PAMBAZUKA NEWS 121: Liberia: Why ceasefires, peacekeeping and power sharing are not enough
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 121: Liberia: Why ceasefires, peacekeeping and power sharing are not enough
The debate over apartheid reparations took an unexpected turn this week with Nobel laureate and former World Bank vice-president Joseph E. Stiglitz coming out firmly in support of the victims' lawsuits. Stiglitz, also a former chief economist of the World Bank, wrote to the New York court in an apparent move to counter efforts by the South African government and multi-national corporations to squash the lawsuits.
"National States alone cannot offer individuals the protection they need and deserve, as the attacks on the Twin Towers in Manhattan show. The protection offered by national States is not sufficient to guarantee the life and freedom of their citizens if the international community, too, is not based on the rule of law. Only the existence of mechanisms for the protection of all persons in all countries can bring lasting, comprehensive peace." This is an extract from an interview with the International Criminal Court's first Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The interview was published by www.moveon.org, an organisation that campaigns to bring ordinary people back into politics.
Zimbabwean civic leaders called at a recent symposium for an end to political violence, the repeal of repressive legislation and the opening up of political space, while also calling for the African Commission on Human and People's Rights to immediately release the report of the findings of its mission to Zimbabwe.
Related Link:
* COMMISSION BLOCKS DAMNING REPORT
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=7415
Deputy President Jacob Zuma will not be prosecuted over South Africa's multi-billion rand arms deal, despite indications that there may be a corruption case for him to answer to, the country's top prosecutor said on Saturday. The decision was taken in spite of a recommendation by the investigating team that Zuma be criminally charged, national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka said.
Related Links:
* Ngcuka spoke in 'riddles' about Zuma
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=11&o=27596
The fight against a growing malaria epidemic in Ethiopia is being hampered because of a resistance to available drugs, humanitarian agencies warned on Monday. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that the parasite’s resistance was “aggravating the epidemic and causing a high death toll".
Thousands of civilians were displaced by renewed clashes between Liberian government troops and rebel fighters at the weekend. The fighting took place less than a week after the signing of a peace agreement that was supposed to end 14 years of civil war.
The Nigerian Red Cross said on Friday about 100 people were killed in five days of ethnic violence that rocked the southern oil city of Warri. The federal government meanwhile set up a task force to protect oil wells in the area and crack down on the massive theft of crude oil from pipelines.
The government of the Republic of Congo has set 15 September as its new date for returning thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Pool region to their homes, revising its earlier target date of 31 July.
Women could play a key role in peace-building and reconciliation, but this will not be possible without new imaginative interventions in areas such as justice and psycho-social health, and without a shift in gender power relations in many areas, says this paper from the Development Studies Institute.
The paper, produced by BRIDGE, argues that women, especially poor women, have been marginalised within the decision-making process of PRSPs at government and civil society level, and gender equality issues have been sidelined. One of the recommendations of the paper is to include the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data in order to enhance the development of gender-sensitive poverty reduction strategies. This should include strengthening the link between gender research and policy interventions.
Related Link:
* Do PRSPS address Gender? A gender audit of 2002 PRSPS
http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0000306/P306_PRSP_Gender.pdf
"He used to force me to have sex with him. He would beat me and slap me when I refused. I never used a condom with him. When I got pregnant I went for a medical check-up. When I gave birth, and the child had passed away, they told me I was HIV-positive. I cried. The doctor told me, “Wipe your tears, the whole world is sick.”" Harriet Abwoli is just one of many women from diverse regions, ethnic groups, religious backgrounds, and economic classes in Uganda, whose experiences tell one story: that domestic violence has played a critical role in rendering them vulnerable to HIV infection. A 77-page report from Human Rights Watch, entitled "Just Die Quietly: Domestic Violence and Women's Vulnerability to HIV in Uganda", reveals that Ugandan women are becoming infected with HIV, and will eventually die of AIDS, because the state is failing to protect them from domestic violence.
This article argues that the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, fuelled by exploitation of natural resources and power struggles, is having an untold impact on the exploitation of children. The report suggests that the situation in the DRC is a result of decades of poor governance and broader regional insecurity.
Young Africans have been urged to pursue careers in information and communication technologies to help the continent realise its development goals. At a recent conference participants called on African youth organisations to draft a plan of action on how to implement ICT and Nepad projects in their countries.
“I am a woman from Zimbabwe trying to confront my past and future, as my country sinks into chronic crises. I will introduce myself as Deborah Sibate, which is not my real name. I was born in the Western region of Zimbabwe, Mathebele land. I am 48-year-old mother, who urges for an impediment to be placed over the abuse of women rights in the land of my origin.”
Xoli Nkosi, a South African musician, started his band from scratch with a few guys from the township. “I call my music Bokasie fusion, that is the name that my sisters came up with.” He enjoys performing around the country, from Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal. He believes that this is his calling, a mission to speak to people’s hearts through music.
The Landless People's Movement - an autonomous national movement of poor and landless people struggling for land reform – has condemned the six-week incarceration of seven youth leaders of the poor and landless in prison, following their arrest on 3 July on an alleged murder charge.
This article documents research on the Southern African food crisis and assesses factors that contributed to the crisis. It contains highlights about the obstacles to the food aid effort, and the challenges to recovery from the crisis.
In the past decade, the Gash-Barka region in Eritrea's western lowlands on the borders of Sudan and Ethiopia has become a site of resettlement for refugees returning from Sudan and those displaced by border clashes with Ethiopia. What impact has their arrival had on an already fragile natural resource base? What lessons can be applied to other settlement schemes for displaced people?
Robert Chambers, the Godfather of modern community development, reckons that our professional actions are usually overwhelmingly the effects of the culture pervading our professional field. We might thus find ourselves subscribing to nonsensical norms without questioning them. We, development professionals, often preach empowerment, justice, participation and other noble values without reflecting on what we practice "in-house".
The 4th issue of the Africa Freedom of Expression Digest is available. The aim of the digest is to compile on a monthly basis the trends of violations on freedom of expression on the continent.
Earlier this month, Gambian police assaulted Buya Jammeh, a reporter for the English-language biweekly The Independent, near the newspaper's offices in the capital, Banjul. According to sources familiar with the incident, on August 9, two police officers stationed a short distance from the newspaper stopped Jammeh on his way to a radio station where he works part-time.
The Tunisian government should release journalist Abdullah Zouari immediately and unconditionally, Human Rights Watch has said. Zouari was arrested after he assisted a Human Rights Watch research mission in the south of Tunisia. Zouari, currently in Harboub prison, has faced constant harassment since he completed an 11-year prison sentence in June 2002.
An internationally brokered plan that carves up control of big revenue-earning sectors of the Liberian economy among the government and two rebel groups could perpetuate corruption and endanger redevelopment, a prominent opposition leader has warned. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the leading opposition candidate in the country's last presidential election, said proposals for international oversight of Liberian ministries and agencies could be frustrated by vested interests that became entrenched under ousted president Charles Taylor.
The Lesotho Court of Appeal made strong statements about corruption in developing countries when it recently confirmed the conviction of Canadian engineering contracting firm Acres International on a charge of bribery. Acres was found guilty of having bribed the CEO of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, Masupho Sole, to secure a lucrative contract for the construction of the Katse Dam. Sole, now in prison, received bribes totalling R12m from a number of international companies. On Tuesday German engineering company Lahmeyer International will be sentenced on seven counts of bribery. Next in line for prosecution is French company Spies Batignolles. Seven or eight other international companies have been charged.
At last we hear that some money has been released from the Global Fund, says this editorial in The Chronicle newspaper. It has been over a year that the amount of US$196 million dollars in funds to fight TB, Malaria and HIV/Aids was approved. The excitement of the funds being received was evident. Almost every meeting on HIV/Aids that was held by officials after the announcement of the funds being approved referred to how important the funds would be in the fight against the epidemic.
No fewer than 236 Nigerian police officers are billed to face dismissal following their alleged involvement in extorting money from drivers at police checkpoints across the country, local newspaper This Day reported Tuesday. Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tafa Balogun was quoted as saying: "The exercise of dismissing corrupt officers will continue until the last cell in the corrupt clique is brought to book."
Arid countries fighting the loss of fertile soil caused by deforestation and drought, notably in Africa, appealed for money from rich nations this week at a United Nations conference in Cuba. The gradual decline in soil productivity resulting from deforestation, over-grazing, and climate change threatens the food security of 1.2 billion people in 110 countries, said the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Privatisation is being pushed by international governance institutions, the governments that control them, and the corporations that lobby both groups, even though the dangers that privatisation entails can seriously-and permanently-harm the livelihoods of the world's poorest people. The position of "privatise first and ask questions later" and the naïve confidence in the processes and outcomes of market reform have imposed hardship on precisely the groups those organisations are entrusted to protect. It is time to shift the burden of proof from those who question risky solutions to those who propose them, says this article.
Kenyan scientists are embroiled in a deepening controversy over whether Kenya should lift a ban on the pesticide DDT in a bid to reduce deaths from malaria. A government-commissioned taskforce is poised to reveal its advice on whether the pesticide should be reintroduced. Meanwhile sharp divisions are appearing between two of the country's leading research organisations, the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), both based in Nairobi.
Exxon's £1.3bn Chad-Cameroon pipeline stretches 1,000km across arid lands and equatorial forest to the African coast. When it reaches west Cameroon it runs adjacent to an old wildlife reserve where, for centuries, thousands of indigenous Bagyeli pygmies have depended on the forest for hunting and medicines. As "compensation" for any disturbance, the World Bank, the Dutch government and international conservation group Tropenbos combined in 1999 to create the giant Campo Ma'an national park. The stated aim was to protect the forest, alleviate poverty and to allow scientific research. But a new book, From Principles to Practice, documenting nine major African conservation efforts in six central African countries, claims that the Campo Ma'an project is a disaster, threatening to destroy the Bagyeli cultural heritage and knowledge and impoverish the people further.
Yeken Kignit (“Looking Over One’s Daily Life”) and Dhimbiba (“Getting the Best Out of Life”), two new social content soap operas, are changing behaviour in Ethiopia. New evidence indicates that more than a third (35 percent) of new family planning clients in Ethiopia have heard one of the radio soap operas. Nearly six percent of the new clients said they visited the clinic as a result of listening to one of the dramas. Since the programs began broadcasting in June 2002, 7,500 letters from enthusiastic listeners have arrived at Population Media Centre’s (PMC) Ethiopia office, the U.S.-based organisation behind the dramas.
Incumbent President Paul Kagame stormed to a landslide victory on Monday in Rwanda's first multiparty presidential poll with 95.05 percent of the votes, the National Electoral Commission announced. "The electoral commission is pleased to announce Paul Kagame as the winner," Chrysologue Karangwa, president of the commission, told reporters on Tuesday.
Related Link:
INTIMIDATION ALLEGED IN RWANDA POLL
* http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=37&o=27588
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has started the repatriation of about 1,700 Central African Republic refugees from the northern Republic of Congo town of Betou, where they have been since June 2001, an official of the agency told IRIN on Wednesday.
A UN-appointed independent expert on human rights for Somalia has said the more attention given to human rights at the Somali peace talks in Kenya, the greater the scope for peace. Dr Ghanim Alnajjar arrived in the region this week on an 11-day mission. It is his third visit since his appointment by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in June 2001, according to a press statement from the UN Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator’s Office for Somalia.
A new survey of young children living in camps for displaced people in the Liberian capital Monrovia indicates that nearly 40 percent of them suffer from malnutrition. World Vision said on Monday it had conducted a nutritional survey of 2,112 children under the age of five in 11 camps for displaced people from late June to the end of July. This found that 39.8 percent of them suffered from acute malnutrition.
At 83 years old Emmanuel Kouang is the oldest person in Ebome. Even now he leans forward with his fists clenched and his rhumy eyes wide in remembered excitement. "They lived in the rocks out to sea. But they've gone now". The rocks have vanished too, and with them the villagers' main source of livelihood. The reef was a rich feeding ground for fish caught by the villagers. For generations villagers relied upon its natural abundance of marine life. But their way of life was disrupted four years ago by the construction of an oil pipeline. News of the project caused great excitement. The pipeline came, but the pipe dreams did not.
Human rights activists have criticised the recent appointment of military officials alleged to have been involved in massacres in Kisangani, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), during hostilities that erupted in May 2002.
Zambia's 120,000 public workers went on a nationwide strike on Tuesday aimed at forcing the government to honour a pay agreement it says it can no longer afford to implement. "We have officially started a countrywide strike because the government seems to be ignoring our demands, even after they signed a collective agreement," Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSUZ) secretary-general, Darrison Chaala, told IRIN.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) has announced the coming to fruition of its new initiative, the Africa Review of Books (ISSN 0851-7592). The editorial production of the Africa Review of Books will be piloted by the Forum for Social Studies (FSS), based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with the active support of the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique et Technique en Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle (CRASC), based in Oran, Algeria. The initiative for the publication of the Africa Review of Books dates back to about a decade and it emerged out of a shared concern in the African social research community that considered it expedient to create a forum for a critical presentation of books produced on Africa within and outside the continent. Such a Review was deemed central to the goal of projecting interesting original works of art and science produced in Africa that might otherwise be lost on account of poor visibility.
There has been another stage in the degradation of the Heinemann's African Writers Series. At the beginning of 2003 it emerged that no new titles would be added to the Series. Now, because British government spending on British school textbooks has been cut, 30 members of the International Division at Heinemann were made redundant in July 2003 by the new Harcourt management. The overseas part of Heinemann which had contributed so much to the development of education in Africa, and had in the boom years made so much money out of Africa, is no more.
Kwani? (www.kwani.org) is a literary journal founded by some of Kenya's most exciting new writers, to provide to the Kenyan reading public writing of the highest quality. We believe that Kenya is presently producing world-class writers, and we proved this with our very first edition. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, a kwani? writer who had never been published before was short listed for the Caine Prize for African Writing. Also, referred to as It is our objective of kwani? to get Kenyans reading quality writing again.
The socio-economic system underpinning apartheid in South Africa was based on the exploitation of black workers in the mines, the factories, the fields and the shops. It is widely recognized that the struggles of the South African black working class contributed decisively to the overthrow of the racist regime. In recognition of the power of organised labour, the democratic government elected in 1994 granted South Africa's unions unprecedented legal and constitutional rights. However, despite these gains, the country's labour movement has been facing a fresh set of challenges, from macroeconomic policy to the factory floor, many of them emanating from labour's political allies in Government. The purpose of this book is to examine how the South African labour movement is responding to these challenges in the new millennium.
A monumental work, epic in scope and design, and clearly the result of extensive research, which has been skilfully woven into an enchanting narrative. This panoramic story, with its vividly realised characters and heroic action, restores the ancient link between history and literature. - African Book Centre
Palaver Finish is a collection of essays written by one of Zimbabwe's top writers and published originally in the Zimbabwe Standard, an independent local newspaper. Having read these journalistic musings one can expect the Mugabe government to not take kindly to the writings of Chenjerai Hove.
A regional women's network based in Nairobi, Kenya is seeking to employ a Financial Administrator for a two year period. A three month probation period shall apply.
A Civil Society Organisation (CSO) concerned with good local governance would like to engage a Finance Officer immediately. Reporting to the Chief Executive and working closely with the Finance Committee and the Management Committee, the Finance Officer shall be responsible for, amongst other duties, Developing budget proposals in liaison with the CEO and delegated officials; Identifying and developing strategies for financial assistance.
AFRODAD is seeking a dynamic self-starter to fill this challenging post. You will be responsible for developing and implementing AFRODAD's Lobby and Advocacy Programme, and for managing a highly skilled team of Project Associates working on various development policy issues. An excellent communicator and networker, you will be comfortable representing the AFRODAD network at high-level meetings and policy consultations. You will also have experience of writing policy briefs and position papers for diverse audiences, strategy development, fundraising, and budget management.
The Team Leader will play a lead role in design and implementation of the Emergency Response Team's strategy for building agency capacity for enhanced emergency preparedness and response capacity.
Non-Profit Resource Training invites registrations for the following workshops:
* Project Implementation & Management Workshop (J'BURG) 1-2 September
* Financial Management of Funded Projects and Programmes 10-11 September
* How to Write the Winning Funding Proposal (DURBAN) 17-18 September
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Joyce (021) 685 7726 or email: [email protected]
Olive (OD and Training) - 26 October - 5 November 2003 - is offering a programme for managers, leaders, practitioners and consultants in the development field who seek to extend their knowledge and capabilities in the field of facilitation. It is designed to challenge participants to explore the concept in practice and to develop more conscious abilities to facilitate a range of processes in themselves, in groups, in their organisations and in their communities.
For more information and an application form please contact:
Niri Panday: [email][email protected] by 26 September 2003
APC and CTO are proud to announce the release of the “ICT Policy for Civil Society” training pack. The pack includes a curriculum and accompanying materials to build the capacity of civil society organisations to understand and engage policy and regulation related to information and communication technologies (ICTs).
CIVICUS will convene its fifth biennial World Assembly in Gaborone, Botswana from 21-25 March 2004. The World Assembly is a primary venue for civil society and other stakeholders to exchange information about their achievements and challenges. Hundreds of citizen groups and CIVICUS members will explore options to enhance citizen engagement in decision-making at all levels of governance, as well as examine issues of social and economic justice in a globalised world. Through learning exchanges and plenary sessions, participants will look at ways to strengthen the governance and legitimacy of civil society organisations and defend the rights of civic association. There will be four main themes: (1) fuelling civic energy; (2) livelihood insecurity: innovative solutions seeking to open doors; (3) democratising power: civic engagement in decision-making; and (4) keeping the peace or fanning the flames. Cross-cutting themes include HIV/AIDS; gender equity and equality; young people; capacity-building; and socially marginalised groups. To read the World Assembly call for proposals, or for more information about the World Assembly, go to http://www.civicus.org or email David Kalete, Director of Programmes, [email protected]. The deadline for proposals is 30 September 2003.
The Media Monitoring Project has deplored recent incidents in which journalists from the privately owned media were allegedly harassed and assaulted by overzealous members of the police force and supporters of ZANU PF. The Daily News reported that a journalist with the Kwekwe based privately owned Midlands Observer, Flata Kavinga, sustained “a deep cut on the head and sustained multiple body injuries” after he was assaulted by suspected ZANU PF supporters. According to Kavinga, the suspects accused him of peddling messages that were anti-government through his paper and through the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) T-shirt he was wearing. The police confirmed the incident.
Radio is the most popular, pervasive and affordable means of communication in developing countries like Ghana and Sierra Leone, where lack of basic infrastructure and illiteracy are common denominators, and where funds to produce and distribute media materials for development are in very short supply. The radio, viewed against the backdrop of problems highlighted, would be the most viable and accessible medium of instruction and communication. The Panos Institute West Africa has set up, in both countries, a pilot radio project using Oral Testimonies. The methodology of Oral Testimony (OT) radio reporting is based on a specific interview method using the “Oral Testimonies” of the local population in their original languages. Local and rural community radio stations generally broadcast in these languages, as a result, interpretation and communication problems are not foreseen.
Fifteen journalists are still languishing in Eritrean prisons nearly two years after a crackdown on the independent media, according to Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the Association of Eritrean Journalists in Exile (AEJE). The two organisations have criticised the "arbitrary" way in which the authorities carry out arrests as well as the secrecy surrounding journalists arrested in Eritrea.
High-ranking government officials in both Namibia and Zimbabwe have lashed out recently against the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). MISA reports that, on 14 August, Namibian President Sam Nujoma launched a verbal attack against the organisation as well as "The Namibian" newspaper and its editor, Gwen Lister. The president condemned MISA, which he said was only out to insult him and other heads of state, and accused "The Namibian" and MISA of being "unprofessional" and "reactionary." Nujoma also instructed reporter Andreas Frai of the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) not to work with MISA anymore.
Six African states are far advanced in a plan to save the world's second largest rain forest and enable a growing population to benefit from the region's resources without destroying them. According to the Republic of Congo's Forestry Minister, Henri Djombo, the "convergence plan", in which the six states will make specific commitments for the sustainable development of the Congo Basin forest, is likely to be incorporated in a treaty to be drawn up by heads of state in Brazzaville next March.
Soroti district has no more drugs to treat displaced people who are fleeing LRA rebels in neighbouring districts. The District Director of Health Services in Soroti, Dr Nicholas Okwana, says that he cannot find enough drugs to serve the 130,000 displaced people in Soroti town. He could now suspend Operation Safe Haven (OSH) - the emergency health relief programme for displaced people in the municipality.
The Ministry of Water Development has been asked to help slow down water pollution in the Coast region instead of ignoring it. The Environment Trust of Kenya (ETK) wants the Minister for Water, Mrs Martha Karua, to rectify water contamination in the province to avert impending health disasters. The recent findings by Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) and Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (Kemfri) that water in the region is unfit for human consumption has continued to cause panic among the residents, ETK said.
An Islamic court in the northern Nigerian state of Katsina has postponed for one month its ruling on the appeal of a woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning under Sharia law. Throughout the day, Amina Lawal had struck a lonely figure in the court. She was convicted in March last year, and has waited 10 months for this, her second appeal, to be heard.
Shaky relations between Uganda and Sudan could be further strained by new accusations that Khartoum is supplying arms to rebels of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). The Ugandan Government also claims that LRA leader Joseph Kony has finally crossed back into southern Sudan via the northern Ugandan town of Gulu to acquire more supplies.
The new government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has encountered a diamond scandal in its infancy, as gems worth $10 million go missing from a state company. The missing gems are equivalent to 80% of the monthly production the Congolese state diamond company, the Miba.
Residents of Vrygrond Phase 6 won an agreement from the Cape Town Unicity today that evictions would be put on hold for at least 3 months. This decision comes after members of the Vrygrond Action Committee (previously Vrygrond Anti-Eviction Campaign) presented research done within Phase 6 showing that the evidence presented to the Cape Town High Court by the Unicity's lawyers earlier this year was fatally flawed. Officials of the Unicity had been trying to move ahead with eviction orders on the basis of the fact that they claimed that most of the people who occupied houses in Phase 6 had moved to Vrygrond after 1998.
The death of Kenya's Vice President Michael Kijana Wamalwa at a London hospital last week is a double-edged sword for the seven-month National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government that has been grappling with serious cracks within its ranks since last December's elections. For one, the death of the second in command – being the first vice-president to die in office in Kenya's independence history – will in effect force a temporary lull in the infighting over power-sharing arrangements that has been threatening to not only tear the ruling coalition apart, but also the stability of the country after leaping from a semi-pariah nation to a showcase of democracy in the continent.
“The departure of Charles Taylor from power and from Liberia constitutes a significant but incomplete step forward for West Africa in establishing a just and stable peace. We call on the international community to ensure that Taylor stands before the Special Court for Sierra Leone to face the serious charges against him. There can be no true peace while he remains at large.”
In a July 11th article, the British weekly The Economist recounts the latest grim statistics on AIDS, noting emphatically that the 9,000 people who die each day from AIDS represents three times the number killed in the World Trade Centre attacks. "If all men are created equal, all avoidable deaths should be regarded as equally sad," says the editorial, adding that "common decency suggests that the rich world should do whatever it can to help." The editorial concludes ominously: "Cynics in the West might write Africa off. Are China, India, Indonesia and Russia to be written off as well?" Translation? Africans are poor and black. Thus we (the Economist) realize, dear reader, your greed for profits is not whetted by viewing them as consumers. Nor is your compassion stirred sufficiently by viewing them as fellow human beings. However, be mindful that the fire that has scorched that continent is spreading and is now threatening places populated by people who are prosperous enough - barely, but still above the threshold - to count as potential consumers and pale enough -barely, but still above the threshold - to awaken your caring. Read this commentary from www.zmag.org.
The Bush administration maintains reasonably friendly relations with the African nation of Equatorial Guinea despite the extreme human rights violations perpetrated by the government against its own people. The country sells nearly two thirds of its oil to the United States and, though a small nation, produces more crude per capita than Saudi Arabia. One might expect there to be plenty of money for everyone by way of revitalizing the economy and building up infrastructure. But most Equatoguineans are malnourished, typically with no running water or electricity. Malaria and yellow fever are rampant. The average life expectancy is 54.
A German engineering company was fined 10.65 million maloti ($1.4m) by a Lesotho court on Tuesday after being found guilty of paying bribes in a massive water project. The Lesotho High Court found the firm, Lahmeyer International, guilty of paying bribes totalling more than five million maloti ($670 000) to the former chief executive officer of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) from 1992 to 1997.
The Sudan peace talks have been deferred to September 10 to give delegates time to consult on power sharing and security. The meeting chairman, Mr Lazarus Sumbeiywo, said most of the delegates did not have the mandate to decide on some of the issues raised and needed further consultation. "The delegates agreed this morning that we adjourn the talks for some time to give them time to consult with their people. Some of the delegates do not have the mandate to make decisions," he said.
A two-day summit of southern African leaders ended in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam with heads of state pledging to fight AIDS in their poverty-stricken region. "In the past few days of our meeting we have made important decisions that impact on the lives of our people," Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa told some 1,500 delegates to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting.
From September 10 to 14, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will hold its Fifth Ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico. Pushed by multinational corporations, the United States, the European Union, and other developed countries are seeking to launch a new round of "free trade" negotiations and expand corporate globalization - further eroding human rights, workers' rights, environmental protections, and democracy - in the interest of corporate control. Popular movements in Mexico and their international allies will mark these meetings with massive demonstrations to demand a world that puts democracy and human dignity ahead of corporate profits.
Food shortages facing Southern Africa will worsen if actions are not taken urgently to stop the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, aid agencies warn. Margaret Nyirenda, head of the Food, Agriculture and Human Resources at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) secretariat, told journalists this week that the HIV/AIDS vulnerabilities at household levels impact on food production in the region.
Adults living with HIV/AIDS are receiving subsidised anti-retroviral drugs, while children in a similar situation are not benefiting from the medicine which the government launched last year, rights activists complain. ''Infected children have a right to life just as their adult counterparts who are currently benefiting from government anti-retroviral programme,'' says Oba Oladapo, chairperson of Positive Life Association, a non-governmental organisation.
The European Union is taking advantage of Africa's weak bargaining power to bloat the list of conditions - attached to development aid - with further demands. Washington Akumu, a senior economic writer and columnist with a Kenyan newspaper, says most of the EU conditions border on tokenism and "the urge to be perceived as politically-correct among the community of nations".
Women in Africa have to rise up to the challenge of developing positive attitudes as a key factor to advancing themselves, as well as attaining sustainable socio and economic development of the continent. This was the message from the Tanzanian Minister for Community Development, Gender and Children, Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, at the Southern African Women's Day celebration held in the Tanzania Commercial city of Dar Es Salaam.
Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa could earn about two billion U.S. dollars more every year if industrialised countries dropped their trade-distorting agricultural policies and opened their markets to goods from the developing world, says the International Food Policy Research Institute. The present round of world trade talks - called the Doha round - are meant to kick-start the economic development of the developing world. However, the talks have stalled because of differences between the developing world and the industrialised countries over trade in agricultural goods. World trade ministers are scheduled to meet in Cancun, Mexico on Sep. 10-14, to see if they can find a way out of the impasse.
Trade in children, literally slave trading in infants to teenagers, has been a problem that African law enforcement officials thought was mostly confined to the western part of the continent. But a new study by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has exposed the vulnerability of impoverished Mozambique, on the Indian Ocean on Africa's southeastern tip, to the practice.
Senegal is shutting down all mining operations in protected forests in a bid to preserve the country's natural resources. No new mining permits will be issued for protected forestlands throughout Senegal. When current ones expire, they will not be renewed, government sources say.
Washington's removal of U.S. marines from Monrovia to ships offshore will hurt the recovery of war-weary Liberia in both real and symbolic ways, say humanitarian and political experts. Earlier this week, 150 soldiers in a rapid reaction force that had been patrolling Monrovia since Aug. 14 climbed into their helicopters and flew to three ships stationed nearby, leaving about 100 troops behind to guard the U.S. embassy and work with West African peacekeepers. Since the marines' departure, reports have emerged of battles between government and rebel forces.
The proposal by developing countries for unblocking negotiations on farm trade at the upcoming World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in the Mexican city of Cancun is reviving the North-South debate. The initiative by a group of countries that includes Argentina, Brazil, China, India and South Africa is based on the notion that in the current Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations it is the industrialised nations that must give in.
In Zimbabwe, 1.5 million voters will go to the polls at the weekend in urban council elections. Over 1300 seats are at stake. Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the MDC or Movement for Democratic Change, has decided to take part in the elections despite ample evidence of state-sponsored violence, harassment and padding of the voter rolls. The poll is taking place in a climate of fear, widespread hunger, and economic collapse.
In 1994, the African National Congress swept to power on a tide of national and international euphoria and pledged to redistribute 30 per cent of all land seized during the apartheid era. Almost a decade later, only two per cent of land has been returned to its black owners. Land rights activist, Andile Mngxitama, believes the answer lies in the claim that racial exclusion has given way to economic exclusion. The Landless People’s Movement has evolved from the land struggles of the apartheid era and represents a growing number of rural communities that remain landless and disenfranchised by the clamour to implement neo-liberal economic policies to attract foreign direct investment (FDI).
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* HEARINGS INTO RESTITUTION OF LAND RIGHTS AMENDMENT BILL STARTS
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A national child labour survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has revealed that over 28 per cent of children of school going age are out of school with most of them working. It further showed that about 1,273,294 children are engaged in child labour throughout the country.
Malawi's High Court on Wednesday effectively ruled the country's main opposition leader out of the running for next year's presidential elections. The ruling threatened to end John Tembo's long political career, deprive the Malawi Congress Party of a high-profile leader and undermine its chances in the polls scheduled for May 2004.
Swaziland’s largest minority group by 2010 will be children under 15 who will have lost both their parents to Aids. “We are turning into a country of orphans. No one is really prepared for the scale of the social, economic and even political challenges this will bring,” said Charles Mngomezulu, a social welfare worker in the central Manzini region.
Zimbabwe's brain drain has hit the medical profession particularly hard. More than 80% of doctors, nurses and therapists who graduated from the University of Zimbabwe medical school since independence in 1980 have gone to work abroad, primarily in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, according to recent surveys.
More than half of all children in sub-Saharan Africa never get to finish basic school, and 120 million adults across the region cannot read, write or add up a column of numbers. At the current rate of progress, Africa will not get every child into school until 2100. This is a travesty of human rights and a tragedy of human capital. Unless it is urgently addressed, neither economic take-off nor democratic consolidation will be possible and NEPAD's objective will not be achieved within the next two decades. The African Networks Campaign for Education for All (ANCEFA), that aims to build civil society capacity for its full participation in education issues and advocate, in one voice, for Education for All and other National Coalitions in Africa, urge the African Union to take concrete measures to end the African education crisis.
Nearly 20 000 people have been improperly registered as voters for this week’s urban council and parliamentary by-elections, while another 1 700 who voted last year and in 2000 are missing from the voters’ roll, according to figures released by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). MDC director of elections Remus Makuwaza said the 1 700 voters whose names were missing from the voters’ roll were discovered in Harare Central constituency alone.
The plan by the Government to provide anti-retroviral drugs to Aids patients all over the country is almost complete, the Director of Medical Services, Dr Richard Muga says. Installation of devices to be used in these centres is at an advanced stage. The devices include machines for counting CD 4 cells for appropriate administration of the drugs to patients.
South Africa is set to launch the Institute for African Traditional Medicines to research African herbs and evaluate their medicinal value as part of the government's campaign to fight HIV-Aids, tuberculosis and other debilitating diseases.
Figures released by the government last week showing a drop in the number of Zimbabweans infected by HIV/AIDS were only a correction of flawed estimates from previous surveys and did not mean the prevalence of the disease was declining in the country, HIV/AIDS experts said.
Conflicts, civil unrest, emergence of drug-resistant strains of parasites and insecticide-resistant vectors, mass population movements worsened by the refugee situation, and disintegration of health services, is exacerbating the malaria situation in sub-Saharan Africa. A one week workshop held in Nairobi between July 30 and August 4, bringing together regional heads of malaria control in sub-Saharan Africa, concluded that malaria is still "an unfinished agenda in sub-Saharan African countries, and needs more attention than it has so far received".
Business Day reports that Minister of Social Development, Dr Zola Skweyiya, has ordered an investigation into allegations of irregular financial management and recruitment practices at the National Development Agency (NDA). The allegations surfaced after former Pan-Africanist Congress general secretary, Thami ka Plaatjie, was appointed as Senior Manager: Strategy and Policy Co-ordination at the agency. NDA staff members accuse NDA management of appointing Thami ka Plaatjie without advertising the position. At the same time, the Ministry of Social Development has indicated that allegations of serious irregularities around spending of NDA funds have been made.
The Sowetan reports that the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF) is set to reach its target of raising R250 million, which is enough to guarantee the Fund's existence for eternity. NMFC's Chief Executive Officer, Sibongile Mkhabela, disclosed this during the Fund's 9th Annual General Meeting held recently.
The latest issue of Global Connections, the Resource Alliance's electronic newsletter, features an article by Rob Wells, Director of Catalyst Works, a marketing agency specialising in the non-profit sector, in which Wells challenges grantmakers to include capacity-building for resource mobilisation in their funding criteria. Wells asks "why won't donors invest in this area of capacity building? Why won't they put a little money into strengthening the independence of NGOs through encouraging financial sustainability (as opposed to financial management)?"
Not a single cent of the R153 million allocated to RDP projects from the National Lottery Fund has been spent, reports the Sunday Independent. The issue of unspent RDP funds has been a subject of discussion between the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alec Erwin, and the Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, for a long time. No solution seems to be in sight. The closure of the Ministry of Reconstruction and Development (RDP) in 1996 left a vacuum in terms of an institutional mechanism to take forward the RDP programme and - in the current scenario - distribute RDP Lotto funds.
SABCnews reports that a new development co-operation agreement between South Africa and the European Union (EU) is about to be finalised. The agreement is worth R4.3bn over a period of four years (2003-2006).
Limpopo Health and Welfare MEC Sello Moloto has announced the launch of an innovative new programme to raise funds for HIV/AIDS projects in the province. The initiative will operate under the auspices of the Limpopo HIV/AIDS Trust Fund, established three years ago.
About 1.4 million children are to be immunised in Bauchi State during the next round of this year's National Programme on Immunisation (NPI).
When Ken Amoah established a child-welfare organisation eight years ago, he sought to rescue child labourers from a life toiling in the streets. The foster home, which is located in the New Achimota section of Accra, was set up to provide needy children with a place to live, an education - and a respite from work. Amoah has delivered on some of his goals, yet his prime donors - an arm of the Danish government called Danish International Development Assistance - are wondering whether he - and not neglected children - is the main beneficiary of his Accra-based organisation, Children In Need Ghana.