A testimony to the success of the UN refugee agency's repatriation and assistance programmes, around 274,000 Angolan refugees have returned home since war ended in April 2002, leaving around 167,000 still in the main asylum countries of Zambia, Namibia and the two Congos.

Applications are invited from persons living and working in Rwanda to participate in a distance learning course on ‘The role of the media in the genocide in Rwanda’.

The 1994 genocide in Rwanda provides a telling case study of two quite separate roles for media in a conflict situation. The genocide was among the most appalling catastrophes of the 20th century, and media played a significant part both internally and internationally. Prior to the genocide, radio stations and newspapers were carefully used by the conspirators to dehumanise the potential victims, Rwanda's Tutsi minority. During the genocide, radio was used by the Hutu extremist conspirators to mobilise the Hutu majority, to coordinate the killings and to ensure that the plans for extermination were faithfully executed.

While a series of terrible massacres of Tutsi were carried out and as the signs of ever-increasing violence grew, Rwanda was totally ignored by the international media. When the genocide came, the erratic media coverage largely conveyed the false notion of two ‘tribes’ of African ‘savages’ mindlessly slaughtering each other as they had done from time immemorial. As a result, there was little public pressure in the West for governments to intervene.

In this distance learning course you will study these two facets of the media role in the genocide in detail. You will see how easily the concept of free speech and free press in a local situation can be perverted for foul ends. We will ask how this dilemma could be resolved. We will explore the problem of inadequate or even distorted international coverage of crises and conflicts in areas poorly understood by Western journalists. We will consider whether this unfortunate situation can be improved in the future.

The course, developed by Fahamu for UPEACE, will be taught by Gerald Caplan, a Canadian-based public policy analyst and international coordinator of the "Remembering Rwanda" Project. He is also a public affairs commentator and author of "Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide," the report of the International Panel of Eminent Personalities To Investigate the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, appointed by the Organization of African Unity (OAU). He is presently co-editing a book on the Rwandan genocide ten years later.

The course has been developed for journalists and other professionals in the field of media, students of journalism, NGO staff and policy makers, and will lead to a certificate from the University for Peace.

This course is designed to take 10 weeks using an interactive CDROM containing all materials required for the course. You will be guided in your work by a course tutor via email. You will also have an opportunity to discuss your work with fellow students via email.

The course will include a workshop in which all students, as well as the tutor come together for several days of intensive work. There will be a final short period in which students will work independently and submit a final assignment. The topic for this assignment will be determined at the workshop.

Applications are invited from suitable candidates in Rwanda to attend the first course. The distance learning course will begin on 10 January, with a workshop to be held in Butare, Rwanda, on 15-17 March.

Please note that this is a pilot run of the course and that is why it is limited to Rwandan participants. Following the first pilot, the course will be fine-tuned and will be made available at a later date for broader participation from elsewhere in Africa.

Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Have good command of written and spoken English
- Have access to a computer with a CDROM drive (PC or Mac) for at least seven hours a week
- Have an email address (access to the WWW would be an advantage)
- Be living and working in Rwanda

Application process
Applicants should submit a letter, in English, of at least 500 words explaining why this course is important in their work, and motivating why they should be selected. They should submit a summary CV of no more than one page, and provide evidence from their employer/institution that they have access to a suitable computer. Applications should be sent by email only to Fahamu to: [email protected]. Applications should be received by 22 November 2004.

Fees
There are 15 places available. Since it is a pilot course, fees, and costs of attending the workshop in Butare will exceptionally be met by the University for Peace.

The Human Rights Commission has strongly condemned the forced marriage of a 14 year old girl in Ntantumbila area in Nakonde in Northern Province. Commission chairperson Mumba Malila stressed that all children under the age of 15 years have, under article 24(2) of the constitution, the right to be protected against physical or mental ill-treatment and all forms of neglect and exploitation.

The former prime minister of Somalia, now a resident of Virginia, was sued last Thursday for allegedly allowing war crimes and other human rights abuses to be committed in the 1980s. A similar lawsuit was filed against a former Somali Army battalion commander who allegedly carried out and supervised killings, torture and beatings. He also lives in Virginia. Mohamed Ali Samatar was Barre's defense minister from 1980 to 1987 and prime minister from 1987 to 1990, and therefore exerted control over the country's armed forces, according to the lawsuit.

"As long as wars have existed, the environment and natural resources have been their silent victims. Crops have been torched, water wells polluted, forests cut down, soils poisoned and animals killed. The objectives have varied: to provide a strategic advantage, to demoralize local populations, to subdue resistance or simply to feed soldiers. But the consequences, even if unintended, have been uniformly devastating. We have seen outright physical destruction, including the release of pollutants and hazardous substances. We have seen social disruption, such as the creation of refugee populations which in turn put increased pressure on resources. And since most conflicts are being waged in poor countries, we have seen economic devastation inflicted on vulnerable populations least able to cope with harm to their environment and setbacks to their development."

The British government learned about an alleged plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea in January this year, several weeks before suspects who included British citizens were arrested in the case. Britain denies being involved in any plot to topple Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo despite accusations from Zimbabwe that U.S., British and Spanish spy agencies did play a part.

Representatives of Ivory Coast's opposition were due to meet South African President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday to try to resolve days of violent unrest in the West African cocoa producer. Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo said exiled Ivorian opposition leader Alassane Outtara had arrived in South Africa for the talks, as had rebel leaders Guillaume Soro and Djedje Mady, but the Ivorian government would not be represented.

Sudan’s government has vehemently denied claims by the United Nations that it is forcibly relocating internally displaced persons from camps in the strife torn western region of Darfur. "It is the responsibility of a country to relocate its internally displaced persons. We have not violated any international law," the country’s minister of humanitarian affairs, Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid, told journalists at a press briefing held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, Tuesday.

Following on from the Refugee Law Project ( RLP) Working Paper No. 8, "Land Problems in Nakivale Settlement and the Implications for Refugee Protection", the RLP returned to Nakivale settlement in September 2004 to investigate news reports of land grabbing and the repatriation of Rwandan refugees. This document focuses on land grabbing and ownership and is based on interviews with settlement and district officials, refugees, and Ugandans living in the area.

The Sudan government has agreed to end military flights over Darfur and has signed a peace deal to end 20 months of hostilities with rebels from the western region. After three weeks of difficult talks sponsored by the African Union (AU) in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, the parties to the conflict late Tuesday signed a series of breakthrough agreements touching on security and humanitarian issues.

Of the 12 million refugees in the world, more than 7 million have been confined to camps or segregated settlements, effectively warehoused, in some cases for 10 years and more. Refugee camps have become wards of the international community, a community that too often holds itself above serious scrutiny, sometimes even above the law, infringing the fundamental rights of refugees it should protect as well as the sovereignty of host countries. Rights in Exile is about the practice of human rights law and the encampment of refugees.

The failure of the Nigerian government to rigorously enforce its obligations to protect human rights is fuelling violations of civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural rights in the process of the oil exploration and production in the Niger Delta, Amnesty International said in a new report entitled 'Nigeria: Are human rights in the pipeline?' The report examines how the human rights of individuals and communities have been abused as a result of practices of some transnational corporations (TNCs) and violated by the inactions and actions of the Nigerian Federal Government in the Niger Delta. It also includes three cases highlighting issues such as non-inclusive consultation processes and the failure to clean up oil spills, involving the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC) and the Nigerian Agip Oil Corporation (NAOC).

Dwindling water resources in Africa could lead to conflicts and food shortages, experts attending an international conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, said this week. Unsustainable use of water, poor management, pollution, increasing consumption and rapid population growth were fuelling water shortages, according to the experts attending the "Water for Food and Ecosystems" conference. Delegates warned that much more water would be needed to feed the world’s growing population - projected to rise from about six billion at present to 8.9 billion by 2050.

Congolese security forces and UN troops have stepped up their patrols in Goma, a town in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern province of North Kivu, following a recent spate of night-time killings by unidentified armed men in uniform. The killings and general climate of insecurity that has gripped the area sparked protests in Goma on Monday. Some 1,000 demonstrators burned the Kayembe administrative offices and demanded the resignation of Gen Obed Rwibasira, commander of the 8th Military Region, based in Goma. The demonstrators are blaming him for failing to protect the population sufficiently.

Chanting “no more war” and praying for peace, a first batch of 500 internally displaced people (IDPs) headed home on Monday from a camp where they had lived for years, as the UN and Liberia's government kicked off a scheme to resettle 300,000 IDPs. The UN and the Liberian government have said people must be encouraged to return only on condition a county is safe. Key benchmarks for determining an areas safety are completion of disarmament, the presence of civil authorities, rehabilitation of basic services and unhindered access for humanitarian workers.

The Association of Concerned Africa Scholars (ACAS) has constructed a resolution that tackles the impact of 9/11 and Bush's wars on the Study of Africa. They are requesting that it be endorsed by the African Studies Association (USA), and are collecting signatures to be posted on the web site (acas.prairienet.org). If you wish to add your name, please send your full name and affiliation to ACAS at: [email protected]

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Resolution on the Study of Africa After 9/11

Whereas we live in a period of increasing conflict and war affecting Americans, Africans and peoples world-wide,

Whereas the defense of democratic freedoms requires the free flow of information, free speech, and open debate,

Whereas we are daily engaged in the discussion and exchange of ideas and scholarship in pursuit of these freedoms,

Whereas recent U.S. government laws and executive policies, most notably the USA Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act, have operated to restrict basic civil liberties and freedom of expression,

Whereas more than 300 U.S. cities and counties and 3 states have passed resolutions opposing the USA Patriot Act,

Whereas laws and policies such as the USA Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act interfere with academic freedom and contribute to a climate of intolerance on our campuses and in our communities,

Whereas there is increasing pressure to align the study of Africa, its peoples and languages with the narrow priorities of military and intelligence operations,

Whereas new security and visa policies based on religious and racial profiling are subverting the free exchange of knowledge with and visits by African scholars,

Whereas increasing numbers of Africans and others, most notably legitimate refugees, are being detained without representation or hearings for long periods of time, and thus are being denied basic constitutional and international human rights; therefore be it:

Resolved that we reaffirm our commitment to academic freedom, and call upon scholars as well as college and university administrations to safeguard free speech;

Resolved that we call for the repeal of all recent government laws and actions that restrict civil liberties, free speech, and free association, including the USA Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act;

Resolved that we reaffirm the African Studies Association's long-standing policy of support for the open and transparent determination of research priorities and awards, and against research determined by the priorities of military and intelligence agencies,

Resolved that we call for a visa policy free of racial and religious profiling,
Resolved that we call for expedited hearings for all refugees, an end to indeterminate detention, and the implementation of basic human rights for refugees,

Resolved that the Board of Directors of the African Studies Association implement the above actions by acting without delay to:

(1) Actively pursue these issues with members of Congress,
(2) Re-confirm past resolutions on the independence of scholarly work from military and intelligence agencies, most notably the NSEP program and more recent, related initiatives,
(3) Dedicate plenary session(s) to this subject at the our annual meetings,
(4) Request the Editors of African Issues and the African Studies Review to prepare special issues on these matters, and
(5) Form an Executive Commission with adequate resources to compile data and investigate trends on emerging threats to academic freedom, which will make regular reports to the Board and membership, and

Resolved that this resolution be sent without delay to the U.S. President, all members of the U.S. Congress, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Chairperson of the African Union, representative African scholarly associations, and the academic press.

Presented by the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars 2004

The Mano River Women's Peace Network would like to inform you that its has just launched its new on-line journal, "Voices of Peace," as well as several news articles on its website. Please visit our site regularly for information about the Network's activities and events. We welcome feedback on our site as well; to send a comment, please write to [email protected] with a cc to [email protected]

In a UN report on xenophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, Special Rapporteur on human rights, Doudou Diene says racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are also on the "upswing" in the rest of Europe. "New targets of discrimination - immigrants, refugees and non-nationals - have now been added to the traditional victims of these scourges: Jews, Arabs, Asians and Africans," he notes.

The Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Program is planning to conduct two concurrent short courses during the period from January 25th to January 31st, 2005. Please find available through the URL below more details about the courses and the application procedures.

On November 9, 2004 Human Rights Watch will give its highest recognition to Maître Honoré Musoko, a courageous human rights lawyer whose work has exposed massive human rights abuses in Ituri, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Maître Musoko is the director of Justice Plus, one of the few human rights organizations still active in Ituri. Justice Plus monitors human rights violations, provides human rights education and intervenes directly in individual cases to halt abuses where possible.