Twenty one years ago Kakuma Camp was established with an initial capacity of 100,000 to temporarily accommodate thousands of refugees fleeing the civil war in Sudan. For a very long time it has been one of the most cosmopolitan camps in the world. It has accommodated refugees and other forced migrants from East Africa, the Horn of Africa, Central African Republic, Great Lakes region and other parts of the world. As of mid-May, there were a total of 95,300 refugees and asylum seekers in the camp, reports the Kakuma News Reflector. The latest edition of the Reflector is available through their website.

Mombasa Anglican Church of Kenya Bishop Julius Kalu has said gays are worse than terrorists and called for Christians to be ever vigilant. It is now emerging that the Bishop had 'asked for money from different gay groups' to assist in planning for a workshop where several Anglican priests and their wives were expected to attend.

Inequalities in South Africa are threatening economic growth, with children born into poor families unlikely to ever to escape poverty or reap the rewards of living in Africa's largest economy. The World Bank's sobering assessment, released last week, found that a child's gender and ethnicity at birth, combined with a lack of education, largely determine that person's chances of success in life - even 18 years after the end of apartheid.

With Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi seriously ill, East African leaders need to start worrying about what his impending exit will mean for the region. Many analysts in the region worry about the political situation in a post-Zenawi Ethiopia, and are sceptical that the country can pull off a smooth transition.

About 90 Somali migrants stranded on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea for more than four days have been rescued, an Italian news agency and relatives say. Earlier this month, 54 people died of dehydration while trying to sail from Libya to Italy in an inflatable boat. More than one million Somalis have fled the country since 1991.

Footage obtained by the M&G shows Swaziland's people, ruled by King Mswati III, are suffering from starvation, displacement, intimidation and violence. Visit their website to watch the production.

The World Bank has admitted that it is largely to blame for the failure of the project to rehabilitate the Beira railway system. Indian consortium RICON was the dominant partner and was supposed to be in charge of the complete reconstruction of the Sena Line. The World Bank was initially enthusiastic about the project, and backed it up with a loan of 104 million US dollars. The Mozambican authorities, and CFM, soon began to sound the alarm. Ricon kept missing deadlines, and its work failed to observe technical standards.

Nine women in the northern Côte d’Ivoire town of Katiola have been convicted for carrying out female genital mutilation – the first time that a 1998 law banning FGM has been applied. The women were found guilty of excising thirty girls aged between 10 and 15 in February. They were each sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay a fine equivalent to roughly 100 dollars. 'We have been waiting a long time for a boost in the fight against this scourge,' said Rachel Gogoua in the Ivorian economic capital, Abidjan, where she heads the National Organisation for Children, Women and the Family (ONEF), a non-governmental organisation that campaigns against FGM.

The next few weeks promise to be interesting for Ghana as the country tries to come to terms with the sudden death of President John Atta Mills on 24 July. Known for its strong democracy, the west African country will be keenly watched over how it handles its transitions. Within hours of Mr Mills death, his deputy John Dramani Mahama was sworn in in line with Article 60 (6) of the country's constitution, drawing praise from observers.

DRC President Joseph Kabila has visited the Angolan capital Luanda to mobilise support over the ongoing crisis in the Central African country. Currently, DRC is trying to neutralise an armed insurrection by the M23 rebel group, which, according to UN and Kinshasha, is supported by Kigali, claims that Rwandan officials have denied. More than 200,000 people in the region have been displaced by the conflict.

With the United Nations Climate Change Conference less than four months away, African countries need to present convincing arguments and successful adaptation projects to attract competitive funding for adjusting to changes in global weather patterns, climate finance experts say. 'Africa needs to focus on developing strong arguments for COP 18 and beyond based on clear evidence,' climate change and finance expert, and chief executive of OneWorld, Belynda Petrie, told IPS. The 18th Conference of Parties or COP 18 will take place in Doha, Qatar in late November.

Germany has suspended millions of euros in aid to Rwanda over allegations that the country is backing rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Development Minister Dirk Niebel said on Saturday that Germany was putting on ice some €21-million in aid for Kigali planned from this year until 2015 in what he said was an 'unmistakable signal to the Rwandan government'.

Ethnic clashes in southern Ethiopia are reported to have left at least 18 people dead and 12 others injured. More than 20,000 people have crossed into Kenya to escape the fighting, the Kenyan Red Cross says. A spokesman said that people were continuing to cross the border although Ethiopian government forces had intervened to stop the fighting.

An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus has killed at least 13 people and infected a further seven in Uganda. The health ministry says emergency measures are in place to deal with the outbreak, which began in late June but has only just been confirmed as Ebola. The cases have been reported in Kibaale district, about 170km (100 miles) to the west of the capital Kampala.

FEMNET is a pan-African regional women’s rights network that has been in existence for 24 years and has been at the forefront championing gender equality, equity and women’s rights through delivery of critical information, and strengthening linkages and collaboration among women’s organizations. Femnet is advertising five jobs, including Head of Capacity Building; Knowledge Management Officer; Member Liaison Officer; Finance Officer and Assistant Translator.

Every day in international development organisations feminist bureaucrats make use of strategy, tactics, wisdom and skill to act for their principles. This Institute of Development Studies paper explores the challenges and opportunities for feminists working as women’s rights and gender equality specialists in international non-governmental development organisations, as analysed from an insider practitioner perspective.

This UN document contains graphs and maps which break down international migrants by age and sex. It includes information on median age, youth migrants, migrants of working age and older migrants.

This case study from Oxfam on the uprising in Egypt says that the revolution gave women a sense of freedom and empowerment, and seemed like the perfect opportunity to claim their rights. However, while many groups, including women, overcame their fear to speak out against violations of their basic rights, the change in power relations threatened to ignore women’s rights or even reverse gains that were won in the past.

Morocco is on target to be one of the few countries to meet the UN's goal of lowering maternal mortality by 2015, in part thanks to a strong Peace Corps program and smaller families. A woman waiting at a clinic dramatizes how things are changing, in this story from www./womensenews.org.

The Kenya representatives at the ongoing Sex Workers Freedom Festival have won accolades for their passion and for spearheading a protest against US policies that do not favor sex workers. To begin with, John Mathenge, who was heading the delegation with two other female sex workers from the Kenya Sex Workers Alliance (KESWA) and the Bar Hostess and Empowerment Programm (BHESP), was accorded the Global Youth Activist on Sex Workers Award by the Global Network of Sex Workers Project (NSWP).