The United Nations Affiliated University for Peace (UPEACE) and the African Union (AU) announced an international conference on, "Strategies for Peace with Development in Africa: The Role of Education, Training and Research".

The 53-member African Group at the United Nations - the second largest regional coalition after the 54-member Asian Group - is asserting its collective unity in a world body that is getting increasingly divided over politically-sensitive issues. The Africans have so far refused to back down on their demand for veto powers for proposed new permanent members of the Security Council, and have also expressed their public support for an Asian as the next U.N. secretary-general when incumbent Kofi Annan of Ghana steps down in December this year.

The shocking details of how use of outdated communication equipment by police is frustrating the fight against crime has been exposed. And this despite the Government's claims that it has allocated Sh11 billion - and probably spent some of the taxpayers' money - to replace it. The multi-billion-shilling radio project was among those highlighted in a Public Accounts Committee report released in March. But in interviews with the Sunday Nation, current and former officers described the kit as "very poor".

President Hosni Mubarak's enforcers have a particular way of dealing with female demonstrators: they sexually humiliate them. The case of journalist Abir al-Askari is but one example. When she arrived at Cairo's high court last week for a disciplinary hearing against two pro-democracy judges, she was grabbed by several men.

The fellowship programme will bring together 12 professionals from select countries to Cape Town, South Africa for three months to explore strategies to be used following a period of conflict or repressive rule in order to bring about a more just society.

A case challenging the legality of the union that created the United Republic of Tanzania - a merger of the Tanganyika mainland and the two isles of Zanzibar has began in Stone Town, capital of the semiautonomous Zanzibar. A group of 10 Zanzibaris filed the case on 23 April before the Zanzibar High Court, seeking to have the union, signed in 1964, invalidated. The group, led by Rashid Salum Addiy, claims the 42-year-old union is illegal and wants it renegotiated.

Following a National Assembly vote against a constitutional amendment that would have let him seek another term in office, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has announced he will leave office when his second term expires. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan previously had urged Obasanjo to keep the country's constitution intact and cede power to a successor.

A monthly electronic newsletter of international updates and coverage on sustainable development and corporate social responsibility matters.

A UN human rights committee has said Chad's former ruler, Hissene Habre, must be tried or extradited to Belgium, under the 1984 Convention against Torture. Chad's ex-president, who has lived in exile in Senegal for the past 16 years, is accused of mass murder and torture. The decision of the United Nations Committee Against Torture says that by not trying Chad's ex-President Hissene Habre, or allowing his extradition, Senegal is breaking international human rights law.

Ethiopia's largest opposition party has announced it has formed an alliance with four rebel groups. The new Alliance Freedom and Democracy (AFD) says it will focus on peaceful struggle against the government but the armed groups will still stage attacks. Several leaders of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) are on trial for treason following protests over last year's disputed elections. The CUD says the polls were rigged - charges rejected by the government.

On 28 May, the people of Ethiopia will celebrate National Day, marking the anniversary of Ethiopia’s independence from the injustice and lawlessness that characterised the previous military dictatorship. While saluting the people and the Government of Ethiopia for the gains they have made over the last 15 years, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation has an initiated an appeal reminding the Ethiopian government of the commitments it made to foster democracy, freedom, development and human rights. The draft letter urges the government to re-open civic space for the civil society movement in Ethiopia, and to release civil society activists currently on trial for treason. We invite both organisations and individuals to sign-on to the appeal by Tuesday, 23 May 2006. For more information, or to sign-on, please email [email][email protected]

FEATURED: Accessing rights for persons with disabilities in Kenya is a major challenge, writes Monica Mbaru-Mwangi
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Irungu Houghton reviews the status of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa
- How can HIV/Aids policy be successful in Uganda when the country makes homosexuality illegal? Asks Victor Mukasa
- Cary Alan Johnson and Fadzai Muparutsa look at the crackdown on gay rights in Nigeria
- Two responses to the acquittal of Jacob Zuma
LETTERS: On the Pan-African Parliament, peace in Darfur and Jacob Zuma
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine rounds up the African blogosphere
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem lands in Kampala – just in time for the inauguration of Yoweri Museveni
OBITUARY: Shailja Patel remembers how Ellen Kuzwayo warmed up a chilly day in York many years ago
AFRICAN UNION MONITOR: Is the PAP running on empty?
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Mogadishu truce broken; Can Darfur peace survive?
HUMAN RIGHTS: Is the UN Human Rights Council just a new name?
WOMEN AND GENDER: Abuse of girls widespread in East Africa, says report
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Somalis and Ethiopians tell of harrowing journey to Yemen
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Third term bid defeated in Nigeria
DEVELOPMENT: Aid for trade; Monitoring MDGs; Who is the worst man in the world?
CORRUPTION: Increase in Africa cash drain
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Aids advocates urged to lobby governments
RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA: New report on racism on the internet
ENVIRONMENT: The facts, fear and hope of climate change
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Warning of more media raids in Kenya
PLUS: Advocacy and Campaigns; Internet and Technology; e-Newsletters; Courses; Jobs.

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LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD - COMMENT ON PAMBAZUKA NEWS ARTICLES

Pambazuka News has launched a new comment function on its website,

Readers of articles in the sections Features, Comment and Analysis, Letters, Books and Arts, and Pan-African Postcard can now click on a link at the end of each article and submit their comments via an online form. Submissions will be published under the relevant article.

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* COMMENTS SENT BY SMS ON THE ZUMA CASE:

Tanzania: "Zuma should resign from politics"
Tanzania: "Women's rights? Zuma's acquittal is a disgrace!"
Kenya: "Zuma won on technicality of evidence but lost on moral and human rights legitimacy as a leader."
Hong Kong: "Sad that a rape case in South Africa was thrown out and another woman's rights trampled."

Want to comment on the Zuma trial?

Send your message to +27832933934 and we'll include them in Pambazuka News.

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* French speaking? French friends?

Read the Pambazuka News French edition by visiting http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/ Subscribe online at http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/subscribe.php or send an email to [email][email protected] with 'subscribe French edition' in the subject line. Please forward widely!

Nigeria, which has ambitions for international and African leadership, is currently debating a Bill that if passed will lead to a crackdown on gay rights. Cary Alan Johnson and Fadzai Muparutsa says the governments is crushing a minority to make points with conservatives.

The National Assembly of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is debating a bill that makes same-sex marriage as well as any form of protest for gay rights punishable by five years in prison. Make no mistake - the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act is not about gay marriage, which is essentially a non-issue in Nigeria. The intent of the proposed law is to further vilify and stigmatize an increasingly vocal minority.

Official debate on the bill hasn’t even started and already public attacks on homosexuals are on the rise. In the Federal Capital Abuja last month, a male couple was beaten by a mob shouting anti-gay slurs. The Sunday Sun weekly newspaper recently reported the expulsion of 15 “homosexual suspects” from the Nigerian Defense Academy in Kaduna citing the anti-gay position of the government to justify its action.

Why would a country with a vigorous a civil society, a relatively free press, and a vocal political opposition find itself debating such an undemocratic piece of legislation? Why do most Nigeria experts feel that the proposed bill would pass with little or no opposition with parliamentarians disregarding the long struggle Nigeria has waged for rule of law in their country - first against a brutal colonialism and then in the face of a series of repressive military dictatorships? Where are the voices of reason which, despite personal discomfort with homosexuality, will name this Act for what it is - a bigoted piece of hate speech posing as Nigerian family values?

With Nigeria facing major political, social and economic challenges, this attack on the country’s highly homosexual minority seems calibrated to curry favor with religious conservatives - Christian and Moslem - who agree on very little, but find common ground with the government in the condemnation of gay men and lesbians.

Same sex attracted people have always been part of Nigerian culture, but now many politicians and religious leaders want to characterize homosexuality as “unAfrican” and “immoral”. A “sodomy” conviction can already get you up to 14 years in prison in most of Nigeria and in the states of the north operating under Sharia law the penalty is death. The proposed Prohibition Act would make gay meetings, the registration of gay organizations, and any “public show of same sex amorous relationship directly or indirectly in public and in private (sic)” punishable by five years in prison. The bill would make media debate of sexual rights, any gathering of gay men and lesbians -political or social - and any private intimate relationship between two people of the same sex a crime. Extortion, already a common feature of the lives of most Nigerian gay men and lesbians, would know no bounds.

Passage of the proposed legislation would constitute a major violation of international and regional human rights standards and challenge the protections of freedom of speech, assembly and association in Nigeria’s own constitution. Even the US State Department has expressed concern that the proposed law would be inconsistent with Nigeria’s international obligations.

The proposed curtailing of free speech is particularly frightening in light of the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in Nigeria, where 5.4% of adults are HIV positive. HIV outreach workers must be free to provide HIV education and other services to men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women and to engage in frank, respectful discussions about human sexuality with all their clients. Anything less will jeopardize Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment efforts.

The debate over same-sex marriage is likely to rage for years, but the right to participate in that debate - or the debate over other controversial topics - should be sacrosanct. Nigeria has proclaimed itself ready to lead Africa, and the world, in the 21st century, by lobbying for a permanent seat on a proposed reconfiguration of the UN Security Council. The attack on basic human freedoms embodied in the Prohibition Act is a throwback, exposing the reactionary leanings of a government willing to crush an unpopular minority to make points with conservatives.

Nigerian media has reported that gay rights activists “stormed” the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Abuja in December of last year demanding their rights. In fact, openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Africans did participate in that conference, asking their governments, international donors and AIDS service organizations to pay greater attention to the HIV vulnerability of men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women. In response to this request, the Nigerian government is proposing legislation that threatens their very existence. In a country making claims to moral and political leadership on a continent struggling for economic justice, isn’t it already crystal clear that no part of the African family is expendable?

* Cary Alan Johnson is Senior Specialist for Africa with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission; Fadzai Muparutsa is Board Member,
Coalition of African Lesbians

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

The Zuma rape trial was going to raise many questions and bring divisions. I'm actually responding to the four women respondents who expressed their strong opinions in Pambazuka News 254 and starting with the featured interview with Delphine Serumaga.

Is it coincidence that they are all women? I'm not surprised by their diatribe, needless to say that I'm a man, but that does not really fashion my views on this one. There are parts of what they say I agree with and some (most in fact) that I don't and think that they are emotional, misdirected and confuse issues deliberately for the cause of fighting women's rights at the expense of reality and common sense. We all know that our society is "patriarchal", but we're trying hard to change that.

The Judge takes huge flak, unjustly as he was only doing his job, but there is recognition that he was "fair" and his judgment "correct". The alleged "gap in his understanding" is imaginary…the judge was aware of each and every piece of evidence led before him! People must realise that cases are won because there is strong and unassailable evidence, but rape is always difficult as it is the word of only two people against each other. I don't agree with the statement that the judgment was a "setback for women's rights" in general.

I agree that "Khwezi's" dignity suffered and will be difficult to reclaim, but nevertheless the legal system has done its best to "protect" her under the circumstances. Her name or picture may still not be published without consent, she is kept under extended witness protection even after the trial, and she is starting a new life away from SA at the state's expense.

It would be sad if indeed the judgment means that women who are abused are intimidated to approach police and courts, but the flip side also is that in such cases people may not abuse the system by claiming non-existent rapes, or fulfill other agendas via bogus rape charges.

Interesting that a Sunday paper published views from the public about the Zuma judgment and his aspirations for presidency. More important is that the majority (49%) "agreed with verdict, 40% didn't" and again a majority 51% "accepted Zuma's apology for his behaviour", only "42% didn't". These perceptions are likely to change over time. It is two years before the issue of the presidency really comes up for any serious contention. Besides, the ANC is capable of dealing with this issue within their structures, without any individual influence.

Money flowing into UK bank accounts from developing countries has surged in the past few years, dwarfing Britain's official aid budget, figures show, reports The Independent newspaper. The scale of the exodus of capital from countries with major social problems will raise fears of massive corruption and money laundering that will hurt the welfare of the world's most vulnerable people.

Europe has struck a deal with Morocco, a partnership agreement that gives European fishermen the right to take 60,000 tonnes of fish a year from Moroccan waters, reports the United Kingdom's The Times Online. "This deal is part of a new rape of African resources by Europe and it is the more shocking because it is being done as politicians throw billions of dollars of aid at the continent," the article says.

The Durban High Court has dismissed a bid by arms company Thint for further particulars on the corruption charges it is to face alongside former deputy president Jacob Zuma. "I can confirm that the application has been refused," prosecuting advocate Anton Steynberg said on Monday. However, Thint attorney Ajay Sooklal said the court's decision merely amounts to a "postponement of the matter".

The World Bank has approved a massive $200 million grant to the Tanzanian government towards its poverty reduction programme. The Fourth Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC-4) is aimed at helping the government provide incentives to implement key economic, social and institutional reforms to strengthen the overall performance of the economy and contribute to poverty alleviation. A key outcome of the reform programme, which is also supported by 13 other donors, over the period 2006-2010, is to sustain high rates of economic growth in the range of 6-8 per cent annually. If achieved, the World Bank says that this will "translate into a significant reduction of poverty incidence in the country."

Nigeria's anti-fraud squad launched a probe on Monday into allegations lawmakers have been bribed to change the constitution to allow President Olusegun Obasanjo to extend his hold on power. The investigation came days before a vote on the bill to amend the constitution in the Senate.

The transitional Somali government has achieved very little since its formation over 15 months ago. Recent fighting in Mogadishu notwithstanding, senior officials of the Somali transitional federal government maintain that they are making progress in stamping out lawlessness, despite lack of international support. Doubts also persist over the functionality of the transitional parliament. In an exclusive interview with The EastAfrican in Nairobi during the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) congress, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, the speaker of the Somali transitional parliament argued that the government - currently holed up in Baidoa - could move to Mogadishu within two months if it got support from the international community.