Today, March 8th, as you probably know, is International Women's Day . It is a day to remember both the importance of women in all spheres of society and life, and the unequal situation in which many women worldwide findthemselves; and also to demand an improvement of this situation . Women suffer not only the general problems of society (those that affect men too), but those specific to women - health and sexuality issues, submission to patriarchy, gender violence, lack of recognition of their work - both related to the work done for the maintenance of the family and home, as to the professional sphere - reflected in a lower pay to that of men -, an unequal representation in public institutions, and so on.

As it might be expected, in many parts of Africa where the quality of life and the situation of a large proportion of the population leaves much to be desired, this is even more uneven and often these deficiencies endanger the lives of many women and girls. I have here neither the space nor the knowledge to give an overview here of this situation, or to comment about it. But you can see the latest United Nations report on "Progress of the world's women, 2008/2009 ", which provides detailed information about this.

I can note on this post however, that although in many African countries - and other less developed countries - the status of women is very precarious, we should not feel that here in Europe everything is on the right path. Some African countries in fact may serve as an example to us, for example the well-known case of Rwanda, the country with the lagest percentage of women parliamentarians worldwide - 56%. And where, at present, political tensions see a woman, Victoire Ingabire, as directly criticising some of the shortcomings of Kagame's government. This is clearly, not the only case, for there are many African women in many fields, that have emerged as symbols of the overcoming barriers and have become true role role-models for African women - and for those in the rest of the world.

Of all these, I will highlight just one, not because her story is more exemplary than all the oters, but because this woman currently holds one of the most important and symbolic positions in the world of politics and international relations - a world dominated by men, and my professional bias ;). I am talking about the vice-secretary of the United Nations, the Tanzanian Asha-Rose Migiro , who has been in office since February 2007. A lawyer and univerity professor, educated in Germany and Tanzania, Asha-Rose Migiro was previously Minister of Community Development, Gender and Children's Affairs (2000-2006) and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (2006-2007) (here you can see her biography). Since her appointment Dr. Migiro has worked to improve the situation of women, for instance by focusing efforts on campaigns against violence against women. Precisely in a recent intervention , Dr Migiro said that “Violence is the most blatant manifestation of discrimination against women, but it is not the only one. Injustice and inequality persist in developing and developed countries and in all regions.” . She also stated that "while we have seen advances in the past 15 years, we have not seen enough... More and more people now understand that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is not just a goal in itself, but a key to sustainable development, economic growth, and peace and security".

Vice-secretary of the United Nations, Asha-Rose Migiro

Africa News: Health - Tanzania has launched a program Friday to reduce by at least 80 percent mortality due to malaria over the next two years. "Malaria is a major threat, but if we play a collective role and if we do not allow the government to fight alone, we will make malaria a distant memory," said Dar es Salaam, the Minister of Health and Welfare, David Mwakyusa, during the official ceremony to launch the program.

• Tanzania - Health: Tanzania wants to reduce deaths from malaria (afriquejet.com)

The Mutsinzi report is published into the downing of the plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994. The assassination is often seen as the trigger that sparked the genocide in Rwanda. The report is incredibly thorough and well worth a read if you are at all interested in the history of Rwanda. Helpfully, the report comes in several versions depending on how much time you have to digest it...

Read more at Kigali Wire

tset

Lately African infrastructures, of all sorts, are becoming one of the most popular topics for those commenting on the state of the continent. I, at least, have a come across a number of different news and reports pointing out new developments, the impact of Chinese investment, new European and World Bank support for large-scale investment (1970s-style), communication infrastructures, etc.

So I thought I would put all of this together in a mini-round up of recent (and old) news about different aspects of African infrastructures:

Internet and Broadband

Online Africa is definitely the place to go for all internet things related: they, for example, report on the award given to the ubiquitous SEACOM for the best Pan-African initiative. They also have a section with plenty of maps showing internet bandwith connections and undersea cables.

Subsaharska has also reported on the Central African Backbone, with the latest news been posted yesterday - a follow up to the first post from two months ago.

Undersea broadband cables

Energy

I have written here before about the Desertec Foundation's plan to turn the Saharan desert into a massive energy plan, and also about Congo's vision - with World Bank support - for a massive Great Inga Dam which would have a massive ecological impact and whose power may be going, not to Africa, but Europe.

Oil continues to have a crucial importance, and the biggest African exporter, Nigeria, is undergoing a critical reform of this sector with the promotion of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), Africa-Confidential reports.

Road Transportation

After decades in which African roads were left unattended, and their state declined rapidly, a new interest has appeared in fixing the existing infrastructures, and building new ones. In Nigeria, ex-President Obasanjo has showed his concern for the state of the country's roads.

One of the key areas of Chinese investment on the continent is the creation of infrastrucries, as we have pointed before, and very recently pledged $349 millon for building a highway in Ethiopia linking the capital to the city of Adama.

European countries are also turning their attention to roads, and a few months ago, the UK pledged $1 billion to rebuilid 8,500km of roads and over 500km of railways accross eight different African countries.

Rail Transportation

Mozambique Sena Rail line has been recently reopened, linking the coal mines in Moatize with the port of Beira, which is giving neglected areas a much needed boost. This contrasts with the crumbling state of other East African railways, for example in Kenya, as today's post on A Bombastic Element notes. For more information and news on African railways, you can visit this site.

The problems which poor transport infrastructure have for a country's economy and trade are highlighted on this article on The Monitor (Uganda) signalling why the Kampala-Mombasa (Northern Corridor) is preffered to the Kampala-Dar-es-Salam one, harming thus the Tanzanian economy.

A view of the newly rebuilt Sena Line. - Photo: Stewart Currie (Railways Africa)

This is not a new debate, rather the opposite - going back at least until the 1960s when most African countries gained independence. This is the eternal dilemma around African countries' borders, their characteristics and their implications for economic and political development. This time it has been brought back to the from pages by Mo Ibrahim, who's becoming - to some people's dislike - some sort of guru od develpment and good governence in Africa. This issue however, never disappeared from the analysis made by academics, journalists or politicians - a good analysis of this, from a historical perspective going back to precolonial Africa is Jeffrey Herbst's book "States and Power in Africa".

Mo Ibrahim (centre) and Tanzanian President Kikwete (to his left) during Sunday's presentation in Dar-es-Salam (Photo Muchuzi).

Last Sunday in Tanzania - the cronicle of the event can be seen in issa michuzi's blog - Ibrahim pointed out that most african states are too small to survive independently, and that each of the 53 states will neve be able, on their own, to compete with giants like China, the US or the EU. Ibrahim immediately pointed out that it was economic integration - and not political unity - that he was advocating. This recipe is in agreement with the economic models and ideas - dominated by a neo-liberal consensus - defended by institutions like the World Bank, o el African Development Bank during the last decades. In fact, regional integration has been one of the most important processes during the last few years, as seen in the creation and strenghtening of institutions like the East African Community (EAC), or the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). Although undoubtedly, there are benefits to be gained through these initiatives - as Ibrahim points out intra-African trade accounts only for 4-5% of the world's total trade - this is not a wonderful solution, and there are important risks that have to be noted. Both aspects are pointed out on a recent entry on the blog "A Bombastic Element", in which reference is made to how, again according to a WB report, the costs involved in building infraestructures is often too high for a single, small state to take on his own. At the same time it is also pointed out that regional trade can be monopolised by regional "giants" - Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya - which can generate mistrust among the smaller partners regarding integration - in fact, this is one of the reason why integration in the EAC is rather slow.

However, the economic recipe is, on its own insufficient, as Brazilian ex-president points out,Fernando Henrique Cardoso, "the economy is already globalised. Now we need to globalise politics"; something that has als been made clear by the current economic crisis. Maybe focusing on the economic aspect Ibrahim just wanted to set himself apart from current pan-african figurehead, and promoter of the "United States of Africa", Colonel Muammar al Gaddafi, who is often on the headlines more for his extravagant actions ,

than for his continental leadreship. African political unity is however an important issue, that preoccupied already the first wave of independence leaders, like Nyerere, Nkrumah and Senghor to name a few. These leaders knew how artificial were the borders they inherited from the European powers and toyed with the idea of forming new political entities, like the the Senegal-Mali Federation (June-September 1960), the Ghana-Guinea Union (1958-62), and the (first) East African Community (1967-69). These leaders also embraced a Pan-African ideology that played a key role in the establishments of institutionsl like the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) which, although far from perfect, worked for a greater cooperation within the continent. These ideas were also crucial in guiding the support which countries like Tanzania gave to organisations fighting for freedom in the South of the continent, like Zanu in Zimbabwe, FRELIMO in Mozambique, or the South African ANC.

Image of the All-Africa's People Congress, which took place in Ghana in 1958 (Photo: Pan-African News-wire)

In summary, that the debate around the size and borders of African countries is not only alive, but back on the news. It is important therefore to point out that the future of the continent needs not only economic integration - a recipe proposed by organisations like the WB - but also a renewal of the compromise with Pan-African ideas of continental solidarity, that played an important role in the past. Only doing this would the relationship between African countries, and between Africa and the rest of the world, would be based on something more than economic profit, and would allow the creation of democratic institutions that will remain above the market.