The new female leader of the African Union

The African Union is celebrating the appointment of its first female leader in the organization’s fifty year history.  Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma rose to the title after years of cleaning up South Africa's home affairs department. Dlamini-Zuma is credited with cleaning up the crime and corruption that have long plagued the department. She now moves on to the AU which has its own share of mismanagement that needs to be cleaned up.


From the Guardian, writer Elissa Johnson interviews Dlamini-Zuma.

Dlamini-Zuma says the biggest challenges facing the continent are underdevelopment, poverty and the inequitable distribution of wealth. Since taking over as chairwoman in October, she has repeatedly stressed the need to ensure that peace and security issues – which she believes take "a lot of time, a lot of energy and a lot of resources" – are balanced with development.

"It's important to understand that development is not a 'nice to have', it's essential for peace, for stability and for progress in the world," she says. "To me those are two sides of the same coin – if you don't develop your country, if people don't feel [there is] an equitable distribution of wealth, you are actually threatening peace."

"If you look at Africa today," she says, "we have more than a billion people, and more than 60% of those are young people; that has certain implications." Those "implications" were clear on the streets of Tunisia and Egypt almost two years ago – the high level of youth unemployment was chief among the triggers of the Arab spring. Africa's population growth means that 1m new jobs are needed every month and, like many of the leaders she now serves, Dlamini-Zuma is conscious of the problems that could lie ahead if the continent's youth don't have access to education and the skills necessary to earn a decent living.

Infrastructure is another priority. "We have to get roads, rail … our transport on the high seas [and] we have to get telecommunications infrastructure – everybody's going broadband and Africa should not be left behind," Dlamini-Zuma insists. This, she believes, will enable African states to trade among themselves and develop inter-continental tourism.

At the same time, she'd like to see the continent explore ways of accelerating the process of industrialisation. "Our GDP is growing but its growing mainly on raw materials – and that's not sustainable growth," she says, adding that Africa needs to export more processed goods "so that we can get more value for our products".

Cote d'Ivoire battle moves to the capitol

Military forces loyal to Cote d'Ivoire election winner Alassane Ouattara are advancing on the capitol Abidjan. Once there, a heavy violent battle will begin between them and the forces behind Laurent Gbagbo. The Ivory Coast President Gbagbo lost an election last fall but has been fighting to stay in power ever since. The armed actions of the two political leaders have caused a massive humanitarian crisis in the country. The crisis will only get worse when fighting begins in the capital city as many residents will be in harms way.

Reuters is reporting that the African Union has finally called on Laurent Gbagbo to step down. It does appear he will have to be forced out in bloody fashion as he has thus far not stepped away peacefully.

The best update on the humanitarian angle of the story comes again from Amnesty international. The human rights organization is calling on the international community to protect the people in the capitol city.

“Abidjan is on the brink of a human right catastrophe and total chaos,” said Salvatore Saguès, Amnesty International’s researcher on West Africa.

“Côte d’Ivoire is facing a major humanitarian crisis. The parties to the conflict must immediately stop targeting the civilian population,” said Salvatore Saguès. “The international community must take immediate steps to protect the civilian population.”

Since the beginning of the week, the Republican Forces loyal to internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara have launched a general offensive against the forces loyal to outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power.

As the Republican Forces advance in the west and in the centre of the country, violence has escalated.

A recent flashpoint has been in the town of Guiglo, 600 km west of Abidjan, where sources have told Amnesty International that uncontrolled armed elements loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, including Liberian mercenaries, burned and looted houses, and shot and wounded several civilians yesterday.

“The escalation of this conflict, and increased reliance on mercenaries and untrained recruits, means there is a huge and immediate risk of massive human rights violations in the coming days as the Republican Forces advance on Abidjan,” said Salvatore Saguès.

On 19 March, Gbagbo's minister for youth Charles Blé Goudé, called on Gbagbo’s Young Patriot movement members to volunteer as militiamen to ‘liberate’ the country. The Young Patriots have announced that they have recruited 20,000 soldiers.

Amnesty International has also received reports of retribution attacks against civilians committed by both sides in the western town of Duékoué.

Local sources have told Amnesty International’s delegation currently in Côte d’Ivoire that dead bodies are still lying in the streets of Duékoué, and tens of thousands of civilians are still sheltering in the Catholic Mission without adequate food, water, sanitation and medical care.

On 29 March, the Republican Forces killed civilian Jean Louana, election campaign director of one of the current ministers appointed by Laurent Gbagbo. They also shot down a Pastor of an evangelical church along with eight members of his congregation.

The new UN strategy to improve maternal health moves forward

During Millennium Development Goal summit last fall, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon announced a new initiative to improve maternal health. A woman's chance of living through a childbirth is actually pretty low in the under-developed world, as low as a one in 21 chance for some countries. This initiative actually has some political will and momentum, the first meetings for the committee will take place during the upcoming World Economic Forum

From the Guardian, World Vision's Kate Eardley talks about the new U.N. program and the improvements that need to be made for women around the world.

The launch in September of the UN secretary general's Strategy for women's and children's health has been met with great excitement by those who want to see a drop in the number of deaths. The report comes with the promise of saving the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015. But there is some anxiety about how this will be achieved.

What makes this strategy stand out from previous initiatives is the high level of political will it has garnered. It has received significant commitments from traditional donors, including countries of the G8, but, crucially, a large number of governments from developing countries also made major policy and financial pledges. Afghanistan committed to triple public spending on health and increase the percentage of women giving birth with a skilled health worker, while Niger pledged to introduce legislation to raise the legal age of marriage to 18 and increase female literacy.

So how do we move from promise to delivery; from commitments to lives saved? This week marks a critical milestone as the WHO announces a timeline for progress. Dr Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, will appoint the prime minister of Canada and the president of Tanzania as co-chairs of a group of 25 global leaders who will champion maternal and child health - the commission on accountability and information. This group will be tasked with mapping out how to turn the promises made in September into action in rural communities and slums in the poorest countries. It will have its first meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos early next year, before making a final report to the UN general assembly in September 2011.

In Sierra Leone, where childbirth survival rates are some of the lowest in the world, the government has made its own commitments to the global strategy, pledging to "increase access to health facilities for pregnant women, newborns and children under five through the removal of user fees". An estimated 4 billion people living in developing countries have to borrow money or sell assets so they can access healthcare for themselves or their families.

African Union report says continent is "winning war on AIDS"

A new report from the African Union says that member states are making strides in defeating AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The report shows a reduction in new AIDS infections over the last four years. The new report also says that governments have recently increased the amount of money in health budgets.

From the Daily Nation, writer Paul Juma unpacks the report for us.

The report on the AU Conference of Ministers on Health, assessed how the continent was faring on with programmes to increase access to health services.

Dubbed, Five-Year Review of the Abuja call for Accelerated Action Towards Universal Access to HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria Services by 2010, the report was published ahead of an AU meeting to take place later this month in Uganda.

Malaria deaths had reduced due to artemisin treatment coupled with increased supply of treated nets and indoor residual spray, says the report.

“At the end of 2009, six AU member states had reached the goal of allocating 15 per cent or more of their national budgets to health,” it said on funding.

That goal is among others agreed on by AU health ministers under the Abuja Declaration of 2001 (a set of health goals for African countries) and later the Abuja Call, reached in 2006.

The report, which covered the last four years, also notes that more than half of African countries had allocated at least nine per cent of their national expenditures to health.

Africa to fight poverty aggressively

from My Joy Online

A landmark plan of action, targetting an estimated 72 billion dollars a year in external funding, to help Africa win the battle against poverty was on Tuesday launched at the gathering of the continent's political leaders in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

President John Agyekum Kufuor is among the Heads of State and Government of the 53-member nation bloc, who attended the two-day summit held under the theme "Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on Water and Sanitation."

The plan, an initiative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, provides a roadmap for fighting extreme poverty, hunger and disease to achieve the MDGs by 2015 and comes at a time when there is growing anxiety that many African Nations are not on track to meet the goals.

It outlines focussed investments in agriculture, education, health and infrastructure, as critical to present and future efforts to reach the MDGs and was jointly produced and endorsed by the UN, African Union (AU) Commission, African Development Bank (AfDB),and the European Union (EU) Commission.

The others are the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Islamic Development Bank Group, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank.

AU Chairman Jakaya Kikwete, described it as "a call to action" and said it needed to be implemented immediately to halt the spread of suffering.

Mr Jean Ping, Chairperson of the AU Commission, said African leaders were looking to the Group of Eight most industrialized nations (G8) to turn their existing promises into action.

"The credibility of international commitments is at stake. There are many development success stories across Africa that can be replicated in more countries with additional funding."

He noted that the existing EU and G8 commitments, combined with the present aid flows from others sources, were sufficient to fund the plan.

With the momentum generated by strong economic growth rates in many African countries, increased commitment to domestic resource mobilization, improving governance and better policy performance, Africa could still achieve the MDGs by the year 2015.

These solid efforts by the governments needed to be matched by follow-through on G8 aid pledges to help the continent to make major gains against poverty.

The G8 at its summit in Gleanagles in 2005 pledged to increase official development assistance (ODA) to Africa by 25 billion dollars annually by 2010.


Link to full article. May expire in future.

AU conflict panel warns poverty fuelling separatism wave

from Afriquenligne

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt - Africa is at risk of more border and poverty-ignited conflicts which will require the African Union (AU) to take urgent steps to save the continent from an escalation, an expert body of the organization has warned.

The Peace and Security Council (PSC) has warned in its report to be presented on Sunday at the AU Summit in Sharm El Sheikh that poverty and deprivation, blamed for the latest conflicts in the archipelago of Comoros and Kenya, are standing in the way for a conflict-free continent.

"Significant progress has been made since the last Assembly as shown by the developments in Burundi, the peace process in Côte d'Ivoire and the re-establishment of authority in the Comorian state of Anjouan," the PSC said in its report.

However, the continental peace and security watchdog, seeking mergers with more powerful institutions across the world, also warned that peace efforts in certain parts of the continent remained deadlocked.

The report, which is due for close scrutiny at a high level segment of the African Union Heads of State Assembly, also warns that even though progress in resolving conflicts was achieved this year, potential for new and open conflicts still remain.

"New tensions have emerged, which if care is not taken, could degenerate into open conflict," the report compiled by the continent's 15-country member peace and security body said.

The report offers a fresh twist to discussions over the formation of a grand government for Africa, which is also slated as a point of discussion during the Summit, which convenes in Sharm El Sheikh 30 June-1 July, to prioritise anti-poverty initiatives.

According to Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai, efforts to establish the grand government of Africa, though absolutely necessary, cannot be realized until the rest of the continent is psyched to reason as Africans, not as members of ethnic groups.

"We have not come out of our own tribalism fears. The leaders are dividing their countries and telling those who are not their tribesmen that their lives are in danger unless they support a tribal position, we need to reason as Africans first," she told PANA.