Pambazuka News: No newsletter next week
Pambazuka News: No newsletter next week
African journalists needed to become "embedded" among the African people and define themselves as activists of the African Renaissance, President Thabo Mbeki said on Saturday. Opening the first conference of African editors in South Africa, Mbeki said that South African journalists, who before the dawn of democracy knew little about Africa and its peoples, should learn about Africa so that they could relate stories about Africa to Africans.
Canada has pledged US$8 million for innovative new technology research in Africa as part of its ambitious Connectivity Africa initiative. The pan-African programme, announced at the Acacia information technology conference at Kwa Maritane game lodge in North West, will give special emphasis on the development of practical applications for new hand-held, wireless computer and mobile telephone technology.
Cybercafes are springing up like mushrooms, despite the slow speed of the connections, according to Olivia Marsaud of Afrik.com. On a short visit to Tevragh Zeina, a district north of the capital Nouakchott she counted no less than 15 of them. Read the full report at http://www.balancingact-africa.com.
The Environmental Information Network (EIN) Project in Ghana uses ICT to link the databases of national environmental agencies. The network system is publicly available for free use. Local and international researchers, government agencies and other environmental organisations can use its information to support decision-making, intervention strategies, and awareness campaigns about environmental protection, and they can also contribute to this knowledge pool.
The list available through the web link provided reflects the five best Web sites in 30 categories for 2003 as selected by members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. These nominees exemplify the very best that the internet has to offer.
I am such a Google addict that I hadn't done a Yahoo search in at least two years. So when I heard that Yahoo was trying to compete again by unveiling a new search interface and a bold new way to search, I was intrigued. Read about Yahoo's new search function at the www.poynter.org website.
People living in the poorest countries often suffer the most from corrupt officials. Poor countries are especially prone to corruption — in part because public salaries are so low. In turn, that corruption can also be said to cause poverty — by inhibiting economic and social progress. This is how some countries find themselves stuck in a “corruption/poverty trap.” Half of the ten most corrupt countries are in Africa. But there was less corruption in Botswana than in France — and less in Namibia than in Italy.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has stepped up his anti-corruption crusade by banning cabinet ministers and senior officials from bidding for government contracts, a move cheered by civil society groups.
Five senior Kenyan government officials appeared in court on Thursday to be charged with corruption for allegedly making fraudulent bank deposits resulting in the loss of more than $14-million of public funds. President Mwai Kibaki, whose opposition coalition swept to power in December after 24 years of rule by Daniel arap Moi, has vowed to wipe out the corruption blamed for a steep decline in one of Africa's most promising economies.
As part of its mandate, the NDA is carrying out activities to strengthen civil society and to engage civil society in dialogue. For this purpose, a network of strategic NGO and CBO partners will be selected in each province to participate in activities around: Dialogue around Poverty Issues with civil society; Capacity Building of the NGO and CBO sector; Project Formulation & Management; and Impact assessment of Poverty Eradication initiatives.
The Southern Education Research Alliance's (SERA) Sustainable Rural Development task team, in partnership with Limpopo Provincial Government, invites proposals on rural development to the Greater Giyani Natural Resources Development Programme. The programme aims to utilise local natural resources to leverage economic activity in the Mopani district.
Most Nigerians, many Africans and interested observers all over the world are watching the April / May 2003 Nigerian general elections with anxiety. This anxiety is not misplaced. The 2003 election is the country's second attempt by an incumbent civilian government at organising elections and possibly a transfer of power. The last attempt in 1983 ended in rigging, violent conflict and chaos, and paved the way for a return of brutal military rule during which human rights were ruthlessly suppressed, the media persecuted and the right to democratic political opposition 'criminalised'. Military regimes have ruled the country for twenty-nine out of its forty-three years of independence from British colonial rule since October 1960.
Beyond the fear of a possible return of military rule lies a greater fear that the elections could generate conflict so intense and violent that the country may break up along religious and ethnic lines. It is impossible to describe such a scenario except to say that it would be a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions especially for Nigerians and the West African sub-region. If the conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone with populations of 3 million and 5 million respectively have combined to unsettle the sub-region over the last decade, a similar level of conflict in Nigeria with an estimated population of 120 million will bring the sub-region to its knees. This is no exaggeration. An estimated ten to twelve thousand people have died in religious and ethnic 'skirmishes' in the past 4 years of 'peace'. The 1967-70 Nigeria Vs Biafra civil war that erupted when the Igbo ethnic nationality attempted to secede following a pogrom against them triggered by political conflict, a coup and counter coup cost over a million lives making it joint fourth in all time war casualty figures behind the last two world wars and the Korean War. Nonetheless, such conflict is not completely unavoidable either now or in the future.
But why and how has Nigeria come to teeter on the brink of the abyss? And how can it pull back from it? An analysis of the 2003 elections against the background of Nigeria's political history is imperative here.
On the surface, the ongoing electoral process appears to satisfy one of the key conditions for democratic elections namely the existence of a multi-party democracy. Thirty political parties now 'officially' exist in the country and between them produced about three thousand candidates for the April 12 elections, and nineteen presidential candidates for the April 19 presidential elections.
In reality, while the existence of the parties represents a significant step towards democracy, their participation in the elections is just short of being farcical. This is mainly because twenty four of them were granted official existence by a legal victory of a coalition led by radical lawyer turned politician Gani Fawenhimi, and have had barely three months to prepare to fight a general election against three other parties which have been in power at local, state and federal levels for four years. This is further underlined by the fact that most candidates only emerged from party primaries with roughly a month to go to the elections. In addition, they have had to fight a series of administrative and financial obstacles placed in their way by the electoral commission.
Against this background, it is not surprising that with the exception of a few individuals, the most visible candidates for all levels of office are either ex army generals or officers, their civilian associates or incumbent political office holders. In a political culture where 'misappropriation' of public funds by government officials is seen as necessary to 'secure' the future of ones family and associates, only individuals, groups and their associates that have had the opportunity to 'secure' millions or maybe even billions of petro-dollars can afford to comfortably run election campaigns based largely on the purchasing power of candidates rather than any clearly defined political ideology or programmes.
'Financial thuggery' and the 'money-tisation' of politics are however not enough to secure support and potential victory even in an impoverished society. In the absence of any ideological differences or meaningful political programmes, most members of the political elite have also turned to ethnic and religious chauvinism in a desperate attempt to secure votes. As a result, fault lines have emerged along ethnic and religious lines and mainly in support of the three previously existing parties the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which is the ruling party at the national level, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) which has produced several incumbent governors in mainly Northern states, and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) which has also produced several incumbent governors from the Yoruba speaking South West of the country where it draws its main support.
Consequentially, the General Muhammad Buhari led ANPP in spite of its inclusive sounding name is now seen as the party of the largely Moslem Northern part of the country and the protector of the interests of the Hausa-Fulani-Moslem ruling elite. Although the North is more culturally and ethnically diverse than it appears to casual observers, the commonly spoken Hausa language of the majority, and the adoption of Moslem Sharia law by many State Governors in ANPP controlled states has reinforced a monolithic Hausa/Fulani – Moslem image, and attracted to the ANPP Moslem fundamentalists desperate to secure official footholds which may end up balkanising the country along religious lines. This image has been reinforced by the results of the legislative elections held on the weekend of the 12th of April, which saw the ANPP make gains in the North at the expense of the PDP.
The ruling General Olusegun Obasanjo led PDP, which in the past has postured as the secular party of the ruling elite of all ethnic nationalities and religions, has reacted to the manoeuvres of the ANPP by simultaneously trying to retain its secular image, while also appealing to the ethnic sentiments of the Yoruba speaking South West region of Obasanjo. His Vice President Abubakar Atiku, an influential Northern Moslem politician, has also tried to outflank the ANPP in the North by promising that the Presidency will be 'rotated back' to the North after Obasanjo's second term. 'Rotated back' to the north being a reference to the need to assuage southern political interests by granting Obasanjo two terms in compensation for the annulment and death in custody of MKO Abiola, the winner of the June 12 1993 elections perceived as stolen by the northern ruling elite that has dominated the country's military and political elite for decades.
The AD appears to be the loser in the widespread shameless appeal to ethnic nationalism and religious sentiment. The party has split into two factions, the dominant faction arguing for the party not to present a presidential candidate and calling for support for Obasanjo on ethnic grounds, the other faction appearing to dither on the issue. Having ceded its ethnic base to Obasanjo in order to stop the supposed greater evil of 'Northern domination' allegedly represented by the ANPP, the AD is in real danger of being eclipsed from the political stage by its apparent lack of any distinct political ideology, programme or national leadership. Again the legislative elections seem to bear this out. The AD lost seats to the PDP and was only able to retain all its national legislative seats in Lagos State out of all the six South Western states it previously dominated.
Going by the results of the legislative elections in which the ruling PDP won 181 and 60 seats out of the 360 and 109 in the House of Reps and Senate respectively, the PDP seems set to retain the presidency. However, the legislative results may serve only to crank up the desperation in the battle for the presidency and governorship positions in the 36 states - and with desperation comes violence. At present, at least half the political parties have rejected the results of the legislative elections alleging rigging and other irregularities. General Buhari has demanded a rerun of the national legislative elections in some states, and threatened to resist by force if necessary any attempts to steal the Presidency. General Obasanjo has responded by stating he is constitutionally bound to put down violence and protect lives and property. Observers and monitors appear divided on the smoothness and credibility of the elections. The Commonwealth, Catholic Church and others have reported some violence and irregularities that the electoral commission has partly agreed to and promised improvements. Others such as the leadership of the Union of Journalists claim the national legislative elections have been largely free and fair, in apparent contradiction of newspaper reports.
In order to win the presidential elections, a presidential candidate must win at least 25% of the vote in two-thirds of the 774 local government areas, in addition to winning the overall majority nationwide. This is to ensure that the President has support across the country and does not represent one ethnic nationality or region. If no candidate achieves that, there will be a run-off on 26 April. However the absence of any distinct programme or ideology between most of the parties means that while the leaderships are happy to engage in national and inclusive sounding rhetoric, their supporters are engaging in more sinister rhetoric which stops just short of hate speech and incitement. The situation is further complicated by the existence of armed ethnic militias and vigilante groups, some of which may be used by desperate politicians to intimidate opposing voters, enforce irregularities or violently protest against results they disagree with.
However, and as with many countries with presidential systems of government, the legislative voting patterns do not always accurately reflect or predict those for the executive positions. This is partly because elections for executive positions are more personality driven in addition to incumbency factor, party affiliations, religion, ethnicity, other demographic considerations, and ideology or programmes where they exist. Some incumbent State governors, deputy Governors and state party leaders have also decamped to other parties and further muddied the waters. National leaderships of parties may also sway voters in the state executive positions. In the Igbo speaking largely Christian Eastern part of the country for instance the All Progressives Grand Alliance led by Oxford educated former Biafran rebel leader Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu may try to appeal to 'Biafran' sentiments to secure at least some governorship positions even though there are eight Igbo Presidential candidates out of nineteen. In the oil rich Niger Delta States, opposition candidates will also try to portray some incumbent governors as 'errand boys' of the older parties dominated by other ethnic nationalities interested only in exploitation of oil resources and not the welfare of the Niger Delta people. In some of these states, the potential for violence in the struggle for resources is alarming. In this respect, the State House of Assembly elections in May is also a cause for concern.
In the midst of all this gloom and despair, some of the parties that may have cut across the descent into bigotry may be overwhelmed by the combination of corruption and an appeal to primordial instincts. These include the National Conscience Party (NCP) with its motto of “Abolition of Poverty” and led by Gani Fawenhinmi, one of the country's leading human rights lawyers and its most imprisoned and persecuted political activist.
NCP's emphasis on the need to “abolish poverty” by reviving the collapsing economy pinpoints the precise reason why the struggle for power and control of resources may well degenerate into violence. Although there are no reliable statistics, unemployment is believed to rise dramatically every year. This is reflected in the rise in violent crime, white-collar crime, wide spread corruption, decimation of a well educated middle class and the collapse of the heath care system, public transport, public power supply, lack of housing and a rising state of insecurity. For many people, the main source of income is government related jobs and contracts. The ruling elite also has little faith in industry and secures its future through political office and contracts. The situation is so bad that Nigeria's position as the worlds 6th largest producer of oil does not insulate it from fuel scarcity and long gas station queues caused by collapsing refineries. To tackle these issues means the ruling elite must question the legitimacy of its own rule and hence the eagerness to blame it on the elite of the other ethnic nationalities or religions and by extension pose as 'defenders of the faith'; or to claim as with some Sharia leaning politicians, that “godlessness” is to blame for all the social and economic problems and that strict religious regimes will put everything right.
Not surprisingly, elections featuring such levels of desperation have led to rules being thrown out of the window. The electoral commission has officially conceded six million cases of multiple registration or fraudulent registration of voters out of a total of 61 million registered voters. This has happened mainly in party strongholds affiliated to the older three parties and suggests organised gerrymandering and pre-election rigging. In addition, publicly owned but state controlled media at the federal and state levels have been used by incumbents as personal or party propaganda outlets. Other contestants have been frozen out of the media completely with many having to make complaints to the National Broadcasting Commission and electoral commission. The use of public infrastructure and funds by incumbents to support their campaigns have also raised the stakes with opponents complaining bitterly and principled public media journalists or civil servants being persecuted. [CREDO is involved in projects addressing how the abuse of the publicly owned media and election campaign finances affect democratic rights including the right to political participation.]
In other words, the stage has been set for a showdown over the results of the presidential elections and to a lesser extent the results of the state house of assembly election in May. Ultimately, whether Nigeria descends into anarchy or not will depend mainly on the scale of victory of the supposed winners of both elections, the level of restraint of the supposed losers, and the capacity of the ruling government to draw as many of the opposition parties as possible into a government of 'national unity' designed to 'preserve the country' and the rule of the existing political elite.
But even if the elections do not produce violence on a scale that leads to the disintegration of the country, it will only be a postponement of the day of reckoning. The retention of power by the PDP, or a transfer of power to another party without a change in political direction that addresses the violation of social, economic and political rights will not solve the problems that have created the current levels of poverty, despair and desperation. Without meaningful change, the economy and social infrastructure will continue to disintegrate and sink, human rights abuses will increase as the government will sooner or later be drawn into curtailing the rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly and political participation in a bid to preserve itself in power. Unless any of the existing parties or an emerging one is able to rally the country around tackling underdevelopment, unemployment, the collapse of healthcare, housing and rising crime the struggle for resources and survival will become more and more reflected along primordial lines of religion and ethnic nationality leading to a rise in ethnic cleansing or fundamentalism. Having seen off naked military rule, the next task of Nigerian civil society must be to tackle the issues that are preventing the growth of genuine democracy and socio-economic development. The consequences of failure mean that in this case failure is not an option.
* Rotimi Sankore is Coordinator of CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights an international NGO focussing on rights issues in Africa. CREDO can be reached at [email][email protected]
* This article was written before the April 19 Presidential elections.
* Please send comments on this editorial to [email protected]
* Recent editorials by Rotimi Sankore:
- DEFINING AN AGENDA FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN AFRICA (http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?issuedate=2003-03-20)
- PUBLIC BROADCASTING - ELECTIONS, DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA (http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?issuedate=2003-02-20)
- FATWA'S AND DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS: THE TIME TO INTERVENE IS NOW (http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?issuedate=2002-12-05)
NIGERIAN ELECTION LINKS:
All Power, No Ideas
http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/1004.cfm
NIGERIA - A Country Study
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ngtoc.html
Newswatch
http://www.newswatchngr.com/
Nigeria – Allafrica.com
http://allafrica.com/nigeria/bydate/
The Big Issues
http://www.africa-confidential.com/
The Guardian
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/
The Importance of Nigeria’s Elections
http://www.cdd.org.uk/
The Nigerian elections
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theissues/article/0,6512,935052,00.html
The Vanguard
http://www.vanguardngr.com/
Q&A: Nigerian elections
I remember them making me lie down, face on the floor, whilst one of them pressed his foot on the back of my ankles so that the underfoot faced upwards. I felt searing pain as the baton struck against my feet. The shoes had already been removed and I was starting to feel faint. They poured water on me and used the sjamboks (whips) to hit my back and behind.
This Pan-African workshop will focus on using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support the education systems in Africa. It is expected that 250 participants from Ministries of Education, schoolnet organisations, development agencies and the ICT-related private sector companies will be participating.
When the colonial conquest of South Africa was completed, many black communities suddenly found themselves defined as the property of white men who, through pieces of paper written by other white men, not only owned their land but the people, too. All companies that operated at the time benefited from the policy, including De Beers, which now wants to do an intellectual gymnastic routine and claim it never benefited from apartheid. The diamonds mined using the slave labour of the late 19th century until the not-so-distant past were actually blood diamonds, as now defined in terms of war-related sparkling stones.
Related Links:
* Mbeki awards one-off payments to apartheid victims
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=397639
* Apartheid suit aims at
chemical giants
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1347584,00.html
Rwanda is safe for refugees in Tanzania and Uganda to return home, the head of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ruud Lubbers, told IRIN on Tuesday. However, he added that any repatriation must be voluntary.
Without exception, the humanitarian organisations in Ituri District say security remains their uttermost concern in continuing their relief work in this part of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The killing on 3 April of Hema in Drodro town and 14 surrounding villages in Ituri underscored this concern and the continued danger to people of the district.
Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin has accused the independent Boundary Commission of "belittling" Ethiopia's calls for changes to the new border with Eritrea. "No-one expects the government of Ethiopia to accept these mistakes committed by the Commission," he said in a statement written in Amharic. A foreign ministry translation was received by IRIN on Wednesday.
The London-based rights group Amnesty International (AI) has called for human rights to be at the forefront of discussions at the Somali peace conference now being held in Kenya. In a statement issued this week, AI said a new interim government was likely to emerge from the talks within few months if obstacles to an agreement could be overcome. For that reason, "strong international support for human rights reconstruction is now needed more than ever".
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been the targets of constant harassment, intimidation and forced conscription by armed government militias at IDP camps in the western suburbs of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, displaced persons have said.
The littered, dusty street could hardly be described as teeming with activity, but unlike most streets in refugee camps in Western Tanzania, which are often characterised by a sense of hopelessness imposed by years of waiting to return home, the unnamed street between residential villages 1 and 5 of Lugufu 1 refugee camp was definitely alive. On its right hand side stood an impressive array of hairdressing establishments, with "Salon Las Vegas" and "Le Don de Dieu" selling themselves as a cut above the rest. Intermingled and sometimes hidden behind the saloons were artisans of various kinds. This seemed to be the area for carpenters and tailors.
Nigerian opposition parties rejected the results of the 12 April parliamentary elections in statements issued on Tuesday as the ruling party appeared headed for a comfortable victory.
Although Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo described last weekend’s national assembly ballot as “rig free” and "very successful", his competitors are crying foul. Obasanjo’s leading presidential challenger, former military head of state and retired army general, Muhammadu Buhari, told a news conference on Wednesday: "What happened on Saturday April 12, in many parts of the country, fell short of the minimum requirements for a free, fair, credible and transparent election."
Rebel leaders finally took over their portfolios in Ivory Coast's new power-sharing government on Wednesday to finish weeks of uncertainty and raise hopes of an end to nearly seven months of war. The aim of the coalition, set up under a French-brokered deal signed back in January, is to reunite the fractured West African country, disarm fighters and get to grips with the causes of a conflict that left thousands dead.
President Robert Mugabe's ruling party has told the United States to "go to hell" over its statement that Mugabe should step down and hand over power to a transitional government pending new elections.
Rebel leaders finally took over their portfolios in Ivory Coast's new power-sharing government on Wednesday to finish weeks of uncertainty and raise hopes of an end to nearly seven months of war. The aim of the coalition, set up under a French-brokered deal signed back in January, is to reunite the fractured West African country, disarm fighters and get to grips with the causes of a conflict that left thousands dead.
Three of six communicable diseases reported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to have broken out in Africa since January affected countries in the Great Lakes region. According to statistics published by the WHO regional office for Africa in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo (ROC), outbreaks of Ebola were reported in the ROC; malaria in Burundi; and cholera in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Tanzania.
Zimbabwe and Mozambique have been placed on a very high alert for risk of increased malaria transmission and possible epidemics within the next few weeks. The World Health Organisation's Southern Africa Malaria Control Programme based in Harare has warned of a crisis resulting from cyclones and floods which hit the region in February and March.
Some 1.6 million of the 4.7 million children in Tanzania are labourers, according to the country's latest labour force survey. A majority of the children, between five and 17 years worked for more than four hours a day and were not attending school due to poverty, according to the "Integrated Labour Force Survey 2000/01".
Droughts and floods occur regularly in Malawi without resulting in the severe food shortages experienced in 2002. This suggests that there is a more serious issue in the agricultural sector. Research into the causes of the crisis in Malawi points to policies imposed by the IMF and World Bank. These policies have disempowered Malawians, leaving households without enough money to buy farming inputs or food on the market. This is according to a recent speech on the 'Causes and Consequences of the Crisis in Malawi and the Role of Civil Society' by Francis Ng’ambi of the Malawi Economic Justice Network. Ng’ambi was speaking at a Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN) discussion on the hunger crisis in Southern Africa. Mike Sackett, Deputy Regional Director for Southern Africa at the World Food Programme spoke on the topic 'Catastrophe Averted but Crisis Continues'.
While many observers regard the tidal wave of police brutality, arbitrary arrests, torture, assassinations and generalised state-sponsored ultraviolence to be the primary focus for the tribulations engulfing Zimbabwe, it is the trial of Movement for Democratic Change President Morgan Tsvangirai that should provide the core analytical context for the crisis. "In other words, the crisis should be viewed and analysed through the lens of the trial, rather than vice versa for reasons that will become apparent in the paper that follows," says a recent memorandum submitted to the United Kingdom Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 106
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 106
Seven elephants have been killed by ivory poachers in Queen Elizabeth National Park, the Uganda Wildlife Authority reports. The six adult elephants and one calf were taken in the first poaching incident in three years, wildlife officials said.
The fiasco over hundreds of millions of rands destined to fight Aids in KwaZulu-Natal is over. The province is set to receive the first instalment of nearly $72 million (about R576m) within the coming months to extend a range of HIV programmes - and start providing anti-retroviral triple therapy to a limited number of patients.
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Carol Bellamy has arrived in Southern Africa to focus attention on the humanitarian crisis in the region, the agency said last Thursday.
Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe were "battling a lethal mix" of food shortages and HIV/AIDS, a UNICEF statement said. "About one in four adults in the six countries now live with HIV or AIDS," UNICEF added.
Help stop the further destruction of mangrove forests in the Niger Delta by writing letters of concern to the relevant government officials.
February donations for the Community Chest were R10000 up on last year and the total now stands at R60 000 ahead, executive director Joss Hamilton said. "A R12000 anonymous donation helped, the raffle has started bringing in funds and a very welcome R2000 was received from Defy Appliances.”
Read the courageous stories of eleven individuals and organisations who have been involved in the sexual and reproductive health field in Africa and received awards on the opening day celebrations of the African Women's Health and Rights day at the African Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Conference, held in Johannesburg in February.
The OR Tambo Municipality has given the Laveli Langa Children's Care Centre a shot in the arm by committing R400000 towards building them a permanent home. The mayor's office manager, Khaya Gashi, said the building was expected to start immediately as a tender was awarded for the project last week.
An alleged oil scam involving Nigerian and The Gambia is set to be probed by the newly established Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, set up to curb corruption in the country. This Day newspaper reports that the scam involved the Gambian government carting away petroleum products and illegally diverting them.
Experience in other Third World nations shows that upon the election of a new administration, an 18 to 24-month "window of opportunity" opens up during which time public support and confidence about the future facilitates the implementation of a range of anti-corruption measures, said John Githongo, Kenya's Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics in the Office of the President, during a keynote address to the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya last month.
In mid February high-level meetings were held in Washington DC to examine proposals to reform the governance of the World Bank and IMF. The next major discussions will be at the Bank/Fund Spring Meetings in Washington on 12-13 April. Some limited capacity-building measures for Southern Executive Directors may be announced, but there has been no progress on more significant reforms. A serious effort to improve Southern country voice at the institutions would require going far beyond capacity-building to change the composition, voting shares and transparency of the Bank/Fund Boards.
Gender is one of the World Bank's 14 "corporate advocacy priorities". Yet a 2001 report from the Bank's Operations Evaluation Department echoed the views of many independent commentators, finding that the Bank had not established processes for institutionalising and operationalising its gender policy and had not organised systematic gender training for its staff.
Tanzania is one of six countries to complete a debt relief program. According to the World Bank, Tanzania received $3 billion in debt relief. Tanzania has used the savings to increase education spending and eliminate school fees for elementary school education. Almost overnight, an estimated 1.6 million kids returned to school. Tanzania is one of four African countries who have benefitted.
Either side of an 1800 mile front-line, a country the size of western Europe with a population no larger than England’s has been carved up by warring factions and foreign armies from nine different countries, leaving millions dead or homeless. What little infrastructure dictator Mobutu Sese Seko did not wreck during his three decades of misrule has mostly been destroyed by fighting, or has finally succumbed to neglect. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is possibly the most mineral rich place on earth – though this has proved a curse to the people of the Congo. The Congo holds millions of tons of diamonds, copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese, uranium (the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were built using Congolese uranium), and coltan. Coltan, a substance made up of columbium and tantalum, is a particularly valuable resource – used to make mobile phones, night vision goggles, fiber optics, and micro-capacitors. The war on Iraq, says this article in the latest Corporate Watch newsletter, is not the only war in the world and it is not the only war being fought for our material benefit. Western consumers' seemingly insatiable demand for mobile phones, laptops, games consoles and other luxury electronic goods has been fuelling violent conflict and killing millions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Related Links:
*A Past that Haunts the Future
http://web.amnesty.org/web/wire.nsf/April2003/Congo
* Kgame Denies DRC Troop Prescence
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33349
No fewer than seven million Nigerians who hope to vote in the general elections which begin on Saturday would be unable to do so as the nation's apex electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), voided their application. INEC chairman Abel Guobadia said a total of 7,069,740 prospective voters who participated in the last registration exercise had been disqualified.
An increase of safe water provision in the Guinea worm endemic districts has reduced the number of indigenous cases from 126,369 in 1992 to five by December, 2002. There were also 17 imported cases from the Sudan. Dr. J.B Rwakimari, programme manager of the Uganda Guinea Worm Eradication Programme, said water coverage of 74 percent in Guinea Worm endemic districts had contributed to the decrease.
The number of orphans in Zambia will rise to nearly one million by the year 2014, UN resident co-ordinator Olubanke King-Akerele has said. And United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) executive director Carol Bellamy has said that the leadership of countries in Southern Africa is "very thin" when it comes to fighting HIV/AIDS.
The Transformation Resource Centre (TRC), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) monitoring the environmental and social aspects of the massive Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), came under heavy fire from the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) recently during a formal inquiry into the complaints leveled against the Project by the resettled and affected communities. The LHDA officials at the inquiry threw verbal missiles at the TRC accusing it of creating deliberate confusion and misunderstanding about the LHWP's compensation policy in the minds of the communities affected by the project, which sells water to South Africa.
A major resettlement programme for thousands of people is underway in northern Ethiopia, despite a warning that facilities like water and health supplies are not in place. Some 75,000 people are expected to be moved from central Tigray to western areas of the region within the next five months. Several thousand started moving in late February. The aim of the move is to tackle widespread environmental degradation by helping families move to more fertile lands.
The Burundian government said last Friday it had released Jean Baptiste Bagaza, the leader of the suspended Tutsi opposition Parti pour le redressement national (PARENA), from house arrest. Bagaza, a former president of Burundi, was placed under house arrest in November 2002 for allegedly plotting to kill President Pierre Buyoya.
Sudan's human rights status should not be "upgraded" by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, said the Cairo-based Sudan Human Rights Organisation (SHRO). SHRO said it was "deeply stressed" that the commission might "upgrade" Sudan's status from an item 9, which mandates a special rapporteur to the country, to an item 19, which provides UN technical assistance, such as human rights training. The commission is due to take a vote on the matter on 16 April.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva last Friday said the agency's operations for refugees from Cote d'Ivoire in Liberia were now severely hampered by an upsurge of recent fighting in eastern border regions.
On the first anniversary of Angola's peace accord that ended 27-years of war, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has pleaded with the international community not to forget the southern African nation. "As the world focuses on Iraq, now is not the time to overlook Angola," UNICEF Angola Representative Mario Ferrari said in a statement.
Productive land in Botswana is shrinking daily, but a new project aims to arrest the degradation of rangelands and address the deep poverty facing communities that depend on them. Botswana is one of three African countries that will benefit from a US $13.4 million five-year programme aimed at helping rural communities restore local plant life, improve depleted soil and create new job opportunities. Kenya and Mali are the other two countries to benefit.
More than half of Africa's chimpanzees and gorillas have disappeared in the past 20 years, a steep decline that has alarmed scientists. One of the most detailed surveys of the primates in their heartland of western equatorial Africa has documented the crash.
After her husband died, Louise Anagonou was banished from their matrimonial home, which she and her husband had built at Ouidah, a small town some 40 kilometres west of the commercial capital, Cotonou. ''In Benin, women are still kidnapped, forced into marriage, beaten and raped by their husbands,'' says Genevieve Boko-Nadjo of Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF), a non-governmental organisation, which has offices all over sub-Saharan Africa.
Good to see you speaking out against Zimbabwe's rulers. (Pambazuka News 105: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?issuedate=2003-04-03)
Geneticists and archaeologists could soon be working together to investigate the genetic diversity of our human ancestors in Africa, a meeting on the 'Human Genome and Africa' was told last month. In Europe, Neanderthal DNA has already been sequenced successfully. But ancient DNA has not yet been extracted from African hominid fossils, partly because very little organic material is preserved in African fossils more than 10,000 years old, as preservation requires cool, dry conditions.
Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), the civil society umbrella group, says that it plans to picket in South Africa next week against human rights violations in its country. Bongani Masuku, the SSN secretary-general, said in Johannesburg that the demonstration would be held outside the Swaziland consulate, in Braamfontein, on April 12. "Gross violation of human rights, strategic intimidation tactics perpetrated by the government on the judiciary, and suppression of women in Swaziland, have reached a stage where they are unbearable," he said.
The chairman of the Democratic Party (DP), Reverend Christopher Mtikila, says he cannot be sued for his allegations of corruption against Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye and others unless the premier is first brought before a court of law on criminal charges.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has sacked his deputy information minister, John Mwaimba, for alleged fraud, a government spokesman has said. Mr Mwaimba is alleged to have used a fake title deed as a guarantee in the purchase of $300,000 worth of fertilizer.
Ugandan forces and their allies must prevent the killing of civilians in Ituri in northeastern Congo, Human Rights Watch said in an open letter to President Museveni of Uganda this week after information of yet another massacre of civilians surfaced over the weekend. The killing of civilians in Drodro and Blukwa in Ituri, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on April 3 is the latest in a surge of killings and other serious human rights abuses that have taken place in the area.
Related Link:
* Report says 996 die in Massacre
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=515&ncid=723&e=3&u=/ap/...
Conservative estimates by Wilma Meeus and David Sanders at the University of the Western Cape’s School of Public Health show that the United States has saved at least U$3,86-million(R30,9 million) in training fees by employing doctors from Nigeria, which has lost 21 000 doctors to the superpower.
This document discusses the importance of wildlife trade for many rural livelihoods and the impact that wildlife trade regulations has on them. The paper begins by outlining trade in wildlife which can occur both nationally and internationally and takes many forms. It can generally be said, however, that the trade remains largely undocumented and under researched but that it is estimated to have a value of US$160 billion and to flow, in the main, from developing to developed countries.
An independent radio station in Burundi, African Public Radio, reported that around 440 civilians have been killed in fighting in the eastern province of Ruyigi since January.
A Swazi chief shrugged off the stigma associated with AIDS in this conservative country and admitted at the weekend he was HIV-positive, surprising and pleasing activists battling the silence that often surrounds the disease.
Malawian women’s high fertility rate averaging 6.3 children per woman is among the factors contributing to population increases despite government’s interventions to balance population growth and available resources, officials have said.
The Editor of weekly "Dira" newspaper in the semi-autonomous state of Zanzibar Ali Nabwa has vehemently refuted government charges that he is not a citizen of Tanzania and that he has been living illegally in the country since 1993.
The strikingly higher infection rates among adolescent girls compared to boys in Zambia and many other parts of Africa reveal a disturbing trend: the AIDS epidemic is being fueled by the abuse and subordination of young women. Sexual violence and coercion of girls is widespread, often fuelled by intergenerational sex when men choose younger and younger girls because they are assumed to be HIV-negative. The increasing number of orphans created by the AIDS epidemic is contributing to the crisis.
The Malawi National HIV/Aids Strategic Framework 2000-2004 calls for an expanded, multi-sectoral national response to the epidemic. However, this article states that the capacity to respond to these calls lags behind. In many sectors, policy making still proceeds as if HIV/Aids never happened. Despite growing efforts, organisations involved in agricultural research and development generally have limited understanding of how AIDS affects agricultural systems.
This article takes a step back from the policy issues surrounding biotechnology and its role in development to present a broad discussion of the biotechnology sector and its implications. The paper argues that if biotechnology is to develop usefully, the risks involved with it should be prevented.
This document reviews recent empirical evidence on the impact of financial globalisation for developing countries. The paper attempts to address three issues. Does financial globalisation promote economic growth in developing economies? What is its effect on macroeconomic volatility in these countries? What factors can help to harness the benefits of financial globalisation.
As the world prepared to mark World Health Day last Monday UNICEF said that tens of millions of children suffer long-term damage to their health every year from exploitation, abuse, and violence - hazards that are often overlooked in public health planning. "A well-nourished child who is beaten at home is not a healthy child," said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF.
For the first time since independence, economic and political reform has become a strategic imperative for the government of Angola. Elections and the desire to enhance its image after four decades of war are important motivations. But reform will not come quickly and requires a long-term strategy of international engagement. This report from the International Crisis Group sets out policies to encourage a democratic post-war transition and fiscal transparency - especially in the oil sector.
The World Movement for Democracy is a global network of democrats, including activists, practitioners, academics, policy makers, and funders, who have come together to develop new forms of cooperation to promote the development of democracy.
If urban development is to move forward in a pro-poor manner, there will have to be far greater investment in NGOs, to enable them to work with and on behalf of the poor. If this is not done, then there is a danger that they will remain, in some cases, simply providers of welfare services or involved in isolated small-scale initiatives with little wider impact. Detailed case studies of urban NGOs in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Peru and South Africa illuminate the critical factors necessary for effective NGO performance in the city and define a capacity building agenda for NGOs to realise this potential in urban poverty alleviation. There are examples in our study that show the potential for a future where NGOs operate as both technically proficient urban development agencies and credible advocates for the poor. It is to these and other agencies like them across the world that we should be looking for our future inspiration.
The Draft Children's Bill, to be tabled in Parliament for debate and passage during 2003, moves away from an emphasis on the welfare needs of children already experiencing abuse and neglect, and focuses on the need to prevent abuse and neglect from occurring and to support families to care for their children. Thus, poverty alleviation strategies, an inter-departmental approach to caring for children's survival, development and protection needs, a comprehensive social security system, and an overall foundational commitment to the prioritisation of children's rights are the cornerstones, according to this briefing from the organisation Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (RAPCAN).
This innovative distance learning course on developing participatory leadership skills is intended for leaders, activists, and staff of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in promoting human rights and equitable societies. The course is based on a conceptualization of leadership as horizontal, inclusive, and participatory. Leadership is approached as a process that leads to greater choices for all by fostering communication among individuals who learn from each other, create a shared vision, and reach a common goal forged by consensus.
The Angolan judicial system should be deeply reformed in the sense that it should be able to fight corruption in terms of the abuse of power and nepotism to guarantee the establishment of a State where no one is above the law. This was one of the recommendations of a colloquium on “The Role of the Citizens in the Management of the Country's Resources”, held in Luanda in March.
Rafael Marques, an Angolan journalist currently working for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa in Angola, presented a paper at a Conference on Conflict and External Interferences in Barcelona last year. In the paper, Marques explores the causes of the Angolan conflict by observing that numerous failed peace agreements perpetuated and nurtured the conflict instead of helping to resolve it. He further states that the illegitimacy of power, internal contests for power, ethnic divisions, corrupt elites, social fragmentations, and colonial and Cold War legacies contribute to the continued conflict.
The International Federation of Journalists recently announced that it is accepting applications for the 2003 Natali Prize for Journalism. The prize will be awarded in five regions: Europe; Africa; the Arab World, Iran and Israel; Asia and the Pacific; and Latin America and the Caribbean. The Natali Prize for Journalism rewards print and online journalists for outstanding reporting on human rights issues, especially within the context of the development process. The prestigious award carries a 10,000 Euro prize for each region's winner. The deadline for applications is May 31, 2003.
Three African nations, Angola, Cameroon and Guinea, found themselves on center stage at the United Nations Security Council before international diplomacy failed and the U.S. led a "coalition of the willing" to war with Iraq. These three countries withstood intense pressure from the Bush Administration to support its impending military action against Iraq. How were these countries able to withstand superpower pressure? Afriscope Weekly interviewed Salih Booker, Africa Action's executive director, who says the Bush Administration is more focused on victory in Iraq than on "Africa's urgent priorities."
The media in Nigeria should do more to exert pressure on politicians and political parties to always publicise donations they receive. This was the assertion of Abiodun Uwadia, a retired colonel and member of the President Olusegun Obasanjo re-election campaign, in Ilorin. Uwadia described money as an intrinsic part of democracy both in the developed and developing countries, but explained that the alarm being raised in Nigeria about the negative influence of money in the nation's politics arose from the "unnecessary" secrecy in which politicians chose to shroud such political contributions.
PEN American Centre has named Zouhair Yahyaoui, a Tunisian Internet activist whose popular electronic magazine earned him a 2-year prison term, as a recipient of its 2003 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Awards. The awards, which honor international literary figures who have been persecuted or imprisoned for exercising or defending the right to freedom of expression, will be presented at PEN's Annual Gala on April 22, 2003 at the Pierre Hotel in New York City.
Both the public and private media agreed that violence in the recent Highfield and Kuwadzana by-elections was a cause for major concern in the electoral process, but they differed on who the perpetrators were, says the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe in its weekly update. The public media accused the MDC of fanning violence and used isolated incidents that broke out during the previous week’s stay-away as examples. Conversely, the private Press observed that violence against ordinary civilians and those perceived to be opposition party supporters by ZANU PF activists and security agents would render the elections not free or fair.
The National Assembly has been urged to pass the freedom of Information Bill before the end of its tenure. The call was made by the executive secretary of the Human Rights Commission, Bukhari Bello, at a roundtable in Abuja on the Bill which is pending before the National Assembly. The Human Rights Commission has been paying advocacy visits to a number of government organisations to drum up support for the quick passage of the Bill.
Although much has been written about the African Diaspora in the Atlantic Ocean, the Diaspora in the Indian Ocean is virtually unrecognized. Concerned with Africans, who lived south of the Sahara and were dispersed by free will or forcefully to the non-African lands in the Indian Ocean region, this book deals with a topic that has long been overlooked. Eight scholars, researching the African Diaspora in distinct geographical locations in the Indian Ocean region and with expertise in the areas of history, anthropology, linguistics, international relations, politics and sociology, have contributed papers to this book.
Terror is a matter of fact. Globally. Much before the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, large parts of the world had lived with and resisted terrorisms that often masqueraded as liberation struggles. Women across the world have spoken out against terrorism, militarism and violence of all kinds as an unacceptable strategy for resolving differences and conflict. This anthology, ranging over the last decade, is a powerful statement by them against all terrorism and any counter-terrorism that uses the same violence to deal with it.
What really happens when the World Bank imposes its policies on a country? This is an insider's view of one aid-made crisis. Peter Griffiths was at the interface between government and the Bank. In this ruthlessly honest, day by day account of a mission he undertook in Sierra Leone, he uses his diary to tell the story of how the World Bank, obsessed with the free market, imposed a secret agreement on the government, banning all government food imports or subsidies. The collapsing economy meant that the private sector would not import. Famine loomed. No ministry, no state marketing organisation, no aid organisation could reverse the agreement. This is a rare and important portrait of the aid world which insiders will recognize, but of which the general public seldom get a glimpse.
Independent African countries have faced many challenges on the road to economic and social development. The heritage of colonialism has weighed heavy on their shoulders, and the promises of post-colonialism have not always been fulfilled. The nature and trajectory of the development project is determined, in large part, by governments. Where they have been limited in – or neglectful of – their capacity to improve the lives of their people, non-government organisations have been quick to respond. Composing a New Song comprises portraits of five such NGOs, from Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Coalition for Peace in Africa (COPA) recognizes violent conflict as a major contributor to Africa's deplorable state of poverty and underdevelopment for it is extremely difficult to carry out meaningful development under situations of violent conflict and socio-political instability. Thus, COPA has developed programmes to build the capacity of Africans to deal with conflict in constructive ways at different levels of society, so as to prevent and transform conflict in ways which promote positive change and enhance peaceful coexistence in society. The two-week course in Conflict Transformation and Peace building is an effort in this direction.
The Youth Coalition (YC) and the Youth Against AIDS Network (YAAN) are hosting the Africa Advocacy Workshop aimed at young people working on issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights in Africa. The workshop will focus on enhancing the skills of young people working in this area to lobby and advocate for changes at national, regional or international level. In addition, the training will focus on building the capacity of participants to design and manage effective advocacy campaigns within their own communities aimed at changing attitudes or behaviours that negatively affect the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people.
Dramatic population growth will lead to a rapidly changing socio-economic environment in many African countries. By 2020, the global population is predicted to increase by 31% to reach 7.6 Billion and 98% of the increase will take place in developing countries. Urban populations will double in size, reaching 3.4 billion. Health hazards are also threatening the quality of life. Food systems in sub-Saharan Africa will have to respond to this changing environment. New challenges are arising that food research and development scientists will have to tackle to ensure food security, economic growth and 'quality of life' of the population. The FoodAfrica initiative will address these critical issues through an Internet-based Forum and an International Working Meeting.
Hold parades and rallies, organise poster campaigns, educate government officials, talk to decision makers and lobby for government funding: these are some of the things that you can do to raise awareness about the problem of malaria on Africa Malaria Day on April 25.
Over 600 South Africans die of HIV/AIDS every day. Many more die throughout the developing world. This does not have to be. In wealthy countries and Brazil, people with HIV/AIDS are living longer, healthier lives because they have access to life-saving medicines. The Treatment Action Campaign has been waging a campaign of peaceful civil disobedience in protest of the South African government's negligence in the matter of providing treatment to South Africans living with HIV/AIDS. As part of this campaign the TAC is planning a Day of International Action to demonstrate that the world supports the struggle of South Africans for universal access to treatment. The Day of International Action is scheduled for 24 April.
We are haunted daily by images on the television and in the papers of victims of genocide, torture, mass rape, and ethnic cleansing. Now you can do something to help.
The revolutionary Victims Trust Fund of the ICC will provide direct reparations to victims of atrocities to help them rebuild their lives and communities. It is part of the new permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), which will hold perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity accountable before the law when their own countries are unwilling or unable to do so. By sending a small donation to the Victims Trust Fund you can provide direct assistance to the victims of future atrocities.
We are looking for a Program Officer for Africa Regional Policy and Advocacy to work as part of the AMANITARE initiative – The African Partnership for the sexual and reproductive health and rights. This post requires a highly motivated, well-organised and mature professional to work with the senior advisor on developing a strategy for advocating for the inclusion of women’s rights, in particular sexual and reproductive health and rights, in agendas of the African Union and the African Charter on Human and People’s rights.
The UHRC seeks assistance from an international advisor with the purpose to enhance its organisational capacity to fulfilling it's mandate and carrying out it's activities. The advisor will report directly to the chairperson of UHRC (who is based in the Central office in Kampala) and will assist in designing and implementing organisational developments initiatives within UHRC. Such activities will address a wide range of strategic, managerial and administrative issues including financial management.
The Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) is a non-profit organisation working in the area of HIV/AIDS social research, programme development and communications. An experienced researcher is required to implement and manage a range of research projects.
This is a new and exciting opportunity to lead, develop, manage and have responsibility for development, emergency, advocacy, policy and campaign work for two specific regions in the Africa Division. You would be responsible for the processes of developing, implementing and monitoring CA policy and strategy for the West Africa region or the East Africa and Horn region. Click on the link for details and a list of other Christian Aid links.