Africa will be amongst the hardest hit regions of the world as the climate heats up, threatening the continent’s food security, experts agree. If global temperatures rise 2.0 degrees C, southern Africa will warm an additional 1.5 degrees to a 3.5-degree increase on average. Such temperatures could be reached as early as 2035.

Although we share a recognition that hunger, poverty, and climate change are inter-related through the medium of agricultural policies, we are writing to express our strong concerns that the Foundation’s approach to these issues—directly and through its Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) subsidiary—is unlikely to adequately address them and may well aggravate their underlying causes.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and humanitarian partners are scrambling to help over 3,000 African migrants stranded at the Yemeni border with Saudi Arabia, where 30 migrants have died in recent weeks. 'We are seeing a dramatic increase in migrants needing help,' IOM Senior Operations Officer Bill Lorenz said in a press release on 3 December. 'Over the past week, the number of migrants being referred to IOM has jumped to about 76 a day.'

The United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO) has endorsed a new rapid test for tuberculosis, which it says could revolutionize the way the disease is tackled by providing an accurate diagnosis in about 100 minutes, compared to current tests that can take up to three months. 'This new test represents a major milestone for global TB diagnosis and care. It also represents new hope for the millions of people who are at the highest risk of TB and drug-resistant disease,' said Mario Raviglione, Director of WHO's Stop TB Department.

The illicit diamond trade in Zimbabwe has led to the murder of thousands, enriched those close to President Robert Mugabe and been financed in part by the central bank, according to US documents on WikiLeaks. In the classified documents that date from before the unity government came to power, US diplomats cite a well established British mining executive as saying those close to Mugabe, including his wife, 'have been extracting tremendous profits' from the Chiadzwa mine in the eastern part of the country.

US Army Africa Commander Major General David R. Hogg has praised the 'leading' role of Algeria in fighting terrorism in the Sahel region. Speaking at a 6 December press conference after his two-day visit to the country, the US military official lauded the 'impressive progress' that has been made. 'AFRICOM and the Algerian armed forces are co-operating, and that is the objective of the visit. We are here to discuss what we can learn from one another,' Hogg emphasised.

Health officials’ fears that insecurity and a lack of resources could lead to fresh outbreaks of preventable diseases are being proved painfully accurate in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Polio - thought to have been eradicated in DRC five years ago – has made a frightening reappearance in Central Africa. The World Health Organisation has officially recorded 139 cases in the country this year, but poor data collection means many more may have been missed.

Small-scale gold miners have implored Government to support them to enhance productive capacity to ensure optimal use of the vast claims they hold. The small miners said they had capacity to produce about 1,2 tonnes of gold every month if supported with adequate financial resources and equipment.

Food production will have to increase by 70 per cent to feed the expected world population of 9 billion by 2050, says a report released by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Agricultural output in developing countries will have to double, the report says. This will have to be done when rural poverty is still widespread across many developing countries.

In the quest for an international climate agreement on actions to address the climate change crisis, three aspects have to be the basis simultaneously: the environmental imperative, the developmental imperative, and the equity imperative, says this December policy brief from the South Centre. This formula requires that the different pieces of the climate negotiations be seen and addressed as a whole, in a holistic way. In particular, setting the global goal for emission reduction has to take account of the environmental imperative. A global carbon budget of how much more emissions should be allowed between now and 2050 should be fixed, and also how that budget should be allocated especially between developed and developing countries.

Making ends meet is often difficult and dangerous for refugees living in cities, where paying rent and buying food can be a daily struggle and finding work is complicated. Most host countries do not allow refugees to work legally, so people find themselves forced to take jobs that pay 'under the table'. Refugees with no legal protection risk exploitation and abuse by their employers. Until recently, the international community has largely overlooked the needs of refugees in urban settings. Today, more than half of the world's 10.5 million refugees live in cities and towns, as compared to one-third who live in camps.

The National Council for Broadcast and Communication (CNCA), a media regulatory body in Cote d’ Ivoire on 2 December 2010 issued a directive banning all foreign radio and TV channels in the country from covering the ongoing political crises in the country. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that the CNCA announced the ban in a communiqué read by its secretary general, Félix Nanihio, during a news broadcast on state-owned TV at 20 hours GMT.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has expressed concern that Zambian President Rupiah Banda invited indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to participate in a regional conference scheduled for 15 December. Group spokesman Reed Brody said a majority of human rights groups across Africa have expressed displeasure over the invitation. 'We are hoping that this report is not correct and, if it is, we are hoping that the president of Zambia will eventually think better of it.'

The Women in Film International Committee is pleased to present 'Out of Africa: A Night to Celebrate: Short Films by Kenyan Filmmakers' being held at Universal Studios, in Los Angeles, California USA, on 5 March 2011.

The Kenyan government has said it could be losing nearly one-third of the national budget to corruption. Finance ministry officials told a parliamentary committee the losses could be nearly $4bn (£2.5bn) a year. They said individuals were taking huge sums meant for development projects.

As Zimbabwe slowly staggers from an unrestrained decade of economic recession, the country’s huge debt burden totalling about US$7 billion in external arrears presents an albatross around the nation’s neck. Figures recently released reveal that of the public and publicly guaranteed debt of US$6,4 billion as of 31 October, US$4,7 billion is in arrears. Put simply, every Zimbabwean owes external creditors US$500.

In early 2010, unresolved conflicts and simmering tensions between different social and ethnic groups led to renewed displacement in the city of Jos in the heart of the 'middle belt' region of Nigeria. As in the rest of the country, no clear figures on the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) were available for this latest incident of violence. Ad-hoc local registration exercises have hinted at the scale of displacement, but many people sought shelter and support from family and friends and so were not counted, says a December report form the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

A new set of priorities for the global fight against obstetric fistula will be in focus as specialists from around the world gather to discuss ways to eliminate the preventable childbirth injury. 'There are more than 2 million women living with obstetric fistula in the world, yet there are not enough skilled surgeons to operate on them,' says Dr. Serigne Gueye, a leading fistula expert and one of the organisers of the Third Annual Conference of the International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons (ISOFS) that will take place in Dakar from 7 to 9 December.

Nigeria has filed charges against former US Vice-President Dick Cheney over a scandal involving a former subsidiary of Halliburton energy firm. The case, brought by the country's anti-corruption agency, centres on engineering firm KBR, which admitted bribing officials. Cheney's lawyer has called the allegations 'entirely baseless'. Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive before becoming vice-president to George W Bush in 2001.

We wish to begin this statement by thanking all of those people and organisations that have stood by our movement in the difficult times that followed the attack and then this ongoing trial. Your solidarity is much appreciated.