While a number of African countries signed interim Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union late last year, African policy makers are coming under increasing pressure from a variety of stakeholders to revoke and annul the interim framework agreements. At the continental level, the International Trade Union Confederation-Africa called “for the nullification of the interim EPAs and for appropriate time to be given for negotiating new trade relations between Africa and Europe that take account of Africa’s genuine needs for development and regional integration”. Similarly, the East African Community (EAC) signed, without parliamentary debate, an interim agreement “ostensibly to avoid disruption of exports to the latter bloc [the EU] following the World Trade Organisation-mandated expiry of the Cotonou pact”. Parliamentarians called this week on Uganda to revoke the partial EPA, said to entrench “unfair treatment” of the five-member EAC which Uganda currently chairs. The ninth ordinary session of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is being held from May 5 - 16, 2008 in South Africa. Included in the programme will be a debate on the EPAs and their impact on integration in Africa as well as a broader debate on the EU-Africa Strategy and the report of the Second EU-Africa Summit.

Meanwhile the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have signed an agreement to establish markets in China and ECOWAS aimed at enhancing trade and investment activities between respective business sectors as the first step towards promoting economic and trade cooperation envisioned under the ECOWAS-China Economic and Trade Forum scheduled for September, 2008. Also in September, the Ghana High Level Forum on aid effectiveness will be held in Accra. A preparatory meeting was held in Kigali, Rwanda, this week, with the aim of creating a unified African “negotiating position to firmly abide with during the upcoming Ghana aid effectiveness summit”. Participants at the workshop in Kigali called on donors to commit to providing aid according to the national priorities of recipient countries.

Cuba and the ECOWAS Commission have agreed to implement a regional programme on renewable energy that will promote energy efficiency. “The programme involves the donation of one million compact fluorescent lamps to match the purchase of a similar number by ECOWAS under a two-phased pilot project”. Further, Cuba is providing an energy consultant to provide technical support and training for the project. In Southern Africa, "energy trading" initiatives between Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states have been established in order to offer more secure and adequate power supplies throughout the region. “This form of trading in energy supplies allows countries to buy and sell surplus power through an ever-widening network of electrical lines and relay substations”, writes Richard Nyamanhindi. “However, if energy trading is going to continue benefiting the region, there is need for a follow-up on international pledges made to finance regional infrastructure projects under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)”.

The African Development Bank will hold its annual meeting seminars under the theme of “Fostering shared Growth: Urbanization, Inequalities and Poverty in Africa” in Mozambique on May 14-15, 2008. The seminars will explore the opportunity provided by urbanization to foster economic growth and to achieve national development. In addition to the ministerial roundtable and the high-level seminars, a seminar will be held on May 12th to exchange experiences of rural finance reform and financial innovation between China and African countries and discuss the role of finance in rural economic development. Meanwhile, as the “Imagining the Future of East Africa” scenarios report is launched in Kigali, Charles Onyango-Obbo determines that unity of the region will be driven in part by new technologies, underscoring two important developments over the last year: the first being the announcement that Rwanda would no longer require work permits for EAC professionals; and the second being the decision by Kenya’s Safaricom to open its initial public offering of stocks to all east Africans.

As the new leadership is sworn in at the African Union Commission (AUC), the Pan-African Parliament will this week debate the report of the audit of the African Union concluded in January 2008, within which many of the recommendations focus on the AUC and are intended to rationalise, strengthen and improve continental integration. The PAP will also consider the reports of its election observer missions to Kenya and Zimbabwe. As the crisis in Zimbabwe continues, civil society participants at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) issued a resolution calling on the Commission to send a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe to investigate alleged abuses of human and peoples’ rights as well as to issue a statement on the “impact of the delay by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) in announcing the results of the presidential election”. The resolution further elaborates minimum requirements that must be adhered to in the event that the two contesting parties agree to hold a second election so as “to contribute to a credible, free and fair election”. Meanwhile a SADC delegation held crisis talks in Harare this week, while foreign ministers from the African Union (AU) discussed the Zimbabwe situation in Arusha, Tanzania. In addition, the new AU chairman Jean Ping met Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission and South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating between the parties under the auspices of SADC this weekend. Prime Minister Raila Odinga of Kenya has stated that “we are going to ask the African Union to be more proactive when dealing with this issue. The fact that elections can be held in an independent country and it takes more than a month for the results to be announced is sad. That is not really how you want to run a democracy. The rest of Africa is silent and this is not good for democracy. We must speak when an injustice is being done”.

We the participants gathered at the Forum on the Participation in the 43rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, held in Ezulwini, Kingdom of Swaziland, from 3-5 May 2008:

Mindful of the important progress made by the African Union through its adoption in 2002 of the Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa which provides therein that "the holding of democratic elections is an important dimension in conflict prevention, management and resolution";...

It’s been a while since I have written a roundup for Pambazuka News and after browsing through the last couple of months I notice there has been an absence of news on what is happening at grassroots level in Africa and the Diaspora so I have focused on activist blogs or blogs posting on local community issues.

Shackdwellers
– Housing Struggles Worldwide

I’ll start with two new blogs from the South African housing / land rights movement. First up is Shackdwellers. Although Housing struggles worldwide is an aggregator of posts from on housing struggles worldwide and other related social movements, it is based in South Africa and supports three African campaigns: The Abahlali baseMjondolo [SouthAfrica], Ota Benga Alliance [DRC] and the campaign to reinstate Fazel Khan who was fired by the university of KwaZulu Natal for being critical of the university.

The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
http://westerncapeantieviction.wordpress.com

The AEC is an umbrella body for some 15 communities in the Western Cape who are fighting evictions through the legal process and direct action and mass mobilisation and education.
This week AEC highlights the negative impact of the 2010 World Cup on the poor particularly in the area of housing via an article in Le Monde Diplomatique by Philippe Rivière [http://mondediplo.com/2008/05/13southafrica]
“South Africa will host the World Cup in 2010 so construction – and corruption – is booming. But almost none of the building or the money can be accessed by the poor who live in shantytowns without proper water, sanitation or electricity.”

Africa Rise
http://unitedafrica.blogspot.com/2008/05/haiti-community-driven-development.html

Africa Rise reports on a grassroots initiative in Haiti to provide water and roads to a local community.
“The water project in Carice is one example of how communities in Haiti are deciding their own priorities. Other communities have chosen different activities, ranging from soil conservation to building a fruit processing center, buying a plough, or building a community school.”

Sokwanele
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/

Sokwanele continue provide the most up to date news of the continuing oppression, violence and election crisis in Zimbabwe. They have created a series of maps on the election results which includes documenting violence by Mugabe’s supporters. Their most recent post shows how the violence has escalated since the elections nearly 4 weeks ago.
“Last night we received unconfirmed reports that eight people were executed in Shamva. Their bodies are in the morgue, but their names are still unknown.
A little after this report came in we heard that ten people were killed in Mazoe, not Shamva. There is some confusion about whether eighteen people have been killed, or whether it is ten. Some of the confusion may stem from the fact that Mazoe is on the road to Shamva.”

Black Looks http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/05/eudy_simelane_another_lesbian_raped_and_murdered.html

Black Looks reports on yet another vicious rape and murder of a South African Lesbian, Eudy Simelane. Unlike other recent cases, five suspects have been arrested and denied bail. They remain in custody until the trial.
“Violence against lesbians and gays is unSouth African. Here, oppression and discrimination have no place, still there are parents who reject or kick children out to the streets; siblings, friends and communities who hurt, beat, rape, torture and even kill lesbians and gays. If they survive all this, they face further victimisation at in the hands of the police and even the courts THIS IS NOT JUSTICE AT ALL. People who inflict harm upon and even kill lesbians and gays (or anyone else) do not belong in South Africa. Leaders and communities that do not oppose violence against gays, lesbians, women, children, rape survivors and HIV+ people do not belong here.”

* Sokari Ekine blogs at www.blacklooks.org

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

I love your news articles [The Complexities of Zimbabwe; They are very fairly written and balanced. Please continue the good work.
alubsey

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/368/47874congo.jpgWithin the context of an elusive peace in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and an ongoing assault by the government against the fundamental rights of the people of the Lower Congo Region, it has come to our attention that Professor Ernest Wamba dia Wamba and the Honorable Deputy Kiakwama have been targeted for assassination.

Both individuals have been actively defending the rights of the people of the Lower Congo to express themselves freely. They, like many other Congolese from other regions of the country, have condemned the wanton violence of government police forces against members of the Bundu dia Kongo (BdK), a movement for the cultural and spiritual emancipation of the Congo people. They have condemned the manner in which, since February 2008, brutal repression has led to the deaths of innocent people, including infants and older people. BdK is working to find a way for all sides to come together, so that a healing process can be initiated.

Ota Benga Alliance for Peace, Healing and Dignity calls on the DRC government to protect Wamba dia Wamba and Deputy Kiakwama from threatened assassinations.

If the information regarding the threats against the lives of Professor Wamba dia Wamba and Deputy Kiakwama is correct, we call on all those in the government who are directly and indirectly responsible for the maintenance of safety and peace for all Congolese citizens to do everything in their power to prevent the execution of such a plan.

Should the above threat against the lives of Prof Ernest Wamba dia Wamba and Honorable Kiakwama take place, we shall hold the government of the DRC responsible and accountable, and do all that is necessary to ensure that the institutions and/or individuals are brought to justice.

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

www.pambazuka.org

This article [Complexities of Zimbabwe, is right on the money. Yes, it highlights, 'the various competing interests in Zimbabwe, the MDC, Zanu-PF, Mugabe and the West in relation to what the Zimbabweans are hoping to get out of democracy'. The core of the matter is ‘what is in it for the people of Zimbabwe?' I pray for the people of Zimbabwe to be rescued from all those devouring animals. Let the world know that there are those despots and their cronies who seek not just power but use that power to subdue, intimidate, beat/ torture/ abuse and kill their own people – our brothers and sisters in many parts of Africa: Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan … People PRAY! Do not be prey.

Reading this brought back many painful memories. When will it ever stop?

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/368/47866zim.jpgIn this plea, Maxwell V Madzikanga argues that Zimbabwe belongs to the many ‘courageous daughters and sons of Zimbabwe who in their prime paid the ultimate price in the inaugural Chinhoyi battle, in Tanzania, Nyadzonya, Chimoio and Tembwe, and across the breadth of Zimbabwe during the war for liberation.’

I read about the situation in Zimbabwe and saw images of what is happening there in the 23 April edition of the Zimbabwean newspaper. l cannot continue to betray my country by keeping silent on the need for total respect of human rights and human dignity in Zimbabwe. The reports and pictures show the extent of the shocking degradation of our humanity as peace-loving and civilised Zimbabweans. I feel that this enjoins me to visit a number of historical and current issues relating to the situation in Zimbabwe.

The UN must intervene immediately and comprehensively in Zimbabwe rather than holding meetings as if everything is okay. It does not help for the UN and world leaders to sit around gold-plated tables and diamond-coated chairs, sipping wine and salivating for and savouring fat cheques of per diem allowances while Zimbabwe goes up in smoke, burning the dried remnants of humanity. Hiding behind diplomatic nuances does not help either; the situation in Zimbabwe is a crisis of unimaginable proportions. The position taken by President Thabo Mbeki is very disheartening. The call that he step down as mediator in the crisis is valid. President Mbeki has let Zimbabweans down over the last two years of ‘quiet diplomacy’. I am, however, quite encouraged by the mature and courageous (albeit unpopular) comments made by the ANC President, Jacob Zuma. These are words for progress and for the future, not just for South Africa but for Zimbabwe, SADC and Africa as a whole.

Zimbabwe does not and will never belong to Morgan Tsvangirai; Robert Mugabe will never own Zimbabwe’s title deeds. This sacrosanct country belongs to our forefathers, to ourselves, and to future generations. Our forefathers had a deep respect for human rights that is reflected in our culture, traditions and customs. They worshipped the sanctity of human life and dignity in every aspect of our society. They were noble people who understood that leadership is not a lifetime calling but a duty and responsibility that had to be cherished and perfected for passing on to subsequent generations. So why are our current leaders refusing to acknowledge this, and to play their part in upholding our age-old democracy in Zimbabwe?

Zimbabwe belongs to those many fine and courageous daughters and sons of Zimbabwe who in their prime paid the ultimate price in the inaugural Chinhoyi battle, in Tanzania, Nyadzonya, Chimoio and Tembwe, and across the breadth of Zimbabwe during the war for liberation, majority rule and human rights. Zimbabwe belongs to all of us Zimbabweans. It is our duty to uphold values of life and dignity and responsible leadership for our generation and for generations to come. None of us owns these values. We are custodians and conduits for the evolution of the history of our people from the last to the next generation.

There is no justification for inflicting the amount of fear, pain, and injury on innocent women, men, grandmothers, grandfathers, girls and boys that has been witnessed in Chiwundura, Musana, Murehwa or Zvimba communal areas simply because they voted for MDC or Zanu-PF. Every Zimbabwean who has attained the age of suffrage has the constitutional right and freedom to select representatives and leaders of their preference without fear of reprisal whether before, during or after the election process. Zimbabwe belongs to the many invisible millions who should exercise their right to vote freely and to live dignified lives. Unfortunately our leaders do not see this, beyond political rhetoric.

The leadership in SADC in general has been a great disappointment. Despite isolated utterances, very little has come by way of tangible action, making all the regional initiatives ineffective. There is a clear need for more action, openness and courage from SADC, otherwise Zimbabwe will continue to bleed socially and economically – but not because Gordon Brown is tightening his grip on Zimbabwe. Harare is burning because we have turned against each other, torched our beautiful home, maimed innocent villagers and killed for no justifiable cause. We have turned Zimbabwe into a land of mourning, fear and uncertainty where painful, unnecessary and undignified death has become an ever-attendant reality.

Torture in all its forms is an abomination to human existence, whether perpetrated by the military, war veterans, Zanu-PF or MDC. A day of reckoning will come when all human rights violators will be called to account. Running to the east or flying to the west will not help. Going down into the abyss will not save the perpetrators from inevitable justice. This resonates with Zimbabwe’s culture, traditions, and beliefs, according to which no crime can be concealed forever, the truth will always out, and justice will be served. Zimbabweans are intricately bound by blood, tradition, ethos, totem, region, history and race. To decimate such a rich and strong heritage is an unforgivable crime; it is anti-Zimbabwe. Our children should be able to admire and be proud of the beauty of our land. Every citizen should be able to cross the breadth and explore the depth of our beautiful country without fearing the cruelty and harm now associated with the darkness. Zimbabwe’s youth should be able to hold hands in the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood and enjoy bright prospects for their future.

Zimbabwe’s schools need to function again and achieve the high standards and reputation that they are capable of attaining and so richly deserve. The health system needs to be rejuvenated to deliver effective, equitable and sustainable services for all citizens in urban and rural areas. The clergy and worshippers of all persuasions should be able to worship in genuine peace and security. The army, police and other security agencies should carry out their roles professionally and impartially. One should be able to stand under and salute the Zimbabwean flag in the full knowledge and confidence that it represents the sovereignty of the country, and that all our political leaders respect and value this sovereignty and conduct their duties with integrity. Our economy should be resuscitated so that prosperity starts flowing through its arteries and veins again. Our rivers should flow with freedom and life. That to me is what our people are asking for from their political leaders, not the violence and abuse of human rights that resulted from the March elections.

I cannot underscore the importance and significance of breathing life back into all spheres of Zimbabwean society, a society l love and am attached to so deeply. My father was tortured for a long period during the liberation struggle. As he lies in his grave, I wonder what he makes of the Zimbabwe of today. I guess one question he would ask is whether it was worth his suffering for the liberation of the country. Josiah Magama Tongogara, the late freedom fighter, famously implored the liberation military wings to return home and rebuild Zimbabwe when the war was won. What happened to the liberation slogan ‘we are our own liberators’ that we chanted from an early age? Do our leaders now want us to be liberated from ourselves? We must always cherish our liberation from oppression and tyranny.

I write with passion because the situation in Zimbabwe tortures me and l cannot remain silent. Nor can I be silenced. Our leadership has made glaring mistakes and continues to act as if they own our people, as if only they can and will determine our people’s destiny. They continue to transact hatred and hate speech. They continue to grandstand, whether from the safety of exile or of government.

We need a new Zimbabwe: a Zimbabwe that upholds basic and fundamental human rights, a Zimbabwe that reflects on its past and present experiences with wise counsel, a Zimbabwe that breathes life into the future, a Zimbabwe that values the life and dignity of the poor, impoverished and marginalised members of its society.

Zimbabwe deserves a visionary leadership that carries out its role of national stewardship – a leadership that can swallow its pride and say, ‘Morgan, you are my brother. I know we have fought for supremacy in the past, but our people are bleeding. For their sake let us sit together at the table of brotherhood and plan for the future of our beloved country.’ A leadership that can swallow its pride and hatred and say, ‘Robert, you are my brother. I know we have fought viciously and bitterly for dominance and caused suffering to our people because we neglected our responsibilities as leaders. Let us sit down as brothers, put our differences in the past and create a legacy for future generations – a legacy for them to cherish and be proud of, a legacy that will make our country a great nation again.’ Zimbabwe deserves a leadership that acts with humility, courage, honesty and wisdom – a leadership that is God-fearing and peace-loving and that identifies with the suffering, wounded and dying. Are our leaders suggesting that these values are beyond them?

We all love our beautiful country. Let us all play our part in accepting the mistakes we have made and start rebuilding the ruins. We must negotiate with sincerity, persuade honestly, pray humbly, advocate with conviction, live our daily lives with integrity and honour and treat our sisters and brothers with fairness and compassion. If we don’t, there will be a Zimbabwe that we will neither be proud to talk about nor identify with. Let us remember that this is not about Thabo Mbeki declaring that Zimbabwe is crisis-free, or Levy Mwanawasa, Kofi Annan and Gordon Brown declaring that the crisis exists. It is about Zimbabweans, with the support of the international community, standing up and saying that the current Zimbabwe is not what we as Zimbabweans want or yearn for – that we as Zimbabweans long for a genuinely free, peaceful and prosperous Zimbabwe where all its citizens are respected and can live in dignity.

I would like to end by calling on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to execute its mandate fully and impartially. Sooner or later the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission will be called to collective and individual account for the deeds it has done. It is not too late to avert total erosion of the trust placed in this august body by the people of Zimbabwe.

In conclusion, let us not tire in seeking justice, freedom and prosperity for our country, and in seeking to serve our country with commitment and integrity. Zimbabwe belongs to the dead and the living, to you and to me, but more importantly to the ‘invisibles’ among us and to posterity.

*Maxwell V Madzikanga is a senior HIV/AIDS and human rights researcher at the Human Rights Centre, Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom.

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

Civil society organisations call upon the membership of the United Nations to encourage the building of development partnerships that increase the volume and maximize the poverty reduction impact of the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA).

For the second year in a row, global ODA figures have fallen, and very few countries have met the target of 0.7% of GNP. Most donors have not made the substantial increases in ODA required to meet the Millennium Development Goals and the commitments from the Monterrey consensus. Much of the recent ODA has been due to debt relief, and to a lesser extent to emergency assistance and administrative costs of donors. In real terms, debt relief alone explains almost 70 percent of ODA between 2004 and 2005. ODA towards core development programs continue to remain subdued.

At the same time there is little progress towards the availing of long-term resources to the international financial system, coupled with democratic reform of the international financial institutions to ensure development effectiveness and increased resource flows to regional and sub - regional institutions and funds. These reforms and increased flows are needed to allow the regional and sub - regional institutions and funds to adequately support sustained economic and social development, technical assistance for capacity-building, and social and environmental protection schemes.

Improvements in aid effectiveness have been patchy and piecemeal both at the global and national levels. At the global level, there continues to be little effort to build mechanisms that enhance the overall effectiveness of national institutions, through increased country ownership, operations that raise productivity and yield measurable results in reducing poverty and inequality, and closer coordination with donors and the private sector. In the same vain unreformed supply-driven technical assistance is continuing to favour policy conditionality and undermine ownership.

Civil society organisations therefore call upon the membership of the United Nations to encourage the building of development partnerships that increase the volume and maximize the poverty reduction impact of ODA.

In particular we call upon donor and recipient countries to:

1. Intensify their efforts to enable effective partnerships among donors and country recipients, based on the recognition of national leadership and ownership by developing countries. The outcome document of the Doha conference should include a commitment to end all donor-imposed policy conditions. It should recognise that such conditions undermine democratic ownership.

2. Commit to give aid to eradicate poverty and inequalities and to promote human rights, gender equality, full employment and decent work and environmental sustainability as central development goals. The outcome of the Doha conference should interpret the terms of national country ownership as democratic ownership and elaborate on its implications in the context of countries' obligations to international Human Rights law, core labour standards, and international commitments on gender equality and sustainable development.

3. Commit to end the practice of using aid for their own foreign and economic policy interests and priorities, and military interventions. In addition, an effective and transparent international mechanism must urgently be put in place to improve aid allocation so it goes to those most in need.

4. Untie technical assistance from the disbursement of aid and reform technical assistance to be aligned to national strategies, which respond to national priorities and build capacity. The right of recipient countries to contract according to their needs should be respected. More effective South-South forms of technical assistance should also be promoted.

5. Commit to the highest standards of openness and transparency. This should include: timely and meaningful dissemination of information, particularly during aid negotiations and about aid disbursements; and the adoption of a policy for automatic and full disclosure of relevant information, in languages and forms that are appropriate to concerned stakeholders, with a strictly limited regime of exceptions. Southern governments must work with elected representatives and citizens’ organisations to set out open and transparent policies on how aid is to be sourced, spent, monitored and accounted for. This requires that government ministers and officials are accountable to their citizens, with effective mechanisms of answerability and enforceability, based on improved transparency of information

6. Mutually agreed transparent and binding contracts to govern aid relationships would make partnerships more effective. Aid terms must be fairly and transparently negotiated with participation from and accountability to people living in poverty and inequality. Donors and recipient governments should agree to base future aid relationships on transparent and binding agreements including clear commitments by donors on aid volumes and quality,

7. Develop multi-stakeholder mechanisms for holding governments to account for the use of aid in both partner and donor countries. The mechanisms should be open, transparent and structured, with room for citizens to hold their governments to account in their respective constituencies. As a universal and multilateral institution the UN, through a considerably strengthened ECOSOC Development Cooperation Forum should become a multi-stakeholder for democratic involvement in the design and monitoring of conceptual and operational aspects of the emerging aid architecture.

8. Adhere to the 2001 OECD/DAC agreement on untying aid to developing countries. Very little progress has been made in enhancing this mechanism. Donors should commit to expanding the agreement on untying aid to all countries and all aid modalities (including food aid and technical assistance).

9. Make disbursement of aid more predictable by freeing up administrative blockages at donor headquarters and agree to multi-year, predictable and guaranteed aid commitments based on clear and transparent criteria.

10. Reform the way aid is monitored to improve targeting, coordination and measurement of its impact. An independent monitoring and evaluation system for aid and its impact on development outcomes should be created at international, national and local levels. At the international level, new independent institutions will be needed to play this role, in order to hold donors to account for their overall performance. At the national and local levels monitoring and evaluation should involve a range of stakeholders – including CSOs, women’s organizations and trade unions. Monitoring and evaluation should also take much more account of the links between reforms in aid modalities and development outcomes and progress towards respect for human rights, core labour standards and gender equality.

11. Establish an equitable multilateral governance system for ODA in which to negotiate future agreements on the reform of aid. This should have clear and transparent negotiating mechanisms, equitable representation of donors and recipients, and openness to civil society.

12. Put the issue of international taxation for development, including the Currency Transaction Tax on the Doha Conference agenda. The outcome of the Conference should contain an agreement to introduce a Currency Transaction Tax or a Currency Transaction Development Levy at a low rate to gain experience in its implementation.

13. Donor and developing country governments must ensure direct funding and establish clear mechanisms for the participation of civil society, including trade unions, women’s rights organizations, in all the national development planning processes and aid planning, programming, management, monitoring and evaluation.

The World Bank and other regional development banks play a crucial role in channelling development finance to poor countries and setting the framework in which development aid is delivered. Thus, their development policies have a strong impact on other bilateral donors’ financial flows. Their initiatives towards greater democratic governance with voice and vote for developing counties should remain firmly on track, and development finance channelled through these institutions should fully respect the above-mentioned principles of aid effectiveness, with a particular emphasis on country ownership and leadership over national development strategies.

In this regard, it is of utmost importance that multilateral development banks put an end to their use of economic policy conditionality and systematically make ex-ante assessments of their development finance (such as Poverty and Social and Employment Impact Analysis). The World Bank, the IMF and other regional development banks should instead seek to promote local knowledge and capacities in their role of providers of policy advice and technical assistance.

*Organisations: AFRODAD EURODAD; UBUNTU Forum secretariat; New Rules Coalition; International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation

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

Thanks for the excellent piece [The Complexities of Zimbabwe, by Chido with which I am very much in agreement. Perhaps there is one small element not addressed though in the line up of the players. Whilst of course there is massive Western (and indeed African) leaders' hypocrisy in relation to Zimbabwe, there is also a strong element of Western (Northern?) civil society that is often conflated by outsiders into an undifferentiated 'West'. Although solidarity and anti-imperialism have been massively undermined, it is entirely consistent to be anti the Iraq war as well as the excesses of Mugabe etc - as indeed Pambazuka testifies. Indeed it seems only correct to be opposed to both neo-liberalism and authoritarian economic nationalism - which seem the different sides of the same coin

A luta continua.

At the end of October 2007 in Madrid, Spanish President Zapatero promised 0.7% of GDP towards development aid during some workshops promoted by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and presided over by Queen Sofía. As he did so, a boy we can call Miguel, ill with AIDS in Equatorial Guinea, was dying in his mother's arms in the hospital of Malabo the country's capital. His doctors administered an extract from tree bark instead of the internationally recognized treatment, anti-retrovirals.

Thousands of Kenyans who dropped out of HIV treatment programmes in January as a result of the country's post-election violence are gradually returning to clinics and the antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that help prolong their lives.

Teachers have become the latest targets in Zimbabwe's post-election violence, in which abductions, intimidation and beatings have already left two dead. "We have received bad news. As we speak, two teachers have been killed - beaten to death," Wellington Chibebe, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, told a gathering of workers in Harare, the capital, on 1 May.

The former governor of Nigeria's Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has challenged the fraud and money-laundering charges brought against him by the anti-graft commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC]. The anti-graft agency has filed a 51-count suit against the former Ekiti governor at the Federal High Court in Lagos.

Morgan Tsvangirai has emerged on top of the presidential elections, polling 47.9% of the vote against President Robert Mugabe's 43.2%, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has confirmed on Friday. Former Finance Minister and former key figure of Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party, Simba Makoni, ranked third. Makoni, who is widely expected to back Mr Tsvangirai in the election re-run, polled 8.3% of the votes.

Nigeria's supreme court has begun hearing an appeal by opposition leaders against the victory of Umaru Yar'Adua, the country's president, in last year's elections.
Atiku Abubakar and Mohammadu Buhari, two opposition candidates, have asked the court to overturn a lower court ruling that upheld Yar'Adua's victory in the April 2007 vote.

The United Nations agency tasked with tackling rural poverty announced today that it will help finance a new knowledge network connecting development partners in sub-Saharan Africa. The Executive Board of the UN International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD) approved a grant to create FIDAfrique-IFADAfrica, which will link existing networks in Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa.

The Security Council has extended until 30 April 2009 the mandate of the United Nations mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO), tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between Morocco and the Frente Polisario and organizing a referendum on self-determination. In a unanimously adopted resolution, the Council called on the parties to enter into “a more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations” to resolve their long-running dispute.

U.N. agencies and the World Bank have pledged to set up a task force to tackle an unprecedented rise in global food prices that is threatening to spread social unrest. The international bodies called on countries not to restrict exports of food to secure supplies at home, warning that could make the problem worse.

EU trade deals are unfair to developing countries and can lead to increased poverty warns a new report, ‘Raw Deal’, released today by the World Development Movement. According to the report the benefits of signing a free trade deal with the EU sit firmly with European businesses, rather than developing countries. The launch coincides with the UN conference on trade and development (UNCTAD), held in Accra, Ghana (commences 21 April).