The ultimate challenge and objective of this conference is to encourage Africanists across the disciplines to think about rights in ways more consonant with local struggles over power and its meaning, and to consider how they might establish more meaningful conversations among the academic world, the world of international and non-governmental agencies, and the worlds in which people strive to imagine, define, create, and defend their rights in Africa and its diasporas.

Many rejected asylum seekers are living from hand to mouth with all avenues to a normal life blocked. Most live in abject poverty, stripped of their dignity, relying on others to subsist, sometimes going hungry and sleeping in the streets. Many appear to have given up hope of ever being able to live a normal life and some have lost the will to live.

Having destroyed large part of its human and natural resources during the country's fifty years of wars is it possible for Angola to become the China of the African continent. Well, that is the assumption of Credit Guarantee, South Africa's largest insurer of company debtors.

Floods, earthquakes and storms have routinely displaced tens of thousands around the world. Over the past few years, the international community's response to these catastrophes has become even swifter and more sophisticated. Until very recently, however, and in the rush to deliver life-saving aid to these people, little attention was paid to the rights of these displaced people.

International human rights law complements international refugee law. Refugee law does not supercede human rights law as lex specialis if the human rights norm offers more protection. Hence the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees are the primary instruments for the protection of refugees and asylum-seekers, but international human rights law and the treaty bodies established under these treaties can offer additional protection in different situations.

As the Sudanese government escalates attacks against civilians in Darfur, and as it reportedly reneges on a new compromise agreement for a hybrid peacekeeping force, Africa Action urges the U.S. and other members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council to stop making concessions to Khartoum and to stand firm in the pursuit of an international peacekeeping force that can provide protection for the people of Darfur.

In this issue, we turn our attention to Ethiopia's development in the 20th and 21st Century. Lily Yokye's profile of Addis Alemayehu details the life of a young Ethiopian from the Diaspora who is assisting Ethiopia's private sector to expand their export to the developed world. Addis urges Ethiopians in the Diaspora to do their bit by investing their money and know how in the development of our beloved country.

Fair trade business is booming across the Western world, which can only be good news for the millions of poor farmers struggling to survive in the face of collapsing commodity prices and ruthless multinationals, right? Maybe, but as fair trade goes mainstream, formerly-clear distinctions about who really benefits are getting blurry.

The new African-Chinese economic and diplomatic partnership, manifested in the pact signed by China and 48 African countries in Beijing this month, is unsettling European leaders and analysts, who continue to see Africa as Europe's backyard. French analysts and politicians have been calling attention to China's growing presence in Africa for many months.

Isn't it expensive to be a Knight Fellow in Palo Alto? Yes, and for that reason, in addition to a $55,000 stipend (paid in10 monthly installments, September through June), we provide supplements for housing, childcare and health insurance. The housing supplements are $2,500 annually for single Fellows, married Fellows and those with domestic partners; $8,500 annually for Fellows with one child and $11,500 annually for Fellows with two or more children.

The aim of the course is to provide information on the United Nations (UN) human rights system by looking at the work and outcome of the Human Rights Council. The course is scheduled parallel to the fourth session of the Human Rights Council (12 March-6 April 2007).

Global AIDS is the worst public health crisis that mankind has faced in 700 years, and no end to its escalation is in sight TB and malaria also kill millions annually. In 2001 Kofi Annan proposed a Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Fund started operations in January 2002. Even though Kofi Annan is Secretary General of the United Nations, the Fund is not part of the UN.

The Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) is looking for experienced professional volunteers and for interns to participate in its programme of health research systems strengthening with developing countries. If you are interested in being considered for work as a COHRED intern or volunteer, please send an e-mail to [email][email protected] with ‘interns and volunteers’ in the subject line.

With its new research programme entitled ‘The Political Economy of Poverty and Wealth in Africa’, the ASC’s Economy, Ecology and Exclusion theme group is working towards a better understanding and critical analysis of poverty and the creation of wealth in Africa.

The United States signed an agreement November 13 with President Amadou Toumani Touré of Mali to provide $461 million over five years to fund three sustainable development projects in the West African democratic nation. The $461 million agreement -- or compact -- with Mali "embodies ... our commitment to democracy and development," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a signing ceremony at the State Department.

A new report by the World Bank predicts that remittances to developing countries will rise to almost $ 200 million by the end of this year, but is enough being done to make that money stretch even further to aid development? People in developing countries do more to help themselves than they are given credit for, despite the desperate images of a poverty-stricken Africa projected by aid agencies and charitable organisations.

Third World Network Africa has a transcript of an interview with Yao Graham on its website. Speaking about China, Graham says: "The thing is if we look at how China has been able to get where it has, there are important lessons and possibilities that we could get from the relationship. There are some lessons that are clearly standard: planning very carefully for the long-term; liberalizing and de-regulating in a phased way; recognizing an important role for the state in supporting private capital development, and the whole economy as a whole; a selective attitude to the inflow of FDI and foreign capital, and in general, a sense of guiding it into the sectors that you think would be most beneficial, rather than a free-for-all; and also targeting the way in which you develop technology, and to apply it."

The Sauve Scholars Fund is an opportunity for highly-motivated people, under thirty, of demonstrated leadership potential, to come to Montreal for eight months to research, reflect, question and enlarge upon their understanding of the state of the world and their roles in effecting positive change.

The Living on the Margins conference will bring together current knowledge and cutting edge research on the dynamics of economic marginalization and its implications, and will interrogate the adequacy of dominant accounts of marginalization.

The government of Kenya is being accused of failing to act on evidence of an alleged banking fraud worth $1.5bn, dwarfing other recent scandals. The alleged scam, involving money laundering and tax evasion, was exposed by whistle-blowers as early as 2004. Investigators believe tax evasion and money laundering worth 10% of Kenya's national income are involved.