Information released today (March 8) by the World Bank reveals that it has failed to ensure proper protection of the environment and local peoples in its programmes to 'develop' the vast rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which are the second largest on Earth after the Amazon, reports the Rainforest Foundation. The revelations come following a preliminary investigation by the World Bank Inspection Panel, the official independent watchdog agency.

FEATURES: Ayesha M Imam begins a series of articles on women's rights and Islam by considering women’s reproductive and sexual rights within Muslim Nigeria
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Marywam Uwais argues that Islam and women’s rights are compatible
- Dr. Muhammad Tawfiq Ladan states that a significant relationship exists between the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and Sharia
- Islam and women’s rights are not mutually exclusive, writes Karoline Kemp
- Nyaradzai Mugaragumbo-Gumbonzvanda pays tribute to the heroines of the African continent
LETTERS: China in Africa, Corruption in Kenya, elections in South Africa
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Everyday should be women’s day, says Tajudeen Abdul Raheem
OBITUARY: Remembering John la Rose
BLOGGING AFRICA: African bloggers honour women
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Behind the numbers in the DRC
HUMAN RIGHTS: Truth, reconciliation and an end to impunity in Liberia
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Searching for opportunities at home and abroad in Ghana
WOMEN AND GENDER: Lowly news status of women continues, study shows
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Besigye acquitted in Uganda, vows to fight on
DEVELOPMENT: A critique of the MDGs from the South
CORRUPTION: The cancer of corruption in Africa
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Ignore the World Bank, government minister says
EDUCATION: West African cities jammed with jobless graduates
ENVIRONMENT: Africa can’t afford more bad hydro
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Activists condemn North African curbs on the internet
PLUS…News from the Diaspora, Advocacy and Campaigns, Internet and Technology, e-Newsletters and Mailing lists, Fundraising, Courses and Books and Arts.

* Can trade in the era of globalisation be 'just'? Read our issue on the subject and send your feedback to
www.tsotsimovie.com

In addition to its Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe nominations, Tsotsi has already won numerous awards including: Audience Award, LA Art Film Festival; People’s Choice Award, Toronto International Film Festival; Audience Award, Edinburgh International Film Festival; Audience Award, Denver International Film Festival; Greek Parliament Award, Thessaloniki Film Festival.

Screening takes place on Friday 10th March at 8pm
At Magdalen College Auditorium (Longwall St entrance), Oxford
Entry £5 (£3 concessions)
Proceeds to Fahamu’s programme in South Africa

The winners of tickets to the screening of Tsotsi are:

Isaria Mwende
Philip Jusu
Musukoroh Kandeh
Mohamed Berray

Kenya should ignore donor restrictions and employ health workers needed urgently countrywide, an assistant minister has said. The country needs 10,000 health workers to offer improved services, Health assistant minister Enock Kibunguchy said. "We have to put our foot down and employ. We can tell the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to go to hell," Kibunguchy said.

This is an opinion piece by Uganda's President elect, Yoweri Museveni. It begins as follows, "I salute the people of Uganda for, again, giving a strong mandate to the National Resistance Movement (NRM). Although there were organisational problems, such as, poor civic education, which led to 4% of "spoilt" votes, the clear margin of the NRM's win is unmistakable for those who are serious. The recent victory of the NRM in the just concluded Presidential and Parliamentary elections is the latest in the 40 years' struggle against sectarianism, subservience to foreign interests, criminality and backwardness."

The recently held local government elections - held on March 01, 2006 - were neither an expression of the 'will' of the people nor a sign that 'our democracy is maturing' as Thabo Mbeki in collusion with the Independent Electoral commission [IEC] wants us to believe.

Instead, the elections should be viewed in the correct context: an unequivocal message to the ruling African National Congress [ANC] that the poor masses are 'gatvol'.

Unwittingly or wittingly, a substantial number of the electorate has rejected the top down neo-liberal policies that have exacerbated the country's poverty.

The government's apartheid era-style repressive response to civil society's organised 'election boycott' campaigns needs to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Just two days prior to the elections, the Durban City Council brutally attempted to prevent a legal march by the ever-growing movement of the shack dwellers 'Abahlali Base Mjondolo'.

Mainstream institutions and 'experts', who are always quick to remind us of how wonderful our 'democracy' is, are yet to condemn this horrific action and police repression in Khutsong, which, for many, undoubtedly, brought back memories of the 1980's, and the notorious 'State of Emergency'.

Despite the IEC's ambitious and extravagant 'Power of X' media campaign, less than 48% of the registered 22 million voters cast their vote. Of these, less than 11 million voted ANC. A large number did not even bother to register.

It is therefore puzzling that the ANC is "humbled" and "grateful" of this embarrassing situation.

What the ANC and government should be asking is why is the South African electorate so disillusioned with the electoral process, only twelve years since the first democratic election in 1994.

In the days leading up to the election, the public was bombarded with numerous clearly well calculated news items of how effectively government was 'delivering' on services. The evening news increasingly broadcast reports on government ministers and officials officially opening schools or clinics in indigent parts of the country.

'Kingpins' of this propaganda project should be made aware that there is absolutely nothing special with Manto Tshabalala Msimang opening a new clinic in KwaZulu-Natal or Naledi Pandoor opening a school in some rural area. It is simply their job for which they are handsomely remunerated.

And access to adequate education and health care are constitutionally guaranteed basic rights which, even after twelve years of so-called democracy, remain elusive for the majority.

The elections were also a further indictment to opposition parties, who had, in the midst of electioneering, portrayed themselves as an 'alternative' to the ANC, and pledged to fight corruption and poverty. Their failure to acknowledge that it is the top down capitalist policies of the ruling party that breed corruption and poverty grossly undermined their claims.

Whilst most progressive formations might be discouraged by the ANC's 66% victory, there is certainly an indication that the level of dissatisfaction with the current 'developmental' agenda is growing.

There is an urgent need to educate the poors on alternatives to neo-liberalism. The masses need to be made aware that there are alternatives to the current 'criminal' systerm that forces many to steal, lie, cheat, and even sell their bodies to survive.

Indeed, a systerm that seeks to commodify every aspects of our lives, with dire consequences for the poorest of the poor, must be condemned and fought with the same amount of vigour and rage that characterised the struggle against apartheid.

Racism and racial discrimination are on the upswing and becoming widespread throughout the world, with the current global situation confirming the worst expectations that man's worst tendencies are created in the womb, a United Nations expert on racism warned today (March 7). While racial discrimination used to be the province of extremist far right political parties, it is now becoming a regular part of democratic systems, being blended in for example with the fight against terrorism, Doudou Diène, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance told the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva.

Not guilty is the verdict. One down, three to go. Dr Kizza Besigye was the loser on the February 23rd elections in Uganda, but he emerged victor in the High Court, after Justice John Bosco Katutsi acquitted him of the charge of rape. The High Court decided there was no merit in Joan Kyakuwa's case, and consequently dismissed it. It provides some respite for Kizza Besigye, who still has three cases pending; of treason, concealment of treason and another of illegal possession of firearms.
Related Link:
* Besigye accuses Museveni of dividing Ugandans

* Besigye defies army court
http://allafrica.com/stories/200603061181.html

“Since March 6, 1957, we as a people declared ourselves to be a people with one nation, commonly sharing diverse characteristics like religion, language, history, territory, institutions, culture, statehood or aspiration to statehood. The majority of the present generation was not involved in the fight for freedom from the ‘oppressor’s rule.’ Indeed, at all times in the struggle of a people, it takes a courageous few to be in the frontline - of course with a lot more unsung heroes in the shadows. But a question that has received varied responses, as many times as has been asked is, what we have done with our independence?"

John Githongo's recent revelations about corruption in Kenya are timely and welcome. What most people do not realize is that in most 3rd world countries corruption is top-down-bottom-up i.e. it originates from the president, and over 95% of acts of corruption (by value) result in a large (typically 80%) share of the proceeds going back up the ladder directly to the president. The 20% share stays with the perpetrator of the corruption; and the 80% guarantees that the perpetrator enjoys protection at the highest level. The illegal income of the average 3rd world president is usually composed of many many such scams, some very large and others comparatively small. I state the above based on personal experience while working on World Bank and EU Projects in Uganda and Tunisia in 2005.

As Githongo estimates, 7% of the GNP of Kenya disappears in corruption; this is probably a typical value throughout the 3rd world. The result of this is that the functions of government, ministries, police, armed forces etc are totally diverted from their stated purpose into the business of ensuring the required cash flow for the top man. No wonder that most 3rd world governments are ineffective in building their economies, but are remarkably effective in appearing to destroy these self-same economies; no wonder that so many important government functions end up being implemented by aid donors and NGOs. Indeed, because of a multiplier effect, 7% of GNP disappearing in corruption is probably equivalent to a 21 - 28% of GNP loss to the economy.

While we in the West are congratulating ourselves, we should consider the role of our oil companies (especially Shell), our mining companies, and of course the international diamond monopoly, de Beers. These people instigate and collaborate with corruption in order to make 3rd world presidents rich and their people poor; their top management of course benefit, and in some cases their shareholders.

The solution to these problems? First of all, an exposure of this reality and an end to denial and cover-ups by western politicians, western leaders and western media. The populations and voters of western democracies must not turn their backs on their less fortunate fellow humans just because they themselves have money in their pockets. The truth will eventually set free the victims of this anything-but-victimless crime.

The Nigerian anti-graft agency said Thursday that it was investigating 37 cases of corruption against several elected state governors. "The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) is investigating 37 cases of corruption against some state governors," the agency's spokesman, Mike Sowe, told AFP on behalf of his boss, Olayinka Ayoola.

The Minister for Energy and Minerals, has said that Tanzania was committed to the implementation of the Zambia-Tanzania interconnector, which would enable the country to be connected to Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) Grid and benefit from its arrangement. In a speech read on his behalf by his Deputy, at the official opening of the SAPP meeting in Dar es Salaam, he said the current power shortage in the country has been due to the depletion of water in the main reservoirs of Mtera and Nyumba ya Mungu, adding that if Tanzania was an operating member country, it would have imported 120 MW through SAPP grid to fill in the power shortage.

This booklet about the role of culture in development and cooperation efforts was published by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It contains background information, programme guidelines, and lessons learned, as well as project examples from Mali, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Romania, Macedonia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. The authors argue that culture is an essential element of life and plays a major role in development. The 44-page publication builds on the efforts of other organizations over the past several decades, and the entire text is available online at Development Gateway.

Three opposition parties with representation in Parliament have come together to form the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) with a view to float one Presidential candidate in this year's elections. The United Party for National Development (UPND), Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) and UNIP formed the alliance and would soon meet to elect a leader of the alliance through a vote before elections. But Heritage Party (HP) president Godfrey Miyanda has said his party would not force itself on the proposed opposition alliances if not invited while the MMD welcomed the formation of UDA as it signified the strength of the ruling party.

Some four million registered voters in Benin began queuing Sunday (March 5) at polling stations throughout the West African country to choose a successor to President Mathieu Kerekou who has been in power since 1972, except for a five-year break when Nicephore Soglo ruled. Twenty-six candidates are in the race for president. But political analysts believe candidates Adrien Houngbedji, Bruno Amoussou and Yayi Boni are front runners. Kerekou and Soglo are not running this time because the constitution bars people in their age category, 70, from contesting the presidency.

Half of Kenya's Sh55million Commonwealth games budget will be spent on allowances for officials, The Standard has revealed. The country is sending one of the largest delegations to the 'Club' Games in Melbourne, Australia, with officials making up a third of the 160-strong team. The full list of the travelling party to the Games obtained by The Standard on Sunday paints a picture of extravagance and contradictions. All but two of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) officials are travelling.

A group of electees representing the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) in both the Addis Ababa City Council and the federal parliament this week started attempts at reviving the stalled process of legalization of their party. CUD, which used to constitute four parties, decided on September 24,2005 to merge into one unitary party. But the merger was put on hold when one of its constituting party, EDUP-Medhin, leadership declined to give full support and put preconditions to go ahead with a complete merger.

A fresh attempt by Kenyan investigators to question managers of a French firm mentioned in the KSh 2.7 billion passports scandal hit a brick wall when the executives flatly refused to meet them in Paris. Two senior Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission investigators, who had travelled to France after securing an appointment to interview Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciaire (FCOF) managers, got a rude shock when they were turned away.

The National Housing Corporation will spend Sh33.6 billion to build 20,000 houses in 90 towns, according to it's chairman. The "90 towns housing programme" was allocated Sh1.2 billion in the current financial year. The programme is scheduled to end in 2009.

Despite making Monday a public holiday to allow Ugandans to turn up in big numbers to elect their mayors and directly elected councillors in 12 municipalities countrywide, the election suffered a low turnout.
Related Link:
* Uganda: A shrinking voters role

The United Nations next week (March 6) launches a new global emergency fund to provide swifter relief to victims of natural disasters, but with far less money on hand than the $500 million it had hoped to raise. The Central Emergency Response Fund will have just $188 million when it opens for business, which is nonetheless a significant improvement over an existing UN standby loan facility of $50 million. Donations to the new fund, which will be able to make grants as well as loan money, have come from 19 of the 191 U.N. member-states.