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July 2008
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May 2008
April 2008
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July 2008
>> Coverage of Irish Troops incident inaccurate - MSF
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has contradicted the details of a report in the Irish Independent which claimed that Irish peacekeeping troops evacuated MSF workers, after their compound came under attack from armed bandits in Chad (10/07/08). (See Irish troops rescue humanitarian workers in Chad below). MSF Head of Mission in Chad Karline Klejer said in statement seen by Connect-World that "EUFOR did not evacuate MSF staff members... MSF evacuated Kerfi independently and by their own vehicles". Klejer added: "MSF is not against EUFOR but does not wish to be associated with any militairy (sic) actor or coordination thereof."
In a letter to the Irish Independent on July 12, MSF gave further details of what it described as a "shocking and unacceptable" incident. It said: "Patients, including 200 malnourished children, were forced to flee to escape assault. The whereabouts of these patients and their conditions are now unknown".
According to an earlier press release, "following the attack, MSF treated several injured people including some of those that attacked the clinic" (09/07/08). Contact: Niamh Nic Carthaigh, MSF Ireland, (0)1 660 3337.
>> Bashir response to ICC may bring peace mision "crashing down"
The chief prosecutor of the Internationals Criminal Court will seek an arrest warrant Monday for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, charging him with genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, according to U.N. officials and diplomats.
The African Union (AU) said such a move could jeopardise peace efforts in the region. "All bets are off; anything could happen," said one U.N. official of the UN-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur (UNAMID), adding that circumstantial evidence shows that the government of Sudan orchestrated this week’s ambush of the force, which lost seven soldiers in an attack by unidentified militia on Tuesday. "The mission is so fragile, it would not take much for the whole thing to come crashing down" (BBC, 13/07/08; Washington Post, 11/07/08). Darfur rebel groups, The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement Unity faction have condemned the attack on UNAMID (Reuters, 11/07/08).
Expert Alex de Waal (profile and contact details) warned that "Bashir... responds to humiliation with rage". He said there are "very real... prospects for polarization and bloodshed" (Washington Post, 10/07/08). Two weeks ago, de Waal and co-author and journalist Julie Flint argued that ICC charges against Bashir were "fraught with risk" and "would be gambling with the future of the entire Sudanese nation"(Washington Post, 28/06/08). For more opinions see Sudan and the ICC: A Guide to the Controversy (SSRC, 11/07/08).
"Peace without justice cannot be sustainable," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in response to a question about the pending charges (UN, 10/07/08).
Sudan has called for an emergency Arab League meeting on the ICC (Reuters, 12/07/08).
With progress towards resolving the Darfur conflict stalled, ongoing tension along the border between Sudan and Chad, and a violent confrontation in June between the Sudan armed forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in the border town of Abyei, an ODI panel offers expert analysis (ODI podcast mp3, 07/07/08).
Latest Sudan/Chad/EUFOR/Darfur news.
>> "I think they might even kill me to create a by-election" - Costin Muguti, MDC MP
Today's Guardian carries a report entitled No painkillers, no visitors and no way out: Mugabe’s hospital ward for MDC activists (14/07/08). One new MDC MP, Costin Muguti, says he "couldn’t eat or talk for three days" after a police beating.
President Robert Mugabe’s party and the opposition failed last week to agree a framework for talks to end Zimbabwe’s crisis, the opposition said on Sunday, but state media said negotiations would continue (Reuters, 14/07/08). The ANC still seeks ‘meaningful dialogue‘ to resolve Zimbabwean impasse. It has reiterated support for the mediation efforts of President Thabo Mbeki under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community and the position taken on the issue by the African Union. On Saturday the Zimbabwean government thanked countries that blocked UN sanctions against its regime, Mbeki in particular (The Herald Eastern Cape, South Africa, 14/07/08).
>> Fall in Irish development assistance. 0.7% target 'on course' says DFA
There will be a reduction of €45 million in Irish funds provided for Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) this year. Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan argued that it did not amount to a reduction in the Government commitment. Because Gross National Product (GNP) will be lower this year than anticipated, it means that the commitment to provide 0.54 per cent of GNP in 2008 will be "honoured", even though it is a lesser amount (Irish Times, 08/07/08). The Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power TD, has reassured Irish NGOs and aid workers, in the context of today’s decision on the aid budget, that Ireland remains on course to reach its commitment to spend 0.7% of GNP on overseas aid by 2012 (DFA Press release, 08/07/08). In 2006 and 2007, ODA/GNI was also 0.54%. OECD development aid fell 8.4% in 2007 while Irish ODA/GNI remained static.
>> Doing development in a downturn
Simon Maxwell, Director of the Overseas Development Institute, writes: "opinion polls show that support for international development is broad but shallow – vulnerable to how people feel about prospects at home" (ODI, July 2008). Maxwell recommends two (really three) approaches: "reinforce the moral argument and demonstrate that aid does work" and "link the development ‘story’ better to the more parochial concerns of voters in rich countries: international development as self-interest as well as altruism." Related event, July 14: Delivering the development message: why it matters. ODI, 111 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JD, 13:00-14:15.
>> Irish troops rescue humanitarian workers in Chad (Updated 18/07/08)
The Irish Independent reported that Irish peacekeeping troops rescued 24 humanitarian aid workers, mostly from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), after their compound came under attack from armed bandits in Chad (10/07/08). However, the version of events published in the Independent has been disputed by MSF (see above). Oxfam and MSF suspended activities in Kerfi following attacks on their staff (Reuters, 11/07/08).
Latest Sudan/Chad/EUFOR/Darfur news
>> "Tackling chronic poverty is the global priority for our generation" - report
Over the last five years, in an era of unprecedented global wealth creation, the number of people living in chronic poverty has increased to between 320 and 443 million people, according to the Chronic Poverty Report 2008-09: Escaping Poverty Traps (08/07/08). The chronically poor are not a distinct group. Most of them are ‘working poor’, with a minority unable to engage in labour markets. As well as the causes, the report identifies the policy responses: social protection and public services for the hard to reach are the top priorities followed by anti-discrimination and gender empowerment, building individual and collective assets, and strategic urbanisation and migration (Summary, pp1-2).
>> Price Surge Driving Some Countries Close to Tipping Point - IMF
A new IMF study warns that that the share of undernourished in developing countries could rise rapidly above the current 40 percent of total population (IMF, 01/07/08).
>> World Bank blames biofuels; others disagree
A leaked World Bank study blames biofuels for the bulk of food price rises (Guardian, 03/07/08). Not all agree with the finding. John Davison, of Christian Aid, said the charity produced a report highlighting the complexities of the crisis last week (July, 2008, press release), but it was overshadowed by the World Bank report. "[The food crisis] is not all down to biofuels but it’s a good headline," he said (Guardian, 09/07/08). According to Christian Aid, there are a number of long-term factors responsible for a "dire situation" which was then "exacerbated by biofuel production, climate change, the oil price rise and speculation in commodities." According to the charity, "Markets have been prised open for heavily subsidised food exports from richer nations" undermining domestic production. Comment: Despite Davison's remarks, it is possible for the World Bank and Christian Aid reports to both be right. One is looking for immediate causes; the other, for factors that left agricultural production so vulnerable.
The world food crisis is the biggest issue facing disaster relief charities and affects everything they do, but it is hard to galvanise public support according to Ben Hewitt, Save the Children’s head of media (Guardian, 09/07/08).
More on the Food Crisis and latest news.
>> EU panel cuts biofuel target; Ireland delays policy statement
The Leaked World Bank biofuels report above may have influenced a decision only days later taken by a European Parliament panel. It voted to back a proposal to draw just 4 per cent of road transport fuels from renewable sources by 2015 (Irish Times, 08/07/08). However, back in January, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas raised the possibility of a change in biofuels policy due to environmental and social problems (Irish Examiner, 15/01/08).
Separately, Ireland's Department of Energy delayed publication of one of its key policy outlines on renewable energy until the autumn because of growing concerns about the impact of biofuels on world food prices (Irish Times, 03/07/08).
The former UN high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, said reducing support for biofuel production that competes with food production, as well as investing more in agricultural production and improving trade and food aid policies to stimulate and support local production were some of the ways of addressing the food crisis (Irish Independent, 09/07/08).
>> Lisbon defeat bad for development, has implications for Africa - Irish NGOs
56% of NGOs do not think the Lisbon Treaty rejection was a good thing for development versus 22% that did. 64% do not believe Africa will be unaffected (Dóchas survey).
More on the Lisbon Treaty.
>> China 'is fuelling war in Darfur'
The BBC has found the first evidence that China is currently helping Sudan’s government militarily in Darfur (13/07/08). Panorama: China’s Secret War will be on BBC One at 2030 BST on Monday 14 July 2008.
>> "NGOs are now established as an integral part of the G8 Summit process" - ONE Campaign
In its G8 blog, the US-based ONE Campaign said the very high media coverage of NGOs was unanticipated. Geldof was working as their 'unofficial' spokesman. The commitment for Africa and development to be on the agenda at next year’s G8 in Italy was welcomed (10/07/08). The organisation believes that an outcry by over 1 million people helped persuade the G8 to reafirm their promises but this "doesn’t address the fact that their commitments are not being backed up by money" (10/07/08).
>> Africa can achieve anti-poverty targets
On the final day of the African Union Summit in Egypt, International development leaders issued a series of recommendations in such areas as agriculture, education, health and infrastructure to speed up Africa’s progress towards reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG), eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline.
Despite faster growth and strengthened institutions, Africa remains off-track to meeting targets on reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating infectious disease. “Yet, experiences from other continents, as well as recent progress in several countries in the region, prove that the Goals can be achieved across Africa” according to the MDG Africa Steering Group chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (UN News, 01/07/08).
Regarding agriculture, the Steering Group called for the international community to mobilize over $750 million to help the continent meet short-term needs that have arisen due to soaring food prices. It also urged African governments to work with global partners to launch a Green Revolution on the continent. However, political analyst and South African beef farmer Moeletsi Mbeki (Thabo's brother) has previously said that that a Green Revolution would only be feasible as long as land ownership and political accountability were addressed at the same time (BBC, 01/05/08). (Dóchas held a recent event on the topic.) Africa’s food crisis is "a short-term problem and a long-term opportunity" according to an article in South Africa's Business Day (14/07/08).
An IMF analysis of the MDG argues that they are in sight, but not yet within reach (June 2008).
June 2008
>> The credibility of the African Union is at stake - Ban Ki-Moon
In an unusually blunt (though not widely reported) remark, the UN Secretary-General said June 23 regarding the Zimbabwe crisis: "the credibility of Zimbabwe and the African Union is at stake, and therefore I count on the leaders of the African Union to exercise their leadership".
The Kenyan prime minister, Raila Odinga, today (Guardian, 30/06/08) called on African leaders to suspend Zimbabwe from the Africa Union rather than welcome Robert Mugabe to their summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.
His comments came as the US completed a first draft of a UN Security Council sanctions resolution following the widely disputed re-election of Mugabe last week.
The US and a number of European powers pushed for a UN security council resolution that would have stated the results "could have no credibility or legitimacy", but South Africa blocked the move, arguing the Security Council was not in the business of certifying elections (Al Jazeera, 30/06/08).
Support for Mugabe has been waning among fellow African leaders (Economist, 26/06/08). The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) observer mission has said Zimbabwe’s run-off elections did not represent the will of the people (Al Jazeera, 30/06/08). However, South Africa was far from alone when the EU succumbed to pressure from African governments and allowed Mugabe to attend an EU summit in December (see: Barroso criticises Brown rather than the African leaders who support Mugabe).
Zimbabwe News and RSS Feeds
>> Kenya warns of Rwanda-style disaster in Zimbabwe
Kenya PM, Raila Odinga warned on Wednesday that Zimbabwe could descend into a disaster akin to Rwanda’s 1994 genocide if the world did not intervene rapidly to remedy the crisis (Reuters, 25/06/08)
>> World Food Programme expands North Koriea aid to reach 5m
NORTH KOREA HUNGER: The U.N. World Food Programme, which has warned of a humanitarian crisis in North Korea due to a food shortage, says it has reached a deal with Pyongyang to rapidly expand aid, allowing it to reach more than 5 million people in the country of about 23 million, a big increase its previous operation feeding 1.2 million. The aid deal and the arrival of a U.S. ship carrying wheat come days after North Korea made a symbolic commitment to an international disarmament pact by blowing up the cooling tower at its plutonium-producing nuclear plant, and provided documents on its nuclear programmes. U.S. official policy is not to use food as a weapon or a reward (Reuters Alertnet).
>> Kofi Annan Launches Global Alliance for Climate Justice
Kofi Annan announced at the first annual meeting of the Global Humanitarian Forum, which he presides, that a global alliance for climate justice is a necessity. Annan, joined by some 300 participants agreed to support efforts to establish climate justice as the guiding principle for a post-Kyoto global climate agreement (25/06/08).
Legislators from the G8 and +5 claim to have made a breakthrough agreement on a post 2012 Framework on climate change (29/06/08). The Agreement is a major statement ahead of the G8 Summit.
However, a new UK poll suggests that public scepticism continues. According to an Ipsos Mori poll on climate change... a majority of the public "believe scientists are divided on the causes and more than a fifth say the whole thing has been exaggerated. Now where would they have got those ideas from?" writes Peter Wilby in The Guardian (30/06/08). Related Connect-World analyses: The not so Great Global Warming Swindle? and The Vaccinations That Kill.
>> ’Freedom is the air we breathe’ - Journalism under fire
The documentary maker Sean Langan tells the Observer’s Peter Beaumont about the three-month ordeal that saw him kidnapped and threatened with death in tribal Pakistan (28/06/08).
In Turkmenistan, a RFE/RL contributor "known for his moderate views" is being held at an infamous psychiatric hospital (RFE/RL, 27/06/08).
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, expressed concern this month about recent cases of intimidation and harassment of non-governmental journalists in Uzbekistan (17/06/08). Earlier this month, a scheduled EU-Uzbekistan conference on media freedom was scrapped in favour of an "Uzbek version" described as a "propaganda show" by Andrew Stroehlein, a media director for the International Crisis Group (RFE/RL, 10/06/08).
In Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF’s intimidating grip on national and international media effectively quashed the opposition MDC’s campaign, writes Tom Rhodes in the Guardian (25/06/08).
Comment: The legacy of restrictions on media freedom (together with poor education) can leave a population dangerously ignorant of the wider world putting journalists (and others) further at risk. Langan’s captors watched videos that told them "the west was raping their women and was against Islam. But, in reality, they know almost nothing about the west. Mr C asked me once if it was true that western women married frogs. He had seen a children’s fairytale and believed it was true."
>> Africa minister warns of Sudan "freefall"
Sudan could tip into "freefall" unless the international community helps to resolve its multiple crises, Britain’s minister for Africa said on the sidelines of an African summit on Monday (Reuters, 30/06/08).
Darfur faces a food crisis this year as a result of a "perfect storm" of growing violence, overcrowding in refugee camps and a bad harvest, the United Nations said on Sunday (Reuters, 22/06/08).
Sudan has expelled the head of aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres from the South Darfur region for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into aid agency misconduct, a Sudanese official says. Banu Altunbas, of MSF Holland, is the most senior aid worker expelled this year from Darfur, scene of the world's largest humanitarian operation.
>> Unwelcome advice? Policy responses to the commodity price boom
According to IMF economists, the US and EU need to substantially adjust policies that subsidise and protect domestic production of biofuels. They recommend free trade in biofuels while incorporating emissions costs into prices of all fuels. However, governments have a legitimate role in funding research into second-generation biofuels. The economists argue that countries which are trying to reduce the impact of rising prices on poor households should consider safety nets, cash transfers or temporary subsidies on selected food products. Protectionist measures may have contributed to market rigidities. Domestic fuel subsidies tend to disproportionately benefit wealthier households.
>> "Oil makes hypocrites of us all"
China is one country that heavily subsidises domestic fuel consumption while claiming to give "high priority to energy and resources conservation and the protection of the environment" (FT, 16/06/08). However, Dominic Lawson argues in the Independent (17/06/08) that high oil prices have produced no shortage of hypocrites and suggests that developing country oil subsidies are to the greatest detriment of their own people.
Bush recently raised hackles in India when he stated that rising living standards there was one factor causing higher food prices. Even if he was not apportioning blame, as a description of the problem, he could have included continuing high meat consumption in the US (and elsewhere). The same is true for oil. Lawson suggests that US legislators are hypocrites for blocking domestic oil exploration but did not examine demand-side factors that may be more significant.
Food Crisis RSS feeds plus selected news (NEW).
>> A smart drug could save 13% of all babies who currently die - breast milk
"Imagine if today, scientists discovered a drug that could save 13% of all the babies who currently die... Oh, and imagine it was free." Johann Hari writes in the Sunday Tribune. Hari blames "unchecked corporate power" for the market penetration of baby formulas.
According to UNICEF If every baby were exclusively breastfed from birth for six months, an estimated 1.3 million additional lives would be saved and millions more enhanced every year. While breastfeeding rates have increased during the last decade, more than half of all infants are still not exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life. August 1-7 is World breastfeeding week (story)
>> Football and exploitation in Cameroon
For many young men in the West African nation of Cameroon, football is a way to leave home — and poverty — behind. But the game can also be a road to despair (Time, June 30-July 7, 2008). Part of a special report on the globalisation of sport.
>> Mugabe willing to give power to ally, threatens bloodshed
Zimbabwe’s President would be willing to hand power to a ruling party ally when he is sure the country is safe from "sell-outs" and from British interference, a newspaper has reported. But the state-run Sunday Mail said Robert Mugabe gave no time frame and vowed to stop the opposition from ending his rule, which Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, described as sadism (Sydney Morning Herald, 17/06/08).
"We shed a lot of blood for this country. We are not going to give up our country for a mere X" on a ballot. How can a ball point pen fight with a gun?" the Herald, a government mouthpiece, quoted Mugabe as saying (IHT, 16/06/08).
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe threatened on Monday to arrest opposition leaders over election campaign violence for which his opponents blame ruling party supporters (Reuters Alertnet, 16/06/08).
Bush said the U.S. would work with Britain and others to make sure the runoff poll is conducted to international standards (IHT above). However, Dumisani Muleya writes in Business Day (Johannesburg) that "it is as plain as a pikestaff that the election will be a farce" (09/06/08).
>> Zambia is bracing for a Zimbabwean exodus
Serious concern is mounting in Zambia that a wave of Zimbabwean immigrants could cross the border escaping worsening political violence in the aftermath of the country’s presidential run-off election at the end of June (IRIN, 16/06/08).
“There has been a lot of pre-election systematic movement of Zimbabweans into Zambia, but we may have something like one-third of Zimbabwean immigrants crossing into Zambia to seek asylum,” said Joseph Chilengi, executive director of the Africa Internally Displaced Persons’ Voice, (Africa IDP Voice) a lobby group championing the rights of displaced persons. “Zambia seems to be the only country in the region that appears to be offering a conducive environment for asylum at the moment”.
>> Hunger in Ethiopia now spreading to adults
A growing number of adults and older children — traditionally less-vulnerable groups — have been stricken by severe hunger due to poor rains and recent crop failure in southern Ethiopia, health workers say. Aid groups say older victims suggest there is an escalation in the crisis in Ethiopia, a country that drew international attention in 1984 when a famine compounded by communist policies killed 1 million people (AP, 09/06/08).
Whether to grow biofuels is quite an issue in Ethiopia, where some 4.5 million people need emergency food aid because of high food prices and failed rains. Even in a normal year, about 44 percent of the population is undernourished and nearly half of children are stunted from lack of food, according to the U.N. World Food Programme. But the government is keen to cut its annual $900 million fuel bill by growing more sugar for ethanol. And it says there’s enough land to meet all its food needs too (Reuters Alertnet, 09/06/08). Satellite image showing drought in Ethiopia.
>> COMMENT: Did the IFA catch development campaigners napping?
In the run-up to the Lisbon vote, the Irish farmers Association (IFA) demanded that the Taoiseach Brian Cowen promise to protect its interests at the WTO before the IFA would ask its members to vote yes. There was extensive media coverage of the dispute. However, it contained little analysis of the implications for developing countries of the WTO negotiating stance that the IFA was calling for. There was no campaign to persuade Cowen to resist IFA demands and instead be more willing to negotiate a reduction in EU farmer supports.
The result was a victory for the IFA. Cowen assured the IFA that he was prepared to use the veto if a deal that is unacceptable to Ireland is put to a vote (Taoiseach press release, 03/06/08). But do the interests of the IFA match those of developing countries? Some would say not. In 2005, a coalition of Irish charities called for "a commitment to the bound reduction of domestic support payments" (.DOC).
The current food crisis has muddied the waters when it comes to the merits and demerits of subsidies (Connect-World, April 08). However, chronic underinvestment by developing countries in agriculture has been fingered as a culprit for the crisis, and Western subsidies are partly to blame (Time, 05/06/08).
Although the original gap between the government and the IFA was small, the IFA dispute was an opportunity to state an opposing view for those worldwide who seek a reduction in Western agricultural subsidies. Were Irish and international NGOs, and developing countries themselves, caught napping? All politics may be local but implications can be global.
>> COMMENT: Informing the public is no easier than it sounds
Following the defeat of the Lisbon Treaty it has been suggested that "No" voters were badly informed. Leaving aside the implication that only ignorance could explain the failure to achieve the "right" result, it is true that many "Yes"-, "No"- and non-voters felt unsure of the significance of the treaty.
How could this be? RTÉ claimed it offered "unrivalled" multi-media coverage of The Lisbon Treaty (RTÉ, 09/06/08) including RTÉ.ie/Lisbon, a one-stop shop on the treaty. There was substantial coverage elsewhere in the media, numerous events held, and position papers published as evidenced by the links on the Connect-World Lisbon Treaty page, which was particularly concerned with its relevance to developing countries. What is more, Lisbon campaigners carried out massive media campaigns to capture the people’s attention and sway their vote, writes Laura Noonan in the Independent (Irish Independent, 12/06/08). The Referendum Commission had a budget of €3.5 million for public campaigning. It spent €450,000 on a campaign to drive people towards its leaflets and website.
If many members of the public did not take advantage of all the information available was it because they did not trust those who mediated the content of the treaty on their behalf? Or, was it because they lacked the enthusiasm to devote time to checking websites, reading explanatory documents or newspaper articles, let alone the treaty itself? Perhaps they relied instead on the information coming to them from through the campaigns, the TV and radio, and the occasional article or commentary that might interest them. If so, the Referendum Commission ads were misconceived.
Given the power of a single vote in a nationwide referendum, the complexity of the treaty, and the general lack of attention paid to EU decision-making in between treaties, was it perhaps unreasonable to expect voters to be any more active in informing themselves. (Certainly, campaigners did not all lead by example.)
Connect-World seeks better media coverage of international development. The analysis above, if valid, has implications for communications with the public on development issues. The Internet has been successfully used to campaign or raise funds (MakePovertyHistory.org, barackobama.com). Yet, there exists a particular challenge for those seeking to explain complex issues using online ’pull’ technologies. On the plus side, there is no shortage of good stories to tell from developing countries.
>> The disaster that finally shook up China’s media
It took a devastating earthquake to embolden domestic journalists to defy state diktats on reporting and show an uncensored view of events in Sichuan province. Suddenly, Chinese reporters are asking tough questions about possible government corruption, journalists have been ignoring state-issued orders in order to get to the scene of the disaster, and footage of broken bodies and futile rescue efforts was shown live on TV. This is a startling change in a country often depicted by foreign media and governments as an authoritarian, press-belittling monolith (Independent, 16/06/08).
Last week, Chinese police blocked access to several collapsed schools as distraught parents attempted to hold mourning ceremonies for their dead children a month after the Sichuan earthquake. The restrictions were a step back from the first two weeks after the May 12 earthquake, when the government was widely praised for opening the disaster area to journalists, volunteers and aid workers (Guardian, 13/06/08).
Despite the repercussions of the collapsed schools, Chinese young people are far more at risk from smoking. 100,000 Chinese have died from smoking since May 12, that's 20,000 deaths a week.
>> Reporters in Sri Lankan firing line
The Sri Lankan Defence Ministry website has condemned several journalists critical of the war effort as "enemies of the state", according to the Brussels-based International News Safety Institute (06/06/08). The Institute says it is concerned the statements may put journalists’ lives at risk. Amnesty International says that at least 12 media workers in the country have been killed over the past two years, while others had been abducted, tortured or illegally detained over the past two years. And in April the Committee to Protect Journalists put Sri Lanka 5th - just behind Iraq, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Colombia - on an "Impunity Index" of the number of unsolved murders of journalists between 1998 and 2007. For more, contact INSI’s Rodney Pinder, mobile +44 7734 709 267.
>> Lake grows amid Sahel’s shifting sands
All it took to halve food prices in part of northern Mali was to shift sand and debris from a channel feeding a lake. Not that shifting the debris was easy in a region with few roads and power sources but, once it was done, water began to flow for the first time since the 1980s. Within a few months, villagers were able to grow millet and, three harvests later, the price of food plummetted. Until the 1980s, four lakes in the region on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert provided fishing and 60,000 hectares of fertile land. But gradually channels feeding the lakes became clogged and severe droughts evaporated the lakes. Now the villagers need money to plant trees to stop the sand from clogging them up again (IRIN, 05/06/08).
>> An appeal for clam
Party "appeals for clam after Lisbon defeat" (sic; Irish Independent, 14/06/08). If Ireland is asked to vote a second time, Connect-World will again be highlighting some of the implications of the Treaty for developing countries.
>> World leaders to tackle food crisis
The food price crisis will be tackled by world leaders who meet in Rome next week to seek ways of reducing the suffering for the world's poorest people and ensure the Earth can produce more food to sustain an ever growing population (Reuters, 30/05/08). Participants are expected to pledge aid to badly affected countries and to discuss ways of boosting agriculture. There may also be a rethink of biofuels production. But some of the possible prescriptions—such as freeing trade in agricultural goods and embracing genetically modified crops—could prove controversial (Economist, 01/06/08).
Despite its central importance in life, agriculture has been a forgotten sector in the world economy for several decades. But that decline has now been arrested for the first time, so for the first time investment is worthwhile (BBC, 02/06/08).
The World Bank has announced a $1.2bn programme to fight the global food crisis, including $200m in grants to poor countries facing the most dire needs. The bank also said it would boost its overall support for global agriculture and food to $6bn next year, up 50% (RTE, 30/05/08). More than 150 countries agreed to a new deal for global food policy at the spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in April.
For the first time in more than a year, global food prices are declining though that does not mean the problems facing the world are over – according to recent figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. The Economist Intelligence is forecasting that prices will stabilise in the second half of 2008 and remain at close to that level for the next few years (Emirates Business 24-7).
A new report by the Centre for Global Development (09/05/08), a think-tank in Washington, DC, reckons freeing stockpiled rice in Japan and other Asian countries could halve world prices. Hungry people would certainly like that; American farmers probably would not (Economist, 22/05/08).
NEW Food Crisis RSS feeds plus selected news
>> Cluster bomb treaty formally adopted but Brown support questioned
The international treaty banning cluster munitions has been formally adopted by 111 countries at Croke Park, Dublin (RTE, 30/05/08). “With this treaty we have outlawed every existing type of cluster munition that has ever been used. Gordon Brown’s last minute intervention will help to internationally stigmatize the weapon and prevent countries that have not signed up from using them” said Simon Conway, Co-Chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition and Director of Landmine Action (Cluster Munition Coalition, 28/05/08).
However, it has since emerged that when Brown announced support for “a ban on all cluster bombs, including those currently in service by the UK”, the government quietly excluded new anti-tank cluster shells that are not yet in service (Times, 01/06/08).
Senators McCain, Obama and Clinton have not signed a bill that would serve as a de facto ban on the use and export of nearly all of the one billion cluster bombs in the U.S. Stockpile. The bill has 21 Senate co-sponsors (VoteNader.org, 30/05/08). In an editorial, the International Herald Tribune says the next United States president should reverse the Bush administration’s refusal to sign the treaty (IHT, 01/06/08).
Following the accord, Japan has announced it will change position and support the ban (UPI, 31/05/08).
Article 21 of the treaty allows troops of a signatory state to co-operate with an ally that uses the weapons. Suggestions that this is a serious loophole are being downplayed (TheStar.com, Toronto, 31/05/08).
>> High food prices, drought threaten Ethiopia again
Clutching an intricate bronze cross he used to dig graves during Ethiopia’s 1984-1985 famine, priest Alemayu Gede prays drought and high food prices will not make him use it as a shovel again (Reuters, 01/06/08). Ethiopia is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since 2003 (Ethiopian Review, 01/06/08). Chronic Food Insecurity and the Dilemma of Food Aid (American Chronicle, 31/05/08).
Rain has come too late in the season, leaving Ethiopian children to struggle with malnutrition (France 24, 02/06/08). Médecins Sans Frontières reports alarming levels of malnutrition among under fives. Contact: Niamh Nic Cárthaigh +353 85 1069 132, niamh.niccarthaigh@dublin.msf.org.
>> PREVIEW-UN climate talks clouded by high energy costs
Mounting criticism over how some climate policies are adding to record energy and food prices threatens to distract UN-led talks on a new global warming pact, which resume this week in Bonn (Reuters Alertnet, 01/06/08).
>> Deaths, media repression and coup fears in Zimbabwe
There is a growing danger of a coup by military hardliners in Zimbabwe to prevent opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from toppling President Robert Mugabe, Belgian-based think tank International Crisis Group says. It says military commanders opposed to Tsvangirai have been instrumental in preventing a democratic transition. "There is growing risk of a coup either before a run-off (in a pre-emptive move to deny Tsvangirai victory) or after a Tsvangirai win," its analysts say (Alertnet).
The run-off - in a country where inflation is a staggering 165,000 percent and unemployment around 80 percent - is on June 27. More than 50 people have been killed in political violence since the disputed March 29 elections and 25,000 have fled their homes, according to the opposition (Reuters, 27/05/08). To interview a Crisis Group analyst, contact Andrew Stroehlein in Brussels on +32 (0) 2541 1635. Mugabe will never vacate his office for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai even if he loses the election next month, the Zimbabwean leader’s wife said Thursday (AFP, 29/05/08).
Mugabe flew out of the capital Harare on Sunday to attend a summit meeting of the United Nations’ food agency in Rome (AFP, 01/06/08) sparking outrage (The Times, 02/06/08). Mugabe's government has bought 600,000 tonnes of maize to ease food shortages before the June 27 presidential election run-off (Reuters, 29/05/08).
The arrest of Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Brussels this week on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity is a warning to Mugabe writes Patrick Laurence (Independent Online, South Africa, 01/06/08). IFJ fears more media repression ahead of the run-off (02/06/08)
Zimbabwe News and RSS Feeds
>> "The town of Abyei has ceased to exist" - Southern Sudan civil war looming.
Sudan deal eludes US envoy in oil flashpoint (AFP, 02/06/08). Officials say the country's on the brink of a new civil war following more than a week of north-south clashes in the disputed oil-rich town of Abyei (Reuters, 26/05/08). See also: Could Abyei be the next Darfur?
Roger Winter, former Special Representative of the US Deputy Secretary of State for Sudan writes: "the town of Abyei has ceased to exist. Brigade 31 of the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, has displaced the entire civilian population and burned Abyei’s market and housing to the ground. These events were predicted, and absent effective word and action, they became inevitable" (Enough, 30/05/08)
Connect-World has added a new EUFOR, Chad news feed to its existing Chad/Darfur/Sudan RSS News Feeds, selected news plus information on Irish NGOs in Chad and Sudan.
>> Myanmar junta evicting destitute families
Myanmar's junta has started evicting destitute families from government-run cyclone relief centres, apparently out of concern the "tented villages" might become permanent. Survivors say they've been given 20 bamboo poles and some tarpaulins to help rebuild their lives in the Irrawaddy delta (Reuters, 30/05/08). Human rights groups have lambasted Myanmar’s military rulers. "The forced evictions are part of government efforts to demonstrate that the emergency relief period is over and that the affected population is capable of rebuilding their lives without foreign assistance," Human Rights Watch said (AP, 01/06/08).
The United Nations is stepping up efforts to combat malaria, cholera and other diseases that are now the main threat to millions left homeless. A senior U.N. official said stagnant water in the wake of the cyclone and storm surge has created ideal breeding conditions for malaria and dengue mosquitoes (Alertnet). The U.S. defense secretary says Myanmar junta is guilty of ’criminal neglect’ (IHT, 01/06/08). Dozens of aid workers from UNICEF, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and other groups are still stuck in Yangon, the nation’s largest city, without the required travel permits to leave for the delta region (AP, 01/06/08).
The fate of Myanmar’s detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been overshadowed by the devastation wrought by Cyclone Nargis, but she remains the most powerful rival to Myanmar’s junta. Her house arrest was quietly extended for another year on Tuesday May 27 (AFP, 01/06/08).
As Myanmar's cyclone tragedy continues to unfold, a few leads from aid agencies (Alertnet):
- Irish aid agency Trocaire has a lot of experience building cyclone shelters in southeast Asia. Contact Trocaire's humanitarian officer in Central and South Asia, Caitlin Brady in Islamabad, on +92 51 2655185 ext 106.
- Relief agency Church World Service says children and elderly people are dying from dysentery.
- British-based humanitarian experts have published their ideas and experiences from past relief operations to help pass on lessons learnt to aid workers in Myanmar and China. Contact Leah Kreitzman at the Overseas Development Institute in London on +44 (0)207 7922 0431.
- Cyclone Nargis has created food shortages even outside the devastated regions. Basic food prices have more than tripled in parts of western Myanmar, heavily dependent on supplies from the Irrawaddy Delta where the May 2 storm wrecked rice fields, killed livestock and forced thousands of farmers off the land. Soaring prices compound Myanmar’s cyclone misery (Reuters, 02/06/08)
- AlertNet has a wide selection of maps - showing how aid work is being divided up in Myanmar and which areas are most in need - many of them provided by emergency experts from MapAction.
Myanmar/Burma RSS feed plus selected news and "who works there".
>> Africa's new friends
On May 28th Japan hosted the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Natural resources topped the agenda. Japan is following firmly in the footsteps of China and India, both of which have hosted lavish African summits in the past 18 months, both of them keen to buy Africa’s oil and metals. Like the others, Japan is offering sweeteners to make itself a saucier commercial partner. This week it pledged to double aid to Africa by 2012, to $3.4 billion. It will also provide up to $4 billion in low-interest rate loans, which means easing its rules against lending to countries that have previously received debt relief (Economist, 29/05/08).
Related: Barroso criticises Brown rather than the African leaders who support Mugabe (December 2007). China breaks FDI record for South Africa (October 2007). A New Road Map to Economic Development (September 2007).
>> Nearly three million HIV-positive people now receiving life-saving drugs
But access to prevention and treatment still lacking for millions (WHO/UNAIDS/UNICEF, 02/06/08)
>> Tobacco: WHO wants advertising ban - Bollywood resists changing mood
WHO has urged governments to protect the world’s 1.8 billion young people by imposing a ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. "In order to survive, the tobacco industry needs to replace those who quit or die with new young consumers," said WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan (WHO, 30/05/08). New Indian legislation is to completely ban smoking from workplaces (The Economic Times, 01/06/08), however a proposed Bollywood screen ban has met resistance (The Economic Times, 01/06/08). May 31 was World No-Tobacco Day.
Irish health minister Mary Harney is close to introducing a ban on the sale of cigarettes through vending machines and the ending of in-store advertising for tobacco products. The British govern | 
