The fuel crisis in Nigeria proves the truism that no government ever voluntarily pursues the public good without some form of struggle by the governed. It ought not to be so.

Zimbabwe has suspended 29 NGOs in what has been described as a renewed clampdown on aid workers ahead of elections President Robert Mugabe wants held this year. The veteran ruler’s Zanu-PF party, at its annual conference last December, tabled a report claiming that there were 2,500 NGOs operating in the country, and most of them were pushing a 'regime change agenda'.

Senegal's police on Tuesday 14 February blocked youths from settling in a square in Dakar where they planned a permanent sit-in to protest President Abdoulaye Wade's bid to run for a third term in February polls. Scores of police were deployed on and around Obelisk Square, preventing members of rapper-led youth movement 'Fed Up' from gathering for their protest.

Two Australian activists visited the Western Sahara in January and spoke to ordinary people about their oppression by the Moroccan authorities.

With the Rio+20 summit taking place this year, what would be some of the key pillars of a society not based on capitalist development?

The current situation in the DR Congo should prompt organised minorities to engage in a long term struggle of resistance against both visible and invisible forces.

This initiative addresses local legacies of the conflict in Sierra Leone which the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, whatever their wider achievements, have been unable to tackle.

Evidence is emerging from many parts of the country that freedom of expression is not the only constitutional right in trouble at the moment: the right to assembly, demonstration and picket is as well.

A huge international conference is being organised in London on Somalia, but it does not have the support of the citizens. It will fail because what the ‘international community’ has failed to learn over the years is that Somalis are fiercely independent people.

African History Month will counter Euro-centrism with historical truth. As well, it is important to embrace our culture and take ownership of our ethnicity.

Raising awareness of inequality is building social solidarity and common cause action, locally and globally.

cc IIP StateThe virulent speeches and chest thumping by two of Kenya’s presidential aspirants, both suspected of committing crimes against humanity, is extremely worrying. The government needs to act quickly and firmly and the people should reject these politicians.

As we enter a period of a profound crisis of capitalism, as working people and the poor are being forced to pay the costs of that crisis, the challenges facing Pambazuka are greater than ever. Our task in the coming period will be to expand the capacity of Pambazuka to support the growing movements for social and political transformation. We want you to join us in helping to build and support those movements. If you think that Pambazuka is important, if you find what we do useful, if you like the materials we publish in Pambazuka News, then join the Friends of Pambazuka with a donation today. Together we will dare to invent the future.

The Angolan government will this year launch the second phase of the privatisation programme which in the last ten years has enabled the sale to private interests of 198 state companies, Economy Minister Abraão Gourgel announced. Appearing on Angola’s TPA television, Gourgel also lamented that the privatisation process started by the government in 1990 via its Business Readjustment Office had not achieved all of its goals. The low results are due to economic questions such as the lack of a capital market and social issues such as the lack of financial power to settle state debts, Gourgel said.

The Malawi Law Society (MLS) has said it sees no end in sight to the judiciary strike which has paralysed the country’s justice delivery system for six weeks now. MLS president John-Gift Mwakhwawa said lawyers are yet to be briefed on the outcome of a recent between government and the judiciary. 'What is at stake in not just our right to economic activity, but the suspension of people’s rights. It also compromises the independence and impartiality of the Judiciary if it is literally going to beg for an increment.'

President Robert Mugabe will not sign the draft constitution into the new supreme law of the country as long as it disqualifies him from contesting the next elections, a senior Zanu PF official has declared. Mugabe, who turns 88 next week, has already been endorsed as the Zanu PF Presidential candidate for elections set to take place later this year or in 2013. The Constitution Select Committee (Copac) last week published the first draft of the long awaited new supreme law of the country which has many sections which Zanu PF is strongly opposed to. Section 6.4.2 of the draft disqualifies from standing in Presidential elections, any person who has already held the office for 10 years, meaning that President Robert Mugabe cannot contest the next polls.

Namibia, the fourth biggest uranium producer in the world, first floated the idea of acquiring a nuclear power plant of its own four years ago. If it goes forward, the nuclear project represents the culmination of Areva’s more than five years’ efforts in the African country, which have been beset by problems, including cost overruns, reports New Era.

Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos will seek a new term with former state oil company head Manuel Vicente as his vice president in September polls, a source in the ruling MPLA said. The southern African oil giant is expected to hold elections around September, and the run-up is being closely watched for signs of whether Dos Santos will seek a new term and whom the MPLA might pick to replace the long-ruling leader, in power since 1979, when he eventually steps down.

The CNN Press Office (London) has answered the concerns raised by Maka Angola on the agreements between the international news network and the Angolan regime, regarding a media campaign to promote a better image of the latter, due to grave concerns of nepotism and corruption. But Maka Angola has offered a further rejoinder arguing that it is 'highly unusual for a respectable international media outlet, such as CNN, to make formal agreements with a regime on news coverage of a given country'.

Hopes have risen of fresh investigations into the Anglo-Leasing scandal after the government finally secured a mutual legal assistance agreement with Switzerland. The Anglo-Leasing scandal dates back to 2002 when the Kenyan government sought to get new generation passports with advanced security features. The investigations involved two contracts which started during former President Daniel arap Moi regime, but were inherited when the Narc government, under President Kibaki, took over in 2003.