The party of Marc Ravalomanana has decided to suspend its role in Madagascar's unity government, after a plane carrying the exiled leader home was turned away, a top official said. The main parties on the Indian Ocean island formed a power-sharing government in November, with strongman Andry Rajoelina remaining president until new elections are held, in theory later this year.

Gender equity is a key element of any genuine program towards sustainable development. Analysis included on the Social Watch Report 2012 and the national contributions to the study prove, once again, the stagnation of the fight against these disparities, with disastrous consequences on the struggles against poverty, climate change and food security.

Tanzania Ecumenical Dialogue Group (TEDG) has presented to the government a statement calling for Tanzania not to sign the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with Europe until contentious issues in its framework are sorted out. Addressing a press conference in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, the TEDG Coordinator, Ms Jesca Mkuchu, said the statement had called for Tanzania to strictly consider the interests of its citizens including making sure the contents in the agreement are clearly known to the majority Tanzanians first.

The case of the Western Sahara is a clear proof of failure of the international system that is governed by few powerful states: the five members of the Security Council who have turned the UN into the biggest non-democratic organisation in the world.

The ad-hoc committee investigating the petroleum subsidies saga continues to unravel one bombshell after the other. The lastest discovery is that Nigeria over-imported petrol on a daily basis to the tune of 24 million litres in 2011. The difference between fuel consumed and fuel imported is 24 million liters. Nigeria pays subsidy on this 24 million litres that is not even utilised by Nigerians.

Office of the Polisario National Secretariat expressed, in a communiqué issued Saturday, its strong condemnation 'of brutal repression perpetuated by the Moroccan occupation authorities against the defenseless Saharawi citizens, who are peacefully protesting the farce of taking civilians and human rights activists to military trail.' The Office called on the UN to immediately intervene to protect the Saharawi civilians, establish a UN-mechanism to protect human rights and report about it, reveal the fate of more than 651 Saharawi missing, end the Moroccan looting to the Saharawi natural resources and eradicate the military wall that divided Western Sahara Territories, land and people.

A magistrate in Bulawayo ruled on Monday 16 January that activists Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu will have to defend themselves against kidnap and theft charges, even though the key witnesses denied the incident ever happened and contradicted police statements. Williams and Mahlangu, leaders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), were in the Bulawayo Magistrates Court for a ruling on their application to have the case dropped without having to present a defence.

For three decades Western governments and lending institutions bankrolled a corrupt regime in Egypt that trampled human rights and stifled democracy. Now they appear ready to do it again, say critics of the military council that has ruled since removing president Hosni Mubarak last February. 'Foreign aid should not be used to support a repressive regime,' says Amr Adly, political economist at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). 'It’s in nobody’s interest to throw Egypt’s economy into a deeper crisis, but international creditors have to be quite strict when it comes to transparency.'

There are some unlikely comparisons between the work lives of Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit seller who sparked the Arab revolution, and Francis Tachirev, a fruit seller in Zimbabwe. Like Bouazizi did, Tichareva earns a modest living pushing his fruit cart along Harare’s central business district, selling his wares. And like Bouazizi too, Tichareva lives in fear of the local police.

Mike Sutcliffe has never been Mayor of Durban. Instead Mike Sutcliffe was Municipal Manager. Stay well.

The Editor replies: Thank-you for the correction. We apologise for this error, which was made in the editing process.

There are fears that the US is in the process of sending thousands of troops to Libya, but there is a way that you can vote for peace.

‘The important struggles of the community-based movements for a better life for everyone in South Africa, their sincerity and hospitality impressed us immensely.’

In what classifies as modern day slavery, Ethiopian women sent to work in the Middle East have few rights and are subject to widespread abuse.

A Somali National Consultative Constitutional Conference took place in December 2011 and issued the Garowe Principles. The jury is out on whether the principles will have any impact on the Somali crisis.

While the Kenyan political elite concentrate on shoring up their own personal fortunes, the masses of the Kenyan people are turned into 'destitutes'.

The widespread use of ‘sub-Sahara Africa’ makes no sense and is undoubtedly a racist geopolitical signature.

Eritrea has been cleared of allegations that it was arming Al Shabaab militants in Somalia late last year.
A preliminary report by the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) concludes that the allegations were untrue.

This short report examines the practice in daaras (Koranic schools) of sending boys as young as five years old out to beg for several hours a day. Often living far from home and in squalid conditions, talibés are frequently subjected to abuse if they fail to meet their begging quotas. The report updates the information used in Begging for Change (Anti-Slavery International, 2009) and recommends action to bring an end to this situation in Senegal.

‘Against the background chatter about nationalisation and environmental sustainability, South Africa needs to carefully consider the continued development of its vast mineral resources.’

A wind of disgruntlement is blowing across Nigeria. There are fears that, unless President Jonathan steadies the ship of state, divisions within the polity and the rising discontent could be hijacked by political opportunists to cause something more catastrophic.