The African Union (AU) Tuesday called Sunday's presidential election in Cote d'Ivoire a historical breakthrough, and urged the country's leading politicians to stay calm and accept the poll results without resorting to violence. 'This is certainly a historic vote, which marks a crucial step in the process for a way out of the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire,' said Commission Chairperson, Jean Ping. Nearly six million Ivorians went to the polls for the first time in several years to elect a president to run their country.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has sentenced a Rwandan businessman to 30 years in jail for his part in the bulldozing of a church which killed around 2,000 ethnic Tutsis during the 1994 genocide. The tribunal, backed by the United Nations, found Gaspard Kanyarukiga guilty of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity.

US$5,000 has been awarded from the Take Back the Tech! Fund to four outstanding South African Women’s organisations that are set to make an impact on the high levels of violence against women in the country. The four different projects will work with young black women in townships, black lesbians, rural para-legals and survivors of violence to increase awareness, reporting of incidents, and help survivors of violence on their healing journey.

Reporting to the Head of International Grants and managing a small team, you’ll lead on the delivery of our trade and climate change programme strategies, and the development of our social investment strategy as well as playing a critical role in strengthening corporate and other relationships that will enable us to fulfill our mission.

Luca Bussoti

Paulo Rogério Nunes

Land administration policies in Zambia are heavily centralized. The 1995 Lands Act that regulates Zambia’s land policy stipulates that all land is to be held in trust by the president, and most of the poor people live on customary land as they cannot afford to obtain a leasehold tenure. There are organisations trying to rectify this, however. The Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA), a network of NGOs working for pro-poor land policies, has previously criticised both post-independence and present land legislation as being inadequate, of not listening to the poor that to a large degree tend the land, and of focusing too heavily on liberalising land markets.

The Sudanese government should charge or release Darfuri activists arrested between 30 October and 1 November 2010 by national security agents in Khartoum, Human Rights Watch has said. The arrests underscore the government's continued use of repressive laws to target human rights defenders from Darfur and to restrict information about the ongoing abuses there, Human Rights Watch said.

The Southern African Young Women’s Festival ran between 25 and 28 October. Young women were brought together to share experiences, energise each other and celebrate their youth and the potential they have to advocate for social justice in their respective communities. The Festival was a platform to equip young women with the practical skills they need for effective advocacy for women’s rights and included many exciting activities including the launching of the 16 Days national campaigns of activism.

Tanzanians voted on on 31 October 2010 to elect the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, President of Zanzibar, Members of Parliament and Members of the Zanzibar House of Representatives. Using hashtags #UchaguziTZ, #uchaguzi, and #TZelect, Tanzanian netizens have been keeping their followers updated with results and on-the-ground observations.

The presidential election in Ivory Coast is likely to go into a second round after partial results point to a tight race between the top candidates. With about half the ballots counted, incumbent Laurent Gbagbo has 37 per cent, with Alassane Ouattara on 34 per cent, the election commission said. Turnout was about 80 per cent - reportedly one of the highest rates ever in Africa.

Like the massive death toll inflicted by the earthquake last January, the cholera outbreak in Haiti is not some natural disaster, but rather the product of desperate poverty created by centuries of imperialist oppression, says this World Socialist Web Site article. Haitian and international officials reported Sunday that the death toll from the outbreak of cholera had reached 337, with over 4,000 confirmed cases of the disease, mostly in the central and northern part of the Caribbean nation.

Reporting to the Head of International Grants and managing a small team, you’ll lead on the delivery of our trade and climate change programme strategies, and the development of our social investment strategy as well as playing a critical role in strengthening corporate and other relationships that will enable us to fulfill our mission.

Activists have started mobilising communities to demand the implementation of environmental laws following the government’s alleged reluctance to halt the degradation of the eco-system. Environmentalists said since 1992, the government had formulated many environmental laws and agencies to protect natural resources but it has failed to enforce the laws. 'Since the government has failed to honour its commitments, we have chosen to empower communities to have the right and ability to influence decisions about the environment and national resources that sustain their livelihood,' said Godber Tumushabe, the executive director for Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment.

Firoze Manji

Mariam Sankara

By a coincidence of delayed timetables, neighbouring West African countries Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire are likely to go to the polls on consecutive Sundays, starting in Cote d’Ivoire on the 31st. In both these countries, delays have raised the spectre of civil conflict, but so has the prospect of finally holding the polls, states this International Crisis Group article. 'Why is this so? The feverish atmosphere flows partly from people’s hopes, the belief that democracy can really work this time and the desire to be vigilant against spoilers. But the answer also lies at elite level – in countries where economic opportunity is overwhelmingly dependent on official office, the stakes are simply too high.'

Getting a passport can be vital for making a living but mounting hidden costs are making it tougher to access one, despite the government recently slashing passport fees. Fees have been reduced from US$140 to $50, but the document can cost up to $120 or even $300, as Theresa Makone, the joint minister of home affairs, discovered on an impromptu visit to the Harare office which issues passports.

Scarcity of jobs is worsening gender inequalities in sub-Saharan Africa, locking more women out of formal government and private sector appointments, a new World Bank survey shows. The report shows that women in employment is at under 40 per cent in Kenya, behind countries like Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea and Sierra Leone where women engagement is over 80 per cent. Experts said the widening gender gap at the workplace in Kenya put policy makers in a dilemma as it threatens to shutter economic gains made over the past few years as women are locked out of income generating activities.

There are many myths around the abuse of social grants. In his article 'Social grants: Going beyond basic needs' David Neves from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies shows how social grants not only provide a safety net, but also act as a spring board for all sorts of other unseen opportunities, including small-scale entrepeneurship. Grants are often invested in the future, in ways that meet the needs and constraints of the poor - often either in building or upgrading housing or in their children and grandchildren's education and nutrition.

Results from a referendum in Niger show more than 90 per cent of voters backed a new constitution designed to return the country to civilian rule. The constitution was put forward by the junta leaders who came to power in a coup which ousted ex-President Mamadou Tandja in February.

In its quest to improve its image, Egypt's government recently hired the major UK public relations firm Bell Pottinger to better deliver its message to an international audience. The decision to seek PR help is due to the government's discontent over the way Egypt's regime is portrayed in Western media. According to Heba Morayef, a Human Rights Watch researcher on Egypt and Libya, there has been an increase in the number of arrests of dissidents, crackdown on peaceful demonstrations, and an increase in the number of arrests due to religious beliefs.