This is a valuable collection of key documents relating to human rights adopted by the African Union and its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, and includes selections of decisions and resolutions of the Africa Commission on Human and People's Rights. The book also contains relevant documents from NEPAD. It will serve as a useful reference text, and has useful short annotations that help the reader understand the significance of decisions and resolutions. Published by Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), ISBN: 0620346728

EDITORIALS: The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa comes into force this week. It's time to Smile, Woman of Africa, Smile!
- Pambazuka News begins a weekly feature on trade agreements between Europe and Africa
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: WSIS aftermath: What happened to human rights?; Browse the WSIS bazaar
LETTERS: Readers on how the other half dies; the politics of fear in Ethiopia and the shame of Tunis
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine tells us what's being talked about in the African blogosphere
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem wants a Pan-Africanism for the people
BOOKS AND ARTS: Meet the Chairman of Fools in our latest review of novels from the African continent
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: News from Darfur, Eritrea and Niger
HUMAN RIGHTS: Human rights defenders under threatening conditions in Ethiopia
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: UNHCR office temporarily halts operations as asylum seekers go on hunger strike
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Kibaki humbled as Kenyans say no to constitution
WOMEN AND GENDER: Women victims of "gendercide"
DEVELOPMENT: WTO ambush warning
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Bird flu in Africa, dysentery in Zimbabwe
MEDIA: Uncertainty over release of journalist held for four years without charge in Eritrea
FUNDRAISING: Fundraising QuickGuides: Special offer for Pambazuka News readers
PLUS...Courses, jobs, e-newsletters, internet and campaigns

This week holds two important events for African women. The 25th of November marks the start of the 16 Days of Gender Activism Against Violence, an international campaign meant to raise awareness about gender violence, strengthen the work of local organisations and demonstrate the solidarity of women around the world. Incorporating the International Day Against Violence Against Women (November 25th) and International Human Rights Day (December 10), the goal of the campaign is to link violence against women to the fact that it is a human rights violation. November 25 is also especially important for African women, as it is the day that the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa comes into force. Having been ratified by the requisite 15 African countries, this extremely important and progressive treaty has the potential to liberate and empower all African women to know and utilise their rights. That’s why A.N. Kithaka, in the article below, makes an eloquent plea for Kenya to ratify the protocol. Extolling the advantages that the Protocol will have on African countries, Kithaka argues that the work done by numerous groups around the globe is imperative to gender rights, and to leaving behind violence against women as a things of the past . below Kithaka’s article are a list of resources on 16 days and the Protocol - suggested websites, further reading, blogs and events. (French version available)

Women of Africa, we have cause to celebrate; the long awaited ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of the African Woman by the requisite 15 member states has just been announced. The Protocol will come to force soon (November 25). Those states that have deposited their instruments of ratification with the Executive Council will be at liberty to incorporate its provision into their domestic laws.

It has been a long journey; a journey and a battle well fought by national, regional and international lobby groups. Most of us were not aware of this but we are glad that their collective and consistent lobbying, cajoling and canvassing has finally born fruits. The Second Summit of the African Heads of Governments and States sitting in Maputo, Mozambique finally adopted the Protocol as a supplement to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. The only rider was that it had to be ratified by 15 states out of a possible 53 member states. The fifteenth state to deposit its document of ratification with the Executive Council did so on the 26th day of October, meaning that within 30 days from this date, the Protocol will come into force! It has been correctly taunted as the Green Card that will usher us to a new era. It not only guarantees us a wider spectrum of human rights specific to our needs as the much oppressed and repressed creature of the old (and new!) millennium, but also allows us to seek redress in the yet to be constituted African Court of Human and Peoples Rights. Unfortunately, Kenya is yet to ratify the protocol, perhaps due to the present national preoccupation with the referendum. Nevertheless, it will not be an up hill task to nudge the government towards the right direction - it appears malleable.

The big question is, how soon will women in Kenya join the proud list of those countries that have chosen to give their women an early Christmas gift by ratifying the document? How long will the women in Kenya have to camp on this renegade side of the Red Sea as they wait for the magic word 'ratification' to part the raging waters and usher them to that other side where gender discrimination, repulsive FGM, forced marriages and widow inheritance, domestic and sexual violence, etc. are a thing of the past? Not long, I hope.

We must join hands to lobby for this ratification at all costs. Only then can we rise and say “Eureka!” Otherwise we may as well be content to sit on this side for an eternity, as we watch our sisters from Cape Verde, Mali, Malawi, Lesotho, Comoros, Libya, Namibia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Djibouti, Mauritius, Senegal, South Africa, Benin, Togo and Gambia take the first steps into the soggy sea bed to personal freedoms.

After ratification and domestication; we must move to the next important stage: that of educating the masses on its benefits, without forgetting to bring on-board our dear fathers, brothers, husbands and sons. Some of the opposition being waged against the Wako Draft Constitution is because it promises equal inheritance rights to women, especially married women. One would think that the Draft is introducing new concepts into our legal jurisprudence, yet the Succession Act has been around since 1981!

Most women have refused to enforce their rights, even when assured that the law is on their side. Others do not want the incessant fights over meager family resources with hostile male relatives; visits to infamous land offices make many cringe. They prefer to hide behind the mask of traditions as they denounce their shares in favour of their brothers.

Men fear losing control over their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. They subscribe to the primitive belief that the only way to subjugate and subdue a woman is by denial of basic rights and freedoms; and application of gender-specific violence; rape and physical assault being the most popular today. In our mother's days, denial to basic and secondary education was the weapon of choice, and being forced to resign from paying jobs in favor of 'staying-at-home –to-take-care-of-the-children' edicts. Even today's educated man wants to confine his woman to that perpetually smoky room called the kitchen (after work, that is!).

Dissenters are deserted, attacked, maimed and killed with impunity. Those lucky enough to escape and fend for themselves are given cold treatment by a society that brands them prostitutes, husband grabbers and social failures. Any property they acquire in their single state will be grabbed or inherited by their estranged husbands, brothers, uncles and fathers. Any children they leave behind, especially girl children, are mistreated, forced to leave school and become house girls, or married off to total strangers who profess kinship to their parents. Sometimes they are shunted off to rural areas where they are forced to undergo abhorrent traditional rites. Would it not be better for governments to facilitate the fostering of such children so that they can continue to live in the manner and style they were accustomed to when their mothers were alive?

That is why advocacy groups must do more than just lobbying for adoption of international legal instruments; they must help women from rural areas apply them to improve their lots and those of their children. Atieno from Ahero, Wanjiku from Waithaka, Kalekye from Katse and Naliaka from Narok must be facilitated, both materially and intellectually, so that she is aware of her basic human and women’ rights and how these can be enforced at the national, regional and international courts of justice. Let us gang up and apply the shock therapy to disgorge men from their entrenched prejudices; let us wean them from the present retrogressive and chauvinistic mindset that has been passed from generation to generation.

In his play, ‘Measure for Measure’, Shakespeare introduces a character called Angelo. He is the law enforcer who brokers no-nonsense deals when it comes to matters of justice. He refuses to temper justice with mercy and holds that the law must be obeyed to the letter - at the beginning of the play, anyway. What happens later is for the curious to find out. He is famously quoted as pontificating that 'we must not make a scarecrow of the law, setting it up to catch birds of prey till custom finding it harmless makes it their perch and not their terror'.

Our advocacy skills and efforts must translate to visible changes in the lives of our people; they must not remain mere 'open sesame' to donor funds; let us canvass for enactment of laws, but let us not leave them to be mere scarecrows that are set up to frighten birds of prey, and…men!

* A. N. Kithaka is an Advocate in Kenya.

* Please send comments to

Supporting organisations of the campaign for the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women

African Centre for Democracy And Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) http://www.acdhrs.org/
Akina Mama wa Afrika www.akinamama.org/
Association des Juristes Maliennes http://www.justicemali.org/ajm.htm
Cellule de Coordination sur les Pratiques Traditionelle Affectant la Sante des Femmes et des Enfants
Coalition on Violence Against Women http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FAHAMU http://www.fahamu.org
FAMEDEV-Inter-African Network For Women Media, Gender and Development
FEMNET - African Women's Development and Communication Network http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
Sister Namibia
Union Nationale des Femmes de Djibouti
Voix de Femmes http://www.voixdefemmes.org/
University of Pretoria Center for Human Rights http://www.chr.up.ac.za/
Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternatives
Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) http://www.wildaf.org/
Resources
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/home.html
Peace Women http://peacewomen.org
Akina Mama wa Afrika http://www.akinamama.org/
Equality Now http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FEMNET http://feministafricansisters.blogspot.com/
Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman http://madkenyanwoman.blogspot.com/
Black Looks http://www.international-alert.org/publications/121.php
Trafficking in Women and Children in Africa http://www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/
African Experiences of Transnational Feminism http://www.feministafrica.org/2level.html

Pambazuka News Special Editions on the Protocol
Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa: A Pre-condition for Health and Food Security
Challenges of Domestication: The Protocol To The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on The Rights of Women in Africa
Women and Sustainable Development -
Female Genital Mutilation -
Female Refugees - http://www.baobabwomen.org/upcomingevents.html
South Africa – Women’s Net http://womensnet.org.za/16Days/calendar.shtml
Agenda in Durban, South Africa Contact [email][email protected]
Kenya – COVAW http://www.covaw.or.ke/
Ghana – Ark Foundation http://www.arkfoundationgh.org/news/home.htm
International Calendar http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/kit05/calendar.html

Sourit femme d’Afrique, sourit!
A. N. Kithaka
Cette semaine, deux évènements importants pour les africaines auront lieu. Le 25 Novembre marquera le début des seize jours d’activisme contre la violence à l’égard des femmes, une campagne internationale créée dans le but de sensibiliser l’opinion à la violence contre les femmes, de renforcer le travail des organisations locales et de démontrer la solidarité des femmes dans le monde entier.
Incorporant la Journée internationale pour l’élimination de la violence à l’égard des femmes (le 25 Novembre) à la journée internationale des droits de l’homme (le10 Décembre), le but de cette campagne est de relier la violence à l’égard des femmes au fait qu’il s’agit d’une violation des droits de l’homme. Le 25 Novembre possède également une signification importante pour les Africaines dans la mesure où il s’agit du jour ou le protocole entre en vigueur relatif aux droits de la femme en Afrique. Ayant été ratifié par les 15 pays africains nécessaires, ce traité extrêmement important et progressiste possède le potentiel d’émanciper les Africaines et de leur offrir la puissance que donne le fait de connaître et d’utiliser ses droits. C’est pourquoi A.N. Khitaka, se lance, dans l’article ci-dessous, dans un éloquent plaidoyer pour la ratification du traité par le Kenya. A.N.Khitaka vante les avantages que le traité offrira aux pays d’Afrique, elle assure que le travail effectué par de nombreux groupes dans le monde entier est d’une importance vitale pour les droits des femmes ainsi que pour faire de la violence contre les femmes une chose du passé. Au-dessous de l’article de A.N. Khitaka se trouve une liste de ressources sur les seize jours et sur le protocole : sites suggérés, lectures conseillées, blogs et évènements.

Femmes d’Afrique, nous avons une raison de nous réjouir, en effet nous avions longtemps attendu la ratification du protocole relatif aux droits de la femme en Afrique par les 15 pays nécessaires d’Afrique : elle vient d’être annoncée. Le protocole entrera bientôt en vigueur (le 25 Novembre). Ceux des états qui ont déposé leurs instruments de ratification auprès du Conseil Exécutif auront la possibilité d’en incorporer les articles au sein de leur droit national.

Ce fut un long voyage ; un voyage et une bataille bien menés par des groupes de défense des droits de l’homme nationaux, régionaux et internationaux. La plupart d’entre nous l’ignoraient, mais nous sommes maintenant ravis que leurs pressions, cajoleries et démarchages aient fini par porter leurs fruits. Le second sommet des chefs d’états et de gouvernement se tenant à Maputo, au Mozambique a finalement adopté le protocole comme supplément à la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples. La seule clause additionnelle était qu’il devait être ratifié par au moins 15 états sur les 53 états-membres possibles. Les 15 états à déposer leurs instruments de ratification auprès du Conseil Exécutif l’ont fait le 26e jour d’Octobre, ce qui signifiait alors que le traité devait entrer en vigueur à 30 jours de cette date ! Il a été correctement décrit de façon plaisante comme la « Carte Verte » qui inaugurera une ère nouvelle. Non content de nous garantir une palette élargie de droits humains répondant spécifiquement à nos besoins de créatures les plus lourdement opprimées et réprimées de l’ancien (et du nouveau !) millénaire, il nous permet de chercher réparation auprès de la future Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples. Malheureusement, le Kenya n’a pas encore ratifié le traité ; c’est peut-être dû à la préoccupation actuelle vis-à-vis du référendum. Cependant, pousser du coude le gouvernement dans la bonne direction ne devrait pas se révéler une tâche insurmontable : il a l’air influençable.

La grande question est la vitesse à laquelle les femmes du Kenya viendront s’ajouter à la fière liste des pays qui ont choisi d’offrir à leurs femmes un présent de Noël avant l’heure en ratifiant le document. Combien de temps les femmes du Kenya devront elles attendre de ce côté renégat de la mer Rouge que le mot magique de « ratification » ouvre les flots rageurs et les projette sur l’autre rive, là où la discrimination contre les femmes, la répugnante Mutilation Génitale Féminine (excision), les mariages forcés, la pratique du lévirat, la violence sexuelle et domestique sont des choses du passé ? Pas longtemps j’espère.

Nous devons à tout prix unir nos efforts dans un lobbying visant à obtenir cette ratification. Alors seulement pourrons-nous nous lever et nous écrier « Euréka ! » Sans cela, nous pourrions tout aussi bien nous contenter de rester éternellement sur cette rive pour regarder nos sœurs du Cap-Vert, du Mali, de Malawi, du Lesotho, des Comores, de Libye, de Namibie, du Rwanda, du Nigeria, de Djibouti, de l’île Maurice, du Sénégal, d’Afrique du Sud, du Bénin, du Togo et de Gambie faire leurs premiers pas sur le fonds marin détrempé qui les mènera vers la liberté de l’individu.

Après ratification et domestication nous devrons progresser vers la prochaine grande étape : celle de l’éducation des masses à ses bénéfices, sans oublier de prendre à bord nos chers pères frères, époux et fils. Une partie de l’opposition au projet Wako de constitution vient du fait qu’il promet des droits d’héritage égaux aux femmes, surtout aux femmes mariées. C’est à croire que ce projet introduit de nouveaux concepts dans notre système juridique, et pourtant le « Succession Act » existe depuis 1981 !

La plupart des femmes ont refusé de faire valoir leurs droits, même une fois assurées que la loi était de leur côté. D’autres ne veulent pas d’incessantes querelles au sujet de maigres ressources familiales avec des membres masculins de la famille. La perspective de se retrouver dans une sordide officine de province en fait reculer beaucoup. Celles-là préfèrent se réfugier derrière le masque des traditions en renonçant à leur part en faveur de leurs frères.

Les hommes craignent de perdre le contrôle de leurs mères, sœurs, femmes et filles. Ils adhèrent à la croyance primitive selon laquelle on ne peut dompter et soumettre une femme qu’en la privant de ses droits et libertés essentiels ainsi qu’en appliquant une forme de violence spécifique à sa féminité, le viol et l’agression physique en étant les moyens d’expression les plus populaires aujourd’hui. Du temps de nos mères, leur arme de prédilection était le refus d’accorder aux femmes une éducation primaire et secondaire; elles étaient également contraintes à démissionner de leurs emplois rémunérés par des décrets du type « mère au foyer avec enfants ». Même l’homme éduqué d’aujourd’hui tente de confiner sa compagne dans cette pièce perpétuellement enfumée qu’on appelle la cuisine (après le travail, bien entendu).

Les récalcitrantes sont abandonnées, attaquées, blessées et tuées en toute impunité. Celles qui ont la chance de s’en sortir et de subsister par leurs propres moyens sont traitées en parias par une société qui leur colle une étiquette de prostituées, de voleuses de maris et de rebuts de la société. Tout bien qu’elles acquièrent sous leur statut de célibataire sera saisi par les maris, frères, oncles et pères dont elles sont séparées ou leur sera offert en héritage. Tout enfant laissé derrière elles, sont maltraités, les petites filles surtout sont forcées à devenir servantes, ou bien l’on s’en débarrasse en les mariant à de parfaits inconnus se faisant passer pour un membre de la famille de leurs parents. Parfois on les expédie à la campagne où elles doivent subir d’odieux rites traditionnels. Ne vaudrait-il pas mieux que le gouvernement facilite l’adoption de tels enfants, de façon à ce qu’ils puissent continuer à vivre dans le style et la manière qui était les leurs du temps où leurs mères étaient encore en vie ?

C’est la raison pour laquelle les groupes de défense des droits de l’homme se doivent de faire davantage qu’exercer un simple lobbying pour l’adoption d’instruments légaux internationaux ; ils doivent aider les femmes des zones rurales à les faire appliquer afin d’améliorer leur lot quotidien ainsi que celui de leurs enfants. Il faut faciliter l’existence d’Atieno d’Ahero, de Wanjiku de waithaka, de Kaleyke de Katse et de Naliaka de Narok à la fois matériellement et intellectuellement pour qu’elles puissent prendre conscience de leurs droits de base en tant qu’êtres humains et en tant que femmes et de la façon dont il est possible de les faire respecter devant des tribunaux régionaux, nationaux et internationaux. Unissons nos forces afin d’appliquer une thérapie de choc qui obligera les hommes à renoncer à leurs préjugés les plus enracinés ; corrigeons-les de l’actuel état d’esprit rétrograde et phallocrate qui leur a été transmis de génération en génération.

Dans sa pièce intitulée Mesure pour mesure , Shakespeare introduit un nouveau personnage nommé Angelo, le régent qui rend de dures sentences en matière de justice. Il refuse de mêler la miséricorde à la justice et déclare que la loi doit être suivie à la lettre : au début de la pièce en tout cas. Nous laisserons aux curieux le soin de découvrir ce qui se passe ensuite. Lors d’une réplique célèbre, il pontifie sur le fait suivant : « l’on ne doit point faire de la loi un épouvantail, le préparant à attraper des oiseaux de proie, jusqu’à ce que l’habitude le leur faisant juger inoffensif ils en viennent à en faire leur perchoir au lieu de leur terreur ».

Notre dextérité et nos efforts dans la défense d’une cause doivent se traduire par des changements visibles dans les existences des gens de notre peuple ; elles ne doivent pas rester un simple « Sésame » pour nos donneurs de fonds, militons pour la promulgation de lois, mais ne les laissons pas devenir de simples épouvantails à oiseaux de proies et ... à hommes !

*A.N.Khitaka est défenseur des droits des femmes au Kenya

*Prière d’envoyer vos commentaires à :

Organisations soutenant la campagne pour la ratification du protocole relatif aux droits de la femme

African Centre for Democracy And Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) http://www.acdhrs.org/
Akina Mama wa Afrika www.akinamama.org/
Association des Juristes Maliennes http://www.justicemali.org/ajm.htm
Cellule de Coordination sur les Pratiques Traditionelle Affectant la Sante des Femmes et des Enfants
Coalition on Violence Against Women http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FAHAMU http://www.fahamu.org
FAMEDEV-Inter-African Network For Women Media, Gender and Development
FEMNET - African Women's Development and Communication Network http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
Sister Namibia
Union Nationale des Femmes de Djibouti
Voix de Femmes http://www.voixdefemmes.org/
University of Pretoria Center for Human Rights http://www.chr.up.ac.za/
Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternatives
Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) http://www.wildaf.org/
Resources
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/home.html
Peace Women http://peacewomen.org
Akina Mama wa Afrika http://www.akinamama.org/
Equality Now http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FEMNET http://feministafricansisters.blogspot.com/
Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman http://madkenyanwoman.blogspot.com/
Black Looks ns/121.php
Trafficking in Women and Children in Africa http://www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/
African Experiences of Transnational Feminism http://www.feministafrica.org/2level.html

Editions spéciales de Pambazuka News sur le protocole
Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa: A Pre-condition for Health and Food Security
Challenges of Domestication: The Protocol To The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on The Rights of Women in Africa
Women and Sustainable Development -
Female Genital Mutilation -
Female Refugees - http://www.baobabwomen.org/upcomingevents.html
Afrique du Sud – Women’s Net http://womensnet.org.za/16Days/calendar.shtml
Agenda à Durban, Contact Afrique du Sud [email][email protected]
Kenya – COVAW http://www.covaw.or.ke/
Ghana – Ark Foundation http://www.arkfoundationgh.org/news/home.htm
Calendrier international

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has conceded defeat in a crucial vote on a new constitution. "My government will respect the will of the people," he said, looking sombre, in a live television address. The BBC's Adam Mynott says the result is a huge setback for Mr Kibaki who led the "Yes" campaign. Many used the poll to protest at Mr Kibaki's leadership.

* Related Links:

- Perspectives on the November 21st Referendum
http://kenyasocialist.org/kswsfiles/2005/kenya_referendum_perspectives…

- Congratulations to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on winning the November 21st Referendum
http://kenyasocialist.org/kswsfiles/2005/congratulations_to_odm.htm

Somali blog, Ayaan Hirsi Ali - (http://ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl/log/4184803) which is dedicated to the work of Dutch Somali MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali reports that the “once tolerant Dutch society has been transformed by the action of Islamist murders and threats”. Film director Theo Van Gogh was murdered last year by an Islamic extremist because of the film he made with Hirsi Ali which exposed domestic violence in Islam. Since then Hirsi Ali has been under 24 hour protection. She is now in the process of making another film about homosexuality in Islam which no doubt will put her in even more danger.

The Big Pharaoh – The Big Pharaoh (http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com/2005/11/islamist-gains-in-egypt-give.html) reports that the recent gains by Islamists in the Egyptian elections will give George Bush “pause for thought”. He believes this to be good news as it may slow down the democratic process which will put more pressure on the present Egyptian regime.

“That's good news. I have always argued for a slow transition to democracy in Egypt. In other words, pressures to be added on the regime so it opens up a bit by bit. Abrupt democracy and sudden elections are not necessary the best way forward.”

Coalition for Darfur - Coalition for Darfur (http://coalitionfordarfur.blogspot.com/2005/11/uganda-un-to-step-up-sup…) reports that the UN is planning to increase its activities in Northern Uganda where the Lord’s Resistance army rebels are based in order to provide support to some 2 million refugees displaced by this conflict.

“Nearly 2 million people have been displaced by the 19 year-old conflict, 1.7 million of whom live in over 200 squalid and overcrowded camps, relying largely on international assistance to survive. Estimates indicate that more than 1,000 people a week die from disease or violence, according to a July 2005 Ministry of Health/UN World Health Organization (WHO) mortality survey.”

Kenyan blogger Mshairi - Mshairi (http://mshairi.com/index/index.php) posted a roundup of Kenyan blogs on the Kenyan Constitutional Referendum held on Monday 21st November –
Kenya and the Constitutional Referendum (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/2005/11/21/kenya-and-the-cons…)

“In brief, the draft constitution proposes investing the presidency with greater powers, the main area of contention for the Orange campaign, which favours a constitution where a prime minister shares executive powers with the president. While both the Yes and No campaign have concentrated campaigning around this issue, attention has shifted from other proposals such as the call for radical land reform, the outlawing of gender and other discrimination and the inclusion of clauses providing for affirmative action.”

Mzansi Afrika - Mzansi Afrika (http://mzansiafrika.typepad.com/mzansi_afrika/2005/11/apartheid_era_m.h…) reports on the mass graves uncovered in Namibia which date back to the Apartheid era when South Africa occupied Namibia.

“The graves were found near Eenhana 850km north-east of Windhoek. This was a military base for the South African army's 54 Battalion. Over 300 people are said to have died as a result of the fighting. According to Peter Tseehama, the Namibian Minister Safety and Security, "some of the bones were children's, possibly siblings of former freedom fighters". He said other items found were guns, bullets and parts of what might have been explosives. "The bodies appeared to have been burnt before being thrown into the graves.”

The bodies are believed to have been SWAPO soldiers blind folded and executed then dumped in the graves.

Black Looks - Black Looks (http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2005/11/i_would_rather_.html)has a report on the Ugandan lesbian and gay activist who has been in hiding in Kampala for the past 4 months. Ms Mukussa went into hiding following a raid on her home by security forces and the arrest of her Kenyan house guest. She has now decided to sue the Ugandan security official responsible for the raid in order to highlight the human rights violations faced by the Ugandan Lesbian and Gay community.

“By taking the matter to court JM hopes to use the case as a tool in the advancement of gay rights in Uganda and elsewhere in East Africa. By declaring the violation of her rights she is making a larger statement about the rights of LGBT and human rights advocates to be able to carry out their work and live their lives without treat of invasion.”

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

* Please send comments to [email protected]

I was excited to read Stephen Lewis' article on 'How the Other Half Dies'. It immediately clicked in me that this is the same title that already appeared as a title of a book by Susan George back in 1977: 'How the Other Half Dies: The real reasons for world poverty.'

I thought it would be interesting to let you, readers and Stephen Lewis himself know (maybe he does, I don't know, am curious), so that we remember who has already fought in the struggle with exactly the same headline.

A paper from the University of Leicester in the UK describes how Tanzanian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the cities of Arusha and Dar es Salaam make use of email and the Internet in their daily operations. The paper examines the role of ICTs within the wider context of liberalisation in Tanzania and the ways in which ICT usage among local NGOs reinforces specific relationships with Northern NGOs and donors.

Developing countries cannot achieve sustainable growth and poverty reduction unless they integrate into the world economy. Trade reforms are necessary, but not enough to maximise the potential benefits of trade. Negotiations at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December, 2005 should also focus on establishing an 'aid for trade' mechanism, reports ID21, the development communication web portal.

Kenya has just come out of a period of voting for a Constitution. As Maina Kiai argues, what is at the core of this Constitution is not really what it claims to be, instead it is about power and ethnic politics. Kiai describes the political climate behind this referendum, but also offers some suggestions for solidarity and action. Communities of faith must gather together and make any efforts, no matter how small or symbolic they may be, to show Kenya and its government that it is peace and tolerance that is needed.

International aid groups last Thursday called on the World Bank and other donors to suspend support for Chad if the government changes a law that ensures oil profits from a major oil pipeline benefit the poor, reports Reuters. In a statement, Oxfam America, Bank Information Center, Environmental Defense and Friends of the Earth France said Chad should explain its current liquidity crisis, which has prompted the planned change to the World Bank-backed revenue management law. They also called for an independent audit of the country's public finances, as well as steps to improve transparency and efficiency of the budget system.

The World Bank states that as of the end of 2004, 39 million people worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS, of which more than 95 per cent were in low- and middle-income countries. Nearly two-thirds are in sub-Saharan Africa, and nearly one in five in South or Southeast Asia. The World Bank has been carrying out efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS and mitigate its impact since the late 1980s. Most efforts have been over the last decade: only 9 free-standing AIDS projects and 22 with AIDS components of at least $1 million have been completed. Nearly two thirds of its global projects and commitments have been launched since 2000, the majority of which are accounted for in the Africa Multi-Country AIDs Programme (MAP).

In direct contrast to its newly-appointed leadership role to address climate change and finance renewable energy, a new report from Friends of the Earth (FOE) exposes the World Bank's failure to meet its own modest commitments to shift support away from dirty energy. The report points out that as "the world's foremost multilateral development institution", the Bank could be "in a key position to drive policy and financing for clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency in developing countries". The report reveals that the Bank has failed to reach the commitment it made last year to increase its renewable energy financing by 20 per cent each year for the next five years, and has continued to pump massive amounts of low-interest loans into oil, gas and coal projects.

Bold statements made by the UN special rapporteur on the right to food argue that international law is binding on organisations such as the World Bank, IMF and WTO, reports the latest update from the Bretton Woods Project. In his September interim report to the UN General Assembly, Jean Ziegler analyses negative impacts of the policies of the World Bank and IMF on the human rights of vulnerable populations in the South. Given that the power of nation-states is often "eclipsed by other actors", the traditional boundaries of human rights to regulate the power of other international actors such as the BWIs should be extended, and systematically elaborated.

The ghosts of Rwanda are stirring ever more ominously in Darfur, writes Sudan watcher and commentator Eric Reeves. "Differences in geography, history, and genocidal means do less and less to obscure the ghastly similarities between international failure in 1994 and the world's current willingness to allow ethnically-targeted human destruction to proceed essentially unchecked," he writes.

Close to 200 supporters of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood were arrested before the start of the second phase of polling in Egypt's parliamentary elections opened on Sunday (November 20), security sources said. According to the Mail and Guardian, around 100 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood were detained in the Fayyum governorate about 100km south of Cairo, the sources said.

Vowing defiance in the wake of a series of incidents that may have loosened his grip on power, Chad’s President Idriss Deby has removed members of his own ethnic group from the military’s top posts. Speaking on Wednesday (November 16) to hundreds of supporters gathered outside the presidential palace, an embattled Deby pledged to stand firm despite recent desertions and attacks on the military.

After 18 years at the helm of Burkina Faso, President Blaise Compaore has won a new five-year term, garnering a massive 80.3 percent of the vote in the country’s first multiparty presidential race. Releasing the results of the 13 November poll, the head of the Independent National Election Commission, Moussa Michel Tapsoba, said that the closest runner-up, opposition leader Benewende Stanislas Sankara, won 4.94 percent of the vote.

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party emerged from a crisis meeting of its top executive at the weekend to deny claims of internal divisions in its ranks. The ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting was called to heal a rift between President Thabo Mbeki and the party's former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, which has degenerated into the worst crisis the ANC has faced since being elected to power in 1994.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said he will stand for re-election in next March's polls. Mr Museveni, who came to power 20 years ago, was due to step down but speculation had been rife for the past two years that he would stand again. His announcement comes at the end of a week of riots and controversy surrounding the arrest of his main political rival. Dr Kizza Besigye is in prison awaiting trial for treason and rape.

The World Bank, Ethiopia's largest donor, says it is considering cutting aid to the country if the current political impasse there continues according to a recent article in Voice of America by Ashenafi Adedje (16th November 2005). The Bank currently disburses four to five hundred million dollars a year in assistance to Ethiopia. However, Ishac Diwan, the World Bank’s country director for Ethiopia, noted that this amount will increase if governance improves or decrease over time if governance fails to improve. The World Bank representative declined to be more specific, saying the exact figures will have to be determined by bank management in accordance with prevailing circumstances.