Regarding : Well written, well reasoned, and logical. There are insightful politicians, leaders - like Mandela and Nyerere - who appreciated the importance of the positions they held and their ability to actually change the human condition by harnessing those bonds that all humans have. Gandhi had that insight too.

Our politicians are jackals in the wilderness of existence, men and women whose one vision is of "ME." As Ngugi tells it so well, today's leaders use their tribesmen as cannon fodder; the ladder's steps they step on to reach higher ground.

In my mind I think of Muhamad Ali Jinah's personal political ambitions and often wonder if the Indian Muslim population was left in a better place with the partition of India? Wouldn't it have been better for him to have been more humble and work things out for his followers?

In the end, the results of what we see in Africa is an inexorable and irreversible degradation of the countries' potential -- a tearing apart of whatever fabric each nation may have. Until (if that can ever be envisaged) the poor realize they are but tools of the wealthy of whatever tribe. From time to time we have seen the elite reach down to help the poor -- Castro, Che Guevara, Lenin, Marx and others who put their lives on line for what was right and just.

Maybe what will save Africa is another revolution?

Amandla Publishers agrees with Archbishop Emeritus and the Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu that ‘[i]f South Africa was a democracy, there had to be certainty that those who led it were as uncorrupt as possible. It is a court of law that will ultimately decide whether [leaders are or not].’ Through publishing its bi-monthly Amandla! magazine, Amandla Publishers contributes to building left and working class organisations and debates.

P
eople with the voice, is what they see,
Voices of the people, is what they don't heed,
They chained our doors, but forgot our thoughts,
Today am here, please try to adhere,
To the voices of the people, don't look at the people with the voice

E
xperiences that we go through, they say it can't be true,
Yet we live below a dollar, to them it can be impossible under the solar,
Amongst us are financial controllers, but they insist they are still in control,
Life here is apart, life there is at par,
So life can't be like hell, if only they stop being cruel,

N
ever heard the police, arrest sons of `pot bellies`,
But run us the streets, and make our hearts` get no beat,
Yes, leave but they cant, before a toy gun they plant,
Oh! No!, we are humans`, oops! Where do you live you humans?,
Please stop this cuffs, it's not a bluff-it's enough

S
uppressed are we for how long?, tell us-it wont take a day long,
We suffer under the living standards, while U promised better living stands
When will the abuse stop, don't U think we need a hand from the top?
Stigmatization of where we are from!, is that much to ask for,
am not a beer actor, it's just the fear factor

L
et us show our positivity, why dwell on the negativity,
If I live in a slum, it doesn't mean am dumb,
Am also a person, try to show us passion,
Not if I say where I come from, the myth is am a crook in short form,
So try to reform, cause we'll shout in unison

U
nder us, provide medication for us,
Not if we ask, we have to bribe-that's a hard task
When we don't react, you leave us to see the cask,
May I say it's a must, cause if it were U-you would have burst
Prevention shouldn't be a hard task, or will it if I may ask?

M
y dear, U don't have the Idea
If only you could spare, we know for U its hard to share,
But down lower your Bragg without despair, would U dare?
That's why am putting with pen the slum
Call it if you can -the pen slum

* Bonface Ochieng Owuor is a Kenyan poet.

* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

Mauritania: ‘The coup d’état and separating the political wheat from politicians’ chaff’

Kaaw Touré & Ibra Mifo Sow (2008-09-26)

Kaaw Touré and Ibra Mifo Sow interview Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallah, the daughter of deposed former president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallah. She responds to questions about her father’s detention, her family’s security and her father’s record as president. She applauds international condemnation of the 6 August coup, and the will of the Mauritanian people to see constitutional order restored.

Food Crisis: How Uganda won the Rice War

G. Pascal Zachary (2008-09-26)

A year on from Ethiopia’s new millennium, Mammo Muchie highlights the country’s historic role as the cradle of African nationalism. Arguing that reparations remain due from the period of fascist Italy’s occupation in the 1930s, Muchie stresses that it is only through rediscovering her essential civic-nationalism that Ethiopia will locate her glory and re-energise African nationalism.

A continental workshop on the Economic Partnership Agreements between European and African countries will be held in Addis Ababa to analyse whether inconsistency between regional objectives and initial bilateral trade agreements involving some African countries and their European Union trading partners will jeopardise Africa’ s integration agenda. Meanwhile, African leaders attending the United Nations (UN) summit highlighted the challenges they face in funding basic services such as health and sanitation because of the soaring costs of fuel and basic foods and called for measures to be taken to address these at the international level, including debt cancellation, more research on seed variation and assistance with irrigation technology among others.

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) has given the coup leaders in Mauritania until October 6 to restore constitutional order in the country through the unconditional restoration of President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and has declared as null all constitutional, institutional and legislative measures taken by the junta after the coup. Nevertheless, the new Mauritanian leaders, who enjoy the support of the majority of parliamentarians, have rejected the AU ultimatum describing it as non constructive and not in the interest of Mauritania. While, members of parliament have themselves adopted their own road map for the resumption of constitutional order. Also in peace and security news, the AU has strongly condemned Somali rebel assaults on its peacekeepers describing the attacks as ‘calculated provocation and intended to show its mission as partisan in the ongoing conflict so its troops could easily become a target’. As a result of these continual attacks on its troops, the AU has restated its call on the UN Security Council to immediately authorise the deployment of peacekeepers in the country and appealed to the international community to censure the acts of aggression and terrorism in Somalia.

Meanwhile, the panel of African eminent personalities is set to continue monitoring the political developments in Kenya to ensure that the coalition government delivers on its promises, especially in relation to constitutional reform, land reform, youth unemployment, and national cohesion. Meanwhile, the AU chairman, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, has dismissed fear that the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa could put the Zimbabwe power-sharing deal at risk, reaffirming the AU’s commitment to assist.

Participants at a regional conference in Kampala appealed to African countries to ensure that cluster bombs are banned, while the UN has called on all countries to sign a treaty in Oslo on 3 December that will outlaw the production of cluster munitions.

Finally, the Chinese government and the AU have signed a contract agreement for the construction of the African Union Conference Centre as another step in the partnership between China and Africa.

South African President Thabo Mbeki's resignation has raised new concerns about the fragile power-sharing deal he brokered just one week ago in neighbouring Zimbabwe, analysts said on Wednesday. Although the deal was clinched last week, tough negotiations are still under way on forming a Cabinet that will bring together Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

A group of university students in Nairobi has developed tallying software that could cut costs and eliminate errors at the Electoral Commission of Kenya. The students said the software could enable the controversial electoral body record and process results electronically at individual polling stations across the country.

South Africa's powerful COSATU trade union, which wants the government to tilt away from pro-business policies, called on new President Kgalema Motlanthe on Friday to eradicate poverty and create jobs. Motlanthe pledged after being sworn in on Thursday to keep to the policies of predecessor Thabo Mbeki, who presided over South Africa's longest period of economic growth before the ruling African National Congress forced him to resign.

As Zimbabweans and the rest of the world wait anxiously for the new government to begin, calls are being made for the authorities to prioritise the issue of human rights. The latest call comes from Canada’s International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy) saying the power sharing agreement must be accompanied by concrete measures to ensure human rights are respected and past abuses are investigated and prosecuted.

Corruption has significantly improved in Nigeria and Mauritius over the last year, according to the Transparency International`s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The southern African country ranked 41 out of 180 countries with a score of 5.5 out of 10. Nigeria (2.7) jumped from 180 to 121.

The Congolese Prime Minister, Antoine Gizenga has resigned his position on Thursday. His letter of resignation has been submitted to President Joseph Kabila and awaiting response. He made his disclosure on National Broadcasting Television of Congo.

A former prosecutor was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of genocide, extermination and murder by the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up in the wake of the 1994 killing spree in Rwanda. The ICTR found that Simeon Nchamihigo, former deputy prosecutor in Cyangugu Prefecture, instructed the Hutu-dominated rebel group known as the Interahamwe to seek out and kill Tutsis and moderate Hutus with the intent to destroy the Tutsi ethnic group and accomplices of the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) continue to help authorities in Guinea-Bissau combat an outbreak of cholera that has claimed at least 133 lives since May and forced thousands of others to be hospitalized. WHO has sent an epidemiologist and UNICEF has deployed water and sanitation experts to assist in the response to the cholera epidemic, which can be a frequent occurrence in the poor West African nation.

President-elect Kgalema Motlanthe took the Oath of Presidency on Thursday afternoon, swearing faithfulness to the Republic and obedience to the Constitution. Mr Motlanthe, who was elected by a majority vote of MPs in the National Assembly earlier in the day, was officially sworn in by Chief Justice Pius Langa at Tuynhuys, adjacent to Parliament.

Thousands of people have turned out to vote in two by-elections in Kenya's Rift Valley Province. The parliamentary seats fell vacant after two ministers from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) were killed in a plane crash in June. The by-elections come a week after an inquiry into the disputed December elections called for radical reforms of the country's electoral system.

Through exploring the importance of sustainable and long-term health financing, Rotimi Sankore argues that effective primary health care will only be achieved when key obstacles in the shape of a lack of clear policies and Africa’s critical health workforce shortage are addressed. He stresses the debate around ‘health systems versus disease specific interventions’ to be a phantom one akin to asking whether food is more important than water to human life, arguing that the real challenge for the future will lie in creating and implementing effective policies that tackle persistent institutional and resource-based issues.

As to be expected South African bloggers are focused on the forced resignation of President Thabo Mbeki. Most bloggers whether supporters of Mbeki or not are concerned with the precedent set by “recalling” a president in the manner in which Mbeki was particularly as a further 11 minister have followed him and also resigned. Sokari Ekine reviews:

My Haven
Commentary South Africa
YBlog ZA
The Moor Next Door
Black Looks

The under-Secretary-General and UN special adviser on Africa called on world leaders gathered at the United Nations (UN) high-level meeting on African development to ‘streamline actions and upgrade priorities towards the New Partnership for Africa’s Development’ as Africa’s economic development still faces enormous obstacles. African leaders present at the summit, worried that the international financial turmoil menaces efforts to fight poverty in underprivileged countries, urged developed countries to honour their aid commitments in order to tackle hunger and poverty. The African Union (AU) Chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete told journalists that developed nations have a moral obligation to assist the poor. Still in development news, heads of states and governments of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group will meet in Accra to review the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, the accord that defines their relationship with the European Union (EU). They will also discuss the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, rising food prices, energy and Economic Partnership Agreements. Elsewhere, the EU announced a €1 billion plan for African countries to expand their energy sector, launch a renewable energy co-operation programme between the AU and EU and support Africa’s participation in the Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership of oil and gas producing countries. Meanwhile, a four-day inaugural China-ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States) economic and trade forum opened in Beijing with the objective of elevating the existing bilateral relations between China and ECOWAS to a strategic partnership by exploring and concretising agreements for Chinese investment in critical sectors and to use such investments towards the realisation of the ECOWAS development vision.

In peace and security related news, representatives of the EU and the AU met in Brussels to discuss the crisis in Darfur and universal jurisdiction. While some African countries have argued that universal jurisdiction is used by the West against Africa, Human Rights Watch said that the ‘meeting was an opportunity to bring justice to women, children and men who are abused every day across the world’. The International Criminal Court chief prosecutor was to meet with UN and AU officials on the need ‘to protect the civilians in Darfur, stop the crimes and ensure the execution of the court’s judicial mandate and decisions.’ Further, the Peace and Security Council of the AU has reiterated its clear condemnation of all acts of violence in Darfur and violations of human rights and stressed the need to bring their perpetrators to justice.

In other news, the legislative elections recently held in Rwanda saw women taking 56.25 percent of the contested parliamentary seats putting the country on the world record of having 44 parliamentary seats held by women. Meanwhile, experts and officials attending the third and final conference of the Africa Green Revolution Conference affirmed that Africa’s food crisis could be alleviated by ‘modernising agriculture and reforming supply chains so that small-scale farmers get cheaper fertiliser and high-yield seeds’.

EU foreign ministers decided on Monday (15 September) to maintain sanctions against Zimbabwe in place, despite Robert Mugabe, the country's president for almost three decades, agreeing to share power with his political rivals. According to EU foreign ministers' statement, the EU "will study the details of the agreement and will be attentive to its implementation, which will mean immediate cessation of all forms of intimidation and violence."