The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today expressed its concerns over the increase in press freedom violations in Sudan since the recent elections after the arrest of four journalists and the closure of Rai-Alshab daily newspaper. Taban Bonifacio, online journalist for the Sudanvote.com website was arrested in South Sudan on 23 April while three more journalists of Rai-Alshab newspaper were detained on Sunday 16 May 20

The media in Somalia is going through its most difficult period as journalists face worst times ever, stated Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle. He accused Islamist rebels of infringing on freedom of expression and the independence of the media.

During the 2010 Fifa World Cup here in South Africa, all the poor must stand up and show the world that we are not excited about the World Cup because it is not for the poor but for the rich, says Mzonke Poni. "The time to wait for government to identify land for the poor is over. We gave them enough time to do that and they failed but to identify land to build expensive stadiums which will only be used for 1 month and spend lot of billions it was easy for them to do that, and they even evicted many people forcefully just to ensure that they meet Fifa requirements and standards."

"Around the world thousands of doctors, nurses, legislators, and activists helped make treatment scale-up possible. Now a few power brokers and politicians who claim AIDS receives too much money seem intent on bringing to an end this remarkable effort, in effect saying to millions of people: drop dead. Without treatment, this is certainly their fate." - Gregg Gonsalves, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition

The weak euro and pound make travels to Africa more expensive for Europeans. But the few African countries able to offer all-inclusive packages, like Egypt, tend to become the winners of the 2010 season. Europe is the main market for almost every African tourist destination. Trends on the northern continent thus strongly influence the annual development of this increasingly important industry in Africa.

Bullying, sexual violence and corporal punishment are still rife in West and Central African schools, according to an 18 May report which calls on governments to harmonize laws on child protection and education, and impose stricter standards on schools to reduce violence. Violence against children hardly features in justice or governance debates, and governments focus more on women’s rights than children’s rights, say child protection agencies.

A 15-year river blindness immunization programme in the fertile bread-basket of otherwise-arid Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, now in its 11th year, hangs in the balance for lack of funds. The disease, also known as onchocerciasis, reduced agricultural activities in the past two decades as farmers fled riverine areas, but this flight abated when aid agencies started the immunization programme. Now, two-thirds of the way through, it could flounder.

Rural Kenyans affected by the post-election violence in 2008 are among thousands of beneficiaries of a programme that aims to improve food security and incomes and reduce women's vulnerability to gender-based violence by teaching better farming techniques. "Food insecurity and malnutrition are key issues in the spread of HIV and it is also common knowledge that when people are food-insecure, and mostly women and children, they become susceptible to sexual, gender-based violence," according to Godrick Khisa, the national coordinator of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project

The European Foundation Centre is holding its first ever Foundation Week in Brussels from Monday 31 May to Friday 4 June and we are going to be there to bring you the latest developments as they happen with our brand new blog. With an international team of contributors, we will be blogging throughout the week, posting regular updates and responses to sessions, as well as video interviews and end-of-day summaries. Whether you’re attending the event or not, let us keep you up to speed as well as providing a platform for your comments.

Mobile phones have already played a significant role in advancing citizen media around the world. They were instrumental in helping capture photos and videos on the streets of Tehran during 2009 protests that followed the elections there. A video captured during that time even won a prestigious journalism award. Mobile phone technology has been used in Namibia to enable more people from around the country to express their views in one of the country’s largest newspapers. In the US, day laborers have been using MMS messages to blog about their daily lives. In South Africa, citizen journalists use SMS, MMS, and other phone-based technologies to submit content and commentary to a local newspaper. The list of examples are plentiful.

Conciliation Resources is seeking an experienced manager to coordinate and develop our programme of work in West Africa, specifically in the Mano River sub-region. Reporting to the Director of Programmes, you will lead a small team based in Sierra Leone and work with partner organizations in pursuing programme goals to strengthen civil society capacities to participate in peacebuildling, conflict transformation, governance processes and community security and to develop the programme across the region.

Pan Africa ILGA join all our global human rights organizations and especially the Malawian organization the Center for the Development of People (CEDEP) in condemning the conviction and harsh sentencing of 14 years imprisonment with hard labour by a Magistrate Court in Blantyre, Malawi of Tiwonge ("Tionge") Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza for "unnatural offences" and "indecent practices between males" under Sections 153 and 156 of the Malawi Penal Code

The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the regional organization of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in Africa, have launched the report of its solidarity mission to the Cameroon on the attacks on journalists and the press freedom situation, which took place from 3rd to 6th May. The report entitled “JOURNALISTS UNDER FIRE: Report of Solidarity Mission to Cameroon” describes the climate of antagonism and suspicion between media and the government, resulting in increasing attacks on journalists, including harassment, intimidation and trials as well the poor working condition in which Cameroonian journalists work and live.

A $780 million power line commence by close of 2011 linking Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya. According to a senior Zambian government official Israel Phiri the project would be operational 2015. About 1,447 kilometres long, the high voltage transmission line will start at Serenje in the south of Zambia, snake along to Mbeya and Arusha in Tanzania before landing in Kenya's capital Nairobi, Reuters reported.

The majority of men who have sex with men in southern Africa are bisexual, and a significant proportion have concurrent sexual relationships with both men and women, investigators report in the online edition of Sexually Transmitted Infections. The investigators suggest that this finding should occasion a rethinking of the factors driving the HIV epidemic in the region. However, they were encouraged that men in concurrent relationships with men and women (which the investigators term bisexual concurrency) reported high levels of condom use.

"In 2001 in Abuja, African heads of state promised us 15% of budget spending on health - where is this money? ... Only two countries in the continent have met the Abuja target, which African finance ministers recently dismissed as a colossal mistake. the true colossal mistakes are the wasteful spending habits of many governments who prioritise wars, luxury for politicians and sports over social spending, which cost thousands of lives every day".- James Kamau, Kenyan Treatment Access Movement

Media organisations are furious over a US$ 3 million personal donation by Equatoguinean dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema to the UN culture agency UNESCO. The donation is to co-finance a press freedom award. Equatorial Guinea is among the worst countries in the world regarding human rights and press freedom. No independent media exist and all media outlets are controlled by the state or family members of President Obiang.

Health authorities are on alert as Lassa fever has now claimed 17 lives and infected dozens of people in northwestern Nigeria's Kebbi State, according to state health officials. The last outbreak of the deadly disease took place in February 2010, killing seven people, including four doctors at the National Hospital in Abuja. In March 2009 over 300 people were infected in 14 states across the country.

“Bee-ba-ta a un bébé!” Seated on plastic mats, their sandals and book bags on the ground nearby, children follow text with chalk-dusted fingers as they practice reading. Months ago these children spent most of their time begging in the streets of the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou. With help from local university student volunteers and support from the NGO Terre des hommes (Tdh), the children - part of Burkina’s Malian Tuareg community - now spend their days in the classroom.

In this weeks roundup of emerging actors in Africa news, India, Brazil and South Africa lead effort against Child Labor, Controversial Sudanese dam sparks human rights complaint, South Africa's FirstRand completes African deals with China Construction Bank, and the World Cup pulls Indians to South Africa.