| Anger,
Frustration as Ethiopians Bury Their Dead. [Ethiopia
]
In a crowded, dingy room
in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, women
in traditional white veils sit on a wooden
bench, crying uncontrollably. In a scene of grief replicated across the city, Felege Wolde
Tsadik, 70, paces back and forth in front of her fellow mourners, clutching two
black-and-white photographs and wailing. The two pictures announce a double tragedy
for Felege, whose 18-year-old grandson Abyei Mulat was shot dead by police on Wednesday
during almost a week of political unrest. Abyei was killed just two weeks after his
father died of an illness, leaving Felege without a breadwinner. "I am as good
as dead. How will I survive?" the sobbing woman asked Reuters. "I do
not have anyone else to take care of me. Why should I live anymore?" |
| Woman Claims Liberian
Presidency. [Liberia]
Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
claimed success in her bid
to become Africa's first democratically elected female president, but
her soccer star
opponent refused to concede, pressing his fraud allegations. With almost 91 percent
of ballots counted by late Thursday, the electoral commission said 67-year-old
Johnson-Sirleaf held about 59 percent of Tuesday's vote, compared with 41 percent for
George Weah of Chelsea and AC Milan
fame. ''I think the results are clear,''
Johnson-Sirleaf told The Associated Press at her residence late Thursday. ''It's
clear that the Liberian people have expressed confidence in me. They have elected me
to lead the team that will bring reform to the country and
that will deliver development. |
|
Liberians
Elect Africa's First Female President.
[Liberia]
The former Liberian finance
minister, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has claimed victory in the presidential run-off and looks
likely to become Africa's first elected woman head
of state. Announcing what seemed
to be an unbeatable lead for the Harvard-educated banker, the National Elections
Commission said that with ballots tallied from more than 90 per cent of polling stations,
Ms Johnson-Sirleaf had 59.1 per cent of the votes from Tuesday's election. Her
rival, George Weah, a millionaire soccer star, had 40.9 per cent. "I think the
trend is now irreversible," said Ms Johnson-Sirleaf, 67, known as the Iron
Lady. "Just my own performance … is going to raise the participation of
women not just in Liberia but also
in Africa. It's a big challenge but I'm looking
forward to it." |
| Liberia's Message for
the Women of Africa. [Liberia]
These were the women I grew up with in Liberia,
the women all across Africa - the worst place there is to be a woman - who somehow manage
to carry that entire continent on their backs. These are the women who went to the
polls in Liberia last
week. They ignored the threats of the young men who vowed more
war if their chosen presidential candidate, the former soccer player George Weah, didn't
win. "No Weah, no peace," the boys yelled, chanting in the streets and
around the polling stations. Ever since the voting results started coming in a few
days ago, showing what the Liberian women had done, I've been unable to get one image from
Bukavu out of my mind. It is of an old woman, in her 30s. It was almost
twilight when I saw her, walking up the hill out of the city as I drove in. She
carried so many logs that her chest almost seemed to touch the ground, so stooped was her
back. Still, she trudged on, up the hill toward her home. Her husband was
walking just in front of her. He carried nothing. Nothing in his hand, nothing
on his shoulder, nothing on his back. He kept looking back at her, telling her to
hurry up. I want to go back to Bukavu to find that woman, and to tell her what just
happened in Liberia. I
want to tell her this: Your time will come, too. |
| A Society at a
Crossroads. [Liberia]
The election last week of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the
Harvard-educated former World Bank economist as president of
Liberia, is a
milestone. She will become the first woman African head of state and give her
tormented country the only real opportunity in more than a generation to emerge from the
ashes of a savage civil war. But these rays of hope will be extinguished if George
Weah, her vanquished opponent, becomes bellicose and stokes violent conflict. The
election of Johnson-Sirleaf notwithstanding, history will repeat itself unless the
international community acts resolutely. Although she won 60 percent to Weah's 40
percent, Weah has refused to concede defeat, charging fraud and other
irregularities. International monitors have categorically stated that there is no
evidence to bolster Weah's allegations. Most Liberians seem to have voted for
experience and technocratic competence over glamour. The belief is that 67-year-old
Johnson-Sirleaf, with her connections and legitimacy in the world of global finance and
capital, stands a better chance of leading Liberia
to economic recovery and international
demarginalization. The silver lining for Weah is that he has established himself as
a powerful political force and the man likely to succeed Johnson-Sirleaf. |
| Woman Wins
Historic Liberia Vote. [Liberia]
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been declared
president of Liberia following
runoff elections, having received
nearly 60 percent of the
vote. The declaration was made Wednesday by
Liberia's National Electoral Commission,
which investigated election fraud claims filed by Johnson-Sirleaf's rival, international
soccer star George Weah. Johnson-Sirleaf is the first female elected president
in Africa. |
| Horrifying Rapes
On The Increase. [Namibia]
The abuse of women and children continues to escalate
in Namibia, and ways
must be found to stem this tide of violence. Condemnatory
statements are made from time to time by various leaders and civil society groups, but
still we fail to make a difference in the lives of our most vulnerable. The cases of
rape reported by the Police this week alone were in the double figures by the time of
going to press, the majority of them involving minors. Rape and violence against
women and children in our society is no longer merely a problem - it is a national
disaster. The news of a barrage of rapes this week comes while a two-day national
conference on woman and child protection, under the theme of 'Speak out against abuse', is
taking place in the capital. Reported cases in
Namibia in 2003 alone, according to a
Unicef spokeswoman, show that there are close to three rapes a day in a country with a
population of less than two million. Bearing in mind that these are only the
incidents that are reported to the Police, we can hazard a guess that the actual figures
are much higher. |
| Protect
Women and Kids, Men Urged. [South
Africa] The department of justice initiative
is a national program, but the Western
Cape has launched its own activities. On
Friday the city hosts the 1 000 Men Breakfast at the Cape Town International Convention
Centre and a men's march. Ramatlakane said the switching on of the lights in Wale
Street was a sign that the
Western Cape government believed the abuse of women and
children could be overcome. "We must work to overcome this scourge of abuse
against women and children not only during the 16 Days of Activism for Non-Violence
Against Women and Children, but every day." The MEC encouraged men to pressure
their peers to be "good men", who did not abuse women and children. |
| It's Back to the 'Village Well'
in Zimbabwe's Crumbling Cities. [Zimbabwe]
Balancing a bucket filled with water
on her head, much like in the old childhood days in the rural district of Chirumhanzu,
42-year-old mother of four Marian Kanyonga breaks a sweat - it has been a hectic morning.
She has just made her sixth trip to a nearby unprotected well, where using a rusty
old plate she has to kneel and scoop water into her 25-litre bucket, a skill she has now
almost perfected into an art. Kanyonga is not alone, women and children, buckets and
containers in hand discuss the problems afflicting them, from water shortages, raw
effluent flowing in the streets, uncollected garbage to a burgeoning HIV/AIDS epidemic
that is killing at least 3 000 Zimbabweans every week. This is not Chirumhanzu, a
dusty rural area, more than 200km south of Harare.
It is Zengeza suburb, situated in
the dormitory town of Chitungwiza, some 30km south of the Zimbabwean capital, where water
has become an elusive commodity with some residents forced to walk several kilometres to
buy the precious liquid for $1 000 a litre. Residents live in fear of a serious
health crisis. |