In this interview from The Real News Network, Samer Shehata answers questions about the impact of leaked diplomatic cables on the Arab world.

The Royal Advisory Council for Human Rights (CCDH) of Morocco in a unique report confirms the killing of 352 'disappeared' Saharawis from 1958 to 1992. Out of these, over 200 died in military bases and secret detention centres, including children.

Reporters Without Borders says it is 'dismayed' by the three-year jail sentence and fine of six million Somaliland shillings (around 1,000 dollars) that a court in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway northwestern territory of Somaliland, has passed on Mohamud Abdi Jama, the editor of the independent newspaper Waheen, for allegedly libelling local officials.

Freedom of the press could be seriously impacted across the world in the wake of the ongoing political revelations brought about by whistle-blowing websites such as Wikileaks, one of foremost constitutional law experts in the US has said. Speaking at a Personal Democracy Forum event, at New York University, veteran First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams warned governments could use the controversy surrounding the recent release of thousands of confidential diplomatic cables as an excuse to crack down on journalists and publishers.

Despite the provisions of the Family Code, child marriages are on the rise in Morocco. The Moudawana raised the minimum marriage age from 14 to 18 and required a judge's approval for nuptials with a minor. Still, five years after the Family Code became law, 33,253 females below the age of 18 tied the knot.

The Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) of South Africa is representing 71 people facing eviction from a temporary refugee shelter in Randfontein. The occupiers are all people displaced from their communities during the xenophobic attacks of May 2008. They were taken to the Reit Shelter and promised they would receive assistance to re-integrate into South African society or to resettle outside South Africa. The shelter failed to provide the assistance promised, despite being contractually obliged to do so. SERI is defending the occupiers against eviction and has brought a counter-application seeking an order compelling the shelter to comply with its contractual obligations.

The government wants to focus on job creation, not spend time debating whether it is worthwhile creating jobs that do not meet certain standards, says Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant. Her comments reinforce those last week of African National Congress secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who said demanding that new jobs should be decent was 'putting the cart before the horse' - a departure from President Jacob Zuma’s promise in 2009 that the 'creation of decent work will be at the centre of our economic policies'.

Gustave Massiah

Hany Besada

Samir Amin

An explosive WikiLeaks cable claims that spy boss and President Jacob Zuma confidante Mo Shaik threatened to expose the 'political skeletons' of Zuma’s enemies and reveals that he was cultivated by the Americans as a key informant within the Zuma camp. The fresh revelations are likely to shake the Zuma administration as they involve one of the president’s key allies and the man tasked with running the country’s secret service.

Two hundred and fifty activists from across South Africa met last week to form a united front against big capital. In the concluding conference statement, they called for unity and mobilisation.

The latest survey by the South African Institute for Race Relations (SAIRR) has found that the African National Congress (ANC) has lost 38 wards in local government elections over the past four years. The study also found that between the previous local government elections in 2006, and up until August 2010, the ANC managed to hold 306 ward seats, gain 17, and lose 55. SAIRR researcher, Marius Roodt, predicted the ANC is likely to lose support in the upcoming local government elections.

While the African Heads of State and Government are preparing to discuss African shared values during the 16th Summit of the African Union (AU), 'concrete responses are awaited from the continental organisation for dealing with the crisis and conflict situations in a manner respectful of Human Rights', stated Souhayr Belhassen, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) president. FIDH calls on the AU to adopt a firm attitude in the case of Ivory Coast, in order to avoid an electoral conflict degenerating into a bloody civil war, at the same time creating a dangerous precedent for democracy in Africa at a time when 19 presidential elections are to be held in 2011.

Independent multimedia reporting website Mediahacker reports on WikiLeak documents in which Dominican President Leonel Fernandez expressed concern that a United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) general had been assassinated.

The year 2011 will move southern Africa another step closer to becoming a regional community, as one of the building blocks of a united Africa with its African Economic Community. Southern Africa is expected to take this step towards deeper regional and continental integration when three Regional Economic Communities (RECs) encompassing 26 countries in eastern and southern Africa – almost half of all African countries – approve a plan this year to establish a Grand Free Trade Area (GFTA).

High poverty levels and the skewed distribution of resources in Zambia's poorest province is stirring secession talk - with an ethnic dimension. 'The tensions in Western Province are a consequence of the neglect that the place has suffered in terms of socio-economic and infrastructure development,' Thomas Mabwe, head of Development Studies at the Zambia Open University, told IRIN. 'Poverty levels in Western Province are the highest in the country, and there is very little to show in terms of infrastructure development. So, to some extent, people are just reacting to that under-development of their region,' he said.

With the government moving to protect suspects from the International Criminal Court (ICC), Gado wonders what would happen if Jesus were to be tried in Kenya today.

The head of a Rwandan rebel group accused of committing war crimes in Democratic Republic of Congo has been extradited from France to The Hague. Callixte Mbarushimana was arrested in Paris last October, following a request from the International Criminal Court. The Hutu rebel leader has denied accusations that he ordered his FDLR fighters to kill and rape civilians.

The Angolan government is preparing to renew efforts to eradicate polio with support from global partners, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has made polio eradication its top priority. Angola succeeded in stamping out polio for three consecutive years at the beginning of the century, but a strain of the virus prevalent in India reappeared in 2005 and has since spread to the neighbouring countries of Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.

The phenomenon of regional warriors in West Africa is rearing its head again today, as Cote d’Ivoire hovers on the brink of civil war. Thousands of combatants roam this fragile region from conflict to conflict, fighting as a means to survive in some of the poorest nations on earth, where peace without proper reintegration has brought not happiness but rather a life of idle deprivation for some former fighters, many of whom were coerced to take up arms as children.

Ugandan gay rights activists have dared Rolling Stone Editor Guiles Muhame to continue outing gays and lesbians in that country, warning that he may be up for a surprise that could end his career or land him in jail. This after Muhame vowed to continue publishing articles outing Ugandan homosexuals despite a recent court ruling that permanently barred the newspaper from publishing such articles and even instructing the Rolling Stone to pay three plaintiffs damages of over 1.5 million Ugandan Shillings.