Despite the financial sector boom in Senegal, small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), which represent over 90 percent of the industrial fabric of the country, struggle to access funding for their development, their representatives claim.

The first international conference on HIV/AIDS ended Wednesday in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, with a call on the people to fight against stigmatization and seek ways of re-integrating HIV-positive patients into the society.

All Pherebonia Nyiramatabaro, 85, wants is land where she and her 15-year-old grandson can grow a few crops. Nyiramatabaro, living in a two-roomed hut in Juru A camp in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement, southwestern Uganda, is one of thousands of Rwandans hit by a Uganda government directive barring refugees from cultivation

Welcoming the recognition by Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma that corruption poses a serious threat to the West African country, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that while he is encouraged by some improvements in its political climate, challenges to fostering political tolerance and promoting non-violence remain.

The number of cases of typhoid fever in Harare is increasing, raising fears of another serious health crisis in the country. More than 140 cases of typhoid have been reported in the Mabvuku-Tafara suburb of Harare, up from 40 cases reported last week. At least five people are known to have died so far from the mainly water borne disease. Typhoid, which is very similar to cholera, is transmitted by food or water contaminated with waste from an infected person. The Harare City Council has now ordered all food handlers to undergo medical tests to try curb what appears to be the rapid spread of the disease.

The government is proposing a ban on second-hand computers to curb dumping and encourage local assembling. A study on electronic waste conducted in Kenya in 2008 indicated that the country generated 3,000 tonnes of e-waste from computers, monitors and printers in 2007. Information and Communications PS, Dr Bitange Ndemo, says his ministry is proposing to Treasury to include in the next year's Budget a ban on used computers.

For many Moroccan working women, the trade-off between home lives and jobs occurs at the expense of time and peace of mind. While women have acquired some freedom in the working environment, attitudes have not changed as regards the role of a woman within the family. The equality they seek has not yet been achieved on the domestic front.

Nigeria has recalled its ambassador to Libya after leader Muammar Gaddafi suggested Nigeria be divided into two states - one Christian and one Muslim. The foreign ministry said the Libyan leader's statement was "irresponsible". Earlier in the week a senator had called Col Gaddafi a "mad man".

Zimbabwe's central bank governor on Thursday attacked as "reckless" a drive by President Robert Mugabe's party to force foreign-owned companies to cede majority shareholdings to local black businessmen

Sudan has signed a ceasefire with a major Darfur rebel group, the second deal in recent weeks, leaving just one band of rebels in open conflict. The Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) - a newly formed umbrella group of 10 movements - signed the framework deal paving the way for further talks.

Kenyan farmer Zack Matere pulls his mobile out of his pocket holds it up and takes a couple of photos. "It seems they have come back and are digging here again." He is referring to a group of people who have encroached on a water catchment area and are endangering the whole community's water supply.

On average women constitute 18.8 percent of representatives in parliaments across the world according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). This gender imbalance has been subject to much feminist criticism and many campaigns for change have been staged to address the status quo. The situation is however different in Rwanda.

Thirteen lives were lost, six injured while 9,516 people were rendered homeless during heavy rains recorded in the southern Huíla Province of Angola from January 2009 to February 2010, an official source disclosed to the nation's news agency, ANGOP

The Inner Circle (TIC) will host the Annual International Retreat (AIR) aimed at challenging Muslim extremism as well as engaging the impact of this on gender and sexual minorities.

United Nations aid workers in eastern Madagascar are helping local officials mount relief efforts in the wake of Tropical Storm Hubert, which has killed dozens of people in the Indian Ocean country and left an estimated 11,000 others homeless.

Will commercial oil production (due to begin later this year) build or break the back of Ghana’s democracy? This may seem an unnecessarily inflammatory question, but history demonstrates that healthy caution is necessary in managing oil revenues. Ghana, however, has made history by hosting a series of free and fair elections in recent years. Twice the opposition party has won and the incumbent has stepped down in a display of due respect for democracy. This is groundbreaking progress as less than a handful of African countries have attained such a benchmark of democratic consolidation

About Rwf60 million has been moved in daily transactions, with the use of the 'Mobile Money' facility, a month after it was launched, MTN Rwanda officials said. Andrew Rugege, the MTN Chief Executive Officer (COO) told Business Times on Friday that daily transactions had increased since the 'Mobile Money' platform was launched and added that active subscribers are close to 30,000 of the over 1 million MTN mobile clients.

Today, more than half the world's population lives in cities. Every year, hundreds of thousands are uprooted when neighborhoods are cleared to make way for “development”. On 22-26 March, the fifth session of the World Urban Forum will be held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro to address these issues.

This latest report from the International Crisis Group, analyses the underlying causes and offers a new approach to unlock the negotiation stalemate. Power-sharing agreements signed in Maputo in August 2009 and Addis Ababa in November offered opportunities to promote a consensual transition. But though he signed, de facto President Andry Rajoelina and his entourage have blocked implementation of the accords, so were hit by African Union (AU) personal sanctions on 17 March.

Africa’s economic future and the challenge of uniting people and nations drew eminent politicians and scholars into a historic public debate in Nairobi. They examined the role of a free Press in Africa, debated the path to regional integration and spoke out on the continent’s quality of leadership as the curtain rose on the Nation Media Group’s 50th anniversary celebrations.