wfn.org | AANA BULLETIN No. 17/03 May 5, 2003 (b)

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AANA BULLETIN No. 17/03 May 5, 2003 (b)

Rightists Group Calls For Urgent Intervention In Darfur

DARFUR/NAIROBI (AANA) May 5 - Human rightists are appealing for 
intervention in troubled Darfur region in western Sudan, following recent 
spate of fights between nomadic groups and sedentary communities.

The ever tense region, which borders Chad and Central African Republic, has 
over the past few weeks experienced tragic incidents of fights that have 
left several people dead.

The latest serious offensive occurred on April 23, when armed members of 
nomad groups attacked people around a mosque at Mulli market in West 
Darfur, killing 55 people, and wounding at least 20 others.

Expressing concern, Amnesty International has called for human rights 
monitoring in the region, as well as formation of an independent 
international commission of inquiry.

"At a time when peace talks are taking place to end a 20-year conflict ... 
the international community must not watch in silence while the choice of a 
military solution for human rights problems drags another area of Sudan 
into disaster," said the human rights organisation in a statement.

Thousands of people have reportedly fled their villages in Kutum in North 
Darfur, since April 11, following war between government sponsored forces 
and Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in the region.	SLA is a new military group 
formed in February by the threatened sedentary communities in Darfur.

"A conflict which no one wants and which could be solved by clear 
recommendations and human rights protection mechanisms must not be allowed 
to escalate," charged Amnesty International, adding, "The international 
community must act."

In the meantime, Sudan peace process continues in Nairobi.

Reported by Elly Wamari

Church Questions Role Of Security Agents In Polls Watch

BLANTYRE (AANA) May 5 - The Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) 
has accused the country's elections monitoring body for including state 
security agents in its membership, saying the move was intimidating voters.

CCAP's Church and Society Programme office also attacked the Electoral 
Commission (EC) for accepting the army, police and the National 
Intelligence Unit (NIB) as members of the National Elections Forum, a local 
coalition of various interest groups to monitor next year's parliamentary 
and presidential elections.

Robson Chitengo, the Church's programme manager observes that the inclusion 
of the state branches, was a way to intimidate opposition supporters ahead 
of the 2004 polls.  He urged for their removal to pave way for free and 
fair elections. "We are very concerned about their presence," said Chitengo.

He recalled that a similar arrangement marred elections monitoring in some 
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries.

"We note that during the last Zimbabwean presidential and parliamentary 
elections, government security forces even forced voters on queues to cast 
(their votes) in the ruling party's favour. We would not like that to 
happen in Malawi's poll," noted Chitengo.

The NIB and Young Democrats (YDs), a youth wing of the ruling United 
Democratic Front (UDF) of President Bakili Muluzi, have been terrorising 
opposition supporters.	Cases of YDs disrupting opposition rallies have 
been reported.

Meanwhile, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seeking accreditation for 
voter education campaign have lodged a joint complaint with the Electoral 
Commission.  They claim the registration fee is too high, saying it was a 
ploy to deny smaller NGOs a chance to take part in civic education.

But the commission's spokesman, Fergus Lipenga, has waved aside the 
accusation, saying there was no intention to discriminate any interested 
NGOs.  According to him, the fee increase from K10,000 (US $ 117) to 
K30,000 (US $ 350) was modest.

"The fee is aimed at identifying those organisations that are really 
serious in ensuring successful elections," Lipenga is reported to have said.

Voter registration will commence in September, which critics say would be 
too late.

Recently, the Pan African Civic Educators Network (PACENET), Malawi 
Chapter, expressed concern over the belated voter preparations. PACENET is 
a pan-African network that promotes fair and regular elections in Africa.

It echoed the caution by other players that Malawi could face similar 
registration and voter irregularities, like it happened in the second 
(1999) multiparty elections, when voting and registration materials did not 
reach most rural parts.

PACENET chair, Rev David Faiti, urged the NGOs to consolidate their 
activities, saying a poorly organised process would defeat their goal of 
promoting human rights and democracy in Malawi.

"Your advocacy must include grooming of foresighted leaders so that the 
citizens have a better future," said Rev Faiti, at a recent PACENET 
workshop for Malawi.

Reported by Hobbs Gama

  It's a Mixture Of Hope And Anxiety As Conference Starts

NAIROBI (AANA) May 5 - The role of the Church in the current review of 
Kenya's constitution has won the heart of the country's head of state.

Officially opening the National Constitution Conference here on April 30, 
President Mwai Kibaki, who also commended other civil society groups, said, 
"Ufungamano Initiative has provided inspired leadership, and kept our hopes 
alive in difficult moments".

The president stressed: "By their own example of unity, in diversity, they 
showed Kenyans the path to the future".

Ufungamano Initiative Group is an assembly of Christians, Muslims and 
Hindus, who came together to collectively inject religious concerns, apart 
from adding momentum into the constitutional review work.

Their efforts greatly contributed to the success of the preliminary stages 
of Kenya's constitutional review process, whose outcome was a draft 
constitution that is now being assesed at the on-going national 
constitutional conference in Nairobi.

The conference kicked of on April 28, but serious deliberations started 
after the official opening by the president.

Mr. Kibaki pledged that the Government would support this process in every 
way, noting, "we shall not interfere with the review process".

Alluding to some contentious issues on the draft document, the president 
counselled: "We have more things to unite us than those that separate us. 
Let us harness the strength of our unity in diversity".

The proposed constitution contains sections that have, in the past few 
months, generated heated debate. They include scaling up of Kadhi (Islamic) 
courts to national recognition, and the reduction of presidential powers, 
edged on creation of a prime minister position.

Disagreement over the Kadhi courts issue has made Muslims to feel 
uncomfortable within the faiths-led Ufungamano Initiative Group.

On the political front, Members of Parliament (MPs) are divided over 
suggestions for a position of prime minister.

  Even after they met separately prior to the national constitution 
conference to "brainstorm over the issue", tension among them could be 
noticed as they joined other delegates at the conference.

But as Mr. Kibaki ended his speech, which observers viewed as 
reconciliatory, delegates interviewed by AANA were hopeful that "the tense 
mood" at the beginning of the conference, would fade out as days go by.

Catholic Sister Dr. Teresa Maria Gachambi, who lectures at the Catholic 
University for Eastern Africa based in Nairobi, said: "Some personal 
interests are still very common on some issues among some delegates. I hope 
this situation will filter out as we progress."

Abdullahi Guyo, a member of the Islamic faith blamed "some people" for 
wanting to create rift between Muslims and Christians.

"We have never had a difference in our deliberations at the Ufungamano 
Initiative Group, until our Christian brothers decided to oppose us on the 
inclusion of Kadhi (Islamic) courts in the new proposed constitution. I 
suspect this kind of animosity must have come from outside," he stated, 
without further elaboration.

Member of Parliament, Professor Wangari Mathai, was of the opinion that the 
best the conference could opt for on the Kadhi courts matter, was to 
recommend that the contents of the current constitution on the subject be 
carried forward to the proposed constitution.

"In this case we would be able to incorporate this rather contentious issue 
in its rightful place," she told journalists immediately after President 
Kibaki officially opened the conference.

According to Prof Maathai, the current constitution accommodates Kadhi 
courts up to district level.  The draft constitution being debated is 
suggesting that the Islamic courts be upgraded to the highest level of the 
judicial system.

Reported By Osman Njuguna

Release Of Genocide Prisoners Ends Amid Gacaca Grumbles

KIGALI (AANA) May 5 - The first phase of release of genocide detainees, 
which started in January, has come to and end.

According to government figures, 25,029 detainees out of about 112,000 in 
the country's detention facilities were released in this phase, which ended 
April 30.

The releases are provisional, and all detainees still have to face the 
traditional community-based courts known as gacaca.

Even as the detainees walked out of prison doors, many gacaca officials 
complained  of having been sidelined in the decision to free the prisoners, 
and that this had opened up wounds of genocide.

About one million Rwandese were brutally killed in 1994 at the peak of 
conflict between Hutu and Tutsi ethnic communities.

"Many of those directly involved in gacaca proceedings (Plaintiff, 
Magistrates and community members) are troubled because the decision to 
release prisoners was made without consulting them, and has in many cases 
stirred up feelings of trauma," says a statement form Amnesty International.

The detainees released include those who have confessed to participating in 
the genocide, those whose case files do not contain sufficient evidence to 
warrant their detention, and pre-trial detainees who have spent more time 
in detention than they would if convicted for crimes they allegedly
committed.

Their release followed a presidential decree issued on January 1, granting 
provisional freedom to a projected 49,376 detainees.

By AANA Correspondent

Govt Warns Hospital Staff Over Frequent Drug Swindling

BLANTYRE (AANA) May 5 - Senior health officials in Malawi have issued stern 
warning to personnel in public institutions against thefts of drugs.  The 
trend has led to shortage of essential medicines, making patients die of 
treatable ailments.

Frequent disappearances of large quantities of drugs and hospital 
equipment, which staff steal and sell to private clinics or street vendors, 
have been reported in recent years.

Despite increase in government's annual health budget from US$ 6 million to 
US$ 9 million in the past two years, drugs have always been in short 
supply, with patients being turned back without receiving even basic 
medicines like Fansidar SP, used to treat malaria.

Dr Habib Somanje, director of preventive health services in the Ministry of 
Health and Population, has blamed unscrupulous hospital workers for 
frustrating government's efforts.

"We are putting in place strict measures to check the malpractice, and we 
request members of the public to report any thefts because the medicines 
belongs to them," charged Somanje.

He was speaking at the launch of various activities marking Africa Malaria 
Day on April 25.

Previous attempts to curb drug pilferage from public institutions, included 
swoops by authorities, on suspected private clinics and market vendors. But 
the thefts still continued.

Health authorities then mounted a campaign to educate the public on the 
dangers of buying TB, malaria and other drugs from unauthorised dealers.

But due to widespread poverty, many patients still flock vendors for cheap 
drugs, putting their health at risk.

Critics cite low wages in government institutions and absence of incentives 
as reasons for the drug thefts. Malawi is currently losing a lot of 
qualified nurses to Western countries, notably the UK and USA, where terms 
of service are considered better.

Street vendors do not seem perturbed by the problem, as confirms Shaibu 
Zakaria, a vendor in the commercial city of Blantyre.

"Why can't they leave us alone.  They should deal with the hospitals if 
that is where the drugs come from," said Zakaria.

Reported by Hobbs Gama