wfn.org | AANA - BULLETIN No. 33/02 (b)

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AANA Bulletin							Bulletin APTA
Acting Editor - Mitch Odero					Acting Editor - Silvie Alemba

Opinions Of Sudanese Civil Societies On Peace Talks

NAIROBI (AANA) August 26 - Members of civil societies in southern Sudan are 
up in arms against some aspects of the ongoing peace talks in Machakos, Kenya.

They point out that there are some deliberate moves to idealise issues 
pertaining to Sudan unity, interim constitution and wealth sharing.

In a protest note addressed to General Lazarus Sumbeiyo, Secretary of IGAD 
Secretariat to Sudan Peace Talks last week, the civil society groups namely 
New Sudanese Indigenous NGOs Network (NESI-Network), Forum for Sudan Civil 
Society Organisation (FOSCO), New Sudan Youth Association (NSYA) and Sudan 
Women Association in Nairobi (SWAN) among others, said the interim period 
under the Protocol should not emphasise unity. They said rather "it should 
emphasise how the South should be decolonised".

"The question of unity has not been clearly defined. Unity is based on 
consensus and willingness of the people who enter into that agreement. What 
happened in post independent Sudan, the Arabs imposed unity based on 
internal colonialism. And because of that, there has never been peace in 
that country but continuous conflict", said the statement.

According to the group, the South has never been allowed to participate in 
wielding of state power, nor in all aspects of development in the country. 
"Every National activity has a purpose and the purposes of every state is 
to uplift the citizens economically, socially and raise their standards of 
living.  The state is there to enable the people to carry out their 
socio-economic activity. On the contrary, the people of the south Sudan, 
since independence, have been locked out from state power", they said.

Instead, they added, the Northern Sudanese have been using negative 
principles of Arabism, Islamism and imposition of culture of Islamic 
theocratic state, totally neglecting principles seen to be humane, 
national, pro-people, empowering and enabling the society as a whole.

The civil organsations called on IGAD to establish a South Sudan Democratic 
State, a North Sudan Arab Islamic state and in the middle an Afro-Arab 
Union government during the interim period, and not talk of power sharing.

Reported by Henry Neondo

  Survey Of Kenya's Stringers

NAIROBI (AANA) August 26 - A survey carried out here recently has revealed 
that correspondents are the driving force behind media houses. They 
contribute up to 70 percent of the work in mainstream media in Kenya 
compared to employed journalists, whose input is only 25 percent.

The survey carried out by African Women and Child Features Service (AWC) 
with support from Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Nairobi found that 
correspondents played a critical role in the development of the 
media.  Their contribution to the daily news was phenomenal.

Entitled "Needs Assessment Survey", the study sought to determine the 
correspondents' input in the daily newspapers in Kenya and to establish 
their role in media development, as well as their plight and training 
needs. It covered the main media institutions in Kenya, which include The 
Nation Media Group, The East African Standard, Kenya Times, The People and 
the Kenya Television Network.

The survey established that correspondents made their contributions mostly 
through news articles (77.7 percent) and sports coverage (20.6 percent), 
and that although majority of them (61.8 percent) had undergone some 
training in journalism, they were poorly paid and hardly taken care of.

"Many of them are trained but rarely considered for full-time positions in 
the media they correspond for whenever a chance arises. They earn very 
little per article and the temporary nature of their situation may lead 
them into compromising quality in a bid to churn out more centimetres," 
said the survey in part.

The research covered Nairobi, Central, Coast, Western, Rift Valley and 
Nyanza provinces. It revealed that Nairobi province had the highest number 
of correspondents, accounting for 40.7 percent of the total correspondence 
coverage in terms of frequency, followed by Rift Valley with 17.7 percent. 
In this respect, Western Province came last with only 4.5 percent.

Despite their important contribution, correspondents were found to be very 
poorly remunerated.  The research showed that about 73 percent of the 
correspondents earned between Ksh 4000 and 5000 (USD 52 - 64) while 13.6 
percent earned between Ksh 10,000 and 15,000 (USD 128 - 192) per month.

The survey also indicated that there was no significant relationship 
between the level of education and salary earned.  Some diploma holders 
were found to be earning more than degree holders.

Majority of the correspondents (71.9 percent) interviewed said they got 
guidance from the editors of main media organisations, while 2.8 percent 
said they did not get such professional guidance.

On access to newsroom facilities, 89.5 percent of the correspondents were 
allowed access to newsroom facilities and only 10.5 percent contended they 
had no access to the facilities.

And in a move to find out how much stories by correspondents captured 
headlines, it emerged that 41.5 percent of the stories appeared on the big 
headlines of media outlets.  However 20.8 percent of correspondents said 
they were normally assigned small jobs that never made headlines.

The survey stated that correspondents were not medically covered.  Only 
12.5 percent were medically covered. "This paints a gloomy picture to 
journalists working as correspondents as they have to look for their own 
money to pay medical bills that have been suffered while on duty," said the 
report.

On union representation, 92.7 percent said they were not represented by the 
Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) on labour issues. The union represents 
only 7.3 percent of the correspondents.

In addition to doing a good job, correspondents face enormous challenges, 
among them being non-availability of resources for reference and 
empowerment, lack of independence at the work place, weak negotiation 
forum, insecurity, and to crown it all, a correspondent has no annual leave 
or off-duty days.

The survey findings are in line with observations of a media workshop held 
in Nairobi sometime in July, which described correspondents as the 
'backbone' of the media in Kenya.

The workshop, which brought together representatives from both print and 
electronic media, representatives from political parties, the electoral 
commission of Kenya and the police, was convened to discuss roles of 
various media stakeholders in effective election coverage.  It was 
sponsored by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

It came up with guidelines on fair and balanced election coverage by the 
media, recommending most importantly that media managers improve 
remuneration packages for correspondents who will be covering elections to 
discourage compromising professionalism with bribes from politicians.

Reported by Joyce Mulama

Obasanjo Shrugs Off Calls For His Impeachment

ABUJA (AANA) August 26 - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is in 
trouble, following pressure by parliamentarians here that he leaves office 
by August 28.

A motion presented in parliament on August 14 calling for his resignation 
within two weeks cited his "inability to lead and prevailing corruption in 
the government" as reasons for the ultimatum.

But in response to the ultimatum, President Obasanjo was reported to have 
said: "I will continue to serve my country."

A government spokesman, Jerry Gana, a cabinet minister and lawyer by 
profession, dismissed the call saying: "The whole power to impeach the 
president lies with the entire cabinet, not a few elected members of 
parliament."

He explained that a president elected in conformity with the law of the 
land cannot be dismissed before the end of his term.

Reported by Charles Eyitayt YAI

Tree Africa Is Uplifting Zimbabwe's Environment

HARARE (AANA) August 26 - An ambitious campaign to uplift Zimbabwe's 
environment  is making headway just months after its launch.

Tree Africa is a new campaign by a local non-government organisation 
(Environment Africa - EA), which is impacting severely on the natural 
environment.

Coming at a time of unparalleled social and political upheaval, Tree Africa 
hopes to involve as many people as possible in Zimbabwe, the region and the 
world to help plant trees in Southern Africa.

The campaign was launched in April this year in style, with former South 
African President and elderly statesman Nelson Mandela planting a tree at a 
Rotary International Conference in Malawi.

Trees are vital  to the social, cultural and economic lives of millions of 
people on the African continent, but due to increasing pressure on natural 
resources caused by overpopulation and poverty, the loss of traditional 
regulations controlling these resources, the lack of clear policies 
protecting them and escalating civil conflict, Africa's trees are under 
severe threat.

Tree Africa aims to create action and awareness about the importance of the 
environment, especially trees, to our survival.

The campaign strongly advocates that trees are life, providing human beings 
with oxygen, food, shelter, medicine and fuelwood as well as preventing 
soil erosion, providing habitat for wildlife and biodiversity and 
contributing towards rain and the reduction of global warming.

It is with this in mind that the Tree Africa campaign aims to plant one 
million trees by April next year, and five million trees in the region by 
2005.

Tree Africa hopes to change people's mindsets towards trees, encouraging 
them not to chop down a tree unnecessarily, and to replace trees when they 
are used.

By creating a culture of the importance of trees, educating people about 
indigenous trees, and encouraging positive energy and unity in the fight to 
preserve Zimbabwe's trees, the campaign hopes to involve every member of 
society to uplift the spirit of Zimbabwe and help regenerate Zimbabwe's 
environment.

Already, 30,000 trees have been planted with the help of  Rotary Club, and 
in Guruve under EA's Community Programme, Tree Africa has a nursery at its 
Harare base, which has over 50 types of trees for their programmes and for 
sale.

These include the indigenous Acacia (Karoo), the Waterberry (Mukute), the 
Red Mahogany (Mubawa), which is the tallest tree in the Chirinda Forest, 
and the beautiful Lucy Bean Tree (Mutiti/Umgaqogqogqo), in flower at the 
moment.

The nursery also has fruit trees such as mango, guava and orange, and the 
Tree Office has compiled a data-base of information on all trees so that 
those planting them can know their medicinal qualities, life-span, uses and 
their favoured climatic conditions.

School children and the youth are important partners for Tree Africa, with 
one of the campaign's key catch phrases being "imagine-For Every Child A 
Tree".

Tree Africa wishes to help individuals, organisations, corporate bodies, 
agencies and anyone interested to improve the local and global environment 
through the planting and caring for trees.

These stakeholders are encouraged to join in the 'Help Tree Africa' and 
'Help Tree Zimbabwe' campaigns and help the environment for generations to 
come.

Apart from Tree Africa, other important programmes of Environment Africa 
are the urban programme, the community programmes and the environmental 
rights unit.

Environment Africa, which was formerly known as Environment 2000, strives 
to work with all sectors of the society raising awareness, encouraging 
action and advocating for a better environment that uplifts the livelihoods 
of current and future generations.

Environment Africa was established in1990 and has its headquarters in 
Harare, as well as two branches situated in Victoria Falls and Mutare.  It 
is a private voluntary organisation registered in law and owned by its over 
700 corporate and individual members.

Presently, Environment Africa is regarded by many to be one of the most 
professional Zimbabwean NGOs and is amongst the largest environmental NGOs 
in Zimbabwe.

Environment Africa's community programme focuses its efforts around poverty 
reduction, as environmental degradation is both the cause and the result of 
poverty.

Through this programme, large numbers of people have engaged in bee-keeping 
agro-forestry, landscape design, gully reclamation, and soap making.

EA is working with local partner NGOs in each area to draw on the strengths 
of each organisation and make sure that projects are both holistic and 
sustainable.

The urban programme seeks to work with the local authorities and industries 
so as to improve their environmental planning and management skills.

For example, EA have been working with the Bindura town council for the 
last two years on an income-generating project involving recycling and 
waste management.

The environmental   rights unit's major objective is to raise awareness 
amongst the public about environmental rights, which are often ignored or 
given low priority compared to other rights.

Reported by Tim Chigodo