The Limpopo Department of Finance and Economic Development has launched the South African Women Entrepreneurs Network project. The project is an initiative by the Department of Trade and Industry to organise women entrepreneurs into a national network of individuals and organisations committed to the promotion and advancement of women entrepreneurs.

The 1325 PeaceWomen E-News was initiated in May 2002, as a direct means of maintaining the momentum and visibility of Resolution 1325, advocating for the further implementation of the Resolution, and keeping people informed of the scale and range of activity around 1325. By prioritizing the efforts of women peace activists, by providing them with timely information to help build their capacities as peace women, by providing informed and current analyses of 1325, 1325 PeaceWomen E-News can help fuel the support and advocacy efforts for further implementation of Resolution 1325. To subscribe to the 1325 PeaceWomen E-Newsletter, please send an email with the subject "Subscribe" to [email protected]

In 18 months, Amani Trust, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to the assistance of victims of violence in Zimbabwe, has documented 16 cases of rape. Sixteen - not even one a month. Not enough to make the case for the systematic rape of women during Zimbabwe's political crisis. Not enough to make anyone sit up and take notice. However, this relatively small number belies the degree to which women have been and continue to be targeted in the continuing political violence.

Sexual assault is prevalent in Zimbabwe, according to rights groups. Concubinage in youth militia camps and the governmental use of rape as a means of punishing female political dissidents are both forms of the problem.

Kenya's recent introduction of free primary education helps girls forced out of school by poverty to regain lost ground. The girls, however, still face many challenges, from the humiliation of worn-out uniforms to views favouring boys' education.

The WTO, set up in 1995 to regulate international trade, operates on the basis of anti-democratic relations thereby becoming a weapon against poor women, countries and sustainable development. In secret preliminary mini-meetings, a small group of rich countries decide on laws and rules favouring their own interests; they then impose them on developing countries-more often than not with those countries' leaders' consent. There is no room for women and civil society to intervene, even when matters are compromising citizens present and future. In preparation for the next ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), to be held in Cancún, Mexico, September 10 to 14, 2003, African women and women all over the planet are either readying their proposals for presentation at the Peoples' Forum for Alternatives to the WTO in Cancún, or they are planning to stage demonstrations and other actions in their respective countries.

When the traditional leopard skin, the sign of authority, was draped around her shoulders at the weekend, Kgosi Mosadi Seboko not only became the paramount chief of Botswana's Bagamalete people, but also a powerful symbol of change for women. A woman has never assumed the position of a paramount chief. Traditionally women were not even allowed to attend the village kgotla (Setswana word meaning village meeting) unless they were invited to give evidence during the settlement of disputes. The ascension of Kgosi (chief) Mosadi to head a Kgotla has therefore broken new ground.

As crucial municipal polls got underway in Zimbabwe on August 30 and 31, gender activists could only marvel at how little inroads women have made in politics. Of the outgoing 333 urban councillors in the country, a mere 14 percent were women. The highest number was in Harare which had six female councillors out of a total of 50. Women constitute 54 percent of the population in Zimbabwe. From a pool of over 500 candidates who contested the elections, 67 or about 10 percent were women. Even fewer won the elections.

The lack of women's voices and limited portrayal of their roles in the media may soon change if a new plan to correct those anomalies is implemented in Tanzania. "If the two-year plan is fully implemented, on time, I am optimistic that a lot of positive changes will occur," says Rose Haji, director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Tanzania Chapter. The plan, says Haji, will involve media watchdogs monitoring how both women and men make news to promote gender equality in, and through, the media.

Women's groups are urging health officials to make premarital HIV testing mandatory so that ''young women are protected against AIDS''. The CAR-Femmes coalition, which is spearheading the campaign, is being supported by the Association of Women and Youth for Africa's Development. Safietou Ba Diop, the coordinator of CAR-Femmes, says ''many Senegalese women believe that prenuptial testing will protect them against HIV infection''.

Sudan, which has the highest prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the world, has made a commitment to ban the practice. At the end of a regional three-day symposium held last week in Khartoum, Health Minister Ahmed Osman Bilal expressed his government's commitment to eradicate FGM at all levels, according to a summary of proceedings provided by UNICEF.

A protest by Guinean women at the rising price of rice and other basic commodities has prompted President Lansana Conte to threaten importers that they will be driven out of business unless food prices come down. Conte, who has his eye on presidential elections due in December, issued the blunt ultimatum last Thursday after a protest march by women through the streets of the capital Conakry 24 hours earlier.

Is the World Bank's approach to land relations gender insensitive? Is it realistic to pin poverty reduction aspirations on the promotion of credit markets and reliance on women's unpaid labour? Does the acquisition of secure tenure rights necessarily benefit poor women? How should advocates of women's rights in Africa respond to the Bank's land agenda?

Women of Liberia want to see more humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping forces in the country to stop looting and killings. Women should also be involved in more concrete actions such as the disarmament process, according to a press release from the Mano River Women's Peace Network (MARWOPNET). A delegation of eight women from the Liberia Chapter of MARWOPNET participated for the last two months in the Liberia peace talks held in Akosombo, Ghana.

President Bush's deeds have fallen far short of his words in the global fight against HIV and AIDS, women's health advocates argued in Washington last Tuesday. Scoring the Bush administration's record on issues of importance to women around the world, including family planning and maternal health, HIV/AIDS, development aid, and support for women in Afghanistan and Iraq, three prominent women's groups found that the reality has not matched the rhetoric.

The link between environmental degradation and worsening poverty levels in African nations has left the realm of anecdotal evidence and now has the solidity of hard fact, thanks to data collected in a new Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). “Many environmental problems stem from poverty - often contributing to a downward spiral in which poverty exacerbates environmental degradation and environmental degradation exacerbates poverty,” the report noted.

"I would like to go for testing and know if I am positive - but I fear that if anyone knows that I have been for a test, they will conclude that I am HIV positive." This is the concern that Rose (not her real name) has about going for Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT).

Ijaw women of Niger Delta have condemned the renewed spate of violence in Warri and blamed the federal and Delta state governments for not putting a stop to the unending crisis. In a statement signed by Mrs Bouma Ogan and Miss Kate Amapere, chairman and secretary respectively on behalf of Ijaw Women Vanguard in Lagos, the women said the delay in creating separate local governments for the three tribes, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo in the Warri area has prolonged the conflict.

Women in Africa have to rise up to the challenge of developing positive attitudes as a key factor to advancing themselves, as well as attaining sustainable socio and economic development of the continent. This was the message from the Tanzanian Minister for Community Development, Gender and Children, Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, at the Southern African Women's Day celebration held in the Tanzania Commercial city of Dar Es Salaam.

An Islamic court in the northern Nigerian state of Katsina has postponed for one month its ruling on the appeal of a woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning under Sharia law. Throughout the day, Amina Lawal had struck a lonely figure in the court. She was convicted in March last year, and has waited 10 months for this, her second appeal, to be heard.