Just Peace Advocate

The Just Peace Advocate appears in three formats. The "short version" is two pages per month included in Western Area News and... which is mailed to pastors, churches and leaders in Massachusetts by the Western Area office. The "long version" appears 5-6 times a year and goes to a special list of persons who have requested to receive it or are known to have an interest in justice and peace issues. This site posts updates between publications of the print versions.

Friday, October 29, 2004

Africa Debt Update

From: africafocus@igc.org
Subject: Africa: Debt (Continued)
Date: October 4, 2004 8:33:40 AM EDT
To: arembe@mac.com

Africa: Debt (Continued)

AfricaFocus Bulletin
Oct 4, 2004 (041004)
(Reposted from sources cited below)

Editor's Note

Despite an emerging consensus in favor of complete debt
cancellation for the poorest heavily indebted countries, the G-7
group of rich countries failed this weekend to reach agreement on
how to cancel the debt. Meanwhile a new UN report noted that
between 1970 and 2002, African countries received some $540 billion
in loans, paid back close to $550 billion in principal and
interest, and still held debt of $295 billion at the end of 2002.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow was quoted as saying "the details
[of debt relief] aren't important," while G-7 members promised to
continue to study the issue and report on their conclusions by the
end of the year.

While the details of the U.S. Treasury proposal are not available,
an editorial in the Washington Post for October 1 said that under
the proposal new resources from the World Bank for the affected
country would be reduced by the amount of debt cancelled. If this
report is correct, the Treasury plan would be in violation of
the generally agreed principle of "additionality," that is, that
debt relief should provide net additional resources for the
affected countries.

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains the press release and selected
excerpts from the new UNCTAD report, Debt Sustainability: Oasis or Mirage?" For previous issues of AfricaFocus Bulletin on debt and related topics, visit http://www.africafocus.org/econexp.php
New UNCTAD Study Makes Case for African Debt Write-Off

UNCTAD Press Release
UNCTAD

September 30, 2004

Debt servicing at any level is incompatible with attaining the UN
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in many African countries,
according to Debt Sustainability: Oasis or Mirage?, released today
by UNCTAD. The report concludes that any lasting solution to the
debt overhang hinges as much on political will as on financial
rectitude.

Squeezing the poor?

Between 1970 and 2002, Africa received some $540 billion in loans;
but despite paying back close to $550 billion in principal and
interest, it still had a debt stock of $295 billion as at the end
of 2002. And the figures are even more disconcerting for
sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which received $294 billion in
disbursements, paid out $268 billion in debt service and yet
remained straddled with a debt stock of some $210 billion. The
Report concludes that this amounts to a reverse transfer of
resources from the world s poorest continent.

The Report also contests the popular impression that Africa s debt
overhang is simply the legacy of irresponsible and corrupt African
governments. While certainly part of the story, particularly under
the cloak of cold war politics, exogenous shocks, commodity
dependence, poorly designed reform programmes and the actions of
creditors have all played a decisive part in the debt crisis.

And a more nuanced picture shows that the debt profile moved from
"sustainability" in the 1970s to "crisis" in the first half of the
1980s, with much of the debt being contracted between 1985 and 1995
under the guidance of structural adjustment programmes and close
scrutiny by the Bretton Woods institutions (BWIs).

Make or break time

The Report argues a robust economic case for a total cancellation
of Africa s debt:

* Low levels of savings and investment leading to high poverty and
adverse social conditions are among the biggest constraints on
growth in low-income African countries;

* Continuing debt servicing by African countries would nominally
constitute a reverse transfer of resources to creditors by a group
of countries that by all indications could least afford this; and

* In order to ensure that Africa will be able to reduce poverty by
half by 2015, in line with the MDGs, at the very least growth
levels will have to double to some 7%-to-8% per annum for the next
decade, the financial requirements of which are incompatible with
present and projected levels of debt servicing.

And this economic case is reinforced by a moral imperative for a
shared responsibility, particularly considering that the BWIs have
had the greatest influence on the development policies on the
continent through structural adjustment programmes and related
lending, which have not had the expected outcomes in ensuring
growth and development. Moreover, official lending was in large
part also predicated on the implementation of such programmes, and
much of the debt of countries with profligate regimes that were of
geopolitical/strategic interest is considered "odious".

Over the past two decades, examples have abounded of major bailout
operations both domestically and internationally where financial
markets were seen to be at risk. While Africa s external debt
represents a huge burden to the indebted countries, it has not yet
galvanized the political will required by its creditors to
undertake similar action.

In the absence of such political will, the Report calls for placing
a moratorium on debt servicing (without additional interest being
accrued) pending the institution of an independent panel of experts
to assess the sustainability of debt based on a realistic and
comprehensive set of criteria, including those of meeting the MDGs.
The Report recommends that such an assessment should include all
public debt. This is particularly so because the Heavily Indebted
Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative fails to take account of domestic
debt, which in recent years has become an important factor in the
total indebtedness of African countries.

However, even a full debt write-off would be only a first step
towards restoring growth and meeting the MDGs. UNCTAD estimates
that such a write-off would represent less than half those
countires resource requirements, with the gap filled by increased
official development assistance (ODA) grants as a prelude to Africa
increasing the level of domestic savings and investment required
for robust and sustainable growth.

Meeting the MDGs

It is in this context that the Report concludes that under present
conditions, the MDGs will remain elusive for the African continent.
As UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown insisted earlier
this year, "On current progress, we will fail to meet each
Millennium Development Goal in Africa not just for 10 years but for
100 years". That failure can in part be traced to the
"unaffordable" debt burden that has strangled the continent s
growth prospects for the past two decades, according to Jeffrey
Sachs, Special Economic Advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
And African leaders, including Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles
Zanawi, have begun to ask whether the HIPC Initiative has the
capacity to provide adequate debt relief to its beneficiaries.

The HIPC Initiative was launched in 1996 by the BWIs with the aim
of reducing the external public debt of the 42 poorest countries
(of which 34 are in Africa) to sustainable levels. Calls for
"deeper, broader and faster" debt relief led to the introduction of
an enhanced version in 1999, which was to make it easier for poor
countries to find a permanent exit solution to their debt crisis.

But eight years on, the Report argues, despite some initial
progress following the adoption of the enhanced Initiative, heavily
indebted poor African countries are still far from achieving
sustainable debt levels.

In a forward-looking evaluation, the Report findings include:

* Post-HIPC debt service payments are projected to increase from
about $2.4 billion in 2003 to $2.6 billion in 2005.

* Based on historical growth rates, the 23 African HIPCs that
reached their decision points by the end of 2003 have only a 40%
chance of attaining debt sustainability by 2020.

* While some completion point countries have debt ratios exceeding
sustainable levels as defined by the Initiative, a number of
equally poor debt-distressed African countries find themselves left
out of the Initiative altogether.

* Interim relief (between decision and completion points) is
inadequate and falls short of the proportion of the total debt
relief that creditors had promised to deliver during this critical
period.

* Bias in the debt sustainability analysis - and in particular,
persistently over-optimistic assumptions about economic and export
growth -- means that calculations of debt sustainability thresholds
based on debt-to-export and debt-to-revenue ratios are inadequate
indicators of the poverty-indebtedness nexus.

* There is uncertainty surrounding the funding of debt relief,
particularly for conflict and post-conflict HIPCs;

* The jury is still out on whether HIPC debt relief is additional
to ODA flows. New initiatives are needed to attain a clear and
significant level of additionality and to prevent an unfair
reallocation of future aid to HIPC debt relief.

In a nutshell, "it is becoming increasingly doubtful whether HIPC
beneficiaries can attain sustainable debt levels, based on export
and revenue criteria, after completion point, and maintain these in
the long term", observes the UNCTAD Report.

Policy space critical

For any debt relief framework to deliver tangible results, Africa
needs actively to pursue policies for prudent debt management,
economic diversification and sustained economic growth. But doing
so calls for better access to markets, much increased investment in
human and physical infrastructure and a considerable widening of
the policy space narrowed by adjustment programmes, including in
the context of poverty reduction strategies.

For more information:
UNCTAD Press Office T: +41 22 917 5828 E: press@unctad.org or
K. Kousari T: +41 22 917 5800 E: kamran.kousari@unctad.org

**********************************************************

Debt Sustainability: Oasis or Mirage?

UNCTAD/GDS/AFRICA/2004/1

[brief excerpts only; full report available at
UNCTAD full report

Introduction

In the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the
international community has set itself a target of reducing poverty
by half by the year 2015. Many observers have now come to the
conclusion that, on present trends, there is very little likelihood
that this objective can be achieved at any time close to that date
in the poorer countries, including in Africa.

In its report on Capital Flows and Growth in Africa (UNCTAD, 2000),
as in subsequent reports on economic development in Africa, UNCTAD
has argued that the current levels of GDP growth would have to be
raised to seven or eight per cent per annum and sustained if
poverty reduction targets were to be met. This would imply doubling
the current amount of aid to the continent and maintaining it at
that level at least for a decade if the continent was to break the
vicious circle of low growth and poverty. Such an action, within
the context of an appropriate mix of domestic policies and
supportive international measures, would generate sufficient
investment and savings to reduce aid dependency in the longer term
and place Africa on a sustainable growth path.

The continent's debt problems and its resource requirements are
inextricably linked to the capacity of African countries to
generate capital accumulation and growth. Among the policy measures
that UNCTAD has advanced (UNCTAD, 1998) is the need for an
independent assessment of debt sustainability in African countries
by a high-level panel of experts on finance and development,
selected jointly by debtors and creditors, with an undertaking by
creditors to implement fully and swiftly any recommendations that
might be made. While this recommendation did not find favour in the
donor community, it was contended that the Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries (HIPCs) Initiative, and later its enhanced version, would
ensure a permanent exit solution to Africa's debt problems. There
now seems to be an emerging consensus, however, that many African
countries continue to suffer from a debt overhang despite the HIPC
Initiative and various actions in the context of the Paris Club.

The fact that even those countries that have reached (or are about
to reach) the so-called completion point will soon find themselves
in an unsustainable debt situation gives credence to the arguments
advanced by critics with respect to the inappropriateness of the
criteria applied in the debt sustainability analysis. And the fact
that several more debt-distressed African countries are not
eligible for HIPC debt relief reflects the lack of objectivity in
the eligibility criteria.

Debt sustainability is basically a relative concept. The questions
that beg for a response are: what level of debt is sustainable for
countries in which the vast majority of the population lives on
under $1 a day per person? Have debt sustainability criteria been
based on internationally recognized benchmarks such as those of the
MDGs, or on objectively and theoretically verifiable criteria? What
is the relationship between Africa's total external debt stocks and
the actual amount of debt serviced? Is complete debt write-off a
moral hazard or a "moral imperative"?

2. The genesis and nature of the African debt crisis

...

Africa's external debt burden increased significantly between 1970
and 1999. From just over $11 billion in 1970, Africa had
accumulated over $120 billion of external debt in the midst of the
external shocks of the early 1980s. Total external debt then
worsened significantly during the period of structural adjustment
in the 1980s and early 1990s, reaching a peak of about $340 billion
in 1995, the year immediately preceding the launch of the original
HIPC. Overall, Africa's external debt averaged $39 billion during
the 1970s, before ballooning to just over $317 billion in the late
1990s. ...

A significant factor in the debt crisis of African countries was
the two oil price shocks of 1973 1974 and 1979 1980, the latter
leading to a deterioration in the external environment that lasted
until 1982. The rise in oil prices not only had an adverse impact
on the trade balance of oil-importing countries, but also caused
fiscal crises in most of these countries, thereby undermining
domestic investment. The second shock occurred at a most
inauspicious period, as it coincided with sharp rises in real
interest rates. Within the context of the global recession of 1981
1982, which depressed demand for developing countries' exports, and
deteriorating terms of trade, the balance of payments crisis that
afflicted developing countries was exacerbated, not only for oil
importers but also for oil exporters. ,,,

Lending to low-income countries, particularly those in Africa, by
bilateral and multilateral creditors was predicated on economic
reforms being undertaken in the context of structural adjustment
programmes, and total longterm outstanding debt increased by about
200 per cent between 1980 and 1995, the year before the HIPC
Initiative was launched. The multilateral and official debt
components increased by more than 500 per cent and 300 per cent
respectively over the same period. The fact that these programmes
failed to deliver on the promise of growth and development meant
that the debt situation of many African countries continued to
deteriorate. ...

A cursory glance at Africa's debt profile shows that the continent
received some $540 billion in loans and paid back some $550 billion
in principal and interest between 1970 and 2002. Yet Africa
remained with a debt stock of $295 billion. For its part, SSA
received $294 billion in disbursements and paid $268 billion in
debt service, but remains with a debt stock of some $210 billion.
Discounting interest and interest on arrears, further payment of
outstanding debt would represent a reverse transfer of resources.

...

3. Is HIPC debt relief additional to traditional aid?

The official breakdown of the costs and benefits of the HIPC
Initiative may be highly misleading, as it does not take into
account the "true" allocation of costs and benefits. For example,
if all creditors deducted the costs of HIPC debt relief from their
traditional aid budgets for HIPCs, this would imply that the HIPCs
were paying for the debt relief in terms of reduced traditional
aid. The final costs to creditors would be zero, as would be the
net benefits to HIPCs. Hence, in determining the true costs and
benefits of the HIPC Initiative, it is necessary to make some
decisions on how to allocate the costs of bilateral and especially
of multilateral creditors to individual countries. This raises two
important issues. First, is HIPC debt relief additional? And,
second, will creditors make reallocations in their traditional aid
budgets among the recipients of traditional aid due to the
provision of HIPC debt relief?

Comparing data for the three years before the adoption of the HIPC
Initiative (1994 1996) with data for the three years after the
adoption of the HIPC Initiative (1997 1999), Gunter (2001) showed
that there has been close to zero additionality, even for HIPCs
that had reached their completion point. The World Bank's OED
Review (Gautam, 2003) concluded that, even though there has been
close to zero overall additionality, the most recent trends in aid
flows indicate some aid reallocations towards eligible HIPCs.

...

In any case, given that the real costs of debt relief can be spread
over the lifetime of the remaining loans, which for multilateral
loans is around 30 to 40 years, the annual cost of 100 per cent
debt relief, at least for those HIPCs at the decision/completion
point as at September 2003, remains relatively small in comparison
to the resource requirements for meeting the MDGs. It has often
been argued that a 100 per cent debt write-off will send the wrong
signals to debtor countries and others, set a bad precedent and
thereby create a moral hazard for the IFIs. However, there is no
greater moral hazard than the one entailed in constant
restructuring and partial debt forgiveness based on creditors'
perspectives and interests, as is the case under terms agreed with
the Paris Club. On the contrary, moral hazard will be limited by
dealing decisively with the recurring debt crisis of poor African
countries through a truly permanent exit from constant rescheduling
that establishes a basis for long-term debt sustainability for
debtors within an appropriate framework of national and
international policy measures. A complete debt write-off,
therefore, becomes a "moral imperative", as it will guarantee
resources to help meet the MDGs in Africa and assure an exit from
the debt crisis for the continent. ...

The analysis illustrates the weaknesses of the HIPC approach with
respect to finding a permanent exit solution to the debt crisis of
African HIPCs, and highlights the fact that several other equally
poor African countries have been left out of the process. On the
question of the level of debt deemed to be sustainable for
countries the majority of whose population lives on less than one
or two dollars a day per person, the answer is self-evident:
considering the seriousness with which the international community
is addressing the attainment of the MDGs, these targets should be
used as a major benchmark for debt sustainability. This in turn
implies that virtually all of the outstanding debt would need to be
written off, as the resources needed to attain these goals are
substantial.
*************************************************************
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.

AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin,
or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about
reposted material, please contact directly the original source
mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see
AfricaFocus archives

************************************************************

Children, Conflict & Peace in Northern Uganda

Uganda: Children, War, and Peace

AfricaFocus Bulletin
Sep 30, 2004 (040930)
(Reposted from sources cited below)

Editor's Note

Optimism about prospects for peace in northern Uganda is growing.
Recent news reports cite increased desertions from the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and some reduction in the number of displaced people. Nevertheless, making peace is no simple task. The population is traumatized by continuing violence, and HIV/AIDS
rates in the conflict areas are almost double the national average.

A new report from World Vision Uganda highlights the continuing
obstacles to peace and the enormous damage done to children and to
society at large from this 18-year war that has received very
little attention from the international community.

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains the foreword, executive summary,
and key recommendations of the World Vision report, entitled
"Pawns of Politics: Children, Conflict and Peace in Northern
Uganda."

For the full text of the 59-page illustrated World Vision report
see World Vision Uganda Report

Additional links to more reports on the war in northern Uganda:
crisisweb2004
irinnews2003
africaaction2003
accord uganda 2002
accord resources 2000

Pawns of Politics: Children, Conflict and Peace in Northern Uganda

Report Authors: Rory E. Anderson, Fortunate Sewankambo, and Kathy
Vandergrift

World Vision

Foreword

The faces and stories of children in northern Uganda are etched on
our memories. The children and their suffering are unforgettable,
but the armed conflict in which they are caught is almost forgotten
by most of the world. Hopefully this report will help to change
that.

For more than a decade World Vision has worked with the communities
in northern Uganda to help them cope with the impacts of war. At
our Centre for Children of War in Gulu, children who escape from
captivity under the Lord's Resistance Army are helped to return
home and rebuild their lives, through psychosocial counselling,
healthcare, education and vocational training. In the camps for
displaced persons, food, water, and shelter only begin to address
the needs of millions of families forced from their homes.

We can give blankets to night commuters, but we also need to end
the fear that drives them to leave home. The insecurity and costs
of this war for everyone over the years is a price that is too high
to pay. With each visit and each contribution, we ask ourselves
what more we could do to help resolve this conflict and restore
peace in northern Uganda. We are convinced lasting peace is
winnable, but it needs a concerted effort from the local to the
international level. This report is a result of our desire to
contribute to finding the way forward.

It is our hope and prayer that this report will not only be read,
but also acted upon by people of goodwill and people with the power
and responsibility to end this conflict. It is a plea for a united
effort to make a difference for the children and communities in
northern Uganda and for global peace and security.

Robby Muhumuza, National Director, World Vision Uganda
Dean R. Hirsch, President, World Vision International

Executive Summary

The armed conflict in northern Uganda has been overlooked and
misunderstood for the past 18 years. It is a tragic struggle for
power involving children, who are used as pawns for military and
political purposes. They are abused; they are manipulated; and by
most, they are pitied, then ignored. In spite of good intentions
and laws against child abuse, these children have no protection for
their security and basic rights.

The misunderstanding has resulted in a tendency to simplify the
conflict to merely "getting the bad guy," while ignoring the
complexities that continue to fuel the conflict. For the past 18
years, war between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the
Government of Uganda (GoU) has continued because of historical
grievances, a legacy of militarised politics, external
interference, and national and international indifference.

Uganda's post-colonial history has been one of violent coups,
numerous armed rebellions, and regional and ethnic divisions. This
has created a militarised political system with a legacy of
accessing state power through violence. The LRA insurgency was
initially a political response to the current government's coup and
ensuing cattle theft by various government soldiers. When the LRA
resorted to the violent abduction of children to serve in its
ranks, political grievance turned into humanitarian crisis.

The nature and duration of the conflict have created tremendous
humanitarian, social, and economic costs for all of Uganda,
particularly for children. The protection of children has not been
a priority for governments, despite national and international laws
guaranteeing their basic rights. As a result, a situation of mass
hostage-taking has occurred, where over 20,000 children have been
violently abducted. Children are the primary targets of the LRA,
shrewdly forced to perpetuate their own misery whether they are
abducted, or live a life of "night commuting" to avoid abduction.

Another tactic sustaining the conflict is the use of spiritual
rituals by the LRA. Spiritual weapons are used to psychologically
enslave both abducted children and the targeted population with
fear. History provides an important context for understanding the
spiritualised politics and the politicised spiritual rituals
underlying the conflict. Because of this history, it is not strange
to also spiritualise military activity. The result is a cultic
manipulation of religion by the LRA in lieu of a political
platform. The religious dimension has become an excuse for lack of
action by authorities with mandates for child protection and
conflict resolution. It would be more effective to recognise the
religious element of this conflict as tactical, and respond by
supporting and encouraging inter-faith peace efforts as part of a
comprehensive counteroffensive.

The protracted nature of this conflict has created a humanitarian
crisis that is among the world's worst. Over 1.6 million people are
homeless. Eighty per cent of the northern region's population lives
in displacement camps that are squalid and cramped. For the
displaced, the inadequate response to this crisis has meant a
drastic decline in quality of life indicators. Malnutrition rates
among displaced children range from 7 -21 per cent, and anywhere
from 1,052- 15,000 people share a single water source. A further
indication of the severity of this crisis is the upswing in
HIV/AIDS prevalence rates. National prevalence rates for Uganda are
estimated at 6.2 per cent and declining, but rates in waraffected
areas are almost double that of the national average, at 11.9 per
cent.

The economic costs of the war have been enormous for the entire
country. It is morally and academically challenging to quantify the
value of a human life and the social costs of war, but attempting
to do so paints a picture of the costly damages of this prolonged
conflict. For the analyzed period, the costs of the conflict in
northern Uganda can conservatively be quantified at over US$1.3
billion, and costing more than US$100 million per year. This is
more than Uganda's total national budget for health care. Paying
for the conflict comes at the expense of other important national
programs; therefore, the LRA conflict directly impacts the
immediate well-being of all Ugandans.

Initially a Ugandan civil war, the LRA conflict spilled over the
border and became linked to the civil war in southern Sudan. As
part of the fight against terrorism, the Government of Sudan (GoS)
opened select parts of southern Sudan for Uganda to fight a
military offensive against the LRA. Intended as a resolution to the
conflict, striking at the LRA as terrorists has, in fact, worsened
the humanitarian crisis. Because the LRA ranks are estimated to be
80 per cent abducted child soldiers, the terrorists are themselves
hostages. Under attack in Sudan, the LRA resorted to new abductions
in northern Uganda, which exponentially increased displacement and
created a new phenomenon called "night commuters," children who
flee home every night and sleep in public places to avoid
abduction. Relying on a military offensive created more of a
humanitarian crisis. To date, global indifference allows the abuses
to continue; the international dimensions and human suffering,
however, make ending the conflict a responsibility for all of
humanity.

Ending the war goes beyond capturing Joseph Kony. Full resolution
of the LRA conflict will happen only when all of the following
occur: (1) When Joseph Kony surrenders, is captured, or agrees to
some sort of political settlement; (2) hidden LRA weapons caches
are found; (3) LRA commanders are resettled and reintegrated; and
(4) IDPs are able to safely leave camps and resettle. Although
neutralising Kony is a large part of ending the conflict and the
humanitarian crisis, any senior LRA commander with access to these
weapons could inherit the cause and take his place.

This is a winnable peace. Given all of the challenges, resolution
is possible if a sustained, high-level, multi-pronged approach is
used by a variety of actors. Among these, the Government of Uganda
should give priority to the protection of children and civilians
and undertake the necessary reforms to combat corruption within the
military.

The international community, including key western governments like
the U.S., the E.U. and others, will need to pressure Sudan to put
an end to LRA activities within its borders and galvanize
international institutions to better respond to this crisis. If
national and international actions are coordinated, Kony's veil of
dark spiritism is likely to evaporate, as will the reign of terror
by the LRA.

Summary of Recommendations

General Recommendations

* Peace in northern Uganda is attainable. A multidimensional
approach from the local to the international level is recommended.
Considering the human, social and economic costs of this conflict,
investment in a concerted peace initiative would benefit all of
Uganda, Africa and international security.

* The spiritual aspects of this conflict need to be addressed as
part of a comprehensive response; they can neither be ignored nor
used as an excuse for inaction by authorities with responsibility
for protecting civilians. Non-military conflict resolution
strategies should include someone with sensitivity to the spiritual
dimensions of Kony's hold on people and an ability to appeal to
spiritual alternatives to overcome fear and manipulation of
religious beliefs.

* Protection of civilians, with a special focus on children, should
be a top priority for national and international action.

* Appropriate HIV/AIDS control activities should be added to all
interventions undertaken by government, NGOs and UN agencies,
tailored for the different aspects of the conflict: e.g., emergency
response, IDPs, abducted children, "night commuters," and
post-conflict reconstruction.

Government of Uganda

* The Government of Uganda and its leader President Yoweri Museveni
should actively support and participate in international conflict
resolution and local peace initiatives, in order to put an end to
the cost of this conflict and channel diverted resources into
productive uses for the people and economy of Uganda.

* The Amnesty Act should be extended for a period longer than three
months at a time, for all except Kony, and accompanied with
consistent public information to increase awareness and allow for
effective implementation.

* Consistent messages from political leaders about conflict
resolution and the Amnesty Act would help to build community
confidence and convey important signals to persons still in LRA
captivity that they will be accepted if they escape and return
home.

* Public information campaigns about peace and amnesty in northern
Uganda need to be targeted towards young people, to ensure that
anyone who might be abducted by the LRA is well aware of his or her
options and less liable to be swayed by false indoctrination during
captivity. Information should be age-appropriate and in local
languages covering all of the affected areas.

* The Minister of State for Youth and Children Affairs, who is
responsible for the Children's Statute, should give urgent
attention to the need for child protection in northern Uganda,
working with UNICEF, the Army, and local community structures to
take the necessary steps to ensure that children at risk are
protected under the existing laws of Uganda.

* The Ugandan government should speedily implement the recently
passed IDP Policy and its provisions with high priority given to
the protection of civilians, including children.

* The Ugandan Army should clarify roles, responsibilities and
accountability of the various local defence units in military
strategies for civilian protection.

* The Government of Uganda needs to conduct a full-scale audit of
the military, and implement measures to combat the serious problems
of corruption, which is debilitating the military.

* Without waiting for the conflict to end, the Government of Uganda
and local community leaders in the North should begin a process of
national reconciliation through constructive dialogue, including
participation by youth and women.

Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)

* Leaders of the LRA should demonstrate a serious commitment to
peace by:

- clearly outlining achievable political objectives and cooperating
with mediators attempting conflict resolution;

- negotiating and implementing a ceasefire with independent,
international monitoring of all parties;

- ending the practice of abduction, with the release of all
children and adults still in captivity; and

- agreeing to human rights monitoring of all parties to ensure
everyone complies with international humanitarian laws.

* For the medium term, the LRA and its supporters should direct
their energy into non-violent political dialogue and organisations
to address root causes of the conflict and work toward the
development of political structures in Uganda that respect
diversity, treat all peoples equitably, and foster development in
the north.

* The LRA should use its spiritual influence to spread a message of
peace rather than revenge and punishment, in keeping with the core
teachings of the various religions to which the LRA has appealed
for legitimacy in the past.

Government of Sudan

* Consistent actions in support of peace are imperative from the
Government of Sudan, including active measures to end all LRA
activities within its borders.

UNICEF

* UNICEF should increase its presence and engagement in northern
Uganda, with a focus on child protection issues.

ICRC

* The ICRC should focus more attention on its unique mandate for
child protection under the provisions of the Geneva Convention,
including protection of the rights of children taken hostage by the
LRA across international borders.

United Nations

* The UN Security Council should take specific, progressive
measures to ensure implementation of Resolution 1539 in northern
Uganda and Sudan, including increased monitoring with consequences
for failure to comply with its provisions for the security of
children.

* The UN Secretary General should appoint a Special Envoy to
co-ordinate all UN efforts in the direction of peace, with a
particular focus on protection of civilians and accountability for
compliance with international law. This would include independent
human rights monitors to deter abuses by all parties and engagement
with all parties on compliance with international laws. The

International Community

* Consistent, coordinated, high-level diplomacy is needed by all
international actors, including the withdrawal of military support
that enables the conflict to continue. Doing this will force
combatants to engage in serious efforts to resolve the conflict.

* The new African Union Peace and Security Council should give high
priority to the situation in northern Uganda and provide African
leadership within international efforts for non-violent conflict
resolution.

* Local efforts like the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative
(ARLPI) and others should be supported, as part of a larger peace
initiative involving the Government of Uganda, the LRA, and the
Government of Sudan.

* Increased humanitarian assistance should be provided by
international donor agencies to meet the requirements outlined in
the 2004 UN Consolidated Appeal for northern Uganda, with
particular attention to prevent predicted food shortages, to reduce
malnutrition, to support education for IDP children, and to include
protection and peace-building components in a more co-ordinated
strategy for northern Uganda.

* International security agencies should recognise that this is
international hostage taking, and therefore apply all tools
available for freeing hostages.

Religious Community

* Interfaith efforts like the ARLPI, which has bridged the divide
among religious groups for the sake of peace, should be welcomed as
legitimate peacebuilding interventions. Specific faith-based
initiatives, including prayer, discussion and dialogue about the
religious elements of the conflict, are effective tools to break
the hold of fear and spiritual oppression on people.

* Because of the social and religious make-up of Uganda, Christian
churches have a special role in peacebuilding through prayers for
peace, positive leadership, and advocacy, in order to offset those
who use violence in the name of religion.

*************************************************************
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.

AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
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Nov. 3rd Post-Election Rally in Amherst

NOVEMBER 2ND TO THE POLLS
NOVEMBER 3RD TO THE STREETS!

Rally at noon on the Amherst Common
Candlelight Vigils at dusk at central meeting places throughout the valley

Western Massachusetts - On November 3, 2004, the Western Massachusetts Community will come together on the Amherst Common, rain or shine, regardless of the election outcome, to share local, national and global thoughts about the future of our country.

The Community Gathering and Speakout will begin at 12:00pm and continue until 4:30pm, when community members are invited to return to their town commons and meeting spaces for candlelight vigils. It is being sponsored by a broad range of community and social justice organizations and is in concert with national movements such as Beyond Voting and United for Justice with Peace.

Local speakers, musicians such as Charlie King, and poets will offer a host of inspirational information and reflection. There will also be time for a community speakout where all community members are welcome to make announcements and share thoughts about next steps, which will range from legislative efforts to grassroots mobiliations. Organizers will also launch a People’s Platform which will highlight - regardless of the election outcome - the essential components of a just and democratic United States.

Platform co-author, Mount Holyoke professor Jean Grossholtz notes, “Together we can take back our country. We must keep up the momentum! Regardless of the outcome, we must take immediate measures to bring justice to our entire nation, while recognizing our need to be a better global citizen.”

Doing Good By Trading Fair

source website
10:25 AM EDT on Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Providence Journal

Doing good by trading fair
BY GAIL CIAMPA
Journal Food Editor
What is Fair Trade and why should it matter to you when buying coffee, tea or chocolate?
The answer, according to local companies who have committed to selling products for which farmers around the globe are paid a fair price, has two parts.
"It's the right thing to do," said Susan Wood, CEO for Providence's Coffee Exchange. "How can you make a living on the back of someone else? How could you live with yourself?"
And even if you turn a cold heart to her moral argument, consider Wood's roaster's point of view.
"If we don't help the farmer, we're not going to have access to great coffee because farmers aren't going to be able to do their job anymore," she said. "Then we all lose."
There are also economic issues at play. Wood said there is an international coffee crisis. Farmers are getting such a small amount of money because of the huge supply of coffee. A bumper-crop year in Brazil and Colombia and the emergence of Vietnam as a coffee producer have flooded the market with coffee. Farmers who can't make a profit are plowing under their crops, especially in Central America.
So when you see that "Fair Trade Certified" label, understand it's not just food with a cause. The concept blends powerful components of sustainability (growing things that enrich, not drain or pollute the land); artisan products (hand-tended rather than mass-produced); organics (not using chemicals and pesticides); and social responsibility.
"Fair trade lets farmers stay on their land in a natural eco-system," explained Haven Bourque, marketing director for TransFair USA, an Oakland, Calif.-based independent certifier of fair trade practices for products coming into the United States. Fair trade products are generally also certified organic, as they are probably grown without pesticides using traditional methods that protect native trees and birds.
The non-profit group gives U.S. vendors access to certified products. They started certifying fair trade coffees in 1998, then added tea and chocolate and, most recently, bananas.
Last year, TransFair certified 18.7 million pounds of coffee, a growth rate of 91 percent from the previous year. In five years, the income generated for Fair Trade coffee farmers was $34 million.
But here's the best news: "Quality has caught up with cause," said Donald Machado, owner of Tiverton's Coastal Roasters, a two-year-old company.
By dealing in Fair Trade products, Machado is able to bring his social and political principles to market. Being socially conscious doesn't hurt his business, he said: "It's more the other way around."
Customers, especially Baby Boomers, seek out Fair Trade items because most are specialty coffees.
"They've been well-tended," he said. "So people don't mind paying a little more for wonderful coffees."
Coastal Roasters is a wholesale and retail coffee-roasting company with a cafe at 1791 Main Rd., Tiverton. Some 75 percent of his coffees are fair trade and organic, and 99 percent of his whole-leaf teas are so designated. He also has a fair-trade cocoa product. His goal is to integrate more Fair Trade products, bananas and sugar most likely.
Bourque likens Fair Trade to a "global farmers' market." Some local roasters can trace what farmers have done with their profits, like buying a new truck. Indeed a visit to www.coastalroasters.com, Machado's company Web site, talks about a possible trip to Central Honduras to the village of Majastre, where a 20-member co-op has benefited from Fair Trade.
It's not just independents involved, either. Starbucks has committed to a line of Fair Trade coffees, and Bourque said all the beans used in Dunkin' Donuts espresso beverages are Fair Trade certified.
Buying fair-trade products helps sustain small farms in poor countries, and the difference can be enough to provide health care for a family. These are among the issues for Gerra Harrigan, director of business development at New Harvest Roasters in Rumford.
A Brown history major, Rik Kleinfeldt, started New Harvest Roasters with the big Fair Trade idea. He noted that when you pay $11 or $12 a pound for conventional arabica coffee, only about 20 cents goes to the farmer.
With Fair Trade, farmers get a minimum of $1.26 per pound, $1.41 if it is certified organic, though most Fair Trade coffees are organic already, according to TransFair.
Business being business, American companies have to keep prices down, too. Which they do, charging a competitive $8.50 a pound for Fair Trade coffees as opposed to $7.50 for the estate line of conventionally purchased coffees.
New Harvest Coffee Roasters is partnering with three local cafes to offer Fair Trade certified coffee at a discount throughout this month: Olga's Cup and Saucer in Providence; The Coffee Depot in Warren and Nepenthe in East Greenwich.
Both Harrigan and Kleinfeldt got introduced to the Fair Trade concept working for the Coffee Exchange, roaster retailers with a retail cafe at 207 Wickenden St., Providence, and an Internet business at www.mailordercoffee.com.
The company's co-founders include Charlie Fishbein and Bill Fishbein, who started a group called Coffee Kids. It's a different approach to helping farmers in spots such as Central America.
Coffee Kids raises funds in the coffee industry to offer loans to farming families. The program helps the women of these families find secondary sources of income. A loan as small as $50 to $100 will enable her to start a small chicken- or pig-farming business or open a small store. The income gets the children out from working in the fields, helps support the family and offers role models in the community. The money is paid back to a village bank to be loaned out again.
But for most of the farmers, Fair Trade remains the only option for survival.
"We start our day with a cup of coffee," said TransFair's Bourque. "There's powerful imagery there: We are enjoying something grown in a beautiful country. Fair trade is a guarantee that the farmer who grew the coffee beans got a fair price for his top-quality product that has been grown and picked by human hands.
"People want a fair day's wage for a day's work. Fair Trade asks people to care about that even if the workers aren't in this country."

source website
Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Wake up and smell the cost of coffee
BY TOM ABATE
San Francisco Chronicle
If the price of your morning jolt of caffeine is going up, don't blame the poor guy in the tropics who grew the coffee beans.
For that double cappuccino that set you back $3.75, a mere 21 cents went for those ground-up beans. The cost of the milk was nearly double that. The bigger ingredients are labor, rent, overhead—and profit.
The cost of gourmet drinks is poised to rise after Starbucks' announcement this week that it would boost the average price per cup by 11 cents starting Oct. 6. Given the Seattle chain's market clout, industry watchers expect the increase will ripple through an estimated 11,000 other independent and smaller chain coffee shops nationwide.
Wholesale coffee prices have risen 36 percent in the last year in U.S. commodities markets. But to farmers, especially those who grow the specialty beans prized by coffee aficionados, the recent increases only begin to repair the damage of a disastrous price slump that has devastated regions such as Central America.
"We call it the coffee crisis," said Mike Ferguson, spokesman for the Specialty Coffee Association of America, which represents coffeehouses. "Coffee farmers were literally walking away from farms all over the world."
Jumping bean prices
Yet, even though the wholesale price of beans has jumped lately, coffee itself represents only a tiny fraction of what Americans pay for all those concoctions with the fancy names.
Take that double cappuccino, for instance. According to Ferguson's association, coffee makes up just 5 percent of the cost per cup.
In fact, all the ingredients—from sugar and milk, which also have experienced double-digit increases over the past year, down to the cup, heat- sleeve and lid—together make up less than 20 percent of the cost of the cappuccino, according to the association's estimates. Labor and rent account for a far larger share of the cost—about 46 percent—and other overhead and profit make up the rest.
Starbucks issued a statement saying the price increase, its first system-wide since August 2000, was "based on increased costs throughout the business."
Trickle-down price rise
Ward Barbee, publisher of Fresh Cup Magazine, a trade publication in Portland that covers the coffeehouse industry, said thousands of independent shop owners would probably follow Starbucks' lead. It's a golden opportunity for them to raise price prices to cover an array of rising costs for such things as workers' compensation and health care coverage that factor into overall labor expenses, Barbee said.
"If you as a retailer don't raise your price, you're foolish," he said.
George Vukasin Jr., coffee-buyer at Peerless Coffee & Tea, a family-owned firm in Oakland, Calif., that roasts specialty brews for restaurants and hotels, said the raw price of coffee had gone up. But he said the hike had barely brought the cost of commercial coffee, called "C" Market, to the mid-80 cent range—below the average farmer's production costs of roughly 90 cents per pound.
Vukasin said "C" Market prices had last peaked above $3 a pound in 1996 and had steadily declined to around 50 cents per pound in 2000, driven down by surging shipments from Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia.
"A 50-cent market for farmers is horrible," said Vukasin, affecting even those farmers who grow specialty rather than commercial blends, because the price of the higher-quality beans floats above the cheaper grades.
Vukasin said coffee prices had been rising slowly since that trough but started to surge recently thanks to factors ranging from lower harvests in Brazil to the soaring cost of oil, which boosted transportation costs.
The period of collapsed prices wrought havoc for the roughly 20 million small farmers who depend on coffee for their livelihood, "precipitating bank failures, public protests and dramatic falls in export revenues," according to a World Bank report issued in March.

Monday, October 25, 2004

Harvest Aid for Iraqi Fruit Growers & US Military Families

October 19, 2004
Contact: Jo Comerford, 413.695.6059

Culmination of Harvest Aid Project
Helping Neighbors Near and Far

        As the Pioneer Valley's harvest season winds to a close, local farmers are harvesting more than just squash and potatoes. In November, the Harvest Aid Fund project concludes after six months of fundraising to help our neighbors both near and far who are hungry because of the war in Iraq.
        Since the summer solstice in June, local farmers and residents have joined together in an unprecedented broad-based effort to raise funds to support the USO-sponsored Food Pantry at Westover Air Force Base and farmers in Dhuluaya, Iraq whose fruit trees were destroyed a year ago by the US military.
        On November 10th, at 10am, a Press Conference will be held at Riverland Farm on Rte. 47 in Sunderland to provide an update on the Harvest Aid Fund fundraising effort and present a check for half of the amount raised to the Pioneer Valley USO Food Pantry.

Speaking at the press conference will be:
·       Sandy Wakefield, USO Food Pantry Director who will speak about how the war in Iraq has sparked a huge increase in demand on the USO Food Pantry and caused many local military families to be unable to pay their bills.
·       Rick McDowell and Mary Trotochaud, staff of the American Friends Service Committee who have been working on aid projects in Baghdad for more than a year, who will comment on the current situation in Iraq and efforts to reach the farmers in Dhuluaya.
·       Several local farmers, including Scott Reed and Ferdene Chin-Yee of Riverland Farm, John Hoffman of Wilder Brook Farm (Charlemont) and Michael Docter of the Food Bank Farm (Hadley). They will speak about the ways in which they have supported the Harvest Aid Fund and about their connection to their own land and to the farmers in Iraq.

Initiated by Ann Gibson and Mary McClintock along with Jo Comerford of the Western Mass office of the American Friends Service Committee in Florence, the Harvest Aid Fund is cosponsored by:
·       CommonWealth CSA
·       Environmental Task Force of the Hampshire Interfaith Council
·       Food Bank Farm in Hadley
·       Grace Church Episcopal Peace Fellowship
·       Natural Roots CSA Farm in Conway
·       Northeast Organic Farmers Association
·       Red Fire Farm in Granby
·       Riverland Farm in Sunderland
·       Seeds of Solidarity Farm in Orange
·       Traprock Peace Center
·       Western Massachusetts American Friends Service Committee
·       Western Massachusetts Interfaith Coalition for Peace and Justice
·       Wilder Brook Farm in Charlemont

Directions to Riverland Farm:
        Riverland Farm is at 197 River Rd. (Rte. 47) in Sunderland about 1 mile south of the Rte. 116/Rte 47 intersection in Sunderland center.

Background information on the Harvest Aid Fund:
        The Harvest Aid Fund is a people to people, farmer to farmer effort that grew out of a letter of apology to the farmers of Dhuluaya created by Ann Gibson and Mary McClintock of Conway this past spring. The Dhuluaya farmers lost their livelihoods last fall when US soldiers bulldozed their orange, lemon and date groves as "punishment" for the farmers not revealing the identities of resistance fighters allegedly hiding in their groves. Without their groves, they have no way to support their families. The letter was signed by 150 residents of Western Massachusetts and Ann and Mary are working with AFSC staff members to try to deliver the letter to the farmers in Dhuluaya.
        Meanwhile, many military families in the Pioneer Valley have been hurt financially while their family members serve in Iraq. Whether as National Guard troops and Reservists who leave behind better paying jobs when called up for service or because of low pay in other branches of the military, they can't make ends meet. The Pioneer Valley USO Food Pantry, an organization that serves local needy military families, has seen a three-fold increase in demand for their services in the past year.
        The Harvest Aid Fund is an attempt to share the abundance of Pioneer Valley agriculture with these two very different groups of people who have been hurt by the war in Iraq. The fundraising efforts included a general appeal for donations as well as information leaflets, collection cans, and posters about the Fund at local farmstands, farmers' markets, festivals, and community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms. Half the funds raised will go to the farmers of Dhuluaya and half will go to the Pioneer Valley USO Food Pantry.

For more information about the Harvest Aid Fund, see harvest aid

Harvest Aid for Iraqi Fruit Growers Too

Darfur update & Action Request

Write a Letter to the Editor on Darfur!

Don't Lose Darfur in the Election!

Dear Friends of Africa Action,

Thank you for your commitment to stop the genocide in Sudan, we write today with another urgent appeal for your support in keeping this issue alive. Your advocacy has been remarkably effective. Your support though previous actions has been critical to the progress thus far: the US declaration of genocide in Sudan and the actions in the UN to encourage the Sudanese government to disarm its militias in Darfur. There has been an increase of African Union forces, the US offered two transport military aircrafts to assist the AU, and negotiations continue in Nigeria. These first steps have fallen short of what is needed to stop the violence, protect the people, and facilitate the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid. There has been a lot of rhetoric, but not nearly enough action.

Six weeks after President Bush described the crisis in Sudan as “genocide” the Sudanese government continues to slaughter the people of Darfur. The survivors are becoming desperate for humanitarian assistance. Two million people have been displaced and now live in camps surrounded by the death squads where the death toll rises due to disease and malnutrition.

While genocidal terror persists in Sudan, all eyes turn to the US for the final week before the Presidential elections. Sudan has not been wholly absent from this campaigning season. A question on the genocide in Sudan was raised in the first Presidential debate (with a little help from Africa Action), but the rhetoric remains far from reality. While the world looks to the US elections, and the candidates scour the media to gauge public opinion, we have a unique opportunity to remind the world that evil persists when good people do nothing – we must stop the genocide in Sudan.

Please take a few minutes to send the message that Sudan is a foreign policy priority in these elections, and that the actions needed to stop the genocide in Sudan cannot wait until after November 2nd.

Please write a letter to the editor for your local newspaper to make sure that the genocide in Darfur stays in the public eye. When you see articles in your local paper about foreign policy and the elections, please send in a letter of your own drawing attention back to Darfur and putting pressure on the present administration to take decisive action now! We have provided a sample letter that you are welcome to amend. Letters should be kept to 150 words or less and should refer to the article or editorial that you are responding to in the first sentence by noting the date and title of the article. If you use the sample, please fill in the blank with the number of days since September 9th, the day that the Bush Administration acknowledged the genocide.

You can find and contact your local newspaper by zip code through the following Capwiz site, which allows you to quickly send an email directly to the editor – media by zip. You can also look in your local paper for submission guidelines and send your letter by email. If you get published, be sure to send us a copy at africaaction@igc.org so that we can celebrate your success!

Sample Letter to the Editor:

Thank you for your recent coverage of foreign policy issues in this election, (Title, date). The genocide in Sudan has received little attention since the first Presidential debate. It is now __days since the Bush Administration acknowledged the genocide, yet there has been no real effort to stop it. Sudan is a perfect example of U.S. policy towards Africa – rhetoric, not reality, attention without action.

Unless there is a rapid intervention in Darfur, a million people could die this year. The U.S. has a unique capacity to act to stop genocide. For example, the U.S. has almost 2,000 troops in nearby Djibouti, several hundred of which could be mobilized quickly to help lead a multinational force comprised mostly of African troops. The U.S. should seek UN authorization for such a Multinational Intervention. This would be an opportunity for both candidates to put their claims of “compassion” and “multilateralism” into action.

Monday, October 11, 2004

4 years statistical overview - Palestine Today

**************************

Four Years of Intifada: Statistical Overview
Press Release, HDIP, 29 September 2004

SUMMARY OF PRESS CONFERENCE WITH DR. MUSTAFA BARGHOUTHI, DIRECTOR OF THE HEALTH DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION AND POLICY INSTITUTE (HDIP)

Monday, September 27, 2004 -- Dr Mustafa Barghouthi began today's press conference with a summary of recent trends and statistics. The Second Intifada, now entering its 5th year, has seen the world distracted by events in Iraq, enabling Israel to continue violating Palestinians' Human Rights with complete immunity. The international media remains more accessible to the Israeli side and thus allows Israel to push forward their preferred narrative.

Furthermore, these past years have witnessed a significant deterioration in international support and involvement with the peace process, many becoming disheartened and reluctant having supported the now dead Oslo Peace Process. However, the Intifada has also witnessed the emergence of a new democratic opposition movement, born within the Palestinian Territories, together with a consolidation in support for pioneering, modern Palestinian leaders.

In the years since 1948, the Palestinians have witnessed a consistent decrease in their promised State - now just 11% of historic Palestine (as according to Sharon's plan). What we are looking at now is not a future Palestinian State, but a series of bantustans.

Death and Injury

In the four years since Sharon's famous visit to the Haram Al-Sharif we have seen 4,342 Palestinians and Israelis killed. Of those 1,008 were Israeli and 3,334 Palestinian. 82% of Palestinians killed were civilians.

2-3 Palestinians are killed by Israeli soldiers, police or settlers per day. While this number may appear to be low, if this death rate were to be applied to the UK it would be equivalent to 35 being killed per day, and in the US this would be 157 per day.

Since the start of the Intifada on the 28th of September 2000, 621 Palestinian children below the age of 17 have been killed by the Israeli occupation forces. Of this figure 411 were shot with live ammunition and 200 were shot in the head, face or neck. 331 were from the Gaza Strip. 10,000 Palestinian children have been injured.

Dr Barghouthi insisted that there is absolutely no excuse to justify the killing of such a huge number of children. What is equally disturbing is the telling figures of injuries received to the head - Israeli forces were obviously shooting to kill. In fact the majority of Palestinians killed have suffered injuries to the head and upper body.

424 Palestinians have died in extrajudicial executions (assassinations). 186 of those were bystanders or "unintended" victims, killed as they were near the victim. 39 bystanders were children and 26 were women. With regards to extrajudicial assassinations, in Gaza while 72 Palestinians died in targeted killings, a shocking 118 bystanders were additionally killed in these attacks.

Palestinian Prisoners

Israel continues to make use of an old emergency law that dates back to the British Mandate. This law allows Israel to arrest and detain anyone for an unlimited time without charging them. There are currently 78 Palestinian children in administrative detention.

There are also currently 100 Palestinian women and 377 children in Israeli prisons. 80% of the children are routinely tortured or harassed and 31% suffer from disease.

Health

30% of Palestinian children suffer from chronic malnutrition. The number of pregnant women unable to receive any medical attention during their pregnancy is now five times higher than figures before September 2000.

Economy

More than one billion dollars worth of Palestinian infrastructure has been destroyed by Israeli forces and more than 200 million dollars of this has been donor financed. Since the start of the Intifada the Palestinian GDP has decreased by 50% and agricultural losses have amounted to more than one million dollars.

Education

Israeli forces have shelled or broken into 298 Palestinian schools. 4 young children were shot in the head in UNRWA-run schools in Gaza in 2004 alone.

Water and the Evolution of Apartheid

Since September 2000, the price of water in the Palestinian Territories has increased from $2.5 per cubic meter to $7.5 per cubic meter. And only a shocking 70 litres per person per day is consumed in the West Bank for domestic, urban AND industrial use. 200 Palestinian communities have no access to a clean water supply.

In the Gaza Strip we can no longer forecast a disaster because it has already begun. There is no water supply in Gaza that is fit for drinking.

Every Israeli citizen consumes five times more water than the Palestinians. Illegal settlers living in the West Bank consume 20 times more water than the Palestinians living there.

Movement Restrictions

There are currently 703 movement restrictions in the West Bank alone. As an example of the effects on Palestinian everyday life that this has caused, whilst a journey from Ramallah to Hebron should take around one hour, it has taken up to twelve hours for many Palestinians.

86 Palestinians have already died because of movement restrictions, and this figure includes 30 children. Had these people been allowed to travel, they would have probably survived. In addition at least 55 women have been forced to give birth at checkpoints with 20 losing their children.

The Wall

The Wall is three times as long and twice as high as the Berlin Wall. In Qalqilia 40,000 residents are imprisoned within the Wall in what can only be described as a ghetto. As well as those imprisoned inside the wall the residents of surrounding villages now placed on the western (Israeli) side of the Wall have been cut of entirely from schools, jobs, healthcare and family.

Many in fact have lost all access to the outside world is controlled by 11 Israeli manned gates which are collectively only opened for a total of 55 minutes per day. Anyone who wishes to enter or leave Qalqilia must have special permission - even patients and medical services. Qalqilia residents claim that they can no longer see the sunset.

Whilst there is talk about adjustments to the Wall's route, there are in fact no changes other than mere cosmetic alterations. What we are witnessing is not just the building of the Wall it is the destruction of a two state solution.

Disengagement in Gaza and the Road Map to Peace

Sharon only accepted the Road Map as it was approved by the Israeli Cabinet and this was with 15 reservations, the first being a refusal to freeze any settlement building. At the same time whilst Sharon talks about removing settlements in the West Bank, he is referring to 4 that exist in the north of the West Bank, that exist on land that can not be enclaved by the Wall. The other existing settlements will of course remain because they exist on land that Israel plans to appropriate through the Wall and enclaves.

Unfortunately, with regards to Sharon's Gaza Plan most of the world's media mistakenly continues to refer to it as a "withdrawal". In fact Sharon never referred to a "withdrawal". What he actually said was that they would redeploy from Gaza but the military would still enter at any time they deemed appropriate. In Rafah, the Israeli forces are destroying on average 6 houses per day in order to clear a passage separating Gaza from Egypt, which will grant them full border control. So far, 2,200 homes have been demolished in this area alone.

Periods of "Relative Calm?

During this last year of the Intifada, there has been a serious rise in mass popular support for nonviolent resistance. This is why suicide attacks against Israel have significantly depleted, not because of the Wall. However, this has certainly not encouraged Israeli forces to stop attacking Palestinians.

Between March 15 and August 31, 2004, the international media talked of a period of "relative calm" purely because there were no suicide attacks against Israel. However, the following days of March saw 45 Palestinians dead with no Israeli casualties; April saw 56 Palestinians dead compared with 3 Israelis; and May saw 116 Palestinians dead (the majority during Israel's "Operation Rainbow" in Rafah) compared with 19 Israelis.

It must be noted that of the total Israelis killed, 18 were soldiers, 10 were illegal settlers, and only 3 were civilians. This means that during a period of practical ceasefire on the part of the Palestinians, Israel continued to kill civilians at a rate of 12:1. If Sharon was at all serious about wanting a peaceful solution, genuine advantage could have been taken during this period of quiet, instead he proceeded to kill more Palestinians than at any other time since the beginning of the Intifada, other than the March/April 2002 invasions ("Operation Defensive Sheild").

Palestinian Elections and Future Democracy?

Israeli forces have closed six election registration offices in Jerusalem as well as others across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Dr Barghouthi stressed that this is totally unacceptable and if the Palestinians are to achieve reform through democratic process, then the international community must do more than condemn these recent actions, they must demand that Israel reopens the offices. Democracy he insisted is a precondition not only for reform but also for lasting peace, a peace based on justice.

Dr Barghouthi concluded the press conference by declaring that unfortunately, he was almost 100% sure he would be greeting the same audience at a press conference to mark the fifth anniversary of the Intifada. As of yet, there has been no reason for the Palestinians to stop resisting - "either we live as slaves under an occupation or we continue to struggle for freedom", and the latter he insisted is the path that will be taken.

A breakdown of the statistics for the four years of Intifada quoted in Dr Barghouthi's presentation is available on the Palestine Monitor website. All statistics are based on information available at the time of calculation. For updates, palestineanmonitor.org.