PAMBAZUKA NEWS 141: NEPAD: SOUTH AFRICA, AFRICAN ECONOMIES AND GLOBALISATION
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 141: NEPAD: SOUTH AFRICA, AFRICAN ECONOMIES AND GLOBALISATION
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai told his treason trial on Wednesday the state's key witness entrapped him after promising to arrange a meeting with American Secretary of State Colin Powell and other top officials. Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has denied charges of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe and stage a coup ahead of the southern African country's controversial 2002 elections.
This article on Women’s Human Rights Net explores the legal international advancements concerning the sexual rights of all people, and women's in particular, as well as the threats, challenges and opportunities of these achievements that go hand in hand with cultural progress. It also presents related international mechanisms and instruments and facts and figures that reflect violations to these rights. Various bodies of the United Nations system, among these the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the Reports by the Special Rapporteur on Summary and Arbitrary Executions, the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, have interpreted the right to respect for private life, gender-based discrimination or categories such as "other condition or status" as inclusive of sexual orientation. They have also spoken of the importance of "sexual rights" within the human rights framework.
The World Movement for Democracy will convene on February 1-4, 2004 in Durban, South Africa, for its Third Assembly. "Building Democracy for Peace, Development and Human Rights,” is the theme of the Assembly, which will take place at the International Convention Centre in Durban. More than 600 democracy activists, practitioners, and scholars from more than 100 countries in every region of the world will discuss practical solutions to a wide range of challenges. In more than 40 workshops, participants will explore how to expand and strengthen democracy in their countries and in their regions of the world; how to strengthen civic groups, political parties and the media; how to increase accountability of political institutions; and how to use civic education and culture as a means of promoting democratic values. Other areas of discussion include increasing women’s participation, the challenges of working in conflict-ridden societies, transitional justice, among others. Three South African partner organisations - the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD, http://www.accord.org.za), the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS, http://www.cps.org.za), and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA, http://www.idasa.org.za) - are working with the World Movement Secretariat to organize the Assembly.
There were huge differences in the way delegates form the rich North and poor South perceived the development problem at a recent conference in Paris on “Poverty, Inequality and Growth”, writes Sampie Terreblanche, emeritus professor of economics at the University of Stellenbosch in This Day newspaper. "First, it seems the North is not aware of how globalisation has compounded the underdevelopment of the South over the past 25 years. Second, it appears the North does not appreciate the seriousness and the unique character of the development problems in sub-Saharan Africa (South Africa excluded). The dogmatic propagandists of the status quo have promised the people of the South that global capitalism will in due course be highly advantageous to them. But in the greater part of the South, especially in Africa, the cost of global capitalism is real and the burden heavy."
Ishmael Reed Publishing Co, a prestigious publisher of anthologies of poetry is looking for 25 poets from Kenya, for a book to be published in California titles '25 New Kenyan Poets'. Please send three of your best poems, as an email word attachment to: [email protected] with the subject of the email being: submission for poetry anthology.
I agree with the writer who has decided not to attend the Social Forum again until grassroots are involved. I tried to fight for the same for Beijing’s Women Conference to my own antagonism in the end, but I do not regret. That is the strongest protest one can do. It doesn't matter if you are ostracised later, other sensible forums who see potential in you will always invite you to something you can contribute effectively and that makes more sense.
And no wonder such forums are used for sex and extortions. I am one of the strongest Gender and Human rights activist but I hate blackmail like what happened in the Mumbai so called rape case, if what I hear and came to reason is right. Was the woman tied up while the guy put on a condom? Shame, and we are also shaming our good and worthwhile fight for gender equality if we misuse the attention we get to get rid of enemies.
But I also think the guy was stupid. He should have known he is being set up, unless his libido is uncontrollable like most human beings, especially, men, who think of nothing else when the desires hit them. Wives and jobs, credibility and all are thrown out of the window. We know these things happen, but why not just be careful with who you have sex with and how you go about it. On behalf of your wife and other partners, I thank the man for at least using a condom. We still get stories of men who in such circumstances say they cannot use condoms. Most of these men are internationals and nationals who should know better about HIV/AIDS.
AMANITARE, the African Partnership for sexual and reproductive health and rights, celebrates African Women’s Health and Rights Day on February 4th 2004. Women’s organisations across Africa will mark the day which this year commemorates the 10th anniversary of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) to raise awareness of sexual and reproductive health and rights at the local and national levels with the slogan: “I Celebrate, Protest, Demand – A decade of celebrating progress and reclaiming our rights”. This year’s activities will also call on the governments to fully implement the 20-year ICPD Programme of Action (PoA). http://www.amanitare.org
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 140: SHELL FIGHTS FIRES OVER NIGER DELTA OIL-SPILL
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 140: SHELL FIGHTS FIRES OVER NIGER DELTA OIL-SPILL
The National Department of Health, through the Chief Directorate: HIV, Aids, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STIs) and Tuberculosis (TB), has invited national non-profit organisations (NPOs) working in the field of HIV, Aids and TB to apply for funding. NPOs are considered to be national entities if they provide a service in three or more provinces.
Themba Lesizwe, the South African Network of Trauma Service Providers (SANTSEP), has invited proposals from Non Profit Organisations (NPO's) who are members of or in the process of being affiliated to the network and who work in the victim empowerment sector. Themba Lesizwe has identified the following specific geographical priority areas: rural areas in Mpumalanga, Free State, Gauteng and North-West.
The Southern Africa Institute of Fundraising (SAIF) has released its schedule of fundraising and resource mobilisation programmes and short courses for 2004. Click on the link provided to find out more.
More than a 1,000 people died of malaria in Zimbabwe during 2003, according to a report published by the UN Relief and Recovery unit in the capital, Harare. Confirming the figure, World Health Organisation (WHO) official Jasper Pasipamire said the high number of deaths was a "cause for concern." Pasipamire said one of the major factors influencing malaria mortality rates in the country was the failure to detect malaria cases at primary health care centres. A total of 682,855 cases, with 1,099 deaths, were recorded by the end of the year and confirmed by Zimbabwean health authorities.
Lesotho remains a fragile democracy despite electoral reforms designed to strengthen its political system, a South African political think-tank has argued. A new report by the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) argues that steps towards deepening democracy in the tiny country continued to be undermined by ongoing social and economic problems, which could serve to reverse some of the gains made so far. The report, "The Road to Democratic Consolidation in Lesotho, Reforms and Challenges", noted that the political culture remained adversarial, and problems of political violence and poor accountability should not be regarded as solved.
A major landmark in the nation's response to HIV/AIDS was recorded in Nigeria as it launched a comprehensive baseline survey that depicts reproductive health and HIV indices in the country. Tagged "2003 National HIV/AIDS & Reproductive Health Survey" (NARHS), the survey was conducted by the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Society for Family Health (SFH), a non governmental organisation dedicated to the alleviation of suffering and poverty in Nigeria by improving reproductive, maternal and child health) and other development partners.
Two years after the Government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations (UN) signed an agreement to establish the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Amnesty International is calling on the international community not to waver in its support for the Special Court. "16 January 2002 marked a historic development towards ending impunity for a decade of atrocities against the people of Sierra Leone," Amnesty International said. "The Special Court was established at the initiative of an African state, Sierra Leone, in agreement with the UN, to act on behalf of the entire international community to provide justice to victims of crimes against humanity and war crimes."
The Angolan government has reacted strongly to accusations of corruption and mismanagement made by the NGO Human Rights Watch. According to a government response, Human Rights Watch had resumed accusations formerly levelled by some international circles - without any serious base for supporting the allegations - that over 4bn dollars generated from the oil sector between 1997 and 2002 went missing from state coffers.
The State of the World's Children 2004 presents girls' education as one of the most crucial issues facing the international development community. The report argues that the theories, policies and practices of development have been marked by gender discrimination and that the standard approach to development has focused on economic growth rather than human welfare. Through The State of the World's Children 2004, UNICEF calls on every nation engaged in development to make the education of all children - with an emphasis on girls - a major focus of investment.
The South African AIDS advocacy group Treatment Action Campaign, which has been nominated for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, on Wednesday announced plans for a new campaign in its battle for universal AIDS treatment that would target inequities between the country's public and private health care systems, Reuters reports. South Africa's health care system has retained its apartheid-era structure of "elite" private hospitals, which primarily care for wealthy whites, and public hospitals, which are overburdened in their attempts to care for the majority of blacks, Mark Heywood of TAC said. In its campaign, TAC plans to target private hospitals, which it says are "too expensive," and push for a "people's health service for a people's antiretroviral program," Heywood said.
At least 10 people died when ethnic Ijaw militants traded gunfire with government troops in Bomadi, a small town in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger delta, residents said on Friday. The clash occurred last Thursday when soldiers trailing a group of Ijaw militants surrounded the town and engaged the armed youths in a gun battle, the residents told IRIN.
In a world seemingly gone mad, it is ironic that one of the most sane and reasonable actions to come out of the Middle East recently has emanated from the government of Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan dictator long recognized as an international outlaw, says a new commentary from Foreign Policy in Focus. Libya's stunning announcement that it is giving up its nascent biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons programs and accepting international assistance and verification of its disarmament efforts is a small but important positive step in the struggle to curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). It would be a big mistake, however, to accept claims by the Bush administration and its supporters that it was the invasion of Iraq and other threatened uses of force against so-called "rogue states" which pursue WMD programs that led to Libya's decision to end its WMD programs.
UNAIDS last Tuesday urged caution in interpreting a recent study that implied that Kenya's HIV prevalence rate has decreased or is overestimated, Agence France-Presse reports. Researchers administering the Kenyan survey interviewed 8,561 Kenyan men and women to collect health information. In addition, 70% of the participants agreed to have blood samples taken for HIV testing. Researchers found that 6.7% of Kenyans are HIV-positive, compared with a previous estimate of 9.4% by the country's Ministry of Health. UNAIDS in a statement said that the study should not be interpreted as a sign that the severity of Kenya's epidemic has been overestimated. Although the statement said that UNAIDS "welcome(s)" household studies, it questioned the dramatic differences in prevalence rates between men and women.
Recent and more detailed analysis of the 2001 British Census data has thrown up a few surprises. Perhaps most striking of all has been the rise of the number of “Black African” (a term used by the Census) people living in London. Currently, at 378,933 people, “Black Africans” make up some 5% of the London population (and have now overtaken “Black Caribbean” people to take position behind Indians as the second largest ethnic minority group in London). The “Black African” group is set to be the fastest growing minority group in London, almost doubling in size between 1991 and 2011. In at least four districts of London, Africans make up more than 10% of the local population. The Greater London Authority (the pan-London body with responsibility for the capital) has noted the significance of these developments and has made moves to explore how it can engage more effectively with African communities in the city.
Africa Telehealth Group, in close collaboration with MED-e-TEL, will be holding a satellite symposium concurrently with the MED-e-TEL 2004 International Trade Fair (as part of a major African telehealth conference planned for Yaounde, Cameroun, June 12-16, 2004). The theme of the satellite symposium, as captured in its title, is: "The African Diaspora, Telehealth and Telemedicine: A Symposium for Joint Action". While focusing on Africans in the Diaspora, the symposium would, nonetheless, seek to pool the energies of both continental Africans and those Africans born or living outside the African continent who have knowledge, expertise, or a passion to contribute to the effective development of e-health in Africa. As well, organisations/businesses from or outside Africa seeking to exhibit their products or services during the symposium/trade fair are invited to formally express their interest. For more information contact Raymond Micah of the Africa Telehealth Group at [email protected]
The World Bank has published a new study looking at how policies can create obstacles to more effective use of remittances: “Migrant Labour Remittances in Africa: Reducing Obstacles to Developmental Contributions”, was authored by Cerstin Sander and Samuel Munzele Maimbo.
The London-based CBCAfricaRecruit has published results of an online survey it conducted into the African diaspora’s resources and skills.
MicroSave intends to host a virtual conference on Electronic Banking for the Poor between the 16-27th of February 2004. Participants who subscribe to the virtual conference will contribute to an email based discussion of key issues in providing electronic banking services to mass markets. Key questions will be set on a daily basis that will be complemented by an overview and introduction to each day's discussion, which is based on practical experience. The conference will share knowledge and will network individuals and organisations worldwide that are working in this exciting but challenging environment. It will cover all forms of electronic banking from Palm pilots, to mag-stripe, smart card and telephone- based services.
Burkina Faso's Defence Minister, General Kouame Lougue, was sacked at the weekend, a week after the state prosecutor revealed that he had been questioned in connection with a coup plot against President Blaise Campaore. Lougue, who was very popular within the army, was replaced by Yero Boli, the head of Campaore's presidential staff, a trusted civilian aide of the president, who was Minister of the Interior until 2000.
A large number of animals came close to extinction during the Angolan civil war. The once abundant wildlife is still under severe threat, poaching is common, laws are not enforced and there are just a few areas where the animals are secure. "Angola may lose all of its once rich biodiversity very soon if urgent action is not taken to preserve the protected areas and the endangered species. First, I was worried about the loss as a result of the war, and now as a result of the peace," Tamar Ron, UN Development Programme advisor to the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Environment, told IRIN.
As the peace process enters its final stage, the challenge on the Sudanese parties and external mediators is to prepare for a successful interim period. The final peace agreement should contain a clause committing the Government of Sudan and SPLM to peaceful resolution of the conflict in Darfur. Human rights guarantees and accountability for past human rights violations must be addressed in the peace agreement. The Sudanese must rally behind the peace process. The peace agreement will have its short-comings but signing should be regarded as just the beginning of political and civic mobilisation in Sudan. This is according to a December briefing from Justice Africa.
At 24, a single mother, Marie - not her real name - could have expected a better deal in life. But she was given no choice: while working as a housemaid in Kinindo, a residential suburb of the capital, Bujumbura, Marie was raped and subsequently found herself pregnant. Many cases of rape go unreported in Burundi. Lucie Nyamarushwa, a human rights coordinator with the Iteka rights group, attributes this to victims' ignorance of their rights and the procedures available to prosecute perpetrators.
Human rights activists in Zambia scored another victory recently when they got parliament to outlaw corporal punishment in the country. Just six months ago, government also abolished capital punishment and commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment. Legal Affairs Minister George Kunda said corporal punishment could no longer be tolerated, as it went against constitutional provisions that forbade torture and all forms of punishment that were inhuman or degrading. The scrapping of corporal punishment has come as a particular relief to school children who often suffer severe beatings under the guise of regular disciplining. This is despite the fact that school regulations are supposed to control the use of caning.
Elephants and humans have long found themselves at loggerheads in Africa, and Malawi is no exception to this trend. Communities in the southern Machinga and Balaka districts near Liwonde National Park have seen their crops destroyed by elephants, while some people have been trampled to death. This led to the construction of a perimeter fence around the 538 square kilometre park in the early 1990's. But, villagers are also exploring a more innovative way of keeping the elephants at bay: the planting of chilli pepper plants. Speaking from Liwonde National Park, Mathias Elisa - a Parks and Wildlife Department official who is responsible for education - said: "Observations conducted during chilli production revealed that elephants keep diverting from areas where the...production is being done. Elephants hate the smell of chilli, especially when the stems have been burnt. It appears they...distance themselves from where the chilli is growing,” he added.
2004 is shaping up as the year of prison reform in Swaziland, and AIDS is the catalyst. "It would be wrong to suggest that prisons are inhumane in Swaziland, but there is much room for improvement to make them safe from HIV infection, inmate abuse and other ills that are more or less endemic to African prisons," said an officer with the Correctional Services, which administers the kingdom's prison system. This person spoke on condition of anonymity.
Hooray! With a masterstroke of the pen Antoinnette Ntuli has given true meaning to the Kiswawhili word "kupambazuka": morning has broken (Pambazuka 139: How Africa develops Europe). Not only did Europe under develop Africa but Africa is still developing the world and haemorrhaging for it. The stuff terrorism is made of!
It is articles like this inspired editorial that make your newsletter invaluable (Pambazuka News 139: How Africa develops Europe). Whereas most press outside Africa portray doom and gloom in Africa (as aptly pointed out in the editorial), you offer a rich mix of the good and bad on the continent.
Yes indeed, we Africans need to stand up against the 21st century menace to Africa; the economic, social, and political exploitation of the continent by the so-called 'developed' countries. Rather than being sheep being led to the slaughterhouse, we should say enough is enough. In all our daily endeavours wherever we are, we need to channel our efforts towards the betterment of our motherland. For example, President Kibaki correctly pointed out that were Kenyans in the Diaspora to buy Kenyan tea and coffee, the country wouldn't need anyone else to buy it to better their lot in the farms.
A shift in the mindset of the African is needed; to believe in our continent, and to question grants, aid, etc emanating from the West. As sagely pointed out 'not all that glitters...' and 'when the deal is too good...'. Granted, the Western civilisation has its benefits, but the African will always remain in the periphery of such benefits, being in the agenda when there is something to be reaped, aka Iraq (read Gulf of Guinea - Cameroon, Equitorial Guinea, Chad, Sudan and all the other countries between Nigeria and Angola). We need a new Egyptian civilisation, nay, an African civilisation: at least its nemesis. Only then will Africa's posterity judge us leniently.
I liked the editorial very much (Pambazuka 137: The way it could have been...). It was very different and interesting but could have benefited from some gender sensitivity and a feminist perspective. Thanks for feeding us intellectually and enriching our lives.
Pambazuka News Reply: Thanks for pulling us up – We will definitely keep your point in mind.
This paper identifies several avenues through which cross-infections take place in the Northeast African context. It suggests that supranational (or regional) organisations, such as the Inter-Governmental Agency for Development or the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, gear themselves to address such issues that require the involvement of more than one country. It provides a list of issues with which such regional organisations could start.
A government programme in Nigeria to provide anti-retrovirals, the drugs which help people infected with HIV/Aids, has run out of supplies. At least 12,000 people have been receiving the drugs from clinics at about a tenth of market value for more than a year.
Farmers in developing countries are switching to genetically modified (GM) crops at more than twice the rate of farmers in the industrialised world, according to a new survey. Last year, the amount of land planted with GM crops in developing countries grew by 4.4 million hectares, or 28 per cent. In comparison, the rate of growth in industrialised countries was 11 per cent.
Recent articles by South African author and journalist Rian Malan arguing that AIDS statistics are grossly exaggerated (http://www.lewrockwell.com/spectator/spec192.html) have caused a stormy debate about the seriousness of HIV/AIDS in Africa. In this article, available in full by clicking on the link below, Nathan Geffen from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) responds to Malan. "Unfortunately, there is overwhelming evidence that mortality due to HIV in South Africa is immense; it is probably the largest single cause of premature death in South Africa. Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, - some of the countries referred to by Malan - are also experiencing very large HIV epidemics. The number of AIDS cases in South Africa is demonstrably growing but the situation is not hopeless: we can alleviate the epidemic by substantially increasing prevention and treatment efforts as government has recently committed to doing," says Geffen.
The point of departure for the 9th conference of SSIA is the dispersal of Somali speaking people beyond the boundaries of the Republic of Somalia that collapsed as a state in 1991. Somali people have always lived beyond the territory of the Republic of Somalia, especially in the neighbouring states of Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Additionally, the Ogaden war (1977-1979), and the Civil Wars from 1988 and up till today caused millions of Somalis to flee and migrate throughout the region of the Horn of Africa - and further abroad to Europe, North America and other destinations. This dispersal of Somalis and the migrations of people originating from the former Republic of Somalia have been intimately linked to the still ongoing conflicts in the Horn of Africa, and are related to the complex processes of reconciliation and state formation. The scope of the Conference will therefore include all of the Horn of Africa as well as Somalis in the wider Diaspora. It will encourage papers that, from various perspectives, approach cross-cutting issues, relate to the linkages between migration, development and processes of state-formation and identity, and which take a regional (Horn of Africa) view on the emergence of transboundary political formations. Complete program and registration information will be available April 2004. The event organiser can be contacted by e-mail: [email protected]
Western powers are stepping up mediation to end a simmering border row between Eritrea and key American ally Ethiopia less than four years after the Horn of Africa neighbours fought a brutal border war. The latest official to ask the former foes to cool months of angry rhetoric is Britain's Minister for Africa Chris Mullin, who met Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa late on Friday after talks in Eritrea and Djibouti.
Tension between regional Somali leaders may scuttle the peace talks in Kenya, mediators have warned as fighting continues in central Somalia. Some 13 people were killed and several others injured after inter-clan fighting over land and water in Hiirran region at the weekend.
A new census of gorilla populations in the national parks of three countries in Central Africa has shown a surprise increase in numbers. The survey suggests the number of mountain gorillas has risen by 17% since 1989, despite insecurity and the threat from poachers.
The continuing struggle between university lecturers and the State is still smouldering and, therefore, worth revisiting. But, unlike the past strikes by the Kenyan working classes, the academics are not publicly demonstrating or picketing. Most are eager to get back to work, but only after their complaint has been addressed. These people are some of the best-educated individuals in Africa. All along the government and the woolly-headed public have taken them for granted. The government, in particular, has always behaved as if the intellectuals do not exist and has preferred to import white advisers, says this editorial in Kenya's The Nation newspaper.
Open source is smashing the paradigm of how information and communications technology (ICT) benefits are delivered to Africans. In the past 40 years, ICT has made minimal impact on the lives of 90% of the people living in Africa because they didn't fit the Western models of how benefits should be delivered to them. It failed to adapt to support the way of life it found, seeking rather to hope that Africa would 'catch up' to the rest of the world.
IT Governance practitioners are scheduled to get together to discuss topical issues at the IT Governance Forum to be held at the VW Conference Centre in Midrand in Johannesburg on 28 and 29 January. An important area of discussion at the forum will deal with the local legislation pertaining to information technology.
Preparations for the World Summit on the Information Society to be hosted by Tunisia in the year 2005, was the main topic of a recent special cabinet meeting chaired by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
This is the story of one young woman’s struggle to regain her life after her entire family is slain during the 1994 genocide of Rwanda. It tells of her pain and triumphs in her relationship with an American doctor whom she meets at the refugee camp where she works as a nurse, and of her quest to seek asylum in the United States.
Afriche e Orienti", the leading Italian journal in African studies, is looking for contributions for a special issue on "social movements Africa" to be published in the second half of 2004. Articles are invited on topics that cover dynamics of mobilization and struggle for social rights, access to resources and social justice in the African continent under neoliberalism. The deadline for the submission of articles (not more than 6,000 words long) is 31 MARCH 2004. Submissions and abstracts should be sent to Franco Barchiesi ([email protected]).
Volume 30 Number 96/June 2003 of Review of African Political Economy is now available.
This issue contains:
* War & the Forgotten Continent by Rita Abrahamsen, Ray Bush;
* Africa: The Next Liberation Struggle? by John S. Saul;
* Land Reform in Southern Africa in World-Historical Perspective by Henry Bernstein.
Jeebleh is a Somalian who returns from the comfort of New York to his homeland of Somalia after an absence of more than 20 years. He has returned to his birthplace to mourn the death of his recently deceased mother. He has left his anxious family behind, and arrives in Mogadiscio as foreigner with a Somali passport. His distance, his separation, from his nuclear family, is a metaphor for the similar distance between the reality of Somalia and his/our notions of family. His journey into his unfamiliar homeland is about the discovery that family is not nuclear, it is clan, and this requires a re-learning of the language that circumscribes our definitions of self.
Applications are invited for an IT Technical Officer position with the Reflect/ICT Project in Fort Portal, funded by DFID-UK and ActionAid Uganda. Deadline for applications is January 30, 2004.
This will be the first post of its kind for ICW. Located in Southern Africa, wherever the selected candidate is based, this is a senior, full-time paid position. The Regional Coordinator will ensure the development of a strong, dynamic and active ICW network in the region, with the capacity to fully involve members in the work of the wider ICW.
SAT is a leading regional initiative that supports community responses to HIV and AIDS and facilitates networking, skills exchange and lesson sharing throughout the region. To increase the scale and impact of our work we are currently recruiting for these two positions based in our regional office in Harare.
Helpscape, a youth serving, non-governmental organisation with offices in Ibadan, Oyo State and Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria is pleased to announce the 2004 Budding Leaders' Summit (BLS). The BLS is a quarterly summit that draws participants from Secondary Schools and Tertiary Institutions. It is a career and educational/counselling programme for youths in the 12-25 years category. In 2004, there will be five summits in five cities across the country namely: Ibadan (January 28), Lagos (March), Jos (June), Uyo (September) and Abuja (December).
Twice a year, COPA holds a 5-week training workshop. This course covers diverse aspects of conflict transformation and peace building, and is aimed at building the capacity of participants, mostly from the African continent, working in related fields. The next course is scheduled for 10th May 2004 to 11th June 2004 and will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The purpose of this course is to assist men and women working for development, human rights, peace and justice.
The Department for Gender and Peace Studies at the University for Peace is pleased to announce the Master of Arts Degree in Gender and Peace Building, which will take place beginning in September of 2004. The Programme has been designed to address the interaction between Gender and Peace Building when discussing topics such as: The Study of Peace and Nonviolent Transformation of Conflict; Cultures and Cultural Transformation: from a Culture of War to a Culture of Peace; Conditions of Exclusion and Strategies of Inclusion: Diverse Human Groups; Peace Processes: Conflict Analysis, Resolution and Transformation; Human Rights, Democracy and Governance; Economy and Development; The Environment and Sustainable Development; and Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods.
You are invited to enhance by your participation an on-line regional consultation on "Globalisation, Gender and Health" that will take place from 26 January to 6 February 2004 at the following website: http://www.ggh-project.info. This important consultation that will benefit from your expertise and experience is led by UNIFEM. Its main objective is to determine the top priorities for future research and research training at the intersect of "Globalisation, Gender and Health" in the African context.
The Chairman of the government appointed Media and Information Commission, Dr Tafataona Mahoso, has threatened to take action against the Zimbabwe Independent and its editor Iden Wetherell over what he calls a “racist” letter to the editor that was published in the paper on January 2, 2004.
Soul Beat Africa is a web-based initiative focusing specifically on sharing information about using communication for change and development in Africa. It is a space to share experiences, materials, strategic thinking and events, and to engage in discussion and debate. Through Soul Beat Africa, people and organisations are sharing information about how communication is being used to address such issues as HIV/AIDS, economic development, women's issues, youth, health, and the environment, to name only a few.
The GFO NEWSLETTER is an independent source of news, analysis and commentary about the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (www.theglobalfund.org). The GFO Newsletter is emailed to subscribers once to twice a month. To receive the GFO NEWSLETTER (if you haven't already subscribed), send an email to [email protected] Subject line and text can be left blank.
Disasters can happen anytime and anywhere. From fire and floods, to virus attacks, the only thing you can be sure of is that it will be a complete surprise. The most important thing you can do to minimize the impact is to have an emergency plan already in place so that critical data can quickly be restored and your business can be functional again as soon as possible.
At a conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Association of Progressive Communications (APC) launched a pioneering project to help charities tap the potential of the Internet. Called APC-ActionApps, the free computer software aims to boost the advocacy powers of charities across the world. APC says it is designed to rival software sold by computer giants, enabling nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to regularly update their websites "cheaply, simply and speedily."
The need to protect children from war and to rehabilitate those who become victims of armed conflict will be the central themes of the international conference 'Children and War: Impact', part of a major research project. The conference will be held April 1-3 at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. Anyone interested in attending should contact: Andy Knight at [email protected].
Hundreds of Sudanese refugees fleeing fighting in the Darfur region have been relocated away from the volatile Chad-Sudan border to a safer site in eastern Chad. On Monday, a second convoy of some 240 people left Ouendalou border site for the new camp at Farchana, 55 km away. They joined the first group of 148 people who had left on Saturday.
UNHCR started its voluntary repatriation operation from Uganda to Rwanda this week, kicking off what is expected to be one of the last major movements of Rwandan returnees in the region. The first 242 of some 25,000 Rwandan refugees living in Uganda returned home on Monday, under an agreement signed by the governments of the two countries and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an official told IRIN.
Since a spate of killings in mid-December, about 5,000 Sudanese and Ethiopian Anyuaks, including about 100 unaccompanied children, have fled from western Ethiopia to Pachala in southern Sudan, according to the UN and aid agencies. "Residents say some 100 to 200 people are arriving daily," Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the Office of the United High Commissioner for Refugees, told IRIN. "They report walking for a week or more to reach the border and appear to be in reasonably good health. However, they are arriving with no possessions, not even to carry water [in]," he said, noting that most of them were young men aged between 14 and 25. "Local residents are providing some help to the new arrivals, who are also foraging in the countryside for food," he added.
Authorities in Nyala, southern Darfur, closed two camps housing 10,000 displaced people on Thursday, following a failed attempt to relocate them to new camps without their consent, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The new camps were located about 20 km outside of Nyala "in an area considered unsafe" due to ongoing fighting, difficult to access for humanitarian workers, and where there was neither shelter, food, nor sufficient access to water and latrines, said MSF.
Children continued to be used as soldiers, sexual slaves, labourers, porters and spies throughout 2003 in both newly-erupting and longstanding conflicts, according to a report released in the run-up to the United Nations Security Council’s fourth open debate on children and armed conflict. The report, released by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, details evidence of governments and armed groups recruiting and using child soldiers in numerous conflicts worldwide. The Coalition calls for action by the UN Security Council to insist upon – and enforce – an end to child recruitment.
A police summary of reported violent crimes committed against women and children over the December period last year shows that a total of 27 women were raped countrywide, with an equal number of rapes of minors reported in the same period. The police indicated that primarily ex-boyfriends and a "few strangers" raped women. Relatives, on the other hand, were the main perpetrators in the rape cases involving children.
Each month as many as 150 children sleeping rough in the capital, Harare, are being treated for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), underlining their extreme vulnerability, according to a local NGO. Streets Ahead, an organisation trying to improve the welfare of Harare's 5,000 street children, said they discovered the STI outbreak when the children visited their offices for counselling and other support programmes.
Media Under Siege, a report on media coverage of the 2002 presidential and mayoral elections in Zimbabwe, begins with a paragraph discussing a propaganda manual used in 1994 by Rwandan media, now notorious for inciting genocide. The manual argued for an approach called “accusation in a mirror”, in which the enemy would be accused of carrying out acts that the accusers themselves were planning or executing. It is this “uncanny echo” that Media Under Siege begins with, and with the horror of Rwanda imprinted on the psyche of Africa, it is a chilling comparison. But this report does not set out to warn that Zimbabwe will become another Rwanda. Rather, and as laid out in the conclusion, it is a pointed warning to those working in the public media that their time will come.
The report concludes: “The evidence from the output of Zimpapers and ZBC points overwhelmingly to the existence of a deliberate campaign to disseminate lies with the aims of discrediting the political opposition and inciting violence against the MDC and its supporters…” It does go on to acknowledge that the prospect of journalists being charged is a distant one. “But it is important that the legal obligations and accountability of journalists be clearly understood.”
Media Under Siege is an in depth look at the media context of the 2002 elections and some of the major events covered by the media, including the victimisation of the Amani Trust, the alleged assassination plot against Robert Mugabe and some of the more outlandish conspiracy theories advanced in the public media. It talks through the pre-poll, poll and post-poll context in a format that compares how the public media covered issues in relation to the private media, and visa versa. Some of the statistics are astonishing and clearly indicate the vested interests of the media and the massive dived between the public media on one side and the private media on the other. For example, Radio Zimbabwe quoted a total of 304 official party voices of the contesting parties. Of these, Zanu-PF was quoted 258 times (85 percent), while the MDC was quoted 28 times (nine percent). And out of a total of 14 hours and 41 minutes and 30 seconds that ZBC television news bulletins devoted to the presidential elections campaign between December 2001 and March 2002, Zanu-PF’s candidate was granted a total of 13 hours 50 minutes and 30 seconds, or a little more than 94 percent.
This is not to say that the report is uncritical of the shortcomings in the coverage of events by the Daily News, and this is frequently pointed out. But the difference is that this is constructive criticism of mistakes carried out in the line of duty. In the case of the public media, criticism is more scathing. “Bad journalism was what Zimpapers and the ZBC did in the now distant past, when they at least aspired to practise journalism of some description. In the 2002 election campaign their business was not journalism at all. At its most benign it was to sow confusion; at its worst it was used as a tool to incite hatred and violence.”
This report might not be the glossiest publication you ever lay your hands on, but it is a gritty account of the media environment over the election period and will be of value to anyone with even a passing interest in the media. The report does not cover the subsequent closure of the Daily News, but this does not matter. Its indictment of the public media for its failure to fulfil its most basic journalistic responsibilities during the election period makes clear the huge hole that the closure of the Daily News has left in Zimbabwe.
Media Under Siege is published by the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, an independent Trust that works to promote responsible journalism in Zimbabwe.
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An anti-corruption committee was last week installed to check corrupt practices in the Ministry of Employment, Labour and Social Insurance. The installation ceremony was chaired by Minister Robert Nkili at the Yaounde conference centre. Minister Nkili told members of the anti-corruption committee that the ultimate wish of the Cameroonian people of all classes and shades of opinion was to check and possibly eradicate corrupt practices in the public service. According to him, the country has enough resources but lacks honest managers.
Nigeria has endorsed the new mass immunisation campaigns that aim to vaccinate 250 million children against polio announced after an emergency meeting at the World Health Organisation. Nigeria's Health Minister was the first to sign the declaration followed by Afghanistan, India, Egypt, Niger and Pakistan - the remaining polio endemic countries.
Fighters who took part in Liberia's armed conflict have been raping and looting civilians in areas that lack international peacekeepers, despite a ceasefire and peace agreement in the country, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released ahead of a major international donors' conference on Liberia in early February. "Despite the peace accords, civilians in rural Liberia are still being raped, looted and forced to work for fighters from all the warring factions," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Africa division. "More peacekeepers are needed to stem the violence and ensure that the disarmament program is successful."
A distance-learning project developed by Fahamu for human rights organisations in Southern Africa has reached the finals of the Stockholm Challenge Award for 2003/2004. It was selected from among 900 applicants from 107 countries to be one of 24 finalists in the education category of the award. The project, 'Adilisha: Human Rights Capacity Building in Africa', was developed by Fahamu to strengthen the campaigning, advocacy and managerial capacity of human rights and advocacy organisations in Africa. This was done by providing distance-learning courses using CDROM based interactive materials that were facilitated by email and combined with regional face-to-face workshops.
The former Rwandan army provided weapons and training to militiamen in the months leading up to the 1994 genocide, Gen. Romeo Dallaire, the former commander of UN troops in the country, told the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday. In his second day of testimony in the "Military Trial I" - for four former Rwandan military officers - Dallaire said an informant told him that weapons in the hands of Interahamwe militiamen were from the army's reserve stocks.
Zimbabwe's women are doubly disadvantaged by the country's four-year-old economic crisis. They are not only expected to manage dwindling, inflation-hit household budgets, but many are also victims of a corresponding rise in domestic violence. "We see an average of 10 new clients a day - and of these an average of three are seeking peace orders in matters of domestic violence, and some of the reasons have to do with financial issues," Emilia Muchawa of the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association told IRIN.
Hutu militants opposed to the voluntary repatriation of their countrymen are holding at least 3,000 Rwandan civilians and former combatants hostage in a forest in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the spokesman for the UN Mission in the DRC, Hamadoun Toure, said on Tuesday. "Some hardliners do not want to return to Rwanda and have obstructed former fighters intent on returning home from leaving the forest," he said.
Guinea's ailing head of state, General Lansana Conte, was sworn in for another seven-year term on Monday. The swearing-in ceremony took place before a panel of Supreme Court judges. While Conte was able to take his oath of office in a loud, clear voice, the difficulty he experienced in getting from his seat to the rostrum has led to further speculation about the President’s decline and his ability to embark on another seven years in power. Conte, 69, who first came to power through a coup d'etat in 1984, cleared 95.2 percent of the vote in the elections on December 21. But the poll was boycotted by opposition parties (most of whose candidates had already been ruled ineligible to stand by the authorities) and the results were announced amidst accusations of electoral fraud and vote-rigging.
Speaking recently at the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico, Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), pointed to the critical role of women's participation and leadership in enhancing democratic governance. "The nations of the world have committed themselves, through the 2000 Millennium Declaration, to a world free from want and free from fear," she said. "The current debate on how to achieve this however, throws up both the growing realization that conventional development and governance approaches are failing to achieve these desired ends, and that it is becoming increasingly important to examine the ways in which power has been exercised in the management of political and economic processes for development."
For many young women in Nairobi's crowded Kibera slum, life is fraught with danger in addition to the hardship they share with other residents of one of Africa's poorest neighbourhoods. They live in constant fear of violence, rape, sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS, unequal access to education, and excessive domestic responsibilities.
Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO) has announced the launching of this publication which highlights the critical issues related to water privatization and women. Among the themes included are: water as a human right; gender roles and inequities; global policy trends; and governance issues. Case studies from Egypt, Kenya, Philippines, South Africa, United States of America, and Uruguay are presented.
Lawyers defending the 18 people accused of defrauding Mozambique's largest bank, the BCM, of 144 billion meticais (14 million US dollars at the exchange rates of the time) in 1996, on Monday launched a bitter, and highly personal attack against the BCM's lawyer, Albano Silva, who is handling the bank's private prosecution. Speaking on behalf of all the defence lawyers, Fernanda Lopes accused Silva of "a vile attempt to influence the judges".
More than 40 MPs have signed secret agreements to pay debts owed to a travel agency implicated in a parliamentary R15-million voucher scam. In terms of the deals, any MPs who fail to pay money owed to ITC Travel Services within a year will have summons issued against them and will face being blacklisted for bad debt.
Is your Member of Parliament suddenly proving elusive? And are you at a loss as to why he or she cannot honour pledges for fund-drives, or are you wondering why "call or see me next week" has become his/her perpetual excuse? A survey carried out two months ago, explains just why most of our MPs are becoming desperately dodgy - they are spending far more than they earn. The report, "Paying the Public or Caring for Constituents", explores expenditure patterns by the MPs. The Transparency International-Kenya survey is part of an endeavour to examine aspects of public affairs that impact on corruption.
Former Zambian intelligence boss Xavier Chungu, facing corruption charges with former president Frederick Chiluba, was arrested late Monday on charges of vehicle theft, a security source said on Tuesday. Chungu, who with Chiluba is accused of stealing more than 40 million dollars (31.5 million euros) from the state during Chiluba's 10-year presidency from 1991, was arrested at his suburban home in the capital and is currently in detention, the source said. "They have picked him up in connection with theft of motor vehicles which is a non-bailable offence," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The wife of the leader of Liberia's most powerful rebel movement announced Tuesday she was taking charge, backed by dozens of guerrilla commanders in ousting a husband whose ambitions she said were endangering the nation's hard-won peace. In a family feud with West Africa's stability in the balance, warlord Sekou Conneh frantically took to state radio to insist it was only a marital squabble and he was still in command.
An Ivory Coast policeman has pleaded not guilty to the murder of a French journalist in Abidjan last year. Sergeant Theodore Seri said he had struggled with Jean Helene but said the fatal shots had not come from his gun. Correspondents say the killing was a sign of anti-French feeling in Ivory Coast and fear the trial will again heighten tensions.
In a communal goat stable, children sit under a mango tree, learning to read and write. In this narrow alleyway of Mogadishu, where three or four generations of Somalis share small homes behind high white walls and dark wooden doors, education is getting a second chance. After more than a decade of anarchy, only about one in six children of primary school age attends school, according to a U.N. survey released last week. Peace talks are under way, although the men with guns have failed to reach a power-sharing agreement. Meanwhile, parents, teachers and aid agencies have managed to piece together a private education system ranging from preschool to medical school.
Kenya's Maasai people, who depend on tourists visiting the Maasai Mara game park, are facing big challenges after a dramatic fall in wildlife numbers. Visitors were already staying away due to fears of terror attacks, poor infrastructure and bad land management. In the last 10 years, poaching, population growth and overgrazing have led to a 43% fall in the amount of wildlife found in the buffer zones. Conservationists say changes are needed, but it is going to take a fundamental shift in the thinking of the local people.
South Africa's Zulu-led opposition party has begun its election campaign amidst fears of street violence. About 20,000 supporters joined a rally in Durban to hear the leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, speak on Sunday. Inkatha is trying to prevent the ANC - which controls the national government - from taking power in the province of KwaZulu Natal. Thousands died in fighting between the Inkatha and the ANC in the early 1990s.
Large areas of southern Africa, suffering from drought after several years of dry conditions, will likely see farm output slide this year, a regional body said on Tuesday. Regional breadbasket South Africa, which usually exports maize to its neighbours, is due to produce only enough of the staple food for its own population in 2004, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said. This raises the prospects for extra imports from outside the region. The United Nation's World Food Programme has been providing rations to 6,5 million people in southern Africa, mostly in Zimbabwe where economic decline has exacerbated patchy drought.
The leader of the Central African Republic has appointed former prime minister Henri Maidou to the newly created post of presidential aide in charge of human rights and good governance, national radio has reported.
He works 10 hours a day and gets only R80 a fortnight. Joel Molungu Mashele, who sustained multiple head injuries when a building collapsed, killing three others, at the weekend, on Tuesday related his painful experience to Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana.
Human rights organisations have addressed concerns to businesses for a number of years. Recognizing that economic globalization has expanded the reach of corporate power, advocates have struggled to ensure that companies, no less than other significant actors, are brought within the framework of international human rights rules. A significant step in this direction was taken in August 2003 by the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights when it approved the UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights. This booklet provides an introduction to the UN Human Rights Norms for Business. It answers a number of questions about the UN Norms and their legal status, and includes an overview of their development, background on the drafting process, and a description of the content and legal status of the UN Norms.
As the peace process enters its final stage, the challenge on the Sudanese parties and external mediators is to prepare for a successful interim period. The final peace agreement should contain a clause committing the parties Governement of Sudan and SPLM to peaceful resolution of the conflict in Darfur. Human rights guarantees and accountability for past human rights violations must be addressed in the peace agreement. The Sudanese must rally behind the peace process. The peace agreement will have its short-comings but signing should be regarded as just the beginning of political and civic mobilisation in Sudan. This is according to a December briefing from Justice Africa.
Proper nutrition is a powerful good: people who are well-fed are generally healthy. Healthy women can lead more fulfilling lives; healthy children learn more in school and out. Good nutrition benefits families, their communities and the world as a whole. Malnutrition is, by the same logic, devastating. It plays a part in more than half of all child deaths worldwide. It perpetuates poverty. Malnutrition blunts the intellect and saps the productivity of everyone it touches, says a new report released by Unicef for the World Economic Forum.
Some figures speak for themselves. Like the 1.2 billion poor people in the world. More than two-thirds of them live in rural areas, often with little access to basic services such as education, healthcare and communications because they are isolated. 'Education for Rural Development: Towards New Policy Responses', from UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, reviews the status of rural education from the standpoint of public policies and sheds light on "good practice".
There is an old African folktale of the hare and the baboon. The story goes that Hare and his family held a huge feast and invited his uncle Baboon and family. On the morning of the day Hare and family burned the whole surroundings of his homestead. When Baboon and family arrived for the feast Hare advised them to go to the river to wash their hands first for no one with dirty hands could enjoy the feast. Baboon and family returned and upon inspection Hare maintained that their hands were still dirty. Because Baboon could not avoid touching the burnt surroundings, his hands were always dirty each time he returned from the river. Thus he never joined the feast on account of his dirty hands. He got frustrated and left. But the story goes further as, later that year, Baboon and family held an even bigger feast. He invited his nephew Hare and family. But the venue was up in the trees. Hare and family arrived but could not climb trees and so they salivated on the ground as Baboon and company enjoyed their feast. Sadly many of us seem to have forgotten the wisdom in these folk tales. This article is a follow up to a critique of the Supreme Court judgement in the ANZ case that was delivered on the 11/09/2003. In that judgement, the Court refused to hear the application brought by ANZ (Publishers of the Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday) challenging certain sections of the notorious Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). That unprecedented refusal to hear a constitutional application was based on the ground that ANZ had "unclean hands" because they had failed to comply with a law whose validity they were challenging. In that critique, the author argued, with all due respect, the Supreme Court had erred in applying the doctrine of Clean Hands, a doctrine of equity, in a matter involving the determination of fundamental constitutional rights. Such an application of the doctrine of Clean Hands poses a great hazard to the protection and uninterrupted enjoyment of human rights, says the author.