With Rwanda's application for membership of the Commonwealth likely to be on the agenda at this year's Commonwealth heads of government meetings, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) expresses serious reservations about the country's credentials. Evidence pointing to the suppression of freedom of speech and a climate of fear represent significant causes for concern, the CHRI argue in this week's Pambazuka News, and ultimately point to the need for an independent body designed to assess applicants' and existing members' records on democracy and human rights.

Before Meles Zenawi starts campaigning for reparations from the West for climate change, perhaps he ought to start closer to home by offering compensation to the families affected by industrial pollution in Ethiopia’s Lake Koka, writes Alemayehu G. Mariam in this week’s Pambazuka News.

In an open letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder, the National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) sets out the organisation’s concerns about US military operation Africa Command (AFRICOM), and calls for it to be dismantled. While officials insist that it is ‘a force for peace’, says NCBL, AFRICOM is ‘perceived as a military command that is designed to facilitate warfare’. The US has a ‘history of using military advisors to guide and direct troops in other countries to no good end’, says NCBL, and AFRICOM’s agenda ‘makes it possible for more lawsuits to be filed in the future, challenging US involvement in Africa’s conflicts.’

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/448/58810_SA_Palestine_tmb.jpg… an open letter to President Jacob Zuma, Hadar Eid, expresses his deep ‘disagreement and dissatisfaction’ with South Africa’s Middle East policy, in particular Zuma’s support for a ‘two-state solution’ for Israel and Palestine. Drawing parallels between Israel’s relationship with Palestinians and apartheid-era South Africa, Eid argues ‘The two-state solution is a racist solution, comrade Jacob. If you did not accept it for yourselves in South Africa, why force it on Palestinians instead of supporting us as we demand the right to our homeland?’

Appalled by President Yoweri Museveni's order that the 'Bafuriki' in Bunyoro speak Runyoro, Vincent Nuwagaba chastises Uganda's premier for a grave 'human rights' violation. If such sharp ethnicisation is not to get out of hand, Nuwagaba stresses in this week's Pambazuka News, Uganda and the global community at large must guard against government restrictions on political and cultural participation along ethnic and cultural lines.

Zambia cannot afford to increase the number of its MPs, Henry Kyambalesa writes in this week's Pambazuka News, when many constituencies remain unable to generate sufficient tax revenue to meet the cost of maintaining existing parliamentary representatives.

People leave sub-Saharan Africa in search of opportunities for personal growth and happiness, Sabella Abidde tells Pambazuka News, but whether self-imposed or forced upon you, life in exile can be ‘one of the most painful of all human experiences’. Ultimately most exiles, says Abidde, ‘would rather be home: Helping their own people and helping to advance their own countries.’ But, he cautions, ‘several years of exile have a way of making one a stranger in one’s village or community.’

People with albinism have been ‘shunned, ridiculed, tormented, tortured and killed in cold blood’ all over Africa, simply 'on account of the skin colour', Phitalis Were Masakhwe tells Pambazuka News. The biggest threat to persons with albinism, says Masakhwe, is ‘misleading and negative belief systems about the condition’. And when ‘these negative beliefs combine with illiteracy and limited knowledge and facts about the situation, the net result can be calamitous.’

The recent death of Senator Edward Kennedy marked the end of the long dynasty of the Kennedys, who were not only prominent in domestic US politics but also on the world stage. In this week's Pambazuka News, John Otim reflects upon the relationship that Africa had with the Kennedys. Arguing that much has changed since the decolonisation process and the subsequent Cold War, and most importantly with Africa’s relationship to the US, Otim writes that Africans will mourn the death of a figure who recalled a 'glimmer of hope in a still colonial world'.

Freedom of expression is one of the main pillars of democracy, argues the Africa Free Media Trust (AFMT) in this week's Pambazuka News. Although freedom of the press and expression are theoretically guaranteed in Kenya, AFMT stresses that the reality is different and indeed wonders whether the country is reverting back to the old days under President Daniel arap Moi. The existence of multiparty elections and the right to speak out should not be taken for granted, AFMT concludes, and Kenya must not allow freedom of expression to be jeopardised any further.

Concerned by President Yoweri Museveni’s comments on the ‘Bafuruki’ (‘immigrants’), Vincent Nuwagaba questions the assumptions around identity held by Uganda’s premier, calling for greater solidarity and mutual respect between the country’s groups, regardless of origin.

Drawing upon near-death personal experience to shine light on the brutality of Sierra Leone's rebel forces, Karim Bah discusses the little-publicised events of the August 18th student uprising in Sierra Leone. What really happened to Vaffie Konneh, an activist who attempted to help with the organisation of student protesters? And why have the ruling class and international community alike abandoned Sierra Leone's youth? Students, Bah argues in this week's Pambazuka News, are the key to reform and should be at the forefront of the struggle for human dignity, social justice and the redistribution of national wealth, wealth which belongs to each and every Sierra Leonean, and not just the country's elites.

Lamenting the longstanding inability of Kenya's citizens to transcend ethnic divisions, Cheruiyot Collins calls upon Kenyans to free themselves of ethnic jingoism in a bid to steer the country on a true path towards nation-building. While constitutional change and greater responsibility from politicians are not to be discounted, Collins contends in this week's Pambazuka News, ultimately Kenyans must strive for change from within and themselves take responsibility for the pervasive culture of greed and self-interest hampering the country.

Concerned by government statistics on Kenya's ethnic composition, Samuel Abonyo laments the enduring difficulty presented by the concept of tribe in Kenyan society. First developed under the auspices of colonial-era governance, the practice of tribal geography, writes Abonyo in this week's Pambazuka News, is still going on in today's Kenya. But what really is a tribe? What is the government actually counting? Figures on tribes, Abonyo concludes, remain at best inaccurate and at worst highly damaging in depicting false, divisive categorisations.

Greed on the part of those in authority is the primary driver of the crisis in Zimbabwe, Dewa Mavhinga tells Pambazuka News. Political power is the vehicle these people use to satisfy this greed and that is why they are ‘prepared to shed blood’ to retain it, Mavhinga argues. Until politicians of this kind are removed from office, says Mavhinga, ‘charting a new political direction for Zimbabwe will remain a pipe dream’.

As women in developed and developing countries alike find themselves among those hardest hit by the global financial crisis, Michele Ruiters writes in Pambazuka News on the need for the South African government to exploit opportunities to build a ‘good foundation for women’s equal participation in the country’s economy’, through ‘gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting’ and the inclusion of women in ‘decision-making processes’.

Bad leadership has plagued the Ethiopian people throughout the country’s history, Etyopian Simbiro tells Pambazuka News, and today the once oppressed rebels that overthrew a brutal military junta have become oppressors themselves, stifling human rights and dashing hopes for a better future. In order to return power to the people and avoid the installation of yet another dictatorship, democratic federalism, Simbiro argues, is the way forward.

Despite scores of studies and summits, gender equality in Africa remains elusive, Lila Kiwelu writes in Pambazuka News. Here Kiwelu shares some practical tools for tackling one of the most important causes of inequality on the continent – African women’s lack of access to and control over resources.

As social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and twitter make freedom of speech a reality across the world, Paul Mwangi Maina considers the potential impacts – both positive and negative – of social media tools and citizen journalism on participation in democracy in Africa and beyond.

If you want to put Tanzania’s Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda on the spot, Chambi Chachage tells Pambazuka News, just mention ‘the Zanzibar question’ – whether or not Zanzibar should retain its own separate government. Pinda recently sparked national debate by suggesting that Zanzibar is not a country, when he said that he would like to see Tanzania ‘run by a single government instead of two’. If we don’t ‘take the bull by its horns’ and resolve the Union issue once and for all, says Chachage, it will surely ‘explode’.