In what is being described by many Egyptians as the country's 'second revolution', tens of thousands are currently staging protests and sit-ins in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other cities in the biggest wave of protests since the fall of Hosni Mubarak on 11 February. The 18-day uprising toppled the former dictator, however, many demonstrators maintain that his legacy is alive and well in the current administration. Anger now is directed toward the ruling military council and caretaker prime minister Essam Sharaf's transitional government. This Al Jazeera page carries a series of photographs depicting events in Egypt.

Children in Somalia are being systematically recruited to fight on frontlines, killed in indiscriminate attacks and denied an education, Amnesty International said on Wednesday. Other abuses include being flogged, and being forced to attend public stonings and amputations by Islamist groups, including al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab, the rights watchdog said in a report. 'As a child in Somalia, you risk death all the time: you can be killed, recruited and sent to the frontline, punished by al Shabaab because you are caught listening to music or "wearing the wrong clothes", be forced to fend for yourself because you have lost your parents or even die because you don't have access to adequate medical care,' Michelle Kagari, Amnesty's deputy director for Africa, said in a statement.

South Africa would not be able to escape an escalated European crisis unscathed, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday, adding its direct economic exposure to the countries affected was reasonably low. 'South Africa's direct economic exposure to those countries affected by current market turmoil is reasonably low,' Gordhan said in an opinion piece published in Business Day. 'The greater risk for South Africa is the potential for contagion that results in a prolonged and expanding crisis in Europe and undermines global growth significantly.'

A South African refugee rights group has called on the South African authorities to extend the deadline for Zimbabweans to get permits, warning that thousands of people are yet to receive their paperwork. The end of the Zimbabwe Documentation Project is less than two weeks away and South Africa is set to resume deporting undocumented Zim nationals when the process is finalised. But according to the Cape Town based PASSOP group, thousands of people have not got their documents yet, and fear is rising that they face possible deportation in the coming weeks.

Tunisia is set to hire thousands of new teachers while at the same time doing away with a long-derided aptitude test for those wishing to join the ranks of educators. Many teaching hopefuls said the Contest of Aptitude for Secondary Education Teachers (CAPES) was a barrier to employment and a source of corruption. The education ministry will hire 2,000 new teachers, 1,345 new superintendents and 120 new chief superintendents.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has released the report, 'The Price of Hope: Human Rights Abuses During the Egyptian Revolution'. This report follows a fact-finding mission that was conducted in Egypt in March 2011 and documented the grave human rights violations perpetrated by the security forces against the protesters during the popular uprising. The investigation covered the period between 25 January and 11 February 2011, the day President Mubarak stepped down, with a special focus on Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, the cities that witnessed the most violence.

Reporters Without Borders has condemned a violent attack by members of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) on a Muvi TV crew that included two women that went to Nakachenje, a town to the west of Lusaka, on 18 July to investigate claims that MMD members were illegally seizing and sharing out land. The police, who are investigating the assault, said they arrested two suspects on charges of 'assault, criminal trespass and obtaining money by false pretences'.

Moneytheism and monotheism or the obscurantist international?
Samir Amin

The resurgence of spirituality has made religion a determining factor in history. But despite its strength, argues Samir Amin, religious belief has not destroyed what he calls the ‘immoral and savage competition’ that accompanies the coupling of moneytheism and monotheism. Amin notes that ‘contemporary monopoly capitalism is in crisis and is desperately trying to develop a new ideological offensive by a systematic recourse to ‘spiritual’ discourse.

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Religion and the struggle of the oppressed
Samir Amin

History has a wealth of examples of the involvement of religious revivalist movements in revolts against oppression. But while liberation theology made waves in Latin America, similar movements in the Muslim world, says Samir Amin, were scotched in the bud with the complicity of all the powers. But today’s revolts seem to be unaffected by religious arguments and Amin asks whether 'this is an indicator of the limits of this model of legitimising the struggle for social justice.'

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Historical landmarks in the fight against violence against women
Aline Murin-Hoarau

The reason why violence against women seems to be so ingrained is because it is rooted in relationships of social dominance and racial discrimination, which historically have left little liberty for women. A key point Aline Murin-Horau took away from a recent meeting of Indian Ocean countries is that people must be aware of the history of this scourge if they want to succeed in transforming hearts and minds and the actions that follow.

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An African of his times - Mamadou Dia would have been 100 today
Tidiane Dia

Mamadou Dia died on 25 February 2009 at the age of 98. He was ousted from his position as president of the council in Senegal’s first government after only two years. Accused of attempting to stage a coup d’état, he was arrested in December 1962. His imprisonment effectively ended his dream of genuine independence in Senegal. He would have turned 100 on 18 July. Tidiane Dia looks back at his life and times.

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British Prime Minister David Cameron and President Jacob Zuma have agreed that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi must go. Cameron, who is on a working visit to South Africa, told reporters in Pretoria on Monday that he and Zuma believed Gaddafi needed to step down from power. However, Zuma said: 'What happens to Gaddafi must be decided by the Libyan people. You need to negotiate how, why and where he must go.'

The trial of six Zimbabwean activists charged with treason for attending a lecture in February about the Egyptian uprising opened in Harare on 18 July. The activists had their charges altered to a lesser charge as the magistrate who was supposed to hear the matter recused himself. The activists are now being charged with conspiracy to commit public violence.

Ethel James cannot wait for the gravity-fed water scheme in her area to be fixed so that she and the other women in her village will no longer have to wake up before dawn everyday to queue for water. She is part of the team of local villagers repairing the existing water system, which consists of a pipeline connected to a reservoir. At various points in the village are taps connected to the pipeline, but there is no running water just yet.

President Mwai Kibaki has assured that the Government is committed to undertaking far-reaching reforms in the management of public affairs and entrenchment in constitutionality. Speaking when he met and held discussions with members of the African Peer Review Mechanism, Kibaki noted that new and vibrant structures of governance were being put in place under the new constitution.

Although many conferences, articles and TV broadcasts have tackled the topic of land grabbing, the voice of farmers has been marginalised. This is why La Via Campesina and the national farmers organisation of Mali is inviting people to a conference in November to listen, exchange experiences and support those who experience land grabbing every day.

Kenya’s Cabinet has approved the importation of genetically modified maize as it seeks to curb a biting food shortage ravaging most parts of the country. The move makes Kenya the first country in the region to allow GMO crops into the market for human consumption. Kenya is the most advanced country in the region in terms of GMO research and biosafety protocols, and analysts expect that the country’s experience in handling GMO crops in the market will be used as a model for other neighbouring countries to refine their own biotechnological practices.

The British arms and aircraft firm BAE Systems has been severely criticised by a UK parliamentary inquiry into a corruption case surrounding an air-traffic-control deal with Tanzania. MPs accused BAE of unilaterally setting up a compensation arrangement for Tanzania that was a 'complete sham'. BAE admitted to not keeping full accounting records of £8m ($12m) it paid to an agent who brokered the deal.

On 27 May 2011 the Centre for Health Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), a Ugandan NGO, and the families of two mothers who died in government hospitals in 2009 in Uganda approached the Ugandan Constitutional Court alleging the women’s deaths were caused as a direct result of Uganda’s failing healthcare system. The petitioners argue that the tragic deaths are but two manifestations of a larger problem of an unacceptably high rate of maternal mortality in Uganda. They hope that a declaration to this effect by the Court will force the Ugandan government to increase its budget for maternal healthcare.

The government ignored recommendations by the House committee on the rising cost of living in regard to importation of genetically modified maize. The committee’s chairman, Mr Ababu Namwamba, said this on the second day of a tour of the North Rift town of Eldoret to find out the factors that led to increased cost of farm produce. His team held a discussion with farmers. 'In our preliminary report, we advised the government to consult with the Kenyans first before giving a green light to the importation of GMO in the country,' said Mr Namwamba.

Nomonde Vumazonke is one of about 100 learners from schools across the Cape Peninsula who have spent two nights camping outside Parliament in an attempt to pressure the Minister of Education to adopt Norms and Standards for all public schools in the country. Vumazonke, who is in grade 12 at Sangweni Senior Secondory in Khayelitsha, said she and her fellow learners needed the education department to set regulations that will list all the physical infrastructure schools require to function properly. This would ensure there is a basic infrastructure level that every school must meet, she said.

Police have been asked to investigate a second complaint of corruption against Willie Hofmeyr, the head of both the Asset Forfeiture Unit and the Special Investigating Unit, the National Prosecuting Authority confirmed on Sunday. NPA spokesman Mthunzi Mahaga said the national director of public prosecutions (Menzi Simelane) called in the police after billionaire Dave King levelled the allegations against Hofmeyr. The Sunday Times portrayed the two charges as part of a campaign by Simelane to undermine Hofmeyr and the AFU. The newspaper said an investigation against the KwaZulu-Natal head of the AFU, Knorx Molelle, was linked to the fight for control of the unit.

Regional and international bodies such as the SADC, AU and UN should make the implementation of anti-corruption instruments by all signatories mandatory. These bodies should specify time frames within which the implementation should be done and sanctions for failing to do so. Such sanctions can include but not be limited to automatic cancellation of the signature and ratification thereof. This is one of the recommendations of a survey report on barriers towards combating corruption in Africa, conducted by Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-Southern Africa).