Pambazuka News 484: Israel and the Flotilla: Piracy on the high seas
Pambazuka News 484: Israel and the Flotilla: Piracy on the high seas
The presence of a large mining sector in African countries is a strong influence on the severity of a country’s TB epidemic, especially in countries with a high HIV prevalence, and more needs to be done in the mining industry to control TB, a new Oxford University-led study has found.
African countries are not doing enough to address the infrastructure backlogs hampering trade and regional economic integration World Bank chief economist for Africa Shantayanan Devarajan said. Devarajan is in South Africa to consult with policy makers and civil society organisations on a new World Bank strategy for Africa.
Rich countries need to change the way they deal with Africa, shifting from aid to trade if they are to avoid losing ground to the emerging economic players of Asia and South America, a top think-tank has said. In a report by the Royal Institute of International Affairs at London’s Chatham House analysing Africa’s small but evolving influence, the Western perception of Africa as a hopeless case was challenged, painting the continent rather as home to a billion people and up to 40 percent of the world’s natural resources.
Kalahari Bushmen are taking the government of Botswana to court over its refusal to allow them access to a water borehole on their land. The case is due to be heard at Botswana’s High Court in Lobatse on 9 June 2010.
The first in a series of elections has brought simmering discontent with Burundi's electoral commission to the boil. Just over a week after the May 24 communal elections, five opposition presidential candidates have demanded the resignation of members of the National Electoral Commission and announced that they will boycott the presidential poll scheduled for June 28.
The government's decision to renew Egypt's longstanding Emergency Law has drawn furious reactions from opposition figures and rights advocates. While government spokesmen say the law will only be used against terrorism and drug trafficking, critics say it is aimed primarily at stifling political dissent. Egypt voted in elections to the upper house of its parliament Tuesday with many denied the right to contest because of the Emergency Law.
With the first Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) under way in the Ugandan capital Kampala, women are crying out for justice for gender-based violence inflicted upon them during the civil conflict in the country’s north. "Women who were raped, those who were once abducted and have since come back with children, as well as those who have lost property during this conflict are all crying out for some form of justice," says Jane Adong, Legal Officer of the Hague-based Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice (WIGJ).
South Africa, where the FIFA Football World Cup is to kick off Jun. 11, has introduced cleaner transportation, while Brazil is planning ecological stadiums for the championship it will host in 2014. But these and other initiatives clash with the countries' overall environmental performance. The first FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) World Cup to take place on the African continent will leave a carbon footprint more than eight times greater than the 2006 World Cup in Germany, according to a study conducted in February 2009 at the request of the South African government and the Norwegian embassy in that country.
"Polakow-Suransky puts Israel's annual military exports to South Africa between 1974 and 1993 at $600 million, which made South Africa Israel's second or third largest trading partner after the United States and Britain. ... He puts the total military trade between the countries at well above $10 billion over the two decades." - Glenn Frankel in review of new book "The Unspoken Alliance". Polakow-Suransky's book The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa (http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?0375425462), is hardly the first to outline the open secret of Israel's military relationship with apartheid South Africa (see books listed below). But it is certainly the most well-documented and will arguably be the most influential.
While the two Malawian gay men Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga have been granted a presidential pardon on “humanitarian grounds”, annulling a 14 year sentence for “gross indecency and unnatural acts”, speculation is mounting on the exact conditions of their release.
President Museveni has said Ugandans are opposed to homosexuality because it is not part of African culture. Speaking to Christians who gathered to mark the Uganda Martyrs Day at the Anglican shrine in Nakiyanja, President Museveni castigated Europeans for imposing what he called western culture onto African countries.
Religious leaders and organisations have greatly fuelled homophobia in Burundi. These are the findings of a report titled Religion and homophobia, released recently by the Movement for Individual Freedoms (MOLI), a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) organisation in Burundi.
At least 17 civilians have been killed after Somali government forces, supported by African Union peacekeepers, launched attacks against fighters from al-Shabab, the armed anti-government group, in Mogadishu. Among the dead are six women and a family of five whose home was destroyed by shelling, Ali Muse, the head of the city's ambulance service, said on Thursday.
The Sudanese government has said it will no longer engage in peace talks with the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), Darfur's main anti-government group, saying instead its leaders will be prosecuted. Ghazi Atabani, chief negotiator of the talks, said mediators had been notified of the government's decision.
World Environment Day, commemorated on 5 June since 1972, is one of the ways in which the United Nations focuses world attention on the environment and encourages political action. Since its inception, hundreds of thousands of people from countries all over the world have mobilized for individual and organized environmental action. Activities involve all sectors of society – governments, non- and inter-governmental organizations, businesses, industries, civil society, media and schools.
Africa's indigenous rice varieties are to be granted 'elite' status by scientists in the hope that they will play a central role in making farmers' crops more resilient. Elite rice varieties are recognised to be high-yielding and include Asian rice, which has sometimes been improved with individual traits taken from lower-yielding African rice. Now scientists have shown that African varieties are resilient and high-yielding in their own right.
Aid analysts have welcomed some of the international development priorities of Britain’s new coalition government, particularly the commitment to stick to the previous government’s pledge to boost aid spending to 0.7 percent of national income by 2013. But they also worry that the independence and impartiality of aid may be eroded under a new “coherence” push.
In Hopley Farm, a resettlement camp about 10km south of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, Simon Dhewa's chicken coup has been converted into a bedroom for his three daughters, the eldest of which also uses it as a venue for her commercial sex activities. The 20-year-old is the sole bread winner for her 45-year-old widowed father, her two sisters and two brothers. The residents of Hopley Farm have nicknamed her "chicken".
A Ugandan draft policy recommending that HIV-positive children be informed of their status by the age of 10 has drawn mixed reactions from health workers. The previous policy required parental consent to tell children under the age of 12, but the new policy allows health workers - with the support of parents and guardians - to disclose HIV status after the child has been prepared and an assessment of their ability to understand and deal with the condition has been made.
Stocks of millet and sorghum in northern Nigeria's markets are dwindling as traders buy them up to export across the border to Niger, where some 10 million people face food insecurity. Grain merchants from Niger head to Dawanau market in Kano - West Africa's largest grain market – to buy truck-loads of millet and sorghum, locally known as Guinea corn, to bolster declining food stocks.
Progress on a "Zero Tolerance" national campaign in Côte d'Ivoire to eliminate female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) by the end of 2010, has been slowed down by health and education infrastructure, aid groups said. Since the campaign began, 180 villages in Marandallah prefecture, in the north-central Worodougou region, no longer practise FGM/C and the aim is to double this by the end of the year
Migration in search of work has long been common in Sourou Province, northern Burkina Faso, but the trend is increasingly for younger girls to join the exodus, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the NGO Terre des hommes (Tdh). “Migration is after all a method of survival,” Herman Zoungrana, head of Tdh’s protection programme in Burkina Faso, told IRIN. He said traditionally after the harvest people would fill up their granaries then set out to find work until the next planting season.
The excitement over the FIFA World Cup is not just about football, it's also about the party. Large quantities of alcohol are sure to be consumed as foreign football fans rub shoulders with locals, and inhibitions are likely to fall away. The World Cup has long been associated with boom times for the sex trade, but in a country where one in five adults is living with HIV, the price of throwing caution to the wind and having unprotected sex with a local, let alone a sex worker, could be extremely high.
Last week's Ethiopian presidential election result was no surprise, with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's governing party winning nearly every seat. Harassment and intimidation of voters and journalists, and the absence of a free, independent media was behind this smooth victory, report Human Rights Watch and the International Press Institute (IPI).
On 3 June 2010, The Post newspapers and its editor in chief, Fred M’membe were found guilty of one count of contempt of court, a charge arising from an opinion article authored by United States of America-based Zambian Law Professor, Muna Ndulo and published by the newspaper on 27 August 2009. However, presiding Magistrate Simausamba reserved sentence to 4 June 2010. Meanwhile, M’membe’s lawyer, Remmy Mainza said the case in which his clients were convicted of was a misdemeanor which attracted a sentence of six months or a fine. He prayed to the court to give his clients a non- custodial or suspended sentence because the two were first offenders who had no track of a criminal record.
Gaza-based Palestinian Civil Society Organisations and international activists called on the international community and civil society to pressure their governments and Israel to cease the abductions and killings in Israel’s attacks against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla sailing for Gaza, and begin a global response to hold Israel accountable for the murder of foreign civilians at sea and illegal piracy of civilian vessels carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza.
International Human Rights Advocates join the Erlinder family in condemning Rwanda's arrest of US Attorney Peter Erlinder and demanding his immediate release. Professor Erlinder, a faculty member at William Mitchell College of Law in the United States and president of the Association des Avocats de la Defense (ADAD), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Defense Lawyers Association, was arrested by the government of Rwanda under the leadership of President Paul Kagame. Peter Erlinder has been arrested in the course of his representation of Rwanda’s opposition leader, Victoire Ingabire.
On Thursday 27 May 2010, Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Mhambi were released on bail until a trial set for Thursday 10 June 2010, on allegations of possessing indecent material and displaying a placard seen as insulting to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. GALZ is now calling on organisations to send statements in support of GALZ, highlighting the raid of the GALZ offices, the arrest Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Mhambi, the torture of Ignatius while in custody, the continued harassment of GALZ staff and the police saying that they want to question all staff members.
The World People's Movement demands that United Nations climate change negotiations be inclusive, transparent, and equitable, and include the proposal expressed by the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 20–22).
In this paper, Adams Bodomo looks at how Africans are received in Yiwu and in Guangzhou, which contains the largest community of Africans in China. Bodomo argues that because of the relatively negative reception of Africans in Guangzhou compared to the more efficient and civil treatment of Africans in Yiwu, Yiwu is fast overtaking Guangzhou as the best place for Africans to thrive in China.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Indonesia is working alongside its partner organisations to ensure the wellbeing of African refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia, write Savitri Taylor and Brynna Rafferty-Brown. But do the displaced receive the support they need and do they have reason to be optimistic about their future stability?
Like many people around the world, Sokari Ekine is ‘elated’ by the news that Malawian couple Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, have been pardoned and freed. But, asks Ekine, ‘How can we claim justice has been done when the law used to convict the couple has not been successfully challenged?’ In this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere, Ekine finds her sentiments echoed by others across the continent.
South Africans appear to have had their constitutional right to protest suspended during the 2010 World Cup, writes Jane Duncan, following a directive from the country’s police service (SAPS) to municipalities hosting matches. Sceptical of claims that the country does not have the capacity to police marches and the World Cup simultaneously, Duncan asks whether SAPS decision is motivated by ‘the need to remake South Africa's brand in the international media as a land of peace, reconciliation and stability’, or if it reflects, more seriously, ‘an intensification of a recent trend towards suppressing the waves of protest action’ by the Zuma administration.
Israel’s military attack on Gaza-bound humanitarian ships, the Freedom Flotilla, on 30 May, brings questions of piracy and the violation of international laws into sharp focus, writes Horace Campell. But the incident is only the latest example of the Israeli government’s policies to ‘dehumanise the Palestinian people and those in solidarity with them’, observes Campbell, as he calls for ‘peace-loving citizens all over the world’ to join forces with ‘peace-loving Israeli citizens and Palestinians who stand for peaceful coexistence to change the present apartheid leadership in Israel’.
Uncertainty around food and fuel supply globally has sparked investor interest in the acquisition of large parcels of productive land around the world, for commercial production or long-term investment, writes Nidhi Tandon. But these developments, which effectively take land away from local farmers and in many cases perpetuate ‘environmentally damaging farming methods’, threaten to have ‘serious negative impacts for small farmers, in particular women, who have no say in the political and trade decisions around their lands,’ Tandon warns.
Every year billions of dollars of potential development capital are drained from Africa through holes in the continent’s ‘bottomless bucket’ as a result of illicit financial outflows, writes Karley Curcio. Greater transparency and oversight of financial dealings is the only way to curb this monetary drain, which restricts the majority of ordinary people’s access to capital, Curcio argues.
Zapiro’s controversial cartoon featuring the Prophet Mohamed, published in South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, prompts Mahmood Mamdani to ‘reflect on times and places when humour turned deadly’. Speaking at the University of Johannesburg, Mamdani explores the relationship between ‘two great liberal objectives, freedom of speech and civil peace’. Zapiro’s cartoon, Mamdani argues, has misread the real challenges we face today: The intellectual challenge of distinguishing between ‘two strands in the history of free speech – blasphemy and bigotry’, and the political challenge of building ‘a local and global coalition against all forms of bigotry’. We need to learn ‘how not to respond to a changing world with fear and anxiety, masked with arrogance, but rather to try a little humility so as to understand,’ Mamdani writes.
Albert Bourgi
Countering Wole Soyinka’s fierce criticism of BBC documentary ‘Welcome to Lagos’, Imruh Bakari, offers a different reading of the three-part series about the lives of marginalised slum-dwellers: Where Soyinka sees people depicted as ‘noble savages’, Bakari is impressed by portraits of ‘self-assured and articulate’ individuals with a sense of social agency that prevents them from being cast as victims.
Egypt’s majestic legacy of civilisation and empire appears to have lost its shine in the light of its current geopolitical positioning as ‘a brutal but glorified US ‘security guard’ at the expense of Egypt's citizens’, writes Khadija Sharife. Sharife explores the interaction between US foreign policy and this ‘draconian state’, which is ‘conveniently located astride both North Africa and the Middle East’.
A reading of Pambazuka Press’s new title, ‘Africa's Liberation: The Legacy of Nyerere’, edited by Chambi Chachage and Annar Cassam, prompts Dauti Kaura to reflect both on the legacy of the late Mwalimu – ‘a towering African leader who will always be remembered and missed for his cracking wisdom, unwavering commitment to African causes’– and the state of leadership on the continent today.
The issues of Kadhi’s courts and abortion are being presented as issues central to the debate on Kenya’s Proposed Constitution, writes Cyprian Nyamwamu, but in reality there are several others. Nyamwamu compiles a list of 36 reasons why Kenyans supported the draft of a new constitution.
In the aftermath of the May 2010 Ethiopian elections, many are left with the question: ‘Where do we go from here?’ writes Alemayehu G. Mariam. Mariam challenges the legitimacy of an election that saw Meles Zenawi reinstated in power with a 99.6 per cent share of the vote, and explores the future direction of the Ethiopian ruling class.
The Egyptian Emergency Supreme State Security Court (ESSSC) convicted and sentenced 26 individuals who Cairo accuses of being part of an active Hizbullah cell in Egypt on 28 April. The case, which ‘continues to arouse strong emotions inside Egypt and the wider region, marks the first time Egypt has prosecuted alleged members of Hizbullah,’ writes Chris Zambelis. But it also ‘showcased an underlying subtext behind the dynamic shaping some of the most important trends in Middle East politics today’, a shift in the Egypt’s pan-Arabian allegiances towards Western powers such as the US and Israel.
As the third phase of East African Community integration takes shape, Edward Oyugi provides an in-depth look at the history of efforts towards regionalisation, the concepts and actors behind them, and the challenges going forwards.
South Africa's 2010 World Cup 'feel good' factor is addictive. At taxi ranks, street bazaars and tea-rooms, South African citizens everywhere are filled with elation - and pride. Just sixteen years ago, within living memory, non-white South Africans were deprived of basic human rights by the brutal apartheid regime. From stadiums – completed in advance to fulfill Fifa's (International Federation of Association Football) insistence on a six month ‘buffer zone', to airports and other infrastructure, South Africa has fulfilled Fifa's requirements to the tee. But, writes Khadija Sharife, all is not well.
Pambazuka Press is pleased to announce the publication of ‘Africa's Liberation: The Legacy of Nyerere’. Edited by Chambi Chachage and Annar Cassam, the book includes contributions from leading commentators, those who worked and fought imperialism alongside Nyerere, members of a younger generation – and Nyerere in his own words.
As debates rage over the proposed new Kenyan constitution, the dichotomy of ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ is being forged amongst referendum voters, writes Samuel N. Omwenga. Omwenga critiques the ‘No’ camp’s motivation for rejecting the new proposals – does it have the interest of Kenyan society in mind, or simply that of a select few?
Israel’s raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip has left at least nine dead and several more wounded. On board were activists and aid workers from more than 30 countries, accompanying more than 10,000 tonnes of aid supplies intended for Palestinians in Gaza. Dana Wagner provides a round-up of responses from African governments and civil society groups.
Presentations and readings from his book ‘Selected Pan-African Postcards’ with Dr Ama Biney, editor, and Dr Patricia Daley.
Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem's Pan-African postcards demonstrate his steadfast commitment to Pan-Africanism and his vociferous belief in the potential of Africa and African people.
Date: Thursday 17 June 2010
Time: 5.30–7pm
Place: Rhodes House, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RG
All welcome
We're proud to announce that Sokari Ekine, one of the writers behind Pambazuka News’ weekly ‘Blogging Africa’ column, has been nominated for two awards for her wonderful blog, – ‘Best political blog’ and ‘Best theme’. Join us in supporting her by casting your vote at the Nigerian Blog Awards!
Following the release of gay couple Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, who were initially sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in Malawi, the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) has issued a statement celebrating the pardon granted by President Bingu wa Mutharika but demanding greater steps towards the eradication of legislated homophobia and the desire to suppress human rights.
SADC Lawyers Association condemns the conviction and imprisonment of Steven Monjeza Soko and Tiwonge Chimbalanga Kachepa and welcomes the decision of the President of Malawi to pardon the two individuals.
Pambazuka News 483: AFRICOM and the ICC: Enforcing international justice in Africa?
Pambazuka News 483: AFRICOM and the ICC: Enforcing international justice in Africa?
On 12 May 2010, Algerian authorities effectively shut down La Maison des Syndicats (2 Rue El Oued, Bach Djarrah, Algiers), the headquarters of an important coalition of independent labor unions fighting for workers rights, including the Syndicat National Autonome des Personnels de l'Administration Publique (SNAPAP). Their website has also been shut down.
A wide cross-section of civil society – unions, students organisations, faith based groups, community organisations and NGOs – with a collective membership of over a million people, strongly condemn the decision taken by the authorities to ban a peaceful march for the right to a quality public education for all, planned for June 10th 2010.
In the May edition of the , Tanzania grants 162,000 Burundians citizenship, Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees feel abandoned in Guinea, New United Kingdom government pledges end to immigration detention of children, addresses refoulement on sexual orientation or gender-based refugee claims, and Refugee Law Project in Kampala, Uganda, opens internet and computer facility for clients.
Humanitarian officials will look to the Chad government to protect civilians and secure aid operations after the UN Security Council decided on 25 May to withdraw some 3,000 UN peacekeepers from the country's volatile east. "The Chadian government has said quite clearly both publicly and privately that they take on the responsibility for our [humanitarian workers'] security," and that of other civilians, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes told IRIN from the capital, N'djamena, at the end of a four-day visit to Chad.
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) protests the arrest and detention since 16 May 2010 of three journalists with the opposition daily newspaper "Rai al-Shaab" amid a post-election crackdown on the Sudanese media and opposition leaders. Deputy editor Abu Zar al-Amin has reportedly been transferred to police custody after being given electric shocks; the whereabouts of reporters Ashraf Abdel Aziz and Dahab Ibrahim remain unknown.
On Thursday 27th of May 2010, at around 12 noon, Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi granted bail in relation to Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi - 2 employees of the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) organization on the seventh day of their detention. The bail application was observed by many representatives of local non-governmental organisations. It was encouraging to note that, despite the best efforts of the police – particularly Detective Inspector Timothy Chibvuma who is the Officer in Charge of Drugs Section of the Harare Central police station, and the office of the Attorney General – particularly Mr. Bruce Tokwe – the magistrate came to his conclusions on the basis of the law and not external factors.
The Commonwealth Games, which begin in Delhi on 3 October, are already surrounded by concerns over security. Far more worrying than the possible threat to a few thousand privileged visiting foreigners, however, is a new report by the Housing and Land Network, an arm of the global movement Habitat International Coalition, suggesting that by the time the Games begin about 140,000 families will have been evicted from their homes to clear the space for the lavish facilities now compulsory for such events.
After traveling halfway around the world from Nigeria to the U.S., Emem Okon, along with 17 other people representing oil-producing communities around the globe, stood today as shareholders ready to attend Chevron’s Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders. Chevron arbitrarily denied Ms. Okon and at least 13 others entry to the meeting despite the fact that other representatives from Chevron-impacted communities were allowed to enter the meeting.
Africa, with an estimated 700 million hectares of cheap potential new farmland, has been attracting the attention of foreign investors from nations seeking to enhance food security. Foreign companies with funding from the likes of China, the United Arab Emirates and India have been acquiring land across sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia alone has reportedly approved more than 800 foreign-funded agro-projects since 2007.
Susana Mendes is the first woman to hold the title of editor in chief at Angolense, Angola's leading investigative weekly--and she is doing it a bit differently than her predecessor. She is in charge of directing coverage of the country's $1.7 billion oil industry, government corruption and injustices in the poorer neighborhoods of Angola. However, she also keeps the paper routinely focused on a topic often treated as a special women's issue: domestic violence.
In this weeks roundup of emerging actors new, African Development Bank seeks to triple the amount of funds it has available to invest in roads and power plants, China's short-term boost could become a long-term threat to Africa, India backs Africa for Security Council, and The China-Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund to boost footprint in Africa.
In a small office tucked behind the stairwell in Liberia’s Ministry of Education, the once-proud staff of the Girls’ Education Unit appear defeated. The workers in this fourth floor office, entrusted with charting a new course for the education of the country's girls and women, have no salaries, no budget, and few projects under way.
A contest of competing visions over the future of Agriculture is playing out across Sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers' organizations are lining up against an aid regime that threatens to swamp smallholders with purported "solutions" to which these farmers have not assented and do not desire. The current economic crisis is bringing this situation to a critical point, as transnational corporations seek to capitalize on the current economic downturn, and the ongoing weakness of States whose economies and democratic institutions have withered since the 1980s; under the ministrations of the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO.
Dublin was unusually sunny and warm last week when the High Level Task Force on the global food security crisis held a consultation at the Malahide resort just north of the city. Dr. David Nabarro, coordinator of the High Level Task Force was looking to elicit comments from civil society organizations on the Comprehensive Framework for Action to end hunger (CFA). The CFA, hastily written a year ago by a team of experts from 23 bureaucracies within the U.N. system, is a multilateral attempt to create a plan of action for dealing with the growing global food crisis.
Organic foods aren’t only the preference of countries in the so-called developed North. Forty thousand tons of genetically engineered maize was recently rejected in Kenya. Protesters are making sure it remains stuck in the port city of Mombassa. Jos Ngonyo, with Kenya’s Biodiversity Coalition, spoke to Green Acre Radio in a recent visit to Seattle. Ngonyo talked about why small-scale farmers reject the Green Revolution in Africa and “dysfunctional aid.” The Gates Foundation helped launch the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa four years ago.
The latest background report from the International Crisis Group, examines Cameroon’s history, its contemporary politics and the relations between its main social groups. The report uncovers points of potential instability and suggests how to tackle them. The country’s history shows a pattern of apparent stability followed by violent crisis. For long periods, problems have been masked but not dealt with, and consequent frustrations have led to explosions of violence.
Amid what he characterised as renewed grabs for Africa’s resources, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that women’s empowerment remains crucial for Africa’s development and must be prioritised as the continent moves forward. Annan currently chairs the Africa Progress Panel and was speaking at the Johannesburg launch of the Panel’s latest progress report entitled, “From Agenda to Action: Turning Resources into Results for People,” which identifies gender inequality as a major barrier to Africa’s development.
Tensions between the European Union and Africa have once again erupted, with Namibia accusing the Brussels elite of resorting to bullying tactics in trade negotiations. In official statements, the European Commission -- the EU's executive -- has consistently argued that the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) it has been hoping to conclude with 47 African countries will bring tangible benefits to the continent. African governments have proven far less enthusiastic about these trade liberalisation accords, with some arguing that they are fomenting divisions among neighbours.
Scientists announced the creation of first self-replicating synthetic life form last Friday, and a few hours later, a United Nations science advisory body meeting here urged countries to take a strong precautionary approach to avoid release of such entities into the environment. Acting as the world's guardian on biodiversity, it also expressed deep concern about the potential impacts of geoengineering schemes to combat climate change on the Earth's ecosystems.
The European Union has for years been paying subsidies to the tune of one billion euro annually to industrial fishing companies based in its member states, including companies that have been caught fishing illegally in African waters. "The fact that the EU pays subsidies to vessels fishing in African waters is already a problem because, by doing so, European taxpayers are exacerbating poor African people’s difficulty to sustain livelihoods," Isabella Loevin, member of the European Parliament’s (EP) fisheries committee, said.
The Refugee Exhibition is an interactive exhibition with recordings from the children themselves. It highlights the plight of the Forgotten Children who fled Zimbabwe’s political turmoil, in search of a better life, peace and security. Seen through the eyes of the children, you will be taken on a journey to share their experiences and amazing stories of hope and determination to succeed despite the challenges facing them. The Refugee Exhibition will run until the end of May.
Research by the Berne Declaration and Natural Justice reveals that five recent patent applications by Nestlé on the use of Rooibos and Honeybush are in conflict with South African Law and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This second bio piracy case in South Africa in less than a year again demonstrates how big corporations neglect their obligations to seek prior informed consent and to share benefits when using genetic resources from the developing countries as obliged by the CBD.
On 25 May, the continent, along with Africans all over the world, celebrate Africa Day. In most corners, it is an opportunity to celebrate the diversity and richness of African culture. In South Africa, Africa Day is taking on special significance as the nation prepares to “welcome the world” for the FIFA World Cup.
Yet, reports in the United Kingdom’s The Guardian and another in the South African Mail and Guardian about the possibility of post-event xenophobia in the country should remind us that just two years ago the nation came together with a rallying commitment to say “never again.”
Mostly South Africans celebrate freedom day. Some they feel free but some do not feel free. Some are told that they are free and get excited because they trust those who tell them that they are free. They still have hope that one day the politicians will recognise them. As hard as it is we all have to face up to the reality that this is a false hope. We have to face up to the need for a second struggle.
A local group representing informal settlements has warned plans to erect shacks outside Cape Town Stadium unless proper housing is given to the poor. Abahlali Basemjondolo demanded the underprivileged be allocated housing within the city but authorities were having none of it. Basemjondolo planned to use the World Cup as a platform to vent their frustration with city bosses.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the University of Ghana are pleased to announce the international symposium ”The Dream, The Reality: Re-assessments of African Independence”, to be held in Accra, Ghana, from 27th to 29th of September 2010. The symposium constitutes the central event in the inaugural issue of the Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Intellectual & Cultural Festival Week, a bi-annual event to be held under the Kwame Nkrumah Chair in African Studies.
Applicants are invited to participate in a two week study tour to study food sovereignty, social movements and social change in Venezuela, 19 July to 2 August, 2010. The tour will examine issues of land reform, urbanization issues, rural development and food sovereignty within a dynamic political context. Venezuela is an outstanding example of a country that strives to ensure its citizens’ right to food while bolstering its domestic agriculture sector, with an emphasis on organic practices and agroecology. We will also explore other areas of social transformation, including education, healthcare, and direct citizen participation in the political process.
The Pill has touched the lives of many people but – like so many other technologies – remains an unknown luxury to around 200 million women, the majority of whom live in developing countries. Unintended pregnancy is a major public health concern that endangers the lives of women and children and perpetuates the cycle of poverty. The percentage of women who do not want to get pregnant but are not using any type of contraceptive method, the “unmet need,” is alarmingly high across the globe.
Since 1991, Tostan has brought its holistic, human rights-based, 30-month non-formal education program – the Community Empowerment Program (CEP) – to thousands of communities in ten African countries: Burkina Faso, Djibouti, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Somalia, and Sudan. The goal of the CEP is to provide its participants – 80% of whom are women and girls living in rural areas – with the skills and knowledge to improve their lives in a sustainable way. Developed methodically over the past 20 years through an ongoing process of community consultation and careful revision, the CEP has become today one of the most unique and effective community development programs in Africa.
Burundi's district elections, seen as a test of the tiny African country's stability ahead of presidential elections in June, met international standards, European observers said on Thursday. Monday's elections were the first of a series of polls in which the coffee-producer will also vote for representatives to parliament and its next president. District polls are often an indicator of how the rest of the vote will go.
Burundi's opposition have demanded a re-run of local polls it said were rigged by the regime while the country's top former rebel threatened a boycott of crucial upcoming elections. The allegation of fraud in Monday's local council polls -- the first phase of a months-long electoral marathon -- was likely to heighten fears over the stability of the small war-scarred central African nation.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has requested Zimbabwe to re-deploy its troops in the central African country to replace of a United Nations (UN) force that has been stationed there since 1999. The DRC wants the UN mission, known as MONUC to start winding down its operations by June 30 when the vast country marks 50 years of independence from Belgium.
The Southern African Catholic Bishop's Conference on Thursday asked President Jacob Zuma to intervene in Swaziland's "political crisis". SACBC president Archbishop Buti Tlhagale said in statement: "I have written to President Zuma to ask the government to take part in normalising the situation before it resembles what happened in Zimbabwe.”I've asked the president to consider a mediating role to facilitate a climate of dialogue among all stakeholders in Swaziland." SACBC leaders recently expressed shock at the death of Sipho Jele after he was arrested for wearing a People's United Democratic Movement T-shirt during May Day celebrations in Manzini on May 4.
Fatima Yadik, a mother of 12 and grandmother of 18, recently settled in the Central African Republic town of Yaloké after 60 years with her nomadic community. Her camp of Peuhl nomads was attacked by bandits who killed all the men and stole their cattle. Peuhl people are often targeted by bandits because of the relative wealth of their livestock. Fleeing to safety, Ms. Yadik and her family joined the growing number of nomadic peoples across Africa’s interior who are escaping poverty and insecurity in the countryside in favour of life in towns and cities.
Thousands of people displaced from their homes in the Central African Republic (CAR) cannot be reached by aid workers because of insecurity caused by the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and other armed militias, a UN official said. “The main humanitarian challenges relate to civilian protection and humanitarian access,” Jean Sebastien Munie, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the CAR, told IRIN. “There are pockets of conflict.”
Squealing with delight, young Elvis rushes off to greet his mother as she wends her way towards the family's hut in north-eastern Botswana's Dukwi refugee camp. The Zimbabwean infant, aged almost three, is a picture of health. But one year ago, carrying the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), he was near death's door. Elvis could barely sit up. His body was wracked with opportunistic infections, including tuberculosis, and he was constantly in hospital for treatment.
President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria on Thursday said the democratic stability of the Fourth Republic was traceable to the position the National Assembly took following "the unfortunate health challenges" which confronted late President Umaru Musa Yar'adua. Jonathan said "many speculated that Nigeria was going to split but you (National Assembly) proved them wrong." The President also stated that the success of his administration "would depend on the cooperation of the National Assembly".
Experts at the 47th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR), which ended Thursday in Banjul, the Gambian capital, have said that the Commission's greatest handicap was its inability to perform its mandate of protecting human rights in Africa. Reine Alapini-Gansou, Chairperson of the Commission, stated that at the Banjul session, participants adopted new rules which seek to enhance human rights services in such a way that they would complement the activities of the African Court on Human and People's Rights.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) is to increase its capital from US$ 33 billion to US$ 100 billion, in a bid to continue supporting African countries, a communique issued by the bank disclosed.
Ghana and Togo on Wednesday agreed that about a 1,000 Ghanaians, and not 3,500, were sheltering in Togo after fleeing ethnic conflict in Ghana's Northern Region. The figure was agreed after a closed-door meeting between a Togolese government delegation led by National Security Minister Colonel Mohammed Atcha Titikpina and Ghana's President John Evans Atta Mills and senior security officials in Accra.
Zambia's former finance minister, Katele Kalumba, has been jailed for five years for corruption. Lusaka High Court deputy director of operations, Edward Musona, sitting as magistrate on Wednesday, convicted Kalumba to five years, along with six others, including former finance permanent secretary Stella Chibanda and former finance chief economist Bede Mphande.
Ethiopia's ruling party swept all the parliamentary seats in Sunday's elections and appeared to head back to a single party era. The opposition coalition, Medrek, won a single seat in capital, Addis Ababa, in a race over 547 seats in the House. Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and its allied political parties won all the 533 seats out of the 536 seats declared when the Ethiopian National Electoral Board (NEBE) released the provisional results.
As Ghana awaits the first riches from one of Africa’s top oil finds of the decade, expectations on the street are high and rising. “I believe in the oil,” said grocery vendor Grace Asantewaa from behind her meagre stall of tomatoes and chilli peppers at the Agbogbloshie market in the capital Accra. “We are sure everything will change in the name of Jesus,” predicted the 36-year-old mother-of-two, echoing widespread dreams of a more comfortable life once production from the Jubilee offshore field gets going in December this year.
Large-scale farming of the biodiesel jatropha tree should be stopped since it creates a food shortage. It will harm the environment and is of little commercial value, according to a national research institution. This comes as the country gears up for what could be the biggest jatropha biodiesel project in the region. An Italian company, Nouve Iniziative Industriali sri, is clearing 55,000 hectares leased from the Malindi County Council for the jatropha plantations.
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Thursday a referendum on a new constitution will be delayed, possibly until next year. Under the unity deal that brought Tsvangirai into government with his long-time rival President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe was meant to vote on a new charter by August.
Zimbabwe has banned all exports of diamonds until a monitor from the Kimberley Process regulator approves the sale of gems from a field plagued by human rights abuses, the mines minister said Thursday. "I have suspended all diamond exports from Zimbabwe with immediate effect until the issue of Kimberley Process certification scheme has been sorted out," mines minister Obert Mpofu said in the state-run Herald newspaper.
Hundreds of bodies buried in a mudslide in Uganda three months ago have yet to be recovered, the rescue team says. Three villages on the slopes of Mount Elgon, near the eastern town of Bududa, were swept away in mudslide. About 200 people are still unaccounted for, while around 100 bodies have been recovered, officials say.