PAMBAZUKA NEWS 55 * 7600 SUBSCRIBERS
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 55 * 7600 SUBSCRIBERS
A faction of the Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) and the transitional government on Friday 22 February agreed on a general framework of negotiations intended to lead, as soon as possible, to a definite agreement on a cease-fire and the restoration of democracy in Burundi.
The inter-Congolese dialogue talks bringing together government representatives, opposition groups, splintered rebel groups and civil society members - including tribal militia representatives, church groups, unions and women's groups - from all walks of life in the Democratic Republic of the Congo opened on Monday, 25 February in Sun City, South Africa. The talks are expected to last 45 days. The draft agenda for the meetings, as published by the Office of the Facilitator for the inter-Congolese dialogue, is the following:
Burundian Communications Minister Albert Mbonerane on Saturday lifted the suspension of the right of the private news agency Net Press to publish or post news on its web site, Net Press Editor-in-Chief Claude Sibomana told IRIN on Monday.
A new radio network with a particular focus on peace-making efforts will be launched in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Monday, 25 February, to coincide with the convocation of the inter-Congolese dialogue in Sun City, South Africa.
The acting World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Burundi, Dr Lamine Diarra, is under house arrest, the United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative, Georg Charpentier, confirmed to IRIN on Friday.
Uganda has an estimated 1.7 million orphans, the highest number in the world, and 25 percent of all households look after at least one child orphaned by either HIV/AIDS or war, according to a new study by the Ministry of Gender and Labour and Social Development, cited by the nongovernmental organisation World Vision.
Former US President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, are scheduled to attend an international conference on the eradication of Guinea worm disease in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in early March, to push anew for a combined effort to make the disease the second to be eradicated worldwide, after smallpox.
It was a small step towards a lasting peace. But as members of the UN Security Council team walked for the first time across the symbolic Mereb River Bridge linking Ethiopia to Eritrea, they realised the enormous gulf that still exists.
Millions of people in Ethiopia are still at risk from a meningitis epidemic which broke out last September, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned this week.
The devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa is all too evident. Millions have died, their children orphaned and entire communities destroyed. But it is the crippling effect of AIDS on African economies that is now starting to ring alarm bells.
Malawi's independent press is the latest casualty of political intolerance in the region, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) said in a statement.
The death of veteran Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi has added new impetus to the search for a settlement to the country's long-running civil war, analysts told IRIN over the weekend.
The World Bank has drawn up a tentative plan to rescue Zambia's troubled economy as the country's strategic copper mining industry totters towards what analysts fear could be inexorable collapse.
The campaign group Global Witness has called on the Angolan government to introduce greater transparency and accountability over its oil accounts to end the alleged "full-scale embezzlement" of oil revenues.
In a 21 February 2002 letter to Liberian President Charles G. Taylor, CPJ expressed deep concern over the recent arrest of three journalists and the suspension of their newspaper, which had recently criticized the current state of emergency in Liberia.
At least 131 journalists from the United States and Europe have applied to cover the country's forthcoming presidential poll set for March 9 and 10.
Expectedly, the Cable News Network CNN's bureau chief in Nigeria Jeff Koinange has been a butt of verbal darts over what his critics described as his deliberate 'coinage' of his own version of happenings in Nigeria, especially the recent clashes at Idi-Araba, Lagos.
Last week, while delivering a paper on press freedom at the Islamic University in Mbale, I did say that some ministers fear the press because they are always misquoted. The following day The Monitor carried a report titled “Ministers Fear the Press, Says Karooro”.While it is true I said it, the reporter did not outline the reasons I gave for my assertion.That is Uganda’s press for you - telling only part of the story, choosing what is interesting and many a time leaving out the important.
Office suites are software packages like Microsoft Office which offer users applications like word processors, spreadsheets, database programs, etc. There are alternatives to using expensive office software. Read this article for the latest news on free packages like Open Office and expensive packages such as MS Office.
What could be more uniquely human than the desire to understand how our minds evolved? Much of the story of evolution is entirely unknown. The results of a new study suggest that some of what scientists thought they knew may require revision.
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), in association with the World Bank's InfoDev Program, is looking for best practices, case studies and papers for inclusion in a toolkit to guide the evolution of electronic government in developing countries.
Two developments this week have illustrated the gathering pace of telecoms privatisation. The Ghanaian government has agreed to sell off its majority share in Ghana Telecom and appears to be opening its market to further competition. In Uganda the government is prepared to amend existing licences if the country's economy finds itself at a competitive disadvantage in the new world digital economy. This top story at BalancingAct concludes with a short review of what African governments have signed up to in terms of privatisation with the World Trade Organisation.
The "Youth, ICTs and Digital Opportunities" portal was launched on 1 February 2002 to enable young people from around the world to share their experiences on how ICTs can further development. The site features news, people, events, organizations and online discussions about closing the digital divide.
ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is meeting in Ghana in March. African companies should send representatives - details at the ICANN web site.
A controversial biometric device may soon be used to track children via the Internet.
A collective of computer experts is working to enhance the privacy of non-governmental organizations around the world.
A second volcano is showing signs that it may erupt in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, say volcano experts in the region.
US President George W Bush has called on Angola's leaders to seize the opportunity presented by the death of Unita rebel leader Jonas Savimbi and bring an end to the country's long-running civil war.
In a grainy videotape recorded from a security camera, Morgan Tsvangirai is allegedly shown plotting to have President Robert Mugabe assassinated.
Violent clashes have broken out in Madagascar between supporters of the government and the opposition.
The inter-Congolese dialogue is stalled, with Jean-Pierre Bemba, leader of the rebel MLC, boycotting the talks. In an allAfrica.com interview, Congo's information minister, Kikaya bin Karubi, denied the claim that the Kinshasa government had replaced opposition groups with its own surrogates.
Police, bankers, auditors and diplomats were on Tuesday gathered in Johannesburg to address the growing problem of money laundering in Southern Africa. The first Southern African Regional Conference on Money Laundering kicked off in Morningside, Sandton. It continues until Thursday.
In the decade after Brown v. Board of Education, "white intellectuals, in the North and the South of the US... having helped for so long to keep Negroes apart and below... were faced with the challenge of racial equality," asserts Polsgrove (It Wasn't Pretty, Folks, but Didn't We Have Fun? Esquire in the Sixties). In this disturbing book, she shows them to have been "fearful, cautious, distracted, or simply indifferent." Based on interviews and archival research, she indicts not only prominent novelists and thinkers, including William Faulkner, Norman Mailer, Hannah Arendt and even the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr ("none better exemplifies the caution that northern white intellectuals... displayed toward desegregation"), but also their editors (who were "more interested in southern whites' responses to the Negro challenge than in what Negroes had to say") and the media, which "at a time when national magazines ought to have been leading the way to change... opened their pages to those who resisted it." Many of the best-known African-American novelists, cowed by "the emotional and political atmosphere of the McCarthy days," fare little better than their white counterparts in Polsgrove's hands. Only a few heroes emerge from her portrait: Lillian Smith, Kenneth Clark, Lawrence Reddick, James Silver, and most importantly, James Baldwin. Polsgrove concludes her accessible and disturbing account with a thought-provoking broadside against contemporary American intellectuals, who she thinks "have abandoned their responsibility even more completely" than those in the 1950s and 1960s and whose "publishing industry has moved farther and farther from any sense of obligation for the social enterprise." A wide range of periodicals (and their editors) from major weeklies and monthlies to small journals take a thrashing here. Polsgrove could set off a firestorm if she doesn't get the silent treatment. W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN: 0393020134, 2001.
I received this newspaper by way of e-mail from my professor, Dr. Robert Edgar. It is absolutely fantastic! I enjoyed it so much that I would like to become part of your mailing list. – Erness A. Hill, Ph.D. Student at Howard University in African Studies
The story on women in Uganda... I was wondering about the boys/men.... While these women stay virgins and clean, free of infections, what protection or gurantees are there for these women against HIV/AIDS infection from the men who are supposed to be their husbands, responsible for determining their sexual status on the wedding night!??!?
(The price on offer is more or less an insult to women - in my view!) – Margaret Isodo Joseph, Save the Children (UK)
Economic nobel prize winner - World Bank's former chief economist Joseph Stiglitz - has explained the hidden agendas and plans of IMF and World Bank. He points out that there are always 4 steps to suck all the resources out of a country.
Here are the four steps... (details with examples are down below)
Step 1 - Privatization (or briberization) causing depression and starvation in the population.
Step 2 - The coming up with One-size-fits-all economy rescue plan. Deregulate Capital Markets of that country so that capital can easily flow in and (more importantly) out of that country. Then IMF asking 30% or 50% interest rates for money to flow back in.
Step 3 - Market-based pricing, increasing price on Water, food and cooking gas which causes 'IMF riots' in that country. Resulting in government bankruptcies and selling the remaining assets of that country at fire-sale prices to foreign investors. IMF then interferes and "BAIL-OUT" local banks and financiers. At the same time, IMF and World Bank orders that country to divert aid money to its reserve account at the US Treasury, which pays a pitiful 4% return, while that country has borrowed US Dollars at 10% or 15%. At this point: the clear winner is US Treasury and Western Banks.
Step 4 - 'Povery Reduction Strategy': Forcing Free Trade according to the rules of WTO - including intellectual property rights helping international corporations By the way, don't be confused by the mix in this discussion of the IMF, World Bank and WTO. They are interchangeable masks of a single governance system. They have locked themselves together by what are unpleasantly called, "triggers." Taking a World Bank loan for a school 'triggers' a requirement to accept every 'conditionality' - they average 111 per nation - laid down by both the World Bank and IMF. In fact, said Stiglitz the IMF requires nations to accept trade policies more punitive than the official WTO rules.
Once again, well done on the newsletter. It really is the only way to go plus yours has the bonus of being well produced and well written. Some of these newsletters are really hard work even if they are very relevant.
Few people regularly visit a web page on the off chance its been updated with intersting stuff. There is just too much choice out there and I think we now all suffer from ADHD. I have been trying to get the ILO to back up their web page with a newsletter for the past three years, but I think for these large institutions its just too much like hard work.
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) celebrates its 100th issue of Resource Net "Announcements"! A warm thank you to all for your support and contributions. We continue to build "another world" with resolve, intelligence and hope.
Not less than 30 journalists from the African continent on Monday commenced a one-week training programme on Information, Technology and Communication (ICT) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The training programme put together by the Economic Community of Africa, (ECA), United Nations Education and Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (UNESCO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as well as the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), is to acquaint journalists in the continent with the latest information on the internet and general ICT needs.
Rwanda: Journalists Relied On Information From Soldiers And Militiamen, Genocide Convict Tells Court
Genocide convict George Ruggiu, a former journalist at Radio Television Libres des Mille Collines (RTLM), today testified before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that after 6 April 1994 journalists at the radio station relied on information from soldiers and militiamen for their broadcasts.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has urged journalists to find out from the people at the grassroots how their lives had been changed since the return of democracy in 1999. Addressing journalists at the weekend in Kano, Lamido said there had been so much distortion of facts, manipulation and reckless utterances
This IT Networking training programme is being offered in partnership with International Youth Foundation (IYF), Cisco Learning Institute/Cisco Systems United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Youth Development Trust (YDT)
The course will provide a comprehensive training in facilitation methods and skills based on the Technology of Participation developed over 35 years by the Institute of Cultural Affairs.
The Centre is committing a series of small research grants to encourage new and innovative research on civil society. We would thus like to invite researchers to submit proposals in the following thematic areas: The state, shape & size of civil society in South Africa, Civil society in Contemporary democratic era, Civil society and Development, Africa and International.
Solani & Sutton Communications wishes to appoint a Programme Assistant to work with one of its main customers, Talent Consortium, on the launch of the Global Conservation Trust during the forthcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD).
A Dutch donation of US $500,000 to the UN World Food Programme has provided sufficient resources to feed 20,000 Angolan refugees in Namibia until May. The total budget of the one-year WFP Namibia operation is US $2.2-million. Namibia has a longstanding Angolan refugee population as a result of the Angola's 27-year-long civil war.
Fasset initiated the Education Upliftment Project Eastern Cape (Eupec)which is a R35-million skills initiative and social upliftment project. The project is funded via National Skills Trust. The aim of the project is to uplift maths and accounting skills at matric level.
The recently launched Aids orphanes trust received a kickstart by funds made available by First National Bank and TP Electrical. The trust fund aims at bettering the future for the thousands of children.
The Minneapolis-based Mcknight Foundation has awarded $9.1-million in multi-year grants to support thirteen projects focused on improving agricultural research and training in developing countries.
When Microsoft promised 32 000 schools computers and 90% discounts for private schools and universities, it opened a can of worms.
World Food Programme has started distributing food for famine stricken Zimbabweans. The UN agency distributed a one-month ration of maize meal to 40 000 people.
They cook, they clean, they kill. In this war-ravaged corner of West Africa, girls as young as 10 are abducted, raped and forced to become guerrilla fighters and "rebel wives."
"He promised to take care of the child. My father suggested that he should marry me, and he agreed." This is what Sufiyatu Huseini - known as Safiya - says of the man who impregnated her and effectively sentenced her to death by stoning in the Muslim northern Nigerian province of Sokoto, while he walked free through lack of corroboration.
The editor of the British Council and DFID sponsored Worldwoman web paper has unveiled plans for a women's news and radio service.
IDEA's gender programme aims to emphasize not only the quantitative aspects of women's representation, but also the qualitative impact of women in decision-making processes. It aims to improve and enhance women's effectiveness in political positions and to strengthen their impact in important decision-making forums.
The SADC Gender and Development Declaration and its addendum on the prevention and eradication of violence against women and children is set to gain more prominence in regional and national debates and action, as the region moves towards the next United Nations Women's Decade in 2005.
The National Clearinghouse on Youth Employment (NCYE) is seeking a qualified Library Support Specialist.
In this issue :
* Crucial court rulings - FTimes
* 'Zimbabwe in fear' says SADC monitor - DTel
* Polling agents attacked - News24
* Harassment continues - News Room
* Not the way to govern - IHT
* Degrees in violence
Fahamu – learning for change - is seeking a Research Assistant to assist with the production of a range of electronic newsletters for the African-based human rights, education and health sectors. Working as part of a team you will be responsible for: research, compilation and promotion of materials for these electronic newsletters; monitoring of associated information services; and contributing to the editorial development. You must have experience as a researcher or journalist in an academic, media or development field; computer literacy, including experience of web based research; experience of working under pressure, to tight deadlines; interest and commitment to human rights and development. Experience of working in Africa, especially in the media, would be an advantage. You must have access to the internet and be willing to work from home. For further details contact [email][email protected] Closing date 30 March 2002.
In order to improve the ability of African business women to use ICT to access critical market information, identify prospective business opportunities, increase sub-regional information flows and facilitate cross-border and international trade linkages, USAID is supporting the establishment of a Women's Business Network for West Africa (WBN). Computer Frontiers, Inc. has been contracted to recruit a West African national coordinator residing in one of the target countries of Benin, Cote D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, or Senegal with demonstrated experience in developing human and technological requirements for a networked association servicing businesswomen within the region.
Positions are available in Washington, DC for bilingual (English / French) Grants Analysts with demonstrated experience in managing grants. Primary duties of the position will be to disburse, track, analyze, assure compliance, report and close-out grant activities for broad range of development projects based in Africa. Familiarity with managing financial spreadsheets and entering financial and project-related data into databases are essential for these tasks. Additional duties include providing assistance to the director and regional managers by conducting cost projections to assess economic feasibility of projects. The analyst will also assist Country Liaison Officers in analyzing field budgets, assuring the accuracy of third party purchases and maintaining personnel files and associated compensation information for field staff.
The Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI) was founded in 1995, as a non-profit public organization dedicated to build health research capacity in Zimbabwe and the SADC region. The BRTI is inviting applications for pre-doctoral and masters level fellowships sponsored by the Fogarty International Centre in conjunction with Johns Hopkins University to assist in building research capacity in malaria in the SADC region. These fellowships are intended to encourage young scientists and professionals working at national institutions to be trained in the field of malaria research. Application deadline is 10th March 2002.
Contribute to and co-ordinate the creation and updating of WHRnet website content across a range of sections and topics. Reports to the Executive Director of WHRnet. The position will be offered initially on a 6-month consultancy basis, with the possibility of a full-time contract thereafter. May be appointed on a full or part-time basis but must be available to work a minimum of 3 days per week. Location is flexible. Salary is negotiable and commensurate with experience.
Provides an open forum for discussion of issues related to mountain environments, populations, and sustainable development in Africa. We also welcome general news and announcements related to African mountain regions, including calendar events, new publications, research or project descriptions, job announcements, and questions for the subscriber group.
March is Zimbabwe's month of destiny. A generation ago, in March 1980, we held our breath to see who would take the prize - the right to lead Zimbabweans into the future, and build a new independent nation. We knew that the war was over, Independence was around the corner and one or other of the nationalist parties would certainly be in power in April.
Now we face another March election which will determine our future for another generation. But there is no certainty, there is palpable fear. This election takes place when ZANU PF and Mugabe have ruled for 22 years. During the last two years they have watched their popularity wane as a result of failed economic polices and massive corruption. They have jumped around like a hare in the headlights trying desperately to save themselves, and the results have been catastrophic - the halving of commerical agricultural production, the crippling of much of our manufacturing sector, collapse of public education and health services and the exodus of both the professional and non-professional labour force in search of incomes that sustain their families. All of this is accompanied by state-sponsored violence which seeks to force on the population a result which they do not want - another six years of ZANU PF.
The effects are clear - inflation of 117%, unemployment approaching 70%, replacement of highly productive commercial agriculture with small scale and subsistence farming, deep poverty, deep frustration by a relatively highly educated population. And then nature - or God, or the ancestors, depending on your belief system - intervenes to provide a devastating drought which is already causing acute hunger, leading to open starvation.
In the midst of this chaos and suffering the Presidential election offers us a chance to start again, to abandon the path of destruction down which we have strayed. Can anyone imagine that a people as sophisticated as Zimbabweans are could vote for the same people who brought them into this terrible situation? No one believes that the majority of Zimbabweans will vote for President Mugabe. Opinion polls confirm what we all see with our eyes, hear with our ears and feel with our hearts. Recent violence has alienated what little support ZANU PF retained; they are left with their patronage clients who can desert them only at their own personal peril. Zimbabweans will not vote in large numbers for Mugabe.
If Mugabe can accept that fact, admit defeat and hand over power, then we have a chance - a chance to rebuild our country, to redistribute our land resources rationally, recreate our industry and perhaps the prerequisite for all of these, develop a democratic political environment. We can be the strength of the region, drawing investment, drawing tourists, drawing back our own population who have fled from economic insecurity. It will not be smooth sailing; it will be a struggle, but we will have another chance, and will have support from the international community to help us get started. The whole region will benefit from the rejuvenated economy.
Sadly, this scenario appears less and less realistic. In February two years ago, in the face of a defeat at the referendum on the constitution, Mugabe made a brave speech accepting the will of the people. But within days he launched his violent land reform and instituted measures which had been directly rejected by the voters.
What if Mugabe refuses to give up this time? He could do it by announcing a win for ZANU PF. Or he might accept that MDC had won the election, and then concoct a situation which would give him some kind of excuse not to hand over power. He has already told SADC he will accept any result except recolonisation, which is his euphemism for an MDC victory. Many Zimbabweans are not aware of the constitutional provision that although the election results will be announced on March 11, the new President only takes power on April 1. Three weeks to play deadly games.
Zimabweans will not believe any announcement that Mugabe has won. But will they react? This can not be known. And how would they react to an announcement of an MDC victory followed by a manipulation through the arrest or even assassination of Tsvangirai, the declaration of an emergency, an army intervention or any of the other possible tricks which regimes with their backs to the wall can dream up? Again, we simply don't know. But we can be sure that either of these situations will bring disaster to Zimbabwe,
and depression, perhaps worse to the region.
If Mugabe "steals the election" in whatever way, we can be sure that the international community beyond Africa will deepen their boycott. We will be more isolated. Even if Mugabe abandons some of his extremist policies in the hope of placating the west and luring back aid, it is unlikely that he will get the desired response. It is more likely that he will complete his land reform, as he puts it, we will be isolated, opposition will be brutally suppressed (he has already said he will ban the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions), thousands will flow out of the country. Our agriculture will remain largely at the subsistence level, manufacturing will not recover, and of immediate concern, where will we get food to eat in the middle of a drought?
Mugabe may then rely on the friendship of Libya to keep fuel flowing and even to bolster his security, but at a price - land and other economic assets in Zimbabwe, some of which have already been handed over. There is little evidence that Libya is a better coloniser than Britain or any other European power, and much evidence of serious mischief in other African countries in trouble.
If there is resistance, whether on a mass scale as in Madagascar, or sporadic, which is more likely, much blood will be spilled, and suffering ensue. In any case there is likely to be mass movement of people across the borders, either fleeing violence, or seeking food.
Much emphasis has been placed on the role of international observers, and especially those of SADC and South Africa. If it is clear that Mugabe has stolen the election, will South Africa go along with the pretense, gambling as they have done so far, that somehow things will go back to "normal" and they won't have to deal with it? A recent statement by Thabo that 1,000 dead in South Africa in 1994 did not mean that their election was not free and fair is not very promising. Or will they refuse to accept the result? And what then? A military intervention? Close the borders? Or simply denounce verbally and do nothing? The tunnel is dark and the light is not seen.
We do not want Mugabe removed by foreign troops, or by our own troops. We want him removed by the ballot. That is the only way that Zimbabwe can have a decent future. But two weeks before the poll date, the signals are that Mugabe will not allow that to happen. In that case, we do not hope for rescue from our fate by anyone, in or outside of Africa. At best we see a period of oppression, further economic decay, poverty and starvation. At worst we see bloody conflict, acute suffering, and death. Another failed state in Africa - brought about by the stubborn greed and ambition of one man and those parasites who surround him. And if we wish to take lessons from the experience of the past decade - failed states lead to failed regions, full of conflict, hate, fear and endless suffering.
We hope that Southern Africa can be spared from this fate. Perhaps a March miracle will occur. Perhaps we are near the end of the tunnel after all.
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 54 * 7640 SUBSCRIBERS
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 54 * 7640 SUBSCRIBERS
Mike Moore, director-general of the World Trade Organisation, has urged developing countries to support proposals for WTO rules on competition and investment, telling them it is in their own economic interest. It is unusual for a WTO director-general to take a public position on such politically contentious questions. But Mr Moore says in an article in the Financial Times that an agreement on new WTO rules would benefit developing countries by helping them attract foreign direct investment, attack hardcore cartels, tackle corrupt procurement practices and lower export costs.
President Robert Mugabe could lose Zimbabwe's presidential election next month in spite of his efforts to rig the result, senior US government officials say. Unofficial polls conducted by Zimbabwean organisations and seen by US officials show there would be a good chance Mr Mugabe would get only 25-30 per cent of the vote if the election was fair. The officials said this was despite widespread intimidation of the opposition and political violence over the past 18 months. However, they fear Mr Mugabe has the ability to "win" an additional 20 per cent by further manipulation of the vote and thus extend his 22-year rule.
Zimbabwean watchdog bodies have accused the Southern African Development Community (SADC) of being an 'old boys club' that gangs together to protect each other's dictatorial rule. Speaking at this week's "using democracy to destroy democracy" meeting in the capital city Harare, political activists said SADC countries, particularly South Africa, had fallen prey to President Robert Mugabe's gimmicks. "Mugabe's regime is hiding behind tailored but defective concepts of colonialism and Pan-Africanism to garner SADC's support to authenticate its rule," said a University of Zimbabwe political commentator, Brain Raftopolous.
The public has given a thumbs-down to government's commitment to combating corruption, describing it as half-hearted and questionable, an anti-corruption public opinion survey has revealed. The survey, carried out by Transparency International (Zimbabwe) showed that the majority of people surveyed were not satisfied with the way the government and the public services tackled corruption issues.
Uganda should be held responsible for grave human rights violations taking place in territories it occupies in northeastern Congo, Human Rights Watch has said. A resurgence of ethnic fighting there has claimed scores of lives over the last few weeks and displaced at least fifteen thousand people. The dispute, rooted in conflict over land, flared in an area that is contested by three Congolese rebel factions and effectively governed by none of them.
The college of Omdurman in Sudan has suspended a number of students for human rights activities.
Communicating research findings to potential users outside the academic community - whether in government, in business, in the voluntary sector or in the general public - has become an essential element in most social scientists' working lives. And one of the most effective ways of reaching your target audiences, influencing policy and practice and changing public opinion is to make use of the media. This publication provides some practical guidelines on how to develop a media strategy that will enable your research, your research programme or your research institution to have a greater impact on the national debate.
This year's African Development Forum - the annual conference hosted by the UN's Economic Commission for Africa in the Ethiopian capital,Addis Ababa - is focused on the transition to the African Union. AllAfrica asked John Githongo, executive director of Transparency International in Kenya, and a member of Transparency International's global board, to discuss the pros and cons of African integration.
FOR the enhancement of the quality of justice being delivered to the Nigerian society, a World Bank sponsored survey will soon be conducted to determine the problems facing administration of justice and recommend solutions to them.
The Church did not play an active role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, a Catholic priest testifying for genocide suspects Elizaphan and Gerard Ntakirutimana told the International Criminal tribunal for Rwanda.
Slavery, cinematic or otherwise, is a tricky proposition. Unlike the Holocaust and projects such as the recent ``Band of Brothers,'' there's nothing heroic about American involvement, nothing to latch on to in patriotic terms. Quite the opposite, actually. Revisiting the brutality of bondage often means dealing with the notion that our ancestral bloodlines very likely played a part in this cruel and unusually punishing institution, whether as victimizer or victim. Nothing is more uncomforting and unnerving than that. This explains why ``The Middle Passage,'' airing Saturday night on HBO, would never appear on network television - and not just because its ghastly scene of a tortured African slave with his sliced fingers, blood dripping into the cracks of a rat-infested ship's floor, is too graphic for prime time. It's the subject - and the unfortunate but inescapable fact that viewers will watch most anything ``except'' a show about slavery.
Regina Amadi-Njoku has been director of the ILO African Regional Office for a year and a half, operating closely with ICFTU affiliates and ICFTU regional organisation (AFRO) across the continent to improve the precarious working situation for millions of people. James Lorenz had the opportunity to speak to her for the spotlight interview on the occasion of her attending a meeting with the ICFTU in Brussels.
Kenya like many other African countries that adopted political pluralism and economic liberalization after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, is into the third stage of its ‘transition’ from colonial state to a modern democracy where power is accountable. The first stage of the transition took place in years preceding and immediately following independence where indigenous Africans assumed control of the vital governance institutions in their countries- parliament, the executive, judiciary and civil service. The elites used their newfound political power – that also found bureaucratic and military expression – to accumulate wealth in a variety of ways – many of which would today be described as ‘corruption’ but in the 1960s were seen as correcting some of the historic wrongs of colonialism and were tolerated internationally in the context of the Cold War.
The Gender and Political Participation site area provides up-to-date information on the status of women's political participation world-wide,and act as a means of encouraging partnerships and networks between organizations dedicated to enhancing the political participation of women. In addition to International Idea's Handbook Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers, the gender site also offers information on topics such as the issue of quotas, gender desegregated voter turnout statistics and web links on world-wide gender legislation.
Adili is a fortnightly newsletter produced by Transparency International Kenya’s Public Awareness Programme.
Bribery, private payments to public and/or private officials to influence decision-making, is the most prevalent manifestation of corruption. In Kenya as indeed elsewhere, there is a critical dearth of concrete information on the nature and incidence of corruption in general, and bribery in particular. Consequently, anti-corruption efforts tend to be informed primarily by perceptions and anecdotal evidence.
GenSciTech is a new web ring hosted at the Gender, Science and Technology
Gateway. It is open to sites which address any topic in gender, science and technology with a sustainable development dimension.
Bank of Uganda (BOU) deputy Governor, Dr. Louis Kasekende, has said the poor pay a very high price for corruption. According to him, only greater transparency and accountability for public funds would reduce poverty.
Peopleandplanet.net is an exciting gateway and educational resource exploring the connecting issues of population, environment and sustainable development in an open, independent, and balanced way. The site has been organised into 14 key topics, each introduced with an authoritative Overview, together with Feature Articles, Facts and Figures, News, Links, Glossary and Book and Film reviews. A new key topic on People, Poverty and Trade will be on-line in April.
By the year 2005, most Africans will die before they reach their 48th birthday, the fourth general assembly of the African Population Commission (APC) heard this week. Disease, the main killer, has become a risk to the national security of African countries, threatening the very survival of some communities, the conference in Addis Ababa was told. The spread of HIV/AIDS in particular, and wars and poverty, have driven down life expectancy by 15 years in the last two decades.
A Sudanese government air raid on a World Food Program depot, which killed two children, was denounced by the State Department on Tuesday as an outrageous tragedy.
The 1994 genocide left just over a million people dead, according to an official report published by the Rwandan Ministry of Local Government. The report is based on a census carried out in July 2000. However, only 934,218 victims could be clearly identified.
As most of you know, the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance involved nine days of intensive and frequently difficult negotiation. Even after the Conference, there was a difference of views or perceptions that principally concerned the placement of several paragraphs in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, and which delayed the issuance of the report of the Conference. Nevertheless, despite all of the obstacles that had to be overcome, the Conference was ultimately successful in negotiating a Declaration and Programme of Action by consensus. The report of the Conference was issued and is now before you.
Peter Eigen, a former World Bank executive director who served as WB's resident director in Kenya, was reportedly moved by the misery of Kenya's underprivileged class to form Transparency International (TI), an anti-corruption watchdog. TI defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain. Its annual perceptions index has been indicating that Kenya is one the most corrupt countries in the world. Smiles of the London graft experts as they met with Foreign Affairs Minister Major (Rtd) Marsden Madoka in his office, could not conceal the fact. Everywhere the graft team went, they were met with muted concerns about their ability to eradicate the vice threatening to throw Kenya into a fratricidal economic mess.
The International Development Research Centre, Gender Unit is launching a competitive call for proposals for research investigating links between gender, globalization and land tenure in Latin America, Africa and Asia. All principal researchers and co-researchers must be citizens of developing countries. Up to eight grants will be awarded in April 2002 and the deadline for submission of applications is March 29, 2002.
A woman-focused method to prevent HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections can be available by 2007, according to a series of reports by the Rockefeller Foundation-funded Initiative on Microbicides. "We have the science and the road map, now we need the political will to fund this effort," said Geeta Rao Gupta, President of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), one of several groups participating in the Initiative.