Zimbabwe's Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister July Moyo has been accused of using cash from his own department as collateral for a Z1-billion loan for a company owned by two close associates. Moyo's ministry is said to have deposited the money into a First Bank account to secure a loan for Smoothnest Investments. Smoothnest is partly owned by National Social Security Authority (NSSA) chairman Edwin Manikai, who was appointed by Moyo to head up the NSSA public and private sector pension fund.

The government of Benin has put on trial 27 of its own judges on charges of embezzling millions of dollars of state funds. They form part of a group of 99 court and finance ministry officials charged with illegally pocketing more than US$15 million of state funds over a period of four years.

Schabir Shaik, closely associated with Deputy President Jacob Zuma, is to face fraud and corruption charges in the Durban High Court in October, SABC radio news reported. The trial is set to start on October 11. Shaik faces charges of corruption, fraud, theft of company assets, tax evasion and money laundering related to the government's arms deal.

In the past two weeks, the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), hidden away in the dusty northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, has received far more attention than it is accustomed. The first week brought Gen Romeo Dallaire, who commanded the UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, to testify in the tribunal's most important case, known as "Military I". With Dallaire came international attention. That very same week also saw a judgement delivered against Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda, a former minister of education. The tribunal was basking in the spotlight. "We have never had the press coverage that we have now," Roland Amoussouga, the tribunal's spokesman, told IRIN.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was due to meet the leaders of Nigeria and Cameroon in Geneva on Saturday to review progress on their deal to end a long-standing border dispute and to dampen tensions between the two countries. The meeting will be the third between Annan, President Paul Biya of Cameroon and his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo since the UN chief stepped in to encourage the west African neighbours to follow an International Court of Justice ruling in 2002.

State radio said voter turnout was heavy in a parliamentary by-election in southern Zimbabwe where the opposition said balloting was marred by intimidation and vote rigging. The two-day poll ends on Tuesday in the ruling party stronghold of Gutu 240km south of Harare to fill the seat left vacant by the death of vice-president Simon Muzenda last September.

Politicians and civil servants in Rwanda have been asked to declare their wealth in a campaign against corruption in government. Rwanda's newly appointed Ombudsman Tito Rutaremara has told the BBC those who do not comply will be prosecuted. Starting this week, leaders, who include President Paul Kagame, will fill in forms stating what they own.

Somalia took an important step towards peace this week when warring leaders agreed to set up a transitional parliament to help rule the tattered nation. The Horn of Africa country has been without central government since 1991, when President Mohammed Siad Barre was deposed. Last Thursday's agreement came after leaders of over 23 factions and Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) resolved differences over the number of legislators who should sit in the parliament.

The following responsibilities and qualifications are required for this position:
- Facilitate the implementation of the Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation in the SADC region (PEMMO)
- Coordinate EISA's programmes on the use of PEMMO to prevent and manage election-related conflict
- Provide technical support to domestic observer groups on the implementation of PEMMO in their respective countries
- Set up and participate in workshops, roundtables and conferences
- Ensure all programmatic and financial reports are delivered to donors timeously
- Contribute to the growth of the Department's work and identify new opportunities.

The controversial Children's Bill has been resubmitted to Parliament, but children's rights groups say the Bill still has holes that leave children vulnerable. The Bill involves only national stipulations concerning parental rights and duties, the rights of children, surrogate motherhood, adoption and child courts. Another Bill on implementation within the provinces will be tabled before the new Parliament after elections. "Some steps need to be taken now rather than later," explained Ministry of Social Development spokesperson Mbulelo Musi, adding that the debate on complex implementation issues and cost should not be allowed to delay assistance to children now.

Former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy has been officially appointed UN special envoy to help defuse the standoff between Ethiopia and Eritrea. A statement released by Secretary-General Kofi Annan's spokesman on Friday said Axworthy would help to overcome the current deadlock in their peace process.

Liberia is a collapsed state that has effectively become a UN protectorate, says a report released last week by the International Crisis Group (ICG) ahead of a donors conference. “The 5-6 February donors conference is an opportunity to focus on the long-term strategies, real money and hard thinking required to pull Liberia out of crisis and develop a government that can handle reconstruction. The immediate concern is the security situation, which demands concentrated efforts on disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of fighters (DR)," said the ICG.

It is deplorable that Zimbabweans should continue to be displaced from their homes on the basis of their political opinions and beliefs in violation of the Constitution which guarantees every individual's “right to assemble freely and associate with other persons and in particular to form or belong to political parties”, says the latest report from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum on political violence for December 2003. The report said violence continued in Kadoma Central into December 2003 following the holding of a by-election over the weekend of 29-30 November 2003. "Members of the opposition party, MDC, reported being abducted, threatened and assaulted while votes were being counted. A number of incidents reflected a lack of political tolerance between supporters of the two contesting political parties with MDC supporters claiming that they were abducted to a Zanu PF base at a school in the area where they were beaten."

I agree with the writer who has decided not to attend the Social Forum again until grassroots are involved. I tried to fight for the same for Beijing’s Women Conference to my own antagonism in the end, but I do not regret. That is the strongest protest one can do. It doesn't matter if you are ostracised later, other sensible forums who see potential in you will always invite you to something you can contribute effectively and that makes more sense.

And no wonder such forums are used for sex and extortions. I am one of the strongest Gender and Human rights activist but I hate blackmail like what happened in the Mumbai so called rape case, if what I hear and came to reason is right. Was the woman tied up while the guy put on a condom? Shame, and we are also shaming our good and worthwhile fight for gender equality if we misuse the attention we get to get rid of enemies.

But I also think the guy was stupid. He should have known he is being set up, unless his libido is uncontrollable like most human beings, especially, men, who think of nothing else when the desires hit them. Wives and jobs, credibility and all are thrown out of the window. We know these things happen, but why not just be careful with who you have sex with and how you go about it. On behalf of your wife and other partners, I thank the man for at least using a condom. We still get stories of men who in such circumstances say they cannot use condoms. Most of these men are internationals and nationals who should know better about HIV/AIDS.

There were huge differences in the way delegates form the rich North and poor South perceived the development problem at a recent conference in Paris on “Poverty, Inequality and Growth”, writes Sampie Terreblanche, emeritus professor of economics at the University of Stellenbosch in This Day newspaper. "First, it seems the North is not aware of how globalisation has compounded the underdevelopment of the South over the past 25 years. Second, it appears the North does not appreciate the seriousness and the unique character of the development problems in sub-Saharan Africa (South Africa excluded). The dogmatic propagandists of the status quo have promised the people of the South that global capitalism will in due course be highly advantageous to them. But in the greater part of the South, especially in Africa, the cost of global capitalism is real and the burden heavy."

The World Movement for Democracy will convene on February 1-4, 2004 in Durban, South Africa, for its Third Assembly. "Building Democracy for Peace, Development and Human Rights,” is the theme of the Assembly, which will take place at the International Convention Centre in Durban. More than 600 democracy activists, practitioners, and scholars from more than 100 countries in every region of the world will discuss practical solutions to a wide range of challenges. In more than 40 workshops, participants will explore how to expand and strengthen democracy in their countries and in their regions of the world; how to strengthen civic groups, political parties and the media; how to increase accountability of political institutions; and how to use civic education and culture as a means of promoting democratic values. Other areas of discussion include increasing women’s participation, the challenges of working in conflict-ridden societies, transitional justice, among others. Three South African partner organisations - the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD, http://www.accord.org.za), the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS, http://www.cps.org.za), and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA, http://www.idasa.org.za) - are working with the World Movement Secretariat to organize the Assembly.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai told his treason trial on Wednesday the state's key witness entrapped him after promising to arrange a meeting with American Secretary of State Colin Powell and other top officials. Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has denied charges of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe and stage a coup ahead of the southern African country's controversial 2002 elections.

In the transition from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to the AU, the role of the African human rights system has been neglected. The African human rights structure, comprising the African Charter, the African Commission and the proposed African Court, at present does not form an integrated part of the AU system. The incorporation and strengthening of this system is fundamental to the implementation of a substantive model of democracy, one that goes beyond procedural concerns such as elections and prioritises issues of state legitimacy, popularity, responsiveness and socio-economic rights, says a 2003 Policy Brief, Democracy, Human Rights and State Reform in Africa, from the Centre for Policy Studies.

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MPs walked out of the chamber en masse in protest against the patently partisan manner in which parliamentary business is being conducted. “Parliament is increasingly being run in an openly oppressive manner, which is in by all definitions inimical to democratic principles,” said the MDC in a press statement. The following day, the MDC reported that its officers had been raided by more than 15 police officers some in riot gear and carried out a search for what they claimed to be subversive material.

As the corruption trial of three former ministers Alhaji Hussaini Akwanga, Chief Sunday Afolabi, Dr. Mohammed Shata and others resumes this morning in Abuja, Independent Advocacy Project (IAP), the good governance group, has called on the federal government to demonstrate its genuine commitment to the fight against corruption by signing and ratifying the African Union (AU) Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. In a statement released in Lagos, IAP says this case is being widely regarded as a key test of President Olusegun Obasanjo's resolve to deal with endemic corruption in the country, but that for the trial not to be seen as "playing to the gallery" or "window dressing," it is imperative that Nigeria signs, ratifies, domesticates and implements the AU Convention.