Kirk Smith: International Studies

African Heads of State Gather in Maputo for AU Summit

Thu, 10 Jul 2003 14:59:30 GMT

by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

10 Jul 03

MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE. African heads of state and government have a busy few days ahead of them, as they meet for the second summit of the African Union in Maputo, Mozambique, from 10-12 July.

All week, the foreign ministerial Executive Council has been drawing up the agenda and recommendations that the African leaders will debate, endorse or reject during their 3-day summit.

With some devastating crises afflicting the continent, their citizens look to them for the leadership to end Africa's armed conflicts and address problems like drought and famine, as well as speed up development, promote democracy and strengthen regional integration and trade.

But there are already blots on the continental copybook.

One of the top items on the summit agenda is the creation of the Peace and Security Council, the organ envisaged to help resolve wars in Africa, through direct intervention.

Yet barely a dozen countries have ratified the protocol that will establish the Council, broadly based on the United Nations Security Council. Ratification by half of the AU's 53 member states is required to bring the Peace and Security Council into being. [allAfrica.com]

World Poverty Fight 'In Danger'

Wed, 09 Jul 2003 13:24:26 GMT

by Alex Kirby

08 Jul 03

Despite three years of concerted effort, some countries have recently begun to get poorer.

On present trends, some African countries will not vanquish poverty until 2165, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) believes.

It says poor countries must introduce reforms, while rich ones improve trade and aid.

Releasing its Human Development Report 2003, the UNDP says poverty is not inevitable. In the last 30 years, life expectancy in poor countries has risen by eight years, and illiteracy has been halved.

But it says progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is patchy, with success still uncertain.

Slow Ratification of Peace And Security Council

Wed, 09 Jul 2003 13:17:13 GMT

from Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique

04 Jul 03

The first day of the African Union (AU) summit in Maputo was marked by discussions in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Ambassadors) on implementing the AU protocol to set up an African Peace and Security Council.

Ana Nemba, Mozambique's permanent representative at the AU, told reporters that although 39 member states have signed the protocol only seven - Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda and South Africa - have ratified it. The Council cannot be established until there are 26 ratifications.

The Council is intended to seek solutions to conflicts, and to suggest conflict prevention measures. It is, in short, an African solution to an African problem - but there seems little chance that it will be set up at this summit. Nemba said that another five countries have expressed an interest in depositing the instruments of ratification during the summit. She would not say who they are, but from other sources, AIM understands that two of them are Angola and Lesotho. [allAfrica.com]

World Heritage Protection Extended to Five Natural Sites

Wed, 09 Jul 2003 02:12:17 GMT

08 Jul 03

PARIS, FRANCE. Five new natural sites were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List by the UN body's World Heritage Committee meeting at its Paris headquarters last week. The newly protected natural sites were listed along with 19 new cultural sites, some of which are also valued for their natural features.

The World Heritage List compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) committee now numbers 754 sites, including 149 natural, and 582 cultural and 23 mixed sites of outstanding universal value.

Rich in ancient fossils, Monte San Giorgio in Switzerland is now on the UNESCO World Heritage List. (Photos courtesy UNESCO)

The new natural sites are - Australia's Purnululu National Park, Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas in China, Uvs Nuur Basin in both the Russian Federation and Mongolia, Monte San Giorgio in Switzerland, and Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam.

The committee also extended one natural site that is already inscribed on the World Heritage List to cover a greater area, the Central Amazon Conservation Complex in Brazil.

One natural and two cultural sites were determined by the committee to be in grave danger. On Friday the committee inscribed three sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger - the Walled City of Baku in Azerbaijan, Comoê National Park in Cóte d'Ivoire, and Nepal's Kathmandu Valley. The List of World Heritage in Danger today numbers 35 sites throughout the world. [Environment News Service]

Who's Paying For Your Fix?

Tue, 08 Jul 2003 02:00:08 GMT

by Kate Duncan

May/Jun 2003 Issue

Unless your morning latte was a fair trade blend, it probably cost more than what the farmer who picked the beans earns in a day.

Conventional coffee prices are at their lowest in a century, even below the cost of production. Farmers have been leaving the fruit to rot on the tree, pulling the kids out of school, abandoning the family land and pouring into the cities to find non-existent work. That’s why, as the most heavily traded commodity after oil, and the most common beverage after water, coffee is a major focus of the fair trade movement.

If your morning latte was a fair trade brew, it means the person who farmed the beans is earning enough to support his family. This is all well and good, but the way fair trade is usually explained - with prices, numbers and statistics - ignores it’s lasting benefits. The true point of fair trade is the cultural, communal, and environmental stability it bolsters.

A farmer who sells through fair trade is a member of a cooperative that is a vehicle for community empowerment. And not just a neighborhood watch: The people typically organized via fair trade are those whom the free market has filtered to the lowest economic stratum. Rather than maneuvering them into a position where they’re forced to take what they can get, fair trade recognizes farmers as equal partners, a platform from which they can command more control over their business and lives.

'Fair trade is a different kind of business relationship between the producer and buyer, which has been an inspiration to help these communities pull together instead of caving to the pressure of all the things trying to blow them apart,' says Monika Firl. Monika heads up producer relations for Cooperative Coffees, and as such, led half a dozen coffee roasters and me (as a grateful representative of Idyll Development Foundation, one of Cooperative Coffee’s funders) on a buying trip to farmers’ co-ops in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico in February, where we were able to see the effect for ourselves. [Clamor]

U.S. Retaliates Over War Crime Immunity Demand

Sat, 05 Jul 2003 19:18:26 GMT

by Bill Vann

05 July 03

In a further bid to place U.S. officials and military personnel beyond the reach of war crimes prosecution, the Bush administration cut off military aid to about 35 countries that failed to meet a June 30 deadline for signing bilateral immunity agreements.

Washington had demanded such deals with all the countries that have signed on to the International Criminal Court (ICC), using the threat of the aid cutoff to impose its will on foreign powers that are considered U.S. allies. At least 90 have reportedly resisted the U.S. blackmail effort. The Bush administration claims that 51 nations have signed immunity agreements, seven of them 'secretly.' [World Socialist Web Site]

Farooq Prefers Mandela as Facilitator for J&K Talks

Sat, 05 Jul 2003 00:40:55 GMT

05 Jul 03

NEW DELHI. In a sharp break from a long-held Indian position, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has suggested that South African leader Nelson Mandela could act as a facilitator between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir question, which, he said, was the 'core' issue...

Former Prime Minister I. K. Gujral and Congress MP Natwar Singh, who also participated in the programme, however, completely disagreed with Abdullah.

They said that there was no question of any third party mediation, a stand consistently taken by India. [The Times of India]

Sugar Giants Shove Their Sweetener

Fri, 04 Jul 2003 20:51:26 GMT

by Chris Tenove

Jul/Aug 2003 Issue

What does anybody know about the sugar industry? The people who put the frosting on the frosted flakes keep a low profile and are happy when folks are too busy eating to ask a lot of questions. Now, though, a dust-up with the World Health Organization (WHO) has flushed them into the limelight, where they're pitting profits against public health.

The conflict was inflamed by a new set of dietary guidelines drawn from two years of research by the WHO and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization. The guidelines are part of a worldwide strategy to tame the swelling epidemic of obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases. One recommendation is that free sugars (i.e. sugar added to foods) should make up no more than 10 percent of our daily caloric intake. The sugar lobby reacted to that suggestion like a toddler asked to hand back his Halloween booty...

'It was particularly stupid for them to put in writing that they're going to try to get Congress to take away WHO's money,' says Michael Jacobsen, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. 'It gave consumers a chance to see the kind of bullying that is usually done behind closed doors.' [Adbusters]

West Africa's Wars: A Region in Flames

Fri, 04 Jul 2003 06:47:42 GMT

03 Jul 03

ABIDJAN, FREETOWN AND MONROVIA. Taken as a whole, West Africa's crisis is one of the world's worst. The regional war has claimed perhaps half a million lives, and continues to blight millions more. This is why it is not only hysterical crowds outside the American embassy who are begging Mr Bush to send troops. France, Britain and the UN are demanding the same. [The Economist]

Iraqis Call For Self-Rule

Fri, 04 Jul 2003 05:23:10 GMT

by Zaki Yahya in Najaf

03 Jul 03

A conference of 900 Iraqi notables have demanded the quick establishment of an Iraqi government to combat the lawlessness and insecurity that reign three months after the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein and his Ba'athist regime.

The group said the transitional government should have a six-month mandate, renewable once only, to draw up a constitution for the new Iraq. The move puts new pressure on the occupying forces to agree to some form of Iraqi government, rather than the interim political council which the United States now favours. [Institute for War & Peace Reporting]