EDITORIAL

The public disclosure this month that the engineer husband of Ugandan Vice-President Specioza Kazibwe used to beat her when they were married reminds us all that women everywhere are vulnerable to the scourge of domestic violence, amongst other ills. International Women's Day, held this year on March 8, gives us time to reflect on how far we still have to go before the rights of women around the globe are recognised and affirmed.

In Africa, traditions and common beliefs that deny women their basic human rights and keep them second-class citizens still hold strong. Our Zimbabwe correspondent, Rodrick Mukumbira, gives a moving account of how community leaders in southern Zimbabwe often accuse elderly widows of bewitching people through AIDS. If she is lucky, the old woman is banished from her village; if not, self-appointed witch-hunters carry out brutal cleansing rituals. Zephaniah Musendo, our Tanzanian correspondent, describes how girl children in Africa are subjected to female genital mutilation, domestic violence, and discrimination on the job and in school. In a separate article, Musendo talks about how gender imbalances in Tanzania have even pushed women to eat less nutritional foods than men.

But International Women's Day is also a time to look at how far we've come, and there are certainly many examples in Africa to illustrate this. Women in the tiny, conservative kingdom of Swaziland are turning around oppressive traditions to their favour - and are even breaking with tradition - as they seek to own land, reports our correspondent James Hall. A very brave and strong woman in Malawi by the name of Catherine Phiri has decided that her HIV-positive status is not the end of her world. Instead of withdrawing in despair, she founded Salima HIV/AIDS Support Organisation (SASO) in 1994, reaching out in love to other HIV-positive people and winning a United Nations award in the process, writes Brian Ligomeka, our Malawi correspondent. And, the Forum for African Women Educationalists of Zambia (FAWEZA), along with the government of Zambia, are making real strides in the education of girl children in Zambia, despite many obstacles, says our Zambian correspondent Newton Sibanda.

In other news, the famine in Malawi is pushing peoples' backs to the wall to the extent that one mother of five is considering selling some of her children to purchase food and bus fare to her home village so that her other children can survive. This gut-wrenching account comes from Ligomeka. Further up north, members of a constitutional commission struck to reform Kenya's constitution before the end of the year - and the next election - is waffling along, but controversies threaten to derail the whole process, reports Zachary Ochieng, one of our corespondents from Kenya. And, Africanews staff writer Matthias Muindi provides a thorough analysis of the Sudan government's recent announcement to send, along with Libya, a peacekeeping force to Central African Republic.