Luanda (Angola) — More than 30,000 Angolans are stranded in transit camps after being abruptly deported from the Democratic Republic of Congo and there are growing fears of a cholera outbreak as the rainy season begins.

The families – around two thirds of whom had official refugee status in DRC – were booted out earlier this month in retaliation for Angola expelling thousands of Congolese migrants in recent years.

As of October, the U.N. reported 160,000 Congolese ehad been expelled and there are accounts from aid agencies of many women being raped, often in the process of body searches for smuggled diamonds.

Angola began expelling Congolese migrants from its territory in 2003, mainly from the diamond-rich province of Lunda Norte where they were reported to be mining illegally.

As many as 160,000 had been expelled by October this year, amid allegations of mass rape and brutality committed by Angolan border guards.

Those who are deported to DRC, often return just days or weeks later in search of work. While the UN has been monitoring the situation, the welfare of the returnees has been left largely to Catholic aid agencies.

In July, in response to growing concerns about the alleged ill-treatment of the Congolese by border guards, U.N. staff in Kinshasha contacted its counterparts in Angola who relayed their concerns to Angola’s foreign minister Assuncao dos Anjos.

This did not stop the widely-publicised “Operation Clean Up” exercise during which Angola deported more than 2,500 immigrants from the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda in less than three days.

Earlier this month – coincidentally just as DRC started to deport Angolans in retaliation – a team drawn from various agencies including UNICEF, Caritas, the U.N. High Commission for Refugees, the International Organisation for Migration and the U.N.’s mission to the Congo, MONUC, visited the Bas Congo region where most of the expelled Congoloses are deposited and are due to report back on their findings shortly.

Both governments have agreed to stop the deportation. The focus has now turned to the tens of thousands homeless in northern Angola.

“You have the compounding factors of not having latrines and people drinking possible contaminated water and with the rain coming, this is a recipe for disaster,” said Yolande Ditewig, a Luanda-based protection officer with the United Nations Commission for Refugees who returned from the border camps late Monday.

“There is a lack of everything you can imagine, especially food and many people say they’ve not eaten for days.”

The bulk of the displaced are sheltering at the a camp known as Mama Rosa, close to the border town of Luvo, which is 70 kilometres from Mbanza Congo, the capital of Zaire province in northern Angola, but there also are other camps and settlements along the border.

“Already we have been getting reports of vomiting and diarrhoea which they think is linked to the water and we saw for ourselves a number of people lying sick in tents,” said Ditewig.

According to Angolan state media, the government is spending $15 million dollars assisting the returnees with shelter, medical care and processing their identity documents. Last Friday the Ministry of Welfare and Social Reinsertion made a direct appeal to the UNHCR in Angola for assistance, particularly for medical kits, cooking utensils and 10,000 tents for the families stuck in the transit camps.

Various agencies, including the International Federation for the Red Cross, the Angolan Red Cross, the International Organisation for Migration and U.N. agencies including UNHCR and the Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have or have had teams in area to assess the needs of the people.

Blankets, soap, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting and other non food items have already been dispatched by road up to the camps and more is expected to follow on specially-chartered aid planes.

While there is an urgent need to resettle people out of the crowded camps where conditions are bad, there is also concern about the social aspect of the reintegration. Two thirds of those rerturning have been away so long they no longer speak Portuguese.

“The family members that are receiving these people are themselves very poor or destitute.” Ditewig warned. “Many do not have the means to suddenly support an extra five or 10 people. The social impact of this process needs to be carefully monitored.”

A number of senior United Nations representatives were due to fly into Luanda on Wednesday to help co-ordinate the multi-agency response.

source.IPS

A planned review of the constitution of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, has worrying implications for democracy and justice.

While a good case can be made for some minor constitutional adjustments, great care should be taken that such bolt-tightening is not used as an excuse for a wider-reaching overhaul that strengthens the executive’s stranglehold over the country.

An expert commission was set up several months ago to evaluate the constitution and propose any amendments that it considers necessary.

The committee includes representatives from the presidency, the prime minister’s office, both houses of parliament and the supreme court.

It is lamentable that civil society is not represented, and there is a very real danger that President Joseph Kabila, who commands an overall majority in parliament, could drive through changes to the constitution that benefit his political career rather than the country as a whole.

Of particular concern is talk of extending the maximum length of time that a president can serve, currently set at two terms of five years each.

Some commentators have suggested that the expert panel is gearing up to propose a constitutional revision that would extend the presidential mandate to seven years, and permit presidents to run for office an unlimited number of times.

Should such a change go through, the 2011 elections would almost certainly be postponed and Kabila’s grip on power over the country would strengthen.

Government aides, however, dismiss such talk as mere conjecture and say that Kabila has no plans to extend his mandate.

Another matter would have to be dealt with, too. An inconvenient constitutional clause makes it clear that the terms of the presidential mandate cannot be revised.

Therefore, before an extension of the mandate could be considered, the expert group would first have to figure out a way of overcoming this problem.

Another deeply worrying idea is the suggestion that the president and the minister of justice could be integrated into the high council of the magistracy.

This body, which was set up in 2006 to promote judicial independence, is woefully under-funded and suffers perpetual interference from the government.

From the outset, this has undermined the high council’s claim to independence and its ability to perform the tasks it was set up to carry out.

Integrating government departments into the organisation will only make things worse.

Some argue that, since the government should have ultimate responsibility for the judicial system, it would be ill-advised to completely sever justice from the executive.

But such sentiments are dangerous, and ignore the perpetual struggle in the DRC to lessen government interference with the court – not least in light of comments made by Kabila earlier this year to step up the fight against corruption in the magistracy.

Without a truly independent judicial power, which enjoys a consistent budget and is not subject to the whims of government, it will be very difficult to achieve a lasting democratic order in the DRC.

There is some justification for considering a constitutional review.

When it was drawn up in 2006, the constitution gave the government 36 months to oversee the splintering of the country’s existing 11 provinces into 26 new ones.

The idea of the 26 provinces was motivated, in part, by the need to consolidate national unity, which has been undermined by successive wars in the DRC.

Dividing the country into smaller semi-autonomous regions, it was argued, would help reduce inter-ethnic conflict by creating more homogeneous local administrations.

However, so far little significant headway in addressing the issue has been made.

According to the constitution, both houses of parliament must agree on border demarcation by a three-fifths qualified majority.

Since the government enjoys a significant majority in both the assembly and the senate, the upper and lower house, it would not be difficult for it to push the change through if it wished.

But Kabila’s government is showing noticeably little enthusiasm for setting up the new provinces.

If the government feels that it cannot set up the additional 15 provinces before the election, then it is conceivable that the constitution could be modified to prevent a slide into illegality.

But this review must be in compliance with the principles of the constitution, and great care must be taken not to use this as an excuse to tinker with other legal elements.

Without such caution, there will be no election in 2011 and fundamental democratic rights will be put in jeopardy.

* Eugène Bakama Bope is IWPR’s Congo analyst.

source.IWPR

Turkana (Kenya) – The Nadapal Belt is considered one of the most volatile yet very productive regions in East and Central Africa. But peace in the area has remained elusive.

The Kenyan and Southern Sudanese security forces have in the recent past engaged each other in hide and seek and threats as they try to secure the green belt considered the lifeline of pastoralists from the two communities.

Scores of people have been killed and undetermined number of animals have perished in renewed hostilities that have derailed peace on the Nadapal Belt occupied by Toposa community from southern Sudan and Kenya’s Turkana. “The attack is the latest in a series of hostilities between the two communities related to persistent drought that has resulted in shortage of pasture and water.

But there are other factors which the two governments should address to find a lasting solution to elusive peace,” said councillor Paul Laurien of Lokichoggio ward. Nadapal has always had a security problem dating back to the struggle for liberation of Southern Sudan spearheaded by General John Garang.

The locals have endured harassment and terror that are a concern among security forces from the two countries as they try to make the communities related by “blood” live harmoniously. “Nadapal has remained a deserted area. It is an area described as ‘where the world ends’ but a new frontier for business in the Southern Sudan where commerce strives,” explains councillor Laurien.

But the recurrent attacks and drought are threatening the lives of the more than 2,000 families in the area. The violence has forced them to move to safer areas. “Security forces from the two countries have kept vigil in the past week following renewed clashes after Toposa pastoralists attacked the Turkana in an attempt to reclaim the contested pasture land and water points. It’s a hide and seek game as the Toposa hit our people but we are determined to make the area secure,” said Turkana West police boss Ndung’u wa Ikonya.

A contingent of General Service Unit, Administration and regular police were last week deployed to the area following an incursion by the Toposa. Security teams from the two countries have denied claims that 16 Kenyan officers were killed. The Toposa militias, allegedly backed by SPLA forces, have taken over an area running 10 kilometres into the Kenyan territory, denying the Turkana their rightful grazing land.

Nadapal is occupied mainly by the Southern Sudanese forces where they set up military bases. In fact the SPLA forces occupy one of the executive hotels in Lokichoggio town 30 kilometres from the border point.“These two communities have for long enjoyed harmonious relationship which is likely to be strained by the renewed fighting,” said a security officer who requested not to be named.

For Nadapal people life is getting tough each day as drought and cattle rustling force the community to rely on relief food. “It is hunger everywhere. Animals are dying and the attacks are threatening to wipe us out,” said Mr Eliman Ekutan, a resident of Kaddu West in the Nadapal belt. The locals said the Toposa were welcomed to the area by Kenyans during the liberation struggle but are now claiming the territory as their own.

“Now that peace has returned to Southern Sudan, these people should return to their land and leave us alone,’’ said Mr Shadrack Elipetot from Mogilla. Independent sources said more than 20 people have been killed and 60,000 animals stolen in the last three months in renewed clashes between Toposa and Turkana. Other sources say the attacks are a revenge by the Toposa who claim Kenyans mistreated them during their war of liberation.

“These people had vowed to revenge once they get liberated due mistreatment meted on them by our security forces. Maybe that is why they are attacking us,” said Mr Emoja Laurien from Mogilla. The Toposa are opposed to a move by the Kenyan Government to establish a military base at Nadapal and reclaim its territorial borders.

“All that we want is peace. Our counterparts should not abuse our hospitality by attacking us now that they are liberated,” said Mr Lelimo Pelekch. Security forces from the two countries are keeping vigil on border points to avert a full fledged war between the two pastoral communities.

“This is an unnecessary humanitarian and man-made crisis which should be urgently addressed. All that we need is peace and not war,” said Mr John Emorupus. Most people here depend on relief food for their survival although livestock is their main source of income.

“The attacks have come at a time when most of the humanitarian organisations that have been assisting us are facing financial crises and the majority of them have in fact left the area. This will be a major blow to us,” added Mr Emorupus.

Independent sources from Southern Sudan said the Toposas feel insecure under the governance of Eastern Equatorial where they are considered a minority. ‘‘This community wants autonomy and that is why they want to claim part of our land,” complained Mr Elipetot.

Some of the clans wielding political power in Southern Sudan include the Dinka and the Nuer. The Toposa are regarded as traitors due to claims they supported the Khartoum government during the liberation struggle. That is why they now feel insecure and want to move to part of Kenyan territory.

source.nation.ke

Nairobi (Kenya) — The Southern Sudan Government has rejected a deal announced at the weekend on a referendum on the fate of the region.

Under the deal agreed by Southern Sudan’s Vice-President Riek Machar and the North’s VP, Mr Ali Osman Taha, a two thirds turnout of all registered voters and a 50 per cent plus one vote would be necessary for the South to become a separate state.

Says John Andruga Duku, the head of mission at the Government of Southern Sudan Liaison Office in Nairobi: “This is not acceptable to the SPLM and the Government of Southern Sudan.

“It is difficult to guarantee 66 per cent turnout, people go to vote voluntarily and there is no legal binding that one must vote.”

The South instead wants the 66 per cent cap placed on the number that turns out to vote and not the voter list.

Responding to the SPLM claims, a diplomat at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, who sought anonymity, said the deal still stands and the South must muster a 66 per cent turnout for the referendum to warrant secession.

The latest row comes after the Obama administration unveiled a new policy on Monday under which it promises Sudan rewards if it acts to end violence in its western region of Darfur and implements the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed with Southern rebels in 2005.

Under the CPA, Southerners have the right to vote in 2011 to decide to remain part of Sudan or to secede.

But, the signs are that the two partners in the peace deal are far from agreement on many issues, among them a law that would allow the holding of the referendum.

In the past, the North has demanded a 75 per cent turnout for the result to warrant secession.

In another development, the SPLM has began a parliament boycott demanding the passing of new laws that guarantee press freedom, an end to detentions and the right to assembly before elections can be held.

Currently, Sudan’s ruling party, the NCP has 50 per cent of the seats in the country’s parliament. The SPLM has 28 per cent and other smaller parties have 22 per cent of the seats.

The CPA saw the international community pledging $4.7 billion for projects in South Sudan.

But, the South says, they have not gained from the aid pledge as most of the money has been diverted to Darfur.

source.nation.ke

Accra (Ghana) – The government of Ghana is to spearhead a strong African voice at the Copenhagen talks on climate change, which is seven weeks away. The move is to signal the seriousness of climate change issues as they affect Africa and other vulnerable countries in the third world.

This was disclosed by Mr. Rudolph Kuuzegh, the Director of Sustainable Development at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), on behalf of the sector Minister, Hon. Sherry Ayittey at a high-level policy dialogue on climate change in Accra yesterday.

The event, which was put together by SEND-Ghana, a Non Governmental Organization (NGO), in collaboration with Christian Aid and the World Wide Fund (WWF) under the theme -’Voice and Vision on Climate’, was the third in the series of advocacy initiatives undertaken by the NGO to ensure proper government preparations towards Climate Change Conference, which is slated for Copenhagen in December.

“Government will also push for clean and renewable energy projects, and payments for carbon-storing ecosystems”, he noted.

According to him, such a deal must come with substantial financial mechanism to benefit poor and vulnerable countries, to enable them respond to climate change in the areas of water resources, agriculture, health, infrastructure, biodiversity and ecosystems, forest, urban management, tourism, food and energy security and management of coastal and marine resources.

Meanwhile, studies undertaken by the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that “climate change appears abstract, perhaps not an immediate concern of the politician, who has a short time to show physical results.” For this reason, government is set to provide leadership on climate change.

As a first move to whip up political interest on the issues, Vice President John Dramani Mahama is set to chair a new Environment and Natural Resources Council (ENRC), which will consider climate change a priority.

That notwithstanding, the sector Ministry has mandated a multi-sectoral National Climate Change Committee to advice government on appropriate actions at the national and international levels. In connection with the Copenhagen Climate Change talks, Mr. Kuuzegh says government and the Ministry is committed to engage with civil society in the run-up to the talks and beyond.

This is to ensure that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have the space to complement the implementation of the outcome and national response measures to improve social accountability in the country.

The Corporate Policy and Strategy Manager at the Department for International Development (DFID), Helen Sharkey said there has been a trend of increasing temperature, by about 0.2°C per decade in Ghana whilst in contrast rainfall has been decreasing by about 5% per decade in the country.

Whilst frequency of extreme flood events is increasing, she noted that drought is already a problem in some parts of the country with the coastal zones and marine ecosystems being affected by storm surges and sea level rise.

She thus noted that climate projections for Ghana indicate annual mean temperature increases of between 2.2°C and 3.5°C by 2080 whilst temperature increases will be most marked during the dry season in central areas of the country.

According to her, rainfall may marginally increase by 2080, stressing “however, this is contradicted by decreasing rainfall trends experienced over the last decades.”

Country Director of SEND-Ghana, Samuel Zan Akologo is thus optimistic that the high-level policy dialogue will bring clear understanding of government’s position for the Copenhagen conference and emerging national response to climate change, provide opportunity for civil society perspectives and pave way for post-Copenhagen engagement with government on climate change.

source.Ghanaian chronicle

Me and Kalonzo are no buddies, But when a spade falls from the sky, you better call it one. If your brother sleeps with your wife, dont say the devil did it. Face it fair and square.
It is not too long ago when Kalonzo quit ODM to be behind the  join something called ODM Kenya. ODMK had no tail nor end but still it gained a momentum. Many of us in the opinion forums said it would ammount to nothing and as just a matter of confirmimation, it is not that it is not that it is about to, the fact is that it is dead.
I read something I could not believe, but I predicted along time ago. As soon as Kalonzo talked of 3 Ks, all the bigwig club 3Ks came against him. Peter Kenneth basically pissed on this idea. Well in my opinion I asked  a simple fundermental question, Who is Peter Kenneth? Is he a whiteman or an albino in Kenya. The arguement of who Peter Kenneth  is immatterial right now. But the fact that Kenyans need a real leader is a need rather a want.
For once I thought a coalition between Kalonzo, Mudavadi and Uhuru would do it. However I thought wrong. The house of Mumbi is so solid and no red brick will ever be allowed in.
No sooner had Kalonzo showed his interest was he subjected to rejection from the very same people he expected support. The very same people he put his life on the lline for. Peter Kenneth said hell no on behalf of “president Uhuru Kenyatta”, mwangi Kianjuru, said “over our dead body on behalf of Martha Karua and Bonny  said Musalia ametosha on behalf of him who never say hell no. There was absolute silence from luoland which of course Kalonzo deserved.
But the question one asks is ” IS THIS FAIR” Well I do not know and I do not care about the fairness. The struggle tells me that there is no fairness. However, there is noblenness.
After what Kalonzo did for the house of Mumbi, I expected a coalition behind the man from the coast. But what did he get……
Asante ya punda ni mateke.
Did we tell him that?
Yes
Did he listen?
No.
Has   Raila been told about that?
Yes
Is he listening?
Hell no
Nyanza pay attention. You have an opportunity to do something about this
And for your info, Mr. Kalonzo, Presidency is for the Kikuyus, Moi was a fluke.

By Dr. BaracK Abonyo