[allAfrica.com]











Pambazuka News 156:

Fahamu (Oxford)
OPINION
May 13, 2004
Posted to the web May 14, 2004

WORLD DEBT DAY: WHO OWES WHOM?
Those campaigning against Third World Debt have long argued that crippling
levels of debt have been a severe block to the development of African
countries, causing widespread poverty and hardship. Six years ago, over 70,000
Jubilee 2000 supporters formed a human chain in Birmingham to call for the
cancellation of the debts of some of the world's poorest nations. To mark this
occasion, World Debt Day on May 16 is intended to call attention to the ongoing
debt crisis, provide a global rallying point for all those who continue to care
about the suffering being caused by debt and encourage campaigners by providing
an opportunity for action and advocacy. Pambazuka News emailed a list of
questions to Demba Moussa Dembele, Director of the Forum for African
Alternatives in Senegal, to gauge where Africa stands in the debt stakes.
PAMBAZUKA : Why should people care about World Debt Day?
DEMBELE: The day commemorates one of the largest gatherings ever held to call
world attention to the impact of the Debt Crisis. It was on May 16, 1998,
during the G7 Summit in Birmingham, (GB) that the call on Western and Japanese
leaders to cancel poor countries' debt went out. That day was a turning point
in the Jubilee 2000 Campaign and helped put the debt issue on centre stage.
PAMBAZUKA : Briefly, what is the impact of the current levels of debt on the
development of African countries?
DEMBELE :
* Sub-Saharan Africa's debt accounts for 71% of its GDP;
* The debt represents more than 180% of exports;
* Debt service absorbs 12-13% of exports receipts on average;
* Accumulated arrears (debt service that could not be paid) represents more
than 30% of current debt levels;
* Since 1988, Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) is getting very little in terms of new
loans. A greater part of some of the loans we hear about is used to service old
debts;
* Unsustainable debt deters foreign direct investments.
PAMBAZUKA : If the negative effects of unsustainable debt are so well
documented, why are the debt-collecting institutions and countries so reluctant
to intervene in an area of such obvious importance?
DEMBELE :
* The debt bondage is the new face of colonialism or even slavery;
* Debt is used as an instrument of domination: it is at the heart of the
unequal power relations between the North and the South. It is also an
instrument used to plunder and exploit indebted countries' resources;
* Debt is an instrument of resource transfer from the South to the North. In
2002, according to the UN, net transfers from the South to the North were
estimated at $200 billion. During the four previous years, net transfers from
the South amounted $120 billion a year;
* The IMF & the World Bank use debt as a tool to impose their disastrous
policies. Without that tool they would have a very limited or no influence in
Africa or elsewhere.
PAMBAZUKA : Many people point to the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative
(HIPC) as evidence that something is being done to resolve the debt crisis.
Others argue that the HIPC is a sham and has not led to significantly improved
levels of debt relief. In your opinion, what progress has been made and what
more needs to be done?
DEMBELE :
* So far 11 countries, including 9 in SSA, have achieved the completion point.
But almost all of these countries did not have "sustainable" debt levels as the
World Bank predicted in its Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA);
* The amount of debt "cancelled" for these countries is minimal compared to
their overall debt. It is less than 20%;
* At this pace, it would take a quarter century to see all eligible countries
achieve the completion point;
* The only solution to the debt crisis is total debt cancellation. Nothing
less.
PAMBAZUKA : Many have claimed that much of the debt owed by African countries
(for example, the apartheid debt owed by South Africa) is illegitimate and that
in actual fact, Western countries owe Africa for centuries of exploitation. Is
this view gaining ground?
DEMBELE: Since the World Conference on Racism in Durban (South Africa) in 2001,
the issue of reparations has been accepted by world public opinion. Of course,
some European countries and the United States have shunned the Conference for
fear of being exposed. However, the idea is gaining ground every day. In
Africa, more and more voices -intellectuals, policy makers, activists, etc.-
use every opportunity to remind the world, especially the West, that it is
Africa that is owed an immeasurable debt. In addition, the work of Jubilee
South - the international debt network - and other national or regional
networks has helped promote the idea of reparations in various forms.
PAMBAZUKA : What's stopping African countries from simply defaulting on their
debt and channelling the resources into health and education?
DEMBELE :
* Many African leaders are beholden to the West. They are afraid of standing up
to them;
* In addition, these leaders are afraid of challenging the World Bank and the
IMF. Some of them are even afraid of supporting the call for debt cancellation.
I remember a former Tanzanian Finance Minister saying in Washington, DC, that
his country does not support the idea of multilateral debt cancellation because
this would "kill the goose that lays the golden eggs".
* Collective debt repudiation is a political decision. At this juncture, it is
not easy to see a unified political position that would support debt
repudiation. But civil society organisations are working on it. We think that
by exposing the hypocrisy and bad faith of bilateral and multilateral creditors
and showing the disastrous impact of debt on Africa's human development
indicators it will be possible some day to convince an enlightened leadership
to move toward that decision.
PAMBAZUKA : Recently there has been talk of debt swaps. What are debt swaps and
are they an effective method of alleviating the debt crisis?
DEMBELE: Debt swaps are a mechanism by which part of a country's debt is sold
by one or several of its creditors (private creditors) to another entity that
invests the proceed in the same country. For instance, a commercial bank that
seeks to get rid of its loan to a country like Senegal, will sell that loan -
generally at a deep discount to an investor, a corporation, -which entity will
use the face value of the debt to invest in a publicly-owned company in
Senegal. There are several kinds of swaps, such as debt-equity swaps, whereby,
a corporation that bought part of Senegal's debt uses it to buy shares in an
existing State-owned company. This mechanism has been extensively used in Latin
America and in a few cases in Sub-Saharan Africa. Another type of swap is debt-
for nature swap, a case in which an environmental group buys a country's debt
and uses the proceeds for environmental protection.
Since swaps involve only private debt, it cannot be an effective mechanism for
debt alleviation given the fact that almost 90 percent of poor African
countries' debt is public. And swaps are a mechanism for transferring public
assets to foreign hands. For this reason, it is not a good solution for those
countries that have a substantial commercial debt, like Nigeria.
PAMBAZUKA: If the current levels of debt and debt repayment burdens continue,
what is the prognosis for African countries over the next ten years?
DEMBELE: Right now, many African countries are not servicing their debt. Or
they do so by incurring new debts. Therefore, if the current levels of debt
burden continue, over the next ten years:
* Many African countries may be totally stripped of their sovereignty;
* The levels of poverty will worsen and millions of lives will be at risk;
* There will be a total collapse of the State and other public institutions;
* The Millennium Development Goals will not be achieved.
PAMBAZUKA: Who do people need to target if they are concerned about the debt
issue and want to make an impact? Who are the stakeholders?
DEMBELE: The targets are:
* G 8 leaders (major bilateral creditors and masters of the IFIs);
* IMF and the World Bank (multilateral debt has overtaken bilateral debt in
many cases);
* The Western credit agencies (that guarantee private debts);
* The Parliaments of Western countries;
* The United Nations system (to take a clear stand on debt cancellation);
* The African governments (to form a united front and eventually move toward
debt repudiation).
FROM COFFINS TO ABCS: AIDS PREVENTION IN UGANDA
Sara Rakita
Blinking my eyes to adjust to the bright African sun as we made our way through
traffic from the Entebbe airport to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, I looked out
the window and asked, "What are those?"
"Coffins," the driver replied. "Because of AIDS," he added, in case it wasn't
obvious why the wooden boxes were displayed along the roadside with other goods
for sale, things I recognized, like furniture, iron gates, tiny bananas, and
the reddest tomatoes I had ever seen. The year was 1995, I was a naïve American
grad student, and this was my first introduction to Africa.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic had hit Uganda with a vengeance. The infection rate
peaked in the early 1990s, with a national prevalence rate of about 15% in 1991
and more than 30% of the population in some urban areas infected in 1992. It is
now estimated that a million Ugandans have died from HIV/AIDS, leaving twice as
many orphans behind, and more than one million are currently living with the
disease. The wrath of the disease dealt a devastating blow to the country and
its development efforts. But there was a growing market for coffins.
Yet, already by 1995, Uganda had distinguished itself as the first country to
deal with the epidemic head on. A high level political commitment to action,
constructive involvement of civil society including religious authorities, and
excellent public information campaigns - among many other factors - all
contributed to help the country stem the flow of the epidemic. In 1995, when
coffins lined the road, the national prevalence rate was 18.5%. Within a few
years, the rate dropped to one third of that number.
One element of Uganda's success in preventing infection has been a public
information strategy known as ABC - Abstinence, Be faithful, and use Condoms.
The key to the ABC strategy was to promote all three together, recognizing that
no one type of behaviour change could work perfectly. The ABC model has been
widely recognized internationally, and adapted for use in other countries
around the world. The journal Science recently reported that it has been almost
as successful as a vaccine in Uganda.
This is not to say that the battle is over. Few people living with HIV/AIDS
have adequate access to anti-retroviral therapy that could prolong their lives,
permitting them to participate in the workforce and care for their families. An
estimated 25,000 babies are born HIV positive each year in Uganda. The
situation of children orphaned by AIDS remains dire. Stigma and discrimination
are still prevalent despite the best efforts of the government and AIDS
advocates. And discrimination continues to make women most vulnerable to the
disease.
While Ugandan activists agree that more must be done to treat people living
with HIV/AIDS, they continue to stress the importance of prevention. Many
analysts caution that it would be ill-advised to rely too heavily on the
success of the public information campaign. Some even query whether the ABC
strategy was really responsible for the decline in prevalence. A 2003 baseline
study on knowledge, attitudes, and behavioural practices found that high-risk
behaviour is still very common in Kampala. And recent data indicate that rates
of infection could be back on the rise.
There can be no disputing that the scale of the problem in Uganda remains
alarming, and that urgent action is required to save lives and prevent the
epidemic from further eroding the country's development efforts. Thus, perhaps
the most difficult challenge facing Uganda now is to build on the success of
the past decade. Even if Uganda and its donors meet their target of providing
ARVs to 100,000 people in the next five years, Dr. Coutinho of The Aids Support
Organisation predicts twice that number could be newly infected. This is no
time for complacency.
Many hope that the US$15 billion President Bush pledged last year for AIDS in
Africa and the Caribbean might go a long way towards solving the problem. The
money (known as "Bush money" in Ugandan parlance) finally started to reach 14
countries including Uganda last month, from the President's Emergency Fund for
HIV/AIDS Relief. But it is not that simple.
In fact, while grateful for all the money available from international donors,
many Ugandans I spoke to on a recent visit to the country were already
skeptical as the Bush money took so long to start trickling in, and they were
not convinced that it would necessarily be put to most effective use.
Organisations such as the US-based Centre for Health and Gender Equity and
Physicians for Human Rights have expressed numerous concerns about the Bush
administration's strategy for using the money, as spelled out in the
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief: US Five-Year Global HIV/AIDS
Strategy.
For starters, the process of developing the strategy was a closed one and key
stakeholders were excluded. What's more, the administration has been widely
criticized for following ideological and fundamentalist religious beliefs
rather than evidence-based recommendations.
This is perhaps most evident in the strategy's excessive insistence on
abstinence only, rather than a holistic ABC approach. The strategy focuses on
abstinence for youth and being faithful within marriage, and emphasizes that
condoms are only to be made available to and in the 'vicinity of' so-called
high risk populations such as prostitutes. Potential funding for B and C
approaches is further constrained by the United States Global AIDS Act of 2003,
which limits prevention funding to 20% of the money allocated and mandates that
one third of this be spent on abstinence-until-marriage strategies.
But this approach runs counter to the fundamental premise underlying the ABC
strategy. As Dr. Coutinho explains, even though approximately 60% of his
patients do embrace abstinence, they do not always do so perfectly. For
example, someone may well remain abstinent for ten months, decide to have sex
again, and then return to abstinence. For this and many other reasons, it is
crucial to keep the C in the equation.
According to the Centre for Health and Gender Equity, the strategy also fails
to guarantee that those most at risk will be provided access to comprehensive
sex education information such as complete information on male and female
condoms, frank discussions about sexuality, guidance for negotiating safe sex,
etc.
Some NGOs in Uganda say they have sensed a rolling back of the space available
for public information on AIDS prevention and sexuality, particularly
information targeting youth. Though this is not directly tied to the Bush
money, they do see a link. For example, much of the Bush money is earmarked for
faith-based organisations. While all agree that religious institutions have a
crucial role to play, some fear that this could lead to churches taking over
much of the work that secular NGOs now do. This is especially worrying given
that some churches have strong positions against condoms.
Many Ugandans are also familiar with other Bush administration policies
(including domestic policies focusing exclusively on promoting abstinence
outside marriage and ignoring or even opposing contraceptive and condom use, as
well as the global gag rule). As a result, they fear there may be 'a change in
the winds' towards more conservative public health policies informed by
evangelical interests.
Numerous other serious concerns have also been raised with respect to the Bush
money. One is the failure of the US to contribute its proper share to the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Another is the fear that
funds will only be available for purchase of name-brand drugs. This will be a
decisive factor in how many people receive treatment, as the funds available
are finite and name-brand drugs can cost four times more than their generic
counterparts.
Even beyond the Bush money and public health policy, Christian Aid recently
issued a report decrying a 'dangerous drift' - encouraged by the US and the UK
- of diverting aid funds in Uganda and elsewhere to the war on terror. Nearly a
quarter of Uganda's social services budget in 2002 went to fund military
operations in the North to fight the LRA (which has been added to the US
terrorist list). Yet the report also found that the war and militarization of
the area is actually contributing to increased spread of HIV in the region.
I recently took the Entebbe-Kampala road again on one of my frequent trips to
Africa. My heart sank as soon as we drove out of the airport parking lot,
quickly dashing the excitement I felt about returning to Uganda that had peaked
during the breathtaking landing on the shores of Lake Victoria.
I confided in my fellow passenger - a Tanzanian law professor on his way to the
same meeting I would be attending - how this stretch of road, my first
impression of Africa, is branded in my memory together with coffins. Recalling
the devastation that poverty and disease had wrought on the country in the mid-
1990s, he sympathized. But he reminded me that Uganda had worked hard to slow
the impact of the epidemic, and that things are actually much better today.
Together, we looked anxiously out the window - not at the emerald green
landscape, but at the roadside merchants and their wares. Together, we breathed
a sigh of relief when we didn't see any coffins.
Ugandan AIDS advocates continue to work tirelessly to battle the epidemic. For
example, Dr. Coutinho has suggested an improvement on the ABC strategy - adding
a "D", for determine and declare, to encourage people to get tested and be open
about their status. The international community - including the Bush
administration - should continue to rely on evidence, rather than untested
strategies motivated by fundamentalist ideology. This may be the best way to
keep the coffins off the road until we get to V for vaccine, and Z for zero.
Sara Rakita is a consultant who travels frequently to Africa.
NEVER AGAIN: THIS IS OUR WATCH
Susan Burgess-Lent
Maybe I've been in the news business too long - grown irrepressibly outraged.
It's hard to focus on Michael Jackson's troubles when thousands of women are
being gang-raped in Darfur, Sudan, their heads or hands branded to advertise
their violation.
It's difficult to empathize with American's obesity problem when nearly
400,000 Darfurians will starve to death by Christmas if the international
community does not intervene against their government's predations.
Worst of all, it's impossible to understand why the humiliation of a few dozen
Iraqi men - however unconscionable - could blunt the thunder of a vast human
catastrophe: the ongoing genocide of the Sudanese people.
Perhaps we've become numb to the "G-word." The U.S. Government and dozens of
organisations working in the region have used the term appropriately to
describe the systematic slaughter of black Africans in Sudan. Yet, no movement
is in sight from the international community. Though it protests loudly, the
U.S. has spread itself thin militarily. The major EU countries voice quiet
condemnation of the Khartoum regime, perhaps nervously guarding their
commercial interests in the exploitation of Sudan's vast oil reserves. The
African Union has voted Sudan power broker on the UN Human Rights Commission.
The United Nations rings it hands, but Kofi Annan, the Director of Peacekeeping
Operations during the Rwanda genocide, evidently cannot muster the moral
authority to direct Security Council action. Indeed, the crisis represents
brilliant timing and political calculation on the part of Sudan's National
Islamic Front government to prosecute its final solution with little
interference.
One million people died in Rwanda in 1994 during one hundred days of
international dithering. By comparison, Sudan is a slow-motion genocide; the
daily death toll is now estimated at 1000 to 2000 human beings. That number
will escalate wildly the longer the regime is allowed to act with impunity.
The media has essentially ignored what many are calling "the worst humanitarian
crisis in the world today." Admittedly, images from the scene are hard to come
by. The Khartoum regime has blocked and/or controlled access for every kind of
investigator. Can we allow this to militate against coverage? How long do we
wait for a galvanizing image? Who will be brave enough to break from the
lockstep of domestic navel-gazing to provide extensive, continuing coverage of
this cataclysm?
We urgently need journalists, editors and producers to reveal this genocide for
the horror it is. This is our watch. We have an opportunity to put steel into
the values we claimed to embrace with the slogan "Never Again." Or will we
remain more comfortable covering genocide anniversaries than the genocides
themselves?
GREAT LAKES: RELIGIOUS GROUP OPTS FOR "TRADITIONAL" METHODS OF CONFLICT
RESOLUTION
Calling for "African solutions to African problems", a group of religious
organisations meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, recommended on Tuesday the use of
traditional methods to resolve conflicts in the Great Lakes region. The
recommendation was among several made at the end of a two-day workshop
organised by the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great
Lakes and Horn of Africa, where the group adopted a position paper ahead of a
planned UN and African Union (AU) international conference on the Great Lakes.
NIGERIA: PREVENT FURTHER BLOODSHED IN PLATEAU STATE
The Nigerian government should immediately conduct an independent investigation
into the massacre of several hundred people in Yelwa on May 2, Human Rights
Watch says. The federal and state authorities should also take concrete steps
to prevent a further escalation of interethnic violence in Plateau State.
"Unlike the findings of previous commissions of inquiry, the results of this
investigation should be made public and acted upon," said Peter Takirambudde,
executive director of Human Rights Watch's Africa Division. Armed members of
the predominantly Christian Tarok ethnic group on May 2 attacked the town of
Yelwa, in the southern part of Plateau State, apparently in reprisal for
earlier attacks against Taroks by members of the predominantly Muslim Fulani
ethnic group.
SOMALIA: AT LEAST 20 REPORTED KILLED IN HEAVY FIGHTING IN MOGADISHU
Heavy fighting which erupted in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, over the weekend
has escalated, leaving an indeterminate number of people dead or wounded, a
local journalist told IRIN on Wednesday. He said the fighting was sparked off
by a disagreement between two militias of the same clan who were loyal to two
business people. It involved forces guarding the Global Hotel in the northern
district of Behani, and those loyal to a local businessman from the Warsangeli
clan, who reportedly attacked the hotel, which belongs to a businesswoman from
the Wabudan clan.
SUDAN: PEACE TALKS FACE DIFFICULTIES
Peace negotiations between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) were experiencing "some difficulties" on
Tuesday, a rebel spokesman told IRIN. The details of power-sharing in the two
of the disputed areas - the Nuba mountains and southern Blue Nile - as well as
at national level, had yet to be agreed on, said Yasir Arman, an SPLM/
A spokesman.
AFRICA: AFRICA IS MOVING TOWARDS ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY
As government officials and civil society representatives meet in Entebbe,
Uganda, on 10 and 11 May to discuss the death penalty in Commonwealth African
countries, Amnesty International welcomed positive action across Africa to
abolish capital punishment. About half of the countries in Africa no longer
execute convicted prisoners. In 1990, only Cape Verde had no provision for
capital punishment in its legislation. By 2002, 10 countries in Africa had de
jure abolished the death penalty, while 10 others had de facto abolished it.
ANGOLA: FOCUS ON EASTERN ANGOLA
The displacement of the local population due to mining activities, high poverty
and inflation indices and a process of direct capital accumulation by the
emerging economic and political ruling class indicates that the East of Angola
is being transformed into a zone of potential future conflicts with
unimaginable consequences, besides the aggravation of the socio-economic
situation. This is according to the conclusion of a report on the region from
the Campaign for Democratic Angola.
RWANDA: TRADE UNION RIGHTS DESPERATELY LACKING
Trade union rights are a misnomer in Rwanda according to a new International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions report launched to coincide with the WTO
review on Rwandan trade policy (10th and 12th May). The ICFTU report on the
central African country shows shortcomings in the application of several core
labour conventions which the government itself has ratified and calls upon the
Rwandan authorities to comply with core labour standards. The report identifies
several legal failings, particularly concerning the right to strike.
ZAMBIA: FIGHT TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY
A Zambian lawyer is seeking to abolish the death penalty in a country in which
the president and human rights groups are united in their opposition to capital
punishment. Kelvin Hang'andu is representing two men on death row at the
country's maximum prison in Kabwe, about 150 km north of the capital, Lusaka.
They were sentenced in 2000, and since then the Supreme Court has twice
rejected his petition.
ZIMBABWE: NO BREAK IN POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Inter-party violence prevailed throughout the campaign period for the Zengeza
by-election held from 27-28 March 2004, says a report from the Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum. Seventy-five percent of the politically motivated assaults
that were perpetrated in March 2004 occurred in Zengeza constituency during the
campaign period. Incidents of assault have been indiscriminate with several
reports of assaults of elderly persons over the age of 60. Three pregnant women
were reportedly assaulted in March 2004.
LESOTHO: KINGDOM WANTS TO ACCEDE TO PEER REVIEW MECHANISM
Lesotho wants to sign up for the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM),
according to a New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) communique.
Lesotho's intention was discussed at a recent meeting of the APRM Panel of
Eminent Persons, held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The mechanism, overseen by
the panel, monitors a country's progress towards political and economic reform
and was put in place earlier this year. Seventeen African countries have signed
up so far.
MALAWI: COUNTDOWN TO ELECTIONS
There has recently been a feud between the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC)
and the National Statistical Office (NSO) over the correct figure for the
registered voters in Malawi. During the second week of April 2004, the MEC
announced that 6.5 million voters registered for the 18 May 2004 presidential
and parliamentary elections. The NSO described the figure as "bogus" because it
does not conform to the country's natural demographic trends. "It defies all
logic", observed the Weekend Nation, one of the country's leading weekly
papers. Click on the link below to read the full article and others about key
issues in the run-up to the elections on May 18.
ZAMBIA: NGOS TO CONTINUE MONITORING HIPC FUND SPENDING
Zambian NGOs will continue to track the use of funds saved under the Highly-
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, despite the government's suspension
of an independent monitoring team. Before its suspension last month, the HIPC
Tracking and Monitoring Team, established by the ministry of finance in 2001,
identified several alleged cases of abuse of funds involving top civil
servants. The team's last report, released in February this year, dealt with
investigations into disbursements made in the Copperbelt and Northern
provinces, and claimed that thousands of [US] dollars of HIPC funds had been
spent on fuel, festivals and political celebrations.
CAR: THOUSANDS IMMUNISED AGAINST MENINGITIS, MEASLES
Some 16,462 people have been vaccinated against meningitis and 1,544 children
against measles in a campaign carried out by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and
the Central African Republic (CAR) Ministry of Health, an official told IRIN.
MSF coordinator Carlos Recio said the immunisation campaign against meningitis
"A" in the northwestern sub-prefecture of Boguila was conducted in
collaboration with the UN World Health Organisation.
ETHIOPIA: HEALTH WORKERS TRAINED TO MANAGE SEVERE MALNUTRITION
Over 100 Ethiopian health workers have undergone training in the treatment and
management of severely malnourished children, the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF) reported on Tuesday. The health workers will in turn be deployed
to various hospitals to train others, UNICEF added. The trained health workers
included 41 nurses, 12 doctors and 54 medical officers. They were trained at
the Addis Ababa, Gondar and Jimma universities, UNICEF said in a statement.
ZIMBABWE: MALARIA TOLL RISES
Fifty-seven people died of malaria in Zimbabwe last week, bringing the toll to
500 since the start of the rainy season this year, government medical officials
said on Tuesday. Medical experts have attributed the rising number of deaths to
the heavy rain in most parts of the country, coupled with a lack of funds and
chemicals to carry out routine spraying.
SOUTH AFRICA: SAHARA CONFERENCE OPENS
Over 350 social researchers, doctors, representatives of national and
international organisations, NGOs and donor agencies are attending the Second
African Conference on Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research (SAHARA) in Cape
Town, South Africa. The four-day conference, themed "Promoting an African
Alliance to Mitigate the Effects of HIV/AIDS on a Sustainable Basis", was
organised by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) to share ideas among
scientists working on the social impact of HIV/AIDS treatment and care
programmes across sub-Saharan Africa. It is anticipated that the sharing of
expertise, experience and research will help inform policy and programme
implementation.
AFRICA: WHEN IT COMES TO CHILDREN, WORLD STILL AT A CRAWL
With governments lagging in fulfilling promises made at the United Nations two
years ago, millions of children continue to die from preventable diseases and
to be deprived of such basic rights as education, safe drinking water, and
protection from abuse, UNICEF says. "We are crawling toward goals that we
should be marching toward," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. At
the United Nations Special Session on Children in May 2002, governments agreed
to time-bound goals intended to improve child health and survival, provide
quality education, reverse the impact of HIV/AIDS, and protect children from
abuse, exploitation and violence.
AFRICA: MUSHROOMS, SEAWEED AND OTHER 'BIO-RESOURCES' OFFER OPPORTUNITIES IN
AFRICA
African communities are growing mushrooms and harvesting seaweed, water
hyacinth and other biological resources that were ignored or considered waste
as part of an effort to improve livelihoods and help conserve the environment.
The UNDP ZERI regional project on sustainable development from Africa's
biodiversity, based at the University of Namibia, is promoting these
activities. It is based on the Zero Emissions Research Initiative (ZERI)
pioneered at the United Nations University, which has focused on using waste
products as raw materials.
CAR: CONCERN ABOUT JOURNALIST'S CONTINUED IMPRISONMENT
In a 14 April 2004 letter to President François Bozizé, the Committee to
Protect Journalists (CPJ) renewed its demand that imprisoned journalist Jude
Zossé be immediately and unconditionally released. Zossé, publication director
of the private daily "L'Hirondelle" ("The Swallow"), was arrested on 25
February in connection with an article titled, "General Bozizé: the State's
Tax-collector". The article, which originally ran on the news website
Centrafrique-presse.com, alleged that after President Bozizé came to power in a
March 2003 coup, he took over the collection of state tax revenue in the
country, prompting two senior treasury officials to contemplate resignation.
GUINEA: NEWSPAPER BANNED FROM STANDS
The May 2-8, 2004 edition of the J.A. L'intelligent newspaper was not permitted
to appear on newsstands. According to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)-
Guinea, the Ministry of Local Government (MATD) prevented the distribution of
the newspaper because it carried the front page banner headline, "Guinea -
François Lonceny Fall: Why I am resigning". The article, with the by-line of
reporter Marwane Ben Yahmed, alleged that François Lonceny Fall, who was
appointed prime minister by Gen. Lansana Conté barely two months ago on
February 23, 2004, purported to "reveal" the reasons for his resignation.
ZAMBIA: COURT REVOKES COLUMNIST'S DEPORTATION ORDER
On 26 April 2004, Lusaka High Court Judge Phillip Musonda quashed a deportation
order issued by Home Affairs Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha against "The Post"
newspaper columnist Roy Clarke, saying it was unlawful and violated freedom of
expression. Clarke, a British national and permanent resident of Zambia, had
appealed the order. In his ruling, Justice Musonda said the deportation order
violated Section 26(2) of the Constitution in that there was procedural
impropriety in the way the order was issued. He said that Clarke had shown that
his constitutional rights, including freedom of expression and the right not to
be discriminated against, were violated by the state.
ZIMBABWE: MOURNING PRESS FREEDOM
As the democratic world commemorated World Press Freedom Day on Monday, May
3rd, the Zimbabwean authorities were threatening to close down one of the few
remaining independent sources of information in the country, reports the latest
issue of the Zimbabwe Media Monitoring Project's newsletter. The government
appointed Media and Information Commission demonstrated the extensive control
the authorities now have over the public dissemination of information by
accusing the new owners of the privately owned weekly Tribune newspaper of
publishing illegally in violation of the repressive Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act. But this is only the latest government assault on
the democratic ethos of media freedom that the United Nations-sponsored event
is intended to promote and safeguard.
E-LEARNING COSTS TOO EXPENSIVE
Electronic Learning (E-learning) is good for the developing countries like
Zambia but it is too expensive for the Zambian people, claimed lecturer Billy
Kahota, writes News Update's Zambia correspondent Timothy Kasolo. In a
contribution to a monthly debate organised by the Computer Society of Zambia
(CSZ) with the title "E-learning for Zambia - is it a dream or reality?",
Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (ZCAS) Lecturer Billy Kahota said that
though E-learning in Zambia has been welcomed it is very expensive for the
Zambian people to pay for E-learning.
ICT DEBATE HOTS UP IN KENYA
Virtually everyone agrees that information and communications technology (ICT)
must be a key component of any viable development strategy for African
countries. But lip service is still easier than charting and implementing a
coherent strategy. Recent meetings in Nairobi and Cairo provide ample evidence
of both lively debate and continuing obstacles. A recent edition of the
AfricaFocus Bulletin contains an article on national ICT policy in Kenya, with
an extended critique of what the writer calls "the government's ill-
coordinated, non-inclusive attempts to draft a national ICT policy."
STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE AFRICAN FREE AND OPEN SOURCE
MOVEMENT
African software developers face many obstacles as they struggle to grow
professionally in their chosen field. But these "coders", as a group, form a
community marked less by their frustration and isolation than by their
perseverance and resolve. This theme dominated AfricaSource, a workshop held in
Namibia in March, 2004. The meeting of 60 developers from 25 countries in the
small town of Okahandja was the first chance many of the coders have had to
collaborate and compare notes.

   

  ==============================================================================
 Copyright © 2004 Fahamu. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global
                             Media (allAfrica.com).
  ==============================================================================