Basil Davison - In memory of a Great African Historian (9 November 1914 – 9 July 2010)

London 27th January 2011

In London today was held the memorial service for our old and dear friend Basil Davidson, campaigner against injustice, historian of apartheid, and above all the man who brought to the attention of the Western World the African fight for freedom from Portuguese colonial rule during the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.

During the Second World War Davidson was a hero of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) / MI-6D Section (sabotage) working behind enemy lines in places like Budapest and Belgrade. Later he served in Egypt and in Italy. After the war, as a journalist, he thought he would write about the Cold War from places he knew behind the Iron Curtain … but he was arrested by Marshal Tito on his very first visit, and sent home because he knew too much !  Instead, Basil went to Africa. 

Basil’s early books had titles that set the scene for his life’s work. This is what he taught us when we were students studying international politics and post-colonial Africa : Let Freedom Come: Africa in Modern History ; The Black Man's Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State; A History of Africa ; Lost Cities of Africa ; African Kingdoms ; Black Mother …. When we were children, Africa had no history for the coonial powers had hijacked Africa for the Europeans. Basil Davison did more than any other Anglophone historian to give Africans back their history and we are grateful for it. He never realised, of course, but we can state truthfully that EPES Mandala Consulting exists partly because of Basil Davidson and his commitment to Africa, thanks to the flame he lit in our spirits to keep fighting for African peace.

For his and Mick Csaky’s film series Africa, he won the Gold Award from the International Film and Television Festival of New York in 1984, and also from the United Nations. Basil was also Hon Fellow of SOAS in London, and received Hon Doctorates from the Open Universty and from Edindurgh University. He was the recipient of the 1970 Haile Selassie Prize Trust award for his works on African history, receiving a Gold Medal and Eth $40,000 at a ceremony in Addis Ababa in 1970. In 1976, he won the Medalha Amilcar Cabral.



Thank you, Dear Basil. May you rest in peace!

 

 

EPES Mandala Consulting, the Founders and all its staff and team members, present their deepest commiserations and most heartfelt condolences to the people of Haiti whose capital city and nation have been devastated by the January 2010 earthquake.

We present our deepest sympathy also to our friends and colleagues in all the United Nations agencies in Haiti, whose operations and staff members have been shattered by the catastrophe.

One of our Haitian colleagues reports that her parents and her 102-year-old grandmother have been spared, but they are living in the street because the walls of the family house are too badly cracked to be safe… although the roof is still in place because it is built on pillars. Meanwhile all around them are neighbours and friends crying over lost children, parents and loved ones.

With more than one million people said to be without shelter, we offer our thoughts and prayers to the victims ; and while emergency relief is not an area of our special expertise, we will see in the coming weeks  what practical help we may be able to offer to the people of Haiti.

Our Brussels team will participate on the 5th and 6th of October at an EU workshop on the smuggling of small arms and light weapons. In partnership with the group IBF, we are advising the EU on tackling small arms trafficking and organised crime. The recent spate of assassinations in Guinea Bissau are directly related to mafia groups smuggling cocaine across West Africa and into Europe: the attorney general's life was threatened after she tried to tackle drug smuggling, the navy commander was arrested for drug-related activities, the army head was assassinated and then soldiers stormed the presidential palace and killed the head of state.

The Validation Workshop will bring together a number of experts from five continents, and the debate will assist the managers of the EU's Instrument for Stability (IfS) to identify key areas (both geographical and thematic) where the inter-regional fund of the IfS can make a measurable contribution to counter the trafficking of small arms and address the increased globalisation of organised crime.

 

Within this framework, Dr Poulton was in West Africa for the EU in July 2009. Here is a photo taken at a dinner with Dr Hallassy SIDIBE, expert in decentralisation and conflict resolution and Dr Mamadou KANTE who leads a USAID project in participative governance in Mali.

 

During September the Managing Partners of EPES Mandala Consulting Ltd visited the Arab Republic of Syria, where they met with peace makers and recruited new consultants to the EPES Mandala team. Among the most interesting people in this hospitable country was a distinguished ecumenical peacemaker, Mar Gregorios Yohannes Ibrahim, Metropolitan of Aleppo in the Syriac Orthodox Church - one of the oldest of the Christian churches. 

We believe there is value in adding spiritual expertise to our existing specialist knowledge in security sector reform, disarmament, small arms and terrorism, organized crime, conflict transformation, human rights, child protection and other areas in which we work. This conviction is shown in our name: "mandala' is a Buddhist prayer circle that symbolises harmony, and hints that our approach to sustainable development differs from the traditional Western Cartesian models.

 

Overall objective

The overall objective of this contract is as follows: Provide expert technical assistance to the Government of Mozambique Intra-Ministerial Working Group and appointed partners, such as representatives of civil society and international organizations in :

1) The mapping and consultation process, both in Mozambique and the SADC region, prior to the conference;

2) Providing expert technical assistance in the preparation of contents for the planned high level Regional Conference on Child Trafficking in Southern Africa;

3) Accompanying the Government of Mozambique’s Intra-Ministerial Working Group in the period leading up to the conference as well as the post-conference period.

Purpose

The overall purpose of this contract is to provide the necessary technical expertise and support to the Government of Mozambique’s Intra-Ministerial Working Group in the preparation of the high level Regional Conference on Child Trafficking. This includes a consultation process in the country and SADC region; as well as the development and production of content for the regional conference; and the necessary follow-up, post-conference.

EPES Mandala Consulting provided technical support for the SADC Conference on Trafficking in Persons.

European Commission –EC-, deeply concerned over the negative consequences and suffering caused by trafficking of children and recognizing that the Southern Africa Countries are highly vulnerable to trafficking as a result of war, poverty and inequality, decided to support the government of Mozambique to host a regional conference on Child Trafficking since 2007.

After a couple of occasions in which Conference were cancelled, EC Mozambique contracted EPES Mandala to provide the necessary technical expertise and support to the Government of Mozambique’s Intra-Ministerial Working Group and appointed partners in the preparation of a High-Level Regional Conference on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children in Southern Africa.

EPES Mandala technical experts Lucy Lainfiesta and Melissa Steward worked behing scenes with the assistance of Denise Molica, the team leader, Valentina de Bernardi, the EC Delegation focal point for the conference, and Barbara Kerstiens, Head of the Social and Humanitarian Affairs Section, providing critical technical support for the organization and the content of the Conference. The assistance focused in ensuring that key stakeholders were consulted and content of the Conference was harmonized with the protocol of Palermo, the EU integrated approach to combat trafficking (Three Ps – Prevention, protection and prosecution) and other international and regional tools and initiatives.

The Conference was successfully held in Maputo on May 26-28, 2009 under the leadership of the SADC Secretariat, and gathered over 200 experts, representatives from governments, NGOs, International Organizations, EU Member States, local authorities and civil society associations. The first two days were dedicated to develop a final draft of the 10 years regional plan of action on combating human trafficking especially women and children and the annotated agenda to be discussed and adopted during the Ministerial Conference carried out the third day.

The Conference ended with the adoption of the 10 YEAR SADC STRATEGIC PLAN OF ACTION ON COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN by the Ministries or Official delegates from Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The plan and the RECORD OF SADC MINISTERIAL MEETING ON TRAFFICKING, ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN demonstrate the political will of SADC States member to combat trafficking in persons, and set out their commitments to implement cooperative actions to enhance their capacity to address critical issues related with trafficking in persons and hopefully will reduce the number of cases of this criminal acts.

This Conference raised awareness of government of SADC and other regional stakeholders, in regards to Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children in the region; and strengthened their commitment to implement the protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. The conference also provided a forum for discussion between Governments of Southern Africa, NGOs, Civil Society and International Organizations, which can be the foundation for future collaboration and further discussions.

Mission: “Children at Risk Programme Final Evaluation Mission”

Consultant: Ghassan Rubeiz

Overall Objective

The overall objective of the Children at Risk Programme is twofold:

a) The poverty among vulnerable children is reduced and their social development is thus improved.

b) The capacity of the NGOs to contribute effectively to social development is enhanced.

Specific Objective

In line with the priority areas as defined in the Country Strategy Paper (CSP) and National Indicative Programme (NIP) 2002-2004, the specific objective of the Children at risk programme is:

a) The living conditions and the prospects of social reintegration of five groups of economically vulnerable and socially marginalized children are improved.

b) Girl’s access to education is facilitated.

c) The NGO sector is strengthened.

d) The relevant authorities (MISA’s NGO department) and the NGO sector cooperate closer.

Ghassan Rubeiz, an expert within EPES Mandala reports :

This spring, I was in a team assigned to Egypt to evaluate an extensive, externally funded, child welfare program. Evaluation involved extensive visits to five groups of projects which served Children at Risk: FGM, girl schools in remote areas, services to children with disability, projects with street children and with working children. A three-member team spent seven weeks in the study of documents, field visits, interviews and discussions with program implementers, experts, officials and funding personnel.

I was particularly interested in projects of disability. Of the many disabled children I visited, one story stands out. A twelve-year old boy had never left his dwelling. His small room had no windows; his mother, who was ashamed for having him, took care of him in secret. The father had abandoned the family. There is progress in this family. The social worker is pleased that the boy is now going on trips with school children. The next therapeutic step is for the mother to accept to walk with her child in his wheelchair through the neighborhood. As she receives support and education through the project she is now proud to have him.

 

Catherine Mariano is in Nairobi, again working with UNDP Somalia (in a follow-up assignment to our 2007 Somali Peace Conference). Catherine is helping to find ways to implement the Djibouti Peace Accord, to promote peace and facilitate negotiation with the UNDP team. The news broadcasts tell us, however, that there are repeated dissentions between Somali politicians and between the titular President and his Prime Minister. A political solution is the only solution. Unless Somalis can find a compromise, there is not much the UN or anyone else can do, and the problem of piracy will continue along the coastline of this failed state.

The end of the year approaches and this is the moment when the management would like to wish everyone peace and happiness in 2009. The whole world could do with some peace and happiness.

Tore Rose is in Myanmar (Burma to the old-fashioned) working with the UN on post-hurricane relief efforts. This makes a change from security issues, but the problems are similar and the human cost in misery is no less.

General Henny van der Graaf continues to advise senior Somali political figures on security issues related to the search for new state structures in Somalia, while Ibrahim ag Youssouf pursues the search for peace in Darfur wearing the hat of the African Union.


An interesting new publication has been launched in Vienna by UNCRI

We have an article in the first issue:
“Curbing Illegal Brokering in the Arms Trade: Challenges and Opportunities”
by Valerie Yankey-Wayne and Robin Edward Poulton, in Freedom From Fear,
UNCRI, Vienna, October 2008 p8-11.