The government of Lesotho has enacted the Education Act 2010, legalising the right to free and compulsory education. The act is hailed as "a historic landmark for the children of Lesotho" and will boost school enrollment. In Lesotho, free primary education was introduced in the year 2000 as a major strategy towards achieving the "Education for All" goals. This initially led to rapid increase in the net enrolment rate, which currently stands at an impressive 82 percent of primary school aged children - 80 percent of boys and 84 of percent girls.

A South African government agency has become the first to join the world's leading patent pool for neglected diseases, a move that could bolster home-grown innovations in the fight against diseases including tuberculosis (TB). The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), a government body, recently announced that it had joined a patent pool established by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to spur research into 16 neglected tropical diseases.

FEMNET and Reality of Aid Africa Network will undertake country - based studies to review and assess the changes that are taking place in the countries mentioned above as a result of consistent implementation of the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) and how this is translating into development effectiveness. The studies will give voice to the views of the citizens of these countries on the progress made in achieving the aid effectiveness agenda in relation to the development priorities of each country.

On May 4, Guinea underwent its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) before the United Nations Human Rights Council. The objective of the UPR is to improve the human rights situation in each of the 192 member States and is conducted on the basis of information submitted by the Guinean Government, civil society and the Council’s Secretariat. During an interactive dialogue with UN member States, a number of questions were posed to Guinean Government representatives on the grave human rights situation in the country. In addition, States formulated a series of concrete recommendations intended to improve the human rights situation as quickly as possible.

Jointly convened by Fahamu, UN Millennium Campaign, Oxfam International and Kenya Human Rights Commission

AFRICA: 50 YEARS ON, HOW IS PAN AFRICANISM STILL RELEVANT?

Panel discussion 16.00 – 18.00

Occurring each 25 May, Africa Liberation Day has been celebrated as a day for Pan Africanist reflection since 1963. This day takes place in a year when Africa will host the World Cup, some African countries will celebrate 50 years of independence and the world reflects on 10 years of the Millennium Development Goals and 15 years of the Beijing Platform for Action for Women.

Resource-persons include: Charles Abugre, Rachel Shebesh and Irungu Houghton

ONE YEAR ON, WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TAJUDEEN ABDUL-RAHEEM AND HIS IDEAS?

Book launch 18.00 – 20.00
Launch of the late Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem’s collection of writings

Resource-persons include: Anyang’ Ny’ong’o, Firoze Manji, Ndungu Githuku and Sarah Mitaru

This year also marks the first anniversary of the passing away of Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem (1961–2009), who died on the Mombasa road this day last year. Dr Abdul-Raheem served a range of African organisations including the Africa Research and Information Bureau, the Pan-African Movement and Justice Africa before becoming the UN Millennium Development Campaign Africa director in 2006. His weekly ‘Pan-African Postcards’ were published regularly in Pambazuka News and in several African newspapers. This book is the first comprehensive attempt to bring his opinion editorials together. A limited set of copies will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the launch.

Both events are open to the public.

Opportunities when African writers meet on the same pages at the continental level are few and sometimes, decades apart, especially when this congregation is within Africa itself. For young, un-established writers, this kind of opportunity and the chances that it offers are even rare.

Kwani Trust is pleased to announce such a congress with the launch of this Africa-wide short story competition. The official narrative of ‘inherent’ goodness, indigenous beauty and widespread historicism has now been running on empty for a while. So we seek newer stories that reflect our day to day lives both private and public: the stories and narratives exchanged in schools, colleges, public transport, offices, churches, pubs, streets, suburbs, estates, trading centres, valleys and hills; stories told through song and dance, paint and brush, word and phrase, lens and shutter – stories now being told by a new generation, spurred by new imaginations, revealed by new narratives and expressions.

This call-out is unique for targeting writers under the age of 30, on a continent in which young people virtually have no international airing. It is an important, historical opportunity that opens the way for new directions in African writing to emerge, an exciting vent which is likely to throw up endless surprises.

Published authors will be paid a fee of $100.

Submission guidelines for short stories on new African writing

Deadline: 30 June 2010

World Press Photo, an independent, non-profit organization, together with Canon, TNT and IFAD are sponsoring a project that builds on the capacity of French-speaking photojournalists in sub-Saharan Africa. Photojournalists from the region will be selected through a competition and their work will contribute to increasing global awareness on the challenges and opportunities facing the African continent.

Under-developed public accountability systems are hindering efforts to combat corruption in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine, according to a new report by Transparency International (TI) anti-corruption organisation. The report points to major gaps in legal anti-corruption provisions and a worrying lack of resolve to introduce effective practices to curb the problem, which pose a risk for sustainable development, social cohesion and economic growth.

Mozambique is rapidly improving its road and rail connections with neighbouring countries, most of which have higher HIV prevalence. Government now wishes to halt the expected boost in HIV infections along these inroads. Improved road and rail infrastructure in Mozambique, including the establishment of the Maputo, Beira and Nacala corridors and new bridges connecting to Malawi and Tanzania, is rapidly expanding the transport sector and increasingly linking the country with its neighbours.

Mobile clinics for HIV patients have been benefiting entire communities in rural Swaziland, but tight budgets have scuppered plans to expand the project, or even sustain a fleet of just two vehicles. "Whatever financial problems we have are temporary, I am sure, because the people have responded so well to the mobile clinics," said Siphiwe Hlope, founder and director of Swaziland Positive Living (SWAPOL), an NGO that supports those living with HIV, especially in rural communities, which started the project.

An additional police unit and more troops should be added to the UN Office in Côte d’Ivoire’s peacekeeping presence of 8,500 troops, to keep the peace in the west, say the International Crisis Group (ICG) and aid officials. There is broad support for the call among aid workers IRIN spoke to, and the general public.

The Egyptian government is often forced to recognize past abuses in the course of putting a pretty face on future ones, as aptly illustrated by a presidential decree issued on May 11 that extended the State of Emergency for another two years. This time, the Prime Minister and parliamentarians with the ruling party swore that the Emergency Law would only be applied in terrorism and drug cases, implicitly admitting that it has been applied much more broadly over the last 29 years, despite repeated denials by the government.

Palm oil power stations planned for Britain would worsen climate change and food security in Africa and the Global South. Few are aware that palm oil could now be used to fuel power stations in Britain unless we stop them. Some people, including the British Government, think this sounds like a green way of producing electricity, but nothing could be further from the truth and the increasing use of land for fuels puts increasing pressure on land for food, resulting in raised food prices, affecting all of us, but particularly Africa and other countries in the Global South where food scarcity is already such a problem.

Disaster risk and climate change – two of the greatest challenges currently facing humankind – adversely reinforce each other. In the coming decades, climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of natural disasters such as droughts and floods. Climate change is also likely to increase people’s vulnerability to already existing hazards in developing countries.

Ethiopia’s Gibe 3 Dam is one of the most destructive hydropower projects being built today. If completed, it would destroy fragile ecosystems on which 500,000 poor indigenous people depend for their survival. A worldwide civil society campaign has held international financial institutions at bay for several years. Yesterday, however, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) offered to step in with a $500 million loan. If the loan is confirmed, China’s biggest bank will become responsible for a massive social and environmental disaster.

Sustainable development demands that people participate in the debates and decisions that affect their lives. They need to be able to receive information, but also to make their voices heard. But the poor are often excluded from these processes by geography and lack of resources or skills. The video explores what can happen when poor and marginalised people are listened to, and given access to the information they need.

Investment in information technology can help Africa to improve governance, overcome poverty and deal with critical infrastructure gaps, taking India as an example, the co-chair of the World Economic Forum on Africa 2010 (WEF) said. “There is no need to reinvent the wheel,” Ajai Chowdhry, also chairman and chief executive officer of HCL Infosystems in India, told IRIN on the sidelines of a recent WEF conference in Tanzania.

Somali media took another heartbreaking blow with the murder of a Radio Mogadishu journalist last week, report the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), the Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA) and other IFEX members. Just one day after World Press Freedom Day, on 4 May, gunmen abducted and killed the journalist; he had worked for a station managed by the Transitional Federal Government.

Toxic and carcinogenic metals, able to produce genetic mutations, have been found in the tissues of people wounded in Gaza during Israeli military operations of 2006 and 2009. The research has been carried out on biopsies from wounds provoked by weapons that do not leave fragments, a peculiarity of weapons utilized in Gaza that was pointed out repeatedly by doctors and that shows that weapons whose long term effects are still to be assessed were used.

Amady Aly Dieng

Ibrahima Bob

CADTM