This paper suggests that the aspirations of NEPAD's initiators, partners and stakeholders for progress, peace and poverty-reducing growth should find their foundation in Africa's human capacity development, which in turn must start with Africa's children. It reviews what has worked and what has not worked for children in the last decades; proposes strategies for human development within the framework of NEPAD, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and national Poverty Reduction Strategies; and identifies priority actions for and with children and young people which, in the favourable macroeconomic and institutional climate sought by NEPAD and the African Union, will help ensure sustained progress.

All those who were arrested on charges of public violence at Intabazwe in Harrismith, in the eastern Free State, have been released. Around 40 youths appeared in the Harrismith Magistrate's Court. Violence erupted when youths protesting about poor service delivery and a lack of development, barricaded streets and burned tyres.

The Khartoum government has failed to comply with the terms of a UN Resolution aimed at ending the violence in Darfur. The members of the UN Security Council must now deal with this reality and take immediate action to stop the ongoing genocide in Darfur. You can sign a petition to the UN by clicking on the link provided.

The Global Development Awards, the largest international contest for researchers, offering prizes to scholars and practitioners based in developing countries, is inviting applications for research on development. The Medals for outstanding research on development are worth USD 75,000.

UNICEF in Uganda urged civilian and military authorities responsible for receiving 47 formerly abducted children - repatriated from southern Sudan by the International Organization for Migration, after their abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) - to ensure the children’s rights remain protected. The 47 individuals, reportedly including 12 under the age of 8, were abducted from their families by the LRA during the ongoing armed conflict in northern Uganda.

The prospects for workable social security systems in sub-Saharan Africa do not appear encouraging. This paper argues that in the current circumstances of widespread economic crisis (and the demographic impacts of the HIV/AIDS pandemic) both formal and informal mechanisms have to be combined. The only practicable way forward is to combine these approaches, and devise a new division of responsibility between public and private provision.

The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) criticised donors last Thursday for failing to fund the resettlement and retraining of former combatants in Liberia once they had been disarmed. "Much effort has been put into disarmament and demobilization, but not as much effort has gone into funding reintegration and rehabilitation...and that is worrisome," Carol Bellamy told reporters at the end of a three-day visit to Liberia to assess the reintegration of former child soldiers.

The battle of wits between the Federal Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the Labour Bill being processed by the National Assembly has shifted to the international arena as labour organisations in several African nations have started mounting pressure on government not to go ahead with the proposed law. COSATU's secretary general, Zwelinzima Vavi said the union would compile a list of local companies operating in Nigeria and lobby them to put pressure on the government to withdraw the bill.

The presidents of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda on Saturday agreed at a summit in Nairobi to move faster towards creating a political federation. “The summit resolved to expedite and compress the process of integration so that the ultimate goal of a political federation is achieved through a fast-track mechanism,” they said in a joint statement issued after a three-day summit.

Former government leaders joined human rights attorneys in criticising officials perpetuating Swaziland's rule-of-law crisis at a conference sponsored by the Law Society of Swaziland this week. The crisis began two years ago when the royal government refused to obey High Court rulings limiting king Mswati's power to rule by decree.

SMS FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS

* 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/

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:

* Pan-African Postcard: A prophet has honour – but not in his village
* Conflict and Emergencies: ICG issues new report on Darfur
* Human Rights: How to complain to the UN human rights treaty system
* Refugees and Forced Migration: Update on the education of refugee children in Uganda
* Women and Gender: Update on the campaign to ratify the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa
* Elections and Governance: Election offices open in Mozambique
* Development: Letter from Uganda
* Education: The brain drain and education
* Media and Freedom of Expression: Commonwealth parliamentarians adopt recommendations on access to information

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

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 second article which looks at the struggle against water privatisation in Ghana. We encourage 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]

Throughout the Global South, public goods or services such as water, electricity, education and health care have become the subject of privatization under a free market ethos pushed by international financial institutions. This ethos dictates that allowing private companies free rein is the only sure way to ‘development’. The privatization of water is one of the hotly contested areas where activists who argue that water is a human right have squared up against water barons represented by powerful transnational companies. In Ghana, the National Coalition Against the Privatization of Water has fought against a major water privatization project backed by the World Bank in a campaign that has wide resonance for movements against water privatization worldwide. In this question and answer article, Rudolf Amenga-Etego from the National Coalition Against the Privatization of Water, answers questions from Pambazuka News.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: First of all, why is privatization of water wrong?

RUDY AMENGA-ETEGO: Water is about life. The saying that “water is life” cannot be more appropriate. Privatizing water is putting the lives of citizens in the hands of a corporate entity that is accountable only to its shareholders. Secondly, water is a human right and this means that any philosophy, scheme, or contract that has the potential to exclude sections of the population from accessing water is not acceptable both in principle and in law. Privatization has that potential because the privateers are not charities: they are in for the profit. Price therefore becomes an important barrier to access by poor people. Water is the collective heritage of humanity and nature. The rains do not fall on one person's roof so why should a few shareholders appropriate it to line their pockets? Water must remain a public good for the public interest.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: How does privatization - and the problems with access to water - impact on the lives of Ghanaians?

RUDY AMENGA-ETEGO: Market principles were introduced into water provisioning. A social service to tax paying citizens and their dependants suddenly became a business returning profits to a greedy few. Those who cannot afford safe water turn to unsafe sources such as rivers, ponds and dams for their supply. The health implications are obvious. Take the northern region of Ghana for example. As soon as the World Bank came in and introduced their demand driven policies, which meant safe water went only to the communities that paid for it, guinea worm increased drastically in the poorer communities who could not afford to pay. Ghana, which was on the way to eradicating guinea worm, over a span of only two years became the second most endemic country in the world, second only to the Sudan which we all know is at war with itself. Ghana is not at war, the blame is squarely on the head of the World Bank that arm-twisted the Ghanaian government into accepting the demand driven policy. The worst impacts have been on women and children (especially girls) who now walk long distances to access safe water from government and charitable institutions and individuals who let them draw water free.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What do you believe to be the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's agenda in pushing for the privatization of water?

RUDY AMENGA-ETEGO: These institutions were originally set up to help reduce poverty on earth and help nations withstand post-war difficulties and grow their economies. They have become instruments in the hands of the United States government acting through its treasury office and are used to compel non-industrialized countries to adjust their economies to suit the US hegemonic agenda. The other western powers profit by this (French, German, British and Dutch corporations are into the multi-billion water trade) and they therefore turn a blind eye. The WB and the IMF are also acting ideologically. Public bad, private good is the message ala the Washington consensus. They go at length to present the private as the “engine of growth”. But it is basically robbing the people (public) to pay the private. For example, the WB gives a loan to the government of Ghana to expand and rehabilitate its water sector and then through the imposition of conditionalities compel the government to hand over the facilities to private multi-national companies to run for profit. The loan agreement then becomes a mere book transaction between the government and the WB - the private corporations go dancing to the bank to cash cheques, reaping where they have not sown.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Your profile on the Goldman Environmental Prize (which you won earlier this year) website says: “The WB and IMF have offered to loan Ghana $400 million to rebuild the publicly owned and controlled water system - but with a catch: the Ghanaian government must abandon its practice of making wealthy and industrial customers subsidize the cost of water to poor communities. In addition, water must be sold at full market rates.” With this in mind, what is the current status of water privatization in Ghana? Is it true that the government has backtracked on its privatization plans?

RUDY AMENGA-ETEGO: Not really. They wanted originally to hand over the water supply to two Multi-national corporations through a lease arrangement. The Coalition Against the Privatization of Water (CAP of Water) stopped that in January 2003. But the WB has a privatization fixation. So they have re-strategized on how to grab Ghana’s water. They have changed the country director in Ghana. The new man is trying to get soft-speaking Ghanaians to accept a 5-year management service contract, which will roll back into a lease at the end of the term. The Lessor (the government of Ghana) may however terminate the service contract after two years and lease the assets out immediately. So you see, they are taking one step backwards in order to take two steps forward. Not yet UHURU!

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: If privatization of water is not the answer, what alternative model do you propose?

RUDY AMENGA-ETEGO: The alternative is simply an accountable public system. The privateers came and met a system -a public system - which they have sought to convince us is not working. But they have failed to convince us that privatization is better. Privatization globally has led to an increase in water tariffs beyond the pockets of most people, it has led to low water quality (private companies are always cutting costs in order to maximize profit) and like in Cochabamba in Bolivia; uprising, repression and death. For small rural communities, community owned and managed systems are worth trying. Some such systems exist in Ghana and are fairly successful. In Ghana we are also experimenting with a variant called “Public-Community Partnership”. A state provider supplies metered bulk water to a community which does the distribution (retailing) to households and institutions with public standpipes for the poor (who are assessed and listed by a water and sanitation committee which also serves as the management board for the community). Through this arrangement the governance issues of accountability, transparency and participation are addressed.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: To what extent has the National Coalition Against the Privatization of Water linked up with other organizations in Africa fighting water privatization? How important do you see this in building a united front?

RUDY AMENGA-ETEGO: The links are under-development. Don't forget Africa is a huge continent - effective networking costs money but we are at it. We have links with a significant number of civil society groups in Africa. Our links with the Anti-privatization Forum in South Africa and ORCADE in Burkina Faso has been very useful. We had a Pan-African conference on the right to water in Accra in May 2003. A committee was set up under my interim stewardship to work towards a meeting in South Africa, which will set out an agenda for a Pan-African Network on Essential Services. We are working at it.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: How can activists in the rest of Africa support your cause?

RUDY AMENGA-ETEGO: It is not my/our cause. It is the cause of Africa, of all those at the screwing end of corporate globalization and US monoculture [Washington consensus]. The way to support is to start an anti-water privatization cell in your own backyard and then link up with us.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS:. What strategies have you used in fighting water privatization that has been particularly effective?

RUDY AMENGA-ETEGO: A combination of actions or methods. Mass protest, leafleting, sign-on letters, petitions, and public awareness campaigns using radio, TV, and the print media. Also screening documentaries about struggles in other countries for mass viewing. We also organize seminars from time to time to review and upgrade our strategies.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: You have been frequently jailed for your political activities. What motivates you?

RUDY AMENGA-ETEGO: Those who produce the wealth must share in its benefits. So long as a neighbour (neighbour here is not defined geographically) is denied water, electricity, education, healthcare etc because of his/her station in life I will remain in my trench!

* This interview was conducted by email. Rudolf Amenga-Etego is the founder and campaign coordinator for the National Coalition Against the Privatization of Water in Ghana. In 2004 he won the Goldman Environmental Prize for his work against water privatisation. A full profile is available at http://www.goldmanprize.org/recipients/recipients.html

* Please send comments to [email protected]

Angola's main opposition party, UNITA, on Wednesday said it was "still considering" government plans to hold the country's first post-war general elections in 2006. According to an electoral timetable, presented to opposition parties on Tuesday, the national poll will be held in September 2006 following an electoral campaign in August.

The World Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is opening its doors for talks on its rules and guidelines for lending, a move that could influence billions of dollars in future loans to the private sector annually. The IFC says it is launching public consultations as it updates its environmental and social safeguard policies and reviews another policy on information disclosure.

As pressures build up from Brussels for countries in Africa (and the Caribbean and Pacific) to enter into inter-regional 'reciprocal' free trade agreements with the EU, through the so-called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) under the EU-ACP Cotonou Agreement, the threats to the alternative regional integration and development programs and potential in SADC, and all such regional projects in Africa and elsewhere, are becoming more evident, writes Dot Keet from the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC).

The website www.bayefsky.com now provides an easy-to-use guide for making a complaint to the UN human rights treaty bodies on civil and political rights, discrimination against women, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and racial discrimination.

The African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (Apnac), Zimbabwe chapter, which seeks to strengthen the commitment and capacity of MPs to fight corruption, will be relaunched next week, public accounts committee chairperson Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga has said. Apnac is a continental network which seeks to build the capacity of parliaments to exercise accountability with particular relation to financial matters, undertaking projects to control corruption and cooperating with organisations in civil society with shared objectives.

The drive to seize and repossess billions of shillings in assets and cash believed to have been looted from public coffers in the past few decades kicks off in earnest this week with the inauguration of the rejuvenated Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. The potentially controversial exercise, which is likely to be underlined by heavy political overtones, has been slated as one of the first tasks awaiting the new director of the Commission, impeccable sources told the Sunday Standard.

African parliamentarians wanted powers to endorse or reject loans from foreign lenders as a means to manage spiralling debt, legislators from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said. African parliamentarians had little say in negotiations for external loans, and too much power was vested in the finance ministries of many African countries, legislators from the 14-member bloc said after a two-day meeting in Zimbabwe.

World Bank vice president for Africa Dr. Callisto Madavo has said total debt cancellation was not a sustainable solution to Africa's debt problem. On suggestions that Africa refuses to pay back its foreign debt, Dr. Madavo said such unilateral action would be inappropriate. He noted that while Africa's debt burden was a hindrance to the continent's development, there was need for "a negotiated and shared approach to the issue" rather than a refusal to pay.