Pambazuka News 474: The failures of Nigerian democracy
Pambazuka News 474: The failures of Nigerian democracy
Despite the financial sector boom in Senegal, small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), which represent over 90 percent of the industrial fabric of the country, struggle to access funding for their development, their representatives claim.
On average women constitute 18.8 percent of representatives in parliaments across the world according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). This gender imbalance has been subject to much feminist criticism and many campaigns for change have been staged to address the status quo. The situation is however different in Rwanda.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners hope to eliminate the circulation of the polio virus in West Africa as soon as June by launching the first round of national synchronised immunisation days against the debilitating disease
Togo's Constitutional Court declared Thursday incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe Essozimna winner of the presidential polls held 4 March, with 60.88 per cent of the votes cast, PANA reported from here. According to the final results, Gnassingbe, candidate of the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), won 1,242,409 votes or 60.88 per cent, followed by Jean-Pierre Fabre, candidate of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC opposition) with 692,554 votes or 33.93 per cent.
The first international conference on HIV/AIDS ended Wednesday in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, with a call on the people to fight against stigmatization and seek ways of re-integrating HIV-positive patients into the society.
Thirteen lives were lost, six injured while 9,516 people were rendered homeless during heavy rains recorded in the southern Huíla Province of Angola from January 2009 to February 2010, an official source disclosed to the nation's news agency, ANGOP
Human rights groups, under the umbrella Coalition for International Criminal Court (CICC), have urged governments that are not yet party to ICC, to demonstrate their commitment to international justice and the rule of law by ratifying Rome Statute, the founding treaty, before 1 April, 2010
Ministers of Environment from ECOWAS Member States will meet on Thursday in Accra, Ghana, to adopt a draft regional programme of action to reduce vulnerability to climate change in West Africa. Experts from the region, currently meeting in Accra to validate the document, will present their recommendations to the ministers for consideration, according to a communique from the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
All Pherebonia Nyiramatabaro, 85, wants is land where she and her 15-year-old grandson can grow a few crops. Nyiramatabaro, living in a two-roomed hut in Juru A camp in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement, southwestern Uganda, is one of thousands of Rwandans hit by a Uganda government directive barring refugees from cultivation
The Inner Circle (TIC) will host the Annual International Retreat (AIR) aimed at challenging Muslim extremism as well as engaging the impact of this on gender and sexual minorities.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is deeply concerned about the security and safety of journalists in Somalia following the detention of Mohamed Salad Abdulle, of Somali Broadcasting Corporation and correspondent of Markabley radio in Kismayo and Mohamed Abdikarim, a correspondent with Hornafrik and Markabley radio station. The two were arrested on Tuesday 16 March 2010 by the Al Shabaab Administration in Jubba and Gedo regions.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the ruling of Monday, 8 March by the Ethiopian Supreme Court which reinstated the hefty fines which had been imposed by the country’s High Court against four publishing houses which had successfully appealed a judgment of the High Court following the infamous treason trial of 2005.
Welcoming the recognition by Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma that corruption poses a serious threat to the West African country, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that while he is encouraged by some improvements in its political climate, challenges to fostering political tolerance and promoting non-violence remain.
United Nations aid workers in eastern Madagascar are helping local officials mount relief efforts in the wake of Tropical Storm Hubert, which has killed dozens of people in the Indian Ocean country and left an estimated 11,000 others homeless.
A United Nations tribunal has affirmed the conviction and 15-year sentence of a famous Rwandan singer and composer for his role during the mass killings that engulfed the country in 1994, and reduced the sentence handed down against a top official after reversing a number of his convictions.
South African President Jacob Zuma has come under fire for his failure to denounce the resurgent political violence in the rural areas, spearheaded by ZANU PF supporters. Zuma ended a two-day ‘mediation’ visit to Zimbabwe on Thursday without mentioning the escalation in violence or calling on the political leaders to rein in their supporters.
The number of cases of typhoid fever in Harare is increasing, raising fears of another serious health crisis in the country. More than 140 cases of typhoid have been reported in the Mabvuku-Tafara suburb of Harare, up from 40 cases reported last week. At least five people are known to have died so far from the mainly water borne disease. Typhoid, which is very similar to cholera, is transmitted by food or water contaminated with waste from an infected person. The Harare City Council has now ordered all food handlers to undergo medical tests to try curb what appears to be the rapid spread of the disease.
Will commercial oil production (due to begin later this year) build or break the back of Ghana’s democracy? This may seem an unnecessarily inflammatory question, but history demonstrates that healthy caution is necessary in managing oil revenues. Ghana, however, has made history by hosting a series of free and fair elections in recent years. Twice the opposition party has won and the incumbent has stepped down in a display of due respect for democracy. This is groundbreaking progress as less than a handful of African countries have attained such a benchmark of democratic consolidation
From April 15, everyone attending a clinic or hospital will be offered an HIV test, regardless of whether they have symptoms of the disease or not. Dubbed the HIV Counselling and Testing campaign, or HCT, this is the most ambitious HIV testing campain in the world, according to SA National AIDS Council (SANAC) co-chairperson Mark Heywood.
Global telecoms giant Tata Communications was set to increase its investments in Africa to capitalise on the arrival of new submarine data cables, CEO Srinath Narasimhan said last week.
The government is proposing a ban on second-hand computers to curb dumping and encourage local assembling. A study on electronic waste conducted in Kenya in 2008 indicated that the country generated 3,000 tonnes of e-waste from computers, monitors and printers in 2007. Information and Communications PS, Dr Bitange Ndemo, says his ministry is proposing to Treasury to include in the next year's Budget a ban on used computers.
About Rwf60 million has been moved in daily transactions, with the use of the 'Mobile Money' facility, a month after it was launched, MTN Rwanda officials said. Andrew Rugege, the MTN Chief Executive Officer (COO) told Business Times on Friday that daily transactions had increased since the 'Mobile Money' platform was launched and added that active subscribers are close to 30,000 of the over 1 million MTN mobile clients.
There is a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis amongst patients with HIV in South Africa, investigators report in the April 1st edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Among adolescents in Harare, Zimbabwe, HIV is now the single most common cause of acute admission and in-hospital death, Rashida A. Ferrand and colleagues reported in a study published in the February online edition of PLoS Medicine.
For many Moroccan working women, the trade-off between home lives and jobs occurs at the expense of time and peace of mind. While women have acquired some freedom in the working environment, attitudes have not changed as regards the role of a woman within the family. The equality they seek has not yet been achieved on the domestic front.
Today, more than half the world's population lives in cities. Every year, hundreds of thousands are uprooted when neighborhoods are cleared to make way for “development”. On 22-26 March, the fifth session of the World Urban Forum will be held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro to address these issues.
Kate Ofwono recently visited Geneva to join UNHCR events linked to International Women's Day. The 23-year-old refugee from Uganda took part in a panel discussion and presented a film she made about her life in Kakuma camp. She fled to the camp in north-west Kenya four years ago after her father was killed and her mother kidnapped in eastern Uganda.
Mercy Gondwe, 51, from Rumphi in northern Malawi, was married for 34 years. When her husband died in 2008, she assumed she would inherit the land they had been cultivating together since they got married. But this was not the case.
Poverty is on the rise in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and various forms of corruption threaten to undermine the impact of investments made to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the continent, said the World Bank in a report released Monday on Africa's development.
Ismail Conteh has been teaching for the past year-and-a-half at a primary school in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown – without receiving a single cent. He is one of hundreds of teachers recruited by schools to match the ever-growing number of pupils. Since the country’s government started to aim for universal primary education in 2003, classes have continuously become larger, with an average of about 50 pupils per teacher. Yet, the national department of education has employed only few additional teachers so far.
We must end the false dichotomy between prevention and treatment. If we choose one over the other we will fail. We know from our experiences in the 1990s, that if treatment isnt there, people will not come to the health centers and doctors and nurses will not stay. We know from our long experience that it is virtually impossible to have successful public sector health and AIDS treatment programs where some people get therapy and others in dire need dont. - Dr. Peter Mugyenyi, Joint Clinical Research Centre, Kampala.
Constitutional rights of South Africa¡¯s gay people are facing an increasing threat from radical elements in the conservative sector, Christina Engela of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said also stating that gays and lesbians still have a long way to go before they can be equal to heterosexuals in terms of human rights.
The final verdict in the case of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga of Malawi, detained for performing a same-sex engagement ceremony, is expected to be on Monday 22 March 2010 and Amnesty International has urged people to send appeal letters of protest to the Malawian government opposing arrest and trial of the two men.
He gives computer advice to his fellow-teachers and fixes broken printers. He also uses digital material to enrich his classes and by using a school blog he helped to set up a partnership with a French school. Through IICD-supported trainings, teacher Christophe Hien of Bogodogo College in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso is now an ICT expert at his scho
Rape in wartime is a scar on modern society that must be stamped out by ending impunity and changing men's attitudes towards women, says Margot Wallstrom, the United Nations' first special representative on sexual violence in conflict.
In this week's emerging powers news roundup, China a step closer to securing valuable new oil reserves in Uganda, Tanzania revokes railway management contract with Indian firm, Indian companies invest $277m in six Ghana projects, and Russia plans to take part in Egypt's nuclear power plant tenders.
Trade and economic relations between Zimbabwe-China are expected to grow this year following the full implementation of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation, a senior Chinese official has said.
Despite the criticism of Chinese investors in Zambia, Beijing has once again come to the rescue of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) - a vital link inter-SADC link - by availing a $39-million interest-free loan. TAZARA, which is jointly owned by Tanzania and Zambia, has been teetering on a knife-edge with worn out tracks and wobbling wagons.
The Federal Government has threatened to revoke the N2.75 billion contract for the construction of the Oguta River Port, Osse-Motor in Aguta Local Government Areas of Imo State, following the inability of the contractor to effectively mobilise to site, nine months after the contract was awarded.
Namibia's Ministry of Works says it does a lot to uplift local contractors, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Ministry Permanent Secretary George Simataa last week called a media briefing to refute allegations that the ministry was giving the majority of road construction projects to Chinese companies. He was referring to an article published in the Windhoek Observer, headlined ‘Chinese could dodge tender regulations’.
International World Water Day, held every 22 March, focuses public attention on the importance of fresh water and promotes sustainable management of freshwater resources. This year’s theme, ‘Clean Water for a Healthy World’, reflects the importance of water quality in natural resource management.
Players in the water sector from Africa meet in Kampala this week for talks on how to meet the continent’s needs as the commodity comes under renewed pressure from climate change and rising demand.
African science ministers are hoping to extend a high-speed fibre optic network — currently linking Egypt to the northern hemisphere — to other countries in Africa.
Higher education and research in Africa have largely been neglected, both internally and externally, since the 1980s. If Africa is to join the global knowledge community as an equal partner, it must revolutionise its research, education and training systems.
As coal power stations are demolished, due to environmental damages, in many countries, they are being offered as a "cheap energy supply" for Africa. But specialists warn this will be expensive in the long run, especially as fresh funds are available for renewable energies.
President Fradique de Menezes of São Tomé and Príncipe has decreed that local and legislative elections will be held in July and August, after government had been unable to follow the original election schedule.
The overall population of slums has swelled by nearly 60 million, even though more than 200 million slum dwellers worldwide have escaped their conditions in the past decade, a new United Nations report finds.
Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kenya are set to enjoy greater protection under a national policy that also aims to prevent future displacement and to fulfil the country's obligations under international IDP law, say analysts.
Ethembeni Enrichment Centre, a school in a run-down part of Port Elizabeth, the largest city in Eastern Cape, South Africa's poorest province, has achieved a remarkable 100 percent pass rate for a dozen years. But officials from the education department, sent on a fact-finding mission to learn from the school's success, are running more than two hours late.
Malawi's government has set itself a major challenge this year, announcing plans to more than double the number of people receiving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to half a million by the end of 2010. The country recently adopted new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines that raise the threshold for starting antiretroviral (ARV) therapy from a CD4 count (a measure of immune system strength) of less than 200, to a CD4 count of 350, regardless of whether the patient is displaying symptoms.
As of 15 March, 15 districts nationwide were affected with cholera, with 663 cases confirmed since January, according to a Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation update. At least 15 deaths have been recorded. Worst affected are parts of Coast, Eastern and Rift Valley provinces. Kajiado District, in Rift Valley, has 177 cases.
West Africa can meet its food needs through regional trade, most agricultural experts say, if countries keep their borders open for the free flow of staple grains, especially in times of heightened stress, whether climatic, economic, or brought on by conflict.
Government troops - the FARDC - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to blame for much of the epidemic of sexual violence in the east of the country, according to US and UN reports detailing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by various groups there.
While excitement around South Africa's forthcoming World Cup continues to build, South Africa's poor are seeing none of the supposed economic benefits associated with hosting the tournament, argue Azad Essa and Oliver Meth.
While debate on Kenya's constitution could theoretically be open, L. Muthoni Wanyeki laments the lack of honest discussion around taking it forward.
walk with me to the statue of Kimathi
be distracted not by sounds of sirens
or the hurrying hues of city humanity.
walk with me to the statue of Kimathi
then lift your eyes like begging hands
to the rifle he clenches like his destiny
then perhaps you will learn not to ask
why i ask to die with fists full of stone
after i take to the jungle of concrete
to resist those who muzzle my mouth
then you pump gas above the street
before pumping bullets into my youth.
Responding to an Economist article on a perceived battle between Israel and Iran for friends on the African continent, S.H. Razavipour stresses that suspicion around Iran's motives merely highlights Western hypocrisy.
Efforts to portray Nigeria's Acting President Goodluck Jonathan as a positive alternative to Umaru Yar'Adua are strongly misplaced, writes Kola Ibrahim. While the current power tussle and political crisis have granted a range of players the opportunity to 'loot the nation blind', Ibrahim contends, the inclination of labour movement leaders to cuddle up to Jonathan in a mutually profitable alliance is deeply treacherous to the working people they purport to represent.
Used to evoke poorer nations' continual domination at the hands of the rich of the world, the phrase 'global apartheid' gained prominence when used by former South Africa president Thabo Mbeki in 2001. Drawing on Africa's economic experience over the past 50 years, Yash Tandon stresses that while this is certainly a valid conceptual term, African states themselves have played a key role in intensifying their own countries' victimisation.
While the data within the World Bank's latest 'Africa Development Indicators' report is certainly rich in highlighting the poor standard of living endured by many in Africa, its focus on the 'quiet corruption' of absentee public officials belies the damaging historical effects of its own structural adjustment programmes (SAPs), writes Stephen Marks.
Mphutlane wa Bofelo mourns a South Africa in which critical thinking, thoughtful strategy and creative minds are marginalised. What is reified instead, he argues, is thoughtless action, the dismissal of theory and analysis and ‘the racist, sexist, violent-peddling hate-talk of Julius Malema’. Wa Bofelo holds that the lionisation of rash and unthinking youths in the past has led to a culture of crime and violence, disrespect for life and intolerance for dissent in South Africa. The media and academia, he states, have played a large role in this: They have always placed spectacle well above cautious and calculated action. Wa Bofelo believes that the youth of South Africa is not ‘the lost generation’, but ‘the generation in search of role models’. He concludes that ‘glorifying mediocrity, recklessness, violence and idiocy today is investing in the doom and damnation of the future… Malema’s is [as such] a serious act of injustice against the youth and posterity.’
Ann Njogu delivered her acceptance speech at the International Women of Courage (IWOC) awards held in Washington DC on 8 March 2010. Her speech was a portrait of the struggles and achievements, injustice and poverty in Kenya. Amongst others, she dedicated her award ‘to all the human rights defenders in Kenya’, stating that ‘They are the true champions and heroes of our struggle for change. They continue to put their lives in harm's way because they are convinced that a different and better Kenya is possible. A different and better Africa is possible and a different and better world is possible.’
There’s an assumption that despite multiple deprivations, Nigerians can ‘take solace in the knowledge’ that they have democracy, writes Moses Ochonu. But the kind of democracy practised by Abuja has delivered neither improved standards of living nor abstract benefits such as press freedom or human rights, instead providing the perfect cover for ‘massive corruption’, says Ochonu. It is ‘not what Nigerians signed up for in 1999; if we do not act urgently, it will consume us all,’ Ochonu warns.
As much as those who identify themselves as social progressives would like to believe otherwise, writes Dale McKinley, ‘the reality is that South Africa is a bastion of social conservatism'. One of the most glaring contradictions of South Africa’s post-apartheid ‘transition’, says McKinley, ‘is that the widely acknowledged – and regularly celebrated – social progressiveness of the country’s constitution is, in large part, at fundamental odds with the beliefs and views of the majority of South Africans themselves'.
Sir Bob Geldof may not wish to believe recent BBC reports alleging the misuse of famine relief funds in Ethopia in 1984, but, writes Alemayehu G. Mariam, he needs to ‘face the truth’ that ‘aid is stolen and diverted for…corrupt purposes in Africa everyday’. The famine that needs to be cured, argues Mariam, is the ‘famine of democracy, justice, accountability, transparency, rule of law and human rights.’
As the cultural and political world of the old ruling forces in Nigeria collapses, Horace Campbell calls for the country to look to the work of visionary leaders like the late Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem to create ‘new definitions of independence and emancipation’. Nigerians of all classes should ‘tap into the inherent strength of their linguistic and religious diversity,’ says Campbell, ‘and organise from the grassroots’ to bring about the ‘transformation that the country yearns for’.
Asymmetric negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between African countries and the European Union, with the power balance in favour of the latter, have created a sense of helplessness among ‘concerned citizens, government circles and indigenous business interests’ that stand to lose out if comprehensive EPA is signed. But all is not lost, says Yash Tandon – there’s ‘still plenty of scope and space to save the situation’.
Faced with rising levels of unemployment in towns and cities across South Africa, and the growing trend of well-connected individuals continuing to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor, the Unemployed People's Movement issues a call to arms in the struggle for equal economic rights.
Fatima Meer, one of South Africa’s most senior civil society scholar–activists, died on Friday 12 March. Patrick Bond and Orlean Naidoo pay tribute to the ‘always nimble’ community organiser, with her ability to ‘think and act locally, nationally and globally’, noting: ‘With this beautiful voice silenced, surely our responsibility now is to stand up and shout louder still’.
In this week's review of the African blogosphere, Jeune Afrique and New African are under fire for publishing fawning and inaccurate articles about Presidents Ali Bongo of Gabon and Faure Gnassingbé of Togo, while there is also a look at International Women's Day on the continent and thoughts on the recently-launched iHub and ICT University.
Fahamu is one of the ten civil society organisations that supported International Rivers Network dialogue with Sinohydro and the need for the company to advocate a more responsible environmental policy that adopts people centred and environmental friendly operations in Africa.
China's Information Office of the State Council published a report titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009" .
Solidarity from churches in Germany has made it possible for South African shackdwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo to elect a delegation to attend the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro, the theme of which is ‘the right to the city’. In a preparatory meeting for the forum, Abahlali notes that 'if there is a "right to the city", it is a very difficult right to actually get. And it is we, the poor who struggle for it, who are paying the price for this right… For the right to the city to be real what will have to count will be people and not money.’
A farming ban imposed on Rwandan refugees in southwestern Uganda is raising concerns for their food security, while proposed cash transfers could boost both food prices and theft, warn aid workers and local officials, who are urging the government to rescind the directive.
Stephen Marks reviews Deborah Brautigam’s book ‘The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa’ on China’s involvement and policies in Africa. Marks finds it to be ‘an account at once scholarly and accessible, combining the puncturing of prevalent myths with a realist approach that does not rely on rosy assumptions.’
Japan International Cooperation Agencyis building a new development model to encourage increased agricultural production in Africa, both to help prevent another global food crisis and to deter a land grab by foreign enterprises across the continent, according to Senior Vice President Kenzo Oshima.
Pambazuka Press is planning to publish a Pan-African activists' diary for 2011. The diary will be a handbook of key information about Pan-African history, quotations from thinkers and activists (women and men) in Africa and the diaspora, pictures of critical events in our past, information about key events during 2011, and lots more.
EVENTS
If you would like us to include events – meetings, conferences, festivals, actions, courses, publications etc - that your organisation is planning to hold in 2011, please send details to panafdiary [at] pambazuka [dot] org.
QUOTATIONS
If you would like to suggest quotations for publication in the diary, please send them to panafdiary [at] pambazuka [dot]org. Make sure you include the source of each quote so that those who want to read more will know where to find it.
SUGGESTIONS
If you have suggestions about information you would like to see in the diary, please send them to panafdiary[at] pambazuka [dot] org.
Help make this diary the essential handbook for all activists in Africa and the diaspora. Make sure you get your recommendations in to us by 14 April 2010. Don’t be left out – let us know what events you are planning for 2011.
We can’t guarantee that we will include everything you suggest, but we’ll do our best!
The 2011 Pan-African Diary: the essential tool for freedom and justice!
Alex Kawakami calls himself an agronomist, but really he’s a revolutionary. He works for the landless people’s movement Movimento dos Trabalhardores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), a social movement of some 370,000 people organizing in over 1,000 settlements in Brazil, in addition to 90,000 families living in camps. For them, agricultural reform is more than organic farming – it’s an answer to land inequality, global food shortages and climate change.
Burundian refugees in Mtabila refugee camp in Tanzania are being deprived of their basic human rights by the Tanzanian government. Some 37,000 men, women, and children are being denied access to needed medical care, primary education, and attending worship services in the camp. Please to help these refugees and remind Tanzanian officials that caring people like you around the world are watching.
Madagascar's history is marked by a struggle for political control. By 1700, France and England had attempted to establish settlements, while the rulers of the island's many kingdoms fought among themselves for dominance. Madagascar gained independence in 1960, but since then it has been plagued by assassinations, military coups and disputed elections.
“Kenya’s Hunger Crisis – the Result of Right to Food Violations” is the title of a report launched today by FIAN International and RAPDA. These words also capture the main findings of a mission report by a joint international delegation of the African Network on the Right to Food (RAPDA) and FIAN International. The mission was carried out in September 2009 and investigated the implementation of the human right to food against the background of drought and wide-spread famine in some parts of the country.
An Eritrean refugee in Halifax killed himself in late February after losing an asylum appeal to Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board. Habtom Kibraeb, 40, was found dead, hanging from a tree in the Clayton Park area. Kibraeb had spent several years on the run from Eritrea’s military, says Beku Feshaye, who owns Kilimanjaro Café, a store on Titus Street in Halifax.
Cases of anxiety and depression, two leading mental health illnesses, are on the rise among women in some African countries, thanks to the current difficulties in the economy, gender roles and violence, writes Arthur Okwemba. Findings of study done at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi by the African Mental Health Foundation shows that 42% of adults and 41% of children who went to the facility were diagnosed with depression. This likely reflects what is happening in other African countries.
South Africa is to fast-track a comprehensive new law against human trafficking before the start of the soccer World Cup, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe has said. South Africa hosts the month-long event from June 11 and some child rights groups have warned that trafficking, mainly for sexual exploitation, could rise during the tournament.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce its 2010 Child and Youth Studies Institute and invites interested scholars to send applications for consideration for selection as laureates and resource persons in the session scheduled for September 2010. The Institute is an offshoot of the Child and Youth Studies programme and is designed to strengthen analytic capacity on all questions affecting children and youth in Africa and elsewhere in the world.
The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the African Regional Organisation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), strongly criticized the Press and Journalists Bill in Uganda on the grounds that it is unsound and constitutes a major stumbling block to press freedom and democratic standards in the country.
Church leaders in Kenya are opposing a provision in a draft of a national constitution that includes emergency exceptions to the country's abortion ban. A recent study links the ban to the deaths of at least hundreds of women a year.
On Saturday March 13, in the auditorium of the Lavonya DeJean Middle School, in the City of Richmond California, a large number of people gathered to commemorate International Women's Day for the third consecutive year. Under the title "Women in Solidarity: Healing Our Beloved Community" more than 300 people, the great majority women, met to share the problems that affect all of them at the local, national and international level.
In 2008 refugee journalists in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, set up KANERE, a news reporting project 'to counter the monopoly on information enjoyed by humanitarian organisations that largely control access to and information about refugee camps.' They believed that a refugee free press could ‘open up new spaces for public debate and action on refugee encampment.’ But KANERE’s unwillingness to allow aid agencies to play a role in the publication appears to be putting both the future of the project and the safety of its team in jeopardy, as this background note outlines.
Following the passing of Fatima Meer on 12 March, Ashwin Desai pays tribute to a figure who 'was nothing less than the spiritual leader of the strivings for social justice and equality' in post-1994 South Africa.
This latest report from the International Crisis Group, analyses the underlying causes and offers a new approach to unlock the negotiation stalemate. Power-sharing agreements signed in Maputo in August 2009 and Addis Ababa in November offered opportunities to promote a consensual transition. But though he signed, de facto President Andry Rajoelina and his entourage have blocked implementation of the accords, so were hit by African Union (AU) personal sanctions on 17 March.
Fatima Meer, ‘a champion of human rights, an advocate of the poor and disenfranchised, an outstanding academic and author and a woman of impeccable integrity and principles', sadly passed away on 12 March 2010 after a stroke. Lubna Nadvi reflects on her legacy: ‘While there can only be one Fatima Meer, she ignited the imagination of so many others that she came into contact with to fight for a better world. That is perhaps her most enduring contribution.’
Oludolapo Onajin asks why Nigerians continue to suffer and smile. He argues that Nigeria, with its own great minds, should not ‘be under the yoke of a ruling class illiterate in resourcefulness’. He asserts that while Nigerians are paying for their politicians’ education, healthcare, services and lavish lifestyles, these politicians are denying them decent standards of living and access to services. Onajin concludes that Nigerians need to break away from their current accepting and placid attitude and must ‘rewrite their futures’ themselves.
Pambazuka News 473: Land reform is common sense
Pambazuka News 473: Land reform is common sense
The International Awards is accepting applications for the position of Project Manager (new position) and Programme Research and Admin Officer (new position), based at the International Award. To apply for either of these positions, please email CV along with a detailed statement, which outlines your suitability for the position, to [email][email protected] The deadline for applications for the Project Manager role is Thursday 11th March 2010 – by 3pm. Interviews will be taking place at the Award House on Monday 15th March. The deadline for applications for the Programme Research and Admin Officer is Monday 29thMarch 2010 by 12 noon with interviews being held at the Award House w/c 5th April.
The fourth SEASREP-Sephis training workshop on Alternative Research Methodologies will take place in the Philippines on 18-29 October 2010. The workshop aims to provide PhD students from the South an opportunity to strengthen the theoretical and methodological quality of their work under the guidance of experienced researchers from the South. Two weeks of lectures and discussions, knowledge building, and individual tutorials on research proposals will enable the participants to redesign their research project, improve their proposal and enhance their research capabilities.
Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action, the pioneering, highly regarded South African gay and lesbian archives, invites African writers to submit stories on a queer African theme for publishing in a ground-breaking anthology. Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action intends the anthology to query stereotypes, show that there are many ways of being queer in Africa, and encourage queer artistic expression and appreciation. Literary merit and an insightful response to the complexities of African queerness will guide the selection.
Many are saying food is becoming the new oil. In the past two years there has been a remarkable increase in purchases of large-scale farmland by foreigners throughout Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.
An Observer investigation reveals how rich countries faced by a global food shortage now farm an area double the size of the UK to guarantee supplies for their citizens
The Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) at the American University in Cairo AUC is offering two short courses on refugee issues in June 2010. The first course on "Meeting the Psychosocial Needs of Refugees" will be offered from 9:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m. from June 6- 10 and will be taught by Dr. Nancy Baron. The second course on "Introduction to International Refugee Law" will be offered from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from June 20-24 & 26 (with the exception of Friday June 25) and will be taught by Mr. Martin Jones