Akpabuyo Bakkasi Green Movement (ABGREMO) a youth based NGO working for the protection of the last remaining mangrove of Nigeria and the human rights of the coastal communities through education and action programme, is organizing International Children Mangrove & Poetry Competition for children between age 5 – 15 years as part of our activities to mark "Earth Day 2005".

On April 14, 1979, Liberians took to the streets in protest against a proposed increment in the price of rice. Twenty six years later, on April 14, 2005, the Supreme Court of Liberia issued a judgment removing the stay order on the investigation of alleged corruption within the National Transitional Government of Liberia. This is indeed a historic day, and a reminder that our country, the Republic of Liberia, the oldest independent Republic in Africa is on course in deepening democratic tendencies, supporting the rule of law and Courts decision in essence gives a ECOWAS Panel of Investigators the right to proceed and investigate the probable misapplication of natural resources, specifically public funds.

Humans have significantly affected the flow of half of the world's major rivers by building dams, according to the first detailed global assessment of the activity's impact, published in Science. Another study, also in Science, shows that dam building, among other human actions, has altered the amount of sediment that rivers carry to the coast, with implications for marine ecology, fisheries and coastal erosion.

This paper highlights changes in the media landscape of Sub-Saharan Africa and possibility for increased citizen empowerment and social interaction to help transform lives and communities. It explores how changes brought about by media globally take place at a much slower place in Africa. Although efforts are creating growth in community-based media, a paradigm shift in the process of journalism is needed.

On Saturday April 9th 2005, Student World Assembly (SWA) members from the Ghana Region participated in a momentous Aids Walk which aimed to raise awareness about the epidemic and different prevention methods. The walk was organized by the Ghana Region of the SWA and brought together 300 members from numerous SWA chapters. Educational packages and 3000 free condoms were distributed to interested people along the way. For more information visit the website through the URL provided.

With its focus on employment practices, business and skills development in Africa, this issue of Interim Developments reports on a recent London conference bringing together African employers and African professionals outside Africa, examines a skills development project in Kenya, interviews the Executive Director of the Uganda Investment Authority and highlights the work of Interims for Development in building the skills and capacity of Africa’s professional base. 

Rwanda has condemned Burundi for moving a group of Rwandan Hutus who had crossed their common border, further from the frontier. Rwanda says the Hutus are fugitives from justice, and says the Burundian action amounts to giving them the status of asylum-seekers. Some 2,000 people have fled to Burundi recently, fearing unfair treatment in new village "gacaca" courts.

The CRADLE, The Children's Foundation, also known as the Child Rights Advisory, Documentation and Legal Centre has released the latest edition of Juvenile Justice Quarterly. This quarter’s edition contains a summary of The CRADLE/CARE Kenya’s recent report on Kenya's media coverage of child sexual abuse in 2004; Resolutions from the World Congress on Family Law & Rights of Children, Cape Town, March 2005 where Machel & Bellamy urged for greater protection of child rights; an in-depth analysis of the 38th Session on the Committee on the Rights of the Child with news on Kenya’s Justice Aluoch retaining her CRC Committee Seat. In addition, Kenya’s progress towards a "World Fit for Children" is looked at. Additional articles include from the 1st East African Anti-Trafficking Conference, Kampala, Uganda; an analysis of Corporal Punishment in Kenya; a look at UNICEF's new Executive Director; as well as the usual profiling of members of the Juvenile Justice Network and Case Trends Monitor for Quarter. Please write to [email protected] to ask for a copy of the newsletter or visit www.thecradle.org

Geneva Call is an international humanitarian organisation dedicated to engaging armed non-state actors (NSAs) to respect and to adhere to humanitarian norms, starting with the ban on antipersonnel (AP) mines. Visit their website for more details and to access their latest newsletter.

The main purpose of the job is to provide comprehensive media coverage of the work of the AIDS Consortium via its programme delivery, political issues and challenges, policy changes and process and examples of best practice achievements within the organisation.

"We cotton farmers, people living with HIV/AIDS, youth, women, cross border traders and economic justice activists participating in the Global Week of Action Economic Justice Festival in the Harare Gardens, Zimbabwe, 13 April 2005 note with great concern testimonies given by cotton farmers. The peasant farmers have lamented the grand robbery that has pushed their households into abject poverty. The enemy is known. It is the unfair low prices that cotton is fetching in the current marketing season. It is the unfair world trading system. It is the failure of global institutions such as the WTO to deliver social justice to the poor and downtrodden producers of this earth."

The African Women's Leadership Institute (AWLI) is a regional networking, information and training forum, which trains women aged 25-45 in critical thinking on gender issues, organisational and resource development and strategic planning. The AWLI was established as a program of AMwA in 1996, as a contribution towards the post-Beijing initiatives in the Africa region. The AWLI has two main features. First, it serves as a network of young African women (25-45) for professional support, advice and information, and sharing of expertise. Second, the AWLI convenes an intensive three-week residential leadership-training institute every year.

African leaders meeting in Egypt on Tuesday begged for cash ahead of July's Group of Eight (G8) summit, but poor attendance showed tepid faith in the continent's ability to achieve the stability and transparency meant to underpin the meeting. A report of the organisation's activities over the past year, and its recommendations for the following, stressed the continent will need another $50-billion to $75-billion in aid if it is to reach the United Nations millennium goal of halving global poverty by 2015.

An exchange of insults between two children of different ethnic groups mushroomed two days later into full-scale fighting between neighbours in this large village in the no-man's land between government and rebel lines in Cote d'Ivoire. Houses were burned, cattle were killed, several people received machete wounds and 1,000 members of the minority Dioula community in Boli last month trekked out to seek shelter in the rebel sector.

Although more of the world’s children are going to school than ever before, and the gender gap is shrinking globally - according to a UN report launched on Monday - little of this progress is visible in south Sudan, relief workers told IRIN. Ben Parker, communication officer for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, said: "I guess we are probably at the bottom. If southern Sudan were a country it would be one of the worst in the world in terms of primary school enrolment, and it would have one of the worst gender gaps."

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Saturday he could suspend planned prosecutions linked to the war against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in Uganda to enable peace moves to succeed. But Luis Moreno Ocampo ruled out any granting of immunity to war crimes suspects.

‘'It is not an easy job. Sometimes I get booed and taunted. At crucial moments I get chased out of places where the practice is much more prevalent,'' complains 34-year-old Ann Marie Caulker, who is championing the campaign to end the age-old tradition of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Caulker's strategy is simple. Through her Katanya Women's Development Association (KADWA), she has recruited hundreds of young girls, aged between 12 and 18, the prime target for FGM, and placed them in skills training centres. The girls learn tailoring, dyeing, weaving, soap making and embroidery.

Articles include:
- LIAM CAMPLING
Editorial Introduction: Marxism and Africa
- PABLO L.E. IDAHOSA AND BOB SHENTON
The Africanist's 'New' Clothes
- HENRY BERNSTEIN
Considering Africa's Agrarian Questions
- PATRICK BOND
Bankrupt Africa: Imperialism, Subimperialism and the Politics of Finance.

Epidemiological studies indicate that unsafe and illegal abortions contribute to 13 per cent of Gambia's maternal deaths. The National Reproductive Health Policy document states that complications as a result of unsafe abortions account for a large number of maternal deaths in the country. This includes sepsis and haemorrhage. The maternal mortality rate is currently 730 per 100,000 live births.

Thousands of megawatts of new renewable energy potential in Africa, Asia, South and Central America have been discovered by a pioneering project to map the solar and wind resource of 13 developing countries. The multi-million dollar project, called the Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA), is proving that the potential for deploying solar panels and wind turbines in these countries is far greater than previously supposed.

UNESCO is inviting applications for the 2005 International Literacy Prizes, awarded in recognition of the services of institutions, organisations or individuals that have made outstanding contributions to the development of literacy and basic education. The theme for this year is ‘Literacy and Sustainable Development’.

Parliament has passed a Bill that will, among others, protect whistle blowers from punishment and other administrative sanctions. The Access to Information Bill says that people who release information on wrongdoing, or disclose a serious threat to health, safety or the environment, shall not be subject to legal, administrative, or employment sanctions. The provision is in line with the government anti-corruption strategy released last week.

Zimbabwe's opposition released a dossier on Wednesday to back claims that last month's elections were rigged to hand victory to President Robert Mugabe's ruling party. "This document you have before you is the MDC report on how the elections were stolen and rigged," Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general Welshman Ncube told journalists after releasing the 56-page report titled "Stolen - How the Elections were rigged."

The Women's World Summit Foundation Betty Makoni award considers the context of different countries and communities, pertinent activities and significant events aiming the prevention of child abuse; encouraging ongoing efforts by organizations to develop and increase prevention measures; and catalysing new energies.

African Union (AU) personnel in the western Sudanese state of North Darfur have started providing armed escorts for displaced women and girls to protect them from attacks, an AU official told IRIN on Wednesday. "The women from Abu Shouk IDP [internally displaced person] camp in North Darfur are escorted by AU soldiers once a week, when they venture outside the camp to collect firewood," said Justin Thundu, AU’s public information officer at El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

Sub-Saharan Africa is in danger of not meeting global goals to reduce hunger, poverty and disease by 2015, according to a report issued by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday. African countries could also fail to achieve targets for cutting child and maternal mortality and achieving universal education if current trends continued, it added.

The dates April 10-16 mark a Global Week of Action where organisations, networks and movements take part in a worldwide mobilization aimed at challenging the free trade myth. In Washington DC protestors will take to the streets to mark meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on April 16 and 17. Pambazuka News interviewed NJOKI NJEHU, one of the organizers of the protests and director of 50 Years Is Enough Network, about the key demands the protestors are making, building links in the struggle against neo-liberalism and what the appointment of Paul Wolfowitcz as head of the World Bank means for global civil society. Njehu concludes: “We must absolutely recognize every day as the first day of the rest of our lives in struggle.”

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What will the people gathered in Washington DC be protesting about on April 16 and 17? What are their key demands? How many are expected?

NJOKI NJEHU : The people that will be gathering this weekend are part of long-standing movements that have demanded accountability, democratic practice, and transparency from the institutions. The four key demands articulated by the Mobilization for Global Justice are:
1) Open all World Bank and IMF meetings to the media and the public.
2) Cancel all impoverished country debt to the World Bank and IMF, using the institutions' own resources.
3) End all World Bank and IMF policies that hinder people's access to food, clean water, shelter, health care, education, and right to organize. (Such "structural adjustment" policies include user fees, privatization, and so-called economic austerity programs).
4) Stop all World Bank support for socially and environmentally destructive projects such as oil, gas, and mining activities, and all support for projects such as dams that include forced relocation of people.

In addition, the 50 Years Is Enough Network has broader demands that include reparations for the impact of structural adjustment and loans associated with environmental and social destruction; an end to assistance to the private sector; accountability for those in the institutions who abet corruption; and a process for democratically assessing the need for institutions like the IFIs.

In the U.S., global justice activists and IMF/World Bank campaigners have been energized by the nomination and appointment of Paul Wolfowitz to be the next President of the World Bank. We expect several hundred activists who will demonstrate in the streets, participate in teach-ins and strategy sessions, and as part of the Global Week of Action, call their members of Congress to denounce free trade as embodied by the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which is currently pending in Congress.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: For many people in Africa these protests may seem like a million miles away – even if they sympathise with the objectives and the message. What are the issues facing protestors in the US that you believe are similar to those facing communities around the world?

NJOKI NJEHU: I hope that African activists and observers do not view the activities this weekend as a million miles away and not related to them. People in the U.S. used to think this way about human rights violations, worker rights violations, and environmental disasters. But that has changed. The emergence of global civil society and globalization from below that allows for people-to-people exchanges and campaigning has taught us what we had forgotten. As has been said before, no one is free when others are oppressed, and so local struggles are global and they link and help people make common cause across countries, cultures, and the globe.

It is also the case that the ravages of corporate-led globalization and neo-liberal economics have not spared people in the U.S., especially people in communities of color, rural areas, indigenous communities, and immigrants. The tenets of neo-liberalism are being applied in the U.S. and other developed countries, not because governments are forced by the IMF and World Bank, as is the case in Africa, but because many policy- and decision- makers believe in this economic ideology.

The work of the 50 Years Is Enough Network focuses on the World Bank and the IMF, but the key intention is to educate people in the U.S. about what is being done by their government in their name and using their tax dollars. When we talk about water privatization in South Africa and Bolivia, user fees for health and education in Kenya and Tanzania, corporate exploitation in the Niger Delta, or dams in India, Lesotho, and Uganda we find that communities in the U.S. are also fighting the same kinds of things. Furthermore, the lessons learned in this era of economic globalization include the lesson that we cannot win by fighting corporate excesses, environmental devastation, or worker rights violations in one country when those same problems are being faced by communities in another country.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What needs to be done to build a greater sense of global solidarity against the polices of the World Bank and the IMF?

NJOKI NJEHU: We need to build people to people connections and to really understand what Samora Machel meant when he said: "International solidarity is not an act of charity: It is an act of unity between allies fighting on different terrains toward the same objective. The foremost of these objectives is to aid the development of humanity to the highest level possible."   We also need to understand that these institutions are public institutions. They are funded by you and me, the taxpayers of the world and therefore we are the ones who can and must demand accountability and service for the common good, not corporate profits.

Malcolm X talked about the chickens coming home to roost, people in the U.S. and other developed countries have experienced World Bank and IMF-like austerity measures. If we do not drive these institutions out of Africa and defeat their policies around the world, our work will never be done and justice will just be a far-away unattainable dream.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: How deep is the understanding of the effects of neo-liberalism on communities worldwide amongst the kind of audience that will be protesting on April 16 and 17 and the American population at large?

NJOKI NJEHU: They get it. They see the effects of neo-liberalism in their communities and they fight against it. Here in Washington, D.C., otherwise known as the capital of the free world, privatization, corporate welfare, cuts in social programs for the elderly and children and lack of voting representation are everyday realities. In the last three years, we saw the closure of the last public hospital in the city. We see tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, and just in the last year a huge tax break to bring a baseball team to D.C. while programs for the homeless, youth summer employment programs and health services for the elderly are decimated. These are the experiences of one city, but they are repeated in cities and communities across the U.S. every day. People in the U.S. are experiencing hardship similar to what people in developing countries deal with on a deeper and more frequent basis. Granted that in the U.S. there are provisions and programs to ameliorate the hardships, it is a new phase and new experience for many.

The tragedy is that many do not seem to translate these experiences into activism or political action. Given the results of the last elections, it is also clear that many people do not vote in their economic or class interests. There is much work to be done.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: It really does seem sometimes that every time these meetings come around there is a flurry of press releases, sign-on letters, petitions and protests. Then the meeting takes place following which nothing more is heard. Without being overly cynical, has anything changed over the last few years? Has there been any progress and are these institutions really fixable?

I share the cynicism and the despair that grips us all from time to time. But there is also hope. There are many reasons to be encouraged. I think that the flurry of press releases, sign-on letters, petitions and protests that you refer to is a reason to be hopeful and encouraged. People still believe that there is something that they can do, that they can make a difference. What is not evident is the work and organizing that takes place in the “in-between times”.

Yes, much has changed. We saw victory, albeit short-lived, in Cancun. We see the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement stalled. And even once in a while we see politicians with some backbone. We come to this semi-annual meetings with the G7 discussing “up to 100%” multilateral debt cancellation. Much has changed in the way the U.S. environmental movement and the labor movement deal with environmental and labor rights issues. It is not just about the U.S. environment or U.S. workers anymore; it is about the global environment, and about all workers, union and non-union, documented and un-documented. Small steps, but huge political shifts.

On whether the institutions can really be fixed, it is a different matter altogether. I believe we need to apply our best thinking, strategies and tactics to this question. “Abolish the Bank and the Fund” is a fine slogan, but not much in the way of a policy approach. I think we’ve been limited and have forgotten the age-old African American saying: “the masters’ tools can never destroy the masters’ house”. If our goal is to abolish these institutions, I believe it has to happen in processes outside of the institutions. Self-preservation and perpetuation demand that they do everything they can to thwart an abolitionist agenda.

One of the challenges that we face is that in the post-Iraq war era, multilateralism for multilateralism’s sake is a very attractive policy. The specter of unilateralism ala the George W. Bush style stops many people in their tracks as they begin to contemplate reform of the multilateral system including the United Nations. I am of the view that we need multilateralism but the current version isn’t working from a democratic practice view or from a justice view, but perhaps I’m expecting too much of multilateralism.

We also need to be clear that reform or changes in the voting system of the UN or the IFIs does not mean UN Security Council seats for Germany, Brazil, India, Japan, etc. Nor does it mean a few more voting percentages for Japan, South Africa, etc. in the World Bank and IMF. We do not need to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water, but we do need to acknowledge the fatally flawed foundation of the current multilateral system. For instance, 140 current members of the World Bank and the IMF were not at the table in 1944 when these institutions were formed. In fact, many of the current member countries did not even exist. As visionary as the founders might have been, they could never have imagined our world today.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: The global response from the social justice community over the appointment of Paul Wolfowitz as World Bank president has been one of despair. The appointment has also raised a number of questions: Will the appointment reinvigorate protests against the WB and IMF by creating links with the anti-war movement? Or could it also mean that people will be less informed about the impact of WB/IMF policies as this is overlooked in favour of a form of character assassination protest?

NJOKI NJEHU: The things you suggest are all possible, but not if we do our education, mobilizing, and organizing work. Wolfowitz’s nomination and appointment were a disaster on many scores. However, he is part of an entrenched system and that is the real problem. If Wolfensohn could not make progress in the opposite direction, as he professed to want to do, perhaps Wolfowitz will have the same kind of experience and the status quo will remain. And the world, especially the poor, will still be in peril.

We must hold Wolfowitz’s feet to the fire and keep the campaigns to delegitimize the World Bank and the IMF going. I was just listening to a nationally syndicated radio program called “Talk of the Nation” which featured Joseph Stiglitz and Washington Post op-ed page columnist Sebastian Mallaby. Mallaby made the argument that the U.S. is the right country to choose the leader of the World Bank, and elsewhere he has argued, as he alluded to today, that the world runs better with the U.S. in charge. What we have to fear about Wolfowitz is that he has these tendencies that assert U.S. exceptionalism, which is not only paternalistic, it is insulting, especially to the large number of countries who are always non-members of the right “G-grouping” of countries.

Wolfowitz is on record supporting the doctrine of odious debt in the context of Iraq. Here we agree with him. Our task will be to continue to push for the logic of odious debt to be extended beyond Iraq. Yes, cancellation of Iraq’s odious debt, but also cancellation of apartheid debt, Somoza’s debt in Nicaragua, Marcos’s debt in the Philippines, Suharto’s debt in Indonesia, Mobutu’s debt in Zaire/DRC, Abacha’s debt in Nigeria, and the debts of military dictatorships in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and elsewhere. Our work as global justice activists perhaps became more obvious but not narrower.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: In the past the annual protests have made effective use of communication tools and the internet to get their message across through email lists, blogs, SMS, video streaming etc etc. How much of a factor is this in the preparation work, are there any innovations planned for this year and what websites would you recommend for people to monitor over the course of the next week?

NJOKI NJEHU: Any activist worth her/his salt must be willing to employ diverse tactics and have a fully-stocked toolkit. When we say that we are not anti-globalization, it is because we recognize that globalization has brought with it technology such as SMS, websites, listservs, etc. that have been invaluable in our struggles. I believe that the most effective way to campaign, mobilize, and educate the public as well as policy- and decision- makers is to use all the tools at our disposal. The list of things that are mentioned are all tools that we will employ this week and into future.

I believe that for every audience we need to speak to, there are different tactics/tools that we must employ. Sometimes a raucous protest gets the message across, sometimes a prayer vigil, sometimes civil disobedience, and sometimes thousands of people. We must learn all the tools in our activist toolkits. But we must also, most importantly, learn to recognize which tools are needed for each job. However, we need to remember that there is no substitute for people telling their own stories, and for people articulating their desire and processes for change. International institutions have failed the people; governments have failed the people; elected officials have failed the people; and even the would-be people’s representatives and spokespersons have failed the people. It is time for the ordinary and extra-ordinary people fighting for justice to come into their own, particularly their struggles, and take their rightful place for the challenges ahead.

This week is just one week in a continuum of struggles that stretch back further than recorded history and will stretch forward into the future as long as exploitation and oppression exist. This week is not important. What is important is what each of us does tomorrow, the day after, the week after, and every other day. We must absolutely recognize every day as the first day of the rest of our lives in struggle.

Some websites to watch this week: www.50years.org, www.ifiwatchnet.org, www.africaaction.org, www.jubileeusa.org, www.april2005.org

A luta continua!

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

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa is exposing the deadly consequences of gender inequities, writes CHINUA AKUKWE. Practical solutions are needed to a problem that will only get worse if nothing is done.

The UNAIDS report on the HIV/AIDS pandemic highlights the growing rates of infection among women worldwide. Women now account for nearly 50% of all individuals living with HIV/AIDS. However, in Africa, the situation is more ominous. Almost 57% of all individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Africa are women. For Africans ages 15-24 living with HIV/AIDS, women account for 76% of all infections. In South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, young women ages 15-24 have rates of infection that are between three and six times that of their male peers.

The so-called feminization of AIDS appears to be in full swing in Africa. The key question is whether African leaders and elite are ready to make hard choices that would slow down the rate of infection among women. I briefly review these choices. The key is to focus on practical solutions to a problem that can only get worse if nothing is done.

First, are African leaders and governments ready to mount a comprehensive and sustained information, education and communication campaign against risk-behaving practices of men that put women at risk of HIV infection? I am not aware of any African country that is currently implementing a sustained, nationwide campaign against sugar daddies, the use of large sums of money by male clients to encourage sex workers to engage in unprotected sex, the rape of young girls by school teachers, the molestation of young girls by family members and the molestation of street children. African men who have disposable income are at the root of sexual networking in various communities that spread HIV, according to the UNAIDS.

Second, are African leaders and governments ready to address cultural practices that may put women at disadvantage in the fight against HIV/AIDS? These practices include lack of proactive opportunities for women to discuss sexual mores and risks with their husbands, cultural expectations of subservience in sexual matters, the culture of wife inheritance after widowhood, and, the lack of property rights for widows or single women even when they have to take care of small children.

Third, are African leaders and governments ready to invest for the long term on female education? According to latest data from the World Bank, 45% of women ages 15 and above in Sub-Sahara Africa are illiterate. While 94% of boys are enrolled in primary schools only 81% of girls are in school. For starters, primary and secondary school education should be free in Africa to allow young people, including girls, to have a head start in life.

It is also important for African women to have increased access to university education, especially those from poor families. However, to ensure quality education for African women, African governments and rich nations such as the United States and other Western democracies should provide increased, targeted development assistance for Africa. Rich nations and multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should provide comprehensive debt relief for Africa with a major condition that significant portions of the savings from debt relief should go toward social welfare programs such as the financing of education initiatives for girls and young women.

Fourth, are African leaders and governments ready to create enabling environments for empowering African women? Limited economic choices and opportunities constrict the capacity of African women to negotiate safer personal behaviors, including sexual relations. Although African women are major sources of economic wealth in many rural parts of Africa, these women have limited control over their generated income due to cultural taboos and traditional practices. African governments should end cultural practices that deny women the right to benefit from their toil and labor. It is also important for African governments to create micro-credit facilities for enterprising rural women so that they could become stable, small-scale entrepreneurs and accumulate disposable income. Women with disposable income are likely to make better personal choices for themselves and their children.

Fifth, can African leaders and governments create political space for women? Unlike many official statistics that cite token numbers of national ministers and top government officials that are women, I believe that in order to fight AIDS, women must be in decision making organs in local and state governments throughout Africa, and also have leadership roles in key national government institutions such as the ministries of finance, national planning and justice.

In addition, African women should be in decision making positions in civil society, local chambers of commerce and local youth organizations that directly interface with the grassroots. It is important to state without equivocation that female representation in national cabinets in Africa should go beyond the obligatory “Ministry of Women or Gender Affairs.”

Sixth, are African leaders and governments ready to create the necessary legal climate and framework that protects women from discrimination and lack of due process? UNAIDS estimates that more than 50% of African countries do not have laws against discrimination of individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

In Africa, according to the UNAIDS, the fear of a HIV test by women, including pregnant mothers, is the beginning of wisdom, since negative societal consequences and an uncertain future may lie ahead if they test positive. For women living with HIV/AIDS, the prospect of dealing with family, community and government indifference and sometimes hostility, can be insurmountable. Legal reforms on rape, sexual molestations, domestic violence, favors-for-forced sexual relations, property rights, and ownership of business are crucial in the fight against feminization of HIV/AIDS.

Seventh, are African leaders and governments ready to invest in public health services that are friendly and accessible to women? National spending on public health services is low in Africa, about US$30 per capita, according to the World Bank. Women face formidable challenges in accessing public health services for conditions such as sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis that are important facilitators of HIV transmission. Privacy and confidentiality is rare in African health institutions, according to the UNAIDS. Societal stigma is common when women become linked to sexual transmitted diseases. In addition, fear of violence may keep women from utilizing HIV preventive services or even showing up for AIDS clinical care, according to the UNAIDS. It is important for the international community to support African nations that seek to implement female friendly health systems and programs.

Eight, are African leaders ready to position gender issues as a major priority of international development assistance? Declarations, statements and formal speeches about gender issues must be coupled with specific policy and program initiatives to end gender inequities in Africa. African leaders, continent-wide institutions and the civil society should make gender equity a cardinal feature of their relationship with bilateral and multilateral agencies.

There is a tendency to point to token appointments of women to prominent positions as celebratory signs of progress on gender issues in Africa. While this is important, the focus should be on hundreds of millions of African women who toil away anonymously, unsung and uncelebrated despite their significant contributions to the economy of the continent.

In particular, African governments should make ending gender inequity a top priority of their partnership with donor agencies. A good measure of serious commitment is the proportion of resources requested by African governments to deal with gender inequities in proposals sent to donor agencies. National budgets should also reflect increased resources devoted to ending gender inequities and creating income-generating opportunities for women.

Nine, can African leaders lead the fight against sexual violence against women. Official, societal and personal silence on sexual violence against women is deafening in many parts of Africa. In particular, perpetrators target female teenagers in some parts of Africa, thereby potentially setting off a chain of events that may leave the young women not only emotionally scarred for life but also the ever possible risk and danger of HIV/AIDS.

To end sexual violence, African governments would have to deny perpetrators of sexual violence, political, economic, legal and social sanctuary. Zero legal tolerance against sexual violence should be enforced and perpetrators subjected to the long arm of the law. Women should be encouraged to come forward with cases of sexual violence and the society should treat them with compassion while the legal system runs its course.

Ten, African leaders and governments must win the battle against widespread poverty in the continent. Poverty is a major reason why individuals, including women, knowingly engage in high risk behaviors that facilitate the spread of HIV. Feminization of HIV/AIDS is closely intertwined with poverty and harsh living conditions.

African leaders and governments should create opportunities for poor women to escape poverty through sustainable macroeconomic policies that improve their vocational skills, provide access to literacy programs, provide incentives for self-employment and allow them to accumulate capital and properties.

Rich nations, including the United States, should work closely with African leaders in this regard. Comprehensive debt relief, increased access to trade for African farmers and businesses, and comprehensive micro-credit programs are also critical policy issues that rich nations can assist African nations as part of a comprehensive fight against poverty.

Conclusion

Efforts to end the feminization of AIDS in Africa must be African-based and African-implemented. For the African woman at the receiving end of HIV/AIDS, the solution lies principally in changing societal beliefs and practices within her family, community, country and the continent.

The solution to gender inequities lies in the capacity of African governments to confront societal beliefs and practices that wittingly or unwittingly put women at risk of physical, emotional and mental harm. The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa is exposing the deadly consequences of gender inequities. As the toll of HIV/AIDS mounts in Africa and the epidemic gradually assumes a feminine connotation, every policy maker in Africa should work toward the end of all practices that prevent African women from becoming full partners in the titanic struggle ahead. Any serious advocate for comprehensive AIDS remedial efforts in Africa cannot afford to watch from the sidelines the increasing feminization of AIDS in the continent.

* Chinua Akukwe is a member of the Board of Directors of the Constituency for Africa, Washington, DC and an adjunct professor of public health at the George Washington University, Washington, DC. He has written extensively on HIV/AIDS and development issues in Africa.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. UNAIDS (2004). AIDS Epidemic Update: 2004. November. Geneva, Switzerland: Author. Available at the UNAIDS website, www.unaids.org This is the latest update on the global AIDS situation and is dedicated to the feminization of AIDS. Data used in this article are available in the PDF format of the update under the following sections and pages: INTRODUCTION, pages 2-6; WOMEN and AIDS, pages 7, 9-17 dealing on issues such as gender inequities, problems with accessing preventive and clinical care, power imbalances, fear of violence, lack of property rights, cultural taboo about discussing sexual mores and risks with husbands; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, pages 19, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29 on issues that affect women in Africa and how it impacts on the spread of HIV.
2. UNAIDS (2004). 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic. July. Geneva, Switzerland: Author. Available at the UNAIDS website, www.unaids.org This document released during the Bangkok AIDS conference in July 2004 contains series of information on the epidemic. The PDF format includes an executive summary that also discusses continued discrimination against women and the lack of enabling legislation that outlaws stigma and discrimination against individuals living with HIV/AIDS.
3. World Bank (2004). African Development Indicators 2004. Washington, DC: Author. This is widely considered the authoritative database on Africa’s development. Data cited in this article are found in pages 320, 322, 323 on healthcare expenditure per capita, illiteracy levels and primary school enrollment. The female economic situation in Africa is shown in page 330 of the document.
4. Chinua Akukwe, Melvin Foote (2001). HIV/AIDS in Africa: It is Time to End the Killing Fields. Foreign Policy in Focus, April.

The wider civil society movement have to stop behaving like missionaries whose motives because they are allegedly doing ‘God’s work’, states Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem in connection with recent events in the AU’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC). Civil society has to hold itself to the same standards of accountability and transparency they demand from governments.

It was not unexpected that this column of last week on the orchestrated election of the Nobel Laureate, Wangari Mathai, as the President of the AU’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) would generate so much private and public responses, especially on the internet. It is both an indication of the growing seriousness attached to African initiatives and African institutions but also proof of the global village that the world has become in the age of interactive multi media and new information technology. I have always been open about my enthusiasm for the Internet, even as I support many of the anti-globalisation causes! E-mail is one of the most democratising aspects of globalisation.

The responses are varied but can be broken down into two broad categories. Those that are in the realm of ‘to be expected’ and those that are more nuanced and proactive. The intriguing thing is that both aspects were often cohabiting in many of the responses. So lets deal with what should be more familiar. One, ‘why are you attacking Mama Wangari?’

My position is not about Wangari or any of her bureau members as individuals (many of them are well-known to me) but a defence of a fundamental principle of separation of state roles and civil society roles and obligations. Nobody will argue with a trade union organisation that replaces its general-secretary when he or she becomes a minister or a member of parliament. If a Minister is similarly elected as head of a trade union the government will expect the person to leave. Wangari is in the same situation at the moment and she can still make a choice since her appointing authorities have failed in their duty to know the difference between the two positions.

Two, I did not seek to denounce Wangari as a leader who originated from civil society and is still critically important to that constituency, but she has had a change of jobs and we should not blur the lines. It is important for civil society to have allies in government but government should not swallow it up. It is rank opportunism to think those lines do not matter simply because the current beneficiary is someone we respect and value. As one of my respondents pointed out she would have risen more in principled public estimation if she had done one of two honourable things open to her: refuse the post because of her government position or resign from government due to her commitment to the new post. By doing neither she has diminished herself and her standing.

The more nuanced responses are many and most of them share my concerns but give different mitigating circumstances. One, there is a pragmatist group that argued that ‘this is a done deal’.

Though civil society is part of governance it cannot and should not substitute for government. Therefore it must avoid any action that confuses both theatres of struggle. Two, some argue that what happened was legal and within the rules. Let me just stretch their limited imagination to remember that slavery, colonialism and apartheid were codified in laws of the day. Did that make them acceptable?

Three, one person even suggested that it was ‘backbiting’ to speak out after the event. Does this mean that we should only speak about an event only during the act itself or when we are physically present? If this dubious standard is applied to all public discourse we shall not have anything to discuss since most of the issues, decisions and life changing policies that affect us are taken outside of our purview and many, even outside of Africa. Does that mean that we have no rights to complain and should just bear our victimhood as a fait accompli? There is no statute of liberty on justice and none should be imposed on accountability.

Four, others argue that Mathai was the best choice because the other options being pushed by AU bureaucrats presented a worse case scenario. This is begging the issue. The AU could not have put guns to the heads of those present (even though they paid their bills) if a few people had voiced their opposition openly in the assembly instead of largely grumbling and agonising privately. Maybe the AU would have seen sense and taken them more seriously. The fact that Wangari was appointed in absentia, ‘unanimously’ meant that some of those present (who had strong reservations) did not, or were unable to follow the logic of their own convictions. I appreciate the fact that some of those present did not have speaking rights. Many others were even attending the forum for the first time and were on a learning curve that was too steep! They were required to make decisions about what they did not know. That ignorance strengthened AU bureaucratic manouvres.

Five, another person even suggested that the newly crowned Madame la Presidente ‘had no time to waste’ stating that she been given a great job to do and implying she is so busy that she should not be diverted by these debates. I can only say that even a good thing can be done in a very wrong way. And this is one of them. That kind of language coming from people who are supposed to be defenders of civil society exposes the lack of willingness by our leaders both in civil and political society to be accountable to the people they serve. Is civil society not supposed to have more democratic credentials than governments?

The whole process further exposes the orchestrated confusion between NGOs and civil society. While NGOs may be part of civil society they are not ‘The’ civil society. Unfortunately because of donor-driven agendas and mercenary activism, NGOs in Africa are now passing for civil society hence the new distinction between CSOs and CBOs! The former is dominated by middle class counter elite claiming to speak for the constituencies more ably represented by the latter.

However the more successful NGOs become the more integrated they become into national and international and multilateral structures of power. They move from advocacy into incorporation and cooptation. There is nothing wrong in people moving from civil to political society and vice versa or making a similar journey to the private sector. However the actors in the various sectors must be clear about the lines even when osmosis is desirable.

African NGOs and the wider civil society movement have to stop behaving like missionaries whose motives cannot be questioned simply because they are allegedly doing God’s work. We have to hold ourselves up to the same standard of accountability, transparency, level playing field and due process that we harangue our governments to uphold.

What happened at the ECOSOCC Interim General Assembly was clear: It was a stich up. Does this mean nothing good will come out of it? I am an optimistic political activist who, like Bob Marley, "may fight and run away but live to fight another day.” Therefore even if Wangari does not resign the interim ECOSOCC institutions should not be ignored. Maybe out of this fudge we could salvage an ECOSOCC that will work together and independently with emerging structures of the AU. It is not yet Uhuru therefore wherever we are and regardless of which side of the debate we fall, we should maintain interactive vigilance and challenge this largely AU-chosen representatives of CSOs to deliver to the diverse constituencies they are supposed to represent. They ought to be CSO representatives in the AU, not AU agents among Civil Society.

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

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* EDITORIAL: As the Global Week of Action kicks off and protests against International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington loom, Njoki Njehu discusses the state of the global justice movement, its aims, alliances and progress
* COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Ndahiro Tom critically examines the role of the Catholic Church in the Rwandan genocide
- Chinua Akukwe spells out ten practical steps for African leaders to fight the impact of the HIV/AIDS virus on women
- UNHCR and the Government of Uganda should allow refugees freedom of movement and the choice to live where they feel most secure, argues Christina Clark
* LETTERS: Reader rage at last week’s editorial on Zimbabwe and a poetic battle over Pan-Africanism
* CONFLICTS AND EMERGENCIES: Billions needed for peace in Sudan, says Annan
* HUMAN RIGHTS: New research on community based organizations and human rights in Southern Africa
* ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Gertrude Mongella spells out the aims of the Pan African Parliament
* DEVELOPMENT: Press releases on the Global Week of Action on Trade; links to news on EPA’s, debt cancellation and the Hong Kong WTO meet
* EDUCATION: Corporal punishment vs constructive discipline

AND the latest in fundraising, jobs, courses and enewsletters…

We cannot do much about the colour of our skins or our ancestors but we are democratic socialists, a pre-requisite of which is freedom of expression and participation in the means of decision making regarding the conditions of material life. 'Free and fair' elections of representatives to parliamentary institutions reflecting popular consent are a necessary - but not sufficient - component of this process. On those grounds we could accept a 'liberal' label for now or temporary alliances with 'liberals.' Long-term ones would include 'workers' in the traditional Marxist sense and underprivileged people in countries like Zimbabwe, the analysis of which has perplexed Marxist analysts for a long time (including the 'agrarian question,' arguably at the root of the Zimbabwean experience).

The responses to our note on the recent Zimbabwean elections illustrate the complexities - 'confusions' might be too derogatory - of a 'progressive' take on this crisis-ridden society. Unreflective nationalism in defence of authoritarianism is not helpful, but does reflect the ideologies floating about in what Ibbo Mandaza has famously called the 'schizophrenic post-colonial state.'

In such situations maintaining the truth might be (more) important than class allegiances. Truth must be spoken both to power and to resistance against colonialism, racism, globalisation, patriarchy and the long, long list. Refuge in a dying nationalism's exhausted slogans does not help in this struggle.

Regarding the election's funding, we are condemned for neglecting the MDC's receipt of around three billion Zimbabwean dollars (less than $US 250,000 in 'real' terms that make people with access to official exchange rates billionaires over-night). True, the Parliamentary Finance Act allocates these funds to parties on the basis of their seats in the legislature. However, the President's Office receives unaccountable billions every year expended on everything from the Central Intelligence Organisation to helicopter rides to ZANU-PF rallies. Because they are invisible funds, only rough estimates get to the public: but we are told they approach 60 billion Zimbabwean dollars. Check that out against the heath and education budgets. The three billion covers about 90% of the MDC's legal fees for their challenges on the last elections' count, to take a small example and on top of that the party had to pay $2 million for each candidate's election deposit. Bourgeois democracy is not free: but for ZANU-PF, as long as it remains in control of the state - and the counting - it is seen as a free lunch.

Yes, we are in solidarity with "those who strive and persist in crafting new African social worlds," as Dr. McFadden has it. Not, though, if the 'new political traditions [crafted] after hundreds of years of vicious, colonial exclusionary politics' include intimidation, vote-rigging, and other forms of chicanery rivaling those of George W. Bush and family, in the cause of a new, 'post-colonial' bourgeoisie hiding under the cloaks of anti-colonial discourse.

Elections carried out with honesty and in peace - for more than a three week window to a carefully invited world - are part and parcel of the creation of new worlds. Free and fair elections can offer a moment of freedom on a long road towards self-determination going far beyond a 'sovereignty' that collapses dissent with puppetry and international solidarity with imperialism.

We stand by our comments in the hopes that they will contribute to larger truths shorn of rhetorical sleight of hand. We hope, too, that they will keep us far away from the sort of state to which we are accused of aspiring (McFadden claims we, or those we support in this instance, are 'squealing about the lack of democracy [because we] have not yet been able to reach the state and accumulate.')!

The NGO Network Alliance Project, an online community for Zimbabwean activists, carries the story of a 74-year-old grandmother's experience of voting in the Zimbabwean elections. "I left Bulawayo after voting to go to Harare to pray for peace and for the elections not to be stolen. Nobody forced me to travel but my empty stomach forced me to join other WOZA women. When we arrived in Harare it was very late because the bus carrying us had to queue for fuel in Gweru. As we neared Africa Unity Square, some women told us that many women had already been arrested and that we should go away. Our leader took us to the railway station waiting room for refuge. After some time, police drove in at high speed and rushed in shouting, "Face down, lie down". We did this and they beat us with their baton sticks. Those that refused to lie down were beaten as they stood up. After this they then walked on us with their boots."

Coming home is what we want for all children who are displaced, separated from their families, abducted or recruited by armed groups or armed forces. Children who have been with armed groups and forces tell us that they look forward to the moment when they can go home with hope and longing. But the idea of coming home can also generate fear, anxiety, and trepidation, especially if you are a girl.

At least 13 people were reported killed in renewed inter-clan fighting in Hobyo district, Mudug region of central Somalia, sources told IRIN. At least 30 others were reported wounded, the sources added.

To make vital progress towards implementing internationally agreed development goals, it will be crucial to harness the potential created by the past decade's info-tech explosion, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today in his message to a global forum on using new technologies to boost education. "One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)is achievement of universal primary education by 2015. We must ensure that information and communication technologies (ICT) are used to help unlock the door to education," the Secretary-General said in a message delivered by José Antonio Ocampo. He urged the Forum to use 2005 to explore ways to "think and act urgently and boldly to ensure that ICT is used to advance education and development…whether for young girls in Afghanistan, university students in Uganda, or workers in Brazil, so that we can fully seize economic opportunities, and live lives of dignity, free from want.

The World Movement for Democracy has announced a posting on "What's being done on...human rights networking?' This installment highlights different approaches to networking among organizations promoting and protecting human rights. Whether focusing on a single human rights issue or a broad spectrum of topics, all human rights groups share a common goal: human dignity and respect for rights. To achieve their objectives, they rely on a variety of methods, including networking. Some groups thus form unofficial or official human rights networks to become more effective.

Freedom House has released its annual list of the world's most repressive regimes at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Six are members of the UN body, charged with monitoring and condemning human rights violations. The report includes detailed summations of the human rights situations in Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Significantly, six of the eighteen most repressive governments - those of China, Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe - are members of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), representing nearly 11 percent of the 53-member body.

IFES' role in the pre-election process will be to provide institutional support and advice to the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia and other key institutions on preparations for the 2005 elections. Activities under this program are likely to include: purchase of election commodities, training of election administration staff, advising on the development of laws and procedures pertaining to elections, and education of voters and election stakeholders on the electoral process.

This course will introduce the international field of human rights education (HRE), including presentations of programming approaches, teaching and learning resources, and related theory. The course is intended for educators and trainers working in both the formal and nonformal sectors. Participants will be assisted in the development of a curriculum, training, or plan to use these skills to further their organization's advocacy efforts. Participants might be expected to apply these skills within formal education settings, for staff development within their own organizations, and for outreach and advocacy.

A new edition of the Africa Water Journalists Network has been released and is full of newsy bits and pieces, including updates on the network, writing opportunities, fellowships and invitations to conferences, recently published global reports and much more. Visit www.africawaterjournalists.org for more information.

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa recently published a new book, 'Pieces of the Puzzle: Keywords on Reconciliation and Transitional Justice'. Addressed to citizens, activists, and scholars, the publication is a practical and wide-ranging guide to understanding the key social, political, and cultural terms of transitional justice and reconciliation. South African and international experts offer concise and direct replies to some of the most common questions and problems that appear when nations wrecked by historical conflict begin the work of democratization and reconstruction. For ordering information, email [email protected]. To learn more about the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, go to: www.ijr.org.za/.

One of Zimbabwe's pre-eminent writers, Yvonne Vera, has died aged 40 of meningitis, her friends said Saturday. "It is with great sorrow that Yvonne Vera's family and friends would like to inform you of her death," they said in a statement. Renowned for her poetical novels dealing with issues her fellow writers would rather skirt, Vera is considered one of the most gifted writers to emerge from Zimbabwe. She published five novels, and a collection of short stories - translated into at least seven languages. She also edited several anthologies of short stories by African woman writers.

There is a development cataclysm that has evolved largely unnoticed over the past decade. It is the cotton crisis that has affected millions of farmers in most developing countries particularly in West Africa where cotton growers have been driven out of production as a result of artificially managed low prices at the world market. Cotton growers in Southern Africa, particularly Mozambique and Zimbabwe have also been plunged into deep poverty, as incomes from cotton farming continue to dwindle under armpits of an all time low prices offered by cotton merchants. It is not just the cotton sector, which has been affected, but all the other dependent industries like the textiles which have for years been providing employment to millions of people in developing countries. Read more about the cotton crisis by reading the rest of this article from the latest edition of the Seatini Bulletin.

The Organisation Development and Community Management Trust (ODCMT) has launched the Global week of Action on Trade Justice in Zambia. The week starts from 10th - 16th April 2005, where as many campaigns as possible across the world active on trade come together in united action. The idea is for all organisations, networks and movements to take action in their own national and regional campaigns. The aim is to challenge unjust local, regional and international trade and put forward alternatives by delivering the biggest global mobilization we have ever seen. The Global Week of Action triggers massive mobilization in Zambia for trade justice and it will gather momentum in the run up to the World Trade Organisation Ministerial summit in Hong Kong.

"The July Framework Agreement is the last nail in the coffin of the illusion that the WTO can somehow be reformed, either piecemeal or comprehensively, to serve the interests of developing countries. More than ever, the Framework and its aftermath have revealed the WTO to be an iron cage that traps developing countries in a negotiations game that is systematically skewed in favor of the big trading powers of the North. With even greater intransigence on the part of the trading powers of the North today, it is difficult to elaborate any other strategy to protect the interests of the developing countries and global civil society than the one that was developed for Cancun - that is, derailment of the Ministerial.” Read this detailed paper from Focus on the Global South for their take on what needs to happen in preparation for the Hong Kong WTO ministerial in December.

"Africa Meets Africa" is a progressive hour long, weekly radio magazine that showcases the diversity and resources of the continent of Africa and its Diaspora. We feature African people, culture, arts, talent. We examine political, social, and economic concerns, as well as technology, environmental, women and other issues that shape and change the continent and its people. AMA showcases the richness, the power, as well as the challenges and struggle that Africans and people of African descent face globally. Africa Meets Africa’s mission is to help transform and renew Africa’s image for its true identity has historically been concealed and damaged by the forces that seek to re-colonize and destroy its people, while sequestering its natural resources. Our goal is to inspire our listeners to "think" and empower them to "act" on behalf of the birth of a new Africa. We endeavor to enlighten and raise consciousness, to build bridges that will unite all of Africa.

This UNESCO publication clarifies the human rights imperative and logical dictates of child development knowledge for eliminating corporal punishment of children. It provides guidance for selecting and applying constructive disciplinary practices that respect the human dignity of children. The publication includes three major sections: The Human Rights Imperative for Ending All Corporal Punishment of Children; Corporal Punishment: Prevalence, Predictors and Implications for Child Behavior and Development; and The Way Forward to Constructive Child Discipline.