KABISSA-FAHAMU-SANGONET NEWSLETTER 41 * 7873 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU-SANGONET NEWSLETTER 41 * 7873 SUBSCRIBERS
A United States district court in New York this week held the ruling Zanu PF party liable for the murder and torture of opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters in the run-up to last year's June parliamentary election.
The looming risk of mass starvation in Zimbabwe has worsened as militants moved on to more white-owned farms, beating one worker for refusing to shout ruling party slogans and forcing hundreds of others to stop work.
The government has warned the international community to avoid confronting or criticising Zimbabwe too harshly lest it create a "siege mentality" in President Robert Mugabe's government that will hamper efforts to solve the crisis there.
Fighting in Liberia continues to have severe consequences for the civilian population. In late August, 2500 people arrived in Jenne Manna camp, having fled fighting in Lofa county. MSF continues to treat cases of severe malnutrition and diarrhea.
A conference will be held in Mauritius on the 26th and 27th of November 2001 to launch a network on violence against women and girls within the SADC countries, including Madagascar and the Seychelles. It will take place during the 16 days of activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. On 25th of November, a radio talk will also be made concerning the history and aims of the 16 days of activism against gender violence.
The ruthlessness of the September attacks against the United States has alerted the world to the potential of nuclear terrorism, making it "far more likely" that terrorists could target nuclear facilities, nuclear material and radioactive sources worldwide, the chief of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday.
One of the largest wilderness areas in South Africa will benefit from $US1 million in conservation funding, delegates to the 7th World Wilderness Congress in Port Elizabeth have heard.
Landmines are a dangerous legacy of war that continue to claim victims - often children - long after the conflict is over. The United Nations Development Programme, in partnership with Cranfield University in the UK, has developed training materials on ways to deal with landmine threats.
The recent chilling incident of the killing of a school student by another, has again brought in focus, the alarming increase in violence in schools in South Africa. Administrators now hope to involve parents in counselling children.
People's insatiable appetite for mobility is heading the world's transportation systems toward unsustainable gridlock and environmental degradation unless several grand challenges are tackled, conclude Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers and colleagues in report on worldwide mobility at the end of the 20th century.
A battle has erupted in Kenya over a government decision to cut 10 percent of its forest cover despite vehement protests from the public and cases pending before the courts.
Artists for Human Rights are pleased to announce that the HIV/AIDS Billboard/Portfolio has now been completed and are being prepared for the
exhibition program. This program is being launched on World AIDS Day,1st Dec 2001, at the Durban Art Gallery and the National Art Gallery, Cape Town. Further exhibitions will be held in South Africa, Botswana and Scotland with an exhibition at the Palais des Nation, Geneve, on the 8th July 2002. If interested in hosting the above exhibition please contact Artists for Human Rights.
The FXI notes with great concern the African National Congress (ANC) members of parliament's (MPs') continued attacks on the national broadcaster. In yet another attack on the South African Broadcasting Corporation, on Wednesday 31 October 2001, the MPs criticised the broadcaster for its coverage on President Thabo Mbeki, saying that it is giving more publicity to opposition leaders than to the head of state.
Preparations for next year's World Summit on Sustainable Development advanced this week from the regional to the global level, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai told a press conference this week at UN Headquarters in New York.
Among the visual arts, a considerable number of exhibitions dealing with the Aids crisis have been mounted in recent years, most particularly co-inciding with the HIV/Aids conference 2000, hosted in Durban. But despite efforts at reaching out, museums and galleries continue to attract only a small, art-interested sector of the South African population, and often not those most at risk of infection.
There is an almost total absence of laws protecting the human rights of those with HIV/AIDS in developing countries worldwide, according to a study appearing in the Oct. 1 issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
The Institute of Equity, Ecology, Humor and Art creates innovative multimedia materials such as websites, video, computer games, music and educational material to promote social justice and environmental equity.
The 66 remaining detainees of the Release Political Prisoners party were released on 26 October, 2001 from the Kamiti and Lang'ata prisons on the orders of the High Court on the bail of 30,000 Kenyan shillings. The 71 people arrested have been charged of "unlawful assembly", and the next court hearing is set between November 5-7, 2001.
The time is ripe for the ICC. It will be formally established-with or without the US - after 60 nations have ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The number count is up to 43. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan anticipates the ICC will be established in the next year.
Representatives from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo and Rwanda were among participants from 15 African nations who agreed to lobby their governments to contribute at least 10 percent of the health budget for treatment of mental illness, WHO announced.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged governments and professionals to highlight the plight of mentally impaired people living in Africa, where their condition is often misunderstood or left untreated.
International donors have pledged more than US $700 million in support of Mozambique's poverty reduction programme. A World Bank press release said 80 percent of the pledges were in the form of grants.
Angela King is the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. In an interview with IRIN, King discussed the role of women in conflict, peace and security. While acknowledging that women are frequently the victims of conflict, King argued that women are playing an increasingly important
part in its resolution in their roles as peace negotiators and peacekeepers.
A major step forward in the protection of children from exploitation, trafficking and sexual abuse has just been achieved, UNICEF stated, welcoming the imminent entry into force of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
Founded by five humanitarian organizations, The Hope for African Children Initiative was launched this week to help the 13 million orphaned African children and the millions more affected in some way by the AIDS crisis.
The current xenophobic attacks on the Zimbabwean citizens in one of the informal settlements, to be exact, in Zandspruit, in Honeydew, north of Randburg were allegedly sparked by the murder of a young woman on the 8th of September. The culprit was identified as a Zimbabwean. The South African residents in the camp then retaliated by burning some of the shacks belonging to Zimbabweans. The Zimbabweans retaliated and burned about six shacks. The situation became serious early this week and a total of 130 shacks belonging to the Zimbabweans were gutted by fire and they were driven out of the settlement.
Following is President Pierre Buyuoya's 26-member cabinet for the first half of a three-year transitional government inaugurated on Thursday.
The odds of a new round of world trade negotiations including substantive talks on environmental issues have lengthened following the emergence of a new draft text for ministerial agreement at the Doha summit, due to start on November 9. Despite strong pressure from the European Union, the draft proposes no new environmental negotiations.
Chronic hunger, widespread malnutrition, and pervasive poverty—especially in rural areas—will not be solved, and will most likely intensify, unless scientific efforts are directed toward problems faced by the world's poorest farmers, says a new report from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
T. Alexander Aleinikoff and Douglas Klusmeyer, editors.
The forms, policies, and practices of citizenship are changing rapidly around the globe, and the meaning of these changes is the subject of deep dispute. Citizenship Today brings together leading experts in their field to define the core issues at stake in the citizenship debates.
This report presents an analysis of an opinion poll conducted to establish the views of Kenyans living in the UK, regarding whether or not they would like the Kenyan Constitution currently under review to provide for dual citizenship.
More and more Senegalese women are using the New Information and Communication Technologies to fight for equal rights and gender equality.
The excesses resulting from South Africa's 1998 military intervention in Lesotho have been largely forgiven by the Basotho.
The hope that that US President George W. Bush might announce more debt relief and aid for Africa, especially for the fight against Aids, has evaporated.
Southern Hemisphere is currently offering an intensive training course in HUMAN RIGHTS INDICATORS. The course is aimed at those working in the development sectors, either based in government, non-government organisations, corporate sectors and practitioners.
Southern Hemisphere is currently offering an intensive training course in NEGOTIATION SKILLS. The course is aimed at those working in the development sectors, either based in government, non-government organisations, corporate sectors and practitioners.
Despite having had most of the social determinants of health in their favour, men have higher mortality rates for all 15 leading causes of death and a life expectancy about seven years shorter than women's. Men's reluctance to embrace preventive strategies has also contributed to the spread of AIDS, particularly in Africa, and to an alarming rise in infections among young men, including other sexually transmitted diseases. Furthermore, there is a sustained increase in psychosocial disorders in men, including alcohol and substance abuse, mid-life crisis, depression, and domestic violence. Men's increasing aggression and autoaggression remain an unsolved health and societal problem. As you read this, over 30 wars and conflicts rage around the world, mostly created, maintained, and aggravated by men.
Gender training is central to gender and development (GAD) work in East Africa and Kenya. How vital are gender trainers in transforming the attitudes of men resistant to gender quality?
THE new economy may or may not materialise, but there is no doubt that the next society will be with us shortly. In the developed world, and probably in the emerging countries as well, this new society will be a good deal more important than the new economy (if any). It will be quite different from the society of the late 20th century, and also different from what most people expect.
UNICEF and the Rwandan ministries of Social Welfare and Public Works have undertaken a nationwide drive to sensitise decision makers and the public to the plight of the 7,000 children who are enduring a precarious existence on the nation's street, the UN Children's Fund in Kigali told IRIN on Monday.
Reports from Libya say that the country's current Finance Minister, Ujayli Abdelsalam al-Burayni, is one of 47 government and bank officials to be sentenced to terms in prison at the end of a corruption trial.
The United Nations has started an ambitious programme to help curb corruption at lands offices in the country.
The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has had "a major impact on the human rights situation in the country", with torture reported in government- as well as rebel- held areas, says, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson in a report.
Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Miria Matembe, has said Ugandans should take a united stand against corruption.
The Uganda People's Defence Forces combat readiness has been seriously undermined by lack of resources and corruption, but Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. James Kazini, insists the army is in good enough shape to defend the country.
The United Nations Security Council must enforce the international arms embargo on Liberia, Human Rights Watch said today.
Any new US multilateralism will come with many strings attached. Protestors need to adapt to the world after September 11th, but popular pressure at Doha and beyond is more important than ever.
The implications for the World Bank and IMF of the 11 September atrocities and their aftermath are as yet uncertain. Will this new political and diplomatic context improve the prospects for international cooperation and multilateralism? Or will it mean that the US seeks to exert tighter control on institutions with financial and policy-making clout?
A new briefing argues for a reformed International Monetary Fund within "a new financial architecture". The report, by the German NGO World Economy, Ecology and Development (WEED) rejects calls for the wholesale dismantling of the Fund.
An assessment of Ghana's Poverty Reduction Strategy process (GPRS) suggests there is much potential for formulating, in a participatory manner, an effective poverty reduction strategy. However, there is no guarantee that this will be realised.
A new study for the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs by the UK-based Institute of Development Studies contains case studies on financing mechanisms for biodiversity conservation, climate change abatement, peace and security, HIV/AIDS research and financial stability.
Nigeria’s Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has described as reprehensible the massacre of scores of civilians and the sacking of their villages by soldiers in central region Benue State.
Following the review of guidance on smallpox vaccination, WHO has consulted with our advisory committee and has updated the official guidance.
Six men have been charged with raping a nine-month-old South African baby, allegedly because they thought the act would cure them of HIV, the South African Press Association reports. The attack occurred less than one week before two other South African girls under the age of four were also raped, allegedly by family members.
The New York Times profiles how the debate over the patents on AIDS drugs will be "a major bone of contention" at the World Trade Organization meeting in Doha, Qatar, this week.
Ghana is developing plans to produce generic versions of antiretroviral drugs, Reuters reports.
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's work on gender inequality is of seminal importance. His work on the theory of the household represents the household not as an undifferentiated unit, but as a unit of cooperation as well as of inequality and internal discrimination. Along with his academic collaborator Jean Drze, Professor Sen proposed and popularised the concept of "missing women" - estimated to exceed 100 million round the world - which has given us a new way of understanding and mapping the problem.
Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have fewer teachers than they need to achieve the internationally agreed development targets of Education for All (EFA) by 2015. Conventional modes of teacher education via residential teacher training colleges are not producing enough teachers to fill the gap. Can distance teacher education play a viable role in addressing the teacher shortage?
Commitment to the goal of universal primary education (UPE) by 2015 has received unprecedented support from governments and donors. But what is the reality for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in terms of the additional educational capacity required? And will the demand for primary schooling be sufficient to achieve UPE?
Have YOU experience of working on issues of gender violence or abuse within a school or community context? Do you know of an organisation, community or individual who has carried out innovative work or research on supporting boys, girls, men and women in ensuring that schools are safe and supportive environments where all children have an equal opportunity to learn? If you do, then we would like to support you by sharing your knowledge in the next Gender Violence newsletter. We are particularly keen to learn about initiatives from across the globe. Please contact Caroline Nicolson.
Four days of peace talks between the Somali Transitional National Government (TNG) and factions opposed to it came to a close in Nairobi on Sunday, with both sides claming the talks had been a success and announcing that they had agreed to meet again for further reconciliation talks.
Fighting erupted in the Central African Republic (CAR) capital, Bangui, early Saturday morning when government soldiers tried to arrest former army chief General Francois Bozize for alleged involvement in the failed coup of 28 May, news agencies reported.
Ruling United Democratic Front's (UDF) party activists, the so-called "young democrats", have become embroiled once again in allegations of intimidation and violence.
Christian Solidarity International (CSI), an NGO long at odds with the Sudanese government, on Wednesday cited civil authorities in the Aweil region of northern Bahr al-Ghazal in claiming that government-allied armed forces had killed 93 civilians and enslaved 85 women and children in a new offensive between 23 and 26 October.
Despite a good harvest in certain highly productive areas Kenya, drought conditions have persisted well beyond expectations in Kenya's arid and semi-arid lands, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Tuesday in appealing for cash donations from donors to allow the purchase of relief food in Kenya itself.
Topmost on the list of priorities for Burundi's transitional government inaugurated on Thursday will be to secure a permanent cease-fire and protect the lives and properties of its citizens, President Pierre Buyoya said.
The German government has written off approximately half of the US $24 million Ethiopia owes it, the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported on 2 November, following a meeting held between representatives of the two countries in the German capital, Berlin.
Thousands of Somali refugees were repatriated from camps in neighbouring Ethiopia last month, bringing the total of returnees for this year to more than 43,000.
A new polio eradication campaign which aims to achieve a polio-free certification for Ethiopia in 2005 will get under way on 9 November, a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) spokesman told IRIN on Thursday.
The failure of a coup attempt over the weekend on the breakaway Comoros island of Anjouan has raised optimism among pro-union parties that a referendum across the archipelago on a new constitution to end the country's secessionist crisis will go ahead in December as scheduled.
The psychological impact of Zimbabwe's political violence is only slowly beginning to emerge, as experts call for more attention to be paid to the effects of trauma.
Public spending in Zimbabwe will double next year and taxes will be cut in what economists described as an electioneering budget presented to parliament on Thursday.
The world's major diamond producing and trading countries have reported progress in drafting an international certification scheme for rough diamonds.
Fighting in Angola along the border with Zambia has moved north, as a new influx of refugees this week entered Zambia's Northwestern province, humanitarian sources told IRIN.
Civilians continue to seek safety in government-controlled towns across the country as they flee intensifying fighting between rebel UNITA forces and Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) troops, according to humanitarian officials.
A visit to Zimbabwe's main NGO website shows how seriously civic organisations are taking the current voter registration drive.
The church in Rwanda was only next to the government in the preparation and execution of the 1994 genocide, an expert witness has told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Conference for policymakers, lawyers and the military
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The implications for the World Bank and IMF of the 11 September atrocities and their aftermath are as yet uncertain. Will this new political and diplomatic context improve the prospects for international cooperation and multilateralism? Or will it mean that the US seeks to exert tighter control on institutions with financial and policy-making clout?
Wars raise important questions of institutional structure within and between nations. Many comparisons have been made with Pearl Harbour, which triggered US participation in World War II, overcoming isolationist tendencies. One week after Pearl Harbour, the US Treasury Secretary ordered his chief economic advisor to prepare a paper setting out the case for a "stabilization fund" and a "bank for reconstruction and development"--the proposals which were to yield the Bretton Woods agreement establishing the World Bank and IMF.
Since 11 September we have seen a similarly dramatic shift in US approach. TIME magazine (15/10/01) commented: "an Administration that just a month or two ago emphatically believed in going in alone--walking away from treaties, pushing its missile defence scheme no matter who said what--has thrown open its arms to embrace the pleasures of multilateralism." US subscriptions to the UN have been paid, more aid finance has been promised and positive noises made about international cooperation in general. This is long overdue and warmly welcomed.
However it may come with more strings attached. Just as the original plans for the World Bank and IMF were watered down to meet US interests and concerns, the new multilateralism sparked by 11 September may well be expedient and unbalanced. UK consultancy company Oxford Analytica warned that the "shift in American foreign policy priorities brought on by the recent attacks could presage a return to development assistance motivated by ideological and geopolitical considerations".
NGOs have long argued that the World Bank and IMF are politically captured by the powerful governments which have the strongest representation on their Boards and that they are ideological, not pragmatic, in their approach to policy-making. This situation may soon get worse, however. The US government has removed aid sanctions on Pakistan and helped facilitate favourable debt treatment and speedy new IMF financing. The Bank has reportedly started examining possible projects in Uzbekistan, should the US suggest that these supporters need to be rewarded.
There have clearly long been constraints on the supposedly objective, technical criteria the Bank uses for aid allocation, but may now become more blatant. The 50 Years is Enough! campaign commented: "This use of the international financial institutions as instruments of the US political agenda has been going on for decades. But since the end of the Cold War there has been a reluctance to acknowledge the fact publicly, which has itself acted as a valuable restraint on the US government's inclination to use the institutions to serve its own narrow purposes."
Andrew Rogerson, a Bank representative in Brussels, denied this. He said "the Bank is not facing pressure from member governments to take decisions based on geopolitics". He emphasised that the Bank is looking to take action to support countries negatively affected by the current economic downturn and refugee crisis in Afghanistan's neighbours. It is also planning post-war reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.
These issues will be discussed at the rescheduled World Bank/IMF annual meeting on 17-18 November in Ottowa, Canada. Also on the agenda will be terrorist financing and measures to boost the global economy.
As well as continuing to monitor the World Bank and IMF, campaigners will closely watch the new trade talks, the UN Financing for Development summit, the Earth Summit II, and other processes see whether there are signs of a new, more positive multilateralism. In October Pakistani civil society organisations demanded "a more egalitarian political order based on principles of democracy and justice". This, they said, is "a pre-requisite for curbing or eliminating terrorism with international dimensions and origins".
This brief article concerns the adoption of the Dublin Core Metadata Set by international standards-setting bodies. It of concern to anyone involved in information management and text markup.
This a brilliant newsletter...very informative...so keep up the good work and any time you need assistance with anything...we are just an email away!!
I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. I am interested in perspectives on socio-economic development in Africa today. I am an international graduate student at Oregon State University. I am working on a PhD thesis entitled "Integrating indigenous knowledge into the community development process: The Zimbabwean experience".
I just want to thank you for this excellent and regular newsletter - you have committed yourself to a great task - and I enjoy reading the KFS newsletter.
Campaigners are stepping up calls for a "Robin Hood" tax on the global currency trade ahead of a high-level summit of the World Trade Organization.
Malawi's Daily Times newspaper reported that the United Democratic Front (UDF) has drawn up a list of journalists to be assaulted allegedly for discrediting the ruling party.
With less than 13 months to go, President Daniel arap Moi's categorical announcement that he will stand down in 2002 finally clears the way for a raft of hopeful successors. But he is wary of pointing out the likely victor as it would reduce his twilight months to a lame duck presidency.
Take a look at these beautiful images of the spectacular northern skies. Usually not visible to those of us who live in southern latitudes, the Web makes the images instantly available.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Conference has approved an international treaty that largely bans the patenting of non-genetically modified crops, a step aimed at protecting plant diversity as a tool for eradicating world hunger.
Admitting that it has failed to combat hunger, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has urged the industrialized world to come to the aid of developing nations.
The effect of AIDS in South Africa is "shattering" and too much time is spent in academic discussions about its cause, Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu has warned.
Zambia's judicial and legal failings make it imperative that the country scraps the death penalty, says the international human rights group Amnesty International.
Human rights must be top of the agenda of the new transitional government in Burundi, said Amnesty International.
Despite all the hype surrounding the recent initiatives for making Mauritius a "cyber-island", the reality of the situation is actually very different. This week's correspondent remains anonymous in order to describe the Island's dilemma with complete frankness.
‘Resettlement’ refers to the relocation to other countries of refugees who have sought refuge in a country where they continue to face risks to their “life, liberty, safety, health or other fundamental human rights”. It provides individuals with the opportunity to re-start and re-build their lives. It has been used successfully to resettle refugee women and girls who have been victims of sexual or gender-related violence, including rape. This article outlines the grounds upon which resettlement is granted, noting the very individual nature of a claim but recognising its use in protecting refugee women and girls in general.
Protracted social conflicts do not erupt overnight. They are the result of a slow accumulation of tensions and hostilities built up over time. In the Horn of Africa an innovative early warning mechanism being explored by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) could provide a pointer for similar conflict-prone regions.
ITXC has announced that its voice traffic to Africa over ITXC's global wholesale voice network increased by 1,111% from the third quarter of 2000 to the third quarter of 2001.
HomeBeats is a multimedia journey through time, from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia, to the making of modern Britain. The first cd-rom on racism and the black presence in Britain, it fuses music, graphics, video, text and animation into a stunning voyage of personal and historical discovery for every user. Through a series of fully interlinked sections - Memories, Places, People, Visions, Images - HomeBeats makes the links between past and present accessible to young people in a way possible in no other medium. It covers the history of the struggle for racial justice, tracing the connections between slavery, the colonial experience and modern day racism.
As a follow up to the article in the last issue on eStrategies, Bridges.Org has supplied a set of useful sources for those wanting to get to grips with the subject.
Life in Africa just received financing to create an offline magazine companion to LifeInAfrica.com.