The third and last day of the Southern African Social Forum (SASF) dealt with the crisis in Zimbabwe and presented resolutions produced in the different topical workshops. Starting off with presentations from Zimbabwean activists on the crisis in their country, the Forum closed with a way forward for struggle in the whole southern African region. One of the reasons why Zimbabwe had been chosen to host the SASF was that so much focus was placed on the country, and activists wanted to come here to see with their own eyes what is happening, organisers of the Forum explained to Indymedia/South Africa. While it was a challenge to organise the logistics of the Forum, especially since the lack of fuel in the country made transportation of delegates difficult, Zimbabwe is a key country in the struggle against imperialist oppression causing poverty and social under-development, as well as the struggle against internal repression and lack of democratic rights. As such, the SASF was held in the midst of a place where all the reasons for struggle exist too obviously. For the rest of this article and other reports from the SASF, visit http://southafrica.indymedia.org/

The Yes (Banana) and No (Orange) campaigns go head-to-head October 18 in a 70-minute live radio and television debate. Prof Anyang' Nyong'o, Mr Chris Okemo and Mr Mutula Kilonzo will front the Orange platform while Mr Paul Muite, Mr Raphael Tuju and Dr Mukhisa Kituyi will speak for the Banana campaign. The debate seeks to refocus attention on the issues that have given rise to the differences over the proposed constitution and divided the Cabinet and country and paralysed Parliament.

At the end of this month, Tanzania will be holding elections. The Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) is sending two observer missions to the country - one to the islands of Zanzibar, and one to the mainland. Visit the EISA Tanzania country profile on our web site for more information. The political overview has been recently updated and features an archive of data from past elections, as well as links to relevant EISA publications (Election Updates, etc) and press releases regarding the EISA observer mission.

Burkina Faso’s Constitutional Court has thrown out an opposition bid to stop President Blaise Compaore running for a third term in elections which are less than a month away. Five opposition candidates in the 13 November poll had appealed to the court to declare Compaore’s bid for re-election null and void on the basis of Artcle 37 of the constitution, which sets a two-term ceiling on the office of president. In 1997, the clause was amended by a stacked parliament, which lifted the ceiling to enable heads of state to remain in office for life. But in 2000 parliament re-introduced the two-term limit and reduced the presidential term from seven to five years in office.

Vote for your candidate in complete anonymity,” the advert says, “Call right now!”. Presidential elections will not take place as scheduled on 30 October but Ivorians can pick up the telephone and declare their choice instead. The privately operated telephone poll is all about easing the atmosphere of mistrust that has gripped the political process in Cote d’Ivoire, according to the scheme’s mastermind, Hamed N’Cho. “I wanted to show that you can organise elections in a relaxed and playful atmosphere and that you can vote without getting into an argument or a fight,” he told IRIN. The warring parties in Cote d’Ivoire have plodded through three years of missed deadlines – steps that were to have led to presidential elections at the end of this month. The polls have been shelved for what could be a full year, over what the UN described as the “intransigence” of rebel and government factions.

Under the auspices of a continental steering committee ([email protected]), national coalitions, regional and international organisations and networks affiliated to the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) will meet in Harare, 7-10th November 2005. Organised by Mwelekeo wa NGO, the workshop seeks to review the status of the campaign and develop ideas and plans for the next phase of the campaign beyond 2005. While funding allows for 30-40 participants to be sponsored, self-sponsored delegates are welcome to apply by writing to the organisers or the steering committee.

Liberians will vote again in a second round of presidential elections after last week's ballot proved inconclusive, the country's election commission said. Former soccer star George Weah has won almost 29% of the vote, with ballots from 90% of polling stations counted. However, this will be short of the 51% he needed for an outright win. Mr Weah is now set to face nearest rival Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in November to decide who becomes Liberia's first elected head since the civil war ended. Ms Johnson-Sirleaf, a former finance minister and veteran opposition politician, has secured nearly 20% of the votes counted so far - a fair way ahead of the third-placed candidate Charles Brumskine.

To their critics, foreign aid workers in Africa serve a new form of imperialism: in their zeal to do good, the argument goes, they prop up a humanitarian system that perpetuates the continent's dependence on outsiders. To their supporters, international NGOs help the hungry and excluded, campaign for trade reform and take big risks to expose human rights abuses, often fostering African self-reliance in the process. However, one thing friend and foe agree on: for better or worse Africa 's attempts to tackle the issues that govern its fate are influenced increasingly by a growing army of foreign NGOs.

Authors: Dom, C.; Mussa, M.
Produced by: Mokoro (2005)

This study examines financing options available to the Government of Ethiopia and donors to support the Education Sector Development Program (ESDP) in Ethiopia. The report discusses the available options as well as a set of criteria for choosing amongst the options. The report highlights four important factors to consider: the Government's preference for budget support modalities; donor concerns to focus support in a meaningful way on the education sector; concern on the part of both government and donors to support and strengthen Ethiopia's decentralised system; and the desire on the part of both government and donors to overcome perceived limitations of existing aid instruments in mobilising additional resources to support education.

Ghanaian blogger, “The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen” - - (http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/) has an amusing story about a song which poked fun at a small Ghanaian town called Tubodom. The elders of the town were very angry over the lyrics and started a campaign to ban the song. However this only made the song even more popular and the town itself is now on the tourist map.

“And teachers from the village who are working in other parts of the country are reported to have asked to be sent home because students have been making fun of them...Other Ghanaians, though, have expressed a desire to visit the previously little-known place.”

Africa Unchained, Africa Unchained - (http://africaunchained.blogspot.com/2005/10/rebuilding-africa.html) reports on the rise of the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India & China) and their relevance to Africa.

“The Rise of BRIC the nations is dispelling the myth about archaic political doctrines and development models. The countries in question cut across all ideological spectrum and continents (except Africa). They all seem to agree on one thing - that the "market" is king."

African Refugees based in Australia - African Refugees (http://africanrefugees.blogspot.com/2005/10/on-female-circumcision-and-…) reports on FGM and the law in Australia.

“All procedures involving partial or total removal of the external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs, whether for cultural or other reasons, are prohibited by the law...In fact, the law says it is illegal to 'aid, abet, counsel or procure a person to perform female circumcision or FGM on a woman, girl or female baby'; even if the female wants it to be done."

Black Star Journal - Black Star Journal (http://popeyeafrica.blogspot.com/2005/10/not-him-too.html) points out a growing “intolerance towards dissent” being shown by Senegalese President, Abdoulaye Wade as yesterday (Tuesday 18th October) the government closed down the country’s most popular radio station, SUD FM.

“Sud FM landed in hot water for interviewing a hardline leader of the MFDC, a group that wants the southern Casamance region to secede from Senegal. The government said Sud FM's interview had posed a threat to state security, according to the BBC. Rebroadcasts of the interview were banned and the case had been referred to the state prosecutor.”

Black Star Journal points out the irony of the President’s action as it was the independent media that helped him gain the Presidency in 2000 and comments:

“Perhaps Wade confused this with loyalty to his person and has been shocked that the press hasn't shirked its civic duty now that opposition leader has become president of the Republic.”

Sudanese Aid worker’s controversial blog , Sleepless in Sudan - Sleepless in Sudan (http://sleeplessinsudan.blogspot.com/2005/10/ive-been-accused-of-bloggi…) responds to those who have accused her of “blogging to much on the problems of Darfur and the mistakes people are making – and not offering any bright solutions myself."

She therefore offers one solution:

“Send us those Canadian armoured personnel carriers...There are currently 105 armoured personnel carriers stuck in a warehouse in Senegal - waiting to be transported to Darfur so that the African Union soldiers can use them in their patrols. Unfortunately, the Sudanese government - which has very little concern about the safety of people in Darfur - is refusing to let the shipment come into the country unless it gets a certain degree of control over their use. After much negotiation, it seems that 35 have now been granted permission to come here.”

Nigerian blogger, Jangbalajugbu-Homeland Stories – Jangbalajugbu Homeland Stories (http://www.edwardpopoola.com/blog/) has a horrific story from Nigeria that shows the brutality of mob rule Lagos style. A young 11 year old boy was caught attempting to steal a baby and subsequently the boy, Samuel was burnt to death by a Lagos mob.

“At a point, Samuel mentioned his mother in the course of his self defence and the angry mob asked him to take them to where his mother was. Samuel was not allowed to walk on his own, he was gruesomely dragged like a sheep to be slaughtered. His was worse than Mel Gibson’s passion of the Christ. It was a wicked scene and I felt for him as he was gradually loosing the right to his life. When Samuel pointed at a woman as his mother, the woman outrightly denied knowing who he was. And then, all of a sudden, someone threw the fire! As the fire burnt his head, Samuel, with the last batch of energy in him ran frantically to quench it. He tried it three times consecutively. After each success, he was ignited again. At the third attempt, he was too weak to give a fight. He burnt to ashes."

What an African Women Thinks - What An African Woman Thinks (http://wherehermadnessresides.blogspot.com/2005/10/in-blackness-of-my-s…) discusses the changing nature of identity - what is it that “constitutes her Africaness?”

“How times change. Now, I think of myself not as a Christian who happens to be a woman and African, but an African woman who is a Christian. Is it an identity I’ve constructed for myself as a response to a global hierarchy that places the African woman at the very bottom of the rung? Or is it a facet of my identity that's always been there but has never needed to assert itself? Like a gem with myriad faces, perhaps, and each time you turn it, the light refracts differently, unveiling a 'new' image?”

* Please send comments to [email protected]

The number of people dying from chronic hunger and related illnesses is on the rise, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. More than six million people have died from hunger this year, said WFP director James Morris, in comments to mark World Food Day. "Hunger and related diseases still claim more lives than Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined," he said.

The United Nations may have to consider withdrawing its monitors from the tense Ethiopia-Eritrea border, Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned. He said the Eritrean government had not been cooperating with the UN and had limited the movement of the UN troops. The UN border mission announced the immediate withdrawal of peacekeepers from 18 of its 40 monitoring posts.

South Africa's ruling ANC is fighting to win back grassroots members in revolt over issues from a lack of jobs and crumbling municipal services to the graft trial of popular sacked Deputy President Jacob Zuma, reports Reuters. New hotlines at the party's Johannesburg headquarters have been taking calls from members across the country. And on Sunday President Thabo Mbeki took the lead, delighting rural audiences in the Vaal district with a speech denouncing corrupt local officials.

Corruption is on the rise in some rich countries as well as poorer ones, research by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International suggests. The group's Corruption Perceptions Index labels Bangladesh and Chad as the most corrupt places on the planet. TI's survey asks businesspeople, academics and public officials about how countries they live in or do business with are perceived.

Several high-profile long-term review processes have occurred in recent months, reports the October edition of the Justice Africa/GAIN briefing. "The United Nations General Assembly made a four-year review of the Declaration of Commitment (DoC) made at the Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) in June 2001. UNGASS was proposed by several groups, notably the International Council of AIDS Services Association (ICASA), to encourage progress on the Millennium Goal of halting and starting to reverse the AIDS epidemic by 2015. The news is that since 2001, there has been regress on this goal, with larger numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and with little indication that global growth will have slowed and declined in ten years."

During early September an appeal to Botswana's President Mogae had been circulated. It requested support for the initiative to approach the President with the intention that he revokes his declaration of Prof. Kenneth Good as a Prohibited Immigrant (PI). Within seven days more than 150 members of the academic community in 20 countries (incl. Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa) from four continents signed up. The list included prominent scholars of international standing and on good terms with Botswana's authorities. It hence reflected and testified to the honest concern the appeal tried to articulate. The appeal was submitted with all names attached on 15 September. In the absence of any response it was re-submitted on 3 October. Since President Mogae was the guest speaker at this year's Oxford Union, a third effort was made on 10 October with the intention to receive a favourable response to the suggestion that this might be an excellent opportunity to announce in midst a gathering of renowned scholars committed to the virtues of academic freedom that the PI status declared on Prof. Good would be revoked.

The local daily "Mmegi" published on 14 October a big story offering a fair account of the efforts - but interestingly enough under the heading "European (sic!) academics plead with Mogae on Good" (http://www.mmegi.bw/2005/October/Friday14/1027315029819.html). It quoted Jeff Ramsay, the Press Secretary to the President, who confirmed to the paper receipt of the letters but commented that "the state has no plans to allow Good back into the country" and "that as far as the government is concerned, the case is over".

The same evening of October 14, President Mogae delivered his address at the Oxford Union on "Globalisation and Good Governance", which he opened as follows: "It is a pleasure to return to these hallowed halls. Every time I come back I am again reminded of when, I first came here as a student straight out of the then Bechuanaland Protectorate. In the four decades since, my homeland has changed in many ways besides its name. I suspect I may have as well." And in the course of his speech, which made not a single direct reference to either the ongoing controversies around the Bushmen, nor to the case of Prof. Good, President Mogae stated: "Let me firmly state my own conviction that good governance based on what are now commonly accepted as international standards is an absolute prerequisite for sustainable development in today's world. I further believe that governance must in the end be about maintaining an evolving institutional framework by which people at the local and national levels continue to have a meaningful say about the domestic policies that shape their lives."

Many thanks to all, who by reacting affirmatively to the appeal supported the case not only of Prof. Good but of demanding academic freedom in general. Independent of the outcome, it is a testimony to our desire to uphold and protect minimum values and norms in respect of our scholarly endeavours. Any further individual views concerning President Mogae's position could be directly articulated to the Office of the President ([email protected]) and in copy to the President's Press Secretary Dr. Jeff Ramsay ([email protected]).

Citing reported violations of freedom of opinion and expression in Tunisia as the North African country prepares to host the World Summit on the Information Society next month, a United Nations human rights expert has called on the Government to release unconditionally all press- and opinion-related prisoners. “I have also been alarmed by the polarization of opinions and the lack of dialogue with the Press, two elements which could seriously jeopardize the progress of media freedom in the country,” the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Ambeyi Ligabo, said in a statement, calling on the Government to allow the full exercise of those rights.

Thank you so very much for this special issue (Pambazuka News 222: Women's Rights Protocol: Challenges of Domestication)....keep up the good work.

It was with rude shock that I read of the untimely and needless death of my brother Chima Ubani. I have known Chima by reputation as the president of the students union of the University of Nigeria in 1985/86 sessions. Chima was an intelligent, committed and fearless leader. His sheer dexterity, eloquence and intelligence confounded many. Chima devoted almost all his adult life to fight for the poor and the voiceless. He was their voice and their true representative. I recall how in 1996 at the height of General Sani Abacha misrule when I went to Ikoyi prison for my normal routine of interviewing and filling applications for the release of awaiting trial prisoners who had been in prolonged detention without trial, I was surprised to see Chima who had just been brought to Ikoyi prison from one of the secret detention centers that the Abacha acolytes scattered all over Nigeria. I was delighted to take back the news to other comrades in the Civil Liberties Organisation.

As the Coordinator of the Centre for Democracy and Development, I have worked closely with Chima on other initiatives especially the CDD driven Citizens Forum for Constitutional Reform. In any initiative Chima undertook under the different fora that we collaborated, he displayed unimaginably commitment, drive and energy, which is rare to find among his peers. That Chima is no more is hard to take but we are all mere mortals and shall all meet our creator one day. Before I left Nigeria late in August I met Chima a couple of times mostly at meetings in Abuja. How could I have known that the last meeting in early August would be the last with the icon?

Like the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress said last week, I hold the Obasanjo government solely responsible for the untimely demise of Chima. The present administration has in the last six and half years of its mal-administration inflicted Nigerians with the most insensitive policies that have further impoverished the citizenry. Obasanjo and his cohorts have turned out to be uncaring despots, extremely autocratic and intolerant of other views or public opinion.

The untimely death of Chima should instead of making us weak should instead give us strength. What better legacy can we leave for the name of Chima other than to continue from where he stopped? We should use all democratic means to fight for the ideals for which he lived and died for. We should also not forget his dear wife, children and dependants. Chima was their breadwinner and now that he is gone, the civil society and all people of good will should remember to assist his family one way or the other. I will call on comrades at CLO to take the lead on this.

Adieu my brother Chima. We will never forget you.

EDITORIAL: Nearly ten years after the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa the guns and intimidation of the Nigerian authorities still can’t kill his ideas, says Nigerian writer Ike Okonta
COMMENT&ANALYSIS
- Writer and filmmaker Carol Chehade explores genocide in the DRC and what it means for our common humanity
- Pambazuka News Q&A article: Jacob Lenka of the Transformation Resource Centre in Lesotho talks about displacement as a result of a World Bank water project
- Election observer Peter Hurst finds the democratic spirit alive and well in Somaliland
- Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni is on track for his next term, writes Ronald Elly Wanda
LETTERS: How does one get beyond intellectual analysis and practically move Africa forward?
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: The Khartoum Hilton isn’t the same place it was 11 years ago, Tajudeen Abdul Raheem discovered on a recent visit
BLOGGING AFRICA: Egyptian blogger, Baheyya, tells Mubarak his time is up
BOOKS AND ARTS: Pambazuka News reviews ‘Composing a new song: Stories of empowerment from Africa’
GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY: The road to Hong Kong Pambazuka News feature series; 40 million set to watch GCAP Standing Tall Against Poverty concerts across Africa
CONFLICT&EMERGENCIES: Economic reform is needed in rich countries if famine is to end in Africa, says a new paper
HUMAN RIGHTS: Who cares about human rights abuses in Kenya’s Export Processing Zones?
REFUGEES&FORCED MIGRATION: As long as Europe refuses to address the causes of poverty, African refugees will continue to storm Ceuta and Melilla, Thabo Mbeki stated in his latest ANC Today column
ELECTIONS&GOVERNANCE: Ex-footballer George Weah in the lead as Liberian poll results trickle in
WOMEN AND GENDER: What the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa says on trafficking in women and children; French version of closing statement of women’s rights conference
DEVELOPMENT: Trade unions from across Africa call for action on China textiles crisis
HEALTH&HIV/AIDS: Mental health and the MDGs; Nigeria Aids orphans crisis and South African anger over vitamin salesman
EDUCATION: No school fees for kids in Burundi, but what happens to quality?
ENVIRONMENT: There should be full public participation in the GM debate, says a PANOS report
INTERNET&TECHNOLOGY: There’s talk of a $100 computer for the developing world, but blog site www.knowprose.com says its complete hype
JOBS: Pambazuka News seeks East Africa regional correspondent. Visit http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29827 for full details.

Pambazuka News wins awards!

* PoliticsOnline and the 6th Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy

Pambazuka News was recognized as on of the top 10 individuals, organizations and companies 'who are changing the world of Internet and politics.' Visit http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29839 for more information.

* Pambazuka News wins Highway Africa non-profit category

Pambazuka News has won the non-profit category of the sixth annual Highway Africa awards for the innovative use of new media. The awards are given annually at the Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown, South Africa, to recognize and promote the creative, innovative and appropriate use of new media technology in Africa. The judges had this to say about Pambazuka News: "This site was exceptional and clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the entrants and is world-class in terms of its rich content and excellent design."