The ruling classes or ruling groups in a number of sub-Saharan African states use their control of the state machinery as a direct method of accumulating wealth. State finances are treated as personal finances, leading to a looting of the exchequer. This is particularly so with regard to foreign earnings, as from export of raw materials, and foreign aid. These personally looted monies are exported out of the country, leading to capital flight. As Kofi Annan put it, “Africa is suffering from multiple crises… Billions of dollars of public funds continue to be stashed away by some African leaders, even while roads are crumbling, health systems have failed, school-children have neither books nor desks nor teachers, and the phones do not work”.

Corruption watchdog Transparency International has warned that SA could be in breach of the African Union (AU) convention by allowing political parties to keep the sources of their private sector donations secret. Nongovernmental organisations have criticised government for not addressing this in the soon-to-be enacted Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Bill as it leaves the door open for business to buy political influence without anyone being aware of this relationship. SA's major political parties are set to clash with the Institute for Democracy in SA (Idasa) in court later this year contesting Idasa's demand that they disclose the identity of private sector donors.

Namibian President Sam Nujoma has abandoned any prospect of a fourth term in office after a weekend meeting with leaders of his ruling SWAPO. The 74-year-old former guerrilla leader suggested only last week he would be willing to contest a fourth term - currently barred by the constitution - if asked by the party he led in a three-decade armed struggle for independence from South Africa.

The trial began in a military court in the Burkina Faso capital on Tuesday of 11 soldiers and two civilians accused of plotting to topple President Blaise Compaore. All 13 are charged with plotting to undermine state security, while the alleged mastermind of the putsch, Captain Luther Ouali, also faces charges of treason and of colluding with a foreign power to destabilise the Burkinabe government.

The current system of Internet governance seems to be working well, but the question was how to better coordinate the work of specialized bodies and ensure the involvement of all stakeholders, participants told a United Nations forum in New York. The two-day Global Forum on Internet Governance examined different areas of Internet governance, including infrastructure, electronic commerce, intellectual property, privacy issues, spam and consumer protection.

Decades of deforestation and forest degradation have left less than two percent of Ghana's native forest intact. These forests have been the source of livelihood for forest dependent people, providing them with fuel wood, charcoal, building materials, fodder, fruits, nuts, honey, medicines and dyes. They also play an environmental role regarding prevention of soil erosion, watershed protection, soil fertility/shade, shelter from wind, prevention of floods and landslides, water retention and maintenance of water purity. They are also home to 2,100 plant species, over 200 mammal species including buffalo, leopard, golden cat, chimpanzee, forest elephant and pygmy hippopotamus, 200 bird species including the African grey parrot, and butterflies, all internationally recognized as in danger of extinction, thus designating them as Special Biological Protection Areas and Globally Significant Bio-diversity Areas.

On February 12, more than 100 environment, development and human rights groups in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) formed an alliance to oppose the "development" of the country's rainforests, which could include a vast increase in industrial logging. The social network sent a letter to the Minister for the Environment, Waters and Forests, the World Bank Resident Representative, and the FAO Representative, expressing their concern regarding the future of the country's forests and the people living within these forests. Covering around 1.3 million square kilometres, the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo are the largest in the world after Amazonia, and have so far largely been spared extensive destruction. An estimated 35 million people live in and around these forests, including Bantu farmers, and Twa and Mbuti hunter-gatherer 'Pygmies'.

Media and other reports over the weekend of April 2-3 2004 said that President Sam Nujoma has now officially “confirmed he would not seek a fourth term” of office and that he has “laid to rest speculation over the fourth term once and for all”. It has also been reported that Nujoma would now abide by the Namibian Constitution and would step down on March 21 2005 when his third term ends. Read the Press Statement by Nujoma: “The President of SWAPO reiterated his earlier decision that in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia, he will not seek another term of office, and will step down at the end of his term on 21st March 2005”.

This obviously “shock” announcement, which purports to have been made by Nujoma himself, came after a rather tumultuous SWAPO Central Committee (CC) meeting held over the said weekend. This ‘official’ announcement is a far cry from another “shock” announcement by Nujoma who only on March 30 2004 reportedly indicated to a Reuters’ reporter that he might go for a fourth term “if the people” wanted him to do so. Vox populi, vox Dei, meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.

Also, please note that what is conspicuously missing from the above statement is the fact that it does not say that Nujoma would not accept or entertain any further demands from any quarters that he stands for a fourth term.

Since 2002, Nujoma has been making similar flip-flop statements about his desire for a fourth term: in some cases he has indicated that he would step down, inter alia, because of his age, while in others he has indicated that he would go for a fourth term, among other things, because he was “still young”.

Over the April 2-3 2004 weekend, however, Nujoma cited only the constitutional limitation as the prime reason for his stepping down. In the past, when considering whether or not he would stand for a fourth term the Constitution did not appear to matter. The President has no track record of spontaneously adhering to the Constitution. Why all of a sudden now?

On Sunday evening April 4 2004 NBC TV News showed “joyous” SWAPO members in what appeared to be a celebrating mood. This mood was apparently caused by their decision that Nujoma should step down and that three candidates - announced in this order, Hifikepunye Pohamba, Nahas Angula and Hidipo Hamutenya - be nominated to vie for the presidential post. The winner of the three will be determined at the extraordinary SWAPO congress to be held on May 28-29 2004.

Media reports also indicated that central committee (CC) members turned down and rejected three of Nujoma’s four nominees, who included Secretary General Ernest Tjiriange and his deputy John Pandeni.

Hence, the “joyous” mood on the part of the committee members appears to confirm media speculations that there was “fierce” opposition to Nujoma’s fourth term bid. In the likely event that this, indeed, was the case, it is fair to conclude that a victorious palace revolution (or revolt) against not only the fourth term but also Nujoma’s authority has occurred during the said CC meeting. That is to say, Nujoma was subdued, vanquished and forced to shelve - albeit temporarily - his fourth term bid and all other collateral plans associated with the said term of office.

During the Politburo meeting on March 30 2004 Nujoma is said to have issued an ultimatum to his subordinates to choose between two things: either to accept Pohamba as the sole presidential candidate or to face a fourth term for him. Politburo members, however, “fiercely” opposed and defied such ultimatum.

My question is: how and why should Nujoma allow himself to be humiliated or insulted by people whom he has the executive power to constitutionally dismiss summarily in the same manner he had appointed them? In terms of both the country’s Constitution and SWAPO’s own constitution, Nujoma has the power to summarily dismiss anyone not towing his line. He also has popular support among rank and file SWAPO members to disciplining anyone seen as disloyal to him. Simply put, President Nujoma is unstoppable!

Nujoma is bound to retaliate and punish those who dare to oppose his plans for many years. He has done so in the past with Tony von Wietersheim and recently with Hage Geingob, Ernest Tjiriange, Nangolo Mbumba and others. Constitutionally, President Nujoma has also the executive power to sack the entire Cabinet and even to dissolve the National Assembly if he so wished.

Hence, I am cautiously optimistic that Nujoma will, indeed, step down come March 21 2005. Or am I? Such optimism is based on my observations of incidental events or occurrences inside and outside this country, including:
Nujoma has been preparing for the fourth term at least since the dismissal of former Prime Minister Hage Geingob. This was followed by the demotion of Finance Minister Nangolo Mbumba, followed by the removal of Ernest Tjiriange from his post as Minister of Justice.

Hidipo Hamutenya who, according to media allegations, Nujoma fears or dislikes the most - and neither Nujoma nor Hamutenya has so far dismissed these allegations - was removed from his powerful and influential post at the Ministry of Trade and Industry and transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs minus the portfolio of the equally influential Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

Since August 2002 Nujoma or those he has sent encouraged or instigated among others Owambo traditional leaders and rank and file SWAPO supporters to march in favour of the fourth term. He has commissioned the construction of a multimillion Namibia dollar new State House. I am not a bit convinced that Nujoma would build a castle to be inaugurated by Lucas Pohamba, his favoured successor, let alone for Hidipo Hamutenya or Nahas Angula.
Rank and file SWAPO members credit Nujoma personally for having “liberated” this country and for being the only person capable - and I agree - of keeping SWAPO Party unity, from where national unity and peace as well as the relative stability flow, in this country. Under these circumstances, Nujoma cannot now, all of a sudden, be expected to shelve all these good things on which he has been working so hard at.

As in 2002 during his address to the opening of the SWAPO CC over the April 2-3 2004 weekend Nujoma made it clear that Party divisions were unacceptable, warned against infighting and urged unity among SWAPO members. Indeed, there are “widespread” divisions and “a potential rift” within SWAPO as various factions vie for support within and possibly without the ruling Party.

Seeing that the three leaders that the SWAPO CC has nominated to compete for the presidency would engage in what could be viewed as sowing Party divisions and disunity as well as posing a threat to national stability and security, this could be used by Nujoma and others as an excuse.

Hence, he could even use his constitutional powers to dissolve Parliament in accordance with the provisions of Article 57, read together with Articles 26, 32 (3)(a) and 50 of the Constitution. In this case, presidential and National Assembly elections would be held within 90 days to create a completely new Parliament and new Cabinet with Nujoma as new Head of State. Hence, there would be no need for holding a national referendum referred to in Articles 63 (2) (g) and 131 of the Constitution.

Furthermore, as a human rights activist specializing also in early warning systems, I smell a rat due to the over-intensive interactions between the principals of Namibian and Zimbabwean governments lately. I am particularly deeply alarmed by ominous signs of a Zimbabwe-style human rights and humanitarian crisis developing in this country. In addition to the aforementioned internal Party divisions within SWAPO there are several indicators pointing out to this scenario.

I am alarmed at the frequency of both high and low profile visits to this country by high-ranking Zimbabwe officials, especially those who have been pivotal in engineering and sustaining the current human rights and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, including Nujoma’s principal ally Robert Mugabe.

It is my belief that President Nujoma, called “a Mugabelite” by some media, is probably the closest ally of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the whole world. According to media reports, Mugabe has indicated he would not step down when his present term of office comes to an end sometime in 2008. If this is true - and I believe it is - then why on earth should Nujoma step down now, leaving his friend Mugabe to face a very hostile world alone?

Last November Mugabe arrived here under cover of secrecy. The exact purpose of his visit has not [yet] been disclosed officially. But according to State-controlled media, Mugabe came here for bilateral talks, including “the strengthening of security cooperation”.

Hence, my suspicion is that Nujoma and Mugabe might have signed a mutual defence pact along the lines of the SADC mutual defence pact concluded at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in August 2003. The Namibian Parliament has since ratified the SADC pact paving the way for SADC Member States to intervene diplomatically, politically and militarily in the internal affairs of another country to remove a threat to national security and integrity and restore or enforce peace.

Prior to the Mugabe visit, Zimbabwean Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi visited Namibia sometimes in July 2003 and paid a courtesy call on President Nujoma. Mohadi also held talks with his Namibian counterpart, Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo, and visited several police stations in Windhoek and possibly elsewhere in the country.

Then came the “shock” announcement in the evening of February 25 2004 when Namibian Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab “out of the blue” stated that there will be a land expropriation drive in order to “speed up” land reform in the country. This announcement came on the eve of the visit to this country by Mugabe’s propaganda Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo. Moyo is a principal engineer in the Mugabe’s land grab fiasco.

The Moyo visit entailed touring Namibia’s Government-controlled media institutions: NBC, New Era and Nampa as well as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB). The visit peaked in the signature of a MOU between the two countries apparently on media matters. The content of such MOU has never really been disclosed. Professor Moyo called his visit a ‘happy coincidence’.

On March 11 2004 Zimbabwe’s Defence Minister Sydney Sekeremayi paid a low-key visit to Namibia where talks were held with President Nujoma. Sekeremayi then headed north apparently to inspect Namibia’s military installations at Grootfontein and possibly other places in the country. The Zimbabwe Defence Force (ZDF) has at least two aircraft in this country, purportedly to help in the evacuation of flood victims in the Caprivi Region. The question is: was Namibia now really unable to deal with the flooding situation in the Caprivi Region?

Over the April 2-3 2004 weekend, Mugabe seconded to Namibia six of his “experts” in land reform to “advise” and “train” Namibians on the techniques of “compensation” for expropriated lands. There has never been similar compensation in Zimbabwe in respect of any lands expropriated by Mugabe. Moreover, Minister Lucas Pohamba recently explained in Parliament how disagreements over the amount of compensation for expropriated land could be taken to land Boards.

Hence, in my opinion these Zimbabwe contacts are no mere coincidences. Nor can they be seen in isolation. They are interconnected, interrelated, interdependent and mutually reinforcing.

Again, such contacts come at the time when there is wholesale ambiguity on whether or not President Nujoma would go for a fourth term as well as widespread media speculations that there is “stiff” resistance within and without the ruling SWAPO party against the 4th term for Nujoma, if not against Nujoma himself as both President of SWAPO and Namibia. This scenario is similar to the situation prevailing in Zimbabwe prior to Mugabe’s seizure of white-owned farmlands and his unleashing of violence on civil society organisations and the political opposition in that country.

Hence, the true picture is bound to emerge in the days, weeks and months to come, possibly before the extraordinary SWAPO Congress scheduled for May 28 –29 2004.

* Phil ya Nangoloh is Executive Director of the National Society for Human Rights, Namibia.

* SEND COMMENTS ON THIS EDITORIAL – AND OTHER EVENTS IN AFRICA – TO [email][email protected]

In the fourth of its joint Migration Dialogues, the EPC-KBF strategic partnership addressed the topic of “Migration and Development: Myths and Facts.” Panellists included Erica Usher, Senior Policy Adviser in the Migration Policy and Research Department at the International Organisation for Migration, Uri Dadush, Director of the International Trade Department at the World Bank, Françoise Moreau, Head of Unit “Development Policy, Coherence and Forward Studies,” in the DG Development at the European Commission, Johan Wets, Research Manager International Migration, Higher Institute for Labour Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven an d Marc Verwilghen, Belgian Minister for Development Cooperation.

I just wanted you to know that Runnart Kambudzi died recently. Runnart was one of the pioneer staff members of Civil Liberties Committee.

She was an administrator and Gender officer. I preferred to refer to her as assistant director because the two of us did the donkey work with help from the founder members and dedicated members of CILIC. Whenever the wind turned against me personally, which could be nasty, she would manage to sooth me. She would convince me to go and meet people I thought I should not meet. She would do her job seven days a week, 10 hours a day and sometimes we would work in the field 8 hours a day and drive four hours a day for a one week field visit. She would work the accounts, help in the organisation and lecture, and work on our sentiments in such a calm manner.

She was a chronic asthmatic, so that travelling in the cold could have contributed to her early death. For some time we would go without salaries, yet she was a widow with so many dependants and her 2 children, one of them an adopted niece. She was a gallant Human Rights Soldier with no provisions for the battle.

I hope you can pass this on to people who knew her, most of whom admired her guts and her beauty.

I want to thank Pambazuka News. We Africans do have a lesson to learn from this genocide. It happened in Rwanda but this was an African reality brought to the lamplight. I have a point for all of us Africans: there are more genocides to come and in progress that we need to fight. To my Rwandan brothers and sisters I will ask you to take heart, love your country and know that the human being is God's creature. To leaders I will advise them to be God fearing and do to their people what you would like them to do to you. To all African believers or not, every evening just say God thank you for the day and help us to love one another. With love for Mother Africa!

RESPONSE TO AZEH JOHN:
FROM NICOLE VENTER, SOUTH AFRICA

I am always so inspired by your mail, and proud to be part of the African renaissance - we are indeed all brothers and sisters here and God willing we will take heed when the call comes to assist each other, sustain each other, teach, support and care for each other.

Concerning Rwanda - an issue very close to my heart is that of the children. If anyone can assist with information (other than that which has been posted in Pambazuka News) relevant to the formulation of new programmes of assistance in various health and development related areas, I would like to invite them to forward such information to us. ([email protected])

RESPONSE TO NICOLE VENTER:
FROM VALENTINE NGWA

I really hope that the African Renaissance is a reality. Ten years is too short a time for us to understand how our so called brothers and sisters can sit down, plan, import machetes and slaughter almost a million of their neighbours, rape many and plunder their property. I wonder how long it takes for the memories of such barbaric acts to go away; especially so when there are many things to remind the victims including HIV.

Rather than Africa taking a leaf from Rwanda, we see neighbouring DR Congo in anarchy, Sudan on the verge of their own genocide and my native Cameroon under a very uneasy calm; which lessons have we learnt? These issues get difficult to comprehend and at times one is tempted to wonder whether such things were meant to be.

After all, history teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. In all these, you will always hear our people in their usually escapist tendency say 'The International Community failed us!' They should rather say how they have failed themselves. I weep for Mother Africa.

Thank you for including Luleka Mangquku's eloquent portrayal of the helplessness and guilt-feelings of onlookers to the Rwandan genocide (Pambazuka News 150: Special edition on Rwanda). The end of the commentary raises the question of forgiveness and the difficulty of forgiving the untrustworthy on "seventy times seven" occasions.

I must protest the misuse of the Christian gospels by both Rwandan gacaca and the church in erecting this obstacle across the path of justice.
The Gospel According to Matthew (18:15-22) provides a process for forgiveness that includes confrontation, first by the injured individual, then by his/her community, then by the church itself, for the requisite repentance of the perpetrator. The Gospel According to Luke (17:3-4) requires forgiveness after the perpetrator requests it.

If the Christian gospels must be invoked for healing the monstrous wounds of Rwanda, let the process begin with truth-telling and forgiveness-seeking by the perpetrators, not the victims. Diffusing responsibility to include the victims promotes further injustice.

Ten years further down the road, as the wounds continue to fester, blaming victims for not divulging enough of their humiliation nor pardoning sufficient numbers of the murderers of their families would be the ultimate sacrilege.

PAIGC, which ruled Guinea-Bissau until it was ousted from power following a brief but bitter civil war five years ago, has emerged as the biggest party in the country’s new parliament, according to elections results published on Sunday. The PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde)won 45 of the 100 seats declared – leaving it just short of an absolute majority.

A study just completed in Togo has revealed high levels of child abuse in the West African state. Almost 370 men, women and children were surveyed for the study, which found instances of paedophilia, illegal child labour, trafficking – and discrimination against children who were disabled, or from certain ethnic groups.

Debt swaps exchange debt for some other asset or obligation. In the context of development, they normally involve countries negotiating cancellation of external debts in return for commitments on internal resource mobilization or some other government action. There has been considerable international interest in debt swaps and their potential to create a new and additional financing mechanism to help overcome long-standing barriers to development. The impact of AIDS on many developing countries, including many of the most indebted, has been severe. In the worst cases, AIDS has caused development progress to be set back by decades. There is therefore emerg­ing interest in examining whether debt swaps are potentially useful new instruments to apply to the problem of AIDS and development. This is according to a UNAIDS policy brief on the issue.

The United Nations opened a global environment summit Monday, warning about the growing number of dead zones in the world's oceans but painting a picture of a greener planet with an increase of vegetation in many regions. The three-day conference, hosted by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), will also consider how to tackle water shortages, increasingly frequent dust storms, and overfishing.

Linking the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the issues of poverty eradication, gender equality and environmental sustainability can expand women's access to natural resources, according to a report from Women's Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO). The report illustrates, through grassroots initiatives and real life examples, the practical linkages between the issues, and provides strategies, tools and actions for organisations and institutions to integrate gender issues and women's participation in the MDG process.

Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Kiraitu Murungi says the Government and the Electoral Commission of Kenya were in the process of enacting the law to encourage accountability and provide funding for political parties. He made the remarks at the United States International University during a two-day international conference on the role of the media in the fight against corruption. The Bill would also cater for party nominations to be conducted by the ECK to ensure effective leadership in political parties. This, Mr Murungi said, would prepare the parties as governments "in waiting".

A Tanzanian human rights body has expressed concern over the high level of corruption in the country, which it said was continuing unabated and was curtailing people's human rights. However, in its 2003 report released on Tuesday, the Legal and Human Rights Centre said there had been some steps taken to tackle the vice, notably in the strengthening of the Prevention of Corruption Bureau and the prosecution of some government officials, but that this was merely "scratching the surface".

Anti-corruption campaigners have attacked the British government's financial support for a UK-based subsidiary of Halliburton that is part of a consortium under investigation over bribery allegations. The consortium is alleged to have paid $180m (?149m, £99m) in bribes to secure a construction project in Nigeria. In a letter to the UK's Department of Trade and Industry, a group of five pressure groups claims the British government failed to vet properly the consortium's work on a multi-billion dollar natural gas project under construction in the country.