Pambazuka News 257: Special Issue on Trade and Justice
Pambazuka News 257: Special Issue on Trade and Justice
Most of the children rounded up by the police during a new onslaught on Harare’s street people have been dumped at a heavily guarded Melfort Camp near Bromley. When The Standard crew visited the camp, older street children were busy collecting firewood under police escort. There were four large tents pitched up to accommodate vagrants, rounded up during the operation, which started on 12 April.
For years, Zimbabwe's white farmers have felt the wrath of Robert Mugabe, as they have been thrown off their land to make way for soldiers and ruling party cronies. Now, black farmers have also become the focus of his unwelcome attentions. Lot Dube's crops of onions, tomatoes and sweet potatoes were growing nicely when soldiers marched into Insiza district, in the south of the country, set up camp and declared that all crops other than maize would be destroyed.
IRC currently seeks a Gender Based Violence Program Manager.
ActionAid is looking to appoint an International HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinator to join its international team.
The survey focuses on the benefits that NGOs bring to inter-governmental decision-making process. The survey takes 5 - 10 minutes to complete. It also asks participants to assess proposed reforms designed to make inter-governmental institutions and processes more democratic through the increased participation of civil society. The survey is for research purposes and participants will not be cited or quoted without permission.
Members of militias fighting for control of the Somali capital could face war crimes charges for attempting to prevent the wounded and civilians from receiving assistance during the conflict, a U.N. official warned Monday (29 May). The battle between fundamentalist Islamic militias and rival secular combatants has forced about 1,500 to seek treatment at Mogadishu's two main hospitals since the beginning of this year, said Eric Laroche, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, anti senate faction's candidate Emmanuel Chisvuure beat the ZANU PF candidate, Jeremiah Bvirindi and Gabriel Chaibva of the MDC's pro senate faction in the Budiriro parliamentary by-election that was marred by a low voter turn out. Chisvuure polled 7 949 votes while Bvirindi and Chaibva polled 3 961 and 504 votes respectively.
We are seeking an exceptional manager who will help shape our strategy, deliver a high quality programme and demonstrate leadership in a complex and demanding external environment. You must demonstrate excellent judgement, programme development experience, have strong financial and people management skills, a clear commitment to promoting gender equality and be able to represent Oxfam GB at the highest levels.
The development worker will work as an IT Advisor alongside SAfAIDS, assisting with the conceptualisation and implementation of its regional programme incorporating Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) and HIV and AIDS, as well as building the capacity of staff in Information Technology (IT) and ICTs.
Simavi is a relatively small Dutch funding agency that exists already for 80 years and gets it funding mainly from small private donors (families) and businesses. Simavi supports local non-governmental organisations that implement community based primary health care and water and sanitation projects in rural areas. Simavi supports local NGO's in 11 countries.
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) is seeking an Executive Director to lead its organization in promoting free expression in Canada and around the world.
The Transitional Justice Institute (TJI) in conjunction with the School of Law at the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland) is now accepting applications for enrolment in its LLM in Human Rights Law (2006/07). There are a small number of scholarships available for exceptional candidates and international students are strongly encouraged to apply. The programme is available on a full-time or part-time basis at the university's Jordanstown (Belfast) and Magee (Derry/Londonderry) campuses.
The vast rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo - the second largest on Earth after the Amazon - have been seen by the World Bank as a target area. In 2002, the Bank provided funding for the government of DRC to develop a new set of laws for the management of DRC's forests. In September 2003, the Board of the Bank also approved a pilot project to 'zone' Congo's forests into areas for industrial logging, conservation, and community use. The project entitled 'Emergency Economic and Social Reunification and Support Project' (EESRSP), included $4 million to start the process of 'zoning' DRC's forests, potentially opening up tens of millions of hectares for industrial logging, reports the Rainforest Foundation.
The political instabilities in Nigeria during Abacha's regime in 1993/94, which was an aftermath of the annulment of the June 12, 1992 presidential election won by the late business mogul Chief M.K.O. Abiola created an acute scarcity of kerosene that was seriously felt in different parts of the country. The kerosene scarcity led to the invention of "Abacha Coal-Pot" - a locally made cooking stove that uses charcoal., reports this article by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Crusaders
Open Letter to Nigerian Environment Minister: Request for information on activities on cassava production in Nigeria
We are writing to you in recognition of the fact that your ministry is the National Focal Point on Biosafety in Nigeria. We are encouraged to write because the policy stance of Nigeria on biosafety issues is in consonance with the tenets of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to which Nigeria is a Party. One of the primary elements of that Protocol that is universally valuable is the Precautionary Principle. We also note that our national as well as international biosafety instruments place a premium on access to information and public participation in decision making processes on biosafety matters.
ADVAD and FAHAMU are seeking a project officer to assist in implementing an African Diaspora development programme to strengthen the organisational, management and advocacy capacity of African Diaspora organisations in the UK. This is a fixed term part-time position for 17 hours per week, for a period of 18 months. For job description and application details, contact [email][email protected] (This post is supported by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation).
This seminar is founded on a shared desire for innovative and collaborative exploration of current and anticipated people and conservation issues in an integrated, transdisciplinary approach within an African context.
The postholder will assist with the smooth running of administration within Progressio by providing support to the Administrative Manager, the PA to the Executive Director and to the International Programmes Team via the Programmes Support Officer. A part of the job will cover reception duties, acting as a first contact for visitors and telephone enquiries.
As the United States runs short of nurses, senators are looking abroad, reports the NY Times. A little-noticed provision in their immigration bill would throw open the gate to nurses and, some fear, drain them from the world's developing countries. The legislation is expected to pass this week, and the Senate provision, which removes the limit on the number of nurses who can immigrate, has been largely overlooked in the emotional debate over illegal immigration.
Egyptian police allegedly tortured two protesters - sexually assaulting one of them - after a peaceful demonstration in support of pro-reform judges, a lawyer and an opposition group said Friday (26 May). Activist Mohammed el-Sharkawi, 24, was sodomized "using a rolled up piece of cardboard for nearly 15 minutes," his lawyer Gamal Eid told The Associated Press. "Almost all of el-Sharkawi's body is bruised, swollen, or cut," Eid said. "I haven't seen such brutality and sadism since 1995," he added, referring to a period when the state mounted a crackdown on Islamic militants.
This newsletter from the International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC) looks at how the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness affects NGOs as providers of international aid. The declaration urges governments to transfer aid directly into the budgets of poor countries, rather than funding their own development projects. While this could prevent rich countries from using aid as a tool to achieve their own political and economic interests, INTRAC warns that Northern NGOs could lose much of their funding and political influence.
As this New York Times op-ed points out, private military contractors offer an "attractive" solution to numerous government and corporate security concerns. Whether contributing to the "endless campaign against global terrorism," helping to deflect public disapproval of the war in Iraq, or protecting transnational corporations in "remote and hostile" settings, private forces offer a more "efficient" and politically tractable alternative to standing government armies.
Developing nations have got far better at protecting rain forests over the past two decades but are a long way short of doing enough to save the crucial global resource, a new report said on Thursday (25 May). While the area of tropical timber under sustainable management has surged to 36 million hectares from less than one million in 1988, that represents less than 5 percent of all tropical forests, the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) said.
This paper analyses the issue of women and conflicts. It looks at women as victims of violence, and also as active participants in wars and conflict situations. The author also points out that women's issues and rights are usually ignored in conflict situations, and in the context of post-conflict rebuilding of peace.
Africa has come to be associated with conflicts, political unrest, famine and disease. A new report, African Economic Outlook (AEO), says that there is reason to be optimistic about the world's second largest continent.
A new report by the self-auditing arm of the World Bank has painted a grim picture of the results of a decade-long plan by the Bank and the International Monetary Fund to give the world's poorest nations debt relief.
Today (25 May), on the first anniversary of the attacks made on referendum day, 24 Egyptian NGOs announced that the African Commission for Human and Peoples' Rights, of the African Union, has decided to take on the lawsuit that organizations have raised against the Egyptian government over the physical and sexual harassment of a number of female journalists and political activists.
This conference will be held on July 2-5, 2006 Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco. It will focus on the question: how do our educational institutions need to change in order for learning to become genuinely transformational?
This bibliography gathers together a range of materials which discuss women's empowerment from varied perspectives in order to provide an accessible introduction to key concepts, approaches and debates.
This paper gives an overview of the achievements (or lack of achievement) for the area of gender equality ten years after the Beijing Conference. The report acknowledges that there has undoubtedly been significant progress made in the social, political and economic status of women in public life in many countries. However the paper also gives several examples of slow progress, or lack of progress, made in reducing gender inequalities.
This resource has been put together to meet the need of women's group to access information on funding opportunities. It is divided into five sections: Women's Funds (those dedicated to gender-equality and women- focused rights projects), Foundations, International Development Agencies, Prizes, On-line Directories. The Women's Fund section provides website links, contact information for the funder along with information on what types of projects are funded, size of grants and applicant criteria. For the other sections, website links are given as well as a brief description of the type of issues that the funder is interested in.
This paper analyses the relationship between gender, time use and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The volume analyses current research and surveys on time use in Africa as well as its impact on other development indicators. In addition, this volume presents a conceptual framework linking both market and household work, and use tools and approaches drawn from analysis of consumption based poverty to develop the concept of a time poverty line and to look at the relationship between time poverty, consumption poverty, and other dimensions of development such as education and child labour.
Internews Network, an international media development NGO, is seeking an expert on violence against women/post conflict trauma to work with residents of the Darfur refugee camps. The advisor will first conduct a needs assessment and then develop radio programming to address the specific needs of women.
This briefing paper argues that the quality of aid must improve if poverty reduction objectives are to be met. It identifies two main challenges: first, changing donor practices to increase aid effectiveness (e.g. aid untying, harmonisation); and second, donors recognising that aid will only be successful if it is truly 'owned' by recipient countries.
Specialists have emphasised the importance of education for children both as a route out of poverty and for realising their potential. There is a tendency to assume that migration undermines children's education, as most children's migration is for work.
Conflict can devastate a country's education system. It reverses efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for universal completion of primary education and for gender equality in schools by 2015. At the same time, rebuilding education is increasingly seen as essential to reduce the risk of countries falling back into conflict.
Conflict between the government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has displaced 1.6 million northern Ugandans. The LRA has abducted an estimated 28,000 children, destroyed schools and forced children to become 'night commuters' by moving every evening from their homes into towns to sleep. Peace will not be possible without greater focus on education.
Dropping Knowledge is a global initiative to turn apathy into activity. “By hosting an open conversation on the most pressing issues of our times, we will foster a worldwide exchange of viewpoints, ideas and people-powered solutions. However knowledge is defined, by dropping it freely to others, we all gain wisdom.”
At least fourteen children have reportedly died from diarrhea in southern Somalia. Doctors and other health activists in the District have started community awareness raising.
A special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury - the head of the Anglican Church worldwide - is expected in Kenya to try and defuse the escalating row over the visit of the Bishop of Chelmsford, a supporter of gay rights. The visit has spurred controversy over Bishop John Gladwin's support for the "full inclusion" organisation, which supports a more liberal approach to the inclusion of gay people within the church. Both the Times and Daily Telegraph newspapers have accused Kenya's Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of "abandoning" Bishop Gladwin during his trip.
Armed Somali fighters have occupied a major hospital that offers surgical services to civilians who have been wounded in recent clashes in northern Mogadishu, according to reports by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS). The occupation of the Keysaney Hospital has reduced medical services in the capital city and prompted relatives to move patients away hastily.
The number of Somalis who are getting out by sea to Yemen has increased in the last few days because of the current bloody warfare in the Somali capital Mogadishu. Sources said that the death toll at sea during trips from Somalia to Yemen through the Gulf of Aden was getting higher.
In Kajiado district in Kenya, simple conversations hold out the promise of helping to end female genital mutilation (FGM). These conversations are taking place under the auspices of "intergenerational dialogue" (IGD), an approach jointly supported by the Ministry of Health and German Development Co-operation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, GTZ). The dialogue enables young and old people to talk about the practice of FGM.
Most people have never heard of Nagmeldin Abdallah. It is impossible to reach him in the eastern Sudanese prison where he waits for word on an appeal that may save his life. But Abdallah has achieved minor notoriety in activist circles. Sudan's complex death penalty statutes may never have gained international attention were it not for Abdallah, who claims he was 15 when he was sentenced to death for killing a vegetable seller in 2003.
Hundreds of combatants in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are said to be joining a nascent militia based in the north-east of the country: the Congolese Revolutionary Movement (Mouvement Revolutionnaire Congolaise, MRC). This comes just weeks before the first nation-wide elections to be held in 40 years, and is undermining prospects for a successful poll.
The AIDS epidemic, described by the United Nations as the "most destructive in human history" and accounting for more than 25 million deaths so far, is still a growing threat to global progress and stability. "AIDS is one of the greatest leadership challenges of our time," says U.N. Secretary-General in a new report released in advance of a U.N. special session on AIDS. "Without urgent and long-term action," he warned, "the epidemic will continue to take an unacceptable toll of death and suffering in countries and communities throughout the world."
For Nalangu Taki, a simple glass of water can come with a heavy price. This resident of Narok in south-western Kenya says women in the district have to walk long distances to obtain water, sometimes getting attacked by lions. "Women wake up at six am every day and walk for over 20 kilometres to get to water points. At the water points, they meet lions which are also searching for water," she told IPS. The scramble for resources claims lives.
At the close of a major United Nations meeting in New York Friday, indigenous leaders urged the world's developed countries to take into account the concerns of native communities living within their borders while implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are series of targets set by world leaders in 2000 to reduce levels of poverty, disease, illiteracy, and environmental degradation, and improve gender equality, by the year 2015.
The African Child Policy Forum has announced that their research shows nine out of ten girls in East Africa are abused by the people who they are supposed to trust most. The research tells the story of their mothers tying them up; friends driving them into prostitution; teachers psychologically abusing them; boyfriends forcing them to have sex; and brothers kicking them.
Pambazuka News 256: Africa Day: Who says slavery is dead?
Pambazuka News 256: Africa Day: Who says slavery is dead?
In flight to Nigeria, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem encounters a howling young man being deported from the United Kingdom. How is it that the youth of African countries will do anything to leave their place of birth and slave away in poorly paid jobs in rich countries? What kind of societies are being constructed in African countries when remittances act as the only method of survival for whole commmunties?
Today is Africa Day and I wish to share a very painful story with you.
One has heard or read many horror stories about detentions, forceful removals, and deportation of Africans accused of being 'illegal immigrants' or failed asylum-seekers, almost always from one European country or the other. Most people are not likely to encounter this directly. In February this year I came face to face with the inhuman way it is done.
I was travelling to Nigeria with a former radical lecturer, mentor to several generations of Nigerian students and intellectuals, Dr Patrick Wilmot. In 1988 he was kidnapped by security officials of the IBB regime (government of Ibrahim Babangida) and forcibly removed from Nigeria, a country in which he had lived in for almost 2 decades and despite the fact that he was and still is married to a Nigerian.
Wilmot's 'crime' was allegedly, 'teaching what he was not paid to teach'! Wilmot is of Jamaican origin but has lived longer in Nigeria than in Jamaica and is better known to Nigerians and considered 'one of us' by many. Yet in one night the military government yanked him away from his family and academic community and landed him in the United Kingdom, a country in which he had never lived in before and had nothing but a painful historical link of slavery and colonialism. Britain finally gave him legal residence and later citizenship and London has remained his home since 1988.
In spite of fears and anxiety by friends and colleagues unsure about the selective efficiency of the African state when it comes to real and imagined 'enemies', Wilmot was happy to be returning to a country from which he was deported. I was never officially deported from Nigeria but have become expert at being 'prevented to leave or enter the country' throughout the military regime and even under the current 'democratic' order. My travelling with Wilmot was both a personal and political assurance that we could face any trouble together and tough it out.
From checking in and boarding you know you are Nigeria-bound and in many ways feel like you are already in the country. As loud as Nigerians are infamous for, that evening there was an unusual noise coming from the back of the plane, distinct from the racket of voices around. The voice grew more disquieting as we sat so I went to check in the next cabin.
At the back of the plane was a young Nigerian man, definitely not more than 25 years old, sandwiched between two bully-built white British police/immigration officers and handcuffed to both of them. I made enquiries from the airhostesses since my initial attempt to talk to the man's captives was rebuffed. The hostess casually informed me that it was nothing unusual, that these things happen fairly regularly, that the man was being 'removed' and assured me that his noise would reduce as soon as the flight settled.
Meanwhile, the removal police were trying their best to calm down the howling young man as they would 'calm' an aggressive dog or cat. On his part he was just crying, howling, swearing, and whining like a trapped animal. It was so dehumanising and I felt humiliated for him and for Africa. Even sadder still was the general indifference of most of the other largely Nigerian passengers. Many of them have become inured to this kind of routine humiliation of fellow citizens. One even advised the whaling young man to 'shut up and try again when you get home'.
Here was Dr Wilmot, happy to return to a country from which he was unceremoniously thrown out, on the same flight with a young man being unceremoniously returned home. One got the impression that if he was left unshackled he could attempt jumping out of the plane. He wanted to be anywhere but home.
How bad can it be that a young man who should have his whole life ahead of him should be so frightened of going back home? What kind of society have we created where our young people see no hope in remaining in Africa and would do anything to leave it? We are even beginning to valorize poor jobs, bad pay and immigrant insecurity by gleefully talking these days about how important 'remittances' are to the welfare of Africans trapped in poverty at home. This actually makes it imperative for many young people to devise even more desperate means to opt out of Africa in order to become Western-Union life-savers to their families. Some countries are now even trying to launder that exploitation as part of Overseas Development Assistant (ODA)! And some of our own organisations in the name of Diaspora initiatives are directly or indirectly offering justification for this by only looking at the 'contribution' that remittance is playing instead of the wider conditions and the long term negative impact of whole communities dependent on handouts.
We do not tell the truth about the degradation, racism and exploitation that most of our people suffer in those 'shitty jobs', 'early morning and late night' that makes our peoples the last to go to sleep and the first to wake up!
These horror stories about immigration are repeated everyday across Africa and the world. Some of our own governments, despite being responsible for the economic and political conditions that are making many Africans leave home, even connive in the routine humiliation in their forcible return from different countries in Europe. Some of them are willing to accept payments from European countries in exchange for taking fellow Africans (not necessarily their citizens) that are deported from Europe.
Who says slavery is dead? This is official people trafficking by any other name and it is done with impunity by countries who have signed all kinds of international conventions allegedly protecting human rights. The same countries that are forcing us to globalise, open up our economies and markets, but are unwilling to open up their markets for our goods and our labour.
In spite of the humiliations many more people from across this continent will do anything to get a visa to go to the West and if that fails, anywhere else but Africa. Many years ago I had written about this phenomenon and suggested then that were a slave ship, properly labeled, to appear in any port city in Africa, people would rush into it proclaiming that they were fit to be slaves! It is worse today; we are in many ways financing our way into slavery both at home and globally.
As if the bad treatment from others was not enough, intra African trade and free movement of peoples are denied through branding of fellow Africans as 'aliens', 'foreigners', 'non indigenes' and 'settlers' even inside the same country. Pan Africanist entrepreneurs delivering goods and services to African people as when and where needed are criminalised as 'smugglers'.
They say Rome was not built in a day.
Today being Africa Day, we need to ask ourselves: if Romans were not there who would have built Rome? You need to ask yourself whether by your action or inaction you are part of the problem or part of the solution.
Happy Africa Day!
* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Activist Pregs Govender admitted this week that AIDS denialism within government had been one of two factors that pushed her to resign as an ANC Member of Parliament in 2002. The other factor was government's decision to spend billions of rands on arms. "I disagreed with the questioning of whether HIV causes AIDS," Govender told a full house at the University of KwaZulu-Natal this week, when she delivered the Harold Wolpe lecture.
The number of new HIV infections in Uganda has increased from 70,000 in 2003 to about 130,000 in 2005, Uganda AIDS Commission Director-General Kihumuro Apuuli said Thursday, the Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports. Apuuli, speaking on HIV/AIDS Vaccine Awareness Day, said that despite financial support from donors, the incidence of new HIV cases in Uganda still is increasing.
"Shelve the abiding fiction that disasters do not discriminate -- that they flatten everything in their path with "democratic" disregard. Plagues zero in on the dispossessed, on those forced to build their lives in the path of danger. Aids is no different," argues this commentary from the Mail and Guardian.
Sudanese authorities are failing to uphold many of the commitments made last year under an accord to end a decades-old civil war, according to a United Nations human rights report issued today (23 May). In a review of the situation in Sudan from December 2005 to April of this year, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in cooperation with the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), lists among major shortcomings the ill-treatment, detention and harassment of people who voice their concerns about human rights throughout Sudan, failure to reform National Security and laws guarding State officials from criminal prosecution and the obstruction of the work of UNMIS human rights workers.
The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) announced today (May 23) in Atlanta that the 2006 laureates are Akbar Ganji, Iran, and Arnold Tsunga, Zimbabwe. Arnold Tsunga is an outstanding lawyer, Chairman of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who continues to provide a voice to Zimbabweans silenced by repression. For representing victims of human rights violations he is constantly harassed and threatened. He was arrested several times and recently released on bail.
Government forces in Côte d’Ivoire, their allied militias and New Forces rebels alike are committing serious abuses against civilians with impunity, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today (23 May). These abuses and the impunity that fuels them raise serious concerns about the potential for violence in the run-up to the October elections.
Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) (Journalistes pour les Droits Humains (JDH)) is a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to raising general awareness of human rights issues in Africa by providing African journalists with the tools to report accurately and concretely about human rights issues.
A team of foreign financial experts flown in to Liberia to help the new government combat corruption is finally in place. Under a far-reaching scheme backed by Liberia’s partners and donors, known as the Governance Economic Management Assistance Programme (GEMAP), international experts are being placed in key positions to help ring-fence revenue and spending over the next three years.
Child abuse, especially sexual abuse, is a universal and alarming problem and increased attention and efficient protection skills and prevention measures are necessary at family-, local-, national- and international level. After a long tradition of silence, sexual child abuse is being more and more denounced and becoming a public and political topic. WWSF invites you to participate in the 2006 global campaign and to take part in the next year Prize for prevention of child abuse (formerly Betty Makoni Prize) by organizing activities and events on 19 November or by supporting the Day in general.
This report outlines six successful strategies used by interfaith community groups to encourage women's political activism and leadership. These programs provide women something both simple and profound: the resources and opportunities they need to claim a voice of political and religious authority.
A Regional Network of Women for Greater East Africa, Women Direct, has urged women to actively involve in providing transformative leadership. Speaking at a workshop organized under the theme "Beyond Numbers: Towards Transformative Leadership" Network Executive Director Dr. Margaret Jesang Hutchinson said that women should participate in providing trasformative leadership at home, in farming and other workplaces so as to address the pressing challenges facing women.
The UN office of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in New York has, with a number of other groups, been advocating for women in the UN reform process. Our aim is to place gender equality, women’s rights and women’s issues centrally on the agenda. In particular, we have been working to ensure that gender equality, women’s machineries and gender mainstreaming within the UN are addressed at this time of fast-paced UN reform.
It was just the sort of message Gordon Brown wanted to see. As he arrived at the Hilton in the Nigerian capital of Abuja to warn Africa that stamping out corruption was the flipside of greater financial generosity from the west, the TV monitor behind the reception desk said: "Important notice. Anti-money-laundering measures are observed in this hotel."
Given the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence in Darfur, why are safe abortion services and treatment of complications resulting from unsafe abortions or miscarriages not provided at all refugee/ IDP health facilities? Cases of rape of and violence against women in Darfur and in refugee camps in Chad are well-documented. These occur while women are collecting water, fuel or animal fodder, or during imprisonment. There have also been cases of women being forced to submit to sex in exchange for ‘protection’ by police officers and male camp residents.
More than 30 percent of the land in Africa is jointly held by members of a group or community, making common property rights as important as individual rights. In many developing countries, giving individuals title to land has worked well. In Africa, however, titling has led to a weakening of land rights, especially for women and pastoralists, because so much of the land is held in common.
This medium-sized settlement, just west of Lusaka, looks like a standard African market town as you approach it on the road. It all looks ordinary and typically African - until you look into the distance and realise that at the end of the main street is an enormous modern building that completely dominates the vista. It is a South African-owned supermarket. It is an indication of how deep the influence of liberalisation has reached in Zambia.
This report highlights the struggles that informal economy organisations are facing in Africa was launched by War on Want and its partners during a seminar on 3-4 May 2006 in Lilongwe, Malawi. The report, entitiled Forces for Change: informal economy organisations in Africa, focuses on the experiences of informal economy organisations in Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, and is a joint research report between War on Want and the Workers' Education Association Zambia (WEAZ) and the Alliance for Zambia Informal Economy Associations (AZIEA). It shows the contribution of informal economy workers to the overall economy and the need for wider recognition of the informal economy within the International Labour Organisation (ILO), trade union federations, local and central governments.
Zimbabwean police on Friday (19 May) cracked down on opposition by-election campaigning in the capital, Harare, arresting the leader of a faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and 60 of his supporters. Arthur Mutambara, head of the MDC's pro-Senate faction, was campaigning in Harare's high-density Budiriro suburb, where this weekend's by-election will be fought. He was detained along with the faction's deputy secretary-general, Pricilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga, and spokesperson Gabriel Chaibva, the by-election candidate.
Congo arrested a group of foreign security guards, including three Americans, on suspicion of plotting a coup ahead of national elections, a government official said Wednesday. But a United Nations official cast doubt on the claim and said the UN was confident the country would remain calm for the country's long-delayed vote, now set for July 30.
* Related Link
Interview with special UN representative
Mali’s northern desert capital Kidal was back in government hands on Wednesday, a day after Tuareg rebels demanding a better economic deal for the region blitzed a string of barracks. The rebels, who attacked two bases in Kidal and one in Menaka further south, made off with vehicles, arms and munitions.
Reporting to the Chief of Party in Rumbek and the IRC Deputy Director-Programs, the Program Coordinator will take responsibility for the implementation of the program in three areas (Bahr-el-Ghazal (Malual Kon), Southern Kordofan (Kauda) and Upper Nile (Leer)).
René Préval’s inauguration on 14 May 2006 opens a crucial window of opportunity for Haiti to move beyond political polarisation, crime and economic decline, says the International Crisis Group. "During his first 100 days in office, the new president needs to form a governing partnership with a multi-party parliament, show Haitians some visible progress with international help and build on a rare climate of optimism in the country."
Walden Bello and Soren Ambrose write on that its time to take the IMF off life support. “For over 25 years the world has had one answer for countries that find themselves in a financial crisis: take the IMF policy medicine and get on the debt treadmill that comes with IMF and World Bank loans. This path has worked very well – for big corporations in wealthy countries which walk into countries through the doors opened by the IMF’s policies and walk out with massive profits.”
Does the industrial action by security workers currently taking place in South Africa work to liberate or further entrench capitalism? asks this article from the website of the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. "The sad part in this whole scene is that black workers who are exposed to terrible working conditions are haunted by the phenomena of being treated as cheap and (having) nothing to offer except selling their labour power."
Martus is a software tool that allows users to document incidents of abuse by creating bulletins, uploading them at the earliest opportunity, and storing them on redundant servers located around the world. Martus Client 2.9 has just been released and includes speed enhancements, improved searching, and Thai and Persian date localization enhancements.
Dr. Lee Jong Wook, the head of the World Health Organization whose gamble to greatly expand AIDS treatment to the poor around the world helped give new life to hundreds of thousands of people, died suddenly Monday, two days after emergency surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain. He was 61. Dr. Lee had served less than three years of a five-year term as WHO director general, where he faced challenges including SARS, avian influenza, preparation for a possible human influenza pandemic, tobacco control and childhood immunization.
What is liberation? What is the existence of liberation like? While most holidays or commemorations celebrate people and things for whom or what they were, there are some that celebrate things as we aspire them to be. The latter is what can be said about May 25th when we celebrate African Liberation Day, often referred to as Africa Day.
Is African Liberation Day recognition of the rising tide of national independence that swept Africa and the Diaspora, or is it recognition of the continuing struggle for a completely liberated African world, free from all the vestiges of colonialism and neo-colonialism? The answer should not only be sought in history but also determined on the basis of which is more conducive to Africa's progress. Which best addresses the current exigencies of the African world?
History teaches that the origins of African Liberation Day are in the first Conference of Independent African States, which took place on April 15, 1958, in the Ghanaian capital of Accra. African leaders and political activists joined representatives from the governments of Ghana, Ethiopia, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, The United Arab Republic (a federation of Egypt and Syria), representatives of the National Liberation Front of Algeria and the Union of Cameroonian Peoples.
This represented the first Pan-African Conference held on African soil, expressing the collective disgust of African people with the system of colonialism and imperialism.
This conference defined Pan-Africanism as "the total liberation and unification of Africa under scientific socialism", laid out a strategy for coordinating the liberation of the rest of Africa and looked forward to the eventual complete unification of the entire continent. The Conference called for the founding of Africa Freedom Day, a day to, "mark each year the onward progress of the liberation movement, and to symbolize the determination of the People of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation."
Five years later in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, another historic meeting occurred. On May 25, 1963, leaders of thirty-two independent African States met to form the Organization of African Unity (OAU). By then over two thirds of the continent had achieved independence from colonial rule. This historic meeting changed the date of Africa Freedom Day from April 15th to May 25th and renamed the occasion African Liberation Day (ALD).
Since then ALD has been held on May 25th in every corner of the African world. It marks the last stage of African people's struggle against imperialism, demanding the African masses to coordinate efforts on a global scale and for the intellectual and professional classes to fulfill a heightened obligation.
Africa's intellectual and professional classes must not forget that we are only such because generations of our people, past and present, have struggled and suffered. This means that our obligation is to embrace the theoretical and scientific ground work laid down throughout the generations, put it into practice and use it to better the masses of Africa's children. Countless great leaders have practiced and written about the African revolution. The intellectuals and professionals must study this so we can know why we occupy this designation and how we can pick up where generations before have left off.
In order to do this we must collectively examine the theories and practices within the various stages and phases of our struggle for liberation. In other words African people must work and study together in organizations that exist for the liberation of Africa.
Because those historic meetings/conferences called for the "unification of Africa under scientific socialism" this means our generation's mission as agents for Africa's liberation is to make this a reality. We should not allow the current propaganda interests of the global order to make taboo the terminology, theories and lessons that have been accumulated by martyrs like Kwame Nkrumah, Walter Rodney, Sekou Ture, Shirley DuBois, Thomas Sankara, M'Balia Camara, Samora Machel, Malcolm X, and so many others.
Revolution is a concept that must be resurrected in the African world, as it currently is in Latin America. Countries like Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia are boldly showing us that we must hold fast on ideals of socialism and revolution. If "a better world is possible" Africa's rich legacy of struggle and natural potential dictates that a revolutionary Pan-Africanism become possible.
The difference between a revolutionary African and someone else is that whether they are a doctor, lawyer, engineer, carpenter, farmer, professor, educator, student, or whatever; a revolutionary African uses their attributes and skills for an organized mass movement that is working for profound positive change. That is the definition of revolution. Many freedom fighters before us, and today call for concrete and working relationships among Africans worldwide. Not a rhetorical or symbolic relationship and not simply economic but a growing, moving, permanent political phenomena.
Concrete relationships mean systematic, streamlined and consistent lines of communication between the African continent and the Diaspora; joint projects, programs and institutions that engage us on a global scale and that are socialist in nature.
ALD should be an occasion to remind and reinforce African people and the world of these exigencies. As the liberation struggle continues, ALD should be an opportunity for us to become more politically educated about the history and ever changing realities of Africa and her Diaspora, in addition to Africa's relationship to the struggles of other oppressed peoples of the world.
It must become an occasion for highlighting and hearing directly from men, women and youth who are on the front line of the struggle for Pan-Africanism and other just struggles. ALD celebrates the glorious and rich culture of Africa, but more importantly it is a chance to dedicate and rededicate our energies and our creativity to an African Revolution.
* Netfa Freeman is director of the Social Action & Leadership School for Activists (SALSA), a program of the Washington DC based Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and an organizer with the Pan-African Liberation Organization (PALO). He can be emailed at netfa (at) hotsalsa.org.
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Graduate student Amy Niang meets well known history professor Joseph Ki-Zerbo at his home in Burkina Faso.
There is an incommensurable gap between the old and younger generation of Africans. We - African youth - have grown up, been made to believe that anything ‘traditional’ or ‘old’ is necessarily retrograde, often ‘unreliable.’
Young Africans, especially children of the Diaspora, do not have the advantage of communicating with their past, a handicap that inhibits a corrective study of African history and deepens their incapacity to take their destiny in hand. According to an African proverb, “he who is lost doesn’t know where he comes from.”
I had the immense honor to meet the first African to qualify as professor of history, Joseph Ki-Zerbo, at his house in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (West Africa). At 84 today, weakened by age and sickness, Ki-Zerbo still draws amazing strength and vitality from his deeply-rooted convictions. He may have been preaching in the desert for decades but men like him live by their principles and his writings find resonance. African and world scholars have understood his message.
Ki-Zerbo deplores the increasing extinction of African identity. According to him, the curse of Africa is not the chronic poverty of its countries but the ignorance of its children of the true history and the true values of the continent. Unless Africans start learning about their own continent, their own thought system and the essence of its traditions, they will remain locked into the stranglehold of cultural identity.
It’s high time Africans liberate themselves from cultural asphyxiation, high time they went in search of what it is to be African, to draw the necessary lessons from their own traditional history in order to apprehend the future with confidence. The approach will consist, for Africa, in re-conquering its confiscated identity for, according to Ki-Zerbo, “without identity, we are just a mere object of history, a prop in the play of globalization, an instrument used by the others. A utensil.”
Ki-Zerbo narrates African past not in the way of a nostalgic chronicler who wallows in past glory or dwells into an imaginary fantasyland of pre-colonial Africa. He uncovers the history he was not taught at La Sorbonne University in France.
According to Ki-Zerbo, throughout history strong beliefs in simple principles such as the importance of family over the individual, the respect of elders, the spirit of sharing and good neighborliness, human communion in joy and sadness, etc, have been the bedrock of existence for Africans. Unfortunately, the degradation of these principles has blighted prospects for Pan-Africanism and development. But Ki-Zerbo warns us that “liberation for Africa will be Pan-African or will not be.”
Today, the debate over Africa is enmeshed in endless and ineffectual squabbling over the legitimacy of pseudo-democracies and misleading conflicts. But Ki-Zerbo argues that “the conception of power as well as its management in today’s Africa has nothing African to it.” In fact, political formations in pre-colonial Africa are rich with institutions based on a division of power with the greater possible number of people.
Africans, he says, “believe that power should be divided among its incumbents. They also believe that stability could be preserved in the multiplication of power.” He debunks misconceptions about African history and dominant theories that deliberately confine the history of the continent to the slave trade and the colonial experience. He adds that historical knowledge is a condition to collective liberation as the linkage between historical knowledge and self-worth is undeniable. In Africa, the lack of this knowledge has greatly contributed to underachievement and ‘mental underdevelopment.’
Ki-Zerbo is a man of vision and a soothsayer but he does not read Africa’s future in the sand of its drying soil; he uses the dialectical process of history as an investigative method to uncover the true past of the continent in order to understand the underpinnings of Africa’s value systems. He then tells us what a de-structured society can expect to see: the import and application of values that do not fit its peoples, which eventually will lead to the destruction of cultural identity.
His unsparing analysis and sharp, perceptive, riveting, pertinent, careful and thorough study of Africa’s history as well as its relations with the West has yielded a great number of articles and monographs, among which have been the comprehensive “History of Black Africa” (1972) that laid the foundation of a lifetime of scholarship and commitment to restoring the history of Africa by Africans. He also supervised the publication of two of the monumental eight-volume “General History of Africa” (Méthodologie et Préhistoire Africaine, 1981) as a member of the Scientific Committee for UNESCO.
He explores Africa’s past, drawing from oral tradition that is, in essence, the source of history and traditions for many African writers such as Mali’s late Amadou Hampaté-Bâ, who once said: “When an old man dies in Africa, it is like a whole library burning down.”
Ki-Zerbo’s life struggle and relentless social and political activism are not just a message of hope for Africa. It is the deep conviction of a man who knows that African development cannot be elusive forever and that it will be ‘African’ in conception and application or will not be. This knowledge is what he wishes young Africans to oppose against heavy odds and unacceptable immobilization, against institutionalized ignorance and empty rhetoric.
* Amy Niang is a Senegalese graduate student at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. E-mail her at [email][email protected]
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Ndungu Wainaina reflects on the succession politics presently waging in Kenya. He argues that the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) rose to power owing to the public desire for broad constitutional reforms in the sphere of governance to guarantee among others, human rights. Sadly, the coalition is now disintegrated and concludes that the task of completing the constitutional review and democratic transition in the country remains with all Kenyans.
The Kenyan state is in transition. The upcoming general elections in 2007 and the impending Kibaki succession are wrecking havoc on the political scene. But the agenda for this election is not clear. As of now the country stands between the possibility for progress into reforms and the rebirth of a new nation built on the firm tenets of democratic government and the respect for and promotion of human rights, or regression into the abyss of authoritarianism and bad governance. The 2002 general elections that saw the exit of the Kenya African National Union from state power for the first time in independent Kenya was primarily driven by the general public desire for reforms in governance, constitutional review and human rights spheres. The quest for a new democratic constitutional order was so central that all the political parties consistently promised to deliver a new democratic constitutional dispensation once they ascended into power.
The now disintegrated National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), won the elections on the promise of establishing a new constitutional dispensation within 100 days of getting into office. NARC won the elections, but failed to facilitate the making of the new constitution. This has resulted in a credibility deficit for the new government. Following the removal from government of the Liberal Democratic Party, a key partner in the Coalition, courtesy of the reconstituted cabinet in December 2005, the National Rainbow Coalition seems to have been dissolved. This has had a tremendous effect on the conduct of coalition politics in the country and the growth of constitutional democracy.
Four years after it was elected on the platform of reforms the NARC Coalition has failed to spearhead any of the key reforms that Kenyans wanted. The government failed to manage and facilitate the constitutional review process. Courtesy of its policy of non-negotiation, the government has engendered polarization of the country. Constitutional reform is the greatest casualty of this failure in leadership by the current government. Ending official corruption, impunity, institutional transformation and restoring the rule of law has fallen flat. Instituting a legitimate and radical transitional justice process in order to offer a firm socio-political and cultural framework to advance democratization and human development has been deferred. Continued reference to corruption cases in court is irrelevant as long as no tangible results are evident.
The reform of institutions has been slow, superficial, and misdirected. The conception and institution of the Governance, Justice, Law and Order Sector (GJLOS) reform has presented a situation where the path and direction of reforms has been reduced into a patching up process. Even though the president has insisted that his government is committed to socio-economic reforms to respond to the massive inequalities and poverty, results are mixed. The reported economic growth rate is lopsided in favour of the few big mainstream businesses while disinheriting the largest chunk of the population.
The country, now faced with the upcoming general election, is preoccupied with the intertwined political questions of undertaking a successful constitutional review and governance reforms and the Kibaki succession. Politically, Kenya is only democratic to the extent of regular elections; the government’s responsiveness to the will and the wishes of the people remains very limited. The progress towards democratic governance in Kenya depends more on the capacity of the citizenry to demand and protect their space and not magnanimity of the state.
The task of completing the constitutional review and democratic transition in the country remains with all Kenyans. There is urgent need to establish, focus and strengthen the citizenry into a critical mass that will provide the philosophical, institutional and logistical support to the various initiatives of the citizenry to develop a popular coalition to force and enhance the national drive towards completing the constitutional review and institutionalizing just and democratic governance in Kenya.
The experience of NARC has shown that regime change is not sufficient to facilitate democratic change. It is only right that the general Kenyan populace should in addition to being informed and made aware, be fully included in the quest for a new constitution and democratic order. For this to happen there is great need to consolidate and promote the emergence of a strong constituency of grassroots’ constitutional and democracy crusaders. The population has increasingly lost faith in the capacity of the government and commitment of the politicians to review the constitution and entrench democratic governance. More and more Kenyans are getting despondent. There is evidence that this development is neither entirely innocent nor accidental, but rather a consequence of political elite rigged democratic development.
The country requires the commitment of a core of champions around a common new vision for Kenya. This would guarantee democratic governance and social development. The sole objective of this core would be to drive and establish a new leadership to ensure the enjoyment of democratic governance by all. A large constituency of disinherited and excluded people is not only a great threat to the nation’s stability, harmony and continued existence as a going concern but also potentially the breeding ground for rebellion. The new leadership would usher a unique situation and opportunity of not only establishing a new constitutional order but also putting in place social democracy practitioners as the leaders and governance implementers of long desired changes in Kenya.
This transformative change calls for a core of leaders and citizens who are driven by higher values and aspirations than just material accumulation and professional excellence. It calls for an efficient economy with a human face; a strong political edifice with a human heart. If Kenya is to start dealing with her unhappy past comprehensively and decisively and to build a brighter future for all, then it will require people with a passion to serve and to change things; in the public, private and voluntary sector. It will require men and women with a dream great enough to die for and a vision big enough for everyone to have a part in it. It is time for converting the citizenry from casual observers to major stakeholders in this country. This will not threaten any one but rather secure the interests of even those who have done much to hurt the interest of the citizens and the country at large.
* Ndungu Wainaina is a Programme Officer, NCEC and Director, International Center for Policy and Conflict. P.O.Box 11996-00400 Nairobi. Tel: 4445974, 4446313; email: [email][email protected]
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Former MP of South Africa’s ruling party, ANC, and well-known gender activist Pregs Govender said the Jacob Zuma rape trial that rocked the country this month raised important questions about the role and responsibility of leaders worldwide. Govender, who spoke at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, last week closely investigated the global context in which the trial against South Africa’s former deputy president Jacob Zuma took place.
FEATURED: Are you part of the problem or part of the solution? Asks Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- African CSOs petition African Union over exclusion from AU Summits
- Youth meets wisdom: Amy Niang visits Joseph Ki-Zerbo
- Ndungu Wainaina reflects on the challenges to democracy in Kenya
LETTERS: on presidential term limits
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Netfa Freeman says African Liberation Day is a time to recommit to Africa
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine rounds up the African blogosphere
BOOKS AND ART: Shailja Patel discusses plagiarism and African arts
AFRICAN UNION MONITOR: Africa group exercises power at the UN
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Arrests in DRC coup plot; Critical time for Sudan peace
HUMAN RIGHTS: World’s poor pay price of terror war
WOMEN AND GENDER: Gender activist laments “feminisation” of poverty
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: UK government accused on treatment of asylum seekers
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Crackdown on opposition in Zimbabwe
DEVELOPMENT: Taking the IMF off life support
CORRUPTION: Kenya’s Anglo-Leasing probe in trouble
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: US policies betray Africa HIV fight
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: ‘Titling’ land leads to weakening of rights in Africa
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Ethiopia cracks down on blogs
NEWS FROM THE DIASPORA: The first 100 days in Haiti
PLUS: Advocacy and Campaigns; Internet and Technology; e-Newsletters; Courses; Jobs.
**************************************************************************
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD - COMMENT ON PAMBAZUKA NEWS ARTICLES
Pambazuka News has launched a new comment function on its website,
Readers of articles in the sections Features, Comment and Analysis, Letters, Books and Arts, and Pan-African Postcard can now click on a link at the end of each article and submit their comments via an online form. Submissions will be published under the relevant article.
**************************************************************************
* French speaking? French friends?
Read the Pambazuka News French edition by visiting http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/ Subscribe online at http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/subscribe.php or send an email to [email][email protected] with 'subscribe French edition' in the subject line. Please forward widely!
*************************************************************************
Carolina for Kibera, Inc. (CFK) is a 501(c)(3) international non-governmental organization housed at the University Center for International Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Supported by private donations and grants from the Ford Foundation, CFK has established a youth sports association, girls' center, and medical clinic in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya.
To: H.E. Professor Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairperson of The Commission of the African Union
We write as representatives of African Civil Society to draw your attention to our serious concerns about the exclusion of organised and independent civil society organisations from last two Summit meetings of the African Union, and the non-organisation of the AU pre-summit CSO meetings. Like the 2005 Tripoli Summit before it, the last Khartoum Summit of the African Union in January 2006 excluded organised civil society presence and involvement.
We are dismayed at these developments, which appear to contradict the lofty promise of the preamble to the AU’s Constitutive Act in which the Heads of State of Africa professed a “common vision of a united and strong Africa energised by partnership between governments and all segments of civil society…”.
Towards seeking clarifications, redressing this and avoiding similar exclusions at the next and future summits, we humbly request for urgent consultations with the AU under your leadership. We shall be delighted if you are able to expedite consideration of our request and ensure that this situation is redressed before the forthcoming June-July 2006 Summit of the AU in The Gambia, in order to ensure CSO involvement the next and future summits.
We appreciate that The Commission, other structures of the AU and their officials maintain largely good relations with civil society, and that some member states are more welcoming than others. However, as independent and cohesive civil society we believe we must speak up on these developments as further exclusions by any future summit host countries will not only contradict Article 3g of the AU’s stated objective, in its Constitutive Acts to “promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance”, it could also shatter any hopes of ever realising the common vision of government-civil society partnership promised by the AU.
In addition to our concern that many civil society advocates were not able to secure entry clearance to Tripoli and Khartoum, and that the AU pre-summit CSO meetings did not hold, we are even more deeply concerned about the hostility displayed towards even minimum civil society presence.
On 21 January, just as the meeting of the Executive (Ministerial) Council of the AU was drawing to an end, security operatives of Sudan’s government arrested en masse, 35 representatives of African and international civil society and media organisations who had lawfully entered Khartoum while in a meeting to discuss mechanisms of effective partnership with the African Union. Also “arrested” were all lap top computers, note pads, papers and all instruments of record keeping in the possession of the civil society advocates. The arresting operatives reportedly assaulted some of the participants. Several hours later, the government of Sudan released their human prisoners. Till date, however, it retains indefinite custody of the computers and records.
This is all the more shocking because we believe that the establishment of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOC) of the AU as one of the organisation’s principal organs nearly two years ago was supposed to end this kind of drama and, place civil society’s partnership with the African Union and African governments on a sound and secure footing.
AU Summits are the major venue for regional policy making. Representatives of international and multi-lateral actors are always to be found at these Summits. The exclusion of, or harassment of African civil society at Summits could be seen as reverse discrimination against African voices in our own continent at a time when the continent deserves to enlist all the support it can muster from Africans and people of goodwill around the world.
We therefore fear that continuing exclusions of African CSO’s will worsen rather than accelerate the resolution of Africa’s numerous development problems.
To avert such a scenario, we propose that the AU should:
(a) Affirm the entitlement of African civil society to attend, hold meetings and participate in the coming summit to be hosted by Gambia, and future AU Summits; other AU meetings/events; or otherwise engage the AU as partners with our governments in the important and urgent task of ensuring the full social and economic development of Africa.
(b) Institute transparent standards and access requirements to be met by all subsequent hosts of its Summits; and liaise with host countries to ensure that CSO delegates do not suffer harassment. (c) Ensure adequate consultation with a view to urgent completion of the pending review of the 1993 rules on civil society consultation with the AU; and (d) Encourage the speedy establishment of independent structures for AU’s ECOSOC.
We reaffirm our believe that the development challenges facing our continent especially around key issues such as: Democracy and Good Governance; Human Rights; Gender Equality and Women’s Rights; Academic and Intellectual freedom; Economic and Social rights; Freedom of Expression and the Media; Human Security, Peace and Conflict issues; Food security; Health and in particular HIV/AIDS and other Public Health issues; Education, Science and Technology and ICT; Historical and Cultural Rights, Youth Development and many more cannot be resolved without the involvement of civil society.
We place ourselves at the disposal of the Commission of the AU for the purpose of clarifying and resolving the above concerns.
Signed by 56 Organisations (for full text and details of signatories, see link below)
A refugee camp guard in northern Uganda has shot dead at least 10 displaced people with 13 others in hospital, some with their legs shattered. An army spokesman said the attack at Ogwete in Lira district, was carried out by a local defence militiaman. He is reported to be on the run. The man apparently shot his victims after an argument over a woman.
An international conference on financing development in Africa has opened in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. It is looking at ways of implementing the Millennium Development Goals without damaging local economies.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says a booming India and China can be of benefit to economies in Africa. In a policy insight document, the Paris-based think-tank said there are a number of ways the continent can gain. The OECD says Indian and Chinese growth has dampened world inflation pressures, lowered global interest rates, and raised raw material prices. This in turn, it says, has helped to improve Africa's terms of trade.
On 18 May 2006, the self-declared Republic of Somaliland marked fifteen years since it proclaimed independence from Somalia. Although its sovereignty is still unrecognised by any country, the fact that it is a functioning constitutional democracy distinguishes it from the majority of entities with secessionist claims, and a small but growing number of governments in Africa and the West have shown sympathy for its cause.
East Africa's generally strong economic performance is failing to produce significant progress toward anti-poverty goals, according to the latest African Economic Outlook report by the Paris-based Organisation for Co-operation and Development (OECD). The finding suggests that in Tanzania and Uganda, which had two of the highest growth rates in East Africa, economic improvements are largely confined to better-off segments of society and are not filtering down to the poorest citizens.
The donor community is ready to fund the implementation of the report on the illegal and irregular allocation of public land. However, they are being discouraged by the uncoordinated manner and slow pace at which the government is dealing with the process. The chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into Illegal and Irregular Allocation of Public Land in Kenya, says that several donor agencies have shown interest in funding the implementation of the report. "But they are being disappointed by lack of political will."
As most mobile phone users will testify, the quality of handsets is neither assured nor obvious. With reconditioned brands flooding the market, the quality is as comprised as it can get. This has been attributed to stiff competition as thousands of dealers fight it out for a share of the rapidly expanding industry. Dealers in reconditioned phones have also found their fair share in a market where the mobile phone has lost its status symbol, as poor farmers and students take up the technology.
Africa Day exemplifies the achievements made by the various leaders on the continent with regard to the founding of the new African Union (AU), in establishing NEPAD and other continental developments, to address the challenges and ensure that the 21st Century truly becomes an African Century.
On the eve of African Liberation Day, Black Britain talked to an elder from the Pan African Congress Movement about what true independence means for Africa and why the struggle for liberation continues and what independence means. "If it means we have a flag, if it means we have a constitutional model of Europe, if it means that we are still speaking the language of our oppressors, if it means that the values and ethos of our colonisers remains in place, then there is no independence."
Britain's National charity The Prostate Cancer Charity UK (TPCC) has welcomed the findings of a new study that has located the gene that increases the risk of cancer, but say in order to avoid deaths from the disease black men need to learn more about it. In the USA, African Americans are 1.6 times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white American men and 2.4 times more likely to die from it.
The victimisation of a black lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University over her use of pioneering teaching methods has united black academics across the country in her defence and reignited their determination to fight racism in higher education (HE). When the Black Colloquium heard that one of their fellow members was told to ‘take leave’ so that an investigation could be conducted into her teaching methods following ‘external complaints’, they were both outraged and angered.
The Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) on behalf of the Eastern Africa Gender Budget Network (EAGBN) is pleased to announce activities of the EAGBN to take place from 12th – 14th June 2006 at Colline Hotel Mukono, Uganda. The activities include a two-day Gender budget training workshop in HIV/AIDS and the 5th regional one-day annual gender budget Network meeting. The training will run for two days from 12th – 13th while the annual meeting will be held on 14th June 2006.
Pambazuka News is an encyclopedia of facts and news reports of great value to humanity. Well done and God bless.
The issue of presidential term limits has always bucked my mind as I try to comprehend various constitutional trajectories across the globe and Africa in particularly. A cursory review of the polity in Gabon, Chad, Burkina Faso and Uganda etc will reveal something in common; poor institutional governance and near economic collapse. Can this hypothesis be explained by the fact that the presidents of these countries have been in power for more than two decades? Why do we need presidential limits? Do we necessarily need them in societies where there are institutional restrain on executive excesses grounded in accountability, representation and accountability?
Since the dawn of the third wave of democratisation in Africa, constitutional limits on presidential terms have somehow found themselves within the constitutions of some African countries. Presidential term limits were grounded in the rational that some of Africa’s political and economic ills are due to extended terms. While constitutional limits might be germane in themselves have they really achieved their desired effect?
My argument here is that, rather than focusing too much on presidential limits, we should first and foremost focus on strengthening institutional governance and the capacity of Africa states. Presidential term limits to my mind are the least of efforts to check executive excesses. For example, we need to create an environment and institutions which are responsive to executive prerogative. This entails widening the electoral base of a country, educating the electorate and enhancing courts. Within this context, presidential term limits will not just be a matter of constitutional provision but rather a matter of delivery.
Where presidential term limits operate within weak institutional frameworks, they are always easy to trample on. There is no doubt democracy and governance in some Africa countries is cosmetic and illusionary. Consequently, presidential term limits operating in a polity grounded in patrimonialism and rent-seeking, against a backdrop of weak and poor institutions, is always going to fail in achieving the “desired” effects.
Even when a president thus decides to step down, in a context of poor and weak institutions, presidential term limits do not preclude him from negotiating a reliable lapdog in the name of a successor to preserve elite interest, nor does this restrain him of hatching a deal to escape prosecution while he enjoys his bounty.
If we put too much energy into talking about presidential term limits, we might lose sight of the bigger picture, which is the institutional framework within which these presidents operate.
In this article posted on the SciDev.Net website, author Nalaka Gunawardene discusses communication rights, and expresses questions and concerns about when media and communication may result in violations of privacy and other "communication wrongs." According to the article, it is not only the media that can violate others' communication rights. When development agencies and 'pro-poor' activists presume that the impoverished just need information about survival or sustenance, the latter's communication rights are not respected.
The SABC has canned a documentary on President Thabo Mbeki. City Press has learnt that the 24-minute documentary that charts Mbeki's rise to power and his survival in the cut-throat ANC political environment was withdrawn at the last minute due to political interference from the public broadcaster's management.
Jeet Mistry, from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, writes about Freedom of Information Laws in Africa and their potential to support democracy. "Freedom of information has long been recognised as a foundational human right... However, around the world, only around 60 countries have enacted freedom of information (FOI) laws."