BULAWAYO, Dec 11 (IPS) - While food is readily available in shops and some political and economic stability is returning in Zimbabwe, vulnerable groups such as children and people living with HIV and AIDS still face a shortage of food.

It is this vulnerable group that has galvanised the international community into action to mobilise humanitarian support in the form of food, medication and water facilities.

This week the Red Cross launched an appeal for $33.2 million to extend an on-going emergency food operation in Zimbabwe to September 2010. The operation is led by the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The operation, begun last year, is providing food assistance to over 220,000 beneficiaries across Zimbabwe.

ZRCS Secretary-General Emma Kundishora said that vulnerable people in rural areas will be assisted with direct food aid, while those in the urban areas will receive food vouchers to be redeemed in supermarkets.

"The food vouchers are a pilot project for us and we are currently negotiating with the selected supermarkets where our beneficiaries will be able to buy food items," Kundishora told IPS.

"We are hoping to start the programme early next year as we have already received positive indications of support from our sister societies. It is critical to extend the programme because our beneficiaries do not have food and most of them are unable to produce food anywhere."

In the long term, the ZRCS will provide agricultural inputs like seeds and fertilisers, agricultural training, and increasing community access to safe water.

The U.N. Assistant Secretary General for humanitarian affairs, Catherine Bragg, visiting Zimbabwe at the beginning of December, commended the "great progress" made in easing Zimbabwe’s humanitarian crisis but called for continued donor support.

The U.N. has launched the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP), a planning and resource mobilisation tool used mainly for emergency responses. Under the CAP, the UN has appealed for $378 million in aid for 2010 to cover food and medicines, and bolster health, education, sanitation and access to safe water.

The United Nations Children's Educational Fund (UNICEF) is operating a malnutrition monitoring programme for children across the country. UNICEF Zimbabwe Spokeswoman Tsitsi Singizi, told the Voice of America Studio 7 that conditions for children are most severe in districts such as Mudzi, Mashonaland East province, where food is often in short supply.

UNICEF says a third of the country's children are not getting enough to eat, and as a result, one Zimbabwean child in five suffers stunted growth.

According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), seven percent of under fives suffer from acute malnutrition. The U.N. agency estimates that 1.9 million Zimbabweans will need food assistance between January and March 2010.

"The need to support 'humanitarian plus' or early recovery programmes is highlighted by the deterioration in existing infrastructure and loss of employment opportunities," OCHA said in a statement.

The National Aids Council (NAC) estimates that 761,000 children in Zimbabwe have lost one or both parents to HIV and AIDS. Currently there are more than 1.1 million children under the age of 15 who have been orphaned as a result of the disease.

"The food situation is a cause for concern but food aid is not sustainable," Fambai Ngirande, spokesman for the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations told IPS, adding that the country's economy is still not on a firm footing.

"We should also be focusing on full economic recovery (to allow) us to consolidate local food security and this rests on government creating a politically-conducive environment that will bring in investors to benefit the economy."

COPENHAGEN, Dec 11 (IPS/TerraViva) - The world's poorest countries want two billion dollars from the developed world to replenish the Least Developed Countries Fund.

This is one of the five top priorities put forward by LDCs at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change at a news conference Dec. 11.

Ephraim Mwepya Shitima, a delegate from Zambia, told journalists that the demands they have put forward need to be met in the Copenhagen agreement and its implementation.

The Least Developed Countries Fund was established under the 2001 Marrakech Accords and is administered by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

LDC representatives say the money has been used to support the preparation of National Adaptation Plans of Action (NAPAs) for 43 of the LDCs. GEF has already requested the immediate bankrolling of the Least Developed Countries Fund. The two billion dollars demanded by LDCs is the expected cost of full implementation of the NAPAs.

Bruno Tseliso Sekoli, the chief negotiator for Lesotho, says guaranteed, long-term financing for technology and capacity-building will be needed if least developed countries are to avoid sinking further into poverty.

"There is need for considerable additional financial and other forms of assistance for adaptation."

Tseliso complains that while funds have been available for adaptation, it has been difficult for poor countries to access.

There are 49 countries classified as least developed, mostly in Africa and Asia. The LDCs are members of the Group of 77 and China negotiating bloc here, but have increasingly developed a distinct, shared position amongst themselves, with a contrast against far more developed bloc members like India and China.

But Adao Soares Barbosa, representing Timor Leste, says this is not a move towards leaving the bloc, but an attempt to re-inforce the G77 plus China's position.

The "Climate Change Negotiations 2009: An LDC perspective" document calls for binding commitments from Annex I parties to sharply reduce emissions.

It argues that no matter how well adaptation is supported and implemented in LDCs, it will not be sufficient to cope with the drastic climatic changes that will occur unless drastic reductions in emissions are also achieved quickly.

"Adaptation is a complement to mitigation and not an alternative," argues Fatou Ndeye Gaye, senior climate officer from the Gambia.

She also demands corresponding reductions from the handful of developing countries that are major polluters.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - the 2000-plus scientists who assess global warming - have predicted that the least developed countries will be most affected by its disastrous effects, yet have the least capacity to cope and adapt to climate challenges.

The LDC representatives told assembled journalists that while their vulnerability is recognised and their special needs generally acknowledged by all parties to the climate change negotiation process, the decisions and responses to LDCs' with the draft proposals for a treaty have been very weak.

More than 750 million of the world's most vulnerable people want their voices to be heard.

ips

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 11 (IPS) - In Ghana, because the stigmatisation against gay men is so great, many are forced to have sexual relationships with women to escape prejudice and homophobic violence.

At the same time the Ghana Aids Commission reports that the rate of HIV infection and transmission is increasing rapidly among homosexuals because the discrimination they face has become the root cause of their inability to access treatment.

"In Ghana, under the law, it is illegal for a man to have sexual intercourse with another man. Homosexuals are severely stigmatised, and this is one of the reasons why human rights groups are making moves to decriminalise homosexuality and open up the channels of treatment," said Georgina Wood, the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana.

She was addressing the "HIV and Law in the 21st century: Meeting of African Jurists" in Rosebank, Johannesburg on December 11. The situation in Ghana, where the law makes it difficult for gay men to access anti-retroviral treatment, is just one of the topics to be discussed at the meeting.

Thirty eminent jurists from across Africa will be looking at how national law and law enforcement has not always protected people most vulnerable to HIV.

Co-hosted by the International Association of Women Judges, International Commission of Jurists, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAID) and the United Nations Development Programme, the meeting will also highlight the role of judiciary in the response to HIV/AIDS.

Issues such as the criminalisation of HIV transmission and the treatment of marginalised groups such as homosexuals, sex-workers and prisoners will be discussed with the possibility of the consideration of a statement that can guide courts, governments, civil society, business and others with regards to HIV/AIDS, law and human rights.

"The evidence is anecdotal. They (homosexuals) live in such constant fear of discovery and exposure to homophobic violence that they present a façade of heterosexuality and maintain female partners on the side. This places the women at an increased risk of HIV infection," said Wood.

Wood presented a background on HIV/AIDS and Ghanaian Law and said that it was not until 2001 that a policy or structure to respond to the virus was introduced even though HIV first emerged within the population in 1984.

"In April of 2001, with support from UNAID, we developed a mainstreaming policy document which embodied a five year plan of action to combat the spreading of the disease. At the time, experts put a figure of 200 to new HIV infections daily. That was truly scary for Ghana as a developing nation. Despite our progress since then, HIV/AIDS continues to constitute a threat to our social stability."

With the exception of the act setting up the Ghana AIDS commission, the country does not have specific laws related to HIV/AIDS.

Wood said that HIV/AIDS-specific legislation would provide the avenue for easy reference, clarity and certainty. The hope is that people living with HIV/AIDS can take these laws as recourse, such as their right to privacy in response to HIV/AIDS status disclosure.

"Over the years, since the emergence of the pandemic, some of the courts, especially the lower courts have deemed it prudent in cases of defilement, rape, and other acts of sexual violence, for both victim and alleged perpetrator to undergo obligatory HIV/AIDS testing. Ghana came under severe criticism for violating the rights to privacy and bodily integrity," she said. However, beyond the public outcry, no one has yet contested the constitutionality of this practice by the judiciary.

She said an important lesson for the judiciary, and all of its partner institutions, was for them to be better educated about the broad range of issues around HIV/AIDS. She said this is vital if they are to interrogate the claims that are brought to them, especially complaints that relate to women and children.

"Laws which are inimical to persons living with HIV/AIDS must be removed to make way for friendlier laws," she said.

Speaking to IPS, South African constitutional court judge Justice Edwin Cameron said the criminalisation of the transmission of HIV was not an effective measure to deal with the virus’ spread.

"The criminalisation of transmission will lead to further stigmatisation and do nothing but push people who need treatment further underground."

He said the only way to devise or implement laws that prevent transmission yet allow all access to treatment, is to ensure the protection of human rights. "The stage has been set here for the jurists to be part of a movement for change," Cameron said.

He will present a paper on criminalising HIV on the second day of the meeting in his capacity as a judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa as well as a person living with HIV/AIDS. Cameron has been on anti-retrovirals for the past 12 years.

Minister of justice and constitutional development, Jeff Radebe, emphasised that the issues of prejudice against people living with HIV/AIDS is a challenge worldwide. "Our role is therefore not to pass judgment but acknowledge that those infected and affected by the virus cannot be treated as some cases of some behavioural basket."

He said jurists are perceived by society as implementers of law and therefore seen as rigid with regard to new developments. "However there are none better placed than jurists who are able to understand the limitations of prevailing legal frameworks and accordingly the basis of shifting the frontiers," Radebe said.

Executive director of the AIDS Law Project, Mark Heywood, read aloud from letters he had received from people which he saw as representative of problems experienced around Africa, as well ones that show the pain and indignity individuals suffered from discrimination.

As the voice of civil society, the stories Heywood told were emotionally charged. They ranged from a woman who was constantly denied access to give her husband ARVs while he was in prison to another whose sister was refused entry as a recruit to the Durban police because she disclosed her HIV status. His last letter dealt with a mother who was being charged by her baby’s father for attempted murder as he believes she transmitted the virus to the child through breastfeeding.

"These are not unique scenarios to South Africa. There is much misunderstanding and fear around the HIV virus. If we don’t protect the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, they will simply go underground and not seek out treatment or services," Heywood said.

"This is what Justice Michael Kirby (former chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission and member of the World Health Organisation Global Commission on AIDS) referred to as the paradox of AIDS. Normally we try to protect the uninfected from the infected; the paradox is that we have to protect the infected to protect the uninfected."

It is 25 years into the epidemic and those who are at the most at risk of infection are not at the table of HIV/AIDS prevention because they remain criminalised, marginalised and fearful to the legal responses towards their lifestyles and their work, Heywood said, referring to homosexuals and sex-workers.

Heywood outlined the pitfalls people faced when seeking legal recourse through courts such as accessibility related to gender, class, geography or a combination of all three. He also mentioned how people with little or poor education did not understand court procedures well enough and that the jurists should take these factors into cognition as they go about their proceedings.

The rest of the proceedings will continue behind closed doors and will include jurists, civil society representatives, people living with HIV/AIDS and co-sponsor representatives.

ips

20091211

COPENHAGEN, Dec 11 (IPS/TerraViva) - One of the key components of global action on climate change will be measures to adapt to changes that are already unavoidable. The Global Gender and Climate Alliance argues that specific attention be paid to the needs of women.

"With climate change taking away their source of livelihood because of the erratic weather patterns preventing them from farming, women must find another means of making a living," said Rachel Harris, the media coordinator for GGCA.

Women make up a majority of smallholder farmers in Africa and in other developing countries. In contrast to the options open to many men, few women can respond to drought, for example, by relocating to cities or other rural areas in search of work. Women are often tied down by the need to care for children, or social obstacles to mobility; they are also frequently without even the smallest cash savings of their own or assets to sell to bridge hard times.

Rodney Cooke, the director of the Technical Advisory Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), admitted that previous funding mechanisms overlooked women farmers. ? ?"We’ve made mistakes before," said Cooke. "Women make up 70 percent of smallholder farmers, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, but somehow funding targets were disproportionately directed towards men."

Cooke's employer, IFAD, is the U.N. agency charged with financially supporting rural livelihoods; the organisation was set up in response to a crisis of food security in the 1970s. ?Cooke said there were no clear guidelines attached to previous funding on how women would benefit.

The alliance isn't waiting for a deal to be reached to complain that gender blind funding is failing the women who may need it most. Instead they are initiating proposals that will ensure women are the agents of change, able to create and adopt new agricultural options and explore other entrepreneurial ventures as a way of adapting to climate change.

Constance Okeletti, a smallholder farmer from Uganda, said women have a lot of knowledge useful for adaptation because they work with the environment through their household duties: include fetching water, gathering firewood and fruits and farming.

"We’ve been trying to adapt since climate change started to affect us. With the money we can do more," she said.

Okelleti observed that most development aid to African countries does not penetrate to the women at grassroots level because there are no specific provisions of how much of it should go to the poor.

"We don’t know whether it’s eaten by politicians or the workers in the cities," said Okelleti, who is representing a network of 40 groups of small-scale farmers in Uganda.

"Women fail to hold those in authority to account because we don’t even know how much was meant for helping out women," she continued.

"We expect the final text of the declaration to emphasise the percentage of the funds that are expected to assist women projects so that they adapt to climate change," said Okelleti.

GGCA, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has come up with a women’s Green Business Initiative to promote women’s entrepreneurship opportunities in the sphere of climate change adaptation and mitigation to try and tap into the climate change funding.

"For example through the initiative a local women’s group in Rwanda uses a voluntary carbon credit grant to implement a bamboo project for income generation and environmental protections," said Lucy Wanjiru UNDP’s gender and climate change and GGCA.

She said with funding from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Adaptation Fund, and new money coming from reduction of emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) schemes, women could be the ones accessing funds to start ecologically sustainable projects - be that planting trees or managing eco-tourism ventures - and earn a living.

"Agriculture is the sector most vulnerable to climate change," said Cooke. "An extra two million people in sub-Saharan Africa are going to be affected by water shortages and the majority of these are women."

If a deal reached at the U.N. Conference on Climate Change is to achieve its objectives, he said, it will have to incorporate a gendered perspective.

*This story appears in the IPS TerraViva online daily published for the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

20091211

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has complained that his longstanding ZANU-PF party is "eating itself up", at the opening of its first congress since it was forced to share power with a rival party.



AFP - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Friday bemoaned the divisions that he said were "eating up" his party, as he opened its first congress since losing its absolute grip on power.

"The party is fighting itself. It's eating itself up," the 85-year-old leader told more than 5,000 loyalists.

Mugabe and his ZANU-PF have ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, when they took control as the magnanimous liberators from white-ruled Rhodesia.

After initially working to expand education, health care and jobs, they are now reviled for leading the once prosperous nation into economic ruin, where life expectancy is only 34 and millions depend on foreign food aid to survive.

This year, Mugabe was forced into a unity government with Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who is now prime minister, after ZANU-PF lost its parliamentary majority in 2008 polls and the presidential race ended in dispute.

The power-sharing deal saw many Mugabe loyalists lose plum government jobs, rattling the patronage system that he has used to keep a lid on divisions within the party.

Mugabe also called for the sanctions levelled against him and his inner circle to be lifted.

"Certainly this arrangement (unity government) has restored peace between the party and stability in our country but the sanctions still continue and we wonder why, why, why."

Mugabe has spoken with unusual candor this week about the divisions within ZANU-PF, whose opaque internal operations generate widespread speculation in Zimbabwe.

"Instead of organising against the opposition, we are sweating for support, not for the party, but for oneself," Mugabe told party members ahead of the congress, according to the Herald newspaper.

"We should be able to admit that the election produced a result that left a huge dent on the party," he said.

"We are responsible for the poor performance in the election last year."

Tsvangirai also defeated Mugabe in the first round of the presidential race, but pulled out of the run-off citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters as the nation descended into political unrest, which rights groups say was fuelled largely by ZANU-PF.

Under stiff international pressure, Mugabe and Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing government in February in a bid to end a decade of political and economic turmoil.

The new government has stopped the economic bleeding, but jobs remain scarce, hunger widespread, and poverty endemic.

The party has been riven by internal squabbles over who should eventually succeed Mugabe, who has already been endorsed as the candidate in the next elections tentatively slated for 2013, when he will be 89 years old.

But analysts see no sign that the party is ready to tackle its challenges, much less turn around years of national crisis.

The two-day congress agenda focuses on the state of the party, the unity government, work on a new constitution and proposed media reforms.

In reality, little debate is expected, said Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the pro-democracy group National Constitutional Assembly.

"There will be no noise during the congress, and there will be no meaningful debate," Madhuku said.

france24

20091211

José Eduardo dos Santos, Angola’s president for the past 30 years, has provided the strongest indication yet that long-expected presidential elections will be delayed until 2012.

Critics believe Mr dos Santos is trying to extend his rule as long as possible. Oil-rich Angola has not held a presidential election since 1992. Polls have repeatedly been delayed.

Mr dos Santos told his Angolan Popular Liberation Movement (MPLA) “everything indicated” that a constitutional reform abolishing presidential elections in favour of a parliamentary system would be approved in the next few months.

That would in turn “set new times for the mandates of elected bodies”. The MPLA, a left-wing movement that won a 27-year civil war, holds more than 80 per cent of legislative seats. In the new system, the party with a majority in parliament would choose the president.

Mr dos Santos added that the MPLA government should serve out the four-year term it won during last year’s parliamentary contest. “It’s desirable that MPLA can complete its mandate,” said the president, to loud applause from about 2,000 party members. That means the next elections are not likely to take place until 2012.

Critics say Mr dos Santos, 67, intends to stay in power indefinitely. “The system of government favoured by the MPLA will concentrate a lot of power in the hands of the president,” said Fernando Macedo, a professor of constitutional law at the Lusíada University in Luanda.

“The strategy [of Mr dos Santos] is to be in power as long as he can without term limits,” he added.

Mr Macedo argued that the weakness of Angola’s opposition made a parliamentary system particularly dangerous for the country’s democracy. He described the popular consultation surrounding the proposed constitutional reform as a “farce”.

A senior foreign diplomat said: “If there is any opposition within the MPLA, it is hidden.”

The same diplomat added that the party was a “ruthless and efficient machine”.

Mr dos Santos emphasised the need to do more to fight poverty, which has worsened this year thanks to a sharp fall in oil prices and an economic slowdown. Boosted by high oil prices and burgeoning demand by China, Angola enjoyed double-digit growth rates between 2005 and 2008. But the country is expected to grow by only about 1 per cent this year.

Delegates overwhelmingly voted in a secret ballot to re-elect Mr dos Santos as party president.

ft.com

20091211

Anenoi Lokoki had wrapped up his morning meeting and set the agenda for another day of survival in the brittle hinterland of the modern world. He had decided who would search for water, who would graze the cattle and who would scour the soil for the footprints of enemy tribesmen.

A lanky figure, with a character as flinty as his cheek bones, he had assigned the tasks as the leader of some 4,000 nomads eking out an existence in the remote Turkana wastes of northern Kenya, struggling against a drought that is wiping out the cows and goats on which their lives depend.

“So now, as I stand here like this, I know people are at work,” Mr Lokoki said. That gave him a few minutes to sit down on his miniature wooden stool to discuss whether his ancient way of life had any future.

Nomadic pastoralists have trekked across the arid lands of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia for thousands of years. But there are fears that the few million currently on the move could be the last generation and among the first mass casualties of climate change.

Their land, one of the world’s most inhospitable environments, is punctuated only by rocks, leafless acacia thorns and the occasional dust devil. But it is tranquil and unpolluted and the resilience and flexibility of the nomads have enabled them to make it their home.

Africa has always been a continent of extreme weather and pastoralists are accustomed to coping with the failure of one or even two rainy seasons. But climate change could prove one test too far for their adaptability.

Oxfam, an aid agency, says the drought in east Africa is the worst in a decade and that the frequency of severe droughts across the region has risen from once every 10 years to once every two or three.

When several rainy seasons fail in succession, water sources dry up and grazing land cannot regenerate. Animals become thin and sick; they cannot be sold; they stop calving and producing milk; and their blood, which nomads drink as a source of nutrition, becomes harmful. So the people become thin and sick as well.

“For the past four years, we’ve experienced no good rains. Just showers that have no impact on the pasture,” Mr Lokoki said. He leaned forward to pull an off-white femur out of the clasp of the sandy soil: “You see here? The bone of a cow.”

Even wild fruits, a bitter source of back-up sustenance for nomads, had not been ripening.

“For us it is like a curse. We have never witnessed such a situation since we were born,” he said. “We’d always heard things would one day change. Now we are experiencing the changes. If there is no rain, we will lose all we have and die.”

Some climate models predict that prolonged droughts in east Africa will be followed by sudden rain, crashing down on impermeable soil and threatening to cause equally catastrophic flash floods.

As the Copenhagen climate conference gathers pace, it remains difficult to pin down causal links between greenhouse gas emissions and local weather events. No-one can be sure whether they are witnessing the portent of a menacing shift or just a blip.

What is clear is what activists call the injustice of climate change: Africa is the continent most vulnerable to climate change, least responsible for causing it, and least able to afford the costs of managing it.

Nomadic pastoralists are less able than most because they are the poorest of the poor: 95 per cent of people in Turkana live below the national poverty line compared with 53 per cent for Kenya as a whole, according to the country’s bureau of statistics.

Yet climate change is not the only threat to the nomadic way of life. This is not the first time its demise has been predicted or the first time western aid agencies, often imbued with romanticised visions of nomadic life, are publishing papers on how to save it.

“Climate change is coming to complicate an already complicated situation,” says Abduba Mollu Ido, a development consultant and pastoralism expert based in Nairobi.

Perhaps the longest-standing problem faced by nomads is political and economic marginalisation. The British colonial administration shut off northern Kenya as a “closed district” and since independence, east Africa governments have “regarded pastoralism as ‘backward’, economically inefficient and environmentally destructive,” said a report from the Overseas Development Institute, a London-based think-tank, in April.

Kenya map

An example of nomads’ disenfranchisement is the grabbing of grazing land by governments that have given it to higher-priority uses such as agriculture and safari parks.

As the human and animal populations have grown – in drought-free periods at least – the remaining land has been degraded by over-grazing, and water resources have been depleted.

Modernity has also begun to touch the nomads, bringing its own seductions and stresses. Mobile phones have made it easier to share information about the location of pasture and water. Mr Lokoki wore a military-style desert camouflage hat and a digital watch, too.

But the women in his group were wrapped in maroon blankets and wore traditional bead collars that elongated their necks. Their heads were shaved to leave stringy Mohicans.

A more deadly import from the modern world is guns. Cattle raids by rival tribes are as old as pastoralism itself, but guns have given conflicts a more deadly edge, and shortages of water and pasture have made them more frequent.

Mr Lokoki’s group was struck at the end of September by members of Uganda’s Dodoth tribe who swept across the border, killed three of his men, injured two women, and stole 850 goats and 500 cows.

The most galling thing about the raids, he said, was that “the Dodoth are always there to pick the fat animals and leave the weak ones”. Losing animals was like watching one’s bank balance drain away. “They are like living money,” he said.

For now, the Lokoki group is hanging on, partly thanks to aid from the United Nations World Food Programme. But if they and other nomads are to survive with their animals, most experts agree that they have to diversify their sources of income. “Pastoralism doesn’t die, it mutates,” says Mr Ido.

A growing number of people lead dual lives, spending half their time in a village where they farm a small plot or run a kiosk and half their time in pastoral areas. Others depend on absentee pastoralists with jobs in Nairobi – thousands of them are security guards, who send remittances back to their families in the arid lands or pay wages to young men to look after their animals.

Mr Lokoki was unsentimental about his fate. “It is only when you show the Turkana another type of livelihood that they will leave. Since I was born, I’ve never seen another type of livelihood,” he said. “Unless I’m shown a type where you forget about the raids and the drought ...?,” he continued, but his words tailed off.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

ft.com

20091211

Cape Town — The United States has stepped up pressure on Madagascar's rulers to agree on a transitional government or face losing trade benefits under American law.

In a statement released in Washington on Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that if Malagasy political leaders failed by next Tuesday to take "concrete steps toward reestablishing a constitutional democratic government and the rule of law," they would "seriously threaten" the continuation of U.S. trade preferences which the country had enjoyed for the last nine years.

The threat was issued after Andry Rajoelina, who seized power unconstitutionally last March, last weekend refused to attend talks in Mozambique with three former presidents with whom he has signed an agreement on a transition to democracy. The other presidents, including the man he toppled, Marc Ravolamanana, went ahead with the meeting and agreed on the allocation of posts in the transitional administration.

The U.S. statement said Madagascar has been a leading beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the law dating back to the Clinton presidency under which African governments can access American markets on preferential terms if they open their economies, build free markets, observe the rule of law and work to increase political pluralism.

But, Kelly continued, "the March 2009 undemocratic transfer of power and the inability to establish a return to democracy have violated one of the vital criteria for Madagascar's continued eligibility for these trade preferences." He noted that the law requires President Barack Obama to decide every year whether a country is eligible to continue to receive its benefits.

The U.S. called on Madagascar to:

* Announce a full transitional government cabinet;

* Establish a National Reconciliation Council;

* Make "clear progress" towards setting up an independent electoral commission; and

* Set a deadline for elections.


"Failure to achieve these benchmarks by December 15, 2009 would seriously threaten Madagascar's continued eligibility for AGOA's trade benefits in 2010," Kelly added. "Additional delay in meeting these benchmarks will undermine Madagascar's credibility and its prospects for continued eligibility for AGOA benefits."

alafrica

20091211

The fate of Guinea hangs in the balance following the shooting of the country's military ruler, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. There are fears that the fractured security forces could split further and trigger serious violence.

Corinne Dufka is senior West Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch. She spoke with AllAfrica's Cindy Shiner about Guinea's recent troubles.

Dadis Camara is receiving treatment in Morocco for a gunshot wound to the head. Do you think he will return to Guinea?

We're not sure. What I think has been clear is he was much more seriously wounded than was officially recognized or recognized by the [government] spokesperson. I say that for a few reasons: one, because Camara hasn't come out and actually spoken on the radio yet; and two, given the potential for the army to fracture in his absence we know he was very reluctant to leave the country.

So the fact that he left means that he was quite seriously injured, and anything that has to do with a head injury that requires surgery also suggests that it could be more serious.

Is it clear the head of the presidential guard, Lieutenant Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite, carried out the shooting?

It's not clear who actually pulled the trigger of the gun that injured the president. What's clear is that it was some sort of an altercation between Dadis Camara and the red berets that fell directly under Diakite.

The source of the acrimony appeared to be related to the [recent visit of the] United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the September events. There appeared to be an effort by Dadis Camara to arrest some of the red berets under Toumba earlier in the day of the altercation. Toumba then went and tried to free them and that's what created the problem. The interpretation is that Toumba believed that he was to be the fall guy for the September events.

[More than 150 pro-democracy demonstrators were killed on September 28, many of them by the presidential guard, or red berets, according to Human Rights Watch.]

What do you hear about the success of the Commission of Inquiry?
There was a team of researchers there from around the 15th of November and they stayed for about three weeks. The commissioners came for the last week or 10 days. It sounds like they were able to work quite effectively.

There are reportedly deep divisions in Guinea's military. How do you see this playing out?

The divisions could become extremely explosive. There are just so many x-factors now. If [Dadis] doesn't come back, I think that there's going to be some sort of battle for succession between [General] Sekouba Konate, who's the minister of defense, and [Captain] Claude Pivi [minister for presidential security] and perhaps others who are pretty much in control of the military camps. There's a lot of infighting between different groups that appear to have fallen [in] behind one military officer or the other.

My impression was there was sort of a loose coalescence behind [Dadis], although there have always been a good number of the military who were not in favor of him being the president, the head of the army. There are lots of units within the army that appear to be loyal to a particular officer instead of the Ministry of Defense, much less the security needs of the nation.

This year we've documented numerous cases of criminal acts by members of the military that have gone completely uninvestigated and those responsible have not been held accountable. [These are] acts of criminality like carjackings, robberies, shaking down of business people and diplomats and so on and [perpetrators have] enjoyed total impunity. We understand the people responsible are working for one or the other of these bands. Claude Pivi is one, Toumba is another, and there are others within the military.

So I think Dadis has been trying to hold them together. He has used various tactics - paying them off, giving them promotions, trying to make them feel secure that the military will be favored if he runs for president and remains in power and so on.

But also I think the fact that he's training some 2,000 men in a militia down in Forecariah, that's primarily an ethnic-based militia, suggests that he lacks confidence in the military to support him, so therefore he has to shore up what he perceives to be a lack of power with these other men that are identified with his ethnic group or his region.

How about Guinea's political opposition? Where does it stand?

There's very much a pro-democracy movement in Guinea. It's taken a hit and they're still in many ways licking their wounds. This is the second time in as many years where they've had very serious incidents in which over 100 people were gunned down. And repression sort of does work in many ways and they're afraid, they're frightened.

After Sékou Touré, Lansana Conté, they really have been waiting very patiently for civilians to be able to take over the government. That's why there was so much enthusiasm at the beginning - they tolerated the military government, they supported it based on Dadis's promise not to run for office.

When he changed his tune they were looking squarely in the face at the possibility of a third military authoritarian government and that's why you saw the reaction that you did with so many tens of thousands of people coming out in the streets [in September].

They do have a prime minister but no one seems to be talking about having the prime minister direct the affairs of the government, so that really illuminates how very much this is a military government.

Since the shooting of Dadis, what has been happening in the capital, Conakry?

The focal point of military activity at this point is the search operation for Toumba and his men. There have been some civilians who have been detained in association with that, including an imam and other people perceived to be close to Toumba. But I think the majority of people who have been picked up in the sweep have been military and they have been mistreated. We're really concerned about very credible allegations of torture, possibly even one death, in detention of those thought close to be close to Toumba.

Do you think the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), the African Union (AU) and the rest of the international community have been putting sufficient pressure on Guinea's military leaders?

I think from the beginning, the whole coup attempt has been met with a very welcome display of unity on the part of the international community, led by Ecowas and the AU, but also the European Union, the Francophonie and the United Nations.

They denounced the coup and then they denounced abuses by the coup members and they've been pushing them to hold elections and turn over to civilian authorities. So I think they've been quite good. We could have done with a few more high-level declarations or visits by West African or African presidents but they have come out and been very strong rhetorically.

And then after the international community reacted definitively after the September violence, both with the rhetorical denouncement of what happened and then a series of punitive measures. Arms embargos, asset freezes, visa freezes, travel embargos and so on have been imposed by Ecowas, the European Union, African Union and then bilaterally by the French and the Americans. So it has been a very strong reaction.

Human Rights Watch has cited what it calls a worrisome sign of targeting people based on their ethnicity in Guinea. Can you elaborate?

The ethnic element has always been latent. Guinea has not been devoid of ethnic tensions and ethnic targeting and collective punishments in the past. But this seemed to take it one level further. We say that because we always ask the victims what it is that is being said when people are targeted and there is a lot of very worrying hate-oriented declarations coming out of these guys.

We found that with the 28 rape victims that we interviewed, we found that about 20 of them were Peul. I don't think they were targeting Peul women, but the Peuls were over-represented at the stadium. The Peuls are very organized and some of the strongest political parties appear to be dominated by or are majority Peul.

What about Guinea's culture of impunity?

When the coup happened in December 2008 we talked about a dual crisis in Guinea: a constitutional crisis created by the coup following Conte's death, and the fact that he hadn't really set up a clear road map for transition; and number two a long-standing crisis of impunity in which the security forces have been able to get away with anything, including murder.

From the beginning we've said that this problem of impunity has to be dealt with by the military and we've been going on and on and on about it.

No one has ever been held responsible for the some 130 people killed by the military during a nation-wide strike in January and February 2007 and once again a couple years later we had this incident [in September]. I just think it's important to focus on the impunity by the military who have acted as if they are completely and utterly above the law. There has to be some sort of accountability.

What will keep the military in the barracks if Guinea does at some point have a civilian leader?

If they have a strong military officer who understands the difference between military and civilian life one hopes the rank and file would listen to them. Of course, they want their life conditions to be met and so on. You've got a lot of criminal elements in the military, but there are a lot of very well-disciplined officers as well. Unfortunately, they have been marginalized by the [current military government].

allafrica

20091211

Egyptian authorities are inserting metal sheets into the ground along the border town of Rafah in a bid to stem the alleged smuggling into Gaza Strip.

Metal sheets are being placed 20 to 30 meters (70 to 100 feet) deep into the ground, a resident of Sarsawiya south of the border said, after the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that an underground barrier is being built along Egypt's border with the Palestinian enclave.

Another witness said metal sheets were being inserted into the ground in Dihniya town farther to the south.

Reports that Egypt is building an underground wall are "mainly true," an official stationed near the border said on condition of anonymity.

Palestinians said that the wall will not deter them in their efforts to supply the Gaza Strip which has relied on tunnels since the Zionists closed the enclave after Hamas won elections in Palestine.

Egypt has not officially responded to the reports.

Haaretz reported that Egypt was constructing a massive underground iron wall along the entire nine-to-10 kilometer (six-mile) length of the border.

The daily cited Egyptian sources as saying that the barrier would extend 20 to 30 meters underground in a bid to block all transference.

alalam

20091211

Exclusive footage obtained by Al Jazeera has revealed brutal treatment of military personel linked to a failed assassination attempt in the West African state of Guinea.

Troops who took part in, or witnessed, the failed shooting of de facto president Captain Moussa Dadis Camara are allegedly being hunted down and some shot dead.

Camara is undergoing treatment in a Moroccan hospital after he was shot in the head when he tried to arrest his head of security, Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite.

The military president blamed Diakite for the massacre of more than 150 pro-democracy activists by the military in September.

But many people believe Camara gave the military the order to fire, according to Al Jazeera's correspondent Yvonne Ndege.

Insecurity

Ndege says there are signs of a violent cover-up, with elite units loyal to the president executing soldiers who witnessed the massacre.

Meanwhile, Guinea's interim junta leader, General Sekouba Konate, has offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of Diakite.

The general secretary of the junta presidency, Commandant Kélétigui Faro, told reporters the government was "searching everywhere in Conakry and even inside homes and within families for him".

Faro's restrictions on movement in the capital has increased fear and tension among the civilian population around Conakry as armed soldiers man roadblocks around the city.

aljazeera

20091211

Zimbabwe has launched a drive to find out who is getting paid by the state and whether their jobs are legitimate.

The bid to reform its civil service comes amid claims thousands of people are being paid for jobs they do not do, in exchange for their political support.

Critics of the survey say it is a political witch hunt in a bid to weaken Robert Mugabe, the country's president.

Al Jazeera's Owen Fay reports.

20091211

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, has led the Zanu-PF since the 1970s but in recent years competing factions have emerged as party members vie to succeed him.

While the party has chosen Mugabe to continue as its leader for the next five years, many are concerned the succession debate could eventually split the party.

Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa reports from Harare on the Zanu-PF's internal divisions.

afrol News, 11 December - A Vietnamese national oil and gas Group, PetroVietnam has struck two deals to boost oil and gas cooperation with Sudan and Angola.

Sudanese officials said PetroVietnam signed a cooperation agreement with the Sudan Petroleum Corporation (Sudapet) to explore oil and gas in the country. Both sides agreed to discuss the detail in January 2010.

The agreement, signed during a visit to Sudan by senior executives from PetroVietnam, will also enable both firms to expand their operations in a third country in Africa.

The Group is also expected to sign an agreement with the Angola Petroleum Corporation (Sonnagol) to expand investment in exploring oil and gas. With a reserve of 9 billion barrels of oil and gas and an output of 1.9 million barrels/day, Angola is the third largest oil exporter in Africa, after Nigeria and Libya.

PetroVietnam Deputy Director Nguyen Van Minh said the agreements are part of our plan to expand oil and gas exploration and production to Africa. "We are also focusing on expanding investment in oil and gas projects in other countries, especially in Russia and South America," Mr Minh said.

Although many details of the projects remained unclear, many analysts said it is only a matter of time before Vietnam's oil company tries to become a more important competitor in the global energy markets.

PetroVietnam said it has so far joined more than 20 oil and gas exploration and production projects abroad, including in Algeria, Iraq, Peru, Iran, Myanmar and Venezuela. Many were signed during the past 12 months.

PetroVietnam has signed another gas exploration with Mozambique earlier this month.

Accra, Dec.11, GNA - The Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) has called on government to consider allocating 10 per cent of the country's oil revenue to support education of the disabled.

The GFD has also called for a law to compel corporate bodies to allocate five per cent of their corporate social responsibility fund towards supporting the interest of the disabled.

Mr. Isaac Tuggun, Administrator of the GFD, who made the call at the official launch of The Dawhenya School in Accra said even though the disabled constituted about two million of the country's population, issues concerning their development had not been receiving the needed attention. The Dawhenya School is an eight million Ghana Cedi school complex project being undertaken by the Shiloh Baptist Church at Dawhenya to provide opportunities to both the physically challenged and others to pursue academic and vocational learning from pre-school through senior high level. This integrated institution, according to the church, would also train the head, heart and hands as well as give the deprived a window of opportunity to improve themselves and eventually impact the society at large.

Mr. Tuggun said even though recent government interventions were encouraging, the GFD believed that the allocation of such percentages of revenue would greatly enhance the welfare of the disabled as well as make them independent.

He said the disabled was still discriminated against as the existence of unfriendly facilities at institutions were still rife in the country and thereby limiting the progress of the disabled.

He said even at integrated systems or institutions of learning, officials do not have requisite knowledge on how to handle the special services that the disabled require.

Mr. Tuggun therefore, called for political will and change of mind and attitude to dealing with issues concerning the disabled. Mr. Godwin Addo, National Examinations Officer, Ghana Education Service, called for the setting up of educational endowment funds in villages and towns where resources would be lodged to support the education of the child.

Mr. Addo also called on families to stop spending lavishly on the dead and use the resources to support the education of their children. Mr. Djaba Nyakotey, Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church and Leader of the Dawhenya School project, said the church instituted the project to help end the deprivation facing the vulnerable in society. Mr. Nyakotey said it was the belief of the church that beneficiaries of its project would be economically empowered to face the challenges of life. He called on corporate bodies to support the church to make the project a reality.

The construction of the facility is expected to be completed by next year.

ghanaweb

20091211

Assembly (AMA) on Friday presented two cheques for GHc 1,700 to the Pediatric Surgery Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, paving way for a surgical operation to be conducted on two children suffering from anoretal anomali condition. The children; Esther Mensah and Charles Abeka both one and a half years old, were born without a normal anus so they pass faeces through a hole bored on the intestine and appears on the side of the stomach. Making the presentation at the Hospital in Accra, Mr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, Mayor of AMA said the assembly was touched by the plight of the children and decided to put a smile on their faces by improving their health conditions.

Mr. Vanderpuije said the AMA cared and was sensitive to the well-being of children adding that their health, education, the environment and the entire development was the assembly's priority.

'More importantly, as we approach the Christmas festivities, we as a people must express our love and care for one another not only in words but with action' he added and appealed to the business community, religious bodies and individuals to do more to help the poor in society. He commended the staff of the Hospital for their service to the community and assured them that government was aware of the conditions at the hospital and working to improve the situation.

Mr. Vanderpuije said the AMA in the 'New Accra for a better Ghana'' was committed to improving health services and education for children as well as upgrade the communities and create jobs for the youth.

Dr. Appeadu Mensah, Acting Head of the Unit, who received the cheques on behalf of the parents, thanked the AMA for the gesture. Meanwhile, Mr. Vanderpuije as part of the ongoing general clean-up exercise in the metropolis, toured some sub-metros including the Ashedu Keteke and Ablekuma Central as well as Town and Country Planning Department and Metro Works Department to assist in the tidying-up activities. He called on residents, corporate bodies and churches to patronize the exercise by cleaning their immediate environs.

ghanaweb

20091211

Ghana (MUSIGA) on Friday launched a fund to develop and promote Ghanaian music and welfare of its members.

To be managed by the FirstBanc, the MUSIGA Fund will receive contributions from members for use in future and thereby guarantee them long-term financial independence.

The move is to prevent the current phenomenon where musicians become virtually paupers after spending their days in the spotlight. Mr. Alexander Asum-Ahensah, Minister of Chieftaincy and Culture, announced the Presidency would soon put before Parliament the Copyright Law for fine-tuning to it make functional and effective in the payment of royalties to musicians and other cruial matters. He said government was working tirelessly but cautiously on the clauses to ensure that all stakeholders in the industry benefited from their creative efforts.

He said the National Development Planning Commission had included the creative industry in the country's Medium Term Development Framework for 2010/2013 adding," government's wish was that MUSIGA focuses on building the requisite internal structures to ensure the progressive development and expansion of the local music industry."

He said government was following with keen interest the developments taking place within the MUSIGA especially in the area of contracts and agreements and commended the Union for its handling of issues concerning members.

He described the launch as historic saying it would go a long way to secure the future of musicians in the country. Mr. Asum-Ahensah appealed to MUSIGA executives to embark on an awareness drive so as to get more of its members to subscribe to the fund. Mrs. Diana Hopeson, President of MUSIGA said by launching the fund, the Union was living up to its responsibility to ensure proper remuneration as well as social protection and support for musical activities were available to Ghanaian musicians.

Mrs. Hopeson said the Union had refurbished and provided adequate equipment and resources to all its regional offices across the country to ensure effective data management and administration. She appealed to government to reintroduce the teaching of music at the basic school level to make the pupils develop interest and talent in music and thereby ensure the sustainability of the industry. Representatives from the musicians unions of South Africa and Nigeria as well as the Trades Union Congress of Ghana delivered goodwill messages to mark the launch which also coincided with the MUSIGA's 10th Anniversary celebrations.

ghanaweb

20091211

Some 325 Nigerians have been deported from Libya within the last two days for breaching immigration rules, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) said on Thursday. The first batch of 164 deportees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on Monday aboard a chartered Air Memphis aircraft from Sebha in Libya, according to airport officials.
immigrants
On Tuesday, another batch of 161 Nigerians composed of young males and females was flown into the country.

A senior police officer at the Lagos airport told AFP that the youths were deported as a result of immigration offences ranging from expired visas, illegal documentation to fake visas.

But observers say the Libyan government is currently ridding its country of illegal residents with the aim of creating jobs for its citizens to survive the global economic meltdown.

Unable to obtain Schengen visas and still determined to flee the harsh economic realities back home, many Nigerians travel by road to Libya and strive to make a way into Europe, but most times get into trouble with the Libyan security forces.

Over 4,000 Nigerians have been deported in the last one year from Libya according to the Nigerian national daily, The Guardian.

africanews

20091211

Ugandan MPs have voted to outlaw female genital mutilation - also known as female circumcision. Anyone convicted of the practice, which involves cutting off a girl's clitoris, will face 10 years in jail or a life sentence if a victim dies. Rights groups welcomed the move, but urged awareness campaigns to ensure the centuries-old practice stops.
Uganda_map
The BBC report that it is not officially condoned but is still practised in several rural areas. The act is still practised by the Sabiny, some Karamojong sub-groups and the Pokot in eastern Uganda and the Nubi people of West Nile.

Genital mutilation is seen in some countries as a way to ensure virginity and to make a woman suitable for marriage.

MP Alice Alaso said the move was "a very significant achievement".

"It's a very bad practice. It's cruel, it traumatises people, it's led children to drop out of school, it's a health hazard," she told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

"This is a warning signal - whoever dares practice female genital mutilation will be subject to the law."

Another MP, Lulume Bayiga, said the law would liberate both men and women - who often face being ostracised for shunning the custom.

"Women will start for the first time to enjoy sex and it's going to do away with various diseases," he said.

According to the UN, about three million girls each year in Africa are at risk of genital mutilation, with more than 91 million girls and women living with the consequences of the procedure.

These include bleeding, shock, infections and a higher rate of death for new-born babies.

africanews

20091211

A coalition comprising major Senegalese opposition parties have opted out of an ongoing national consultation which is reviewing the country's electoral codes. The opposition "Benno Siggil Senegal" (a group of 34 opposition parties) is unhappy with the position of the riling party on certain key points relating on the electoral code.
Senegal map
As a result, delegates of ‘Benno Siggil Senegal’ matched out of the discussion room on Wednesday.

A routine practice, the discussions being moderated by the Ministry of Interior, which is responsible for elections in Senegal, brings together representatives of the opposition and those of the ruling party.

The present discussion focuses on “voter cards, the election campaign, the electoral register and the organization of polling stations.”

Key stumbling blocks in the discussion revolve around the duration of electoral campaign and the role of the media in announcing results.

Senegal’s governing party wants to cut down the campaign period from 21 to 15 days. They also insist on a controversial point that will prohibit journalists from reporting results until two hours after closing of polls. The opposition objects to both points.

They matched out of the discussion room in the face of ruling party insistence to go ahead with the plan.

Opposition spokesperson, Benoit Sambou, was quoted by the newspaper, Kotch, as saying "all proposals that have been made by the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA) and the opposition on improving the Electoral Code were rejected by the government side. This is why they decided to suspend their participation in the discussions.

But Abdoulaye Babou, spokesman for President Wade’s Sopi coalition, told the same newspaper that ‘‘the decision has been taken and that there was no question of going back on it.”

Ousman Tanor Dieng, Secretary General of Senegal’s former ruling Socialist Party, spelled out the opposition coalition’s condition for any possible resumption of talks. He told music superstar, Yusou Ndure’s private radio station, RFM, that the president must assure them [opposition] that whatever conclusion is reached during the discussions will be included in the final document.

As a second condition, Dieng said that the opposition is also demanding the Ministry of the Interior which oversees elections in the country does not preside over the discussions on revising the electoral code as they do not consider it independent.

‘‘We want an independent person, an independent framework in which we will discuss this. An independent person will be responsible for reconciling the positions and move the consensus,” he said.

He added, “This is the minimum acceptable. If this is not done, let them make decisions and we will put up an action plan and call all Senegalese to organize ourselves and create the balance of power that will oblige the system to understand that the country does not belong them.’’

africanews