PAMBAZUKA NEWS 104
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 104
Tanzania ranks 70th among 122 selected countries world wide in terms of water quality, a report has indicated. South Africa is positioned at 47. The report by UNESCO PRESS, a news service of the World Water Development Agency on water quality indicator values released in Kyoto at the 3rd World Water Forum shows Finland ranking first as Belgium ranks last in terms of low quantity and quality of groundwater combined with heavy industrial pollution and poor treatment of wastewater. No African country is listed among the top ten, which chronologically include Finland, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, Russian Federation, Republic of Korea, Sweden and France.
After launching the ground invasion of Iraq, President Bush paused to have dinner Thursday with an unlikely guest, given the circumstances. Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met in the White House with the leader of Cameroon for a discussion of "common interests." Best known for poverty and corruption, Cameroon is among the nations being courted to support the war. But the country also figures prominently in a monumental new initiative to tap rich West African oil fields and reduce U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil, an aim that has taken on added urgency with the conflict in Iraq.
Corruption in South Africa, gripe many locals, is as bad as in the rest of Africa. Poorly-paid policemen let offenders go in exchange for a few notes. Officials pocket pensions and other welfare payments they are supposed to pass on. Even the admired captain of the national cricket team, the late Hansie Cronje, was caught taking money from betting syndicates. Shady practice was long a problem during white rule, says President Thabo Mbeki, but he admits that it remains so today. In December, he promised to "fight graft and root out and defeat networks of corruption". This week, that promise gained some credibility. On March 19th, a court in Pretoria sentenced a senior politician to four years in jail. Tony Yengeni, who was until last year chief whip of the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), was found guilty of defrauding Parliament.
South Africa is facing one of the worst Tuberculosis (TB) epidemics in the world, with disease rates up to 60 times higher than currently experienced by the United States or Western Europe, the South African Red Cross Society (SARCS) has warned.
An impromptu walkout during the launch of the Camdessus report in the World Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure session sparked controversy as civil society sharply criticized the World Water Council's positions ranging from infrastructure and dam development to the privatization and pricing policies being pushed at the World Water Forum. The defiant act demonstrated critical opposition to the corporate influence.
The Ugandan authorities should bring suspected perpetrators of the serious human rights abuses committed in Ituri to justice before Uganda's courts, Amnesty International says in a new report on the deteriorating situation in Ituri province in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "There must be no hiding place for those who are alleged to have committed serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Ituri or elsewhere in DRC", Amnesty International said. "Suspected perpetrators, of whatever nationality, found on Ugandan territory or in areas of the DRC under Ugandan control should be investigated and brought to justice."
Whilst the World Health Organisation-embraced strategy for controlling tuberculosis (TB) has been successful in treating and curing TB, its current format restricts the extension of this success to the poor: although TB treatment is free, diagnosis is not, and so the first gateway to treatment is often shut to the poorest. The restrictions, caused primarily by lack of funds, are outlined in a specially commissioned id21 report by Dr Bertie Squire of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, which points to the tasks ahead if the WHO target to halve TB deaths by 2010 is to be achieved.
Rebels in control of half of Ivory Coast for the past six months failed to attend the new unity government's second cabinet meeting.
This just released publication, developed by Raising Voices in collaboration with UNIFEM and Action Aid-Uganda, sheds new light on how community-based organisations can design and implement a participatory project to prevent domestic violence. The Resource Guide describes a conceptual framework for preventing domestic violence and provides extensive strategy and activity suggestions for organisations interested in working systematically to affect individual and social change within their communities. Special features in the Resource Guide include: rights-based program ideas and activities; full colour examples of learning materials such as posters, games, murals and booklets; a comprehensive community activism course; and, simple, ready to use documentation and monitoring tools. For more information visit www.raisingvoices.org or email us at [email protected]
The US has denied that it has suspended military assistance to Nigeria following Nigeria's opposition to the US-led war on Iraq. US Nigeria ambassador Howard Jetter said: "This is not the case. The US government has not sought to influence Nigeria policy on Iraq through the suspension of military assistance. While some US military assistance to Nigeria has been affected by US legislation that went into effect on February 20, those limitations were in no way related to Nigeria's stand on Iraq."
About 141,000 children, aged between five months and five years, and 71,000 pregnant women in 22 Mozambican districts seriously affected by drought, are being supplied with soya as a food supplement, aiming to reduce levels of malnutrition.
In northern Nigeria - far away from the military action in the Gulf, there appears to be overwhelming condemnation of U.S. President George W. Bush and his intentions in Iraq. AllAfrica correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton is travelling around the northern states of Nigeria to report on the current election campaign, ahead of polls next month. In the influential states of Kaduna and Kano, she heard the views of local people apparently deeply concerned about the war.
Tuberculosis (TB) infects 1.6 million people and kills 600,000 others in Africa every year, making the disease one of the most common preventable causes of death from a single infectious agent in the Region, according to a report issued on World TB Day by the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Africa.
With its prayers unanswered of avoiding a war in Iraq, South Africa must hope for a short, sharp operation. President Thabo Mbeki's principled stand against the forceful disarmament of Iraq has put South Africa's relations with two of its most important friends in the balance.
Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano has expressed fears that the negative impact of the United States-led war on Iraq may divert the attention of Mozambique and of Africa as a whole from their main priority, which should be the fight against poverty, reports Friday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias".
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has received US $1 million from multilateral donors to buy food for thousands of internally displaced people and vulnerable groups in the troubled Central African Republic (CAR), David Bulman, the WFP representative in the CAR, told IRIN on Saturday.
The human rights group Amnesty International (AI) has called on the African Union (AU) to back plans to boost and protect the rights of women on the continent. The call comes as a high level AU ministerial conference meets in Addis Ababa on Monday to discuss plans for strengthening women’s rights.
Two teenagers spelt out the scale of the water crisis in drought-stricken Ethiopia at an international conference in Japan marking world water day on Saturday. Tireza Satheesh and Zerihun Mammo told how they witnessed first hand the suffering of communities in Ethiopia who have almost no access to water.
General elections in Liberia will go ahead as scheduled on 14 October "even in the midst of war" between government soldiers and rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), President Charles Taylor said on Friday.
Ethiopia says it has given the US overflight and landing rights in the war against Iraq. Ethiopian television quoted a senior foreign ministry official as saying this was in accordance with requests by the US. He said Ethiopia had no plans to deploy troops.
Abraham Feleke is the only surgeon at his 150-bed hospital south of Addis Ababa, a facility that caters for two million people. Situated some 300 km south of the capital Addis Ababa, Yirga Alem is seen as a flagship medical centre. But even there the facilities are appallingly inadequate. “I feel we are totally undervalued as a profession," says Abraham.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has listed 15 urgent issues that the regime of President Robert Mugabe must address to avoid facing popular mass action by March 31.
The Religion and Human Rights Project of Emory University has formally launched the Islam and Human Rights website. The website is a comprehensive research resource for academics, students, policy-makers, mediapersons, and anyone interested in Islam and human rights issues around the world. The website includes: Links to articles, essays, and collections of documents on Islam and human rights; Profiles and contact information on scholars and organisations in the field of Islam and human rights; A discussion forum; and Regularly updated information on events worldwide related to Islam and human rights.
Hundreds of antiwar activists and demonstrators have been detained in Cairo and some are being tortured by police, Human Rights Watch charges. Hundreds more have been injured as security forces used water cannons, clubs, dogs, and even stones against demonstrators. Police have arrested leaders of movements protesting the Iraq war and Israeli actions in the Occupied Territories; journalists, professors, and students; and onlookers, as well as children as young as 15 years old.
There is a mutually destructive stalemate between Zimbabwe’s illegitimate government on the one hand, and pro-democracy actors on the other. This destructive stalemate is inimical to regional stability and security, says a statement issued after a meeting held in South Africa in early March about the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Hundreds of antiwar activists and demonstrators have been detained in Cairo and some are being tortured by police, Human Rights Watch charges. Hundreds more have been injured as security forces used water cannons, clubs, dogs, and even stones against demonstrators. Police have arrested leaders of movements protesting the Iraq war and Israeli actions in the Occupied Territories; journalists, professors, and students; and onlookers, as well as children as young as 15 years old.
Porta Farm, a 30-minute drive from the Harare city centre, is home to among some of Zimbabwe's poorest and most vulnerable citizens. It was meant to have been a temporary settlement, to accommodate the homeless cleared out of the capital by the image-conscious authorities when Queen Elizabeth II visited Harare to open the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government Meeting in 1991.
King Mswati III has once more become embroiled in controversy, this time over statements he made that the custom of polygamy did not contribute to the spread of HIV/Aids, contradicting studies that have established a connection.
Philemon Bulawayo, a photographer with the Daily News, was arrested while taking pictures of police officers beating people in the Harare high-density suburb of Glen View. Zimbabwe was at a standstill from 18 to 19 March following a stay away call by the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
Stellenbosch-based Indutech has released what it describes as the world's first software solution to tackle HIV/Aids in the workplace. The solution, EDEN for HIV/Aids, is to be rolled out soon in the automotive industry.
Almost one third of children in less-developed countries have malnutrition. A report published by the United Nations Children's Fund reveals new differences in prevalence rates of malnutrition, with almost half of all children in south Asia being malnourished, compared with less than one third in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, food production and availability per head are about the same in sub-Saharan Africa, illustrating the weakness of the argument that malnutrition is caused by lack of food alone.
Mountain Watch provides the first map-based overview of environmental change in mountain regions and its implications for sustainable development. New global maps are presented to illustrate selected values of mountain ecosystems and many of the pressures that are causing environmental change.
Expressing profound concern at the continuing armed conflict in Liberia and its toll on the civilian population, the United Nations human rights chief has urged all parties to the conflict to commit themselves immediately to the protection of civilians. In a statement issued from Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), Sergio Vieira de Mello, said he has continued to receive credible reports of serious abuses and violations of human rights and humanitarian law by both parties to the Liberian conflict.
Between six and nine million people in developing countries currently urgently need anti-retroviral treatment while in reality only between 230 000 and 300 000 have access to these drugs, according to a report by HealthGAP, a US-based human rights group.
We are angry. According to Government's sources over 600 people will die of AIDS everyday on average this year. We stand here today to say to you that you have wilfully and negligently failed to implement the necessary interventions, including antiretroviral treatment, that would prevent many of these deaths. Also available by clicking on the link below are excerpts from an indictment by the TAC against two government ministers for culpable homicide, for their repeated refusal to act to provide such treatment.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, which exists to assist victims of organised violence, has condemned unreservedly the recent violence that has been perpetrated by state agents on members of the public throughout Zimbabwe. This follows the stay-away called for by the main opposition party to express its deep concern at the ongoing deterioration of the state of the nation.
The Rift Valley area of central Ethiopia is a place of chronic food shortage, especially in recent years as erratic rains have stunted crops, and diseases have killed off livestock. Years of deforestation have eroded the soil, and even the farmers near Ziway Lake struggle to find water for their families and crops. They lacked the equipment to move the water to their farms. But they knew that with some water pumps and pipes, and the technical expertise to maintain the equipment and grow their crops in drought conditions, they could overcome the dry climate.
There is a dangerous and persistent interplay between tuberculosis (TB) and poverty. TB infection is transmitted more readily in the environmental conditions of poverty: overcrowding, inadequate ventilation and malnutrition. Having TB makes poor people, their relatives and communities poorer still by preventing gainful employment and worsening their social relationships. Yet it is the poor who use proportionally more of their income in accessing treatment for TB than the less poor. This year's World TB Day theme is therefore welcome in emphasising the needs of TB patients, especially poor TB patients, in balance to the needs of TB services and their targets.
Why do people with a cough delay seeking tuberculosis (TB) care? Research involving the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the UNZA-School of Medicine found that poor perception of health services in Lusaka, Zambia, is a more important cause of delay than people's understanding of TB.
The UK Department for International Development (DFID) Wildlife and Poverty Study aims to assess how and why wildlife is important to the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable, review the key underlying policy and institutional issues, investigate the synergies and trade-offs between donor strategies and draw implications for appropriate strategy and intervention. The Study concludes that evidence indicates a significant dependence of poor people on wildlife for livelihood and food security, particularly through bushmeat and tourism.
World Resources 2002-2004 focuses on the importance of good environmental governance and explores how citizens, government managers and business owners can foster better environmental decisions. The report argues that better environmental governance is one of the most direct routes to fairer and more sustainable use of natural resources. Decisions made with greater participation and greater knowledge of natural systems decisions for the Earth can help to reverse the loss of forests, the decline of soil fertility, and the pollution of air and water that reflect our past failures.
Even after the United Nations 'Water Decade' from 1981 to 1990 and Safe Water year in 2000, more than one billion people in the Least Developed Countries (LDC's) lack access to safe, clean water, and three billion to adequate sanitation. This paper from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) begins by providing background information on LDC's which are the world's 49 poorest, and comparing them with other developing countries. The authors state that LDC's on average use per capita about 1%-2% of the water used in Canada, but despite this, they still face formidable obstacles with regards to water, and globalisation appears to be deepening their vulnerability.
Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) is working with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the South African based campaign group, to demand that GlaxoSmithKline puts public health before patients and profits. Visit their web page and sign a petition in support of the campaign.
The International Monetary Fund sounded more like its critics on Monday when it admitted there is little evidence globalization is helping poor countries. The IMF, which has often been the target of violent anti-globalization protests, in a new study found economic integration may actually increase the risk of financial crisis in the developing world.
Is ethnicity the cause for the breakdowns in national unity, democracy and development in Uganda? This paper critically reviews the impact of ethnicity on the democratisation process in Uganda from colonialism to the present. The author argues that ethnicity in Uganda, as elsewhere on the African continent, has been historically constructed and subsequently reproduced. While democratisation may be problematic in the face of ethnic consciousness, the paradox is that the best way to reduce ethnic consciousness is more and not less democratisation.
The Kenyan government has devoted the largest share of its budget to expanding education since independence. So are the large amounts of resources invested in education by government and parents justified by the returns yielded to the individual and society? The authors claim that studies to date have so far been inconclusive.
In April 2002, at the Spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF, the UK government and other members of the G7 group of countries endorsed the Education for All Action Plan. If put into action, the Plan could ensure free primary education for every child by 2015. But, almost one year on, little money has been pledged to make the Plan a reality. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is being lost. To join the call for free, quality, primary education for every child, please complete the form provided at the link provided.
While the team works with the children at Chissindo camp I have a chance to talk to some of their mothers, who have come to watch the activities. Many of the women we meet are widows, and all have several children to care for. They survive by growing food, and supplementing this with a small income from trading charcoal or traditional maize beer. Read the latest instalment in the diary of an Oxfam worker in Angola.
"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." This is the new slogan which the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government has adopted in order to popularise its ambitious free primary education programme (FPE) policy. The free and compulsory primary education for Kenyan children, which was one of the key pre-election promises which brought NARC to power in December 2002, has proved not only to be expensive, but also difficult to implement.
In the Shinyanga region of west central Tanzania, one of the poorest in the country, small-scale mining at Bulyanhulu once offered rural people an income about 6 times what they could make from farming. But in August of 1996, less than a year after President Benjamin W. Mkapa took office, that changed. According to eyewitness reports, affidavits, photographs, and even video by Tanzanian police, and in violation of an injunction from the High Court of Tanzania, eight entire settlements around the town of Kakola were razed, an estimated 200,000 miners or more were evicted from the mines, and in the process some 54 miners at Bulyanhulu were buried alive in mineshafts sealed by bulldozers. By July of 2001, the mine, now revamped as a huge high-tech operation, was officially opened with great fanfare by President Mkapa.
In a bid to better combat child abuse, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has provided the Swazi police with closed-circuit television systems to record witness testimonies to help in abuse cases. The 31 closed-circuit systems and video recorders donated by UNICEF last week were expected to help the police build solid evidence for court cases, and could serve as a deterrent against abuse.
South African AIDS activists continued a civil disobedience campaign on Tuesday by shouting down Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang as she tried to address a conference. Blowing whistles, waving red "wanted" posters and shouting "Murderer" and "Manto go to jail", some 100 members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) drowned out Tshabalala-Msimang as she tried to make herself heard at a public health conference in Cape Town.
Only about half the countries of West Africa are on track to reach targets set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving rates of severe poverty and hunger by 2015, according to a recent regional forum in Dakar, Senegal, organized by the UNDP Regional Support Centre there.
An appeal, due to begin in northern Nigeria for a Muslim woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning, has been postponed because the judges failed to turn up. The case of Amina Lawal, has provoked strong opposition from human rights organisations across the world, many of whom sent representatives to attend the hearing.
A leading South African judge has warned of the possible emergence of a ‘genetic apartheid’, arguing that the scientific advances of genetic research have created the spectre of a ‘genetic underclass’ that is vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination.
As usual, Pambazuka is essential reading. But, may I ask, why is there no reference this week to the political trial of Morgan Tsvangirai? As you know, along with several collegues in the IAPC, I am trying to encourage western press and media to take an interest in his case. Morgan ought to be the poster child of Amnesty International, but he is not even mentioned on their Zimbabwe webpage. Amnesty was, after all, established to bring to light the injustice suffered by political prisoners. Well, Tsvangirai and his MDC colleagues represent the most egregious case of political persecution taking place on the planet - but their plight seems to be invisible to Amnesty International, world press and media. Why?
There is ample media coverage of the trial in heavily censored Zimbabwe to feature one, two or even three items each week in Pambazuka. I am sure that you and your excellent staff know the relevant Zimbabwe websites.
I would like to thank you for everything you have done to make your readers aware of the trial of Morgan Tsvangirai in previous issues of Pambazuka News. Might I suggest that some of your readers would like to remain current on the appalling developments unfolding so brutally in a courtroom in Harare where the state is attempting to assassinate its political enemies by constitutional means.
Michael Carmichael
The Oxford Centre for Public Affairs, Oxford, UK
Deputy Director-General for Programs, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Director of Corporate Services
The mission of The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), based in Nairobi, Kenya, is to conduct innovative research and development on agroforestry, strengthen the capacity of our partners, enhance worldwide recognition of the human and environmental benefits of agroforestry, and provide scientific leadership in the field of integrated natural resource management. We are one of sixteen food and environmental research organisations in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), whose goals are to help achieve food security, poverty reduction, and a sustainable environment. Our regional programmes are active in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with staff based in 17 countries. The annual budget is approximately $24 million.
This exciting new post in the Africa Division will initiate and design policy and advocacy strategies on the priorities of the Africa Division and undertake policy work in one particular area of expertise. The postholder will contribute to the management of the Africa Division and manage staff in the Africa Policy and Advocacy Unit. Earliest start date 1st April (negotiable). See the link for a list of more Christian Aid jobs related to Africa.
The Law Enforcement component aims to strengthen the establishment and functional capacities of both basic and specialized policing capabilities, enabling the civilian police to contribute more effectively to public security. The component will promote better public relations between the authorities and the Somali population. UNDP intends to recruit a Law Enforcement expert for 3 months.
The judiciary component supports social development based on the rule of law and respect for human rights. UNDP intends to recruit a Technical Advisor for a period of 12 months.
Concern Universal (CU) requires a Project Co-ordinator to ensure the effective management and implementation of its conflict prevention and enterprise development programme.
The socio-economic system underpinning apartheid in South Africa was based on the exploitation of black workers in the mines, the factories, the fields and the shops. It is widely recognized that the struggles of the South African black working class contributed decisively to the overthrow of the racist regime. In recognition of the power of organised labour, the democratic government elected in 1994 granted South Africa's unions unprecedented legal and constitutional rights. However, despite these gains, the country's labour movement has been facing a fresh set of challenges, from macroeconomic policy to the factory floor, many of them emanating from labour's political allies in Government. The purpose of this book is to examine how the South African labour movement is responding to these challenges in the new millennium.
Environmental activists and academics alike are realizing that a sustainable society must be a just one. Environmental degradation is almost always linked to questions of human equality and quality of life. Throughout the world, those segments of the population that have the least political power and are the most marginalized are selectively victimized by environmental crises. Just Sustainabilities argues that social and environmental justice within and between nations should be an integral part of the policies and agreements that promote sustainable development. The book addresses the links between environmental quality and human equality and between sustainability and environmental justice.
Problematic characterization and images of Africa resonate in the recently released Hollywood movie, “Tears of the Sun”, which stars Bruce Willis. Shot in the “jungle” of Hawaii in the US the film is about the rescue of Dr. Lena Kendricks, an American citizen by marriage who was caught in the middle of civil unrest in Nigeria after a military coup. Navy SEAL Lieutenant A.K. Waters and his elite squadron of tactical specialists were sent to rescue Dr. Kendricks from a village in Nigeria before a newly installed military leader, a Muslim Fulani, start “ethnic cleansing of Christian Igbos” in the village.
The State of the World's Children 2003 reports on child participation - the 'right' of every child at every age, the responsibility of governments, organisations and families, and a way to promote tolerance, respect for human rights, an appreciation of diversity and peace. The report showcases examples from every region of the world of how things are different when children's viewpoints are taken into account. Photos and artwork are by children. The report includes 9 tables, including a new addition on HIV/AIDS, and 3 maps, which together present a comprehensive set of economic and social indicators on the well-being of children worldwide.
The Million Signature campaign was officially launched worldwide in January. Tens of thousands of people have already expressed their solidarity by signing on. This signature campaign, initiated by the People's Health Movement and the International People's Health Council, is being endorsed by ordinary people and organisations from all walks of life. The campaign is designed to put pressure on WHO, UNICEF, other UN bodies, social and political organisations, policy-makers and governments. Join 'The Million Signature Campaign'.
This seminar aims to stimulate analytical debate of the United States invasion of Iraq and the impact it is likely to have on Africa. The seminar will examine this topic from a broad social justice perspective and will address questions of a possible depletion of aid and trade in Africa, and the impact of changing global power relations.
Twice a year, the Coalition for Peace in Africa (COPA) holds a 5-week training workshop. This course covers diverse aspects of conflict transformation and peace building, and is aimed at building the capacity of participants, mostly from the African continent, working in related fields. The next course is scheduled for 12th May 2003 to 14th June 2003 and will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Special facilities are available for participants with young children who cannot be left behind. The purpose of this course is to assist men and women working for development, human rights, peace and justice.
The LandNet West Africa network is pleased to announce its forthcoming bilingual workshop in Lome (Togo) on April 25 - 26 2003. This meeting will be focused on the following themes: the land issues in the sub-region; the World Bank land policy; the PRSPs and the land tenure challenges with a focus on some countries experiences; and the means for correctly addressing land problems within the PRSP scheme.
The Media Defence Fund and the Media Lawyers Network has expressed shock and outrage over the assault on lawyers, Gugulethu Moyo and Alec Muchadehama. "It has never been heard before that a lawyer can be arrested and detained for carrying out a duty imposed on him/her by the Constitution of Zimbabwe that grants everyone a right to legal representation," a statement said.
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has convened a Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations which has resolved to oppose South Africa's proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill, tabled in Parliament for debate on 10 March. The Bill was referred to the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security on the 14 March for public hearings and deliberations. Public invitations for submissions on the Bill have been issued and the deadline for submissions is the 30 April.
On 24 March 2003, freelance journalist Stanley Karombo was released on Z$5,000 (approx. US$6) bail. Karombo was arrested on 20 March at the Mutare central police station at the instigation of Manicaland provincial police spokesperson Edmund Maingire. Karombo's lawyer, Peter Makombe, told MISA-Zimbabwe that his client was arrested under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), for allegedly practicing journalism without accreditation.
On 22 March 2003, while covering a demonstration against the war in Iraq, Islam Salih, a journalist with the Qatar-based satellite television station Al-Jazeera, and his cameraman Mohammed el Hassan were struck by several police officers.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reserved ruling to a later date in the appeal filed by the Daily Times of Nigeria PLC, challenging the ruling of a Lokoja High Court that issued a bench warrant for the arrest of its Managing Director, Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo and Sunday Times Editor, Tunde Ipinmisho.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued a statement mourning the death of Kloueu Gonzreu, 51, a regional correspondent for the state-run news wire service Agence Ivoirienne de Presse. According to several local reports, Gonzreu's body was found and identified on Wednesday, March 19, by a team from the Red Cross, where the journalist also worked in his spare time.
Three journalists narrowly escaped being lynched recently by irate youths at the office of assassinated All Nigerian People's Party (ANPP) Chieftain, Marshal Harry, in Port Harcourt, in the Niger Delta region. The journalists, Emmanuel Ugwu of The Punch, Kelvin Ebiri of The Guardian and a photo journalist, Femi Makinde, had joined other sympathizers to keep vigil at the office located in the premises of a hotel. But an attempt by Makinde to take the photograph of one of the weeping sympathizers drew the ire of the Kalabari youth who descended on him. Makinde was beaten and his digital camera confiscated.
A research study of media response to HIV/AIDS in Nigeria in the year 2002 has revealed a steady increase in the quality of coverage and understanding of key issues by journalists. The study also found high levels of sensational reporting and common use of inappropriate and stigmatising by newspaper reporters. The preliminary findings of the study, covering print media reporting on the epidemic between March and December 2002, was presented at a ceremony marking the 2002 Red Ribbon Awards on HIVAIDS, held at the NiteShift Coliseum, Ikeja in Lagos on March 8, 2003.
This is a global campaign initiated by the People's Health Movement (PHM) on March 20, and is picking up momentum in many countries. The campaign was launched as a tactic to put pressure on the US and UK companies and thus influence their governments to stop the war on Iraq. Click on the link to read a list of products to boycott.
Home affairs minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Tuesday for the first time lifted the lid on allegations of irregular expenditure, totalling millions of rands, in a written reply to the portfolio committee on home affairs.
The government through the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment has signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) to eliminate child labour and child trafficking in the country.
Thirty-two wars are now being waged around the world. One in four children worldwide lives in one of these dangerous situations. Some 20,000 girls and women were raped during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia in 1992 alone. And in Liberia, 7-year-old children were found fighting in combat. It is clear that a crisis of this magnitude requires a massive response. Save the Children is launching the One World, One Wish campaign to stop atrocities such as organized rape and the use of child soldiers by getting our government to set aside funds for the protection of women and children in conflicts.
Terrifying incidents at schools around the country has resulted in a call for staff to be allowed to carry guns at school. A recent incident that has highlighted the vulnerability of educators involves school principal Lucy Lushaba (47) who was shot dead over the festive season.
A ministerial meeting tackling the world's water problems fell short of producing a clearly defined programme of action in its final declaration, which was released here in this central Japanese city on Sunday. Also missing in the final text seeking to achieve water security was language recognising the right to water as a human right. Furthermore, the ministerial declaration omitted mention of the need for a global mechanism to monitor the progress being made to solve water-related problems, particularly the lack of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
The southern African media give very little space to the views of women, and, when it comes to subjects such as politics, economy, sport or agriculture, their voice is virtually unheard. Women journalists are, however, given more exposure than men in reporting on subjects that have to do with the body, home and beauty. It is in television that they find the best professional opportunities – essentially as presenters – but they are only employed for a limited time, because in that part of the world it is uncommon to see women working beyond the age of 50 in any media. These are some of the findings of the Southern African Gender and Media Baseline Study.
Lack of clean water in households causes millions of children in the developing world to suffer needlessly from disease, UNICEF says, adding that millions of girls are deterred from getting an education because of a dearth of sanitation facilities in schools. UNICEF said that a lack of access to clean water causes waterborne illnesses that kill more than 1.6 million young children each year.
More than a week after an outbreak of ethnic violence in the oil-rich Delta region of Nigeria, the army sent by the government to quell the disturbances claims to have tightened its control on the volatile conflict zone. At the heart of the conflict are youths in the Niger Delta from the local Ijaw community, which claims to be the majority ethnic group in the area. They complain that they have been marginalised by central government and receive virtually none of the benefits from the oil wealth, which they say comes from their traditional lands in the region.
In keeping with its promise to produce a quality and authoritative national newspaper in South Africa, THISDAY South Africa has released its pilot edition in Johannesburg to a Focus Group for a social scientific analysis.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has launched a new report on the nature of the trade in women and children in southern Africa. The report points out that Southern Africa hosts a diverse range of human trafficking activities, from the global operations of Chinese triad groups, and Russian organized crime, to the local trade in persons across land borders perpetrated by local syndicates. The region's young women and children are especially vulnerable to the recruitment tactics of traffickers because civil unrest and economic deprivation leave them with few opportunities at home.
Clustered around radios, thousands of hungry Liberians in a refugee camp devour war news from Iraq, many hoping the world will turn its attention to their plight. A civil war in this West African nation with historic ties to the United States has killed thousands and uprooted nearly a third of the country's 3 million people with no end in sight.
Burundi's hardline Hutu rebel group expressed satisfaction with its first round of peace talks with government and military representatives in Switzerland. "The meeting was very constructive, it laid a good start for the talks," Pasteur Habimana, spokesman for the National Liberation Forces, or FNL, said in Bujumbura. "Though it was only a first meeting, we truly discussed the historic causes of the Burundi conflict."
Entering the Heavenly Touch Hair Studio is like taking a step back in time. Red plastic swivel chairs sit on a checkerboard of retro black-and-white linoleum. But amid the faded posters advertising hair straighteners and dye there is a decidedly modern South African touch. A small, black and orange sign warns visitors that here at Heavenly Touch, certain behaviour just won't be allowed. "Right of admission reserved," it reads. "No racists allowed." Over the past year, the "no-racists" signs have been showing up in business windows around this notoriously conservative town.
In Pambazuka News issue 103 you reproduce a copy of the article 'Landmark elections in Burkina Faso' of which I am co-author with Mr. Carlos Santiso. In your introduction you mention the International Centre for Democratic Governance (ICDG) at the University of Georgia (2002). ICDG has not been involved with the Center for Democratic Governance (CDG) so far. As Director of the Center for Democratic Governance, I would like to clarify that the CDG has been established with the support of International IDEA, an intergovernmental organisation with 22 member states from all over the world with a mandate to promote democracy worldwide and with which the CDG remains working in close partnership since 1996. You can find more information under
Augustin Loada
Driector, Center for Democratic Governance, Ouagadougou
Heavy rains have destroyed crops and swept away bridges and houses in a hunger-stricken part of Zambia leaving more than 10,000 people homeless, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
Local and international companies that benefited from apartheid are likely to come under increased pressure to pay reparations to the victims of racial discrimination and exploitation, after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) handed in its final report to the South African government. The TRC was set up to investigate the human rights abuses that took place in South African under apartheid. The final report documents 22,000 cases of rights abuses, although some community-based organisations claim that many more victims of apartheid were not identified during the TRC process.
Swaziland may not harbour weapons of mass destruction, but sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy, that rules this kingdom of less than one million people, is becoming increasingly nervous about the doctrine of United States President George W. Bush, which finds little tolerance for unelected regimes.
An outbreak of cholera has hit Uganda's western border district of Bundibugyo, killing 23 people over the past month, according to a senior health official in the district.
Some 284 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), camped on the grounds of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangui are demanding that they be repatriated, the agency’s representative in the Central African Republic (CAR) told IRIN on Tuesday.
The British government announced on Tuesday that it is backing an ecological scheme aimed at protecting Ethiopia’s indigenous plant life.
The Somali peace talks currently underway in Kenya have achieved very few tangible results, members of Somali civil society said on Tuesday. According to a statement, received by IRIN, the group listed a range of objectives it said had not been met. These included "peace and national reconciliation, agreement on a provisional charter and other core issues, as well as the establishment of a national government".
The number of deaths from the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Republic of Congo has risen to 113, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Monday. Since Ebola was confirmed early in 2003, 123 people in the Cuvette-Ouest region of northern Congo are known to have contracted the virus.