President Thabo Mbeki set the seal on a decisive broad policy shift to the left for his final term in office as he lashed out at what he called the "new conservatism" sweeping the world, which enshrined the individual and denigrated the state in a way which could never bring a better life for SA's millions. The president's comments, which might prove to be a watershed in South African politics, came as he introduced his budget vote in the National Assembly.

"The People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) would like to register its grave concern about the CMAG's lack of interest in the persistent violations of the Harare Declaration by the government of Swaziland. PUDEMO is the leading political movement in Swaziland committed to rebuilding a new system of governance based on strong democratic values and respect for human rights. Accordingly, PUDEMO has embraced the Commonwealth Harare Declaration of 1991 which sets a framework for the development of democratic values amongst the Commonwealth states."

A new Commonwealth report recommends that the Doha Development Round should promote fair trade for developing countries, including proposals to prioritise free trade in commodities and services that facilitate the movement of unskilled labour to enable workers in poor countries to provide services to markets in rich countries. The report, titled 'An Agenda for the Development Round of Trade Negotiations in the Aftermath of Cancún, was released by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, UK, on 21 June 2004.

The most vulnerable countries need to be given specific attention in all global forums because they are not receiving the official development assistance (ODA) that wealthy countries promised and are finding it difficult to take advantage of the expansion of international trade. Such was the appeal made by Anwarul Chowdhury, U.N. undersecretary general and high representative of for what are known as the least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries and small island states, in his address to the eleventh sessions of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XI).

The Nigeria Social Forum (NSF) conceived with principles of the World Social Forum(WSF) was inaugurated on 29th May, 2004 in Lagos, Nigeria. The Nigeria Social Forum is a platform for reflective thinking and action. At the inaugural meeting, a charter of principles was adopted, which stipulates among other things: Opposition to globalised neo-liberalism and domination of the world by capital; Building alternatives with the slogan "Another Nigeria is possible"; Pluralism and diversity; Opposition to all authoritarian and reductionist views of the economy and the use of violence as a means of social control by the state; Alternatives to the problems of exclusion and social inequality that the process of capitalist globalisation and environmental destruction engenders; Creation of links among organizations and movements with a view to increasing their capacity for non-violent social resistance to the process of dehumanization and violence used by the State; Linkage of actions from local level to the national level spiralling into the global agenda to build a new world in solidarity. More documentation is available through the link below.

Hawa Drame, known to her friends and colleagues as “Madame Refuse,” sifts through the rubbish on a dump in the Malian capital Bamako for rags and old clothes that she can recycle and sell in order to feed herself and her four children. Drame, who is now about 40, has been scavenging for old rags on Bamako's rubbish dumps for the past 13 years. She washes them in a river and sells them on to mechanics and garage owners for cleaning cars. A Malian government survey in 1999 revealed that 63.8 percent of the country's 11 million population were living in poverty and a further 21 percent in extreme poverty.

If there is one foreign-policy issue on which the Bush administration is even more isolated internationally than in its decision to invade and occupy Iraq, it is on what critics call its ongoing war against the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) which supports the reproductive health rights of women around the world. The administration is currently pursuing the war on two fronts. On the one hand, it is threatening to withhold U.S. aid to other UN and private agencies if they do not break their ties with UNFPA. At the same time, it is continuing its effort to persuade other governments to back away from the "Cairo Consensus," the program of action endorsed by 179 countries, including the U.S., at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) that asserted that promoting women's reproductive rights and services is central to reducing poverty and promoting economic development.

A "death spiral" of HIV and food insecurity is depleting public services and debilitating southern Africa, a United Nations relief official said recently. "The number of trained health practitioners, teachers and other professionals that are succumbing to HIV/AIDS is causing a truly extraordinary human resources vacuum in societies across the region," James T. Morris, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa, said at a press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Commission of the African Union will on Sunday, July 4, launch its first ever live radio broadcast on the margins of the African Union Summit. The four-hour-daily programme in Amharic, Arabic, English and French languages will be broadcast for eight days from 8 p.m. to 12 midnight on short-wave frequency 7165 KHZ and 9560 KHZ. It will focus mainly on what the African Union is doing and plans to do in future. The African Union Radio is edited and presented by a team of journalists and technicians assembled locally by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Prof. Alpha Oumar Konaré.

Whilst conflict exacerbates food insecurity, food insecurity can itself fuel conflict, notes a paper from the Economic and Social Department of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). "Securing adequate access to food requires putting into place mechanisms that, even when disrupted by conflict, can adapt more quickly to the post-conflict environment. This is particularly important when there is any kind of cyclical nature to conflict." Strategies designed to assist in post-war rehabilitation need to address three key dimensions of food security: availability, access and stability.

A new book by The International Development Research Center (IDRC) titled 'Information and Communication Technologies for Development in Africa' in three volumes can be purchased or downloaded for free at the weblink: http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-32997-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

The ratification of the protocol will aid development in Africa (Pambazuka News 162). There can never be any meaningful development without women's rights. Let us mobilise now to actualise this initiative.
Tola Olujuwon, Nigeria

Sign the petition on the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa at:

The article was well written (Pambazuka News 161: World Refugee Day: A Time to Celebrate?). It was incisive and thought-provoking. Surely, we must not tire in the search for durable solutions. Refugees too need a better life, full of opportunities.

I think that this is a great forum for discussion and education. I also think that we need to mobilize at the grassroots level. Africa needs a second decolonization because it is being recolonized in political, economic and socio-cultural terms.

We must push for women rights and the integration of Africa (Pambazuka News 162). Also the African Union must put the land question on its agenda. Without giving back the land to the people Africa cannot move forward. We also must have unity, that is of purpose and struggle to realize our objectives.

Aluta Continua.

Sign the petition on the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa at:

Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Wednesday accused the country's judiciary of "deliberately sidelining" electoral disputes. In a recent report the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) noted that 14 of the 39 electoral challenges filed by the party since the 2000 parliamentary poll had not been heard by the High Court.

Twelve members of an arbitration committee to resolve any disputes that might arise during the nomination of the 275 members of Somalia's proposed Transitional Federal Parliament were on Tuesday sworn into office in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The committee members who were named at the end of a meeting of IGAD (the Inter-Governmental Authority on Drought and Development) regional foreign ministers, were nominated by delegates to the ongoing Somali National Reconciliation Conference (SNRC). Five clans each nominated three members to the committee, but one clan, the Dir, failed to present its nominees to the IGAD ministerial team because of a dispute over who was to represent the clan.

Rubbish, dumped in gutters, is choking up the crumbling sanitation works that poorly service the capital Lome, worsening flooding in the rainy season and encouraging the spread of disease complain residents and health workers.

New anti-corruption legislation, effective from this week, which formalises regulations allowing Zimbabwean police to hold suspects accused of economic crimes for up to four weeks without bail is "unconstitutional", human rights activists alleged on Friday. The Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Bill went through parliament this week, despite opposition from some ruling ZANU-PF MPs.

Former Liberian leader, Charles Taylor, who was indicted for war crimes by the Special Court in Sierra Leone last year, will not go unpunished for crimes committed, said Emyr Jones Parry, head of a UN Security Council delegation touring West Africa. “It is a matter of time, in due course, Taylor will face justice," said Parry. "There can not be impunity for Charles Taylor,” he said.

What roles can NGOs and civil society organisations play in reclaiming development? To what extent can they be seen as the agents for social justice, human realisation and social transformation, principles that have inspired so many to commit themselves to the work of NGOs?