Liberia has kicked off campaigning for 11 October presidential and legislative elections, with incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf facing criticism over her plan to seek re-election. Sirleaf, who was elected Africa’s first female president in 2005, said she wanted a second term to continue her work in rebuilding the west African nation which was devastated by the 1989-2003 civil war.

This morning Municipal Security Guards arrived at the Kennedy Road shack settlement and began disconnecting people from electricity. The community had previously negotiated an understanding with the Municipality that they would not send their security guards into the settlement to disconnect.

In an open letter to US President Barack Obama, the Million Signatures Awareness Campaign calls for the immediate liberation of the Cuban Five.

Our grassroots intelligence has informed us that Prof. Sam Ongeri or his proxies in the corruption cartels are planning to send hooligans to visit violence on us so as to disrupt our sit-in. Our civic actions are non-violent, constitutionally protected and therefore we refuse to be cowed and shall continue with our sit-in until Prof Ongeri see some sense enough to resign.

The South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers' Union (Saccawu) has filed an appeal against the Competition Tribunal's decision to allow Walmart to acquire a controlling stake in Massmart. The Competition Tribunal was due to give reasons on Wednesday for its decision to allow US giant retailer Walmart to acquire 51 per cent of local retailer Massmart in a R16.5-billion deal.

With some 15 million children working in Nigeria, often in dangerous jobs, the International Trade Union Confederation has decried the alarming level of child labour in the country and anti-trade union violence in a report to the World Trade Organisation. The Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation, represents some 175 million workers in 151 countries, including Nigeria. In the report submitted to the 153-member World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, the group said that 'Some 15 million children are at work, many in dangerous jobs.'

Following the arrest of human rights defender Agostinho Chicaia in Kinshasa at the request of the Angolan authorities, OSI Angola and the Association for Justice Peace and Democracy (AJPD) are calling on Angola and the DRC ‘to state clearly what are the circumstances and the legal grounds for Mr Chicaia’s detention.’

A group of Twitter users are calling on the site to prevent NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) from using the service to obtain logistical information for its military campaign in Libya, arguing that Twitter appears ‘to be in violation, not only of the law, but also of its own Terms of Service.’

Stray elephants from Kenya’s Tsavo National Park are destroying the crops and livelihoods of communities in Taiva Taveta County, leaving them dependent on unaffordable maize flour and government relief supplies. The Unga Revolution committee made a solidarity visit to the area on June 14, to look at how to ensure that the government fulfils its constitutional obligation to ensure the community’s right to food and protection of livelihood. This is the committee's report on the visit.

Swaziland's labour unions are planning a series of further strikes to voice their feelings about proposed wage cuts and to lobby the government for regime change. Sibongile Mazibuko, the president of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, said the next protest action would take place over three days and their message was clear. 'We want this government to vacate office and we want regime change,' she said.

Madagascar, its unique biodiversity and its people, are under threat. French oil company Total is deciding whether to mine highly polluting tar sands in one of the poorest areas of Madagascar. Please act now to help stop this. Email Total’s chief executive today and call on him to abandon his company’s destructive plans.

Worldwide 215 million children are engaged in child labour, and of these 115 million are involved in what is considered to be hazardous work, says this report from the Food and Agricultural Organisation. Agriculture is the sector where the largest share of child labourers is found - a staggering 60 per cent of boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 17.

NAMRIGHTS is alarmed by what appear to be renewed death threats directed at one of the seven key accused persons in the alleged AVID Investments Corporation-Social Security Commission (AVID-SSC) financial fraud, suspected to come from people fearing their involvement in the case will be exposed.

Horace Campbell charts Africa’s exploitative history of ‘aid’ and the struggle to establish a new global system rooted in dignity, equality and genuine social justice.

A month ago Solidarity for African Women’s Rights coalition (SOAWR) invited young people to reflect on the contributions women and girls can make to development issues, by writing an essay on the importance of Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. The four finalists – Nonyelum Umeasiegbu, Laurence Lemogo, Itodo Samuel Anthony and Nelly Nguegan – will attend this month’s AU summit in Malabo on the theme of 'Youth empowerment for sustainable development’. The six best essays are available in the English and French editions of Pambazuka News.

The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International is seriously concerned about the detention of prominent Palestinian writer and academic Dr Ahmad Qatamesh, who has been held without charge by the Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank since 21 April 2011.

South Africans are still recovering from the heavy rains that caused a lot of damage and flooding especially to poor communities. In Siyanda people have to deal with fire as well as flood. The Shange family, the Buthelezi family and one other family have all been left homeless after a fire that destroyed three shacks in Siyanda B Settlement on Saturday, 11 June 2011 during the broad day light.

Messages of solidarity with the detained president of the Swaziland National Union of Students Maxwell Dlamini keep flowing in.

Human rights campaigners have demanded the immediate release of a Cameroonian man jailed for three years for homosexuality. Jean-Claude Roger Mbede appears to have been a victim of entrapment by the security forces, which regularly target and prosecute gay men. Mbede sent an acquaintance a text message and arranged to meet him on 2 March, according to human rights watchdogs. Before the meeting, the acquaintance showed police text messages from Mbede.

Representatives from various organisations in the region and nationally agreed to submit a series of observations and demands to the finance ministers and central bank presidents of the Union of Nations of South America, UNASUR, during the first meeting of the South American Council of Economy and Finance. The meeting, due to be held in Buenos Aires, was suspended as the proliferation of volcanic ash forced the closure of airports.