While the IMF’s strategic plan for boosting its financial sector surveillance has not been published, the Fund continues to argue that developing countries need more liberal financial systems. Since the financial crisis, the IMF has been trying to boost its work on overseeing risks from the world’s financial system. The IMF’s strategic plan for financial sector surveillance was due to be discussed at the executive board in February, but neither a date for the actual discussion nor any policy papers were released publicly.

As President Obama seems to be ready to give a green light to Colombia for the implementation of the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement this weekend, under the guise of improvements in labour conditions and human rights, the Black Communities Process in Colombia (PCN) raises the question: what will it take for the Obama administration to understand the severity of Afro-Colombians’ human rights?

Small scale farmers mobilised against the corporate take over of the food chain on 17 April, reports this press release from La Via Campesina.

Leading a dedicated team to accompany the development and implementation of campaign strategies led by progressive African social justice movements, the Utetezi Director will support innovative strategies to amplify grassroots demands and realize people-centred change.

Location: Nairobi, Kenya or Dakar, Senegal.

Deadline for application: May 7, 2012.

For further information, please the job description and person specification.

To apply, please send the duly completed application form attached to: [email protected].

Three stories on the Farm Radio Weekly website deal with 'land grabs', which are in many cases violations of farmers’ land rights. The first story is from Burkina Faso and tells how land owned by small-scale farmers is being granted to influential 'Sunday farmers'. The government gambled that encouraging investors to create large modern farms would help achieve food self-sufficiency. But few large land owners are even using their new land for farming, and smaller farmers are increasingly locked out of the land market.

Kenya’s battle to end food shortages may be won with the introduction of drought-tolerant maize in the next five years, scientists have said. This will make it the third country in the continent after Egypt, South Africa and Burkina Faso to use genetically modified (GM) crops for increased farm yields.

A policy paper is to be presented to the annual World Bank conference on land and poverty in Washington DC in the United States, which focuses on the confrontation between peasant producers and investors in the Mozambican province of Zambezia. Written by Simon Norfolk and Joseph Hanlon, the paper looks at divisions in the Mozambican government over whether it should support foreign investment to promote a technological leap in agriculture, or if it should support small scale farming to increase productivity.

Representing the struggles for political and societal changes in the Middle East merely as a ‘Social Media Revolution’ of an upper middle class youth is selective and simply does not correspond to the situation, says this article from International Affairs. 'It ignores the majority of poor people, also among the urban youth, and misses out the various forms of creative activism on the ground and their grass-root organisation in forms of neighbourhood patrols and cleaning troops.'

Attorney Bruce Afran's appeal of parole-denial and 10 year hit resulted in the New Jersey Appellate Court's remand to the NJ Parole Board that its 10 year hit be cut to 2 years. It was done and Sundiata has become immediately eligible for a parole hearing again.

BAMILEKE:

I am a Mod Ngam
Man of spiders
Often called a diviner.
I am Bamileke
Born in Cameroon
Observing the Earth Spider.

VOICES:

He lives underground
With the nature spirits
Our ancestral messenger.

BAMILEKE:

Earth Spider takes his pick
Movement of leaf and stick.

VOICES (chanting):

He knows the ancient ones.
Earth Spider, tell us what you see;
We await your diplomacy.

DOGON:

I am a Hogan
Diagnosing for the Dogan,
Sands of the Bandiagara.
Come, Sand Fox
There are sticks in the sand
There is drought in the land.
I invoke your presence;
I am the Sunset Chanter.

VOICES (chanting);

Bandiagara
Mountain of freedom
For the Dogon of Mali.

DOGON:

Tell us Sand Fox
Our precious visitor;
Have we offended our ancestry?

BAULE:

I am called Komien
Within the Baule
My special pot called Gbekre.
Once upon a time
The mouse could speak
Of that the Baule toast.
Now he talks
Through the movement of sticks
For us in the Ivory Coast.

KARANGA:

I am an Nganga
Throwing dice called Hakata;
Made of wood
Bone or seed.
Between Ancestor and Karanga,
I endeavour to intercede.
Trusted and respected
I divine, I pray;
For the Karanga of Zimbabwe.

VOICES (chanting):

Ancestor, ancestor
The Healer wants to talk with you.
Whether with mice
Or the use of dice
Diviner wants to talk with you.

ZULU:

Being a Sangoma
I also use bones.
I am Nguni.
That is the Zulu, the Xhosa
The Ndebele and the Swazi.

VOICES (chanting):

Come with the bones, Sangoma
Come as quick as you can
Tell us of Unkulunkulu
Are we drifting from his plan?

ZULU:

From Unkulunkula
I received a special duty.
Having done my training,
Knowing herbs and animals;
I can make the sacred Muti.

I was possessed
I did not choose this profession.
Unkulunkulu called me,
Through my ancestor,
To be a healer of this nation.

VOICES:

Blessed Babalawo
It’s not time for you to go.
Here comes another someone
With troubles in his head;
I think he’s sinking in the flow.

YORUBA:

I am Babalawo
With the gift of Ifa
Giving to my people the Yoruba.
A gift from Olodumare
Through his servant Orunmila
To me, here in Nigeria.

VOICES:

You with great knowledge of Ifa
We beg you, do not go.
Her illness moves fast
Her days grow slow.

YORUBA:

I am a busy Babalawo.

ZANDE:

To raise them from their woes
To reach the spiritual height
I use what God has given us;
Divination by the termite
Two branches in one termite hill.
One from one tree
One from another.
And in their eating
Knowledge begins to gather.
You’ll find us in the D.R.C
The C.A.R. and Sudan-
Those who are called the Zande.
You will see us by the Congo
As well as by the Nile,
Praising the one called Onyame.

POKOT:

I am a Pokot elder
From the land of Kenya,
But just like Dogon in Mali
Our divination,
Whether by goat or by shoe,
Is performed for us by an elder
The elder of the older.
Shoes of he who is missing are thrown.
Like the Zulu bone
The Yoruba palm nut
The Maasai stone.
We continue to interpret the unknown.

VOICES:

The longer you live you get closer to the Shrine
Attracted by the Crucial Flame.
We get closer to Creator,
Called by this and that,
God of a thousand names.

Bamileke: Si
Dogon: Amma
Baule: Nyamien
Zande: Onyame
Zulu: Unkulunkulu
Yoruba: Oludumare
Pokot: Torontot
Karanga: Mwari

VOICES (chanting):

Ancestor, Ancestor
The healer wants to talk with you.
Whether by mice
Or whether by dice,
Diviner needs to talk with you.

©Natty Mark Samuels, 2010

Barely 24 hours after James Ibori landed a 13-year jail term in the United Kingdom for money laundering, jubilation turned to anger following reports of the planned repatriation to Nigeria of the $250 million stolen by the former Delta State governor. Nigerians both at home and in Diaspora are strongly opposing plans to return the money to Delta State where the current governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, is Ibori’s cousin and 'stooge'.

Ahmed Ben Bella, the first elected president of Algeria and one of the greatest figures of Arab nationalism died on April 11. In this wide-ranging interview, reflects on his life and offers interesting perspectives on world affairs.

A new report from the Auditor General’s office shows that there is need for close to 3,000 lecturers and others in more senior positions in the four of the five public universities. Universities with grave demand for more academic staff include Makerere, Gulu, Mbarara and Kyambogo. In some public universities, the academic staffing is even below half of what is required by the National Council for Higher Education. To make it worse, the few dons in public universities are quitting for jobs in well-paying private and foreign universities and non-academic jobs.

In 2010 alone, global military spending rose to an all-time high amount of $1.63 trillion. The second annual Global Day of Action on Military Spending took place on 17 April 2012 to coincide with the release of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) new annual figures on world military expenditures.

Poor sanitation is not only a menace to public health, but also a roadblock to sustainable development and a huge strain on financial resources, according to a new World Bank study. A report by the Bank's Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) finds that poor sanitation is causing a loss of US$5.5 billion every year to 18 African countries. That estimated loss in turn adds up to annual economic damages between 1 per cent and 2.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

(Paris, April 12, 2012) – The French Ministry of Justice should move swiftly to issue an international arrest warrant for the son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, EG Justice, Human Rights Watch, and SHERPA said today. On April 11, 2012, judicial sources confirmed that a French public prosecutor has endorsed the request of investigating magistrates to issue a warrant for Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue (“Teodorín”) over allegations of money laundering in connection with his lavish purchases in France.

Dr Lopes is considered an institutional development and reform specialist.

The draft agenda for the upcoming G20 trade ministers meeting that is being circulated internally among members is too focused on the interests of big industrialized countries and not enough on what developing countries need, says Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan. Gita said that under the current draft, the meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, later this week, would not spare time to discuss the much anticipated liberalization of the agriculture sector, which had been at the heart of the process to create a multilateral trade deal under the Doha Development Agenda. 'I have spoken with Brazil and South Africa, basically we voiced the same concerns. There has to be an initiative to place the issue of trade liberalization of the agriculture sector on the table. We need to take a stance,' Gita said.

Protection to victims of domestic violence has been extended significantly by the granting of a protection order to a learner at a school in Gauteng against her teacher. Last week, a magistrate granted a final protection order to the learner who alleged that her teacher harassed, intimidated and physically and sexually abused her. The learner reported an alleged rape to the police late last year. The Gauteng Department of Education has placed the teacher on precautionary suspension. Since then, the teacher has attempted through harassment and intimidation to force the learner and her family not to pursue the case against him.

Uganda needs 650,000 more latrines to ensure that every Ugandan has access to a latrine. Currently, at least 3.2 million Ugandans have no latrines at all and their place of convenience is the open space, according to the latest Work Bank report. The report indicates that another 13.8 million Ugandans use unsanitary or share latrines. This poor sanitation is costing the country at least sh389bn annually.