This week the issue of a potential US- Egyptian free trade agreement (FTA) emerged back in the spotlight. Reports coming from Washington suggest that the Bush administration has once again put on hold Egypt’s long aspired to dreams of a bilateral FTA. The reasons offered by the US administration this time, as relayed through trade diplomats and other officials, were not typical complaints over lax governmental efforts to pursue substantial economic reforms, as required by the US administration. Egypt’s slow pace of political reform — as assessed by Washington — is the sticking point now.

In 1994 war and genocide in Rwanda left almost one million people displaced. Resettlement villages were constructed in the rural areas to shelter refugees and to provide the basic necessities. Rwindalectric Inc is a new non-profit organisation that has been established to assist in addressing Rwanda's energy deficit, in particular through the provision of wind energy. The organisation believes this to be the best option for the country, being an economically sound renewable resource which produces no environmentally harmful waste or emission and working well in
conjunction with existing hydropower.

Farmers in Mali, the fourth poorest country in the world, have told their government they do not want to see genetically modified crops being grown on their land, after Africa's first "farmers' jury" debated the issue. Their verdict comes as the Mali government decides whether to allow trials of genetically modified crops to begin in the country. During the five-day meeting in Sikasso, in the south of Mali, where two thirds of the country's cotton is produced, farmers heard arguments for and against the introduction of GM technology.

While 80% of Uganda’s population lives in rural areas, 70% of communication services are in urban areas. Only 2% of rural people access mobile telecommunications unlike 16.6% of their urban counterparts. Only 4% of Ugandans access grid power. “It’s rather unfortunate because rural areas produce more than 80% of Uganda’s wealth,” Dr. Fredrick Tusubira of Makerere University ICT support center says in a paper titled 'Uganda: Challenges of the digital divide and telecommunications sector'.

A new campaign has been launched that aims to end the portrayal of tribal people in the press as 'primitive' and 'Stone Age'. It is being supported by prominent journalists such as BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson, the BBC's Caroline Hawley, George Monbiot, John Pilger, Sandy Gall and Christopher Booker.

The theme of the programme is: Global Trade and Regional Integration: African Economies, Producers, and Living Conditions. The Programme co-ordinator shall: Develop the programme based on the programme document; Implement the programme; Develop networks of African and Nordic researchers; Conduct own research within the programme; Arrange seminars and publish research results.

Women Working Worldwide is a small NGO working with an international network of worker organisations to support the rights of women workers in the global economy. We are seeking to appoint an Advocacy and Information officer to work in our office in Manchester, and in particular to support our current project "Promoting Women Workers' Rights in African Horticulture". You will work closely with our project partners in East Africa. This is an exciting opportunity to play a leading role in an innovative and highly respected organisation working for trade and social justice. Please email:[email protected] for an application pack

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) has announced the fourth session of its Annual Social Science Campus, and invites applications from African scholars for participation in the programme which was initially scheduled to hold in October 2005 but was subsequently been postponed with a view to convening it at the beginning of May 2006. The Campus is conceived as an advanced research dialogue which is both multidisciplinary and intergenerational in nature. It is organised around a specific theme and up to 15 scholars, drawn from different disciplines and reflecting the different generations of African social researchers, are elected to participate in the Campus.

A New Zealander's offer of dog food to starving Kenyans is an insult, a Cabinet minister said yesterday. "It is an insult for somebody to think Kenya can accept food meant for animals," said Mr John Munyes, minister in charge of relief operations in the President's Office. "Such people should desist because we will be very careful in vetting the donations." Members of a local women's organization, Maendeleo ya Wanawake, said they were shocked by the report, describing it as the height of abuse to the Kenyan women and children.

The African Mentoring Project was created as a way of encouraging and supporting Africans who want to start blogging. Initially there will be a pilot project limited to Nigerian women. The idea for the project came from Nigerian blogger Ore who is presently working with a group of young women from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia on the Young Caucacus Women Project. Visit the URL provided to find out more.

Archives conjure up images of rows of shelves with documents gathering dust. And this is precisely the problem a Sudan archiving project had when it wanted to digitalise the archives. In Lokichoggio in northern Kenya, just over the border from southern Sudan, Daniel Large remembers that dust was the main problem, reports Balancing Act News Update. Large is the project manager of the Sudan Open Archive Pilot Project – a scheme that aims to digitally preserve the documents left by various humanitarian organisations in Sudan and to make them accessible to the public via a website.

http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30110 refers to China financing construction of the Bui hydro-electric project. This project will serve primarily as a vehicle for corrupt payments by China, undermining such efforts as exist in Ghana to improve governance, particularly in the extractive industries. In the past this project was touted to EU arms manufacturers as a means to cover the financing of weapons/fighter jet purchases. China is Congo's (Brazzaville) main supplier of arms - and its main supplier of white elephant construction projects. I urge you to look into the reality of what China is trying to do.

As Libya emerges from long-term international isolation, the government has taken some important steps to improve human rights, including the recent release of 14 political prisoners. But the Libyan government continues to hold political prisoners, conduct unfair trials, and severely restrict free speech and association, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today (January 25). “We welcome Libya’s first steps toward reform,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch who visited Tripoli this week to present the government with the report. “But the government has a long road to travel before it meets the international standards of human rights.”

In addition to an urban poverty category (www.id21.org/urban), research website ID21 has also recently launched rural development and natural resources categories, along with relevant email news alerts. If you are interested in subscribing to any of these three newsletters, you may do so by sending an email to [email protected] with the message "subscribe id21UrbanNews Firstname Lastname" in the SUBJECT field and leave the BODY of the message blank. To subscribe to id21RuralNews and id21NRnews, substitute these for id21 UrbanNews in the instructions above.

In Africa and the developing world, the 1960s were marked by intense ideological struggles and heated debates on whether Capitalism or Socialism was the best path to prosperity. No single individual was at the heart of those contestations more than Dr Walter Rodney. Born in the Caribbean, schooled in Europe and fated to work in Africa, where, while at Dar es Salaam University, he produced his influential work, "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa". A Senior Writer with the Nation Media Group attended a conference recently held to celebrate Rodney's life and legacy and writes, "many see him as the formidable bridge that linked continental Africa with its diaspora, re-connecting people to the culture from which they had been so brutally severed centuries earlier by slavery."

The need to urge people to look at refugees as humans is part of the campaign launched by the UNHCR. “There’s a big confusion about who the refugee is. Not just in Malta, but everywhere. The media plays an important role in passing on the right message, which is why we are concerned with the fear that can create xenophobic attitudes and manipulate realities,” spokesperson of the UNHCR Laura Boldrini said.

Amnesty International has recently issued a public declaration inviting African heads of states to do something regarding the human rights situation in Zimbabwe.

All things considered, I do think that it is high time African political leaders pulled their fingers out to help the victimized populations in that country. I find it objectionable and criminal that citizens should be evicted from their lands for mere political interests. The victims are left to starve with no potable water, suitable shelters and medical care. Even churches, and other humanitarian organizations are prevented from launching their humanitarian actions for those suffering people.

The African heads of state and the African Union are called upon to bring Mr Robert Mugabe to reason. Human rights defenders would really appreciate it if the situation in Zimbabwe was one of the main preoccupations of the African presidents and the AU. 

Je suis ravie que les publications de Pambazuka soit désormais en Français. Félicitations et courage.

The main conversation in the Egyptian blogosphere this past week has been the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections.

responds to Hamas’ request for the international community not to cut aid. He writes scathingly that Hamas should “not get a penny from the international community” since without “mammon” they will not be able to maintain their social service network.

“If the international community is to respect the choice of the Palestinians, the choice of the international community should be respected as well
It's so funny that those who told countless Palestinian youth that blowing themselves up in an Israeli shopping center will earn them a place in heaven are now concerned lest the donors turn off the tap. I mean, I am so upset with Hamas, they should have more faith than this!! (sarcasm)”

Rantings of a Sandmonkey is equally disgusted with the Hamas win. In his post, ‘Hamas wins, Palestinians loose’ he writes:

"The Palestinians have truly shot themselves in the foot this time. Given how the US and the majority of the European countries view Hamas as a terrorist organization - as they should - it's not hard to imagine them cutting off all aid to the Palestinian government completely."

He calls those who believe Hamas will become moderate now that it is in power, “delusional and not listening to what Hamas are saying” which is “death to Israel” etcetera etcetera etcetera

One Arab World has a more considered response in his post ‘Hamas won, where from here?’ He compares the Hamas win to that of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

“Both evoking the emotions of a people in dire straights, benefiting from the gravitation of people in those circumstance to ideologies, and representatives of the only viable alternative to a corrupt government. Hamas builds schools, clinics, and shelters. Hamas is intertwined in the people and amongst them. More importantly though, Hamas will not bend to others will; and that image is an opportunity. As only Sharon could have pulled off Gaza only Hamas can accept it
Whatever Hamas the bad ass, accepts in terms of negotiations, the majority of the Palestinians on the ground will accept.”

He goes on to say that the old methods (presumably suicide bombs in Tel Aviv) will no longer work. Hamas is now the government so the next attack on Israel will be a declaration of war and with the settlers out of Gaza Palestinian causalities will be much higher than in previous Israeli attacks. He also factors in the forthcoming Israeli elections and the possibility of victory for Netanyahu which could mean a reoccupation of Gaza and a third intafada. All very grim.

Elsewhere in the African blogosphere:

New South African blog, African Voices and Visions has a story on Togolese market women known as “Nana Benz”. The women began importing Dutch wax prints from Indonesia in the 1930s and then exporting them throughout Africa. They became so rich in the 1950s and were the only ones able to buy Mercedes Benz cars, thus the name “Nana Benz”.

I don’t know the history of the importation of Dutch wax prints but as long as I remember they have always been readily available in the markets of West Africa. And yes West African market women are probably amongst the wealthiest, most empowered and independent in the region.

Burkina Faso blog, Under the Acacias is concerned over the recent expansion of gold mining in the country. Until recently gold in Burkina Faso was mined by hand and was a source of income for local communities.

“When gold was found there, a small gold town grew up, with all the accompanying problems of sickness, crime, prostitution (and therefore AIDS of course) etc. Men would hand-dig tunnels many meters deep and long, working ridiculous hours, sustained often by amphetamines and kola nuts more than food. Sometimes the tunnels would collapse, killing the men inside.”

Now mining has been taken over by Orezone (a Canadian mining company – “the company’s mission is to create wealth by discovering and mining the earth’s resources in an efficient, responsible manner” – haven’t I heard that one before?). The local hand diggers have now been replaced by company workers. Although not sad to see the hand diggers leave and the associated problems the system caused, at least they had options.

“And yet, it was one option among very few for people in this region. I would be sorry if hope was once again snatched from them with nothing to replace it. Orezone of course has its business to run, but I hope that their investment into the development of the region is more than a nominal gift of a well or food aid now and again. People's lives have been affected by the company's arrival, and it should not be that the result is that a few benefit while the vast majority of the poorest and most vulnerable are left once more with no options”.

France Watcher writes that French “gunboat diplomacy is back”. S/he uses France’s involvement in the Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo as evidence that French foreign policy in Africa is dictated by the President and the Ministry of Defence. For example despite the presence of UN troops in Ivory Coast, the French have “their own operation”.

“The Chief of Staff of the French armed forces impudently publicly makes thinly veiled threats against the elected President of an independent sovereign state, and this is considered normal. Africans keep quite. What a shame.”

S/he concludes that French diplomacy in Africa has shown us that:

“French actions in Africa are basic, crude, and effective. You take directions from them, they support you, get you legitimized through some kind of electoral process, and demonize your enemies. You disobey them, they bomb you, demonize you, impoverish you, draw sanctions against you, and ultimately arraign you before the International Criminal Court on charges they decide on. Africans beware!”

Afrikan Eye begins an excellent series on “Afrikan contributions to civilisation”. In this first part s/he looks at the continents contribution to astronomy and science and technology. S/he mentions, among others, the Namoratunga of Kenya:

“These Cushites have a calendar which uses the rising of seven stars or constellations to calculate a 12-month, 354-day year. The stone orientation in Namoratunga is such that it allows for accurate observation of these stars/constellations. It is assumed that these ancient Africans astronomers made their observations with the NAKED eye since no telescopes had yet been invented.”

And the Dogon of Mali:

“These West Africans people have not only plotted the orbits of stars circling Sirius but have revealed the extraordinary nature of one of its companions- Sirius B- which they claim to be one of the densest of stars in our galaxy. What is most astonishing about their revelations is that Sirius B is invisible to the unaided eye.

The Sirius B star is of deeply significant spiritual importance to the Dogon and they have thus gathered intricate and detailed knowledge of this star which is invisible to the naked eye. The Dogon say that the orbit of Sirius B around Sirius (the visible one) lasts 100 years.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, [email protected]

Zimbabwe's security minister was quoted Friday in a government-controlled newspaper as saying that "the net will soon close" on those remaining journalists whose criticism of the government threatens the nation's security. The warning from the official, Didymus Mutasa, followed the arrest this month of employees and directors of Voice of the People, a news organization based in the capital, Harare, that had broadcast uncensored reports into Zimbabwe via a shortwave transmitter in Madagascar operated by the Dutch government.

Ethiopian security forces have detained a correspondent for the US-based Web site Ethiopian Review, its publisher Elias Kifle said. Journalist Frezer Negash has been held without charge in Addis Ababa since Friday, Kifle told the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We are disturbed that Frezer Negash has joined at least 16 other journalists in jail in Ethiopia," said Ann Cooper, executive director of CPJ. "We call on Ethiopian authorities to release her immediately."

For most Nigerians, the electronic media are more accessible and affordable than print, according to available statistics. Radio is cheap and available everywhere in local languages. It takes precedence over the television because of the country’s epileptic power supply, the readership culture, literacy level, and the cost. World Press Review reports: "Given the literacy awareness skewed in favor of the South, most Northerners clutch a portable radio wherever they go to keep informed. After all, information is power."

South African National Civic Organisation's (Sanco's) bombshell proposal to amend SA's constitution confirms an ongoing discussion in political and business circles about whether President Thabo Mbeki should seek a third term in office. Sanco argues the two terms a president can serve denies SA the opportunity to sustain development programmes. It also says the constitutional term limit is a "foreign" concept imposed on SA and the rest of Africa. It argues for the retention of the country's "best minds" and says the constitutional term limit would "force a young president to retire".
Related Link:
* Municipal elections won't appease furious South Africans
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-02/02bond.cfm

The African Union and European Union Troikas have reaffirmed what they have termed their shared responsibility for fighting corruption for the benefit of the African continent. And the executive council of the African Union has resolved to press on Zimbabwe to embrace internal dialogue as a key to resolving the country's domestic situation. The commitments were contained in a communiqué on the Africa-European Union dialogue presented to the African Union ordinary executive council meeting held in January.

Sir Edward Clay, the outspoken former British envoy to Kenya, let rip at the World Bank for lending $120 million (£68 million) to President Kibaki's Government when it was embroiled in a massive corruption scandal. In a letter to Paul Wolfowitz, the President of the World Bank, Sir Edward accused the organisation of "toadying to a thoroughly corrupt administration" and said that last week's loan made a mockery of efforts to stamp out high-level looting.

The final preparatory meeting for an international conference on Africa's Great Lakes region began on Monday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, with delegates from 11 countries in attendance. This preparatory meeting comes days after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the Great Lakes states organising the Nairobi summit to finalise its preparations. The Council resolution, adopted on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York, condemned activities of militias and armed groups in the region, such as the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR), Burundi's Forces nationales de libération (FNL) and Uganda's Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), "which continue to attack civilians and UN and humanitarian personnel and commit human rights abuses against local populations and threaten the stability of individual states and the region as a whole."

Rather than asking what aid agencies should be doing, this article asks the question: "Why are there many and different aid organisations and not just one?". The article argues that the main role of aid agencies is to mediate between donors' and recipients' interests, or preferences, and that there would be no need for mediation when donor and recipient interests were fully convergent. The article aims to provide a cross-institutional perspective to explain the relative advantages and disadvantages of each type of agency within a single explanatory model.

Supports social entrepreneurs who seek to leverage technology-based solutions in the interest of humanitarian, educational, and sustainable development goals. The Reuters Foundation and other programme partners will award approximately a dozen full-time fellowships, covering all Stanford University fees and expenses. Living stipends may be available for fellows accepted from developing world countries.

‘Broken bodies — Broken Dreams: Violence Against Women Exposed’ offers a powerful testimony of the different types of gender-based violence experienced by women and girls worldwide throughout their lives, through the use of photographs, individual case studies and illustrative text. The publication is part of OCHA/IRIN’s ongoing campaign to highlight the issues of violence against women through film, text and photography.

More than a decade after the advent of democracy, South Africa has still one of the most unequal societies in the world, but a recent study reveals that public support for pro-poor policies is highly conditional. However, "South Africans, like most people in many other parts of the world, see some people as more deserving than others, with perceived desert reflecting recognised needs (e.g. the elderly), responsibilities (e.g. breadwinners) and behaviour (with respondents being hostile to support for chronic drinkers, for example)," the report commented.

From the 6th World Social Forum in Bamako, Susan George reports on the
hospitality of the people, as well as of the misery that the World Bank
policies have created in Africa by promoting privatisation. She stresses
the importance of the role played by African activists in fighting
neo-liberal policies – especially EU–promoted Economic Partnership
Agreements. These are free trade agreements that go even further than
the WTO in liberalising markets, and threaten the very survival of
African economies.

Merlin, the British medical aid agency, is treating refugees from the Ivory Coast who have crossed the border into Liberia to flee from violence. More than 80 refugees, mostly women and children, arrived in Tuzon following fighting in the town of Guiglo, western Ivory Coast. All reported witnessing or hearing of heavy exchanges between UN troops and pro-government militia.

A major political corruption scandal in the United States has again focused attention on the role of senior Democratic Alliance official Russel Crystal in apartheid-era dirty tricks, reports South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper. Central to the scandal is Jack Abramoff, a former high-flying Republican lobbyist, who pleaded guilty on January 3 to charges of conspiracy to bribe public officials, fraud and tax evasion.

“The Darfur peace process will be jeopardized if African leaders elect a President for the African Union (AU) who is a party to the conflict,” Alioune Tine, Secretary General of the Senegalese non-governmental organisaiton (NGO) RADDHO and member of the Darfur Consortium, a coalition of over forty African based NGOs, said today in Khartoum as the AU summit got underway. “It creates a clear conflict of interest”. Speaking today in Khartoum Mr Tine urged: “In a continent riven by conflict we need an AU President who can play an incontestably legitimate leadership role in dealing with the challenges of war in Africa. The people of Darfur in particular need an AU President capable of taking a strong and independent stand on behalf of peace.” Click on the link for the rest of this press release and further statements from civil society.

"We receive with profound shock the news that the East African group of Ministers, meeting on the margins of the 6th Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit, are supporting the Sudanese bid for Presidency of the African Union. Such an action will deeply undermine and erode the credibility of the AU and at the same time compromise the authority of its institutions. Despite the assurances by the Sudanese Vice-President in the opening Session of Executive Council Meeting this morning, the human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan’s Darfur region continues to be one of the worst in the world."

"We the representatives of more than 50 human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations meeting in Nairobi, Kenya from January 13th to 14th, 2006 representing African Civil Society are honored to present our compliments to your high Offices.

We wish to express our deep concern with respect to the ongoing plans by the African heads of state and government to confer the AU Presidency for the year 2006-2007 on Sudan; and in particular to President Omar El-Bashir. We seriously believe that such an action will deeply undermine and erode the credibility of the AU and at the same time compromise the authority of its institutions.

The human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan’s Darfur region continues to be one of the worst in the world. The Government of Sudan is one of the parties considered responsible for this situation, where an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and two million others mainly women and children deliberately uprooted from their homes since February 2003. This has largely been attributed to the activities of the Government of Sudan and her allied Janjaweed militia. "

* Click on the link to read the full statement and a list of signatories.

Ben Terrall examines Haiti’s coup regime, human rights abuses, the sham of planned elections and the complicity of Washington on a military and diplomatic level. It’s a situation that has important implications for the African diaspora. As Fr.Jean-Juste, Haitian activist for justice and human rights, is quoted as saying: “It is time for peace, justice, and greater love, particularly among us, various branches of the African Diaspora in America. Can the day come when all of us African descendants in the Americas join together for mutual concerns, unity, and greater solidarity among us in this native continent of ours? Then can we come together in even stronger solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Africa, our grandmother continent?”

In a June 2005 Jamaica Observer column about the significance of the Haitian revolution, John Maxwell wrote, “the slaves of Saint Dominique, the world’s richest colony, rose up, abolished slavery and chased the slavemasters away.” Maxwell, one of the more astute journalists covering US foreign policy, added, “Unfortunately for them, they did not chase all of the slavemasters away, and out of the spawn of those arose in Haiti a small group of rich, light-skinned people – the elites, whose interests have fitted perfectly into the interests of the racists in the United States. Between them, last year, on the second centenary of the abolition of slavery and the Independence of Haiti, those interests engineered the re-inslavement of Haiti, kidnapping and expelling the president and installing in his place a gang of murderous thugs, killers, rapists and con-men.”

Vehement opponents of Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Lavalas party, the Bush Administration helped orchestrate the February 2004 coup which ousted the democratically-elected government of Haiti. Among other pro-poor social programs, the Aristide/Lavalas government’s doubling of the minimum wage was anathema to Washington’s “free trade” corporate agenda.

Maxwell argues, “the now rampant neo-facist apologists for so-called neo-liberalism are in direct line of moral descent from those who petitioned Pope Nicholas V in 1454 to sanction the slave trade between Portugal and Africa…in the new world created by the neo-liberal counter-revolution, the rights of workers and the poor are being taken away, they are getting poorer and the richer are getting richer and less accountable. In Africa, that means that hundreds of children die every day from starvation or gastroenteritis because their governments cannot afford to train or pay doctors or to provide clean drinking water.”

The dividing lines resulting from such blatant economic warfare on the world’s poor have created solidarity among the poorest countries such that the African Union and the CARICOM countries have refused to buckle under Bush Administration pressure to recognize the current coup regime in Haiti.

To its everlasting discredit, in 2004 the UN sent troops to Haiti when a U.S. marine occupation became politically untenable. In effect, this international presence, consisting of soldiers from more than twenty countries, comprises an occupation force that legitimizes the current coup regime and controls dissidents unwilling to accept the new status quo. And, as a Chilean officer told me in Cap Hatien in December 2004, the troops are “trained as soldiers, so it is very hard for us to not react in a military fashion.”

A Haitian activist I spoke to who identifies himself as a member of Lavalas told me that one useful thing the UN has done in Haiti is to bring in health care. Unfortunately, he noted sardonically, the treatment only comes after UN troops shoot civilians.

In too many cases, those civilians do not survive. In September, I spoke to witnesses to an unprovoked attack on the poor neighborhood of Bel Air in which Brazilian troops killed several unarmed residents on June 29, including a man in a wheelchair who had the top of his head blown off. Neighbours present at the scene told me the young man was confident he would be safe in front of his residence during the raid, since he was clearly handicapped and unarmed.

On July 6, UN forces perpetrated a well-documented massacre of women, men and children in the Cite Soleil section of Port-au-Prince, killing at least 23 people. During a July 8 interview with U.S. human rights activist Seth Donnelly, UN commanders Lt. General Augusto Heleno Ribiero Pereira and Colonel Jacques Morneau claimed that they were unaware of any civilian casualties and characterized the operation as a success. Colonel Morneau suggested that bodies viewed by investigators could have been killed by “gangs” and blamed on MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission In Haiti) forces. The commanders stated that MINUSTAH did use a helicopter during this operation for logistical coordination, but that soldiers in the helicopter did not shoot into the community.

Among the Haitians I spoke to in September was a seven-months pregnant woman who was shot while standing outside her Cite Soleil residence by UN troops during the July 6 raid. Despite the heroic efforts of Doctors Without Borders, she later lost her baby.

On the morning of July 6, the woman saw flashes of light coming from a helicopter directly overhead before she felt a stinging in her stomach and realized she’d been shot. Photographs taken by investigators show bullet holes in ceilings of tin shacks, suggesting that they were fired on from above.

A nonviolent Haitian activist I interviewed explained, “I see this situation as very close to what happened in Rwanda, there is a legitimacy of hatred, we hear in the media that everything that goes wrong is the fault of one party… they describe all Lavalas as enemies of the country. The rich keep calling on the UN to crack down harder, calling all people in the popular neighborhoods ‘bandits’. After the July 6 UN massacre in Cite Soleil, the rich said ‘good job’. When 10,20, or 30 people are killed in popular neighborhoods, the wealthy applaud. They pretend that all people in those neighborhoods are ‘bandits’. It’s clear that people in those neighborhoods are pro-Lavalas, but not all are armed. People in those neighborhoods start to feel that people outside are enemies. A real process of reconciliation would have to involve all, with no exclusion, and would have to look seriously at what the needs are in poor neighborhoods.”

Unfortunately the current government seems only interested in dealing with the poorest neighborhoods with military force. Given its cuts to social programs put in place by President Aristide’s Lavalas administration, and the extreme increases in prices of rice and other staples, the dire situation now faced by the poor majority is unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future.

While political prisoners jailed for their association with Lavalas continued to rot in jail, former anti-Lavalas death squad leader Jodel Chamblain was released in 2005, after a retrial Amnesty International called "an insult to justice." I interviewed prisoners in Haiti’s jails in December 2004 and July and September, 2005. Numerous incarcerated individuals told me they were arrested for openly supporting Aristide.

In the southwestern town of Aquin, Luc Jean Lamour described his situation to me from the cell he has little hope of leaving under the current government. On November 9, 2004, police conducting a sweep arrested Lamour. He was charged with arson, but at his first hearing witnesses didn’t accuse him of that. Since a police officer testified he didn’t see Lamour at the site of the alleged fire, his lawyer argued for release. But in a second hearing Lamour’s lawyer was away in Port au Prince, and Lamour was convicted and given a life sentence. Lamour pointed out that the case against him didn’t focus on arson, but instead stressed his political background as a Lavalas activist. Lamour asked, “The witnesses didn’t say anything directly against me. There was no evidence at all, why was I convicted for life?” The young man is in a cell with 8 other prisoners, most of whom sleep on sheets on the ground. As with many other prisoners I spoke to, he complained that their drinking water is terrible and that even shower water is not clean, as the cistern holding it is not cleaned or ventilated.

Amnesty International has named Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste, a veteran campaigner for justice and human rights in the US and Haiti, a “prisoner of conscience” and called for his unconditional release. The nonviolent activist priest, who has been held on trumped-up charges for five months, was recently diagnosed with a form of leukemia that progresses slowly but can develop into a more virulent strain of cancer.

Sasha Kramer of the Haiti Action Committee visited Fr. Jean-Juste in December. Kramer said, “The Haitian government claims their doctors have found nothing wrong with Jean-Juste, but the coup regime has absolutely no credibility. The Bush Administration could easily pressure the Latortue government, which it helped put in place, to release Jean-Juste.” Kramer noted that in 2005 a US court called conditions in a Haitian prison “reminiscent of a slave ship”.

On December 16, Congresswoman Maxine Waters and 41 other members of the US House of Representatives wrote President Bush calling for Fr.Jean-Juste’s release. The priest responded to the Waters and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus by writing, “Your call for my immediate release brings me the holiday season's hope. It is time for peace, justice, and greater love, particularly among us, various branches of the African Diaspora in America. Can the day come when all of us African descendants in the Americas join together for mutual concerns, unity, and greater solidarity among us in
this native continent of ours? Then can we come together in even stronger solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Africa, our grandmother continent?
These are my wishes for this holidays season.”

When I interviewed Father Jean-Juste in Port-au-Prince’s main penitentiary in July 2004, he commented on elections the US, France and Canada is financing in Haiti: “We hope they will accept the conditions offered by Fanmi Lavalas, and include everyone in the exile community, Haitian Americans, the diaspora in general, and as many Haitians as possible within and outside Haiti. Let’s recognize Aristide as our elected President and work on a return program to facilitate passage of power, free all political prisoners, respect human rights of everyone in this country.”

In a July 2004 press statement, The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti commented, “Fr. Jean-Juste’s arrest is well timed to silence the Interim Haitian Government’s (IGH) most prominent opponent in the lead up to the elections. Fr. Jean-Juste has insisted that there can be no fair campaigning or voting while hundreds of political prisoners fill the jails and police regularly open fire on legal anti-government demonstrations. Most Haitians agree with him: less than two weeks before the end of the registration process on August 9, less than 15% of eligible voters have even registered. Many of those who have registered stated that they did so because registration is required for the national identity card and that they have no intention to vote.”

In mid-November, presidential elections, which had already been postponed five times, were set for January 8. In a November press statement, Rep. Maxine Waters observed, "The Provisional Electoral Council … has yet to hire hundreds of regional election supervisors, provide identification cards to three million registered voters, identify polling locations, or begin recruiting 40,000 poll workers to conduct the elections. One cannot help but wonder how many of these technical problems are the result of simple incompetence and how many are part of a deliberate effort to disenfranchise thousands of Haitians, especially those most likely to vote for Lavalas, the only political party with widespread support among the poor. Cite Soleil, a Lavalas stronghold with an impoverished population of 300,000, had no registration sites at all until after the September 30 registration deadline had passed."

At press time, in early January, the elections have been delayed yet again.

In a memorandum signed by a group of Lavalas leaders including Mario Dupuy, Angelo Bell and Maryse Narcisse, the party asked its supporters to abstain from participation in the next elections so as not to run the risk of being assassinated. Meanwhile, candidates openly running for President include Guy Philippe, a leader of paramilitaries who drove the Aristide government from office and, according to the DEA and US Embassy, closely linked to Haiti's booming drug trans shipment trade; and Franck Romain, a veteran of the notoriously bloodthirsty regimes of "Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvalier.

In a brief stopover in Port-au-Prince on September 27, Condoleeza Rice staged a photo-op at a voter registration center which National Public Radio described as "carefully scripted". Rice intoned, "throughout history people have fought for the right to vote, some have indeed died for the right to vote. There is no more powerful weapon in the hands of a citizen...and so to the people of Haiti I urge you to use that powerful weapon, the vote, in the days ahead."

The irony of Rice, a key backer of the coup government that replaced a democracy with a death-squad kleptocracy, lecturing Haitians on the importance of the ballot box is stunning.

As Waters points out, “No matter what the date of the elections, the people of Haiti cannot be expected to take them seriously as long as voters are afraid to go to the polls and viable candidates are kept off the ballots and in the prisons. The repeated election delays and continuing technical problems of the Provisional Electoral Council are only the most recent evidence that the interim government of Haiti is incapable of organizing free and fair elections.”

Juan Gabriel Valdès, head of UN operations in Haiti, announced on August 9 that the UN forces are determined to stand in the way of all who seek to exclude Haitians from the electoral process. But UN officials have done little to pressure the illegal coup regime (which by its presence the UN occupation legitimizes) to release political prisoners or to stop its attacks on civilians.

Instead, as a March 2005 report from Harvard Law School noted: “MINUSTAH has provided cover for abuses committed by the HNP (Haitian Police) during operations in poor, historically tense Port-au-Prince neighborhoods such as Bel-Air, La Saline, and lower Delmas. Rather than advising and instructing the police in best practices, and monitoring their missteps, MINUSTAH has been the midwife of their abuses. In essence, MINUSTAH has provided to the HNP the very implements of repression.”

When Aristide was president and his besieged administration struggled to support the interests of the country’s poor majority, the Bush Administration did everything it could to undermine the Lavalas agenda (for a detailed overview of that history see the Haiti Action Committee pamphlet “The US War Against Haiti: Hidden From the Headlines” at Today, as the coup regime imprisons and slaughters pro-democracy activists, it continues to receive military, diplomatic and political support from Washington.

A July 23 AP report quoted coup regime Prime Minister Gerard Latortue as saying, “I know that the only topic on which this government will be judged is its capacity to organize fair and representative elections.”

But as President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the National Representative of Fanmi Lavalas, recently asked, “In 1994, who could have expected free, fair and democratic elections in South Africa with Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Oliver Tambo and other leaders and members of the African National Congress in jail, exile or in hiding?”

* Ben Terrall is an activist and works with the Haiti Relief Fund, which is an extremely low-overhead operation that gets money to people in desperate need and can be accessed at www.haitiaction.net

* Please send comments to [email protected]

* Half-Hour for Haiti: Enough is Enough, Release Fr. Gerry Now

Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste, the Haitian priest and political prisoner who is suffering from potentially fatal leukemia, remains in jail. However, various efforts are underway in the struggle to release him. For more information visit the website of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti at www.ijdh.org

Two cases are taking place:

1) Last week the Institute for Justice & Democracy (IJDH) and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) filed a Petition with the Inter-American Commission On Human Rights (http://www.ijdh.org/articles/article_iachr_jimmy_charles.htm) against the Interim Haitian Government and Brazil on behalf of Jimmy Charles, a grassroots activist arrested by UN Peacekeepers and executed in Haitian National Police custody on January 13, 2005.

2) On January 19, lawyers throughout the US filed motions to stop all deportations to Haiti (http://www.ijdh.org/articles/article_Haitian_Deportations.htm) , because of the country's disastrous human rights situation.

There has been a lot of activity on Fr. Gerry's case in the last week. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, (R-FL) wrote to Secretary of State Rice (http://www.ijdh.org/Ros-Lehtinen%20Letter%20Jean-Juste.pdf) asking her to intervene to obtain Fr. Jean-Juste's release. Human Rights First called on Haiti's Minister of Justice (http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/06123-hrd-jean-juste-ltr.pdf) to do the same thing. Prof. Bill Quigley, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and others visited Fr. Jean-Juste in Haiti, and issued an Action Alert (http://www.ijdh.org/articles/article_recent_news_1-24-06.htm) .

The judge who had been holding Fr. Gerry since July 21, issued two documents called "ordonnances" on Thursday, January 19. The ordonnances confirmed that there was no basis for the allegations that had been made publicly against Fr. Gerry: that he was involved in the July 2005 kidnapping and murder of Jacques Roche, the killing of two police officers in the fall of 2004, or a plot against the state. Judge Paul dismissed all those charges.

But Judge Paul added two new charges: illegal weapons possession and association de malfaiteurs (criminal conspiracy). These charges are equally without legal or factual foundation. They are based on Fr. Gerry's employment as a chaplain at the National Palace under Haiti's ousted constitutional government. His position entitled him to five security guards, who were issued a total of three pistols and two shotguns by the government. The ordonnance charges Fr. Gerry with illegal arms possession, even though there is no evidence that the security guards lack a valid license, that their employment has been terminated, that the National Palace authorities have asked for the guns back or that the guns were involved in any illegal activity.

If the ordonnance stands, Fr. Gerry would have to go to trial before a single judge. He would not have a jury. He could be convicted if the government proves that either a) he did not return the five weapons, or b) that he refused to name his five security guards, both of which he concedes. As the ordonnance is written, the prosecutor would not need to prove that the guns are illegal or that anyone engaged in or planned any illegal activity.

Conviction on the conspiracy charge could mean a sentence of forced labor for 3-15 years, and would cost Fr. Gerry many civil and political rights, including the right to run for almost any elected office. Conviction could also prevent Fr. Gerry from being admitted to the U.S. for cancer treatment.

The IGH has refused to release Fr. Gerry for leukemia treatment, insisting that he must accept its deal of a trial on the defective ordonnance with the hope of a pardon. Accepting this deal would require Fr. Gerry to trust the IGH, which has pursued him for 15 months on charges it now admits were baseless, to fulfill its promise of a pardon.

Help save Fr. Gerry's Life: Two weeks we sent an appeal asking people to write to Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Subsequently Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Duddy traveled to Haiti and helped arrange the independent medical examination that confirmed the leukemia diagnosis. Please contact Mr. Shannon again, thank him for his past efforts but urge him to take the steps necessary for Fr. Gerry's release. A sample letter is below, feel free to modify it. Sec. Shannon's telephone number is: 1-202-647-5780, his fax is 1-202-647-0791. You can try emailing to [email][email protected], but we have not been able to confirm that address.

Via Facsimile No. 1-202-647-0791

Thomas A. Shannon

Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs

U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520

Re: Haitian Political Prisoner Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste

Dear Assistant Secretary Shannon:

Thank you for your efforts on behalf of Haitian political prisoner Fr. Jean-Juste. The State Department's intervention was vital in assuring the January 10 independent medical evaluation that confirmed the leukemia diagnosis. On January 19, the Interim Haitian Government (IGH) released judicial orders confirming that the stated justifications for Father Jean-Juste's eight months of detention- accusations of the murder of two police officers and journalist Jacques Roche and a plot against state security, were baseless. In fact, the Commissaire du gouvernement,or public prosecutor, concluded in one order that "the investigation does not reveal the participation of Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste in any criminal enterprise" (emphasis supplied).

Unfortunately, those developments have not led to any leukemia treatment. The Commissaire du gouvernement,has refused to exercise his authority to provisionally release Fr. Jean-Juste for medical treatment. This authority is based on his responsibility to assure the health of prisoners, is independent of the case's procedural status, and is routinely exercised in Haiti. Fr. Jean-Juste, who wants to clear his name in a fair trial and has appeared at court or the police station every time he has been summoned, has promised to return from abroad if he is provisionally released.

The government is now insisting that Fr. Jean-Juste stand trial on two new charges, illegal weapons possession and association de malfaiteurs (criminal conspiracy), before he receives treatment. These charges are without legal or factual foundation, and neither alleges any underlying criminal acts. Fr. Gerry's lawyer has appealed the charges because they are legally defective and expose his client to a great injustice with severe consequences. Conviction could expose Fr. Gerry to fifteen years hard labor, permanent loss of civil rights, including the right to hold elective office, and potential exclusion from the U.S. and its cancer treatment facilities.

The IGH and U.S. Embassy staff implored Fr. Jean-Juste's attorney not to file an appeal, and the IGH is pressuring him to withdraw it. The IGH and the U.S. Embassy official stated that it would be quicker for Fr. Jean-Juste to go to trial, and proposed that the Haitian government could pardon Fr. Jean-Juste if he was convicted.

There is no justification for forcing a defendant to stand trial on a defective but serious accusation as a precondition of receiving treatment for a deadly disease. The IGH should process Fr. Jean-Juste's case promptly, with full respect for his procedural rights. In the meantime, it should release him immediately for treatment.

The new charges and the pressure to drop the appeal are the latest in a 15-month long persistent persecution of Fr. Jean-Juste. In all that time the IGH has yet to present evidence of a single illegal act. It is now time for the United States to take action commensurate to that persecution. I urge you to immediately revoke all U.S. entry visas for IGH officials involved in the persecution, including Commissaire du gouvernement Erman Alce, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, and Minister of Justice Henri D'Orleans. I also urge you to immediately suspend disbursement of all financial and other assistance to the IGH, until Fr. Jean-Juste is released for life-saving treatment.

Triumphant Bolivian president elect Don Evo Morales touched down in Africa last week as part of a whirlwind global tour ahead of his official inauguration on January 22. Morales, who visited South Africa where he met with politicians and civil society leaders, has pledged to adopt socialist policies and resist US influence on the domestic policies of his country. Okello Oculi tells us who Morales is, what pressures he is likely to face and what his election means for Africa.

Bolivia is a country two-thirds of whose population are indigenous "Indians". The Asian connection in their Euro-centric ethnic label is a gross historical error by European travelers who after 1492 assumed that any landmass west of the Atlantic Ocean's European coast must be the fabled India. On December 18, 2005, its voters made history by electing "the first wholly indigenous president in Latin America in modern times". His name is Don Evo Morales, a bold campaigner against American opposition to growing cocoa plants for the economic benefit of his native peoples.

Morales, an Aymara Indian, won 51.1 per cent of the vote, making it the first time that a Bolivian president is not elected by the country's parliament (or Congress), and thereby denying the big white European land owners in the eastern provinces the decisive voice in an election. Morales has openly declared himself as a "brother" to leftist presidents Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Lula da Silva in Brazil, and Fidel Castro in Cuba.

Bolivia has a unique geopolitical status, sharing borders with Brazil to the north and east, Peru in the northwest, Chile in the southwest, and Argentina and Paraguay in the south. In the mid-1960s, after being disillusioned with the revolutionary potential of Laurent Kabila and his colleagues in today's Democratic Republic of Congo, Che Guevara (the famous Cuban-Argentinean medical doctor turned revolutionary armed fighter), went and started a guerrilla war in Bolivia under the theory of establishing a "focal point" for exporting liberation to the whole of South America. In 1968 the American government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) triumphantly flashed around the world pictures of a dead Che Guevara. He had been murdered by a military unit funded by the agency.

Morales came to power leading a coalition of "trade unions and social movements" led by his own union which has pledged to legalise the growing of cocoa out of whose leaf cocaine is extracted. At his election victory rally he declared: "Long live cocoa, no to the Yankees". He pledged to re-negotiate contracts which, under the privatization programme of the previous government, gave ownership of oil and gas reserves to foreign multinational companies. Che Guevara must have smiled in his grave in Cuba, his adopted country.

Morales, like Fidel Castro, Salvadore Allende in Chile, and Hugo Chavez before him, will face stiff opposition from the United States. His pledge to "change the history of Bolivia with peace and social justice" must taste like salted human excrement to President Bush and his born-again Christian crusaders for a post-Cold War American domination code-named "pro-democracy".

The rich white minority who voted for his opponent, Jorge Quirago, will oppose his grabbing land from them for redistribution to the dispossessed "Indians"; as well as the central government's control of royalties for gas and oil. For him to succeed he must deepen the combative skills and steadfastness of his followers.

He must also implement creative policies for taking economic growth to the poor through loans to cooperative groups and small firms; supporting local mass-based technological inventiveness, while supporting patriotic big businesses and vigorously undertaking land redistribution. Such concrete economic empowerment initiatives will be the much needed anchor for sustaining the popular mandate of the election victory.

Yet Morales must not underestimate the blood-soaked record of American foreign policy in the region. The naked brutality with which the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile was crushed in 1972 and the subsequent reign of terror which President Eduardo Pinochet unleashed on his supporters, as well as the massacre of thousands of "communists" in Brazil and Argentina in the mid-1960s, must always be kept in view by Morales. Only by such vigilance will the "Movement for Socialism", which he leads, ensure the practical realisation of his assertion that "the people have defeated the neoliberals".

Morales' anti-privatization election victory is coming at a time when African leaders have been selling away national economic institutions to foreign multinationals; and doing so behind the backs of their pauperized peoples. Moreover, those leaders who took loans without putting them to development of their nation's economies are now being hunted down like thieves by Euro-American debt collectors. Morales's boldness, rooted in the mobilization of his country's trade unions and other mass associations, is therefore a vital lesson to Africa.

* Okello Oculi, Ph.D, is Executive Director of Africa Vision

* Please send comments to [email protected]

The event Africa Source II, focusing on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) took place between January 8-15, in Kalangala, Uganda. The event specialised in hands on skills development for the Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) sector, bringing together over 120 NGO support professionals, staff and software experts. Becky Faith reports on how participants learnt about using FOSS to increase vital access to information and provide inexpensive and efficient ICT infrastructure.

"When the rules of the game change we have an opportunity to change our circumstances.” With these words Mark Shuttleworth, open source advocate and Afronaut, addressed the 140 participants at Africa Source 2 which was held in a beautiful location at Kalangala, on Uganda's Ssese Islands.

The event was intended to provide NGO activists, educators and technologists space to get hands on experience with Free and Open Source Software, but the participatory and enabling environment meant that participants returned home with more than a handful of free CDs.

The three tracks of ‘Migration for Education and Resource Centers’, ‘Migration for Non Profit Sector’ and ‘Information Handling and Advocacy’ showed how participants from these sectors might use open source tools. What was revelatory was not only the fact that the everyday tools we might use for our work have robust free alternatives but that each and every one of us have skills and experiences that are useful for us to share.

In the information handling track some time was spent exploring collaborative software. An introduction to Wiki's showed how they might be easily set up through sites like http://www.wikispaces.com/ and prove valuable in an educational context. Content management systems (http://www.socialsource.org.uk/pmwiki.php/IssuesAndResources/ContentMana...) were demoed and compared as well as tools for the use of SMS in activism and human rights monitoring such as Txtmob (http://www.txtmob.com/) and Asterisk (http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/). Activists from Egypt discussed the importance of blogging in recent political campaigns (http://www.manalaa.net/egblogs) and how RSS feeds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29) were a vital tool in mobilising participation.

Other sessions saw the concepts of open knowledge explored in greater depth. An introduction to copyright and the creative commons movement (http://www.commons-sense.org/) showed how the burgeoning digital commons can benefit Africa and how adoption of creative commons licenses (http://creativecommons.org/license/) can actually be a smart business model.

Yet computers can only serve to empower communities if they are adapted for local needs. Africa Source provided an opportunity for the localisation (http://translate.org.za/, http://translate.or.ug/) of popular software such as Open Office and showed how others might go about localising into their language.

The empowerment of disabled computer users was also addressed. Arun Mehta called for help for the visually challenged from geeks - (http://wiki.africasource2.tacticaltech.org/post/main/02mAzpaeWZNprwBC). He would like to see open source screenreaders to help blind and illiterate computer users - the proprietary Windows software costs in the region of $900.

Throughout Africa Source 2 participants were encouraged to offer their skills and experiences to benefit others. Most technical environments offer a strict division between 'techies' (usually male) and non techies, yet the atmosphere at Kalangala encouraged those with any skills or experience to share them with the group.

Africa Source 2 also saw major progress in the development of the African Linux Chix community. Women from Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and Egypt got together to discuss how they might advocate for open source amongst women. Mentoring for school-age girls to get them to consider information technology as a career was seen as a top priority. The openness of the FOSS community was seen as a great opportunity for learning and participation by women. To join the mailing lists in English and French visit the site at http://www.africalinuxchix.org/.

* Becky Faith is Fahamu’s production manager.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

Website links:

http://www.bytesforall.org/
http://foss4us.org

Pambazuka News, the newsletter and website with a focus on social justice issues in Africa, recently nominated by PoliticsOnline and the 6th Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy as one of the top ten websites internationally “who are changing the world of internet and politics”, is to begin publishing of a French language version of it highly popular electronic newsletter on January 31, 2006.

“The newsletter has succeeded in creating a pan-African community, uniting people working in human rights, conflict prevention, health, social welfare, environment and social justice right across the region,” said Kenyan Director of Fahamu and Editor of Pambazuka News, Firoze Manji. “But there is a significant and unfortunate gap between those working in English-speaking and French-speaking countries, and we intend to bridge that gap through producing a French language version of Pambazuka News. ... But publishing in these languages is only the first step,” he said. “In the longer term we want to publish an Arabic edition, and then look at other African languages such as Kiswahili.”

Existing Pambazuka News subscribers are asked to:

- Inform Pambazuka News if they, as existing subscribers, would also
like to receive the French version of the newsletter by sending an email
to [email protected] with ‘subscribe French edition’ in the subject line and their full name in the body of the email.

- Inform French colleagues, networks, family and friends that they can subscribe to the upcoming French version of the newsletter by sending an email to [email protected] with ‘subscribe French edition’ in the subject line.

Watch out for more information in subsequent editions!

Click on the link to read the full press release.

thinks about his love for anthropology and considers contemporary Nigeria a great subject for an anthropologist.

“How for instance do the same people who profess a rigid and unbending religious fundamentalism square it with their illicit sexual escapades, stealing government money, bending the rules, flamboyance and conspicuous consumption in the face of grinding poverty”.

He also recommends reading the Granta Africa edition with “stories and articles by Chimamanda Adichie (an excerpt from her forthcoming novel, Half of A Yellow Sun), Helon Habila, BinyavangaWainaina with his searing, witty How to Write About Africa”.

AfroHomo comments on the proposed Nigerian law which will ban same sex marriage and also criminalise campaigning around the issue. He decides to “air some dirty laundry”.

“In a country whose agricultural and petroleum treasures have birthed horrendous poverty and inequality; where babies sleep under rat-infested bridges with gigantic garbage dumps serving as their chief protection from the elements; where an entire ecosystem of lush mangrove in the Delta region have turned into dark wells of liquid poison because of unchecked environmental pollution; where roads are so bad, people install metal cages beneath their cars to prevent accelerated damage; where the tax-collection system is so broken, only corporations pay taxes and when they do, they only pay a fraction of what's required by law; where it's normal to have electricity for just 2 hours a day; where 1% of neighbourhoods have running water for a couple of hours each month and others don't know what running water is; in this country, a ban on gay marriage reflects more than just misplaced priorities - it reflects the government's appalling disconnection with reality and basic common sense.”

He goes on to criticise Archbishop Akinola, the head of the Nigerian Anglican church, who thinks: “homosexuality is ‘Unnatural and Unafrican’”.

“How would he know? Christianity only became a mainstream religion a few decades ago. Does he find universities, electricity, monogamy and his fancy Archbishop costume "Unafrican" too? What about its sister religion, Islam? African or Unafrican? I'll let the history books judge. Be assured that he'll hate the verdict too.”

Black Looks also covers the banning of same sex marriages. The post provokes considerable discussion on the subject with comments like:

“I totally support the new law banning same sex marriage. We must uphold our traditions and culture and not continue to take up every decadent new fad from the morally bankrupt west.”

“I would refer the last commentator (Ben) to the book Boy Wives and Female Husbands to explore whether it is really true that no African society tolerated homosexuality
If we want to proscribe certain things we should be clear about why we are doing it, and not hide under the convenient triteness that it is against our culture.”

“Never! Never!! Never!!! I support, like the majority of Nigerians do, the recent ban on Sodomy, Gay or whatever you call it. It is against our culture. It is against our God. It is against nature. It is despicable. It is an abomination. Homophobic or no homophobic, it will never be permitted in Nigeria, at least not in my life time.”

“So sad
Both the law and its idiotic bible-quoting supporters. Should the very concept that other people might have private rights be so foreign to our society? No mistake about it: this is a symptom of Nigeria's intellectual and social stagnation.”

A number of Nigerian bloggers comment on the recent hostage taking in the Niger Delta.

Chippla’s Weblog believes that the “growth of militant groups in the Niger Delta directly correlates with endemic poverty in the oil producing region”. However the long-term solution is not a military one but one that engages in a discussion with the militants.

Nigerian Times echoes Chippla when he states:

“The ignorance of these facts and mercantile conspiracy by the multinational oil companies and corrupt governments in underdeveloped oil producing countries have only aggravated the critical conflicts of interests over the years and the abuse and misuse of power and control of natural resources have been most pronounced in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.”

He goes on to hold the Nigerian government responsible for the hostage taking by their detention of Asara Dokubu. The government has underestimated both Dokubu and his supporters. Nigerian Times quotes an article by Ike Okonta on Asara Dokubu titled “Dokubu and the December Amnesty” published on Black Looks.

“But it is an exercise in foolhardiness to expect Asari Dokubo to give up his guns when Nigerian soldiers and riot police are still firmly in place in the delta, working with the oil companies to enforce the regime of depredation that has reduced the Ijo, Ikwerre, Itsekiri, and all the other oil-bearing communities to a state of near-animal existence. No self-respecting patriot will stand by while aggressors are delivering the death-blow on his people.”

Ethiopundit publishes a letter from Ms Bertukan Mideksa, vice-chairperson of the Coalition for Unity & Democracy Party who is presently in jail. The letter is a powerful act of defiance and courage by the writer which will give hope to those on the outside who are struggling for an Ethiopia of liberty and peace.

“Reports are seeping through the prison walls into my cell that cities and towns all over the country are exploding, furiously burning with the quest for freedom. In schools and colleges people of tender ages are articulating and demanding their liberties with an extraordinary air of confidence and dedication. Priests are dumbstruck when young men approach and ask them to tell and live the truth as God requires. The tormentors couldn't muster up enough courage to face and address these heroic men.”

The Big Pharaoh comments on the release of Ayman Noor, Independent MP in opposition to President Hosni Mubarak. Big Pharaoh attributes his release to two factors.

“First, the Egyptian elite who are not connected to the government were clearly sympathetic towards Noor. They just didn't understand why the government would arrest Noor in particular. They know why Islamists get arrested, but they just cannot comprehend the jailing of someone like Noor. It is worth mentioning that independent newspapers who are not tied to the government or have something against Noor were sympathetic towards him as well.”

“The second factor is the US factor. Imagine if President Mubarak made his annual trip to Washington while Noor was still in jail. It would have been a huge embarrassment to President Bush. In addition, Mubarak would have probably faced an angry US media that reserved considerable space to Noor when he was arrested.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, [email protected]

Hundreds of Nigerians are still sleeping out in the open nearly nine months after bulldozers and armed police arrived in the Makoko community of Lagos, demolishing homes, churches, a mosque and a medical clinic. After three days of destruction, the community was obliterated, leaving about 3,000 residents - many already destitute - homeless. A report by Amnesty International, in collaboration with Lagos-based Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC), reveals how residents were given no prior notice of the demolition of their homes and property, which took place from 27 - 29 April 2005.

As Kenya's worst drought since 2000 intensifies, the international development agency ActionAid is warning that disputes are on the increase, with nomadic peoples starting to fight over scarce fertile land in the north east region. In a press release from London, the agency also reports that people in other regions are now beginning to succumb to the effects of drought and hunger.

Britain is to offer African asylum seekers £3,000 ($5,400) to go home or leave the UK. In a pilot scheme which will apply to all asylum seekers to the UK this year, the British government has introduced the payment in an effort to weed out those who have applied for refugee status merely in search of a better life.

Cocoa, coffee, oil palm and rubber among others are important tree crops for many sub-Saharan countries, but is there more to be gained from these high-value export commodities? This NRI report examines the conditions under which these crops are produced as well as the constraints that can arise - particularly those affecting smallholder farmers. It further reviews the impact of policy and market liberalisation, and suggests that targeted investment and the formation of producer organisations could go a long way to more than doubling the current marketable output.

Tambe Tike, a Cameroon human rights advocate argues that the World Bank’s continued support of Cameroon is a tacit support of human rights abuses and rampant corruption. He argues that the WB should not provide financial support to an authoritarian and corrupt government and that it often leads to the further strengthening of the repressive apparatus of its regime, worsening the country's human rights situation. He says that the Bank has continued to raise the government’s hope for an eventual qualification under the HIPC initiative, but that it would be a big error for Cameroon to qualify under present circumstances.

This UNDP paper explores transaction costs (TCs) in the Tanzanian education sector. It looks at the different kinds of transaction costs, including administrative, tying and fiscal, to see how they play out through different funding instruments such as projects, pooled fund support to the education sector, sector support, and examines their likely implications in the context of moves towards increased budget support.