Widow in battle to bury daughter in Kenya

The family of Ms Victoria Adhiambo (inset) has been barred from ferrying her body from Dubai. Photo/FILE and COURTESY

Photo: Ben Parker/IRIN

NAIROBI,  – The 11 April elections in Sudan – the first for more than two decades – and the 2011 referendum on the status of Southern Sudan have prompted a flurry of reports. Most highlight the uncertain future facing a divided country still at grave risk of renewed war, despite the 2005 signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between north and south. All were written before the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement decided to boycott some of the polls on 7 April.

Here follows a selection (in no particular order):

The UK’s Associate Parliamentary Group for Sudan warns that with less than a year left in the CPA Interim Period that ends with the 2011 referendum, Sudan’s peace process faces many hurdles and requires continued and intense international support to avoid collapse. On the brink: Towards lasting peace in Sudan provides an overview of recent armed conflict in various regions of Sudan and warns that a separate peace process in the east has had “little impact” on the ground. Issues of governance, human rights and resource management are also examined.

The Carter Center, the lead agency monitoring the polls, called for security to be improved, especially in Darfur and the east, where the “possibility of a genuinely open, inclusive, and secure campaign environment” has been undermined.

In a detailed overview of various aspects of the electoral process’s final stages, the center, while stressing that campaigning has been largely peaceful, noted that three candidates (of the 16,000 running for more than 1,800 executive and legislative posts) had been shot, one fatally. This report also examines the media environment in the run-up to elections, and suggests that the number of polling stations may be insufficient to ensure maximum voter participation.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) paints the electoral process as “fundamentally flawed” because, as it claims in Rigged Elections in Darfur and the Consequences of a Probable [National Congress Party] NCP Victory in Sudan, considerable fraud has already been perpetrated by the ruling NCP of President Omar el-Bashir, particularly in Darfur. Consequently, legitimacy will be denied the victors. The rigging was carried out, according to ICG, via manipulation of results of the 2008 census, gerrymandering and the passing of biased electoral laws.

“The consequences for Darfur are catastrophic,” says ICG, suggesting that with unwanted leaders imposed on them, the people of Darfur will feel more marginalized and thus increasingly support violent means to bring about change.

Both the NCP and the government of Southern Sudan have jeopardized the fairness and credibility of the polls by restricting freedoms of expression and assembly, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). HRW also reported intimidation of journalists and unequal access to state media.

Photo: Ben Parker/IRIN

Election fever: a rally in Torit (file photo)

Noting that Southern Sudan shares borders with five separate countries, the Clingendael Conflict Research Unit (CRU) of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations examines the “profound regional implications” in the likely event of a “yes” result in the referendum.

In Southern Sudan: the new kid on the block? CRU notes that secession would “affect the region’s power configuration and reshape its security and economic environment”, and points out that most countries in the region share political characteristics that favour rebellion and instability. This policy brief looks at each state’s relationship with Southern Sudan and warns that any intervention must consider the bigger geopolitical picture.

By contrast, the Rift Valley Institute zooms into the details of why the upcoming elections are “fraught with difficulty” in Electoral Designs – Proportionality, representation, and constituency boundaries in Sudan’s 2010 elections. This report focuses on the highly contentious issue of how electoral districts have been created and how this could affect the distribution of power.

For the Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre (DRDC), the outcomes of the 2008 census, used to determine electoral constituencies and a basis for future wealth- and power-sharing agreements, has “created more problems than offered solutions”.

In 5th Population and Housing Census in Sudan – An Incomplete Exercise, DRDC blasted the process as “the most polarised, controversial, inconsistent and unscientific census to be organized in Sudan’s history”. A key reason for this was the exclusion from the exercise of large parts of Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of people live in camps.

The complexity of the polls is one of the main concerns of Democracy Reporting International, (DRI). In its Assessment of the Electoral Framework, DRI and the Center for Peace and Development Studies of the University of Juba note that some voters in the South will have to cast up to 12 ballots. This gives rise to “a serious risk the elections may fail on logistical grounds”. This report covers many technical aspects of the polls, from their legal framework to the process of appealing contested results.

The Enough Project’s Maggie Fick argues that the “self-interestedness” displayed in deals about the CPA quietly struck between officials from the North and South in February 2010 posed long-term dangers on both sides of the border. In Deal-making in Sudan, Fick laments that the “democratic transformation of Sudan has indeed been lost, or rather stolen, from the people of Sudan, by their leaders”.

The CPA failed to deliver much of a peace dividend to most communities in one of the war’s epicentres – Southern Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria – according to the Small Arms Survey (SAS), which polled 2,400 households in the state about their most pressing concerns. In Symptoms and Causes – Insecurity and Underdevelopment in Eastern Equatoria (a paper that does not directly address the elections), SAS said the most common concerns related to education, healthcare and water.

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Photo: International Rivers

Troubled waters – Gibe III dam site

NAIROBI,  – The Gibe 3 hydro-electric dam being built along Ethiopia’s River Omo will disrupt thousands of livelihoods and threatens to upset the ecology in lower Omo and Lake Turkana, northwestern Kenya, experts and activists warn.

Construction started in 2006 and is due to be completed in 2012.

“Lake Turkana receives [80-90] percent of its water from the River Omo; thus the impacts of the dam on the lake and the people who depend on the lake system for, for example fisheries, protein and livelihoods could be profound if its construction and operation negatively affect flows and seasonal flooding,” said Nick Nuttall, the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) spokesman.

“Indeed, spawning migrations of fish are synchronized with the seasonal flooding, which occurs from June through September,” he added.

An estimated 300,000 people depend on the lake.

According to Terri Hathaway, Africa Campaigner of the NGO International Rivers, an impact assessment of the dam identified another 100,000 people in Ethiopia who are directly engaged in flood recession cultivation, where crops are planted just after the annual river flood. “These crops are more reliable and vital to local food security,” she told IRIN.

Another 100,000 people in the Lower Omo Valley depend on these crops and/or grazing lands supported by the flood for livestock, according to anthropologists, she added. “So there are 200,000 people in Ethiopia who depend on the Omo for their food security,” she said.

Gibe 3 will have a vast reservoir and regulate the entire river flow, she said.

“By filling the reservoir and destroying the annual flood, the Gibe 3 dam will increase hunger, in turn fuelling greater resource conflicts in an already turbulent region,” she warned.

Reduced resources, heightened conflict

Seasonal flooding reaches the long-disputed Ilemi Triangle area, which is claimed by the Kenyan, Ethiopian and Sudanese governments, Ikal Angelei of Friends of Lake Turkana, told IRIN.

Overall, there is perhaps the need for further and more detailed environmental impact assessments in order for the governments of Ethiopia and Kenya to fully understand the challenges and opportunities for hydro on the River Omo versus other energy-generating options.

“What is highly likely is with reduced resources, the communities will start to migrate a lot more often and increase the likelihood for more conflict. In an area with increased instability, we are looking at serious conflict,” Angelei warned.

She noted that the recent disarmament of Kenyan communities in the region would increase their vulnerability against their well-armed neighbours.

The Gibe 3 impact assessment identifies that river flow will be almost completely withheld for at least two years during reservoir filling, but does not address how this will affect Lake Turkana, noted International Rivers’ Hathaway.

“[It] suggests that during those two years, impacts to flood recession farmers in Ethiopia should be mitigated by providing food aid, despite vast international efforts to reduce food aid dependency in Ethiopia,” she said.

“Since dam construction began, there has been no demonstration of political will to address the needs of communities [which] will be affected by Gibe 3 dam. Communities’ rights have already been fundamentally violated,” she added. “The Gibe 3 dam does not meet urgent electricity needs of Ethiopia.”

However, the Ethiopian Minister for Government Communication Affairs, Shimelis Kemal, told IRIN the Gibe 3 project had come into effect after an extensive experts’ survey.

“I know for sure that some highly renowned international experts have publicly assured that the construction of the dam [would] in no way jeopardize the livelihoods of the people living around there and the environment,” Shimelis said.

“Some NGOs are trying to rally or get as many signatures as they can to prevent the construction of Gelgel Gibe 3 … [The] government has repeatedly said the construction of the dam in no way jeopardizes the livelihoods of the people living downstream. It is pro-environmental.

“Various concerned bodies including the Kenyan parliamentarians have endorsed the position of the Ethiopian government and they have openly criticized the position pursued by these NGOs to prevent the construction of Gelgel Gibe 3 hydropower electric dam,” he said.

Photo: UNEP

A map showing the current and planned Hydro Dams, along the Omo – Gibe Basin

Responding to concerns that the Ethiopian government had begun advertising indigenous lands along the Omo River for sale, he said: “I don’t have any information if some land has been advertised for agro-business investment in that particular area.”

Changing the balance

The organization Survival International recently launched a petition calling on the Ethiopian government to halt the project and urging potential international funders not to support it.

Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said, “The Gibe 3 dam will be a disaster of cataclysmic proportions for the tribes of the Omo valley. Their land and livelihoods will be destroyed, yet few have any idea what lies ahead.”

The African Resources Working Group recently pointed out that Lake Turkana would suffer greatly due to reduced freshwater inflow, which will not only shrink the lake but also change its chemical balance.

The lake is also very shallow given its size; its average depth is just 31m, making it even more sensitive to changes in water flows and to evaporation linked with climate change, said UNEP’s Nuttall.

“Any reduction in water flows could increase the saltiness with impacts on the fish,” he warned.

Already, Lake Turkana’s salinity is far higher than any other large lake in Africa as it has shrunk over the past 7,500 years and because it is a closed lake system, he added.

Among the reasons for this is declining rainfall, increased evaporation, the diversion of water upstream and increased siltation due to erosion upstream.

“The rainfall patterns and river flows upon which the operation of the hydro-electric dams are based may no longer hold true 20, 30, 40 years from now,” he said.

Hydro-dependent

Gibe 3 is expected to generate 1,800MW of electricity.

If Ethiopia carries out its energy development plans in full, it will be 95 percent dependent on hydro. “The Ethiopian sector of the Rift Valley and the Afar triangle has good potential geothermal resource possibilities. Perhaps these could be explored and harnessed,” Nuttall added.

“Overall, there is perhaps the need for further and more detailed environmental impact assessments in order for the governments of Ethiopia and Kenya to fully understand the challenges and opportunities for hydro on the River Omo versus other energy-generating options,” said Nuttall.

“The question is whether the new dam, Gibe 3, represents the most prudent and practical option in terms of environmental sustainability.”

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Photo: Nic McPhee/Flickr

The main reason for low treatment numbers is lack of funding

NAIROBI,  – With large donor projects winding up and little bilateral support for HIV programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the country is facing the possibility of ARV shortages and rising HIV mortality, say aid workers.

The World Bank’s Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Programme (MAP) is in the last 10 months of its six-year run in the DRC. The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR, which has been providing medication for opportunistic infections and laboratory support, is expected to halt this aid, while the international funding mechanism, UNITAID, which has been providing second-line medication and paediatric ARVs, is withdrawing in 2011.

That leaves the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the only donor for HIV treatment in the country.

Yves Nicolas Alexandre, head of the UN Development Programme’s Global Fund Programme Management Unit in the DRC, acknowledged that while the Global Fund’s programmes are still treating new patients, the end of the World Bank’s MAP project has put pressure on the Fund.

Only 10 percent of people – 35,000 people – in the DRC who need ARVs have access to them, Corinne Benazech, coordinator of the HIV/AIDS project for the medical charity, Médecins Sans Frontières, told IRIN/PlusNews. “The main reason for the low numbers on treatment is lack of funding,” she noted.

“We are very worried about this situation; raising money has not been easy,” said Adama Guindo, country representative for UNDP, which is the Global Fund’s principal recipient for HIV grants for rounds three, seven and eight. “Most bilateral donors tell us that they donate funds for HIV through the Global Fund and do not want to do parallel funding – the government must put in more effort towards resource mobilization.”

Many patients…arrive at the MSF clinic when they are already extremely weak and close to death

In future, “the priority would be to put in place a more effective donor coordination to ensure that the ARVs are distributed in areas where the capacity for treating patients is already developed”, a World Bank spokesperson told IRIN/PlusNews.

According to MSF’s Benazech, some programmes in the capital are no longer accepting new patients for HIV treatment.

“Many patients coming from the government hospital, which has run out of drugs, arrive at the MSF clinic when they are already extremely weak and close to death so their chances of survival are low,” she said. “Patients on treatment are forced to pay for the CD-4 examination [which measures immune strength] follow-up… which is extremely expensive for the average Congolese person.

“HIV in the DRC is not chronic, like it is in many other African countries, where significant coverage is being reached; here it is acute,” she added. “We urgently need more advocacy and mobilization for additional funding for treatment in the DRC; the situation is critical.”

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Photo: Richard Etienne/IRIN

“People have been denying that there are MSM in Africa, in Malawi – that gay people exist.”

LILONGWE,  – Gift Trapence is the executive director of the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), a human rights organization in Malawi – one of the few working with vulnerable groups like men who have sex with men (MSM), prisoners and sex workers.

CEDEP raised money to pay for the legal defence of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, a same-sex couple arrested and charged with sodomy and indecency after their public engagement in late December 2009.

Trapence spoke to IRIN/PlusNews about the vulnerable people in Malawi, and what it is like to be an activist for an unpopular cause.

“We talk about sex workers, prisoners and MSM … their issues are similar, their activities are criminalized in our laws. Our society wants to talk about sex work, but not about the issues.

“From the point of the [sex workers'] experiences as human beings, we have a proposed bill where these women are supposed to go for mandatory testing. These are real human rights issues, and no one has talked about them.

“Prison authorities do not acknowledge that homosexual acts are going on in prison. Apart from that, we have a lot of issues of rape, but still these issues do not come out because [officials] try to suppress them. There is no comprehensive HIV prevention programme in prisons – we cannot distribute condoms.

“I think that maybe in the history of Malawi, no one has come out like [Monjeza and Chimbalanga] – I think government was caught unawares. People have been denying that there are MSM in Africa, in Malawi – that gay people exist. I think that this is proof of the existence of such communities in our country and society.

“It’s a challenge to work under such kind of environment – you don’t have a lot of voices coming to support the issues, but these are real issues. People attack you, call you all sorts of names … but I’m a human rights activist, so that’s part of my job.

As a country, I don’t think we’re going forwards, we’re going backwards. People are targeted because of their identities [who they are], not because of what they are doing.”

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US backs new Kenya law

US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger. The United States has said that the proposed new constitution is a good working document and that it will protect the interests of all Kenyans April 7, 2010. Photo/ FILE

By ANTHONY KARIUKI
Posted Wednesday, April 7 2010 at 11:22

In Summary

• US ambassador Michael Ranneberger says that the draft law contains provisions that will ensure accountability and guard against excess by politicians.

The United States has said that the proposed new constitution is a good working document and that it will protect the interests of all Kenyans.

US ambassador Michael Ranneberger said Wednesday that the draft law contains provisions that will ensure accountability and guard against excess by politicians.

“No political process and no constitution is perfect – including those of the United States – but the proposed new constitution contains checks and balances which will ensure greater accountability and adherence to the rule of law.

“The new constitution will, therefore, secure and protect the interests of all communities and regions of the country,” said Mr Ranneberger in a statement.

The envoy urged Kenya coalition principals President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to continue with their push towards the realisation of a new constitution adding that it was imperative that they speak in one voice.

“The strong statements made by the President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga urging support of the draft constitution are particularly encouraging.

“Unity in support of the draft will bring the Kenyan people together and establish a framework which will greatly improve prospects for democratic stability and shared prosperity for all Kenyans.”

President Kibaki and PM Odinga have backed the proposed law and strongly urged politicians and clergy to advice their constituents to vote in favour of the draft.

However, opinion is divided among the political class on issues such as devolution and the chapter on the bill of rights that encompasses land. The clergy are opposed to the retention of kadhi courts in the new law and the clause on abortion.

The Church objects to the section of Article 26 which empowers doctors to end a pregnancy if it endangers the woman’s life or she needs emergency treatment.

They are also opposed to the courts under Article 169 and 170, which limit their authority to disputes over personal status, marriage, divorce or inheritance, where all the parties are Muslims and agree to take the case to a Kadhi.

Mr Ranneberger added that the Kenya government should fully back the process as it enters the crucial referendum period.

“As the focus of Kenyans now turns to the constitutional referendum, it is essential that the government of Kenya adequately support the Interim Independent Electoral Commission,” he said.

He explained that the support offered should be in the form of resources “for an inclusive and comprehensive voter registration exercise, a robust civic education campaign, and the materials necessary for a free and fair referendum.”

The ambassador also said that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga should show leadership in their continued effort to realise reforms