Seeking to minimise the perceived damage done to it by the recent conviction of one of its top members, Bode George, Nigeria's ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has endorsed the conviction. George, a former deputy national chairman of the PDP, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment, along with five others, last week for a contract scam while he served as the chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

A senior commander of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebels has surrendered in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Charles Arop, believed to be behind a brutal attack last Christmas, handed himself in to the Ugandan military.

Shell’s commencement of a new gas flare at a time when the routine gas flaring has received global condemnation, and with the full knowledge that gas flaring is an illegal activity in Nigeria, is seen by the locals as an act of impunity and total disregard for their health. Gas flaring is a major contributor of global warming greenhouse gases. The commence this destructive activity a few weeks from the climate negotiations in Copenhagen indicates Shell’s disregard for the welfare of humanity and our climate.

Three quarters of people in South Sudan have no access to medical care, and 10 percent of children there and in Darfur die before their first birthday, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official has said.

The United Nations has begun to parachute food aid into isolated areas of conflict-ridden southern Sudan with the aim of reaching more than 155,000 people cut off from road access by heavy rainfall, the World Food Programme (WFP) has announced.

Oil firms operating in Gabon will be banned from flaring gas in 2010, the government said in a statement. Exports of unprocessed timber will also be banned next year in an effort to increase employment by making logging companies mill and add value to wood locally, according to a statement issued after a cabinet meeting late on Thursday.

Moroccan courts on Friday (October 30th) convicted two journalists of desecrating the national flag and failing to show proper respect for a member of the royal family. Editor Taoufik Bouachrine and caricaturist Khalid Gueddar were put on trial after the daily Akhbar al-Youm published a cartoon of Prince Moulay Ismail's wedding in its September 27th edition.

Uganda is considering an anti-counterfeit bill which analysts say will impair the country’s ability to import and export cheap but effective generic medicines. Activists fear that the bill, once enacted, will deny Ugandans access to safe, effective, quality and affordable generic medication which currently forms the bulk of Uganda’s medicine imports.

Cameroonian LGBTI activist and Deputy President of the Association pour la Défense de l’Homosexualité (ADEFHO), Sébastien Mandeng was allegedly a victim of homophobic slurs and discrimination in the hands of Douala police station officials on Saturday 31 October, following an altercation with a taxi driver.

Whatever else it is, information and communications technologies (ICTs) policy-making can often be symbolic, especially in poor countries. The vision is one of social upliftment, and a new golden age of possibilities brought on by technological roll-out.

Despite strong efforts by the toppled democratic government of Mauritania, slavery has yet to be rooted out in the country, a UN report documents. Under the new government, little progress is made to fight slavery.

People living with HIV in Mauritania are voicing their concerns about the suspension of HIV/AIDS funding by the World Bank and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. They feel powerless in the face of the decisions, of which they are suffering the consequences.

The Head of the country office of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Libya, Laurence Hart, has declared that the issue of migrants stranded in the North African country on their way to Europe was "seriously" worrying the organisation.

AU Chairperson Jean Ping Tuesday called on the four Malagasy political leaders here to put the interest of the people before every agenda of their crisis talks to resolve the political crisis in the country.

A camp housing thousands of mainly Somali refugees in north-eastern Kenya has been completely flooded following almost three weeks of constant rain. Reports indicate that the main road into the area has been cut off by flooding.

A proposed Ugandan law on HIV/AIDS promotes dangerous and discredited approaches to the AIDS epidemic and would violate human rights, a group of more than 50 Ugandan and international organizations and individuals said in a report released today. The HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill could be taken up by Uganda's parliament shortly.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has denounced the vote on Friday October 30, 2009 by the National Assembly of a legislation reinforcing the powers of the High Authority of Audio-visual and Communication (HAAC) and which seriously threatens press freedom and freedom of expression in Togo.

The United Nations refugee agency has rushed relief items to help tens of thousands of Angolans expelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last month. A Boeing 747 jet from Johannesburg, South Africa, touched down in Angola’s capital, Luanda, over the weekend carrying thousands of tents, sleeping mats and blankets, as well as a prefabricated warehouse.

Madagascar's leader stormed out of internationally mediated power-sharing talks in the early hours of Friday, threatening to derail attempts to form a national unity government and end months of turmoil. Andry Rajoelina, who seized power in a March coup, insisted his leadership of the Indian Ocean island, increasingly eyed by investors for its oil and minerals, was not up for negotiation.

Four Moroccan teachers' unions paralysed public schools nationwide on Thursday (October 29th) by striking to protest problems that include shortages of instructors and overcrowded classrooms. The unions are also protesting poor infrastructure and changes in the promotions process.