The UN refugee agency UNHCR has expressed alarm over the deteriorating state of sanitation in the Dadaab refugee camp, northeastern Kenya, where thousands of Somali refugees have been affected by floods.

A women's organisation in the Republic of Congo, the Association Coeur de Mere, has called for increased sensitisation of women on prenatal care, saying the maternal and infant mortality figures in the country were "worrying".

Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are among the world's five worst conflict zones in which to be a woman or a child, according to a new report issued by the international NGO Save the Children, ahead of Mothers' Day to be marked on 11 May.

A week after the transfer of the presidency from a Tutsi to a Hutu, the first wave of Burundian refugees arrived in Burundi, aid agencies said on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it will launch a mass action campaign to demonstrate people's "displeasure" with the government of President Robert Mugabe. Following an inconclusive visit on Monday by three senior African presidents trying to open a dialogue between Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC spokesperson Paul Nyathi said "our premise was talks can only yield something if further pressure is brought to bear on Mugabe."
Related Links:
* MDC CALLS FOR TALKS ON TRANSITIONAL GOVT
http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33850
* HARARE MAYOR RETURNS TO WORK
http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1220
* ZIMBABWE: WORKERS FIRED FOR PARTICIPATING IN NATIONAL STAYAWAY
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1197

At least nine people, including a senior government official, were killed in violence related to the elections for Nigeria's 36 state legislatures at the weekend, police said on Tuesday.

Central African Republic refugees living in the Republic of Congo have asked to be repatriated. In a statement made available to IRIN on Thursday in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, the 257 refugees recalled how they arrived in the country following a failed coup of 28 May 2001 led by former President Andre Kolingba.

Africa Day will mark the symbolic transition from the Organisation of African Unity to the African Union, and celebrate the continent's new economic programme, the New Partnership for Africa's Development. According to the committee, the day's festivities will start with a street parade showcasing Africa's diverse communities, with the aim of encouraging unity and public participation, and enhancing campaigns to root out xenophobia, reports South Africa.info.

Mauritian sugar cane farmers breathed a sigh of relief as a severe tropical storm passed over the Indian Ocean island without incident. The country's weather services had previously issued a "cyclone warning, class one" and urged residents to stock up on adequate emergency supplies.

The current HIV prevalence rate among Mozambican adults is 14.6 per cent, Deputy Health Minister Aida Libombo told the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Wednesday.

The United Nations Observer Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) must urgently protect civilians threatened by renewed violence in the war-torn region of Ituri in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Human Rights Watch says. Following the withdrawal of Ugandan troops from the provincial capital of Bunia, Hema militias began fighting Lendu and Ngiti militias for control of the town.

Is environmental degradation set to create new waves of displaced people seeking asylum in the north? Will refugee camps and shantytowns foster civil disorder, pandemics and political extremism to threaten the interests of the developed world? Or is the concept of ‘environmental refugee’ a dangerous distraction from central issues of development and conflict resolution?

The full 109 liberalisation requests made by the EU to the WTO in June 2002 were previously inaccessible to the public but have just been leaked. It is now possible to find out which countries the EU are targeting and which sectors and assess these intentions against the rhetoric of the EU. The World Development Movement (WDM) conclude from a preliminary analysis of the EU’s leaked requests, targeting 109 countries, two key points:
First, the EU’s claim to be pursuing a ‘development agenda’ is hollow rhetoric. The EU is pursuing an agenda aimed solely at benefiting its multinational companies Second, these requests should be open to public scrutiny. It is simply not acceptable that these documents should be secret and it is unfortunate that the only way the public gets access to this information is through leaks.

This paper from Oxfam highlights the impressive steps being taken to address the overwhelming popular demand for basic education by governments in a number of developing countries since the Education For All Fast Track initiative was launched in 2002. However, the authors argue that such steps are not being matched by funding from the G7.

With President Robert Mugabe virtually hanging on by the thread because of Zimbabwe's fast deteriorating economic crisis, all Presidents Thabo Mbeki, Olusegun Obasanjo and Bakili Muluzi needed to do was to apply a little pressure to bring Mugabe to the negotiating table without any preconditions by him. But a golden opportunity to relieve Zimbabweans of the pain wrought upon them by the retrogressive policies of this government has been lost - all because Mbeki and company would rather have solidarity with the ageing dictator than with the long-suffering masses of Zimbabwe.

From the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the United Nations, to Interpol and the World Health Organisation (WHO), dozens of international agencies now work to regulate world trade, telecommunications, transportation, labour, business, health and the environment, among other issues. In almost all of those bodies, poor and powerless nations, like Somalia and Afghanistan, are under-represented while the rich and powerful, like Britain and the United States, operate with almost unchecked authority and overwhelming power. Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are impatient to see real change.

The June 2003 issue of 'Development'(Volume 46, Number 2) will focus on the theme of Globalization, Reproductive Health and Rights. The articles it contains present case studies from many countries around the world, as well as strategies for action and advocacy campaigns. The reproductive health and rights agenda can no longer be understood as a narrow technical issue but as an agenda that must respond to the challenge that fundamentalisms of the 'free market' and ethnic and religious groups are posing. Women's reproductive rights and health is not only a key issue in itself, but it is also critical to the achievement of economic and social justice.

Dynamite fishing, coral mining, and the use of seine nets have destroyed much of Tanzania's coastal reefs, but now the government is getting serious about protecting these unique and fragile reefs. Tanzanian environmental experts are assessing the condition of the country's coral reefs, which are being threatened by human activities both legal and illegal.

The Ghanaian government has successfully prosecuted and convicted two former ministers, a senior civil servant and a foreigner for their roles in a $20 million rice project which left Ghana with a $20 million debt and no rice. The foreigner - in addition to bagging a jail term - was also ordered to refund $20 million.

This report from the Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN) analyses the major Zimbabwean AIDS policies for their take on gender equity and equality. The policy documents it outlines and analyses are: the National HIV/AIDS policy, the National AIDS Council of Zimbabwe Act and the National AIDS Trust Fund.

The Equinet Newsletter is the newsletter of the Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa. The Newsletter is delivered by e-mail twice a month and includes the following sections: Editorial, Equity and health general, Resource allocation, Public-private subsidies, Household poverty, WTO, economic and social policy, Human resources, Human rights and health, Research and Policy, Popular participation / governance and health, SADC News, Useful Resources, Letters and Comments, and Jobs and Announcements. Subscription is free.

The Zimbabwe-Mozambique-Zambia (ZIMOZA) trans-boundary natural resources management initiative, the first of its kind in Southern Africa, has been officially launched in Luangwa, Zambia. Cooperation through the ZIMOZA project will secure the long term conservation of the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources in the area.

Interest in African oil has been further heightened by the US-led war against Iraq; recent strikes by Venezuelan oil workers; and by potential political instability in Saudi Arabia - all of which underscore America's vulnerability as its voracious appetite for oil grows. Oil development in West Africa offers many attractions, experts say. Reserves are bountiful, the quality is high and shipping routes to America are generally shorter than from other regions.

The impact of HIV/AIDS could reverse democratic gains in Southern Africa, according to a report by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). A recently published research paper by the Pretoria-based institute found that lost incomes, increasing health and labour costs and decreasing productivity threatened the economic growth “necessary to sustain democratic practice in poor countries”.

Royal Dutch Shell’s recent concurrent annual general meetings in The Hague and London were attended by activists from communities neighbouring Shell facilities around the world. Local community based organisations from around the world recently decided to buy single shares in this multi-national corporation in order to gain direct access to Shell shareholders with the hope of raising awareness of the environmental destruction and human suffering Shell is causing worldwide.

The Southern African Internet Forum participants called for liberalisation of the current African regulatory frameworks to encourage internet growth in the region. They also highlighted the need for strong user groups in the private sector and elsewhere to create an active groundswell of opinion that will help transform the pace of change for the sector. Russell Southwood reports on what people were saying at the Forum.

This publication from Unesco aims to inform teachers, trainers, educators, parents, youth and students who, one way or another, are confronted with violence in the school or in non-formal community education, and are looking for practical solutions. The project seeks not only to inform them what is best internationally in terms of education for peace and non-violence, but above all to supply concrete pedagogical tools to prevent and transform the violence with which they are confronted on a daily basis at work.

As Uganda prepared to withdraw some 2,000 troops from northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kampala warned that there would be "chaos" in the volatile Ituri region if a security vacuum was not quickly filled.

Human Strategies for Human Rights (HSHR) provides organisational capacity building, practical and technical skills training, and human rights education and information services to grassroots NGOs and human rights advocates working in developing and transition country environments. Visit their web site to find out more and to join their mailing list.

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop) has called for the resignation of the Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, the arrest of those responsible for electoral abuses and an urgent review by all political stakeholders of the structural failings in Nigeria's electoral system. Mosop made the statement in reaction to the conduct of elections in Rivers State and the "repeated failure of INEC to meet even the minimum standards for conducting elections".

Apartheid debts, in the narrow sense of the word, are those debts which the newly elected democratic government inherited from the former apartheid regime. Many of these are domestic debts, of which nearly 40% are based on the fact that the apartheid state restructured the public pension fund in its final days in power from a pay-as-you-go system to a capital interest scheme. Foreign debts owed by the public sector amounted at the end of 1993 to US$ 15 billion. Adding the debts of the banking sector, including the Reserve Bank, and of the private sector, the total foreign apartheid debt amounted to US$ 25 billion. Read this briefing from Action for Southern Africa (Actsa) by clicking on the link provided.

It is the biggest and most powerful drug company on the planet. Its famous blue diamond-shaped Viagra pills have made it a fortune beyond the dreams of small nation states and the butt of smutty jokes worldwide. But Pfizer's global reach has not turned the world's third largest business into a benevolent giant, according to its critics. Quite the contrary. The vast multinational stands accused of blocking reforms to global drug pricing that would help lift impoverished countries out of disease and spur their development.

Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, is once again threatening to sabotage the debate by the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, of a bill designed to introduce new measures in the fight against corruption.

The prospects of sustaining democratic government in a poor society are far lower than in a relatively wealthy one, so why does poverty appear to undermine democracy? This paper from the Centre for Social Science Research uses surveys of ordinary African's views toward democracy, economics and civil society in attempting to develop measures of poverty and well-being and the possible consequences both in terms of day-to-day survival and political attitudes and behaviour.

The Commission on Human Rights in Geneva adopted during its during its 59th session a resolution on the right to education. In this resolution, adopted without a vote, the Commission, among other things, urged all States to give full effect to this right and to guarantee that it was recognised and exercised without discrimination of any kind; to take all appropriate measures to eliminate obstacles to effective access to education, notably by girls, including pregnant girls, children living in rural areas, children belonging to minority groups, indigenous children, migrant children, refugee children, internally displaced children, children affected by armed conflicts, children with disabilities, children affected by infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, sexually exploited children, children deprived of their liberty, children living in the street, and orphaned children, taking all measures to prohibit explicitly any form of discrimination.

The Institute for Education of Women in Africa and the Diaspora (IEWAD) has prepared a "Selected list of Fellowships, Scholarships, Grants and Other Training Opportunities for African Women Students and Scholars". The list can be downloaded in pdf format (685KB) or in Word (699KB).

Nyarugunga is one of four sectors in Kanombe district, Kigali. It is divided into five cellules: Nyarugunga, Kamashashi, Gihanga, Nonko and Rwimbogo. According to testimonies from different groups, the killings in Nyarugunga sector began on the night of President Habyarimana's death, so that a number of the targeted families had no opportunity at all to leave their houses. Several families who took refuge at Kanombe commune office were driven back by the soldiers and communal policemen who were patrolling there, and headed for Masaka parish where they later met their deaths. In two of its sectors, Nyarugunga and Busanza, gacaca trials have got underway. They began in Nyarugunga the day after the official launch of gacaca activities in June and in Busanza in November 2002, with the second series of pilot sectors.

The North is in crises. It is experiencing a crises of profitability and this compels the institutions of the North to pry open the markets of the developing countries in order to seek better returns on investments. The crisis of profitability which is affecting the developed countries will have serious repercussions for Africa's development. There have been sustained efforts to force Africa to liberalise on basic services (health, housing, education, water) and also its financial markets. Africa's marginalisation, under development and decreasing participation in international trade are regularly blamed on Africans' inability to foster development. This is despite African countries having the most integrated and open economies after having followed the prescriptions of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation. The results of these economic experiments have been spectacular failures with disastrous consequences for the poor.

This paper from the International Center for Research on Women is the product of a review of recent literature on issues of gender in the context of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction. It was prepared as background material for an international workshop on gender equity and peacebuilding jointly convened by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Key findings and research questions are presented in relation to the effective integration of gender concerns into policies and programs that shape post-conflict societies. There has been progress in considering a gender perspective in international thinking, policy statements, and programs related to peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction, as evidenced by recent documentation on this topic from the United Nations. Findings reported below indicate a slow but positive shift in international opinion and understanding about the consequences of conflict on women and the importance of their participation in peacebuilding processes and post-conflict social transformation. However, gender discrimination continues through political exclusion, economic marginalization, and sexual violence during and after conflict, denying women their human rights and constraining the potential for development.

A United Nations proposal to give special assistance to women as part of the effort to relieve southern Africa's humanitarian crisis would unjustly discriminate against African men, who are disproportionately affected by illnesses and war-related injuries, a group of health organisations said. The group took issue with a recent statement by Carol Bellamy, executive director of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), who said women and children must be at the center of any response to southern Africa's humanitarian crisis, particularly the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe are battling drought-induced food shortages and AIDS. One in four adults in these countries lives with HIV or AIDS; 2.35 million children in these countries have lost one or both parents to AIDS; and 600,000 children under 15 years of age in the region are HIV-positive themselves, U.N. figures show.

At just 13, Gisele Buhendwa possesses a tough exterior that reveals little. She tells her story in a matter-of-fact manner: her deep, scratchy voice never changing tone, and her scrawny, boyish body never showing a hint of emotion. The only physical sign that displacement, kidnapping and rape affected her, like thousands of other girls in war-tortured East Congo, is that she refuses to look anyone in the eye.

The United States plans to boost its military presence in Africa to respond to new threats, Nato's supreme commander of allied forces in Europe, General Jim Jones, said on Monday. "We might wish to have more presence in the southern rim of the Mediterranean, where there are a certain number of countries that can be destabilised in the near future, large ungoverned areas across Africa that are clearly the new routes of narco trafficking, terrorists training and hotbeds of instability," Jones said. He also spoke of "potential threats to the Alliance and our interests."

Child soldiers who fought in the Angolan civil war have been excluded from demobilization programs, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. April marks the one-year anniversary of the agreement that brought peace to mainland Angola in 2002. Both the largest opposition group, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), and the government used child soldiers in the war. Children’s rights groups have estimated that as many as 11,000 children were involved in the last years of the fighting. Some children received weapons and arms training and fought in the conflict. Many others acted as porters, cooks, spies and laborers.

Korogocho means heap of scrap in Kikuyu and the slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, lives up to its sorry name. Scrawny chickens peck and barefoot children play in the debris of plastic and refuse. People scavenging through the piles of rubbish on the city dump bring back faded umbrellas, discarded toilet brushes and scraps of metal to resell. About 160,000 people live in this warren of low shacks cobbled together with bits of tin and slabs of mud. Few have electricity or fuel to cook with, but the biggest problem is water and sanitation. Nairobi is a scarce water city – like a host of others in Africa including Addis Ababa, Dakar and Lusaka.

This concept note discusses the meaning of conservation. The author argues that conservation tends to carry with it a meaning of stasis or preservation of the norm. But, she argues, what is the norm, which point of the constantly changing history of the earth do we choose to conserve? The author argues that defining and limiting sustainable use, for our and future generations, is impossible since we cannot tell what is sustainable resource use now or what the requirements of the future will be. The natural world is a dynamic, ever-changing place, even in the absence of human intervention. The challenge is to preserve the dynamism of a natural world in which humans are relative newcomers.

At least 60 people, mostly women and children, were killed in a massacre in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the weekend, Ugandan army spokesperson Major Shaban Bantariza said on Monday.

A global coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is calling on governments participating in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) to ensure that the scheme has credibility and helps stop the trade in conflict diamonds. NGOs were calling on the governments to strengthen their efforts in the lead up to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) plenary scheduled for April 28-30 in Johannesburg South Africa. The meeting will be the first since the KPCS came into force on January 1, 2003. The three-day session will focus on implementation of the KPCS and will bring together representatives of the vast majority of the governments of diamond producing and trading countries, the international diamond industry and non governmental organisations who have spent the last three years trying to address the issue of conflict diamonds.

At least 32 government soldiers and 20 rebels were killed in a foiled rebel attempt to capture an airport in Sudan's western regional capital, the government-owned al-Anbaa newspaper reported here Saturday. Last Friday's fighting between the military and the recently emerged rebel movement in the Darfur region destroyed several planes and inflicted heavy damage at the airport in al-Fashir, the paper cited senior officials as saying.