The emerging water crisis in the Nile Basin, a lack of women participating in making a new constitution for Zimbabwe, the dark side of the overseas aid industry in Somalia, and the lengths some politicians will go to to hold onto power in Nigeria are among the stories featured in this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere, from Sokari Ekine.

Following the kick-off of the World Cup last Friday, Sokari Ekine finds herself torn between joining in with the ‘hooray vuvuzela-blowing madness’ and watching the games, or blanking out ‘the whole flag-waving charade.’ Ekine reports back from the African blogosphere with its views on the matter, as well on the unawarded Mo Ibrahim Prize, homosexuality and homophobia in Africa and the Niger Delta Amnesty.

Like many people around the world, Sokari Ekine is ‘elated’ by the news that Malawian couple Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, have been pardoned and freed. But, asks Ekine, ‘How can we claim justice has been done when the law used to convict the couple has not been successfully challenged?’ In this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere, Ekine finds her sentiments echoed by others across the continent.

In this week’s round-up of the best of the African blogosphere, Sokari Ekine remembers Malcolm X on his birthday and calls for solidarity with Malawian gay couple Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, found guilty on Tuesday of ‘unnatural acts and gross indecency’.

There’s a tendency among technophiles and people in the development industry ‘to state the obvious and make it sound incredible’, writes Sokari Ekine, in this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere, but AppAfrica’s insights on Google SMS in Uganda make a refreshing change.

‘Humanitarian intervention’ in Haiti, South African attitudes to HIV/AIDS and condom use, police killings in Lagos and everyday life in the aftermath of an earthquake are among the stories covered by Sokari Ekine in this week’s overview of the African blogosphere.

Morgan Tsvangirai’s contradictory statements on LGBTI rights, Madagascar’s elections and various interpretations of Africa by western visitors are among the topics featured in Sokari Ekine’s roundup of the blogosphere.

Fifty years ago, 69 Africans protesting against pass laws were shot in the South African township of Sharpeville. Posts in this week’s round-up of the blogosphere remember the massacre, the life of activist Fatima Meer and bring to mind the continuing struggle for the right to decent housing by shackdwellers movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo. They also include musings on migration, Haiti and headscarves.

Rumours about Nigerian president Yar’Adua, violence in Jos, controversy over what happened to aid money during Ethiopia’s famine in the 1980s and International Women’s Day all feature in Sokari Ekine’s round-up of the African blogosphere. There’s also good news for Zimbabwe, as a documentary about the remarkable singer Prudence Mabhena and her band Liyana scoops an Oscar, with its inspiring story about overcoming the stereotypes around disability.