Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has urged his supporters to fight for the country 'inch by inch' as opposition forces launched a two-pronged offensive in western Libya that threatens to isolate the capital of Tripoli. Facing the sternest challenge of his decades-long rule, Gaddafi on Monday called on Libyans to arm themselves to liberate the country from 'traitors and from NATO' in a broadcast on state television. The speech, which was broadcast in audio only with no images, was the first time Gaddafi had spoken in public since rebel fighters launched their biggest offensive in months.

The world is pleading for two Gambian journalists who could face capital punishment for distributing T-shirts that call for an end to dictatorship in their country. Last month the high court in Gambia charged Ms Ndey Tapha Sosseh and Mr Matthew K. Jallow with treason in a country where the death penalty is very much alive. The pair are presently in exile in two different West African countries. If the regime succeeds in roping the two journalists back home, they are most likely to be killed by a firing squad or by hanging, analysts say.

Guinea's first democratically elected President survived an assassination attempt on 19 July after gunmen surrounded his home and pummeled it with heavy artillery. Three people were killed during two separate attacks. But President Alpha Condé immediately clamped down on any media coverage of the attack, a censorship that IFEX members report is emblematic of his contempt for the media, despite promises for positive change.

South Africa and Lesotho have signed an implementation agreement for the second phase of the R15-billion Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) and committed to building a hydropower station with an installed capacity of between 1,000 MW and 1,200 MW. The hydropower plant would be operational in 2018, and would see some 200 MW supplied for Lesotho’s power needs, with the remaining power transmitted to South Africa.

South Sudanese civil society organisations met in Juba, from 26 to 29 of July 2011 to discuss social, political and economic issues in the new country. Resolutions to citizens included embracing unity in diversity and overtly rejecting ethnicity, nepotism and corruption. The new government should enhance and promote social justice and declare zero tolerance for sexual and gender based violence - and develop a national strategy to address gender concerns, says a communique from the meeting.

Guest editor David Anderson Hooker, Director of Research and Training for 'Coming to the Table: Taking America (USA) Beyond the Legacy of Enslavement', and the editorial staff of 'Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts', invite submissions for the first issue of its fifth volume, entitled '500 Years Later: Reverberations of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.'

'Johannesburg’s international airport was put on red alert after its National Key Point status was activated this morning due to the expected arrival of a delegation from Israel. Plans of the delegation’s local host, the South African Union of Jewish Students, to welcome their Israeli 'Hasbara' delegation were thwarted, with the Israeli delegation arriving at OR Tambo International Airport amidst much controversy.'

A new government study has found that more than half of workers in Swaziland’s garment industry are living with HIV, and officials are realising that the once-hailed promise of manufacturing employment has become a financial and medical nightmare for tens of thousands of Swazi women. 'HIV prevalence among factory workers is 50.3 per cent,' said Nhlanhla Nhlabatsi, an epidemiologist with the Ministry of Health. Nhlabatsi presented the data last week as preliminary findings for Swaziland’s first Behaviour Sentinel Surveillance Report to be released in its entirety later in the year.

Although there is a female presidential candidate contesting Zambia's 20 September general elections, her prospects are not strong. And in fact, fewer women overall are likely to be elected into public office this year, analysts say. Zambia is a signatory of the Southern Africa Development Community Protocol on Gender and Development, which commits member countries to have 50/50 representation of women in all decision-making positions, including the political arena, by 2015. But Zambia's political parties have not reflected this in their adoption of female candidates.

The former Gambian minister of Information who went missing in June has been found in one of the country’s jails after the police had denied knowledge of his whereabouts. A French news agency quoted Gambia’s police spokesperson Yerro Mballow of not being aware of the minister’s arrest and 'no idea where former he could be'. However, Justice Ministry officials confirmed that Mr Amadou Scattred Jannenh was being held in jail awaiting trial for treason and sedition.

Southern Africa, including Namibia, stands to loose a lot should the euro collapse, a local economist said. 'No one will be unscathed, not least Southern Africa,' said Rowland Brown, economist at Capricorn Investment Holdings (CIH). The region’s exports will be particularly hard hit, he said. Central in the unfolding financial drama is how much longer Germany will be willing to cover debt for others with little chance of being completely refunded, he said.

The Executive Director administers the CSO by defining and implementing corporate and financial strategy, by overseeing policy programs or projects, and by reporting on the Institute’s activities to the Board of Directors. In addition, he/she has an advocacy role with national and international institutions.

La Via Campesina have released a film on land rights. As the organisation notes: 'Watch this 20 minutes film and show it to your neighbours, friends, community, local organisation, in a cultural center, a film festival, a demonstration...You can organise a film screening followed by a discussion where you can invite local farmers, local authorities and anyone interested.'

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has begun long-awaited compensation payments to families over a 1996 drug trial blamed for the deaths of 11 children and disabilities in dozens of others. But the payments were initially distributed only to four families, while some 200 children participated in the trial of meningitis drug, Trovan. Parents of four of the children who died as a result of the trial received cheques of $175,000 each at a reception in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, where the trial took place.

Conservationists in Uganda have vowed to tackle President Yoweri Museveni head-on over his renewed plan to push through a proposal to give away part of Mabira Forest for sugar cane growing. Addressing district leaders and agriculturalists at Entebbe State House on Saturday, President Museveni said failure to give away the forest in 2007, is partly to blame for the current sugar crisis in the country. However, in what might lead to a repeat of the 2007 protests against the proposed give-away in which three people were killed, activists and politicians have condemned the President’s latest move and vowed to fight to save the forest.

In 'Climate loan sharks', the World Development Movement and the Jubilee Debt Campaign reveal that the UK is pushing $1.1 billion of climate loans, via the World Bank, on some of the poorest countries in the world. For example Grenada’s debt is already 90 per cent of GDP, yet it is to be lent a further $22 million, over 3 per cent of the country’s GDP. Lending to such debt burdened country is at best irresponsible and at worst willfully dangerous.

A new white paper on international relations reaffirms that SA’s foreign policy should be based on human rights and development in Africa but also warns that SA’s regional leadership position could soon be challenged. In the past SA has been criticised for having lost its focus on human rights, particularly when it supported positions that failed to take strong action on the crisis in Zimbabwe. A decision to deny a visitor’s visa to the Dalai Lama for fear of alienating China was also strongly criticised.

Thomas Kwoyelo, former middle-ranking Lord's Resistance Army commander and allegedly captured in March 2009, was charged with war crimes and became the first person to be committed to the International Crimes Division. As part of their International Crimes Division monitoring initiative, the Refugee Law Project will update you with detailed newsletters and video documentaries based on the proceedings related to Kwoyelo's trial.

'The 7th session of UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee is commencing from 8 to 12 August 2011. Among the participants are delegations from La Via Campesina, who are fighting for an initiative towards an international convention of the rights of peasants.'