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The Libyan Crisis and The Western Double Standard

A group of Ivorian women refugees in the Liberian town of Teahplay. Photo: Francis Wahome/Tearfund

The suspicion that the foreign policy of the Western Powers towards Africa is marked by a series of double standards and inconsistencies has come to the fore again, with the recent UN backed enforcement of the “NO FLY ZONE” with a series of military air strikes in Libya. While the intervention of the UN backed Western forces in checkmating the annihilation of Libyan citizens by the maverick and severely unstable Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is commendable, it is also very surprising that the same haste and urgency of this intervention has not been replicated in the Ivory Coast in the west coast of Africa.

It may be recalled that this West African nation has been embroiled in civil strife which has continued to degenerate making the possibility of a full scale war imminent, all as a result of the blatant usurpation of power by Laurent Gbagbo who was defeated in the Ivorian presidential elections. Indeed it is quite ironical that France which colonized Cote D’Ivoire and has a pervasive political, economic and cultural influence on this country has been tepid and almost embarrassingly silent since the Ivorian crises broke out, has taken the lead in enforcing the no fly zone over Libya.

It is pertinent for the Western World to realize that what may guarantee universal peace and security across the globe in the long term is the morality that underscores foreign intervention in the internal affairs of countries in addition to equity and fairness.

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Why Ex-President Gbagbo Must Stop Killing Innocent Civilians and Leave

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Laurent Gbagbo

Since the disputed presidential election in Cote d’Ivoire last November, in which the then incumbent president Mr. Laurent Gbagbo and Mr. Alassane Ouattara, a former prime Minister contested, it has been bad news over and over again for that small country. And it has been a disaster for Africa; a battle-field for reaping dead bodies of civilian population, especially those of women and children as well as a looting mine-field for criminals.

Results from the disputed presidential elections were declared in favor of Mr. Ouattara by the domestic election umpire and upheld by both the UN and AU observers who witnessed the elections. But a compromised Judge, who is alleged to be Mr. Gbagbo’s loyalist, subverted the whole process and countered the electoral Commission’s result in favor of the incumbent president.  Mr. Gbagbo refused to relinquish power to the internationally acknowledged winner, Mr. Ouattara, claiming irregularities. The international community, after they exhausted their patience with him, has imposed all kind of sanctions on the country, and also blocked his access to fund from outside the country. The effect has been both gory and devastating. The UNHCR representative, as at last week told BBC that the death-tolls is around 400 as dogs feast on dead bodies in the streets of Abidjan, the nation’s capital. In addition, it had created refugee crisis with over 250000 refugees already moved into neighboring country of Liberia. Liberia is a country recuperating from a 15 year civil strife and still has its own refugee problem to deal with. Why would Mr. Gbagbo create a situation that has the potential to strain the fragile economy? Last month, thousands of Liberian refugees still in Bundubura Camp in Ghana, were at logger’s head with some Ghanaians over the death of one female refugee.

Ivory Coast is a country that has not known many political leaders in its post- independence existence. Since the death of Late President Houphuoet Boigny, who held unto power for many years; the country has been in leadership crisis and Mr. Gbagbo has now become the face of the story. Mr. Gbagbo is a professor of history, so he should not be ignorant of the politico-historical developments in his country. When the death of president Boigny left a leadership  vacuum, there arouse a chaotic situation that saw  Mr.  Bedei and Ouattara as President and Prime Minister. They were both overthrown by General Robert Guei. By the time Gen. Guei, a military officer wanted to transform his government to a civilian government, through a dubious constitutional change, he branded ex-minister Minister Ouattara a foreigner and excluded  him from the election process in 2000. Thus, by the time of the elections, the coast was clear for him and Mr. Gbagbo, an election that declared the latter winner but Gen. Guei refused to hand over power to him. What did Mr. Gbagbo do to claim his victory?

It was historic that ECOWAS supported him when he led a mass demonstration against Gen. Guei to hand over power. On the 25th of October 2000, the General  left and Gbagbo became president. The same circumstances that brought him to power are not different from those he is killing innocent souls to defend. Why does his ambition for power have no end? Why is he buying guns for students to mow down civilian population?

While the United Nations and the AU are still doing their best to restore normalcy to the Ivory Coast, they must speed up whatever means they chose to use to remove Mr. Gbagbo. He has refused to learn from the Libyan event that continues to unfold every day, the whole world is waiting for him to step down quietly and  go into self-exile as did ex-president Charles Ghanky Taylor of Liberia. Mr. Gbagbo  would be a threat peaceful governance in the Ivory Coast.

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Thousands Flee Abidjan as Violence Intensifies in Côte d’Ivoire – UN

22 March 2011 –Thousands of residents of Côte d’Ivoire’s commercial capital, Abidjan, have been flocking to bus stations seeking transport out of the city fearing that an all-out war is in the offing after an escalation of violence, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

As many as 30 unarmed civilians were killed and 60 others were wounded when the market in Abidjan’s northern suburb of Abobo was attacked with mortar shells on Thursday, according to the UN peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire, which is known as UNOCI.

The shelling was carried out by members of the Ivorian Defense and Security Forces (FDSCI), who are loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo, who lost a UN-certified and internationally recognized election to the opposition figure Alassane Ouattara last November, but has since refused to step down. Abobo is considered a stronghold of supporters of Mr. Ouattara.

During the weekend and on Monday, monitors with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) saw thousands of people trying to leave from Adjame and Yopougon bus terminals in Abidjan. Many families slept there in a desperate bid to secure seats in departing vehicles.

Some of those fleeing said they had decided to leave following an appeal on Saturday by the pro-Gbagbo youth leader, Charles Blé Goudé, who urged civilians to join the ranks of the armed forces. Thousands of youths have reportedly responded to the appeal, which those departing Abidjan have interpreted as a declaration of war.

The bus stations were already crowded with families seeking to leave Abidjan amid the intensifying violence. The cost of transportation has risen sharply, according to a humanitarian partner whose staff have received requests from internally displaced persons (IDPs) to help them leave Abidjan. An estimated 300,000 people in Abidjan are displaced, many of them former residents of Abobo.

Many IDPs are heading to the north and east of the country, and families who made it to those areas told UNHCR staff by telephone that the humanitarian situation there is becoming increasingly difficult for them and their hosts.

Meanwhile, UNHCR and its partners have completed setting up of the first IDP site in the western town of Danane. Over the weekend, 778 displaced people were relocated to the site from a nearby primary school. Two other IDP sites are being rehabilitated in Danane, where an estimated 5,000 people were displaced by violence earlier this year.

The Ivorian crisis has also affected some 24,000 Liberian refugees who have been living in Abidjan for nearly two decades. Some of them have signed up for repatriation to Liberia and the first UNHCR-organized airlift of 171 returnees took place on Saturday.

UN News Center
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In Water-rich DR Congo, 50 Million People Lack Clean Water to Drink – UN

22 March 2011 –An estimated 51 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – or three quarters of the population – have no access to safe drinking water, even though the country holds over half of Africa’s water reserves, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a new study released today.

The country’s troubled legacy of conflict, environmental degradation, rapid urbanization and under-investment in water infrastructure has seriously affected the availability of drinking water, UNEP said in the study, unveiled to coincide with World Water Day.

UNEP was among several participants at an event in the capital, Kinshasa, staged by the National Water and Sanitation Committee, which brought together government representatives, development partners, financial institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and researchers to discuss steps to address the DRC’s water challenges.

Speaking at the forum, UNEP’s DRC Programme Manager, Hassan Partow, said the study confirmed that despite recent progress, including water sector reforms, the scale of the challenge means that the country will not be able to meet its water targets under the UN-set Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which calls for reducing by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015.

The DRC would have to supply an additional 20.3 million people with safe drinking water by 2015 even to meets its national development goals, which are significantly below the MDGs water target, according to UNEP.

“Since peace was brokered in 2003, the Government has gradually managed to reverse the negative trend in water coverage that has plagued the DRC since its period of conflict and turmoil”, said Mr. Partow. “This represents an important achievement which should be applauded.”

“However, the stark reality is that the DRC has one of the fastest urbanization growth rates in the world and this is not being matched with adequate water and sanitation service delivery,” he added.

Based on extensive fieldwork and stakeholder consultations across the country, the UNEP study found that inadequate water and sanitation delivery in the DRC’s rapidly expanding urban centres is due to insufficient, aging and overloaded networks, combined with the degradation of critical water sources and watersheds, such as the Lukunga and N’Djili catchments, which provide millions of people with drinking water in Kinshasa.

According to the study, entitled “Water Issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo – Challenges and Opportunities,” in addition to major infrastructure improvements, an investment of approximately $70 million over a five-year period is required to help strengthen the water sector.

UNEP recommends innovative strategies such as community-managed water supply systems in urban fringe areas and low-cost technical solutions, including communal tap areas and rainwater harvesting.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), meanwhile, drew attention to an estimated 37 million rural residents in DRC who risk contracting disease because they have no alternative but to draw untreated water directly from rivers or lakes that are likely to be contaminated.

“A child living in a Congolese village is four times more likely to drink contaminated water than someone in town. Yet, all children have equal right to survival and development of which drinking water is a vital component,” said Pierrette Vu Thi, the UNICEF representative in DRC in a statement to mark the World Water Day.

More than 2 million Congolese children under the age of five, or one in five in that age group, are regularly sick with diarrhoea, according to figures from the country’s department of health cited by UNICEF.

“The fact that we are unable to provide each family clean drinking water is an affront,” said Ms. Vu Thi. “Too many children die because we do not respect our responsibility, and their deaths are ignored,” she added.

UN News Center

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International Day for The Elimination of Racial Discrimination Should Challenge Us Against all Forms of Discrimination

In 1966, the United Nations General Assembly declared 21st of March as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Celebrated annually, and meant to remind countries of their collective responsibility in the fight against all forms of discrimination, this day’s observation owes its existence to the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in which 69 people who were part of a peaceful demonstration against “pass laws’’ were brutally murdered by the South African apartheid regime. At that time, indigenous black Africans were legally required to carry dompas identity documents and to produce them whenever required to do so by the South African police. There were dire consequences for those who failed to produce such documents and many ended up in jail. In 1960, people of the township of Sharpeville participated in a peaceful march against ‘pass laws’ but were fired upon by the police. In South Africa, 21 March is celebrated as Human Rights day and is a public holiday.

More than 50 years after the Sharpeville Massacre, human rights activists and peaceful demonstrators still go through unimaginable suffering at the hands of those in authority. The ongoing killing of innocent civilians and peaceful demonstrators in Yemen, Bahran, and Libya are but a few examples that remind us that in some parts of the world people who dare question their governments still risks a similar fate to that of Sharpeville residents. As the world celebrates International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination thousands of people pursuing the struggle against elimination of all forms of discrimination, intolerance and other injustices are either behind bars, in exile or await dire consequences including death. Human Rights Watch reports on the state of human rights practises around the world paints a disturbing picture. What is further worrying though is the lacklustre approach that leaders and international bodies seem to adopt when occasions arise for them to show leadership and harshly condemn human rights violations. The 2011 Human Rights Watch’s report note that “in place of a commitment to exerting public pressure for human rights, they (governments that can be counted on to be on the side of human rights activists) profess a preference for softer approaches such as private “dialogue” and “cooperation”. The report goes further to list recent examples of soft approaches and these include “ASEAN’s tepid response to Burmese repression, the United Nations’ deferential attitude toward Sri Lankan atrocities, the European Union’s obsequious approach to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the soft Western reaction to certain favored repressive African leaders such as Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, the weak United States policy toward Saudi Arabia, India’s pliant posture toward Burma and Sri Lanka, and the near-universal cowardice in confronting China’s deepening crackdown on basic liberties. In all of these cases, governments, by abandoning public pressure, effectively close their eyes to repression”.

Months back, the world welcomed the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s pro-democracy leader from almost 20 years of house arrest by Burma’s military government yet Chinese writer, human rights activist and Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo is still behind bars. Liu Xiaobo, the only winner of the Nobel Peace Prize still in detention was sentenced to eleven years in prison by the Chinese government after co-authoring ‘Charter 08’, a manifesto that is robustly calling for democratic rights for the people of the People’s Republic of China. There is currently an ongoing campaign against his ongoing imprisonment.  The campaign consists of more than 70 organisations including PEN South Africa’s Writers in Prison Committee and Poetry International South Africa. The question is, what are we doing as individuals when faced with situations of injustices? This year’s celebration should therefore challenge us to be more tolerant of those that differ from us and less tolerant of repressive governments and people in our lives who show disregard of the rights of others. Martin Luther King Jnr once said “our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. He further maintained that “the ultimate treasure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of controversy”. In deed these wise words remain relevant even today and challenge all good men and women not to close their ears and deliberately block the loud cries of help from those around them.

 

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Practical Steps to Reduce The Risk and Vulnerability of The African Woman to HIV

Volunteers who participated in a study on reducing the risk of HIV infection in women listened as the test results were announced during a meeting in Vulindlela, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Photo by (Joao Silva for The New York Times)

K. Amponsah-Manager

Among the estimated 22.5 million people living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls continue to be disproportionately represented. In South Africa, for instance, it is estimated that one-in-three women aged 25-29 are living with HIV (Human Sciences Research Council (2009). Another estimate puts the proportion of maternal orphans – those who have lost their mother – orphaned by AIDS as over 70 percent (Budlender, D. et al., 2008). This is surely a dispiriting statistic. Several reasons can be attributed to this trend including rape and other sexual abuses, cultural practices and societal expectations of women. There are also biological factors that contribute to this inclination. For instance, the female genitals have a more exposed surface area than the male genitals have. Also, there are higher amounts of HIV in semen than in vaginal fluids while again more semen is exchanged during sex than vaginal fluids. These together with the social and cultural factors above precipitate a situation that places the woman at a more disadvantage point of view.

There are several steps communities and policy makers can take to reduce the women’s vulnerability to the epidemic and reverse this distressful trend. These include:

Involving men: In a typical African relationship, the man controls when and how sex happens. The man decides the frequency of sex and whether any protection is used during sexual relationship. The current education targeting men to use condoms should continue but it should place a bigger accent on educating men to respect the women’s choice and needs in sexual relationships. Gender-based violence and stereotypes should be core of any anti-HIV campaigns in African communities.

Accessibility to healthcare needs: Past anti-HIV and family planning campaigns have focused on the man, but it is time to pay attention to the needs of the woman if we can really cut the percentage of women that continue to be afflicted by the HIV epidemic. While the female condom (FC) is available to most women in the developed countries who want to use it, FC is merely another indulgence that the African woman cannot just afford. The situation gets even more challenging as the female condom can be several times more expensive than the male condom. It is therefore crucial for health policy makers and private organization to step in and offer to make these products accessible to the women at a cost that they can afford. Also, women who are abused sexually should have free access to blood tests and other medical services to determine their status. This will halt the further spread of HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) they might have contracted during the assault. Studies show that women with other untreated STDs are more likely to contract the HIV virus than their STD-free counterparts or those who have access the reproductive healthcare needs.

Economic Opportunities and Education: It is sad fact that in the African society, the bread-winner is automatically self-empowered to call the shots and since in most cases, it is the man who holds that title, the women in these societies are the always at the receiving end when it comes to decisions affecting sexual intercourse. A journey to economic empowerment will be relatively long, but in the long run, it is the surest strategy that will place women in positions that they can influence decisions that affect their own lives. According to the UNAIDS, women without education are four times more likely to have the belief that there is no way to prevent HIV. These women do not expect and do not demand any protection during sex even when they know their partners have multiple sexual partners. Early sexual intercourse and early marriages are big factors in predicting a girl’s vulnerability to HIV. In Niger, for example, 50% of girls get married by the age of 15. However, studies show that girls with more education tend to delay marriage and tend to delay their first sexual intercourse. Providing every girl child with at least the basic education will certainly make a dent.

Campaign against social and cultural practices harmful to the woman: Some practices are ‘universally’ classified as sexual violence but are accepted practices in some communities across African and other parts of the world. These include female genital mutilation or female circumcision, marital rape and girl trafficking. In a survey in Kenya, 14% of women said their own husbands (most of whom have multiple sexual partners) had raped them in the past. All these practices disproportionately expose women and girls to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. According to the UN, women who have experienced any of such abuses are three times more likely to be infected by HIV.

Reducing the woman’s vulnerability to HIV is vital in curbing the prevalence and saving the unborn. In fact 390 000 out of the global 430 000 children newly infected with HIV during 2008 were from sub-Saharan Africaas a result of mother-to-child transmission (USAIDS). Why should we wait any longer in tackling the woman’s sexual health needs?

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Tanzanian Man Kills Wife to Sell Body Parts

A Tanzanian man has been arrested by police for purportedly trying to sell his wife’s body parts including her head, breasts and genitals.

The man is said to have confessed during interrogation by police on Saturday. The suspect confessed to killing his wife after he heard that human body parts were in demand in Shinyanga in the north of Tanzania where the man lives.

“The suspect had a plastic bag and claimed to be carrying pork, but police guards at a bank … checked the contents and discovered a human head, breasts, genitals and other parts,” said regional police commander Diwani Athumani.

The man, arrested on Friday, will undergo psychiatric testing before trial.

Sale of human body parts is not uncommon in the East African state, where dozens of albinos have been murdered for their body parts, which are then used by witch doctors to concoct lucky charms.

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Africa: Experts Seek WHO Nod for Postpartum Haemorrhage Drug

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) -March 17, 2011

Dakar (Senegal) — A drug many health experts say can drastically cut postpartum haemorrhage – the leading cause of maternal deaths in the developing world – will be in the spotlight this month during the World Health Organization’s (WHO) biennial review of its model list of essential medicines.

Health groups are urging WHO to include misoprostol for the prevention and management of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), or excessive bleeding following childbirth. WHO in 2009 denied misoprostol for prevention of PPH but proponents hope new evidence presented for the 21-25 March WHO meeting in the Ghanaian capital Accra will bring a change.

An advantage of misoprostol for treating PPH in developing countries is that it is stable at room temperature and can be administered in tablet form, experts say. The primary drugs for PPH – oxytocin and ergometrine – need refrigeration and are injected. While oxytocin is cheaper, misoprostol is more cost-effective in many settings because of these other features, say health experts in their application to WHO.

Such drugs – called oxytocics – cause the uterus to contract, speed up delivery of the placenta and lessen blood loss.

“It is simply pragmatic – I am 100 percent in support of including misoprostol among our means for preventing or treating PPH until we get a better option,” Lawal Oyeneyin, chief medical director at Mother and Child Hospital, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, told IRIN. He is among several who submitted letters of support.

PPH causes about a quarter of maternal deaths worldwide, according to WHO; Oyeneyin said it is “without a doubt” the most common cause of maternal death in Ondo State. “Why exclude misoprostol when the benefits outweigh the risks?”

Médecins Sans Frontières also wrote in support of the drug. “Oral misoprostol is a useful alternative for injectable oxytocics when they are not available or ineffective,” said MSF international medical coordinator Myriam Henkens.

The essential medicines list (EML) is a guide for national and institutional essential medicines, according to WHO. While governments are not bound to follow it, the model list heavily influences national health ministries, experts say.

In rejecting the drug last time, WHO said some adverse effects were not well understood; the agency says further study is needed into safety and efficacy. It recommends the use of misoprostol in settings where it is not possible to use oxytocin or another injectable uterotonic, but it was not put on the list because trials had not proven efficacy; shivering and fever can occur, and “there is an unresolved concern of a possible increase in the risk of maternal mortality”.

Five years ago Nigeria became the first country to include misoprostol for PPH among its essential medicines. Some governments find it difficult to do so because it is not on WHO’s list, Oyeneyin said.

Listing misoprostol for PPH prevention “will break down this barrier”, proponents say in letters to WHO.

Anthony Smith, emeritus professor of clinical pharmacology at Calvary Mater Hospital in New South Wales, has done several consultancies with WHO, particularly in the Pacific Islands.

“While oxytocin and ergometrine appear to be modestly superior to misoprostol in clinical trials, misoprostol is efficacious in its own right and is stable under hot conditions. Until such time as dependable storage exists for oxytocin and ergometrine, misoprostol will provide acceptable treatment for the prevention and treatment of PPH in these remote, hot locations,” he said.

If we were ever to remove this drug from communities there would be riots

Misoprostol is a generic product and has several manufacturers. It was developed in the 1980s and approved in the US for prevention of gastric ulcers but has been used since in obstetrics and gynaecology. It is used in combination with mifepristone to terminate a pregnancy. Some health workers warn about misuse.

Getting misoprostol on the EML would be a step forward but just one step, according to proponents. They say the drug should be in the hands of community health workers and pregnant women, not uniquely at medical facilities. While having more women give birth in properly equipped clinics with skilled medical staff is the ideal for mother and infant health, experts say, this remains far from the reality for most women in rural sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

“Where I work [in Kaduna and Zaria states] more than 90 percent of births take place at home; in Nigeria about two-thirds,” said Clara Ejembi, from the department of community medicine at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria State. In some cases home delivery is preferred – either because of custom or the quality of health facilities.

Nigeria is now revising guidelines on misoprostol to add advice on community use. Ghana, Senegal and Tanzania are also studying community access to misoprostol. The US Agency for International Development (USAID), which calls misoprostol “a highly promising technology that may be used by trained health workers working outside facilities and even in remote areas”, is testing and introducing misoprostol in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Senegal.

However, WHO has expressed concern about advanced community distribution of misoprostol. Matthews Mathai of WHO’s Making Pregnancy Safer programme told IRIN: “There is evidence that incorrect dosing can lead to excessive and violent contractions of the uterus leading to foetal distress, foetal death and uterine rupture.”

Nigerian doctor Oyeneyin said the incorrect usage concern should not rule out access. “Opponents are worried about the safety profile of misoprostol. But the safety issue can be addressed through training.

“When you have a problem you should use all ammunition available to tackle it – in this case, that’s oxytocin, ergometrine and misoprostol,” he said. “It’s ironic that the first two are on the model list of essential medicines while misoprostol is not. Of the three, misoprostol is most likely to be applicable in communities.”

Godfrey Mbaruku, deputy director of Ifakara Health Institute in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, said misoprostol must not be seen as a panacea, as PPH is not the only complication that can arise. “The idea is not to encourage women to deliver at home,” he told IRIN. “But this allows them to have the drug on hand in case of PPH during a home delivery.”

In northern Nigeria where home births prevail, research has shown that distributing misoprostol in the communities is a viable approach, Ejembi said. “Among community leaders acceptance is very high; people are ready to use this and advocate it. WHO people should come and let me take them around to the communities so they can hear the people’s voices.”

She said women in the communities where she works recognize the value of misoprostol. “If we were ever to remove this drug from communities there would be riots.”

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