The Coalition for Peace in Africa (COPA) Eastern Africa Regional office would like to recruit the Finance/Administrative Officer for the Applied Conflict Transformation Studies (ACTS) Programme. This is a two-year Masters programme in conflict transformation, which bridges the gap between academic research and the wealth of experience that exists on the ground.

In the period 1995 to 2002 South Africa managed to make major policy changes in education. Almost everything about the education sector has changed. This paper focuses on policies aimed at resource distribution. It documents significant improvements in certain measures of resource inequality. It documents that, against perhaps excessively optimistic expectations, responses in learning outcomes have not followed automatically, but have instead required much managerial pressure and oversight.

Rwanda's president Paul Kagame has created a science ministry and placed it under his direct supervision in an effort to accelerate the integration of science and technology into all sectors of the economy. Kagame announced the move on 18 March along with a broad cabinet reshuffle.

A Namibian rights NGO has slammed a local government scheme to provide prepaid water, saying it is making the basic commodity "unaffordable for the poor". Helena Negumbo is among several thousand informal dwellers who have to buy water, when they can afford it, from a municipal tap. "I must first buy a card and put it into [a meter-box near] the tap. When the [money on the] card is finished, the water stops running, but I don't always have money for [more water]," she told IRIN.

An article in this International Labour Organisation publication, Merchants of Labour, examines the role of migration on health workers and systems. It reflects on the question of whether health worker migration constitutes a brain drain, brain gain or brain waste and underline that the international recruitment of health care workers has adverse effects on strained health systems of poor countries, which raises moral concerns.

reflects in this article on what a technology activist is? "At the end of the day, it's a very broad and ill defined area which is a bit scarey, because perception might lead people to believe that technology activism is limited to a select group, when in fact I believe it isn't. I believe that it's a part of the natural course of technology," he writes.

Jean-Louis Ngalamulume, the editor of the newspaper "L'Eclaireur", was freed on the evening of 31 March 2006 after paying US$40 in bail. He had been detained since 31 January. After meeting with Reporters Without Borders and its local partner organisation, Journalist in Danger (JED), President Joseph Kabila sent the justice ministry a request for the release of Ngalamulume and "La Tolérance" editor Jean-Pierre Pambu Lutete, who is expected to be freed on bail in the next few days.

Ethiopia has issued its first broadcasting licenses allowing private radio stations to operate in the Horn of Africa nation, officials said on Monday. The licenses were issued to two radio stations that will broadcast on FM, following a decision reached in February, according to Sissay Melese, spokesman for the Ethiopian Broadcast Authority (EBA).

I personally find you as annoying and irritating as the ones you criticise for being anti-gay and lesbian. (Is homosexuality really unAfrican? My sexuality is my private business and I do not go round trumpeting it into your head. So why can't you keep yours private for goodness sake! Whether you are attracted to goats or pigs and I am attracted to dogs and cats, let us respect ourselves and keep our prefernces personal and private. That way we do not irritate each other and refrain from over bearing attitudes towards each other. Civilised, isnt it?

Editors reply: You are right. Your sexuality is a private affair. But when the state puts it in the public domain through legislating against non-heterosexuals, when the state or church or police attack or harass such people, then they are putting the matter in the public domain. Gays, lesbians and others have a right to respond to such attacks in the public domain and to organise publicly to proclaim their own humanity. Pambazuka News has a duty to offer space for their voices.

This is a brilliant piece. Truly, the ordinary people's suffering in Zimbabwe is unbearable. Comrade Mugabe is right on the land question. But he needs to change tactics to ensure that Zimbabwe's people survive to enjoy the fruit of the land reform.Why should restoration of land necessarily lead to the continuing impoverishment of the people of Zimbabwe as though uncle Bob has already quit the stage? Comrade Mugabe, please deliver the people to the promised land of plenty.

Research Matters is currently seeking several writers interested in writing on the topic: "What does an affordable and sustainable 21st-century African health system look like?"

Last week the European Commission announced that it will force mobile companies to lower their excessively high international roaming charges and scrap all roaming charges for receiving calls abroad. A fortnight ago the annual meeting of the Arab ICT Regulators Network heard a presentation of a study of Middle East roaming charges that covered parts of North Africa. It also concluded that in the field of roaming that there was an absence of real competition and this was a strong disincentive to operators to negotiate lower prices. Sub-Saharan Africa’s solution? An expensive African Telecommunications Study to develop a single SIM card that can be used across the continent. Russell Southwood looks at the findings of the Egyptian study in the latest edition of Balancing Act News Update.

For more than 40 years Amnesty International (AI) members have been campaigning to protect and promote human rights. This manual aims to pass on the experience of these campaigners in an accessible format. We hope it will become a well-thumbed reference book for all those campaigning for human rights. Although the manual stresses that all parts of AI's work, such as fundraising, campaigning and organization, should be integrated, the book has been divided up into self-contained sections.

Liberia, West Africa, which was founded by freed slaves from America in the 1820s, is suffering from serious poverty and unemployment. This is because a Liberian Civil War, that ended in 2003, destroyed the infrastructure and economy. In this country where people do not even have peace, a Japanese company and its American subsidiary are committing labor abuses including forced labor.

The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has hailed a 10-page investigative report focusing on corruption at the World Bank. The article in the April 3 edition of US News & World Report focuses on extensive internal problems at the bank including how “kickbacks, payoffs, bribery, embezzlement, and collusive bidding plague bank-funded projects around the world.” The report estimates that more than 20 percent of the loans distributed by the World Bank, or $4 billion annually, are associated with corrupt practices.

Former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who disappeared from his residence in southeastern Nigeria one day ago, was on Wednesday detained in a state bordering Cameroon and could be expelled soon to his homeland. A top government official who asked not to be named said Taylor, wanted for war crimes by a UN-backed special court in Sierra Leone, was arrested in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, bordering Cameroon, Niger and Lake Chad.
Related Link
* Taylor, stubborn since his childhood

"Nothing has changed," says Patterson Ogon, founding director of the Ijaw Council for Human Rights in the Niger Delta. "Since 1995 when Ken Saro-Wiwa was hung, [Shell's] public relations and glossy reports seem to indicate that they're doing so much in the Niger Delta. But we are still waiting to see any practical change." Over a decade has passed since the Nigerian government killed Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Niger Delta is once again making international headlines. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is a well-armed, well-organized group of youth who aim to localize control of the Niger Delta's oil wealth.

Recently, newly elected Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became only the fourth African head of state and the eighth woman to address the United States Congress. Sirleaf asked members of Congress to think about what the returns on their investment would be when young men could trade their guns for jobs, when people could feed themselves again and when young women could become scientists and doctors. Emira Woods and Lisa VeneKlasen assess the contribution of women to politics in Africa.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf addressed a joint session of the US Congress recently. This historic honor, bestowed sparingly on international dignitaries, is a fitting tribute for Africa's first democratically elected female president. But Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is not an anomaly. The African political landscape is being reshaped by women, generating hope for the future of the continent and raising the bar for democracy worldwide.

Few in the US congress would have guessed that the country that leads the world in political gender balance is Rwanda, where women make up half of the members of parliament, a development that started in the mid-1990s. South Africa and Mozambique, also high on the list, are both countries with women composing more than 30 percent of their parliaments. This stands in stark contrast to the United States, where women make up only 15 percent of Congress.

African countries also have higher percentages of women in cabinet-level positions. In South Africa, 13 out of 28 are women, and in Rwanda there are nine women to 22 men. In the United States, there are only three women in President George W. Bush's 20-person cabinet.

One big factor in the rise of women's political power in Africa is affirmative action. Governments have set concrete targets for women's participation in political bodies. The newly formed Pan African Parliament has also implemented affirmative-action measures to ensure a minimum of 30 percent representation by women, all of whom have been elected to office in their countries.

But African women's rising power is measured not just in numbers. In Liberia, the same women who bore the brunt of the country's more than two decades of war are the ones leading the struggle for peace and carving out a new economic and political path.

It was the Liberian women who crossed class, ethnic and political lines to organize and sustain marches for peace and change over the past two years. Market sellers, students, farmers, professionals - women from all walks of life - marched daily in drenching rain and searing sun, often with their children on their backs, to demand the exit of their former leader, war criminal Charles Taylor, indicted by a special court in Sierra Leone, and to insist on an end to civil strife. Their efforts ushered in a period of peace that has now lasted more than 2 and a half years and opened the door to democracy.

After the election last November, when supporters of presidential candidate George Weah disputed the results and marched in the streets - again raising the specter of instability - it was women and leading religious leaders who engaged them in a dialogue and insisted on reconciliation and peace.

Of course, the real test for Africa's emerging female leaders is yet to come. Will they be able to translate leadership positions into a fresh agenda for peace, sustainable development and democracy in the region?

In the case of Liberia, the challenges are daunting. A fresh agenda would mean mending the social fabric torn apart by 25 years of crisis and chaos in which 250,000 people were killed. A Harvard-educated economist, Johnson-Sirleaf, who was sworn into office in January, should manage well a truth-and-reconciliation process that brings healing to a wounded society and holds key people responsible. A fresh agenda would also transform an economy that has relied on illicit activity for 14 years - trade in diamonds used to finance wars; stolen timber; "raped rubber"; and the flow of illegal arms - into an economy that brings productive activity for the now 85 percent unemployed.

The critical role of women in that society must be recognized by giving them equal inheritance and land rights to allow them to fully and wisely use resources for their families and communities.

The US Congress and the Bush administration should help give Liberia a chance at a fresh start by agreeing to cancel the country's external debts, accumulated under past dictatorships. Those debts, the equivalent of about 680 percent of the country's gross domestic product, undermine the capacity of the new government to tackle the problems of rising HIV/AIDS infection rates and a lack of functioning schools, electricity and other infrastructure. Thirty percent of that debt is owed to the United States, which should not only forgive its share but also encourage other nations to forgive theirs.

The US government should also use its leverage to ensure that US corporations operating in the country act responsibly, paying proper fees, taxes and wages, respecting labor rights and protecting the environment. For example, Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. is now taking advantage of deals made with a former caretaker Liberian government as well as the desperation of many poor Liberians to profit from operations that employ child labor, destroy the environment and violate other international standards.

There is much at stake for Liberia and the rest of Africa. But it's also a time to celebrate and support the region's newly emerging female leaders with a fresh agenda.

* Emira Woods, originally from Liberia, is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, based in Washington, D.C. Lisa VeneKlasen is director of Just Associates (JASS)

* Please send comments to

FEATURED: Can Zimbabwe be put back together again?
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Remembering the father of the Kenyan trade union movement
- Women on their way to the top of African decision making
- HIV/AIDS: Making a case for strong public health systems
LETTERS: Thanks from afar and on the IMF
BLOGGING AFRICA: Blog columnist Sokari Ekine wraps up the blogosphere
BOOKS AND ART:
- Children of Uganda, international touring dance and music troupe, reviewed
- Philanthropy in East Africa, by Connie Ngondi-Houghton, reviewed
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Explosion in Addis, calm in Mogadishu, new UN resolution on Darfur
HUMAN RIGHTS: Charles Taylor drama continues
WOMEN AND GENDER: South Africa rape trial dashes hopes for change
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Fuel alternatives for IDPs
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: News from Benin, Burundi, Chad, DRC, Kenya
DEVELOPMENT: WTO negotiations go underground
CORRUPTION: New report on corruption in health
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Ugandan musician uses tunes to tackle HIV/AIDS
RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA: Comparing Israeli apartheid and South African apartheid
ENVIRONMENT: Don’t sell suicide seeds, say activists
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Issues of land ownership, management and rights
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Concern in South Africa over coverage of Zuma trial
ADVOCACY AND CAMPAIGNS: Act now to end torture and displacement in Northern Uganda
PLUS: Internet and Technology; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, seminars and workshops; 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!

* Can trade in the era of globalisation be 'just'? Read our issue on the subject (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/240) and send your feedback to [email protected]

Every March for the last four years, Pambazuka News has carried articles describing the situation in Zimbabwe and looking at options for the future. In 2006, is there any hope for Zimbabwe? What do developments such as the split in the Movement for Democratic Change mean for the future of the country? Can Zimbabwe be put back together again?

Every year since 2000, Zimbabweans have wondered: “Will this be it, will this be the year when it all ends, when Humpty Dumpty finally totters off the wall?” And if it is, what will it mean for each one of us, and for the nation as a whole – healing, restoration and return to “normality”, or deepened chaos, insecurity and catastrophe? We listen to talk about elections in 2008 and 2010 and deep down nurture a hope that there will be no more ZANU PF elections. But even deeper down we fear that even if there aren’t, things will never come right again, not in our life-times, unless we are still very young.

Several years ago, as Zimbabwe left the gentler rapids and began its headlong rush towards the precipice, some people declared loudly that we had reached the bottom and could now only go up. How deluded they were. We then began to hear an unfamiliar word tossed around by commentators – “meltdown”. We couldn’t really imagine what this might be, having associated the term mainly with nuclear reactors. When they overheat they meltdown, self-destructing in a spectacular display, lethal to anyone in the vicinity. Is this what happens when an economy or an entire nation melts down? Is this the year in which we will find out?

Certainly we know that the multiple crises which embody Zimbabwe’s millennium experience are intensifying, making life barely livable for the majority of the population. The crises have engulfed the working world, the learning world, the consumer world, the world of the supermarket and even of sport. The economy limps along, agriculture crawling, tourism virtually defunct, manufacturing crippled, and mining, the one still flickering light of the economy, under recent assault from government policies. Electricity comes and goes at will, water likewise in many places; fuel supplies (black market only) are erratic and prices exploitative. Schools are places of confusion, teachers demoralized, pupils unable to afford textbooks if they manage to pay fees, and only finding bus fare for half the school days. Courts barely function, police cells are filthy putrid hell holes, prisons even worse. The Commissioner of Prisons admits the entire prison system has no drugs as they have been stolen before reaching the system; prisoners simply die for want of treatment. Hospitals have no doctors, no medicines; their mal-functioning mortuaries overflow and the stench from too many bodies wafts through into some of the wards. All government “services” are riddled with nepotism, incompetence and corruption.

Living conditions are abysmal, with several families crowded into most houses, even in low density areas, each taking a room and sharing cooking and bathing facilities. It is hardly surprising that skilled personnel flee the country, not only for greener pastures, but for the opportunity to function as genuine professionals.

Year-on-year inflation has just reached the official figure of 782%. Imagine the daily trauma suffered by the working father who realizes he cannot pay for medicine for his sick child, the student in his final year who cannot raise the 1000% increase in fees imposed mid-year, the pensioner forced to sell his possessions in order to eat. And what of the estimated 80% who do not work? A thriving informal sector in which hundreds of thousands of people managed to survive through trading, cottage industry, deal-making, and personal services, was wiped out in June and July by brutal police attacks. A large percentage of them also lost their homes in the assault on the urban poor. Although many have resurfaced, enormous numbers had their livelihoods destroyed and will not be able to recover. How do they live in the environment which defines Zimbabwe today? Many don’t, and die quietly of malnutrition, exposure, cholera, pneumonia and broken spirits.

Is this it? Is this meltdown? While this is the question occupying most Zimbabweans, the more interesting question to political analysts and observers is what various actors on the stage are doing about the situation. Is there any hope of a solution emerging from this complete disaster?

Most governments confronted with such a situation, whether of their own making or otherwise, would either resign or scramble frantically to find solutions, but the Zimbabwean government is doing nothing of the kind. While blaming everyone from white farmers to the British Prime Minister and crowing constantly about the “turn-around” of the economy, our current band of ministers are fully occupied by two major activities:

1. Amassing wealth. This is done simply by pursuing purely private interests while in government offices, or more obviously, using their government contacts and positions to secure for themselves contracts, housing and land to which they arrange access. Price controlled goods in short supply offer welcome opportunities to make black-market fortunes.

2. Staying in power. ZANU PF must stay in power for two reasons: one is clearly to continue appropriating the little remaining wealth of the country for their own personal use. The other is to avoid the inevitable unpleasant consequences of their past and present illegal activities, should another government take power.

But staying in power takes a lot of effort when economic collapse has made the people so clearly discontented and desperate. It requires energy and resources to be channeled not to solve the problems created, but to systems of control: police, army and youth militia need support; tens of thousands must be given benefits for infiltrating “opposition” organizations and informing on others. Patronage must be supplied to the multitude of individuals whose loyalty is purchased, including the uniformed forces. The electoral machinery must be manipulated to ensure victories for ZANU PF, no matter what the ballots say. Operations such as Murambatsvina to disorganize the urban masses divert resources from elsewhere.

A substantial portion of legislation over the past few years has been repressive in nature; the constitutional amendment number 17 effectively nationalised land and made possible the denial of passports; the only Bill which has passed Parliament this year is the Education Amendment Bill, a mean-spirited piece whose prime aim seems to be to control, and therefore no doubt destroy, private education. Newly announced is another Bill to legalise government interception of telephone, email and postal communications, a practice previously declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile are they doing anything about the economic meltdown? A lot of verbal energy is expended in insisting that the crisis either doesn’t exist, or exists only in the imaginations of “enemies”, or crowing about the “turn-around” which is taking place.

Gideon Gono, the only government official who ever in any way seems interested in solving the economic problems seems to be on a lonely road to nowhere. All his attempts to manipulate exchange rates, interest rates, prices, money supply, and the banking sector lead us round in circles like someone lost in the desert. Each time we return to where we started, with our resources further diminished. His attempts to re-engage the IMF by paying off the outstanding loan have back-fired, fuelling inflation further with the printing of trillions to buy forex on the black market. Of course it flopped as the IMF understood that with current policies the Zimbabwean economy is not going to revive, and no new loan could be negotiated. Currently, in spite of the announcement in November that price controls would be lifted and the dollar would be allowed to seek its own market-determined rate, we still have price controls and already by January the exchange rate was controlled. We have effectively returned to yet another failed policy.

The fact is, that as long as government is not able to restore productive activity and seriously tackle corruption, then the economy cannot be rescued. Inflation is not the number one enemy, it is merely a symptom, produced by both absence of production and corruption. Corruption cannot be tackled because it is the life-blood of the patronage system which keeps ZANU PF in power and production cannot be restored without major injections of foreign investment, impossible without a return to protected property rights sustained by the rule of law. Government is meanwhile hopelessly divided on whether to retreat from the brink.

It is not only the succession issue which has created open paralysing splits within ZANU PF: while Gono woos the IMF, Mugabe launches tirades against them. While Gono, backed by Msika, says no more farms must be invaded, Mutasa declares that all whites will be driven out. While Gono tries to accommodate the mining sector, the party floats legislation to effectively nationalize half the industry. Government appears to have check-mated itself. There is no longer a free square to move to.

The opposition has a golden opportunity to capitalize on ZANU PF’s paralysis and the people’s desperation and misery. But how? The normal election route has been closed by fraudulent manipulation. Calls for mass protests have in the past met with a poor response from the people. And the opposition itself is now paralysed by division.

Although MDC had enormous support through the early years of the decade, its failure to translate its mandate into success at the polls or to lead mass protests has made many people sceptical of its capacity to bring about “a new Zimbabwe”. Not surprisingly, the malaise led to a split in the party. Popular opinion describes the split as a policy dispute about participation in elections for the newly created senate; however, it reflected rather a dissatisfaction with the leadership style of the President, Morgan Tsvangirai, with the issue of the senate being merely the specific point at which the Gibson Sibanda group chose to take a stand.

What we have now is two versions of the MDC, which have held separate congresses. While one faction retained Tsvangirai, the other brought in a new personality, Arthur Mutambara, a well-known student leader of the 1980’s, to breathe new energy and perhaps new ideas into the struggle against ZANU PF. While Tsvangirai has clearly retained the loyalty of a larger percentage of the party members, both factions draw support from all parts of the country, belying the myth that this is a tribal split. It is sad, and inauspicious for the future, that those choosing to part ways with Tsvangirai’s leadership were viciously attacked as tribalists and sell-outs.

Intolerance of differences of opinion, resulting in insults and name calling, is a hallmark of ZANU PF politics, and it is alarming when opposition members in both factions begin doing the same. The position is not helped by the fact that both insist that they are the real MDC and are already battling over party assets. But the split itself does not necessarily mean that political opposition is hamstrung. If the two factions can get over the divorce and allow each other to go their separate ways with renewed vigour, it could even be a positive development if they desist from attacking and frustrating each other and get on with the real struggle.

It is unlikely that the two factions will reunite – probably the best that can be hoped for is that they agree to a loose alliance. In terms of policy, Tsvangirai has called once again for massive street demonstrations. Mutambara’s faction has not ruled out any activity which will bring down ZANU PF, and includes both elections and street protests within their possible tactics; however they are yet to show the public their true colours in terms of policy and capacity.

Many feel that now the time is ripe, and this time street protests may be successful. Since Tsvangirai has apparently abandoned national elections in spite of participating in some local government contests, he has staked his leadership on bringing people onto the streets. If he fails this time, he may not get another chance.

Some sections of civil society are also waking up to the desperation of the people and looking at ways to make a greater impact on government. The National Constitutional Assembly, Women of Zimbabwe Arise and the national students organisation are the only organizations that have so far succeeded in putting meaningful numbers in the streets to protest. But there are other stirrings. A new Christian Alliance has been formed from churches radicalized by the experience of tending to those affected by Murambatsvina; several meetings have taken place grouping various civic organizations and churches to find a collective way forward. If these combine with the efforts of both factions of the MDC, then perhaps a hitherto doubtful populace will come onto the streets in support.

And if they do? What is the mechanism whereby mass street protests lead to a collapse of the ZANU PF government? One of the reasons people have so far been reluctant is that they can’t envisage how mass protests will achieve their goals. Tsvangirai and others seem to believe that if masses of people get into the streets on a continuing basis, government will have no alternative but to capitulate and agree to a constitutional conference. A new constitution will be devised, followed by free and fair elections which will replace ZANU PF.

They are vague about the answers to important questions such as: What will make ZANU PF resign? Is power to be seized peacefully, and if so how and by whom? Who will be administering the country while the new constitution is written and elections organized? What legitimacy will any government have which is installed under such conditions? Is there a role for the international community?

All of this makes the assumption that ZANU PF will indeed give up. That is hugely unlikely. The government has given notice that it will crush any protests, and we have no reason not to believe them. Already we see signs everywhere of further repression – fake arms caches, road blocks searching for weapons everywhere, draft legislation to search our communications. ZANU PF will certainly fight.

To date there has indeed been harassment, arrests, torture and killings of opposition members. But to date there has not been any court conviction which has led to a lengthy term of imprisonment. Armed with new legislation with even stiffer penalties and new categories of illegal activity, if ZANU PF feels itself seriously threatened it will surely not hesitate to use every means to defend itself. As long as the police are prepared to arrest, the courts are prepared to refuse bail and to sentence, and police and army are prepared to use violence to suppress street demonstrations. Crushing of protests will be relatively easy for the government.

ZANU PF will only give up and run away in one circumstance: the law enforcement agents and soldiers on which they depend refuse orders to crush the protests. The economy can meltdown or blow up, but ZANU PF will only be defeated when meltdown strikes their own instruments of repression. Is this going to happen? We can’t yet know. The upper echelons of the services have been brought on board the ZANU PF train with the normal perks of patronage, especially farms, but there are signs of serious discontent in the lower ranks of the army and police, especially over their low salaries. How long will it take for the constables, the privates, the sergeants to decide that their interests are better served by listening to the people rather their bosses? No one knows, but when they do, that is when ZANU PF’s moment of truth will have arrived.

But supposing ZANU PF does give up the fight. That does not automatically mean the battle is won. The chaos of a collapse of government in the midst of economic meltdown and shortages of goods does not necessarily lead to the restoration of democratic practice. A disintegration of the law enforcement agencies would certainly lead to looting and lawlessness; who would restore order and how?

The army could easily fracture into rival factions or into gangs under political and military ZANU PF warlords who look after their own interests and live off the people. There is no magic wand to wave to ensure that pumpkins turn into coaches. We are in a very dangerous situation, and anyone calling for mass protests has the obligation to have a clear strategy for translating them into valid solutions. Certainly a concerted effort of all democratic forces is required, whether they be political parties, civic organizations or churches, but it will not be the easy walk to freedom that some would have us believe.

Once again we wait – wait to see what economic meltdown looks like and how many can survive it, wait to find out whether enough Zimbabweans are prepared to take to the streets to make their discontent known, wait for the inevitable intensified repression. And then wait to see what happens after that - a political meltdown to match the economic? A surrender by the government and turning over to some interim body to conduct new elections under a new constitution, or a fragmentation and disintegration into civil conflict?

The cracking of an egg does not always hatch a chick. Humpty Dumpty could not be put together again; perhaps Zimbabwe will not be so easy to put together again either. The tension of expectation is building as the people’s misery becomes unsustainable. Will this be the year, and if it is, will it hold hope for the future, or will we simply all fall down together?

* Mary Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean human rights activist.

* Please send comments to

* Previous editorials from Mary Ndlovu in Pambazuka News:

- Zimbabwe’s March: The struggle continues

- Zimbabwe’s March: Pambazuka News 105, 2003

The School of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), University of Leeds, brings to the attention of qualified graduates funding opportunities for postgraduate study in the fields of politics, international relations, development studies and European studies.

Restoring viable livelihoods is the single major challenge facing rural communities in post-war Angola. The communities in the municipalities of Conda, Ambuim, and Sumbe (CAS) in Kuanza Sul province are meeting this challenge. Given that land is the primary asset for rural households, access to land becomes, therefore, a fundamental imperative. The current land tenure systems offer both opportunities and constraints to the improvement of women’s and men’s rights to land. This research, which has been commissioned to review the dynamics of land tenure in the CAS area, its opportunities and risks, reveals a denial of land access rights to communal farmers, whose livelihoods are centred on land.

The African Diaspora Film Festival (ADFF) features the work of emerging and established filmmakers of color. Most important, ADFF distinguishes itself through its presentation of outstanding works that shine a different or comprehensive light on African Diaspora life and culture - no matter what the filmmaker’s race or nationality. Submission deadline for ADFF 2006: August 31, 2006 for feature length fiction films; June 30, 2006 for shorts and documentaries.

The world feels a little smaller when you watch Peru Negro. The group hails from Lima, but there's something Cuban in their drumbeats, something African in the way they whip the air with their hips and shoulders, even a bit of the American South in a body-slapping musical routine as near to the hambone as you'll see north of the Carolinas. What feels so familiar in Peru Negro's program, performed Thursday night at the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Center, is part of the mystery of the African diaspora, linking islands and continents and cultures in ways that resonate to this day.

"Looking Both Ways refers to the artists’ practice of looking at the psychic terrain between Africa and the West, a terrain of shifting physical contexts, emotional geographies, and aesthetic ambitions and expressions," said Laurie Ann Farrell, curator of Looking Both Ways, Museum of African Art, Long Island City, New York. "It attempts to provide insight into the Diaspora from an international perspective, revealing it through the art and stories of the artists themselves."

The following text is the prepared speech of Winnie Madikezela Mandela for her March 4 address to V103's Expo for Today's Black Woman held in Chicago, Illinois. "I feel greatly honored to have been invited to this august gathering. In his address to the 1900 Pan African Conference a prolific African American writer, scholar, and philosopher W.E.B. Du Bois declared the problem of the twentieth century 'as the problem of the colour line'. Indeed the 20th century has sharpened and deepened distinctions between the colonizers, the powerful, the wealthy, the developed and privileged on the one hand, and the colonized, powerless, poor, diseased, and the landless and disadvantaged on the other.”

The new Solo computer is being developed in partnership with a group of software designers based in Great Britain. It is designed to get around the many challenges of operating in Africa. It is very tiny, just like a single card from the motherboard of a regular PC and comes with all the same ports and connectors as a PC.

For the last 10 years Anna Ngabayena has been haunted by her past. The memories of the violence she encountered as a foot soldier in the African National Congress (ANC) struggle against apartheid have plagued both her dreams and waking life. In recent weeks things had begun to change, said Ngabayena, now 42 years old. She had just taken part in a unique rehabilitation programme run by the National Peace Accord Trust (NPAT), which uses the natural environment as a means of coming to terms with a turbulent past.

Three Burundian ministers representing the Front pour la democratie au Burundi (FRODEBU) in President Pierre Nkurunziza's government reported to work on Monday despite a directive by their party to pull out of government. Health Minister Barnabe Mbonimpa, Agriculture Minister Elie Buzoya and Environment Minister Odette Kayitesi have reportedly refused to comply with FRODEBU's directive to boycott their duties.

Benin is preparing to swear in a new leader, this after a former head of the West African Development Bank won the second round of presidential elections held earlier this month in the West African country. Results issued by the National Autonomous Electoral Commission showed that Boni Yayi garnered an overwhelming majority of votes: 74.51 percent. His challenger, attorney Adrien Houngbedji, received only 25.49 percent. This was reportedly the first time a presidential candidate had won by such a large margin.

An Israeli company is using the latest water-saving technology to grow fruit and vegetables in Angola, which imports much of its food after 27 years of civil war. A computer programme calculates the exact amounts of water needed, depending on temperature and humidity.

Reacting to reports that former Liberian president Charles Taylor has "escaped" from his home in Calabar, Nigeria, Amnesty International said "any country in which he is found has a responsibility to arrest and surrender Charles Taylor immediately to the Special Court in Sierra Leone." The organization said that the warrant for Charles Taylor's arrest issued by the Special Court, an international court, remains in effect, and that if he has left Nigeria he should now be considered an "international fugitive".

Refugees from Casamance living in Guinea-Bissau villages along the border with Senegal have suffered a great loss after soldiers of the Guinea-Bissau completely burnt their dwellings, reliable sources told PANA. The Guinea-Bissau soldiers had suspected the refugees to be conniving with rebels of the Movement of Casamance Democratic Forces (MFDC), loyal to Salif Sadio against whom the Bissau soldiers have been fighting during the past two weeks, according to the sources, some of which were contacted in Sao-Domingos.

"Accumulation by dispossession is about plundering, robbing other people of their rights. When we start to look at what has happened to the global economy for the past thirty years, a lot of that has been going on all over the place," says David Harvey, author of The New Imperialism, in this article. "In some instances, it is taking away peoples rights to dispose of their own resources, so you will find that there is resistance to that..." Read the full interview with David Harvey on his book The New Imperialsm by clicking on the URL provided.

Africa's profile has never been higher, says this article from The Heritage Foundation. During the past 12 months, the leaders of the G-8 agreed at Gleneagles to double aid to $50 billion by 2010, of which 50 percent would go to Africa. But more aid and debt relief is incumbent on improvements in African governance. How should Africa respond, and what is the best way for the continent to promote its own development?

The Public Protector, the Gender Commission and the South African Human Rights Commission have expressed concern over the conduct of Jacob Zuma supporters and media coverage of his rape trial, according to a report on the Mail & Guardian's website. The three bodies - all set up under Chapter Nine of the Constitution and referring to themselves as the C9s - said they met on Friday to discuss events around the trial.

A collective demand by editors-in-chief of Egyptian newspapers, media professors, and representatives of human rights organizations, to initiate a national campaign to end the possibility of imprisonment for publication offenses is finally being realized. University professors, members of the Higher Education Teaching Association, representatives from civil society, unions and political parties will participate in the campaign which is calling for the adoption of the draft law provided by the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate (EJS), annulling imprisonment sentences in opinion and publication cases.

The One World Trust is recognised as one of the leaders of the debate about the accountability of global organisations and is developing a new programme work in the area of global peace and security. We are looking for a new director who is able to consolidate the growth and develop the current work programme to increase the impact of the Trust. The successful candidate will offer the skills to meet the challenge of a role that encompasses a wide variety of work including further development of the organisation and its projects, fundraising, staff and financial management, and external relations/networking.

Egypt plans to lift 25-year-old emergency laws granting security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention that critics have long claimed are used against opponents of the regime. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif announced the move in a speech to parliament, saying the laws would be replaced by new anti-terror legislation in Egypt, which has witnessed a string of deadly attacks in recent years. Nazif said he had ordered the formation of a committee of experts to draft the new law, without saying when he expected it to come into force.

As the trade negotiations following the WTO conference in Hong Kong intensify, rich countries discuss many of the remaining issues in small and exclusive conferences. Focus on the Global South warns that these arrangements further undermine poor countries' ability to benefit from the Doha trade round. The publication also looks at the progress made to liberalize agricultural, non-agricultural and service markets.
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* NGO coalition calls for Paris Club debt negotiations to be moved to Africa

Within the next 100 years, the growing human influence on Earth's climate could lead to a long and irreversible rise in sea levels by eroding the planet's vast polar ice sheets, according to new observations and analysis by several teams of scientists. One team, using computer models of climate and ice, found that by about 2100, average temperatures could be four degrees higher than today and that over the coming centuries, the oceans could rise 13 to 20 feet - conditions last seen 129,000 years ago, between the last two ice ages.

CIVICUS is recruiting a Project Coordinator to initiate and coordinate CIVICUS’ involvement in various international networks. Besides managing the key activities of those networks, which are led by CIVICUS, the incumbent would also research potential further networking opportunities, monitor the development of civil society networks globally as well as design appropriate initiatives. The tasks involved under this job are managerial, conceptual as well as administrative.

This brief paper looks at the challenges of the traditional education management information system (EMIS) in meeting the need of providing information on the academic and financial performance of schools relative to other schools: expenses, resource use, education outcomes. This information is of particular importance to parents and community members, and/or local governments as a result of their increased governance and management authority of schools due to decentralised education systems.

Saving pandas, gorillas or tigers, often portrayed by critics of conservation as a trivial pursuit compared to the many other problems facing humanity, not only stops endangered species from going extinct but also helps reduce poverty and improves the lives of local communities in many parts of the world, says a new report by the World Wildlife Fund.

This paper aims to clarify risks leading to displacement, risk factors during displacement and risks that inhibit safe and sustainable return. The authors look at protection solutions in the context of displacement and in situations of return. Tools are presented for assessing risks and for identifying good field practices that reduce the risks displaced and returnee women and girls confront.

This report presents the situation of 1,172 human rights defenders oppressed, as well as obstacles to freedom of association in nearly 90 countries This publication is an opportunity to alert the international public opinion on the situation of these men and women who, in spite of the tremendous risks they face, persist in denouncing the human rights violations they have witnessed.

Undeterred by the hefty duty imposed on a consignment of sanitary pads donated to Zimbabwean women hit by rocketing prices, the country's labour federation plans to import them regularly. "We are going to bring the sanitary pads in every month, otherwise it is a pointless exercise," explained Wellington Chibebe, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). After an appeal on a South African radio station at the beginning of the year, the ZCTU collected 12 million pads in South Africa last month.