Journalist Ray Choto and the estate of the late Mark Chavunduka, have been paid a total of more than 20 million Zimbabwean dollars (approx.US$3,225 at the official rate) in damages and interest claims for the torture and unlawful arrest they suffered following the publication of an alleged abortive coup plot in 1999. The damages were awarded posthumously to Chavunduka, who was editor of the privately-owned weekly "The Standard" newspaper, together with Choto, who was his senior reporter at the time. Choto is now based in Washington, USA.

Visit Action Aid's Get on Board website and find out about their travels from South Africa to the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in July. At the website you can send a postcard or a message to G8 leaders.

The World Summit on the Information Society that Tunisia will host in November 2005 will feature a number of side events in addition to the official summit program, due to take place from November 16-18 at the El Kram exhibition hall, near Tunis. Side events will include debates, workshops and exhibitions, from November 14 -19 at Le Kram exhibition hall. The deadline for the submission of applications for the organization of side events is April 30, 2005. Applications are available online at www.wsistunis2005.tn

There is a lack of public scrutiny over the negotiation process between one of the world's more powerful economic actors, the EU, and 79 of the world's poorest economies, the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states (ACP), says this International Development Committee briefing. "Outside of a small trade circle, very little notice is being taken of these negotiations which are running parallel to the WTO's Doha 'development' round," the IDC said. The agreements would mean that the ACP group would move from non-reciprocal preferential access to reciprocal trading arrangements with the EU. "Without special and differential treatment, the agreements will not be fair," said the IDC.

Thousands of young men and boys, many of whom have committed atrocities while fighting in West Africa's brutal civil wars, face re-recruitment into the region’s emerging conflicts, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released this week. International efforts to disarm these fighters must provide them with alternatives to war. Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea, two countries marked by growing political instability, are the current theaters into which these young fighters are being drawn, according to Human Rights Watch.

The "Association for Health and Environmental Development (AHED) – Egypt" in collaboration with "People's Health Movement (PHM)" has the pleasure to announce its fifth general conference that will be held on May 14th and 15th, 2005. The conference, under the title " PEOPLE'S HEALTH: DETERMINANTS, CURRENT CHALLENGES, AND OPPORTUNITIES", aims at identifying the current challenges facing people's health, determinants of ill health as well as identifying alternative strategies for better health situation. You can access the first conference announcement and application form on AHED's website www.ahedegypt.org where you can also find the Arabic versions of both the announcement and the application form. You may apply online via through AHED's website from this link http://www.ahedegypt.org/application.htm.

The Global Week of Action for Trade Justice has started. Ten million people will be taking action, thousands of events are planned and hundreds of organisations are involved in 80 different countries across the world. Find out more by clicking on the link below to read an information sheet from the organisers.

As a friend of Pambazuka from the early days, I'd like to add heartfelt congratulations on the 200th issue. As a comrade, I value Pambazuka for being a trove of information, views and arguments. As a media analyst, I have to say that it is a publishing phenomenon. It has grown from a collection of web links, to become a magazine of progressive debate with an enormous circulation. You have made yourself indispensable.

Massive corruption is behind current hardships in Ghana, said former President Jerry Rawlings, who took power in a revolt and ruled for two decades, but he denied he wanted a return to office. Rawlings has remained a thorn in the side of President John Kufuor's government since stepping down in 2001 and has hinted there might one day be a violent reaction to Kufuor's rule. But he said in general terms coups were becoming harder to stage in Africa.

Online fundraising is ten years old. It has moved from the fringes of fundraising to the mainstream. In this now established form of raising money, this article asks what works and what doesn't? And how can a non-profit organisation maximise their online fundraising ability? More importantly, what are the future trends in online fundraising?

The Security Council’s referral of the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been hailed as a giant step in the history of international humanitarian law. It has also been criticised for applying double standards by exempting the United States from the ICC’s jurisdiction, reports the International Justice Tribune, an newsletter on international criminal justice. "Washington had little choice but to vote [by abstention] for the referral as it was one of the first countries to label the violence in Darfur ‘genocide’. Had the US taken a principled stance against ICC jurisdiction over Sudan, it might have found itself branded an accomplice to genocide. In the end, America turned this delicate situation to its advantage."

Djibouti’s incumbent president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, won 100 percent of the vote in Friday’s presidential election - in which he was the sole candidate – according to the official news agency, Agence Djiboutienne d'Information (ADI). Guelleh will now serve a second and final six-year term as leader of the tiny Horn of Africa nation.

Neighbouring countries placed their health services on high alert as the death toll in Angola's deadly Marburg epidemic climbed to 192. With the number of cases of the Ebola-like bug rising to 213, efforts in Angola's northern province of Uige, the epicentre of the outbreak, focused on tracking down what potentially amounts to scores of people who have been in close contact with victims.

Sudanese women's groups have come together to demand a minimum 30 percent representation for women in a post-conflict Sudan. The women's groups came up with a series of recommendations at a meeting held under the auspices of the Norwegian government, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

A government plan to give conservative Chad a new family law banning practices such as beating wives has provoked uproar. "At Friday prayers, Muslim preachers have taken to saying that President Idriss Deby and his family will burn in hell because it is against the Koran to say a woman is equal to a man," the weekly newspaper Notre Temps observed. The draft code is a 246-page document drawn up with the help of funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Deby pledged to speedily adopt it in a speech on 8 March to mark International Women’s Day.

Can carved masks, toy drums and grass baskets pull Swazis out of the chronic poverty that grips two-thirds of Swaziland's population? Ntombi Dlamini, King Mswati's mother, is backing a new enterprise that will centralise the diversity of wood carvers and handicraft makers, and give them access to customers worldwide via the Internet. But environmentalists warn there is a price to pay: a loss of indigenous trees and their habitats.

The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women in Swaziland increased to 42.6% in 2004 from 38.6% in 2002, according to preliminary findings from the country's latest HIV sentinel survey, IRIN News reports. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, which conducted the survey in 2004 among women attending prenatal clinics, said in a statement that the results showed "signs of hope as well as indications of huge challenges ahead".

The French government ministers, judges and senior police officers are allowing members of the police force to use excessive and sometimes lethal force against suspects of Arab and African origin without fear of serious repercussions, Amnesty International says. In its report 'France: The Search for Justice', through 10 years of documenting and exposing cases, Amnesty International has uncovered evidence of widespread failure of the judicial system to prosecute and punish human rights violations.

We are a Somali local organization called Somali Human Rights Action working in a central zone of Somalia. As a human rights organization for the last three years, we feel the need to say so much thanks for your continued support in knowledge and all that you have been to us. You have been so helpful to our growth, we express our heart-felt gratitude to you all. I also take the opportunity to all who have made us grow through you.

"Make every mother and child count" is the slogan of World Health Day 2005. This year's World Health Report calls for a new momentum to address and improve maternal, neonatal and child health. Every year 10 million children die, 4 million of these in the first four weeks of life (the neonatal period). Yet, simple cost-effective interventions exist which could save up to 3 million of these newborns. These interventions are explored in a new Key Issues page on maternal, newborn and child health now available on the HRC/Eldis Health Resource Guide.  This clear and concise guide highlights the key policy debates, and examines what action is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on maternal and child health. Written by experts in the field, the guide proposes a win-win solution which will benefit both mother and child.
* Related Link
http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2005/en/

The Sahel, a vast region bordering the Sahara Desert and including the countries of Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania, is increasingly referred to by the U.S. military as "the new front in the war on terrorism". There are enough indications, from a security perspective, to justify caution and greater Western involvement. However, the Sahel is not a hotbed of terrorist activity. A misconceived and heavy handed approach could tip the scale the wrong way; serious, balanced, and long-term engagement with the four countries should keep the region peaceful, says the International Crisis Group.

Tanzania’s government has sent police and paramilitary officers to volatile Zanzibar to harass opposition supporters ahead of elections, an opposition party has claimed. It also accused the government of redrawing constituency boundaries to weaken concentrations of opposition voters. Zanzibar, which united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964, retains the right to elect its own parliament and president.

Former South African first lady Graca Machel has called on women in southern Africa to tackle traditional practices that may contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Addressing delegates from the region at a gender equality conference in Ezulwini, just outside Swaziland's capital, Mbabane, Machel highlighted the impact of the virus on women. "We are the ones who are most affected by AIDS: of the people infected with HIV, 58 percent are women; of the people dying of AIDS, 58 percent are women - it is time to say, 'enough!'"

The Geneva Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) produced a political declaration and action plan which was adopted by all governments and intended to guide the Tunis 'implementation' phase of the WSIS. However, governments were unable to reach consensus on two issues - both controversial, both complex and highly political, both finding governments from developed and developing countries positioned roughly, in opposing camps - the issues of 'financing mechanisms' (to put it bluntly, who pays) and 'internet governance' (who controls or sets the rules). Governments found a way through this deadlock by requesting the UN Secretary General form task forces that would grapple further with these two issues and produce final reports for consideration by governments during PrepCom 2, February 2005 (financing mechanisms) and PrepCom 3, September 2005 (internet governance). Read this report on internet governance on the website of the Association for Progressive Communications.

Over 70 representatives of African Civil Society Organisations drawn from over 20 countries meeting in Nairobi to consult on the Global Call Against Poverty (GCAP) have issued an ultimatum to the G8 and will organize simultaneous demonstrations of solidarity and protest across Africa on July 1 if significant movement on Africa's debt is not made at the World Bank and IMF spring meetings in April.

This ultimatum comes ahead of the meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington DC on 16th and 17th April. The G8, the group of the world's richest and most powerful nations, holds more than half the votes in the World Bank and IMF. Campaigners are demanding that they seize the opportunity at the spring meetings to cancel Africa's debt.

"Africa demands immediate action, not further procrastination. Decisive action on debt, aid and trade in 2005 is critical in reversing the continent's decline," warns Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of Johannesburg-based CIVICUS.

The African civil society groups have also demanded trade justice to reform unfair trade rules, a major increase in the quantity and quality of aid, national efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve the Millennium goals be implemented in a way that is democratic, transparent and accountable.

The 70 representatives from international, continental and national organizations and coalitions working in over twenty-six countries from all the regions of Africa met in Nairobi to review global, regional and national progress on GCAP mobilization over 2005 and collectively plan for the global days of white band mobilization (June 16th, July 1st, September 10th and 10th December).

The meeting shared experiences of organising people-centred advocacy and campaigning and plans for holding national governments and international institutions accountable to poverty eradication, public participation and human rights. Delegations also met with community leaders in Korogocho, a neighbouring urban informal settlement and lobbied Kenyan based G8 Ambassadors and Kenyan Ministries on April 1st in line with the global G8 action.

For the full press release issued after the meeting, a copy of a letter sent to G8 ambassadors and a list of organisations involved in the meeting, please click on the link below.

'I am glad they have banned it.' So said a colleague who walked into my office the day after the news of the play’s banning by the Media Council.

‘Why?’ I asked her very quietly.

‘Because now we can clearly see what we are up against. How dare you women celebrate your womanhood, condemn sexual oppression, and the abuse of women’s bodies. And you not only dare to do this, but in public also? What? You look at it from their point of view. Don’t you know that your vaginas are dirty, obscene, distasteful, vulgar and evil? Don’t you know that these ‘things’ no matter how much they suffer should be kept private? Haven’t you yet understood that the only ones who can talk with authority on these matters are men who think that way about you and women who think that way about themselves? Really you women, where do you get the nerve to talk about vaginas in public? Don’t you know this is not how ‘respectable’ women behave? You have embarrassed good women everywhere. Our cultures are sacrosanct. They should never be questioned or challenged. You who have done so are morally corrupted’

We laugh.

So is it our cultures or our religions we are worried about?

Well both. We should safeguard our African Christian, cultural values against the surge of western immorality!

So when for example, the Christian religion says we are all made in the image of God (every single part of our bodies that is), it means that it is wrong for us to refer to the vagina as vulgar, dirty and distasteful, because we are denigrating the image of God?

Well no, because culturally this is how we refer to these parts of the body.

Oh, so it is wrong for us to challenge these socially constructed practices, even though we may be dishonouring God in adhering to them?

Well, yes. In this case yes. We think.

Which case is that? The case in which the issue touches on the rights of women of course. In those cases, we always refer to that which sits comfortably with patriarchal notions of what a woman’s place should be. Women are used to this (even those who were opposed to this play). They have steadfastly challenged patriarchal cultural practices and norms. They have gone to school, own property, left abusive marriages; some have even chosen not to marry. But now many of them turn and point the finger on those who dare to challenge the last and most insidious bastion of patriarchal oppression. The notion of women’s bodily integrity and autonomy; the idea that a woman’s body is hers and hers alone to do with as she chooses is so scary to so many of us, that we quickly hide behind some of the very defence mechanisms we have so long challenged. Culture. African cultural values.

I think that we should be very careful how we fashion our arguments. For hiding behind cultural relativism has been the very tool used to stamp our oppression in the past. We pander to racist and sexist stereotypes about what African culture is when we do this. We paint a picture of this fossilised, immovable, intolerant, reactionary, monolithic culture. Let us also not forget that in the past these arguments have been used to safeguard dictatorial regimes. Concepts such as human rights, democracy, and gender equality were all once referred to as ‘western and alien concepts’. So whilst we Africans were stuck in oppressive, repressed, dictatorial, cultural systems, the west was showing us the way forward? What absolute garbage. The fact of the matter is that the oppression and exclusion of peoples, on the basis of race, gender, and ethnicity and so on is a universal practice, which each society justifies with slick explanations of culture, religion and what have you. And just as it has been practiced in every society, so has it been resisted.

‘Corruption of our values by western immorality is one of the biggest challenges of our time’ So said the good Minister of State for Information Dr Nsaba Buturo in his press briefing statement. I am sure he believes it. But really some of us think that compared to the subjugation of our economies to the west, this is a stroll in the park. But there you have it. This is where the Minister concentrates his energies. And not very well one might add. Well let’s look at subscription TV and what it frequently beams into our homes. No bans there. Let’s look at all the salacious print media that is around for everyone to see? No ban there. What about all those watering holes dotted around the city, which feature goodness knows what. No, no ban there. What about the corruption that is endemic in our society and which denies so many their right to basic social welfare? Nope. No moves there either. Has he managed to get all those government officials and employees who have abandoned their children to at least pay child support? Last I heard, that was not on his radar. In fact no action anywhere except for where some women want to stage a play called The Vagina Monologues. Ahh.

Of course we have heard from a number of those who have seen the play and condemn it as pornography from the west. I cannot argue with their experiences, it is pointless to do that. Because in doing so, I silence them; relegate them to the back of beyond; as somehow completely unimportant. Their view is important, and they can exercise their right to stay away. I hasten to add, that several others have seen the play, myself included and have been liberated by it. Our views and experiences have simply been ignored and silenced by the bully boy tactics of some of our ministers (whose backgrounds we are all really keen to know) and their cronies.
The play has a different effect on different people. It is as simple as that. And in that sense this play is no different from any other.

‘The message is good but you should have packaged it differently’ some now say. Hello? Have you been on the moon? What have women’s organisations been doing all these years? 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Seminar after seminar. Tree after tree chopped down, to produce report after report which presents these issues to fit comfortably with people’s sensibilities. And where are we? As I write this, these reports sit, gathering layers of dust in a number of people’s offices. In the meantime, the crisis escalates (this is by the government’s own reckoning).

‘Say it in vernacular!’ Others scream. They throw this as the biggest defence against staging the play. Well, as I recall, a number of this same group argued for ‘gender sensitive language’ in the drawing up of the 1995 Constitution. This principle document now uses ‘he’ and ‘she’, ‘woman ‘and ‘man’ as the case warrants. Why did they do this? Language they argued, is patriarchal in nature. It is socially constructed and it reflects societal, cultural norms. Quite right too. And by the same token I say that any language that refers to the essence of womanhood, the vagina (by that I mean, that which distinguishes a woman from a man) in ways that are derogatory should be questioned and challenged. Not protected and defended.

And then there are the ‘Pastor’ Sempas of this world. With them, one should waste as little energy as possible. So I will not bother much, except to say, that someone from police please enforce the ban and throw this man in jail. He has been reading at will, the very excerpts from the play that were banned by the Media Council for all and sundry to hear. And boy does this man shout! ‘The bandit is enjoying this!’ laughed members of the cast as we listened to him read the script on the radio a few days after the play had been banned (He actually reads quite well). But here’s the thing. This man has had the opportunity to read the book from cover to cover. And having done so, he has arrived at his own conclusions about the play. Fair enough. But what he then seeks to do is to deny others the same opportunity to make up their own minds, by calling for the play’s ban.

Well this is after all in keeping with the tradition in the wave of charismatic churches that is sweeping this nation. Any man (for they are usually men) who can shout beyond a certain decibel, can set up a ‘church’. And in this so called church he is free to preach what he chooses in the name of God. Many a wealthy lifestyle by our ‘Pastors’ has been funded from the proceeds of the congregation’s sweat. ‘Bring no coins here!’ they shout. ‘God only wants notes!’ They expect absolute obedience from their followers. They tell the congregation what to think, do and say – some even whom to marry. They have killed their congregations in Kanungu, and have hoodwinked women into believing they are carrying miracle babies in Kenya. They hold night vigils for ‘healing’ and ‘curing’ the sick of HIV/AIDS to exorcisms. The term ‘Born Again’ becomes the new mantra and license to engage in some of the most iniquitous and scandalous behaviour imaginable. But no matter. If people choose to go to these churches, I do not have the right to stop them. I recognise, and respect their right to do it. That they do not extend me the same right to watch the Vagina Monologues is neither here nor there. One of us has to be principled.

Incidentally someone called up on one of the TV stations to ask the ‘good Pastor’ Sempa, why his church is littered with used condoms every time he has night prayers. I have never seen anyone look as pitiful as did this man. Actually for a moment he looked like a frightened mouse. But only for a moment. For this man is nothing but a slick performer if you like that sort of thing. Quickly he regrouped and hid behind a barrage of slanderous attacks on Isis-Women’s International Cross Cultural Exchange (a co host of the VDay Campaign in Uganda). This is a very morally upright man of God after all.

I regret very much the government’s handling of this play. But I also know that you cannot keep a social movement down, certainly not through actions such as these. Those in power forget very quickly that the generation of ideas, their examination, debate and dialogue are the hallmarks of a democratic society. Drunk with power, they use the long arm of the state to silence people in ways that are so transparently unfair and unjust (and incidentally very highly immoral). And they plant a seed that germinates quietly underground. You cannot suppress ideas, just because they upset your sense of propriety. And then to lean on the apparatus of the state to do this is so outrageous and in the long term highly damaging. Leaders who pander for cheap popularity at the expense of principled governance, lose very quickly, the respect even of their most ardent supporters. For intrinsically, deep in the recess of their sub consciousness echoes that tiny but persistent voice: Today, it has been the turn of so and so. Tomorrow, might it be me? Don’t take my word for it. Let us examine our histories very carefully.

The positive side to all this, is that this play and the issues it is trying to raise has reached a wider audience than would ever have been possible had the state not interfered in the way it did. ‘You mean these ministers and all have banned the play? Ahh then there must be something good in it for women!’ Radio stations, email list serves, arguments, counter arguments, discussions in living rooms, on matatus, in the market place, with parents, children, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, it is everywhere. Young people have been exposed (as it were) to the hypocrisy of the older generation. They have watched as scoundrels, wastrels, wife batterers, runaway dads, swindlers, idlers, extortionists and playboys have formed a most unholy alliance with men of the cloth to see this play banned. And they have watched in utter disbelief, those in the women’s movement, who have joined this band of merry men. It is the pedagogy of the oppressed, we try to explain. Oh no it is not, say they. It is downright dishonesty, opportunism and immorality.

But all that is by the by. The play is banned and that is all that matters now. Or is it?

* Sarah Mukasa is Programmes Manager for the East and Horn of Africa at Akina Mama wa Afrika

* Please send comments to

‘You are not African because you are born in Africa but you are an African because Africa is born in you”

Introduction

The African Union made history on the 29th of March 2005 as it launched the interim Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) in Addis Abba, Ethiopia. ECOSOCC is an advisory organ of the Union consisting of a variety of civil society groups from member states; these included professional groups, non-governmental organization, social groups, community based organizations, workers, traditional, religious and cultural groups. ECOSOCC is headed by a bureau of five regional representatives, a standing committee and then the general assembly of 150 members. Members of the bureau are; the noble peace prize winner, Prof. Wangari Muthai (Presiding Officer and East Africa representative), and Deputy Presiding Officers; Professor Maurice Tadadjeu (Central Africa), Dr. Ayo Aderinwale (West Africa), Prof. Fatima Karadja (North Africa) and Mr. Charles Mutasa (Southern Africa).

ECOSOCC was established under the provisions of article 5 and 22 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union. ECOSOCC gives the civil society in the continent an opportunity to interact with all organs of the union and influence policy, decisions and chart Africa’s future together with the heads of states and governments. In the words of His Excellency Mr. Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairman of the African Union Commission, “the creation of ECOSOCC is against authoritarian regimes, hostile external efforts and the negative waves of globalization…..” You should be by the side of those who suffer injustice and are deprived of their basic human rights.” ECOSOCC is the solid foundation of democracy; it will guarantee the observance of the rule of law, human rights, democratic transformation and good governance. It is through ECOSOCC that civil society organizations in Africa has to define itself and prove to skeptics that they are not the conveyor belts of western interests.

Interim ECOSOCC Mandate

ECOSOCC is a potential resource-base yet to be tapped by the political powers but it is also the mechanism by which their own governance shall be weighed. ECOSOCC is a reservoir of human knowledge that should be taken seriously in building African economies. The greatest challenge for civil society in ECOSOCC will be to claim its legitimacy, demonstrate its ability and value addition to the continent by bringing in implementable solutions and alternatives to Africa’s challenges of disease, the lethal impact of AIDS on food security and livelihoods, poverty, conflict, authoritarian tendencies, heartbreaking events in Sudan’s Darfur region, as well as in the beleaguered regions of Ituri and the Kivus in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is need for both civil society and African leaders to work hard together and to convince the people of the continent that the lives and safety of their fellow Africans are sacrosanct, and that there can be no substitute for the fruits of peace.

The mandate of the interim ECOSOCC is two years from March 2005 to March 2007. The two major tasks for the interim ECOSOCC are therefore; first is to ensure that ECOSOCC sub-regional and national structures are in place. Secondly, through ECOSOCC civil society must begin influencing policy changes within the African Union by engaging the sectoral clusters of the African Union namely; peace and security, political affairs, infrastructure and energy, human resources, science and technology, rural economy and agriculture, economic affairs, women and gender related issues and cross-cutting issues such as NEPAD.

The year 2005 itself is a historic year for Africa considering that the United Kingdom has purposed to prioritize Africa’s backwardness and poverty on the G7/G8 summit to be held in Scotland in June. The United Kingdom Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair has put up the Commission for Africa with the core purpose of ensuring that alternatives to change Africa’s development face be put forward and discussed in 2005. Both the United Kingdom and the United States have issued statements regarding canceling poor countries multilateral debts with the aim of freeing resources for development in Africa. The 2005 September United Nations Millennium Development Goals review also put Africa at the top of the world’s development agenda. Within this scenario, the ECOSOCC is expected to play a major role and bring change to the face of Africa. There is much hope that another Africa is possible!
There is need to respect, acknowledge and accept that we Africans have a contribution to make to our own development and to the development of all humanity. Partnership of civil society with their governments as one citizen put it happens “when they care about our gains as they do about theirs”.
Context
The birth of the African Union in July 2002, forty years after the creation of the OAU, reflected an historic reaffirmation that Africa itself bears the primary responsibility for shaping its fate and future; and that the best way - the only way - for Africa to carry out that mission is to unite around the needs and aspirations of its people.
The role of African civil society in the development of Africa has been recognised for a long time. This is based on the fundamental premise that Africa’s development must be about development of people. As early as 1990, the Arusha Charter on Popular Participation recognised the need for African governance to fully integrate African civil society in various governance structures of key institutions in order for them to fully participate in defining the long-term development policies of the continent. While the charter of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), had made no reference to African civil society, the OAU increasingly began to invite African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to participate in some of its meetings and structures, as observers.

Past Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) approaches to cooperation with CSOs included the criteria for observer status and outlined essential prerequisites. In cases where observer status was not possible, cooperation agreements or Memorandums of Understanding could still be concluded as internal mechanisms for cooperation in specific areas. It is important to note that there were some serious limitations inherent in the OAU framework as it did not allow for direct participation of CSO representatives at the meetings and had no reporting or follow-up systems.

With the birth of the African Union in 2002, the importance has been recognized for CSOs not to be observers of the African Union proceedings but be an integral part of the organization’s decision and policymaking process. The African Union’s Assembly of Heads of State and Government Decision AHG Dec. 160 (XXXII) of July 2001 in Lusaka, stressed the importance of involving African Non-governmental Organizations, socio-economic organizations, professional associations and civil society organizations in Africa’s integration process, as well as in the formulation and implementation of the programme of the Union. In that same decision, the Assembly requested the Interim Chairperson of the AU, in consultation with a group of experts and CSO Working Group Representatives submit a comprehensive report during its 2003 Maputo Summit on ECOSOCC with recommendations on:

1. Its structure, functioning, areas of competence and relationships to other organs of the Union;

2. The procedure and criteria for selecting the members of ECOSOCC, including their terms of office;

3. The relationship between ECOSOCC and African regional non-governmental organizations and professional groups;

4. The Rules of Procedure of ECOSOCC and the preparations of its work programme.

The Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC) established under Article 22 of the founding charter of the African Union defines African civil society as an advisory organ and explicitly invites African civil society through its various organisations to fully participate in the institutions of the Union, in particular, the Economic, Social and Cultural Council. The establishment of this important organ is to enable the African people and institutions, not only to contribute to the programmes and decisions of the AU, but also to assume ownership of these programmes and be responsible for their implementation. This has now been extended to participation in various other institutions and committees such as the African Parliament, The African Court of Justice, the Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation (CSSDCA) and specialised Committees, all of which are required to involve CSOs in their work.

The first African Union Civil Society Conference was held in June 2001. During this conference, the general framework of cooperation between the African Union (AU) and about 400 CSOs was elaborated. Latter, a Civil Society Desk was established to deal with civil society matters. It was initially agreed that the CSOs are to meet once every two years. In June 2002, the second OAU-Civil Society Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, decided to establish a Provisional AU-Civil Society Working Group in order to coordinate and work through the modalities of African civil society interface with the organs of the AU. The Meeting elected some 20 regional representatives and the AU Secretariat nominated three sectoral representatives. The terms of reference for the working group are to:

- Prepare criteria for accreditation and affiliation of African CSOs across the continent;
- Participate in the formulation of possible modalities relating to the participation of civil society in ECOSOCC and other relevant AU organs;
- Develop a code of conduct and ethics for CSOs;
- Assist the AU in the elaboration of a plan of action relating to CSO activities and contributions to the OAU/AU and forging networks; and
- Assist in resource mobilization and popularize the AU.

The statutes of ECOSOCC were then adopted by the heads of states and governments in July 2004. Since then, two meetings of the provisional working group where convened in Cairo, Egypt and Abuja, Nigeria to strategize on how to launch the ECOSOCC, especially finalizing the rules of procedure and the Code of Ethics.

The Challenges ahead

- Poverty, HIV/AIDS, malaria, instability, conflict, human insecurity, corruption, bad governance and marginalization of Africa peoples are among the contemporary enemies of the African Union. Citizens hope that the collaboration of government and civic groups will enable them to develop appropriate strategies to deal with Africa’s daunting challenges.

- Government and civic organizations’ relationships in many African countries have been characterized by conflict and counter-accusations. To turn this around and work together may be easier said than done. Most governments scoff at the idea of civil society groups watching over their undemocratic practices, especially in the area of the rule of law, human rights; civic and voter education.

- Civic organizations have to prove that they live by what they say and they should not condemn government for the very things found amiss in their own camp. They will have to prove that they can offer alternatives to Africa’s economic quagmire and political despondency if they are to remain relevant as an advisory organ to the African Union.

- CSO’s have to effectively champion a proactive popularization of the new Africa Union among African people within the context of potential resistance to change. Members of ECOSOCC have to work hard not to be perceived as an alternative club of elites in its operations and collaboration with the African Union.

Final remarks

The Africa Union, unlike its predecessor the OAU, seems determined to graduate from a “politicians club” to a people centered and driven regional organization. The ECOSOCC process is a historical opportunity for the formulation of a new social contract between African Governments and their people. Involving CSO’s in African Union endeavours is a positive move and is a way of involving ordinary citizens of Africa in decision and policy-making processes of issues that concern their daily lives.

More to this is that involving CSO’s is key in considering the role they would be expected to play as watchdogs of their governments and that CSO’s have the ability to reach out to grass root level people in African communities. There is more to be done by both governments and civil society if Africa is to pull itself from the quagmire of poverty, tyranny and corruption. Democracy that goes beyond mere periodic elections seems to be the missing link. As Mandela noted, we all need to say: ‘“Democracy is an ideal that I would like to live for, it is an ideal that if necessary I am prepared to die for.”

* Charles Mutasa is currently the Acting Coordinator of the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (Afrodad) and the Programme Director for Research and Policy Analysis.

* Please send comments to

Zanu PF swept to victory in the March 31 Zimbabwe elections, consolidating the power of long-term president Robert Mugabe with a two-thirds majority that will enable him to change the constitution. Amidst allegations of vote-rigging and debates over the free and fair nature of the poll, Patrick Bond and David Moore explain what happened and why it matters, while at the same time spelling out the terrain for future solidarity efforts.

The official results of Zimbabwe's March 31 parliamentary elections, announced on 2 April, give the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) 78 seats, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 41 (down from 57 seats in 2000), and 1 to an independent (Mugabe's notorious former information officer, Jonathan Moyo). What happened? Why does it matter for progressives across Africa and elsewhere?

What happened? Simply this: the urban poor and working-class were cheated. The rural poor were intimidated into supporting a government whose costs to them now far outweigh the limited benefits (for 130 000 households) of the ineffectual land redistribution strategy that began in 2000. And the regional super-power collaborated to the full.

It's easy to substantiate this conclusion. Consider the past quarter century of political repression meted out to opponents of Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF. During the 1980s, an initial round of strikes and land invasions was suppressed by the new government; approximately 20,000 Matabeleland residents were killed in horrendous massacres; single women were rounded up in urban raids; students were regularly beat up when they objected to declining living standards and corruption; workers were targeted from the late 1980s when Mugabe lost control of the trade unions; and the urban poor suffered police shootings during mid/late-1990s IMF Riots.

Who was winning, then? Mainly Mugabe's cronies, a several thousand strong mini-class of high-ranking bureaucrats and business elites; but most whites too, who until farm invasions began in earnest in February 2000, lived the high life. The 4000 commercial farmers controlling the vast bulk of productive rain-fed land until 2000 benefited outlandishly from 1990s economic liberalisation. Race and class inequality worsened. World Bank and IMF policies - ably implemented by Zanu PF's ascendant neoliberal technocrats - deindustrialised the economy and savaged once-admirable social policies. Aspirants for 'indigenous bourgeois' status jumped to the queue too, based on financial speculation and military deals with the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Laurent Kabila, fighting a war against rebels, Rwandans, and Ugandans.

Who was fighting back? Grassroots efforts for change reached a new stage in February 1999 with the Working People's Convention, birthing the MDC and producing a progressive manifesto. However, funding from and alliances with white farmers and imperialists, including US state agencies, led to moderation. Mugabe quickly labeled the MDC's leader Morgan Tsvangirai, former head of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, as "Tsvangison" the "boy" serving tea to the Blair/Bush global regime.

In addition, the aftermath of a shocking February 2000 defeat of Mugabe's constitutional referendum saw a revamping of Zanu-Pf's electoral machinery. The parliamentary elections in June 2000 and March 2002's presidential contest were characterised by high levels of violence and blatant thievery. Last week's parliamentary vote saw less coercion, which necessitated more craftiness on the count..

How did they 'win' this time? A few days after the count, the MDC's Eddie Cross reported that "A message passed on to Tsvangirai from a state security agent said the MDC had in fact 'won' in 94 of the 120 seats." Whatever the genuine will of the people added up to, Mugabe ensured it was suppressed. In Pretoria, his ally South African president Thabo Mbeki ensured carefully censored 'observer teams' declared the result 'the will of the people.'

Veteran Johannesburg liberal journalist, Alistair Sparks, summarises the terrain quite accurately: "The playing field was skewed from the beginning. The constitution enabled Mugabe to handpick 30 MPs, which meant the opposition MDC needed 76 of the 120 contested seats to win a majority of one while the ruling Zanu PF needed only 71 for a two-thirds majority. Add to that the years of intimidation of opposition voters, practically no access for the opposition to the state-controlled media, the closure of the country's only independent daily newspaper, the shutting out of foreign observers and correspondents, the redrawing of constituency boundaries to eliminate several safe MDC seats and make others marginal, a hopelessly outdated voters roll which opened the way for nearly two million 'ghost' votes to be cast, and you begin to get the picture. Ghost voters aside, more than 133 000 living voters were turned away from the polls because of the defective roll. But it was the count which proved decisive - something which was also widely predicted but which the friendly observer teams appear not to have observed."

Simply, Zanu-PF captured the vote processing procedure. Zimbabwean analysts say the theft worked in 2000 and 2002 when Zanu PF counted trucked-in ballots centrally. Results were faxed to Mugabe's home, where they were altered and sent back. This time, things were more difficult because counting was done at voting stations, from where the numbers were sent to the constituency centres.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network - a reputable NGO alliance with observers in 6,000 of the approximately 8,000 polling stations - pointed to the confusion late March 31. They were not certain whether or not the results were to be posted immediately on the station doors. Initially Zanu PF endorsed this approach. It changed tack later, so they could be released in aggregate from the constituency centres.

Polling agents were forced to sign affidavits swearing secrecy to station procedures. This indicates the importance of the ghost voters - the MDC claims 2.7 million - appearing on a terribly inaccurate voter's roll of 5.7 million. Says Cross, "These were manipulated and used to pad out areas where Zanu PF felt they could dominate the election campaign and control the electoral process. [Thus] the delimitation exercise was gerrymandered to further tilt the electoral process against the MDC."

The most visible manifestation of the theft was the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's sudden halt in their announcements of aggregate voters per constituency on the night of March 31, so that the total votes cast would not conflict so baldly with the altered numbers. In some cases there was a smoking gun. In Manyame, a half-hour drive south-west of Harare, Mugabe's nephew ran. The Commission announced that 14,812 people had voted in the constituency. The next day the total was changed to 24,000, resulting in a 15,000 win for Zanu PF. There were many similar incidents, amounting to at least 200,000 extra votes.

Under these circumstances, should the MDC have played the electoral game? The party and civil society supporters knew the playing field was badly skewed and that the vote counting would be monopolised by Mugabe's agents (the shadowy Electoral Directorate - not even in the Electoral Act - is completely controlled by the military).

Last August the MDC announced a 'suspension' of participation on grounds that the minimum conditions set by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), including freedom of association, access to mass media, and a truly independent electoral commission, were not implemented. Matters improved noticeably after the MDC's January announcement that it would indeed participate. SADC guidelines were flouted systematically, but not nearly as badly as in 2000 or 2002, or subsequent parliamentary by-elections.

Some sources say Tsvangirai himself was not keen to participate, but others in the MDC prevailed. Parliamentarians with no other income wanted to stay in parliament, the trade unions wanted the MDC to contest given the failure of both elite negotiations and intermittent mass action strategies, and people in rural and urban Matabeleland saw no sense in giving their MDC seats to the other tiny opposition parties. Once Tsvangirai was cleared of a frame-up treason charge last September, he toured Africa and Europe, and pressure was undoubtedly applied there. Long-time Mugabe supporter Mbeki - who announced on March 1 that this election would be free and fair - put heavy pressure on Tsvangirai to participate.

Mbeki will continue suffering ridicule, especially as he tours the world proclaiming that the New Partnership for Africa's Development signals the continental elites' democratic commitment. Cross conceded, "What was very disappointing was the appalling lack of integrity (or simply stupidity) in the SA and the SADC observer missions. But we were told by almost everyone before this whole farce began that we were wasting our time and money - the election would be rigged (the Zanu PF cannot get off the Tiger without being eaten hypothesis) and that the African observer missions would whitewash the result. Our detractors were spot on, but it was worth the effort."

Was it? Time will tell whether the post-election despondency across much of Zimbabwe will lift. The immediate reaction of progressives we talked to was extreme frustration. SMS messages on Harare's cellphones advised people to 'defend their vote' A flying demonstration of 400 was organised in the city centre, with most people dispersing as the police arrived. MDC youth begged the leadership to foment protest, but more conservative voices in the national executive prevailed over the weekend. By mid-week, reports were emerging of Zanu PF's revenge campaigns against known MDC voters especially in rural areas.

Will there result, now, an upsurge of urban protest against both electoral and socio-economic grievances? In October 2000 a rise in basic goods' prices ignited a fire. This time, many commodities - including petrol and the staple food, maize - will likely become scarce and prices will soar. The effective South African fuel price is two and a half times as much as Zimbabwe's controlled price. As the Zimbabwe dollar devalues, the last six months' artificially-constructed economic revival based upon strategic state spending and lower interest rates will quickly degenerate.

Nevertheless, Zanu PF leaders hope that the election will convince the region to forget about Zimbabwe, that their two-thirds control of parliament will allow constitutional changes and reinforce Mugabe's rule perhaps until 2010, and that Mbeki will bring the World Bank and IMF back to the party (Mugabe has been defaulting on loans since 1999 simply because Zimbabwe ran out of foreign currency for repayment).

According to a young Bulawayo socialist, Briggs Bomba: Zanu PF "is doing everything to regain the confidence of international capital, and to re-integrate with the 'international community'. Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono is leading efforts to liberalise not just the monetary system but the whole economy and to re-engage international institutions like the IMF and the World Bank." The MDC has a faction always open to elite deal-making with Mbeki, but is not likely to persuade the masses.

If people in the cities can get evidence that rural people did not let them down, contrary to popular urban wisdom, they may see some way out of this. Mugabe's careful construction of a peasant/worker divide since the late 1990s may come apart. Even land-invading war veterans who who tried to get into Zanu PF during the party primaries, but were shunted aside in favour of the political class, are as angry as the city folks.

Wilfred Mhanda, one of the most serious of war veterans and Mugabe critics, founded the Zimbabwe Liberator's Platform. Knowing Mugabe would not 'lose,' he advocated boycotting the election and using other means of struggle. But even if winning was impossible, perhaps this election fray allowed the MDC to at least unveil the most manipulative political regime in a region full of venal state elites. Their challenge is to prove this decisively to the rest of society.

The challenge for us living elsewhere, not suffering the daily degradation associated with Mugabe's tyranny, is to offer solidarity. Here, the prior months and weeks were partially encouraging. The Congress of SA Trade Unions (COSATU) attempted several times to enter Zimbabwe to strategise with the ZCTU. Several other activist groups worked hard to raise consciousness, albeit under carefully controlled conditions. The union, however, disappointed activists - especially in the impressive community-labour Zimbabwe Social Forum - by pulling back from pre-election threats to blockade the SA-Zimbabwe border, after severe pressure from Mbeki and his officials.

And yet, a February 25 statement by South African civil society's Zimbabwe Solidarity and Consultation Forum still sees a role for Mbeki: "We say confidently that we have contributed to a much greater understanding of the crisis and challenges in Zimbabwe within our organizations and within the broader South African debate... We commend efforts made by the South African government and by SADC to foster talks between the major political forces in Zimbabwe to arrive at a negotiated road-map for a democratic transition."

More militant South Africans reject such a role, based upon Mbeki's appalling performance to date. Leftist activists in the Anti-Privatisation Forum and Jubilee movement engaged in a joint fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe in February, although colleagues from the Landless People's Movement disputed criticisms of Mugabe's messy land redistribution.

But the real solidarity action ahead may revolve around COSATU and broader civil society forces. They must shake free of Mbeki's influence and establish a strategy for longer-term support. This would more forcefully and surgically target Mugabe and his cronies, and nurture the unpredictable resurgence of Zimbabwean protests, which certainly still lie ahead.

Bond and Moore teach at University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, and, respectively, coauthored and coedited books for the university press: *Zimbabwe's Plunge: Exhausted Nationalism, Neoliberalism and the Search for Social Justice* (2003) and *Zimbabwe: Crisis and Transition* (2005):

* Please send comments to [email protected]

The people of Rwanda will mark the 11th anniversary of the 1994 genocide on 7 April with a national day of mourning. The deaths of more than a million people were a loss for Rwanda and for humanity. For genocide survivors this is a traumatic, but extremely important occasion, when they may publicly express the grief they still feel. For other Rwandese, and outsiders, it is an appropriate moment to demonstrate compassion, sorrow and regret. All at African Rights share in the sorrow of the commemoration. Through our work we have all learned of the deaths of countless men, women and children. In memory of the victims, we emphasize, once again, the need to prioritise justice and to offer support to genocide survivors.

As nations from around the world scramble to secure lucrative contracts to develop southern Sudan following the signing of a peace deal in January, one of the war-torn country's minority groups is preparing for a fresh battle. During the 21-year conflict between the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the Nuba people were anomalies: Muslim camel keepers who fought side by side with the black, largely Christian, cattle herders of southern Sudan against the repressive Islamic rulers in Khartoum.

'Afrique Continent en Crise' is a French version of 'AIDS Africa Continent in Crisis'.  It was launched in July 2004 at the Bangkok International AIDS Conference.  Written by Helen Jackson and published and being distributed by SAfAIDS, the book was funded by Sida with further support from UNESCO. The book concentrates on the hardest-hit countries, exploring the driving forces behind the epidemic, impact of HIV/AIDS at different levels and policies and programmes to make a difference.

Rebels and the Ivory Coast government have agreed to end hostilities after four days of talks in South Africa. Tension has risen in recent weeks, prompting fears of renewed war in the world's biggest cocoa producer. A ceasefire agreed in France two years ago failed to end conflict in the country which remains divided in two.

What are the sources of 700,000 dead in AIDS yearly in Zimbabwe? I´m referring to article by N. Reynolds (Pambazuka News 200, Letters)

Norman Reynolds responds: The death figure is correct for that year. It comes from an MDC paper written by Eddie Cross in July 2002. He, in fact, predicted that in 2003 one million would die of AIDS given the sharp turn down of the economy, hunger and the already high infection rate. Of these, 750,000 deaths were easily prevented in a normal country. The background data is that, from 1984 to 2001, one million Zimbabweans died from Aids. Since the collapse of the economy, 2001 to 2004, the rate was 170,000 rising sharply each year with poverty and the growing lack of or inability to buy food to around 700,000. That has added another 1.5 million to the total deaths from AIDS. This rising number is awful but has been held back by migration.

Around the world representative democracy is no longer the agency of popular will. In the US, elections are controlled by big money. In developing countries, the undemocratic imposition of neo-liberal economic policies has forced governments to dismantle basic services like health and education. But Porto Alegre presents an apparent alternative to the world. With its experiment in participative budgetmaking over the past decade, this city has institutionalised the direct democratic involvement, locality by locality, of ordinary citizens in deciding spending priorities.

* EDITORIAL: Patrick Bond and David Moore explain what happened in the Zimbabwean elections and why it matters
* COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Odenda Lumumba on colonial land dispossession in Kenya and the continued struggle for land rights
- The future of Egyptian politics might be found in popular political initiatives building a social movement for change, says Joel Beinin
- The good and the bad of the papacy in Africa: Editorial comment from Pambazuka News
- Sarah Mukasa explains why she’s glad the Ugandan government banned the play Vagina Monologues
* LETTERS: Mugabe, white supremacy and neo-colonialism
* PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Nobel Laureate Wangari Mathai is elected to the AU’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC). Tajudeen Abdul Raheem says it’s a mistake
* AFRICAN UNION WATCH: Charles Mutasa explains the ins and outs of the AU's Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) and its potential for civil society
* Development: 70 civil society organizations meeting in Kenya tell the G8 to make progress on debt…or face protests
* LINKS to the latest news on conflict, human rights, corruption, elections, media, fundraising and more…

Dear Subscriber,

Earlier this week, we were informed by Kabissa, which hosts our mailing list facility, that a spammer appeared to have sent many spam messages to Mailman-related addresses (Mailman is the facility we use for managing the mailing list). If you received unsolicited messages as a result of this problem, the editors of Pambazuka News would like to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused. We do everything we can to protect your email address and would under no circumstances make public our email list. We are taking actions to ensure that this does not happen again.

Thanks for your patience.

The Editors
Pambazuka News

The imminent closure of one of the largest foreign-owned textile companies in Namibia is expected to deal a serious blow to the country's fledgling textile industry. The Namibia Food and Allied Workers' Union (NAFAU) announced on Monday that it had received confirmation of the permanent closure on 30 April of the Rhino Garments factory, a subsidiary of the Malaysian company, Ramatex Textiles. Ramatex invested US $150 million in Namibia's textile sector and started operations in 2002, in the hope that it could take advantage of the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act, which granted various developing countries preferential access to US markets. However, this advantage ended on 1 January 2005, when the US was compelled by World Trade Organisation rules to scrap quotas for selected countries, which had penalised major producers such as China and India.

The first trials before the gacaca courts of justice finally opened in Rwanda on 10 March. More than three years after their official launch, the courts, made up of locally-elected judges from a district or hill, read out their first verdicts against people suspected of participating in the genocide. The most notable fact was the summoning of several hundred local administrative leaders before the courts, reports the International Justice Tribune, a newsletter on international criminal justice.

Women scientists, engineers and technologists from different African countries have launched a website to help them network. The networking was facilitated by Gender Advisory Board (GAB) East Africa sub-region.

The Khanya College Annual Winter School was launched in July 1999. The Winter School represents an important step in Khanya College's response to the changing political and economic environment within which social movements have to work. In many different ways Khanya College programmes seek to assist communities in the difficult task of developing their responses to globalisation and its various manifestations. The Annual Winter School provides the space for activists from various social movements to work together across different sectors and interests. This is an opportunity for activists from the different sectors to exchange views and share experiences.

The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) has opened an internet portal which deals with major themes of international trade in the context of sustainable development. It offers access to websites involved in discussions and decisions regarding intellectual property rights, services, Africa, agriculture and the environment. (Source: SPORE Number 115 February 2005)

The successful candidate will assist in the development, review, and monitoring of marketing plans and the development of evidence-based marketing; track country research plans; provide and maintain resources and references on social marketing; support the development of field platforms and field operations; and stimulate sharing of best practices across country platforms.

The Africa Water Journalists Network is a community of more than 1,000 journalists concerned with water. The network offers: A website and blog, places to share information, write more personally about water issues and your personal and professional water-related experiences, ask questions to colleagues in other countries, or just express your feelings about being a journalist in Africa. The network was officially launched on March 22 in Addis Ababa at the United Nations' celebration of World Water Day.

Political Indaba Resource is a book of views, examples, models, questions, stories, analogies and more, to provoke thought and provide material for any political indaba. It is presented as a text of political reference with particular emphasis on the continent of Africa, including the Middle East's influence on her northern states, and is based on views, observations, experiences, and research carried out throughout Africa and the Middle East over a twenty-year period from the mid-1970s.

"We, the undersigned, call on the House of Representatives of the USA, the Senate of the USA, the Parliament of Great Britain and the National Assembly of Mauritius, to work to ensure:
1. The immediate decolonization of Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago through the disbanding of the illegitimate "British Indian Ocean Territories"; the cancellation of the Orders in Council that prohibit the return of Chagossians to their native islands; the re-unification according to international law and the UN Charter, of the Republic of Mauritius that was dismembered as an illegal condition to Independence in 1968.
2. An immediate halt to ever using Diego Garcia for B-52's or other military apparatus to attack other countries (whether Afghanistan, Iraq or any other land) and the complete closing down of the United States military base on Diego Garcia."

In June 2000, the World Bank approved a loan package worth nearly $300 million to the Chad-Cameroon oil project, the largest oil investment in Africa, following several years of considerable controversy. Within the World Bank, Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) was a strong advocate of the project, according to a new report from Friends of the Earth called 'Pumping Poverty', that examines the role of DFID in oil projects.

The Chad/Cameroon oil pipeline subsequently came online in 2003 and its benefit for the poor has been the subject of controversy and debate, with critics pointing to concerns over corruption and how much of the revenues have filtered through to the poor.

The report says DFID does not share the concerns related to the effect of the project on the poor, citing a comment by UK Secretary of State Hilary Benn in 2004: "DFID is confident that the World Bank's systems for the monitoring and implementation of this project, and for the investigation of any warranted complaints are appropriate."

The example of the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline is provided as a case study in a broader report that investigates the role of British overseas development aid in facilitating oil development. It finds that such aid often serves wealthy corporations, leaving the poor worse off than before and aggravating global climate change.

* Compiled from the report by Pambazuka News.

Paul Wolfowitz' nomination as World Bank president was approved by the board 31 March. The approval was a formality after the controversial architect of the war in Iraq received the support of EU countries at a meeting of ministers in Brussels the previous day. Mr Wolfowitz will take over from departing president James Wolfensohn on 1 June. Fears are that Wolfowitz will roll back environmental and social safeguards and push an aggressive programme of liberalisation and privatisation. Peter Bosshard of International Rivers Network expects "more failed privatisations, more corporate welfare, more subsidies for big dams and oil pipelines", according to a report from the Bretton Woods Project, an organisation that monitors the Bretton Woods Institutions.

The world continued to move closer to the universal abolition of capital punishment during 2004, according to a report on the death penalty worldwide by Amnesty International. In Nigeria, the National Study Group on the Death Penalty, set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo in November 2003 published a report recommending the imposition of a moratorium on all executions until the Nigerian justice system could guarantee fair trials and due process. The Federal Government had not imposed a moratorium by the end of the year. In Malawi, President Bakili Muluzi commuted 79 death sentences and there have been no executions in Malawi since 1992. Lastly, in Senegal the Senegalese parliament passed a law abolishing the death penalty for all crimes. The law was adopted by an overwhelming majority. Senegal had not carried out any executions since 1967 but continued to pass death sentences, most recently in July 2004. It is the fourth West African state to abolish the death penalty, following Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Côte d'Ivoire.