"Leaving the Annan Centre, David and I drove across town past the sprawling campus of the University of Ghana until we reached the site of my workshop on blogs, podcasts and video blogs. When we arrived, I discovered the cards were stacked against me; the facility had no projector (nor an empty wall on which to project, even if we had found one), and its Internet access was having problems. What those problems were, no one could really explain, but the end result was that my connection was no more than 10k per second. Frustrating as this was, it was actually useful in a way, given the fact I'd be talking about publishing tools that usually require fast bandwidth. Would it be possible for me to demonstrate video blogging or podcasting on a connection slower than what I had at home in the 1980s? We'd have to find out." This is the beginning of an article from www.balancingact-africa.com, which examines blogging and podcasting trends in Africa.

CIVICUS seeks a qualified Events Coordinator to co-ordinate planning, fundraising, programme development and delivery of high-profile international convening events for civil society. The main area of responsibility for this position will be to serve as lead on the CIVICUS World Assembly, but also for other convening events that CIVICUS may organise. This is a management-level position and, for the right candidate, could result in a long-term appointment.

The second edition of 21st Century Fundraising Resources by Michael C. Gilbert, et al is available. It's been substantially expanded to contain six feature articles, five of those new, and 105 resources, which are divided into 9 categories, including Community, Email, Design, Principles, and Websites.

Join us for the 10th AWID International Forum on Women's Rights and Development: How does change happen? Learn about how others are making real change in their regions, and share with others the changes you have made in yours. Analyze your successes and failures, and participate in what many are calling the most important global agenda-setting meeting for the women's movement this year. Be stimulated, be provoked, be inspired. Become involved and be transformed.

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has launched a blog on international development issues, where one can find quick comments on all the international development issues of 2005. The blog doesn't replace ODI's usual products – the academic papers, Briefings, Opinion pieces and meetings - but it is an opportunity for ODI to respond to events as they unfold and for others to comment and engage.

Three pan-African research organisations - the Pan-African Strategic and Policy Research Group (PANAFSTRAG); the Development Policy Management Forum (DPMF) and the African Association of Political Science (AAPS) - hereby announce the holding of a joint Conference on Civil Society, Governance and Integration in Africa in December 2005. The venue of the Conference is Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

I have read your very informative newsletters and benefited from their penetrating insights. As an African thirsty for intellectual discourses and ideas, I find Pambazuka newsletter my best company and a critical additional to my sources of information. I have no choice but to subcribe. Thanks.

I have just been referred to this site by a friend and have discovered I have been "missing out in action!" I think it's a great resource for Africans and am sure it is making a huge contribution to the socio-economic development debate on issues affecting Africa. Keep up the good work. I look forward to an enriching time with you. Thanks!

Egyptian blog, "" (www.mindbleed.com) has resurfaced in a new blog called "In mourning". He reports (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4723339.stm) on the predictable backlash against British Muslims following the July 7th bombings in London. He asks whether the failure by the mainstream media to report the "faith related attacks" is "deliberately downplayed to stop anger fomenting in the ranks of British Muslims with violent tendencies of their own?" I am not sure which mainstream media he is referring to as the report he mentions was taken from the BBC which is about as mainstream as you can get. Also the London Guardian has a special report on attacks against Asians. Maybe he is referring to the tabloid press and surely one can only expect less than nothing from them.

Staying with the "Muslim" issue, SubZeroBlue (www.subzeroblue.com/archives/2005/07/us_muslim_scholars_i.html) from Tunisia reports that Muslim scholars in the US have issued a fatwa (religious edict) condemning terrorism and religious extremism.

In the edict, the 18-member FCNA said people who committed terrorism are "criminals," not "martyrs." It would be even more helpful if Muslim scholars in Britain and the Middle and Far East also issued a similar fatwa.

Kenyan blogger Bankelele (http://bankelele.blogspot.com) attends an AIDS conference in Kenya and provides an excellent breakdown of some very scary facts and figures on HIV/AIDS. Under "Bad Traditions" he writes:

- "We were circumcised on the same day, with the same knife" is a call to brotherhood that men often use. But such practices need to be updated, so that, perhaps, one knife per boy is used on that special day.
- While the Luo are chastised for their wife inheritance customs, in other communities (all over the country) young widows (whose husbands may have died from AIDS, and don't know their own HIV status) have silent affairs, cohabit, or even re-marry.
- The Church is still very negative towards potentially useful practices such as contraceptives and is also not very supportive of HIV+ people.
- Many family members still show very little sympathy or support to their HIV+ relatives
- Many employers still show very little sympathy or support to HIV+ workers.

Ethan Zuckerman's excellent blog "My Heart's in Accra" (www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=111) has a report on the blogger "Sleepless in Sudan" (http://sleeplessinsudan.blogspot.com) an aid worker who provides readers with daily reports from Darfur refugee camps.

"Sleepless recent posts have been about the Kalma camp, which houses about 150,000 IDPs. The Sudanese government is interested in breaking up the camp, either for the legitimate reason that it's in danger of flooding (a recent post describes Khartoum as a "veritable African Venice", with cabs and tuk-tuks stuck in an underwater traffic jam) or out of fear that rebels are training and regrouping within the camps."

What is worse is that Sleepless is reporting on rapes of women in the camps and the possibility that the attackers are anti-Janjaweed and anti-Khartoum rebels who want to make sure aid money continues to flow. Obviously this is her opinion based on her own observations on the ground but if true it is an extremely worrying development.

Sleepless blogs anonymously which is not unusual in countries where it is dangerous to speak out, to speak the truth. Bloggers have been subjected to harassment and police detention in countries such as China and Iran. In the case of Sleepless it is understandable as the Sudanese government have a record of arresting and detaining aid workers and human rights activists.

Akinyio (http://akinyio.blogspot.com) is a young Kenyan woman blogging from South Africa. Her blog is a "diary" blog basically covering the day to day happenings in her life. Here she provides us with an insight into Durban which she says is a beautiful city. However she makes the observation that beyond the beauty the legacy of apartheid remains.

"Durban is also a bit stuck in pre-1994 SA. There are places where you can actually count the black faces if any and there are times when you feel the tension. For me this was completely new and I hated having to second guess myself whenever I wanted to walk into a store or restaurant in a Mall because there were only white faces or only Indian faces in there."

Finally Black Looks (http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2005/08/victor_julie_mu.html) has a number of reports on Ugandan lesbian human rights activist, Victor Julie Mukosa (http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2005/07/ugandan_governl.html) who has been repeatedly violated by the Ugandan police. Since being detained and then released she has been in constant hiding and in fear for her life.

At the main university in Cote d’Ivoire’s commercial capital, Abidjan, many scholars are more worried about self-defence than self-improvement on a campus dominated by a pro-government student union that uses rape and torture to maintain control. Many students insist that the Students’ Federation of Cote d’Ivoire (FESCI) is nothing more than a government militia, with what some call a “mafia”-like hold on the university.

Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, the former military ruler of Guinea-Bissau, scored a narrow victory over Malam Bacai Sanha, the candidate of the ruling PAIGC party, in the second round of the country's presidential election, according to provisional results released last Thursday. Malam Mane, the chairman of the National Electoral Commission, said Vieira, of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC), won a majority of 52 percent, with 216,167 votes in last Sunday's ballot.

This article, published by the Population Council, reports on a study which researched the practice of infibulation, the severest form of female genital cutting (FGC), among the Somali community of Northwestern Province, Kenya. The authors found that FGC is deeply rooted and widely supported within the community. Reasons used to sustain the practice include religious obligation, family honour, virginity as a pre-requisite for marriage, and aesthetic preference. The authors also found that the health sector in the region was poorly equipped to serve women who had been cut, particularly infibulated pregnant women. In addition, healthcare staff were increasingly being approached to perform infibulations or re-infibulations.

After a month long strike Burundian primary and secondary school teachers say they will resume work on Monday, but lecturers at Burundi’s public university say they will stay away until their situation changes. "We cannot live on promises," Paul Nkunzimana, the head of the university workers union told reporters in Bujumbura after meeting with the minister of education. The lecturers are demanding three years salary arrears as well as payment for overtime and for supervising students’ thesis.

Ugandans are voting in a referendum to decide whether to adopt a multi-party political system. Parties have been virtually banned for nearly 20 years in an attempt to end years of sectarian violence. Five years ago, in a similar referendum, Ugandans chose to keep the restrictions on the parties.

Six years after a return to civilian rule, Nigeria's police still routinely torture detainees, a new report says. The study, carried out by the Human Rights Watch group, is entitled "Rest in Pieces - Police Torture and Deaths in Custody in Nigeria". It is the first comprehensive documentation of alleged torture in the West African country.

Crucial reforms implemented by President Laurent Gbagbo fall short of what he promised in a South African-brokered deal that is due to pave the way for presidential elections in October, the opposition and rebels occupying the north of Cote d'Ivoire said on Wednesday. The G7 alliance, which groups the New Forces rebel movement and the four main opposition parties in parliament, said three key reforms implemented by Gbagbo by decree on 15 July fell short of what was required.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is progressing beyond its role as peacekeeper in the region's violent conflicts, establishing the first zone in Africa, where people can move freely across borders, and making plans for ECO, a single regional currency. ECOWAS is setting an example for the rest of Africa. One New African article has called the organization "tempered like steel" because of its resolve to overcome its trials and tribulations.

When current Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki came to power in 2003 he promised Kenyans a new constitution within 100 days. The new constitution was seen as essential to prevent a recurrence of the abuses of President Daniel arap Moi's regime. But the process of developing the constitution quickly became mired in political wrangling and intrigue. The crisis came to a head last weekend, when a group of MPs made amendments to a draft constitution, sparking protests in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The amended draft constitution, which maintains the power of the president, was passed by parliament last Thursday. Kepta Ombati and Ndung’u Wainaina explain what’s behind the current crisis.

Kenya is a bundle of contradictions. It is amazing that the country has managed to maintain relative peace and managed two peaceful but autocratic political regime changes. The country has a dominant economy in the region. However, Kenya has one of the largest inequality gaps between the rich and the poor in the world and is perhaps only third to that of South Africa and Brazil.

Kenya has been an arena for flagrant human rights violations and massive corruption. Neither the human rights violations nor the corruption has been conclusively resolved or punished, creating an environment for impunity. This has often been camouflaged and hidden from the rest of the world by the complicity of western states.

Kenya waged an armed struggle against the colonizer for independence yet escaped the armed conflicts that resulted from either the post-independence leaders turning dictatorial or agents of neo-imperialism staging coups. The absence of such armed conflict has often led to the erroneous conclusion that Kenyans have been content with their government.

Some facts are needed at this stage. Firstly, active resistance against the autocratic regimes in the country since the dawn of independence are self-evident. Secondly, these long struggles that culminated in the reintroduction of multi-party democracy are too inadequate to fast track the country into a situation where the effective rule of law, democratic civic culture and the principle of accountability are dominant. Thirdly, the pre-occupation with pluralist multiparty politics and claims of increased democratic space are a scratch and not sufficient conditions for a true democracy. Fourthly, without radical and comprehensive constitutional, institutional, social and economic transformation the back of autocracy and inequality cannot be broken and no meaningful democratic change can occur.

The current governance and constitutional crisis in Kenya began immediately after independence via the introduction of executive-driven constitutional amendments to the independence constitution. The net effect was destruction of all the foundations of democratic government; the introduction of authoritarianism; the negation of the constitutionally-protected bill of rights; the subversion of the struggle for freedom; the alienation of government from the people; the consolidation of the home guard into the power structure and marginalization of the rest of the Kenyan population and the ethnicization of politics.

The state was consolidated within an autocratic mould while the evolution of the 42 nationalities within the borders of the new state into one nation was undermined; dissent was criminalized; basic freedoms were violated by the state; the people were committed to foreign debts without their consent or input and finally a client-patron system of governance was consolidated.

The National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (NARC) election meant different things to different people. For human rights activists and drivers for struggle for change, NARC was the victorious culmination of a long struggle against tyranny and neo-colonialism. To President Mwai Kibaki and his group, NARC was simply a vehicle to political power controlled and directed by neo-liberal conservatives. NARC is not a coalition but a composite party comprising disparate parties coalescing around individuals and pretending to be a single entity. Secondly, the assemblage presents a contradiction. Though elected on the reform platform, the balance of power on both sides of the imaginary divide is in favour of the conservatives and the turncoats. The champions of reforms today are the anti-reformers of yesteryear while the reformers of past years have disappeared within the conservative ranks and even become anti-reform.

Are the key political players – National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Kenya African National Union (KANU) – really interested in radical transformation and a democratic new constitution? Whereas NAK is comfortable with the current constitution because it provides the best leverages for consolidation of its power ahead of the next general elections, LDP sees the political value that failure to complete the constitution will bring to it against NAK at the next polls. Nothing may provide a more powerful campaign platform against NAK.

KANU on the other hand would be delighted if the constitution were not delivered giving it a form of retribution for its own sins of failure to deliver one. KANU’s interest is resumption of power, not constitutional reform for KANU has never believed in reforms. The sort of constitution and reforms Kenyans are seeking would send most if not all of the ranking members of NAK, LDP and KANU to Kamiti! The dominant forces in all three have no strong track record in constitutional reform. President Mwai Kibaki was a reluctant reformer since the early 90s.

The known reformers have been rapidly converted from idealists to pragmatists with an eye on power rather than an ideal democratic nation. Idealism has all of a sudden become idle dreaming while pragmatism is exalted. Principles and values are low denomination currency while wile and schemes for power are the definitive elements for excellence as former progressives come to term with the imperatives of “realpolitik”. The consequence has been the importing of narrow political interest into the constitutional review process which has resulted in the bastardization of the process.

There is no unanimity over the cause of the collapse of the constitutional review process. Some of the reasons include; President Kibaki’s failure to honour the memorandum of understanding; Raila Odinga’s rebellion against President Kibaki’s regime; and disagreement among politicians over what have been described as contentious issues. However, this is erroneous and deceptive since the original philosophy of constitution making in Kenya denied politicians the powers of determining the new constitutional order in the country. The people therefore and not politicians should decide what is or is not contentious. The real reasons include: A flawed process; capitulation of the reformers within the government; a gullible media; and weakened and paralyzed civil society. The problem is compounded by the loss of the moral authority by the religious community.

The constitutional reform crisis in Kenya is as a result of the balance of power being in favour of conservatives and anti-reformers rather than simply the war between NAK and LPD. Secondly, the popular opinion is that pushed by political parties and the media, NAK and LDP have disagreed on certain contentious issues. The popular view is not necessarily the correct view. Politicians and the media have a long history of misleading the nation over the reform process in Kenya since the advent of the campaign for constitutional reforms. This is largely due to the fact that politicians are always pursuing short term tactical objectives rather than the long term interests of the nation, while the media is controlled by a small group which is a continuum of the ruling elite rather than allies of the people.

And thirdly, the civil society (religious and secular), which has acted as a powerful catalyst and vanguard of the constitutional reform process, is not only deeply divided but also thoroughly coloured by judgments based on ethnicity and partisan positions in an unprecedented manner. This has compromised their capacity to bring NARC to order.

The failure of the NARC government will deny the African continent a new paradigm for political organization and change. Kenya became a toast of the continent, demonstrating that democratic change was possible through peaceful means. That will now be history, barring the balance of power shifting in favour of reformers in and outside government - or by divine intervention the anti-constitutionalists in and outside government becoming reformers.

Finally, it is increasingly becoming impossible to achieve any fundamental reforms – constitutional, political, economic or social – under the NARC government as it sinks deeper and deeper into the vices of the KANU regime. Even though Kenyans have not entirely written off the Kibaki regime, it is unlikely that it will be long before the nation slowly starts to adjust its sights beyond NARC. The problem is that from our experience, and that of most other African states, there does not appear any strong reason to believe that any government in power will faithfully facilitate the promulgation of a new constitution that has the interest of the people rather than the schemes of politicians for power at the center. So what is the alternative? It is now for sure that no serious democratic reforms are possible without first putting in place a democratic constitution with strong institutions; firm systems of checks and balances and sufficient guarantees against regression.

* Kepta is Chief Executive, Youth Agenda and Wainaina is Programme Manager, National Convention Executive Council (NCEC)

* Please email comments to

Simply joining the throb to make poverty history will never be sufficient to banish injustice, writes Issa Shivji. Rather, in order to make poverty history, the history of poverty must be understood.

The GG8 (Geldof & Group of 8) fanfare in Gleneagles, Scotland is over. Its slogan was `Make Poverty History`. Originally this was the slogan of well-meaning NGOs and concerned young people who could not stomach the outrageous poverty of millions in the South existing side by side with the filthy wealth of a tiny minority on this planet.

The richest 225 people in the world own a combined wealth equal to the annual income of almost half the population of the earth. 1.2 billion of humanity exists in subhuman conditions at less than a dollar a day when 4 per cent of the wealth of these filthy rich 225 persons would be sufficient to pay the additional costs to achieve and maintain universal access to basic education, health care, maternity care, adequate food, safe water and sanitation for the whole human race.

The statistics are not new. They have been well known. Now even the perpetrators of the system which produces and reproduces this inhuman system quote them – of course for their own purpose.

But as these things go, the politicians of the system (euphemistically called globalisation) co-opted the slogan. The fun-idols of the well-meaning but naïve, privileged youth of the North were accommodated as the likes of Geldof were knighted by the queen and appointed to Blair’s Africa Commission to rub shoulders with the presidents of the African poor.

The point is that while it is necessary to campaign to Make Poverty History and shame the shameless classes of exploiters and oppressors and win over the uncommitted, it is not sufficient. To make poverty history, we must understand the history of poverty.

Poverty is neither our fate nor God-given. It did not and has not existed from time immemorial. It was not invented by the West either. It was created by them, who invaded our countries and imposed their system which continues to siphon off resources from the continent.

The history of the plunder and pillage of the African continent through the slave trade and colonialism; neo-colonialism and imperialism is known - although these days not taught in our schools since they have become “international” academies. If this was only history, we could have perhaps forgiven, although, not forgotten. But it is not just history. It is our present. New forms of slavery and colonialism and imperialism packaged and labelled in different forms continue unabated.

The mainstream media and politicians including our globalisation-friendly presidents and prime ministers continue to beg for forgiveness of debt and go round with a begging bowl to alleviate poverty. Yes, indeed, even preparation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) comes as a condition of aid. And as a further condition of aid we hire 1000-dollar a day consultants to help us draft those papers, all part of “aid”.

Meanwhile, we shower praises and send congratulatory messages to Mr Tony Blair for taking upon himself to chit-chat with his fellow G8’s on African poverty.

What is in there for the Blairs, Browns and Bushes of this world at this time to Brownwash (courtesy World Development Movement, WDM) African aid, debt and poverty? As I said, there are many a well-intentioned people in the North who have been campaigning to Make Poverty History. But also there are those – who are usually painted by the mainstream media with the brush of anti-this or anti-that minority “bent on violence” - who have and are going beyond it to understand the history and politics of poverty.

Martin Curtis, the head of WDM and a well-known British historian, says that the British Government has a political and an economic goal behind taking up the question of African poverty. The political goal is to maintain a big power status for Britain. “This boils down to invading a country from time to time, retaining nuclear weapons to make sure we can obliterate most of the world several times over, and professing our total support for US foreign policy.”

“The economic goal is to organise the global economy, and particular regions, so that the Middle East, southern Africa and South East Asia work in the interests of Western and British corporations.” Only ignoramuses would challenge this analysis.

The neo-liberal policies thrust upon African countries are clearly to integrate the continent further in the web of exploitative relationships and thus profit from the enormous resources of the continent. The US has now significantly moved its attention to Africa’s oil, as Middle East sources become more unstable due to the political resistance of the Arab masses which continue to simmer to a boiling point.

Britain’s interest is to develop African markets not only to dump its goods but also to sell services, the so-called invisibles. It thus firmly supports the privatisation and commoditization of water, energy, heath care, education, and land. We have had a taste of what this means for the “poor” in Tanzania.

A British secret Foreign Office file from 1968 says: “We should bend our energies to help produce a world economic climate in which our external trade, our income from invisibles and our balance of payments can prosper.”

In effect therefore it should not come as a surprise to anybody when Blair wields the carrot of aid and debt relief with one hand, while using the stick of World Bank-IMF-WTO rules and conditionality on liberalising and privatising the economy, with the other.

The Geldof-type Live Aid Bands and musical shows assuage the conscience of the wealthy inhabitants of the North while giving political legitimacy to the military interventions and political interferences of Western leaders in the lives and affairs of the African people – ninety per cent of whom have now been labelled “poor” and therefore disabled to resist and fight for their own salvation.

No need to cite another string of statistics. Just one may suffice. The 2002 Human Development Report of UNDP computes that developing countries lose more than twice in debt servicing what they get in net foreign investment, aid and grants to NGOs combined.

The Bob Geldofs of this world need to pay heed to their fellow campaigners like Martin Curtis when they say:

“We should not only be ratcheting up campaigning on individual issues. We also need to unite in a campaign to fundamentally change the system.”

Our own media and NGOs and the angry youth need to understand this message even more and not simply get subsumed in the globalisation mania in return for a few “trinkets” thrown on our NGO tables.

* © Issa Shivji. Issa Shivji is Professor of Law at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

* Please send comments to

Despite concerns over political and corporate corruption combined with failures in accountability and transparency worries, the government of Uganda seems set on bulldozing ahead with the planned Bujagali Dam, write Muramuzi Frank and F.C. Oweyegha-Afunaduula. The dam would destroy the Bujagali Falls on the Nile and affect the livelihoods of about 6,800 people.

The Bujagali Dam project, which was proposed in the late 1990s, is one of the most controversial dam projects in the world, and according to the Uganda government is set to continue. The government in April this year announced that it had selected the Aga Khan’s Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) to build the Dam at Dumbbell Island 8 km from the Owen Falls Dam downstream of the river Nile.

According to government, it is “electricity loadshedding” which is driving it (government) to have this dam built as soon as possible, ostensibly to solve the problem. Therefore, this means that it is not the development effectiveness of the project that is driving the process. However, it is now well known that Bujagali Dam is not the least-cost option of the several dams that were proposed in Uganda’s Energy Master Plan ten years ago because it does not seriously factor in costs due to losses in tourism, environmental quality, culture and spirituality as well as socio-economic and socio-political stability. Moreover, it has been established that the cost of Bujagali Dam was skewed to make it appear as if it is twice as cheap as Karuma Dam further downstream of the Nile. Karuma in fact is cheaper and, if built, will not be environmentally, socially and culturally destructive. Even in terms of tourism, there will be virtually no destruction because the dam will not affect the Falls. Further the Karuma dam’s electricity will be cheaper.

Despite government determination to continue with the discredited Bujagali Dam project, many issues remain unresolved. Even the World Bank’s own transparency and accountability watchdogs, the International Finance Corporations (IFCs) Ombudsman and the Inspection Panel found in 2001 and 2002 respectively that the issues involved were critical and required attention. They recommended that if the project were to have development effectiveness, they should not be ignored. The issues of concern remain at the core of civil society action on the Bujagali dam. Unfortunately, they are being ignored and have been loosely explained away by Uganda’s Ministry of Energy in its March 22nd 2005 response to outstanding Bujagali environmental issues raised by National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) on February 28th 2005.

The issues, which Ugandans have repeatedly and increasingly raised, include the following:
- The political and corporate corruption in the dam process;
- The opportunity cost of Bujagali Falls based tourism;
- Resettlement and compensation related issues;
- Under-valuing of spiritual and cultural wealth of the Bujagali Falls;
- The Government’s failure to show that the price of electricity from the proposed Bujagali Dam will be affordable by the majority of Ugandans;
- The fluctuating cost of the building of Bujagali Dam, which a 2002 study by Prayas of India found to be too costly and not conforming to international standards in the dam construction industry;
- Ignoring the cumulative impacts of Kiira Dam, Nalubaale Dam and the proposed Bujagali Dam, which are close to each other;
- Ignoring comprehensive assessment of the available energy alternatives;
- Falling water levels in Lake Victoria, which unfortunately government has variously blamed on drought - ignoring the real possibility that the reason could be the construction of two dams parallel to each other and drawing water from the same source point;
- Deliberate exclusion of accountability and transparency from the Bujagali Dam process.

The World Bank’s private investment arm, the IFC, was to be the major lender for the project, but pulled out after AES withdrew in August 2003 due to the unresolved controversies surrounding the project. The Bank has not indicated whether or not it will get involved this time. Since the World Bank backed off from the project in 2002, the Ugandan government has proposed various funding mechanisms, from an infrastructure development bond to raiding the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to pay for the dam. NSSF is a fund to which the country’s workers contribute monthly towards their social security after they have retired from active service.

It is now clear that if government is bent on pursuing the project, the already overtaxed citizens will have to shoulder the cost of the dam as this year’s national budget further vividly suggests. However, the recent debt relief extended to the poorest of the poor countries of Africa of which Uganda is one, might as well be another source of badly needed funds for this dam burden. Yet debt relief indicates that Uganda cannot sustain its economy nor bear the burden of further debt. The wise thing to do with the debt relief is to use the money, which would have been used for debt repayment, to provide social services and security to the citizens’ health and education.

Unfortunately civil society’s views continue to be dismissed by government as encumbrances to industrialization, poverty eradication, economic growth and availability of electricity. NAPE and others who have been raising these issues are not anti-hydropower or against development but work for sustainable development in Uganda’s energy sector, evaluation of technologies and the pursuit of the best energy option for Uganda.

* Muramuzi Fran is Executive Director of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE); F.C. Oweyegha-Afunaduula is Coordinator of the Save Bujagali Crusade.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

Riot police turned an urban township into a ghost town Wednesday, rounding up the last residents in defiance of a UN call to halt a demolition campaign that has left 700,000 without homes or jobs. After emptying the Porta Farm township - where some 30,000 people lived just days ago - earth-movers were seen lumbering into the area to finish clearing debris from destroyed homes, cabins and shacks as part of what the government calls Operation Drive Out Trash.

In 2000, world leaders representing all 191 countries that belong to the United Nations pledged to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Since then, the goals have become the main framework for development policy worldwide. They have even been adopted by many of the international agencies and banks that control the budgets of most poor countries, giving the MDGs real currency in the political economy of UN declarations. The MDGs create opportunities for advancing women's human rights, but only if we are able to participate effectively in the process of realizing the goals. You read more by visiting the women, Law and Development in Africa - West Africa webiste, where their latest newsletter focuses on the MDGs.

Alternative reports on global health, presented at the second People's Health Assembly in Ecuador recently, question the free-market, neoliberal economic model and view it as the cause of many of the health problems facing humanity today. These include the indiscriminate use of toxic products in agriculture, pollution caused by the oil industry, the consumption of transgenic crops, the destruction of the urban environment by pollution, and the commercialisation of health services. The reports by the Global Health Watch and the Observatorio Latinoamericano de Salud see a healthy life as a fundamental human right, the enjoyment of which depends on economic, political and social factors.

In December 2002, George Bush established through an executive order after having failed to do so legislatively the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This initiative allows the US government to more easily fund faith-based organizations for their work in developing countries, including relief and humanitarian efforts. Today 25% of USAID partners are faith based organizations and 385 million dollars has been set aside in the 2005 US budget for faith-based and community initiatives.

With a BBC film crew in Niger broadcasting images of starving children to the world, food aid shipments to the country are starting to pick up. But UN under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs Jan Egeland, who has repeatedly warned of neglected emergencies in African countries, told reporters that if donors had responded to earlier appeals, a child's life could have been saved for little more than a dollar a day. Now the estimated cost has risen to 80 times that, and for many it is too late. The latest edition of the AfricaFocus Bulletin reports on the crisis in Niger and contains the most recent update on Niger from the Food and Agriculture Organization, and excerpts from the May 19 consolidated UN appeal with additional background.

The International Centre for Civil Society Law seeks to protect human freedoms by improving the laws that affect the freedoms of belief, expression, association, assembly, information, and participation. ICCSL pursues its mission through four separate but inter-related programs: The International Journal Of Civil Society Law; research and publications; technical assistance; and education and professional development.

The Moroccan government continues to clamp down on dissent in Western Sahara, the country it occupies, following a pro-independence upsurge in protest in May-June. On July 21, five Saharawi human rights workers were arrested. All of the men have been imprisoned before.

On Tuesday night, 19 July 2005, three uniformed Zimbabwe Republic Police details forced their way into ZimRights premises in Harare. The three details knocked on the main gate and demanded that they be allowed inside. The guard did not open the gate but questioned their mission and who they were looking for. The details replied that it was rudeness to question the motive of the police and that failure to cooperate with the police is punishable. With these intimidating remarks, the guard was forced to open the gate.

This paper is a critical examination of strategies and policies implemented by the South African government to end violence against women in South Africa. The paper aims to draw some tentative conclusions about strategies and good practices in relation to reforming legislation addressing violence against women. The paper starts with a brief history of the South African domestic violence act. The paper then describes some of the key innovations of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA), before examining how some of the Act's provisions have been implemented. It also examines which women have been most likely to benefit from the DVA.

Registration of voters started on Monday in two provinces outside Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as preparations continued for general elections scheduled for 2006, officials said. The two provinces are Oriental in the northeast and Bas Congo in the west. "So far 10 out of 21 registration centres [in Bunia] are operational, and we are planning to open more," Apollinaire Malu Malu, president of the Independent Electoral Commission, told IRIN on Tuesday from Bunia.

Dozens of people were feared dead and many more injured in clashes that broke out on Friday and continued over the weekend in the town of Boru-Hache, also known as El-Waaq, in southwestern Somalia's Gedo region, sources said. "Violations of human rights and international law occurred particularly with regard to the protection of civilians in time of war," Abdullahi Alas Jimale, chief investigator of the Mogadishu-based Isma'il Jim'ale Human Rights Centre (IJHRC), said. Boru-Hache is situated on Somalia's border with Kenya.

For those Kenyans who have contracted HIV, getting access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) is seldom an easy matter. In the case of children, however, the situation is even more problematic. According to Health Minister Charity Ngilu, only 1,200 of the 44,000 people receiving free ARVs in Kenya are children - far below the 10 percent of HIV-positive children who are thought to be in need of treatment.

Just over a decade ago, Cameroon drafted a law that was intended to regulate commercial use of the country's forests. In spite of this, corruption and uncontrolled exploitation are putting forest areas at risk, say non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The 1994 Law on the Regulation of Forests, Fauna and Fishing contains clauses that limit logging, with a view to protecting the environment. Those who wish to exploit Cameroon's forests must obtain permits from the Ministry of Forests and Fauna.

This publication, produced by the United Nations Population Fund, focuses on national efforts to reduce poverty. It presents seven arguments for why national public policy makers should give more attention to young people, if these efforts are to be successful. It offers a conceptual framework to work out what arguments and supporting evidence in relation to young people are likely to be most appropriate to apply in the context of developing or refining a national poverty reduction strategy.

Thirteen African countries have, or should have attained Universal Primary Education (UPE) by the target date of 2015, but 31 African countries will not have reached the goal unless they change their education policies. This is according to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report that supports the "Dakar+5" Africa Forum organised by UNESCO's Regional Office for Education in Africa. Those countries lagging behind in achieving universal education should base their policies on programmes that have proved effective in other African nations. Successful projects entail reform of key elements of education policy, including better distribution of educational funding, regulating the flux of pupils, improving the recruitment, training and remuneration of teaching staff.

The increasing proportion of older people in the world is often seen as a success for humankind, the result of improving health conditions. However, the situation is more complex. Elderly populations are creating new challenges, particularly in rural areas of developing countries. These can threaten efforts to promote development in rural areas, and as such they urgently need to be addressed through appropriate policies.

HIV-positive vendors in East Africa's largest market, which is located in Kampala, Uganda, will be able to access antiretroviral drugs at no cost through a new HIV/AIDS treatment clinic, the Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports. The Uganda Cares-St. Balikuddembe Market Clinic, is the result of a new partnership among the Kampala City Council, the United Market Vendors Association, Development Initiatives International, Marie Stopes Uganda and AHF Global Immunity, an international program of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

"First, I would argue that the G8 Summit was not a breakthrough; it was, in fact, a disappointment. I would argue that we got caught up in the music, and the spectacle, and the spin and the celebrities, and we all applauded before applause was justified. Take debt. The cancellation of multilateral debt for eighteen countries, fourteen in Africa, was a start, but Africa still carries the insurmountable burden of over $200 billion of debt, debt that cripples the battle against poverty and the pandemic. Take trade, which everyone agrees is the centerpiece of economic revival. The G8 offered only sonorous words about agricultural subsidies, and could of course offer nothing, because everything rests on the negotiations at the World Trade Organization in its meeting in Hong Kong this December. So far the negotiations are not going well." This is according to a speech by Stephen Lewis, UN Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa at the opening of the 3rd International AIDS Society Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The African Union's mandated peer review body said on Friday it had halted activities in Kenya after the government blocked it from operating after a row over finances and the public's role in the process. Grace Akumu, head of the Kenyan chapter of the AU's African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), said the authorities blocked the group from accessing its offices in Nairobi, because it was questioning how the government was spending cash meant for the review. The APRM operates under the Kenyan ministry for planning and national development, which refused to comment when contacted.

President Olusegun Obasanjo has been urged to publish the names of past leaders and serving politicians who looted the nation's treasury and stashed such funds in bank accounts overseas. A non-governmental organisation, Niger Delta Peace Coalition, made this demand over the weekend, while reacting to media reports that the Paris Club has handed over to the federal Government a list of people believed to have been involved in money laundering.

The findings from this Institute for Democracy in South Africa study explore budget transparency from the ordinary citizen's perspective. It sheds some light on information required to engage meaningfully with budgetary and other decisions involving public resources from the ordinary citizen's perspective. In this regard, the study evaluates mechanisms promoting good governance accross nine African countries (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia) and identifies the main weaknesses of the budget process.

The more oil a country produces the more debt it tends to generate, while the more dependent on oil exports a country is, the deeper in debt it tends to be, according to a report from Oil Change International. The report recommends that OECD countries should end Northern governmental subsidies for new oil projects in the South as such projects have not historically provided energy for the poor, and are proven to be associated with increases in poverty, conflict, and debt, and to increase the risk to the poorest from climate change.

In its final declaration, the ACP Council (21-22 June 2005) calls for the establishment of development benchmarks to ensure that trade liberalisation works in favour of sustainable human development. This follows the Cape Town declaration, unanimously adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in March 2002. APRODEV, in cooperation with ICTSD has taken this challenge seriously and has published a report on the question of what a benchmarking approach could look like, identifying three dimensions of the EPA negotiations: market access and free trade, policy space for competitive and equitable policies, and additional development resources. The paper emphasises the need for a non-partisan monitoring mechanism, and proposes to base a review mechanism or monitoring system on development benchmarks using four steps.

Firoze Manji, Your article is informing: truth spoken. Too often we don't know our history therefore we don't recognize its changing forms.

On Thursday, June 23, 2005, Pambazuka News 212 covered World Refugee Day (WRD) 2005 featuring several well-thought out perspectives including an interview with Professor Barbara Harrell-Bond, whom many of us would agree is the founder of the first program on global refugee studies at Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. Each year on June 20 the world commemorates WRD, a tradition “thankfully” began by leaders of African countries. I use thankfully in quotes because I am not sure if we should continue commemorating a day that could potentially cease to exist if actions of leaders guided us better and provided us with more human and national security. Instead, for various reasons including preoccupation with demarcating territorial borders created during colonial rule, our political leaders continue causing insecurity and refugee flows throughout Africa. Those who have already fled are either unable or unwilling to return to their home countries for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particularly social group and/or political opinion. In most cases where refugees have fled, many countries of asylum often deny them membership in their present or new social group. Therefore on this day I join other prominent African scholars such as Professor Mutua wa Makau, Professor of Law and Director of the Human Rights Center at The State University of New York at Buffalo in suggesting that we should “redraw the map of Africa” to recreate pre-colonial territorial integrity of African communities. This is also in respect of the Pan-African struggle against colonial rule and foreign domination throughout Africa and the African Diaspora.

The struggle to control Africa’s peoples and their territories by European slave traders, missionaries or colonialists created four major phases of massive human displacement and refugee flows in Africa. The first human displacement associated with European arrival in Africa came with slave trade where people fled from slave raiders while those captured were taken as slaves across the Atlantic. Next, was the partition of Africa which divided many former neighbours and kith and kin into different territories and created socio-cultural displacement among many Africans. When colonialism finally established its base, Africans resisting colonial rule and struggling for independence were forced to flee into neighbouring countries as refugees. Finally, African countries that succeeded in gaining their independence had as their first commitment to resist external aggression, avoid interference in the domestic affairs of a neighbouring African state and maintain the borders created during colonial rule. As a result, those who sought to exclude themselves from a territory where they had been forcefully included by colonial rule and wished to return to their former community were sabotaged and contained by post-independent African leaders. Others who struggled to reclaim their former territory were forced to flee into neighbouring countries.

Sadly, today many Africans countries continue struggling over territorial demarcation, separating relatives and creating insecurity and refugee flows among border communities. A recent joint-task force involving the governments of Malawi and Zambia has set aside close to US $1,130,000 in aid to demarcate a border allegedly for security purposes amidst protest of border communities with similar socio-cultural belonging. Similar territorial disputes continue between Nigeria and Cameroon, territorial disputes continue in the mineral-rich Bakassi peninsula, between Morocco and the Saharawi Democratic Republic, and between Angola and the Cabindese over the oil-rich Cabinda enclave. Previously in 1989, territorial disputes between Mauritania and Senegal involving dam construction in the Seno-Mauritania River led to the expulsion of Black Mauritanians to Senegal by Mauritanian President Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya. In 1998 following the international judgment on the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia, armed struggles between the two countries claimed many human lives including expulsion of Ethiopians of Eritrean origin from Ethiopia. There are many more cases one can point to where territorial disputes have increased and maintained refugee movements. What is indisputable in many cases is how the actions of most of our political leaders have prolonged such insecurity and time spent in refuge throughout Africa.

Therefore, this article suggests that in order to minimize refugee flows, any efforts to “redraw the map of Africa” should seek to restore pre-colonial boundaries and recognize traditional communities with full property rights. African leaders should understand that Africa’s peoples have the ability to determine their communal boundaries and no amount of aid can replace the preferred social living among those of similar socio-cultural origin. Where people have already been thrown across borders as refugees and have lived in the country of asylum for a long-time, African host governments should consider incorporating them in the spirit of “African Unity” either permanently or until such a time when they can return safely to their countries of origin. Otherwise, suppressing internal self-determination and privileging the stability of colonial-created borders within post-colonial African states undermines the spirit and achievements of the Pan-Africanist struggle and the new spirit of African Unity.

African leaders should restore respect and togetherness rather than antagonize border communities. They should also seek to rid themselves of colonially crafted legal manipulations such as birth, race and descent as grounds for citizenship that continue to deny refugees belonging in communities where they have lived for a long-time. In fact many refugees have become prominent social, economic, cultural and political resources in countries of asylum, greatly contributing to national development and political stability. For instance, Rwandese refugees in Uganda fought with the National Resistance Army of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to liberate Uganda from Obote’s regime. However, once they demanded citizenship many Ugandans quickly reminded them that they were foreigners and parliament enacted citizenship laws requiring that either a parent or grandparent were born in Uganda. In other countries, constitutional and citizenship laws required in addition to birth, an established residence (Zambia) or membership to an “indigenous” community (Nigeria).

Nevertheless, there are several countries in Africa whose approach to territorial dispute settlement and refugee protection could be emulated throughout the continent. In 1991, Senegal provided for the naturalization of Mauritania refugees reportedly to avoid regional insecurity, diplomatic fall-out with its neighbour Mauritania and to incorporate Mauritanian refugees who share historical and socio-cultural similarities with the Peulh and Wolof of Senegal. In 2003, the Zambian government announced a “Zambian Initiative” to provide citizenship to Angolan refugees unwilling to move to Angola on humanitarian grounds.

On this year’s WRD, Tanzania began the process of granting citizenship to 182 out of an expected total of 1,320 Somali Bantu. Other countries such as DRC, Ghana and Rwanda have recently enacted laws that either grant citizenship to all or recognized dual nationality to address political discrimination against migrants, encourage the repatriation of Diaspora communities and attract economic contributions from Diaspora populations and rich resident immigrants. Through sub-regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), “transnational citizenship” is available to persons from any of the sixteen member states including refugees. Furthermore, the African Union (hereinafter AU) has also prioritized two other forms of citizenship alongside national citizenship - regional and continental citizenship.

In conclusion, whether some people within our national borders were former slaves vis-à-vis free people or strangers vis-à-vis indigenes, there is no reason why refugee host countries in Africa should deny such people the economic, political, and social rights by using politically opportunistic policies and practices of defining membership and demarcating territorial borders. Where refugees have resided in the area for decades, African countries should accord them membership through existing forms of citizenship, embrace new forms and patiently and creatively deliberate on other possible forms of resolving territorial disputes.

The eagles flew from the glen
Crying: pieces of eight, pieces of eight
no more scars, no more scars,
The Apyamwene called the Lubuga as she ripped the bark
of the omutuba tree,
Wanjiku looked up from her gikua tubers
Look, look, the sun is setting over her vines

The eagles now wore night vision glasses and winged
their way to
Wanjiku's garden,
Wings lopsided in assymetrical pattern
as the precision cameras locked on their target
Pieces of eight, pieces of eight...

The local policeman appeared with his baton:
get out of the way get out of the way, out out out,
As he moved over to the sacred land with his shoes
full of vomit
he cut down the Lubuga's tree
Don't step here she cried
Not with your shoes!

"Out, out, out, the eagles are coming the eagles are
coming
he roared
What eagles the Apyamwene asked
Your presence in this country is illegal, he barked
you are the barriers to development with your backward
ideas,
you are to return to Angoche at once!

First came a bullock cart,
Then a Bedford lorry
and finally
a stage, an outdoor stage
Isis rose from the depths of Lolwe and shook her
head: what eagles, what scars,
I will heal my own,
I will regenerate my own

A curtain fell over her face as a strange voice
shouted in the glen
Lights camera action!

Fingers snapping, children dying,
a flash of light in the distance,
Fingers snapping, children dying,
the wingèd squadron approaches,
fingers snapping children dying
the wingèd squadron approaches.

The policeman grinned sheepishly as eagles in the
night vision goggles banked over the rivers,
lakes, mountains, islands crates and forests of
Africa,
Fingers snapping , children dying,
Wanjiku refused to run,
Fingers snapping , children dying
The Lubuga refused to budge,
Fingers snapping, children dying
The Apyamwene hauled the Sultan to his feet,
Fingers snapping, children dying

(Drumbeat gets frenzied)

they came from the east
and the west,
and from the south and
the north,
from the matrix of the Congo
the breasts of Kilimanjaro
the sands of the Kalahari,
heaving and breathign again as Isis hovered above
unseen,
The Joliba, the Nile, the Zambezi and the Congo like a
mighty four headed python reared up
to protect its own,
Mosi oa Tunya churned into the pit of the earth's
stomach,
the phantom trees of Kariba rose,
deadwood no more,

what are you still doing here?
the policeman asked angrily,

Cant you see the eagles need to land
With their pieces of eight
I warned you, you are here illegally

Pieces of eight, pieces of eight, pieces of eight, pieces of eight
The lopsided wingèd hosts,
No more scars, no more scars, no more scars, no more
scars
The lopsided wingèd hosts
Pieces of eight, pieces of eight,
No more pieces, pieces of scars, scars of pieces, no
more eights,
The eagles from the glen.

(the drums stop abruptly)

Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980. But what does 25 years of independence mean to the ordinary Zimbabwean? Does it mean standing in a long queue waiting for a bag of sugar or questioning what has led a black man to oppress his fellow comrades? These are just a few of the thought provoking questions scrawled on the walls of a grimy public toilet in a public art installation at the just ended Khululeka Exhibition in Bulawayo. Artists and painters at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo were encouraged to present various interpretations of their understanding of Freedom in Zimbabwe. By visiting the Kubatana web site you can also listen to audio files associated with this story.
* View a video of "Operation Murambatsvina" online. Visit:
http://t2news.amnesty.r3h.net/mavp/mediaclip.nsf/0/1AD959CE6EAFEE7380257... (You will need to copy and paste the URL into your browser for it to work)
* Read a recent UN report condemning forced removals in Zimbabwe. Visit:
http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/zimbabwe/zimbabwe_rpt.pdf

In your editorial on the Papacy in Africa, it ends with the following statement, again from the BBC web site: "One should not forget the millions of HIV victims, most of them Africans. Had the Pope blessed condoms and family planning programs instead of preaching a rigid and damaging dogma, he certainly could have saved many more souls. Wasn't that his job?"

Has anyone in your organization studied the incidents of Aids in Africa? If you had you would have discovered that the problem countries with high HIV rates are Non-Catholic Chrisitan or secular countries where rates are anywhere from 20%-40% of the population infected. Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbawe lead the charge. All with very few Codomless Roman Catholics to influence rates of infection.

The only two countries that you could call Roman Catholic at about 50% of the population, DR Congo and Rwanda have among the lowest rates in Sub Saharan Africa.

Is it not possible that behaviour is the real issue? Why would any promiscuous Catholic selectively choose to not where a condom? By this deduction every Catholic country in the world would be leading the charge in HIV infection rates. Give me a break!

Pambazuka News responds: The article drew on the views of people in Africa as reflected on a BBC website. As such, people are entitled to their views. The particular quote that you refer to repeats a well documented criticism of the Catholic Church, not only in Africa. This holds that whether or not a country is predominantly Catholic, the Catholic Church as a key player in civil society in many countries does have an influence. Therefore its support for the use of condoms could have had an influence on the fight against the epidemic. In the countries that you mention, Rwanda and DRC, HIV infection rates are 5.1 percent and 4.2 percent respectively, according to UNAIDS. In Rwanda in 2003 there were 22 000 aids deaths and in DRC in 2003 there were 100 000 Aids deaths (again, according to UNAIDS). Had the Catholic Church promoted the use of condoms, would some of these lives have been saved?