PAMBAZUKA NEWS 101
A weekly electronic newsletter for social justice in Africa
CONTENTS: 1. Editorial, 2. Conflict, Emergencies, and Crises, 3. Rights and
Democracy, 4. Corruption, 5. Health, 6. Education and Social Welfare, 7. Women
and Gender, 8. Refugees and Forced Migration, 9. Racism and Xenophobia, 10.
Environment, 11. Media, 12. Development, 13. Internet and Technology, 14.
eNewsletters and Mailing Lists, 15. Fundraising, 16. Courses, Seminars, and
Workshops, 17. Advocacy Resources, 18. Jobs, 19. Books and Arts, 20. Letters
and Comments
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1.EDITORIAL
CONFLICT, PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT - RIGHTS AND HUMAN SECURITY IN AFRICA
Steve Kibble
Connections between conflicts in Africa and its lack of development seem to
speak for themselves. The 1990s saw three million African people killed while
160 million lived in countries with intra-state conflict. Intra-state conflict
comprised 79 of the 82 conflicts of the last decade and 90% of casualties were
civilians. Average income per capita in the continent is less than the 1960s,
and it has the largest proportion of the world's poor. African wars are fought
with few military resources so that appropriation of natural resources is a
natural form of accumulation. Resources become used for pillage, protection
money, to trade for arms, labour exploitation, land, and to claims for its
mineral and water resources. Conflict is obviously anti-developmental, and an
arena where the civilian poor, and women in particular, are likely to be the
major casualties.
Within Africa four key structural conditions lead to violent intra-state
conflict: authoritarian rule, marginalisation of ethnic minorities, socio-
economic deprivation and inequality, and weak states lacking capacity to manage
conflict effectively. The potential for conflict is heightened when these
conditions are simultaneously present. Other problems add to that potential –
lack of fit between nations and states due to the imposition of the 80,000
kilometres of colonial borders, land and environmental pressures, the small
arms trade in itself linked to resource-based conflict, debt, and economic
imbalance and unfair trade practices.
Within the last fifteen years the inter-relation between conflict and lack of
development has been overlaid by the HIV/ AIDS pandemic. Conflict has arisen in
response to stabilisation programmes where Southern regimes under pressure from
Northern financial institutions and growing balance of payments constraints
introduced policies abandoning social services. Policy moved from fulfilling
popular demand to the removal of market barriers so that state-society
relations became highly confrontational.
But conflict, including violent conflict, can also drive forward development
and the fight for liberation and justice, as in South Africa. It is the
reaction of social elites which determines whether such conflicts become
violent. Violence may also be a liberating outlet for disaffected youth with no
economic future and available for clan warlords as in Somalia or for
gerontocratic leaders hanging on to power in Zimbabwe. Equally, 'development'
can provoke conflict over resources and/ if its benefits are inequitably
distributed (arguably a contributory factor in the Rwanda genocide). Emergency
aid in 1980s Somalia for the victims of war and drought subsidised clan
warfare. Terrorism is not strongly linked to poverty, but more to frustration,
alienation and humiliation by, for example, colonization or marginalisation.
Peace (or 'negative peace' in Johan Galtung's words) may hide major fault lines
and human rights abuses, as is currently happening in Zimbabwe. Often gender
discrimination is the most hidden, which poses problems for those who want a
quick fix in peace-making and development.
At the moment we see a number of paradoxes when analysing the link between
conflict and development. Indeed, historically, those working in peace/conflict
resolution and those in development (for cynics neither of them spectacularly
successful) long occupied different spheres (first and second generation human
rights). Rethinking started in the mid-90s after post Berlin Wall hopes of a
new international order were dashed by Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Angola.
Conflicts subsumed under Cold War ideologies have now become more properly
understood. The conflict and development disciplines are edging closer to each
other nervously bringing 'identity', 'democracy' and 'good governance' with
them. Increasingly, both spheres are aware that globalisation in making the
world safe for investment is simultaneously widening inequalities and provoking
insecurity as it reaches into less opened up regions. In response, there have
been the beginnings of a reordering of international human rights work marked
by: new international institutions like the International Criminal Court and
various tribunals, qualifying absolute state sovereignty in the interests of a
people's right to protection ('responsible state sovereignty'), tying basic
human needs (including the right to enjoy a self-ascribed identity) into
conflict avoidance or management (human security) and a critical examination of
humanitarian intervention and the role of the United Nations (including the
Brahimi Report).
In development the technical fixes of the 1960s moved into the basic needs
approach of the 1970s to the rights-based approaches we currently see. To say
this in a different way, people have begun to assert their right to be the
subject rather than the object of development – the poor as claimers of their
rights rather than passive recipients. Conflict mediation has ceased to be
merely the preserve of nations and the rich and powerful. Recognition of
needing to understand and address the roots of conflict has seen the emergence
of alternative or Track Two diplomacy/mediation on a people-people basis.
On the other side, mantras like sustainable or rights-based development, and
governance, become neutralised and depoliticised by the multilateral agencies
and international financial institutions vaunting the magic and inevitability
of the impersonal hand of the market. Good governance is a long way
from 'democratic governance' where non-market development could be a preferred
option.
At the present time we see a preponderance of ethnic conflict plus the
resurgence of religious-focused conflict with overtones of medieval Europe and
Asia meeting. In fact these conflicts can be posed as being over identity in
which human needs are not being met, meaning that we have to see peace and
development within the new thinking around human security. Traditionally,
security has been viewed as firmly rooted in the nation state, itself the
source of 'identity'. It has operated through agreements between different
militaries and political elites: a strongly male arena. But what happens to
traditional security - and identity - when weaker nation states are less able
to control their own policy as power shifts to global social formations, and
markets are dominated by (Northern) transnational corporations, multilateral
financial and trading institutions? Building development on more strongly
felt 'ethnic' identities and diversities may be one way forward in overcoming
conflict and promoting development. There is a natural link here with human
security - of people not just territory, individuals not just nations, through
development not arms.
Finally if we are talking genuine North-South partnership to deal with conflict
and lack of development, partners have the right to demand of British-based
NGOs what they are doing in relation to their own government's rush to war. It
is important therefore that we and they understand what is happening, as we
have attempted to do in a joint Catholic Institute for International Relations
(CIIR) and Conflict, Development and Peace network (CODEP) seminar in October
2002. In disputing he was 'Bush's poodle' Tony Blair said ironically 'it's much
worse than that, I would do it anyway', i.e. be prepared to engage in war with
Iraq. This re-running of Gladstonian moral foreign policy is more worrying as
we are being invited to be a junior global policeman on shaky international
legal justification in an open-ended war without frontiers against terrorism.
The challenge is for principled opposition to war against Iraq to respond in an
analytical and measured way to the question 'what would you do against
terrorism?' 'Attack global poverty, Western hypocrisy, and dismantle unfair
global economic architecture' is a necessary but not sufficient answer.
Obviously the Al-Quaeda - Iraq link demands a great deal more proof beyond the
fact they both share the letter Q. The British government's linkage with the
USA is based on a fallacy. London's case rests on attacking both poverty and
terrorism in an attempt to link attributed cause and effect. All evidence from
Washington over such disparate but developmental and conflict-related matters
as Kyoto, Israel, International Criminal Court, and increased subsidies for
farmers show a unilateralist approach based on dominance and firepower without
regard to either cause or effect. The questions posed at a recent CIIR/ CODEP
seminar - how do we use global resources equitably, how do we control weapons
of mass destruction and how we deal with the imbalance between the powerful and
the rest of the world still remain the key questions in the relation between
violent conflict and development.
* Send comments on this editorial to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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2.CONFLICT, EMERGENCIES, AND CRISES
ANGOLA: DEALING WITH SAVIMBI'S GHOST: THE SECURITY AND HUMANITARIAN CHALLENGES
http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=905
Emerging slowly from decades of civil war, Angola stands at a crossroads
between a spectacular recovery or further cycles of instability and crisis. The
government that won the fighting must now move on a number of fronts – with
international support – to win the peace. Although there are critical longer
term political and economic issues, several immediate security and humanitarian
challenges must be addressed to avoid laying the foundations for a return to
conflict, says a new report from the International Crisis Group.
BURUNDI: A FRAMEWORK FOR RESPONSIBLE AID TO BURUNDI
http://www.crisisweb.org
Developments over the last two months, including ceasefire agreements that have
brought all but one rebel group into political negotiations and the anticipated
deployment within weeks of an African Union military observer mission, have
created more momentum for peace in Burundi than at any time since the civil war
began ten years ago. But donor reluctance to resume major aid has become
counter-productive and peace dividends are needed to give rebels an incentive
to accept disarmament and reintegration into society and to provide the
international community leverage with which to press the transitional
government to carry out its commitments under the Arusha peace accord, says the
International Crisis Group.
BURUNDI: AU APPEALS TO WARRING FACTIONS FOR RESTRAINT
The African Union (AU), the continent's foremost political body, has appealed
to Burundi's warring parties and their leaders to "show restraint and a spirit
of compromise with a view to preserving the gains made and to complete the
process of restoring peace to the country".
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13672
DRC: MONUC DECRIES CONTINUING MILITARY TENSION IN ITURI
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32532
The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as MONUC,
on Wednesday decried the prevailing military tension in the Ituri District in
northeastern Orientale Province despite continued widespread efforts to restore
peace to the region, most notably through the establishment of the Ituri
Pacification Commission (IPC).
DRC: PARTIES MEET TO DISCUSS TRANSITIONAL ISSUES
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/UNID/3F3FB10C8ECC990B85256CD8007AE560?
OpenDocument
As the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to work towards genuine
peace and national reconciliation, a joint United Nations team is coordinating
a series of meetings underway in Pretoria, where Congolese parties are pressing
ahead with efforts to bolster a recent peace accord. Under the auspices of the
joint UN/South Africa mediation team, two technical committees met for the
first time in Pretoria as part of the follow-up to the 17 December signing of a
comprehensive power-sharing agreement.
ETHIOPIA: LEADER ATTACKS WEST OVER CRISIS
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/develop/africa/2003/0225aidattack.htm
Ethiopia's prime minister has called on the west to reform damaging trade
policies and increase development aid to help his country break its 20-year-
long cycle of poverty and famine. Warning that millions of Ethiopians still
face the threat of starvation because of the slow response to the current
famine, Meles Zenawi said his country could run out of food by June.
IVORY COAST: REBELS INSIST ON DEAL
http://news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story2&cid=515&ncid=723&e=4&u=/ap/20030223/ap_on_re_af/ivory_coast
Rebels holding the northern half of Ivory Coast insisted Saturday that a French-
brokered power-sharing deal be followed to the letter, leaving doubts of any
breakthrough in the latest efforts to end a 5-month-old civil war.
LIBERIA: FIGHTING THREATENS PLANNED TALKS, WARNS CIVIL SOCIETY
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302240662.html
The Civil Society Movement of Liberia has warned that renewed armed hostilities
between rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD)
and government troops in the west of the country threatens to mar planned peace
talks.
NIGERIA: WORRYING PROBLEM OF SMALL ARMS PROLIFERATION
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/smallarms/articles/2003/0218small.htm
At the last count, more than 30 communal clashes, bordering on religious ethnic
conflicts have been recorded throughout the country between 1999 and 2002 with
each claiming hundreds of lives and properties, running into several millions
of naira. Similarly, many people, including women and children had been
displaced in the process, resulting in untold hardship and suffering for them.
As the incidence of ethnic/religious conflicts becomes worrying, a national
workshop on the methods and techniques of arms control through the promotion of
a culture of peace in Nigeria was put together recently to find lasting
solution to the menace.
SOMALIA: FACTION LEADERS WANT KENYA TO RUN PEACE TALKS ALONE
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32460
Faction leaders attending the Somali peace talks in Kenya have condemned the
slow pace of the conference and accused Somalia's neighbours - the so-called
frontline states - of working for their own interests. A statement, signed by
11 faction leaders, blamed "continuous contradictions, differences and
misunderstandings" between the three frontline states - Kenya, Djibouti and
Ethiopia - for the "very slow progress of the process".
SOMALIA: INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE TO MONITOR CEASEFIRE ACCORD
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32490
An international committee is being set up to monitor a shaky ceasefire accord
signed by Somali faction leaders, Kenya's special envoy for Somalia Bethwel
Kiplagat said on Tuesday. He was speaking at a plenary session to relaunch the
Somali peace talks at their new venue in Mbagathi, near Nairobi.
SOMALIA: TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT PULLS OUT OF TALKS
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters02-25-092404.asp?reg=AFRICA
Somalia's transitional national government (TNG) said on Tuesday it was pulling
out of peace talks aimed at ending more than a decade of anarchy in the Horn of
Africa country. ''The main reason is that the conference was not going well,''
TNG delegate Mohamed Awale told Reuters. ''We decided that from the beginning,
but we hoped that things would get better... in fact it is getting worse and
worse.'' The talks began last October and have been mired in wrangling over the
number of delegates attending and where they should stay. Analysts say little
progress has been made.
SOUTH AFRICA: NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND SECRECY
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=996
In recent international debate around Iraq and the dismantling of weapons of
mass destruction, South Africa has been cited frequently as an exemplary case
in nuclear disarmament. Local media have been quick to pick up on the issue,
and we have been treated to interviews with FW de Klerk, Pik Botha and others
about the Apartheid state’s secretly built nuclear arsenal and it’s dismantling
in the early 1990s.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: WORLD BANK AND IMF AGRICULTURAL REFORMS: CONTRIBUTING TO
FAMINE?
http://www.id21.org/society/s10aml1g1.html
The focus of the UN summit in Johannesburg in September 2002 was ‘people,
planet and prosperity’, yet at the same time, Johannesburg is the staging post
for millions of tonnes of UN food aid. About 13 million people in southern
Africa face severe food shortages and famine. What are the causes of this
crisis and who is responsible? The food crisis in southern Africa has many
causes, which vary in magnitude from country to country. A study by Oxfam
suggests that one major cause of the critical food insecurity is the failure of
agricultural reforms designed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund
(IMF).
SUDAN: GOVERNMENT DENIES EXISTENCE OF NEW REBEL GROUP
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32550
The Sudanese government has denied the existence of a new rebel group in the
country, which was this week reported to have seized a town in western Sudan.
AFP reported from Khartoum on Wednesday that a new rebel group, calling itself
the Front for the Liberation of Darfur (FLD), had seized the town of Gulu in
Jebel Marrah province, and installed its own administration. The region is not
currently covered by ongoing peace talks to end the long-running civil war in
the country.
ZIMBABWE: APPEALS FOR MORE FOOD ASSISTANCE
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=999
The government has made a late appeal to the World Food Programme to continue
food aid support for another year as there is no end in sight to the country's
severe shortages and famine, say diplomatic sources. World Food Programme food
assistance is set to close at the end of March, raising fears that malnutrition
will increase; especially in the hardest hit provinces, Masvingo and
Matabeleland North and South.
ZIMBABWE: HUNGER GNAWS AS VILLAGERS WAIT IN VAIN FOR MAIZE
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1020
No words can best describe the debilitating effects of food shortages and the
hopelessness that have hit rural Zimbabwe than those of Josephat Madzamba, a
leader of a Pentecostal church, in rural Headlands. Church halls are either
empty or congregations have shrunk, reports AANA Correspondent, Tim Chigodo.
Fifty-two-year old Madzamba says that food shortages in villages have become so
acute that it is difficult to try to spread the Word of God.
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3.RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
AFRICA: NAM WRAPS UP WITH PLEDGE TO SUPPORT POOR
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), whose summit has been dominated by the Iraq and
North Korean crises, pledged steps to help billions of the world's poor as it
wrapped up a summit in Kuala Lumpar. The rich-poor divide was of core
importance to the summit of 116 nations, mainly developing states from Asia,
Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, who rarely have a chance to air
their views on the world stage.
Related Link:
* Tsvangirai blasts NAM for comforting Mugabe
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/daily/2003/February/February27/10628.html
ANGOLA: RETURNING IDPS FACE RIGHTS ABUSES
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1006
A Geneva-based NGO has called on Angolan authorities to step up protection for
the vast number of displaced people returning to their areas of origin since
the end of the civil war last year. In a new report, the Global IDP Project,
which monitors war and displacement, said many returning Angolans faced ongoing
human rights abuses and grim humanitarian conditions.
EGYPT: ANTI-WAR ARRESTS CONTINUE
The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) says it is deeply concerned
by news of the ongoing arrests of anti-Iraqi war activists in Egypt. The
organisation said that on 19 February 2003 security forces had arrested Kamal
Khalil, a leader of the Egyptian anti-war movement and director of the
Socialist Studies Centre.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13607
KENYA: PRISON REFORMS SPARK HOPE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32519
Kenya's much awaited prison reforms began this week with the release of 29
death row inmates. President Mwai Kibaki, who issued the order, also commuted
the sentences of another 195 death row prisoners to life imprisonment. Most of
those released had already been in prison for more than 20 years, according to
media reports.
NIGERIA: 28-PARTY COALITION MOVES TO FIELD CANDIDATE
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302250590.html
Lagos Lawyer Chief Gani Fawehinmi may be fielded as the joint presidential
candidate of 28 political parties to stand against President Olusegan Obasanjo
and Muhammadu Buhari, both of whom are retired generals and former military
rulers.
NIGERIA: UNPP WELCOMES COALITION OF PARTIES AGAINST PDP
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302240422.html
The United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP) chairman in Anambra State, Chief Joseph
Ofia Diulu Okonkwo has said that his party will support wholeheartedly any
coalition arrangement his party may enter into with other registered parties to
dislodge the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) from power.
RWANDA: ICTR URGED TO ADDRESS RELATIONS WITH GENOCIDE SURVIVORS
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32503
African Rights has written to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR), in Arusha, Tanzania, urging it to address the "deterioration" in its
relations with Rwandan genocide survivors, the human rights organisation
reported on Monday.
SOMALIA: PLEDGE TO INCREASE STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
As the four-month-long Somali Peace and Reconciliation Conference resumes at a
new Kenyan venue and with a new chairperson, Somali human rights activists have
issued an important declaration founded on their many years of mostly
unacknowledged and risk-fraught human rights defence work. Somali human rights
defenders from 23 organizations, meeting in Hargeisa from 10 to 18 February
2002, declared that they will "increase the struggle against human rights
abuses, such as arbitrary killings, torture, arbitrary detention and
kidnapping, and work for the equal rights of all, with full protection for
vulnerable groups such as women and minorities".
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13527
SOUTH AFRICA: NEW REPARATIONS CASE FILED IN US
This posting from Africa Action contains a media statement and additional
background from the Apartheid Debt and Reparations Campaign of Jubilee 2000
South Africa, on a new suit filed in New York Eastern District Court against
international corporations and banks for reparations for their complicity in
aiding and abetting apartheid. This builds on the original suit filed last
November, with the same defendants but adding additional plaintiffs.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13556
UGANDA: LAWMAKERS COMPILE TORTURE REPORT
http://www.gvnews.net/html/DailyNews/alert3654.html
Members of Parliament will on Tuesday start compiling a report on detainees
allegedly tortured by state security agents. The agents allegedly use snakes
and crocodiles to force confessions.
ZIMBABWE: AMNESTY URGES ACTION ON RIGHTS ABUSES
Amnesty International issued a press release last week detailing the abuses of
the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, as that leader landed in
Paris for an African-Franco summit. The press release detailed recent
violations of human rights and urged world leaders to come out strongly against
the abuses.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13523
ZIMBABWE: FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL
http://zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=6279
Job Sikhala, 30, a tall, energetic leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, chain smokes as he tells his story: Although he sits in
Parliament, he has been arrested 17 times in the last three years. The last
time police took him, blindfolded, to a basement room outside Harare. During
the next eight hours they beat him, applied electrodes to his mouth and
genitals, urinated on him and forced him to swallow poison. Two days later they
released him on bail, charged with sedition - an accusation quickly thrown out
in court. During hospitalization, doctors confirmed evidence of torture. "It
was a terrible experience, gruesome and horrendous,” he says. “This regime has
lost control of its senses. It should not be recognized by anyone.”
ZIMBABWE: JUDGE ORDERS BEN-MENASHE TO PROVIDE DOCUMENTS TO DEFENCE
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302250012.html
Justice Paddington Garwe has ordered the chief witness in the high treason
trial of three top MDC officials to provide the defence lawyers with certain
documents they say would help exonerate their clients. Ben-Menashe, who was
last Friday granted leave to return to his Canada base, will be notified of the
ruling by the Attorney-General's Office.
ZIMBABWE: MDC ELECTION PETITION HEARING SET FOR APRIL
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302240740.html
The hearing of MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai's election petition challenging
the re-election of President Mugabe in March last year is expected to begin in
April at the High Court. High Court judge Justice Antonia Guvava is expected to
preside over the case.
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4.CORRUPTION
ANGOLA: BEG, BORROW AND STEAL
http://africa-confidential.com/
Angola, a hoped-for oil ally of the United States and with a seat on the United
Nations Security Council this year, should be doing well. Its civil war ended
last April after the death of Jonas Savimbi. The price of its growing oil
exports has been boosted by the Iraq crisis. Yet the nation's foreign reserves
have sunk to less than US$200 million, raising again major questions about
government accountability. The government is not saying where up to $900m of
export earnings have been spent since last July.
KENYA: CHIEF JUSTICE QUITS BEFORE INQUIRY
http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=87&art_id=qw1046200501878B252&set_id=1
Kenya's most senior judge, Bernard Chunga, under investigation for allegations
of corruption and torture, resigned as chief justice on Tuesday, the
president's office said. "President Mwai Kibaki has today accepted the
resignation of Honourable Bernard Chunga as chief justice," the presidential
press service said in a statement. They gave no further details.
KENYA: PROBE FOR KENYA'S BIGGEST SCANDAL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2794385.stm
President Mwai Kibaki has announced a probe into Kenya's biggest scandal,
the "Goldenberg affair". The fraud, which began in 1991, is estimated to have
cost hundreds of millions of dollars and implicated senior political figures.
MALAWI: HUNGRY MALAWI SELLS GRAIN
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2787171.stm
The Malawian Government has been defending its decision to sell off 20% of its
grain reserves. Chief Technical Advisor at Malawi's Ministry of Agriculture, Dr
Allard Malindi, said Malawi is being responsible in seeking to sell off the
grain because they were expecting a good harvest in three months' time.
MOZAMBIQUE: CARDOSO MURDER TRIAL EXPOSES CORRUPTION
http://www.gvnews.net/html/DailyNews/alert3689.html
The celebrated trial and conviction of six men accused of murdering Carlos
Cardoso, one of Mozambique's top investigative journalists, was both a triumph
of the openness of the court proceedings, and an indictment of the corruption
among the country's rich and powerful.
NIGERIA: BUHARI DENIES RECEIVING FOREIGN DONATIONS
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302240653.html
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential flag bearer and former head
of state Muhammadu Buhari says allegations that the Saudi Arabian and some
Islamic governments had donated $1 billion towards his election campaign
were "absolute nonsense".
NIGERIA: PANEL CONFIRMS $197M FRAUD AT OIL FIRM
http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=51815
A Nigerian government panel on Monday confirmed allegations of $197-million
fraud in a state-run oil firm before it was privatised two years ago. The
government last August set up the panel to investigate allegations that
management of African Petroleum Limited (AP) failed to disclose the true
financial status of the company before it was sold off to an indigenous oil
firm, Sadiq Petroleum Nigeria Limited.
NIGERIA: RAPE OF A NATION
http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=51769
It had never happened in the 42-year history of Nigeria as a nation. But when
it did, it caught Nigerians numb. The audit report of federal ministries and
parastatals was made public for the first time ever by Vincent Azie, the acting
auditor-general of the Federation. The audit report, which should be a plus for
President Olusegun Obasanjo's commitment to transparency and accountability,
revealed that more than N23 billion was lost in 10 major ministries in just one
year - 2001.
SOUTH AFRICA: DA CALLS FOR INQUIRY INTO NNP FUNDING SCANDAL
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302260175.html
Western Cape premier and New National Party (NNP) leader Marthinus van
Schalkwyk fended off an attack by the Democratic Alliance (DA) as more
allegations of corruption were made against members of his cabinet. The DA
believes that Van Schalkwyk must have known about the R300000 party funding
scandal involving the Roodefontein golf estate and is convinced that this has
adversely affected the NNP's co-operation agreement with the African National
Congress (ANC).
ZAMBIA: ZAMBIA'S EX-LEADER 'STOLE MILLIONS'
http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=51750
The former president of Zambia Frederick Chiluba was escorted to a police
station and questioned by anti-corruption officers last week over claims that
he looted millions of pounds - possibly hundreds of millions - from state
coffers.
ZIMBABWE: ELITE 'TOOK FARMS FROM PEASANTS'
http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=51757
A member of President Robert Mugabe's family, several high-ranking Zimbabwean
officials and a senior company executive have grabbed farms and forcibly
evicted peasants under a controversial land reform programme, according to a
report ordered by the Zimbabwean president.
ZIMBABWE: ZIMRA SELLS MDC - SOURCED MAIZE
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302170697.html
Over 130 tonnes of donated maize impounded by Beitbridge customs officials last
year from the Feed Zimbabwe Trust, an MDC-aligned relief organisation, has been
sold by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) in controversial circumstances,
it has emerged.
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5.HEALTH
AFRICA: 'HIGH-LEVEL' UN COMMISSION ON HIV/AIDS AND GOVERNANCE
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=16163
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the 22nd Africa-France Summit in Paris
announced that the United Nations will create a "high-level" commission on
HIV/AIDS and governance in Africa, Xinhua News Agency reports. He said that the
commission will examine the connection between the disease and governance
across different sectors.
AFRICA: HIV/AIDS VACCINE TRIALS RESULTS PROMISING, UNAIDS
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=1800
Preliminary results of the first HIV/AIDS vaccine to be tested on humans
were "promising" and an indication that it was possible to provide a degree of
protection from HIV infection, UNAIDS said on Monday.
AFRICA: PATENTS ABANDON THE POOR TO DIE
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,897770,00.html
The thousand fold gap in spending on healthcare between the richest and poorest
countries must be reduced, and this will require fairer trading
conditions. “Perhaps it will feel uncomfortable at first for us rich 10%. But
we'll get used to it, and indeed relish living in a world that's becoming more
just, more uniformly wealthy and more secure,” writes John Sulston, founding
director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
BURKINA FASO: MENINGITIS KILLS 401 SINCE OCTOBER
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32450
Meningitis has killed 401 people out of 2433 cases in Burkina Faso since the
beginning of the 2002-2003 meningitis season in late October, Souleymane Sanou,
head of meningitis control in the health ministry said last week.
CONGO: EBOLA DEATH TOLL AT 75 IN CONGO BUT UNDER CONTROL
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/UNID/1F6F3E6074CD170EC1256CD8005CB52B?
OpenDocument
The toll from the ebola outbreak in Congo has risen to 75 deaths among 93
cases, but is believed to be under control, the World Health Organisation (WHO)
said on Tuesday. The figures, which exceed the number of victims in Congo and
Gabon a year ago, came from an investigating team of WHO and government experts
deployed in the remote northwest area.
DRC: MSF REINFORCES TEAMS TO FIGHT CHOLERA IN KATANGA, KASAI ORIENTALE
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32468
The international medical aid NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has dispatched
medical teams and medicines to fight several epidemics in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), including a cholera outbreak that first erupted
about 18 months ago, MSF reported last Friday.
KENYA: LOW-INCOME GROUPS HARDEST HIT BY INFECTIONS
http://www.panapress.com/freenews.asp?code=eng042587&dte=25/02/2003
The prevalence of parasitic infections is high among low-income communities in
such tropical countries as Kenya, Joyce Onsongo, the country's Deputy Director
of Medical Services, told workshop participants in Nairobi recently. Speaking
at the closing of an international workshop on control of parasitic diseases in
eastern and southern Africa at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri),
Onsongo said that the infections not only have a serious impact on human
health, but are also a hindrance to economic growth and development.
MOZAMBIQUE: STRUGGLING TO COPE WITH HUNGER AND HIV/AIDS
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=1809
Sixteen years of civil war, cyclic floods and severe drought have collectively
caused much hardship in Mozambique. But the current drought, affecting about
600,000 people, alongside the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, are
together pushing a growing number of families to the brink of survival.
SOUTH AFRICA: CHOLERA OUTBREAK CLAIMS 14 VICTIMS
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302240757.html
Hundreds of villagers in the Eastern Cape have been struck by waterborne
disease for the first time, with 14 people having died from Cholera and more
than 800 people having been treated in hospital.
SOUTH AFRICA: MINISTERS' ATTACK STUNS ENVOY
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302240756.html
A United Nations special HIV/Aids envoy, who was the subject of a bizarre
attack by three South African ministers this week, says he is "bewildered" at
being branded a "fascist" and "arrogant" but does not want a "brawl" with the
government. Steven Lewis, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy to
Southern Africa, told the Sunday Times that he would not report the attack to
the UN even though he feels he was "inappropriately criticised". Lewis said
last month that governments were liable for "mass murder by complacency" for
neglecting the Aids crisis in Southern Africa".
SWAZILAND: THE IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS ON AGRICULTURE
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=993
A new study has established the link between Aids and Swaziland's current food
crisis, demonstrating that the epidemic is as damaging to agricultural
production as drought and outmoded land policies.
SWAZILAND: TRADITIONAL HEALERS, NEW PARTNERS AGAINST HIV/AIDS
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1014
Swaziland's health ministry has begun enlisting traditional healers in efforts
to contain HIV and assist patients with Aids-related illnesses. The cooperation
between modern and traditional medicine reverses decades of separation, and
highlights the extent of the Aids emergency in Swaziland.
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6.EDUCATION AND SOCIAL WELFARE
AFRICA/GLOBAL: LITERACY REMAINS ENORMOUS CHALLENGE
http://portal.unesco.org/education/ev.php?
URL_ID=5000&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201
While societies enter into the information and knowledge society, and modern
technologies develop and spread at rapid speed, 860 million adults are
illiterate, over 100 million children have no access to school, and countless
children, youth and adults who attend school or other education programmes fall
short of the required level to be considered literate in today’s complex world.
This is the reason why the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed
the United Nations Literacy Decade for the period 2003-2012, launched this
month.
AFRICA: COMIC BOOK FOCUSES ON CHILD RIGHTS
http://www.comminit.com/pdskdv22003/sld-7258.html
Many children lack protection from harmful traditional practices, neglect,
physical abuse, and sexual abuse and exploitation. In the past decade, HIV/AIDS
has become the greatest new threat to children's well being and survival. In
September, 1996, UNICEF-ESARO (East and Southern Africa Regional Office)
officially launched the five-year Sara Communication Initiative (SCI) to
research, produce, and disseminate a regional communication package on the
rights of the child that emphasises gender issues.
CONGO: RIGHTS ACTIVISTS CALL FOR IMPROVED PROTECTION OF CHILDREN
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32528
Human rights activists in the Republic of Congo (ROC) have called for better
application of existing laws to protect the rights of children. The call was
made on 19 February, at the end of a four-day seminar for the training of human
rights educators.
DRC: UNICEF TO LAUNCH NATIONWIDE VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT CAMPAIGN
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32441
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will on
Saturday launch a campaign to provide supplemental Vitamin A to some 12 million
children aged six to 59 months nationwide.
GHANA: EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
http://www.comminit.com/pdskdv12003/sld-7239.html
UNICEF Ghana initiated an integrated early childhood development (IECD) pilot
project in mid-2002 to reach out to deprived children and their caregivers in
Konkomba market, a slum in the capital city of Accra. The project involves
partnership and network building among various stakeholders including
governmental agencies, NGOs, and the media. Key strategies include bringing
child minders and parents together to understand the needs and rights of the
children under their care. To this end, project activities include empowerment
and capacity building of parents, child minders, and the community through
education and support for proper child care.
GUINEA-BISSAU: SUPPORT FOR GIRLS' EDUCATION
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302260609.html
UNICEF has agreed to provide Guinea-Bissau with assistance worth US $23 million
under a new five-year support and cooperation programme that will continue
until 2007. The programme will cover child protection, nutritional health,
primary education and functional literacy, and a social communication policy,
the programme's coordinator, Karim Alkadiri, told IRIN.
KENYA: OUR LANGUAGES ARE DYING
http://www.cs.org/newpage/publications/news/cheruiyot.cfm
Sixteen out of Kenya’s 42 languages are at serious risk of disappearing,
according to “Extinct and Endangered Languages”, a recent report by the United
Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
KENYA: GOVT ADMITS TO SHORTAGE OF TEACHERS
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302240557.html
The Government has conceded to an acute shortage of teachers following the
introduction of free primary education.
LESOTHO: LESOTHO: LAUNCH OF CHILDREN’S REPORT
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=990
The United Nations Children’s Fund has launched the 2003 State of the World’s
Children Report that focuses on the merits and necessities of child
participation in all matters affecting them. The report was launched in Maseru,
Lesotho. The report calls on adults ‘to seek out the perspectives and opinions
of children and to take their viewpoints seriously, in order to help children
and adolescents to develop the ability to participate in the world in a
competent, authentic and meaningful way’.
NAMIBIA: TEACHERS REFUSING TO BE REDEPLOYED FACE THE BOOT
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302250186.html
Hundreds of teachers refusing to be re-deployed to other schools in formerly
disadvantaged areas of the country face being kicked out of the civil service
as Government moves to bridge the teacher-pupil ratio.
SOUTH AFRICA: FINANCE MINISTER INCREASES SOCIAL GRANTS
South Africa's Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday unveiled a range of
poverty relief measures in the country's budget for the next financial year
which include extending the child support grant, raising pensions and providing
for a food relief fund.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13628
SOUTH AFRICA: THE RIGHTS AND WRONGS OF GETTING A QUALITY EDUCATION
http://www.sadtu.org.za/ev/Feb_2003_html/frontdoor.html
State involvement in the economy and the role, function and size of the public
sector has been under severe attack. As a result, essential services such as
health, education and social welfare have been under attack through
privatisation, deregulation and ideas that campaigned against the public good
and propagated exclusivity, says the South African Democratic Teachers Union.
ZIMBABWE: STRIKING TEACHERS PUNISHED
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302240244.html
Despite having pretended as if the issue of last year's widespread strike
organised by the Progressive Teachers Union (PTUZ) had been resolved, the
government has now begun to penalise all the 625 teachers who participated in
the strike by threatening them with transfers to remote and politically
volatile areas, The Standard reports.
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7.WOMEN AND GENDER
AFRICA/GLOBAL: LAUNCH OF FIRST COMPREHENSIVE GENDER AND HIV/AIDS WEB PORTAL
http://www.GenderandAIDS.org
A new gender and HIV/AIDS web portal will provide researchers, policy-makers,
and practitioners access to cutting edge information at their fingertips.
Developed by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), in
collaboration with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the
portal is a one-stop online resource center on the gender dimensions of the
HIV/AIDS epidemic.
AFRICA/GLOBAL: THE WSIS AND GENDER EQUALITY
Gender equality is at the heart of addressing social injustice, and equitable
and sustainable development cannot be achieved without addressing gender
inequality at all levels. In the context of the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS), gender issues can be said to be effectively addressed only if
strategies and solutions for achieving gender equality strike at the root of
unequal power relations - not just between men and women, but more
fundamentally between rich and poor, North and South, urban and rural, socially
empowered and marginalised. This is part of a submission by the NGO Gender
Strategies Working Group to the Second Preparatory Committee (Prep Comm 2) on
the WSIS in Geneva.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13643
AFRICA: A WOMAN’S LENS ON GLOBALISATION
http://www.genderatwork.org/index.php/wtp/pregsspeech
"I invite you to join me in looking through the eyes of women who want a world
where all life is valued - every single life - regardless of gender, race,
class, caste, age, religion and all the other divides that establish
patriarch’s hierarchy. A world in which the Earth’s resources - material and
human - are equitably, respectfully and justly shared and appreciated. Where
basic needs - of food, water, shelter, healthcare, and education - are met,"
writes feminist activist Pregs Govender.
AFRICA: BARRIERS TO FULL SEXUAL RIGHTS
http://www.dfn.org/news/south-africa/taboo.htm
Most people are uncomfortable with the term "sexual rights." This is not
surprising given the fact that the issue of sex and sexuality is a taboo
subject in many parts of the world. While such discomfort often stems from
religious and cultural mores that are difficult to overcome, the need to
respect women's sexual rights is increasingly understood as a key to achieving
women's rights. Earlier this month, close to 200 people from the region and
around the world converged in Johannesburg, South Africa to attend the African
Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Conference from February 4 -
7.
AFRICA: BUSH EXTENDS GLOBAL GAG RULE TO AIDS FUNDS
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1233
Women's rights advocates are condemning President George W. Bush for using his
promised AIDS relief package to expand the so-called global gag rule. Calling
the move the latest battle in the administration's war against women, many
groups are mounting a campaign to draw attention to what they say are the Bush
administration's plans to further restrict abortion rights.
AFRICA: REVEALING AFRICA'S OTHER FACE
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1229
Photographer Margaret Courtney-Clarke, born and raised in Namibia, understands
why people in the West picture Africa as a place of starvation, military coups
and disease: These images are usually the only ones they see. Throughout her
career, Courtney-Clarke has devoted herself to revealing Africa's other faces
to the world. One aspect that has particularly intrigued her is women who have
managed to maintain artistic traditions in the face of continuous turmoil
created by ongoing social, political and economic challenges.
AFRICA: WOMEN CONFRONT WAR, BUILD PEACE
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1231/context/cover/
At the male-dominated Sudanese peace talks around the world, tall, slim, dark-
skinned Awut Deng Acuil is a prominent figure. For 20 years, she has made
working for peace her life. Awarded the InterAction Humanitarian Peace Award
last year, Deng has helped start the Sudanese Women Association in Nairobi and
the Sudanese Women Voice for Peace, groups that work for peace and women's
rights. The widow of a former vice president of Southern Sudan and mother of
seven knows the pains of war intimately.
EGYPT: END INTERNET ENTRAPMENT, HOMOSEXUAL PROSECUTIONS
A February 17 appeals court ruling in Egypt may signal an increasingly harsh
campaign of entrapment, arrest and conviction of men solely on the basis of
alleged consensual homosexual conduct, Human Rights Watch says. The
organisation has urged the Egyptian authorities to conduct a fair review of all
sentences handed down in such cases, and to free from prison anyone convicted
solely for private, consensual conduct among adults.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13517
NIGERIA: 65 WOMEN GET PDP TICKETS
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302210409.html
No fewer than 65 women from various parts of the country are to vie for various
political offices in the forthcoming elections under the platform of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the office of the party National Woman Leader,
Mrs. Josephine Anenih has said.
NIGERIA: PROTECTION OF NIGERIAN WOMEN AGAINST DISCRIMINATION: CONSTRAINTS AND
POSSIBILITIES
http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v6/v6i3a3.htm
This paper approaches questions concerning human rights and discrimination
against women from a perspective that differs from the dominant view within the
human rights literature. The author argues that the existence and defense of
national, regional, and international rights of Nigerian women against
discrimination must necessarily be located within Nigeria's particular
historical experience. The identification of instances of discrimination and
the struggle to defend and extend women's rights has to be critically examined
in light of the power relations that structure the regime of human rights
worldwide.
SOUTH AFRICA: SHATTERING GENDER STEREOTYPING
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=16160
A mobile phone company has started a national ''Take a girl child to work
day'' - a concept to shatter gender stereotyping and to encourage young school-
girls to go into different careers.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: FEMALE JUDGES PROBE ISSUES OF GENDER JUSTICE
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302210088.html
Judges from southern Africa met in Harare last week for a regional conference
that discussed issues of common concern related to the role and challenges
faced by women in the judiciary and the problem of gender bias in justice
delivery systems.
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8.REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION
AFRICA: 'THE LARGEST SLAVE TRADE IN HISTORY'
http://www.unicef.org/exspeeches/2003/03esp05kultrafficking.htm
The scale of the slave trade is staggering, says UNICEF. According to the
Centre for International Crime Prevention, 12 million Africans were sold as
slaves to the New World over a period of three hundred years, between the 16th
and the 19th centuries.
BOTSWANA: CENTRAL KALAHARI GAME RESERVE CARVED UP FOR DIAMONDS
Maps from the Botswana Government's own Department of Geological Survey show a
massive increase in diamonds exploration concessions on the ancestral land of
the Gana and Gwi Bushmen and Bakgalagadi, just months after the government
evicted them from the region.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13537
BURUNDI: UNHCR TO CLOSE TWO BORDER REFUGEE SITES
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32489
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced that
it is "set to close" two temporary border sites in western Burundi that had
been sheltering at least 10,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC) since October 2002.
CAR: IDPS RETURN HOME DESPITE INSECURITY
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32461
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Bozoum (384 km northwest of the
capital, Bangui) have started going home after government and allied forces
recaptured the town on 13 February, government-owned Radio Centrafrique
reported on 22 February.
DRC: UN MISSION SAYS "URGENT NEED" TO ASSIST 2.7 MILLION IDPS
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32467
A UN inter-agency mission has said there is an "urgent need" to extend
humanitarian support to an estimated 2.7 million internally displaced persons
(IDPs) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported last Friday.
ETHIOPIA: NEW CAMP IDENTIFIED FOR FRIGHTENED SUDANESE REFUGEES
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32456
The Ethiopian government has identified a new camp for Sudanese refugees in the
country after over 100 Sudanese were killed in violent ethnic attacks over the
last five months.
IVORY COAST: DESPERATE LIBERIAN REFUGEES CONTINUE DEMONSTRATIONS AT UN OFFICE
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302260003.html
As they have for nearly two weeks now, desperate Liberian refugees continued to
demonstrate in front of the offices of the United Nations refugee agency in
Abidjan demanding to be evacuated out of Côte d'Ivoire or moved to a safer
location.
LIBERIA: WORLD VISION DISTRIBUTES FOOD TO IDPS
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32452
World Vision Liberia has commenced distribution of World Food Program (WFP)
food to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in three camps in Montserrado
County, World Vision reported last Thursday.
RWANDA/TANZANIA: GOVERNMENT DELEGATION IN TANZANIA TO SENSITISE REFUGEES
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32433
A Rwandan government delegation is in Tanzania to brief Rwandan refugees on
voluntary repatriation, government-owned Radio Rwanda reported on Friday. It
said the delegates were in the Ngara and Kibondo districts in the northwestern
Kagera Region, where about 2,600 Rwandans are living in refugee camps.
SOUTH AFRICA: ANTI-EVICTION ACTIVIST 'KIDNAPPED BY POLICE'
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1008
"Max", a South African Anti-Eviction activist, was kidnapped by four men and a
woman who had earlier been seen at an Anti-Eviction Campaign meeting. They are
suspected of being NIA agents, writes Anna Weekes.
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9.RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA
AFRICA/GLOBAL: WHITES SWIM IN RACIAL PREFERENCE
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=3113
Ask a fish what water is and you'll get no answer. Even if fish were capable of
speech, they would likely have no explanation for the element they swim in
every minute of every day of their lives. Water simply is. Fish take it for
granted. So too with this thing we hear so much about, "racial preference."
While many whites seem to think the notion originated with affirmative action
programs, intended to expand opportunities for historically marginalized people
of colour, racial preference has actually had a long and very white history.
AFRICA/GLOBAL: WHY WE MUST TALK ABOUT RACE
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=9871
Race, after all, has always been a “political” issue - not only in South
Africa. The political, economic and cultural effects of race as a
classification, and their meaning in social practice, are bound to both history
and location. In other words, the challenge might be to understand the
particular ways in which race, both as a concept and as an experience, changes
historically across time and space.
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10.ENVIRONMENT
AFRICA/GLOBAL: CORPORATIONS PUT ENVIRONMENTALISTS UNDER FIRE WORLDWIDE
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/2003/world02202003.html
Amnesty International charges in a new report that corporate interests are
inflicting a devastating worldwide toll on human rights and the environment.
The report, Environmentalists Under Fire, cites the US for failing to use its
influence to protect environmental defenders around the world, and highlights
cases in Russia, Ecuador, Mexico, Indonesia, India, Chad and Cameroon.
AFRICA: 'EDUCATION DEFICIT' ON CLIMATE KNOWLEDGE IN DEVELOPING WORLD
http://www.scidev.net/frame3.asp?id=2402200312502243&authors=David%
20Dickson&posted=24%20Feb%202003&c=1&r=1&t=NB
The head of the Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change (IPCC), R. K.
Pachauri, has claimed that there is insufficient knowledge about the threats of
climate change within the developing world, and that as a result developing
countries are facing “a real education deficit”.
AFRICA: RESTRUCTURING THE ENERGY ECONOMY
http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2003/2003-02-20b.asp
The key to restoring climate stability is shifting from a fossil fuel based
energy economy to one based on renewable sources of energy and hydrogen.
Advancing technologies in the design of wind turbines that have dramatically
lowered the cost of wind generated electricity to the point where it can be
used to produce hydrogen from water, along with the evolution of fuel cell
engines, have set the stage for a dramatic restructuring of the world energy
economy.
KENYA: POACHED IVORY SEIZED
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2797325.stm
Wildlife authorities in Kenya have made their biggest seizure of ivory for
three years. Five men were arrested in northern Kenya with a load of 33
elephant tusks.
NIGERIA: OIL SPILL POLLUTES FARMS, STREAMS IN NIGERIA'S OGONILAND
http://www.enn.com/news/2003-02-21/s_2746.asp
A blowout at an abandoned Shell Oil well in southeast Nigeria spewed crude oil,
gas, and water hundreds of yards (meters) in the air, polluting farms and
streams, activists and company officials said Thursday.
SOUTH AFRICA: WIND-GENERATED ELECTRICITY GIVES KLIPHEUWEL POWER
The biggest wind farm in sub-Saharan Africa, producing clean power from the
force of the wind, is up and running at Klipheuwel in the Cape. The farm,
funded by Eskom at the cost of R42 million, consists of three huge wind turbine
towers.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13550
SWAZILAND: POOR PERFORMANCE OF NEW CROP
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1009
A national crop survey conducted this week by the UN's World Food Programme and
the Food and Agriculture Organisation has found widespread crop failures in the
most impoverished areas of Swaziland.
SWAZILAND: TIME RUNNING OUT FOR SWAZILAND TO SELL ELEPHANTS TO U.S. ZOOS
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=16196
Time is running out for Swaziland to sell eleven ''orphaned'' elephants to zoos
in the United States, even if the sale means incurring the wrath of powerful
animal rights organisations. The position of the Big Game Parks of Swaziland, a
private collection of three animal reserves whose unofficial but powerful
patron is King Mswati III, is that too many elephants are ruining the habitats
of other wildlife, including some endangered species.
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11.MEDIA
AFRICA/GLOBAL: JOURNALISM, MEDIA AND THE CHALLENGE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTING
http://www.comminit.com/Materials/sld-6463.html
Do the media report human rights well? If not, what would constitute "good"
reporting of human rights issues? How should journalists and editors themselves
judge the quality of their reporting in this area? What pressures and
constraints do they face and how might they be managed better? In an effort to
explore these questions, the International Council on Human Rights Policy
(ICHRP) conducted a two-year research project involving interviews with over 70
editors, journalists, and broadcasters working in major international media
centres and extensive consultation with national and local media professionals
in several countries.
GREAT LAKES: MEDIA WATCHDOGS STRESS NEED FOR PRESS FREEDOM
Media watchdogs and other human rights groups observing Africa's political
landscape have this year continued past calls for an end to the harassment of a
number of journalists in African countries and the release of others they say
are imprisoned there.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13638
LIBERIA: STOP TORTURING JOURNALISTS, MEDIA GROUP URGES
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32538
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has urged the Liberian government
to stop “the unending spate of physical assault, cruel torture and sheer
impunity being perpetrated” against journalists and human rights activists.
NIGERIA: NBC READS RIOT ACT TO BROADCAST MEDIA
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has warned that it would not
hesitate to close down any electronic medium which violates the establishment's
guidelines on broadcasting. The Director-General of NBC, Dr. Silas Yisa
said: "NBC is not particularly happy that some electronic media organisations
in the country have been operating as if they are lords unto themselves."
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13609
RWANDA: EDITOR OF INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER DETAINED FOR OVER ONE MONTH
Reporters sans frontières (RSF) says the detention of Ismael Mbonigaba, editor
of the newspaper "Umuseso", who has been imprisoned for the past month for
allegedly "inciting people to be divisive and practice discrimination" was
simply an excuse for the government to crack down on independent media and the
opposition.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13608
SOUTH AFRICA: ETHNIC PREJUDICE ON TELEVISION
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1018
Renowned South African actor comedian and talk show host Desmond Dube’s comment
on his comedy show, Dube on Monday, unleashed a storm of furry from South
African Tsonga people. This happened three weeks ago when Dube likened Shangaan
people to baboons. A voice over apology was aired at the end of the show after
a flood of calls from concerned citizens to the South African Broadcasting
Corporation (SABC) condemning Dube’s annotations.
ZIMBABWE: FOREIGN JOURNALISTS ARRESTED
Two Dutch journalists Raymond Bouuman and Pim Hauinkels were arrested on 26
February in the city of Bulawayo for filming a bread queue. The two work for
the Dutch TV Journal ITL5. The two journalists were taken in for questioning by
the police before being released after about an hour.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13670
ZIMBABWE: SOLDIERS ASSAULT DAILY NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=998
Soldiers manning queues at Batanai Supermarket in Harare assaulted Daily News
photographer Philimon Bulawayo after he took pictures of the long, winding
queues that have become prevalent at most shops selling basic commodities.
Bulawayo, 29, said he was approached by two soldiers while he was standing
opposite Batanai Supermarket and they started assaulting him.
ZIMBABWE: SOLDIERS HARASS FINGAZ SUB-EDITOR
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=994
Financial Gazette sub-editor Taungana Ndoro was last Sunday victimised by
soldiers guarding the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s Mbare studios, who
forced him to roll on the tarmac and in a pool of mud. Ndoro said he was
waiting near the broadcasting station for his wife when a group of about six
armed soldiers seized him and led him to their post at the studios.
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12.DEVELOPMENT
AFRICA: EU'S SECRET PLANS HOLD POOR COUNTRIES TO RANSOM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,902296,00.html
The European Union has drawn up secret plans aimed at prising open service
sector markets in the world's poorest countries in return for cutting its
lavish farm subsidies, it was revealed last night. The demands under the World
Trade Organisation's service sector talks target 109 countries, including the
50 least developed, and would allow European firms to charge for providing
water to some of the 1.2bn people living on less than a dollar a day. Details
of the blueprint leaked to the Guardian showed that the EU has demanded a high
price for allowing developing countries access to its highly protected farm
markets.
AFRICA: EVALUATING THE POVERTY IMPACT OF ECONOMIC POLICIES - SOME ANALYTICAL
CHALLENGES
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1002
Has there been any progress in determining what policies are pro-poor? This
article reviews the various tools presently available to evaluate the impact of
economic policies in general on poverty reduction, or on the distribution of
living standards. It also explores directions for improvement.
AFRICA: FREE MARKET: AT WHAT COST? INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
http://www.id21.org/society/s7bnb2g1.html
Trade liberalisation used to be uncontroversial. Today, it is blamed for many
of the world's ills. What went wrong? This study assesses the evidence and
suggests that we need an international trading system that contributes to
sustainable development. It should be built from the bottom-up and all nations
should take part in defining it.
AFRICA: GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL RULES NEED TREATMENT
http://www.actionaid.org/resources/pdfs/aoa.pdf
Agricultural trade is of vital importance for developing countries, accounting
for a large share of GDP and being a primary source of employment, livelihoods
and basic food for the majority of the population. For this reason the rules
governing the trade in agriculture deserve distinctive treatment within the
WTO. This paper concludes that the negotiations on agriculture should pay more
attention on food security and equal opportunities for developing and developed
countries.
AFRICA: IS AGRICULTURE THE WTO'S ACHILLES' HEEL?
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=5569
Uncompromising words and body language from US Trade Representative Robert
Zoellick, European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, and other participants spell
trouble for the ongoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations on
agriculture. The draft negotiating document prepared by WTO farm negotiations
chairman Stuart Harbinson zoomed to the top of the agenda at a recent Tokyo
meeting when, even before the meeting began, Japanese Minister of Agriculture
Tadamori Oshima rejected the paper's proposals for minimum cuts of between 25
and 45 per cent and average reductions of 40 to 60 per cent on all farm tariffs
over five years. The European Union (EU) also attacked the Harbinson proposal
as "unbalanced" for proposing that "trade-distorting" subsidies be cut by 60
per cent over five years and that export subsidies be phased out entirely over
nine years. Both Japan and the EU denounced the paper as ensuring that the US
would be the only victor in the negotiations. In the fight between the agro-
export giants, the concerns of developing countries were conveniently lost,
writes WTO-watcher Walden Bello.
AFRICA: WTO MINI-MINISTERIAL DEFIES DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
http://www.oxfam.org/eng/pr030216_WTO_Tokyo.htm
After the three days informal WTO meeting held in Tokyo last weekend, Oxfam
International has concluded that the WTO process is far off the development
track. Developed countries again failed to act in the spirit of the Doha
Development Agenda and to make trade fair.
SOUTH AFRICA: A ROUGH GUIDE TO THE BUDGET
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1021
On 26 February, the Minister of Finance tabled Budget 2003 in the National
Assembly. As with every year, this kicked off a process of parliamentary
deliberation that will culminate in the passing of the budget by Parliament in
June 2003. A relatively new parliamentary committee, the Joint Budget Committee
(JBC), is set to play a key role in the deliberations, but the exact structure
of the parliamentary budget process is in a state of flux.
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13.INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY
'ROADMAP' PROPOSED FOR SCIENCE IN AFRICA
http://www.scidev.net/frame3.asp?id=200220031426492&t=N&authors=Tamar%
20Kahn&posted=20%20Feb%202003&c=1&r=1
Representatives from a group of major African countries have adopted what one
participant described as a “roadmap” for the development of science and
technology on the continent, as well as a strategy for pushing science and
technology higher up the agenda of national governments.
AFRICA: ICT'S 'NEITHER FREELY NOR EQUITABLY DISTRIBUTED'
http://193.194.138.190/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/CD731DE4838721E3C1256CD2002B
39F4?opendocument
The second Preparatory Committee meeting for the World Summit on the
Information Society, scheduled for Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003, and
Tunisia in 2005, opened with an appeal for all of the stakeholders to work
quickly and constructively to develop the declaration of principles and first
draft of the plan of action that will ensure the benefits and rights of the
information society are extended to all of humanity.
CASE STUDY ON GEEKCORPS OF GHANA
An American who went to Ghana to study percussion eventually came back drumming
up support for a different cause - to give people around the world access to
the Internet and the economic opportunities it provides. So far, Ethan
Zuckerman, founder of the Geekcorps, has done rather well. His Massachusetts-
based NGO has established four country offices in the developing world that
match high-tech volunteers with businesses requiring information and
communication technology (ICT). Even if he is not quite the pied piper,
Zuckerman has managed to gather a large following of geeks behind him -- at the
moment there are 1,300 techies on Geekcorps' waiting list wanting to volunteer.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13613
CIVIL SOCIETY @ WSIS
http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130664/?&more=yes
There have been a number of world conferences organized around UN-related
themes. At the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) information and
communication are on the agenda for the first time. From 17 to 28 February, the
second preparatory committee meeting - PrepCom 2 - is taking place in Geneva.
In an extensive conference, which stretches over two weeks, delegates from all
over the world are attempting to clarify organizational issues and common
ideas. According to the WSIS secretariat, this conference shall produce drafts
of the action plan and the final summit declaration.
CONCERNS OVER WSIS PREPARATIONS
A group of NGOs have expressed concern over preparations for the World Summit
on the Information Society. In a letter to WSIS Preparatory Committee President
Adama Samassekou, the NGOs urged strong leadership to restore a focus on human
development objectives within the WSIS process.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13615
OPEN SOURCE LAUNCH IN GENEVA
http://www.tectonic.co.za/default.php?action=view&id=102
Africa took centre stage in Geneva last week with the planned launch of an
organisation aimed at promoting the use of open source software throughout the
continent. The launch was part of the World Summit on the Information Society's
Prepcom 2 meeting in Geneva.
THE NEW GAL GAME: BUSH HIT BY BIRD DROPPING
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1012
The controversial South African student website "Get A Life" (www.gal.co.za)
launches an online game on the 25th of February that ridicules President George
W. Bush's stance on war with Iraq.
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14.eNEWSLETTERS AND MAILING LISTS
AFRICA: RURAL WOMEN'S ACCESS TO LAND – ONLINE DISCUSSION LAUNCHED ON DIMITRA
WEBSITE
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1004
The Rural Women's Network of Senegal and ENDA-PRONAT are organizing a
conference on "Rural Women's Access to land" - from 25-27 February 2003 in
Thiès, Senegal. An online discussion is now open on the new Dimitra website in
preparation for this event. The themes of the conference include women and
cultivable land, natural resources and land inheritance.
AIDS-AFRICA NETWORKING GROUP
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aids-africa/
Aids-Africa brings together a multisectoral community of Africans and other
countries to raise and jointly address health-related issues, particularly
HIV/AIDS in Africa. Through discussion forums, Aids-Africa fosters independent,
informed and constructive debate guided by principles of tolerance and respect.
DOES NEPAD HOLD THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN SCIENCE?
http://www.scidevforum.net/forum/list.php?bn=scidevforum_sustain
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the African Union's
latest effort to promote the economic and social development of the continent,
has chosen to include science and technology within its sphere of concern. We
invite you to comment on the Statement of Commitments that was agreed at the
end of a three-day workshop on developing a science and technology framework
for NEPAD, held in Johannesburg from 17 to 19 February 2003.
NEW RESOURCE: GENDER AT WORK
http://www.genderatwork.org/index.php/about/
Gender at Work is a new knowledge and capacity building network focused on
gender and institutional change, working with development and human rights
practitioners, researchers and policy makers. Gender at Work aims to develop
new theory and practice on how organisations can change gender-biased
institutional rules and change the political, accountability, cultural and
knowledge systems of organisations to challenge social norms and gender
inequity.
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15.FUNDRAISING
ACCESS TO EUROPEAN FUNDING INFORMATION
The fourth edition of the "Guide to European Population Assistance" has
recently been published, giving you access to funding from all major European
budget lines in the field of sustainable development. The Guide is a reference
work for development organisations and provides an overview of available public
funding from 15 European countries and the European Community.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13612
ARTISTS FOR ZIMBABWE FUNDRAISING EVENT
Artists for Zimbabwe invite you to a charities fund-raising exhibition of
paintings, photography and sculpture by nine outstanding young Zimbabwean
artists. Various charities will be supported and the funds will be administered
by the Zimbabwe Appeal Fund.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13611
SOUTH AFRICA: JAPAN DONATES R50M TO KZN SCHOOLS IN NEED
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?
click_id=105&art_id=vn20030224155204584C679758&set_id=1
While KwaZulu-Natal education officials have been spending hundreds of
thousands of rands on sprucing up their offices, the Japanese government has
donated R50-million in a year-long project to build schools in the rural areas
of the province.
SOUTH AFRICA: RDP PROJECTS STILL WAITING FOR AGREED LOTTO WINDFALL
http://www.thusanang.org.za/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=182
While funds from the National Lottery is being distributed to charities, sports
and to a lesser extent arts projects, not a single rand destined for RDP
projects has been disbursed, reports the Sunday Independent. Since the
inception of the national lottery three years ago, R10,9 billion has been made
in ticket sales but not a cent of the R153 million set aside for "RDP" projects
has been spent.
TANZANIA: GERMANY GRANTS AID WORTH 80 MILLION
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302260212.html
The German government will, through its technical and financial cooperation
bodies, provide Tanzania with US $86.12 million worth of aid over the next
three years. At least half the money would be spent on water and sanitation
projects, but there would also be significant contributions towards health
projects and budgetary support, Detles Mey, the Tanzania country director of
the German government's aid agency, the Gersellschaft fuer Technische
Zumsammenarbeit (GTZ), told IRIN.
ZIMBABWE: LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROJECT GETS $96M
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302270052.html
CANADA has donated $96 million towards a project to help the poor get legal
assistance under the test case litigation scheme run by the Legal Resources
Foundation.Handing the money to the LRF this week, Canadian High Commissioner
Mr John Schram said his government, through the Canadian International
Development Agency (Cida), was ready to assist projects that improved the lives
of the poor.
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16.COURSES, SEMINARS, AND WORKSHOPS
2003 GENDER FESTIVAL
3-6 September 2003, Dar Es Salaam
This event, which now takes place once every two years, is an open space for
bringing together gender and civil society members of organisations,
institutions and all development actors at various levels. It provides a major
opportunity for gender and civil society activists to convene, share, take
stock of achievements and constraints and foster joint action plans to further
the civil society development agenda. At the conference, individuals and groups
share outputs of their work, sharpen their skills and capacities, network and
establish further linkages with other different actors.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13586
AFRICA: PARTNERSHIP AS IMPERIALISM
September 5 - 7, 2003
Africa is being actively encouraged to seek partnerships with international
agencies, western capital and donor governments as a way of promoting economic
growth and improved governance, and enhancing living standards. The New
Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is just one of a range of
initiatives designed to help African states to 'engage constructively' with the
global capitalist market place; for Africa to embrace and take an 'ownership
stake' in various arrangements that tie the continent more closely to the
economic and political liberalisation of capital. Such a stratagem is referred
to as 'making globalisation work for the poor'. The organisers invite paper
and/or panel proposals.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13588
THE CENTRE FOR AFRICAN FAMILY STUDIES (CAFS) TRAINING COURSES 2003
The Centre for African Family Studies (CAFS) is an African institution
dedicated to strengthening the capacities of organisations and individuals
working in the field of reproductive health, population and development in
order to contribute to improving the quality of life of families in sub-Saharan
Africa. CAFS conducts regional and in-country courses that enable health care
providers, administrators, researchers and programme managers to meet Africa's
health challenges.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13587
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17.ADVOCACY RESOURCES
JOIN THE MILLION SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN
http://www.TheMillionSignatureCampaign.org
In the next 24 hours, 30,000 children will die from preventable diseases on
planet earth. These deaths can be stopped. Join
www.TheMillionSignatureCampaign.org, a march demanding Health for All.
PATENTS AND MEDICINE
What You Can Do
http://www.healthgap.org/camp/trade.html
The US is now leading the effort to push through a disastrous "solution" to the
problems developing countries face in making use of provisions in the TRIPS
Agreement that allow for the production and export of affordable essential
medicines. The U.S. negotiating proposals are so narrow and so restrictive as
to be worse than having no solution at all. Visit this web site to find out
about the issues and what you can do to help.
TEN REASONS TO OPPOSE WAR
http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/03.02/0224ten_enviro_nowar.htm
As organisations and individuals working for the environment and environmental
justice, we have watched with increasing concern as the US government moves
closer to an all-out attack on Iraq. We raise our voices in opposition to this
war and invite others to join us in support of peace.
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18.JOBS
LIBERIA: HEAD OF MISSION
Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/res.nsf/wDocs/54CCD37EA8FDF772C1256CCD0040AF39
Duties include to promote and safeguard MSF's Identity and Principles and to
take overall responsibility by co-ordinating the appropriate, effective and
efficient management of the MSF operations in-country through the Country
Management Team CMT in accordance with the MSF mandate and the MSF-CH Country
Policy.
LIBERIA: HUMANITARIAN PROJECT MANAGER
Oxfam GB
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/res.nsf/wDocs/0CAC8F53D83BAB21C1256CD3003C08BD
Following a new front of fighting in Western Cote d'Ivoire in December Oxfam is
now looking for urgent additional support to assess and respond to the needs of
thousands of refugees and returnees crossing in to Liberia.
SUDAN: PROGRAMME MANAGER
ZOA Refugee Care
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/res.nsf/wDocs/B8488C3F8446AEB0C1256CCD0046933E
The Programme Manager will be responsible for the overall management, planning
and reporting of a newly to be started EU funded rehabilitation programme in
Maridi and Yambio Counties. The programme has a duration of two years and will
implement a variety of activities in two main sectors: small livestock
development and HIV/AIDS awareness & control.
ZIMBABWE: ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER
WHO
http://www.fpa.org/jobs_contact2423/jobs_contact_show.htm?doc_id=150137
Proven track record in administering, monitoring and evaluating public health
projects in developing countries and knowledge of vaccine-preventable diseases
epidemiology and immunization required.
ZIMBABWE: NUTRITION AND HEALTH ADVISER
CAFOD
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/res.nsf/wDocs/065E37690788FAD6C1256CCD003F3DC7
CAFOD's Emergency Support Section (ESS) provides specialist support, technical
and humanitarian assistance to CAFOD International Division programme staff and
partners across the globe during humanitarian crises. ESS is looking for a key
specialist to join its team. To help with the humanitarian crisis reaching
across southern Africa, CAFOD's ESS needs a new specialist member to provide
support to CAFOD's Africa section in coordinating the overall response to the
crisis.
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19.BOOKS AND ARTS
A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY IN THE AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM
http://www.comminit.com/Materials/sld-4887.html
This handbook for advocacy in the African human rights system was prepared by
legal scholars under the auspices of the International Programme on
Reproductive and Sexual Health Law at the University of Toronto. The 193-page
manual aims to facilitate use of Africa's human rights system to promote and
protect reproductive and sexual health.
AFRICA: EX-WINNER BLASTS FILM FESTIVAL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2788045.stm
Moroccan director Ayouch Nabil has lashed out at the organisers of Africa's
biggest film festival, Fespaco, on the eve of its opening. Speaking from Paris,
Nabil told the BBC World Service's Artbeat programme that Fespaco
was "disorganised" and "lacks respect for the film makers."
HIV/AIDS NGO/CBO SUPPORT TOOLKIT
International HIV/AIDS Alliance
Increasing attention around the world is being paid to scaling up responses to
HIV/AIDS. As part of such efforts, systems and programmes are being established
and expanded to provide funding and technical support to local NGOs and CBOs
for HIV/AIDS work, and to promote co-ordination and partnership between NGOs
and governments. The HIV/AIDS NGO/CBO Support Toolkit is an electronic library
of resources about NGO/CBO support that have been collated by the Alliance from
a wide range of organisations, based on the understanding that there are many
viable approaches to NGO/CBO support programming. These resources are available
on CD-ROM as well as at the web site http://www.aidsalliance.org/ngosupport.
Copies of the CD-ROM can be ordered from the web site or by emailing
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
PLANS FOR ZIM VISUAL ARTS CENTRE
http://www.africancolours.com/?content/visualartistsassociationbulawayo.html
The Visual Artists’ Association of Bulawayo (V.A.A.B) was started up in the
early 1980s by a number of active artists in the Bulawayo community. It is an
organisation of artists for artists, and as such is in a unique position to
service the needs and promote the dreams and aspirations of the artists of
Bulawayo and the surrounding areas. The group are making plans to establish the
first Visual Arts Centre in Zimbabwe in order to make the dreams of the Visual
Artists Association Bulawayo a reality.
REFUGEE SURVEY QUARTERLY
October 2002; Vol. 21, No. 3: Table Of Contents Alert
This issue includes the following articles:
* Refugee Protection and Fundamental Values, Rudd Lubbers, pp. 20-22
http://www3.oup.co.uk/refqtl/hdb/Volume_21/Issue_03/210020.sgm.abs.html
* Terrorism and Emergency Humanitarian Action, Yves Sandoz, pp. 33-44
http://www3.oup.co.uk/refqtl/hdb/Volume_21/Issue_03/210033.sgm.abs.html
* The Challenge of Humanitarian Values: Refugee Protection and Humanitarian
Values, Stéphane Jaquemet, pp. 111-112
http://www3.oup.co.uk/refqtl/hdb/Volume_21/Issue_03/210111.sgm.abs.html
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13579
RULE OF POWER OR RULE OF LAW? AN ASSESSMENT OF U.S. POLICIES AND ACTIONS
REGARDING SECURITY-RELATED TREATIES
Apex Press
http://www.ieer.org/reports/treaties/
This publication examines U.S. undermining of multilateral treaty regimes on
nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, landmines, global warming, and
international justice. "This book provides a comprehensive overview of how, at
a time when Americans are keenly aware of international threats to peace and
security, the United States is systematically undermining the International
Criminal Court and other mechanisms that would reduce those threats," says
Jayne Stoyles, former Program Director, NGO Coalition for the International
Criminal Court.
RWANDA: TRIBUTE TO COURAGE
African Rights
Rwanda: Tribute to Courage, a book from African Rights, is a collection of
remembrances from survivors and witnesses of the genocide, told publicly for
the first time. The book names men and women who risked their lives to save
others and tells the compelling stories of their achievements. These are moving
accounts of fear and gratitude, of human triumphs in the face of catastrophe.
African Rights is now asking the Government of Rwanda to undertake a new, in-
depth and broad-ranging inquiry in order to draw up an expanded official list
of genocide heroes, to publicise their deeds and to create a memorial to them.
Tribute to Courage reveals the spirit of humanity which was alive through one
of the most brutal episodes of recent history. It is based upon personal
accounts of how empathy and determination overcame apprehension and self-
interest, and constitutes an important record of what one person can achieve
against the greatest odds. The events described in this book should be an
inspiration in the search for peace in Rwanda and beyond. But despite the
passage of time, awareness of them is limited.
Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
SOUTH AFRICA POETIC VOICES UNLEASHED
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1010
The culture of reciting poetry has become a part of the lives of Gauteng youth.
They say poetry unites people from different backgrounds. Timbila poetry
sessions are held in Braamfontein at the Yard of Ale and integrate creative
thoughts from the townships to other parts of Johannesburg suburbs.
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20.LETTERS AND COMMENTS
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Eyewitness Account Of Zimbabwe Valentine's Day March
This is my personal eyewitness account of what happened and is correct to the
best of my knowledge. It is important to remember that peaceful demonstration
is enshrined in Zimbabwe's democracy and the police have confirmed that such
protests will be tolerated.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=13535
FORWARD MAISOKWADZO
London, United Kingdom
Your powerful editorial (Pambazuka News 100: Public Broadcasting - Elections,
Democracy and Human Rights in Africa) clearly defined what is happening in
Africa where governments manipulate media to their own advantage, negating
public interests. Such incisive writing should be heavily encouraged to promote
democracy and uphold the professional role of the media, particularly
broadcasting in Africa. It was a well thought piece of journalism.
NELLIE J. MWANDOLOMA
I am so happy I subscribed to Pambazuka News, as it is a door to so many
information rooms. I really appreciate your noble work and it has added value
to my work.
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THIS NEWSLETTER IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY FAHAMU, KABISSA, AND SANGONET
Fahamu - learning for change
Unit 14, Standingford House, Cave Street, Oxford OX4 1BA, UK
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.fahamu.org
Kabissa - Space for change in Africa
24 Philadelphia Avenue, Takoma Park, MD 20912, USA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.kabissa.org
Southern African Non-Governmental Organisation Network (SANGONeT)
P O Box 31
Johannesburg, 2000
South Africa
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http://www.sn.apc.org
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(c) Kabissa, Fahamu and SANGONeT 2003
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