Ministers from Burundi's leading Tutsi parties have boycotted a cabinet meeting called to discuss the drafting of a new constitution. Last month, the Uprona party and its nine allies refused to sign a South African-brokered power-sharing deal, to form the basis of the constitution. They want further dialogue about power-sharing between Hutus and Tutsis, who make up 15% of the population. Without a new constitution, elections due by 31 October cannot go ahead.

Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party moved a step closer to gaining total control of parliament after it won a new parliamentary seat from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) at a weekend by-election. ZANU-PF recaptured the Seke parliamentary seat by default after the MDC boycotted the poll, in line with a decision it took last month to suspend its participation in all elections, alleging the lack of transparency and fairness in electoral processes.

Sudanese government forces, militias, police and other security forces have committed serious violations of children's rights in Sudan's troubled western region of Darfur, according to a report by Save the Children UK, which noted that abuses included murder, rape and abduction.

Thanks for your social contribution to development.

Charles Boateng, Ghana

Eritrea is the only country in Africa to start winning the war against what Eritrean President Issias Aferwerki has listed as one of the major threats to Eritrean survival, HIV/AIDS, by reducing HIV/AIDS infection rates from 3% to 2.5%, as reported by Dr. Mary Polan of Stanford University School of Medicine at the Eritrean Festival in Oakland, CA on Friday, Aug. 13, 2004.

Having visited Eritrea a number of times to help operate on Eritrean women suffering from fistula, Dr. Polan spoke first hand on how the Eritrean leadership has taken the threat of HIV/AIDS seriously. She spoke of how condoms are now placed in dresser drawers in all hotel rooms in Eritrea and the government has placed billboards prominently throughout the countryside promoting condom use and that advertisements for condom use are regular played on Eritrean television.

HIV/AIDS is ravaging much of Africa, with Ethiopia suffering from what is widely considered to be a conservative estimate of a 15% and growing infection rate and with Botswana reportedly suffering up to a 50% infection rate among government officials. Eritrea is the only country in Africa to be able to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS infection, starting to win what will certainly be a long and difficult fight against one of the most serious crises Africans face.

Despite a socially conservative tradition Eritrea has broken social taboos concerning discussing sexual activities and made HIV/AIDS prevention a priority topic and has been able to cut the infection rate by over 15% in the last 5 years. Once again, a role model has been established in Africa that should be promoted amongst all people, especially Africans at home and abroad, with this being done by one of the worlds smallest, most resource poor country's, plagued by disasters both natural and manmade. Why is it that Eritrea continues to be ignored by so many despite her accomplishments?

The observation “All Men” by Zainab Bangura in Pambazuka News 172 is food for thought. Sometimes you wonder if declarations on gender equity are genuine and with good intentions. If at all they are then the pace we have decided to work towards them is indeed slow. I just hope our politicians and leaders realize that empty words do nothing to improve situations, but it needs affirmative actions to move where we are and get where we want to be. My sister Zainab has just mentioned a few examples but the situation is the same at all levels, be it at home, village, places of worship, regional levels, whatever level the story is the same, “All Men”! When you try to ask why? The answers are the same “No suitable candidates!”

Nellie J. Mwandoloma, Tanzania

Oxfam, a development-oriented NGO said on Saturday that it was opposed to the current form of negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreements between the European Union and ECOWAS countries because it would not promote sustainable development and poverty reduction. "While we believe that closer economic relationship between the EU and the developing countries could lead to sustainable development and poverty reduction, the blueprint presented by the EU will do nothing to further these goals," Mr Sam Salifu Danse, Country Programme Manager, Oxfam told Journalists in Accra.

Kenya had to end rampant public corruption and quickly liberalise state-controlled monopolies or risk being marginalised, even within east Africa, the US ambassador to Kenya, William Bellamy, said at the weekend. He said that besides the rise of HIV/Aids it was no secret why most of the east African country's socio-economic indicators were going down.

When the government launched its much-publicised crackdown on corruption towards the end of 2003, Zimbabweans dismissed the initiative as a stunt designed to win votes ahead of the March 2005 parliamentary election. Cynics suggested the stunt was designed to settle personal scores with business people and bankers who had crossed the paths of the Zanu PF top leadership. Nine months down the line, the scepticism appears to have been vindicated.

Election Talk Number 15, 2004, is now available from EISA in hard copy, or downloadable from the EISA web site in PDF format. Order from [email protected] or download from: http://www.eisa.org.za/EISA/publications/catnewl.htm

Prime Minister Themba Dlamini outlined the Swazi government's new economic growth strategy in parliament on Wednesday, and also touched on international concerns over democratic reform. The premier called for a programme to improve environmental management, and said a land policy had been developed and was awaiting approval.

This course addresses: definitions of development, including the rhetorics of development, classic versus radical definitions, Western and African definitions, and the World Bank and IMF models of development, as well as the rights-based, village-based and other models of development; the role players, the duty bearers, beneficiaries and bystanders in the development process; the impact and value of international programmes such as Structural Adjustment Programmes and Poverty Reductions Programmes; women in development, gender mainstreaming in development; international trade in the development process.

Amnesty International and medical experts from seven countries have sent an open letter to the heads of government in China, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Philippines, Iran, Sudan and the USA urging them to stop using the death penalty against children. The letter has been signed by 17 medical experts with outstanding credentials in the field of child and adolescent psychology, psychiatry and social development. Endorsing the call of the experts to abolish juvenile executions, Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said, "Child offenders should not be punished as if they were adults. Governments must amend their laws and practices to conform with international human rights standards and end the death penalty for offenders under the age of 18."

Halliburton Co., once run by Vice President Dick Cheney, said an internal probe found information suggesting that members of a consortium it helps lead considered bribing Nigerian officials to win business. The world's No. 2 oilfield services company, which is also fighting accusations it overcharged on contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, said this week the probe concerns the multibillion dollar TSKJ Bonny Island liquefied natural gas plant project.

This report from Christian Aid and AFRODAD argues that the process by which aid-recipient countries agree to take on the terms and conditions of a loan needs to be opened up to scrutiny by citizen groups and their representatives in parliament and other formal democratic structures. This should help to avoid lending and borrowing mistakes, which in the past have led to the build-up of unsustainable debts that now have to be paid off at the cost of financing the Millennium Development Goals. Christian Aid and AFRODAD commissioned research in December 2003 to investigate the links between debt management, the build-up of new loans, and the most sustainable ways of financing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia. Click on the link to read the full report.

SMS FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS

* CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Namibia has become the fourth country to ratify the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, joining the Comoros, Libya and Rwanda. Watch out for more details on Namibia’s ratification in next week’s Pambazuka News. Fifteen ratifications are needed before the protocol enters into force. You can help speed up the ratification process by signing a petition.

* Use your mobile phone to sign the petition in support of the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Send a message to: +27832933934, with the word ‘petition’ and your name in the message. You will only be charged the cost set by your network provider for sending an international SMS. More information http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/smssocial.php or sign online at http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/

* Sign up for FREE SMS ALERTS about the campaign for the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Visit http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/alerts.php

HOW TO SUPPORT THE SMS PETITION

* Send text messages to your colleagues and friends alerting them to the petition and informing them how to sign by SMS. You can also use email and word of mouth to help spread the word.

* Distribute leaflets about this initiative. If you work in a human rights or social justice organisation in Africa, volunteer to distribute leaflets for us about the petition to your networks and contacts. Send your details to [email protected] and we will post you pamphlets to distribute.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS ISSUE

* Conflicts and Emergencies: Sudan – Call for multinational response
* Human Rights: Accountability and human rights NGO’s; An Analysis of the Zimbabwean non-governmental organisations bill
* Refugees and Forced Migration: Darfur’s displaced remain traumatised
* Women and Gender: DRC: The ICC – An opportunity for women
* Elections and Governance: Nigeria: International pressure mounts on federal government
* Development: A profile of Southern Africa
* Corruption: Equatorial Guinea: Corruption means the poor stay poor
* Health: Chasing the MDG’s
* Books and Arts: It is no more a cry: Namibian poetry in exile

>>>>> Africa, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project: Bribery on a massive scale

This year marks what many activists have dubbed the unhappy birthday of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. It is 60 years since the creation of these institutions in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, and in that time period both have come to have a profound and controversial influence on the world.

Pambazuka News is profiling a series of articles that aim to examine the role of these institutions in the context of Africa. This week we carry the third article in this series which looks at the involvement of multinational corporations in corruption during the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.

This article charts the dogged battle the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho has fought against multinational corporations in the World Bank-funded project. The trials have set a precedent when it comes to corruption in mega development projects and focused attention on how the World Bank deals with corruption in the projects it funds.

Pambazuka News encourages activists, academics or anyone interested in the role of these institutions in Africa to respond to the articles or to submit articles for inclusion in the newsletter. Contributions can be sent to [email protected]

The European Union and the United States have welcomed the setting up of Somalia's transitional federal parliament, a move that paves the way for the formation of an all inclusive government in Somalia. "The European Union commends the efforts of Somali leaders in achieving this significant outcome and calls upon them to ensure that the same spirit of positive cooperation prevails during the remainder of the reconciliation process," a statement by the EU presidency in Brussels on Tuesday said.

The head of the UN mission in Liberia said on Wednesday that the war-scarred country's disarmament programme would officially end on October 30 and any former fighters found with weapons after then would be prosecuted. "We obviously want to disarm everyone. We are now looking at the date of 30 October as the end of the programme," Jacques Klein, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Liberia, told reporters.

As the United Nations continues to face a shortage of well-equipped, professionally trained soldiers for its growing peacekeeping operations overseas, a proposal to hire private security forces to rectify the shortfall has been greeted with scepticism. A proposal to double the current peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the possibility of a new 10,000-strong U.N. mission in Sudan are expected to bolster the total number of U.N.

A new United Nations report says Sudan has not disarmed Arab militias or stopped attacks against civilians in the strife-torn Darfur region. The report for the UN Security Council did note some progress, but called for more foreign troops to go to Sudan. The Sudanese ambassador to the UN described the report, which did not recommend any sanctions, as balanced. Up to 50,000 people have been killed in Darfur, following a campaign by Arab militias against black Africans.