A surprise intervention at the weekend by Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations secretary-general, has drawn warnings from senior officials in south Sudan that any outside efforts to influence a referendum next year could lead to further conflict. Mr Ban told an African Union summit at the weekend that he would “work hard” to avoid the secession of south Sudan following the referendum.

The International Criminal Court is to review its earlier decision not to add genocide to the charges against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. "It was a legal error to reject the genocide charges against President al-Bashir," said prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in a press statement.

Networks of people living with HIV in southern Sudan are trying to overcome deficiencies in the limping health system and broken infrastructure by spreading information about the pandemic and reducing stigma and denial.

Arriving at the airport in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, you have a fair chance that the newish-looking taxi taking you into town will not be the usual French or Japanese model, but Iranian. And it will not have been imported, as most cars in Africa are, but assembled in nearby Thiès.

An Italian village is hoping to reverse its population decline by welcoming refugees from around the world. The immigrants get free room and board and are expected to work and learn Italian in return. The project is proving highly successful - but the local Mafia aren't happy.

Women human rights activists in Mauritius, under the umbrella Women in Politics (WIP), have asked political parties to field women as one-third of their candidates in the next general elections. They said one woman should be among the three candidates that each party shall field in each of the 20 constituencies of the island.

Angolan head of state, José Eduardo dos Santos, formed a new government marked by the creation of the post of Vice-president of the Republic which will be occupied by the incumbent speaker of the National Assembly, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos "Nando", according to official sources.

African leaders have called for an end to detention of political opponents and reiterated the need to end an African era dominated by the grabbing of political power. African Union (AU) Chairman, President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi, said key among the decisions reached during the Addis Ababa Summit which ended Tuesday was to call for an end to the political crises in Guinea, Madagascar and an end to illegal takeover of power in Africa.

Uganda's controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill is likely to be changed, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Henry Okello Oryem. However, he did not give details of how he thought the final bill would be different to the current proposals.

An estimated 5.23 million people will require emergency food assistance up to December 2010 with the net food requirement including TSF needs being 290,271 MT estimated to cost around USD 231.3 million according to the Joint Government and Humanitarian Partners' Humanitarian Requirement Document released on 2 February 2010

Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW) demonstrates and promotes a youth-led approach to development, implementing internationally recognised programmes across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. SPW is looking for a Country Director with relevant professional experience and a passion for SPW’s mission to place young people at the forefront of change and development. Closing date for applications: 18th February 2010, 5pm GMT (UK time)

Infighting in one of Darfur's rebel groups has driven at least 10,000 people from their homes in the restive Jabel Marra area, deepening the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's west, officials said. Darfur's rebels have fractured into dozens of groups since their rebellion began in early 2003, hindering peace efforts and increasing insecurity in Sudan's west, where the United Nations estimates a humanitarian crisis has claimed 300,000 lives.

The humiliating ritual has become a way of life for the 19-year-old, who lives in a shack with her parents in a section of the sprawling township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town. There are no toilets for the hundreds of families crammed into the shantytown known as QQ section.

Global apartheid refers to the divergence in the economic and social development of a white North, industrialised world and a brown South in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The author concludes that the same kind of worldwide solidarity that helped bring down apartheid is necessary to free the global South from economic domination.

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is pressing the world to end sanctions on his country as it climbs out of a political and economic abyss but wherever he goes the shadow of Robert Mugabe follows.

Ethiopian judge sentenced a journalist to prison on Friday in connection with a January 2008 column that criticized Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's statements about religious affairs in Ethiopia, according to local journalists. Federal High Court Judge Mohammed Omar sentenced Editor Ezedin Mohamed of the Muslim-oriented newspaper Al-Quds to one year in prison.

Colette Braeckman

Venance Konan

This urges all to speak out against the death penalty for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and all the men, women and children facing execution around the world. This ultimate form of punishment is unacceptable in a civilized society and undermines human dignity. (U.N. General Assembly, Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty, Resolution 62/149, Dec. 18, 2007; reaffirmed, Resolution 63/168, Dec. 18, 2008.)

From 3 to 14 May 2010, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) will organise a training course on the treaty monitoring bodies and the universal periodic review (UPR). The course will be conducted in parallel to the 44th sessions of the Committee against Torture (CAT), the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) and the 8th session of the UPR.

Three flow stations in the oil-rich Niger Delta have had to be closed after a pipeline was sabotaged, according to Royal Dutch Shell. The company said the Jan. 30 leak on the Trans Ramos oil pipeline was due to sabotage, but no group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. A represnetative of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta told a Nigerian newspaper at the end of January that it was ending a truce agreed in October 2009.