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
Can Africa survive? Many of the nations of sub-Saharan African have all but ceased to exist as organised states: tyranny, diseases such as AIDS, civil war and ethnic conflict--and border invasions threaten the complete disintegration of a region. Peter Schwab offers a clear, authoritative portrait of a continent on the brink. Globalisation and an accompanying level of economic health have passed over Africa. Added to these factors is a patronizing attitude from the West that change in Africa must take place within Western parameters, a UN that lacks any real power, and a US foreign policy in Africa that is unclear.
George Monbiot asks and answers the key questions of our time: what would global democracy look like? And how could we make it happen, against the resistance of the world's most powerful governments? The world is run not by its people but by a handful of self-appointed men in the rich nations. They make the decisions on which everyone else depends: concerning war, peace, debt, development and the balance of trade. The rest of us have no means of holding them to account. While these men might have a national democratic mandate, on the global level their rule is unchallengeable.
Olonana ole Mbatian, popularly known as Lenana, was one of the most outstanding Masai and Kenyan leaders, African chief and Laibon (prophet/visionary), whose life spanned the second half of the nineteenth, and the first decade of the twentieth centuries. He lived through and influenced a crucial period in Kenya's history: when the Masai were engaged in nation building, there was competition for leadership, land, people, livestock, wealth and power; and when European intrusions, which were becoming ever more intensive, were shaping Kenya's colonial culture and economy. This is a balanced and critical study of an individual's biography, and historical context.
A solo exhibition of Danisile Ncube's work takes place at the Alliance Francaise in Harare, Zimbabwe between 3 June - 3 July and is entitled: "METAL-TALK". It is composed of sculptures and metal masks.
This book suggests strategies, principles and tools to reduce development-induced disputes and interpersonal conflict as obstacles to achieving sustainable rural livelihoods. Consensual 'win-win' negotiation is promoted as the preferred strategy, but set firmly within the context of the alternatives. The importance of conflict management processes that 'fit' with local customary and legal approaches is stressed.
For a wide variety of material on Africa, visit AFRICAFILES, a network of volunteers relaying African perspectives and alternative analyses for viable human development in the interest of justice and human rights.
Just over R1 million has been raised at an auction of former president Nelson Mandela's memorabilia. The auction was held to raise money for the Nelson Mandela Trust, which supports certain charities.
A leading global business group has issued a ''corruption index'' for African countries, but corporate governance watchdogs say the World Economic Forum (WEF) ignored the role that its members play in corrupting poor countries. The rankings released last Tuesday by the Geneva-based WEF, known for its high-profile annual meetings in the alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland that attract the world's corporate and political luminaries, show Botswana leading the 21 African nations ranked for the quality of their public institutions.
A German engineering company, Lahmeyer, was on Tuesday found guilty of bribing a top official of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
Although the 2003 elections have come and gone the exercise is still raising some dust. The role played by the media as the people's watch-dog came under review with the verdict that they could have done better. This was the consensus at a day-long roundtable discussion.
A lack of adequate health care and an increase in migration and prostitution that has accompanied the construction of a $3.7 billion oil pipeline route in Cameroon and Chad have created ideal conditions for the spread of HIV, the Los Angeles Times reports in the second article in a two-part series on the pipeline.
The Nigerian government has ordered a probe into a $2.4 million bribe, allegedly paid by U.S.-based oil service company, Halliburton, to some Nigerian tax officials, news media reported Wednesday.
This is the true life story of a young Ugandan girl who runs away from her oppressive and abusive home and is drafted into Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army and is soon in the thick of a guerrilla war.
South Africa's health system will soon offer drugs blocking the Aids virus, the body that advises the government on HIV/Aids has said. The South African National Aids Council (Sanac) made the announcement following a meeting with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) - a group that has been urging the government to supply the drugs.
Sub-Saharan Africa is in the midst of an oil boom. The revenues available to reduce poverty in this context are huge, says a new report from Catholic Relief Services (CRS), who estimate that governments will receive over $200 billion in oil revenues over the next decade, enabling them to invest in health, education and other vital necessities. The dramatic development failures that have characterized most other oil-dependent countries around the world, though, warn that petrodollars have not helped developing countries to reduce poverty; in many cases, they have actually exacerbated it. Without improving their democratic institutions and administrative capacity, it is unlikely that Africa's oil exporters will be able to use petrodollars to fuel poverty reduction.
Joy erupted in the battle-scarred streets of Monrovia Wednesday after a ceasefire between Liberia's besieged government and two rebel groups brought hope of an end to 14 years of war.
Related Links:
* Ceasefire signed in Ghana
http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34806
* Fighting resumes in interior
http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34782
Excellent as always. I am passing this on for you.
The Trainer trains and coaches local workshop-leaders in the identification of psychosocial needs and in conducting creative workshops. The trainer reports to the Content Supervisor and/or Head of Mission.
Every year, vast patches of the Earth turn barren and unproductive, the consequence of drought and poor land management. This process - known as desertification - has far reaching costs to humanity, United Nations Secretary Kofi Annan said this week, and poses "an ever increasing global threat."
The REACH West Africa Deputy Director works closely and in a complementary fashion with the Project Director to effectively lead and manage the project. This includes the achievement of the vision and strategy of the Project, and managing key relationships with USAID/WARP, the Project's Management Committee, REACH's partners, and other key stakeholders, including the Project's Advisory Committee and other donors and cooperating agencies.
This paper from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) reports on the proceedings of two one-day workshops held with communities in the Trans-Mara District where a human-elephant conflict study has taken place. The workshop concluded that farming is increasing because communities receive no other form of benefit from their land. Therefore, if wildlife could be made to pay, residents would be willing to set land aside for conservation and tolerate the presence of wildlife in the area. To ensure that, better local coordination and planning are also needed.
Following the recent incursions into the capital, Monrovia, and subsequent retreat of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebels, residents of the Duala and New Kru Town suburbs have been subjected to a reign of terror. The attacks are allegedly being perpetrated primarily by government forces. Journalists and human rights activists in Monrovia have suffered the worst reprisals in what appears to be the targeted and systematic looting, arson and rape of residents caught up in the conflict.
Dimas Dzikodo and Philip Evégnon, editor-in-chief and editor, respectively, of the private weekly "L'Evénement", as well as Colombo Kpakpabia, a journalist with the private weekly "Nouvel Echo", were arrested by police officers on 14 and 15 June 2003. They have since been detained and questioned at national police headquarters in the capital, Lome. The journalists have been accused of "distributing false news" with the intent of damaging the country's reputation.
Contemporary forms of slavery cannot be eliminated unless the international community goes beyond mere legal prohibitions to fighting its root causes such as poverty, gender discrimination and violence against women, according to the acting United Nations human rights chief Bertrand Ramcharan, who was opening the 28th session of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery in Geneva.
The full scale rebellion in Liberia is part of a complicated web of conflicts which began more than a decade ago. Governments in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast have been struggling to hold power against rebel groups, trading accusations with neighbouring nations over who is backing who. Liberia's rebel-turned-president, Charles Taylor is accused of arming rebels in Sierra Leone's civil war, but is now under threat himself from a rebel group which he claims started operating out of Guinea.
A South African private company has said that it has plans to take over a string of national parks throughout Africa.
Calling it a condition too unpleasant to discuss, a United Nations agency urged African nations on Wednesday to end the silence and confront one of the world's worst pregnancy-related disabilities. Girls and women suffering from obstetric fistula, a condition resulting from obstructed labour, endure an uncontrollable leakage of urine or feces that often means being shunned by their family.
It's been more than a year since Nigerian mother Amina Lawal was sentenced to death by stoning. The repeated postponement of her appeal has exacted its own toll, writes the author of this article, Festus Eriye, from Katsina, Nigeria.
Four percent to 29 percent of women in developing countries experience domestic violence during pregnancy, according to research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers report that violence during pregnancy is a major public health concern, because of the high rate of pregnancy in the developing world, and they call for more research to implement preventive policies.
A recent manifesto by PUDEMO, the main opposition party in Swaziland, marks a new phase in opposition politics, setting out detailed policies on issues such as poverty and HIV/AIDS. But despite a growing yearning for freedom and a rise in support of democratic forces, all opposition movements are forced to operate illegally. Visit Action for Southern Africa's web site for an interview with Mario Masuku, leader of PUDEMO.
The treason trial of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, accused of plotting to eliminate President Robert Mugabe ahead of presidential elections last year, resumed on Tuesday. The trial, which resumed after a three week break, concerns the first charges of treason brought against the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader and two key members of his party, Welshman Ncube and Renson Gasela. Tsvangirai has also been charged with treason - punishable by death in Zimbabwe - in connection with anti-government protests organised by his party two weeks ago.
Related Link:
* Youths plan protests for Tsvangirai's release
http://allafrica.com/stories/200306180683.html
No-one is hailing the ceasefire agreed in Ghana on Tuesday between Liberian adversaries as the end of that country's civil war. But most people, especially Liberians, are hoping it will achieve a halt in the fighting - a first step along a long road to peace.
The governments of Rwanda and Congo-Brazzaville together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have agreed to return home 5,000 Rwandan citizens who fled the country during the 1994 genocide. However, over 1,000 of the refugees residing in western Tanzania have appealed against repatriation, alleging that they will be persecuted if they returned to their country.
Zimbabwe's opposition has described the hanging of four convicted murderers as a show of "brute force" at a time when its leader faces treason charges that could lead to a death sentence.
Negotiations to reach a ceasefire among various armed groups in North Kivu Province of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were due to resume on Wednesday in Bujumbura, capital of Burundi, a UN official said.
One of Africa’s first ever national women’s coalitions aimed at combating HIV/AIDS has been formed. The coalition, made up of tens of thousands of women countrywide, is headed by some of the leading female figures in Ethiopian society.
CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights and Fahamu have launched a petition calling on African Union Heads of State to release all incarcerated journalists and repeal all anti freedom of expression legislation. The petition is to be presented at the African Union meeting of Heads of State in Maputo in July and is addressed to President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the current Chair of the AU. Click on the link below to read the full letter and join the petition.
Promoting good governance is high on the list of priorities of Northern and African policymakers. But before we can build strong institutions, democracy and the rule of law we need to tackle the double bind facing Africans today. On the one hand, African states often do not have the capacity to institute much needed reforms. Yet the solution – giving Northern Governments, companies and NGOs overwhelming influence over how African countries are run – is only making their governments weaker over the long-term. Unbinding Africa explores how globalisation in its current form is affecting the continent.
Why is the entire African continental economy no larger than Spain's, at $580 billion? Why is the combined GDP of the 40-plus countries that lie between South Africa and Egypt scarcely bigger than the annual turnover of ExxonMobil? There's a weary consensus that blames low prices for Africa's agricultural exports, corruption, cash-starved infrastructure and, increasingly, the devastating economic impact of AIDS. But less explored is the perverse logic of dividing Africa's small economic space into fifty sovereign entities. Regional economic integration is an absolute prerequisite for poverty reduction: expanding markets, attracting investment, and increasing savings. Unfortunately, there are powerful interests that stand in its way – mainly the politicians and bureaucrats who extract rent from their possession of sovereign privileges to tax and regulate.
Take Djibouti in northeast Africa. It has about half a million people and virtually no domestic economy. It depends wholly on three things: a port and railway link that serve the much larger economy of landlocked Ethiopia, a French military base (recently augmented by a U.S. command centre, used for keeping watch on Yemen and monitoring al Qa'ida's attempts to infiltrate the Horn of Africa), and lastly the fact that tiny Djibouti, by virtue of its sovereign independence, has a seat at the United Nations, the African Union and the Arab League, and therefore also has representation at the World Bank, United Nations specialised agencies and bilateral donors. A simple survey will show that across Africa, the smaller the country, the more aid it receives per capita. Partly this is simply because most nations have a desk officer in every large aid bureaucracy and thus a champion in the system. And partly it is because every now and then, the vote of that country may become important in some critical international forum. (The U.S. suddenly became much more conciliatory towards Angola last summer, coinciding with Angola taking one of Africa's seats on the U.N. Security Council.) Small countries are also more attractive as sites for military bases: their domestic problems are more manageable and their loyalty is more easily obtained than larger ones.
Five years ago, there was some discussion that Djibouti might merge with its neighbour Ethiopia. The rents that Djibouti's rulers can extract from the international system have put paid to that. On the other side of the continent, tiny Gambia broke up its sensible confederation with its sole and much larger neighbour, Senegal, because its leading officials were profiting too little from the arrangement.
The executives of international oil corporations, avowed globalisers in theory, are in practice the friends of regressive political economies. Oil companies prefer to negotiate deals with small countries rather than large ones: in a country with a million people, political stability can simply be bought, whereas there is a sad history of oil fuelling conflict in larger countries like Angola, Nigeria and Sudan. Oil wealth is a top-down resource: it's easy to distribute as largesse, and the smaller the constituency, the more effective it can be.
NGOs certainly have no intention to impede the continent's growth, but their operations may, at times, do exactly that. Aid agencies control substantial parts of the transport sector in Mozambique, but their contracts are not awarded through competitive bidding, but instead on opaque criteria developed by bureaucrats behind closed doors in Washington or Brussels. The domestic entrepreneurial class cannot compete.
Forty years ago, Africa's independence leaders came together to form the Organisation of African Unity - a minimum framework for organising the continent during the turmoils of the Cold War. Ordinary Africans longed for something more: true political unity. Last year in Durban, Africa's heads of state finally agreed to establish an African Union, a big step along this road. The new institution promises to build an ambitious array of institutions including a Pan African Parliament, but it is likely to be hampered by financial weakness and the vested interests of governing elites. Regional economic integration has historically been driven by a powerful manufacturing sector seeking to expand its markets. This is the case for Europe, the Far East and North America, and is manifestly the case for economic globalisation. By contrast, regional integration among non-industrialised countries has had more modest achievements – from the Mercusur economic cooperation pact in Latin America to the historic alliance of independent frontline African states against Apartheid South Africa.
As the least developed continent, Africa faces the greatest challenges to integration. With the exception of South Africa, it is largely dependent on agrarian produce, minerals and aid. The African Union's member states have long been used to seeing their continental organisation as a forum to defend their sovereign interests, and a bureaucracy in which to place 'their men'. The current and incoming chairs - South Africa and Mozambique -are both democracies, but there are fears as to the standing of the Union if a less respected country were to become its head.
However, there have been encouraging steps. In its last years the Organisation for African Unity refused to recognise the putschists in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, and insisting on only accepting rulers who come to power through constitutional means. But only when a Pan-African parliament is established that can set continental standards for democracy, mineral companies forced to become more transparent about payments to countries, and aid distributed in ways that promote economic integration, will Africa begin to escape its structural paralysis. That will require African leaders to sacrifice the spoils of sovereignty for the long-term promise of continental development.
* Alex de Waal is Programme Director for the Commission for HIV / AIDS and Governance in Africa, and a director of Justice Africa. This editorial is a shortened version of an essay from the book 'Unbinding Africa: Making globalisation work for good governance', edited by Phoebe Griffith. More information: id=15803
* Please send comments on this editorial to [email protected]
Nearly a month after it was to have started, the treason trial of 22 alleged Boeremag members was postponed for the fourth time because of unresolved legal aid issues on Tuesday.
They believe God created an elect group of whites to rule the peoples of the world. They also believe the Bible forbids racial "interbreeding". Yet Jaco van der Merwe, spiritual leader of the Lewende Hoop (Living Hope) congregation in Kroonstad, denies their message is political. Police and intelligence officers do not seem to agree that the teachings of the Lewende Hoop church are a-political.
The Sudanese government has guaranteed the World Food Programme (WFP) that all food deliveries will be permitted to enter the country for the next six months, while it conducts a review of its policy on genetically modified (GM) foods.
A pall of heavy smoke from thousands of backyard bonfires lit to chase away an evil spirit has created a foul atmosphere in the Guinean capital Conakry. Health workers and environmentalists have appealed over the radio for people to put out the fires, which have clogged the air with pollution for several days.
A new international law covering the conditions under which genetically modified (GM) organisms can be traded between countries is to come into force later this year, after the Pacific island of Palau last week became the 50th state to ratify the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Palau's move triggered a 90-day countdown before the protocol – which will regulate the impact on the environment and human health from trade in GM organisms – comes into legal force on 11 September.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions on Wednesday said that while the SABC's draft editorial policy was "full of excellent intentions and worthy ideals" there remained a huge gap between the course of action the public broadcaster had prescribed and what it was doing in its day-to-day broadcasts.
With the right approach, dealing with spam should take about two minutes per day. The return on this investment is significant: more productivity, less stress, and more confidence in your use of technology. Click on the link and find out how to deal with spam.
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation's ICT Development Digital Library (ICT DevLibrary) provides a unique collection of ICT-for-development reports and documents for policy-makers and practitioners in developing countries. It uniquely provides direct, “one-click” access to these documents, and makes these often bulky documents accessible to users on low bandwidth connections.
Everyone loves Google, and it's the first place many people turn to locate information on the Internet. There's a big gap, though, between knowing that you can use Google to get advance information on your blind date and having a handle on the considerable roster of fact-finding tools that the site makes available. Google Hacks reveals--and documents in considerable detail--a large collection of Google capabilities that many readers won't have even been aware of.
CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights and Fahamu have launched a petition calling on African Union Heads of State to release all incarcerated journalists and repeal all anti freedom of expression legislation. The petition is to be presented at the African Union meeting of Heads of State in Maputo in July and is addressed to President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the current Chair of the AU. Click on the link below to read the full letter and join the petition.
I am interested in the method Simon Hinds (Pambazuka News 114 letter) is using to prove Andrew Meldrum is a propagandist, not a journalist. If he can produce proof that some agency apart from the papers he writes for is paying him to write the stories, he would have a case, but he is only studying content. With the state media entirely in the hands of ZANU-PF propagandists (even musicians whose songs are in any way critical are banned, and this includes the two most eminent Zimbabwean musicians, Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mutukudzi), the independent media being constantly harassed (and this includes arrest and assault on journalists, the bombing of one newspaper's press and of the office of an independent radio station which is forced to broadcast from outside the country and party thugs destroying vendors' stocks of papers they don't like, with no independent radio or TV station permitted, someone needs to present the other side. Is Meldrum doing any more than this?
Following the successful 2002 NGO EXPO, NANGO is pleased to announce that the 2nd EXPO will be staged from 25 - 27 September 2003 at the Harare Exhibition Park. Once again we intend to showcase the works being done by NGOs in an attempt to further unveil the sector to its significant stakeholders. This year's EXPO will adopt the theme “NGO Sector Unveiled: Dialogue for Development” as it strives to reach out through the exhibition of its products and services and thus reveal the nature of the sectors' significant contribution to Development in the country.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on African Union Heads of State to release all jailed journalists and repeal all anti freedom of expression legislation. The IFJ is supporting a petition launched on June 5th by CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights and Fahamu to be presented at the African Union meeting of Heads of State in Maputo in July and addressed to President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the current Chair of the AU.
Poor urban communities will from 1 July be without clean and safe drinking water, unless they reach to the bottom of their already dry purses to pay for the right to drink, cook and bathe from clean and safe water. The Water and Sewage Authority will hand over or close public standpipes to communities and implement new water charges starting July, disclosed WASA Chief Executive Officer, Sechoba Makhoalibe.
Nigeria and Sao Tome have pledged to publish the financial results of their next licensing round for a $270m oilfield. The decision is a breakthrough for the UK-led campaign to reduce corruption in oil and mineral-rich developing countries by pushing governments to disclose the amount of money international companies pay to develop their resources.
The Northern Mali Peace and Reconciliation Project, supported by a small grant, has helped to promote peace through radio programming in Northern Mali and is positive proof that small projects can bring large results. The six-month activity has contributed to the significant conflict reduction in the Timbuktu Region of Mali and left participating stations with mechanisms and a mission to promote peace and reconciliation.
Religious representatives in Tanzania have challenged African governments to ensure active participation of the citizenry in discussions on the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
Sudan has strongly denied accusations, made on Monday by the Acholi Religious Leaders’ Peace Initiative (ARLPI) in northern Uganda, that the Sudanese army is continuing to arm the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group.
This year's World Refugee Day, which falls on Friday June 20, is dedicated to the millions of young people whose futures have been jeopardized by war, persecution and exile, said a message released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Phillippe Lavanchy on Thursday.
The fourth edition of the "Guide to European Population Assistance" has recently been published, giving information on how to access funding from all major European public budget lines in the field of sustainable development.
The Centre for Conflict Resolution is an independent, non-governmental organisation. Based in Cape Town, it works nationally and in other African countries to promote constructive, creative and co-operative approaches to the resolution of conflict and the reduction of violence. It invites applications from suitable candidates for the following positions: Senior Manager for Research and Programme Manager for Academic Teaching. For more details please click on the URL provided.
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 114: FROM RHETORIC INTO REALITY - THREE STEPS TO END CHILD SOLDIERING
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 114: FROM RHETORIC INTO REALITY - THREE STEPS TO END CHILD SOLDIERING
In much of the literature on HIV/AIDS and mobility, mobile populations and/or migrants are described and treated as one, homogenous group. This report from the International Organisation for Migration examines the different sub-groups of mobile populations, and looks at their commonalities and differences. The report notes that mobile groups are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in different respects, which complicates prevention and mitigation strategies. Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is often related to a particular stage of the mobility process.
With the end of the Iraq war, the globalisation war is heating up around trade again, this time over the issue of genetically modified food. George W. Bush is once more attacking "Old Europe," claiming that it is denying food to starving Africans, after several African countries declined US aid in the form of genetically modified food out of concern that it might taint their own crops and block sales to Europe. And once again the United States is opposing a United Nations approach, this time in the form of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, signed by more than 100 nations, which establishes rules to regulate GMOs.
Anti-corruption police are investigating the loss of more than 36m shillings (approximately 450,000 US dollars) from the Attorney-General's chambers. This is part of a wider inquiry on corruption in the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ministry.
The U.N. Security Council must focus on wartime violence against civilians in its upcoming mission to the Great Lakes region of Africa, Human Rights Watch said in a press release. In an open letter to the Security Council, Human Rights Watch also urged the Council to raise the need for justice for abuses with the leaders in the region.
The rate of malnutrition in Eritrea, now in the fourth year of the worst drought in a decade, is rising to alarming levels, with more than 1 in 5 children not getting enough to eat, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says. According to the agency, 21. 7 per cent of children are suffering from malnutrition; normally, a hunger rate of just 13 to 14 per cent is considered alarming.
Harald T. Nesvik, a Right-wing Norwegian Member of Parliament, has nominated U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush for the Nobel Peace Prize for their "decisive action against terrorism". Sign this petition to say you agree on rejecting Bush and Blair for Nobel Prize Nomination.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is not just about imports and exports of goods, but increasingly is encroaching on people's democratic control over and access to resources and on governments' abilities to regulate social and economic policies and formulate human development. Civil society groups from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, Canada and New Zealand met in Nairobi from 27 29 May 2003 to study, analyse and exchange views on the impact of neo-liberal globalisation specially on the south manifesting itself in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the forthcoming WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun. The GATS represents a powerful and totally unacceptable instrument that limits policy space and restricts popular access to services which are essential to people's livelihoods and economic development, a statement on the meeting said.
The people of South Africa bear a double burden of environmental threats to their health, says Dr Anthony Mbewu, Executive Director for Research Development at the Medical Research Council. According to Dr Mbewu industry as well as under-development in informal and inner city settlements causes environmental pollution. He added that it is estimated that one-third of the burden of disease in the world is cause by environmental factors.
Health activists at the G8 meeting in Evian said it was outrageous that US President George Bush had attempted to block bipartisan efforts to increase American contributions to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria and described as “shocking” revelations that the European Development Fund was sitting on 10 billion unspent euros. “The heads of state created this fund and pumped it for positive publicity two years ago. Now they have decided to orphan it after deliberately manipulating the hopes and expectations of millions of people with HIV in developing countries,” said Sharonann Lynch of Health GAP.
The treason trial of 22 alleged members of the rightwing Boeremag organisation was postponed once again in the Pretoria High Court on Monday. Judge Eben Jordaan postponed the trial until next week Tuesday while talks about legal aid for the accused were set to continue.
South Africa said on Sunday it will provide troops for the international peacekeeping force set to deploy in turbulent northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where ethnic violence has killed hundreds in recent weeks.
Your 'THE CHALLENGES BEFORE AFRICA AND THE AFRICAN UNION' raises vital issues that black people inside and outside the United Kingdom should not only consider but also become active on. Although I agree with the demand to free imprisoned journalists in Africa, I have a problem with 'freedom of expression' in Africa. You don't focus on Zimbabwe, but the Western media has. Yet I fully support the Zimbabwean government in illegally expelling Andrew Meldrum. Meldrum was a propagandist for the MDC whose leadership are treacherous. (I am doing a study of a sample of Meldrum's work precisely to show the extent to which Meldrum operated as a public relations officer or a journalist.) It is not unknown that Western governments will financially support news media to undermine a government that is representing its people. Propaganda is an important tool used to deny human rights to people in the South. If I were in Zimbabwe, I would certainly advocate legislation that curbs media propaganda. Any campaign about media in Africa has to address this problem as well as the well-known issue of dictators harassing reporters who offer legitimate criticism of them. There needs to be a charter for journalism that African heads of state should sign. A lot of thinking needs to be done to spell out what the charter says. It should support reports about human rights and good governance. It should also allow for reports about foreign involvement and interference in Africa. It should report on the actions of the IMF and World Bank. I hope your campaign isn't used to attack Zimbabwe.
A new guide provides a comparative analysis and factual guide to refugee law throughout Southern Africa, including in-depth country guides for Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The new publication 'A Reference Guide to Refugee Law and Issues in Southern Africa' is produced by The Legal Resources Foundation (Zambia - http://www.lrf.org.zm/ ), the Legal Resources Centre South Africa ( http://www.lrc.org.za/) and the Zambia Civic Education Association. It is hoped that the guide will be a wealth of information in the areas of domestic and international refugee law, as well as the factual situation of refugees across Southern Africa.
Five Africans die every minute as a result of HIV/AIDS. But Africa is unable to wage full-scale war on the disease because it is crippled by debts. Even with debt relief, African governments are still being forced to make repayments of over $14 billion every year. Join ACTSA's latest campaign by sending a message to Tony Blair urging him to deliver debt cancellation for Africa now.
The Gambia government Sunday imposed a 7pm to 6am countrywide curfew to stem rising anti-Senegalese violence across the country. The curfew came after a day of looting and attacks on Senegalese nationals and properties in the country. Sunday's violence was a reaction to violent attacks upon Gambian players and fans attending the African Nations Cup qualifying match between the two countries by Senegalese football hooligans on Saturday.
Former president Frederick Chiluba faces another arrest over alleged abuse of the Zamtrop account. According to sources, Chiluba, former Ambassador to the United States Atan Shansonga, former finance permanent secretary Stella Chibanda, former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu and former Ministry of Finance chief economist Bede Mphande were listed for re-arrest on fresh charges related to the Zamtrop account.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative, Daouda Toure, has asked the Government to double its current water and sanitation expenditure as a primary solution to the high infant mortality rates in the country.
Liberian rebels surged into the western outskirts of the capital Monrovia last Friday after heavy fighting overnight which sent thousands of displaced people fleeing in heavy rain into the city centre.
The draft of Swaziland's first home-grown constitution has tried to balance the concerns of a royal establishment keen to retain power, and local and international demands for political reform. The much-delayed constitutional project was initiated by King Mswati III, over the objections of pro-democracy groups who wanted a "people-driven" constitution.
The United Nations Security Council must as a matter of priority address the issue of conflict diamonds in the DRC, says a new report from Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) on the diamonds trade. PAC recommended that the UN Security Council embargo all unofficial diamond exports from the DRC, and insist that the Kimberley Process develop a more rigorous approach to statistics and monitoring. PAC further recommended that civil society organisations take an active role in promoting a Publish What You Pay campaign. "The sooner there is consensus on basic corporate transparency in developing countries, the sooner corruption can be diminished." said the report.
Angolan refugees planning to return home from southern African countries will be able to receive information on the repatriation process and conditions back home from special weekly radio bulletins. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will send a weekly update on the conditions refugees can expect to find as they voluntarily return to Angola after more than a year of peace, UNHCR external relations officer Matthew Brook told IRIN.
The Ethiopian government has said that a scheme which provides for the resettlement of some two million people over the next three years, but has faced criticism from the international community, is necessary if Ethiopia is to stave off future food emergencies. It has also said it will not shy away from the scheme and has urged the international community to support it fully.
Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has voiced its concern about the banning of the Islamist weekly "Raya" and the closure of its offices under an Interior Ministry order on 1 June 2003. "As far as we know, this Islamist publication has never called for violence, contrary to what the Mauritanian authorities say," RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said. "One cannot help thinking that this ban on a newspaper that was never sparing in its criticism of the government is simply a means to gag a part of the opposition six months before the presidential election," Ménard added.
The privately owned daily The Daily News was targetted in the Zimbabwean government crackdown on protests last week, with the newspaper reporting acts of vandalism by ZANU PF youths who destroyed its papers across the country. Soldiers also reportedly barred some vendors from selling the paper because it was allegedly “fanning the protests”.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has issued a statement in solidarity with all journalists, media practitioners and human rights advocates who have been the worst victims of the campaign of repression, predation and mayhem that have institutionalised the culture of impunity as an instrument of rule since President Charles Taylor came to power in Liberia on August 2, 1997.
Three armed men wearing uniforms of the Presidential elite guard, the Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU), attacked Stanley McGill, a journalist working with the independent newspaper "The News" on May 27. Journalism institutions have voiced concern about the abuse of the freedom of expression rights of Liberians and the persistent threats and attacks on journalists and the private media in the country.
The government of Liberia has shut down six amateur FM radio stations operating in Bong County, central Liberia, and Margibi County, some 40 kilometres east of the capital, Monrovia. The stations affected include Y-FM, Bright FM, Jet 89.9, The Voice of Kakata and the Voice of YMCA.
Write for power! Apply to be part of the Agenda Writing Programme. The programme aims to help women get their voices out and people to express their ideas and experiences of gender. It helps writers develop their writing skills, especially to write for publication. It also gives writers tools to analyse gender issues.
Two European firms building the controversial Bujagali hydro-electric power plant in Uganda have stopped work on the project amid talk of financial difficulties for the main contractor, U.S. energy giant AES Corp, corruption probes and complaints from Uganda that the project is highly overvalued.
The United Nations is trying to prevent a major humanitarian disaster in Central and West Africa by dispatching a battalion of diplomats and a contingent of peacekeepers to the politically troubled continent. But non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and peace activists say the international community is doing too little too late to prevent the spreading crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ivory Coast, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Burundi and the Central African Republic.
The lack of rain has affected the agricultural productivity of the entire southern Africa region. In Malawi the food crisis has been particularly devastating as drought conditions alternated by floods and the selling off of government grain reserves have left Malawian farmers in dire straits.
A controversy has erupted in Nigeria over the sale to a foreign company of the rights to a patent on a locally developed drug for sickle cell anaemia. The drug, NIPRISAN, was developed by a traditional medicine practitioner working in collaboration with researchers at Nigeria’s National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Development (NIPRD) in Abuja.
UK-based Hermann Chinnery-Hesse was on holiday in his home country of Ghana when he accepted a school friend's bet to try to make his fortune in West Africa. In this article, Briony Hale describes how - starting with a battered old personal computer in his bedroom - Hesse developed Ghana's own software firm which, for the moment at least, is holding Microsoft at bay.
UNICEF has expressed concern for children caught up in the escalation of civil war in Liberia and appealed to all warring parties to ensure that civilians, especially children, are protected from harm. "As heavy fighting forces thousands of civilians to flee the shelter of camps on the outskirts of Monrovia, we are deeply troubled about the plight of Liberian children and the civilian population caught up in the mayhem," said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF.
Human rights conditions have deteriorated markedly in Zimbabwe over the last few months, Human Rights Watch said in a new briefing paper. The briefing paper, "Under a Shadow: Civil and Political Rights in Zimbabwe," details the government's policy of repression and the harassment of opposition party members by state institutions and supporters of the ruling party.
Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has protested against the re-arrest of newspaper editor Daher Ahmed Farah on 5 June 2003, just two days after his release from custody. The organisation has called on the authorities to release him immediately. The editor of "Le Renouveau" newspaper and head of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (MRD), Farah is the subject of several libel suits filed by the armed forces.
Connectivity is generally assumed to be a passport to opportunity and economic upliftment, but the experience in Africa suggests the opposite may be true. This is according to African ICT delegates attending the recent Acacia Conference in South Africa. Riff Fullan of Bellanet, a non-profit organisation funded in part by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), argued that ICT is, in fact "as likely to worsen poverty as to alleviate it." The evidence suggests ICT has exacerbated existing inequalities, added Fullan.
Mozambique has established a "poverty observatory" to monitor its national plan to reduce one of the world's highest levels of deprivation. The observatory will collect and analyse data on poverty to track the plan's progress. The country's first report on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, released last year, spells out the challenges: nearly 70 per cent of Mozambique's 17 million people live below the poverty line, subsisting on less than 40 US cents a day.
The political opposition and social forces that seek change face "serious constraints" due to the prevailing and absolute disrespect for the basic rules of democracy, concluded a recent meeting of civil society and opposition leaders. Among the constraints highlighted was the absolute party control of state institutions and the media.
While welcoming recent progress in the implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis peace accord for Côte d’Ivoire, members of the United Nations Security Council this week stressed again their concern at the humanitarian situation in the country.