The prospects for a peaceful resolution to the deepening political impasse between Anjouan, one of three semi-autonomous islands that make up the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros, and the Union government, are becoming ever less likely.
Individual island elections in June reignited hostility between Anjouan and the other two islands in the group, Grande Comore and Moheli. Anjouan forces had killed two national soldiers trying to enforce a constitutional court decision ordering Mohamed Bacar to step down as Anjouan's president.

Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is in trouble: already split into feuding factions, it now risks being deserted by its key allies ahead of next year's elections. Labour movement and civil society groups are concerned over the 'compromises' the MDC has made in low-key talks with the ruling ZANU-PF party, and a growing intolerance within the opposition party, underlined by reports of intimidation and violence against members, analysts say.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission has set up a listserve to enable information to be circulated as part of the mobilisation for the Mau Mau Reparations campaign.

The Nature of the Mau Mau Claim

The Kenya Land and Freedom Army (Mau Mau) claim relates to torture, cruel and degrading treatment of detainees perpetrated by the Kenyan Colonial Government during the State of Emergency (1952-60). It is a tortious claim based on negligence and will be instituted in the British High Court. The claimants are seeking compensation for personal injuries sustained while in detention camps of the Kenya Colonial Government which operated under the authority of Her Majesty’s Government (HMG). The proposed claims are based on the tort of negligence. It is alleged that HMG is liable not only because of actions of the Kenyan Colonial Government but for its failure to take any or adequate steps to prevent the widespread use of torture that it knew was being perpetrated in its name.

Campaign Objectives

The campaign seeks to:

1. Institute proceedings against the HMG in the British High Court with a view to achieve a ruling compelling HMG to pay reparations to Mau Mau torture survivors;
2. Build local and global awareness on the Mau Mau claim for reparations;
3. Energize ongoing efforts for recognition of Kenyan heroes and heroines;
4. Implant the tools for comprehensive transitional justice in Kenya.

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It's interesting to see the issue of remittances aired, at last . There was an issue about the huge movement of capital from developing countries to, usually rich people and organisations, rather than other countries, in the New Internationalist in the last couple of years.

But it is infuriating to hear the same unanalysed rubbish about charity, aid, development and similar by rich countries, when they are being grotesquely enriched at the expense of the poorest and most vulnerable. Hope to hear more about this.

To an extent, Ireland benefited from remittances, called 'invisible income', for many decades. But over the colonial period, massive amounts of capital and goods were extracted from the country, often to pay for its repression. I believe things have changed recently but it's hard to know.

After intense protests and controversy over the trade partnership agreement between the European Union and Africa Caribbean and Pacific countries, Ghana government decided to sign what is referred to as an interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)with the European Commission. The trade deal, which made Ghana the second after Cote d’Ivoire, would immediately eliminate tariffs on virtually all of the country’s exports to Europe and on 80% of imports from Europe over 15 years.

Sierra Leone's new president has asked the country's anti-corruption body to probe ex-government ministers and other senior officials for alleged graft. Ernest Bai Koroma said this would set an example by making all accountable. He made the announcement after being presented with an audit into the state of corruption in Sierra Leone.

In contrast to the 1970s and 1980s, the last decade has spelt a period of steady growth across Africa, partly as a result of global market conditions (high prices for oil and minerals) and partly due a change in macroeconomic policies. However, political volatility remains a risk to investment, says this latest report from the World Bank.

This week the AU Monitor announces an internship opportunity for young African journalism professionals to report from the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2008. Journalists will be given training on the African Union and will be expected to produce daily reports from the summit meetings, amongst other duties. For more information please visit:

The Monitor also launches its Monthly Discussion Paper series this week, with Professor Mammo Muchie examining the necessity for a Pan-African monetary union. The series is intended to promote discussion, debate, and sharing among the community of citizens and civil society across Africa committed to the ideals of pan-Africanism and a people-driven union. Please visit: www.pambazuka.org/forums/viewforum/2/

This week's AU Monitor brings you news and updates from the African Union. AU Commissioner for Social Affairs Bience Gawanas calls for a collective effort in addressing drug trafficking and related crimes, referring to them as "human security and development issues that should be addressed if the AU was to achieve its objectives". Further, the One World Trust has profiled the African Union in its Global Accountability Report, with findings based on public information.

In other AU news, Mrs Julia Dolly Joiner, Commissioner for Political Affairs of the African Union Commission, delivers a message to commemorate the 59th annual International Human Rights Day.

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the Spanish Government are calling for proposals under the NEPAD-Spanish Fund, an initiative intended to "empower African women by unlocking their economic potential, fight poverty and close gender gaps".

African Leaders who gathered at the recent Africa-EU Summit in Lisbon, Portugal have stated that their aim for building ties with Europe is not to seek charity but to increase Africa's role in the global economy and build a partnership based on common interest and mutual respect. At the Summit's opening session, AU Chairman Alpha Konare stated "Africa doesn't want charity or paternalism. We don't want anyone doing things for us. We want to play in the global economy, but with new rules." In other Summit news, African Heads of State refused to accept the EU's proposed economic partnership agreements (EPA) , instead agreeing to interim trade agreements until an alternative is devised. Finally, members of both Parliaments expressed 'surprise and disappointment' that Darfur was not on the agenda for the Summit attended by Heads of States. The legislators and campaigners urge leaders to make the protection of civilians from conflict a top priority of an African-EU cooperation.

In regional news, the Zambezi Basinwide Stakeholders Forum concluded that local communities should be given more possibilities to participate in the decision-making processes regarding natural resources such as water. Further, The South African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal is set to deliver judgment of a pivotal case in which a white Zimbabwean commercial farmer is challenging the legality of the country's land reform program.

In peace and security news, a recent conference on human security and armed violence reduction in Africa was convened in South Africa in order to "examine Africa's research capability in the context of increasing global security challenges". At the close of the conference, participants called on the AU to spearhead the use of research into policy formulation at all levels. Further, a group of elder world leaders have joined together to offer their insight and wisdom on global challenges. Reporting from Darfur, the group of elders compiled a list of recommendations to ensure peace and an immediate ceasefire in the region.

In other peace and security news, the deployment of the EU Force (EUFOR) to protect aid workers and civilians in Chad and the Central African Republic has been placed on hold, due to disagreements between EU countries.

Finally, Festus Aboagye analyzes reasons behind the Western world's push for African 'home-grown' peacekeeping, suggesting that the West mobilizes resources for conflicts when it serves its interests most. Aboagye adds that "the 'real' reason why the West has not been able to participate directly in regional peacekeeping is because of commitments towards the war on terror."

Cameroon's parliament has authorised the president to sign an interim trade deal with the European Union, joining a growing number of poor nations inking 11th-hour accords before preferential trade terms expire. The EU is rushing to strike basic interim deals with the comparatively better off former colonies to avoid disruption to their goods exports when preferential terms expire on Dec. 31.

The SADC sponsored mediation talks led by South African President Thabo Mbeki are far from over, a highly placed source told Newsreel on Wednesday. He said: ‘It is not true that the talks have ended. Only when President Mbeki says the talks have ended will they genuinely be over.’

The world is set to take a giant leap towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide in a crucial UN vote. The UN vote is expected to endorse a decision to establish a moratorium (a suspension) on executions worldwide. It is anticipated to take place on the morning of 18 December, at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

A prominent New York Times article describes how Malawi went from food aid recipient to regional food provider in just two years after re-introducing fertilizer subsidies for its low-income farmers. The move contravened years of policy guidance from the World Bank and IMF, which warn against such distortions of the “free market.”

Last week, the Financial Times published an article on the World Bank's errors in its forest operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and allegations of support for illegal logging in the country by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Just two days later, the IFC announced it would sell its stake in Olam International Ltd., the Singaporean commodity trading company accused of "environmental malpractice" in the world's second largest rainforest.

Access to education, security, smooth roads, free media and affordable health are among the demands Kenyan voters have of their political candidates. Other demands are respect and protection of peoples' rights to actively participate in governance, the right to vote in members to local committees and determine which projects are prioritised. All these and more constitute the manifesto launched by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) dubbed, "National People's Manifesto, From Party Promises to People's Demands".

Ramesh Shah looks at the evolution of political discourse in Tanzania

Recently, Mr. Kabwe Zitto of opposition party Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA) faced a four month suspension in the Tanzanian Parliament. The opposition expressed disappointment on suspension of Mr. Zitto as a move by CCM legislators to conceal the “Truth”. The issue was very simple. It was regarding the Buzwadi mining contract between the present Tanzanian government and Barrick Gold Corporations in London. The opposition believed that by blocking Zitto’s motion, the government failed to show the transparency.

On the other hand, Mr. Zitto believed that he had an obligation to “defend the Nation’s resources in the interest of “Wananchi””. Perhaps, President Kikwete saw some truth, perhaps he was honest, perhaps he wants to use the best people and their ideas to lead the nation through the maze of globalization: Whatever the case may be, he made Zitto one of the members of inquiry into mining contract. But then came another surprise. In one of the newspapers, it was reported that the Karatu legislator, Wilbrod Slaa also wanted to disclose secrets on Bank of Tanzania when he felt that the Government would also block his private motion in the Parliament. It was interesting to see the first page of this paper. The top headline was about Mr. Slaa’s remarks regarding suspicion of corruption in the Bank of Tanzania. The lower headline was about the Vice President Mr. Shein asking people to avoid luxuries and invest at home. This showed nothing much except that in the process of fighting extreme poverty in the mineral rich Tanzania, the time had come and some people had risen to ask for greater transparency.

People are asking for more than parliamentary democracy. They are taking a closer look at the parliamentary laws and rules and asking how and for whom they work. Could all this be connected to another problem? Recently, Mr. Warioba said that it was high time that Tanzania had a Constitution that separates the legislative and executives arms. Mr. Masekwa also said that there was a need to amend the Constitution in order to avoid any situation whereby the executive could simply muzzle the parliament.

Tanzania still has to solve many other problems arising recently. The new Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act [2007] is expected to protect the PCB, journalists, and the public in fighting graft. But actually the media will be prevented from independent investigations from the PCB. Yet today’s crime in the world is such that it needs simultaneous investigations from all sides. In India, media plays a major role in the investigations and show their progress to the people on their media channels. Kenya also has similar problem in a Media Bill where it is legally mandatory for media to reveal its source of information in the court. If this Bill becomes effective, no one will give information to the media. Law Society of Kenya [LSK] has promised to go to court to stop this Bill.

A few months ago, some university student leaders were not allowed to continue their studies. I ask myself, when do “leaders” become “ring-leaders” in our country? When I was a student at this university, I always saw our leaders as “leaders”. My point is not on whether Mr. Zitto or the students were right or wrong. When Tanzania wanted to go democratic, the first thing CCM did was to propose the multi-party approach. It was the CCM that was to lead us into democracy. The second thing it tried to do was make the democracy more vibrant and asked the opposition to become more active. At this stage, Mr. Zitto was not an individual but he represented a trend of thought. He was not one but many. He was part of a new trend now emerging in all developing countries. He was not opposing as a party, but just trying to set up a new trend of transparency. Like many academics, and citizens, I have been dreaming of effective arguments and transparency. I did not look at our parliament as a “party” but as a “nation”. ??

When I was a student of economics at the university, I read a book called “Four Essays on Philosophy” by Chairman Mao. One of the essays was on “Contradiction”. When there is a major contradiction, we come to-gather as nation and try to solve it. This is when we fought for and achieved our independence. Then a new minor contradiction arose, and this was party politics. Since then, we have been struggling between different major [national] and minor [party] and still minor [individual] contradictions. Mr. Zitto’s approach showed a major [national] contradiction but many understood it as a minor contradiction, and he was suspended!!! It would have been a plus for the CCM members to respect Mr. Zitto's move if we agree that the CCM wants to increase the level of democracy and transparency. Democracy and transparency cannot be strengthened by merely setting up more human rights institutions, but rather by the people rising to make the use of them. Mr. Zitto may have done exactly that. ??

Amartya Sen has written a book on “identity”. In it he raises the question of how we identify our-selves. Do I identify myself as a national, or CCM, or as an individual, or as a Hindu, or as a socialist or as a capitalist or as a fan of a particular politician? What we are going to do depends on how we identify ourselves. Very often, issues of national interest may conflict with the party interest or religious interest and vice-versa. An issue of national interest may not resonate for the individual or the party. ??If we are to introduce the philosophy of a “majority” decision then it means that the majority can impose their decisions. Nowhere in the world or in history, is it ever said that the majority is always right. Majority is just numerical superiority.

Similarly, the minority is not always wrong, and yet she may loose her view due to the numerical strength of the “majority”. Very often, the law may contradict justice, and that is why we often call upon our nation to be just and not just legal. Laws emerge from the bills that are passed in parliament. A bill is drafted by the national legal persons and passed by the parliament. A Bill will not be just if drafted in the interest of a small influential group. Most of the third world was colonized some time ago.

The colonial “masters” used all sorts of unjust laws, fears, force and techniques to justify colonization. When we became independent, we inherited similar structure, and we also continued playing the same game towards our own people. The events following 1789 in revolutionary France were nothing but terror followed by Directorate and the Consulate. All this may suggest that the old oppression had merely been replaced by the new kind. For many philosophers, the aftermath only reinforced that a man’s true nature was as savage as it was wicked and vengeful. In this way, the social revolution got out of hand because many people wanted liberty before order, while others wanted to put order before liberty.

We should always ask, what is the best order to maximize liberty? If we talk of evil, then we may be talking about religion. The issue of evil troubled Plato greatly. If we use Leibniz’s idiom, God has made the best of all possible worlds. Among the many goods, He gave us, the good of freedom. He may not have liked the world without freedom, because the freedom itself is a necessary part of goodness. But freedom cannot exist without the possibility of abuse. The evil entered the world through our abuse of freedom. Beyond this, nothing else is evil. Some people think that evil itself is the necessary part of the global beauty in the same way the catastrophe is part of the beauty of a tragedy. ??I give regular lectures on Ethics at the University. At one time, while all good ethics may also contain good laws, not all laws absorb ethics. But today many laws are in contradiction to ethics. ??Then we end up with the use of power. When our thought is joined to will, we call it power; this means that if one has got power, one must manifest it to action.

The accumulation of power is likewise as important as its diffusion. An ounce of practice is worth more that a ton of theory. Talking is neither politics nor religion, parrots may talk, and machines may also talk. Each nation, each leader has a mission for the world. There is no power higher then power of purity. ?

* Dr Ramesh Shah is an Economics and Export Consultant and has given lectures on Ethics at the University of Dar-es-Salaam

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

Jesús Chucho García calls for a greater recognition of Afro-Venezuelans in the country's constitution.

Afro-Venezuelans are not satisfied with how they are recognized in the constitution:An open letter to members of the national assembly

Esteemed members of the National Assembly,

Last Tuesday, you began to discuss the Constitutional Reform article by article. Days beforehand, Social Communicator Modesto Ruiz, an Afro-Venezuelan member from Barlovento, had expressed the feelings of the Afro-Venezuelan movement as none other had done in the constitutional history of Venezuela. It wasn’t simply the voice of Ruiz speaking, it was the voices of African ancestors and their descendants, who—after the abolition of slavery in 1854—were making a historic claim before the injustice, racism and discrimination to which we had been subjected, just as our decisive contributions to the irreversible social advancement for more than 200 years of this country’s history have done. For the first time after more than 25 constitutions discussed in that same room where you sit, the reason why we should be “legally” recognized in the Venezuelan Constitution was being explained in our own symbols, our own language, and our most profound feelings.

Each one of you knows that the Constitution should be the reflection of the people, with an understanding of how Amilcar Cabral expressed them, “The people are the principal actors and beneficiaries of the liberation struggle. This concerns a political notion that should be defined in the given historical moment.”

Who built the economies in the colonial era? Who was it that paid with their blood, intelligences and bare struggle in the Independence and Federal Wars? Who contributed to the fight for Revolutionary Democracy in the 1970s and 1980s with their blood? Perhaps it wasn’t Barlovento, Veroes (in Yaracuy state) and the most impoverished ghettoes of Caracas—where afrodescendants live—that saved the country during the 2002 coup and oil stoppage?

How can esteemed members and the President of the Republic Hugo Chávez Frías try to reduce us to one Article—number 100—of the Constitutional Reform (which, by the way, was badly written and historically decontextualized)? How can you oppose the proposals that we have made to 11 of the 33 articles proposed by President Chávez, wherein we are demanding our historical character to be an integral part of the Venezuelan people?

Esteemed members, if this is how things will be, then we are facing new, subtle forms of racism and discrimination. Your names will be forever stamped in the history of Venezuelan hypocrisy, just as in 1830 and 1854, when the names of National Assembly members who mocked the aspirations of our ancestors—who demanded citizenship, land and recognition of their cultural particularities - were stamped with hypocrisy in that same room. If the Constitutional Reform is ratified with a reductionism towards afrodescendants, then from the point of view of respect toward diversity, pluralism and the advancement to the total integration of our country, we would even be below an ultra-rightist state such as Colombia, and we would be very much below the Brazilian, Nicaraguan and Ecuadorian Constitutions.

The historic debt definitely continues, and it will depend on you and the President of the Republic, because we as afrodescendants already made our proposals for a newly articulated Preamble and technical contributions to the 33 articles, along with two street mobilizations, throughout which, by the way, the doors to that same room were never opened for us to enter. Our welcome by the highest authorities of the National Assembly and of the Presidential Committee for Constitutional Reform has thus far only been in the streets.

* Jesús "Chucho" García is a leading activist against and researcher of racism in Venezuela

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

The Government of Kenya is in the concluding stages of privatizing Telkom Kenya. The winning bidders France Telecom will take Board control by December 21, 2007.
The government is also planning to offload shares of Safaricom through an Initial Public Offer (IPO) before the end of this year. However there are reasons to be wary of this privatization exercise.

Well said on the issue of remittances . If the money inflow was used to invest in infrastructure development or similar uses then maybe it would be beneficial. Furthermore, the funds are used to purchase goods that are possibly supplied by the same multinationals that remit dividends to the 'North'.

Today’s global development challenges demand experts who are able to think systemically and who can use dynamic tools to analyze complex and interdependent social, economic, and environmental systems that influence sustainable development. Millennium Institute’s six-week System Dynamics-based Development Planning Course equips participants with the knowledge and skills required to effectively analyze these challenges and determine the best approaches to mitigating them.