Everlyne Wanjiku, a single mother of five, has earned a living selling vegetables in the sprawling Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, for 30 years. / Brian Ngugi/IPS

NAIROBI, May 15 (IPS) – Everlyne Wanjiku, a single mother of five, has earned a living selling vegetables in the sprawling Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, for over three decades. And even though her earnings were meagre, she was able to provide all her children with a tertiary education.

But now, like her many fellow poverty-stricken slum dwellers in this East African nation, she is feeling the pinch of the high cost of food and other commodities, which have skyrocketed globally. And Wanjiku says that she is unable to afford her family's upkeep.

"Most of my daily customers no longer come to buy from me because of the prohibitive food prices. As you can see, I have not replenished my stock because the little savings that I had have already run out," she says, pointing to the few vegetables on a table outside her shack dwelling.

"On a good month, I would make over 6,000 shillings (67 dollars). But things are bad now, and I am unable to feed my family," she adds.

Janet Adhiambo, one of her customers, says life is just as hard for her.

"It's a pity that I can no longer buy basic ingredients, like onions. I just choose to forgo them because they are too costly. It's just too tough," she says.

The woes of both women are all too familiar to Kenyan families as they struggle to put food on the table in the face of unprecedented high food prices here.

However, these food insecurity challenges are being faced by all Africans, as highlighted in a new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which paints a gloomy picture of the food situation on the continent.

The report, which was released on Tuesday, May 15, by the UNDP in Nairobi, decries what is says is the paradox of Africa being agriculturally endowed, but still acutely food insecure.

"The Africa Human Development Report 2012 ‘Towards a Food Secure Future’" notes that despite the impressive growth by African economies over the past decade, sub-Saharan Africa is still plagued by food insecurity.

"More than one in four Africans are undernourished, and food insecurity — the inability to consistently acquire enough calories and nutrients for a healthy and productive life — is pervasive. The spectre of famine, which has virtually disappeared elsewhere in the world, continues to haunt parts of sub- Saharan Africa," says the report.

It continues: "Yet sub-Saharan Africa has ample agricultural land, plenty of water and a generally favourable climate for growing food. And in the last 10 years many African countries posted world- beating economic growth rates and became among the fastest movers on the Human Development Index."

These two jarring paradoxes form the basis of the findings of the report, which goes on to pass a harsh indictment on African governments, saying that they have failed to embrace and institute the right policies.

"Sub-Saharan Africa has abundant agricultural resources. But shamefully, in all corners of the region, millions of people remain hungry and malnourished — the result of glaringly uneven local food production and distribution and chronically deficient diets, especially among the poorest," says the report.

It says that despite a decline in poverty in the 2000s, almost half of sub-Saharan Africans still live in extreme poverty.

Last year, the Horn of Africa was struck by famine and food insecurity, which affected some 9.5 million people.

According to Tegegnework Gettu, the head of the UNDP Africa bureau and an assistant U.N. secretary- general, the chronic food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa mainly stems from decades of poor governance.

The Permanent Secretary in the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture Romano Kiome admits that African governments are not doing enough to stem food insecurity.

He cites the example of Kenya, where he says that the Ministry of Finance in its 2010/2011 yearly national budget allocations set aside 539 million dollars for agriculture in government bodies such as the Ministries of Water and Irrigation, Environment and Mineral Resources, Livestock and Fisheries, and Trade.

This amount was less than five percent of the government’s total national budget and contrasts sharply with the allocation to the Kenyan military, which was reported to be 685 million dollars in 2011.

Gettu says spending priorities in some African countries need to urgently shift from the military to agriculture, to help the continent escape the perennial trap of food insecurity.

"If some African countries can acquire and deploy jet fighters, tanks, artillery and other advanced means of destruction, why should they not be able to master agricultural know-how? Why should Africans be unable to afford the technology, tractors, irrigation, seed varieties and training needed to be food secure?" he asks.

With the right policies and institutions, however, Gettu argues that Africa can sustain a virtuous cycle of higher human development and enhanced food security.

"Africa can extricate itself from pervasive food insecurity by acting on four critical drivers of change: greater agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers; more effective nutrition policies, especially for children; greater community and household resilience to cope with shocks; and wider popular participation and empowerment, especially of women and the rural poor," he says.

Gettu concludes that: "Africa has the knowledge, the technology and the means to end hunger and food insecurity. But still missing have been the political will and dedication."

Kiome concurs, saying that even though there is no magical solution to the issue of food insecurity, African governments need to do more by investing in agriculture.

"We have the knowledge, the capacity, the right people. But we do not have enough political will to implement the right policies that will see us achieve food security," says Kiome.

He says that even in the African island nation of Mauritius, over 50 percent of irrigable land is irrigated. This is high compared to the rest of Africa where only 10 percent is under irrigation.

"When countries achieve food security, it is because of the implementation of the right policies," says Kiome.

Calestous Juma, a Kenyan professor who is an internationally recognised authority on the application of science and technology in sustainable development worldwide, agrees.

"There is no single bullet or panacea in tackling food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa," says Juma, who is presently a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.

The report calls for "smart subsidies," which would encourage smallholder farmers to shift to high-yield crop varieties without saddling the state with long-term costs. It says that this can energise food production and markets.

"Boosting productivity requires more fertilisers and seeds, stronger research and development, and a more coordinated and responsive extension system staffed by experts versed in the behaviours and habitats of local farming communities," the report says.

It also states that attracting young Africans to participate in agriculture will bring new energy and ideas to its development.

"Technology and innovation can create enticing and profitable openings, enterprises and occupations along the value chain of a sector that young people have come to denigrate as a backwater," it says.

(END/2012)

Michael Sudarkasa, chief executive officer of the African Business Group, says economic and social growth are at the heart of IBSA's development. / Miriam Gathigah

NAIROBI, May 15 (IPS) – Economic and social growth have become the heart of the development agenda of the bloc of leading emerging economies known as IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) since it began focusing less on politics.

This is according to Michael Sudarkasa, chief executive officer of the African Business Group, a South African-based economic development and business consulting advisory services group.

It has been nine years since the IBSA forum was established, and it has impacted on aid effectiveness in Africa, says Sudarkasa, who has 20 years of experience in regional and international trade and business analysis, with a focus on private sector development.

"The IBSA dialogue forum has also been a catalyst for greater efforts within the South to explore ways that development aid can be mobilised from domestic resources to support developing countries."

IBSA has stimulated increased bilateral initiatives among Southern partners such as the Africa South America Strategic Partnership and the New Asian African Strategic Partnership, he says.

Excerpts of the interview follow.

Q: Are there specific examples of the impact of IBSAs success?

A: The success that the IBSA countries have had in working together has indirectly stimulated increased activity by all three nations, both independently as investors and as partners in other parts of the continent of Africa. And South Africa has emboldened efforts to engage with other Southern partners in South America and Asia.

Also, South Africa's participation in IBSA has to be considered as a key reason that the country was invited to become a member of BRICS (the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and BASIC (the block of developing countries of Brazil, South Africa, India and China).

Q: Have there been any fundamental shifts of bi- and tri–lateral engagements within IBSA in an attempt to boost its impact?

A: There are none that are glaringly apparent. At the onset of BRICS, when South Africa joined the BRIC forum, there was some speculation that the new initiative, with China as the key driver, might overshadow IBSA.

However, the institutions of IBSA are quite strong, well defined, and all the IBSA members have reiterated their support of the initiative and heralded its value as a stand-alone structure.

Nonetheless, the potential rivalry exists between the two structures and as such there will likely be continued effort to distinguish IBSA from BRICS, and this may ultimately lead to more pronounced and visible shifts, and/or dynamics within IBSA.

Q: What have been IBSA’s best practices so far?

A: They include the development of joint technical committees involving the ministries of all three governments to explore technology sharing and joint projects, and the establishment of a fund to support lesser-developed countries within the three regions.

Q: What impact has the IBSA forum had on the livelihoods of people in its member countries?

A: Economically, IBSA provided a diversification opportunity for all three nations and bilateral trade grew. This cushioned them from a sure economic contraction had they remained solely focused on engaging with their historic trade partners in the North. Q: Has the global crisis compromised IBSA's ability to achieve developmental objectives in target countries?

A: If anything, the global crisis has strengthened the resolve of the three nations to engage economically and created an opportunity to look into other South-South economic partnerships.

Q: Is the IBSA initiative an important example of South-South cooperation that could provide a blueprint for future South-South partnerships in support of development?

A: IBSA has definitely become a poster child for the benefits of South-South cooperation, and a leading forerunner for the voice of the South in global multilateral structures. However, the fact that IBSA is a tripartite initiative, aimed in part at also serving as a bridge between the regions that the three countries represent, means that it would be difficult to easily replicate IBSA with three other countries from each region.

Q: What is the key thing to take away from the IBSA initiative?

A: IBSA has encouraged and will continue to encourage Southern nations to see each other as stronger potential partners, and has definitely set the trend for future South-South partnerships in support of development.

(END/2012)

Migrants being loaded on to a cargo plane in Kufra. / Rebecca Murray/IPS.

KUFRA, Libya, May 13 (IPS) – As dusk settles over the isolated Saharan town Kufra, young guards order a few hundred migrants lined up at a detention centre to chant "Libya free, Chadians out", before they kneel down for evening prayers.

Most of the prisoners in the small, squalid compound called the Freedom Detention Centre – run by Kufra’s military council – are from Chad. Hundreds more, from Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia, were moved to bigger facilities due to overcrowding.

Almost 1,000 miles from the Mediterranean coast in Libya’s desolate southeast desert, the Kufra oasis strategically lies near the long and porous borders of Egypt, Sudan and Chad.

"The two main hubs are Kufra and Sabha in Libya," explains Emmanuel Gignac, head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Libya. "All West African migrants are going through Sabha via Chad or Niger, and those originating from the Horn of Africa are going through Sudan to Kufra… then either directly to Tripoli or Benghazi. Those are roughly the routes."

Despite the most recent outbreak of deadly violence between Kufra’s Zwai and Tabu tribes, migrants continue to arrive at this lucrative smuggling point for people, weapons, drugs and fuel. Both tribes are said to have benefited from the trade.

Bernham is a thin, 35-year old Eritrean, held in a small, crowded room near the Kufra compound’s entrance. Guards tell IPS that other migrants have identified him as a human smuggler who took their money. Bernham vehemently denies the charges.

"These men have been victims of traffickers and travel by foot in the desert," explains Abdul Rahim Ab Wazzah, a senior guard, pointing to the crowd of praying migrants.

"Bernham is part of a network of connections coming from Sudan. He takes money from men who want to go from Sudan to Kufra, and then to Tripoli. Each leg costs 400 dollars," Ab Wazzah says. "His job was to collect Somalis, and ultimately receive money for their boat ride to Europe."

"Kufra is safer than Benghazi," volunteers Moussa Habib Mohammed, 30, a Chadian prisoner who shares a tiny, dank room with up to 15 other men. One month ago he was caught in the coastal city without a passport, and sent back to Kufra.

Since the uprising, many dark-skinned Africans are suspected of having been mercenary fighters for Gaddafi during last year’s conflict. They are at risk for imprisonment by Libyan militias and, according to watchdogs like Human Rights Watch, torture.

In Kufra however, the conflict is uniquely local. Members of the predominant Arab Zwai tribe accuse many of the marginalised, dark-skinned Tabu – who joined the uprising against Gaddafi – of being from Chad and intent on establishing a regional homeland and resource monopoly.

Exacerbating the issue is Gaddafi’s confiscation of Libyan Identity cards from Tabu citizens in Kufra four years ago. Semi-nomadic Tabu tribes are from Libya, Chad, Niger and Sudan. With no papers, Libyan members of the Tabu tribe are in danger of being caught up in the mass arrests of undocumented foreigners.

In a scathing 2009 report by Human Rights Watch, ‘Pushed Back, Pushed Around’, sub-Saharan migrants interviewed in Malta and Italy most frequently cited Kufra as a place of detention in Libya – during entry or deportation.

The report states that most migrants were convinced that the police and smugglers worked together. Migrants who were being deported "would be released from Kufra prison – often directly into the hands of smugglers who would take them into custody, demand more money from their families, and take them once again to the cities along the coast."

"All fear being dumped in the desert," the report says.

Fred Abrahams, a Human Rights Watch advisor, told IPS: "The government is overwhelmed and incapable of dealing with the migrant flow…The government doesn’t have control of its borders and the detention system. In this chaotic post-conflict environment, militias and armed groups are filling the void.

"Some militias are doing the right thing," he says. "Others have been very problematic, with reported cases of abuse and forced labour. There are worrying trends of hiring out migrant detainees to local businesses and farmers. Generally the migrants get paid but in some cases they have not been, which is happening increasingly.

Al Sanussi Bashir Attwati of Kufra’s Red Crescent Society provides food and first aid to the detention centre. He says the government is building a larger facility for migrants seven miles north of Kufra in the desert, instead of flying them to the coast.

"Three weeks ago, 25 men walked here barefoot through the desert and their feet were lacerated. We provided them treatment and shoes, and transferred them to Benghazi," Attwati says.

Under the mid-day sun, hundreds of mostly Somalis, Eritreans and Ethiopian males sit on the tarmac of Kufra’s airport runway, about to enter an army cargo plane bound north to Benghazi and the Ghanfouda detention centre. The military in charge did not inform the migrants where they were headed.

Suel Abdullah, 20, from Mogadishu, surrounded by friends near the airplane, shares a common story. "Al Shabaab wanted to kill us and we lived in fear in Somalia," he says.

On his trek north, Abdullah was imprisoned for brief periods in decrepit Ethiopian and Sudanese jails. "Then our trafficker took us from Sudan to Libya, and dumped us in the desert. We were captured by men who said they were Libyan forces, but they were really from Chad," he says.

"There were 800 of us, and they packed us in like animals and asked for 700 dollars each. Finally, the Libyan army came and there was a gunfight. We were brought to Kufra."

Libya is variously a destination and transit hub to Europe for migrants. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) records up to one million migrants in Libya before the Gaddafi regime fell, while the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) documents 50,000 migrants attempting the sea crossing last year.

Jeremy Haslam, IOM head in Libya says a big challenge is for relevant embassies – if present in Libya – to prove a migrant’s citizenship and produce temporary papers to return them home.

"Although Libya is host to some refugees, the country is not signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not currently process asylum cases," says Haslam. "Thus the numbers continue to grow and detention sites are reaching bursting point."

(END/2012)

Angola is now focusing on cash crops. This is a new sugarcane plantation in Malange, Angola. / Louise Redvers/IPS

JOHANNESBURG, May 11 (IPS) – Millions of Angola’s poorest families are facing critical food insecurity as a prolonged dry spell across large parts of the country has destroyed harvests and killed off livestock.

Up to 500,000 children are now thought to be suffering from severe malnutrition triggered by the collapse in food production after a lengthy dry season in the first three months of this year. Currently emergency feeding centres are being set up in the worst-affected communities.

The provinces of Huambo, Bie, Benguela and Zaire in central and northern Angola are the hardest hit, but across the country both small-scale and commercial farmers are suffering. Crop yields are down by as much as 70 percent in some places.

There are reports of subsistence farmers abandoning their fields altogether in a bid to find other paid work in towns and cities so that they can feed their families, and large commercial farms are laying off workers because there is no harvest to gather.

Despite Angola’s enormous oil wealth and the International Monetary Fund’s forecast that GDP will swell by 9.7 percent in 2012, nearly two thirds of rural households live on less than 1.75 dollars a day.

More than four decades of war (1961-2002) left the country with one of the highest child mortality rates in the world, with 20 percent of youngsters dying before they reach their fifth birthday.

Poor diet is a major factor in the high death rates and according to the latest National Nutrition Survey, carried out in 2007, nearly 30 percent of children under five are stunted, more than eight percent are wasted, and close to 16 percent are underweight.

Koen Vanormelingen, the United Nations Children’s Fund representative in Angola, explained that this year’s weak harvest was already taken its toll on the most vulnerable children, who were showing elevated rates of malnutrition.

"These people were already living on the border line and were scraping by at the best of times," he said.

"But where they were once eating a varied diet three times a day, now they are having just one meal a day, maybe two, and they are restricted to a very poor selection of cassava and bananas.

"It is a very serious situation and we are very concerned because we are seeing a significant increase in malnutrition and malnutrition-related mortality in children," he added.

The government has allocated 43 million dollars to an emergency response campaign, which will include the distribution of food and water supplies, as well as seeds and other agricultural inputs to help farmers salvage their wasted crops.

In addition, a 40-tonne shipment of nutritionally-enhanced peanut-based paste used to treat malnutrition has been imported with support from the Clinton Foundation. It is ready to be sent to emergency feeding centres that are being set up around the country.

"This is not a famine, it is an issue of food insecurity," Vanormelingen explained. "There is food available; the issue is that because people are not producing as much food, they must buy more.

"And because their production has gone down, their income has also gone down so they cannot afford to buy food, and as supply falls and demand increases, prices are going up – in some cases doubling."

This collapse in crop production is a major setback for Angola, which has been trying desperately to re- launch its once buoyant agricultural sector that was destroyed by decades of war.

In a bid to help boost output, last year the government launched a high profile 150-million-dollar microcredit scheme giving small farmers loans to buy seeds and fertilisers.

But now with yields so low, many families are struggling to repay their debts.

The União Nacional das Associações de Camponeses Angolanos, the national union of farming cooperatives, has said that the government will help bridge the payment gap with the commercial banks, which made the loans.

But Belarmino Jelembi, director of Angola’s largest rural development organisation, Acção para o Desenvolvimento Rural e Ambiente, warned: "The government needs to be extremely careful how this is managed, because there is a risk that if it is not managed well, the whole programme could fail altogether."

He added: "What this situation tells us is that we need to do more to support the small farmers with basic tools for irrigation, so people are not so dependent on the rain for their crops.

"We need to think about the basic things at local level, rather than investing huge amounts of money in big capital projects that often turn out to be white elephants."

Abrantes Carlos, provincial director of the Agriculture Ministry in Benguela, where around 100,000 families – or well over half a million people – are now food insecure, agreed that "more sustainable systems" of irrigation were needed.

"Benguela is a province that often faces dry spells, so we need to have better irrigation so we can overcome this situation," he told IPS.

"We have large rivers in the province but we are not managing our supplies, and we do not have accurate data about how much water is available."

Carlos said the lack of water in the province, where many rivers have run dry, was the worst the area had seen for over 30 years, and that for the first time since the end of the war in 2002 there were plans to start giving out food aid to families.

"At this moment people still have some food, but the situation in the next three months will likely get worse," he said. He explained that the government was assisting in the drilling of new boreholes to try to find water, and was also providing seeds for crops that could be grown in the cooler months, in a bid to boost the next harvest.

Jelembi welcomed the government’s commitment to provide assistance, but said: "We have seen a lot of announcements about what the government is going to do to help people affected, but in practice not much is happening yet."

(END/2012)

Jane Karuku, the new AGRA boss, dreams of seeing smallholder farmers become the drivers in Africa's quest for food security. / Courtesy: AGRA

BULAWAYO, May 11 (IPS) – While women constitute the majority of food producers, processors and marketers in Africa, their role in the agricultural sector still remains a minor one because of cultural and social barriers.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), women are the majority of the world's agricultural producers, supplying more than 50 percent of the food that is grown globally. And in sub-Saharan Africa the number is higher, as women grow 80 to 90 percent of the food in the region.

FAO says that although across the globe women are responsible for providing the food for their families, they do this in the face of constraints and attitudes that conspire to undervalue their work and responsibilities and hinder their participation in decision and policy making.

But it is a situation that the new Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) boss, Jane Karuku, says must change in order for Africa to feed itself.

Karuku, a Kenyan business leader with a career spanning over 20 years, became the first female president of the organisation in April.

AGRA is a partnership that works on the African continent to improve food security and enhance the economic empowerment of millions of smallholder farmers and their families. It does this through nearly 100 programmes in 14 countries.

Karuku joins AGRA from Telkom Kenya, a subsidiary of France Telecom-Orange, where she was the deputy chief executive.

She told IPS about her dream of seeing smallholder farmers become the drivers in Africa's quest for food security. Excerpts of the interview follow.

Q: Do you see your appointment as a milestone for women farmers in Africa?

A: As AGRA’s first female president, it is a great honour to advocate on behalf of the tireless women who are sowing seeds and working in fields across Africa. They are the real heroines in this story, and I hope to highlight their important contributions for a food-secure future.

Q: Do food security policies recognise the role of women farmers in the production, processing and marketing of food in agriculture?

A: Across Africa there are great signs of progress when it comes to smallholder farmers, the majority of whom are women who are building prosperous lives for themselves and their families.

Success for smallholders, however, has been lopsided. Women smallholders and rural entrepreneurs on the continent are neither participating fully nor deriving benefits in equal measure in the agri-economy owning to gender obstacles driven by cultural and societal norms. This must change if Africa is to transform the capacity to feed itself and realise the quality of life envisioned for rural households and communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Q: In your appointment speech you said: "Smallholder farming is a way of life in Africa, full of challenges and equally full of huge opportunities." What will you do to strike a balance for food security?

A: My focus is to work to remove the obstacles that prevent smallholder farmers across Africa from significantly boosting productivity and income, while safeguarding the environment and promoting equity. I am committed to ensuring farmers have a full range of choices when it comes to approaching their work.

Q: Smallholder farmers hold the key to food security in Africa. What is your vision for improving their situation?

A: My vision is a food-secure and prosperous Africa achieved through rapid and sustainable agricultural growth that is based on smallholder farmers who produce staple food crops. AGRA’s mission is to trigger a uniquely "African Green Revolution" that transforms agriculture into a highly productive, efficient, competitive and sustainable system to ensure food security and lift millions out of poverty.

Q: Where do you see the role of AGRA in advocating assistance for smallholder farmers to cope with the impact that climate change has on food security?

A: AGRA and its partners work together to determine the kinds of environmental safeguards farmers need to increase their yields and improve their livelihoods. By focusing on sustainable development practices, AGRA reduces environmental degradation and conserves biodiversity.

Rebuilding soil health and enabling Africa’s smallholder farmers to grow more on less land should reduce the pressure to clear and cultivate forests and savannahs, thus helping conserve the environment and biodiversity.

AGRA’s sustainable agricultural practices include improving soil health through integrated soil fertility management. We do this through using a combination of fertilisers and organic inputs, and techniques that are appropriate for local conditions and resources. Through advocating the use of agro- ecologically sound approaches to soil and crop management, such as fertiliser micro-dosing in arid areas, AGRA will guard against potential overuse of fertilisers that could harm the environment.

Q: Research is key to food security; what is your take on the current investment in agricultural research in Africa?

A: Research is critical to making the most of the full agricultural value chain – from seed to harvest. While food productivity has increased globally by 140 percent in recent decades, the figures for sub- Saharan Africa over the same period of time show a reduction. This is because farming across much of the continent has changed little in generations. The role of research is critically important.

Q: What major impact has AGRA had in Africa, and how do you plan to build on it?

A: AGRA takes a uniquely integrated approach to helping smallholder farmers overcome hunger and poverty. By focusing on seeds, soil, market access, policy and partnership and innovative financing, the programme is transforming subsistence farming into sustainable, viable commercial activities that will increase yields across the continent. I hope to continue to look for intersections and innovative opportunities to improve farmers’ lives.

(END/2012)

Gladys Otabil holds her son Gabriel as he receives the pneumoccocal vaccine at La General Hospital in Accra. / Jamila Akweley Okertchiri/IPS

ACCRA, May 10 (IPS) – Ghana has taken a major step towards reducing its under-five mortality rate by becoming the first African country to introduce two new vaccines for rotavirus and pneumococcal disease.

But a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) official in the West African country says this measure will not be sufficient to meet the fourth United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds by 2015.

Currently, 80 children out of 1,000 do not make it past the age of five in Ghana. According to UNICEF, Somalia has the highest infant mortality rate, at 180 deaths per 1,000 live births, and Sweden and Finland have the lowest at three deaths per 1,000 live births. (source: http://www.childinfo.org/mortality_ufmrcountrydata.php). In order to achieve the fourth MDG, Ghana would have to cut its under-five mortality rate down to 40 deaths per 1,000.

"Ghana is doing a lot, but I don’t think it’s enough," said Dr. Anirban Chatterjee, UNICEF’s chief of health and nutrition in Ghana. He was referring to this country’s efforts with the new vaccines and the Health Service’s campaign to educate mothers on nutrition. "I think there is definitely scope and need for more improvement."

Rotavirus and pneumococcal disease are the leading causes of diarrhoea and pneumonia in young Ghanaian children. Together they account for close to 25 percent of under-five mortality and are behind only malaria as the leading causes of child deaths here.

Now both the vaccines for rotavirus and pneumococcal disease are being given to young children before they reach four months of age. The measure is currently being rolled out across the country and to select hospitals in Accra. The GAVI Alliance, a public-private global health partnership, has helped fund the vaccines, which will be available for free to all Ghanaian children. More than 400,000 children in this country of 25 million people are expected to be immunised against both diseases.

The two new vaccines are expected to prevent 12,000 pneumonia-related deaths and another 10,000 deaths from diarrhoea, said Dr. Antwi Adjei, head of the expanded programme on immunisation at the Ghana Health Service.

On Apr. 26, Ghana’s Health Minister Alban S. K. Bagbin said in a press statement that the new vaccines would give this country the extra push it needs to meet the fourth MDG by 2015.

But for UNICEF, efforts to improve the nutritional health of children and provide them with vaccinations need to happen in tandem to reduce the under-five mortality rate. Chatterjee said malnourishment can sometimes double or triple the chances of dying from a condition like diarrhoea or pneumonia.

"Malnourished children are more susceptible to contracting the disease, having severe forms of the disease, and also dying from the disease," he said.

Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life is one way to prevent malnourishment in that crucial period. UNICEF has promoted the practice because it also helps create immunity to early childhood killers like pneumonia and diarrhoea.

In Ghana, 63 percent of children are exclusively breastfed during that period, which is relatively high compared to other developing countries. However, many women do not breastfeed their children because they are not aware of the benefits, or they work in an environment – such as the informal sector – where it is difficult to do so.

Adjei said that the Ghana Health Service has regular cooperation between departments such as vaccinations and nutrition. The service’s various departments are currently meeting for Child Health Promotion Week to develop new strategies and programmes related to child health.

One big challenge for the Ghana Health Service will be to reach all children with the rotavirus and pneumococcal disease vaccines. About 87 percent of children under one in Ghana have been immunised for tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, tetanus, hepatitis B, measles and several other childhood diseases. But reaching the last 13 percent has proven difficult.

"Wherever a person is, we have a responsibility to reach them and vaccinate them," said Adjei. "Rising costs also make it more and more difficult."

Some isolated communities around Lake Volta in central Ghana, for instance, can only be reached by boat. It is much more expensive for the Ghana Health Service to reach these small communities than to serve urban populations.

A small number of Ghanaians also do not take vaccinations due to religious or traditional beliefs. Adjei said, for example, that the local Twi dialect has only one word for "medicine," and it does not differentiate between preventative vaccines and drugs used to treat diseases. He said it is difficult to overcome such beliefs.

"Fortunately for us these are isolated cases," he said.

La General Hospital in Accra was one of the first institutions to offer the vaccines in the capital on Friday, May 4. About 40 mothers were gathered at the hospital with their crying infants in tow, as they waited for their turn for their children to be inoculated.

Gladys Otabil was at La General Hospital with her two-month-old son Gabriel.

"All I understand by the addition of the two vaccines is that they will protect my child from any disease and sicknesses," she said. Otabil added that she was also advised to breastfeed her son for the first six months of his life.

The roll out will expand to other hospitals in Accra, and across Ghana, in the coming weeks.

(END/2012)

Malawi President Joyce Banda (left) and Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at a women's rights event in Liberia. / Travis Lupick/IPS

MONROVIA, May 9 (IPS) – The only two female heads of state in Africa, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Malawian President Joyce Banda, have just committed to using their positions to improve the lives of women across the continent.

Both Sirleaf and Banda have long championed women’s rights. And on Apr. 29 in Monrovia, two years into what the African Union (AU) has declared the "Women’s Decade", they pledged to work together to accelerate those efforts.

"Today is a day African women must rejoice," Banda said as Sirleaf stood by her side. "This is our day. And this is our year. And this is our decade!" And Sirleaf affirmed her – and Liberia’s – commitment to empower women.

"The two of us have great strength," Sirleaf said. "Together, we can do more to empower women and to ensure that women’s role in society is enhanced." She added that her country would work with the new Malawian government to advance women’s empowerment.

To be sure, the challenges before them are great. Using the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a barometer, Liberia and Malawi generally score low in the areas of gender equality and women’s empowerment, education for girls, and maternal health.

According to 2010 U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) reports on the two countries, Liberia is only likely to meet certain goals on equality and education, and Malawi remains unlikely to meet its targets for any of the three MDGs that focus on women.

But as Banda noted during her speech, there has never been a better time to advance women’s rights in Africa.

Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was elected as Africa’s first female president in 2005 and reelected in 2011. While her first term in office focused on reconstructing a country devastated by two civil wars, one from 1989 to 1996 and the second from 1999 to 2003, she has set out to use her second term as president to make women’s rights and health a national priority.

Banda succeeded former President Bingu wa Mutharika after his sudden passing on Apr. 5. After she was elected vice president in 2009, she had a falling out with Mutharika, and was subsequently expelled from the ruling Democratic People’s Party and essentially barred from participating in government.

However, she remained vice president, and in 2011 she formed the opposition People’s Party. Since Mutharika’s death a number of MPs have left the former ruling party to join her.

Both Sirleaf and Banda govern countries with significant development challenges. So devastating were Liberia’s civil wars that nearly a decade since the end of the conflict, the country is still in a state of reconciliation and reconstruction.

In Malawi, Mutharika’s last years in office were characterised by an economy crumbling under government mismanagement, which was compounded by the withdrawal of donor aid because of human rights abuses.

Yet despite the fact that Sirleaf has had to focus her efforts on reconstruction and Banda is barely one month into her time as president, there is concrete evidence indicating that both women have put the advancement of women at the top of their agendas.

At her office in Monrovia, Liberian Minister of Gender and Development Julia Duncan-Cassell described advances in women’s empowerment as observable through representation in government, as well as in ordinary women’s participation in the democratic process in Liberia.

"In 1997, market women didn’t know much about elections," she told IPS. "In 2005, they tried, but they all voted with thumb prints. But in 2011, most of the market women were able to mark their names."

On education, Duncan-Cassell pointed to figures indicating that the ratio of girls enrolled in school continued to climb towards parity with boys. The 2010 UNDP report on Liberia and the MDGs confirms this, noting that the ratio of girls to boys receiving a primary education stands at 0.88 to one, and for secondary education, 0.69 to one. The document states that Liberia is on track to achieve its targets on girls’ education.

With regard to women’s health, Liberia’s five-year "Road Map", launched in March 2011, aims to "halve Liberia’s high rate of maternal and newborn death" and calls for "increasing the number of skilled birth attendants at all levels of the health care system by 50 per cent." According to the country’s 2007 Demographic and Health Survey, Liberia’s maternal mortality rate is 994 deaths for every 100,000 live births – one of the highest in the world.

Banda too has already accomplished much for women since ascending to the presidency.

She has strengthened the voice of women in government through the appointment of eight women to senior cabinet positions. She has assigned women to the positions of deputy chief secretary to government and deputy director inspector general of police. And she has advanced women’s economic empowerment through the introduction of an agricultural programme and a market initiative.

And with the presidential initiative on maternal health and safe motherhood that is still to be launched, she admits she is following in the footsteps of Sirleaf. "This one, I learned from my big sister," Banda said.

"Malawi’s maternal mortality rate is as high as 675 deaths per 100,000 (live births)," Banda noted. "As a woman president and a mother, I feel it is my obligation to stop the unnecessary deaths of women."

Litha Musyimi-Ogana, head of the Women, Gender and Development Directorate for the AU, applauded the partnership she sees taking shape between Sirleaf and Banda.

"I fully embrace the pronouncement," she said in a telephone interview from Johannesburg. "It is wonderful news to hear that President Banda and President Sirleaf have prioritised the African Women's Decade and (have agreed) to work together to advance women's rights." Musyimi-Ogana added that on behalf of AU Commission head Jean Ping, the organisation pledged to make its top representatives and resources available to Sirleaf and Banda, to accomplish the goals of the AU Women’s Decade.

Meanwhile, Banda said that she believed her responsibility for ensuring women’s rights extended beyond Malawi.

"I know that women in Africa still face many challenges due to HIV and AIDS, poverty, conflict, and harmful cultural practices, among other issues," Banda said as she looked over to Sirleaf. "However, I firmly believe that you and I will tirelessly work together to make sure that women’s rights on the continent get better."

Duncan-Cassell also noted that challenges lie ahead. But she maintained that Banda’s rise to the presidency of Malawi was a cause for celebration.

"Now we have Joyce," she said. "Like President Sirleaf said, she’s not going to be lonely among men anymore. She has a counterpart."

*Additional reporting from Massa Kanneh in Monrovia.

(END/2012)

Getting water is a daily chore for this woman in Swaziland. / Mantoe Phakathi/IPS

JOHANNESBURG, May 9 (IPS) – The cost of maintaining and expanding water infrastructure in southern Africa is high. And while South Africa may be in a better economic position than the rest of the region, it also faces funding challenges that are similar to those of its neighbours.

Most recently, thousands of residents in Diepsloot, a large township in South Africa, had to queue for hours to access clean, safe water after their supply was contaminated by sewage. In addition, the country’s Water Affairs Ministry announced in April that it was 56 percent short of the 71 billion dollars that it needed to upgrade its water infrastructure.

But the situation is no different elsewhere in the region, according to Phera Ramoeli, Senior Programme Officer at the Southern Africa Development Community Secretariat.

"Effectively the region needs to do a lot of work in terms of improving its infrastructure, because water supply and sanitation are dependent on the availability of water as a source. But sanitation also affects the usability and quality of water if it’s not properly dealt with," Ramoeli said.

He added that infrastructure, especially in the water sector, is expensive. "We do not always find enough financial resources to build new infrastructure, to maintain existing infrastructure, and to operate them in a way that is efficient," he said.

Excerpts from his interview with IPS follow:

Q: What challenges do countries in the region face in terms of providing safe and clean drinking water to their populations?

A: We do not have adequate infrastructure to handle water and treat it to make it available to all our people in the region. Even with the infrastructure that does exist, we have a problem of operation and maintenance. By and large the population in our region is not commensurate with the level of infrastructure development that is required to ensure that people get the adequate water and sanitation that they need.

Q: How much of a role has climate change played in the region’s water woes?

A: Climate change is making things worse in the southern African region because we are a region that is characterised by vulnerability and change. In other words, water varies in terms of its availability in time and space.

Some parts of the region do not have adequate water or have very little water. The countries in the southwestern parts of the region are more water-stressed than those in the northeastern and some central parts, like Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Climate change tends to exacerbate the water problems; so does population growth.

Q: How committed is the region to meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to provide adequate water and sanitation to all by 2015?

A: Efforts are being made to meet the MDGs. Some of the countries in the region have already achieved that but for only 50 percent of the population. The population does not remain stagnant as you try to achieve the MDGs, so the population still grows and it becomes an unreachable target. But of course that means we need to make more of an effort.

Q: Can you name a few of the countries that are well on track to meeting the MDGs?

A: It has been said South Africa is on target to meet the MDGs and maybe other countries like Mauritius, which already has 99 percent access to water and sanitation. Of course you have to look at the quality of that access, but by and large there are countries in the region that are set to meet the MDGs.

Q: Which countries are struggling to provide clean drinking water and sanitation for all?

A: We have a number of countries that remain poor in the region. Madagascar is a country that has been facing difficulties, and the DRC and maybe Angola – because the country was involved in a war that made things even worse. In those countries the backlog that they have to erode is much greater than the ones in other countries in the region.

The region is really trying its best to achieve access to water for all people. Of course it is something that is going to take some time, but it needs to be addressed urgently.

(END/2012)

The banners at this Cairo demonstration say: 'No to gas exports to the Zionist enemy'. / Khaled Moussa al-Omrani/IPS.

CAIRO, May 9 (IPS) – The two weeks since Egypt's abrupt cancellation of a Mubarak-era gas-export deal with Israel have seen an exchange of indirect threats and warnings between the two countries, culminating in an apparent Israeli military build-up on the border of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

"In recent days, Israel appears to have begun preparing for military deployments on its southern border," Tarek Fahmi, head of the Israel desk at the Cairo-based National Centre for Middle East Studies, told IPS.

On Apr. 22, Egypt unilaterally cancelled a 2005 export agreement for the sale of natural gas to Israel, which for the past five years had ensured a steady supply of Egyptian gas from the northern Sinai Peninsula to Israel. Egyptian energy officials attributed the move to Israel's failure to meet payment deadlines, stressing that the decision was "not politically motivated."

Israel, which is said to depend on Egyptian gas for some 40 percent of its electricity needs, was quick to register its opposition.

Several Israeli officials warned of the move's dire implications for the Camp David peace agreement, signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979. Israeli opposition leader Shaul Mofaz called on his country's chief patron, the United States, to intervene on Israel's behalf.

The Israeli Finance Ministry went so far as to describe the move as "a dangerous precedent that casts clouds over the peace agreements and the atmosphere of peace between Egypt and Israel."

While Israeli officials have vowed to take legal action to ensure the supply of Egyptian gas, local energy analysts say Egypt was well within its legal rights to opt out of the deal.

"The Israeli purchasers failed to pay their bills to the tune of some 100 million dollars," Ibrahim Zahran, Egyptian petroleum expert, told IPS. "The contract clearly states that if either party fails to live up to its obligations, the other has the right to terminate the agreement."

Egypt first began pumping natural gas to Israel in 2008, based on a deal hammered out three years earlier that allowed Egypt-Israel joint venture East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) to sell Egyptian natural gas to Israeli buyers, including the government-run Israel Electric Corporation.

Given Israel's broad unpopularity on the Egyptian street, the gas-export deal has met with widespread public opposition since its inception. Critics note that, by providing Israel with Egyptian gas at far below international prices (while Egypt itself suffers from chronic energy shortages), the deal effectively supports – albeit indirectly – Israel's ongoing occupation and annexation of Palestinian land.

Notably, the pipeline that carries the gas across the northern Sinai Peninsula to Israel has been subject to 14 attacks of varying severity – all by as-yet-unidentified culprits – since Egypt's revolution early last year, often resulting in lengthy supply stoppages. As a result, electricity prices in Israel have reportedly increased by over 20 percent since the beginning of 2011.

Given the export deal's broad unpopularity, the decision to scrap it was welcomed by Egyptian public figures and groups across the political spectrum.

Mahmoud Ghozlan, spokesman for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (which now controls almost half of the seats in parliament), called the decision "excellent," noting that Egypt "badly needs all of its natural gas to meet its own domestic consumption needs." The liberal Egyptian Social Democratic Party described the move as "the inevitable fruit of Egypt's January 25 Revolution."

Frontrunners in Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential polls, slated for May 23/24, likewise hailed the decision. "The move should come as no surprise given the information about the corruption that surrounded the deal," former Arab League chief and presidential hopeful Amr Moussa told IPS.

Indeed, Sameh Fahmi, Mubarak's last petroleum minister, is currently on trial – along with six other former officials – on charges of squandering public funds related to the gas-export agreement. According to prosecutors, the deal has so far resulted in over 714 million dollars in losses to the public purse.

While the decision to terminate the agreement was officially attributed to "commercial reasons", Egyptian analysts believe it was prompted by political and strategic considerations.

"The move transcends mere commercial factors," said analyst Fahmi. "A decision of this magnitude couldn't have been taken without the approval of Egypt's ruling military council.

"The decision has certainly bolstered the popularity of both the military council (which has governed the country since Mubarak's ouster) and the military-appointed government, both of which had come under increasingly strident popular criticism in recent months."

Fahmi does not rule out the possibility of military escalations should relations deteriorate further.

Only days before the termination of the gas-export deal, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reportedly described Egypt as a "greater threat than Iran", calling for the deployment of additional divisions to Israel's southern border. "We have to be prepared for all possibilities," Lieberman was quoted as saying in the Hebrew press.

And one day after the deal's termination, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt's ruling military council, warned that Egypt’s border was "perpetually in danger." In a speech before troops from the Egyptian Second Army – who were conducting exercises in Sinai at the time – Tantawi promised to "break the legs of anyone who dared encroach on our borders."

According to Fahmi, Tantawi's statement "sent a message to Israel that Egypt is ready to defend its territory from any aggression." It was not insignificant, Fahmi went on to point out, that Tantawi's comments "came as the Egyptian Second Army was holding its first live-fire military drills in Sinai since the signing of the peace agreement."

In a further apparent escalation last week, reports emerged that Israel planned to deploy at least 22 reserve battalions to its borders with Syria and Egypt due to "growing instability" and possible "security threats" emanating from both countries. Israel's military has reportedly already approved official requests for the call-up of reserve forces.

"Recent developments point to an Israeli military build-up on the border with Sinai, carried out in order to deal with Egypt from a position of strength," said Fahmi. "In the absence of a diplomatic resolution of the current crisis in relations, it would be a mistake to dismiss the potential for eventual military conflict."

(END/2012)

In the popular neighbourhood of Bab al Oued, a former Islamist stronghold in Algeria, most election propaganda has been scratched off the walls / Magharebia/CC-BY-2.0

ALGIERS, May 8 (IPS) – "Is that your photo on the poster?" a policeman asked a woman standing in front of an electoral campaign board in Algiers. "Why do you ask?" she inquired. "Because only the candidates are interested in these elections," he replied.

The woman was Cherifa Kheddar, president of Djazairouna or ‘Our Algeria’, an association formed to support victims of terrorism. She was, in fact, proposed as a candidate for the general elections slated to be held on May 10, but refused to participate in what many commentators, citizens and activists are describing as a ‘sham’.

When Tunisia went up in flames in December 2010, the unrest quickly spread to neighbouring Algeria, where a population of 36 million people was already simmering over the lack of proper housing, rising food prices and widespread political corruption.

As polling day inches closer, many of Algeria’s 21.6 million eligible voters are expressing discontent and scepticism that elections will bring any lasting change.

Kheddar, a resident of the Islamist stronghold of Blida, located 40 kilometres from the capital city of Algiers, told IPS, "In my electoral district alone there are 44 lists for just 13 deputies."

Anyone who wanted to be a candidate but wasn’t able to find a place on a party list simply created a new civil list and ran as an independent candidate, she added; but nobody has a clear programme of action.

A staggering 44 parties and 183 independent candidates will compete for the 462 seats in parliament, 30 percent of which are reserved for women.

Rubber stamp elections?

"These elections are just a comedy," Djamal, a shopkeeper on the central Didouche Mourad Street, told IPS. The customers around him agreed.

"Nothing is changing, the politicians are all the same, they make promises when they want to get votes but when they are elected they (act) only on their interests," added Sidi Ali, an unemployed youth.

"We are a rich oil country but the money is only for a few people. The majority of us are poor people – I will not vote," he said.

Algeria is the world’s sixth largest natural gas producer, behind Russia, the United States, Canada, Iran, and Norway. A member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the country has raked in substantial oil revenues since 2010, but few besides the country’s elite see the benefits of this wealth.

The official unemployment rate in Algeria is 9.8 percent, a figure that rises to more than 20 percent for young people.

State officers echoed the sentiments of people in the streets – many told IPS, under condition of anonymity, they wouldn’t vote in the upcoming election.

This common feeling of apathy towards the ballot has prompted politicians to call off ill-attended meetings, while opposition rallies or assemblies draw only a handful of activists.

Many politicians have taken to holding their meetings in villages or small towns where they have a higher chance of drawing a crowd, since most people in the capital have grown indifferent to politics.

In the popular neighbourhood of Bab al Oued, a former Islamist stronghold back in the 1990s, most election propaganda has been scratched off the walls.

Election observers fear that voter turnout will not exceed the 35 percent who graced the 2007 polls.

Islamists regroup

Inspired by the success of Islamist parties in Egypt and in Tunisia, three Algerian Islamist forces merged to form the Islamic Green Alliance, a coalition comprised of the Society for Peace Movement (MPS) – an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood – Ennahda and el Islah, in the hopes of snagging a majority of the Islamic vote.

The Green Alliance has the support of numerous Gulf countries including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as the Doha-based Al Jazeera broadcasting network.

But their local support base is fractured. "MPS has been in power for long time now, and is not reliable as an opposition force. I think that Abdallah Djaballah (leader of the new Islamic Justice and Development Front or JDF) is more appreciated by the (population)," sociologist Nacer Djabi told IPS.

Opposed to an alliance with MPS, Djaballah left el Islah to form the JDF, thereby weakening what would otherwise have been a united Islamic front and lessening its chances of victory at the polls.

Still, the result depends on the turnout at the ballot boxes this Thursday.

One secular party, the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), has decided to boycott the elections altogether because "it is impossible to reform the system in power."

And in an ironic twist, the party that was famous for boycotting elections in the past, the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), has announced it will run this time, "for tactical reasons," according to its leader Hocine Ait Ahmed, who is hopeful that the presence of 500 international election observers is a step in the right direction for democracy in the country.

Mustapha Bouchachi, who served as chairman of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights before heading the FFS list in Algiers, says his party rejects the system in power but "wants a peaceful change; violence does not allow us to build a democracy," he told IPS.

Widespread corruption

A low turnout will be a disaster for the current government, the National Liberation Front (FLN) and the National Democratic Rally (RND). Both parties have thrown the full power of the state behind their electoral campaign, including the rampant use of state television and promises of distributing houses to voters.

They are not the only parties defying electoral laws and regulations. Amar Ghoul, minister of Public Works and head of the Green Alliance list in Algiers is offering ten iPads to voters who will contribute to his campaign.

Nearly 400 complaints, most of them related to the wasteful use of state resources, have been lodged at the National Independent Commission for Election Monitoring (CNISEL) since the launch of the campaign on Apr. 15.

Both the FLN and RND have been harkening back to the pre-independence period, when the FLN was instrumental in toppling French colonial rule and ushering in a ‘liberated’ Algeria; but in a country where 70 percent of the population is under the age of 30, such rhetoric pales in comparison to the harsh reality of unemployment and poverty.

(END/2012)