With the announcement by President Mugabe that the next Parliamentary elections will be held in March 2005, it seems reasonable to examine the playing field for these elections, and more especially because the MDC has indicated the 15 conditions that need to be addressed before it can consider participating in these elections. These conditions constitute what might be termed the “high bar” for the holding of elections in Zimbabwe. Read the 15 points by visiting www.zwnews.com.

Ghana’s Electoral Commission on Tuesday began a two-week voter listing exercise in 21,000 registration centres nationwide to prepare a new voter’s register and supply all voters with a picture identity card ahead of December presidential and parliamentary elections. “We want to eliminate the possibilities of fraud and build confidence in our electoral systems. That is why we are insisting on a register and voter’s identity card complete with the holder’s picture,” a Director at the Electoral Commission, Henry Okyne told IRIN.

King Mswati opened parliament on Wednesday, but avoided commenting directly on the controversy surrounding the resignation of the Speaker and the country's "rule of law" crisis. "The nation knows that the administration of our justice system has been facing some challenges this past year," said Mswati, referring to the resignation of the Court of Appeal bench in protest over palace interference in the judicial system. "I have been assured that the minister of justice has engaged stakeholders on this issue, and await their views on the way forward."

The Zambian government in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched its first Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report in Lusaka. The report on the eight millennium goals revealed that Zambia is way behind target and will most likely fail to achieve any of the goals with the exception of Gender Equality and women empowerment.

West African leaders and World Bank officials will meet this week in Accra to discuss the challenges of regional integration and implementing the continent's home-grown economic initiative, Nepad, in the region, officials said Wednesday. The 15-member Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said in a statement here the two-day meeting in the Ghanaian capital will take place on March 19 and 20. "The Ecowas leaders will give their views on issues in their areas of responsibility within the Nepad (New Partnership for African Development) framework. They will identify the sources and impact of conflict in west Africa, and state the needs of the sub-region in terms of infrastructure," it said.

Uganda has made great strides against poverty. Many of those judged to be poor at the beginning of the 1990s had escaped poverty by the decade's end. However, a substantial minority were left behind and many others fell into poverty. Against the background of Uganda's impressive economic growth, there has been significant variation in individual experiences of poverty. What factors explain these divergences? What are the drivers, interrupters and maintainers of poverty in Uganda?

With the growing number of conflicts, declining terms of trade, and growing influence of international powers in determining Africa's social and economic policies all eyes in Africa are focused on the Pan African Parliament and those elected representatives of the people who will meet this week in Addis Ababa. What will it be possible for the Pan African Parliament to deliver?

The first meeting takes place on the 10th anniversary of two historic events in Africa. One was the rise of the popular movements that led to the downfall of apartheid in South Africa. The other, a human catastrophe of immense proportions involving the massacre of nearly a million people in Rwanda in the space of a few months. If the one was achieved through the mobilisation of the majority for the goal of emancipation, the other was fuelled by pressures to comply with an externally defined agenda for social development. These events represent the extremes of hope and despair that came to characterise much of the continent in the closing years of the millennium. Every country in the region contains, albeit to varying degrees, the mixture of factors that can lead to either outcome – a future built on respect for human dignity, or one torn apart by conflicts such as those seen in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, Somalia, and which continue in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Can the Africa Parliament meet the challenge of building a democratic and just future?

Pambazuka News is Africa's widest circulation electronic newsletter on social justice, reaching more than 60,000 people every week. As a service to parliamentarians, and as a service to our readers, we have produced this special issue of Pambazuka News which will be provided in printed form to all those attending the Pan African Parliament this week. We think it is critically important for parliamentarians to be kept up to date with the latest developments in Africa. Pambazuka has become an important tool through which civil society in Africa disseminates information relevant to social justice. We believe that a dialogue between parliamentarians and civil society organisations is vital for development that ensures that the interests and the rights of the majority are protected.

This issue of Pambazuka News is dedicated to the cause of a Pan Africanism that is founded on social justice and respect for human dignity.

Angola is to sign a trial deal with the International Monetary Fund, paving the way for loans to rebuild the war-shattered country, officials say. Angola has promised to end fuel, electricity and water subsidies by the year's end as part of the agreement.

The Kenyan government has withdrawn from the national conference which has been drawing up a new constitution. The announcement follows a decision by delegates to adopt a draft document reducing the president's powers. Those closest to President Mwai Kibaki say creating a powerful prime minister in competition with the president would be "both nonsensical and dangerous".
Related Link:
Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance Statement on walkout
http://kenyasocialist.org/statements/walk%20out%20on%20constitution.htm

Two obstacles remain as a sore preventing Africa from entering the phase of self-reliant development: irrational fragmentation from a casual tearing up of the continent into incoherent real estates of the Africans and dependence on donors to finance African development. The two are dialectically linked. Weak and fragmented states depend on external sources of aid largely unable and not often in a position to mobilise internal resources. Political fragmentation has created unviable economic entities. Conversely lack of success in economic development has created weak political structures, developments and so-called failed states.

The World Bank has formally reopened a corruption inquiry into a leading Canadian engineering company which could lead to the first blacklisting of a major international firm. The move follows the conviction of Acres International in the high court of Lesotho in southern Africa, an unprecedented example of a western firm being prosecuted for bribery by a developing country. The Ontario company was the first of several to be found guilty of bribing Masupha Sole, the chief executive of the multibillion-dollar Lesotho Highlands Water Project, a massive series of dams providing water to South Africa and electricity to the tiny, landlocked country.

This work brings together in a single volume a series of public documents pertaining to Africa’s development since independence. These are various resolutions, declarations, treaties, and plans of action, which represent key moments and turning points in recent history from across the African continent. In its entirety, the collection of documents reflects how development ideas and processes have evolved from the early sixties until the present day. (Taken from: African Books Collective: Autumn 2003 new and recently published titles catalogue)

This was a powerful article (Pambazuka News 147: Open letter to Nkosazana Dlamaini-Zuma and other women in the South African cabinet). I worked in Zimbabwe for many years and I know some of it to be true as I experienced it with women that I worked with. How can we help to disseminate this information within the United States? How can US women influence the political system in Zimbabwe?
PZ REPLIES: We have forwarded this letter to the author and await a reply.

I follow your newsletter with keen interest and have found most of the articles you carry very interesting. I however prefer to access it via the internet as this makes for better readability. I therefore request that I be taken off your subscription list with immediate effect. Thanks for the good work and keep it up.
PZ REPLIES: Thanks for letting us know your reason for unsubscribing. We are more than happy for you to read the newsletter online.

Ghana’s government has shelved a bid to fast-track a bill seeking to allow all Ghanaians abroad to register for general elections to be held in December 2004. The move followed an outcry from the opposition, which had threatened street protests if the bill was rushed through parliament.

An unexpected power cut in the Comoros at the weekend has delayed the release of results in the first round of legislative polls in the Comoros, a senior official told IRIN on Monday. "We would have liked to have had most of the results released by today (Monday) but, due to the electricity problems and delays with the delivery of ballot papers, we are a bit behind. But we are quite confident that we will prove successful when the full results are known," said Dini Nassur, spokesman for Grand Comore President Abdou Elbak.

Thirteen alleged coup plotters will appear on 6 April before a military court in Burkina Faso, state prosecutor Abdoulaye Barry said on Monday at a press conference. "The investigations were closed on March 12, and the job of the investigating magistrate has ended," Barry said.

Efforts by the Rwandan government to rid the country of corruption continue, with 139 police officers targeted for dismissal over cases of indiscipline ranging from theft to bribe-taking, a senior police officer told IRIN on Tuesday. The blacklisted police officers would be paraded before the public "as soon as possible", the official, who requested anonymity, said. However, the officer did not say when the police officers would be dismissed, only hinting that most of them were constables.

Secretary to the Cabinet Leslie Mbula's honest admission that there's still corruption in government is highly welcome, says this editorial in Zambia's The Post newspaper. "We say this because the attitude - that is to say, the seriousness of purpose - of any institution is measured, basically, by the attitude it takes towards its own weaknesses and problems. When weaknesses or problems are acknowledged, they stand a better chance of being overcome or solved. There's need to take a forthright and serious attitude towards our country's problem of corruption," says the editorial.

Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation - Europe (NIDOE) is organising a two-day conference aimed at mobilising the significant Nigerian diaspora in support of development efforts in Nigeria.