Pambazuka News 421: Zimbabwe: Transitional justice without transition?

Although cholera fatality rates and new cases are on the decline, the epidemic is still not under control. As of 26 February, 84,027 suspected cases, including 3,894 deaths had been reported by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, with a slight drop in the fatality rates to 4.6%.

Over 40,000 internally displaced persons have returned to Mogadishu in the last six weeks. The majority of the returnees are from Hiraan, Mudug, Galgaduud, Lower and Middle Shabelle in the southern and central regions, which are experiencing a combination of renewed conflict and severe drought.

Corruption is an endemic cancer that has devastated African societies and impoverished millions. According to the Africa Union (AU) around $148 billion are stolen from the continent by its leaders and civil servants every year. The 2006 Forbes’ list of most corrupt nations had 9 out of the first 16 countries coming from Africa.

The government should address the failings in the 2008 parliamentary elections and ensure that the resounding victory of the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) does not translate into further restrictions of civil and political freedoms, Human Rights Watch has said. In a 45-page report, "Democracy or Monopoly? Angola's Reluctant Return to Elections," Human Rights Watch documents how the MPLA-dominated National Electoral Commission (CNE) failed to perform as an indepen...read more

Authorities in Cameroon have arrested 25 separatist activists from a movement that has called for independence for the former French colony’s English-speaking minority, the group and police said on Tuesday. The Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC) said the activists were arrested in Tiko, 50 km (30 miles) west of the southern city of Douala, where they went to support a colleague standing trial for holding an illegal meeting last October.

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