A United Nations report shows progress in treating children with AIDS and preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, but urges greater efforts to stem the tide of the global epidemic. According to Children and AIDS, there were some 2.1 million children under 15 living with HIV in 2007, most of whom were infected before birth, during delivery or while breastfeeding. And young people aged 15-24 still account for about 40 per cent of the new HIV infections among all people over 15 in 2007.

A senior United Nations official has called for greater investments in agriculture and rural development to boost economic growth and reduce poverty in Africa, both of which are critical to achieving the global target of halving poverty and hunger by 2015. Rapid agricultural and rural development holds the key to eliminating poverty in Africa,” Kanayo Nwanze, Vice-President of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) told the meeting of African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa delegates gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Thousands of children in Burkina Faso are taking part in peer education programmes to promote awareness among the country’s young about the scourge of HIV/AIDS under a project backed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The African Youth Network Against AIDS, the youth arm of a non-governmental organization supported by UNICEF, has sponsored a network of clubs for young people that has grown to almost 2,000 and in which sport, education and other activities are used to teach awareness about how to avoid the disease.

This book presents the context, theory, and current thinking on the interaction between ICTs and local governance, particularly in Africa. It discusses the shift from “government” to “e-governance,” describes the role of local-level authorities, and presents the benefits and limitations of introducing ICTs in government operations. Case studies from Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda describe local governance/ICTs projects executed by civil society organizations, academic institutions, and government authorities.

The leadership of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party met on Friday to decide whether President Robert Mugabe should contest a runoff vote against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe convened his politburo after the party lost control of parliament for the first time in 28 years, in the biggest setback of his rule.

Egyptian security forces detained 30 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood on Friday just days ahead of Egypt's local council elections, including a member of the group's governing Guidance Office, the group said. The detentions add to a growing crackdown that has seen more than 300 members of the country's most powerful opposition group picked up since Tuesday ahead of the April 8 vote, in which the Brotherhood is vying for seats against Egypt's ruling party.

Moroccan officials announced last week that work is in progress on a draft bill outlawing domestic violence. The ministries of Social Development, Education and Islamic Affairs will also partner on a campaign aimed at fostering a culture of gender equality.

RCD party chief Said Saadi has returned from an international tour to solicit observers for Algeria's presidential elections next spring. Some politicians view Saadi's move as an early indication of his likely candidacy. Others oppose the measure, arguing that foreign observers call Algeria's reputation and sovereignty into question.

After months of sporadic xenophobic attacks elsewhere in South Africa, a series of brutal assaults on foreigners in makeshift settlements on the outskirts of the capital has galvanized government and private organizations into action. The mob attacks last month on foreigners in Atteridgeville – everyone from refugees and asylum seekers to South Africans born overseas – left several people dead and large numbers of houses looted and burned.

EISA Johannesburg has a vacancy for a Library and Publications Clerk, reporting to the Senior Librarian and Publications Officer in the Library and Publications Unit.

This paper takes a fresh look at the issue of Angola and China's partnership. The study is based upon fieldwork carried out in Angola in 2007 and 2008 and includes numerous interviews with Angolan officials. It describes a pragmatic bilateral partnership, deconstructing the Chinese loans to Angola and documenting the number of Chinese workers in Angola and the impact of their projects.

Liberian refugees in Ghana, mostly women, protested in hopes the U.N. would help them find new homes in Western countries. Now they are in a makeshift camp, fearing mass deportation to a homeland with an 85 percent jobless rate.

This World Health Organization report on global tuberculosis (TB) control compiles data from over 200 countries to monitor the scale and direction of TB epidemics, implementation and the impact of the Stop TB Strategy. The paper finds that there were an estimated 9.2 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths from TB in 2006 including 0.2 million deaths among people infected with HIV.

A network which will focus on ICT for Health - known as Afya Mtandao (Swahili for Health Network) - was officially launched on January 31st 2008 in Mwanza, Tanzania. The network unites Tanzanian health workers and promotes the use of ICT in the health sector by providing a knowledge-sharing platform for health workers, raising awareness if ICT in the health sector and providing ICT support services for health institutions.

Ivory Coast has slashed the taxes on imported staple foods after two days of violent protests in the commercial capital Abidjan over rising prices. At least one man died in the demonstrations during which police fired live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protesters blocking roads with burning tyres and barricades.

Ahmed Abdalla Sambi, president of Comoros, has urged peaceful demonstrations against France after it moved the defeated president of Anjouan island to Reunion. Mohammed Bacar fled by speedboat to the nearby French-ruled island of Mayotte after an African Union backed military invasion.

Sudan has accused Chad of bombing a village in Darfur, vowing to respond to the "aggressive and serious" violations of a fledgling peace agreement. Ali al-Sadiq, the Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman, said that a Chadian military helicopter "bombed a place called Um Tamjoob" on Wednesday.

As the world waits to see what will happen in Zimbabwe, Patrick Bond argues that lessons should be taught and retaught about the dangers of elite transition between a voracious, corrupt, violent and divisive set of rulers, and an incoming crew who might not withstand the blandishments of local power-sharing and global economic seduction.

Transparency International-Kenya (TI-K) would like to express its alarm at the apparent vacuum in the governance structures and practice brought about by the sluggish progress in the constitution of a new cabinet as stipulated in the Peace Accord. The delays are understood to be as an effort to accommodate disparate political interests with some proposing a hugely bloated cabinet.

Violence was relatively low in the run-up to local elections on 29 March in Nigeria's oil-rich Rivers State but with evidence emerging of massive voting irregularities in favour of the ruling party, human rights groups warn the worst may not be over.

With preparations for new local elections under way, following a succesful military venture by the Comoros Union government and African Union (AU) troops to restore order to the renegade island by force, deeper humanitarian concerns have emerged. Last week a combined military force toppled Mohamed Bacar, a rebel leader who had defied demands to re-run local elections, deemed illegal by the AU and Union government. Bacar has fled and is believed to be on the French isalnd of Reunion.

At least 6,000 people have been affected by flooding following heavy rains in the southern coastal district of Taveta, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) said. Three primary schools have also been closed temporarily after being submerged," Anthony Mwangi, the KRCS Public Relations Manager said on 1 April. "The water levels in some areas are up to chest level."

The Somali consul in the port city of Aden has called on the international community to take steps to end the deaths of migrants - mainly Somalis fleeing in flimsy smugglers’ boats to Yemen - in the Gulf of Aden, and find a lasting solution to their plight.

The Gender and Development Unit are collaborating on the development of an online workshop on 'Writing for Publication in Peer Reviewed Journals on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Gender and Sexuality'. The aim is to assist experts in the field to write and publish academic papers in leading international peer-reviewed journals.

François-Xavier Nsanzuwera reflects about Captain Diagne Mbaye, a true exemplar of Pan-Africanism who dies in Rwanda as he fought against the 1994 genocide

In April 2008, the world commemorates the 14th anniversary of the genocide of the Tutsis of Rwanda. The estimated figure of the victims of this genocide stands at more than one million people. However, as rightly expressed by the Court of Appeal of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the world will probably never know the exact number of fatalities. Speaking about the campaign aiming at exterminating the Tutsis in 1994, the Court of Appeal stated that "That campaign was successful to a dreadful degree; although the exact numbers may never be known, the great majority of Tutsis were murdered while many others were raped or otherwise harmed."

This remembrance also coincides with the closing down of the ICTR. This ad hoc international criminal tribunal, established by Resolution 955 (1994) of the Security Council of the 8th of November 1994 must complete in 2008 the trials already brought before the Court and those before the Court of Appeal by 2010.

This Tribunal closes down at a time when all the observers, including its detractors, recognize that it has reached its cruising speed, mainly in 2003.

As of today, 27 accused have been finally convicted, 27 cases are still awaiting judgement, one is pending before the Court of Appeal and 5 people have been acquitted. Two cases were transmitted to a national court of law, namely those of the abbot Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and the former prefect of Gikongoro, Laurent Bucyibaruta. The Prosecutor also requested the Court of the ICTR to authorize the transfer of some cases to Rwanda, pursuant to Rule 11 bis of the Rules of procedure and evidence.

Even if not all the torturers were apprehended and judged, the legacy of the ICTR will be considerable. Some observers tend to always assess the performance of the ICTR through numbers, namely, numbers of people judged and the financial cost. The importance of the legacy of the ICTR to the world is fundamental.

One of the achievements of the ICTR lies in the recognition of the genocide of the Tutsis. The judgements rendered by the various Courts and the Court of Appeal of the ICTR confirm that a genocide occurred in Rwanda. The already quoted decision of the Court of Appeal of the ICTR renders it clearly: "The fact of the Rwandan genocide is a part of world history, a fact as certain as any other, a classic instance of a “fact of common knowledge."

This judicial notice drawn up by the Court of Appeal, in its decision of 16 June 2006, constitutes an effective weapon in the fight against all the revisionists and those denying the existence of the genocide in Rwanda.

The jurisprudence of the ICTR contributed also to the development of the corpus of international humanitarian law. Paying tribute to the co-operation between the Government of Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, stated, during his visit to Rwanda said that "the good co-operation between your country and the ICTR has not only made possible the promotion of national reconciliation; it also played an important rôle in the development of the jurisprudence in international criminal law." (Fondation Hirondelle, 31 January 2008)

Mr Ban Ki-Moon stressed that the legacy of the ICTR is a testimony of the common fight against impunity.

On the 7th of April 2008, our thoughts will go not only to the victims and the survivors of the genocide but also to all those men and women of different nationalities, from different legal backgrounds who were the pioneers of the work accomplished by the ICTR. They were not in Nuremberg and not in Tokyo in 1945 but they were in Arusha. They brought their contribution to this building of justice, one of the pillars of reconciliation.

This memorial should also be an opportunity to think of the Just, these men and women who, while risking their lives, saved the Tutsis whose very life was threatened. At the time of the celebration of the World Women’s Day at the ICTR, the Prosecutor, Mr. Hassan B Jallow, stressed the heroic role played by Rwandan women, like Zula Karuhimbi, who saved their Tutsi compatriots during the genocide.

Today, my thoughts go particularly to a man who lost his life in Rwanda during the genocide, namely the Senegalese Captain Diagne Mbaye. He was a blue helmet of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) and he fell under a bomb. He was in the prime of life, the time when one enjoys life, makes projects and fulfils those things he/she has always been dreaming of. He was young and handsome but was also particularly courageous and so generous that he lost his life in Rwanda, far from Senegal, the country where he was born.

I do not know the exact circumstances of his death. I came to know him on the 10th of April 1994 at the Hotel des Milles Collines where my wife and I had just found refuge. This man was our guardian angel during our stay at the Hotel des Milles Collines from the 10th of April to the 28th of May 1994. During the two months that we spent at this hotel, Captain Diagne Mbaye went every day into the town of Kigali to help people in danger. Every day he would bring back to the hotel many entire families thus saving their lives.

After the genocide, several survivors recounted to us the courageous acts of Captain Mbaye. Many a survivor has bad memories of the UNAMIR. The latter reminds them of the abandonment, a sort of treason for those who believed in the Arusha Peace Accords and for those who believed in the peacekeeping mission of this force. However, some men within this institution risked their own life to save people. One can mention the commander-in-chief of this mission who, without inadequate means, remained with some few people and witnessed the tragic moments of the history of Rwanda and the world. The genocide has left its mark on his life. When he went to testify before the ICTR, General Romeo Dallaire paid tribute to the victims of the genocide. He saved the honour of the international community which gave up on the victims for three months. I have much respect for this man whose suffering makes him close to many survivors.

The courage of Captain Diagne Mbaye and his demise in the cause of Rwanda, right in the middle of the genocide, reconcile us with our mother continent. For three months, the world and Africa watched the genocide without doing anything, while the whole of mankind stared at the macabre images shown on the television screens. However, in Rwanda, some men and women of honour did what they could to save lives.

If today the younger generations must learn the history of the Holocaust, the genocide of the Armenians, the genocide done by the Khmers Rouges and the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, it is important that they also learn the history of the courageous people, like Captain Diagne Mbaye, the people who, like him, remind us of our common humanity. During the horrible times of wars and genocides, these brave men and women save our humanity, our "ubuntu". The abbot Alexis Kagame and His Lordship Desmond Tutu wrote many articles on this beautiful word of “ubuntu” that is found in several Bantu languages. In Kinyarwanda, the word “ubuntu” means generosity, humanity, the fact of being human.

During this month of painful memories, my thoughts go to Captain Mbaye who died far from his motherland and his people and to all those, amongst his comrades, who remained men of honour. Somewhere in Rwanda, somewhere in the world, each time the international community remembers the genocide of the Tutsis and the massacre of Hutus opposed to the ideology of the genocide, there are men and women who think of Captain Diagne Mbaye and at what his memory represents, namely courage, dedication to duty, sense of honour and selflessness.

*François-Xavier Nsanzuwera is affiliated with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

**Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/359/47086SADC.jpgInordinate delay in announcing results is of grave concern to civil society:

We the undersigned Civil Society groups whose names are listed below have found it necessary to send this urgent petition to your Excellences in order to save our country from potentially sinking into complete anarchy if election results are manipulated.

On 29th March, 2008 the people of Zimbabwe voted for the national president, members of parliament and councillors.

The elections took place against the background of a serious political and economic crisis in the country, which has lasted for a decade. After brazen use of organized violence and torture of political opponents as Zimbabwe approached the 2008 election year, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) facilitated negotiations between the government and the opposition to end Zimbabwe 's crisis so that Zimbabweans can once again live in dignity.

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa who was mandated by SADC to lead the dialogue stated clearly that his aspiration was that the March 2008 elections needed to be held in circumstances where the outcome of such elections would not be contestable. Even though the negotiations collapsed before reaching their final conclusion, there were some changes in the electoral laws that resulted in visible changes on the ground in terms of the election management process as follows:

1. The accreditation of journalists was smoother and earlier than in previous elections even though the government erred in being selective on whom it invited to observe.  

2. There were less queues at polling stations and it looked like the majority of those who wanted to vote and whose names were on the voter's roll managed to vote without undue delays or major hassles.

3. The general environment inside the polling station and around the polling station was not hostile unlike in previous elections where cases of harassment of local observers were reported. In this election there have been few reports of intimidation or harassment of human rights defenders during the election day and the period immediately after.  

4. The counting and posting of results at the polling stations for all to see was very well received and ordinary people could be seen in numbers studying the results posted at the polling stations.

There were however some areas of concern as well. These will be enumerated in due course as various organizations do their individual and collective election reports as necessary. However the biggest concern that has emerged is the inordinate delay in the announcing of the election results. The counting was done immediately after the polls were shut generally around 7 pm on 28 March 2008 at the polling stations. The results were posted at the polling stations immediately and there is significant concern at the failure of the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) to announce these results more than 36 hours after the voting stopped. There seems to be absolutely no justification for this delay and the tokenistic announcement of results for 109 contested positions by 8am on 1 April 2008 is wholly inadequate.

We as Civil Society are concerned by the failure to announce the results timeously. This creates a founded suspicion in the minds of Zimbabweans that the authorities are trying to manipulate the results in order to get their preferred party candidates to win. This is especially so given that the opposition has already been expressing public concern at what they saw as measures that were being taken to manipulate the vote and rig the elections.

This delay, if it persist will result in the real likelihood of the outcome of the elections being contested and in the process undermining what ever small gains may have arisen from the SADC efforts. We are naturally gravely concerned that any contestation of the outcome of the elections is also likely to lead to escalation of conflict. With the weak rule of law environment that has been well documented before, the elections may trigger serious and potentially widespread violations of human rights in Zimbabwe .

We are aware that the Zimbabwean government has already deployed police, army and intelligence units into the major cities in anticipation of potential trouble. Of significant concern are the unconfirmed rumours that allegedly from the security branches of government that the incumbent is preparing to declare a state of emergency after announcing inaccurate results. This is consistent with the threats by the security chiefs before the elections that they are not prepared to accept the election results if President Mugabe and ZANU PF lose the elections.

We the Civil Society Organisations from Zimbabwe therefore implore the SADC and AU heads of State and Government to urgently

1. Exert the necessary diplomatic pressure to force President Mugabe to ensure that the elections are as free and fair as possible.  

2. Demand that President Mugabe and his government should allow the elections results to be released immediately without being tampered with.  

3. Exert the necessary diplomatic pressure to President Mugabe not to declare a state of emergency.  

4. Apply pressure on the military and intelligence in Zimbabwe not to manipulate the elections results and to accept the peoples verdict in the elections  

5. Call for SADC in conjunction with other international and domestic observers to investigate allegations of fraud, so that the ZEC announced results may be       correlated with independent tabulation processes.  

6. That SADC together with the African Union should be prepared to urgently engage in a process to assist in resolving any dispute that may arise if the results of the elections are seriously contested - particularly since the domestic electoral courts process is itself not seen as legitimate by all but the ruling party.

Dated this 1 April 2008 by the undersigned Civil Society Organisations

1. CRISIS COALITION ZIMBABWE   2. ZIMBABWE LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS   3. ZIMBABWE NATIONAL STUDENTS UNION   4. ZIMRIGHTS   5. MANICALAND LEGAL PRACTITIONERS ASSOCIATION.   6. CHURCHES IN MANICALAND   7. ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM   8. ZIMBABWE CONGRESS OF TRADE UNIONS   9. NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY  10. THE SAVE ZIMBABWE CAMPAIGN  11. PROGRESSIVE TEACHERS UNION OF ZIMBABWE  12. STUDENTS SOLIDARITY TRUST  13. COMBINED HARARE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION  14. ZIMBABWE STUDENTS CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT  15. ZIMBABWE COALITION ON DEBT AND DEVELOPMENT  16. MEDIA INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA ( ZIMBABWE CHAPTER)  17. MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT ZIMBABWE  18. YOUTH INITIATIVE FOR DEMOCRACY IN ZIMBABWE

This week’s AU Monitor brings you a report back from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) civil society workshop written by Edwin Ikhuoria of the National Association of Nigerian Traders. The workshop was convened by ECOWAS in order to strengthen the integration of the peoples of the region. While these efforts were applauded, participants noted that the vision for a people-centred approach to integration had been created without consultation at the grassroots and in the usual top-down manner. However, the workshop successfully concluded with the formation of a platform for non-state actors’ interaction with ECOWAS through nine regional organizations, who will design and submit a memoranda on the outcomes of the workshop and outlining potential future collaboration with ECOWAS.

The African Union Commission signed a joint financing agreement this week with a group of pooled fund partners from Europe, including Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The contribution, earmarked for institutional transformation, is said to total nearly US$ 6.2 million. Meanwhile, Chambi Chachage questions the “cost” of African unity and particularly challenges Tanzania’s recent intervention in the Comoros crisis while noting that the “AU is shedding its OAU cocooning charter of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states”. Troops from Comoros, supported by the African Union, took control of the island of Anjouan last week but the humanitarian and economic issues facing the island are expected to take longer to overcome. Indeed, the restoration of political stability in Anjouan will be decided when elections finally take place, which the Union government of Comoros has indicated will be held within the next three months. Also in peace and security news, former President Obasanjo of Nigeria has claimed this week that the continued conflict in Somalia is caused by the lack of political will within the international community and the rest of Africa to solve the crisis and that “the downturn in the economy of Somalia and the sufferings of many, were indications of international neglect, rather than symptoms of a ‘failed state’”.

Meanwhile, the African Development Bank is said to have made progress in aligning national lending with national priorities ahead of the high-level forum on aid effectiveness expected in September in Accra, Ghana. However, improvement is still needed in technical cooperation with donors, use of country financial management systems, aid predictability and donor structure streamlining. In other economic development news, African governments are faced with mounting popular mobilisation and unrest due to surging food prices caused by “global supply concerns and heady world futures markets”.

Finally, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) will hold its 43rd ordinary session between May 7th and 22nd in Ezulwini, Swaziland. On the agenda are the periodic state reports of Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania. As is customary, the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies will hold the forum on the participation of NGOs and the African human rights book fair ahead of the Commission session from 3rd - 5th of May also in Ezulwini. Information on the NGO Forum is also available in French. Further in human rights news, the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative and the East African Law Society are convening a roundtable on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the regional human rights system more broadly from March 31 to April 2 in Arusha, Tanzania. Alliances for Africa will be convening a similar workshop on the Protocol of the African Court for West African judges and lawyers from April 9-10 in Abuja, Nigeria.

While the kenyan elected leaders are battling it out over appointments to lucrative cabinet ministerial posts, Musa Radolo reports on the country’s journalists as they battle post election violence psychological trauma

A majority of the journalists in the country were either directly or indirectly hit by the problem while on duty as a result of being the first witnesses of violence victims and deadly personal encounters while covering the grisly post general elections violence which gave birth to the current jostling for cabinet ministerial posts.

The bickering over the posts that has since hit a stalemate comes in the wake of signing of a power sharing deal between the protagonists, Presdident Mwai Kibaki of Party of National Unity (PNU) and Raila Odinga of Orange Democratic Party (ODM) brokered by former UN secretary general Koffi Annan that saw the end of the violence resulting from the disputed 2007 general elections presidential results.

For the last three weeks, the badly psychologically traumatised journalists have been pouring out their extremely painful experiences during the violence that have remained to haunt them to date without getting relevant medical attention.

Post general elections violence trauma counselling sessions for media practitioners has so far revealed extremely disturbing varied traumatic experiences from the practitioners based across the country. Tearfully describing situations in which they invariably found themselves in as they discharged their duties for their respectful media houses. Making revelations of untold stories of their harrowing encounters at the mercy of marauding deadly merciless gangs or police.

Tear provoking experiences that in most cases threatened their very lives as they found themselves between hard rocks and steel. Simply because they had been identified as reporters or photographers of some mainstream media houses perceived by the violent gangs either as being pro-PNU or the ODM.

The media practitioners based in various regions of the country perceived to be ODM strongholds and working for media houses perceived to be pro-PNU were in danger just like their colleagues in a vice versa situation. The dangers were as real as those experienced by any ordinary Kenyan caught up in circumstances generated by the post election violence – perceived to be either an ODM supporter in a PNU stronghold or the other way round.

The worst experiences for the “messengers” were that despite being on duty just like the members of the disciplined forces – the police - became victims of police brutality – yet their only ammunition or tools of defence were – pens, note books and cameras. Their tools of trade.

The ministry of information and communications acknowledges the deadly risks involved saying that during the coverage of violent conflicts (post general elections), journalists and photographers often found themselves in the frontline of the events to get the best images and stories.

“This invariably exposes them to undesirable but necessary risks and experiences. Such as the gruesome images witnessed may haunt the journalists/photographers and cause them psychological illnesses that have far reaching ramifications including at work places and families,” says the permanent secretary Dr. Bitange Ndemo.

The critical question here being the serious health problems and complications they developed and experienced before during and after the last general elections. Many had never been exposed nor prepared for the gruesome scenes and risky personal experiences they encountered – especially in the post election violence.

Dr. Ndemo says that evidence gathered and symptoms reported so far range from anxiety and depression to emotional numbness and substance abuse. Post traumatic stress being another major cause for concern as it threatens the mental state of the affected media practitioners at the work place as reported by scores of media houses.

A round table meeting held in Nairobi immediately after the violence started slowing down of media stakeholders reported: “Journalists and media practitioners are traumatised but are lacking counselling to deal with the post violence trauma and the self denial.”

Another major challenge that was identified at the meeting was the urgent need to address serious issues of interpersonal relationships within the newsrooms of the different media houses occasioned by the partisanship and the huge chasm/divide the last general elections created between journalists in their places of work.

During one of the ongoing counselling sessions it emerged how a photographer with one of the mainstream media houses in the country was unable to take the harrowing and numbing gruesome pictures of the scenes he had witnessed and the deadly violence he and colleagues nearly became victims of.

The photojournalist had been assigned to cover the violence in Nairobi’s sprawling Kibera slums. What he saw and witnessed was extremely shocking and devastating beyond words. It completely paralysed him into a glaring zombie.

When he went back to the newsroom the News Editor asked: “How was the situation and Where are the pictures?”

He replied: “It was terrible. It was horrible. I have never seen anything like that. It is unbelievable. I have no pictures. I did not take any. I couldn’t. It was too much.”

It was only on further inquiry that the news editor came to establish the exact circumstances that made the photographer to be completely unable to un-sling his camera and fire away to capture the scenes. It was even later that the editor realised that he had been adversely affected psychologically and had to be taken for treatment and counselling.

This state of adverse psychological impact hit hundreds of journalists across the country who were deployed to cover the post general election violence by their various media houses. Two months after the end of the violence, they are still suffering from the post elections violence trauma.

None had been prepared nor had they ever been trained on how to handle and cope with such situations. None of the media houses had budgeted for dealing with the post general election psychological trauma for their editorial staff.

In recognition of the desperate situation in which the Kenyan journalists are still wallowing in – the post general elections violence trauma, the International Media Support (IMS) has swiftly swung into action to counsel those who are suffering. None of them had tried to seek treatment nor counselling. They had no resources or knowledge of where to go and what to do.

The initial phase of the programme targeting 150 journalists and photographers spread across the country is ironically being spearheaded by the Kenya Association of Photographers, Illustrators and Designers (KAPIDE) jointly with the Kenya Correspondents Association (KCA) and not the Media Owners Association nor the Media Council of Kenya. The target areas are those worst hit by the violence – Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu and Mombasa.

A research conducted last year by the African Women and Child Features (AWC) established that members of these two associations contribute more than 85 per cent of the news content that comes out of Kenya’s media outlets.

This percentage tends to go higher during the general electioneering years as media houses’ focus tends to shift from the city to the provinces or rural Kenya on political campaigns and elections. Members of these associations are also the worst paid and most ill equipped to carry out their duties.

Those affected say that as they found themselves in the thick of the deadly violence, unlike their colleagues reporting for the international media outlets – without bullet proof vests nor gas masks, sometimes without vehicles.

“We survived by the grace of God. Because we found ourselves taking cover as bullets from police guns whizzed all over. Some of our cars were lobbed with tear gas canisters inside. We were constantly in danger from police guns and tear gas as well as crude weapons wielded by marauding blood thirsty gangs,” said Joseph Cheruiyot.

He went on: “The situation got so bad in Kibera that if you were identified as a reporter or photographer for media houses perceived to be pro-PNU you were at risk of losing your life. Worse still people refused even to talk to the local media houses’ journalists because some colleagues covering the events for international media houses were paying out cash to get information.”

The provinces and the districts were the very areas which were hardest hit with the violence that saw more than 1200 people killed and 150, 000 displaced from their homes into the Internally Displaced People’s camps where many are still residing.  Journalists/photographers based in these areas were the worst affected. Yet the most ignored by their media houses.

“The media owners and employers in the media industry should also recognise the importance of emotional psychological and physical effects that are caused by their professional hazards,” says the permanent secretary.

He argues that besides the hazards the journalists/photographers experience in the field, many employers increase their stress levels because of the demands to meet targets within specific timeframes, whereas the staff were working under difficult circumstances and environments.

The situation was not made any better by virtue of the fact that many journalists found themselves in circumstances forcing them to offer help to critically injured victims of the violence at the risk of their own lives, yet they are not trained even in the rudimentaries of first aid.

A leading psychology doctor at University of Nairobi’s faculty of medicine, Dr. Sobbie Mulindi says the post election violence trauma can cause a lot of medical complications for the journalists/photographers who were affected unless counselled and treated immediately.

Dr. Mulindi who is spearheading counselling sessions of the affected journalists says that many of the media practicing victims risked developing deadly health problems like hypertension, general heart ailments, kidney complications, nervous breakdowns among others.

“Many journalists who were affected tended to resort to alcohol and substance abuse, abnormal behaviours which can lead to disastrous consequences. Psychological trauma has to be dealt with urgently. Apart from putting at risk the lives of the affected persons, it is possible that it can also be transmitted from one generation to another,” he said.

The doctor says that immediately the violence broke out with a team of other psychological trauma experts in Nairobi mobilised counsellors based in HIV/Aids VCT centres across the country for induction and deployed to IDP camps to counsel the victims of the post general election violence.

* Musa Radoli writes for the Royal Media Group in Kenya is the Secretary General of the Kenya Correspondents Association.

**Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

International development agencies, Progressio, Trócaire, Tearfund and FEPA today call for immediate action to stop what appears to impartial observers as government-led election rigging of Zimbabwe’s March 29th polls.

All four agencies are concerned about the slow release of election results, which as Noel Kututwa, Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network says “is fuelling speculation that there could be something going on”. Marwick Khumalo, head of the Pan-African Parliamentary Observer Mission, has also expressed concern over the delay.

Our mutual partner, Pastor Promise of the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance said: “SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections stipulate that counting of votes shall be done at the polling stations. This was done and completed yet ZEC is withholding the results which are already public knowledge as they were posted outside each polling station. With Kenya’s violence so fresh in our minds, it is not acceptable to delay the timely announcement of results as if to provoke the already highly charged electorate. It’s extremely urgent that ZEC announces all the results immediately.”

Specifically, the agencies are concerned that:

- In some cases, officially announced votes do not appear to be tallying with those registered and displayed at polling stations;

- It has taken over 30 hours to collate and begin to announce election results, which were posted up outside polling stations two days ago;

- The pace of announcement has been painfully slow. By 3pm on Monday 31st March the Electoral Commission had announced parliamentary poll results for only 30 out of 210 constituencies. Results for senatorial and presidential polls are also still pending;

- The delay in announcing results and the failure of the Electoral Commission to satisfactorily explain the delays to the general public is contributing to tensions and could lead to a situation of instability in the country;

- The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has already issued its statement on the elections. According to article 6.1.12 of the SADC guidelines, observers monitoring elections are obliged to issue a statement on 'conduct AND outcome'. The SADC observer mission only issued a statement on conduct of elections yesterday afternoon and has now declared its work finished.

In light of these serious concerns, we urge governments to take the following critical actions:

- African and especially southern African leaders should ensure that the SADC observer mission fulfils its obligations to the people of Zimbabwe by following through on assessing the counting process and declared outcome of the polls;

- There should be an SADC investigation and response to the allegations of fraud made by independent outside and domestic analysts and observers, in particular with respect to why the announcement of results was delayed when polling stations results were already reported;

- African Union and national leaders should be prepared to lead a process of mediation in the event of a disputed outcome;

- The UK, Ireland, EU and member states should encourage African leaders to insist that the SADC principles are rigorously followed, in particular on ensuring that the results announced reflect the will of the people;

- Security forces in Zimbabwe are also urged to respect the verdict of the people.

*Progressio is an international development agency working for sustainable development and the eradication of poverty.

**Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Against the backdrop of a blatantly unfair pre-election environment, Zimbabweans voted on 29 March to indicate the direction they want to country to go. According to electoral laws, all votes are counted, verified and displayed outside each polling station. This is especially useful since much of the rigging has taken place in the counting of the vote. Voting ended at 7pm and, in an unprecedented move, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission delayed announcing results for at least 36 hours and only started a slow process of announcing results at 6am on Monday, 31 March. The MDC, through its elections directorate, simply collected and collated all votes displayed outside polling stations and announced a resounding victory for Tsvangirai’s MDC.

Because of the highly suspicious behaviour of ZEC of taking too long to announce official results, there are genuine fears that Mugabe and ZAN U PF want to subvert the will of the people and silence the people who have spoken through the ballot by fixing figures and announcing that Mugabe and ZANU Pf as winners. There are rumours now swilling in Harare that security chiefs are in marathon meetings preparing to rig elections and prepare to crush any challenge to their electoral fraud.

I must say the conduct of ZEC is reckless and inconsiderate as it puts the nation at risk of a Kenya style revolt as the absence of official results for no apparent reason creates tension and anxiety in the people. It is criminal and treasonous for security chiefs to interfere with the counting of the vote and the announcements; security chiefs must be warned that days of lawlessness and mayhem in Zimbabwe are over, in a new Zimbabwe we will hold them to account for their actions. If Zimbabwe’s army and police think that they can hold the nation hostage they are dreaming; no-one can stop the wind of change that is sweeping across Zimbabwe, not Mugabe, not Chihuri, and not Chiwenga. Mugabe has said his conscience will not let him sleep if he steals an election (l wonder how he has managed to sleep since 2000), so he must heed his conscience and do the honourable thing of respecting the will of the nation. Zimbabwe needs a new political leadership with fresh ideas. Zimbabwe cannot move on with Mugabe at helm; Mugabe must go, and he must go now before he plunges our beloved country into chaos and bloodshed.

ZANU PF may want to take comfort in the knowledge that they have rigged before and there was no uprising and South Africa and others looked away and pretended all was well. That was then, this time the people of Zimbabwe will defend their vote; the prospect of another disastrous five years with Mugabe and ZANU PF is motivation enough to take the struggle to the next level, on the streets. What Zimbabwe needs is a new leader with fresh ideas, not the look-east nonsense and diet of starvation that we have known with Mugabe. This time the rigging is easier to expose because results are displayed at polling stations; so we must defend the vote and pray that all patriotic and peace loving security forces must join the people of Zimbabwe and say no to Mugabe. Let us all stand up and act to stop Mugabe squandering our future.

The people of South Africa must stand in solidarity with us in Zimbabwe during this, our hour of great need, and prevail on Thabo Mbeki to demand that Mugabe respects the will of the people. The African Union has rejected all forms of unconstitutional changes of government and the massive electoral fraud unfolding in Zimbabwe is clearly unconstitutional and must be severely condemned as such by AU. In the case of Kenya, the African Union led the international community in activating the international duty to protect the fundamental rights of Kenyans, sadly, it was after considerable loss of life. My appeal to Mbeki and SADC is that they help stop this madness in Zimbabwe now before Mugabe plunges us into total darkness. It is with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes that l write this appeal. Now that the people have spoken, Mugabe and ZANU PF have a moral and legal obligation to give expression to the voice of the people and the respect the outcome of the elections. In Shona we say, Chisingaperi Chinoshura - which extorts all to know that everything has an end; for Mugabe and ZANU PF’s leadership of Zimbabwe the end has come and l urge them to accept it.

*Dewa Mavhinga, Zimbabwean Human Rights Lawyer.

Joram Nyathi candidly makes the case that what ails African democracies is change in the absence of real alternatives.

A lot has been said about the Kenyan election debacle. Lessons have been drawn locally on both sides of the political divide. Unfortunately most of these lessons are no more than self-serving wishes. In my view, the real lesson is the danger of obsession with change for its own sake, and in that quest, embracing every claimant to power as the Messiah. Zimbabweans are guilty of this propensity.

South Africans look worse. Reading the South African media about President Thabo Mbeki's alleged autocratic rule in the few weeks before Polokwane made me feel like we in Zimbabwe were ruled by angels. So intense was the hatred for Mbeki that his rival Jacob Zuma was assured of the ANC presidency despite his soiled name. It was as if the name Zuma represented a cure for Aids, crime and racial inequality in SA.

It is perplexing. Here is a man who answers to every act of misdemeanor from rape to influence-peddling to outright corruption and tax evasion being elevated to the pedestal of a saint who is being victimised by a cruel sitting president whom he has challenged for office! In any civilised society, the accusation of corruption, let alone rape, should make any decent person recuse himself from the presidential race. Zuma would have magnified his own stature. He doesn't need to be convicted.

Things were never going to be easy for Mbeki from the start: matching Nelson Mandela's affability, dealing with a recalcitrant ruler such as President Robert Mugabe who is universally reviled by those he has hurt, and given growing anti-intellectual sentiment in politics in Zimbabwe and SA. But in Zuma we have a man who can stand up when later accused of rape, violence (leth' umshini wami), corruption, racketeering, fraud and philandering and say with a straight face: "When I campaigned I didn't hide who I am."

In the face of all this grunge you have influential organisations such as Cosatu threatening the judiciary with a "bloodbath" if Zuma is brought to court.

The biggest lesson from the Kenyan post-election violence is the danger of electing into power democratic charlatans without institutional fireguards to ensure such people can be removed later without bloodletting; and our fascination with the politics of tribe and other irrational considerations which blind us to people's motives for getting into politics. It is the danger of choosing leaders for where they come from ahead of enduring values necessary in nation-building.

Anyone who opposes a hated sitting president automatically becomes a democrat. Mwai Kibaki was feted as a democrat for defeating Daniel arap Moi without anyone examining his democratic credentials. The election was judged free and fair. In five years the guy has shown his true colours and those who elected him are shocked by his "transformation" from what he never was to a corrupt dictator and tribalist. To me there was no betrayal of the people but an exposure of bad choice.

The irony is that Western democracies which are quick to point to us torch bearers of democracy subject their would-be leaders to a very rigorous vetting before they are elected. I am fascinated by the ongoing campaign by the Democrats in the United States. This is not a country in any serious political crisis like we are, yet its leader must pass through the crucible of public scrutiny and explain fully what his policies are, what he wants to do and how. It is not enough to chronicle the current leader's failures. Any imbecile can do that. Talking democracy and human rights is cheap -- the test is on delivery.

Unfortunately in desperation for change, any change, we are shy if not afraid to confront our future leaders with hard questions about who they are and their shortcomings. Yet it is the political leader ultimately who gives the nation its international character.

The other lesson from Kenya is the threat of violence if elections are rigged. Forcing people to vote in a certain way on the threat of violence amounts to democracy by fear. It does not represent the free will of the people. It is the need to select for leadership people of integrity. We need leaders who are able to accept loss and victory in an election with dignity and know when to quit.

Kenya's Raila Odinga might have a cause to complain, but to me there is no point in voting for a leader of hooligans, who, after a disputed electoral result, rampage in the streets, burning, raping and murdering people in church. There was nothing among the poor Kikuyu in the slums of Kibera and Mathare to show that they had unfairly benefited from Mwai Kibaki's rule ahead of other tribes. Nor is there evidence that those being targeted for attack voted for him. Yet we read that boys and girls as young as six years are being raped for voting for Kibaki or for simply being Kikuyu.

In any case, if the Kikuyu are being targeted as an ethnic group because Kibaki is Kikuyu, then by inverse rule Odinga forfeits the claim of a "people's president" if only his Luo clanspeople and a few others voted for him.

The trouble with wanton violence is that it never affects the criminal leader himself. Does anybody for once nurse the illusion that Charles Taylor or Joseph Kony will ever fully pay for atrocities they have committed against their people in Liberia and Uganda? Or that Odinga is justified in causing the deaths of over 600 Kenyans because he wants to go to State House?

Broadly, the Kenyans are paying for what has become the bane of African politics -- short-term and opportunistic considerations in the selection of national leaders. Lack of long-term vision in the beginning comes to haunt us in the end.

*Nyathi is the deputy editor of the Zimbabwe Independent. This article first appeared in the The Zimbabwe Independent.

**Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

The government of Zimbabwe has been condemned for barring leading international news media from covering the next weekend's general elections. Zimbabwe's act is not in tandem with international conventions it had signed, guaranteeing "total access to national and international media." The Paris-based Reporters sans frontiers the government's act forms part of its designed authoritarian measures and irregularities.

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We take this opportunity of thanking our readers for responding so wonderfully. This is exactly the kind of solidarity that Pambazuka News stands for. So, thank you to all of you who responded!

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