A woman weeds a sesame crop field in South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria state. Credit: Charlton Doki/IPS

By Moyiga Nduru
JUBA, South Sudan, Apr 8 2016 (IPS)

Facing an unprecedented economic crisis, South Sudan — the newest nation of the world — has urged its 12 million inhabitants to turn to agriculture instead of depending on declining oil revenues.

Before the fall of oil prices below $30 a barrel in the international market, oil-rich South Sudan used to import virtually all of its basic requirements from overseas.

Chicken came from Brazil. Tomatoes, onions, maize flour, cooking oil, dairy products and beans are still being imported from neighbouring Uganda. China and Dubai export a variety of goods such as soft drinks, smart phones as well as construction materials.

All of this is unsustainable and worries the government. South Sudan has ignored agriculture since it achieved its independence in July 2011. Up to 75 per cent of the country’s land area is suitable for farming.

“South Sudan has virgin land. Yet we import most of our food from neighbouring countries,” finance minister, David Deng Athorbei, complained during a meeting organised in the national capital Juba recently to address the deteriorating economic situation in the country.

Every year, South Sudan spends between US$200-300 million on food imports, according to estimates for 2013 provided by the Abidjan-based African Development Bank (AFDB).

“South Sudan currently imports as much as 50 per cent of its needs, including 40 per cent of its cereals from neighbouring countries, particularly Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia”, according to AFDB.

During the first two years of independence, the country was producing nearly 245,000 barrels of crude oil per day, raking in billions of dollars in revenue annually. As a result, the elite saw no value in labour-intensive activity like farming.

That is now changing. A drop in the oil output, a decline in global oil prices and the devastating conflict in South Sudan, as well as an acute scarcity of hard currency have triggered shortages of goods in the market.

South Sudan, which currently produces 165,000 barrel of crude oil per day, depends on oil revenue for nearly 98 per cent of the total government budget.

“We must diversify. We should not depend on one commodity — oil. We have gold in Kapoeta (on the border with Kenya). We have cattle,” said Gabriel Alak, a senior official of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) on a popular programme, Face the Nation, on the state-owned South Sudan Television recently.

Campaigners are now focusing on food production to mitigate the impact of a devastating conflict that erupted in Juba in December 2013. The violence spread quickly to oil-producing states of Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile.

The fighting has left hundreds of thousands of people in need of humanitarian assistance.

At the height of the oil boom, South Sudanese businesspeople had directed their energy toward trade, ignoring agriculture.

“The business of trade is over. We now need to embark on the business of production. We have to change our ways of doing business. Let’s start with agriculture,” Athorbei advised.

In April 2015, President Salva Kiir donated 1,000 tractors to farmers around the country. He also set up the country’s first food security council headed by himself.

“I am determined to end hunger and malnutrition in the Republic of South Sudan,” Kiir said during the launch of the tractors in Juba.

“We have vast fertile lands, abundant water and climate suitable for production of wide variety of food and cash crops but the country still faces enormous challenges which prevent it from realising its full potential,” he said.

“Experts estimate that up to 300,000 metric tonnes of fish could be harvested on a sustainable basis from its share at the River Nile swamps and tributaries,” Kiir disclosed.

South Sudan produces some food crops, but the food is rotting in the bush due to poor road network to transport the commodities to the market.

Athorbei said he would set aside some money in the financial year 2015/2016 to boost agriculture. He did not say how much he would allocate.

With South Sudan joining the East African Community (EAC) on 2 March 2016, Juba hopes to invite farmers across the region to till the country’s vast lands. “This will cut transport costs and reduce food prices,” vice-president James Wani Igga told a parliamentary caucus of the ruling SPLM in Juba on March 10, 2016.

EAC comprises Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and now South Sudan, with a combined population of more than 157 million.

As South Sudan works out plan to fix agriculture, prices have continued to spiral beyond the reach of the poor. The crisis has prompted parliament to urge government to reduce inflation to mitigate the sufferings of ordinary persons.

“There is urgent need to mobilise up to US $20 million for the importation of food commodities and medicines within a period of one month. The food commodities shall be sold through established consumer cooperative network,” the chairperson for the committee for economy, development and finance in parliament, Goc Makuach Mayol, said in a 14-page report on March 7, 2016.

The parliament has also called for a probe into a US$70 million, which was disbursed by an agency known as “financial auction” to commercial banks and forex bureaux with instructions by the central bank to allocate 50 per cent for importing food commodities, 30 per cent for industrial inputs and 20 per cent for school fees and medical treatment overseas.

The parliament did not indicate when the money was disbursed. But it has demanded for a record showing how the money was spent.

(End)

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By Moyiga Nduru
JUBA, South Sudan, Mar 30 2016 (IPS)

A single phone call from an irate security official is enough to shutdown a newspaper in Sudan. Security agents sometimes employ unorthodox methods: they storm the premises of a newspaper or a printing press and confiscate print runs in full view of employees. No reasons are provided. And there is no legal recourse.

Sudan’s widely criticised 2010 national security law enables the country’s dreaded security agents to operate with complete impunity.

The latest journalist to fall into the trap of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) is Faisal Mohamed Salih, who is no stranger to state harassment. Salih said security agents prevented him from travelling to Britain on March 25. “They told me that my name was placed on a travel-ban list and my passport was seized,” he posted on his Facebook page, after he was turned away from Khartoum International Airport.

A fierce critic of the Islamic regime, Salih is the winner of the Peter Mackler Award for courageous and ethnical journalism in 2013. Salih’s predicament is just the tip of an iceberg in a country where journalists and media houses are constantly under attack. Al-Ayam, Al-Mustaqilla and Al-Sudani are the latest newspapers to face the wrath of the security organs.

In one of the most brazen raids, security agents, under the cover of the early hours, tormed a printing house in the national capital, Khartoum on March 15 and seized 20,000 copies of Al-Sudani newspaper, without giving reasons.

Sources within Al-Sudani say the newspaper incurred a loss of 70,000 SSG (US$5,800) as a result of the raid. Such raids weaken newspapers economically and prevent the public from reading what the authorities want to be kept secret, journalists and media watchdog say.

The raid on Al-Sudani happened as journalists at Al-Tayar, another daily that has been closed since December 2015, were staging what has now become a daily open hunger strike to force the authorities in Khartoum to permit the newspaper to resume operations.

Few journalists believe that the hunger strike will work. “Hunger strike may work in the West where the spectre of such an activity always hangs heavily on the conscience of society. But in Sudan, if you go on a hunger strike you may be considered abnormal and your action will be regarded as un-Islamic. Perhaps only human rights groups, friends and members of your family may sympathise with you but not the government,” Victor Keri Wani, author of ‘’Mass Media in Sudan, Experience of the South 1940-2005’’, told IPS in an interview.

This is not the first time that Al-Tayar, a critic of the regime, has been closed by the security agents since it began publication in 2009.

International media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, said eight issues of the newspaper have been seized since the start of 2015, four of them in February 2015 alone.

The watchdog said security agents also briefly shutdown the newspaper in 2012 after it blasted the NISS for illegally using electronic gadgets to spy on opposition groups. In the same edition, Al-Tayar also ruffled the feathers of some of the most powerful Islamists by publishing a report on corruption in local governments.

Reporters Without Border recorded a total of 35 newspaper issues seized by the security agents in 2014 alone. A week never passes without seizure of print runs or closure of a newspaper by security agents.

“The media in the Sudan is heavily censored and strictly controlled by the security organs,” professor William Hai Zaza, the head of the Department of Mass Communications at the University of Juba, told IPS in an interview.

The bad blood between the media and security agents began after the junta, led by Omar al-Bashir, usurped power in a military coup, effectively deposing an elected civilian government, in June 1989.

The junta set up pro-government publications to promote its vision of Islam and Arabism.

Journalists who refused to share the junta’s views were either jailed or fled the country.

It is an open secret in the Sudan that the Islamic government continues to fund some publications to toe its strict policy line. “The newspapers are allowed limited space for mild criticism of the government. These criticisms are used by the government to howcase its commitment to uphold the freedom of expression in the country,” Zaza said.

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the closing of Al-Tayar. “We call for Al-Tayar to be reopened at once so that it can continue providing the public with news coverage,” said Clea Kahn-Sriber, the head of the body’s Africa desk, in a statement posted on the group’s website.

In the 2000s, Sudanese journalists had feared that state agents were bent on a policy to eliminate them. This perception was influenced by the 2006 incident in which unknown gunmen kidnapped and beheaded the editor-in-chief of Al-Wifag newspaper, Mohamed Taha, sending a chill in the media fraternity in Khartoum. The case has remained unsolved to this day in a city known for its watertight security network. Then journalist Lubna Mohamed al Hussein, whose case attracted international media attention in 2009, was detained and fined for wearing a pair of trousers, under Sudan’s decency law.

Sometimes local problems tend to override the loyalty of pro-government journalists, landing them in trouble. “For example, people around Katjabas Dam in the north of the country are always protesting against the construction of the dam. And if you happened to be a journalist from that area, surely, you’ll get sympathetic and publish the story, and your paper will be closed,” Wani explained.

That is why Khartoum’s several private FM radio stations have chosen to play it safe by broadcasting entertainment or sports 24 hours a day. Security agents, who don’t pay much attention to them, deem entertainment and sports as less sensitive.

“Journalism is a dangerous profession in the Sudan. Media practitioners must protect their lives,” Zaza said.

Sudan is ranked 174th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Media experts say they do not see the light at the end of the tunnel soon. “Media space will not open as long as the Islamists are in power in the Sudan,” Wani said.

Zaza agreed: “The repression of journalists will not go away soon. It will take time”.

Too often, government employs dangerous blackmail tactics to scare journalists. The Islamists accuse critical journalists of being Israeli spy, Mossad, or CIA agent, a euphemism for traitor, which is punishable by death in the Sudan, Zaza said.

(End)

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While there is a growing desire for change in Sudan – particularly among the younger urban population in the north – there is no atmosphere of heated campaigning or supporters mobbing candidates in the south, as campaigning for general elections concludes.

Upcoming elections seem like the prelude to a more serious contest over the future of Sudan in the months to come. Credit: Peter Martell/IRIN

The absence of excitement and an election mood is partly explained by the fact that many voters here questioned the choice of Yasir Arman, to represent the southern-dominated Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party as presidential candidate in the April 11-13 poll.

Arman was one of the few Arabs to join the rebellion in the early years of the uprising, but party insiders say this advocate of a united Sudan – some remain within the SPLM – was troubled playing a role that could well see the disintegration of Africa’s largest country.

He would of course have secured SPLM bloc votes in the south, while drawing a significant vote from a northern minority of liberal urban Muslims, but Arman is largely scorned and regarded as a traitor in the north for betraying the cause of Arab Muslims in the Sudan.

The pressure on Arman proved overwhelming, and he withdrew from the race on Apr. 1, citing electoral irregularities and the continued conflict in Darfur.

“(Arman) advocated for his withdrawal. We had tried to convince him for weeks not to do that but he insisted that he wanted it done that way,” Riek Machar, the SPLM vice president of the government of southern Sudan, told journalists in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan.

The National Congress Party (NCP) of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, which claims to protect the interests of Arab Muslims in the Sudan, has a different view.

Opposition political parties say Bashir is desperate to cling to power by legitimising his mandate via internationally-monitored elections and thus to escape the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“The election has been designed for one man, not for democratic transformation,” Arman told a news conference in Khartoum following the announcement of his withdrawal. He said the NCP was only holding these elections in order to “deflect” pressure from the ICC on its leader.

The ICC, with its headquarters in the Dutch city of the Hague, indicted Bashir in 2008 for alleged human rights abuses and crimes against humanity in the troubled western region of Darfur. The conflict in Darfur erupted in 2003 after the rebels there took up arms to fight marginalisation. More than 300,000 people have been killed and over one million people displaced by the conflict since then.

Bashir has denied the ICC allegations.

Victory procession

With the SPLM candidate out of the way, the writing on the wall stands out ever more clearly: Bashir will win the presidential election.

Not because the Sudanese leader is popular, but because he controls the key instruments of power – the army and the plain-clothes security organs in the north – which he has been manipulating since he seized power in a military coup in 1989.

Opposition parties began taking claims of rigging seriously after it emerged on Apr. 1 that Sudan’s presidential ballots had been printed in Khartoum, the capital – at a firm controlled by the ruling NCP – instead of in South Africa as agreed earlier.

Bashir also controls the state media – radio and television – and uses state funds and other resources such as helicopters and vehicles for his campaign. The majority of Sudan’s more than 80 opposition political parties have no access to such advantages.

No one is talking about the possibility of a second round any longer with the SPLM candidate out of the way.

Even before the voting begins on Apr. 11, a confident Bashir has already announced his next move. He will start campaigning for the unity of the country immediately after the elections.

“There will be no separation. Our people in the south will vote for unity voluntarily, through their own will,” Bashir said during a campaign in Sinjah, a town in eastern Sudan, on Apr. 1.

Bashir’s imminent consolidation of power is worrying northern opposition parties. With the south disinterested in the elections and focusing on the referendum, they feel let down by the electoral process.

The post POLITICS-SUDAN: Stage Set For Bashir Victory appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JUBA, South Sudan, Jan 18 2010 (IPS)

Sudan is at a crossroads. Its future looks grim. “Only a miracle can save it from disintegrating. The signs are already on the wall,” says Khamis Lako, a petty trader in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

Nursing injuries after an attack on a South Sudanese village: ethnic conflict threatens full implementation of the peace agreement. Credit: Peter Martell/IPS

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), brokered by outside powers, ended a 21-year conflict between the Arab Muslim north and the black Christian south. According to human rights groups, more than 2 million people perished during the 1983-2005 war.

The fifth anniversary of the deal, is being commemorated on Jan. 19 in Yambio, the capital of South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

Even for skeptics like Lako, the deal CPA has produced some concrete results. “The guns have gone silent,” he said. “People can now move freely, doing their business without harassment or intimidation.”

The south has its own government, flag and a standing army – the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Virtually all northern troops have been withdrawn from the territory. The semi-autonomous region also maintains a string of liaison offices (embassies in all but name) in most key capitals of the world.

Right now, the north and the south only share nationality and currency – nothing else.

Challenges ahead

Despite the progress made, Sudan’s challenges remain enormous. The peace partners, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in the north, have yet to define the north-south border as it stood at independence in 1956.

At stake here is Sudan’s oil which straddles the north-south border, although most of it lies in the south.

Earlier this month NCP’s Ghazi Salaheddin, an advisor to President Omar al-Bashir, warned that the referendum on South Sudan’s independence, which is scheduled for January 2011, would lead to a new war if key issues such as the north-south border, nationality and responsibility for external debts of over $30 billion dollars were not addressed.

The NCP suggested recently that the estimated five million southerners living in the north would automatically lose their citizenship if the south opts for independence in 2011. The same would apply to northerners living in the south.

Oil

Disagreements also continue over the oil revenue which the south shares equally with the north. The south complains of lack of transparency in the distribution of oil revenue. The north has rejected the allegations.

The north fears that an independent south will deprive it of the badly needed oil revenue. “Secession will leave the north in a difficult situation. Oil accounts for 90 percent of the north’s exports,” said John Luk Jok, South Sudan’s minister of energy, at a symposium on ‘Southern Sudan: Preparing for 2011 and Beyond’, in Juba on Dec. 5-6.

The north considers oil as a strategic commodity. “The north want their interests protected in a future independent South Sudan, or they’ll sabotage it,” Elijah Malok, the head of the Bank of Southern Sudan, told the symposium.

Sudan’s foreign friends are encouraging both the SPLM and NCP to start discussing the post-2011 arrangements.

“I believe that we need to come up with a process now so that we can work with the parties and the parties can work between themselves to come up with solutions on citizenship, on the north-south border demarcation, on the sharing of resources – and that includes the oil – grazing rights, the Nile waters,” said Scott Gration, special envoy for Sudan, at a news conference in Washington on Jan. 11.

He added, “There’s so many issues that have to be decided that we cannot wait until the referendum is here, until the people have made their will known. It will be too late at that point. These must be done right now, and we’re encouraging the process to start and we are in constant communication with the parties to help them come up with a process and a methodology to get these talks started.”

Violence continues

One contentious issue which may unravel the fragile peace deal is the growing culture of ethnic conflict in the south. Since 2008, at least 2,500 people have been killed and 350,000 displaced from their homes by ethnic conflict and cattle rustling, according to a January 2010 report compiled by aid groups including the British charity Oxfam.

Prior to the outbreak of conflict in 1983, cattle rustlers used archaic weapons such as spears, and bows and arrows. But now they carry automatic assault weapons, particularly AK-47s.

Recent consignments, confiscated by South Sudanese security agents, are of brand new weapons.

The sources of these weapons remain an open secret, although the north has distanced itself from supplying them. SPLM secretary general Pagan Amum believes “the enemies of peace” are supplying the weapons to disrupt the referendum.

“The referendum must be conducted on January 9, 2011 as stipulated in the peace agreement,” he told journalists in Juba.

The post SOUTH SUDAN: Tension Builds as Peace Agreement Marks Anniversary appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 27 2007 (IPS)

‘‘Italians used to think of Africa in terms of safari and animals, especially the Big Five. Now they are realising that there’s business potential in South Africa,’’ says Giovanna Roma, secretary general of the Italian South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Northern, Eastern and Western Cape.

That South Africa is about more than elephant, lion, leopard, rhino and buffalo (the Big Five) was clear during the visit of a trade delegation from Italy to South Africa earlier this month (July 9-12).

Headed by Massimo D’Alema, both Italian deputy prime minister and foreign minister, the 150-strong delegation included one of Italy’s largest tour operators, trading under the acronym ASTOI, a few infrastructure firms and eight banks, including UniCredit Bank, Italy’s largest.

‘‘Italian companies have realised that it’s not only in Brazil, China or Argentina that they can do business,’’ Roma told IPS in an interview. ‘‘They see good infrastructure in South Africa.’’

Italy ranks amongst South Africa’s top ten trading partners. Total trade between South Africa and Italy, which picked up after the demise of apartheid in 1994, now amounts to about 5.2 billion dollars, according to figures supplied by the Italian Central Institute of Statistics.

D’Alema believes there’s still room for improvement. ‘‘South Africa represents an emerging power in economic terms. Italian entrepreneurs are convinced that the business partnership with South Africa is a real and attractive opportunity.

‘‘I think that the presence of so many Italian entrepreneurs in our delegation is an important signal that they are confident about the future of South Africa,’’ he said during the visit.

According to Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesperson for the South African department of foreign affairs, South Africa has a negative trade balance with Italy when gold and certain other minerals are excluded.

South Africa’s exports to Italy include iron, steel, alloys, coal, granite, fish, beef and leather as well as chemicals. The exports amounted to 1,108,114 dollars in 2005 and rose to 1,385,178 dollars in 2006, according to South Africa’s department of trade and industry.

In 2005 South Africa imported goods from Italy worth 1,527,520 dollars and the following year 1,395,977 dollars. They include machine tools, vehicles and components, industrial machinery, jewellery and telecommunications equipment.

Issues of concern from the Italian point of view, said Roma, are ‘‘problems with customs duties for products such as wine and spirits. There is too much bureaucracy. They also find certain duties too high. It is also hard to export cold meat to South Africa.’’

Asked whether Italian companies signed any new deals in South Africa during the visit, Roma laughed. ‘‘From my experience, Italian people are not quick to sign a deal. July and August are holidays in Italy. Business will pick up from September after the holidays,’’ she said.

‘‘The companies which came to South Africa will hold meetings, workshops and seminars with their associates in Italy to ‘sell’ South Africa. We’ll find out in a few months whether they are going to do follow-ups,’’ she said. ‘‘The companies were mostly using the visit to network in South Africa.’’

At a one-day (July 9) conference organised by South Africa-Italy Business Forum in the commercial hub of Johannesburg, South African deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, echoed Mamoepa’s statement.

‘‘The challenge is, of course, to narrow the balance of trade which is currently in favour of Italy so as to ensure that our countries benefit mutually from our trade relations. However, this should be done without holding back the current levels of investment from both our countries,’’ she said.

South Africa hopes to benefit from Italy’s experience in the small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) sector.

‘‘I’m told that companies such as Fiat and Parmalat are household names in the Italian business world. These are among the many Italian companies that have also become household names in our country, serving as living examples of the success stories that South Africa can and must tell.

‘‘The number of joint ventures between companies from both our two countries, particularly in our mining sector is, encouragingly, rising,’’ Mlambo-Ngcuka said.

Mamoepa said Italian investments in South Africa amounted to 53.2 million dollars in 2005.

Local companies such as South African Breweries (SAB) Miller, Sasol and Dimension Data have also made inroads in Italy. ‘‘We are beginning to observe encouraging signs that more and more South African companies are following the path charted by companies such as Sasol,’’ Mlambo-Ngcuka said.

South African authorities have been working hard to project their country as a safe destination for foreign investment. ‘‘Ours provides one of the friendliest business environments in the world. South Africa is ranked 28 in the World Bank Investment Climate Survey,’’ she pointed out.

South Africa’s economy is also doing well. ‘‘For the past three years we have been registering an annual growth rate of five percent and creating 500,000 jobs per annum. Government is confident that we will be able to achieve our targeted annual growth rate of at least six percent as of 2008,’’ Mlambo-Ngcuka said.

But challenges remain. One of them is Zimbabwe which D’Alema and his South African counterpart, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, discussed during the visit. Zimbabwe, whose inflation rate has hit 10,000 percent, the highest in the world, used to be the second strongest economy in the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC), after South Africa.

‘‘Clearly a problematic economy in Zimbabwe means that SADC as a region, including South Africa, will feel the consequences. But we have to do all our best to revitalise or restart in a way, regenerate the economy there for the benefit of the Zimbabwean people and the region,’’ Dlamini-Zuma told journalists.

‘‘Of course, Zimbabwe has been one of our biggest trading partners so it’s very important on all fronts that their economy is regenerated.’’

Speaking in Cape Town on July 11, Giuseppe Boscoscure, president of ASTOI, regretted that only 50,000 South Africans, half of them on business, visited Italy last year.

‘‘To sort out the problem, I think Italy should introduce a direct flight to South Africa to boost trade and tourism,’’ Ben Broun, who is researching international trade at the University of South Africa (UNISA), told IPS by phone.

Italian tourists have to take connecting flights from other European countries to travel to South Africa, and South African tourists have to take connecting flights to get to Italy.

The other challenge which worries the business community, including foreign investors, is South Africa’s growing crime rate. The 2006/2007 report by the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) shows a 3.5 percent rise in murders, a 118 percent increase in violent bank robberies, a 25.4 percent escalation in house break-ins and a six percent rise in car hijackings.

The post TRADE: Italian Delegation Finds More Than Big Five in S. Africa appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 18 2007 (IPS)

Representatives of Sudan&#39s government and rebel groups will meet in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha next month in a bid to hammer out a deal to end four years of conflict in Darfur.

Women returning to a displaced persons camp in Darfur, gripped by civil war since 2003. Credit: Derk Segaar/IRIN

While the Libyan meeting was attended by Sudan&#39s government, the European Union and representatives of 14 other countries, none of Darfur&#39s rebel groups took part.

Korwa Adar, a senior researcher at Africa Institute of South Africa, a think tank based in the capital of Pretoria, says a repeat of this situation must be avoided for the Arusha talks to have any chance of success.

"The Arusha conference…must be inclusive. Rebel groups, civil society organisations, politicians – representatives of all stakeholders – must be included, because you don&#39t want to give an opportunity for others to sabotage the peace process now or in the future," he told IPS.

"It&#39s good to involve all the players in the negotiations for (talks) to have an enduring effect," added Adar, also the co-editor of &#39Sudan Peace Process: Challenges and Future Prospects&#39.

While the guerrilla campaign against Sudan&#39s government in Darfur was initially launched by two rebel movements in 2003, there are now about a dozen groupings. This has complicated peace efforts, says Timothy Otieno, a researcher at the Johannesburg-based Institute for Global Dialogue, also a think tank.

"Khartoum would like to play one rebel group off against the other," he told IPS. "This will not bring peace."

A new rebel coalition called the United Front for Liberation and Development was announced over the weekend in the Eritrean capital, Asmara. The group has been formed with a view to presenting a united front in peace talks with Khartoum; however, it only includes the Sudan Federal Democratic Alliance, the Revolutionary Democratic Front Forces and two smaller factions of the Sudan Liberation Army. Major rebel groups like the Justice and Equality Movement and the Greater Sudan Liberation Movement remain outside the coalition.

This is not the first attempt to unite Darfur&#39s rebels. Twice this year, the semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) has tried – and failed – to bring the rebels to Juba, the capital of south Sudan. GOSS President Salva Kiir, who is also the first vice-president of Sudan, traveled to Chad and Libya in a bid to persuade the rebels to meet in Juba.

In addition, Kiir&#39s party, the Sudan People&#39s Liberation Movement, has named a special envoy for Darfur, Clement Janda; he is currently meeting with various rebel groups to help them unify their position.

Kiir wants to avoid repeating events of 2006, when a peace deal was reached in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, but signed by only one rebel faction.

Noted Otieno: "The 2006 Abuja deal was accepted by one rebel group out of three. This is why it doesn&#39t hold water. You cannot exclude the major players, whatever disagreement you have with them. They determine what goes on the ground. They can cause havoc."

As efforts to convene the next round of peace talks proceed, the United Nations is putting together a hybrid force of more than 20,000 peacekeepers to monitor and protect civilians in Darfur. The world body says over 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced there since fighting erupted over alleged marginalisation of the area.

Sudan&#39s government responded to the rebel offensive with aerial bombardments, and by supporting attacks by Arab militants known as "janjaweed" – or "men on horseback" – accused of carrying out atrocities in Darfur. Nomadic Arabs have for many years been at odds with settled ethnic groups in the region over control of resources.

The AU has already deployed 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, which is approximately the size of France. However, these troops are ill-equipped.

"The U.N. should give financial and diplomatic support to the AU like the AU gave IGAD to resolve the north-south conflict," Adar said, in reference to the mediation of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development in the 21-year conflict between north and south Sudan – which ended with a 2005 accord. IGAD comprises Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

Sudanese President Omar al Bashir has previously made it clear that he prefers peacekeepers under the command of the AU, even threatening to fight U.N. forces if they deployed in Darfur without Khartoum&#39s consent. But the head of state appears to have shifted his stance now.

"Sudan has been forced by the international community to accept the hybrid (U.N. and AU) force," Adar said.

The post POLITICS-SUDAN: A Call for the Upcoming Darfur Talks to Be Inclusive appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 12 2007 (IPS)

Two years ago, several West African states found themselves in the grip of severe food shortages – with some three million people affected in Niger alone. Children died, aid officials wrung their hands, people marched in Niger&#39s capital, Niamey, to demand food…But were lessons learned – really learned – to ensure that the crisis does not recur?

Meagre harvests in Niger two years ago brought suffering to millions. Credit: IIED/Evelyn Hockstein

&#39Beyond Any Drought&#39, launched Wednesday, was produced by the Sahel Working Group – an inter-agency coalition – and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), a London-based non-governmental organisation (NGO).

"People blame locusts, drought and high food prices for the crisis that affected more than three million people in Niger in 2005," notes Vanessa Rubin, Africa Hunger Advisor for CARE International, in a Jul. 11 IIED press statement.

"But these were just triggers. The real cause of the problem was that people there are chronically vulnerable. Two years later, they still are."

In an analysis of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the report notes that this vulnerability results in part from the marginalisation of poor farmers, and women&#39s lack of access to education and property.

As observers have also indicated, the Sahara&#39s encroachment southwards into the Sahel is compromising the quality of soils, putting rural communities in an even more precarious situation. "History will repeat itself unless governments in the Sahel and donor agencies adopt an entirely new strategy for the region," says IIED Director Camilla Toulmin in the Jul. 11 statement.

"This needs to build on the knowledge, skills and priorities of local people, strengthening local rights to land, soils and water, and giving people a voice in how decisions are made. Building local resilience is key to reducing vulnerability."

Accordingly, the report calls for increased aid to the Sahel, and better co-ordination between development and emergency relief efforts – an appeal echoed by others.

"The Sahel governments can support economic activities like beekeeping and ecotourism. The people can make small things like handicrafts to earn some money," Frank Musasiri, chairman of the National NGO Co-ordination Committee on Desertification in Kenya, told IPS by phone from the capital of Nairobi.

But, he noted, "Combating desertification in the Sahel will not be easy."

According to Richard Worthington of Earthlife Africa, an NGO based in Johannesburg, South Africa, "What&#39s clear is that Africa will have a reduced water supply. There&#39s already less water in the Sahel."

"The consequences for people living in sub-Saharan Africa will depend on the response of the international community," he said in an interview with IPS.

Sahelian food shortages of two years ago can be traced back to August 2004, when the rains failed. Those crops that survived the drought were consumed in large part by locusts that swarmed across West Africa later in the year.

Small harvests in October were followed by an initial United Nations appeal in November; however, virtually no aid was pledged.

The need for more investment in rural areas was also highlighted in the 2006 issue of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation&#39s annual report, &#39The State of Food Insecurity in the World&#39.

"Public investment in infrastructure, agricultural research, education and extension is indispensable for promoting agricultural growth. Actual public expenditures on agriculture in many poor countries do not reflect the importance of the sector, particularly in those with high prevalence of undernourishment," the document states.

"External assistance to agriculture and rural development has declined compared with the levels of the 1980s," it adds.

"Climate change and degradation of ecosystems will pose new challenges for expanding production and conserving natural resources."

Environmental groups like the Greenbelt Movement of Kenya, founded by 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, encourage tree planting to combat desertification.

Musariri cautions that this approach has its limitations, noting that "when seeds come up, the plants are destroyed by goats, sheep and cattle, and there&#39s no replenishment".

An NGO active in Burkina Faso has shown that attempts are being made to address this problem, however.

&#39newTree-nouvelarbre&#39 enters into partnerships with community groups to ring-fence areas that are designated by locals for reforestation, to ensure that plant life is protected, and that reclaimed areas provide communities with a source of income (see: &#39Q&A: "The Sahel Should Already Have Been Green"&#39).

The post DEVELOPMENT-WEST AFRICA: History Just Waiting to Repeat Itself appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 10 2007 (IPS)

What is a common factor in ensuring that women do not marry too young, do not have more children than they can cope with, do not die giving birth – and contract HIV in smaller numbers? Men.

A large family at a Uganda refugee camp. Credit: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

"Experience shows that men&#39s involvement and participation can make all the difference," notes Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in a statement for World Population Day.

"By discouraging early marriage, promoting girls&#39 education, fostering equitable relationships, and supporting women&#39s reproductive health and rights, progress is made."

The difficulties of breaking down gender stereotypes to free men to play a more positive role in the lives of their partners are well known.

But, to what extent are institutions being reformed to assist men?

According to Bafana Khumalo, co-founder of the Sonke Gender Justice Network, a non-governmental organisation based in Johannesburg, there is some way to go.

"When you talk about sexual reproductive health, for example, and you go to the hospital, you find that the system targets women. The environment is not friendly to men. The majority of the nurses are women," he told IPS.

"Some of the men come back complaining that they have been chased away by nurses. The nurses tell them that it&#39s not a man&#39s place."

In a bid to improve gender relations, the network holds regular workshops around South Africa.

"We encourage men to accompany their women to antenatal clinics. We tell them to continue with the process until their partners give birth," Khumalo said.

"We need to change the system and the mindset."

Women on the front lines of changing mindsets may face obstacles, however, says Lisa Vetten: a researcher at the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre to End Violence Against Women, also based in the economic hub of Johannesburg.

"It&#39s difficult talking to men, especially when you are female," she told IPS. "But of course, men are not all the same. One can sometimes have success with older men. This is because older men fear losing their partners, children and property."

That progress is being made is shown by the Sonke Gender Justice Network&#39s initiative in a rural farming community in the northern Limpopo province.

"They (male farm workers) are now helping with dishes. They clean the house – and more men want to join their group. As a result, women from that community have been calling us and asking what we have done to their men," Khumalo said, laughing.

The network is also trying to include traditional leaders in its work through invoking the concept of "ubuntu" – a term used in a number of South African languages that can be loosely translated as "humanity". More broadly, it refers to a traditional belief that a person&#39s humanity is determined by the extent to which the humanity of others is upheld.

But, the NGO has found that approaching the leaders requires considerable tact.

"You don&#39t start by criticising their way of life as being backward. They will close ranks and refuse to talk to you. It&#39s safe to talk to the elders, for example, about the problems of women who have been kicked out of their matrimonial homes. Kicking out women goes against the spirit of ubuntu," Khumalo said.

The theme of this year&#39s World Population Day echoes that of the UNFPA&#39s annual &#39State of World Population&#39 report for 2005, titled &#39The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals&#39.

"Partnering with men is an important strategy for advancing reproductive health and rights, which are so closely linked to the MDGs," notes the document.

"Husbands often make decisions about family planning, their wives&#39 economic activities and the use of household resources, including for doctors&#39 and school fees. These decisions influence the well-being and prospects of the whole family," it adds.

"The care and support of an informed husband also improves pregnancy and childbirth outcomes and can mean the difference between life and death in cases of complications, when women need immediate medical care."

According to the 2006 Human Development Report, produced by the United Nations Development Programme, 84 percent of deliveries in South Africa occur in the presence of skilled health workers – the personnel who can ensure that complications do not result in maternal death.

This figure rises to 98 percent for deliveries in the richest 20 percent of the population – and sinks to 68 percent for the poorest fifth of society.

The fact that many women give birth under dangerous conditions is reflected in maternal mortality statistics. The Human Development Report notes that 150 female deaths are reported annually for every 100,000 live births in South Africa – compared to six for Norway, the state that ranks top of the report&#39s Human Development Index (HDI).

The HDI lists countries around the world according to how they succeed in providing their citizens with a long, healthy life; knowledge – and respectable living standards.

Contraceptive prevalence for South African married women aged 15 to 49 is 56 percent, while in Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United States – countries that rank in the top 10 of the HDI – it is 82 percent, 79 percent and 76 percent, respectively.

South Africa was placed at position 121 of the 177 countries evaluated for HDI 2006.

However, in the report&#39s Gender-related Development Index, where HDI rankings are adjusted to reflect inequalities between women and men, South Africa ranks at 92.

This does not appear to compare positively with figures released just five years previously.

In the 2001 HDI, which listed 162 nations, South Africa came in at 94 – and 85 on the Gender-related Development Index.

Of the 5.3 million adults living with HIV/AIDS in the country, more than half – 3.1 million – are women, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

The post WORLD POPULATION DAY: Enlightened Men Prescribed for Maternal Health appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 10 2007 (IPS)

Pius Ncube, the outspoken Catholic archbishop of Bulawayo in southern Zimbabwe, has urged President Robert Mugabe to step down – this as the country faces deepening political and economic woes.

“Mugabe is a man who is a megalomaniac. He loves power, he lives for power. Even his own party is appealing to him to step down. Zimbabweans are desperate to offer him anything (for him) to relinquish power,” he told journalists in South Africa’s commercial hub, Johannesburg, Tuesday.

Ncube was launching a report titled ‘Destructive Engagement: Violence, Mediation and Politics in Zimbabwe’, published by the Solidarity Peace Trust. He chairs this church-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), which aims – in part – to further justice and peace in Zimbabwe.

In the 44-page document, the trust accuses the Mugabe regime of continuing to use violence against its political opponents in order to cling to power.

“Out of 414 individuals interviewed, 30 percent or 122 reported torture between March, April and May 2007. This is a shockingly high figure, yet it represents the tip of the iceberg in Zimbabwe. Apart from politically motivated torture, torture of those arrested on suspicion of having committed a criminal offence is routine in Zimbabwe,” notes the report.

“In 90 percent of the attacks…government agencies such as the police, Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and army” were involved, it adds. More than three-quarters of reported cases were in the capital, Harare – “one of the two major urban areas considered to be opposition territory”.

Recent years have seen Zimbabwe plunged into a crisis caused by a variety of factors, including increased repression and politically-motivated farm seizures. Mugabe accuses the West of plotting to unseat him, and of opposing land reform in Zimbabwe because it has caused minority white farmers to be dispossessed.

Tuesday’s launch came as the president, in power since 1980, had ordered price cuts, this amidst runaway inflation and widespread shortages of essential goods.

“Inflation is now 5,000 percent. But economists say it’s (actually) 10,000 percent,” Arnold Tsunga, executive director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, an NGO based in Harare, said in an interview with IPS.

More than 1,300 supermarket managers and owners have been arrested for refusing to sell their merchandise at the lower prices.

“I think Mugabe is trying to impress and woo voters for next year’s elections. Unfortunately his ploy isn’t working,” Ken Tandare, a youth activist with Zimbabwe’s main opposition group, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told IPS on the sidelines of the launch.

“All basic items such as cooking oil, salt, sugar and mealie meal (maize meal, a staple food) have disappeared from the supermarket shelves and resurfaced in the thriving parallel market. The goods are now being sold for more than triple their original prices in the parallel market. This has made people very angry.”

Noted Brian Raftopolous, a Zimbabwean academic and veteran political analyst who is now based in South Africa: “The price cuts are not going to deal with shortages. Shortages will continue. There’s no way out for the economy. It’s going to affect the region, especially South Africa.”

The foundering economy has forced Zimbabweans to take desperate measures.

“Watchmen now live at the premises where they work. They can’t afford the 50,000 Zimbabwe dollars (about 35 U.S. cents) for a one-way fare on public transport. A watchman gets 1.5 million Zimbabwe dollars (about 11 U.S. dollars) a month,” said Jonah Gokova of the Christian Alliance of Zimbabwe, in response to a question from IPS about how low-paid workers in the country were making ends meet.

“They also need money for sugar, cooking oil, salt and bread. The price of a loaf of bread, which used to cost 40,000 Zimbabwe dollars (about 28 U.S. cents), has now been slashed to 22,000 Zimbabwe dollars (about 16 U.S. dollars) under the ongoing price cuts.”

Professionals are also feeling the pinch.

“For example, junior lawyers get about 70 U.S. dollars a month. This means they can’t afford a car and they have to use public means. A seven-seater commuter bus crams around 15 people. A lawyer has to cram himself or herself in there. Since work starts at eight AM, he or she has to wake up at around 5 AM and wait for an hour to catch public transport,” recounted Tsunga.

“Usually there’s a queue of 30 to 50 people waiting for public transport.”

Concerned over events in Zimbabwe, the 14-nation Southern African Development Community, of which Zimbabwe is a member, asked South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate in the crisis earlier this year – this after Zimbabwe experienced another spike in violence. Millions have fled the state, mainly to neighbouring South Africa.

Various media sources report that the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the two factions of the MDC are already meeting in the South African capital, Pretoria, to engineer a way out of the current impasse.

However, the confinement of reported talks to ZANU-PF and the MDC has enraged Zimbabwe’s civil society.

“We hear that they are meeting in Pretoria. But we don’t know how much the MDC will be prepared to compromise. The MDC has quietly and quickly gone to the negotiations without consulting its structures,” Nicholas Mkaronda, co-ordinator of the South African branch of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, an NGO, told IPS.

Asked whether he was optimistic about the SADC initiative, Mkaronda replied, “One must have hope.”

But hope may be beyond the reach of many in Zimbabwe.

“The political and economic situation in Zimbabwe has now reached life-threatening proportions,” observed Ncube.

“The rapid decline of the economy and the commandist response of the state indicate a government that has neither a strong sense of responsibility towards its citizens, not any substantive plan to move Zimbabwe out of its deepening crisis.”

The post POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: The Cycle of Violence Continues appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 1 2007 (IPS)

The final leg of the 2007 African Union (AU) summit kicked off in the Ghanaian capital of Accra Sunday, with a three-day gathering of the AU Assembly – comprising heads of state and government.

This year&#39s summit is devoted to talks on setting up a continent-wide government to create a "United States of Africa", in the hope of spurring development. The notion of a pan-African government was first advocated by Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana&#39s founding president, who helped establish the Organisation of African in 1963. The AU succeeded the OAU in 2002.

"Africans want unity. They want the removal of borders and the removal of customs and any restrictions. They want one identity and they want to move freely across the African continent. They want to be strong in the face of Europe, Asia and America," said Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, a leading supporter of continental government – this in a message to a conference held in South Africa&#39s capital, Pretoria, ahead of the assembly.

The Jun. 29 event was organised by the Centre for International Political Studies at the University of Pretoria, and the Libyan embassy. Similar gatherings have taken place in Uganda, Senegal and Libya.

Gaddafi rejects the argument that deepening regional integration is a necessary precursor to continental government.

"Imagine when North Africa will become one state from Egypt to Mauritania. This will not happen…Even Algeria and Morocco which are sisterly countries are in a state of war and will never meet. Libya and Egypt will not unite. Impossible!!!" he noted, also pointing to disunity in the Horn of Africa.

"There have been thousands of casualties in Ethiopia and Eritrea as they fought one another. They used to fight until recently. Up until now they are in a state of war."

Ethiopia and Eritrea engaged in a bitter, two-year border war that ended in 2000.

Ongoing instability in Somalia has aggravated matters. While a weak transitional government has been installed in the capital, Mogadishu, two parts of the north – Puntland and Somaliland – have declared themselves autonomous and independent, respectively.

"People want us to wait until Somalia unites and ends its problems. Somalia has split into three or four countries. Uniting Somalia is a challenge and it might not unite," said Gaddafi.

In light of this, it was easier to have pan-African government than first bring neighbouring states together: "All these countries will converge immediately in African unity…Africa&#39s unity will unite them without any problems."

Delivering a keynote speech at the Pretoria gathering, former Mozambican president Joachim Chissano called on Africans to "join the express train to union government or risk remaining in perpetual oblivion in the world of globalisation and proliferation".

"The time is now. Tomorrow will be too late. It&#39s now or never."

A 2006 AU study proposing the functions and responsibilities of a pan-African administration, &#39An African Union Government: Towards the United States of Africa&#39, lays out a three-phase process that would enable continental government to be in place by 2015.

Activities to be carried out in the years leading up to this deadline include reaching agreement on how to fund the government, drawing up a constitution for it, and holding elections for posts in the administration.

But, "It&#39s not clear what sovereignty each state would be willing to cede to the continental body," said Che Ajulu, a researcher at the Johannesburg-based Institute for Global Dialogue, a non-governmental organisation, in reference to the 53 AU members.

Andre Thomashausen, director of the Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law at the University of Pretoria, does not hold out much hope for this week&#39s gathering in Ghana. "I&#39m afraid that the Accra summit will degenerate into protocols…" he said.

Since Africa&#39s embrace of multi-party democracy, Thomashausen added, "the living standard of the people has not improved. Some think that Africa should follow the China model of pursuing development before democracy."

Gaddafi called on Africans to throw their weight behind the project for continental government.

"Africa has huge potential which could enable it to become a super power if it is united. We do not want the historic and fatal resolution of unity to be hostage to the will of those meeting in a small hall in the so-called African summit which is attended by scores of presidents. Such historic fatal resolutions have to be the will of millions of Africans and not just a score of presidents."

The post AFRICA: Regional Integration No Path to Continental Government, Says Gaddafi appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 1 2007 (IPS)

The late activist and economist Jose Negrao, who posthumously won the Southern Africa Trust’s Drivers of Change Award last year, is featuring again at this year’s awards. His brainchild, Mozambique’s Group of 20 anti-poverty civil society organisations, has been nominated for the 2007 award.

Nominations for this year’s Drivers of Change Award close in five days’ time on Friday July 6. It is only the second year that organisations and individuals in the categories of civil society, business and government can be nominated for the award.

The award is not monetary but aims at acknowledging initiatives in the Southern African region which contribute to overcoming poverty and succeeds in making a real and lasting difference to poor people’s lives.

When one mentions Jose Negrao’s name, colleagues and friends remember him as a selfless person who devoted most of his life to fighting poverty in Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony situated along Africa’s south-eastern coast.

Negrao, a professor of Development Economics at Mozambique’s University of Eduardo Mondlane, was a champion of the poor and of social change. He sadly died in 2005, aged 49, leaving a formidable legacy.

‘‘He was on the poor people’s side, unlike most academics. He made sure poor people’s voices got into the country’s national poverty index,’’ Graig Castro of international human rights organisation Oxfam told IPS. Oxfam nominated Negrao for the 2006 Drivers of Change Award.

‘‘One of his qualities was to bring different opinions together without any antagonism. He had a rare quality not found in most people,’’ he said.

Negrao was known for his passion to reduce poverty in rural areas where 70 percent of Mozambicans live. In the 1990s he stayed in Zambezia province on the border with Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, working on his PhD thesis titled ‘‘Economic behaviour of the rural poor’’.

‘‘His argument was that poor people are poor because they don’t have opportunities. If they access opportunities through economic and political power they will be able to improve their conditions,’’ explained Pomash Manhicane, executive director at the Cruzeiro do Sul Jose Negrao Institute for Development Research, a think tank established by Negrao in Maputo, Mozambique.

‘‘He used to travel a lot around Mozambique with his students to talk to poor people and conduct research on poverty.

‘‘He will be remembered for leading the land reform campaign in Mozambique. He coordinated 15,000 volunteers to campaign against the privatisation of land,’’ said Manhicane told IPS in an interview.

‘‘He made sure that the poor, especially women, had a voice in the formulation of the land law. Negrao will also be remembered for helping to set up the Group of 20 civil society organizations, or G20, to fight poverty in Mozambique,’’ said Manhicane.

No stranger to awards, Negrao received former Anglican Archbishop and anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu’s Footprints of Legend Leadership Award in 2002. He was named personality of the year by the Mozambican weekly newspaper ‘‘Savana’’. The Danish also honoured him for his work.

In January, Mozambique’s National Union of Peasants commemorated the death of Negrao, Manhicane said.

Negrao’s commitment to fighting poverty was well-founded. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) put the country’s per capita income at around 210 US dollars per annum and life expectancy at 41.9 years, among the lowest in Africa.

This is mainly due to HIV/AIDS which also fuels poverty. Around 1.8 million Mozambicans are living with the virus, according to a 2007 Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) report.

The Southern Africa Trust initiated the Drivers of Change Award because ‘‘there is so much happening at grassroots level which is not known. Some projects are working. We want to bring them to the fore,’’ said Petronilla Ndebele, communications and partnerships manager at the Southern Africa Trust.

Apart from recognition, the award ‘‘has great potential to provide a platform for sharing experiences, learning and linking similar initiatives,’’ Ndebele explained. The Southern Africa Trust is a non-governmental funding organisation based in South Africa’s commercial hub of Johannesburg.

The Southern Africa Trust is looking for individuals and organisations which have demonstrated innovation in strategies to develop and implement better public policy for ending poverty and inequality in Southern Africa.

‘‘For the business award, we look at corporate social responsibility to empower people. We also look at the nominee’s labour policy and whether it is employing people from the area,’’ Ndebele said. The winner will be announced at a gala event in October 2007.

She pointed out that 40 percent of the people in the Southern African Development Community, with its combined population of 230 million, live below the poverty line of one dollar a day.

The post DEVELOPMENT-MOZAMBIQUE: Jose Negrao, An Economist Who Cared appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 1 2007 (IPS)

Population issues are in the spotlight at present with the recent release of the United Nations Population Fund&#39s annual report – and World Population Day, to be commemorated Jul. 11.

&#39The State of World Population 2007: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth&#39, issued Jun. 27, notes that innovative approaches are needed to address an expected doubling of populations in urban areas of Africa and Asia by 2030. "Poor people will make up a large part of urban growth…" it states.

One of the recommendations for dealing with this growth successfully is for governments to "accept the right of poor people to the city".

Is any progress being made in this regard in Johannesburg, South Africa&#39s commercial hub, which grapples with poverty and migration on large scale?

Stuart Wilson, a researcher at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies – based at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg – says the picture is mixed.

"One, we have an influx from outside the city; there is no plan to provide shelter for the newcomers in this category. Two, we have informal settlements, which the city authorities are trying to formalise now. Three, there&#39s the inner city. Here, the city (local government) is moving very slowly to provide accommodation…But they are not evicting people now," he told IPS.

These words are echoed by Neil Fraser, who runs a consultancy dedicated to the revitalisation and regeneration of the inner city.

"As the mayor said recently, we don’t evict people. We have to provide them with alternative accommodation before eviction," he told IPS, noting that the places where some lived were nonetheless cause for concern. "There are a lot of bad buildings unfit for human habitation. Some of the people in the inner city live in dangerous places."

The inner city has about 67,000 people living in 230 buildings, according to Wilson – while there are 190 informal settlements around Johannesburg, with a population of about 800,000.

Fraser believes that there is currently a small number of people who are homeless in Johannesburg: "Between 1992 and 1993 there were about 6,000. I think the figure has gone down considerably. I guess there are about 1,200 people now."

South Africa&#39s last census, in 2002, put the population of the city at 3.2 million; but Fraser estimates it may have grown to about four million.

Jean de Plessis, co-ordinator for the South African branch of the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Eviction, an international non-governmental organisation, notes that there is little to be achieved in fighting urban migration – a view also put forward by the UNFPA report.

"Our philosophy is that it does not work to try to reverse migration. You cannot keep people away from settling in cities. It has never worked anywhere," he told IPS.

The demand for low-cost housing extends beyond Johannesburg, across South Africa, presenting additional challenges.

"Although we appreciate the increase in the housing budget…our projections indicate if we are for instance to eradicate our backlog by 2014, a funding shortfall of 102.5 billion rand (about 15 billion dollars) would exist, while if we attempt to eradicate the backlog by 2016 the funding shortfall would increase to 253 billion rand (about 34 billion dollars)," Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu told parliament last month.

According to the UNFPA report, over half the global population (of 6.7 billion) will be city-dwellers from next year.

"This wave of urbanization is without precedent. The changes are too large and too fast to allow planners and policymakers simply to react…" a Jun. 27 press release quoted UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid as saying.

"What happens in the cities of Africa and Asia and other regions will shape our common future," she noted. "We must abandon a mindset that resists urbanization and act now to begin a concerted global effort to help cities unleash their potential to spur economic growth and solve social problems."

World Population Day will this year be commemorated under the theme &#39Men at Work&#39.

The UNFPA website notes that men are central to effective family planning, and decisions that affect the health and education of women and girls – all significant matters for population and development.

The post SOUTH AFRICA: "You Cannot Keep People Away From Settling in Cities" appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
ST LUCIA, South Africa, Jun 14 2007 (IPS)

A section of the world heritage site the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, Africa’s largest estuary, has been returned to its rightful owners, who have in turn undertaken to manage the land in accordance with the country’s environmental laws.

The park, situated in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province adjacent to the Indian Ocean, was proclaimed in 1999 as a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). It has five unique ecosystems that include species such as black rhino, wild dog, elephant, cheetah, whales and coelacanths.

The department of environmental affairs and tourism has returned 12,000 hectares of the park’s total area of 220,000 hectares to the 9,135 people whose ancestors were driven out of this area.

The park’s importance was reflected upon in a speech by the minister of environmental affairs and tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk. The event was held near the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park, about nine hours’ drive from South Africa’s commercial hub of Johannesburg.

In a message read to assembled guests on June 9, van Schalkwyk said: ‘‘South Africa has a duty to both ensure the wetland park has the highest level of protection and to restore the title to its original owners.

‘‘The new land owners will have the title to the land but have agreed that the land will not be used for any other purpose than for conservation and its associated activities, in perpetuity.” Balancing his speech carefully, van Schalkwyk also noted the need to redress the legacy of colonialism and apartheid.

‘‘It is fitting that I acknowledge the history of suffering associated with conservation in this country. Along with many of our protected areas, the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park was an area where people once lived. We can trace the story of occupation of this area back to the early Stone Age people between 500,000 and one million years ago.

‘‘Ironically and unfortunately, conservation and forced removals went hand-in-hand,” he said.

This claim settlement follows on the heels of another where land has been returned in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi National Park. The recipients undertook to adhere to the country’s environmental laws and regulations in their management of the land. The first claim of this kind was when land in the Kruger National Park was returned to the Makulekes in the late 1990s.

The onus to protect their section of the St Lucia Wetland Park now falls on the new owners. Speaker after speaker emphasised that they will co-manage the property with the park authorities.

‘‘Animals and communities have been living together since time immemorial,” Amon Sithole, chairperson of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Landowners Association, told IPS in an interview. ‘‘I see no reason why people should be sceptical about our ability to protect the animals and the park.”

‘‘Even in the olden days, you would not come across people shooting animals at random. They used to shoot only one animal, even if it was a small one like a rabbit. It was a general norm,” Simon Gumede, the Zulu chief in charge of the area, told IPS.

To reinforce their cooperation, the new owners and the wetland authority have agreed to set up an education trust to help youth gain qualifications in conservation and tourism.

‘‘This model of conservation is evidence of government’s commitment to continuing to fulfil its national and international obligations to protect our natural assets while at the same time providing a framework for economic upliftment and poverty,” van Schalkwyk said.

The community will receive R66 million (about 9.5 million dollars) from the department of land affairs, a big chunk of it for development, according to its minister, Lulama Xingwana. The remaining R14.5 million (about 2.1 million dollars) will be disbursed as financial compensation to the 1,450 households that were forcibly removed by apartheid, she said.

The recipients appear to be prepared for the challenges ahead. ‘‘We have been discussing this issue since 1994,” Sithole said. ‘‘We will not interfere with the environment. And we will make sure that there is no decision taken without the consent of the community.”

Gumede said conflicts between animals and humans are natural. ‘‘There is the potential for havoc when people interact with wild animals. Some of these animals are extra-territorial. When you encroach on their territory there is bound to be conflict. Even cattle that you keep at home sometimes stray and destroy crops,” he said.

During the handover ceremony, a huge banner near the front table captured the thoughts of South Africa’s international statesman, former president Nelson Mandela.

Visiting in 2002, he said: ‘‘The wetland park must be the only place on the globe where the world’s oldest land mammal (the rhinoceros) and the world’s biggest terrestrial mammal (the elephant) share an ecosystem with the world’s oldest fish (the coelacanth) and the world’s biggest marine mammal (the whale).”

The last word comes from the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park chief executive officer Andrew Zaloumis. He said: ‘‘There are still many challenges. The most important is to ensure progress continues towards putting an end to the paradox of poverty amid the plenty of nature. Restitution and sustainable settlement of land claims are key to this.”

The post ENVIRONMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: Land Returned in St Lucia World Heritage Site appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
RICHARDS BAY, South Africa, Jun 14 2007 (IPS)

‘‘Today we are here to say never again shall our people lose their land rights because they are black,” said Lulama Xingwana, South Africa’s minister of agriculture and land affairs.

She was speaking at the handover of a section of land in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi National Park about one hour’s drive from the mining and industrial town of Richards Bay. Richards Bay is about eight hours by car from South Africa’s commercial hub of Johannesburg.

Nelson Masondo is one of the delighted recipients. His ancestral land, seized by the government 67 years ago, has been returned. He is now a property owner.

The 52-year-old Masondo was not even born in 1940 when his parents were evicted from land which was turned into a national park in what is today known as KwaZulu-Natal province. The province, the most populated in South Africa, runs along the Indian Ocean coast.

As Masondo talked outside a tent where the function to return the land was being held on June 8, the interview was almost drowned out by blissful ululation and boisterous Zulu battle cries. ‘‘They are now signing the transfer document,” said Masondo, smiling as noise thundered from the tent.

Several community leaders, representing 6,702 descendents of the people evicted, signed the document to transfer the 24,210 hectares of land. ‘‘Today our hopes have come true. We are excited,” Masondo said. ‘‘We have been campaigning since 1994 to get our land back.”

Outside the tent a dozen or so men, sporting animal skins and carrying knobkerries in a scene reminiscent of the film ‘‘Zulu” about the 1879 Anglo-Zulu wars, were celebrating the return of their land.

Continuing British colonial patterns, hundreds of thousands of black South Africans were uprooted and dumped in undeveloped areas or turned into tenant farm labourers when the whites-only government launched its campaign to seize land in 1913. The Hluhluwe-Imfolozi National Park, where Masondo’s family was evicted from, is a case in point.

‘‘The community was told to vacate the land under the pretext that the government wanted to rid the area of poisonous tsetse flies and buffalo ticks which were allegedly causing cattle disease. The community vacated the area with the understanding that they would return after three years when the situation was back to normal,” Xingwana said.

‘‘Instead the area was fenced off and converted into a game reserve. Through the action of the government of the day, the community lost their right to the land which they had occupied for generations,” she said.

Community leaders, together with the villagers, have agreed not to physically occupy the park and not to disturb the game, which include the big five: elephant, buffalo, leopard, rhino and lion.

‘‘Our aim is to make the park a sustainable business. We are planning to buy rare animals like white rhino and wild dogs to attract tourists,” Masondo said. The government has allocated about R63 million (about 9 million dollars) to develop the park to this end.

Xingwana offered a piece of advice: ‘‘The land that you are receiving today has good potential for eco-tourism development. You are close to the potential trans-frontier park between Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa. There are great possibilities in terms of local economic development,” she said.

Unlike other parts, this land was not seized for commercial farming by white people. The democratic, black-dominated government inherited the land in the form of a game park.

‘‘It was politics,” grumbled an official from the department of land affairs when asked by IPS why it took more than a decade for the department of environmental affairs and tourism to return the land to the community.

Playing down the delay, the department of land affairs says it is making progress in settling outstanding land claims. By March 2007 it settled 93 percent of the land claims which had been lodged with the state-run Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights since December 1998.

‘‘Only 7 percent of land claims still remain nationwide,” Godfrey Mdluli, spokesperson for the department of land affairs, told IPS.

Xingwana warned that the government would expropriate land from white commercial farmers if they refused to sell their property within six months of negotiations.

‘‘Landowners who make the loudest noise that a number of the restitution claims are not valid must have a serious rethink and rather support our land programmes,” she said.

‘‘The spirit and purpose of our land legislation is to correct the skewed land ownership and to ensure restorative and redistributive justice and equitable redress for the victims of racial land dispossession,” according to Xingwana.

The department seeks to complete land restitution by 2008. If it does, the government hopes it will achieve the 30-percent target of land to be transferred to black people by 2014.

Chris Jordan, the manager of property rights at the Pretoria-based Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa (TAUSA) which represents white commercial farmers, told IPS by phone recently that he did not believe that 70 percent of land will remain in the hands of white farmers by 2014.

‘‘They will not stop at 30 percent. Our calculation is that whites will be left with closer to 50 percent of the land they currently own,” he said.

South Africa is trying to balance land distribution and avoid Zimbabwe-style land grabbing. ‘‘If we go the Zimbabwe way we may lose 15,000 farmers out of the total 46,000 commercial farmers by 2008 or 2010,” Jordan said. ‘‘The pressure on commercial farmers to hand over their land has become intensive.”

Some researchers and institutions say the government will not reach the 30 percent target by 2014. One of them, the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE), a Johannesburg-based think tank, said in a 2005 study that only 4.3 percent of white farmlands had been transferred to black hands between 1994 and 2004.

Refusing to accept defeat, Xingwana insists that they will meet the deadline. ‘‘We are going to disappoint our critics. We are not going to fail,” she said.

As researchers and policymakers argue, Masondo’s preoccupation is to get on with the job in the park.

‘‘We are going to run the property together with the park authorities. We do not have the experience. But we have got very good working relations with them,” he said.

The first conservation land transferred to evictees in terms of a land claim happened in the late 1990s when the Makulekes received a section of the Kruger National Park. They have since continued to manage the land and the game in accordance with environmental regulations.

The post RIGHTS-SOUTH AFRICA: Back to the Land of Our Parents appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jun 5 2007 (IPS)

In the final hours before this week’s Group of Eight (G8) summit gets underway in Germany, activists have underscored the need for progress with both climate change and poverty alleviation – key items on the meeting’s agenda – for there to be real improvement in Africa’s living conditions.

“If the threat of climate change is not removed, it will wipe out all efforts to help the poor through commitments such as aid,” said Ciara O’Sullivan, media co-ordinator for the Global Call to Action Against Poverty – an international coalition grouping civic organisations from over 100 countries.

The G8 comprises the world’s major industrialised nations: Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United States – and Germany, hosting the annual summit as part of its year-long presidency of the grouping. Leaders of the eight countries will begin their gathering Wednesday in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm under strict security, as thousands of protesters who have been barred from the city issue their demands from nearby Rostock.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government hopes to achieve progress during the Jun. 6-8 talks in drawing up a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will expire in 2012. The 1997 protocol requires leading industrialised nations to reduce their combined emissions of greenhouse gases – linked to global warming – to five percent below 1990 levels, by 2012.

Under the post-Kyoto proposals put forward by Germany, emissions would be cut even more – to 50 percent below 1990 levels, by 2050 – while energy efficiency would need to be improved by 20 percent come 2020.

However, these proposals are said to be running into opposition from the United States, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. President George W. Bush last week suggested, instead, that up to 15 of the world’s largest greenhouse gas contributors negotiate outside the United Nations to cap their emissions in the long term – but did not put forward targets for these cuts.

While former president Bill Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol, Bush abandoned the treaty because of fears that it would undermine the U.S. economy, powered by the fossil fuels that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when burned. Bush has long advocated voluntary targets for greenhouse gas reduction, despite widespread demands for mandatory caps.

“We are calling on the G8 to make deep cuts in emissions as soon as possible, 30 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2050,” said Annie Sugrue, Southern Africa co-ordinator for Citizens United for Renewable Energy and Sustainability, a pressure group based in the South African commercial hub of Johannesburg.

Failure to address climate change could have dire consequences for Africa.

A report issued in April by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ‘Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’, predicts that up to 250 million people on the continent will experience problems in accessing sufficient water by 2020 because of climate change. Agricultural production could be halved in certain instances during the same period.

Other possible ill effects include rising sea levels towards the end of the century that will take a toll on densely populated coastal areas.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who will be attending his final G8 summit this week before leaving office Jun. 27, told a gathering at the University of South Africa last week that climate change might also exacerbate the spread of disease.

“More than 110 million people in Africa live in regions prone to malaria epidemics. Slight changes in rainfall and temperature could increase this figure by up to 80 million by the end of this century,” he noted.

Blair was in South Africa as part of his final official visit to Africa.

“Chancellor Merkel’s decision to put climate change on the agenda of her G8 Summit gives us an opportunity to inject new momentum into the search for a global solution,” he said.

The outgoing premier also indicated that he would use the summit to urge his G8 counterparts to fulfill promises of aid made in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005. The leaders agreed on debt relief, increasing aid to the developing world by 50 billion dollars annually come 2010 – with 25 billion dollars of this money set aside for Africa – and on funding for HIV/AIDS treatment and primary education.

While in South Africa, Blair said 18 African countries had benefited from 38 billion dollars in debt relief: “Zambia used its debt relief to abolish health user fees, giving tens of thousands of people access to free health care.”

“There has also been progress toward universal access to AIDS drugs, (a) 10-fold increase in people on ARVs (anti-retroviral drugs) in sub-Saharan Africa, now totaling more than one million – 23 percent of those needing treatment. In 2005, this saved more than 250,000 lives.”

But, notes global aid agency Oxfam in a May 18 press release, “…recent figures from the OECD show that in 2006 aid to Africa barely changed, and overall aid actually fell.” (The Paris-based OECD, or Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, groups 30 countries – and specialises in economic research.)

Germany announced last week that it was increasing development aid by some four billion dollars between 2008 and 2111, while Bush promised to double U.S. spending on efforts to address HIV/AIDS to 30 billion dollars over the next five years.

While Oxfam has welcomed these pledges, it noted that Germany’s increase would not enable the country to meet its 2005 promise in Gleneagles to increase aid to 0.51 percent of gross national income by 2010.

“Based on figures from the OECD, Oxfam has calculated that the German government would need to find approximately 1.5 billion euro (about two billion dollars) each year between now and 2010 to meet this target – twice what was announced,” said the agency in a Jun. 1 statement.

The interests of the developing world will be further highlighted at the summit by the presence of leaders from Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa – the five strongest emerging markets – and other developing states.

Growth in these five countries is rapidly drawing them into the debate about cuts in greenhouse emissions.

The G8 is also expected to discuss trade with the five, in the hope of jumpstarting global trade talks, stalled over various issues – including agricultural subsidies in industrialised nations that undermine farmers in poorer regions.

The post G8: Poverty Reduction and Climate Change Inextricably Linked, Say Activists appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jun 2 2007 (IPS)

Opinions appear divided about outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s legacy concerning Africa – this as the leader ended his last official visit to the continent Friday. The five-day trip took him to Libya, Sierra Leone and South Africa.

Blair is popular in Sierra Leone for his decision in 2000 to send 800 British troops to stabilise the West African country, then under threat from Revolutionary United Front rebels.

“When I visited five years ago, Sierra Leone was a failed state, emerging from horrific conflict which saw 60,000 killed; 10,000 child soldiers; a quarter million women and girls raped; others brutally maimed, hands cut off – a war fuelled by the fight for diamonds and other commodities. We all felt despair at the wickedness that a small group of people could inflict on their compatriots,” Blair said in a speech delivered at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in the capital, Pretoria, Thursday.

“Visiting again, I was again struck by the beauty of Sierra Leone and also its enormous potential of human, mineral and agricultural resources, among the richest in Africa.”

But, certain analysts have questioned the extent of Britain’s role in helping to end Sierra Leone’s conflict.

“I think whether Blair was there or not, Sierra Leone was moving towards resolution. The West African bloc ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) was already working on Sierra Leone and Liberia,” Korwa Adar, an analyst at the Pretoria-based Africa Institute of South Africa, a think tank, told IPS.

“Blair’s legacy is in tatters in Africa. He will be remembered as someone who has done worse than any British leader in history – this in terms of making the world, including Africa, unsafe by assisting Bush in the war on terror,” he added, in reference to U.S. President George Bush.

Richard Kamidza of the African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes, a non-governmental organisation based in the coastal city of Durban, sees the situation differently.

“If we insist on Blair’s role in Iraq, we’ll miss the purpose of his Africa trip,” he told IPS.

“Blair has come to say goodbye to his friends in Africa…(He) is also trying to get leaders around resolving the Zimbabwe and Sudan crises,” said Kamidza.

Political and economic difficulties have plagued Zimbabwe over recent years.

At a news conference held in Pretoria, Friday, Blair endorsed the widely criticised policy of “quiet diplomacy” that South African President Thabo Mbeki is pursuing towards Zimbabwe. Opponents of the strategy claim it has had little effect on the Harare government, held responsible widespread human rights abuses in the Southern African country, and for impoverishing its people.

“The solution ultimately will come from this part of Africa. We’ll have to support the process Mbeki has put in motion,” Blair said.

He also tackled the issue of Zimbabwe in his UNISA address: “The world is waiting, wanting to re-engage with a reforming Zimbabwe government…Change before the 2008 elections (is) essential. The international community must be prepared to help build the shattered economy.”

“In Zimbabwe, decades of repression have forced up to one third of the country to flee. Life expectancy has dropped from 60 in 1990 to 37. And South Africa’s economy loses three percent of GDP (gross domestic product) thanks to Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown.”

Zimbabwe, a former colony of Britain, gained independence in 1980. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has accused Blair and other Western leaders of responsibility for the problems in his country, saying they wish to topple its government.

The western Sudanese region of Darfur, for its part, is embroiled in civil war that broke out in 2003 – and in a vast humanitarian crisis involving tens of thousands of displaced people and refugees. Britain has been campaigning with the United States to increase the number of African Union (AU) peacekeepers deployed there from 7,000 to about 20,000.

“No conflict demonstrates the need for action more than Darfur: 200,000 dead; four million dependent on food aid; 2.1 million displaced persons within Sudan – but also over 230,000 refugees (who) have fled into Chad, joining 140,000 internally displaced Chadians, and almost 50,000 refugees from CAR (Central African Republic) fleeing the fighting in their own country,” Blair said during the UNISA speech.

“It is wrong that President Bashir, intent on bombing his way to a solution, is determined to obstruct any effort made to reinforce the AU’s ability to improve security and stability,” he noted, in reference to Sudan’s leader, Omar al Bashir. “We must offer President Bashir a choice. Engage with us on a solution. Or, if you reject responsibility for the people of Darfur, then we will table and put to a vote sanctions against the regime.”

Adar believes that Blair’s trip was motivated more by commercial considerations than humanitarian intent. The premier was paving the way for British multinationals to enter Libya’s lucrative oil sector, acquire mineral rights in Sierra Leone, and clinch business opportunities in South Africa, he claimed.

“Libya kicked out all those multinationals five years after Muammar Gaddafi came to power in 1969. Blair now wants British multinationals to revisit Libya’s oil industry,” he noted.

While in Libya, Blair did announce a 900-million-dollar contract that will return British Petroleum (BP), Britain’s largest oil firm, to Libya.

Blair will step down Jun. 27, and be replaced by Gordon Brown – Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer.

When the outgoing leader and his wife, Cherie, met former South African president Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg this week, the latter described Blair as “a good friend of South Africa”.

On a more humorous note, the 88-year-old also welcomed Blair – 54, and described by Mandela as “a young man” – to “the retired club of former presidents”.

The post POLITICS: Blair Bids Farewell to Africa appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, May 31 2007 (IPS)

‘‘We have lost a young woman in South Africa. We have raised R3,500 (500 US dollars) but we need R5,000 (714 dollars). We want to transport the body home to her relatives in Zimbabwe. But it is difficult,” Joyce Dube, director of the Southern African Women’s Institute for Migration Affairs (SAWIMA), told a gathering.

She was speaking at a one-day seminar, titled ‘‘Female Migrants and the Impact of Remittances in the SADC Region”, which brought together some 30 researchers and civil society activists from around the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC). The seminar took place yesterday (May 30) in South Africa’s commercial hub of Johannesburg.

Some participants had difficulty containing their emotions as Dube, who seemed tired, explained the circumstances behind the death of the woman, whose name has been withheld as a sign of respect to her relatives.

The gathering was jointly organised by the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) at South Africa’s Witwatersrand University.

‘‘That kind of money can help the parents of the deceased for three or four months. Instead they are sending them a body in a casket,” Steve Shumba, a Zimbabwean migrant in South Africa, told IPS by phone. ‘‘We go through such painful experiences virtually every day.”

Like hundreds of thousands of other migrants from the SADC region, the woman came to South Africa, the continent’s economic powerhouse, to look for greener pastures.

‘‘Conservatively, 49,000 Zimbabweans cross into South Africa every month. Estimates put the percentage of women between 20 and 55 of the total,” Ayesha Kajee, senior researcher at SAIIA, told IPS at the gathering.

Nobody has any idea about the exact number of Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa. Dube reckons that the conservative figure of three million being touted by various researchers and civil society groups is an underestimation. ‘‘I think the number is more than that,” she told IPS.

Zimbabweans are not the only Africans coming to South Africa. Wade Pendleton, a professor at the Southern African Migration Project at the Witwatersrand University, took part in a 57-page study ‘‘SADC Migrants, Remittances and Development”.

He told the gathering that, globally, 250 billion dollars are remitted by migrants annually. ‘‘Recent estimates suggest that the value of remittances from South Africa alone may be as much as R6 billion (around 856 million US dollars) annually,” he said. ‘‘But I think this is an underestimation.”

The study focused on 4,700 households in Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe and involved 30,000 people. It found that food tops the list of necessities that cause people to migrate and remit money. Others, in order of importance, are school fees, clothing and transportation, Pendleton said. ‘‘Many of the migrants maintain their links with home through money.”

Willie Kachaka, an official at Malawi’s state-owned National Statistics, said eight percent of the country’s population are migrants. Women constitute 46.7 percent of the migrant population, including nurses working in South Africa, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, he said.

‘‘Studies shows that 75 percent of the remittances are use to purchase food,” he said.

Malawi’s giant neighbour Mozambique, once a refugee-producing country, started to produce economic migrants after the 1992 peace deal between the FRELIMO government and RENAMO rebels. Until then, Mozambicans did not migrate, thanks to the country’s socialist system.

All of that changed because of the structural adjustments introduced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). ‘‘That forced people to migrate internally and across the border,” Ines Raimundo, a lecturer of human geography at Mozambique’s Eduardo Mondlane University, told the gathering.

She said an increasing number of Mozambican women now travel to China, Brazil, Thailand, Hong Kong and Dubai to trade. ‘‘The SADC market is saturated. As a result, women travel to other continents,” Raimundo said.

Researchers say remittances still do not move via financial institutions. ‘‘More than 90 percent of the remittances in the SADC region are done informally. The migrants hand money, for example, to a taxi driver to deliver to their children or relatives at home. It is 95 percent reliable and safe,” Sally Peberdy, project manager at the Southern African Migration Project at Witwatersrand University, told IPS at the meeting.

African women have been travelling for decades to earn money. In the 1960s, women constituted 42 percent of migrants in Africa. Nowadays it is 50 percent, Peberdy said. ‘‘It is not a new thing. It has been overlooked by researchers,” she added.

Stringent immigration requirements impede travel. ‘’A lot of women bribe their way through the border posts because it is difficult to get a visa. You need to fill in forms and present a bank statement,” Peberdy said.

This affects researchers’ data collection, as border jumpers or those who bribe customs officials are not documented.

‘‘It is difficult to calculate the amounts involved in remittances. We need to persuade banks to relax the process of opening a bank account for migrants. We also need to persuade them to reduce charges on money transfers for migrants,” Burton Joseph, a director at South Africa’s department of home affairs, told the meeting.

‘‘State departments such as the National Intelligence Agency are interested in formalizing the remittance of funds by migrants to combat money laundering,” he said.

Theresa van der Merwe, a councillor for the city of Johannesburg, said the council has established a desk to deal with migrants’ issues. ‘‘It is to help migrants with information. When women come to South Africa they are exploited and abused. This desk is to provide them with information. Some of the women come here because they do not have a choice.”

The post DEVELOPMENT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Leaving the Country to Earn a Living appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, May 29 2007 (IPS)

About one million people in need of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment are yet to receive it in four southern African states, according to Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a global nongovernmental organisation specialising in medical services.

On the African continent, some 70 percent of people who need ARVs do not have access to the drugs.

The campaign to put pressure on governments to speed up the delivery of ARVs to millions of Africans in need of the life-prolonging drugs is gathering momentum, with MSF being the latest to add its voice to the crusade.

While the number of people receiving ARVs in Africa has increased to 1.3 million today, about 70 percent of those estimated as needing treatment in Africa are not getting it, the MSF said.

More than one million people in South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Lesotho need AIDS treatment but are not getting it, according to the MSF’s new report, ‘‘Confronting the Health Care Worker Crisis to Expand Access to HIV/AIDS Treatment”, launched in Johannesburg last week.

In Lesotho, only 17,700 people out of 58,000 have access to treatment. In Malawi, 59,900 people receive treatment as opposed to 169,000 people who do not. In Mozambique, a similarly dismal situation exists as only 44,100 people have been covered, out of 237,000.

In the more developed South Africa, only 265,000 out of 983,000 people have access.

This is happening at a time when AIDS drug prices have gone down and global funding for HIV/AIDS has increased from 2 billion US dollars in 2001 to about 8.3 billion dollars, MSF said.

‘‘The main barrier to expanding antiretroviral therapy in these four countries today is the shortage of heath care staff to care for an increasing number of patients,” Eric Goemaere, MSF head of mission in South Africa, told journalists at the launch.

This has resulted in the unnecessary loss of lives. For example, Lesotho with its population of around 1.8 million has 23,000 deaths a year due to HIV/AIDS, MSF said.

The problem is compounded by doctors being overwhelmed by AIDS cases due to the magnitude of the epidemic. Of the four countries surveyed, only Malawi and Lesotho allow nurses to deliver and manage ARVs.

‘‘In Mozambique, nurses do not prescribe ARVs. If they are allowed to provide them, we can save many lives,” Daniel Nhantumbo, MSF medical technician in Mozambique, told journalists.

His colleague, Pheelo Lethola, an MSF field doctor in Lesotho, agreed. ‘‘More people will die if we rely only on doctors, especially in rural areas and in the mountains,” she said.

In the MSF report, Emily Makha, a 70-year old nurse at Kena, a rural clinic in western Lesotho, talks about providing ARVs. ‘‘As the only nurse here, I have to do the work of at least four nurses. I take blood samples, do both ante-natal and post-natal cases and handle curative care for general patients, the delivery of babies and so forth.

‘‘If I have to go somewhere, the clinic remains closed. Most nurses have left for the United Kingdom or South Africa. As a matter of fact, if I was younger, I would also have gone now,” Makha was quoted as saying in the MSF report.

‘‘Providing HIV care in rural clinics depends on nurses, but they cannot cope with the number of patients,” Lethola said. ‘‘Consultation times are too short, and sick patients suffer needlessly. When nurses suffer, patients suffer.”

Presently, ARVs are the only available hope for millions of people living with HIV/AIDS. ‘‘If properly delivered, a patient should feel well and lead a relatively normal life within six months,” Goemaere said.

The MSF’s call for increased access to ARVs follows on a march held a month ago in South Africa’s commercial hub of Johannesburg. Dozens of civil society activists participated, led by the international charity Oxfam.

They were demanding that the 53 African Union (AU) health ministers, who were meeting in Johannesburg at the time, prioritise the World Health Organisation’s 2010 target for achieving universal access to prevention, treatment and support to address HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria on the continent.

Campaigners attribute the delay in providing treatment to a lack of political will. ‘‘Governments need to be pressured to address the issues around ARV delivery and distribution,” Regis Mtutu of the Cape Town-based Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), told IPS in an interview at the time.

‘‘Eight million Africans are dying from HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria every year. We want to stop this,” he said

In 2001 African heads of state met in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, and committed 15 percent of their national budgets to health as part of the African Common Position on Universal Access. ‘‘Six years down the line only two countries – Botswana and The Gambia û have met this promise,” said Mtutu, who took part in last month’s procession in Johannesburg.

In another meeting in May 2006 in Abuja, heads of states agreed to targets for ARV coverage and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission of at least 80 percent by 2010. Mtutu insisted that individual countries’ targets should be ‘‘be equivalent or greater to the targets set” in Abuja in 2006.

Currently, most countries on the continent have less than 30 percent treatment coverage and only three countries in Africa have greater than 50 percent coverage.

The post HEALTH-SOUTHERN AFRICA: One Million People Need AIDS Treatment appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, May 28 2007 (IPS)

Climate change is threatening the Cape Floral Region, a World Heritage Site in South Africa’s Western Cape province, say environmentalists.

The region occupies 553,000* hectares spread over eight protected areas that form part of the Cape floral kingdom, one of six floral kingdoms around the world identified for their distinctive vegetation.

It is also amongst the most biodiverse localities on earth, being home to over 7,700 plant species, 70 percent of them unique to the kingdom – this according to Gavin Maneveldt of the biodiversity and conservation biology department at the University of the Western Cape. Plant life in the region is commonly referred to as “fynbos” (“fine bush” in Afrikaans).

Notes conservation biologist Gerhard Verdoorn, executive director of Birdlife South Africa, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), “Fynbos will be reduced by half in 50 or so years. We shall lose a lot of species in an area with the highest density of plant species per hectare in the world. There will also be a reduction in the total area of fynbos.”

Other life forms also stand to be affected, notably ants that carry certain fynbos seeds underground – a process essential for their germination. “Ants unique to fynbos will be lost…Without the ants, the survival of many of the plants will be greatly threatened,” Verdoorn told IPS.

Figures from the website for this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity (May 22) indicate that global temperatures have increased by about 0.6 degrees Celsius since the middle of the nineteenth century, with further increases of up to 5.8 degrees Celsius within this century predicted.

Many scientists believe these rising temperatures are due to higher atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, which absorb and trap solar energy.

Greenhouse emissions enter the atmosphere in part through the burning of fossil fuels – something Verdoorn singles out in the four actions he believes are key to saving the Cape floral kingdom: “One, cut down on fuel consumption. Two, reduce water consumption. Three, cut down on electricity use. And four, control alien invasive plants.”

According to NGO Earthlife Africa, South Africa is a leading contributor to climate change: “We get our energy from coal,” coordinator Richard Worthington told IPS. “Coal, coal, coal. It’s coal addiction.”

“This means South Africa is responsible for 40 percent of Africa’s total emissions,” he noted – or some 1.5 percent of greenhouse emissions worldwide.

Cape Town has plans to introduce solar water heating, while an additional nuclear plant is also on the cards. However, the latter has come under fire from environmentalists, who claim it will add to the emissions burden – albeit indirectly – through activities such as plant construction and mining the uranium needed to power the facility.

“Uranium mining is one of the most carbon dioxide…intensive industrial operations, and as demand for uranium grows CO2 emissions are expected to rise…” says the United Kingdom-based NGO, Friends of the Earth, in a statement.

Observes Worthington, “South Africa is trying to justify the nuclear plant in the name of climate change. But it doesn’t wash.”

These words are echoed by Noel Oettle of the Environmental Monitoring Group, an NGO based in the coastal city of Cape Town. “I think we are acting quite irrationally as a country,” he told IPS, in reference to the proposed plant.

Concerning alien invasive species, Verdoorn highlights the threat posed by the black wattle and the “rooikrans” (“red wreath”) species of acacia. “There are people clearing them up. They have to be removed – they cover massive areas,” he said.

Local conservation authorities spent about 2.5 million dollars on eliminating alien plants in the Western Cape between 2005 and 2006.

Verdoorn also took a swipe at developers. “We should prevent things like housing estates and golf course developments if we want to preserve fynbos,” he said. “A golf course uses a million litres of water a day. That is a lot of water. It could help the poor with no access to water.”

Fires also pose a threat to fynbos.

CapeNature, the environmental authority in the Western Cape, notes in its 2005-2006 annual report that “The incidence of uncontrolled fires in sensitive fynbos areas continues to increase from year to year.”

The body ascribes this to population increases, particularly in informal settlements; the warmer temperatures and “longer fire seasons” caused by climate change; and infestation by alien species that provide substantial fuel for fires.

“The fire season of 2005/06 experienced more than 100 uncontrolled wild fires in protected fynbos areas managed by CapeNature across the Western Cape,” notes the report.

“It is generally accepted that fire is an essential part of the natural ecosystem that sustains and evolves fynbos. With the increased incidence of uncontrolled fires, areas are burning repeatedly in much shorter cycles than would occur naturally. Too frequent fires will have negative, and possibly catastrophic consequences for the specialised fynbos ecosystem.”

Verdoorn hasn’t lost hope for the Cape floral kingdom, in spite of the numerous challenges confronting it.

“I think we can save fynbos. But we need a lot of work,” he noted. “We need to get all people involved.”

(* Please note that this item originally contained a mistake in paragraph two. The Cape Floral Region heritage site extends over 553,000 hectares – or 5,530 square kilometres – not 37,000 square kilometres as was first reported.)

The post SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Floral Kingdom as Vulnerable as It Is Biodiverse appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, May 25 2007 (IPS)

A shortage of health care workers is paralysing the health system in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa, and threatens the lives of millions, particularly in rural areas, warns Medecins Sans Frontieres, a global nongovernmental organisation specialising in medical services.

A new report by the organisation, launched in South Africa’s commercial hub of Johannesburg yesterday (24 May), shows that only South Africa has met the World Health Organisation (WHO) target for an adequate supply of health care workers: 74.3 doctors, 393 nurses and 468 health providers per 100,000 people.

The minimum WHO requirement is 20 doctors, 100 nurses and 228 health providers per 100,000 people. Even if South Africa meets the WHO target, it still suffers from a lack of staff to manage and deliver essential services like anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to prolong the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS.

The study, ‘‘Health Worker Shortage Limits Access to HIV/AIDS Treatment in Southern Africa”, found that Lesotho, Mozambique and Malawi are in desperate situations. ‘‘In Lesotho there are just 89 doctors, and 80 percent of these are foreigners,” Pheelo Lethola, field doctor for MSF in the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho, told journalists in Johannesburg.

The shortage also affects nurses. ‘‘There are only 1,123 nurses for a population of about 1.8 million. Only six of the 171 health centres in the country have the minimum required staffing,” Lethola said.

Malawi is also feeling the pinch. ‘‘Malawi has only 10 percent of the medical doctors and only 40 percent of the nurses recommended by the WHO. About half of the 165 medical doctors working in Malawi are in central hospitals, leaving severe shortages in rural areas. The vacancy rate for nurses in rural areas is 60 percent,” Veronica Chikafa, a Malawian nurse, told journalists.

This places a lot of strain on health care workers in Malawi. ‘‘For example, one nurse in a ward looks after 100 sick patients. A medical assistant sees 100 patients a day. Sometimes a patient has to wait for the whole day to see a doctor. Sometimes the patient is forced to return the following day, if he or she failed to see the doctor the previous day,” Chikafa said.

Mozambique is facing the same predicament, MSF says, as there are only 2.6 doctors, 20 nurses and 34 health providers per 100,000 people.

‘‘About half of the 608 medical doctors active in Mozambique work in the capital city Maputo, leaving the health centres in rural areas devoid of medical doctors,” David Nhantumbo, medical technician for MSF in Mozambique, told the gathering.

Other African sub-regions face the same problem. Commemorating World Health Day last year, the WHO singled out sub-Saharan Africa as facing the greatest challenges.

‘‘While it has 11 percent of the world’s population and 24 percent of the global burden of disease, it has only 3 percent of the world’s health workers,” it said.

‘‘On average, one in four doctors and one in 20 nurses trained in Africa is working in the OECD (the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation Development) countries. Some countries have been hit harder than others. For example, 29 percent of Ghana’s physicians are working abroad, as are 34 percent of Zimbabwean nurses,” the WHO said.

WHO said 57 countries, most of them in Africa and Asia, face a severe health workforce crisis. ‘‘At least 2.4 million health service providers and 1.9 million management support workers, or a total of 4.25 million health workers, are needed to fill the gap. Without prompt action, the shortage will worsen,” it said.

In Southern Africa, most of the health care workers migrate to Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States where they earn more than they do at home.

For example, the doctors and nurses from Lesotho are leaving for South Africa and the United Kingdom for better pay and better working conditions, Pheelo said. ‘‘It is the responsibility of government to increase salaries and improve working conditions. For each day that no action is taken, more people are dying,” she said.

To stop the poaching of health professionals from poor countries, the South African government announced plans last year to reduce the recruitment of foreign doctors. But the plan was criticised by campaigners such as Mignonne Breier, a chief research specialist at the statutory research body the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).

‘‘Policy plans to reduce the number of foreign doctors are particularly difficult to understand when one considers South Africa has less than 7 doctors per 10,000 people whereas the UK has around 21, the United States around 24 and many European countries more than 30,” Breier wrote on the HSRC website.

‘‘Our own doctors emigrate in significant numbers (estimated at 150 per year) and, of those who stay, more than 60 percent work in the private sector where they serve less than 20 percent of the population,” she said.

‘‘There is the assumption that South Africa can make up the shortfall by rapidly increasing its output from medical schools. The aim is to double the number of graduates from 1,200 to 2,400 per year by 2014,” she said.

MSF South Africa believes that the brain drain could be reversed. Steps should be taken such as creating career prospects for nurses through promotion and training.

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