Reuters: Horn of Africa famine threatens 20 million people: Red Cross
More than 20 million people in the Horn of Africa are at risk of famine due to drought and high food and fuel prices, the Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Thursday, topping the U.N. figure by 3 million. The Red Cross said that the UN estimates of 17 million people in urgent need of food was too low as it failed to take full account of the hungry in Eritrea and Djibouti.

Associated Press: Mugabe claims cholera crisis contained as UN raises death toll to 792
President Robert Mugabe claims the cholera crisis that has killed nearly 800 people in Zimbabwe is contained, and his spokesman said his much-criticized remark that there was no cholera was misunderstood, state media reported Friday. Mugabe’s comments Thursday drew strong criticism from the United States and Britain.

-Chandler Smith

This week we’ve been keeping you posted about the crisis situation in Zimbabwe and mounting international pressure on President Robert Mugabe to step down. Despite a staggering cholera epidemic sweeping Zimbabwe, Mugabe continues to deny the magnitude of the epidemic, adding further chaos to the growing crisis. Today the New York Times published a fascinating and insightful piece on where things currently stand.

Excerpts below, full piece here

The outbreak is yet more evidence that Zimbabwe’s most fundamental public services — from water and sanitation to public schools and hospitals — are shutting down, much like the organs of a severely dehydrated cholera victim.

Zimbabwe’s once promising economy, disastrously mismanaged by President Robert G. Mugabe’s government, has been spiraling downward for almost a decade, but residents here say the free fall has gained frightening velocity in recent weeks. Most of the nation’s schools, which were once the pride of Africa, producing a highly literate population, have virtually ceased to function as teachers, whose salaries no longer even cover the cost of the bus fare to work, quit showing up.

In a country that already lays claim to the terrible distinction of having the second highest proportion of orphans in the world — one in four children has lost one or both parents — the closure of schools and hospitals is hitting these most vulnerable children mercilessly.

-Chris Scott

This week we’ve been keeping you posted about the crisis situation in Zimbabwe and mounting international pressure on President Robert Mugabe to step down. Despite a staggering cholera epidemic sweeping Zimbabwe, Mugabe continues to deny the magnitude of the epidemic, adding further chaos to the growing crisis. Today the New York Times published a fascinating and insightful piece on where things currently stand.

Excerpts below, full piece here

The outbreak is yet more evidence that Zimbabwe’s most fundamental public services — from water and sanitation to public schools and hospitals — are shutting down, much like the organs of a severely dehydrated cholera victim.

Zimbabwe’s once promising economy, disastrously mismanaged by President Robert G. Mugabe’s government, has been spiraling downward for almost a decade, but residents here say the free fall has gained frightening velocity in recent weeks. Most of the nation’s schools, which were once the pride of Africa, producing a highly literate population, have virtually ceased to function as teachers, whose salaries no longer even cover the cost of the bus fare to work, quit showing up.

In a country that already lays claim to the terrible distinction of having the second highest proportion of orphans in the world — one in four children has lost one or both parents — the closure of schools and hospitals is hitting these most vulnerable children mercilessly.

-Chris Scott

Reuters—Six million trapped as long-term refugees: UNHCR
Some six million people around the globe are trapped in mainly poor countries as long-term refugees, many facing deprivation that feeds crime and human trafficking, a senior UN official said yesterday. There are at least 30 crisis areas around the world where people had been forced to flee into neighboring states and had not been able to return home for many years, the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, said. “The burden of hosting these refugees falls almost exclusively to developing states. It is important to recognize that the international community as a whole has not done enough to share that burden,” he said.

Reuters—China offers Zimbabwe aid, urges national unity
China offered food and economic aid to cholera-stricken Zimbabwe this week, urging formation of a national unity government to rescue the nation from a spiral of economic and political chaos. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao announced the aid plan, and his bleak words suggested that Beijing was distancing itself from increasingly isolated Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. “China along with the broader international community expresses its concern with the current constant deterioration of the economic and political situation in Zimbabwe,” Liu said. Experts say Liu’s comments suggest that Beijing was hardening its stance on Zimbabwe as growing numbers of African leaders warn of a crisis of disease and economic collapse.

NY Times—Darfur, Another Year Later (Editorial)
A NY Times editorial says that although the world has long declared its revulsion at the atrocities committed by Sudan’s government in Darfur, global powers still have done almost nothing to stop it. While the UN Security Council approved a strengthened peacekeeping force this past January, now more than 11 months later, the Council has managed to send only 10,000 of the promised 26,000 peacekeepers—and large-scale military attacks against populated areas continue.

Christian Science Monitor—Sen. Dick Lugar: The petroleum and poverty paradox
U.S. Senator Dick Lugar writes today about the “petroleum and poverty paradox” in the Christian Science Monitor. The senator writes, “history shows that oil and natural gas reserves frequently can be a bane, not a blessing, for poor countries, leading to corruption, wasteful spending, military adventurism, and instability. Too often, oil money intended for a nation’s poor lines the pockets of the rich, or is squandered on showcase projects instead of productive investments.” He lays out several steps—mainly anti-corruption and transparency measures—that the United States can take the lead on to help reverse the ‘resource curse’ that still astoundingly hampers poor, yet oil-rich, nations.

New Vision (Uganda)—African ministers to petition for child drugs
African health ministers are petitioning the African Union (AU) to ask drug manufacturers to donate drugs to fight diseases common in tropical and subtropical areas that disproportionately affect children. Diseases such as Bilharzia, river blindness, intestinal worms, trachoma and elephantiasis still affect tens of thousands of children, although they are nearly fully eradicated in the western world. The ministers made the resolution yesterday during a forum in Kampala, Uganda.

-Steve Wilson

Our friends at (RED)—ONE’s sister organization—posted an account of their recent trip to Lesotho, an African country that has benefitted greatly from (RED)’s work with the Global Fund. This is the first in a series of pieces they’ll be posting documenting their trip, you can check out the (RED) Blog in the coming days for more.

Excerpts below, full piece here

While the country is small, it has the 3rd highest AIDS prevalence in the world – 23.2% of the population are HIV positive.

The efforts to stem the AIDS emergency in this area face many challenges, such as geography, poverty, cultural and religious stigmas.

The good news is, Lesotho has already received $7.85MM of (RED) money and a total of $24.2 million from this Global Fund (RED) grant to date. They have been putting that money to good use. The programs support a variety of efforts, from medicine distribution to awareness building to income generating activities. All programs incorporate education which is the first step to helping eliminate AIDS in Africa.

Thanks to robust awareness programs, 448,000 people have come in for HIV testing and counseling, and 31,000 HIV+ people have begun ARV treatment. One of the areas that shows the most promise in Lesotho is the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child. More than 95% of pregnant women in Lesotho are now being tested for their HIV status. Of those who tested positive and are receiving PMTCT, the majority of their babies are born HIV negative and remain healthy.

-Chris Scott

New York Times: Dire Forecast for Global Economy and Trade
The world economy is on the brink of a rare global recession, the World Bank said yesterday, with world trade projected to fall next year for the first time since 1982 and capital flows to developing countries predicted to plunge 50 percent. The projections are among the most dire in a litany of recent gloomy forecasts. The bank prognosticates the global economy will eke out growth of 0.9 percent in 2009, down from 2.5 percent this year and 4 percent in 2006. Developing countries will grow an average of 4.5 percent next year — a pace that economists said constituted a recession.

AFP: Goal of halving hunger by 2015 ever more elusive: UN
A look at yesterday’s report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization with an eye on the Millennium Development Goals. The FAO’s Director-General Jacques Diouf told a news conference yesterday that, “the world goal of reducing hunger by half is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve.”

-Chandler Smith

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) now estimates the number of people who go hungry every day at 963 million—up 40 million from last year. This is mainly due to the rise in food prices worldwide. The number of people who are unable to afford to eat enough calories to lead a normal life now account for 14% of the world’s population.

Excerpts below, full piece here

The FAO’s hunger report, the State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008, found that the majority of the hungry live in the developing world, 65% of them in just seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia. The worst affected are landless families, particularly households headed by women.

“For millions of people in developing countries, eating the minimum amount of food every day to live an active and healthy life is a distant dream,” said the FAO’s assistant director general, Hafez Ghanem. “The structural problems of hunger, like the lack of access to land, credit and employment, combined with high food prices remain a dire reality.”

“This sad reality should not be acceptable at the dawn of the 21st century,” the FAO’s director general, Jacques Diouf, said in a speech to launch the report. “Not enough has been done to reduce hunger and not enough is being done to prevent more people becoming hungry.”

-Chris Scott

George Washington University’s ONE Campus Challenge Chapter joined the Student Global AIDS Coalition on their campus to help organize a whole week of events to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS in DC. The events began on Monday, December 1st with a display in University Yard, a large grassy area of GWU. They had balloons lining the pathway through University Yard, with certain sections of balloons cordoned off to represent those who have died of AIDS in the past few months in the Washington, DC area.

Also on Monday, the Student Global AIDS Coalition tabled in Kogan Plaza, a place many students use as a shortcut to get to their classes. During this tabling session, a few ONE GW members were in charge of speaking to those who approached the table, while others handed out free ribbons, coffee, pastries, and information. The free stuff got a lot of attention from people passing by on their way to classes or work.

On Tuesday, they held a panel discussion entitled “Fact vs. Fiction: The Truth About HIV/AIDS.” At this event, ONE GW promoted FACE AIDS, an official ONE partner organization run by students dedicated to fighting the spread of AIDS in Africa. Private donors match the money raised from sale of lovely hand-beaded pins for $5 each, and the money goes to Partners in Health (PIH), a nonprofit providing AIDS treatment and comprehensive healthcare to patients in Rwanda. Coming full circle, FACE AIDS employs patients of PIH in Rwanda to make the pins, providing them with an income they wouldn’t otherwise be able to get.

On Wednesday, the coalition sponsored a free HIV testing event, available to everyone on campus, that turned out quite a few people and helped remove the stigma of testing.

One of the major events of the week, the Coffeehouse, was held on Wednesday night. This event, primarily sponsored by ONE GW’s partner GW Students for Fair Trade, brought the topics of HIV/AIDS, poverty, and fair trade together through live music, free fair trade coffee and free food. The event captured attention and convinced people to sit down and listen to speakers on all of the aforementioned issues. ONE GW had a table at the Coffeehouse, placed strategically in front of the entrance, where ONE information, bands, and the FACE AIDS pins were available to the general public. During this event, ONE GW was able to band over 40 people, and educate them on what ONE GW does and how it relates to HIV/AIDS.

On Thursday, ONE GW participated in an AIDS Prevention Workshop, again selling FACE AIDS pins. As a result of ONE GW’s tabling efforts, over 30 pins were sold, and a good amount of money will be donated to the FACE AIDS Campaign.

-Emily Stivers

This morning, President Bush lent his voice to a growing global call for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down. Bush’s statement followed similar demands made by the European Union and a call from UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the international community to defend human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe. This toughened rhetoric from Western leaders has been accompanied by a tightening of restrictions on the Zimbabwean government- last week the the US extended sanctions against four individuals and 20 companies who have been financially supporting Mugabe’s government.

This renewed pressure on Mugabe comes as evidence of the deteriorating situation inside Zimbabwe emerges– the country’s collapsed water and sanitation infrastructure has led to a cholera outbreak, which has already claimed the lives of nearly 600 and the World Health Organization warns might infect up to 6,000 in a worst-case scenario.> A lack of doctors, equipment and treatment (oral rehydration salts which cost as little as 50 cents per dose) means the fatality rate is much higher than usual. Aid agencies are estimating that cholera patients in Zimbabwe are ten times more likely to die than patients living elsewhere.

The outbreak is the latest update to a long list of evidence on how failed governance and gross economic mismanagement have destroyed what was once one of Africa’s most promising countries. In the years after independence, Zimbabwe was hailed as a regional breadbasket and boasted one of Africa’s highest literacy rates. Today, on top of skyrocketing inflation and an ongoing political crisis, Zimbabweans face acute food shortages and an education system in shambles: the World Food Program anticipates that half of Zimbabwe’s population (over 5 million people) will be in need of emergency food aid in January and as of October, students in Zimbabwe had only been in the classroom for a total of 23 uninterrupted days.

The question now is whether global outcry over the cholera epidemic is just the latest in a series of grievances against the Mugabe regime or the tipping point needed to inject new momentum towards a real and lasting solution. Importantly, increased pressure from Western governments has been echoed by some key African leaders- last week, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga called for Mugabe’s removal and in November, the leader of South Africa’s African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, indicated a tougher stance towards the Zimbabwean government, saying the situation had moved beyond “wait and see”, and that “We have got to act and act now.” The fact that the epidemic is spilling over into neighboring countries could mean voices like these might become stronger in the days ahead.

These African voices are vital in moving toward a lasting solution for Zimbabwe. Although emergency aid could help ease the cholera epidemic and fill food shortages, Zimbabwe’s current plight is the product of a long-term socioeconomic demise that only the establishment of a functioning and inclusive government can resolve (as noted by the Elders last week after their visit to the region). Ultimately, such a solution will depend on Zimbabwe’s neighbors. Mugabe has weathered sanctions and pressure from the West for years. Now, as his country tips towards a breaking point, the onus is on African leaders to turn rhetoric into action and renew efforts towards ending the crisis. The rest of the world should be poised and ready so that once this happens, Zimbabwe has the support it needs to stand a real chance at winning back some of the development gains it lost after 28 years of Mugabe’s rule.

-Nora Coghlan

News just broke that President George W. Bush has formally called upon Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to step down from his post, ratcheting up international pressure on Mugabe. We’ll keep you posted with further news and analysis about the situation as it develops.

Statement from President Bush:

As my Administration has made clear, it is time for Robert Mugabe to go. Across the continent, African voices are bravely speaking out to say now is the time for him to step down. These leaders share the desire of ordinary Zimbabweans for a return to peace, democracy and prosperity. We urge others from the region to step up and join the growing chorus of voices calling for an end to Mugabe’s tyranny.

-Chris Scott