Journey to the State House: The Life of Seif Shariff Hamad depicts the long and winding story of one of Zanzibar’s most dedicated politicians. Brimming with accounts from politicians and observers alike, the film paints an insightful backdrop to the sheer political magnitude of Maalim Seif Shariff Hamad being elected into power by the Zanzibari people in 2010..

The Refugee Law Project (RLP), Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in collaboration with the African Transitional Justice Research Network (ATJRN) is accepting applications to its 2nd Institute for African Transitional Justice (IATJ), an annual week-long residential programme with a focus on Transitional Justice issues in the context of Africa. The Institute, which is scheduled to take place from 20-27 November 2011, in Kitgum, Northern Uganda has as its theme: 'Whose Memories Count and at What Cost?'

Four persons are reported to have died as Gabonese gendarmes forced more than three thousand African migrants out of a gold mining site. According to Mr Ndongo, a crisis committee set up by the Cameroonian authorities has counted a total of 2,000 Cameroonians and over 1,000 Africans of various nationalities among those who crossed the border from Gabon. They include nationals of Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.

Impact studies warn that TRIPS-Plus provisions can lead to higher prices and reduced access to medicines, say Nusaraporn Kessomboon and colleagues in this article. The non-technical term TRIPS?Plus refers to provisions for the protection of intellectual property rights that go beyond the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). They include extending the life of a patent beyond the minimum requirement imposed by TRIPS; limiting government permission to reproduce a patented product or to reprocess without the patent owner's consent ('compulsory licensing') in ways not required by TRIPS; and limiting exceptions that facilitate the prompt introduction of generic drugs into the market.

The Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP) has announced the launch of a Fellowship programme that will send journalists to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban (COP17) in late 2011. The Fellowships are open predominantly to journalists from developing countries, but journalists from the US and Russia are also welcome to apply.

After several years of fragile gains, Malawi’s healthcare sector is running into trouble, with the latest challenge an aid freeze by its largest international donor, the UK's Department for International Development (DFID). The UK provided about US$122 million annually to Malawi, of which $49 million went to funding Malawi’s public health sector, but DFID made its final aid disbursement in March and has decided not to renew a six-year funding commitment which ends in June.

Reporters Without Borders has learned that six opposition activists, who are also reporters or informants for La Voix de Djibouti, an opposition radio station that broadcasts on the short-wave from Europe, have been held in Djibouti’s Gabode prison for the past four months without being tried. The six detainees - reporters Farah Abadid Hildid and Houssein Ahmed Farah and informants Houssein Robleh Dabar, Abdillahi Aden Ali, Moustapha Abdourahman Houssein and Mohamed Ibrahim Waïss - who are members of various opposition parties, were placed in pre-trial detention on 9 February on a charge of 'participating in an insurrectional movement'.

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...

The following can be found in the new issue:
- An in-depth look at the food price volatility and food markets
- The launch of the People’s Food Policy in Canada
- Voices and testimonies from Brazil and Mozambique
- An update from the International Seeds meeting in Bali.
Visit the website for more information.

This conference aims at promoting scientific exchanges involving researchers and stakeholders dealing
with land issues. Participants will be invited to share their work and experiences in order to assess land
strategies and policies within a comparative framework. This conference was initiated by Ugandan and
French researchers from the Institute of Research for Development (IRD, France) and the University of
Makerere (Kampala, Uganda). Many local and international researchers in East Africa have documented
land-related issues and wider scientific exchanges are expected to stem from this meeting.

The aim of Meet You At The Crossroads is to circulate, document, provoke, inspire and support. It is a library of public images of resistance, rebellion, revolt and rebuilding occurring in cities right across the globe, often on the streets; in the public realm.

As donors gathered for a major meeting on funding vaccines for the developing world, campaigners called for vaccine production to be transferred to Africa to save money and contribute to the continent's broader economic development. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), a public-private initiative, is asking for US$3.7 billion in funding over the next four years to immunise 243 million children against a variety of diseases. But vaccines supported by GAVI are produced almost entirely in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia, said the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED), based in Switzerland.

The Ivoirian government has extended a special period of free health care to help a population reeling from months of turmoil. But in a country where cost recovery for health services has long been the policy, an abrupt change to free care is posing challenges. Shortly after Alassane Ouattara took power in April 2011, he announced that public health services would be free until the end of May as a way to help people in the aftermath of widespread unrest and economic stagnation. Doctors reported 20-30 times the number of patients after free care was announced. Advocates of free care say the explosion of patients indicates that cost is one of the biggest barriers to access.

Following the so called 'Arab spring', and in the midst of the ‘acampadas’, organised mass mobilisations through social networks in many Spanish cities, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in collaboration with IPS Inter Press Service News Agency launched the book 'Politics, Networks and Technologies in Communications for Development', a tour through the different visions of new technologies and their contribution to information in general and more concretely, to communication for development. The book has contributions from experts who analyse challenges faced by journalism and communication for development, in front of the revolution of new technologies.

Rebels and forces of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have fought over Zawiyah, a major oil port just 50km west of Tripoli, and in locations across the North African country. Libya's government said it has stopped opposition fighters from entering Zawiyah but rebels said they were continuing to fight for the town on Sunday, after hours of battles. Mussa Ibrahim, the government spokesman, said that Gaddafi's forces had 'total control' of the area from Ajdabiya in the east to the Tunisian border in the west.

During the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in February 2011, social movements and organisations released a collective appeal against land grabbing. Over 150 organisations have already signed. If your organisation would also like to support this appeal, please do so before 15 June 2011. The Dakar Appeal, together with the names of organisations endorsing it, will be presented during the mobilizations against the G20 Agriculture Ministers' meeting in Paris on 22-23 June. Read and sign the petition here:

Academics, NGOs, policy makers, students and other interested parties are invited to participate at the Doshisha International Conference on Humanitarian Intervention, to be held in Kyoto, Japan from 27-29 June 2011.

The Zanzibar International Film Festival, now in its 14th year and the largest of its kind in East Africa, takes place from 18-26 June. Renowned the world over for putting African film, music, art and design at the forefront of the international scene, main events are in Stone Town, Zanzibar, with some events on Pemba Island and mainland Tanzania. See for more details.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has applauded President Goodluck Jonathan, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for signing into law the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill. 'The objective of the act is to make public records and information more freely available and to also protect public records and information to the extent that they are consistent with the public interest and the protection of personal privacy,' according to a statement from the presidency.

Two witnesses were taken to task by the truth commission over their contradicting and inconsistent testimonies on the 1984 Wagalla massacre, reports the Daily Nation. Former Finance minister David Mwiraria maintained that a visit by the Kenya Intelligence Committee to Wajir a day before the killings was purely to assess development projects. But on closer scrutiny, he admitted that the trip was sanctioned to resolve the Shifta movement in north eastern Province.