The Africa Union (AU) and the NEPAD Agency in collaboration with regional economic communities and partners officially launched the Africa Platform for Development Effectiveness (APDev) during the IV AU/ECA joint annual meeting of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance on Saturday (26 March) in Addis Ababa. Endorsed by the 15th African Union Summit of July 2010, APDev is a physical and virtual multi-stakeholder platform and organising mechanism. It aims at mobilising African policymakers, practitioners and other development stakeholders toward achieving sustainable development results.

The record of proceedings in prominent visual artist, Owen Maseko’s Constitutional challenge, is now ready for the Supreme Court after the Bulawayo Provincial Magistrates Court furnished the Supreme Court with five copies of the record including two DVD’s. The visual artist was arrested in March 2010 for staging an exhibition in Bulawayo depicting the 1980’s Matabeleland massacres carried out by troops loyal to President Robert Mugabe’s previous government. Maseko was accused of undermining the authority of or insulting the President and causing offence to persons of a particular race or religion.

Over 2.5 years ago Twitter shut down all operations in Africa. What they had shut down was text messaging, due to non-sustainable business relationships with the mobile operators in each country. But now, three countries have it working; Nigeria, Kenya and Madagascar. The Twitter team is working on relationships for expanding SMS service throughout a lot of countries in Africa, reports the blog White African.

The rise of independent candidates emerging from the structures of the ANC and its alliance partners was the biggest challenge the ruling party faced in the run-up to the May 18 general elections, Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi warned. 'These people basically showed the middle finger to everyone. It’s the biggest crisis we are facing and if we don’t stop it we are all doomed,' Vavi told the Pretoria News.

A Tunisian court has rejected an appeal by the party of former president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali against a ruling that it be dissolved, state media has reported. A judge had previously ruled on 9 March that Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) be disbanded and its funds seized, provoking street celebrations as one of the last vestiges of the ousted leader's rule was dismantled.

The name of the man against whom dozens of protesters rallied in London last week was hardly visible on their placards. Zimbabwean exiles were protesting against the excesses of Robert Mugabe’s regime. But the protesters aimed their anger not at Mr Mugabe but at leaders from Africa and the West who they feel have ignored the crisis besetting the coalition in Zimbabwe.

The private finance sector arm of the World Bank Group announced last month that it would invest $300 million to promote mining in Africa. Dr. Aaron Tesfaye, a professor of International Political Economy and African Politics at William Paterson University, said he is not surprised by the announcement because of the economic and security implications mining and strategic metals have for industrialised nations. While the IFC claims to promote poverty reduction through sustainable development in developing countries, it has been criticised because the mining projects it has funded have a track record of causing human rights abuses and massive environmental damage. 'This is bad news for Africans, at least those who aren’t members of the business and political elite,' said Jamie Kneen, Communications Coordinator for MiningWatch Canada.

More than 265 participants from ten Southern African countries will converge in Johannesburg, South Africa from 28-30 March 2011 for the second Gender Justice and Local Government Summit. The event showcases examples of local efforts to end gender violence and empower women across Southern Africa. Convened by Gender Links under the banner 365 Days of local action to end gender violence, the summit is being attended by journalists, local government authorities, municipalities, NGOs and representatives of ministries of gender and local government.

A new online collection from the National Archives (UK) of thousands of images from the photographic collection of Foreign and Commonwealth Office is now available. The images span over 100 years of African history. The images are all available via Flickr and grouped by country; with opportunities to comment or help with captioning images. The site also includes podcasts and some useful research guides.

Libyan rebels' push westwards towards Tripoli gathered momentum on Sunday as their pursuit of Muammar Gaddafi's forces saw them wrest back control of key oil town Ras Lanuf. Their next target is Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, a central coastal city, and on the way they captured Bin Jawad, a hamlet 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Ras Lanuf, AFP correspondents reported.

Kenyan MPs were heavily criticised by the US for voting to have the government compensate Mau landowners. In a cable to his bosses in Washington dated 23 September 2009, US ambassador Michael Ranneberger accused Kenyan MPs of entrenching the culture of impunity by passing an amendment seeking to compensate those evicted from the Mau water tower.

Professor James Gathii, Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship and the Governor George E. Pataki Professor of International Commercial Law at Albany (New York) Law School, has launched a new blog - - focusing on Kenya's efforts to defer an International Criminal Court (ICC) case against the six alleged masterminds of Kenya's 2008 post-election violence.

The final program of the Third Julius Nyerere Intellectual Festival Week for 2011 is available via the link provided.

Cote d'Ivoire's Alassane Ouattara has rejected the African Union's choice of mediator in the country's crisis. The African Union has appointed former Cape Verde Foreign Minister Jose Brito to mediate the country away from the brink of civil war. And in a later development Mr Gbagbo's camp said it had accepted the choice of Mr Brito as mediator.

Nigeria's three main opposition candidates have pulled out of election debates with President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him of 'arrogance'. The three - Nuhu Ribadu, Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Shekarau - are suspicious that he will take part only in a live TV debate largely organised by state-run media. Mr Jonathan refused to take part in a debate last week, organised by NN24 TV, saying he would participate only in one scheduled for next Tuesday run by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria.

An international diamond watchdog, the Kimberley Process and Certification Scheme (KPCS), has authorised Zimbabwe to export its gems after years of wrangling. The country had been barred from exporting diamonds from its main mine in the east of the country over concerns of human rights abuses.

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), a member organisation of the SOS-Torture Network, about the allegations of torture and ill-treatment, and arbitrary detention suffered by Mr. Mahmoud Ragab Ibrahim, a 21-years old craftsman from Alexandria, by prison guards of the al-Hadra Prision, in Alexandria. According to the information received, on 1 February 2011, Mr. Ibrahim was passing through the area of Sidi Beshr, in the city of Alexandria, when he was approached by members of the community watches. They considered him suspicious and he was subsequently handed over to the Command Center of the Northern Area of the Armed Forces (CCNAAF), despite having presented his national identification card to the community watches members.

Some of the articles included in this edition are:
- Towards a better understanding of global land grabbing: an editorial introduction
- Challenges posed by the new wave of farmland investment
- How not to think of land-grabbing: three critiques of large-scale investments in farmland

Gunmen suspected of being members of a radical Islamic sect shot dead a political party youth leader in northeast Nigeria on Sunday, less than a week before elections begin in Africa's most populous nation. The local politician was a member of the opposition All Nigeria People's Party, which has localised support in parts of the north of the country but is not expected to gain the widespread backing needed to win the presidential vote.

Kenyan forces have crossed into Somali territory to fight al-Shabab militants, an official source has told the BBC. However, the reports were denied by a police spokesman. Twelve militants were killed in the raid near the border town of Liboi, Kenya's Standard newspaper reports.