This past week Africa Action participated in the United States Social Forum (USSF) in Detroit.  It was an exciting opportunity for Africa Action to come together in solidarity, sharing experiences and struggles across social justice movements.

One of Africa Action’s key events at the USSF was the Detroit to Dakar (D2D) People’s Movement Assembly.  This Assembly represented an opportunity to bring together activists both within the U.S. and African countries to connect their struggles, build solidarity and come up with recommendation to the continent’s development and fight for human rights.  Briggs Bomba, Africa Action’s Director of Campaigns, along with Emira Woods, Africa Action’s Board Chair, led a vibrant discussion, strategizing action plans.  Participants recommended certain themes to be included in the action plan including; neocolonialism, AFRICOM, internal displacement and the political economy of relationships with Africa countries.  The Assembly resulted in a resolution with recommendations that was presented to the USSF and built momentum for the World Social Forum to be hosted in Dakar, Senegal, February 7-11, 2011. (see D2D USSF Thematic Papers for more information).

Meryl Zendarski, Africa Action’s expert consultant on the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), held a workshop titled “International Financial Institutions and Climate Change: The Inga Dam and Community Impacts in Congo.”  The Grand Inga Dam is a World Bank project along the Congo River (Nzadi River) that could produce upwards of 44,000 MW of electricity. This workshop highlighted possible social impacts and environmental concerns surrounding the Grand Inga Dam, as well as the complex implications that the Grand Inga Dam could have for both the local communities in Congo and our global ecosystem. 

We learned that there is no plan to provide Congolese household with electricity and many people will lose their farmland and their livelihoods in order to build this dam.  There is not much confidence that Congolese people will be compensated for their displacement since people were never paid for Inga I and Inga II, and over 9,000 people still live at “Camp Kinshasa” without electricity and running water near these project sites.  Additionally, the Grand Ingo Dam will flood the Bundi Valley.

The building of the Grand Inga Dam will have both local and global environmental implications, including:
  • Clear cutting swaths of rainforest will be necessary to create paths for transmission lines.  This rainforest is the second largest rainforest in the world, and is crucial for balancing our world’s ecosystem-
  • Loss of fish populations and destruction of river ecosystems are common outcomes of river damming and turbines.  Currently the Congo River has the second richest diversity of fish on earth-
  • The Congo River serves as a vital conduit of terrestrial minerals and carbon to the ocean floor in the Atlantic Ocean-
  • Finally, if there was local access to electricity from the dam this could decrease deforestation in DRC, because people would be less likely to cut wood for fuel and building-
Briggs Bomba, Director of Campaigns, was part of the panel, “Power-sharing Deals in Africa: Implications for Democracy – The Case of Zimbabwe & Kenya.”  The panel consisted of Briggs Bomba (Zimbabwe), Esther Mwarua (Kenya), Hopewell Gumbo with the Debt Cancellation Coalition of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), and Dr. Stanford Mukasa, Assistant Professor at the University of Indiana in Pennsylvania (Zimbabwe).  All four speakers agreed that power-sharing deals in Kenya and Zimbabwe are a positive step in the short-term, since they appear to decrease violence and helped put economies back on their feet.  Nevertheless, the group disagreed on other factors.  This workshop was a vibrant exchange of ideas and opinions, and was moderated by Emira Woods.  Below are some comments made by the panelists in the discussion;
  • Hopewell Gumbo remarked that the power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe meant two things, “1)violence was going to stop and 2) economic relief.”  
  • Esther Mwarua also agreed on these points but questioned whether in the long-term sharing power can be sustained. 
  • Dr. Stanford Mukasa believes that power-sharing in Zimbabwe is a mixed blessing, as in his opinion the latest developments in the country reveals not only struggles between the parties but also a class struggle, in which there is less rhetoric on human rights and more about bringing in more resource to the country.
  •  Briggs Bomba introduced the international dimension of power-sharing, remarking that the U.S. and British governments helped broker the power-sharing deal in Kenya.
You can find more information regarding power-sharing agreements in Zimbabwe and Kenya in an article written by Briggs Bomba titled, Ballots versus Bullets in Kenya and Zimbabwe, http://www.fpif.org/articles/ballots_vs_bullets_in_kenya_and_zimbabwe

Written by Meg Armstrong and Marieka Walsh
73 Comments
 
 
In the past few years there has been little alleviation of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Massacres and violence continue with little sign of abating in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu.  The Congolese are fleeing their homes in search of refuge in neighboring countries and provinces, while women and girls remain the victims of strategic rape and sexual violence.  Even children continue to be abducted into the rebel forces of the FDLR, Mai Mai, and LRA.  And what is the UN’s response?  A withdrawal of 2,000 UN peacekeeping troops from the Congo.  

In May of this year, the UN passed Security Council Resolution 1925, which calls for the end of MONUC’s mandate on the 50th anniversary of Congo’s independence (June 30th 2010).  Although MONUC is ending in name, on July 1st the mission will become MONUSCO (United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo).  Paired with this renaming is a new mandate requiring partnership with Joseph Kabila’s government and the continued protection of civilians.  One of the first steps to be undertaken in this stabilization mission is to decrease the 21,500 force by 2,000, allowing for a maximum of 19,815 military personnel.  

UN officials have met with Kabila a number of times in the past months.  Each time, the President has made his stance on MONUC extremely clear: he does not want them there.  In response to supposed state improvements and Kabila’s demands, Alain Le Roy, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, ultimately conceded to MONUC’s drawdown of troops.  This reduction in mission size is defended with the rationale that withdrawal will only occur in the West.  In this way, the UN is not turning a blind eye to the severe human rights abuses taking place in eastern Congo.  However, while the situation in the western state of Equateur is improving, peace in the West is not entirely guaranteed.  UN officials may have buckled to Kabila’s interests, but their conviction in the western region’s security is not entirely convincing: “…those troops will come from the western part of the country where peace and stability is almost there but not always but globally there,” stated Le Roy.

The reason for Kabila’s commitment to removing the UN peacekeeping force is not entirely clear.  Certainly there are institutional and economic motivations, but most telling may be the upcoming elections in October of 2011.  In the 2006 elections, where Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba were the main contenders, Kabila experienced a strong victory in the East of the country.  Similarly, Bemba garnered his support from the West.  Kabila’s coalition also won the majority in 5 eastern provinces (at the time of the elections there were 11 total provinces).  During these elections the UN was actively involved, particularly through providing technical assistance to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).  However, the current removal of oversight from an entire region where Kabila has a history of feeble political support is hardly reassuring.  Is the President’s pressure on the UN a manifestation of his preparation for the 2011 elections?  If so, there is considerable likelihood that the West will experience electoral corruption.

In 2010 the Congo greets the newly mandated MONUSCO.  Will Congolese also greet a new President in 2011?

By Stacey Diaz
63 Comments
 
 
Imagine that you are about to have a baby via Caesarian section.  You are being wheeled into an operating room and are handed a stack of forms to sign.  You are distressed and in pain, so you sign the papers handed to you.  Sometime after giving birth you discover that in addition to having signed a consent form to receive a C-section, you have also signed a form authorizing the doctor to sterilize you.  You are HIV-positive.

Fifteen HIV-positive women in Namibia have accused state hospitals of coercing them into being sterilized and are now in court suing the government.  Even though these women signed a consent form to be sterilized, they were not informed of the consent they were giving (“Women Up in Arms Against Forced Sterilization”). 

Going into labor, one plaintiff said, “I was in pain and told to sign.  That is what was in my mind.”  She added that she was in so much pain that she wasn’t in the right mind to ask questions.  Additionally, there was no time—she needed immediate medical attention (“Witnesses Testify in Sterilisation Cases”).  According to the LAC, medical workers allegedly target women who cannot read or write (“Women Claim ‘Forcibly’ Sterilized at State Hospitals.”)

According to court notes of this trial, one plaintiff testified that there was no mention about “removing uterus or womb” on the form she signed, and that her nurse told her that all HIV-positive women have their uterus removed.  Allegedly the nurse did not refer to it as sterilisation, which it was referred to as on the consent form, and the patient did not learn what sterilization meant until after the surgery had been performed. 

According to Amon Ngavetene, the co-coordinator of the AIDS Law Unit of the Legal Assistance Center (LAC), most of these women were not even aware that they had been sterilized.  The LAC is defending the women in court.  After giving birth, Ngavetene says, “some [women] returned to healthcare facilities to access family planning just to be informed that there is no need for them to go on contraception because they have been sterilized.”  Other women have asserted that they had to agree to sterilization in order to access other health services such as C-sections.  (“Campaign against forced sterilization kicks off,” Nangulu Shejavali)

One nurse allegedly claimed that HIV-positive women were being sterilized because “there was no point in having children in the future” for an HIV-positive woman (“Women Robbed of Motherhood,” Wezi Tjaronda).  Yet with the proper drugs and precautions, an HIV-positive woman can have a perfectly healthy baby without passing the virus on to the child.

The LAC writes, “Sterilisation without informed consent violates a woman’s constitutional, regional and internationally protected rights to equality, dignity, non-discrimination, health - which includes the right to make one’s own decision about health care, to found a family and to fair administrative justice, including the right to proper treatment by hospital administration through medical ethics.”

Human rights groups and civil society organizations in Namibia, including the LAC, International Community of Women Living With HIV (ICW), the Namibia Women’s Health Network, AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, Women’s Solidarity Namibia, the Women’s Leadership Centre, and Sister Namibia, are supporting these women and are protesting this gross human rights violation (“Campaign Against Forced Sterilisation Kicks Off”).  Nevertheless the trials in Namibia are being given limited international press, and most people around the world are not even aware of these serious human rights allegations.  

According to the LAC, these court cases began in October and November of 2009 in the Windhoek High Court and continued through June 1 to June 3.   The case will continue again from September 1 to September 10. http://endforcedsterilisation.wordpress.com/

Written by Meg Armstrong
72 Comments
 
 
Representing opposition candidates in court in Rwanda is bound to draw the ire of President Paul Kagame, particularly with national elections coming up in August. In proof, American Attorney Peter Erlinder was arrested by Rwandan authorities on Friday, May 28th on charges of “genocide ideology” and remains in prison, having been denied bail earlier this week. Reports indicate that his health is declining and although the U.S. State Department has called for his “immediate release,” it seems unlikely that Rwanda will concede.

Erlinder, a professor at the William and Mitchell College of Law in Minnesota and the leading lawyer for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), was representing Ms. Victoire Ingabire, the United Democratic Forces’ (FDU) presidential candidate who has been accused of genocide ideology and collaborating with a terrorist group. She has publicly recognized a genocide against both Tutsi and Hutu in 1994, a position condemned by Kagame’s Tutsi-led regime. Disagreeing with the official position of the Rwandan government amounts to “genocide negationism,” a law commonly used to quell opposition and freedom of speech.

As the lead counsel for the ICTR, Erlinder has pushed for a thorough investigation of the events that occurred in 1994, including any crimes that may have been committed by Kagame and his party. He alleges that members of the current government took part in shooting down the plane that set off the genocide, which is no doubt the primary reason Erlinder has been imprisoned. In Oklahoma in April, Erlinder filed a lawsuit on behalf of the widows of the Rwandan and Burundian presidents who died in the plane, accusing Kagame of ordering their deaths.

On the whole, Erlinder has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and the advancement of democracy in Rwanda. He has done nothing but serve his duty as a lawyer appointed to the ICTR and should be released immediately. Numerous associations of lawyers – including the National Lawyers Guild – as well as advocates for peace and justice around the world, are calling for his release. Minnesota Representatives Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison introduced a resolution (H.Res. 1426) in the U.S. House on Tuesday, June 8th, calling on Kagame to allow Erlinder to return to the United States. Africa Action encourages constituents across the country to call their members and urge them to co-sponsor this critical and urgent piece of legislation.

The trend toward restricting human rights and free speech in Rwanda is troubling. With the crackdown on journalists and opposition candidates now extended to foreign nationals, it is our hope that a stronger critique of Rwanda will begin to emerge. Since the genocide, Rwanda has been an aid investment haven (ex: $1.034 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars since 2000 have been given to Rwanda), despite its role in pilfering mineral resources and sparking conflict in D.R. Congo. The Rwandan people deserve the opportunity to build a just and democratic society – an opportunity unlikely to be had if the current government continues jailing human rights defenders and opposition candidates.

Beth Tuckey
36 Comments
 
 
Advocates for peace and development in northern Uganda have long pushed for greater U.S. involvement in a resolution to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) crisis. It is a conflict that remained largely hidden from the international community for over two decades, despite the brutality and scale of the rebel group’s tactics. Only recently did it gain enough public visibility to garner attention by U.S. policymakers, making the signing of the Northern Uganda Recovery and Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament Act (Public Law 111-172) on May 24, 2010 all the more significant. For the first time, the United States declared holistic support for sustainable peace and grassroots development throughout northern Uganda. It is also the first time the President has made a commitment to using government resources to actively pursue the LRA for their crimes.

The law is likely to have ripple effects throughout the region, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the LRA are presently stationed. Though the LRA terrorized the people of northern Uganda for decades, they now flow seamlessly between DRC, South Sudan, and Central African Republic, allowing for relative peace in their old stomping ground. Therefore, the legislation President Barack Obama signed in May essentially addresses two separate yet intertwined issues: it focuses on recovery in northern Uganda while also providing support for apprehending, disarming, and/or demobilizing LRA fighters in the affected countries.

Though the provisions for development, government accountability, and transitional justice are to be commended and will certainly benefit northern Ugandans, efforts to apprehend and disarm the LRA could be disastrous for people throughout the Great Lakes Region. The law’s language stipulates that the U.S. will “provide political, economic, military, and intelligence support for viable multilateral efforts to protect civilians from the Lord’s Resistance Army, to apprehend or remove Joseph Kony and his top commanders from the battlefield in the continued absence of a negotiated solution, and to disarm and demobilize the remaining Lord’s Resistance Army fighters.” Though it prioritizes a negotiated resolution to the crisis, the reality of U.S. foreign policy is such that the military will likely take up the reins, putting the people of DRC at further risk of violence.
 
In December 2008, the United States military command for Africa (AFRICOM) lent approximately $1 million in fuel and satellite phones to the Ugandan military to execute an attack against the LRA in Garamba National Park, DRC. Dubbed “Operation Lightning Thunder,” the mission was poorly planned and executed, leaving Congolese civilians vulnerable to retaliatory attacks by the LRA. Not only was the mission detrimental to the population it sought to protect, it also failed to achieve its main objective – ousting LRA leader Joseph Kony from his post. In light of this and several other failed military operations, it would behoove President Obama to withhold use of AFRICOM to resolve the LRA conflict.

In fact, northern Uganda experienced its highest level of stability during a phase of peace negotiations that began in July 2006. After nearly two years of relative calm, a peace agreement was tentatively reached in April 2008. Unfortunately, Kony failed to sign the final document and instead began rebuilding his ranks through child abductions in DRC and CAR. The failure of the peace process may be attributed to many factors, though the most often-cited is that the International Criminal Court (ICC) retained its arrest warrant against Joseph Kony throughout the negotiations, providing a disincentive for Kony to come out of the bush. Rather than actively enforcing the warrant or working strategically to defer the warrant and pursue an alternate path to justice, the international community stalled. The result was further instability in Congo and a disastrous U.S.-supported military attack.

It is therefore imperative that the U.S. government and the international community remain committed to a non-violent resolution to the LRA conflict. Africa Action has joined the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI), Ugandan religious groups, and other U.S. and international NGO’s in calling on President Obama to develop a strategy that does not involve a military option. Since the signing of the bill on May 24, Obama has 180 days to produce a plan for ending LRA violence in the region. It is a tall order for such a complicated and protracted conflict, particularly when the President is distracted with numerous other high-priority foreign policy issues. We will continue to monitor the evolution of an LRA strategy and will push for a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

Beth Tuckey is an intern in the executive office at Africa Action
40 Comments
 
 
(Amnesty International- http://tinyurl.com/33yo2h6)
We are stunned and appalled by the suspicious death of a prominent and respected human rights defender today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Floribert Chebeya Bahizire was found dead early Wednesday morning after being summoned by the police in Kinshasa on Tuesday.

Chebeya has been arrested and harassed by the authorities in the past but it seems he may have paid the ultimate price for his valuable work.   He was the executive director of one of Congo’s largest human rights organizations, Voix des Sans Voix (VSV), and of the national network of human rights groups.

The Congolese government must immediately launch a thorough, impartial and independent investigation into the death of one of the country’s leading human rights activists.

Chebeya told Amnesty International on several occasions that he felt he had been followed and that he was under surveillance by the security services.

On the morning of June 1 Chebeya received a telephone call requesting his presence at the office of General John Numbi, the General Inspectorate of Police in Ligwala, Kinshasa. He left his offices at 5pm to go to the Inspectorate.

Chebeya was in phone contact with his family until just after 9pm on Tuesday night. Just before 8pm he sent a text message to relatives saying he had not yet met with Numbi but was still waiting at the Inspectorate.

His last message said he was leaving the Inspectorate and stopping briefly at the University on the way home. Since then his phone has been unreachable.

His body was found by passersby early on Wednesday in a suburb close to his home.

“The government must urgently investigate this cold blooded murder and prosecute those responsible,” said Veronique Aubert, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Africa Program. “Those who defend the rights of others must be allowed to continue their work free of harassment and persecution.”

Amnesty International has observed in the past year increased oppression of human rights defenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including by illegal arrest, prosecution, phone threats, repeated summoning to the offices of the intelligence services.

“Floribert’s death is a great loss for the human rights community,” said Aubert.
More news and analysis:
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/tag/floribert-chebeya-bahizire/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jS_FU1qr7Z2OGne6M1AP-j5yreUQD9G3OIG00
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-03/congolese-human-rights-leader-chebeya-found-dead-group-says.html
34 Comments
 
 
Introduction
Réputée d’une part d’un des pays les plus riches dans le monde en ressources naturelles, et qualifiée d’autre part de « scandale géologique », la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) est pourtant classée au 176ieme rang dans le rapport sur le développement humain. Selon la Banque Mondiale,  c’est « un pays sans routes, sans hôpitaux, aéroports et sans écoles dignes de ce nom. »

Tous les Gouvernements qui se sont succédés depuis 1961 en RDC sont caractérisés par la mauvaise gouvernance politique, économique et sociale, et n’ont pas offert des opportunités au pays  pour se développer.

Après les élections de 2006 qui ont conduit à la mise en place des institutions politiques actuelles, le Président de la RDC Joseph Kabila a lancé un vaste programme du développement et de la modernisation du pays dénommé « Cinq Chantiers de la République».

Estimés à 14 milliards de dollars américains, les cinq chantiers de la République sont le sommet d’un programme quinquennal de développement qui couvre cinq axes, notamment :
  • Les infrastructures;
  • La création de l’emploi;
  • L’éducation;
  • L’eau et l’électricité;
  • La santé.
En ce qui concerne les infrastructures, le programme « Cinq Chantiers de la République » inclut notamment la modernisation des aéroports, la construction d’une autoroute entre l’aéroport et le centre ville de Kinshasa, la réhabilitation de la voirie urbaine des principales villes du pays, la construction d’une ligne de chemin de fer moderne devant relier le Katanga au Bas-Congo, et la construction d’hôtels et d’universités.

C’est dans ce cadre que le Gouvernement Congolais a signé un accord avec quelques entreprises Chinoises pour la construction des infrastructures et la réhabilitation de la voirie urbaine dans  certaines villes de la République Démocratique du Congo, telles qu’à Lubumbashi dans la province du Katanga et dans la ville province de Kinshasa.

A Kinshasa, les entreprises Chinoises ont déjà amorcé les travaux de réhabilitation de certaines artères telles que le Boulevard du 30 juin, le Boulevard Lumumba, l’avenue des huileries, etc…

La présence de ces entreprises permet non seulement à répondre aux impératifs liés à la réhabilitation et à la modernisation de la voirie urbaine de certaines villes, mais de participer à la création de l’emploi dans la mesure où elles emploient la main d’œuvre locale.

Entreprises Chinoises et droits des travailleurs
Radiookapi.net rapporte que plusieurs organisations de droit de l’homme en République Démocratique du Congo et  les entreprises Chinoises basées au Congo violent les droits des travailleurs.  «Les conditions dans lesquelles les travailleurs Congolais  travaillent dans ces entreprises minières sont très précaires et ne respectent pas les codes Congolais du travail et minier », mentionne le rapport publié au mois de Septembre 2009 par Right and Accountability in Development (RAID) une ONG britannique basée à Oxford. RAID a mené une enquête sur 15% des companies implantées au Katanga, la province cuprifère.

Les travailleurs Congolais accusent aussi les entreprises Chinoises de n’avoir aucune connaissance du droit international du travail, mais aussi des lois Congolaises, surtout celles en rapport avec le droit coutumier. Ces entreprises ne respectent pas les standards environnementaux. Elles n’ont aucune considération pour une rémunération descente, surtout en cas d’accident de travail, et ils entretiennent trop de discrimination, estime RAID. 

Ces mêmes travailleurs  ont aussi  formulé plusieurs plaintes contre plusieurs entreprises Chinoises. Celles que l’Association Africaine de défense des Droits de l’Homme (ASADHO) a reçues se résument en  préoccupations suivantes :
  • L’Absence de contrat de travail écrit;
  • Le non respect du nombre d’heures de travail;
  • Le salaire est payé au taux inférieur au taux officiel;
  • L’Absence de syndicat au sein de l’entreprise;
  • La pratique de licenciement abusif des travailleurs Congolais;
  • La faible prise en charge médicale.
Dans le but de vérifier le fondement de griefs portés contre ces entreprises, l’ASADHO a dépêché une équipe d’enquêteurs pour parler avec les travailleurs et les responsables de ces entreprises Chinoises.

ASADHO a dit « Malheureusement ils se sont entretenus qu’avec les travailleurs, car les responsables de ces entreprises  se sont abstenus de parler avec eux. »

Conclusions et Recommendations
Le programme des «Cinq Chantiers de la République», ne peut  contribuer à la promotion et la protection des droits sociaux et économiques que si les partenaires choisis par le Gouvernement dans sa mise en exécution respectent les droits des travailleurs . C’est de cette façon-là que le  peuple Congolais et  les autres puissent  jouir directement de certains droits économiques et sociaux qui leur sont reconnus par les Instruments Juridiques Internationaux relatifs aux droits de l’Homme et par la Constitution.

Etant donné que les Cinq Chantiers couvrent les infrastructures, l’éducation, le logement, l’emploi, l’eau et l’électricité, ils permettront la jouissance du droit au travail, à la santé, au logement décent, à un salaire juste et équitable. Ainsi qu’il apparaît, le programme des Cinq Chantiers demeure une grande opportunité de la réalisation des droits économiques et sociaux.

Pour que ce programme contribue effectivement à la réalisation de ces droits fondamentaux, il est important que les partenaires nationaux et internationaux auxquels le Gouvernement Congolais fait appel pour l’exécuter, respectent les lois du pays et qu’ils refusent d’exploiter et de piller le peuple Congolais. Mais, il revient aussi au Gouvernement congolais de s’assurer que ses partenaires respectent scrupuleusement les lois de la RDC dans l’exécution de leurs prestations.

Le gouvernement Congolais doit aussi vulgariser le  code congolais du travail. Cette sensibilisation assurerait le respect de la sécurité et de la santé au travail. Mais encore faudrait-il que le gouvernement mette à la disposition des investisseurs et futursinvestisseurs Chinois un guide plus compréhensif de ces codes ? Selon ASADHO, le Gouvernement congolais doit recommander à toutes ces compagnies de respecter l’environnement et de ne pas utiliser les enfants dans les carrières et proposer au gouvernement chinois de collaborer avec l’Unicef à cet effet.
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If you are a fan of foreign films, then you have probably seen –or at the very least heard of- Nollywood, the Hollywood coined term that has come to represent Nigerian videos. What started out as an exclusively Nigerian fetish for homemade videos has now turned into the world’s third largest movie industry, generating $250 million dollars a year. The history of Nollywood dates back to the 60s, when Nigeria first began television broadcasting; however, back then film production costs were too high for producers to maintain. Over the years, broadcasting stations became ubiquitous but it was difficult for filmmakers to boundlessly choose the content material for the films. The stringent legalities of film production is said to have begun the popularity of homemade videos.

With persistency in marketing and advertizing, Nollywood began expanding and grew in sales, particularly after producers started creating films in English. Previously, Nollywood films were in Hausa, Yoruba or Edo but when film producers started using the English language, Nollywood became a large moneymaking business. The use of easily accessible technologies such as digital cameras has enabled filmmakers to produce films at low-costs. The average frequency of Nollywood productions now exceeds that of Hollywood, with some Nigerian filmmakers priding themselves on their ability to shoot several films a week. With themes of love and family relationships, Nollywood films touch on almost all socio-economic issues that affect the lives of Nigerians, as well as the lives of other Africans. From religion, corruption, AIDS, women’s rights to loyalty, Nollywood portrays the dilemmas that people face.

Over the years, more and more actors from Ghana, Malawi and other African countries are beginning to feature on Nollywood films as the industry continues to grow. These collaborations have been beneficial to the industry as a whole since it creates more competition and more competence in skills. It also provides a forum for upcoming actors from different backgrounds to be recognized within the global film industry. In 2007, director Jamie Meltzer featured a film that explains Nollywood’s thriving directors and what these films have come to represent. A year later, the documentary ‘Nollywood Babylon’ by Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal gave an in depth overview of Nollywood films, particularly emphasizing the local or ‘street’ inputs in the production and distribution of these videos that mix some aspects of traditional mysticism as well as the modern culture within the country.
As Nigerian actors and actresses continue to climb up the ‘fame ladder’, their personal lives have become of interest to the Nollywood audience. Similar to Hollywood movie celebrities whose lives are at the center of the public and at the center of the media that stalks them, Nollywood celebrities are being followed for inquiries on their private lives. Sites such as Naijarules and Nigeriafilms report on findings, interviews, and comments made my Nollywood stars. Although Nigerian media outlets are not as obsessed with the daily nitty-gritty of celebrity actors or actresses in the same way that Hollywood is, there is the growing presence of gossip columnists. Will Nollywood follow the same path as the Hollywood-obsesses? Or will it maintain its authenticity?
62 Comments
 
 
The world as a whole has made significant progress in achieving many of the MDGs. Worldwide, between 1990 and 2002, average income increased by approximately 21% and the number of people in extreme poverty declined by an estimated 130 million. Also during this time, child mortality rates fell from 103 deaths to 88 deaths per 1,000 live births a year; life expectancy rose from 63 years to nearly 65 years; an additional 8% of people in the developing world gained access to water; and an additional 15% of people in the developing world acquired access to improved sanitation services (Millennium Development Goals Report 2009). 

However, this progress has been far from uniform between regions and between the goals themselves.  Sub-Saharan Africa is the region at greatest risk of failing to achieve the goals, suffering from continued food insecurity, a rise in extreme poverty, high child and maternal mortality, and large populations of slum dwellers (Easterly, “How the Millennium Development Goals are Unfair to Africa.").
The MDGs were created to serve as a major motivation to increase development efforts in and on behalf of poor countries. The increases in publicity and aid that have been observed since the advent of the MDGs suggest that they are achieving this purpose. However, a less emphasized angle of the MDGs is that they are also measures of performance. In this way, the MDG campaign has emphasized the failure of sub-Saharan Africa compared to other regions. Many of those involved in MDG effort agree that sub-Saharan Africa stands out as being the only region that will fail to meet any of the goals at all (Easterly). 

Monitoring and evaluation data highlights Africa’s shortcomings. In terms of goal 2 (achieving universal primary education), sub-Saharan Africa still has 38 million children who are not enrolled in school and has one of the largest gender gaps in primary enrolment of any region.In terms of reducing child mortality (goal 4), sub-Saharan Africa continues to account for approximately half the deaths of children under five in the developing world. Between 1990 and 2006, 27 countries, the vast majority of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, failed to make any progress at all in terms of reducing childhood deaths.In terms of improving maternal health (goal 5), in sub-Saharan Africa, a woman’s risk of dying from complications of pregnancy and childbirth over the course of her lifetime is 1 in 22, compared to 1 in 7,300 in developed regions (UNDP, "Are we on track to meet the MDGs?").

Impact of the economic crisis. The repercussions of the economic crisis on the efforts towards achieving the MDGs are yet to be felt in their entirety, and these effects will throw African countries further off course than they already are.  Not only haseconomic hardship pushed tens of millions of people into vulnerable employment and increased the number who earn less than $1.25/day, but it has also created sluggish or even negative economic growth, diminished resources, fewer trade opportunities for the developing countries, and possibly reductions in aid flows from donor nations (Millennium Development Goals Report, 2009). 

Controversy over the MDGs
Controversy over the Millennium Development Goals centers on the issues of the interpretation of the purpose of the goals, the feasibility of achieving the goals, and the fairness of specific objectives, especially for developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Purpose. There is a debate concerning how the fundamental purpose of the MDGs should be interpreted. The main argument is between interpreting the goals and objectives as targets for development rather than tools for development. A literal interpretation of the MDGs accepts them as real targets, while a more figurative view looks at the goals as the kinds of outcomes towards which the world should strive. Regardless of one’s interpretation, it is clear that the MDGs have served generate discussion, focus attention, and help assign accountability in the fight to end poverty. 

Feasibility/Practicality. Many critics find fault with the extremely high bar set by the MDGs for some countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa. The goals are asking many countries to perform “at the top end of the historical experience”  (Clemens & Moss, “What’s Wrong with the Millennium Development Goals?”). For example, in order to meet goal 1 to halve poverty by 2015, countries in Africa would have to grow at a rate of 7%; only seven out of 153 countries for which we have data have achieved this in the past 15 years, and of those only two were in Africa (Botswana and Equatorial Guinea). For goal 2 (to achieve universal primary education), most African countries are starting from a level at which they must achieve in 15 years what it took some developed countries a century to complete. If at least 20 African countries have primary school enrollment of 70% or less, to reach 100% by 2015 would be enormously ambitious. If the goal for reducing child mortality by two-thirds (goal 4) had been set in 1975, only one country in the world, Indonesia, would have achieved it (Clemens & Moss). While the intentions behind the creation of such lofty goals were undoubtedly good, they are not realistic for all countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa. Depending on one’s interpretations of the purpose of the MDGs, these high targets can actually serve to set a country up for failure from the very beginning.

Fairness. It is already widely agreed upon that the vast majority of developing countries will miss most of the MDG targets in 2015. Almost every African country will miss all of the goals (Easterly). However, this should not be interpreted as a sign that poor countries have failed or that aid has been insufficient or wasted. Neither African inaction nor a lack of aid will necessarily be the reason that the MDGs are not achieved, but rather the overly ambitious goals themselves. 

Consequences of Failure
Sub-Saharan Africa’s likely failure to meet the MDGs will undoubtedly have ramifications in the development community. One possible effect is that development stakeholders will become demoralized at sub-Saharan Africa’s failure and that this sentiment will weaken long-term commitment to and engagement with the developing world. Another possible outcome is that failures will be turned into a message that more development aid is needed to accomplish these goals. A llack of progress may be used to demand more aid and may shift attention away from the deep economic, structural and governmental problems that increases in aid have a poor record of “fixing” (Clemens & Moss). 

The Future: Setting Goals for Development in Africa
The MDGs have shown us that good intentions can create goals that may be unrealistic for all settings, especially sub-Saharan Africa. The actual gains achieved in sub-Saharan Africa risk being labeled as failures because they will be held to historically high expectations. After the MDGs, there will once again be an opportunity to form a new and improved framework that will guide the world for the next decade or more. At this critical moment we must ask ourselves whether these goals are really achievable and whether they place too much emphasis on development aid at the expense of more fundamental changes.  We should base this next set of goals on where countries really stand in the year 2015 and emphasize the creation of ambitious but achievable expectations. Most importantly, in evaluating the MDG process in 2015, we must not only focus on sub-Saharan Africa’s failures, but also on which interventions have shown success, what achievements have been made, and what we can do better in the future; we must do this without unfairly castigating a region that started this process with the greatest number of systematic and historical challenges and injustices.
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Last week’s luncheon on the current state of Zimbabwe, sponsored by Freedom House, featured Jestina Mukoko, a 2010 International Woman of Courage recipient, and Rindai Chipfunde, founding director of Zimbabwe Election Support Network. The event’s objective was to present perspectives from civil society in the country, and both speakers spoke of the fragile peace, the current state of human rights on the ground, and their opinions as to what further actions are necessary to realize a true democratized Zimbabwe. 

In her speech, Mrs. Mukoko pinpointed areas in Zimbabwean society where considerable gains have been made within a short period of time. In 2010, inflation declined from a dizzying 79600000000% per month to 5.1%, inducing a period of relative calm in the national economy, allowing for basic commercial transactions. This monetary stability helped usher in a sight long forgotten by Zimbabweans: foodon shelves at the market. No longer do people have to travel to South Africa to buy food. But new concerns loom as to whether Zimbabweans are financially capable of purchasing these materials and commodities within their communities. 

The Education and Health department have both received a boost from the economic upswing in the country. Teachers were given vouchers the equivalent of $100 per month, a stark contrast to previously unlivable or nonexistent payments. This amount has now been increased to $150 per month. In addition, more Zimbabweans have access to proper health facilities and care since the Global Peace Accord (GPA) has been in effect. 

However, These marginal gains in varying parts of Zimbabwean life have been offset by continual human rights abuses by the government. Mrs. Mukoko, soon after the GPA was signed, along with other members of the MDC, was kidnapped and held without charge. Still, her organization, the Zimbabwean Peace Project (ZPP), noticed a dramatic decline in human rights abuses in their records over the same period of time.

There are many reasons to be alarmed. For one, the constitutional agreement is seven months late, and some groups have declined to participate because it is not as people-driven as promised by the MDC. The Kariba draft constitution being floated by Zanu PF is currently the most widely known and contended; while its drafters are all men, threats are being issued to garner support for it from women in rural areas.

In order for national healing to occur, human rights abuses must cease.  The continuation of human rights violations prevents Zimbabweans from participating in the healing process. While the GPA has sustained many gains, this remains a challenge, especially considering that one of the tenets of the agreement was for political parties to renounce violence. 

For Zimbabweans to participate in the upcoming elections, a multi-pronged approach is required.  According to Mrs. Chipfunde, these approaches must cover three areas: capacity-building, transparency, and changing the human rights environment. The upcoming elections will happen, mostly due to pressure from the international community, however, efforts should be taken to ensure they take place in the most fair and transparent manner possible, guaranteeing the full participation of Zimbabweans.

By Adienamikiphe Igoni
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