Drug gangs wage war for Acapulco (REPORT/VIDEO)

By Mariana Sanchez

It’s noon... and very busy under the scorching sun of Acapulco.

On one side of La Costera, the main road that runs along the coast, thousands of bathers are diving into the warm waters of this tourist city, once a paradise for honeymooners.

On the other side, the contrast couldn’t be more stark. A corner has been sealed off with red tape. Soldiers and police are waiting for a forensic team to pick up the body of a man lying on the ground, lifeless. Apparently, the man was a taxi driver killed by a drug gang.

We rushed to the scene. It happened just a few hours after landing in Acapulco. Local crime reporters have been incredibly busy. One killing is happening after another.

That’s exactly what I saw in the course of two hours.

Another alert. Ten minutes away, up the mountain through busy streets, a forensic team was picking up the remains of at least two dismembered bodies left on a corner, out in the open. The scenes were too horrible to describe.

Then another call came in. This time a young man who’d been in a phone booth had been shot dead.

This is what Acapulco has become by day and night.

These days members of the so-called Independent Cartel of Acapulco are fighting for control of territory.

I've travelled to Acapulco many times this year to cover the violence. But this time it seemed much more intense and out of control.

Violence begun spiralling in the port city when the top boss of a major drug cartel was killed by Mexican soldiers in December, 2009. Arturo Beltran Leyva’s drug organization divided. His brother Hector took over one faction and he fought Edgar Villareal known as “La Barbie”, who’d been a right hand man for Arturo Beltran.

When Villareal was caught one year ago, the fighting intensified again. Another boss, Moises Montero led an emerging powerful new group called the Independent Cartel of Acapulco. Two weeks ago he was captured.

“For days now, violence has erupted and all of us who are following the news know that this violence is in retaliation to Montero’s capture”, said Uriel Sanchez, a crime reporter covering Acapulco’s violence.

Mexico’s government strategy to target drug “capos” is having a multiplying effect. As bosses are captured or killed, drug organisations divide into smaller gangs, who are armed and with a thirst for power. They embark on a killing spree.

According Ramon Almonte, security chief of Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located, the majority of violent attacks happen among rival gangs.

“I’m completely sure that the majority of the fallen is because of the decomposition of the criminal groups. That’s why I can say that 98 per cent of the dead in this wave of homicides are directly or indirectly involved in organised crime, and a very narrow number of victims are circumstantial of the situation,” he said.

The government contends the strategy is weakening the drug cartels. But on the ground the reality is that the violence is getting worse.

Acapulco’s level of violence is starting to look like that of Ciudad Juarez one year ago. Juarez is still considered Mexico’s most violent place, though the level of daily killings has now wound down in that northern border city.

Taking a stroll some blocks away from the crime scenes, Ricardo Gonzalez, a resident of Acapulco, says that life before was much better, although Acapulco has always had violence. Many like Gonzalez say they almost crave for the days when one sole kingpin was in charge.

“There were no territorial disputes, when there was one boss he had nobody to fight with, or it was between them. It was better having only one boss. The violence today is senseless.”

Originally published by Al Jazeera on August 15, 2011 under Creative Commons Licensing 

Polio Victim on Front-lines of War Against Crippling Disease in Nigeria (EXCLUSIVE REPORT)

Mallam Aminu Ahmed Wada. In 1965, a few years after polio vaccine was widely available in the west, he was struck by polio. Both of his legs are completely paralysed. He moves on two wooden crutches which are just a few inches high. His mobility depends on the strength of his arms and shoulders. CREDIT: M Bociurkiw/HUMNEWS(HN, August 13, 2011) - Even amid the congestion and chaos of Nigeria's second-largest city, it's almost impossible to miss the roadside property of the Kano Polio Victims Trust Association.

Scrap metal, wheel-chairs, and small, custom-made motorized vehicles for polio victims seems to stretch for as far as the eye can see.

One of the first people to greet you will be Mallam Aminu Ahmed Wada, polio victim-turned-campaigner. His association started about a decade ago with just a few members and now has more than 2000.

In the mid-1960s, a few years after polio vaccine was widely available in the west, Wada was struck by polio. Both of his legs are completely paralysed, and he moves on two wooden crutches which are just a few inches high.

As Wada speaks, sparks fly all around him as welders work wonders with metal pieces to construct these amazing devices. Some are simply plastic lawn chairs on bike wheels, with hand-operated controls for steering.

The devices transform the lives of polio victims, allowing them to travel to job, classes - and around the dusty streets of Kano.

The NGO buys scrap metal and transform it into wheel-chairs, motorized chairs and crutches for polio victims - which are then sold to the state government and others. Part of the association's work is to employ people struck by polio; Rotary International is one of its key supporters.

Wada is a tireless campaigner for polio eradication. He often travels with vaccination teams, urging mothers to vaccinate their children against the crippling disease that has struck thousands of kids in Nigeria, particularly the north.

"Look at me," Wada begs watching mothers during one rally. "Do you want your children to be like me? Please vaccine them."

In 2003, Islamic leaders in northern Nigeria organized a boycott of polio vaccinations, claiming that the vaccines were a Western plot to infect Muslims and make them infertile. But an enthusiastic campaign by UNICEF and others has helped to reduce the case load.

But total polio elimination - the hope of campaigners ranging from Wada to billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates - appears elusive. In Kano alone there have been six cases in the last three months, according to a HUM correspondent in West Africa.

Wada's son, Umar, was also paralysed by the virus in 2004. This was the time Kano State completely rejected polio vaccine because of the boycott. "I woke up in the night to find Umar's leg was weak," says Wada. "We took him to the hospital, but there was nothing we could do." 

Wada, and his wife Hadiza, have nine children. Hadiza is also a polio victim and moves around on crutches.

These devices transform the lives of polio victims in the northern Nigerian state of Kano. CREDIT: Christine McnabAlthough the numbers of cases have plummeted - last year there were only about 20 recorded cases -Wada is the first to tell you that there is no room for complacency. Recently, he presented a non-motorized wheelchair to a young polio victims in Kano state during the launch of a vaccination campaign.

Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under five years of age. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Once polio strikes, it cripples the victim for life. Prevention is primarily through polio vaccine, administered multiple times.

Only four countries in the world remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988. The remaining countries are Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

With files from Christine Mcnab

Women's Exclusion Worsens Somali Crises (OPINION)

By Khadija O. Ali

Khadija O. Ali (photo credit: GMU)On July 22, 2011 the newly appointed Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, a Harvard-trained professor of economics, announced his 49-member cabinet. There are only two women in it: one minister and one vice minister. Yet, Somali women and children are the primary victims of ongoing conflict and deepening drought and famine in Somalia. According to UNICEF, a child dies every six minutes in the areas hard hit by drought in the Horn of Africa. In addition, all international studies show that women and children are the most vulnerable groups in societies under stress.

But with continued, systemic UN and Western support, the Somali Transitional Federal Government continues to exclude women from all decision-making arenas. Apart from the formality of mentioning women and children as footnotes in UN and government speeches, Somalia is pursuing business as usual.

The political sidelining of women in Somalia goes against both national and international conventions. Resolution 1325 adopted in 2000, for instance, calls on all UN agencies and all UN member states to support and promote the full and effective participations of women at all stages of peace processes and for ending gender-based violence against women and girls living in armed conflict zones. Over a decade after adopting resolution 1325, and after 20 years of civil war, Somalia does not accede to the basic tenants of this UN convention.

At a national level, meanwhile, Article 29 of the Somali transitional charter guarantees a 12 percent quota for women in parliament. But of the current 550 transitional federal parliamentarians only 38 are women. In addition, there is only one female permanent secretary out of the current 18 government ministries.

The newly appointed prime minister and his government should create genuine mechanisms to ensure the full participation of Somali women as citizens, as guaranteed by the Transitional Charter. The UN, regional powers, and Western governments, which all profess concern for Somalia, must get serious about their obligations and begin representing all Somalis, not just their narrow national and institutional interests.

Whatever the virtues of the prevailing 4.5 clan-based formula for selection of clan representatives and power-sharing (designed to balance power among four principle clans and five minorities), it applies only to Somali men. Whether religious, secular, or educated, the male-dominated Somali political leadership continues to deny women participation in the political process. In practice, the 4.5 clan-based formula has not created any serious space for Somali women. Both indigenously and internationally, Somali women simply do not matter. 

Without the full participation of Somali women, and their contribution and commitment to building sustainable and durable peace platforms, no effective peace will ever be generated or preserved in Somalia. Including women in all stages of the decision-making process will improve security because women suffer more when there is insecurity and therefore are more committed to the establishment and maintenance of security. Women are not warlords or gun traffickers and do not stand to gain power, money, or prestige from continued instability and violence. The inclusion of women will also improve the reconciliation process because women are important actors who have contributed to resolving conflicts in their communities in Somalia. Because of their marital and clan relationships, women can reach out to various stakeholders and often act as go-betweens with the parties in conflict. Women are key economic actors in Somalia and are involved in small business in order to provide for their families, so their participation is vital to the country’s economic development.

Finally, Somali women lead more than 50 percent of the local NGOs delivering humanitarian assistance. So, having women in important political positions will lead to transparency and accountability in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the vulnerable population. Therefore, women must be appointed as advisors, strategists, actors, planners, and managers of humanitarian assistance.

More than 20 years of the same game has left Somalia in a mess. The systemic absence of Somali women in the Somali peace and nation-building process has hampered progress within Somalia. Participation in the peace-building process is a right to which Somali women are entitled, not a favor that is bestowed on them. 

Khadija O. Ali is a former member of the Somali Transitional National Parliament and a minister of state at the Transitional National Government from 2000 to 2002. A contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus, she is also a Ph.D.candidate at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.

- This article was originally published by Washington, DC: Foreign Policy In Focus and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Macedonia: Ten Years after the Conflict (REPORT)

- by International Crisis Group 

Ten years after signature of the Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA) that ended fighting between the country’s ethnic Albanians and Macedonians, much of the agreement has been implemented, and a resumption of armed conflict is unlikely. Macedonia is justified in celebrating its success in integrating minorities into political life, but inter-party and inter-ethnic tensions have been growing for five years.

While this part of the Balkans looks to eventual EU membership to secure stability, it remains fragile, and worrying trends – rising ethnic Macedonian nationalism, state capture by the prime minister and his party, decline in media and judicial independence, increased segregation in schools and slow decentralisation – risk undermining the multi-ethnic civil state Macedonia can become.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who has just formed a new government, should work closely with his Albanian coalition partners and opposition parties to pass and implement the measures needed for more democratisation, inter-ethnic reconciliation and a solution to the name dispute with Greece.

On 5 June Macedonia held elections that international observers assessed as generally positive and whose results political parties accepted quickly. The opposition Alliance of Social Democrats in Macedonia (SDSM) coalition increased its presence in parliament from 27 to 42 seats. Re-elected to lead the government, but with ten less seats, Gruevski and his Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation – Democratic Party of Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) will now have to cooperate more closely with their Albanian coalition partner, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).

Albanian parties should strengthen their loyalty to the state and engage more substantially in policy and decision-making. The new more pluralistic and balanced 123-seat parliament should foster greater cooperation among political elites and help overcome the highly polarised environment that was exacerbated during the SDSM’s four-month parliamentary boycott.

A more balanced legislature should also temper the prime minister’s state-sponsored nationalism, most evident in the hugely expensive and divisive urban renewal program in Skopje, built around a nationalist vision of ancient Macedonia that is offensive to the country’s minorities and Greece alike. The failures to secure NATO membership in April 2008 and to begin negotiations over membership with the EU in 2009, four years after obtaining candidate status, helped Gruevski secure support for his “national renaissance” policy line. The resulting increased emphasis on nationalism, however, is dividing Macedonians unhealthfully between “patriots’ and “traitors”, irritating Albanians and discouraging Macedonia’s friends in the EU.

The previous government coalition captured many state institutions, especially the parliament that it dominated. Political dialogue broke down, and Gruevski and the SDSM leader attacked each other in highly personal terms. Legislative boycotts and laws passed under emergency procedures undermined democratic debate. VMRO-DPMNE and DUI party members were favoured for public jobs, without regard for merit. The government reduced criticism in parts of the highly politicised media by buying favours through advertising. Selective fiscal investigation into and subsequent forced bankruptcy of the opposition-leaning television station A1 and detention of its owner were viewed at home and abroad as silencing criticism. As under past administrations, the judiciary lacked independence.

Relations between ethnic Macedonians and Albanians also suffered. The government was criticised for not doing enough to ensure equitable representation, implement the law on languages and oppose cultural exclusion. At the same time, segregation in the education system was becoming more entrenched. Although a good institutional framework exists to promote and encourage inter-ethnic dialogue, relations suffered from weak central government support. The prevalent view among much of the Albanian political elite is that the DUI must be more forceful in articulating the needs of ethnic Albanians than it was in the previous coalition.

Albanians are especially frustrated at successive governments’ inability to resolve the name issue. As Crisis Group has repeatedly argued, the dispute risks derailing the strategies of the EU and NATO to stabilise Macedonia and the wider region through integration and enlargement. Years of UN-mediated negotiations have made little progress, and further talks have not been scheduled. Macedonia in particular appears to be waiting for an International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict in the case it brought for alleged violations of the 1995 Interim Agreement that regulates bilateral relations in the absence of a name agreement. The financial crisis in Greece and popular resentment of austerity measures there do not make it easy for the Greek leadership to focus on resolving the dispute. Nevertheless, Macedonia should seek decisive progress so as not to miss the opportunity to get the go-ahead for membership negotiations when the EU makes new enlargement decisions in December.

Citizens of all ethnic backgrounds and political persuasion have reason to celebrate Ohrid’s tenth anniversary. The OFA has done much to reduce discrimination and inequality and maintain unity. It is still needed to forge a common understanding of the civic state. During his immediately preceding term as prime minister, however, Gruevski sought to build a strong state identity based on Macedonia’s ancient history, from which ethnic Albanians feel excluded. They are more focused on advocating a highly decentralised federal and bilingual state that ethnic Macedonians see as threatening to the country’s survival. The two concepts have little in common; managing and shaping them so that they can provide mutual support or at least coexist constructively is difficult. But bringing Macedonia’s political and ethnic elites and ordinary citizens closer together around a shared vision of a unified multi-national state is a challenge that the new government cannot avoid.

Skopje/Istanbul/Brussels / Report by ICG August 11, 2011 - for ICG's recommendations please click here 

Access to Drought-Stricken Somalia May be Easing (NEWS BRIEF)

Famine-affected families in Somalia. CREDIT: United Nations(HN, August 10, 2011 - UPDATED 2350GMT) After years of enduring violence and blockages to vulnerable women and children in Somalia, aid agencies may be on the brink of fresh access to parts of Somalia - including the capital, Mogadishu - for the first time in years.

According to published reports, the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab (حركة الشباب المجاهدين‎), which controls many parts of the capital and rural areas, has been retreating from some neighborhoods that they have controlled for years.

The withdrawal is seen as the most significant gain for the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government, however some analysts suggest the Al-Shabaab retreat may be temporary and perhaps even a dangerous provocation.

In an indication of improved access into Somalia, the UN said Tuesday that they were able to dispatch more aid to the country.

In a UN news briefing in Geneva monitored by HUMNEWS, Elisabeth Byrs, of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that 2,000 tons of humanitarian assistance has been dispatched to Somalia in July by air, boat or road. The humanitarian programmes are currently being stepped up to avoid further victims but security conditions and access persisted as major challenges for most humanitarian partners.

That was also a sentiment echoed by a spokesperson for the UN's Food and Agriculture Orginization (FAO).

A Somali woman holds her severely malnourished baby outside a medical clinic established by the African Union Mission in Somalia's peace keeping operation. CREDIT: FAOLuca Alinovi of FAO Somalia and Kenya, said that the situation was is yet stabilized, and that there is a very real possibility of a worsening in South Central Somalia because the level of support in the country is extremely low in the context of a severe drought and a complex emergency. The situation has been particularly worsening in the last two seasons and has grown more serious due to internal factors, such as the conflict, and external factors, such as increasing food prices.

Aid agencies say about 600,000 children are on the brink of starvation.

"The reason it's hitting its children hardest is because they're the weakest when they go without food or water. They simply cannot go for all of those weeks," said WFP chief Josette Sheeran.

International super model Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid ( يمان محمد عبد المجيد‎)), who was born in Somalia, said Tuesday that the international community, including wealthy Arab countries, need to step up to the plate and donate more funds. Speaking on CNN's AC360, she voiced fears that an entire generation could be wiped out.

"This will be remembered as a catastrophe that has destroyed a generation of children..I want people to understand that this is a catastrophe that was preventable but that it is salvageable," said Iman.

Another prominent celebrity of Somali decent, Keinan Abdi Warsame (also known as K'naan), said he feared his home country's tarnished reputation as a haven for Islamist rebels, piracy and black hole of hopelessness does not turn people off from helping. "People have created a psychological fence where around their hearts where Somalia is concerned..we have to find a way to get past that and look at the humanity of what is happening."

Also on AC360, the Irish singer, musician and humanitarian Bono voiced disbelief that a catastrophe impacting as many as 12 million people in four countries wasn't receiving more prominence. "It is shocking, it is disgusting..it's hard to believe that this is the 21st century. We mustn't let the complexity of the situation absolve us from responsibility to act."

Bono articulated what many heads of UN agencies and relief agencies fear: that with competing headlines at the moment - including the tumbling stock market - the famine may not garner the prominence that it deserves. "I think about our own sense of values tumbling...This will define who we are, this is a defining moment for us, and there's lots to distract us.

"This is outrageous, it can't be happening and it must be stopped."

Indeed, despite high profile coverage of the humanitarian disaster, including the presence of prominent western journalists in the region and the involvement in celebrities, funding is still a problem.

Byrs said the $2.4 billion general appeal for the Horn of Africa is now only 46 per cent funded, with $ 1.1 billion received and $ 1.3 billion still needed. With regards to Somalia, food operations are funded to 57 per cent, water and sanitation to 35 per cent, nutrition to 45 per cent, health to 26 per cent and livelihoods to 18 per cent.

Some agencies are severely under-funded for this high-profile emergency, which impacts as many as 12 million people in several countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on donors for $29 million to respond to the health aspects of the situation in the Horn of Africa. So far, only $ 6 million has been received, said Tarek Jasarevic of WHO.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is said to be set to run out of funds for the Horn of Africa emergency within weeks if more resources are not received soon.

FAO says it will host a high-level operational meeting on August 18 in Rome to agree on urgent measures in response to the worsening crisis in the Horn of Africa. It come on the heels of an Emergency Ministerial-level Meeting on the Horn of Africa held in Rome on July 25 and sets the scene for a pledging conference called by the African Union in Addis Ababa on August 25.

U.N. Agencies Bring Much Needed Aid to Somalia and Ask International Community for Help (NEWS BRIEF)

(HN, August 9, 2011) The World Food Program (WFP) is sending 800 metric tons of high energy biscuits to East Africa to help fight the famine in Somalia.

On Tuesday, the U.N. food agency said that the series of nine airlifts will be enough to feed 1.6 million people for a day. The biscuits are being delivered to Kenya for onward delivery throughout the Horn of Africa.

More than 12 million people are suffering from the effects of drought in East Africa.

The first United Nations relief shipment in five years arrived in Mogadishu Monday, August 8, 2011, less than a week after the U.N. declared three new famine areas in South Somalia. The shipment, which also contained 31 tons of shelter materials, is expected to provide aid to approximately 470,000 people in Mogadishu affected by famine.

The U.N. estimates that there are more than 3.2 million people now in immediate need of assistance and is calling on donor countries to assist with funding. 

"We need the funding support to continue to enable us to replenish our emergency stocks inside Somalia as they are being rapidly depleted as we deliver much-needed aid across southern Somalia", Bruno Geddo, the U.N. refugee Agency's (UNHCR) representative to Somalia said yesterday. 

For more information about how you can help with food and medical aid  in the Horn of Africa click here, and here

-HUMNEWS Staff 

Vulnerability of indigenous tribes in Brazil (REPORT)

By Gabriel Elizondo

According to workers at the Brazilian government-run national Indian foundation, FUNAI, late last week a group of men from a paramilitary faction from Peru, armed with rifles and machine guns, entered Brazilian territory and encircled a remote jungle guard post used by FUNAI researchers to study and protect isolated indigenous tribes near the border with Peru.

The incident happened at a FUNAI post known as Xinane, a very remote monitoring location in Brazil's Acre state that serves as a small, five-person research base for the study and protection of isolated indigenous tribes in the region.

FUNAI officials say the armed men were most certainly trying to kill Indians in the area to make way for illegal logging, or new cocaine trafficking routes through the forest from Peru.

Either way, it represents a new escalation of threats of violence against Indians and those serving to protect them in a region along the Brazil-Peru border that has some of the highest concentration of isolated and uncontacted tribes anywhere in the world. (More here from Survial International about the uncontacted Indians of Brazil).

The armed men apparently hid in the forest surrounding the FUNAI outpost. The five workers on site saw it as an obvious threat and reported feeling vulnerable in the jungle area with little protection; the nearest Brazilian town being more than 200km away. 

The FUNAI workers on site - which included Jose Carlos Meirelles, an indigenous peoples researcher with decades of experience in the region, as well as Carlos Travassos, the chief of the isolated Indians division of FUNAI – sent urgent emails from a satellite internet hookup to journalists, friends, and family alerting them to the situation.

In one email, according to Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper, Travassos reportedly said: “We are totally surrounded. They (the gunmen) are divided into three flanks. We have nowhere to run.”

Altino Machado, a local journalist in the city of Rio Branco, Brazil and one of the first to report on the incident on his blog and another blog he contributes to Terra Amazon Blog, also posted an email from Meirelles which said, in part:  “Time in front of our computer is short. It’s not easy keeping one eye on the (computer) and the other on the Peruvian (gunmen)… (The gunmen) are still here…they are monitoring us and we are them.”

Late last week, Brazil’s federal police with the help of a military helicopter reportedly swooped in to evacuate the workers temporarily. But fearing the indigenous tribes would be massacred without their presence, the researchers flew back a short time later in a helicopter with police escorts only to find their base camp looted, signs that violence against Indians might have occurred.

Tiao Viana, the governor of Acre state, has reportedly deemed the situation so critical that he has asked federal authorities for more security to protect the FUNAI workers tasked with monitoring the welfare of the Indians.

Below: My report from 2008 with Jose Carlos Meirelles, now one of the indian researchers under threat:

The rising tensions come just weeks after Brazil announced a new, nationwide plan, to be led by the military, to beef up security along the16,000 kilometers of border Brazil shares with 10 other countries. The plan calls for 5,000 soldiers from the Army, backed by unmanned surveillance aircraft, to be placed at five strategic points to choke off drug trafficking.

But it's a monumental task. The Brazilian state of Acre, where the most recent incident took place and where the high concentration of uncontacted tribes is located, shares almost 900km of thick jungle border with Peru, a country quickly becoming a world leader in export of drugs, much of which comes through the Brazilian Amazon before being exported abroad. 

But there is even more to this story.

Meirelles, one of the men encircled by the gunmen, was the man who led the expedition in 2008 thatcaptured dramatic photos of uncontacted tribes that gained worldwide media attention.

The incident with the gunmen late last week occurred near the same general regional of the Amazon where those photos in 2008 were taken.

Travassos, of FUNAI, has said it's well known that Peruvian 'mercenaries' work for loggers and drug traffickers in the area. He said he thinks the gunmen were conducting "raids" to kill the Indians, which they view as obstacles to logging and lucrative drug trafficking routes. The gunmen likely threatend the FUNAI workers in the post as a way to intimidate the Brazilian authorities to abandon their work.

And the news in June of this year of the photos of other isolated Amazon tribes also was in the same general region (see my video report about this discovery here).  

Travassos and Meirelles said they are planning to fly over the areas to get a better sense if the isolated tribes were harmed; but there is real concern some of the Indians might have been harmed.

In 2008, just days after the now famous photos were released, I flew to Feijo, Brazil and interviewed Meirelles in his modest wooden home he lives in while not in the jungle. At the time he told me he was very worried about illegal loggers from Peru encroaching into Brazilian territory, and the extreme risk that put on native peoples.

“There is massive logging on the Peru side of the border and unfortunately the Peruvian Amazon is a ‘no man’s land’ and everything is permitted,” he told me. “So the Indians are being displaced into Brazil.”

Ironically, back in 2008, Meirelles told me something urgently needed to be done before gangs of armed men from Peru started coming into Brazil to kill the Indians that "got in the way" of logging or drug trafficking.

Based on the worrisome developments of the past few days, Meirelles premonition could, sadly, be coming true.

But despite the apparent dangers, the team from FUNAI seems determined to stay at the outpost. In another email reported by the journalist Machado, Meirelles typed:

"We will remain here…until the Brazilian government decides to resolve this absurd (situation)….Not for our protection. For the protection of the Indians!”

Originally published by Al Jazeera on August 8, 2011 under Creative Commons Licensing 

Swazi Kings and Greek Titans: Implications for Regionalism (PERSPECTIVE)

By Liepollo Pheko

Given the democratic deficit in Swaziland, South Africa’s 2.4 billion Rand ($355-million, 259-million-euro) bailout to the kingdom throws open a question about the nature and exigency of neighbourliness within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and begs some comparisons with Europe’s problem child Greece.

Questions have been raised about the extent to which South Africa ought to have taken responsibility for bailing out Swaziland in the midst of service delivery protests, wage strikes and deep concerns about the assault on our own constitutional sanctity. The Swazi situation is linked to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) cuts, fiscal mismanagement and the King’s personal spending habits.

As far back as 2008 difficulties were anticipated for several members of SACU, including Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland. This should have signalled worries for countries such as Swaziland, since the SACU revenue pool had already shown an estimated 9 billion Emalangeni shortfall for the year-end to March 2009. SACU receipts comprise up to 60% of Swaziland’s annual revenue.

According to recent reports, South Africa might also have to finance other SACU member states, including Lesotho, Namibia and Botswana, since our state would have to assume responsibility for the deficit in the SACU revenue pool.

However, on the trade front, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland have signed interim Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with the European Union (EU), much to the frustration of South Africa and Namibia, who have deep concerns about European goods flooding our markets and have refused to sign the agreements. Implementation of the interim EPAs could strongly undermine the customs union, as South Africa and Namibia would need to enforce border controls to prevent leakage of interim EPA goods into our markets. South Africa could also decide to go its own way on trade issues since SACU’s common negotiating mechanism is weak. This might lead to SACU’s ultimate dissolution.

If this were to happen the bailout question would be even more complex.   Moreover, in light of both Swaziland and Zimbabwe voting against South Africa getting a seat at the United Nations Security Council, what impact does and should this have on our government’s decision to bailout the Swazi Kingdom? It certainly calls into the question the assumption of inherent loyalty among SADC nations.

Perhaps there are lessons to be drawn from the Greek Titans, as we struggle with the limits of our own sense of regionalism.

Greece‘s austerity measures have been marked by tumultuous protests as its aggrieved citizens make it clear that their lifestyles, incomes and basic needs are not the collateral for Greece’s shoddy financial management. The first bailout amounted to helping Greece raise 30 billion Euros from global debt markets. Big sisters Austria and Germany were and remain particularly vocal and have vowed that Greece will not be “let off the hook.” They made good on their word by removing Greece’s national sovereignty over their tax and budget vote last year. Some German hardliners even suggested that Greece’s vote on any matters in the EU be entirely removed until their financial house is in order.

Striking in this is the clear tribalism between northern, southern and eastern Europeans and the sense that northern Europeans clearly remain class prefects. Perhaps another reason for Greek citizens’ unbridled disgust.

A trip through memory lane reminds us that a lot of the original EU did not fancy Portugal, Greece and Spain as ‘viable’ members of the ex-colonialists’ club.  What they do now recognize, despite their intra-regional tribalism, is that their fates are tied together and that the contagion could take the Eurozone into almost irreversible crisis. As one writer put it, “left untreated the cancer can spread and engulf the entire organism.” It is not a pretty analogy and by all means underscores latent family problems in the EU.

What is most striking is that both regions, the SADC and the EU, espouse principals of neighbourliness and cohesion. However, both have failed to reach a collective or cohesive agreement on how to handle their problem children. Unconditional family love seems to be a costly exercise reported the Boston Globe. A hundred and fifty five billion Euros have been committed through gritted teeth to avert a “political crisis with economic implications.” Since Greece sits on the cusp of Turkey, the Balkans and the Middle East, it is a geopolitical nugget, however costly. Observers agree that its plum geographical position may have precipitated premature membership to the EU.  

Swaziland is not a geopolitical nugget in the same way that Greece is. It is, however, part of the complex and often intertwined history of the SADC and offers insight into the symbiotic relationship of the SADC countries.

Ever since the transition of the frontline states into the SADC, it has been a critical and reciprocal relationship based on a shared history, mutual trade, investment and economic interests, historical intra regional migration and notably, the historical collective effort to remove South Africa from the grasp of its own brand of colonialism, apartheid. Very importantly, much of the bedrock of today’s South African economy stands on about one hundred years of migrant labour mainly from Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.

There is no escaping the symbiotic relationship between the economies of SACU. If Swaziland sinks, the geo-economic fallout will inevitably reverberate across the region, as Zimbabwe’s has over the last decade.

Thus, it can be appreciated that Swaziland cannot and should not be abandoned by South Africa.

However, it is disappointing to note that support has been given without severe condemnation of and calls for the immediate reform of the country’s absolute monarchy - an archaic and unjust system of authority wholly unsuited to our modern democratic era where freedom and justice is cherished.

Attempts by spirited Swazi social movements to evoke an Arab spring have been quashed by state sanctioned police force. The anger of the Swazi people is as much about the democratic deficit as it is about extravagant Royal expenditure.

As a democracy, South Africa’s solidarity should lie with the democratic aspirations of the people of Swaziland, and not with the country’s overlord. Our efforts ought to be more strongly directed towards ending Swaziland’s antiquated system of governance that violates people’s basic human rights.

While one might not in essence agree with the principal of cuts to social spending in an era of rising unemployment and inequality, the EU has taken the Greek bailout as an opportunity to dispense some “tough love” to a troubled family member by demanding that Greece reduce social spending in return for the bailout. Similarly, this should have been the opportunity for South Africa to make strong demands on Swaziland regarding fiscal reform, police brutality, suppression of opposition politics, and most importantly constitutional reform regarding the monarchy.

By attaching vague and minimal conditions to the Swaziland bailout, is the South African government not condemning the people of Swaziland to an extended future of bondage as “royal subjects” under a repressive kleptocracy?

Pheko is Executive Director at NGO/think-tank, the Trade Collective and is Africa co-convener of the World Dignity Forum. This commentary first appeared on the website of the South African Civil Society Information Service (SACSIS).

Famine in Somalia: Children Pay the Greatest Price (NEWS BRIEF)

(HN, August 5, 2011) The International Red Cross is asking for $86 million in donations to help feed the people of Somalia.

Many Somalis, starving and searching for safety, are risking their lives to get to camps which are now spreading all over the capital of Mogadishu. Others continue to cross into Kenya and taking up residence in Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp which is currently home to 420,000 people. It’s official capacity is 90,000.

Children are paying the greatest price in this crisis. The United Nations says 640,000 children are acutely malnourished and calculates that, in the worst hit areas, ten percent of children under the age of 5 could perish in the coming weeks.

The U.S. estimates the drought and famine in Somalis have killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 in the last 90 days in southern Somalia alone.

World Food Program Executive Director, Josette Sheeren, warned in a article published on the WFP site on July 24^th that “In the Horn (of Africa), we could lose a generation. Those that survive could be affected deeply” she said. It is particularly critical for young children to get the nutrition they need as their brains develop.  

To make matters worse access to aid is a huge problem in Somalia. David Orr, of the WFP told Al Jazeera that the largest problem continues to be access – “the worst of the famine, which is in the south is very difficult area to access”.

The access to aid is primarily impeded by the hardline Islamic militant group al-Shabaab, whose control of much of southern Somalia and ties to al-Qaeda discourages Western aid.

The U.N. refugee agency reported on Friday that al-Shabaab is boosting its ranks in the region by giving people money at a time of rising food prices and as other options dwindle for Somali families who cannot find handouts or afford to pay for food themselves.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State  Hillary Clinton called on the militant organization al-Shabaab, which controls much of the southern section of Somalia, to offer Western aid workers “unfettered access” to more than three million famine victims.

On Friday Hillary Clinton said Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, will visit Kenya this weekend to lead a U.S. fact-finding mission to East Africa to see what more America can do help victims of the famine sweeping the region.

The foreign minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, called for an urgent meeting of Muslim nations to discuss the famine in Africa. He said the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation could meet in Istanbul or in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, to discuss the crisis.  

 -      To help and learn more about aid needed in Somalia and the Horn of Africa click here and here

 -      HUMNews Staff 

UN: Somali Refugees on the Rise as UN Envoy Calls for Somalis to Pull Together (NEWS BRIEF)

Recently arrived refugees wait in the shade outside the Dagahaley camp reception centre (Photo: UN News Center)(HN, August 3, 2011) A senior United Nations official has appealed to all Somalis, both inside and outside the country, to work to support the ongoing peace process and alleviate the plight of those suffering from famine, while pledging the world body's support in the coming days. 

“This is a time of great crisis, but also of rare opportunity. It is a time for everyone to pull together to help those suffering and to work towards a better future for all,” Augustine Mahiga, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, said in a letter addressed to the Somali diaspora.

“I appeal to all those who are able – Somalis and the international community alike – to give as much as they can during this Holy Month to feed the hungry, heal the sick and prevent the famine spreading further,” he stated, referring to the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan that began on Monday.

The UN has estimated that the number of Somali refugees in the Horn of Africa has topped 860,000, many of them forced out by the ongoing drought and famine. 

The agency has reported that since January, 125,000 Somalis have fled to Kenya, and another 76,000 to Ethiopia. Earlier Somali refugees were largely forced out by fighting between government forces and insurgents.

Somalia is at the center of the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in 60 years. Earlier this week, the UN warned that the famine in two areas of southern Somalia could spread to five or six more regions unless there is a massive and immediate response from the international community.

Drought in the Horn of Africa, has left large areas of Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djbouti ravaged, leaving an estimated 12.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid. 

In addition to those Somalis dealing with famine, the U.N. refugee agency says another 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced, mostly in Somalia's south-central region due to the instability in the country. 

The international community has been stressing the need for a strategy to restore peace and stability in the country, which has not seen a fully functioning national government since 1991. 

Mr. Mahiga noted that despite recent progress on the political front, one of the contributing factors to the famine has been the ongoing fighting in the country. Some of the extremists are continuing their efforts to intimidate the population by preventing the movement of people from the worst-hit areas. 

“We call for the humanitarian agencies to be given unhindered access to all areas to provide desperately needed help,” he wrote, adding that the insecurity in many areas means that aid workers take huge risks to make their life-saving deliveries.

-HUMNews Staff / UN News

Change Coming to Cuba (REPORT/VIDEO)

(HN, August 2, 2011) Cuba's National Assembly has given its backing to President Raul Castro's plan to reform the country's stagnating economy. 

The reforms, ranging from the setting up of small businesses to reducing bureaucracy, had already been agreed by the ruling Communist party.

The measures the assembly was discussing in its twice-yearly session include cutting more than one million state jobs in a move to reduce Cuba's vast bureaucracy and reducing the state's role in areas such as agriculture, retail and construction.

Small private businesses will be encouraged to step in to fill the space, while state subsidies for goods and service will be phased out.

Mr. Castro also insinuated that changes to Cuba's travel and emigration rules could be introduced; saying that the government was  "working to orchestrate the modernisation" of the country's migration policies.

He was also quoted as saying that the government “is making advances with the reform and elaboration of a series of regulations” on migration that have lasted “unnecessarily” for a long time. But the reports by government-run media gave no details on exactly who would benefit.

The next step now is to see when and exactly how these changes will take place in Cuba. 

-HUMNews Staff 

- Video's by Craig Mauro/ First published on Al Jazeera August 1, 2011 under Creative Commons Licensing 

Fighting Severe Malnutrition One Child at a Time in Nigeria's North (REPORT/VIDEO)

- Words: HUMNEWS staff, with UNICEF
- Video: Courtesy of UNICEF Nigeria. Edited by Max Ramming; narrated by Maggie Padlewska 

(HN, July 31, 2011) - As government and aid officials fight to stem to tide of malnourished children in the Horn of Africa, on the other side of the continent, a proven method of quickly guiding children back to health is showing impressive results.

In Nigeria's dry north, a programme to endow individual communities with the ability to treat malnourished children has resulting in a sharp decline of cases.A weary mother brings her malnourished infant for the first time to a CMAM post near Katsina. CREDIT: M Bociurkiw

Malnutrition here, as well as in many parts of Africa, is not only due to lack of rain or climbing food prices. Aid workers say poor household feeding practices are also to blame: mothers either stop breast-feeding abruptly and too early or do not have the knowledge on how to prepare nutritious meals.

Dubbed the Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM), the concept is designed to nurse children back to normal over the course of about eight weeks. For the most part, children are treated at home with ready-to-use therapeutic food. It is a result of a close collaboration between the federal, state and local governments and communities, as well as UNICEF and the European Commission.

On a recent visit to a CMAM post in Katsina, mothers could be seen shepherding their malnourished children through a carefully-planned circuit. First come a check-up, then a consultation, and finally the mothers receive any needed drugs and anti-biotics, and food supplements, including the therapeutic food.

Careful records are maintained so that, over the course of eight weeks of rehabilitation, proper follow-up can take place. When the programme started, there were 100 cases a day treated; now, only about 20 mothers come in every day. "We are very, very happy with the results," said one health worker.

Midwife Fedosi Babendaga at the CMAM post. CREDIT: M BociurkiwThe programme is so finely-tuned that if a mother does not return for a follow-up visit, a trained community volunteer comes to knock on their door.

Midwife Fedosi Babengada says that, in addition to the case management, mothers are also offered nutritional advice on how to boost the health benefits of each meal.

Despite being one of Africa's most prosperous and populous nations, more than one million children aged five and under die of preventable causes every year in Nigeria. It has the fourth-highest number of underweight children in the world. This translates into more than two million children suffering from severe and moderate levels of acute malnutrition - most of them in northern regions.

CMAM reached about 54,000 severely malnourished children in seven drought-affected northern Nigerian states. It is funded by a 3 million Euro grant from the European Commission's humanitarian aid agency (ECHO).

The focus states border Niger Republic and the Republic of Chad - both of which appealed last year for humanitarian food aid following severe food shortages caused by the ongoing Sahel drought and climate change.

Apart from the effects of Sahel drought in Northern Nigeria, other major challenges in the region include poor child care practices - particularly low exclusive breastfeeding rates - as well as inadequate quality and quantity of complementary foods.

UN Calls for More Funds to Save Lives Across Horn of Africa (REPORT)

According to the United Nations more than 12 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti are currently in need of humanitarian aid and that number is expected to rise. 

"If we are to avoid this crisis becoming an even bigger catastrophe, we must act now" said Valarie Amos, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which issued yesterday's appeal. 

The emergency is expected to persist for at least three to four months, and the number of people needing humanitarian assistance could increase by as much as 25 per cent, OCHA said, putting strain on the work of UN agencies.

An OCHA spokesperson said in Geneva that the request for funds lifts the Horn of Africa appeal to a total of $2.4 billion, of which $1 billion has been received so far.

OCHA reports that, driven by the worst drought in 60 years, some 1,300 new Somali refugees arrive daily in Kenya, several hundred more flee to Ethiopia and at least 1,000 others crowd into the capital, Mogadishu, fleeing not only drought but continued fighting between Government forces and rebels.

“Women and children are forced to walk weeks under gruelling conditions to reach safety, and are arriving in refugee camps in appalling health, overwhelming the already stretched capacity to respond,” the agency said.

The agency also said that outright famine, declared recently in two areas of southern Somalia, “could spread throughout the rest of the south within one or two months, if the humanitarian response did not increase in line with rising needs.”

Drought conditions in Kenya’s northern and north-eastern districts have deteriorated further after the poor March-June rains. The food crisis is expected to peak in August and September.

In Ethiopia, La Niña weather conditions have diminished two consecutive rainy seasons, resulting in rapidly deteriorating food security in lowlands of southern and south-eastern areas, as well as in parts of the central highlands. In Djibouti, the drought has forced growing numbers of pastoralists and people in rural areas to migrate to urban areas, where food insecurity is rising.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that its emergency airlifts were flying tons of specialized nutritional food for malnourished children in Mogadishu and other food supplies in southern Somalia, and it was continuing to feed more than 1.6 million people in Kenya.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said six flights and two ships have delivered more than 653 tons of corn soya blend, and about 230 tons of therapeutic food to treat severely malnourished children. It is also building up its food pipeline which already supports 500 nutrition centres in southern Somalia.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was working to accommodate some 3,000 people who since Monday settled spontaneously on the edge of Dadaab refugee complex, already the world’s largest refugee camp.

A spokesperson said the refugee agency is “very concerned about the protection of civilians” in Mogadishu amid renewed fighting between pro- and anti-Government forces. An offensive by pro-Government forces has increased the risk to the capital’s citizens as well as the estimated 100,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had recently fled drought and famine in neighbouring regions.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, today welcomed the Somali parliament’s approval of a new Cabinet and said the new Government must “immediately” tackle the problems facing the country.

Augustine P. Mahiga said the formation of the Cabinet “sends a strong, constructive signal and represents a positive start for the new Somali administration.”

“The new Government must immediately tackle the most critical tasks with the objective of creating a national vision based on a constructive dialogue with all stakeholders and a focus on the delivery of services,” he said.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the WFP today issued a joint statement calling for a longer view of the humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa.

“Beyond the emergency, it will be necessary to put into place the long-term solutions needed to guarantee food security in the Horn of Africa. There will be no sustainable solution to the crisis without measures that enable the countries of the region to become food self-sufficient, develop food crop production and support pastoralism and massively reinvest in agriculture and livestock-raising in the region,” it said.

- UN News Center 

Pakistani Flood Victims Take Destiny into Own Hands (REPORT)

By Imtiaz Tyab 

Photo by Asad Zaidi

When we met Khaleda Bibi, the heavily pregnant mother of one was brimming with excitement. 

It wasn’t because an international TV crew had come to film at her remote village in central Sindh province that excited her: it was the person who had travelled there with us.

With us was Tasnim Akhtar, a Karachi housewife who - for the past 32 years - has devoted much of her life to volunteering for the needy.

It had been a long while since the two women had last seen each other, and there were smiles and hugs all around as they caught up.

They had met only a year ago, at a make-shift relief camp for flood survivors. Tasnim would go there every day to hand out basics like food, water, soap and clothing, all of which she paid for out of her own pocket and with donations by friends.  

The women she met, however, soon started asking her for other necessities like medicine or cash. In some cases, they even begged her.

That’s what inspired Tasnim to provide the displaced women with vocational training so that they could start to earn their own money and be able to buy whatever they needed for themselves and their families.

The idea to teach them quilt-making came after seeing a few female camp residents stitching together rudimentary blankets in the traditional style of rural Sindh.

As the quality of the quilts improved with training, Tasnim began to sell the linen on their behalf.

Khaleda, one of the few people at the camp who spoke Urdu (Pakistan's national language, but spoken by few in comparison to its many regional languages), quickly became the point person between Tasnim and the other women.

The two agreed to a payment system and the rest has worked itself out organically.

Khalida says that she never expected her life to have changed so much in a year.

 “We lost everything during the floods and had to flee our homes and fields. Now we are earning money and are rebuilding our lives to better than before.” 

Now back in their village, dozens of other women in the area have started to learn the once dying art of traditional quilt making from those that learned it in the camps.

They can earn up to $30 per blanket, a life changing sum in rural Pakistan.

With the money they earn from selling the handicrafts, many have been able to repair their flood damaged homes, pay for badly needed medical care and school fees for their children.

Tasnim says the women are getting more than just money by making quilts: “By giving work to these women I am also giving them freedom.  Freedom of speech. Freedom of speaking in the house with their men.  They can now send their children to school. Give them good food to eat, good clothes to wear. 

These children are entitled to this; it [should] not be for just the rich.”

It’s not just private citizens who are offering vocational training to flood affected people. The UN and other NGOs are also adopting the same approach.

But with so many still struggling to recover from the disaster, one year on, there are far too few success stories like this.

Originally published by Al Jazeera on July 27, 2011 under Creative Commons Licensing 

As Horn of Africa Battles Catastrophic Drought Ethiopian Commodity Exchange Boosts Food Security (EXCLUSIVE REPORT)

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange building in Addis Ababa. CREDIT: M Bociurkiw/HUMNEWSBy a HUMNEWS Correspondent in Addis Ababa

(HN, July 27, 2011) - The small trading room in the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) seems a world away from the frenetic buzz of the New York Stock Exchange floor: polite, well-mannered traders and buyers gather in a small circle, surrounded by electronic boards, buying and selling coffee beans and exotic spices - all sealed with a high five.

As one recent visitor noted: "Each high five (or open out-cry as it is known) is another small step in lifting the threat of starvation from the country."

As this region of Africa battles a catastrophic drought that has decimated crops and livestock in several countries, and threatens 12 million people, including in Ethiopia, the exchange plays a demonstrable role in lifting the livelihoods of millions of farmers out of poverty - bringing them from small, traditional circles into a large, sophisticated market linked to the global economy.

Th ECX opens its doors to buyers and sellers each week day to trade the country's most important export - coffee - as well as maize (Ethiopia is the second largest maize producer in Africa), wheat, spices and pea beans.

Already three years in operation as a private-public partnership, the trading numbers - more than $1.5 billion of commodity value had been traded as of June 2011 - and zero payment default status are accomplishments the founders like to boast about. Its membership includes 450 professionals representing about 8,000 clients - from small coffee growers to large cooperatives.

The trading floor of the ECX moments before the commencement of a new session. Credit: M Bociurkiw/HUMNEWSThe ECX was set up by a team led by Eleni Gabre-Madhin, a former World Bank economist and Stanford University graduate, who felt compelled to do something substantive after discovering that at the height of the devastating 1984 famine in Ethiopia - which she terms as "one of the greatest crimes against humanity" when one million people perished in northern regions - there were food surpluses in the fertile regions of the south.

In what she says was a turning point in her life, Gabre-Madhin dropped her high-flying international career of 30 years to return home and build the ECX. It would help bolster food security in Ethiopia by allowing farmers to reach new markets and obtain better prices.

"We are helping to change the image of this country," Gabre-Madhin says. "When farmers can sell their crops on the open market and get a fair price, they will have much more incentive to be productive, and Ethiopia will be much less prone to food crises."

By leveling the playing field for farmers, Gabre-Madhin said the ECX can assist one of the most under-capitalized sectors in the world.

It didn't take long. The first deposit at the ECX was in April 2008 was 324 bags of maize from a rural grain trader.

What's more, many of the people behind the exchange are Ethiopian nationals who have returned from prestigious careers on Wall Street to help re-build the country's shattered economy. Unlike many large institutions in Africa, the CEO and several senior positions are filled by females.

What makes the exchange unique is that its established an end-to-end ecosystem for trading - building  from scratch "non-core" exchange functions such as warehouse delivery centers, grading posts and clearing banks to remote electronic trading centers (modelled around Internet cafes and using VSAT technology) and a secure data system. Observers say this was a crucial step in establishing the exchange as the Ethiopian market is still under-developed. "We found that the piecemeal approach does not work," said Gabre-Madhin.

Solomon Edossa, the Chief Information Officer of the ECX, an Ethiopian national who earned his academic and professional credentials in the US, with such firms as Accenture and EDS, said most aspects of the exchange are homegrown. "When people come here they don't expect to see such things in a developing country," he said.

Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, CEO of the ECX, at the World Economic Forum. Credit: WEF

One ECX member said the exchange has revolutionized the way he conducts business with coffee producers and sellers. "It used to take us more than six days to get the coffee we sold weighed. It was also daunting to settle payments. Now we are able to sell our coffee centrally and within hours, get paid."

The speed with which the ECX established itself was astounding, given that Addis Ababa has a creaking infrastructure: power outages are common and even ATM network blackouts are not uncommon during heavy rains.

Still, the knock-on effect - whether to boost the country's international image or to alleviate poverty - is impressive. By playing a role in establishing the reference prices of traded commodities, the CSX is part of the shift in market dominance towards emerging economies, says Gabre-Madhin. In fact, the US share of commodity exchanges has plummeted by nearly 50 percent in the last decade

As the shift happens, millions of farmers in emerging economies are brought into the market. In Ethiopia's case, they are now able to access real time market prices via the ECX's remote price tickers or via SMS messages on their cell phones. The new access to information shields them from the manipulation of unscrupulous traders and helps them hedge against price volatility.

Said Gabre-Madhin: "In my view there is no region of the world, and no period in history, that farmers have been expected to bear the kind of market risk that Africa's farmers have to bear."

Almost a million farmers are indirectly represented as members on the ECX through farmers' associations and unions.

As it has grown into a prized institution, some memorable anecdotes had emerged from operating in a market like Ethiopia. One ECX warehouse employee had to consult his superiors when he couldn't enter the vehicle plate number of a seller because the farmer had brought his coffee on donkeys.

The story shows, that even today, innovation and flexibility is required to push the country's tradition-bound agriculture sector.

Click here to watch a presentation by ECX Ceo, Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, at a 2007 TED talk.