Deadlock. That’s the current state of trade negotiations in the lead up to a crucial World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong from 13-18 December. Expect “rude battles and fierce negotiations” during the meeting, writes Demba Moussa Dembele, as the United States and European Union try their utmost to wrangle a deal that will give them license to loot. In the face of intense pressure, African trade ministers must remember the welfare of their people, stand firm and resist the heavy-handed tactics they will be subjected to, Dembele writes.

In just a few days, Hong Kong will host one of the most important meetings of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). After the failure of the last ministerial meeting in Cancun (Mexico) two years ago, there are fears that history may repeat itself, because so far there is no consensus on some of the key issues to be discussed. The Draft Declaration issued by the Director General on November 26, 2005 and revised on December 2, 2005, has been criticized by several developing countries as being biased in favor of developed countries in many of the issues under negotiation, notably on services and industrial tariffs.

For African and other developing countries the stakes are clear: will this round be a real development round or will it be subverted by developed countries, notably the United States and the European Union (EU), to push for more liberalization and the opening up of developing countries’ economies to multinational corporations? Indeed, the current round of negotiations, called the Doha Development Round (DDR), was supposed to foster development and give more attention to issues of interest to developing countries. In particular, it was supposed to correct the egregious inequities and imbalances of the Uruguay Round Agreement on agriculture which allowed industrial countries to increase their support for their farmers, leading to a dumping of subsidized products on developing countries’ markets and to big distortions in the world prices of agricultural products.

But the Cancun fiasco and the current impasse illustrate the gap between developing and industrial countries regarding the interpretations of the Doha Round. The major sticking points of the negotiations include agricultural subsidies by developed countries, liberalization of the services sector and non-agricultural market access (NAMA).

Over the last two years, African countries have tried to harmonize their positions so as to strengthen their solidarity and defend more effectively their interests. This is especially the case for African least developed countries (LDCs) which joined other LDCs to raise their specific concerns. In their last meeting held in Arusha (Tanzania) on November 24, 2005, African trade ministers issued a statement called the Arusha Development Benchmarks for the 6th WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong, in which they exposed their views on some of the key issues to be discussed in Hong Kong.

Agricultural subsidies

They stressed the inadequacy of the proposals made so far on agricultural subsidies, which are one of the most contentious issues in the current negotiations. As is well known, cotton subsidies are the best illustration of the inequities and injustice inherent in the world trading system. The United States, which controls around 40 percent of the market, spends between $3 and $4 billion annually to support 25,000 farmers. This has had the effect of depressing cotton prices in world markets, hurting some 10 to 11 million African farmers. For African countries, the elimination of agricultural subsidies has become one of the key tests of the sincerity of developed countries to correct the imbalances that characterize the world trading system. In their statement, African trade ministers insist that agricultural subsidies be phased out by the year 2010 and call for the removal of all other structural distortions.

Given the formidable pressure from African and other developing countries on agricultural issues and the fear of another failure, the United States and Europe are maneuvering to shift the blame to developing countries. Both have made superficial concessions recently aimed at ‘meeting’ developing countries’ demands. For instance, on October 10, 2005, the United States issued a proposal indicating that it is ready to slash its agricultural subsidies by 60%. However the proposal is conditional on the EU and Japan agreeing to slash their subsidies by percentages, already rejected by both. In other words, the US proposal leads nowhere. On the other hand, the European Union, while criticizing the US proposal as ‘unrealistic’ and not feasible, has put on the table a proposal of its own, which puts the onus on the US.

Industrial tariffs

African trade ministers insist that obligations of African countries in this area should be commensurate with the continent’s development level and that they should be granted flexibilities and retain policy space. Moreover, any appropriate formula should allow Africa to pursue development objectives, such as industrial policy, employment creation and product diversification.

This position contrasts with developed countries’ push for drastic tariff reduction and rapid liberalization of industrial markets. The satisfaction of these demands would have a devastating impact on African economies. Already, crippled by structural adjustment programs, the remaining African industrial base would be eliminated and industrialization would be put on hold for an indefinite period. With little industrial prospects, Africa would attract ever fewer FDIs, except in the mining and extractive industries, which would reinforce the continent’s specialization in primary products. Industrial impasse will translate into the acceleration of the ‘brain drain’, further clouding Africa’s development prospects. Therefore, African countries should not heed the call for significant tariff concessions. They should retain these tariffs as a development tool.

Trade in services (GATS)

In this area, African trade ministers have rejected the call for rapid liberalization and the introduction of new approaches to the GATS framework. They have reiterated Africa’s right to regulate the services sector, to open up and liberalize fewer sectors in line with its development level and priorities. African resistance in this area is strongly echoed by other developing and emerging countries.

To understand the stakes in the services trade, one must keep in mind that they permeate all aspects of economic, social and cultural development. They range from education to health, from transportation to housing, from banking services to trash collection. Trade in services accounts for more than 25 percent of world trade and is growing rapidly. In several developed countries, services account for about two thirds of economic activity and over half of the world economy.

Therefore, liberalization in trade in services would represent a tremendous opportunity to boost these countries’ economies and pave the way for foreign control of key sectors in developing countries, as already is the case in many African countries. Indeed, a further liberalization in this sector would deal a major blow to African development prospects since this would lead to market delivery of many of these services, making them inaccessible to the overwhelming majority of the population. Moreover, liberalization in services would increase the role and power of foreign investors, thus hampering or severely limiting state-led development strategies. Furthermore, this would reinforce the current division of labor. In light of this, African countries are right in opposing further liberalization and the opening up of their services sector. They must have the right to use them as development tools under the control of national authorities to serve national development objectives.

The African agenda in Hong Kong

In light of the above, for African countries, a successful conclusion of the Hong Kong meeting should mean the satisfaction of the following:

- Removal of structural distortions in agricultural goods markets as a result of industrialized countries’ policies;

- The sovereign right to use industrial tariffs and other instruments to pursue their development objectives, especially to promote industrialization and full employment;

- Non-reciprocal market access and trade liberalization given the asymmetry between African and industrial countries in the world trading system;

- The right to protect their agricultural sector and use other policy tools to enhance the welfare of their citizens, in particular the right to food sovereignty;
- Set a firm deadline and a timetable for the elimination of agricultural subsidies, with transparent and verifiable monitoring mechanisms;

- Set up compensatory mechanisms for the trade losses due to those subsidies;

- Opposition to the imposition of services liberalization and the right to regulate services and liberalize them in line with their development priorities;

- Maximum flexibility in identifying special products (SP);

- Implementation of effective special and differential treatment (SDT) measures;

- Inclusiveness and transparency in the negotiation process.

Conclusion

Given the gap between African and other developing countries’ positions and those of developed countries, the Hong Kong Ministerial will give rise to rude battles and fierce negotiations. African countries will face an uphill battle. Agricultural issues will be the make or break issue in Hong Kong. As things stand now, only concessions by the US and the EU on subsidies and on other areas may break the deadlock and give a chance to the Doha Round.

The efforts of the United States and the European Union to convince world public opinion that they have made all the concessions needed have received the help of several leading multinational corporations. On November 8, 2005, CEOs and Chairmen from a number of these corporations published an editorial in the Financial Times, calling on WTO negotiators to conclude the negotiations “on time”! This elicited a swift response from several NGOs, which published a statement in the November 15, 2005 issue of the same Financial Times.

All this shows that governments of industrial countries and multinational corporations are united in pressuring developing countries into accepting to make concessions to further liberalize their economies to the detriment of their own populations. This campaign aims to intimidate developing countries’ negotiators and implicitly send the message that they would be to blame if the Hong Kong meeting were to fail. Intense pressure, heavy tactics and even physical threat may be applied by the US and the EU to get African and other developing countries’ negotiators to accept what they have refused since Cancun.

However, African trade ministers must stick with their demands and resist the pressures put on them. They must have in mind the fundamental interests of their countries and citizens. They must not fear another failure of the WTO, because Africa has nothing to lose. In reality, another failure of the WTO ministerial will further expose the hypocrisy, lies and injustices of the current trading system and illustrate its illegitimacy.

* Demba Moussa Dembele is Director, African Forum on Alternatives Dakar (Senegal)

* Please send comments to

What is the World Trade Organisation (WTO)? According to the WTO website, it’s “the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.”

Simply put, the WTO ministerial meeting scheduled to take place in Hong Kong 13-18 December is about negotiating the rules of trade between nations. These negotiations are of huge significance. Decisions made impact on the lives of millions of people.

For Africa, the stakes are high, especially in negotiations over agriculture, where currently obscene subsidies to rich country farmers put the squeeze on African producers. Then there are negotiations over trade in services, an increasingly lucrative area of world trade where rich countries want as much access to African economies as possible – regardless of the consequences.

If they haven’t already, decisions made at the WTO level are coming to a country, city, town or village near you. You might have noticed that one day you woke up and a multinational corporation was running your health service. Or perhaps you read in the paper about textile workers losing their jobs because of cheap imports. There are a thousand other examples. The point is that the hand of the WTO is pretty much in everything.

So, what’s going to happen at this WTO meeting? What are the main issues on the negotiating table? Will there be a deal and if so what kind of deal? The articles in Pambazuka News this week set out to answer these questions and provide the background details about what’s going to happen in Hong Kong and why.

- Pambazuka News

EDITORIAL: The Hong Kong WTO meeting will be of “rude battles and fierce negotiations” but Africa must stand firm in the interests of her people, writes Demba Moussa Dembele
COMMENT&ANALYSIS:
- Agriculture is a central issue of the Hong Kong WTO meet, but a deal is unlikely. Raj Patel says even if there was a deal it would have to ignore the demands and needs of agriculturalists in the Global South
- Developing countries engaged in WTO talks are being asked to "chase a black cat down a dark alley blindfolded”. Riaz Tayob warns of the danger of a deal that is an empty gift.
- What's going down on the streets of Hong Kong? Nicola Bullard answers questions from Pambazuka News
- Can't make sense of the WTO? Browse our facts, figures, glossary and background reading for more information.
LETTERS: Mahmood Mamdani sends an open letter to Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni telling him to reconcile with the living and not only the dead; The debate over Pan-Africanism revives
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine reports on Baby Faith, who died on World Aids Day
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD:
BOOKS&ARTS: A review of Simao Kikamba's Going Home, the story of a political refugee living in South Africa
GCAP NEWS: White Band Day 3 is on December 10
CONFLICT&EMERGENCIES: News from the watch list areas of DRC, Nigeria and Sudan
HUMAN RIGHTS: International Human Rights Day on December 10 focuses on torture; Statement on trade and human rights ahead of the WTO meeting in Hong Kong
REFUGEES&FORCED MIGRATION: No entry for Darfur refugees in Greece
ELECTIONS&GOVERNANCE: Egyptian elections end in violence; Kibaki faces dilemma in Kenya
WOMEN&GENDER: Africa's push for Reproductive Rights Fund rubs US the wrong way; 16 Days draws to a close
DEVELOPMENT: Why development aid fails to help the poor; News on the WTO
CORRUPTION: Oiling the wheels of corruption in Chad - World Bank style
HEALTH&HIV/AIDS: The vicious cycle of AIDS, poverty, and neoliberalism
ENVIRONMENT: Rich UK company sues Tanzania over water deal
MEDIA: Eritrean journlist gets moment of freedom before being sent back to jail
PLUS: News on advocacy, fundraising, e-newsletters, courses and jobs...

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO PAMBAZUKA NEWS: The origins of Pambazuka News can be traced back to December 2000, when the newsletter began as a tiny subscriber list distributing bits and pieces of information. Since then Pambazuka News has grown into a community of 18 000 subscribers! This week we are five years old. Thanks to all our supporters for helping us to survive the dangerous early childhood years.

* The lead editorial from Pambazuka News 231, Smile, Woman of Africa, Smile!, is now available in French. Visit Pambazuka News 231: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30542

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki's cabinet is being sworn in despite many nominees refusing to take up their posts. Four prospective ministers and 17 deputies, including two key allies, refused to accept posts. Mr Kibaki dismissed his entire team two weeks ago after he lost a referendum on a new constitution - a vote seen as a protest against him. Those snubbing Mr Kibaki say he is failing to consult coalition partners and ignoring the people's wishes. The swearing-in at State House is being broadcast live on Kenyan television. The new cabinet Mr Kibaki announced on Wednesday (December 7) evening was said to be made up mostly of old friends and colleagues. He rejected all the leading politicians who stood against him and backed the successful "no" campaign in the referendum.

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been granted permission to sign his presidential nomination papers from prison by the attorney general. He is accused of treason and terrorism in civil and military courts. The government says it has the evidence to convict Dr Besigye but his lawyers say the trials are designed to prevent him from competing in polls next year. Meanwhile, Uganda's foreign minister has called for a speedy trial for President Yoweri Museveni's opponent. Dr Besigye has been granted bail by the High Court, but remains in prison because of charges he faces in a military tribunal.

Security forces in Egypt have clashed with crowds of supporters of the banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood in the last stage of parliamentary elections. In some areas, police used tear gas and rubber bullets against people trying to enter cordoned-off polling stations. The Brotherhood, whose candidates stand as independents, has already made large gains, winning nearly 20% of seats. Islamists claim police tactics are designed to limit their gains and help the ruling National Democratic Party.

According to a BBC news report, Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been granted permission to sign his presidential nomination papers from prison by the attorney general.

Regional ministers converging on Kampala for a health finance conference were last week told that stringent aid requirements by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have made healthcare expensive and inaccessible to poor people in Africa. The Fair and Sustainable Health Financing (FSHF) summit, aimed at making funds available to ensure people have access to high quality public healthcare, was also told that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), are desperately off-track, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. "Unless there is an accelerated push towards achieving the MDGs, generation upon generation will be consigned to a life of poverty, disease and early death," says British charity Save the Children-UK in a policy document titled Time for Change, which was presented at the summit.

ActionAid International (AAI) is looking for a dynamic and committed individual to join its Affiliate/ Associate Development Team. This role will be responsible for providing support to the Head of Affiliate/ Associate Development in coordinating the internationalisation process of AAI.

Following the disastrous impact of the structural adjustment years, the World Bank and IMF have acknowledged that policy should be based on evidence rather than ideology, and have stated that they are developing tools and methods to analyse which policies are needed to reduce poverty. Poverty and social impact analysis (PSIA), introduced in the last four years, is one such method. This paper assesses the effectiveness of this approach in terms of the extent to which policy is informed by analysis of the potential impact of reforms. It also examines the institutions' commitment to stakeholder participation and country ownership.

Despite the United Nations' adoption 37 years ago of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, tens of millions have died over the years as human rights violations have been overlooked, IPS reports. While some lament the UN has not been able to do more to avert such atrocities, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina and former Kennedy administration official Dr. Jack N. Behrman says not all the blame should be placed at the feet of the world body. "The UN cannot possibly do enough, for it is composed of countries that do not 'buy into' the Declaration even if they have signed it," Behrman explains.

When does the pursuit of justice turn into revenge-seeking? This question, more than any other, lies at the heart of two issues that bedevil this country: a troubled political succession and the ongoing war in the north. Our response to these issues will shape both your legacy and the political future we bequeath the next generation. If it should seem audacious for an ordinary citizen to set aside normal courtesy and write an open letter to his President, I urge you to think of this letter not as the pursuit of political advantage but as an out-of-the-ordinary response in an extraordinary situation.

Political Succession

The reluctance to hand over power to anyone but close family is a widespread phenomenon in Africa and the Middle East. That those in power should want to hang on to it is not surprising, but their ability to do so is. A reflection of weak political institutions, the refusal to hand over power further weakens these institutions. The result is that even constitutional republics are coming to resemble monarchies.

This is the context in which I suggest we understand both the ‘third term’ controversy and recent charges brought against the principal opposition leader, Kiiza Besigye. The language of the ‘third term’ debate is misleading because you, Mr. President, are seeking a sixth – and not a third – consecutive term in office. Similarly, the current focus on whether or not Mr. Besigye committed rape and treason is also misleading. Whereas it is the business of the courts, civil and military, to decide the truth of these allegations, only the political authority has the power to decide whether and when to bring charges to court. Simply put, why has a 1993 charge of rape been brought to the courts 12 years later? And why is intent and preparation to mount a guerrilla struggle being construed as evidence of treason given that the promise to ‘return to the bush’ has become part of the political vocabulary of those members of Uganda’s political elite who, whether presently in government or in opposition, came to power in 1986 through a guerrilla struggle?

After all, was not the more striking fact about the period that followed the disputed election of 2002, an election whose conduct even the courts were reluctant to vindicate, that the opposition – even if it talked of and prepared to go to the bush – did not in fact take to the bush? My point, Mr. President, is that we need to focus on the political rather than the legal issues involved in the matter.

While the courts can settle the truth of these allegations, the public must concern itself with considering the political cost, and thus the political wisdom, of introducing these charges now, against the unquestioned leader of the opposition, a few months before an election that follows a highly controversial constitutional amendment. The point will be clearer if I compare the situation today with that of 20 years ago, when you had just come to power.

I believe history will acknowledge the building of a ‘broad base’ government after 1986 as a key political contribution of the NRM government. The broad base was a response to a context in which the NRM recognized that it did not have sufficient political support in the country as a whole to demand that those who had resorted to violence for political ends be brought to justice. Instead of taking them to court, the NRM offered them a political deal: give up the recourse to violence without giving up your objectives, and we will give you a share of power or simply the perks of office. How many of those who held positions in the broad-based cabinet could have been charged with accusations the courts would have upheld? What shall we call this: a legally unjustifiable impunity or a politically justifiable reconciliation? The answer is clear: it was the latter.

The lessons of 1986 are hugely relevant for 2006. As in 1986, now too both the political class and the citizenry are deeply divided. The whole point of the electoral system in a divided country, especially one with a recent history of civil war, is to shift the contest from the military to the political field, and thereby to demilitarize political competition. It is this achievement you are risking by insisting on taking Mr. Besigye to the courts – whatever the truth of the allegations levelled against him.

The War in the North

For a long time, the war in the North seemed to simmer as a local affair with local consequences. Even if most people were content to leave its conduct to the government, a growing number wondered why there was no end to it, why every round of peace talks was broken up by war talk, calling for a military victory amidst a military stalemate. The government pointed the finger north, to meddling by the government of Sudan. But now that war has ended even in the south of Sudan, that explanation can no longer suffice. Ugandans are compelled to look internally for an explanation as to why the northern war has continued for a second decade.

The facts are as evident as they are puzzling. First, the LRA guerrillas are estimated in the hundreds, rather than the thousands, with elementary training and rudimentary technology. Second, whereas the LRA preys on civilians, the government has interned most of the population (over a million) in barbed-wire camps, without providing them adequate security, food or medicine. I visited a camp of roughly 15,000 internees two years ago; it was ‘protected’ by 15 armed soldiers, and periodically raided by the LRA. Recent figures, both official and unofficial, show that the level of excess deaths in the internment camps far exceeds those killed by the LRA. Finally, and not surprisingly, most of the local population seems to have kept a distance from both the LRA and the government. So why does the northern war continue?

Does the answer lie in revenge, a vendetta rationalized as the pursuit of justice? Or does it lie in advantage? The case for both grows with time. First, has not the on going war channelled a growing proportion of the official budget to military uses, and created a vigorous constituency inside the army for a continued war and against a negotiated solution to it? Second, has this constituency not been further reinforced by those civilian leaders who realize that the security budget is relatively immune from scrutiny by outside agencies, such as the IMF? Third, is it not significant that every major regional intervention by Uganda – whether in Rwanda, Congo or Sudan – has been launched from the north, in light of the fact that the northern war provides a theatre for constant military mobilization? Fourth, is not the most evident consequence of the war a brutalization of the society in the north – particularly the million plus interned – and a militarized distortion of its politics? Fifth, is there not a corresponding political advantage gained by holding up ‘Kony’ as an alternative in the wings, a threat to the population should it demand that the government resolve Uganda’s own local ‘war on terror’ politically? And, finally, has not the continuation of this ‘war on terror’ in the north secured for your government a place as a front-line state in the global ‘war on terror,’ thereby assuring it the uncritical protection of an American political umbrella?

No one can answer these questions for sure, but no one can afford to ignore them. For one thing is certain: whether intended or not, each of the above outcomes spells out the rising cost of the war in the north for all of us.

The Issue is not Impunity, but Reconciliation

The conduct of the northern war has become more complicated by the entry of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC was created to hold governments accountable, especially concerning large-scale atrocities against civilians, defined in law as ‘crimes against humanity.’ This is why the internment of a million plus civilians in armed camps in the north, without adequate provision of security or food or medicine, should have been a matter of prime concern for the ICC.

But the ICC has chosen to focus its apparatus of justice on just one side of the conflict, the LRA. By providing impunity for the government while seeking to bring rebels to justice, the ICC is contributing to the continuation of the northern war, rather than to its resolution. No wonder the ICC is politically isolated in the country. Inexperienced and under great pressure to perform, the ICC needs to recognize that its involvement in northern Uganda is fast turning into a political and legal travesty, one from which it needs to step back if it is to avoid the first spectacular failure in its short career.

Mr. President, I was among many who were heartened when you talked of the need for reconciliation in the days that followed the death of former President Obote. I urge you, Mr. President, to fulfill the promise of 1986 – not just to reserve reconciliation for the dead, but to extend it to the living. Specifically, I suggest two measures: one a national reconciliation whose provisions are broad enough to apply to both Dr. Besigye and to the leadership of the LRA and, two, a disbanding of internment camps in the north as a first step to restoring normal civilian life there.

This is the prime requisite for building both a sustainable political community and a viable rule of law in today’s Uganda.

Yours truly,

Mahmood Mamdani

As a critique of development assistance from 2000-2005, this Global Policy Forum paper presents an overview of development assistance and its targeting and geographical allocation from 2000-2005. It analyses various features in rich countries' development assistance policies that make aid both insufficient and inefficient despite the recent increases in nominal aid amounts that make rich nations seem generous. The following issues are examined: new aid targets and the millennium development goals, aid and how it services strategic interests and the inflation of statistics to make non-aid look like aid.

Some of you may remember that as part of the World AIDS Day roundup I posted a piece from Kid’s Doc in Jos - http://www.ecwaevangel.org/blog/faith-died_72 - on 15th month old HIV+ twins Faith and Favour. At the time Faith was very ill with pneumonia. The heartbreaking news is that baby Faith died on Thursday 1st December – World AIDS Day, 2005 aged 15th months. He is survived by his twin, Favour and their mother.

“Faith died yesterday, in the ICU. Now his mom would like someone to care for his sister. She doesn’t see any way she can do it all herself, and find a job to support the two of them. I am so worn out this week, I’m sad about Faith, at the same time I feel bad that I no longer feel the full impact of a child’s death. And I wonder how I can even be sorry for myself being tired and failing to save Faith, when the mother’s loss is so great. Most of her ‘support team’, counselors from Spring of Life, left for the all-Africa AIDS conference in Abuja the morning after Faith died, so she’s lacking even that support right now.”

The death of baby Faith will leave all of us with a heavy heart but even more than that - anger. Anger at the complete failure of the Western and African leaders to deal with this terrible illness that is killing children and their parents. People with HIV and AIDS NEED DRUGS – without drugs there is nothing but death and more death. Faith never had a chance and neither will his sister or their mother. If he had been in Europe or had access to HIV drugs he would be alive today.

Aqumada - aqumada http://yekolotemari.blog.com/435192 writes about his recent experience of traveling in the West – a Black man with a US passport being detained and interrogated.

“A lone black traveler, however, does not have the same rights as other white travelers. The questions in the interrogation room mainly focused on my cultural and racial identity. Many ridiculous questions such as what my religion was and whether I go to the mosque were posed. Although irritating and embarrassing, I had to answer the questions in a way that would distance me from the stereotypical image of a terrorist (Arab and Muslim). At one point, one of the cops suggested that he remembered arresting me the previous week (a week I was not even in Britain). Not being able to control my anger, I lashed out at the police officers. Although he retreated from this question, I was probed via intentionally constructed misleading questions intended to find out whether I was an Eritrean/Muslim/Somali etc. I believe the fact that two Somali men (still at large) killed a British police officer during the previous week and the recent bombing incident that an Ethiopian man was involved in did not help.”

Nigerian Blog, Grandiose Parlour -
Grandiose Parlour http://grandioseparlor.blogspot.com/2005/12/nigerians-need-to-act-or-sh… writes that Nigerians need to “Act or shut up”. He is referring to the forthcoming 2007 elections which are already being heatedly debated in the Nigerian blogosphere and national media.

“Nigerians including my humble self are darn good critics, but unfortunately our rants hardly get transformed into actions. A good example is the current political nonsense unfolding in Nigeria, despite the outcry from all corners of Nigeria and the world it appears those with the powers to act are not listening or ready to take action.”

Ethiopian blog Weichegud! ET Politics - Weichegud http://weichegud.blogspot.com/2005/12/dedessa-new-waterloo.html has a commentary on the Channel 4 documentary “Ethiopia’s Agony” and the report in last Sunday’s London Observer “Democratic Dawn in Ethiopia Fades as Abuses Come to Light” both of which report on the thousands detained in the Dedesa concentration camp set up my Prime Minister Meles who seems to be competing with Mugabe to see who can commit the worst atrocities on their own people and political opposition.

“Only the minds of the people who run the EPRDF could have thought no one would notice the arresting of tens of thousands of people and dumping them in a detention camp.”

Nonetheless as Wonkette writes

“It will take a few more thousand deaths before the main stream media latches on to this story. That is inevitable. The world will be outraged. One of the imprisoned leaders of the opposition will die in prison. A couple of high-ranking government officials will resign/defect and spill the beans. In order to hide what has happened in Dedessa, the government will commit even more atrocities. And the rest will be history. It's a textbook case of an autocrat who has worn down the welcome mat.”

And that’s about it!

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

* Please send comments to [email protected]

The signing on Monday of a new constitution for south Sudan marks an important milestone in the implementation of the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), an analyst said. "This is the first time since independence that the south has got its own constitution," said a political analyst. "It is not just the document; it is the contents," he added. "It will be the foundation of the new Sudan. It spells out people's rights and protections. The government and the president will be held to account using the constitution, and it contains important provisions with regard to equal rights for women and media freedom."

After fairly successful political transitions in Burundi and Rwanda as well as high voter registration in DRC, the EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Louis Michel, has called for the revival of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries of Africa (the Communauté Economique des Pays des Grands Lacs, or CEPGL). Michel met with Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, who was on a four-day visit to Belgium. According to EU Spokesperson Amadeu Altafaj, Nkurunziza has sent all the positive signals that the donors were expecting of him, including the holding of free and fair elections; his woman-friendly government; and his policy priorities of education and reconciliation.

The naming of a new prime minister has breathed fresh life into divided Ivory Coast's faltering peace process but squabbling could soon arise over how much authority he should have, analysts said on Monday. As part of an African Union peace formula to reunite Ivory Coast, Charles Konan Banny, 63, governor of West Africa's central bank, was named prime minister late on Sunday. The U.N.-backed deal gives Banny powers to carry out disarmament and electoral reforms, meant to lead to presidential elections by the end of October next year.

The World Bank is failing to live up to its clean energy mandate, agreed at the 2005 G8 Summit, figures in a new report from the bank reveal. The revelation comes as the World Bank is taking an increasingly high profile and controversial role at the UN climate talks currently underway in Montreal. The Bank hopes to control several global funds and initiatives supposed to help solve the climate crisis. But the World Bank's own energy report exposes the institution's failure to act on its mandate from G8's Gleneagles summit to "take a leadership role in creating a new framework for clean energy and development." The bank's report shows that 60 per cent of its supposed support for renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE & EE) is in fact for big hydro projects.

The United Nations Security Council has urged all governments to freeze the assets and travel of two persons linked to past arms sales to Liberia. The two individuals -- a Syrian-born accountant from Texas and a Ukrainian-born businessman with an address in the United Arab Emirates -- are said to have ties with an international gunrunner linked to former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, who is wanted on war crimes charges in Sierra Leone.

U.N. humanitarian envoy Jan Egeland tramped through deep mud in squalid camps housing victims of Zimbabwe's shantytown demolitions on Monday (December 5), and said those living there were in tremendous need. President Robert Mugabe's government has bulldozed urban slums and what it called illegal structures in an operation the U.N. says left 700,000 people homeless or without a livelihood and affected 2.4 million others. Egeland, the top U.N. official to visit since the crackdown ended in May, visited people living in makeshift plastic-sheeting shelters in Hatcliffe 20 km (12 miles) outside Harare, a camp often waterlogged by rain.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other United Nations officials today (December 3) marked the International Day of Disabled Persons - who constitute the world's largest minority group - with a call for a continuing commitment to secure their equal rights and full participation in society. He and other senior UN officials urged a successful conclusion to talks on the Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.