Bemba has been arrested for his and his troops’ involvement in the murder, rape, and looting of civilians person and property between 25 October 2002 and 15 March 2003 in the Central Africa Republic (CAR). At the time, his political organisation, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), had sent its militiamen to support the then-CAR President, Ange Patasse who was facing the rebellion of the current president, General Francois Bozize.

Whilst in the CAR, Bemba’s MLC troops created chaos on route to the conflict zone. However, the fight was a lost one from the start - as most of the fighting troops were child soldiers, they stood very little chance against the Chadian mercenaries that Bozize eventually brought into the war. Following his successful coup, Bozize quickly organised a flawed election that was won without little surprise. Now in a “legitimate” position of power, Bozize approached the ICC to investigate the war crimes committed in the CAR by the former regime, including the assistance gained from Bemba and the MLC.

The attacks that were unleashed on Alexandra township spread rapidly to large parts of Johannesburg’s townships and as far a field as Cape Town and has undoubtedly created a state of emergency, where between 50,000 and 100,000 people have been displaced. Over 60 people succumbed to the brutal and vicious attacks that were carried out by mobs of angry residents, while nearly 670 people were injured.

The gravest casualty in the aftermath of the xenophobic attacks is the present ruling-ANC Government’s inability to ensure safety, security and political stability. The xenophobic attacks also revealed various critical Government Departments’ total incompetence to respond to serious emergency situations that arguably has serious effects on the country’s overall national security.

The Government’s response has been largely focused on damage control and the country’s security and intelligence services share much of the blame in not providing timely, effective and actionable intelligence in pre-empting the crisis situation that has been fomenting for many years now. Ample reports had been produced by various reputable research organisations sounding ominous warnings of simmering tensions and the potential of violence. Regrettably many more will be produced, including yet another violent chapter.

GENDERED INEQUALITIES

Most societies host some forms of gender inequality, developing countries notably so. Here, women face daily incongruence between their own access to resources and bargaining power in society, and those of men. These inequalities are often deeply ingrained and stubbornly maintained in cultural and religious communities, so that they require significant events, mobilisation and time to change. The Global Gender Gap Report argues that if the gaps in access to resources between men and women can be measured, as the report does, they can be improved, hence the Report aims to provide decision makers with a ‘snapshot’ of their respective gendered situations. This ‘snapshot’ is presented as a ranking, comparing gender gaps between countries and revealing the opportunities that lie beyond reducing gender gaps in access to resources. Each country’s profile provides a comprehensive detailed report of over 30 gender-related variables, as well as the original data used to create the Index and additional information on country-specific legal and social influential factors.

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

THE FIRST GLOBAL RESPONSE

It was almost a decade ago, in 1999, when the World Bank launched what was to be the very first major global response to HIV & AIDS. Since then, in attempts to combat the epidemic, the Bank has provided over US$ 1.5 billion to more than 30 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In an initial first stage of its commitment to fighting the disease, back in 2000, the Executive Directors of World Bank approved a US$ 500 million commitment with the Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Program (MAP) for Africa. An AIDS Campaign Team for Africa (ACTafrica) was introduced to implement the strategy, and also to provide operational support. Two years later, in February 2002, the World Bank Board approved a further US$ 500 million, improving their reach, and leading to the support of a number of regional programs and second-generation projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Across a wide number of sectors foreign-owned companies have been told that they must be prepared to willingly sell 51% of their shares or face expulsion and/or a revoke of operating licences. The move was condemned from a range of interest groups as highly irrational.

However, in the mining sector, only months after the process was revealed, the redistribution bid has dismally failed to attract the kind of attention Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF expected.

FOOD vs. SHARES

While official inflationary figures for Zimbabwe are becoming increasingly sporadic, the latest understood number (released for March 2008) stands at over 300,000%. Understanding this, quite simply, Zimbabweans can barely afford basic necessities let alone shares in mining contracts. Furthermore, the structure of the empowerment approach is understood to award Zanu-PF supporting members for their loyalty i.e. excluding the comparatively wealthy - and largely opposition supporting - diaspora with accessible funds in places like the UK.

African and world leaders in attendance espoused the growing links between Africa and Asia and called on the Japanese government to do more to ensure greater Japanese trade and investment throughout Africa. To date, Japanese investment in Africa remains small with only US$ 415 million invested on the continent between 2002 and 2004, 0.4% of Japan’s total FDI flows. Trade exports to Japan from Africa amounted to only 2% of Japan’s total imports in 2003 – 2004. Japan’s involvement on the continent has been largely through small humanitarian donations and piecemeal investment activities, far out shadowed by China and India’s engagement on the continent. Although Japan’s engagement has not been typically noteworthy over the past decade, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has stressed the growing role of Japan through TICAD IV in assisting Africa by boosting economic growth, enhancing human security and addressing environmental and climate change impacts on the continent.