By Judy Ogutu

Agriculture Minister William Ruto now wants a report linking him to post-election violence squashed.

The minister moved to court to challenge the authenticity of the report, saying he was not given a chance to defend himself before the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) report was published.

Ruto says there is no evidence linking him to the violence, and that the allegations against him “are a result of an illegality, irrationality, breach of the rule of law, and disregard of constitutionality and denial of legitimate expectations”.

He further posits that the “conclusions drawn by the respondent in the report are arbitrary, oppressive, violate the applicable laws, offend public policy, and were made in a situation where the respondent became the investigator, prosecutor and judge”. Ruto says he was not notified of the adverse conclusions in the report, and only learnt of them when he bought a copy. He says he has never been involved in violence, stating that he addressed public rallies where he appealed to Kenyans to maintain peace.

Ruto denies ever participating in the violence and says KNCHR findings have seriously dented his reputation, affected his liberty, career, and fundamental rights.

The minister becomes the second politician to challenge the report by KNCHR. Finance Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, has also filed a similar suit, which has been set for hearing in February by two judges, Justice Roselyn Wendoh and Justice Abida Ali Aroni.

The Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence chaired by Court of Appeal judge, Justice Philip Waki, relied on the KNCHR’s report, among others, to draw a list of people allegedly behind the violence. The violence that following the disputed December 2007 presidential election claimed about 1,300 lives.

In his application, Kenyatta says he was never given an opportunity to give his side of the story to the KNCHR before it compiled its report.

In response, the commission says Kenyatta and other politicians adversely mentioned in the report, were invited to give their side of the story, but they failed to do so.

Ruto yesterday filed an urgent suit at High Court in Nairobi, saying it ought to be heard urgently given the gravity of the issue and injury to his reputation.

Fair trial

Through his advocate, Katwa Kigen, Ruto says KNCHR claims he is among the people who were involved in planning, inciting, and financing the violence were baseless and ought to be quashed.

Lady Justice Roselyn Wendoh allowed him to apply for orders seeking to quash allegations that he participated or was involved in the violence in KNCHR report, On the Brink of the Precipice: A Human Rights Account of Kenya’s Post 2007 Election violence.

She also directed him to file and serve the main suit on KNCHR within 21 days.

Ruto complains he was not informed of the allegations or allowed to meet his accusers. But he admits being informally asked by KNCHR to give accounts of post-election violence a day after it announced its intentions to investigate the chaos.

“I did call on them at a meeting, which was informal. I was asked if I knew anything about the logistics of the violence. I explained all I knew and my understanding of the violence, which was to the effect that it was initially, a protest over elections that had not been transparent and that in most instances it became violent because the police used excessive force to quell the protest. All I knew about post-election violence was in the public domain.”

“The applicant was not given notice with particulars, seeking his response to the allegations made in the report that he participated in the planning, inciting and financing post-election violence,” Katwa says of his client.

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Photo: Jason Gutierrez/IRIN

A policeman tries to control a mob of cold and hungry flood survivors during a relief distribution campaign by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Muntinlupa district, south of Manila

BANGKOK, 18 November 2009 (IRIN) – The UN has warned of serious health risks and food security problems over a lack of funding to assist the Philippines after the country was hit by three major storms and typhoons.

“The emergency response is being hampered by low levels of funding, particularly in areas such as agriculture, protection, shelter and education of children,” Jacqueline Badcock, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Philippines, said in a statement on 18 November.

The UN launched a flash appeal for US$74 million in Manila on 7 October after tropical storm Ketsana flooded the nation’s capital and outlying regions in late September.

Before the country could recover, Typhoon Parma hit on 3 October, and then Typhoon Mirinae on 31 October, bringing widespread damage and misery. The additional devastation, which has affected 10 million people, led to a revised appeal this week of $143.7 million from humanitarian agencies.

Donors have only handed over $26 million in funding to date – about 36 percent of the original $74 million requested, or 18.6 percent of the revised $143.7 million, according to the UN.

If funding levels do not increase substantially, about 1.7 million people living in or displaced from areas that are still flooded face serious health and protection risks, warned Badcock’s office.

Some 350,000 people may not be able to return to or rebuild their homes and more than one million children may not be able to resume their education, it said.

The disasters severely affected the critical planting season in Northern Luzon, the country’s main agricultural region, and preliminary assessments cited in the revised appeal showed some 100,000-120,000 farming households had lost 100 percent of their production and assets.

The emergency response is being hampered by low levels of funding, particularly in areas such as agriculture, protection, shelter and education of children

“The November planting season might be missed, which has longer-term implications for food security,” the statement added.

In a separate interview, Badcock told IRIN that donors had been waiting for more information about the scale of damage caused, and that the first appeal had not fully assessed the extent of the devastation.

“The extent of the appeal and the damage was not really well understood by everybody until all the assessments were done,” she said.

“This revised [appeal] has a lot more analysis … we hope it will provide more clarity and confidence to the donors that these are real needs.”

Early recovery

The total revised amount of $143,774,080 will cover the immediate and early recovery needs of 4.2 million people, including more than 520,000 children under the age of five. This is twice the population covered under the original appeal.

The revised appeal is planned to run until March 2010 and is being presented on 18 November to donors and the government in Manila, UN officials said.

“The urgent needs remain the people who live in evacuation centres, who need continuing assistance with food and shelter,” said Badcock.

“Then there are farms where the water is going down. We need to get those farmers rehabilitated and planting out for the next season, and their families need food for the next three months because they lost their harvest,” she said.

“Water and sanitation remain critical, particularly in the flooded areas, where there are huge Filariasis and Dengue concerns.”

Early recovery efforts are needed to assist people in restoring their livelihoods, as well as fully restoring schools that are damaged or being used as evacuation centres, she said.

The appeal is being made by UN agencies, NGOs, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

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SOUTH AFRICA: World Cup to help create HIV awareness

Photo: Tomas de Mul/IRIN

JOHANNESBURG, – In less than seven months South Africa will host the world’s biggest single sporting event – the FIFA World Cup. The chance to reach millions of local and visiting football fans presents a golden opportunity, not only for the country’s business and tourism sectors, but also for its efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

Health officials, activists and civil society organisations met in Johannesburg on 18 November to plan how to make the most of the event, which will span 30 days and take place in eight of South Africa’s nine provinces.

Recent international media reports have suggested that the World Cup could aggravate the country’s already severe HIV/AIDS epidemic, but several speakers saw the event as a chance to address the health crisis, among them former soccer player Ronny Zondi, who represented the Sport and Entertainment Sector of the South African National Aids Council (SANAC), the body coordinating HIV activities linked to the World Cup.

Stadiums, fan parks, hotels and bars are all potential venues where HIV prevention messages could be promoted, condoms and pamphlets distributed, and voluntary counselling and HIV testing made available. The need for all the organizations involved to work with each other and FIFA and its local organizing committee (LOC) to avoid duplication of efforts and confused messaging was emphasized.

LOC Chief Medical Officer Dr Victor Ramathesele urged participants to tap into FIFA’s marketing expertise to push HIV/AIDS messages before and during the World Cup.

Noluntu Ntloko, from FIFA’s marketing division, briefed participants on restrictions on the use of registered World Cup trademarks, or branding that could conflict with that of its sponsors and commercial partners, and encouraged organizations to channel any planned HIV activities through the LOC.

Through its Football for Hope Movement, FIFA is already partnering with civil society organizations involved in HIV/AIDS initiatives. One such partner, Grassroots Soccer, works with a local NGO, Sonke Gender Justice, to train soccer coaches to teach young people about HIV and AIDS.

Rather than limiting their efforts to duration of the event, several organizations are planning campaigns that will last the entire year and reach people all over the continent.

Wayne Alexander, of Dance4Life, an international initiative that enlists young people to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, told the meeting about Fair Play for Africa, a campaign to mobilise communities to advocate for quality healthcare for all Africans, and to hold their governments accountable for health provision. So far 200 NGOs have committed to getting involved and activities in 12 African countries are planned for 2010.

“We have come a long way,” commented Dr Robin Petersen, chair of the Johannesburg meeting, who recalled that when South Africa started planning its World Cup bid 10 years ago, there was pressure to downplay the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “We’re now planning to use this event to address one of the most significant crises our country is facing.”

See also: SOUTH AFRICA: Footballers join AIDS fight

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UGANDA: HIV-positive women need family planning services, study shows

Photo: Tiggy Ridley/IRIN

NAIROBI,  – HIV-positive women in western Uganda want fewer children than women not living with the virus, but often do not have access to family planning services, a new study reveals.

The study of 421 women in the district of Kabarole found that the probability of HIV-positive women wanting to stop childbearing was 6.25 times greater than it was for HIV-negative individuals.

“HIV-positive women tended to want fewer children than their HIV-negative counterparts mainly because they are aware of the risks of mother-to-child transmission and do not want to go through the difficulties associated with having an HIV-positive child,” said Walter Kipp, global health professor at the University of Alberta in Canada, and one of the study’s authors.

Statistics from the UN Children’s Fund show that in 2008, only 55 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women received antiretroviral treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission; close to 30,000 Ugandan children are infected with HIV at birth every year.

Kipp noted that the survey’s results highlight the urgent need to integrate family planning into HIV services. “Family planning in Uganda is not well developed, and if women want to stop having children, often they have no access to contraceptive pills or other family planning methods,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Health, 41 percent of Ugandan women who would like to stop having children have no access to family planning services. The country has the third-highest population growth rate in the world; only Yemen and Niger have higher rates.

Kipp noted there was a need to harmonize the messages of family planning groups, which tended to recommend the use of hormonal contraception over condoms for contraception, and HIV groups, which emphasized condom use for prevention.

“For HIV-positive women, we would usually recommend dual protection, which is the use of both a hormonal contraceptive and condoms,” he added.

A recent analysis published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society found that family planning was cost-effective for preventing HIV transmission and unintended pregnancies and would also reduce infant and maternal mortality and result in fewer orphans.

The survey noted there was a need for education to inform the population on the benefits of family planning and end misconceptions around the subject.

“There is a belief that hormonal contraception can affect future fertility, and that it may lead to malformed children in the future,” Kipp said. “However, the main barrier that needs to be overcome is the lack of availability of these services for women who need them.”

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BANGLADESH: Two years after Cyclone Sidr, survivors still seeking shelter

Photo: Contributor/IRIN

BARGUNA, 20 November 2009 (IRIN) – Two years after Cyclone Sidr hit the southern coastal districts of Bangladesh, many of the survivors are still homeless and at severe risk from further disasters, officials say.

Cyclone Sidr lashed the southern coastal regions of Bangladesh on 15 November 2007. Thirty districts were affected, with more than 3,400 deaths. Damage to property, livestock and crops was estimated at US$1.7 billion, with half of that in the housing sector, according to the government.

Despite aid efforts, victims still complain of a lack of assistance to rebuild their homes, while officials say more cyclone shelters are needed to protect communities from future storms.

Meanwhile, crucial work to prevent flooding remains under-funded.

Because of the country’s low-lying deltaic topography, the southern coastal areas are extremely vulnerable to floods, high tides and cyclonic storm surges.

Extensive flood embankment networks provide this region with critical protection from these natural calamities, but Sidr damaged a large part, leaving the inhabitants of six coastal districts vulnerable to tidal waves and storm surges.

According to the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), which maintains these embankments, about 46 percent or 2,341km of the 5,107km of flood embankments protecting the southern regions were partially or completely destroyed by Sidr.

Repair work to the embankments has yet to begin properly, with a lack of funding cited as the primary reason. About $100 million is required, according to BWDB estimates.

“We have yet to receive the funds to start the repair works on the flood embankments. The process is going on and hopefully within a short time we will be able to start repairing the embankments,” Abdur Rab, BWDB’s senior engineer in Barisal district, told IRIN.

Of the six coastal districts affected by Sidr, Barguna was worst hit. Most of its flood embankments were washed away and the people are faced with the daily predicament of tidal seawater inundating their land.

“Every day, during the tides, brackish seawater gets into the croplands, fouling up the fertile topsoil,” Abdul Mazid, BWDB’s executive engineer in Barguna district, told IRIN.

“Soil salinity is increasing alarmingly. Almost 1,400ha of croplands in Barguna are regularly inundated by seawater,” he said. “The entire southern coastal region is now vulnerable because of the damaged embankments.”

Lacking proper shelter

“Nearly half a million people who were displaced by Sidr are still without proper housing and need rehabilitation,” said Abul Kashem, national councillor with the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS).

In Bagerhat district, farmer Jainal Abedin, 30, said he lost his father, his home and all his possessions to Sidr.

“I am still living in a hovel made of plastic sheets and debris. I spent the 5,000 taka [$73], given to me by the NGOs for rebuilding my home, on food,” Abedin, who lives in the area of Sharankhola, told IRIN.

“It has been two years since the cyclone, but I still don’t know what the future holds for me and my family,” he said.

The BDRCS is working with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which has built 1,250 cyclone core shelters, sturdier homes that can withstand a cyclone.

According to the government’s Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), the district of Bagerhat is also woefully lacking in proper cyclone protection shelters.

And for the 550,000 people living at risk in Barguna, at least 490 cyclone protection shelters are required, say LGED sources.

At present, there are 113 cyclone protection shelters in the district, which can support only 140,000 people.

“Ours is an extremely disaster-prone area, but the number of cyclone protection centres is minimal,” Kamal Uddin, chairman of Sharankhola sub-district council in Bagerhat, told IRIN. “The number … must be increased to minimize human casualties during natural disasters.”

ao/ey/mw source.irinnews.org