Abandoned and orphaned children are languishing in South African institutions while bureaucrats take up to two years to decide whether they can be adopted. Around a quarter of a million South African children are orphaned but large numbers are falling through bureaucratic cracks. By mid-2004, according to the Actuarial Association of South Africa (ASSA) 2002 model, 250 000 children in South African had lost both parents but government departments tasked with the welfare of these vulnerable children are unable to confirm actual numbers who are being cared for in children’s homes.

Against the backdrop of another poor performance by Nigeria in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) Independent Advocacy Project (IAP) the good governance group, has expressed serious concerns about the ineffectiveness of government anti corruption programmes and how corruption continues to impoverish Nigerians.

The Ugandan government is to investigate a corruption charge against former vice president Speciosa Kazibwe charged with using public money of 2.5 billion shillings (1.45 million US dollars) for her studies in the United States. Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity in Office of the President Tim Lwanga was quoted Tuesday by state-owned newspaper The New Vision as saying that "if there is something wrong, we shall rectify it and move on."

The African Union (AU) warned last Thursday against the "erosion of human rights" as governments engage in the fight against terrorism. At the closing of the first-ever AU conference on African national human rights institutions, officials warned that without proper checks, rights could be abused. They said that the fight against terrorism must be balanced with the protection of the rights of people detained as suspects. African governments also faced calls to establish "independent and national" human rights organisations to protect their citizens.

The effects of the 2002 food crisis in Malawi continue to take a heavy toll of the country's children, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said in a new report. The 50-page study, launched last week, noted an increase in the number of children forced to seek informal employment to cope with the aftershock of food shortages two years ago, when consecutive poor harvests placed over three million people in need of emergency food aid.

The disappearance of thousands of voter-registration cards in the Central African Republic (CAR) was one of several problems marring the process of registering, an effort that ended on Sunday. Officials said the number of people to register was relatively low. Next week, the Independent Mixed Electoral Commission, known as the CEMI, plans to publish the number of people registered to vote.

Somalia’s newly elected president said on Monday his administration would not remain in exile, but would return to the war-ravaged country before security was completely restored. President Abdullahi Yusuf said once his cabinet was selected they would return – although they would initially establish themselves outside the capital, Mogadishu. He rejected calls for the new government to return only when security is restored.

Liberia's transitional government has been warned that it must account for public funds in a more transparent manner if the United Nations is to lift sanctions on timber and diamond exports and if donors are to release funds for the country's reconstruction. This blunt warning was delivered by a joint team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the US Treasury which is visiting Liberia to look at the way the government is handling its finances, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) said.

Attention should be focused on what the ANC government plans to do about the deepening socio-economic crisis that grips SA, says this analysis on the University of Natal's Centre for Civil Society website. President Mbeki placed poverty eradication and the creation of jobs at the centre of his recent State of the nation Address. The question being asked is this home-grown structural adjustment programme thankfully now being abandoned? Not likely, says the article. "In essence we have a sophistication of the GEAR strategy not its abandonment. Macro-economic strategies are being complimented by a series of micro-economic reforms that government hopes will lead to increased economic growth."

Some seven US ex-Congressmen who passed for observers of the October 11 presidential election in Cameroon have been accused of receiving bribes to the colossal sum of 400.000 US dollars to authenticate the polls in the face of the international community, reports Cameroon journalist Jumkondah Francis Garriba in this www.zmag.org article. The accusation emerged from Cameroon's frontline opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF. According to Mr. Nkemngu Martin, communication officer for the SDF, the so-called US observers were in Cameroon on a rescue mission. Referring to them as hungry con men, Nkemngu said their mission was to rescue "the ailing regime of incumbent president Paul Biya". Mr. Biya has been glued to power since 1982.

City-dwellers in one of Africa’s poorest countries have faced soaring bills and mass disconnections since an international consortium, which includes the British company Biwater, was put in charge of their water supply. According to a new report from the development charity ActionAid, water privatisation in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam has neglected the needs of poor people, despite the World Bank’s assurances that access to water for poor residents would be improved.

African researchers and knowledge managers are invited to apply for participation in the Knowledge Sharing for Development Workshop to be held in Cairo, Egypt February 2005. The workshop aims at enhancing the knowledge sharing and research dissemination capacity of research institutes and networks in Africa.

The number of people in the world struck by natural disasters has more than doubled over the last decade and economic losses have more than trebled, a top United Nations official told his counterparts in other UN agencies on Monday. Jan Egeland, under-secretary-general of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told a committee of the UN General Assembly considering sustainable development that in 2003 alone, disasters had affected more than 254 million people. Locusts in Africa and tropical cyclones and floods in the Caribbean and Asia have already caused "immense losses" in 2004, he said.

I was in South Darfur during the last two weeks, when I received the article "How can we name the Darfur crises?" I read the article with great interest. While I was there during the past two weeks, I have been listening to the views and analysis of some intellectuals from the area, some tribal leaders and civil society actors. They all stressed:

- The ongoing conflict has nothing to do with natural resources based conflict, it has nothing to do with tribal conflict; it is a political conflict between the government and the rebels, in which the government used the Janjawid to fight the rebels.

- Darfur people have been living together for hundreds of years, there have been intermarriage relationships between all tribes, Darfur people have mixed bloods. They said when Darfuria people go to the centre or north Sudan people there call all of them westerners. When people in the north label you as westerners they mean that you are not Arab. So the so called Arab from Darfur is not considering as Arab in the north and central Sudan.

- The international experts especially those who are now working in delivering humanitarian assistance in Darfur are all driven by the western mentality; most of them mistrust the Arab staff. As a result a new culture has been developed in the camps (for which some international agencies should partly be held responsible). You know, some people in the camps were telling us that when people in the camps want to say their prayers they will just pretend that they are not saying prayers, for they think that they might cause anger.

But when you discuss this issue in Khartoum (even with intellectuals), their analysis and accordingly their proposal for intervention is misleading. In Khartoum and up to now most are saying that either it is a natural resource based conflict or a tribal conflict with political interference. Sometimes it is hard for me to convince or even to continue discussing it, for the media in Khartoum is continuously sending the message that the conflict is over natural resources.

I am happy that I found most of my thoughts in your paper, which is really talking to the minds of the people (it is not an emotional article, as some others are). I have sent the article to as many people as possible, especially those I felt have to read it. Thanks a lot for providing us with such a rational and deep article, which really represents the reality.

Many thanks for publishing Professor Mamdani' s brilliant analysis of the situation in the Sudan. But the Ugandan intellectual should have included his nationality instead of just telling his readers that he is an eminent professor at Columbia Univesity. Hence, Dr. Mamdani, in spite of what is happening in Africa, ought to be proud of not only his Asian roots but also his birthplace Africa (Uganda).

Editors reply: The omission of Mamdani's nationality was our doing, not his. The description of his present post was inserted by us, not him. We don't, as a policy, declare contibutor's nationalities, just as we haven't included yours.

The Monthly Watch is an independent Monthly Newsletter of the Somali Organisation for Community Development Activities (SOCDA). First published in December 2001 to act as an organisational mouthpiece, a voice for the struggling Somali Civil Society Organisations and a catalyst in the reconstruction of Somalia. Contact the editor at [email protected] for more information.

* Editorial: Mainstreaming a gender perspective in post-conflict situations
* Unacceptable Attack on Indymedia's freedom of expression
* Comment and Analysis: The sex industry as the world's second slavery
* Conflicts and Emergencies: Is the DRC sliding into war?
* Refugees and Forced Migration: Starving Peter to save Paul
* Development: UK DFID driving South Africa's development from the backseat
* Health: No food for Zimbabweans
* HIV/AIDS: The US Presidential election and its effect on AIDS
* Social Welfare: Proud to be African
* Environment: Sign on to urgent climate change

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The National Transitional Government of Liberia has declared six counties ready for the return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Launching a media campaign on the return of IDPs, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General, Mr. Abou Moussa said, "The greatest dream of every displaced Liberian is to go back home in safety and dignity, and we are here to facilitate that." The return will not only give IDPs a chance to begin a new life, it will also enable them to participate in the elections scheduled for October 2005.

Dear Editor: I have been following the insightful and comprehensive discussion on the issue of genocide that has been taking place in Pambazuka. I am now more informed of the causes and the challenges facing those seeking to solutions to the crisis in the Western Sudan region of Darfur. I have also closely followed the actions being taken by the African Union and have been very disappointed to note that so far its intervention has been chaotic. I have no doubt that if the AU is to continue being the lead organization seeking the solution to the Darfur crisis the results would be catastrophic for the Darfurans. I have come to this conclusion after hearing the statement of Mr. Sam Ibok, the AU Director of Peace and Security Department, distancing the AU from US Secretary of State Collin Powell statement that genocide is taking place in Darfur. Mr. Ibok went further and not only challenged the US to take action, as per requirement of international law, but also confirmed that the AU would not declare what is happening in Darfur as genocide until it has carried out its own investigations! I think we have now reached a point where we need to determine whether the AU is becoming an obstacle to the solution of the Darfur crisis. Its erratic actions and statements so far point to only one thing: its incapability to solving the problem in Darfur. I hope voices are raised to challenge AU's incompetence and calls are made for more forceful international intervention.

Le conflit entre le gouvernement tchadien et le consortium qui exploite le pétrole continue de susciter l'intérêt de la presse. L'hebdo « L'Intelligent » et « Le Courrier Africain » reviennent cette semaine sur un dossier sensible. N'Djamena accuse Exxon-Mobil et Chevron de ne pas respecter le contrat. Les pétroliers affirment jouer franc jeu. Qui dit vrai?

« Quand le brut sent le souffre ». Tel est l'article « L'Intelligent » qui écrit que « rien ne va plus entre le Tchad et le consortium qui exploite les gisements de Doba. N'Djamena formule un certain nombre de griefs à l'égard du consortium. Notamment le fait que le comptage se fasse au port camerounais de Kribi où transite le pétrole tchadien et non à Komé, lieu d'exploitation, comme le stipule la convention signée entre les sociétés pétrolières et le Tchad. Pour ce journal, « Cette affaire risque de se transformer en crise durable (…) ».

Justement, « Le Courrier Africain » publie un article indiquant qu'une ONG africaine plaide pour qu'obligation soit faite aux compagnies de déclarer les sommes versées aux gouvernements des pays producteurs. Une procédure qui pourrait devenir gênante pour certains Etats comme la Guinée Equatoriale ou l'Angola mais qui serait profitable au Tchad où la transparence est de rigueur. D'ailleurs, le mensuel parle de « kleptocraties » pour désigner les régimes angolais et guinéens.

L'Intelligent-Jeune Afrique N° 2284 du 17 au 23 octobre 2004 Le Courrier Africain, octobre 2004