CHAIRMAN of Bakassi local government in Cross Rivers State, Chief Emmanuel Etene has been impeached.

The Egyptian Minster of Justice Couns. Farouk Saif Al Nassr announced on Wednesday, 2 January 2002, that a new bill for Egypt's ratification to the ICC Statute has been drafted among 14 new laws aiming at reforming the structure of the Egyptian legal system. The 14 bills deal with judicial, economic, and penal issues.

The United Nations Food Programme has made a renewed appeal for humanitarian aid for half-a-million people in the south of Somalia who are suffering from serious food shortages.

A consistent theme in many articles in 2001 was the amazing growth of cyber-cafes in the main cities of African countries. Below we have two special reports - one from Ghana, the other from Kenya - that provide a more detailed look at this phenomenon. The success (or otherwise) of African cyber-cafes provides an interesting prism through which to look at how quickly the use of e-mail and internet might grow in Africa and where the key constraints lie. Both articles identify a common problem: the over-supply of cyber-cafes. Russell Southwood asks which cyber-cafes willsurvive in 2002 and why?

The GASHAKA GUMTI TCHABAL MBABO PROJECT, funded by GEF-UNDP aims, through a partnership of local communities, government agencies and NGOs to address the root causes of biodiversity loss in the ecosystems of Gashaka Gumti (Nigeria) and Tchabal Mbabo (Cameroon).

GW Elliott School of International Affairs will award three fellowships to mid-career professionals from AFRICA, Eastern Europe, Russia, the former Soviet Republics, South Asia and Latin America to pursue the Master of International Policy and Practice program during the 2002-2003 academic year.

Are you a student interested in international humanitarian issues? If so would you be interested in some paid employment or an internship?
Peacerights, a new NGO, established in September 2001 is looking for students to help with its work. Peacerights is concerned with international humanitarian issues of law in the UK and around the world.

Intensive 11-weeks, 250 teaching hours, Next Course: 20 April 2002

The Certificate in Managing NGO Resource Centres will provide participants with the opportunity to gain or improve skills in managing information, as well as to analyse the dynamics of indigenous knowledge, appropriate media, information sharing and networking. During the program participants will develop an action plan for their resource centre's contribution to the community-based development, information and education strategies of their organization.

Descriptions of approximately 100,000 grants from over 1,000 of the largest independent, corporate, and community foundations provide an excellent indication of their future funding priorities.

Shared Interest is a New York City-based social investment fund that builds support in the U.S. for South Africa's equitable development.

Online interaction can be tough. For some of us it is challenging to engage in sustained, thoughtful interchanges in asynchronous (different time) online interactions. Between the lag time from response to response and the flat textual environment, the spark can fade. Some of us get lost wading through pages of text. Others read and then go offline to reflect, only to come back and feel it is "too late" to add a comment.

Dozens of people died and hundreds were displaced in clashes that broke out a week ago between local farming communities and nomadic Fulani herders in Mambilla plateau, northeastern Nigeria, police and local officials said.

In a recently released preliminary report, Rwanda's Ministry of Local Government and Social Affairs says that 1,074,017 people were killed in massacres and genocide between 1 October 1991 and 31 December 1994, Radio Rwanda reported on Monday.

Informania Ltd, the world's largest electronic publisher of biomedical journals from the Third World, announced that it would provide the ExtraMED full-text database to developing country users for free or at very low cost, under the same terms as those announced last week by six leading medical publishers.

Gender Links, a Johannesburg-based NGO specialising in gender and the media in Southern Africa, is seeking a suitably qualified programme officer for an initial one year contract.

This online resource may help you locate the information you need about the free operating system, Linux. It's a Yahoo! style directory of applications, installation & configuration, hardware & peripherals, networking, system administration, etc.

The leaders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), John Garang, and of the Sudan People’s Defence Force (SPDF), Riek Machar, on Monday announced that the two forces had formally merged under the name SPLM/SPLA and agreed on collective leadership, on the basis that unity was "paramount for the success of the liberation struggle".

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo confirmed on Monday that fighting has taken place between rival armed opposition groups in and around Isiro and Buta, in the northeast of the country.

There is renewed optimism for political stability within the islands of Zanzibar, following the signing last week of an agreement on the implementation of the October 2001 reconciliation accord between Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), according to sources in the capital, Dar es Salaam.

The Ugandan government is planning for a February start on the resettlement of a group of Ugandan returnees from Tanzania, currently camped in Kikagati in the southwest, where some of them have been camped under deplorable conditions for over a year, a senior official told IRIN on Thursday.

The government's anti-corruption commission has filed charges against 54 current and former officials of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), as well as a number of businessmen, according to the private 'Reporter' newspaper.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa on Monday announced a new cabinet and policy reforms that some analysts said would allay concerns of him being a "puppet" president.

United Nations Under-Secretary for Africa, Ibrahim Gambari, held talks in the United Stated last week with a senior UNITA official in an attempt to get the warring parties back to the negotiating table, diplomatic sources have confirmed to IRIN.

Mauritius is aiming to ensure that women's equality is reflected in the national budget and economic policies, a UNDP press release announced on Wednesday.

The death toll from Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Gabon and the Republic of Congo was 24 as at 6 January, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Monday. It said 17 of the deaths were in Gabon, where the Ebola outbreak was first reported last month.

This week, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, told his countrymen in his New Year address that 2002 would be a year of peace and reconciliation.

A French parliamentary commission on modern slavery has found the country's law and procedures inadequate to deal with human trafficking and other forms of slavery in France.

The head of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) has accused the international community of failing the continent. Amara Essy said the refusal to alleviate Africa's huge debt burden "continues to compromise" its development.

White Kenyans have been told to pay outstanding rates to Nairobi city council or face Zimbabwe-style land seizures. Mayor Dick Waweru accused white residents of the capital's three affluent suburbs - Karen, Langata and Muthaiga - of not paying £10m in rates for nearly a decade, despite using public services.

Languages are today being killed at a much faster rate than ever before in human history and linguistic diversity disappears more rapidly than biological diversity. Yet, linguistic diversity is as necessary for the sustainability of our planet as is biological diversity. There is an interesting correlation: the areas in the world with the highest biodiversity also have more linguistic density and the loss of language also implies the loss of environmental knowledge.

In partnership with MediaChannel affiliates engaged with media issues in the region, we are proud to announce MediaChannel: Africa. This project will launch in early 2002 to provide media-makers with opportunities for collaboration, information sharing, global exposure and local and international support. It will be a vital resource for analyzing the impact of the media on Africa's institutions and communities. We welcome your participation in this new project. Please join our discussions in the Forum.

I wish to subscribe to the EXCELLENT PAMBAZUKA NEWS. – Felicity Hill, Director, United Nations Office, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

Zimbabwe's military chiefs have declared they will only back leaders who fought in the country's wars of liberation, dealing a fresh blow to the opposition presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai.

Huge demonstrations in support of Madagascar opposition presidential candidate Marc Ravalomanana have entered their fourth day.

Southern Africa is rushing pell-mell into the cauldron of Zimbabwe’s Presidential election.

If the election is held and Mugabe wins, but it is declared to be unfair and not acceptable by Zimbabweans and the world, there will be chaos in Zimbabwe. The chances of this happening are high; Mugabe can only win by cheating and violence. South Africa may have to intervene militarily.

Not only ZANU, but also the Army, the Police and the Administration are deeply riven. Ultimately Mugabe has built a worthless edifice by doing little more than playing populist politics. He has abused land and race and conjured up a host of “enemies” from the global economy to Britain to, fashionably but cynically, branding the opposition “terrorists”. The ace in his pack of cards is his and his cronies’ rape of the DRC, the land, violence against internal and external enemies, and officially controlled resources – their joint culpability.

It is long since time to call Mugabe’s bluff, to openly avoid him and his cronies and to stand squarely behind the citizens of Zimbabwe.

The region and the international community must now prepare to help the MDC establish political, social and economic stability either after the March election if there is a normal transfer of power or after a period of chaos and bloodletting.

South Africa remains the key player. There are still creative measures that can be taken to both help ensure an acceptable election and to prepare for the likely aftermath. During the SADC monitoring visit two weeks ago, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana reported that the delegation was "amazed" by the cooperation of the Zimbabwean ministers. He added, “Normally, there is a flat-footed denial. They are now accepting that the situation is beyond their control and that they need help," He said many issues were "raised sharply" with the Zimbabweans, including reports of state-sponsored violence and land invasions.

The view reported by Mdladlana no doubt led to the current ANC fraternal visit to ZANU. The outcome has to show the ANC putting aside ZANU as paralytic and destroyed by corruption. The ANC must be seen to treasure the worth of Zimbabwe as a people and an economy, just as the Constitution would demand.

The ZANU and the MDC Congresses have just been held. They revealed two worlds far apart. Zanu’s was a mad, ranting, demagogic and frightening example of lunatic showmanship. The MDC’s was a serious, participatory, comradely, democratic meeting espousing human rights, dignity and a courageous resolve to bravely soldier on so that, maybe, the voters could vote. The MDC is relying on Mugabe not being able to stop its messages being spread by word of mouth and by a new external and independent short wave radio station. The aim is to encourage Zimbabweans to vote in droves if they can.

Days before the Zanu Congress, the Zimbabwe Army, Police, Intelligence Organisation, and Air Force brass urged Mugabe to quit and to anoint a successor to enhance Zanu PF’s chances in the election. Most of these officers are heavily implicated in corruption, political violence, the rape of the natural resources of the Congo, and many have received farms and other favours.

They no longer see Mugabe as able to protect them. They know that there is rampant factionalism tearing ZANU apart. Mugabe had now lost the former Zanu strongholds of Masvingo, the Midlands and Manicaland together with his complete lack of support in all the cities. He can only bank on the Mashonaland vote.

If Zimbabweans can vote, Mugabe will lose. That loss will herald the political oblivion of the corrupt, venial and grasping political elite that has all but destroyed a wonderful people and country. This explains that elite’s desperation to avoid jail by clinging to power at whatever national and individual cost. Hence the general’s “advice” to Mugabe to go!

Many senior ZANU officials share the sentiment of one quoted in the free press in Harare, "Campaigning for Mugabe is a futile exercise. People are tired of him and it is clear to all of us that the writing is on the wall. It will be a miracle if we win.”

A senior party member summed up the mood of the ZANU Congress thus, "It's only an ill-advised fly that follows a corpse to the grave." ZANU as a coherent political party could fall apart quite suddenly. Zimbabweans will recognise that moment and act accordingly.

When the MDC President, Morgan Tsvangirai, reminded Mugabe that the people might be driven by the collapsing social order and economy to throw him out, Mugabe had him charged with treason. Now Mugabe, above the law, is openly inciting violence. Worse, acting as a dictator or fascist, Mugabe is saying that his followers must go out and use brute force because victory can only be achieved by violence.

To underwrite his on-going war against citizens, Mugabe has added three further threats.

1. The army is being largely recalled from the DRC, up to 10,000 troops, till after the election with all leave cancelled. He has already deployed troops in the townships and the regional strongholds of the MDC, ostensibly to “protect his supporters from terrorism". Defence officials are reported as saying openly that, "The president has indicated he needs the entire army for the forthcoming election.”

2. Zanu has long resolved to bar the opposition from campaigning in the rural constituencies. Apart from the army, the “War Veterans”, as they did at the last general election and since in a long orgy of terror aimed at villagers, white farmers and farm labour, will ensure this by intimidation. Again, they will operate beyond the law, be protected by the Police and be guided by the Central Intelligence Organisation.

Zanu regards its followers as its property, as cattle, not people; “The MDC must leave our rural supporters alone," stated the Vets Secretary-General, Mhlanga.

3. Having violated the adults and letting the Vets loose on citizens, Mugabe is turning to the youth and children as his newest foot soldiers. The youth brigades trained under the national service programme are not doing community work. They have been deployed in different areas where they beat up civilians.

The infamous Fifth Brigade massacred some 20,000 civilians in Matabeleland during the 1980s. Now, on a countrywide footing, with all the troops, the police, the Vets and his new foot soldiers, the youth and children, all Mugabe’s commissioned thugs, the numbers massacred could multiply to many times 20,000.

To hide Mugabe’s methods, his desperation, new savage press, security, defamation and electoral rules are being promulgated. Hundreds of thousands of voters will be prevented from voting because they come from places that oppose Mugabe’s terror. Only civil servants will monitor the vote. The outside world will be banished.

A bloody electoral battle is looming. Violence and intimidation already hold sway across vast swathes of the political landscape.
The ANC and the South African Government have to make a stand. The ANC must stop being the “ill-advised” fly that fraternally follows Mugabe’s corpse to the grave. The South African Government and the international community must do the following: -

§ Effectively deal with the food crisis. After eight months of clear food emergency, the UN has failed to reach agreement with Mugabe that imported food must not go through government (ZANU) channels where it will be used for political gain. Some US$54 million of imported foodstuffs (high protein biscuits etc) is now on its way to feed a present target group of 750,000 women and children. It will be distributed through Church and NGO agencies. This will not relieve the general food crisis beyond a month or so. The larger food problem remains.

§ Because of its strategic location and capacities, South Africa must set itself up as Trustee for Zimbabweans. It must oversee the immediate import and strategic storage of around US$250 million of maize, wheat and other basic foodstuffs so that there can be quick import into and distribution within Zimbabwe.

§ South Africa must set a number of actions that Mugabe must take and adhere to on a very tight timetable. At each failure, South Africa must turn off the lights, fuel or transport for a given period against another brief chance to make good. Gandhi would approve the method.

§ South Africa and Botswana, old Lesotho pals, must undertake serious war games on Zimbabwe’s borders aimed at forcing division within the Zimbabwe army and capable of being the launching pad for intervention.

§ South Africa, with international help, must set up “homes from homes” across the borders to care for Zimbabwean refugees. The refugees must be supported to re-enter to register and to vote or to stay and do both by agreement forced upon Mugabe.

§ These “camps” must be staffed by Zimbabwean and South African trainers to prepare refugees, most well educated, for the likely post-election economic and social work South Africa and other countries must support to help Zimbabwe to quickly sort out security and to establish civil and economic stability. This could be called, “the Zimbabwean Robben Island”!

§ South Africa and the international community must support a mixed Zimbabwe and international group to take further the general economic and social programme support the country will need. This must be done to advance implementation after a transfer of power, whether democratically or militarily. The UNDP simply cannot do this type of work. ZANU cannot think usefully about a normal future and the MDC has to fight an election under dangerous and trying conditions. Time must not be wasted.

§ The international community must announce and plan for US$300 million to be issued as ‘Work” and as “Training Rights” during 2002 to be issued to all adults every six months to inject family economic security, mobilize communities for joint investment and to secure individual opportunities to resurrect careers.

§ South Africa and other nations must offer Zimbabweans assistance and begin to put into place the Commission of Inquiry needed to nail those responsible for corruption, violence and human rights abuses. This time Truth and Reconciliation must be driven by the abused, not the guilty.

§ A fund must be established to support an independent national Land Commission to listen to all Zimbabweans talk about how they wish to see the land issue treated. The international community can help select Zimbabwean and international Commissioners to give it secure independent status. The MDC, with great maturity, has proposed such an independent body to both listen to citizens and to report, with recommendations, and to then oversee land reforms apart from Government.

The latest jobs from OneWorld Jobs - the place on the internet for jobs in sustainable development, environment and human rights.

The transitional government of Burundi, installed November 1, inherited an eight-year-old civil war and an expanding and abusive "self-defense" program purportedly meant to protect civilians against rebel attack. The program includes the rural-based paramilitary "Guardians of the Peace" which have committed many killings, rapes, and other crimes over the last four years. HRW's report, "To Protect the People: The Government sponsored 'self-defense' program in Burundi," documents cases of forced conscription, the use of child soldiers, and atrocities committed by the "Guardians of the Peace." The report calls on the government of Burundi, to disband the paramilitary force. Prior to the release of the report, authors Alison DesForges and Tony Tate presented advance copies to the Burundian Minister of Defense, and officials at the Belgian and US embassies, the US AID administrator in Burundi and the local UN representative. Alison also discussed the reports findings and recommendations with diplomats and officials in Brussels, New York, and Washington, and conducted radio interviews with the BBC, RFI, and VOA and with the two major private radio stations in Bujumbura which were broadcast repeatedly. The report was also covered by the New York Times. President Buyoya's remark that Human Rights Watch had a right to its opinion but would not dictate policy to his government was reported both locally and in the European press.

Preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), to be held in Johannesburg in September 2002, are underway across the world. The Summit marks the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio in 1992. Women played an historic role at UNCED and successfully shaped the final document, Agenda 21, gaining 172 references to women (up from 2 references in the first draft), a strong chapter on women and the recognition of women as one of the major groups. In an effort to strengthen women's influence in the WSSD process and outcome, WEDO and REDEH (Network for Human Development), a key organizer of Planeta FEMEA at UNCED, are facilitating the preparation of Women's Action Agenda for a Healthy and Peaceful Planet 2015. A second draft will be produced and circulated for review by March 1, 2002. The final version of WAA2002 will be ready for endorsement by the end of April (at PrepCom IV in Indonesia) and serve as an advocacy tool leading up to the WSSD.

The largest umbrella body of NGOs in the SADC region, SANGOCO, is looking for services of a strong, self motivated individual to occupy the position of senior bookkeeper.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) applauds the creation on December 7 of the Zimbabwe Foreign Correspondents Association (ZFCA), which has vowed to challenge a restrictive new press law in court.

The dispute between Cape Town based Radio 786 and the South African Jewish Board of Deputies which is now before the constitutional court has again highlighted the need for engagement on hate speech versus the freedom of expression. The matter has also raised the incompatibility of apartheid regimes' laws on media and the country's constitution.

Zimbabwe's leader, Robert Mugabe, confirmed last week that he intends to hold the long-awaited presidential election in March and held his first rally on Friday. His speech and the events of the day provided a clear indication of how he intends to fight that election: polarising black and white and intimidating the opposition.

The leader of Zimbabwe's opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been charged with possessing radio-communication equipment without a licence, for which he could face a two-year prison sentence.

UNESCO is one of several development partners working to support the establishment of community radio in Mozambique. They are supporting 4 on-air stations, the creation of a women's community radio network and a national coordination forum for community radio, as well as working to establish 8 new community radio stations. This is part of UNESCO's 'Strengthening Democracy & Governance through Development of the Media in Mozambique' project.