PAMBAZUKA NEWS 52 * 7600 SUBSCRIBERS
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 52 * 7600 SUBSCRIBERS
This volume responds to the demands of a growing number of educators who want to be part of a global movement towards peace through providing their students with learning experiences in holistic and gender-sensitive human rights and peace education.
As activists gather here for marches and rallies protesting the meeting of the World Economic Forum, Internet provocateurs are planning a series of demonstrations of their own online. Groups including the Electronic Disturbance Theater, RTMark, and Federation of Random Action are counting on as many as 100,000 people to stage "virtual sit-ins" at the websites of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and its corporate members. The idea is to "annoy" the conglomerates into a dialogue and draw media attention to concerns about globalization.
Nominations are being sought worldwide for the International Women's Media Foundation's 2002 Courage in Journalism Award. The award honours women working in the news media who have demonstrated extraordinary strength of character in pursuing their profession under difficult or dangerous circumstances - including physical danger, government oppression, political pressure, or other intimidating obstacles.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ruling party called a meeting of its legislators on Wednesday to patch up a rift over a tough media bill some party members have criticized as unconstitutional.
A "system of semi-military command centers" has been set up at both national and provincial levels in Zimbabwe in order to ensure victory for President Robert Mugabe in forthcoming presidential elections next month, according to Mark Chavunduka, editor of the independent Zimbabwe Standard newspaper.
IRIN interviewed Hussein Aideed, leader of the Somali National Alliance, at the Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Aideed, a member of the Hawiye clan, is co-chairman of the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), a grouping opposed to Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG). He speaks of his opposition to the TNG, reasons for establishing the SRRC, and his relationship with Ethiopia.
The Food and Nutrition unit of the Namibia Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) recently received WHO support to contract a local Web site developer to create a very comprehensive site addressing breast-feeding in Namibia.
Rwandan authorities should make public any charges against two Catholic lay figures arrested over the weekend and release them promptly if there is no adequate legal reason for their detention, say Human Rights Watch.
The health of an ecosystem depends on the variety of species that inhabit it, suggests new research from the University of Maryland. The researchers say the discovery could revolutionize how scientists look at the effects of species extinction.
The World Bank was ready to find cash so Zambia could save mines owned by Anglo American from closure if the mining giant pulled out of the country, the lender said at the weekend.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, has tried to reassure the army and police that there would be no "witch hunt" against them if he wins the presidency. Facing the possibility of a coup launched by a cabal of generals, who have already publicly declared that they will never accept him as president, Mr Tsvangirai made a determined effort to head off this threat.
This weekend saw Morgan Tsvangirai's first big rally of his campaign for the presidential elections on March 9-10 and, outside this eastern city, vehicles queued for half a mile at a roadblock, where police searched them painstakingly and demanded identity cards from every traveller.
Physicians for Human Rights, Denmark, visited Zimbabwe in January 2002, to assess the current human rights situation. Unequivocal evidence of torture was documented. Furthermore, we received statements about killings, death threats, harassments, including strategic robbery of Identity Documents needed for voting.
Robert Mugabe is an oddity. The octogenarian politician thinks no one else is fit to rule Zimbabwe. He is also a racist. He wants to win the next election by stirring up racial hatred by claiming that blacks are superior to whites. Mugabe's antiquated political stand is a challenging philosophy on race relations in Africa. It is coming at a time when Africans seem disinclined to delve deeply into the divisive issues, particularly ones that might lower the generosity of donor countries.
A recent international women's conference in Nairobi, jointly organized by the International Council of Women, the Council of Women of Kenya and the Finnish Embassy, urged governments to recognize the role women play in alleviating poverty and combating HIV/AIDS, and in particular urged African governments to implement policies that provide women with credit and skills.
Female genital mutilation is becoming one of the key medical concerns affecting women and is contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS, an Inter-African Committee official said at a three-day workshop at the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa.
The AIDS epidemic has added a new dimension to one of the oldest sayings, a sociologist reports: It's always the woman who pays. A new study shows that women with AIDS generally feel more isolated and shunned than men with the disease, according to Bronwen Lichtenstein, a research assistant professor of sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, whose report appears in the February issue of the journal AIDS Patient Care and STDs.
U.N. Population Fund country director for Kenya Dr. Wangui Njau has said that negative attitudes on the part of health workers are partly to blame for the 20-percent HIV infection rate among Kenyan youth between the ages of 15 and 19. Njau said that 24 percent of Kenyan women aged 15 to 24 are infected with the virus and that health workers stigmatize youth who seek reproductive health services. The attitudes of the teen-agers themselves contribute to the crisis, she said, as a "large percentage still engage in high risk, unprotected sexual activities with a multiplicity of partners".
The government of President Robert Mugabe has embarked on a programme of action designed to curtail and in some cases deny his people basic rights that he guaranteed them by taking an oath to uphold the inviolability the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the tenets of international and regional agreements signed by his government. Over the past two years, freedom of expression and freedom of the press have come under an ever-tightening siege, that has often spilled over into open violence and acts of sabotage against the media. This period has also seen the introduction of draconian ill-advised legislation enacted to handicap the private media, curtail the powers of the judiciary, and to strengthen the state security apparatus to deal with any activity considered to be damaging to the image of the president and his government. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) sees it as its duty to bring to your attention that, as citizens of the world, we need to stand up and put our voices together to express our solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe. We are calling on you to assist us by adding your voice to the various actions initiated by MISA. We invite you to participate in the dialogue on Zimbabwe, sign a petition that will be sent to world forums, fax your views to President Mugabe, write your own letter to world organisations.
EU Development Commissioner Poul Nielson has announced that the EU intends resuming development cooperation with Sudan, which has been suspended since 1990. This follows assurance from the Sudanese Government to the EU Troika (previous, present and next EU Presidency) that the Sudanese Government would re-establish the full respect of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Sudan.
Thousands of dead fish and marine animals have washed up onto the Kenyan and Somali coastlines in the past week, probably poisoned by an off-season bloom of toxic algae, wildlife experts said Thursday.
More senior UNITA soldiers have been captured, lending support to claims by the Angolan army that Jonas Savimbi is surrounded with the net tightening. The Angolan army is reported to have recovered personal property belonging to Jonas Savimbi, indicating that it is getting closer to capturing the leader of the rebel-movement UNITA. Amongst the items recently seized near Cassamba in Moxico province was a hunting rifle given to Savimbi by former South African President PW Botha.
About 300 lawyers from 60 countries met in Paris December 16 and 17 to take the first steps toward forming an International Criminal Bar. The need for such a Bar became apparent from the experience of the ad hoc tribunals dealing with Rwanda and Yugoslavia, and the conference was the product of the joint effort of the Paris Bar and the International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association.
To draw up a political statement and plan of action that will move the world towards sustainable development, delegates from around the world are meeting at the United Nations, clarifying their hopes and dreams for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Genocide Watch believes that the early warning signs for politicide (political mass killings) and possibly even genocide in Zimbabwe have now reached Stage Six: Preparation. Genocide Watch has found that genocides and politicides develop in Eight Stages, with the actual genocide at Stage Seven. (Denial is stage eight.)
The dispute between the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the management of KwaMuhle Museum in Durban over an exhibition, open another important debate in South Africa that of whether to sacrifice freedom of expression for reconciliation and peace. According to the Mail and Guardian the IFP argues that the exhibition titled Amasinyora and Comrades, maliciously and libellously links the IFP to political violence in KwaZulu Natal. The IFP added that the exhibition was not in the interest of peace and reconciliation. The IFP is therefore calling for the withdrawal of the exhibition on those grounds. While the distortion of historical facts for political gains is totally an unacceptable practice, the IFP should however note that it is only the truth that promotes peace and reconciliation. Refusing to represent historical facts either artistically or otherwise or refusal to debate history is in itself a perpetuation of violence and hatred.
The Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC) has declared Zimbabwe's controversial and draconian media Bill, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, as unconstitutional. The PLC chaired by Harvard trained lawyer and ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF), member of Parliament Dr Eddson Zvobgo declared that 20 sections of the Bill are unconstitutional as they infringe on Sections 20 of the constitution of Zimbabwe.
Activists respond to the Global Health Initiative of the World Economic Forum report on the "Business Response to AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria." The report presents "best practices" for corporations responding to the global AIDS crisis, but remains largely silent on the issue of access to the life-extending AIDS drugs that are widely available in rich countries.
Zimbabwe's parliament pressed ahead with the passage of a highly restrictive press bill in preparation for the March presidential election in which President Robert Mugabe faces an uphill battle.
Foreign journalists are being forced to leave Zimbabwe as the threat from Robert Mugabe's government makes it too dangerous to work there.
Ntezimana, an official with the Association Modeste et Innocent (AMI), an organisation promoting non violence in Rwanda, and director of its magazine Ubuntu, and Mr Muremangingo, chief editor of Ubuntu, were arrested on 26 and 27 January, respectively, in Butare and detained in the city's central prison. While the reason for the arrests remains unclear, Mr Ntezimana and Mr Muremangingo have reportedly been questioned over the activities of their organisation and their use of the word "ubuyanja", a term which was also used by former president Pastor Bizimungu in setting up an opposition party that is now outlawed.
RSF has called on members of the Eritrean parliament to ask for the immediate release of all journalists languishing in jail in Eritrea. "Parliamentarians today have an opportunity to show goodwill and their commitment to press freedom. They must take a firm approach vis-à-vis the executive and call for their release," stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. "We recall that Eritrea has become the only country in the entire African continent without a single independent publication," he added.
FXI has expressed shock over the number of books that South Africans are unable to access due to the existing gap between the current legislation and the ban placed on them during apartheid. There are approximately 18,000 titles on a banned book list drawn up by the apartheid government and listed in a 560-page document called "Jacobson". FXI welcomes the announcement by the Film and Publication Board that it will remove Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" from the banned book list. However, FXI believes it is totally unacceptable that in a democratic country, where the constitution protects an individual's right to receive information and express themselves, thousands of books are out of the public's reach because there is a gap in the legislature.
The II Global Congress of Citizen Networks - held in Buenos Aires from the 5th to the 7th December 2001 - established some basic guidelines for new social institutions on the Net. Read more in this interesting article by Luis Angel Fernandez Hermana.
The National Education Health & Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) has called on President Thabo Mbeki to launch a commission of inquiry into Umgeni Water and put pressure on the water utility to release an internal audit report that allegedly fingers senior board members for corruption.
Negotiations to put an end to the political infighting that is threatening to derail the Civil Society Indaba of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) have been put on hold until the warring factions return from a conference being held in New York. This week’s conference in New York is part of a process to get policies and practical preparations in place for the summit, scheduled to start in Johannesburg at the end of August 2002.
"The free market model of globalisation has failed the world's workers," declared Mamounata Cissé, Assistant General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the world's largest trade union body, at the start of a
trade union-organised seminar on decent work at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. "Inequalities are widening everywhere - between poor and rich, between women and men, between governments and the international economic institutions, and between the developing and the industrialised countries."
Leaders of 36 international companies have issued a "corporate citizenship" statement, committing them to making responsible behaviour a core part of their business and to forging close links with all their stakeholders. Against the background of the Enron scandal and continuing waves of corporate lay-offs, the chief executives of companies, including Anglo American, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Siemens, will say that "ultimate responsibility (for corporate citizenship) rests with us as chief executives, chairmen and board directors".
When the government of the Republic of Zambia privatised the mines, it was everybody’s expectation that the investment plans agreed with the mining investors would be successfully implemented and would improve the financial viability and technical efficiencies to the benefit of our country. On the advice of the World Bank that indicated “ healthy projections” the mines were sold. The new owners were given big concessions and took on less social and environmental responsibilities. The finalization of the sale of ZCCM was expected to positively impact on the various sectors of the economy and lead to sustainable economic growth so as to uplift the standards of living of the people of Zambia. Unfortunately today, the reality is different from the expectations.
The United Nations tribunal for Rwanda said it plans to introduce new measures to speed up genocide trials to fend off mounting criticism from survivors of the 1994 massacres.
In 1996, Rwanda's fertility index was one of the highest in the world, the product of a culture in which families of all social backgrounds typically have many children. Rwanda's 1994 genocide, which claimed an estimated 800,000 lives over the course of 100 days, left permanent scars on Rwanda, its culture, and its children.
In the first of a monthly series of columns on the issues facing Sierra Leone today, David Tam-Baryoh—founder of independent Freetown newspaper Punch, Director of the Center for Media Education and Technology, and 2000 recipient of World Press Review's International Editor of the Year Award—reports on the corruption that poisons every level of Sierra Leonean society.
The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian crisis in central Angola, where every month thousands more people are being driven from their homes and fields, and seeking emergency assistance in the towns.
Members of the militant Ooodua People's Congress [OPC] of mostly Christian Yorubas and the mostly Muslim Hausas clashed in Lagos over the weekend, leaving an untold number of people dead.
Britain and the U.S. have issued a joint list of Zimbabwean leaders they intend to slap with targeted personal sanctions in protest against what London and Washington allege were widespread violations of human rights in the southern African country, a local newspaper reported.
The Tanzanian government plans to launch a campaign to convince the international community that trade in tanzanite, a rare gem mined in the country, has no links to Osama bin Laden's network, Energy minister Maokola Majogo has said.
Corruption causes grave damage to many countries. It leads to governments building unnecessary conference centres, dams and palaces. It results in leaders buying guns, tanks and military aircraft when they have no enemies apart from their own people. Corruption ravages nascent democratic institutions and destroys people's belief that they can improve their lives through honest effort. Yet for companies doing business in much of the developing world, the choice is not between paying bribes and being honest. It is between paying bribes and not doing business. There are countries where nothing gets done without illicit money changing hands.
UN Report of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance Durban, 31 August - 8 September 2001.
New research from Webchek indicates that 49 percent of South African Internet users are women.
The Internet Association for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is encouraging you to participate in it's 'At-Large' study. Read on for details.
The Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) has announced the launching of a telemedicine project, with assistance from ITU. This short news item has details.
This press release details the first graduatuation of women from the CISCO Networking Academy at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
In a significant step to bridge the digital divide, the United Nations Development Programme has set up an an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Trust Fund to make technologies crucial for development more widely accessible to and more affordable for Egyptians.
The Transitional National Government (TNG) of Somalia has freed 11 foreign nationals who were arrested in December for suspected links with terrorist groups.
The European Union (EU) and the Carter Centre this week expressed grave doubts about the authenticity of the official results of Zambia's general elections held in December, and called for a speedy judicial review of the results to ease lingering political tensions.
A US $7.1 million conservation project in Tana River District, eastern Kenya, has stalled after the lead financier opposed the displacement of some 600 families planned under the scheme.
Former Rwandan prime minister Faustin Twagiramungu testified on Monday at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as the first defence witness for Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and his son, Gerard who stand accused of crimes against humanity and genocide, the tribunal reported.
The general humanitarian focus in the volcano-stricken town of Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is shifting from an emergency intervention to longer-term needs.
Two Congolese anti-government groups have agreed that their combined force set up to "aggressively track down" other marauding dissidents in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo will be based at Kalemie, Katanga Province, rebel-controlled radio reported on Friday.
A recent survey by the aid agency International Rescue Committee has shown widespread reluctance among residents of Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, to relocate outside the volcano stricken town, despite the danger of further eruptions in the region.
The United Nations Security Council outlined measures on Thursday aimed at preventing conflict; and creating political, social and economic conditions essential for peace and sustainable development in Africa, UN News reported.
The planned resettlement of a group of Ugandan returnees from Tanzania, currently camped in Kikagati, Mbarara District, in the southwest, has been delayed following resistance from local residents in the proposed resettlement area.
Some 3,000 US marines and navy personnel have arrived on the coast of Kenya for a series of joint military exercises to be carried out in collaboration with Kenyan servicemen in the coastal region.
A cease-fire agreement in the Nuba Mountains region of Southern Kordofan State, south-central Sudan, is holding, and could lead to a more comprehensive peace in the country, according to a Sudanese diplomat.
The Kenya Constitutional Review Commission (KCRC) is charged with drawing up a revised constitution before general elections take place later this year. IRIN interviewed KCRC secretary, Patrick Lumumba, on current prospects for the review process.
Website offers free manuals for NGOs and other workers in the South, including "Interviewing and Counselling at the Grassroots" and "How to build a Good Small NGO". Three manuals are also available in French and the Counselling manual in Somali. There is a Resource list and a chance for South-South problem solving.
Britain has pledged more than US $40 million to Ethiopia over the next three years in the first aid agreement since the end of the war with Eritrea.
Two hundred and fifty thousand children under the age of five are living with the HIV/AIDS virus in Ethiopia, according to the ministry of health.
A criminal racket on both sides of the border is helping illegal Zimbabwean immigrants cross into South Africa, a senior army officer told IRIN.
The European Union (EU) is going ahead with preparations to monitor Zimbabwe's presidential elections in March, despite the lack of a formal invitation from President Robert Mugabe, EU officials told IRIN on Monday.
Liberia's Defence Ministry has confirmed reports of intense fighting since Friday between government forces and dissidents in the north and northwest of the country.
The health department says drugs imported by Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) for AIDS treatment in South Africa can be used for normal research practice if they comply with the section 21 authorisation.
The MPLA government and Jonas Savimbi's armed movement, Unita appear ready for a new effort at peace talks to end Angola's almost 30-year civil war, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Advisor on Africa, Ibrahim A. Gambari told reporters Monday. "I went to Angola to persuade Savimbi to come to the table and it appears to be working."
To develop, in close collaboration with partner organizations, a
comprehensive regional strategy and programme for HIV/AIDS prevention,
mitigation and access to care for migrants and mobile populations. Should
have excellent English writing and communications skills; fluency in French
or Portuguese.
The latest bout of fighting to afflict West Africa is believed to have displaced tens of thousands of people, say UNHCR. The outbreak of fighting occurred in Liberia's Sawmill area, 100 kms north of the capital, Monrovia. Those displaced have fled south to the area around Klay junction, some 35 kilometres outside Monrovia where there could now be as many as 100,000 displaced people, according to Liberian government figures quoted by UNHCR. Those uprooted by the fighting include Sierra Leonean refugees who had sought refuge in Liberia. Since fighting intensified in Liberia's northern counties in December more than 6,000 new arrivals have been registered by UNHCR in various camps around Monrovia.
Global Health Council Invites Nominations for Health and Human Rights Award. The Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights is designed to honor outstanding work in the area of global health and human rights and to call continued attention to the vital links between health and human rights. The award, a $20,000 cash prize, is presented annually. Potential funding is used to enhance visibility and public awareness of the issue or project nominee is addressing.
The Brookings Institution-CUNY Project on Internal Displacement, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the U.S. Committee for Refugees today released a report that urges the European Union (EU) and European countries individually to become more specifically and actively engaged in assisting and protecting internally displaced persons and to address the causes and consequences of internal displacement.
Just a quick posting to congratulate you on your newsletter. As the editor of a small magazine reporting on environmental issues and environmental injustice (admittedly mostly in Europe) I have found your newsletter to be very informative as to the true situation in Africa on a multitude of issues. I have forwarded information contained in your newsletter to dozens of groups around the world (with full credits of course). And just thought I would write to say thank you, and keep up the good work. – Ralph Ryder, Editor TOXCAT magazine
The reformatted and split series of Pambazuka newsletter is very readable. It avoids the information overload inherent in the earlier version, and one can read it in two short bursts.
First of all, congratulations on a very informative and necessary news source. The Paper is a free, non-profit, non-aligned, independent volunteer run publication based in Melbourne. We attempt to give coverage to issues not normally covered in the mainstream media which, given the current situation in Australia is a fairly broad portfolio. With this in mind we would very much like to use your editorial titled 'FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND CURRENT LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS IN ZIMBABWE'in The Paper. We would of course give full references to the newletter and your website both in hardcopy and online. – John Davis, Co-Editor, The Paper
This conference, organized by African Women's Charity Organizations, is a platform to support the unity of all African women organizations, women's organizations of churches, and the women of youth organizations, in an international sisterhood. Issues on housing, childcare, education, transportation, and clean drinking water will be at the forefront of the conference.
The pre-Forum virtual conference series features monthly topics from February to July 2002. COL will host the conferences, but each will be moderated and co-ordinated by a different member organisation of the Federation of Commonwealth Open and Distance Learning Associations. There will be six monthly conferences, each lasting two to three weeks, and a plenary session will be held at the Forum where moderators’ reports will be presented and discussed.
Write to the Sudanese authorities urging them to guarantee a fair and prompt appeal for Abok Alfau Akok. Abok Alfau Akok, 18, has been sentenced to death by stoning for the crime of adultery.
Trade :
Climate Change:
http://www.oneworld.net/campaigns/climatechange
Digital Divide:
http://www.oneworld.net/campaigns/digitaldivide/
An exciting grassroots initiative through Idealist.org using the Internet to get people and organizations that act locally and think globally.
Cofinancing will only be granted to operations, which are based on the initiative of local partners in the developing countries.
An editorial production of the educational unit of the Wikyo Akala Project in the Korogocho shantytown. This newsletter comes to you bi-monthly. The Wikyo Akala Project is a community-owned effort striving to bring a few glimmers of hope to a community fractured by illiteracy, malnutrition, joblessness, and crime.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is an enormous country with a population of approximately 50 million people. Its capital Kinshasa alone is home to more than 5 million people. Its vast land-mass is currently divided amongst the many participants in its civil war. The telephone take-up rate is one of the lowest rate in world and its telephone infrastructure is very decrepit from years of corruption, neglect and war. The current period of "not quite war" has focused attention on its enormous potential. Despite all these unpromising factors, its internet services and users have grown across the many different provinces of the country. Eric Nzita and Nico Tshintu attempt for the first time to chart the spread of internet access.
This Drum Beat pulls together compelling stories from The C. I. Home Page from Nov 16 2001 to Jan 18 2002. This includes 3 sections - Development News, Communication News and Base Line. We find relevant information, usually from sources that you won't see in the mainstream media. Links are provided for more information. Stories change every Tuesday and Friday.
Daily Labour News from SA is brought to you as a free service by the Congress of South African Trade Unions and SAMWU.
In celebration of International Women’s Rights Day The Human Rights Institute of South Africa will be launching a Women’s Rights Training Manual and conduct a workshop on the use of the manual.
The Reuters Foundation, which runs fellowship programmes for mid-career journalists, is currently taking applications for the next round of fellowships with a focus on environmental journalism.
The Umsobomvu fund, established by government in 1998 to aid job creation and skills transfer to the youth, this week announced a R17-million joint venture with the National School of Accounting to offer bridging courses for post graduate students who want to be chartered accountants in SA.
Plans are afloat to save more than 11 000 Zambians from loosing their jobs through imminent closure of Canola Copper Mines (KIM). The Zambian government and the world bank have come up with a strategic plan to avoid serious repercussion this might have for the country's budget and economy.
Bill Gates has announced $50-million grant to help curb the HIV/Aids scourge internationally.
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has denied suggestions at the World Economic Forum that South Africa seeks to apply for grants from the newly formed international Aids fund.