Africa

April 29, 2016 (KAMPALA) – Religious leaders from South Sudan's Presbyterian, Catholic, Anglican and Seven Day Adventist churches have conducted a joint prayer on Friday in Ugandan capital, Kampala, calling for reconciliation and healing among South Sudanese people.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (C) poses for a picture after the government swearing in with his first deputy Riek Machar (R) and second deputy James Wani on 29 April 2016 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

Stephen Liet Machot, a pastor from the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, said the gathering was organized as thanksgiving to God for bringing peace in South Sudan. He said many South Sudanese were forced into exile due to two and a half years of conflict in the country.

Pastor Machot said the role of the church should play was participating in realizing a lasting peace and reconciliation among leaders in the country.

“Our role as the church we pray for peace, unity and reconciliation and we will preach that to people that reconciliation and unity is very important for the development of South Sudan,” he said.

He believed it is a collective responsibility of every South Sudanese to make sure stability is restored through dialogue between politicians and the communities who are hard hit by the conflicts.

“Let's come together, unite ourselves as one country, one nation and we can be together in the peaceful and the unity so that we can move forward for reconciliation, development and the healing of the nation,” said pastor Machot.

He also called on the people to refrain from divisions, adding that the formation of transitional government of national unity meant that South Sudanese have become one, despite the deadly war which erupted on 15 December 2013.

Pastor James Baap on his part also called on South Sudanese to stop using social media as a platform to spread hate messages, urging them to focus on peace and love for one another.

“My message goes to those who are on internet who preach bad word. We need to minimize our bad words so that for the peace to come into our hearts and the country,” he added.

He said the war had left big scars in the society, but he urged citizens to forget and put God in all everything and to forgive those who wronged them.

John Yual Guth, chairperson of Nuer Christian Mission Network of South Sudan said peace is the only tool that can unite South Sudanese.

“We need to reconcile at the grass root level, from churches level…all our communities need to have reconciliation in the real sense,” he said.

He said the formation of transitional government is the last hope for peace in South Sudan and urged South Sudanese to embrace peace and unity.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan president, Salva Kiir, has appealed for global support, arguing there should be no reason to hold assistance after forming transitional government of national unity.

Thousands of people wait for food aid in the hot sun near the air drop zone in Leer, South Sudan, in July 2014 (Photo AFP/Nichole Sobecki)

“The people who were saying that you cannot be supported unless you form the transitional government of national unity, if they have agents here, they should report back to them that the government has been established,” said president Kiir after overseeing the swearing in of cabinet ministers.

The president spoke on Friday at the first meeting attended by two of his deputies, Riek Machar and James Wani Igga.

He asserted it was time for foreign governments and international organizations to provide financial assistance to the new government so that it helps implement the peace deal.

The transitional government of national unity brings together politicians from the government and the armed opposition under the overall leadership of the first vice president, Riek Machar, who has been at war with President Kiir for two years.

The cabinet also includes non-armed opposition forces, led by Lam Akol Ajawin and Martin Elia Lomoro.

Speaking at the same function, the first vice president, Riek Machar, said the new government must deal with violence if the peace was to be realized by the general population, regardless of obstacles.

"If our people feel in Juba that they cannot walk by night, even if we preach peace to them, they say, 'we don't see it,” said Machar who appointed 10 senior ministers and 2 junior ministers in the cabinet.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The spokesperson of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) said the Sudanese army has resumed its airstrikes against Um Serdiba area and several villages in Hiban area in South Kordofan.

Children in South Kordofan's town of Kauda take cover from a passing Antonov in a makeshift bomb shelter in 2012 (Photo: Peter Moszynski)

Last March, the Sudanese army said its troops captured Um Serdiba, "the main rebel stronghold in Kadugli sector", and Musharaka area. Al-Maradis, El Lipo, Kutna, Ugab, Karkakaia, and El-Biri. But the SPLM-N claimed they repulsed the attacks.

Arnu Ngulutu Lodi in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Friday said that a a (Sudan Air Force) Antonov plane dropped six bombs on Um Serdiba on Monday, stressing the attack caused panic among the residents and destroyed their property.

He added that similar plane dropped 17 barrel bombs on several villages around Hiban on Tuesday killing a number of cattle heads and destroying residents' property.

Lodi pointed the Antonov plane dropped 4 bombs on Nyakma, 6 bombs on Hagar Bago, 3 bombs on Auru and 4 bombs on Hiban.

Fierce fighting is taking place in the Nuba Mountains area of South Kordofan following a large-scale campaign launched by the government army against rebel positions.

South Kordofan and neighbouring Blue Nile state have been the scene of violent conflict between the SPLM-N and Sudanese army since 2011.

Last December, negotiations between Khartoum and the SPLM-N stalled after the government delegation insisted that the objective of talks is to settle the conflict in the Two Areas, while the SPLM-N team has called for a holistic approach to resolve ongoing conflicts across Sudan.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government said it would address the phenomenon of terrorism through dialogue and intellectual work besides implementing administrative and executive measures.

Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir (AFP Photo/Ashraf Shazly)

The Under-secretary of the ministry of Guidance and Endowments Hamid Youssef Adam, who spoke on the sidelines of the International Conference on Terrorism and sectarian extremism in Africa, said Sudan is confronting sectarian terrorism through the power of thoughts and dialogue, pointing the phenomena poses serious danger to Islam and the African peoples.

He told the official news agency (SUNA) that Sudan has a moral obligation towards 650 million Muslims in Africa which requires the government to mobilize all regional and international Islamic institutions in order to address this problem.

Adam added that the danger of extremism and terrorism in the African continent is in its early stages and could be avoided and brought to an end, pointing that a proposal was made to hold the conference periodically in order to review and follow up on the implementation of its recommendations.

He stressed that all participants called for developing detailed plans to implement the recommended strategies on the African and international levels.

For his part, the head of the Sudan Religious Scholars Committee (RSC) Mohamed Osman Salih called for developing objective studies and scientific researches to confront the sectarian extremism, stressing the need to implement the outcome of the specialized conferences through executive and administrative measures.

He added that such measures would reflect the peaceful nature of Islam, calling for the importance to return to the moderate Sunni Islam.

The conference was organized by the Sudanese Ministry of Guidance and Endowment in collaboration with the Muslim World League (MWL) between 28 to 29 April in Khartoum.

Addressing the opening session of the conference, President Omer al-Bashir said the enemies of Islam continued to link Islam to terrorism with the aim of depicting it as a violent and merciless faith.

He urged the conferees to come up with resolutions that would lead to practical solutions for the continent to avoid such dangers and encourage co-existence and tolerance among its peoples.

Presence of the extremist Islamic State (ISIS) in Sudan has made the headlines in March 2015 after several medical students from Sudanese origins fled the country to join the group.

Also, dozens of the Sudanese young people have been killed in incidents relating to the extremist group in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

Sudan was placed on the United States terrorism list in 1993 over allegations it was harbouring Islamist extremist working against regional and international targets.

In June 2015, the US State Department released the 2014 terrorism report maintaining Sudan's status as a state sponsor of terrorism and mentioning the existence of certain terrorist groups in the country as well as links between Khartoum and some of these organizations.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (JUBA) – The newly appointed South Sudan's ministers of the transitional government of national unity have been sworn in on Friday, a day after they were appointed.

Ministers of the transitional government of national unity swearing in on 29 April 2016 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

The country saw the swearing in of cabinet ministers appointed on Thursday in preparations to complete formation of the transitional government of national unity, ending months of uncertainty.

Thirty full cabinet ministers and seven deputy ministers took oath of office in a function presided over by President Salva Kiir and his two deputies, Riek Machar and James Wani Igga.

Kiir urged the newly appointed ministers to put the interest of the nation first in the execution of their duties.

He enjoined new ministers to make good use of the opportunities provided to them to serve their nation, and reminded them that their appointments were based on trust and confidence

The new cabinet is a mix up of old and new faces. They took three oaths of office, secrecy and allegiance, administered by the Chief Justice, Chan Reec Madut.

Speaking at the occasion, Kiir thanked the officials for accepting the positions to be part of a team that he said will, by God's grace, bring the country to prosperity that “most people think will be a far-fetched dream.”

“Nothing is beyond the reach of God and nothing is beyond His reach. If you have faith in God, with His support, there is nothing that you cannot achieve in this world,” said Kiir while emphasizing on institutional cooperation in the delivery of services to the people.

This comes after President Kiir on Thursday evening dissolved his cabinet and formed the new one in compliance with the August 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.

The head of state, according to the broadcast by the state owned South Sudan television on Thursday, appointed 16 full ministers, 4 deputies from his group and 10 senior ministers and 2 deputies from armed opposition under the overall leadership of the first vice president, Riek Machar.

Two full ministers and one deputy from the group of former detainees, two full ministers from other political parties with one deputy were also appointed.

(ST)

A six-storey building collapses in Nairobi in Kenya, after heavy rains and flooding across the country.

Dozens of lions, rescued from circuses, are being airlifted from Colombia and Peru to South Africa.

Participants in the biannual International Civil Society Week 2016, held in Bogotá, waiting for the start of one of the activities in the event that drew some 900 activists from more than 100 countries. Credit: CIVICUS

By Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA, Apr 29 2016 (IPS)

When Tamara Adrián, a Venezuelan transgender opposition legislator, spoke at a panel on inclusion during the last session of the International Civil Society Week held in Bogotá, 12 Latin American women stood up and stormed out of the room.

Adrián was talking about corruption in Venezuela, governed by “Chavista” (for the late Hugo Chávez) President Nicolás Maduro, and the blockade against reforms sought by the opposition, which now holds a majority of seats in the legislature.

The speaker who preceded her, from the global watchdog Transparency International, referred to corruption among left-wing governments in South America.

Outside the auditorium in the Plaza de Artesanos, a square surrounded by parks on the west side of Bogotá, the women, who represented social movements, argued that, by stressing corruption on the left, the right forgot about cases like that of Fernando Collor (1990-1992), a right-wing Brazilian president impeached for corruption.“Together, civil society has power…If we work together and connect with what others are doing in other countries, what we do will also make more sense.” -- Raaida Manaa

“Why don’t they mention those who have staged coups in Latin America and who have been corrupt?” asked veteran Salvadoran activist Marta Benavides.

Benavides told IPS she was not against everyone expressing their opinions, “but they should at least show respect. We don’t all agree with what they’re saying: that Latin America is corrupt. It’s a global phenomenon, and here we have to tell the truth.”

That truth, according to her, is that “Latin America is going through a very difficult situation, with different kinds of coups d’etat.”

She clarified that her statement wasn’t meant to defend President Dilma Rousseff, who is facing impeachment for allegedly manipulating the budget, or the governing left-wing Workers’ Party.

“I want people to talk about the real corruption,” she said. “In Brazil those who staged the 1964 coup (which ushered in a dictatorship until 1985) want to return to power to continue destroying everything; but this will affect everyone, and not just Brazil, its people and its resources.”

In Benavides’ view, all of the panelists “were telling lies” and no divergent views were expressed.

But when the women indignantly left the room, they missed the talk given on the same panel by Emilio Álvarez-Icaza, executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), who complained that all of the governments in the Americas – right-wing, left-wing, north and south – financially strangled the IACHR and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Emilio Álvarez-Icaza, executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the last one on the right, speaking at an International Civil Society Week panel on the situation of activism in Latin America. Credit: Constanza Vieira/IPS

He warned that “An economic crisis is about to break out in the Inter-American human rights system,” which consists of the IACHR and the Court, two autonomous Organisation of American States (OAS) bodies.

“In the regular financing of the OAS, the IACHR is a six percent priority, and the Inter-American Court, three percent,” said Álvarez-Icaza.

“They say budgets are a clear reflection of priorities. We are a nine percent priority,” he said, referring to these two legal bodies that hold states to account and protect human rights activists and community organisers by means of precautionary measures.

He described as “unacceptable and shameful” that the system “has been maintained with donations from Europe or other actors.”

There were multiple voices in this disparate assembly gathered in the Colombian capital since Sunday Apr. 24. The meeting organised by the global civil society alliance CIVICUS, which carried the hashtag ICSW2016 on the social networks, drew some 900 delegates from more than 100 countries.

The ICSW2016 ended Friday Apr. 29 with the election of a new CIVICUS board of directors.

Tutu Alicante, a human rights lawyer from Equatorial Guinea, is considered an “enemy of the state” and lives in exile in the United States. He told IPS that “we are very isolated from the rest of Africa. We need Latin America’s help to present our cases at a global level.”

Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang has been in power for 37 years. On Sunday Apr. 24 he was reelected for another seven years with over 93 percent of the vote, in elections boycotted by the opposition. His son is vice president and has been groomed to replace him.

“Because of the U.S. and British interests in our oil and gas, we believe that will happen,” Alicante stated.

He said the most interesting aspect of the ICSW2016 was the people he met, representatives of “global civil society working to build a world that is more equitable and fair.”

He added, however, that “indigenous and afro communities were missing.”

“We’re in Colombia, where there is an important afro community that is not here at the assembly,” Alicante said. “But there is a sense that we are growing and a spirit of including more people.”

He was saying this just when one of the most important women in Colombia’s indigenous movement, Leonor Zalabata, came up. A leader of the Arhuaco people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains, she has led protests demanding culturally appropriate education and healthcare, and indigenous autonomy, while organising women in her community.

She was a keynote speaker at the closing ceremony Thursday evening.

A woman with an Arab name and appearance, Raaida Manaa, approached by IPS, turned out to be a Colombian journalist of Lebanese descent who lives in Barranquilla, the main city in this country’s Caribbean region.

She works with the Washington-based International Association for Volunteer Effort.

“The most important” aspect of the ICSW2016 is that it is being held just at this moment in Colombia, whose government is involved in peace talks with the FARC guerrillas. This, she said, underlines the need to set out on the path to peace “in a responsible manner, with a strategy and plan to do things right.”

The title she would use for an article on the ICSW2016 is: “Together, civil society has power.” And the lead would be: “If we work together and connect with what others are doing in other countries, what we do will also make more sense.”

In Colombia there is a large Arab community. Around 1994, the biggest Palestinian population outside the Middle East was living in Colombia, although many fled when the civil war here intensified.

“The peaceful struggle should be the only one,” 2015 Nobel Peace Prize-winner Ali Zeddini of the Tunisian Human Rights League, who took part in the ICSW2016, said Friday morning.

But, he added, “you can’t have a lasting peace if the Palestinian problem is not solved.” Since global pressure managed to put an end to South Africa’s apartheid, the next big task is Palestine, he said.

Zeddini expressed strong support for the Nobel peace prize nomination of Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian leader serving five consecutive life sentences in an Israeli prison. He was arrested in 2002, during the second Intifada.

 Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes

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April 27, 2016 (Gogrial) - Authorities in Kuajock, the capital of a newly created Gogrial state, home to President Salva Kiir, have conducted a door-to-door pursuit of unlawful firearms and alcoholic drink in the town on Tuesday.

Policeman destroying beer and Shisha in Gogrial State (ST Photo)

The operation targeted homes, residents, bars and other public places inside Kuacjok town that restricted public movement till midday on Tuesday. Soldiers and police as well as security personnel in civilian dress controlled the traffic but no abuse reported during the search of alcohol and firearms.

Police commissioner of Gogrial state, Major Gen John Akot, said that the search was empowered by a council of ministers resolution number 4 that bans alcohol sell and illegal firearms in the town.

He instructed forces of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and all other organized forces to comply with the order that bans carrying of firearms in town and directed all men in uniform to leave their arms in checkpoints if they needed to enter Kuacjok town.

“The local order is implemented accordingly – the local order is banning illegal firearms, drinking of alcohol and smoking of shisha in the town,” he said.

The police commissioner said during the search rifles and hand grenades were recovered with several pieces of ammunition.

“We managed to confiscate 19 AK47 guns and 5 pistols, including one hand grenade,” he said, adding “Our colleagues who are in the SPLA I advise them to leave their arms in the barrack when they come to the town – if you are coming from Juba on a mission.”

Kuacjok municipal Town Mayor, John Akol, confirmed that their searches resulted into confiscation of items that were destroyed in a public ceremony at the main police station.

Akol said that join security forces will continue to patrol the town day and night to maintain law and order.

“Completely we are not ready to have present of shisha and alcohol in this town- we are warning anyone to stay away with her or his alcohol or shisha outside Gogrial state,” he said.

The police chief added that if anyone violated the order the person must face law with fine of three thousand South Sudanese pound.

(ST)

The Security Council today, by recorded vote, adopted a resolution extending for one year the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), emphasizing “the urgent need for the mission to return to full functionality.”

Alastair Leithead has been to north-eastern Namibia, which has seen its elephant population increase because the local communities are making money out of the wildlife.

With just six weeks left before the start of the main cropping season in Ethiopia, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called today for urgent funding to help farmers sow their fields and prevent drought-hit areas of the country from falling deeper into hunger and food insecurity.

The United Nations human rights office said today it has received “worrying information” about ongoing armed clashes in Mozambique between national security forces and members of Renamo, the former rebel group which became the main opposition party at the end of the 16-year civil war in 1992.

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The ballet troupe started in a Nigerian garage

Jomo Kwame Sundaram was United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, and received the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought in 2007.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Apr 29 2016 (IPS)

International capital flows are now more than 60 times the value of trade flows. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is now of the view that large international financial transactions do not facilitate trade, and that excessive financial ‘elasticity’ was the cause of recent financial crises.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram. Credit: FAO

Illicit financial flows involve financial movements from one country to another, especially when funds are illegally earned, transferred, and/or utilized. Some examples include:
• A cartel using trade-based money laundering techniques to mix legal money, say from the sale of used cars, with illegal money, e.g., from drug sales;
• An importer using trade mis-invoicing to evade customs duties, VAT, or income taxes;
• A corrupt public official or family members using an anonymous shell company to transfer dirty money to bank accounts elsewhere;
• An illegal trafficker carrying cash across the border and depositing it in a foreign bank; or
• A terrorist financier wiring money to an operative abroad.

Global Financial Integrity (GFI) estimated that in 2013, US$1.1 trillion left developing countries in illicit financial outflows. Its methodology is considered to be quite conservative, as it does not pick up movements of bulk cash, mispricing of services, or most money laundering.

Beyond the direct economic impact of such massive haemorrhage, illicit financial flows hurt government revenues and society at large. They also facilitate transnational organized crime, foster corruption, undermine governance and decrease tax revenues.

Where Does The Money Flow To?
Most illicit financial outflows from developing countries ultimately end up in banks in countries like the US and the UK, as well as in tax havens like Switzerland, the Cayman Islands or Singapore. GFI estimates that about 45 per cent of illicit flows end up in offshore financial centres and 55 per cent in developed countries. University of California, Berkeley Professor Gabriel Zucman has estimated that 6 to 8 per cent of global wealth is offshore, mostly not reported to tax authorities.

GFI’s December 2015 report found that developing and emerging economies had lost US$7.8 trillion in illicit financial flows over the ten-year period of 2004-2013, with illicit outflows increasing by an average of 6.5 per cent yearly. Over the decade, an average of 83.4 per cent of illicit financial outflows were due to fraudulent trade mis-invoicing, involving intentional misreporting by transnational companies of the value, quantity or composition of goods on customs declaration forms and invoices, usually for tax evasion. Illicit capital outflows often involve tax evasion, crime, corruption and other illicit activities.

How Low Can You Go?
In the 1960s, there was a popular dance called the ‘limbo rock’, with the winner leaning back as much as possible to get under the bar. Many of today’s financial centres are involved in a similar game to attract customers by offering low tax rates and banking secrecy. This has, in turn, forced many governments to lower direct taxes not only on income, but also on wealth. From the early 1980s, this was dignified by US President Ronald Reagan’s embrace of Professor Arthur Laffer’s curve which claimed higher savings, investments and growth with less taxes.

With the decline of government revenue from direct taxes, especially income tax, many governments were forced to cut spending, often by reducing public services, raising user-fees and privatizing state-owned enterprises. Beyond a point, there was little room left for further cuts, and governments had to raise revenue. This typically came from indirect taxes, especially on consumption, as trade taxes were discouraged to promote trade liberalization. Many countries have since adopted value added taxation (VAT), long promoted, in recent decades, by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others as the superior form of taxation: after all, once the system is in place, raising rates is relatively easy.

A progressive tax system would seek to ensure that those with more ability to do so, pay proportionately more tax than those with less ability to do so. Instead, tax systems have become increasingly regressive, with the growing middle class bearing the main burden of taxes. Meanwhile, tax competition among developing countries has not only reduced tax revenue, but also made direct taxation less progressive, while the growth of VAT has made the overall impact of taxation more regressive as the rich pay proportionately less tax with all the loopholes available to them, both nationally and abroad. Overall tax incidence in many developing countries has not only long been regressive, but has also become more regressive over time, especially since the 1980s.

Although there are many reasons for income inequality, hidden untaxed wealth has undoubtedly also increased wealth and income inequality at the national and international level.

(End)

Light and dark, drumming on stilts and statue selfies

Bags of maize at the Food Reserve Agency Depot in Kasiya, Pemba district, Southern Zambia. Credit: Friday Phiri/IPS

By Friday Phiri
LIVINGSTONE, Zambia, Apr 29 2016 (IPS)

‘No Farmer, No Food’ is an old slogan that the Zambia National Farmers’ Union still uses. Some people consider it a cliché, but it could be regaining its place in history as agriculture is increasingly seen as the answer to a wide range of the world’s critical needs such as nutrition, sustainable jobs and income for the rural poor.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), agricultural investment is one of the most important and effective strategies for economic growth and poverty reduction in rural areas where the majority of the world’s poor live. Available data indicates that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth originating in other sectors.

Armed with this evidence, the world’s development trajectory is focusing on how the sector can boost the fight against hunger and extreme poverty—two of the major obstacles to achieving sustainable development. And the upcoming 6th World Farmers’ Organisation General Assembly slated for May 4-7 in Zambia is set to be dominated by, among other things, agricultural investment and market linkages."We should use the gathering to solicit for ideas and investments to improve the agricultural value chain as government sets agriculture as the mainstay of the economy." -- WFO President Evelyn Nguleka

Under the theme ‘Partnerships for Growth’, the conference is poised to deliberate on ways to encourage farmer-centered partnerships and investments aimed at improving the economic environment and livelihood of this group of producers, most of whom live in rural areas.

FAO estimates that an additional investment of 83 billion dollars will be needed annually to close the gap between what low- and middle-income countries have invested each year over the last decade and what is needed by 2050.

But for developing countries like Zambia, where would this kind of investment come from?

Evelyn Nguleka, president of the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU), believes hosting this year’s event is an opportunity for Zambia to market itself as a preferred agricultural investment destination.

“We have the land, water, human resource and good climate which supports the growing of all kinds of agricultural produce,” Dr. Nguleka told IPS. She added that the hosting of the WFO General Assembly comes at a crucial time for Zambia, which has suffered one of the worst droughts induced by the El Nino weather phenomenon sweeping across Southern Africa.

“It is a critical point in our agricultural development that we should use the gathering to solicit for ideas and investments to improve the agricultural value chain as government sets agriculture as the mainstay of the economy,” said the ZNFU president, who is also the current World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) president.

Highlighting the challenge of market access and poor mechanisation, Nguleka is hopeful that Zambia would use the platform to learn from countries that have mechanised and are now reaping the benefits.

“As you are aware, majority producers are smallholders most of whom are women. Women are not only farmers but also home managers, and to balance these two duties requires some basic mechanisation to reduce time spent in the fields,” she said, highlighting the importance of women to agricultural development.

But for Green Living Movement, a member of the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity Conservation, the conference should ensure that the voice of smallholder farmers – usually marginalised at such big events – is heard loud and clear.

“We welcome the theme, which is timely. But we say no to one-sided partnerships that seemingly favour the bigger corporations while the smallholder farmers lose out,” said Emmanuel Mutamba, director of Green Living Movement and Chairman of the Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity Conservation.

Mutamba said WFO should guard against selfish corporate interests whose agenda is largely driven by profit. “Climate change is here to stay. We call upon our representatives at this conference to seriously consider the plight of smallholders who produce 75 percent of the country’s food requirements and are at the frontlines of climate change effects. Sustainable technologies must be sought for their continued productivity, or else whatever partnerships emerge would not make sense without production,” Mutamba told IPS, highlighting the importance of tackling climate change.

And in adding value to the win-win approach being advocated for, the Cultivate Africa’s Future (CultiAF) Project on reducing post-harvest losses of fish in Western Zambia could be a perfect example.

After introducing fishers to efficient post-harvest handling technologies, the project has moved to fund business ideas meant to up-scale workable technologies whose findings are a result of joint efforts between fishers and researchers through a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach.

Dubbed Expanding Business Opportunities for African Youth in Agricultural Value Chains in Southern Africa, the CultiAF supplementary project is funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Jonathan Tambatamba, director of Programmes at the ATDF Entrepreneurship Hub (AEH), a private company contracted by IDRC to implement the commercialisation project, said, “The project seeks to move away from the ‘business as usual’ approach of using communities for commercial interests, after which they are dumped without a sustainability plan.”

Apart from entrepreneurship training, three novel and creative business ideas would be picked and supported with a 5,000-dollar grant each, addressing some of the noted challenges in the (CultiAF) PAR process – financial sustainability and poor market access.

And for 35-year-old fish trader Joyce Inonge Nang’umbili, the idea of having access to reliable markets built around the local business value chain could be close to a miracle. “For some of us who have taken up salting as the best option for fish processing, we desire proper market access of salted fish which is not widely known by most consumers in Zambia,” she said.

As WFO representatives gather in Livingstone, many hope they will be drawn not only to farmer centered policies that address market linkages, but also responsible agricultural investments, with serious implications for the fight against climate change threatening the very existence of humanity and attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as espoused in the UN 2030 agenda.

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The Agency Headquarters Hospital (AHH) in Bajaur Agency, shortly after a Taliban suicide bomb attack in 2013. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS

By Lyndal Rowlands
Apr 29 2016 (IPS)

Hospitals, health care workers and patients in war zones are supposed to be protected under international humanitarian law yet recent attacks from Syria to Afghanistan suggest that they have become targets.

The seeming lack of respect for the sanctity of health care in war zones has prompted UN Security Council members in New York to consider a new resolution designed to find new ways to halt these attacks.

The Security Council is expected to vote on the resolution on May 3, just days after Al Quds Hospital in Aleppo, Syria was bombed. Twenty seven staff and patients were killed in the airstrike on the hospital on Wednesday night, Dr Hatem, the director of the Children’s Hospital in Aleppo told The Syria Campaign.

Among the victims was Dr Muhammad Waseem Maaz, who Dr Hatem described as “the city’s most qualified paediatrician.”

Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria told journalists in Geneva Wednesday that Dr Maaz was the last paediatric doctor left in Aleppo, although IPS understands there is another paediatrician in the Aleppo countryside.

Dr Hatem said that Dr Maaz used to work at the children’s hospital during the day and attend to emergencies at the Al Quds hospital at night time.

“Dr Maaz stayed in Aleppo, the most dangerous city in the world, because of his devotion to his patients,” said Dr Hatem.

Dr Hatem said that “hospitals are often targeted by government and Russian air forces.”

“When the bombing intensifies, the medical staff run down to the ground floor of the hospital carrying the babies’ incubators in order to protect them,” he said.

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia will be expected to vote on the proposed new resolution reinforcing the protection of hospitals, doctors and patients in war zones.

“When the bombing intensifies, the medical staff run down to the ground floor of the hospital carrying the babies’ incubators in order to protect them.” -- Dr Hatem, director of the Children’s Hospital in Aleppo.

Another Security Council Member accused of bombing a hospital, the United States, is expected to release its report Friday of its own investigation into the attack on the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan on Oct. 3 2015.

MSF say that 42 people we killed in the sustained bombing of the hospital, including 24 patients and 18 staff.

Roman Oyarzun Marchesi, permanent representative of Spain to the UN said that the “the wake up call (for the Security Council resolution) came from organisations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres who are forced to stay out of certain areas or countries due to the lack of protection on the ground.”

“Attacks against the provision of health care are becoming so frequent that humanitarian actors face serious limitations to do their jobs,” said Marchesi at an event held to discuss the proposed resolution at the International Peace Institute earlier this month.

The event brought together representatives from the medical community with the five Security Council members drafting the resolution, Egypt, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, and Uruguay.

Speaking on behalf of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), whose hospitals have come under frequent attacks in recent months and years, Jason Cone, Executive Director of MSF America called for greater accountability.

“As of today suspected perpetrators get away with self-investigating and there’s no independent follow-up of attacks,” said Cone.

“It is a critical moment for member states to reaffirm the sanctity of the medical act in armed conflict,” he said.

The current situation does not reflect the respect given to health care in war from the earliest stages of the Geneva conventions, Stéphane Ojeda, Deputy Permanent Observer to the United Nations, International Committee of the Red Cross told the meeting.

“The protection of the wounded and sick has been at the heart of International Humanitarian Law since the start,” said Ojeda.

“Indeed the wounded and sick and the medical personnel taking care of them were the first categories of protected persons under international humanitarian law because in the 1864 first Geneva Convention,” he said.

The principle that health care personnel should not be punished for caring for the wounded and sick also needs to be respected, said Ojeda.

“If you start questioning this that’s a whole pillar of humanity starting to collapse,” he said.

Cone also added to Ojeda’s calls for the duties of doctors in caring for the wounded and sick to be respected.

“We can not accept any criminalisation of the medical act, any resolution should reinforce and strengthen protection for medical ethics,” he said.