PAMBAZUKA NEWS 116: THE INDICTMENT OF CHARLES TAYLOR
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 116: THE INDICTMENT OF CHARLES TAYLOR
Early warning systems are playing an increasingly important role in identifying areas at risk of violent conflict. But do they include gender issues? How could gender-sensitive indicators form a part of information collection at the grassroots level? How can we ensure that political and humanitarian responses to crises better address the vulnerabilities specific to women and men?
U.S. President George Bush will be visiting South Africa on July 9 as part of his African safari taking in Senegal, Nigeria, Uganda, and Botswana. American authorities insist that the visit is a follow-up to the administration's increased emphasis on its Africa policy, aimed at strengthening diplomatic relations and furthering the development agenda of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). The proposed visit has more to do with securing alternative sources of oil than furthering African development.
Continuing with his national campaign against corruption in local governments, an angry President Museveni directed local governments to prosecute Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) who embezzle government funds.
A new study released by Third World Network-Africa (www.twnafrica.org) offers new evidence against claims of the miracle potential of genetically modified crops for dealing with famine and poverty in Africa. After examining the impact of three genetically modified crops, sweet potato, maize and Bt cotton, on poverty alleviation in Africa it concluded that biotechnology does not address the real causes of poverty and hunger in Africa. Indeed it shows that biotechnology is an inappropriate method of agricultural innovation for poverty alleviation.
A court case against the election victory of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is continuing in the capital, Abuja. Four opposition parties are challenging Mr Obasanjo's victory in April's presidential elections.
In a speech to Parliament this week, Opposition leader Tony Leon accused President Thabo Mbeki of using racism as an argument to silence his opponents. The following day, Mbeki responded by saying that transformation of society was the only way that national reconciliation could be achieved. Read Leon's speech by visiting http://allafrica.com/stories/200306220019.html and Mbeki's by visiting http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/06/22/insight/in02.asp. What do you think of this issue? Send your comments to [email protected]
At a meeting of high-tech specialists organized by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, leaders in southern Africa expressed concern over their ability to deliver on the promise of ICT for development when funds are low.
With millions of people in the world's poorest countries still excluded from the right to communicate, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for bridging the digital divide between developed and developing countries. "The terms 'information society,' 'digital era,' or the 'information age' have all been used to describe this age," Mr. Annan said in a message marking World Telecommunication Day. "Whatever term we use, the society we build must be open and pluralistic – one in which all people, in all countries, have access to information and knowledge.
This past year has seen the world of Weblogs, aka the blogosphere, grow in power and stature, if not to the general public, then to the other media. Check out this graphical depiction of the most influential blogs - considered to have pushed the direction of media coverage and public policy.
Transparency International-Kenya's fortnightly newsletter is called Aldi, a Kiswahili (Kenya's national language) word meaning integrity. To receive the newslettter by email please visit the web site.
Key evidence produced in the treason trial of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was "inaudible," a government recording expert told the court Wednesday. Constantine Musango, a court official tasked with making transcripts of recorded evidence, was appearing as a state witness in the ongoing treason trial of Tsvangirai and two other senior Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) officials accused of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe.
Related Link:
* WITNESS SAID TAPE NOT DOCTORED
http://zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=7082
South Africa will maintain its policies on Zimbabwe despite a strong appeal by US Secretary of State Colin Powell for President Thabo Mbeki's government to play a "stronger and more sustained role" to achieve change in Zimbabwe.
A new UNAIDS study has found that even when used consistently, condoms fail to protect against HIV transmission approximately one in 10 times. In previous reports, condom effectiveness against HIV was widely estimated at between 46 and 100 percent.
The Nobel Prize winning Organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and four eminent public research institutes from around the world have joined forces to address the lack of research and development in drugs for neglected diseases. A mere 10% of global health research is devoted to diseases that account for 90% of the global disease burden.
The increased AIDS awareness amongst Cameroonians is strong evidence that Cameroon's political commitment to combat the disease is yielding positive results, even though greater challenges still lie ahead to curb the epidemic, according to Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). "The strong political will and social mobilization are realities which should lead to the scaling up of HIV care and prevention programmes and avoid a worsening epidemic in the country," said Dr Piot. He was on a two-day visit to Cameroon.
U.S. and European subsidies and tariffs "support injustice," Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure told the House International Relations Subcommitteee on Africa, Tuesday, summarizing written testimony that he presented for the record. Toure said he was representing all African nations and the devastating effect of subsidies on Malian cotton illustrates the harm that agriculural subsidies - now totaling more that US$300bn in the United States and Europe - are causing to agriculture across the continent.
Ugandan officials accuse Islamic fundamentalist forces in the Sudan government of trying to scuttle an agreement Khartoum and Kampala signed three years ago and a protocol that improved relations between the two countries. Ugandan Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi said that the country was seeking clarification from Sudan about reports that elements in the Sudanese army, possibly those allied to Bashir's political opponents, had resumed arms supplies to rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighting the Ugandan government in the north of the country.
Wilberforce Mbei, a small 12-year-old, says he feels very comfortable living in Dandora, a rough estate on the outskirts of Nairobi's main rubbish dumping site. "I feel that this place is very good, I have found a home," he says. After five years of living with his aunt, who abused him, and two years on Nairobi's streets, he says he feels safe now. "I was denied all my rights before," he says, "even to play."
The Ugandan opposition party, the Ugandan People’s Congress (UPC) – headed by exiled twice-former Ugandan president Milton Obote – has confirmed that it plans to hold a demonstration against US President George W. Bush’s visit to the country, scheduled for mid-July.
African media professionals are invited to sign an all-African petition for Press Freedom, addressed to current Chair of the African Union (AU), Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa. It will be presented at the AU meeting of Heads of State in Maputo from 4-12 July. The campaign is driven by the [CREDO] Centre for Research, Education & Development Of Freedom of Expression & Associated Rights and FAHAMU. "The more people who lend their voices to the cause, the more people will be willing to listen," said Rotimi Sankore, co-ordinator of CREDO. "This is not a private issue between us and the AU, this involves the entire continent. The campaign has already received widespread support from many international NGOs, but what it really needs is the support of the African media."
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 115: BARRIERS TO AFRICAN REGIONAL INTEGRATION: THE INTERNATIONAL AID SYSTEM AND CORPORATE INTERESTS
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 115: BARRIERS TO AFRICAN REGIONAL INTEGRATION: THE INTERNATIONAL AID SYSTEM AND CORPORATE INTERESTS
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is in Washington, D.C., this week meeting with government and business leaders, including President Bush, to discuss AIDS, trade and terrorism, said in an interview with the Washington Times that "AIDS is not a serious sickness ... because it's not very contagious" and that people can easily avoid acquiring the virus.
Gymfoe was trafficked in Ghana when she was 12: "The woman told my mother I'd go to school, I was so happy. But that's not what happened." In reality she was forced to work long hours in harsh conditions. She received no money and was denied her rights to school and rest. The International Labour Organisation (ILO ) the UN body which regulates the world of work, has adopted 12 June as World Day Against Child Labour. This year the focus was on child trafficking, and the damage it can do to children, families, communities and ultimately whole countries.
If there were a simple reason for Ethiopia's chronic food shortages, the problem would likely have been resolved before now. But the causes are complex, and addressing them requires a multifaceted approach. This article outlines the causes of food insecurity in Ethiopia and describes Oxfam's work to create solutions that are effective, fair, and sustainable.
Sharp new questions over conflicts of interest have emerged about the controversial private company that secured a "government-to-government" deal to buy Nigerian crude oil. Two weeks ago the Mail & Guardian reported that "South African Oil Company" (SAOC), a private company registered in the offshore tax-haven Cayman Islands, was still benefiting from a Nigerian state oil contract allocated in 1999 to "the Republic of South Africa" - though neither oil nor income flowed to this country.
The South African government will play a critical role next week in ensuring the conservation of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Government representatives say they will support a controversial proposal at the highly charged yearly meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to strengthen the group's conservation mandate. The IWC is the global forum that regulates whaling issues.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Durban City Hall for a march to protest against the World Economic Forum's Africa Summit last week. The protests were organised by the Ethekwini Social Forum in conjunction with the Treatment Action Campaign, other NGO's and various community organisations.
The long-running series of corruption trials against leading international construction companies in the southern African state of Lesotho has reached another milestone with a guilty plea from one of the main intermediaries for the bribes. Jacobus Michiel du Plooy, a South African consultant, has pleaded guilty to paying $375,000 (£225,000) to Masupha Sole, the former chief executive of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project who is serving 15 years in prison for accepting more than $2m in bribes from a dozen western companies. The cash was paid on behalf of Impregilo SpA, Italy's largest construction company, according to the indictment.
I feel sick to the core each time I see child soldiers brandishing guns.
The district of Ituri in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is experiencing spiralling violence bordering on genocide. The crisis urgently needs to be stopped. However the French-led Interim Emergency Multinational Force (IEMF) being deployed to Bunia, the administrative centre, is totally insufficient. A much bigger UN intervention force is needed, that operates over a greater geographic area and stays much longer than the few months currently envisaged. There must also be sustained pressure on Rwanda, Uganda and Congo's leaders - and their proxy militias - to support the local pacification process in the area and finalise negotiations towards the establishment of a legitimate transitional Congo government. This is according to a new report from the International Crisis Group.
Bad news comes in bunches, says this commentary in Nigeria's The Vanguard newspaper, and what the nation has been told recently about happenings in the oil and gas sector has been mostly bad news - underlining the reasons why Nigeria ranks as the second most corrupt nation on earth.
"Whoever is in control of the government will need to specify who is Ivorian and who is not," stressed Abahebou Kamagate in an interview with the Digital Freedom Network. As a human rights activist, Kamagate fought to challenge the government's increasingly restrictive citizenship laws that could exclude almost half the country's population, especially those from ethnic groups associated with the northern region. Kamagate is the vice president of SOS Exclusion, an Ivorian human rights organisation, and believes that the question of citizenship is at the root of the conflict which has divided the country between north and south.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Africa's major free trade bloc, plans to lobby the United States and pharmaceutical companies for the right to produce generic antiretroviral drugs, according to the group's secretary general, Reuters reports. COMESA Secretary-General Erastus Mwencha said that patent disputes in the World Trade Organisation are "robbing the region of a key weapon against AIDS," according to Reuters.
There are an estimated 100 million small arms in the hands of individuals, or militia groups, in Africa, according to various reports. The proliferation of such weapons was the major factor in the ethnic and religious strife, political instability and violent crime on the continent, the reports say. A Kalashnikov, or an AK-47 rifle, costs as little as 15 U.S. dollars in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Angola's ruling MPLA has started preparations for a landmark congress in December that will see the most comprehensive cleaning out of a revolutionary movement in Africa. President José Eduardo dos Santos said 45% of the party's leadership would be swept out to make way for new blood. He is insisting that every position, including that of leader, be contested at what will be the MPLA's fifth congress.
A year into its mandate to replace the old Organisation of African Unity, the African Union is seeking substantive acts to counter criticism that it is a mere “talk shop” for travel-loving ministers. Also on the African Union's “to do” list is reforming its finances, particularly the need to get member states to pay subscription fees that will make programmes, and thus the African Union's prestige, a reality.
Zambia, a country hit hard by HIV/ AIDS, will soon have a human rights charter to protect its HIV/AIDS-infected citizens from various forms of abuses and discrimination. Matrine Chuulu, coordinator of Women in Law in Southern Africa, a non-governmental organisation in Zambia working on the charter, said Wednesday that the charter will be launched in November this year.
South African Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Ronnie Kasrils recently launched an attack on “startling” claims that up to 10 million people in South Africa had suffered water disconnections after failing to pay their bills due to the government's cost-recovery approach to the sector. Click on the link below for the response by Municipal Services Project co-director David McDonald to the attack and the original article by Kasrils.
On the Day of the African Child on June 16, Amnesty International called on African governments to ratify the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, where they have not done so already, and for all governments to rapidly put into practice the terms of the Charter. Everyday, African children continue to be used as soldiers, often to fight on the front line, or as porters, messengers, guards, or cooks.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) says it has received disturbing reports of the harassment of lawyers at police stations throughout the country. "This is a very serious issue and is of grave concern to ZLHR," the organisation said in a press statement.
The 4 June 2003 announcement of the indictment of Liberian President Charles Taylor by the Special Court for Sierra Leone propels the Liberian conflict into a new situation, with both opportunities and risks for the international community, says the International Crisis Group. Handled correctly, it can provide an opportunity to purge the region of one of the most serious threats to regional stability and usher in a new era of peace, stability, and democracy. Mishandled, the indictment can spark a new spiral of violence of catastrophic proportions not only for the Liberian people but also for the citizens of Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Ivory Coast.
CAFRAD Web News Letter is published monthly. For more information contact Meryem Ben Amar: [email protected] or [email protected].
A declaration handed to the World Economic Forum (WEF) regional meeting held in Durban last week declared the WEF "an anti-democratic institution", saying that any decisions taken by the WEF "cannot be considered to be binding on the people of Africa and the world". The declaration said: "We are committed to an autonomous, unified Africa and demand that we the people of Africa, and not the corporate and political elites, shape our own destiny. We reject neo-liberal economic policies, as embodied in NEPAD and GEAR, including privatisation and unregulated "free trade" instead of fair trade."
A failure to achieve gender equality in basic education will result in almost certain failure of the other Millenium Development Goals (MDG's), according to a report that aims to inform campaigning and advocacy work in the North and South on girls' education. The report highlights the progress that has been made in reducing gender gaps in education in the developing world and the size of the challenge that remains. Despite individual success stories, says the report, very large inequalities still exist in the majority of developing countries, and the rate of progress needs to accelerate four-fold to achieve the gender equity goal.
While angry and reluctant members of the UN Security Council voted last Thursday to extend its exemption of U.S. soldiers and officials from the jurisdiction of the new International Criminal Court (ICC) for a second year, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld threatened to block funding for NATO's new headquarters in Brussels unless Belgium amended or withdrew a controversial law permitting its courts to try foreigners for war crimes and genocide.
In late April 2001, lethal provocations by elements of Algeria’s National Gendarmerie triggered protracted and deadly rioting in Kabylia. That the unrest from Kabylia’s Black Spring continues to this day reflects the political system’s nation-wide failure to adopt reforms that address its deficit of democratic representation, says the International Crisis Group. Neither the regime, nor the Kabyle political parties nor the so-called “Coordinations” that lead the protest movement in the region has to date proposed a serious formula for ending the impasse.
The South African Human Rights Commission (HURISA), in a statement to the 33RD session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights held in late May, urged the commission to consider the impact that privatisation was having on the implementation of socio-economic rights enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights not only in South Africa but in countries throughout the continent.
Of the 47 AU Member States which have ratified the 1969 OAU Convention on Refugees, only 28 had enacted legislation to give effect at the national level to the international obligations they have undertaken, said Ilunga Ngandu, UNHCR Regional Liaison Representative for Africa. "In many instances, the legislation enacted falls short of the standards laid down in the international instruments. Some laws are formulated and applied as instruments of control, focusing on the obligations of refugees, while remaining silent on their civil, social and economic rights, or severely curtailing these rights," he said in an address to the 33rd ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights held in Niamey, Niger between 15 and 29 May.
The debate over Islamic law is raging globally, among Muslim women's groups alarmed by cases in Nigeria and Pakistan. "I believe in the justice of God. So if justice is not done to me here on earth it will be done in the hereafter," says Amina Lawal. Ms Lawal, divorced mother-of-three, retains a strong faith in her Islamic religion, even though she has become what many see as a victim of Islamic law.
The importance of registering a child's birth formed the central theme of Monday's Day of the African Child commemorations throughout Southern Africa. The campaign, which is being led by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and regional governments, hopes to give almost 17 million unregistered sub-Saharan children access to the rights they would automatically qualify for, just by being registered.
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) says it has been informed by the Sudanese Organisation Against Torture (SOAT) of the sentencing to 30 lashes of the whip of a 15 year-old girl in Nyala, Western Darfour, in Sudan. The OMCT is calling for letters to be sent to Sudanese authorities protesting the sentence.
The UN World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed concern over the spread of cholera in Kasai Oriental Province, central Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where three new areas were affected between 1-8 June.
A total of 8,700 Eritreans expelled from Ethiopia in 1998, and who have been homeless ever since, have been given farmland by the Eritrean government. The 2,870 families have each been given one hectare of land.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reached an agreement with the governments of Eritrea and Sudan on where to open a humanitarian corridor between the two countries to facilitate the repatriation of thousands of Eritrean refugees, the UNHCR has said.
Education is a key weapon in preventing girls from falling victim to child trafficking, Bjorn Ljungqvist, the head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Ethiopia, said last Thursday.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has cast doubt on Guinea-Bissau's ability to hold credible parliamentary elections next month, remarking that the small West African country "has embarked on a downward course" following its return to democracy three years ago.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repatriated 1,108 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the neighbouring Republic of the Congo since Monday, an official of the Central African Republic told IRIN on Wednesday.
The Liberian capital Monrovia remained quiet last Thursday for the second day running, but relief workers said nearly 50,000 people displaced by a rebel push into the city's western suburbs were living in extremely difficult conditions at a sports stadium and several schools.
Mauritanian President Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya has confirmed plans to go ahead with presidential elections in November after narrowly surviving a coup attempt that led to two days of heavy fighting in the capital Nouakchott.
Disturbed by the stereotype of a typical Swazi male as a misogynist and polygamist, Swazi men are determined to show the positive side of African male culture and are reconsidering their roles as husbands, fathers and family providers. "I don't think we knew how bad we were until we started reading news reports about the chauvinistic Swazi man," laughed labour union organiser Charles Mdluli, a member of the Swaziland Alliance of Men. "We are out to prove that Swazi culture provides for strong men who are still sensitive to others."
Washington's determination to find an alternative energy source to the Middle East is leading to a new oil rush in sub-Saharan Africa which threatens to launch a fresh cycle of conflict, corruption and environmental degradation in the region, campaigners warn. This risks bringing more misery to the continent as western oil companies pour billions of dollars in secret payments into government coffers. Much of the money ends up in the hands of ruling elites.
Food and water deprivation, inadequate health and education facilities, prison-like restrictions on freedom of movement, ethnic and gender violence, ad-hoc justice and collective punishment: this is how Cairo-based refugee scholar Barbara Harrell-Bond recently described the plight of many refugees in UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) camps in Africa. When id21 put this description to the UNHCR's Jeff Crisp, he largely agreed. Refugee camps are supposed to be safe havens for people fleeing war, persecution and natural disaster. Why then are they places where refugees are apparently deprived of their human rights and given little hope and even fewer opportunities to improve their lives?
Is the impact of refugees always negative? Are governments that accept refugees justified in depicting them as a burden? Or are refugees potential agents of development? Could support of livelihood activities enable refugees to lessen their dependence on aid and reduce tension with their hosts? Could locals benefit from refugee camp infrastructure when refugees go home? A working paper entitled ‘The role and impact of humanitarian assets in refugee-hosting countries’ from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees series ‘New issues in Refugee Research’ focuses on the humanitarian assets and infrastructure provided to refugee hosting countries in order to better understand the consequences of refugee and humanitarian assistance.
Is the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) succeeding in moving beyond the traditional role of supplier of food, water and shelter, towards an inclusive, community development approach? Is commitment to a rights-based approach to provision of refugee needs simply rhetorical? Are refugees enthusiastic about the new approach and seeing concrete benefits?
The international community provides protection and assistance to 350 000 Burundian refugees in 10 camps in western Tanzania. With 10 000 Burundian refugees entering adulthood in the camps each year and the prospect for return uncertain, there is much scope for boredom, apathy and crime. What form of education is relevant and stimulating for such refugee populations? A paper from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) entitled ‘Vocational training for refugees: a case study from Tanzania’ evaluates ongoing skills training programmes for Burundian refugees.
The NEPAD E-Schools Initiative was launched at the World Economic Forum’s Africa Economic Summit in Durban with the aim of bridging the digital divide and giving the continent’s children the skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. The programme will energetically target the young to ensure that the majority of the people of the continent will have the skills necessary for them to function in the information society and knowledge economy.
President Yoweri Museveni, on a state visit to the US, has accused Sudan of secretly arming Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army and fuelling the insurgency in northern Uganda in a bid to expand her borders.
The Government's fight against HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria has received a major shot in the arm with a Sh3.8 billion grant from the Global Aids Fund. However it has been cautioned that the money must be spent for the set purpose.
The aim of this digest is to compile on a monthly basis the trends of violations on freedom of expression on the continent. It will be based on information gathered from partners within the IFEX network and elsewhere. The first part of the digest will highlight and summarize the regional trends and the second will take a closer look at legal dimension of one of the threats of the month. Email [email protected] for a copy of the digest.
Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has protested over the lengthy interrogation of journalist Faisal el Bagir, the organisation's correspondent in Sudan, on 8 June, upon his return from Athens, Greece, where he had attended an international conference of the future of news media in Iraq. "The interrogation was clearly aimed at intimidating the journalist and human rights defender," RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said. "We call on the Sudanese authorities to put a stop to this kind of harassment, which is completely unjustified."
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says it is "deeply concerned" about the safety of journalists working in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an area currently under the control of the Congolese Rally For Democracy (RCD-Goma) movement. Recently, one journalist was attacked and another was detained in reprisal for their work.
Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria has announced the commencement of a two-year project to reduce HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in the media and other identified communities in Nigeria. The project aims to harness the capacity of the Nigerian media and communities as a potential force for change to reduce the high levels of HIV-related stigma and discrimination in the country.
Although some of the concerns of the Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC) were addressed in recent amendments to the controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the law still remains lethal in as far as it makes demands for the accreditation of journalists and media houses respectively. Access to information remains totally closed and much power is vested in public officials and the MIC. This is according to a statement on the amendments made by MISA-Zimbabwe.
Reporters Without Borders has deplored the arrest and beating by government supporters of radio journalists Shorai Katiwa and Martin Chimenya and called on the government to ensure the media could operate freely in Zimbabwe. The two reporters, of the pirate radio station Voice of the People (VOP), were seized on 2 June by war veterans and young supporters of President Robert Mugabe's African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) who interrogated them, took away their mobile phones and tape-recorders and beat them after accusing them of belonging to the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The Writers in Prison Committee says it is "deeply concerned" by the prolonged detention of Daher Ahmed Farah, the editor of the newspaper Le Renouveau and leader of the Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (MRD). According to information received, Farah was detained on 20 April 2003 following the filing of a complaint against Le Renouveau by General Zakaria Cheik Ibrahim, the deputy head of the army.
The state has withdrawn charges against Norna Edwards, editor of "The Mirror", a weekly newspaper in the town of Masvingo, 293 kilometres south of the capital, Harare. Edwards and reporter Kennedy Murwira were facing charges of contravening Section 80 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
The Media Monitoring Project has deplored the assault and harassment of journalists from the private media by ZANU-PF youths and state security agents during the MDC’s week-long mass action. "Such attacks terrorize those going about their lawful business and stifle the free flow of information and therefore undermine the foundations of democratic society," said the project in a weekly update on the situation in Zimbabwe.
Former US president Bill Clinton said he hopes to use his foundation to treat at least 700 000 Aids patients in Africa and the Caribbean. The William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation is working with the governments of Rwanda, Mozambique, Tanzania and several Caribbean nations to fund Aids prevention and treatment.
Mango’s highly regarded finance training programme for NGOs will be returning to Zambia in August 2003. This year Mango will run the ever-popular introductory course – Practical Financial Management for NGOs – and, for the first time in Zambia, the follow-up course on Strategic Financial Management for NGOs. Both courses are aimed at managers in small to medium sized NGOs. No previous financial management experience or finance qualifications are required for attending the course – just a desire to understand how financial management contributes to successful programme management. The courses will be held at the Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (ZCAS), Lusaka. Although designated as non-residential, good quality and reasonably priced guest accommodation is also available at ZCAS.
The Tanzania National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) through the project called Malaria Research Coordination and promotion through MIM (MALCOPROMIM) would like to announce and invite nationals from the Africa region to apply for the one week workshop on Research Methodology/Proposal writing to be held on 6-11 October, 2003 in Arusha, Tanzania.
This national symposium will look at the implications of important drivers of global change for national and regional sustainability of human and ecological systems in South Africa. It will build on the 1995 southern African IGBP meeting and the South African Country Study on Climate Change completed in 1999.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has called on African governments and armed groups to implement commitments to stop child soldiering. “The Day of the African Child is not only a celebration of progress towards child rights; it is also a time to remember the tens of thousands of child soldiers caught up in conflicts across Africa,” said Casey Kelso, Coalition coordinator. It is estimated that more than 120,000 African children – some no more than 7 or 8 years old – are currently participating in armed conflicts as combatants, spies, messengers, sentries, porters, servants and sexual slaves.
The Country Director will manage the IFES program in Nigeria. Primary responsibilities will include program management and implementation, and management of the IFES field office in Abuja. The Country Director is also responsible for identifying new opportunities for IFES within the existing program and beyond.
The IRC seeks a Sexual & Gender Based Violence Program Coordinator for its Guinea program. The Coordinator will prepare proposals, narrative reports and other written documentation, including budget information and monitoring; Assist in identifying and developing continuing education activities and supervision of existing staff; interviewing, hiring, training and supervision of new personnel; Develop and implement training materials for SGBV staff, and other target groups of the SGBV program ranging from community representatives to Guinean legal & judicial representatives.
The goal of this mission is to address acute and chronic humanitarian crises within Ethiopia where the inability of the health system to cope fully with the needs of an increasingly vulnerable population experiencing a food crisis has combined with the destabilizing effects of systemic changes in the health system and limited capacity and resources. Merlin proposes to address the most immediate problems facing the health sector. Project activities will provide immediate relief to the population in the short term but will also affect medium and longer term issues surrounding the identified gaps within the health sector.
This is administrative educational work serving as the Head Administrator of an elementary school. This employee is responsible for providing direction and leadership for all activities within the school. Work involves overseeing the management of the educational program, the decision making and communication processes, the business operations, the staff relations program, the community relations program and the physical buildings.
How are we going to force Sudan and Mauritania to stop slavery? Nobody knows how many Africans lost their lives in Mauritania from 1989 onwards. What is the African Union doing about modern day slavery?
"The ‘liberalisation’ of agricultural trade and deregulation, promoted by the WTO, the IMF, Free Trade Agreements and the like are substantial causes of damage all over the world. Hunger, unemployment, inequality, poverty, and degradation of natural resources are increasing in the rural world, particularly in the South. Farmers are forced into rural exodus and migration. Increasingly, large corporate agri-business is taking their place and taking up their lands," says a declaration made in Dakar, Senegal in May by representatives of farmers organisations and agricultural producers from Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe.
Whenever the African Union meets to discuss trade issues before the 5th World Trade Organisation Ministerial in Cancun, Mexico, in September this year, they should not sell away people's rights, writes Percy F. Makombe in the latest edition of the SEATINI Bulletin. "The right to food, to basic services like drinking water, healthcare, housing and education are rights that are protected by the African Charter on Human Rights and the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights," he argues, concluding that: " Each African state must, as provided for under the Doha mandate, exercise its sovereign right to reject or reopen any draft package purporting to reflect the outcome of negotiations."
Former President Daniel arap Moi has been asked by the anti-corruption police to record a statement over the Euro Bank scandal, it has been revealed. Investigators want to know if he ever ordered any of the former parastatal chiefs facing graft charges to pump millions of taxpayers' money into the bank before it collapsed.
A Zambian court has dropped charges against six men who were accused of stealing state finances - along with former President Frederick Chiluba. But the court in Lusaka reserved the right to re-arrest the six if new evidence came to light.
Leading human rights and aid agencies called the situation in Congo one of the world's largest humanitarian tragedies and demanded urgent action to halt the sexual abuse and forced recruitment of children. In a 36-page report, a network of agencies called on all parties in Congo's war to uphold international treaties to protect children's rights.
At least ten Bushmen from Molapo, in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), Botswana, have been charged with entering a game reserve without a permit, according to Survival International. Botswana police issued the charges on June 16.
They contribute over 70% of Africa's wealth from agriculture. But women still comprise 70% of the poorest in the world remaining the most vulnerable. Delegates from Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Eritrea and Uganda converged in Uganda from May 27 - 28 to deliberate the way forward in resolving the plight of African woman, focusing on gender responsive budgeting.
Eight women from Nuba Indigenous Ruya Association were on June 3 harassed and detained in questionable circumstances by government security organs here. According to a press release issued by Nairobi-based Nuba Relief, Rehabilitation and Development Organisation (NRRDO) on June 6, the women were among a delegation attending an All Nuba Women Conference in the Nuba Mountains (June 5-9), organised by Ruya Association (Kadugli), and NRRDO in Kauda.
Girls in Africa still face an uphill battle to go to and stay in school, while some struggle to be taken seriously and others face sexual harassment by male teachers. That is the conclusion of Professor Penina Mlama, the executive director of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), herself a former Dean of Students at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Somalia's first medical college in 12 years officially opened in the capital, Mogadishu, on 15 June. The Benadir University Medical College (BUMC) is to be funded by donations from Somali physicians and an annual fee of US $1,500 per student, its rector, Dr Usman Adan Abdulle, told IRIN.
Attacks by the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) rebel faction led by Pierre Nkurunziza have increased in several areas in Burundi, the latest being the abduction on Monday of a local official in Kayanza Province to the north of the country.
The London-based rights group Amnesty International has called on delegates attending Somali peace talks in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to choose leaders who will protect the human rights of all Somalis.
Nigerian university lecturers have ended a six-month strike to demand improved government funding of education in compliance with the ruling of an industrial arbitration panel. The strike had brought teaching to a halt in the universities of Africa's most populous nation.
Eighty-seven people have died of cholera in Mozambique since the beginning of the year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Tuesday.