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keralamonitor.com March 19, 2003

NIGERIA: Death toll mounts as violence escalates in Niger Delta

Iraq: Open letter to President George Bush, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prime Minister José Maria Aznar and President Saddam Hussein

Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International is writing today to the Governments of the USA, UK and Spain who have declared their intention to launch military action against Iraq."Those intending to launch military action against Iraq have a particular responsibility to ensure that international human rights and humanitarian law are fully upheld. Amnesty International demands adherence to human rights obligations under international law in the event of war."Amnesty International is making the same demand of the government of Iraq which must equally abide by its obligations. In particular Amnesty International demands a public commitment from all parties to the conflict that it will abide by the basic and specific measures outlined below:

- Protect civilians by strictly adhering to the rules of international humanitarian law

- Refrain from using indiscriminate weapons

- Treat civilian detainees fairly and humanely

- Protect the rights of combatants

- Ensure the security and humanitarian needs of the Iraqi population are fully met

- Protect and assist refugees and internally displaced persons

- Make sure that perpetrators of crime are brought to justice under international law

- Commit to using the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to investigate violations of the Geneva Conventions

- Support and facilitate the deployment of human rights monitors in Iraq as soon as the security situation permits

- Support the UN in their humanitarian and human rights work -keralamonitor.com March 19, 2003

 

NIGERIA: Death toll mounts as violence escalates in Niger Delta

 

LAGOS, 19 March (IRIN) - Violence has escalated in southern Nigeria's Niger Delta, with militants from one community attacking villages populated by a rival ethnic group and storming an oil facility, officials and residents said on Tuesday.At least seven people were killed on Monday when armed Ijaw militants in speed boats attacked the Itshekiri villages of Aruton and Madangho, residents said, bringing the death toll in a week of clashes to 15.

 

Shell said its logistics base in Escravos was also burnt down by the attackers. Company spokesman Frank Efeduma said five oil pumping stations in the area had been closed and their staff evacuated, thus reducing the company's daily output by 76,000 barrels. "We had to evacuate and close those stations in the face of the war between the ethnic groups," Efeduma told IRIN. "We think life comes first before oil."

 

ChevronTexaco, another oil transnational with facilities in Escravos, said two of its contract workers were hit by stray bullets during Monday's attack and that one of them died on Tuesday. "We wish to state that this unrest is neither directed at our operations nor at our people," ChevronTexaco spokesman Sola Omole said in a statement on Tuesday. He said what had started as a protest against "political actions" ahead of coming elections had degenerated into an ethnic feud. Many displaced residents of the affected communities took refuge inside ChevronTexaco's Escravos compound and arrangements were being made to transfer them to other safe locations, Omole added.

 

The latest violence brought to 15 the number of people who had died since Ijaw militants and naval troops exchanged gunfire at the Ijaw village of Okerenkoko on 13 March. Five civilians and two soldiers were killed in that clash. Ijaw militants abducted three policemen on the following day when they accosted a Shell barge taking supplies to an oil location. Up to Tuesday, the policemen had not been freed, police said. Activists of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) said in a statement that the naval troops had sparked the latest round of violence in the volatile region when they raided Okerenkoko on Thursday. The soldiers had accused community members of planning to disrupt Shell's oil operations in the area and to attack nearby communities.

 

The conflict is directly linked to a violent dispute which broke out in Warri in February between the Urhobo and the Itshekiri communities over the delineation of electoral wards ahead of general elections in April-May. The Ijaws have sided with the Urhobo, alleging that the distribution of wards favoured the Itshekiri.

-keralamonitor.com March 19, 2003

 

Swasiland King's polygamy fantasy remarks condemned

 

MBABANE, 19 March (IRIN) - King Mswati III has once more become embroiled in controversy, this time over statements he made that the custom of polygamy did not contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS, contradicting studies that have established a connection. "HIV/AIDS is promoted by an individual in the manner he or she goes about with his or her life. Otherwise, polygamy is not a factor," Mswati said in an interview on a local television station this week. The king, who turns 35 next month on a day that will be observed as a national holiday, began marrying at aged 18. He currently has nine wives, and two fiancées. His father, King Sobhuza, married at least 120 wives, according to an official biography.

 

"So long as people stick to their HIV-negative partners, there is no risk of HIV and AIDS," Mswati said.

The king's comments drew heated responses from health NGOs and women's empowerment groups. His remarks were criticised for being naïve and self-serving. "Every study on the spread of HIV has implicated multiple sexual partners as being a primary cause of new infections," said Thobile Dlamini, director of the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA).

 

"The king should recognise the reality of AIDS, and urge people to change their behaviour," Faith Motsa, chairperson of the SWAGAA board of directors, told IRIN. "AIDS has [spread] too far. As long as you have multiple partners, you are at risk. Nearly 40 percent of Swazis are HIV-positive," Motsa added.

Health workers feel that it is no longer possible to have a safe polygamous relationship without a thorough vetting of a sexual partner. "The king's people subject each new prospective wife to tests. But a majority of Swazis shun blood tests because they are frightened they might prove HIV-positive. It is all well and good for the king to tell people to stick to partners who are HIV-negative, but the truth is few people know [their partners status]," said nurse Agnes Kunene in the central town of Manzini.

 

A Western diplomat stationed in Mbabane told IRIN: "The king was speaking from a 19th century perspective, before AIDS. It is understood that he must defend Swazi cultural practices, but times have changed." Among the reports linking polygamy to the rapid rise in HIV infections in Swaziland was a study released last October by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The report found that widespread cultural practices such as polygamy contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS. The UNDP study, titled 'Gender Focused Responses to HIV/AIDS in Swaziland', noted that "Swazi society expects women to be subordinate and submissive; allows men to have multiple sexual partners, and polygamy, which exposes women to HIV infection, is legal in the country". Traditional authorities were angered by the report and royal counsellors said the report's findings were an insult to Swazis.

 

Polygamy as a formal institution is practiced less frequently in Swaziland, due to the expense a man incurs paying a cattle dowry called lobola to his fiancé's family. "Men still feel they are entitled to multiple wives, only they are girlfriends today who do not even have the protection of legal spousal status," an Mbabane businesswoman told IRIN. "The king should be telling the men of this country - his warriors - to cut down on girlfriends, because this is spreading AIDS. What is needed is not a defence of a destructive cultural practice, but a change in behaviour."

 

Mswati made his remarks prior to departing for Indonesia this week, and political analysts in the Swazi press suggested he was presenting his defence of polygamy in anticipation of questions about the custom he regularly receives while on overseas trips, especially as Swaziland's HIV infection rate is one of the world's highest. The king also defended other cultural practices that were found to spread HIV. One was the reintroduction of chastity rules for Swazi maidens, called "umcwasho".

 

"The umcwasho custom is old, and it has been there ever since the Swazi nation was established, but this time we have introduced it as a means of preventing the youth from being sexually active," he said. Swazis interviewed by the UNDP study had a different view of the custom. They said the annual Reed Dance, which is attended by 30,000 maidens, was used as an opportunity to escape parental supervision and engage in sexual affairs. "The king must recognise the reality of what is actually going on, and he must set an example, and urge people to change their behaviour," said Motsa. So serious is the AIDS problem that last month in his speech to open parliament, Mswati worried that AIDS might eventually overwhelm the Swazi nation. "The king has the role of defender of Swazi customs, and we respect that," said nurse Kunene. "But it is not business as usual any more. Customs that are life threatening must be reformed, or dropped." keralamonitor.com March 19, 2003 keralamonitor.com March 19, 2003

 

King to spend $72 million for Royal Jet, 40 per cent people living in abject Poverty

 

MBABANE, 18 March (IRIN) - A parliamentary select committee this week recommended the government's controversial purchase of a luxury jet for King Mswati III should not go ahead. "The Prime Minister and three cabinet ministers acted beyond their constitutional responsibilities by entering into a financial arrangement
and committing national funds in a dubious project," the select committee report stated. With MPs reportedly ready to vote against the aircraft, the stage is set for a showdown between the palace-appointed executive, and the Houses of Parliament. The jet, a Canadian-built Global Express Bombardier, has become synonymous
with the government's alleged misplaced priorities.

 

British High Commissioner David Reader told IRIN that the jet issue "goes to the heart of good governance issues" in sub-Saharan Africa's last nation to be ruled by an absolute monarch. The parliamentary select committee report noted that the jet purchase controversy has become one of the most divisive issues in recent history. Last year, parliament voted against the purchase of the aircraft, after learning that cabinet diverted development funds from international donors toward the down payment. Cabinet overrode the decision when Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini claimed that the vote was binding only on an outdated feasibility study. MPs disputed the interpretation, and some complained that parliament as an
institution was being undermined by the executive. "We are useful when we approve government legislation, but when we show independence, we are ignored," one MP reportedly said during the deliberations. This week's select committee report is expected to lead to a second parliamentary vote against the jet.

 

According to the government, the jet would cost US $45 million. However, the Swaziland Chamber of Commerce and Industry noted that the purchase price of the aircraft was only a portion of the total cost, which would be US $72 million including operating and maintenance costs. Developmental NGOs have condemned the jet purchase at a time when nearly 40 percent of adult Swazis are HIV-positive and have little access to treatment, and over a third of the population is without food and dependant on international donor assistance.

 

In one of the few instances when cabinet officials have addressed the jet issue in public, Magwagwa Mdluli, minister of natural resources, told one drought-stricken community: "The king needs a jet to travel the world and get you jobs and food." In its report, the select committee accused an uncooperative cabinet of
delaying its investigation. "The level of cooperation we received from government was below expectations, and it delayed the release of the report," committee chairman Allen Dlamini said at a press conference.

"Besides the document [confirming the change of financiers from the Bank of Scotland to Investac Financial Institution], we still have not seen the receipts of the US $3 million that was paid out by government [as a down payment]," Dlamini said.

 

Unable to find evidence that financiers contributed anything to the jet purchase, the committee concluded that only public money was spent by government for the aircraft's down payment. Expressing concerns that graft might be involved, Dlamini said: "Our understanding of financial transactions is that you are given a receipt to prove that you have paid for such an item, but here there was none such. We are not even sure if the money that was paid reached its intended receiver or not." In his submission to the committee, the prime minister held fast to his view that Mswati required a private jet. "All heads of state in the region have aircraft. A neighbouring country has recently acquired one," he said, referring to South Africa.

 

The business community is hopeful that the parliamentary report will spur MPs to finally put an end to the jet purchase. "Such a stand by parliament will make the whole world take notice and appreciate that parliament tried its best to play its role," said Mandla Hlatshwayo, the president of the Federation of Swaziland Employers and the Swaziland Chamber of Commerce. The parliamentary report "vindicated" the Chamber of Commerce's assertions that the jet was too costly. "We have clearly stated that government has
no money to finance such a huge asset. That came out clearly in the report," Hlatshwayo said.

If parliament does vote against the purchase, cabinet may again ignore the decision, and arrange financing for the jet independent of parliamentary oversight. "If that happens, it will be the same as what government is doing when it ignores court rulings that go against the palace agenda, which has resulted in a rule of law controversy in the country," Africa Magongo, president of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, told IRIN. "It would render parliament irrelevant, but it would expose the reality of what an absolute monarchy really is," Magongo said. keralamonitor.com March 19, 2003