The Mo Ibrahim Foundation in association with SOAS and the Centre of African Studies-University of London is organising a Summer School in Mozambique in April 2011 on the topic of ‘Governance and Development in Africa’. The residential school is for 25 participants who are policy makers, academics, researchers or civil society representatives from any African country who will gain, through this training, new ideas and knowledge on the broad issue of governance and development.

In this 90-page report, Human Rights Watch called on Egypt to halt the use of lethal force against border crossers and all deportations of persons to countries where they risk persecution or ill-treatment. Israel should halt forced returns of migrants to Egypt, where they face military court trials and possible unlawful deportation to their countries of origin. Both countries should respect the rights of persons seeking asylum.

Southern Sudan should arm the local Arrow Boys militia to protect civilians in Western Equatoria State (WES) against possible attacks by remnant Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters during January’s referendum on secession, say local leaders. 'We’ve told the government, "Let [the Arrow Boys] be trained and armed, and they will defeat the LRA, and when the LRA dies, the Arrow Boys will give back the weapons",' Western Equatoria governor Joseph Bakosoro told IRIN.

'Serious challenges now strongly surround the legitimacy of the People's Assembly if it is formed according to the announced results of the parliamentary elections held on November 28 and December 5,' says this statement from the Independent Coalition for Elections' Observation. 'The elections were full of widespread violations that brought Egypt at least 15 years back. The elections were held in a political environment characterised by restrictions on public freedoms in a manner that does not allow for free and fair elections.'

The latest UNESCO figures show just five out of ten Liberian women over the age of 15 can read or write. For men it is six out of ten. The West African country now has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, ranked in the bottom fifteen according to UNESCO. 'Standing before you, my name is Erica. I am nine years old. I go to the Christian Ministry Fellowship international school,' says Erica proudly. Erica is among a new generation of students in Liberia who are being taught to read using new techniques not seen in West Africa before.

The parliamentary elections in Egypt have seen the large victory of the ruling National Democratic party (NDP), amidst massive frauds reported by election monitors and the withdrawal of the main opposition parties in the run-off. According to prominent Egyptian political analysts, the NDP’s candidate selection process was marred by internal discord and suffered lack of sophistication, as the party allowed almost 800 candidates for 508 seats, with many candidates competing against each other in 'open constituencies', while preventing party members whose candidate applications were unsuccessful from leaving the NDP to run independently.

The urgency and importance of all humans having a right to food security was spelled out by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating that 'everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food...' Inhabitants of Bamako, Mali do not yet benefit from these rights. Mali is amongst the one of the poorest countries in the world. With a population estimated at about 1,8 million people, Bamako the largest city and capital of Mali and it is currently believed to be the fastest growing city in Africa.

The government of Djibouti permitted the controversial private US security firm Blackwater 'to operate an armed ship from the port of Djibouti' and to 'use lethal force against pirates'. The permission was given in February 2009, it is revealed in a cable from the US Embassy in Djibouti, published by WikiLeaks.

As nearly 200 delegates gather at the Conference of the Parties in Cancun, Mexico, writer Dennis Martinez points out that Indigenous peoples and their advocates have no official seat among nations, and yet have experienced the worst impacts of climate change. To solve the problem, delegates of the wealthy nations have a climate-mitigation plan of choice - carbon offsets embodied in a program called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). But for healthy and stable ecosystems, Martinez finds that it fails to measure up to an overlooked method: continued indigenous stewardship.

Three projects fighting malaria and tuberculosis in Mali have seen their international funding suspended as government found 'evidence of misappropriation and unjustified expenditure'. This was reported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the world's dominant financier of programmes to fight these diseases.

The WikiLeaks Cablegate affair is making it clear to governments that they cannot so easily control what is secret and what is not, said Anriette Esterhuysen, executive director of the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), the world’s longest-running online progressive network founded in 1990. If governments respond rationally, they will realise that it is cumbersome and expensive to keep information secret in a connected networked world and that they should only incur this expense when really necessary, she elaborated.

More than 20 million people will be vaccinated between now and the end of the year in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger as a mass vaccination campaign using a new conjugate vaccine unfolds across West Africa. Manufactured in India, MenAfriVac offers health authorities a powerful weapon against a deadly disease. Meningitis is an infection of the membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal column. It is most prevalent in a region known as 'the meningitis belt', which extends across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east.

This paper contributes to ongoing discussions about the role of Sudan‘s $35 billion in external debt obligations – both for a unified Sudan and a possible Southern secession. First, it examines Sudan‘s existing debt dynamics and the potential eligibility for traditional debt relief and multilateral debt relief initiatives. Second, it outlines potential options for dividing Sudan‘s external debt obligations in the event of a Southern secession.

The African Union does not favour sanctions for now over a disputed presidential election in Ivory coast and will instead stick to quiet diplomacy, the Union's top security official said on Sunday. A row over who won an election on 28 November has left Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, in a state of paralysis with the president and his rival running parallel administrations, and many people fear an outbreak of violence. World leaders and regional bodies have recognised opposition challenger Alassane Ouattara as winner of the election on the basis of results from the election commission, which were backed by the local UN mission charged with certifying the vote.

Men and women of African descent are wanted to judge essays written by children, aged seven to 16 years, from across Africa and the African diaspora for 'The Annual Essay Contest for Children of African Descent 2011'. Essays are written in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Sesotho. Judges wanted for all these languages. See how bright our children are as they tackle such issues as media censorship, biotechnology, corporate front groups and abuse of science, food sovereignty, corporate abuse, racism, ethics and respect.
Visit: 'Essay Contests' at
Contact: [email][email protected] or [email][email protected]

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers.

While Tanzania outlawed female genital mutilation (FGM) in 1998, mass FGM ceremonies are still going on, in particular in the November-January season. Activists expect over 5,000 girls to be cut 'this holiday season'. The government of Tanzania passed a law prohibiting FGM in 1998 and yet reports indicate that during the current holiday season, about 250 girls have already been cut and over 5,000 girls are at risk of being genitally mutilated in Tarime district of Tanzania’s Mara Region alone.

The United Nations Security Council suppressed a 2004 secret report detailing the abuses of Ivory Coast death squads for fear of disrupting the nation's fragile 'peace process' and upsetting the government of President Laurent Gbagbo. This revelation proves especially damning in light of the country’s current electoral crisis marked by the resurrection of these Gestapo forces that have brutalised the opposition, as Gbagbo, who was defeated in the recent Presidential runoff a few weeks ago, refuses to cede power. The report was suppressed at the insistence of South Africa’s former president, Thabo Mbeki, who was heavily involved in peace negotiations and has recently returned in the same failing role.

Bacharou Gorel had 300 head of cattle before the food security crisis began in Niger. Today he has only 53 left. From Tilabéri in the west, through the central region of Maradi, and into Diffa in the far east of the country, no region has been spared this massive loss of livestock, according to Harouna Abarchi, from AREN (the Association for the Revival of Livestock in Niger), a non-governmental organisation based in Niamey, the Nigerien capital.

Security of two suspected gay persons arrested and released from Makerere and Wandegeya police posts in Uganda is a major concern since Mitchell Hall Gradens’ residents, where they were arrested, believe lynching would be the perfect solution to stop their alleged homosexuality. Eye witnesses claim that the two were found engaging in ‘homosexual activities’ at around 10pm on Wednesday 8 December. 'The person who found them, known only as Tamale, called other hall residents and they arrested the two. The mob wanted to lynch them but the Hall security intervened and the two were taken to police,' Adrian Jjuuko of Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum Uganda (HRAPF) stated.