Pambazuka News 552: Occupation, land and peace: Organising from below
Pambazuka News 552: Occupation, land and peace: Organising from below
Developing countries, particularly from Africa, are concerned about attempts by industrialised nations to change the negotiating dynamic of the World Trade Organisation. They are worried that developed countries want to introduce new issues at the multilateral body’s eighth ministerial meeting later this year without first completing the unfinished Doha agreement. The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) trade negotiations, launched in 2001, were meant to correct the historical imbalances and asymmetries in the global trading system and were designed to enable poorer countries to integrate into the system.
The Eugene Terre'Blanche murder trial was expected to enter its second week in the high court sitting in Ventersdorp on Monday. Last week, seven witnesses took the stand. Five of them testified that the two farmworkers accused of killing the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) leader had confessed to the crime. Terre'Blanche's former employees, Chris Mahlangu and a minor, are accused of beating and hacking him to death in his North West farmhouse on 3 April last year.
Mawingu internally displaced persons stormed out of the camp on Monday protesting government’s failure to purchase land for them. Led by their chairman Peter Kariuki and other officials, they regretted that the government had failed to respond to their request to have them resettled on a 6,000 acre piece of land that they had identified at Wiyumuririe in Laikipia.
The desire to have a strong economy and employment may decide who will be Kenya’s next president, according to an opinion poll by Infotrak. The poll indicated that 86 per cent of Kenyans want to participate in the 2012 polls because they yearn for change. At the same time, half of Kenyans would like the General Election in August, while 37 per cent prefer December 2012.
The Libyan authorities have put the capital, Tripoli, on maximum alert after clashes between forces loyal to the National Transitional Council (NTC) and supporters of the former leader, Mouamar Kadhafi, left three dead and 30 injured. The clashes in the capital between NTC combatants and a group of Colonel Kadhafi’s supporters, estimated at between 20 and 50 armed men, were in the districts of Abu Slim and Al-Hadba. Kadhafi, who disappeared after NTC forces took Tripoli on 22 August used his latest audio message broadcast by the Syrian channel Arrai, to rally his supporters to fight the NTC.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the international community to give rural women the same access to productive resources as men, noting the huge benefits that would ensue. 'Despite the heavy responsibility rural women shoulder, they lack equal access to opportunities and resources,' Ban stated in a message, released ahead of the International Day of Rural Women.
The Pan-African Parliament, in a recommendation on land investments, has called for a moratorium on new large-scale land acquisitions, pending implementation of land policies and guidelines on good land governance. PAP has also called for the establishment of an African Ministerial Conference on land-based investments equivalent to the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCE) and the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW).
The chairperson of the Coalition of Ivorian female leaders (CFELCI), Mrs Mariam Dao-Gabala, has launched a sensitisation campaign for the mass participation of women in the country's parliamentary elections, scheduled for 11 December. Entitled 'Why not female MPs?' the campaign aims at mobilising women to break from the past and participate massively in the elections.
'How could they make this decision without us meeting first?' asked a visibly bemused President Museveni at a news conference, called in reaction to Parliament’s unanimous decision to set up an ad hoc committee to probe bribery claims in the oil sector. The NRM leader has every reason to worry when trusted cadres such as Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa, Chief Whip John Nasasira and Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, who many believe has inscribed his name on the presidential door as Mr Museveni’s successor, are publicly humiliated by corruption allegations. Talk is rife of a silent rebellion within the party - not least inspired by the secrecy shrouding the oil deals.
Human rights activists have launched a project expected to provide free legal assistance to inmates on death row. The development will also see the mitigation of the inmates’ sentences in the High Court. The project is part of an ongoing advocacy to scrap the death penalty in the country. Under the project, planned initially to benefit at least 15 death row inmates, human rights activists will also lobby for law reforms and conduct public education for various stakeholders as well as dissemination of sentencing guidelines.
The Spine Africa Project focuses on three objectives: the treatment of those afflicted with spinal conditions, the education of local medical personnel, and social change. Each of these three factors contributes individually to what seems to be an exclusively medical epidemic. Visit their website for more information.
An open death threat has been made against journalist Joseph Mwale, who was fired from the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) radio over a leaked recording of a conversation where Foreign Minister Professor Peter Mutharika was captured discussing his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidature in the 2014 presidential elections. The message threatened the journalist that they will make him 'a villain because you will soon die'.
Issue No.21 of Amandla Magazine is now available. Apart from a focus on the issue of unemployment, it contains a Q&A with Ronnie Kasrils and articles on the euro crisis, the Occupy Wall Street protests and the arms deal.
The main aim of this Timberline report is to question the claims made by Green Resources Ltd (GRL) in pursuit of CDM registration for its Idete project, as well as to expose and highlight the
problematic nature of market-based climate change mitigation projects. Findings from studies on tree plantation afflicted areas in other countries were used for comparison and to inform the Tanzanian study so as to identify common issues and trends and therefore help establish the likely impacts of similar tree plantations in Tanzania.
The effects of changes in technology - particularly in communications technology - on displaced people and those who work with them are unevenly understood and appreciated. The 32 articles and short pieces in the feature theme section of this FMR look at some of these changes and their implications. This issue also includes a selection of general articles on migrant deaths at sea, fleeing from Cairo, language training for refugees in the Czech Republic, refugees after the Japanese earthquake, a strategy for urban areas, partner violence, transitional justice in Kenya, and local integration.
REDRESS – a London-based charity that works with victims of torture, many from Africa - has produced a short film on the trial of Joseph Mpambara, an important genocide case. In July, a Dutch court sentenced Mpambara, a businessman from Mugonero, Rwanda, to life imprisonment on war crimes. The trial took place on the basis of universal jurisdiction. The film offers a very rare opportunity to see the inside work of the appeals court in the Netherlands, as its judges try to establish if Mpambara was responsible for war crimes that took place in 1994 in Rwanda. The film is available from the REDRESS website.
There are only four weeks left until the closing date for all Stage 1 2012 STARS Impact Award applications: the deadline is 1pm GMT, Monday 7 November 2011. To apply to the 2012 Impact Awards, visit you can apply online or download the application form. If you have any questions about the application process, contact us at: [email][email protected] The STARS Impact Awards identify and support local organisations that achieve excellence in the provision of services to disadvantaged children and that demonstrate effective management practices.
Is ‘citizen action’ anything other than the struggle of people to right what they perceive as wrongs and limit the power of the cruel and the unjust? Participants at a conference in the Hague, organised by Hivos, under the title 'The Changing Face of Citizen Action: A Knowledge Exploration' noted the common assumption in the room that 'citizen action' would inevitably lead to more advancement of values the room shared - more democracy, more social justice, more respect for universal rights. But in some parts of the world, 'citizen action' is mobilising fiercely against abortion, against LGBT rights, against other sects and ethnicities.
The UN’s growing concern over Ethiopia’s construction of the controversial Gibe III dam has prompted it to demand urgent information from the African state. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has given Ethiopia until the end of January 2012 to provide reliable evidence that independent assessments have been carried out, and that tribal people in the region have been properly consulted.
Global Press Institute (GPI) has announced that Gertrude Pswarayi, a GPI reporter on their Zimbabwe News Desk, won this year’s 2011 Kurt Schork Award in the local reporter category for her piece 'Political Rape Survivors Come Forward in Advance of 2011 Election', an article published last December about women who were raped and exploited in Zimbabwe.
The latest edition of the 'We Have Faith - Act Now for Climate Justice' newsletter, which deals with climate change and news in the lead up to the COP17 event in Durban, is now available.
In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...
Africa's debt repayments to the International Monitory Fund, World Bank and other multilateral lending institutions have choked social spending on the continent, a recent report reveals. With a combined debt standing at US$350 billion, this means whatever money comes in by way of 'aid' and 'assistance' from donor countries and institutions is meaningless and merely meant to ensure government's function sufficiently to pay off annual dues to lenders. Africa spends more than US$15b annually on servicing its debts. The report by the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) is titled 'African Debt Crisis - A Humanitarian Perspective'.
South Africa’s National Climate Change Response Policy, which was approved by Cabinet this week, would help the country map out a socioeconomic transition to a climate-resilient and low-carbon economy and society, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa said on Friday. The policy would seek to balance the objectives of job creation, economic growth, environmental sustainability and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
On this page, Al Jazeera staff and correspondents update you on important developments from Wall Street and around the world as the 'Occupy' financial crisis protests go viral. This page includes videos, photos, tweets and comments.
This online map shows the locations around the world where Occupy Protests have taken place. Protesters can report events for the map by sending tweet with the hashtag/s #event15oct or by filling in a form. According to the map protests took place in Tunisia, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Niger and Mali.
Haiti opened the door to freedom over 200 years ago. Now, says Eduardo Galeano, it needs a solidarity that will make possible the rebirth of its sovereignty.
With World Mental Health Day marked on 10 October, the Refugee Law Project says more attention needs to be given to the mental health of refugees.
In this book, Luke Daniels explores the topical subject of domestic violence from the perspective of his own experience as a perpetrator. He links the vice to oppressive societal values and offers useful suggestions on how to build loving relationships within the home.
Amidst an eight month battle over academic freedom in Malawi, Steve Sharra asks whether the roots of the crisis might lie much deeper, in the very nature of the Malawian public university in particular, and the modern African university in general.
If sub-Saharan Africa is to have its own ‘Arab Spring’, we ‘need to organise ourselves not just on social networks but also within our own communities,’ writes Charles Nhamo Rupare.
In the space of a fortnight, Africa lost one Nobel Prize winner, Kenya’s Wangari Maathai and gained two more – Liberia’s Leymah Gbowee and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. But as we celebrate their achievements, we should be mindful that ‘womanhood is not synonymous with sainthood’, cautions Sokari Ekine.
Challenges facing Cote d’Ivoire’s Ouattara regime, the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Cameroon, the run-up to the country’s recent elections, racial conflict in Mauritania and Zambia’s presidential elections all feature in this round-up of the African blogosphere, by Dibussi Tande.
Uganda’s President Museveni is intent on a deal to clear a quarter of the Mabira Central Forest Reserve for the cultivation of sugar cane by the Sugar Corporation of Uganda, jointly owned by the State and private investor, Mehta Group. Museveni’s fiercely opposed decision comes despite the project’s negative ecological, social and economic impacts, and a lack of popular backing, even from members of his own party.
Early on the morning of 24 September, University of Malawi Polytechnic student Robert Chasowa was found dead. Initial reports were that the death was as a result of suicide, but since then speculation has grown about the cause of the student activist's death. This Global Voices article looks at the reaction of blogs and official media channels to the death.
The Kenya Government has started resettling people evicted from forests in Rift Valley and Western provinces with lands minister James Orengo opening bids to buy land for the evictees. Mr Orengo said those to benefit from the land to be purchased by the government are people evicted from Mau and Embobut forests. The minister denied that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was using resettlement issues in Rift Valley as a campaign gimmick.
'The ink has barely dried on the documents formalising South Sudan’s self-determination, but the scramble for its land is already in full swing,' writes Nisrin Elamin.
In 'Detention Abuses Staining the New Libya', Amnesty International reveals a pattern of beatings and ill-treatment of captured al-Gaddafi soldiers, suspected loyalists and alleged mercenaries in western Libya. In some cases there is clear evidence of torture in order to extract confessions or as a punishment. 'There is a real risk that without firm and immediate action, some patterns of the past might be repeated. Arbitrary arrest and torture were a hallmark of Colonel al-Gaddafi's rule,' said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Prof Wangari Maathai’s spirit, like those of other great women and men who once walked the land of Africa, will continue to live in our midst, nudging us to overcome our little fears and confront injustice wherever we find it, writes Henry Makori
The October - December 2011 issue of Race&Class is available. It includes:
- Spaghetti House siege: making the rhetoric real
- ‘Seize the time’: an interview with Stephen Jones
- The Attica Liberation Faction Manifesto of Demands
- Mariner, renegade and castaway: Chris Braithwaite, seamen’s organiser and Pan-Africanist.
HIV/AIDS flourishes as a result of ‘social problems rooted deeply in global economic structures and require political and social interventions,’ writes Brian K. Murphy. If we want to control it, ‘social and economic justice’ are far more important than philanthropy.
‘In these days of dire economic and environmental crisis, with political elites under attack from Athens to Washington, the establishment is desperate for legitimacy. Even International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff now publicly endorse ‘social justice’ at the same time they tighten austerity screws,’ writes Patrick Bond. Someone needs to hold them to account.
On Sunday 9 October 2011, a mass march and protest took place in Cairo, starting from the working-class Shobra neighborhood and gathering in front of the state television building Maspero in downtown, near Tahrir Square. The demonstration was called to to protest the burning of a church in Aswan, in the south of Egypt, and calling for the equal rights of Coptic Christians. The peaceful protest was attacked by the military, security forces and thugs, leaving at least 26 people dead and 329 people wounded. Yehia el Gammal is an Egyptian activist who is working on a project called the New Republic, creating a consensus vision for the transition from military to civilian rule in Egypt. He was at the protest on Sunday night.
AWDF has congratulated the three winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, describing the prize as ‘significant recognition’ of the efforts that all three have made ‘to create sustainable peace in their respective communities’.
The gong of death
Is going to silence
The life bells
And snatch my soul
Take it into deep wells
Dark and unknown...
‘Court poets sung praise to power and excesses’ but Tendai Mwanaka ‘speaks truth to power directly’, writes Philo Ikonya in a review of a recent collection of works by the Zimbabwean writer, ‘filled with strong and open political poetry.’
Despite years of trying to obtain legal documents of his citizenship and residency status, Jabulani Sibanda remains undocumented. Without them, he is resigned to living quietly and unobtrusively under the radar of officialdom. 'I always find myself back at square one,' he said, shrugging at the repeated obstacles he faces. 'I know no other life but one of being sent from pillar to post, begging and ingratiating myself into and out of situations. It is my life.' Sibanda's problems started when he was seven, when he and his mother crossed illegally from Zimbabwe into South Africa.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has won a share of one of the western world’s most prestigious awards, yet the residents of the capital Monrovia have not had running water for the full six years of her term in office, writes Thomas C. Mountain.
‘It is in moments of celebrating revolutions where the past and future revolutions can be reflected upon,’ writes Horace Campbell on the anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China in 1911. ‘Pan-Africanists today will learn the positive and negative lessons of Pan-Asianism, as those struggling for unity in Africa and in China recognise that prosperity for one part of humanity cannot be built on the exploitation on the other part of humanity.’
The African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights has drafted a model access to information law for member states of the African Union. Vrinda Choraria encourages public comments on the draft before the deadline on 31 October
The 2011 Rafto Prize is to be awarded to Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). Frank Mugisha, executive director of SMUG, will receive the award on behalf of the organisation. The prize is awarded to SMUG for its work to make fundamental human rights apply to everyone, and to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The study presents findings from Dominica, Lesotho, India, Samoa and Sri Lanka. It explores the feminisation debate from a variety of perspectives that have dominated much of the discourse on the role of women teachers within expanding education systems, particularly within primary education provision. The study analyses issues through a broader lens on gender equity as it pertains not just to education, but also to employment and women's rights and empowerment more generally.
Perhaps we're offering a little too much?
Where do Michael Sata's allegiances lie?
Luring youths in with the promise of something better?
Not quite the role for women the Chief Justice has in mind!
A cholera epidemic sweeping through west and central Africa, one of the largest in the region's history, has killed at least 2,466 and infected 85,000 more, this year alone, according to the United Nations. Unicef, the UN Children's Fund, said the virulent disease was causing an 'unacceptably high' rate of fatalities and called for a redoubling of efforts from government agencies.
Kate Kamunde, a well-known Kenyan LGBTI activist has for the second time been denied a visa to attend a rights training session in Canada. The visa denial has caused dismay in civil society circles with the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi coming under fire in a letter from the Canadian organisation that had invited Kamunde for the training. Kamunde, the Program Coordinator, AFRA-Kenya was scheduled to attend a key training by the Women’s Human Rights Education Institutes (WHRI) in Canada.
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the 'illogical' conviction of newspaper editor William Tonet for libel and an order for him to pay a 10 million kwanzas (€77,000) fine within five days or go to prison for a year. The supreme court will not agree to hear his appeal unless he first pays the fine. 'The libel has not been proven and the judge was clearly in league with those suing the journalist, who has been a target of the authorities for a long time,' the worldwide press freedom organisation said.
As Tunisia is preparing to hold historic elections on 23 October, the profound reform of the media sector is yet to take place, despite genuine initiatives taken and valid recommendations made by competent groups and voices. In this context, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG), a coalition of 21 free expression groups, urges the interim government to authorise without any further delay the 12 radio and five television services recommended by the National Authority to Reform Information and Communication (INRIC), respectively on 29 June and 7 September, to start broadcasting.
More than 200,000 Malawian farmers who depend on government subsidies to grow enough food to feed their families will have to go it alone when the agricultural subsidy programme is pruned. During the 2010/11 farming season 1.6 million farmers received vouchers to buy heavily subsidised fertilizer and maize seed, costing the government and donors 23 billion kwacha (US$152.3 million). Now, in the midst of a crippling economic crisis, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has announced that only 1.4 million farmers are eligible to receive vouchers for the 2011/12 season.
In Madagascar the minimum legal age for women to marry is 14 years, and girls under the age of 18 can be married without giving their consent, providing their parents agree. A 2004 UN report estimated that 34 per cent of Malagasy girls between 15 and 19 were married, divorced or widowed, and more than a quarter had at least one child. The organisation Femmes Interessee au Development de Antalaha (FIDA) provides information about reproductive health and better access to contraceptives, but funding is becoming hard to come by.
This Africa Files post is a summary of a UNEP report on DR Congo’s post-conflict natural resources environment. It states that the country has immense natural resources and could become a powerhouse for Africa’s development if the multiple threats to these resources are urgently addressed.
This report on Botswana is the first of two country studies (the second concerns Mali) that examine gender and employment in Africa. The study is informed by two broad development frameworks. The first is the Millennium Development Agenda that views Millennium Development Goal 3, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, as a critical determinant in the attainment of all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and more broadly, poverty reduction. The second is the African Development Bank’s Managing for Development Results (MfDR), the organisation’s blueprint for development effectiveness.
Tucked away in Kumasi, Ghana’s second city, is a small office manned by four ambitious software engineers promoting African languages and cultures around the world through publishing downloadable phrase books for study. 'It started as a dream but three years after we set up Nkyea Learning Systems (NLS), the company has been able to develop software to help in the study of Akan and Swahili,' NLS chief executive officer Kwabena Sarpong told the Africa Review.
Nigerian police on 11 October arrested five senior journalists and two other officials of a Lagos-based private newspaper, the daily said in a statement. The Nation newspaper said in the statement that it believed the arrest was in connection with its front page report last week on a 'secret' letter allegedly written by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan. In the purported letter, published on the front page of the newspaper, it was alleged that Obasanjo had asked President Jonathan to dismiss officials of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).
The United States's incarceration of the 'Cuban Five' proves that it has no respect for humanity and justice, the ANC Youth League said. In a statement supporting the release of the Cuban Five, the league criticised the US government for its approach to international politics. 'In the spirit of international and human solidarity, the ANC Youth League is of the conviction that the incarceration of the Cuban Five by the United States government is not only unjust, but a gross violation of human rights and disrespect of the integrity and sovereignty of Cuba.'
The Liberian authorities on 26 September 2011 suspended indefinitely Ambrose Nmah, the director general of the state-owned Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) over the broadcast of a press conference in which George Oppong Weah, the running mate of the main opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), was alleged to have verbally assaulted President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) correspondent reported that the opposition leader in a press conference on 24 September repeatedly told the media which was broadcast on LBS that 'Ellen, that lady, she brought war, she is known for bringing war not us'. Weah’s comments, the correspondent said, angered President Sirleaf and her supporters.
Phyllis Hakola Jimmy lost her husband in a road accident ten years ago. With six children to look after, life was not easy for the 57-year-old widow. Hakola struggled to feed her children and pay their school fees. Then in 2006, she decided to act, reports Farm Radio Weekly. She met with three other widows. She says, 'I...told them that we cannot just stay with the children without looking for ways to make ends meet.' She asked them to help her form a widows’ group. She wanted to find a way for widows to help themselves and improve their livelihoods. For three years, the widows’ group has been able to access bank loans. Each widow manages her own income-generating activities. But the women also farm collectively. Every member repays a specified amount on pre-determined dates. In this way, each of them contributes to repaying the loan.
The effects of the global financial crisis, which has hit Angola since 2009, has contributed to the slump of the average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate from 17 per cent in 2008 to two per cent in 2009 and three per cent in 2011, according to the minister of economy, Abraao Pio Gourgel.
According to the government official, this situation has occurred despite government's stimulus to economic activity, due to the dependence on the oil sector, which accounts for 45 to 50 per cent of GDP and over 75 per cent of state revenues and 98 per cent of total exports.
Addressing the closing session of the 2011/2012 parliamentary budget, the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda, named 15 companies which he said led in tax payment in the country. However, Mr Pinda’s list did not only end up raising more questions than answers, but also helped to confirm a long held view that many big companies were not paying taxes, says the website
The HIV and AIDS discussion needs to become inclusive of citizens so that their needs can be reflected in policy design at every level of government, says this report. When citizens become active in facing up to problems such as HIV with policy makers and planners, they develop capacity and confidence to take ownership and responsibility for common concerns in public life.
According to local sources from Sahn Malen Chiefdom, Pujehun district, the police have arrested up to 30 peaceful protesters including their spokesman Eddie Amara and took them to Pujehun. They are accused of public disorder according to the local unit commander. Land owning families are blocking the Socfin (SAC) operation area in Sahn Malen, south of the country. The company is one of the large scale investors in oil palm plantation in Sierra Leone.
Participants at a two-day High-Level Forum on Foreign Direct Investments in Land in Africa have resolved to promote land-based investment models that increase agricultural productivity and maximize opportunities for Africa’s farmers. The traditional leaders, government representatives, private sector and civil society actors at the Forum stressed that the majority of Africans derive their livelihoods from agriculture, including pastoralism, and that women comprise the majority of smallholder famers. The outcome - dubbed the Nairobi Action Plan - underscores the need to minimize the negative impacts of large-scale land acquisitions.
Atunga Atuti argues that the proposed law will retain the National Security Intelligence Service as it exists today. The bill contains provisions that close the NSIS to public scrutiny in contravention of the constitution and empowers the agency to threaten basic freedoms
The occupation of Wall Street, which incited other occupations, indicates a crucial realisation that for too long society has been subordinated to capital, writes Richard Pithouse. The only realistic route to achieving meaningful change is sustained organising from below to shift power relations
Black consciousness artiste Peter Tosh demonstrated to black people the world over that it is worthless living on your knees, according to Imrann Moosa. You need to hold your head up and look the oppressor straight in the eye. They will blink.
Lucy Hovil reports about the uncertain future of thousands of Burundian refugees in Tanzania who are under increasing pressure to return home against their wish. Tanzania has set a new deadline for return, after which the government will force them out
The latest news about the US conflict minerals law is that California State has become the first state in the United State to pass its own conflict minerals legislation. This legislation mirrors Section 1502 of the national legislation, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which also aims at addressing the problem of conflict minerals originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). All companies, regardless of whether they are importing to the US raw or processed minerals, or as finished components, are expected to report on the due diligence they have undertaken to verify their supply chain and avoid conflict-promoting metals.
Since 2007, Blog Action Day has focused bloggers around the world to blog about one important global topic on the same day. Past topics have included water, climate change and poverty. This year, Blog Action Day will be held on 16 October, which coincides with World Food Day, so the theme is food.
Heavy fighting between government forces and militant Islamists in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, has forced the closure of a hospital, an aid group says. Dr Ahmed Mohamed said the shelling of a maternity unit run by SOS Children on 10 October killed one staff member and forced patients and staff to flee. This was the first time in 25 years that the hospital had closed, he said.
After 23 years of enforced silence, media professionals and artists in Tunisia are enjoying a period in which their freedom of expression is being respected for the first time. Hundreds of cyber-activists from across the Arab world gathered in the birthplace of the Arab Spring last week at the third meeting of Arab bloggers to discuss the role of social media and cyber-activism during popular revolts that toppled dictators in North Africa.
A new report on global hunger pinpoints factors at the heart of spikes in food prices it says are exacerbating the unfolding food crisis in the Horn of Africa. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) points to climate change, growing demand for biofuels, and increasing commodities futures trading in global food markets as the causes of price increases in food, which it says were also at the root of the food crisis of 2007-2008.
In a country where only 8.6 per cent of the population has access to the internet - and where freedom of information is limited by a pervasive culture of secrecy - the importance of mobile phones in Kenya extends far beyond one to one communication. In this context ARTICLE 19 is deeply concerned by the latest plans by the telecommunications regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), to deactivate all 'counterfeit' mobile phone handsets by the end of the year. 'In light of the importance of mobile phones in Kenya, penalising the consumer rather than the perpetrator of the fraud is manifestly disproportionate.'
The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the African regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), called on the legislative body of the African Union (AU), Pan-African Parliament (PAP) to end injustice of impunity and protect safety of journalists. 'As parliamentarians, you are readily expected by the journalists' community in Africa to end the injustice of impunity for crimes against journalists that has been rocking the continent and contributed to the lack of safety for journalists,' said Omar Faruk Osman, FAJ President, addressing PAP's select committee on justice and human rights. It was the first time since its establishment that the PAP addressed the issue of freedom of expression.
The training of more doctors, the refurbishment of nursing colleges, the appointment of retired nurses and specialists and the building of more hospitals and medical faculties are some of the plans presented by health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and the launch of the Human Resource for Health Strategy. 'A number of studies and our own assessment attest to significant gaps in the planning, production and deployment of human resources for health. Further evidence indicates that the training and production of certain key health worker categories has stagnated or reversed over the years. The weak management skills in the public service aggravate the situation even further,' he said.
Cameroon's opposition parties said on Wednesday they would ask the Supreme Court to annul a presidential election because of widespread irregularities. Joshua Osih, vice-president of the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), said evidence of double-voting and a lack of ballot papers in some polling stations meant the results, which are due in coming days, could not be credible.
Kurmuk hospital in Sudan’s southern crisis-hit Blue Nile State is struggling to cope with an influx of war wounded, according to hospital doctor Evan Atar. So far he has treated 626 people for shrapnel injuries since clashes began last month between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) opposition political party-turned-rebel group.
Hundreds of families are on the move in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, after three days of fighting between government troops supported by African Union peacekeeping troops (AMISOM) and Islamist insurgents, local sources told IRIN. 'We don’t have exact numbers but hundreds of families are on the move, particularly from Heliwa, Suuqa Xolaha, Karan [north Mogadishu] and Dayniile [northwest],' Abdullahi Shirwa, head of Somalia's National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), told IRIN.
A number of prominent West African LGBTI activists have urged the British government to rethink its recent threat to cut aid to 'anti-gay nations'. The activists suggest that the British government move with caution in the matter as it could result in even more homophobia when the general public and marginalised groups who rely on foreign aid for day to day survival blame the LGBTI community for the loss of their sustenance.
The Angolan government has championed the Kilamba social housing development as evidence of how it is dealing with an acute housing shortage. But Rafael Marques de Morais provides an insight into some of the companies - and politicians - who are making money from the development.
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© Mike SclafaniThree women from the global south have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Nada Mustafa Ali tells us who they are, what they did to win the prize and why it is good news for women’s and peace groups.
A new law on child adoption in Malawi is proposing to ban gays and lesbians from adopting children. The law will also not allow individuals found to have unsound mind and former convicted criminals to adopt Malawian children. The proposals were unveiled by Malawi’s special Law Commission chairperson Judge Esmie Chombo in the capital Lilongwe.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams presented Robert Mugabe with a dossier of alleged abuses perpetrated against worshippers over the past four years. In response, the president delivered a history lesson on Anglo-Zimbabwean relations, detailed his own religious upbringing and reminded Williams that the Church of England is 'a breakaway group' from the Catholic church. Despite persistent rumours over the 87-year-old president's health, Williams commented: 'He's on top of things intellectually.'
Discontent with political leaders is mounting in Botswana, which has long been held up as a model of democratic governance in Africa. The ruling Botswana Democratic Party's (BDP) secretary-general Kentse Rammidi plunged his party into a crisis by his resignation recently, bemoaning a lack of internal democracy. Rammidi's decision followed a move by Labour and Home Affairs Minister Peter Siele to declare teaching, veterinary services and diamond sorting to be essential services.
Namibia will have to pay more than half a billion dollars in duties if the country has not signed the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) by January 2014. The EU recently adopted a proposal to stop Namibia from enjoying duty- and quota-free access to its markets if the country refuses to commit to the controversial trade pact by then. The European Council still has to approve the proposal. Without preferential access, Namibia would have to pay an average of 19,5 per cent duties on all future exports to the EU.
The African Encounter for the Defence of Human Rights (Raddho) has urged Mauritania's government to opt for dialogue over a census under way and to reject 'blind police violence'. One man has been killed and at least 15 others have been injured, according to Mauritanian rights groups, in southern Mauritania since 24 September during clashes between police and black opponents of the census.
As Parliament resumes, one of the motions lined up for debate is the proposed amendment to the Constitution to change the election date and the one-third gender representation clause. Already, the government has published the proposed amendments, and despite stiff opposition from lobbyists, religious groups, the private sector and the Constitution Implementation Commission, it is hell-bent on pushing them through, says this Daily Nation article. 'If the amendments go through, the government will have a set a very bad precedent, where it resorts to changing laws whenever it is faced with difficult choices.'
Former Vice President Gilbert Bukenya has been granted bail pending trial, after spending a week on remand. Bukenya is charged with abuse of office for his role in the award of a deal worth Shs9.4b to supply 204 executive vehicles four years ago during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to Motorcare.