Tanzania's authorities insist that they need a new presidential jet despite reports that the World Bank has demanded an explanation.

President Ange-Felix Patasse of the Central African Republic has issued a plea for help from the international community in the wake of a financial scandal which has virtually bankrupted the impoverished nation. In making his plea at a meeting with the diplomatic corps last Monday, Patasse, in power since 1993, pledged to stop the corruption.

Despite playing host to this country's multi-billion-dollar oil industry, the communities of the Niger Delta enjoy none of the luxuries the wealth could provide. In Gbaramatu, a cluster of thatch-roofed fishing villages in the polluted swamps of Ijawland, they often ask why God has cursed them with the black slime that coats their rivers.

The African Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday approved debt relief amounting to US $86.7 million for Burkina Faso and US $72.80 million for Mauritania. The bank said this would reduce their annual debt service obligations to the ADB by up to 80 percent, leaving them more resources for poverty reduction.

I am a supportive reader of the Pambazuka email newsletter....and I enjoy the contents. However, I am always troubled by Pambazuka's editorials which continually interview and quote voices that are not African but of persons in Europe or North America working on Africa. Let's take the case of the recent ACHPR's ruling on the violation of the social and economic rights of the Ongoni people in Nigeria. With the exception of one Lagos-based organization, the rest of your interviews were with "Western" people in London and New York working on Africa. Indeed with such a ruling coming from Africa where in fact African people were affected and actively involved in the campaigns, petition and court case, it is a great disservice to us that no African voices were represented. This appears as a reinforcement of "the West can speak for us", they know better about Africa. I greatly benefit from your newsletter but I'd also wish to see a fair and just representation of our voices as Africans--we are indeed smart and deserve credit!

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by a reliable source of the arbitrary dismissal of 12 workers and of the suspension of 9 workers’ representatives by Doba Logistics one of the main contractors for construction work on the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project co-funded by the World Bank. It is reported that the suspensions and dismissals of the workers by Doba Logistics occurred on May 14 2002, after their strike action against the non-application of the collective agreement signed with Doba Logistics in March 2002. This first collective agreement represented a victory for the workers and encouraged workers in other companies to negotiate collective agreements.

Muckraking has a long, storied tradition, and Palast is evidently proud to be part of it. In this polemical indictment of globalization and political corruption, Palast (a reporter with the BBC and London's Observer) updates the muckraking tradition with some 21st-century targets: the IMF, World Bank and WTO, plus oil treaties, energy concerns and corporate evildoers of all creeds.

A Supreme Court hearing into President Levy Mwanawasa's election victory last year has been adjourned after witnesses complained of intimidation. More than 70 witnesses were due to testify that they had been prevented from voting in last year's poll.

Cosatu said on Monday it planned a two-day national strike in October to protest against the government's privatisation plans. "The July Exco (executive committee of Cosatu has) decided to lift the suspension and continue with its programme of mass mobilisation," the Congress of South African Trade Unions said in a statement.

The South African National Civic Organisation was thrown into chaos this week when key members of its national executive committee resigned amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement of funds.

The government has established a special investigations and prosecutions task force to investigate criminal conduct related to serious mismanagement of public resources in the past 10 years.

Government ministers in Madagascar are to receive ten-fold pay increases in what the new president says is a move to curb corruption. President Marc Ravalomanana, who has just won a violent power struggle on the island, said that if officials were paid properly, they would not need to abuse positions.

Zambia's High Court has issued an injunction that temporarily blocks authorities from arresting and prosecuting former President Frederick Chiluba, who stands accused of misusing public funds.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has found significant levels of caloric deficiency and food insecurity in areas of the capital, Kinshasa. FAO also expressed concern for people living in areas of Katanga inaccessible to humanitarian assistance due to continued military activity.

In the last two decades of Sudan's civil war, there have been few hopeful moments, and few windows of opportunity for making peace. In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, one of those moments arrived, and the window of opportunity for peace opened. For a number of reasons, however, the window is closing quickly. If more serious leverage is not immediately brought to bear on the warring parties in the context of the current peace talks taking place in Kenya, the window will slam shut, condemning the Sudanese people to cumulative levels of death and destruction with few parallels to any conflict since World War II.

The Answer to All Questions: A Just and Comprehensive Peace

The U.S. has a number of fundamental policy objectives in Sudan: countering terrorism, promoting human rights and democracy, ending the war, and supporting humanitarian assistance. All of these objectives are best addressed through a comprehensive peace agreement which both reforms the central government and provides for the exercise of self-determination for southern Sudanese.

More than any other country in the world, the U.S. has the ability to move the Sudan peace process forward. The U.S. has decided to focus on making the IGAD process in Kenya a more serious one. So far, U.S. efforts have been useful but by no means sufficient. This is why today's hearing is so timely.

In the topsy-turvy debate over Sudan policy, the very idea of a negotiated settlement has come under fire by those who see negotiating with the Khartoum government as useless. That may be proven true, but in the absence of a new U.S. policy objective which has not yet been formulated, such a view abandons the Sudanese people, particularly southerners, to endless war.

In fact, southern Sudanese are prepared to continue the war indefinitely in the absence of a just peace, a factor that continues to be underestimated by mediators. But as long as an opportunity exists to end the conflict through the conclusion of a comprehensive peace agreement, we must urgently and diligently pursue that objective.

To be clear, in order for peace efforts to have a chance of succeeding, the objective of the negotiations must emphasize a just settlement. There are indications from the ongoing talks in Kenya that mediators and observers are pulling back from support for self-determination in the form of a referendum with the full complement of options, including independence. It cannot be emphasized enough that southern Sudanese will continue the war, no matter what the cost or the outlook, if this fundamental element of any potential solution is not part of the deal in some form. Modalities can certainly be negotiated, but the essential principle appears to be under assault, and this guarantees the failure of the negotiations. It is not too late to rectify this.

The Missing Ingredient in the Peace Process: Leverage

Because the divergent positions of the parties are so entrenched, it is unlikely that they can be reconciled through conventional facilitation alone. More forceful diplomatic intervention -- of which leverage is the key element -- will be required than is currently envisioned. Therefore, the most visible missing ingredient of a potentially successful IGAD peace effort is coordination of pressures and incentives.

Leverage does not grow on trees. It is created through leadership in the development of a multilateral strategy of carrots and sticks, and its judicious execution. Despite the influence the U.S. actually possesses over the warring parties, American diplomats have frequently claimed in the past that they lack the leverage to move the parties toward peace. Such claims increase perceptions among Sudanese parties that the leverage the U.S. does in fact enjoy will not be used during the negotiations - perceptions that in fact reduce outside leverage in the manner of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

To be effective, pressures and incentives must be multilateral. As the actor with the most potential leverage and the only one whom all Sudanese parties believe can make peace, the U.S. should take the lead in organising the judicious and tactically opportune application of these carrots and sticks. This may be the single most important contribution the U.S. can make.

Leverage can be increased both through actions and positions taken in the context of the peace process, and through wider policies pursued by the U.S. Both are discussed below. All of these require U.S. leadership but would have much greater effect if pursued - through the G-8, EU and other bodies - with our European allies as well as with other countries with influence.
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After fifty years in which the Bretton Woods institutions have proved increasingly outdated and incapable of removing persistent poverty, the time has come for an imaginative replacement or extension to suit the requirements of a globalising economy. Surely a global economy effective for all is better than one which is confined to, at best, three fifths of the world, writes Bill Peters from the Jubilee Debt Campaign.

After fifty years in which the Bretton Woods institutions have proved increasingly outdated and incapable of removing persistent poverty, the time has come for an imaginative replacement or extension to suit the requirements of a globalising economy. Surely a global economy effective for all is better than one which is confined to, at best, three fifths of the world, writes Bill Peters from the Jubilee Debt Campaign.

The stalemate preventing Kenya from regaining access to World Bank and IMF credit is also jeopardising the country's chances of negotiating lenient loan-repayment terms with the Paris Club of donors.

African civil society groups began a three-day meeting on Wednesday in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, to forge a common agenda for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

With reference to the Corporate Watch item WHEN PRIVATISED WATER BECOMES TOO EXPENSIVE reported in PAMBAZUKA NEWS 72, Part 12: to the best of my knowledge the inferred statement that Johannesburg's water services have been sold off to the French-based multinational Suez, formerly Suez Lyonnaise, is (currently at least!) simply untrue. To many of us who are against 'privatisation' and lengthy concession contracts etc such false reporting just does damage to our cause. The Johannesburg Metropolitan Council has formed a council owned water company and signed a 5 year management contract with a subsidiary of Suez. Both these actions were effected without meaningful consultation with Johannesburg residents or organised labour.

As reported on the corporatewatch website the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme has caused Johannesburg water costs to soar. This has been happening since 1997; not just overnight. Phase 1b of the project was implemented in a very non-transparent manner since the present government was elected.

Opposition in South Africa to the early implementation of phase 2 has reached a critical mass. Implementation is therefore likely to be deferred indefinitely. However, based on the manner in which phase 1b was implemented, advocacy groups and the general public still need to remain vigilant.

It is also true that unaccounted-for water figures which include leakage but also unbilled water etc, are very high. Total unaccounted-for water is currently estimated at about 42%. It is possible that the figure is as high as 50%, but I doubt if this is all due to leakage.

I write these comments mainly as a Johannesburg resident living close to Sandton and Alexandra rather than in my professional capacity. I do, however, have a keen professional interest in both institutional arrangements and water demand management in South Africa generally.