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Weapons Commission (CWC), the BWC and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The 20th century was the bloodiest in human history, with a total of 174 million people killed in genocide and war. The world increasingly needs an international legal framework which can protect the people of the world from heinous criminal acts such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. This reasoning explains the votes of the 139 countries that signed the Rome Treaty and the 67 ratifications that have resulted in the establish- ment of the ICC. Former US President Bill Clinton signed the Rome Treaty sup- porting the International Criminal Court when he held office. However, in an unprecedented action, George W. Bush actually erased Clinton's signature (a US President has never before "unsigned" a treaty). Moreover, his administration has declared it has no intention whatsoever of cooperating with the ICC. Despite the fanfare (stripping the burka; the signing of the "Declaration of Essential Rights of Afghan Women"), little has changed for the average Afghani woman. Many women have yet to stop wearing the burka due to fear of persecution, and the new Interior Ministry still requires women to receive permission from their male relatives before they travel. As of July 2002, the life expectancy for the people of Afghanistan is 46 years. The average yearly income per capita is US$280. As for the children, 90 per cent are not in school. After 23 years of war, the adult male population has been decimated and many children have taken the place of their fathers and mothers as the breadwinners in their families. Some scavenge for scrap metal, wood or bricks, while others hammer sheet metal, fill potholes or build coffins. They are lucky to earn five cents an hour. More than one out of every four children in Afghanistan will die before their fifth birthday. Beyond this, the region is just overcoming a three-year drought which killed half the crops and 80 per cent of livestock in some areas. Sa enna — nena elena eee 8. American and British Forces Continue Use of livestock in some areas. Depleted Uranium Weapons Despite Massive Evidence of Negative Health Effects 10. Africa Faces New Threat of Colonialism American and British coalition forces are using depleted Today, Africa is the most war-torn continent in the world. Over uranium (DU) shells in the war against Iraq and deliberately the past 15 years, 32 of the 53 African countries experienced vio- flouting a UN resolution which lent conflict. During the Cold War years classifies the munitions as illegal (1950-1989), the US provided Africa weapons of mass destruction. with arms and training worth $1.5 bil- He eanaaee ze camigts Dr | frica’s natural riches will fo hs sting he gs ot or radioactive particles created when a continue to be bought and sold 1995, the US increased the amount of a weapon mts a target “ easily by the autonomous Western weapons and other mary assistance inhaled through gas masks. The parti- 0 50 of the total rican countries. cles, which lodge in the lungs, can be powers-that-be under the Over the years, these US-funded wars transferred to the kidneys and other namesake of "development" have been responsible for the deaths of vital organs. Gulf War veterans are . . millions of Africans and the subsequent excreting uranium in their urine and and with the feigned support displacement, disease and starvation of also in their semen, leading to chromo- of the African people. many millions more. somal damage. DU has a half-life of In June 2002, leaders from the eight 4.1 billion years. The negative effects most powerful countries in the world (the G8) met to form a "New Partnership for Africa's Development" found in one generation of US veterans could be the fate of all future generations of Iraqi people. (NEPAD) as an "anti-poverty" campaign. One glaring omission, In addition to Dr Doug Rokke, the Pentagon's original expert on however, was the consultation and representation of the African DU, ex-army nurse Carol Picou has been outspoken about the neg- nations: not one of the eight leaders was from Africa. The danger ative effects of DU on herself and other veterans. She has com- of the NEPAD proposal is that it fails to protect Africa from piled extensive documentation on the birth defects found among exploitation of its resources. NEPAD is akin to Plan Colombia in the Iraqi people and the children of US Gulf War veterans. She its attempt to employ Western development techniques to provide was threatened in anonymous phone calls on the eve of her testi- economic opportunities for international investment. mony to Congress. Subsequently, her car, in which she had left All over Africa, activists, trade unionists and women's organisa- sensitive information on DU, was mysteriously destroyed. tions are mobilising against NEPAD. The objective of NEPAD will be to provide "increased aid to developing countries that 9. Poverty, Women's Rights and Civil Disruption Worse embrace the required development model". The harrowing effects Than Ever in Afghanistan of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank debt on the While all eyes have been turned to Iraq, the people of African continent will be neither addressed nor revoked by the new Afghanistan have continued to suffer in silence in what is program. Under NEPAD, Africa's natural riches will continue to considered to be their worst poverty in decades. The promised be bought and sold by the autonomous Western powers-that-be democratic government is too concerned with assassination under the namesake of "development" and with the feigned sup- attempts to worry about the suffering of its people. port of the African people. The Afghani people still have no new constitution, no new laws Loans provided by the IMF, World Bank and G8 have tradition- and little food. Ethnic and political rivalries plague the country ally included strategies known as Structural Adjustment Programs and the military power of the warlords has increased. While the (SAPs), which came into effect in Africa in 1980. SAPs require International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)—the 4,500-strong that governments reduce public spending (especially on health, foreign peacekeeping unit—is assigned to defend only the capital, education and food/storage) in order to pay Western banks. They private armies of an estimated 700,000 men roam Afghanistan, must also increase exports of raw materials to the West, encourage continuing the traditional system of fiefdoms. foreign investment and privatise state enterprises. Instead of continue to be bought and sold by the autonomous Western powers-that-be under the namesake of "development" and with the feigned support of the African people. 9. Poverty, Women's Rights and Civil Disruption Worse Than Ever in Afghanistan While all eyes have been turned to Iraq, the people of Afghanistan have continued to suffer in silence in what is considered to be their worst poverty in decades. The promised democratic government is too concerned with assassination attempts to worry about the suffering of its people. The Afghani people still have no new constitution, no new laws and little food. Ethnic and political rivalries plague the country and the military power of the warlords has increased. While the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)—the 4,500-strong foreign peacekeeping unit—is assigned to defend only the capital, private armies of an estimated 700,000 men roam Afghanistan, continuing the traditional system of fiefdoms. 14 = NEXUS Africa's natural riches will www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2003 — JANUARY 2004