United Nations peacekeepers have positioned armoured personnel carriers and are patrolling an area in Sudan where units made up of Northern and Southern Sudanese troops clashed last week, killing 54 soldiers and wounding 85 others. 'The United Nations urges the parties to remain calm and exercise caution,' spokesman Martin Nesirky told a news briefing in New York, referring to the outbreak of violence in Malakal in Sudan’s Upper Nile State between 3 and 5 February.

In 2009, this paper from the Centre for International Media Assistance says, the Arab region had 35,000 active blogs and 40,000 by late 2010. Although Egypt’s interior ministry maintains a department of 45 people to monitor Facebook, nearly five million Egyptians use the social networking site among 17 million people in the region, including journalists, political leaders, political opposition figures, human rights activists, social activists, entertainers, and royalty who are engaging online in Arabic, English, and French. This paper was commissioned and largely reported in the period leading up to the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the region in early 2011. It is published as a stage-setter for the events that are rapidly unfolding in the Arab world.

As a wave of protests is sweeping North Africa, many Moroccans wonder if similar events will occur in the Kingdom. The apprehension is palpable. A youth movement, 'Liberty and Democracy Now', used Facebook to send out calls for peaceful demonstrations across the country on 20 February. It is time for an independent commission to carry out a comprehensive reform of the constitution, according to their statement.

For the Via Campesina, the 11th World Social Forum, in Dakar, Senegal, began on 6 February with something halfway between a march and parade.

Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa, talks about the combination of the concepts of ‘Pan-Africanism’ and ‘Auto-Centrage,’ i.e ‘Pan-Afri-Centrage.’ in the context of South-South solidarity. Fall says that many of the movements from Africa have been co-opted by imperialism and we now have a historical responsibility to revive the demands of the Bamako Appeal.

The United Nations (UN) has expressed concern over the rising insecurity in Somalia, saying it would worsen the humanitarian crisis created by the ongoing drought in the region. UN Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, said at the weekend that insecurity made it difficult to reach and assist internal refugees in need of assistance. She noted that one in every four children in the country was extremely malnourished while at the same time asking Kenya not to send any Somali refugees back.

Political leaders have committed to ramping up restoration of the world's forests and tackling poverty in forest communities as part of pledges made at the ninth session Forum on Forests. Rwanda, in central eastern Africa, led the way with promises to launch a 25-year plan to tackle ecosystem degradation and improve rural livelihoods, a move hailed by environmental groups including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

A lack of community support and persistent discrimination is being blamed for the re-recruitment of former child soldiers by the army and militias in Masisi territory, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC. Former child soldiers are being especially targeted in Kitchanga, 80 kilometres north-west of Goma. The town used to be a stronghold of the National Congress for the Defence of the People, CNDP, a rebel group which has now been officially integrated into the armed forces.

Côte d’Ivoire has been in a political impasse since the declaration of contested results of a second round of presidential elections held in November 2010. Since both candidates claimed victory and have been sworn in, the country has two presidents and two governments. In order to understand the impact of this situation on women and women’s rights organisations, AWID spoke with two women’s rights defenders, Mata Coulibaly President of SOS EXCLUSION and Honorine Sadia Vehi Toure, President of Génération Femmes du troisième Millénaire (GFM3), as well as with an Ivorian politician who prefers to remain anonymous and to whom we have given the pseudonym of Sophie.

The International Federation of Journalists has mourned the loss of the first journalist to die in the social unrest in Egypt. Journalist Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud died in hospital in Cairo from injuries sustained after he was shot in the eye by a sniper. The journalist, aged 39, worked for the A’wada newspaper, a part of the Al Ahram media group. His death comes after a week of continuing unrest that has seen journalists and media staff among those targeted by groups loyal to the regime of President Hosni Mubarak.

The paper presents a wide range of data on Mozambique and examines what this shows about changes to poverty and income levels over the past decade. The authors point to the lack of changes in farming practice which is contributing to the persistence of poverty and consider cash income and the poverty trap in Mozambique. The paper goes on to discuss the failure of donor-led development models.

'The proliferation of illicit arms is posing a serious threat to the East African Community (EAC) partner states and if not tackled speedily could undermine the region’s concerted integration efforts.' Illicit arms are still circulating through different borders of member states because of armed groups operating from countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Somalia and armed criminal activities, stated Mr Ndabaneze Zenon, coordinator of the Burundi National Focal Point (NFP), when opening a two-day meeting of experts and coordinators of NFPs of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) of EAC Partner States in Moshi.

Mubarak's digging in may not be too healthy for his long-term prospects, suggests Gado.

Journalists, broadcasters and media entrepreneurs on Monday raised a red flag over the proposed changes to the set of laws governing the operations of the media industry. Speaking at a consultative meeting at Nairobi's Sarova Panafric Hotel, the industry players said the government's draft Media Bill, 2010, was taking the industry 'many steps back'. According to the Media Council chairman, Dr Levi Obonyo, the proposal to limit the aspect of self-regulation in the new draft Bill is 'retrogressive'.

Freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press are the big gains of Tunisia’s so-called Jasmine Revolution, according to a top Tunisian economist, writer and opposition figure. But he warns that dark days still lie ahead. 'Not even political scientists could have imagined people’s deep hunger for democracy,' says Mahmoud Ben Romdhane, author of the just published ‘Tunisie: Etat, économie et société’ and one of the keynote speakers at the 17th Maghreb Literary Fair (Maghreb des Livres).

Greater action is needed by United Nations peacekeeping missions – working with local women, national authorities and UN Member States – to increase the limited participation of women in peace negotiations, national security institutions and governance in post-conflict situations, says a UN study. The impact study – conducted a decade after the adoption of landmark Security Council resolution 1325 on women and peace and security, the first to address the specific impacts of conflict on women and call for women's engagement in peace processes – reports a mixed record on the overall contribution of UN peacekeeping to the implementation of the resolution.

In the aftermath of post-election violence here, almost 18 thousand people - 70 per cent of them women, children and older persons – have been temporarily re-settled in the Western part of the country, fleeing from clashes between communities in the city of Duékoué. In the wake of the crisis, and in the absence of supplies, maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity increased, according to the local health authorities. 'We had to run here and there to perform a childbirth or a Caesarean section and there were no drugs available,' said Dr. Moïse Tetchi, gynaecologist at the General Hospital of Duékoué, recalling the situation in the early stages of the crises.

A new food assessment report says that close to two million Zimbabweans will still need food aid in the coming months, despite 'better economic conditions'. The US-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET) reported this month that about 1.7 million Zimbabweans will be in need of food aid during the next two months. Both FEWSNET and the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) last year estimated that about 1.3 million rural households will be food insecure between January and March.

Algeria needs to invest up to 120 billion dollars in renewable energy between now and 2030 to meet the goals of a new energy policy adopted by the council of ministers on Friday (February 4th), experts said. The investment needs to come from both the public and private sector, in addition to contributions by foreign partners, energy consultant Khaled Boukhlifa explained at an El Moudjahid forum on Sunday (6 February).

The Power of Persistence report highlights the importance of recognising the evolving dynamics of national politics and institutions in achieving sustainable, long-term improvements in education systems. A section of the report reviews the introduction of education reforms in five countries over a 20-year period. The five countries - Egypt, El Salvador, Namibia, Nicaragua, and Zambia - are not intended to be broadly representative of all developing countries, but do capture a range of national contexts, including post-conflict recovery, democratic transitions and elections, scale of national bureaucracy, and role of civil society.