Democratic Republic of Congo presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba has rejected election results that gave victory to Joseph Kabila.
The electoral commission announced President Kabila won 58.05% of the vote in the run-off poll, ahead of ex-rebel leader Mr Bemba who got 41.95%.
Mali’s largest union sent a shot across the government’s bows on Monday by making good on a promise to hold a 24-hour strike, describing it as a “warning” and vowing to press on until its demands were met.
The food-security situation in south Sudan – particularly Northern Bahr El Ghazal – remains fragile, as malnutrition rates during an already bad hunger season seem to be further deteriorating and the prospects for the next harvest look bleak, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned.
(Cape Town, November 9, 2006) Simply installing a flush toilet in the home increases by almost 60 percent a Peruvian child’s chances of surviving to her first birthday, according to data in the 2006 Human Development Report documenting the often-fatal consequences of inadequate sanitation in developing countries.
The report shows that the efficacy of human-waste disposal is one of the strongest determinants of child survival around the world. Improving sanitation in the home— advancing from open defecation to using a pit latrine to installing a flush toilet—reduces overall child mortality by about a third, say the authors of the report, entitled “Beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis. ”
More than 2.6 billion people still lack access to proper sanitation, and 1.1 billion people have no regular access to clean water. As a result, 1.8 million children die from diarrhea each year, making the disease the second-largest cause of global child mortality, the report says.
The toilet may seem an unlikely catalyst for human development, but the report provides evidence to shows how it benefits people’s well-being. Research shows that in Peru, access to a flush toilet reduces the risk of infant death by 59 percent, compared with an infant in a household without adequate sanitation. In Egypt, similarly, data show the risk of infant death plummeting by 57 percent in households with toilets.
“ ‘No access to sanitation’ is a polite way of saying that people draw water for drinking, cooking and washing from rivers, lakes, ditches and drains fouled with human and animal excrement,” said Kevin Watkins, head of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office and the report’s principal author. “It means that in slums like Kibera, outside Nairobi, people defecate in plastic bags and throw them into the street because they have no other option.”
The crisis in water and sanitation is—above all—a crisis for the poor. More than 660 million people without sanitation live on US$2 or less a day, and more than 385 million live on $1 or less a day. That said, coverage rates for sanitation are far lower than those for water even in higher-income groups: A quarter of the richest 20 percent of people in developing countries have no access to improved sanitation, the report.
The Report lays out the following steps as prerequisites for progress:
Access to basic sanitation is a crucial human-development goal in its own right; for millions of people, the absence of a safe, private and convenient toilet facility is a daily source of indignity, as well as a threat to well-being. But it is also a bridge to far-broader human development. The lack of basic sanitation drags down the benefits of access to clean water, and the health, gender and other inequalities caused by a sanitation deficit systematically undermine progress in education and wealth creation, and foster poverty.
Instead of being recognized as the international emergency it is, sanitation is entirely absent from political campaigns and public debate. The realities of open defecation are relegated to backroom politics, and as a result, progress has been glacial, says the Report. The authors point to stigma as one of the greatest obstacles.
The parallels between the stigma of sanitation issues and that of AIDS are both instructive and troubling. Until fairly recently, the Report points out, the cultural and social taboos surrounding HIV and AIDS impeded development of effective national and international responses, at enormous human cost.
That taboo has been weakening, partly because of the scale of the HIV/AIDS scourge—but also because the condition afflicts all members of society, without regard for social or economic status. Because the crisis in sanitation overwhelmingly targets the poor, its taboo remains stubbornly intact.
Gender inequality is a second major impediment to progress. Young girls, particularly after puberty, are less likely to attend classes if schools do not have suitable hygiene facilities, and the authors estimate that about half the girls in Sub-Saharan Africa who drop out of school do so because of poor water and sanitation facilities.
Studies from Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam show that women consistently rank having a toilet high on their list of priorities for a life of dignity and good health, but their voices are seldom heard. Empowering women may be the most effective way to increase demand for sanitation, the report says.
The report offers concrete examples of how grassroots action combined with government leadership can improve sanitation for the poor. In the Orangi slum of Pakistan’s capital, Karachi, near-universal participation in a grassroots sanitation project has helped bring about a drop in infant mortality from 130 deaths per 1,000 live births in the early 1980s to fewer than 40 deaths per 1,000 live births today.
Ten years ago, Bangladesh had one of the lowest levels in the world of access to proper sanitation in its rural areas. Despite being one of the world’s poorest countries, it is now on target to achieve nationwide sanitation coverage by 2010, thanks to a ‘total sanitation campaign’ promoted by NGOs and local authorities. The campaign appeals to three drivers of change: disgust, self-interest and a sense of individual responsibility for community welfare. The same approach is now being employed in Cambodia, China, India and Zambia.
The report stresses, however, that while community-led initiatives are critical, they are not a substitute for government action.
The biggest barrier in sanitation, the authors conclude, is the unwillingness of national and international political leaders to put the growing crisis on the international development agenda. Tackling the problem requires greater awareness of the real costs—not just to poor people, but to societies as a whole—of ‘no access to sanitation,’ the report says, arguing for wider recognition that sanitation is a basic human right.
This article is based on information contained in the Human Development Report 2006, which can be accessed at http://hdr.undp.org/.
An anti-graft pressure group has called for a probe into the alleged purchase of a luxury US beach house by the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president.
In a strong show of unity, Guinea’s opposition has called on ailing President Lansana Conte to step aside in favour of a government of national unity.
One of Ethiopia’s most senior judges, Teshale Aberra, has left the country following “continued harassment” from the government, he has told the BBC.
The civil war in Angola ended in 2002. In this speech, given at Harvard University, Rafael Marques argues that the peace agreement signed in April 2002 has failed to promote democratic values or engage citizens in public affairs. Elections that the government promised the people since 1999 have not materialized. Instead, Angola is undergoing a process of commercialization as a substitute to democratization, writes Marques.
It is a privilege for me to be here at Harvard, a center of intellectual and scientific excellence. I am here simply as a student to have a conversation and share some ideas about Angola.
I am also in the US to learn from you about the merits of an open-minded and uncompromised debate about democracy, international relations and solidarity.
Currently, preparations are being made for the registration of voters in Angola, as a major leap forward towards the holding of elections in 2007, 2008 or 2009. There have been hints of elections ever since 1999.
These elections would be the second ever held in the country. The only other ones, the 1992 general elections, led to war breaking out again.
What is at stake at the moment is whether holding elections could be a measure of democratization for Angola or not? That is the first of several questions to be asked.
After a devastating 27-year conflict, a military peace deal signed in April 2002 has not been fostering the promotion of democratic values in society and engaging citizens in public affairs. Angola has been described as a “state without citizens.” Despite recent promises of increased transparency, accountability and democratization, little has yet been accomplished to bridge the gap between the rulers and the ruled. The underlying causes of this situation are many and interlinked. Political power is highly centralized and some would argue that historically this power was further consolidated through the control of resource flows by three institutions – the Presidency, the National Bank and SONANGOL, the national oil company.
The reality is of opportunity, but for whom? For those who hold power and sway, it means dividends from the privatization of the state, according to the hierarchy in the regime. For outsiders, it means a rush to promote their economic interests, cut new deals or explore new market opportunities.
This prompts the second question. What does the present situation mean for the majority of Angolans? Put in a different way, is the country just open for business or is there some scope for democracy as well?
What are the prospects of change, defining a new future for Angola? This is the third question I shall try to elaborate on as part of this conversation.
Electoral Democracy
The first indication of democracy in the country would be the establishment of checks and balances in the state institutions, as well as their openness to public scrutiny. This is essential for the process of nation-building,
To demonstrate the absurd contradictions of the system, justice is still administered through the former colonial Portuguese Penal Code of 1886. Portugal itself has reformed the Penal Code a number of times since then.
Many of the state institutions have not been altered to fit the new political system. For instance, the office of the Attorney-General is still governed by a one-party Marxist-Leninist law (cf Law 5/90, of 5 April) to safeguard not democracy but the “socialist legality”. This office is, by law, under the presidency and the President of the Republic gives direct instructions to the Attorney-General, which must be complied with in accordance with article 5, clause 2, of law 5/90.
Unfortunately, this situation, which is unconstitutional, cannot be challenged in court. The Constitutional Court, which is required to safeguard the Constitution, has not been established since 1992. Three members of the Constitutional Court are supposed to be elected by a two-thirds majority of Members of Parliament (article 135, clause 1b). The ruling MPLA does not have such a two-thirds majority and has found it risky to bring up the issue because it might wake up the opposition.
So far, the judges of the Supreme Court, appointed by the President of the Republic, perform the duties of the Constitutional Court in violation of the Constitution. The vice-president of the Supreme Court, Mr. Caetano de Sousa, is also currently the head of the National Electoral Commission, appointed by the President of the Republic.
On July 22, 2005, the Supreme Court decided that the President has been performing interim duties since 1992, the year he failed to win in the polls. Back then the second round of the presidential elections never took place because war broke out again. As such, none of his periods as President count. So, after 25 uninterrupted years in power, he can run again for three more consecutive periods.
Another important aspect to take into account is the effectively subordinate role of the National Electoral Commission, which also includes opposition members, in relation to the Inter-Ministerial Commission for Elections, all of whose members come from the MPLA government.
And why does the opposition not rally behind the issue? As I speak, the 220 parliamentarians, whose constitutional mandates expired 10 years ago, are lavishing upon themselves luxury cars of their own choice from a special budget of over US$16.5 million which they granted to themselves.
Moreover, some of the main opposition parties represented in Parliament, like UNITA, PRS and PLD, also hold ministerial portfolios in the government and the due privileges. That’s how the patronage system works. The political opposition becomes part of the problem and not of the solution.
Along with the control of the judicial power by the political powers comes control of the State media, which comprises the only radio and TV broadcasters with national coverage and the only daily newspaper in the country. The Minister of Information, from the MPLA, also heads the National Radio of Angola. I worked for the state media, and
I can say from experience that there was more room for some innocuous criticism 12 years ago than there is today. These media outlets only reproduce the orders of the political establishment.
The six privately owned weekly newspapers, as critical as they are, remain ineffective in expressing the thoughts and wishes of the majority. They circulate almost exclusively in the capital, Luanda, at an average price of US$2.50 for a 24-page tabloid, which is too expensive for the average citizen. Altogether these papers only print
up to 25,000 copies per week, while there are over four million people living in the capital alone.
Both the judiciary and the media are fundamental to the exercise of democracy, one by upholding the rule of the law and the other to serve as a vehicle for freedom of expression. But they are, in fact, instruments of partisanship.
Moreover, the regime has produced a state class, in which figures of the ruling MPLA accumulate wealth rapidly by robbing the state coffers. That’s how the President’s family, without a record of labour, has amassed a vast fortune and is a major shareholder in the telecommunications, banking, mining and other most profitable
enterprises. Other high-ranking families of the regime are also entitled to such fortunes.
These brief examples illustrate that the time of peace is being used neither for serious institutional reform nor to establish a proper transitional platform to a fully fledged democracy. To put it simply, there are no functioning institutions for the formal democratic participation of citizens.
How can elections change this state of affairs? The absence of a transitional mechanism, to mitigate abuses of power, leaves little room for peaceful change and risks a showdown between the government
and the people for lack of alternative and buffer institutions.
The Power of Oil
Any change will put at risk not just the ruling party, but the business interests of the state class, who are the partners for foreign governments and enterprises in oil, diamonds, construction, etc. Foreign interests fight for privileged access to the state class.
The interests of the Presidential family in remaining in power, to safeguard their business interests, coincide, for instance, with the U.S. policy to ensure stability and safeguard a continuous flow of Angolan oil into the U.S. By 2007, Angola’s oil output is forecast to surpass 2 million barrels a day and continue to increase until 2010.
The international view of Angola has been narrowed down to business interests. Angola is undergoing a process of commercialization as a substitute to democratization.
International pressure has mainly been self-serving and the call for good governance has focused more on issues of transparency and an improved climate for foreign investment than on poverty alleviation and democratization. Countries with a strategic interest in Angolan oil, especially China, have been willing to provide Angola with
concessional, oil-backed loans, which carry no conditions on improved governance.
In the past, the U.S. led Western countries in fomenting guerrilla warfare in the country in the name of a global fight against communism while, at the same time, allowing Cuban soldiers to guard Chevron oil facilities. Then it switched sides to annihilate the
guerrillas in the name of helping to achieve peace and democracy.
Such international leverage in the country’s affairs has robbed the people of external solidarity in the fight for change. Reality shows that it is all about access to the country’s natural resources and profitable dealings. In 2005 Angola could boast the highest rate of growth in Gross Domestic Product in the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) area (if not all of Africa), according to IMF figures. In stark contrast, Angola has some of the worst poverty levels in Africa. Last year Angola was ranked 160 out of 177 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index. According to the statistics, 67% of the population lives below the poverty line. Of those living in rural areas, 90% are estimated to live below the poverty line. Illiteracy and infant and maternal mortality rates are very high. The shares of the government budget allocated to health (4.4% in 2006) and education (3.8%) are lower than average in the SADC area and have declined steadily since 2004. In general, there has been a bias against spending on initiatives to improve broad-based primary education and primary health care.
In principle, elections will not provide people with alternative choices because the political opposition is either incorporated into the system, tamed or too marginal to have the resources and the ability to make itself known to a wider audience. This explains why the pressure for elections from civic organizations and society at
large has gone quiet.
Thus the holding of elections will by no means be a measure for democracy. The regime has already prepared itself for an eventual alternative, which it calls an agenda of national consensus. From time to time, when pressure mounts, it takes it out of its pocket to lure people into an idea of broad dialogue to give a new direction to the country.
For there to be a space for democracy, Angolans have to find a more balanced and sustainable way of dealing with the openness to foreign investors, which is used as an international public relations tool to re-legitimize the regime and dodge the pressing need for dialogue on the country’s situation.
We must be forceful in explaining that one issue must not obscure the other. We must have them both, and democracy should be a priority to establish the rule of law that turns the institutions of state into the safe keepers of transparency, fair competition and greater safety for foreign investments. Currently, businesses have to rely on powerful individuals for protection, but sooner or later this will come to an end.
Prospects of Change
As a citizen, I always wonder why my political leaders always prefer to take the most difficult and treacherous routes of war, violence, corruption and denial to govern the country?
My country is drifting towards a political dead end. The growing detachment between the rulers and the ruled, in the formation of the state class, can only lead to profound resentment and an unpredictable outcome.
Dialogue and compassion are not new ideas, but that’s what Angolans have always needed most from their rulers, and been denied.
There must be the political will by the regime to open up and allow the establishment of a “state of citizens” as the best option to avoid the perils of anarchy, for its own good and because time is running out.
Thank you to the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program and its co-sponsors. And thanks to the Northcote Parkinson Fund for sponsoring my trip here as part of the Civil Courage Prize.
Rafael Marques de Morais, an Angolan journalist and a human rights activist, is the winner of the 2006 Civil Courage Prize. Through his writing, Rafael Marques de Morais has exposed the corruption of the Angolan government, the tragic impact that diamond extraction has on the lives of local populations and the abuses committed by the industry’s private security companies.This article was first published in Pambazuka, an email newsletter about Africa. The original article can be seen at http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/38121
JOHANNESBURG — The South African government is seeking to shake off years of international denunciation for its handling of the AIDS epidemic — including a fixation on the supposed protective powers of beets and lemons — while expanding treatment, testing and prevention programs, officials and activists say.
News that foreign consultants in Malawi are lavishly spending British aid money on hotels and meals has ignited controversy.
World Hunger Education 
