Malawi’s maize-growing central and southern regions have not had good rains, prompting concerns about possible shortages of the staple in the coming months. 'I think it could be one of the worst shortages we have seen in recent times,' said an early warning official who preferred anonymity. 'The rains have never been so erratic. In some parts of Malawi small farmers have gone in for a second round of planting after the crops failed; and the seed they have used is not of good quality so it will not give good yields.'

In this broadcast of Africa Today, host Walter Turner speaks to Dr Adam Hanieh, a lecturer from the School of Oriental and African Studies about developments in North Africa and the gulf states and Tidiane Kasse, editor of the French edition of Pambazuka News, about developments in West Africa. The broadcast also profiles African Awakenings, a new publication from Pambazuka Press.

Zimbabwe must hold elections before the end of June 2013, but the reforms needed to ensure appropriate conditions are critically wanting, says the International Crisis Group. 'Opportunity for a calibrated, full removal of sanctions before the next elections, geared to broad progress on reform, such as perhaps existed three years ago when the Global Political Agreement (GPA) was fresh and the Inclusive Government formed, has probably passed. But a chance to promote progress and break the current deadlock still exists through a coordinated approach that distinguishes types of sanctions and focuses on specific reforms needed for those elections. It should be seized.'

It is a topic more likely to be whispered about than discussed openly, but could Ethiopian strongman Meles Zenawi, now closing in on his 17th year as Prime Minister (after four earlier as President), be thinking of calling it a day? It is for many familiar with Ethiopian politics an almost unimaginable prospect, while skeptics will point out that Meles has repeatedly promised to step down. But early this month, senior officials of the ruling EPRDF party (Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front) hinted at a succession plan to replace its 56-year-old leader at the end of his current term in 2015.

Deadly clashes between police and youth in the Northeastern town of Taza suggest that, far from bringing change and stability, Morocco’s new government is simply repeating mistakes of the past, stoking tensions and fuelling a spate of protests against the regime. In an effort to keep its population in check during the Arab Spring, the regime launched a process of reforms last February and brandished what it called ‘the Moroccan exception’, boasting of relative calm during a period of intense regional turmoil.

Jacob Zuma, South Africa's president, has revealed an ambitious set of infrastructure projects designed to rescue South Africa from the effects of a global recession that has hit the nation harder than most on the continent. 'We have chosen five major geographically-focused programmes, as well as projects focusing on health and basic education infrastructure, information and communication technologies and regional integration,' Zuma said in his annual televised state of the nation address to parliament in Cape Town. Zuma's focus on infrastructure development was applauded by opposition politicians, but they questioned whether he could or would follow through on his pledges.

Competing mobile operators MTN and Turkcell were silent this week on the latter's claims that MTN bribed its way into Iran six years ago. But circumstances surrounding MTN's audacious entry into Iran, and the South African government's concurrent diplomatic efforts there, provide a compelling context for the claims. MTN could also face increasing international pressure because the Iranian military owns one of MTN's two state-linked partners there, Iran Electronics Industries (IEI).

Recurrent street battles between police and protesters have led the interior ministry to literally wall itself in; website Ahram Online maps the growth of these concrete curtains and the transformation of Cairo into a city of walls.

In a multi racial society like Kenya is it really necessary to collect data on one’s tribal background? Has such data ever helped the country? No! Those without recognized tribes or descent have always had problems proving their right to citizenship.

The exhibit provides the opportunity to rethink Afro-Indian diasporic cultural heritage through the symbolic quilting together of these identities and their markers in the patchwork fabric.

Stereotyping can become the only reference point or source of knowledge about the other people. The prejudice we hold against someone else can end up limiting our ability to know more about the stranger.

This is a brief narrative of the power struggles between the president and his own party since the establishment of a multiparty system in 1991. It features deployment of constitutional coups, patronage and legal measures to address such internal rifts, as well as the consequences that reverberate today.

Since 2001, the Bank has led an expansive programme to increase transparency and stimulate economic growth in the DRC’s mining sector. However, opaque sales of mining assets by state-owned mining companies led the Bank to suspend all new programmes in the DRC in late 2010. The Bank resumed lending in June last year when it judged the government to be in compliance. However, only a month later it came to light that state-owned mining companies had again been secretly selling stakes in mining operations, in one case at a sixteenth of their market price.

Thousands of children in Nigeria's northern Zamfara state need immediate medical treatment, while dozens of villages remain contaminated two years into the worst lead poisoning epidemic in modern history, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. According to official estimates, 400 children have died, yet environmental cleanup efforts have not even begun in numerous affected villages. Artisanal gold mines are found throughout Zamfara State, and high levels of lead in the earth and the use of rudimentary mining methods have resulted in an epidemic of lead poisoning among children, HRW said.

People are beginning to search beyond political parties for solutions. The youth are doubtful even of old style community organisations and are now exploring new forms of activism and new vehicles for change.

The secretive Shs103 million each MP has received to buy luxury vehicles just when other Ugandans are facing serious economic challenges has drawn widespread public condemnation, reports the Daily Monitor. 'This issue of the vehicles for MPs shows that the 9th Parliament is no different from the rest. It is a shame that they too have turned into vultures,' the Executive Director Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, Ms Cissy Kagaba, said.

Activist Jenni Williams and a group of 13 other women, who were assaulted and arrested Tuesday at a demonstration by activists from the Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), were finally released Friday 10 February when they appeared in a Bulawayo court.

African awakenings have been sporadic, with short-lived moments of intensity followed by exhaustion. But there has to be a starting point and now many people know that ‘We can’.

Last year the African Union recognised the great work of Dudley Thompson and accorded him the status of the first citizen of the United States of Africa. Thompson was insistent that Africa should be free and united by 2017.

Lack of unity is South Sudan’s most profound crisis, one that underlies the country’s economic and political woes. It will take a long time and sustained efforts to build one nation with common values.