Wikileaks cables have revealed a disturbing development in the African uranium mining industry: abysmal safety and security standards in the mines, nuclear research centres, and border customs are enabling international companies to exploit the mines and smuggle dangerous radioactive material across continents. The Wikileaks cables reveal that U.S. diplomats posted in a number of African countries – the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Niger, and Burundi, among others – have had direct knowledge of the poor safety and security standards in these countries’ uranium and nuclear facilities.

Soldiers from 42 lnfantry Battalion in Gutu on Friday 14 January 2011 allegedly banned vendors from selling Masvingo province's weekly independent newspaper, The Mirror, after it published a story alleging that army personnel had beaten up people at Mupandawana growth point on Christmas Eve.

The five states making up the East African Community (EAC) are in a hurry to prepare for their common currency, which according to plans is to be introduced already next year. Experts now see how they can fast-track the process. Experts from the five EAC states on 17 January embarked on a four-day meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, that sets the stage for negotiations for the East African Monetary Union.

A new set of research studies – available now on the International Land Coalition (ILC) website – explores the growing wave of large-scale international and domestic land acquisitions and the factors that are driving demand for investments in land. The studies examine how changes in demand for food, energy and natural resources, along with liberalisation of trade regimes, are making the competition for land increasingly global and unequal.

The autonomous region of Puntland in Somalia has announced that it will break with the federal government based in the embattled capital, Mogadishu. After a special meeting of Abdirahman Mohammed Farole's presidential cabinet, the government issued a statement saying that the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) 'does not represent Puntland in international forums' and that the United Nations Political Office for Somalia should 'reconsider its position and support for the TFG at the expense of other Somali stakeholders'.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has issued a statement opposing prosecution demands for lengthy prison sentences for the editor and deputy editor of the independent weekly Umurabyo. State Prosecutor Agustin Nkusi requested a 33-year prison sentence for Editor Agnès Uwimana and 12 years for her deputy, Saidati Mukakibibi, at a High Court hearing in the capital, Kigali. The two, arrested in July 2010, face charges of incitement to violence, genocide denial, and insulting the head of state in connection with several opinion pieces published in mid-2010, according to news reports.

There is currently a vacancy at BCR for a senior fellow or a part-time researcher for a 2-year period. As a specialist in governance studies or impact research, the successful candidate will carry out collaboratively-funded research and coordinating work within BCR’s CORE team.

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten released a series of US diplomatic cables from 2006 on massive and pervasive corruption and nepotism in Tunisia and its effect on economic development and social problems. The cables show that the United States government was fully aware of the dangerous and debilitating level of corruption in Tunisia, and its anti-democratic implications.

Former president Thabo Mbeki's office has refused to say whether he helped draft a key policy document for the Congress of the People, insisting that the ousted head of state was still a member of the ANC. According to a US diplomatic report leaked to the WikiLeaks website, former ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama told University of South Africa professor Dirk Kotze in 2008 that Mbeki had helped to write a COPE policy draft. If this proved to be true, Mbeki could find himself in hot water with the ANC.

On 29 December 2010 Togolese authorities closed down three privately-owned radio stations in the capital, Lomé, citing administrative reasons. A statement issued by the Post and Telecommunications' Regulatory Authority and signed by Palouki Massina, its director general, said the decision was taken after a 10-day joint review of the stations, together with the High Authority for Broadcasting and Communication (HAAC), in November 2010.

A US Embassy cable from 2006 discussed the possible replacement of Tunisia's Dictator Zine El-Abedine Ben Ali. It left little faith in the opposition but in many ways foresaw PM Mohammed Ghannouchi's attempt to consolidate the ruling party's power and who will attempt to gain power.

South Sudan has appealed for investors to plough $140 million into its war-hit wildlife parks, seeking to kick-start a tourism industry and wean itself off oil months ahead of its expected independence. The south has the world's second largest migration of mammals, untamed wildernesses and vast herds of gazelles and antelopes, rivalling anything seen in Kenya, Uganda and other African holiday hotspots, say experts.

Basel Saleh

Bernard Founou Tchuiguoua

Salim Ahmed Salim

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) says it welcomes the judgment handed down by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal on 9 December 2010 in the case of Gondo and eight others vs the Government of Zimbabwe. The SADC Tribunal ruled that the Government of Zimbabwe violated Articles 4 (c) and 6 (1) of the SADC Treaty by failing to pay compensation to the nine (9) Applicants who are all victims of organised violence and torture (OVT). 'The ruling also confirms what the Forum and other Zimbabwean civil society orgnisations have been saying over the years – that one of the country’s main challenges is the flagrant disregard of court orders by the state and the absence of the rule of law.'

The European Union has offered to help organise elections in Tunisia following its democratic uprising that culminated in the flight of leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia. However, asked whether this 'solidarity' extended to other democracy movements across north Africa, the commission refused to be drawn regarding other regimes in the region.'We cannot speculate on situations that are not ongoing,' said foreign affairs spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic.

The attorney general in Zimbabwe has set up a team of lawyers to investigate whether Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai can be charged with treason or conspiracy related to revelations by the website WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks published US cables saying Tsvangirai and his party leadership were planning with US diplomats for Washington to contribute to a fund to buy-off security service chiefs to achieve regime change in Zimbabwe.

Africa's economy isn’t growing fast enough to meet targets to reduce poverty in the world’s poorest continent, the United Nations said. Per-capita income will probably expand 2.7 per cent in 2011 and 2.8 per cent in 2012, lower than the 3 per cent 'minimum rate of growth to make a substantial dent in poverty', the UN said in a statement released in Johannesburg. Rising commodity prices, better harvests and investments in rail and energy projects will help lift growth to 5 per cent in 2011 and 5.1 per cent in 2012, from 4.7 per cent last year, the UN said.

In June 2010, Amnesty International found that pregnant women and girls at Hopley settlement, in Harare, are at risk of ill-health and even death due to inadequate access to essential health services. Both their own lives and the lives of their newborn babies are put at risk because of the government’s failure to provide adequate levels of maternal and newborn care. Though there have been some recent investments to rehabilitate the health delivery services in other communities in Harare after many years of neglect, the situation at Hopley has remained precarious.

The Arab Commission for Human Rights, SHERPA and Transparence International France (TI France) has filed a complaint with the French public prosecutor (Procureur de la République) against several members of Ben Ali and Trabelsi families. The objective is the opening of a judiciary inquiry into the assets they own in France, which could have come from the embezzlement of public funds. Corruption inside Ben Ali’s regime has been revealed with the recent revelation by Wikileaks of a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Tunis.

Thousands of children who have fled violence in Ivory Coast are at risk of sexual exploitation or recruitment by armed forces, aid workers warned on Tuesday. They are particularly concerned about children who have become separated from their parents during the turmoil following the country’s disputed presidential elections in November. About 30,000 people, more than 75 per cent of whom are women and children, have crossed the border into neighbouring Liberia while another 18,000 are internally displaced in Ivory Coast.