Responding to a report card of 'Can do better', Namibia has managed to raise almost US $60 million to address a critical shortage of skilled teachers and classrooms that has affected the quality of education. Recognising the development impact of a poorly-performing education system, private business and western donors last week stepped forward to help finance Namibia's Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP).

Eighteen fully integrated army brigades whose mission will be to provide security during Congo's general elections later this year will be fully trained by 5 July, the spokesman of the army chief of staff, Jean-Willy Mutombo, has said. The Higher Defence Council, chaired by President Joseph Kabila, had given this insurance in a communiqué following a recent council meeting, Mutombo said on Monday (8 May) in the capital, Kinshasa.

This report assesses the state of the world’s remaining free-flowing rivers and seeks to answer the question why we should maintain our last free-flowing rivers. Most of the world’s largest rivers are losing their connection to the sea, and only a third of the world’s 177 large rivers remain free-flowing, unimpeded by dams or other barriers. A concerted effort for their conservation is urgently needed.

The Fondation Hirondelle is an organization of journalists which sets up and operates media services in crisis areas. In partnership with the United Nations Mission in Sudan, Fondation Hirondelle is starting a radio network project composed of 2 central stations and a number of regional stations in view of reaching the Sudanese population. In order to complete the team, Fondation Hirondelle is looking for two experienced news journalists to oversee the production of news and current affairs programmes in Khartoum and Juba.

Under pressure from soaring oil prices and growing environmental constraints, momentum is gathering for a major international switch from fossil fuels to renewable bioenergy sources such as sugar cane or sunflower seeds, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. "The gradual move away from oil has begun. Over the next 15 to 20 years, we may see biofuels providing a full 25 per cent of the world's energy needs," says Alexander Muller, assistant director-general of FAO's sustainable development department.

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) welcomes applications to its Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program for the 2007-2008 fellowship year. Established in 2001 to enable activists, scholars, and journalists from around the world to deepen their understanding of democracy and enhance their ability to promote democratic change, the fellowship program is based at NED's International Forum for Democratic Studies, in Washington, D.C.

"Imagining Ourselves,” (IO) an ambitious online project featuring personal stories by hundreds of young women from more than 100 countries around the world. The women were asked to respond to one question: "What defines your generation of women?"

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers in Johannesburg describes herself as a “refugee from legitimacy.”

Amanda Tumusiime, Ugandan visual artist, makes works in oils.

Monique Wanjala, social economist from Kenya, has changed the way “my brothers treat women” by coming out to her family about her HIV+ status.

Zimbabwe’s Netsayi sings of the longing for connection on the journey to claim herself.

Iman Shaggag of Sudan recalls the forcible circumcision of her childhood friends.

Nigerian photographer, Toyin Sokefun, captures women both owning and disowning concepts of female beauty.

What do all these women have in common? Their songs, stories, films, artwork, photos, are in "Imagining Ourselves,” (IO) an ambitious online project featuring personal stories by hundreds of young women from more than 100 countries around the world. The women were asked to respond to one question: "What defines your generation of women?"

Produced and presented by the San Francisco-based International Museum of Women, IO sets out to capture the voices of women in their 20s and 30s – a generation poised to take the reins of global leadership. Launched on March 8th, International Women’s Day, in Arabic, English, French and Spanish, the exhibit logged an astonishing 65,000 “hits” in 24 hours. In its first week, over 200,000 hits were recorded. Contributors from 154 countries posted comments, responses, and their own stories. By mid-April, the numbers had risen to 3.5 million hits, from 130,000-plus unique visitors, in over 170 countries.

Clearly, IO taps a global need – for young women to share their visions and voices, and to connect with their peers internationally. African contributors range from the famous – Hafsat Abiola, Rokia Traore – to 20-year-old Odette Mukeshimana, orphaned at 9 by the Rwandan genocide, and left to raise her 6 siblings single-handed.

In a week when South Africa’s Jacob Zuma was acquitted of rape, when we heard of UN peacekeepers and aid workers in Liberia and the Congo extracting sex from 8-year-old girls in exchange for food and money, IO is a vital injection of nutrients for the artist-activist soul. Not because it offers escape from the grim realities African women face. On the contrary. In the words of Kenyan journalist, Mary Kimani, who has covered Rwanda, Burundi, and the DRC for the last 6 years:

“The poems I have sent in are not romantic poems. Imagination is not just about things we would wish to be, but a lens through which we can also see truly. There is a place for dreams, it is the place that tells us all that we can be if we were allowed wings and could soar. But all real dreams must be firmly anchored in reality.

“What defines my generation of women? In one word: resilience.”

This resilience is the hallmark of the African contributions to IO. They are juicy, vibrant, outrageous, creative, defiant, humorous, stoic, determined. They are charged with talent, fuelled by razor intelligence, honed and polished by professional skills and training, driven by vision and purpose.

The resilience shines through the groundbreaking performance of the Vagina Monologues in Lagos, a production that prompted the First Lady of Lagos State to declare: “Every woman is on that stage.” It infuses the passion of South Africa’s Monica da Silva, who pioneers community homeopathic treatments for HIV+ children. It underpins the words of 18-year-old Marie Josee Nyirabisabo, as she describes her YWCA training in literacy, reproductive health, microfinance, and her business plan to generate income for herself and her two younger siblings.

The one gripe I have with IO is the limitations of its search tool. The site carries no single comprehensive listing of every story, event, and contributor, so tracking down the African voices becomes a treasure hunt. But the hunt throws up endless riches – compelling photos and visual art, uniquely individual voices, powerful film and music. The site is beautifully designed, both clean and rich, visually striking, yet clutter-free. I’m not surprised that the average visitor stays 20-30 minutes.

“Women catch courage from women whose lives and writings they read,” wrote the renowned American writer and scholar, Carolyn Heilbrun, “and women call the bearer of that courage, ‘friend.’” The great strength of IO is that its genuinely interactive design allows this ‘catching of courage’ to take immediate form alongside each exhibit in the posting of comments and responses. So for example, Lisa Russell’s short film on obstetric fistula in Niger, elicits a story from Sudanese Iman Shaggag, about the childhood friend who, after circumcision, had no interest in any game other than mutilating her dolls just as she had been mutilated.

Scheduled to run for four months, March – June 2006, IO presents a different theme each month, with featured contributions and conversations online, and linked live events around the world.

The opening theme for March was Love. Notable contributions include:

Ugandan artist Amanda Tumusiime’s oil paintings of the Kiga Hug. The vivid textured images show the greeting embrace of the Bakiga of Southern Uganda, “The Kiga Hug is a personal invitation to cherish, love and embrace the future with a purpose.”

The story by Monique Tondoi Wanjala (Kenya), of her journey from a newly-married “enthusiastic Christian wife” who believed AIDS only affected “promiscuous people”, through the discovery that she had been infected with HIV by her husband. Wanjala takes us through her cycle of denial, despair, and the choice to move forward, educate herself and others, come out as HIV+ and become an advocate and activist. “For me, knowledge is power.”

“Unfolding Posture”, by multidisciplinary artist Heba Farid (Egypt): a series of photos of a woman’s body turning under water. The views of limbs, hair, torso, fluid and distorted, become a metaphor for all the shifts women address in IO.

Nigerian Toyin Sokefun reflects on beauty, in photos of women claiming, manufacturing, and contemplating their physical selves.

And finally, Hafsat Abiola interviews Amina Lawal, an illiterate villager from northern Nigeria, made famous in 2001 when an Islamic Shari’a court sentenced her to death by stoning for bearing a child out of wedlock. Two of Lawal’s responses stand out with heartbreaking starkness:

Q: What are your expectations for your life?
A: I leave my life to God.

Q: What were your dreams when you were growing up?
A: We had no dreams. We were not brought up to think that we could dream.

In April, the theme was Money, perhaps the most crucial determinant to women’s ability to define themselves. We meet Winnie Gitau, who against all odds, started her own health foods business in Kenya - and revolutionized the market for holistic products. Her story demonstrates the challenges faced on the continent, even by educated, professional, middle-class women, in financing business ventures.

At the other end of the spectrum, Carolyn Asapo (Uganda) describes her work with the Village Enterprise Fund, which offers start-up capital to rural women. “My wish is to have a world where challenges are transformed into opportunities.”

Culture and Conflict is the focus for the current month, May. Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, South African writer, delves into the complexity of mixed-race heritage in the apartheid years.

“ I am the colony of their forbidden love,
where Africa's son
and Scotland's grand-daughter
dna-ed, denied their offspring”

And ends with a clarion call to all her sisters:

“No ring adorns the marriage of myself to myself,
it is endless and golden.”

Netsai Mushonga (Zimbabwe) narrates her evolution as the founder of WPP (Women’s Peacemakers Program), and Director of Women's Coalition.

“I was alarmed when my distant cousin was killed by her husband and then not arrested. He was made to pay a cow to his in-laws and got a younger fresher woman. That memory from my childhood sticks out to me as I finally realized that women's situation was akin to slavery.”

Tessa Lewin’s short film, “Conscious Dreaming” is a charming, whimsical, thought provoking, musical animation piece. In just a few minutes, it captures the dilemmas of all young women negotiating the quest for self with the longing for connection and stability.

It’s hard to click out of the IO site. It feels like walking out of an electric conversation between a group of women, a conversation that bubbles with laughter and inspiration, throws up fresh argument and challenge moment to moment, leaves your brain and imagination crackling. Perhaps the most important thing IO does is make my generation of women present, in their own voices, through their own lenses, for all the world to see and hear.

Hafsat Abiola says, of her interview with Amina Lawal: “I meet so many women who are still waiting for permission to be present. Ultimately, Imagining Ourselves must be Imagining Ourselves Authorized.”

Mary Kimani sums it up:

“When I hear the term 'Imagining Ourselves', I think reality and hope mixed together. It is who we are now and who we want to be. It is love and pain, joy and anger, hope and fear all mixed together. We imagine ourselves whole, human, complete, and that has never in any language or culture, translated to perfect or ideal. It has always translated to complex, multifaceted, and annoyingly human.”

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers wraps up her poem with uncompromising solidity:

“Here we are then. Here we are.”

Imagining Ourselves Curriculum available for educators, partners and community organizations to download from the Museum Website at:

http://www.imow.org/education/curricula_exhibit_io.php

* Shailja Patel is a Kenyan poet, writer and theatre artist. Her work features in Imagining Ourselves this month at:
www.shailja.com

* Please send comments to [email protected]

Why are the countries of sub-Saharan Africa the poorest in the world? One reason is the set of ill-designed development strategies that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have implemented in the region for nearly half a century. But the centuries-old culture of leadership that is ingrained in many African societies has played an equally disastrous role. Indeed, the overwhelming majority of African rulers regard their countries as their personal possessions, to be used as they see fit. This conception of power led in past centuries to kings handing over their subjects to slave traders. Nowadays, leaders squander their countries' resources and revenues, leaving the majority of their populations mired in poverty, disease, hunger, war and hopelessness.

The High Court in Kenya has ordered the eviction of more than 700 families, which have been living on a privately-owned piece of land in Nairobi's Embakasi area. Justice J. B. Ojwang ordered the Nairobi Provincial Commissioner, to evict the squatters from the land owned by Orbit Chemical Industries Limited. The court also quashed an order issued by Justice Gideon Mbito on August 29, 1996, barring the company from evicting the squatters. The court said the leave to commence judicial review proceedings in those circumstances was an abuse of the judicial process.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland was forced to curtail his visit to a camp for internally displaced persons in Sudan's restive western region of Darfur when an initially peaceful demonstration to show support for a planned deployment of a UN peacekeeping force turned rowdy. Egeland was meeting representatives from nongovernmental organisations at the Kalma camp, near the town of Nyala, when the crowd complained that a translator working for an international NGO had not correctly interpreted what they were saying. They beat the interpreter before he was put in a vehicle and driven out of the camp.

Close to 200 Mayi-Mayi fighters have surrendered with their weapons to United Nations peacekeeping troops in north and central Katanga Province, in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The spokesman for the UN Mission in the DRC said a large number of child soldiers were among the group. They surrendered on Saturday at Mitwaba, 700km north of Lubumbashi, the capital of Katanga. On Monday, the peacekeepers handed over some of the Mayi-Mayi to the regular army.

The government wants the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) to stop depending on hydroelectric power and diversify into alternative sources of energy. In his keynote speech at a meeting of Tanesco directors and senior managers, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Arthur Mwakapugi also called on Tanesco to wean itself of government subsidies by adopting a more commercial approach of running the firm instead of depending on government handouts.

Southscan predicts that Russia, as chair of the G8 this year, will not continue the Africa emphasis of G8 meetings since 2002 at Kananaskis in Canada. Russia is not much into the aid and investment activities that interest the West (and China). Russia has interest in exporting arms, and will consider arms for oil on the model it established with Angola.

Over 400,000 civilians have already died in Darfur. But, almost 2 years after the United States officially recognized it as a "genocide," almost nothing has been done to stop the killing. A relatively small United Nations peace keeping force (which wouldn't even require new US troops) could protect civilians, stop the violence, and help a real peace process begin. But it won't happen if world leaders, including ours, don't stand up and demand it.

Hundreds of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) members will be marching in Bulawayo tomorrow (4 May) to demand that their children be allowed to go to school. They will insist on seeing the Provincial Governor and will deliver a set of demands. Recent fee increases of up to 1000% have meant that many families across the country can no longer afford the exorbitant rates now imposed. As a result, many children will not be returning to school next week.

The government of Mozambique announced last Friday, 21 April, that the Export-Import Bank of China has agreed to back the construction of the proposed Mphanda Nkuwa Dam, worth over US $2 billion. The financial agreement comes at great risk to Mozambique's economy, environment, and people, for the benefit of foreign big business. Justiça Ambiental (JA!), a Mozambique-based organization, is urging its government to suspend all activity on the project until all project studies are completed and published.

A US technology executive has pleaded guilty to paying more than $400,000 in bribes to a congressman in charges stemming from an investigation of Representative William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat. Prosecutor Mark Lytle said Jackson paid $367,500 in checks and wire transfers over a four-year period to a company controlled by the congressman's wife in exchange for help promoting iGate technology in Africa.

A plan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to shift the relative voting power of some of its 184 member-nations will almost certainly be of no benefit to East African countries, which will remain heavily dependent on loans from the global financial institution. But some analysts say the IMF itself is becoming increasingly irrelevant to parts of the developing world. And, they add, the fund's waning power may presage a day when it no longer exercises decisive control over the economies and budgets of poor countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Amid rising tensions and reported preparations for armed attacks in Chad, WFP warned on election day in Chad that food is becoming a serious issue for some 70,000 people who have either fled the continuous armed incursions in the east of the country or are resident there. The closure of the border between Chad and Sudan following the rebel assault on the capital in April could also have a serious impact on WFP operations in West Darfur, where the agency is currently feeding a total of 500,000 people.

Voting has ended in Chad's presidential election, in which President Idriss Deby is seeking a third term in office. Opposition parties boycotted the poll and voter turnout was reported to be extremely low. Rebel groups did not carry out threats to disrupt voting, the BBC's Stephanie Hancock in the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, reports. However, the country remains divided, with serious security concerns dominating the election. Mr Deby faced four challengers, but the poll was controversial since the main opposition party had refused to put forward candidates. Results will not be known for another ten days, but everyone in Chad is certain that President Deby will win, our correspondent says.
* Related Link:
Idriss Deby, a President Under Siege

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has restated its opposition to the third term bid of President Olusegun Obasanjo and state governors, saying that it had been steadfast on the issue. Describing politicians as opportunists, the congress also deplored the part played by some former public office holders, including former Chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Audu Ogbeh, and former Inspectors-General of Police in the abuse of workers' and citizens' rights.

Rwanda has been chosen as the headquarters for the proposed $280mn East Africa submarine cable, said an official at the Rwanda Information Technology Agency. Outgoing Director Dr Shem Ochoudho confirmed that Rwanda had been chosen. The six countries directly involved with spearheading the project are Botswana, Lesotho, Kenya, Rwanda South Africa and Tanzania. There are 23 countries involved in total.

“We are far from reaching the end of the tunnel,” writes Yveline Dévérin of the situation in Côte d’Ivoire, as she describes the complicated progression of the conflict over the last four years. She writes that: “All those who are in the position to have the power to turn the situation towards peace have an interest in the crisis continuing, not only because it is lucrative but also because it is validating. And this is exactly the same for the powers that be, as for the opposition powers, as for the rebel powers.” For further information on Côte d’Ivoire, see last week’s Pambazuka News article at

From the 15-19 January 2006, the Côte d’Ivoire experienced a new wave of violence of the kind it has been hitherto accustomed. Both in Abidjan, but also in the west and different parts of the south of the country, for some four days, troops from the ‘patriotic galaxy’ (the presidential side) occupied the streets, hijacked cars and duly occupied the Ivorian radio and TV network (Radio Télévision Ivorienne) so as to broadcast their messages. Most significantly – and this is without precedent – they attacked UN premises, and even the Blue Helmets of the United Nations Mission for Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI) themselves, forcing them to withdraw into the ‘security zone’ which separates the government zone from the ‘ex-rebel’ zone.

In order to appraise the ins and outs of this new phase of the crisis, it is first appropriate to review the general circumstances that have brought about this situation.

The inexorable march of immobilisation since September 2002

The immobilisation is on the march, and nothing can stop it. ¬– Edgar Faure

Without going back over the different episodes of the saga of the Ivorian crisis, it is nevertheless useful to review the recent context of these events. It should be remembered that in the Côte d’Ivoire, since September 2002, there have been six agreements and dozens of mediation operations and that these have not succeeded in progressing the situation. Now in 2006, the population has reached the stage of exasperation. The regular refrain, repeated in Abidjan for over two years: ‘We’ve had enough’, has now become ‘Even the Bétés [1] have had enough’.

In January 2006, the escalating tensions linked to the various deadlines to which the people had grown accustomed – an announced military coup, presidential elections, the nomination of the Prime-Minister, the formation of the government – came to a head. At every hurdle, the population fears a reprisal of the war, and so lives in a constant state of expectant anxiety.

The military coup announced by General Doué

Along with other exiled soldiers, the former Head of the Army has been sending several open letters via the internet to the Abidjan press. Whilst there are some who have recognised an unpleasant build-up in these undisclosed letters, it was nevertheless a shock that a broadcast on the 19 August 2004 on Radio française internationale (RFI – the French language world news service) disseminated an interview with the disgraced general, in which he is cited as explaining:

“I have chosen to break the silence because I am of the opinion that the situation has lasted for too long and that a return to peace in the Côte d’Ivoire is wholly conditional on the departure of President Gbagbo. If the international community is not willing to commit to making him go quietly, I will do so myself, by any means necessary. And let it be understood that this will not be done without serious damage.”

Nothing has happened yet, but the waiting is causing everyone to live in a state of nervous exhaustion. The mysterious attack on the military camps at Akouédo on the 2 January 2006 has raised the tension yet another notch (the reasons for, and circumstances of this attack had still not been established at the beginning of April 2006).

Elections

It was constitutionally anticipated that elections would take place on the 30 October 2005; but they did not, leaving a constitutional void. On the 20 October, the UN decreed the impossibility of holding elections. In accordance with Resolution 1622, it decided instead to prolong the mandate of President Gbagbo for another 12 months, which allowed him to remain ‘head of State’, whilst at the same time delegating a major component of his executive powers to a Prime-Minister who would be ‘acceptable to everyone’. This state of affairs was supervised by the International Working Group, whose members include the African Union, ECOWAS, the UN, the EU and France.

Nomination of a Prime-Minister ‘acceptable to everyone’

After endless dithering (the differences in nuance between ‘acceptable to everyone’ and ‘acceptable for everyone’ caused huge problems), Charles Konan Banny, the governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) was finally accepted as - or rather, designated - Prime-Minister on the 4 December 2005.

Formation of the Government

After more than three weeks of bitter disagreements, Charles Konan Banny formed his Government on the 28 December 2005. The arguments were essentially over the sharing out of posts, how many were allocated to each party, and which individuals were chosen. (The parties each preferred their ‘Party bosses’, whilst Charles Konan Banny wanted technocrats.). And for the politicians the stakes were economic as well as political: as much do with personal enrichment, as with party-financing. The Ivorians refer to them as ‘fat-cat Ministers’, which aptly summarises the real problem!

The issue of the Minister of Finance

This one is far and away the fattest cat of all the ministers, and a major source of funds. He returns to the Government in the Cabinet, therefore escaping from the Ivorian Popular Front, which is finding itself cut off from a major part of its provisions. This is a crucial element in grasping the succession of events.

The National Assembly

2004 has amply demonstrated how the National Assembly has been used by Laurent Gbagbo as a mechanism for blocking reforms. But it is also a financial godsend. The members of parliament receive a not negligible amount, in a country which is weakened, and where numerous people have lost their jobs or seen their incomes much reduced following the events of November 2004.

Moreover the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI- Gbagbo’s presidential party) is largely in the majority, and therefore, importantly can make payments to the militias again: ‘A militant is someone who shares and who distributes’, declared the ‘Patriote’, the daily paper close to the opposition RDR party, remarks attributed to a mysterious and anonymous ‘official of the central office [who] was questioning Gbagbo’.

Gunpowder

Against this background, there is the additional problem of the mandate of the MPs, which, constitutionally, was supposed to expire on the 16 December 2005. As was the case for President Gbagbo, there was the problem it would be prolonged. The question was put to the International Working Group which is supposed to ‘consult all Ivorian parties with the aim of ensuring that all the Ivorian institutions function normally until elections are held’, conforming to the UN Resolution 1633. The position of the working group is clear: it acknowledges the fact that the mandate of the MPs ended on the 16 December 2005. According to the Closing Remarks of the Meeting of the International Working Group, 15 January 2006):

“In conformity with paragraph 11 of Resolution 1633 in relation to the expiry of the mandate of the National Assembly, the International Working Group has held lengthy consultations with all the Ivorian parties about the functioning of state institutions. The working group has come to the conclusion that the mandate of the National Assembly, which expired on the 16 December 2005, should not be extended.”

Incidentally, this communiqué is only repeating the terms of Resolution 1633.

The reaction was very violent by MPs, the Ivorian Popular Front, the ‘people on the streets’ and the ‘young patriots’. But we should point out that the MPs who protested were less concerned about the vindication of their function than of their status: they are quite happy no longer having legislative power, but are keen to remain MPs or to put it another way, to have their hands on the allowances. The Ivorian people were not duped by a scant mobilisation of about 3000 ‘patriots’, and this part of negotiations was notably suspect, marked by the image of the behaviour of the MPs as compared to the ordinary population.

The reaction is assuming new forms, compared with what has happened before. The ‘patriotic galaxy’ in the presidential sphere is still ahead of the game, but it is no longer mobilising the same crowds as it did in January 2003 or November 2004. Its power to cause a stir is intact, perhaps more concentrated. The theme of independence that was blown-out by the international community has been taken up again, as on previous occasions.

On the other hand, we are witnessing few physical attacks against the French (largely owing to the lack of targets). Though without historical precedent, these attacks are now being directed against the UN and the Blue Helmets. The UN headquarters are being attacked to the point where the UN is being forced to evacuate its staff. All UN symbols are being attacked; and the offices of certain UN agencies and NGOs, such as the UNOCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), UNHCR and Save the Children are being pillaged, ransacked and set on fire. These attacks on NGOs are also a new phenomenon.

Another difference between this new wave of violence and those that occurred earlier is that this time, movements can be observed in all the towns of the southern zone (Daloa, Guiglo, Douékoué, San Pedro, Yamoussoukro). In the west, recent attacks on UN bases at Guiglo led to four deaths in the ‘patriot’ ranks. Everywhere, equipment essential for working is being savaged. UN military equipment was abandoned on the spot when the Bangladais Blue Helmets had to evacuate their bases in Douékoué and Guiglo, and to withdraw into the security zone, escorted by the ‘Ivorian Defence and Security Forces’ (Agence France Presse 18 January 2006). These are the same security forces which a number of observers have seen openly supporting the militias in the field, for example, opening the doors of the Ivorian Radio/TV network (Radio Television Ivoriennes) for them.

The patriots are demanding the departure of the UN. Pascal Affi N’Guessan, the Secretary General of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI- Presidential party) has been very clear on this point. In a declaration, he has ‘demanded the departure of all UN and ‘Licorne’ [a French army operation] forces from the country which are exploiting and enslaving the Côte d’Ivoire’. At the same time, in line with the intentions of Abidjan, he has called for ‘the establishment of a national liberation government, which will bring together all the patriotic forces’. Which would mean the end of the government so painfully assembled by Charles Konan Banny.

Consequences

Paris is finally able to retreat from a perilous tête-à-tête with Abidjan. For once, ‘Licorne’, the French occupation army, is not in the firing line.

In contrast, the UN is totally discredited. Once again, it is brandishing threats it is then reluctant to apply: sanctions have been regularly announced for three years now. Not until the beginning of February 2006 were three names to be proposed, and then sanctions came into force on the 7 February. But those who have been sanctioned are of secondary significance – the heads of the two patriotic movements, Charles Blé Godé and Eugène Djué, and, for the sake of balance, one war leader from the north, Fofié Kouakou, the commander of the zone [2] of Korhogo (responsible for human rights violations).

Moreover stirring the UN to impose sanctions first required that its own equipment was set fire to, and its own soldiers were displaced. And yet again the ‘valets’, those who are politically responsible for the crisis remaining completely untouched by them. Meanwhile the UN has succeeded in overcoming the dilemma of its credibility: to dare to sanction despite the fear of a reprisal of violence against its personnel and equipment, so as not to make it obvious that fear of the latter is preventing all effectiveness.

Above all, we are witnessing the total discredit of the United Nations Mission for Côte d’Ivoire. The Blue Helmets have been attacked and have the Ivorian Armed Forces to thank for their ‘welcome’ to the west (Douékoué and Guiglo). This army escorted them as far as Bangolo (in the [UN] ‘security zone’!) where the Licorne army could protect them.

In Abidjan, French soldiers from the Licorne army had to intervene by helicopter to ‘filter out’ UN soldiers from their headquarters, where they had been barricaded. The UN soldiers are all the more discredited given that they had already been denounced as ‘tourists’ before this particular crisis [3]. Some newspapers have referred to them as ‘armed tourists’. Perhaps the most surreal development is that in February, transferrals of soldiers liberated by the peace in Liberia were effected not to safeguard the population, but rather, to safeguard UN agents.

The political consequences are important too: UN soldiers were supposed to ensure the security of the ministries of the ‘G7’ group (grouping of the 7 opposition parties). But the New Forces are refusing to invest any confidence in soldiers who are incapable of ensuring their own security! They are therefore demanding the return of their ministers to the northern zone, under their own control, or the possibility of providing for their own security – which would suppose allowing ex-rebel armies to enter Abidjan!

In view of the escalation of violence, John Bolton, the US Ambassador to the UN recently declared to the Security Council that it was possible that the United Nations Mission for Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI) is more of a problem than a solution to the Ivorian crisis’. (UN Press Agence 0/02/2006).

In the event, the New Forces have identified excellent lines of argument and a supplementary excuse for postponing the deadlines for disarmament. This at any rate is what has been posted on their website since 21 January: ‘Unilateral Disarmament of the New Forces? The Ivorian Popular Front can give up hope of that’. The incapacity of the ONUCI to fulfil its mandate, added to open concern of the Ivorian Security Forces’ for the patriots is unlikely to reassure them.

Nevertheless, the international community has reaffirmed its support for Konan Banny, and this alone appears to reinforce his power.

The ‘patriotic galaxy’ has shown that it is now mobilising fewer people (about 3000 patriots – against several hundreds of thousands in November 2004 – though this weakness has however effectively succeeds in mobilising 7000 Blue Helmets of the UN). Manifestly, there are some cracks at the heart of the ‘patriotic galaxy’, particularly between the supporters of Blé Goudé and those of Eugène Djué. The latter have already protested against the fact that they are less ‘highly regarded’ (understand, ‘highly paid’) than those of Blé Goudé. It was Djué’s supporters who delayed in ‘liberating the streets’ on the 19 January 2006.

It should not be forgotten either that the military check points were also opportunities for racketeering. The troubles should not last too long: the armed forces which are collecting taxes from the population could not allow civilian ‘patriots’ to replace them for too long at the check points, and thus to compete with them: ‘The armed forces have come back in order to racketeer.’ (Le Front No: 111 8, 21 January 2006)

To understand the inward tensions of the different groups, particularly those at the heart of the army and of the patriotic galaxy, it is essential to understand the financial motive – which is a crucial element in deciphering the crisis. Exploiting the divisions within the opposing side is effectively also a component in the struggle between the ‘G7’ (coalition of Houphouétistes – the opposition) and Laurent Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front. Cutting the Ivorian Popular Front off from its resources through the biased redistribution of the ministries was one element of a strategy designed to force the government party to negotiate a peace process.

Conclusion

We are far from reaching the end of the tunnel. Sometimes it is even tempting to ask oneself if it is not circular. The sanctions the UN has finally decided to apply (freezing bank accounts, travel bans) have only affected the intermediary figures, and have not touched either those who are making the biggest profits out of the crisis, or those who are fuelling it. The ‘patriots’ who have been affected have transformed the impact of the sanctions into martyrdom – into a grand ceremony glorifying the heroes. Their flourishing investments in the Côte d’Ivoire – cyber-cafés, petrol stations, property acquisitions – have not been hit, and they continue to receive tax-breaks from the presidential milieu, which, needless to say, is not affected by the sanctions either.

All those who are in the position to have the power to turn the situation towards peace have an interest in the crisis continuing, not only because it is lucrative but also because it is validating. And this is exactly the same for the powers that be, as for the opposition powers, as for the rebel powers. It would be reasonable to assume that considerable severance of the income linked to the crisis would mean that a large part of the interest in it would be lost, especially if this could be matched with the promise of an appearance before the International Criminal Court, which would at least cause some discomfort in retirement. But this would require all those responsible to be sanctioned. On both sides. And would therefore run the risk of another wave of anti-UN violence, which, the solidarity between heads of State makes all the more difficult to imagine.

* Yveline Dévérin is Lecturer in Geography, University of Toulouse-le-Mirail, France

* This article was translated from the original French version by Stephanie Kitchen. See [email protected]

Notes

[1] The ethnic group of President Gbagbo, who is accused of pursuing ‘tribalist’ politics, which favours his own group.

[2] The ‘commander of the zone’ is, in the rebellion organisation, responsible for the region (zone). He has functions similar to those of a ‘Préfet’ [a State representative in Fraoncophone political systems – translator’s note]

[3] The people from Abidjan criticise their excursions in 4-wheel drives, in the trendy areas, their sexual tourism; which is all the more distasteful given the Ivorian population is financially shattered, and because it creates the impression they are benefiting from the crisis.

One of Africa’s utmost press freedom heroes, Cameroonian journalist Pius Njawe has faced relentless harassment by the authorities throughout his career. In the past thirty years he has been arrested 126 times and served prison time on three different occasions. Despite ongoing adversities, Njawe continues to publish his newspaper Le Messager. In 1993, he was awarded the WAN Golden Pen of Freedom in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the independent press in his country. Pius wrote this article for the World Association of Newspapers on the occassion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

I have been a journalist since the age of 15. I started as an errand boy at a newspaper called Semences africaines, in the city of Yaoundé, Cameroon. Over the past 34 years, I have been arrested 126 times while carrying out my profession as a journalist. Physical and mental torture, death threats, the ransacking of my newsroom, etc., has often been my daily lot in a situation where repression and corruption, even within the press, have become the norm. Woe betide the slightest dissenting voice in this context, for it attracts all kinds of wrath, even from so-called colleagues…

My longest detention lasted ten months. I was arrested on 24 December 1997 for daring to wonder about the President's health after he had experienced heart problems whilst watching the Cameroonian football cup final. On 13 January 1998 I was sentenced to 24 months in prison. Four months later, the sentence was reduced to 12 months under pressure from national and international public opinion. But that was not enough to remove the pressure, and after ten months, the President resigned himself to pardoning me, a pardon I had never asked for.

I have never felt like a prisoner when I have been behind bars. You can be in prison without being a prisoner; the real prisoners are those who imprison journalists whose only crime is to inform or to express an opinion. On the other hand, being deprived of your family, your colleagues and the people you love is a real ordeal; and the tears you cry say less about being behind bars than about the pain and suffering your absence causes on all sides. I used to shed my tears in the arms of Jane - my late wife - and my children, when I saw the suffering they had to endure to come and see me in prison, as if my absence from them was not enough for my persecutors. I could not stop myself from crying when Jane gave birth to a still-born child on 9 January 1998, four days before my trial, following beatings she received the previous day when she brought me food, by prison guards who did not even have pity on her late pregnancy.

While my many detentions have largely contributed to confirming my convictions about certain democratic and human values, my long stay in prison above all stimulated my sense of solidarity with others, particularly the poor and the outcast. It strengthened my determination to use journalism as a weapon against all kinds of abuse. For there is no better weapon than words for restoring peace and justice among people, although it depends how those words are used.

To have the privilege of writing taken away from you overnight feels like being victim of a crime. The prison governor called me into his office one day to warn me that as a prisoner I did not have the right to write, and that my persistence would land me in solitary confinement. I immediately started to think about what my long days would be like in a cell I was sharing with more than 150 fellow detainees, almost all of them crooks, if I could not write. So I decided to defy the governor's ban by stepping up my bi-weekly column, "Le Bloc-notes du bagnard" (The Convict's Notebook), in my newspaper Le Messager. The chain of people I was bribing - including prison guards - to get my column out, was long; I have always wondered how I would have survived in that prison without writing.

During a lecture I once gave to students from a well-known university in New York, the director of the school of journalism made the following remark: "Mr. Njawe, my students and I appreciated your brilliant exposé of the situation regarding press freedom in Cameroon and in Africa in general. But I cannot help wondering one thing: either you invented all these stories to impress us, which I could understand, or everything you have told us is true and I am dying to ask you why you continue to work in the profession in the suicidal situation you describe?"

It is indeed difficult to understand why people persist in a profession that causes them so much misery and suffering. As regards my own case, I invariably reply to everyone who wonders this, that I entered journalism the way you enter a religion; journalism is my religion. I believe in it, and a thousand trials, a thousand arrests, a thousand imprisonments and as many death threats will never make me change job. On the contrary, the harder it is, the more you have to believe in it and cling to it.

Even in the depths of a prison cell you can feel good about being a journalist. How many times have I not rubbed my hands in my cell, my fingers itching to once again hold a pen between them, when thinking back over my career? How many times have I smiled when recalling an editorial or an article that helped foil the most atrocious plans against Cameroon and its people? If only for consolation, one sometimes ends up saying: "They're right to take it out on me like this, after all, I haven’t spared them in my articles…". Provided, of course, that you adhere to the best practices of journalism - that you scrupulously respect the canons that make our profession so great.

Respecting ethical standards is of fundamental importance for anyone wishing to be a journalist. It protects you against all kinds of people who would like to teach you a lesson. When you are facing a judge who is being manipulated, it is your irreproachable professional defense that makes that judge examine his or her own conscience. It is what wins your colleagues over to your cause when you are in difficulty. Doing your job properly therefore seems to be the best advice anyone can give a journalist operating in a context of constant harassment. And doing your job properly also, and above all, means avoiding "gumbo journalism", a practice becoming increasingly widespread in our profession, where people write what they are paid to write instead of giving real information and the truth. While journalists have the right to earn a decent living, even in emerging nations, honest journalists never need pockets in their shrouds…

Journalists perform a social function, which gives them not immunity, but the right to look critically at the way a nation is being run. While playing this crucial role, it is important for them to be protected by the law, but also by the whole of society for which they work. Mobilization is therefore essential every time a journalist is thrown into prison, or threatened with arrest or death. Because every time a journalist is silenced, society loses one of its watchdogs.

* This article was made available by the World Association of Newspapers to mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3. Visit for more information.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

The mass media in the US, France and Britain are writing a great deal about the suffering in the Darfur region of western Sudan and the tensions between the Sudanese government and neighboring Chad. Not surprisingly, they write very little about the economic interests these three imperialist countries have in the oil recently discovered in this part of Africa.
* Related Link
Food rations in Darfur

FEATURED: Following last week’s article on Côte d’Ivoire, Yveline Dévérin continues to unravel the complex political situation in the country
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Interview with Prof. Ernest Wamba dia Wamba on the situation in the DRC
- World Press Freedom Day: Internet censorship on the rise?
- World Press Freedom Day: Cameroonian journalist Pius Njawe on his 126 arrests
LETTERS: On Charles Taylor and Wole Soyinka
BLOGGING AFRICA: Blog columnist Sokari Ekine wraps up the African blogosphere
BOOKS AND ARTS: Shailja Patel wants to be on whatever Wole Soyinka is on when she turns 70
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Darfur peace talks extended yet again
HUMAN RIGHTS: ‘Treason trial’ opens in Addis
WOMEN AND GENDER: Gambia ratifies women’s rights protocol
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Concern after militia attacks on IDP camps
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: All eyes on Chad elections
DEVELOPMENT: Towards a global labour charter for the 21st century
CORRUPTION: Tough new Kenyan laws to tackle corruption
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Free health care announced in Burundi
RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA: Amnesty report profiles attacks on immigrants in Russia
ENVIRONMENT: Claims that Mega dam will exacerbate poverty in Mozambique
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Links to stories related to World Press Day
NEWS FROM THE DIASPORA: Immigrant boycott day goes ahead in US
ADVOCACY AND CAMPAIGNS: Join the virtual march against genocide in Darfur
PLUS: Internet and Technology, e-Newsletters, Courses and Jobs.

* French speaking? French friends?

Read the Pambazuka News French edition by visiting 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!

Almost two dozen trucks left Uganda, carrying scores of Sudanese refugees home from settlements near the border with Sudan as their voluntary repatriation kicked off, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR). "Today [on Tuesday], we have facilitated the return of 160 refugees from Moyo District to their villages of Kangapo I and II," said the Kampala-based spokeswoman for UNHCR. "They were ferried to areas near their villages, and by the end of today, many will be in Kangapo [in southern Sudan]."

Kenya is the only East African Community member that has completed a self-audit on its socio-economic performance under the New Partnership for Africa's Development. According to the South Africa-based Nepad Africa Peer Review Mechanism secretariat, Kenya's audit report will be tabled at the APR meeting to be held in June in Banjul, Gambia. The report is being compiled by the secretariat and will be sent back to the Government for comments before being published. APRM is a self-monitoring mechanism voluntarily acceded by African Union member states to foster adoption of policies, standards and practices that will lead to high economic growth, sustainable development, political stability and accelerated regional integration.

Good news about media freedom in Eritrea is rare, so it's understandable that delight and relief greeted the announcement last November that Isaac Dawit, an Eritrean journalist with Swedish nationality, had been released after four years in prison. But days after the news broke, Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu told the Agence France-Presse news agency that Dawit had merely been released for hospital tests, and was going directly back to prison. Described by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as one of the world's worst jailers of journalists, Eritrea has at least 13 reporters in prison.

The dark clouds threaten a downpour. Already, light showers have started, and people in the streets of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, are hurrying to their destinations to avoid getting soaked. But a mother and her two-year-old daughter strapped tightly to her back, is not running away from the rains. She is fleeing the city council "askaris" (guards) who are cracking down on hawkers. Hawking within the central business district is prohibited, but has continued nonetheless with bribes known to make askaris look in the other direction.

The International Federation of Journalists has called for the immediate release of Tchanguiz Vatankhah, director of Radio Brakoss (at 600 km of N’Djamena) and President of the Chadian Union of Private Radios (URPT). "Tchanguiz Vatankhah has been held incommunicado since 28 April and only today has the Deputy Minister for Human Rights informed us that Vatankhah is at the Central Police Station of N’Djamena," declared Evariste Ngarlem Toldé, President of the Chadian Union of Journalists. "No official reason has been given for this arrest.”

Uncircumcised African men are at higher risk of HIV infection - because the inner surface of the foreskin contains cells that make it highly susceptible to infection. This new data, believed to be the first of its kind in African men, adds further weight to a South African study that last year revealed that circumcision could protect two-thirds of men from contracting HIV. According to the authors of the new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Pathology, their research among Kenyan men is the first study of human foreskin tissue that examines why, biologically, uncircumcised African men are more likely to contract HIV than their circumcised counterparts.

At least 100 families have fled their homes in Katikomor, West Pokot District, following a disarmament exercise by military personnel. Three guns have been recovered in the operation dubbed Leta amani. Tension has been high in the district as residents continue to flee to Uganda to evade the crackdown on illegal arms. Local leaders have termed the operation "Government persecution" and an abuse of human rights. The disarmament exercise is one of the biggest in recent times.

The Kenyan government plans to introduce tough new laws to fight corruption, which will enable the state to, among other things, seize property suspected to have been acquired illegally. The new laws published by the attorney-general and tabled in parliament late last month seek to empower the government to go to the high court and ask a judge to appoint a receiver to seize property suspected to have been acquired corruptly. If enacted into law, this will remove a major loophole in the current law where corrupt individuals continue to enjoy their ill-acquired wealth even after investigators have confirmed that it was acquired through graft.
* Related Link
Graft whistle-blower sued for defamation

UNHCR has expressed alarm over growing insecurity along the Chad-Sudan border, where a raid on Monday by 150 armed men just a few kilometres from a refugee camp left four Chadian civilians dead and five others wounded. The Chadians were killed in an attack near the village of Dolola, in south-eastern Chad. Dolola is near UNHCR's refugee camp at Goz Amir, which currently shelters some 17,700 Sudanese refugees from Darfur.

Along with denunciations of the Lord's Resistance Army as "a barbaric cult," the United States Congress heard sharp criticisms last week of the Ugandan government's alleged failure to pursue peace negotiations with the LRA and to prevent the deaths of thousands of displaced civilians. Congressman Chris Smith, chairman of the US House of Representatives' Africa subcommittee, set the tone for the April 26 inquiry by suggesting that the government is "insufficiently committed to improving the situation in northern Uganda."

The Dutch government has suspended nearly $150m in aid to Kenya because of concerns over corruption. The Dutch development co-operation minister said her government wanted to see "more tangible results in the fight against corruption in Kenya". Kenyan officials said the move was based on a misconception. The IMF and the World Bank have recently said they were withholding millions of dollars in aid to Kenya because of concerns over corruption.

A press release by the Congressional Black Caucus points out that: “After more than three years of suffering at the hands of the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed, the people of Darfur are faced with a proposed peace agreement which falls short of the aim to end the violence and create a just and lasting peace in the region. The seventh round of the African-Union brokered peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria are coming to a close and the April 30 deadline for a signed peace agreement was extended…the draft peace agreement is skewed to benefit the Government of Sudan and penalize the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - the only voices for the people of Darfur.”

Scientists are hopeful a vaccine against the deadly tropical disease Marburg virus could be developed. Similar to the Ebola virus, Marburg causes internal bleeding leading to multiple organ failure in 90% of cases - there is no effective treatment. A US-Canadian team writing in the Lancet say they have created a jab which appears to protect monkeys from Marburg's harmful effects. Both the Marburg and Ebola viruses are considered potential bio-terror agents.

More than a quarter of Cameroon's national debt has been cancelled by creditors including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The reduction amounts to about 27% of Cameroon's total debt, worth $4.9bn (£2.6bn;3.8bn euros) in cash terms. The decision makes Cameroon the 19th state to complete the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Cameroon was given the reduction after meeting poverty reduction targets and social services investments.

The World Trade Organization is moving closer to a global trade deal, but greater flexibility and concessions are needed, top officials have said. WTO trade ministers are in Geneva this week hoping to revive the ongoing Doha round of talks that have stalled over problem areas such as agriculture. Poorer nations want greater access to richer markets, while the US and Europe are fighting over subsidy levels. US trade chief said the sides are now "relatively close".

Kjell Magne Bondevik, the U.N. special humanitarian envoy for the Horn of Africa, has said after a visit to Somalia, "It was especially moving to visit the country where several thousand ... displaced were living under the worst conditions I have ever seen." He added that governments must do more to ensure drought and hunger are eradicated in the long-term.

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) invites journalists from developing countries with at least five years' news media experience to apply for the International Journalism Exchange. Each year, the programme brings 10 young newspaper editors to the United States to meet editors at major U.S. newspapers and learn how journalism is practiced in the country. This year's programme takes place from 7 October to 11 November 2006.

To help America's journalists adapt to rapid change, and to advance news values in the digital age, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation recently launched the Knight New Media Center. Jointly operated by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, the Center offers competitive fellowships to support training for New Media journalists at all levels.

Despite the International Workers’ Day, many workers’ concerns remain unresolved and workers remain uninformed. As a response, labour NGO NALEDI and COSATU have collaborated to deliver the My Wage website. My Wage provides an online salary checker, a questionnaire that collects data for further research development by the Wage Indicator team, and a wealth of informative articles designed to help every South African achieve their goals of stable and satisfactory employment.

The website Black Presence in Britain has been included in the newly revised, expanded 2nd edition of the 'Young Person's Guide to The Internet'. The reference book is for young people, from primary to post-university education, their teachers, schools and parents and contains 1,600 thoroughly researched, up-to-date websites covering education and leisure.

Two Botswana Television (Btv) crew, a journalist and an unidentified cameramen were arrested by Zimbabwean authorities at the Matsiloje border gate on Sunday (April 30).

Progressio seeks a Development Worker (DW), who will specialise in Communications and Advocacy. This is a two-year contract based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The development worker will work with FOSDEH's Communications Department, strengthening its internal and external communication capacity. The main areas of the communications work are related to poverty, external debt, public policies, transparency, corruption, etc. Please note for this post Spanish and English fluency (both written and spoken) is essential.