Agenda Feminist Media Project will have an online discussion on the theme of their latest issue: African Feminisms issue 63. The discussion will deal with the topic 'Sexuality and Body Image', with Dr Pumla Dineo Gqola and the contributors of the issue on June 23.

Ethiopia remains tense after security forces opened fire on post-election demonstrators, killing up to 40 people. Makeda Tsegaye paints a picture of a brutal regime - whose Prime Minister served on UK Prime Minister's Commission on Africa - that will stop at nothing to retain its grip on power and asks how many more millions of people have to starve in Ethiopia before the world realizes that the root causes of the problem is not lack of rains but failed economic policies that are making people more vulnerable?

After what happened in Ethiopia last week, I would be surprised if anyone had difficulty in understanding the true nature of the ruling party and its leadership.

Is it surprising that the security forces of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, who was appointed to the Commission for Africa by the UK, and is viewed by the US as a key ally in combating terrorism and a stabilizing force in the strategic Horn of Africa, killed over 40 innocent civilians, arrested thousands, instigated violence and hatred in the country? Is it surprising that in spite of these acts, the ruling party perceives itself as not guilty? Is it surprising that the Prime Minister extended the ban on peaceful demonstrations by another month despite protests that this edict was entirely unconstitutional and illegal? Is it surprising that his security forces killed opposition party members outside the capital two days after signing the European Union-brokered peace pact on June 10 to peacefully resolve election-related disputes?

None of these is surprising to Ethiopians who endured 14 long years of similar persecutions, economic hardships and man-made disasters under a deceptive, incompetent and clearly authoritarian leadership.

This was not the first time that the ruling party killed peaceful demonstrators. For instance, in 1992 and 2001, security forces opened fire on Addis Ababa University students who peacefully demonstrated against the ruling party's failed policies, killing more than 35, wounding over 400, and arresting and torturing hundreds of students, while 22 university professors were sacked.

In 2002, security forces shot protestors in Southern Ethiopia, killing over 35 people. While these are examples from urban areas only, it should not be difficult to imagine the situation of dissidents in remote areas where little is known due to lack of communication and the absence of human rights activists.

In spite of all these, the ruling party never admitted its mistakes apart from giving shamefully lame excuses for its irresponsible and barbaric acts. For example, in 1992 its excuse was that its riot police did not have the right equipment to disperse peaceful demonstrators. However shocking such an irresponsible statement seemed to many families who lost their loved ones, the ruling party could simply get away with it without any form of accountability. Just last week, another round of killings claimed the lives of over 40 civilians. Appallingly, the ruling party labeled these civilian victims as 'unemployed hooligans', as if to imply that their lives were worth nothing.

Despite the rhetoric that Ethiopia is 'democratic', persistent abuses of civil and political rights, and lack of an inclusive and responsive political system characterizes the current regime. In fact, the regime is typified by what Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way (2002, pp. 51-65)[1] describe as 'Competitive Authoritarianism', which is a hybrid regime where formal democratic institutions are widely viewed as the principal means of obtaining and exercising political authority. However, the incumbents violate those rules so often and to such an extent that the regime fails to meet conventional minimum standards for democracy.

Although the Ethiopian regime may have appeared to be an economic and political reformer in the past, a closer review of its policies reveals otherwise. Notwithstanding its rhetoric about liberal economic policies and privatization, the ruling party and its benefactors control key economic sectors. In fact, strategic control of the economy is one of the tactics that the ruling party employed to manipulate the political process in the country.

For instance, state-owned land was viewed as a key instrument to control the political opinions of eighty-five percent of rural Ethiopians who are entirely dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. There were reports from many rural constituencies that prior to the recent elections, cadres of the ruling party were threatening to deny those who voted for the opposition parties access to land. The ruling party's false confidence in winning the elections in most rural areas was thus prompted by this unlawful act. Nevertheless, none of these threats made sense to millions of desperate farmers who hardly benefit from their 'less-than-a-hectare' land and whose lives are largely sustained by relief rosters year in and year out. On the contrary, most people viewed the election as an opportunity for ensuring a productive life whereby responsible citizens could earn a living and lead a dignified life. The ruling party was blind to this reality owing to its gross underestimation of the intellect and pride of the rural people.

Ironically, it is also this grave miscalculation of the ruling party that provided the platform for the participation of opposition parties in the recent elections. However, the fact that opposition parties were able to mobilize millions of supporters within a short period of election campaigning, despite massive harassment and intimidation, sent an important warning signal to the ruling party. Hence, it immediately got busy retracting its seemingly democratic gestures. It did not stop there. Terrified by the stiff resistance from the people who are determined to decide their future, its true nature became self-evident. In effect, it was forced to reveal its real identity to the world that it only managed to appear democratic aided by a situation in which it could control the playing field by selecting its own team, the referees and even the spectators. In the absence of any or all of these, it had to resort to the original tactics of any dictatorship, which is typified by mass killing, arrests, torture and so on. In fact, the ruling party was panic-stricken that it started to take any measure that appeared to support its desire to salvage its greed for power. It was interesting to see how in the course of last week, it even targeted every possible means of effective communication including disrupting cellular phone services. Toward the end of the week, the state-controlled telecom agency announced that due to technical problems it was no longer able to provide SMS (text messaging) services. It is to be noted that, in the absence of other media, Ethiopians were exchanging information of a political nature through text messaging.

It is apparent that the current situation in Ethiopia is extremely tense. Given its repeated records of violent confrontation, the ruling party will not refrain from engaging in more brutal and barbaric acts to suppress dissenting voices and the people's struggle for political and economic freedom. The question remains, how many more killings will it take to make a ruler a dictator? How many more millions of people have to starve in Ethiopia before the world realizes that the root causes of the problem is not lack of rains but failed economic policies that are making people more vulnerable?

Last week we heard that the US is set to pledge US$674 famine funds as part of a joint US/UK initiative to 'get Africa back on its feet', of which a large amount is destined for Ethiopia. During the same period, Ethiopians were raising their voices to tell the world that it is the presence of responsible leadership in the country, and not relief assistance, that could fully mitigate the effects of disaster and poverty. While Ethiopians are immensely grateful for the relief support that the US has provided to the innumerable victims of poor governance and resource mismanagement, it has become apparent that charity will not lead to prosperity. If this were the case, Ethiopia would have been Africa's most prosperous nation in the last 14 years. What is needed in Ethiopia is responsible, competent and committed leadership that can create an enabling environment for citizens to work hard and create a prosperous and peaceful Ethiopia.

Ethiopians have long recognized this need and their recent admirable participation in the legislative elections indicates more than ever their determination to change the image of their country and lead a dignified life, wherein the rule of law, accountability, and transparency provide the platform for development and lasting peace. Simultaneously, people are anxious to harness their ethnic and geographic diversity in order to create a better Ethiopia for all citizens. However, it is shameful that a divisive leadership that is not even capable of fully grasping the values of and strengths in national unity is attempting to suppress these noble objectives.

On Monday June 13, 2005, the Prime Minister was quoted as saying in his televised address to the nation that, "there was no reason for riots in Addis Ababa [where] EPRDF has conceded its defeat". This remark clearly indicates the PM's divisive strategy that has threatened to erode the concept of nationalism from the minds of Ethiopians for the last 14 years. Fortunately, his self-centered and anti-development psychology has long been rejected by Ethiopians who embrace unity not only among themselves but also among their fellow African brothers and sisters. It is important that all peace and freedom-loving Africans individually and collectively stand up with their Ethiopian brothers and sisters who are struggling to end the suffering of their fellow citizens and create a bright future for the coming generation.

Notes:

[1] Levitsky, Steven and Way, Lucan A. "The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism." Journal of Democracy. (2002) 11:2: 51-65

* Makeda Tsegaye is an Ethiopian woman with a Masters degree in International Peace Studies (with specialization in Economic Development and Peace) currently working for an international development agency in Nairobi, Kenya.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

This study by Giampiero Giacomello explores and compares why and to what extent national governments decide to control the internet and how this impacts on crucial socioeconomic activities and fundamental civil rights. The author provides detailed studies of US, Germany, Italy and further case studies of South Africa, Switzerland, Brazil, Canada, India and The Netherlands.

Uganda's constitutional court on Friday rejected an appeal by hundreds of death row prisoners to outlaw capital punishment, but ruled in favour of putting an end to laws prescribing death as a mandatory sentence for certain crimes. "The death penalty is not unconstitutional because it is given by the laws as punishment after due process," Galdino Okello, who headed the team of constitutional court judges, said.

The Coordination Office of the Housing and Land Rights Network of Habitat International Coalition (HIC-HLRN) requests urgent intervention in the following situation in Zimbabwe. HIC-HLRN repeatedly has received alarming information from local civil society sources of massive evictions in throughout Zimbabwe that already have rendered 200,000 people homeless in two weeks. Some 30,000 street vendors and people working informally have been detained and if the eviction drive continues, "the estimates are that 2 to 3 million people could be affected, which is about a quarter of (Zimbabwe's) population," as M. Kothari, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing warned in a press conference on 3 June.

Authorities on the semi-autonomous Tanzanian island of Zanzibar have banned political columnist Jabir Idrissa from writing, saying he was working without permission. Idrissa told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he believes he was banned for criticizing the Zanzibar government. The Zanzibar-based Idrissa is a well-known political columnist for the weekly, Swahili language newspaper Rai. The newspaper is based on the Tanzanian mainland, but sells on Zanzibar.

On 12 June 2005, the English language daily 'Khartoum Monitor' was served with a suspension order by the Press Council General Secretary, Dr. Hashim Mohamed Salih Aljaz. In a letter to the acting editor of the Khartoum Monitor, Dr. Hashim attached the decision of Judge Ismat Suleiman Hassan sitting at Khartoum North Panel Court dated 12 June 2005, ordering the withdrawal of the newspaper license. In justifying the decision, Judge Ismat's decision cited a High Court decision dated 12 July 2003, which ordered withdrawal of the license of the paper.

According to information provided to the International Press Institute (IPI), journalists reporting on violent street clashes in Addis Ababa between police and students protesting over the 15 May parliamentary elections have come under increased pressure from the authorities. On 7 June, the Information Ministry revoked the accreditation of five Ethiopian journalists, Taddesse Engidaw and Assegdech Yiberta of Deutsche Welle and Helen Mohammed, Temam Aman and Bereket Teklu of Voice of America (VOA), who were accused of filing "unbalanced reports" on the elections.

The purpose of this article is to prompt some questioning of current "e-development" priorities. We have too readily assumed the Millennium Development Goals must be the priority for application of ICTs. Yet the MDGs themselves can be challenged, as can the relevance of applying ICTs to those goals. This article will argue that we ought at least to be considering some different priorities if we want to make most effective use of the opportunities that new technology affords.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the killing, on Sunday, of a radio journalist who was covering a protest by bus and truck drivers near the Somali capital, Mogadishu. "We mourn the loss of our colleague Duniya Muhyadin," Ann Cooper, the CPJ executive director, said on Monday from New York. "Somalia must find a way to end the climate of impunity and violence responsible for this tragic crime."

A workshop, held between May 23 and 26, marked the beginning of a partnership between UNESCO, Open Knowledge Network/Jamana Multimedia Cooperative and local communities in research sites across Mali to use ethnographic action research as part of efforts to use combinations of traditional and new information and communication technologies (ICTs) to empower rural women and youth. The methodology is based on the use of ethnographic tools, such as participant observation, field notes, diaries and in-depth interviews, as part of a process of action research, in which participatory investigation forms part of a continuous cycle of ‘planning’, ‘observation’, ‘reflection’ and ‘doing’.

Radio presenter/producer team Ann Mikia and Sammy Muraya from the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation’s (KBC) weekly HIV/AIDS program, 'A Stitch in Time', played a key role in the launch of a government HIV/AIDS program among public taxi drivers. In August 2004, Mikia and Muraya decided to tackle a difficult topic which was not being addressed by Kenya’s government AIDS program. The radio team focused on matatu touts (public minibus taxi drivers) and schoolgirls who exchange sex with the drivers for free rides or money.

On 1 June, Professor Kenneth Good, a political science lecturer at the University of Botswana for the past 15 years, was deported from the country by legal order and a decree from President Festus Mogae. Good's deportation came only hours after the Lobatse High Court upheld the government's right to deport him. In their judgement, the three High Court Judges dismissed the arguments of Good's lawyer given on 3 May and said the deportation order and presidential decree should be allowed to stand.

As may be recalled, state repressive measures against the Ethiopian free press journalists has markedly subsided over the past several months. At present, however, the government seems to have resumed the repression once again. The Ethiopian Free press Journalists' Association (EFJA) has been quite worried about these recent unwelcome developments.

With little fanfare, there is a battle going on for the soul of the Internet. The United Nations and the ITU (International Communications Union) are trying to wrest control of domain names, the DNS and IP addresses from ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). This battle manifests itself through the U.N.-created World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) and the ITU-lead Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG).

The government of Guinea has finally agreed to open up the airwaves to privately owned radio and television, but not to political parties or religious groups, according to a government statement read out on television. Although the government allows private newspapers to operate, Guinea is the only country in the region to ban private radio and TV, and the issue has long been at the centre of demands for more democracy by the opposition and the international community.

The Government of the Republic of Botswana, in collaboration with the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), will host this second World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR). According to the organisers, WITFOR 2005 will address issues critical to developing countries, such as the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in fighting HIV/AIDS, poverty, access to education, environment, as well as social, ethical and legal consequences of IT.

The World Starts With Me is a web-based/CD-ROM curriculum on information technology (IT) and sexual and reproductive health and rights for young people in Uganda. It is a sex education and HIV/AIDS prevention project that simultaneously gives Ugandan youth the opportunity to acquire Internet and computer skills.

Blindness in Ethiopia results from a wide range of natural and man-made factors, and is also linked to underdevelopment and armed conflict. Neglect, discrimination and lack of awareness means blind people have little access to education, employment, information and other forms of social participation. Information and communication technologies are, however, beginning to overcome these barriers.

Deputy President Jacob Zuma was studying the guilty verdict in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial before making any comment, a statement from the government communications department said in response to the verdict. Shaik was convicted in the Durban High Court on two counts of corruption and one of fraud relating to alleged irregular financial dealings with Zuma.