Pambazuka News 569: The on-going challenge of self dermination
Pambazuka News 569: The on-going challenge of self dermination
Studies have shown that the highest rates of HIV infection are among women stuck in financially dependent relationships where the only right is the right of the man. Silence increases violence.
Minerals Resource Minister Susan Shabangu stood up at the Mining Indaba last year and declared: 'there will be no nationalisation in my lifetime'. On Tuesday 7 February she told a packed hall of global delegates with certainty that nationalisation is off the agenda for government and the ruling ANC. Instead, she highlighted the new approach of resource nationalism - a milder form of state intervention that will include a higher tax regime for the industry.
Testimony before an inquest into a Zimbabwean power broker's fiery death has ended, leaving the last hours of General Solomon Mujuru's life shrouded in suspicion that he was murdered by political rivals. After three weeks of hearings that have been closely followed in Zimbabwe, Magistrate Walter Chikwanha did not say when he would report his conclusions after hearing evidence from 37 witnesses. He can rule the death was accidental or criminal and in the latter case an investigation would be opened. Chikwanha could also declare an 'open verdict', effectively saying he was unable to reach any conclusion.
Angolan anti-corruption campaigner Rafael Marques has started publishing a slew of investigations. Through a website he calls 'Maka Angola', after the Kimbundu word for trouble or problem Marques spares no blushes. He points the finger at some of the country’s most senior government officials and even President José Eduardo dos Santos’s own children. The reports make uncomfortable reading for overseas companies investing in Angola.
The ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) decided at the weekend to delay Julius Malema’s suspension until its disciplinary committee had heard his submission in mitigation of sentence, party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on 6 February. This followed the decision of the national disciplinary committee of appeals (NDCA) to uphold the guilty verdict against the ANC Youth League president. The NDCA also ruled that the disciplinary case against Malema and five other members of the ANCYL’s NEC be referred back to the national disciplinary committee (NDC) for evidence in mitigation of sentence.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe says the ruling party will not be bullied into stopping discussion on the nationalisation of mines because it will scare off investors. Mantashe said this as Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel told a high-profile mining indaba in Cape Town yesterday that the nationalisation of South Africa's mines was not an option. 'The mining sector is so fundamentally important as a platform to construct the [upliftment] transition that we can't be able to take this idea of nationalisation forward,' Manuel said.
The burning inferno of what used to be a Chevron Corp. natural gas rig still stains the night's sky orange more than two weeks after the rig caught fire, and no one can say when it will end as swarms of dead fish surface. The environmental damage is hitting a region whose poor still rely on the delta's muddy waters for survival. A nearby clinic remains overrun with patients who are showing up with skin irritations and gastrointestinal problems.
Police in Malawi say they have fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing vendors resisting orders they move off the streets to designated flea markets. Lilongwe police spokesperson Kingsley Dandaula described running battles 6 February, the deadline city officials had given vendors to move their tiny businesses to flea markets. Dandaula says protesting vendors also blocked streets with large rocks and burning tires, and damaged some shops and cars before police got the situation under control. He says 42 people had been arrested by late afternoon and that he expected more arrests.
Leader of the opposition John Tembo has said president Bingu wa Mutharika’s remarks on Friday 3 February when he opened the 43rd session of parliament offered no hope for a nation that is economically struggling. Mutharika had said he will offer concrete proposals to the present problems in May and also appealed to the IMF to give his administration three years to resolve the economic crisis. Mutharika has already been criticised for failing to provide proposals and measures to deal with the current problems Malawi is facing and many question his three year 'grace period' request when no tangible proposal has been seen in the past two years since many problems started to appear.
The recent outbreak of typhoid within the capital city, Harare, has brought with it immeasurable stress to both communities and the still-unwholesome public health delivery system, says this Financial Gazette article, which places the blame at the door of the local authorities. '...the outbreak of typhoid, whose casualties so far number close to 2,000 in the capital alone, exposes the delinquency ravaging our local authorities, particularly the Harare City Council where, despite the fact that rates and other services are being paid for in US dollars thanks to a hard currency regime adopted 2009, services still remain pathetic...'
A National Security Council (NSC) meeting slated for recently was cancelled after a fierce clash between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over the composition of the attendees following the expiry of the term of office of one of the service chiefs, authoritative sources confided to The Standard last week. Sources said the meeting was potentially explosive as there was mistrust between the service chiefs and Tsvangirai.
Australian and Brazilian mining giants are moving villagers to land insufficient for farming and far from jobs to make way for coal projects in central Mozambique, and then sidelining local entrepreneurs as they exploit the region's natural resources, according to a new report. The independent Southern Africa Resource Watch, which monitors the impact of mining across the region, sent researchers to study resettlement efforts by Rio Tinto of Australia and Vale of Brazil, which recently began mining in Mozambique's Tete province. Southern Africa Resource Watch said 'the impact of both companies' investment on local communities remains problematic and there is no guarantee that these massive coal extraction projects are going to genuinely benefit the people of Mozambique.'
A renowned journalist was humiliated and beaten by security guards manning South Sudan’s National Assembly on Monday, eye witnesses told Sudan Tribune. Mading Ngor, host of the popular ’Wake Up Juba’ show on Bakhita FM, was roughed up by at least four security men and wrestled to the ground in front of other journalists. Only when a MP intervened was he let go by the security services.
The R7 billion (US$879 million) Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) payout to Swaziland for the 2012-13 financial year could keep King Mswati III's tottering government afloat for much of this year. Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini has been tight lipped on what the Sacu windfall will be used for. Southern Africa Report says there is 'good reason to suppose that Mswati will squander much of it on resuscitating his large vanity construction projects, among them a second international airport and royal technology park, as well as private investment schemes to boost his already bloated state earnings.'
Some 11 universities and other political groups are promoting calls for civil disobedience starting 11 February until the military rulers step down and hand power over to an elected civilian authority. 'We called for a gradual strike and if the demands aren’t met we will escalate to civil disobedience as we had depleted all other peaceful means of protesting,' Mahmoud Afify, spokesman of the April 6 Youth Movement, said. A variety of sectors, mainly students and labor unions, welcomed the idea.
In protest of the ongoing clashes between security forces and protesters, which have intensified demands for an immediate end to military rule, Egyptian activists have called for a national boycott of army-produced goods and services. The online movement called Kate3ohom (Boycott Them), which is urging a national boycott of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), gained the attention of social media users. The idea also signaled bloggers to help by compiling lists of the military institution’s products and services, which range from producing pasta and fruit jam to the construction of roads and bridges.
The government is contemplating to open doors for Genetically Modified Crops (GMOs) in a decision expected to attract more international partners in the bio-technology industry. Addressing an international conference in Dar es Salaam, Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Prof Jumanne Maghembe said the country had no other option but to welcome the new technology. The national discussion on whether to allow GMOs is currently between the ministry of Agriculture and the Vice President's Office with a debate on safety legislation protecting farmers and consumers and whether to remove a contestable clause (strict liability clause) in the bio safety regulatory framework.
On 2 December 2011, the Malian parliament passed a Family Code, which threatens to set back women’s rights in Mali quite considerably. Women’s organisations like WILDAF Mali, Women in Law and Development in Africa, have been pulling women, and men, together into various formations to inform and to organise. On 31 December, they pulled together representatives from over 20 organizations to think through the intricacies of the new bill and of the new moment, to strategize and to begin to implement counter-strategies.
Some young citizens in Ghana have never witnessed water flowing from the taps in their homes, reports Global Press Institute. As the water shortage here persists, families bemoan expensive and time-consuming alternatives. Meanwhile, public officials say they are doing their best with the current supply and implore residents to do their part to help them.
A woman protester was shot at close range by Swazi police as she was walking from them. Local media report that it is not known if she was hit by live ammunition or a rubber bullet. Rose Fakudze was part of a protest march in Siteki, Swaziland, called by vendors and transport operators over plans by the town hall to move the local bus rank. Fakudze was shot from a distance of less than two metres which badly injured her hand. The shot finger bled profusely and she did not receive any first aid until she collapsed.
The TAC and SECTION27 have sent an open letter to the High Commissioner to India for South Africa to highlight their urgent concerns with final negotiations for the EU-India Free Trade Agreement. They are concerned about provisions for the scale up of intellectual property, pushed by the European Union, in an impending EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the impact of these provisions on the health of people across the developing world.
When the Muslim Brotherhood’s Twitter account asked the seemingly innocent question, 'why do you hate us?' the Islamic group likely did not anticipate the reaction it stirred. The question was directed at Egyptian activists who do not shy away from criticizing the group, especially now that their political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), are in power. The level of intensity soars high. Hundreds of activists took turns in answering the question, as candidly as possible. Feelings of frustration at the groups’s actions thus far and a lack of support for the revolution and its unmet demands were clear in all the responses.
The Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues is governed by Mauritius, but it's inhabitants yearn for self-governance. How much longer will they have to wait?
Pambazuka News 568: Ruptures and changes in 2012
Pambazuka News 568: Ruptures and changes in 2012
Reporters Without Borders has roundly condemned radio journalist Farah Abadid Hildid’s abduction by the police and the threats and torture to which he was subjected during the 24 hours he was held. Hildid works for La Voix de Djibouti, a radio station that broadcasts on the shortwave from Europe and is now also available on the Internet.
Twitter announced last week that it would begin restricting tweets in specific countries if they violated local laws, setting off claims of censorship by IFEX members Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) and the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR). Previously, Twitter had to remove a tweet from its entire network if it received a takedown request from a government. But the company said in a blog post published on 26 January that it now has the ability to selectively block a tweet from appearing to users in one country.
The International Refugee Rights (IRRI)’s experience over the last seven years is that in the enthusiasm to embrace the promise of international justice there has often been inadequate space for honest reflection on the practice and reality of international justice, particularly from the perspective of local advocates and local communities in Africa. This lack of debate has, not least, stunted assessment of how the objectives of international justice might be more effectively pursued. In response, IRRI is launching a discussion paper series entitled 'Just Justice? Civil society, international justice and the search for accountability in Africa'. The series will reflect local perspectives on international justice as it is being experienced in Africa.
Libya's Lap Green Networks has dragged the Zambian government to court over its decision to take over telecoms and Internet service provider Zamtel. The Libyan government says the takeover is illegal, as the company was genuinely acquired and rightly belongs to the Libyan people. A report by a Zambian commission of inquiry, which was constituted by that country's president Michael Sata last year, concluded that the sale of Zamtel to Lap Green Networks by the previous government was 'fraudulent and irregular'.
Men who have sex with men may now be at considerably higher risk of acquiring HIV than other at-risk groups such as female sex workers or young people of either sex, if findings by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) of HIV incidence at two centres in Kenya can be generalised to other populations. The study, which compared the Kenyan populations with a largely heterosexual group from South Africa, also found lower-than-expected HIV incidence amongst female sex workers and their clients. The researchers also found that recruiting MSM into the study was easier than expected, but note that there was a particularly high dropout rate in MSM.
The Department of International Relations and Co-operation says it will investigate threats against South African companies with investments in Nigeria by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend). The movement has threatened to attack the holdings of companies including MTN, Africa’s biggest cellphone network operator, and SacOil, an oil and gas exploration company, saying that President Jacob Zuma is interfering 'in the legitimate fight for justice' in the Niger River delta region.
More than a billion people in the world still lack access to electricity, while another one billion have unreliable access stalling efforts for improving health, livelihoods and conserve the environment. Findings from a new research published by the Worldwatch Institute (WI) urge governments and development organisations to invest in electrification to achieve critical health, environmental, and livelihood outcomes, a statement released by the Institute said.
Thousands of Touareg refugees fleeing clashes in northern Mali entered Mauritania in recent days, escaping the fighting between the Malian army and Touareg rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azaouad (MNLA). 'Since January 28th, a lot of Touareg refugees have moved in here. Most of them have arrived on vehicles,' said Sheikh Ould Ahmed, a teacher in the border town of Fassala.
Algeria withdrew military advisors from northern Mali last week in an effort to force a political solution to the Touareg revolt. The Algerian troops were partaking in joint counter-terror efforts, including training and equipment maintenance, and were flown home on an Algerian air force plane last weekend, El Khabar reported. Algeria's decision to freeze military support to Mali came after the country halted counter-terror operations in Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu and redirected troops towards areas now in rebellion.
The UN refugee agency said Friday 3 February it was alarmed by recent reports that Congolese civilians have been tortured and killed by armed groups entering camps for the internally displaced in the volatile province of North Kivu. The agency called for more security in and around the camps.
The black market for foreign exchange and fuel is booming in the midst of an acute scarcity in Malawi. The shortage is so severe that even the Consumer Association of Malawi, an influential consumer rights body, has come out in support of the black market. Malawi continues to reel under severe economic problems after the country’s major donors cut aid to the country last year. Up to 40 percent of Malawi’s national budget has been dependent on donors and donors funded 80 percent of the country’s development budget.
In January 2012 the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) went to Libya on an information gathering mission and to establish contact with the new, rapidly growing civil society in the country. The mission went to Tripoli, Misrata and Benghazi and held lengthy discussions with the representatives of the interim government, members of the National Transition Council (NTC), lawyers, journalists and representatives of human rights organisations. The mission noted the NTC was being increasingly reproached for its political incompetence and its lack of transparency, both in managing current affairs and in taking political decisions. FIDH is also worried about the growing disconnect between Tripoli and the Eastern part of the country.
South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has upheld the membership suspension of one of its prominent youth leaders convicted of causing rifts within the bloc. A panel rejected an appeal on Saturday by Julius Malema, who was found guilty by the disciplinary committee in November and was seeking to overturn the five-year suspension, but it said he could seek a lighter sentence. The suspension effectively curtails the career of Malema, one of the country's most renowned politicians whose calls for a major transformation of Africa's largest economy unnerved investors and drew serious criticism from some ANC leaders.
Three African transgender and intersex rights advocacy organizations have formed an alliance to enhance the trans and intersex movement on the continent. The organizations include South African based Gender DynamiX (GDX), Uganda’s Support Initiative for People with atypical Sexual Development (SIPD) and Transgender and Intersex Africa (TIA).
Kenya's military has struck al Shabaab targets in one of the most devastating attacks against the al Qaeda-linked insurgents since it launched an operation in Somalia to crush the rebels last October, a Kenyan army officer said on Saturday. Military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir said the force estimated that more than 100 al Shabaab fighters were killed in the attack. Al Shabaab dismissed the military statements as propaganda.
Politically motivated violence in the northern Kenyan town of Moyale, which has left dozens dead and tens of thousands displaced in recent weeks, shows little sign of abating and there are fears that the clashes could continue until elections are held for new local government positions. But by many accounts, an unintended consequence of Kenya’s new devolutionary constitution has raised the stakes considerably. The prospect of real political and budgetary power - concentrated since independence in distant Nairobi - rather than water, pasture and cattle-raid vendettas, now drives the violence.
A new attempt to quantify malaria deaths over the past 30 years suggests the death toll, especially among adults, has been greatly underestimated. The figures also show the fragility of the gains made in fighting the disease. Collecting data on malaria deaths is notoriously tricky; the countries where the disease is most prevalent have the weakest statistics. And even where causes of death were recorded, the researchers found many deaths were simply attributed to 'fever' – probably malaria, but possibly not. In addition, a malaria infection is often a contributory cause of death along with other health problems.
The organisation Greenpeace has chosen the firm Mercadona as one of the worst firms of 2011 due to the fact that this company has taken advantage of the resources of Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco, and in acquiring 30 million tins of sardines, Mercadona has been supporting the occupation and thereby the ensuing oppressive rule by Morocco.
This February, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), in partnership with the Applied Research Center’s Drop the I-Word campaign against the pejorative 'illegals', will be hosting an online nationwide book discussion about the critically acclaimed book 'The Warmth Of Other Suns', by author and Pulitzer Prize- winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson. The book chronicles the Great Migration, in which an estimated six million African-Americans migrated to cities in the north and west to escape oppressive conditions of the south’s Jim Crow caste system between the 1910s and 1970s.
The Catholic University of Eastern Africa is organizing for an International conference 26-30 June at their main campus in Nairobi under the theme 'Africa’s Golden Jubilee: Assessing 50 Years of Scholarship and Development in Africa'. Please click on the link provided to read more information.
FIDA-Uganda is seeking to recruit a Chief Executive Officer with a passion for social transformation for women’s rights, legal excellence, along with strategic vision, drive and excellent people skills.
The Canadian Association Against Impunity (CAAI), expressed its profound disappointment with last week’s decision by the Quebec Court of Appeal overturning the decision of the Quebec Superior Court in the case against Anvil Mining Limited. While acknowledging the difficulties that the victims have encountered in their attempt to obtain justice, the appeal Court ruled that they lack the necessary legislation to allow the case to proceed in Quebec. Anvil Mining, a Canadian corporation, is accused of providing logistical support to the Congolese army who raped, murdered and brutalised the people of Kilwa in the DRC. According to the United Nations, an estimated 100 civilians died as a direct result of the military action, including some who were executed and thrown in mass graves. The CAAI, an NGO coalition representing relatives of victims of the 2004 Kilwa massacre, filed a class action in 2010 against Anvil Mining for its alleged role in the massacre. Anvil Mining denies any wrongdoing.
It did not come as a surprise that the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament (INTA) voted in favour of the EU-Moroccan Agriculture Agreement on the 26 January (23 votes in favour, 5 votes against, one abstention). By voting overwhelmingly in favour of the agreement, the members of the Committee have clearly rejected the report by the French Green, José Bové. From his point of view, the agreement does not bring any good, neither for Morocco nor for Europe, in the sense that it only serves to reinforce an 'export-based industrial agriculture at the expense of family farms and small-scale farming on both sides of the Mediterranean.'
The Tax Justice Network has launched a new monthly podcast. In each 15 minute show, they discuss the latest news relating to tax evasion, tax avoidance and the shadow banking system. The January edition deals with the Vodafone vs India landmark tax case, compares Bill Gates and Mitt Romney’s attitudes to taxation and talks about Egypt's offshore wealth.
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...
This edition of The Real News Network interviews the authors of a new report that calls for sweeping agricultural reform. The report states that the fundamental causes of the global food crisis remain. 'We sit poised on the verge of another food price spike that could push millions into poverty and hunger,' says one of the authors. Three of the main issues raised are the use of biofuels, which have driven up demand, financial speculation in the food system and land grabs.
The latest edition of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid newsletter produced by the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Network is now available on their blog. The latest issue includes the following highlights:
- United States practice advisory concerning asylum applications for long term residency or family reunification put on hold under the Tier III provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act
- Somalis in Kenya suffer the consequences of Kenyan war in Somalia
- Life in exile: challenges facing refugees and organisations working to support them in Cape Town
- Arbitrariness regarding access to the asylum procedure in Bulgaria
- Longing to repatriate or resettle? Bhutanese refugees in Nepal
- How language testing used to authenticate asylum claims fails to recognise the reality and complexity of language.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has written a strongly-worded letter to to President Robert Mugabe outlining his problems with the coalition government. The leaked letter addresses areas such as land, violent acts, diplomatic protocol, arrest of ministers, appointment of government staff, hate speech, media laws and elections.
It was French interference in the election of the African Union Commission chairperson which cost the incumbent, former Gabonese foreign minister Jean Ping, his job. Asked about foreign interference, Mozambican Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi declined to mention France by name, but told reporters that it was indeed outside pressure that angered enough African leaders to deprive Ping of the necessary two thirds majority. Ping faced a challenge from South African Home Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, backed by SADC (Southern African Development Community).
Africa Today on KPFA 94.1 FM carries an interview with Yao Graham, executive director of the Third World Network in Accra, Ghana. Graham has written extensively on development and the role of extractive industries in Africa.
A number of truce initiatives succeeded to temporarily stop the violence near the Ministry of Interior (MOI) as sporadic clashes continued on Sunday. A tense calm earlier in the day followed fierce clashes on Saturday night despite other calls for calm. Hundreds of women organized a march in downtown Cairo, taking off from Qasr El-Aini Street in the vicinity of the Cabinet and the People's Assembly condemning the violence. (http://bit.ly/zM7Vde)
A Libyan diplomat who served as ambassador to France for Muammar Gaddafi died from torture within a day of being detained by a militia from Zintan, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Friday. On 26 January, humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres said it had stopped its work in detention centers in the city of Misrata because its medical staff were being asked to patch up detainees mid-way through torture sessions so they could go back for more abuse.
African Heads of State have endorsed the launch of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), a multi-billion dollar initiative that will run through 2040. In a statement at their 18th summit held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, the Heads of State approved the implementation of the recommendations in the study on PIDA presented to the summit. The study was a joint initiative of the African Union, the African Development Bank and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordination Agency. Endorsement by the AU summit will now be followed by more detailed planning on the actual implementation of PIDA.
With the 18th ordinary summit of the Assembly of the African Union just concluding, the Peace and Security Council Report No 31 covers the rising terrorist attacks that Boko Haram has continued to perpetrate in Nigeria in recent months, the rising tension between Sudan and South Sudan, and has an analysis on Côte d’Ivoire.
The President of Ghana, John Evans Atta Mills, has stated that as a responsible leader he will ensure that gay marriages are never legalised in the country and on the African continent as a whole. President Mills’ comments come after the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addressing the Heads of States at the African Union Summit at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia called on African leaders to respect gay rights in their respective countries.
Energy-intensive industrial farming practices that rely on toxic chemicals and genetically engineered crops are not just undermining public health, they’re destroying the planet.
The Occupy Cape Town movement has distanced itself from a Cosatu event held at Rondebosch Common. 'Our principles clearly state: We do not recognise leaders or celebrity speakers. We are not party political. We are not destructive - we want to protect our shared natural and cultural heritage. The way this event is being managed contravenes these principles.'
Although it remains one of the best known pro-poor social movements in Kenya, Bunge la Mwananchi faces serious internal challenges that hamper its effectiveness in mounting collective action. The problems need urgent attention.
‘I have been accused by some of being a mouthpiece for the [former] Libyan government but now the truth is coming out. We know that the essence of the former Libyan government's analysis has been proved correct.’
'The 39 members of the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Coalition based in 18 African countries vehemently condemn the stripping of women wearing trousers and short skirts by male vendors in three major cities in Malawi, namely Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Blantyre.'
‘While as a young movement we try to build radically new forms of direct democracy within by challenging the old guard, we will also be able to strengthen accountability and the authority of the decisions we make as a collective.’
The incumbent chairman of the opposition umbrella in Mauritania, Mamadou Alassane Ba, has called for an end to military rule in the country. Ba, who leads the Mauritanian Coordination of Democratic Opposition (COD), an umbrella of 12 political parties, called “for the withdrawal of the military system in power in Mauritania for 30 years to end the misery and suffering of the people.
The deadly violence that has broken out in Senegal seems surreal even to the most seasoned analysts of the West African nation’s political evolution. Angry Senegalese believe President Wade has executed a coup to stay in power.
‘As the Unemployed People's Movement we reject all provisions in this bill which will hinder the free flow of information.’
Progressives must brace for intensified struggles in 2012 because people in all continents are seeking alternatives beyond neo-liberal domination. The current European struggles will sharpen the struggles in Latin America and Africa.
Aiming to enhance the quality of the environment and ensure sustainable utilisation of shared natural resources in the five-nation East African Community (EAC), the East African Legislative Assembly has moved a step closer to enacting a regional law on the management of trans-boundary ecosystems. Currently holding its session in Kampala, Uganda, the Assembly has passed the East African Community Trans-boundary Ecosystems Bill 2010 after its third reading.
Somali government forces backed by Kenyan troops have reportedly captured a strategic town in southern Somalia after al-Shabab fighters vacated the town without any resistance, Press TV reported. 'Several pro-government forces, including Kenyan soldiers and Ahlu-Sunna fighters are now based in Howsingow town,' said Mohamed Khalif, a Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) military official.
Egyptians have continued a sit-in outside the country's state TV building to protest the media's pro-junta programs, calling for the purging of the state media from anti-revolutionary officials, Press TV reports. The protesters believe that even after the popular revolution which led to the ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak back in February last year, the state media outlet is still the voice of the country's ruling junta and part and parcel of its propaganda machine.
The Democratic Alliance Students Organisation (DASO) recently released a controversial poster as part of their anti-racism campaign. The 'In OUR future, you wouldn't look twice' poster shows a naked mixed-race couple embracing. The poster has caused a huge stir on Facebook, Twitter and blogs and even generated viral spoof posters. Global Voices Online has summed up the online reactions and posted some of the spoofs.
Cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), as well as domestic violence, are increasing in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland, with social workers attributing the trend to hard economic times made worse by recent drought in the region.
Egypt has declared three days of mourning for at least 74 people who died at a football stadium amid violent clashes between rival supporters in the northern city of Port Said. Earlier, Essam el-Erian, a politician from the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, said the military and police were complicit in the violence, accusing them of trying to show that emergency regulations giving security forces wide-ranging powers must be maintained.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party has attributed the typhoid outbreak that has affected 1,500 people in the capital Harare to biological warfare and Western sanctions. The claim was made by a Zanu-PF spokesperson in Harare Mr Claudious Mutero as Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr Henry Madzorera warned the outbreak would spread to other towns because of collapsing water and sewer infrastructure.
The Democratic Republic of Congo's ruling party and its allies won a reduced parliamentary majority in November elections, according to results released two months after the disputed polls. The electoral commission announced the figures saying President Joseph Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) and its allies captured an absolute majority of about 260 seats in the 500-seat National Assembly. The opposition won about 110 seats, the results from the 28 November vote showed.
Human-rights groups in Senegal, including the local branch of the UK-based Amnesty International, have condemned police violence during an opposition rally in which one person was killed. Officers used tear gas and water cannons to break up the protest in the capital, Dakar, on Tuesday night, attended by an estimated 10,000 people in what until now had been one of Africa's most stable countries.
A gun battle between rival groups has raged near office buildings and five-star hotels in central Tripoli, in the latest sign of unrest in Libya following the overthrow and killing of Muammar Gaddafi. Witnesses said gunfire could be heard on Wednesday 1 February coming from near the beach house of Gaddafi's son, Saadi, on the Mediterranean Sea at Tripoli. Thick smoke spewed out from near the house, and ambulance sirens could be has heard as rival groups, using heavy machine guns, clashed in the mostly business district of Tripoli.
The lives of thousands of HIV-positive people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are at risk as the country faces declining donor funding and a severe shortage of HIV treatment, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF recently launched a year-long advocacy campaign to raise awareness of the DRC's HIV crisis. 'The problem is quite old in the DRC; the country has always been minimized by donors who have not seen it as a priority, mainly because HIV prevalence is relatively low at between 3 and 4 percent,' Thierry Dethier, advocacy manager for MSF Belgium in the DRC, told IRIN/PlusNews.
The self-declared Republic of Somaliland is grappling with high child and maternal mortality rates, malnutrition and inadequate medical personnel, health officials told IRIN. 'Somaliland has one of the worst maternal mortality ratios in the world, estimated to be between 10,443 and 14,004 per 100,000 live births,' said Ettie Higgins, head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) field office in Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland. 'The infant mortality rate is 73/1,000 while the under-five mortality [rate] is about 117/1,000. Fully immunized children represent a mere five per cent. Environmental sanitation is highly challenged,' she said.
While the quality of education available in refugee camps varies, the difficulties of accessing education in urban settings are generally greater. In addition to legal and policy barriers and the often prohibitive costs of sending a child to a local school, a UNHCR report has noted that: 'Refugee children often have less support than in a camp-based school in adjusting to a new curriculum, learning a new language, accessing psychosocial support, and addressing discrimination, harassment, and bullying from teachers and peers. They may also encounter a lack of familiarity by local school authorities for the processes of admitting refugee children and recognizing prior learning.' A year-long, yet-to-be published study by the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation at the University of Johannesburg into the rights of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants to education in South Africa found that schools often demanded documents to enrol a child which are not legally required.
The Constitutional Court has issued an order barring public discussion on the candidature of Deputy Prime Minister and William Ruto in the next presidential elections until a case before it is heard and determined. Justice Isaac Lenaola issued the orders on Thursday 2 February in response to a petition by three voters and two civil societies seeking to block Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto from vying for the Presidency in the next elections.
IMF held up Tunisia under Ben Ali as a model, yet ordinary people fed up with his excesses overthrew the regime. Now IMF appears to be courting the new leadership.
Members of the Ghana Community Radio Network (GCRN) and the Coalition for Transparency of the Airwaves (COTA) have demanded that government answer to the limited frequency allocation being given to community radio stations. Across the country, there are 11 community radio stations on air with 14 more waiting to receive their frequency.
The main focus of this new entity is to support a growing transgender and intersex movement and to engage regionally in advocacy for the human rights of transgender and intersex people.
On 3 February 2012, the Cassation Bench of the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia will hear a petition by the Human Rights Council (HRCO), Ethiopia’s oldest human rights organisation, to admit an appeal against the freezing of its bank accounts. Amnesty International, ARTICLE 19, CIVICUS, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project and Human Rights Watch have expressed deep concern at the obstacles and restrictions to which HRCO and other human rights organizations in Ethiopia are now subjected, as illustrated by this case. The decision of the Supreme Court will be of great significance for the future of HRCO's vital work and for the wider promotion and protection of human rights in Ethiopia.
While speaking to delegates at the African Union’s summit, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged stronger protection of homosexual rights. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over the weekend urged African leaders to respect gay rights. Ban told the on-going African Union summit in Addis Ababa that discrimination based on sexual orientation had been ignored or even sanctioned by many states for too long.
Professor Welshman Ncube has once again denied claims contained in a book by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that he and former South African President Thabo Mbeki connived to split the MDC into two factions in 2005. In the book ‘At the Deep End’ Tsvangirai claims that Mbeki was a central player in hatching a plot that would have seen an MDC faction led by Ncube forming an alliance with the ZANU PF faction led by Emmerson Mnangagwa.
South Africa’s police force is facing criticism for refusing to help a Zimbabwean man, who was beaten by security guards at a refugee reception office in that country last week. The man, Lucky Dube, was trying to sort out his asylum documents at the Maitland Refugee Reception Office in the Western Cape, after making an application late last year.
The UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights has released an independent statement in response to the crisis facing the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. It states: 'The November 2011 announcement of the cancellation of the 11th round of funding of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria because of the Fund’s financial difficulties presents the international community with both a health and a human rights crisis. Since its first round of funding in 2002, the Global Fund has played an indispensable role in advancing the health and human rights goals of the global HIV response. The Global Fund’s financial difficulties are part of a broader global HIV funding crisis.'
Listening to Somaliland – and deploying some of its methods in achieving stability – is crucial to addressing the crisis in Somalia.
The major weakness of a new film is that it removes the agency, courage and brilliance of black women.
Unlike the Biafra experience, indigenous peoples confronting land dispossession are looking beyond the nation-state for justice.
In December, Pambazuka News carried that had exposed labour abuses in Chinese state-owned copper mines in Zambia. Here, Human Rights Watch responds to that critique.
The Kenyan government plans to move hundreds of thousands of refugees to Somalia, a plan condemned by the The Refugee Consortium of Kenya.
A US-based journalist convicted on politicised terrorism charges in Ethiopia was sentenced to death in absentia recently, while two other Ethiopian journalists received heavy prison sentences in connection with their coverage of banned opposition groups, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the sentences.
Donors and development partners have reduced their General Budget Support (GBS) to the government as they announced a commitment of 800bn/- for the 2012/2013 financial year. The support has slightly been scaled down compared to the 1.1tr/- pledged for the 2009/2010 fiscal year, 822bn/- for the 2010/2011 financial year and 840bn/- committed to budget support for the current financial year.
Four men were jailed for 18 years on Wednesday for stabbing and stoning 19-year-old lesbian Zoliswa Nkonyana to death in 2006. Lubabalo Ntlabathi, Sicelo Mase, Luyanda Londzi and Mbulelo Damba were sentenced by the Khayelitsha Regional Court to 18 years, four of which were suspended for five years. A crowd outside the court cheered, sang, raised their fists and danced when news came that the men had been sentenced. The National Prosecuting Authority had asked for the men to be sentenced to 15 years each.
Cosatu has mirrored the ANC's offensive on the print media faithfully, finding that the three major newspaper groups 'reflect the outlook and prejudices of the capitalist class' and backing calls for tougher regulation of the press. In a six-page submission to the Press Freedom Commission (PFC), the federation praises the ANC for having 'opened up an important public debate' on its 2007 Polokwane conference resolution on the media, and particularly for its investigation of a statutory media appeals tribunal.