Another vicious attack on CSOs in Africa

On Saturday 11 August 2011, The Angola Government manhandled, detained and later deported the only Civil Society Apex Body mandated to work and advise the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) process.

In a joint statement by the SADC Civil Society Apex Body (made up of Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa, SADC council of NGOs (SADC-CNGO) and Southern African Trade Union Coordination Countries) and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Those detained and subsequently deported include the Executive Director of SADC-CNGO Abie Ditlhake, Executive Secretary of SATUCC Austin Muneku and Executive Director of FOCCISA Malcolm Damon among others.

The CSO leaders were in Angola to participate in the 7th Southern Africa Civil Society Forum, which is an event held by civil society organisations annually in the SADC country that will be hosting the SADC Heads of State Summit, and for which permission had been granted by the Angolan government.

The SADC Heads of States Summit opened in Angola on Aug 11 and ends on Aug 18. This detention and deportation comes only days after the Apex body was forced to move its Conference to Johannesburg following the decision by the Angola Government to deny visas to several CSOs who were to attend the Conference.

And that is not all.

Even after the killing of 19 CSO leaders and citizens in Malawi on 20-21 July, the Malawi Government is not yet done with CSOs.

In an interview broadcast on the BBC last week, the President of Malawi sent out a chilling warning to a second planned rally by CSOs on 19th August.

"Let them come. I will meet them there..these NGOs... I am the elected President of Malawi. 2.9 million people voted for me; I alone have the right to lead these people, not these NGOs... who elected them?...Let them come on the 19th. They will find me there!"

Subsequently, a great number of local civil society leaders and labour leaders have gone into hiding, as they fear for their lives after having received threats.

And if you thought that is all, here is what happened on August 1 at a Civil Society meeting on Governance and Democracy in Cameroon:

"...besides rejecting a few suspicious uninvited members, we intercepted three individuals that gave false names and fake associations and recovered one hidden camera.The hidden Camera was put between the stacks of paper on the registration desk....some (government)agents had come in to influence and frustrated a free debate..."

And only a day later, on August 2, the colleague who sent us this distress call from Cameroon was desperately trying to save another CSO colleague whose life was hanging on the balance in Gabon following a government crack down on CSOs in that country.

The attack on Civil Society is now increasingly becoming bolder, broader and more dangerous. And it is going beyond governments to include regional bodies such as SADC.

The Civil Society-both in the North and the South-must decide what it really wants to to about this trend.

While Africa CSO Platform welcomes the ongoing debate and discussions about CSO space and Enabling Environment, we call upon our colleagues to remember that for the CSO leaders above and many more suffering RIGHT NOW, every new day is a life lost, a child orphaned, a lady/man widowed, a CSO individuals shattered either by detention, destruction of their travel records, or as is being seen in many countries, a career lost through multiple blacklisting in several countries.

All because they have decided to stand up raise a voice for good governance and leadership.

We welcome the concern.

We welcome all the ongoing analysis, and studies and documentation on CSO Space.

They are good in that they provide us with a frame of mind and clarity of the extent of battle ahead of us.

But we plead that we move beyond these.

There is concern and a growing frustration, that apart from "statements of concern", African CSOs seem abandoned by their colleagues with head quarters in the North, who consider the space for CSOs as "outside the thematic focus" of their work, and prefer to continue working with their traditional partners in ongoing programs, even as they see the door increasingly closing in on their colleagues.

We have received these concerns from Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Sudan, Burundi, Liberia, DRC, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Somalia Puntland, Ghana, Malawi and most recently Swaziland.

We have also received information on very good friends, but they are few, and far outnumbered by the loud silence of many of their colleagues.

We must strengthen and support the solidarity effort as a matter or urgency. We must move beyond our Thematic lenses, Geographical eyes and "Partners" approach to realize that every day the space is not only getting smaller and more dangerous, but we are increasingly leaving CSO leaders to the mercy of governments while the situation gets worse by the day.

Before long there will be no space for advocacy work for any NGOs in Africa. Before long there will be no credible "Partners" to work with. Before long all the intelligent and critical minds within the CSO sector will either be dead, languishing in jail, or holding worthless passports for which they cannot use for any meaningful work.

We urge ALL of us to stop this unfolding scenario.

Only we can.

Only we have the power to do it.

--
* Paul Okumu is head of secretariat at the Africa CSO Platform for Principled Partnership.

NOTES

The Africa CSO Platform for Principled Partnership is a Platform for African CSOs to rally behind one another in response to the narrowing development space of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). ACPPP is primarily aimed at addressing the enabling environment of CSOs, with a specific focus on Laws, policies and other legislation that threaten the space for development. Our priorities are centred on reversing negative CSO legislation and all other policies and legal barriers to CSO work across Africa; Strengthening the concept of Principled Partnership (Respect, Protect, Empower) as a means of improving CSOs situation; and holding governments and other partners to account on new and existing partnerships principles and framework they sign on. We work in four areas:

Initiating and supporting Advocacy to reverse existing legislation and stop the development of other unfriendly policies and legislation at national, sub-regional and continental levels; strengthening CSOs Capacity for Principled Engagement with governments and other partners on development; Monitoring Compliance with existing and new principles for CSO-Government collaboration; and Strengthening Legitimacy and Visibility of CSOs to counter government regulation and control.

ACPPP was formed following a resolution by Africa and Africa focused Civil Society Organizations (who now constitute the ACPPP Board) from fourteen countries during a strategy forum on the 19-21 July 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya. These are: Action Aid International, Africa Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, Africa Democratic Studies, East Africa Association of Grantmakers, CIVICUS, COSOME-Burundi,Deuterombiro- Rwanda, Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE), FAHAMU, International Centre for Not-For-Profit Law-ICNL, North West Association of Development Organizations-NWANDO, Dynamique Citoyenne, Open Forum on CSO Development Effectiveness, Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa( OSISA),Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (OSIEA),PACTKCSSPP-Kenya,Pan African Lawyers Union, Plan International, Rwanda CSOs Platform, Save the Children Sweden, SISA Centre for Corporate Partnership, TrustAfrica, Southern Africa Trust, Uganda National NGO Forum, Women for Change in Zambia, Women in Law and Development in Africa, Zambia Council for Social Development.