We, civil society organizations acting on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe, today reassert our commitment to the struggle for a transition to democracy.  In doing so, we stand firmly by the principles of democratic constitutionalism that are embodied in the People's Charter and which represent the birthright of every Zimbabwean.  

Given the present environment of fear and oppression, we declare that democratic reform must be preceded by the cessation of violence, restoration of law and order, and facilitation of humanitarian relief.  If such conditions are met, we are prepared to support the installation of a transitional government created after consultation with all stakeholders.

We believe that a transitional government would provide an appropriate vehicle for ushering democratic reform.  The transitional authority would have a specific, limited mandate to oversee the drafting of a new, democratic and people-driven constitution and the installation of a legitimate government.  We wholeheartedly reject the suggestion of a power-sharing agreement that fails to immediately address the inadequacy of the current constitutional regime.

The transitional government must be established in line with the following:

1. Leadership by a neutral body.  The transitional government should be headed by an individual who is not a member of ZANU-PF or MDC.

2. Broad representation.  Individuals from a broad sector of Zimbabwean society should be incorporated into the transitional government.  This should include representatives from labor organizations, women's and children's rights groups, churches, and various other interest groups.

3. Specific, limited mandate.  The transitional government should be tasked with facilitating the drafting and adoption of a new constitution and then holding elections under the new constitutional framework. It should only govern the country until such time as the government elected under the new constitution is installed.  The negotiating parties should provide a very clear timeframe for this process, with no more than 18 months of rule by the transitional government.

4. People-driven constitutional development.  The process of drafting a new constitution must include broad-based consultation with the public.  Interest groups such as women, labor, churches, and media should be given special opportunities to provide input.  The draft constitution should not be enacted until it has been ratified by the public in a national referendum.

5. Restoration of good governance.  State institutions such as the judiciary, police, security services, and state welfare agencies should be depoliticized and reformed.  Steps should be taken to fight corruption and promote accountability for public officials. Restrictions on press freedom should be lifted and access to state media outlets should be opened.

6. Transitional justice initiatives.  The transitional government should design and implement a system to bring to justice the perpetrators of gross human rights violations.  This framework for transitional justice should be embedded in the new constitution. In the event of the above conditions not being met, civil society commits itself to continue in actions that increase pressure on whosoever will be holding state power to embrace people-centered democratic process.

*This press statement was issued by civil society following the national civil society consultative meeting.

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

“Leaders are meant to lead and to be led [by those who elected them]” - Lindela Figlan, Abahlali baseMjondolo movement

Fourteen years since the transition to democracy, leadership in South Africa is in a state of flux—and South Africans know a thing or two about leaders. For every Mandela, after all, there is an Mbeki. In his seven years of presidency, Mbeki has mistaken denialism for leadership and appeasement for diplomacy. The liberation victors in the ANC have tied up the ruling party in its own historical mythologizing, determined to hold its grasp on the state. Now, for every Mbeki, there is the possibility of a Zuma.

In May, immigrants living in the townships and shack settlements of South Africa woke to find that they no longer had a place in their adopted homeland, as their neighbors chased them out of their houses and shops. Yet for ten days while pogroms burned, their country’s leader was nowhere to be found. Even afterwards, Mbeki and other leaders, in failing to acknowledge the profoundly xenophobic nature of the state, and blaming the violence on the poor themselves, did little to calm the storm. Thousands have since left in mass exodus.

Of course, turning to neighboring Zimbabwe to provide a shining example of good leadership in this dearth finds none as Robert Mugabe and his military junta continue their absurdist drama: struggle heroes turned autocrats, fighting their own people instead of fighting for them. For South Africans, whose roster of liberation fighters reads off names like Tambo, Sisulu, Biko, First and Hani, the present situation is somewhat of an anomaly.

But in midst of this crisis, hope for a new kind of leadership can be found in an unlikely place: the Kennedy Road shack settlement , in Clare Estate, Durban. In the middle of a Saturday night in June, a group of thirty odd women and men , some as young as 17, has gathered in a small room that serves as a community-driven crèche during the week. They are here to induct newly elected leaders of their organization of shack-dwellers who collectively call themselves Abahlali baseMjondolo. The Abahlali, since emerging in 2005, has grown to become the largest social movement in the country, with members in more than 40 settlements and over 30,000 active supporters in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

In 1980 the Zimbabwean “povo” (people) celebrated a victory over settler colonialism and Western imperialism. We celebrated with them. For us, this was a step closer to Namibian sovereignty, even though the overwhelming victory of ZANU was time-wise a detour on our long road to Independence. The unexpected result had taught Western imperialism a lesson. It shattered its manic assumptions that one could orchestrate and manipulate an election, even if the people are allowed to cast a secret vote at the ballot. Without major intimidation the “povo” used the weapon of an electoral process, by voting for the cock (the symbol for Mugabe’s ZANU), and not the archbishop (Abel Muzorewa, who was considered the blue eyed boy of the West). The people knew what they wanted: a government of their own choice, which they had reasons to believe would represent their interests.

Almost three decades later, 18 years into Namibian Independence, we have to face the sobering realities: Mugabe and his loyal clique in ZANU/PF messed it up. By the end of the 1990s they had lost the “povo.” While they blamed Western imperialism for this, it was in the first place their own elitist neocolonial project, which betrayed the liberation gospel and thereby the people. From the start, the new rulers were not shy of ruthlessly violent practices. Remember the genocidal mass violence in Matabeleland shortly after Independence (“Gukuhurundi”). Tens of thousand innocent people were tortured, maimed, raped, mutilated and slaughtered between 1983 and 1985 by the North Korean trained Fifth Brigade. Only because being Ndebele they were considered guilty of being in support of Josuah Nkomo’s ZAPU, a competing liberation movement finally coerced into the ZANU/PF alliance. With a few exceptions (notably the Catholic church inside Zimbabwe), those who knew remained silent and thereby endorsed if not encouraged the perpetrators to further cultivate their dehumanizing version of “chimurenga” against the people.

9th July, 2008
The Office of the President
Cause Way
Harare
Zimbabwe

Your Excellency,

RE: WE STAND UP FOR DEMOCRACY IN ZIMBABWE

The African Women Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), a Pan- African Network working for the promotion and protection of the rights of women and children in the Africa Region is greatly disturbed by the unfolding events in this great African country Zimbabwe.

We note with concern the continued suffering of women and children in this country who have been victimized for no apparent reason or cause. Ironically their alleged crime is that they or their male relatives have participated in the democratic process of their country and expressed their choice of leadership for their country!!! The sham runoff election for presidency held on the 27th of June was marred with pre- and post election violence which has led to untold suffering for the people of Zimbabwe, loss of life (for example over 220 people linked with the opposition have died since March 2008), destruction of property and forced displacement of people majority of whom are women and children and in the process many have become victims of sexual abuse and other forms of violations of their body integrity.

Mr. Mugabe, you have a great history as one of the freedom fighters of Zimbabwe and you will always be acknowledged and remembered for the great contribution and sacrifice you personally made to bring freedom to all the people of Zimbabwe. We acknowledge the complexity of the situation in Zimbabwe. However, we believe that your continued unlawful stay in power as the President of Zimbabwe is not benefiting the majority of men and women of your country. Women and children of comrades in the opposition have been deliberately attacked, many have been forced out of their homes and fled the country, and others are currently in safe custody with embassies of foreign countries that still exist in your country. This is a real shame and a total mockery of democracy. We strongly believe that your autocratic leadership is a total disgrace to the people of Zimbabwe and the whole of Africa.

FEMNET joins the Presidents of Africa countries and other civil society organizations in Africa to condemn in the strongest terms the undemocratic elections that took place in Zimbabwe on the 27th of June 2008. Your political conduct is unacceptable and shameful to the entire continent of Africa.

We therefore call upon you Mr. Mugabe to do the following:

- To lead a process not exceeding six months, that will result into a peaceful hand over of power to new leaders that have credibility in the eyes of the people of Zimbabwe, the African people and the international community;

- To ensure that an environment of peace, free from intimidation and political violence is guaranteed by the Government of Zimbabwe for all people both supporters of the ruling party and those in opposition. This is an essential prerequisite for the peaceful process of transfer of power and authority to the new leaders of Zimbabwe. It is a constitutional right for citizens to have protection of their rights to personal security and not to be subjected to any form of abuse, torture, or inhuman treatment;

- To respect the rights of the people of Zimbabwe to associate and form political parties as part of the democratic process and to choose their leaders. These rights are guaranteed in Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 10 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights to which Zimbabwe is a party. The Constitution of Zimbabwe also guarantees these rights in Article 20 and 21.

- To ensure that women and children of Zimbabwe are protected from unscrupulous elements in society that are taking advantage of the unrest and uncertainty and are abusing and disregarding their rights and freedoms.

- To work towards a legacy of facilitating a peaceful transfer of power to new leaders in Zimbabwe by the end of 2008.

Note that in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe especially the women and children of this great country, the women of Africa through FEMNET:

- Urge the African Union and its member states and also SADC countries to prevail upon you Mr. Mugabe to hand over power peacefully by December 2008 in order to transform the electoral and political crisis in your country into an opportunity for the development of a sustainable democracy.

- Demand for the immediate cessation of all acts of political violence and intimidation and all those engaging in acts of political violence, especially militia and youth groups supported by your party in power should be dealt with expeditiously in accordance with the law. We urge all political parties of Zimbabwe to exercise restraint and desist from employing intimidation and violent tactics.

- Call upon your Government to guarantee the safety and freedom of all people in Zimbabwe, especially women and children, irrespective of their political beliefs and choices.

- Are committed to stand with the women of Zimbabwe in and outside the country at this very precarious moment. We shall continue speaking out with courage against the undemocratic behaviour exhibited by different parties involved in this crisis.

- Will continue to strongly pressurize other leaders in the region to stand up against Mr. Mugabe and for democracy in Africa.

Democracy shall prevail.

*Norah Matovu Winyi is the executive director of FEMNET. This letter was written on behalf of the women’ rights movement in Africa.

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

It is humbling and unsettling attempting to appraise the significance of an icon, especially at the time of that icon's 90th birthday. Nevertheless, we must honor Nelson Mandela while at the same time situating him in a broader and complicated context.

In important respects there are several different 'Nelson Mandelas.' For many of us who were active in and around the anti-apartheid support movement, Nelson Mandela became the face of the South African liberation struggle. This was true not only for activists, but also for much of the rest of the sympathetic world. In this respect the campaign to free him was much more than a demand for the freedom of one individual, but represented a mass means of protesting the illegitimacy and injustice of the apartheid regime.

The 'second' Nelson Mandela was the post-prison/pre-president Mandela. Here we witnessed Nelson Mandela serving as the hero, negotiator, and unifier. Taking charge of the African National Congress's efforts to bring about democratic rule, he, ultimately, decided upon significant compromises that ended apartheid. Mandela should not be credited or criticized for the decisions of this era as if they were done by one individual alone. The ANC had concluded that a military victory over the apartheid regime was unlikely and, with the collapse of the Soviet bloc, a new international political situation had emerged. The 1994 democratic elections are a tribute to the work of Mandela and the ANC leadership, but the compromises that were made during the period of negotiations were controversial. Political rule was turned over to the Black majority, but the economy remained largely in the hands of the whites who had dominated the country.

The 'third' Nelson Mandela could be seen during his term as President of South Africa. While steps were taken immediately to eliminate all vestiges of the apartheid regime, the ANC--under his leadership--chose to reject a previous progressive economic development approach and, instead, institute a very pro-privatization/pro-"free market" program known as "Growth, Employment and Redistribution" (GEAR). GEAR turned the entire pre-liberation approach of the ANC on its head and instead emphasized integrating South Africa into the capitalist global market, removing trade barriers, and promoting privatization. It did little to address the mammoth wealth divide in the country or the burning land question (which would later explode in neighboring Zimbabwe). Although GEAR is often blamed on (or credited to, depending on one's point of view) then Deputy (and now current) President Thabo Mbeki, the reality is that it was under the watch of President Nelson Mandela that South Africa opted in a direction that many international observers and friends found surprising and unsettling. It should be added that during this time period, President Mandela, despite the pressure of the USA and others to repudiate friends of South African freedom such as Cuba and Libya, stood firm and attempted to strengthen the forces in the global South advocating peace and self-determination. Nevertheless, South Africa was increasingly drawn into the web created by global capitalism, inhibiting its ability to complete what the ANC had described as the "national democratic revolution."

The 'fourth' Nelson Mandela is the post-Presidency Mandela. Generally speaking he has been an outspoken human rights advocate taking very strong and public stands against the US invasion of Iraq, as well as stands against his successor--Mbeki--on the failure of the South African government to fully confront the HIV/AIDS pandemic. He has been among a group of world leaders, such as former US President James (Jimmy) Carter and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who have spoken out on behalf of human rights, whether in the Darfur region of the Sudan or in occupied Palestine. Mandela, though weakening with age, has reemerged as a beacon of hope and struggle for true justice.

All this said, it is important for us to recognize that the triumphs and challenges faced by Nelson Mandela are illustrative of the contradictions we are living through with the collapse of what Egyptian theorist Samir Amin terms the "national populist projects." This is an expression referring to the post-World War II efforts at national independence and liberation in the so-called Third World that chose not to travel down the path toward socialism, but also attempted to be non-aligned in the Cold War. The crisis, to which Amin refers, hit South Africa in the mid1990s over the question of the path toward reconstruction and development. The leadership of the African National Congress apparently concluded that it had to cut the best deal that it could with global capitalism and that charting a truly independent and transformative path was unrealistic. Many people inside and outside South Africa hoped--and continue to hope--for a different conclusion and different route.

Nevertheless, Nelson Mandela remains my hero. Precisely because Mandela is human, rather than a god, he is not perfect and not above contradictions. He has been, however, a voice for rationality in a world that seems to increasingly succumb to the irrational; a voice for justice, in a world that often seems to tolerate some of the worst forms of injustice. He has also been a person of tremendous courage who resisted pressures to give up or to despair that many others would not have been able to withstand. For whatever else he will always be the Nelson Mandela imprinted on my old--but preserved--anti-apartheid poster: Defiant and dignified always.

Happy birthday, comrade Mandela!

*Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the executive editor of BlackCommentator.com. He is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies and the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum. He is the co-author of the recently published "Solidarity Divided" which analyzes the crisis of organized labor in the USA.

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

Mandela is, in some ways the perfect embodiment of post colonial Africa, a continent blessed with so many possibilities but consistently producing so much disappointment. The African dream of liberation has become a long nightmare. As Mandela turns 90 the country he helped found some 14 years ago is in a mighty mess. Its hatred of black people has reached the apex with the mass slaughtering and displacement of black Africans (apparently a good 20 or more of the more than 60 dead are South Africans). Post 1994, has been much celebrated for the benefits it bestowed upon a few, silence has befallen the fate of the black majority which has been bequeathed a bestial existence.

Mandela’s 85th birth day was a Coca Cola affair. The multinational corporation was given full rights to throw a party for our founding father. Coke milked his name dry, everything was branded, serviettes to programme - the whole affair was televised live. This forced a friend to remark that we need another “Free Nelson Mandela Campaign." At 90 Mandela must be allowed his well deserved rest. But it’s hard to think of this likable man of the 20th century Africa outside politics. He is resistance, Robben Island, freedom, magnanimity, compromise and hope for many, but what is his real legacy?

A few years ago Chinweizu wondered loudly about the icon of liberation who voluntarily builds his house as a replica of the prison house he was kept him during the last days towards his release. Who build a prison for a house? Our Mandela is a symbol, like his country, of things shiny and good and things horrendous.

Prof Wole Soyinka was moved to comment on the “soulless truly horrendous” sculpture of Mandela which presides over the Mandela Square in Sandton our Mecca of consumption, which lives cheek by jowl with the sprawling Alexandra township. Sandton feeds on the blood of Alexandra, the place from which the recent spade of Negrophobic attacks emanates. Cornel West, firstly praised Mandela as a the Socratic spirit of “going against the grain” then on reflection from the distance of the USA he warned against the “Santa Clausification of Mandela - Big smile, domesticated, tamed, defanged with toys in a bag."

At 90 Mandela is all these things, but more, he is the African dream that never became. His 90th bash will be held in London, what the official website says is his second home, images of Toussaint Louverture perishing in the loving embrace of his friend Napoleon Bonaparte flashes by. Now we wait for Barak Obama to conclude a circle started in 1994 in South Africa, White Supremacy today needs a little melanin too. Black suicide is endemic, 1803 it was Haiti, 1994 South Africa, and maybe 2008 December the USA. Happy 90 Tata!

*Andile Mngxitama is a Johannesburg based land rights activist and member of the We write editorial collective.

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

February 11th 1990—for me, an unforgettable day. I was 7 years old; he had been in prison for 27 years. Sunday morning was just getting started when the phone rang and after a brief conversation, my mother turned around to inform us that Nelson Mandela had been freed. I can remember wondering if I’d heard right. Nelson Mandela? The Nelson Mandela whose face, adorned with the ANC colors, was glued onto one of our empty kitchen cupboards? The ANC leader who had been in jail for more years that my imagination could grasp?

I concluded that indeed miracles are possible and chose to hope a little more. Maybe this means that the Boers will stop will stop their terrorist attacks on Mozambique; that a new South African government will take down the electric fence on the border, a fence which has maimed so many of us fleeing the economic and military hardship perpetrated by the Apartheid regime; maybe our “civil” war will end and I will be able to go to the outskirts of Maputo, or even my grandfather’s home in Inhambane, without fearing that the “bandidos armados” (Apartheid-sponsored RENAMO troops) will kidnap me and take me to one of their army camps; and last but not least, maybe I will no longer have to share the same Eastern European plastic airplane toy with every other kid in the city.

Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment was my imprisonment, and his freedom, my freedom because Mandela, along with comrades Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Oliver Tambo articulated a vision that placed the anti-Apartheid struggle in the context of a broader regional struggle against colonialism and imperialism.

Now in my mid-twenties, it is clear to me that vision is insufficient. The Freedom Charter lies by the wayside and South Africa has fomented and embraces its status of hegemon in the region. As 32,000 Mozambicans fled South Africa this May, in many cases leaving everything they owned behind, the South African government continued to deport undocumented Mozambican migrant workers, further taxing the Mozambican emergency relief operations. In fact some reports suggested that South African farm owners were calling the immigration services at the end of May to avoid paying farm workers’ monthly wages. Is this what post-Apartheid regional cooperation has come to be? The front-line states paid a tremendous cost for the anti-Apartheid movement and the migration of hundreds of thousands of Mozambicans to South Africa is the result of this cost.

Sunday, February 11th will be imprinted in my memory for the rest of my life and I know I owe something big to Mandela, but I also know that the anti-Apartheid struggle is not over. On the occasion of Mandela’s 90th birthday, it is important to take stock of the fundamental economic, political and social structures of Apartheid that continue to thrive in South Africa and the Southern African region.

A Luta Continua!

*Ruth Castel-Branco is an organizer for DC Jobs with Justice.

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

Thinking about Nelson Mandela’s birthday, what comes to mind is how I felt—how the world felt—watching his release over a decade ago. Watching him walk down the road, hand in hand with his now ex-wife, Winnie Mandela. Watching South Africa prepare for its first full elections in 1994. Watching him assume the Presidency. Watching him re-marry, this time Graca Machel, the former wife of his slain Mozambiquan comrade, Samora Machel.

There were so many moments that made me cry. Cry that they, we, Africa, the world had done it. South Africa was free. We could all therefore aspire to freedom—believing, knowing it could be achieved, in our lifetime. And Mandela had finally found personal as well as political peace. Meaning that we could all find love, even in the setting of our lives—with whole histories, legacies behind us.

Hope was what Mandela symbolised then. He represented the very best of us. And he symbolised our hope that Africa as a whole could—and would—realise the best of itself.

Today, however, not so many years later, I wonder what has become of those aspirations—for freedom, for love, for hope in the best of us. The electoral process—so important in 1994 for South Africa and the rest of us as we moved back towards political pluralism—is now a travesty. From Ethiopia to Uganda to Nigeria and, most recently and tragically, to Kenya and Zimbabwe, it is clear that even those most basic of human rights were not won definitively in the 1990s. And South Africa has now well lost the moral high ground that it had assumed in 1994.

So the question that comes to mind now, thinking of Mandela’s birthday, is how he can use his own moral authority to help us aspire again. He is just one individual—but he’s an individual who transformed himself from being the founding member of the Africa National Congress (ANC)’ armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), to being one of the most beloved personages on this planet. His own beliefs and ideals did not change. But his tactics necessarily did, even though MK’s existence arguably helped force the settlement reached. And the world’s perceptions of him changed as well. How do other individuals respond to that transformation? Other Africans in positions of leadership? Us all? How do we maintain our beliefs and ideals, while changing tactics when necessary and forcing change in perceptions of us?

This is the challenge that we all face, as Africans wanting to aspire again in freedom, love, hope. As Africans wanting to believe it is all possible—and in our lifetime.

Happy birthday Nelson Mandela. Thank you for existing. Thank you for making your own existence worthwhile. Thank you for becoming the reminder, the symbol that you have.

*L. Muthoni Wanyeki, is the executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.

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

, Mukoma. Delicately nuanced. I might have put words differently but couldn't agree more.

In , you touched the sore at its reddest part. We grow in a society where you tell a sane man you want to do literature. And he looks at you like "you are joking." Lit? WHEN THERE'S ENGINEERING DOCTORING AND LAWYERING!! I am A young 18 year old aspiring writer and peole like you lift our spirits. KUDOS!

"What does this mean? Quite simply that the African child sees writing a book as something he or she can never achieve." Mukoma Wa Ngugi's on the stifled opportunities for African children to be literarily creative struck a cord. Creative imagination is not a chance occurrence; it is nurtured from the cradle.

This has wide-ranging ramifications for educational role-players and parents.In order to instill the impetus for reading and creative writing in our children, African governments have to invest in well-equiped libraries, community reading centers, literary competitions, book clubs, and more. This takes a lot of political good-will, and the wisdom to perceive the long-term benefits of childhood literacy. A reading nation is a productive nation. We cannot continue to put literacy on the back burner and persist in the self-delusion that one day our children will be able to compete with their peers on the ideas-oriented market at par.

A wise man once said that "if you want to hide something from a black person, all you need to do is put inside a book. He will never find it because he abhors reading." Insulting as this adage may sound, there is a grain of truth in it! How many parents in Africa invest in books for leisure reading? I spent seven years in primary school without reading a single novel! This had nothing to do with lethargy on my part toward reading. It was simply due to the fact that there were no books at school or at home for me to read.

As we speak today, there are K-12 schools in Africa without libraries. Most of our college and university libraries are window-dressings! I taught high school kids for five years in the Northern Province in South Africa, where classes are still being held under trees in some villages for lack of classrooms! Yet our politicans continue to play tango with the future of our children by misappropriating public funds and doing stupid things like taking safari trips to Europe and America in the company of their concubines. This mentality has to change.

The onus is on educated Africans at home and in the Diaspora to play the leading role. And let's not forget, writers are political animals. Our lives are tainted on a daily basis with decisions, sane and insane, taken by politicians. On this count, therefore, the African writer cannot afford to be apolitical.

This, is quite African, truly African and in the spirit and sense of the Africa some of us have been dreaming about for decades now.

I would be even much happier if the young-sounding writer is a son of our well-known Ngugi - because this would mean that there is certainty of continuity of that good fight the older Ngugi has been engaged in for these many seasons.

It would mean a lot to those of us who have been keen followers of the older Ngugi, who have continued to be inpsired by him even though we may not really have met him in person(though I had the rare opportunity of meeting with him in my undergraduate days at the University of Calabar in the early 1980s). This, then, would be a happy chip of the old block - not sure I got the idiom right, though.

Finally, I would love to be in touch with some or all of the journals/magazines mentioned in the article. As one who also writes, I buy and identify wholly with the position of this article. Best wishes - that's also the comment the older Ngugi made on my copy of Weep not, Child in that 1981 or 1982, as he autographed the copy for me. Again, best wishes.

FAWE is a Pan- African organization with operations in thirty-five countries in Africa. FAWE Sierra Leone was started in 1995, at the height of the civil war. One of the Chapter’s many emergency intervention which was borne from the determination of women to restore dignity to other women and girls is the programme of assistance to victims of gender –based violence in internally displaced camps, returnees and juveniles in domestic settings. In February 1999, after the allied forces regained control of the capital, it was reported that a number of FAWE school students were raped while the rebels were retreating. As some of these victims had already been subjected to rape in their areas of origin, FAWE decided to address the issue of rape once and for all, break the silence and create a culture that says no to violence against women.

The invasion of January 6 necessitated an intervention which included medical and counseling services for abducted girls and later boys too. FAWE’s mandate of helping the girl –child to be educated to her full potential compelled the intervention. After deliberations with other agencies, the Rape victims programme was started. The initial collaborating agencies were FAWE, Sierra Leone Association of University Women (SLAUW), Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children Affairs and MSF- Holland. Each local partner contributed counselors while MSF- Holland conducted counseling workshops to help improve skills. Later in the programme, UNICEF also became a strong partner.

The first step of the intervention was public sensitization on radio and television. During the first three months, April –June 1999, the programme was supported by FAWE international with MSF –Holland providing drugs. By the end of June over one hundred and twenty- nine (129) victims have been treated medically and counseled. The need to continue the programme became evident as abductees escaped or were released in batches. After consultations with MSF Holland, FAWE was able to get additional support from them in the form of funding for the whole programme. In collaboration with other agencies the Rape Victims programme started. Different teams were set up - sensitization, medical, counseling and Skills training – to implement the programme. In the end, 2110 abductees benefited from this programme in the western Area of whom 1,168 were raped victims. From 1999 – 2002, a total of seven thousand raped victims from nine displaced camps and settlements in six provincial towns were assisted.

As a gender activist and secondly, as a Parliamentarian, I will provide an understanding of the Sierra Leone Parliament by highlighting its work thus far in relation to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). I will give a situational analysis of the prevalence and incidence of sexual and gender-based violence in Sierra Leone before, during and after the war and its consequences on women, girls and society at large. This will be followed by responses of government bodies at ending sexual and gender-based violence. I will then give an insight into the laws of Sierra Leone as far as they relate to sexual and gender-based violence. The role of the Sierra Leone Parliament in addressing sexual and gender-based violence will be next described, followed by a discussion on how Parliament partnered with CSO in this regard and end by making suggestions for the way forward for effective strategies to address impunity in Africa.

PREVALENCE OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN SIERRA LEONE

Domestic and gender-based violence, we all know, has social, economic, psychological, physical and emotional cost both to the individual and society. Yet such cost have been largely under-estimated and ignored, and it is not generally seen as a security issue.

In Africa, in particular, SGBV has been surrounded by a culture of silence and impunity. The range and complexity of the underlying causes make it a difficult issue to address. SGBV not only manifests itself as physical violence such as sexual abuse of women and children, but also includes forms of structural violence such as discriminatory laws and practices that prevent women from owning property or holding positions of authority within their communities.

In short, SGBV has been viewed as a security issue because it is a human rights violation and therefore impacts negatively on the ability of men and women to secure and enjoy their basic rights. It can also feed into broader societal violence and can consequently compromise the country’s development strides.

In considering the wars in the Central African Republic (CAR), Darfur, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the use of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is widespread, this paper seeks to accomplish two tasks. The first task is descriptive: to give an overview of the manner in which the International Criminal Court (ICC) has responded to SGBV in the three countries. The second task is a modest attempt to analyze why SGBV continues to be inadequately addressed. Here, the paper considers the practical challenges that are inherent in transitional justice as a tool, particularly in its preference of some harms and narratives over others.

The paper also considers the conceptual challenges that come with understanding SGBV itself, in particular the implications of a focus on sexual violence over other forms of violence, and that of a focus on women over other feminized identities. The paper concludes with the suggestion of some useful debates for the consideration of scholars and practitioners, including the possibilities of a consideration of rape as torture, and the ramifications of focusing on criminal outcomes of political crises, to the neglect of necessary political solutions. In sum, the paper offers that transitional justice can only make a modest contribution to addressing SGBV, and that complex political crises underlying and causing violence must not be left on the wayside as we advocate around the criminal symptoms.

TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE RESPONSES TO SEXUAL AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR)

Between October 2002 and March 2003, CAR President Ange-Félix Patassé invited the forces of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the Commander in Chief of Mouvement de Libération du Congo (MLC) to fight a rebel movement led by François Bozizé, the former Chief of Staff of the CAR army. In February 2003, FIDH referred the case to the ICC, following an extensive field mission to the conflict-affected areas where they found widespread rape, particularly from the forces of Bemba [1].

A key feature of in the CAR conflict was the high reported number of victims of rape. Under the presidency of Bozizé, who won the war, the highest court in the CAR determined that they would not be able to address the rape cases. In December 2004, the CAR government made a state referral to the ICC. According to the OTP, CAR became “the first time the Prosecutor ... open[ed] an investigation in which allegations of sexual crimes far outnumber alleged killings [2].

Let me first and foremost start by emphasizing that the theme: Ending Impunity on Sexual and Gender Based Violence is a befitting one. This conference could not have come at a more opportune moment. The high prevalence of SGBV in our continent and the Great Lakes region in particular has heightened resolve to work together for action, to turn rhetoric to practice.

There have been countless initiatives at international and regional level aimed at putting to an end to Sexual and Gender Based Violence, culture of impunity and other forms of related crime. However, we have not done enough to eradicate these types of crimes and those who have perpetuated these crimes have gotten away with impunity. Therefore this an opportunity to join forces to address the gaps in our actions and accelerate the implementation of the urgent responses to this pandemic problem, ensure prevention, protection, access to care and justice to the victims.

THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE GREAT LAKES REGION AND THE FIGHT AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE

The International Conference on the Great Lakes region has been the incubator for the formulation of landmark protocol and model legislation for the region in the areas of Prevention and Suppression of Sexual Violence against Women and Children. The Protocol seeks to fill the legal void that prevails in most of the legal systems in the countries of the region as a response to the systemic rape of women and children in the Great Lakes Region.

Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) became involved in Uganda in 1979. This was immediately after the “Liberation war” which saw the departure of Idi Amin’s regime. The first programme was in the North of the Country based in Gulu district. ACORD was majorly responding to the emergency needs as a result of the war. ACORD has now expanded its programme in the whole of Acholi sub region, Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, West Nile sub region, Adjumani and Moyo and the Western part of the country Mbarara programme all under ACORD in Uganda programme. The main intervention currently is focusing on developmental issues and to address the injustices in service delivery by using the right based approach to development as a strategy. ACORD is also engaged in Advocacy and Lobbying for the voice less society in the region to present their issues to the policy makers for a better life. In 2004, ACORD conducted a research to find out the relationship between HIV/AIDS and Sexual and Gender Based Violence. The result of the study showed very strong linkages between the two.

The war in Northern Uganda started in August, 1986 when the Ex-UNLA soldiers who fled into Sudan following their defeat by the National Resistant Army (NRA). In January they crossed back into Uganda and attacked NRA detaches in Gulu district. The attackers returned under the auspices of Uganda Peoples’ Democratic Movement/Army (UPDM/A). This report was presented by; Charles Asowa Okwe Makerere University-Kampala during a two days international conference that was organized by ACORD in February 1997. This event opened a volatile situation in as far as security in Uganda was concerned. The war resulted to massive population dislocation as people flee from the war zones to the safer areas within their districts and beyond.

In some of the affected districts, the situation was more pathetic. People were not only displaced, but some were forced to commute between their homes and trading and urban centers on a daily basis. Children as young as two years old used to commute from their homes to the trading centers looking for shelter. The situation increased cases of defilement and rape as young girls were at the mercy of the older men for material support. The younger boys were too being exploited by older women and sugar mammies and being promised easy life if they accepted their demands.

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum (WEF) this week wrote to Robert Mugabe calling on him to repeal to immediately a punitive "luxury" tax on newspapers that are imported into Zimbabwe. The WAN and WEF said the punitive tax regime was preventing independent newspapers such as The Zimbabwean from reaching their audience.

The tax was imposed in early June in the run-up to the widely condemned presidential election won by Mugabe after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai quit the race in the face of escalating violence against his supporters. The tax aimed at newspapers printed in South Africa such as The Zimbabwean, the Mail and Guardian, and the Sunday Times and is targeted to limit the circulation of the publications.

“Restricting access to information by punitive taxation constitutes a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” the Paris-based WAN and WEF, which represent 18,000 newspapers world-wide, said in a letter to Mugabe.

The two organizations called on Mugabe to remove the illegal luxury tax on foreign publications and to end state intimidation of the independent media. The tax has already led to the suspension of The Zimbabwean on Sunday and the reduction in print run of The Zimbabwean from 200,000 copies a week to 60,000 – greatly diminishing access to information on the part of the majority of Zimbabweans.

In June alone The Zimbabwean was forced to pay SAR500,000 (£37,000) in punitive duties.

Wilf Mbanga

The Zimbabwean

Over the past six months or so I have been talking with about a dozen high-profile mobile companies, IT companies and mobile specialists to gauge interest in a new project, one which builds on the work of Nathan Eagle in East Africa (see http://web.mit.edu/epromfor details). I have also been speaking with a major US Foundation, who have expressed interest in funding the initial scoping phase of the project.

The challenge was this. How do we empower individuals in developing countries to develop and build their own mobile applications? EPROM has already been teaching computer science graduates in a number of East African universities, but how can we scale this initiative, allowing universities in other parts of the developing world to do the same? And with software development largely taking place on desktop computers, how can we empower users to build applications on the phones themselves? And if we could, what would a mobile-based programming environment look like?

Within the next couple of months or so, “mobility” hopes to start exploring these questions. The potential is huge if we can find appropriate, sustainable solutions.

Only 15% of Kenyan tax money goes into the Kenyan Development Budget; a country where 80% of the population is poor by United Nations standards.