Up to 150 women out of 100 000 die annually whilst still pregnant, during labour or shortly after giving birth in South Africa. That is the finding of a report published recently by the national Department of Health and that follows three years of monitoring and collecting data on the patterns of maternal deaths.

Eritreans do not discuss FGM openly because it is taboo to talk about sex in general. However, people's fear of a clampdown is leading to more secrecy than a decade ago when the government launched a campaign against the ancient practice.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa has far-reaching implications for governance and development. In addition to killing millions of individuals and causing serious economic contractions, the pandemic threatens structural transformations in African economies, institutions and governance. Decreased adult life expectancy has important adverse impacts upon savings, capital accumulation, skills acquisition, and institutional functioning. This article examines how the impacts of the pandemic can be envisaged as running processes of demographic transition, economic development and the growth of a bureaucratic state, in reverse.

A new monitoring facility adds Kenya to a worldwide network to detect ozone depletion and monitor the levels of ozone-damaging pollutants. The high-tech monitoring station was inaugurated last week at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, and is the first of its kind in tropical and sub-tropical Africa.

Improved management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) can reduce the rate of new HIV cases by up to 40 per cent. AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation) provided training in STI treatment for the six hundred licensed private providers (doctors, nurses and clinical officers) in Nyanza province in western Kenya. But what happens when people use untrained providers or self-medicate?

Ethical trade can be used to describe any trading relationship where social and environmental criteria are used, in addition to the purely economic, to measure performance. What impact has fair trade practice had on rural livelihoods in Uganda? What is needed to sustain such projects?

Zed Books is seeking a full-time commissioning editor to join our team producing hard- hitting books on the issues that matter.   Please email [email][email protected] with your name and full postal address, or phone Rosemary Taylorson on +44 (0)20 7837 0384, to be sent full details.  

Participative Development Initiative is a Durban-based non-governmental organisation that seeks to contribute to the alleviation of poverty through promoting sustainable development and strengthening the institutional capacity of established community, institutional and corporate structures in South Africa. The organisation seeks to employ a Project Manager for the Sinethemba HIV/AIDS Project and a facilitator for a Social Crime Prevention Project. Both positions are based in Durban.

The East Africa Regional Coordinator is responsible for the management and oversight of all G.E.P.’s activities in our two Africa divisions (Kenya and Tanzania). Our mission is to provide low-income youth with access to the educational resources needed to become self-sufficient. Current programs focus on entrepreneurship training and micro-finance for young people (mid teens to late 20s), many of who are dropouts or unemployed secondary school graduates. For more information, please see

International Medical Corps requires a Nutritionist Program Manager to manage nutrition activities in Maternal & Child Health Centers (MCH); supervise SFP and Information Education Communication (IEC) activities; oversee outreach, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting; and provide technical support to IMC senior and national staff.

Despite public outcry at home and international opposition abroad, the Bush Administration is deploying troops and investing millions in preparation for a massive military assault on Iraq. In this Open Media Series special edition, three legal scholars from the Center for Constitutional Rights argue persuasively that the looming war against Iraq is both unnecessary for national security, and illegal.

Youssou N'Dour, the acclaimed Senegalese singer and bandleader and UNICEF Ambassador, has announced the cancellation of his seven-week tour of North America, originally scheduled for March 26-May 15.   The 38-city tour was to be the most extensive series of performances in North America in his career. Youssou N'Dour says, "It is my strong conviction that the responsibility for disarming Iraq should rest with the United Nations.  As a matter of conscience I question the United States government's apparent intention to commence war in Iraq.  I believe that coming to America at this time would be perceived in many parts of the world - rightly or wrongly - as support for this policy, and that, as a consequence, it is inappropriate to perform in the US at this juncture."

The Kenyan chairman of the Somali peace talks, Bethwel Kiplagat, said on Tuesday the conference would soon start work on setting up a provisional, broad-based federal government for Somalia, but appealed for guidance on how this should be done.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday said details for the voluntary repatriation of up to 200,000 Angolans living in Zambia had been finalised following a meeting involving UNHCR and the two governments last week.

Clashes between navy troops and ethnic Ijaw militants near Nigeria's southern oil town of Warri resulted in the death of five civilians, heightening tension in the town and other parts of the Niger Delta, community activists said on Sunday.

An exodus of civilians from the central Liberian town of Gbarnga, 150 km north of the capital, Monrovia, began on Sunday as clashes intensified in nearby Gbalatua between government forces and Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebels.

At least 2,056 cases of meningitis including 195 deaths have been reported by the Ministry of Health in Niger and in three districts, Magaria, Aguie and Matameye, the outbreak had reached the epidemic threshold as at 9 March, the World Health Organisation reported last Thursday.

The International Bar Association (IBA) has called for the trial of Robert Mugabe for serious violations of international humanitarian law. The IBA addressed its call to all State Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC), each of whom has the authority to request that prosecution be initiated. The IBA urged that the first act of the ICC's Prosecutor should be directed at the alleged atrocities committed by Zimbabwe's President and his regime.

One of the Southern African Regional Poverty Network's (SARPN) objectives is to promote discussion that will contribute to policy and action to reduce poverty and ameliorate its effects in the SADC region. HIV/Aids is having a major negative impact on the lives of poor people. SARPN invited Stephen Lewis, following the conclusion of his visit to Southern Africa with James Morris, to exchange views with a range of researchers, government officials, consultants, activists and donor representatives active in the fight against HIV/Aids in Southern Africa. Read the full report at the link provided.

On 14 March 2003, Reporters sans frontières (RSF), expressed concern over the recent closure of two privately-owned television stations, RTA and Canal 2, which has threatened the development of diverse and independent broadcast media in Cameroon.

The editor of Guinea-Bissau's state-run RDN radio station was suspended last Wednesday by the government for covering the return home of an opposition politician, the Portuguese news agency, Lusa, reported.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has received a response from the U.S. Defense Department to a letter sent on February 5, 2003, to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. CPJ had written to Rumsfeld expressing concern about 18 journalists in Eritrea who are currently being held incommunicado, as well as the Eritrean government's decision to ban all private press in the country. In December 2002, Rumsfeld met with Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki while visiting Eritrea to investigate possible sites for a U.S. military base. When asked at a press conference about the country's abysmal press freedom record Rumsfeld noted that Eritrea "is a sovereign nation, and they arrange themselves and deal with their problems in ways that they feel are appropriate to them."

It is important to note that for any development initiative to be considered serious, it has to incorporate at least an element of participation by the intended beneficiaries. This is done to ensure that there is a universal acceptance and compliance to the vision, objectives and the general provisions of the overall programme. With NEPAD one finds that the finer details of NEPAD are not disclosed. How will the programme benefit the poor of the poorest? How will the success of the programme be measured or assessed? The media reports in Africa have mainly been narrative, highlighting what the Western World and the proponents of NEPAD have to say about the programme. Faced with this scenario, people found it difficult to clearly understand what NEPAD was all about. Without any clear cut consensus being arrived at, it is worrying that NEPAD should be given the green light to proceed to implementation stage without subjecting it to a litmus test.

This document considers the economic impact of diamonds in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. It states that the many global campaigns to stop trade in conflict diamonds has tended to ignore the benefits of the legitimate industry for these countries. The author describes a study that attempts to verify the claims regarding the positive aspects of the industry. It is important because concern about possible economic damage to these countries has caused NGOs campaigning against conflict diamonds to be less aggressive where consumers are concerned, than might otherwise have been the case.

This paper compares public opinion survey data from the Afrobarometer with epidemiological data about the HIV/Aids pandemic in seven Southern African countries. The authors use this data to examine the degree to which people are aware of the pandemic, and are willing to speak about it.

Malaria and diarrhoea related diseases are likely to worsen the plight of Zimbabweans already battling to survive. This follows a year marked by floods, drought, and serious food shortages. According to the latest Zimbabwe Humanitarian Situation Report by the UN Relief and Recovery Unit (RRU), there has been a sudden increase in malaria in Binga, Hurungwe and Kariba in the north west of the country and outbreaks have been reported in Bindura and Shamva districts in the north east.

Can the following story (Pambazuka News 102, SOUTH AFRICA: PARANOIA AND IGNORANCE FUELLING RACE DIVIDE IN RURAL AREAS
http://allafrica.com/stories/200303030232.html) really be true, or is the document in question a fabrication or forgery designed by the investigators to make the retrogressive Boers appear to be even more stupid than they really are? Or was it even a joke designed by the retrogressive Boers to fool whoever found it into believing they are really even more stupid than they appear to be? And is it only "men" who (supposedly) learnt so little about their fellow human beings?

The explosive growth of three private water utility companies in the last 10 years raises fears that mankind may be losing control of its most vital resource to a handful of monopolistic corporations. In Europe and North America, analysts predict that within the next 15 years these companies will control 65 percent to 75 percent of what are now public waterworks. The companies have worked closely with the World Bank and other international financial institutions to gain a foothold on every continent. They aggressively lobby for legislation and trade laws to force cities to privatize their water and set the agenda for debate on solutions to the world’s increasing water scarcity. The companies argue they are more efficient and cheaper than public utilities. Critics say they are predatory capitalists that ultimately plan to control the world’s water resources and drive up prices even as the gap between rich and poor widens. The fear is that accountability will vanish, and the world will lose control of its source of life.

In 2003, the Centre's annual international conference will examine the ways that law is embedded in and shaped by processes that have an impact upon political, economic, and social development in Africa.

The Khanya College Winter School for 2003 will be held from 30 June to 05 July. The school aims to provide a space for activists from a range of different sectors in the rest of the Southern African region to collectively debate and share experiences about issues that impact on their organisational work.

This five-week online series, the latest of the BOLD series, will consider the many initiatives being undertaken, worldwide, to bridge the “Digital Divide”. It will aim to provide a basic conceptual framework of background information, readings and case studies derived from the personal experiences and projects of the staff, faculty and affiliates of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has requested urgent action in a case involving the arbitrary arrest of Mona Zahir Alsadati and the incommunicado detention of Adam Abdel Hamied Adam by the Security Forces in Sudan. According to the information received, at 9pm on March 3rd, 2003, the Sudanese Security Forces arrested Adam Abdel Hamied Adam, a trainee advocate and member of the Abdelmajeed Imam Cultural Centre, and Mona Zahir Alsadati, a journalist. The OMCT has requested that those concerned by the case write to the Sudanese authorities.

FAHAMU, in association with the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford, England, is offering courses specifically designed to meet the needs of non-profit human rights and advocacy organisations in the SADC region. Developed together with international and regional experts the last two of the six available courses will begin during April 2003. Applications are now open for Action for change: advocacy and citizen participation. The course's approach to advocacy is geared to improving the lives and participation of marginalized people and forging broad alliances for reform across society.

Despite efforts to review international ICT regulations, African women's perspectives have not always been taken into consideration. The potential for ICTs to contribute to human development in Africa is negatively impacted by the uneven spread of ICTs and the differential effects that their diffusion produces in economic and social structures.

The Trust works to promote the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by disadvantaged young people and other members of the Zimbabwean community. It trains young people to communicate information through the Internet, CD-ROMs, books, and mobile phones. Strategies include a Multimedia Internet Centre, web-based and CD-ROM-based information resources, and a short-story-writing contest for publication on the internet.

Poor planning, expensive software and under-utilisation make computers a costly mistake for some African schools. Research published by id21 Insights Education shows that the yearly cost of supplying and maintaining one African school with 10 second-hand computers, software and technical support could be as high as the cost of 2000 text books or 3.6 teachers. Good planning and utilisation - such as making computers available for community use outside school hours - and free 'open source' software however, can lower costs dramatically.

“People crowd even closer to animals as a magnificent park turns 50,” said photographer Virginal Morell, about the Nairobi National Park while visiting Kenya on assignment in 1996. Today, the park appears even more crowded as the growth in human population surrounding the park’s southern frontier increases.

Allegations that right-wingers plotted to assassinate former president Nelson Mandela, blowing up his vehicle on a trip to Limpopo, were made in an indictment, SABC radio news reported on Wednesday. It was not clear from the report whether the indictment had been officially served on 23 alleged members of the Boeremag by court officials. The document apparently alleged that a group of Boeremag members built a bomb last October, hoping to blow up Mandela's vehicle on a road in Limpopo, where he went to open a school.

This is an overview of the relationship between gender, poverty and water. The first section explores how, in every corner of the globe, women play a central role in managing water supply and distribution. It also examines how access to water and sanitation has implications for women’s health and economic activities. Case studies highlight water projects and initiatives that have succeeded in elevating women’s status.

The author argues that ICTs can be harnessed for poverty alleviation, but maintains that lack of ICTs is often a cause of poverty. The study described in this paper correlates poverty, using the human development index, with ICTs and finds that the higher the HDR rank, the higher the ICT indicator values.

Universities in sub-Saharan Africa have been widely criticized for being too academic and remote from the practical needs of the societies that they are supposed to serve. Yet these universities often include among their faculty a great proportion of their country’s most highly trained researchers, and some of the best research facilities. How can these resources best be mobilized to contribute to national development objectives.

This report from Human Rights Watch outlines human rights abuses of teachers, lecturers and students in Ethiopia. The report states that the international community has failed to condemn human rights abuses in Ethiopia for strategic reasons of their own. The report details a number of cases of human rights abuse, including a time line of events and makes recommendations to the Ethiopian government as well as to the international community.

After a two-day anti-government strike, Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change yesterday vowed to escalate "mass action" to force President Mugabe's government to reform or leave office. The national strike was the biggest protest for more than two years against Robert Mugabe's 23-year rule, shuttng factories, shops, banks and other businesses in protest at alleged human rights abuses and the economic decline.
Related Links:
* Police fire tear gas to disperse crowd
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1084
* Protest fuelled by hunger
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1100&P...
* Support for mass action
http://www.zvakwana.org/

President Thabo Mbeki will participate in his first major golf tournament, the inaugural Presidential Golf Classic 2003, to raise funds for youth development in the sport. Presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said the tournament, to be hosted by the president, would be held at the Woodhill Country Club in Pretoria on March 22.

The National Lotto Distribution Trust Fund has allocated R800000 to Buffalo City after the council applied to the fund last year. The grant will be paid in three installments with the second and third payments subject to progress reports on the first and second installments.

The European Union (EU) will give a grant of Shs 8m Euro (about 16bn) to Uganda civil society groups to enhance trade and development co-operation.

Trade barriers and subsidies in developed countries are depressing prices of agricultural goods, resulting in a "tax" of $7,1bn a year on African countries. These were the findings of a report into advancing African agriculture through trade reform, which was compiled by the Economic Analytical Unit of the Australian foreign affairs and trade department.

Peninah Wanjira finished among the top five students in her secondary school. She wanted to be an engineer, but her headmaster prevented her from specialising in science. Too difficult, he told her. Boys whom she consistently outperformed took her place. “I will never forgive him. He killed my dream,” Wanjira, a sociology graduate currently working as a clerk in Nairobi, says bitterly. “Look at what I do: signing and stapling forms all day.” Fortunately, Kiriri Women’s University of Science and Technology (KWUST), which opened in September 2002, is challenging generations of gender stereotyping and an entrenched culture that favours males at all levels of education.

Refugee leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Congo (ROC) have urged the Office of the UN High Commissioner to Refugees (UNHCR) to help about 5,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) in the two countries to go home, days after a coup in the CAR, according to the UN agency.