"Noting that the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), and its other manifestations such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) pressed by the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs), have misled our governments towards adopting economic strategies that have failed to work over the last twenty-five years, and that have been one of the principal reasons for the increasing impoverishment of the people of Africa, we urge the Secretary-General not to give the moral authority of his office to these policies, and ask him to advocate coherence of Bretton Woods Institution’s (BWI) policies to a human rights oriented genuine development of our people."

Four international goals to improve global health by 2015 that include cutting child mortality by two-thirds and halving the number of hungry people will be missed unless the world acts now, two agencies have warned. Slow progress in meeting these targets could hurt the chances of achieving four other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which cover areas such as the environment and education, the World Health Organisation and World Bank said.

Durban has been at the forefront of South African efforts to honour Agenda 21 commitments made at the 1991 Rio Earth Summit. Has the city turned Agenda 21’s promise of sustainable urban development into reality? What lessons have been learned in overcoming scepticism and building support and consensus among stakeholders? Research from Durban’s eThekwini Municipality analyses the difficulties faced when sustainable development is applied to a city whose rapidly growing population is having a negative impact on the natural environment.

This volume includes:
* Trends in living conditions and satisfaction among poorer older South Africans: objective and subjective indicators of quality of life in the October Household Survey by Valerie Møller, Richard Devey.
* Whither the study of development in South Africa? by Frik de Beer.
* Gender gap in school enrolment among youth in Lesotho by Akim J Mturi.
* Whose interests are at stake? Civil society and NGOs in South Africa by Francien van Driel, Jacqueline van Haren.
* Debt relief initiatives and poverty alleviation: lessons from Africa - 22nd SAUSSC by Tommy Fényes, Winston Campbell.

The government has raised the official figure for the turnout in Guinea's controversial presidential election, which was boycotted by the main opposition parties from 82.8 percent to 85.6 percent. The Republican Front for Democratic Change (FRAD) alliance of opposition parties, which refused to take part in the 21 December 21 poll, claimed the turnout was less than 15 percent.

A committee overseeing the two-year transitional process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has again expressed concern about continuing delays on the part of the country's national unity government in adopting key legislation for the transitional period intended to culminate in national democratic elections. In an effort to make up for lost time, the DRC's two chambers of parliament - the Senate and the National Assembly, which had just ended their ordinary session on Monday - have been reconvened.

The Executive Secretary of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), a local branch of Transparency International (TI), has revealed that the Ghana government failed to show up at the Mexican city of Merida to sign the United Nations Convention against corruption last month. According to the GII Executive Secretary, Mr. Daniel Batidam, the UN required every member country to be represented by top government executives such as the President, the Foreign Minister or the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice for the signing and possible ratification of the convention. In Ghana, the President had mandated the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Paapa Owusu Ankomah, to attend the ceremony and sign on behalf of Ghana.

At least 18 cases of corruption in government were reported to the North West premier in 2003, the government reported on Tuesday. Premier Popo Molefe established a corruption hotline at the beginning of 2003, and urged people to use it. Molefe said it was the role of the public to report "corruption or any deviations from clean and accountable governance" and warned people against being "passive".

As Nigerians start feeling the impact of the recently introduced fuel tax, Independent Advocacy Project (IAP), the good governance group, has called for a radical rethinking of the administration of the nation's governance system, processes and procedures, including the nation's tax and procurement systems in a manner that would improve governance and consolidate the gains of democracy. Although the National Assembly is still considering the 2004 Appropriation Bill, petroleum marketers have added the N1.50k fuel tax to the pump price of petroleum products since the beginning of the year, with the price of petrol rising to N43 and above per litre in many parts of the country.

In a shocking declaration, President Olusegun Obasanjo seemed to have officially confirmed the widely held view that the Nigerian judiciary, owing to corruption within its ranks, is perhaps one of the major governance institutions in need of urgent reforms. The president said intelligence reports indicated that some judges collect bribes to pervert justice. He described this situation as “a disaster for the judicial system in the country.” This is according to the January edition newsletter of the Independent Advocacy Project, a good governance body.

Marking the New Year by calling attention to the immediate needs of children in developing countries, UNICEF named the top five concerns for children in 2004: child survival, the effects of HIV/AIDS, children caught in war, exploitation, and insufficient investment. "Each of these issues alone poses heartbreaking challenges for hundreds of millions of children," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. "Together, they represent a global imperative to do more for children in 2004."

I am a regular reader of the Pambazuka newsletter. I found your editorial highly educating and a fundamental challenge to us engaged with development work (Poverty reduction or poverty reinforcement? Pambazuka News 136). I intend to print this and share it with other colleagues and those who visit our organisation. I agree with the editorial completely and it is more painful when you consider the tyrannical manner African leaders pursue the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWI) policies. The Senegal example is quite heart aching, but I bet you, we are yet to see the reality. I am pretty certain that by the time Obasanjo is through with his so-called Jesus Christ approach, there will be no single Nigerian left to applaud his efforts. I hope they find electorates by 2007.

Thank you for all the correspondence and updates on African affairs during the course of the year. May I take this opportunity in wishing you all a Blessed Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

Thanks to Demba Moussa Dembele for starkly spelling things out in his article “Poverty Reduction or Poverty Reinforcement?” (Pambazuka News 136) It cannot get much clearer than that. All our leaders should have a copy of the article firmly stapled onto their foreheads and forced to read it. The article gives a moral tale. If you participate in a process, systems, institutions or a game, that is not of your own making, and did not contribute or influence the rule making process, your interests will not be reflected and things may be done in a way that is not consistent with your needs, core values and philosophy. Yes, there are existing world institutions and ways of doing things. But do they work for us? Not now, not 50 years down the line! Despite clear evidence from over time (enslavement, colonialism, neo-colonialism, debt payments, outright theft by foreign multinational / supra nationals, WTO) we still persist in playing in someone else's game and then wonder why the outcome is not so favourable to our needs and interests.

We were not involved in the construction of 'the framework', not involved in the creation of the rules, not involved in determining the logic behind the schemes, and not involved in the rule changes when modification is required. We participate (as if there is no other choice), become earnest members of the 'club', because we may receive aid, grants and are 'country friendly' enough to attract investment. It seems that is the bottom line. That way of thinking constantly puts us in a subordinate position, and than we are surprised at why we are not respected or taken seriously in negotiations within these institutions and their systems and processes ...
duh...

Our leaders truly, want it easy. To tap into something that exists. Some other nations institutions, systems, processes, patterns of logic, language and rationale. And than they wonder why the outcomes are not what they desire. If you play in a 'game' that you do not own, what do you truly expect? So when we ask for debt relief or get involved in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiatives, what should we expect? We have to follow the rules laid down and produce begging documents (poverty reduction strategy papers) with contents that we know will please and be in compliance with the game that is being played.

Countries with huge debts should say "CAN'T PAY, WON'T PAY". In fact, what do we owe? We know how / why those debts came about and the injustice of the calculations of the interest payments of these debts. What do we owe? In fact, we are owed! Where are the apologies and reparations for centuries of organised theft from the continent?

Countries in debt should declare themselves bankrupt (that is not a bad thing, it gives you breathing space) and start the long slow struggle to rehabilitate our economies, rehabilitate our thinking, rehabilitate our way of doing things and set up our own structures in our image. It will be a hard slog, but in the long term the results are more enduring and sustainable. When you play someone else's game, misery eventually unfolds. In reality it is the 'over developed countries' game and we cannot win in that arena. We should set up own game, and ask them to play if they dare.

Surely we have had enough of 'disingenuous policies and initiatives' from the West's institutions and systems. Anyway, why do we constantly expect to be helped? How long do we stay labelled poor when we are not poor? Why do we get hooked in that jargon? We are rich. We are rich in natural resources, human resources and cultural heritage. We have all the resources we need on the continent. What we are poor in is;
* poor managers that cannot organise sustained growth,
* poor caretakers that allow others to loot, buy and control our resources cheaply,
* poor leaders that are political infants that criminally allow themselves and the countries they lead to accept unfavourable terms and conditions, follow an agenda and are incapable of setting an agenda that works for the continent.

We are too trusting and too reliant of Western institutions, constructs, systems and dogma. When European nations were developing and evolving their structures, political and economic logic, did they privatise their essential resources? Or was everything state owned and controlled for essential protection of health, education and water in order to allow these services to be universally provided fairly and justly to all. Why do we buy into dangerous neo liberal policy prescriptions'? If you stay in the club, what would you expect? Even 50 CENTS in his 'in da club' track, 'get rich or die trying' album, provides more cogent economic lessons than you will find in any World Bank document, and guess who we respect?

Southern Africa faces a number of common problems; most extensively problems of high unemployment and persistent poverty that have continued to make up development challenges in these countries. These problems have now been compounded by the negative impact of the HIV/Aids pandemic; where an estimated 20-30 per cent of the working population in all nine SADC countries is HIV positive, reports the International Labour Organisation.

Would you like Pambazuka News headlines to be displayed on your website? Visit: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsfeed.php. You can choose headlines from any or all of the Pambazuka News categories, and there is also a choice of format and style. Email editor@pambazuka.org for more information.

The second UPEACE Curriculum Development Workshop for the Great Lakes and Eastern African region was held in Kampala, Uganda from the 1st to 5th of December 2003, co-hosted with and coordinated by Makerere University, Uganda's premier institution of higher learning. The workshop's goal was to focus on teaching the linkages between justice, human rights and peace. It is the second in a set of three sub-regional workshops being organized in 2003 and early 2004 by the UPEACE Africa Programme, bringing together academicians, researchers, and educators to consolidate knowledge and build the basis for mastering the skills needed for the management, resolution, and transformation of conflict.

The underlying problem in Africa is the need for a fundamental paradigm shift. There has been so much mantra for "Poverty Reduction" the emphasis being "poverty" that it has all been internalised by governments and societies in Africa. The paradigm needs to shift into thinking "Prosperity". The reduction of poverty does not necessarily mean people are prosperous or that the country becomes prosperous. With prosperity naturally go development and progress. With poverty, well ... you get what you have now. African minds need to shift into this mode and we will see that we do not and have never really needed "help" from anyone but ourselves. We can, with this kind of mindset, begin to really utilize our own resources to build wealth for our peoples and nations in Africa. We have the brains to make this happen, we only need to blink and the current hypnotic illusions represented by the IMF and other structures as minions of western hegemony would be broken.

United States President George W. Bush, other leaders of the G8 group of industrialised countries and political leaders in Africa deserve congratulations for their courage in leading a genuine attempt to deal honestly and respectfully with the problems facing Africa in 2003.

The pace was set when George W. Bush touched down in Dakar, Senegal earlier this year. Following a visit to Goree Island, which acted as a transit camp for Africans during the slave trade, Bush experienced a road to Damascus moment. With tears in his eyes, he said the experience had for the first time helped him to grasp the enormous damage caused by slavery. Clearly his country had benefited in a grossly immoral way and therefore it was logical that reparations should be made for this blotch in the history of his country. He immediately offered reparations – 'apologies are not enough', he said.

What was even more shocking, said the president, was that his country continued to support policies that were difficult to justify  - in fact, they added insult to injury and continued to build on the injustices of the past. He admitted that the US and Western powers systematically undermined the African liberation movements by slaughtering leaders such as Patrice Lumumba, supporting terrorist movements in DRC, Angola, Mozambique and elsewhere. This newfound commitment to Africa would require serious financial bankrolling, announced Bush, and as a result the war on Iraq would end forthwith to prevent resources being diverted from Africa. Even this would not be enough, however, and he had personally ordered the scrapping of his $400-billion defence budget, which would be diverted towards peaceful activities, rather than killing fields. Following a nightmare about the havoc $400-billion dollars worth of guns would cause, he was no longer convinced that the military-industrial complex held the solution to the world's problems. The US militarisation of the African continent through the establishment of forward bases in the war against terror would be scrapped. Africa needed less, not more, militarisation, he said. The USA would immediately ratify the Rome Treaty for the International Criminal Court: 'There can be no excuse for impunity for those guilty of crimes against humanity.'  

The cynical have argued that Bush's announcement was forced upon him by massive and unprecedented popular pressure from across Africa. Whatever the case, Bush's announcement was the culmination of a groundswell of change that nobody could have predicted at the beginning of 2003. South Africa's president Thabo Mbeki announced that he had given up golf. Golf, he said, was an elitist game and an environmentally damaging one at that, which did not befit the image of a president who stood for the people and with the people. Moreover, Mbeki, along with other New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) architects, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, could now see that Nepad was indeed an imperialistic tool (as some ultra-leftists had previously stated). Nepad, if implemented in its current form, would work to serve the interests of the West and further impoverish the African people. The project would have to be reworked in favour of a genuine consultative programme that placed people before profits.

With global and continental leadership in line, seemingly intractable problems moved towards quick resolution. A host of undemocratic and dictatorial African leaders were either summarily removed by bloodless peoples' coups, or fled office after seeing the writing on the wall. Where there are gaps, the African Union has transformed itself from a toothless organisation and firmly laid down the law when required. As we end 2003, genuine people's democracies are sweeping across Africa.

This revolution could not take place in and of itself and needed to be accompanied by radical structural changes. One of these changes involved the onerous debt burden facing many African countries, long acknowledged as a serious obstruction to the development of Africa and responsible for diverting funds away from health, education and the social services. With a new moral fervour evident globally, The Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative was scrapped as a complete failure in 2003. In its place illegal debt was immediately eliminated without any unfair terms or conditions. Africa's development of rich industrialised countries through the repayment of debt has therefore ended.

A significant victory of 2003 was the establishment of the Commission on International Financial Institutions (CIFI), which announced that the World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund and World Bank were undemocratic institutions who had failed to function in the interests of the majority of the world population. The commission recommended – and these recommendations were subsequently adopted – that the IFI's be scrapped and replaced by truly representative, democratic institutions designed to operate in the interests of all the people of the world. Investigations into possible prosecutions regarding the harmful policies of the IFI's over the last 50 years and the damaging effects of their Structural Adjustment Policies and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers on Africa are ongoing. There was widespread agreement for the need to distinguish between investment and recurrent expenditure: money spent on education, social welfare and health were vital investments, the returns on which could only be measured over decades. A massive programme of investment has been put in place for 2004. Given the failure of privatisation of services over the last decade, governments were encouraged to nationalise social services, including power, water, health services, etc. This has sparked a vibrant public debate across the region about whether the same approach should be taken with production of other socially necessary products.

The ending of double-speak and spin over the issue of HIV/AIDS is another welcome development that took place in 2003. 'Treat all the People Now!', long seen as a distant dream, has become reality. The year began gloomily as countries failed to meet their commitments to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria, then promised more money and failed again to deliver. But the new political climate and unprecedented action by civil society organisations mean that the fund is now topped up and dispensing money in a way that has seen major victories in the war against the epidemic. Treatment is now approaching 100 percent. Furthermore, the control of the medical industry by a handful of enormously powerful and unaccountable multi-national pharmaceutical companies was beaten back in a serious of battles in which the people stood up and demanded their right to be treated.

Another important area with regards Africa that deserves mentioning here is that of unequal terms of trade, long regarded as a sticking point in the development of the continent. In September, Africa stood up to the industrialised countries at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Cancun, Mexico, over unfair trade and refused to allow further onerous conditions to be imposed on them. The result was a humbled United States and European Union. Both finally agreed that outrageous subsidies which would hypothetically speaking allow their dairy herds to take round the world vacation trips while people in certain parts of the world starved, served nobody's interests and were an utter embarrassment to their moral standing, or lack thereof.  U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellig declared that industrialised countries had long been 'spoilers' and pledged to work towards terms of trade that benefited Africa.

It has been a truly memorable year. There have been major victories leading to decreased militarisation, the spreading of democracy, treatment for those with HIV/AIDS and equitable terms of trade. The benefits in terms of Africa's social and economic indicators are already being felt. Significantly, international legal mechanisms have also been set in place to ensure that never again will Africa, or any other part of the world, be allowed to occupy a position at the bottom of the global development index. No longer will certain power brokers be allowed to glibly take the moral high ground with one hand, while continuing a self-enrichment exercise of plunder and looting with another. Africa can now enter 2004 knowing that, in contrast to a year ago, it will not have to confront the battery of unjust and exploitative policies that kept it in subjection for so long.

* Please send comments on this editorial - and other events in Africa - to

I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and let's keep developing our collaboration and co-operation. It was born in Lisbon in last September, an organisation called GUINEÁSPORA, the "Diaspora " from Guinea-Bissau. We have been able to organise a first meeting bringing Guineans from Africa, Europe, and Latin America (Brazil). Our site is www.guineaspora.org.