‘Give ZANU-PF credit, it has ridden the crisis, seen off the opposition and now all it has to do is manage the crisis and aim for re-election and then change the constitution’ – Zimbabwean human rights lawyer, early 2004.

How are we to reconcile Zimbabwe’s seemingly inevitable slide towards being a ‘failed state’ and the continued confidence within ZANU-PF that they can handle the crisis and stay in power until after parliamentary elections due in 2005? More pertinently, what is the popular response to the multilayered crisis of the Zimbabwean state?

Since the government’s defeat in the February 2000 constitutional referendum, ZANU-PF has largely succeeded in reimposing its control through a ‘holistic strategy of repression’. A peace activist described the strategy as a sort of ‘scorched earth policy in terms of social formations … while it wants to hold elections so as to appear democratic it wants to prevent thought, communication, information, and analysis.’

Broadly speaking the strategy entails a continuation of the militarisation/securitisation of the country, under which these sectors are immune from the law and occupy increasingly prominent positions in intelligence, provincial administration, electoral administration and the like. Secondly, it includes the use of presidential powers – supposedly introduced as part of attempts to clamp down on corruption – allowing police to hold opponents of the regime in prison for up to a month without legal process on charges of ‘subversion’. Thirdly, the regime continues its sustained attack on any foci of independence or opposition.

This strategy has the following elements:

· A state-driven violent land occupation process without resolving contradictions in the rural economy.
· The use of the police and security apparatus against opponents, including the use of sexual violence as retribution.
· The use of terror and judicial intimidation as well as ideological demonisation of the opposition to shut down space for independent voices.
· The ‘restructuring’ of the judiciary towards complete compliance.
· Legal and extra-legal harassment of the independent media, notably through the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act which shut down the Daily News.
· Destabilisation of trades unions, NGOs and other civic bodies. The draft legislation already exists for NGOs to be the next target.
· Widespread torture and intimidation. The opposition has been softened up by four years of sustained repression and abuse. There has been a crackdown on the human rights sector, although brutal intimidation has often been replaced by more subtle forms.
· The co-option or denigration of religious leadership.
· The reorganisation of ZANU-PF structures to ensure a strategy of coercive mobilisation.
· Use of violence as an election strategy with the bodies responsible for electoral administration firmly under government control including use of military personnel.
· The use of the land reform process, the indigenisation strategy, the stripping of state assets and the politically partisan use of government-controlled food as a ‘primitive accumulation’ tool to create a new economic bloc based on party affiliation and loyalty (although its sustainability is open to question).
· An authoritarian economic nationalist (‘anti-imperialist’) rhetoric that has resonance in the region and continent, bringing together race, land and historical injustice in order to demonise the internal opposition and legitimise and maintain ZANU-PF’s rule through repression.

ZANU-PF rides out the crisis?

Since the decision in December 2003 by Harare to react to continued suspension by withdrawing from the Commonwealth, events have seemed to turn ZANU-PF’s way. There have been victories in by-elections marked by the usual violence and intimidation, including retaking the urban constituency of Zengeza in late March 2004.

The Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono responded to recent dramatic collapses in the banking sector linked to endemic corruption by changing the foreign exchange system leading to an initial decline in inflation. This was combined with a drive against corruption. A prominent ZANU-PF MP and proponent/symbol of black economic empowerment, Philip Chiyangwa, was briefly (and illegally) detained over charges of corruption. Indeed the anti-corruption drive in April 2004 claimed the arrest of the recently appointed finance minister but political lightweight Chris Kuruneri on charges of corruption in terms of illegally dealing in foreign currency.

Does this mean that after years of presiding over gross corruption, systemic human rights abuses, and spectacular economic and political decline, the Mugabe government is about to reform (as in the February Cabinet ‘reshuffle’), re-enter the ‘civilised world’ (as a victory for the ‘quiet diplomacy’ of the Mbeki government) and aim for clean parliamentary elections in 2005?

Certainly Thabo Mbeki has given June 2004 as a ‘final deadline’ for serious negotiations to be underway and (hopefully for him) lead to a government of national unity under a reformed ZANU-PF, but not necessarily under Robert Mugabe. Few in the region and even fewer in Zimbabwe find this believable: so many promises, so many broken – and so many basically untrue claims from Mbeki that genuine talks are about to start.

Perhaps a greater indication of South Africa’s stance was its backing at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on 15 April 2004, just before South Africa’s own elections, for a successfully carried African/Asian/Russian ‘no action’ resolution on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe – for the second year running.

Brian Kagoro, coordinator of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said: ‘It is disheartening … that ... the human rights of the people of Zimbabwe have been reduced to the flexing of muscles between the global South and the global North.’ As long as Mbeki still (in public at least) accepts the Mugabe rhetoric that the crisis is not about ‘governance’ and human rights but about resolving the triangle of race, land and colonial dispossession, serious pressure or ending of South African financial support seems unlikely.

The arrest of Chiyangwa is supposedly linked to the three factions fighting within ZANU-PF over the succession to Mugabe – John Nkomo, party boss, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi. Mugabe is thought to have removed his support for Mnangagwa after the latter was named in a recent UN report as heavily involved in the illegal diamond trade from the Democratic Republic of Congo. However both Mnangagwa and Sekeramayi are long term Mugabe allies and were involved in the massacres in Matabeleland in the 1980s. Conversely the Nkomo group are his key allies inside Matabeleland.

This is all part of what appears to be conflict between continuing the ‘succession debate’ on behalf of Mnangagwa and having no succession debate, meaning Mugabe stays in power. The easiest strategy is for Mugabe to put the succession on hold and proclaim he is staying out his period of office until 2008. This does little, however, to resolve internal and external questions of the legitimacy and sustainability of the regime or Mbeki’s diplomatic strategy.

ZANU-PF is likely to continue a strategic mix of coercion, bribery and electoral manipulation for the forthcoming 2005 parliamentary elections. According to the Justice in Agriculture Group there is likely to be a ‘ring around the cities’ with land being granted to pro-ZANU-PF settlers in peri-urban areas plus some redrawing of urban constituencies to draw in rural dwellers under the party’s control. The Harare government thus hopes to get a ‘free and fair’ verdict which would take the heat off, challenge the international community to lose interest and then be in a strong position to have the upper hand in post-election negotiations with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

In terms of negotiations after elections some elements of the MDC, weakened and weary of constant repression, infighting and lack of direction, may well be tempted to join a ‘government of national unity’. Civil society would of course reject such a course given their demand for broad-based negotiations rather than elite deals but their capacity to push this demand is very limited at present.

Another element of the ZANU-PF strategy is the continued use of food as a political weapon in a situation where an estimated five million Zimbabweans will be reliant on food aid. The Famine Early Warning System estimates that Zimbabwe’s 2004 season is likely to see a harvest of between 800,000 and 900,000 tonnes, 33 to 38 per cent below its cereal requirements. The government however has stockpiled 240,000 tonnes of maize, has supposedly bought 70,000 tonnes from South Africa and according to diplomatic sources has additional stocks that it has seized. Although the World Food Programme and international NGOs report little overt political interference, the grain at the government’s direct disposal provides it with a powerful weapon at election time.

Nor have the Zimbabwean churches in what is a very religious society managed to present a united voice in response to the crisis (or crises). It seemed in mid 2003 that there had been a recovery of the prophetic voice when the leader of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches publicly apologised to Zimbabweans for not bearing witness to the crisis, but this has now been downplayed by the churches seeking to push a negotiations and peace building strategy. The church leaders’ dialogue process with ZANU-PF and MDC appears on and off – possibly depending on how much pressure ZANU-PF feels itself under electorally, regionally and internationally (seemingly little at present).

Even if ZANU-PF has the upper hand it has substantial problems. According to the IMF in April 2004, ‘Zimbabwe’s economy has experienced a sharp deterioration in the last five years. Real GDP has declined by about 30% and is still contracting. Inflation doubled in each of the last three years to reach 600% at the end of 2003… Unemployment is high and rising, poverty has doubled since 1995, school enrolment declined to 65% in 2003, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic [affecting 25% of the sexually active population] remains largely unchecked.’

After a staff visit in March 2004, the IMF called for tripartite talks between government, business and the unions. This was in response to Kuruneri’s attempt to reach accommodation with the IMF by making some small repayments to service debt. The IMF had suspended technical assistance in 2002 and in late 2003 initiated Zimbabwe’s compulsory withdrawal due to Harare’s lack of cooperation and unwillingness or inability to repay the US$273 million owed (53 per cent of its quota). Nor did Zimbabwe pay US$110 million owed to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) – the first and only country ever to have protracted overdue obligations to the PRGF.

It is unlikely that the dual interest rate regime, or the continuing fast track resettlement with its lack of recognition of property rights for either commercial farmers or the new settlers, will appeal to the IMF any more than Zimbabwe’s chronic inability to pay its debts.

Nor is Gono’s financial strategy guaranteed success economically or politically. Politically, big questions arise immediately – did the Cabinet understand the strategy and will Gono have the heavyweight political backing to carry it through? As Lovemore Madhuku asked, what happens when key ZANU-PF ‘untouchables’, such as those given licences to import oil without open tendering or favoured by other forms of party/state patronage, become dragged into the war against corruption?

There is little strategy either to address what a local activist in the Catholic church described as the country’s simultaneous deprofessionalisation (driving professionals overseas and destroying the sector’s autonomy) and decapitalisation. Fifteen to 20 per cent of the population (ie 2–3 million) is living outside the country, mostly as economic refugees, and 500,000, largely farmworkers, are internally displaced.

Even with all of its strategies for staying in power, most delivery systems have collapsed in Zimbabwe making it hard to sustain patronage systems, especially in the rural areas where ZANU-PF needs to maintain its iron grip. And whilst the factions inside ZANU-PF may have been temporarily silenced over the succession, the struggle remains ready to erupt again within the context of fighting over the Gono recovery strategy. Although renewed targeted sanctions against the elite are unlikely to have much material impact, the elite resents them, and they suggest not just (some) international disapproval, but also unwillingness to invest or lend money (not that Zimbabwe has much to offer at present).

There remains the possibility that Mbeki, freshly mandated from the April 2004 elections in South Africa and ready to concentrate on outside matters (although it would seem that peacekeeping in Burundi is of higher importance), will actually put more weight behind his June 2004 deadline. Few Zimbabweans I spoke to would, however, welcome a government of national unity, given that it would be a rerun of the Unity Accord of 1987 when ZANU-PF forced PF-ZAPU into the shotgun marriage of a de facto one-party state.

Without substantial constitutional and electoral changes, any such government of national unity would be suicidal for the MDC. Whilst opposition forces including the MDC have weakened under sustained assault inside the country they appear to have some hope that they are regrouping internationally and in the region. The MDC are currently examining whether or not they should contest the next elections given the manifest impossibility of them being free and fair.

What can outsiders do? What does the future hold?

Many of Zimbabwe’s problems are of long term duration. The inheritance of violent colonial dispossession and dehumanisation with the response of (in Brian Kagoro’s words) a ‘violent and hegemonic struggle for decolonisation … culminated in a largely symbolic independence devoid of material gain for the majority black population.’ This meant an authoritarian elite unable/ unwilling to transform the repressive state colonial structures into democratic institutions, and the emergence of neo-patrimonialism and clientilist structures along with long lasting cultures of intolerance and impunity.

What development there was in the 1980s was concerned with state-building rather than nation-building, within the context initially of apartheid destabilisation, followed by structural adjustment. Once the post-apartheid, post Cold War moments arrived the implications of this history in terms of repression, corruption and abuse became clearer (except of course for kneejerk ‘anti-imperialists’).

So where do progressives go from here? There is still a massive ideological battle to be won between the prescriptions of what Patrick Bond has called ‘exhausted nationalism’ and global neo-liberalism, in line with many of the directions pointed to in the various world and regional social fora. Equally Bond points to an existing tradition inside Zimbabwe itself with work on alternate policies having in the past been pursued by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the coalitions on debt, the United Nations Development Programme, and not least the National Working People’s Convention of 1999.

This may help to counter the pessimism of a Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) partner who saw at present ‘a dearth of “thinking”, a sort of anti-intellectualism in nearly every quarter … and essentially … a kind of absence of politics in the real sense, of positions and ideological clarity and coherence, of strategic thinking and organising.’ He added that it is ‘very significant that there is a very deep malaise and unhappiness among a large proportion of traditional leaders and spirit mediums, about the disregard for tradition and cultural wholeness.’

Certainly Zimbabweans, while happy to observe stayaways, have not shown great keenness to face the overwhelming firepower of the state on the streets. The sheer struggle for survival and the fact that remittances from abroad are helping keep them alive (and as Gono is aware, the economy as well) cannot be discounted in terms of seeming passivity in the face of desperate circumstances.

There is little leadership either from the MDC – which in any case has done well just to survive itself – from the trade unions or indeed the churches. Although there have been calls, notably by Morgan Tsvangirai, for a much greater coherence amongst opposition forces, notably the ZCTU, the National Constitutional Assembly and the MDC, the sector has great difficulty in doing this. It also has difficulty agreeing on tactics, including on mass action and what its aims are – overthrow Mugabe, force ZANU-PF to the negotiating table, etc. One thing that is unlikely to occur is any kind of armed response.

Outside Zimbabwe there have been a number of initiatives regionally and North-South in bringing together activists and academics in understanding the nature of the crisis. A particularly resonant one was the bringing together of the Zimbabwean and South African diasporas in London. There could be much greater North-South solidarity in a number of fora – NGO, academic, church and use of links with southern African organisations. Outside organisations need to provide support for those in Zimbabwe and the region who are providing information about the human rights and general situation inside Zimbabwe, and those under threat standing up to repression.

There is continuing need for pressure on the ANC government including from within the region. Pressure also needs to be directed at the other elements in the tripartite alliance such as the trade unions and the Communist Party, given Pretoria’s assurances to the outside world that Mugabe would step down and serious negotiations would commence. What is it about a transition to democracy inside Zimbabwe that worries them more than the ‘chaos that they know’? The International Crisis Group believes that the focus should be on promoting a free and fair election for March 2005 rather than pursuing the chimera of inter-party talks.

There should also be pressure for the long-delayed African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights report on Zimbabwe to be released as called for by Zimbabwean, regional and human rights organisations.

* Send comments on this editorial - and other events in Africa - to

* Steve Kibble is the Africa/Yemen Advocacy Coordinator for the Catholic Institute for International Relations

* This article is a shortened version of a paper to be published in the Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE) No. 100, of June 2004. Our thanks to the editors of ROAPE.

* NOTE FOR EDITORS: Please note that this editorial was commissioned from the author for Pambazuka News. While we are pleased that several print publications have used our editorials, we ask editors to note that if they use this article, they do so on the understanding that they are expected to provide the following credit: "This article first appeared in Pambazuka News, an electronic newsletter for social justice in Africa, Editors are also encouraged to make a donation.

The Nigerian National Action Committee on AIDS last week launched a five-year "Behaviour Change Communication Strategy" to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country, Nigeria's This Day reports. The initiative provides a "strategic framework for combating HIV and AIDS that is realistic, practical and responsive to local realities," NACA Chair Babatunde Osotimehin said, adding, "It builds on internationally documented and scalable best practices and will serve as a guide for government and all its partners to help Nigerians adopt healthy behaviour and sustainable lifestyle changes to slow the HIV and AIDS epidemic".

While students continued their demonstrations at the Mafikeng campus of the North-West University, large numbers of staff members marched to the department of education to present a memorandum. The only connection between the two protests is their exasperation with the management of the University.

Mortality rates in East Africa have continued to soar, despite programmes that have been put in place to address them. According to the Arusha-based Commonwealth Regional Health Secretariat, it is estimated that death ratios range up to 1,000 per 100,000 live births, while infant mortality is about 145 per 1,000 live births. In the report contained in their Revised Strategic Plan (2002-2006), in 14 states surveyed, less than 50% of the people accessed contraceptives.

Instead of instituting an Africa Commission to investigate Africa's problems, the United Kingdom government could aim towards achieving the 35 year-old 0.7 per cent aid target by 2008, commit to cancelling the UK's share of the remaining poor country multilateral debt owed to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and call for the IMF and World Bank to stop imposing unsuccessful, undemocratic and unfair economic policy conditions on African countries. According to the World Development Movement, these are just three of 15 steps the UK government could take instead of the Africa Commission, launched by Tony Blair in February to produce a report with recommendations on how to make the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) work in Africa. "In light of existing analysis on the problems facing Africa, the range of previous political declarations from African Governments themselves, the range of existing - and still unfulfilled - promises of industrialised countries, and the way the UK and EU have ignored African governments in the WTO, WDM is deeply sceptical over the need for, and usefulness of, the Commission for Africa," said the organisation.

The Southern and Eastern African Regional Centre for Women's Law (SEARCWL) invites application for candidates that wish to pursue a Masters in Women's Law at the University of Zimbabwe, commencing January 2005. Visit the website below for more information.

At least 120 demonstrators were killed by the security forces in Ivory Coast in March, according to a UN report. Several hundred others were said to be injured when the security forces opened fire on the demonstrators - 20 are still believed to be missing. "What happened on 25 and 26 March was the committing of massive human rights violations," the report said. The clashes put further strain on the peace deal between northern-based rebels and the government in the south.

The notion that the truth will set you free has enduring appeal in developing countries which are newly free of repressive governments, and anxious to explore past abuses in an effort to avoid repeating them. Kenya is no exception to this trend. However, the country is also discovering that setting up a truth commission to probe human rights violations is less straight forward than it might appear. Although a commission has yet to open its doors in Kenya, fierce debate is already underway about the period of time that should be surveyed by the body.

The haggling between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress over KwaZulu-Natal cabinet posts has ended, with Premier S'bu Ndebele set to announce his full cabinet - which will include three IFP ministers - in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday. After two weeks of intense talks, the parties announced that an agreement had been reached on the formation of a "broad-based" provincial government. "The IFP has accepted three provincial cabinet positions, as initially offered by the ANC. The ANC also gave the IFP the position of deputy Speaker of the legislature," ANC provincial secretary Sipho Gcabashe said.

One of Nigeria's opposition leaders is being investigated over possible links to recent "security breaches," the State Security Services say. Buba Galadima was arrested last Thursday but the SSS have not previously said why he was detained. He is a leader of Nigerians United for Democracy, which organised a protest rally on Monday against last year's elections, which the opposition claims were rigged.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Namibian President Sam Nujoma have joined hands to start a new regional newspaper called the New Sunday Times to "counter the threat from the global media to African values". The newspaper will be sold in all Southern African countries and will start publishing on July 1, according to an announcement on Wednesday.

Scientists have identified a protein produced by the malaria parasite that is responsible for the severe childhood form of the disease. They hope that this protein could be a target for a vaccine that could save thousands of children's lives in sub-Saharan Africa. The findings concern one of a number of proteins that are found on the surface of human red blood cells infected by the parasites. These proteins help the malaria parasite survive in the human body by stopping the removal of blood cells in the spleen, therefore allowing the parasite to reproduce.

A group of blind volunteers in Ethiopia are working hard to transfer adaptive technology to their developing nation. The idea was first proposed by Tamru E. Belay, a blind Ethiopian-born Canadian and qualified adaptive technologist, who recently returned to his home country where he is busy promoting and coordinating the implementation of adaptive technology for the benefit of his visually disabled and impaired compatriots.

The humanitarian crisis in Darfur, western Sudan, will worsen dramatically unless the security situation there improves immediately and relief workers can reach needy people in the region more easily, the United Nations has warned. UN World Food Programme Executive Director James Morris, who led a high-level UN team to assess the situation in Darfur, said displaced families were living in difficult and unacceptable conditions and continued to fear for their lives.

The presence and roles of girl soldiers in militaries throughout the world has been underestimated and misunderstood, says a study from Rights & Democracy. Conducted over three-and-a-half years by authors Susan McKay and Dyan Mazurana with financial support from the Canadian International Development Agency, 'Where Are the Girls?' examines the experiences and roles of girls in fighting forces, with emphasis on the wars in Northern Uganda (1986-present), Sierra Leone (1991-2002), and Mozambique (1976-1992). 'Where are the Girls?' gives the international community insight into why young women and girls may actively choose to participate in conflict and carry out acts of violence and how they can be coerced into taking up military roles through propaganda, abduction, intimidation and forced recruitment.

African women at the weekend resolved to work vigorously at all levels to enforce the fight against human trafficking. The Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF), in collaboration with a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Ted Zachary, held an international conference on African women and gender development. Women would ensure that neither girls, women, boys or girls would be subjected to human trafficking, prostitution, slavery or other forms of degradation, the conference resolved.

The African Liberation Support Campaign Network (ALISC Network) and the Hackney Stop The War Coalition are jointly organising a Day School on Neocolonial Proxy Wars In Africa.

Calls for a national slavery memorial day have been made by an United Kingdom MP, who says the horrors of the slave trade must not be forgotten. Three years ago Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly committed himself to supporting a Slavery Memorial Day, but a committee to turn this idea a reality collapsed just months later amid accusations that Home Office officials were trying to obstruct its' progress.

A gender consultant is needed with experience in: Gender mainstreaming; The African Union and its Specialised mechanisms; and Regional and international human rights conventions particularly on women's rights. For the complete terms of reference please click on the link below.

The selection of the new Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Rodrigo Rato, confirms that the institution is controlled by a small number of governments, none of which are IMF clients, says the 50 Years is Enough Network. "The programs mandated by the IMF benefit business and investor interests in that same small groups of countries, but have done inestimable harm to literally billions of people in the rest of the world over the last 25 years. No Managing Director chosen by the IMF board would be likely to change the direction of the institution," said 50 Years is Enough in a statement.

It is becoming increasingly expensive to be racist, as a Lephalale, Limpopo, man has discovered. The Equality Court has ordered Andrew van der Westhuizen to pay his colleague Elliot Senwamadi, at Nashua in Lephalale (formerly known as Ellisrus), R10 000 after Van der Westhuizen shared an offensive email with colleagues.

Close to 25,000 people have been displaced in the eastern province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since fighting began in April between the army and Rwandan Interahamwe militia, the UN Office for the Coordination of the Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Tuesday. This estimate was the result of a census system set up by an NGO, Caritas, with the support of local authorities and representatives of internally displaced persons (IDPs), OCHA reported.

A team from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) arrived in a Chadian border town to verify reports of new refugees from Sudan's western region of Darfur arriving since the beginning of the month, the UNHCR said on Tuesday. Ron Redmond, a UNHCR spokesman in Geneva, said "local authorities estimate that each week some 200 to 300 people have been crossing the border from Darfur into Chad since the beginning of the month".

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As the World Bank convened for its spring meetings this weekend, Public Citizen released a new report that highlighted how the World Bank continued to promote water privatization despite its assertion that it had modified its stance on privatization policies after a series of failed experiments around the world. A review of World Bank lending from 2000 through 2004 reveals that while the Bank’s public relations rhetoric has changed in the face of increasing global resistance to privatized water services, its loan policies in the water sector have not changed at all. The World Bank is pressuring governments to privatize water services, thereby ceding control of them to major transnational corporations, as part of the package of policies required before governments can access loans for building and repairing water and sanitation systems.

The U.N. Commission on Human Rights last week adopted a watered-down resolution addressing alleged atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region and rejected a U.S. move to vote on the more strongly worded, original draft resolution it had co-sponsored with the European Union (Agence France-Presse, April 23). It also decided to appoint an independent expert on the situation of human rights in Sudan for a period of one year. Fifty members of the U.N. rights body voted for the weaker resolution, which was drafted as a compromise between the European Union and a bloc of African states.

Less than 10% of HIV-positive individuals in South Africa will be eligible to receive antiretroviral therapy if World Health Organisation guidelines which mandate the use of anti-HIV therapy in patients with a CD4 cell count below 200 cells/mm3 are followed, according to a French-funded study published in the May 1st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The study also found that this would have only a limited impact on the spread of HIV.

In a joint operation in the Darfur region of Sudan, government troops working with Arab militias detained 136 African men whom the militias massacred hours later, Human Rights Watch has said. Human Rights Watch has documented dozens of attacks by Arab militias, known as janjaweed, in almost a month of research inside Darfur. "The janjaweed are no longer simply militias supported by the Sudanese government," said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. "These militias work in unison with government troops, with total impunity for their massive crimes." The 136 men were then taken in army lorries to nearby valleys where they were made to kneel before being killed with a bullet in the back of the neck.

"Swaziland now holds the dubious title of [having] the highest [HIV] prevalence level in the world. ... [It] is a vivid microcosm of all the similarly afflicted countries of Southern Africa. At the grass roots, where it counts, there's a superhuman determination to bring the pandemic to heel, and to overcome the tremendous assault on the human condition." This is according to Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Lewis highlights innovative national Swazi plans, supported by the World Health Organisation, for stepping up response to the pandemic. But Swaziland is also representative of other countries in that in practice implementation is still painfully slow. And other obstacles, ranging from U.S. congressional delays on trade legislation to Swaziland's own unresolved issues of democracy and women's rights, may still overwhelm the positive momentum of national efforts, according to a briefing on HIV/AIDS in Swaziland by the Africa Focus Bulletin.

A referendum on the draft constitution will plunge the country into political turmoil, Constitution of Kenya Review Commission vice-chairman Okoth Ogendo said. Kenyans must be prepared for an automatic enactment of the draft if it is subjected to a referendum. "If we go to a referendum on the entire document, we will immediately have a new political order," he told journalists at the commission's headquarters.

A historic agreement to adopt a unified global response to tackling HIV/AIDS was reached by the international community this week. Despite stepped up resources and the best intentions, the AIDS epidemic continues to be one of the greatest crises of the century, with 40 million people currently infected and over 25 million deaths to date. A major step was taken at a meeting in Washington D.C., co-chaired by UNAIDS, the UK and the US, where donors and developing countries agreed to three core principles to better coordinate the scale-up of national AIDS responses.

A $6.3 million community care campaign for families affected by HIV/AIDS has been launched in Ethiopia. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the government's HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO) have collaborated on a project to support HIV/AIDS affected households, women and children. According to recent studies in Ethiopia, almost two-thirds of deaths in the capital among people aged between 20 and 54 are AIDS-related.

African Ministers of Finance convened in Washington DC for the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring Meetings to review the two institutions' operations. Given that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is the greatest threat facing the African continent today, the members of the Pan-African Treatment Movement (PATAM) called on all African Finance Ministers to consider HIV/AIDS as an issue affecting all other critical developmental issues. PATAM is an Africa-wide movement advocating for access to HIV/AIDS treatment and other essential medicines. Through an open letter to their respective Ministers of Finance, PATAM members urged African governments to support initiatives that will contain and reverse the steady march of the epidemic. PATAM emphasised the importance of governments enhancing the current efforts by the World Bank and IMF against HIV/AIDS but rejecting those initiatives that hamper access to life-saving and affordable medicines for people living with HIV/AIDS.

I would like to praise and commend you for the excellent enlightening work that you are doing. Thank you very much indeed for the updates and information sent.

First a warm thanks to all at Pambazuka News who provide an invigorating forum and a vehicle for awareness & change.

Dear Eva,
(In response to Eva Dadrian, Letters, Pambazuka News 153)

Forgive me if I have offended you by using the example of a young girl who asked me to respite my ignorance of her history and a particular human atrocity. My point in using the Israeli example was not to offend the Palestinians – but to urge awareness of all human failure to find empathy and conquer ignorance within our communities. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to highlight the example of the Arab Village where I later lived for some time, herding goats.

I had been warned, as two American tourists had just been killed in the Wadi Kelt, not to enter the village and to display distrust and reticence, but, despite this, I lived in the village in a sublime peace. As a white woman, in jeans and a t-shirt, I represented everything that the community should find unacceptable culturally speaking, yet I was privileged and trusted to take care of the village of Arab Al Ramshe’s 356 strong herd of goats, because it made me happy to be in the mountains with them – the entire wealth of the village goat herder and his family, a trust that defies thousands of years of tradition. They shared their stories of triumph with me, their stories of hope and tragedy, their heritage, their food and their home in a hospitable and respectful humility that I have seldom experienced in my travels since. They too taught me of awareness – that a one to one trust, devoid of history, soul to soul, was key to overcoming the violent approach that tragically some politicians fall prey to when first they take on positions of power.

I agree with you whole-heartedly that the dividing walls between us all should come down, that we should end apartheid in every form, but we need to remove it from our minds first or I do not believe we can achieve anything in practicality. We need to stop dredging up history for the sake of recrimination and reproach. If it cannot be a clear teacher for us then perhaps it should be mute.

I doubt very much that the young girl who took me to the holocaust museum at Akko had any idea what was to follow in her country but I very much believe, in learning to know her as a person, that she does not condone what is happening in her country today. Quite the contrary, I am certain it is breaking her heart. And certainly - I think she is now sensitive to it also. To some extent we are all victims of ignorance but I respect her duty to try and bridge that ignorance. More often than not, these issues are intentionally misrepresented. We are privileged to have the freedom to speak openly.

I think you are perfectly correct that we should listen with two ears and build awareness of all aspects of the phenomenon of genocide. This was the point of my letter and in fact, it was in order to address the situation in Rwanda, but yes you are right, it applies to America, Spain, South Africa and now Sudan. Is there a place where mankind has not failed himself. Can we try again?

I did not anywhere in my letter condone the attack on Palestinian children, instead I called for us as an African community to never become desensitized, which I can see you are not. You say No, No, No, Nicole, but in truth, I think we are agreed.

I think we are all participant in Pambazuka to find solutions and avoid recriminations. My solution may seem simplistic but I feel that change begins with love and love begins with understanding, so I thank you for your letter, I will read Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem's "When 'never again' becomes again and again" – again, and I invite you to write me to discuss this further so that you and I may build a bridge over the distance I have inadvertently created with you. Let us seek the things common between us and find solutions for Africa today. Indeed if I am offending you, please patiently teach me again and help me to understand. Can we begin with you and me? As Tajudeen says, can we “Keep Hope Alive”.

Campaigners in Africa say governments, donor agencies and pharmaceutical firms must take action now to prevent a shortfall in malaria treatments. They fear targets for eradicating the disease set by governments and health agencies at a summit in Nigeria four years ago may not be met. The mosquito-born disease kills an estimated one million children a year.

Zimbabwean police have arrested the country's Finance Minister, Chris Kuruneri, on corruption charges. He has been accused of illegally dealing in foreign currency held outside the country, worth more than ZIM$6bn ($1.38m). He is the first senior official in President Robert Mugabe's government to be detained in a corruption crackdown.

Fighting broke out between Burundi's last active rebel group and government forces last Thursday, a day after both sides said they would cease unprovoked attacks, rebel and army sources said. Each side blamed the other for starting the clash and it was not immediately clear whether the fighting was the result of the truce not having being communicated down the lines or of rogue rebel elements.

Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal has once again reshuffled his cabinet, appointing his fourth prime minister in as many years. Idrissa Seck, who had headed the cabinet for the past 15 months, was sacked on Wednesday. He was replaced by Macky Sall, a 43-year-old petroleum engineer and unconditional supporter of Wade, who was previously Interior Minister. Political commentators said there were two main reasons for the reshuffle. Firstly, Wade wished to bring into government the Union for Renewal of Democracy - a small opposition party headed by Djibo Ka. Secondly, political commentators said, the 77-year-old president appeared to have fallen out with Seck and wanted to replace him with someone who would show more unconditional loyalty.

Rapidly changing trends in international peacekeeping are likely to pose a serious challenge to regional authorities intending to establish an emergency force for dealing with conflict in Southern Africa, recent research has noted. In a paper entitled, "Towards a Common Southern African Peacekeeping System", South African-based political analyst, Cedric de Coning, argued that the fast pace of developments in the peacekeeping field over the last decade had "complicated" efforts by policy-makers and researchers to arrive at a common understanding of peacekeeping.

King Leopold of Belgium, writes historian Adam Hochschild in this grim history, did not much care for his native land or his subjects, all of which he dismissed as "small country, small people." Even so, he searched the globe to find a colony for Belgium, frantic that the scramble of other European powers for overseas dominions in Africa and Asia would leave nothing for himself or his people.

Rejecting easy explanations of the Rwanda genocide as a mysterious evil force that was bizarrely unleashed, one of Africa's best-known intellectuals situates the tragedy in its proper context. He coaxes to the surface the historical, geographical, and political forces that made it possible for so many Hutu to turn so brutally on their neighbours.

The government of the Central African Republic (CAR) has endorsed an "Education for All" action plan, aimed at guaranteeing qualitative education for all citizens, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Saturday. The radio reported that the action plan was endorsed/adopted after a seminar held in the capital, Bangui, from Wednesday to Friday. The UN Development Programme, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), UNESCO and Coopération Francaise (French Cooperation) facilitated the seminar.

United Nations agencies have begun an assessment mission in northwestern Uganda following the mass displacement of Sudanese refugees by Ugandan rebels, an official of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told IRIN on Monday. The UNHCR spokesman for Uganda, Dennis Duncan, said an assessment team comprising UNHCR, World Food Programme and UN Development Programme officials had been sent to the affected districts of Moyo and Adjumani "to figure out where it is safe and where it is not".

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and Liberian soccer legend George Weah has suggested that heads of warring factions in the country should face justice for arming innocent Liberian children during the country's recent bloody conflict. Weah said it was a violation of local and international laws, conventions and treaties for warlords to have given weapons to children to fight. He observed that most of the children who joined the various armed groups, were either raped or conscripted against their will. The UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador pointed out that it was important for warlords to face justice in order to explain why they armed innocent Liberian children.

University students are saying hamba kahle (farewell) to South Africa's indigenous tongues as they turn their backs on studying African languages. Language experts said this week that they feared for the future of the nine official African languages as English became the language of technology, commerce and government. "Indigenous languages are under siege. Parents in townships equate education with competency in English," said Professor Mohlomi Moleleki, chairman of the Pan South African Language Board and head of African languages at the University of the Free State.