Cameroonian journalists Robert Mintya and Serge Sabouang were released conditionally on 24 November on the order of President Paul Biya, report Journaliste en danger (JED), Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), PEN International's Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). They had been in prison since March 2010.

With the climate world focused for the next two weeks on a summit in the Mexican city of Cancun, various players are questioning the role of the UN's climate change negotiations, writes Rehana Dada.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is supposed to create global governance for a global resource, putting into place international legislation that would prevent a human-caused planetary catastrophe by reducing and controlling greenhouse gas pollution. Hopes have already been dismissed that the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) in Cancun will produce a binding agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Africa’s lead negotiator, Ethiopian Premier Meles Zenawi, said Cancun would be a 'total flop'.

The 31 December deadline for Zimbabwean immigrants to apply for the necessary permits to allow them to stay in the country will not be extended, Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has said. Zimbabweans in South Africa who attempted to register for business, study or work permits after the deadline would not be processed, she said, speaking in Pretoria after meeting representatives of the Zimbabwe Stakeholder Forum.

The process of statement taking from security chiefs has been suspended, meaning the Kenya chaos case will now be filed without their testimony. Judge Kalpana Rawal put the process on hold Tuesday to await the outcome of an application filed by the security bosses' lawyers at The Hague. The lawyers want assurances from the ICC that any evidence provided by their clients will not be used against them as the court's prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo puts together his case on post election violence.

Senegal is in talks with Saudi Arabia to lease farmland to grow food of an area nearly four times the size of Manhattan, an official in Senegal involved in the deal told Reuters. Like other wealthy Gulf states Saudi Arabia has been buying farmland in Asia and Africa to secure food supplies after inflation had nearly doubled the price of food in 2008.

Biofuels are failing Africa, in contrast to the many promises that fuelled their growth, a new report from Ethiopia claims. Launched at the UN conference on Climate Change in Cancun, the report ‘Biofuels - a Failure for Africa’ from the African Biodiversity Network, Ethiopian Society for Consumer Protection and The Gaia Foundation, highlights the risks of relying on biofuels to bring climate and development benefits to Africa.

There was a large presence of female thugs who terrorized both women and men in the recently held Egyptian elections, says a new report, 'The Gender Perspective in the 2010 Parliamentary Elections'. The report said female candidates were guilty of the same violations as male candidates. The majority of women supported male candidates, but the majority of those who supported female candidates were Muslim Brotherhood members.

The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) has become a 'talkshop' that is failing to lead the country’s fight against AIDS because it is poorly resourced, lacks leadership and there is confusion over its role. This is according to civil society groups and several sources working within the body, which was set up in 2000 to co-ordinate the country’s response to HIV.

At first glance Zimbabwe's public health system has undergone a renaissance since the dire days two years ago when shortages of drugs, staff and equipment were the norm. But this was not the norm, said John Mushangi, 42, an insurance broker who rushed his 15-year-old son to the facility after he was hit by a car and suffered head injuries. 'We waited for more than three hours before being attended and during that time my son was bleeding heavily. There was no reason for the hospital staff to take so long because there were few patients in front of us [in the queue],' he told IRIN.

Kenya is likely to witness worsening food security, significant disease outbreaks, and further pockets of conflict in 2011, as well as a continuing flow of refugees from Somalia, say aid officials. 'There is a fear of La Niña compromising the [food security] gains made,' said Aeneas Chuma, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator at the 30 November launch of Kenya’s 2011 Emergency Humanitarian Response Plan (EHRP) appeal. Most of the US$525 million funding requested is expected to meet food security and refugee needs.

In its September 2003 issue, and again in June 2005, Alliance put the spotlight on the subject of social justice philanthropy. Five and a half years later, we revisit the subject to find out what if anything has changed. Guest editor for this Alliance special feature is Christopher Harris, formerly of the Ford Foundation, who feels that some real progress has been made in the field and offers seven items worth special mention.

Over 600 new cases of AIDS were recorded during the first nine months of 2010 in Algeria, where the disease has spread relentlessly since the outbreak began in 1985. 'According to the likeliest estimates, there are between 21,000 and 30,000 people living with the virus,' Dr Skander Abdelkader Soufi announced November 24th at an Algiers forum on HIV/AIDS.

Zimbabwean authorities have admitted that they are having serious problems issuing new passports to tens of thousands of nationals in South Africa, just a few weeks before a deadline to get proper documents in place runs out. Co-Minister of Home Affairs, Theresa Makone, said this week that they may need to enlist the help of the South African government, because Zimbabwe is unable to process enough passports on its own. Makone said, after holding talks with her South African counterpart Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, that Zimbabwe could only process 500 passports a day.

Malawi president Bingu wa Mutharika has ordered that the electoral commission be suspended amid talks of grave fraud. The suspension follows an audit report detailing some US$ 9 million meant for local government elections scheduled for April next year and cannot be accounted for.

Hundreds of residents from civil society organisations marched in the streets of Bulawayo on 1 December to mark the 16 days of Activism Against Violence Against Women and Girls . But sex workers and members of gay groups were barred by police from joining the demonstration. A dozen organisations took part in the event in Zimbabwe's second largest city, Bulawayo. The commemoration was organised by the Musasa Project, an organisation that deals with domestic violence, under the slogan 'Structures of violence :Defining safety and security for women and girls'.

The University for Peace (UPEACE) is pleased to offer two online courses in 2011: 'Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in the Contemporary World' from 17 January to 27 March 2011 and 'Peace and Conflict Studies; The Foundation Course' will be re-offered from 7 February to 17 April 2011. These are both 10 week courses. The courses will be delivered by UPEACE faculty members: Dr. Amr Abdalla and Dr. Victoria Fontan and Professor Mihir Kanade. These courses are offered for three academic credits or for UPEACE training certificates. They will enable individuals who cannot come to the UPEACE campus, to gain new qualifications and skills. For course descriptions and more information, please visit the website.

Reporters Without Borders says it has learned that police in rural areas have for some time been confiscating shortwave radio sets from people caught listening to programmes made by Zimbabwean journalists in exile. The press freedom organisation has firmly condemned the use of such methods to censor information and restrict individual freedom.

The camp of Ivorian presidential challenger Alassane Ouattara vowed on Friday to reject any legal move to overturn provisional poll results giving him victory, warning of a possible return to civil war. The world's top cocoa grower was plunged into uncertainty last Thursday after the constitutional council, whose chief is close to President Laurent Gbagbo, said it did not recognise provisional results and would rule on the outcome within days.

The former ruling ZANU PF party has withdrawn its support for changes to the Public Order and Security Amendments Act (POSA). POSA is a piece of legislation tightened up by a ZANU PF dominated parliament in 2002. The draconian legislation gives untold powers to the police, who apparently opposed changes to the Act. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the police are responsible for the administration of the Act.

Google literally brought Accra - the capital of Ghana in West Africa - to a standstill with the public launch of its new product Google Trader. It is a free online classifieds service that allows Ghanaians to buy and sell products and services, as well as search for jobs or just about anything else. According to Google, Trader can be used by anyone in Ghana, but is expected to have the biggest uptake in major towns and cities across the country. 'Individuals can post short ads to buy and sell items and services, whilst businesses of any size can also use the site to reach more customers and increase their sales,' a statement read.