Daily Archives: April 8, 2009

Kenya, South Africa

A reform deadline for the rivals

Africa Confidential

A year after the power-sharing accord, political change is faltering and the police are shooting human rights activists

Politicians gathering in Nairobi and Geneva this week candidly admit that time is fast running out for the Grand Coalition to implement its promised reforms, without which Kenya will face more chaos at the next elections due in 2012. Such an analysis, although shared across party lines, does little to galvanise action among the political class. For most, the dominant issues revolve around the mooted candidacies and alliances for the 2012 elections. The fact that politicians are putting themselves forward as presidential candidates presupposes there will be no substantive changes in the constitution – such as cutting the president’s executive powers – before the next election.
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Brazil, Environment, Latin America, Water

Will dams on Amazon tributary wreak global havoc?

McClatchy News

Latin American correspondent Tyler Bridges on the potential damming of Brazil’s Amazon River.

By Tyler Bridges | McClatchy Newspapers | Photo Gallery

Euclides de Oliveira (in red) listens as Antonia Melo explains how the proposed Belo Monte dam would flood the homes of riverside dwellers like his. (Tyler Bridges/MCT)
Euclides de Oliveira (in red) listens as Antonia Melo explains how the proposed Belo Monte dam would flood the homes of riverside dwellers like his. (Tyler Bridges/MCT)

VOLTA GRANDE, Brazil — The Xingu River, the largest tributary of the Amazon, runs wide and swift this time of year. Its turquoise waters are home to some 600 species of fish, including several not found anywhere else on the planet. A thick emerald canopy of trees hugs its banks, except in places where man has carved out pastures for cattle.

Now man, in the form of the Brazilian state power company, wants to harness a section of the Xingu by building the world’s third-biggest dam.
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Children, human rights

ECPAT-USA partnering with the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) to educate the industry about child sexual exploitation

I attended the following meeting on trafficking this morning. There were about forty travel executives in the room. All seemed interested in doing their part in stopping trafficking. See the end of this message for the CODE OF CONDUCT FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL EXPLOITATION IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM. To date 1,000 corporations have signed on world-wide. However, very few of them are in the USA.  -Maura
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South Africa, Zimbabwe

South Africa permits for Zimbabweans

BBC

A Zimbabwean national, looks out of a South African train in Johannesburg central station on May 20, 2008 heading back to Harare as he flees the country due to the ongoing xenophobic violence in Johannesburg
A Zimbabwean national, looks out of a South African train in Johannesburg central station on May 20, 2008 heading back to Harare as he flees the country due to the ongoing xenophobic violence in Johannesburg

Zimbabweans can get permits to stay legally in South Africa for six months, the authorities have announced.

Some three million Zimbabweans are believed to have crossed the border to escape the economic collapse and human rights abuses at home.

The permit gives migrants the right to work and get healthcare and education.
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