wfn.org | ALL AFRICA NEWS AGENCY 09/03 March 10, 2003 (c)

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ALL AFRICA NEWS AGENCY 09/03 March 10, 2003 (c)

P. O Box, 66878, 00800 Westlands, NAIROBI, Kenya
Tel: 254-2-4442215, 4440224
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Email: aanaapta@insightkenya.com , aanaapta@hotmail.com
AANA Bulletin	-  Acting  Editor -Elly Wamari				     
  
Bulletin APTA -  Acting Editor - Silvie Alemba

FEATURES  SECTION

Debate On Weekly Sexy Tabloid In Uganda Hots Up

A weekly tabloid in Uganda that feeds on sexually explicit material, has 
survived the market's slaughterhouse in this conservative community. Its 
style of publishing salacious gossip as well as pictures of naked women, 
has jolted many, particularly the Church and some government officials. 
Nevertheless, the publication continues to thrive.  The debate about its 
content is seething, reports AANA Correspondent, Crespo Sebunya.

I
n one-and-half years of existence, Red Pepper has cut out a niche in 
Uganda's media market. Its management says circulation figures oscillate 
between 20,000 and 25,000 copies per issue.

It is cashing in on Uganda's sexy mood, a strategy that its predecessor, 
Spice, used, but folded following a determined crusade by moralists.  The 
public too, got bored.

Nevertheless, Red Pepper has weathered the initial hostile attitude from 
sections of the public. Court battles ensued as a crusade led by Minister 
of Ethics and Integrity, Mrs Miria Matembe, attempted to stop its 
publication. She is still bitter.

"We are besieged and surrounded by some forces that push for immorality in 
the name of modernisation," she says.

The Church also attempted. An evangelist, Pastor Martin Sempa testified in 
court that the tabloid reminded him of his sinful days when he was a "sex 
machine". He wants it taken off the streets.

Apparently to court government favour, the paper regularly runs political 
commentaries in support of government. To moralists, the message is "blame 
the society, not the messenger".

Dennis Sabiiti, one of the people behind the publication says it has such 
frivolous articles that people want nowadays.

"People were not satisfied with what they read in papers (politics) as if 
being governed and voting was what people lived for," says Sabiiti, adding: 
"We came with a concept of a simple paper with lots of socials and 
entertainment, which people liked."

He says that their mission is to rid the society of indecency through 
publicising those who do what society regards as bedroom matters.  "The 
moment one does what is regarded as private in public domain, the action is 
no longer private," Sabiiti explains.

Some commentators says Red Pepper symbolises a nation in transition coming 
to terms with openness. There is a general perception that openness has 
brought happiness and hope, whether it is in economic or social affairs.

Government officials say it is openness that has contributed to the 
downfall in HIV infection rates, from a previous 30 percent in early 90s, 
to 6 percent to date.  The realisation that the government has let the 
society regulate itself, rather than calling the shots, is significant to 
social observers.

Aaron Semba, an artist, believes that such techniques indicates that the 
society is maturing. "We are reaching one of the highest levels of sexual 
demystification and enlightenment", he says.

Explicitly sexy material in the media has stimulated debate on how the 
society is managing change.  Legal experts say the country's laws and 
traditions are inadequate in defining indecency.  "Actually, there is no 
law requiring anyone to wear underpants, and not many people are willing to 
suggest a legal dress code," wrote Chibita recently, a lawyer and columnist 
with the New Vision.  He believes morals are subjective and hard to define, 
once a society becomes cosmopolitan.

Nevertheless, Red Pepper highlighted how some aspects of foreign culture 
are corrupting the youth with a belief that it is modernity.

Jamal Nampijja, who once fell in trouble with police for allegedly having 
publicly exposed her private parts, told Red Pepper that she considers Lil 
Kim, an American artist, her idol.  "She is wildly sexy and I would like to 
be like her.  Too much boozing, stripping in public are good for raising 
public stature," she said.

The question of imparting morality by the press has been controversial from 
the time the press began running pictures of semi-nude girls, which they 
splashed on front pages.

At one time, a journalist told religious leaders that instead of blaming 
the press, they should preach harder.  The Church has since re-examined 
itself. Rev Gideon Byamugisha, who heads health programmes of the Anglican 
Church in Kampala, believes the institution has its pitfalls.

"The anaemia from which much of the Church in Africa is clearly suffering, 
[is] largely due to our failure to communicate sexuality, morality and 
marriage issues to the youth," he said. "Leadership in the Church has been 
a result of history, the least equipped to tackle these problems," he added.

Media critics feel that some section of the press are reckless and have 
hurt many a people's feelings.	A photo carried in Red Pepper, of a female 
radio disc jockey on a short call, was enough humiliation for the girl, who 
later left her job and went into oblivion. Apparently, the photo had been 
taken without her knowledge.

A parent of one girl collapsed upon seeing a photo of her daughter having 
sex with a man on a beach.

Isaac Mukasa, an elder, wonders whether this is good. "Morality and 
interpersonal relationship have to do with respect for the other person, 
realising that the other person has consciousness or feelings that can be 
hurt," he notes.

A senior Lecturer at Makerere University says media reinforces the attitude 
that Uganda is still a masochistic society, where even liberated women see 
themselves subjected to judgement by men.

"Women's bodies are a cultural script upon which society and tradition 
define the rules that concern women's dressings," Dr Sylvia Tamale notes.

Jacqueline Asiimwe, a female lawyer and a woman activist agrees, saying: 
"In a patriarch society like Uganda, morality is skewed with roles and 
expectations being higher for women and sanctions against them graver."

The daunting task women activists face is to weave a culture with values 
that are impartial to all.

But the goodwill in explicit media is still strong and is exploited by 
advertisers who flock the private press instead of government media. This 
is despite the fact that the latter contributes 90 percent of national 
coverage.

Government statistics show that out of UShs 30bn ($1.6m) advertising 
revenue, government media gets only UShs 1.3bn ($700,000).  The fear is 
that this may corrupt media to switch on to "safer" areas and away from 
real issues.

While Red Pepper proprietors smile all the way to the bank, time will tell 
whether the motive of their material was to act as a catalyst to cure 
social problems, or was diversionary, and exploited ills to make a quick 
buck.

How Zimbabweans Are Coping With Hard Times

Caught up in a web of poverty brought about by persistent economic 
recession, Zimbabweans are employing various levels of ingenuity to stay 
alive.	Even though their determination to survive is impressive, it is 
clear that here is a society that is on the brink of collapse,	reports 
AANA Correspondent Tim Chigodo

"K
o ndepi? Handeka kumba." (Whats'up? Let's go and be intimate), is now a 
common invitation extended to men by commercial sex workers here.

Culturally, in normal situations, women do not make such advances to 
men.  But in these days of economic malaise, anything is possible. It is 
one of the many signs of biting economic times.

As roller coaster politics continue to nettle the country, the way it has 
done in the past three years, Zimbabweans are battling for their survival 
in the wrestling arena of life.

There is no winner yet, but sooner or later, the match will have to end 
with an economic or political knock-out punch.

Hard times bring out the best and the worst in people.	The prevailing 
hardships have forced many Zimbabweans to be ingenious and to look for 
alternative means of survival.	Some have devised honest ways of endurance, 
while others thrive on deceit and exploitation.

"It's shortage of this and shortage of that.  Queue for this and queue for 
that," qupped a man standing in a queue at a shopping centre in 
Harare.   "All this in a country that was once a bread basket and envy of 
many," he says cynically.

Corruption has become rampant and hoarding of essential commodities is 
rife.  Like a flash of lightning, prices of goods have shot up.

Consumers have become frugal, reducing their families to two or even one 
meal a day. In some areas, children have stopped going to school because of 
hunger.  They are too weak to travel the long distances.

A 10kg bag of white or yellow maize-meal which normally costs ZWD 300 (US$ 
5) has skyrocketed to ZWD 4500 (US$ 81) on the black market.

A bag of potatoes costs between ZWD 2,000 (US$ 36)and ZWD 4,000 (US$ 72) 
and some families buy four or five potatoes for ZWD 200 (US$ 3.6) for a 
single light meal.  Three leaves of vegetables go for ZWD 20 (US$ 0.4), 
previously the price of a whole bundle.

Commercial sex workers have also kept trend and have hiked their 
fees.  Depending on location and demand, charges range from ZWD 500 (US$ 9) 
to ZWD 2,000 (US$ 36) for "short time" at growth points and cities 
respectively. Overnight fees range from ZWD 2,000 to 7,000 (US$ 36 to 126), 
again depending on demand.

In the upmarket hotels, sex workers laugh all the way home pocketing ZWD 
15,000 (US$ 270) or more for a night of intimacy.

At spots on Harare streets, sex is a roaring occupation, especially at 
night.	Women swing and parade their bare essentials in the semi-nude, as 
there is ready clientele for the world's oldest profession.

"We are in this business because it is the easiest way to make money," says 
a commercial sex worker at a hotel.

"We have the resource ourselves and we don't need to borrow from anyone to 
engage in prostitution," she says boldly.

The ladies of the night though acknowledge the dangers of HIV/AIDS menace, 
and say condoms are their defence.

Transport costs have also risen astronomically, leaving many people either 
having to cycle or walk to work.

Water supplies have dried up in some rural areas and a few urban 
settlements. Some families have to buy water in buckets for their 
day-to-day livelihood.	Others are lucky and depend on perennial springs.

Even the able-bodied have resorted to begging to survive.  The situation is 
pathetic for blind beggars, the disabled and the elderly.

It is now unusual to walk around without encountering beggars asking for 
money.	Usually, these would be mothers with small children who are 
unleashed on passers-by for help. "Even five dollars (Zim dollars) will 
do," a child beggar would plead.

Fuel for cooking and heating is beyond the reach of many families. Urban 
dwellers cannot afford the high cost of paraffin when it is available, 
especially on the black market.  A 750ml bottle costs ZWD 200 (US$ 3.6).

Firewood poaching has become rampant and the state of deforestation is 
appalling. Push-carts and truck-loads of firewood from surrounding farms 
make their way into the urban areas at night or early in the morning.

Massive education and awareness campaigns about the environment have been 
prevented by the lawlessness on the newly-resettled farms, under the 
chaotic land redistribution programme.

Hard times come with robberies and muggings, shoot-outs and housebreaking, 
theft, have all become too common.

Many homesteads have been turned into small grocery shops.  In high-density 
suburbs, eggs, tomatoes, fruits, sweets, cigarettes, are available on 
makeshift sets outside many households.

Says a woman: "Even if we bellow like cows, nothing will change in this 
country.  The only thing is just to fight for your own survival."

On consumer boycott she says: "This doesn't work in Zimbabwe. ...Even if 
prices rise like a flooding river, we struggle to buy the commodities if 
they are available.  You can't boycott what is not available."

The situation gets worse every day.  Foodstuffs are expensive and diffcult 
to find.  Disposable incomes have shrunk to such an extent that many people 
no longer buy clothes and other items they consider secondary.	"Business 
is just bad," says a shopkeeper in Harare.

Will Rwanda Tribunal Accomplish Its Mission?

There are now five years left for Arusha-based International Criminal 
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to complete its mission as conferred upon it by 
the United Nations Security Council in November 1994;  to arrest, 
investigate and prosecute the 1994 Rwanda genocide perpetrators. The 
question that remains to be resolved, however, reports AANA Correspondent, 
Herman Kasili, is if the Tribunal would have prosecuted all those alleged 
to have committed the heinous act before its scheduled closing date.

L
atest events, where suspected Rwanda genocide criminals have turned to 
powerful government officials in various countries for protection, put to 
question the possibility of bringing to book all genocide suspects by the 
2008 deadline.

Countries said to be harbouring suspected genocide perpetrators wanted by 
ICTR, include Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, 
Tanzania, Kenya, France and Belgium.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding between Rwanda and Democratic 
Republic of Congo (DRC) mid last year, and thereafter a Congo peace deal, 
affirmed that genocide suspects holed up in DRC would be arrested and 
handed over to ICTR.

But by late last year, the Tribunal was stuck due to lack of 
witnesses.  The countries in which genocide suspects were believed to be 
hiding had not facilitated their arrests, and the already seized suspects 
have not been prosecuted yet, because of a stand-off between Kigali and ICTR.

Towards the end of last year, ICTR had developed a crisis with Rwandan 
Government over investigations into the crimes allegedly committed by its 
ruling party, the Rwanda Patriotic Army, involved in the massacre.

During the same period, a so called International Crisis Group (ICG) report 
divulged information that the main factor affecting the tribunal was its 
inability to reform its administration, to speed up court processes.

The group also said there were some media and military officials who ought 
to have been arrested in connection with the genocide, but were not.

Matters were further complicated for the Tribunal, when in Nairobi, an 
informer assisting the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track down 
a Rwandan fugitive, Felicien Kabuga, was murdered by a suspected hit squad 
presumably hired by the runaway.

The elusive Kabuga is alleged to have been involved in the killings of over 
one million Tutsi/moderate Hutu during the genocide.

He has a tag of US$ 5 million on his head, an offer by United States of 
America (US).	The US government has been instrumental in ensuring that 
ICTR prosecutes all who were involved in the bloodbath.

William Munuhe, a 27-year old businessman, was reported to be in touch with 
Kabuga.  He was found dead in his house on January 18, three days after a 
dragnet laid out by FBI and Kenya's Criminal Investigation Department, 
failed to materialise.

Munuhe was to lure Kabuga to his residence in one of Nairobi's suburb 
estates, with a business proposal.  The plan was to facilitate Kabuga's 
arrest by intelligence officers.

After Munuhe's mysterious death, FBI officials were baffled at how their 
"tight" plan to capture Kabuga had leaked out.

There was suspicion that Kabuga was probably tipped off about the 
arrangement, after which he possibly hired a hit squad to kill Munuhe.

Autopsy results by a government pathologist, Dr Wasike Simiyu, that Munuhe 
could have committed suicide by suffocating himself with carbon-monoxide 
gas, were immediately discounted by the deceased's family.

Not amused by this turn of events, US Ambassador to Kenya, Johnny Carson, 
asked the Kenyan government to commit itself to investigations to arrest 
the killers.

Kenya's Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Kiraitu Murungi, 
confirmed that "no stone would be left unturned" to ensure that Rwanda 
genocide perpetrators are dealt with according to law. He added that the 
new government would not condone crimes against humanity.

Late last year, the country's Attorney General, Amos Wako, and the then 
Police Commissioner, Philemon Abong'o had assured the world that the 
government would not rest until Kabuga and other suspects involved in the 
Rwanda Genocide were arrested.

Sources say that a number of officials in Kenya's intelligence could be in 
contact with the fugitive, and are protecting him.

A former senior civil servant was also implicated as being instrumental in 
protecting Kabuga.  It is actually suspected that the same civil servant is 
the one who introduced the deceased (Munuhe) to the runaway, possibly to 
develop business partnerships.

But speaking to AANA recently, Kenya Police spokesman King'ori Mwangi, 
differed with those claiming that his officers were apathetic to Kabuga's 
arrest.

He said as far as he was concerned, the Kenya Police had offered unlimited 
support to ensure that the fugitive was nabbed.

Mwangi indicated that the co-operation the Kenya Police had given to FBI 
and other interested parties was voluminous, and that the Police were 
willing to facilitate the arrest of genocide suspects.

"So far the Kenya Police have arrested over 13 suspects, and handed them 
over to the Tribunal for prosecution, and are ready to nab the remaining 
ones," said the police spokesman.

Other Rwandese fugitives believed to have gone underground in other African 
states include Major Protais Ntiranya, and Colonels Alloys Ntiwiragaba and 
Rwarakabije. Others are a number of ministers in the late President Juvenal 
Habyarimana's government.

A Burundian clergyman, who did not want to be named, told AANA that there 
were a number of genocide suspects out there who had not been touched, 
including some clergy in the Roman Catholic Church said to be holed up in 
Italy.

The clergyman said those who were protecting the suspects were doing a 
disservice to the people of Rwanda and to the Tribunal.  He said countries 
holding fugitives should speed up arrests so that the Tribunal is not 
time-barred.

Kenya's new Police Commissioner, Edwin Nyaseda, appointed last month, 
declared that among his top priorities would be to arrest and hand over to 
ICTR, all genocide suspects that might be residing in the country.