Somalia’s president reinstated Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke and his cabinet on Thursday after days of uncertainty following a parliamentary vote of no confidence in them. President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed asked Mr Sharmarke and his ministers to step down after the vote on Sunday. A total 280 MPs had chosen to sack them, according to former speaker Sheikh Aden Madobe, who has since resigned.

Calm has been restored after clashes in the Madagascar capital Antananarivo between rival security forces. Madagascar's army and police exchanged gunfire with a rebel police faction. The faction has retreated to its barracks and is trying to negotiate a way out, a military officer says. Madagascar has been in political turmoil since opposition leader Andry Rajoelina assumed power in January 2009, with military backing.

As Craig Venter announces lab-made life, ETC Group calls for Global
Moratorium on Synthetic Biology.

In a paper published today in the journal Science, the J. Craig Venter
Institute and Synthetic Genomics Inc announced the laboratory creation of
the world's first self-reproducing organism whose entire genome was built
from scratch by a machine.(1) The construction of this synthetic organism,
anticipated and dubbed "Synthia" by the ETC Group three years ago, will
stir a firestorm of controversy over the ethics of building artificial life
and the implications of the largely unknown field of synthetic biology.

Panacea, or...? According to today’s publication, "Synthia" could be a boon
to second-generation agrofuels making it – theoretically – possible to feed
people and cars simultaneously. The article further suggests that Synthia,
or synthetic biology, could help clean up the environment, save us from
climate change, and address the food crisis. "Synthia is not a
one-stop-shop for all our societal woes," disputes Pat Mooney, Executive
Director of ETC Group, an international technology watchdog based in
Canada. “It is much more likely to cause a whole new set of problems
governments and society are ill-prepared to address."

Pandora's Box? "This is the quintessential Pandora’s box moment - like the
splitting of the atom or the cloning of Dolly the sheep. We will all have
to deal with the fall-out from this alarming experiment," comments Jim
Thomas of the ETC Group. "Synthetic biology is a high-risk profit-driven
field, building organisms out of parts that are still poorly understood.(2)
We know that lab-created life-forms can escape, become biological weapons,
and that their use threatens existing natural biodiversity. Most worrying
of all, Craig Venter is handing this powerful technology to the world’s
most irresponsible and environmentally damaging industry by partnering with
the likes of BP and Exxon to hasten the commercialization of synthetic
life-forms."(3)

Synthetic biology refers to the construction of novel life-forms using
synthetic DNA made from off-the-shelf chemicals - a form of "extreme
genetic engineering". The team behind today’s announcement, led by
controversial scientist and entrepreneur Craig Venter, is associated with a
private company, Synthetic Genomics Inc, bankrolled by the US government
and energy behemoths BP and Exxon. Synthetic Genomics recently announced a
$600 million research and investment deal with Exxon Mobil in addition to a
2007 investment from BP for an undisclosed amount. Venter, who led the
private sector part of the human genome project ten years ago, has already
applied for patents related to Synthia's technology.(4)

Although high-profile backers of synthetic biology now occupy key positions
in the US Obama administration(5) there still remains no proper national or
international oversight of new high-risk, technologies that carry vast
implications for humanity and the natural world. In 2006, ETC Group joined
with other organizations to demand the formal, open and inclusive oversight
of synthetic biology(6) and have since called for a global halt on research
pending the development of global regulations. ETC Group has reiterated
that call at a scientific meeting of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity in Nairobi attended by more than 100 governments.(7)

Pandemonium? The lack of global rules governing the field also concerns
many governments, illustrated by the biodiversity talks in Nairobi.
Mundita Lim of the Philippines delegation to the CBD expressed her
country’s concerns "about the serious potential impacts of synthetic
biology on biodiversity... we believe that there should be no field release
of synthetic life, cell or genome into the environment until thorough
scientific assessments have been conducted in a transparent, open and
participatory process involving all Parties, indigenous and local
communities that will all be potentially affected by these synthetic life
forms with unknown consequences on biodiversity, the environment and
livelihoods." Today’s announcement will give new urgency to the debate on
synthetic biology and provide a dramatic example of the need for rigorous
oversight over new technologies before their environmental or commercial
release is permitted.

1) Science, 20 May 2010, "Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a
Chemically Synthesized Genome," by D. Gibson; J.I. Glass; C. Lartigue; V.N.
Noskov; R.-Y. Chuang; M.A. Algire; M.G. Montague; L. Ma; M.M. Moodie; C.
Merryman; S. Vashee; R. Krishnakumar; N. Assad-Garcia; C.
Andrews-Pfannkoch; E.A. Denisova; L. Young; Z.-Q. Qi; T.H. Segall-Shapiro;
C.H. Calvey; P.P. Parmar; J.C. Venter at J. Craig Venter Institute in
Rockville, MD; G.A. Benders; C.A. Hutchinson III; H.O. Smith; J.C. Venter
at J. Craig Venter Institute in San Diego, CA. The paper acknowledges
'generous funding' from Synthetic Genomics Inc for this work, that three of
the leaders of the scientific team hold executive positions at Synthetic
Genomics Inc and that the J Craig Venter Institute itself holds stock in
Synthetic Genomics Inc.

2) For a graphic overview of the investors behind Synthetic Genomics, Inc,
see ETC Group's 2007 Poster "The Men & Money Behind Synthia." available
here: http://www.syntheticgenomics.com/media/bpfaq.html and reporting of their
deal with Exxon Mobil is available at Dolly...Hello, Synthia! J. Craig Venter Institute Seeks Monopoly Patents on
the World's First-Ever Human-Made Life Form" online at
Synthetic Biology" when he was named to office last year (see

7) ETC Group currently has three staff members in Nairobi at the meeting of
the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to
the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (SBSTTA 14). The topic of
synthetic biology is under discussion at SBSTTA 14 under an item concerning
the biodiversity risks of next generation biofuels.

Twitter - ETC Group will be putting out occasional updates on this news
story on Twitter using the hashtag #SYNTHIA - we encourage other to use the
same tag.

Join us on Facebook

The private sector window of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group received, on 19 May 2010, board approval for a USD 40 million equity investment in the African Agriculture Fund (AAF), a private-equity fund designed to respond to the food crisis that severely impacted the continent in 2008 in the wake of escalating food prices and staple export bans.

The heads of seven African states are in Yaoundé at the invitation of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their countries’ independence. The seven leaders, who come mostly from central Africa, also took part in the closing ceremony of the international conference “Africa 21”

Nigeria's upper legislative chamber, the Senate, will begin its investigations into the alleged marriage to a 13-year-old Egyptian girl by Senator Ahmed Yerimah, next Wednesday. The official News Agency of Nigeria Thursday quoted the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Sen. Omar Hambagda, as saying the committee had received petitions from three serving female senators over the issue.

A report launched by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) said Police in the country commit extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and extortion with relative impunity. According to the findings of the report, which was release simultaneously in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, and New York, many members of the Nigeria Police Force are more likely to commit crimes than to prevent them.

The Johannesburg-based World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS) has warned that the operating environment for civil society in Kenya remains fraught with danger. It said that as the spotlight is focused on impunity in Kenya by the international community, including the International Criminal Court (ICC) and special representatives of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), civil society activists are facing grave risks.

Uganda’s opposition will boycott national elections next year unless the government reconstitutes the Electoral Commission (EC) to make it impartial, senior opposition officials told Reuters on Thursday. They say the electoral body favoured the incumbent President Yoweri Museveni at the last elections in 2006. The head of state appoints the commission’s seven members.

Guinea's army chief has promised the military will ensure that the 27 June elections proceed smoothly. Colonel Nouhou Thiam, who heads a military task force set up to oversee the polls, said the army would "defend the territory of Guinea." He also promised the army would remain neutral during the elections.

The Malawi Law Society (MLS), a constitutionally-recognised body that represents the interests of lawyers and the legal profession in Malawi, has called for the immediate release on bail of Malawi's incarcerated first openly gay couple, saying the society does not pose a danger to them and vice versa. In a statement published in the local media, MLS Secretary Jabber Alide was quoted as saying the two - like all accused persons in Malawi - should be presumed innocent until proved otherwise by the court of law.

Karanja Macharia is the founder and CEO of Mobile Planet, a mobile company in Kenya that provides third party services to both the main mobile providers and other corporate clients. Fritz Ekwoge is the founder of iYam.mobi, he too comes from a professional background, though as a programmer and developer, not pure business.

Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda have signed a controversial deal to regulate and share the waters of River Nile, despite protests from downstream nations Sudan and Egypt. Ethiopia at the same time opened its first major dam on the Nile.

After more than a decade of volunteer work in Angola's rural Matala district in the southern province of Huila, a Finnish doctor is seeing maternal mortality rates gradually come down in a country where about one in every 70 women dies in childbirth. Since 1998 Birgitta Long has spent three months each year working as a volunteer in a run-down clinic handicapped by staff and skills shortages, and which battles to source emergency medicines, but she sees the growing queue of women coming for medical help as a step in the right direction.

In this weeks roundup of emerging actors in Africa news, South-South biotech collaborations flourish, China pledges economic aid for $6 million to Seychelles, Kenya reaps handsome rewards from its robust 'Look East' policy, India pushes for more cultural, educational ties with Africa, and Vedanta to Buy Anglo American Mines for $1.34 Billion.

Moremi Initiative proudly announces the 2010 MILEAD Fellows. The MILEAD Fellows were chosen through a highly competitive selection process and criteria, including their outstanding leadership promise, community service accomplishments and commitment to the advancement of women in Africa. The 25 selected fellows are some of Africa’s most extra-ordinary young women leaders with the courage and commitment to lead and shape the future of their communities and Africa as a whole.

The first anniversary celebration of the life and legacy of Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, pan-African friend, comrade, brother and inspiration to so many, is to be held in London on:

Date: Saturday 22 May 2010 Venue: Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, 17 – 25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA Time: 1pm - 6pm

The celebration is open to the public and all are welcome to attend.

The celebration is jointly organised, in the spirit of Pan-Africanism, by friends of Tajudeen, including his widow Mounira Chaieb, Justice Africa, the Centre for Democracy and Development, the Pan African Development Education and Advocacy Programme, the Royal African Society and Pambazuka News.

The day will comprise speeches on the life and works of Tajudeen, the launch of a book of the compilation of Tajudeen’s postcards entitled , performance poetry and traditional African music and the launch of the Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem Educational Trust.

We welcome all other organisations, groups and persons who wish to join our efforts to honour and continue the work of Tajudeen.

'Forward ever, backward never' Kwame Nkrumah (1909–72) 'Don't agonise, organise!' Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem (1961–2009)

Dear friends of Walter Rodney,

13 June 2010 will be 30 years since Walter Rodney was assassinated in Guyana. In tribute to Walter Rodney and to rekindle and remind ourselves of his contribution to the understanding of oppression and the forces of oppression, we call on you to organise activities in your community in the month of June.

Walter left us with a simple task. As the ultimate teacher of the nature and art of oppression, he left us with the task of carrying the torch. His message was clear and unambiguous. We have the benefit of his life work of scholarly activism, which can be used by the working people to cut through the maze of the politics of race that consume our societies.

Today, more than at any other time in history, our people, the working people, can begin anew to engage the new phase of the struggle for transformation. To that end we encourage the self-mobilisation of activities across the world under the theme 'Walter Rodney: Racial Unity, Resistance and Transformation'.

The Walter Rodney 30th Anniversary Commemoration Committee can be contacted as follows:

- Guyana: Andaiye at 592 227 7481 or by email: [email][email protected]
- Canada: Jai Parsram at 416 289 1346 or by email: [email][email protected]
- USA: Wazir Mohamed at 765 373 8421 or by email: [email][email protected]
- UK: Luke Daniels by email: [email][email protected]

Co-coordinators, Walter Rodney 30th Anniversary Commemoration Committee Andaiye and Horace Campbell

Africa's lake Tanganyika has heated up sharply over the past 90 years and is now warmer than at any time for at least 1,500 years, a scientific paper said on Sunday, adding that fish and wildlife are threatened.The lake, which straddles the border between Tanzania in East Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the world's second largest by volume and its second deepest, the paper says.

For four days from March 31, fifteen women gathered at the Feminist Tech Exchange in the Brazzaville (Congo) Digital Campus. Participants and trainers alike came from human and women’s rights organisations, the media and politics to learn more about how to use technology to end violence against women and girls.