Rose Phekani, one of the five Zimbabwean women who went on hunger strike on Monday at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedford, was deported to Malawi on Wednesday evening. She is now in danger of facing a lengthy jail term in a Lilongwe prison for fraudulently acquiring a Malawian passport.
Newsreel learnt on Thursday that authorities in Malawi have vowed to crackdown on all Zimbabweans who get deported to their country for using their passports. Its reported authorities there are still furious that all Malawians are now being requested to apply for UK visas, because of the large number of Zimbabweans who were travelling on fake Malawi passports.
Phekani, together with Maud Lennard Kadango, Faina Manuel Pondesi, Zandile Sibanda, and Pauline Chitekeshe are failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe who used Malawian passports to travel to the UK where they unsuccessfully tried to apply for refugee status.
The five sent a petition to the Home Office on Sunday asking to be released from the holding centre, complaining that they did not receive adequate legal representation during the fast track process under which their applications for political asylum were considered.
Speaking to Newsreel on Thursday, Kadango said they were all saddened by Rose’s deportation. She had to be handcuffed and physical forced onto the plane after she tried to take off her clothes in protest at being deported. She was accompanied on the flight ‘home’ via Nairobi, Kenya by two officials from the immigration department.
The remaining four are still on hunger strike although there are concerns about Pondesi who is reported to be very weak. The Home Office has been deporting failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe who travelled to the UK using either Malawian or South African passports. Those who claimed refugee status using Zimbabwe passports and were denied are not being deported.
Thursday, 13 September 2007
Appeal for 6m more teachers and medics
THE desperate need for doctors, nurses and teachers in countries such as Malawi was highlighted yesterday in the latest campaign by Oxfam to improve health and education in the developing world.
The global campaign - "health and education for all" - is calling for investment in six million more teachers, doctors and nurses around the world to help some of the 80 million children who do not go to school and 4,000 children dying every day from diarrhoea.
The situation in Malawi, which was highlighted recently in The Scotsman, is being used by the charity as an example of where the problem is particularly acute.
The Scottish Government has committed at least £3 million a year to the country as part of the £9 million annual international development budget.
Eilidh Whiteford, Oxfam Scotland's campaign manager, said aid needed to be better targeted at helping developing countries to improve the health and education sectors.
Speaking from Malawi, she said: "There are 6,000 nursing vacancies in Malawi, a country that desperately needs more nurses and other healthcare workers. There are a number of reasons why the shortage is so acute: trained staff can earn more overseas or in the private sector.
"HIV and AIDS have affected many people of working age, and though access to treatment is improving, many thousands have died already, often leaving family members vulnerable. The high drop-out rate from school due to poverty, especially among girls, means that there are too few young people ready to train as nurses."
The global campaign - "health and education for all" - is calling for investment in six million more teachers, doctors and nurses around the world to help some of the 80 million children who do not go to school and 4,000 children dying every day from diarrhoea.
The situation in Malawi, which was highlighted recently in The Scotsman, is being used by the charity as an example of where the problem is particularly acute.
The Scottish Government has committed at least £3 million a year to the country as part of the £9 million annual international development budget.
Eilidh Whiteford, Oxfam Scotland's campaign manager, said aid needed to be better targeted at helping developing countries to improve the health and education sectors.
Speaking from Malawi, she said: "There are 6,000 nursing vacancies in Malawi, a country that desperately needs more nurses and other healthcare workers. There are a number of reasons why the shortage is so acute: trained staff can earn more overseas or in the private sector.
"HIV and AIDS have affected many people of working age, and though access to treatment is improving, many thousands have died already, often leaving family members vulnerable. The high drop-out rate from school due to poverty, especially among girls, means that there are too few young people ready to train as nurses."
Nutty mixture can help malnourished children
Researchers may have a simple way to help feed thousands of starving children in Africa: peanut butter.
In an American professor's study, nearly 3 000 malnourished children were treated with an enriched peanut-butter mixture. Of those, 89 percent of the severely malnourished children and 85 percent of the moderately malnourished children recovered.
The recovery rate for children given standard therapies is less than 50 percent, researchers said in the study published this summer in Maternal and Child Nutrition.
The mixture - made of peanuts, powdered milk, vegetable oil, sugar, vitamins and minerals - is distributed through Malawi's health-care system and given to mothers to feed their children at home.
"The peanut-butter feeding has been a quantum leap in feeding malnourished children in Africa. The recovery rates are a remarkable improvement from standard therapy," Dr Mark Manary, a paediatrics professor at Washington University in St Louis, said in a statement.
The Peanut Butter Project now produces about 300 tons of the food in Malawi each year.
International organisations are advocating similar programmes, citing the work of Manary and others. Earlier this year, several suggested that providing specially fortified foods for home use is one step that can help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.
At 12 rural health centres, village health aides identified malnourished children based on World Health Organisation guidelines. They followed up with the children every other week for up to eight weeks.
Mothers are given a two-week supply of the food and told how much to feed their children. Children can eat other food while receiving the peanut-butter mixture for up to two months.
Manary said the peanut butter mixture keeps well, is convenient and has a high energy density.
Traditionally, children who are severely malnourished are fed a milk-based porridge in hospitals, but they would have to eat roughly 25 spoonfuls of porridge to equal the calorie density in one spoonful of the peanut butter mixture, researchers said.
A community-based approach, where malnutrition without other medical complications is treated with such ready-to-use therapeutic foods, could prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children, said the World Health Organisation, World Food Program, Unicef and a UN committee on nutrition in a joint statement in May.
The World Health Organisation estimated that nearly 20 million children under the age of 5 suffer from severe acute malnutrition. Most live in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
In an American professor's study, nearly 3 000 malnourished children were treated with an enriched peanut-butter mixture. Of those, 89 percent of the severely malnourished children and 85 percent of the moderately malnourished children recovered.
The recovery rate for children given standard therapies is less than 50 percent, researchers said in the study published this summer in Maternal and Child Nutrition.
The mixture - made of peanuts, powdered milk, vegetable oil, sugar, vitamins and minerals - is distributed through Malawi's health-care system and given to mothers to feed their children at home.
"The peanut-butter feeding has been a quantum leap in feeding malnourished children in Africa. The recovery rates are a remarkable improvement from standard therapy," Dr Mark Manary, a paediatrics professor at Washington University in St Louis, said in a statement.
The Peanut Butter Project now produces about 300 tons of the food in Malawi each year.
International organisations are advocating similar programmes, citing the work of Manary and others. Earlier this year, several suggested that providing specially fortified foods for home use is one step that can help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.
At 12 rural health centres, village health aides identified malnourished children based on World Health Organisation guidelines. They followed up with the children every other week for up to eight weeks.
Mothers are given a two-week supply of the food and told how much to feed their children. Children can eat other food while receiving the peanut-butter mixture for up to two months.
Manary said the peanut butter mixture keeps well, is convenient and has a high energy density.
Traditionally, children who are severely malnourished are fed a milk-based porridge in hospitals, but they would have to eat roughly 25 spoonfuls of porridge to equal the calorie density in one spoonful of the peanut butter mixture, researchers said.
A community-based approach, where malnutrition without other medical complications is treated with such ready-to-use therapeutic foods, could prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children, said the World Health Organisation, World Food Program, Unicef and a UN committee on nutrition in a joint statement in May.
The World Health Organisation estimated that nearly 20 million children under the age of 5 suffer from severe acute malnutrition. Most live in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Taiwan's Allies Sign Declaration
Taiwan's five African allies to the 2007 Taiwan-Africa Summit, have produced and signed a declaration, which among other issues, calls for an end to tension and conflict across the Taiwan Strait, in Africa and around the world.
The Gambia's Vice President, Aja Dr Isatou-Njie, who represented President Yahya Jammeh, jointly signed the "Taipei Declaration" with President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan, King Msawati III of the Kingdom of Swaziland, Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso, President Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes of Sao Tome and Precipe, and President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi.
Taiwan's diplomatic allies in Africa are Malawi, Swaziland, Gambia, Burkina Faso and Sao Tome and Principe.
The "Taipei Declaration" states that Taiwan, as an independent nation, has the absolute right to participate in the UN, the WHO and other international organisations and the allies will support Taiwan's efforts to join the agencies.
They also pledged to cooperate in the areas of digital technology, trade and economic development, healthcare, a sustainable environment and peace and security.
Responding to a proposal by Burkina Faso President, Blaise Compaore, the leaders agreed to attach a rider to the declaration for the establishment of a Taiwan-Africa Friendship Group.
The leaders decided to hold the second summit in Africa in 2009 and set up a committee to ensure an action plan is put into practice.
While previous experience has shown that allies signing a joint communique supporting the country's UN bid did not necessarily voice their backing at the UN General Assembly or general committee, Minister of Foreign Affairs James CF Huang yesterday said that all five allies have strongly supported Taiwan's UN campaign and repeatedly indicated that they would speak out for Taiwan at the UN General Assembly on September 18.
Earlier, the leaders from the five countries voiced their support for Taiwan's UN membership bid during their opening remarks.
Gambian Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy, who attended the event on behalf of President Yahya Jammeh, read a statement from Jammeh saying that her country was convinced that the continued denial of Taiwan's desire to play a rightful role in international affairs is the greatest injustice that can be done to the people of Taiwan.
"The denial is a suppression of the views of millions of people who yearn to enjoy the benefits of international partnership and cooperation in a free and fair international environment," she said.
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika expressed his concern about the continued rejection of Taiwan by the UN.
"I still believe that this is against the principle of universality, equity and justice," he said. "There is no justification, therefore, for the continued sidelining of Taiwan in the United Nations."
Mutharika said the event was unique because small nation states were represented that are generally marginalized and exploited in global relations.
The Gambia's Vice President, Aja Dr Isatou-Njie, who represented President Yahya Jammeh, jointly signed the "Taipei Declaration" with President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan, King Msawati III of the Kingdom of Swaziland, Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso, President Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes of Sao Tome and Precipe, and President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi.
Taiwan's diplomatic allies in Africa are Malawi, Swaziland, Gambia, Burkina Faso and Sao Tome and Principe.
The "Taipei Declaration" states that Taiwan, as an independent nation, has the absolute right to participate in the UN, the WHO and other international organisations and the allies will support Taiwan's efforts to join the agencies.
They also pledged to cooperate in the areas of digital technology, trade and economic development, healthcare, a sustainable environment and peace and security.
Responding to a proposal by Burkina Faso President, Blaise Compaore, the leaders agreed to attach a rider to the declaration for the establishment of a Taiwan-Africa Friendship Group.
The leaders decided to hold the second summit in Africa in 2009 and set up a committee to ensure an action plan is put into practice.
While previous experience has shown that allies signing a joint communique supporting the country's UN bid did not necessarily voice their backing at the UN General Assembly or general committee, Minister of Foreign Affairs James CF Huang yesterday said that all five allies have strongly supported Taiwan's UN campaign and repeatedly indicated that they would speak out for Taiwan at the UN General Assembly on September 18.
Earlier, the leaders from the five countries voiced their support for Taiwan's UN membership bid during their opening remarks.
Gambian Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy, who attended the event on behalf of President Yahya Jammeh, read a statement from Jammeh saying that her country was convinced that the continued denial of Taiwan's desire to play a rightful role in international affairs is the greatest injustice that can be done to the people of Taiwan.
"The denial is a suppression of the views of millions of people who yearn to enjoy the benefits of international partnership and cooperation in a free and fair international environment," she said.
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika expressed his concern about the continued rejection of Taiwan by the UN.
"I still believe that this is against the principle of universality, equity and justice," he said. "There is no justification, therefore, for the continued sidelining of Taiwan in the United Nations."
Mutharika said the event was unique because small nation states were represented that are generally marginalized and exploited in global relations.
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