More than 80 women ministers, parliamentarians and other leaders from sub-Saharan Africa met in Cape Verde last week to address the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS on the region's population, particularly its women. The meeting highlighted the need for African women leaders to actively participate in forging national policies against HIV/AIDS and agreed on measures to respond to its gender dimension.

As the debate over non-existent or crooked election processes continues all over Africa, it is true that the issue of governance goes far beyond just how we choose our leaders. How we relate to leaders even when they are chosen in clean, transparent elections determines the quality of our politics to a great extent.

Global warming is helping to cause an unprecedented series of famines, which is pushing the world beyond its ability to cope, says the United Nations. In some countries - such as Somalia and Zimbabwe -the crisis has been greatly aggravated by conflict and government policies.

Technical teams representing the governments of Angola and Namibia and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are meeting in Windhoek, to discuss the repatriation of Angolan refugees to their country.

Nathan Shamuyarira, the first information minister in the post-independent Zimbabwean government told journalists in Kadoma that if he were still running the media in the country he would have called for tougher pieces of legislation to regulate the media. Shamuyarira was responding to questions from journalists on whether or not it was necessary to have a repressive media law such as the Access to Information and the Protection of Privacy Act.

In Turkey, the apartment buildings that collapse during earthquakes are known as "bribe buildings." In Africa, bridges dot the landscape with no roads to connect them. There's no doubt that corruption, endemic in emerging economies around the world, throws economic development into chaos. It affects decisions made by bureaucrats, degrades the quality of those in power, and discourages foreign investment. It's also an increasingly hot business topic, with a growing number of influential business and political leaders from around the globe regularly pinpointing corruption as one of the greatest threats to global economic development.

A conservation group said Monday it has clear evidence that smugglers are continuing to feed market demand for ivory in the Far East, fuelling a surge in elephant poaching. The agency said the hub of the syndicate was in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, where poached tusks from Zambia and other southern African countries were gathered and packed for shipping.

There are many programmes that purport to support civil society, but it is less clear whether they actually do so. Drawing on our recent International Conference on this theme, this course will: Review the link between theoretical approaches to civil society and their practical programme outcomes; Review models of civil society strengthening; Explore the nature of capacity building in the context of civil society; Reflect upon the challenges of monitoring and evaluating such work.

The publication of a two-volume evaluation study, Adjustment in Africa, by the World Bank in 1994 sparked major controversies and re-ignited the debate about the direction of Africa’s development. For most African scholars, who live in and study these economies, the World Bank reports were yet another major disjuncture between reality and dogma. This book is a response to the need for critical appraisal of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) as a development strategy. The failure of SAP, the simplistic diagnosis and tendentious performance evaluation of the 1994 report, and what seems to be a changed African environment that is more permissive of alternative viewpoints, has convinced Africans to re-enter the debate. There is a growing call for "local ownership" of adjustment and for Africans to assume the leading role in defining the continent’s future.

UNAIDS Intercountry Team for East and Southern Africa and Health & Development Networks (HDN) invite you to join a new e-mail discussion forum focusing on HIV/AIDS and stigma, denial, shame and discrimination in Africa. To join send e-mail to: [email protected]

The Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) campaign aims to ensure that communication rights are central to the information society and the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

Both the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Ugandan government forces have stepped up abuses against civilians in recent months, Human Rights Watch said this week in a briefing paper on the war in northern Uganda.

The impasse between striking teachers in Zimbabwe and the government over better pay continued on Tuesday as a further 230 teachers were served with letters of suspension. So far close to 700 teachers have been ordered not to turn up for work following a break-down in talks between the government and the Progressive Teacher's Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), the union told IRIN.

In the bleached shantytowns of southern Africa they call them the "ugly sisters" -- a twin force of such devastation that from the wreckage it is seldom possible to distinguish one sibling's impact from the other: Aids and hunger have become inseparable.

Zimbabwe's National AIDS Council will provide $7.8 million in funding for home-based care services for people with HIV/AIDS and children orphaned by the disease in 84 districts throughout the country.

At least 90 companies that provide services normally performed by national military forces – but without the same degree of public oversight – have operated in 110 countries worldwide, providing everything from military training, logistics, and even engaging in armed combat, says an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, which also details how arms dealers have profited from a massive unregulated sell off of low price surplus armaments into the most fragile, conflict-ridden states and failed states.

The South African government has pledged medical equipment worth R80m to assist Angola, after an appeal from President Eduardo Dos Santos's government. Pretoria also donated R500 000 in cash to Luanda, as well as 6 000kg of maize seeds and 50 tons of maize meal. One hundred tons of clothing and food, worth R3 million, have also been donated.

People living with HIV/Aids in Mozambique will now be able to purchase anti-Aids drugs after four types of antiretrovirals went on sale in the private sector last week.

Over the past two years, the government has used all the money allocated for land redistribution for resettlement purposes. This occurs after several years of underspending, says a top official at the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation.

The government-appointed Media and Information Commission is reported to have set 21 November 2002 as the last day by which journalists should have submitted application forms to be accredited under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The original deadline was 31 October 2002.

Members of homeless people's federations, from various Asian and African nations, met in Windhoek to work out strategies aimed at improving their relationship with town councils and the central governments in their countries.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for a return to peace in the fractious Central African Republic and urged insurgents there to lay down their arms. Annan also appealed to the international community "to provide urgently the logistical and other assistance" needed for deployment of a peacekeeping force agreed to earlier this month at a summit of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC) in Gabon.

Law enforcement officials in at least four European countries are making steady progress in an investigation into what they say are schemes in which deeply discounted HIV and AIDS drugs meant for poor and dying patients in Africa were resold in Europe at huge profits.

Top US commander General Tommy Franks has admitted sending additional forces to the Horn of Africa to help in the global fight against terrorism. Addressing a briefing at the Pentagon on Tuesday, Franks - who is the commander of the US Central Command - said 700-800 troops had been sent to Djibouti.

Madagascar's new government was optimistic that it would rejoin the African Union (AU) after talks between President Marc Ravalomanana and southern African leaders in Pretoria, South Africa. Ravalomanana met with the AU troika on Tuesday to review the progress made by the government of Madagascar following the recent political crisis.

The Cote d’Ivoire rebel delegation arrived first in the Togolese capital Lome, Sunday, and settled into one of the upper floors of the city’s once classiest hotel. President Laurent Gbagbo’s representatives showed up on Monday night and were checked into the same hotel, on a different floor, also on the upper levels. But that may be as close as they get, if the early - inauspicious - signs are an indicator of the distance between the two sides, even before they start talking.

The world's senior police chiefs Thursday wound up Interpol's 71st general assembly in Yaoundé, Cameroon with a strong declaration issued on the plight of children who have been trafficked for the purpose of forced labour.

The private sector is joining the Department of Social Development to tackle poverty in South Africa, which, despite eight years of democracy, remains one of the world's most unequal societies. The public-private sector initiative includes action against HIV/AIDS and aims to spur progress towards halving severe poverty by 2015 and other Millennium Development Goals targets.

Are you an artist? Do you want your artwork to be seen in 1500 communities around the world? Do you have an image that the HIV/AIDS community can benefit from? If the answer is Yes, then participate in the Candlelight Memorial Poster Contest. The Global Health Council is inviting anyone interested to participate in the Candlelight Memorial 2003 Poster Contest. We are asking individuals to submit artwork that addresses this year's theme of remembrance and renewal.

In the Guttmacher Report on Public Policy this month, Alan Guttmacher Institute Director of Government Affairs Susan Cohen examines the success of "ABC"-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs in developing nations. ABC stands for "Abstinence," "Be Faithful" and "use Condoms," and is the HIV/AIDS prevention model supported by UNAIDS and USAID. Cohen writes that although there is "no reason to believe that USAID is currently supporting ABC as anything other than a comprehensive program," the Bush administration's "aggressive support" of abstinence-only sex education in the United States has left some ABC advocates "questioning how long U.S.-supported ABC programs will be allowed to function unfettered."

When the cassava mosaic disease hit the western Kenyan region in 1995 it wiped out one of the most important food crops in Jane Achieng's family. Africa's most friendly crop was on its way out. Like many other households in Kenya's Bondo district, whose food security relied on cassava, Achieng had to look elsewhere for survival. "It was a blow to us", she now says. Getting the Cassava back to farms in Western Kenya and restoring food security in the region is the new challenge facing extension officers in the region - more so when the mosaic resistant varieties are few.

African health rights activists and researchers from all sub-regions of the continent will meet to discuss issues with policy makers and health service providers -- bringing a forum for debate on some of the most critical issues of Gender and Health in Africa. Panel Presentations and Round Table Discussions will be held by some of the most prominent International names in the fields of Health and Rights in Africa. There will also be Workshops on best practices, Skills Exchange opportunities, and Seminal Lectures by African thinkers, writers and scholars.

Citizens of the island nation of Mauritius are hoping to develop new skills and participate in online communities thanks to innovative government efforts. The country seeks to benefit from a fiber optic cable that runs through Mauritius, primarily established to connect Europe and southern India.

DiscounTech, an online software store created by CompuMentor, provides discounted software solutions to non-profit organizations amid tough economic times. Many non-profits are able to purchase software such as Microsoft XP from DiscounTech at prices as low as $60, compared to the current retail price of $500.

A specially equipped bus is travelling around Mauritius, offering people in remoter areas an opportunity to experience the benefits of cyberspace.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights recently adopted the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa at its 32nd Ordinary Session held in Banjul, The Gambia, from October 17-23. The declaration states that freedom of expression and information, including the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other form of communication, including across frontiers, is a fundamental and inalienable human right and an indispensable component of democracy. It also states that everyone should have an equal opportunity to exercise the right to freedom of expression and to access information without discrimination.

Ethiopia and Eritrea are facing severe food shortages that could affect over 15 million people across the two countries. Crops across the region have been devastated by the failure of the first or 'belg' rains and the late arrival of the main rains. This is according to a Catholic relief organisation.

Zimbabwe's National AIDS Council (NAC) would continue distributing money from the national AIDS fund, despite recent allegations that politics had "infiltrated" the organisation.The NAC will provide Z$7.8 million (US $146,000) in funding for home-based care services for people living with HIV/AIDS and children orphaned by the disease in 84 districts throughout the country, a local state-controlled newspaper reported on Sunday.

The European Union will make HIV/Aids awareness an integral part of everything it will be doing in Africa, the EU's ambassador to South Africa Michael Lake said in Cape Town. Speaking at the opening of the Technical and Business Education Initiative in South Africa (Tabeisa) conference at the Peninsula Technikon, Lake said trade between South Africa and the EU had increased by 50 percent over the past three years and seemed set to increase further.

Agricultural services group Afgri (formerly OTK) has made a cash offer of R59m for agricultural co-operative Laeveld Korporatiewe Beleggings (LBK), a move that will see it diversify from its core grain-handling business.

This 119-page report, entitled Playing with Fire: Weapons Proliferation, Political Violence, and Human Rights in Kenya, documents the dangerous nexus between arms availability and ethnic attacks in Kenya. The report highlights politically instigated armed violence on Kenya's coast during the last general election cycle, in 1997. Human Rights Watch describes in detail the armed political violence in Kenya's Coast Province in mid-1997 and the role of ruling-party officials in stoking the violence. A quasi-military force of well-organized and well-armed attackers carried out brutal attacks on civilians from other ethnic groups in areas around Mombasa, Coast Province.

As weekend fighting in the Central African Republic (CAR) sent small groups fleeing into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Monday, UNHCR has expressed concerns that ethnic tensions could arise between the new arrivals and existing refugees.

Participants at a roundtable policy forum on the 'State Responsibility and the UN Declaration on Violence Against Women' organised by The Ark Foundation, a non-profit advocacy organisation in Accra, have asked the government to strengthen the existing structures to deal with such phenomena in accordance with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Have just heard about it and am keen to follow-up. Keep up the good work.

There is a common perception that the food crisis in Malawi has been caused by the floods that ruined the planting season in 2001, or by widespread government corruption and mismanagement. These undoubtedly have contributed to the crisis. But there is another cause, which has been even more significant - inappropriate policies of donor agencies, led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Hunger and food shortage has always been a problem in Malawi, hence the poor nutrition levels of 32 percent of the population. In the past, food shortages have been addressed through food aid from donors and government subsidies for basic food channelled through the grain board, the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC). This system has allowed the people of Malawi to survive the seasons of adverse weather, and the government corruption and mismanagement which has persisted through years of good harvest and bad.

However, over the past twenty years the agriculture sector has been restructured by the IMF and World Bank, under their structural adjustment policies. In agriculture, these policies are supposedly aimed at improving efficiency and productivity. But, as in other countries such as Zambia and Mozambique, the donors have ignored the reality of farming systems in Malawi and have assumed that markets will be able to meet social aims; to supply food at affordable prices throughout the country, and to ensure that smallholder farmers can feed their families. Instead, Malawi now faces chronic food insecurity. The IMF/World Bank policies in Malawi's agricultural sector, supported by the bilateral aid donors, have failed.

Prior to these reform programs, the Malawi Government could ensure food availability even in the remotest areas of the country. Through subsidies and controlled prices, farmers were assured of affordable farm inputs and grain stores were maintained in remote areas. However, with the introduction of the agricultural reforms, Malawi is now faced by famine even more serious than the fabled 1949 hunger crisis.

As in other countries, agricultural reforms were imposed on Malawi without the donors having undertaken a proper analysis of their potential impact and consequences, particularly on the poor. Standard policies were applied to Malawi, following a one-size-fits-all approach. Subsidies for small farmers and the poor were reduced, price controls and regulations removed, and agencies that played a social role, such as the agricultural marketing agency, ADMARC, were re-structured and/or privatised.

The results in Malawi have included price rises and increased volatility. For instance, the removal of price controls led to a price increase for maize of 400 percent between October 2001 and March 2002. Private grain traders have followed the market signals all too well – they have hoarded supplies and made money out of food shortages. This spirit of profiteering has fuelled corruption amongst Government officials in Malawi.

Agricultural reforms have done little to address the real problems of food production in Malawi - rural poverty, the impact of HIV/AIDS and discrimination against women. The chronic levels of poverty in Malawi's rural areas significantly affects agricultural productivity as it directly impacts on labour availability, access to inputs, health and education and other key social indicators. Over 60 percent of Malawians live below the poverty line, and 20 percent of Malawi’s adult population are HIV positive. Women constitute 70 per cent of Malawi’s full time farmers and 87 per cent of the total agricultural labour force. Yet, despite their numbers and enormous contribution to the agricultural economy, they remain marginalised from the mainstream. Gender differentiated access to resources and benefits continue to hinder their full participation, even though this is indispensable to lifting food productivity and increasing Malawi’s economic prosperity generally.

There is no doubt that Malawi needs agricultural reforms so as to enhance productivity and food security. There is no doubt either that Government parastatals, such as ADMARC, need to improve their management through reform. But, rather than ensuring that social aims are achieved through accountable government, the IMF/World Bank and other donors have pursued an agenda of austerity, deregulation and privatisation. And when, as in Malawi’s case, there have been disastrous outcomes, they have denied any responsibility. The agenda of good governance and accountability has all too often been abused by donors, using it as leverage to ensure that developing country governments comply with their policies. It must also be applied to the donors themselves.

In addition to policy influence, the donors have insisted that Malawi continue to service its foreign debt at a time when there is widespread hunger. Even after debt reduction under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, debt service still amounts to around 29 percent of Malawi’s Government spending. This heavy burden is further compounding the humanitarian crisis confronting such a poor nation.

The policies that donors have proposed for dealing with the crisis include food aid, but also an IMF loan of US$37 million to purchase maize. Since there is a shortage of grain in southern Africa, Malawi will most likely be forced to purchase grain from the US, including genetically modified grain. In its unmilled form, it will be used by desperate farmers to plant out. Malawi, as has been the case with other countries, will have GM crops introduced by the back door.

If countries in the South are to make any meaningful growth in their economies a new approach in the world economy is needed. The relations between the rich North and the poor South have to be re-defined. African Governments, supported by civil society, must be given the leading role in developing policies for their countries, instead of the IMF/WB dictating policy. Matters of food security and trade policy are fundamentally matters of justice and human rights. It is important therefore that poor countries are given enough space to articulate and implement their own policies, with the support of the international community.

Canadian oil company Talisman Energy on Wednesday announced the sale of its Sudanese oil interests, saying it would end uncertainty over their future. "Shareholders have told me they were tired of continually having to monitor and analyse events relating to Sudan," Talisman president and chief executive officer, Jim Buckee, said in a statement.

The Emergency Management Unit has to deliver food assistance to over 345 000 drought-affected Namibians despite pledging to start the humanitarian exercise early this week.

Two families were evicted from council houses in Azalea Road, Steurhof this morning. The families are long-term residents in the area who were forcibly removed during the Apartheid era. Now, in the post-Apartheid era, they again face losing their homes.