note mention of Gambia in first item.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2001 13:44:14 -0700
From: Charlotte Utting <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [WASAN] FW: DC area ADNA Minutes - Aug 7, 2001
----------
From: [log in to unmask]
Organization: Africa Action
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 15:04:24 -0400
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: DC area ADNA Minutes - Aug 7, 2001
Dear ADNA members,
Following find the minutes of the August meeting of the DC - area
ADNA member organizations, for your information. Comments and
corrections should go to Stephen Price at the Society of African
Missions.
Regards,
Vicki Ferguson
ADNA Co-facilitator for Africa Action
Date sent: Tue, 07 Aug 2001 22:40:59 -0400
From: SMA USA JPEC <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: Society of African Missions
To: "Vicki L. Ferguson" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: ADNA Minutes - Aug 7, 2001
ADVOCACY NETWORK FOR AFRICA -- Minutes
August 7, 2001
Facilitators: Leon Spencer, and Carole Collins. Notetaker: Stephen
Price Introductions included Marcel Kitissou, new Executive Director
of AFJN who was introduced by Larry Goodwin. Minutes from July
meeting were approved.
1) AFRICA TRADE POLICY WORKING GROUP
Campaign for African Smallholder Farmers. Resources on this are
available from Larry Goodwin at AFJN. The ATPWG has met with
staff of Rep. Maxine Waters’ office as part of a strategy of
approaching select members of Congress to find a legislative vehicle
for this campaign. They met also with the Ambassador of Gambia
concerning whom to approach in the diplomatic community. The
literature was send to ambassadorial corps, to CBC, to main
advocacy contacts on Africa, and to select members of Congress.
The Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment plus ATPWG
are drafting a statement on trade for international meetings
scheduled for October-November. In October there is a trade
summit in Washington, and WTO delegates meeting and World
Food Summit in November (the last may occur in Nairobi). Africa
Action and Oxfam America are working on an alternative Peoples’
Forum in early October (dates and venue TBA). Next ATPWG
meeting: Aug 10 at Washington Office on Africa, to talk about these
strategies.
2) SUDAN WORKING GROUP
There will be a demonstration against slavery by Sidwell Friends
School in October. A planning meeting for this is scheduled at the
Freedom Forum. The Sudan Peace Act is heading to conference
committee. Senate provisions did not contain any reference to
capital markets, and House version does. Senate is definitely not
interested in capital market provisions. Leon said maybe a voice
could still be raised on the issue at this point.
3) WEST AFRICA WORKING GROUP
The WAWG met with Africa Subcommittee staff, and with Director
of West Africa Bureau at State Dept. Africa Subcommittee staff
solicited WAWG to draft a bill regarding Sierra Leone. Refugees
International agreed to draft something which can be a basis for the
Subcommittee staff in September. The bill would focus on
humanitarian and refugee issues. Liberian refugees and Guinean
IDPs seem not to be covered by any relief efforts. Comments are
invited on this bill by anyone who would like to look at it. The UN
approved funding for a Special Court for Sierra Leone, although
there will be a shortfall. US is to contribute 10%, which will be $5
million a year for the first three years. Total amount over three years
was halved from the (excessive) proposed $114 million to $56
million. Cutting it down was seen a positive step; it was not to be a
new UN court but a mixed national-international effort. Some $30
million would be for first year, and then less for following years.
Contributions from other members were meager. U.S. fought hard
beside Russia and China to have it be voluntary and not assessed.
So the Special Court is in grave danger. The disarmament-
demobilization-reintegration (DDR) process money is a non-starter
for Congress because of Foreign Operations which does not allow
money to go to combatants. Also there is a question about whether
the need is for money, or capacity. The State Department meeting
was unsatisfactory. The West Africa Bureau seems understaffed.
The U.S. is committed to military training for Guinea--training of 7
battalions will continue. Guinean troops probably will be deployed in
summer 2002, with Phase Three after that. Janet Fleischman noted
that the Administration has notified Congress that they want to
provide military training and nonlethal military equipment for Guinea.
Guinean military has been problematic in Sierra Leone in civilian
attacks in SL and in Guinea itself. Training will go forward. There is
need for robust human rights components in it, including monitoring
of compliance and mechanisms for accountability. The State Dept.
Bureau representatives were happy about the Special Court. They
were noncommittal on who specifically would be brought to trial in
such a a court. Conflict diamonds likewise drew little comment.
Conflict diamonds initiative: On June 21 a Senate consensus bill
with industry agreement was introduced. HR 2722, the Clean
Diamonds Trade Act, another industry OK’d bill, was introduced
August 3. It has about 40 cosponsors. Another 168 from the
original Tony Hall bill will probably be fairly easy to obtain. Needed:
Lobbying; see posting on ADNA. The House is where attention will
be. If the Administration has no problem with it, it will probably pass.
The U.S.Trade Representative may be concerned about WTO
compliance, but otherwise the Administration is not clear on it. Once
there were Senate and House bills lined up, the jewelry associations
were committed to supporting them. In September there will be a
lobby day, and the industry is committed to lobbying for them. There
is hope to use the considerable advertising power of the industry.
Next meeting of the WAWG will be with the NSC, later this week.
The next regular WAWG meeting is August 13 or 14. Contact
Adotei at Amnesty.
4) AIDS AND HEALTH CARE WORKING GROUP
Next AHCWG meeting is at 11:00, August 9, at WOA. August 6
AHCWG met with State Department and Health and Human
Services representatives occurred. Paul Nieumur with USAID will
be the lead person for the issue. Some 8 or 9 representatives from
international government will be part of the international working
group—UK, France, Thailand, Italy, Nigeria; WHO, etc. See
Heather’s email from APIC. Global Network of People Working with
AIDS and other groups will be part of it. Plans are to have a
secretariat by mid-August and have a working agenda by mid-
September. Meetings will occur in developing countries and then in
other countries. No meetings are expected in North America. US is
strongly supportive of having NGOs having access to the AIDS fund,
but less so of them having input in policies; NGO’s should work with
partners in the countries. There is fear of looking like we favor
going around governments. The Administration’s $200 million, plus
an extra $100 million in the supplemental, are very low indeed. The
Department of Defense may have $10 million for 2001 and 2002.
But there are issues with this DOD funding. On Intellectual Property
Rights: There are no decisions on generic drugs. Mention was
made of the lawsuit in Brazil--Brazil is being watched. US will still
monitor any violations of TRIPS by Brazil and holds the option of
renewing its complaint against Brazil in WTO. The U.S. won’t clarify
its stands on some drug issues. Office of National AIDS Policy:
This brings together different government agencies. They hope to
minimize the government structure of the fund, and to monitor the
fund by World Bank and other agencies. Spending for prevention
vs. treatment: Mostly on prevention, but some on treatment. Money
would actually become available in first quarter of 2002. Private
sector would be source of many of the funds. Leon: The
government representatives held forth at great length on
accountability and transparency--but made no mention of
interdepartmental meetings taking place to respond to the global
fund. They refused to give names of people working on it. They
kept referring to the global fund as "supplementary"—indicating US
will act bilaterally for the most part. Health Gap is putting together a
packet of materials on the issues.
In August nothing has happened since Senate Foreign Operations
bill came out. USAID’s $15 million for AIDS and $50 million for the
trust fund are surprisingly low numbers. The Hyde bill talks of $750
million; Rep. Barbara Lee will offer an amendment to bring it up to
$1 billion. Rep. Conyers’ Orphans Prevention Act will also be there.
On the Senate side: The Feingold bill asks for $1 billion for the fund.
Pressure on Senate side will be needed; Action Alerts will be
forthcoming. In the meeting, no particular figures were presented by
Administration representatives. The initial UNAIDS appeal for $3 to
$4 billion was interpreted to be for capacity building. The US
government representatives counted the $7-10 billion as including
malaria. Peter Piot of UNAIDS says UN fund won’t get more than
$2 billion this year. UN Secretary General wrote a weak letter saying
we still need high levels of funding. State Dept says $1.7 billion is
the global fund, but some European nations said this will be over a
period of time, so that amount is not defined by a year. Carole
Collins noted that the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference
strongly opposed use of condoms for AIDS/HIV in a recent
statement.
5) PEACE & SECURITY WORKING GROUP
This Group is not functioning now but the invitation is there for
people to work on it. Small Arms: Kathy McNeely reported that the
UN Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms was held July 9-21.
The U.S. came out with a pretty strong statement hindering it. Small
Arms Working Group responded to it. Two issues: Transfers to
non-state actors, and civilian possession of arms. US set that tone
from the beginning, in reference to domestic policy.. Positively, the
Conference did raise awareness of the issues. There was a
successful rally of people from the South and others. Also NGO
presentations highlighting humanitarian aspects. Africa had its own
day of giving presentations. Uganda, Mozambique, Cameroon,
Mali, Kenya. They raised issues of connection of arms to money
laundering, diamonds, illicit drugs. See the sculptures of small arms
at UN in NY. Africa had to give up its point about transfer of arms to
non-state actors, a position opposed by US, Cuba, Russia, etc.
South Africa spoke as representative of Nonaligned movement.
Bamako Declaration of late 2000 was a regional agreement on arms-
-see http://www.iansa.org. See also http://www.hrw.org on the arms
campaign. Other outcomes of the Conference: Concerns about
humanitarian impact of the trade. There was a coalition of 60
groups lobbying for language on humanitarian and human rights
statements. Nothing was said about any changes of internal laws on
private ownership. There was an IANSA press release at end of
conference. Colombia was president of the Conference, and was
very disappointed with results. This month Colombia is non-
permanent member of Security Council, so they called an open
debate on small arms in August. This will highlight it again in
Security Council. The Conference agreed to meet again in 2004 to
follow up. The final declaration "encourages" countries to stop illicit
flow. No treaty as such; US did not want to sign any treaty.
6) ADNA COMMUNICATIONS:
Beginning in September the electronic communications system for
ADNA will be taken over by new parties, with hope for even having a
backup when one maintainer is unavailable. Both are ADNA
members: International Development Exchange (San Francisco) and
Ethiopian Democratic Action League (DC), with commitments for a
year to two years. Thanks to both.
Note: The communications system for ADNA will close for August 9
–31. Contact Vicki before then or see web page for key groups to
contact if you have advocacy efforts coming up. In September the
new system will re-open.
7) KENYA:
The Kenya Working Group met with Rep. Lantos and Sen
Wellstone. Both offices are willing to do Kenya work to raise the
profile of Kenya (e.g. on AGOA, military training, etc.). Kenya WG
is crafting a letter from Sen Wellstone for NGOs working in Kenya.
He has also agreed to do an op-ed on Kenya; to encourage
hearings; and help with a conference here. Both offices expressed
interest in supporting a resolution on domestic violence in Kenya; it
has reference to the general human rights situation in Kenya. In
August there will be attempts to get cosponsors. Election monitoring
groups for December 2002 will be sought to do voter registration
and human rights security. Kathy will go to Kenya shortly and will
try to follow up some efforts of NGOs there and also attend the Fr.
Kaiser memorial.
8) DEBT CANCELLATION
David Bryden sent out a packet to use in District visits during August
recess. He has a list of targets and a packet of information for
people willing to set up meetings in home Districts, which will go out
to the ADNA list. Visits are needed for Drop the Debt plus the AIDS
messages. The Drop the Debt message is for 100% cancellation
with IMF/WB using its own resources. Leon said at the meeting
August 6 the offer of the Administration was to provide future grants
instead of loans—it was presented almost as an acceptable
alternative to the 100% cancellation ideal.
9) RACISM CONFERENCE IN DURBAN
AFSC is taking the Conference seriously and had listening sessions
in different parts of the world to collect testimony. The resistance of
US Government to any mention of slavery and reparations is
keeping it away from the Conference. Middle East events have
raised the Zionism issue. Mbeki has said no one country should
dictate the agenda. What leverage do we have to influence this at
this late date? International Human Rights Law Group is putting on a
series of programs on radio and elsewhere, of voices witnessing to
the impact of racism. Amira Woods of InterAction said some
delegates in the PrepCom this past week have proposed a resolution
to increase overseas development assistance as a form of
reparations. CBC initiatives are uncertain at this time. Human
Rights Watch sent out a press release saying the US must not avoid
participating. HRW will send delegations to the Conference and
issue a series of reports on racism and ethnic problems in various
places. Leon noted that Jon Chapman (Presbyterian Church USA)
will be at the Conference, and at ADNA meeting in October. Some
guests in September too will bring reports. In the meantime,
persons with ideas for advocacy should initiate them.
10) GUEST SPEAKER:
Bronwen Manby, Deputy Director for Africa Programs at Human
Rights Watch (in UK), recently visited Zimbabwe and has
connections with human rights groups in Europe. She spoke about
some of the complex issues of land reform. Summary of remarks:
Under international law there is not a right to land as such. The
question is, Who is benefiting from land redistribution program, who
is not benefiting, who is suffering, what of transparency? etc.
Violence and the way the land program is being implemented are
key. In South Africa there is real frustration with slowness of
government to redress the land issues inherited from the apartheid
regime. In Zimbabwe the attitude is different. There is desire for
land redistribution, but land is not at the top of the list compared to
the economy, jobs, etc. Priority is much lower. There are parts of
the "communal areas" that are also a factor in the problem besides
the farms. The 1990 Zimbabwe constitution allowed redistribution
with some compensation. After 1992 there was less land
redistribution. The Government says it’s because UK did not come
through with its promises of paying for land reform. UK says there
was not a proper program for land reform. There was a Donor
Conference in 1998 and nothing much happened. In February 2000
the Government moved to list areas of land for which no
compensation would be paid: Some 20,000,000 hectares are
involved. The Commercial Farmers Union is offering several million
hectares (under pressure from the government) as an alternative.
In the past they were supportive of ZANU, and Mugabe did not move
on redistribution for a long time. Fast track land reform programs
have meant that war veterans (important since 1997-98 when they
began to organize to ask for promised pensions) have been
organized and settling themselves on farms. Many describing
themselves as war veterans are in their 20’s, but they are under the
leadership of genuine war veterans. A lot of invasions of farms have
been done with violence against farmworkers and against white
farmers. More of the dead have been farmworkers. Up to 30% of
farmworkers are of Malawian or Mozambican descent so they have
no place to go when evicted. Press has played up violence to white
farmers. On each farm there may be a handful of war veterans and
a couple of hundred of others who are not war veterans. One
applies through local government structures to receive land. But if
you are not ZANU you will not receive land. Receiving land is a
reward for political loyalty; opposition supporters are refused.
People who were resettled in 1980’s have not been happy with
progress—government has not provided any services,
infrastructure, capital, etc. Government says that will come later.
Some have actually returned to where they came from; there are
fluctuating populations on the farms. Farmworkers who lack
citizenship do not get land. Plus they are generally seen likely to
support MDC. Sometimes it is young strong men who take the
better land. Government says land reform is the final stage of the
revolution struggle. People say there needs to be transparency and
order. Some people say white farmers are good at commercial
farming and should be allowed to do it--need for foreign exchange is
also a concern. Zimbabwe will import food this year. Because the
economy is declining, middle class or working class people who had
city jobs are going back to communal areas to farm again. People in
urban areas are also applying for land, especially around cities, as
a way of supplementing their income. There is clearly land
hunger—people who want and need land and have historical claims
to land. But there is a strong sense that this is not the way to do
land reform. Plus the land issue is clearly being used as a political
exercise with 2000 parliamentary elections and 2002 presidential
elections. There will be more violence. Recent elections took place
in violence with voters being beaten. Plus those involved in last
years’ court cases were beaten. Violence is also moving into
Harare, against political figures, etc. International implications:
WB/IMF loans have been cut off due to concerns about government
and because of non-payment of debt. UK took very strong position
on Zimbabwe land reform last year. It has backed off some since
then. Basically they say they disapprove completely; the money is
available for the right program. At an OAU summit in Lusaka foreign
ministers denounced UK for not paying for land reform. But the
heads of state in a later meeting just called on UK and Zimbabwe to
resolve their differences. Mbeki and other African countries will
play a key role. The gut reaction is that of course land that was
taken away should be returned. But this program is not the one.
Opposition MDC and ZCTU (Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions)
have lobbied South Africa. Tsvangirai spoke at a meeting in South
Africa. Mbeki has been criticized in South Africa for being too soft
on Mugabe. But these may be enemies of Mbeki—especially
Democratic Alliance members. In the US: Zimbabwe Democracy
Act shows there is support for more international pressure on
Mugabe. He will not last forever. But there would not be support for
strong economic sanctions because of the broken economy. But
money for land reform in line with the 1998 Donor’s Conference
would be helpful.
Erin McCandless, who has lived in Zimbabwe, noted: Donors’
Conference in 1998 did not follow through with their decisions.
Mugabe made hay with it but in fact the international community has
indeed had its failings. Those who waited for a fair process are
tired—womens’ groups, farmworkers, etc. War veterans have also
been invading companies to challenge the ZCTU—it is about getting
labor’s vote in the next election. The Government with war vets has
begun an active campaign to delegitimize the ZCTU, and started a
ZFTU (Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions). The Government or
the Courts have ordered a stop to the company invasions. Violence
is a big issue—against people randomly. Media is also a huge
problem—sensationalistic and biased; the land issue of the
Government takes up most of the air time. Reality: Some 80% are
in poverty. International media give attention to Mugabe as tyrant
and failure of economy; but it has been failing for 10 years under
SAPs and it’s failure is not Mugabe’s fault. MDC has made
agreements with WB—what kind of agreements? Civil society is
pretty strong. But political repression and the poor economy make
for softer reformist approaches by NGO’s. National Constitutional
Assembly resulted in a draft new constitution which is a threatening
process for Mugabe. Structural Adjustment Program Review
Initiative has finished its review. PRSP is on its way; a meeting of
civil society will happen in October.
Bronwen responded that it is true that UK was slow to give money.
International community too was slow. A full fair process is needed,
for infrastructure also. The MDC itself is not strong on land
reform—its statements are very general. Plus MDC takes a lot of
money from commercial farmers. What do you do if you have a
new government? Can’t go back prior to February 2000 land
occupations—how to regulate disputes in status quo? Another
problem: There are historical black communities in some land areas
and then later new black settlers, in addition to white farmers—so
who owns the land? Many of young war veterans are AIDS orphans.
No extended family structure in the new areas of occupation—so
people’s deaths from AIDS are not cared for by social structure.
Carole Collins reported that Carol Thompson, a food security expert,
has also offered some observations: "Willing seller and willing
buyer" approach to land reform would cost $40 billion in this
situation. So some kind of seizure by eminent domain is needed.
There will be food shortages but not famine. There are alternative
sources of food, including great productivity of small shambas
around cities—they are informal sector so are not counted. Wheat
for bread will not be available, but food will be. Externally there will
be requests for food aid; internally there will be some food
available. She also said in 1980 there should have been
arrangements for land reform, and US itself is not too clean. Even
some would say sanctions are needed that would not affect ordinary
people. Carole Collins said that Mobutu’s Zaireanization in early
1970’s to seize the factories etc. of Belgians offers a parallel. But it
was also an effort to build up the leader’s popular support and
reward his cronies. In fact the economy was ruined in a few years.
Who are the actual recipients of land reform? What of deaths of
recent government ministers and others? Women’s issues—are
women getting land? Debt relief? Much of its debt was from
purchase of arms to counter South African destabilization. These
are other complexities. Adotei wondered about Zimbabwe’s link with
DRCongo. MDC has different contacts with different sectors of US
politics. In some ways NGO community here has to differentiate
itself from government. Marcel Kitissou suggested people may want
government reform first, and then tackle land reform later. Bronwen
said in answer, that women are not benefiting from the land reform.
The DRC involvement is deeply unpopular in Zimbabwe. Debt relief:
Zimbabwe’s textile industry still faces customs barriers into South
Africa. Zimbabwe is the prime example of bad influences of SAPs.
If WB will give no more money until payment of arrears, it is
dangerous because that probably cannot happen in this economy.
Shona-Ndebele dynamic is not a clear factor in land reform
conflicts. Erin said the MDC does support reconciliation and
reparations through the Commission for Justice and Peace. Carole
pointed out several recent strong statements from Zimbabwe bodies
on the land reform issue: The Zimbabwe Council of Churches; the
Catholic Bishops Conference; the Churches of Manicaland; and
"Crisis in Zimbabwe: A Time to Act," from civil society including
ZCTU. Bronwen: There is history of violence to farmworkers. There
has been a lot of progress since 1980. But there are still many
problems. General Agricultural and Trade Union Workers of
Zimbabwe does not see violence as a major issue. There is not a
large problem with tension between white and black, in comparison
to South Africa.
11) NEXT ADNA MEETING:
Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 11, 9:30-12:30 (note the change to avoid
Labor Day).
***
This message from the ADNA minutes committee is distributed
through the Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA).
Vicki Lynn Ferguson
Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA)
Communications Facilitator
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