Formerly ‘Africa Recovery’ United Nations Department of Public Information Vol. 22 No. 1 April 2008 Winning women’s rights to land How men can be men without beating women Governments simplify rules for business in Africa Kenyan crisis hits East Africa Panos / Giacomo Pirozzi United Nations Vol. 22 No. 1 April 2008 contentsCover article Women struggle to secure land rights . .10 Also in this Issue East Africa feels blows of Kenyan crisis . 3 Kenyan livelihoods up in smoke ....................... 19 Safeguarding children in war . 4 Better health at the click of a button . 5 Enlisting men for women’s equality . 6 Gender violence hampers AIDS fight . 9 Panos / Jan Hammond New IMF programme: more policy An Ethiopian widow who was able freedom or belt-tightening? . 20 to keep control over her farm. NEPAD in action Departments Spurring business to invest in Agenda ......................... .23 Africa’s future . 14 Books .......................... .23 New Partnership for Africa’s Development .............. 16 Watch .......................... .24 Africa Renewal is published in English and French by the Strategic Communications Division Editor-in-Chief of the United Nations Department of Public Information, with support from UNDP, UNICEF and Julie I. Thompson UNIFEM. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or the pub- Managing Editor Writers lication’s supporting organizations. Material from this magazine may be freely reproduced, Ernest Harsch Mary Kimani with attribution to “United Nations Africa Renewal,” and a clipping would be appreciated. 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East Africa feels blows of Kenyan crisis Economic and social repercussions affect entire region By Mary Kimani One of more enya’s post-election violence, which than 350,000 claimed an estimated 1,000 lives and Kenyans dis- displaced 350,000 people, appears to K placed by the have abated. An agreement at the end of fighting that February to share power between govern- erupted after ment and opposition leaders has raised a disputed hopes of a return to stability. Because of election in Kenya’s role as an economic powerhouse December. in the East African region, the seemingly The crisis Reuters / Zohra Bensemra brief crisis has already had significant has inflicted economic and social repercussions well a heavy toll beyond the country’s borders, and many both within the worry that a resumption of conflict could country and have truly devastating consequences. beyond its Violence broke out in Kenya on 30 borders. December after Mwai Kibaki, the incum- bent, was declared winner of the presiden- tial election over Raila Odinga, despite conflict monitoring think-tank headquar- severe. Most commodities going through objections by the opposition and election tered in Brussels, notes that a resolution to the port also must travel along the Northern observers that the vote tally was seriously Kenya’s underlying social and economic Corridor, a network of highways through flawed. In addition to attacks by armed inequalities must also be found to prevent Kenya to neighbouring countries. Each day groups from the two sides, protesters’ road- a recurrence of conflict. “Kenya,” he points some 4,000 light vehicles, 1,250 trucks and blocks along the main highways between out, “is the platform for relief operations 400 buses carry more than 10 mn tonnes Kenya and neighbouring countries curtailed in Somalia and Sudan, a regional entrepot of cargo to Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and trade and manufacturing in the region. for trade and investment and a key anchor Burundi along the network. However, in Such blockages, along with other eco- for the long-term stabilization of Rwanda, January and early February, an estimated nomic disruptions, will likely slow eco- Uganda and Burundi.” 40 illegal roadblocks barred the way. nomic growth throughout East Africa. To open up the route, the Kenya army Before the unrest, the five countries of Transportation hub in February began providing security for the East African Community — Kenya, Briefing the UN Security Council in vehicles travelling in convoy. But con- Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda February, UN Under-Secretary-General voys are slow and costs multiplied. The — expected to see their combined gross for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes UN’s Office for the Coordination of domestic product grow by 6 per cent in noted the regional impact of Kenya’s crisis Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates 2008. Economic analysts now predict that has been particularly significant because that fuel costs in Uganda, eastern DRC the region’s growth rate will be at least 1.5 of the country’s long-standing role as East and Burundi rose by up to 50 per cent. The percentage points lower. Africa’s main transportation hub. price of petrol products in Kigali, Rwanda The ripples of the crisis have spread even More than 80 per cent of Uganda’s more than doubled, and severe shortages wider. Blocked roads and vandalized rail imports pass through the port of Mombasa, prompted the government to institute fuel lines have also hampered the transportation as do almost all of Rwanda’s exports. rationing. of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Commercial trade and humanitarian assis- According to the Uganda Manufacturers groups in the eastern Democratic Republic tance to Burundi, the eastern DRC, parts Association, food prices went up about 15 of the Congo (DRC) and southern Sudan. of northern Tanzania and southern Sudan per cent, and in January inflation rose to 6.5 The power-sharing agreement, medi- also rely on the port. These countries are per cent from 5.1 per cent the month before. ated on behalf of the African Union by therefore “at risk of being significantly By mid-February manufacturers had lost Kofi Annan, a former UN Secretary- affected by violence and disruption” in $43 mn because of delays, destruction of General, with support from a UN regional Kenya, Mr. Holmes said. goods and slowed production. The Uganda team, helped bring a halt to the violence. For a region that has been working hard Revenue Authority reported daily revenue However, Donald Steinberg, deputy presi- towards economic integration, the dis- dent of the International Crisis Group, a ruptions of trade and business have been see page 18 APRIL 2008 Safeguarding children from armed conflict Progress in a few countries, but victimization still widespread By Ernest Harsch sexual violence received assistance or several years after war erupted in from the UN and its partners in the Côte d’Ivoire in 2002, children were one-year period ending June 2007. F recruited to fight on all sides of the conflict. But with the signing of a compre- Close scrutiny hensive peace agreement last year, such While the impact of armed conflict on recruitment has essentially ceased, UN children had been recognized for some Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported time as a major humanitarian problem, to the Security Council at the end of in the 1990s it also came to be seen as January. Because children are no longer a peace and security question. In 1999, being conscripted, the Ivorian groups that the UN Security Council began tak- were previously cited by name in the ing up the issue as a regular thematic annexes to the Secretary-General’s annual item. Demobilizing child soldiers has Reuters / Stephanie Hancock reports on children in armed conflict have become a normal feature of UN-orga- now been “delisted.” nized DDR operations, and a num- Sierra Leone and Liberia used to have ber of UN agencies and civil society large numbers of child soldiers. But they groups now systematically monitor the are now at peace and are also no longer conditions of children in war zones. included in the report’s annexes. The Some of those who recruit child sol- Secretary-General’s Special Represen- diers have been brought to justice. The tative for Children and Armed Conflict Special Court for Sierra Leone has con- A boy soldier in the Chadian army: Both sides in the conflict have recruited children to fight, Radhika Coomaraswamy calls the annexes victed several former commanders and contrary to international norms. a “list of shame,” intended to put pressure the charge of conscripting children also on named groups to stop such abuses. has been laid against the court’s most There has been modest progress in a few prominent defendant, former Liberian some continue to recruit child soldiers. other African countries. A peace accord in President Charles Taylor. The International Rape and other sexual violence against January between the government of the Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague has children by both rebels and government Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) indicted or issued warrants against rebel forces have been reported. and rebel factions in the provinces of North leaders in the DRC and Uganda, and • In the Central African Republic sev- and South Kivu called for the demobiliza- Congolese courts have also prosecuted a eral rebel forces have been conscripting tion of child combatants.