A leading rights activist in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been found dead in the capital, Kinshasa. Floribert Chebeya's body was discovered, partially clothed, on the back seat of his own car. Rights group Amnesty International says oppression of activists in DR Congo is growing.

Dutch prosecutors have accused multi-national oil trading firm Trafigura of illegally exporting hazardous waste to Ivory Coast in 2006. The allegations came at the start of a trial in which the firm is accused of breaking Dutch export and environmental laws and forging official documents. Tens of thousands of people in Ivory Coast said the waste made them ill.

How can donors contribute to governance reform in Kenya? What role can they play in strengthening state-society relations in particular? This report, published by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), makes recommendations for Norway’s strategic approach to governance in Kenya based on a political economy analysis of the country. More focus on state-society relations is needed, particularly at local government level. For example, donors could support CSOs that represent the interests of local groups. Systematic learning, analysis and social dialogue should also be emphasised.

A delegation of the Chinese Communist Party officials in Harare for a three-day visit at the invitation of the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe has met with him and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The delegation signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday with ZANU-PF Chairman Simon Khaya Moyo and hailed the close ties between the two countries, sources informed on the meeting said.

This year Africa’s economies will generally perform better than in 2009. According to the just-published Economic Report on Africa, the continent’s average growth rate will reach 4.3 per cent, up from less than 2 per cent last year — a period marked by devastatingly bad performances worldwide following the global economic slowdown.

A report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said Thursday that international prices of key food staples dropped in the first five months of this year. The report stated that the development was driven largely by plummeting prices of cereals and sugar. It said: "The FAO Food Price Index' the average of commodity prices, including meat and dairy, averaged 164 points in May, down from 174 in January and subst antially less than its peak of 214, reached in the spring of 2008."

The Indian Ocean Commission (COI) on Tuesday launched the "Agro-ecology" project, which is a regional initiative for the adaptation of small-scale agriculture to climate change in the Islands of the Indian Ocean, PANA reported. The COI is comprised of five member countries -- Mauritius, Madagascar, Reunion, Comoros and the Seychelles.

There is growing alarm among Kenyan farmers about a government announcement that 2.3m bags of maize were unfit for human consumption. Health experts say the maize contained high levels of lethal aflatoxins, which have killed at least one child. The government has pledged to buy and destroy the contaminated maize.

Five opposition candidates have withdrawn from presidential polls in Burundi due to take place on 28 June. They include the former rebel leader Agathon Rwasa, who was widely thought to be the key challenger to the current President Pierre Nkurunziza. All had called for the resignation of Burundi's electoral commission following local polls last month, which they say were fraudulent.

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said on 3 June the ICC was assessing information accusing the Ugandan military of war crimes and atrocities committed in the 20-year civil war in the north of the country.

In this week's roundup of emerging actors in Africa news, Industrial and Commercial Bank mulls acquisitions in Middle East and North Africa, France pushes for African presence on UN Security Council, presidents of Seychelles and South Africa set to visit India, and Kenya reaps billions from Sudanese separation plan.

At sundown, Thulani Gama tells his 10-year-old twin siblings to collect firewood while he grinds corn for their supper. At sunrise, he wakes the twins and tells them to wash. Without breakfast, all three children begin their hour-long walk to school in rural Swaziland. Thulani, 13, is the head of his small household. He and his siblings Samkelo and Samkelisiw look after one another since, like many parents, their widowed mother left home to look for work in Mbabane, Swaziland’s capital. Thanks to a new programme supported by UNICEF and the Government of Swaziland, Thulani and his siblings are now able to attend school.

The human rights situation in key parts of DR Congo remains extremely serious, according to a report by UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Philip Alston. The expert warned that killings, rapes, mutilation, village burnings and displacement would continue to take place unless civilian protection measures are urgently improved.

The voter education on the referendum has received a shot in the arm after the government announced the release of Sh553 million to the Committee of Experts, ending weeks of bickering between the two parties. The money is not in the budget, but has had to be reallocated from other ministries and will be regularised in next week’s budget, which will cater for all constitution review needs.

Human rights campaigner group Amnesty International has condemned the reported execution of 18 people in Libya. The 18, some from Chad, Egypt and Nigeria, were executed on Sunday in Tripoli and Benghazi, Libyan media reported. Amnesty International said they feared the accused had not had fair trials.

For six families living in derelict changing rooms next to one of South Africa's official training venues in Cape Town, the prospect of the football World Cup has turned from a dream to a nightmare. The families who comprise 24 people, half of them children, are facing eviction to make space for the parking area next to the Athlone Stadium which has been upgraded to the tune of 406m rand ($53m, £36m) to bring it up to Fifa standards.

Contraceptives should be taken out to women at their homes. Health Centres should be use to store these contraceptives but not act as distribution centres. Most healthy centres are far located from some people and only access them when there is a very serious illness. Most people even fail to get transport to access these centres when they are sick so image! Can such women access healthy centres for contraceptives which seem to be luxurious?

African nations are increasingly turning to South Africa to improve their own agricultural production and skills, according to industry group Agri SA. About 20 countries from across Africa have approached Agri SA, South Africa’s largest farmers’ association, seeking to recruit commercial growers or learn skills from their neighbor on the continent’s southern tip.

As reports warn of an alarming rise in the recruitment of child soldiers in Somalia, UNICEF and the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict are calling on all parties to put an immediate end to this criminal practice.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) opened its 99th annual conference, with a focus on employment issues following the global economic crisis. A statement by the ILO, stated that the conference, ending 18 June, would deliberate on a number of issues affecting employment opportunities and workers' well-being globally.