A High Court hearing beginning tomorrow, 6 December, could decide the fate of the Chagos islanders, the community removed from their homeland by British authorities so the United States could build a military base. The islanders, some of whom have travelled from Mauritius, will be organising a demonstration outside the Royal Courts of Justice to highlight their case. The islanders are challenging the British government's declaration last year that they had no right to live in their island homeland. The initial removal from their homes was declared unlawful in a landmark High Court victory in 2000, leading the government to promise they could return to at least some of the islands. However the government stalled on even allowing visits, and in 2004, using a power described as a little-used colonial relic, it declared the islanders had no right to live in their homeland.

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been granted permission to sign his presidential nomination papers from prison by the attorney general. He is accused of treason and terrorism in civil and military courts. The government says it has the evidence to convict Dr Besigye but his lawyers say the trials are designed to prevent him from competing in polls next year. Meanwhile, Uganda's foreign minister has called for a speedy trial for President Yoweri Museveni's opponent. Dr Besigye has been granted bail by the High Court, but remains in prison because of charges he faces in a military tribunal.

U.N. humanitarian envoy Jan Egeland tramped through deep mud in squalid camps housing victims of Zimbabwe's shantytown demolitions on Monday (December 5), and said those living there were in tremendous need. President Robert Mugabe's government has bulldozed urban slums and what it called illegal structures in an operation the U.N. says left 700,000 people homeless or without a livelihood and affected 2.4 million others. Egeland, the top U.N. official to visit since the crackdown ended in May, visited people living in makeshift plastic-sheeting shelters in Hatcliffe 20 km (12 miles) outside Harare, a camp often waterlogged by rain.

African elephants are facing a renewed threat from poachers who are after the tusks in order to sell the ivory to China's emerging and luxury-hungry middle class, conservationists warn. Although the global ivory trade was banned in 1990, it has persisted in places like Sudan's capital Khartoum and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a lot of ivory is reportedly transferred to shops in China.

The United Nations Security Council has urged all governments to freeze the assets and travel of two persons linked to past arms sales to Liberia. The two individuals -- a Syrian-born accountant from Texas and a Ukrainian-born businessman with an address in the United Arab Emirates -- are said to have ties with an international gunrunner linked to former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, who is wanted on war crimes charges in Sierra Leone.

On December 10th, White Band Day 3, millions of people will unite in solidarity against trade injustice. Join the largest anti-poverty campaign in history and help us put the Spotlight on Trade Injustice. We need the World Trade Organization to deliver a fair deal on trade and agriculture. For events being held in Africa, please follow the link.

On November 21, 2005, after a five-year constitutional review process, Kenya held a referendum to approve or reject a draft constitution. Sixty-seven percent of the voters rejected the draft. Association of Women In Development interviewed Winnie Guchu, a Nairobi based women's rights activist and consultant, about the country's constitutional review process and what it has meant for women's rights. Follow the link for the full interview.

Who will tell the stories of contemporary Africa? A new generation has emerged since Nigeria's Chinua Achebe in 1958 wrote the first "African" novel, "Things Fall Apart," detailing the destruction of the Igbo culture by British colonialism. Three new African narrators--Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of Nigeria, Leila Aboulela of Sudan and Tsitsi Dangarembga of Zimbabwe--have taken the lead in telling eloquent and stirring stories of women's lives as part of the region's narrative.

Rebecca Lolosoli radiates a quiet authority beneath layers of elaborate beadwork that cover her forehead, neck, chest, and wrists. She smiles readily while addressing an audience of US college students, though to them, her topic is a metaphor for hopelessness. Rebecca is talking about AIDS in Africa, specifically among women in her Indigenous, Samburu village of Umoja, Kenya. "For years, people were dying and we did not know why," she recalls. "Now we know that AIDS can be avoided, but only by making great changes in our lives."

id21 communicates international development research to policymakers and practitioners worldwide. id21 now has two new categories - rural development and natural resources and are offering two new email newsletters.

Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party has ended a key meeting without ruling on the issue which is threatening to split the party - and the nation apart. The row between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is over the question of whether to change the constitution to let Mr Obasanjo stand for a third term. Analysts say Mr Obasanjo is positively disposed to serving a third term in order to consolidate the economic reforms which he is pursuing and to continue his fight against corruption. He is said not to trust Mr Atiku or any potential successors to continue these policies.

Shops, schools and banks were shut in many parts of southeast Nigeria on Monday (December 5), the first day of a two-day strike called by a separatist group refusing to abandon its long fight for an independent state. The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) called the stay-at-home protest to back a demand for independence for the region's ethnic Igbos. The group is also protesting the continued detention of its leader, Ralph Uwazurike, currently facing trial for treason. One MASSOB activist said the strike was but a "warning" of things to come if their leader is not released.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is outraged by news that Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaac was returned to jail just two days after being released in mid-November. Isaac is one of 15 Eritrean journalists who have been jailed incommunicado and without charge or forced into extended military service following a September 2001 clampdown that shut down the country's private press. CPJ sources confirmed that Isaac, who has dual Swedish and Eritrean nationality, has been returned to jail. During his brief release, he was able to phone his wife in Sweden as well as Leif Öbrink, a close friend who heads a campaign in Sweden for his release.

Three television crews were prevented from covering the third round of voting in Egypt’s parliamentary elections that took place in nine provinces on 1 December. Police stopped an Al-Hurra crew from shooting the surroundings of a polling station in El-Mansoura (120 km north of Cairo) which received a lot of coverage in the first two rounds. An Al Jazeera crew was prevented from filming in Bandar-Kafr-El-Sheikh, north of the capital. Plain-clothes agents confiscated their camera, destroyed their video-cassette and threatened to break the camera if they tried to film again or take photos. Security agents briefly detained a three-member CNBC Arabiya crew that tried to cover the elections in El-Zaqaziq (83 km east of Cairo).

Panic gripped Nairobi on Monday afternoon as the waves of a massive earthquake on Lake Tanganyika shook buildings in Kenya, some 975 kilometres away, sending workers scampering to safety. The earthquake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, was reported to have toppled dozens of homes and killed several people on the Congo-Tanzania border. By Monday evening, the number of casualties was yet to be established.

The European Union and the United States are illegally subsidizing their production of corn, rice, sorghum, fruit juice, canned fruit, tomatoes, dairy products, tobacco and wine, according to new research published today by international agency Oxfam. The EU and the US must do more to deliver a development deal ahead of a crucial WTO Ministerial meeting on December 13-18 otherwise they could end up facing a mountain of litigation, Oxfam says, because developing countries will be left with no other options. Of the 11 commodities studied, the US and the EU pay out total annual farm subsidies worth $9.3 billion and $4.2 billion respectively which help to distort world trade. Oxfam found that 38 developing countries are suffering from unfair competition as a result, including larger countries such as Mexico and Brazil as well as poor countries like Malawi and Mozambique.

After fairly successful political transitions in Burundi and Rwanda as well as high voter registration in DRC, the EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Louis Michel, has called for the revival of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries of Africa (the Communauté Economique des Pays des Grands Lacs, or CEPGL). Michel met with Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, who was on a four-day visit to Belgium. According to EU Spokesperson Amadeu Altafaj, Nkurunziza has sent all the positive signals that the donors were expecting of him, including the holding of free and fair elections; his woman-friendly government; and his policy priorities of education and reconciliation.

Some of you may remember that as part of the World AIDS Day roundup I posted a piece from Kid’s Doc in Jos - http://www.ecwaevangel.org/blog/faith-died_72 - on 15th month old HIV+ twins Faith and Favour. At the time Faith was very ill with pneumonia. The heartbreaking news is that baby Faith died on Thursday 1st December – World AIDS Day, 2005 aged 15th months. He is survived by his twin, Favour and their mother.

“Faith died yesterday, in the ICU. Now his mom would like someone to care for his sister. She doesn’t see any way she can do it all herself, and find a job to support the two of them. I am so worn out this week, I’m sad about Faith, at the same time I feel bad that I no longer feel the full impact of a child’s death. And I wonder how I can even be sorry for myself being tired and failing to save Faith, when the mother’s loss is so great. Most of her ‘support team’, counselors from Spring of Life, left for the all-Africa AIDS conference in Abuja the morning after Faith died, so she’s lacking even that support right now.”

The death of baby Faith will leave all of us with a heavy heart but even more than that - anger. Anger at the complete failure of the Western and African leaders to deal with this terrible illness that is killing children and their parents. People with HIV and AIDS NEED DRUGS – without drugs there is nothing but death and more death. Faith never had a chance and neither will his sister or their mother. If he had been in Europe or had access to HIV drugs he would be alive today.

Aqumada - aqumada http://yekolotemari.blog.com/435192 writes about his recent experience of traveling in the West – a Black man with a US passport being detained and interrogated.

“A lone black traveler, however, does not have the same rights as other white travelers. The questions in the interrogation room mainly focused on my cultural and racial identity. Many ridiculous questions such as what my religion was and whether I go to the mosque were posed. Although irritating and embarrassing, I had to answer the questions in a way that would distance me from the stereotypical image of a terrorist (Arab and Muslim). At one point, one of the cops suggested that he remembered arresting me the previous week (a week I was not even in Britain). Not being able to control my anger, I lashed out at the police officers. Although he retreated from this question, I was probed via intentionally constructed misleading questions intended to find out whether I was an Eritrean/Muslim/Somali etc. I believe the fact that two Somali men (still at large) killed a British police officer during the previous week and the recent bombing incident that an Ethiopian man was involved in did not help.”

Nigerian Blog, Grandiose Parlour -
Grandiose Parlour http://grandioseparlor.blogspot.com/2005/12/nigerians-need-to-act-or-shu... writes that Nigerians need to “Act or shut up”. He is referring to the forthcoming 2007 elections which are already being heatedly debated in the Nigerian blogosphere and national media.

“Nigerians including my humble self are darn good critics, but unfortunately our rants hardly get transformed into actions. A good example is the current political nonsense unfolding in Nigeria, despite the outcry from all corners of Nigeria and the world it appears those with the powers to act are not listening or ready to take action.”

Ethiopian blog Weichegud! ET Politics - Weichegud http://weichegud.blogspot.com/2005/12/dedessa-new-waterloo.html has a commentary on the Channel 4 documentary “Ethiopia’s Agony” and the report in last Sunday’s London Observer “Democratic Dawn in Ethiopia Fades as Abuses Come to Light” both of which report on the thousands detained in the Dedesa concentration camp set up my Prime Minister Meles who seems to be competing with Mugabe to see who can commit the worst atrocities on their own people and political opposition.

“Only the minds of the people who run the EPRDF could have thought no one would notice the arresting of tens of thousands of people and dumping them in a detention camp.”

Nonetheless as Wonkette writes

“It will take a few more thousand deaths before the main stream media latches on to this story. That is inevitable. The world will be outraged. One of the imprisoned leaders of the opposition will die in prison. A couple of high-ranking government officials will resign/defect and spill the beans. In order to hide what has happened in Dedessa, the government will commit even more atrocities. And the rest will be history. It's a textbook case of an autocrat who has worn down the welcome mat.”

And that’s about it!

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

* Please send comments to [email protected]

BBC listeners and readers share their personal experiences of the African continent. "Why do I love Africa? Because we are all related. All Africans are brothers and sisters says Jonathan Tommy. Biologically, where ever you are from in Africa, we are related. In Africa if you are from the same house - you are related, from the same village - you are related; from the same country - you are related. Even from the same regional grouping like west, east, north and southern Africa - we are related as long as you are an African we are all related. We refer to each other as brother and sister in Africa. We do not have cousin or nieces - all we have are brothers and sisters. That is why I love Africa - so let us stop killing one another."

Amnesty International has found a new “weapon” to use in its battle against torture: cell-phone text messages. These messages of up to 160 characters and transmitted by cell phone are known in many countries by the acronym SMS, which stands for “short-messaging service.” With these messages, protests can be gathered faster than ever, enabling Amnesty International to take action against torture and other abuses more quickly. About 39 percent of the cell-phone campaigns conducted by Amnesty in 2002 were successful. Prisoners of conscience were released, people who had “disappeared” were found and death sentences were not carried out.

A new Web initiative launched at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), will connect anyone with Internet access and the desire to learn to a world of free, high-quality open educational materials. The Development Gateway Foundation's "Open Educational Resources" portal aims to equalize access to education and help people in developing countries improve their chances for a better life.

"As the Joint Working Group (JWG) we are proud to be in a Constitutional democracy that honours the equality and dignity of all citizens, as reflected in the judgment. In terms of the current form of both the common and statutory laws of marriage, the Court’s ruling acknowledges the denial of equal protection of the law, as well as the unfair discrimination of the State, against lesbian and gay people. As such, the Court was unanimous in declaring the common law definition of marriage and the Marriage Act unconstitutional, as they infringe our right to equality and dignity. Furthermore, in line with previous decisions, the Court asserts the rights of lesbian and gay people to access equal benefit and protection of the law and for our relationships to hold equal status in the eyes of the law."

For the transcript of the Constitutional Court ruling, visit
http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/site/ga ylesb.htm

Further information can be found at:
http://www.mask.org.za

As a Zimbabwean in the Diaspora, the Commonwealth stance on Zimbabwe is good but not good enough.

The toothlessness of Commonwealth gatherings is occasioned by the presence in the forum of African leadership that never come up with substantive ways to change tyrannical regimes.

Maybe due to the nature of the composition or constitution of this body, we witness the failure of a radical approach to grievances of human rights abuses. In recent years Zimbabwe has remained a matter of both regional and world concern, with strong recommendations coming mainly from the west but however moderated by the sympathizers of Robert Mugabe in personalities like Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania.

One gets a strong feeling that African leaders fear being criticized and that they would defend each other irrespective of the wrong. Politically the notion of being criticized brings with it the negative connotations of failure. Because many of the leadership in Africa has done something that could cause protracted legal battles, there is a phobia for former African leaders going through trial, hence many have either died in exile or run away.

This could well explain the silence from Africa.

The above should therefore help us to understand the stand taken at the Malta Commonwealth meeting which made Zimbabwe a reference in passing rather than an issue on the agenda.

It is in this context that I find the Commonwealth stand on Zimbabwe misplaced in terms of human sympathy for ordinary Zimbabweans, given the atrocities gone and going on in Zimbabwe under the Zanu PF regime. If Uganda and the Maldives shall be the subject of investigations on human rights abuses, one would have hoped that Zimbabwe should have been given the same treatment.

As the UN investigations have shown, beyond a doubt, that human rights are being breached in Zimbabwe, the Commonwealth must call on higher organizations to intensify the inquiry into the need for a free and fair elections to establish justice, freedom and a democracy.

President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that the governor who jumped bail on money-laundering charges in the UK and escaped home is "shameful" to Nigeria. Mr Obasanjo was commenting for the first time in public on the case of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, although he has asked the UK for an explanation. Mr Alamieyeseigha was expelled from the ruling PDP party last Thursday. He also faces corruption charges in a special court, which can strip elected officials of their immunity.

The British government has drawn sharp criticism from development charities for taking a debt repayment from Nigeria which dwarfs the UK's entire annual aid budget for the African continent. The Group of Seven leading industrial countries, which met in London over the weekend, are soon to receive $12.4bn (£7.2bn) from Africa's most populous nation as part of a debt rescheduling package agreed this year by the Paris Club of creditor countries. As Britain is Nigeria's largest creditor, it is set for a windfall of £1.7bn in the coming months - considerably larger than the £1bn-a-year portion of the European Union rebate that Tony Blair has offered to give up.

UNIC is looking for someone with knowledge of at least two programming languages, basic systems analysis and design techniques, testing, debugging, and documentation standards, and database design. Good analytical and problem solving skills and ability to handle a range of systems-related issues to work as an Information Systems Assistant in their Pretoria office.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is preparing for a referendum on an new constitution on December 18, part of a long peace process scheduled to lead to an elected government by June of next year. Nevertheless, the transition to peace and stability in the country is precarious. According to the International Crisis Group, "Reunification has been plagued by government corruption and mismanagement, failure to reform the security sector, the ongoing threat of the Rwandan Hutu insurgency FDLR based in the eastern Congo, and a weak UN peacekeeping mission (MONUC) that is not
adequately protecting civilians."

The International Criminal Court (ICC) needs to raise its profile in the countries where it is conducting investigations, Human Rights Watch has declared. With the annual Assembly of States Parties (ASP) meeting scheduled to start on November 28, Human Rights Watch issued a paper outlining recommendations for enhancing operations.

The world is set to miss its target of getting as many girls as boys into schools by the end of this year, the UN children’s fund (Unicef) said. In a new study, Unicef said that efforts to achieve gender parity in primary education were off track, despite progress in many nations.

This new UNESCO publication argues that language, specifically the language used in schools, is one of the principal mechanisms through which inequality in education is reproduced. It shows how the learner’s mother tongue holds the key to making schooling more inclusive for all disadvantaged groups, especially for girls and women.

Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR), a pan-African coalition working for the popularization, ratification and domestication of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, celebrates the Protocol’s coming into force today (November 25) on International Day Against Violence Against Women, 30 days after the government of Togo became the 15th country to ratify.

The Freedom of Expression Institute is disturbed at the growing number of violations of the right to protest by local authorities and the police. Mounting evidence suggests that more local governments are abusing their power to authorise or disallow gatherings to stifle dissent against their own performance. If this trend continues, then freedom of expression stands to be eroded at a time when it is needed most, namely in the run up to the local government elections. Given that a number of these violations involve local governments suppressing expressions of discontent around the state of service delivery, the freeness and fairness of local government elections may be adversely affected. This is because views expressed in these protests, that are crucial for communities to evaluate the performance of existing local governments, will be prevented from coming to light.

This is an update about disturbing developments regarding the Merowe Dam Project in Northern Sudan. This dam - the largest hydropower project under construction in Africa - is currently being built by Chinese and Western companies. About 50,000 people are supposed to be displaced to barren places in the Nubian desert for the project. In recent days, tensions around the dam project have escalated. On November 29, violence erupted on Sherri Island, a Nile island that will be submerged by the Merowe reservoir. Massive protests broke out when security forces tried to arrest representatives of the dam-affected communities on this island. In the ensuing scuffles, the office of the dam authority was set afire, and the government officials had to flee the island. According to unconfirmed reports, the government has dispatched three battalions to the area to quash the unrest.

John 'Briggs' Bomba, International Socialist Organisation (ISO), Zimbabwe:

"I was among 120 people who were arrested on the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) led Action Against Poverty demonstration on Tuesday 8 November. Hundreds of people had protested against spiralling levels of poverty. Those arrested included township women with babies on their back (the youngest being only six weeks old), the disabled on crutches, HIV positive people demanding access to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), workers demanding a living wage, unemployed youth and other activists. We spent a nightmarish four days and three nights behind bars in conditions not fit for wild dogs, for raising banners demanding food and water."

For John’s full account, follow the link.

The African Development Bank (ADB) Group said Burundi had met the conditions needed to qualify for US $226.01 million ($149.35 million in Net Present Value terms) in debt relief. "This amount will save up to 90 percent of Burundi's debt service obligations annually until February 2043," the bank said in a statement following a decision by its board of directors and those of the African Development Fund, one of the bank's entities. The ADB share of debt relief is equivalent to 18 percent of the relief being offered by all of Burundi's creditors, according to AlertNet.

Three opposition leaders and a human rights activist in Ethiopia say they will go on hunger strike from Monday (November 28) in protest against their detention. The four were arrested at the beginning of this month during violent protests over May's disputed election results. They have not been formally charged but Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says they could be tried for treason. CUD leader Hailu Shawel and two top party officials say their detention is politically-motivated.

Zimbabwe's embattled leading opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has suspended its own leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, from his position, according to internal party correspondence. In a letter obtained by Agence France-Presse on Monday, MDC vice-president Gibson Sibanda said a national disciplinary committee met last week and resolved to suspend Tsvangirai from his position as president with "immediate effect". Sibanda said the suspension is for misconduct charges, including violation of the party's constitution, as reported by the Mail and Guardian.

The Muslim Brotherhood obtained a record 76 seats in the second round of legislative elections held on November 27, despite arrests, intimidation and violence. Just like in the first round, the vote saw the advance of independent candidates connected with the Muslim Brotherhood group, which is banned from taking part in the elections. It, however, organised a campaign with the slogan: Islam is the solution.

Ugandan Interior Minister Ruhakana Rugunda has welcomed a call for peace talks by the deputy commander of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. He said that if the overture was serious it was a welcome development. The government will seize any opportunity to bring the suffering of people in northern Uganda to an end," he told the BBC. The LRA has fought for 19 years. Peace talks were attempted a year ago, but broke down. "The government is waiting and the government will be ready to meet a delegation of the Lords Resistance Army anytime. So the government is ready," he said.

"We appeal to governments, Civil Society and the general public in the Southern African region where the death penalty is still retained to engage in informed dialogue on the need to abolish the death penalty." Follow the link for the statement made by organisations which participated in the Southern Africa Regional Death Penalty Workshop held in Gaborone, Botswana on 16 November 2005, under the auspices of the Southern African Legal Assistance Network (SALAN).

Please follow the link to find a petition to EU leaders to act on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe so that justice prevails.

Some 5,000 people have sought refuge in Gereida town over the past week, following violent clashes in the conflict-torn western Sudanese state of South Darfur that had already displaced 15,000, the international NGO Oxfam reported. "We are now estimating that between 18,000 and 20,000 IDPs [internally displaced persons] have newly arrived in Gereida, although the number hasn't been officially confirmed yet," Nicki Bennett, spokeswoman for Oxfam in Sudan, said on Wednesday.

In his weekly column, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem tackles three African presidents who appear to have ambitions to rule until they drop dead. Omar Bongo of Gabon, Yoweri Musevini of Uganda and Olushegun Obasanjo of Nigeria are either firmly entrenched as leaders for life or are busy manipulating electoral laws so they can serve beyond their given time. Abdul-Raheem asks why these leaders see it as their god-given right to rule and rule and rule...

The more Africa changes the more it remains the same at the level of leadership. While it is no longer an issue for debate that we should choose our own leaders in a democratic election there are many challenges in the processes that may make cynics proclaim that we are only making a distinction without any fundamental difference.

Our dictators have learnt how to repackage themselves with a veneer of electoral democracy that ensues that we 'vote without choosing' since the outcome often remains the same. In the past few years constitutionalism has also made a come back across Africa but - unwilling democrats that many of the leaders are - they have found ways of constitutionalising their illegitimacy by following a constitutional route to deny their peoples the democratic right to genuine changes and alternatives in public policy.

Take the cases of three presidents from different regions of Africa who have become the symbols of this constitutional gerymandering. The first one holds the dubious title of being Africa's longest –serving (I am not sure what services any more), President, El Hadj Omar Bongo of the oil-rich Central African state of Gabon. He has been in power since 1967 and has just secured for himself another seven-year term at the presidential palace, which will ensure that he remains in power till he is 75 years old (officially). After that term, if both nature and the ancestors have not called him home, we can be sure that there will be no shortage of footloose opportunists to orchestrate 'one more term'. Bongo has ensured that he runs and runs till he drops dead. This is where his presidential run and re-run interfaces with that of the second president, retired general Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda, whose onward march to another term was the subject of this column last week.

I got many responses from both the Museveni camp and even more from the anti-Museveni group on that article. The president's men and women typically become legalistic on the issue, arguing that now that Ugandans have spoken through a referendum and there has been appropriate change to the constitution, the President is not doing anything unconstitutional.

They overstate their democratic credentials by stating the seemingly obvious: Ugandan voters are supreme they say and whatever they decide is sacrosanct. It is a very beguiling democratic case even if democracy is the last thing on the minds of those pushing it. It is always amusing to me why Ugandans are supreme over the issue of Museveni running again but have neither been supreme on the key economic decisions of the government or the various wars the country has been involved in for the past two decades. Not even elected members of Parliament have any influence on the government's neo-liberal policies yet the people are supreme!

On the other side of the debate the anti 'sad term' camp think I have become too complacent about Museveni's self-succession. I had concluded my article last week matter-of-factly that five years will soon come to pass. But the fear of many in the opposition is that it is not just the next five years that Museveni and his cronies want but the next one, and the one after that and probably another one after that until the president gives up the ghost. In a sense self-succession in perpetuity - like Bongo's.

I must confess that I have no answer to that speculation because there is something that happens to our presidents once they enter office that they find ways and means of perpetuating themselves. People often blame opportunists around them but I think that is a lazy approach. There is no adviser that will compel an unwilling president to remain in office for a minute longer if he is not that inclined.

Unfortunately Museveni is not alone in the struggle for presidency in perpetuity. And that leads us to the third president, another retired general, Chief Mathew Aremu Olushegun Obasanjo. I have been in Nigeria for the past three weeks and the big political issue is about the quest for another term by President Obasanjo.

Like Museveni's supporters when his campaign first started to change the constitution, Obasanjo's people are saying the president has not decided either way. Like President Museveni, Obasanjo rarely addresses the issue directly and when he does he says defensively that the constitution does not allow him to go beyond two consecutive terms and he has pledged to uphold the constitution. However, as it happened in Uganda his agents and political contractors are busy pushing for constitutional amendments that will allow him to stand for another term and thereby constitutionalising his self-succession as has happened in Uganda.

It is obvious that the three compare notes on how to deceive their peoples. It is sad that, in spite of the new African Peer Review Mechanism, they do not compare notes on how to improve the lot of their peoples.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

* Please send comments to

The Kenya Civil Society Coalition on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has launched a campaign for a common platform to secure trade justice for Africa. At the forthcoming World Trade Organisation (WTO) Inter-Ministerial Conference, slated between December 13 and 18, the Global Call for Action Against Poverty (GCAP- Kenya), urges that the delegation to represent Kenya at the talks and put emphasis on the country’s right to food security and freedom from dumping.

Hon. Wangari Maathai blazed the trail for African and Kenyan women in regard to international recognition for peace activism. Betty Kaari Murungi has now followed in those footsteps. On November 11th 2005, in New York, Betty received the annual International Advocate for Peace Award which honours individuals who embody passion through their work in international conflict resolution. This award was founded by the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution which draws its name from former U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Benjamin N. Cardozo, who was renowned for his integrity and social consciousness.

On World Aids Day 2005, UN Special Envoy for HIV/Aids in Africa Stephen Lewis - answering questions from Pambazuka News - adds his voice to those telling western leaders to keep their promises made on fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic, warning that 'resting easy' once promises are made is 'pure folly' and pointing to evidence of backsliding following G8 commitments earlier this year. In the interview, Lewis answers questions on the slow-footed global response to the epidemic, his often outspoken statements and where the 'big breakthrough' in the fight against HIV/Aids will come from. The gender dimension of the epidemic is a frequent theme, with Lewis concluding: 'I do think it's dawning on even the most regressive policy makers, though, that the AIDS pandemic is part of the price we are paying for allowing unabated gender-based violence and inequality. But that dawning awareness is excruciatingly slow, and we just don't have time for incremental progress. Entire countries run the risk of being depopulated of women!'

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: The theme of World Aids Day 2005 is 'Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise'. On World Aids Day 2005, what would you like your message to be about the fight against HIV/AIDS?

STEPHEN LEWIS: Without a doubt, I'd want to add my voice to those urging western leaders to keep the promises they've already made - including the solemn commitments of financial resources proffered as recently as last July, at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles. We are at a turning point, and the level of resources brought to bear on AIDS will decide which way we turn. It's now clear, though, that resting easy once promises of aid are made is pure folly: we needn't look further for evidence of backsliding on commitments than the replenishment conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, held just two months after the G8's promises to Africa were announced. In spite of the pledge to increase aid to Africa to $50 billion annually by 2010, and notwithstanding the G8's statement in support of universal HIV/AIDS treatment - that is, access to antiretroviral drugs for all who need them - the donors dealt a crippling blow to the Global Fund in September, giving it roughly half of the money it needs for 2006 and 2007. So yes, I think "keep the promise" is a timely message, and one that bears repeating over and again until it sinks in.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: In a passage from your book 'Race Against Time' you say the following: "I'll devote every fiber of my body to defeating this viral contagion, but I cannot abide the willful inattention of so much of the international community. I cannot expunge from my mind the heartless indifference, the criminal neglect of the last decade, during which time countless people have gone to their graves - people who should still be walking the open savannah of Africa." What, in your mind, causes this inattention towards HIV/AIDS? Why are people able to read or hear about the pandemic, yet do so little about it? And how do politicians and policy makers justify their inaction?

STEPHEN LEWIS: Frankly, it's a mystery to me. I didn't understand when the world stood by and allowed the genocide in Rwanda to unfold before our eyes, and I can't comprehend now how it's humanly possible to do so much less than the minimum required to end the suffering inflicted by AIDS.

I think I understand why it is that such dramatic natural disasters as the tsunami provoke outpourings of concern: sudden catastrophes, particularly when they're captured on camera, attract attention and strike a sympathetic chord. With a surprise calamity of that magnitude, we suddenly see the world turned upside down, and follow the natural instinct to set things right again. The AIDS pandemic, on the other hand, is a long, drawn-out catastrophe. Although its mortality rates dwarf the tsunami's, which claimed some 200,000 lives compared with over 25 million deaths to AIDS so far - in an odd way, it seems that the very characteristics that make AIDS the worst plague in recorded history also mitigate against an urgent response. The inexorable nature of the AIDS pandemic, its slow-motion destruction, its longevity, its enormity: these are all characteristics that distinguish AIDS from other emergencies. For those in its grip, of course, the past history or projected future of the pandemic are of no consequence. For them, the suffering and death they face is the most urgent of emergencies.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: You have been vocal in your criticism of the policies and actions (or inactions) of many governments, both in the West as well as Africa. World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies have also come under attack for their inability to deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic appropriately. Indeed, the very organization that you represent, the UN, and its leaders, have been fair game. Usually this type of criticism comes from outside of these organizations, but rarely from inside. Others in positions like yours are rarely willing or able to be so analytical and forthright when it comes to questioning these superpowers - how did you come to your analysis, and how are you able to be so vocal, without making enemies/getting fired?

STEPHEN LEWIS: My analysis is uncomplicated: with a staggering emergency like AIDS, the usual diplomatic proprieties simply don't apply. As envoy for AIDS in Africa, my job is to represent the African position, no matter how critical that requires me to be. I'll grant you that in the diplomatic arena, it's unexpected to hear opinions stripped bare of comfortable cushioning. But I feel confident that my colleagues are aware that my criticisms are always offered in the spirit of reform - which is a worthy as well as a loyal pursuit, and one that's currently high on everyone's agenda.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: News about the release of your recent book "Race Against Time" highlighted the rift between you and the South African government over their attitude to fighting the pandemic. While the honesty with which you have aired your concerns is refreshing, surely it can't be helpful to have such an open grievance between a government and a major agency responsible for fighting HIV/AIDS? What is it going to take to mend the rift?

STEPHEN LEWIS: Actually, I have a rather different view of disagreement: a rift isn't destructive if it's the result of an honest appraisal. On the contrary, the liberty - even the responsibility - to take issue with those in power is indispensable to real progress. In any case, the rift in question exists between me, individually, and members of the government of South Africa. The United Nations and its agencies continue to enjoy an amicable and productive relationship with the government.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: In a recent Globe and Mail article you say that you "want to be around for the breakthrough." What is the breakthrough? What is it going to take to put an end to this pandemic?

STEPHEN LEWIS: The ultimate breakthrough, of course, will be the release of a vaccine, the development of which must continue to command our utmost attention. Short of a vaccine, however, the big breakthrough in my mind will come with the achievement of universal access to treatment. Now that we have the drugs that can transform HIV/AIDS from a fatal disease to a chronic condition, and now that prices have been driven down to entirely affordable levels - the Clinton Foundation has negotiated generic drug prices for several countries that bring costs down to $140 per person per year - the big question is, when will the money materialize?

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: You speak often of gender inequality, and not just of the inequality faced by women in Africa. This inequality is found too in the powerful agencies, like the UN, for example, that represent these women. Women are barely represented in positions of power in various government and other administrations. What will it take for women to be meaningful players in determining their futures?

STEPHEN LEWIS: I've long believed that the desire for gender equality is the most difficult of all quests for equal rights - even more elusive and complex than racial equality. Gender inequality is universal, so I wouldn't presume to diminish this age-old injustice by suggesting that there are easy solutions. But to answer your question with regard to governments and bureaucracies - what will it take? - there are three common-sense prerequisites to gender equity and equality that seem to be fundamental. First, the notion that women will gradually arrive at equal representation by assuming positions of power through attrition is neither acceptable nor realistic. Men must be required to relinquish to women half the power they hold - power, incidentally, that was obtained under false premises, and is often retained by force. Second, all current-day gender equity targets that are set below 50 per cent should be recognized as inherently unjust. It is preposterous that half the world's population should settle for one-third representation, or for anything less than half. And third, gender inequality is a universal curse. It will require forceful action and strong leadership from the international community. That should start, I'd submit, with the establishment of an international agency dedicated entirely to supporting women in their own pursuit of justice, equality and self-determination.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: The following quote struck me as very interesting, especially in terms of your emotional ability to deal with this pandemic, given your involvement in the issue: "I'm not some sweet innocent. I'm 67 years old. I've learned something about politics, diplomacy and multilateralism. I thought I understood the way the world works. I don't." What has this learning process been like? What emotional toll has this work taken on you, and how do you counter it?

STEPHEN LEWIS: There is no question that this work provokes deep frustration and profound sadness. And yes, my frustration escalates to rage at times, and the sadness often feels irreconcilable. I think that's to be expected - there's just too much death, and it demolishes one's equilibrium. But my emotional turmoil is as nothing compared with what the millions of infected, dying and grieving people on the ground suffer every day. I suppose one learns how to counter the feelings of hopelessness by watching how the indefatigable people of Africa struggle through this horrendous pandemic, and by doing as they do. You persist.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What motivates you?

STEPHEN LEWIS: My ideology is my motivator. I'm a democratic socialist; all my life, I've been driven to act by deep convictions, instilled in me from the time I could think coherent thoughts. The drive for social justice, for human rights, for equality, for recognition of the dignity of all humankind - these are the only pursuits that really matter.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Much of the attention in Africa placed on HIV/AIDS has been ABC (Abstinence, Be faithful, and use Condoms). But can the pandemic seriously be addressed without dealing with the question of power relations between men and women? Safe sex campaigns assume that women are in a position to negotiate on equal terms, when the reality is quite different. What is it going to take to make governments and policy makers realize this, and how should they address these issues?

STEPHEN LEWIS: The dreadful truth is that governments are being forced to come to that realization the hard way - and that's particularly, but not exclusively true of African governments. The statistics themselves tell a story of gender inequality gone berserk: a million more women are living with HIV now than in 2003, bringing the world total in 2005 to an incomprehensible 17.5 million HIV-positive women. More than three-quarters of those women are African. Young women and girls between the ages of 15 and 24 in sub-Saharan Africa are at least three times more likely to be infected than young males in the same age group. With disparities that pronounced, it's impossible to deny the straight line between cause and effect.

New studies show that even marriage can be a dangerous undertaking for young women, who are frequently wed to older and more sexually experienced men, or to husbands whose infidelity brings HIV infection into the marital bed. And as you mentioned, power relations between men and women can be so out of kilter that the idea of a wife negotiating safer sex with her husband is not even up for consideration.

I do think it's dawning on even the most regressive policy makers, though, that the AIDS pandemic is part of the price we are paying for allowing unabated gender-based violence and inequality. But that dawning awareness is excruciatingly slow, and we just don't have time for incremental progress. Entire countries run the risk of being depopulated of women! Nothing short of a global social movement demanding an immediate end to all forms of gender inequality can begin to reverse the trend.

Many thanks!

* Interview conducted by email. Please send comments to [email protected]

Official website of the World AIDS Day campaign:

http://www.worldaidscampaign.org

Resources:

AVERT
http://www.avert.org/worldaid.htm

Africa AIDS Watch
http://www.africaaidswatch.org/

Treatment Action Campaign (South Africa)
http://www.tac.org.za

AIDS Education Global Information Centre
http://www.aegis.org/

Pan African Treatment Access Movement
http://www.patam.org/

Health Global Access Project
http://www.healthgap.org/

Joint UN/World Health Organisation AIDS Epidemic Update for 2005:

http://www.unaids.org/NetTools/Misc/DocInfo.aspx?LANG=en&href=http://gva...
-owl/WEBcontent/Documents/pub/Media/Press-Releases03/PR_EpiUpdate_Nov05_en.p
df

World AIDS day articles in Pambazuka:

http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=184

http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=185

http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=134

AIDS activists around the world face frequent government repression and abuse and need substantially increased support and protections, said Human Rights Watch on World AIDS Day. "The few success stories we have in the global fight against AIDS are the result of the heroic efforts of courageous individuals mobilizing impoverished, marginalized, and stigmatized populations to action," said Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS Program at Human Rights Watch. "But AIDS activists and outreach workers are often harassed or even jailed by their governments for simply standing up and speaking out about AIDS, and the international donor community is doing too little to protect them."

Last week we published the first in a series of articles about the current negotiations over Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states and the European Union (http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30549). In the first article, Stephen Hurt looked at the shifting power relations in international trade between the ACP states and the EU, showing how the current EPAs can be understood by looking at the historical relationship between the various groupings. The second article on the subject is based on a report by EcoNews Africa and Traidcraft and looks at the impact of free trade on the lives of ordinary Kenyans.

"During the past two decades, we have seen Kenya slide systematically in to the abyss of underdevelopment and hopelessness." - Kenya government paper, June 2003

"We liberalised excessively in the 1990s because of the IMF and World Bank. But it de-developed us. The levels of education collapsed. The generation of the 1990s is the lost generation."- Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, Kenya Minister for Trade, June 2005

In the 1970s Kenya's future looked bright. The economy was growing and industry starting to thrive. But the country's fortunes reversed when it was forced to follow the rigid economic regime imposed by rich nations. During the 1980s, in return for aid Kenya was put on a strict diet of 'liberalisation'. This involved reducing government support for farmers, cutting tariffs and de-regulating markets. Then in the 1990s as a condition of joining the WTO Kenya liberalised even further. Cheap, sometimes subsidized goods have flooded the markets - everything from clothes to shoes, sugar to steel.

The result has been a generation without education, massive unemployment and shattered industries. Thrown in to competition with powerful companies and countries, Kenya's fledgling industries and vulnerable farmers didn't stand a chance. Many went under. The government lost income and was prevented from stepping in to help. The human cost of the liberalisation experiment has been enormous. 56% of people live in poverty (48% in 1990); under 30% of people are in formal employment (78% in 1988); 48% of children are not vaccinated (31% in 1993), there are less children in school and an increase in child deaths.

More of the same

"A good government must be able protect the local industry. If it is not able to protect local industry it is killing its own people." - Tom Owuor, Trade Union Secretary, Kenya

Despite the evidence from countries like Kenya that unfettered trade liberalisation does not reduce poverty, rich nations continue to prescribe the same medicine. Conditions attached to aid and debt relief and WTO rules all force poor countries in to an economic straight-jacket.

Added to the table now are Economic Partnership Agreements. These are free trade deals that the European Union (EU) is negotiating with 77 of its former colonies (including Kenya) in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP). The EU is demanding access to ACP markets for its goods. EPA negotiations started in 2002 and are due to come in to force in 2008.

From the start the ACP have voiced their objections. They say they are not strong enough to be thrown in to open competition with mighty EU industries. They've seen what liberalisation has done in the past. And they're not ready for more. But the EU isn't listening.

Many ACP countries rely on aid from the EU which makes it difficult for them to play hard ball. And with no alternatives on offer they have little choice. They may also have just one person negotiating several detailed aspects of trade on their behalf - they simply can't keep pace with the battery of EU negotiators.

Case studies from Kenya

Kenya has set out its own plan for cutting poverty. Traidcraft's studies reveal that an EPA will not help Kenya to hit its targets but would put millions of people at risk. And it's not just Traidcraft saying this. Even the EU's own independent study by Price Waterhouse Coopers says EPAs could cost Kenya dearly.

Slim pickings for cotton farmers

Meshack Oonje knows his cotton. He was once a wealthy cotton farmer and proud of his achievements. But now he struggles to get by. "We've seen a big change," says the elderly man, speaking from 30 years experience of farming.

Oonje remembers the three decades from independence to the 1980s when huge sums of money were spent developing cotton farming, ginneries, spinning and textile manufacturing industries. It was also a time when cooperatives were strong. "I farmed my 5 acres alone. From that I was able to raise money and pay dowry of 14 cows," says Oonje.

The profit from his small cotton farm provided enough for his 13 children. He bought another 11/2 acres of land, more cows and built two permanent houses with iron sheet roofing. "Everything I have has been built on cotton. But now there is no profit," he says, adding that farmers are paid less than half the suggested government price.

Oonje is amazed that cotton farmers do not get more support: "This cotton can turn our lives around in a couple of years. It's not one of those crops you wait for years to harvest. Cotton is the crop we know. We cannot abandon it," he says.

The industry is again in disarray as cheap goods flood the market and foreign direct investment relocates to cheaper destinations like China. Further liberalisation under free trade deals like EPAs threatens to destroy the investment in training and other initiatives that were meant to re-launch Kenya's cotton and textile industry.

The sector supports 140,000 people (compared to 200,000 in the 1980s). Production is currently at 20% of 1980s level despite the fact that increased production could benefit millions.

Free market 'madness' hurts dairy industry

John Njogu Wahome is earning a decent income for the first time in almost a decade. And he hopes the investment made in his cows will continue to pay off. Not so long ago a desperate Wahome fed fresh milk to the neighbourhood dogs. "Processors told us our milk was bad. What could we do? We gave it to the dogs," he says.

It's been a difficult few years for the Kenyan dairy industry. Cheap powdered milk imports glutted the market in the late 1990s and in 2001, putting local dairy farmers out of business. Unable to earn an income some farmers were forced to resort to extreme measures in a last-ditch effort to draw attention to their situation.

"Farmers threatened to burn down the processing factories in Nakuru," says Hellen Yego another dairy farmer. "Then they wrote to the government complaining of food dumping in Kenya." Following the protests and representations from farmers the Kenyan government increased tariffs on imported milk products limiting the flood of imports. This along with some internal restructuring has allowed the dairy industry to regain some muscle. "When we got into this free market, that was madness," Wahome says, "it hasn't helped me or any farmer of Kenya." Wahome's son had to miss five months of college in 2001 when the imports of milk were at their height.

Dairy farmers in Kenya understand that the industry has been inefficient in the past. But they believe given the time to regenerate, protected from the full impact of liberalisation the industry can compete internationally.

Stephen Ngososei has many years experience as an agriculturalist and a dairy farmer. He sees EPAs that may come on line in 2008 as a fresh danger coming in through another door. "The opening up of the market is a big threat. Our government must come up and say categorically that we are not ready." Having staggered back from one bout with liberalisation the Kenyan dairy industry may not survive another.

Hostages to free trade in sugar

Stranded hundreds of miles away from his home on the Tanzania border, Richard Omollo feels trapped. "It's as though I'm being held hostage in my own country," says the 34 year old Omollo who now depends on donations to survive.

Omollo worked as a clerk at Miwani Sugar Company until it was closed in 2000 after struggling for years against a flood of cheap imported sugar in the market. The best paying job he can find is casual work on nearby farms where he earns a mere 28p for working a 12-hour day. He needs to make at least #1.20 daily for his family to afford the absolute basics.

Primary education is free, but Omollo's four children do not go to school. "My children walk barefoot, they're nearly naked. So they can't go to school." Farmer Alice Akoth Okongo helps Omollo with food and a little cash when she can. Okongo blames sugar imports for the impossible struggles faced by the community in the area. "They want to kill us, to kill the factory."

Okongo says the way free markets are being handled has created mass poverty where it never existed before. The result is instability and soaring crime rates with prostitution becoming a way of life for women in Miwani who have no other means of earning an income.

Linet Muga is separated from her husband and survives with her five children on a three acre plot given to her by her parents. Linet and Alice are fighting hard to get the voice of the sugar farmers heard. In August 2004 they formed the Kenyan Women Sugar Cane Farmers Network. They are campaigning to their own government and wrote to the G8 ahead of the summit in Edinburgh.

But Linet cannot hide her anger: "The people making these rules should come to the ground and see how we live. We are very bitter. We are sad and we are stranded because we don't know what tomorrow will have for us. Will they come to help us when we are dead?"

The sugar industry directly employs 40,000 people and supports over 2 million people 20,000 jobs were lost during liberalization.

Back to basics for Kenyan leather industry

Peris Njeri sold a lot of leather when she first opened her small shop on the outskirts of Nairobi's central business district three years ago. The single mother bought leather supplies from several tanneries and retailed them to shoemakers for repairs.

Then the leather supplies became harder to find as tanneries across Kenya closed down. Njeri was eventually forced to find a place where she could do the tanning herself. "Business was not good. There was nowhere to get good quality leather," says Njeri who is a trained leather technologist. She turned to the Leather Development Centre in Kenya where she waits her turn for service. It is tiring and the chemicals are expensive, but this is Njeri's livelihood.

The number of people like Peris has swelled with the closure of the tanneries. In early 1990, there were 19 operational tanning companies in the country producing leather most of which was consumed by local leather industries. By 2005 that number was whittled down to 4. Many former employees are now struggling to set themselves up as independent tanners and traders, joining the queue with Njeri.

Closure of the tanneries is partly blamed on second-hand leather goods imports that have flooded the market following liberalisation in the 1990s. Workers like Peris are not blind to the huge changes that must be made locally but they are sure that with the right international policies the leather industry can be turned around. But in the current environment of unplanned and externally driven liberalisation the sector does not stand a chance.

90,000 jobs were lost in the sector after liberalisation of markets and government lost US$15.2 million in revenue. A revived sector could employ 100,000 more people.

Time for change

Further liberalisation under EPAs could devastate the lives of 750 million of the world's poorest people. Countries like Kenya are being forced to negotiate away their future and being wedged in to shoes which don't fit. Developing countries must be given the right to fight poverty using the economic tools that will work best for them. EPAs are up for review in 2006. It's vital we don't lose this chance to change the future of the negotiations.

The UK and EU governments must:

- respond to the concerns of ACP governments about EPAs; - push for changes to the EU's negotiating mandate so that they drop unfair demands for trade liberalisation and negotiations on issues that the ACP have already rejected - propose viable alternatives to EPAs that will help reduce poverty.

* This briefing is based on the report 'EPAs: through the lens of Kenya' produced by Traidcraft and EcoNews Africa. For a copy of the full report visit: www.traidcraft.co.uk/policy

* Please send comments to [email protected]