Bristol-Myers Squibb said yesterday that it would no longer try to stop generic-drug makers from selling low-cost versions of one of its H.I.V. drugs in Africa, making it the second drug company in a week to greatly change its policies in the face of the AIDS epidemic.

It is extremely rare for a drug maker to yield its rights over a patent, which gives it a monopoly in selling a drug. But the AIDS crisis has subjected the industry to criticism that its prices are keeping millions of poor people in Africa from getting vital care.

Bristol-Myers holds the patent on a drug known as d4T or stavudine, which is sold under the brand name Zerit, and said it would not use its legal rights to keep lower-cost generic versions of this drug out of South Africa or any other African nation.

Yale University, which owns the rights to the Zerit patent with Bristol-Myers, said it would go along.

Bristol-Myers, based in Manhattan, also said it would sharply reduce the price of Zerit and another AIDS drug, ddI or didanosine, which is sold as Videx, in Africa, to a combined price of $1 a day. The company does not own the patent to Videx.

In the United States, by contrast, one day's dose of the two drugs costs $18, the company said.

Bristol-Myers's announcement goes beyond sharp price cuts taken last week by Merck & Company on two drugs.

"This is not about profits and patents," said John L. McGoldrick, executive vice president at Bristol-Myers. "It's about poverty and a devastating disease. We seek no profits on AIDS drugs in Africa, and we will not let our patents be an obstacle."

Bristol-Myers's move on the patent was praised by many of the activists and health care organizations around the world who have been urging the drug companies to allow generic-drug makers to make cheap versions of lifesaving medicines.

"This is groundbreaking," said Kate Kraus, a member of Act-Up Philadelphia, a group that has led protests around the world against the big drug makers. "This is the first time that a U.S. drug company has acknowledged that generic drugs are the key to saving lives."

But the activists questioned why Bristol-Myers was not dropping out of a lawsuit it has filed with the other drug companies in South Africa to keep generic-drug makers from making copycat medicines.

Bristol-Myers executives said yesterday that the lawsuit was still important because it was aimed at protecting their rights to all prescription drugs, not just AIDS drugs.

Whether any of the other makers of AIDS drugs will follow Bristol- Myers's move on its drug prices or patents was not clear yesterday. A spokeswoman for Hoffmann-LaRoche said that the company was reviewing what Bristol-Myers had done and did not have a position yet.

But Nancy Pekarek, a spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline, the British drug giant, said it was not planning a similar move. The company believes, she said, that it has already reduced the prices of its drugs enough in Africa that there is little need for generic-drug makers to make cheap versions.

"Our position is that patents are not the issue," Ms. Pekarek said. "The drugs are more affordable than they have ever been."

GlaxoSmithKline and other drug companies who have offered steep price cuts in Africa say what is now needed is for the governments of wealthy countries, as well as private foundations, to offer financing to the African nations so they can buy the AIDS drugs.

Bristol-Myers's move could put pressure on the United States government to allow generic companies to make low-cost versions of essential medicines on which the government holds the patent rights. It holds rights to a myriad of drugs — including AIDS drugs like Videx and Hivid, which is also known as ddC and which is sold by Hoffmann — because they were discovered in government labs or by scientists financed by government grants.

Some activists, including the Consumer Project on Technology, a group founded by Ralph Nader, have asked the National Institutes of Health to give the World Health Organization the right to use patents owned by the United States government to provide cheap medicines for the world's poor.

A spokesman for the National Institutes of Health said yesterday that the government's position had not changed since 1999 when it responded to the Consumer Project on Technology. Dr. Harold Varmus, the director of the National Institutes of Health at the time, wrote then that the government was worried that such a move would put the system of developing medicines with government research dollars at risk. "It is reasonable to assume that companies will not undertake the development costs of these inventions if they believe the government will readily allow third parties to practice the inventions," Dr. Varmus wrote.

Pressure has intensified companies to cut the prices of their AIDS drugs in Africa, where 25 million people may be infected with H.I.V. Early last week, protesters marched in South Africa as 39 companies went to court to challenge a law that would allow the country to buy generic substitutes of patented drugs. The protesters demanded that the companies stop the suit and slash prices.

Then Cipla, a large Indian maker of generic medicines, asked the South African government for permission to sell inexpensive copycat versions of eight anti-H.I.V drugs, including Zerit and Videx.

Last Thursday, Merck said it would offer its two AIDS medicines, the protease inhibitor Crixivan and another anti-retroviral, Sustiva, at prices that the company said equalled its manufacturing cost.

Yesterday, Bristol-Myers said its new prices were below its cost. It will cut the price of Zerit to 15 cents a day or 7.5 cents a pill, while the price of Videx will be cut to 85 cents a day.

But some activists questioned whether the new prices were truly below cost, and noted that Indian generic companies have offered to make Zerit for 5 cents a tablet. And James Love, of the Consumer Project on Technology, said, "We had a quote from a generic company for 22 cents a day for ddI."

>From: Kalé Fajardo <kale@...>
>To: <woc@...>
>CC: <anthrodept@...>
>Subject: FW: GLOBAL EXCHANGE JOB OPENING:  Human Rights Program Apprentice
>Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 15:57:50 -0800
>
>FYI, A Paid internship at GX!  Please pass on to your networks!
>
>Thank you in advance.
>kale
>
>Global Exchange Human Rights Program Apprenticeship
>Program Assistant and Urgent Action Coordinator
>
>
>Job Description:
>
>Organizational Background: Global Exchange is a non-profit education,
>research, and action center forging closer ties between North Americans and
>grassroots groups working for economic justice and democracy around the
>world. Through our various programs we seek fundamental change in U.S. and
>corporate policies to favor of human rights and fair and environmentally
>sustainable development.  Our programs include Reality Tours, a Fair Trade,
>Public Education, Corporate Accountability, and Human Rights campaigns to
>influence international policy issues.
>
>The Human Rights program at Global Exchange currently includes program work
>on Mexico, Colombia, Haiti, Brazil, Palestine, and domestically in
>California. Each of these programs has specific goals and are linked
>together in their administrative structure, public education, policy
>advocacy work, and legislative strategy.
>
>Global Exchange seeks a stipended apprentice who shares a commitment to
>work
>for greater social justice, a strong understanding of the current situation
>in at least one of the regions listed above, and a passion for learning
>more. The position involves a great deal of responsibility and is
>supervised
>by the Human Rights program director.
>
>Purpose: To assist the program director in the overall running of Global
>Exchange's Human Rights Program. The work includes the following:
>
>Activities:
>
>o    Report and Urgent Action: Assist program staff with writing,
>translating, editing: Recent reports include a comprehensive report on the
>Mexican Military, a report on the Haitian elections, Brazil Human Rights
>2000 report. See our webpage (http://www.globalexchange.org) for more
>information on these reports.
>
>o    Lobbying: Helping build capacity to lobby at the federal level in
>favor
>of positions and legislation that support human rights and democratic
>development.
>
>o    Public Outreach: Help to organize informational meetings,
>demonstrations, phone-banks and media events.
>
>o    Program Outreach: Help produce and update program informational
>materials.
>
>o    Delegation Organization: Aiding in the organization of educational
>trips
>
>o    Archiving: Collecting and archiving material on current issues in
>various regions.
>
>o    Research: Assisting program staff in researching regional and US
>policy
>issues.
>
>o    Fundraising: Assisting program staff with program reports and
>proposals
>and liaison with the development department.
>
>o    Administrative Support: Filing, data entry, internet searches and
>extensive phone work. Also includes building and maintaining urgent action
>e-mail networks.
>
>o    Coordination with program staff in San Francisco and abroad: Includes
>regular communication and collaboration with field offices in Mexico and
>Brazil.
>
>Personal Requirements:
>Applicants for this position should be self-motivated, well-organized,
>fluent in English (and preferably Portuguese, Arabic, or Spanish),
>knowledgeable about the history of the regions involved, current events and
>international relations.  Applicants should have strong computer and office
>skills (Microsoft Word, Quick Mail, PageMaker 6, Filemaker Pro, Netscape).
>
>The stipended apprenticeship program is a minimum 6 month program (32
>hrs/week) set up to allow a highly motivated person, who might not
>otherwise
>be able to afford it, to do an apprenticeship. People of color,
>lesbian/gay/bi sexual/transgendered people and non-citizens are strongly
>encouraged to apply.
>
>Starting stipend: $1000.00 monthly plus health benefits.
>
>Candidates, please send:
>1. Letter of interest
>2. Resume
>3. Three letters of reference that specifically address your capabilities
>for THIS position. Two of these letters should be from academic or
>professional supervisors and one may be from a friend or colleague.
>
>Please send application materials to:
>
>Ted Lewis, Human Rights Program
>Global Exchange
>2017 Mission St. #303
>San Francisco, CA 94110
>
>If you wish to send application materials by email please send them to:
>craig@...
>
>APPLICATIONS RECEIVED BY APRIL 30 WILL HAVE PREFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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Wow...this begs the question of how long they have been overcharging
us...they are using the market mentallity...those who can pay more, should
pay more...


But their answer would be that of course the rich are subsidizing the
poor....if we dont make profit, we cannot do research and create better,
newer, faster drugs...
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Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

The democratic socialist in me (read: not anarchist) makes me ask questions
about economics:

1.  Doesn't profit (by definition) mean money made over and above money
reinvested in capital and research?

2.  Is it not true that the profit margins of drug companies well exceed those
of most other sectors of the economy (and not just by a little bit)?

3.  What proportion of drug research and development is actually funded by
sources other than the drug companies (universities, government grants, i.e. our
tax dollars)?

Your anar--whoops, er Republican friend

Rand


ujeni@yahoogroups.com wrote:
> Wow...this begs the question of how long they have been overcharging us...they
are using the market mentallity...those who can pay more, should
pay more...

You omitted one minor question (perhaps deliberately):

4.  what is the average ratio of drug company dollars spent on marketing and
promotion to those actually spent on research, and how might this affect the
validity of the
arguments made by the companies seeking to enforce patent rights outside the
first world economies?  (last I heard the ratio was > 1/1.)

M


wiserd@... wrote:

> The democratic socialist in me (read: not anarchist) makes me ask questions
about economics:
>
> 1.  Doesn't profit (by definition) mean money made over and above money
reinvested in capital and research?
>
> 2.  Is it not true that the profit margins of drug companies well exceed those
of most other sectors of the economy (and not just by a little bit)?
>
> 3.  What proportion of drug research and development is actually funded by
sources other than the drug companies (universities, government grants, i.e. our
tax dollars)?
>
> Your anar--whoops, er Republican friend
>
> Rand
>

2 Killed As Malawi Records More Road Carnage

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 15, 2001
Posted to the web March 15, 2001

Raphael Tenthani
Blantyre, Malawi

A bus belonging to the Malawi State-run Shire Bus Lines and a
private minibus burst into flames on collision late Wednesday,
killing two people, some 20-km outside the capital, Lilongwe.

Police spokesman Oliver Soko told PANA Thursday that the driver
and a conductor of the minibus were burnt to death.

The driver of the government bus had a fractured arm with both of
his legs severely burnt.

"Miraculously, all the seven passengers on his bus escaped with
only minor injuries," Soko said.

The police spokesman said preliminary investigations showed that
the bus driver had veered to the wrong direction to avoid a
still-unidentified lorry that had failed to dim its head lamps.

Smoke was still smouldering from the mangled vehicles Thursday
morning, in the latest of a series of grisly accidents on Malawi
roads this month.

Thirteen people died when two minibuses collided on high speed
in the central district of Kasungu early this month.

In a separate incident, three people also died on the same day
when a high-speed police chase led a minibus driver to crash into
a stationery lorry, in the commercial city of Blantyre.

On Tuesday, six people also died when a minibus burst its front
tyre causing it to overturn in the central district of Kasungu.

In the wake of the almost daily accidents, the Inspector General of
Police has ordered traffic police to intensify searches for
unroadworthy vehicles and unqualified drivers. Police have also
been ordered to impose instant fines on traffic offenders.

*****

Botswana Criticises Malawi Over Trade
Agreement

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 14, 2001
Posted to the web March 14, 2001

Blantyre, Malawi

Botswana has blamed Malawi for delaying to formalise a crucial
bilateral economic and technical agreement the two countries
signed last year.

The newly accredited Botswana High Commissioner to Malawi,
Sesil Manyeura made the criticism in Wednesday soon after he
had presented his letters of credence to President Bakili Muluzi.

He told journalists it was unfortunate that the Lilongwe had done
little to finalise the agreement while Gaborone had made several
follow-ups but to not avail.

He said that Botswana was worried the delay could lead to re-
negotiations that would further delay bilateral co-operation in
trade, investment and tourism.

"I told the president that it is very important for Malawi and
Botswana to bring the agreement to fruition as it will help the two
countries to identify and exploit opportunities existing between
them," said the envoy to be based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

He noted, however, that Botswana was already benefiting a lot
from Malawians teaching at universities and secondary schools in
his country as well as those working in the health sector.

"Some Batswana are also training in Malawi in areas of fisheries,
technology, animal science and telecommunications," he said.

Botswana imports hides and animal skins, cotton and a number of
agricultural products from Malawi, while Malawi imports fats,
sodium chloride and veterinary medicine from Botswana.

Envoys from Portugal, Turkey and Switzerland also presented
their letters of credence to the Malawi president on Wednesday.

*****

Cholera Outbreak in Blantyre Kills Two

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 14, 2001
Posted to the web March 14, 2001

Blantyre, Malawi

Health authorities in Malawi's commercial capital of Blantyre
Wednesday confirmed that an outbreak of cholera in the city has
killed two persons.

Isaac Phiri, the Blantyre City Assembly environmental health
officer, told journalists that at least 228 people are suspected to
be suffering from the disease and 22 cholera cases from their
number have already been confirmed.

"The outbreak is acute mainly in the slum areas of the city
because of the bad sanitation situation there," he explained.

Phiri blamed the lack of enough toilets in those areas and flooding
that has affected most parts of the southern region for washing
human excreta from septic tanks down onto the people down
stream to cause the outbreak.

Phiri and a team of environmentalists early Wednesday led a
group of journalists around the high-density slum areas in the
peripheral of the city where the diarrhoea disease is most acute.

It was observed that many toilets - most of them pit latrines - have
been flattened by the flooding and the accompanying storms,
thereby leaving their charges floating about in small streams.

Apart from the cholera outbreak, residents of th slums are
bombarded by a stinging stench.

Phiri said patients are being quarantined in tents in treatment
centres to contain the spread of the disease.

At one such treatment centre in the Limbe side of Blantyre a
group of mostly women and children were banded on makeshift
beds in the tents. Clinical officer Nicholas Mtenje told PANA the
tents were donated by the French medical charity, Medicines sans
Frontieres.

*****

NGO Seeks 20 Million Dollars for Environment
Management

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 13, 2001
Posted to the web March 13, 2001

Blantyre, Malawi

Malawi Environmental Endowment Trust (MEET), a
non-governmental organisation working to preserve the
environment, will spend at least 20 million US dollars to put to
rights the worsening environment in the country.

MEET's executive director, Tikhala Chibwana, told a national
consultative meeting on environmental issues that the money
would be used to support environmental management
programmes in communities for a period of five years.

The meeting, held Tuesday in Blantyre, was attended by
representatives of international donors, Malawi environmental
NGOs, government officials and the media.

Chibwana said his organisation was also setting aside a further 5
million US dollars to be disbursed as small grants to at least 1,000
communities for specific programmes during the same period.

"Inadequate funding has been a major problem in mobilising
community participation and in supporting communities to solve
their own environmental problems. MEET seeks to address these
problems," he said.

Malawi has one of the highest rates of environmental degradation
in the Southern Africa Development Community region, with
deforestation claiming over 50,000 of the country's 750,000
hectares of indigeneous trees a year.

The national consultative meeting was organised to brainstorm on
a five-year environment management strategic plan and help
environmentalists shape up programmes.

A draft of the plan which has taken two years to design, was
presented at the forum.

It addresses environmental challenges currently bessetting Malawi
and provides guidelines on how to set up, develop and manage a
fund that would provide sustainable financing for environmental
activities throughout the country.

MEET was formed in 1999 as a fund after environmentalists noted
lack of finance as a major setback in the management of the
environment in Malawi.

During the next five years, MEET will not only disburse money for
projects but would also offer technical assistance to communities
undertaking those projects.

*****

Workers' Strike Disrupts University Programme

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 13, 2001
Posted to the web March 13, 2001

Raphael Tenthani
Blantyre, Malawi

At least five employees of the University of Malawi have been
arrested following a brawl with students at the main Chancellor
College campus in the eastern town of Zomba.

Police spokesman Oliver Soko told PANA Tuesday that one
student was seriously injured and that the police were still looking
for one university worker who has since gone into hiding.

The fracas broke out when the university authorities decided to
hire private companies to offer library, security and catering
services following a strike by the university workers.

All clerical, technical and support staff at the University of Malawi
have been on strike since last Friday demanding an 85 percent
salary increase.

But the university offered them 40 percent which fuelled the strike
that has so far affected catering and library services at Chancellor
College, the Polytechnic in Blantyre and Kamuzu College of
Nursing and Bunda College of Agriculture in the capital, Lilongwe.

A spokesman for the striking workers told PANA that while they
sympathised with the students, the only way they could have their
grievances known is to halt all essential services.

"Our ad hoc workers committee has been discussing the issue
with university authorities but to no avail," he said.

Students contacted on telephone at the affected colleges said life
has been tough for the past four days.

A student at Bunda College said the administration has been
giving out 300 Malawi Kwacha to every student a day (about 4 US
dollars) as meal allowance.

"This may be barely enough for a decent meal but it is
inconveniencing and time consuming to go to town to look for
food," she said.

The strike has not affected students only. Dr. Edge Kanyongolo of
the Law Department at Chancellor College said, as a result of the
strike, examinations which were scheduled to start Tuesday have
been postponed for a week.

"This has affected us greatly since we have to readjust their
programmes and extend the semester," he explained.

Kanyongolo also said that a conference on research that the
college was supposed to host from 28 March would be affected.

Meanwhile, apart from hiring private companies to offer catering
and security services, some lecturers have volunteered to do odd
jobs, including mail delivery and library work.

*****

And for today's goofy story, check out this BBC article about hairdryers in
rural Zambia...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1224000/1224958.stm

Based onm the latest spate of drug ads. ( I can barely read my magazines for
all the crap falling out, and all the big hptos of people healthy, and then
turing the page to see the size 4.5 font used to detail all the side
effects....the best one I know is a certain type of leakage associated with
the olean fat substitute for potato chips and stuff...
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Rand..If you ever find out the answer to number 3, I'd be interested.  From
what I hear, more and more often the universities are getting their research
funding from the drug companies (also university ag. research from companies
like Monsanto).  The companies who fund the research then have some say in
the what part of the data does and does not get published.  But,
universities increasingly say that this is the only way that they can fund
all the research they need to do.  What's best...less research or possibly
biased or at least not necessarily complete information about the results?
Do you think we, the taxpayers, would be willing to have more government
dollars spent on research through universities and independent researchers
to get unbiased or uninfluenced results?  I think most people are under the
impression that  is how it is now.     Cathy


-----Original Message-----
From: wiserd@... <wiserd@...>
To: ujeni@yahoogroups.com <ujeni@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Friday, March 16, 2001 7:37 AM
Subject: Re: Re: [ujeni] Drug company gives in?


>The democratic socialist in me (read: not anarchist) makes me ask questions
about economics:
>
>1.  Doesn't profit (by definition) mean money made over and above money
reinvested in capital and research?
>
>2.  Is it not true that the profit margins of drug companies well exceed
those of most other sectors of the economy (and not just by a little bit)?
>
>3.  What proportion of drug research and development is actually funded by
sources other than the drug companies (universities, government grants, i.e.
our tax dollars)?
>
>Your anar--whoops, er Republican friend
>
>Rand
>
>
>ujeni@yahoogroups.com wrote:
>> Wow...this begs the question of how long they have been overcharging
us...they are using the market mentallity...those who can pay more, should
>pay more...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

We would be better off just sitting at the bottlestores forgetting about
life around us and drink the gleens and blowns...
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Vendors, Police In Running Battle In Blantyre

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 16, 2001
Posted to the web March 16, 2001

Blantyre, Malawi

There were running battles for a second consecutive day Friday
between street vendors and armed police in Blantyre in an
operation municipal authorities say is aimed at riding the city of
dirty foodstuffs which they suspect to have caused an outbreak of
cholera.

Blantyre city mayor John Chikakwiya told journalists that he
ordered the operation after seeing that street vending was not
only causing diseases but was also making the city an eye-sore.

"I have had discussions with those who have built structures along
the streets and near hospitals. Our duty is to provide security and
cleanliness," he said.

In the dead of Wednesday night, city workers escorted by
gun-totting police officers, pulled down all makeshift vendors'
stalls in the centre of the city, destroying goods worth thousands
of Kwacha.

Vendors had a rude awakening when they woke up in the morning
only to find their stalls razed to the ground with their property
destroyed.

Angry, they haphazardly organised rowdy street demonstrations
chanting anti-government songs. They accused the ruling United
Democratic Front (UDF) of reneging on its campaign promise that
vendors would be left to their devices if they voted for it.

The aggrieved vendors marched to the city hall demanding an
audience with the mayor whom they accused of giving no prior
warning police destroyed their stalls.

But Mayor Chikakwiya, who was heavily guarded by armed police
officers, refused to allow them to erect makeshift stalls anywhere
any more.

He said residue from the barbecue stalls they put up in the city
emit stench that make life in offices uncomfortable.

He also said in the wake of an outbreak of cholera and other
diarrhoeal diseases in the city he had to take a tough stand on all
possible causes of the outbreak.

But one after another the vendors told the mayor that street
peddling was their sources of livelihood.

"Where will we eat? We might start stealing for survival," one of
them shouted.

A spokesman of the vendors, Victor Gerald told journalists the city
fathers were being insensitive to their own residents. He said most
of the vendors have no other source of income other than
hawking various wares.

"They should have chased us after completing the free market,"
he said.

"This will make us unpopular for three or four months but people
will later appreciate what we are doing," he cried.

Meanwhile, some residents of the city, where at least 10 people
died of cholera last week, said the move on the vendors was long
overdue while others observed that during present-day economic
difficulties, vendors offered a cheaper alternative to expensive
lunches in regulated restaurants.

*****

Three Britons Killed in Road Crash

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 17, 2001
Posted to the web March 17, 2001

Raphael Tenthani
Blantyre, Malawi

British consular officers were busy Saturday making preparations
to repatriate remains of three British teenage girls who died
Thursday in a road accident in Malawi's central district of Ntcheu.

Michael Nevin, second secretary at the British High Commission in
Lilongwe, told PANA that two of the dead girls, Amber
Montgomery, 18, and Arabella McDonald, 19, were from the city of
Kent.

The other accident victim, Kate Morgan, 18, was from southwest
London.

Another British girl, Elizabeth Ryan, 18, from Somerset in
southern England, survived the accident with a broken pelvis.

Nevin said they were planning to airlift Ryan to a South African
hospital this weekend. "She is currently in a stable condition," he
said.

All the bodies have been taken to a morgue at Malawi's main
hospital, the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, for
embalming.

The four teenagers had just finished high school and were on
what is called 'Gap Year' before enlisting to a university. They
were in Malawi on a 'Discover Africa' programme under which
young people from the West are sponsored to do volunteer works
in Africa.

The four girls were teaching at a Presbyeterian Mlanda Girls
Secondary School in Ntcheu. On the fateful day they were
travelling to Blantyre, 150 km away, for shopping.

Police spokesman Oliver Soko said they were among seven
hitch-hikers in an open pick-up. He said the driver of the vehicle,
who escaped the accident unscathed, lost control and veered off
the road, causing the pick-up to roll over several times.

The British girls and a Malawian couple died on the spot.

"We have since arrested and charged the driver with multiple
murder," Soko said.

The police officer said initial investigation shows that the driver did
not have a driver's licence but only a receipt to show that he had
passed driving lessons.

Soko said traffic police were working with the Road Traffic
Commission to establish whether the receipt was genuine. There
has been several incidents where fraudulent traffic officers issue
fake receipts in exchange for money.

This is just the latest in a series of grisly accidents to happen on
the roads of Malawi in March alone.

Only last Wednesday a bus belonging to the state-run Shire Bus
Lines and a private minibus burst into flames when they collided
some 20 kilometres outside the capital, Lilongwe, charring two
people to death.

Seven passengers survived with minor burns.

Thirteen people also died when two minibuses collided in the
central district of Kasungu early this month.

In Blantyre, three persons also died on the same day when a
high-speed police chase led to a fugitive minibus driver to crash
into a stationary lorry, killing the offending driver and a
passenger. A child died later in hospital.

Other six persons were killed on Tuesday when a minibus burst its
front and overturned in the central district of Dedza.

Home affairs minister Monjeza Maluza, who toured some of the
accident spots, has order traffic police officers to intensify
searches for unroadworthy vehicles and unqualified drivers.

The minister said government will next week introduce stringent
measures to cut down the carnage that of late has characterised
Malawi's roads.

On average, road accidents in Malawi claim 120,000 lives
annually, representing an average of 200 deaths for each of the
registered vehicles in the country.

*****

Commonwealth to
               discuss Mugabe

               Mugabe's policies have drawn international criticism
               Australia's foreign minister has said the
               Commonwealth should take action to halt the
               erosion of human rights in Zimbabwe.

               Alexander Downer was speaking as a panel of
               Commonwealth foreign ministers prepared to
               meet in London, to discuss any progress in five
               member countries where the Commonwealth
               feels there has been a breakdown of
               democracy and good government.

               The countries under
               scrutiny are Pakistan,
               Fiji, Gambia, Sierra
               Leone and the Solomon
               Islands.

               Mr Downer will however
               also urge the ministers
               consider action on
               Zimbabwe, which has
               been criticised in the West - notably by the
               United Kingdom - over the government's policy
               of expropriating white-owned farm land,
               government pressure on the judiciary, and
               harassment of the political opposition.

               "This is not just about Britain and Zimbabwe,
               this is an issue for the whole of the
               international community," Mr Downer said.

               "There is real concern
               about a country here,
               which we and a number
               of others supported in
               its battle for
               independence, and now
               that it has had
               independence for a
               number of year, law
               and order and the
               democratic process are
               starting to break down,
               and naturally enough
               we are all concerned
               about that."

               But analysts say it is not clear whether other
               member states will share Mr Downer's wish for
               Commonwealth action on Zimbabwe.

               The five countries currently on the
               Commonwealth's current "watch" list have all
               suffered the overthrow of their democratically
               elected governments, some of them in violent
               circumstances.

               Democracy

               But Zimbabwe is still a multi-party democracy,
               and an elected government is in place.

               The committee of ministers - like the
               Commonwealth in general - operates by
               consensus.

               Its members include Nigeria, which may worry
               about Britain being too ready to interfere in its
               former colonies, and Malaysia, always anxious
               about anything which can be seen as
               interference in members' internal affairs.

               South African talks

               The Commonwealth meeting takes place as
               Zimbabwean and South African officials wind
               up talks in Pretoria, which are aimed at
               resolving the crisis in Zimbabwe.

               A meeting between the South African and
               Zimbabwean Presidents, Thabo Mbeki and
               Robert Mugabe, is expected to follow.

               Correspondents say Mr Mbeki has been under
               pressure to take a firmer line against Mr
               Mugabe over the violent invasions of
               white-owned land and his threats against the
               opposition and the judiciary.

Vendors, City Authorities Tug of War Continues

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 19, 2001
Posted to the web March 19, 2001

Raphael Tenthani
Blantyre, Malawi

The stand-off between angry street vendors and city authorities in
Malawi's commercial capital of Blantyre continued into its second
week as the vendors besieged city hall Monday, interrupting some
services there.

The vendors, chanting anti-government songs, blocked the gate
to the city assembly, preventing vehicles from going in and going
out of the premises.

They demanded to be addressed by Mayor John Chikakwiya, who
last Wednesday ordered the destruction of all food and grocery
stalls in the city. The mayor refused to see them, vowing not to
soften his stand no matter how long or rowdy the demonstrations
will be.

The city boss said that he took the decision to pull down the stalls
because street vending was becoming uncontrolled and
unhygienic, thereby contributing to an outbreak of water-borne
diseases like cholera.

The street vendors said this was cruelty of the highest order
because most of them do not have alternative sources of income.

John Tsikulamowa, one of the vendors' leaders, told journalists
the mayor's insistence that they should wait for a regulated free
market was unworkable.

He said the free market project is still at foundation level and it will
take a year at the earliest to be finished.

"Even if the free market becomes up and running, it will not be
enough for all of us," he said.

For instance, Tsikulamowa said, Blantyre city centre alone has in
the excess of 2,000 vendors, while a similar number of vendors
operate from the Limbe side of the city.

According to the vendors' leader, the proposed free market was
capable of accommodating only 400 vendors.

Most of the vendors, who camped for the best part of Monday
outside the city hall, looked very pathetic, having lost almost all of
their business savings during the city authorities' night raid.

Martha Nelson said that she was a widow with children and wholly
depended on selling food in the streets to support the family. She
added that she recently obtained a 50,000-kwacha loan (625 US
dollars) from a lending institution to upgrade the business.

"All my stuff was destroyed during the city raid and I am anxious
about how I am going to repay the loan," she said.

Chikakwiya and his Lilongwe counterpart, Charles Chimdzeka,
held a meeting with health minister Aleke Banda, a trustee of
Press Trust, who are funding the 84 million kwacha (one million
US dollars) free market project in the cities of Blantyre and
Lilongwe.

Sources said that the city fathers were trying to ask Press Trust to
speed up funding the project.

*****

Cholera outbreak amid floods

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 19, 2001
Posted to the web March 19, 2001

Blantyre

At least five people have been confirmed dead while 85 others
are in serious condition in the southern Lower Shire Valley district
of Chikwawa following an outbreak of cholera induced by
devastating floods.

Kiswell Dakamau, the Chikwawa District Commissioner, told
reporters that there has also been a severe outbreak of Malaria
although he did not have available statistics.

The reporters had accompanied US Army officers who are training
Malawian NGOs, the police and the army on techniques of swift
reaction in the wake of floods and other natural disasters.

The Chikwawa floods have displaced more than 60,000 people
besides destroying their homes, livestock and crops.

Most of the displaced people are camping in ad hoc refugee
camps at the district centre while some have taken refugee in
nearby high ground villages. Meanwhile, UNICEF estimates that at
least 37,000 children have been affected by the floods
nation-wide.

The head of Preventive Health Services in the Ministry of Health
and Population, on Sunday the ministry will from Monday start
distributing malaria drugs in flooded areas to avert the effects of
any possible outbreak. "Normally, outbreaks of malaria occur after
the floods have receded since they leave behind pockets of
stagnant water where mosquito breed," he said.

Five Jailers Given 18 Years for Killing Prisoner

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 20, 2001
Posted to the web March 20, 2001

Raphael Tenthani
Blantyre, Malawi

A high court in Blantyre Tuesday sentenced five warders to 18
years in prison for the brutal killing of a prisoner last year while he
was in their custody.

The deceased, Businessman Kwacha Ghambi, was killed on July
6.

Justice Anaclet Chipeta also ordered a re-trial of two other
accused jailers after the jury failed to reach a majority verdict.

The jurors, who included two women, returned a 7 to 3 guilty
verdict on the two, but according to Malawi laws, judgement can
only be passed on unanimous verdicts.

Sentencing the five jailers, Chipeta likened Ghambi's murder to
heavily armed hunters killing a defenceless rabbit.

He told the packed courtroom that prisons are not torture gulags
but reformation centres where inmates are expected to be
rehabilitated for re-integration into society.

"A person is not sent to jail with risks that he will not come back,"
he added.

Ghambi, 35, was serving a three-year sentence for forging a
passport when the jailers murdered him.

According to evidence tendered in court, Ghambi - in the
company of another well-known prisoner named Clive Macholowe
- picked up a quarrel with a senior prison warder who led the fatal
battery of his prisoner.

The prison warders used anything at their disposal - including
pieces of broken furniture and metal - to beat up the young
tycoon, he said.

He bled from the nose and the mouth that he had to be taken to
the hospital where he was pronounced dead a few hours later.

Chipeta described the warders' action as horrifying. Even if
Ghambi was hostile to the warders, the law did not condone
torturing the prisoner into compliance.

The warders were originally charged with murder, which carried a
mandatory death sentence. But during the course of the trial the
jury changed it to manslaughter with a maximum sentence is life.

The warders have been in prison since 1 August last year
because the High Court refused to give them bail. Chipeta
ordered that their sentences be retroactive to 1 August.

Ghambi was himself not far from the wrong side of the law. His
South African-born wife, Angelica, died two years earlier in a hail
of bullets as police officers wanted to arrest Ghambi on yet
unexplained charges.

When he was being convicted of the lesser charge of passport
forgery, he had several other car theft charges hanging over his
head.

*****

Zimbabwe farmers
               debate concessions

               Farm occupations are backed by the government
               By Andrew Harding in Harare

               Zimbabwe's embattled white farmers have
               begun a special meeting to consider offering
               concessions to the government over the issue
               of land reform.

               The Commercial Farmers' Union is holding the
               meeting at a farm on the edge of Harare
               whose owners have seen neighbouring
               properties occupied by squatters under the
               government's controversial fast-track policy of
               land resettlement.

               The meeting has been called to decide
               whether to make a radical offer to the
               government.

               The plan would involve sacking the union's
               leadership and immediately handing over one
               third of all members' property to landless black
               Zimbabweans.

               In return, the government would be asked to
               restore law and order and guarantee the
               farmers' rights over the remaining land.

               Divisions

               The proposal has opened a deep and bitter rift
               in the farmers' union.

               It is believed the majority of members oppose
               it, but the organisation's united front is being
               dangerously undermined.

               The government of Robert Mugabe has already
               refused to negotiate with the CFU.

               If the farmers fail to come up with a tempting
               offer, Mr Mugabe could well decide to
               accelerate the process of land seizures.

Not that it is any consolation, or politically correct, but I am certain the
parents of the school girls at these mission schools are glad that they kids
are not being molested by the priests...
_________________________________________________________________
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More Rains, Renewed Problems

UN Integrated Regional Information
Network (Nairobi)
March 21, 2001
Posted to the web March 21, 2001

Heavy rains have continued throughout Malawi, worsening the
flooding in the south of the country and threatening new areas
that were initially unaffected, an OCHA situation report released
on Tuesday said. Some 335,000 people have been affected by
the floods that have so far inundated 13 out of Malawi's 27
districts, killing 14 people and causing widespread damage.

In Nsanje and Chikwawa districts in the south, 125,000 and
62,500 people have been affected respectively. "Parts of these
districts are not yet accessible due to poor conditions of roads
and bridges, hindering delivery of relief items," OCHA said.

While the Department of Disaster Preparedness, Rehabilitation
and Relief (DDPRR) has distributed maize, beans and salts as
well as blankets in Nsanje, Mangochi, Zomba and Chikwawa,
those items were "distributed only to people within the reach of
public authorities, namely people accommodated in public
buildings, schools and churches." In the Central region, heavy
rainfall has affected more farms, especially in Salima district. "The
situation in Nkhotakota district, the worst affected in the Central
region, remains critical," warned OCHA.

DDPRR had provided food assistance to the affected, until the
depletion of stocks on 6 March. The government has appealed for US $6.7 million
in assistance. Together with DDPRR, UNDP is
coordinating donor and the UN's efforts in response to the
emergency. UNDP, UNICEF and WHO have deployed assessment teams in the field. The
government and UNDP finalised arrangements for the procurement of blankets,
iodised salt and plastic sheets with funding from the government of Norway and
OCHA, the report said.

Meanwhile, WFP has commenced food distribution for 58,900
"most affected persons" in six districts, aiming at providing 690 mt.
WFP has worked out a logistics plan in collaboration with district
officials and other partners to ensure efficient delivery of
assistance. The possibility of using small canoes and army
helicopters for areas that cannot be reached by road or rail is
under consideration, OCHA noted. The International Federation
of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Malawi Red Cross have also
been active in relief distribution.

well, i thought all the nuns in bembeke were just fat...
d

At 03:55 AM 03/22/2001, you wrote:
>Not that it is any consolation, or politically correct, but I am certain the
>parents of the school girls at these mission schools are glad that they kids
>are not being molested by the priests...
>_________________________________________________________________
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
>
>
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
__________________________________________________________________________
Rand, Deb & Benjamin Wise
2784 Mt. Olive Drive
Decatur, GA  30033

Email: rwise.psy88@...
(404) 327-5765

See Benjamin at http://sites.netscape.net/randwise/benjamin
_______________________________________________________________________

"There is no situation that is not transfigurable."
						 - Desmond Tutu

Monday, 26 March, 2001, 14:56 GMT 15:56 UK
               Malawi police arrest
               'coup plotters'

               Police in Malawi say they have arrested six
               people who were planning to overthrow
               President Bakili Muluzi's government in a coup.

               A senior police officer Milward Chikwamba told
               the BBC that all six had been charged with
               treason -- an offence which carries the death
               penalty in Malawi. He said more arrests were
               likely.

               He named one of the suspects as a civilian,
               Sudi Adaki Sulaimana, but declined to comment
               on reports that the other five were soldiers.

               In 1993, Mr Sulaimana was charged with a
               group of soldiers with attempting to overthrow
               the then president, Hastings Banda.

               He was pardoned the following year by the
               new President, Bakili Muluzi.

Hi all.  For those of you pining for Blantyre and a chance to flex the unused Chewa, take a look at the below.

Cheers from Laos,

Sara

  Title: HIV/AIDS Advisor

Organization: Save the Children

Address: 54 Wilton Road, Westport, CT 06881 USA

Location of job: Blantyre, Malawi

Contact:

Joanne Derwallis

HR Consultant

Save the Children

(203) 221-4081

jderwallis@...

Deadline: 60 days from posting date

URL: http://savethechildren.org

  Save the Children, a leading international child-centered relief and

  development agency is searching for an HIV/AIDS Advisor to be responsible

  for providing technical assistance to Umoyo Network NGO sub-grantees and

  PVO partners on HIV/AIDS. The incumbent will work directly with staff of

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  implement quality HIV/AIDS prevention. Technical assistance will occur at

  all program stages including program design, implementation, monitoring

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  fluency.

  To apply, please email CV to Joanne Derwallis at

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  Thank you,

  Joanne Derwallis

  HR Consultant

  Save the Children

  (203) 221-4081

  jderwallis@...

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DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

Flakjackets are available from any Army/Nacy Surpluis store, or a couple of
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Safari Hats are available at any store, but Panama Jack can get you the best
one...
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Alleged Coup Plotters Charged With Treason

African Eye News Service (Nelspruit)
March 27, 2001
Posted to the web March 27, 2001

Brian Ligomeka
Blantyre, Malawi

Malawi authorities have charged an outspoken 33-year-old
businessman and an unnamed soldier with treason after they
allegedly plotted a violent coup against the democratically elected
government.

Southern Malawi police commissioner Milward Chikwamba
confirmed on Tuesday that Sudi Sulaimana and an unnamed
army officer had been formally charged with treason following
intensive interrogation over the weekend.

Sulaimana and five army officers were arrested on Friday night
following indications that they were planning armed strikes on the
country's radio and television stations and the presidential palace
in the commercial capital of Blantyre.

Chikwamba said four of the officers had not been charged as they
were co-operating with police. Additional arrests are expected
over the next week.

"Sulaimana and the remaining officer were formally charged with
treason this morning and denied bail. They were remanded to
custody until our investigation is complete," he said.

Chikwamba also confirmed that police had confiscated maps
depicting battle plans to seize the Malawi Broadcasting
Corporation's (MBC) radio studios and the government run
Television Malawi in Blantyre before attacking President Bakili
Muluzi's neighbouring Sanjika Palace.

He said additional documentation was also confiscated during the
pre-emptive arrests on Friday but declined to comment further.

Malawi army spokesman McLloyd Chidzalo meanwhile confirmed
that the country's most senior military officials met to discuss the
alleged plot on Monday afternoon.

Chidzalo cited State security regulations, however, and declined
to comment on the discussions or any resolutions.

The arrest is Sulaimana's second on conspiracy charges. He was
previously detained on attempted coup charges by former Life
President Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda in 1993.

Sulaimana was, however, pardoned and released by President
Muluzi's administration immediately after it was elected to power in
Malawi's first multi-party democratic elections in 1994.

He was rearrested after being named as a mastermind in the
spate of violent robberies that rocked Blantyre shortly afterwards.
Sulaimana was eventually acquitted for lack of evidence, but gang
leader Clive Macholowe was sentenced to 10 years jail.

Sulaimana immediately fled the country for the United Kingdom,
where he lived over the past two years before returning to Malawi
in January.

His alleged coup conspiracy is the second reported attempt to
topple Muluzi's administration over the past six-years. Influential
army officer Lieutenant Colonel Njoloma was previously arrested
for allegedly planning a violent rebellion in 1997 after he
absconded from his barracks without authorisation.

A nationwide manhunt by the police and army failed to flush
Njoloma and a small band of rebel soldiers.

The popular officer was only arrested when he finally handed
himself in back at his home barracks, where he was promptly
court marshalled on mutiny charges and imprisoned. He died in
prison in 1999.

Sulaimana and his co-accused, who are being held at the being
Chichiri Maximum Security Prison, face the death sentence if they
are found guilty on treason or mutiny charges.

President Muluzi is however opposed to capital punishment and
has yet to sign execution orders for any prisoners on death row. -
African Eye News Service

*****

Charges Against Three Journalists Dropped

Media Institute of Southern Africa
(MISA)
PRESS RELEASE
March 26, 2001
Posted to the web March 27, 2001

Windhoek

On Thursday 22 March 2001, President Bakili Muluzi ordered
police to drop charges against three journalists accused of
publishing "false news" in February, the South African Press
Association (SAPA) reported on Friday 23 March.

The report, which quoted the president's aide, Willie Zingani, said
the three reporters faced criminal charges of publishing "false
information likely to cause public alarm" after the opposition
newspaper "Daily Times" ran two stories alleging that serial
murders had resurfaced in Chiradzulu district, fifteen kilometres
from Blantyre. Zingani quoted Muluzi as saying he wanted
journalists to be professional and not "sensationalise stories."

Editor-in-chief of the "Daily Times" Mike Kamwendo and reporters
Mabvuto Banda and Peter Makossah were arrested last month for
publishing stories about the killings. According to the report, eight
men have been brutally murdered since January, with their eyes
gouged out, and ears and genitals cut off. The three journalists
insist that the articles are true and based on investigations into
the murders. In 2000, the newspaper uncovered serial murders,
which led police to arrest two suspects who were found guilty and
sentenced to death by a high court.

I've moved to a new place all my own. No mailbox, though, so please write to me/send me goodies c/o my friend:

Kampala, UGANDA

Hope you're all well.

KC

Hey folks,

Just looking for the latest resting spot for Becky Muller.  Becky if you are
out there or if someone knows where I can find her, please let me know.

Thanks,

Karl K.
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I thought the rest of the article made a lot of sense, but maybe that's
because my understanding of economics is not sophisticated enough.  What do
others think about the idea that overhauling the property laws will go a
long way toward making Malawi's economy more functional?

Eric

On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, Mark Holland wrote:

> Did y'all catch the picture of Lilongwe on p. 20 of this week's Economist? 
Small, neat brick houses widely spaced, a car in the foreground, trees,
electricity wires reaching all the houses, two or three small groups of relaxed
people somewhere off in the distance, and a whole lot of wide open space.  The
first few sentences of the article: "They are not as poor as you think.  People
in poor countries have assets, lots of them.  But because they rarely have
formal title, they cannot use these assets as collateral to raise cash."
>
> Sigh.  Have any of these people ever been to Lilongwe?  Did any make it
outside the grounds of the Capital Hotel?  Did they make it out to Kauma, where
15 people might share a 2-room house and half a hectare of maize field?  Which
assets are those, exactly?
>
> Mark
>

I guess my main objection to the article was that I don't think the notion of
using property as collateral makes any sense for Malawi.  The amount of land
each family has is tiny and dwindling with each generation, such houses as exist
are worth nothing whatsoever to a bank or other lender.  The picture heading the
article didn't reflect reality in any way.  And if a bank wanted to foreclose on
a tiny house in the middle of a village, wouldn't there be major trouble?

I also think there is huge risk: the economy follows the price of tea & tobacco,
meaning that a small-timer who takes out a loan to start a grocery is likely to
lose everything s/he owns next time the big tobacco multinationals find a
slightly cheaper source.  IMHO, control of the land would flow inevitably to the
elite. There is no social safety net, so what happens to the dispossessed?

But, Eric, you've certainly made me think more about it.  I guess I can't have
any objection to giving out permanent land title, but the idea that small-holder
Malawians would suddenly become savvy capitalists as a result seems a bit
far-fetched to me.

Mark

Eric Bone wrote:

> I thought the rest of the article made a lot of sense, but maybe that's
> because my understanding of economics is not sophisticated enough.  What do
> others think about the idea that overhauling the property laws will go a
> long way toward making Malawi's economy more functional?
>
> Eric
>

Bishops Caution Muluzi On Third Term

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
April 2, 2001
Posted to the web April 2, 2001

Blantyre, Malawi

The seven Roman Catholic bishops in Malawi have
cautioned President Bakili Muluzi to desist from changing
the constitution so as to stand for a third term without
consulting the people.

The 24-page pastoral letter to commemorate 100 years of
the church's existence in Malawi came as a senior officials
of the ruling United Democratic Front or UDF have stepped
up campaigns to let Muluzi stand again when his second
term ends in 2004.

UDF leaders, led by presidential affairs minister Dumbo
Lemani, have been going around whipping support to
change the constitution to allow Muluzi another term.

But the Catholic bishops cautioned that government should
respect and safeguard basic democratic principles as
enshrined in the Constitution.

"We should not allow anyone or any group of people to
manipulate others into eroding the Constitution," their letter
said, adding a referendum should be called to enable the
majority express their views on the crucial issue.

The pastoral letter is the first open challenge to Muluzi's
undeclared bid to run for a third term. The president has so
far avoided making any direct comments on the issue.

Presidential affairs minister Lemani has claimed that it was
not the party hierarchy that wants President Muluzi to run
again but it is the grassroots.

But Brown Mpinganjira, who was sacked from cabinet last
November amid allegations of corruption, has vowed to fight
Muluzi's bid to stand for a third term.

"UDF leaders want to trick people into endorsing President
Muluzi's third term bid," said Mpinganjira, who has since
formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) pressure
group.

The Catholic bishops also condemned political violence
during recent political meetings held by President Muluzi's
ruling UDF party and the NDA pressure group of
Mpinganjira.

In 1993, it was a similar pastoral letter by the bishops, which
emboldened many Malawians to challenge former President
Hastings Kamuzu Banda.

The then ruling Malawi Congress Party convened a special
convention where they resolved to kill them. All the bishops
were rounded up but they were saved by the intervention of
the Vatican.

A referendum was organised and the Malawians chose
multiparty democracy, leading to the 1994 polls, which
brought Muluzi to power.

****

WFP Appeals for Food to Feed Malawi
Flood Victims

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
April 3, 2001
Posted to the web April 3, 2001

Dakar, Senegal

The UN World Food Programme Tuesday appealed to the
international community for an urgent donation of 3.3 million
US dollars in order to purchase 8,800 tons of food for
208,500 flood victims in Malawi.

A WFP release said the agency would work from 1 April to
30 June in providing relief assistance following the disaster
which has been described as the worst to hit Malawi over a
decade.

"As a result of the sudden floods that swept across much of
the country in February, thousands of houses were washed
away or collapsed," the WFP Malawi country director,
Adama Diop-Faye said.

"Thousands of families have been left homeless. Many more
have lost their crops and are facing massive food shortages.
Our worst fear is that we could see increased malnutrition, or
even starvation," the WFP official said.

Abnormally high rainfall in December and January, and
almost incessant rains in the first part of February, caused
many rivers, including the Shire River, to burst their banks,
causing extensive areas of Malawi to flood.

Crops were destroyed, villages were inundated and houses,
bridges, roads and railways were demolished throughout the
country.

Southern Malawi was hardest-hit, as the Lower Shire River
overflowed and completely filled its flood plain in Nsanje and
Chickwawa districts.

On 21 February, the government of Malawi declared a state
of emergency and released contingency funds for immediate
food and non-food assistance to the most affected people,
and appealed for international assistance.

In early March, as government stocks ran dry, WFP launched
a short-term immediate response operation with food
borrowed from other WFP projects to immediately feed
some 60,000 people in the six most damaged districts.

Despite difficulties in transporting food because of severe
damage and flooding of roads, WFP managed to deliver
nearly 700 tons of food to stranded people in Nsanje,
Chickwawa, Phalombe, Zomba and Machinga districts in
the south, and Salima district in central Malawi.

The same districts, including Mangochi, would be assisted
in the wider three-month relief operation.

"Our immediate objective is to prevent the loss of life and an
explosion of malnutrition among children and their parents,"
said Diop-Faye.

"The food will also help to stop families from selling off
crucial farming tools, give them sufficient energy to plant in
May for the July/August harvest, and thereby recover from
this crippling disaster."

The floods struck at the worst time, just prior to the March
harvest, causing widespread crop destruction.

The majority of farmers, especially female heads of
household were affected in these often inaccessible areas
where the people are extremely poor and require immediate
food aid.

"The nutritional status of women and that of their children is
at serious risk. Donations are needed immediately to ensure
that these mothers have enough energy to plant, harvest and
support their families," said Diop-Faye.

WFP will provide 6,230 tons of maize, 1,090 tons of pulses,
467 tons of oil, 957 tons of blended cereal and 78 tons of
salt during the three-month relief operation.

After the operation, food aid would be provided in the form
of a resettlement package for families who have lost their
homes, under a WFP Disaster Mitigation and Response
project.

It would also provide for food-for-work activities to
rehabilitate damaged infrastructure and to develop
flood-damage prevention projects.

*****

School Certificate Exams Suffer Poor
Results

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
April 2, 2001
Posted to the web April 3, 2001

Blantyre, Malawi

Only 10,191 of the 51,875 candidates who sat for last year's
Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE)
examinations - an equivalent of the GCE Ordinary Level -
have passed, representing a just under 20 per cent pass
rate.

This is just another in a series of disastrous results for three
consecutive years starting from 1996 where the pass rate
was only 33 per cent.

In 1997 the pass rate dropped further to 28 per cent, which
further dropped to 16 per cent in 1998.

Last year the pass rate hit an all-time low at only 13 per cent.

This incensed President Bakili Muluzi who ordered an
inquiry into the dwindling pass rates.

The just-published report from the inquiry says unlike under
the iron-fist rule of Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, students are
nowadays free, too free for teachers to enforce discipline.

Teachers themselves can down tools whenever they are
dissatisfied with salaries, the report noted.

It recommended that government improve pay to motivate
teachers. It also recommends discipline among students.

*****

Fight Over Banda Inheritance Rages On

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
April 1, 2001
Posted to the web April 1, 2001

Raphael Tenthani
Blantyre, Malawi

Malawi high court judge Anaclet Chipeta is expected to rule
on 26 April on whether officials from British banks should be
physically present to testify in the court in a case in which
former president Kamuzu Banda's relatives are suing the
late dictator's long-time financial advisor Farook Sacraine
for allegedly misusing his foreign bank accounts.

This follows an objection by Sacraine's lawyer Gustave
Kaliwo on an application by Dr. Banda's relatives that they
be allowed to use bank statements on their claims that the
financial advisor pilfered money from the accounts.

Kaliwo argued that these days of electronic advancement it
will be dangerous for courts to allow documents willy-nilly
because they can easily be tampered with. He said officials
from the British banks should be flown in to physically explain
the statements.

"How dangerous it is these days of electronic technology for
the court to accept statements or documents whose
authenticity is not proved in court?" he said.

But the relatives' lawyer, Raphael Mhone, argued that it was
all right for the court to admit the statements as evidence
without the physical presence of the bank officials because
they have already been certified as genuine and true copies
of the original.

"I agree with the defence that these are days of electronic
technology but the law provides a procedure on how
bankers' books can be proved," he said.

Chipeta said he needed to study the arguments and
reserved his ruling for 26 April.

Dr. Banda's surviving nieces - Ellen Kupingana Mwale and
Zelifa Chendawaka Mwale - are suing Sacraine for allegedly
transferring at least 108,000 British pound sterling from a
British bank to another account and for closing two of their
other British accounts and pooling the 110,000 British pound
sterling between them into a joint account without their
knowledge or consent.

Dr. Banda's nieces are also questioning how Sacraine used
their accounts to pay off British lawyer, Clive Stanbrook.
Stanbrook was paid 108,992.10 pounds for successfully
defending Dr. Banda and his lieutenants, including Cecilia
Kadzamira, in a case in which they were being accused of
murdering three ministers and a parliamentarian in 1983.

According to court documents, Dr. Banda opened for his two
nieces accounts at NatWest Picadilly Premium Reserve,
NatWest Treasury Reserve and NatWest Treasury Reserve.

The latest hurdle on whether to fly in the British bank officials
will further delay the case that has been dragging from
immediately Dr. Banda died aged 101 in November 1997
after ruling Malawi for three uninterrupted decades since
independence from Britain in 1964

*****

Malawi Fabricated Coup, Says Opposition
Head

UN Integrated Regional
Information Network (Nairobi)
March 31, 2001
Posted to the web March 31, 2001

Malawi's main opposition leader, Gwanda Chakuamba,
accused the government on Thursday of fabricating an
attempted coup as an excuse to crack down on political
opponents, news reports said. "The government is using the
two ringleaders to fabricate a coup plot in order to get us in,"
Chakuamba was quoted as saying.

Intelligence reports gathered by the opposition showed that
the government fingered Sudi Sulaimana and Colvin
Kaumira in the plot to implicate the opposition, Chakuamba
said. The two were among nine people arrested at the
weekend on charges that they planned to attack state radio
and television stations and march on the presidential
residence, Sanjika Palace, on the outskirts of Blantyre.

"They want to get us in because the government is
threatened by the grand alliance of three parties," he added.
According to reports, the Alliance for Democracy - led by
Chakufwa Chihana, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
pressure group, and Chakuamba's Malawi Congress Party
(MCP) - have been holding rallies together and hinting at
plans to form an electoral pact in 2004, when the next
general election is due.

"The government is threatened by the grand alliance. It is this
pressure which is encouraging government to deal with the
opposition," Chakuamba said. The constitution currently
limits the president to serving two consecutive five-year
terms. Muluzi's second term expires in 2004.

*****

Close-Up On Alleged Coup Leader

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
April 1, 2001
Posted to the web April 1, 2001

Raphael Tenthani
Blantyre, Malawi

Tension grew early this week in Malawi when news of
arrests of nine alleged coup plotters was announced to the
nation.

But the tension became a melodrama when it was learnt that
the purported coup leader was not a general, a colonel or
even a sergeant.

He was rather a young civilian armed, not with a gun, but an
ambitious studious brain.

Thoughtful, affable, studious and quiet - very quiet - that's
how those who know him describe the brains behind the
so-called coup plot.

His reticent nature makes his mind quite difficult to
understand, so difficult that even his estranged wife,
Amanda, is not sure what sort of man Sudi Adaki Sulaimana
is.

Sulaimana married his college sweetheart, Amanda, and
they have three young children.

At 33 Sulaimana is not too young to lead a coup as recent
African history can testify. Gambian president Yaya Jammeh
was much younger when he stormed state house.

The only difference between Jammeh and Sulaimana is that
while the former is a proven soldier, the latter only trained as
an economist.

That notwithstanding, Sulaimana is something of a veteran
"coup plotter." In 1993, when the former dictator, the late
Hastings Kamuzu Banda's years in power were on the wane,
Sulaimana was arrested alongside a number of soldiers for
inciting mutiny.

Charged with the capital offence of treason, he could have
gone in for life - if not death - had the incoming government
of president Bakili Muluzi not pardoned all political prisoners
and those on death row in 1994.

Sulaimana became a free man again, ready to pursue his
economics degree he had failed to finish at Malawi's
Chancellor College earlier. He was earlier sent off campus
early in 1992 because he was embroiled in campus politics
at a time when Dr. Banda did not allow such dissent.

A friend of Sulaimana told PANA after the eight Roman
Catholic bishops wrote their nation-shaking pastoral letter in
1992 students at Chancellor College became revolutionary.

They organised a series of street protests in support of the
bishops and opposition leader Chakufwa Chihana, who was
the first politician to stand up against Dr. Banda after the
pastoral letter.

Chancellor College, the main campus of the University of
Malawi, was closed and when it was reopened a committee
of 11 students - who were at the centre of the
demonstrations - was suspended.

Fearing for their lives, the students went into hiding, most of
them - including Sulaimana - finding their way into
neighbouring Zambia. While his friends came back in time
for exams, Sulaimana returned late, thereby missing the
exams.

But when Muluzi pardoned him, Sulaimana never went back
to campus. Instead, he joined the young thugs of Muluzi's
ruling United Democratic Front or UDF. The group, known
as Young Democrats, were assigned to do all sorts of dirty
political jobs, including disrupting opposition parties' rallies,
beatings and buying out opposition leaders.

It is not clear when or whether he finally left the UDF Young
Democrats.

Born in a strict Muslim family in the eastern district of
Zomba, Sulaimana was brought up in fear of Allah.

But when he started his university education, he dropped his
faith and converted to Christianity. With his inquisitive mind,
Sulaimana did not just join any type of Christianity, but rather
a charismatic born-again sect that speaks in tongues.

Journalist Jika Nkolokosa remembers Sulaimana as a
person very much attached to his family. He describes him
as an affable person and says you have to have a very
shrewd mind to discern a plotter's mind in him.

But commissioner of police Milward Chikwamba, who has
been detailed to handle the latest coup plot, thinks
otherwise. He says he found Sulaimana in possession of
documents and sketches detailing how the coup plotters
would on 10 April take over the state-run Malawi radio and
television.

And after 'junta' leader Sulaimana had read a statement
justifying the coup, the coup makers would march to Sanjika
Palace, the official residence of the president, and eject the
incumbent.

According to Chikwamba, they coup plotters were also
found with a number of military uniforms.

But his friends, and even the spokesman of the Malawi
Army, Lt.-Col. MacLeod Chidzalo, think the police have just
created a storm out of a tea cup.

For starters, according to Chidzalo, there are no soldiers
among the arrested nine and one could get army uniforms in
on the streets these days.

Muluzi himself, who has been briefed of the situation by top
military and police officials, seems unconcerned. He did not
interrupt his trip to the north and never as much as made a
passing remark on the alleged coup-attempt on his troubled
seven-year-old reign.

That did not stop the political pot from boiling. Another
opposition leader, Gwanda Chakuamba, turned up what he
called 'an intelligence report' which claims the whole coup
nonsense was a cooked up by government so that
Sulaimana should 'confess' that he was sent by the
opposition to stage the coup.

Then the police would move in to arrest Chakuamba and the
former senior minister Brown Mpinganjira who has since
formed an opposition party.

The police and the army have describe that school of thought
as 'rubbish.' But that only shows what storm the quiet
Sulaimana, who likes reading revolutionary materials and
writing lots of social theories, has caused in the system.

Whether Muluzi pardons him again or not this time round,
Malawians for sure have not heard the last from Sulaimana.

*****

Malawi Police, Hawkers Clash In Blantyre

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
March 30, 2001
Posted to the web March 30, 2001

Blantyre, Malawi

The Limbe side of Malawi's commercial capital of Blantyre
was completely closed from business Friday morning as riot
police fought running battles with street vendors.

Several people were rushed to the casualty department of
Blantyre's Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital following a
showdown with security forces helping the city council clear
streets in a clean-up campaign.

Police spokesman Oliver Soko said vendors used rocks,
bricks, old tyres and tree logs to block roads in the
commercial district of Limbe, obliging riot police to "do all in
their power to keep law and order."

The demonstrating vendors were protesting after city
workers, covered by heavily armed riot police officers,
moved in around mid-night and pulled down makeshift stalls
along the streets, carting everything including their wares a
dumping site outside Blantyre.

Angered, the vendors quickly mobilised themselves and set
up roadblocks from where they stoned anyone attempting to
dismantle the barricades.

Shops and offices remained closed for the best part of the
morning as the angry vendors flooded the streets, chanting
anti-government slogans and harassing Asian shop owners
whom they accused of conniving with the city authorities to
stop them from selling in the streets.

The police responded with tear gas canisters and rubber
bullets, besides roughing up several protesters.

Hospital sources said they were still receiving casualties by
the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Blantyre City Mayor John Chikakwiya has vowed
not to relent in his bid to rid the city of the vendors whom he
accused of selling food and wares of doubtful quality.

Sources hold, though, that the clean-up campaign was
essentially to get Blantyre ready for a summit of the Southern
Africa Development Community (SADC) slated there for
August.

> > > >  Nike now lets you personalize your shoes by
> submitting a word or
> > > > phrase
> > > > which they will stitch onto your shoes, under
> the swoosh.  So Jonah
> > > > Peretti
> > > > filled out the form and sent them $50 to
> stitch "sweatshop" onto his
> > > > shoes.
> > > >
> > > >  Here's the responses he got... fun and games
> with Nike
> > > >     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> * * * * * * * * * * *
> > > >  From: "Personalize, NIKE iD"
> <nikeid_personalize@...
> > > >  To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'"
> <peretti@...
> > > >  Subject: RE: Your NIKE  iD order o16468000
> > > >
> > > >  Your NIKE iD order was cancelled for one or
> more of the following
> > > >  reasons:
> > > >
> > > >  1) Your Personal iD contains another party's
> trademark or other
> > > >  intellectual property
> > > >
> > > >  2) Your Personal iD contains the name of an
> athlete or team we do
> > not
> > > > have
> > > > the legal right to use
> > > >
> > > >  3) Your Personal iD was left blank.  Did you
> not want any
> > > >  personalization?
> > > >
> > > >  4) Your Personal iD contains profanity or
> inappropriate slang, and
> > > >  besides, your mother would slap us.
> > > >
> > > >  If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD product
> with a new
> > personalization
> > > >
> > > > please visit us again at www.nike.com
> > > >
> > > >  Thank you, NIKE iD
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >  From: "Jonah H. Peretti"
> <peretti@...
> > > >  To: "Personalize, NIKE iD"
> <nikeid_personalize@...
> > > >  Subject: RE: Your NIKE  iD order o16468000
> > > >
> > > >  Greetings,
> > > >
> > > >  My order was canceled but my personal NIKE iD
> does not violate any
> > of
> > > > the
> > > > criteria outlined in your message.  The
> Personal iD on my custom ZOOM
> > > > XC USA
> > > > running shoes was the word "sweatshop."
> > > >
> > > >  Sweatshop is not:
> > > >  1) another's party's trademark,
> > > >  2) the name of an athlete,
> > > >  3) blank, or
> > > >  4) profanity.
> > > >
> > > >  I choose the iD because I wanted to remember
> the toil and labor of
> > the
> > > >
> > > > children that made my shoes.  Could you please
> ship them to me
> > > > immediately.
> > > >
> > > >  Thanks and Happy New Year, Jonah Peretti
> > > >
> > > >  From: "Personalize, NIKE iD"
> <nikeid_personalize@...
> > > >  To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'"
> <peretti@...
> > > >  Subject: RE: Your NIKE  iD order o16468000
> > > >
> > > >  Dear NIKE iD Customer,
> > > >
> > > >  Your NIKE iD order was cancelled because the
> iD you have chosen
> > > >  contains, as stated in the previous e-mail
> correspondence,
> > > > "inappropriate
> > > > slang". If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD
> product with a new
> > > > personalization please visit us again at
> nike.com
> > > >
> > > >  Thank you, NIKE iD
> > > >
> > > >  From: "Jonah H. Peretti"
> <peretti@...
> > > >  To: "Personalize, NIKE iD"
> <nikeid_personalize@...
> > > >  Subject: RE: Your NIKE  iD order o16468000
> > > >
> > > >  Dear NIKE iD,
> > > >
> > > >  Thank you for your quick response to my
> inquiry about my custom ZOOM
> > > > XC USA
> > > > running shoes.  Although I commend you for
> your prompt customer
> > > > service, I
> > > > disagree with the claim that my personal iD
> was inappropriate slang.
> > > > After
> > > > consulting Webster's Dictionary, I discovered
> that "sweatshop" is in
> > > > fact
> > > > part of standard English, and not slang. The
> word means: "a shop or
> > > > factory
> > > > in which workers are employed for long hours
> at low wages and under
> > > > unhealthy
> > > > conditions"  and its origin dates from 1892.
> So my personal iD does
> > > > meet the
> > > > criteria detailed in your first email.
> > > >
> > > >  Your web site advertises that the NIKE iD
> program is "about freedom
> > to
> > > >
> > > > choose and freedom to express who you are."  I
> share Nike's love of
> > > > freedom
> > > > and personal expression.  The site also says
> that "If you want it
> > done
> > > > right...build it yourself."  I was thrilled to
> be able to build my
> > own
> > > > shoes,
> > > > and my personal iD was offered as a small
> token of appreciation for
> > the
> > > >
> > > > sweatshop workers poised to help me realize my
> vision.  I hope that
> > you
> > > > will
> > > > value my freedom of expression and reconsider
> your decision to reject
> > > > my
> > > > order.
> > > >
> > > >  Thank you, Jonah Peretti
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >  From: "Personalize, NIKE iD"
> <nikeid_personalize@...
> > > >  To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'"
> <peretti@...
> > > >  Subject: RE: Your NIKE  iD order o16468000
> > > >
> > > >  Dear NIKE iD Customer,
> > > >
> > > >  Regarding the rules for personalization it
> also states on the NIKE
> > > >  iD web site that "Nike reserves the right to
> cancel any personal iD
> > > >  up to 24 hours after it has been submitted".
> In addition, it
> > further
> > > >  explains:  "While we honor most personal iDs,
> we cannot honor every
> > > > one.
> > > > Some may be (or contain) other's trademarks,
> or the names of certain
> > > > professional sports teams, athletes or
> celebrities that Nike does not
> > > > have
> > > > the right to use.  Others may contain material
> that we consider
> > > > inappropriate
> > > > or simply do not want to place on our
> products. Unfortunately, at
> > times
> > > > this
> > > > obliges us to decline personal iDs that may
> otherwise seem
> > > > unobjectionable.
> > > > In any event, we will let you know if we
> decline your personal iD,
> > and
> > > > we
> > > > will offer you the chance to submit another."
> > > >
> > > >  With these rules in mind, we cannot accept
> your order as submitted.
> > > > If you
> > > > wish to reorder your NIKE iD product with
> > > >  a new personalization please visit us again
> at www.nike.com
> > > >
> > > >  Thank you, NIKE iD
> > > >
> > > >  From: "Jonah H. Peretti"
> <peretti@...
> > > >  To: "Personalize, NIKE iD"
> <nikeid_personalize@...
> > > >  Subject: RE: Your NIKE  iD order o16468000
> > > >
> > > >  Dear NIKE iD,
> > > >
> > > >  Thank you for the time and energy you have
> spent on my request.  I
> > > >   have decided to order the shoes with a
> different iD, but I would
> > like
> > > > to
> > > > make one small request.  Could you please send
> me a color snapshot of
> > > > the
> > > > ten-year-old Vietnamese girl who makes my
> shoes?
> > > >
> > > >  Thanks,
> > > >  Jonah Peretti
> > > >
> > > >  <no response
> > > >
> > > >  As one forwarder writes:
> > > >
> > > >  ... this will now go round the world much
> farther and faster than
> > any
> > > >  of the adverts they paid Michael Jordan more
> than the entire wage
> > > > packet of
> > > > all their sweatshop workers in the world to
> do...
> > > >  I normally avoid making a plea to pass on
> these things,
> > > >  but this time I say:
> > > >
> > > >  JUST DO IT
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >He should see if they would allow him to use
> "CORPORATE GREED" instead.



=====
"Hunter, Call Immeediately.  Time is running out.  We both
need to do something monstrous before we die."
-message to Hunter S. Thompson form his Lawyer Nov 25 1985-

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