The elimination of tariffs in the 20-nation Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) will not occur in December 2004 as planned, according to a top official. "It has been deferred to next year," said Chungu Mwila, director of investment at the regional organisation. He told a three-day workshop in South Africa this week on 'Trade and Poverty in Southern Africa' that some members had requested more time to prepare.

The recently concluded WTO's General Council's meeting in July is a serious setback for Africa. In putting “ back on track” the Doha Round (a Round that most developing countries were forced to accept under duress soon after the events surrounding September 11), the July outcome now cements and defines the next phase of the negotiations in which developed countries will now enjoy a huge margin of advantage. If Cancun provided some breathing space for the South, the relief has been short-lived as issues of priority for the North, namely safeguarding the iniquitous regime of agriculture subsidies, prying open markets of the South for agricultural exports and for manufactured goods, have been defined in the July framework in a way that assures an outcome at the end of the Doha Round that may be as unjust and unbalanced as the Uruguay Round. What exactly went wrong?

Insufficient funds, poor infrastructure and widespread landmines continue to blight efforts to resettle tens of thousands of Angolans who fled their homes during the civil conflict. Last week the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that unless new donations were received in September no cereals would be distributed to resettled returnees or those scheduled to be repatriated from neighbouring countries. The UN agency has already slashed cereal rations by 50 percent due to the lack of funds.

Zimbabwean activism for access to life-saving HIV-treatment has been thrown into a quandary following the rejection of the country's proposal in the fourth round of funding by the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Treatment activism efforts have been flustered after the decision, which was made at the eighth meeting of the GFTAM board, held in Geneva late last June. Zimbabwe had requested US$218million from the GFTAM in order to combat HIV/AIDS over a five-year period. The country is among the worst-hit by the AIDS pandemic, with an estimated 25 percent of its adult population living with HIV, which causes AIDS. Estimates of weekly AIDS-related deaths range from 1 800 to 3 000, depending on the source of statistics, which is high regardless of the figures one chooses to use.

Say the word “mining” in the context of Sierra Leone, and thoughts instantly turn to the country's ruinous trade in conflict diamonds. However, the mining of another mineral - rutile - is also the source of some controversy in this West African state. Recently, the rutile sector received a boost when the European Union allocated almost 31 million dollars to fund the resumption of mining in southern Sierra Leone by the Sierra Rutile company. But, while the government is eager to have the rutile mines back in operation, certain environmental activists don't share its enthusiasm.

Youth unemployment has skyrocketed worldwide over the past decade to some 88 million, according to a new study by the International Labour Office (ILO), reaching an all time high with young people aged 15 to 24 now representing nearly half the world's jobless. "Global Employment Trends for Youth 2004", a new analysis prepared by the ILO's Employment Strategy Department, found that while youth represent 25 per cent of the working age population between the ages of 15 and 64, they made up as much as 47 per cent of the total 186 million people out of work worldwide in 2003.

Wednesday marks the 100th anniversary of Germany's brutal crushing of an ethnic uprising in Namibia. The German government has refused to consider any compensation claims, pointing to its role as development aid provider in Namibia, as proof of its commitment to mend fences. But the descendents of the Herero insist on compensation as well as a public apology from Berlin, just as other countries did for the crimes of the Nazi era.

Some Africans in the Diaspora said on Friday that the myth surrounding the Atlantic Slave Trade had been broken and things made clear to them, when they toured slave trade sites in Salaga in the East Gonja District. The tour which formed part of activities marking this year's Emancipation Day took them to a slave bathing place (Wankanbayi) along a stream in the North-eastern part of Salaga where the slaves dug more than one hundred wells from which they drew water for bathing before they were sent to slave markets.

The World Bank and IMF have produced a paper entitled "Enhanced HIPC Initiative - Possible Options Regarding the Sunset Clause". The paper provides a brief background to the sunset clause and discusses the implications of its expiry at the end of the year before going on to discuss four possible policy options and concluding remarks. Eurodad, the European Network on Debt and Development, comments that any extension would: "...embarrassingly for the WB and IMF, represent the fourth extension to the initiative. We argue that this demonstrates the severe technical shortcomings (and therefore credibility) of the initiative."

Race relations workers in London are shocked at proposals to close the library at the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) to members of the public. According to current plans, management has allocated no funds to the library service in the budget and current staff members are to be redeployed.

The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights has adopted 21 resolutions and decisions on the question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including policies of racial discrimination and segregation in all countries; economic, social and cultural rights; and on the prevention of discrimination. Under the question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all countries, the Sub-Commission recalled that all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment constituted violations of the peremptory norms of international law; and recommended that all States develop independent and effective domestic mechanisms as well as concrete measures to combat torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

This report is designed to facilitate consultation with civil society, experts and the international community on the priorities and strategies of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on education for girls, in preparation of the final report to be completed in December 2004. It first discusses the MDGs on education and gender equality, and international data and trends in gender and education. The report then sets out the Task Force’s six main points, supported by evidence from a survey of selected literature.

Joel Bisina has written an informative article on the Niger Delta (Pambazuka News 167). However there are a few points I would like to add.

Apart from a very brief mention of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Odi, Bisina fails to mention the state sponsored violence that has been taking place for the past 14 years. Nor does he mention the issue of demands for autonomy and resource control made by all the ethnic nationalities (please let us throw the word tribe into the dustbin of colonialism) of the Niger Delta.

When he does mention violence it is in the context of "inter tribal and inter communal conflicts". This implies the conflicts are nothing to do with oil. On the contrary the Federal Government has used divide and rule tactics to fuel conflicts between the different ethnic minorities by favouring one community over another at different times, by redrawing boundaries between communities and by arming one community and instigating murder.

Bisina also fails to include any gender dimension to his article. He mentions the "ethnic militias" and illegal bunkering that takes place by a minority of people but fails to mention the many activist groups and organisations that are fighting to expose the crimes and human rights abuses of the multinationals and their partner, the Nigerian government.

JOEL BISINA REPLIES: Thank you Sokari Ekine, I fully and wholly agree with you that some of the issues you raised are fundamental and are worthy of mention, but I want you to appreciate the fact that the Niger Delta question is as old as the Nigeria Federation and so are the issues and the facets to the issues. Any attempt in a singular write-up in trying to address all will amount to writing an encyclopaedia. So you would excuse my brevity.

I need to state here that I am very conversant and actively involved in the entire Niger Delta struggle at various levels in my professional capacity and as someone from the Region who lives and works there. Just trying to look at state sponsored violence alone will produce volumes. From the days of King Koko of Nembe Brass to the most recent military invasion in Egbema communities of Ogbudugbudu, Idebagbene and Itsekiri communities of Orugbo etc.

>>>>> Click on the link below for the rest of Joel Bisina's response.

We live in the happiest, healthiest and most peaceful era in human history, writes columnist George Monbiot in the UK Guardian. But due to climate change it will not last long, he argues. "Like every impending disaster (think of the rise of Hitler or the fall of Rome), this one has generated a voluble industry of denial. Few people are now foolish enough to claim that man-made climate change isn't happening at all, but the few are still granted plenty of scope to make idiots of themselves in public."

Though starting from a modest base, China's trade with the African continent reached $18.5 billion in 2003, an increase of 50 percent since 2000, and it is on track for another big increase this year. China's push into Africa is all the more remarkable because it comes when that continent has become the virtual stepchild of the international trade system, a mere footnote - or worse, simply unmentioned in discussions of global commerce.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination adopted a General Recommendation on the issue of discrimination against non-citizens as a means to raise awareness on the situation of these vulnerable groups to find solutions to the daily problems that they are faced with. General Recommendation Number 30 asks States parties, among other things, to review their national legislation to ensure that it guarantees against racial discrimination applied to non-citizens and to pay greater attention to the issue of multiple discrimination faced by non-citizens, in particular concerning the children and spouses of non-citizen workers.

In the course of the discussion, which was held over two meetings, the issues of slavery and slavery-like practices, political parties, human trafficking, refugees and displaced persons, the status of women, education and the State party's national human rights plan were raised among other subjects.

The Zambian Government has announced that it is reviewing the Anti-Corruption Act to introduce stiffer penalties and catch private sector offenders. Speaking to reporters, President Mwanawasa also revealed that the Government was in the process of formulating a comprehensive corruption-prevention strategy and he urged other SADC countries to support the proposed protocol against corruption.

Kenyan’s are about to start paying more for electronic mail access following a decision by JamboNet, the sole Internet backbone provider, to raise its tariffs by up to 40 per cent. The new structure takes effect on September 1, 2004, and dictates that ISPs pay JamboNet more for speeds above 512 kilobytes (Kbps).

Biotech companies promised that GM crops were safe, that they would provide better quality and cheaper food, that they were environmentally sustainable, that they would improve agricultural production, and that they would feed the developing world. After ten years, none of these promises have materialized, says a Friends for the Earth publication.