Hooray! This morning my passport and visa for travel to the Republic of Zambia was FedEx'd from Washington DC. The International Reporting Project at the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University has selected me as one of ten international media fellows to report on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Zambia. The three week trip will happen in July and include stops in Germany and Ethiopia.
IRP notified me about a week before the GLAAD Award announcement but the official news release was about two weeks ago. Very excited and very grateful to be recognized by such a prestigious international fellowship and institution. I'll be reporting for various outlets and R20 from Zambia. I'm also pleased that my recent report on Zambia for The Atlantic went viral and encouraged more HIV/AIDS reporting from Zambia.
This would be my
second international fellowship and third trip to the continent in
the past 18 months. The first fellowship was a December 2011 trip to the high-level International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa in Addis Ababa sponsored by the Ethiopian government. I'm also scheduled to head overseas later this year on other projects. It's fantastic that IRP/SAIS has supported my work and other independent journalists. Thanks so much to everyone over the years who encouraged and supported me after leaving ABC News to become my own boss! #PraiseDance
Meles leaves a troubled record
on human rights. Meles ushered in “a sharp deterioration in civil and
political rights, with mounting restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly,” reports Human Rights Watch. Others were far less charitable and applauded the death of the man they described as a “blood-sucking … genocidal terrorist tyrant.”
Meles seized power in 1991 from a military junta that had achieved global infamy for policies that contributed to the famine, starvation and death of more than a million people. As many as 500,000 people alone were killed during Mengistu Haile Mariam’s violent political campaign known as the "Red Terror" of the late 1970s. This was after the despotic 44-year-rule of Emperor Haile Selassie that Mengistu overthrew in 1974.
Meles' two decades in power pales in comparison to the
horrors of his predecessors. Meles also presided "over one of the most
successful...economic experiments" in Africa, reports The Economist. Ethiopia’s economic growth has averaged 11 percent in the past eight years.
All of this was obvious in my first visit to Ethiopia in December 2011, when I reported
from the high-level International Conference on AIDS and STIs in
Africa. The trip was sponsored by the Ethiopian government. Construction
cranes dotted Addis Ababa’s skyline. Range Rovers and Mercedes Benzes
were a familiar sight on Bole Road. Impeccably dressed men and women
chatted away on iPhones and BlackBerrys. But at what cost?
More reporting from Africa in the months ahead. Read the full EBONY article HERE.
Keep it classy. Russian soccer fans hurled racist abuse at the Czech Republic's sole Black footballer and attacked game officials at the opening of the European Championship in Poland on Saturday. This is despite the fact that Russia won the Euro 2012 Group A match 4-1 over the Czech Republic, reports CBS News.
Expert spotters from the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network identified verbal insults targeted at Theodor Gebre Selassie, who is black. Fans also displayed a nationalist "Russian Empire" flag which "we take as evidence of far-right sensibilities," FARE executive director Piara Powar said. Film circulating online Saturday also showed some Russian fans attacking stadium stewards after the match.
Four security personnel were treated in a hospital but were not badly injured, a Polish police spokesman said. Police are studying security video footage to identify fans involved. UEFA said in a statement that "around 30 fans" attacked the stewards.
Selassie was born in the Czech Republic to an Ethiopian father and Czech mother. Czech's lone black player said he's experienced "much worse" abuse, reports the AP.
The 25-year-old left back plays in the Czech league for champion Liberec and has been targeted by Sparta Prague fans in the past. Gebre Selassie said he was ready to forget the incident involving Russia fans. "Personally, I'm ready to put it behind me. I see no reason to discuss it with the media," he said, declining to give details about the abuse. He also said he didn't want to officially complain.
Last year, the Czech football association's disciplinary committee investigated Sparta Prague, whose fans were suspected of abusing Gebre Selassie in a league match. In a statement to the committee, the player said he was absolutely sure he was targeted, but wasn't in favour of any punishment for Sparta.
The EURO 2012 games are hosted by Poland and Ukraine, which was represented last month at Eurovision by a Black contestant. "Of the 20 selected national teams, 8 have at least one black player," reports Afro-Europe. England, France and the Netherlands have the highest number of Black players.
Very disappointing. The Mr. Gay World contestant from Zimbabwe has withdrawn from the competition citing "personal reasons." The move comes only days after the contest celebrated having its first Black contestants from African nations—and as Taurai Zhanje endured bitter criticism at home, reports ZimEye.
Taurai Zhanje, who last week was verbally attacked by many from his local community, pulled out of the contest citing personal reasons. ... Zhanje would not elaborate what he meant by ‘personal reasons.’ Zhanje’s intentions had been celebrated by many organisations in the gay community.
Zhanje was to participate in the fourth annual Mr. Gay World competition which will be held April 4-8 in Johannesburg, South Africa . "For the first time in the competition’s short history there will be Black African entrants," noted The Zimbabwean, a diaspora newspaper published in London. "The Black delegates representing Africa are Taurai, Robel Gizaw Hailu from Ethiopia, Wendelinus Hamutenya from Namibia, while South Africa is being represented by Lance Weyer."
"It's a major development. It's the first time that black Africans will participate, which sends out a powerful message of hope to LGBTI people in Africa. A message that there are role models and that one can live as a successful and open LGBTI person," said Coenie Kukkuk, Africa Director for Mr. Gay World. "It's significant that an Ethiopian delegate is participating. The capital city Addis Ababa is the seat of the African Union, so it sends a strong political message.”
You may recall that Wendelinus Hamutenya, who won the first Mr. Gay Namibia contest in December, was robbed and beaten after the contest. Hamutenya was assaulted "by two men who [approached] him and requested the money" he won in the contest.
Same-sex acts are currently illegal in Zimbabwe, as they are in at least 38 of 54 African countries. Four nations—Mauritania, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan—boast the death penalty for gays or same-sex activity. South Africa and Seychelles are the only African nations that protect LGBT rights. The neighboring Republic of South Africa is also the only African nation to guarantee marriage equality.
In related news: Zimbabwe's notoriously notoriously anti-gay President Robert Mugabe celebrated his 88th birthday over the weekend with a fresh round of gay-bashing. Mugabe slammed British Prime Minister David Cameron's call to support of gay rights and said "to hell with you."
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged African leaders to respect the rights of their gay and lesbian citizens. Some African nations have treated gays like "second-class citizens or even criminals", the UN chief declared Sunday at the opening of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
"Let me mention one form of discrimination that has been ignored or even sanctioned by many states for far too long, discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This has prompted some governments to treat people as second-class citizens, or even criminals. Confronting this discrimination is a challenge. But we must live up to the ideas of the Universal Declaration. ... The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a promise to all people in all places at all times."
Same-sex acts are currently illegal in at least 38 of 54 African countries. Four nations—Mauritania, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan—boast the death penalty for gays or same-sex activity. South Africa and Seychelles are the only African nations that protect LGBT rights. South Africa is also the only African nation to guarantee marriage equality.
In recent months both the United States and the United Kingdom have warned they would use foreign aid to push for decriminalization of same-sex relations across the socially conservative continent. Africa boasts two-thirds of the world's HIV/AIDS cases. Many experts believe the prohibitions against homosexuality discourage many HIV positive gay African men from seeking treatment.
The African Union summit opens as tensions and violence are escalating across the continent. Nigeria has been rocked by terrorism and sectarian violence that has killed hundreds. The growing tension between Sudan and South Sudan and the war in Somalia are also expected to be major discussion points.
President John Evans Atta Mills and members of Ghana's parliament are outraged after British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that foreign aid should be decreased to countries that do not respect gay rights.
Officials and religious leaders in the West African nation have compared the suggestion to colonialism and "oppression", reports Radio Netherlands Worldwide Africa.
Reverend George Asante, the head pastor of the Christian Messengers Church in Ghana’s second largest city Kumasi, opposes the UK premier’s ideas. "Homosexuality is wrong on so many levels. From a constitutional and religious point of view it is illegal and must never be tolerated," he says. Ghanaian law does indeed prohibit the practice of homosexuality, which makes it difficult for gay people to express themselves.
Cameron’s threats haven’t impressed President John Evans Atta Mills of Ghana. Cameron said that "British aid should have more strings attached… While we appreciate all the financial assistance and aid which has been given to us by our development partners, we will not accept any aid with strings attached if that aid doesn’t serve our interests."
Reverend Asante [believes] that “Ghanaians must resist every form of oppression even if it means economic sanctions. Historically we have never condoned homosexuality, which is why Ghana’s constitution makes sure that any form of unnatural sex isn’t legalised.” But [the] constitution of Ghana doesn’t explicitly mention homosexuality.
RNWA quoted one gay Ghanaian who supported sanctions. But many other African LGBT and human rights groups have publicly distanced themselves from Cameron's position.
"When it (gay) became a topical issue, we made one of our members to make a statement condemning it and unanimously, across both divides, we said never shall we ever pass a law in the Parliament of Ghana [promoting gay rights]," Gershon Gbediame, Majority Chief Whip has told Myjoyonline.com.
Gbediame ... asked Ghanaians, especially, Christians to remain firm behind the government in the fight against gay rights to avoid the wrath of God visiting us.
"When you come to Ghana you will know that Ghana is richly blessed, so much, there is no need why we should bow and kowtow to people like Cameron, Obama to say that if you don’t pass gay rights we are not going to give you any aid; to hell with their aid, we shall not, shall not sell our birthright, we believe in the word of God, we shall not go contrary to the word of God...we are prepare to go hungry."
Recent months have seen an increase in anti-gay rhetoric coning from elected officials and media in the West African nation. Last summer, President Mills denounced homosexuality and the Western Region Minister announced the "immediate arrest of all homosexuals."
If you're driving to Bole International Airport or the Millenium Conference Center in Addis Ababa, you'll definitely encounter this "767" touching down in traffic. The London Cafe is across Bole Road from the conference center. The bar is enshrouded in a gigantic, inflatable replica of an Ethiopian Airlines 767.
It's a tourist attraction and advertising for the airline. Fun concept ...
But notice the armed soldiers and street beggars outside. Those are the realities of life in Ethiopia.
Bole Road is the major commercial strip that connects Bole International Airport and the Millenium Conference Hall to downtown Addis Ababa. The mountains that surround Addis Ababa are in the background.
"We have a strategy to save 16 million lives by 2016," Dr. Zewdie told Rod 2.0 in a one-on-one interview before the the plenary. "I'm confident in that strategy."
This comes as HIV/AIDS activists in Addis Abba and around the world have protested after the Global Fund's surprise announcement that it would cancel $1.5 billion in planned disbursements. Officials say that "U.S. and European budget problems have hurt it, but donor backlash over losses to corruption and other misspending also have played a role."
Dr. Zewdie is a native of Ethiopia, has a doctorate in Immunology from the University of London, was a Senior MacArthur Fellow at Harvard University and was formerly the Global HIV/AIDS Advisor for the World Bank. Dr. Zewdie's team reached out to Rod 2.0 at ICASA 2011 to discuss the Global Fund's long term health and funding African projects for men who have sex with men (MSM).
ROD MCCULLOM: The Global Fund has been in the news in recent weeks. Can you explain what happened and why?
DR. DEBREWORK ZEWEDIE: Of course. As you know, the Global Fund has been funding AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. To date we have disbursed $14 billion. About 67 percent of our funding goes to Africa.
The noise you hear is related to our board decision about two weeks ago. The board approved our strategy for 2011-2016 which [aims] to save the lives of 16 million people by 2016. It also approved a transformation plan for the Global Fund to make it more efficient. We’ve been funding for the past 10 years. We now have a two-step process and this coincided with Round 11. For the 2011/13 funding cycle, all of the donors who pledged their resources are still honoring their pledges. But because of the economic climate, the cash at hand was not in the bank by the time we wanted to disburse. Our funding policy is such that all the money for the life of the program must be in the trustee account.
In view of the fact that we didn’t have the resources in the trustee account, the board postponed Round 11. You can ask me is the Global Fund broke and the answer is no—
That was my next question—
No. The amount that we have assigned up until now, those resources are in the trustee account. We will continue to put people on [HIV] treatment, we will continue to buy bed nets, we will continue to put people on treatment for tuberculosis. If we sign Round 11 now, it only becomes effective two or three years down the road. There’s a lot of money … but only down the road.
Does the Global Fund want countries to become more strategic, have more sustainable funding options?
It is. What we’ve been doing up until is that countries have been scrambling for funds. This gives them an opportunity to consolidate funds and inefficiencies so that they can stretch the dollar. Sure, it would have been nice if we had the resources to continue Round 11 but we have enough money in the trustee accounts to fund all.
What is your response to the auditor’s report?
That report came out in September. We’ve been instructed to [develop] a new funding plan. As a result, at least three donors have turned on the tap again—Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom have released monies. That’s the positive response to the plan.
There’s been much discussion at ICASA that African nations should do more to fight HIV/AIDS.
I think it’s appropriate and it’s about time. Some African nations ... up to 100 percent of their funding for HIV is from external sources. That needs to change.
But you’re confident about the Global Fund’s long term health?
Absolutely.
Finaly, there’s been some claims that certain African nations have a line item in their funding proposals for MSM issues ...
[NODS]
But they’re not doing anything about MSM issues.
Yes. We wish more countries were funding [MSM]. But they aren’t. We don’t discriminate.
Not the Fund but the individual nations—
Yes, unfortunately, there is a long way to go, although there are just as important as any other sector. We can only hope.
The Nile River in Southern Sudan seen from above. One of its branches is the Blue Nile River which originates at Lake Tana, Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Highlands are in the background.
