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Professor rashid bhika honoured

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The South African Institute for Advancement (SAIA) held its Second Annual Inyathelo Philanthropy Awards at a gala event in Cape Town on Wednesday 5th November 2008.

The Inyathelo Award for Lifetime Philanthropy was awarded to Pretoria-born Professor Rashid Bhika Of the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb.  Prof. Bhika was the founder and CEO of  BeTabs, the largest independent pharmaceutical company in South Africa. The Ibn Institute of Tibb is a non profit organisation and founded by the Bhika Family Trust.

His major commitment is to supporting and providing  affordable healthcare in South Africa. His particular expertise is in the alternative approaches to primary healthcare. He has established clinics in Langa and Manenburg in the Western Cape. These clinics also provide practical training for the University of the Western Cape’s UNANI-TIBB students. In July of 2008 he launched a R1 million  community clinic at the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Abused Women and Children.

Awards were presented to 8 remarkable South Africans for their contribution  towards building South Africa’s young democracy and to ensure sustainable social development. The SAIA is supported by  Standard Bank and its patrons include Dr. Mamphela Ramphele and Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa. Mr. Raymond Ackerman of Pick n Pay was the first recipient of this Award. 

The Media Review Network congratulates and salutes Professor Bhika on his fine achievement.

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Obama team no decisions on reversing bush orders

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U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s team cautioned on Monday he had not yet decided whether to reverse executive orders on topics such as stem cell research and oil drilling imposed by President George W. Bush.

Members of Obama’s transition team had said on Sunday that he would move swiftly once in office from Jan. 20 to strike down some of the Bush executive orders that Democrats have long battled.

"Across the board, whether it’s national security, the economy, the senior leadership that will manage health care, energy and the environment, I think he intends to move very quickly," Obama transition co-chairman John Podesta had said on "Fox News Sunday."

But Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter issued a statement on Monday pledging that Obama would discuss any executive orders with both Democrats and Republicans as well as with nominees of his Cabinet, none of whom has been selected yet.

"President-elect Obama will honor the commitment he made during the campaign to review all executive orders, but this process has not yet begun and no decisions have been made," she said.

"The president-elect has pledged to run an open and inclusive government, so before he makes any decisions on potential executive or legislative actions, he will be conferring with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, as well as interested groups."

The statement, issued after Obama met Bush at the White House, reflected the cautious stance Obama is taking as he adapts to being president-elect and takes a fresh look at issues that have roiled U.S. politics for years.

New presidents typically issue a variety of executive orders shortly after taking office. These are orders that can be issued directly by the president and do not need approval by Congress.

Many Americans have long opposed Bush’s position banning the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. Stem cell advocates are eagerly awaiting Obama’s rescinding of the order, while the Bush White House believes his firm stance led to breakthroughs on research of adult stem cells.

With the U.S. government about to open some 360,000 acres (nearly 145,700 hectares) of public land in Utah to oil and gas drilling, environmentalists are pressuring Obama to stop that from happening.

On the other hand, Obama pledged on the campaign trail to wean the United States from overseas oil and, under pressure from Republican opponent John McCain, had agreed to consider more offshore drilling.

Reuters

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Thousands of Gazans left without electricity

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Thousands of Gazans have been left without electricity following Israel’s suspension of fuel shipments to the Hamas-controlled territory’s only power plant.

The power station was shut down on Monday evening after Israel refused to restart deliveries, despite warnings that fuel supplies were almost exhausted.

About 800,000 of the Gaza Strip’s 1.5 million residents lost power when the plant was shut down, the official from the territory’s sole power plant said.

An EU official said the power plant was running very low on fuel. The facility uses a special type of industrial fuel, not regular diesel. The EU’s last shipment was made on Nov 4.

Late on Monday, Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, revised his decision to keep the crossing completely sealed and authorised a "limited resumption" of supplies to the Gaza Strip.

The partial resumption of fuel shipments, expected to begin on Tuesday at 06:00 GMT, followed a request by Tony Blair, former UK prime minister and envoy of the Middle East Quartet – comprising the European Union, the US, Russia and the United Nations.

Fighters said they fired the rockets in response to an Israeli raid that killed six fighters on Nov. 4, but no damge.

Israel increased its economic and military siege of the Gaza Strip.

Under the terms of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, Israel has to lift some restrictions on aid but humanitarian groups say conditions in the coastal enclave continue to deteriorate.

Agencies

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Tragedy in nahr al bared

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By IRIN News – Nahr al-Bared, Lebanon

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He picked plastics and paper off the rubble-filled conveyor belt, Issam Sayyed indicated to a white house behind him pock-marked with bullet holes and with its roof caved in. “That’s my home,” said the father of nine, a Palestinian refugee displaced from the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon, which was ruined in a 15-week war last year between the army and Islamist insurgents.

Soon the bulldozers clearing the ruins would knock down the white house along with the others, and the remains of Sayyed’s home would be passing before his hands as he sorted through the rubble for a wage of US$13 a day.

Across from the camp in the temporary accommodation known as the “barracks”, Sayyed’s wife was mourning the loss of their 10th child, a baby boy. He had died for lack of medical care just four days after his birth, according to his father.

The failure of the international community, and Arab states in particular, to fund an emergency humanitarian appeal for Nahr al-Bared means life for refugees like Sayyed will get just a little harder.

The Palestinian refugee agency’s (UNRWA’s) emergency appeal for $42 million to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of the 30,000 Palestinians displaced from Nahr al-Bared remains almost entirely unfunded.

Only the USA and Norway have donated, meaning UNRWA will this month decrease rental subsidies for 3,200 displaced families from $200 to $150 a month, and reduce items in the food basket each family receives.

In June, UNRWA said it needed about $445 million to rebuild the refugee camp – both the so-called New Camp, which sustained heavy damage, and the original, smaller Old Camp which was completely destroyed.

OPEC

So far UNRWA says it has received just $70 million, 88 percent from Western donations. OPEC, the 13-member Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which this year is forecast to make record breaking revenues of over $1 trillion, has donated just $5m to the reconstruction of Nahr al-Bared. Six OPEC members are from the Middle East.

The $20 million cost of the projected 18-month rubble removal operation has been half met by the European Union (EU). In July 2007, Saudi Arabia donated $12 million to UNRWA to help displaced families pay rent and buy food, but as yet no Arab government has pledged to the long-term reconstruction of the camp.

“Buried under these thousands of tonnes of rubble are the dreams and achievements of a people who have waited 60 years for a just solution to their plight,” said UNRWA Deputy Commissioner-General Filipo Grandi at a press conference in Nahr al-Bared to launch the rubble removal on 29 October.

“Money is the most difficult challenge we face… I am very confident donors from west and east will deliver much-needed funds. What is at stake is the stability of the region and the well-being and future of 30,000 people. That is too important to ignore or forget.”

Protest

As he spoke, a handful of Palestinians held a noisy protest outside the press conference, accusing the international community of failing them.

“For those who believe in human rights what UNRWA is doing is a crime against humanity,” shouted an irate Arkan Bader, a representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) faction in Nahr al-Bared.

“They have decreased medical funding by 15 percent. Gulf countries promised in June to pay half their commitments [to Nahr al-Bared] but until now they have paid nothing.”

Unexploded Ordnance

The magnitude of the task facing UNRWA and other agencies working on reconstruction and recovery in Nahr al-Bared was underlined by the assessment of a deminer leading the removal of unexploded ordnance (UXO) from the ruins of the camp.

Paul Leader, Nahr al-Bared task manager for Handicap International, which is contracted through UNRWA to clear UXO, said he expected the job could take 2-3 years to complete, despite an initial contract of just one year.

“Something of this magnitude and this level of contamination has never been done before,” said the veteran deminer, with experience in Iraq and the Balkans. “In any conventional war 10-15 percent of explosives do not explode. And there were a lot thrown in here.”

(Originally published in IRIN – www.irinnews.org – Nov 5, 2008)

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