PAMBAZUKA NEWS 117: THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: THE US FEAR FACTOR AND CHALLENGES FOR AFRICA
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 If you have e-mail access, you can get web resources listed in this Newsletter by sending a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the web address (usually starting with http://) in the body of your message. Want to get off our subscriber list? Write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and your address will be removed immediately! /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 1.EDITORIAL THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: THE US FEAR FACTOR AND CHALLENGES FOR AFRICA Anil Naidoo And Firoze Manji On 1 July 2002, the Rome Statute entered into force thereby establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), after the mandatory 60 state ratifications was achieved and surpassed on 11 April 2002. Currently there are 139 signatories and 90 States Parties (ratifications) of the Rome Statute. The ICC is currently based in the Netherlands with 18 judges, a prosecutor and a registrar having been appointed. As the first anniversary of the ICC was reached on 1 July 2003, already 200 cases have been referred to it. The ICC will be now able, in principle, to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. These crimes include crimes committed in both international and non-international armed conflict, of murder; enslavement; deportation or forcible transfer of populations; torture, sexual violence (such as rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, and enforced sterilization) and apartheid. It also includes persecution against any identifiable group on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or gender grounds. Fundamentally, the ICC is important because it will be able to investigate and bring to justice people who commit the most serious violations of international humanitarian law. Such crimes have only increased in recent years, especially in Africa, as civilians more frequently become the target of conflict. Some aspects of the ICC are groundbreaking in terms of international law. They include recognition of sexual violence as a war crime (first recognized in the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), special services to victims and witnesses, and the ICC's independence from the UN Security Council. The scale of conflicts in Africa has grown over the last two decades. The most disturbing aspect of conflict in Africa is the increasing use of extreme violence, especially over the last ten years. Africa has a poor record of adjudication of criminal offences against populations. The reasons for this are complex, but include the presence of on-going conflict; the inability of victims to report such offences; the inability of civil society, media and peace, safety and security agencies and national institutions to monitor, investigate and report such offences to national nor international bodies; derogation of the separation of powers and the lack of independence of national courts; constraints in the establishment of ad hoc criminal tribunals and their inherent inability to react to early-warnings of such offences against populations and their lack of deterrent effect they have in light of their ad hoc nature; the absence, hitherto, of a permanent international tribunal that has jurisdiction over target countries to immediately investigate reports of such offences and to prosecute perpetrators whomever they are and to provide reparation to victims; and the lack of political will and/or capacity of governments to ratify and harmonise domestic legislation with that of international conventions that would extend the jurisdiction of these conventions to the target countries. But while the coming into force of the ICC is a historical event, the ICC is far from being empowered to carry out its work in Africa. This is partly due to the low number of ratifications on the continent and the US's attempts to weaken the effectiveness of the ICC. Thus far, only 22 African countries have ratified the ICC. By not ratifying and enacting implementing legislation, governments avoid the jurisdiction of the ICC extending to their states thereby avoiding prosecution by the ICC. Aggravating the low number of ratifications is the US's attempts to obstruct the work of the ICC. One of the very last acts of the Clinton administration was to sign the Rome Treaty in late 1998. Instead of subsequently ratifying the Treaty, in May 2002, the Bush administration withdrew the US signature. Since then, the US has intensified its efforts to undermine the ICC. Also in 2002, the US enacted the American Service Members Protection Act (ASPA). The ASPA set 1 July 2003 as a deadline whereby ICC State Parties receiving US military assistance will lose financial packages unless there is a US Presidential waiver of this provision (like with the NATO allies), or if they sign bi-lateral agreements with the US agreeing not to hand over US nationals and army personnel on their territory to the ICC for prosecution of human rights crimes. The fact that this deadline coincides with the first anniversary of the coming into effect of the Rome Statute must be perceived as an ominous signal. Many countries have not bowed to US pressure, including the EU and in Africa, South Africa. Of the 22 countries in Africa which have ratified the ICC, 8 have signed bi-lateral agreements with the US. In total, 49 countries have signed these agreements (13 from Africa; 12 from Asia; 6 from the Pacific and 5 from Europe). Eric Hoffer once wrote, "It is when formidable power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable". It seems apparent that the US fears that the ICC is an impediment to its expansion of power in the world. It does not want to be held accountable for its actions in sovereign states and it is this fear that drives the US into an ever growing and formidable campaign against the ICC. In its defence the US alleges that its soldiers stationed in foreign territories could be prosecuted before the ICC on trumped-up, politically motivated charges. This argument is fallacious and unfairly brings into question the independence and impartiality of the ICC's judges and the statutory checks and balances that would ensure that false charges motivated by political considerations would not be prosecuted. If the entry into force of the Rome Statute of the ICC constitutes a necessary precondition for the prevention of impunity and further conflict on the continent, it is by no means sufficient. The next step in the process may turn out to be more arduous than that which led to the coming into force of the ICC. The ICC has the potential to bring stability to the region by acting as a deterrent to future violations as well as bringing perpetrators to justice. However, unless there is a critical mass of African states that ratify the Rome Statute, draft implementing legislation and aggressively resist signing bi-lateral agreements that will undermine the ICC, impunity will continue to be a feature of the region. How then can this be achieved? Internationally, and to a much lesser extent, within Africa, there has been considerable momentum built by NGOs and other civil society organisations in support of the establishment of the ICC. That momentum is in danger of being dissipated by the understandable complacency that can follow victory in the establishment of the ICC and efforts by the US to undermine the ICC. If African governments are to be persuaded to ratify the Rome Statute, to begin the process of introducing strong domestic implementing legislation and resisting attempts to undermine the ICC, then this will be achieved only if concerted efforts are made to increase public awareness, to strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations to campaign within each country as well as to engage their own governments in a constructive dialogue. In addition, the media, parliamentarians, the judiciary, lawyers and law enforcement agencies need to be won over to the necessity for ratification and/or implementing legislation, to understand what their own contributions towards such a goal might be, and the implications for their own work in relation to cooperation with and support for a strong ICC. The momentum already created in support of the establishment of the ICC needs to be built upon if such campaigns are to succeed. The South African Coalition for an ICC (SACICC) and Fahamu (www.fahamu.org) are in the process of planning a strategy on these and individuals and organisations interested in collaborating on this project as well as networking and establishing national and regional networks on the ICC issue may send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Anil Naidoo is Convenor of the South African Coalition for an ICC and Firoze Manji is Director of Fahamu. * Please send comments for publication in the Letters and Comments section of Pambazuka News to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * More ICC stories in Pambazuka News: - ICC MARKS FIRST BIRTHDAY - WHITE HOUSE HOBBLES INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT, WORLD SECURITY - US SLAPS MILITARY AID EMBARGO ON SA DO YOU SUPPORT PRESS FREEDOM AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION? http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/freeafricanmedia/ Do you support Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression? Would you be happy to sign a petition aimed at the African Union & its member states calling for the release of all incarcerated African Journalists & for the repeal of Anti-media and Anti-free expression legislation? If Yes, click on the link to sign the petition. If you would like to do more, please make this message part of your signature and/or forward it to like-minded people. * See the Media section of Pambazuka News for statements in support of the petition and a list of organisations and individual statements of those who have already signed up. * Visit http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=15814 for the press release introducing the petition and a link to a background editorial on the campaign. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 2.CONFLICT, EMERGENCIES, AND CRISES AFRICA: DIAMOND TRADE SEEN AS NO LONGER SO ROUGH http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/diamond/2003/0630rough.htm With rebel forces at the gates of Monrovia, Liberia's capital, and eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo beset by feuding militias, there is little sign of an end to Africa's conflicts. So it is all the more surprising, on the face of it, that a United Nations-backed initiative should appear to be on the verge of legitimising the "official" trade in diamonds that many fear can easily be subverted to help support civil wars. In many African countries, diamond production is in the hands of artisan miners, with little or no regulation. The flow of diamonds - a small but high-value commodity that is easily hidden, transported and smuggled - was always seen as almost impossible to control. DRC: RIVAL PARTIES AGREE ON SECURITY AND MILITARY STRUCTURE http://allafrica.com/stories/200306300891.html The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the country's two main opposition factions have signed an agreement on military and security arrangements, a major step towards the formation of a two-year national transitional government, according to the United Nations mission in the country. ERITREA/ETHIOPIA: "TEMPORARY ARRANGEMENTS" NOT A SOLUTION, SAYS ANNAN http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35101 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned that lasting peace in Eritrea and Ethiopia cannot be based on "temporary arrangements". In his latest report to the Security Council, issued on Monday, he said the peace process was still at a critical stage. ERITREA/ETHIOPIA: FOOD CRISIS PERSISTS http://www.reliefweb.int/w/Rwb.nsf/UNID/9EFD842787E6A7D585256D51006C1AA9?Ope nDocument With 14.6 million people in need of assistance in Eritrea and Ethiopia by May 2003, and indications that conditions continued to deteriorate in several areas, Carolyn McAskie, the UN's Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator (DERC), undertook a mission to the region in June. The objectives of the mission were to review the overall humanitarian situation; raise awareness of the situation; and to seek better ways of addressing the underlying structural causes of food-insecurity in the two countries. IVORY COAST: REBELS DECLARE STATE OF EMERGENCY http://allafrica.com/stories/200307010247.html Ivory Coast's rebel military chiefs declared a state of emergency on Monday and blocked access to the parts of the country they control, accusing the president of failing to fulfil promises meant to end civil war. Rebels who control around half of the West African country joined a reconciliation government in April and fighting has virtually ended since a comprehensive cease-fire in May. But Monday's declaration highlighted the deep bitterness and unresolved grievances. LIBERIA: AID WORKERS STRUGGLE TO HELP DESPERATE LIBERIANS http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/9ca65951ee22658ec125663300408599/e3fb3d0f 51ef434fc1256d56004d4c45?OpenDocument Aid workers struggled on Tuesday to help thousands of people left stranded, wounded or sick by fighting in Liberia's capital as the United States resisted any firm commitment to lead a peacekeeping force. Pressure has been mounting on the United States, already stretched by deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, to take a lead role in ending nearly 14 years of conflict in a West African nation founded by freed American slaves more than 150 years ago. LIBERIA: BUSH PRESSED TO COMMIT 'BOOTS ON THE GROUND' http://allafrica.com/stories/200307010020.html A decade after 18 U.S. Army Rangers were killed by an angry mob in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, the Bush administration is facing mounting pressure to put American 'boots on the ground' in Africa once again. Calls for an active U.S. intervention in Liberia are coming from the United Nations and various member governments, including Britain and France and leading African officials. LIBERIA: ECOWAS CHAIRMAN URGES UN TO LIFT TAYLOR INDICTMENT http://allafrica.com/stories/200306300411.html The chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President John Kufuor of Ghana, has urged the United Nations to consider setting aside the indictment of Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes in order to facilitate a negotiated settlement to Liberia's civil war. "I am not demeaning the role of the UN tribunal, although the indictment almost torpedoed the mediation process," Kufuor told a Security Council mission in the capital, Accra, on Monday. LIBERIA: UN FLOATS LIBERIA EXILE PLAN http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3037060.stm The UN Security Council's current president has said publicly for the first time that exile for Liberia's President Charles Taylor could be a means to end the civil war in his country. President Taylor faces an indictment for war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone, where he backed rebels in the war that ended in 2001. NIGERIA: TALKS ON FUEL STRIKE BEGIN http://allafrica.com/stories/200307010259.html The on-going strike embarked upon by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over increases in the prices of petroleum products is continuing even as President Olusegun Obasanjo has set up a technical committee, comprising labour and government representatives, in a attempt to end the shutdown of the country. At least eight people have died since the umbrella Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) launched the walkout on Monday amid violent clashes between police and union militants. SOMALIA: THOUSANDS PROTEST AGAINST VIOLENCE http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35063 Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday to protest against continuing violence and abductions in the city, according to one of the organisers. SUDAN: CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES AGREEMENT RENEWED http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35071 The cessation of hostilities agreement between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) was renewed on Monday until the end of September. Originally signed in October 2002, the memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been extended every three months since. WEST AFRICA: SECURITY COUNCIL DELEGATION MEETS NIGERIAN PRESIDENT http://allafrica.com/stories/200306300958.html A United Nations Security Council delegation hoping to deepen the partnership between the international community and the countries of West Africa, has met with top officials and regional players in Nigeria to discuss the problems facing Guinea-Bissau, Côte' d'Ivoire and Liberia. According to a UN spokesman in New York, the Security Council to West Africa mission travelled to Nigeria's capital Abuja to meet with President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas and other ECOWAS officials. ZIMBABWE: FOOD INSECURITY CONTINUES Household food stocks have shown marginal improvements in Zimbabwe, but the majority of households still have less than one months supply, with half estimated to have no food in stock. Thirteen districts still reported households consuming unusual foods or `famine' foods, says the NGO Food Security Network in a May report, drawn from 145 monitoring reports from 58 districts from all provinces of Zimbabwe. Food insecurity in May was attributed to poor harvests, inability to afford food, seizure of maize grain by police at roadblocks, political bias and difficulties for particular groups in accessing food. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=15993 /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 3.RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY AFRICA/GLOBAL: ICC MARKS FIRST BIRTHDAY The International Criminal Court (ICC) celebrated on July 1 the one year anniversary of its jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Since the July 1, 2002 entry into force of the court's treaty, the Rome Statute, the ICC has seen the adoption of its primary governing instruments and the election of all of its senior officials. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16129 AFRICA/GLOBAL: WHITE HOUSE HOBBLES INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT, WORLD SECURITY http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2003/0307icc.html The current U.S. administration has a near-religious aversion to the new, permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). The court, now with 90 member countries, was established to ensure that the rule of law prevails in places where the only alternative is impunity for the most gut-wrenchingly vicious crimes against humanity. Its opponents in the administration, however, claim that the court will become a forum for politicized prosecutions. In fact, they are so sure that the court is out to persecute U.S. citizens that they are willing to undermine some of the most basic foundations of international security to protect against this perceived, but nonexistent, threat, says this commentary from Foreign Policy in Focus. AFRICA: AFRICAN STATES TO FACE EARLY PEER REVIEW http://allafrica.com/stories/200306300050.html The governance standards of at least two or three African countries are likely to come under scrutiny in the next few months, a senior official said last Friday. This should help maintain the integrity of the peer review mechanism under the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), head of the Nepad secretariat Wisemen Nkuhlu said. AFRICA: HOPES FOR ESTABLISHING PAN-AFRICAN PARLIAMENT AT AU SUMMIT http://allafrica.com/stories/200307020604.html Ahead of the second African Union (AU) summit in Mozambique next week, senior parliamentarians urged their governments to step up efforts to establish the Pan-African Parliament (PAP). At the end of a two-day meeting of African parliamentarians in South Africa to discuss the pending launch of the PAP, only 19 countries out of the 53 African states had ratified the agreement. At least 27 have to ratify the protocol before the parliament can be formed, news agencies reported. One of the functions of the PAP would be to oversee the AU, particularly its crucial peer review mechanism. Related Link: * Donor Funding Still Needed to Get the African Union Up, Running http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=19070 AFRICA: THE AFRICA EXAMINATION - TOUGH QUESTIONS FOR BUSH VISIT The Bush Administration's human rights agenda in Africa has been primarily focused on Zimbabwe and, to a lesser extent, Sudan. The primacy of the U.S. war on terrorism has meant that the United States has given even less attention to Africa than might otherwise have been expected. In the few African countries that the administration believes are strategically valuable, particularly in the Horn of Africa, the United States has often de-emphasized human rights issues. This briefing from Human Rights Watch on the eve of a visit to Africa by U.S. President George W. Bush to Africa examines areas of U.S. interaction with Africa and includes key questions related to the specific countries that Bush will visit. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16073 ANGOLA: SAMAKUVA NEW UNITA LEADER http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35054 Isaias Samakuva last Friday won a landslide victory to become the new leader of Angola's former rebel movement UNITA. Samakuva, formerly UNITA's representative in London and Paris, was elected with 78 percent of the vote at a party congress held in Viana on the outskirts of the capital, Luanda. Related Link: BBC profile of new leader http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3031752.stm GUINEA/BISSAU: DELAYED ELECTIONS NOW SET FOR OCTOBER 12 http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35118 Parliamentary elections in Guinea-Bissau, which have already been delayed three times this year, are to take place on 12 October, President Kumba Yala announced on Monday. KENYA: MAU MAU TO BE MADE LEGAL AFTER 50-YEAR BAN http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1057042263377B255&set_id=1 The Kenyan government is to lift a colonial-era ban on the Mau Mau, a group which killed a small number of European settlers in the 1950s. Removing the ban is among several long-standing demands of veterans of the Mau Mau uprising against the British in which 32 settlers were killed. MALAWI: ARMY STEPS IN TO QUELL RIOTS http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=86&art_id=qw1056889085710B254&set_id=1 Malawi's army has been deployed to quell violent riots after demonstrators attacked an American children's charity and several churches to protest the CIA-backed removal of five Muslim foreign nationals suspected of working for al-Qaeda. NAMIBIA: ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL PASSED DESPITE ID WORRIES http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1297 The National Assembly finally approved the Electoral Amendment Bill, following two weeks of intense pressure by the Regional Government Ministry that it be passed. NIGERIA: PRESIDENT MUST END IMPUNITY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS Ending impunity for human rights abuses should top President Obasanjo's agenda as he begins his second term in office, Human Rights Watch said in an open letter to the Nigerian President this week. The letter identifies several priorities for a new human rights agenda for Nigeria. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16124 SOUTH AFRICA: 'JUSTICE HAS FAILED THE VICTIMS OF OUR COUNTRY' http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=11&o=23554 The South African courts and the Truth and Reconciliation process largely failed to unravel the whole truth around apartheid atrocities, and this left people angry and disquieted, Cape High Court Judge Dennis Davis said on Wednesday. Davis said the acquittal of apartheid-era chemical warfare expert Wouter Basson left people with the feeling that they had been "denied the truth". SOUTH AFRICA: MARCHING AGAINST BUSH Anti-War Coalition Press Statement "The poor of South Africa did not vote for a government who would bring back laws declaring any dissenting voices as terrorists. We did not vote for the return of detention without trial and the indiscriminate banning of organisations. We did not vote for landlessness, evictions, electricity and water cut-offs and arms sales to an international terrorist like Bush. We did not vote for a government who would contribute weapons to occupying forces to kill thousands of Iraqi and Palestinian and East Timorese people, while at the same time claiming to be anti-War." Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16081 SOUTH AFRICA: PROTESTERS GEARING UP FOR BUSH VISIT http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1289 The Anti-War Coalition in Johannesburg, South Africa, is ratcheting-up its activities prior to U.S. President George W. Bush's meeting with the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki. A mass demonstration will take place on Saturday at the Library Gardens, beginning at noon. A protest will also be held at the Union Buildings on Wednesday 9 July 2003 at 11am. Related Links: * Mandela avoids Bush meeting http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3032562.stm * SACP joins protests against Bush visit http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=11&o=23223 SOUTH AFRICA: US SLAPS MILITARY AID EMBARGO ON SA http://iafrica.com/news/sa/249959.htm The United States announced on Tuesday that it has suspended military aid to South Africa because the country will not give Americans immunity from prosecution by the new International Criminal Court in The Hague. South Africa was one of 35 countries blacklisted by the US on Tuesday. It is the only one of the five countries on the itinerary for Bush's African tour to be blacklisted. SWAZILAND: LABOUR SET TO STRIKE OVER PROPOSED CONSTITUTION http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35055 Swaziland's labour organisations have responded to King Mswati III's draft constitution which ensures the continuity of royal rule by calling for two national strikes over the next two months. TANZANIA: WOMEN STILL FACE POLITICAL MARGINALISATION http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=19082 As the deadline to achieve at least a 30 percent inclusion of women in politics and decision-making in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) draws closer, women in Tanzania still face marginalisation in the political arena. UGANDA: URGENT NEED TO END TORTURE FOLLOWING DEATH IN CUSTODY Amnesty International is gravely concerned at the persistent reports of torture by members of Uganda's Violent Crime Crack Unit (VCCU). "The recent death of Nsangi Murisidi as a result of torture at the hands of VCCU officers is further confirmation of an entrenched pattern of torture of detainees while in custody," the organisation said. Nsangi Murisidi, a small business holder, was picked up by the VCCU officers from his place of work in Owino Market in Kampala on 14 June 2003, the last day he was seen alive. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=15981 ZIMBABWE: LEADING PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST REFUSED ENTRY TO UK A leading pro-democracy activist who has been invited to address an international conference in London has been refused a visa by the UK High Commission in Harare. John Bomba has been a key student leader in Zimbabwe's volatile political scene for the last four years, and has drawn the attention of many of the most prominent figures in the country's turbulent opposition politics. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16036 ZIMBABWE: YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN, MBEKI TELLS ZIMBABWE http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=37&o=23455 South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Tuesday he is committed to a peaceful resolution of Zimbabwe's political crisis, but won't pressure the country's embattled leader to hold elections. Related Link: * For how long will Zimbabwe's neighbours accept that a leader can beat when he cannot persuade? asks this article in the Zimbabwe Independent. http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/1208.cfm ZIMBABWE: ZIM NOT ON AU SUMMIT AGENDA http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-259_1381922,00.html The Zimbabwe crisis is not on the official list of African flashpoints under discussion at next week's African Union heads of state summit in Maputo. Dr Jakkie Cilliers, executive director of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, said the leaders were expected to "completely avoid" the subject during the summit, which kicks off next Thursday. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 4.CORRUPTION AFRICA/GLOBAL: THE DECLARATION OF PARIS - A FOCUS FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION Full Text Of The Paris Declaration, Launched At The Sorbonne On 19th June, 2003 http://www.u4.no/news/news.cfm?id=235 "We, citizens from around the world, drawn from the four corners of the earth and from countries rich and poor, come together united in our determination to denounce in the strongest terms the devastating impact of high level corruption and the levels of impunity that facilitate it, and to demand concerted national and international measures to combat it. We unequivocally condemn all those whose actions and whose inactions have contributed to the crisis of corruption now sweeping the globe, deepening poverty; undermining emerging, and even developed, democracies; and eroding fundamental human rights in many societies." AFRICA: AFRICA DROWNS IN A POOL OF OIL http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=65330 President Bush's Africa trip next week provides a rare opportunity to put the continent's pressing problems at the top of the international agenda. Africa needs more help than the United States can or is willing to offer. And this visit, like other presidents' trips to the region, is not likely to dramatically change the situation for the impoverished continent. But there is at least one gesture Bush can make that would have a positive effect on Africans, and it wouldn't cost U.S. taxpayers a penny. He can lean on Big Oil to clean up its role in the region's corrosive corruption. DRC: CONGO SUFFERS UNDER THE WESTERN BOOT http://www.web.net/sworker/405-08-Congo.html The DRC has timber, diamonds, gold, copper, and other esoteric minerals such as coltan, used in mobile phones and video games and has therefore attracted transnational mining concerns. An expert UN panel investigating the illegal exploitation of DRC's resources found that a "predatory network of elites" had been established to fight an "economy of war." As a result of the investigation the panel called upon the UN to impose financial penalties on various companies. Eight of these 29 companies were Canadian, showing that when it comes to exploiting the profit potential of Africa, Canadian firms, among others, are quick off the mark. KENYA: 'STOP HARASSING ME,' SAYS MOI http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3025878.stm Kenya's former President Daniel arap Moi has called on the government of his successor, Mwai Kibaki, to stop a "witch-hunt" against him. Earlier this month, the government ordered anti-corruption police to question Mr Moi in connection with the collapse of Kenya's Euro Bank, although he has not been accused of any wrongdoing. KENYA: AIDS MONEY NOT THREATENED BY CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35038 Allegations of corruption within the Kenya National AIDS Control Council (NACC) will not affect grants due to be given to the Kenyan government by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. "The Global Fund is not involved at all in any kind of discussion with regard to this matter," Dr Elhadj Sy, Africa Director for the fund, told IRIN last Friday. "We have not issued any threats or any statement on this." KENYA: GOVT HAILED OVER ANTI-GRAFT WAR http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=65324 Transparency International has lauded the Government's efforts to fight corruption in the judiciary. Transparency International deputy director Mwalimu Mati said their last index ranked the judiciary as the sixth most corrupt institution. Speaking on phone to the East African Standard, he said there was a need to eradicate corruption in the judiciary to bring back public confidence. SOUTH AFRICA: BAE 'PAID MILLIONS' TO WIN HAWK JETS CONTRACT http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,987752,00.html Britain's biggest weapons manufacturer, BAE Systems, paid millions of pounds in secret commissions to obtain a huge UK taxpayer-backed contract to sell Hawk jets to South Africa. The British government has confirmed the payment, which will fuel the ongoing row about corruption allegations faced by BAE all over the world. Related Link: * Govt dismisses new arms deal claims http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=11&o=23350 /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 5.HEALTH AFRICA/GLOBAL: HIV/AIDS FUNDING STILL FALLS SHORT OF PROJECTED NEED, UNAIDS REPORT SAYS http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18518 Governments, international organisations, foundations and nongovernmental organisations in 2003 will spend an estimated $4.7 billion to address the AIDS epidemic in low- and middle-income countries, but that amount is less than half of the more than $10.5 billion that will be needed each year by 2005 to fight the epidemic in those countries, according to a new UNAIDS report. AFRICA: BUSH'S LOOK TO BIG PHARMA FOR AIDS CZAR EVOKES CONCERN http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=19078 U.S. President George W. Bush's surprise pick of a former top executive of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company and major Republican contributor as his global AIDS co-ordinator has drawn expressions of concern and even outrage among Africa and AIDS activists. AFRICA: INVEST IN HEALTH, AFRICAN COUNTRIES TOLD http://medilinks.org/news/news2.asp?NewsID=3072 African countries must invest heavily in health in order to overcome obstacles to the achievement of their development goals, the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general for the continent, Ibrahim Samba, said last Thursday. "This would constitute an excellent strategy in the fight against poverty," Samba said at a WHO subcommittee meeting of 12 African countries in Brazzaville, capital of Republic of Congo. ANGOLA: BREAK IN ESSENTIAL MEDICINES PIPELINE http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35113 Humanitarian groups this week reported a critical breakdown in the essential medicines pipeline in three provinces of Angola. Most affected by the shortages were the central Bie and Huambo provinces and Benguela in the west. IVORY COAST: GLOBAL FUND DELAYS GRANT http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18492 The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the government of Cote d'Ivoire on Monday failed to sign a $91 million dollar grant agreement because of a dispute about how the money would be disbursed and monitored. KENYA: 100 NGOS LEFT OUT OF AIDS FUND LIST CRY FOUL http://allafrica.com/stories/200306300936.html Health Minister Charity Ngilu has intervened in a major row with Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) over the disbursement of HIV/Aids Global Fund money amounting to Sh2 billion. Some 100 NGOs have cried foul after their names were left out from the list of organisations that are to benefit from these funds. NAMIBIA: AIDS-RELATED DEATHS CLIMB IN NORTH http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1294 A total of 127 people died of HIV-AIDS-related diseases between April and December 2002, while 39 succumbed to the virus during the first three months of this year at Outapi in the Omusati Region in Namibia. NIGERIA: NIGERIA GETS GLOBAL AIDS FUND MONEY http://medilinks.org/news/news2.asp?NewsID=3069 Nigeria is set to benefit from a recently signed Global AIDS Fund grant agreement, local newspaper This Day reported last Thursday. The Fund has made US $28 million of the $150 million grant immediately available for the expansion of existing programmes for antiretroviral drugs and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. SOUTH AFRICA: MOTHER-TO-CHILD HIV TRANSMISSION PROGRAMME IN TROUBLE http://www.health-e.org.za/view.php3?id=20030618 While the government holds up its mother-to-child HIV-transmission programme as the continent's largest, it is turning into a shambles in many provinces. Investigation has revealed that mismanagement within the HIV/Aids sections of the national and provincial health departments could result in the dismal failure of the programme. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 6.EDUCATION AND SOCIAL WELFARE AFRICA/GLOBAL: SIX OUT OF 10 CHILD DEATHS 'ARE PREVENTABLE' http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=13&o=23096 Ten million children under the age of five die every year around the globe and six-million of those deaths are easily preventable, a leading medical journal reveals. Five articles in the Lancet indict the poor leadership that has let good initiatives to improve children's health go by the wayside as other priorities have come along. BURKINA FASO: SELF-SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION THROUGH AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION http://www.unesco.org/education/asp/school_act/africa.shtml#burkina In Burkina Faso, Gueswende Public Primary School addresses local poverty and national environmental issues through agricultural education. Through a gardening programme at school, pupils are growing vegetables and maintaining a fruit orchard. A portion of the produce goes to improving the diet of the school lunches while the other portion is sold. EAST/SOUTHERN AFRICA: INCREASING ACCESS FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN AIDS-AFFECTED AREAS http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1290 This article investigates the national and community level interventions that offer promise for increasing primary education access for children who have been orphaned or made vulnerable in areas heavily affected by AIDS in the eastern and southern Africa region. The report examines thirteen initiatives that have potential to increase primary education access for such groups. KENYA: SUPPORT NEEDED IN CARE FOR AIDS ORPHANS http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18590 Kenya needs about $70 million annually to assist approximately 1.2 million Kenyan children who are affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a UNICEF official said Monday, Agence France-Presse reports. Nicholas Alipui, UNICEF representative to Kenya, said that the problem of AIDS orphans could not be tackled without the support of government and international aid organisations. NAMIBIA: HIV-POSITIVE GROUP TO GIVE LECTURES AT SCHOOLS http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1295 A group of HIV-positive people have launched a project through which they can be "hired" to present talks at schools, churches and other organisations in Namibia. UGANDA: WORLD BANK POVERTY DRIVE A FAILURE http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=13&o=23550 World Bank projects costing hundreds of millions of pounds and aimed at cutting malnutrition among children in developing countries have completely failed to make any difference, according to a new report. Save the Children UK claims that the bank has not only continued with costly but failing projects in Bangladesh and Uganda but it is planning to expand, with a scheme billed for Ethiopia. ZIMBABWE: NEW MEASLES CAMPAIGN TO NET MORE CHILDREN http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1288 Thousands of children in Zimbabwe, who were not covered in last year's measles immunisation campaign, are expected to benefit from a follow-up programme set to kick off on 21 July 2003, said the UN Children's Fund. ZIMBABWE: SAVE THE CHILDREN REFURBISHES RURAL SCHOOLS http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35114 The development NGO Save the Children is to hand over refurbished classrooms to communities in Zimbabwe's Midlands province this week as part of its emer gency education programme. Some 10 schools were damaged when a severe hailstorm hit Mberengwa district in Midlands province in September 2002. The roofs and windows of classrooms and dormitories were destroyed, seriously affecting the learning environment of the pupils, the NGO said in a statement. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 7.WOMEN AND GENDER AFRICA/GLOBAL: FEMINIST VIEWS ARE NECESSARY FOR GLOBAL CHANGE http://rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=23075 The World Social Forum (WSF), initiated in 2000, is a historic development welcomed by progressive women and men world-wide. However, despite the presence of large numbers of women and significant feminist networks, feminism as both discourse and global movement remains marginal to the culture and politics of the WSF. The Forum needs feminism and feminists need initiatives like the WSF to make another world possible, argues this article on the website www.rabble.ca. AFRICA: MEN OUTNUMBER WOMEN AS AIDS GRIPS SA http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=125&art_id=vn20030625054044547C36880 1&set_id=1 One of the most disturbing impacts of the HIV/ Aids pandemic is that, as more women die, the ratio of men to women has changed, Alan Whiteside, director of the University of Natal's Health Economics and HIV/Aids Research Division says. "The natural gender balance was that there were slightly fewer adult men than women. Now there is a ratio of 120 males to 100 females. This is social engineering like we have never seen before and it is a critical question no one has addressed." DRC: WOMEN IN WAR-TORN DRC DEPLORE UN'S 'GUILTY SILENCE' http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=16134 Women's organisations in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have accused the United Nations mission there of turning a blind eye to ongoing fighting. KENYA: KENYAN WOMEN GRANTED LEGAL AID TO SUE MOD http://www.guardian.co.uk/kenya/story/0,12689,989531,00.html A group of 650 Kenyan women who claim they were raped by British soldiers have won legal aid to sue the Ministry of Defence in a UK court. The women, from rural Masai tribal lands, tell harrowing stories of gang rape, unwanted pregnancies, ruined lives and mixed race children shunned by the community. They allege that the MoD did nothing to stop systematic rape by soldiers despite complaints dating back almost 30 years. LIBERIA: IN THE MUD, LIBERIA'S GENTLEST REBELS PRAY FOR PEACE http://www.peacewomen.org/news/July%2003/Gentlerebels.html In a part of the world where one quickly becomes inured to the sight of scrawny, red-eyed, gun-toting teenage boys, there was an astonishing sight today along this capital's main road. In an empty field, in a heavy downpour in the middle of the rainy season in one of the world's wettest countries, was a small group of women, nearly all dressed in white, throwing their arms to the sky and dancing and singing, drenched from head to toe, calling to God to bring an end to war. These are Liberia's peaceniks - the Women in Peacebuilding Network - who for the last three months have been bent on praying on the side of the road, in sun and rain, every single day, to bring an end to war. MALAWI: CATHERINE PHIRI, MALAWI'S VISIONARY CAMPAIGNER ON AIDS AND HIV, DIES http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,959409,00.html Catherine Phiri, who has died around the age of 40, learned in 1990, after the death of her husband, that she was HIV positive. She could have done what everybody else did in Malawi at that time, and hidden the knowledge from her family, friends and colleagues. Instead, she defied stigma and discrimination and became one of the first people in her country to go public about her illness. Her death deprives the organisation she founded to help thousands of Aids orphans of a role model and visionary leader, but those who worked with her say there is no doubt that it will carry on her work. NIGERIA: WOMEN'S ACCESS TO HEALTH CAMPAIGN: INVITATION TO JOIN An open invitation has been issued to civil society organisations committed to the transformation of the lot of women in Nigeria in terms of access to healthcare and the realization of women's human rights in general. The invitation is to be a part of a coalition to implement the Nigerian Chapter of the Women's Access to Health Campaign (WAHC). Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16080 SOUTH AFRICA: FIRST FEMALE-LED PARTY LAUNCHED http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=19030 South Africa's first significant female-led political party was launched in South Africa by Patricia de Lille, a former trade unionist and leader of the Pan Africanist Congress. De Lille, one of the country's top ten most popular politicians, is taking the ruling African National Congress head-on with her Independent Democrats. Several surveys show that De Lille is a nationally recognizable politician with strong support across the racial and physical geographies of the country. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 8.REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION AFRICA/GLOBAL: ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE MIGRANTS RIGHTS CONVENTION 1 July 2003 marked the entry into force of the International Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (the Migrants Rights Convention). This is the first international human rights treaty to come into force since 1990 when the Convention on the Rights of the Child came into force. Amnesty International has welcomed the coming into force of this Convention since it is an important human rights tool for the protection of the human rights of the around 175 million migrants in the world. The organisation has urged all states to accede to the instrument. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16003 AFRICA: STILL PRODUCING THE LARGEST NUMBER OF REFUGEES http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=19021 This year's World Refugee Day, commemorated under the theme "Refugee Youth, Building the Future", was dedicated to millions of young people whose futures have been jeopardised by war, persecution and self-exile. But young girls in refugee camps claim their rights have been ignored. They cite lack of access to education at the refugee camps, accusing donors of misplaced priorities. ANGOLA/NAMIBIA: ANGOLAN REFUGEES START GOING HOME http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35048 Some 150 Angolan refugees in Namibia are expected to return home next week in the first phase of a voluntary repatriation programme, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last Friday. KENYA: UN RESUMES WORK IN KENYAN REFUGEE CAMP AS FIGHTING CEASES http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=7528&Cr=kenya&Cr1= Fighting has ceased between local residents and Sudanese refugees in north-western Kenya after leaders from the warring parties agreed to help stop hostilities, paving the way for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to resume its aid work. KENYA: YOUNG REFUGEES KEEP HOPES ALIVE http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35147 In the heat and dust of Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps, in northern Kenya, there is little for the estimated 220,000 inhabitants from Somalia and Sudan to do but survive. But despite the staggering odds, a flicker of hope is emerging among young refugees who are not only learning to cope with their predicament, but are also looking towards a brighter future. MALAWI: UNHCR DRILLS MALAWI ON REFUGEE SCREENING http://www.nationmalawi.com/articles.asp?articleID=5000 The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said last Wednesday there was a need for people involved with refugees and asylum seekers to be equipped with necessary skills that can help them spot terrorists wishing to enter Malawi under the guise of asylum seeking. Speaking in an interview in Mzuzu at a stakeholders meeting on the asylum seeking process in Malawi, UNHCR resident chief of mission Michael Owor said there was a need to train immigration officers, the police, religious and traditional leaders. RWANDA: NARROWING CRITERIA CANNOT SOLVE IDP PROBLEM http://www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR17/fmr17.12.pdf The case of Rwanda demonstrates significant differences among leading agencies and policy makers working with displaced people in their understanding of displacement and resettlement concepts. At the heart of the problem is the UN agencies' and NGOs' struggle to agree on whether Rwandans relocated into new villages should be considered permanently resettled or still displaced. SIERRA LEONE: RESETTLEMENT DOESN'T ALWAYS END DISPLACEMENT http://www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR17/fmr17.13.pdf Almost one quarter of a million displaced Sierra Leoneans were resettled in their areas of origin by the end of 2002, officially ending the internal displacement crisis in the country and further consolidating recovery after more than a decade of devastating civil war. A success story, in which the wishes of internally displaced people themselves prevailed, said some observers. Not so, insisted others, pointing to numerous flaws and problems along the way. So was the resettlement process really the final chapter in Sierra Leone's displacement story? Arguably not, at least with respect to durability of return and resettlement as required by the UN Guiding Principles. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 9.RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA SOUTH AFRICA: NOTHING IS BLACK AND WHITE http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=16575 "On reading the searing race debate last week between official opposition leader Tony Leon and President Thabo Mbeki, who rebutted so angrily, I wondered what had become of non-racialism," writes Ferial Haffajee in South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper. "And a saying of my gran came to mind: it seemed well and truly 'in sy moer in' - buggered, injured, perhaps fatally so." /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 10.ENVIRONMENT AFRICA: BALANCING RAINFOREST CONSERVATION AND POVERTY REDUCTION http://www.asb.cgiar.org/PDFwebdocs/Policybrief5..pdf If the international community wants the global benefits of rainforest preservation, it is going to have to stump up some of the costs, says a paper produced by Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn Programme (ASB) in Kenya that examines the land-use systems that replace natural forests after periods of deforestation. While part of the conservation answer lies in the developing countries themselves, the paper asks if these countries should have to shoulder the entire financial burden of forest conservation when all faced urgent development imperatives, such as educating and vaccinating rural children? EAST AFRICA: CLIMATE WARMING REDUCES TROPICAL LAKE PRODUCTIVITY http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=889&language =1 Raised temperatures due to climate change have been found to reduce the productivity of plants in the depths of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. Combined with fewer nutrients in shallower areas and less oxygen penetration, this has led to changes in the lake ecosystem. For example, the number of phytoplankton has decreased. KENYA: GOVERNMENT CRITICISED FOR APPROVING MINING PROJECT http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35060 The Kenyan authorities have been accused of approving a controversial titanium mining venture along the country's Indian Ocean coast without addressing the economic and environmental concerns raised by the local population. MADAGASCAR: RAINFOREST FACES DESTRUCTION http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=37&o=23220 A forgotten famine is reducing one of the world's richest stores of biodiversity, the rainforests of Madagascar, to ash. Farmers stricken by drought on the Indian Ocean island are burning swaths of primeval woodland to make charcoal. SOUTH AFRICA: MOOSA BLAMES PROVINCE FOR PONDOLAND PARK DELAY http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=11&o=23097 The delay in establishing the Pondoland National Park in the Eastern Cape is due to opposition from the government in that province, Environment Minister Valli Moosa said last Thursday. "The Eastern Cape provincial government is o pposed to the establishment of a national park on the Wild Coast," he said in a written reply to a parliamentary question by Democratic Alliance MP Errol Moorcroft. SOUTH AFRICA: POCKET NUKES GET THE GO-AHEAD http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=11&o=23094 The environmental impact assessment of a planned nuclear reactor at Koeberg, near Cape Town, has been approved, the environmental affairs department said last Thursday. SOUTHERN AFRICA: AID OPERATIONS HAMPERED BY GMO CONTROVERSY http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=19033 As more than 14 million people in Southern Africa face the threat of starvation, aid operations in the region continue to be hampered by the controversy about the uses and dangers of genetically modified foods. Although the region has produced enough food to meet two-thirds of its needs, the World Food Programme (WFP) says Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe will need to import at least 2.65 million tonnes over the next 12 months. SOUTHERN AFRICA: ALIEN PLANT SPECIES INVADE SOUTHERN AFRICA http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=19002 Environmentalists are calling it "the invasion of the invasives." Non-indigenous plant species brought to Southern Africa are alarming conservationists by the way they are taking over the habitats of native plants and, in some cases, causing indigenous species to become endangered. ZAMBIA: SUPPORT FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD SECURITY A PRIORITY http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1285 To consolidate Zambia's recovery from last year's widespread crop failures, the UN Resident Coordinator has highlighted the need for new initiatives to help the country achieve sustainable food security. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 11.MEDIA AFRICA: MISA SUPPORTS PETITION TO THE AFRICAN UNION FOR PRESS FREEDOM The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) is supporting a petition to the African Union (AU) calling for the abolishment of media laws and practices that restrict media freedom and freedom of expression in Africa. The petition, launched by two African human rights groups, the Centre for Research, Education & Development Of Freedom of Expression & Associated Rights and FAHAMU, will be presented to President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the Chairperson of the African Union, at a meeting of Heads of State in Maputo, Mozambique, from July 5 to 12, 2003. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16137 AFRICA: SUPPORT FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION PETITION GROWS Support continues to pour in for the Africa Union - Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression Campaign Petition. By clicking on the link provided, you will find a selection of supporters and signatories so far - from 62 organisations worldwide and dozens of individual journalists and activists from all continents. Please continue to sign up by visiting http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/freeafricanmedia/. Signatures and support received by the 7th of July will be submitted to the out going and in coming Chairs of the African Union, but further support will be submitted periodically to ensure the new African Union Chair places media freedom and freedom of expression at the top of the AU agenda. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16138 AFRICA: WAN APPEALS TO AFRICAN UNION FOR PRESS FREEDOM http://www.wan-press.info/pages/article.php3?id_article=1417 The World Association of Newspapers is supporting a petition to the African Union calling for the abolishment of media laws and practices which restrict press freedom and create a hostile environment for journalists. The petition will be presented to President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the Chair of the African Union, at a meeting of Heads of State in Maputo, from 5 to 12 July. "The right for journalists to practice without fear of legal persecution and personal injury is fundamental to any functioning democracy," said Timothy Balding, Director General of WAN. BOTSWANA: FEATURE ON FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CAMPAIGN http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35112 Media activists in Botswana have again raised the alarm over a proposed draft communications bill which they say will pose a serious threat to freedom of expression and the free flow of information. DJIBOUTI: EDITOR DAHER AHMED FARAH RELEASED The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN has welcomed the release of Daher Ahmed Farah, editor of the newspaper Le Renouveau and leader of the Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development. Farah was released on 23 June 2003 when the presiding judge at his hearing ruled that no crime had been committed and that the defendant was therefore not guilty. He had been accused of libel and had been detained since 20 April 2003. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16015 MALAWI: PRESIDENT THREATENS MEDIA http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1286 President Bakili Muluzi has threatened to deal with media houses that probe the way he distributes maize to his supporters during political rallies. Muluzi was apparently incensed by a lead article in the "Weekend Nation" of June 21-22, 2003, that questioned the source of the alms the president doles out at his rallies. NIGERIA: CREDO CONDEMNS "MOP UP" OF TELL MAGAZINE - CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT PUBLIC INQUIRY CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights has condemned the Nigerian authorities "mop up" of this week's edition of the investigative news magazine Tell. In a nation wide operation lasting about a day and a half at the beginning of the week, virtually the entire print run of the weekly magazine normally available for four to six days after publication was bought up by hundreds of teams of plain clothes security agents. Although a good number of the "mop up" teams were reportedly "polite", in many cases, the "mop up" was enforced by intimidation where distributors, newsagents and vendors rejected generous sums well beyond the cover price. Commenting on the developments, CREDO'S Coordinator Rotimi Sankore condemned the "mop up" stating: "While it is less brutal than outright seizure of publications and the locking up of journalists, the mass buying up of the latest edition of Tell magazine, utilising what appears to be public funds, represents a new and sinister censorship strategy by what is supposedly a newly elected democratic government." Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16011 NIGERIA: POLICE ARREST AND BEAT UP JOURNALISTS DURING STREET PROTESTS IN ABUJA Police in Abuja this week arrested two journalists and beat up three others during union-led street protests against fuel price increases of more than 50 percent. In a letter to Police Inspector-General Tafa Balogun calling for a full investigation and the punishment of those responsible, Reporters sans frontières (RSF) said: "It is not normal for journalists covering demonstrations to be targeted in this fashion by police." Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16127 SOUTH AFRICA: CONCERN OVER SABC DRAFT EDITORIAL POLICY MISA-South Africa says it is "deeply concerned" about a proposed upward referral system contained in a draft editorial policy for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). "It is, in our view, an attempt to deliberately compromise the editorial independence of the editors and journalists. While the Draft Editorial Policy document duly acknowledges the essence of time in journalism and programming, we are concerned that the SABC would even consider a system that would clearly violate fundamental principles of editorial independence and compromises the South African public's right to receive and impart information." Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16010 SUDAN: CURBING PRESS FREEDOM IS UTTERLY UNACCEPTABLE, AMNESTY SAYS Amnesty International has condemned the confiscation of the 28 June edition and parts of the 29 June edition of the Sudanese independent daily Al-Sahafa by the country's security forces. "The Sudanese government and the National Security Agency must put an end to the confiscation or suspension of local newspapers. The intimidation and harassment of journalists with the attempt of restricting the freedom of the press must end," Amnesty International said. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16125 TANZANIA: GOVERNMENT AND JOURNALIST COME TO AGREEMENT OVER CITIZENSHIP http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1284 One day after his passport was confiscated, veteran journalist and editor of the weekly independent "Dira" newspaper in Zanzibar, Ali Nabwa, has reached an agreement with the Department of Immigration that he would surrender his Tanzanian citizenship and reapply for it as the Department had demanded earlier this year. UGANDA: POLICE CLOSE CHURCH-OWNED RADIO STATION The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed alarm that Ugandan authorities have closed the Catholic Church-owned Radio Kyoga Veritas FM, in the north-eastern town of Soroti. The station was reportedly closed for airing reports about fighting in the region between government forces and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16008 ZAMBIA: EDITOR DEFIES POLICE SUMMONS "Today" newspaper editor, Masautso Phiri, has defied an order to present himself for interviews at police headquarters in Lusaka. Phiri told the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA), the Zambian Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), that he had decided to "make himself unavailable" to the police until they say why they wanted him to report to them. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16014 ZIMBABWE: CLOSURE OF DAILY MIRROR CAUSES CONCERN The Media Monitoring Project has noted with concern the recent suspension of the publication of The Daily Mirror, which its publisher, Ibbo Mandaza, attributed to the "dire economic situation". "Its contribution in the provision of information to the public and media diversity in the country cannot be understated. It is through a diverse media that the public gets a platform to express themselves and access information of their choice, as should be the case in a democratic society. Therefore, the closure of the publication is indeed a blow to the country's democratic struggles," said the Media Monitoring Project. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16012 ZIMBABWE: THIRD EDITOR CHARGED UNDER PUBLIC ORDER AND SECURITY ACT IN TWO WEEKS http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/51518/ "The Daily News" editor Nqobile Nyathi was arrested and charged under the Public Order and Security Act for allegedly publishing advertisements insulting the president. Nyathi confirmed that she had been summoned to Harare Central Police Station. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 12.DEVELOPMENT AFRICA/GLOBAL: GLOBALISATION AND EMPLOYMENT: WORKING FOR THE POOR? http://www.id21.org/insights/insights47/insights-iss47-art00.html Globalisation is one of the most controversial development issues of the day. 'Globaphobes' attribute most of the ills of the world to globalisation. The anti-globalisation movement has focused attention on the extent to which decisions affecting the lives of millions of the world's poorest people are made in international fora - at which the poor have no voice. Globalisation is seen as marginalising a large part of the world's population and contributing to increased international inequality. On the other hand, 'globaphiles' see extending globalisation as the key to eliminating world poverty. But despite the heated debate on globalisation, there is still a lack of empirical research examining the links between globalisation and poverty in detail. AFRICA: AFRICAN COUNTRIES COULD SUFFER A FATE WORSE THAN DEBT http://twnafrica.org/news_detail.asp?twnID=380 An investment agreement in the World Trade Organisation, such as is being promoted by the major powers of WTO, is likely to pose worse problems for the social and economic development of African and other developing countries than anything encountered by these countries as a result of the debt crisis. Foreign private financial flows to these countries generate far larger outflow of resources than those associated with foreign loans, and so can cause overall financial instability as well as undermine domestic resource mobilisation for productive activity. That is, unless such flows are managed through careful regulation. However, the very policy instruments necessary for such management are precisely those which a WTO agreement on investment aims to take away from African and other developing country governments who need it most, when they need it most. These observations were contained in a paper presented by David Woodward, economist and consultant, at an African civil society seminar on investment in Accra in May, organised jointly by Oxfam International and Third World Network-Africa. AFRICA: AFRICAN MINISTERS PLEAD WITH WTO ON SUBSIDIES http://allafrica.com/stories/200307020631.html African countries are expected to call on developed countries to reduce export subsidies at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial summit in September. This proposal is unlikely to gain support from developed countries that offer billion dollar subsidies to their farmers to enable them to export competitively. "All forms of trade-distorting domestic support measures by developed countries should be substantially reduced, to enable the development of a vibrant and competitive African agricultural sector," said an African declaration that is expected to form the basis for a joint African position as countries head for the WTO ministerial summit in Cancun, Mexico. AFRICA: BUSH ADMINISTRATION 'ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH AFRICA' http://allafrica.com/stories/200307020363.html Ahead of President Bush's first official trip to Africa next week, four leading advocacy organisations held a press briefing Wednesday to examine the current state of U.S. Africa policy. Africa Action, TransAfrica Forum, 50 Years is Enough and Foreign Policy in Focus hosted the briefing, in which a panel of African-American and African experts offered a critical analysis of Bush Administration policies on key issues in U.S. Africa relations. Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action said: "American unilateralism is at odds with African efforts to gain international cooperation to address the most urgent global priorities such as AIDS, poverty and civil conflict which have the most devastating consequences in Africa." AFRICA: NEO-LIBERALISM V2.0 - THE REBRANDING OF THE ANTI-DEVELOPMENT AGENDA The policies and conditions set down by the people in charge of development and the global economy are doing the opposite of what they claim - they are in fact anti-developmental. Far from breaking free from the neo-liberal paradigm of the last 25 years, the likes of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) are in fact giving it a facelift. Along with the world's leading donors, they are applying the same pro-poverty, pro-inequality, one-size-fits-all development straitjacket sported by a string of least developed countries the world over. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=15992 AFRICA: TRADE AND THE BUSH VISIT As President Bush prepares for his trip to Africa from July 7-11, trade is high on the agenda. The official speeches during the trip are sure to tout the mutual benefits of trade, as host countries hope to gain additional access to U.S. markets. At the same time, however, U.S. and African agendas are diametrically opposed on most issues being considered by the World Trade Organisation which will hold its summit in Cancun, Mexico in September. The trade summit is held every two years, with Cancun following four years after Seattle's protests and two years after the meeting in Doha that was labelled as beginning a "development round" of trade talks. Since Doha, in fact, the rich countries have fought a stubborn and so-far successful battle to block advances on priorities laid out by African and other developing countries, with the U.S. taking the hardest anti-African and anti-development line. The consequences, in areas ranging from agricultural subsidies to the availability of generic AIDS drugs, are matters of life and death. This set of two e-journal postings from Africa Action focuses on key trade issues, by highlighting recent African statements as well as analyses from the Third World Network, a group that closely monitors global negotiations on these issues. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=15991 /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 13.INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY GOOGLE TOOLBAR BLOCKS POP-UP ADS http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2228701 The ability to block pop-up and pop-under ads, integrate with Blogger, and automatically fill out frequently used forms are three new features that Google released today in a new beta version of its popular toolbar for Internet Explorer. Users who download the toolbar into their Internet Explorer software can set it to block all pop-up and pop-under windows or only those from certain sites. The feature blocks advertising and editorial pop-up windows and will probably cause concern among the many major news sites. ICT STORIES COMPETITION 2003: NOW OPEN TO ENTER YOUR STORY Have you been working on a project that uses Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a tool for achieving development? Then this is an opportunity for you to share your experiences with the world. In almost all projects up-to-date knowledge about Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is crucial, but resources and access to this knowledge are often limited. The ICT Stories objective is to capture the learning process that accompanies the introduction and implementation of ICTs in a project in exemplary stories. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16067 NIGERIA'S N100 MILLION VIRTUAL LIBRARY TO LAUNCH IN OCTOBER http://www.balancingact-africa.com Barring any last minute hitches, Nigeria's proposed National Virtual Library Project (NVLP) will come on stream in October, reports www.balancingact-africa.com. The project is aimed at providing Nigerian students, academics and administrators, access to current books and journals in their fields using computer technology as a tool. This is expected to boost learning, teaching and research in the nation¹s institutions of higher learning. RECENT DEBATES FROM THE WSIS PROCESS >From CHAKULA, Africa ICT Policy Monitor Newsletter From The APC, Issue No. 6, July 2003: Internet Governance And Civil Society Organisations http://africa.rights.apc.org/news-content.shtml?x=12751 The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) has included in its deliberations the issue of Internet governance with various stakeholders voicing their concerns around governance issues during the recently concluded call for inputs to the WSIS draft declaration and action plan. Chakula staff took a look at some of those inputs, which focus on the role of different stakeholders in the management of public resources such as the country top level domains (ccTLDs) and some reflections on the overall governance of the Internet at global level. (Chakula is produced by the Africa ICT Policy Monitor Project of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) - http://africa.rights.apc.org) /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 14.eNEWSLETTERS AND MAILING LISTS FREE NEWSLETTER ON SOMALIA http://www.somali-civilsociety.org Karti News is released every two weeks and contains the latest news and information about Somalia, Somaliland and the Horn of Africa. The newsletter has sections on the peace process taking place in Kenya, human rights, health and education, women and gender and civil society. Karti News forms part of a project whose overall objectives is the achievement of permanent respect for human rights, justice through rule of law, pluralism, good governance and sustainable peace in Somalia and Somaliland. To subscribe, send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with only the word 'subscribe' in the subject or body of the message. NEWSLETTER OF THE NETWORK FOR EQUITY IN HEALTH IN SOUTHERN AFRICA http://www.equinetafrica.org/newsletter/subscribe.php The Equinet Newsletter is the newsletter of the Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa. The Newsletter is delivered by e-mail twice a month and includes the following sections: Editorial, Equity and health general, Resource allocation, Public-private subsidies, Household poverty, WTO, economic and social policy, Human resources, Human rights and health, Research and Policy, Popular participation / governance and health, SADC News, Useful Resources, Letters and Comments, and Jobs and Announcements. Subscription is free. WOUGNET UPDATE NEWSLETTER A monthly electronic newsletter from Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) - http://www.wougnet.org. For comments or queries, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe/unsubscribe to the WOUGNET Update Newsletter, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following command in the subject or body of your message: subscribe/unsubscribe. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 15.FUNDRAISING KENYA: STIFF COMPETITION FOR HIV/AIDS GRANTS http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35119&SelectRegion=East_Africa&S electCountry=KENYA About 235 NGOs are in the running for millions of dollars to be made available for HIV/AIDS projects from the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB. The proposals are now being examined by a six-person committee, which has to submit its recommendations to the Ministry of Health by 16 July. SOUTH AFRICA: MINISTER UNDER FIRE FOR ARTS FUNDING http://www.thusanang.org.za/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=291 According to the Sunday Times, popular South African artists have signed an open letter and a petition against Arts and Culture Minister Ben Ngubane's running of the state funded arts councils. SOUTH AFRICA: NATIONAL LOTTERIES BOARD GIVES R9M TO SPORTS ACADEMIES http://www.thusanang.org.za/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=287 The Sowetan reports that the South African Sports Commission has received Lottery funds worth R9m. The money will be distributed evenly to sports academies in all nine provinces. SOUTH AFRICA: SEXWALE DONATES 351 TELEVISIONS TO HEALTH DEPARTMENT http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/health/0,1009,61397,00.html Tokyo Sexwale, the former Gauteng premier, has donated 351 television sets worth around R1 million to the Department of Health during a ceremony at the Alexandra Community Health Centre in Johannesburg. SOUTH AFRICA: UMSOBOMVU AND THE COUNCIL OF CHURCHES LAUNCH A YOUTH SKILLS PROGRAMME http://www.thusanang.org.za/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=292 Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the South African Council of Churches have launched a R2.5m skills development programme targeted at unemployed youth in churches in all South African provinces. UGANDA: DFCU BANK AIDS UWESO http://allafrica.com/stories/200307010389.html A Bank has donated Shs5 million to Uganda Women's Effort to Save Orphans (Uweso). The bank's head of marketing, Mr Charles Nsubuga, handed over the cheque to Ms Camille Aliker, the chairwoman of the fundraising committee. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 16.COURSES, SEMINARS, AND WORKSHOPS APPLYING HUMAN RIGHTS TO GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT July 28- August 8 The International Law Institute (ILI) Uganda and African Centre for Legal Excellence invites you to attend or nominate participants from your organisation to attend a Seminar: Applying Human Rights To Governance and Development, July 28- August 8, 2003. Upon completion of the course an internationally acclaimed certificate will be awarded to the participants. ILI Uganda is a capacity building institution providing training to African professionals in finance, management, law and governance. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16020 CONSOLIDATING PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN MOZAMBIQUE THROUGH ELECTION-RELATED CONFLICT MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES http://www.eisa.org.za/EISA/conferences/cdmoz/cdmoz.htm The Electoral Institute of Southern Africa will be holding a conference in partnership with Centro De Estudos De Democracia E Desenvolvimento (CEDE) on Consolidating Peace and Democracy in Mozambique through Election-related Conflict Management Initiatives, from the 22nd to 23rd July 2003 at the Hotel Polana in Maputo, Mozambique. The Southern African Region has been a theatre of violent conflicts that to a considerable degree undermined both democratic governance and economic progress. In Mozambique, protracted violent conflict was terminated in 1992 through a negotiated settlement. The peace process was then consolidated through the general election in 1994. The democratic process was further consolidated with the holding of the local elections in 1998 and the second round of general elections in 1999. But in all these elections the opposition (RENAMO) refused to accept the results of the elections claiming electoral fraud. It is clear that if solutions are not found to problems that the electoral process faces in Mozambique, sooner or later, peace and stability could be affected. INTRODUCTION TO ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT (OD) A Short Course For Organisation Leaders And Aspirant Practitioners This is a five-day, residential programme which provides an introduction to some of the key theories, frameworks and practices which form the foundation of organisation development (OD). The programme draws on nine years of Olive's (www.oliveodt.co.za) experience of OD practice and will be of value to: Leaders of civil society organisations who seek a deeper understanding of the organisations of which they are the stewards; Leaders who want to enhance their effectiveness in supporting the development of their organisations; Consultants or other development workers who want to explore developing their capacity to work in the field of OD. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16022 ONLINE COURSE: KNOWLEDGE NETWORKING FOR DEVELOPMENT The pilot session of a new online course on Knowledge Networking for Development will run for seven weeks, starting July 14th and ending August 31st. This pilot session of the course is meant to provide a forum for discussions rather than a formal training event. There is no tuition fee for this pilot session and it is open to everyone. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16021 /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 17.ADVOCACY RESOURCES BEAT POVERTY http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/campaigns/index.html Poverty is a thief and a killer. It steals children's rights, forces them to work hard instead of going to school and crushes their hopes and dreams. Join Save the Children's campaign to Beat Poverty, and help get rid of the policies that keep people poor. TRAINING MANUAL ON AGEING IN AFRICA AVAILABLE A just released French version of a training manual on Ageing in Africa entitled Manuel de Formation sur le Vieillissement en Afrique is now available. This publication is produced by HelpAge International Africa Regional Development Centre and is aimed at all those interested in issues concerning older people in Africa - organisations working with and for older people, academicians and researchers and social workers. The training manual is a 251-paged publication aimed at filling the knowledge and information gaps on ageing issues in Africa. It also trains those who run training sessions on better facilitating techniques. It is available in French and English at US$ 10 (excluding postage) and is published by HelpAge International Africa Regional Development Centre. More information can be obtained from and orders sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] URGENT INTERVENTION NEEDED IN RWANDA The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has been informed by a Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme, a member of the OMCT network, of the disappearance of Mr. Léonard Hitimana, a member of the transitional National Assembly in Rwanda. According to the information received, Mr. Hitama's car was found on April 9th, close to the Ugandan border. Security forces have carried out an investigation at the President of the National Assembly's request, but it has been unsuccessful. The OMCT is asking concerned parties to write to the authorities requesting that Mr. Hitama be located, that an investigation be launched and that human rights be guaranteed. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16025 /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 18.JOBS DRC: PROGRAMME COORDINATOR / COUNTRY DIRECTOR ZOA Refugee Care http://www.reliefweb.int/w/res.nsf/wDocs/8B61E5AAF4AA4DF4C1256D5100510A83 ZOA Refugee Care is a Christian relief and rehabilitation organisation providing assistance to refugees, IDP's, returnees and host populations in some ten countries in Africa, Asia and the Balkans. This is a pioneering position with the aim to establish a ZOA country programme in Eastern DRC. KENYA: DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Acord http://www.reliefweb.int/w/res.nsf/wDocs/A0D511B04F938177C1256D50004310E1 The overall purpose of the role is to deliver effective management of the financial management and accounting within ACORD. The post-holder will work very closely with the Executive Director and with the other management team members. S/he will liase very closely with the Programming and Fundraising department, and members of the Programming Directorate. They will also work very closely with programme finance managers giving professional support and supervision and work closely with the Northern Programme Manager. MOZAMBIQUE: IN COUNTRY PROGRAM CONSULTANT http://www.fpa.org/jobs_contact2423/jobs_contact_show.htm?doc_id=179430 Created by and for survivors, Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) empowers individuals, families, and communities affected by landmines to recover from trauma, fulfill their rights, and reclaim their lives. Part of this job will involve providing recommendations to LSN DC on how to improve programmatic activities to better assist survivors, especially those critically in need, including but not limited to accessing mobility devices, link/referrals, peer support, social groups, and direct assistance. SOMALIA: PROJECT COORDINATOR Unesco http://www.fpa.org/jobs_contact2423/jobs_contact_show.htm?doc_id=179456 The Project Coordinator will be involved in the following: Assisting in the recruitment and hiring of project staff including local experts and consultants; Supervision of all project staff; and Book provision activities. ZIMBABWE: TRAINING MANAGER Youth Alive Zimbabwe A local Zimbabwean NGO working with young people urgently requires the services of a Training Manager to start as soon as possible. The position objective is to manage the training delivery services of the department and implement all scheduled courses at national and regional level. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16126 /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 19.BOOKS AND ARTS ISLAM, SECTARIANISM AND POLITICS IN SUDAN SINCE THE MAHDIYYA Gabriel Warburg http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/books/2360.htm Gabriel Warburg contends that efforts in Sudan to enforce an Islamic state and an Islamic constitution on a multi-religious and multi-ethnic society have led to prolonged civil war, endless military coups, and political, social, and economic bankruptcy. He analyzes the history of Sudan's Islamic politics to illuminate current conflicts in the region. PROMISES NOT KEPT: POVERTY AND THE BETRAYAL OF THIRD WORLD DEVELOPMENT John Isbister http://www.kpbooks.com/details.asp?title=Promises+Not+Kept+SIXTH+EDITION In the sixth edition of Promises Not Kept John Isbister updates his study of the dilemmas of international poverty and the Third World by bringing in a discussion of the effects of the war on terrorism and the "new American hegemony," and surveys the prospects for justice in a world of globalization. Isbister's comprehensively updated facts and figures, clear and forceful exposition of current concerns, and broad survey of the history of the linkages of the developed and developing worlds, will make this a popular update to a widely-used introductory text. SHADOW OF AN EAGLE Bill Marshall http://www.africanbookscollective.com/ A domestic drama, in a rural African setting, this play takes the motif of the eagle in Ghanaian mythology/symbolism to explore ideas of ambition, achievement and fulfilment, as individuals may experience for themselves, or as they may desire for others, particularly family members. It further reflects upon and how ideas of ambition interact with competing responsibilities presented by the family. Shadow of an Eagle was first broadcast on BBC African Theatre in 1969 and is now for the first time widely available outside Ghana. THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF DEVELOPMENT L. Jan Slikkerveer, D. Michael Warren, David Brokensha http://styluspub.com/books/book1775.html The book presents overwhelming evidence, from a range of disciplines, that local people do know a great deal about their environment. This knowledge must be taken into account in the planning and implementation of development to be both acceptable and effective. Forty-six contributions from anthropologists, sociologists, geographers and agricultural scientists (among others) in academia and international organisations provide both case study material and general conceptual papers. The interdisciplinary approach of this book makes it an essential tool for those studying indigenous knowledge systems. THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF STREET AND WORKING CHILDREN Iaine Byrne http://styluspub.com/books/book2463.html This manual, which presents information in an accessible question-and-answer format, is divided into three sections for ease of reference. The first section defines substantive rights such as survival, fair treatment, and empowerment. The second section provides practical guidelines on how to use regional and international human rights systems such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, or the UN Committee on Torture. The last section contains a comprehensive list of human rights documents with tables by country detailing the status and the stage in the implementation process of each of the conventions in each country. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 20.MEMBERS CORNER /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 21.LETTERS AND COMMENTS DOWN WITH US IMPERIALISM - AFRICA IS NOT FOR SALE http://www.dwcw.org/cgi/wwwbbs.cgi?Africa&103 Bush comes to Africa to assist US imperialism. He wants to increase US multinational companies control of the resources of Africa. Bush and his war- mongering clique want to bully and bribe those who opposed him over the Iraq invasion. Bush says he wants to help Africa's development. But he only wants to help big business and the elites of the world. He will try to tempt African rulers with special treatment if they fall in line. This treatment through trade deals will not benefit the people of Africa. President Mbeki said he was opposed to the war against Iraq. How can he now warmly receive the same person who carried out the war? Mbeki should refuse to meet Bush! ISRAEL EKANEM Grassroots Empowerment Network The Niger Delta Coalition Against Child Labour and Trafficking, a coalition of 30 NGOs and civil society organisations established in 2001 to combat child labour/trafficking and fight violence against children, young people and women has expressed concern that despite being the single largest contributor to the Nigerian budget, the Niger Delta region remains the largest supplier of children for labour and sexual exploitation in West and Central Africa. Yet the Nigerian Government is colluding with multinational oil companies in the region to protect profits at the expense of child survival, development, protection and participation rights, at the expense of development, at the expense of the environment, at the expense of democracy and human rights. Noting that combating child trafficking and slavery needs increased local, national and international attention and ongoing effective prevention, protection and rehabilitation measures, the coalition has recently launched a multi-disciplinary campaign to raise awareness on the ills of child trafficking, promote access to justice, mobilise public opinion and mobilise resources. Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=16034 /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ PAMBAZUKA NEWS IS PUBLISHED BY FAHAMU In Association With SANGONeT Fahamu - learning for change 14, Standingford House, Cave Street, Oxford OX4 1BA, UK 620 Overport City, Durban 4001, South Africa [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.fahamu.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.fahamu.org.za Editor: Firoze Manji, Fahamu Research and compilation: Patrick Burnett, Fahamu Contributing Editors: Alan Finlay, SANGONeT http://www.sn.apc.org Rotimi Sankore, CREDO [EMAIL PROTECTED] Pambazuka News is hosted at Kabissa 1519 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 301, Washington DC, 20036 USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kabissa.org SUBMITTING NEWS: send to [EMAIL PROTECTED] SUBSCRIBE The Newsletter comes out weekly and is delivered to subscribers by e-mail. Subscription is free. To subscribe, send an e-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with only the word 'subscribe' in the subject or body. To subscribe online, visit: http://lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/pambazuka-news FAIR USE This Newsletter is produced under the principles of 'fair use'. We strive to attribute sources by providing direct links to authors and websites. When full text is submitted to us and no website is provided, we make the text available on our website via a "for more information" link. Please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] immediately regarding copyright issues. The views expressed in this newsletter, including the signed editorials, do not necessarily represent those of Fahamu (c) Fahamu 2003 If you wish to stop receiving the newsletter, unsubscribe immediately by sending a message FROM THE ADDRESS YOU WANT REMOVED to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] should you need further assistance subscribing or unsubscribing. /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\
