the vibrio cholerae bacteria are present in faeces for one to two weeks, and without proper sanitation are likely to infect others. But proper sanitation facilities, as well as safe drinking water, are out of reach for most Chadians. And tackling this, experts say, must be the priority post-emergency. With the rate of infection slowing as of mid-December, Chad had 6,369 documented cases of cholera with 180 deaths, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Policemen were on Wednesday caught on camera executing three men in cold blood on a busy Nairobi street, reports the Daily Nation. A motorist who happened upon the confrontation between plainclothes policemen and alleged criminals in the morning traffic pulled out his camera and took photographs. All the three men had already surrendered and were lying on the tarmac on Langata Road near Wilson Airport. As they lay on the tarmac, a policeman in plain clothes was pointing a gun to their heads.
Judges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague have rejected William Ruto’s application criticising its chief prosecutor's investigations and seeking to bar summons or arrest warrants over Kenya poll violence. Mr Ruto had filed an application at the court arguing that chief prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo failed to conduct proper investigations on the Kenya case and instead relied on reports by the Waki Commission and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
Kenya's artisanal or small-scale fishermen have been living off the sea for decades. They have been facing a range of problems over the past years. In Malindi, a number of conflicts have arisen between the fishermen and prawn trawlers, large vessels that trawl the ocean floor catching prawns for sale. The fishermen say that the trawlers often cut their nets and discard healthy fish as by-catch. One trawling company faced a number of law-suits relating to these conflicts. Along Mombasa's coastline, fisherman are increasingly having to compete with the expanding hotel industry for access to scarce land along the sea. As more and more hotels take over these areas, the fishermen fear that they will lose their only means of survival. Zahra Moloo reports in this
With mounting protests forcing President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country, the Tunisian people's toppling of a deeply unpopular regime may well 'become a watershed date in the modern history of the Arab World', writes Esam al-Amin. Once a key regional ally of Western governments, Ben Ali's fall from grace has been precipitated by an extraordinary wave of sustained protest. Time will tell if the 'Tunisian revolution' attains lasting change and success, al-Amin concludes.
As Tunisia experiences remarkable popular protest, many in the Western mainstream media have again focused on the role of the internet and social networking in catalysing socio-political change, writes H. Nanjala Nyabola. But to what extent do these tools foment such change, Nyabola asks, and who are the real heroes behind successful protests?
Awino Okech outlines how, following the assassination of Lumumba, the stage was set for ‘political patronage and plunder’ – essentially a pact between elites and former colonial masters. But there is still the possibility for latter day Lumumbas to challenge governments.
It wasn’t just Patrice Lumumba his assassins wanted to kill, it was the genuine self-determination, dreams and aspirations of African people, writes Horace Campbell, reflecting on the murder of the DRC’s (Democratic Republic of Congo) first prime minister on 17 January 1961.
All South Africans need to act urgently and immediately to the proposed regulations in the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) governing the labelling of Genetically Modified (GM) food. The regulations are weak and undermine the consumer's right to know and consumer choice while addressing the needs of big business instead. You can read more about what's wrong with the legislation at
An essential element for the labelling of GM foods is to protect your right to know and make informed choices. Since our supermarket shelves are full of foods that contain GM ingredients it has never been more critical that food labelling is accurate and transparent. The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) and SAFEAGE are intent on protecting your rights. We are demanding certain changes that ensure everyone's right to know. You can read our demands and the actual petition at
Please support this action by signing our petition.
We have until 31 January 2011 to submit comments before the regulations are finalised. If the regulations are passed in its current form it will deny consumers the right to know what is in your food and hence undermine your freedom of choice. You may also write to the department yourself by sending an email to Mr Ntutuzelo Vananda at [email][email protected]
Why was Lumumba killed? Because he was a ‘relentless, dedicated, intelligent, passionate anti-colonialist, Pan-Africanist and Congolese nationalist’ with ‘the unstinting support of the Congolese masses’ who ‘stood in the way of Belgium’s plan to transform Congo from a colony into a neo-colony,’ writes Carlos Martinez.
When Washington and Brussels ordered the killing of Patrice Lumumba 50 years ago, ‘little did they know that they were inventing an immortal African martyr for freedom; and making a vital investment for Congo’s rebirth today,’ writes Okello Oculi.
Rasna Warah calls on Kenyans to join a campaign against the government’s proposals to withdraw from the ICC and ‘to use taxpayers’ money to pay the legal fees of the six suspects accused of committing crimes against humanity’.
Young African women activists and feminists gathered in Ghana towards the end of last year and issued a statement on the African Women's Decade, climate change, food sovereignty and economic partnership agreements.
Adekeye Adebajo’s book is recommended reading for anyone interested both in contemporary Africa and in how the Berlin Conference continues to influence the future of the continent, writes Nilani Ljunggren De Silva.
Kenyan writer and poet Khainga O’Okwemba shares insights and experiences gained during a visit to Cairo, for a conference organised by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Culture in collaboration with Egypt PEN.
This week’s roundup of the African blogosphere focuses on the departure of Tunisian dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali following popular uprising on the streets of Tunis, and exiled Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier’s mysterious return to Haiti.
‘The ideals that Lumumba stood for remain very relevant given the situation in which majority of Africans find themselves today,’ writes Lyn Ossome.
Coward Fate stares at us in our eye tonight;
I see the naked fear in us in its bolder eyes…
‘The statement by Afrikaner author, Anneli Botes, that one group that she still does not like are “black people”, reveals a deeper malaise that continues to permeate the post-apartheid psyche among certain sectors of South African society,’ writes Tim Murithi.
With ‘the current ruling crew’ highly unlikely to respond with ‘genuine post-carbon strategies’, addressing to the huge environmental challenges that South Africa faces will rely on the rise of a mass democratic movement, writes Patrick Bond.
Cameron Duodu remembers working as a journalist in Ghana and documenting Patrice Lumumba’s dramatic rise to power - and subsequent assassination - from afar. In so doing he uncovers why Lumumba is such an important historical figure who 'was not assassinated merely as a person, but as an idea'.
Tunisia’s former president Zine Abbedine Ben Ali has fled following popular uprising, but will he simply be replaced by another ruling elite, asks Dennis Sammut.
Following his address to the 99th ANC anniversary celebrations, The Right2Know campaign has written to President Jacob Zuma pointing out that he has 'failed to address a number of disturbing political developments that threaten the free flow of information in South Africa.'The Protection of Information Bill – the Secrecy Bill – currently before Parliament would cast a shroud of secrecy over the workings of the state. This Bill would impose harsh penalties, up to 25 years in prison, on whistleblowers, activists and journalists who expose information in the public interest. We welcome your reassurances that the ANC will continue to promote and fight for media freedom, yet this Bill would be disastrous for media freedom in South Africa.'
The Committee to Protect Journalists has issued a statement opposing prosecution demands for lengthy prison sentences for the editor and deputy editor of the independent weekly Umurabyo. State Prosecutor Agustin Nkusi requested a 33-year prison sentence for Editor Agnès Uwimana and 12 years for her deputy, Saidati Mukakibibi, at a High Court hearing in the capital, Kigali. The two, arrested in July 2010, face charges of incitement to violence, genocide denial, and insulting the head of state in connection with several opinion pieces published in mid-2010, according to news reports.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) says it welcomes the judgment handed down by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal on 9 December 2010 in the case of Gondo and eight others vs the Government of Zimbabwe. The SADC Tribunal ruled that the Government of Zimbabwe violated Articles 4 (c) and 6 (1) of the SADC Treaty by failing to pay compensation to the nine (9) Applicants who are all victims of organised violence and torture (OVT). 'The ruling also confirms what the Forum and other Zimbabwean civil society orgnisations have been saying over the years – that one of the country’s main challenges is the flagrant disregard of court orders by the state and the absence of the rule of law.'
Egypt is at a stage in its demographic transition with a marked 'youth bulge', a period in which the proportion of youth in the population increases significantly compared to other age groups. Owing to the dearth of data on youth, the Population Council has recently conducted a comprehensive situation analysis of adolescents and youth in Egypt: 'The Survey of Young People in Egypt (SYPE)'. The report updates knowledge on issues of health, education, employment, family formation, and civic participation.
'GALZ applauds the National Aids Council for taking steps to carry out an assessment of HIV prevalence and risk behaviours among the prison populations in Zimbabwe. We believe that men, women and children in these settings are vulnerable hence it is important to ensure that the health of those who constitute this population is protected, as they are a part of the broader community.'
There is currently a vacancy at BCR for a senior fellow or a part-time researcher for a 2-year period. As a specialist in governance studies or impact research, the successful candidate will carry out collaboratively-funded research and coordinating work within BCR’s CORE team.
The European Union has offered to help organise elections in Tunisia following its democratic uprising that culminated in the flight of leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia. However, asked whether this 'solidarity' extended to other democracy movements across north Africa, the commission refused to be drawn regarding other regimes in the region.'We cannot speculate on situations that are not ongoing,' said foreign affairs spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic.
'We are Young African women activists and feminists from various countries who gathered in Accra, Ghana on 20-23 November 2010 for the Regional Consultation and Training on Gender, Economic and Environmental Justice convened by Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) and Third World Network-Africa. Recognising the challenges and uncertainties that the Africa region is facing in the context of systemic global crises, we affirm the central role of women in the resolution of these crises and the crucial need to address the gaps and fragmentation in the institutional and policy responses from governments and global governance institutions.'
The American Political Science Association (APSA) and the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) University of Nairobi, are pleased to announce a call for applications from individuals who would like to participate in a workshop on 'Representation Reconsidered: Ethnic Politics and Africa’s Governance Institutions in Comparative Perspective' from 23 July to 6 August 2011. The Workshop will be held at the Institute of Development Studies in Nairobi, Kenya. The organizers, with a grant secured from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will cover all the costs of participation (travel, lodging, meals, daily stipend, and materials) for up to 23 qualified applicants (20 African, 3 U.S.). The working language of the workshop is English.
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten released a series of US diplomatic cables from 2006 on massive and pervasive corruption and nepotism in Tunisia and its effect on economic development and social problems. The cables show that the United States government was fully aware of the dangerous and debilitating level of corruption in Tunisia, and its anti-democratic implications.
The attorney general in Zimbabwe has set up a team of lawyers to investigate whether Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai can be charged with treason or conspiracy related to revelations by the website WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks published US cables saying Tsvangirai and his party leadership were planning with US diplomats for Washington to contribute to a fund to buy-off security service chiefs to achieve regime change in Zimbabwe.
Gabon’s late president Omar Bongo allegedly pocketed millions in embezzled funds from central African states, channelling some of it to French political parties in support of Nicolas Sarkozy, according to a US embassy cable published by El País.
Wikileaks cables have revealed a disturbing development in the African uranium mining industry: abysmal safety and security standards in the mines, nuclear research centres, and border customs are enabling international companies to exploit the mines and smuggle dangerous radioactive material across continents. The Wikileaks cables reveal that U.S. diplomats posted in a number of African countries – the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Niger, and Burundi, among others – have had direct knowledge of the poor safety and security standards in these countries’ uranium and nuclear facilities.
Former president Thabo Mbeki's office has refused to say whether he helped draft a key policy document for the Congress of the People, insisting that the ousted head of state was still a member of the ANC. According to a US diplomatic report leaked to the WikiLeaks website, former ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama told University of South Africa professor Dirk Kotze in 2008 that Mbeki had helped to write a COPE policy draft. If this proved to be true, Mbeki could find himself in hot water with the ANC.
Africa's economy isn’t growing fast enough to meet targets to reduce poverty in the world’s poorest continent, the United Nations said. Per-capita income will probably expand 2.7 per cent in 2011 and 2.8 per cent in 2012, lower than the 3 per cent 'minimum rate of growth to make a substantial dent in poverty', the UN said in a statement released in Johannesburg. Rising commodity prices, better harvests and investments in rail and energy projects will help lift growth to 5 per cent in 2011 and 5.1 per cent in 2012, from 4.7 per cent last year, the UN said.
A significant decline in agriculture, still considered by many to be the economy’s backbone, has seen the emergence of information communication technologies (ICT) and telecommunications as the new pillars of the economy. 'We have been getting requests to increase allocations to the agricultural sector. The ICT sector, including the numerous outsourcing ventures which employ mostly the youth, appears more attractive,' Joseph Kinyua, treasury permanent secretary told Financial Journal.
Soldiers from 42 lnfantry Battalion in Gutu on Friday 14 January 2011 allegedly banned vendors from selling Masvingo province's weekly independent newspaper, The Mirror, after it published a story alleging that army personnel had beaten up people at Mupandawana growth point on Christmas Eve.
On 29 December 2010 Togolese authorities closed down three privately-owned radio stations in the capital, Lomé, citing administrative reasons. A statement issued by the Post and Telecommunications' Regulatory Authority and signed by Palouki Massina, its director general, said the decision was taken after a 10-day joint review of the stations, together with the High Authority for Broadcasting and Communication (HAAC), in November 2010.
In June 2010, Amnesty International found that pregnant women and girls at Hopley settlement, in Harare, are at risk of ill-health and even death due to inadequate access to essential health services. Both their own lives and the lives of their newborn babies are put at risk because of the government’s failure to provide adequate levels of maternal and newborn care. Though there have been some recent investments to rehabilitate the health delivery services in other communities in Harare after many years of neglect, the situation at Hopley has remained precarious.
Politically motivated sexual violence against women in Zimbabwe takes many forms. These include extreme violence, gang rape and insertion of objects (bottles and sticks) into the women's genitalia. This report from the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) is the first coming out of Zimbabwe focusing particularly on politically motivated rape; the aim of the study was to provide a valid and reliable description of cases of politically motivated rape. Since this was a clinical rather than an epidemiological study, there was no attempt to determine either the prevalence of political rape or to establish how representative the sample was.
The five states making up the East African Community (EAC) are in a hurry to prepare for their common currency, which according to plans is to be introduced already next year. Experts now see how they can fast-track the process. Experts from the five EAC states on 17 January embarked on a four-day meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, that sets the stage for negotiations for the East African Monetary Union.
A US Embassy cable from 2006 discussed the possible replacement of Tunisia's Dictator Zine El-Abedine Ben Ali. It left little faith in the opposition but in many ways foresaw PM Mohammed Ghannouchi's attempt to consolidate the ruling party's power and who will attempt to gain power.
The Arab Commission for Human Rights, SHERPA and Transparence International France (TI France) has filed a complaint with the French public prosecutor (Procureur de la République) against several members of Ben Ali and Trabelsi families. The objective is the opening of a judiciary inquiry into the assets they own in France, which could have come from the embezzlement of public funds. Corruption inside Ben Ali’s regime has been revealed with the recent revelation by Wikileaks of a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Tunis.
FEMNET will be unveiling the first issue of The African Women’s Journal on 20 January 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya. The first of its kind in the region, The African Women’s Journal will provide well researched and analytical articles on women, gender and development issues in Africa. The theme for this first issue of the Journal is 'The African Women’s Decade (2010-2020): A Call for Action, Action and More Action'.
A new set of research studies – available now on the International Land Coalition (ILC) website – explores the growing wave of large-scale international and domestic land acquisitions and the factors that are driving demand for investments in land. The studies examine how changes in demand for food, energy and natural resources, along with liberalisation of trade regimes, are making the competition for land increasingly global and unequal.
South Sudan has appealed for investors to plough $140 million into its war-hit wildlife parks, seeking to kick-start a tourism industry and wean itself off oil months ahead of its expected independence. The south has the world's second largest migration of mammals, untamed wildernesses and vast herds of gazelles and antelopes, rivalling anything seen in Kenya, Uganda and other African holiday hotspots, say experts.
Thousands of children who have fled violence in Ivory Coast are at risk of sexual exploitation or recruitment by armed forces, aid workers warned on Tuesday. They are particularly concerned about children who have become separated from their parents during the turmoil following the country’s disputed presidential elections in November. About 30,000 people, more than 75 per cent of whom are women and children, have crossed the border into neighbouring Liberia while another 18,000 are internally displaced in Ivory Coast.