Egypt’s ruling military council pushed ahead on Sunday with plans to begin drafting a new constitution before transferring power to civilian rule, announcing that parliament will meet this week to select the panel tasked with writing the document. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' statement that parliament will begin choosing the 100-member panel on March 3 marked a setback for activist groups who have demanded the military relinquish power before a constitution is written.

Votes are being tallied in Senegal in what is shaping up to be a race for the line between Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall. Wade's former protégé and prime minister Macky Sall's camp said early results showed the two were 'neck-on-neck' and headed to a second round. Spokesman Jean-Paul Dias said Wade was polling between 34 and 36 per cent, while Sall stood between 32 per cent and 34 per cent. 'The second round could thus take place between Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall.'

Voters booed Senegal's president as he went to cast his ballot in elections Sunday, the latest sign of how his decision to seek a third term in office has caused his popularity to plummet and divided a country long considered a model of tolerance. The results issued late Sunday from the polling station where Wade and his family have voted for decades made clear that the aging leader is facing the biggest challenge of his career. Of the 484 votes case at Bureau No. 2 in the Point E neighborhood, Wade received only 102 – not even 22 per cent.

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has reiterated the league's stance that it would ignore any suspensions the ANC handed down to him or his fellow leaders in the league, as such sentences would amount to political persecution. The controversial youth leader's statements are the latest in the ongoing battle between the youth league and the ruling party after Malema and several other leaders were suspended by the ANC's national disciplinary committee (NDC) in November after being found guilty of sowing division within the ANC.

An attempt to strike a pre-election agreement between leaders participating in the Senegalese elections has flopped. Opposition and civil rights groups rejected the African Union mediator’s proposed roadmap, which was intended to forestall likelihood of post election violence in the West country that goes to elections tomorrow. The roadmap proposed a two year term for President Abdoulaye Wade if he garnered an outright victory in the first round. Mr Wade, according to the rejected proposal, would then be succeeded by a government of national unity with a mandate to reform laws and institutions, plus establish an acceptable agenda for the country’s political future.

Nearly 130,000 people have been displaced by fighting between Tuareg rebels and government forces since mid-January in Mali, the UN has warned. The clashes had displaced an estimated 60,000 people inside Mali, and a further 69,000 had fled to neighbouring countries, a spokesman told the BBC.

The annual UN report documenting conflict-related sexual violence around the world for the first time on Thursday named some of the military forces, militia and other armed groups that are suspected of being among the worst offenders. It stated that the report provided examples of how sexual violence had threatened security and impeded peacebuilding in post-conflict situations, such as in Chad, CAR, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also revealed how it has been used in the context of elections, political strife and civil unrest in Egypt, Guinea, Kenya and Syria, among others.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has welcomed the release of an independent report on Togo that examined allegations that members of the Togolese intelligence agency tortured individuals accused of taking part in an attempted coup d’état in 2009. 'Togo’s national human rights commission found that the prisoners were subjected to physical and moral violence of an inhuman and degrading nature,' Ms. Ravina Shamdasani, OHCHR spokesperson, said in a statement.

From Uganda to Liberia, religious extremists are hijacking the law to drive the obsession with anti-homosexuality legislation rather than addressing the multitude of social and economic issues faced by 99 percent of Africa’s citizens.

European governments have opened the door to a radical offer of 'debt relief' for Arab north African neighbours such as Egypt, EU and governmental sources said. The plan emerged barely 24 hours after eurozone governments backed an unprecedented write-down of Greek sovereign debt held by private investors, one expected to reduce Athens' debt burden by nearly one third, some $141 million.

With South Sudan's oil revenues cut off, why should people who have known austerity their whole lives be made to pay for a further round of austerity? asks Nyantung Ahang Beny. Instead the wealthy should pay through taxes hotels and other luxury items while luxury government vehicles should be sold and per diems abolished.

Did the Tanzanian activists cause a breach of the peace or prejudice public safety and the maintenance of public order? Crucially, were the police, by prohibiting the alleged assembly and subsequently arresting the activists, using their discretion appropriately?

If Black Republicans want more members of the Black community to learn about the benefits of their party, they are going to have to do a better job of openly holding their party accountable for racially divisive and hatefully charged rhetoric.

‘The attack on Libya was an attack on Africa! It was an attack on my aspirations as a person of African descent to have a free and independent Africa. That's what was attacked!’

There is a paradox between the Dickens of empathy for the working class in industrial England and the Dickens who spoke and wrote about and supported some of the vilest descriptions and actions on blacks and Asians.

South Africa as a powerhouse on the continent expected to take the AU Commission Chairperson’s job. But the outcome of the election indicates that opposition to Ms Dlamini-Zuma was intractable.

On 14 February, French authorities searched the upscale Paris residence associated with President Obiang’s son, Teodoro 'Teodorín' Nguema Obiang, as part of a probe into the 'ill-gotten gains' of President Obiang and two other African Heads-of-State. Teodorín is the target of ongoing government corruption investigations in the United States and France, report EG Justice.

Zimbabwe's trade with the European Union increased by 36 per cent last year, reaching 664 million euros from 488 million euros in 2010, the European Union Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Aldo Dell'Ariccia, has said. Meanwhile, trade between the two partners is set to receive a further boost as Zimbabwe is now very close to completing the ratification of an Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU. There are concerns, however, that Zimbabwe's full EPA ratification will pose further challenges for local industry.

There is no way President Wade can hang on to power for very long. Chances are the politicians will work out some deal.

A leading gay activist in Libya has responded to his country's delegate who told a planning meeting of the UN Human Rights Council that gays threatened the continuation of the human race. Libya's representative told the gathering of ambassadors that LGBT topics 'affect religion and the continuation and reproduction of the human race.' But a gay activist from Tripoli responded: 'Human rights are universal and include LGBT rights. Therefore how can a human right be a threat to humanity?'