A deadly lead poisoning outbreak that began two years ago in northern Nigeria continues to claim young victims even today, an aid agency official has said. Ivan Gayton of Doctors Without Borders criticised the government of oil-rich Nigeria on Thursday for not taking the threat seriously, despite 4,000 children already being sickened by the outbreak linked to gold mining.

Guinea-Bissau coup leaders and west African mediators agreed on Friday that parliamentary speaker Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo will lead a transition government, ruling out the return of the toppled team. The Nigerian official leading the west African mediation effort said there was no chance the former government would be restored.

Ethiopia's main, state-owned printing company has directed newspaper publishers to censor any content that may draw government prosecution under the country's anti-terrorism law or face cancellation of their printing contracts, according to local journalists and news reports.

The Washington Post reports that since 2007, the US State Department has trained about 35,000 African soldiers for an international force in Somalia, mostly deployed to Mogadishu. The African Union is planning to expand its Somalia force from 12,000 to 18,000, the majority of the troops US-trained. Training has occurred at these three primary sites.

On Saturday 19th of May, Algeria Solidarity Campaign invites you to scrutinise the context of this month’s elections and how it relates to Algeria’s most recent history. The panellists will discuss the pouvoir’s resilience over the past twenty years, its relationship with leading western capitals and the degree of manoeuvre it has today amidst regional reshaping of polities. The results of the 10th of May elections will also be addressed in the same framework.

A Zimbabwean human rights group has threatened South Africa's chief crime fighting unit with international legal action, over on ongoing probe into the illegal renditions of Zimbabwean citizens from South Africa. Several senior officials in the Hawks criminal unit and the South African police were last year accused of conducting the renditions, in partnership with Zimbabwean police. This has reportedly led to a number of Zimbabwean 'suspects' being arrested in South Africa and then sent across the border illegally, and killed. The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) has also threatened to refer the Hawks members involved to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if they are not brought to justice, explaining that a thorough, credible investigation needs to done.

Volume four, issue one of Interface, a peer-reviewed e-journal produced and refereed by social movement practitioners and engaged movement researchers, is now out, on the special theme 'The season of revolution: the Arab Spring' with a special section 'A new wave of European mobilizations?' This issue of Interface includes 403 pages and 31 pieces in English, Catalan and Spanish, by authors writing from/about Australia, Canada, Catalunya, Dubai, Egypt, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestine, Poland, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the UAE, the UK and the US among other countries.

The fallout between factions in the Swaziland prodemocracy movement has thrown into relief the disagreements over their objectives for the future of the kingdom. The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) has indefinitely suspended the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) after the SSN criticised PUDEMO’s leadership in the struggle for democracy. In very broad terms SSN supporters seek a republic in Swaziland, reports the Swazi Media Blogspot.

Egypt’s liberal leaning Free Egyptians Party declared its support for the calls and demands by women’s rights organizations and NGOs in the country, which have called for woman’s rights. The party also said it stands against 'the phenomenon of sexual harassment' and called for the passing of a law criminalizing the act. The party condemned in a statement on Sunday the 'shameful stance of the female parliament members of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), who stand against a woman’s right to defend herself and refuse to condemn the man who assaulted the woman and only blame the society and the woman, who is the victim.'

As dusk settles over the isolated Saharan town Kufra, young guards order a few hundred migrants lined up at a detention centre to chant 'Libya free, Chadians out', before they kneel down for evening prayers. Most of the prisoners in the small, squalid compound called the Freedom Detention Centre – run by Kufra’s military council – are from Chad. Hundreds more, from Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia, were moved to bigger facilities due to overcrowding.

Algeria's National Liberation Front and a sister party have won legislative elections, defeating an Islamist alliance. Dahou Ould Kablia, interior minister, said on Friday the National Liberation Front took 220 seats and its sister party in government, the National Democratic Rally, took 68 seats. The two parties now form a majority in the 462-seat parliament.

The first group of ethnic South Sudanese among up to 15,000 camped in crowded conditions in Sudan has begun their journey home. Roughly 400 people, mostly adults, travelled to Khartoum by bus on Saturday (12 May) from a town 300 kilometres south of the capital ahead of a major airlift that had been planned for early Sunday, said Jill Helke, country director for the International Organisation for Migration.

The 2012 Africa Progress Report is available. The report's purpose is to provide an overview of the progress Africa has made over the previous year. The report draws on the best research and analysis available on Africa and compiles it in a refreshing and provocative manner. Through the report, the Panel recommends a series of policy choices and actions for African policy makers who have primary responsibility for Africa’s progress, as well as vested international partners and civil society organisations.

Patricia de Lille has the next few days in which to come up with answers for angry Sir Lowry’s Pass Village residents who threw stones at police and motorists. They also tried to burn down the local satellite police station by lobbing petrol bombs at it. Hundreds of residents protested last week, demanding service delivery in an area they claim has been ignored by the City of Cape Town for the past 10 years.

Helen Zille must honour her promise to resign should wrongdoing be found in the W Cape communications tender, says the Christian Democratic Party. ” ... Helen Zille can only blame herself for tweeting that she will resign if any wrongdoing is found in the Western Cape communications tender,” said party leader Theunis Botha in a statement on Sunday. In the draft report, Madonsela reportedly found that the tender awarded to advertising agency TBWA/Hunt Lascaris in 2010 to centralise communications was invalid. Madonsela’s report was leaked to newspapers a week before a deadline for the province’s response. Botha said the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) leader Zille had often criticised members of the ruling party, and should therefore take this opportunity to be “an example to her opponents in the ANC and resign, so saving the DA’s reputation”.

One of the most significant human rights organisations in Swaziland has called on the Times Sunday to take action against its columnist who wrote hate speech against homosexuals in the newspaper. The Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (the Coalition) condemned the writer Qalakaliboli Dlamini who used words such as ‘satanic’ and ‘evil’ in an article about homosexuals in the kingdom.

The African Peacebuilding Network (APN) of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) invites research grant applications from African researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners working on conflict and peacebuilding at universities and research institutions or regional governmental and non-governmental organizations in Africa.

Small farmers are central to a push to deploy genetically modified (GM) technology within Kenya. In recent years, donors such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have invested millions of dollars. But serious concerns about viability, corporate dependency and health effects linger - even while leading research firms and NGOs do their best to smooth them over.

Women’s rights in Morocco have come under the spotlight recently after a young woman was assaulted in a Rabat market by people she called 'Salafists', or ultra-conservative Islamists. She said she was accosted by the men because of the short dress she was wearing. Other witnesses were reported by the Magharebia news portal as saying the girl was attacked with stones and beaten after the assailants said the dress was 'too revealing'.

Although Zimbabwe is a mineral-rich country, mine laborers and owners say that profits aren’t enough to cover costs, leading to low or little pay and unsatisfactory working conditions. The government has implemented laws aiming to reform both issues, but fee hikes to boost federal revenue have been problematic, says this article from the Global Press Institute.