PAMBAZUKA NEWS 183: NAMIBIAN ELECTIONS: OVER BEFORE IT BEGAN - BUT WHERE ARE THE FRUITS OF LIBERATION?
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 183: NAMIBIAN ELECTIONS: OVER BEFORE IT BEGAN - BUT WHERE ARE THE FRUITS OF LIBERATION?
The Constitutional Court gave political parties some breathing space this week when it nullified restrictive sections of the Political Parties and Organisations Act (PPOA). Following the judgement, registered parties are now free to open branches at all levels countrywide. They are also at liberty to meet in any part of the country to hold public rallies and contest for power without any hindrance.
Africa is desperately poor, despite being the recipient of tens of billions of dollars in aid over the past few decades. The United Nations (UN) Development Programme says sub-Saharan Africa's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 2002 was $469 compared with $22987 for affluent members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. But American economist Jeffrey Sachs, in a Brookings Institution paper titled Ending Africa's Poverty Trap, maintains that only a huge infusion of carefully targeted public investment will pull Africa out of poverty.
Western countries have continued to restrict and protect their markets to be accessed by the Third World and this has caused a reduction in trade among developing nations, Finance Minister Ng’andu Magande has said. Mr Magande said if the rich countries had opened up their markets to developing countries, there could be US$ 700 billion of South-North flow of products.
Zimbabwe's economy is expected to experience another meltdown if the Non Governmental Organisations Bill becomes law, officials working with NGOs have said. Jacob Mafume, the co-ordinator of the National Association of Non Governmental Organisations'(NANGO) team working on a response to the Bill, said the full impact of the law was still being assessed. "We are still finalising the full economic and social impact that the bill will have on Zimbabweans but a conservative estimate is that if each of the 3 000 NGOs is employing five people, then 15 000 people will lose their jobs." Meanwhile, the bill made a midnight debut in Zimbabwe's parliament this week. Read a briefing on the process through the link below.
Zanu PF insiders have said it is now a fait accompli that Emmerson Mnangagwa will be appointed the successor to President Robert Mugabe as leader of the ruling party and government at the December congress. His two deputies will be John Nkomo and Didymus Mutasa. A number of things emerge from this scenario. The first is that Zanu PF wants the old guard to remain in power at all cost. It is clear that there is no room, as yet, for the younger generation of politicians.
As the Kenyan capital prepares to host a two-day meeting of the United Nations Security Council this week, reports about the situation in Darfur, western Sudan, are piling up. On Tuesday, Amnesty International (AI) – the London-based human rights watchdog – issued a report entitled ‘Sudan: Arming the Perpetrators of Grave Abuses in Darfur’. The document came on the heels of an earlier report by Human Rights Watch, based in New York, which called on the Security Council to back its criticism of Khartoum with actions against key Sudanese officials. AI is calling on the Security Council to extend an arms embargo that it passed against non-governmental groups in Sudan, to include the government.
Recruiters of child soldiers should face prosecution by the international criminal court, a human rights group has said. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (CSUCS) has called on the UN to name, shame and pursue armies and militias which use children to fight. Fighters under the age of 18 have been used in 22 conflicts in the last three years, it reveals in a new report.
Political conflict and instability are symptoms of deeper economic and social ills that must be addressed for real peace to take hold in Cote d'Ivoire and throughout West Africa, argues this commentary on the Foreign Policy in Focus website. "The U.S. can work with the African Union and the United Nations, not to pass sanctions, but to put in place new approaches that would ensure peace in Cote d’Ivoire and surrounding countries. Such policies would include the disarmament of the rebel movements whose ranks are filled with child soldiers and mercenaries from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Burkina Faso; the re-unification of the country under one authority; and a referendum on aspects of the constitution such as land tenure and eligibility criteria for the presidency."
If members of the UN security council were writing an exam on African conflicts, they would be repeating the year. That's according to an Oxfam report that rates the performance of the security council with regards five African conflicts at a dismal average of 36 percent. Rating Sudan at 2/10, Oxfam says: "As a major focus of world attention, the Council has been forced to take some limited steps, though these are woefully inadequate given the scale of the crisis. Thousands of lives and the Council's credibility now depend on its ability to follow-through and hold the parties to their commitments."
The Swazi government faces mass protest action by labour unions, human rights groups and banned political parties over the treatment of a local chief and his followers, who were evicted from their land for a second time by royal police in defiance a court ruling. The government's previous refusal to abide by a Court of Appeal ruling, allowing the chief and his people to return to their homes, resulted in the resignation of the entire bench and sparked a rule-of-law crisis.
The CLEEN Foundation, formally Centre for Law Enforcement Education in Nigeria, created public forums where citizens and police can discuss concerns and grievances regarding crime and police conduct. Communities and police forces can find themselves in an unproductive cycle of distrust. Community members are concerned about misconduct, brutality and corruption. The police, in turn, are concerned with the community is hostile and uncooperative in their investigations. In Nigeria, the centralized structure of the police force has contributed to the problem: one set of agendas and policies is applied to the whole country, creating a gap between the law enforcement priorities of the police and the needs of the local communities.
The impunity enjoyed by the Sudanese authorities in their ongoing atrocities in Darfur demonstrates why the near-final peace deal to end the country’s North-South conflict must include accountability for human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said this week. On November 18-19, the United Nations Security Council will hold an extraordinary session in Nairobi to push the North-South peace negotiations to a conclusion. The draft peace deal to end the 21-year conflict is known as the Naivasha protocols, named after the Kenyan town where the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) have negotiated a series of protocols since June 2002. “Unless they are held accountable for abuses in the South, the Sudanese authorities will continue to believe they can get away with murder in Darfur,” said Jemera Rone, Sudan researcher for Human Rights Watch.
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. The 16 Days Campaign has been used as an organizing strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women. Visit www.kubatana.net for more information. You can also visit Unifem's 'Not a Minute More' page for more information at http://www.unifem.org/campaigns/november25/
Watching news on one of the local TV channels and hearing the peril of a young girl who underwent the ‘cut’ against her will in one of the local clinics in Nairobi, is heart rending. Reason? There is a general belief that FGM is only practiced in the rural areas by traditional circumcisers. Reality check: in the present society, the practice of FGM is shifting from the traditional setting to a hospital setting, a condition referred to as medicalisation. This has made an excuse for the persistence of the practice where its hazards have been a tool of fighting it. The people no longer see the wrong in doing it since they believe they are dealing with experts in hygiene.
In the past, when girls were considered to have reached the age for circumcision, they would be taken upcountry during the holidays to undergo the ‘rite’. But with the mushrooming of clinics and quacks posing as ‘medics’, the girls do not have to be taken upcountry, as the services are readily available. This is not only happening in Nairobi, Kisii has the highest rate of medicalisation and it is a booming business for doctors. As a society we have failed; as doctors we have encouraged the practice for our own selfish needs; as parents we have failed our children by forcing them into outdated practices and in general, as a society we have been spectators, watching the girls suffer in silence.
As the National Focal Point on FGM Eradication, we request the Ministry of Health, which actively participated in the development of the National Plan of Action for the Elimination of FGM in Kenya, 1999; a 20-year plan to eradicate FGM, to follow-up on the issue of medicalisation and flush out all the hospitals and medics involved in carrying out the practice.
And as a society we need to realize that the society into which we were socialized is changing and so is the culture. We are adapting foreign cultures, yet we refuse to let go of practices that served a purpose back in the days. Aren’t we then practicing double standards?
Fagan Finder is a website designed as a tool to help people find things, and it is meant to be a gateway to the Internet, a quality home page. Like a search engine it has searching capability, but it is possible to specify different search categories with ease.
The Band Aid Album, ‘Do they know its Christmas time’, which sold millions of copies and directly raised even more millions of dollars for the relief of famine in Ethiopia 20 years ago is again being released in time for this Christmas. As in 1984 it is widely expected that the album will be a runaway success.
Apart from the millions of dollars raised then and to be raised now, what both the album and the Live Aid concert it inspired in July 1985 (which was watched reportedly by over 1.5 billion people across the world) achieved was to raise awareness about hunger, starvation and famine in Africa. The bloated tummies of underfed babies clutching at emaciated breasts of a hunger-ravished mother or the multitudes of flies and army of other insects holidaying on the mouths and bodies of desperate children, women and men in refugee camps became the dominant image of Africa in the global media. What we saw with our eyes on televisions became engraved permanently on our minds. It was successful in causing almost a stampede of humanitarian concern and focus on Africa.
However it had its own unintended consequences then and twenty years on these negative consequences have a greater impact in that they perpetuate the popular perception that Africa is a basket case continent and Africans are a hopeless and helpless people.
The fact that the same song could be re released without altering the lyrics and with similar accompanying horrible pictures on televisions, in newspapers and other more widely accessible multi media today than then speaks volumes. It is either an admission of failure of previous efforts or a confirmation that Africa is indeed a basket .
I am particularly irked about that dubious line: ‘Thank God tonight its them instead of you’! The only variation on the theme is that instead of targeting Ethiopia last time around it is Sudan that is competing for the sympathy of the West as Africa's most hellish of hells!
It is an indictment of Africa's leaders and also the powerful countries, individuals and institutions within the international community that despite all the awareness and pangs of conscience in the last 20 years, fellow human beings can still be facing such penury, humiliation and starvation in a world with ‘enough for our needs but not enough for our greed’ as Mahatma Ghandi once put it.
However as Africans we can be disgusted, ashamed and rightly critical of the deliberate use/abuse of those horrible images that strip us of our dignity and humanity, but we should be more outraged that Africans (through acts of both omission and commission) have been largely responsible for such continuous misery inflicted on our own peoples. Band Aid, Live Aid or any of the busy body Western NGOs raising huge sums of money on these images did not create them, they are merely exploiting them for their multi-million dollar humanitarian mega business. Therefore the first responsibility and admission of guilt is ours and ours alone. It is up to us to put an end to the brutalisation and extreme pauperisation of our own peoples.
But the Humanitarian agencies also have to ask themselves whether their chosen methods have worked or are working. Or if the end now justifies the means and that end is about their unaccountable power to play god with the destiny of poor people by merchandising our people’s suffering. They often defend the use of the bad images as necessary to raise awareness and prick the conscience of the world (most of the time they mean, Europeans and Americans!). One is bound to ask of Live Aid and Band Aid that after 20 years what the harvest of this conscience safari has been if they have to use the same images and record two decades later.
It has always intrigued me why the conscience of the West can only be pricked by degradation of other peoples. The process of getting westerners to part with their donations end up dehumanizing and degrading Africa. Instead of creating the much needed understanding and solidarity it creates an unequal power relation with psychological hang-ups about superior and inferior peoples; one is a permanent donor and the other is a permanent supplicant. That one-way street does not lead to understanding, rather it institutionalizes a ‘we know best’ attitude on the part of the humanitarian industry. It also makes the humanitarian agencies married to bad news from Africa, thereby becoming professional merchants of our misery. It will seem that the worse the situation is the better for their fund raising drives! Needless to say that this breeds cynicism among those who are supposed to be grateful for the kind help they are receiving.
The more important lesson of the 20 years of Band Aid must surely be bringing into sharp relief the naiveté of those years that symbolic acts of genuine human solidarity will somehow change the hearts and minds of the powerful both in Africa and internationally. They can throw a few coins at the problem to appease immediate pressure and gain public mileage but the real change will only come from raising the power questions that turn drought into famine. It is politics and power that makes Africans seemingly more vulnerable to hunger and starvation than other peoples. Africa is not a poor continent but our peoples are poor because they are powerless over their resources. People are powerless in their countries and our countries are impotent in global power relations. That is why we get fleeced on all fronts.
Charity may offer an instant fire brigade service but it cannot be a substitute for sustainable long-term solutions. Why is it that Ethiopia that received massive humanitarian support twenty years ago is today one of the least recipients of long-term development aid in Africa? Even if it gets more help in aid, as long as it continues to get bad terms of trade and returns for its coffee and other raw materials, like other African countries, it will continue to run a deficit economy needing aid. Many of our countries especially those beloved by IMF/World Bank and Western Countries as ‘doing well’ have become aid addicts while the humanitarian interventionists and NGOs have become aid pushers.
The extreme poverty faced by many Africans in a majority of our countries is structural and unless both the internal and external dimensions of that unequal power relation are transformed I can assure you that in another 20 years, when Bob Geldof and many of his original collaborators would have become Old Age Pensioners (OAPs) they may still be organizing Band Aid 3. I think Saint Bob and Bono in the past few years have come to realize this and that's why they are talking less about charity but more in terms of trade, equity, global justice, debt cancellation, etc. Soon they will have to engage with reparation for Africa for both historical and contemporary depletion and pillage of the continent and her peoples and also the structural linkage between the prosperity of the West and the poverty of global humanity.
This shift is necessary in order to build a global alliance (rather than self -obsessed angst -driven Western do-gooders and their selective conscience) that can truly make poverty history in this new millennium.
* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa
* Please send comments to
It does not require any prophetic magic to predict the obvious results of Namibia’s Parliamentary and Presidential Elections held on Monday and Tuesday: SWAPO of Namibia, the national liberation movement in power since Independence 1990, will retain its two-third majority and will continue to govern in an absolutist and authoritarian fashion within a de facto one party state. The question is only, with which qualitative margin and on which quantitative support base in terms of voters’ participation SWAPO has the continued mandate to cultivate its equation that the party is the government and the government is the state.
The opposition parties, both internally and among each other more divided than ever before, will compete for the remaining bits and pieces. With a new ethnically based Herero party (NUDO), which separated from the ranks of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) a new stakeholder might appear in the political arena. The number of votes it achieves might change the composition of the National Assembly, which had parliamentarians from five different parties before the elections. The same is true for the newly competing Republican Party (RP), which seeks to gather votes also from the original DTA clientele. We will have to wait and see what at the end of the counting is still left for the “old” DTA opposition, which was the first opposition party at Independence and since then has been in steady decline, and to what extent in particular the Herero faction in NUDO will seek new power sharing arrangements with SWAPO. There might still be some surprises in the kitty.
The so far relatively successful new kid on the block, the Congress of Democrats (CoD), will have to see if it maintains the second rank within the party landscape. It had emerged partly from the ranks of dissenting SWAPO activists, who were joined by other relatively intellectual, critically minded non-conformists. They established a political counter force, not cursed by the Apartheid legacy (as the DTA), but only managed to catch half of the DTA’s support base within the anti-SWAPO camp during the elections in December 1999.
CoD and DTA were subsequently represented both with just below ten per cent of the votes in the current National Assembly, whose term ends in March 2005, when the new Parliament, President and Cabinet will be sworn in. But CoD has also been battling with internal rivalries and differences – just the opposite of what one would like to show to potential voters prior to elections and not a confidence building measure by any standard.
There are two other questions, which will remain until the counting of votes comes to an end. If the United Democratic Front (UDF) - another ethnically oriented interest group mainly rooted in the Damara communities - will maintain its position as fourth strongest party, and if the one-person-party MAG (Monitor Action Group), representing the most conservative white element in post-colonial Namibia, manages to keep its seat and continue to contribute with at times even refreshing interventions to the otherwise often pretty boring debates where decisions are a foregone conclusion on the basis of SWAPO’s two-third majority.
In any case and whatever the proportional distribution of seats will ultimately be: the different party programmes showed little to no substantive differences. SWAPO was as much “mainstream” as most of the pseudo-alternatives.
The overwhelming dominance by SWAPO, which is in firm control of most institutions and agencies (with the exception of the economy, still dominated to a large extent by those class interests and agencies which benefited from settler colonialism) will remain unchallenged. Notwithstanding the fact, that the former liberation movement has been internally divided more obviously than ever before, it has not to be afraid (yet) that any meaningful alternative might pose a threat. Such an alternative simply does not exist at present.
Hence the most exciting shifts in the current power structure already took place prior to the elections when SWAPO’s President Sam Nujoma was denied another (fourth) term despite his obvious appetite to stay in office. Instead, the “leader maximo” was made to understand that he will not get away with another constitutional change in his favour, but received a golden handshake, which leaves him without any need to worry about the material well-being for his retirement period, during which time close to thirty civil servants will satisfy his needs.
Reluctant to abandon power, Nujoma had finally made his choice for a successor by selecting his closest confidante from the struggle days, considered to be a loyal servant to his master’s voice. But his crown prince Hifikepunye Pohamba denied appointment as the sole candidate by the party. Instead the SWAPO Central Committee nominated three candidates as potential successors. Delegates to an Extraordinary SWAPO Congress end of May were then tasked to make a choice, and in the internal campaign period the factional fight turned ugly.
What was praised widely as a sign of practised democracy was ultimately an in-fight over power and control. To minimise the risks, Nujoma did not shy away from tough measures, disclosing his authoritarian mindset and character, to push through his candidate at any costs. Hidipo Hamutenya, the strongest contender and rival, already frustrated from the President’s third term in office (which was made possible at the end of the 1990s by changing Namibia’s Constitution for the first time with the two-third SWAPO-majority in Parliament), was ousted from his post as Foreign Minister. This was a clear sign that those in support of his candidacy would meet the old man’s disapproval and have to face the consequences. Nonetheless, almost a third of the Extraordinary Congress was prepared to vote for Hamutenya and thereby pointed to the deep rift within the party.
To add insult to injury, in the subsequent selection process over the ranking of candidates on the party list, Hamutenya ended at a rank that makes his political survival as a Member of Parliament critically dependent upon the actual amount of votes gained. If SWAPO does not maintain the same degree of dominance, Hamutenya will be out by a narrow margin. This is quite a humiliating experience for someone considered for years to be the most likely candidate to succeed the old man. The same fate which looms over Hamutenya will happen to many among those who were (rightly or wrongly so) considered active within his camp. They were punished by being ranked even lower on the party list and will almost certainly loose their status as Honourables.
To what extent that might trigger another split within and ultimately from the party (as was partly the case with the creation of the CoD), is too early to speculate. It will also depend upon the strategy followed by the new Head of State, when appointing his Cabinet in March 2005. Until then, Namibia’s political office bearers will be almost paralysed and anxiously wait to see if they survive in lucrative ministerial ranks.
The return of the former Prime Minister Hage Geingob into Namibian politics has also provoked curiosity. Ousted from office by means of a humiliating demotion offered to him by President Nujoma half way through the third legislature, Geingob resigned from offices and accepted a good salary with a World Bank affiliated lobby agency for Africa in Washington. Obviously with the blessing of Nujoma, he has now made a successful return into Namibian politics. He has resigned from the employment of the international financial institution and returns to anti-imperialist rhetoric (which also characterises his PhD thesis just accepted, in which he discloses the neo-colonial conspiracy in the decolonisation process of Namibia - a deal to which actually and strictly speaking SWAPO and Geingob as team leader of the election campaign for his movement were part and parcel of).
While the majority of Namibians seem to be rather satisfied with the new President to come, the question will remain as to how many votes he is able to draw in approval. Sam Nujoma, SWAPO’s so far only President since its establishment in 1960, has managed as “father of the nation” to receive so far always more votes than the party (a record three quarters in 1999). Pohamba will find this difficult to achieve, though he has asked for a similar degree of support.
Instead, it is likely that some voters within the SWAPO rank and file might wish to indicate their disagreement with the choice by not supporting the new President with their vote. He will then have to see if and to what extent he tries to mend the torn sheets with those factions, who were viciously fighting each other during 2004 over access to political power in the party. It will also remain an interesting question as to what extent Pohamba will in the process indeed turn out to be “Nujoma no. 2”.
Observers do not deny the possibility that once in office the new President might find increasingly less time to listen to the old man while taking care of the daily tasks of running the government. That Nujoma remains the party boss, however, ensures a certain degree of continued close collaboration between the two comrades of almost fifty years. It also suggests, in biological terms, that Pohamba might turn out to be a transitional, one-term President for the Republic of Namibia. The competition for his succession might start the day the new Cabinet has resumed office, on Namibia’s Independence Day on 21st March 2005.
Most, though not all of the questions raised above, will be answered on the basis of the empirical results. Results, which beyond any serious doubt - at least by standards of Florida and Ohio respectively - will meet the label of being by and large free and fair (as questionable as some of the smaller tricks might be).
The more important questions will however remain to be answered. They relate to the fragile fundament of the post-colonial project of a political elite, which has not achieved to deliver the fruits of independence promised to the majority of the previously colonised.
The populist radical rhetoric of those in power might increasingly follow the temptation to cover up for the lack of commitment towards meaningful fundamental transformation of society in terms of the re-distribution of material wealth. Under the slogan of “national reconciliation” and “black economic empowerment” and/or “affirmative action”, this transformation had been applied only selectively to the benefit of a privileged post-colonial political elite. The majority remained poor. It might be a matter of time that their patience runs out. And to cover up the failures of the last 15 years by means of a policy on land would only bring temporary relief for those in power, as Zimbabwe demonstrates, and be at the expense of even higher costs for the population in whose interest the previous liberation movement claims to act.
* Dr. Henning Melber is the Research Director at The Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala/Sweden.
* Please send comments to
ABOUT NAMIBIA:
Namibia has one of the most unequal societies in the world. The Human Development Report (1998) shows that the richest 10 percent of the population receives 65 percent of the income, while about half of the population survives on about 10 percent of the average income. The 2000 Namibia Labour Force survey estimated the unemployment rate at 34 percent.
The economy of the country relies heavily on extraction and processing of minerals as well as on processed fish for export. Between 1990 and 1993 real GDP growth averaged 5 percent, but since then has slowed to an average of about 3.2 percent, according to the World Bank website.
Namibia became a German protectorate in 1884. The country was occupied by South Africa in World War One. It was declared a mandated territory by the League of Nations and administered by South Africa. South Africa later refused to withdraw under United Nations instructions. In the 1950s the Ovamboland People's Congress, which later became the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) emerged and led the struggle against South African occupation. The territory won independence in 1990. SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma became president following victory in UN-supervised polls.
NAMIBIA LINKS:
Norwegian Council for Africa Namibia Page
http://afrika.no/index/Countries/Namibia/index.html
Africa South of the Sahara: Namibia Page
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/namibia.html
Republic of Namibia official web site
http://www.grnnet.gov.na/
Namibia Economist
http://www.economist.com.na/
University of Namibia
http://www.unam.na/
The Namibian Daily Newspaper
http://www.namibian.com.na/
Namibian Parliament
http://www.parliament.gov.na/
On the same day that the documentary Farenheit 9/11 was released in the run-up to the recent US elections, a lesser-known film also made its debut. Entitled “George W. Bush: Faith in the White House” the documentary targeted a Christian evangelical audience.
A review of the film from the San Francisco chronicle states: “One thing the documentary makes unmistakably clear: Christianity is the guiding metaphor of the Bush administration. If, in Christianity, a sinner can find salvation through faith in Jesus, in America, the idea goes, a citizen can find salvation - from terrorism and a disordered, alarming world - only through faith in Bush. Within this construct, reliance on facts and expressions of doubt are forms of heresy. Blind faith is what's demanded by this president, as God’s instrument on earth.”
The film quotes a representative of the 30-million strong National Association of Evangelicals, regular white house visitor Ted Haggard, assuring viewers that in 100 years, President Bush will be remembered in the Islamic world as “a great liberator.”
The point is that many outside the US might not realise that white evangelicals accounted for a large percentage of Bush’s vote in the 2000 elections and that the mobilisation of this vote was seen as crucial to his re-election campaign.
Bush has been forthright in his courting of the evangelical vote. For example, in remarks via satellite to the National Association of Evangelicals Convention in March, Bush said: “America is a nation with a mission. We’re called to fight terrorism around the world, and we're waging that fight. As freedom’s home and freedom’s defender, we are called to expand the realm of human liberty. And by our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, more than 50 million people have been liberated from tyranny, and they are reclaiming their dignity as free people. Our nation can take great pride in these achievements. Yet I know that liberty is not America’s gift to the world - liberty and freedom are God’s gift to every man and woman who lives in this world.”
The evangelical lobby has exerted an influence not only over domestic US policy in relation to abortion and gay marriages, but also on the Bush Administration’s foreign policy. The ‘global gag rule’, for example, blocks US funding for foreign family planning agencies if they provide abortion services or lobby to make or keep abortion legal in their own country.
This lobby group is obviously not the only determinate of foreign policy, but its influence has grown and is expected to be stronger with the re-election of Bush. Initially motivated to exert influence on foreign policy through a desire to stop religious persecution abroad, its focus under the Bush administration has expanded, especially after 9/11 when the cause of religious freedom came to be more closely associated with national security.
Sudan provides a good example of how the evangelical lobby group have exerted influence over US foreign policy. Sometime soon after Bush was elected as president in 2000 a coalition of religious groups visited the White House and met with a political adviser of the president. According to a report in the New York Times, the issue of concern to the mainly evangelical groups was violence between Muslims and Christians in Sudan. The evangelicals wanted the combating of religious persecution abroad to be a major focus of American foreign policy and in Sudan they saw an opportunity to pursue this agenda. The White House was receptive to the lobbying and Sudan moved up the foreign policy agenda, resulting in US involvement in peace negotiations between the Khartoum government and the South. More recently, the evangelicals have also been involved in pressing for US involvement in Darfur.
In an August 2 2004 letter by the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 30 million Christian conservatives, after the US congress had declared the situation in Sudan genocide, the organisation commended Bush for “fostering democracy, religious freedom and human rights”, but warned that: “Your Administration’s goal - to redefine our national interest not as power but as values, and to identify one supreme value, what John Kennedy called ‘the success of liberty’ - could be jeopardized by not taking a strong enough position on Sudan’s genocidal behaviour.”
The increasing role of the evangelical lobby on American foreign policy and its involvement in Sudan goes some way to explaining why the crisis in the DRC, where estimates put the number of dead due to war at over three million, has received scant attention compared to Sudan. It raises questions about the extent to which Sudan has been used as a platform for the evangelical lobby to pursue the “supreme value” – religious freedom as it marries with the cause of national security. It also raises questions about future US foreign policy towards countries in Africa where there is an apparent easy dichotomy of Christian vs Muslim and a corresponding need to fight the “war on terror” on foreign ground. How much influence the evangelical lobby exerts in Africa over the next four years – and the consequences of that influence - remains to be seen.
* Patrick Burnett works for Fahamu. He has never been to the US and is not an expert in US foreign policy.
* Please send comments to
LINKS:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1026-08.htm
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/03/20040311-1.html
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/gag/
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1026-08.htm
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N1515553.htm
“People with HIV/AIDS and their advocates strongly condemn the decision by the United States to block new funding for HIV/AIDS programs around the world through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and its systematic attempts to undermine the work of the World Health Organization and its efforts to ensure that 3 million people in the developing world receive HIV treatment by the end of 2005.
The suspension, proposed by the United States, of new funding for HIV, TB and malaria programs by the Global Fund, will lead to the loss of countless numbers of lives and to thousands of new infections. While we recognize there have been some problems in the disbursement of grants and implementation of programs through the Global Fund, this is not an excuse for suspending new grants to countries that desperately need this support. A fifth round of funding by the Global Fund would provide vital resources to nations around the world confronting these pandemics.
We also condemn the US government’s attacks and those by right-wing think tanks associated with the Administration on the World Health Organization and its prequalification process for evaluating antiretroviral drugs. While there have been specific problems with the dossiers submitted by some of the manufacturers of generic AIDS drugs to the WHO, these problems were recognized and are being handled by the agency. We urge the US government to work with the WHO to strengthen its prequalification program rather than setting up its own regulatory process for these drugs at the US Food and Drug Administration as well as duplicative supply and procurement programs in the developing world.
With these events taken together, we believe that the US government is seeking to draw control of global AIDS programs under its own leadership rather than supporting multilateral responses through the WHO and the Global Fund. The United States cannot go it alone in the fight against AIDS and must work in cooperation with the global community. It should not abuse its power in setting the agenda in the fight against this disease, particularly when it has championed abstinence-only prevention programs that do not work and expensive brand-name drugs that are unsustainable solutions for the developing world.”
Contact: [email protected]
AFRICA: US, JAPAN AND FRANCE UNITING TO CURTAIL FIGHT AGAINST AIDS
Global AIDS Alliance
US, Japan and France Uniting to Curtail Fight Against AIDS
Contact: David Bryden, 202-296-0260 ext 211 or 202-549-3664 mobile
Washington, Nov 16 -- Despite naming AIDS one of six top priorities for his second term, President Bush is taking steps this week to cripple the Global Fund. The Fund, based in Geneva, has the broadest impact and uses the most collaborative and need-driven approach of any international health initiative.
This week the Global Fund's Board, chaired by Secretary Tommy Thompson, will meet week in Tanzania (Nov 17-19) and decide whether to proceed with additional grantmaking. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will attend the meeting, along with five African Presidents including the Chair of the Africa Union, President Obasanjo.
AIDS advocates consider the meeting a “make-it-or-break-it” meeting for the Fund. Contributions are not keeping pace with the Fund’s needs, which are escalating in 2005 and 2006. The impact of a cancellation of grantmaking on the fight against global disease would be “catastrophic,” according to the Fund’s Director. “The Bush Administration will be sentencing many people to death in Africa, in Asia, in the Caribbean, in Latin America, and in Eastern Europe,” stated noted South African AIDS advocate Zackie Achmat.
Since re-election, the President has intensified efforts to roll back the level of next year’s US contributions to the Fund. Using misleading claims about the Fund's track record, the Administration hopes to persuade Congress to reverse an earlier approved level that was based in part on emergency funding. Congress is now finalizing the Omnibus Spending Bill, and the White House is weighing in with behind-the-scenes negotiations to undercut the Fund.
Also, according to leaked White House talking points, the President is strongly backing a proposal that would essentially stall the Fund at its current level of grantmaking, just as the world is trying to reach a target of getting 3 million people on AIDS treatment by the end of next year. The Administration is lobbying other members of the Board of the Global Fund to support the cancellation of grantmaking for the forseeable future, and this idea has gained considerable momentum. The Fund was supposed to reach a level of annual grantmaking of $7 billion by 2007.
"The President is undermining the positive legacy he hopes to leave on AIDS," stated Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. "Far from beginning a fresh start in his second term, President Bush still pursues his ill-informed vendetta against the Fund. Sadly, Japan, France and other Board members seem ready to back this incredibly shortsighted policy. Yet, proceeding with plans for next year’s grantmaking would actually help create the pressure needed to get additional contributions. The Fund needs to be strong not only to fight AIDS but also to fill major gaps in the funding of programs to fight Tb and malaria."
Even before the election, the White House was attacking the Fund. On September 21 the White House sent staffers to distribute misleading and inflammatory information about the Fund to Congressional appropriators, the very day President Bush was highlighting his “support” for the Fund in a speech at the UN.
Besides funding issues, this week’s meeting will also consider whether or not to commit to minimum requirements for civil society participation. The Fund's 400-person Partnership Forum backed the requirements at its July meeting.
“It is critically important that the Board require grantees to live up to basic standards of participation from civic groups, including people living with AIDS,” stated Zeitz.
BACKGROUND:
TANZANIA: BUSH ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES GLOBAL FUND DELAY
Health officials in the Bush administration are urging board members of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to delay the distribution of a fifth round of grants because of funding shortages, the New York Times reports. However, people attending the Global Fund's board meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, this week said on Tuesday that the fund "appears likely" to go ahead with a new round of grants, according to the Financial Times. Board members will have to "balance the clear need for increased funding" for programs against the fund's "current resource constraints," according to a Global Fund release.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=26778
From the 10th -14th December 2004, Lusaka, Zambia will be host to a multitude of Africans as it holds the Africa Social forum with the theme, . The organisation of the forum is being handled by Women for Change and the organising committee of the African Social Forum of Southern Africa. The forum aims to be a space for discussion, reflection, mutual consolidation and democratic debate. It is important for Africa that this Forum continues to be the instrument of growth of African social movements and of vigilance in relation to the policies conceived and implemented on the continent.
* Editorial: Namibian elections: Over before it began – but where are the fruits of liberation?
* Comment and Analysis: Bush attack on Global Fund condemned; US involvement in Sudan and the search for “supreme value”
* Pan-African Postcard: Africa needs more than a Band Aid
* Conflicts and Emergencies: UN Security Council fails conflict exam
* Human Rights: Sudan peace deal must tackle past abuses, says Human Rights Watch
* Women and Gender: What is the 16 days of activism against gender violence campaign?
* Development: EU trade proposals undermine Africa’s development
* Health: Shortage of midwives responsible for thousands of deaths
* Advocacy and Campaigns: Demand water for people; not profit for TNC’s
* Books and Arts: News about a new book on refugees, Rights in Exile
The British government learned about an alleged plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea in January this year, several weeks before suspects who included British citizens were arrested in the case. Britain denies being involved in any plot to topple Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo despite accusations from Zimbabwe that U.S., British and Spanish spy agencies did play a part.
Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has launched an anti-corruption drive at the ministry three weeks after a global watchdog named her country the world's third most corrupt nation. "We are not trying to say corruption does not exist or defending it. We know it exists and we reject it," said Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank vice president, who launched the initiative in Abuja.
Overfishing by subsidized European fleets off the coast of West Africa is hurting local fisheries and forcing people to slaughter wildlife to get enough to eat, researchers report. They said the so-called bushmeat trade in Ghana is strongly driven by a lack of fish, and added that the country risked even worse poverty and social unrest - as well as the loss of an irreplaceable natural resource - unless something changes.
Many developing countries are failing to decrease the number of deaths in line with the Millennium Development Goals, says a new World Bank report. The report 'Rising to the Challenges: The Millennium Development Goals For Health' released last Thursday says more than 11 million children died in 2002 before reaching their fifth birthday from preventable illness, while some 500,000 women died during pregnancy or childbirth.
Kenyan HIV/AIDS advocates have urged the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to continue funding HIV/AIDS programs in 2005, the IPPMedia/Tanzanian Guardian reports. Fund Executive Director Richard Feachem in October said that the fund faces a "critical year" in 2005 because of funding shortfalls and that it might not be able to award new grants. In order to carry out its work for 2005, the Global Fund needs at least $2.5 billion in funding, but it so far has secured only $1.6 billion from donors.
"We cannot have women carrying hospital beds on their heads," says Quinton Mageza of global charity ActionAid International, referring to the growing army of women and girls playing the role of nurse at home for relatives living with HIV/AIDS. Women and girls in southern African are overwhelmed by the burden of looking after these people, Mageza told IPS in South Africa’s commercial hub, Johannesburg. These women and girls have no medical training.
"As long as wars have existed, the environment and natural resources have been their silent victims. Crops have been torched, water wells polluted, forests cut down, soils poisoned and animals killed. The objectives have varied: to provide a strategic advantage, to demoralize local populations, to subdue resistance or simply to feed soldiers. But the consequences, even if unintended, have been uniformly devastating. We have seen outright physical destruction, including the release of pollutants and hazardous substances. We have seen social disruption, such as the creation of refugee populations which in turn put increased pressure on resources. And since most conflicts are being waged in poor countries, we have seen economic devastation inflicted on vulnerable populations least able to cope with harm to their environment and setbacks to their development."
The current face-offs between the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the African National Congress over Zimbabwe and the recent Telkom share deal are symptomatic of unresolved tensions over key policy issues in the tripartite alliance. Although the open war of words is nothing new in their 13-year formal relationship, it comes at a crucial time with the three partners ironically more agreed on economic policy than previously.
Italy's biggest construction company, Impregilo, has been hauled before the Lesotho High Court as authorities launched their sixth corruption prosecution relating to the multibillion-dollar Lesotho Highlands Water Project. And as if taking on one corporate giant was not enough, the latest court indictment also links multinational giant Fiat, through its shareholding, to bribery claims.
There is a large contingent of US citizens, including myself, who think that John Kerry received a plurality of the popular votes in certain key states that determined the election, namely Ohio and Florida. We think that George Bush stole the election by manipulating the vote count in various ways. We also believe that this was done in the 2000 election in Florida (the state that had the decisive vote count), by his brother, Jeb, who was, and still is, governor of Florida. If it could happen in 2000, before George Bush and his team were in power, it would be an even easier task now, since the Bush team manipulates the strings of government at all levels. There is also evidence they may be manipulating state and local elections and that is why their majority is growing in elected offices throughout the nation.
If anyone internationally noticed, the early exit polls in key states were so favourable to Kerry that he started writing his acceptance speech the evening of the election. Then, when the vote counts came out, they were far from favourable. Experts who have successfully predicted every previous election from exit polls, say the whole business is highly suspicious.
Unfortunately, most Americans, as well as the US press, fall right in line, questioning nothing.
I used to be a political activist because I thought there was some hope in fighting for what you believe in. Now I do not know. If one’s vote no longer counts, then it seems a hopeless task to put time, money and energy into backing a candidate who will be defeated by illegal means.
I write this because I do not want people all over the world to think a majority of US citizens favour George Bush and his imperious, internationally destabilizing policies. I voted for Kerry and so did millions more. The stories of voter disenfranchisement are becoming legion since this administration arrived on the scene. I suppose that is what the next war here will be about - the war for truth and accountability.
An estimated 15% of infants in Lesotho are born HIV-positive or contract the virus soon after birth, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Lesotho government and UNICEF, the SAPA/Business Day reports. The report, which is a mid-term review of the government and UNICEF's 2002-2007 joint program, also said that an infant born to an HIV-positive woman in Lesotho has a 25% to 35% chance of contracting HIV during delivery or through breastfeeding.
The former prime minister of Somalia, now a resident of Virginia, was sued last Thursday for allegedly allowing war crimes and other human rights abuses to be committed in the 1980s. A similar lawsuit was filed against a former Somali Army battalion commander who allegedly carried out and supervised killings, torture and beatings. He also lives in Virginia. Mohamed Ali Samatar was Barre's defense minister from 1980 to 1987 and prime minister from 1987 to 1990, and therefore exerted control over the country's armed forces, according to the lawsuit.
The Human Rights Commission has strongly condemned the forced marriage of a 14 year old girl in Ntantumbila area in Nakonde in Northern Province. Commission chairperson Mumba Malila stressed that all children under the age of 15 years have, under article 24(2) of the constitution, the right to be protected against physical or mental ill-treatment and all forms of neglect and exploitation.
"As the conflict in Darfur continues unabated, abuses committed against women and girls have become a vital component of the conflict with many girls and women being subjected to sexual violence and kidnapping. On 2 November, SOAT received information on the kidnapping of 13 Internally Displaced women and girls (IDPs) from Kalma IDP camp, 17 kilometres east of Nyala, southern Darfur state. The women and girls were kidnapped whilst fetching fire wood outside the camp."
There is a general assumption that widows are elderly and are looked after by their children and grandchildren. But research undertaken during the past two decades by the United Nations and NGOs such as WRI has shown that many widows are young- in India for example 34% of rural widows are under 30 years old. Widows, whether, old or young, suffer a high level of social exclusion, discrimination and deprivation; in many cases their own adult children cast them out as being too great a burden.
Applications are invited from persons living and working in Rwanda to participate in a distance learning course on ‘The role of the media in the genocide in Rwanda’.
The 1994 genocide in Rwanda provides a telling case study of two quite separate roles for media in a conflict situation. The genocide was among the most appalling catastrophes of the 20th century, and media played a significant part both internally and internationally. Prior to the genocide, radio stations and newspapers were carefully used by the conspirators to dehumanise the potential victims, Rwanda's Tutsi minority. During the genocide, radio was used by the Hutu extremist conspirators to mobilise the Hutu majority, to coordinate the killings and to ensure that the plans for extermination were faithfully executed.
While a series of terrible massacres of Tutsi were carried out and as the signs of ever-increasing violence grew, Rwanda was totally ignored by the international media. When the genocide came, the erratic media coverage largely conveyed the false notion of two ‘tribes’ of African ‘savages’ mindlessly slaughtering each other as they had done from time immemorial. As a result, there was little public pressure in the West for governments to intervene.
In this distance learning course you will study these two facets of the media role in the genocide in detail. You will see how easily the concept of free speech and free press in a local situation can be perverted for foul ends. We will ask how this dilemma could be resolved. We will explore the problem of inadequate or even distorted international coverage of crises and conflicts in areas poorly understood by Western journalists. We will consider whether this unfortunate situation can be improved in the future.
The course, developed by Fahamu for UPEACE, will be taught by Gerald Caplan, a Canadian-based public policy analyst and international coordinator of the "Remembering Rwanda" Project. He is also a public affairs commentator and author of "Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide," the report of the International Panel of Eminent Personalities To Investigate the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, appointed by the Organization of African Unity (OAU). He is presently co-editing a book on the Rwandan genocide ten years later.
The course has been developed for journalists and other professionals in the field of media, students of journalism, NGO staff and policy makers, and will lead to a certificate from the University for Peace.
This course is designed to take 10 weeks using an interactive CDROM containing all materials required for the course. You will be guided in your work by a course tutor via email. You will also have an opportunity to discuss your work with fellow students via email.
The course will include a workshop in which all students, as well as the tutor come together for several days of intensive work. There will be a final short period in which students will work independently and submit a final assignment. The topic for this assignment will be determined at the workshop.
Applications are invited from suitable candidates in Rwanda to attend the first course. The distance learning course will begin on 10 January, with a workshop to be held in Butare, Rwanda, on 15-17 March.
Please note that this is a pilot run of the course and that is why it is limited to Rwandan participants. Following the first pilot, the course will be fine-tuned and will be made available at a later date for broader participation from elsewhere in Africa.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Have good command of written and spoken English
- Have access to a computer with a CDROM drive (PC or Mac) for at least seven hours a week
- Have an email address (access to the WWW would be an advantage)
- Be living and working in Rwanda
Application process
Applicants should submit a letter, in English, of at least 500 words explaining why this course is important in their work, and motivating why they should be selected. They should submit a summary CV of no more than one page, and provide evidence from their employer/institution that they have access to a suitable computer. Applications should be sent by email only to Fahamu to: [email protected]. Applications should be received by 22 November 2004.
Fees
There are 15 places available. Since it is a pilot course, fees, and costs of attending the workshop in Butare will exceptionally be met by the University for Peace.
Developing countries and regions at the periphery of development are always confronted with two significant realities based on values, namely redress, equity and socioeconomic development on the one hand, and quality and competitiveness on the other. These two points of departure are opposed to each other, but are also equally important for the economic, social and cultural development of the country and its regions. Therefore, striking a balance between the two presents various challenges which solicit a number of closely integrated approaches, some of which may be phased in so as to offset possible major disruption in the reconfiguration of the higher education system.
National Union of women with disabilities of Uganda (NUWODU) is an indigenous umbrella organization of women with disabilities that brings together all categories of women with disabilities including the physically, sensory and mentally impaired women purposely to have a strong voice for common cause, particularly to defend, protect the rights and advocate for equal opportunities for women and girls with disabilities.
With the first meeting of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) forthcoming and the launch of the WGIG website earlier this month, international debate on governance mechanisms of the Internet gains momentum. The WGIG will meet at the United Nations in Geneva on 23, 24 and 25 November 2004 with “open Consultations” open to all stakeholders on 24 November. In a position statement published earlier UNESCO stresses that Internet is a major opportunity to improve free flow of information and ideas throughout the world.
The Stockholm Challenge Award, pioneer among global ICT competitions, has opened its 2006 edition. Innovative teams from all over the world, who use ICT to improve living conditions and economic growth, are now invited to register their projects in the Challenge. Projects compete in six categories and the winners will receive the prestigious Challenge trophies at a beautiful event in the Stockholm City Hall, venue of the Nobel Prize ceremonies, in May 2006.
Recent years have seen growing international debate about the ethics of conducting medical research in developing countries. With resources often-limited within developing countries, there can often be an increased risk of exploitation of the more vulnerable parties. Earlier this year, the Science and Development Network (SciDev.Net) launched an essay competition to tap into new thinking about the ethical issues surrounding clinical trials in the developing world. Following a number of excellent entries giving refreshing perspectives on this often controversial area, SciDev.Net is pleased to announce Robyna I. Khan from Pakistan as the winner.
Internet websites on Zimbabwe continue to mushroom as government closes down independent local newspapers to stop the flow of information deemed anti-Mugabe. A group of former Zimbabwean journalists and other professionals now based overseas have launched an independent political website, Zimdaily.com. The website was launched in July and has had a daily publication since then. Owners of the website, who declined to be named for security reasons, said in written response that the website was being run by Zimbabweans in the diaspora.
The British high commissioner in Ghana his excellency Gordon Wetherell has indicated that more than 2000 Ghanaians travel to the United Kingdom to study every year. He noted that the number of UK alumni who return to Ghana after their study in UK contribute immensely to community development by fostering and supporting associations such as the Chartered Institute of Marketing-UK (Ghana branch) and the good work they undertake to develop others professionally.
The Oak Royal Hotel in Tema in collaboration with Education Africa Teaching (EAT), a UK-based organisation helping Africans in the diaspora to trace their roots is hosting 23 Africans in the diaspora who are on a two-week visit to Ghana. The purpose of the trip, the ninth organised by EAT, is to bring peoples of African descent based in the UK to interact with Ghanaians and learn about the African culture and the Ghanaian way of life.
The Five College African Scholars Program invites proposals for competitive residency fellowships from junior and mid-level teaching staff employed full-time in African universities. Candidates for the May 1, 2005 deadline may apply for one of two residency periods: mid-January to May 2005 OR mid-August to December 2005. Proposals for the January residency are invited on the topic of Health & Society, while the August residency is open to all projects relevant to the study of Africa in the humanities and social sciences.
From 15 November the interim findings of the Commission for Africa will be published as a consultation paper. This is your opportunity to comment. The Commission is looking for contributions from a whole spectrum of viewpoints. There will be three simultaneous e-forums that you can take part in between Monday 15th - Friday 26th November. Write to the email address below for more details.
The average EU farmer receives 100 times more in agricultural support than the average annual earnings of an African peasant farmer and yet under European Commission trade proposals the two would be direct competitors.
This is according to a Cafod policy paper which says that the leadership and personal commitment of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to make Africa a focus of international attention in 2005 risks being "seriously undermined" by the inequitable bilateral free trade agreements currently being negotiated between the Europe Union and African countries. The European Union is asking African countries to liberalise 90% of their markets over 10 years. At the same time the EU is refusing to discuss its own highly protectionist Common Agricultural Policy.
"These agreements are pushing for levels and speeds of market opening that will seriously hurt the already pitifully fragile economies of sub-Saharan Africa. They also add to the burdens placed on sub-Saharan Africa’s economy by pitching heavily subsidised European agricultural products against those of the African farmer, already struggling for survival."
Cafod is calling on the UK government to lobby the EU to drop all offensive interests in trade negotiations and provide alternative non-reciprocal trade relationships that are not free trade areas.
New and growing demands for sustainable use of natural resources are having a serious impact on agriculture, as the sector struggles to feed a growing world population, according to Louise Fresco, Assistant Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Speaking at the opening session of a major pan-African conference on water for food and ecosystems, Ms Fresco said: "The history of agriculture is characterized by a progressive and increasing control of the biological processes for the sake of increased food production."
Isn't it time we stopped agonising over the American presidential election. Americans have spoken! Why is it so difficult to accept their choice of who they want to rule them?
To call one hundred and ten million people ignorant doesn't sound very clever to me. I cannot say much about President Bush being ignorant. I can say, and categorically too, that the guy has nothing more to prove of his acumen and shrewdness. This is the quality it takes to study Economics and Finance (hopefully I am right) at Harvard; enter into business and do well for himself financially; redeem himself from being an alcoholic, enter politics, become governor, presidential candidate and president for two terms. Going back into history I am reminded of a newspaperman who called Emerson ignorant, yet Emerson's footprints will never be wiped off the sand of time. To draw parallel lines between the American and African electoral systems is shocking. I honestly wish there was but sadly there isn’t.
Shall we turn our energies and intellectual discourse to organising ourselves for the myriad of problems confronting our beloved continent. That way our people and our world will be better served.
Issue No. 10 of the Development Policy Management Forum e-NewsForum on 'Gender Mainstreaming' has been released. The newsletter is also available on the website: www.dpmf.org/e-NewsForum/ Contact [email protected] for more details.
The October update from the The Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) October is now available. The update informs readers of the different processes and activities that EASSI was engaged in leading up to the 7th Regional African Women's Conference which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 6 - 14 October 2004. Contact [email protected] for more information.
"The World Bank in collaboration with WaterAid plans to hold a World Bank - Civil Society Dialogue on Urban Water Supply and Sanitation, "Forging Global and Local Coalitions for Reform," to be held on November 18-19, 2004 in London.
Some of the organizations signed below were invited to attend, but we have decided to join with the global social movements protesting 60 years of World Bank policies and projects promoting privatization of essential services, trade liberalization and resource extraction that have further impoverished small farmers, local businesses, workers, and low-income citizens while destroying the environment.
We join with global civil society and social movements calling for the World Bank to halt these harmful policies and projects. We make this decision to boycott the World Bank - Civil Society Dialogue on Urban Water Supply and Sanitation because it is clear that the World Bank does not have any serious intention of addressing our issues of concern. Nor could the organizers guarantee that the dialogue would take place in U.N languages in order to include non-English-speaking participants."
After nearly a week since his arrest, N'Do Mathieu, chief editor of the weekly San Finna, is still being held in solitary confinement at the police barracks of the 'Compagnie Republicaine de Securitie (CRS)' in Ouagadougou, the capital. N'Do was picked up by security forces at the Ouagadougou International Airport on November 5, 2004 upon his return from an investigative trip to Cote d'Ivoire. The government has not given any reason for the arbitrary arrest and detention of the journalist but it is believed that his analysis on Burkina Faso's relations with its neighbors in the sub-region may have led to his ordeal. As chief editor of the San Finna, N'Do often writes about politics and institutions in Burkina Faso.
On November 6 2004, local officials of Mozambique's former rebel movement Resistencia Nacional de Mozambique (Renamo), banned a film crew of the public television, TVM, from filming the Renamo election campaign in two northern towns, Mozambique Island and Nacala, despite the movement’s consistent complaints that TVM does not give it sufficient coverage. Both towns are regarded as Renamo strongholds.
Antoine Massé, a local correspondent for "Le Courrier d'Abidjan", a privately-owned daily that supports President Laurent Gbagbo, was killed on the morning of 7 November 2004 during clashes between the Ivorian army, demonstrators and members of the French peacekeeping force (Force Licorne), Reporters sans frontières (RSF), has confirmed. "Le Courrier d'Abidjan" reported that Massé, who was also a literature professor, was fatally shot as he covered a demonstration aimed at blocking the eastward advance of French troops from Man towards Abidjan.
On 11 November 2004, a photojournalist with the Lagos-based daily "Vanguard", Diran Oshe, was assaulted by security agents who also smashed his camera as he attempted to take photographs of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the former chief security officer to the late Nigerian head of state, General Sani Abacha. The incident took place at the premises of the High Court in Ikeja, Lagos, where Major Al-Mustapha is standing trial along with four others for his alleged involved in the attempted murder of Alex Ibru, publisher of the privately-owned national daily "The Guardian".
The term "global civil society" has become a catchphrase of our times. But efforts to define and interpret what global civil society actually is have led to ambiguity and dispute. This major work of scholarship and advocacy pierces through the generalizations and debates. It presents cogent examples of groups within civil society--from the Seattle and Genoa protesters to transnational grassroots movements, such as Slum/Shack Dwellers International--that are creatively meeting the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly interconnected world.
Labourers from the fertile farms of South Africa's northernmost province regularly bring their grievances to a modest office in Musina's Nancefield township, just south of the Zimbabwe border. John Mashaba and Dorah Ncupe, officials in the Legal Advice Centre, listen to workers' accounts - in the hope of eventually mediating solutions with employers. Most labourers tell of abuse by farm owners - from physical violence to illegal evictions. But behind every laborer's dispute is a single issue: land.
New estimates of poverty show that the proportion of people living in poverty in South Africa has not changed significantly between 1996 and 2001. However, those households living in poverty have sunk deeper into poverty and the gap between rich and poor has widened. The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in collaboration with Mr Andrew Whiteford, a South African economist, has generated these estimates.
Much progress has been made in promoting girls' and women's education as a result of new experiments, increased resources, and other improvements to raise the status of women and girls in basic education, says a UNESCO paper. However, the paper says challenges remain in the effort to achieve gender equality in education, including traditional pockets of resistance, as well as the low status of women in the wider society, for example, their under representation in management and decision-making positions in the education field.
Sexual behaviour and the ability to change that behaviour are likely to be linked to education level. But does schooling increase or decrease the risk of HIV infection? Research by the Study Group on Heterogeneity of HIV Epidemics in African Cities looks at the link between education and behaviour in Cotonou (Benin), Yaoundé (Cameroon), Kisumu (Kenya) and Ndola (Zambia).
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites proposals from researchers for possible inclusion in its new multinational working group (MWG) on the theme of Higher Education in Africa: Transforming Within, Preparing the Future. Higher Education is one of the thematic areas at the core of the current intellectual agenda of the Council. The MWG is the flagship research vehicle employed by CODESRIA for the promotion of multi-country and multidisciplinary reflections on critical questions of concern to the African social research community.
Eight months after the overthrow of Jean Bertrand Aristide and the occupation of Haiti by UN troops, the puppet regime of Gerard Latortue has shown its true colours. The mass media claim that gangs of Aristide supporters from the slums are attacking the Haitian police and UN forces in what the Latortue government claims is an operation on the part of these gangs called “Operation Baghdad”. In reality these “terrorists” are the poor and working class supporters of former president Aristide who are fighting back against mounting repression and reprisals from the coup-installed government.
Half way through campaigning for the national election on 1-2 December, the process has been largely calm, reports the Mozambique Political Process Bulletin. The two main parties, Frelimo and Renamo, have been present throughout the country. Of the smaller parties, Raul Domingos and his Party for Peace, Development and Democracy (PDD) have had an unexpectedly strong presence in the campaign.
Sub-Saharan Africa will account for half of the world's poor by 2015 - up from 27% in 1999 despite bold economic recovery plans, a recently released study has estimated. The study, conducted by the independent South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) concluded that sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) “will get significantly poorer during a time period that will see global poverty reduced by a third."
Fourteen years of war have resulted in both loss and horrific violence for Somali women. A book from the Catholic Institute for International Relations presents the harrowing testimonies of war-affected Somali women. Many have lost their male relatives and have witnessed their murders. Despite this discouraging scenario, there are some signs of hope. Local human rights organisations have emerged where none existed a decade ago and some are addressing sexual violence; In the refugee camps of northern Kenya sexual assaults on women no longer go unpunished; In the northern mini-state of Somaliland democratic elections have been held and two female cabinet ministers have been appointed and; Women in the diaspora are able to take advantage of new opportunities for education and training.
Nigeria’s powerful trade unions on Monday called off a general strike planned for the next day after the government, in an eleventh-hour move, offered an almost 10-percent cut in the price of domestic fuels. “The government has reduced the price of petrol,” John Odah, General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), told IRIN by phone from Abuja. “We therefore decided to suspend the strike.”
Following reports of sexual exploitation of host populations in several peacekeeping missions in Africa, the UN Mission in Burundi, known as ONUB, has established a Code of Conduct Unit and appointed a gender adviser to make sure this problem does not arise in Burundi. The code of conduct unit and the gender adviser are to help train and sensitise the mission's staff on the expected code of behaviour.
Angola heads towards its first post-civil war elections, women have called for greater participation in political life. Less than 15 percent of parliamentarians are women, and this decreased with the recent death of two female MPs. At least four other women MPs are on prolonged sick leave.
Education, jobs and other social issues dominated campaigning for Tuesday’s presidential election in Niger, with little attention paid to the insecurity that had dogged parts of the country in the past and resurfaced this year. One of the few contenders to broach the issue of insecurity was the incumbent, President Mamadou Tandja, who promised as he launched his campaign on 23 October to tighten up surveillance along the western border, where cattle herders sometimes clashed with rustlers.
Eritrea’s education system is to undergo a US $27 million transformation to improve access to schools and boost quality. The government is planning to construct 349 new classrooms in 60 schools and equip science labs with funds received from the African Development Fund (ADF). Computer equipment and reference libraries are also to be established in schools around the country, said the ADF on Wednesday.
A testimony to the success of the UN refugee agency's repatriation and assistance programmes, around 274,000 Angolan refugees have returned home since war ended in April 2002, leaving around 167,000 still in the main asylum countries of Zambia, Namibia and the two Congos.
There tends to be a factor of irrationality that lurks around to make fools of us whenever we base arguments solely on race, disregarding other aspects of our humanity or human frailties. One such factor that has posed problems for generations of black people, for example, is that too many of them have allowed people from other races to determine for them how they should see themselves in terms of beauty. For this reason it has not been difficult for far too many black people, even today, to accept that anyone black can be beautiful. For these to be black is to be ugly.
The Government of Sudan is forcibly relocating thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan, without respect for international law. The government’s actions defy both the letter and the spirit of its August 21 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in which it committed to international involvement in assuring “voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable” return of IDPs in Darfur.
For many Afro-Caribbean children in Britain, Black History Month is a rare chance to learn about their heritage. Throughout October and the start of November, events are held across the UK to mark the annual celebration. But Ken Barnes, who runs a charity called the 100 Black Men of London, wants to change this. "Black history lasts for more than a month," he said. "It should be spread out throughout the year and not just in October - this is something that I am very passionate about."
This paper by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict presents a practical and detailed Action Plan for a system that would enable the UN Security Council, the Secretary-General and all others obligated to protect effectively the security and rights of children in armed conflicts to monitor, document and respond to violations. This Action Plan addresses various activities that must be carried out at the local, country, regional and international levels and the actors that will carry out this work. Therefore, the primary audience for this paper is the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, member states, UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society organizations.
Are you based in a social science research institute in Sub-Saharan Africa? Are you in charge of research communication at your institute? Do you have a success story to tell - or are you not sure where to start? GDNet is inviting applications from librarians, administrators, information officers, knowledge managers and researchers involved in disseminating research on behalf of institutes in sub-Saharan Africa to take part in a practical workshop building skills and sharing experiences of research communication in an African context.
The editor of Umuseso, a Rwandan language independent weekly, was tried today on criminal charges of defamation and "divisionism" in connection with an article that accused parliamentary Vice President Denis Polisi of plotting to seize power. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the trial, saying journalists should not be criminally prosecuted for reporting critically about government officials.
The hardships of life in Buduburum camp are not immediately apparent. On first entering the community it looks more like a bustling town than a refugee camp. UNHCR representative Needa Jehu-Hoyah says poverty, unemployment and a severe shortage of drinking water cause serious problems for the people who live here. But what awaits those who do decide to return to Liberia?
The UK government is to end its two-year suspension of deportations of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe because the concession has been abused, the immigration minister, Des Browne, announced. The decision was immediately criticised by refugee welfare groups who expressed concern that anybody was to be forcibly returned to Robert Mugabe's regime and demanded that the fate of those sent back be monitored by the British authorities.
More than 10 000 Ivorians have fled to Liberia since the sharp escalation in Ivory Coast's civil war 10 days ago, the United Nations refugee agency said. The latest figure is more than double those given by the UNHCR on November 10, when it estimated that between 3 000 and 5 000 Ivorians had fled to Liberia. Refugees were fleeing Ivory Coast because of the fear of renewed violence, but were not being forced out by fighting on the ground, it was emphasised.
Racial segregation and the unfair treatment of black ministers are still causing deep concern in South African churches. This is the main conclusion drawn from research outlined in a booklet, Transcending Racism in Church and Community, that was launched in Johannesburg recently. Bishop Purity Malinga, head of the KwaZulu-Natal and Coastal District of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa said churches should consider providing interaction and racism workshops to address the matter.
Nearly 16,000 of the world's plant and animal species face extinction largely because of the destructive behaviour of mankind, according to a major new environmental report out Wednesday. Over-exploitation, climate change and habitat destruction are to blame for a crisis that has wiped out at least 27 species from the wild over the last two decades, according to the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) red list of threatened species.
"We, members of civil society representing NGOs, Community Based Organisations, Women’s Organisations, Trade Unions, Youth Organisations, organisations of the disabled persons, faith based organisations, women’s organisations, church organisations, small scale farmers from different parts of Mozambique are gathered here in Beira during November 1-3, 2004 to better understand issues of economic justice and basic human rights.
Our understanding of economic justice is that it is based on the religious moral, and philosophical need for respect and promotion of basic economic, social, cultural and civic rights..."
Mining ministers from central Africa's diamond-producing countries have agreed to set up a committee to oversee the trade in diamonds and other precious gems in the region. They also vowed to "apply the recommendations made by experts" just before their meeting, including to "better follow the movement of diamonds, to improve border checks, and fight against corruption and the potential implosion of the (diamond) sector".
Businessman Schabir Shaik's payments to Deputy President Jacob Zuma were nothing less than bribery, and he used fabrications in the financial statements of the Nkobi group of companies to hide them, a former Nkobi employee told the Durban High Court this week. Former Nkobi financial manager Celia Bester took the stand, giving the first insider's view of the way the Nkobi group's finances were handled.
The dictator of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, is stepping up suppression of opposition, while social conditions in the tiny West African nation are worsening, an opposition leader told IPS on his visit to Spain. Because of the high levels of corruption, there is no spending on social programmes, including health. ”Even in Malabo, not to mention the hinterland, if someone has to be taken to a hospital for an emergency, the medicines must be purchased in a pharmacy,” said the opposition leader.
The World Bank’s book 'Voices of the Poor' is an attempt to represent the majority of humanity as The Poor. This othering, argues this paper from the website Red, produces The Poor as a category of people who are politically inert, largely responsible for their own circumstances and whose suffering justifies the position and work of The Bank and other social forces with similar agendas. The paper suggests that there are connections between this approach and colonial discourses that sought to other people via a process of racialisation. In contrast, a book like Aswin Desai's 'We Are the Poors', which details struggles against neoliberal policies in South Africa, does not objectify its subject.
In this Comment, Lloyd Sachikonye, a specialist in agrarian and labour studies from Zimbabwe, examines post-independence approaches to land reform and their impact on the people of southern Africa. He argues that the capacity of the land to give life to the people of the region can best be harnessed by incorporating land reform within national development strategies that strive for poverty reduction and social justice.
A graduate, with a post-graduate qualification in public health, international development or related field, you will have a minimum of 8 years experience of managing network and multipartner development programmes.
Africa is in danger of losing the war against deadly sleeping sickness-carrying tsetse flies, a UN expert warned, adding that total eradication by sterilising male flies using radioactive rays was the only viable option. Ali Boussaha, head of the African division at the UN International Atomic Energy Agency told IRIN on Monday that attempts to control the spread of the tsetse-transmitted trypanosomosis had not worked in Africa, but the new Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) could be a success.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) deplored the worldwide shortage of midwives, particularly in poorer countries, saying the dearth was responsible for the death of tens of thousands of mothers and infants worldwide. While more than 90 percent of birthing mothers have medical assistance in developed nations, only 37.5 percent of mothers in Asia and 33.6 percent in east Africa benefit from medical assistance during childbirth.
Every child must be reached during the upcoming National Immunization Day (NID) in Nigeria which kicks off on 20 November. As of November 12 2004, WHO has confirmed that 682 Nigerian children under the age of five years old have been paralyzed by polio this year, which accounts for 74% of the global polio case count.
More children are going to school than ever before, but many drop out before grade 5 of primary school or graduate without mastering even a minimum set of cognitive skills, concludes the 2005 Education for All Global Monitoring Report. The Report, which monitors progress towards the six Education for All goals set by over 160 countries at the World Education Forum in Dakar (2000), finds that significant efforts are being made to increase resources, broaden access to school and improve gender parity. However, exhaustive analysis of research data shows that the quality of education systems is failing children in many parts of the world, and could prevent many countries from achieving Education for All by the target date of 2015.
Of the 12 million refugees in the world, more than 7 million have been confined to camps or segregated settlements, effectively “warehoused”, in some cases for 10 years and more. Refugee camps have become wards of the international community, a community that too often holds itself above serious scrutiny, sometimes even above the law, infringing the fundamental rights of refugees it should protect as well as the sovereignty of host countries. Holding European refugees in camps was anathema to the founders of the refugee protection regime. Today, with most refugees encamped in the less developed world, the office of the UN High Comissioner for Refugees and the humanitarian apparatus originally designed to protect and safeguard their human rights has in many ways been transformed into a custodial regime for innocent people.
Based on the analysis of rich ethnographic data, Rights in Exile exposes the gap between human rights norms and the mandates of international organisations, on the one hand, and the reality on the ground, on the other. It will be of wide interest to social scientists, human rights and international law scholars, and those interested in the work of international organisations. Policy makers, donor governments and humanitarian organisations, especially those beginning to develop 'rights-based' approaches, will also find it an invaluable.
This volume brings together essays of remarkable variety and fresh insight by leading feminists from Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America, Europe and Scandinavia. With clear- eyed realism and passionate optimism these articles raise crucial historical, organizational, ethical, conceptual, strategic and practical issues facing feminists today.
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 182: PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF REFUGEES IN AFRICA: BEGINNING WITH THE UN GATEKEEPER
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 182: PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF REFUGEES IN AFRICA: BEGINNING WITH THE UN GATEKEEPER
Children with HIV/AIDS in developing countries are "needlessly" dying because of "ignorance" and a lack of suitable pediatric medications, the international medical aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a statement on Tuesday, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. The announcement came one day before the opening of a three-day conference MSF is hosting with UNICEF and the World Health Organization that will address improving treatment for the approximately 2.5 million children worldwide living with HIV/AIDS.
I read with interest the editorial and letter concerning the election of George W. Bush. I am a citizen of the USA who did not vote for him. In my circle of friends and acquaintances who did not support him there is an overwhelming feeling of depression and dread, and of deep disappointment in the number of our fellow countrymen who actually went to the polls and selected him. Please know that there are many of us here who are appalled by the actions of our government. And there are many of us who expect the rise of fascism in our country, and know that even voicing our opinion in the future will be dangerous. This is a very difficult time...
I am currently studying modern African history in one of the few such undergraduate courses offered in our country (and offer an apology on behalf of my country for the part we have played in making life a hell for so many Africans). It is true that Americans are for the most part abysmally ignorant of the rest of the world - a common misconception is that Africa is a country.
Our educational system and our media are largely responsible for this sad state of affairs. The seductions of material comfort play their part, also - but I suspect that the latter is not a peculiarly American weakness - it's just that we as a whole have had the opportunity to be so seduced, while in many other countries it is only the leaders who are offered the same temptation. I take comfort in knowing that throughout the world there are, and have always been, people who care about freedom and justice and who dream of peace. We are probably always the minority - but what a dreadful world it would be without us! Thank you for your excellent site. Peace.
Editor's comments: We have had many letters from Americans who share another view of the world to that propounded by Bush and his gang. Depressing though the results of the elections may be, the battle cry must be - as has always been - 'Don't agonise - Organise!'
NGOs representing African descendants are demanding that United Nations documents referring to discrimination make explicit reference to anti-Black racism. The refusal of states and institutions to specifically name anti-Black racism serves to perpetuate the exclusion, marginalisation and oppression of people of African descent, according to the five groups and coalitions that signed a petition calling for this recognition.