The most salient outcome of the presidential elections in Senegal is a heightened, irreversible sense of empowerment; the notion that ordinary people constitute the first and most important institution in a democracy.

cc E PThe AU and ECOWAS need to act consistently and decisively to protect and uphold democracy when it is threatened by either military or civilian coups.

Senegal's political transition will be affected by its response to the youth. Nearly 44 per cent of the population is under the age of 15. Like many other African countries, Senegal will need to find ways to address the challenges facing the majority of the populace – typically employed in agriculture – while also addressing young people's needs, says this article on The Guardian UK blog.

Despite the establishment of anti-corruption agencies, Burundi is facing a deepening corruption crisis, says the International Crisis Group. 'The "neopatrimonialist" practices of the party in office since 2005 has relegated Burundi to the lowest governance rankings, reduced its appeal to foreign investors, damaged relations with donors; and contributed to social discontent. More worrying still, neopatrimonialism is undermining the credibility of post-conflict institutions, relations between former Tutsi and new Hutu elites and cohesion within the ruling party, whose leaders are regularly involved in corruption scandals.'

Reporters Without Borders has written to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Mendez, to inform him of its deep concern about the persecution of journalists in Djibouti. The press freedom organization asked the UN official to intervene urgently on behalf of radio journalist Farah Abadid Hildid, who works for the Europe-based station 'La Voix de Djibouti'. The station broadcasted on short wave and is now available on the Internet, although access to its website is blocked in Djibouti.

The killing of Trayvon Martin serves as an inspiration for those who want to speak out against the demagoguery and hatred that has been spread in the United States in the midst of the capitalist depression.

In Nigeria, the powers that be have decided that opposition politicians, people like Senegal's Macky Sall, will have to wait for sixty years before they can ever become president.

Almost all the flexibilities in policy choice that Africa and other developing countries won under the WTO are lost under the EPAs.

‘Mona’ is a work of fiction, based on the based on stories of Ethiopian women who have been to the Middle East as domestic workers.

Relief after news of Sall’s win and democratic transition following Senegal’s contested presidential election.

Not only must we speak out when the victims can no longer speak for themselves, but by breaking the silence around racial abuse, we can begin a healing process that addresses our collective hurt and humiliation and restores our humanity.

In 1955, openly racist, all-white juries made certain that the confessed killers of Emmett Till walked free in Mississippi. In Florida today, the Stand Your Ground law may yet block the workings of justice.

Bill Fletcher Jr. addresses some of the key issues raised in Manning Marable’s acclaimed, yet for some controversial, biography ‘Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention’ published in April 2011.

The ANC has been transformed from a broad based liberation movement to a governing party, largely serving the interests of local and international capital.

Jeremy Cronin contests the assertion by John S. Saul in his article, ‘A Poisoned Chalice’, that the ANC is a lost cause and that a new political formation is needed to continue the liberation struggle.

A capacity for ‘introspection, self-criticism and grasping the nettle of corrective action’ ensured the ANC’s success as a national revolutionary movement. These attributes can help the ANC to manage the tensions created by its own policies.

This reflection could be written today, tomorrow or any other day without the risk of being mistaken. Our species faces new problems.

Professor Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is misleading Pambazuka's readers about Tshisekedi.

He writes: "Given the importance of the DRC as a land of considerable natural wealth, the major powers prefer leaders with no national constituency who are easy to manipulate like Joseph Kabila to those like Etienne Tshisekedi who are unapologetically nationalist."

Thsisekedi is not a nationalist. With Mobutu, he betrayed Patrice Lumumba. He called Patrice Lumumba "a frog that must be gotten rid off". Is this being unapologetically nationalist?

‘When we think about our past, we can only find violence, but I think it is precisely this condition that makes one realize that what is important is peace.’

In the unstable Nigeria of the 1970s, this journalist met Chief Awolowo and tried to press him over the political situation in the country. Only later did the writer realize the meaning of Awolowo’s intransigence.