Efforts to improve one of the world’s most resilient staples - cassava - have paid off, with lasting and, in some instances, dramatic benefits. Plant breeding has increased this starchy root’s nutritional value and resistance to disease, saving countless lives as a result, says the latest issue of Lasting Impacts from the International Development Research Centre.

Women leaders representing women’s human rights organisations, national women’s machineries and the media from 12 African countries in the West Africa sub region have called on Member States of the African Union to give high priority to the African Women’s Decade. The leaders, participating in a workshop in Accra, Ghana from 28-30 September 2010, entitled 'Beyond Beijing +15: Implementing and Resourcing the African Women’s Decade (2010-2020)' commended the African Union for declaring 2010-2020 a decade for African women. However, they stressed that in order to deliver on the objectives of the Decade, planning has to move from the continental level to the sub-regional (ECOWAS), national and community level.

On the eve of their Independence Day Guineans are uneasy as tensions threaten a political transition many had hoped would end decades of repressive rule. Concern over delays to a second-round presidential election merged this week with pain and anger stoked by the anniversary of the 28 September 2009 military crackdown on demonstrators in the capital Conakry, in which hundreds were killed, wounded or raped.

This blog post reports on a meeting in Prague hosted by the International Bar Association (IBA). One of the issues raised was that of developing countries taking action against foreign companies, as evidenced by in the case of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Interestingly, another issue is the concept of social damages for corruption, where those found guilty of corruption are made to pay to repair the damage caused to a society.

Ugandan researchers will carry out a series of field trials on some of the major food crops that have been genetically modified (GM), following several recent approvals by the Uganda National Biosafety Committee, despite a lack of clear legislation on commercialising any such products within the country. They will seek to develop both transgenic and conventional maize varieties tolerant to climate change-induced drought; GM cassava resistant to virulent cassava brown streak virus ravaging the starchy root crop across eastern and central Africa; GM bananas with engineered resistance to Xanthomonas bacterial infections; and cotton plants containing both Bt and 'roundup-ready' genes.

School is back in session for post-secondary students in Ghana, but Ramatu Sidic has been hitting the books for weeks. She's getting ready for the biggest test of her life - becoming a voice for Ghanaian youth and a global ambassador for peace. The Accra native recently took the crown at the 2010 Miss ECOWAS Ghana Peace Pageant.

Guinea will hold the delayed second round of its presidential election on October 24, a spokesman for the president of the military ruled West African minerals producer has said. The election is intended to return Guinea to civilian rule and, if it passes off smoothly, it will be its first properly democratic election since 1958 independence from France.

The impact of internet governance on Africa was discussed on 16 September 2010, in Vilnius, Lithuania. Discussions included the need to solve the language issue and to create global applications from Africa instead of just thinking local and to put forward the continent's uniqueness to create things that others can’t.

Ethiopia released the country's most prominent opposition leader from jail on Wednesday, four months after the government's landslide win in elections criticised by Western powers. Birtukan Mideksa, a former judge, is the leader of Ethiopia's biggest opposition party, Unity for Democracy and Justice.

Jamaica: 70 killed in street fighting in May 2010. Nigeria: an estimated 1,000 people killed in the country’s oil region in 2008. Kenya: 140 lives lost in post-election riots in 2007. Mexico: 28,000 people dead from drug-related violence since 2006. Troubling as such figures are, they are but a small part of a much larger picture: there are up to 490,000 deaths annually that result from homicidal and non-conflict violence – a quarter of a million more than those who die in war zones.

On the 8th of September 2010 the UPM in Durban sent a letter of demands to Jacob Zuma. His office acknowledge reciept of that letter (which is pasted in below this email) but he has never given us the courtesy of a response to our demands. Therefore we have no choice but to take our desperation and anger to the streets. We will be marching in Durban on 14 October 2010 in support of the demands in this letter. In addition to these demands we also demanding an end to the attacks on democracy from the ANC.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is sponsoring the Guardian's Global development site is being heavily criticised in Africa and the US for getting into bed not just with notorious GM company Monsanto, but also with agribusiness commodity giant Cargill, reports the London Guardian. Seattle-based Agra Watch - a project of the Community Alliance for Global Justice - was outraged. 'Monsanto has a history of blatant disregard for the interests and well being of small farmers around the world… [This] casts serious doubt on the foundation's heavy funding of agricultural development in Africa,' it thundered.

Long regarded as the poorer cousin of its Zimbabwean neighbour, Zambia is fast gaining attention as a desirable destination for agricultural investors. International investors from Britain to South Africa have begun putting money into infrastructure development and transport, and about 200 exiled Zimbabwean farmers have taken leases from the Zambian government to develop farmland in the country.

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has become the first patent holder to join the recently created Medicines Patent Pool, but unless other patent holders follow suit, the NIH's move will not increase access to HIV treatment. By licensing the life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV), darunavir, to the patent pool, the NIH has made the technology to produce it available for the benefit of low- and middle-income countries. However, this does not mean generic versions of the drug can now be manufactured and sold in these countries as additional patents on darunavir are still held by the pharmaceutical company Tibotec, part of Johnson & Johnson.

We are seeking a dynamic professional for a key specialist position in Dakar, Senegal. As the Senior Program Specialist, you will collaborate in managing research activities that support broader Program challenges around promoting inclusive growth, including labour market issues, institutional frameworks for investment, competition and entrepreneurial activity, and the role of social protection policies. Reporting to the Program Leader and the Regional Director, you will develop, manage and monitor a portfolio of research projects in West and Central Africa. As part of a global team and a corporate Program Area, you may have selected responsibilities for projects in other regions as well as working in collaboration with the Think Tank Initiative. You will also interact with experts in the field and represent IDRC in a variety of fora, draw attention to new developments in economic policies and research, and play a key role in the progress of strategic thinking in this area.

Rwanda, home to Africa's largest solar power plant, is eager to harness renewable energy to ensure economic development. But its grand ambitions face many challenges. The US$1.3 million plant, known as Jali, is covered in 4,000 solar panels covering 2,880 square metres. It produces 325,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year - but this is still just 0.1 per cent of Rwanda's total electricity production.

The former leader of Nigeria's armed group has said he was arrested because he refused to tell the group to retract a statement claiming responsibility for last week's deadly attacks in the capital, Abuja. Henry Okah, currently being held in jail in South Africa, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that he received a phone call from a 'close associate' of Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president, telling him to urge the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) to withdraw its claim for the bombings, which killed at least 10 people and left 36 others injured on the 50th anniversay of Nigeria's independence.

Sudan has announced November 14 as the start date for voter registration for a referendum on independence for the south, amid fears over the amount of time left to organise the vote. Under a 2005 peace agreement that ended Africa's longest-running civil war, the south is to vote on January 9 on whether to become independent or to remain part of a united Sudan.

Thousands of freshly molded reddish-brown bricks lie baking under the hot Malawian sun. Residents of Manase, like too many other villages in Malawi, have seen members of their communities die while travelling to faraway medical clinics. But the Manase residents are determined to see themselves into better health, even if it means building their own hospital from scratch.

Yaounde's Briketteri neighbourhood, home to Muslim traders in textiles and beef, is seeing a surge of climate migrants - farmers and fishermen fleeing fast - drying Lake Chad to the north. Lake Chad, a large shallow freshwater lake that borders Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, has shrunk in size by as much as 90 per cent over the last four decades, forcing a growing number of farmers, fishermen and herders who depend on it to seek new livelihoods elsewhere.