southwatch

Congo - the forgotten tsunami

The rape victims in the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu are stark representatives of the «forgotten, permanent tsunami of the Congo».

Writing in the Norwegian magazine Samtiden, Jan Egeland, Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) tells of his visit last year to the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). At that stage he was Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

A twenty six year old women told him how she was raped by 30 militiamen after being tied to four stakes in the ground. The violence was repeated for three weeks. Then one day the militias fled. She was left lame in both feet and hands as well as suffering from vaginal fistula. The violence was so brutal that the wall between her vagina and anus was ruptured. A nun brought her for treatment to Panzi Hospital’s fistula clinic run by the Pentecostal church network CEPAC and CRN.

«As on so many other field trips the realization grows: We cannot rest until such Dark Age-violations and such vast injustices are ended. And this generation has shown, in some places, that when we want, it is possible to stop such massive suffering,» writes Egeland in Samtiden.

«The terrible violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a rarely spoken about aspect of the wars of this country,» writes Egeland in Samtiden. In his book «Det nytter» – It helps – due later this year, he says the war in Eastern Congo is «the worst of our generation». Between 1998 and 2003 more than four million people died. And people are still dying.

While pointing out that the suffering in the Congo hardly ever makes international news, Egeland does not despair:
«With the help of amongst others the UN, Norway and this years Norwegian Medical Students´Humanitarian Campaign, thousands of women are getting help at Panzi.» He also emphasises that without the effort of UN peacekeeping troops to disarm over ten thousand militiamen, the situation in Eastern Congo would have been much worse.

Text: Jan Speed
Photo of Jan Egeland by © Tugela Ridley/IRIN

World pressure for African press freedom

Release imprisoned journalists, abolish “insult laws” and laws that restrict press freedom.

These were the demands of The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum meeting in Cape Town this week.
The leaders of the world newspaper industry underlined their opinion that press freedom remains a key to the establishment of good governance and durable economic, political, social and cultural development, prosperity and peace in Africa, and to the fight against corruption, famine, poverty, violent conflict, disease, and lack of education

In a declarations they urged African countries to abolish “insult’’ and criminal defamation laws “which in the five months of this year have caused the harassment, arrest and/or imprisonment of 103 editors, reporters, broadcasters and online journalists in 26 African countries (as outlined in the annexure to this declaration).”

WAN also urged African governments as a matter of urgency to review and abolish all other laws that restrict press freedom, as well as to release jailed journalists. Ethiopia and Eritrea are these worst violators of press freedom, but even the South African government has on occasion withheld advertising to punish critical newspapers.
by Jan Speed

«Jesus on the side of the poor»

The Anglican bishop in the KwaZulu/Natal-province of South Africa has a long record of fighting apartheid. He still does not regard South Africa as being fully liberated. Here he talks about the need of the church to take the side of the poor.

Olive oil in wine country

On the Kloovenburg estate they make first class wines. What many visitors do not know is that their extra virgin olive oil is among the best in the world. Olive production is growing in the Cape area in South Africa.

Relevant development info

In the 1980s and 90s development workers were disgruntled about the lack of information available about the poorer countries of the world. They no longer have reason to complain.

Mainstream media still have a narrow focus in much of what they write and broadcast, but for those of us who are interested in development issues and the African continent, there are plenty of news sources. Many national newspapers both in Asia, Africa and Latin-America have online publications.
My favourite sites are however two international sites:
* IRIN, a multimedia project run by the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
* AlertNet run by the Reuters Foundation and using material provided by the news agency’s global network.

IRIN has today revamped and modernised its website making it more readable and attractive to use. The depth of information provided is impressive as is the offering of both video and audio productions.
This is what they say about themselves:
“Formed in 1995, IRIN is a multimedia humanitarian news and analysis service covering crises in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and is a key project of the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), responsible for international emergency coordination, humanitarian advocacy and policy.

IRIN enjoys editorial independence from its donors and OCHA. Ninety-five percent of its readers regard IRIN as objective, according to a 2006 reader survey, while 78% feel IRIN reflected the views of the broader humanitarian community.”

The project is dependent on its main donors: Australia, Canada, Denmark, European Commission (ECHO), Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the USA (USAID). If not more funding is forthcoming IRIN's project work with local radio stations in Afghanistan and West Africa is under threat of closure.
The Reuter Foundation's AlertNet focuses on emergency topics. Apart from news updates and features, the various blogs on the site give interesting and thought provoking perspectives.

by Jan Speed
Photo: IRIN - The site provides photos relevant to development work. Here from recent floods in Namibia.

Media inequality and growth

Parts of Africa have a dynamic media, while a lack of journalists in other countries reflects a dismal economic or political atmosphere.

While a rich European country such as Norway can boast of one journalist for every 500 citizens, in Ethiopia the ratio is one to 99.400 people. In South Africa, a country with a growing number of newspapers and a vibrant radio market, there is one journalist for every 1300 citizens. This according to the recent report of the African Media Development Initiative (Amdi) produced  by the BBC World Service Trust.

In a comment on the report in Mail & Guardian Online, South African journalism academic Guy Berger points out that Ethiopia has the continents biggest army. He also highlights the fact that between 2000 and 2005, the number internet users in Zimbabwe grew by 1 900 percent.
“Possibly the escalation is a side effect of the Mugabe regime's media repression - driving Zimbabweans to seek independent information online,” writes Berger.

The report, which looks at 17 African countries shows that:
* Radio dominates the mass media spectrum with state-controlled radio services still commanding the biggest audiences in most countries but regional (within country) commercial stations demonstrating the largest consistent increases in numbers, followed by community radio, where growth, although significant in certain countries, has been inconsistent.
* Television is less widely available, especially in rural areas, although it is seen as a growing force.
* Newspapers remain concentrated in urban centers with varying growth patterns across the countries.
* Adoption of mobile telephony has been the most spectacular, far exceeding uptake of the Internet.

According to the report the potential of the media to contribute significantly to Africa’s development and governance is enormous.
“ Fostering a stronger media in Africa is an indispensable part of tackling poverty, improving development and enabling Africa to attain its development goals,” writes Stephen King, Director of BBC World Service Trust, in his introduction.

The key barrier to media development is the control that states exert over media. The report underlines the importance of:
*  ensuring freedom of expression and access to information by way of legislation.
* consistent policy on the independent allocation of licences;
* protection of journalists;
* strengthening of independent regulatory frameworks.

In the report the farcical nature of some anti-media laws becomes apparent. The Angolan section tells of a recent case of defamation brought before the courts. Graca Campos published in 2003 a dossier concerning the 50 richest people in Angola, along with the sources of their wealth. Copies of the publication were bought up by the government instantly to avoid distribution. Campos was charged with defamation – notwithstanding the complaint of one person that his capital had been grossly underestimated, and that the publication had supposedly harmed the trust put in him by his business associates.

By Jan Speed

Giving Somalia a voice

Author Nurrudin Farah's latest book «Knots» will be published at the beginning of February 2007.

- Free media more important than elections

Free elections are part of democracy, but a responsible media is even more important.

This is the view of Norway’s Minister of International Development, Erik Solheim (photo). He points out that the elections in Angola in 1992 were perfectly organised and democratic. Yet, the ultimate consequence was that they plunged the country into a new 10 years of civil war, because the elections happened in a vacuum. It was only in 2002 that peace settled over Angola. A date for new elections has not been set. While there is relative press freedom in the capital Luanda, but independent and critical radio stations are waiting for licences to broadcast more widely.
- Support of media is a central part of our development agenda, said Solheim at a seminar on Free Media in Fredrikstad, Norway this week. However, his government has not increased the funding for the media development sector in next year’s budget.
The minister underlines the fact that journalists in conflict areas have a special responsibility to give the view of the different sides in the conflict, and must take responsibility in trying to reduce tensions. He was particularly scornful of the media in Sri Lanka were he has been involved in the peace process for many years.
- Journalists in Sri Lanka are part of the problem in the sense that they deliberately propagate lies. They fuel the conflict and make a solution more difficult.
- Without a responsible media, democracy is not possible, says Solheim.
By Jan Speed
Photo by Pierre de Brisis/Utenriksdepartementet

Foreign Aid harming Africa?

The multi-billion aid industry has largely failed in Africa. The foreign NGO movement has grown as Africa`s crisis has deepened. Africa can prosper without vast amounts of new aid.

In the latest issue of The Africa Report, Michael Holmen (former Africa editor of the Financial Times) challenges the demands and PR-message for more aid to Africa that international NGO`s have become expert at campaigning for.

"Aid isn`t working, but the aid lobby pretends it is," he writes. He points out that there are more foreigners working in Africa now than there were at independence five decades ago.

"As foreigners arrive to take up short-term contracts, each year about 70000 skilled Africans - doctors, engineers, nurses - leave to work abroad. Western governments should ask whether the growth of NGOs is not only a symptom of Africa`s crisis, but perhaps part of the cause?" he suggests.

It is a relevant question and one that NGOs in Europe do not seem to keen on discussing.

By Jan Speed