By VOA News
30 June 2008


The African Union's top diplomat says Africa must "shoulder its responsibilities" and do everything in its power to resolve the political conflict in Zimbabwe.

African Union Commissioner Jean Ping spoke Monday at the opening session of the 11th African Union summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe in attendance.

Mr. Mugabe walked into the main conference hall flanked by other African leaders, one day after declaring victory in Zimbabwe's one-man election.

Many international leaders have dismissed the vote as a sham, and AU election monitors said today the election fell short of the union's democratic standards.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement calling Zimbabwe's election "deeply flawed," and urged Mr. Mugabe and the opposition to negotiate.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders called on the U.N. Security Council to take up the issue of Zimbabwe.

She also said she expected the U.N. to do more than issue "just another statement."

Also today, South Africa called on President Mugabe's ZANU-PF party to begin talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party to form a transitional government.

Although Zimbabwe was not scheduled to be the focus of the two-day African Union summit, the country's runoff election has so far dominated the conversation among the leaders.

Africa's top diplomats and politicians met in closed session for several hours Sunday and early Monday to discuss how to respond to Mr. Mugabe's challenge to democracy.

One of the questions facing the AU is whether to recognize him as Zimbabwe's legitimate leader.

The summit in Egypt is also expected to address the union's millennium development goals on water and sanitation.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

New program provides loans without collateral

Jackson Muneza Mvunganyi

Economic analysts often point to the lack of start up capital to explain why the private sector is still underdeveloped in most African countries.

Even though leasing has been a popular business practice in more developed western countries, it is still uncommon in Africa. In many countries, people lack access to loans because they do not have collateral required by the banks.

In Rwanda, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector arm of the World Bank Group recently set up an advisory service. It is meant to boost private sector development by simplifying the access to finance and business services for potential entrepreneurs .It is encouraging a relatively new business concept in Rwanda -- leasing. In essence, a lease gives one the right to use property- for business purposes-for a fixed or indefinite period of time.

Brian Kirungi the coordinator of the IFC effort in Rwanda explains, “ the lessee obtains exclusive possession of the property with backing from the bank, in return for paying the bank a fixed or determinable payment.”

Kirungi a legal expert and team leader based in Kigali says that his office is currently reviewing the existing tax laws that affect leasing transactions and making recommendations for a change that will encourage financial institutions start leasing programs.
“We want to help them come up with business plans, train personnel and provide the necessary support, drawing from IFC’s global expertise in this field,” he says.

Kirungi says that the leasing development program is mainly helpful to young entrepreneurs with creative business ideas. Since they are likely not to have the required security to secure bank loans, giving them equipment “puts them on the road to financial freedom,” he says. The banks retain ownership of the leased property till it is paid off.

Payment to banks is usually more flexible under lease arrangements than traditional loan programs. Businessmen may have easier terms of payment during economic downturns, for example. Kirungi says that young business people have already come up with ways to make this program work for them.

“Young people are very creative” he says. “Rwanda is undergoing an economic transformation from an agro-based economy, and because of this, technology is opening up new frontiers for young people to join the private sector.”

Kirungi says that with more people joining the private sector, Rwanda’s productivity will also improve and lead to a vibrant private sector. “This program is a strong weapon for fighting poverty and help people work towards self sustenance.”

Filmmaker says Youth use hip-hop music to voice frustration with politics


By: Jackson Muneza Mvunganyi

A film on the role of hip-hop in shaping the political discourse in Senegal is getting rave reviews. The documentary Democracy in Dakar is the brainchild of filmmaker and producer Ben Herson, who visited Senegal’s capital, Dakar, in 2003.

Herson first got interested in Senegalese music a couple of years ago, when he was working on his university thesis about Senegalese music. He was amazed at the vibrant music scene in Dakar, given the small resources and financial rewards available to young musicians there. He says he was intrigued by their passion and devotion to music and decided to expand his project into a full-length movie.

Herson’s next visit came during Senegal’s presidential election campaign held earlier this year. He witnessed the power of young, politically conscious rappers – and the enthusiasm of their fans.

Democracy in Dakar shows the influence that hip-hop music has among young Senegalese. Herson says it’s a tool that has been used by the youth to voice their frustration with the political establishment. The documentary features rising stars in the Senegalese entertainment industry and plenty of unknown MCs, whose storytelling abilities are much like those of the traditional Senegalese griots. He said, “The young rappers perform traditional Senegalese rap songs “that tell stories about society, much like ancient griots narrated the lives of ancient societies.”
Young Senegalese musicians, like those in other parts of Africa, have fused traditional music and messages with western styles popular among their fans. Young film director McGee Mcilvan says he saw more than a than a dozen Senegalese rap groups in Dakar which have created unique and distinct sounds.
Many tracks on the video feature what the Senegalese call "ego tripping," a mode of hip-hop that includes bragging. The movie also sheds light on the personalities of the rappers and their inspirations.

Filmmaker Aisha Baines says that four years after the world learnt about the Dafur Crisis, people continue to die.

By:Jackson Muneza Mvunganyi

A couple of years ago Dafur was a relatively unknown to many people in Africa and the west. As a graduate student in Washington DC, Aisha Baines was interested in Africa and had traveled extensively for an average American student. During her research, she uncovered a budding crisis in Northern Sudan, which was going on under the radar, unknown to even the mainstream media outlets.
Her passion for Africa and feeling a kinship to people in conflict areas (She is part Hiatian, a country that has had its share of civil conflict), she made it her mission to inform American media organizations and policy makers of the ongoing tragedy.
“ I started hearing horrifying stories about the situation in Dafur..” she says describing her first days researching about the issue. She established contacts with people on the ground in Dafur and they described to her ongoing “ massacres…. bombings rapes and doctors who were overwhelmed by the overflow of victims”. She appealed to news organizations like New York times and the Washington post, but at the time there was a reservation on the media to report on such a new issue “there attitude was that if it wasn't news, then was not news” She says.
Still Aisha didn’t give up the fight and soon with her persistence, story broke in the US and “all of a sudden Americans became aware of what was going on in Dafur”. She teamed up with human rights watch and held a briefing on Capitol Hill. ‘But still, the response was slow and it was driving me crazy” she says.
Seeking further exposure for the issue required images from the ground, and after consulting a fellow student filmmaker Adam Shapiro, in late 2004, the team embarked on a journey to Dafur through Chad with a couple of hand held cameras. She says that the movie was meant to give the Dafurians a voice “At the time, there were only internationals speaking on behalf of the people of Dafur…there were no Dafurian voices represented in the media”. She says.
The film team decided to give special focus to women and children “women and children are often the most marginalized in conflicts…and we wanted to see the conflicts through their eyes..”

The product is Darfur Diaries: Message From Home, which analysts have called “a brutally honest inside look into the current tragedy befalling the Darfur Region.” Aisha says the the film which was with similarly titled book “seeks to provide space for the marginalized victims of atrocities to speak and to engage with the world”. The 55 minutes long movie is as graphic and powerful as it is informative. Recently, Amnesty International has taken on the film to educate the public about the situation in Darfur.

In the movie, Dafurians provide personal anecdotes, which paint a touching and atrocious picture. The desert landscape, wind-swept and littered with bomb fragments, is stark. But as Aisha Bains recounts her gruesome journey to document the Dafur story, she cant help but smile about some humorous interactions with local military as they tried to work through the communication problems. “Those moments that give you glimpses of humanity…that people still have to laugh when they cry…people have to live”
The movie brings to life the tragic story of Dafur where a government continues to use Janjaweed militias, to plunder, pillage, rape and other gross crimes against humanity. According to the United Nations, 400,000 people have died, and over 2 million have been displaced
Aisha says that if the world had done enough about Dafur as some claim,” We wouldn't be talking about the issue in the present tense…absolutely not,” She says.

In Zimbabwe, rising inflation means many citizens cannot afford basic necessities. The recent attempt by the government to enforce strict price regulations has done little to improve the economy.

But Zimbabweans in the Diaspora have found a way to help – with a new website called Mukuru.com. It allows them to send relatives in Zimbabwe money and vouchers for gas and airtime for mobile phones.

Rob is a young Zimbabwean entrepreneur living in England, who doesn’t want his name used, for security reasons. He explains his website by saying, “The concept is very simple; you pay Mukuru.com for products and services that we ensure get delivered to the Zimbabwean recipient through our network of local agents.”

Mukuru.com uses a voucher system, which allows customers to purchase units that are redeemable for the product or service they chose.

Mukuru.com processes payments for an order and uses text messaging (SMS) to send a code to the recipient in Zimbabwe. It follows up with a confirmation and details of the order sent by e-mail. A voucher goes to both the buyer and recipient.

Rob says the venture is owned entirely by Zimbabweans. He worked for different IT companies before he formed his own. He says he recognized the “potential and endless possibilities that technology brings.” So far his business model has been successful -- with hundreds of orders placed by Zimbabweans in the Diaspora. Other online businesses have joined Mukuru.com, including Zimbuyer.com, Zimland.com and others.

Rob says soon Mukuru.com will expand to allow Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to provide their families at home other items and services, including food.

For the past five years the Darfur crisis has spurred a tradition of activism among college students in the United States. Each organization seeks to bring awareness to the genocide by mobilizing and educating fellow students on their campuses. One of such organizations goes beyond these goals by seeking to involve Darfurian youth in seeking solutions to the underlying problems in their country. Banaa- which stands for education and enlightenment is mobilizing funds to create educational scholarships for outstanding youth in Darfur,to come and study in colleges in the United States of America. The two co-founders Jackie Menditch and Jeff Deflavio are students of GeorgeWashington University in Washington D.C. They started off as members of a student organization that sought to pressure their university into divesting from Sudanese business ventures in protest to the Sudanese involvement in the Darfur crisis.
In the process, these two undergraduate students formed another organization, Banaa.org--organization that works with college students, faculty and administrators to create new scholarship opportunities for Sudanese students who survived the genocide. “The goal is to equip these Sudanese students with the necessary educational and leadership skills,so that they can go back and apply them in their communities”says Menditch. They refer to these students as ‘peacemakers’who will be critical elements in resolving the crisis in their homeland. The first of these Darfur students will be arriving soon from a Kenyan refugee camp where he is an administrator in a Sudanese refugee camp located in northern Kenya. He beat out many others who applied for the single scholarship opportunity--but could not make it because of the limited resources.
Deflavio says that there is a hope that more of these scholarship opportunities will be granted by other American universities. So far four universities have signed on and as “many more students lobby their educational institutions, we hope to bring more students to study here”says Menditch.
Working with Sudanese diaspora leaders based in the United States and Europe, Banaa developed a database of thousands of people working in Darfur. Through their networks, they passed on the scholarship applications to Sudanese youth in these conflict areas. “We got almost one hundred and seventy applicants for our first scholarships,since then we have had four universities come on board and that means more scholarships” says Deflavio Banaa also works closely with the Sudanese Diaspora, which makes up “a critical component of the Banaa network”. They not only rely on members of the diaspora for leadership and guidance but also to create ties for these students to the local Sudanese diaspora communities. De flavio says that the vision for Banaa is to bring hundreds of more scholars from across Sudan to study in the United States and be empowered with a university education so they can return home” to help educate their communities and hopefully prevent future conflicts…” Menditch would like to see the program expand to include other parts of Africa where young people do not have the same educational opportunities like Americans.

As the world commemorates the thirteenth year after the Rwandan genocide, activists from around the world say that enough has not been done to prevent a recurrence of genocide in other parts of the world. They point to the ongoing crisis in Darfur as an example-- even though it has been described as genocide, little has been done to stop the killings. Never Again is one such organization. It was created by students in Canada, to be a platform bringing together students around the world to discuss issues of genocide prevention, conflict resolution, and peace building. Melanie Tomsons the executive director of Never Again, says that the name of her organized is supposed to invoke the ‘Never again’ message “that is often a reaction after the fact”. The organization has youth from all over the world, which work to educate people about genocide ‘more importantly about the prevention of the genocide’ Melanie says. Members come from countries like Rwanda, Congo, England, United States of America and Canada. Their activities include traveling to high schools and speaking to students about genocide and encouraging youth participation in peace building activities. So far Never Again has been able to organize visits by student delegations from Great Britain, the United States, Japan, Israel, Canada, Sweden, and the Netherlands to Rwanda. They also have been able to organize an international youth conference in Kigali, Rwanda with participants from Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Great Britain, and the United States. Melanie Tomsons emphasizes that it’s the task of the various Never Again Chapters to encourage creative peace building activities, which include theater workshops, educational field trips and forums for debate. These activities engage youth in discussions “exploring the history of the genocide and the role of youth in reconciliation and development”. One of their recent projects involved organizing a workshop with American and Rwandan young human rights activists in Kigali, organized in partnership with Global Youth Connect and a discussion with Canadian Senator General Romeo Dallaire. Tomsons’s involvement with this issue started as a student at McGill University in Canada, a peace building course as an undergraduate student spurred her interest. Soon she was teaching her fellow youth about the issue. ‘I really had to do something about genocide prevention’ She says. Melanie is disappointed that some individuals deny that the genocide in Rwanda never occurred. She compares them to the Sudanese government officials who refuse to acknowledge the genocide in Dafur.She however says that the solution to that is ‘to educate the youth more on these issues, so that when faced with such detractors, they know the truth’. In Rwanda, the organization is building a peace building center in the Kigali,she is planning to build one in Canada.

Linking physicians on a single network has profound implications to the health care system of a country. With that in mind Brian Levine a 4th Year medical student at the NYU school of medicine set out with a mission to Ghana. His idea;to set up an online social networking site where doctors in Ghana could collaborate with each other. But also make it available to physicians in New York who treated West African patients. ‘We had many West African patients and our doctors would have benefited from the expertise of Ghanaian doctors’ He says. However when he arrived in Ghana, he was faced with a difficult technological terrain without an infrastructure and other resources to maintain such a network. He says that the biggest problem he faced was the access “ to computers and the Internet…both of them came with a premium’ He says. During his initial visits to local clinics, he realized that most doctors had no computers. So he set out to seek a more ‘ubiquitous’ technology and his next option made more sense-Cell phones- Statistics show that more than 80 Million Africans use cell phones, so its proliferation even in rural areas makes it the most accessible technology available. Levine therefore sought out a cell phone provider in Ghana with the intention of transferring his network idea from online to cell phone. ”I realized that for it to be successful, it had to be either cheap or free” He says. He approached the management of Ghanaian based cell phone company one-touch mobile. ’We discussed that the only was to achieve this was to remove the barrier of cost’ Levine says. All registered doctors would be given access to network known as ‘Medicare line’-on which they would make free phone calls to each other. He also worked with the Ghana Medical association to coordinate with the over 2000 doctors who are members. They all received the ‘one touch chip’, which they can use in their handsets each time they have to make a phone call to another doctor. Levine says that the project has been very successful with over a million phone calls made so far on the network. Doctors are using the free network for referrals and consultations among themselves. Also doctors in working in rural areas are able to keep up with their colleagues in cities and share their common experiences. Levine says that if there is a level of satisfaction among medical practitioners, fewer doctors will leave their profession ‘and there will be less brain drain in Africa’
The network also supports free data exchange in form of text messages to each other and the Ghana medical association can send out announcements to its members ‘in a case where there is a disaster like an outbreak of an epidemic, the association can communicate to this doctors for quick response’ Levine says. This feature is the first of its kind anywhere in the world. The idea is replicable to other parts of Africa where there is a cell phone company ‘that has a social agenda as part of its corporate goals’. Ultimately this network will lead to an improved health care system in a country with only 2000 doctors to a population of 22 miliion. Dr Levine has hopes of expanding his project to include neighboring countries. In a few months when he begins his residency in Columbia New York, he will use the same network to monitor HIV compliance in collaboration with the Curan Institute of the New York University Hospital.