Pambazuka News 187: From partition to re-unification: 120 years since partition of Africa

[pambazuka-news]

PAMBAZUKA NEWS 187: FROM PARTITION TO RE-UNIFICATION: 120 YEARS SINCE  
PARTITION OF AFRICA 

A Weekly Electronic Forum For Social Justice In Africa
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CONTENTS: 1. Highlights from this issue, 2. Editorial, 3. Comment and  
Analysis, 4. Letters, 5. Conflict and Emergencies, 6. Human Rights, 7.  
Refugees and Forced Migration, 8. Women and Gender, 9. Elections and  
Governance, 10. Development, 11. Corruption, 12. Health, 13. HIV/AIDS,  
14. Education, 15. Social Welfare, 16. Racism and Xenophobia, 17.  
Environment, 18. Land and Land Rights, 19. Media and Freedom of  
Expression, 20. News from the Diaspora, 21. Advocacy and Campaigns, 22.  
Internet and Technology, 23. eNewsletters and Mailing Lists, 24.  
Fundraising and Useful Resources, 25. Courses, Seminars, and Workshops,  
26. Jobs, 27. Books and Arts

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1. Highlights from this issue
FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE
 * Editorial: 2004 marks the 120th anniversary of the Berlin conference  
that tore up Africa into balkanised zones for the benefit of imperial  
exploitation - Rotimi Sankore highlights the consequences on Africa
 * Comment and Analysis: Conflict is like a fire: It can keep you warm  
and can cook your food, but if it gets out of control, it can burn your  
house down, warns Yav Katshung Joseph in relation to the DRC
 - Many thought Ghana would never recover from 1980s turmoil, but  
recent elections show there is hope for the rest of West Africa, writes  
Kayode Fayemi
 - Separating the good guys from the bad guys in Côte d'Ivoire might  
not be as easy as the international community would like, says  
Véronique Tadjo
 * Letters: Readers share their thoughts on food security, FGM and the  
future of Africa
 * Conflict and Emergencies: As conflict flares in the east, a new  
report says the death toll in the DRC is approaching four million
 * Refugees and Forced Migration: Child Protection in the context of  
displacement in Uganda
 * Elections and Governance: Zimbabwean human rights groups respond to  
the passing of the NGO bill
 * Development: The African Social Forum in Zambia demands full debt  
cancellation
 * Environment: Rich countries spend billions subsidising industries  
that cause climate change, but a fraction of this amount goes to those  
in developing countries who suffer the most from pollution, states a  
new report
 * Books and Art: Pambazuka News reviews Blind Moon by Chenjerai Hove

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 Dear Reader,
Although we will be sending out a short message next week, this will be  
our last full edition for 2004. The weekly Pambazuka Newsletter will be  
released once again on 06 January 2005. May everyone go in peace during  
the break!

 The Editors
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2. Editorial
FROM PARTITION TO RE-UNIFICATION: 120 YEARS SINCE PARTITION OF AFRICA
Rotimi Sankore
 The 120th anniversary of Africa's partition passed largely unmarked in  
November 2004. While some no doubt would wonder what the significance  
of this is today those that are aware of the partition and its  
implications will be able to see its negative implication for Africa's  
development and parallels with cold war era balkanisation of the world  
into east versus west spheres of influence. Some would even argue that  
Hitler's brazen land grab or policy of "Lebensraum " in which the Nazis  
claimed expansionism and conquest was vital for the continued political  
and economic development of Germany sprang from the objectives of the  
Berlin conference. Without doubt however the goal of the Berlin  
conference was to consolidate expansionism for resources and markets  
through negotiation rather than war.

 Globalisation came to Africa via the transatlantic slave trade about  
500 years before the term became 'sexy' or was even coined. This  
massive plundering and abuse of Africa's most valuable resource - its  
citizens - provided millions of slave workers and stupendous profits  
for the forerunners of many of today's multi million dollar business  
empires and their countries of origin. The equivalent present day would  
be to have today's multinationals backed by states to forcibly recruit  
millions to work in factories and industries as slave labour for 400  
years with absolutely no pay beyond food and water supported by  
floggings, amputations and hangings to keep the workers in line. The  
idea is not far fetched. The creation of an artificial class of  
non-persons by way of demonising Jews created the slave labour for the  
companies behind the Nazi war production machine. If six million  
perished in Germany and some parts of Europe within six years in a  
state policy partially hidden from society but subsequently exposed,  
think what could have happened over a period of 400 years of  
unrestricted savagery by numerous states and a clearer picture emerges  
of the most savage, violent, and comprehensive mass violation of rights  
in human history.

 Some 'experts' squabble of whether Africa lost 25, 50 million or a 100  
million to this bestial policy sanctioned by states, and use various  
criteria to compute varying figures - abductees that actually arrived  
alive at slave plantations, those that ended up at the bottom of the  
ocean, those that died resisting, those that died as a result of  
displacement and its consequences such as disease and hunger, children  
that died after loosing their families etc. This is beside the point.  
Not only were millions in their youth and productive prime lost,  
millions more were psychologically destroyed and displaced and most  
importantly the development of society was more or less suspended for  
400 years. We only need to look at the impact of the holocaust on Jews,  
or the current Darfur crisis to see what state sanctioned policies of  
destruction of a people can do to the stability, development and  
psychology of peoples and their societies.

 But this is not the main focus of this write up. The significance of  
the above is that it was against this background that the Partition of  
Africa - a continuation of the policy of plundering by other means -  
from human to natural resources - was enforced. The Berlin Conference  
of 1884 formalised the scramble for and partition of Africa by colonial  
powers. The conference was hosted by the German government of Otto Von  
Bismarck and led to Africa being carved up for the exploitation of its  
resources along the lines of modern day gangsters dividing cities into  
market spheres of influence to avoid arbitrary gang warfare that is bad  
for 'business'.

 By the end of the conference of 13 European powers and the United  
States, the template had been laid down for the creation or  
superimposition of roughly 50 countries the majority of which cut  
arbitrarily across the logic of nationality, geography, language or  
other uniting factors. The then major players were Britain, Germany,  
France, and Portugal, which between them already controlled most of the  
coastal territories where forts were established for protection of  
trading companies. Belgium, Italy and Spain played supporting roles  
with the others haggling in vain for crumbs. The broad division that  
resulted was:

 - Hosts Germany grabbed Namibia (German Southwest Africa) and Tanzania  
(German East Africa), Togo land, some of Cameroon and Benin.
 - Great Britain pressed its naval and military advantage and secured  
Egypt, parts of Sudan, Uganda and Kenya (or British East Africa), most  
of southern Africa including South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe (or  
Rhodesia), Botswana and significant areas of West Africa especially  
Nigeria and Ghana (Gold Coast).
 - Belgium and King Leopold II held tight to the Democratic Republic of  
Congo (then known as Belgian Congo).
 - France secured most of western and central Africa, then known as  
French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa and later some of North  
Africa.
 - Portugal took Mozambique and Angola
 - Italy got Somalia (Italian Somaliland) and a portion of Ethiopia.
 - While Spain made do with the smallest territory - Equatorial Guinea  
(Rio Muni).

 The negative impact of the partition on Africa could not have been  
lost on the colonial powers especially Bismarck of Germany whose entire  
40-year political career was devoted to the unification of Germanic  
states including fighting three wars including the Franco-Prussian war  
of 1870-71 and executing an endless series of diplomatic manoeuvres  
that played his neighbours against each other. (The subsequent defeat  
of Germany in the first and second world wars led to the loss of its  
colonies)

 For the "natives' already disoriented by the slave trade and its  
consequences, expansionism, protectorates and artificial states not  
only meant the denial of the right to self determination, it meant  
suppression and containment by state machineries designed for colonial  
rule. Colonial economies were not designed to develop the colonies but  
rather to create wealth for the colonial powers. An entire legislative  
framework and state apparatus was specifically designed to ensure that  
"the law" crushed any signs of dissidence. Sedition, criminal  
defamation, insult laws, states of emergency, detention without trial,  
pass laws etc became key instruments of control by colonial authorities  
or white minority governments in southern Africa. These frameworks and  
culture of intolerance for opposing views were largely inherited by  
many African states and laid the foundation of institutional abuse of  
rights in many modern African countries today.

 It is utterly impossible to sustain human rights within the context of  
unviable states, failed states, or states perpetually in a state of  
conflict either because they are an artificial construct with ruling  
elites based very narrowly ethnic, language, racial or other artificial  
divisions. Also, the artificial borders created by the partition of  
Africa broke apart ethnic nationalities and in many cases fused them  
artificially with others nationalities within new states. Ruling elites  
were cultivated either from minorities or majorities or artificially  
created and sustained using the army and or police. These divide and  
conquer policies were unsustainable indefinitely and it was just a  
matter of time before conflicts broke out over political or economic  
domination. In some countries, the process of independence leading to  
the withdrawal of colonial powers or served as the trigger for long  
suppressed divisions to boil over. Either way, the entire construct of  
these states was aimed at exploiting and violating the rights of  
citizens.

 By the time of independence, many African countries were stuck with  
these artificial constructs and a change of guard offered no solution.  
Not insignificantly, the independence era coincided with the cold war  
era and any leaders actually asserting independence were promptly  
labelled communists and dispatched via coups, murder or both. Some  
countries such as the DRC are yet to recover from the consequences of  
such interference and disruption that led to the murder of its elected  
Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and the imposition of Mobutu. If as in  
the case of Ghana's Nkrumah new leaders actually advocated African  
Unity and a reversal of the colonial borders and fiefdoms of new  
political leaders then other insecure African governments anxious to  
maintain the status quo also opposed them. Where soldiers were not  
directly prompted to seize power, the fragile nature of many states and  
their non productive nature meant that in the struggle for political  
power, the most organised and best armed body of men would inevitably  
become aware of their potential power and sweep squabbling politicians  
aside. The assumption of power by armies largely trained to serve  
colonial interests by holding down populations could only lead to more  
institutional violation of rights. Despite their occasional  
anti-imperialist posturing and theatrics designed to confuse issues and  
consolidate their hold on power, this was the true nature of the  
Mobutu's and Idi Amin's.

 The cold war also resulted in prolonging the life of white minority  
rule in southern Africa as the liberation movements were seen as pro  
communist or socialist and the white minority governments pro west and  
pro capitalist. Cold war rivals sustained all sorts of undemocratic  
governments of the left, right or centrist kind, as Africa once again  
became an arena of conflict.

 In other words, the interruption of social, economic and political  
development by four centuries of slavery, the repressive legislative  
frameworks, state apparatus, institutions and culture created by  
colonial authorities, the non productive nature of many economies, the  
unviability of others, artificially constructed states, long periods of  
military or civilian dictatorships that plundered the countries, the  
cold war fall out and so forth have all combined to create the present  
political culture and political economy which prevails in much of  
Africa and makes it difficult if not impossible to uphold human rights  
in a sustainable form.

 Any move away from this past which had as its central feature the  
institutional violation of rights must therefore have as its new  
central feature, the institutional promotion of rights. Its not a  
coincidence, that the new African Union has emerged in a decade that  
has seen more elections in Africa than in the last 40 to 50 years of  
independence of most Africa countries. In the case of some southern  
African countries, independence was only won in the last 10 to 20  
years. Compared to the relative 600 to 700 years of stability and  
development in Europe only accelerated or held back by revolution or  
war for certain periods its easy to see why Africa remains the least  
developed continent despite its potential. The context becomes clearer  
in comparison with the Asian colonies which had their civilisations,  
cultures and developmental trajectories affected by decades of  
colonialism - but crucially not suspended or destroyed by 400 years of  
slavery followed by carving up and imposition of mostly artificial  
states. The result is that Asia has an unbroken sense of history and  
culture and recovered quickly but not yet completely from colonialism.  
In the case of China and Japan, the results of relative lack of  
disruption are clear to see. Were it not for the immortality of the  
pyramids, mummification techniques that indicate advancements in  
medical science and undeniable archaeological evidence of several  
African civilisations thousands of years older than many European and  
Asian civilisations, Africa and civilisation would never be mentioned  
in the same breath. As it stands, Hollywood is still in denial as  
evidenced by its continuous portrayal of ancient Egypt by white actors.  
This travesty and violation of historical and cultural rights can only  
be equalled by a spectacle of African actors portraying ancient Greece,  
Rome or China without any sense of irony.

 The largely unbroken development of Europe over the last few centuries  
also explains why modern day European military dictatorships such as  
Franco in Spain, Salazar in Portugal or more recently in Greece and the  
Balkans did not fundamentally upset the development of those societies  
even though some of them and Franco in particular lasted over 30 years  
- longer than most African dictatorships. Even where as in the case of  
Hitler and Mussolini dictatorship and war led to destruction, the  
Marshall plan with its more or less free billions of dollars  
reconstructed and even gave impetus to further development of those  
societies.

 Most importantly and not surprisingly, major European governments  
subsequently came to the conclusion that the creation of a European  
Union would help break the cycle of wars and conflict in Europe and  
create the developmental basis for future socio economic and political  
stability. At the heart of this today is the promotion of European  
level core rights instruments, which provide more protection to  
citizens than the rights regimes in many individual countries hence the  
tendency to resort to the European Courts for the protection of rights,  
denied in-country. "I will go to Europe" has become a fashionable slang  
by many that feel cheated and unprotected.

 The adoption of several rights based treaties and protocols by the new  
African Union is a step in the right direction and the recent  
declaration of a treaty signing week within the last month shows that  
the Commission of the African Union in particular clearly understands  
the role that promotion of rights can play in the development of modern  
society. The mission, vision and strategic plan promoted by the  
Commissions current Chair Prof. Alpha Konare are evidence of this. It  
is far from clear however that many African governments understand this  
as evidenced by the lethargy towards signing, ratifying and  
institutionalising instruments that will enhance the protection of  
rights such as the African Court of Human Rights /Court of Justice and  
the Protocol for the Protection of Rights of Women. This trend must be  
reversed. The broad sketches of African and world history and  
development above demonstrate that no where on the planet is the  
institutionalisation of rights more crucial to development than in  
Africa.

 The political integration of Africa is aimless and doomed unless done  
on a rights basis that reverses hundreds of years of a largely imposed  
political culture rights abuses which can in turn unleash its creative  
and developmental potential. The protection of rights can also not be  
sustained on the basis of underdevelopment. Governments largely based  
on exploitation, preservation of ruling elites, or that preside over  
underdeveloped societies tend to deny free expression and core rights  
of association, assembly, political participation and ignore key  
economic and social rights such as health care, housing, food security  
and so forth. The summary and core of the rights imperative is that all  
societies need these rights to develop and cannot develop further  
without the protection of these rights.

 Sankore is Coordinator of CREDO for Freedom of Expression & Associated  
Rights an NGO focussing on rights issues in Africa.

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3. Comment and Analysis
DRC: RESOLVING CONFLICT CRUCIAL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA
 “Conflict is like a fire: It can keep you warm and can cook your food,  
but if it gets out of control, it can burn your house down.”

 One thousand people die every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo  
(DRC) and nearly half of these deaths are accounted for by children  
under five years of age, according to a report released this week by  
the International Rescue Committee (see Conflicts and Emergencies for  
more details). The IRC says these deaths add daily to the cumulative  
total of 3.8 million fatalities since the crisis began in August 1998  
to the end of April 2004. Far from being resolved, the volatile  
situation in the east of the country continues to cause grave concern,  
with recent reports that Rwandan troops have entered the DRC to pursue  
rebels it says threaten its security. Pambazuka News emailed some  
questions about the situation in the DRC to YAV KATSHUNG JOSEPH,  
Executive Director of CERDH (Centre for Human Rights and democracy  
Studies / Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche en Droits de l’Homme et  
Démocratie).

 PZ: News reports indicate a higher level of sabre rattling between  
Rwandan president Paul Kagame threatening to pursue forces hostile to  
Rwanda in the DRC and the DRC government sending troops to the eastern  
border. Reports indicate that Rwandan troops are operating in the DRC.  
In May, Bukavu was the focus of violent conflict, with Rwanda fingered  
as having provided logistical support, but strongly denying any  
involvement. This time Rwanda has stated in a very clear way that they  
will cross into the DRC to pursue forces that threaten them. What are  
the circumstances and the sequence of events that have led to this  
situation?

 YKJ: Rwanda’s goals are to neutralise the rebel groups/interahamwe  
based in the DRC who destabilise peace; to prevent incursions from the  
DRC based rebel-groups; and natural resources control, etc. The DRC  
goals are security of the people, resources, property and state.

 I noted with surprise that barely a week after the conclusion of the  
international conference on the Great Lakes, where leaders of the DRC,  
Uganda and Rwanda expressed willingness to co-operate in matters of  
common concern, there has been an eruption of fresh conflict. In fact,  
reports are that Rwanda has re-invaded the DRC.

 Rwanda has twice invaded DRC in recent years - it says to attack  
Rwandan rebels based there. Rwanda has consistently said it is prepared  
to take military action because of the threat it says is posed by the  
group of some 8,000 men, which includes fighters who took part in the  
1994 genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. As usually, Rwanda  
justified their invasion by saying that they were pursuing interahamwe  
who were said to have sought refuge in the DRC.

 Even after signing an agreement in Dar es salaam (Declaration on the  
Great Lakes) in November 2004, the Rwandan president threatened to  
pursue forces hostile to Rwanda in the DRC. Under the peace deal, the  
Hutu rebels were supposed to have been disarmed but progress has been  
slow. For Rwanda, the deadline of demobilizing the interahamwe have  
passed and the DRC and MONUC failed to do so and therefore, Rwanda  
would like to do it by force.
 PZ: How serious is this latest round of hostilities and what are the  
implications for the transitional government in the DRC and peace in  
the Great Lakes region?

 YKJ: The Congolese government said 6,000 Rwandan troops had crossed  
the border and attacked villages. Some 2,000 people have fled in North  
Kivu province. As a consequence, some 10,000 troops have been sent to  
expel Rwandan forces from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwandan  
military action is unravelling tentative moves towards peace throughout  
the Great Lakes region and the trust between the various elements in  
government has thinned because, the RCD (Congolese Rally for Democracy)  
is seen to deal with the Rwandans.

 PZ: The Great Lakes conflict involving Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, DRC,  
Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi is reported to have resulted in three  
million deaths and more than two million refugees and internally  
displaced people. In the east of the country instability and the  
flagrant violation of human rights has continued. The scale of the  
human suffering is almost unprecedented and yet somehow it seems that  
the DRC crisis has played second fiddle to other international and  
regional concerns, such as for example Sudan. Why do you think this is?

 YKJ: The war in the DRC has resulted in one of the world’s worst  
humanitarian crisis with over 3.4 million displaced persons scattered  
throughout the country. An estimated 3.5 million people have died as a  
result of the war. This is a figure much higher than the national  
population of many African countries and several times superior to the  
number of victims of the Rwandan, Yugoslav, Sierra Leonean and Sudan  
conflicts that attracted so much attention. All in all, the  
international response to human rights violations in the DRC was an  
unsatisfactory one. Even worse was the response of the African  
Commission. Anyone concerned with the protection of human rights should  
be interested in the DRC conflict which impacted so negatively on the  
rights of more than 50 million African people and the resolution of  
which constitutes a step forward in the promotion of human rights in  
Africa as a whole.

 PZ: South Africa has played a role in the peace negotiations in the  
DRC but the process seems to keep on stumbling against the same  
obstacles. What does this say about the South African approach to  
establishing peace on the continent in relation not only to the DRC,  
but also their involvement in the Ivory Coast?

 YKJ: It is true that South Africa has been instrumental in putting in  
place the transitional Government in the DRC and actually, facilitating  
negotiation in the Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). However, there is a  
kind of fear at some level regarding the Congolese experience. In fact,  
initially, people were very enthusiastic about its role in the DRC as  
the main engine driving the process.
 Things have however changed. Firstly, there is a general feeling that  
it is not Congolese, or Rwandans who won the war (if the armed conflict  
can be considered as such), but South Africa. This is largely in  
economic terms. South African companies have since invested heavily in  
the DRC and are behind most explorations and other economic activities.  
Some even think that this could have been the driving force behind  
South Africa's fervent involvement in the process. Others are saying  
that South Africa simply wants to have control in Africa and it is  
behaving like an imperialist characterized by hegemonic ideas. To me,  
the South African approach to establishing peace on the continent is a  
good thing but the objective must be genuine and for the interest of  
Africa.

 PZ: What action needs to be taken and structures put in place to end  
this latest threat to peace and secure human rights in the region?

 YKJ: The Security Council urged Rwanda not to send troops into DRC but  
did not condemn Rwanda's action or impose sanctions on the President,  
as the Congolese had wanted.

 Incursion of the forces of one state into another can lead to rising  
tensions and inter-state armed conflicts. If the conflicts are not  
addressed, this can affect the well-being of the population’s  
socio-economic development and resources might be diverted to warfare  
instead of human and economic development; and if the conflict is not  
addressed it can have an impact on inter-state trade and restrict free  
movement of the people.

 THERAPY:
 1. There is a need to Disarm, Demobilise, Repatriate and re-integrate  
armed groups;
 2. The international community should assist with the quick  
implementation of the agreements signed;
 3. There is a need to put into consideration/revisit the mandate of  
MONUC-reinforcing the capacity of MONUC within a realistic time frame  
to implement the Agreement;
 4. Establish joint border patrols between the national armies of all  
countries;
 5. Need to reinforce confidence-building measures and joint and  
regional verification mechanisms should be reinforced with continued  
dialogue;
 With regards the internal crisis in the DRC, the transitional  
government brought relative peace to the country, however there still  
exist pockets of crisis in the eastern regions. The transitional  
government should be pressurized by the international community and  
supported to conduct elections in June 2005 as planned. Furthermore,  
the MONUC should assure the security in the eastern borders of the  
country for the disarmament of armed groups

 PZ: Further comments?
 YKJ: In conclusion, all states in the Great Lakes region must know  
that: “Conflict is like a fire: It can keep you warm and can cook your  
food, but if it gets out of control, it can burn your house down.”

 * Please send comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
REFLECTIONS ON GHANA'S ELECTION AND THE LESSONS FOR WEST AFRICA
Kayode Fayemi
 In the arena of post cold war democratisation in Africa, Ghana clearly  
hit the ground running. From the first election in 1992 that saw the  
transformation of Flight Lt Jerry Rawlings to President Jerry Rawlings,  
through the 1996 'stolen election', to the 2000 election, which  
resulted in the alternation of power from Rawlings' National Democratic  
Congress (NDC) Government to John Kuffuor's New Patriotic Party (NPP)  
government, the 2004 election promised all the elements of a  
consolidation election.

 This was the context of the Economic Community of West African States  
(ECOWAS)-West Africa Civil Society Forum's observer mission to Ghana's  
election this week. Although ECOWAS deployed its own official observer  
mission, the leadership of West African civil society bodies affiliated  
to ECOWAS also felt we needed to undertake our own mission. It was a  
small team of ten led by Sierra Leone's civil society activist and  
politician, Zainab Bangura, and we deployed in five regions - Greater  
Accra, Volta, Ashanti, Eastern, and Northern regions. I was in the  
Greater Accra region with our Team Leader, Zainab Bangura, and  
coordinated the reports from our colleagues in the hinterland.

 Although we were prepared for a well-run election, as Africans who  
have also 'monitored' elections in several African countries, we were  
on the lookout for inadequacies. In terms of the preparation and  
even-handedness of the electoral commission, we were not disappointed.  
The Electoral Commission arranged our accreditation promptly even  
though we applied late, it sent its officials to train us on the  
peculiarities of elections observation in Ghana, and the training  
covered a range of subjects from security to the voter register.  
Finally, the EC invited us to contact its officials immediately we  
notice anything unusual during the voting exercise.

 In the period prior to the polls we also met with the leadership of  
the major political parties, NPP, NDC and CPP, and they all evinced a  
strong desire for a peaceful and well-run election. All espoused  
non-violence and all said that if they lost they would seek redress  
through legal means or accept defeat. It was apparent that campaigning  
also involved an element of voter education, for example in how to mark  
the ballots correctly, making the point that those with a vested  
interest can be the most committed teachers.

 The parties were not without complaints, especially officials of the  
official opposition NDC, and these were extensively documented in a  
“Memorandum for Foreign and Domestic Observers and Monitors” which was  
shared with us by its officials. Their concerns ranged from the Voters  
Identification Card system, delays in disbursement of funds to the EC,  
manipulation of the media and biased coverage in favour of the ruling  
party, training of foreign mercenaries and importation of weapons and  
the alleged partisan involvement of President Obasanjo of Nigeria.

 On the eve of the election, the NDC insisted on a meeting of all the  
political parties with the Electoral Commission to discuss lingering  
concerns about the “flawed process”. We attended the meeting as  
observers and it was interesting to see the manner the Electoral  
Commission responded to all the allegations made by the NDC, both in  
the way it conceded on some of the gaps noticed by NDC and in the  
manner it held its own grounds on other aspects of its preparations. I  
am familiar with many of these allegations as a Ghanaian resident and  
felt the EC did a good job of demonstrating its independence.

 On Election Day, our team visited no fewer than forty polling stations  
in the Greater Accra region. It was only in one station that the  
election did not start promptly at 7.a.m because materials did not  
arrive there due to a vehicle breakdown. We made a point of speaking  
particularly to party polling agents and it was remarkable that not a  
single polling agent, particularly those from the opposition parties  
had any complaints to make to us. In a few polling booths with  
unusually large number of voters, there was some rowdiness, but by the  
time we brought this to the notice of the Deputy Chairman in Charge of  
Operations at the EC headquarters, the Commission promptly took action.

 In all cases, police presence was hardly noticeable as they stood some  
distance from the polling officials, except when their attention was  
requested. Our colleagues in the other regions painted pretty much the  
same picture, except the Northern region where there were pockets of  
violence in the Bawku constituency. With respect to counting, this was  
done at each polling station immediately after voting stopped at 5.p.m.  
In a unique collaboration between Joy 99 FM station, the Institute of  
Economic Affairs and Ghana's largest mobile telephone company,  
Spacefon, results were relayed by phone to the news studio and  
broadcast, across the country.

 What Ghanaians have managed to do with this election is prove that  
election management is no rocket science. It requires adequate and  
competent preparation, a high degree of transparency, a responsible  
government, which respects its own citizens and an alert citizenry  
ready to protect their vote. It does not matter who wins the election  
in Ghana as the results were still coming in by the time this was  
written, but the process that I witnessed was without exaggeration  
better than what transpired in the last US election. (Editors note:  
Subsequent to this article being written, President John Kufuor has won  
re-election for a second term.)

 Yet in spite of all one has written, Ghana is not without post  
election challenges. If President Kufuor wins the election, he would be  
mistaken to interpret the verdict as a vote of confidence in his  
government's performance. Ghanaians still worry that their economy is  
too aid-dependent with sixty percent of the budget coming from external  
assistance and extreme poverty still stalking the land.

 My own assessment listening to Ghana's proliferating FM stations and  
to ordinary people in my four years of part-residence in Ghana is that  
the legacies of authoritarian rule and the search for stability count  
more for ordinary Ghanaians than immediate economic gains. But this may  
not be for long. As long as many Ghanaians see the shadow of former  
President Rawlings lurking in the opposition NDC though, the likelihood  
of its victory in presidential election is remote.

 The irony is that the NPP government has not necessarily performed  
creditably in ensuring the security and safety of ordinary Ghanaians,  
especially Ghanaians in the Northern region. The brazen murder of the  
local monarch, the Ya Na in Yendi District, a centre of traditional  
influence in the Northern region remains a major source of tension and  
there are those who see the NPP as responsible for this, given the  
prominence of major NPP figures like Aliu Mahama (current Vice  
President), Joshua Hamidu (former National Security Adviser and now  
High Commissioner to Nigeria) and Malik Alhassan Yakubu (former  
Interior Minister) in the conflict. Indeed, the only area that  
witnessed serious conflict during the election was the North,  
especially the Bawku constituency where Hawa Yakubu, prominent civil  
society activist and ECOWAS Parliamentarian was a candidate.

 Equally, in terms of development, the property owning democracy and  
golden age of business that NPP promised Ghanaians is yet to  
materialise four years after it came into office. Generally, the  
economy is no better than where the NDC left it. Over the past two  
decades, market forces have dominated the economy and this trend has  
continued with the NPP government. The economy is reliant on the export  
of primary products thus making it vulnerable to the general shocks of  
the global economy including price fluctuations. Further, since the  
1990s, the economy has been characterised by high rates of inflation,  
high interest rates, depreciation of the cedi, dwindling foreign  
reserves, excessive public debt overhang and stagnant economic growth,  
implementation of the government poverty reduction strategy  
notwithstanding. The real test of NPP's popularity will come in 2008  
when Kuffuor's term expires, and the opposition parties have managed to  
re-organise themselves.

 There are lessons too for other West African countries, especially the  
most populous of them all, Nigeria. It is arguable that elections in  
Ghana have resulted in enhanced legitimacy because the chain has  
remained unbroken since 1992. Having run the fourth election in an  
unbroken cycle, the Electoral Commission in Ghana is regarded as one of  
the best managed in the whole of Africa. Its Executive Chairman, Dr  
Kwadjo Afari-Gyan, and his fellow commissioners have become well-known  
elections gurus in the continent, earning the respect of peers across  
the board. Sitting in on one of the Commission's meetings with  
political parties, one can understand why. Dr Afari-Gyan demonstrated a  
mastery of his brief without being arrogant, entertained legitimate  
complaints from the opposition parties and left all with a clear  
impression that he was not in the pocket of any government or  
opposition party.

 The challenge is therefore to organise an Electoral Commission that is  
truly independent of Government and wholly accountable to the people.  
The Ghanaians can help by sharing their experience with other West  
Africans, and since Dr Afari-Gyan is already the Secretary-General of  
the Elections Management Bodies in Africa, there is a platform to  
achieve this objective.

 Also, given the plans by ECOWAS to establish a full Elections Unit in  
the ECOWAS Secretariat, that Unit has the specific challenge of  
assisting to enhance election management in West Africa, by providing  
capacity strengthening initiatives and strictly upholding the  
provisions of the Supplementary protocol on Democracy & Good Governance  
signed by all Heads of States in West Africa, but yet to be ratified by  
the majority of these leaders.

 Another lesson that West African states should take to heart is the  
relevance of freedom of information and the vigilance of civil society.  
A major credit for the transparent conduct of the Ghanaian election  
goes to the several FM stations dotted around the country and the  
vigilance of CODEO - the local domestic observer mission of 7,000  
people. Although some of the FM stations can be a bit over the top in  
the use of inelegant adjectives to describe the President and  
opposition leaders, they feed the public with regular, minute-by-minute  
updates on the elections, and in the process prevent potential  
problems. They also broadcast provisional election results as soon as  
counting is completed at the polling booth and follow this to the  
collation centres until final results are delivered. And, more  
importantly, they are encouraged to do so by the Electoral Commission.  
So, the idea that a result known to everyone at the local level  
suddenly produces another winner as it happens in Nigeria is  
immediately nipped in the bud.

 Finally, what Ghana proves is the importance of distance between the  
Electoral Commission and the political leadership in any state and the  
confidence that comes from understanding and surefootedness. We need a  
better understanding of electoral geography in all of our countries in  
West Africa, a factor that may well be responsible for the fear of  
election among the contending parties in Cote d'Ivoire. Two, we should  
let the public nominate elections commissioners and subject them to  
public scrutiny before Parliament appoints them in our countries;  
three, we must fund the electoral body direct from the Consolidated  
Account without any interference from the ruling Government; four, the  
electoral body must be supported by an independent bureaucracy, not the  
regular civil service, and finally, we must ensure that the electoral  
law promotes independent candidacy and proportional representation  
rather than winner takes all mentality in our countries where diversity  
should be celebrated.

 In all of these areas, Ghana is light years ahead of many West African  
states but that is really where the greatest hope lies. Here is a  
country that was a complete basket case in the early 1980s and many  
never thought it could recover from its abysmal state. It also defies  
political science theory up to a point, in that the people are still  
poor but they value democracy. Barely two decades later, Ghana is an  
example and a beacon of hope for the rest of Africa. African states'  
permanent transition too may yet lead to transformation and I believe  
that if the chain remains unbroken in many of our states, we will  
improve electoral legitimacy.

 * Dr Kayode Fayemi is Director, Centre for Democracy & Development, in  
Nigeria. This article is reproduced with permission of CDD.

 * Please send comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 * Click on the link below for press statement by the West African  
Civil Society Forum on the Ghana elections.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26223

THE CRISIS IN CôTE D'IVOIRE
Véronique Tadjo
 For the international community to intervene decisively in a  
particular conflict, it is always better if a clear picture of good  
guys and bad guys can emerge. Anything less and the world dithers. Most  
decision-makers take an 'innocent until proven guilty' approach to  
ruling parties and rebels.

 Unfortunately, it is not always possible to give easy answers. At  
times, all the protagonists are unfit to rule. What can the  
international community do then? That is the fundamental problem in  
Côte d'Ivoire today.

 Until last month, an uneasy ceasefire held between the government and  
rebel troops, who seized the northern half of the country in 2002.  
Despite the presence of UN peacekeeping troops the Ivorian government  
broke the détente by bombing rebel positions. In the process, nine  
French soldiers and an American aid worker were killed. In retaliation,  
the French army destroyed most of the Ivorian air force.

 Recently, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo, a welcome  
first step but not enough to end the cycle of violence in what was once  
regarded as the most stable country in a very unstable region. Before  
mediators can find a solution, they must understand the depth and  
complexity of the country's leadership crisis.

 The present crisis began to take shape in 1993, when the country's  
first president, Felix Houphoüet-Boigny, died after 33 years in power.  
Under his reign, Côte d'Ivoire became the most advanced economy in West  
Africa. As the world's top cocoa producer, the country was able to  
afford a modern capital and an impressive network of roads. Foreign  
investment and a policy welcoming migrant labour from neighbouring  
countries were part of the country's success story.

 During the boom years, millions of economic migrants from all over  
West Africa settled permanently in Côte d'Ivoire. With time they  
acquired Ivorian citizenship and their children were born in the  
country.

 By the time Houphoüet-Boigny died, Côte d'Ivoire was on the verge of  
implosion. The winds of democratisation were sweeping Africa. Prices  
for the nation's major crops, cocoa and coffee, were dropping, the  
currency, the CFA franc, was devalued. National debt had risen to  
unsustainable levels and unrest gripped the country.

 Former finance minister Henri Konan Bédié succeeded Houphoüet-Boigny.  
To bolster his power base and exclude rivals from contesting for power,  
Bédié promoted a new concept of 'Ivoirité' (Ivorian-ness), which sought  
to distinguish between 'real' Ivorian citizens and foreigners.

 Hidden behind this question was the issue of land ownership,  
entitlement to what was left of the riches of the country and access to  
political power. Due to their geographical proximity and cultural links  
to countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, the burden rested  
(and still rests) on people from the northern part of Côte d'Ivoire to  
prove that they are not foreigners. In the past few years identity  
cards have been denied to a lot of people on the basis of their Malinké  
sounding names. Consequently, during the last elections a substantial  
number of northerners were disenfranchised.

 Alassane Ouattara became the flashpoint of this politics of exclusion.  
He draws much of his support from the north. He served as prime  
minister in Houphouët's last government and was, with Gbagbo, the most  
popular rival to Bédié. Being a Muslim of Burkina Faso descent,  
Ouattara's Ivorian citizenship has been contested by Bedié and Gbagbo's  
governments. This has effectively barred him from being a presidential  
candidate.

 In December 1999, Gen. Robert Guéi toppled Konan Bédié in a coup  
d'état. Despite promises to the contrary, Guéi stood as a candidate in  
elections that also barred Ouattara from participation. Guéi declared  
himself the winner, but was forced to flee by popular uprising. Laurent  
Gbagbo, long an opponent of Houphouët's ruling party, took power as the  
presumed winner of that flawed election. Ouattara called for fresh  
elections, but Gbagbo refused. Fighting erupted between Gbagbo and  
Ouattara supporters.

 Instead of conciliation, Gbagbo continued to stir ethnic division. He  
financed and armed the Young Patriots, a party militia that has staged  
violent demonstrations, attacked foreigners and is accused of  
extra-judicial killings of opposition party organisers.

 Within two years, rebel soldiers from the north rose against his  
government and succeeded in cutting the country in two. Rapid  
deployment of French troops stalled the conflict, but neither side has  
shown willingness to compromise. Both sides have broken the Marcoussis  
peace accord brokered by the French as well as the Accra II and III  
agreements. Gbagbo continued to re-arm and failed to follow through on  
pledges to reform electoral and citizenship laws.

 French troops and political pressure were without doubt instrumental  
in stopping all-out civil war. But as the former colonial power, France  
does not have the profile of a neutral party. Through state media  
propaganda, Gbagbo effectively used the destruction of the nation's  
small air force in November to whip up anti-French sentiment among the  
population and divert international attention from his abrupt violation  
of the cease-fire.

 Left alone, the country will return to war, which will have  
devastating consequences for the region. Fresh elections are necessary,  
but many issues must be settled first.

 Given their track record, it seems unlikely that either Gbagbo or  
Guillaume Soro of the rebel forces will lay down their arms unless the  
international community imposes its will. Elections must be organised  
by a body that is broadly accepted as neutral but is forceful enough to  
insist on fair play. Unless the elections are free and fair, the  
conflict will start again.

 Ouattara and Bédié are planning to join forces and contest the  
elections together, with Bédié running as president and Ouattara as  
prime minister. Bédié pledged to serve only one term and hand over to  
Ouattara. An alliance between Ouattara and Bédié, a Christian, is  
capable of defeating Gbagbo in a fair vote and would help diffuse the  
threat that southern Christians perceive from a northern Muslim running  
the country.

 The first step to effective outside mediation is recognising the  
extent to which all players have acted in bad faith so far. Grand  
corruption went unchecked under Bédié, who celebrated his outrageous  
fortune with champagne and caviar. He also fathered the present  
politics of exclusion. Gbagbo has stirred ethnic tension, continually  
delayed implementation of the peace accords, unleashed the violent  
Young Patriots and pumped out hate speech on state media. He is not  
committed to a diplomatic resolution of the crisis. As for Ouattara,  
although he could have diffused tensions and relinquished control of  
his party to someone with less problematic nationality, he led his  
party to boycott elections even though this was a bad political move.

 The northern rebel forces, who remain tainted for having tried to  
violently seize power, have no political experience or party  
organisation able to assume leadership. Moreover, the government has  
accused them of being backed militarily by Burkina Faso.

 Given this background, the best option would be to bar Gbagbo, Bédié,  
Ouattara and Soro from politics. Indeed, judging from previous actions,  
Gbagbo's government will try everything to prevent the elections from  
taking place in the face of the Bedié-Ouattara alliance or will simply  
bar Bédié from being a candidate.

 An interim government must therefore take over and lead the country to  
internationally supervised elections.

 * Véronique Tadjo is a writer and artist from Côte d'Ivoire. A former  
lecturer at the University of Abidjan and author, her latest novel,  
Reine Pokou, will appear next March in Paris. This article was first  
published in e-Africa, an electronic journal published by The South  
African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). It is reproduced  
here with permission of SAIIA.  
(http://www.saiia.org.za/modules.php? 
op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=450)

 * Please send comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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4. Letters
* PRAISE FOR PAMBAZUKA NEWS (1)
Jabu Dlamini
 I am a great fan of Pambuzuka news. It addresses social concerns which  
engulf us in the region. Pambuzuka news motivates one to do something  
about the social issues around us.I feel this quote is relevant when  
dealing with the complex issues we have to deal with everyday, "I am  
not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship".

* PRAISE FOR PAMBAZUKA NEWS (2)
Joseph Ochogwu
 Pambazuka remains the only African centred on-line resource for  
reseachers, development workers, proactive government workers and the  
civil society in Africa. Through its service, it has been able to bring  
about an African wide connected assertiveness among relevant  
stakeholders on critical issues confronting the continent. It is for  
Africans, by Africans and for the friends of Africans across the world.

* PRAISE FOR PAMBAZUKA NEWS (3)
Marie José Van Der Werff Ten Bosch
 I would like to react to your call for quotes on how useful we find  
Pambazuka. For me, as a European working with African partners and  
always on the outlook for new information and allies, Pambazuka news is  
a window to the African social movements and what is happening on the  
ground. It is news from people concerned with social and environmental  
issues, directly from the field. I learn something new from every  
Pambazuka issue, and i am very happy Pambazuka is providing such a  
service.

AFRICAN LEADERS SHOULD TAKE CARE OF FOOD SECURITY
Lilian K. Gisesa
 Thank you for my second online edition of the Pambazuka magazine.
 My comment is that nobody wants to be sick so that he/she can be  
treated. Thus my plea to African heads and all leaders is to address  
the issue of food security and then things like health can be catered  
for automatically. Why? With good nutrition, most diseases are kept at  
bay. There has been this craze in Kenya by the Ministry of Health for a  
National Health Bill. It is fine, but I can’t understand how it is  
going to work when there are over 300 000 Kenyans staying in the slums.  
Maybe you have heard of slums - visit one (Kibera slums) and get the  
real picture of what it means to be poor. The same applies to people  
living in rural areas. Their living conditions are below average.

 Africa is a very productive land, and if this resource is harnessed  
properly, we can even produce a surplus.

APPEAL FOR INFORMATION ON SIERRA LEONE
Sarah Armstrong
 I recently returned from a journey to Sierra Leone where I met with  
NGOs and CBOs in the country dealing specifically with women and  
children's issues. I have a lot of information on the organizations.  
However, I do not have a lot of statistics on the plight of women and  
children to help "paint a picture of the situation."

 I have just started ‘A Brighter Tomorrow for Africa’ - a charitable  
organization to raise awareness of and resources for the CBOs and NGOs  
with which I visited. I am a subscriber and have seen stories on Sierra  
Leone. I have not, however seen specific statistics relating to the  
plight of women and children in Sierra Leone? Do you have any or can  
you point me to an organization that might? I am looking for the  
following information:

 - Education? The level for women and for children?
 - Sexual Abuse Cases?
 - Ex Combatants?
 - Number of street children?
 - Number of orphans?
 - The health of women and children in Sierra Leone?
 Any and all help would be GREATLY appreciated.  
([EMAIL PROTECTED])

DEBATING FGM
Razia Mohamedali
 I've been trying to get the authorities here for suggestions and/or to  
take some kind of action regarding this matter but have not had any  
practical feedback from anybody, yet.

 There are some doctors and nurses belonging to the community who  
perform this these days and because it is such a close-knit community,  
it's very difficult to catch the perpetrators or the parents/guardians  
who take their little girls of between 5 and 6 years to them.

 The Kenyan organizations who deal with this matter and to whom I've  
written have offered to take no action, unfortunately. They all want  
somebody to volunteer (including the police), to plant a trap to catch  
them red-handed. I wouldn't personally have minded doing this if I had  
a daughter, but I don't.

 So, what other alternative does one have in the circumstances? Because  
if nothing is done, this practice will continue, ad infinitum, and the  
poor little girls continue to suffer and ironically they themselves  
will practice it on their daughters when the time comes.

 Any suggestions on what to do?
LAND RIGHTS AND WOMEN
WLSA Zambia
 I wanted to share the Chilala case with and ask you for ideas on a  
continental land rights campaign for women. The facts are as follows:

 "Mrs Chilala was widowed. She and her husband had occupied customary  
land on which they built brick houses. After her husband died, she  
refused to be inherited by her brother in law and since one of her sons  
was willing to stay on at the homestead she decided she would stay and  
not return to her natal home. Her in laws then decided to bury deceased  
relatives on her premises. To date there are 16 graves at this old  
woman's homestead. The matter went before the Lands Tribunal (which is  
ranked at the same level with the High Court but is a specialized  
Court) and the tribunal ruled that this is not a matter within their  
mandate and ordered that she pays legal costs to the tune of  
K50,000,000 (equivalent of US$12,000) she is over 70 years old”.

 I know that there is land reform taking place in most of Southern  
Africa (not sure about the rest of Africa) but can we use this case for  
advocacy and also do something for this woman. Note we are working with  
the Justice for Widows and Orphans to seek redress. ([EMAIL PROTECTED])

LOOKING BACKWARDS TO THE FUTURE
Oru Ntui
 I agree with you entirely on this issue (Pan-African Postcard:  
Gluttons who vomit on shoes, 29 July 2004). I just wanted to say that  
this British High Commissioner is serving a country where pirates and  
thieves of the worst sort are worshiped as national heroes. This tells  
you everything about his lot.

 Talk about gluttons, do they Europeans ever get satisfied with  
anything? They want to possess and control the whole world. And to  
think they are our “donors”: is Western Europe still not more dependent  
on Afrika than the reverse?

 That British High Commissioner will never say one bit against his own  
country, where corruption is institutional. I have always pointed out  
the fact that in a place like “Cameroon” where I hail from, it is not  
really corruption when a policeman demands money in return for a favor  
or not; it is an exercise or abuse of power or position. But in a place  
like Western Europe where you find MPs sitting on the board of  
directors and where contracts are only awarded after heavy bribery, you  
will never hear them talk of corruption. And then Transparency  
International will come up with Cameroon as being the most corrupt  
country on earth. Ridiculous!

 I see it as a relentless effort to control us by controlling our  
minds. And we are made to believe that we can only achieve progress if  
we stop the corruption, engage in voting for fools and so on. What  
nonsense! We Afrikans have to understand what the main issue is. We  
have to understand what it means to redefine ourselves after the long  
period of devastation through foreign involvement in our business.

 They even go as far as choosing Mandela as Afrikan president of the  
century and Mugabe as the worst. And so the former is given red carpet  
treatment all over Europe and the later gets a hell of a whipping from  
the international imperialist press. But the Afrikan youths must  
understand that the President who addresses the land question (which is  
a very pressing issue) best is automatically the president of the  
decade or century. We have to understand basically that we live on what  
comes out of the land not on elections. First things first!

 We have to be very critical in our thinking. We have to assess all  
these NGOs all over Afrika being financed from abroad. What a thing!  
Our governments are forced to cut down expenditure on vital domains  
like education and health care. At the same time NGOs are encouraged to  
carry out functions which only the state can carry out most  
effectively.

 Talk about women’s rights: Can you separate women’s rights from human  
rights? And who came up with this? The World Bank! Can you imagine? And  
now our educated women go about repeating this without analyzing  
further. Don’t get me wrong. I oppose the maltreatment of women. I  
would be a bastard not to respect women. But a European male cannot  
educate me on women’s rights. Let him do his homework first.

 I will not only say what displeases me without trying to suggest a  
solution. I think we need some serious education, not to be confused  
with literacy. Education is the ability to link one with his  
environment and literacy can serve as a very effective tool. This means  
that education has to start with historical knowledge, because it is  
history which teaches us about our background. A very central point in  
this is our cultural history.

 Every time I see a black woman say she is a feminist I feel like  
crying. If she understood Afrikan history she wouldn’t say a thing like  
that. I am very much aware of the weakening of the central position of  
the Afrikan woman in society above all after the transatlantic slave  
trade period. We have to go beyond signing petitions on women’s rights,  
which seems to deviate our attention from the real issue, which is  
Afrikan liberation. You cannot talk about the rights of women in a  
society living in slavery.

 We have to deal critically with issues like bearing European and Arab  
names and fooling ourselves that these are religious names. You find  
Afrikans using names like Peter, Paul, Mary, Linda and so on. What a  
shame! A name stands for an identity. Pambazuka the name of this site  
is an Afrikan word and means much. We should get out of the way if we  
cannot call ourselves like Afrikans should. We have to deal with  
foreign religions and the role they play in our underdevelopment. These  
are very pressing issues to be dealt with.

 The Sister Eno Deborah Anwana wrote a well-researched article “Taking  
control of Africa’s resources”. I was a bit irritated by the last  
sentence mentioning the promotion of the African Union through NEPAD. I  
always thought the AU was an Afrikan creation and that the NEPAD was  
another initiative from the imperialist West to undermine the AU. Maybe  
she could inform me more on the issue.

 I must say your website is well organized. I would like to know about  
your goals and aims.

 Very often I have found that we Afrikans are very interested in moving  
forward whilst neglecting our past. We have to understand that we need  
to study the past in order to design the future. It is only when we  
understand this that we shall learn to stop imitating people who are  
imitating us. We should learn about people who tried to organize  
Afrikan communities all over the world. Our goal should be to create a  
synthesis of all Afrikan peoples at home and abroad. And we on the  
Afrikan continent have to understand basically that we are directly  
responsible for the well-being of Afrikans worldwide. When I write of  
Afrikans worldwide I mean each and every Blackman on this planet. In  
the past the Pan-Afrikan impulse came more from the Afrikans born  
abroad; this has to be equaled by those born on the mother continent.  
We on the mother continent should try to reach the others outside. The  
Afrikan Union will only succeed and be complete if we bear this in  
mind. We must remember that the Pan-Afrikan idea, which led to the  
creation of the OAU (AU) sprang up from the Caribics and evolved as a  
3-way exchange between Afrikans in the Caribics, the American mainland  
and Afrika. Maybe this could serve as an impulse for your website.

 Maybe you could also deal with the fact that we should learn about  
those leaders who tried to organize Afrikan peoples like the great  
Chaka Zulu, Nzinga, Marcus Garvey, Nkrumah, a.o. and also on prominent  
historians like the late great John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Ben, Cheikh Anta  
Diop, Theophile Obenga and the great Ivan van Sertima, a.o.

 Continue with the good work.
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5. Conflict and Emergencies
AFRICA: OUTSIDE FORCES ACCUSED OF CONFLICT MAKING
http://www.twnafrica.org/atn/campaigns/day3.htm
 Emerging consensus at a meeting on peace and conflict in Africa has  
pointed accusing fingers at “external influences” as the main motor of  
conflict making in Africa. The meeting is one of several thematic  
meetings taking place at the 2004 African Social Forum in Lusaka,  
Zambia from December 10-14. In his contribution to the discussion, the  
veteran South African rights and anti-apartheid campaigner and writer,  
Dennis Brutus said that conflicts in Africa are mostly about Africa’s  
resources

COTE D'IVOIRE: WILL THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL IMPOSE A SECOND WAVE OF  
SANCTIONS?
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44665
 Wednesday is the day the United Nations Security Council threatened to  
impose a second wave of sanctions on anyone obstructing Cote d'Ivoire's  
peace process. But will the travel bans and asset freezes be  
forthcoming?Algerian ambassador Abdallah Baali, the Security Council  
president for December, seemed to hint on Monday that the UN might wait  
and give a recent peace drive by South African President Thabo Mbeki  
time to bear fruit.

DRC: DEATH TOLL APPROACHES 4M, SAYS IRC
 One thousand people die every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo  
(DRC) and nearly half of these deaths are accounted for by children  
under five years of age. These deaths add daily to the cumulative total  
of 3.8 million fatalities since the crisis began in August 1998 to the  
end of April 2004. This makes the DRC conflict worse than any other  
conflict since the end of World War II and in terms of death toll  
exceeds other recent crises, including Bosnia (estimated 250,000 dead),  
Rwanda (800,000), Kosovo (12,000), and Darfur in Sudan (70,000).

 Despite this, the international community has failed to take the  
necessary action to alleviate the crisis. During 2004, only 42% of  
funding sought by the United Nations for its activities had been raised  
by August, while contributions by the United States Agency for  
International Assistance to DRC for 2004 have declined by almost 25%  
when compared with 2003.

 “No other recent conflict has claimed as many lives and mortality  
rates remain elevated at an alarming level. In spite of these  
unambiguous facts, the international community has not yet mobilized  
the necessary will or resources to effectively address the crisis,”  
according to the latest mortality study, a joint effort by the New York  
based International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Australia's Burnet  
Institute.

 * Related Link: Why Does No One Care That The World’s Worst Conflict  
Has Broken Out Again?
 http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=6860
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26178

DRC: GOVERNMENT INSISTS TROOPS FIGHTING RWANDAN FORCES
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7091496
 Congo's government insisted on Tuesday that its forces were fighting  
Rwandan troops in the mineral-rich east of the country and not  
dissident units of the national army, as local commanders had said.  
"The Rwandans have sent soldiers to reinforce the positions they never  
really left in North Kivu (province)," Democratic Republic of Congo  
Information Minister Henri Mova Sakanyi said. Local military commanders  
have said Congolese troop reinforcements have been fighting factions  
loyal to the Rwandan-backed RCD Goma former rebel group. Rwanda has  
repeatedly stated its troops are not involved.

 SUDAN: CLASHES FORCE SUSPENSION OF SOUTH DARFUR RELIEF OPERATIONS
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44699
 The UN has suspended its relief operations in parts of the Sudanese  
state of South Darfur due to fighting between government and rebel  
forces, and a reported build-up of armed groups in the area, a  
spokesperson said. Radia Achouri, spokesperson for the UN Advance  
Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), told IRIN on Thursday that fighting between  
government troops and the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) had  
continued in areas east and southeast of Nyala town.

SUDAN: REBELS SUSPEND DARFUR PEACE TALKS
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1349775.htm
 Two Darfur rebel groups at peace talks with the Sudanese government in  
Nigeria refused to take part in any further discussions until Khartoum  
stopped attacking their forces, rebel delegates said on Monday. The  
African Union, which had been mediating in the talks in the Nigerian  
capital, had accused both sides of increasingly frequent ceasefire  
violations in the western Sudanese region where 1.6 million people have  
been driven from their homes.

UGANDA: ARMY ATTACKS 'HURT UGANDA PEACE'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4095867.stm
 Ugandan rebels say that attacks by the army may undermine the peace  
process, supposed to end an 18-year war. The army says it has killed 16  
rebels but stresses that the clashes took place outside a ceasefire  
zone, set up for rebel fighters. The conflict in northern Uganda has  
driven 1.6m people into refugee camps and triggered what aid workers  
call one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

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6. Human Rights
AFRICA/GLOBAL: HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER STRAIN
 The vision and promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights  
are under considerable strain, the top United Nations human rights  
official said last Thursday, calling the response to the threat of  
terrorism "confused". Speaking in Geneva on the eve of International  
Human Rights Day, Louise Arbour, High Commissioner for Human Rights,  
said that today, "Few of us are free from fear; many of us are still  
not free from want. The sinister shadow of terrorism is generating a  
confused response, unanchored in the principles that have guided us in  
the search for a proper balance between our desire for collective  
security and our need for liberty and individual freedom". Mrs. Arbour  
underlined that the United Nations High-Level Panel on Threats,  
Challenges and Change had captured well the global threats the world  
faces. "International terrorist groups prey on weak States for  
sanctuary", she said. "Their recruitment is aided by grievances  
nurtured by poverty, foreign occupation and the absence of human rights  
and democracy; by religious and other intolerance; and by civil  
violence - a witch's brew common to those areas where civil war and  
regional conflict intersect".
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26202

AFRICA: NEW TACTICS IN HUMAN RIGHTS PUBLICATION
http://www.newtactics.org/main.php/ToolsforAction/ 
TheNewTacticsWorkbook/Readordownloadfiles
 The New tactics in Human Rights Project has published "New Tactics in  
Human Rights: A Practitioners Guide." The 200-page book includes 100  
stories on how practitioners are advancing human rights. The book also  
includes an introduction to tactical and strategic thinking for human  
rights practitioners and a series of practical worksheets to help  
organizations determine which tactics and strategies will work best for  
them.

AFRICA: STATE OF THE WORLD'S CHILDREN 2005
http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_24432.html
 UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report for 2005 focuses on how  
poverty, conflict and HIV/AIDS threaten children around the globe.  
Since the adoption in 1989 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child  
– a landmark human rights treaty spelling out the basic rights that  
children everywhere have – there have been significant gains in  
fulfilling children’s rights to survival, health and education. But  
more than a billion children living in poverty around the world are  
still at risk. For hundreds of millions of children the promise of  
childhood that undergirds the Convention already appears broken as  
poverty, armed conflict and HIV/AIDS threaten their survival and  
development. The report concludes by calling on all stakeholders –  
governments, donors, international agencies, as well as communities,  
families, business and individuals – to reaffirm and recommit to their  
moral and legal responsibilities to children.

AFRICA: US REFORM OF COTTON SUBSIDIES IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/press_releases/ 
press_release.2004-12-03.6980194090
 Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former United Nations  
High Commissioner for Human Rights, has linked US reform of its  
agricultural subsidies regime to the human rights of African farmers at  
a press conference in Bamako last week. Mali is one of four West  
African countries leading the fight for cotton subsidy reform at the  
World Trade Organization. "The human rights of West African farmers are  
threatened by the continuous dumping of US cotton causing world prices  
to fall," said Robinson, who is the Honorary President of Oxfam  
International. World cotton prices reached an all time low in 2001 and  
are currently plummeting again after a brief recovery, putting huge  
pressure on government revenues and farmer incomes.

CHAD: ACTIVIST WINS HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD
http://www.rfkmemorial.org/human_rights/2004_Delphine/ 
laureate_announcement.htm
 Ms. Delphine Djiraibe of Chad has been selected for the 2004 Robert F.  
Kennedy Human Rights Award. Ms. Djiraibe was chosen by an international  
panel of distinguished judges for her tireless efforts in promoting the  
human rights of the Chadian people, often at great personal risk to  
herself and her family. Ms. Djiraibe is being recognized for her work  
on the Chad/Cameroon Oil and Pipeline Project. Her multifaceted  
campaign encompasses fighting governmental corruption, ensuring that  
the Chadian people benefit from the pipeline and its resulting profits,  
and preventing environmental devastation resulting from its  
construction.

SENEGAL: SENEGAL ABOLISHES THE DEATH PENALTY
 Amnesty International has welcomed the adoption by the Senegalese  
Parliament of the bill abolishing the death penalty. Senegal becomes  
the fourth member state of the Economic Community of West African  
States (ECOWAS) to outlaw recourse to capital punishment (after Cape  
Verde, Guinea Bissau and Ivory Coast). Under the lead of President  
Wade, the bill had been adopted unanimously by the government in July  
2004. It was passed with an overwhelming majority. Senegal has not  
carried out executions since 1967 but has continued to hand down death  
sentences, most recently in July 2004.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26125

ZIMBABWE: THE NGO BILL IN CONTEXT
http://www.sokwanele.com/
 The Non-Governmental Organisations Bill, condemned by human rights  
organisations because it will severely restrict their activities, had  
its third reading and was passed by Parliament at a late night sitting  
on 9th December. It now requires only the signature of the President  
and to be gazetted before it comes into force. "Helpless against a  
determined regime holding all the levers of power, we watch aghast as  
one after another of the spaces formerly providing independent thought  
and action are closed down, and a fascist regime takes control of every  
aspect of social existence," concludes this article from the activist  
website Sokwanele.

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7. Refugees and Forced Migration
ANGOLA: UNHCR TO REPATRIATE ALL CAMP-BASED REFUGEES NEXT YEAR
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44658
 The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, intends to complete the repatriation of  
Angolan refugees living in camps in neighbouring countries by next  
year, and will then help those that have settled in the wider community  
to return home. This year UNHCR assisted nearly 51,000 Angolans to  
return home from Zambia (27,579), the DRC (19,082) and Namibia (4,189),  
with lesser numbers from Botswana, the Republic of Congo and South  
Africa.

GLOBAL/AFRICA: UN REFUGEE AGENCY APPEALS FOR $1.1 BILLION
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0412/S00176.htm
 With an unprecedented number of repatriation operations underway in  
Africa, the United Nations refugee agency has launched a $1.1 billion  
appeal, nearly $100 million more than in 2004, to fund its work for  
next year to care for some 17 million refugees and other people  
worldwide. “While we are providing assistance to over 1 million  
returnees, for millions of others hope is still remote,” Mr. Lubbers  
noted.

KENYA/ UK: MAN STUCK AT AIRPORT IN IMMIGRATION MESS
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=8188
 For the last six months, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has been  
Sanjai Shah’s second home. Unlike other passengers on transit, he is  
known to many of the airport staff and they know him as "the man in  
limbo", for he can neither enter nor leave the country. He has no  
travel documents.The Kitale-born man of Asian descent is at the airport  
courtesy of what he calls "racist and dehumanising" treatment from  
British immigration officials.

SOMALILAND: IDPS, RETURNEES DESPERATE FOR ASSISTANCE IN SOMALILAND
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44628
 A senior UN official called for more international and local  
assistance for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and  
returnees in the self-declared autonomous republic of Somaliland.  
“These IDPs and returnees are among the poorest of the poor,” Dennis  
McNamara, head of the UN Inter-Agency Internal Displacement Division,  
said during a visit to returnee camps in Burao, 340 km east of the  
Somaliland capital, Hargeysa. “They desperately need assistance."

SUDAN/NIGERIA: UNHCR RAISES ALARM ON REFUGEE INFLUX
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=4462
 The Chief Representative of Nigeria and ECOWAS on the United Nations  
High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Mr Eusebe Hounsokou, has raised  
an alarm over the influx of refugees from war torn Darfur region in  
Sudan, to Nigeria. President and Founder of African Concern  
International (ACI), Prince Bola Ajibola said the problems of refugees  
have become global issues, which must be tackled.

UGANDA: CHILD PROTECTION IN THE CONTEXT OF DISPLACEMENT
http://www.refugeelawproject.org/Working%20papers/RLPWP13.pdf
 The Refugee Law Project (RLP) has released a report on child  
protection issues among refugees and nationals in western Uganda. RLP  
Working Paper 13: Child Protection in the Context of Displacement,  
funded by Save the Children in Uganda (SCiU), details education, health  
and child abuse concerns in Ntoroko County, Bundibugyo District.

 Building on past research presented in RLP Working Paper 10:  
Displacement in Bundibugyo District: A Situation Analysis, the new  
report shows how conflict, displacement and poverty in western Uganda  
and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have contributed to  
very difficult living conditions for children in Ntoroko County. While  
all children face child protection issues in this context, refugee  
children encounter additional challenges because of language barriers,  
lack of social support structures and discrimination.

 Research findings reveal major barriers to accessing quality education  
for children in Ntoroko County, particularly for girls and Congolese  
children. Malaria, cough, worms and cholera are the main health issues  
facing children, due primarily to poor sanitation and lack of access to  
clean water. Child abuse, neglect, rape and defilement are widespread  
in the county, but response from local authorities has been inadequate,  
contributing to a culture of impunity.

UK/ GLOBAL: AGENDA FOR INTEGRATION
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/downloads/policy_briefings/ 
agenda_integ_nov04.pdf
 "As signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention, we have a duty to  
ensure that those to whom we grant protection are able to attain a  
decent quality of life and are able to reach their full potential.  
However, refugees and asylum seekers make up some of the most  
marginalised and excluded groups within society. Integration is a term  
that can evoke different associations but actually is a two way  
process. For the refugee, it requires a willingness to adapt to the  
lifestyle of the host society without having to lose his or her own  
cultural identity. In return, the host society should be prepared to  
accept refugees as equals."

ZAMBIA: AID AGENCIES WARN OF IMPENDING MALNUTRITION
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44640
 United Nations aid agencies have again appealed to donors to step up  
assistance to the estimated 200,000 refugees in Zambia, who have seen  
their food rations halved in the last two months due to the lack of  
funds. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday said it  
was "extremely concerned" and warned that the deteriorating situation  
was likely to impact on the health of the refugees.

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8. Women and Gender
AFRICAN SOCIAL FORUM: WOMEN'S COURT SETS UP
http://www.twnafrica.org/atn/campaigns/day3-1.htm
 The Africa Social forum conducted an African Court of Women’s lives  
and livelihoods, which offered through testimony, expert analysis,  
poetic visuals, dance and drum, the situation of women in this violent  
globalised world. Rabia Abedelkrim from FAMES/ENDA, Senegal explained  
that the role of the judiciary was not to mimic the courts but to  
articulate new concepts in dispensing justice. “Testifiers were going  
to speak with their bodies,” she said.

KENYA: EXPOSING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES
United Disabled Persons Of Kenya (UDPK) Press Release
 "Last Wednesday, twenty women with disabilities converged at United  
Disabled Persons of Kenya (UDPK) offices along Waiyaki way at Kabete  
Orthopaedic workshop to share and exchange views on violence against  
women with disabilities. The stories and experiences shared were just  
indescribable. Women with disabilities are the most violated in the  
society, and yet the violations are so secret that nobody seems to know  
except the victims themselves. Women with disabilities are an integral  
part of the society. In many, respects too, we have been disadvantaged  
by the reality of their impairments as well as owing to unwarranted  
discrimination by the rest of the society. We have been excluded from  
the mainstream socio-economic activities, no wonder a high proportion  
of women with disabilities are amongst the poorest."
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26128

LESOTHO: LESOTHO AIMS TO MAKE WOMEN LEGALLY EQUAL TO MEN
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0923796.htm
 Lesotho's government aims to give women full legal equality and  
property rights within a year in one of the handful of African states  
where women remain legally inferior to men. Women in the mountainous  
kingdom - one of the world's poorest countries and entirely circled by  
South Africa - can vote, work and hold public office, but they are  
legally minors, subordinate to their husbands or fathers.

NIGERIA: DISCUSSING WOMEN, GIRLS AND HIV/AIDS
 In commemoration of the 2004 World AIDS Day, the Federal Ministry of  
Women Affairs, the National Action Committee on AIDS in collaboration  
with the United Nations Theme Group on HIV/AIDS organised a one day  
national conference in Nigeria on the theme: 'Women, Girls and  
HIV/AIDS'. The conference was designed to raise awareness among the  
Nigerian populace as well as policy makers on the ways in which women's  
inequality helps fuel the transmission of HIV and increase the impact  
of AIDS. The conference served as a forum for examining the gender  
dimensions to the HIV/AIDS pandemic as well as seeking lasting  
solutions in Nigeria. It was attended by 158 participants comprising of  
representatives of government agencies, HIV/AIDS support groups, civil  
society organisations, faith-based organisations, development agencies  
and media organisations. Read the statement issued at the meeting by  
clicking on the link below.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26152

RWANDA: SOCIAL WORKER WINS AWARD FOR DEDICATING HER LIFE TO WOMEN
http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Rwanda/Nov04/human%20rights.html
 After the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Godelieve Mukasarasi returned to  
her village from a refugee camp with one goal in mind - to pick up  
where she left off months earlier. The social worker's house was  
destroyed. Some of her family members were killed. But her objective  
was to help others in her situation. She was in Canada recently to  
accept the John Humphrey Freedom Award, presented by the Montreal-based  
human-rights group Rights and Democracy. She said it was the genocide  
in Rwanda that prompted her to focus on the promotion of women's rights  
and the rights of women in such conflicts.

 TANZANIA: EXPERIENCES IN HIV AND GENDER VIOLENCE
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3020004.html
 Prior research has shown a strong correlation between HIV infection  
and a history of intimate partner violence, particularly among young  
women. However, the role violence plays in the sexual relationships of  
young people in Sub-Saharan Africa is not well understood. This study  
in Tanzania, published in the December 4 edition of International  
Family Planning Perspectives, concludes that the association between  
HIV and violence identified among young people in prior research may be  
partially explained by their experiences with infidelity and forced sex  
in their intimate partnerships. HIV prevention interventions that fail  
to take into account the infidelity, violence and forced sex frequently  
involved in youth's sexual relationships will have a limited impact.

 UGANDA: SPARE THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN, UN AGENCY URGES
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44603
 Uganda's government must do what it can to protect children and women  
from violence, while the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) must  
immediately and unconditionally stop abducting, killing and exploiting  
Uganda's children, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said last Thursday.  
UNICEF said that in the district of Gulu alone, an estimated 840  
abducted girls returned home this year. About thirty 30 percent had  
already become mothers.

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9. Elections and Governance
AFRICA: THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16636
 There should be changes in the governance of the World Bank and the  
International Monetary Fund, especially in voting structure and  
representation changes in the governance of the WTO, including more  
transparency, the elimination of the green room processes and the  
creation of more representative processes for decision making. There  
should also be a move away from a focus on the G-8 to a focus on the  
G-24. This is according to a paper from the Initiative for Policy  
Dialogue (IPD) at Columbia University in the United States. The paper  
assesses the underlying democratic deficiencies and weaknesses in  
global governance, and examines the forces that might lead to a  
meaningful change.

BURUNDI: ELECTIONS AND PEACE
http://www.icg.org/home/index.cfm
 After a decade of civil war, Burundi has a chance for real peace but  
only if it holds to its tight election schedule - five months with a  
constitutional referendum, local, national assembly and senate  
elections, and finally selection of the president by parliament. The  
sequence is ambitious but necessary to finalise a difficult peace  
process, says the International Crisis Group in a new report, available  
in French from their website.
 * Related Link: New delay to Burundi referendum
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4095961.stm

CAMEROON: BIYA AIDE NAMED PREMIER, CABINET RESHUFFLED
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44637
 Paul Biya, Cameroon’s president for 22 years and fresh from  
re-election, has named a trusty aide as the new prime minister and  
brought a few new faces into government. Ephraim Inoni, a 57-year-old  
English-speaking financier who has served as a top presidential aide  
for the last ten years, was appointed to take over as premier from  
fellow anglophone, Peter Mafany Musonge, national radio announced last  
week.

CAR: BOZIZE TO CONTEST PRESIDENCY AS AN INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44632
 The leader of the Central African Republic (CAR), Francois Bozize,  
announced on Saturday he would contest presidential elections due to be  
held in January 2005 as an independent candidate. Bozize, a former army  
chief of staff, took power on 15 March 2003 when he ousted President  
Ange-Felix Patasse after leading a six-month rebellion. About a month  
later, he said would not seek election as president. On Saturday,  
however, Bozize said: "After thinking thoroughly, and being deeply  
convinced and keeping in mind the nation's interest, I grasped the deep  
sense of my people's calls. As a citizen, I'll take my responsibility."

MOZAMBIQUE: GUEBUZA LEADS CONTROVERSIAL POLL
http://www.afrol.com/articles/15007
 Armando Emilio Guebuza of Mozambique's ruling FRELIMO party is heading  
for a landslide victory in the recent presidential polls, if the  
results published so far are to be believed. A coalition of twenty  
opposition parties however says they are a result of massive fraud and  
demands fresh elections. The preliminary results from six out of  
Mozambique's ten provinces have already been published. According to  
the National Electoral Commission, FRELIMO candidate Guebuza received  
about 70 percent of the vote in these provinces.

NAMIBIA: HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP DISPUTES ELECTIONS
http://www.nshr.org.na/modules.php? 
op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=431&POSTNUKESID=ae69abdd7c399394b2 
8a88545948dbfe
 "Having been monitoring the 2004 process since its commencement in  
2002, the National Society for Human Rights has observed numerous  
commissions and omissions in the process. In the presence of such gross  
anomalies, NSHR has been unable to reasonably and fairly declare the  
2004 presidential and National Assembly elections as free and fair."  
This is according to the latest report from the NSHR, which says  
problems in the election process are symptoms or manifestations of a  
particular socio-political and economic environment described in the  
report.

NAMIBIA: OPPOSITION WINS FIRST ROUND IN ELECTION COURT BATTLE
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44697
 Two opposition parties challenging the veracity of Namibia's national  
and presidential polls were on Thursday granted a High Court order to  
peruse official election documentation in order to substantiate their  
case. The court ordered the Electoral Commission to make available to  
the Congress of Democrats (CoD) and the Republican Party (RP) election  
reports of returning officers for each of the 1,168 polling stations  
and all of the 107 constituencies.

SOMALIA: PREMIER IN CONFIDENCE VOTE
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4091257.stm
 Somalia's new President Abdullahi Yusuf has re-appointed his prime  
minister, just days after parliament passed a vote of no confidence in  
him. The move may placate the MPs, as they now have the opportunity to  
approve Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi. "The real crucial issue is  
the name should be first submitted to parliament," Bethwel Kiplagat,  
chief mediator for the Somalia talks, told the BBC's Focus on Africa.

ZIMBABWE: NGO BILL 'UNACCEPTABLE'
Statement On The Passing Of The NGO Bill By Parliament
 "The National Association of Non Governmental Organizations,  
representing over 1000 NGOs in Zimbabwe, would like to state that the  
NGO bill is unacceptable to the NGO community. NANGO is disappointed  
that many of the amendments that had been submitted by NGOs to  
Government and Parliament were out rightly rejected. It is therefore  
difficult to envisage how NGOs are expected to comply under the new law  
given the restrictions placed on every part of their work. Various  
clauses in the NGO Bill will result in the shutting down of the  
majority of NGOs. For example under the proposed NGO Law [Non  
Governmental Organisations Bill-H.B.13, 2004], NGOs will not be allowed  
to receive foreign funding for activities that include the promotion  
and protection of human rights and issues of governance. This therefore  
threatens the work of NGOs, given that there is no local funding. Even  
the recently presented 2005 Budget estimates have not shown significant  
contributions to welfare organisations. The work that NGOs do in the  
promotion and protection of human rights include:- Child Rights;  
Women’s Rights; Rights of people living with HIV and AIDS; Rights of  
people with disabilities; Freedom of expression, association and  
assembly, and the Right to development." Click on the link below for  
statements from a range of Zimbabwean human rights groups.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26117

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10. Development
AFRICA: AID AS PRIVATISATION
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5075380-103677,00.html
 While aid is supposed to reduce poverty, the conditions attached to it  
have often had the opposite result, write Dave Prentis, general  
secretary of Unison, and Louise Richards, chief executive of War on  
Want, in The Guardian UK. "Donors have commonly required developing  
countries to privatise their public services and open up their markets  
in order to qualify for assistance, yet both courses have proved  
disastrous. The UN's newly published report on the world's least  
developed countries confirms the evidence on the ground: those states  
which have liberalised their markets most dramatically have also seen  
the greatest increases in poverty over the past 10 years."

AFRICA: AID TO AFRICA DWINDLES
http://www.sarpn.org.za/newsflash.php#2361
 Aid agencies in Africa are coming under pressure as a declining dollar  
means their budgets buy less while high profile operations in Iraq and  
Afghanistan bleed funding from development in the world’s poorest  
continent. The greenback has hit record lows against the euro and near  
six-year lows against South Africa’s rand, leaving aid groups, which  
planned their budgets in dollars seeing their purchasing power slashed.  
While agencies that get considerable donations from Europe and other  
non-US donors say they escape the worst of the effects, Africa projects  
must also fight for funding that is being sucked into rebuilding  
efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 AFRICA: GROUPS ENVISION END-POVERTY CAMPAIGN
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=26005
 Buoyed by successful global initiatives to ban landmines and create an  
international criminal court, a coalition of NGOs plans to launch a  
worldwide campaign seeking support for ''new and innovative sources of  
financing'' to help eradicate hunger and poverty. ''The idea is to copy  
the successful global processes that resulted in the convention to ban  
landmines, and also the statute to create the International Criminal  
Court (ICC),'' says Katarina Sehm Patomaki of the Helsinki-based  
Network Institute for Global Democratisation (NIGD).

 AFRICA: NEPAD FUNDING NOSEDIVES
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44589
 The African Union (AU) has voted for a fourfold increase in its  
budget, but cuts still have to be made to some programmes. Among areas  
that have been put on hold until next year is the continent-wide,  
anti-poverty blueprint – the New Partnership for Africa’s Development  
(Nepad). The AU had wanted $200 million a year to finance Nepad – in  
areas like road and bridge building - then cut that figure to $30  
million before it was shelved. The current AU budget is $43 million,  
but only $27 million has been paid up.

AFRICA: THE IMPERIAL TRADITION AND THE COMMISSION FOR AFRICA
http://www.sarpn.org.za/newsflash.php#2352
 "I have few expectations of Tony Blair's Commission on Africa. We do  
not need another commission to look at Africa's problems," writes Yao  
Graham, co-ordinator of Third World Network-Africa, based in Accra,  
Ghana, in The Guardian UK. "The archives of the United Nations, African  
institutions and many other bodies are bulging with reports and  
proposals on how to resolve the world's north-south divide. There are  
many international agreements that have been frustrated by western  
governments and corporations. And, more importantly, African  
governments have come up with many demands, in forums such as the World  
Trade Organisation, which have been blocked by western governments,  
including the UK under Blair."

AFRICA: US ATTACKS GLOBAL COURT
http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=4139
 A bill before the US Congress would ban tens of millions of dollars in  
U.S. economic aid to some of its allies unless they formally agree to  
exempt U.S. citizens from the jurisdiction of the International  
Criminal Court. Congress passed a law in 2002 that gave the  
administration the discretion to cut off military aid to countries not  
belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that  
ratified the ICC. Over the past year, the administration has done  
precisely that with about three-dozen countries, almost all of them  
poor nations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Central  
Europe. The Nethercutt Amendment would deprive the same nations of  
economic support funds (ESF), a category of economic assistance that  
accounts for about $2.5 billion in the current foreign-aid bill.

AFRICAN SOCIAL FORUM: AFRICA TO HOST NEXT WORLD SOCIAL FORUM
http://allafrica.com/stories/200412140257.html
 Delegates at the African Social Forum in Lusaka agreed that Africa  
should host the next World Social Forum. However, delegates who were  
drawn from over 50 African countries were divided over which country  
should host the forum. Morocco had earlier offered to host the World  
Social Forum but most of the delegates were opposed to the idea of  
staging the conference in the North African country.

AFRICAN SOCIAL FORUM: DEMANDS FOR FULL DEBT CANCELLATION
 "We Demand Full Multilateral Debt Cancellation for Africa and the  
Global South
 Drop the Debt 100% -- All Impoverished Countries -- No Economic  
Conditions!

 As civil society organizations from across the continent of Africa, we  
are confronted every day by the devastating reality of the crisis of  
debt. Debt payments to wealthy institutions like the IMF and World Bank  
rob our countries of resources we desperately need to provide health  
care, fight HIV/AIDS, provide education, and make available clean  
water. Debt is a tool of domination used by rich country governments  
and creditors like the IMF and World Bank. Conditions attached to debt  
relief and loans are devastating our economies and undermining our  
choices as sovereign nations.

 For impoverished nations, multilateral creditors - in particular the  
IMF and World Bank - are the largest creditors. They are also the most  
powerful: because of their "preferred creditor" status, countries must  
pay their debts back first to these institutions. If countries do not  
pay, they are penalized and excluded from most forms of aid and  
assistance.

 For impoverished nations, multilateral creditors - in particular the  
IMF and World Bank - are the largest creditors. They are also the most  
powerful: because of their "preferred creditor" status, countries must  
pay their debts back first to these institutions. If countries do not  
pay, they are penalized and excluded from most forms of aid and  
assistance.
 The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative was launched by  
the World Bank in 1996 to provide a "robust exit" to the crisis of debt  
faced by impoverished nations. Eight years on, the program has failed  
to achieve this goal. HIPC has provided too little relief, to too few  
countries, with devastating conditions. It is time to move beyond the  
failed HIPC Initiative towards another approach: Full (100%)  
multilateral debt cancellation for all impoverished nations, without  
harmful conditions.

 We are aware of discussions going on now within the G-7 (in particular  
proposals by the UK and US governments), the IMF and World Bank, and  
other forums about possibilities for 100% (full) multilateral debt  
cancellation. We are encouraged that after many years of half-measures,  
full cancellation is being discussed at these levels. However, we must  
be clear about the principles for such discussions to meet the goals  
and aspirations of African civil society.

 First, 100% multilateral debt cancellation is critical. Attempts to  
determine a "sustainable" level of debt for impoverished nations  
desperately trying to address the crises of HIV/AIDS and economic  
injustice should be rejected. For impoverished nations struggling to  
meet the human needs of their peoples, full 100% multilateral debt  
cancellation is the only option.

 Second, this cancellation must come without any economic  
conditionalities. The HIPC program and PRSPs are riddled with  
conditions such as privatization, indiscriminate trade liberalization,  
opening up markets, fiscal and monetary targets. These conditions have  
devastated our economies long enough. Debt cancellation must come  
without any economic conditions attached. Moreover, we reject and find  
that the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) must be  
dismantled and abolished. The PRGF is not a force for development in  
our countries; the conditions attached to loans from this facility have  
devastated our economies. It is time to end the role of the IMF in poor  
countries once and for all; closing the PRGF is a critical first step  
towards doing this.

 Third, multilateral debt cancellation must apply to all impoverished  
nations, not just the 42 HIPC nations. We reject proposals which only  
address countries that have reached HIPC "completion point." Many  
countries would be excluded from this approach. Moreover, non-HIPC  
countries must be included in efforts towards 100% debt cancellation.  
Countries including Haiti, Jamaica, and Nigeria are not part of HIPC,  
despite their extreme indebtedness.

 Finally, we think that the multilateral financial institutions should  
do their fair share, and should contribute the bulk of the resources to  
finance debt cancellation. The IMF and World Bank are two of the  
richest financial institutions in the world. The IMF sits atop more  
than $30 billion in gold which currently serves no productive purpose.  
The IMF could sell this gold and use proceeds to cover debt owed to the  
World Bank and other multilaterals. The IBRD could easily mobilize more  
than $10 billion in accumulated profits and reserves and could commit a  
share of its annual multi-billion dollar profit to debt cancellation.  
The IMF should close down the PRGF facility and use its resources to  
cancel IMF debt. These are wealthy institutions; it is high time for  
them to do their fair share and by paying for debt cancellation, begin  
to acknowledge their role and responsibility in the debt crisis.
 We do not believe that concerns about the "additionality" of debt  
cancellation should be allowed to postpone the full cancellation of the  
multilateral debt. Cancellation is significantly more valuable to our  
peoples than additional aid. Aid comes with its own conditions, and  
often creates more debt. The resources realized from debt cancellation  
can be used as governments - with ample interventions from civil  
society - see fit. Aid is a promise we have seen broken far too often;  
cancellation's benefits would be lasting." Click below to see full list  
of signatories.

Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26228
AFRICAN SOCIAL FORUM: STOP EPA'S CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED
http://www.twnafrica.org/atn/campaigns/day4.htm
 The Stop EPAs campaign was launched in Lusaka with a ringing and  
militant call on African people to mobilise themselves to provide their  
governments with the moral authority to reject the Economic Partnership  
Agreements being negotiated between the ACP countries and the European  
Union. Defining the terms of the discussion, Kathleen Boohene of the  
Third World Network Africa, described EPAs as a looming monster that  
would devour all our progress.

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11. Corruption
KENYA: CORRUPTION EFFORTS DISMAL, SAYS TI
http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php? 
fuseaction=news.view&id=116003&src=dcn
 Kenya's government has missed its best chance to stamp out rampant  
corruption and faces a tough task to regain credibility, Transparency  
International (TI) said last Thursday, International Anti-Corruption  
Day. More than half of Kenyans do not think graft is decreasing, TI  
Kenya executive director Gladwell Otieno said. "The political class's  
dismal performance over the past two years has resulted in a highly  
negative perception by Kenyans," Otieno said at a news conference  
launching TI's Global Corruption Barometer survey.

NAMIBIA: PERCEPTIONS OF 'CANCER OF CORRUPTION' ON INCREASE
http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php? 
fuseaction=news.view&id=116002&src=dcn
 About one in every three Namibians has experienced corruption in  
public institutions, while one out of every two citizens knows someone  
who has fallen victim to the evil practice this year, according to a  
study commissioned by the Office of the Ombudsman. The 2004 National  
Integrity Survey reveals that although Namibians are becoming  
increasingly positive about Government efforts to fight corruption,  
they still perceive the evil phenomenon to be on the rise.

NIGERIA: GLOBAL NETWORK FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE (GNGG) OPENS BRANCH
 The Global Network for Good Governance (GNGG), an anti-corruption and  
good governance network that includes organizations and individuals  
from 21 countries, has announced the opening of a new branch in  
Nigeria. The new branch is tasked with establishing a viable network of  
the GNGG in Nigeria. To do so, the branch will draw the network members  
from a range of institutions, such as public, private, and third sector  
organizations, the media, and individuals who share a vision of good  
governance and a corruption-free society. Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]  
to find out more.

SOUTH AFRICA: GRAFT TRIAL REACHES HIGH INTO GOVERNMENT
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=26613
 International Anti-Corruption Day, held last Thursday, may well have  
struck a particular chord with South Africans this year. The country is  
currently witnessing a high-profile corruption case, which is being  
held in the eastern port city of Durban. The trial involves flamboyant  
businessman Schabir Shaikh, who is accused of paying over 180,000  
dollars to Vice-President Jacob Zuma in return for having the latter  
promote his business interests. Although Zuma himself is not in the  
dock, media interest in the proceedings has been intense, (the trial  
began in October).

SOUTH AFRICA: NEPAD MAN IN BRIBE SCANDAL
http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=283&fArticleId=2343133
 A top adviser for the New Partnership for Africa's Development has  
been implicated in a multimillion-rand bribery scandal. It is alleged  
that Reatile Mochebelele, the Midrand-based adviser to Nepad on water  
affairs and sanitation, was paid to secure contracts for the Lesotho  
Highlands Water Project. He has been named by the government of Lesotho  
as the recipient of more than DM1 million (about R3.9 million) in  
bribes during his tenure as the chief delegate of the government of  
Lesotho on the Highlands Water Commission from 1996 to 1999.

SWAZILAND: KING SPLASHES ON LUXURY CAR
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4091271.stm
 Swaziland's King Mswati has bought a $500,000 (£260,000) luxury car.  
Reports of the absolute monarch's latest purchase contrast with  
accounts of suffering in Swaziland, which has the highest Aids rate in  
the world. The Maybach car has a television, DVD player, 21-speaker  
surround-sound system, fridge, cordless telephone and sterling silver  
champagne flutes.

 ZAMBIA: PRESIDENT SUES OPPOSITION LEADER OVER CORRUPTION CHARGES
http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php? 
fuseaction=news.view&id=116015&src=dcn
 Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa has instructed his lawyers to sue  
opposition Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata for defaming him as  
corrupt, the official Zambia Daily Mail said on Sunday. Darlington  
Mwape, the president's special assistant for legal affairs, was quoted  
as saying that Sata has defamed the president by alleging that he is  
corrupt. A statement issued by Mwape Saturday said Sata had alleged on  
Radio Icengelo that the president had acquired eight farms and equipped  
them with combine harvesters and tractors since he came into office in  
early 2002.

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12. Health
AFRICA: $42.6 MILLION FIVE-YEAR GRANT FOR ANTIMALARIA DRUGS
http://www.oneworldhealth.org/media/details.php? 
prID=103&PHPSESSID=4fbca26e07195b20efe48fab33161202
 A $42.6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the  
Institute for OneWorld Health, the first nonprofit pharmaceutical  
company in the United States, will create a powerful new approach to  
developing a more affordable, accessible cure for malaria, which kills  
more than a million children each year. OneWorld Health will work in  
partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, and Amyris  
Biotechnologies. UC Berkeley will conduct research to perfect a  
microbial factory for the compound artemisinin, currently the most  
effective treatment for malaria, and Amyris, a new biotech company  
founded on the breakthroughs in synthetic biology pioneered at UC  
Berkeley, will develop the process for industrial fermentation and  
commercialization.

AFRICA: AFRICA NEEDS $2.5B PER YEAR TO EFFECTIVELY FIGHT MALARIA
http://www.sarpn.org.za/newsflash.php#2362
 Millions of Africans will continue to die from malaria – an easily  
treatable disease – unless international donors agree to raise the  
substantial funds required to fight the disease. According to a new  
report by the Africa regional office of the World Health Organisation  
(WHO-Afro), a warchest of between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion is  
needed every year to prevent and control malaria, which claims over one  
million lives annually.

AFRICA: NIGERIA PROPOSES CHANGE TO TRIPS AGREEMENT ON GENERICS
http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/04-12-08/story1.htm
 At a meeting of the WTO Council for Trade-related Aspects of  
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on 1-2 December, Nigeria submitted  
a proposal on behalf of the African Group - which includes all African  
WTO Members - for converting the waiver provided for in a 30 August  
2003 Decision on pharmaceutical patents into a formal amendment of the  
TRIPS agreement. The '30 August Decision' by the General Council spells  
out the circumstances under which countries without pharmaceutical  
manufacturing capacity can import generic versions of drugs still under  
patent.The Decision temporarily waives Members' obligations under TRIPS  
Article 31(f) by allowing them to export pharmaceuticals produced under  
compulsory licence, albeit subject to a large number of conditions in  
both the exporting and importing country.

 BURUNDI: MOTHER AND CHILD HEALTH CAMPAIGN BEGINS
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44631
 Burundi began on Monday a weeklong health protection campaign  
targeting over three million children and 17,000 pregnant women, in an  
effort to reduce the country's high infant and maternal mortality  
rates. During the campaign, medical teams are due to deworm an  
estimated three million children aged from one year to 14 years;  
provide vitamin A for another one million infants aged from six months  
to 59 months; immunise 17,000 pregnant women against tetanus, and  
distribute mineral salts and folic acid to them.

TOGO: UNPRECEDENTED ALL-IN-ONE VACCINATION CAMPAIGN FOR UNDER-FIVES
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44645
 In a unique all-in-one pilot campaign launched on Monday, almost a  
million Togolese children are to be vaccinated free of charge against  
measles and polio as well as being given mosquito nets to fight malaria  
and pills to treat intestinal worms. Authorities are targeting 866,725  
children aged between nine months and five years. They will be given a  
shot against measles, a polio vaccination, a pill against intestinal  
worms and a mosquito net treated with repellent to protect them from  
the malaria-carrying insects.

ZIMBABWE: HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN ZIMBABWE
Dr Sunanda Ray, Dr Farai D Madzimbamuto
 The human rights environment in Zimbabwe has become increasingly  
complex. For the last few years political violence has dominated any  
discussion about health and human rights. Since 2000 there have been  
periods of intense violence across the whole country, especially around  
national elections. This punctuates a background intimidation that  
prevents people from engaging in open discussion, especially where it  
is different from the official version. Doctors are afraid to challenge  
the violence because they are afraid of being labeled anti-government  
or belonging to the opposition, or simply afraid of what 'might' happen  
to them if they stick their necks out.

 There have been situations of doctors refusing to see or avoiding  
patients who are victims of organised or state violence. In one case a  
well-known human rights lawyer was denied treatment at a health  
facility because a health care worker was afraid to implicate himself  
if the matter went to court. Such is the atmosphere of intimidation.  
Violence and torture is carried out to make people support the ruling  
party and government, or at least make them too afraid to oppose it.

Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26124
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13. HIV/AIDS
AFRICA: WORLDWIDE APPEAL FOR FREE AIDS TREATMENT
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44659
 Nearly 600 health experts, economists and policy-makers have joined an  
appeal for free AIDS treatment for all people living with HIV/AIDS in  
the developing world. The "Free By 5" declaration will be presented to  
the World Bank, aid donors, the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNAIDS  
and many other parties in the next few days.

BURKINA FASO: MORE ARVS, PLEASE
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=26655
 The good news about AIDS in Burkina Faso is that HIV prevalence in the  
West African country is on the decline. The bad news is that people who  
have already contracted the virus appear to be having difficulties in  
getting drugs to treat themselves. According to the most recent  
statistics from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS  
(UNAIDS), HIV prevalence in Burkina Faso in 2003 was 4.2 percent – down  
from 7.17 percent in 1997.

ETHIOPIA: FREE HIV DRUGS DISTRIBUTION TO BE UNDERTAKEN BY GOVERNMENT
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44612
 Ethiopia is to begin free distribution of potentially lifesaving drugs  
next month for people living with HIV, US officials supporting the  
programme said last Thursday. The move is part of a US $43 million  
scheme from the US government of antiretroviral drugs for up to 15,000  
people this year. "You can consider this the start of the treatment  
era, in which free treatment will be made available in increasing  
numbers over the years," Taddesse Wahub, head of the US Centres for  
Disease Control (CDC) in Ethiopia, said.

KENYA: YOUTH TURN OUT FOR AIDS ROCK CONCERT
http://www.internews.org/news/2004/20041210_kenya.html
 Thousands of young Kenyans “rocked” against AIDS in Nairobi in  
sweltering temperatures in recognition of World AIDS Day. The concert,  
held on December 5, was the first of its kind in Kenya. For a week  
prior to the concert, seven disc jockeys who helped host the event  
attended an HIV/AIDS reporting workshop provided by Internews’ Local  
Voices project. At the training, DJ trainer Georges Collinet coached  
them in how to talk about HIV/AIDS in an accurate, yet “cool” and  
accessible way so that their messages could be understood and absorbed  
by the mostly youthful concertgoers.

SOUTH AFRICA: TAC WINS COSTS
http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/crime1justice/0,2172,94112,00.html
 The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) lobby group was awarded costs in  
its failed Pretoria High Court application for access to the health  
department's documents on an Aids treatment plan. Manto  
Tshabalala-Msimang, the health minister, cited as the respondent in the  
matter, was ordered to pay the applicant's costs.

UGANDA: NEW IMPORT MEASURES LEAD TO CONDOM SHORTAGE
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44668
 New measures aimed at preventing the dumping of low quality condoms in  
Uganda have resulted in shortages across the country, a senior health  
ministry official told IRIN on Tuesday. Ugandans use between 80 and 100  
million condoms annually as part of the country's anti-HIV/AIDS  
strategy of ABC - Abstain [from sex], be faithful [to one partner] or  
use a condom.

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14. Education
AFRICA/GLOBAL: ENTRENCHING HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION
 While some countries have well-developed educational programmes for  
promoting awareness of and respect for human rights, elsewhere human  
rights education for children, young people and the general population  
needs to be strengthened considerably, said Mr Koichiro Matsuura,  
director-general of Unesco, on the occasion of Human Rights Day on 10  
December.
 Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26203

AFRICA: LITERACY SKILLS - PROVEN PATHWAY OUT OF POVERTY
http://www.id21.org/education/e3sc1g1.html
 At least 1.2 billion poor people are not able to read or write. This  
restricts their ability to carry out every day activities such as read  
signposts, understand medicine labels and machinery instructions,  
confirm commercial transactions and avoid being cheated. Increasing the  
pool of literate and numerate people is essential to achieve the  
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

CENTRAL AFRICA: THE IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS ON TEACHERS
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16785
 This paper from the HIV/AIDS Impact on Education Clearinghouse  
examines the literature on how HIV/AIDS has impacted teachers and other  
education personnel in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d`Ivoire, Ghana,  
Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. It focuses on the areas of: prevalence;  
impact on professional lives of teachers; impact of teacher infection  
on schools; impact of teacher infection on students; infection of  
administrative personnel; responses from teachers; and responses from  
management.

MALAWI: NGOS MONITOR BUDGET SPENDING ON EDUCATION
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44662
 A new report by Oxfam International has highlighted the watchdog role  
NGOs can play in monitoring budget spending in resource-poor countries  
like Malawi. In Malawi, the Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic  
Education (CSCQBE), a grouping of NGOs, began monitoring how the  
education ministry was spending its budget allocation three years ago.

NIGERIA: EDUCATION PROJECT LAUNCHED
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/files/countries/africa/nigeria-education- 
full.asp
 On 9th December President Olusegun Obasanjo launched a new Girls'  
Education Project at an official opening ceremony during the meeting of  
the National Council for Education. The £26million project, entirely  
financed by DFID Nigeria, will be implemented by UNICEF and Nigeria  
partners over the next three years. The project's goal is to achieve  
significant progress in Nigeria towards MDG 3: to eliminate gender  
disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and to  
all levels of education no later than 2015.

UGANDA: IS HIGHER EDUCATION DOOMED?
http://allafrica.com/stories/200412140328.html
 The National Council for Higher Education has come up with a damning  
report on the status of higher education in the country. While noting  
positive developments in the sector like the number of universities  
increasing from one in 1987 to 28 today, it warned that 11 of them were  
operating illegally. The draft report being released at a stakeholders'  
workshop in Kampala paints a gloomy picture of the sector saying it is  
characterised by poor record keeping, under-funding, outmoded  
curriculum and unacceptably high lecturer to student ratio.

WEST AFRICA: CAN DECENTRALISATION IMPROVE SCHOOLS?
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php- 
URL_ID=15200&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
 Decentralization is at the top of the reform agenda in many countries.  
Governments and agencies consider it an indispensable step in efforts  
to provide quality education for all. However, little is known about  
its actual impact on local schools. The recent newsletter of the UNESCO  
Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) looks at the situation in  
West Africa and Asia.

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15. Social Welfare
ANGOLA: CONCERN OVER MOUNTING SOCIAL TENSION
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44663
 The end of a devastating civil war and substantial oil wealth have  
done little to develop Angola or improve the lives of its 13 million  
people, the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)  
said on Tuesday. Speaking at the Angolan launch of the UNDP Human  
Development Report for 2004, where Angola ranks a poor 166th out of 177  
countries, Pierre-Francois Pirlot told IRIN that three years of peace  
had still to bring significant benefits, particularly outside the  
capital and more prosperous coastal areas.

KENYA: JUVENILE JUSTICE IN KENYA
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16852
 This report from the Consortium for Street Children looks at the  
situation of Kenyan street children in general and those in conflict  
with the law in particular. It examines the status of the Kenyan  
juvenile justice system and the reasons behind children ending up in  
the street as well as the offences they commonly commit/are accused of  
committing. Whilst the study explores the socio-cultural factors behind  
the commission of crimes, it also features children's resilience.

SOUTH AFRICA: STUDY HIGHLIGHTS IMPACT OF SOCIAL GRANTS
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44641
 South Africa's system of social grants has reduced poverty and is  
playing a developmental role in uplifting poor households, according to  
a new study. The research was commissioned by the Department for Social  
Development and focused on the social and economic impact of the  
government's main social transfers, such as the State Old Age Pensions  
(SOAP), Disability Grants (DG) and Child Support Grants (CSG), among  
others.

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16. Racism and Xenophobia
AFRICA: THE BLACK RACE: MYTHS, COMPLEXITIES AND COMPASSION
http://nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/shilgba/121004.html
 "Africa was a Mecca for scholars from other parts of the world, where  
many Greek scholars studied. We now know that the oldest Mathematics  
texts (over 4000 years old)-The Rhind, Berlin, and Moscow papyri were  
all excavated from Africa. But do they bear the names of either African  
cities or persons? No! The Rhind papyrus was named after a Scottish  
traveler Alexander Rhind who bought it in Africa; but the author was a  
black African Mathematician called Ahmes."

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17. Environment
AFRICA: LOW WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY: RHETORIC OR REALITY
David Essaw
 Africa is endowed with both surface and underground water resources  
however; there is a high variability in the amount of water available  
for domestic, industrial and agricultural use. Water shortage has  
become a yearly routine and affects the livelihood security of a  
majority of the population. As popularly put by Kofi Annan, the  
Secretary General of the United Nations: “We need to learn how to value  
water, because, water is life”. According to a study published by the  
UN Environment Programme (UNEP), groundwater, the unseen source of life  
for two billion people, is diminishing almost everywhere in the world.  
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) initiative  
recognises the water resource issue as a priority focus and seeks to  
achieve socio-economic outcomes and sustained poverty reduction.

 The water variability in Africa has been caused mainly by pollution,  
mismanagement, population increase and rapid depletion of forest.  
Pollution is one of the major problems accounting for low quality and  
quantity of water resources. Polluting agents emanate from cultivated  
areas where pesticides and fertilisers that have accumulated in the  
soil leak into the streams. Persistent felling of trees around the  
catchment areas of most rivers and dumping of industrial and household  
waste into the streams are the other factors. There is also a new  
phenomenon of indiscriminate disposal of polythene materials in some  
African countries, such as Ghana and Nigeria, worsening the already  
polluted surface water and preventing underground seepage of water. The  
result is the poor quality and quantity of water resources we have  
today. Some 450million people in 29 countries live with chronic water  
shortages, thus one person in six cannot rely on safe drinking water.

 Water resources in Africa have been widely botched and used without  
regard to any management regulation. Lack of enforcement by authorities  
of the existing regulations that control the use and the pollution of  
water aggravate the water resource problem in some countries of Africa.  
Population increase and the demand for water resources for various uses  
without a mechanism for recycle and reuse also contribute to the water  
variability issue.

 Rapid depletion of tropical forests is another factor accounting for  
the low quantity of water resources. For instance, in the 1900s, Ghana  
was covered by 8.2 million hectares of original moist tropical forest  
which had reduced to 2.1 million hectares by 1998 and stood at 1.4  
million hectares in 2003.

 The effects of this includes but is not limited to seasonal water  
supply shortages for domestic and industrial use and the spread of  
water related diseases. Seasonal water shortage for domestic,  
industrial and agricultural uses affect socio-economic development of  
many countries in Africa. We are all a living testimony to this.

 Water related diseases spread as a result of inadequate and safe  
drinking water for the majority of the populace. Water related diseases  
kill a child every eight seconds and are responsible for 80% of all  
illness and deaths in Africa.

 Livelihood security of the people is undermined and has the potential  
to leave the majority of the populace vulnerable to various forms of  
threats. Where lies the sustainability element of this valuable  
resource?

 Government agencies including ministries, water research institutes,  
water related bodies, universities, other research institutions, NGO’s  
and individuals have made several attempts and encouraging statements  
in the past and still strive in diverse ways to address the problem.  
Consider encouraging words and statements from government bodies, other  
institutions and individuals such as these:

 “ government will commit itself to ensuring the proper management of  
water resources to prevent misuse, over exploitation and pollution”

 “ better water resource management practices will help improve the  
quantity and quality of water for all ”

 “ management and sustenance of the country’s water resources should be  
a concerted effort”

 “ government, NGO’s, universities as well as research institutions  
should collaborate to seek a more permanent solution to the problems of  
the country’s water resources”

 “ Rain harvesting, for instance, could save a lot of people from the  
water shortage”

 Despite all these efforts and encouraging statements, the water  
quality and quantity problem is still worsening day-by-day. For the  
past years we have largely paid lip service to the long-term  
consequences of our actions. Our individual behaviour and attitudes  
damage this valuable resource; let’s think about them now. Never lose  
hope; all is not lost. Today we are in the position to buy the water of  
tomorrow.

 * David Wellington ESSAW, a Ghanaian, is a PhD Candidate at the Centre  
for Ecological Economics and Water Policy Research, University of New  
England, Australia. His interest is in water management and policy  
issues, development planning and management and community development.

 * Please send comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
AFRICA: POOR NATIONS 'CAST ADRIFT' AS CLIMATE CHANGE KICKS IN
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/uploads/ 
aml404yldaqrwc45wp53skbq10122004163124.pdf
 The cost of adapting to climate change is set to rise and is being  
hidden from the general public in rich countries, says a report from  
the New Economics Foundation (NEF). "Poor countries, who will suffer  
the impacts of climate change first and worst, are being fatally short  
changed, as industrialised nations abdicate responsibility for a  
problem they are overwhelmingly responsible for creating," says 'Cast  
Adrift', released this week.

 The NEF says rich nations currently spend $73 billion every year  
subsiding industry that fuels climate change. This amount should be  
matched with funding to assist poor countries adapt to the impacts of  
climate change, says NEF.

 "Given rich nations historical responsibility for global warming, and  
the resources at their disposal, at the very least the funds available  
for adaptation to the majority world should be raised substantially."  
But rich countries have currently committed $0.41 billion in additional  
funds to help poor countries adapt to the problem.

DRC: POACHERS LEAVE BONOBO AT RISK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4080807.stm
 One of humankind's closest relatives, the bonobo, may be facing  
extinction. Scientists working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo  
- the only country where bonobos live - have found evidence that they  
are being hunted for bushmeat in areas where they should be protected.  
Numbers may be down to 20% of previous levels.

 KENYA: ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST ACCEPTS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/99587/1/
 "As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept it on  
behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa, and indeed the world." With  
these words, Wangari Muta Maathai accepted the Nobel Peace Prize Friday  
in Oslo. Maathai used her lecture to warn that environmental  
destruction must be reversed so that "humanity stops threatening its  
life-support system." Saying that as a mother she hopes her selection  
for this award will inspire young people, Maathai acknowledged the work  
of "countless individuals and groups across the globe" who "work  
quietly and often without recognition to protect the environment,  
promote democracy, defend human rights and ensure equality between  
women and men."

KENYA: MOTION SEEKS BAN ON ALL GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news_s.php?articleid=7822
 A motion calling for a ban on genetically modified food was brought  
before the House last week. Saboti MP Davies Nakitare (Narc) said this  
should be done in view of the fact that the government had no policy on  
such foods. He said most developed countries have banned genetically  
modified foods because of the danger they posed to humans.

MADAGASCAR: WORLD BANK PUSHES TITANIUM MINE
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=&fArticleId=2343010
 The World Bank has urged Madagascar to begin developing a  
controversial titanium mine with mining giant Rio Tinto, saying it  
would help alleviate poverty. Friends of the Earth say the project  
would dredge millions of tons of mineral sands along a 6 000ha strip to  
extract the mineral, devastating forests, endangering rare wildlife,  
and affecting 360 000 inhabitants.

 SOUTH AFRICA: DURBAN POOR'S FIGHT FOR CLEAN AIR
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4091535.stm
 In South Africa, as in many developing and newly-industrialised  
countries, legislation on air pollution has failed to keep pace with  
mushrooming industries. So local residents, like many in poor  
communities around the globe, have faced the problem of investigating  
their claim that industries on their doorsteps are making them sick.  
The small yet tenacious South Durban Community Environmental Alliance  
(SDCEA) has become the first African grassroots group to take the  
science into their own hands by taking their own air samples.

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18. Land and Land Rights
KENYA: ILLEGAL LAND TO BE REPOSSESSED
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4085863.stm
 Kenyan authorities have begun to repossess millions of hectares of  
public land acquired illegally since independence in 1963, officials  
say. Lands and Housing Minister Amos Kimunya said land seized by at  
least 60 people, including former President Daniel arap Moi, had  
already been taken back.

SOUTH AFRICA: LAND BATTLE SPARKS NEW FEARS OF INVASIONS
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php? 
set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=qw1101475621325B216
 One of the biggest land invasions ever seen in South Africa has  
sparked a court battle between the government and a white farmer who  
says he is being effectively expropriated. The Supreme Court of Appeals  
in May ordered the state to compensate Braam Duvenage and resettle  
around 40 000 people who moved onto his farm in Benoni outside  
Johannesburg after their nearby township ran out of living space. But  
state attorneys refused, saying Duvenage should deal with the matter  
and they took the case to the Constitutional Court.

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19. Media and Freedom of Expression
BURKINA FASO: INVESTIGATION INTO JOURNALIST NORBERT ZONGO'S MURDER  
STALLED
 Six years have passed since newspaper editor Norbert Zongo and three  
of his companions were found dead in their car on a southern Burkina  
Faso road, on 13 December 1998. The investigation remains stalled and  
one of the leading suspects in the case, François Compaoré, President  
Blaise Compaoré's brother, has never been detained or charged. On 28  
November 2004, a Reporters sans frontières RSF representative  
questioned President Blaise Compaoré about the case during the closing  
press conference of the summit of French-speaking countries, held this  
year in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou. "Total impunity appears to  
be the rule in Burkina Faso," RSF's representative said. "The judge is  
free to interrogate whoever he wants. It is not the president's role to  
meddle in judicial proceedings," President Blaise Compaoré replied.  
(French version available)
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26157

GUINEA: SUSPENSION ORDER AGAINST NEWSPAPER LIFTED
 On 8 December 2004, the National Communications Board (Conseil  
national de la communication, CNC), Guinea's media regulatory body,  
announced the lifting of a suspension order against "Le Quotidien"  
newspaper. The paper was suspended "indefinitely" more than three weeks  
ago and its editorial team is experiencing serious financial  
difficulties as a result of the forced closure. (French version  
available)
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26158

NIGERIA: GOVERNOR'S SECURITY OFFICERS ASSAULT TWO JOURNALISTS
 On 12 December 2004, policemen assigned to protect the governor of Oyo  
State (southwestern Nigeria), Alhaji Rashidi Ladoja, assaulted two  
journalists on the orders the governor's chief security officer. The  
targeted journalists were AbdulRazak Adebayo, of "Daily Trust"  
newspaper, and Tunde Sanni, of "ThisDay" newspaper. The incident took  
place in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at a memorial prayer session  
held for the late Adisa Bakare, the father of former minister of works  
and housing Alhaji Abdulkarim Adisa, who died on 7 December.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26156

TUNISIA: AUTHORITIES BLOCK ACCESS TO ORGANISATIONS' WEBSITE
 Tunisian authorities are blocking local access to the website of the  
main human rights organisation in the country as well as to many other  
websites that focus on human rights and politics in Tunisia. The  
official and quasi-official media observe a complete blackout on the  
organization's activities and statements. Tunis is scheduled to host  
the U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),  
billed as a global discussion of the impact of the digital revolution  
and how best to bridge the "digital divide" between rich and poor.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26195

ZIMBABWE: NEW LAW WILL FURTHER CURTAIL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
 The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe reports that The Standard has  
revealed the extent to which yet another bill will erode freedom of  
expression. The paper reported that the Criminal Law (Codification and  
Reform) Bill proposes a fine of $5 million or a jail sentence of up to  
20 years for “anyone who publishes or communicates to another  
statements that are perceived to be prejudicial to the State”. The  
proposed law, the paper noted, “will make it extremely difficult for  
journalists to operate and will certainly be the most repressive piece  
of legislation in Zimbabwe’s Statute books”. Read in full the latest  
edition of the MMPZ update by clicking the link below.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26155

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20. News from the Diaspora
RELEASING AFRICAN DIASPORA STORIES
AFFORD Seeks Partners
http://www.afford-uk.org/services/news/viewnews/index.asp? 
id=1142,0,2,0,0,0
 Two years ago AFFORD initiated a project “Aiding & Abetting: Global  
Image, Local Damage?” that brought five artists together with different  
African community groups supporting development in their regions of  
origin to produce stimulating artwork that told a different story of  
how Africans support each other in their quest for development &  
progress. We exhibited this work during the Africa Diaspora &  
Development Day (ad3) in July 2003 to critical acclaim. AFFORD is keen  
to build on the success of this project with a second phase, called  
“Releasing Our African Diaspora Stories” (ROADS). Click on the link to  
find out more.

SCHOOL DEFENDS SLAVERY BOOKLET
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1913619p-8258411c.html
 Students at a Southern US Christian school are reading a controversial  
booklet that critics say whitewashes Southern slavery with its view  
that slaves lived "a life of plenty, of simple pleasures." Leaders at  
Cary Christian School say they are not condoning slavery by using  
"Southern Slavery, As It Was," a booklet that attempts to provide a  
biblical justification for slavery and asserts that slaves weren't  
treated as badly as people think.

SOMALIA'S DIASPORA OFFERS FINANCIAL LIFELINE
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4038799.stm
 With up to a quarter of all Somalis now living abroad and many more  
having fled their homes within the country, a new Somali saying goes:  
"We are now a nation of immigrants who depend on other immigrants."  
Some estimates say that some 23% of Somalia's income has been sent  
there by relatives now living abroad.

TRUSTAFRICA DIASPORA SURVEY
Call For Proposals
 TrustAfrica is seeking a consultant to help elaborate a strategy for  
collaboration between TrustAfrica and the African Diaspora. TrustAfrica  
is being established as an African grantmaking foundation supporting  
African solutions to the continent's most pressing challenges,  
including peace and conflict, regional integration, and citizenship and  
identity. TrustAfrica has been housed in the Ford Foundation since 2001  
and will become independent and move to Africa in late 2005 or 2006.  
The Ford Foundation and other donors will provide initial funding for  
TrustAfrica's operations and its endowment. TrustAfrica will also raise  
additional funds from African sources to ensure it is self-sustaining,  
one of many actions TrustAfrica will undertake to ensure African  
ownership of its mandate.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26239

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21. Advocacy and Campaigns
OPEN LETTER TO UNESCO ON MICROSOFT AGREEMENT
http://www.funredes.org/mistica/carta_unesco.htm?lan=en
 "As social activists in the field of Information and Communication  
Technologies (ICT) for development, we applaud those activities of  
UNESCO directed towards placing knowledge in the public domain and, in  
particular, promoting FLOSS (Free Libre and Open Source Software) in  
developing countries. We recognise and value the battles fought by  
UNESCO in the context of the World Summit for the Information Society.  
This position, from an intergovernmental organisation, is one of the  
closest to the position of civil society. In this context it is with  
surprise that we receive news of an agreement between UNESCO and the  
Microsoft company, proposed for application in the fields of  
information, communication, education and learning. Our perplexity  
grows with the knowledge that at the same time UNESCO is finalising an  
important agreement on cultural diversity."

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22. Internet and Technology
NEW JOURNAL ON ICT
http://www.crisinfo.org/content/view/full/604/
 A new refereed e-journal has been launched: "International Journal of  
Education and Development using Information and Communication  
Technology (IJEDICT)". Articles in the first issue will be published  
early in 2005.

PARTNERSHIP STRENGTHENS CIVIL SOCIETY VOICE IN THE CONGO
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=28859
 In 2003, together with more than 300 local partners, Alternatives  
launched a portal in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project  
empowers local civil society groups to present and promote their  
activities and perspectives, which is particularly important in the  
current period, where civil society is taking an ever-increasing role  
in defending the principles that can support long-term peace in the  
region.

 SUPPORTING LABOUR ONLINE
 SANGONeT has been engaged in developing a new website for the  
Development Institute for Training, Support and Labour (Ditsela).  
Ditsela's main objective is to help the labour movement build its  
capacity to be able to respond effectively to the challenges it faces.  
The new Ditsela website is available at http://www.ditsela.org.za

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23. eNewsletters and Mailing Lists
GLOBAL HEALTH WATCH NEWSLETTER
http://www.globalforumhealth.org/pages/index.asp
 The Global Health Watch newsletter is part of the initiative to  
mobilise civil society around an alternative World Health Report. The  
November newsletter is now available.
Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

NOVEMBER 2004 ICC MONITOR AVAILABLE
http://www.iccnow.org/publications/monitor.html
 The ICC Monitor is the newspaper of the NGO Coalition for the  
International Criminal Court. Published in English, Spanish and French,  
the Monitor is a critical tool for reaching a worldwide audience  
several times a year. Focusing on the International Criminal Court  
(ICC), it contains reports on developments around the world;  
information about new resources and upcoming events; and articles about  
topics related to the effort to ensure the International Criminal Court  
is fair, effective and independent.

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24. Fundraising and Useful Resources
CHANGEMAKERS INNOVATION AWARD
http://www.changemakers.net/journal/04november/contest.cfm
 Changemakers and Ashoka's Citizen Base Initiative (CBI) are inviting  
people to submit strategies for the Changemakers Innovation Award. The  
prizes will be given to the five best ideas for creatively generating  
resources from a diversified citizen base, comprising individual  
citizens and citizen organizations, businesses, and the media.

UNESCO SMALL GRANTS PROGRAMME ON POVERTY ERADICATION
http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/file_download.php/ 
319d9663c462133b41645164c003b287small_grants_prog.doc
 The overall goal of this programme is to encourage mid-career  
professionals and their institutions to contribute to poverty  
eradication strategies and national action plans that are based on a  
human rights framework. UNESCO contribution under this programme is  
aimed at strengthening national capacities for research and policy  
analysis on poverty eradication, thus, assisting selected Member States  
in developing anti-poverty strategies and action plans based on human  
rights and in monitoring their implementation. This programme targets  
researchers in selected Member States in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia  
and parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

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25. Courses, Seminars, and Workshops
FIRST ANNUAL SANGONET ICT AND CIVIL SOCIETY CONFERENCE
01 March 2005 - 03 March 2005, Johannesburg, South Africa
http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php? 
action=show_calendar&actionarg[calendar_id]=223&PHPSESSID=1ff3afdb202cf5 
c3c6d79b487dd2d230
 The conference will gather South African CSOs to discuss and debate  
ICT issues in plenary and break-away sessions, and to participate in  
technology demonstrations and practical training sessions. More  
information is available by writing to the email address  
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

GENDER AND CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION ONLINE COURSE
http://www.netuni.nl/demos/genderconflict
 This highly successful four-week online course from The Network  
University will run from January 24 till February 18, 2005. This course  
brings together worldwide expertise on the relationship between gender  
and conflict transformation. This course will empower women to become  
key agents in conflict transformation. The course uses a variety of  
interactive methods that stimulate thinking and exchange.

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26. Jobs
AFRICA: PROGRAMME EVALUATORS
University For Peace
 The University for Peace's Africa Programme is seeking three  
individuals to work as external evaluators of its current 5-year  
project on peacebuilding in Africa. The Africa Programme is presently  
organized around three regional hubs- Southern Africa, West Africa and  
East and Central Africa. The Africa Programme will hire one evaluator  
from each of the three hubs. Each will be responsible for evaluation of  
activities within the hub. One of the three evaluators will act as the  
lead evaluator of the project, coordinating the work with the two  
others. The level of effort for the lead evaluator is presently  
estimated at 60%, and 40% for the two other evaluators.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=26141

IVORY COAST: PRINT MEDIA MANAGEMENT TRAINER
Internews
http://www.fpa.org/jobs_contact2423/jobs_contact_show.htm?doc_id=252773
 Internews Network is currently seeking a Print Media Management  
Trainer to be based in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. The Print Media  
Management Trainer will mentor four or five of the independent  
newspapers in Cote d'Ivoire that are committed to improving editorial  
balance. The Trainer will work with owners and managers to understand  
the importance of balanced news and the impact of credible editorial  
content on advertising revenue and readership levels.

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27. Books and Arts
BLIND MOON
Chenjerai Hove
 Published by Weaver Press LTD
 Exclusively distributed by African Books Collective Ltd, The Jam  
Factory, 27 Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HU United Kingdom
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.african bookscollective.com

 Chenjerai Hove used to dream of flying so much that his father even  
considered sending him to a traditional healer so that he could be  
cured of the ailment. He refused, telling his father: “Why should I not  
dream like that? It is so beautiful to fly.”

 Hove writes in the introduction to the extraordinary collection of  
poems contained in Blind Moon: “the borders of human geography are  
broken only when poetry speaks. and poetry speaks not only about  
landscapes, but about peoplescapes, the human body and its aspirations  
to be someone else. the human soul and its dreams be all the souls of  
animals and birds and the winds and the skies. life is like that. and  
life is poetry”

 Blind Moon is extraordinary because it seeks to fulfil the ambition of  
life as poetry; poetry as life. Given Hove’s dreams of flight it is no  
surprise that much of the poetry contains allusions to flying, although  
the immediate temptation to associate this with escape would be wrong.  
Perhaps it is just beautiful to fly, to give expression to the soul  
that is deep within each of us and yearns to be released into the space  
that is the sky, to take off and soar not as a way to leave our daily  
lives but as a way to fulfil our own individual potentials. It is  
sometimes helpful when reading the poetry to imagine yourself “flying  
with outstretched wings” along with Hove through a universe of human  
experience.

 This is not to say that the poetry is always uplifting or lost in a  
Wordsworthian consciousness of babbling brooks and fields of daffodils.  
There is a sadness and contained fury in much of the poetry, born out  
of the situation in Hove’s birthplace and nation, Zimbabwe. It is clear  
that to fly does not mean separating the individual from the land, from  
the politics of daily life, although politics of a tyrannical nature is  
seen more as a restriction to human potential – a restriction to flight  
- than something which helps to lift the human spirit.

 Hove feels the anguish of Zimbabwe acutely and gives voice to it  
throughout this collection, sometimes in haunting and evocative style,  
as in “…there is a painful piece of land inside me…a pain without a  
name, inside me.” Nor is Hove afraid to direct his anger. He writes:  
“…on your way to the house of power…you refused to listen…to the tunes  
of the birds…the birds of your conscience.” Sometimes poetry that  
dabbles with the political risks being reduced to diatribe. But the  
strength of Hove’s poetry is that it does not fall into this trap: it  
is firmly located in the broader context of human suffering and  
experience and because it touches emotions on this level it is all the  
more stronger, all the more representative of the general human  
condition.

 Apart from the mastery Hove demonstrates over his lines and the  
skilful and innovative way in which he makes the language work for him,  
the wonderful experience about this volume is that it is a mere 60  
pages long. Yet read as a whole it is rich in touching a range of human  
experiences and emotions, seeming to move effortlessly between earth  
and sky, love and death. It is angry and sad, but it is not bitter. In  
Hove’s world there is still hope, there is still love, there is still  
emotion. There is potential for a better world where the human soul can  
be released to fly like a bird.

 Hove was born in Mazvihwa communals land, southern Zimbabwe, near the  
mining town of Zvishavane. He is best known for Bones, which won the  
Zimbabwe literary prize in 1998, and the 1989 Noma Award for publishing  
in Africa. Other published works include Masimba Avanhu? (1986),  
Shadows (1991), and Ancestors (1994). He has travelled extensively  
throughout Africa, Europe and the United States on lecture tours and  
his books have been translated into several languages, including  
French, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch and Danish.

 * Reviewed by Patrick Burnett, Fahamu.
 * For orders, please contact African Books Collective.
 >>>>>Recent reviews in Pambazuka News:
 (Click on the link and then visit the Books and Arts section)
 * We miss you all
 http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=186#28
 * The World Bank and Civil Society: Forward to the past
 http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=182#28
 * Mining: Social and environmental impacts
 http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=175#27
 * Faceless, by Ammo Darko
 http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=173#28
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 Editorial team: Firoze Manji (Fahamu), Patrick Burnett (Fahamu),  
Rotimi Sankore, (CREDO [EMAIL PROTECTED])

 Our thanks to the following: Rina Alluri (Fahamu), Chukwu-Emeka  
Chikezie (AFFORD) Linda Ndlovu and Aso Balan (SANGONeT), Elizabeth  
Onyango.
 Our thanks also to the Ford Foundation's Special Initiative for  
Africa, New Field Foundation, and TrustAfrica.

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