Since editors are the gatekeepers in a newspaper house, we believe that they have to be on their toes to make sure that what gets published is newsworthy and of public interest.

Editors have to filter reports sent in by their reporters and make them publishable in line with the mission and editorial policy of their papers. Though access to information is a headache for journalists around town, a major drawback of our journalism is lack of follow-up on stories. Stories are broken, only to be allowed to peter out, to the dissatisfaction of readers who yearn to learn more about them. This is an indication that our editors are not doing what they should do. News editors must have daily meetings with their reporters, identify stories that are worthy pursuing and then assign reporters to follow them up. When reporters chase only after workshop stories, court stories, or press releases, then editors are not doing enough of what they should do. It is the duty of the editors to think up different angles for a story to be developed and get the reporters to do it.

Our editors have to ensure that once a rookie reporter is signed on he or she has to be taken through an induction course before being let out into the field. During the induction course, they should be trained on house style, on the basics of journalism as well as on ethics of the profession. They have to be assigned to a senior reporter in a particular beat to mentor them for a determined period of time. Then, they can be let out to be on their own. But then again, the editor has to keep a tab on their progress. Even when we have a fully-fledged school of journalism in this country, there will still be need for such in-house orientation programmes.

Our editors would also be wise to carry out periodic audits of their papers. They should find out, through well-crafted questionnaires, their readers’ profiles, interests, passions, etc and modify their editorial policies in line with new developments in the industry.

It should also be a challenge to our editors to make our papers more national by reporting on what happens in the other regions. Most of our daily diet of news is from the Greater Banjul Area.We want to see a guild of editors that will work towards bringing more professionalism into Gambian journalism.

James Kioko*, 55, a manager at a 4-star hotel in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, dismisses condoms as "dirty, fuelling prostitution and causing marriage break-ups".

"I don't want to know anything about them," he added, echoing the opinion of many Kenyans in the over-50 age bracket, who have not had the benefit of an AIDS information campaign specifically targeting them.

Although 1 in 14 HIV-positive people globally is over the age of 50, this age group has largely been left out of HIV programmes, and older people are generally considered to be at risk mainly in their role as caregivers of HIV-positive children and grandchildren.

"Older people's susceptibility to the disease, and the need for them to be included in HIV and AIDS strategies, is not forthcoming," said the charity, HelpAge International (HAI), in a statement on World AIDS Day 2006.

"Data on infection rates is only collected for country comparisons on women and men aged 15-49, so the spread of HIV among older age groups continues to go undetected and unreported."

UNAIDS recognised that a significant number of HIV-positive people were over the age of 50; in 2006 it began presenting its estimates for 'all adults over the age of 15', and not only those between the ages of 15 and 49.

Despite the fact that many people continue to be sexually active well past their fifties, myths and misinformation on HIV/AIDS persist among older people, who are unclear as to the methods of transmission, prevention and protection.

"HIV has no age limit so long as one is sexually active," HAI's regional programme manager, Amleset Tewodros, told IRIN/PlusNews. "It is a misconception that after 60 years or so, people are not active and therefore not prone to HIV. It is very hard to get the HIV prevalence among this group; health providers ordinarily do not push for their testing."

A recent report found that voluntary counselling and testing centres are not older-person-friendly. "Services are not easily accessible due to long distances and mobility problems hindering the aged from reaching the sites," said the 2007 Draft Report on Kenya's implementation of the African Union Policy and Plan of Action on Aging.

"Older people do not often get relevant and up-to-date information on HIV/AIDS; lack of adequate information means that older people are not able to provide suitable care, as well as protect and prevent themselves from getting infected," the report commented.

Older, but not out of commission

Dr Sobbie Mulindi, an HIV/AIDS strategic planner and consultant to the World Health Organisation, said men aged 50 years and older often had disposable income that they used to lure younger sexual partners, making them a bridge for spreading the virus among younger people.

Mulindi also noted that a lack of HIV-positive role models among the older generation was a possible reason the pandemic has continued to be considered a 'young people's problem'.

In areas with high HIV prevalence, like western Kenya's Nyanza Province, Mulindi said harmful cultural practices, such as polygamy and wife inheritance, were responsible for placing older people at increased risk of HIV.

Performance-enhancing drugs like Viagra were also fuelling the pandemic's spread, keeping older men virile for longer than they otherwise would have been. Often these older men did not use protection in their sexual outings with "ndogo ndogos" (young girls), Mulindi said.

Pharmacist James Mwangi* agreed. "The aphrodisiacs are commonly used by the older-generation males who have accepted that their libido has diminished. The biggest danger is that they don't use protection when they go out to enjoy [sex]."

Mwangi noted that performance-enhancing drugs were "prescription only", but lower-income earners could obtain cheap generics from unscrupulous chemists. Viagra, for instance, might cost close to US$10 per pill, while generics cost less than $1, putting them within reach of most of the population.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Mulindi challenged the government’s National AIDS Control Council (NACC) to draw up a strategy for dealing with HIV/AIDS among older people. "At this point we do not specifically target them in our national strategic plan, but we have already decided to alter this during our upcoming mid-term review," Harriet Kongin, head of stakeholder coordination at NACC, told IRIN/PlusNews.

Kongin added that programmes for the over-50s would include prevention programmes such as condom education, as well as encouraging older people to be tested and making VCT centres more user-friendly.

HAI's Tewodros said other initiatives, such as training older people in home-based care, peer education and counselling, would also give them easier access to HIV information.

If they could go back in time, perhaps they would do things differently.

Three women who revealed their HIV-positive status on local television have seen their lives fall apart since they spoke out.

The programme was produced by international non-governmental organisation (NGO) ActionAid, with the support of the African Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS.

According to Carlos Rui Ribeiro, the coordinator for ActionAid in Guinea Bissau, the women were warned about the impact their television appearance could have on their lives.

“This is the first time this has ever happened in the country and naturally it has had a very major impact. Even if they were psychologically prepared, they weren’t prepared socially. In other words, when they came home, their husbands weren’t ready and could react unpredictably,” he explained.

According to the women, who preferred not to be named, many of the consequences of going public with their status were completely unexpected and they are still learning to deal with them. Displays of prejudice from neighbours, friends and even their own families have become a daily occurrence.

“My oldest son gets into fights on the soccer field almost every day because his team-mates make comments about me and say that he’s got AIDS too. This isn’t true. My children are healthy,” said one of them.

One of the women has been abandoned by her husband and another was forced to leave her home and now lives with her three children in a small room where the walls could collapse at any time.

For now, the three women work on ActionAid's No Casa (“Our House”) project as HIV and AIDS educators in their communities. They will be guaranteed a salary for the two-month duration of the project.

Their difficulties have made others think twice about going public with their HIV-positive status, but Ribeiro promised that ActionAid would not give up fighting AIDS-related stigma. However long the process, he maintained, they were on the right path.

“Someone has to begin showing their face,” he said.

Suspicious stares

This has not been easy. Even active members of the Nova Vida (“New Life”) Association, an organisation that supports HIV-positive patients in Bissau’s Andalai district, prefer not to speak so openly about the disease.

Nova Vida is one of eight such associations in the country.

Since it began its work, it has registered 1,293 HIV-infected individuals and currently has 403 members, but those entering the building where its modest facilities are located still risk the suspicious stares of neighbours.

Ali Hizazi, a psychologist with the Céu e Terra (Sky and Earth) project, an NGO that works with pregnant HIV-positive women, said preparing someone to disclose their HIV status is a lengthy process. It should include: ensuring they have sufficient knowledge about the virus and how it's transmitted; they have reached a personal acceptance of their condition and they are involving their families.

Bissif’nde Blata, a janitorial assistant at Nova Vida who is HIV-positive, said that admitting your status makes those who prefer to remain anonymous uncomfortable.

“In Guinea Bissau there are people who take the test and know that they’re infected, but who hide and point their fingers at those who are brave enough to show their faces,” she said. “The people used to call me a witch because I was sick for a long time and didn’t know what I had. Now I don’t see them anymore.”

With a population of 1.4 million, Guinea Bissau has an HIV prevalence rate of 3.8 percent, according to UNAIDS.

The country's National Programme for the Fight against AIDS estimates that as of June 2007, a total of 554 people were undergoing antiretroviral treatment.

Next week, 7 November 2007 marks the 20 year anniversary of the accession to power of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

President Ben Ali’s two decades in office have been marred by a continuing pattern of human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, unfair trials, harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and curbs on freedom of expression and association.

“After 20 years, it is high time that the Tunisian President and his government take concrete steps to end these human rights violations and persecution and repression committed in the name of maintaining security and political stability,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International. “In particular, urgent reforms are needed to stop unfair trials, torture in custody and attempts by the authorities to silence legitimate dissent.”

Amnesty International is calling on the international community, including the European Union, to make it clear to the Tunisian authorities that they must act to end the human rights violations that have been perpetrated under President Ben Ali’s rule.

“Tunisia’s positive economic performance should no longer be used as a pretext to turn a blind eye on the human rights violations that are taking place daily in the country,” added Malcolm Smart.

Summary
Amnesty International is greatly concerned that the human rights situation in Tunisia has shown little or no improvement during the 20 year presidency of Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Despite some progressive legal reforms that appeared to offer better protection for human rights, the human rights situation in Tunisia has deteriorated markedly since the introduction of the 2003 anti-terrorism law. This contains a vague definition of terrorism which has been used by the security forces to target human rights defenders and peaceful critics and opponents of the government in an attempt to stifle any independent criticism. Allegations of torture and other ill-treatment continue to be reported, including in prisons. Hundreds of political prisoners held in connection with alleged terrorism activities, including prisoners of conscience, continue to be imprisoned in conditions that amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, and possibly torture. Many have been tried and convicted after unfair trials, including before military courts.

Torture and other ill-treatment
Political detainees are commonly subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in the custody of the security forces, notably in the State Security Department of the Ministry of Interior, in order to extract “confessions” or other statements that can later be used as evidence against them when they are brought to trial; many detainees have later retracted such statements in court on the grounds that they were obtained under torture or other ill-treatment. Torture and ill-treatment usually occur when detainees are held incommunicado; Tunisian law places a six-day limit on the period of garde à vue (pre-arraignment) but, in practice, this is frequently violated with impunity by the security forces with detainees being held incommunicado for up to several weeks. Prisoners charged in connection with alleged terrorist acts or on other security-related charges are also reported to have been tortured or otherwise ill treated in prisons. In virtually all cases of alleged torture and other ill-treatment, the Tunisian authorities have failed to carry out investigations and have taken no steps to bring alleged perpetrators to justice.

Unfair trials, including before military courts
Since the anti-terrorism law was introduced in December 2003, it has been widely used by the authorities to arrest, detain and try alleged terrorist suspects. However, those convicted are often sentenced to long prison terms after grossly unfair trials, including before military courts. In many cases, convictions rested exclusively on “confessions” allegedly obtained under torture which defendants retracted in court, but which the court failed to investigate. Access by defence lawyers to their clients is increasingly curtailed in terrorism-related cases.

The anti-terrorism law and provisions of the Military Justice Code have also been used to convict Tunisian nationals who have been forcibly returned to Tunisia by the authorities of other states, including France, Italy and the USA. Those concerned have been charged with links to terrorist organizations operating outside the country and some have been referred for trial before military courts. Trials before these courts violate a number of fair trial guarantees, including the right to have a full review of the case by a higher tribunal. Individuals convicted before such courts can seek review only before the military court of cassation, which reviews only procedural issues and not the substance of the case. At least 15 civilians were reportedly sentenced to up to 10 years’ imprisonment by the military court in Tunis in 2007 alone.

Political prisoners held in inhuman and degrading conditions
Hundreds of people have been arrested and detained on political or security-related grounds during the last three years, but the Tunisian government continues to deny that it holds political prisoners or prisoners of conscience, describing them as ordinary criminal prisoners. Political prisoners are often subjected to discrimination and harsh treatment in prison, and there have been repeated protests, including hunger strikes by prisoners, against denial of medical care, interruption of family visits and their harsh prison conditions, including prolonged solitary confinement. Amnesty International is concerned that prison conditions for these prisoners amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and in some case may even amount to torture. Ousama Abbadi, Mohammed Amine Jaziri, Ramzi el Aifi, Oualid Layouni, and Mahdi Ben Elhaj Ali were allegedly tortured and otherwise ill-treated by the prison guards in Mornaguia Prison around 16 October 2007. The five men were punched, tied up and kicked. Ousama Abbadi was beaten on his face and had an internal bleeding in his right eye. He also had a deep open wound on his leg. When he met his lawyer, he was brought in a wheel chair, unable to stand. Other individuals detained in Mornaguia Prison were reportedly stripped naked and dragged in the corridor in front of a number of prison cells. Another detainee reportedly was raped by having a staff inserted in his anus. No investigation into these allegations is known to have taken place.

Freedom of expression under constant threat
The Tunisian authorities continue to severely restrict freedom of expression, including press freedom, and editors and journalists continue to operate in a climate of intimidation and fear. Foreign publications are censored and journalists who criticize the government are subject to dismissal or threats of dismissal from their newspapers or are harassed using smear campaigns in the official press or by being targeted through judicial proceedings using criminal libel laws. Journalists have been prevented, including by force, from holding meetings or attending and reporting on events organized by independent human rights organizations or that may be critical of the authorities.

The Tunisian authorities also undermine freedom of expression of religious belief. Harassment of women wearing the hijab (Islamic headscarf) and men wearing beards and the qamis (knee-length shirts) is on the increase following the authorities’ calls for a strict implementation of a 1980s ministerial decree banning women from wearing the hijab at educational institutions and when working in government. Women often suffer disproportionately in this regard. Some women have been taken to police stations and forced to sign statements to say they will stop wearing the hijab. Others have reportedly had their hijab stripped off them in the street by police officers in plain clothes. Some women have been ordered to remove their hijab before being allowed into schools, universities or workplaces and others forced to remove them in the street.

Increasing restrictions stifling independent human rights defenders and organizations
Human rights organizations continue to experience increasingly repressive actions. The government routinely blocks the legal registration of new independent NGOs by preventing them from submitting their applications to register or by refusing to provide them with receipts to prove they have submitted an application.

However, official registration and legal recognition still provides no guarantee that an organization can operate free from interference by the authorities. Legally-registered organizations must obtain prior official authorization for public meetings and events, but this is often withheld if the event concerns human rights in Tunisia. Owners of venues where such meetings are to be held often cancel bookings at a short notice, apparently following pressures from the authorities.

Human rights defenders and activists face harassment and sometimes physical violence at the hands of the authorities. Lawyer Raouf Ayadi was insulted, thrown on the floor and dragged by police officers on 1 November 2007 in order to prevent him from visiting a human rights activist and a journalist who were on hunger strike to protest the authorities’ refusal to issue them with passports. Other human rights defenders, along with their families, live day to day under surveillance by security officials. Clients of human rights lawyers are frequently intercepted and questioned as they enter or depart from their lawyers’ offices by plain clothes police officers who pressure them to engage a different lawyer. The activities of human rights defenders and lawyers are severely restricted and their movements closely monitored. The telephone lines of human rights organizations and their internet connections are often disrupted, preventing them from communicating with others and freely accessing information.

Interference and intimidation undermining the independence of the judiciary
The Tunisian authorities deny the existence of serious and structural irregularities in the administration of justice in Tunisia and often attempt to silence those who speak out about systematic political interference undermining the independence of the judiciary.

For example, in September 2005 members of the Association of Tunisian Judges (AMT) were barred from their offices following their call for a more independent judiciary. Some judges were also reportedly transferred to isolated areas, far from their homes and families, in an attempt to intimidate and silence them. Freedom of movement for judges is also routinely curtailed. In September 2006, Wassila Kaabi, a judge and member of the executive board of the AMT, was prevented from travelling to Hungary to participate in a meeting of the International Union of Judges. Under Tunisian law, judges require the permission of the Secretary of State for Justice to leave the country.

Amnesty International is calling on President Ban Ali to mark the 20th anniversary of his accession to power by taking concrete measures to address the longstanding pattern of serious human rights violations in Tunisia, including the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience, reform of arrest and detention procedures and practices, and to ensure that all allegations of torture and other ill treatment of prisoners are urgently investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. The organisation is also calling for all those accused under the anti-terrorism law and on other charges to receive fair trials, for an end to the harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, journalists and others and for the Tunisian authorities to uphold and respect the rights to freedom of expression and association.

Salamata Sanou is one of the lucky few. Her squat, concrete house is surrounded by tarmac with wide channels to carry away rain water. Even at the height of the rainy season she can drive her motorbike up to the door and sleep soundly in the knowledge that she will not wake up to find her bed surrounded by sewage.
 
“I used to have to leave my motorbike at my neighbour’s house and wade home,” said Sanou, who lives in the Lafiabougou area of Burkina Faso’s second city, Bobo-Dioulasso.

Lafiabougou is one of the few districts in Bobo-Dioulasso to benefit from a sanitation programme started six months ago by the National Authority for Water and Sanitation (ONEA). “We have fewer mosquitoes now as there is less standing water and the floods don’t come,” added Sanou.
 
“Before the project, the toilets were always flooded and the filth just floated around in the street,” recalled Mariam Coulibaly, another resident. “We had about 80cm of water in the house and we had to make holes for the dirt and water to escape.”

Inadequate sanitation

“Bobo-Dioulasso has a serious sanitation problem because we only recently started working on it,” explained Arba Jules Ouedraogo, ONEA’s managing director of sanitation. “First we have to mobilise funds in Ouagadougou, the capital.”

Only 10 percent of Burkina Faso’s 13.7 million people have adequate sanitation, according to government statistics. The plan is to increase access to sanitation in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso to 59 and 57 percent respectively, by 2015.
 
“The majority of people live with precarious and extremely poor sanitation that generates pollution and disease,” Ouedraogo said.
 
Plans for sanitation in Bobo-Dioulasso began only in 2000, when flooding resulted in industrial and household waste being carried on the tide of water. The town has an average annual rainfall of 1,200mm.
 
Then there is the River Houet, where numerous fish die because of toxic waste. “The River Houet is the natural collector of the liquid wastes from industries, households and also dirt from other rivers,” said Abdoulaye Traore, head of the sanitation department at the regional environment office at Bobo-Dioulasso.
 
“It is also a public latrine,” he added.

The worst-affected part of the city is the Dioulassoba district, next to the Houet. Solid and liquid waste flows past houses daily and when it floods whole communities are inundated.

Commune officials say they are tackling other districts before facing the “big” problem of Dioulassoba.
 
Poverty link

“We have great challenges in sanitation at Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou where we clearly see the link between poverty and sanitation,” said Mahamadi Porgo, a community leader. “We can easily see that medical bills are higher among those who live in a filthy environment.”

Studies conducted by the national environmental laboratory revealed that the water in the city wells is contaminated with bacteria. According to health officials, the upsurge in typhoid fever is linked to water pollution in peripheral districts. In 2005, there was a cholera outbreak in Ouagadougou.

“It is obvious that until the waste is treated, there will be health hazards,” Traore warned. Health department statistics show a rising number of bloody diarrhoea (shigellose) cases among children.

Building infrastructure

A 4 billion CFA franc (US$8.7 million) treatment station is under construction at Dogona, Bobo-Dioulasso, to collect all liquid waste from households, administrative and industrial units. The treated water is expected to be used for agriculture.

The government has also started subsidising latrines for households. Despite the state covering nearly 50 percent of the cost, the price – between 100,000 and 200,000 CFA francs ($200-$400) – remains high for the majority.
 
“Sanitation is very expensive but it is not a luxury, ONEA’s Ouedraogo said. “How can we have real development in our cities, when businessmen cannot sit down and talk because of the smell, refuse and pollution?”

Since 2003, Ouagadougou authorities have sought 8 billion CFA francs ($17.4 million) to build sanitation infrastructure to improve living conditions in districts of the capital.
 
“We have sent the request to donors and are still waiting,” explained Arzouma Zombre, head of infrastructure of the commune of Ouagadougou.
 
Every year Ouagadougou puts 20 percent (1.4 billion CFA francs) of its budget to sanitation. Even so, it can only send about half the 800 tonnes of rubbish produced daily to the new treatment station.
 
“The remaining waste gets dumped in the gutters and on unoccupied land, increasing the risk of contamination of underground water,” said Mahamadou Cisse, sanitation director in Ouagadougou.
 
“If we do not take adequate measures and start tackling the problem of sanitation now, we’ll pay more in the future,’’ warned ONEA’s Ouedraogo.

The government of President Joseph Kabila must launch an urgent and independent investigation into the systematic detention, torture and murder of alleged political opponents committed by security forces in the DRC, said Amnesty International in a report released today.

The report DRC: Torture and killings by state security agents still endemic, documents the leading role taken by the Special Services police (Direction des Renseignements Généraux et Services Spéciaux de la police) in the arbitrary arrest and torture of scores of supposed political opponents of President Kabila’s ruling party. The crackdown took place in the capital Kinshasa during and after the 2006-2007 electoral period.

“Many people have been targeted by the security forces simply because they share the same ethnicity as Jean-Pierre Bemba, Kabila’s main political rival, during the elections,” said Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme.

“Many of these individuals are still in prison without charge or trial. All those interviewed by Amnesty International reported torture and ill-treatment in detention and yet no member of the security forces has been brought to justice. The climate of intimidation and fear in Kinshasa has intensified as a result,” he added.

The report also highlights grave human rights violations by President Kabila’s Republican Guard (Garde Républicaine) in the wake of fighting in Kinshasa in March 2007 between government forces and fighters loyal to Jean-Pierre Bemba. These include the alleged murder of at least 27 detainees in late March 2007, whose bodies were then dumped in the River Congo.

The slow progress of Security Sector Reform and an institutional culture that permits serious human rights violations are cited in the report as key factors preventing substantial progress on human rights in the DRC.

“Despite historic national elections, deep political uncertainty persists in the DRC and respect for human rights has not advanced. Many security forces continue to serve narrow political interests and this lies at the root of the lack of public confidence felt by most Congolese,” said Erwin van der Borght.

“It is crucial that police reform becomes a priority and that the Kabila government renews efforts to ensure all government and armed opposition forces are integrated into one politically-neutral and accountable entity that operates within Congolese and international human rights law.”

“As part of its continued support to Security Sector Reform, the international community should insist on robust DRC government action now to end impunity for human rights violations and bring the perpetrators to justice,” said Erwin van der Borght.

Notes to Editors

Fighting in March 2007 in Kinshasa between government forces and fighters loyal to Jean-Pierre Bemba resulted in the deaths of up to 600 people, including many civilians who were victims of indiscriminate and disproportionate fire by both armed forces. Jean-Pierre Bemba’s fighters were also responsible for human rights abuses and were a source of major insecurity in the city in the run-up to the fighting.

Testimonies in the report include:

Coquette Nsinga, a 25 year old student and member of Jean Pierre Bemba’s Mouvement de Liberation du Congo (MLC). Detained by the Special Services police two days after the second round of elections on 31 October 2006, she was beaten and then raped by five policemen. Denied any medical assistance, she was held for eight months in detention without charge until she appeared before a military tribunal charged with ‘incitement to commit acts contrary to duty or discipline’. Her trial is ongoing.

Colonel Paul Ndokayi, aged 61, a professional soldier who served with government forces throughout the DRC conflict and was arrested in late November 2006 by Special Services police in Kinshasa. Accused of being a ‘brother of Bemba’ by his interrogators, Col Paul Ndokayi endured five hours of continuous torture with ropes, chains and knives. Charged with ‘terrorism’, Col Paul Ndokayi has remained in detention for the past 10 months without trial or adequate medical attention. He has not been given the opportunity to challenge the lawfulness of his detention or bring his torturers to justice.

“It’s not heavy,” Sanou Top insists, as she takes a suitcase out of her client’s hands and hoists it into the trunk of her cab.

“I hope you drive like a man,” the customer says. The small-framed, head-scarfed 25-year-old laughs.

Top is one of 10 women chosen for a pilot project by the Senegalese government to get female taxi drivers on the road.

And after more than a month behind the wheel in one of the world’s most chaotic capitals for driving, Top says it’s been a smooth ride.

“At first, it was difficult,” Top says. But now? “Complete satisfaction.”

Her cell phone rings. She tucks it under her head scarf and begins a conversation, all while shifting gears and keeping an eye out for customers. It’s a system she seems to have mastered.

Money and autonomy

Under the ‘Taxi Sister’ project, 10 women have been given brand-new cars, which they will gradually pay for and eventually own.

The project is touted as a way to pull women out of poverty and introduce them to new occupations in Senegalese society. Within two years, the government hopes to have 50 female taxi drivers on its streets, and hopes to expand the project beyond the capital, Dakar.

According to the UN 2006 Human Development Index, Senegalese women lag behind men in development indicators. Less than 30 percent of adult women are literate, compared to 50 percent of men; and on average, women earn just over half the income men do.

Still, the new initiative is “not a purely financial activity,” explained Awa Paye Gueye, administrator of the national fund for the promotion of female entrepreneurship at the Ministry of Family and Female Entrepreneurship. “It’s a female leadership project as well.

“Where some say, ‘It won’t work because it’s women’, [this project] allows certain barriers to be broken,” Gueye said.

It seems to be working.

“I’m autonomous. I’m free. I’m my own boss,” said Top, a former accountant and secretary, who quit because she felt she was being exploited by her boss.

Other than their bright yellow and red uniforms and the Taxi Sister signs on the roofs of their cars, these women fit right in. They may be slightly less aggressive on the road, but they honk and argue just the same.

“Who do you think you are?” Maj Samb screams, her head out the window, to a male driver after their cars nearly collide in traffic.

“They don’t like seeing women driving taxis,” the Taxi Sister explained afterwards. “I don’t know why.”

Male resistance

For the most part, foreigners and Senegalese alike have been supportive of the project, a partnership between the government and the private car dealer Espace Auto. As the women drive by, people wave, little girls smile and young men call out “Taxi Sister!”

Top says the clean, well-kept cars – a far cry from the often dilapidated vehicles driven by their male counterparts – are good for Senegal, since “a cab is the first image of a country [to a foreigner]”.

Still, some men are having a hard time accepting the idea. The female taxi drivers complain of men who cut them off on the road and speak out against them on the radio.

Just outside the driveway to the Novotel, one of two hotels in town where the Taxi Sisters are stationed, a group of male taxi drivers sit around on shoddy wooden benches, protesting the extra support given to their female colleagues.

The women are allowed to park right outside the hotel doors, while the men must remain in the traditional taxi area, outside the hotel grounds.

“They get all the [customers], and we stay here with nothing to do but sleep,” said Alioune Ndiaye, 60, who has been driving a cab in Dakar for 35 years. “Before, there weren’t any problems. But now, the sisters have ruined everything.”

The state’s claims to alleviate poverty and raise the status of women in Senegalese society are noble, Talla Ndiaye, another cab driver, told IRIN.

“The state talks about equality. Yes, sure. But this isn’t equality.”

Besides, he said, “taxi driving isn’t for women. It’s hard work.”

Determination

The attitude that women should not be driving taxis is not uncommon, but it does not faze the women.

“There are some people who don’t want us to succeed,” said Assaïtou Goumdiam, 32. “It’s very normal…I don’t pay any attention to them.

“It’s those who say no [to the idea] who give you the courage and the strength to work,” she said. After two years of unemployment, Goumdiam will not be held back by a few skeptical comments.

That is not to say there are no challenges. The diesel is expensive and traffic is difficult to bear. Security has not been a problem thus far – the women were given self-defense courses and have internal communication systems in their cars – but Top says a customer once came on to her.

Still, they believe they will serve as examples to other women in Senegal and neighbouring countries.

“Many people thought it would never actually happen,” Top says. “This will really give [other women] courage.”

The Ministry of Family and Female Entrepreneurship has financed more than 700 projects for women since 2005 and says it will continue funding projects that encourage women to enter new occupations. The ministry has already received a funding request from female mechanics.

“Women must contribute to the creation of jobs in Senegal. They can contribute,” the ministry’s Gueye said.

As for Top, who hopes to own her own taxi business in the future, she says she is proud of herself for taking part in this initiative.

“For a long time, there were many occupations that were reserved for men. Now, people are realising that women have the ability too.”

Thousands of the poorest residents in Cape Town, South Africa, are facing eviction from an informal settlement to make way for a government housing project.

About 20,000 residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement near Langa, a township about 15km from Cape Town along the N2, the main access road to and from the airport, are opposing their forced removal to Delft, about 20km northeast of the city, because they say it would reduce their standard of living further and make it difficult and more expensive to travel to the city for work.

The multimillion-dollar N2 Gateway housing project, situated adjacent to the highway, will change the first impression hundreds of thousands of international visitors have of the city - which reaps hundreds of millions of dollars from tourism - as they will travel past a formal housing estate rather than a squatter camp on their way to the city.

Attempts to evict Joe Slovo residents met with violence in September 2006 and housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu then took recourse through the courts, seeking sanction to remove the residents to allow the project to be completed. Cape Town's High Court is to rule on the issue next month.

In the wake of the clashes between Joe Slovo residents and police, the housing department issued a statement saying temporary relocation was necessary so the area could be redeveloped before the residents were rehoused there.

However, the co-ordinator of Joe Slovo's anti-eviction task team, Mzwanele Zulu, told IRIN the Joe Slovo residents were feeling betrayed by the government, which had not kept its promise to provide affordable housing for the squatters.

He said in 2005 some Joe Slovo residents agreed to move to Delft after fires had destroyed their shacks, on condition that they would return to Langa and be accommodated in formal housing once the first phase of the project had been completed.

A blueprint for slum eradication

However, this agreement was not fulfilled and, consequently, the remaining residents were unwilling to leave their homes to make way for phases two and three of the project, Zulu said.

"In May of last year we were all told we had to move to Delft because the government was going to build us affordable houses where our shacks were. But these new houses will be bonded and rented houses and people must earn between R3,500 (US$500) and R7,000 (US$1,000) per month to qualify to get a home.

"Most people who live in Joe Slovo earn less than R1,500 (US$214) per month, so they are automatically excluded: they are evicting the poorest people in society as part of their plans to eradicate informal settlements and waiting lists [for low-cost housing]," he said.

South Africa has a housing shortfall of about 2.2m dwellings and, like most of South Africa's major cities, Cape Town's informal settlement population continues to expand as people are drawn from poor rural areas to the cities in the hope of employment.

According to Cape Town's latest estimates, more than 400,000 units are needed to eradicate slum dwellings in the metropolis, and that number is expected to grow by about 16,000 annually.

The latest statistics from the Department of Housing's 2007 Community Survey reveal that 14 percent of the Western Cape Province's population are still living in informal settlements.

The N2 Gateway project was launched by the housing minister in 2005 to reduce Cape Town's housing backlog, as part of a combined national, provincial and local government effort in response to the housing crisis.

It was touted as a blueprint for slum eradication that could be rolled out across the country. "We intend to get this right, and signal government's commitment to provide shelter to the homeless in as short a timeframe as possible," the minister said.

But within a year, the project, managed by the state-owned company Thubelisha Homes, was beset with problems ranging from inter-governmental infighting and cost overruns to a lack of consultation with residents and strikes by construction workers.

In 2006 the Cape Town mayor, Helen Zille, who is also the leader of South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), expressed grave concerns about the project, saying it was flawed and had become "a poisoned chalice".

Following the mayor's public criticism, the national housing department ejected the city council from its role as one of the project's three partners for voicing its concerns outside of official channels.

The allocation of housing in the project was then transferred to the Western Cape provincial government, which is controlled by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, rather than the city council, which is controlled by the DA.

Poor sidelined by property prices

Zille told IRIN in an interview that her original assessment of the project being "bad policy" was unchanged, because it was pushed through ahead of the 2005 local government elections. The Western Cape Province has been hotly contested since South Africa achieved democracy in 1994, and the reins of local government have see-sawed between the ANC and DA.

"The reason things went so wrong on the project is that it was initiated too hastily, without proper building plans or financial modelling. It was built using existing housing subsidies for Reconstruction and Development (RDP) houses [a now defunct programme launched soon after the ANC came into power], which at the time were about R40,000 per unit.

"But the multi-storey flats at Joe Slovo cost over twice that. In other words, they did not factor in the greater construction cost of high-density housing when budgeting for the project. As a result, the funds dried up, and the project incurred cost overruns that could not be paid.

"The [construction] companies wanted to sue the state, but it was found that they had not signed contracts with the city or anyone else. In the end a deal was made to rescue them from bankruptcy, but it brought the project to a halt," Zille told IRIN.

Zille said huge expectations had been created among poor communities after the government announced that 22,000 housing units would available for the slum dwellers, but to date only about 2,000 have been delivered, despite the project being scheduled for completion in 2006.

"The pick of these [houses] were promised to the Joe Slovo community, especially to the victims of the fire there a few years back [which destroyed about 5,000 shacks]. So the project is now being met with massive opposition from the people who had been promised homes," she said.

Members of the Joe Slovo anti-eviction task team believe the real reason behind the government's about-turn on providing the poor with affordable housing is the booming propertry market.

Cape Town's property prices are among the highest in the country because the city is an international tourist destination, which has resulted in an influx of foreign investors paying high prices for housing, often well beyond what most South Africans can afford.

The latest 2007 First National Bank Residential Property Barometer revealed that Cape Town housing costing less than R600,000 (US$85,700), has experienced the highest property growth rate in past year, when compared with other major cities like Pretoria, Johannesburg and Durban.

The land occupied by some of the city's informal settlements has become extremely valuable in recent times and, rather than make it available to the country's poorest residents, politicians and the private sector want to cash in on its potential, said anti-eviction task team co-ordinator Zulu.

"The bonded houses in the N2 Gateway project will cost between R150,000 (US$21,500) and R250,000 (US$35,700) and private sector banks will make loans available to people who can afford the repayments - which is not the residents of Joe Slovo."

Hunger and HIV/AIDS are reinforcing each other in Southern Africa, "leading to a potentially tragic new level of famine", says a book published by a regional agricultural think-tank. The World Bank's annual report, released last week, also raises concerns over the pandemic's impact, pointing out that most people affected by HIV and AIDS depend on agriculture.

Food consumption has been found to drop by 40 percent in homes afflicted by HIV/AIDS, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO); globally, Southern Africa is the region most affected by the pandemic.

The situation has been exacerbated by severe drought in Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique this year, with significant production deficits and high staple food prices limiting market access for households that have already run out of food they have managed to grow themselves.

AIDS has killed around 7 million agricultural workers since 1985 in the 25 hardest-hit countries, mostly in east and southern Africa, where AIDS-related illnesses could kill 16 million more before 2020, and up to 26 percent of their agricultural labour force within two decades, said the FAO.

Often described as "new variant famine" or "HIV-induced famine", this form is radically different from traditional famines, said the book, Silent Hunger: Policy Options for Effective Responses to the Impact of HIV and AIDS on Agriculture and Food Security in the SADC Region.

"The paradox is that while the traditional drought-related famines kill dependents first (children and elderly), the HIV-related 'silent hunger' affects the most 'productive' family members first."

The book is based on a study commissioned by the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) on the impact of HIV and AIDS in the seven most affected countries in Southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Alex de Waal, an activist and writer, and Alan Whiteside, director of the HIV/AIDS research division at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa, were the first to outline the "new variant famine" concept.

The FANRPAN book is critical of regional governments' response to the "invisible famine", which they describe as "slow" and inadequate", and presents a case for prioritising social protection.

In one of the first comprehensive studies on the impact of the pandemic on agriculture in the region, the book has uncovered some startling facts: in Botswana, the majority - 81 percent of respondents - had three or more meals per day before they contracted HIV, but after they became ill this dropped to 49 percent.

Approximately two people-years of labour have been lost by the time one person dies of AIDS, due to their weakening and the time others spend giving care, said the book, citing various studies.

James Breen, an agronomist based in Southern Africa, said, "Forty percent of the population in some of the countries in the region live with the HIV/AIDS, and at least 70 [percent] to 80 percent of the region's population depend on subsistence agriculture.

"At the best of times, small-scale farmers can expect subsistence, but with impact of natural disasters or, worst of all, HIV/AIDS, they have to liquidate all their assets for treatment, and they have no access to safety nets."

Burden on women

The authors of Silent Hunger commented: "Due to cultural and social traditions, women bear the brunt of the epidemic, both in terms of providing care for people living with HIV and AIDS as well as being at risk for HIV infection." UNAIDS has estimated that 57 percent of people living HIV and AIDS in southern Africa are women.

Of the seven countries participating in the study, four - Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia - reported that most rural households were led by women; the exceptions were Swaziland, Zambia and Lesotho.

In Swaziland, gender inequality and poverty have contributed to the HIV and AIDS epidemic. "The practice of polygamy increases the risk of women being infected. Women are also tasked with the responsibility of caring for the sick members of the household, which also increases the risk of getting infected," said De Waal and Whiteside.

"When the man falls sick, it is the responsibility of the wife to provide care and take on additional duties to support the family. However, when the wife becomes sick, it is traditionally the responsibility of other women (not the husband) to provide care."

The book quoted a woman small-scale farmer in Botswana as saying, "I have not ploughed for the past five years because of taking care of AIDS children, who eventually died. So not only have I lost my children, but I have no food or seeds to start production. The sad thing is that my small [live]stock also strayed while I was running from one health provider to the next in the hope of saving my children."

In Zimbabwe, the FANRPAN study found that, traditionally, women were dispossessed of their land or assets after the deaths of their husbands, and continuation of the practice means they are left with little or no assets.

Response

The World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development, the World Bank's first analysis of agriculture since 1982, pointed out that there was "tremendous scope" for agricultural policy to become more HIV-responsive, to the benefit of health as well as agricultural goals.

The Bank called for the promotion of labour-saving technologies and crops as one way of addressing labour losses resulting from AIDS-related mortality in agriculture. "But for poorer smallholder households, the main constraints on livelihoods may be land and cash rather than labour," it said.

"Cash transfers to help them hire labour, [provide] more secure land tenure for women, and expanded agricultural extension programmes to include women and orphans, could have a greater impact on welfare."

Marcela Villarreal, the FAO's focal point for HIV/AIDS, said the agency had managed to convince some countries to draw up policies to help affected small-scale farmers, and Zimbabwe and Tanzania have drawn up agriculture strategies with the pandemic in mind. The FAO has a programme on property rights for women in Malawi, which has brought some changes in land ownership laws.

"For years, FAO has been advocating labour-saving technologies, even before the AIDS crisis came about," said Villarreal. It has advocated the use of the matraca, a zero-tillage planter easily operated by an individual.

The UN agency has also rolled out Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools in 10 countries in southern and east Africa, where orphans and vulnerable children in the age group 12 to 17 years, who often head households, are taught about agricultural techniques, entrepreneurship and HIV/AIDS; in Mozambique the project has trained 1,000 young farmers in the past 3 years.

FANRPAN cites programmes like the Food Security Pack (FSP) in Zambia, which promotes crop diversification and farming methods that help restore soil fertility and productivity, and encourages the timely use of agricultural inputs, besides providing marketing assistance. FSP aims to reduce poverty among 200,000 vulnerable but viable small-scale farmers by improving household food security.

To overcome the lack of land and labour often facing HIV/AIDS-affected households, the Livelihoods Recovery through Agriculture Programme, implemented in
Lesotho in 2002 by CARE, a US-based charity, and the Ministry of Agriculture, promotes producing crops with high nutritional content on small plots of land close to the home.

"Of the participants, 53 percent reported that they had stabilised or increased their food production," the World Bank said of the initiative in its report.

Often the only sources of income for both HIV-affected and non-affected households in many countries of the region are government food parcels, pension grants, orphan/foster care grants and the child grant. Community initiatives such as locally based home-care groups also assist affected households with information, help in caregiving and counselling.

According to Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, the executive director of FANRPAN, southern Africa needs longitudinal household surveys that will track the impact of the pandemic on agriculture and food security. "We need trends analyses if we are to adequately inform policy development. Short term ad hoc studies are not giving a full picture of the pandemic’s impact".

Comlan Houessou certainly knows what he is talking about when it comes to the impact of AIDS on rural communities. He is a farmer in Benin who has lost everything because of HIV: the respect of his neighbours, his savings and his land. He is now fighting to rebuild his life.

Just five years ago, Houessou had two hectares of land in the Couffo region of southwest Benin. He inherited the land from his family and grew corn, cassava and cotton on it to meet the needs of his two wives and their six children.

In 2003, however, his health began to deteriorate. “It started with headaches. I told myself that it would pass, but they got worse”, he told IRIN/PlusNews at the conference ‘From research to Action: mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture and food security in West Africa’, which took place at the start of October in Cotonou, Benin.

His relatives attributed his illness to witchcraft, so Houessou went initially to a traditional healer, to try and relieve his pain. Many months of visits forced him to sell off his land bit by bit, which he was in no fit state to farm in any case.

"I had to pay for my treatment, giving goats as offerings. At first I used my savings but when they weren’t enough and I had to sell my land”, reported Houessou, 42.

Houessou’s health was deteriorating by the day and he ended up in hospital. After a few months, he was bed ridden and was becoming weaker and weaker but still did not know what was wrong with him. Then he overheard a conversation between two doctors.

"I heard one doctor say to another, when referring to me: ‘the one with HIV’ ”, he said. “I made a scene and decided to leave the hospital and go home. Then I went and got tested and it confirmed that I did indeed have HIV”.

“I think that they [the doctors] hadn’t told me about it because they had tested me without my consent. They could have suggested that I take the test once they knew though!” he said.

He was immediately put on antiretrovirals (ARV) drugs, the medication that lengthens and improves the lives of people living with HIV. Houessou was then confined to his house, especially since his wives were also infected with HIV, and faced rejection from his community.

“My neighbours knew and they avoided us, my wives and me”, he told us. “One morning, my wives cooked 10 kilos of rice to sell at the market, but some young people blocked their way with tree snags and forced them throw the rice on the ground”.

Thanks to the ARV treatment, Houessou slowly got strong again and decided to fight it, for himself and for others in his situation.

"I started to openly report on it and work with others to raise public awareness of the problems facing people who are infected, particularly in rural environments where there is little information on the epidemic”, he explained.

Now he heads the Benin Network of associations of people living with HIV, which comprises 46 organisations and has more than 45,000 supporters - people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS, many of whom are from rural areas- Houessou is fighting for social and economic rehabilitation for people who are HIV positive, many of whom have lost everything.

"Often, people are exhausted before they are even tested for HIV and they have used up their resources and sold their land in an attempt to get treated”, he explained. “When they finally go to get tested, therefore, people have no further resources and the majority of them are poor people. This is a real problem in Benin”.

The stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, particularly an issue in rural areas, is another major concern for Houessou, because one of the consequences of this is that people who are infected are cautious about sharing their tests results with their partners.

He feels that this is exacerbated by ongoing traditions, such as polygamy and widow inheritance.

“When an infected man with two or three wives dies, and his wives then have to marry the brother [of the deceased] who himself may already have two or three wives, without them realising [their HIV positive status], the number of people becoming infected is multiplied”, he remarked.

The current difficult socio-economic climate is furthering the practice of inheriting women, says Houessou.

"If the husband leaves land when he dies, the wives must sell it to pay for the funeral ceremony, and even if they don’t sell it, they must stop the land being split up between the heirs, because this will make it smaller and smaller. They also need to be capable of farming the land, which is why women are forced to remarry”, he explained.

According to a study presented at the Cotonou conference, another concern lies in the fact that 80 percent of the approximately 8,420 patients currently on ARV treatment in Benin do not have food security and nearly one in four suffers from malnutrition.

A healthy and balanced diet is indispensable to people with weakened immune systems though, reminded Houessou, but “partners working in rural areas do not go into detail, they [rural populations] are underprivileged” compared to urban communities, he said regretfully.

Also, despite the fact that antiretrovirals have been free in Benin since 2004 and that access to HIV/AIDS testing and treatment has improved over the last few years – there are now has 48 treatment centres across the country – there are still regular breaks in ARV distribution, particularly in provincial centres, which remains a major concern.

“Our work [with the Network] also involves appealing to the government on the need to make treatments sustainable”, he concluded.

Thanks to his paid work with the Network, Houessou has managed to save some money and buy back a half-hectare of land, on which he grows corn and cassava to feed his wives, one of whom is on ARV drugs, and his children, all of whom are HIV negative.

However, Houessou knows that his situation is far different from that of his fellow farmers infected with HIV. “We are in need of support to get our land back and resume work on it”, he pleaded.