To make the best use of the promised doubling of aid to Africa, it should be distributed multilaterally, possibly by a United Nations fund "independent of political pressures", according to a report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Africa in Motion (AiM) will enchant audiences with screenings of more than two dozen African films from all over the continent at Filmhouse Cinema this October. The packed programme covers a variety of genres spanning six decades of filmmaking in Africa.

The DEA is looking for a new Director to lead and inspire the organisation during a period of expanding interest in global perspectives within education. For further information, click on the link.

A new national assembly was inaugurated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the first such body to be democratically elected in the country in more than 20 years. "The new parliament can only lead to peace," Jean-Pierre Nemoyato, one of the newly inaugurated parliamentarians, said.

Ministers of health and delegates from 48 African countries meeting in Maputo from 20-22 September unanimously agreed that the right to health is under serious threat in Africa, and that poor sexual and reproductive health is a leading killer.

In the first-ever legal challenge to racial profiling filed with an international human rights tribunal, a coalition of advocacy groups have submitted an application to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, seeking to halt racial profiling by police.

Only one week left to submit a story to the first annual Penknife Press Short Story Writing Contest.

Although Angola is benefiting from a post-war economic boom, far more needs to be done to ensure the benefits are felt by all Angolans, warn humanitarian workers. The 27-year conflict killed one million people and took a massive toll on human development.

Just like Karura Forest, the bulk of Ngong Forest was irregularly allocated in the 1990’s. The report compiled by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights says the taxpayer lost over Sh9 billion worth of prime land to crooked individuals who received and sold the land to third parties.

The HRH Global Resource Center, a digital library devoted to human resources for health (HRH), now offers an electronic newsletter that provides information on the latest HRH resources, improvements and news. It will be emailed to subscribers once a month.

Environmentalists have opposed attempts to revive plans to build a controversial hydro power project on the Kunene River in northwest Namibia. Following an international outcry, the construction of the proposed Epupa Dam was halted eight years ago as the resultant flooding would have destroyed the livelihood of the semi-nomadic Ovahimba ethnic group.

U.S. President George W. Bush's malaria control initiative launched in June 2005 in Angola, Tanzania and Uganda by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has targeted Kabale district in South-west Uganda where a population explosion in the highlands has turned fertile wetlands into breeding grounds for malarial mosquitoes

In an ideal world, all of Africa's women would have access to clinics, nurses, obstetricians, medicines: the panoply of staff and equipment needed to make the process of giving birth as safe as possible. Failing that, what can be done to lessen the risks that come with delivering babies? For one, improve the skills of traditional birth attendants (TBAs), say delegates who met this week in Mozambique at an African Union (AU) gathering on sexual and reproductive health care.

More than half of all children who do not go to school are girls. Achieving universal primary education is a Millennium Development Goal and one of UNICEF’s primary objectives. At a panel discussion organized by the US Mission to the United Nations in New York, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman gave a keynote address on the vital importance of educating girls in the developing world.

About 140 school principals have been appointed in Enugu State to handle the newly introduced Junior Secondary School programme of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) in various post-primary schools in the state.

The election of 100 women among the 321 members of Parliament in Uganda is something to celebrate. Possibly even more significant, an all time high of 18m represent counties where women competed with men. Affirmative action has worked though women remain in the difficult position of meeting conflicting expectations and loyalties.

A spokesman for Zimbabwe’s ruling party confirmed Monday (September 25) that ZANU-PF intends to extend the term of President Robert Mugabe by postponing the presidential elections due in 2008 to 2010. ZANU-PF information chief Nathan Shamuyarira said this would save money by consolidating presidential voting with parliamentary elections.

As the horrific images of slaughter stream out of Darfur, Sudan, a playwright in New York has gathered experts, survivors, church leaders, diplomats and others to reflect on the tragic occurrence of genocide in our time.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has decried the inadequate representation of women within the leadership of the trade union federation and its affiliates. Speaking at Cosatu's 9th national congress in Midrand, he said: "We have not done very well when it comes to women.

With overmatched police giving them free rein, the gangs in Cape Town's poor neighborhoods have grown in brutality and sophistication since the end of South Africa's apartheid era. They're better armed, have moved into lucrative rackets such as drug dealing — and increasingly seek out children as members.

To vanquish poverty, Africa needs a new cadre of policy researchers with expertise in the role of science and technology in development, argues Osita Ogbu. Few people inside or outside African government fully understand the importance of science and technology policy. As a result, the continent lacks capacity in the field.

The authors of this paper investigate the causal relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) investments and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, with regard to the relationship's implications on economic growth.

This report was prepared to provide an input in UNESCO's fields of competence to the Working Group of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) on Information Technology for Development and to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Development Study Group 1.

The rural society in Benin is involved in a number of important dynamics: decentralisation, privatisation and the transfer of central state functions to local authorities and the private sector, including farmer's organisations. Other ongoing changes are the search for an adequate access to and delivery of basic services, a better and equitable access to economic markets, migration to urban and coastal areas, increasing pressure on natural resources.

Between 1980 and 2005, the number of telephone subscribers in developing countries rose 30 times. In 1980, developing countries accounted for only 20% of the world's telephone lines; by 2005, 60% of the world's phones were in developing countries.

In this policy overview produced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Centre, the authors propose that greater public awareness and concern about development issues could put MDG-related issues on domestic political agendas and thereby protect official development assistance (ODA) commitments.

Zimbabwe women call for stiffer penalties for domestic violence offenders. With 90% of Zimbabwe's domestic violence targeting women, women groups have been pressuring their government to enact The Domestic Violence Bill, first dismissed 10 years ago.

It was still dark, not yet 4am. But outside Letenk'iel was moving already, rekindling the fire from the overnight embers. Inside the mud-walled hut, her husband Gebremariam coughed. Then as the first birds were heard, he swung his legs over the side of a bed made from rough rope strung across a wooden frame.

The post holder will be expected to conduct research, facilitate workshops and training sessions, and develop networks with civil society groups and research institutions in Africa. S/he must have strong writing and networking skills.

The Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at Columbia University is designed to prepare proven human rights leaders from the Global South and marginalized communities in the U.S. to participate in national and international policy debates on globalization by building their skills, knowledge, and contacts.

SANGONeT's Thetha Forums provide NGOs with the opportunity to discuss information communication technology (ICT), including challenges facing the NGO sector, highlighting and promoting practical benefits, opportunities and lessons learned. The forums highlight ICT policy issues and promote practical applications, and form part of SANGONeT's broader objective to increase the use and awareness of ICTs within the NGO sector in Southern Africa.

Somalia's interim prime minister appealed to the international community for assistance to combat what he termed "terrorists" who are expanding inside the country. Premier Ali Muhammad Gedi's comments to the media came after Islamic Courts militias took over Kismayo, the last port city in southern Somalia that was previously outside their influence.

An estimated 171 million children, with 111 million of them under 15, are working in hazardous conditions, and a roughly estimated 8.4 million children are involved in the worst forms of child labour. ARLAC Executive Director Sammy T. Nyambari said forced and bonded labour, armed conflict, prostitution and pornography, and other forms of illicit activities are the worst forms of labour the children are involved in.

The town of Dutse in northern Nigeria was recovering on Tuesday (September 25) after 1,000 people fled their homes in the latest in a series of inter-communal flare-ups that analysts warn could escalate in the coming months. The violence that erupted in Dutse, capital of Jigawa state and close to the border with Niger, last week was sparked by rumours that a Christian market trader had blasphemed against the Prophet Mohammed.

UNHCR's Refworld allows easy access to reliable and up-to-date information related to refugees and human rights. It has been referred to as a "refugee encyclopedia", as it contains documents ranging from background country reports to legal position papers, guidelines and statistics.

This preliminary investigation by ECOS documents the socio-economic and environmental impact of oil exploitation in the Melut Basin in Upper Nile State, Sudan, as told by inhabitants of the area and photo­graphed from satellites.It focuses on the Melut and Maban Counties, Renk District, which fall into concession blocks 3 and 7, held by the Petrodar Operating Company Ltd. under a Production Sharing Agreement with the Sudanese Government.

This week, African Health Ministers and Experts meet in Maputo, Mozambique to adopt an action plan which will deliver on the 2005 Gaborone Declaration. The Declaration committed African governments to universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services in Africa. Ir?ng? Houghton reviews emerging policies on sexual and reproductive health, the reality for women and girls and what governments need to adopt during this Ministerial.

Since 2001, Africa’s leaders have committed the African Union (AU) and their governments to promote and protect the right to health in a series of international and continental legal protocols and declarations. These commitments provide a comprehensive package for addressing the challenges of maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS, violence and disease.

The Promise of the Continental Policy Triangle

On 26 and 27 April 2001, African Heads of States and governments of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) declared that they would allocate 15% of their annual national budgets to health services in order to meet “the exceptional challenge of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases”. [1] Health issues have been a consistent item on the agenda of meetings of African leaders for the last five years. The adoption of the Continental Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy Framework by 53 African Health Ministers in October 2005 was a landmark moment in the struggle to improve the lives and health of women and girls in Africa. [2] This year, the Africa Common Position on Universal Access for the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in New York saw African Governments undertake to ensure; “100% access to sexual and reproductive health services including antenatal care”.

These policy statements received legal underpinning when the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa came into force on 25th November 2005. [3] The Protocol provides a critical framework to access sexual and reproductive health services such as safe abortion, pregnancy, childbirth and HIV, among others. Its provisions state that women’s sexual and reproductive health should be both respected and promoted. [4] This policy triangle of the Abuja Declaration, Continental Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy framework and the Protocol clearly establishes the obligation on African states to address the healthcare needs of all citizens, but in particular the rights of women and girls.

“The reality of sexual abuse and HIV/AIDS must make us rage against women’s oppression. I call on African leaders sitting here to protect and promote the human rights of all people and vulnerable groups, particularly women and girls. We ask you not to fail us again.” (Ms. Nkhensani Mavasa, Deputy Chairperson, Treatment Action Campaign, UN General Assembly, May 2006)

While there has been significant improvement in women’s health globally, none of this progress has benefited mothers in sub-Saharan Africa. Notwithstanding the international and African commitments, inadequate access to quality health services, unsafe abortions and lack of reproductive health care cause the deaths of at least 250,000 women each year in Africa, one of the highest rates in the world. Women in the United Kingdom have a 1 in 5,800 lifetime risk of maternal death, in Ethiopia the equivalent risk is 1:14.

High maternal death rates have multiple causes, but one major underlying problem is the deep-rooted inequalities between men and women. Women have fewer opportunities for education, they do a disproportionate high share of manual work, have less influence on policy making and are disadvantaged in terms of nutrition and access to health care. Lack of access to health care is a major cause of maternal mortality.

Even where there are positive legislative and policy frameworks, women often battle to exercise these rights within the family and the community. Traditional gender norms and practices, along with the unequal status of women, relegate women to being primarily responsible for contraception and childcare, with little power to negotiate when, with whom and why to have sex.

Inequalities in health are exacerbated by unequal access to other public services. For example, the number of years that a girl spends in primary education has a direct and positive correlation with her chances of avoiding HIV, her children surviving, and her subsequent income thereafter. Yet on average, girls in Africa spend only three years in school. [5]

It is within this context that women and girls are more vulnerable to HIV. Women comprise 57% of all adults infected with the virus in sub Saharan Africa. Of these, younger women account for a disproportionately large number of new infections. According to the African Union, AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis threaten life on a scale unparalleled, erases between 1-2% of Africa’s growth rate and reduces life expectancy by 25% for some countries. [6]

Key to the loss of women’s control over their own sexuality is the prevalence of female genital mutilation, domestic violence, and rape. More than 90 million women and girls are survivors of female genital mutilation, a practice outlawed in many national laws across Africa and under the Protocol. [7] Violence against women is a recurrent problem in many countries. In Kenya for instance, despite a relatively peaceful history, 49% of women have experienced violence, with one in four having experienced violence in the previous 12 months. [8]

Putting the money where it is needed

A key precondition for accelerating the provision of universal access to sexual and reproductive health services in Africa is the adequate funding of effective healthcare systems. However, there is a sharp disparity between the stated intention to act and the resources pledged to enable these laudable commitments to be implemented.

Five years after the Abuja Summit, only Botswana and The Gambia have met the 15% target for national expenditure. 15 countries mostly from West and Central Africa spent less than 5% with only 18 Africa states spending more than 10% on healthcare. Yet, since 2000, 85% and 77% of African countries have formed national AIDS machineries and approved relevant health policies. [9]

According the World Health Organisation, the minimum expenditure on healthcare per person per year, necessary to provide an essential package of health services is US$ 34. In 29 countries, government expenditure per person per year was less than US$ 10. This includes Angola that has one of the fastest growing economies on the continent.

The burden of this funding gap invariably falls on the poorest and most vulnerable sections of the population. Inadequate investment in primary healthcare infrastructure, acute shortage of human resources, ineffective or non-existent data collection and information management systems and the lack of inexpensive medicines and basic equipment all combine to disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable. In order to close the financing gap, many countries have been encouraged to impose user fees on healthcare services.

User fees have proved to be a barrier to many poor men and women who simply cannot afford to access healthcare even with minimum fees. Throughout the 1990s, Ugandans faced high costs for fragmented health services. When in the run up to the 2001 presidential election, President Museveni ended user fees for all government health clinics, the public response was phenomenal. Most health facilities saw 50 to 100 per cent increases in patients. This access was particularly significant for poor women in rural areas who could not afford to pay for care.

Oxfam research shows that relatively small investments can yield high returns in terms of saving lives. The cost of providing basic services for mothers and infants averages US$3 per capita in Africa. This year, approximately 63,000 women will die from obstetric problems in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. An investment of US$411 million would prevent 80 percent of these deaths: – roughly US$700 for every maternal and child life saved.

African governments could reverse the situation by dropping user fees, improving the effectiveness of the health care system and raising their health expenditure to 15%. External development assistance is necessary to expand the financing available, preferably within a predictable and long-term cycle that targets front line services like primary and reproductive health care. It is estimated that an initial immediate investment of $90 billion per annum is required for healthcare personnel, hospitals and other infrastructure, medicines and so forth in Africa, as against the $25 billion promised for Africa by 2010. [10]

Back to the Basics: Engendered Health Services and Access to Essential Medicines

The year 2005 saw an important return to the concept of a developmental state in Africa. This state would enshrine the right to essential services, the fight against poverty and economic growth as core obligations. [11] Recent Oxfam research into Essential Services re-affirms the primacy of governments in the provision of effective, universally accessible and regulated health and services.

There is a crisis of health workers in Africa. At least 10 countries (Liberia, Uganda, the Central African Republic, Mali, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia and The Gambia) have only enough trained health workers to cover 10% of the population. The African Union should maintain its position that additional financing should be found not only for medical facilities and medicines, but also for the recruitment and remuneration of doctors, nurses and other health cadres.

African governments, parliaments and civil society organisations must guard against public resource diversion away from social services through lack of prioritisation, corruption, misuse of national resources and military expenditure. A number of African countries including Sudan, Angola and Ethiopia are currently experiencing rapid economic growth, yet they continue to spend a paltry 2-5% on health expenditure.

Several African organisations and parliamentarians have cited the IMF/World Bank Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks/Ceilings (three year planning tools) as too restrictive on public expenditure on health and education. African governments should consider carefully all policy advice that undermines their capacity to promote and realise the right to health. [12] The comments of Kenyan Assistant Minister Hon Enock Kibunguchy are relevant for many African countries. In March of this year he said, “The country needs 10,000 health workers to offer improved services… We have to put our foot down and employ. We can tell the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to go to hell." Kenya urgently needs 7,000 nurses, 600 doctors and 2,000 clinicians and laboratory experts. In the absence of employment, government estimates indicate that 1,000 nurses leave the country every year.

African governments must demand that IMF assistance be modelled on long-term growth rather than short-term sustainability, in order to fulfil internationally agreed commitments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, rather than the narrow goal of sustaining debt repayments from low-income countries. The Global Call to Action Against Poverty as well as specialist African debt networks such as the Jubilee movement in Africa and AFRODAD have joined the African Union call in 2005 for full debt cancellation to be extended to many more countries. To do otherwise, would be to render sustainable financing for Universal Access in Africa unachievable.

What do Africa’s leaders need to do next?

African governments must deliver on the Abuja Commitment to allocate 15% of the national budget to health services by setting annual funding targets that will finance comprehensive national public health plans that particularly target men and women living and working in poverty. Targeted provision of quality reproductive and health services to women by establishing and strengthen existing antenatal, delivery, post-natal and family planning services for all African women would go a long way in making the lives of women more safe and dignified. To do this would require the recruitment, training, and retention of an adequate healthcare workforce in line with international standards and with special attention to remuneration of female health workers in rural areas.

Further, more countries must remove user fees for primary health care and sexual and reproductive health services and essential medicine. By enacting and implementing national laws that enshrine the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa especially Articles 5 and 14, governments would demonstrate a clear commitment to end female genital mutilation in Africa and violence against women.

Despite the tremendous investment of development NGOs in the areas of HIV/AIDS, reproductive and primary health, only a small number of civil society organisations are attending the Maputo Ministerial meetings. On their return, they can do no better than to hold their leaders and industrialised countries to account for the global and continental commitments made over the last five years. One way of doing this would be to strengthen citizen representation and state oversight mechanisms in monitoring public services at national and local levels.

* This article is drawn from a policy briefing written by Ir?ng? Houghton, Oxfam Pan Africa Policy Advisor which was developed and presented to the Special Session of Ministers, Maputo, Mozambique, September 18-22th . He can be contacted at [email][email protected]

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

References:

[1]The OAU officially became the African Union on 9 July 2002 at the Durban Summit.
[2]The AU Special Summit in Abuja reviewed progress since the 2001 Abuja Declarations on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.
[3]For an extract of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, see www.african-union.org
[4]In a few countries like South Africa, the Constitution provides women with more rights than the African Women’s Protocol. However, for others like Zamibia, it is an advance on national legislation. Under Zambian law, a panel of 3 doctors have to agree that the mother’s health is threatened. The law does not provide for termination even in cases of rape, sexual assault or incest. See Mukasa R; (2005): Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa: Harnessing a Potential Force for Change, Oxfam GB Southern Africa Office.
[5]Oxfam; (2006): In the Public Interest: Health, Education, and Water and Sanitation for All.
[6]African Union; (2005): Progress Report on the Implementation of the Plans of Action of the Abuja Declaration for Malaria, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis.
[7]Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Coalition and the African Union Commission;(2006): Breathing Life into the African Women’s Protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa.
[8]UNICEF; (2006): Violence against Women and Girls in the Era of HIV and AIDS in Kenya.
[9]African Union; (2005): Progress Report on the Implementation of the Plans of Action of the Abuja Declaration for Malaria, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis.
[10]Oxfam; (2004): The Cost of Childbirth: How Women are Paying for Broken Promises on Aid.
[11]Apart from African Union positions and declarations, other influential development literature such as the Commission for Africa report, 2005, the UN Human Development Report took up this theme squarely in 2005.
[12]Statement from 75 representatives of Civil Society Groups and SADC Parliamentarians to African Heads of States, Health Ministers meeting at African Union/UN meeting on Universal Access to Act Immediately to Save Africa from worsening HIV/AIDS Epidemic, Johannesburg, 3rd March 2006

According to the Africa Aerospace & Defence newsletter, the AAD 2006 “… is Africa’s showcase event for general and commercial aviation, aerospace and military land, sea and air technology and services.” However, anti-war groups argue that the AAD 2006 will exhibit the largest and greatest in machinery designed for only one purpose - the killing of human beings. This is the harsh truth behind arms expos; they supply arms for countries to go to war.

In Africa, a continent that has been devastated by civil wars, a continent where military weapons have brought nothing but misery and destruction, the last thing one would expect is a weapons fair. Dubbed “Africa Aerospace & Defence 2006”, AAD 2006 is the largest weapons exhibition that has ever been organised in this continent.

As if referring to a flea market, the AAD 2006 websites states that: “Air Force Base Ysterplaat [Cape Town, South Africa], against the backdrop of Table Mountain, will provide the setting for the only exposition of its sort in Africa and will feature more than 400 exhibitors from at least 25 countries.”

The AAD website further informs readers that by taking part in this affair, “trade visitors and the media have the unique opportunity to get in on the ground floor, experiencing and participating in the renaissance of the African aerospace and defence industry.” We are expected to believe that the same military weapons that have perpetuated civil wars in the DRC, Uganda and Liberia are in actual fact what constitute the African renaissance. This would be funny if this were not a matter of life and death.

Commenting on the exhibition, the Ceasefire and Umzabalazo we Jubilee campaigns wrote: “These arms companies will exhibit the largest and greatest in machinery designed for only one purpose, the killing of human beings. Husband, fathers, son, daughter and infants will all die because of this machinery. This is the harsh truth behind arms expos; they supply arms for countries to go to war with other countries and against their own citizens.”

The Cape Town Anti-War Coalition claims that: “Many of the arms companies ‘exhibiting’ at the weapons fair are allegedly involved in dealing weapons through third party front companies with extremely poor human rights records, like America, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Angola, Eritrea, Sudan and Nigeria. This method involves direct purchases by the foreign aid recipient from a government weapons manufacturer contractor, without directly government involvement in the process. Others are involved in further impoverishing poor countries like Malawi who have no need for military equipment but who are forced by the World Bank into taking out loans to buy weapons in exchange for aid.”

According to the Small Arms Survey 2006, “Applying the doctrinal distinctions outlined…to 166 countries (all countries with a population over 400 000 that have military) permits global estimation of the number of firearms controlled by the state-sponsored armed forces of the world. Combined with formally declared military inventories, this analysis concludes that the world harbours at least 200 million official military firearms. When distributed to compensate for a statistical margin of error (plus or minus 25 percent), the range of global military firearms appears to be between 150 million and 250 million. The estimating used here for People’s War militaries are conservative, which suggest that actual global totals are more likely to be closer to the upper parameter.”

Addressing specifically the issue of small arms, the Global Policy Forum (www.globalpolicy.org) states that: “Small arms and light weapons fuel civil wars and other conflicts, causing harm to millions of people, particularly in Africa. These small weapons are only part of a larger trade that includes heavier and more lethal weaponry, but light arms are often especially baneful because they are cheap, easy to transport and can be handled by ill-trained rebel soldiers and even children. Recent UN reports show how these weapons are illicitly exported, transported with connivance of government officials in many countries and smuggled into war zones.”

To fully understand what the AAD 2006 means for ordinary Africans, one has to take into consideration the role of small arms in African civil wars. As the Global Policy Forum points out, small weapons are a part of a larger trade, like the AAD 2006.

The Small Arms Survey 2006 (SAS 2006) reports that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) depended on small arms to keep the civil war going in Northern Uganda for the past 20 years. As a result, this led to high levels of armament among the civilian population in the region, levels exacerbated by government and military policies of arming sections of society against the LRA and other armed groups.

“The LRA’s primary weapons are Kalashnikov derivatives, and most commonly, the Chinese Type 56 assault rifle. However, the Ugandan military uses a number of weapons, and the same types are also used by the LRA. The most numerous after the Chinese Type 56 are Polish and Romanian AKM assault rifles and AK-47 assault rifles from the former Soviet Union. Some observers claim that NATO weapons, such as the Belgian FN FAL and the German G3, are also in service with some rebels, having formerly been in the arsenals of the Ugandan and Sudanese governments.” (SAS 2006)

Even with perfect case studies, such as Uganda, which illustrate that in the world today, military firearms serve one purpose and that is to terrorise and kill innocent civilians, AAD 2006 is unconvinced. The AAD 2006 newsletter claims that: “The conventional and terrorist threats to security together with increased demands for peace-support operations is prompting many African countries to revisit their defence requirement and to re-evaluate their investments in research and development and procurements.”

However, the Cape Town Anti-War Coalition points out that most of the companies who are exhibiting weapons are “responsible for the deaths of millions of civilians across Africa and the Middle Eats.” For example, Truvelo, one of the companies exhibiting weapons at the fair is “manufacturing a new assault rifle. This company is expert in manufacturing sniper guns.” Eurocipter, another exhibitor, makes 14 different military helicopters, including the “Tiger” which they supply to Israel, among other repressive regimes.

The sad reality is that the manufacturing of arms (instead of building homes for the homeless and feeding the hungry for instance) is not likely to change for a very long time. The projections by the Small Arms Survey 2006 show a world obsessed with military firearms. The SAS 2005 predicts that:

- The world’s militaries procure around 50 million small arms and light weapons over a 50-year period, or around 1 million units annually.
- Not all of this acquisition is of new stocks.
-Global production of military small arms and light weapons over a 50-year period range between 36 and 46 million weapons and averages 0.7 – 0.9 million annually.
- Production is not constant but cyclical and responds to the demands of the world’s wealthier states.
- The world’s poorer states often rely on surplus stocks displayed by wealthy state procurement programmes.
- This trade and transfer of surplus stocks to militaries across the globe could number up to 14 million units over a 50-year period.
- Some of the world’s largest procurers will launch major procurement programmes in the next 10 – 15 years.
- Global military production periodically peaks and id projected to do so in the coming 20 years as wealthy states modernise their small arms.
- Unless measures are taken to remove weapons from circulation, this peak is likely to displace yet more surplus stock to the world’s poorer states.

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

REMINDER: Please remember to vote for Pambazuka News at
FEATURE: Ir?ng? Houghton reviews emerging policies on sexual and reproductive health, the reality for women and girls and what governments need to adopt during this Health Ministers and Experts conference in Maputo, Mozambique.
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: - Baffour Dokyi Amoa argues that it is not an exaggeration to say that small arms have contributed to the political disintegration of many African countries.
- Mandisi Majavu argues against the “Africa Aerospace & Defence 2006” exhibition.
- Patrick Bond argues that the assault against the international civil society has been devastating. He writes that nearly all the major multilateral institutions have been captured by hardliners over the past couple of years.
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine reminds us that this past Sunday marked the Global Day of Action for Darfur. The aim was “to show world-wide support for the Darfuri people and to put pressure on our Governments to protect the civilians.”
Pan-African Postcard: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem argues that Islamic faith replaced Communism in the pantheons of Western phobias
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Links to news on Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe
HUMAN RIGHTS: Ugandan is the worst place in the world to be a child
WOMEN AND GENDER: Women leaders meet in Maputo
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: AU mission extended with Arab and UN support
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Number of women contesting the polls low and disappointing
DEVELOPMENT: IMF and the World Bank found guilty
CORRUPTION: State to seize 78 bank accounts with looted money
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Labour urged to demand sacking of health minister
EDUCATION: Higher education and economic growth
RACISM & XENOPHOBIA: How obsession with race stops SA from meeting its challenges
ENVIRONMENT: Africa’s environment under siege
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: The third Chimurenga
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: In Eritrea, journalists still jailed after five years
DIASPORA: Genealogical quest
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: Zimbabwe internet shuts down
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops; Jobs.

The International Rescue Committee currently seeks a Gender Based Violence and Masculinities Consultant for its Liberia program in Montserrado, Nimba and Lofa to lay the foundation of IRC's Male Involvement: Part of the Solution project. This will include developing a long-term plan in collaboration with the Government of Liberia, training facilitators responsible for forming and leading men's groups in communities of operation within 3 counties.

The Technical Specialist based in CST Dakar will provide technical support to countries while the Coordinator of the Campaign for Africa based in New York will be responsible for the overall coordination of the campaign in Africa and report to Headquarters.

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After five years, Eritrean journalists still jailed in secret prisons without due process. Five years after Eritrea's brutal crackdown on the independent press, the Committee to Protect Journalists called for the release of 13 journalists held incommunicado in secret jails and two other journalists forced into extended military service. Basic information about the jailed journalists - most of whom were swept up in a September 18, 2001, crackdown - has become nearly impossible to obtain from official sources in Africa's most repressive country.

The Regional Programme Manager (RPM) for DRC in Liberia is responsible for the management, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and continued development of the DRC regional 3-year expansion strategy for Liberia, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone (Manu River Countries) and for ensuring external relations with authorities, donor representatives, international organisations and NGOs in the region.

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) is currently in search of an Operations Research Manager (ORM) for its CORE Project in Kampala, Uganda. The goal of the CORE Uganda Programme is to strengthen the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development’s (MGLSD) capacity to effectively provide leadership, coordinate, monitor and evaluate the national response to the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and Abstinence and Be Faithful for Youth (AB/Y) programs and to expand availability and quality of OVC services and AB/Y programming through strengthened public private sector partnerships.

On July 5 2006,Tanzania’s Minister of Land and Settlements Development, John Magufuli, instituted criminal proceedings at Dodoma Police Station against two editors and one journalist of a privately owned media house, Habari Corporation. The accussed, Mr. John Bwire (chief editor), Mr. Muhingo Rweyemamu (editor), together with Mr. Nephilitius Kyaruzi (journalist), were summoned only on August 24, 2006, to the Kijitonyama Police Station.

Government failure to pay a US$700,000 bill to a satellite company has brought Zimbabwe's internet services to a virtual standstill, further isolating a country grappling with food shortages, chronic unemployment and the world's highest inflation rate. Internet users in Zimbabwe have complained of long delays in sending and receiving emails, painfully slow browsing speeds and problems connecting to many websites since Intelsat severed a satellite link that provided about three-quarters of the bandwidth used by the state-owned communications firm, TelOne.

A leading AIDS activist caused a stir by demanding the South African health minister's removal in the presence of the deputy president at a conference on Tuesday. Our government has failed us. We must speak the truth. We are willing to work with you [the government] anytime; you have ignored our letters; you have not spoken to us, but we are ready to talk," Zackie Achmat, leader of the AIDS lobby group, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) told Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at a conference of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) outside Johannesburg.