Top African copper producer Zambia plans to audit all its mining houses in a bid to dig for back taxes of up to $1 billion it estimates it is owed, its mines minister said. Such a policy by the government of populist president Michael Sata would widen an initiative launched by the previous administration and comes against the backdrop of a surge of resource nationalism across Africa and Zambia's own doubling of copper royalties to six per cent.

Uganda’s Parliament has re-introduced a proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill which Amnesty International considers a 'grave assault on human rights' that must be rejected. Under the bill, gay and lesbian people in Uganda could face the death penalty for so-called 'aggravated homosexuality' – a definition which includes consensual sexual conduct.

Anxiety has gripped Mali in the face of contrasting positions by the government and rebels in the north following clashes that have left scores dead in what is shaping up as a secessionist battle. Rebel leaders of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) said they were ready for a major offensive inland following a series of attacks that have targeted mainly small towns in northern Mali.

A suicide bomber killed at least 11 people Wednesday in the war-torn Somali capital Mogadishu when he detonated an explosive-laden vehicle near the presidential palace, officials said. The blast occurred outside the Mona hotel, where 32 people including six members of parliament were killed in an August 2010 attack by two Islamist suicide gunmen wearing government security uniforms.

Access to accurate information about the extent and nature of large-scale foreign investment in Ethiopian, Sudanese and South Sudanese land is extremely limited. So broader narratives of 'land-grabbing' - seeing governments as unwitting victims or as predatory regimes – are a potentially misleading oversimplification in the Horn of Africa, where local populations do not lack agency in this process, says this briefing.

Police in Malawi say they have fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing vendors resisting orders they move off the streets to designated flea markets. Lilongwe police spokesperson Kingsley Dandaula described running battles 6 February, the deadline city officials had given vendors to move their tiny businesses to flea markets. Dandaula says protesting vendors also blocked streets with large rocks and burning tires, and damaged some shops and cars before police got the situation under control. He says 42 people had been arrested by late afternoon and that he expected more arrests.

Australian and Brazilian mining giants are moving villagers to land insufficient for farming and far from jobs to make way for coal projects in central Mozambique, and then sidelining local entrepreneurs as they exploit the region's natural resources, according to a new report. The independent Southern Africa Resource Watch, which monitors the impact of mining across the region, sent researchers to study resettlement efforts by Rio Tinto of Australia and Vale of Brazil, which recently began mining in Mozambique's Tete province. Southern Africa Resource Watch said 'the impact of both companies' investment on local communities remains problematic and there is no guarantee that these massive coal extraction projects are going to genuinely benefit the people of Mozambique.'

In protest of the ongoing clashes between security forces and protesters, which have intensified demands for an immediate end to military rule, Egyptian activists have called for a national boycott of army-produced goods and services. The online movement called Kate3ohom (Boycott Them), which is urging a national boycott of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), gained the attention of social media users. The idea also signaled bloggers to help by compiling lists of the military institution’s products and services, which range from producing pasta and fruit jam to the construction of roads and bridges.

A woman protester was shot at close range by Swazi police as she was walking from them. Local media report that it is not known if she was hit by live ammunition or a rubber bullet. Rose Fakudze was part of a protest march in Siteki, Swaziland, called by vendors and transport operators over plans by the town hall to move the local bus rank. Fakudze was shot from a distance of less than two metres which badly injured her hand. The shot finger bled profusely and she did not receive any first aid until she collapsed.

The rapid pace and intensity of emotion during last years’ revolutionary 18 days in Egypt is reflected in this collection of tweets from key activists of the time, who became known internationally as a result. 'Tweets from Tahrir' is the story of Egypt’s revolution told through the twitter feeds of a handful of activists, now international names as the intense interest that surrounded the uprising propelled them onto the world stage.

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed issues a decree for people living in government houses to immediately vacate to give the transitional federal government ample time to renovate the badly damaged buildings. More than 60,000 people are said to be sheltering in these government owned houses and ministries, however the Somali government argues that it now has the funds to refurbish the badly ruined buildings that have been left in dilapidated state.

Zimbabwe’s independent media regulator says it has asked law enforcement agents to bar the distribution of unregistered foreign newspapers. The ban appears targeted at a weekly newspaper published by Zimbabwean journalists exiled in the UK. South African newspapers such as The Sunday Times and the Mail&Guardian had also taken advantage of the lack of independent media to launch Zimbabwean editions that proved popular.

Activist Jenni Williams and a group of 13 other women, who were assaulted and arrested Tuesday at a demonstration by activists from the Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), were finally released Friday 10 February when they appeared in a Bulawayo court.

Moriba Kamara was one of 22 deportees expelled from the United States to Liberia in December 2008 by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Some had served time in US jails for minor offenses. Others, like Kamara, had committed no crime. But for reasons that were unclear to them, all were labeled a security threat upon arriving in Liberia’s capital city. Bedraggled and weak after spending months in immigration detention followed by a long flight to Monrovia during which they were shackled, the deportees were forced onto a bus headed for Zwedru National Corrections Palace, an imposing, isolated structure that is home to convicted murderers, rapists and, occasionally, US deportees.

Leader of the opposition John Tembo has said president Bingu wa Mutharika’s remarks on Friday 3 February when he opened the 43rd session of parliament offered no hope for a nation that is economically struggling. Mutharika had said he will offer concrete proposals to the present problems in May and also appealed to the IMF to give his administration three years to resolve the economic crisis. Mutharika has already been criticised for failing to provide proposals and measures to deal with the current problems Malawi is facing and many question his three year 'grace period' request when no tangible proposal has been seen in the past two years since many problems started to appear.

A renowned journalist was humiliated and beaten by security guards manning South Sudan’s National Assembly on Monday, eye witnesses told Sudan Tribune. Mading Ngor, host of the popular ’Wake Up Juba’ show on Bakhita FM, was roughed up by at least four security men and wrestled to the ground in front of other journalists. Only when a MP intervened was he let go by the security services.

The government is contemplating to open doors for Genetically Modified Crops (GMOs) in a decision expected to attract more international partners in the bio-technology industry. Addressing an international conference in Dar es Salaam, Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Prof Jumanne Maghembe said the country had no other option but to welcome the new technology. The national discussion on whether to allow GMOs is currently between the ministry of Agriculture and the Vice President's Office with a debate on safety legislation protecting farmers and consumers and whether to remove a contestable clause (strict liability clause) in the bio safety regulatory framework.

The TAC and SECTION27 have sent an open letter to the High Commissioner to India for South Africa to highlight their urgent concerns with final negotiations for the EU-India Free Trade Agreement. They are concerned about provisions for the scale up of intellectual property, pushed by the European Union, in an impending EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the impact of these provisions on the health of people across the developing world.

The Arabic Network of Human Rights Information has condemned the Mauritanian authorities for their inexplicable detention of Wan Biran, activist and coordinator Do Not Touch My Nationality movement, on 4 February as he was visiting his brother in the National Hospital. Do No Touch My Nationality is a movement that rejects racism and demands full equality between citizens. The movement also rejects the exclusion of colored people from the administrative statistics now done by the authorities in Mauritania, which distinguishes citizens on the basis of their skin color.

The South African government might consider supporting sanctions against Israel as it explores a variety of peaceful methods to step up support for the Palestinians’ fight for freedom and independence. We want to step up our support of the Palestinians and are investigating a number of peaceful ways to upgrade this support. We have no problem with supporting the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel,' Minister of Arts and Culture Paul Mashatile told The New Age.