The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) has found major IMF lapses in judgement before the financial crisis, including the promotion of 'light-touch regulation', casting doubt on the Fund's ability to contribute to taming global finance. As the banking crisis has been transformed into crises of public finance, and while the financial sector returns to business as usual, the IMF has grown increasingly vocal about the insufficient attention being paid to regulation and reform.

Egypt could soon be looking for a new economic model – one that will be different from the traditional system that has been promoted for years by international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), under the reign of ousted president Hosni Mubarak. Since the mid 1980’s, the World Bank, the IMF, and USAID have sought to encourage policies that limit the role of government in the economy, cut budget deficits, and give more influence to the private sector and corporations.

There is growing interest in the role that restorative justice can play in addressing mass atrocities. This UNICEF paper describes the associated principles and practices within juvenile justice systems and in societies emerging from mass violence. It also examines the meaning, opportunities and limitations of restorative justice in transitional societies, particularly in relation to the needs of young victims and offenders.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa's longest serving leaders, won election to a fourth term in office by a huge margin on Sunday but the opposition rejected the outcome. Electoral commission results handed Museveni 68 per cent of the vote against challenger Kizza Besigye's 26 per cent.

IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) travelling to Southern Sudan before and after the recent referendum on independence have faced difficulties during and after their journey. Between November 2010 and January 2011, around 200,000 Southern Sudanese IDPs living in the north returned to the south. There have been various reports of convoys of returning southerners being attacked in the disputed region of Abyei during and in the weeks following the January referendum, according to some reports by Misseriya tribal militias loyal to the government in Khartoum.

Environmental activists are hopeful that negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to curb fisheries subsidies, especially those on fuel, can produce a deal that will help end overfishing. Agreement would not only help reverse the alarming depletion of global fish stocks and contribute to a broader trade deal in the WTO’s long-running Doha round, but would provide a template for tackling global problems such as climate change that have a trade dimension.

Twenty four per cent of adults living in urban centres are now using the internet, according to the latest Zimbabwe All Media Products and Services Survey (ZAMPS). The figure represents a two per cent increase in the last three months alone.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has backed calls for reform of the media law in Rwanda following the ruling of the High Court in Kigali which sentenced the editor and a journalist of the private newspaper, Umurabyo, to lengthy jail terms for 'ethnic discrimination, genocide ideology, defamation and inciting civil disobedience'. 'The need for reforming the Rwandan media law to decriminalize press offences is urgent in the light of this harsh ruling against the two journalists,' said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa Office.

Closing arguments in a civil case initiated by foreign nationals seeking compensation from the state for damages suffered during the May 2008 xenophobic attacks were heard in the Western Cape High Court last Thursday. A group of 11 Somali, Ethiopian and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) nationals are suing the Safety and Security Ministry, claiming police did not protect them during the 2008 attacks.

The Parliamentary Communication Services has issued a statement condemning the Right2Know’s behaviour as 'particularly unseemly' and threatening to apply the 'full might of the law' against our supporters. This is in response to an incident on Tuesday, when five Right2Know supporters silently donned masks depicting Minister of State Security Siyabonga Cwele during a sitting of the parliamentary committee dealing with the Protection of Information Bill (the Secrecy Bill).

The South African National Editors' Forum and the Press Gallery Association have condemned the DA's decision to take Sowetan reporter Anna Majavu off their mailing list in protest against her reporting. 'The move by the DA against reporter Anna Majavu flies in the face of the DA’s founding liberal values, including commitment to press freedom,' Sanef chairman Mondli Makhanya, who is also editor in chief of Avusa, said in a statement.

A gay rights organisation has been established in Namibia aiming to amplify voices of the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people who often face human rights violations such as social homophobia, lack of access to public health and loss of employment due to their sexual orientation. OutRight Namibia (ORN) was formed in March 2010 by Namibian LGBTI, MSM and WSW activists. It prioritizes leadership development, human rights, emancipation of movement building as well as health and legal reform as its main strategic areas of focus.

In an unusual move, West and Central African civil society organisations have participated in the negotiations between their countries and the European Union on the economic partnership agreements (EPAs). The organisations stress developmental concerns while assisting under-resourced African governments with trade expertise. Civil society organisations (CSOs) have also taken to the streets to persuade governments not to sign interim EPAs, for example in Mali.

The poems of Kenyan human rights campaigner Philo Ikonya inspire a sense of urgency and provide a melodious and metaphorical wake-up call to courageous men and women in the struggle for justice, writes Khainga O’Okwemba.

Libya has handed out more than $2 billion in loans to dozens of governments across the globe, according to an internal document that shows the oil exporter's diplomatic ambitions and its struggles to recover its debts. The biggest debtor mentioned in the document is Libya's neighbour Sudan with an outstanding balance of $1.287 billion, part of Sudan's debilitating external debt of almost $40 billion.

Jean Paul Noel Abdi, President of the Ligue Djiboutienne des Droits Humains, has been arrested on 9 February 2011 and is detained at the prison of Gabode. Jean Paul Noel Abdi is unfairly accused of 'participation in an insurrectionary movement' on the basis of Articles 145 and 146.4 of the Djiboutian Penal Code for having carried out his activities as human rights defender by denouncing the repression, on 8 February 2011, of a student demonstration by the security forces.

Bloomberg reports that Djiboutian authorities released three opposition leaders as opponents of President Ismail Guelleh clashed with police in the second day of protests against his rule, a party head said. Mohamed Daoud Chehem, head of the Djibouti Party for Development; Ismael Guedi Hared, president of the Union for a Democratic Alternative; and Aden Robleh Awaleh, leader of the National Democratic Party, were detained yesterday morning (18 February), Awaleh said in a telephone interview from the capital, Djibouti.

Tidiane Kassé

Eric Toussaint

Firoze Manji

« Intervention chirurgicale » en Cote d’Ivoire : la stratégie du pire ?
Pierre Sané

This briefing relies on new research into how new technologies are being used by abusers and by women fighting back. The cases were uncovered in research commissioned by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) in 12 developing countries in 2009, unless an additional website reference is included.

The Algerian government has said it will end its 19-year-old state of emergency 'within days'. Mourad Medelci, the foreign minister, made the announcement on Monday, echoing a similar promise made by Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the president, earlier this month. A state of emergency has been in place in Algeria since 1992 and the government has come under pressure to remove the laws following popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.