Reporting Africa

French Eurizons team blog

2006-06-01T18:26:00.000Z

This is a quick post...I am very busy these days and unfortunately the 2 weeks thing is on again. Hopefully, by then I will be posting regularly and will have changes and topics that I have previously promised to post;)

In the meantime, I had a comment whereby I was informed about a blog the French Eurizons team are running, definitly worth checking out!-I will be linking to this in the future when progress in regards to Eurizons is reported...

Click here to view their blog.

Will be back soon

Health aid needs at least 25 billion dollar a year

2006-05-27T22:09:00.000Z

"Rich countries would have to give $25 billion to $70 billion more each year for developing nations to meet the health-care needs set out in the Millennium Development Goals, a World Bank study said on Thursday.

Beyond the targets set for 2015 by leaders of the Group of Eight rich countries last July is the momentum of a burgeoning global population the World Bank expects to reach 7.5 billion by 2020 and 9 billion by 2050, the study found.

"While birth rates are declining, because you still have so many women in the child-bearing years -- because of population momentum -- global births don't begin to decline until 2030 so in absolute numbers you still have a lot more births," said George Schieber, one of the report's co-authors.

"As populations age, then you get people in the very high expenditure groups of the elderly and noncommunicable diseases, so they're going to be putting a lot more pressure on the health system," Schieber added.

Health-care systems worldwide are already struggling to cope with sharply rising costs in dealing with HIV/AIDS and efforts to head off the possibility of a human pandemic of bird flu, the report shows.

But demographic changes alone over the next 20 years will mean most low- and middle-income countries will face 2 to 3 percent annual increases in health-care spending, it said.

"At least in communicable diseases there are low-cost methods of preventing it or treating it so it really has to do with the momentum and the demographics," Schieber said.

One major obstacle is government resources in meeting these growing needs. The report cited International Monetary Fund programs that preclude countries from using increased grant funding for health spending like hiring more health workers." Read full report here.

"Bob Geldof: Africa must be allowed to trade its way out of poverty "

2006-05-27T22:05:00.000Z

Read this.

Abuse against African girls

2006-05-27T22:02:00.000Z

"Nine out of 10 girls in eastern Africa have suffered physical or psychological abuse, including rape at the hands of relatives, a pan-African advocacy group said in a report.
"In eastern Africa nine out of ten girls are abused on a regular basis by the people they trust most," Assefa Bequele, head of the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), a child-advocacy group, said in a report released in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa on Wednesday, to coincide with two-day conference on violence against girls in Africa."

"Nearly one in two girls has been raped in Uganda, 29.7 percent in Ethiopia and 26.3 percent in Kenya, but reporting of sexual abuse to the police is low across all countries with Ethiopia as the lowest (1.5 percent) and 4 percent in Uganda, according to ACPF. "

"In Ethiopia, one in every two girls is a victim of unwanted sexual touching, 18.9 percent are regularly hit with a stick, while 55,2 percent sometimes. 21.2 percent women are usually hit on the head and 16.5 percent whipped with belts, according to the ACPF. "

Read full article here.

Cholera spreading...

2006-05-27T21:58:00.000Z

"Angola's fast-spreading cholera epidemic claimed seven lives in the last 24 hours and has touched most corners of the southern African country, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.
The United Nations agency said the outbreak, which has infected nearly 39,000 people and killed more than 1,400 in three months, had reached 12 of the country's 18 provinces.
More than half of the infections have occurred near the capital Luanda, on the Atlantic coast."
Read more here.

In Sudan:
"More than 500 people have died in a cholera outbreak in southern Sudan, where two-thirds of the population drink unclean water, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
Southern Sudan's towns are overflowing as hundreds of thousands of people return home after a peace deal signed last year to end more than two decades of civil war. Living in crowded, unsanitary conditions, diseases such as cholera and meningitis are spreading fast.
An outbreak of acute watery diarrhea began in late January, and the first cases of cholera were confirmed in February. Since then, it has spread to six of the 10 southern states." More here

Tanzania debt cancellation

2006-05-27T21:54:00.000Z

"Tanzania is among 18 member countries of the African Development Bank (ADB) expected to benefit from an $8.6 billion debt cancellation.
The bank's president Dr Donald Kaberuka said it have a good portfolio in Tanzania "and it is one of the best performing, and that is why we are increasing powers of country offices in the ongoing reforms".
He said funds from the debt relief will be used for fighting poverty in the respective countries. "

"Sheku Sesay, the resident representative of the ADB Country Office in Tanzania said, "In respect to African Development Fund contribution to the initiative, it is estimated that about $8.54 billion of its debts held by 33 regional member countries will be cancelled, covering outstanding debt which was disbursed as at end December 2004."
The amount each eligible country, including Tanzania, will benefit from, is expected to be endorsed by the governors of ADB Group this month, before the bank informs the respective countries. "
Read in full here.

Children and AIDS, what you don't know

2006-05-27T21:50:00.000Z

"Some 2.3 million children under 15 years of age are living with HIV, with little access to treatment, according to a report by child advocacy groups.

"Children are the missing face of the AIDS pandemic," Ann Veneman, executive director of UNICEF, the U.N. Children's Fund, told a news conference on Friday in introducing a report by seven humanitarian groups.

Over 90 percent of the children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are in sub-Sahara Africa, where diagnosis is rare, treatment is expensive and most available drugs are produced for adults, the report said.

"If we cannot diagnose children, obviously we can't treat them," Veneman said.
A vast majority of the infants are infected by their mothers during pregnancy, where drugs are available to prevent transmission to infants but only about 10 percent receive them. The children rarely are given needed anti-retroviral drugs, the report said.

"Without treatment, most children with HIV will die before their fifth birthday," said Dean Hirsch, president of World Vision International, a Christian aid organization.
Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children USA, said AIDS among adolescent females as well as the mother-to-child transmission were increasing, despite affordable treatments available over the past 15 years.

The new report and an earlier one by UNICEF showed that each year more than 650,000 children under 15 are infected with HIV for a current total of 2.3 million in 2005. Children under 15 account for 1 in 6 AIDS-related deaths. A child under 15 dies of an AIDS-related illness every minute, and a young person aged 15-24 contracts HIV every 15 seconds.

All three officials emphasized a lack of research to combat AIDS in children, which means that treatment is less precise and more expensive. Development of new drugs are focused mainly on adults.

Although Africa governments have pledged to spend 15 percent of their budgets on public health, less than a third have done so, MacCormack said. He also said that pledges from the Group of Eight industrial nations have not fully materialized.

Veneman and Hirsch spoke out in favor of for sex education, tailored to age groups, and the need to keep girls in school. In some African nations, one third of girls under 18 are the victims of forced sex, often during forced marriages."More here.

"Only one HIV-positive child in 20 in developing countries receives the treatment they need"

Slavery

2006-05-27T21:40:00.000Z

I read this article a while ago and forgot to post it here, one paragraph really moved me, I will quote it here:

"The manifest states the ship was laden with five cases of clay beads, 410 rolls of cloth, 640 muskets, two tons of lead bars, 14 tons of iron and 1,000 copper bars.
It set sail down the Bristol Channel on an unspecified date in 1730 bound for the Niger delta. In return for its cargo of 18th- century bric-a-brac, the captain bought 250 humans. In the words of the merchant who sent the consignment, they were to be "Bonny Negroes". Each life was worth 1.6 rolls of cloth, two-and-a-half guns, 72kg of metal and a handful of beads."

250 humans for that?! What is all of this worth and how do you estimate a human's worth?! Don't worry, OF COURSE I am aware of the history of slavery, this is nothing new, but seriously, I wish one day I can work out the mentality of these people who trade in slaves, and believe it or not, they still exist today, maybe under a more fancy name...But they are there.

Chad update

2006-05-27T21:25:00.000Z

"The UN's humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said a fraction of the funds needed to feed the refugees had been raised.
He said Chad's refugee crisis had been "overshadowed" by events in Darfur.
The Darfur conflict has killed some 200,000 people and created 2m refugees. Many have fled to Chad, to be joined by Chadians fleeing internal unrest.
Touring refugee camps in eastern Chad, near the border with Sudan, Mr Egeland told the Reuters news agency the security situation in the region had descended into "total chaos".
Aid agencies estimate they need $180m to feed the refugees in eastern Chad.
"Only 16% of the humanitarian funds required to feed these people has been met so far," Mr Egeland is quoted as saying" Read in full here.

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"The U.N. refugee agency on Friday said it is "very disturbed by reports of ongoing infiltration of armed Sudanese rebels inside and near some refugee camps in eastern Chad and fear further recruitment of refugees for military activities."
"We strongly condemn the infiltration of refugee camps by any military presence. This situation is totally unacceptable. It violates the civilian and humanitarian character of the refugee camps and risks making refugees and humanitarian workers a target.""

"Describing the latest reports of refugee camp infiltration, UNHCR said "men identified as belonging to a Sudanese rebel armed movement were spotted earlier this week in the northern Oure Cassoni camp" near the Sudanese border.
"The camp, which shelters some 27,000 Sudanese refugees from Darfur, has been suspected of being used as a rest and recuperation base for Sudanese rebels. This is the first time however, that rebels have been seen so openly in broad daylight, in vehicles and walking around the camp," the UNHCR said in a statement.
"We immediately informed the local authorities about the infiltration. On Wednesday and Thursday we met with our implementing partners, local authorities, camp gendarmes and refugee leaders. The refugees were clearly reminded of their rights, duties and obligation not to engage in political nor military activity in Chad and most specifically not in the camps."
The agency urged authorities in Chad, rebel groups and refugees "that infiltration of the camps cannot continue. If not stopped, it could result in the suspension of humanitarian activities.""
Read more here.

-------------------------------------------------

Same day as the report just mentioned, Human Rights Watch released a briefing on the situation in Chad.
"Witnesses showed Human Rights Watch researchers one of the massacre sites in four adjacent villages approximately 70 kilometers west of the Sudan border, and confirmed that a total of 118 people were killed on April 12 and 13, a period when Chadian rebel groups based in Darfur were pursuing a westward offensive on the Chadian capital, N’djamena" Footage is available on the HRW link above.

"Survivors described unarmed villagers being surrounded and then gunned down or hacked to death with machetes by militiamen wearing blue Sudanese military fatigues and turbans. Witnesses described their attackers as Janjaweed and noted that Chadians who had recently migrated to Sudan were among them. The recent militia attacks in Chad seem to be part of a wider pattern of cross-border violence that Human Rights Watch has documented over the past year, during which time the Sudanese state of West Darfur, which borders Chad for more than 500 kilometers, has become increasingly volatile. More than a dozen armed groups, including four factions of the Darfur rebel movements, several Sudanese government-backed militias, and Chadian rebel groups are active along the porous border. Livestock raiding has become common, but the April attacks on the four Chadian villages were unusual for the high number of deaths. "

"UGANDA: LRA rebels ready to talk peace "

2006-05-27T21:13:00.000Z

"The insurgent Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is ready to engage the Ugandan government in talks to end two decades of fighting that has killed thousands and displaced close to two million people in the country's north, rebel leader Joseph Kony has said."

"The LRA commander-in-chief said he was ready to talk peace with the Ugandan government and had "no problem" with President Yoweri Museveni. He also said he accepted an offer of mediation extended by Machar. South Sudan - where the LRA operates from - is now run by the SPLM/A, which signed a peace deal with the Khartoum-based Sudanese government in January 2005." Read in full here.

Yahoo! have this thing I enjoy reading through called Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone. Here is a good documentary of what life is like for some Ugandans. I want to quote this bit:

"An estimated 50,000 Ugandans (30,000 of them children) from four northern regions walk from their homes in outlying rural areas to what they consider safer urban centers, like the city of Kitgum. They sleep in tents, schools, porches or verandas -- wherever they can find a place to lay their heads. "

Volunteers and peacekeeping

2006-05-27T21:04:00.000Z

Check this out.

Southern Sudan

2006-05-27T21:00:00.000Z

I first thought I should post this along with the Darfur update, but figured that I would put it seperately, as there is a point I wish to put forward, or rather a question?

A BBC article has this:

"International medical organisation Medecins Sans Frontiers has withdrawn its international staff from several clinics in southern Sudan.
The agency says attacks by militia have made large areas in the provinces of Upper Nile and Jonglei too dangerous to operate in.
The violence began in April, when an attack was carried out in the village of Ulang, where MSF operated a clinic.
Last year's peace deal was supposed to end 21 years of war in southern Sudan.
"We are concerned about the growing number of violent incidents," says MSF co-ordinator Cristoph Hippchen. "

"Last year's peace agreement between the government in Khartoum and the main southern rebel group, the SPLA was supposed to end the violence, requiring all militia groups to integrate into the SPLA, or be disbanded.
But a number of organisations are refusing to comply, and in some areas the SPLA is attempting to disarm them by force."

Right, so peace deals all over again...do they really work, the same question I have asked before and said 'time would tell', well there is time in another situation and the story it's telling isn't pretty...I'm officially exhausted!

Darfur latest

2006-05-27T20:45:00.000Z

"Sudan appears to have taken the first step towards a UN mission being deployed in Darfur, under intense international pressure.
The UN says it has reached an agreement with the government for an assessment team to be sent to the troubled region.
After meeting Sudan's president, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said the mission would assess requirements for the possible arrival of UN peacekeepers.
However, Sudan has still not agreed the deployment of a UN force.
Khartoum says it would prefer the current African Union peacekeepers there to be given more support. "

"After three days of meetings in Khartoum, Mr Brahimi said a joint UN and African Union team would arrive in the next few days.
The aim of the mission will be to assess the needs of the current African Union peacekeepers and also the requirements for a possible transition to the UN. " Read in full here.

Human Rights Watch has a briefing addressing the implementation of the peace deal signed:

"Relief workers are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of civilians in dire need of food, water, shelter and protection from further attacks in Darfur, in the face of mounting insecurity, targeted attacks on aid workers and administrative obstruction by the Sudanese government. Under international humanitarian law (the laws of war), the warring parties must allow impartial humanitarian agencies to assist civilians, and attacks on aid workers or deliberate obstruction of relief efforts can constitute war crimes. The deteriorating rights situation in Darfur comes despite numerous commitments by both the Sudanese government and rebel movements to respect an April 2004 ceasefire and protect civilians. The U.N. estimates that it has no access, or limited access, to at least 650,000 civilians in need of assistance. Even in areas where humanitarian agencies have safe access to civilians, the government of Sudan has obstructed relief activities with a campaign of “administrative harassment.” Administrative restrictions include delaying visa and travel authorization and using a new law regulating the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to impose arbitrary and onerous regulations on humanitarian agencies. "

On this, "Jan Egeland, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, said attacks against aid workers had been relentless and access difficult. He said the under-equipped African Union force in Darfur needed immediate help and that international funding had to increase, especially from Gulf nations.
"The next few weeks will be make or break. We can turn the corner towards reconciliation and reconstruction, or see an even worse collapse of our efforts to provide protection and relief to millions of people," Egeland told the 15-nation U.N. Security Council of his recent trip to Sudan and Chad.
"The next few weeks will be absolutely critical for millions of people in this region," he said." Otherwise "malnutrition and mortality rates would multiply in some areas, within weeks, not months." " Read full article here.
"Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha also read a written statement declaring the government would allocate more money for aid to Darfur and to offer 20,000 tonnes of extra food to the World Food Programme to cover a donor gap this year." Read here.

Ivory Coast arms latest

2006-05-27T20:33:00.000Z

I have previously posted this; here is the latest:

"The two sides in Cote d'Ivoire's more than three-year war, rebel leaders and loyalist army chiefs, on Tuesday said a first phase of disarmament was under way, with some combatants returning to designated disarmament sites.

Independent confirmation of the troop movements was not immediately available however from the UN mission in Cote d'Ivoire, which has been charged with overseeing disarmament, a key step forward in securing peace.

According to an Ivorian army spokesman, 96 loyalist troops stationed in a town close to the UN-patrolled no-man's land separating the rebel-held north from the government-run south, were dispatched to the nearby capital Yamoussoukro on Monday.

The move inaugurated a so-called pre-regroupment phase, meant to prepare the return to barracks of tens of thousands of combatants.

"This is a very important step," army chief of staff Philippe Mangou said during the ceremony. "We are completing the first phase of disarmament in keeping with the peace process initiated by the prime minister."

Later this week, troops near the port city of San Pedro will be gathered at designated sites, an army spokesman told IRIN on condition of anonymity.

And in the rebel capital Bouake, spokesman Sidiki Konate said rebel commanders were ready to pull back fighters to designated sites in the northern towns of Botro and Bouna on Tuesday.

"First, we are going to pinpoint out current position on a map and then we are going to draw up maps with our new positions," Konate said. He did not say how many fighters would be gathered at the sites.

A deadline for disarmament has not been set. Rebel and army chiefs are expected to discuss a timetable on 31 May."

Read full report here. [Dated May 23, 2006]

Hotel Rwanda

2006-05-27T20:21:00.000Z

Last night I got to watch Hotel Rwanda...Really hit me badly, I know of all the atrocities portrayed, not new to me, but this is why Hollywood works pretty well. You can read whatever statistics there are, news headlines, my blog :P, it won't give you the full visual experience of the tragedy.

You have to watch the movie if you haven't, if you have, feel free to share your comments...

I thought I have to post this here.

'Forty-five 747s crashed today....'

2006-05-27T20:12:00.000Z

"Forty-five 747s crashed today, everyone on board was killed and oh, by the way, they were all children": coming from James Morris, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to clarify how bad the hunger is widespread in this world, and among children, and how the world hears it and goes all "na na na, I can't hear you". Do forty five 747s REALLY need to crash to serve as a wake-up call?!

"The world produces enough food to feed everyone, with 17 percent more calories per person today than 30 years ago, according to the World Hunger Education Service.
But the distribution is unequal.
Pressure on scarce resources, drought, growing inequality and conflict have aggravated malnutrition among the unemployed in urban slums, landless farming families, the orphans of AIDS and the ill.
Making things worse is a surge in natural disasters, which numbered 400 in 2005, up from 100 in 1975, according to World Bank estimates. In the last decade, 2.6 billion people were affected by natural disasters compared to 1.6 billion in the previous decade. "

"Hundreds of thousands turned out across the world on Sunday for a global march against hunger organized by the WFP.
"We know how to solve the problem," Morris said. "We can feed a child for 30 euros a full school year."
Morris was speaking at the World Economic Forum in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, where business and political leaders debated ways to promote wealth, peace and stability in the Middle East.
He warned against relying on macroeconomic statistics as a sole gauge of development, saying they hide a disparity in many countries between rich and poor.
Without progress in combating problems like iron deficiency -- which the WFP says hinders the mental development of 40 percent to 60 percent of children in developing countries, progress risks being held back.
"Feeding children of zero to 2 years of age is the most powerful investment a country can make in its future economic wellbeing," said Morris. "

Read full report here.

We are irrepressible

2006-05-27T19:53:00.000Z

I hear stuff like this and it hurts so badly. A non-violent pro-democracy activist being imprisoned for nothing. Now we are starting to see a new trend of this behaviour, people imprisoned for freedom of expression on the internet, websites blocked for calling for democracy, or blogs deleted. This is NOT right, as simple as that.

Please sign the Amnesty pledge calling for internet freedom. Click here for more information on the irrepressible campaign. This will be presented in the November 2006 UN conference discussing the internet. Your voice counts, please spread this message.

Back, at least for now

2006-05-27T19:47:00.000Z

Well not really two weeks:D hehe...
I will make a summary of the latest from Africa...
One thing I wanted to touch on: I know I have not been reporting everything, especially things like Somalia. I was very busy and seems like some things were not included along with others on this blog. I try my best to give a balanced account, I try.

Apologies

2006-05-25T15:59:00.000Z

I won't be blogging for a couple of weeks. But after that I have a lot planned for adding to this blog. I have previously promised to give an account on the question of "does aid work?", that is one of the plans. Stay tuned.

Global Week of Action for AIDS

2006-05-25T01:05:00.000Z

"The Global Week of Action is taking place the week before a major UN meeting on AIDS, known as UNGASS. At this international meeting in New York (31st May-2nd June), heads of state and decision-makers will come together and review how the world is doing in the fight against AIDS. " Read more about what's happening here.

"They will analyse the small gains, the big losses and make new promises to contain the epidemic. They will decide what the priorities are, and how much money will be spent on what. ActionAid International will be there, campaigning for the meeting to commit to AIDS treatment for all by 2010."

Read more about the UN meeting here.

Which seat would you like?

2006-05-25T01:00:00.000Z

Have you signed the million faces petition as part of Control Arms ? The petition asks for an international arms trade treaty, arms kill needlessly every single day, arms have stirred up violence in conflict-torn countries, arms are used to take families' cattle in the middle of drought, and yes I can go on and on with the examples, so I think I will stop here. As part of the campaign, a new interactive spot has been set up, with al the World Cup fever in the air, it can also be incorporated here.

You have 1 new message (s)

2006-05-25T00:59:00.000Z

Read here (pdf).

Are you walking?

2006-05-21T15:36:00.000Z

The world is walking today...it is Walk The World 06 (wtw06). 416 locations in 117 countries. Thousands of people are rallying in order to promote the state of children starving everyday. Click here for more information. And remember to feed a child through the website.

Chad crisis growing

2006-05-21T10:50:00.000Z

"Janjaweed militia from Darfur are attacking Chadians, forcing about 100 a day to flee their homes and head for camps where food and water already are in short supply, a U.N. official said.
With more than 200,000 refugees from the conflict-torn Darfur region of Sudan already sheltered in U.N. camps in desolate eastern Chad, the rising tide of displaced Chadians is stretching resources.
"They are coming in approximately two trucks of 50 persons per truck a day," Steve Adkisson, a representative of UNICEF, the United Nations children's agency, told Reuters.
"By the best estimate, there are somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000, with the recognition that the number continues to rise," said Adkisson, whose agency provides water and health care to the displaced people. " Read in full here.

Then you get this:
"Chad accused neighbouring Sudan on Tuesday of organising a new alliance of Chadian rebels to try to oust President Idriss Deby and it appealed to the international community to intervene."

There has already been ongoing opposition to the president within the country.

"The United Nations is looking to create an international force to help protect civilians and refugees in Chad from attacks by armed groups spilling over from Sudan's Darfur region, a U.N. official said on Thursday [on a report dated 11 May 2006].
"We have a seriously deteriorating security situation in Chad and the government's capacity is also diminishing in terms of security response," Kingsley Amaning, humanitarian coordinator for the United Nations in Chad, told Reuters.
"Therefore along with the (Chadian) government we are looking at the possibility of putting in place an expatriate, international force that will support government efforts to provide security in the areas where we are operating." Read in full here. Nevertheless, "Chad's rebels were not concerned about a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur. But they would oppose such a force for Chad, because it could help to prop up Deby." More here.

Hyenas attack!

2006-05-21T10:48:00.000Z

What the hell?!

Arms in Ivory Coast

2006-05-21T10:39:00.000Z

"Efforts to identify potential voters and disarm combatants are expected to begin Thursday in strife-torn Côte d'Ivoire, in preparation for elections that must take place by the end of October. However, the guns held by rebels and fighters that support the government aren't the only weapons giving cause for concern.

There is also alarm about the spread of illegal small arms in this West African country.
"The proliferation of light weapons has reached worrying proportions in Côte d'Ivoire," says Ali Ouattara, president of the Ivorian chapter of Amnesty International.
Noted Justice Minister Mamadou Koné, "It stems from the porousness of borders that characterises the countries of our sub-region, and is linked to different armed conflicts which preceded the Ivorian crisis."

This was in reference to Liberia and Sierra Leone, which experienced lengthy civil wars between the end of the 1980s and the early years of this century. Weapons used in these conflicts could easily be taken across frontiers to be placed in service elsewhere.

About 10,000 small arms are estimated to be in circulation in Côte d'Ivoire, says Ouattara. According to Koné, some are used in armed robberies and drug trafficking."

"Observes Désiré Adjoussou, president of the National Commission to Fight Against the Proliferation and Circulation of Small Arms in Côte d'Ivoire, "The phenomenon of bandits that target roads is increasing."

Light weapons are also taking a toll in local disputes.

In parts of the south-west, clashes between indigenous inhabitants and people from elsewhere have been reported for two months. According to the Ivorian press, the deaths of 523 peasants killed with caliber 12 rifles have been recorded to date.

Further north in the areas controlled by rebels, IPS [Inter Press Service] observed that fighters carry weapons that are not officially registered." Read full article here.

Just another reason to call for an international arms trade treaty.

Africa growth prospects

2006-05-21T10:32:00.000Z

This article shows the economical growth trend of Africa over the past year and what is expected next:

"The prospects for Africa's economies have improved over the past year, according to the OECD.
The Paris-based think tank says that Africa as a whole is set to grow by 5.8% this year and 5.5% in 2007.
But there is a big difference between countries who were oil exporters and those who have to import oil.
In 2005 oil exporting African countries grew by 5.5%, compared to just 4.4% for those who were oil importers.
Conflicts and natural disasters in countries like Sudan, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Nigeria also continue to dampen overall economic growth.
The joint study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the African Development Bank highlights the importance of rising commodity prices, including oil, for boosting African growth.
It says that Africa's economies expanded overall by 4.9% in 2005, with per capita income rising by 3%. "

"But the report noted that oil-importing countries faced very different challenges" from those who benefited from rising oil and commodity prices.
The report notes that democracy has started to take root in a number of countries in the last decade and that there are fewer conflicts. However many countries are still riddled by corruption, which is hindering private-sector development. "

"The OECD urges those countries who have benefited from higher oil and commodity prices to use their windfall gains wisely. "

"The shortfall in infrastructure development, such as roads, ports, and airports, has been a key factor hindering the prospects for long-term growth, The OECD says. "

"For countries who are oil importers, the report warns that higher oil prices will stoke up inflationary pressures from which consumers have so far been shielded by subsidies and price controls.
Their trade balances are also under pressure, as higher oil import bills combine with lower prices for agricultural products such as cocoa and cotton".

"And the OECD says that although development aid is set to increase, it is unlikely to be high enough to "allow countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015". "

WHO on Neglected Tropical Diseases

2006-05-21T10:21:00.001Z

The WHO has a good report on Neglected Tropical Diseases, read full report here.

"Approximately 1 billion people — one sixth of the world’s population, or 1 person in 6 — suffer from one or more neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), such as Buruli ulcer, cholera, cysticercosis, dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease), foodborne trematode infections, hydatidosis, leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, trachoma and trypanosomiasis. Several of these diseases, and others such as dengue, are vector-borne. Often, those populations most affected are also the poorest and most vulnerable and are found mainly in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Some diseases affect individuals throughout their lives, causing a high degree of morbidity and physical disability and, in certain cases, gross disfigurement. Others are acute infections, with transient, severe and sometimes fatal outcomes. Patients can face social stigmatization and abuse, which only adds to the already heavy health burden."

When discussing the successes of campaigns of eradication and treatment, the WHO says:
"Since 1985, 14.5 million patients have been cured of leprosy through multidrug therapy; today, less than a million people are affected by the disease. Before the start of the Guinea-worm Eradication Programme in the early 1980s, an estimated 3.5 million people in 20 endemic countries were infected with the disease. In 2005, only about 10 000 cases were reported in 9 endemic countries, and the programme is moving towards eradication. Onchocerciasis has freed more than 25 million hectares of previously onchocerciasis-infected land available for resettlement and agricultural cultivation, thereby considerably improving development prospects in Africa and Latin America."

"Increased awareness and advocacy are needed to draw attention to the realistic prospect of reducing the negative impact of NTDs on the health and social and economic well-being of affected communities."

Read full report for more. Insightful.

Email hoaxes, surprise, surprise!

2006-05-21T10:21:00.000Z

The usual, hoax forwards, they annoy me to hell!-now a new flavour of these is in town. Check it out here.

"ActionAid UK today issued a warning over a hoax email which tells people the charity has awarded them £850,000 to help social and business development in their community."

"The emails said the charity, together with the European Council, is giving £100m to 150 international beneficiaries worldwide in different categories, based on Internet random selection.
The scam is to obtain people's bank account details or tell them they must pay a small amount to collect their money.
The people who sent the emails used the surnames of two men associated with ActionAid.
The emails listed telephone numbers which turned out to be barred from callers.
It also, though, gave fax numbers and an email address."

Excellent, please don' t tell me you ever fell for one of those. Word of advice? NEVER trust forwards. I am probably stating the obvious here:) But anyway, if you get the above mentioned forward, please contact ActionAid by sending an email here.

Ich Liebe FUßBALL!

2006-05-21T10:07:00.000Z

Right, all the excitment with Fifa World Cup is in the air, hell, I hear you. Put MTV, FIFA and UNICEF together, what do you get?

"The 'Superfans' PSA series – produced by MTV and UNICEF – brings together 15 world-class players from 15 countries in a virtual 'Team UNICEF' to pledge support for the 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign theme, UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE FOR PEACE. The video spots also unite these players with young footballers in a series of unexpected vignettes shot around the globe". More here.

"The PSAs will be shown to hundreds of thousands of football fans before each of the 64 matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany this summer". More here.

Watch the Superfans series here!

Zimbabwe's growing concerns

2006-05-19T00:22:00.000Z

This is a good article on the socio-economic situation in Zimbabwe. As I have previously posted, the country is suffering from a record high inflation rate above 1000%. The article brings in perspective opinions of activists who criticise both the country and the surrounding ones for not cooperating to help homeless people. It also touches on this: "efforts to assist victims were being largely thwarted by the government, which accuses NGO's of working to further the political agenda of the main opposition party". Here we go again....

Nigeria heading towards democracy

2006-05-19T00:15:00.000Z

A BBC.co.uk article has this:

"Nigeria's vice-president has said that the Senate decision to throw out a bill which would have let the president seek re-election will strengthen democracy. "

"The question of allowing President Olusegun Obasanjo a third term has divided Nigeria and the ruling party.
Nigeria had many years of military rule until Mr Obasanjo was elected in 1999.
Mr Obasanjo has not publicly said whether he wanted to remain in office but the BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says it now appears that Nigeria will have a new president next year. "

"Our correspondent says there is "shock and disbelief" around the presidential camp.
Mr Obasanjo's special advisor on the National Assembly Senator Florence Ita-Giwa told the BBC's Network Africa programme that the president had been consulting with party leaders.
"He had no intention of staying if he is not wanted," she said, adding that it was a shame that the third term issue had overshadowed many other constitutional amendments in the bill. "

""It confirms that democracy has a teeming army of believers and converts, who will defend it even in the face of inducement, blackmail, harassment, threat and intimidation," Mr [Atiku] Abubakar said following the Senate's decision. "

"Human rights lawyer Gani Fawehinmi, who contested the 2003 elections, said he was "delighted" by the news.
"Obasanjo's dream has been killed. It is the end of a sit-tight rule in Nigeria, political robbery and gangsterism," he told the AFP news agency.
"Democracy has triumphed over dictatorship." "

"Our correspondent says some people say the government may try again to change the constitution but all the politicians and analysts he has spoken to say there is no way back. "

Bono in Africa

2006-05-19T00:03:00.000Z

""In a small African country the three issues -- debt, aid and trade -- come together in an unholy trinity," the U2 frontman told Reuters as his plane landed in the capital Maseru with a delegation of activists and private sector executives. "

Bono began a 10-day tour in Lesotho on Tuesday, this week, "where he will unveil a new initiative to fight AIDS in the ailing textile industry".

"Billed as "Measuring Success and Promises Kept" Bono plans to highlight the progress in the treatment of HIV/AIDS in Africa, the search for economic growth and rich nations' pledges to cancel some debts and more than double aid to Africa by 2010.
The 10-day trip also marks four years since he traveled to Africa with then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill to urge wealthy nations to do more for the world's poorest continent. On this tour Bono hopes to show that even more needs to be done for countries like Lesotho, where a once-vibrant textile sector has been hit by low-cost Asian producers and uncertainty over duty-free access to the U.S. market".

"Bono will announce a new initiative to fight HIV/AIDS in Lesotho's textile and garment industry with U.S. clothing maker Gap Inc., which has signed onto his Red Products branding plan to raise cash to fight the epidemic. Gap is contributing 50 percent of its profits from the sale of GAP Red products to a global fund for AIDS in Africa and has committed to produce some of the Red Products in Africa. "

Next day, he "visited a rural AIDS clinic on Wednesday that he says shows how global resources can be used to provide HIV/AIDS sufferers with free testing and treatment.
In this small town, which has a single factory making T-shirts sold at U2 concerts, the Paballong clinic and its two nurses treat 266 patients with free antiretrovirals funded by the Global Fund for AIDS.
Bono supports the Fund with profits from his Red Products branding initiative..."

"Just a few years ago drugs to combat the spread of AIDS were unavailable in most parts of Africa, but increased global funding and cheaper anti-retroviral drugs have increased access to treatment".
Read full article here.

On the latest update, "Bono promised on Thursday to keep up the pressure on the United States and other wealthy nations to make good on their promises of increased aid for Africa and to keep the funds rolling in.
In Rwanda on a six-nation tour of Africa, the U2 lead singer and anti-poverty campaigner said there were signs the elite Group of Eight industrial countries were back-tracking on last year's promises to double aid to Africa by 2010 to $50 billion."

"Addressing a news conference after touring a hospital in the capital Kigali, Bono criticised the U.S. House of Representatives' appropriations committee for cutting President George W. Bush's request for $3 billion more for foreign aid down to $600 million.
The cut will affect funding for HIV/AIDS treatments in Africa among other things."

Email Putin

2006-05-18T23:57:00.000Z

With the G8 meeting taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia this year, 15th-17th July 2006, we need to put the constant pressure on them to keep up to their promises that revolve around increasing aid, debt cancellation, etc.

Please send an email to President Putin, this will not take any time from you, it could help save lives.

UNICEF Horn of Africa food crisis appeal

2006-05-17T00:44:00.000Z

"Tens of thousands of children are facing the prospect of a slow death by starvation in the Horn of Africa. Despite recent rains, a two-year drought has already killed half the livestock and UNICEF fears that the nomadic pastoralists and their children who roam the vast region could be next.
“There is a population of about 40,000 children under the age of five who are so acutely malnourished at this stage that they need sustained help,” said UNICEF Emergency Communication Officer Gordon Weiss. “Otherwise they face the very real prospect of death in the coming months.”
Launching a multimedia report, 'Child Alert: Crisis in the Horn of Africa', as well as a funding appeal for $80 million, UNICEF seeks to heighten awareness of the drought crisis. UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah said today that recent heavy rain had actually deepened the crisis in some areas, while providing limited relief in others...To date, however, less than a third of UNICEF’s humanitarian appeal for the Horn of Africa drought crisis has been funded by donors." Read in full here.

Bird flu dance!

2006-05-17T00:39:00.000Z

I had to post this here...we know now that Cote D'Ivoire has confirmed the arrival of the avian flu. How are the Ivorians dealing with it? Easy: they are making a "bird flu dance"!

Must-read!-hehe

Neglected drugs

2006-05-17T00:34:00.000Z

"Over the past 30 years, the number of drugs targeting neglected diseases is ten if we consider the most neglected diseases, 18 if we add malaria, and 21 if we add tuberculosis. These totals still represent only around 1% of all new drugs (1,556) launched during this period — a situation that is essentially unchanged from five years ago."

Medecins Sans Frontieres has an interesting report on neglected drugs, check it out here.

Single drug to combined-Malaria treatment

2006-05-17T00:32:00.000Z

"The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that 13 pharmaceutical companies have agreed to comply with WHO's recommendation to phase out single-drug artemisinin medicines for oral treatment of malaria. This group includes the main producers of high quality artemisinin monotherapies. The companies will now focus their marketing efforts for malaria primarily on Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs), in line with WHO recommendations.
The use of single-drug artemisinin treatment, or monotherapy - especially on a wide scale for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria - hastens development of resistance to artemisinin in malaria parasites. When used correctly in combination with other anti-malarial drugs in ACTs, artemisinin is nearly 95% effective in curing uncomplicated malaria and the parasite is highly unlikely to become drug resistant."
Read full article here

Zambia gives you a reason to be proud

2006-05-17T00:24:00.000Z

Read here.

People's Poll results

2006-05-17T00:15:00.000Z

"People across Britain believe they could do a better job of ending world poverty than high-profile figures from the Pope to Tony Blair.
Oxfam's 'I'm in' People's Poll, which was launched in February and has received nearly 9,000 votes from people all over Britain, has identified the names of the top ten people who the nation believe can do most to end injustice; and the top choice for the voters was 'me'. "

"The final top 10 is as follows:
1. Me
2. George Bush
3. Bob Geldof
4. Bono
5. Tony Blair
6. Gordon Brown
7. Nelson Mandela
8. Bill Gates
9. Pope Benedict XVI
10. Oprah Winfrey "

Read full article here.

"Africa's worst war"

2006-05-17T00:09:00.000Z

"The four-and-a-half year conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been described as the worst since World War II.
An estimated 3.3 million people have died as a result of the war making it the "tragedy of modern times", according to a report issued by the International Rescue Committee aid agency.
The IRC said that only about 10% of the victims died violently, with the vast majority dying from starvation and disease due to the activities of the various armed groups operating in the country.
"This is a humanitarian catastrophe of horrid and shocking proportions... Yet, the crisis has received scant attention from international donors and the media," says IRC President George Rupp.
Africa's worst ever war began following the invasion of the north and east of the country by Rwanda and Uganda, to, as they said, prevent armed groups attacking them from Congo's territory.
This brought in armies, which have now left, from other countries to fight on the side of the Congolese Government.
However, ethnic clashes between the Hema and Lendu in the troubled north-eastern province of Ituri remain a potential stumbling block to peace. " Read full article here.

Chad refugee situation

2006-05-17T00:05:00.000Z

"The world is overlooking the plight of refugees in eastern Chad, some 200,000 of which are from neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region, the UN says.
The UN's humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said a fraction of the funds needed to feed the refugees had been raised.
He said Chad's refugee crisis had been "overshadowed" by events in Darfur.
The Darfur conflict has killed some 200,000 people and created 2m refugees. Many have fled to Chad, to be joined by Chadians fleeing internal unrest.
Touring refugee camps in eastern Chad, near the border with Sudan, Mr Egeland told the Reuters news agency the security situation in the region had descended into "total chaos".
Aid agencies estimate they need $180m to feed the refugees in eastern Chad.
"Only 16% of the humanitarian funds required to feed these people has been met so far," Mr Egeland is quoted as saying."

"Eastern Chad has seen a recent influx of refugees from within the country, fleeing fighting between the government and rebels seeking to overthrow it.
Other Chadian refugees in the area have claimed they have been attacked by Janjaweed militia who have crossed the border from Sudan. "
Read full article here.

On another report:

"The United Nations is looking to create an international force to help protect civilians and refugees in Chad from attacks by armed groups spilling over from Sudan's Darfur region, a U.N. official said on Thursday.
"We have a seriously deteriorating security situation in Chad and the government's capacity is also diminishing in terms of security response," Kingsley Amaning, humanitarian coordinator for the United Nations in Chad, told Reuters.
"Therefore along with the (Chadian) government we are looking at the possibility of putting in place an expatriate, international force that will support government efforts to provide security in the areas where we are operating."
U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland earlier met Chad's President Idriss Deby to discuss the situation in the country's long and porous border region with Darfur, where armed groups have been mounting cross-border raids on villages.
"It's very clear that Chad has limitations with its present armed forces being small and its police force being even smaller, and that's why ... we are looking at other methods to try to protect the civilian, refugee and displaced populations," Egeland told reporters.
U.N. officials gave no details which countries might provide soldiers for any mission or how large it would be.
Chad's army has been stretched by rebel attacks culminating in an assault on the capital N'Djamena last month. "

Cholera epidemic in Angola

2006-05-17T00:01:00.000Z

"LUANDA, Angola (Reuters) -- The death toll from Angola's cholera epidemic has risen to more than 1,200, the World Health Organization said on Monday, with development aiding the spread of the disease as people travel on improved roads.
WHO reported a total of 1,219 deaths since mid-February and 33,776 cases. Last week it had recorded 1,156 deaths.
In the last 24 hours alone, 590 new cases and nine deaths have been reported, the WHO said in a statement.
This is the first outbreak in the seaside capital of Luanda in more than 10 years. Interior parts of Angola have not seen cholera for even longer as people rarely traveled internally during the civil war which ended in 2002.
"It's following the commercial roads, the truck routes," WHO analyst Jordi Sacristan told Reuters.
The disease seemed to be aided by both Angola's continued poverty and its reviving infrastructure.
"This is a price of development," said Jose Van Dunem, Angola's deputy health minister, who also blames heavy rains.
"Cholera follows the water and bad health. In the slums some people get water from road-potholes ... (this) creates the best conditions for spreading," he said.
Van Dunem called for better education and sanitation in the slums as the surest way of defeating the epidemic -- and there were signs his message was trickling down.
"I am going home to today, I feel better," said Adriano Costa a young patient in Cazenga who admitted to drinking bad water. "When I return home I will treat water to drink and when my children bathe -- it's worth the effort.""

""When the outbreak first started we were in the middle of it here. There were beds by the ditches," says Zola Messo, the doctor in charge of the center, pointing to the irrigation canals that surround the center.
"The number of cases is increasing, but we opened two more (care centers) nearby," Messo said.
Angola, sub-Saharan Africa's second largest oil producer after Nigeria, is in the middle of a reconstruction boom fueled by high oil prices. Yet despite its oil wealth most people continue to subsist on less than $1 a day."
Read full article here (note that this is dated May 15, 2006)

The (RED) phone

2006-05-16T23:59:00.000Z

"Bono has launched a new mobile phone designed to help tackle Aids in Africa.
"You don't have to change your number," the U2 lead singer and today's editor of The Independent, said. "But you can change the world - for someone whose world is worth changing."
The RED phone is expected to raise tens of millions of pounds for Aids drugs and education, as a result of an "unprecedented" collaboration between rival operators in Britain's telecoms industry.
Whatever network they are on, customers can switch to the ultra-thin red handset - equipped with an MP3 player - and raise funds to fight Aids. The Global Fund for Aids projects will receive £10 from the sale of the Motorola handset and a further 5 per cent of call revenues.
To use the new phones, priced at £149, customers need only transfer the sim card from their existing phone: the network company will do the rest.
The RED phone is the latest step in the campaign by Bono and Bobby Shriver, the American philanthropist and member of the Kennedy family, to enlist global business in the fight against Aids.
At the Davos summit of world leaders in March, Bono and Mr Shriver announced that four finance and fashion brands had created RED products." Read full article here

World Fair Trade Day 2006

2006-05-16T23:57:00.000Z

Last Saturday was World Fair Trade Day.

State of the World's Mothers 2006

2006-05-16T23:54:00.000Z

Find full report here.

UK supermarkets and Fair Trading

2006-05-16T23:52:00.000Z

"ActionAid today vowed to step up its campaign for a wide-ranging inquiry on British supermarkets' exploitation of small producers and suppliers in poor countries after the agency won a partial victory through the decision by the Office of Fair Trading to investigate the £95bn-a-year supermarket industry, including the big chains Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons.
ActionAid says the OFT's report gives the Competition Commission a marked steer to probe the impact of the supermarkets' huge buying power on their suppliers.
Now the agency will maintain pressure for the commission to address its concerns.
ActionAid had told the OFT that the supermarket giants engaged in unethical trading practices with suppliers in developing countries, including violations of the Supermarket Code.
This showed weaknesses in the code, introduced in 2002 after the commission found retailers bullied farmers and other suppliers.
The effects of these practices meant farm workers faced poverty wages, longer working hours and poor health and safety conditions, as well as low prices and insecure contracts for small farmers.
The OFT report acknowledged ActionAid's points that the code should apply to overseas suppliers and extend to farmers and growers.
ActionAid policy officer Dominic Eagleton said: "The market inquiry must look into the supermarkets’ dealings with producers in developing countries. British retailers’ unrelenting pressure on suppliers for faster, cheaper and more flexible production is leading to extreme hardship for the farmers and workers who produce goods for supermarket shelves. We believe including suppliers in the investigation will highlight the need to strengthen the code."" Find report here.

Climate change and Africa

2006-05-16T23:49:00.000Z

Alertnet.org has this:

"Disease spread by global warming could kill an extra 185 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by the end of the century and turn millions more into refugees unless rich nations take action now, a report said on Monday.
Christian Aid said rich developed countries had to end their dependence on fossil fuels and set aside large sums of aid to help poorer nations ride out the worst impacts of global warming and switch to energy sources like wind, solar and waves.
"Rich countries must take responsibility for having largely created this problem -- and cut CO2 emissions radically," the non-governmental organisation said in a report "The Climate of Poverty: facts, fears and hopes".
"Climate change is taking place and will inevitably continue. Poor people will take the brunt, so we are calling on rich countries to help them adjust as the seas rise, the deserts expand, and floods and hurricanes become more frequent and intense.""

"Christian Aid said it based its estimate of 185 million deaths due to disease on figures from the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Global warming should allow carriers like mosquitoes to expand their ranges."

Zimbabwe inflation rate tops 1000%

2006-05-16T23:44:00.000Z

What is going on??

"Zimbabwe's inflation rate has surged past the 1,000% mark signalling that the African country is struggling to keep its economy functioning normally.
The annual rate of price growth was 1,042.9% in April, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said, having risen 129 percentage points from March.
It means average goods are about 11 times as expensive in April 2006 as they were 12 months earlier.
Zimbabwe is suffering from shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency. "

"According to the International Monetary Fund, Zimbabwe suffers the highest rate of inflation in the world.
Many analysts put the responsibility firmly at the ruling party's door, claiming the government made the situation worse when it seized control of land owned by white farmers, which triggered a sharp drop in production and exports of agricultural goods. " Ironically, the land is being offered back to them, hmmm...

Make some noise!

2006-05-16T23:42:00.000Z

Click here and watch the film.

From petrol to biofuels

2006-05-16T23:36:00.000Z

"Under pressure from soaring oil prices and growing environmental constraints, momentum is gathering for a major international switch from fossil fuels to renewable bioenergy sources such as sugar cane or sunflower seeds, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
"The gradual move away from oil has begun. Over the next 15 to 20 years, we may see biofuels providing a full 25 per cent of the world's energy needs," says Alexander Muller, assistant director-general of FAO's sustainable development department.
"Ministries of energy and agriculture must quickly find new ways of collaborating to exploit the potential presented by biofuels and biodiesel," says Peter Kegode, a sugar industry and ethanol specialist in Kenya. This, he adds, is an opportunity to address the poverty experienced by maize and sugar producers in the country.
The surge in price of crude oil beyond $70 per barrel is responsible for renewed global interest in alternative energy sources."

""Locally, we have seen venture capital investment companies, including Actis positioning themselves to tap into the biofuel supply chain," said Mr Kegode.
Last week, Actis allocated $100 million for investment in agri-business. Actis is a private equity fund and will be investing this money in agricultural companies in sub-Saharan Africa. Kenyan companies can access up to 50 per cent of total funding.
Kenya is poised to tap into the biofuel supply chain using commodities such as sugarcane, maize and sorghum. It is important, says Mr Kegode, that producers position themselves by forming energy companies that can negotiate better prices and enhanced compensation from their investments.
Currently, there are two existing stand-alone ethanol plants - Kisumu Molasses and Agrochemical. For Kenya to build up adequate supply of ethanol either for domestic blending purposes or export market, says Mr Kegode, it requires five plants - two in maize-producing regions and three in sugar-producing zones.
FAO's interest in bioenergy stems from the positive impact that energy crops are expected to have on rural economies and the opportunity offered countries to diversify their energy sources.
"At the very least, it could mean a new lease of life for commodities such as sugar, whose international prices have plummeted," FAO's senior energy co-ordinator Gustavo Best, noted."

Read full article here

Sex for food

2006-05-16T23:31:00.000Z

Now this disturbed me after reading this article, then watching a report on TV, where real people suffering from it talked about it:

"Young girls in Liberia are still being sexually exploited by aid workers and peacekeepers despite pledges to stamp out such abuse, Save the Children says.
Girls as young as eight are being forced to have sex in exchange for food by workers for local and international agencies, according to its report.
The agency says such abuse is continuing as people displaced by the civil war return to their villages.
The UN in Liberia said it would investigate specific allegations."

"But a study by Save the Children, which involved speaking to more than 300 people in camps for people displaced by the war, found that abuse was still widespread.
The report said that all of the respondents clearly stated that more than half of the girls in their locations were affected.
Girls from the age of eight to 18 years were being sold for sex, "commonly referred to as 'man business'," the report noted. "

"Teachers have demanded sex in lieu of school fees, or even just to give good grades, the report found.
"This cannot continue. It must be tackled," said Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children's UK Chief Executive.
"Men who use positions of power to take advantage of vulnerable children must be reported and fired.
"More must be done to support children and their families to make a living without turning to this kind of desperation."
The WFP's Greg Barrow said the organisation would be taking the latest allegations with "the greatest seriousness" and was already taking steps to investigate them. "

Still-born

2006-05-16T23:26:00.000Z

"Some two million babies born every year in the developing world die on the first day of their lives, the Save the Children charity has said.
A report by the charity says most die from preventable causes, such as infections, a difficult birth or low birth weight.
It says many of the lives could be saved by simple, cheap techniques.
The charity also found it is safest to be a mother in Scandinavian countries - and most dangerous in African ones."

"More than three million babies are stillborn each year, and about four million die within one month, of disease or complications of childbirth.
Half of those die on the first day of their lives. "

"The charity argues that low-cost interventions could reduce newborn deaths by up to 70%.
It says an additional $4.1bn (£2.2bn) per year from the international community could provide mothers with the information and services that could save their lives and their babies' lives. "

"It says Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Eritrea and Tajikistan are among developing nations doing an "admirable job" in investing in services and education that improve the prospects for mothers and infants, despite limited resources.
Such countries improve their prospects for economic growth and development, says the report, which points out that babies who receive an unhealthy start in life tend to be sicklier, less productive adults. "

Read full article here.

Kenya cattle raids

2006-05-16T23:14:00.000Z

A BBC article has it that: "In western Kenya a major military operation is under way to try to seize tens of thousands of illegal firearms from communities involved in cattle raids. "

"Many of these people are among the most impoverished in Kenya, neglected by successive governments and living in areas which are in desperate need of development.
Cattle rustling, as it is known here, is an occupational hazard if you are a pastoralist - but it is increasingly taking on a tribal nature and becoming more violent. "

Thanks to an arms trade system that has limited regulations, I suppose that to the people who live in a country which has been hit by drought, floods and a food crisis, can get arms for a very cheap price to ensure they have the cattle. Obviously I do not support that, all I mean to say is this whole arms trade thing REALLY needs to have much better restrictions, it is not just this example that makes me really support the Control Arms campaign which calls for an "International Arms Trade Treaty", but rather it is all the fear inflicted on thousands of people just because they are less privelleged in that they do not own a gun and dare shoot it/use it to intimidate.

Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention

2006-05-16T23:11:00.000Z

"United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to appoint an Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention. The Committee shall provide guidance and support to the work of the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Juan E. Méndez, and contribute to the broader efforts of the United Nations to prevent genocide.
The Committee will be composed of distinguished individuals with a diversity of backgrounds related to conflict prevention, human rights, peacekeeping, diplomacy and mediation. It shall be chaired by David Hamburg, President Emeritus of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and is expected to meet at least twice during the course of the present year, with its first meeting to be held on 19 - 20 June." Read in full here.

Child labour declining

2006-05-16T23:01:00.000Z

"The International Labour Organization issued a "cautiously optimistic" report Thursday that said the worst forms of child labour could be eliminated around the world within a decade." CBC News has it. Article dated May 4, 2006.

"Between 2000 and 2004, the number of child labourers fell by 11 per cent, from 246 million to 218 million.
"The end of child labour is within our reach," said ILO director general Juan Somavia. "Though the fight against child labour remains a daunting challenge, we are on the right track.""

Among the report's findings:

"-The biggest decline in child labour over the four years studied was in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the number of child workers dropped by almost two-thirds. One in 20 children in those regions now works for food or wages.
-Nearly 50 million children are performing economic activities in sub-Saharan Africa, amounting to one in four children in the region.
-Seven out of 10 child labourers around the world are employed in agriculture. "

Bear in mind that child labour according to the ILO's definition includes "mining, farming and construction jobs as well as illegal activities such as drug trafficking, child prostitution and child pornography. "

Cote D'Ivoire gets EU donation

2006-05-16T22:53:00.000Z

"The European Union is poised to donate some 100 million euros, or 126 million dollars, to help restore peace in Cote d'Ivoire, including funds to supply water and sanitation to the most vulnerable population, officials said on Thursday. " In an article dated MAy 4, 2006.

"Funds are destined for an array of programmes, from education, good governance, reinsertion of ex-combatants, to an identification process meant to provide an estimated 3 million disenfranchised Ivorians with nationality documents.
However, money earmarked for the much-delayed disarmament and identification programmes will only be disbursed once they actually start, he added.
The population of Abidjan has swollen to an estimated four million people due to the outbreak of civil war in September 2002. Although the fighting has stopped, the country remains split in two with rebels holding the north. "
Read full article here.

When floods saw the food crisis

2006-05-16T22:44:00.000Z

I had a previous post about Oxfam's response to the rains hitting drought-hit areas fo Africa. Now this is the latest:

"Flooding caused by heavy rainfall in Kenya has displaced thousands, submerged homes and killed several people in various parts of the country during the past week, officials said on Thursday." in an article dated May 4, 2006.

In addition to the above mentioned complications, "[f]looding had also destroyed hundreds of hectares of food crops, especially in Kenya's western and coastal regions. "

Please continue to support NGO's work in the region. Especially that now the challenge would be expected to grow.

Darfur latest

2006-05-16T22:43:00.000Z

Alertnet.org have a good summary of all the latest. Click here. I apologize for not posting more regularly.

By the end of May we will know more on whether the other rebel groups would accept a peace agreement. Another update has it that "[a] joint UN-AU assessment mission should now be sent to Darfur within a week.
The resolution also threatens "strong and effective measures" against any individual or group that blocks the Darfur peace agreement. " Source: BBC.

Remember my previous posting on the problems aid workers face in Darfur; "Sudan said on Tuesday it would announce new procedures for one of the world's largest aid operations in Darfur within a week..."This afternoon we will be holding meetings with international NGOs (non-governmental organisations) ... in order to review the Darfur file," Humanitarian Affairs Minister Kosti Manyebi told reporters on Tuesday. He added new procedures would be revealed within a week. "
Human Rights Watch also have a briefing paper in addressing the situation. Find it here.
"Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha also read a written statement declaring the government would allocate more money for aid to Darfur and to offer 20,000 tonnes of extra food to the World Food Programme to cover a donor gap this year.
"The humanitarian issue represents a priority in building peace," he said. Taha declined to take any questions." Read more here.
Last update, "President George W Bush has announced US emergency food shipments to ease the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region, urging Congress to approve $225m in aid. " Read full story here.

In the middle of all of this, I really wonder if his whole peace deal thing would make any difference. The word peace on paper is very appealing I have to say, but will it be a reality? Perhaps this answers some of my questions.

2006 High Level Meeting on AIDS

2006-05-11T20:49:00.000Z

"The 2006 follow-up meeting on the outcome of the twenty-sixth special session: implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS will take place from 31 May – 2 June at the United Nations in New York, USA.
This year, the Secretary-General will present a report to the General Assembly on progress made until the end of 2005, a year when targets in the Declaration are due. The main focus of the meeting is to review progress achieved in realizing the commitments set out in the Declaration of Commitment and to:
review progress in implementing the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, focusing on both constraints and opportunities to full implementation;
consider recommendations on how the targets set in the Declaration may be reached, including through the “towards universal access processes”; and to
renew political commitment." Read more here.

Freedom of the Press in Africa

2006-05-03T23:24:00.000Z

Speaking of World Press Freedom Day. I found this interesting layout of press freedom around the world. Only a few African countries have press freedom, something I was not fully aware of actually and am surprised while typing this up.

On Zimbabwe's lack of press freedom, the US Amabassador Chistopher Dell has said this in criticism "[i]n a speech to journalism students in the southern city of Bulawayo marking World Press Freedom Day":

""With growing freedom of the press and the advance of other civil liberties, the rest of the region is growing faster economically. Sadly Zimbabwe is the exception that in this case proves the rule," Dell said, drawing applause from the students."

Measles, Polio? (Kenya)

2006-05-03T23:23:00.000Z

"One and a half million Kenyan children are at risk of contracting measles after an upsurge of confirmed measles outbreaks in about 39 districts in Kenya. Health institutions in the country are on high alert since the sudden increase in measles cases. The reason for the outbreaks, according to Dr. James Kisia, Kenya Red Cross's Head of Health & Social Services, can be attributed to the ongoing severe drought, low immunisation coverage, a high rate of malnutrition among children, illiteracy and laxity among parents to take their children for immunisation against the disease. The outbreaks are also partly blamed on an increase in the number of visitors from neighbouring countries. "

"The Kenya Red Cross Society will participate in government-organized immunisation campaigns in seven of the affected districts (Marsabit, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Tana River, Isiolo and Nairobi/Kibera). This First Phase will act as an emergency response while the Second Phase, commencing in June, will target children across the whole country. "

"In addition to the measles outbreak, Kenya is facing a serious threat of polio as outbreaks have been confirmed in neighbouring countries, including Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea. Polio immunisation will be given to newborns and children under five years, to go along with the measles vaccination".

Read full artcile here.

Good news for Cameroon

2006-05-03T23:12:00.000Z

"The reduction amounts to about 27% of Cameroon's total debt, worth $4.9bn (£2.6bn;3.8bn euros) in cash terms.
The decision makes Cameroon the 19th state to complete the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
Cameroon was given the reduction after meeting poverty reduction targets and social services investments. " Read full article here.

Zimbabwe running out of AIDS drugs

2006-05-03T23:00:00.000Z

"Zimbabwe is running out of anti-retroviral drugs to treat HIV/AIDS as a foreign currency shortage hobbles government efforts to provide 20,000 people with the life-saving medicine, state media said on Wednesday.
The acting director of Zimbabwe's National Pharmaceutical Company said his firm was struggling to find funds to buy ARVs for people with AIDS, which experts say kills an average of 3,000 Zimbabweans every week, the Herald newspaper said."

"But the Herald said Mwaramba reported that his company, which serves as Zimbabwe's main drugs repository, had been allocated just $106,000 for ARVs by the central Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe between January and March instead of the $7.4 million it required." Read here.

"Other drugs, including painkillers and those for treating tuberculosis and high blood pressure, are also in short supply, he said."

"But in a rare bit of good news Zimbabwe's adult HIV prevalence has fallen to around 20 percent from 25 percent five years ago, apparently due to increased condom use and people having fewer sexual partners."

This comes along with the trebled hospital fees I have previously posted about. Where is the Global Fund?

Africa from the air

2006-05-03T17:24:00.000Z

The photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand is amazing, if you have not attended any of his exhibitions then you have missed a lot-trust me...

His work on Earth from the Air included some great photos of our world and I thought I would refer you on to his work: Click here.

Yeah, the title I put for this post IS limited:)

United against AIDS

2006-05-02T21:30:00.000Z

Watch this...

Walk the World 2006

2006-05-02T17:59:00.000Z

Led by the UN World Food Programme and partners , on May 21st, thousands of people will join several walks around the world from European countries to ones in the Middle East, to raise awareness about the 825 million people who do not have enough to eat - that's more than the populations of the U.S., Canada and the European Union combined.

Find a walk near you, take action!...Click here to visit the Fight Hunger website.

Laura Bush on Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

2006-05-02T17:37:00.000Z

Read here.

Oil prices, water prices

2006-05-02T17:33:00.000Z

This article has it that "[a]bout 200 people protested a rise in the price of water in northern Somaliland, witnesses and local officials said, breaking government equipment in a rare show of unrest in the breakaway Somali enclave.
The crowd destroyed computers and archive files in the local government's main offices in the town of Erigabo on Monday, after it had doubled the price of water to 2,000 Somaliland shillings ($0.33) per litre citing high fuel prices."

"Officials on Tuesday temporarily suspended the price increase, saying the issue needed to be reviewed."

Hmmmm...

"World Bank accused of deception over malaria funding "

2006-05-02T17:29:00.000Z

Read it all here.

"25% of world's children underweight "

2006-05-02T17:21:00.000Z

"The average number of underweight children has fallen by only 5% in the last 15 years, and one in four children in developing countries is underweight, according to a new Unicef report.
In some countries, including Iraq, Yemen and parts of Africa, the number is actually increasing due to conflict, food shortages and the prevalence of HIV/Aids, the study by the UN's children's rights group found.
The report, Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, found 27% of children in developing countries, or around 146 million, are underweight, many to a life-threatening degree." Read full article here.

"The report, Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, found 27% of children in developing countries, or around 146 million, are underweight, many to a life-threatening degree."

"The organisation said that poor nutrition contributes to more than half the worldwide total of 5.6 million child deaths a year."

"Unicef said poverty, lack of education and inequality were behind widespread malnutrition, with unsafe feeding practices and illnesses such as diarrhoea and malaria also contributing."

You can watch the findings via the UNICEF website. Click here.

And you tell me not to be depressed?!

2006-05-02T17:12:00.000Z

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting report on Chad:

"Amid reports of advancing then vanishing rebels, of bloody streets that have now apparently returned to normal, and of support for antigovernment rebels from neighboring Sudan, the future of this fragile oil-producing nation in north-central Africa remains uncertain. "

"what is clear are the basic factors behind the instability - elements that are central to many conflicts across Africa: growing oil wealth, complex ethnic ties that transcend borders (in this case, with Sudan), and ambitious presidents aiming to stay in power longer than their constitutions originally allowed. Indeed, experts say, Chad is a kind of microcosm of the reasons for conflict on the continent.

"Chad signifies the worst of Africa," says Peter Kagwanja of the International Crisis Group in Pretoria, South Africa. Despite some significant economic and peace-making progress in Africa in recent years, Chad is "the best example," he says, "of how long the road is to peace" for Africa."

Will it turn into another Darfur one day? Don't give me that look, read the article.

Failed??

2006-05-02T16:57:00.000Z

Sudan, DR Congo, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Chad, Somalia, Haiti. What do they have in common? A " report - compiled by the US Foreign Policy magazine and the US-based Fund for Peace think-tank - ranked nations according to their viability", and the above mentioned falled in the top ten, "Eleven of the 20 most failed states of the 146 nations examined are in Africa". Read the full BBC article here.

The "failed state index" is determined through the following criteria:

mounting demographic pressures
massive movement of refugees and internally displaced peoples
legacy of vengeance - seeking group grievance
chronic and sustained human flight
uneven economic development along group lines
sharp and/or severe economic decline
criminalisation and delegitimisation of the state
progressive deterioration of public services
widespread violation of human rights
security apparatus as "state within a state"
rise of factionalised elites
intervention of other states or external actors

Sudan was the top failed state due to the Darfur conflict.

"UN warns of Horn of Africa's 'silent tsunami'"

2006-05-02T16:41:00.000Z

"Only 20 percent of an emergency $426 million appeal to prevent a catastrophe for millions of people in the drought-hit Horn of Africa has been raised, a senior U.N. official said on Monday." Reports Reuters.

""It is a silent tsunami. That is why the public awareness is not so high -- the drought has had a gradual, terrible impact where the tsunami was sudden and dramatic," Bondevik told reporters, referring to the Indian Ocean tsunami."

""In general we are still in a very critical situation," he said. "(The recent rain) is too little, too late to avoid the crisis, but with proper funding, it is still possible to avoid a catastrophe.""

"U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland made an appeal for $426 million in drought funding on April 7.
Since then, the United Nations has used emergency funds to cover the shortfall, but many long-term projects will go unfinanced if more money does not come through, Bondevik said."

"It was impossible to quantify the number of deaths from the drought because there were so many related factors that cloud the true numbers, he said."

Oxfam has also reported concern over the situation: "["Emergency relief is needed now and more of it. Donors are right to make this the first priority, but there needs to be a plan to help rebuild lives as well as save them," said Paul Smith Lomas, head of Oxfam in East Africa. "We risk getting into a pernicious cycle where money for long-term recovery is being diverted to fund emergency relief."

"If long-term projects are raided every time we face a crisis, the region will never progress," Lomas said. "Instead of robbing Peter to pay Paul, additional funds should be made available now to support both strands."]"

Please give generously.

Were you there?

2006-05-02T16:02:00.000Z

The rally arranged for Sunday the 30th of April against the genoicide occuring in Darfur was success. " Thousands of people joined celebrities and lawmakers at a rally Sunday urging the Bush administration and Congress to help end genocide in Sudan's Darfur region." CNN.com

"They wore skullcaps, turbans, headscarves, yarmulkes, baseball hats and bandanas. There were pastors, rabbis, imams, youths from churches and youths from synagogues. They cried out phrases in Arabic and held signs in Hebrew. But on this day, they said, they didn't come out as Jews or Muslims, Christians or Sikhs, Republicans or Democrats.

They came out as one, they said, to demand that the Bush administration place additional sanctions on Sudan and push harder for a multinational peacekeeping force to be sent to Darfur." Washingtonpost.com

"The spirit of the rally is captured in a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that appears in the schedule of Sunday's events: ''In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."" Boston.com

I wish to congratulate everyone who went there, you made your message heard.

__________________________________

Now for the updates on the situation in Darfur. "Chances of a peace deal for Sudan's Darfur region looked slim on Monday despite a 48-hour extension to negotiations, observers said, citing rebel inflexibility." Read more here. "[AU mediator Salim Ahmed Salim said his team tried to strike a compromise on rebel demands for autonomy, creating a transitional authority for the region that would include rebel representatives and proposing that the people of Darfur vote by 2010 on whether to create a single geographical entity out of the three current Darfur states.
A unified Darfur presumably would have more political weight, and the rebels had demanded one be created by presidential decree.

The rebels also had demanded that a third vice president, from Darfur, be added to the national government. The compromise draft called for the president to include a Darfur official, initially nominated by the rebels, among his top advisers.

Salim said the expert would have "all the attributes of a vice president, except the name," and noted Sudan's constitution, drafted under the treaty that ended the north-south war, permitted only two vice presidents.] " Read full article here.

For more background on the situation, you can browse through my previous postings on Darfur.

"More of world's refugees face long-term limbo, U.N. says "

2006-05-01T11:02:00.000Z

A report dated 19 April 2006 has said that "More of the world’s refugees are being forced to stay away from home for longer, and if the international community doesn’t start dealing with them better, it could lead to yet more violence".

"“More than 60 percent of today’s refugees are trapped in situations far from the international spotlight,” a report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says.
People are now spending longer in exile, and UNHCR estimates the average length of major refugee crises has increased from nine years in 1993 to 17 years a decade later.
UNHCR says long-term refugees account for more than 5.7 million of the world’s 9.2 million refugee population. "

"[A] rise in civil wars since the 1990s created new refugee flows from places such as Somalia, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and many situations remain unresolved even after the fighting has stopped. "

"The region with the largest number of drawn-out refugee crises is Sub-Saharan Africa, where 17 conflicts have sent 1.9 million people across borders seeking sanctuary. The countries hosting the largest groups of refugees are Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. " Note that these statistics do not contain Palestinian refugees.

"The report - the first new edition in “The State of the World’s Refugees” series since 2000 – argues that protracted refugee situations arise when conflict and human rights violations are not addressed in the country of origin and when international donors fail to help the host country. "

"If the international community fails to act, UNHCR argues, there is the danger that long-term refugee crises – which usually originate in volatile, conflict-prone regions – could turn into new sources of instability.
For example, the report says a contributing factor to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda was the international community's failure to address the needs of Rwandan Tutsi refugees who fled to Uganda in the early 1960s, and whose descendants invaded Rwanda in 1990.
More than a decade later, UNHCR warns: “It appears as though the lesson has not been learned”. "

I want to ask this: is it ever learnt?

"Global Fund suspends $50 mln AIDS help to Nigeria "

2006-05-01T10:51:00.000Z

Read it all here.

"One of the main financiers of Nigeria's fight against HIV/AIDS halted about $50 million in assistance on Friday because the country failed to meet targets on drug access and transparency.

The board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria voted to suspend two five-year grants after just two years because of low numbers of people on anti-retroviral drug treatment and concerns over data accuracy, spokesman Jon Liden said.

Another HIV/AIDS grant for Nigeria worth more than $180 million, which the Global Fund has agreed but not yet formally signed, will not be affected by the suspension, he added."

"It is normal practice for the Global Fund to review grant implementation after the first two years before deciding whether to keep financing programmes. The Geneva-based agency last year froze grants to Uganda over concerns about mismanagement but later agreed to resume funding.

Nigeria's halted grants, for improving prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission and increasing drug treatment, were worth a total of $69 million over five years.
About $20 million has already been released to the country."

"The Global Fund wrote to Nigeria's National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA) last year questioning the accuracy of key figures such as the number of people on anti-retroviral treatment.
It also expressed concern over the lack of a required computerised accounting system to track funds, and about the country's slow disbursement rate of Global Fund money."

Oh man, here we go again.

Niger, Niger

2006-05-01T10:34:00.000Z

I have previously posted this on Niger, discussing the various socioeconomical issues that affect the living standards in the country, as well as the internal policies which are hindering any development. I found another interesting article the other day. It is sad to see how it starts by discussing how there is peace in Niger, as opposed to say struggling countries like Sudan and the Darfur region. Nevertheless, it is the world's poorest country. Read the full article here.

I will quote the facts I found most interesting:

"Rated the world's poorest country according to UN statistics, Niger is more impoverished today than it was 30 years ago, with more than 60 percent of the population surviving on less than US $1 a day. "

"Niger has few natural resources to launch economic development projects. Nearly 80 percent of its 12 million people live in rural areas and 84 percent of men and 97 percent of women are involved in subsistence agriculture of some form."

""So many people in Niger are so desperately poor that a small shock creates a humanitarian disaster," said Toby Porter, the Save the Children's Director of Emergencies"

"Only [last] week, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) calculated that 33 percent of Niger was in a precarious food security situation and that pockets of communities are reporting that they are eating less each day."

"At the same time, meningitis which is endemic in much of the arid Sahel region of West Africa, killed 154 people in the first 14 weeks of the year and affected 2,381, according to OCHA."

"mosquito-borne malaria, a treatable disease, accounts for 50 percent of deaths in children aged under five."

" only 41 percent of the population has access to improved drinking water, said WHO."

Referring to the Bird Flu outbreak in the country, "Aid workers are concerned that health campaigns will not be enough to drive the message home about culling sick birds to avoid handling. Furthermore, it took nearly a month for the cash-strapped government to launch culling. Funds since have been secured from the French development Agency (AFD), but only 60 percent of 25,000 birds identified for extermination have been destroyed to date, according to OCHA."

"According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSnet), bird flu is a serious threat to Niger's poultry industry, "which will inevitably undercut a basic source of income for poor households in general and women in particular," said a report released on Wednesday."

"Some Nigeriens say that family planning must be addressed if things are ever to improve. Nigerien women have an average of eight children each, the highest birth rate in the world, according to the UN, but a mother can expect one in every three of those children to die before the age of five."

I rarely see the big news channels reporting anything about the ongoing crisis, we have to wait until it reaches the peak of what is labelled 'a serious situation' and then we will start acting.

Please give them generously.

"Why Fighting Crime Can Assist Development in Africa: Rule of Law and Protection of the Most Vulnerable"

2006-05-01T10:31:00.000Z

A very interesting paper from ReliefWeb.int, definitly worth reading. It discusses "the extent of crime in Africa and assesses the ways that this crime interferes with the process of development. It is intended to stimulate debate and is a summary of a larger report in progress that considers these issues in greater detail."

Read it all here.

Keira Knightley's Oscar Dress: not too late!

2006-05-01T10:28:00.000Z

The auction on ebay has been extended to Monday May 1st 12 Noon (EDT) or 5pm BST. Last time I checked it had reached £3,801.00 . 100% going for the East Africa Food Crisis appeal by Oxfam.

Want to place a higher bid? Click here!

Lose hope on Darfur?

2006-05-01T10:16:00.000Z

You might want to...It's not looking good at all, started out by a lovely statement:
"["The government ... wishes to confirm its decision to formally accept this document and its readiness to sign it," said a statement from Majzoub al-Khalifa, head of the government's negotiating team at peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria.]"..That is when the headlines all had it that "[t]he Sudanese government on Sunday accepted a peace plan for the Darfur region that requires it to disarm Janjaweed militias before rebels lay down their weapons in what diplomats said was a major breakthrough."
Read the full article here.

Now the latest? Take this: "The deadline for peace talks to end bloodshed in Sudan's western Darfur region was extended by 48 hours on Sunday, after rebels rejected a proposed deal to halt the fighting".
"Earlier, the rebels called for changes to the deal — after the Sudanese government indicated it would accept the proposal".

"The African Union has extended the deadline of the peace talks by 48 hours as requested by the United States and other international partners to allow extensive consultations to go ahead," [Salim Ahmed Salim, a lead mediator for the African Union] said at the talks' site in the Nigerian capital, Abuja."

There is also this: "Sudan has indicated it might accept a U.N. force in Darfur to aid African Union troops if a peace treaty is signed, and the head of Sudan's delegation, Magzoub El-Khalif, said Sunday the government is willing to accept a draft resolution circulated last week."
Read more here.

Well at least there is some sort of cooperation from the government's side...I will keep you updated.

How many have died in Darfur?

2006-04-29T15:22:00.000Z

This stuff makes me laugh my head off. Does it make a difference if 200,000 PEOPLE have died instead of 400,000?!

It is very common to get an argument about the number. Man!

Angelina Jolie on Global Education Week

2006-04-29T14:54:00.000Z

Read/watch it all here.

Human Rights Watch calls for you to join the rally

2006-04-29T14:32:00.000Z

As I have previously posted this on the April 30th rally in Washington DC arranged by the Save Darfur Coalition.

Human Rights Watch is calling for you to join the rally to call for action against the genocide that is taking place in Darfur.

A week ago I was doing some reading on the Rwanda genocide and how the world reacted to it. I found a few good articles on the BBC website:

When good men do nothing
Preventing another genocide
Rwanda's 100 days of genocide (not for the faint-hearted)

These are definitly worth reading/watching and have-so hit me badly.

The End of AIDS

2006-04-29T14:28:00.000Z

"The End of AIDS: A Global Summit with President Clinton:
President Bill Clinton, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and other experts explore the steps we can take to eradicate AIDS from the world. Saturday at 8 p.m. ET " Visit ClintonFoundation.org.

You can submit your comments on CNN.com via this link. What suggestions do you have?

Cast your vote: 2006 Commitment to Development Award

2006-04-29T14:18:00.000Z

"Sponsored by CGD and Foreign Policy magazine, and judged by a distinguished international panel, the annual Commitment to Development Award honors an individual or organization from the rich world who has made a significant contribution to changing attitudes and policies towards the developing world"

Nominees:

Bill and Melinda Gates, Philanthropists
Bono, Musician and Development Advocate
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
Global Call to Action Against Poverty (Make Poverty History, One Campaign, etc.)
Jeffrey Sachs, Professor and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University
Jim Fruchterman, Founder and CEO of Benetech.org
Jimmy Carter, Former U.S. President
Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid
Nobody
Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ)
William Clinton, Former US President
William Easterly; Author and Professor, NYU

Click here to cast your vote.

Too much choice, eh?

UNESCO: 18 million needed; "crisis almost beyond magnitude"

2006-04-29T14:11:00.000Z

"Countries around the world will need to hire 18 million teachers to meet a goal of universal primary education by 2015, the United Nations said in a report Tuesday.
UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, warned that nations in sub-Saharan Africa were the worst off, with a need for 1.8 million teachers by then.
"We have a crisis that is almost beyond magnitude," said Peter Smith, UNESCO's assistant director general for education "But it's a soft one and easy for people not to worry about it."" [read more here]

I guess there is not more to say, I suppose it is only the figures that we wait to hear (e.g.18 million), and then action time?

"UNHCR prepares to register thousands of Congolese displaced in Katanga Province "

2006-04-29T13:53:00.000Z

"In all, an estimated 170,000 Congolese have been displaced over the past six months in Katanga because of fighting between government forces and Mayi-Mayi militia. The exact scale of the humanitarian crisis is difficult to assess because of the fragile security situation and an absence of passable roads across the vast landscape.

Civilians have not only been displaced, but they face serious harassment and abuse by both sides. This includes rape of women and children and the looting and destruction of entire villages.

The registration of the internally displaced people will help all aid agencies in Mitwaba – MSF-Belgium, Action Contre la Faim (ACF), Caritas, Action Contre la Pauvreté (ACP), WFP, OCHA and UNICEF – in responding to the needs more efficiently and effectively. Uncertainty over the exact number of displaced has made planning for the procurement of food and aid items extremely difficult. " Read more here.

"The situation in DRC reflects a global trend of increased internal displacement and fewer refugees crossing international borders. An estimated 1.6 million Congolese are internally displaced within their own country, while some 420,000 are refugees in neighbouring countries in the region. The security situation in some parts of the DRC – a vast country the size of Western Europe – has recently improved enough so that more than 60,000 Congolese refugees have been able to return to their home areas since early 2005, many of them with UNHCR assistance."

The Global Fund hears us out!

2006-04-29T13:47:00.000Z

This article has it: "The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria agreed on Friday to give millions of dollars in new grants, dispelling activists' fears that its support for the fight against the deadly diseases could dry up. "

"[The Global Fund's board voted in favour of launching a new round of grants, to cost up to $1 billion in their first two years, even though the cash had not yet been pledged by governments and other donors.

"There was a strong agreement that given the commitments made to reach global health targets, and given the urgent needs out there, it would be ethically impossible to not launch round six," spokesman Jon Liden told Reuters.

The final amount of the new tranche of grants will depend on which specific project proposals the Global Fund board agrees to at a meeting in November, he added.] "

This comes after having posted this and this over concern about AIDS funding.

DATA's Executive Director Jamie Drummond had a statement on this:

"Last year's G8 pledge to make AIDS drugs available for all was one of the definining successes of the Gleneagles summit. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria will be key in determining whether the promise is kept or betrayed. In deciding to launch a new call for grant proposals ('round 6'), the Global Fund is making it clear that it is prepared to do its part in securing justice for the forty million living - any dying - with HIV. Donors must respond with similar vision and ensure that Round 6 is funded in full. It's an emergency. Every single day 8,500 people die from AIDS-related illnesses and every year over 1 million people, almost all of them African children, lose their lives to malaria - death by mosquito bite. The Fund is key to beating back those grotesque statistics. DATA calls on all donors to honour the ambition shown by the board by making clear pledges that will save lives on the ground"

"10 world-changing social innovations"

2006-04-29T13:44:00.000Z

Interesting...

"1 The Open University - and the many models of distance learning that have opened up education across the world and are continuing to do so.
2 Fair trade - pioneered in the UK and USA between the 1940s and 1980s, and now growing globally.
3 Greenpeace - and the many movements of ecological direct action which drew on much older Quaker ideas and which have transformed how citizens can engage directly in social change.
4 Grameen - alongside BRAC and others whose new models of village and community-based microcredit have been emulated worldwide.
5 Amnesty International - and the growth of human rights.
6 Oxfam (originally the Oxford Committee for Relief of Famine) - and the spread of humanitarian relief.
7 The Women's Institute (founded in Canada in the 1890s) - and the innumerable women's organisations and innovations which have made feminism part of the mainstream.
8 Linux software - and other open source methods such as Wikipedia and Ohmynews that are transforming many fields.
9 NHS Direct - and the many organisations, ranging from Doctor Robert to the Expert Patients Programme, which have opened up access to health and knowledge about health to ordinary people.
10 Participatory budgeting models - of the kind pioneered in Porto Alegre and now being emulated, alongside a broad range of democratic innovations, all over the world."

Yeah, I know, not all relevant, but still thought I'd post it:)

"Darfur rebels undecided on peace deal"

2006-04-29T13:39:00.000Z

This article has it:

"[A peace deal for Sudan's Darfur region hung in the balance on Saturday as disunited rebel movements tried to decide whether to accept or reject a proposed agreement before Sunday's deadline.

African Union (AU) mediators in Nigeria have presented an 85-page draft settlement, the result of two years of tough negotiations on security, power-sharing and wealth-sharing between the rebels and the Sudanese government.

"We want to have consensus within the movement before giving our final position," said Abduljabbar Dosa, chief negotiator of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebel group.
The government on Thursday submitted to the AU a list of reservations it had about the draft, but it has said the document is a good framework for a deal. Observers say the main obstacles now are on the side of the rebels.

Infighting among the rebels, which are split into two groups and three factions, has been a problem throughout the peace process. They are now having a hard time deciding what to do.
Field commanders from Darfur have joined the negotiating teams in Abuja as the rebels seek to unite their positions.
They have yet to officially respond to the AU, but several leaders have said they are dissatisfied with the draft.

Their main problem with the document is that it does not meet their demands for Darfur to get a new post of Sudanese vice president and a new regional government. They have other objections on issues ranging from compensation to disarmament.]"

Teachers have their say

2006-04-29T13:35:00.000Z

In honor of the Global Action Week 2006 and the teachers all over the world, read this.

DR Congo and optimism

2006-04-29T13:28:00.000Z

I will only refer you to this.

Hope for defeating the Marburg virus?

2006-04-29T13:22:00.000Z

Some of us might have heard of this, where a bad outbreak of the Marburg of virus was observed by the World Health Organisation in Angola, reported as of 2005.

This BBC article reports new hopes for dealing with the virus:

"Researchers from the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and the National Microbiology Laboratory at the Public Health Agency of Canada carried out the work on this potential vaccine. "

"They created the vaccine known as recombinant VSV (rVSV), by taking a harmless virus and replacing one of its genes with a non-disease causing gene from the Marburg virus.
This enables the body to recognise Marburg and stimulates it to begin attacking it. "

"The vaccine has already been shown to protect monkeys against the symptoms of the virus if inoculated prior to infection. "

"Similar to the Ebola virus, Marburg causes internal bleeding leading to multiple organ failure in 90% of cases - there is no effective treatment. "

Yet again: relief operation may have to be cut in Darfur

2006-04-29T13:14:00.000Z

After reporting the World Food Programme cuts of funds for Darfur just yesterday, comes this:

"Unless rebel attacks against United Nations and other relief operations in a northern sector of Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region stop immediately, the world organization will be forced to suspend all assistance to 450,000 vulnerable people living in the area until safety can be assured, a top UN official warned today.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, called on the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) stop attacks on humanitarian workers in Darfur, where some 180,000 people have been killed and 2 million more uprooted in three years of fighting between the Government, pro-government militias and rebels.

The UN will hold responsible the armed groups, including those related to the SLA, and their leaders for the failure to assist the extremely vulnerable populations under their control, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said in a statement.

Over the past few weeks, aid workers operating for UN agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have come under continuous attacks and harassment by armed groups in the Shangil Tobayi, Tawilla and Kutum areas of North Darfur, with several reports indicating that many of the attacks were waged by SLA factions."

This is not looking good...

Knocking on Heaven's Door

2006-04-28T20:54:00.000Z

Now this is not really relevant and I am not reporting anything...as I was typing up a few things, 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' was played on my media player...

I just posted this today about child soldiers, the lyrics kept hitting me with screams from the facts I have read:

Mama take this badge from me
I can't use it anymore
It's getting dark too dark to see
Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door...

Mama put my guns in the ground
I can't shoot them anymore
That cold black cloud is comin' down
Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door...

However you would like to interpret it. To me it fit perfectly with it.

China, again...

2006-04-28T20:46:00.000Z

Well, there it goes again...

"Chinese President Hu Jintao signed an oil exploration contract with Kenya on Friday, the latest in a series of deals designed to keep Africa's natural resources flowing to China's booming economy."

Just when I said this, along with Bob Geldof and Human Rights Watch.

"[China's hunt for African oil has generated criticism. Unlike Western countries also interested in Africa's markets and resources, China steers away from pressuring nations on their human and political rights records. Critics say China is abetting pariah nations by doing business with countries like Sudan and Zimbabwe.

Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth wrote in an International Herald Tribune opinion piece on the eve of Hu's trip, which also took him to Washington and Saudi Arabia, that "as China's quest for new markets and natural resources spreads around the world, its de facto support for repression has become increasingly common."

"When Western governments try to use economic pressure to secure human rights improvements, China's no-strings rule gives dictators the means to resist," Roth wrote.]"

Hunger threat in Burundi

2006-04-28T19:24:00.000Z

"Several years of poor rainfall, compounded by the lack of a national food security policy and chronic poverty, has brought two million people – nearly one in three of Burundi’s population to the brink of starvation.
Without an urgent increase in food aid, thousands could die of hunger warns ActionAid. The World Food Programme and aid agencies are distributing emergency rations, but an estimated US$75 million of aid is still needed in order to avert disaster. " an ActionAid report has said.

"Poor rainfall over the past six years in the north, north-eastern and central provinces has brought starvation to areas which were traditionally regarded as Burundi’s food basket. Crops such as maize and sorghum have failed. Cassava has been wiped out by disease
Burundi used to receive reliable rains twice a year and had ample supplies of fresh food. Its farmers have never had to learn the techniques of irrigation and food preservation which are used by people in more arid areas to survive long periods without rain. The newly installed government is currently trying to rebuild a nation that has suffered the effects of 12 years of ethnic conflict and has not yet had the chance to devise detailed food security policies and planning systems."

"Whilst the rainy season has now started, many plots have nothing growing on them because families have eaten the seed they saved from the last crop, and are too poor to buy new seeds and cuttings. Where the crops are growing, the farmers are not sure whether there will be enough rainfall to guarantee a good harvest."

AIDS funding drying up

2006-04-28T19:17:00.000Z

ActionAid has it that: "This weekend, six million people in urgent need of essential Aids drugs face betrayal by world leaders. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria starts two days of meetings in Geneva today, and ActionAid can reveal it is not getting the heavyweight political support it needs. "

"[The Fund requires at least $8B a year to continue helping those affected by the world’s three major diseases of poverty. So far, the UK government is the only major donor to declare its support. Without commitment from other countries, the Fund is unlikely to announce any new grants to fight HIV & AIDS in 2006.
Failure to announce a new round of grants will have a devastating impact on the Global Fund’s momentum and 26 projects, whose grants expire at the end of the year, will be halted. It will also fatally stall the 2005 G8 Gleneagles commitment to universal access to AIDS treatment for all who need it by the end of 2010.
Jess Worth, ActionAid HIV & AIDS campaigner said: "Lack of movement now will mean a great betrayal. With just four years to go before the 2010 deadline, 2006 is a key funding year in the fight against HIV & AIDS.
"Money has to start flowing in significant quantities now, otherwise all commitments will fail. The millions living with HIV who need drugs, and whose hopes have been raised by the commitments made during 2005, will see them dashed."
The Global Fund’s 2006 round of grants is essential to the success of the G8 2010 universal access target. Drugs programmes supported by the Global Fund ensure that nearly ½ million people are on anti retroviral treatment – it supports one out of every three people currently receiving treatment in poor countries.
Even if new grants are announced and committed this year, there is a time delay between signing agreements and disbursing funds. This means that countries applying for money to scale up treatment towards universal access will have to wait until next year for funding. If the 2006 round does not go ahead, it is hard to see any way that the 2010 treatment target can be met. ]"

Change? Now!

2006-04-28T19:14:00.000Z

Oxfam is running a Change Campaign training course. For more info click here.