International aid organisation Oxfam has criticised the Belgian Customs for the routine seizure of generic medicines sent to Africa from India or China, under the cover that they are fake. Contending that some of the medicines are generic versions, with undeniable therapeutic properties, the organisation therefore demanded an analysis of the seized drugs to confirm whether or not they are fake.

Sierra Leone’s anti-corruption commissioner has a simple message for foreign investors coming to his country for its mines and oil — offer bribes and you could find yourself in prison.

At least 3,000 foreigners, mainly Zimbabweans, have fled their homes in the De Doorns farming area on the Western Cape after they were attacked by South African mobs, the Red Cross said Wednesday.

Women in North Africa have made tremendous progress in promoting and upholding their rights. Women in this region—commonly known as the Maghreb—are at the forefront of the Arab world in terms of individual rights and gender equality, and constitute models for other Arab women to follow.

The human rights organization FIAN International is expecting a self-critical analysis and a change of course in global food politics from the World Summit on Food Security starting in Rome today. In 1996, governments had promised to halve hunger by 2015.

India's ONGC Videsh (OVL), ONGC’s foreign investment arm, is in talks with Ghana’s national oil company to bid for Kosmos Energy’s stake in the giant offshore Jubilee field of the region. Dallas-based Kosmos Energy focused on Africa, holds a 30.8 per cent stake in the Jubilee oil block, one of the biggest oil blocks in Africa.

Experts, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders in women's empowerment and gender equality issues have agreed to improve the lives of African women, a UNECA press lease has said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is to launch a mass yellow fever vaccination campaign in the Republic of Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone. WHO has said that the week-long event would target 11.9 million people across the three countries, all of which are at high risk of yellow fever outbreaks.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has threatened to call off its indefinite ceasefire, after alleging a military attack against the Kula community in Rivers state in the early hours of the day.

Zimbabwe has started withdrawing soldiers from diamond fields in the east of the country after recommendations by the Kimberly Process and criticism over rights abuses, state media has reported.

East African leaders are due to sign a common market treaty. The presidents of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are expected to agree to the free movement of people and goods across the region.

This month, one of the Anti-Eviction Campaign's coordinators, Ashraf Cassiem, is going around the U.S., speaking at college campuses and meeting with activist to share information about post-apartheid community struggles, particularly with the forced removals and the resulting protests taking place in the run up to the 2010 World Cup.

Stowed away on cargo ships and unsure where their dangerous journeys will take them, increasing numbers of African immigrants are arriving in Latin America as European countries tighten border controls.

The Hutu militia FDLR is responsible for much of the violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where murder, massacres, rape and kidnapping are widespread. The FDLR's leaders have lived untouched in Germany for years. Now the authorities have reacted -- far too late.

UNICEF has said that more than 43,000 children work in mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The UN agency made this known in a statement it issued ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Children's Rights.

Sudanese women have called on the African human rights system to assist them reform the repressive laws back home in Sudan. In a paper they presented at the 46th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and people's Rights in Banjul, the Gambia, a group of Sudanese human rights activists called for an urgent reform of the public order regime in Sudan.

World leaders who convened in Rome, Italy, for the World Summit on Food Security have unanimously adopted a declaration pledging renewed commitment to eradicate hunger at the earliest date, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Countries also agreed to work to reverse the decline in domestic and international funding for agriculture and promote new investment in the sector.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has launched a public broadcasting report on issues surrounding the sector in the country. The report is based on a survey entitled “Public Broadcasting In Africa Series” commissioned by Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project(AFRIMAP), Open Society Initiative Southern Africa(OSISA), Open Society Institute Media Programme(OSIMP) and MISA-Zimbabwe.

The Municipal Service Project (MSP) systematically explores alternatives to the privatization and commercialization of service provision in the health, water, sanitation and electricity sectors. We evaluate service delivery models deemed to be successful alternatives to commercialization in an effort to understand the conditions required for their sustainability and reproducibility.Our focus is on the water, electricity and primary health care sectors in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Somali nationals claiming asylum in India form a small but significant community of refugees who are seeking asylum in a region far from their roots. But the Government of India does not recognize Somali refugees, who are part of the approximately 11,257 refugees (also including Burmese, Iranians, Iraqis, Palestinians and Sudanese, among others) who can only rely on the ‘protection’ of the Indian office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).