Carl Blidt, the current foreign minister of Sweden, admitted in 2001 that oil was part of the conflict in Sudan. But he has also been a member of the board of directors of Lundin Petroleum, points out this article on The Current Analyst website. 'Now, as a prominent politician in Sweden he seems to be interested in human rights and justice in Africa,' says the article.

With Zimbabwe’s diamond industry still shrouded in secrecy, the Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) and three Zimbabweans have petitioned South Africa’s New Reclamation Group for access to information that will shed some much-needed light on its controversial mining operations - and prove whether any of its promises to local communities have been fulfilled. In particular, the petitioners are asking for information relating to whether communities that were forced to relocate were consulted and have been given compensation, whether the requisite schools and hospitals have been provided and whether environmental and safety standards are being complied with.

Nearly 300,000 health workers are fanning out across Africa this week to reach 72 million children as part of a United Nations-backed bid to drive polio out of the continent. Vaccinators will go door-to-door in 15 countries to deliver two drops of oral polio vaccine to every child under the age of five in areas considered to be at highest risk of polio, a highly infectious and sometimes fatal disease that spreads from person to person.

Khartoum has committed multiple breaches of an arms embargo over Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region and China has done little to ensure its weaponry is not used there, according to a confidential report seen by Reuters. The latest report by the so-called Panel of Experts, which monitors compliance with a 2005 UN arms embargo for Darfur, is now in the hands of the Security Council's Sudan sanctions committee. It says Khartoum's violations include unauthorised transfer of military hardware and troops to Darfur.

Last week, the daily talk show, Misr El-Naharda (Egypt Today), that is aired on the Egyptian state-run TV channel, Al-Masreya, discussed Facebook and its effect on the Egyptian society, with the discussions tending towards attacking Facebook. After the show, many bloggers started to think that it might have been a move from the government to repel people away from Facebook, in order to block it later on, especially given the recent developments in the Egyptian traditional and social media scene.

Soaring demand in China and political unrest in Madagascar are fuelling illegal logging for hardwoods in the African nation, a report concludes. Global Witness and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) talked to loggers, government agencies and traders to compile their report. In China, they discovered beds on sale for $1m, made from Madagascan wood.

The Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) at the American University in Cairo (AUC) is offering the following three winter short courses in January 2011:
1. Introduction to Refugee Law (January 9-13, 2011).
2. Migration/Displacement, Development and Gender (January 16-20, 2011).
3. Community Interpretation for Refugee Aid Settings – CCIP Interpreter Training Short Course (January 23-27, 2011).

The main aim of The All Africa Dance Conference and Festival is to bring people together to celebrate the wealth and diversity of African dance. This year's event will showcase a rich and vibrant mix of dance and musical performances by more than 100 dance groups and 500 established artists from all over the world.

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni was nominated today to run for presidential elections that may extend his rule for over 30 years. Mr Museveni is a flag bearer of the National Resistance Movement, the ruling party. Museveni, in power since 1986, is being challenged by Forum for Democratic Change’s Dr Kizza Besigye, his former physician and long time rival.

For over 24 hours on October 15, bloggers blogged about water in a global Blog Action Day. The final count for Blog Action Day stands at over 5,600 bloggers from 143 countries, reaching more than 40 million readers, according to the organisers. 'It was a remarkable display of support for an issue that gets woefully little coverage in the mainstream media.'

The Republic of Congo has launched a 'farming village' project to boost food self-sufficiency, with the first one inaugurated in Nkouo, about 80km north of Brazzaville, the capital, on 8 October. It houses 40 families from different regions of the country. 'Forty hen-houses, a warehouse, a sorting centre and refrigerated storage space have been made available. Each family received 792 laying hens and 2ha for cultivation,' said project director Jean-Jacques Bouya.

Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel will help President Jacob Zuma with his work in a New Partnership for African Development (Nepad) sub-committee on infrastructure, the presidency said on Monday. In a statement, the presidency said Manuel - who is responsible for the National Planning Commission - would assist Zuma in his role as the African Union champion of the north-south infrastructure development corridor.

Mozambique has scored poorly in this year's edition of the Open Budget Index (OBI) - but when the report was presented at a Maputo seminar on Thursday, dissenting voices wondered whether the scores mean anything, since the questionnaires used seemed to be tailored round American experience. The scores range from zero to 100. The US-based International Budget Partnership (IBP) assessed 94 countries - and found that 74 of them did not meet what it considered 'the minimum standards of transparency and responsibility in public budgets'.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Tuesday urged the political stakeholders in Guinea to act expeditiously to agree on a new date for the country's presidential re-run, after another postponement was announced Friday. A spokesman for the 15-member regional bloc, Sunny Ugoh, told PANA here that agreeing on a new date would make it possible for the long-delayed election to hold and for the West African nation of Guinea to return to constitutional rule.

A vigil outside the Zimbabwean embassy in London will take place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The vigil will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. Visit the website to read stories and see pictures from the vigil.

Rwanda and Syria joined a list of the 10 most repressive countries toward journalists, while Northern European countries continue to lead the world in respecting free expression, according to the just released annual ranking of press freedom by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). RSF said press freedom in the 10 countries - rounded out by North Korea, Burma, China, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Eritrea - continues to deteriorate. 'It is getting harder to say which is worse than the other,' RSF said.

AWID is currently seeking an activist/researcher with a strong background in economics and development to work with our Influencing Development Actors and Practices for Women’s Rights (IDeA) strategic initiative. IDeA is engaged in an exciting action-research agenda that is attempting to connect theoretical debates on development and the need for alternative models with concrete experiences, lessons learned and analysis from a women’s rights perspective.

Routledge, in collaboration with editors and society partners, have selected research articles which engage with the UN World Development Information Day themes of: Sustainable Development, Human Settlements and Energy; Advancement of Women; Population and Migration; Governance and Institution Building; Macroeconomics and Finance; Social Development. These articles are available free online until 31 December 2010. All articles have been drawn from leading journal titles within Development Studies, Gender Studies, African Studies, Asian Studies, Middle East Studies, European Studies, Politics & International Relations and Demography.

For full bibliographic listings of articles and issues you have access to please visit:

The eighth edition of Sauti za Busara music festival takes place in Stone Town, Zanzibar 9 – 13 February 2011. Five nights of 100 per cent live African music under African skies. Sauti za Busara (Sounds of Wisdom) is an international festival showcasing and celebrating the wealth and diversity of music from East Africa and beyond. For more information on the line-up and to sign up for a newsletter visit

Zimbabwe’s civil society has urged Southern African leaders to ensure the country’s next elections comply with regional benchmarks for democratic polls requiring an independent body to run polls and that the military not to interfere with voting. In submissions to South African President Jacob Zuma - the regional SADC bloc’s official mediator in Zimbabwe - the groups said President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s coalition government has failed to end tensions in Zimbabwe and that the country’s political environment remains 'poisoned with violence, intimidation and fear'.