A researcher from the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-Southern Africa) traveled by road in public transport from Namibia (Windhoek) to Zimbabwe (Harare) via Botswana through the Mamuno border post. The journey to and fro Zimbabwe was an eye-opener on the nature and extent of corruption bedeviling traffic police officers in the three countries. In a nutshell, the following findings were made:
- Zimbabwean traffic police officials are more corrupt than their counterparts in Botswana and Namibia.
- The governments of Namibia and Zimbabwe could be losing significant amounts of revenue due to corruption in which police officers are involved.
- Transport business operators are losing income due to bribes paid to traffic police officers.
- There were no indications of corruption by traffic police officials in Botswana.

Military officers in Madagascar say they have taken over the island nation. Col Charles Andrianasoavina, who made the announcement, was one of the officers behind a coup that brought Andry Rajoelina to power last year.

Nigeria's military confirmed on Thursday it had freed 19 foreign and local hostages being held by militants in the Niger Delta oil region. The hostages included two Americans, two Frenchmen, two Indonesians, one Canadian and 12 Nigerians, Major General Charles Omoregie, commander of a military taskforce in the Niger Delta, told a news conference in oil hub Port Harcourt.

Reporters Without Borders has called for the withdrawal of bill which is about to be submitted to parliament and which would allow the authorities to block public access to official documents including judicial decisions, new legislation and public records. Announced on 22 October and called the 'General Law Amendment Bill', the proposed law’s sole aim seems to be to place additional obstacles in the way of access to information and thereby hamper the work of the media even more.

The United States’ policy to double agricultural exports shows that its government 'has learnt nothing' from the last food crisis, a problem reflected in the dramatic increase in that country’s trade-distorting farm subsidies between 2007 and 2008. The US’s recent official report on its farm subsidies for 2008 to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) shows that trade-distorting subsidies doubled from the previous year, while permissible 'green box' subsidies reached a historic high.

A group of human rights campaigners have protested outside the Tel Aviv Opera House, denouncing the Cape Town Opera for what they say is its support of Israeli oppression of Palestinians, SA Artists Against Apartheid said on Tuesday. See a video of the protest at

On 30 October, Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services raided a Khartoum office shared by Radio Dabanga and Darfuri human rights activists, arresting 13 people, reports the Washington Post. According to Radio Dabanga's Dutch-based director, Hildebrand Bijleveld, the detainees are being held incommunicado in unknown locations.

'Morocco has been able to persist in flouting its international legal obligations toward Western Sahara largely because France and the United States have continued to arm Moroccan occupation forces and blocked the enforcement of resolutions in the UN Security Council demanding that Morocco allow for self-determination or even simply the stationing of unarmed human rights monitors in the occupied country,' writes Stephen Zunes on 'Despite 35 years of exile, war, repression and international neglect, Sahrawi nationalism is at least as strong within the younger generation as their elders, as is their will to resist. How soon they will succeed in their struggle for self-determination, however, may well rest on such acts of international solidarity by global civil society.'

The deadline for the first call for papers is 31 December 2010. The conference is organised by ?Reading Association of Botswana (RAB) ?International Development Committee - Africa (IDC-A) ?and International Reading Association (IRA). The complete application and conference information is at: All inquiries can be made to: Dr. D. Kasule, [email][email protected]

Six independent UN experts have condemned the recent public execution, by firing squad, of two teenage girls in central Somalia, saying the executions are the latest manifestation of the 'appalling human rights crisis that is plaguing the country'. The six experts called on the parties to the conflict 'to immediately refrain from committing acts of extrajudicial executions, torture, stonings, decapitation, amputations and floggings as well as other human rights violations, including with regard to freedom of religion'.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum urges the African Commission to call upon the Government of National Unity:
- to fulfil its obligations in terms of the African Charter on the rights and freedoms of its citizens;
- to implement fully the provisions of the GPA and accept and implement various recommendations from civil society;
- to effect genuine electoral reforms in line with the Declaration by the African Commission on principles governing democratic elections in Africa before the conducting of any new elections.

The Paris Club of creditor nations has cancelled $7.35bn (£4.6bn) of debt owed by the Democratic Republic of Congo. The deal was agreed following a meeting between representatives of Paris Club members and senior figures from the DR Congo government. In a statement, the Paris Club said the figure represented more than half of DR Congo's foreign debt.

'It is difficult to pin down exactly what degrowth is. It is not a model for an alternative economic system. It is more a tool for opening up a discussion on the failures of and alternatives to the status quo,' writes Glenn Ashton for the The South African Civil Society Information Service. 'For instance we need to consider whether our primary reason to interact with strangers is to exploit and extract money from them. Surely happiness is more important than exploitation? Presently both rich and poor, exploited and exploiter alike are unhappy, unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Degrowth supports ways to achieve a far more functional society than our present model, which externalises damage to both psyches and planet.'

'Turning a blind eye when people are targeted because of their real or alleged sexual orientation, makes the authorities complicit in the abuse.' So said Chris Dolan, Director of the Refugee Law Project, a member of Uganda’s Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law. This after gay rights groups in Uganda expressed concern about the deafening silence of political leaders while human rights violations against sexual minorities continue unabated in the heart of Yoweri Museveni’s country.

Thousands of women were raped during Uganda’s civil war but there have been few government efforts to assist them, especially with psychosocial and counseling services. The two-decades long war in northern Uganda between government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) resulted in the internal displacement of about 1.5 million people and the death of thousands. Women in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps suffered sexual violence from government soldiers and civilians.

With displacement lasting 20 years on average, displaced children’s education cannot wait until solutions are found. All people have the right to education, including IDPs in emergency settings, in protracted displacement, or in the course of finding durable solutions. This paper introduces a series of case studies looking at education for IDPs. It examines the international human rights law framework for guaranteeing education to IDPs, focusing on issues such as non-discrimination and documentation that are particularly likely to arise in this context.

An Angolan minister has told the BBC that a convoy carrying Chinese mine workers was attacked in the region of Cabinda this week. He said that two soldiers guarding the workers, contracted by Angola's state oil company Sonangol, were killed. A faction of the Cabinda separatist movement Flec has said it carried out Monday's attack.

Three more former ministers have followed Barbara Hogan in resigning as MPs after being axed from the executive two weeks ago in the biggest cabinet reshuffle since 1994. The Sunday Independent has confirmed that former minister of Sports Makhenkesi Stofile, former Public Works minister Geoff Doidge and former Water and Environmental Affairs minister Buyelwa Sonjica this week tendered their resignations to National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu.

A Uasa economic impact study on the impact of South Africa's water crisis released on Monday predicted a possible decrease in disposable income, a hike in government spending, and thousands of job losses. The study was commissioned by the trade union Uasa to establish the real impact of the South African water crisis on the country. Macroeconomic effects of decreased water quality include a rise in the ratio of government debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 28 per cent, a drop of R16-billion in household spending, a drop of 1 per cent in the GDP growth rate as well as a drop of R9-billion (2,5 per cent) in total fixed investment.

An economic meltdown in Swaziland, exacerbated by a major decline in revenue from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), is unlikely to leave the national AIDS response unscathed, say local health officials. Revenue from SACU - the world's oldest customs union, comprising Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and South Africa - contributed 76 per cent of the Swazi government’s income in 2009 but dropped in 2010 and is expected to continue declining over the next decade.