Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN

A “censored sex education campaign” has left Kenyan teens without adequate knowledge about how to prevent pregnancy

NAIROBI,  – Julia Nyaberi’s* “clinic” in Majengo, a slum in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, caters to one type of client only – pregnant women seeking abortions.

Young women writhe in pain on the floor of the poorly lit house; the neighbours all know what happens here and have become immune to the moans and wails.

“They come to me and each pays me 50 shillings [US$0.70],” Nyaberi told IRIN/PlusNews. “Most of them are sex workers who operate here in Majengo and have conceived by mistake.”

She uses a concoction of herbs to induce abortion, and admits there have been fatalities. “Even qualified drivers at times cause accidents; I do not do this job to kill anyone, but at times some are unlucky and go together with the child they came to abort,” she said.

Diana Awuor*, 21, is a sex worker in Majengo, and fell pregnant after unprotected sex with a regular client.

“Not that I have sex without a condom every day but there are some regular clients you can excuse at times and I think that is how I became pregnant,” she said. “We cannot do our work while pregnant because nobody will want you, so I have to abort to stay in business, and also, I don’t want a baby.”

Back-street clinics

Ministry of Health statistics put the number of Kenyan girls and women who have abortions every year at 300,000; abortion remains illegal so many of these take place in back-street clinics like Nyaberi’s. According to the International Planned Parenthood Federation, unsafe abortions account for between 30 and 50 percent of maternal deaths in Kenya.

“One person attending to up to even five women without sterilizing whatever instruments are being used can spread HIV,” said Jacky Abuor, a counsellor at the faith-based Kenyan NGO, Crisis Pregnancy Ministries, which works with young women dealing with unwanted pregnancies.

The legalization debate

A recent study by the local NGO, Centre for the Study of Adolescence (CSA), found that four in 10 Kenyan girls had sex before the age of 19, many with multiple partners and often in exchange for gifts such as mobile phone airtime or food. Along with the predictable public outcry, the report re-ignited the legalization debate.

Women’s rights groups have long urged the government to legalize abortion to prevent the high number of maternal deaths from unsafe procedures. A Reproductive Health and Rights Bill proposing that “safe and accessible abortion-related care” be enshrined in the constitution as a reproductive right was tabled in Parliament in 2008 by the Federation of Women Lawyers and the Coalition On Violence Against Women; MPs have yet to vote on the issue.

The country’s anti-abortion movement has powerful backers, from religious leaders to politicians, such as Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.

Sex education

“When you say four out of 10 girls have engaged in sex, how do we keep the remaining six from being lured into early sex? The window lies in counselling and education,” said Anne Muisyo, “Abstinence and worth the wait” programme coordinator at Crisis Pregnancy Ministries.

“Sex education at the early stages of life and especially targeting young people can significantly turn the tide and prevent new cases of HIV,” Paul Mitei, head of gynaecology in western Kenya’s Nyanza Provincial Hospital.

Kenya’s Ministry of Education has an HIV/AIDS prevention and sex education curriculum that focuses on upper-primary and secondary school, but no specific time is set aside for this during the school day, leaving teachers and school heads to fit in the subject at their discretion.

Speaking at a recent meeting in Nairobi, Kenya’s director of public health, Shanaaz Sharif, admitted that opposition from parents, religious groups and some civil society bodies had led to a “censored sex education campaign” in schools.

Agnes Odawa, in charge of guidance and counselling at the education ministry, told IRIN/PlusNews the government had plans to introduce a more detailed sex education package as part of the school curriculum.

Responding to the CSA’s findings, the head of the National AIDS Control Council, Alloys Orago, said the government was also looking into the promotion of condom use among teenagers.

Currently the government’s HIV prevention programme for teens revolves around the promotion of abstinence, with a nationwide media campaign urging young people to “chill”, or abstain, from early sex.

“Many young girls and even boys in rural areas and poor settings do not really know about contraception; those of them who use the condom only know it as a means of preventing HIV,” said Mitei. “There is a need to promote condoms to young people both as an HIV preventive measure and birth control measure.”

ko/kr/bp/mw

* not her real name

source.irinnews.org

EGYPT: John Simon, “I don’t know where I will be tomorrow”

Photo: Emmanuel Dunseath/IRIN

John Simon (not his real name), a 33-year-old Dinka from Southern Sudan living as a refugee in Cairo, said he did not want to show his face for fear of persecution by members of the Sudanese security forces

CAIRO,  – Officially, there were 41,423 refugees registered with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Cairo in September. The Sudanese make up the biggest national group – 22,689. Of these, about 35 percent are Southern Sudanese, according to UNHCR.

In the first of a series of interviews with refugees living in Cairo, IRIN spoke to John Simon (not his real name), a 33-year-old Dinka from Southern Sudan, about why he left home, and what prospect he faces in this host country.

“I left Sudan in 2002 because the government security forces wanted to kill me. I was a university student and had joined a Bible study group that also tried to help other Christians with clothes and food. At the time, I didn’t know that our meetings and activities were being monitored by the government. I found out later once they had arrested me and put me in jail in Khartoum.

“They accused me of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. But it was not just about religion, they also felt threatened that our tribe might try to make a coup against them.

“After being released from my second time in jail, because they didn’t have enough evidence, a friend helped me to sort out my papers so that I could leave for Egypt.

“It took me a long time to get registered as a refugee with UNHCR in Cairo. Eventually, I got registered in 2004 and started to get some benefits from them. I appreciate what they give me, but really all I want is to finish my education, get a proper job and raise a family.

“I also get some help from CARITAS [a Catholic NGO and UNHCR implementing partner in Egypt] but what I need is a durable solution.

“I share a small apartment in the Ain Shams area of Cairo with other Southern Sudanese. There are many of us in that neighbourhood. Most Sudanese can get jobs here but the salaries are very low, barely enough to cover the rent. It’s not Egypt’s fault because even their people are poor and facing similar struggles.

“We Southern Sudanese usually keep apart from the northerners, because we can’t be sure we can trust them. If they find out I’m a refugee, they want to know why and what I did. Sometimes it’s very dangerous for me.

“I would love to go back home if it really was safe. Some say it is and have returned, like my uncle, but I never heard from them again so I don’t think it has changed. I heard that my mother and father are still alive but there is no-one there to help them in their old age. I have spent seven years in Egypt and not sent one pound home.

“My life is full of uncertainty. I don’t know where I will be tomorrow. What is the future? Where is the hope?”

ed/cb source.irinnews.org

Photo: JWTC

The path (black) and projected path (pink) of Typhoon Lupit, which is expected to make landfall on Thursday

MANILA,  – Rescue and relief officials are rushing supplies and food to the north of the Philippines, while thousands of people living in areas prone to landslides and flooding were ordered on 20 October to evacuate to safer areas, as Typhoon Lupit was due to make landfall.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 195km near the centre with gusts of 230km/hour, Lupit’s eye was estimated at 820km east-northeast of the province of Cagayan, in the northern island of Luzon.

While it is expected to make landfall only on 22 October, its wide outer rain bands could bring heavy rains and strong winds to northern provinces a day earlier, the state weather bureau said.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) in Manila said nearly 100 tonnes of food and other relief items had been trucked or airlifted to northern provinces where Lupit was expected to hit.

Lupit comes as the country continues to reel from the devastation wrought by twin typhoons that left 858 people dead and entire areas under flood waters for the past three weeks.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has pre-positioned US$200,000 worth of supplies to four locations in Luzon, comprising emergency kits of essential medicines, sleeping mats and purification tablets for about 8,000 families.

It said sleeping mats, blankets, water containers and cooking pots for people in evacuation centres were also sent to La Union, Benguet, Cagayan and Pangasinan – four provinces that were heavily damaged by Typhoon Parma.

Photo: Jason Gutierrez/IRIN

Children sleep on the cold concrete floor of an evacuation camp in Manila. The country is already reeling from two back-to-back storms

“We know that many evacuation centres are running low on supplies, and many families exhausted their reserves after Typhoon Pepeng [Parma],” UNICEF country representative Vanessa Tobin said.

Evacuation order

Philippine National Red Cross chairman, Senator Richard Gordon, said thousands of people living in vulnerable areas had been told to pack up and leave.

“We’re watching the dams. We’ve already told our people that the moment we ask them to evacuate they must spread the word. As of now, we haven’t made that call yet,” Gordon told IRIN.

“Everybody near rivers, near creeks, those in low-lying areas, should be moved out once it becomes necessary to do so. People who are debilitated or are differently abled, they too should be moved out,” Gordon said, adding that local communities could deputize guards to watch over abandoned homes to prevent looting.

Chief state weather forecaster Prisco Nilo said Lupit was expected to bring 20-25mm of rain an hour, enough to cause flooding and landslides and more than Typhoon Parma had dumped on the north.

“It can cause storm surges, landslides and flooding,” Nilo said as he issued a warning for the public to begin evacuating.

Health risks

The NDCC in Manila said both storms had affected about four million people, of whom 221,000 remain in squalid evacuation camps where relief workers are warning of a disease outbreak.

The UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, Jacqui Badcock, said a UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team had been sent to the north.

“They are arriving as we speak. They are ready to go out and do an assessment if Lupit hits Luzon, and if it doesn’t they will get involved in relief processes,” she said.

She said Lupit’s arrival could add to the misery of the Philippines, and further strain government’s already overstretched resources.

“You can never predict anything with a typhoon,” Badcock said.

jg/ds/mw source.irinnews.org

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Guinea junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara

DAKAR,  – International pressure is mounting on the junta in Guinea following the deadly 28 September military crackdown on demonstrators, with West African leaders imposing an arms embargo and the UN and the International Criminal Court launching probes into the attack that witnesses call “indescribably brutal”.

The latest violence stunned even a nation with a long history of military repression of civilians – an era Guineans had hoped would pass with the death of 24-year leader Lansana Conté and arrival of Moussa Dadis Camara in December 2008.

Here is a timeline of some events since independence from France in 1958.

19 October 2009 – UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Haile Menkerios leaves Guinea for Burkina Faso to talk with mediator Blaise Compaore, after 18 October meetings with junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara and other members of the Guinean government as well as representatives of civil society

17 October 2009 – Junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara fails to meet an African Union deadline to announce formally he would not run in presidential elections; Camara says he would ask mediator, Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, to examine the issue of Guinea’s political future

17 October 2009 – West African leaders at an emergency meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) impose an arms embargo on Guinea

16 October 2009 – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announces he will set up an international inquiry into the 28 September military crackdown on demonstrators

15 October 2009 – Information Minister Justin Morel Jr becomes the third minister to resign from the Guinea government, after Agriculture Minister Abdourahmane Sano and Labour Minister Alpha Diallo

14 October 2009 - International Criminal Court prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, confirms that the situation in Guinea is under preliminary examination by his office

12-13 October 2009 – Guineans throughout the country heed call by unions for a two-day national strike to protest the 28 September deadly military crackdown on demonstrators; banks, shops and most government offices are closed in the capital Conakry with minimum services at hospitals; the junta endorsed the strike, saying people should stay in their homes and that any demonstrations would not be tolerated

12 October 2009 – International contact group on Guinea calls on the UN Secretary-General, in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union, to facilitate the establishment of an international commission of inquiry into the ”gross human rights violations” of 28 September “including the massacre of unarmed civilians and rapes”; ICG-G also calls on the junta to release all people detained since the crackdown and to return victims’ bodies to their families; representatives of Guinea civil society coalition attend ICG-G’s meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the group’s eighth session

12 October 2009 – Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leader Mohamed Ibn Chambas at an ECOWAS meeting in Nigerian capital Abuja says Guinea’s junta is repressing the people with “arbitrary and irresponsible” use of state power; Nigerian president Umaru Yar’adua, current chair of ECOWAS, calls for a special regional summit 17 October to discuss Guinea as well as Niger

12 October 2009 – Coalition of political parties and civil society organizations attending meeting in Abuja calls for clarification of ECOWAS-designated mediator Blaise Compaoré’s mission, reiterates its total rejection of political negotiation with the junta

8 October 2009 – Coalition of political parties and civil society organizations rejects junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara’s creation of an independent national commission to investigate the events of 28 September, calling instead for an international commission

7 October 2009 - Junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara announces creation of a national independent commission to investigate the events of 28 September

6 October 2009 – Guinean political and civil society leaders say they will not participate in a meeting about the current crisis (proposed by mediator Blaise Compaoré) unless junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara steps down

5 October 2009 – France states its support for initiatives by mediator Blaise Compaoré, mediator in the Guinea crisis; encourages the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union and the UN Commission on Human Rights to set up an international commission of inquiry into the 28 September violence

5 October 2009 – Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré, designated by the Economic Community of West African States as mediator in Guinea, visits the capital Conakry, calls for a meeting between the junta and political leaders

2 October 2009 – The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, names Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré mediator in the Guinea conflict

2 October 2009 – Junta holds a ceremony to bury the bodies of the 57 people it says died in 28 September violence, but scuffles break out as hundreds of Guineans search in vain for family members thought to be detained or killed

2 October 2009 – Junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara says presidential elections in Guinea will go forward as planned in January 2010

1 October 2009 – National political parties and civil society forum issue a statement calling for a number of items including an international peace force and the immediate release of people detained during the 28 September unrest; the forum rejects junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara’s call for a government of national unity, declaring that internal dialogue is now impossible

30 September 2009 – Junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara calls for a government of national unity

30 September 2009 – UN Security Council expresses concern about the violence in Guinea

29 September 2009 – Junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara blames 28 September violence on “opposition” demonstrators and “uncontrolled elements” in the military

28 September 2009 – Guineans assemble in a national stadium to protest the candidacy of junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara, defying a ban by authorities on a planned rally. Soldiers violently crack down on demonstrators, according to witnesses shooting and stabbing people and raping women and girls; human rights organizations say at least 150 killed and more than 1,000 injured

22 September 2009 – International contact group on Guinea welcomes a decision by the African Union expressing concern about whether junta members keeping to a commitment not to run in presidential elections; contact group expresses “grave concerns” about delays in the electoral process and the deterioration of the political, human rights and security situation in Guinea

22 September 2009 – Supporters of Moussa Dadis Camara demonstrate in the capital Conakry

19 September 2009 - Leaders of political parties and civil society call for a 28 September rally to protest Camara’s candidacy

17 September 2009 – Peace and Security Council of the African Union threatens sanctions against junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara “and all other individuals, both civilian and military” whose activities run counter to a commitment that no members of the ruling National Council for Development and Democracy would be a presidential candidate. AU expresses “deep concern over the deteriorating situation in Guinea” and “strongly condems the repudiation” of this commitment by Camara

23 August 2009 – Coalition of civil society organizations, unions, political parties, religious groups call on Guineans not to allow junta “to confiscate power”

19 August 2009 – Junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara tells journalists whether he runs for president “is up to God”

17 August 2009 – Ruling National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) accepts recommendation by civil society organizations, political parties, unions and religious groups to hold presidential election in January 2010, legislative election in March 2010

13 August 2009 – Junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara announces the formation of a national transitional council, called for by national and international groups in March

June 2009 – Following debate over the feasibility of holding elections in 2009, civil society organizations, political parties, religious groups and unions form a committee to evaluate election timetable

March 2009 – International community calls on CNDD to work with political parties, civil society organizations, unions to form a transitional council

March 2009 – Ruling CNDD says it will hold presidential election by end of 2009

February 2009 – Junta arrests son of deceased president Lansana Conté, Ousmane Conté, as part of a crackdown on suspected drug traffickers

January 2009 – The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rejects a military-led transition in Guinea and bars junta members from attending meetings of any decision-making bodies

January 2009 – An international contact group on Guinea is formed, including representatives of ECOWAS, the African Union Commission, the European Union, the Mano River Union, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the UN Security Council

25 December 2008 – Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souaré and other government officials turn themselves in at Alpha Yaya Diallo army barracks, CNDD headquarters

25 December 2008 – Moussa Dadis Camara announces presidential elections would be held after a two-year transition and he would not be a candidate

24 December 2008 – Moussa Dadis Camara proclaims himself president and head of the new National Council for Democracy and Development

Photo: Maseco Conde/IRIN

Protesters in Guinea during a nationwide strike in 2006, carrying a sign calling for change (file photo)

23 December 2008 – In the early morning hours government officials announce that President Lansana Conté died the previous evening; confusion reigns as soldiers announce on state media they have dissolved government and taken over, while Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souaré insists the government is intact

June 2008 - Police launch protests over salary arrears, provoking deadly clashes with military

May 2008 - Soldiers mutiny over pay, with several soldiers and civilians killed or injured in the unrest; Lansana Conté eventually dismisses defence minister

May 2008 – Lansana Conté sacks Prime Minister Lansana Kouyaté and names political ally Ahmed Tidiane Souaré , in a move Human Rights Watch said dealt “a serious blow to hopes that mass protest and ‘people power’ could bring reform”

May 2007 - Soldiers stage protests over salary arrears and living conditions

February 2007 – Following strike and unrest Lansana Conté names Lansana Kouyaté as “consensus” prime minister

January 2007 - In January Guineans massively heed another union call for a national strike; hundreds are killed in crackdown by military

2006 – Union-led national strikes paralyse country; several students are killed by security forces in protests over cancelled exams

2005 - Presidential motorcade of Lansana Conté fired upon in the capital Conakry

2003 - Lansana Conté re-elected in an opposition-boycotted poll

2001 – A referendum changes the constitution to allow president to run for a third term and increase the term from five to seven years; opposition rejects the vote as rigged, calls for boycott

2000-01 – Guinean army fights off incursions by rebels at borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone

1998 - Lansana Conté wins presidential election, which opposition denounces as rigged

1996 - Army mutiny. Loyalist troops eventually repulse attacks on the presidential palace

1993 – Lansana Conté wins Guinea’s first multi-party election, which is boycotted by opposition groups and marred by demonstrations

1990 - Guineans vote for new constitution, with a call to end one-party military rule

1989 – Conflict in neighbouring Liberia forces thousands to flee into Guinea; between 1989 and 2002 Guinea would receive some 750,000 refugees from the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, thousands more from Côte d’Ivoire after that country’s 2002 rebellion

1984 – President Ahmed Sékou Touré dies in March; Lansana Conté takes power in a coup in April

1970 – Dissidents attack Guinea in an unsuccessful attempt to bring down President Ahmed Sékou Touré; the incident is seen as intensifying Touré’s repression of opponents

1965 – President Ahmed Sékou Touré cuts relations with colonial power France, until 1975

1958 – Independence, with Ahmed Sékou Touré as president

[Timeline originally posted 24 August 2009, last updated 20 October 2009]

np/ic source.irinnews.org

There is a huge problem in Africa. Some African leaders are the special darlings of the West.

There is no difference between Prime Minister of Kenya Raila Odinga and The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Tsvangirai. They both think power can simply be grabbed and forced on the people.

Tsvangirai boycotting his own government – what a stupid move. Does he think Zimbabweans will die if he does not continue as PM?

He should be told – do not boycott , just resign and move to your darlings in the West. (API)

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Photo/REUTERS

HARARE, Tuesday