In his recently issued press release Tsidi M. Tsikata,Mission Chief for The Gambia with the International Monetary Fund, has laid out very clearly the state of our economic affairs in The Gambia. By reaching the “completion point” under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative we are now benefiting from significant debt relief. The various relief from which we now benefit have cut The Gambia’s stock of outstanding external debt at end 2007 by more than half from over US$700 million to about US$320 million. This has resulted in over US$500 million in debt service payments being freed up and made available to government to use. This is a massive amount of money and must be put to the best possible use.

The release states, “In recent years, the Gambian economy has begun to reap the benefits from sound macroeconomic policies. Since 2004, the restoration of fiscal and monetary discipline has stabilised the exchange rate and brought inflation back to low single-digit levels.” It continues to say, “Economic growth picked up, and has averaged almost 6 1/2% a year over the past four years, one of the highest growth rates in the region.”

These are both positive statements but the fact is that an estimated 60% of our people are living below the poverty line. Economic activity such as that cited above are very welcome developments, but who are they benefiting most? If six out of every ten people in the country are living in poverty it means that the money is in the hands of the other four out of that ten.

As more money floods into the country through the various foreign investments cited by Mr. Tsikata, such as tourism, construction and telecommunications sectors, the cost of living will inevitably rise. This will be an uncomfortable but manageable situation for those who have money but it may doom those who do not. The poorest people in this nation are already facing the specter of rising food prices. If this gap between rich and poor continues to grow as it is at the moment then we could see a situation where people are dying of hunger. Unfortunately the new money in the country does not seem to be “trickling down” as general capitalist theory says it will. In The Gambia the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

What government must now do is laid out extremely succinctly by Mr. Tsikata in his press release. He says, “Debt relief and other assistance from The Gambia’s development partners provide scope for the country to combine strong sustainable growth with higher- spending on infrastructure and social services, thereby accelerating progress on poverty reduction. But in order to capitalise on this opportunity, the government needs to ensure that its annual budgets give high priority to increasing poverty-reducing expenditures. The government also needs to guard against policies that would lead the country back onto a path of unsustainable debt.”

The extra money gained through debt relief must be made to work for those in society who need it most. Of course we must continue to create the correct environment for investment by improving infrastructure and educating our young people but our first priority must be to those who are living in poverty. Through careful policy and diligent governance we can lift all of our people out of poverty and move forward together on our path to development.

“The greatest of our evils and the worst of our crimes is poverty”

George Bernard Shaw

The Sudanese government and rebel groups in the war-ravaged Darfur region should immediately take measures to end the sexual violence endemic to the conflict, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

"The risk of sexual violence is a fact of everyday life for many women and girls in Darfur," HRW said in a 7 April report, Five Years On - No Justice for Sexual Violence in Darfur. "It is a particularly disturbing feature of the ongoing armed conflict, a consequence of abusive state armed forces and non-state armed groups, and of the breakdown of law and order."

Five years into the Darfur conflict, HRW said, sexual violence had continued both during attacks on civilians and in periods of relative calm, with women and girls living in camps for the displaced, towns and rural areas remaining "extremely vulnerable" to sexual violence.

"In the mostly Muslim province of Darfur, sexual violence is an extremely sensitive topic," HRW said. "Women and girls often do not admit to being sexually abused because they fear social stigmatisation and do not trust the authorities to take action. Many authorities refuse to acknowledge the problem and some accuse victims of lying to international aid workers to exaggerate their plight for political ends."

Violence erupted in Darfur in 2003, with the government and government-backed Janjaweed militia unleashing a campaign against ethnic groups perceived to be associated with two main rebel groups: the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). Since then, civilians have borne the brunt of the violence, with aid agencies estimating at that at least 200,000 people have been killed and millions displaced.

"It is imperative the Sudanese government and UNAMID [United Nations-African Union mission], give high priority to meeting the challenges associated with addressing sexual violence," HRW said. "The government should demonstrate its resolve to address these serious human rights violations by state security forces and government-backed militias through concrete actions addressing the causes of sexual violence."

It urged the government to show its commitment to combating sexual violence by ending all attacks on civilians, including women and children, by government forces and state-backed militia; issuing a presidential decree to the armed forces and government-sponsored militia that rape and other forms of sexual violence would be promptly investigated and prosecuted; and holding those responsible accountable.

"The government also needs to bolster the justice sector's capacity to respond to sexually violent crimes," HRW said. "It should ensure police and prosecutors are trained in victim-sensitive approaches to handling criminal investigations, and that properly trained female police investigators are deployed to police stations in Darfur, especially to internally displaced persons [IDP] camps."

HRW urged the Sudanese government to revise criminal laws on sexual violence to include attempted rape and to ensure that rape victims were not exposed to prosecution for adultery, "as is possible - and has happened in the past - under Sudanese law".

"[The government] should repeal immunity laws that provide members of the security forces effective immunity from prosecution in civilian courts for human rights violations, including acts of sexual violence," HRW said.

It demanded that rebel forces and groups in Darfur likewise stop attacking civilians, including women and children, and issue clear instructions to group members that rape and other forms of sexual violence would be fully investigated and prosecuted and perpetrators held accountable.

"Former rebels, to the extent that they administer justice in areas under their control, should also seek assistance to bolster the capability of police and prosecutors to bring perpetrators of sexual violence crimes to justice," HRW said.

It urged UNAMID to deploy to areas where civilians needed the most protection and to increase preventive "firewood patrols" to protect women and girls who go out of IDP camps in search of firewood.

The Monam group of rape survivors in the northern town of Bossangoa in the Central African Republic (CAR) does what it can to keep going, but morale is low and money tight.

"We've been left to fend for ourselves. We get little help from outside. Many of our members have died," the group's chairwoman, Pelagie Ndokoyanga, told IRIN/PlusNews.

Monam, which means "common good" in the Sango language, was set up in 2006 to bring together female survivors of sexual violence committed in 2001 and 2002 amid the mayhem leading up to the most recent of CAR's numerous coups d'etat that brought Francois Bozize to power in March 2003.

As well as providing a forum for solidarity, revenue-generation and wellbeing for women who have suffered gender-based violence (GBV), Monam also aims to combat such abuse, identify its perpetrators and fight against the stigmatisation of women in general and rape survivors in particular. According to Ndokoyanga, several members of the group were abandoned by their husbands after they were raped.

When an HIV testing and counselling centre was set up in Bossangoa in 2005, many of the first HIV-positive cases were the result of rape.

Among them is Nkokoyanga, who also works with the Bossangoa Association of People Living with HIV.

"It's normal to tell relatives when one is infected, it's not a sin," she said when several dozen members of the association met IRIN/PlusNews. "But they are the first to spread the news."

"Nobody has a job here. I have all my certificates but I never get a job because people know I am HIV-positive," she added.

Both organisations would like to enhance their incoming-generating activities such as market trading, but lack of the necessary capital makes it hard to get such projects off the ground.

With UNAIDS estimating CAR's HIV prevalence at 10 percent, with just three percent of HIV-positive adults on life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy, there is a clear and urgent need to scale up HIV education, testing and treatment, but continued armed conflict and insecurity have made this difficult in many areas of the country.

Many rapes, little data

Accurate, detailed statistics about the number of women who suffer GBV in CAR are unavailable. This is partly because of the stigma attached to such attacks, but also because the government barely functions outside the capital and international humanitarian actors have only recently begun working in the country in significant numbers.

In late February 2007, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that "sexual and gender-based violence strikes well over 15 percent of women and girls" in northern CAR.

Such attacks increased during the pre-coup unrest and during rebel clashes in early 2006 and early 2007.

One of the main areas of investigation opened in May 2007 by the International Criminal Court (ICC), following a request by the CAR government, is the "many allegations of rape and other aspects of sexual violence perpetrated against hundreds of reported victims...during a peak of violence in 2002/03", according to an ICC statement.

The court’s prosecutor is also closely monitoring reported incidences of GBV committed after 2005, when two rebellions emerged in the north.

“[Following a failed coup attempt in late 2002] there emerged a pattern of massive rapes and sexual violence perpetrated by armed individuals. Sexual violence appears to have been a central feature of the conflict," the ICC statement said, adding that at least 600 victims of GBV had been identified over the course of just five months.

Those targeted included elderly women, young girls and men, the ICC said.

"There were often aggravating aspects of cruelty such as rapes committed by multiple perpetrators, in front of third persons, sometimes with relatives forced to participate," the statement added, noting that the social impact of such crimes "appears devastating".

Programmes slowly getting off the ground

For now, there is little outside help for those directly affected by GBV. Clients of the Organisation pour la compassion et le développement des familles en détresse (OCODEFAD), a domestic NGO, have given testimony about sexual attacks against them to the Bangui office of the ICC prosecutor.

OCODEFAD was founded by Bernadette Sayo, a secondary school teacher whose husband was killed in front of her in 2002 by DRC rebels allied to CAR's then president Ange-Félix Patassé amid a coup attempt. The gunmen subsequently raped her.

OCODEFAD registered hundreds of women and dozens of men, as well as young children and elderly people, sexually abused during this period of unrest. It was largely thanks to pressure from this organisation and international rights groups that the government in Bangui called on the ICC to open its investigation.

In terms of foreign assistance, one NGO, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), set up a GBV programme in the northern town of Kaga-Bandoro in May 2007, providing free medical care and psycho-social counselling for its clients, raising awareness about GBV in nearby communities and holding discussions with various military groups.

Language, as well as stigma, was an obstacle in the beginning. "It took us a month to get a definition of rape. There's no word for it in Sango," Catherine Poulton, IRC GBV coordinator in CAR, told IRIN/PlusNews.

Since it began, the IRC's programme - which covers households along a 50km stretch of road - has handled 1,040 cases of GBV, dealing with associated problems such as sexually transmitted diseases, trauma and rejection by families.

Another seven GBV programmes are in the pipeline for 2008, involving agencies such as the UN World Health Organization, UNICEF, the UN Population Fund and Comité d'Aide Medicale.

In the case of CAR, where the data is so limited, donors may need to break with the tradition of seeking detailed assessments of a problem before signing their cheques. According to some analysts, one has to assume widespread prevalence; in IRC's experience the data emerged from the programme, rather than vice versa.

A final peace agreement to end two decades of conflict in northern Uganda is expected to be signed on 5 April, but the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) said it would only disarm if indictments issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against its top leadership were deferred.

"A signed copy will be given to (the Ugandan) government. Then the government will have the obligation to take the copy to the UN Security Council and ask for a 12-month suspension of the warrants before the LRA could disarm," David Matsanga, the head of the LRA delegation at the talks, told IRIN

This represents a softening of the LRA’s position. During the months of peace talks in Juba, the rebel movement had insisted the indictments be dropped altogether, but the ICC prosecutor dismissed the idea, even though the Rome Statute that guides the court allows him to rule that Ugandan courts are competent to handle the case themselves, and that one of the agreements reached during the talks provided for a special division of the Ugandan high court to be set up to try war crimes committed during the conflict.

The Rome Statute also empowers the Security Council to override the prosecutor and defer a prosecution for a renewable 12-month period.

"We have agreed that the tentative date for signing is 5 April and we are still continuing debating other aspects of the final agreement," Matsanga’s deputy, James Obita, told IRIN.

The LRA fought against the government of President Yoweri Museveni for two decades, mainly attacking civilians in the north and east of the country. The group was widely accused of committing atrocities, including torching homes and camps for the displaced, killings, rape and the abduction of children for military conscription and sexual slavery.

The Ugandan government asked The Hague-based ICC to investigate the LRA for war crimes and in 2005 warrants were issued for the arrest of five top LRA commanders, including the group’s leader Joseph Kony.

Government delegation spokesman Chris Magezi said an existing cessation of hostilities agreement would not be formally extended beyond 28 March, when it expires, but said the truce would be respected “in a manner of a gentleman’s agreement”.

The LRA team was scheduled to travel to the Ri-Kwangba area of Southern Sudan for the final consultation with senior leadership on the settlement.

"They will either return with Joseph Kony or anybody authorised by the rebel high command to sign the agreement on its behalf," Magezi added.

Obita, however, said the ICC indictments might discourage Kony from emerging from hiding to sign the peace agreement.

The cessation of hostilities deal was forged in August 2006, two months after the two parties agreed to peace talks mediated by the Vice President of Southern Sudan, Riek Machar.

Scores of civic and religious leaders from northern Uganda arrived in Juba on 25 March to witness the signing that was earlier scheduled to take place on 28 March.

Residents in a camp for displaced persons in Nakuru, in Rift Valley Province, western Kenya, were deeply shocked when a gang of men attacked and sexually assaulted five boys, but the health officials dealing with sexual violence during the recent political upheaval have had to become immune.

"Since the violence started we are seeing similar numbers of cases to what we would normally see over the same timespan, but there is one major difference: 90 percent of the cases we are seeing since the political crisis began are gang rapes," said Lucy Kiama, head of the Gender Violence Recovery Centre at the Nairobi Women's Hospital. "The gangs range from groups of two men to as many as eleven."

An estimated 300 women have been treated for rape since the year began, many of them women and girls who had travelled from Rift Valley Province to the capital, Nairobi, often a journey of hundreds of kilometres that could take many hours by bus.

The women usually arrive too late for post-exposure prophylaxis, which can prevent HIV infection following exposure, but receive post-trauma counselling and treatment for other injuries. For a few weeks, roadblocks on the highways linking Nairobi to the Rift Valley also prevented many from travelling to hospitals for treatment.

Kiama said she could not rule out the possibility that these gang rapes were planned and ethnically motivated, but said they were also likely crimes of opportunity carried out by men taking advantage of the lack of proper security.

According to Jeanne Ward, an international consultant on gender-based violence (GBV), the spike in gang rape in a situation as violent as Kenya was at the beginning of the year was not unusual. "Most violence is carried out in gangs during times when there is a breakdown of law and order, so gang rape is merely a replication of the other kinds of violence using the same methods," she said.

"There are always pre-disposing factors with the kind of sexual violence we're seeing in the camps, such as a lack of respect for human rights, a sense among perpetrators that it is okay to do it," Ward said.

"However, there are also exacerbating factors in play, such as alcohol abuse, close camp quarters, men whose traditional roles have suddenly changed, limited security - these also create an environment where rape can become common. The basic fact is that they know they are able to carry these crimes out with impunity," she added.

"Legal redress may be available in urban centres like Nairobi, Mombasa [Kenya's port city] or Nakuru, but in the rural areas there is no way women have access to legal services."

Another common thread in many IDP camps is the sexual coercion and exploitation of girls and women by people in positions of responsibility or power.

An interagency assessment of GBV reported that in the early stages of camp development at the Nakuru showgrounds (an agricultural exhibition facility), community members reportedly took girls from the camp to serve as domestic help, likely increasing their risk of sexual exploitation.

The same report said women had stated that men in the community around the camp set up on the showgrounds at Eldoret, another town in Rift Valley Province, were inducing girls to leave the camp with the promise that they would "eat something sweet".

"In some cases, team leaders responsible for handing out food have been making girls give them sex in exchange for the food they are actually entitled to," Kiama said. "So even when the sex is consensual, it is often survival sex - the girls and women don't feel they have a choice."

Psychological first aid not sufficient

She noted that many women appeared to be in a state of shock. "The kind of trauma we are seeing is different; not only are these women raped, but many have lost loved ones, land and property, and suddenly find themselves in the strange surroundings of an IDP [internally displaced persons] camp.

"What we are giving them is a kind of psychological first aid, but handling these cases will necessitate long-term care, but as many of the IDPs are still moving from place to place, this will prove difficult," Kiama said. "One woman came here so traumatised she did not speak for several days - she needed speech therapy; others are suicidal, and others want revenge."

Besides the physical health risks of these crimes, such as HIV and unwanted pregnancies, the long-term psychological health of women who had been attacked was also at risk. "There is still so much IDP movement, and we have no way of tracing these women to provide them with the longer-term counselling they will need," she added. "These are going to be the long-term consequences of this violence."

Improving protection

The continued rape and sexual exploitation has highlighted the need for better protection of women and girls in the camps. In response, several organisations, under the umbrella of the United Nations Protection Cluster, have come together to ensure that new camps are constructed with separate toilets for men and women, sufficient lighting and more organised sleeping quarters.

Kenya's Red Cross Society has been running seminars on GBV. "We were taught about the Inter-Agency Standing Committee [a mechanism for coordinating humanitarian assistance by key UN and non-UN partners] guidelines [on gender-based violence in emergencies]," said John Mbugua, coordinator of health service at the Nakuru IDP camps, whose team also attended.

"After the seminars we formed groups where we could start spreading the message and see how we could protect people." The guidelines outline preventive and curative measures for dealing with GBV in IDP camps, including providing activities for bored young people such as sports, and income-generating projects to keep older men and women busy and able to support their families.

Other initiatives include sensitising camp residents to the inhumanity and risks of sexual violence, strengthening the legal system, and ensuring that the police and other staff handling sexual assault cases were properly trained.

Now that President Mwai Kibaki and his erstwhile rival, Raila Odinga, have signed a political settlement, it is hoped that the IDP camps will be disbanded and Kenya's 600,000 displaced people will return to their homes.

However, camp officials in Nakuru said so far few people had left the camp and many would remain until the government could guarantee their safety or provide them with alternative homes.

Comoros took control of its rebel island of Anjouan on Tuesday in a military operation aimed at toppling renegade leader, Mohamed Bacar, a government official said.

"The operation started in the early morning hours and it is going smoothly and according to plan," Abdourahim Said Bakar, a spokesman for the Union government told IRIN. "The military has taken control over most of the island - the airport and Anjouan's capital, Mutsamudu."

The Comoros government, supported by a coalition force of troops from Tanzania, Sudan and Senegal, with logistical support from Libya, launched the seaborne assault on 25 March to end the rule of rebel leader Mohamed Bacar, who came to power through a coup in 2001.

The military was still facing some resistance close to Bacar's home early on Monday, and the whereabouts of the former gendarme colonel was unknown, the spokesman said. "We hope that by the end of the day we will have the problem resolved … A special group has been selected to capture Bacar, arrest him and bring him to court. He has to pay for his crimes."

All phone lines to Anjouan have been cut for several weeks, but international news agencies reported blasts and machine gun fire on the island.

The political crisis on the Indian Ocean archipelago has been simmering since June 2007, when African Union (AU)-monitored polls were held on all three islands – Anjouan, Grand Comore and Moheli.

The Union government backed by the AU postponed the poll on Anjouan, citing irregularities and intimidation in the run-up to voting, but Bacar printed his own ballot papers, held an election and claimed a landslide victory.

Neither Bacar nor the Comoros Union government, which is demanding a fresh poll, was prepared to compromise. Efforts by the AU to negotiate a deal had failed to break the deadlock, as had sanctions targeting the freedoms and financial assets of Anjouan's leadership.

In February a frustrated AU Peace and Security Council revised its stance on the political conflict and moved to backing the Union government's position of using military force. Coalition forces then began gathering on Moheli, the island closest to Anjouan.

Minimise casualties

A day before the assault, helicopters dropped leaflets on Anjouan warning that the operation was imminent and urging the population to stay at home. The small island is home to 300,000 people out of the 700,000 that inhabit the archipelago, which lies off the east African coast.

The spokesman said there were no reports of casualties so far. "Certainly there will be some victims but we think that we can reduce the number to a minimum. Our leaflet warning has worked very well and we believe that civilians will not be hit by our operation," he said.

Bacar is thought to lead a well-armed force of about 500 gendarmes and it was widely accepted that any military solution to the stalemate would require outside assistance.

"The illegal Anjouan authorities are better prepared and equipped militarily. It should be recalled that twice [1997 and 2007] the Union government have been beaten out of Anjouan," Chrysantus Ayangafac, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies' Direct Conflict Prevention Programme, told IRIN. And despite the Union governments advantage in numbers, "the illegal Anjouan authorities have the military advantage of knowing the terrain," Ayangafac added.

Deep-rooted problems

The political crisis on Anjouan marked a return to the political volatility that has been a hallmark of Comoros since the islands achieved independence from France in 1975. The archipelago has weathered about 20 successful and attempted coups to date.

The Union's complex electoral system gives the three islands a semi-autonomous government and president and the presidency of the over-arching Union government is rotated between the three islands.

The power sharing system was brokered in 2001 by the Organisation of African Unity, predecessor of the AU, in the wake of Moheli and Anjouan seceding from Grand Comore in 1997, when an attempt by the government to re-establish control over the rebellious islands by force failed.

The fragile system has been criticised for being far too expensive, and the question surrounding the allocation of power and resources between the different island governments has been a particularly contentious issue.

Given the complexities and history of the islands "any sustainable peace in Anjouan and in Comoros by extension is not a quick fix solution endangered by a military action," Ayangafac said. "While it is plausible that the AU and Union government might have a quick victory - the consequences of the military intervention might be catastrophic. Military action might further polarise the Anjouan society and make it extremely difficult to reign in."

"Anjouan is the epicentre of the Comorian economy. It is the richest of the federated islands and it's economy is the most vibrant," he explained. The island also has the countries only deepwater port, giving it control over Comoros’ international trade and customs revenue.

The UN Resident Coordinator in the Comoros, Opia Kumah, told IRIN he could not yet evaluate any potential damage caused by the operation, but said he had asked the UN for around $1 million in emergency aid for Anjouan.

"We have no access to Anjouan but this is what we think will be needed in such a small country," he said. As soon as Anjouan's airport was secure, a UN humanitarian team of around 5 to 6 people would be sent to the island.

"We will take care of food, communication, water, sanitation and all problems that may have hit the island," Kumah told IRIN.

He said that it was too early to talk about displacement. "As of now, the information we got from Anjouan is that people were staying indoors, as they were advised. I hope that it will stay so. Displacements if it happens might come later."

An agreement to prosecute alleged war criminals in Uganda rather than in the International Criminal Court (ICC) has fuelled hopes for an imminent end to the long-running civil war, even if one leading rights group has condemned the deal.

Delegates from the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) agreed on 19 February that a special division of the country’s high court be set up to try war crimes committed during the 21-year-old conflict.

The deal was reached in the Southern Sudanese capital, Juba, where the two sides have been negotiating a peace deal for the past 18 months. The Ugandan government has insisted a comprehensive treaty must be reached by the end of February 2008, failing which it could resume hostilities.

Key to the talks are justice and reconciliation, an issue complicated by war crimes indictments issued in 2005 by the ICC against LRA leader Joseph Kony and other senior members of the rebel group.

The rebels have repeatedly called for these indictments to be dropped, echoed by civil society groups in northern Uganda, which feared they would deter the LRA from signing a comprehensive peace agreement.

The latest agreement “is a splendid achievement for the talks. It is a great turnaround that we have managed to have an alternative to the International Criminal Court indictments against some of the fighters,” James Obita, one of the rebel negotiators, told IRIN by telephone from Juba.

The deal “will please the fighters who had said they would not leave their bush hide-out unless the indictments by the ICC had been withdrawn”, he added.

And the head of the LRA delegation to the talks, David Matsanga, told IRIN: “If things don’t work out as we expect, we will proceed with our plans to send our legal team to meet the UN Secretary-General and the ICC to ensure the warrant of arrest is dropped before we sign the [final] peace deal.”

The Ugandan government also welcomed the agreement, even though the ICC indictments followed its approaches to the court. “This is a big success, we will now move to the next item, which is about a permanent ceasefire and probably we will be able to conclude the talks very soon,” said Captain Chris Magezi, spokesman for the government delegation in Juba.

As part of the agreement, a special investigations unit will be set up in Kampala under the authority of the director of public prosecutions.

The deal also calls for a truth commission, reparations for victims of the conflict and traditional justice mechanisms to be used for lesser crimes.

Mixed reactions

International rights and advocacy groups were divided in their reaction. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called it “a major step” but warned that Uganda’s justice system would need to be “improved” to ensure trials met international standards.

“Today’s agreement could be a major step toward peace and justice for northern Uganda, but the true test lies in how the agreement is put into practice,” Richard Dicker, HRW’s international justice programme director, said in a statement.

If the ICC deems that Ugandan courts are up to the task of trying Kony and others, then its own statutes would recommend the international indictments be dropped.

A sceptical Amnesty International (AI) took a much tougher line. “At the moment, we have no evidence to suggest that even a new court established in Uganda to deal with these cases would be able and willing to do so in fair proceedings that are not a sham,” Christopher Keith Hall, senior legal adviser in AI’s International Justice Project, said in a statement.

“There won’t be long-lasting peace in northern Uganda unless those responsible for war crimes are brought to justice,” Hall told IRIN by telephone, adding that failure to deliver indicted LRA leaders to the ICC in The Hague “would set a terrible precedent” for similar situations in other conflict areas.

Kony and the others charged should be handed over immediately to the ICC, according to AI. Only when they were in custody should the tribunal decide whether Uganda was able handle the cases.

There is a major practical obstacle to implementing AI’s injunction: arresting Kony. He and other LRA leaders are based in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Garamba forest, well beyond the reach of Ugandan authorities.

Hall pointed out, however, that one of the UN’s largest military missions, MONUC, is based in the DRC and had the capability to arrest the LRA leaders. He also noted that the DRC government had pledged not to give sanctuary to the rebel group.

Peace versus justice?

Refugees International, an advocacy organisation, noted in a 19 February report, Uganda: Challenges of Peace and Justice, that the ICC indictments were partially responsible for bringing the LRA to the negotiating table in the first place and for ensuring the talks included discussions of justice and accountability.

But the report went on to warn that the latest Juba deal would be unlikely to lead the ICC to drop its indictments and that “the LRA leadership would in turn find such a continuing threat of arrest and imprisonment untenable, and [so] the prospects for peace in northern Uganda would wane”.

Ways forward that “need not involve a zero-sum trade-off of justice for peace” lie in the ICC’s own statute, according to Refugees International.

Article 16 of the Rome Statute, for example, allows the UN Security Council to override the ICC prosecutor and defer a prosecution for renewable year-long periods during which “alternative accountability options could be developed further or more permanent security arrangements for the LRA leadership could be made”.

Under the Complementarity article of the Rome Statute, the ICC could recognise the legitimacy of alternative sanctions within Uganda, such as “reparations, exile, public apologies, or mandatory participation in a truth commission or traditional justice mechanisms”.

The ICC prosecutor can also rule a case inadmissible if he decides that going ahead with a prosecution is not in the interests of justice.

The Refugees International report concluded that the tribunal is in danger of biting off more than it can chew. “The enforcement challenges presented by the Uganda case suggest that expectations of what the ICC can achieve in its early stages may be too high,” it stated.

“Insisting on unrealistic outcomes causes the victims to pay unacceptably for the challenges the international justice system currently faces. Instead, the international community should explore ways to strengthen the ICC's enforcement capacity in ways that minimise the risks to stability and to drawing out protracted humanitarian crises,” it added.

Dr Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, Vice President and secretary of state for Women’s Affairs , on behalf of President Dr Yahya Jammeh as part of activities marking the 43rd Independence anniversary of The Gambia, on Tuesday inaugurated a community initiated Police Station at Old Yundum.

Officially opening the Police Station, Vice President Njie-Saidy said the existence of the police station is evidence of a felt need by the community of Old Yundum, especially in the wake of the development and expansion of the Kombo Coastal Roads network.

“Due  to the then numerous accidents at and around the Old Yundum-Sinchu junction, police officers from Wellingara station were sent to the junction for traffic control especially during the morning and evening rush-hours. Eventually, the police had a  discussion with the Alkalo about the possibility of building a permanent station for officers to be posted there. Consequently, Mr Mamudu Faye, the Alkalo’s son identified a plot of land for a police station.

He was also able to mobilize the villagers and the market community to contribute both in cash and labour which led to the construction of this station. “This police station is indeed a community funded project which the government is very appreciative of. I therefore commend the community of Old Yundum for a job well done” she said.

Accoding to her, in a bid to complement the community’s effort in this noble venture, The Gambia Police Force installed a solar lightning system to address the electricity needs of the station pending the arrival of the Rural Electrification Project to the area. She then assured the community of Old Yundum and its environs that the police will continue to be very much vigilant in their duties and in the execution of their daily functions in the interest of the community and the entire nation. She again thanked the community of Old Yundum for the project and assured them of government support.

For his part, Benedict Jammeh, Inspector-General of Police assured Her Excellency of GPF readiness to bringing services to the door steps of every Gambian. He noted that the location of the station is strategic and will greatly reduce the burden at New Yundum and Wellingara Police Station.

He then challenged the people not only to build a police station but help them to ensure a crime free community. He said the collaboration and support of the community is highly welcome in combating crimes not only in Old Yundum but the neighbouring community. “It is also your civic right to report any police officer who is not executing his duties well” he said.

Ousman Sonko, secretary of state for the Interior described the  ceremony as historic in the police-community partnership initiative programme. He thanked the people of Old Yundum for complimenting the government’s efforts by building a police station.

“Since the Kombo Coastal Road was extended, the people felt the need for a police station because of its importance. Accidents and crimes were major concerns for the community. Therefore, the decsion by the community to forge partnership with the GPF to put up this station is a noble initiative. It will reduce the number of road accidents and crimes in the comunity among others” he said.

SoS Sonko further stated that this project has clearly manifested the mutual trust the police and the community have and urged them to nurture it at all times.

The ceremony was attended by Hon. Fatoumatta Jahumpa-Ceesay, Speaker of the National Asembly, secretaries of state, Paramount Chief Alhagie Demba Sanyang, among other top government officials.

Superintendent Manlafi Sanyang and Lt. Bakary Camara, State House security officers who are currently remanded at Mile 2 prisons for alleged criminal offences, have applied for bail at the Banjul High Court.

Lawyer Lamin Camara, counsel for the applicants, informed the court before Justice Naceesay Sallah-Wadda that the application for bail before the court is by way of a motion filed on behalf of the applicants. He said the application is pursuant to section 19 of the constitution of The Gambia, section 99 of the CPC and section 8 of decree no. 16 on economic crimes. He said the motion is seeking bail for the accused, pending the hearing and determination of the case.

Lawyer Camara deplored that the applicants were in remand at the state central prison as their three-count trial before the Banjul Magistrates court is yet to be settled. He said the charges before the applicants are conspiracy to commit felony, stealing and economic crimes, which are all bailable offences under the Laws of The Gambia. He made reference to sections of the law giving the high court the jurisdiction to grant bail to the applications. He said the 1997 constitution of The Gambia under section 19 (5) also confirmed the High Court’s jurisdiction to grant bail to the applicants.

State counsel MA Jobe did not oppose to the bail application but quoted section 8 (1 A and B) of the economic crime decree in an attempt underline the condition of bail under the economic crime decree.

It could be recalled that the accused persons, Superintendent Manlafi Sanyang, Vehicle Logistics Officer at State House, and Lt. Bakary Camara, body guard to the President, were accused of stealing a motor vehicle BJL 4063B on 10th January 2008, thereby causing economic loss to the republic of The Gambia.

Since their arrest and subsequent arraignment before the court, they have been remanded at the Mile 2 prisons.

The proceedings were finally adjourned to today for ruling on the bail application.