Pambazuka News 248: Zimbabwe: We all fall down
Pambazuka News 248: Zimbabwe: We all fall down
The International Bureau of Education, one of UNESCO’s specialized centres, has just launched a new redesigned and updated version of its “Country Dossiers” database. This tool makes it easier for users to access a wide range of educational data and resources that focus on curriculum in over 160 countries.
This publication analyses the institutional capacity to implement a 10-year education programme in Niger. It is an abridged version of a fuller evaluation report entitled “Analysis of institutional capacity to implement the 10-year Education Development Programme (PDDE) in the new context of international cooperation” in Niger.
The Forestry, Logging and Allied Workers' Union of Liberia (FLAWUL) has expressed its deep distaste with members of the National Transitional Legislative Assembly (NTLA) over what they called "a mortgaging of the future of the country." FLAWUL, in a release issued recently said: "The NTLA's passage of the bill of a Mineral Development Agreement (MDA) between the Liberian government and Mittal Steel was intended to benefit few officials at the detriment of the Liberian people."
The Academy for Educational Development (AED) seeks senior project managers for private health sector programs designed to increase the sustainable provision and use of quality “public health” products and services through the private and commercial sector in developing countries in East Africa and South Asia.
Connie Ngondi-Houghton
Allavida £10 (outside East Africa)
ISBN 1904167101
There is a dearth of literature on philanthropy in Africa, and this pioneering work on East Africa by Connie Ngondi-Houghton should be warmly welcomed. Ngondi-Houghton starts by looking at what is meant by the term philanthropy, arguing that it has to be understood in the context of the region and its history. She believes that there is an indigenous tradition of giving, ‘an economy of affection’, which has survived the turmoil of colonization, post-colonial compromises, and the devastating results of imposed neoliberal economic policies.
The book then deals at some length with formal philanthropy in the region as it is today. She considers some of the new initiatives such as the Africa Philanthropy Initiative, the East Africa Grantmakers Association, Allavida, the Centre for the Promotion of Philanthropy and Social Responsibility (Ufadhili) and Resource Alliance, many of them driven by non-indigenous institutions. The last two chapters focus on the challenges ahead for philanthropy in East Africa, chiefly the need to link institutionalized forms of philanthropy with the long-standing traditional forms. The final chapter provides a set of recommendations on future research that is needed.
The author’s central argument is that conventional (or Western) definitions of philanthropy have ignored the rich ‘traditional African spirit of community, reciprocity and mutual aid based on the philosophy of ubuntuism’. This spirit is, she argues, ‘the spring of philanthropy among the majority in East Africa’. Many of us working in the region recognize these many forms of generosity that inspire and refresh one’s belief in humanity. I had hoped that the book would at last provide me with documentary evidence to silence the sceptics and those who hold a narrow definition of philanthropy. Unfortunately, there is little data about the scale and impact of such practices. This is a shame as I think that its absence seriously weakens her thesis.
Ngondi-Houghton argues that philanthropy should be seen as something embracing a spectrum of social and individual activities. The opening chapter begins by asserting that philanthropy is a term encompassing activities ‘motivated by the love for humanity and human advancement, and targeted towards the ends of human survival, dignity and fulfilment of all people’. It begins, she says, with the act of giving. She goes on to draw a distinction between charity and philanthropy that I found particularly helpful. Charity, she says, ‘can ameliorate’, but philanthropy ‘seeks to root out causes of poverty, suffering and inequality … it inspires and promotes individual growth as it nourishes human welfare.’
This distinction, however, is lost sight of in the remainder of the book. Indeed, what she mainly writes about is charitable giving. As the book develops, she falls increasingly shy of defining what she means by philanthropy, offering instead examples of the activities it embraces, from microfinance to scout camps, from trade union solidarity to NGOs making money from providing services where the state has retrenched in response to externally driven economic policies.
‘Philanthropy should be what the people of East Africa say it is for them,’ she asserts. While this may be different to how the West would define philanthropy, neither the Western nor the African definition is superior. ‘When viewed this way,’ she says, ‘the issue of spectrum of models, and whether a model at one end of the spectrum better deserves the name philanthropy than one at the other end, ceases to be significant.’ But the issue is not, surely, an argument about the absolute or universal definition of the term philanthropy, but rather about whether the term is used consistently and in such a way that its meaning can be communicated with certainty to the reader.
That said, I found the book stimulated me to reflect on many issues about giving and philanthropy in the region. It could have been much longer, giving the author more space to develop and explain some of her ideas. As it stands, it is full of thought-provoking observations that give you only a taster of insights that, frustratingly, are not developed further. I would also have like to have seen much more information than was provided about philanthropy in Uganda and Tanzania – the book focuses overly on Kenya. Nevertheless, it represents a major milestone for the region, a sentinel starting point for the development of a much-needed literature on the subject.
* Firoze Manji is Executive Director of Fahamu and editor of Pambazuka News. He can be contacted at firoze (at) fahamu.org
This article first appeared in Alliance Volume 11 Number 1 March 2006
To order: Within East Africa, contact Allavida, Email [email][email protected]
Tel +254 020 310 526
Take action to end torture of internally displaced persons in Northern Uganda. Send an email or fax to the Ugandan government, your U.S. Congressional or European Union representative, or urge the United Nations Security Council, through Secretary General Kofi Annan, to immediately be seized of the issue of civilian protection in Northern Uganda.
A new report by the Refugee Law Project has urged the Ugandan government to demonstrate a strong commitment to ending the 20-year conflict in northern Uganda. The report has urged the rebels of the Lords Resistance Army, the perpetrators of the war "to stop their cowardly acts of attacking and killing innocent civilians and demonstrate a sincere commitment to a peace process." The insurgency by the rebels has left several people dead and abducted while 1.6 million are internally displaced.
Africa Action has welcomed the unanimous passage of a United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution requesting more rapid planning for a proposed UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur, Sudan. However, while the resolution recognized the need for greater urgency in the planning process, the Security Council has not yet committed to authorizing such a mission, and must now do so in the coming weeks. As conditions in Darfur continue to deteriorate, Africa Action emphasized the urgent need for a robust international force to be deployed to Darfur to complement and reinforce the African Union (AU) mission on the ground.
More than 900 refugees have fled to Kenya following the recent militia attacks in Somalia's capital Mogadishu. Security personnel deployed at the Kenya-Somalia border continued patrolling the area in a bid to control the influx.
North Eastern Province CID boss, Henry Ondiek, said 1,000 refugees had surrendered themselves at the Dadaab United Nations refugee camp in Garissa District.
Cabinet ministers in Kenya will soon sign annual performance contracts as part of civil service reforms. They will be assessed on responses to questions in Parliament, involvement in House business, adherence to budget allocations and general efficiency in service delivery. A draft of the contract, which has been prepared by the Office of the President's Cabinet office, says each minister's performance will be reviewed at the end of every financial year - on June 30.
Mr Avraham Neguise could make history by becoming the first Ethiopian Jew to be elected to the Knesset as Israelis go to the vote. Mr Neguise, who has spent most of his life fighting for the rights of Ethiopian Jews, is the leader of a party known as Atid Echad. It is fielding 10 candidates, five of them Ethiopian Jews. The others include Rabi Yechezkel Stezer, who lives in the US. This is the first time in the history of Israel for Ethiopian Jews to run for national political office. The 100,000 strong Ethiopian community face problems of discrimination in education and jobs and racism in Israel.
The African Union will have a 20,000-strong rapid response force in the next four years, an international meeting has been told. Regional blocs have already started assembling personnel for the unified force, said Major-General Ishaya Hassan, chief of general staff of the African Union brigade. "The brigade will then respond to African issues in an African way, since we know our complications better than any other outside brigades," he said.
According to an IRIN report, the Somali capital of Mogadishu was calm on Monday as a ceasefire that came into effect after four days of heavy militia fighting continued to hold, but hundreds of families who fled their homes were yet to return, local sources said. Most of the displaced families had been living in the city's northern outskirts where the fighting was concentrated. "For the second day, the guns are silent in Mogadishu. How long that will last is a different matter," a local resident who requested anonymity said on Monday.
At the Arab League summit in Khartoum, Arab leaders should endorse plans to transform promptly the African Union's mission in Darfur into a United Nations protection force, a coalition of international and Arab human rights organizations have said. In addition, Arab officials should encourage their Sudanese counterparts to accept the transition to a UN force. Arab League leaders will meet in the Sudanese capital for a two-day summit. On the agenda will be the AU proposal to turn the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) into a UN operation.
Women leaders in Kenya have vowed to seek top positions in all spheres. They unveiled the Kenya Women's Manifesto to guide them towards their goal. "We are prepared to take the risk of challenging the status quo and ready to face the complex challenges that accompany our aspiration to ascend to key positions of leadership, decision-making and development in a patriarchal society," said a statement issued to during a ceremony to launch the manifesto.
Uganda is highly credited for fighting HIV/Aids, however, a new report now says that infected pregnant mothers face the highest form of stigmatisation, discrimination and abuse. The rights report launched last Thursday by the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative documented several testimonies from Mama Club at Mulago Hospital in Kampala. Mama Club is a psychosocial support group formed by The Aids Support Organisation (Taso) to bring the HIV positive mothers together to fight stigmatisation and to complement the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) treatment offered to them.
More should be done to curb maternal deaths, which have continued to rise in Tanzania in the past decade despite efforts to reverse the trend, activists and officials have said. "It is a saddening reality, but still maternal deaths can be avoided," Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Tanzania's former president, told a rally held to commemorate women and girls who died due to childbirth and pregnancy complications. Citing Ministry of Health statistics, Mwinyi said maternal deaths increased from 529 out of every 100,000 birth in 1996 to 578 out of every 100,000 in 2005. "Such a level is very high and not acceptable," he said.
Tanzania is likely to take over the responsibility of prosecuting Rwandan genocide suspects whose trials under the current International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will not be completed by the year 2008. "The Tribunal's leadership has asked the Tanzanian government to complete prosecuting genocide suspects after its mandate," said Dr. Mary Nagu, Tanzanian minister of Justice in a telephone interview with Hirondelle News. The United Nations Security Council had directed the Tribunal to complete trials in the coming two years and appeal cases by 2010.
Kenyan students sit the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. Parents want secondary school students allowed to resit only subjects in which they fail instead of repeating a whole year. They say it is unfair of the Kenyan National Examination Council (Knec) to brand the students failures even when they had failed in one or two subjects in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). The secretary-general of the Kenya National Association of Parents said the current system of making students repeat Form Four was time wasting and demoralising to the candidates.
Among the more than one million people malaria kills annually are hundreds of thousands of children. Most are under age five, their immature immune systems failing to control the aggressive disease. The majority of these children are from the developing world. Almost 90 percent are from sub-Saharan Africa. Killing children is not all malaria does. Economically, malaria drains the wealth of nations and households. Recently W.H.O. reported that malaria costs Africa alone $12 billion a year.
The World Bank's trade programs may have helped open markets over the last two decades but they have not done enough to tackle poverty and boost growth in developing countries' exports, a study has found. An assessment by the institution's Independent Evaluation Group of $38 billion worth of trade programs between 1987-2004 said the bank did not pay enough attention to complimentary measures needed to cushion poor countries and help them adapt to the effects of trade liberalization.
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has hailed a 10-page investigative report focusing on corruption at the World Bank. The article 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.
I found the piece by Hetty Kovach on the IMF "interesting" in that it seemed to be trying to say the same thing that has been said many times (and we all need to hear about the IMF's economic and political machinations as often as possible) in a new way...and maybe there was some variation somewhere. (See
However, I also was left feeling rather exasperated by the absence of a more definitive political analysis of why the IMF has consistently sabotaged the societies of the Majority South - especially African societies ( Kovach used a lot of examples from Africa, especially Southern Africa).
Now that we know the how so well, how about the why. I don't think as many people know this part of the story, nor are there enough writers willing to say it.
Pambazuka News is the only way I can think of keeping well informed about African issues from this distance. Without such resources one tends to lose touch.
AZUR Development's mission is to provide leadership in the socio-cultural and economic development of the Congo and of Africa in general. AZUR Development is participating in the socio-cultural development of the Congo and of Africa in general. As an apolitical non-profit organization, it is a space for sustainable development created for the love of work: a space for growth and creativity for those who work there. Visit their website for more information.
As part of a joint, collaborative effort that includes research, a joint research masters degree programme, publications and dissemination, CODESRIA and the ASC have launched a series of conferences on research, documentation, publishing and dissemination in the context of the ITCs revolution.
This intensive 3 week training programme in human rights and media law with a focus on litigation and advocacy skills is run by PCMLP in collaboration with the Open Society Justice Initiative and other organisations.
Think Again! is the title of a new initiative that seeks to instill greater understanding and appreciation for Africa. This educational text-book, think-piece, and motivational force will supplement educational programs and curricula across high-schools and universities across the United States, cutting across boundaries and misconceptions of Africa.
Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared (but internationally unrecognised) state of Somaliland is bursting at the seams these days with former refugees who have come back to their country, but have nowhere to live but squalid settlements, often set up without permission on state or private land. At the same time, the city is booming thanks to other returnees who are bringing home their skills learned in exile, and quite often their money as well.
BarCampCapeTown is an idea is to bring the South African tech/geek/creative community together under one roof in the informal "un-conference" environment. Think of it as Open-Source conferencing, this is your conference, you present, you discuss, you attend, you spread the word.
The environment that surrounds refugee or internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, particularly in situations of ongoing conflict, is notoriously dangerous. Yet everyday, in hundreds of camps around the world, millions of women and girls venture out into this danger in order to collect enough firewood to cook for their families. The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children have initiated a project to investigate methods for reducing the vulnerability of displaced women and girls to gender-based violence during firewood collection.
A Dutch firm has filed a Sh2.7 billion claim against the Kenyan government over a contentious defence contract. At issue is a Sh3.2 billion military command facility in Nairobi, constructed and equipped over two years by Nedermar Technology BV of Netherlands. The facility was among 18 projects that were questioned by the Controller and Auditor-General. Former Ethics and Governance Permanent Secretary John Githongo ordered payments for some of them stopped.
Modern equipment has been installed in major laboratories countrywide to help detect possible cases of the deadly avian flu in Kenya. "Equipment in Nyeri, Kabete, Mariakani, Eldoret and Kericho laboratories have been improved to help in diagnosing the virus," said Nyanza deputy veterinary officer David Wekesa. He advised the public to be alert and report any suspected cases of avian flu to the nearest veterinary offices.
Kenya is just one of many developing countries worried about the growing loss of healthcare workers, who mainly migrate to industrialised nations, according to a Kenyan doctor, in an interview with the IPS. Most of Africa faces the same problem, which has led to an estimated shortage of around 820,000 doctors, nurses and other health workers throughout the continent.
Uganda has lost 26% of its forest cover in the last two decades, according to a report released last month by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). In the Global Forest Resources Assessment Report, FAO said the forest cover had reduced from 4,924 million hectares in 1990 to 3,627 million in 2005. Uganda's forest cover is estimated at 24% of the land cover and is likely to decline with increasing population that relies on agriculture for survival.
A recent agreement by the seven countries of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to establish a regional emergency fund involving the private sector to fight famine in the Horn of Africa is historic. The decision is significant in that it represents the first time the countries are involving the private sector on a regional scale to fight famine. It also signifies a turning point for Igad: a realisation that Africa cannot attain food security without tackling the root causes of famine - political turmoil, civil strife and war that have made a continent that was an exporter of food 50 years ago unable to feed itself.
* Related Link
2.5 million people affected by drought
Depending on where you stand, you can be elated by Sudan's recent developments, or depressed by its flaws. With an annual economic growth of 7.2 per cent, it is currently one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. But the good tidings are only visible in its capital city, Khartoum. Beyond is a different twist of neglect, want and deprivation. By December last year, over 2.7 million people were still in need of external food aid in Darfur and vast parts of Southern Sudan. "The major sufferers in all these are women and children," says Neil Turner, Programme director with the Save the Children UK's Southern Sudan project.
A commission of inquiry has grilled Uganda's health ministers over a corruption scandal that NGOs say prevented donor money from reaching the severely sick. The commission investigating the suspension of funding worth hundreds of millions of dollars by the Global Fund for AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis has quizzed 130 Ugandan government officials and members of civil society over allegations of financial mismanagement and nepotism.
More Congolese are still crossing into the western Uganda border districts following the fighting in DR Congo. Congolese have since last year fled to Kisoro, Kanungu, Kasese, Bundibugyo and Hoima districts. The latest spill over has been in Hoima through Lake Albert, which is shared between Uganda and DR Congo.
Samite is a Ugandan singer and instrumentalist who uses his music to reach former child soldiers in the country and encourage them to be tested for HIV. National Public Radio reports that Samite is using his music to reach child soldiers and refugees - many of whom are HIV-positive - by gaining their trust and encouraging them to talk with him.
Three people have died and nine others admitted to hospital following a cholera outbreak on Tanzania's semiautonomous Island of Zanzibar, government officials said on Friday. The deaths occurred in Pemba Island, a sister island of the mainland of Unguja Island that forms Zanzibar. By Friday nine patients had been admitted to the cholera special centre, two in critical condition, Zanzibar's minister of health and social welfare, Sultan Mohamed Mugheiry, told a news conference in Stone Town, the Zanzibar capital.
This Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) brief assesses directions for novel and nuanced peace initiatives. It points out that in order for any peace initiative to progress, the various actors at the national, regional and international levels need to demonstrate the political will and capacity to transform the continent from conflicts and social instability to peace and prosperity.
A study on the accuracy of the free online resource Wikipedia by the prestigious journal Nature has been described as "fatally flawed". The report, published in December last year, compared the accuracy of online offerings from Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia. Nature found that both were about as accurate as each other on science.
The Global corruption report 2006 documents corruption on a vast scale in both rich and poor countries, and its enormous cost to public health, reports the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation. "Each year hundreds of billions of dollars are siphoned from the world's US$ 3.1 trillion annual health spending into private pockets, according to the report published on 1 February. The Global corruption report, now in its sixth edition, draws attention each year to corruption in a particular industry or sector as well as providing a broader overview of corruption across the world."
Anti-corruption treaties are the key to getting back monies stolen from African countries, such as an estimated $10 billion embezzled by former presidents Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and Sanni Abacha in Nigeria, according to a high-level West Africa Regional workshop organised by Transparency International (TI), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the South African Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
This program is a unique gathering of journalists, photographers, marketing and public relations students who will gather in Uganda to address the misconceptions about Africa in the media. The Immersion will facilitate discussion; promote the exchange of ideas and solutions; and interact with key decision makers in Uganda about the challenges and creative solutions facing Uganda.
During the 2006-2007 academic year, the University for Peace will be providing Master's programmes in the following areas:
- Environmental Security and Peace (scholarships available)
- Gender and Peace Building
- International Law and Human Rights
- International Law and the Settlement of Disputes
- International Peace Studies
- Media, Conflict and Peace Studies (New)
- Natural Resources and Sustainable Development
- Peace Education (scholarships available)
Admission requirements, online application and detailed information about each programme are available through the link provided.
Nigeria has just completed it’s latest census which does not include religion or ethnicity. Naijablog (http://naijablog.blogspot.com/2006/03/on-nigerian-languages-ethnicities-...) wonders exactly how many languages are spoken in Nigeria as depending on your source, the numbers differ. The number ranges from 250 to 500.
“The World Bank and the UN like to suggest 250 in the documents I've seen, but I heard once that there are something like 200 languages in Niger State alone. According to the Index of Nigerian Languages (Crozier & Blench 1992) there are 500 languages. I've scoured the internet and found very little of substance. There are 478 languages listed here (helpfully categorised into language group) from Abanyom to Zumbun.”
He adds that because the census does not include ethnicity, we will never know how many “living sustaining” ethnic groups there are and which ones if any are endangered.
Thea keeps painting the planet (http://thea.nomadlife.org/2006/03/welcome-to-sudan.html) asks if Sudan is an “African” or an “Arab” state:
“Sudan is both in the Arab League and in the African Union…however it is more Arab than Ethiopia, and more African than Libya…Sudan is on the border line…I don't think I could call it an Arab State, and I however find it hard to call it an African country.”
Not quite sure how Sudan is more Arab than Ethiopia or more African than Libya. Without defining either – which would be a highly complex and extended task – I think this statement is meaningless and does nothing to enhance our understanding of what is either Arab or Africa. Sudan is an African country as is Libya. It falls within the boundary of the continental mass known as Africa consisting of people who are African. Sudan’s membership of the Arab League is based on the Northern Sudanese elite who speak “Arabic” as their first language. The people of Sudan are diverse in terms of their religion, language, identity and ethnicity.
Continuing with Sudan and the Arab League issue - Rantings of a Sandmonkey (http://www.sandmonkey.org/2006/03/27/the-arab-league-useless-wankers) comments on why the summit was held in Khartoum given the atrocities committed in the Darfur region. He also comments on the discussions and Arab League reactions to Hamas and Israel.
“First they all agreed that in order to oppose the western zionist hegemony they will pledge aid to the Hamas Palestinian government with an amount that is 1/3 what that government needs in order to oppose the western Zionist hegemony. What about the other 2/3 you league of Arab nationality heroes? Ehh, don’t ask us. It’s not like we are Arab countries with tons of money or anything.”
With regards to Israel, the Arab League rejected Israel’s decision to unilaterally draw its own borders. He writes that the Arab League rejection is meaningless since they will not or cannot do anything about it so he concludes that the idea of “pan-arabism” is dead.
And while you are at it, shut the Arab League down as well. It’s a waste of time and money, and it does nothing. It’s time to kill it.”
The Moor Next Door (http://wahdah.blogspot.com/2006/03/jews-and-christians-in-algeria.html) discusses the history of religions in Algeria from paganism, to Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
“The original North Africans in ancient times, who were almost entirely Berbers, worshiped a pantheon of gods, which over time became influenced by Greek, Phoenician/Carthaginian, Egyptian, Latin and other traditions. All other religions in Algeria came entirely from elsewhere, the main imports being Judaism (which came after the Jews had been expelled from Judea and were dispersed into various areas of the Roman Empire following the Jewish-Roman Wars), Christianity (that came by way of Roman missionaries and settlers), and of course Islam (which came by way of the Arab invasion and the missionaries that followed.”
Jangbalajugbu Homeland Stories (http://www.edwardpopoola.com/blog/?p=63) discusses the role of information technology in the future of Africa.
“Getting technology into the continent means giving Africans a taste of affordable and fast internet access, affordable computer systems (more than the $100 laptop), more telecommunications infrastructures and a fair share of appropriate news coverage by the world media…These will bring a remarkable growth in development. While an affordable internet would increase African content on the internet, availability of computers will facilitate the development of the young African, marginalized right now because of his inability to afford a PC, telecommunication infrastructures will attract more investors to the continent.”
Black Looks (http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2006/03/_it_is_that_tim.html) posts a roundup of blogs by African women over the past week. Topics range from the trial of Jacob Zuma and the daily pro-Zuma demonstrations by women against the complainant; how American women can learn from African women; and poems on homesickness in the Diaspora.
* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks,
* Please send comments to [email protected]
Pambazuka News 247: Turning on the taps
Pambazuka News 247: Turning on the taps
One in five people in the world now lacks access to clean water and 40 per cent do not have basic sanitation. Water, the most precious global resource, is the subject of World Water Day on March 22, which was preceded by the World Water Forum, held between 16-22 March, where officials from 140 countries met to discuss how to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. Patrick Bond discusses the “water wars” – the battle by activists against the global trend that seeks to turn the delivery of water into a commercial enterprise.
On March 16 in Mexico City, thousands of grassroots water warriors marched against an equivalent number of establishment delegates from governments, corporations and international agencies at the World Water Forum.
The activists, opposed to what they term the 'commodification' of water, were stopped a kilometer away from their establishment opponents. But as the Washington Post reported, 'Youths in ski masks attacked journalists and fought with police, smashing a patrol car and hurling rocks during largely peaceful Water Forum protests involving about 10,000 marchers.'
The Post continued, 'Many of the battles over water in Mexico don't involve people who would otherwise be considered radicals. Those on the front lines are residents of low-income neighbourhoods in Mexico City who get in fistfights over water-truck deliveries, or housewives who can no longer stand the stink of untreated sewage flowing beside their homes. And then there are the Indian families whose crops are ruined by the diversion of water to feed a nearby city, while their children go without safe drinking water.'
Here in South Africa, there are millions who can tell stories of water 'delivery drought'. Rural areas are under-serviced due to lack of operating subsidies which mean that a large percentage of taps installed in the post-apartheid era are now dry. And for those lucky to be on municipal water grids, mass disconnections due to unaffordability affect more than 1.5 million South Africans each year, even the government admits.
According to Desmond D'Sa of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, 'Across the metro, low-income people and even whole blocks of flats are having trouble paying their rates, and quite a few have had their water cut off recently. I've negotiated for some reconnections, but the amounts outstanding are vast. People simply can't afford the rates. Council is even reneging on a pre-election promise to write off arrears.'
Water warriors here also decry the new 'pre-paid meter' technology that leads to self-disconnection. Conlog, a firm directed by the late ANC leader Joe Modise once he retired as minister of defense in 1999, is manufacturing these devices, which Johannesburg activists backed by the Freedom of Expression Institute will argue in court next month are unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, Conlog is installing them across the African continent. Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee activists have taken the lead in ripping out pre-paid meters - both water and electricity - and periodically marching to municipal offices to trash the hated technology.
And as part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development, with its focus on public-private infrastructure partnerships, state-owned Rand Water - which supplies bulk water to Johannesburg - is helping a Dutch company and the World Bank privatise water in Accra, Ghana. That country's National Coalition Against the Privatisation of Water is already in close contact with the Johannesburg Anti-Privatisation Forum, helping coordinate protests.
The highest profile citizens' campaign against commodified water was in Bolivia six years ago, when the people of the third-largest city, Cochabamba, fought the US firm Bechtel, backed by the World Bank. As of two months ago, the new Bolivian water minister in Evo Morales' indigenous-led government is Abel Mamani, a neighbourhood activist veteran of another water war, in El Alto, who cut his teeth battling the French water company Suez.
Mamani made five points in a speech last week:
* Water is a fundamental human right and a pre-requisite to the realization of other human rights;
* Water belongs to the earth and all living beings including human beings and it is the duty of everyone to protect access to water for all forms of life and for the earth itself;
* Water is a public good and therefore its management needs to be in a sphere that is public, social, community-based, participative and not based on profit;
* Water should not be privatised and should be withdrawn from all free trade and investment agreements; and
* There should be profound change in the organization of the World Water Forum to allow majority and decisive participation in the negotiations by the poorest and those who most need water.
Bolivia is just one of the sites where the balance of forces has shifted left; other major battles - not always victorious - have been fought in Manila, Jakarta and Detroit. Biwater was kicked out of Dar es Salaam last year, to the regret of its advisor, the Adam Smith Institute, funded by British taxpayers.
Civil society movements and governments have forced Suez to retreat from major cities ranging from Atlanta to Buenos Aires to Montevideo in recent months. The firm's bid to retain the Johannesburg Water contract for another 25 years will be considered by council in June, but after mass protests in Soweto, Orange Farm and other townships, is by no means secure.
The goals of progressive civil society activists, generally, are 'decommodification' of water, improved access by poor people, better conditions for water workers, and more appropriate eco-management of water. The latter should include penalties for hedonistic consumption.
Additional campaigns are waged against megadams, inappropriate irrigation, fish destocking, water pollution, bulk water diversions, bottled water, abuse of water by golf courses and extractive firms like Coca Cola and Nestle, and looming water scarcity. On one crucial battleground, control of water by the World Trade Organisation, activists appear to have just won, by exempting water from the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services.
As the Mexico confrontation shows, protesters are linking up with vigour. Back in 1992, after the Rio Earth Summit and a Dublin water conference that both advanced the principle that water is 'an economic good', privatisation began in earnest. Within a few years, a broad-based international front of community, consumer, environmental and labour organisations emerged to fight back.
The formal privatisation of water slowed during the late 1990s, in part because it became so difficult for the big British, French, German, Spanish and US firms to realise profits across the Third World, not least thanks to rising social resistance. Nevertheless, municipalities and water supply agencies are still being pressured by the World Bank to adopt commercial principles, including pricing water high enough to at least cover operating/maintenance costs, at a time of declining subsidies.
No one disputes that with at least 2.6 billion people lacking adequate sanitation and 1.1 billion lacking access to improved water sources, there is an urgent need for dramatic improvements in investment, management and affordability. Third World states shrunk during the past quarter-century of sustained structural adjustment, addled by debt payment outflows, capital flight and foreign aid cutbacks. So the resources required for water and sanitation cannot often be found.
Still, the primary strategy adopted by water advocates has been to defend the state as the key institution for delivering water. There are vast problems with relying on state agencies (whether national or municipal), yet in most societies it remains the institution which can best redistribute and organise resources.
Some water-delivery NGOs such as WaterAid, members of Freshwater Action Network or South Africa's Mvula Trust do find themselves occasionally accused of betraying mass popular movement sentiments over water prices, standards and institutional delivery systems. While expanded community control is generally an objective of progressive activists, a primary concern is that decentralization should not replace a serious state commitment to subsidizing poor people's water. Unlike what most NGOs can provide, an operative state's grid service is more likely to offer purified, high-pressure water in sufficient quantities to serve gender equity, public health and other broader eco-social goals.
Critics argue that some NGO interventions lubricate neoliberalism, because installing inadequate collective tap systems - usually without sufficient sanitation - contributes to further state shrinkage. The general trend towards private outsourcing, including some examples of NGO delivery, has been destructive, because standards are lower, prices are higher, disconnections are more common, maintenance is worse and accountability is harder to establish.
The struggles against commodified water often erupt on global platforms, such as the triannual World Water Forum - at The Hague in 2000, Kyoto in 2003 and Mexico City in 2006 - and related meetings of the water establishment such as WTO summits. There, activists have battled a series of enemies:
* the Global Water Partnership (created by the World Bank, UN Development Programme and Swedish aid);
* the Marseilles-based World Water Council (founded by Suez, Canadian aid and the Egyptian government and joined by 300 private companies, government ministries, and international organisations);
* the International Private Water Association (privatisation firms plus the World Bank, US Credit Export Agency and Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development);
* the World Bank itself (which in $20 billion worth of 1990s water projects imposed privatisation as a loan condition in a third of the transactions);
* Mikhael Gorbachev's Green Cross (in ongoing dispute with Council of Canadians over global-scale water rights and property rights in the UN);
* Aquafed (a federation set up by a former Suez managing director); and
* the World Panel on Financing Infrastructure.
The latter was chaired by former IMF managing director Michel Camdessus during 2002-03, with major multilateral development banks, Citibank, Lazard Freres, the US Ex-Im Bank, private water companies (Suez, Thames Water), state elites (from Egypt, France, Ivory Coast, Mexico, and Pakistan) and two NGOs (Transparency International and WaterAid). It proposed much greater amounts of public subsidies for privatisers, via a risk insurance mechanism to safeguard companies like Suez against currency crises which devastated the firm's Argentina operations after 2001.
Some of the strongest critics of neoliberal water policies are citizens'/consumers' organisations (especially the Council of Canadians in Ottawa and Public Citizen in Washington); trade unions (Public Services International and their affiliates); indigenous people's movements; environmental groups (led by the International Rivers Network and Friends of the Earth); and think-tanks (e.g., the PSI Research Unit at Greenwich University, Polaris in Ottawa, the TransNational Institute in Amsterdam, the Agriculture and Trade Policy Center in Minneapolis, the Municipal Services Project in South African and Canadian universities, Parivartan and the Centre for Science and the Environment in New Delhi, Food and Water Watch in Washington, and the International Forum on Globalization in San Francisco).
From the struggles have emerged inspiring leaders, intellectuals and politicians, including Accra campaigners Rudolf Amenga-Etego (who was awarded the 2004 Goldman environmental prize) and Alhassan Adam, Canadians Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke (who won the 2005 Right Livelihood Award) and writer Varda Burstein, Paris-based Danielle Mitterrand, Cochabamba movement leader Oscar Olivera, Washington-based water watchdogs Maj Fiil-Flynn and Sara Grusky, Olivier Hoedeman and Satoko Kishimoto of 'Reclaiming Public Water' at the Transnational Institute, filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman, European campaigner Ricardo Petrello, anti-dam strategists Paddy McCully and Lori Pottinger, and extraordinary Indian women like Sunita Narrain, Medha Patkar, Arundhati Roy, Vandana Shiva and Shiney Varghese. South Africans who are well-known internationally include Bryan Ashe and Lianne Greef of the SA Water Caucus, Dale McKinley of the national Campaign Against Water Privatisation, Wits sociology researcher Ebrahim Harvey, Anil Naidoo (based in Ottawa), trade unionist Roger Ronnie, and Sowetans Trevor Ngwane and Virginia Setshedi.
The World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, as well as regional Social Fora, have provided spaces for water activist assemblies during the early 2000s. Email listserves such as 'water warriors', 'reclaiming public water' and 'right to water' permit information exchange and coordination. A People's World Water Forum was held in Delhi two years ago, preceded by the 2001 'Blue Planet' conference in Vancouver, as well as periodic European gatherings.
Because the water movements have generated superb examples of cooperation across borders, campaigns against commodified services will continue to serve as a model for global civil society. If in the short-term here in South Africa activists can reconnect water to Durban's poor and working people and disconnect Suez from Johannesburg and Rand Water from Accra, over the longer-term, the world desperately needs to link their visions, programmes and projects to similar processes, in the next set of 21st century water wars.
* Patrick Bond (pbond (at) mail.ngo.za) is based at the Centre for Civil Society,
* Please send comments to [email protected]
Two million civilians have been driven from their homes by 20 years of armed conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government in Northern Uganda. Human Rights Focus (HURIFO) and WITNESS have co-produced "Between Two Fires: Torture and Displacement in Northern Uganda" to address the issue of torture committed against the IDP communities of Northern Uganda. The video advocates for official acknowledgement of these abuses, redress for torture victims, and strengthened national mechanisms against the use of torture. In this interview with Pambazuka News, James Otto, director of Human Rights Focus (HURIFO) and Hakima Abbas, Program Coordinator for Africa and Middle East, answer questions about the video and the situation in Northern Uganda. The video is part of a wider advocacy project. Anyone interested in participating can sign a Witness Rights Alert by visiting
Pambazuka News: What is the goal of HURIFO and WITNESS in producing "Between Two Fires: Torture and Displacement in Northern Uganda"? How can the film contribute to strengthening human rights mechanisms?
Human Rights Focus (HURIFO) and WITNESS produced "Between Two Fires" to tell the, as yet untold, story of torture survivors in Northern Uganda. The goals of the film are to engage the government of Uganda and the international community to create change for the displaced communities of the North. The video advocates for official acknowledgement of these abuses, redress for victims of torture and the strengthening of national mechanisms to end the use of torture. The film can contribute to ending these abuses by telling the personal stories of survivors and bringing their voices to the attention of decision makers globally.
All the footage was filmed by human rights defenders from HURIFO who were trained in the use of video advocacy and technical aspects of filmmaking by WITNESS. The video was launched at an event on March 8th – International Women's Day – at United Nations headquarters. The event was attended by civil society organizations and international decision makers, including representation by the Ugandan mission to the United Nations. In addition, to reaching such audiences, it is hoped that the video will also create change by galvanizing debate and mobilizing global communities to take concrete action on the issue. Notably, citizens from around the world can take action through the on-line call to action, Rights Alert, featured at www.witness.org We urge all Pambazuka News readers to Act Now to end these abuses.
Pambazuka News: What are the voices featured in the film - the survivors of these rights abuses - saying?
The survivors of torture are sharing their experiences of torture and other ill treatment. They share their sense of being trapped between the abuses committed by the rebels, their "children in the bush", and the army that has been deployed ostensibly for their protection. A common thread of abuse throughout "Between Two Fires" is the use of sexual violence perpetrated upon men and women alike. The survivors themselves appeal to the national government to create mechanisms for accountability for victims so as to end the impunity which reigns in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. These survivors have found the fortitude to empower themselves; seeking redress within the system and calling on other victims to also speak out about abuses.
Pambazuka News: The film seeks to address national mechanisms against human rights abuses. Which mechanisms are not in place that should be?
Within Ugandan national statutes, torture is not defined or criminalized. This must be a priority moving forward. In addition, access to justice and redress is practically non-existent for IDPs in Northern Uganda. There is currently no presiding high court judge in the region. While the National Human Rights Commission has the potential of being a powerful entity for the promotion and protection of human rights in Uganda, it does not have the human or financial resources to deal with the number of cases in the North. Currently the Commission faces a backlog of some 2-3 years of cases. So, what we are seeking is that the government and the international community prioritize the rebuilding of national justice mechanisms in Northern Uganda and strengthen national legislation to end the use of torture throughout the country.
Pambazuka News: What are the survivors of this conflict calling for in terms of redress?
The survivors are calling for some form of reparation, in the form of compensation but also in the form of official acknowledgment of these abuses. After twenty years of conflict, having been removed from their land and being the victims of human rights violations, the displaced communities find themselves longing for peace and to return to their homes. Immediately after the recent presidential elections that re-instated President Museveni to power, the Ugandan government announced that the IDP community will be resettled within the current year. This brings a sense of relief to the community. But obviously, this is not where the story will end. Once the communities are resettled and given the socio-economic tools to rebuild their lives, they will also have to deal with the psychological trauma of their experiences. Compensation and acknowledgement leading to prosecution of perpetrators will restore some of the trust between the community and the government.
Pambazuka News: What are the implications of the official acknowledgement of this abuse?
The government and military have pursued a policy of denial of abuses. This denial has eroded the trust between the community and the government, as was apparent in the 'protest vote' results of February 23. Yet, official acknowledgement is a form of redress, a small step toward restoring dignity and a sense of empowerment for survivors of abuses. We witnessed in Rwanda the power of this acknowledgment, and of apology, in the post-genocide reconciliation effort. In Uganda, with acknowledgement we hope action will also come. As the government ends the silence around these abuses, they will be compelled to act to strengthen national mechanisms to end these abuses, thus preventing future violations.
Pambazuka News: The International Criminal Court has recently set out a warrant for the arrest of top leaders of the LRA . What are the implications of this?
In the wake of issuance of arrest warrants for top LRA leaders, the violence against civilians increased. Notably, the LRA targeted foreigners present in the North which resulted in the withdrawal of certain humanitarian agencies from the region. Obviously this has devastating effects on a population that is reliant on aid. Many thus implore the timing of the ICC arrest warrants, while acknowledging the importance of the Court in the global context. What we are seeking in the advocacy around "Between Two Fires" is in conformity with the complementarity principle of the ICC. So that, while the ICC will investigate and prosecute perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the highest level, we are seeking the strengthening of national mechanisms to tackle the abuses in Northern Uganda. Indeed, we believe that the ICC will not be successful in restoring a sense of justice and reconciliation in Northern Uganda unless there is also a parallel strengthening of national mechanisms to end the abuses committed against IDPs.
Pambazuka News: The rights abuses in Northern Uganda are atrocious. Over a million and a half people are displaced and living in camps where the UPDF are in fact raping and killing these IDPs. Over thirty thousand children are at risk of being kidnapped by the LRA for recruitment as soldiers, and are thus commuting nightly to safe haven, where they face less risk of being kidnapped. What is being done to protect the citizens of Northern Uganda, and who is responsible for their safety?
As in any State, the government is and should be, responsible for ensuring the safety of civilians. In this instance, the government has pursued a military tactic to end the rebellion by the Lord's Resistance Army, yet has not succeeded in ensuring the safety of the nearly two million Internally Displaced Persons in the North. The Acholi population was moved into camps ostensibly to ensure their protection from LRA attack. Yet, the camps themselves became easy target for attack by the LRA – attacks that include widespread rape, murder, maiming and the abduction of some forty thousand children forcibly recruited into LRA ranks. In addition to the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the LRA, the civilian population has been subjected to violations of human rights committed by the UPDF themselves. Protection remains an important issue that needs to be addressed in the North.
Pambazuka News: Uganda recently saw the re-election of President Yoweri Museveni after he changed the constitution to allow a third presidential term. What do these elections mean for the conflict in Northern Uganda? Is the government of Museveni part and parcel of the problem? What needs to happen in order for this situation to change, at a governmental level?
The outcome of the recently concluded Presidential and Parliamentary elections sent a strong message to which the President must respond positively. North and North East of the River Nile, nearly all opposition politicians were voted in as members of parliament to the 8th Parliament and President Museveni was given only 13% of the votes in his seemingly limitless term as the country's President. The protest vote, which was premised on the plight of the IDP's quest for peace and a return to their homes, has had a politically devastating effect. To provide hope and perhaps the first step in the march towards nation building, President Museveni needs to abandon the winner takes all practice characteristic of these elections.
Beyond the elections, the situation in the North persists and must be addressed by both the Ugandan government and the international community. In our advocacy around "Between Two Fires" we urge specific changes in policy and practice at the national level and in the international arena where we feel there is some leverage on the human rights landscape of Uganda. The personal stories of survivors of torture will be disseminated widely and heard for the first time directly from the source through this film. We hope that this voice will catalyze the international community and the government to make the necessary changes, which are small steps foward to the peace and respect for human rights so yearned for in the North.
* HURIFO's website is www.humanrightsuganda.org Copies of "Between Two Fires" can be ordered from [email][email protected]
* Please send comments to [email protected]
Across Europe, African football players face weekly abuse from fans chanting racial insults. In Russia, racial attitudes have extended beyond the football pitch to include violent attacks against Africans, some of which have resulted in death. With International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/racial/) marked this week, Pambazuka News interviewed Nassor Said Ali, co founder and leader of the St. Petersburg African Union, which has been working to support the victims of race-based violence in Russia.
Pambazuka News: Who are the African people that live in Russia? What are the attitudes towards African people in Russia and why do these attitudes exist?
Nassor Said Ali: Most of the African population currently living in Russia is comprised of students. There are also a number of graduates who, for one reason or another have been unable to leave and fall into the trap of the Russian legal system where they face restrictions on their residential status and the inability to gain work permits. In addition, there is a small population of illegal immigrants, as well as legitimate residents. There are also children from mixed Afro-Russian families – in many cases, these children face discrimination and some are deserted in state orphanages.
African people in Russia are increasingly finding themselves living in fear of being the object of increasing racial attacks. Africans believe that these attacks are part and parcel of a prejudice towards them due to a lack of information about Africa and any culture alien to Russia. Aliou Tunkara, head of the St. Petersburg African Union, an organisation dedicated to helping Africans in Russia, argues that "Russian racism comes out of the social misconception that we are people from another planet abusing the generosity of the Russian people by turning into criminals and drug dealers."
Pambazuka News: What is St Petersburg African Union doing to combat racism and support those who are affected by it?
Nassor Said Ali: The African Union has embarked on an awareness raising campaign. After a round table session on interethnic and interracial relations, attended by St. Petersburg's city administration, migration and political authorities, as well as a number of local NGO's, specific mutual terms were reached with local law enforcement authorities. The outcome included the decision to conduct lectures and discussions concerning Africa as a continent with cultural, geographical, economic and historical diversity to be held with police academies and schools. This was done with the hope of fighting racism and xenophobia. The African Union has also been active in raising awareness of these issues in more public ways – street demonstrations and numerous media interventions.
Pambazuka News: Are local authorities active in supporting anti-racist views, or do they in fact actually contribute to the views that many people hold?
Nassor Said Ali: While the African Union has been able to collaborate with government and police departments, they have also encountered problems at this level. A sociological survey among Africans in the city found that authorities have been indifferent to racist attitudes, or are even permissive in some cases.
Indeed, some police officials have been dismissive of the cases in which African people have been attacked or killed, arguing that the victims have been connected to the "lowest of the locals," or blaming the attacks not on racism, but simply on the public drunkenness of hooligans out looking for a good time or someone to rob. There have also been allegations that the attacked Africans have been misrepresenting Russian society, and that ethnic minorities have exaggerated "the scale of race-related crimes to divert attention away from their own wrong doings," according to the head of the St. Petersburg police press office.
Pambazuka News: Are these isolated incidents, or are nationalist and racist sentiments on the rise?
Nassor Said Ali: While some officials would like to blame these incidents on drunkenness or low-level crime, it appears that racist and xenophobic crimes are in fact increasing. Extremist organisations, such as the Freedom Party, have claimed responsibility for some of these murders, asserting that their "byely patruli" (white patrol) operates in the city centre to "cleanse the city of unwanted elements where the police had failed." It is not only Africans that are targeted – a Vietnamese student was killed recently, and the local Jewish community has reported a rise in acts of vandalism. Further, human rights organisations are worried about a recent tendency among nationalist movements in assuming a major role in the opposition forces of the country, in an environment where the ruling democratic forces are losing ground.
Pambazuka News: Does the media report accurately on these incidents (ie. are the African students blamed for instigating the violence)?
Nassor Said Ali: A recent front page story from the local weekly, Novy Petersburg, branded the anti-racist campaign undertaken by the African Union as a "promotion of African culture of cannibalism, drugs and the dissemination of infectious diseases among the children." The implications of this are obviously widespread, and when the African Union entered into classes as a part of their awareness campaign they were met with both students and teachers echoing these sentiments. Further, the head of the St. Petersburg police press department admitted to lying about the extent and causes of attacks on Africans, claiming that he didn't want the media to pick up on the issue. That the media is therefore unable to report accurately is alarming. News outlets have also been accused of reporting on the incidents, but not addressing the responses of authorities, law enforcement agencies and public.
* Interview conducted by email and compiled from previous articles. Please send comments to
In South Africa last week, events on International Women’s Day dramatically challenged us as a country to clarify the nature of leadership and power as well as their underlying values and principles, writes Pregs Govender in the Mail and Guardian newspaper in reference to the Jacob Zuma rape trial. "In our country, where violence against women and girls is widespread, a rape survivor used her democratic right to charge her alleged perpetrator, a very powerful man. For her courage she has paid a very high price. Her home has been burgled and ransacked twice, she and her mother have faced death threats, and she has lost her freedom as she has been forced to seek police protection."
Life for some Zimbabweans can only be described as hell on earth. As the world celebrated International Women's Day, 33-year-old Fungai Katsande finds herself worse off than ever. Waking up everyday to face the challenges of life makes her want to break down in tears. "My husband is sick, my child is sick, I am sick and I do not know who is going to help me", she says quietly. Visit Zimbabwe's civic and human rights web site incorporating an online directory for the non-profit sector, to read the full story.
"Over the past month, the FXI has been supporting the Shack Dwellers' Movement in Durban, called Abahlali Base Mjondolo, in their attempts to hold a march in the city. This was the second time that the organisation has wanted to hold a march. On the first occasion, in November 2005, the march was banned by the municipality and protestors were attacked and fired upon by police."
"On 15 March 2006, officers from the National Security Bureau (NSB) in Port Sudan, Eastern Sudan summoned Hassan Altaieb, lawyer and SOAT monitor in Port Sudan to their offices for questioning. Whilst at the security offices, Mr. Altieb was questioned about an event scheduled to be held in Port Sudan tomorrow 16 March 2005 as part of a nationwide campaign for the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The security officers demanded the list of participants expected to attend the event including the full names of all the speakers."
The international strategy for dealing with the Darfur crisis primarily through the small (7,000 troops) African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) is at a dead end, says the International Crisis Group. "If the tragedy of the past three years is not to be compounded, the AU and its partners must address the growing regional crisis by getting more troops with greater mobility and firepower on the ground at once and rapidly transforming AMIS into a larger, stronger UN peacekeeping mission with a robust mandate focused on civilian protection," says the think tank.
Nigeria and Russia are now pitched in an emotive diplomatic row following a resolve by the Russian government to side track the agenda of New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) from the overall programme of G8, ahead of the next G8 meeting to be held in Moscow, Sunday Tribune can report. Russia, the current chairman of G8 has tactically been distancing itself from NEPAD and has been indicating that NEPAD will not form part of issues that the G8 would deliberate upon during its next summer meeting in Moscow, a development said to have angered President Olusegun Obasanjo.
FEATURED: March 22 was World Water Day. Patrick Bond discusses the “water wars”
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- A new advocacy campaign aims to end torture in Northern Uganda. Pambazuka News speaks to the organizers
- Jacob Rukweza critiques claims that homosexuality is “unAfrican”
- Russia has seen an increase in racial attacks. Nassor Said Ali of the St. Petersburg African Union explains the issues
LETTERS: Is the new rights council old wine in new bottles?
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Three years after the invasion of Iraq, Tajudeen Abdul Raheem takes Bush and Blair to task
BLOGGING AFRICA: Regular blog columnist Sokari Ekine wraps up the blogosphere this week
BOOKS AND ART:
- Kenyan graffiti artist Phiks on Lines of Attitude, a new exhibition
- Review of “A Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents”
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: News from Somalia, Senegal, Uganda, Darfur
HUMAN RIGHTS: Speedy ICC trial for DRC prisoner
WOMEN AND GENDER: Good governance and women’s participation in West Africa
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Global internal displacement crisis alarming, says new report
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: DRC poll poses challenge/Gabon opposition leader in hiding/Kenyan battle lines drawn as parliament heads for re-opening
DEVELOPMENT: Trade rules a stumbling block to MDGs
CORRUPTION: Githongo says Anglo-Leasing scandal has 70 percent to go
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: News from Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe
EDUCATION: Donors must end neglect of African universities
RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
ENVIRONMENT: Move to save anti-prostate cancer tree in Kenya
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Tunisian human rights defender on hunger strike
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: Digital revolution on streets of Nigeria
PLUS: 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]
Three years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, Washington and its allies insist that Operation Iraqi Freedom will end in victory, despite ever-increasing bloodshed in the country. Tajudeen Abdul Raheem hones in on the architects of the invasion, George Bush and Tony Blair.
This week is the anniversary of the illegal Anglo-American invasion of Iraq. President Bush and his British poodle, Tory Blair, have both been trying to put a spin on their continuing destruction of the country and its people to their very sceptical compatriots and a world that has stopped believing anything said by these global con men who cannot be relied on to even declare their names without inviting suspicions!
The war was never sanctioned by the rest of the world and despite many diabolical attempts in the past three years to give it some kind of moral and diplomatic seal of approval Washington and London remain isolated.
Blair never had a united country, party, parliament or government behind his militarism. That was why he had to lie about the 'imminent and immediate danger ' that Iraq allegedly constituted. The Weapons of Mass Deception (WMD) and 45-minute strike capacity of Saddam Hussein have been exposed for what they were: fantasies of a duplicitous war monger determined to please his American bosses at any cost. He has been crashing down the hill of public trust since the invasion. His handler, George Bush, initially manufactured a national coalition behind him but knowing what they now know millions of Americans have discovered that their dumb President used 9/11 to falsely lure them into an unjust war without end. The easy victory he promised has become a nightmare, forcing parallels with Vietnam.
Worse for Bush, his loony right intellectual and political gurus who provided specious ideological justification for the invasion are recanting in their droves. He has become a disciple whose prophet has been exposed as a phony.
Listen to two of the most hawkish war mongers. The first, Francis Fukuyama, the apostle of End of History and the ever rising advance of Western liberalism recently said: "By invading Iraq, the Bush administration created a self-fulfilling prophecy: Iraq has now replaced Afghanistan as a magnet, a training ground and an operational base for Jihadists, with plenty of American targets to shoot at.”
The second is fellow Republican hawk and a senior official before conflict of interest forced him out, Richard Perle. He said: "The military campaign and its political aftermath were both passionately debated within the Bush administration. It got the war right and the aftermath wrong. We should have understood that we needed Iraqi partners."
Others who supported the war have become publicly disillusioned. Despite their confessions though there is one thing common to all of them. They are recanting for American reasons without any concern for the Iraqis. When they talk of 'Casualties in Iraq' they do not mean the innocent Iraqi children, women and men murdered en masse at weddings, naming ceremonies or in detention centres – the so-called 'collateral damage' of Bush' s adventurism. They are only concerned about the couple of thousand of American and British killed in the war. While they are still counting their casualties in the lower denomination of four digits the Iraqi casualties are in the hundreds of thousands. In their minds it's only American and British lives that matter. The rest are just statistics. Even in death a Westerner's life is still worth more than that of other people. That's why Bush could falsely claim that 30,000 Iraqis 'more or less' have been killed in this war. Could he have said 'more or less' about American life?
As the late Bob Marley said: "You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all the people all the time."
The Hausa also say: "Mara gaskiya ko cikin ruwa sai ya yi gumi" (a dishonest person will sweat even if he is in water!). Bush and Blair are liars and murderers, who if only the world is fairer, should have been hauled before the International Criminal Court as war criminals who have continued to kill innocent civilians in another country that posed no threat to their countries.
The only other alternative now is to wait for their exits. In the case of Bush, there is a date which cannot come sooner. But Blair is the weaker of the two monsters. The Labour Party should do the world a big favour and begin a long process of atonement for the needless death of innocent Iraqis by changing the locks to 10 Downing Street. Blair’s latest exposure of offering peerages and other national honours for undeclared 'donations' or 'loans' to the Labour Party just shows how cynical and amoral a politician this man, (B-Liar) is.
If he had been an African leader the British government would have been one of the first big mouths to be condemning his corruption and lack of transparency. Blair helped Bush to undermine international law and he has now domesticated the same skills by finding loopholes in laws passed by his own government on party financing. The British people have enough very British reasons to be rid of this fraudster whom Nigerians would have easily recognise as a '419' Premier.
* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa
* Please send comments to
Homophobia recently topped the news agenda when Cameroonian newspapers published a list of prominent people and accused them of homosexuality, sparking debate across Africa. Many African leaders are on record for their condemnation of homosexuality, but Jacob Rukweza, an activist with Zimbabwe’s Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) argues that politicians must make space for homosexuals within the law. To not do so denies a fundamental aspect of their society and reflects poorly on their ability to lead as representatives of their nations.
Among the many myths created about Africa, the belief that homosexuality is absent in Africa or incidental is one of the oldest and most enduring. African leaders, historians, anthropologists, clergyman, authors, and contemporary Africans alike have denied or overlooked the existence of homosexuality or same-sex relationships and persistently claimed that such patterns were introduced by Europeans.
Southern African leaders have been accused of blaming the alien culture of homosexuality for their countries problems. In February 1999, on the sidelines of the World Council of Churches 8th Assembly, Keith Goddard, Director of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) which has a membership of nearly 500, most of whom are black Zimbabweans – told a press conference in Harare that Zimbabwe was “one of the most vocally homophobic countries in the world. President Robert Mugabe is world famous for his verbal gay bashing.”
President Mugabe hit the headlines in 1995 when he denounced gays and lesbians as “sexual perverts” who are “lower than dogs and pigs”. Rejecting calls for gay human rights, Mugabe said, “we don’t believe they have rights at all”. Mugabe charged that homosexuality was unnatural and unAfrican, saying that it was an alien culture only practised by a “few whites” in his country. He repeated similar sentiments on the 25th of February this year whilst addressing supporters in Mutare, to the east of the country, during official celebrations of his 82nd birthday.
Mugabe’s attitude and mentality towards homosexuality represents a dominant perception among African leaders. In January 2003, Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda, was quoted by The New Vision, calling on the Ugandan police to arrest all homosexuals or anyone indulging in unnatural sexual practices. He also denounced homosexuality as unAfrican. Sam Nujoma, while still President of Namibia in 2003, also told a press conference of international journalists that homosexuality was a “borrowed sub culture, alien to Africa and Africans”.
Whilst some leaders in West Africa have not been vocal about gay rights, their attitudes are represented eloquently by the anti-gay laws informing the judicial systems of their countries. Under Sharia law in Nigeria and most of North Africa, homosexuality is a criminal offence punishable by hanging. Laws across Africa do not recognise homosexuality as a way of life: it is generally perceived as unnatural and therefore criminal. Those who practise homosexuality are automatically turned into lawbreakers, social rejects and threats to society. It is impossible to separate the laws from the political leadership which sponsors such law.
But research and reports by progressive contemporary historians, anthropologists and sexologists around the issues surrounding sexuality and gender in traditional African societies tell a different story. Stephen Murray and Will Roscoe’s book Boy Wives and Female Husbands (1998) explores African homosexuality and documents same-sex relationships in some fifty societies in every region of the continent. Essays by scholars from a variety of disciplines explore institutionalized marriages between women, same-sex relations between men and boys in colonial work settings, mixed gender roles in East and West Africa. The book covers recent developments in South Africa, where gays and lesbians successfully made that nation the first in the world to constitutionally ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and assists in revealing the denials of African homosexuality for what they are – prejudice and wilful ignorance.
Obviously homosexuality can hardly be referred to as a new phenomenon in African society. It is not. Cursory interviews of homosexuals have proved that to a great extent their behaviour is neither borrowed nor influenced by foreign culture.
Jasper, a 23-year-old Zimbabwean who works as a hairdresser in Harare, discovered his homosexuality at the age of 12 while still in school in rural Wedza, where he grew up with his parents. He says he considers himself a woman trapped in a man’s body, something he did not choose for himself. He says his behaviour is not influenced by any western culture since he discovered his sexuality at a very tender age, in a rural setting, well before interacting with anything he could call western.
Paul, 33, who works in Bulawayo as a teacher, says he has married twice and has a six-year-old daughter. Each of his wives left after finding out that their marriage was just a front. Paul says he was forced to marry by his parents. He goes to church every Sunday “to pray for his sin” but is unable to abandon his lifestyle. Paul says he was “born gay” and feels “insulted by people who think this is a prank”.
Sarah, 28, a journalist by profession, says she is a lesbian and there is little she can do to change that. She says she is not attracted to men and will not get married to a man because she has always been attracted to other women. She says she has a female partner and the two are in love, although both their parents are encouraging them to settle down with male partners. She says she discovered her sexuality ten years ago when she was in college. “At first I was confused. I didn’t understand what it was. I tried to date boys but it didn’t work out. I just couldn’t stand it.” Sarah says her behaviour and feelings come naturally to her.
What African societies have done with some degree of success, however, is to make sure that homosexuality as an aspect of life or topic of family discourse remains firmly taboo.
For a typical African family unit, gays, lesbians and bisexuals do not exist. Even in a family where a member is clearly gay, parents and other family members generally never attempt to consider or accept this reality. At best, families that have noticed homosexual tendencies in one of their own have either panicked or berated such behaviour as mischief while dismissing it as inconsequential.
Open and meaningful family engagement on such issues of sexuality is virtually non-existent and discourse is usually limited to admonitions and reprimands. Small wonder then why vernacular languages have extremely limited vocabulary when it comes to the subject of homosexuality.
For various reasons, a siege mentality was deliberately grafted onto the psychology of the African family system over a period of time. This mentality has persistently and consistently refused to open up to the glaring realities of divergent sexualities and natural but differing sexual preferences inherent in human beings.
Unfortunately this mentality ¬– domineering and stubborn – informs even the highest structures of governance in Africa and shapes government policies, legislation and national character. As a result, because this point of view does not recognise homosexuality as a way of life, government policies and laws accordingly refuse to acknowledge homosexuality as a way of life. This is why in most of Africa, excluding South Africa and in some of the countries that were not colonised by the British, homosexuality is classified under various forms of legislation as a criminal and punishable offence.
The 'ostrich mentality' as adopted by many African governments has clearly failed to take nations into the future, which is where everyone belongs. The tendency of dipping your head in the sand when faced with complex problems is both naïve and retrogressive. When you decide finally to pull your head out of the sand, the problem will still be there – perhaps now more complex but still looking you in the face.
Moreover, laws that fail to acknowledge the realities of the constituency they purport to serve reflect badly on those whose responsibility it is to legislate and execute good law. It is a major weakness on the part of society when its laws ignore fundamental aspects of the lives of its people on the basis of perceived complexities of such aspects. The law in its stride should, at any given time, be able to deal conclusively with all aspects of its constituency. Failure to live up to this expectation can only mean that those tasked with making laws on behalf of society are incompetent and incapable of reading or interpreting society's fundamentals.
What must be clear here is that, when the law fails to acknowledge the realities of a society it is supposed to serve, the law in question is bad and must be corrected. Parliaments the world over are sponsored to make and amend laws. Parliamentarians are elected to make laws that serve the interests of all society and to amend laws that infringe on the rights and interests of any member of society. There is no better way for African MPs to earn their allowances than to represent the people's interests in parliament and make laws that, in the first instance, recognise the existence of all people.
Laws, anywhere in the world, are made to serve and protect society and its people, and not the other way round. And in serving or protecting people, the law is expected to be fair and just in the eyes of all people. In other words, the law is expected to be fair and just in the eyes of men, women, children, teachers, lawyers, doctors, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, blacks, and whites alike – indeed all people.
The fact that laws in Africa do not recognise the existence of homosexuality as a way of life will not make gays and lesbians disappear from among us. Their existence is as real as the colour of our skin. It will be impossible to ignore the existence of homosexuals in our midst without attempting to ignore the very existence of humanity.
However, deliberate calls by African leaders to have homosexuals in their countries arrested is a tacit, albeit unintended, acknowledgement that homosexuals exist in Africa. We are indeed witnessing a paradigm shift by African leaders: a reluctant transition from denial to acknowledgement. The Nigerian Bill to ‘Make Provisions for the Prohibition of Relationships Between Persons of the Same Sex, Celebration of Marriage by Them, and for Other Matters Connected Therewith’ is obviously reactionary and draconian but it does presume the existence of homosexuals in society. And even Mugabe in his recent speech in Mutare finally, though reservedly, admitted to the existence of black homosexuals in Zimbabwe although he said, in Shona: “they are few”. We can only hope that such acknowledgements may, in time, translate into the tolerance and appreciation of natural sexual and gender differences.
* Jacob Rukweza is an activist who has written this article on behalf of GALZ – Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, an organisation founded in 1989 to facilitate communication within the gay community.
* Please send comments to
In August 2003, the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (RSG) on internally displaced persons (IDPs) undertook an official visit to Uganda in order to "gain a better understanding of the situation of internal displacement in Uganda, with a particular focus on persons displaced by the conflict with the LRA and to explore ways of enhancing the response of the Government of Uganda, UN agencies, NGOs and other actors." The RSG made 26 individual recommendations. This report seeks to follow up on these recommendations and discern the extent to which changes have taken place, whether positively or negatively.
Prof Olive Mwihaki Mugenda, 52, has been appointed the first woman Vice-Chancellor of a public university in Kenya. Prof Olive Mugenda, the new Kenyatta University Vice-Chancellor, addressed the press after her appointment. Mugenda edged out three male professors to clinch the top position at Kenyatta University - one of Kenya's oldest universities - for a five-year term. Formerly in charge of finance and planning, she deputised her predecessor, Prof Everett Standa, who returns to his teaching post at Moi University, after his three-year term ended on Monday.
The registration of a new party by politicians close to President Mwai Kibaki has sent a strong signal that he is keen to vie for a second term. However, the setting up of the National Rainbow Coalition-Kenya (Narc-Kenya) has sent mixed signals to coalition partners, Ford-Kenya and National party of Kenya (NPK), leaving them in a state of political limbo, as they were reportedly not consulted when the plan was mooted. It also casts doubt about a pre-election unwritten agreement within the national Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK), in which Kibaki was to go for a single term and leave the presidential ticket to Ford-Kenya come 2007.
The reduction in the price of a key Aids drug, Stocrin, is expected to put pressure on other global multinationals to reduce their medicine prices. UNAids says further reductions are essential to achieving universal access to the life-saving drugs by 2010. The price cut, which was announced recently on the fifth anniversary of the pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme's worldwide HIV/Aids pricing policy, will see the price of Stocrin fall by 20 per cent.
East African countries will suffer job losses and an increase in poverty under the most plausible outcomes of the current world trade negotiations, a Washington-based think tank warns in a new report. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace bases its conclusions on sophisticated statistical modelling of likely agreements resulting from the Doha Round of trade talks, which have been underway for the past five years. The central scenario projected in the Carnegie report involves an ambitious expansion of market access for manufactured goods and a more modest expansion of world trade in farm products, accompanied by elimination of subsidies for agricultural exports.
The battle against HIV/AIDS in Zanzibar will not succeed as long as trade in alcohol and commercial sex work continue to thrive on the island, according to Muslim leaders. "Zanzibar would have been free of HIV/AIDS if Muslims stuck to their religious teachings but, mainly, if the government was serious about controlling the spread of pubs, especially in residential areas," said Sheikh Azzan Khalid, deputy leader of the Zanzibar Islamic Propagation Group. "The state television has been a key player in moral decay by showing programmes which promote sex."
Wilson Akera hates living in Padibe camp for internally displaced persons because life is generally unbearable but he is even more scared of the prospect of returning home soon as he believes insecurity is still rife in the villages. "We are willing to go home and end this cycle of despair, but we are uncertain of our security," Akera said. "The area a few kilometres out of here is a den of the unknown. Groups of rebels still loiter there." Akera is one of the 1.6 million-plus people who have been displaced by two decades of war between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda.
The country is losing tonnes of an indigenous tree species to Europe where it is used in the manufacture of a cancer drug. As a result, conservationists in Tigoni, Kiambu, have launched a campaign to save Prunus Africana, locally known as Muiri. Tonnes of the tree's bark are exported to France and other European countries every year for the manufacture of drugs used in the treatment of prostate cancer.
A community revolving fund in Kitale, Kenya, that has assisted hundreds of poor families with money to put up better sanitation, is among unique initiatives in East Africa hailed in a new United Nations global report. Established by an NGO called Practical Action (formerly ITDG) and managed by the Catholic Diocese of Kitale, the fund operates in the Tuwani and Shimo la Tewa slums of the town. It offers loans of between Ksh27,000 ($342) and Ksh60,000 ($759) to plot owners, who repay at an annual rate of 12 per cent. This has benefited more than 230 families.
In recent years, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) regional offices in Cairo, has referred approximately 4,000 recognised refugees per year for resettlement to the United States, Canada, Australia and a number of other smaller receiving countries, making it the largest such programme in the world. But despite this, there has been little research conducted into the expectations and experiences of the refugees themselves on this process. This study aims to investigate Sudanese refugees' expectations of life in resettlement while in Egypt, and upon arrival in the US, Canada and Australia, and hopes to facilitate these findings with governmental, non-governmental and intergovernmental agencies.
This report presents the results of 41 site-surveys reporting mortality and nutrition data in refugee settings over 2005 and contained in the Complex Emergency Database (CEDAT). CEDAT is a global, shared searchable database on complex humanitarian emergencies.
Fighting between Guinea Bissau troops and Senegalese separatists has forced more than 4,500 people to flee their homes in the past several days, humanitarian officials have said. Since Thursday last week, the Guinea Bissau military have been bombarding rebels from Movement of the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) in the area of Sao Domingo, a city just inside the Guinea Bissau border whose entire civilian population has fled. Entire towns and villages on in the border region are deserted after internal fighting within the MFDC spilled into Guinea Bissau last week.
“The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is working with our colleagues in Liberia and in the US to stop Firestone's exploitation of Liberia and her people…We have launched lawsuits against Firestone in Liberia and in the United States, and we are waging a public pressure campaign in advance of the April 3rd court date to show Firestone that the world is watching, and it doesn't like what it sees. Please visit ww.stopfirestone.org to learn more about Firestone and the lawsuits, and to send a letter to Firestone president Dan Adomitis demanding an end to Firestone's modern-day slavery and other abuses.”
Although the number of people internally displaced within their own countries by conflict decreased slightly during 2005, the global internal displacement crisis remained at an alarming level, according to a new report published by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. “The report clearly shows that most governments in countries affected by conflict fail to live up to their responsibility to prevent arbitrary displacement and ensure the safety and well-being of their displaced citizens,” said Elisabeth Rasmusson, head of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
The world's estimated 17 million international refugees are not seen as likely to send remittances, or money, to families back home. However, refugees resident in developed countries do send money, not only to their countries of origin but also to neighbouring countries where family members are at earlier stages of the asylum-seeking process.
This report on “The Impact of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in Africa,” is from a seminar hosted by the Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR) in Cape Town, South Africa, and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)’s Southern and Central African Regional Offices The aim of the seminar was to review the progress of the implementation of the resolution in Africa in the five years since its adoption by the United Nations (UN) in 2000.
In 2005 economist Jeffrey Sachs presented an action plan to meet the UN's poverty-slashing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, which included practical and affordable interventions such as bed-nets to fight malaria, vaccinations to combat infectious diseases, the provision of anti-AIDS drugs, fertilisers to improve crop yields and drilling wells to provide safe drinking water. Sachs, who heads the UN Millennium Project and the Earth Institute, has been criticised for suggesting strategies that have been implemented before and failed. In a wide-ranging interview with IRIN, Sachs defended his plan and provided some details on how the project is going to help poor countries help themselves.
Humans have provoked the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65m years ago, according to a UN report that calls for unprecedented worldwide efforts to address the slide. The report paints a grim picture of life on earth, with declining numbers of plants, animals, insects and birds across the globe, and warns that the current extinction rate is up to 1,000 times faster than in the past. Some 844 animals and plants are known to have disappeared in the last 500 years.
On Saturday March 18, the USS Cape St. George and USS Gonzales opened fire on Somali vessels inside the Somali coastline, killing one while taking others into custody. The office of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center received calls from Somalia, and therefore asks the US government to release those in detention and offer an accurate explanation about the details of the incident.
Zimbabwe State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa has warned opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his supporters that the government will crush any mass protests against President Robert Mugabe. "We are watching them closely. We heard his [Tsvangirai's] threats and we hope they will just end as threats, but if they start destroying things then they will see us," Mutasa told independent news service ZimOnline, adding that if Tsvangirai and the MDC want war with the government, then it is more than ready for them, reports the Mail and Guardian.
Sometimes, racist people commit acts which are as stupid as they are outrageous. However, violent forms of racism and discrimination is only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface of apparent equality, people belonging to ethnic, religious, sexual or any other minorities, continue to be confronted with various forms of intolerance and discrimination. The vicious circle of popular bigotry and populist politicians finds easy victims in any group of people who fall outside the prejudiced perception of “normality”.
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety "is alive," celebrated the delegates to the Third Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (MOP3), although there were complaints about and criticism of modifications to the final agreement reached Friday night (March 17). "We made important concessions to accommodate legitimate concerns," Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva said in her closing speech.
The International Rescue Committee currently seeks a GBV and Youth Advisor for its West Africa programs who will report to the Senior GBV TA and will participate in monthly conference calls with the Sr. GBV TA and the Child Youth Protection Development Director.
The targets for the seventh United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) sound impressive. This MDG focuses on ensuring environmental sustainability. Eight goals were adopted by the international community at the UN Millennium Summit, held in 2000, in a bid to raise living standards around the globe by 2015. However, Muna Lakhani, a member of the South-Africa based environmental action group, Earthlife Africa, has concerns about the targets for MDG seven - and indicators used to measure progress towards these targets.
International donors should invest more in Africa's universities because of the important role they could play in alleviating poverty, according to a study commissioned by the World Bank. The report, published last month, calls for donors to reverse their neglect of the higher education sector. It says wider access to university education would give many Africans a better life and stimulate economic development.
The individual in this position is responsible for implementing operations research activities on HIV/AIDS, with a specific focus on the care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS, including linking/integrating the provision of antiretroviral treatment into other HIV/AIDS programs.
The Program awards approximately fifteen fellowships each year to exceptional social entrepreneurs and technology professionals from around the world. Successful candidates have innovative ideas and are passionate about implementing a project to empower individuals and communities in the developing world.
The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) is a pan African human rights organization, based in Banjul, the Gambia, established to promote the effective use of African human rights treaties and law to protect rights in Africa. The Executive Director will provide strategic direction and professional leadership, sustaining and building on IHRDA’s reputation and unique contribution to the human rights movement in the continent, and developing a strong team of professional and motivated staff.
Tanzanian villagers have begun using an energy-saving method to sterilise their drinking water - leaving the water under the sun. The piped water supply to Ndolela village in the central Iringa region is intermittent and even when it does it flow, it is not clean enough to drink. When the pipes run dry, villagers get water from a dirty spring. Mother of five Rose Longwa says the new process has changed her life. "We no longer suffer from stomach illness. That's because the water is clean and safe."
UN head Kofi Annan has said the Democratic Republic of Congo elections in June will pose "major logistical challenges, if not nightmares". He is visiting DR Congo, where the UN has its largest peacekeeping mission, ahead of the country's first free elections in 45 years. He also welcomed a planned deployment of European Union troops to act as a rapid reaction force during the polls. The polls are to end a power-sharing period after a five-year civil war.
Gabon's main opposition leader says he has gone into hiding after government forces raided his party's headquarters. Pierre Mamboundou told the BBC that he was not about to leave the country, but said he was also considering seeking political asylum. He finished second in last November's presidential election, which he claimed was fraudulent. President Omar Bongo, Africa's longest-serving head of state, won with 79.2% of the vote. Mr Mamboundou told the BBC's French service that police had seized documents and computers during the raid on the headquarters of his Gabonese People's Union (UPG) early on Tuesday (March 21) morning.
The streets of Nigeria's main cities are quiet, as people have been told to stay at home and wait to be counted in the first census for 15 years. The headcount is sensitive, as funding and political representation depend on the results but questions of religion and ethnicity have been left out. There is frustration in many places that the process has started slowly. Nigeria's president has stressed that the five-day census is not political and urged people to remain calm. Nigeria is Africa's most populous country but estimates of its population range from 120 to 150 million.
The Lesotho Highlands scheme supplies South Africa with millions of cubic metres of water per year, while people living in the lowlands of the tiny mountain kingdom struggle to find water for domestic consumption. Young women and children queuing with containers, waiting to draw water from boreholes or public taps, are a common sight in many parts of the country. "Life is difficult because we always have to travel for long distances to get water, and when we finally find a place that has water, there are many people waiting to get a turn," said Makemohele Koetle, from Lithabaneng district, southeast of the capital, Maseru.
Calls for abortion laws across Africa to be revised have dominated the first days of a meeting in Ethiopia – the ‘Regional Consultation on Unsafe Abortion in Africa’. This four-day conference, which ends Mar. 23, has been organised by Ipas and the Guttmacher Institute, both based in the United States. More than 140 researchers, key government officials, and health practitioners from 16 African countries have gathered in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, to attend the consultation. Discussions are focusing on research into termination of pregnancy, and how the findings of inquiries can influence policy.
With his biting lyrics that name and shame African leaders and denounce Western politics, West African reggae star Tiken Jah Fakoly knows his music has made him as many enemies as friends. The 37-year-old singer, who lives in Mali in self-imposed exile from his troubled home of Ivory Coast, is one of the most powerful voices for young African people. But he is also a thorn in the side of African politicians.
The Poverty Eradication Network (PEN) is introducing training courses for the not for profit sector. PEN has a wide range of proven interventions to strengthen your organisation: participatory organisational assessment; organisational development; governance strengthening; leadership and management training and mentoring; systems development for information technology, human resources, finance, administration and operational procedures; resource mobilisation and fund raising; and strategic planning.
On the 15th of March 2006, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly, 170 for and 4 against, to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission (the commission) with the Human Rights Council (the council).
Is the present initiative really nouvelle in its approach to human rights?
The more things change the more they remain the same. It seems to me, the council has changed much in terms of the form and procedure of the UN approach to human rights. In doing this, the council is dealing with the disease of the ineffectiveness of the commission and not the structural problem that led to its demise, the democratic deficit at international organisations.
The old Commission’s system of independent “special rapporteurs”, special procedures and access for human rights NGOs will be retained. However, the special procedures will be subject to review within one year, so member states must be vigilant to ensure they are maintained. But is this good enough to ensure that intervention in human rights cases is not grounded in political and geostrategic reasons?
The present initiative is no doubt innovative and a reflection of efforts to remedy the dire human rights situation around the world. But in so-far-as its approach is still statist in nature, realism will always override international obligation. Approaches to human rights abuses should be engendered in a holistic manner, encompassing issues around government legitimacy, representation and accountability, not leaving out poverty. Against this backdrop, civil society seems the best available route to bridge the gap between rhetoric and practice.
Women's Land Link Africa, a joint project of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), the Huairou Commission, FAO, Southern and Eastern Africa and UN HABITAT, was proud to celebrate International Women's Day, 8 March, by launching its website, Although women's rights to land, housing and property are clearly recognized in laws at all levels, practically, there is a discernable gap between theory and practice of these laws.
StreetNet International alliance of street vendors was launched in Durban, South Africa, in November 2002. Membership-based organizations (unions, co-operatives or associations) directly organizing street vendors, market vendors and/or hawkers among their members, are entitled to affiliate to StreetNet International. The aim of StreetNet is to promote the exchange of information and ideas on critical issues facing street vendors, market vendors and hawkers (i.e. mobile vendors) and on practical organizing and advocacy strategies.
LocaleGEN, an online tool to help build African language locales in up to 700 African languages, will be released. Alberto Escudero-Pascual, a software localisation developer known for his work on the Swahili translation of Linux (KiLinux) is responsible for the development, and says the tool aims to help facilitate the creation of African language locales.