The 1996 report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Rwanda stated that during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda rape was the rule and its absence the exception. Indeed, rape and other forms of sexual violence as constituting genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, directed in particular against women, have taken place on a massive scale since time immemorial and are still rampant. This study assesses the supranational criminal prosecution of sexual violence, notably whether supranational criminal law and procedure are adequate from the perspective of victims of sexual violence.

The African Union (AU) has backed plans to create a scientific and cultural branch modelled on the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The AU council gave the proposal, from Sudan, the green light at its summit last week (21 January) in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. Among its aims, the proposed African Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (AFESCO) intends to boost the continent's scientific capacity, promote international cooperation and protect African cultures, reports SciDev.

The author presents a systematic review of the role of treaties in international law and seeks to demonstrate that their importance is today somewhat overstated given the extent to which States and other organizations tend to resort to more flexible means of standard-setting in order to promote respect for human rights. As this text demonstrates, the collaboration of various governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental representatives can result in an instrument which may be broader in scope and more progressive in content.

More often than not, the distribution of socioeconomic resources and political power in Ethiopia has been perceived in favor of the Amhara ethnic group. As a result, efforts to help the minority ethnic groups were supported by the invocation of subjective cultural attributes and sometimes, the manufacture of common historical experiences. After the collapse of the military regime, the present regime's misguided and divisive strategies sought to rectify what it believed to be a historically distorted distribution of resources and power in Ethiopia. This strategy led to the division of the country into "ethnic Bantustans" and hindered any real move towards development, democracy, and conflict resolution in Ethiopia. In this new work, author Ka sahun Woldemariam argues that the Amhara were as excluded economically and politically as any other ethnic group in Ethiopia, and that the concept of Amhara domination is a myth. Working from an interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological approach, this book includes over twenty figures and tables on the regional distribution of revenue and expenditure, health and education, manufacturing industries, and parliamentary elections. It is an important resource for scholars and students of African politics and ethnic conflict analysis and resolution as well as policymakers worldwide and Ethiopians in Ethiopia and the Diaspora.

A collection of nine short stories, from Ifeoma Okoye, an established academic and writer of fiction, who won the Commonwealth Short Story Competition, Africa Region, in 1999. The title story tells the tale of Anayo, a grief-stricken and pregnant widow, who stands accused by her jealous brother-in-law, Ezeji, of poisoning her husband. Anayo faces a dehumanising and humiliating trial under the clan's traditional laws. An educated women, she stands firm and achieves some concessions, but can do little in the face of entrenched discrimination.

This vital original collection of interviews, poetry, and essays of the much-loved anti-apartheid leader is the first book of its kind to bring together the full, forceful range of his work. Brutus, imprisoned along with Nelson Mandela, is known worldwide for his unparalleled eloquence as an opponent of the apartheid South African regime. Since its fall, he has been a voice for justice and humanity, speaking and writing extensively on issues of debt, poverty, war, racism, and neoliberalism.

Young people have been at the forefront of political conflict in many parts of the world, even when it has turned violent. In some conflicts, for a variety of reasons, including coercion, poverty, or the seductive nature of violence, young children become killers before they are able to grasp the complexities of morality. Yet it has been only in the past ten years that this component of warfare has captured the attention of the world. Images of boys carrying guns and ammunition are now commonplace as they flash across television screens and appear on the front pages of newspapers. Less often, but equally disturbingly, stories of girls pressed into the service of militias surface in the media.

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closure of Radio Mwangaza, a community station in the northern Congolese city of Kisangani, which has aired programs criticizing local authorities. Court officials sealed its studios on January 11 in a dispute over alleged non-payment of music royalties, station director Jean-Pierre Lifoli told CPJ. Local press freedom groups said they believed the station, which was set up with French and Canadian support, has been targeted for its critical programming.

Most women's rights practitioners would agree that getting progressive laws passed to protect women's rights is difficult, but the real battle is in getting them implemented. This is the reason why the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) for instance, has comprehensive reporting requirements from each state that is
party to the treaty.

A 13-year old girl published her first novel on Wednesday, with the story of young love drawing plaudits from critics for its groundbreaking style. Magalie's Triumph by Victoire Calissa Ikama Ngala began arriving in bookshops around the Republic of Congo capital, Brazzaville, as critics noted its conversational, screenplay-like feel - a break from many French-language novels that are written in more formal prose.

Shut Them Down! is an essential collection of reflections on the movement against the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. As well as action stories from the frontlines of resistance to the summit, there are detailed accounts of how various aspects of the mobilisation were organised, and analysis of the lessons to be learned.

In many cultures in Africa, traditional family structures and roles have been eroded: as a result of western cultural influence and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Children and adolescents are therefore often lacking basic information about relationships, sex, gender, the human body, sexual health and STDs. This resource book is designed to fill this gap. Drawing on data acquired from interviews with young people in the southern African region, it provides an up to date source of information on the major issues affecting young people.

Written as a ‘letter from a Xhosa Grandmother', to record her life in South Africa for her grandchildren so that they do not lose their own history, this is Sindiwe Magona's account of her eventful first twenty three years. Her early years were in a Transkei village, and her childhood and adolescence on the Cape Flats, in Retreat and later Guguletu, where she was poor but secure in a loving family. All this is described with humour, zest and enjoyment of township life. But then came disaster of teenage pregnancy and forced a change of all immediate plans for a teaching career.

The devastating AIDS pandemic in Africa poses daunting medical, social, and economic challenges, placing local, regional, national, and international communities at a moral crossroads. This book, the first to systematically examine the ethical implications of the AIDS pandemic for Internationally acclaimed experts in their fields, most of them Africans themselves, come together in this book to address these challenging questions that have tested South Africa's and Africa's leadership, and that of the Western world. They challenge also us. For in Central and Southern Africa AIDS is not someone else's problem: it is our own. Our response to AIDS – in our own lives and households and workplaces and communities and organisations – will help determine the calibre of society in the future.

Gova is a book of poetry written in one of South Africa's unofficial languages, Isicamtho – a polyglot of the 11 official languages and one which has its origins in the so-called tsotsi taal of the Black gehttoes. Ike Mboneni Muila is a master of this language and encourages readers to dive in.

Mohammed Charfi tackles the central question facing all Arab-Muslim nations: is Islam compatible with contemporary notions of democracy, legality and the State? A century ago, thinkers like Abdoh and Tahar Haddad called for an approach to religion compatible with modern realities, yet the 21st century is witnessing a sad regression in the independence of the law from holy writ. Charfi advocates a profound revision of Islamic thought.

Namuli, the lead character of this novel, makes her way from an isolated Ugandan village to international recognition. She encounters obstacles, prejudices and uncertainties about her own identity as a student, professional woman and mother. She experiences the enigmas of love, relationships and loss. The novel is based on a true story and aims to give readers an authentic picture of what it was like to live in Uganda from the 1950s through to the 1970s.

This paper from Human Rights Watch highlights the growing alliance of conservative forces, or fundamentalists, which is threatening progress made over the past decade in linking sexuality, health and human rights. The author argues that these forces, although diverse (including Moslem fundamentalists and the Christian right), share a common target: sexual rights and sexual freedom, particularly regarding the right to express homosexual orientation. The paper focuses on the backlash around sexuality, citing examples from India, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Jamaica and the United States.

The two poems below were submitted by Ann Kithaka. She wrote: "Please accept two poems to commemorate the 16 days of activism against violence. They are dedicated to the
African Woman, to our mothers, sisters, and daughters, who continue to suffer even in this age of enlightment."

CHILD

Child,
You saw him last night;
Your enraged father;
Half-naked; drunk as a skunk.
Tottering into your room.
Poised on your bedroom doorway;
Baying for blood,
My blood.

You saw me too;
Cowering at the corner,
Holding into your bedpost;
My red night dress torn in the middle;
Bloody hair piece hanging askew my head;
Face puffy and swollen;
Cowering like the coward that I am,
Entreating him to spare me tonight!

I saw the fear in your eyes,
And that of your elder sister,
Who stared around her in a daze
Wishing the bad dream away.
But the macabre drama
Refused to go away.
She took refuge beneath
Your double Decker bed.
But you, my brave little solder,
You stood firm;
Your plaintive voice
Beseeching him to stop;
STOP DADDY! DON'T BEAT MUM!

He did not stop.
You saw him came after me
Like an enraged bull
Charging relentlessly.
You saw him grab my waist,
Jerking me away;
Pulling me this way and that way
Trying to ply me off the bedpost.
How i resisted, protesting loudly
Shouting at the maid
To come to my rescue--
But she slept on,
The impunent girl!

You saw him strike my
Tear streaked face,
And as I reeled in pain
He dragged me off,
Pulling me towards
Our bedroom,
To complete the battering.

I felt you leap off your bed,
And follow us,
Enraged like a tigress,
In defense of her young one.

I felt him brace himself,
As he steadied himself
For the mighty kick that
Knocked you flat into the cold floor.

Then I saw red!
The adrenaline pumped into my veins
My heart beat wildly,
I started gasping for air;
And in an instant
Reason fled away;
I kicked him hard,
And beat him hard
Crawling at his sweaty face,
Blow upon blow,
Shrieking like a woman possessed.
Did you see him crumble
Like David's Goliath,
As I knocked the wind out of him
Cutting his life-line off?

Child, hush!
Did you feel me
Gather you in my flail hands,
Whispering my fright into your ears,
Before we took flight into
The dark night?

Written August 2004

MOTHER WHY.

Exalted mother,
I shall extend you no reprieve,
For your blatant silence,
When they spilt my virginal blood
On alter of tribal misogamy.
Had your indomitable maternal instinct,
Taken a compulsory leave of absence.
Were you a manacled captive,
Your leap, thrust and heave
Insufficient to stop the sacrilege
So callously, wrought on me .
Show me the gag then,
That stopped you from condemning ,
Or even cursing this macabre rite.
Where was the spirited female fraternity?
Could their ingenuity not conjure
A conspiracy to cut only a small bit
Instead of this sadistic butchering
Of all that is soft and best in me,
Leaving my womanhood this gaping scar
This jagged relic of primitivism
That has so eroded my self-esteem
Leaving me vulnerable and insecure.
Could not the council of elders
Be appeased by a surface job,
Could they not mother?

August, 2004

Published by Kwani Trust, 2005
Distributed by African Books Collective Ltd.

This latest release by the Kwani Trust is the third in a collection of books. Short stories, academic essays, cartoons, photographs, travel writing, poems, journalistic articles – anything goes in the Kwani? compilations. Founded by Kenyan writers, Kwani? is meant to get a new generation of Kenyans interested in reading. Kwani? also provides excellent insight into life in Kenya and other parts of Africa – in its many forms. Included in the anthology are the voices of activists, students, and members of U.K.O.O. F.U.L.A.N.I (a collective of Kenyan hiphop artists involved in social justice); they are joined by a number of established poets and authors. There are serious pieces, tongue in cheek satires, political commentaries, quiet observations on the mundane – each contribution is as diverse as the country which has produced the writers.

There are a number of themes that run throughout the book, but none as strong as the legacies of colonialism. Brilliantly analysed by Professor Wambui Mwangi in “Imperative Matters: Jee, Huu Ni Ungwana? Or The Scramble for Africa,” the story/essay takes the reader on a journey through African post-colonial studies. Debating the effects of colonialism on academics who study Africa in its post-colonial form, this is a brilliant examination of the ironies of African academia.

An interesting journalistic/human rights addition to Kwani? comes in the form of Billy Kahora’s “The True Story of David Munyakei.” The piece tells the story of Munyakei, who, noticing irregularities in the practices of his department, blows the whistle on corruption taking place in Kenya’s Central Bank in the early 1990’s. The story details his life history, focusing primarily on the effects that exposing this corruption have had on him and his family. Finding Munyakei 10 years later parallels this account. Having moved to the Kenyan countryside, Munyakei is living a subsistence lifestyle with his wife and two small children, having been pushed out of Nairobi with few opportunities for work because of his once high profile. He is finally recognised for his contribution to fighting corruption by Transparency International, and is awarded their Integrity Award. They have also started a campaign to have Munyakei’s job reinstated, as well as for the compensation of back pay which was lost as a result of the events. But the story doesn’t have a happy ending – readers are left with no closure – Munyakei still struggles on to provide for his family and regain what has been lost.

“She,” by well-known author M.G. Vassanji, contributes to the short stories included in Kwani? Offering a group of small characters, including a Tanzanian female National Guard, an American Peace Corps volunteer and a Kenyan, “She” tells a love story that unfolds on a posting in a small Tanzanian village where the three are teaching. Unfolding over a series of letters years after they left that village, the characters share what they could not communicate in person.

Kwani? also offers a number of creative and powerful poems. Written by Ed Pavlic, “Checkpoint, North of Lagos,” presents the everyday details of transportation. Bribery and the threat of violence run throughout the lines of this poem, but are treated as if they were normal, or ordinary. The tiny details – a wedding band, a belt buckle – these, rather than the danger of aggression, stand out.

Kwani? first appears to be an intimidating mishmash of writing. The format of the book is loose, imaginative, and follows no prescribed format. But this design makes it what it is – an extremely provocative compilation of young talent, offering insight info Kenyan life and critical thinking.

* Reviewed by Karoline Kemp, a Commonwealth of Learning Young Professional Intern with Fahamu.