The authorities of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, have agreed to adopt Shari’a law after Islamic leaders in the region recommended the move, local sources said. The announcement was made by the authority after a committee of religious leader met the leader of Puntland, Gen. Muhammed Adde Muse, and recommended that Shari’a law be adopted in the region, Sheikh Fuad Mahamud, a member of the religious leaders said on Tuesday (21 November 2006).

Although the counting is still going on in the Mauritanian legislative and municipal elections, it is already clear that two former opposition parties - Popular Progressive Alliance (PPA) and Assembly of Democratic Forces (ADF) - are said to be neck-to-neck. The two parties probably swept the polls in the country's two most popular regions.

Jean-Pierre Bemba, challenger to President Joseph Kabila, has rejected the provisional results of the run-off presidential poll announced by the Democratic Republic of Congo's Independent Electoral Commission. "I regret to say to our people and the international community that I cannot accept the results that are far from reflecting the truth of the election results," Bemba told a news conference on Thursday (16 November 2006) in the capital, Kinshasa.

Having rejected the outcome of the October 29 elections, is former warlord, Jean-Pierre Bemba, capable of mounting an insurgency that could once more destabilise the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)? This is the question that occupied the minds of Congo watchers last week as incumbent president Joseph Kabila retained his seat by 58 per cent of the vote against Bemba's 42 per cent, and the country entered a phase where military might could determine its future.

As the world's sixth largest oil exporter and a great producer for over 50 years, the vast poor majority of Nigerians often wonder where the large wealth has gone. Indeed, Nigeria's public finances and the general revenue level do not look bad at all, as top-level politicians and businessmen have revealed this week. It is just poverty that seems endless.

Liberia still is far from recovering from its vicious civil war, but economic indicators show the ruined country is heading the right way. Especially the booming construction sector is fuelling the economy, promising an economic growth of almost ten percent this year. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is extravagantly praised by her former employer, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A new subsea cable connecting Sri Lanka with the Maldive Islands might turn out to be the the first leg of a new Africa-Asia cable. The US$ 20 million, 850 kilometres cable owned by Sri Lanka Telecom and Dhiraagu Telecom of Maldives, is due to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2007.

The latest United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo report details evidence of mass rape committed by FARDC soldiers during the Kibirizi crisis in January 2006 and several incidents of human rights violations during the just-concluded election process.

The Sudanese Government yesterday (17 November 2006) agreed with the United Nations, the African Union (AU) and representatives from Security Council member countries and others to allow UN peace-keepers into Darfur to complement the AU mission already there. Khartoum had previously refused a UN presence in Darfur. At present, the UN assists a 7,000-strong African Union mission (AMIS) and is currently working on a $21 million support package.

Less than six weeks before he steps down as secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan has come up with a political scorecard on the successes and failures of the UN's much-touted development agenda. The good news is that official development assistance (ODA) -- from rich to poor countries -- is reaching a new high, breaking through the 100-billion-dollar barrier: up from an average of about 50 to 55 billion dollars in the 1980s.

The course focuses on the following issues: Definitions of development, including the rhetorics of development, classic versus radical definitions, Western and African definitions, and the World Bank and IMF models of development, as well as the rights-based, village-based and other models of development.

The over hundred thousand refugees from Western Sahara living in Algerian camps are to hold municipal and national elections, starting on Wednesday (22November 2006). Voters will be able to choose between different Polisario candidates to bodies of the exiled state of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is a member of the African Union.

AfriMAP is pleased to launch its fourth call for papers, focusing on the draft African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Good Governance, that has been the subject for debate at recent African Union summits. The draft Charter will be discussed again at the AU summit to be held in Addis Ababa in January 2007.

Congolese poet Omékongo wa Dibinga shares three of his poems with us exploring the attitudes towards Africa, aid and development. For more information see

With their flags fluttering in the background, it might have been a mini-UN where 28 countries were represented in a compelling meeting amid the picturesque hills in Nyakinama in the Northern Province of Rwanda.

The gathering sought to test the newly developed UN international standards against the African realities in post-conflict reconstruction and reintegration of ex-combatants. The 1st African Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) Seminar looked at what has derived from post-conflict Africa and the social dimension in integrating ex-combatants, as well as familiarized the attending countries with the UN international standards.

At issue was that “no DDR guidelines had existed before, yet there was also a wealth of experience in Africa of which countries could learn from each other,” explains Ms Susanne Brezina, who coordinated the international meet under the aegis of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and is the organisation’s Expert Advisor seconded to the Peace Support Training Centre (PSTC) in Nairobi, Kenya.

The concept behind the DDR process is a recent one, as it only became current after the Cold War, which had fueled many of the conflicts in Africa. In post-conflict situations then, emphasis mainly tended to be placed on structural reconstruction neglecting the plight of ex-combatants and their re-integration back into society. As a DDR rationale, it offers a peace dividend in that “war uses resources for destruction, while peace should free them for construction,” says Colonel Ahmed Mohamed, Commandant PSTC Kenya.

This dividend is the expectation at full reintegration, where reintegration is the culmination of the process by which victims of conflict, including women, children and ex-combatants acquire civilian status and gain sustainable employment and income. The idea behind the DDR process is to apply the universal principles of human rights for social harmony and sense of community, both for individual and collective development of the reintegrated communities.

I have been reading the Pambazuka Newsletter for two years, and will carry on doing so - good work!

FEATURE: Wangui wa Goro discusses the importance and the role of culture in today’s society. She argues that culture should be viewed as the pulse which can feed blood into the arteries of justice, peace, democracy and development.
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Milton Allimadi interrogates the presentation of Africans in the Western media.
- According to the Slam Poetry movement, the performance of poetry is an art -- just as much an art as the art of writing it. However, is it possible to draw from the experiences of pre-colonial African oral traditions in developing an organically grown and contextualised slam poetry movement in Africa? asks Mphutlane Wa Bofelo.
- How does a post-colonial state undermine oppressive racial categories without unintentionally replacing diversity with homogeneity? Neville Alexander points out that Sub-national identities can be based on many different factors such as religion and linguistics.
PODCASTS: Pambazuka News celebrates the culture of resistance in Africa.
* Ngugi wa Thiong'o speaks to Pambazuka News about language and culture
* Emerging South African rapper PlanBe explores with Sokari Ekine violence and rape in South Africa.
* Omékongo wa Dibinga, Congolese poet, shares three of his poems with us exploring the attitudes towards Africa, aid and development
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine reports on a new documentary film called “NO” which highlights the realities of rape in the African American community and also focuses on the healing process for victims
BOOKS & ARTS: A poem from the urban music award winner, Omékongo Dibinga.
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Procedures to apply for media accreditation
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Links to news on Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad and DRC
HUMAN RIGHTS: Ghana forced to ban blood diamond trade
WOMEN AND GENDER: Campaigning against gender violence
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Expulsion of illegal immigrants begins in Tanzania
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Kabila has won Congo elections
DEVELOPMENT: Oil industry sees Africa as most promising
CORRUPTION: Future of fair trade
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Zambia mortality ratio about highest in the region
EDUCATION: Blogger dismissed from University
ENVIRONMENT: Changing climate, changing lives
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Ugandan government can’t sell Acholi land
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Urgent reforms to the DRC state-owned radio and television required
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: Critical view on communication for development
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops
JOBS: Fahamu seeks Director for Education for Social Justice

What does development aid really mean?
Does it mean managing money to mobilize against HIV
Or driving through southern Sudan in an SUV?
Does it mean the improvement of life,
Since many join the development enterprise to improve their lifestyle?
Does it mean giving 1/10 of 1% of your GNP
And having 1/3 of that funnel its way to those in need,
Since most of the aid goes to pay aid agency staff salary?
What does it mean?
Development aid is well-intentioned
But in this new millennium we have to learn our lesson
Because I'd rather have no aid than slow aid or low aid
If it means that development agencies will give funds
To governments for pipelines and pesticides
But indirectly support a genocide
Or have we forgotten the extreme case of Rwanda,
Where 80% of development aid went to the pre-genocide government
Even though all of the signs of the genocide were in place
But agencies for aid
Paid it no mind as long as that well-water became potable
...or that fertilizer ferry became floatable
... or that minimal rise in literacy became notable
Just noticeable enough to give uplifting quotable statistics on report backs to donors
Please!
Misguided, top-down development enforces the politics of exclusion
Because in collusion with repressive governments,
The poorest of the poor never receive assistance in fields like subsistence farming
And it's quite alarming
Because aid agencies never realize their agency in societal conflicts
Because they claim to take an "apolitical" approach
But they fail to see how misdirected, top-down aid can encroach
On a politically fragmented society
And exacerbate it by further disempowering the disempowered
Primarily by working with government-appointed elites
So we have to rethink development
Because many of us don't understand what to "develop" meant in the first place
I'm calling for a structural adjustment program of Structural Adjustment Programs
And other policies that claim or claimed to assist developing homelands
Because development doesn't mean that we can have Afrikan Growth & Opportunity
When the resources we use don't come from our own community
It doesn't mean fancy dinners in classy hotels
With money given to decrease mortality rates for newborn children
And if aid can’t be given to a government
Without a care for ensuring the rights of every child, woman and man
Then I'll be damned before I say that everything is “ok” with development aid

It's time to ensure that our dollars are being spent on education and public health
As opposed to Safari vacations and private wealth
For foreign experts and host government hierarchies
And if we can have vouchers at home
Why not have developing country vouchers
So good governments can choose the best development projects for their land
Instead of generic plans from those claiming to know what's best for the destitute?
Development aid can't be looked at as a Wall Street business transaction
Where investors are only worried about the comeback
We need to come back and revise our strategy
Because we'll all be glad to see the day
When development aid is not only concerned
With promising statistics on cocoa revenues, crop distribution,
And more village midwives
Because few lives will be improved or saved
Unless the poorest of the poor truly receive the majority of the aid
So until the day when underdeveloped development dreams
Are redeveloped for developing countries
Development aid will never be what is seems
And if we continue to turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to this preventable predicament
Then the poorest of the world's poor will continue to ask:
"What does development aid really mean?”

*Partially inspired by Dr. Peter Uvin’s Aiding Violence

• Urban Music Award winner Omékongo Dibinga, M.A., is a motivational speaker, rapper, and poet. He is the Founder & CEO of Free Your Mind Publishing. A first generation Congolese-American, Omékongo writes and performs in English, French, Swahili, and occasionally has used Wolof. He has released 4 CDs, 2 books, and 1 DVD. He is the host of “Flava,” an international satellite hip-hop radio show in Asia, Europe, and Africa. He has performed/lectured in the United States, South Africa, England, Congo-Kinshasa, Tanzania, France, Cuba, and Canada. His work has been televised in over 130 countries. For more information, please visit
• Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

The United Nations Secretary-General-elect, Mr Ban Ki Moon, yesterday pledged to work relentlessly towards helping to end violent conflicts and other challenges facing Africa. "I personally feel strongly attached to the African continent. I will literally pour down my attention and passion towards Africa to resolve the problems on the continent, while fulfilling my duties as the UN-Secretary-General," Mr Moon, who is also the out-going Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea, said.

While not properly recognised, the once-persecuted Islamists are being tolerated in the electoral campaign going on in Mauritania. After Sunday's (12 November 2006) poll, Islamist candidates could enter the Nouakchott parliament for the first time, but the radicals find only a narrow audience among Mauritanians.