A pedestrian walks past a painting depicting captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, outside a protest tent calling for his release, near the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem November 23, 2009. REUTERS

Officials who reported that a deal is approaching said Arabs holding Israeli citizenship are among the 160 newly agreed prisoners slated for release. Israel had objected to including Israeli Arabs in an exchange. (Reuters)

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The tax-free, all-expenses-paid lifestyles of the president, vice-president, prime minister and MPs will be history if the draft constitution becomes law.

Most of those opposed to taxation of their allowances argued the nature of the work, which includes fund-raising for funerals, school fees, hospital bills and development projects, made it difficult to comply with the tax proposal.

MPs earn about Sh850,000 each a month, out of which only the basic salary of Sh200,000 is taxed. The allowances are mainly made up of mileage and entertainment perks, which are tax-free. The president is paid Sh2 million a month and is not taxed.

Mothers who have been camping at Kapkembu in Kuresoi wait for free drugs at a Red Cross tent on Monday. They left their homes in Mau Forest following an order requiring them to vacate the water source. Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Agriculture minister William Ruto have disagreed on the eviction. Photo/JOSEPH KIHERI

Agriculture minister William Ruto signalled his determination to defend Mau settlers, describing the leaders behind the evictions as “heartless”.

At the same time, ministers John Michuki (Environment) and Kiraitu Murungi (Energy) supported efforts to eject squatters from water towers.

Mr Murungi showered praise on the Prime Minister for his “relentless war” over the conservation of the Mau “at the expense of his political career.”

Additional reporting by Alphonce Shiundu, Julius Sigei, Tom Matoke, George Sayagie and Oliver Mulanda

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Belgium’s Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy arrives at a news conference after being elected as EU president during a EU leaders summit in Brussels November 19, 2009. Photo/REUTERS

Ashton, a former member of the House of Lords, Britain’s upper house of parliament, has little foreign affairs experience. But she has made a good impression as trade commissioner.

In backing Ashton, the leaders also answered calls by many EU officials for a woman to have one of the Union’s top posts.

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By Osinde Obare, Dedan Okanga and Peter Mutai

A plan orchestrated by a section of Rift Valley ODM leaders to have Prime Minister Raila Odinga heckled during his visit to West Pokot District flopped.

Sources claimed the plan failed after a local civic leader disappeared with Sh100,000 meant to hire youths to boo the PM.

Security was tight at Makutano Stadium after the district security team got wind from intelligence agencies of the plot to humiliate the PM.

A contingent of police officers comprising regular, administration and General Service Unit patrolled

Makutano township and the stadium to forestall any attempt to disrupt the rally.

Fuelled tension

The presence of GSU officers, summoned from Chepchoina in Kwanza District, fuelled tension.

The local security team led by West Pokot DC Allan Machari and his Pokot North counterpart Joseph Motari monitored the situation as the public trooped to the stadium to wait for the arrival of the Prime Minister.

Police confirmed they were privy to report on the planned heckling organised by an influential ODM leader in the North Rift.

“It is true there were plans to heckle the PM but we monitored the situation to take action against any person out to disrupt the rally,” West Pokot OCPD David Wambua told The Standard on Sunday.

A source said a Cabinet minister had dished out money for the heckling mission.

But MPs from the region allied to the minister dismissed the claims and instead blamed his rivals for imagining the scheme to tarnish the minister’s

name.

“He has massive support in the entire region and can therefore not waste energy thinking about hiring

hecklers,” said an MP on telephone.

Officers were positioned at every corner of the stadium as other officers in civilian clothes mingled with the crowd.

The source claimed the minister met with 20 civic leaders from Pokot in Eldoret, where the plot was

hatched.

One of the councillors, who attended the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity, said they received cash and their leader was given Sh100,000 to mobilise youth to heckle the PM.

“The scheme to heckle the PM has failed because our leader went underground with the money meant to hire the youth,” he said.

At the stadium, Raila accused some ministers from Rift Valley of being disrespectful to decisions of the

Cabinet and asked them to quit the Government.

“If some of the ministers are dissatisfied with what is resolved by the Cabinet, they should quit because we must observe discipline,” said the PM.

Nominated MP Musa Sirma disclosed a plot by some Rift Valley leaders to use the Mau issue to move out

of ODM.

“We know their greedy plans of wanting to scuttle the party and break out using the Mau issue, but let them know the people support ODM,” said Sirma.

Eldoret ODM politician Jackson Kibor seemed to read from the same script with the PM when he castigated

some disgruntled ministers of undermining the Government.

“Whatever decision agreed by the Cabinet should be respected and there is no need for some ministers

going against such decision,” said Kibor.

Stolen victory

ODM chairman Henry Kosgey urged the Kalenjin community to stay in ODM.

He asked the community to support Raila’s quest for the presidency and avoid listening to leaders misleading them.

“Don’t be cheated that going alone would help the community ascend to power. Though our victory was stolen in the last General Election, let us support Raila and ODM as we did last time,” urged Kosgey.

The Prime Minister was accompanied by Kosgey, Regional Development Minister Fred Gumo, Education Assistant Minister Ayiecho Olweny

and MPs Wilson Litole, Julius Murgor, and Sirma.

Earlier, Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny had dismissed Raila’s call for ministers dissatisfied with Cabinet

decisions to quit the Government.

Kutuny hosts Agriculture Minister William Ruto in Kitale today for a fund drive in aid of Anglican Church of Kenya.

Meanwhile, Raila visits the South Rift today for the first time since a row over the Mau Forest evictions erupted.

He will be in Chepalungu constituency, represented in Parliament by one of his fiercest critics Isaac Ruto.

The Prime Minister is expected to preside over the establishment of district headquarters at Siongiroi.

The PM, who has been criticised by a section of Rift Valley MPs since the Mau evictions started last week, is expected to use the ceremony to reach out to residents who overwhelmingly voted for him in the last General Election.

Raila will first preside over a fundraising for Siongiroi Catholic Church before moving to the site to lay the

foundation stone and thereafter address a rally.

His visit to the region comes barely four months after he toured the area and reversed an earlier decision to have the headquarters located at Sigor.

Ruto did not attend the meeting saying he had not been invited by the PM’s office and only learnt about it through Sirma.

Parallel rallies

Raila is expected to be accompanied by Roads Minister Franklin Bett, Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey, Lands Minister James Orengo,

Fisheries Minister Paul Otuoma and Sirma.

On Saturday, Ruto said he would not attend the function as he reads mischief on the visit to his constituency.

He was forced to cancel a meeting, which he had called at the same venue, saying this could cause tension.

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By Judy Ogutu

Agriculture Minister William Ruto now wants a report linking him to post-election violence squashed.

The minister moved to court to challenge the authenticity of the report, saying he was not given a chance to defend himself before the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) report was published.

Ruto says there is no evidence linking him to the violence, and that the allegations against him “are a result of an illegality, irrationality, breach of the rule of law, and disregard of constitutionality and denial of legitimate expectations”.

He further posits that the “conclusions drawn by the respondent in the report are arbitrary, oppressive, violate the applicable laws, offend public policy, and were made in a situation where the respondent became the investigator, prosecutor and judge”. Ruto says he was not notified of the adverse conclusions in the report, and only learnt of them when he bought a copy. He says he has never been involved in violence, stating that he addressed public rallies where he appealed to Kenyans to maintain peace.

Ruto denies ever participating in the violence and says KNCHR findings have seriously dented his reputation, affected his liberty, career, and fundamental rights.

The minister becomes the second politician to challenge the report by KNCHR. Finance Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, has also filed a similar suit, which has been set for hearing in February by two judges, Justice Roselyn Wendoh and Justice Abida Ali Aroni.

The Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence chaired by Court of Appeal judge, Justice Philip Waki, relied on the KNCHR’s report, among others, to draw a list of people allegedly behind the violence. The violence that following the disputed December 2007 presidential election claimed about 1,300 lives.

In his application, Kenyatta says he was never given an opportunity to give his side of the story to the KNCHR before it compiled its report.

In response, the commission says Kenyatta and other politicians adversely mentioned in the report, were invited to give their side of the story, but they failed to do so.

Ruto yesterday filed an urgent suit at High Court in Nairobi, saying it ought to be heard urgently given the gravity of the issue and injury to his reputation.

Fair trial

Through his advocate, Katwa Kigen, Ruto says KNCHR claims he is among the people who were involved in planning, inciting, and financing the violence were baseless and ought to be quashed.

Lady Justice Roselyn Wendoh allowed him to apply for orders seeking to quash allegations that he participated or was involved in the violence in KNCHR report, On the Brink of the Precipice: A Human Rights Account of Kenya’s Post 2007 Election violence.

She also directed him to file and serve the main suit on KNCHR within 21 days.

Ruto complains he was not informed of the allegations or allowed to meet his accusers. But he admits being informally asked by KNCHR to give accounts of post-election violence a day after it announced its intentions to investigate the chaos.

“I did call on them at a meeting, which was informal. I was asked if I knew anything about the logistics of the violence. I explained all I knew and my understanding of the violence, which was to the effect that it was initially, a protest over elections that had not been transparent and that in most instances it became violent because the police used excessive force to quell the protest. All I knew about post-election violence was in the public domain.”

“The applicant was not given notice with particulars, seeking his response to the allegations made in the report that he participated in the planning, inciting and financing post-election violence,” Katwa says of his client.

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Photo: Jason Gutierrez/IRIN

A policeman tries to control a mob of cold and hungry flood survivors during a relief distribution campaign by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Muntinlupa district, south of Manila

BANGKOK, 18 November 2009 (IRIN) – The UN has warned of serious health risks and food security problems over a lack of funding to assist the Philippines after the country was hit by three major storms and typhoons.

“The emergency response is being hampered by low levels of funding, particularly in areas such as agriculture, protection, shelter and education of children,” Jacqueline Badcock, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Philippines, said in a statement on 18 November.

The UN launched a flash appeal for US$74 million in Manila on 7 October after tropical storm Ketsana flooded the nation’s capital and outlying regions in late September.

Before the country could recover, Typhoon Parma hit on 3 October, and then Typhoon Mirinae on 31 October, bringing widespread damage and misery. The additional devastation, which has affected 10 million people, led to a revised appeal this week of $143.7 million from humanitarian agencies.

Donors have only handed over $26 million in funding to date – about 36 percent of the original $74 million requested, or 18.6 percent of the revised $143.7 million, according to the UN.

If funding levels do not increase substantially, about 1.7 million people living in or displaced from areas that are still flooded face serious health and protection risks, warned Badcock’s office.

Some 350,000 people may not be able to return to or rebuild their homes and more than one million children may not be able to resume their education, it said.

The disasters severely affected the critical planting season in Northern Luzon, the country’s main agricultural region, and preliminary assessments cited in the revised appeal showed some 100,000-120,000 farming households had lost 100 percent of their production and assets.

The emergency response is being hampered by low levels of funding, particularly in areas such as agriculture, protection, shelter and education of children

“The November planting season might be missed, which has longer-term implications for food security,” the statement added.

In a separate interview, Badcock told IRIN that donors had been waiting for more information about the scale of damage caused, and that the first appeal had not fully assessed the extent of the devastation.

“The extent of the appeal and the damage was not really well understood by everybody until all the assessments were done,” she said.

“This revised [appeal] has a lot more analysis … we hope it will provide more clarity and confidence to the donors that these are real needs.”

Early recovery

The total revised amount of $143,774,080 will cover the immediate and early recovery needs of 4.2 million people, including more than 520,000 children under the age of five. This is twice the population covered under the original appeal.

The revised appeal is planned to run until March 2010 and is being presented on 18 November to donors and the government in Manila, UN officials said.

“The urgent needs remain the people who live in evacuation centres, who need continuing assistance with food and shelter,” said Badcock.

“Then there are farms where the water is going down. We need to get those farmers rehabilitated and planting out for the next season, and their families need food for the next three months because they lost their harvest,” she said.

“Water and sanitation remain critical, particularly in the flooded areas, where there are huge Filariasis and Dengue concerns.”

Early recovery efforts are needed to assist people in restoring their livelihoods, as well as fully restoring schools that are damaged or being used as evacuation centres, she said.

The appeal is being made by UN agencies, NGOs, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

ey/mw source.irinnews.org

SOUTH AFRICA: World Cup to help create HIV awareness

Photo: Tomas de Mul/IRIN

JOHANNESBURG, – In less than seven months South Africa will host the world’s biggest single sporting event – the FIFA World Cup. The chance to reach millions of local and visiting football fans presents a golden opportunity, not only for the country’s business and tourism sectors, but also for its efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

Health officials, activists and civil society organisations met in Johannesburg on 18 November to plan how to make the most of the event, which will span 30 days and take place in eight of South Africa’s nine provinces.

Recent international media reports have suggested that the World Cup could aggravate the country’s already severe HIV/AIDS epidemic, but several speakers saw the event as a chance to address the health crisis, among them former soccer player Ronny Zondi, who represented the Sport and Entertainment Sector of the South African National Aids Council (SANAC), the body coordinating HIV activities linked to the World Cup.

Stadiums, fan parks, hotels and bars are all potential venues where HIV prevention messages could be promoted, condoms and pamphlets distributed, and voluntary counselling and HIV testing made available. The need for all the organizations involved to work with each other and FIFA and its local organizing committee (LOC) to avoid duplication of efforts and confused messaging was emphasized.

LOC Chief Medical Officer Dr Victor Ramathesele urged participants to tap into FIFA’s marketing expertise to push HIV/AIDS messages before and during the World Cup.

Noluntu Ntloko, from FIFA’s marketing division, briefed participants on restrictions on the use of registered World Cup trademarks, or branding that could conflict with that of its sponsors and commercial partners, and encouraged organizations to channel any planned HIV activities through the LOC.

Through its Football for Hope Movement, FIFA is already partnering with civil society organizations involved in HIV/AIDS initiatives. One such partner, Grassroots Soccer, works with a local NGO, Sonke Gender Justice, to train soccer coaches to teach young people about HIV and AIDS.

Rather than limiting their efforts to duration of the event, several organizations are planning campaigns that will last the entire year and reach people all over the continent.

Wayne Alexander, of Dance4Life, an international initiative that enlists young people to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, told the meeting about Fair Play for Africa, a campaign to mobilise communities to advocate for quality healthcare for all Africans, and to hold their governments accountable for health provision. So far 200 NGOs have committed to getting involved and activities in 12 African countries are planned for 2010.

“We have come a long way,” commented Dr Robin Petersen, chair of the Johannesburg meeting, who recalled that when South Africa started planning its World Cup bid 10 years ago, there was pressure to downplay the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “We’re now planning to use this event to address one of the most significant crises our country is facing.”

See also: SOUTH AFRICA: Footballers join AIDS fight

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UGANDA: HIV-positive women need family planning services, study shows

Photo: Tiggy Ridley/IRIN

NAIROBI,  – HIV-positive women in western Uganda want fewer children than women not living with the virus, but often do not have access to family planning services, a new study reveals.

The study of 421 women in the district of Kabarole found that the probability of HIV-positive women wanting to stop childbearing was 6.25 times greater than it was for HIV-negative individuals.

“HIV-positive women tended to want fewer children than their HIV-negative counterparts mainly because they are aware of the risks of mother-to-child transmission and do not want to go through the difficulties associated with having an HIV-positive child,” said Walter Kipp, global health professor at the University of Alberta in Canada, and one of the study’s authors.

Statistics from the UN Children’s Fund show that in 2008, only 55 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women received antiretroviral treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission; close to 30,000 Ugandan children are infected with HIV at birth every year.

Kipp noted that the survey’s results highlight the urgent need to integrate family planning into HIV services. “Family planning in Uganda is not well developed, and if women want to stop having children, often they have no access to contraceptive pills or other family planning methods,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Health, 41 percent of Ugandan women who would like to stop having children have no access to family planning services. The country has the third-highest population growth rate in the world; only Yemen and Niger have higher rates.

Kipp noted there was a need to harmonize the messages of family planning groups, which tended to recommend the use of hormonal contraception over condoms for contraception, and HIV groups, which emphasized condom use for prevention.

“For HIV-positive women, we would usually recommend dual protection, which is the use of both a hormonal contraceptive and condoms,” he added.

A recent analysis published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society found that family planning was cost-effective for preventing HIV transmission and unintended pregnancies and would also reduce infant and maternal mortality and result in fewer orphans.

The survey noted there was a need for education to inform the population on the benefits of family planning and end misconceptions around the subject.

“There is a belief that hormonal contraception can affect future fertility, and that it may lead to malformed children in the future,” Kipp said. “However, the main barrier that needs to be overcome is the lack of availability of these services for women who need them.”

kr/oa/mw source.irinnews.org

BANGLADESH: Two years after Cyclone Sidr, survivors still seeking shelter

Photo: Contributor/IRIN

BARGUNA, 20 November 2009 (IRIN) – Two years after Cyclone Sidr hit the southern coastal districts of Bangladesh, many of the survivors are still homeless and at severe risk from further disasters, officials say.

Cyclone Sidr lashed the southern coastal regions of Bangladesh on 15 November 2007. Thirty districts were affected, with more than 3,400 deaths. Damage to property, livestock and crops was estimated at US$1.7 billion, with half of that in the housing sector, according to the government.

Despite aid efforts, victims still complain of a lack of assistance to rebuild their homes, while officials say more cyclone shelters are needed to protect communities from future storms.

Meanwhile, crucial work to prevent flooding remains under-funded.

Because of the country’s low-lying deltaic topography, the southern coastal areas are extremely vulnerable to floods, high tides and cyclonic storm surges.

Extensive flood embankment networks provide this region with critical protection from these natural calamities, but Sidr damaged a large part, leaving the inhabitants of six coastal districts vulnerable to tidal waves and storm surges.

According to the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), which maintains these embankments, about 46 percent or 2,341km of the 5,107km of flood embankments protecting the southern regions were partially or completely destroyed by Sidr.

Repair work to the embankments has yet to begin properly, with a lack of funding cited as the primary reason. About $100 million is required, according to BWDB estimates.

“We have yet to receive the funds to start the repair works on the flood embankments. The process is going on and hopefully within a short time we will be able to start repairing the embankments,” Abdur Rab, BWDB’s senior engineer in Barisal district, told IRIN.

Of the six coastal districts affected by Sidr, Barguna was worst hit. Most of its flood embankments were washed away and the people are faced with the daily predicament of tidal seawater inundating their land.

“Every day, during the tides, brackish seawater gets into the croplands, fouling up the fertile topsoil,” Abdul Mazid, BWDB’s executive engineer in Barguna district, told IRIN.

“Soil salinity is increasing alarmingly. Almost 1,400ha of croplands in Barguna are regularly inundated by seawater,” he said. “The entire southern coastal region is now vulnerable because of the damaged embankments.”

Lacking proper shelter

“Nearly half a million people who were displaced by Sidr are still without proper housing and need rehabilitation,” said Abul Kashem, national councillor with the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS).

In Bagerhat district, farmer Jainal Abedin, 30, said he lost his father, his home and all his possessions to Sidr.

“I am still living in a hovel made of plastic sheets and debris. I spent the 5,000 taka [$73], given to me by the NGOs for rebuilding my home, on food,” Abedin, who lives in the area of Sharankhola, told IRIN.

“It has been two years since the cyclone, but I still don’t know what the future holds for me and my family,” he said.

The BDRCS is working with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which has built 1,250 cyclone core shelters, sturdier homes that can withstand a cyclone.

According to the government’s Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), the district of Bagerhat is also woefully lacking in proper cyclone protection shelters.

And for the 550,000 people living at risk in Barguna, at least 490 cyclone protection shelters are required, say LGED sources.

At present, there are 113 cyclone protection shelters in the district, which can support only 140,000 people.

“Ours is an extremely disaster-prone area, but the number of cyclone protection centres is minimal,” Kamal Uddin, chairman of Sharankhola sub-district council in Bagerhat, told IRIN. “The number … must be increased to minimize human casualties during natural disasters.”

ao/ey/mw source.irinnews.org

Analysis: Upcoming polls to test Burundi’s fragile peace

Photo: Jane Some/IRIN

BUJUMBURA,  – Next year’s elections in Burundi, billed as a milestone on the country’s long road to sustainable peace, could trigger more conflict because of a combination of widespread illegal weapons and well-organized youth wings of political parties, according to analysts.

Power struggles in Burundi have provoked bouts of armed violence and civil war from independence in 1962 until the country’s last rebel group gave up and became a political party in April 2009.

According to Jean-Marie Gasana, a veteran Burundi analyst, the risks associated with the youth wings are exacerbated by the presence “of large caches of arms in the hands of civilians.

“Even more worrying is what happens should the opposition contest the outcome of the elections,” he told IRIN in Bujumbura. “We are likely to see a repeat of scenarios… where violence has ensued following flawed elections.”

“We could return to civil war,” echoed Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa, founding president of the Burundi Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detainees.

“We have to also pay attention to the police and army, both of which have integrated former rebels into their ranks,” he added. “If there is an incident during the elections, these people could be tempted to support their original movements.”

Some of the armed, government-controlled former rebels in the capital operate outside the formal structures of the police and army, according to one human rights activist, who asked not to be named.

“The situation could become chaotic because youth [groups] have often been used during past civil wars and this is no different,” said Mbonimpa.

Some of these groups feel unfairly targeted by the authorities. Odette Ntahiraja, the secretary-general of the Mouvement pour la solidarité et la démocratie (MSD), a party registered in June 2009, told IRIN its young supporters were “often denied the right to hold demonstrations.

“Sometimes they are even arrested and some are beaten. Yet other youth groups are armed and go ahead and intimidate people without any action being taken against them,” she added.

Photo: Jane Some/IRIN

A street scene in Bujumbura, the Burundian capital: Power struggles in the country have provoked bouts of armed violence and civil war from independence in 1962

Risk of election violence

For the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, such uneven attitudes by the authorities help to make Burundi a “classroom example of a country at potential risk of election-related violence”.

Jamila El Abdellaoui, a senior researcher in the institute’s conflict prevention programme, says another reason is the reported “[re-]arming of militias by several political parties as tools to intimidate the electorate.

“The fact that the reintegration phase of the country’s recently completed DDR [disarmament, demobilization and reintegration] process has largely failed, especially concerning those returning to urban areas, explains the availability of some former combatants to join such groups,” she argues in an October article.

Pancrace Cimpaye, spokesman for the main opposition Front pour la démocratie au Burundi (FRODEBU), said his party would not arm its young supporters but added that they would “stand up” for the people if they were targeted by the ruling party.

“Our main concern as we head to the polls is security; we urge the international community to pay more attention to this and, if possible, help in the setting-up of a special protection unit specifically for the elections,” he said.

For the European Network for Central Africa (EURAC), a Brussels-based coalition of advocacy NGOs, “The potential for violence is not yet under control” in Burundi. It cited divisions within political parties, widespread precarious living conditions, bad governance and the fact that “the rule of law is still under construction” as potential drivers of unrest.

For land conflict and human rights consultant Rene-Claude Niyonkuru, land issues are another factor: “We would be mistaken if we said there will be no violence – especially related to issues such as land. The people are frustrated, especially returnees, who are coming home in large numbers. The government had been encouraging them to return [but] it seems the same government is ill-prepared to ensure their smooth resettlement.”

He called for the mobilization of the population to address land conflicts: “Why can’t we use the election period to interrogate potential candidates on their proposals and commitment to the resolution of land disputes in the country?”

Photo: Jane Some/IRIN

Burundi could return to civil war, said Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa, president of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detainees

Voluntary disarmament

Civilians across Burundi handed in thousands of guns, grenades and rounds of ammunition during a voluntary disarmament campaign in October. According to Leopold Banzubaze, deputy head of the National Disarmament Commission, more than 80,000 weapons – which Banzubaze said amounted to almost 80 percent of all the weapons in circulation – had been handed in since 2007.

Many analysts believe that despite these campaigns, there are tens of thousands of firearms still circulating in Burundi. According to the commission’s own data, fewer than 2,500 of the weapons handed in during the last phase of voluntary disarmament were rifles. The rest were grenades (10,429), bombs (218) and mines (28).

Officials in Burundi seem to be aware of the risks surrounding the polls.

“I can say there are cases of murders and other killings which are the consequences of our civil war,” Guy-Michel Mfatiye, chief of staff in the Ministry of Human Rights and Gender, told IRIN.

He added that his ministry was working with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to “sensitize the people at different levels from the regional, provincial and even to the communal level on why the elections are important and how to conduct themselves during that period”.

According to the president of the electoral commission, Pierre Claver Ndayicariye, it has established a technical committee on security and is working with the Ministry of Public Security – with the support of donor countries such as the Netherlands and Norway as well as the UN Development Programme – to build the capacity of the security forces to ensure peaceful elections.

“The issue of security is important before, during and after the elections; our message as the electoral commission to political parties is: stop rival youth groups from provoking each other, the parties are on the ground, they can stop any harmful activity by their members,” Ndayicariye said.

js/am/mw source.irinnews.org

GLOBAL: Food aid that gets you two for the price of one

Photo: Masoud Popalzai/IRIN

JOHANNESBURG,  – Good quality food aid can save billions of dollars that would otherwise be spent on saving lives, says a major report from the World Bank, one of two new studies that uncover some unsettling facts about food aid and malnutrition.

Spending US$200 to treat a severely malnourished child can save $1,351 in treating nutrition-related illnesses, said the report, Scaling up Intervention: What will it cost? which argued that “The cost of not intervening … is much higher. The benefits from iron fortification of staples and salt iodization alone are estimated at $7.2 billion per year.”

The 2007/2008 food price crisis, followed by one of the worst economic recessions in recent times, has revived the humanitarian aid world’s interest in malnutrition, especially in the quality of food aid being dispensed.

The other report, Malnutrition: how much is being spent? by international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), agreed with the World Bank’s conclusion in that food aid abysmally fails to meet nutrition requirements.

Food aid does not necessarily focus on the “window of opportunity” from pregnancy until a child turns two, when children and women are most vulnerable, said Meera Shekar, a leading health and nutrition specialist at the World Bank and co-author of its report.

“Rarely does the food aid target the most vulnerable groups: children under five, pregnant women and lactating mothers,” said Stéphane Doyon, a co-author of the MSF report.

Donors spent very little on nutrition – barely 1.7 percent of development and emergency food aid between 2004 and 2007 actually addressed malnutrition, said MSF.

Food aid does not necessarily focus on the “window of opportunity” from pregnancy until a child turns two, when children and women are most vulnerable

Doyon said their analysis suggested that donors should maximise the value of funding by ceasing in-kind donations and provide cash instead, allowing aid agencies to source cheaper or more appropriate food in the region or beneficiary country. However, donor countries in the European Union (EU) and Canada, which had recently moved to provide cash, were not spending enough on nutrition.

The World Bank report noted that addressing malnutrition in the 36 countries where 90 percent of the world’s most malnourished children live would be relatively cheap – only $11.8 billion to step up 13 proven nutrition interventions from current coverage to 100 percent of the target population.

Scaling up these programmes which include providing fortified food, deworming tablets and promoting breastfeeding could save the lives of more than 1.1 million children younger than five in these countries, where an estimated eight million children die of malnutrition-related causes every year.

The World Bank report takes a comprehensive look at the nuts and bolts of nutrition interventions like providing micronutrient-fortified foods, and not only details how much each intervention should be stepped up, but also its impact in monetary value.

Children who received fortified complementary food before they were three years old grew up to be more economically productive, said the World Bank study, citing an investigation led by John Hoddinott, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, in 2008.

The World Bank study represented “A careful attempt to assess what resources are needed to put a significant dent in malnutrition around the world … [the] striking feature of these estimates is, in fact, how small these financial requirements are,” Hoddinott told IRIN.

“For a fraction of the amount of money spent on bailing out financial institutions, governments around the world could significantly reduce micronutrient deficiencies and dramatically reduce the incidence of stunting.”

The global economic slowdown, combined with high food prices, has added some 100 million people around the world to those already living in chronic hunger and poverty in 2008, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Between 3.5 million and 5 million children under five years of age die every year from malnutrition-related illnesses, accounting for 11 percent of the global burden of disease, according to the reports.

The MSF study said about 40 percent of nutrition funding flows were allocated to sub-Saharan Africa, where the main recipient countries included Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Niger, Kenya, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo; almost 18 percent of the funds went to South and Central Asia; the remainder was “unspecified”.

The nuts and bolts

Of the $11.8 billion the World Bank said was needed to address malnutrition in the 36 countries, $1.5 billion could be contributed by wealthier households in the beneficiary countries to purchase iodized salt and fortified staple foods, such as flour, which were available locally.

The World Bank study found that undernutrition was surprisingly high, even among the wealthiest populations. “For example, in India, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia, respectively 20, 30, and 37 percent of children under the age of five in the highest-income quintiles are underweight.”

The remaining $10.3 billion could buy vitamin A supplements, iron-folic acid tablets, and staple foods fortified with iron, among others, for several million children and mothers.

Besides rescuing lives, these interventions could save an estimated 30 million disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) or years lost to premature death and disability, as well as the money needed to treat patients and provide care.

Severe acute malnutrition could be halved from the current prevalence of 19 million; an estimated 138,000 of the current 276,000 annual deaths would be averted by preventive measures; a further 50,000 deaths would be averted by treating severe acute malnutrition.

Photo: OECD DAC

Spending on nutrition has been relatively flat

The World Bank study recommended scaling up interventions in two phases: expanding the distribution of micronutrients, and educating people about eating healthy food in Phase 1; providing complementary or therapeutic foods to prevent and treat moderate malnutrition in children younger than two, and spending on resource-intensive interventions to treat severe malnutrition in Phase 2.

However, MSF’s Doyon pointed out that prevention and treatment had to run concurrently. “What’s the point in educating people about micronutrient interventions when they will have to wait to access them? “

What about the money?

The World Bank study suggested that the allocation of funds in recipient countries would be made more efficient by filling the gaps in costed and agreed-upon national strategies, and noted that this perception was growing.

In a complementing move, several developed countries, including those in the EU, have “either developed new nutrition strategies or position papers on food security, or seem poised to do so”.

“It’s about changing the mindset from providing food aid to assistance, keeping the people’s needs in mind,” said Doyon.

The authors of the World Bank report were upbeat over the recent announcement by the G8 group of industrialised countries in L’Aquila, Italy, that an additional $20 billion over three years would be spent on food security.

There is also a possibility that Canada will pursue this agenda when the G8 meets next, in 2010, by moving “from food security to nutrition security”, offering “yet another opportunity for financing the nutrition scale-up”.

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Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

LUSAKA,  – Abigail Mwanashimba has been looking after her five siblings since the age of eight, when her parents died of AIDS-related illnesses. She is now 19 years old, and without relatives to represent her at her lobola (bride price) negotiations, she was forced to hire traditional counsellors to organise the process of marriage according to the tribal customs. They did a bad job.

“I don’t know anything about my tribe or its culture because there has never been anyone to teach or show me,” she told IRIN/PlusNews. “I got very little lobola, but the last straw was the humiliation I suffered at my in-laws’ home, when I embarrassed them by performing the wrong dance.”

Losing out on the bride price was one thing, but when she realised that the counsellors she had hired had taught her the wrong traditional dances, she refused to pay them their 500,000 Zambian kwacha (US$100) fee, and is now facing a lawsuit.

Agnes Ngubeni, from the central town of Kabwe, also knows this kind of humiliation; she has lived with the embarrassment of not having undergone an initiation ceremony when she came of age, and not being able to speak the language of her tribe.

“People called us goats … they said we were ‘cultureless’ and were not educated in the ways of our tribe. It never occurred to them that there was no-one to teach us – we lived without elders,” she said.

Ngubeni and her siblings were orphaned fifteen years ago when her oldest brother was just 10. A Norwegian family living in Zambia committed itself to looking after them, which meant they were clothed and fed, but this presented them with social problems.

Their neighbours ridiculed them for eating pasta, bread and rice, instead of the staple, nshima – thick maize-meal porridge – that neither she nor her three sisters can cook.

“The neighbours laughed at us for eating the white man’s food, which they said was not real food, but what are we supposed to do? We eat what we are given. That’s just how it is,” Ngubeni said.

Ngubeni recommends that people helping child-headed families should consider placing an adult relative or any other person of the same tribe among them to guide and mentor them in the ways of traditional society.

We are so engrossed in keeping the children off drugs and alcohol, and the girls from getting pregnant … that we lsoe sight of the fact that children need to be socialised in the ways of their tribe

Out of touch with culture

In its latest report on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) found that about 20,000 households in Zambia were led by children, but the number is increasing.

The report outlines the severe deprivations of food and shelter these children often face, and concludes that with more youngsters having to take on the responsibilities of running a household at an early age, there is every likelihood that more of them will end up on the street.

Joseph Banda heads Tisunge, a local organisation that assists child-headed households to deal with the trauma of loss, and teaches them income-generating and life skills, so that the children are able to fend for themselves and can continue their schooling.

Banda said it had never occurred to him that these children would struggle with cultural issues. “I am ashamed to say that I never saw the children’s situation in this way,” he admitted.

“We are so engrossed in keeping the children off drugs and alcohol, and the girls from getting pregnant, and making sure that they become good citizens, that we lose sight of the fact that children need to be socialised in the ways of their tribe.”

Child psychologist Trina Mayope warned that children growing up without the value of custom and tradition would have problems in future. “It’s about growing up with a cultural identity … The children feel isolation because the communities treat them as aliens, or as something not quite right because of their seeming lack of ‘traditional etiquette’.”

There is also the stigma attached to being orphaned by HIV/AIDS, as is mostly the case. “If these children don’t conform to the cultural norms of the society they live in they will suffer a double discrimination,” she noted.

Mayope acknowledged that urbanisation and the passing of time had caused people to discard many traditions, but the basics of culture were still important and largely defined how someone was perceived.

“It’s difficult for most people to comprehend how a child can grow up without knowing anything about his or culture. People think they [children] are trying to act like a muzungu [European], but when you have children whose mentor is a fellow child, how are they supposed to learn traditional norms and customs?”

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Photo: Laudes Mbon/IRIN

These mattresses have been donated to ease the refugees’ harsh conditions

 

BRAZZAVILLE, 20 November 2009 (IRIN) – Renewed clashes in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have led to a further wave of refugees, leaving corpse-littered villages in the affected area deserted, say humanitarian officials.

About 100 people are thought to have died in clashes over fishing rights in DRC’s South Ubangi district, which lies in Equateur province. Others are believed to have drowned while crossing the Ubangi river, which separates the two Congos.

“Today we have 30,600 displaced persons. We have had a massive influx since yesterday [19 November] because of a resumption in fighting,” Rufin Mafouta, head of the NGO Médecins d’Afrique in Impfondo, the main town in the Republic of Congo’s (ROC) northern Likouala department, told IRIN.

Likouala is located about 800km north of the capital, Brazzaville.

“There was a week we had just 24,000 refugees. The number has quickly risen because of a resumption in fighting in towns and villages in the DRC,” Mafouta said.

Conditions are harsh for the refugees.

“They are exposed to the bad weather,” Mafouta said. “The sanitary conditions remain worrying. We have recorded some cases of diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections and skin diseases among the children.”

“In Eboko, we carried out an evaluation and found there are a lot of unaccompanied children. They lost their parents,” he added. “There are also many pregnant women.”

An 18 November update by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Kinshasa said four children had died of diarrhoea in Eboko.

A recent interagency mission to the South Ubangi villages of Dongo, Tangala, Ozene and Kungu found Dongo deserted, with corpses still strewn in the streets, stated the OCHA report.

Houses, shops and other property were also burned. Congolese police deployed in the area are afraid for their health.

The refugees include members of the DRC’s navy, which patrols the Ubangi.

“We have been forced to flee with our families because we neither have weapons nor ammunition [to] protect ourselves,” Wazaba Paluku, a sergeant, told IRIN in the ROC village of Dongou, where sailors had taken refuge in a police station.

About 70 percent of the refugees are women and children, 25 percent are young people, with the rest elderly persons, according to Boubacar Ben Diallo, head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) crisis unit.

Hospitals reported receiving people with bullet and machete injuries.

DRC’s ambassador to the ROC, Esther Kirongozi, said her government had recently set up a special commission to find a lasting solution to the crisis.

DRC authorities also launched an appeal for its citizens to return home.

Aid agencies recently distributed about 15 tonnes of food and non-food items such as insecticide-treated bed nets, cooking pots, water jerry cans and blankets to the refugees in Betou, Boyele, Dongo and Impfondo following a joint UN and ROC ministry evaluation mission.

“The [donation] is inadequate but we have been forced to distribute [it], in the meantime [awaiting] other help,” noted UNHCR’s Diallo.

According to the police, some of the refugees are making their way back to their DRC villages across Ubangi River to harvest their crops before crossing back to the ROC.

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Photo: Siegfried/IRIN

Monika Juma, a multi-drug resistant TB and HIV-positive patient waits to be treated at the Blue House Clinic in Mathare slum, Nairobi, Kenya, 5 February 07. Monika has been treated for TB for two months

SIAYA,  – When Dorothy*, a single mother of five, told her neighbours in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, she had tuberculosis (TB), she expected sympathy and maybe even offers of help. Instead, she found herself so severely ostracized, she felt she had to move out.

“The kind of discrimination I faced from my neighbours made me regret [sharing] my condition with them; I could not even share the [communal] sink,” she told IRIN/PlusNews. “Yes, tuberculosis is very infectious, but those who have it are not death traps.”

According to Joseph Sitienei, head of the National Leprosy and TB Control Programme at the Ministry of Health, stigma associated with TB infection is a major impediment in rallying people to seek early diagnosis and treatment for the airborne disease.

“Many people still believe only those with HIV have tuberculosis and therefore they shy away from seeking diagnostic tests for TB, believing if they are found to have it, then it automatically means they are also HIV-positive,” he told IRIN/PlusNews. “By those infected not seeking treatment due to stigma, everybody is at great risk.”

Dropping out of treatment heightens the risk of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) developing, “which is very expensive and difficult to treat”, Sitienei added. Kenya has 353 people with MDR-TB, of whom about 70 are on treatment.

According to the Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey, 11.4 percent of Kenyans say they would want a family member’s TB infection kept secret due to stigma.

Kenya ranks 13th on the UN World Health Organization’s list of 22 high-burden TB countries in the world, and is the fifth highest in Africa. In 2008, the country had approximately 132,000 new cases.

Research conducted in Ghana in 2008 found some of the main causes of TB-related stigma were: fear of infection; TB’s association with HIV; health staff’s own fears; self-stigmatization by TB patients; and the blaming and shaming of TB patients by the public.

While Kenya has successfully integrated HIV and TB services at the testing level, TB counselling still trails behind counselling for HIV.

Education is key

“We have done well in offering HIV testing and counselling and diagnosis of TB, but not much has happened in trying to offer counselling services to people with TB,” said Nicholas Muraguri, head of the National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections Control Programme. “This is crucial and possible because it can easily be done within the voluntary testing and counselling facilities.”

According to Sitienei, public education about TB is crucial to provide a better understanding of the disease and improve health-seeking behaviour: “With proper counselling, people are better placed to understand their own situation and that of others,” he said.

“The truth is, TB spreads very fast, but it is important to help people relate to those with TB without themselves having to fear putting themselves at risk,” said Charles Mutua, a former TB patient.

“People must also be made to appreciate that TB infection is not necessarily synonymous with HIV infection. I, for example, had TB but I was never HIV infected,” he added.

According to Andrew Suleh, superintendent of Nairobi’s Mbagathi District Hospital, communication messages should include debunking popular myths - such as the idea that the disease can be transmitted by sharing utensils.

Ending health worker stigma

Sitienei said it was also important for health workers to understand the disease and treat patients with respect. In 2008, the government launched a communication campaign to reduce discrimination and stigma about HIV and TB among health workers.

“At times even the attitude among healthcare workers determines whether people seek services or not, even though our medical personnel are very conscious about issues of stigma,” he said. “Addressing stigma involves fighting it among the public, health workers and those who are infected with TB.”

Suleh noted that ensuring health workers were properly equipped to treat TB would help reduce stigmatization of patients.

“[Health worker stigma and discrimination] can arise when healthcare workers feel they are not given the adequate equipment or facilities to handle such cases,” he said.

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* Not her real name

UGANDA: AIDS Commission takes new direction in prevention

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

KAMPALA,  – The Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) is revamping its national HIV information campaign after HIV prevention messages were less successful than hoped.

“We shall use basic facts in the messages to communicate effectively because we have realized that the level of knowledge about basic facts on HIV information is quite limited,” said Saul Onyango, senior health educationist with the UAC.

The term high-risk sex – previously defined as sex with an irregular partner – is to be redefined as sex with anyone whose HIV status is not known. As such, the term “most at-risk populations” will no longer refer to specific groups such as sex workers, fishing communities and men who have sex with men, but to all members of the population engaging in risky sex.

Campaigns aimed at ending cross-generational sex will be abandoned in favour of generic warnings about engaging in risky sex because of fears that young people may believe that sex within their own generation is risk-free. Officials have also said factors such as alcohol abuse, which predispose people to risky sexual behaviour, must be tackled alongside HIV prevention.

The commission has assembled a team of medical and communication experts to develop the new messages, and will work with English and local language media to disseminate them.

“We have to change the destiny of this country, even if it means putting back the drums of the 1980s that used to frighten people,” said UAC director-general, David Kihumuro Apuuli.

An ominous drumbeat, followed by a booming voice warning that ”AIDS kills”, was the centre of a radio HIV prevention campaign when Uganda first began its fight against HIV in the late 1980s. Several senior officials – including Jesse Kagimba, senior presidential adviser on HIV/AIDS – have called for the return of fear-driven campaigns, which they say were instrumental in Uganda’s initial success in lowering prevalence.

However, detractors of this method say the key to success in prevention is education, not fear. Some studies show that scare tactics alone do not lead to behaviour change, but rather encourage denialism and fatalism. Experts also say that such campaigns promote stigma and discrimination, and that in the age of widely available life-prolonging antiretroviral medication, they could prove ineffective.

We need to change the mentality and behaviour of men; they have multiple sexual partnerships called side-dishes, which is creating a web

After successfully bringing prevalence down from more than 20 percent in the 1980s to about 6 percent by 2000, Uganda’s HIV levels have stagnated, showing a marginal increase in prevalence over the past few years.

Tailored response

The new messages will attempt to bring the HIV response in line with the drivers of the epidemic. According to a recent study, 37 percent of new Ugandan HIV infections are attributable to multiple partnerships, 35 percent occur within discordant monogamous couples, 18 percent are due to mother-to-child transmission, and 9 percent occur through commercial sex networks.

“We need to change the mentality and behaviour of men; they have multiple sexual partnerships called side-dishes, which is creating a web,” Kihumuro said. “Before we know it the whole of Kampala [the capital] will be entangled into one web.”

According to the UAC, there are 110,000 new HIV infections annually and 63,000 deaths from HIV-related illnesses.

The study found that although Uganda had made good progress in rolling out key HIV prevention services, the campaigns had not reached all sections of the population.

“Over three-quarters of all adults, including many people living with HIV, do not know their HIV sero-status; services for PMTCT currently reach less than half of pregnant women,” it found. “Although condom use has increased, its coverage has not yet reached the critical levels necessary for it to impact on population level HIV transmission.”

Kihumuro noted that there was an urgent need for the government to commit more resources to the fight against HIV/AIDS. At present, the government funds about 6 percent of the national HIV response.

“A lot of the money coming in is from donors; we cannot sustain this,” he added.

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Photo: Jefri Aries/IRIN

A survivor of the 30 September 2009 earthquake waits for aid amid the ruins of her house in Ketaping Village, Padang Pariaman district, West Sumatra (file photo)

BANGKOK, 19 November 2009 (IRIN) – Indonesia’s West Sumatra province, recently hit by a deadly 7.9 magnitude earthquake, is likely to experience an even bigger quake, and buildings need to be constructed to withstand this, experts say.

The 30 September earthquake, which struck off West Sumatra’s coast, hit the provincial capital of Padang, killing more than 1,100 people and leaving numerous collapsed and damaged buildings.

As a result, 45 engineers from Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, funded by the intergovernmental Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction, undertook a three-week survey of 4,000 buildings in the quake zone.

“Essentially we were looking at factors that have basically either contributed to their failure from the ground shaking, or also the factors that have contributed to … some structures not being impacted,” Matthew Hayne from Geoscience Australia and co-leader of the team, told IRIN.

“Some recent studies indicate there is a big [likelihood] of having an 8.5 earthquake in the next decade … Our building codes should consider this potential event,” said Wayan Sengara from the Center for Disaster Mitigation at the Institute of Technology Bandung in Indonesia, and co-leader of the survey team.

The survey has identified the need for technical advice and education for home builders, while there are also several engineering recommendations, including the proper use of reinforcement and concrete.

The results, which are being passed to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency, are intended to help build safer buildings during the reconstruction phase.

“One of the driving factors behind the survey that we’re doing here and the recommendations … relate to the fact that there is a high probability that the future event, when it occurs, will be a tsunamigenic event as well as that earthquake,” said Hayne.

Photo: ReliefWeb A powerful earthquake struck off the city of Padang on Indonesia’s Sumatra island on 30 September (file photo)

Preparing for the next disaster

The Indonesian government has put the number of severely and moderately damaged houses at 181,665, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) latest situation report on 3 November. Ten hospitals, 272 health facilities and 1,078 schools were damaged.

The survey team, assisted by university engineering students, focused on medical facilities and schools.

Sengara said building codes – which needed to be updated; the extent of compliance of building designs to the codes; and, in turn, the compliance of construction to building designs, were all factors that played into the extent of damage.

“Most of the buildings we surveyed [that] experienced some damage were constructed before 2002. So the construction behind the design of the building, and also the construction quality, seems to be one of the contributors to the damage,” he said.

He warned of an “accumulated risk” if the survey’s recommendations were not followed through, but also flagged difficulties with enforcing compliance with building codes, even if they were updated.

“This is an issue in many provinces in Indonesia. What happens is that the compliance of the design to the building code is not well enforced by the government,” said Sengara.

“Before the building can be constructed, there is supposed to be a building permit and before issuing this building permit, there should be some requirements. The compliance of the design to the building code has to be reviewed. And in the current situation, this process is weak,” he said.

Indonesia is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is vulnerable to seismic activity because tectonic plates meet there. West Sumatra’s low-lying coastline faces the Indian Ocean and the province has been called a “supermarket” for disasters, earthquakes and tsunamis by local officials.

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KENYA: The million man cut

Photo: Mercedes Sayagues/IRIN

KISUMU, 17 November 2009 (PlusNews) – The Kenyan government is expanding services to meet the growing demand for voluntary medical male circumcision after the launch of a national campaign a year ago.

“We believe the launch of a rapid results initiative to scale up what we are already offering will help meet the demand; our target is an ambitious one to see to it that at least 1.1 million of the uncircumcised men in this country get the cut by the end of five years,” said Jackson Kioko, director of medical services in western Nyanza Province.

Results of three random trials in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda in 2005 and 2006 demonstrated that medical male circumcision reduced the risk of HIV infection among men by up to 60 percent.

According to the Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey 2007, 85 percent of Kenyan men are circumcised; HIV prevalence is higher by three-to-five times in uncircumcised men. There are about 1.2 million uncircumcised men between the ages of 15 and 49 in Kenya, most of whom live in Nyanza Province, where fewer than 50 percent of men are circumcised.

Since the launch of the national campaign in November 2008, an estimated 40,000 men have been circumcised and 124 sites opened and equipped with facilities and personnel to offer the service. The government has trained 700 health workers in the province to offer the services in various health facilities.

“The trained health workers will ensure people who demand these services get them in a safe and timely manner and the training of others is ongoing across the various provinces within the country,” Kioko added.

The government also plans to roll out mobile medical circumcision. “We do not want people to opt out simply because the services are not near them and we are making arrangements that we go to them rather than them coming to us,” Kioko said. “We will, in the near future, offer infant medical circumcision; this has the potential to help people in time before their sexual debut.”

Experts remain emphatic, however, that male circumcision must not be viewed as a complete prevention tool. “It is refreshing to see that research is being put to use, but we should take precautions to ensure that we constantly give information that male circumcision must work along with other HIV infection prevention strategies to be effective,” said Kawango Agot, head of the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society.

“We have plans to launch a study to look into the sexual behaviours of men who have been circumcised to find out if they are engaging in risky behaviours due to the fact that they have been circumcised,” she added. “We hope this will ascertain if indeed people are engaging in [risky sex].”

A 2007 study in Kisumu, provincial capital of Nyanza, found that circumcision did not result in increased HIV risky behaviour. It found that as male circumcision became more widely promoted, there would be a need to monitor “risk compensation” associated with the procedure.

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AFRICA: Trying to give sex workers safer alternatives

Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

JOHANNESBURG,  – A plan by Malawi to offer prostitutes low-interest loans to start small businesses in return for abandoning sex work is generating controversy in a country where women are disproportionately affected by high rates of poverty and HIV.

“Most [sex workers] leave school at an early age, get pregnant, and then have to provide for a child, so they end up on the streets as a way to earn a bit of money,” said Ayam Maeresa, special assistant to the Minister of Gender, Children and Community Development, Patricia Kaliati, who proposed the plan after discussions with sex workers, most of whom said they had been driven into prostitution by poverty.

The plan aims to economically empower female sex workers and reduce the spread of HIV, but critics question whether it can achieve either of these goals when there are so few opportunities for Malawian women to earn more than they do from prostitution.

“If we help them to get out of this trade, we’ll also be helping to control the spread of HIV,” Maeresa told IRIN/PlusNews. He was vague about what type of businesses the women would be encouraged to set up, saying only that several NGOs had indicated they would provide business management training.

Rehabilitation approach flawed

Many initiatives in Africa have made attempts to help sex workers find alternative sources of income without much long-term success. None of the sex workers in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa interviewed in a recent study by the Open Society Institute (OSI) had found jobs after completing what the authors called “rehabilitation” programmes.

“They offer women an alternative job in another part of the informal economy that is equally if not more unpredictable, and often leads to the women earning much less money,” said Vivienne Mentor-Lalu of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), a Cape Town-based NGO that lobbies for the rights of sex workers.

Men stand on the side of the road selling their labour, and women stand on the side of the road selling sex

Research by SWEAT found that a South African woman with primary school education could earn up to four times more doing sex work than any other job she would be eligible for, if she could find a job in a country with around 25 percent unemployment.

“In South Africa we have this phenomenon where men stand on the side of the road selling their labour, and women stand on the side of the road selling sex,” said Mentor-Lalu, who was worried that programmes steering women away from sex work were often less concerned with economic empowerment and reducing HIV risk than promoting a conservative moral agenda.

The OSI report suggested that the popularity of such interventions was linked to restrictions on foreign funding that undermined rights-based approaches favoured by the sex workers. Organisations that receive funding from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), for example, are required to sign an “anti-prostitution pledge” that they will not support or promote sex work.

Marlise Richter, a South Africa-based researcher, said the requirement had “a chilling effect” on efforts to support sex workers’ rights. “Sex workers don’t need to be rehabilitated, they need to be given skills and a safe working environment. I can see there’s a place for exit programmes and microloans, but you’re not dealing with the underlying system.”

Rights not rescue

In most of Africa, as in the rest of the world, the underlying system is one that criminalises sex work, making it difficult for sex workers to access health services or to report abuse at the hands of clients, pimps and even police.

As host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa is ahead of much of the rest of continent in starting to debate the merits of decriminalising sex work, a move supported by the National AIDS Council. “Increasingly, there’s recognition that you can’t begin to look at sex work and HIV if you don’t look at sex workers’ rights,” said Mentor-Lalu.

Explaining how the abuse of those rights could contribute to HIV infections, she cited the practice of police confiscating condoms from sex workers; of having to pay fines, when arrested, which made the women more likely to agree to unprotected sex for a higher fee; the marginalisation of prostitutes that prevented them from accessing health services.

Rather than addressing any of these issues, the Malawian plan would penalise women who returned to prostitution after accepting a loan from the government. “If it becomes a law, that will be one of the conditions,” the gender ministry’s Maeresa confirmed. “If you return to the streets, it [sex work] becomes a criminal offence.”

The Reproductive Health & HIV Research Unit (RHRU) of the University of Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa, have adopted a more flexible approach with their “Beauty Shack” project for sex workers from the inner-city neighbourhood of Hillbrow.

After completing training in beauty therapy at a local health spa, the women are encouraged to give up sex work and start businesses or seek jobs, but if they choose not to they can still participate in the programme as peer educators, earning a monthly stipend of US$134.

Nonhlanhla Motlokoa of RHRU, who coordinates the “Beauty Shack” project, is optimistic that it will be more successful than previous initiatives offering training in cooking and sewing. Although some of the women “are scared to take that leap”, two have already secured full-time jobs at the spa where they were trained, while others are enthusiastic about the possibility of starting small businesses.

RHRU also operates a mobile clinic that provides condoms, HIV counselling and testing, and treatment of sexually transmitted infections at hotels where the women live and work.

Researcher Richter applauded RHRU’s public-health approach, but insisted that “The bottom line is the criminalisation of sex work that results in stigma and abuse,” and that only legal reform could address the gender-based violence and lack of legal recourse that put sex workers at most risk of HIV.

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by Philip Mwakio

The bad-boy of American film Nicholas Cage is in the country on a mercy mission targeting inmates in a Kenyan prison.

The award-winning actor best known for his flamboyant and eccentric roles in films such as National Treasure, Con Air, Lord of War and Adaptation, among others, arrived under the cover of darkness on Monday night. Few passengers accompanying him on a flight from Nairobi to Mombasa could recognise him.

(Right) Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage and Executive Director United Nations office on drugs and crime, Antonio Costa (Second right) with inmates and officials at Shimo la Tewa Prison. Photos: Omondi Onyango /Standard

The 45-year-old actor arrived in Mombasa after flying in from Kampala in Uganda, where he spent two days raising awareness on war victims, such as those in Uganda’s Gulu region in the northern part of the country that has been devastated by child abduction and rape orchestrated by the Lords Resistance Army.

Cage, who is also an ardent human rights activist, is reported to have been moved by the grim images from Gulu that he saw while attending a funds drive in New York in the US.

Flanked by his aides and spotting a moustache, Cage appeared in a hurry as he tried to evade cameramen at the Moi International Airport arrival lounge at around midnight on Monday.

Cage is touring under the auspices of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and on Tuesday visited Shimo la Tewa Maximum Security Prison where he inaugurated a modern energy-saving kitchen funded by the UN office.

Pirates

UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa and programmes coordinator Allan Cole, as well as Shimo la Tewa officer in charge Wanini Keriri, conducted Cage on an extensive tour of the facility.

The UN body is also undertaking several infrastructure upgrade projects at the correctional facility. Apart from the new kitchen, UNODC is also involved in constructing staff houses and recreational facilities at Shimo la Tewa.

During his tour, Cage chatted with prisoners including the Somali pirates being held at the facility. “We have seen the prison facility and are amazed at the reforms and skills being imparted on them as they serve their jail terms,” Cage was reported to have said as he left the facility.

He and his entourage were entertained by prisoners before presenting certificates to prison warders who have been supportive of UNODC projects at the prisons.

60 films

The son of a comparative literature professor from Long Beach, California made a debut in television in 1981 and has never looked back since.

The Hollywood actor has appeared in over 60 films, picking an Oscar for National Treasure, among other awards, in a career spanning more than two decades.

In the movie, Cage plays an eccentric historian who goes on a dangerous adventure to find treasure hidden by the founding fathers of the United States.

Cage is staying at the Mombasa Serena Hotel, and the management of the four-star hotel, a member of the Club Best Resorts of the World, said they were not sparing any effort in pampering their famous guest. An exclusive breakfast on the beach designed for Cage and three others was laid out on the white sandy beach yesterday.

Last evening, a dinner was set at sunset at the popular hotel’s Jahazi Grill, which specialises in seafood.

Sources told The Standard that Cage had ordered drinks that had never been asked for since the hotel was built in 1975. The menu consisted of a 24-course meal and Cage was said to be keen on devouring his favourite dish – lobster thermidor.

The lobsters are first removed from the shells and fried with spices then cream and cheese added before being put back in the shells. The actor is expected to fly back to the US Wednesday morning.

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by Biketi Kikechi and Jibril Adan

The first liberation was Independence in 1963, the second was tumultuous clamour for return of multipartism, which peaked in 1990, and the third could have begun on Tuesday.

In the three phases the war has been empowerment of the voter, respect for universal suffrage, clipping of presidential powers, and making every citizen count.

On Tuesday, the nation was put on track, through public release of the harmonised draft constitution that could lead to the ‘third liberation’.

This road is paved with the hard lessons, the bitter memories of the sad moments the constitution has failed us, and acceptance by the majority of Kenyans that comprehensive reforms are not only inevitable but also vital for national survival.

Kenyans’ wishes

The draft released by the Committee of Experts at the KICC, seeks to coalesce the wishes of Kenyans through the years in the way they want to be ruled. It builds on the aspirations of freedom fighters before Independence, the remonstrations of citizens, the reformist leaders, the civil society, and international standards of democratic practice and space. If accepted, it would symbolically be the ‘third liberation’ from competing interests.

The draft, which Kenyans will debate and present their views on after 30 days, attacks the powers of the presidency, seeks to introduce a powerful premiership, and to keep the President and the PM who share Executive power in check. It drastically seeks to embolden and empower Parliament and the Cabinet.

President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity pushed for retention of an all-powerful presidency, while Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement pitched for a powerful premiership and a ceremonial President.

Option given

The CoE draft seeks to unite Kenyans on this potentially divisive issue by giving them the option of a hybrid system — that distributes Executive authority between the two offices.

It also proposes the President, once every year, reports, in an address to the nation, progress in national duty. It proposes that presidential election be held on the Tuesday, immediately preceding the 21 days before the expiry of the term of the President. The format of National Oaths will also change, as ministers will swear allegiance to the PM.

If passed the massive powers vested in the presidency will no longer be applied at the whim of the incumbent as checks and balances have been proposed. For example, Parliament shall vet executive appointments.

The draft proposes that persons seeking presidential office should not be MPs when they are sworn- into office. Today, the President enjoys immense and unchecked powers, allowing him to make executive decisions without reference to any other institution.

According to draft, the Cabinet will be chaired by the PM and does not include the president. In addition it seeks to move the office of the Secretary to the Cabinet from President to PM’s office.

The draft introduces bold proposals on the appointments of all constitutional office holders. For instance, it recommends Attorney General hold office for one term of 10 years. The same will also apply to the Chief Justice.

Also to be established will be a Supreme Court that would be the highest court in the land.

The President’s powers of appointments such as of Chief Justice are watered down by requirement that after recommendation by the Judicial Service Commission, Parliament has to be approved it.

In the harmonised draft, the State President can only dismiss the Deputy Prime Minister, a minister or a deputy minister, “on the advice of the Prime Minister”.

The PM can be sacked by Parliament, through a vote of no confidence, which the President ratifies within a week.

Removal of PM

It proposes that removal of the PM — who should be the leader of the majority party or coalition in the House — by Parliament be based on simple majority vote while President can be impeached by a minimum of a two-thirds majority vote.

But to check against the abuse of the provision, it proposes the entire Cabinet resigns if a no confidence Motion in Parliament falls the PM.

Holders of constitutional offices would still be appointed by the President, but on the advice of the PM and with Parliament’s approval.

The Standard analysed the harmonised draft constitution released by the Committee of Experts (CoE) on Friday and Saturday last week, and there were no contradictions between the report and the draft released on Tuesday.

Its highlights include proposal that the deputy president must have been the winning candidate’s running mate in the presidential election.

He or she will also execute the powers of the President when the incumbent is indisposed or abroad. If the office of the President falls vacant half way through term, there would be no election and the deputy president shall take over. “We have struck a balance and there will be no conflict between the President and the Prime Minister,” said chairman Nzamba Kitonga during the launch.

The proposed constitution also recommends the dissolution of the Provincial Administration because the national government will restructure itself into devolved units.

Devolved government

Civil servants serving as PCs and DCs will report to the Public Service Commission for redeployment. It also provides for a devolved government, with eight regions, down from the initial 14 in last week’s draft.

The Prime Minister shall be the head of government and shall direct and co-ordinate the work of ministries and legislation. The PM shall preside over Cabinet meetings consisting of himself or herself, Deputy Prime Minister, and not fewer than 15 and not more than 20 ministers.

The PM, it proposes, can also appoint not more than 10 people, who are not MPs to the Cabinet.

“Before anybody claims that the president will be ceremonial he should read the draft we have released,” Nzamba said, adding the presidency proposed in the draft would enjoy executive powers.

“He will be the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and will have powers to dissolve Parliament if it failed,” he said.

He made it clear the president and PM shall work in harmony. “The President will not be involved in the small issues of the running the day-to-day activities of the Government,” he said.

Major appointments

All major appointments by the President shall have to be approved by Parliament according to the draft constitution.

Mr Kitonga explained the role of Parliament in approving senior appointments was expanded to curtail the abuse of State power by the President. “These powers have always been open to abuse and we introduced these checks to limit them,” he said.

Overall, the draft introduces many checks on all public offices to limit abuse of power. Even in the case of MPs, a clause allowing voters to recall legislators, if they failed in their duties, has been included.

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GLOBAL: Mismatch between HIV spending and need

Photo: Allan Gichigi/IRIN

JOHANNESBURG,  – The global economic crisis may have the positive spinoff of forcing countries to allocate increasingly scare HIV/AIDS resources more efficiently.

A recent analysis of national spending on HIV/AIDS found a correlation between prevalence and the amount countries spent on the disease, but a mismatch between how the money was spent and the areas of greatest need.

Researchers from the AIDS Financing and Economics Division at UNAIDS and the Centre for Economic Governance and AIDS in Africa (CEGAA) used a tool developed by UNAIDS to track and report how much domestic and international funding was spent in eight different areas of HIV programming by 50 countries in 2006.

Their findings are published in a December supplement of the AIDS journal, which focuses on progress in achieving global HIV targets.

The data lends weight to recent calls by AIDS experts to concentrate dwindling resources for HIV/AIDS on well-managed interventions that have a strong evidence base.

Several countries with the highest HIV prevalence were found to be most dependent on external funding sources – and therefore the most vulnerable to potential cuts by donors in the economic downturn.

In the 17 low-income countries included in the analysis, 87 percent of HIV funding came from international donors, with bilateral assistance financing 53 percent of antiretroviral treatment.

Middle-income countries that rely mainly on domestic budgets to fund their HIV programmes, such as Botswana and Brazil, may also be forced to do more with less as their national revenues take a hit in the global financial crisis.

Botswana, with the second highest HIV prevalence in the world, had by the far the highest per capita spending on HIV in 2006 (US$70.40), followed by Swaziland ($17.30), while the remaining sub-Saharan African countries spent an average of $5.90 per capita.

Treatment and care absorbed large shares of overall HIV funding in many countries, leaving prevention initiatives underfunded; stigma and a lack of accurate HIV surveillance data on minority groups meant they were most often overlooked.

Countries with generalized epidemics (more than one percent of the population is HIV-positive) spent twice as much on treatment as on prevention, with about 30 percent of overall HIV expenditure going on prevention efforts.

Countries with concentrated epidemics (HIV infection is mainly confined to certain groups, such as injecting drug-users or sex workers) often spent most of their prevention budgets on broad programmes that missed the most at-risk populations.

In Latin American countries, for example, where an estimated 60 percent of people living with HIV are men who have sex with men, only 0.5 percent of funds for prevention were targeted at this group.

The researchers concluded that most governments were not basing the allocation of HIV resources on a thorough understanding of their country’s epidemic, nor were they opting for the most effective, evidence-based approaches.

“The global economic recession will force countries to rethink national strategies, especially in low-income countries with high aid dependency,” they commented. “More than ever, countries need to know their epidemic, and both resource allocations and their HIV programmes need to reflect those data and analyses.”

ks/he source.irinnews.org

President Obama’s special envoy on war crimes Stephen Rapp in Nairobi on Monday. Photo/HEZRON NJOROGE

Kenya, he added, had no choice but to cooperate with the ICC. He underscored the need for a local special tribunal as a first line remedy to end the culture of impunity. He criticised the Grand Coalition Government of reneging on an important promise they made to bring the suspects to book.

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ZAMBIA: Orphans grow up without cultural identity

Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

LUSAKA, 16 November 2009 (PlusNews) – Abigail Mwanashimba has been looking after her five siblings since the age of eight, when her parents died of AIDS-related illnesses. She is now 19 years old, and without relatives to represent her at her lobola (bride price) negotiations, she was forced to hire traditional counsellors to organise the process of marriage according to the tribal customs. They did a bad job.

“I don’t know anything about my tribe or its culture because there has never been anyone to teach or show me,” she told IRIN/PlusNews. “I got very little lobola, but the last straw was the humiliation I suffered at my in-laws’ home, when I embarrassed them by performing the wrong dance.”

Losing out on the bride price was one thing, but when she realised that the counsellors she had hired had taught her the wrong traditional dances, she refused to pay them their 500,000 Zambian kwacha (US$100) fee, and is now facing a lawsuit.

Agnes Ngubeni, from the central town of Kabwe, also knows this kind of humiliation; she has lived with the embarrassment of not having undergone an initiation ceremony when she came of age, and not being able to speak the language of her tribe.

“People called us goats … they said we were ‘cultureless’ and were not educated in the ways of our tribe. It never occurred to them that there was no-one to teach us – we lived without elders,” she said.

Ngubeni and her siblings were orphaned fifteen years ago when her oldest brother was just 10. A Norwegian family living in Zambia committed itself to looking after them, which meant they were clothed and fed, but this presented them with social problems.

Their neighbours ridiculed them for eating pasta, bread and rice, instead of the staple, nshima – thick maize-meal porridge – that neither she nor her three sisters can cook.

“The neighbours laughed at us for eating the white man’s food, which they said was not real food, but what are we supposed to do? We eat what we are given. That’s just how it is,” Ngubeni said.

Ngubeni recommends that people helping child-headed families should consider placing an adult relative or any other person of the same tribe among them to guide and mentor them in the ways of traditional society.

Out of touch with culture

We are so engrossed in keeping the children off drugs and alcohol, and the girls from getting pregnant … that we lsoe sight of the fact that children need to be socialised in the ways of their tribe

In its latest report on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) found that about 20,000 households in Zambia were led by children, but the number is increasing.

The report outlines the severe deprivations of food and shelter these children often face, and concludes that with more youngsters having to take on the responsibilities of running a household at an early age, there is every likelihood that more of them will end up on the street.

Joseph Banda heads Tisunge, a local organisation that assists child-headed households to deal with the trauma of loss, and teaches them income-generating and life skills, so that the children are able to fend for themselves and can continue their schooling.

Banda said it had never occurred to him that these children would struggle with cultural issues. “I am ashamed to say that I never saw the children’s situation in this way,” he admitted.

“We are so engrossed in keeping the children off drugs and alcohol, and the girls from getting pregnant, and making sure that they become good citizens, that we lose sight of the fact that children need to be socialised in the ways of their tribe.”

Child psychologist Trina Mayope warned that children growing up without the value of custom and tradition would have problems in future. “It’s about growing up with a cultural identity … The children feel isolation because the communities treat them as aliens, or as something not quite right because of their seeming lack of ‘traditional etiquette’.”

There is also the stigma attached to being orphaned by HIV/AIDS, as is mostly the case. “If these children don’t conform to the cultural norms of the society they live in they will suffer a double discrimination,” she noted.

Mayope acknowledged that urbanisation and the passing of time had caused people to discard many traditions, but the basics of culture were still important and largely defined how someone was perceived.

“It’s difficult for most people to comprehend how a child can grow up without knowing anything about his or culture. People think they [children] are trying to act like a muzungu [European], but when you have children whose mentor is a fellow child, how are they supposed to learn traditional norms and customs?”

zg/kn/he source.irinnews.org

By Saikou Jammeh-

Banjul, The Gambia:  In a discussion paper launched in Banjul today on the occasion of the 46^th Ordinary Session of the  African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, underway here  in The Gambia, a group of Sudanese human rights activists called for urgent reform of the public order regime in Sudan.

The paper entitled, Beyond Trousers: The Public Order Regime and the Human Right of Women and Girls in Sudan, reveals the dreadful state of Sudanese women amid the public order regime, which impedes on the personal, social, economic and professional lives of women in Sudan.

Presenting the report to the Commission, Dr. Albaqir Mukhtar of the Al-Khatim Centre for Enlightenment and Human Development described the public order regime in Sudan as, “a set of laws and mechanisms which in addition to dealing with matters of public security, prohibits and enforce a range of behavior ranging from “dancing at private parties”, to “indecent dress” and even intention to commit adultery.

These offences, the activist went on  can be interpreted with great latitude and are enforced by special police and court system with a reputation for violence and summery justice, noting that severe penalties including lashing and execution are attached to these crimes.

“The experience of women with the public order regime constitutes a litany of suffering and lost opportunity,” Dr. Albaqir Mukhtar quoted Hala Alkarib, the Executive Director of SIHA, as saying. “Women from all walks of life especially the most vulnerable and marginalized live under daily threat of arrest and brutal punishment for “ill-defined behaviors” that should never be the subject of criminal law in a democratic society”.

He reminds the participants of the high profile trial of a Sudanese Journalist MS. Lubna Hussein was arrested in a restaurant in Khartoum and charged with indecent and immoral acts “under the criminal Code of 1991.

According to him, Lubna though refused to submit to trail and demand a lawyer- a resistance which earned her a temporal reprieve, 10 other women who were arrested alongside her, were immediately tried. “they were denied legal representation, and all declared guilty and immediately lashed including a 16-year-old girl.

Lubna’s case was transferred from the Special Public Order courts to the normal courts; however she was still denied the right to present a defense or witnesses and was convicted.

“It’s not a question of trousers,” he said, “the public order regime expresses and enforces an ideology that considers that women should not have equal access to public and private freedoms including- the basic components of the right to liberty, security of person and fair trial as set out in articles 6 and 7 of the African Charter.

“The public order regime is an oppressive tool which does not impacts the lives of individuals but also the development of Sudan as a whole.

Dr. Albaqir Alafiff said: “there is need for courage. Reform of the public order regime requires a fundamental shift in the approach to the use of law and state power. But it is essential not just to fulfill the constitutional obligation to ensure of equal protection of the laws, but also ensure a real transformation in Sudan.

“Up till now this aspect, although acknowledged by the political parties, has not been made a priority. People should know that the public order law contravenes not only the African Charter and the interim constitution of Sudan, but also lacks cultural legitimacy. It is alien to the Sudanese culture and well entrenched religious traditions.

Meanwhile the paper presented contains series of recommendations for bringing Sudanese law into conformity with the requirements of the African  on human and peoples’ rights in order to ensure the liberation of Sudanese People especially women.

As part of the recommendation the activist called on the Commission to recall Sudan’s obligation to implement the recommendations of the Commission with respect to reform of the Public Order Regime. He also called for the immediate amendment of the criminal Law of 1991 to be in conformity with its obligation under the African Charter.

“Sudan must implement the recommendations of the African Commission to Sudan to both abolish penalty of lashing,” he urged.  “We also call on the special rapporteur on the rights of women to offer assistance to the government of Sudan in the processes of law reform”.

end

Sudanese nationals in Diaspora will now be able to register and participate in the 2010 elections from South Africa, Kenya and Uganda, revealed the Sudan Ambassador to Kenya Majok Guandong on November 16, 2009. Photo/FILE

In addition, two more centres will be opened in Nakuru and Eldoret where Mr Guandong observed had many Sudanese nationals.

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“It’s totally mistaken for us to expect that only through financial assistance from the developed world the developing world will grow its own food and feed its own people.”

“It’s not charity, it’s business,” said Anil Jain, managing director of Indian company Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd, summing up opinions at a business forum organised by FAO to drum up support from the private sector.

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US President Barack Obama takes questions from participants at a town hall-style meeting with future Chinese leaders at the Museum of Science and Technology in Shanghai November 16, 2009. REUTERS

But at a gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in Singapore over the weekend, Hu pointedly ignored international calls for his government to raise the value of the yuan and make Chinese exports relatively more expensive.

“Either from the perspective of promoting stable global economic development, or from the perspective of promoting a recovery in Chinese exports, we must provide a stable and predictable environment for our enterprises, including macro-economic policy and currency policy,” said Yao Jian, a ministry spokesman.

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On Monday US crude futures for December delivery rose $1.06 to $77.41 a barrel by 0751 GMT, regaining most of last week’s 1.4 percent losses.

It said most signs pointed towards gradual growth in fuel consumption, but there were risks to the downside.

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A special service at Westminster Abbey last week marked the end of this year’s war heroes buffs’ season. As in previous occasions, Africans remained unmentioned. Many Africans were left with no rewards after a world war they were tricked or coerced into joining. Above, French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Combed its colonies

(Cmbitiru@hotmail.com)

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Former Uganda Army Commander Major General James Kazini. He died on Tuesday morning. Photo/FILE

By Kenfrey KiberengeTwo days after winning a marathon in 2007, Kenyan-born Mushir Salem Jawher – previously Leonard Mucheru – was stripped of his Bahraini citizenship for competing in Israel.

And so Jawher became stateless, since he was assumed he had denounced his Kenyan passport when he acquired that of Bahrain in 2004.

Imagine also having to queue in different lines with your own children simply because they are regarded as foreigners and you are Kenyan.

Your only mistake is being a woman.

This is the experience Ms Koki Muli, the executive director of Institute for Education in Democracy, has had to contend with.

“My children are French and they have to get a permit to live in Kenya. It is more traumatising when we are travelling because we have to queue on different lines as different nationals, here and abroad,” she says.

Traumatising

In the Constitution, a man can bestow citizenship to his foreign wife, and subsequently his children, but the same is prohibited for a woman.

Muli, who is married to a Frenchman, says she is the only Kenyan in the family.

“I am waiting for the new constitution with bated breath because it is very traumatising,” she says.

These two cases represent the dilemma of the more than three million Kenyans living abroad.

As other countries pursue multiple citizenships, Kenya is still grappling with the law that prohibits dual citizenship.

Those who are working or studying abroad are also denied several services by host governments — such as subsidised healthcare, education and tax relief.

Egara Kabaji, the spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adds another twist to the debate.

He says most Kenyans in the Diaspora miss out on opportunities for better jobs just because they are foreigners.

“Have you ever wondered why most professionals, especially in the US, take up shoddy jobs?” poses Prof Kabaji.

But even as the debate over whether to include dual citizenship in the new constitution continues, some say politicians are waiting to use it to win support of Kenyans in the Diaspora come 2012 General Election.

Lawyer Paul Muite says the clause denying dual citizenship was included to ensure people from certain countries do not settle in Kenya.

“Now, these fears do not exist. Actually, it is the other way round: It is Kenyans who are going to those countries,” says Muite.

He argues many Kenyans have been denied citizenship of other countries on grounds their countries do not allow dual citizenship.

“As a result, they cannot benefit from services such as subsidised healthcare from the host nation, which they fund. In effect, it means they cannot contribute more to the local economy,” he argues.

Kenyans abroad

The Kenyan community abroad has contributed immensely to the economy through remittances. Experts say this could increase with the provision of dual citizenship.

Statistics released by the Central Bank last week, show Kenyans abroad have pumped into the economy Sh207 billion between January 2004 and September.

Last year alone, they remitted $611 million (about Sh46 billion).

Kabaji says a survey is being conducted to ascertain the number of Kenyans abroad.

He says estimates indicate there are more than three million Kenyans in the Diaspora.

“Their remittances are now beating coffee sales,” he observes.

Muite, who chaired the Departmental Committee on the Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs in the Ninth Parliament, believes dual citizenship should not await the new constitution since it is not contentious.

In the run-up to the 2007 General Election, his committee tagged this as one of the amendments in the proposed minimum reforms.

“All political parties were in agreement we should have dual citizenship but the Government sabotaged reforms,” recalls Muite.

During the campaigns, the three leading presidential contenders dangled this carrot to Kenyans in the Diaspora, while on trips abroad.

Kibaki’s promise

Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s ODM and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka’s ODM-Kenya had dual citizenship in their manifestoes. President Kibaki promised the new constitution would provide for this.

But two years down the line, little has changed. Instead they are banking on the new law, which has always been a pipe dream.

“All you need is a constitution amendment Bill and it won’t cost you a thing to get the two-thirds of MPs to support it,” says Muite.

But Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mutula Kilonzo calls for patience, saying the new constitution is in the horizon.

“If going by the Press reports, then the Committee of Experts has finalised the harmonisation of the draft constitution,” Mutula says.

The minister says because of the draft constitution, it would not be wise to go for piecemeal amendments.

Kabaji is also optimistic the new law would allow dual citizenship. “Clamour for dual citizenship is no longer an issue. It is just a matter of time before it is actualised,” he says.

And in the unlikely event it is not passed, Mutula adds, “We will amend the Constitution to allow for dual citizenship”.

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By Standard Reporter

The Government has entered into an agreement with the United Nations to host a global postal meeting in Nairobi next year.

Information and Communications Minister Samuel Poghisio and the Director General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), Edouard Dayan, on Wednesday signed a formal agreement on the hosting of the UPU Strategy Conference in Nairobi in September next year.

A brief signing ceremony was held at UPU headquarters in Bern, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the ongoing UPU’s Council of Administration.

The Council of Administration is the body of 41 member countries that oversees the Union’s activities. Kenya is the current chair.

“The post is going through tremendous transformation in response to new challenges brought about by the changing market environment and technology,” said the minister.

“It is our responsibility, as UPU members, to ensure the post continues to play the important role it does in our economies. The Nairobi Strategy Conference will be one important forum to discuss the future of this important industry, ” he added.

The strategy conference will take place on September 22 and 23, at the United Nations complex in Nairobi.

About 800 delegates from the UPU’s 191 member countries and international organisations are expected to attend the meeting.

The conference is held at the half-way point between two Universal Postal Congresses to monitor progress in achieving the UPU’s world postal strategy. The last Universal Postal Congress, held every four years, took place in Geneva in 2008.

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Realised benefits

Recently, private sector players under the aegis of the East African Business Council gave their audit on the steps towards the integration. According to the council, the partner states should expedite the process of harmonising the customs enforcement regulations.

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Nigeria’s Mutiu Adegoke ( 18) and Sani Kaita (16) of Super Eagles fight for the ball against Robert Mambo of Harambee during a past friendly match at Moi international Sports Centre, Kasarani. Nigeria beat Kenya 3-2 on Saturday to qualify for the World Cup. PHOTO/ FILE

Nigeria – Vincent Enyama, Joseph Yobo, Echejile Elderson, Olofinjana Oluwafeni (Yusuf Atanda),Obina Mwanzeri, Apan Oluwaseyi, John Obi Mikel, Ajilore Oluwafeni, Michael Enerana,Yakubu Aiyegbeni,Peter Odemwinie. Substitutes used – Yusuf Atanda, Obafemi Martin,Obina Nsofor.

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US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Reuters Washington Bureau Chief Simon Denyer after an interview in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, November 9, 2009. The interview had been pitched as a preview of the trip he is starting this week to Asia, and especially about China. REUTERS

We worked through our carefully prepared questions, attempting the occasional follow-up but acutely conscious that time spent trying to pin down an answer was time eaten up.

“Next time we see each other I’m sure I will have all the nuclear stuff solved,” Obama joked as we left.

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Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) delegation and religious leaders walk to the jungle to meet fugitive rebel commander Joseph Kony in Ri-Kwangba on the Sudan-Congo border, Western Equatoria, April 10, 2008. Photo/REUTERS

The two decades of violence in Uganda displaced 2 million.

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The violence in Niger’s north closed down the tourism industry and threatened mining operations. French nuclear giant Areva plans to open a 1.2 billion euro uranium mine in Niger, making the desert state a leading global uranium exporter.

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Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme said there was one Chinese and 22 Bangladeshi crew on board the Fengli 8, and that a European Union naval ship, the Fridtjof Nansen, was en route to the area to provide assistance.

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