South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has upheld the membership suspension of one of its prominent youth leaders convicted of causing rifts within the bloc. A panel rejected an appeal on Saturday by Julius Malema, who was found guilty by the disciplinary committee in November and was seeking to overturn the five-year suspension, but it said he could seek a lighter sentence. The suspension effectively curtails the career of Malema, one of the country's most renowned politicians whose calls for a major transformation of Africa's largest economy unnerved investors and drew serious criticism from some ANC leaders.

The black market for foreign exchange and fuel is booming in the midst of an acute scarcity in Malawi. The shortage is so severe that even the Consumer Association of Malawi, an influential consumer rights body, has come out in support of the black market. Malawi continues to reel under severe economic problems after the country’s major donors cut aid to the country last year. Up to 40 percent of Malawi’s national budget has been dependent on donors and donors funded 80 percent of the country’s development budget.

With the 18th ordinary summit of the Assembly of the African Union just concluding, the Peace and Security Council Report No 31 covers the rising terrorist attacks that Boko Haram has continued to perpetrate in Nigeria in recent months, the rising tension between Sudan and South Sudan, and has an analysis on Côte d’Ivoire.

African Heads of State have endorsed the launch of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), a multi-billion dollar initiative that will run through 2040. In a statement at their 18th summit held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, the Heads of State approved the implementation of the recommendations in the study on PIDA presented to the summit. The study was a joint initiative of the African Union, the African Development Bank and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordination Agency. Endorsement by the AU summit will now be followed by more detailed planning on the actual implementation of PIDA.

Professor Welshman Ncube has once again denied claims contained in a book by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that he and former South African President Thabo Mbeki connived to split the MDC into two factions in 2005. In the book ‘At the Deep End’ Tsvangirai claims that Mbeki was a central player in hatching a plot that would have seen an MDC faction led by Ncube forming an alliance with the ZANU PF faction led by Emmerson Mnangagwa.

While speaking to delegates at the African Union’s summit, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged stronger protection of homosexual rights. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over the weekend urged African leaders to respect gay rights. Ban told the on-going African Union summit in Addis Ababa that discrimination based on sexual orientation had been ignored or even sanctioned by many states for too long.

The Constitutional Court has issued an order barring public discussion on the candidature of Deputy Prime Minister and William Ruto in the next presidential elections until a case before it is heard and determined. Justice Isaac Lenaola issued the orders on Thursday 2 February in response to a petition by three voters and two civil societies seeking to block Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto from vying for the Presidency in the next elections.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's ruling party and its allies won a reduced parliamentary majority in November elections, according to results released two months after the disputed polls. The electoral commission announced the figures saying President Joseph Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) and its allies captured an absolute majority of about 260 seats in the 500-seat National Assembly. The opposition won about 110 seats, the results from the 28 November vote showed.

Progressives must brace for intensified struggles in 2012 because people in all continents are seeking alternatives beyond neo-liberal domination. The current European struggles will sharpen the struggles in Latin America and Africa.

The deadly violence that has broken out in Senegal seems surreal even to the most seasoned analysts of the West African nation’s political evolution. Angry Senegalese believe President Wade has executed a coup to stay in power.

‘While as a young movement we try to build radically new forms of direct democracy within by challenging the old guard, we will also be able to strengthen accountability and the authority of the decisions we make as a collective.’

Although it remains one of the best known pro-poor social movements in Kenya, Bunge la Mwananchi faces serious internal challenges that hamper its effectiveness in mounting collective action. The problems need urgent attention.

In responding to a

Power tariffs will remain high despite the anticipated commissioning of Bujagali Hydro Electricity Dam in July, State Minister for Energy Simon D’Ujanga said. The Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) last month increased consumer tariffs by 36 per cent and commercial dues by 69.7 per cent.

Senegalese riot police fired tear gas to break up a tense, thousands-strong rally 31 January in Dakar demanding that President Abdoulaye Wade drop plans to seek a third term in office. Opposition groups united under the June 23 Movement (M23), had called for mass resistance after a decision last Friday by the country's top judges allowing 85-year-old Wade to seek a third mandate in the February 26 polls. Thousands had gathered by late afternoon in a square in the working class suburb of Colobane, where tension rose and angry youths hurled rocks at scores of riot police keeping watch from afar.

The 18th African Union summit ended 31 January in the Ethiopian capital with adoption of a series of agreements concerning Africa's economic, political and security issues. Africa will speed up its infrastructure development and put related policies and laws in place to boost the integration process, according to the 'Declaration on the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa.' The declaration said the summit recognises 'the vital role of infrastructure and related services in the political and social-economic development, and physical integration of the continent', especially given the population growth and economic demand.

Ethiopia joined the APRM in 2003. However, in this AfriMAP publication authors Tigist Fisseha and Medhane Tadesse, whilst acknowledging the government of Ethiopia’s leadership within the APRM at continental level, argue that the mere fact that the APRM process itself, is little known by the Ethiopian citizenry, and that those that are aware of the process, are reluctant to engage with it, points to the total control of the process by executive power. They also argue that the only way the Ethiopia’s APRM process can be meaningful is if its participatory processes are opened to all citizens, especially civil society, who ultimately have a say as how they wish to be governed.

Cape Town has been awarded the right to host the World Design Capital 2014 (WDC2014), but the City of Cape Town’s recent announcement that it will lead the management and coordination of WDC2014 threatens this vision, writes Gavin Silber of the Social Justice Coalition. 'The City is one of the main providers of Cape Town's basic services including sanitation, water, electricity, roads, safety and (increasingly) housing. It also approves most design plans. As a service provider, whose leadership will always have re-election as a foremost concern, it should not be leading this process; it is a plain conflict of interest. The city has too much vested in promoting its own way of doing things to the exclusion of critics.'

Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which controls a near majority of seats in the Egyptian Parliament, won more than half of the committees of the Lower House on 31 January. The Speaker of the Parliament Mohammed Saad el–Katatni, also a member of the FJP, announced the results of the internal elections of the parliament’s sub-committees, where 9 out of 19 committees are to be headed by senior members of the FJP bloc.

There is a powerful economic argument for Gibe 3 Dam. But there are also powerful arguments for ensuring that large-scale river-basin development projects provide genuine and sustainable development opportunities for the affected people.