The top leadership of Zimbabwe’s civil society organizations will meet with South African President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Wednesday. The meeting, at the instigation of Zuma’s team, will explore ways of how SADC can help Zimbabwe come up with guidelines for violence-free elections, which are expected mid next year. The poll is expected after the drafting of the new constitution.

At the First Forum on South-South Cooperation on Biodiversity for Development, convened in Nagoya on 17 October, the Group of 77 and China unanimously adopted a draft Multi-Year Plan of Action on South-Couth Cooperation on Biodiversity for Development. 'The Plan defines targets and South-South cooperative strategies, including triangular cooperation and programmes, to the year 2020,' said Ambassador Abdullah M. Alsaidi, permanent representative of Yemen and chairman of the G77.

Egypt, the new chair of the UN refugee agency's governing body, should immediately end its policy of shooting foreign nationals trying to cross from Egypt into Israel, Human Rights Watch has said in a letter to the Egyptian authorities. Egypt should also stop impeding the refugee agency's access to foreign nationals detained in Egypt who want to claim asylum. Member States of the executive committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) elected Egypt to chair the committee for one year on 8 October 2010. Hisham Badr, Egypt's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva will serve as the chair.

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)
Please contact [email][email protected] for more information.

The purpose of the Break the Silence Congo Week is to raise consciousness about the devastating situation in the Congo and mobilize support on behalf of the people of the Congo. Break the Silence Congo Week will take place from Sunday 17 October to Saturday 23 October 2010.

The Right2Know (R2K) Campaign, an umbrella campaign representing a broad front of civil society groups, is campaigning against the Protection of Information Bill - also known as the Secrecy Bill - currently before South Africa's Parliament, which they believe will fundamentally undermine hard-won constitutional rights including access to information and freedom of expression. R2K is currently running a countrywide week of action between 19 – 27 October 2010. Visit their website to find out about events in your area, to sign up against the proposed bill or to join their Facebook or twitter accounts.

Despite liberal laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) students at schools and at tertiary institutions are faced with the harsh reality of prejudice characterised by homophobic slurs despite policies meant to protect learners. The South African Schools Act states that a school must serve learners’ educational requirements without unfairly discriminating. However previous research conducted showed that discrimination experienced by lesbian and gay people at schools is prevalent.

Marie Musa, 37, is devastated. After the mother of four gave premature birth, her baby boy died a few hours later - because the hospital did not have enough incubators to rescue the infant. In August, the same month that Musa’s baby died in hospital, James Bamie Davies, commissioner of the customs and excise department of Sierra Leone’s National Revenue Authority (NRA), announced in a government gazette an auction of medical appliances, including eight incubators. One in five children die before they reach the age of five in Sierra Leone, and one in eight women die during childbirth, according to the 2008 United Nations Human Development Index.

Obiageli Ezekwesili, the World Bank vice president for Africa, has invited policymakers and leading private sector representatives to discuss how to accelerate trade among African countries. Intra-Africa trade has long been viewed as the key to unlocking the continent’s growth potential. But in spite of the development of economic blocs such as custom unions and common markets, as well as improvements in inter-continental transport, only about 10 per cent of trade on the continent takes place among African countries.

Nigeria's main militant group on Tuesday threatened to carry out another attack in the capital Abuja, weeks after it claimed responsibility for twin car bombings on the West African country's independence day. The threat was contained in a statement by Jomo Gbomo, spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), reports xinhuanet.com.

Robert Mugabe has threatened to retaliate if ambassadors he unilaterally appointed to the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) are sent back to Zimbabwe. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week told the EU and the UN that ambassadors appointed solely by Mugabe don’t speak on behalf of the whole government. But Mugabe has now threatened that the EU will face retaliation if they heed Tsvangirai’s advice and expel the diplomats he appointed. His spokesman George Charamba on Monday told NewsDay news service that Zimbabwe would reserve the right to ‘reciprocate’ if its diplomats were thrown out of their postings.

The H.F. Guggenheim Foundation makes grants for scholarly research into problems of aggression and violence. One program is reserved for African Scholars under the age of 35, educated and living on the African continent. Selected applicants will attend a methods workshop to refine and improve their research plans in Accra, Ghana, in March 2011, and after submitting revised plans, will receive grants of $2000 each to support their fieldwork. In 2012 they will be funded to attend a professional conference to present their findings and will receive assistance in finding a publisher for their work.

Passive before human rights abuses in Angola, the British government often shows little concern for people who have come to this country seeking refuge, writes Lara Pawson in the London Guardian in reference to Jimmy Mubenga, a man who died while being deported to Angola. As the facts of Jimmy Mubenga's death come to light, we would do well to consider why he ever sought refuge in the UK, and why 'I don't want to go' were among his last words, she says.

It is not much to look at - a small pitted brass coin with a square hole in the centre - but this relatively innocuous piece of metal is revolutionising our understanding of early East African history, and recasting China's more contemporary role in the region. A joint team of Kenyan and Chinese archaeologists found the 15th Century Chinese coin in Mambrui - a tiny, nondescript village just north of Malindi on Kenya's north coast.

In what could be a landmark case, seven schools in the Eastern Cape's OR Tambo district, near Mthatha, are taking the local, provincial and national governments to court due to the lack of resources, saying their pupils' right to basic education has been violated. The attorney representing the schools, Cameron McConnachie, from the Legal Resource Centre, said the right to education by means of proper infrastructure had not yet been tested in a court of law.

Discrimination against women not only exposes them to the worst effects of disaster and war, including rape, but also deprives their countries of a prime engine for recovery, according to a new United Nations report. The release of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) 'State of World Population 2010 report – From Conflict and Crisis to Renewal: Generations of Change' coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Security Council’s landmark resolution 1325, which aimed to end sexual violence against women and girls in armed conflict and to encourage greater participation by them in peace-building initiatives.

Women in Mali have produced a video about violence against women that was aired on Mali’s national television station. The topic is not openly discussed in Mali, and the film is one step towards more openness. The 20-minute video was aired primetime on ORTM, Mali’s national television station. It shows women victims of violence (anonymously) telling their story. The stories they tell are shown as illustrations made by a cartoonist.

A September US Court decision dismissed a case against Shell for human rights abuses in Nigeria, with the sweeping claim that corporations could not be held liable under international law for human rights abuses. And a UN Environmental Programme report on oil in the Niger Delta, due to be completed early next year and funded by Shell Oil, is reported to include, without alternate views, claims from Shell that 90 per cent of oil spills from its facilities are due to sabotage or attempts at theft rather than to negligence. The AfricaFocus Bulletin available through the link provided contains several articles and blog commentaries on the two new developments.

Media watchdogs see the 'invisible hand' of the ruling party behind a string of firings and resignations that have removed some of Egypt's most prominent government critics from their soapboxes just weeks before parliamentary elections. 'Oblique threats and backroom deals that are not visibly linked to the government have started silencing some of Egypt's most critical independent voices,' says Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Feminine Action Union (UAF), a Moroccan association for the promotion of women's rights, announced on 13 October the creation of the National Observatory for the Improvement of Women's Image in the Media. The new centre will monitor violations against Moroccan women's dignity in the media, including in advertisement and art productions, at national, regional and international levels.