The Democratic Republic of Congo has lifted restrictions on the free movement of people and goods in a measure linked to progress in ending the country's conflict, a senior minister said last week.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has accused the Federal Government of encouraging corruption in the public sector, in view of its refusal to pay workers in its employ for upwards of four months.

Principles and Practices in Managing Financial Records: A Reference Model and Assessment Tool is now available online from The International Records Management Trust.

Communities of present-day or former hunter-gatherers live in scattered communities across the world, although their precise numbers and status are uncertain. Their often marginalized status and ethnolinguistic diversity has made it hard to articulate their case for land rights outside Australia and North America. Hunter-gatherers' preferred subsistence strategy, hunting, often comes into direct conflict with conservation philosophies and protected areas often fall within traditional hunting grounds. An ODI paper reviews their situation and asks, how best can hunter-gatherers' livelihoods be incorporated into more conventional natural resource management strategies?

How are poor record keeping and bad financial management connected? Is the one a symptom of the other? To what extent does accurate financial information prevent corruption and fraud? An International Records Management Trust study examined the link between record management and financial accountability in sub-Saharan Africa. How do different record keeping systems reflect government and donor agency strategies for financial control and accountability? Are they related to success in reducing economic crime?

The effect of Tanzania's wide-ranging economic reforms on the performance of its manufacturing industries has been the focus of debate. How far have protectionist policies of the pre-liberalisation era rendered domestic firms vulnerable to increased competition? Has the removal of market distortions facilitated greater long-term efficiency?

id21News - is the Newsletter of the id21 Development Research
reporting service, bringing you the latest and best UK-based development
research.

In schools across South Africa, thousands of girls of every race and economic group are encountering sexual violence and harassment that impede their access to education, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released this week.

In a year that saw unbounded confidence in the nation's
economy turn to increasing uncertainty, U.S. grantmaking
foundations raised their contributions to nonprofit organi-
zations a record $4.3 billion, according to a new report
from the Foundation Center.

Two out of every three people in the world will be facing water shortages by 2025, says a new report launched by Christian relief and development agency Tearfund.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the second review of Uganda's performance under the third annual arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF). This will enable Uganda to draw SDR 8.9 million (about US$11 million) immediately from the IMF.

Fahamu - learning for change - has been awarded a grant to develop an interactive training guide on human rights education in rural populations in collaboration with the Kenya Human Rights Commission, and to develop supplementary materials on Training Skills for the Adilisha Project (http://www.fahamu.org/). The award has been made by the Human Rights Project Fund of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (http://www.hrpd.fco.gov.uk/). The Human Rights Project Fund (HRPF) is the FCO's dedicated fund for human rights projects.

In April 2001 Earth Report features stories on: Biodiversity under threat from invasive species; The industrialisation of Amazonia and its link with carbon emissions trading; How ill-informed use of pesticides is poisoning Cambodian farmers.'Earth Report' is broadcast weekly on BBC World at the following times GMT: Monday at 03:30 & 21:30, Tuesday at 08:30, 11:30 & 14:30, Wednesday at 01:30 & 05:30, Saturday at 18:30, Sunday at 07:30.

TI representatives from 11 African countries adopted the Nyanga Declaration, launching a campaign to repatriate Africa's stolen wealth. The declaration, signed at the regional conference in Zimbabwe, calls for "the sealing of all known loopholes, requiring banks to open their books for inspection where there is reasonable cause to suspect illegal activity, and mandatory liquidation and repatriation of assets known to have been corruptly acquired". The chapters called on members of the United Nations to adopt an international treaty to expedite the tracing, recovery and repatriation of wealth stolen from developing countries and transferred abroad.

Participants expressed their support for the Wolfsberg Anti-Money Laundering Principles adopted by 11 leading international banks as "a first step towards stopping the movement of illicit wealth". The Declaration calls upon the Organisation of African Unity to "take a leadership role in representing the interests of Africa with regard to the return of Africa's stolen wealth wherever it may be found on the globe and, as a first step, (to) adopt all reasonable measures to prevent the illegal appropriation and transfer of moneys from Africa's treasuries".

The full text of the Declaration can be found at:

COSATU notes with regret the worsening situation revealed by the statistics released by Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE) (Sowetan, 29 March) indicating that South African youth are receiving insufficient education, especially tertiary education, which leads to them being unemployable. What is even shocking is that the hardest hit by this problem are African youths, both females and males.

The president has pledged to end corruption as a way of life. The results so far have been mixed.

We are pleased to announce that we have recently started to offer FREE, hands-on training in the use of our most popular electronic resources. Follow along with the instructor as you learn the ins and outs of our funding research tools!

The Democratic Republic of the Congo President Joseph Kabila urged Zimbabwean
companies to invest in his mineral-rich country on Tuesday, saying that they should take advantage of the strong political ties between the two states.

Join the 50+ people who signed the "Save the Kenyan Forests" petition to the Kenyan Government. The petition will be closed April 9!! Sign now...

Amnesty International is concerned that recent statements made by President Sam Nujoma of Namibia may lead to the persecution of individuals identified as lesbian or gay and to further attacks on human rights groups advocating support for lesbian and gay rights.

The National Organization for Women has declared a state of emergency to save women's rights to self-determination and reproductive freedom. NOW is calling on activists everywhere to take part in a national campaign which will kick off with an Emergency Action for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. at 11am on Sunday, April 22.

Hijack a plane in Afghanistan and fly it to London. Board a rusting tub in Turkey and be wrecked off the coast of Italy or washed up in France. Camp in a container for weeks until your ship is unloaded in Canada. Hang to the wheel of a jumbo jet and hope not to freeze or suffocate. Splash across the Rio Grande. Float in a rubber ring to Florida. Walk the Sahara and sail to Spain. If you live in a miserable part of the world, just do something to reach a place more promising.

Country briefs from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees discuss asylum issues in individual countries.

The Horizons Project and PSI have conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional study of female condom users, male condom users, and non-users of either barrier method. The goal of this research is to increase understanding of the patterns and dynamics of female condom use in order to inform policymakers and program planners involved in decisions about promotion and distribution of the female condom.

An important component of HIV voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) programs is encouraging clients to inform partners of their serostatus. Yet many clients do not disclose results to partners. Researchers have found that a serious barrier to disclosure for women is fear of a violent reaction by male partners and that HIV-infected women are at increased risk for partner violence. Building on previous research, this study explores the links between HIV infection, serostatus disclosure, and partner violence among women attending the Muhimbili Health Information Center (MHIC), a VCT clinic in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Roger Winter, Executive Director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa and the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights on Wednesday, March 28, 2001. The testimony, regarding U.S. policy toward the Sudan, can be accessed on the USCR website.

DATE: 17-18 MAY 2001
LOCATION: ACCRA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE
FEE: $399 per delegate. The fifth delegate attends free when five delegates from your organisation register for the conference at the same time.

The United Nations peacekeepers have officially begun their mission in Congo Kinshasa (DRC), as the first UN contingent arrived and started deploying in the country. The deployment comes after foreign troops on Congolese soil had completed the "disengagement process" (pullback) that began two weeks ago.

We will try to cover the breadth and length of the subject of both VOLUNTEERING in Africa, and finding PAID WORK in Africa.

DATE: May 8th and 9th, 2001
LOCATION: San Jose, California

A group of 10 prominent figures from various walks of life have written an open letter to President George W Bush urging him to review his stance on the environment. The letter, in Monday's issue of Time magazine, follows signals that the Bush administration had abandoned the 1997 Kyoto treaty aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for global warming.

The UK has aligned itself firmly on the side of the pharmaceutical industry in the battle over cheap drugs for developing countries, declaring that patents on medicines must be upheld even in poor countries where millions are dying of diseases such as tuberculosis and Aids.

Guinea-Bissau's main opposition parties said on Monday they would not cooperate with the new government because it was unrepresentative of all political forces in the country. Their statement came few hours after the newly appointed prime minister, Faustino Imbali, announced his new team of 14 ministers and eight state secretaries. Imbali was appointed on Wednesday to replace Caetano Intchama and promised to concentrate on resolving the instability in the country.

A new memingitis epidemic is developing in large parts of Africa. In Burkina Faso the epidemic has already claimed 600 lives this year and the government appealed for International Aid.

International Center and Liberia Institute of Journalism WEST AFRICA NEWSLETTER
Reporting on Human Rights, Democracy & Development Vol. 1 No. 14 March 30, 2001.

Ethiopia's post-socialist track record shows that the country has made a decisive break with its command economy in many, but not all, respects. Price controls have been largely dismantled, tax and tariff rates reduced, and the inflation rate kept low. The EPRDF Government has a strong sense of ownership of the reforms, and it is committed to several measures that go beyond stabilization and liberalization.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) wishes to facilitate information-sharing and to assist countries in the development of national plans of action for human rights education.

The Global Forum for Health Research will hold its fifth annual meet-
ing in Geneva this October.
DATE: 9-12 October 2001
LOCATION: Forum 5: Geneva, Switzerland

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 66 covering the period 24 - 30 March

A group of NGOs including Amnesty have called on the international community to "turn principles into practice", as Mary Robinson highlighted in her opening statement to the UN Commission on Human Rights. The case of Togo, which has systematically violated international human rights standards, will be a test case for whether the Commission on Human Rights can put effective action before
political interests.

The purpose of the paper is to understand the causes of policy reform in Tanzania. It covers the time period from the beginning of the severe economic crisis in Tanzania in 1979 up to the present, but to put this in perspective it also briefly outlines the policies pursued before that. The study investigates how aid has encouraged, generated, influenced, supported or even retarded reforms.

ASFC Africa Iniative is holding a brainstorming meeting on April 20-21, Harare Zimbabwe. AI aims to complement and deepen the work of local, national and regional communities as well as those who work with them in re-thinking the links between the various issues that challenge African lives on a daily basis and to explore newer avenues for collaboration and cooperation in meeting these challenges.

Sends books and periodicals from UK to partner distributors in developing countries.

An international conference Bonn, Germany, September 4-6, 2001. With 800 million people lacking enough food to lead healthy, productive
lives, food insecurity remains a global threat and a humanitarian tragedy.
This conference will focus on why hunger persists, what emerging forces are
influencing the prospects for food security in the next two decades, and how
we need to realign priorities to eliminate hunger once and for all.

The leader of one of the Congolese rebel movements has refused to give an assurance that his troops will pull back from the front-line in compliance with a peace treaty.

Rwanda has begun a week of mourning for the victims of the 1994 genocide in which hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

Guinean President Lansana Conte has refused to meet Liberian counterpart Charles Taylor over rebel attacks on Guinea which Conte says are backed by Liberia.