By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa—South African mines today reached an agreement on a wage deal with the unions and the protesters as the bulk of the gold sector’s striking miners returned to work under a threat of dismissal. This return marked a success for the new tough approach taken by the mining firms. At least 12,000 gold and 20,000 platinum miners were still pursuing an illegal wave of strikes that have now cost Africa’s largest economy over 10 billion rand just this year. The reported estimation was made by South Africa’s National Treasury.

In its interim budges policy statement, the treasury said, “Declining mining output and the spread of strike activity has depressed activity in related industries—including manufacturing, logistics and services, with negative consequences for GDP.”

The National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said that, “the worst in the gold sector is over. Members have accepted a new pay structure.” The Chamber of Mines’ offer, together with a package that was already on the table will give the mine workers a wage increase between 11 and 20.8 percent depending on the role in the mining process.

Spokeswoman, Marian van der Walt, for Harmony Gold, a gold mining company in the region, noted, “We’re very pleased that they signed and all of the uncertainty and turmoil in the market to an end.”

This agreement does not cover the platinum and coal sectors—only gold miners. The mine owners of these other two sectors are starting to count the cost of what may end up to be the worst labor unrest in the country since the 1980s.

Not all of the strikes are coming to an end. A six-week old strike at Anglo American Platinum, the world’s top producer of the precious metal, is not much closer to ending. It has 20,500 workers at its Union and the strikers continue to hold out for higher wages.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told Parliament today, “We say very clearly that the problems in the mining area do reflect upon our growth prospects and it’s going to still take us some time to understand what the full impact on the growth is depending how and when these strikes actually end.”

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa – Gold Mining Companies, Unions Sign Agreements – 25 October 2012

Al Jazeera – South Africa Mines Agree Deal With Unions – 25 October 2012

Associated Press – ‘Worst is Over’ as South Africa Gold Miners Sign Pay Deal – 25 October 2012

Reuters – South Africa Strikes Ease as Gold Mine Pay Deal Reached – 25 October 2012

 

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has demanded the government of Sudan “to conduct a full investigation” of the attack on the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) last Wednesday.

The ambush of the UNAMID convoy left one peacekeeper, Private Vincent Mthuthuzeli van der Walt, dead. Two others were wounded, namely, Corporal Kabelo Ronald Sebe and Private Thabiso Sydwell.

In a statement issued through his spokesman, Martin Nesirky, the Secretary-General also urged the government “to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice”. “The secretary general expresses his condolences to the government of the Republic of South Africa, UNAMID and to the family of the fallen peacekeeper,” added Nesirky.

Moreover, the 15 members of the UN Security Council denounced the assault on the peacekeepers who all had South African nationality. “We strongly condemn Wednesday’s armed attack in North Darfur on a UN convoy comprised of military, police and civilian staff, including two human rights officers,” stated Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), during a press conference in Geneva. The UN Security Council reminded the Sudanese Government that it was responsible for the protection of all the staff and members of the peacekeeping mission.

The attack on the peacekeeping operation comes after Sudan leaders attempted to make amends with South Sudan. Both countries recently ratified a deal that settles some of the unresolved issues from the 2005 peace deal that ended Sudan’s civil war.

According to the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, the UNAMID peacekeepers were on an “assessment mission” of 16 vehicles led by a deputy force commander. The convoy was on its way to Hashaba North in Kutum district to “follow up reports” on growing unrest in the area. Violence and ethnic hostilities in Hashaba have been on the rise since August this year when a local officer was murdered during a carjacking heist. As the UNAMID group was reaching its destination, it was attacked by unidentified assailants armed with automatic weapons and mortars.

Reports show that this is the second ambush this month involving UNAMID peacekeepers. The first one happened on October 2 where four Nigerian peacekeepers were killed in an attack near El-Geneina, in West Darfur state.

In total, 43 peacekeepers have been killed since the establishment of UNAMID in December 2007. UNAMID, whose mandate is to “protect civilians and monitor human rights violations”, remains to be the largest peacekeeping operation in the world with more than 22,000 international troops and police officers and an annual budget of about $1.4 billion.

 

For further information, please see:

Independent Online – Call for probe into SA man’s death in Sudan – 19 October 2012

United Press International – Sudan criticized after peacekeeper killed – 19 October 2012

UN News Centre – UN human rights office calls on Sudan to investigate attack on convoy that killed peacekeeper – 19 October 2012

Al Jazeera – UN demands probe into Darfur mission attack – 18 October 2012

Independent Online – Dead SA peacekeeper named – 18 October 2012

United Press International – Peacekeepers ambushed in Darfur – 18 October 2012

United Press International – 1 Peacekeeper Killed, 3 Wounded in Darfur – 17 October 2012

The Nation – Ambush kills four Darfur peacekeepers – 04 October 2012

 

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe—At the United Nations on Friday, a United Nations official in charge of humanitarian affairs recognized the growing food insecurity emergency in the southern region of Africa. The United Nations deputy humanitarian chief said that food shortages are “a chronic problem” in southern Africa. The chief also noted that more than 5.5 million people in a total of eight countries need aid this year, which is a 40 percent increase compared to last year.

Deputy Humanitarian Chief Catherine Bragg concluded a five-day visit to the south African region where she noted that this “chronic problem” is due to the impact of recurrent natural disasters including droughts and floods and the rising cost of food.

Bragg said, “Regional food production has been weakened by recurrent disasters. In Lesotho, about a third of the population does not have enough food to eat or sell. In Zimbabwe, 1.6 million people are expected to be food insecure and many families are selling their own livestock to cope with this dire situation. “ About 10 years of seizures of commercial farms has completely disrupted food production in Zimbabwe, which is a former regional breadbasket of Africa. USAID estimates that Zimbabwe produces about half of the two million metric tons of cereal necessary to feed the country’s entire population.

The people who are most affected by this are the people in the rural areas, which are located in the drier regions of the country. Zimbabwe however, is not real stranger to the devastation of drought. Since the early 1980s, the country has suffered from insufficient rain more than a dozen times, even though during the first 10 years of its independence, Zimbabwe has generally been able to meet its food requirements and avert famine while dealing with several serious droughts.

Despite the country’s efforts, the climate change became more dangerous. Zimbabwe’s rainfall became even more erratic between 2003 and 2012.

To try to ameliorate these struggles, Bragg has called on countries and partners in the region in order to strengthen their efforts to work as a team to promote disaster preparedness and to tackle this issue of food insecurity.

 

For further information, please see:

IOL News – UN: Southern Africa Shortages Worsen – 21 October 2012

Boston.com – UN: Southern Africa Food Shortages Worsen – 20 October 2012

The Windsor Star – UN Humanitarian Official Says Southern Africa Shortages 40 Percent Worse in 2012 – 20 October 2012

All Africa – Food Security in Crisis – 19 October 2012

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

 BAMAKO, Mali – A 15 year old girl was publicly whipped 60 times in Timbuktu three days ago for speaking to a person of the opposite sex.

Ansar Dine, the rebel group who currently controls Timbuktu and the rest of Northern Mali, convicted her of speaking to the opposite sex which is allegedly forbidden in Islam. The teenage girl was caught standing alongside a group of men on the street. Ansar Dine members contend that she was warned repeatedly to stop what she was doing, but the girl refused to listen. “The Islamists charged that the girl was warned five times by the Islamist police, but she continued speaking to men on the street. After the hearing, the Islamists gave 60 lashes to the girl,” Ousmane Maiga, a Timbuktu resident relayed to the Associated Press on Monday.

The lashing took place at around 11:00 in the morning local time in front of the police headquarters in downtown Timbuktu. “The population did not turn out in large numbers to attend this flogging,” Maiga added.

This is just one in a series of incidents revealing the harsh and grim state of women in the country. Recent reports have shown that after the enforcement of an extremist version of the Sharia law in Northern Mali, there has been an increasing number of human rights violations particularly aimed at women.

Last Wednesday, after his visit to Mali, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic reported that Islamic extremists are currently compiling a list of unmarried mothers. “It is frightening to hear lists are being compiled of women who are either pregnant or have children and are not married and we do not know what is going to happen to them … We do not know what will happen with those lists, but certainly women were scared that there might be some action taken against them,” he said.

According to local residents Simonovic interviewed during his trip, they feared that women who have had children out of wedlock, or who were unmarried and pregnant, will face severe punishments such as stoning, amputations and executions. Another possible fate for these listed women is to be forced into marriage. After meeting with government officials, community leaders and displaced Malians, Simonovic found out that forced marriages are becoming prevalent in the region. “Wives” are sold for less than $1,000. It is also a common practice among “husbands” to resell their “wives” — a practice Simonovic described as “a smokescreen for enforced prostitution and rapes that are taking place.”

 

For further information, please see:

Malaysian Digest – Teenage Girl Lashed 60 Times for ‘Speaking to Men in the Street’ – 18 October 2012

Nine News – Mali teen whipped for talking to men on street – 18 October 2012

Huffington Post – Mali Girl Reportedly Whipped For Speaking To Men – 15 October 2012

CNN – Fear grows as Mali extremists compile list of unmarried mothers – 13 October 2012

USA Today – Mali Islamists compiling list of unwed moms – 11 October 2012

 

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali—France has began a mission with African nations to flush out Islamist militant groups linked to al-Qaeda in the northern region of Mali. Recently there has been mounting alarm over threats from these insurgents to both regional and western national security.

These insurgents have ruled a large area of northern Mali since March of this year. This has divided the country in two. Francois Hollande, the President of France, gave a speech in Senegal and discussed “a reign of terror” in Mali, with “hands cut off, women raped and an area awash with weapons.” During Hollande’s trip to Africa, he began to rally regional leaders on the cause to work with Mali to change the state of affairs in the country.

The French plan is to create a force made up of troops from Mali and other countries in the Economic Community of West African States. While several countries are willing to cooperate, many of them do not have the capacity to mount an offensive operation without logistical and intelligence support. The French are willing to contribute but have decided not to send out ground troops and America is reluctant to get involved.

Late last week, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution giving the West African states 45 days to create a plan to take back Mali’s northern region. This resolution has taken on a sense of urgency after these insurgents were linked to last month’s attack on the United States consulate sites in Libya that killed the United States ambassador there and three other American citizens.

West African nations have tentatively offered to send 3,300 personnel to aid Mali in its fight. The bulk of the personnel would come from Nigeria. Non-combat personnel will also be sent into Mali including police officers, engineers and doctors. Guinea-Bissau has offered to send its own personnel as well even though its army is currently occupied governing the country.

The Ivory Coast is another big backer of military support, along with Nigeria even though the Ivory Coast is hosting United Nations peacekeeping missions after its own civil conflicts.

To further complicate the situation, these insurgents are holding six French hostages—two were kidnapped in Mali last year. Dominique de Villepin, the former prime minister, warned that France should be cautious in this mission, saying that he feared that the country could get caught in a “trap.”

 

For further information, please see:

The Economist – An African Journey – 19 October 2012

FT World – Africa Force to Take on Mali Militants – 18 October 2012

The Telegraph – African Force Set for Northern Mali – 18 October 2012

The Wall Street Journal – Plan to Combat Mali’s Militants – 17 October 2012