WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Cynicism and Hope Ahead of the Bamako Gathering

Source: IPS

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Cynicism and Hope Ahead of the Bamako Gathering
By Almahady Cissé

BAMAKO, Jan 17 (IPS) - With just a day to go before Africa’s first-ever World Social Forum (WSF) gets underway in Mali, attitudes towards the meeting appear somewhat mixed in the West African country.

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Mali: Mangoes, Mangoes, Mangoes

One of the things my kids (now grown up with kids of their own) reminisce about from their life in West Africa is mangoes fresh from the tree. They both loved green mangoes, a peculiarly teenage phenomenon as far as I was concerned, sour and acidic. I can get mangoes here in the UK, but they are a shadow of the freshly picked, ripened on the tree version. I was pleased to spot a photo essay on BBC NEWS specifically on mangoes from Mali. We used to drive out along the Sibi road for picnics and it was a joy to get the first mangoes of the year from road side stalls. I say stalls but really it would be just a few piles of mangoes on a cloth, or maybe on a rickety table or in large washing buckets. None of the ladies spoke any French so I had to struggle with the Bambara money system, based on 5. I never really felt i had a handle on it. But it gave them a laugh anyway.

Here are some delightful pictures courtesy of BBC:
In pictures: Mali’s mangos (click here to go to the photo essay and notes)

Djenaba Coulibaly is having a good season. She sells the mangos everyday at Sibi’s market, and gets about $1 for every 30 mangos.“I can look after my family with the money, and buy clothes for the children. But this year I’m going to treat myself,” she says.

Short season

Attempts are being made to diversify the industry and develop the income-generating potential of those - mostly women - who work in it.At the Jeka Bara co-operative in the Sebenikoro district of Bamako, a group of 17 women are having some success in maximising their income. “I’m going to get some new clothes, some really nice food and even a beautiful pair of new shoes.” This is important as the mango season is a short one - beginning in February and lasting between two to three months.

See the rest of the photos

I find it really exciting to see the amount of dried mango that is coming onto the market, and even being exported to other countries. About twenty years ago I was advocating this as part of a development project. Dried mango can give badly needed nutrition to children during the ‘hungry season’ when there is little fresh produce available. Obviously the Sebenikoro project is a business venture,but drying mango is feasible at village and family levels too.

Mali, Guinea: Ali Farka Toure lives on!

I know a lot of you guys already know this, but I am finding out what a rich source of cultural material YouTube is! Whilst trying to get together a post on a Jazz festival in Guinea in honour of the Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure, who sadly died a couple of years ago, I found a lot of YouTube clips. Born in the village of Nafunke near Timbuktu he never forgot his northern Mali roots, and in fact was ignored for some time in Mali because he was regarded as a ‘northerner’. In 2004 he was elected mayor of Niafunke. He is considered the pioneer of ‘Mali Blues‘ and his jazz style is appreciated all over the world. He won 2 Grammy awards for Talking Timbuktu and again in 2006, for his album in collaboration with another famous Malian musician, Toumani Diabate, In the Heart of the Moon (both links have clips you can play).

I did a little searching. I found this interesting video of the great man, posted by pusanguy, not just playing but giving his thoughts about ‘African Americans’. I hope you find it encouraging!

Well, back to the Jazz festival. According to APA News it is being held in Guinea at the Franco-Guinean Centre. It started on 7th will end on 11th May. The Guineans are honouring Farka Toure

because had given up attending a cultural festival in Nice, France, where he was to earn €80,000, to take part in the 2nd edition of the Jazz Festival

The following link can only be listened to through YouTube, I can’t embed it. But is is such a seminal recording of Farka Toure I really wanted to bring it to your attention. It was recorded at the Segou festival in 2005. The other instrument being played is the Ngoni or xalam and is played by Bassekou Kouyate. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSWuzp_0hn4&feature=related

Mali travel warning: Tuareg rebel attacks move closer to capital - army

Following the rebel attack on 6th May 2008, the American Embassy in Bamako sent out the following warning. Please take note if you are currently in Mali or planning a trip there in the near future.

Embassy of the United States of America

Bamako, Mali

WARDEN MESSAGE

May 6, 2008

This Warden Message is being issued to inform U.S. citizens in Mali that on May 6, 2008, bandits of unknown origin attacked a military base in Diabali, approximately 175 km (110 miles) north of Segou. The bandits fled the scene and reportedly headed north towards the Mauritanian border. The Embassy notes that such activity near the Malian/Mauritanian border area is unusual, but it is too early to predict whether concern for travel in this area will remain problematic or prove an unrepeated aberration. As a result of this event and the possible presence of this group of armed bandits in the area, the U.S. Embassy in Bamako advises against travel to areas outside of urban population centers north of Segou at this time.

In addition, sporadic skirmishes have been reported in the Kidal region during the last week. The Embassy again renews its caution to avoid travel in northern Mali, particularly in the Kidal region and areas north of Timbuktu.

U.S. citizens planning to travel to northern Mali despite this caution should review the Country Specific Information sheet for Mali, dated February 12, 2008 and focus particularly on security and logistical considerations regarding travel to the northern regions of Mali. American citizens should also notify the consular section of their plans and may do so by e-mail at consularbamako@state.gov.

American citizens may inquire about the latest security information with the embassy or consult the Department’s web site at http://travel.state.gov, where the current Worldwide Caution Public Announcement, Travel Warnings, and Public Announcements can be found.

Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S., or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays). Information specific to Mali is located at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_962.html

The U.S. Embassy in Bamako is located at ACI 2000, Rue 243, Porte 297, Bamako, Mali. The Embassy’s telephone number is 270-2300. The after-hours telephone number for the duty officer for emergency situations is (223) 675-2860.

Source: AlertNet

BAMAKO, May 6 (Reuters) - Tuareg rebels attacked two army camps in Mali on Tuesday, killing one soldier and looting a weapons store at a garrison much closer to the capital than most previous operations, a senior army officer said.

The rebels launched the twin attacks on Tuesday morning, three days after a clash that appeared to torpedo a ceasefire deal hammered out in Libya a month ago.

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Masquerades of the Bozo, Kirango (mali)

Source: masquerades of the bozo, kirango (mali)

This interesting webpage By Elisabeth den Otter has lots of photos which you can access through links. It covers the rarely seen circumcision ceremony and has other cultural information

Kirango is an old village located on the bank of the Niger river, about 35 km north-east of the city of Ségou. The inhabitants are Bamanan (farmers) and Bozo/Somono (fishermen). Both ethnic groups celebrate their masquerades, each in its own way. For the Bozo/Somono circumcision is a very important ceremony, which takes place about every ten years. For that occasion, they organize a masquerade, with dances, masks, and ‘sogow’ (literally ‘animals’) that represent an animal, symbolic or domestic. They are accompanied by drumming and singing.

Go to the webpage and see the photos

➤Home

Bamanan songs from Kirango and Pelengana (Mali)

Source: http://homepage.mac.com/edotter/Fasiya_CD/Fasiya.html

The song ‘Fasiya’ (Heritage) is an invitation to preserve the cultural heritage of the Bamanan, which is disappearing; it also evokes the great fetishes that are no longer worshipped. This song was composed by Moussa Diakité, the singer of the group from Kirango. He is accompanied by Youssouf Dembelé who plays the ‘ngoni’ (a traditional lute with four strings), and Maïmouna Koné who plays the ‘gita filen’ (half-calabash) and sings as well. Moussa and Maïmouna are also lead-singers during the annual masquerade (see this website, under Puppetry/Mali).

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Mali linguistics: Perceptions of languages in the Mandingo Region of Mali

Canut C, (2002). Perceptions of languages in the Mandingo Region of Mali: Where Does One Language Begin and the Other End? in Long, Daniel and Dennis Preston, ed. (2002) Handbook of Perceptual Dialectology, Volume 2, John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN:9027221855

Read the chapter on Google Scholar

Available from Amazon UK

Review of book:

LINGUIST List 14.1383: Dialectology: Long and Preston (2002)

(2002) Handbook of Perceptual Dialectology, Volume 2, John Benjamins … The first volume of the Handbook of Perceptual Dialectology (Preston 1999) …

linguistlist.org

African blogs: The 52nd Venice Biennale - The African Pavilion and Malick Sidibé’s Achievement

Cross-posted from Sociolingo’s Africa

Posted by sociolingo on May 5, 2008

A new blog, The Face of Afrika, is aiming to focus on positive news celebrating the continent of Africa. Please support this initiative.

One recent post about The 52nd Venice Biennale: The African Pavilion and Malick Sidibé’s Achievement caught my eye:

The Venice Biennale’s prestigious Golden Lion lifetime achievement award was presented to Malick Sidibé, from Mali. The artist made history. Not only was he the first photographer to be so honored but Sidibé was the first African artist to ever win the award.

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement:
Malick Sidibé, born in Soloba, Mali, in 1936. Lives and works in Bamako, Mali.

Photo credit AFP

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Mali human rights: New family law debated

The following article shows some aspects of Mali democracy in action.  It seems to be a tenet of Mali democracy that all interested parties have a say and are consulted in the drafting of legal documents. However, having a ’say’ or being able to express and opinion does not necessarily mean that demanded changes will be agreed. In this case some Islamic organisations are opposing a family law bill particularly in the areas of inheritance and the recognition of religious marriages.

The family law bill, which was first drafted back in 1996, is being hotly debated at the moment in Mali. It ratifies international protocols that Mali has already signed up for including the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The driving force behind the latest attempt to get this bill passed is a group of women parliamentarians who have got together with lawyers and human rights activists and are  pushing this bill back to prominence again.

Source: IRIN NEWS

MALI: New family law faces opposition from Muslim organisations

BAMAKO , 2 May 2008 (IRIN) - A new family law code waiting to be adopted by Parliament is facing opposition from some Islamic groups who claim it goes against Islamic principles, particularly when it comes to proposed changes to the country’s marriage laws.

The new code aims to bring more equality between men and women in relation to marital status, parental rights, ownership of land and inheritance, wages and pensions, employment laws and education.

“The code is a significant step towards gender equality while reflecting the reality of Malian culture today,” the minister of women, children and the family, Maiga Sina Damba told IRIN.

The current code has seen little change since it was first passed in 1962, three years after Mali gained independence, and according to Oumor Cissé, communications adviser at the ministry for women, children and the family, it is heavily influenced by “outmoded” French laws, and a strict reading of Koranic texts.

Opposition

When the draft code went out to civil society groups for the latest round of consultations in early 2008, some Islamic groups started campaigning hard against the proposed changes to marriage laws, inheritance laws and property rights.

In early April the Islamic Salvation Association (AISLAM) called for the bill to be withdrawn from Parliament.

“All the proposals we made in the consultation phase of the new code were rejected,” said Mohamed Kimbiri, president of AISLAM.

The most controversial sticking points relate to shifts in marriage laws. Today in Mali traditional or ‘religious marriages’ as opposed to civil marriages, are legally accepted but the new code will cease to legally recognise religious marriages.

“Despite much opposition to this change, legalising religious marriages has been dropped from the bill altogether,” Kimbiri complained to IRIN.

But Parliamentarian Mountaga Tall elected in Segou a town north of Bamako, said religious or ‘traditional’ marriages deny some women their basic rights.

“Widows who have only had a traditional marriage are legally excluded from any inheritance rights and their children must go through expensive, lengthy and often humiliating procedures to inherit the basic family allowances due to them.”

In defiance of the soon-to-be-adopted law, Islamic groups are continuing to issue marriage certificates.

“For the moment, the issue is unresolved. But if [these marriages] go ahead it will be in violation of the law, and the marriage certificate will not be legal. No one can appropriate a power that is not legally bestowed,” said Cissé.

Further controversy

In another vein, under the current law when two people marry if they commit to monogamy they must stick to it in theory, but in reality a husband can re-marry without the consent of his wife.

“Men can circumvent the law by making a new marriage without any legal consequences,” said Daouda Cissé, a legal adviser to the women’s ministry.

The code also gives more inheritance rights to illegitimate children, and enables them to choose either their mother’s or their father’s name, but according to Kimbiri, “Islam can not accept that. [Illegtimate children] can only inherit their mother’s name, they do not have a right to their father’s.”

And finally, some clerics are concerned about changes the new code makes to giving couples joint rights to land and property - currently separate rights are maintained for property. But one Imam told IRIN, “under Islamic law spouses must accept separation of ownership of possessions.”

Compromise solution?

The code has already faced many delays and some fear it will stagnate altogether. Redrafting began in 1996 but it was slow to gain momentum in Parliament.

“Many Parliamentarians didn’t want to see change. or else they didn’t bother to read it,” Oumor Cissé told IRIN.

But in 2007 a group of women Parliamentarians - there are about a dozen, said Cissé - formed a group with lawyers and human rights activists to defend the code’s changes and to push it through Parliament.

“If Mali wants to be a fully-functioning democracy it is important to pass this code,” Omar Touri, head of a women’s rights network, Association of Women’s NGOs (CAFO), told IRIN. “People have to change their behaviour and they have to accept change.”

The code brings Mali in line with a number of international protocols it has signed up to, including the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Given this, she said, “We have no choice but to pass it.”

But Abdoulaye Dembélé, deputy of the National Assembly, thinks it much more likely that a compromise deal will have to be struck, ensuring yet more delays.

“In this atmosphere of misunderstanding it is difficult for deputies to vote for this code at the risk of provoking a mass-uprising. We have to take into account the concerns and aspirations of all groups before passing it through Parliament.”

sd/aj/nr

[END]

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org

Special IRIN Zimbabwe coverage: http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=71&ReportId=77476

[This item comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. Reposting or reproduction, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Terms and conditions: http://www.irinnews.org/copyright.aspx

MALI: Combating malaria misdiagnosis

Source: IRIN NEWS

MALI: Combating malaria misdiagnosis

BAMAKO, 1 May 2008 (IRIN) - Health experts say the majority of malaria cases in Mali are misdiagnosed, which causes resistance to malaria drugs and leaves other illnesses untreated.

“When people are sick in Mali, the doctor will usually tell them they have malaria whether or not they test for it,” said Fatou Faye, an infectious diseases researcher and trainer at a privately funded medical laboratory, the Charles Merieux Centre in Bamako.

“The patients then buy anti-malarial in the street and build up a resistance to treatment.”

As a result, according to research by Dr. Imelda Bates at the Malaria Knowledge Project (MKP), (LINK) part of the Liverpool University School of Tropical Medicine, this means people miss other causes of feverish illness such as pneumonia and meningitis, which can cause further illness and even death.

Economic productivity is also affected, and misdiagnosis can deepen poverty due to prolonged illnesses and money being wasted on the wrong drugs.

Malaria is the most prevalent disease among Malian children under five years old according to George Dakono coordinator of with the national project to fight against malaria.

“Shocking levels” of misdiagnosis

The discrepancy between real and assumed cases has reached “shocking” levels all over Africa according to the MKP.

Malaria diagnostics in Mali rely on expensive equipment which most health clinics, particularly in rural areas, cannot afford and do not have the trained staff to use, Michel Vam Herp an epidemiologist with non-governmental organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Belgium, told IRIN.

As a result most doctors “make assumptions based on suspicion,” he said, leading to over-treatment of malaria cases.

Further, according to Dakono and Faye, most people who develop a fever in Mali do not visit a health clinic at all either because they live too far away, or are unwilling to pay up to US$0.95 for a consultation. They self diagnose and treat instead.

Up to 70 percent of cases of feverish illness in children are diagnosed and treated at home according to the MKP.

Laboratories the ‘gold standard’

Mali needs more and better-equipped laboratories to combat mass misdiagnosis, according to Faye.

Valentina Buj, a health project officer with the World Health Organization (WHO) said “blood smear-tests in a laboratory are the gold-standard in malaria diagnostics.”

But the majority of the 82 government-run laboratories around the country lack the right equipment and trained technicians to diagnose malaria, according to Faye.

The Charles Merieux Foundation has set up a diagnostics laboratory in Bamako to diagnose malaria and other infectious diseases, train technicians from health clinics around the country how to use diagnostic equipment and run a lab, and with European Union funding, to equip labs around the country. Its aim is to replicate standards found in French laboratories.

“We want to create a situation that for the majority of diseases they encounter, they can accurately diagnose them themselves,” Faye said.

Rapid diagnostic tests

But for MSF’s Vam Herp, laboratories are not the answer to improving malaria diagnostics in rural Mali where clinics and laboratories are few and far-between.

“We need simple, low-technology malaria test kits, rather than buying more expensive equipment and carrying out in-depth trainings which is hard to do in rural areas,” he told IRIN.

For him the answer is to get rapid diagnosis tests or ‘RDT’s, which are small, easily transported and cost on average US$0.45, to community health workers throughout the country so they can test people village by village. ARTICLE LINK TO 74816

“The test takes 15 minutes to produce results and it takes half a day to train a community health worker how it’s used,” said Vam Herp, “they are the only options for diagnosis at the household level.”

The test is simple - if a person has malaria, chemicals in the test react to a product produced by the malarial parasite in their blood, causing a red strip to appear fifteen minutes later. And where MSF has distributed them, the number of patients seeking diagnosis for malaria has increased from one in four to 100 percent.

Taking the kits country-wide is a challenge in Mali — they require a long shelf-life, sophisticated distribution systems, and their results are unreliable in temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius, which is Mali’s average temperature. “The technology still needs to be finessed,” Buj said.

MSF nonetheless says it plans to expand its programme, which currently is diagnosing 80,000 people in malaria-prone regions, across the country alongside the government.

Funding

With simple technology, improving diagnostics does not have to be expensive - it would take US$61 million to cover Mali’s diagnostic needs according to Vam Herp - but it requires the government and donors to take it more seriously.

The first step, according to the MKP is cost-benefit analyses to map out malaria prevalence, resistance patterns, and clinics capacity to analyse which diagnostics approach is better - rapid tests or improving labs.

International donors have stepped in to improve Mali’s efforts to fight malaria with US$126 million from the George Bush foundation and the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis committed over five years, but critics say not enough of this money targets diagnostics.

“The Ministry of Health is already subsidising medicines, staff salaries and building health centres, and international funds are coming in, so why shouldn’t it start subsidising diagnostics fees as well?” asked Vam Herp.

According to a health practitioner in a government clinic in Fana, a town north of Bamako, “if the government does not support diagnostics, its other efforts will fall flat.”

WHO’s Buj is positive Mali is going in the right direction. “When it comes to. diagnostics, the situation is definitely getting better in Mali,” she said.

aj/nr
[END]

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org

Special IRIN Zimbabwe coverage: http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=71&ReportId=77476

[This item comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. Reposting or reproduction, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Terms and conditions: http://www.irinnews.org/copyright.aspx

Mali: 100 dead from meningitis - travel notice

There are a number of reports of deaths from seasonal meningitis in Mali and surrounding areas. !00 deaths have been reported in Mali this year.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/e66fcc1ebca6e9f295662a5ddb46e344.htm

http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/africa-news/meningitis-epidemic-kills-10-in-mali-200804282588.html

If you are planning to travel to the area please consider being vaccinated against meningitis before travel. Most meningitis vaccines are good for 3 years (a more recent one called Menactra, available in the States, will cover you for 10 years).

If you need to be vaccinated in Mali you can either:

1)go to the CMS Centre Medical Sociale. Vaccinations available for other (than french) nationalities. Open: Mon. – Fri. 8am – 12.30, 15.30 – 18.00. Saturday 9am – 12pm (shut Sundays and holidays),

or

2) buy the vaccine at a local pharmacy (one which has a good reputation for storage - eg. pharmacy deuxieme pont, or Keneya) and arrange to be given it.

Balafon museum for Sikasso

I’ve just seen a post on the African Press Association website about a new African xylophone museum to be created in Sikasso. It will be the first museum designed to preserve the heritage of the balafon, one of the famous musical instruments of the region. The Balafon is played in Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote-d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin and Ghana and the ‘triangle du Balafon’ festival is held in Sikasso.

Here’s a video of two Burkinabe balafonists from the collection of brunh21

Mali: Langue des Signes Malienne - Projet LaSiMa - Malian sign language

Not long ago I did a post  on Sociolingo’s Africa of a newspaper article about plans for a uniform sign language for Africa. Now, I do realise this can be a contentious issue and that there are lots of grassroots organisations involved in African sign languages.

Victoria Nyst kindly sent me a link to a project she is involved in in Mali, and I think you may be interested to hear about it.

Langue des Signes Malienne - Projet LaSiMa is involved in documenting the indigenous sign language (la SiMa) in Mali which is now considered an endangered language because of the spread of American Sign Language in Mali.

Here is a description of their description and documentation aims.

Here are some links about sign languages in Mali and other countries.

Please contact Dr Nyst if you want more information.

MALI: Fears over privatising cotton

Source: IRIN NEWS

MALI: Fears over privatising cotton

After years of delays the Mali national cotton company, Malian Company for Textile Development (CMDT), is on the verge of privatisation with bids for tender just sent out, but the World Bank which backs the privatisation is worried none of the right conditions are in place to make it work. “The point of privatisation was to create a better-managed cotton sector… so that Mali could start to compete with the likes of India or Brazil… but this will not happen… I am very, very pessimistic about the privatisation process,” said Olivier Durand, agricultural specialist for the World Bank in Mali. The World Bank and IMF have been pushing privatisation since the 1990s but it has been delayed because the CMDT and cotton farmers were not yet organised into well-functioning cooperatives that could bear its brunt, and had not yet maintained their equipment or fields well enough for investors, according to non-governmental organisation Oxfam International (OI).

full report

Mali seeks conference with Niger on insecurity

Source: APA

Mali seeks conference with Niger on insecurity

APA-Niamey(Niger) The Malian Foreign Minister, Moctar Ouane, on Tuesday announced in Niamey, that his country will host an international conference on insecurity “in the coming weeks” under the aegis of the leaders of Niger and Mali.

Speaking after an audience with the Niger President, Mamadou Tanja, Ouane said he had brought a message from President Amadou Toumani Touré to his Niger counterpart on the issue.

For years, the two countries continue to face security issues which we must overcome, the minister added.

The envoy further said the conference will enable the two countries of the Sahelo-Saharan region, to take concrete actions to overcome the challenges posed by insecurity.

Both countries are particularly facing problems caused by armed insurgency in the northern part of the countries.

DS/of/ovh/tjm/APA 2008-04-22