Gay Kenya is pleased to bring you their 8th newsletter edition. The headline feature is named ‘The Law is an Arse’ and is on the de-criminalisation process, so far undertaken by the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) that seeks to make private, consensual same sex activity between adults not criminal.

According to the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), 60 per cent of Nairobi’s population lives on five per cent of the land. The city’s overcrowded slums and informal settlements, constructed from cheap materials like corrugated iron and connected to hazardous electricity lines, make them particularly vulnerable to fire. Access roads are few, making passage difficult for fire trucks.

Mutinous soldiers have rampaged through a southern town in Bukina Faso as the revolt against Blaise Compaore, the West African nation's ruler, enters its fourth day. Soldiers at a military garrison in Po, near the Ghana border, fired in the air, looting and seizing private vehicles, residents told the AFP news agency. Compaore, who came to power in a 1987 military coup, has faced a series of protests since February, staged first by students and then by soldiers. He won a new five-year term in office after taking 80 per cent of the votes in November elections.

In Eilat, the small city in Israel, refugees find their children barred from municipal schools. And in a move that has alarmed both human rights organisations and the local branch of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the municipality has hung red flags throughout the city as part of a municipal campaign against African migrants - initiated by employees of the state of Israel and financed with public funds.

Kenyan AIDS activists are furious about a plan by the government to implement a two percent tax increase on medicines, which they say will hurt poor people living with HIV. In November 2010, Kenya's Minister for Medical Services issued a gazette notice imposing the new tax on drugs to help fund the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, the government body mandated to regulate drugs in the country. The Kenya Revenue Authority already collects a 2.75 per cent tax on medicines.

Export Processing Zones are increasingly used as a governmental strategy to promote exports. Many of the workers in EPZs are women, who are considered flexible labour that can be paid lower wages than men. Women in EPZs suffer from additional forms of discrimination including sexual harassment, fewer opportunities for career development and no maternal protections (including layoffs as a result of pregnancy).

The African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday (14 April) broke its silence over the violent suppression of protests in Swaziland, calling for moves towards democratisation. 'We call on the government of Swaziland to work towards the normalisation of the political environment by unbanning opposition political parties, releasing political activists and engaging in a meaningful dialogue with opposition political and trade union leaders to find a collective solution to the socio-economic situation faced by that country,' Ebrahim Ebrahim, the deputy international relations minister, said in a statement.

Mobile phones in Africa are increasingly being used as a media to get information and use value added services, according to the Mobile Internet in Africa report. Whether it's checking market prices, transferring money or simply checking the latest news, Facebook or Wikipedia, mobile phones are transforming life in Africa. Inevitably, the African mobile Internet market is due to explode. The number of mobile Internet subscribers in Africa has increased dramatically in the last 12-18 months, particularly in East Africa.

The 2011 Economic Report on Africa (ERA) from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union Commission recommends that African countries adopt a developmental state approach that uses the market as an instrument rather than a sole mechanism for fostering long-term investment, rapid and sustained economic growth, equity and social development. This in the context, it states, of many African countries not experiencing high economic growth rates over extended periods.

Makerere University wants the government to quickly approve a proposal to raise fees to sh6m, up from sh3m per student per year, a public accounts committee has heard. Committee members Nandala Mafabi, Oduman Okello and Grace Oburu argued that Makerere tuition fees were still high and expressed worry that if implemented, the proposed fees structure would affect the poor. 'Sh6m per student? Parents and students should now brace themselves for hard times ahead. I don’t know why Makerere charges high fees despite the fact that it is a public university,' Mafabi said.

Angola, Africa's second-biggest crude oil producer, has denied a report that it lost almost $6 billion in illicit capital flows in 2009. Calculations provided to Reuters by Washington-based watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI) suggest funds equivalent to nearly a sixth of the annual budget went missing in the last year for which data are available. In a rare response from the usually tight-lipped government, the finance ministry denied there was anything suspicious about the discrepancies highlighted by GFI.

Rather than backing down after the arrest of two Ugandan opposition leaders for staging a 'Walk to Work' protest against high fuel and food prices on Monday, Ugandan activists have responded by announcing a hunger strike and planning more demonstrations, reports Global Voices. According to the Uganda Talks Blog: 'Mukono North MP Betty Nambooze told journalists today that the leaders have decided not to eat anything as they go about their duties at Parliament. She said that there was no point for them (leaders) to eat when the public can hardly afford food.'

Around 7,000 stillbirths occur globally every day, with the poorest nations worst affected, a series of papers published in The Lancet suggest. An overwhelming 98 per cent of the 2.6m stillbirths each year strike middle and low-income countries, they say. Better clinical care and monitoring could halve stillbirths in poorer countries by 2020, the paper adds.

Rising unemployment in South Africa is spelling disaster for the country's black population, reports Al Jazeera in this video, as it highlights the prevalence of unemployment amongst youth both with and without educational qualifications.

Authorities in the kingdom of Swaziland should allow the news media to report freely on anti-government protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said after security forces harassed at least 10 local and international journalists covering a mass demonstration demanding political and economic reform after more than two decades of rule by King Mswati III. Police stopped reporter Niren Tolsi and photographer Lisa Skinner of the South African daily Mail & Guardian, confiscated their notebooks and Swazi contact books, and threatened to deport them if the journalists reported anything negative about the country or the king, Africa's last absolute monarch, Nic Dawes, the paper's editor-in-chief, told CPJ.

The latest issue of the Kenyan Woman is available. Highlights of this issue include:
- In a state of stagnation: wrangles have derailed the constitution implementation process in Kenya.
- Employers told to embrace affirmative action.
- Linah Kilimo, a fighter who wears the FGM Eradication belt.
- Men fighting for women’s rights.

Shakespeare Mukoyi was released on free bail on Tuesday (12 April). The MDC Harare province vice chairperson was arrested and beaten by police, who crushed a prayer for peace church service on Saturday in Glen Norah. Mukoyi was brutally assaulted by police in the church building and denied access to medication after an X-ray examination which showed the need for urgent treatment. Police took him to Harare Hospital during the evening where he was attended to briefly. He was however unceremoniously seized from the hospital and re-detained at Harare Central Police Station.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Thursday (14 April) condemned gay 'filth' in Europe, as he lambasted Western powers for maintaining their asset freeze and travel ban on him and his inner circle, and vowed to press ahead with the takeover of foreign firms. 'About the unnatural things happening there, where they turn man-to-man and woman-to-woman. We say, well, it's their country. If they want to call their country British Gaydom, it's up to them. That's not our culture. We condemn that filth.'

As the protest campaign grows in Swaziland, and alarming reports grow of a security clampdown, African democracy institute Idasa has called on Swaziland to avoid further bloodshed and a repeat of the crises in conflict-ridden Libya and Ivory Coast – urging parties in the mounting conflict in that country to aim towards building an environment that is conducive to dialogue and negotiations. Idasa says it recognises citizens’ right to protest and make their voices heard, and sees the demonstrations as a clear indication of the determination, commitment and willingness of the people of Swaziland to pursue democratic reform.

The personal security noose seems to be tightening on Malawi’s civil society leaders, with Dorothy Ngoma, who has fled her home after receiving threats, being the latest target. Ngoma, who is executive director of the National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives, said she suspected the cause of the threats could be rooted in her close association with activist Undule Mwakasungula, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) - whose offices were attacked last month.