Participants at the NGOs Forum of African Commission on Human and People’s Right (ACHPR) on 12 April added their voice to the widespread condemnation of the Gambian authorities over their deliberate policy of blocking access to critical online news websites in the country. Systematically, the Gambia authorities have either attacked the online news newspapers by hacking into their websites or blocking their IP addresses, making it impossible for Gambians to access the news sites.

The World Bank and European Commission officials have accused Nevsun, the Canadian mining company operating in Eritrea, of misleading its investors. A Wikileaks cable, dated 15th June 2006, describes a visit organised by Nevsun and the Government of Eritrea for export credit agencies from Canada and South Africa, as well as Proparco, Standard Bank, and the European Investment Bank.

A Nigerian pressure group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate an alleged US$6 billion fuel subsidy loot in the West African country. It said in its petition to Luis Moreno Ocampo, ICC Prosecutor, that the ICC should examine and investigate whether 'the widespread and systematic corruption and theft of over US$6 billion in the fuel subsidy scheme over a period of three years and its devastating effects on millions of Nigerians amount to inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health as provided by Article 7 of the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court'.

Malaria cases have increased dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, leaving clinics and treatment centres unable to cope, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned. The number of people treated for malaria in MSF projects has soared by 250 per cent since 2009 in six provinces – half of the vast African country – and accelerated even more sharply in recent months. The reasons for the trend are not clear, although it is thought renewed fighting by militia groups has made it increasingly difficult for people to access prevention and treatment for the mosquito-borne disease.

The white right-wing group Kommandokorps has emerged again in mainstream media after an in-depth article in the Mail & Guardian and a short documentary video in cyberspace. Wessel van den Berg and Mbuyiselo Botha argue that the video shows the way in which violence is equated with manhood, demonstrating that certain forms of masculinity are valued above others. 'These processes are often overlooked, but they are the root cause of the high levels of violence in South Africa.'

Date: Saturday, 5 May 2012 (9am-5pm)
Venue: Wesley Memorial Hall (by St Peter's College) , New Inn Hall Street, University of Oxford, UK
http?://www?.?oxfordafrica?.?eventbrite?.?co?.?uk/

We warmly encourage all students to join us.

The 2012 Conference focuses on building the type of leadership Africa needs to successfully face challenges in the 21st century. The conference will bring together young and emerging academics, students, entrepreneurs, activists, and politicians to discuss and debate the challenges of the day in Africa. These discussions will help develop concrete strategies to nurture and sustain youth leadership in Africa and in African communities worldwide.

Speakers include:

Vera Songwe (World Bank Country Director)
Arthur Mutambara (Deputy Prime Minister, Zimbabwe)
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria)
He Liehui (Chairman, Touchroad International Holdings Group, China)
June Arunga (CEO, Open Quest Media, 100 Most Creative People in Business)
Matthew Hassan Kukah (Human Rights Activist & Social Exponent)
Gbenga Sesan (Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative, Nigeria)
Patrick Awuah (Founder, Ashesi University, Ghana)

Mary Harper, Africa Editor, BBC World Service & Author of Getting Somalia Wrong? Faith, War & Hope in a Shattered State

We are proudly sponsored by Google, Business Connection, Think Africa Press, and the Oxford African Studies Centre.

Be sure to visit our website for all the latest news: http?://www?.?oxfordafrica?.?org/

A group of civil society organisations has stated that it must be recognised that the Protection of State Information Bill would undermine whatever gains have been made by South Africa. 'The Bill’s extraordinarily harsh and broadly drafted penalties – which prohibit accessing, sharing, or publishing any information classified within its expansive provisions – would create a society of secrets in which vital democratic spaces are closed off, and those who expose injustices may be targeted. The absence of any kind of adequate protection for whistleblowers is as much a concern today as it was when the Bill was introduced to Parliament.'

Glencore, the commodity and mining firm worth £27bn, stands accused in the Democratic Republic of the Congo of dumping raw acid and profiting from children working 150ft underground. The revelations come as the notoriously secretive Swiss-based company, which floated on the London Stock Exchange last year, seeks to merge with mining firm Xstrata in a £50bn-plus deal.

The partners leading the efforts to control measles have announced a new global strategy aimed at reducing measles deaths and congenital rubella syndrome to zero. According to a joint statement made available to PANA, the announcement comes with the publication of new data using a state-of-the-art methodology showing that accelerated efforts to reduce measles deaths have resulted in a 74 per cent reduction in global measles mortality, from an estimated 535,300 deaths in 2000 to 139,300 in 2010.

Four senior judges in Kenya have been declared unfit for office in a landmark ruling by a new committee investigating the impartiality of the judiciary. The vetting panel was set up as part of the deal to end post-election violence in 2008 when it was agreed to reform political and judicial institutions. Five other judges were cleared. The four told they are unfit to continue have seven days to appeal.

Sonke Gender Justice has launched a new publication, 'Mapping the Legal Framework to Prevent Sexual Violence & HIV in South Africa’s Correctional Facilities.' Sexual violence and HIV and AIDS are key areas of concern for Sonke, as inmates experience both at heightened proportions. HIV and sexual violence are inherently linked, particularly in South Africa’s prisons where external estimates for HIV range between 40-60 per cent.

Citizen Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU), Citizens’ Manifesto Coordination Office, Uganda Governance Monitoring Platform (UGMP) and Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG), said the debate to restore term limits should not be partisan because it affects the whole country. 'It is unfortunate that the NRM party organs are making an attempt to trivialise an issue of national importance to a partisan conversation. All Ugandans who have suffered at the hands of political instability and uncertainty know that the issue of presidential term limits is colourless.'

In two days of consecutive protest, Egyptian youth continued to demand the release of human rights lawyer, Al Gizawi, who is detained in Saudi Arabia for allegedly defaming its monarchy. The human rights lawyer is particularly contentious due to a lawsuit he filed in Egypt against King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz over alleged arbitrary detention of hundreds of Egyptians.

Two of the world's biggest mining companies endured a barrage of protests as a broad coalition of unions, individuals, social and environmental groups from as far afield as South Africa and Mongolia travelled to London for Rio Tinto and Anglo American's annual meetings. At Anglo American's AGM, the miner came under fire amid allegations its South African subsidiary is responsible for cases of silicosis and tuberculosis in the country contracted between the 1960s and 1990s. About 1,200 former gold miners suffering the lung diseases are bringing a case against it in the High Court in London next month.

New international HIV testing guidelines are encouraging couples to test together and for immediate initiation on antiretrovirals for the one testing positive. The World Health Organisation issued the guidelines recommending that a person living with HIV who has an HIV-negative partner (a 'sero-discordant' partnership) be offered HIV treatment regardless of their CD4 cell count level (measure of their immunity).

Migreurop, a coalition of organisations from thirteen European, African and Middle Eastern countries, has produced an extremely useful and powerful report which describes in detail ways in which the policy of preventing the entry of undocumented migrants is implemented. The first part of 'At the margins of Europe: the externalisation of migration controls', looks at the outsourcing of control at the eastern border area of Turkey (the main overland route to the EU via Greece), the high mountains, snowy and treacherous, crossed by ‘illegal’ travellers who might be from Iran or Afghanistan, Somalia or Eritrea.

As part of Algeria's effort to encourage citizens to participate in the 10 May legislative election, the human rights commission suggested that people be forced to vote. Farouk Ksentini, chairman of the National Consultative Committee for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (CNCPPDH), on 7 April proposed that there should be a punishment for those who fail to vote.

The African Platform on Access to Information (APAI), an intercontinental initiative to promote Access to Information on the Continent, took the campaign a step further in its address to the 51st session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The APAI working group, composed of MISA, AFIC, Article 19, IFJ, TAEF, MRA, MFWA, ODAC, and Highway Africa, called on the Commission to recognize 28 September as International Right to Know day, as well as for an expansion of article IV of the Declaration of Principles of Expression in Africa to incorporate the principles of the African Platform on Access to Information Declaration.

This policy brief from the International Organisation of Migration looks at the situation of migrants who have returned home to several West African countries as a result of the conflict in Libya. It aims to provide an understanding of the factors that led to migration to Libya, in the first place; the migrants’ journey to Libya and their efforts to make a new life; the hasty return home; and the current needs of returnees and context to which they are returning.

Safety nets - programs that invest in poor people and help them enhance their livelihoods and productivity by transferring resources to poor households - have been on the rise in Sub-Saharan Africa. These programs either transfer money directly to vulnerable households, or offer labor-intensive public works jobs such as building rural roads to adults who need temporary employment during the agricultural lean season. World Bank analysis shows that over the past 10 years, 120 cash transfer programs have been rolled out in Africa.