Biochar is touted as a solution to climate change, soil degradation and low crop yields, despite scientific field trials disproving these claims. With Africa the focus of many biochar 'demonstration' and 'feasibility' projects, Almuth Ernsting writes about

The latest report by Human Rights Watch about labour abuses in Chinese mining companies in Zambia is not only woefully inaccurate but also perpetuates Western racist stereotypes about China's 'neo-colonialist' expansion in Africa, according to Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong.

Protesters from the DRC have accused President Zuma of complicity in what they allege is electoral fraud in the recent election in the restive country. Supporters of opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi believe South Africa acted at the behest of western interests who seek to keep incumbent President Joseph Kabila in power to protect international investments in the mineral-rich country, reports the Daily Maverick.

As Libya’s liberators come to terms with how to rebuild the country, three paths are emerging for the riches held in its sovereign wealth fund, according to a new report from international political consulting firm GeoEconomica GmbH. The question becomes what’s next for the nearly $56 billion that was invested under the Gadhafi regime. In the report GeoEconomica analysts Sven Behrendt and Deen Sharp predicts that the fund will either: evolve into a strategic investment vehicle, carry on with its traditional mandate as a savings fund for future generations, or (perhaps most likely) be liquidated as competing interest groups battle over Libya’s political and economic future.

Botswana President Ian Khama, an arch-critic of President Robert Mugabe, could be working on normalising relations with the octogenarian leader after he sent a delegation from his party to 'offer solidarity support' to Zanu PF at the just ended annual conference. Khama, who has openly clashed with Mugabe in the past, sent a delegation from his Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to attend the Zanu PF conference. BDP secretary-general Thabo Fanu Masalila heaped praise on Mugabe urging Zanu PF members to back the ageing leader.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said it would be an act of cowardice for him to retire ahead of elections expected to be held next year. Closing his party's annual conference, Mr Mugabe, 87, condemned the current power-sharing government as a 'monster' which should be buried. Resolutions were passed endorsing Mr Mugabe as candidate, in spite of reports he is suffering ill-health.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that more than a million children in the Sahel region of West Africa were at risk of severe and life-threatening malnutrition over the coming year as a result of ongoing food shortages. UNICEF in a statement made available to PANA in New York, said it would require an initial US$65.7 million to respond to the crisis. It stated it was already ordering therapeutic foods and distributing emergency stocks in affected countries. It said that the biggest caseload is in Niger Republic, where an estimated 330,600 children under the age of five were at risk.

An international conference on mineral rosources began Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss ways of changing the current mineral policies and regimes in African countries to enable the people benefit more from resources in their countries. PANA reports that African senior officials, representing their various countries, will Monday prepare agendas and reports, including framework report on Africa’s mineral regimes, which will be adopted by their ministers when they meet here 15–16 December.

Ivorians voted Sunday to elect a new parliament in a poll boycotted by the party of former strongman Laurent Gbagbo, who is awaiting trial in The Hague for crimes against humanity. With Gbagbo sitting in an International Criminal Court (ICC) cell, the coalition backing President Alassane Ouattara is widely expected to gain a majority of the 255 seats in the new assembly. The vote comes only a year after the poll that brought the world's top cocoa producer, once a beacon of stability in the west African region, to the brink of civil war in a conflict that claimed some 3,000 lives.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s election standoff intensified on Sunday after a team of international observers reported that incumbent Joseph Kabila’s win was so flawed it lacked credibility. Kabila, in power since 2001, was on Friday named the winner of the November 28 poll, but runner-up Etienne Tshisekedi immediately rejected the result and declared himself president.

The Grassroots Focus Index (GFI) is an index that determines the extent to which the grassroots are prioritized in development. It is an instrument that allows development actors to listen more closely to the grassroots perspectives in a systematic and methodologically sound manner.

Mozambique is the most corrupt country in southern Africa, with 68 per cent of people having paid a bribe in the past year, according to a survey by Transparency International and Gallup. More than a third of those using health services or education had to pay a bribe.

To view the special issues of Pambazuka News on Frantz Fanon:

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Durban will be worse than Copenhagen and Cancun, Pablo Solon predicts. ‘Instead of becoming stronger, the fight against climate change is becoming more soft and flexible, with voluntary commitments to reduce emissions.’

Pambazuka News responds to an email from Global Peace-keepers Team claiming that:

‘The Editor of Pambazuka who supported the illegal actions of NATO and Rebels against the legitimate State of Libya which led to the deaths of over 150,000 Libyan Citizens, is now supporting the false reports of Aisha Gaddafi calling for the overthrow of the new Libyan Regime.’

They further alleged that by posting this summary Pambazuka News has put at risk the lives of Aisha Gaddafi and relatives since her statement was an apparent breach of her conditions of exile in Algeria.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS RESPONDS:

The Monday edition of Pambazuka News, entitled 'Links and Resources' is a service that, for more than 10 years, has provided readers of Pambazuka News with summaries of information on other sites that we think would be useful for readers to be aware of. Earlier this week (see Links and Resources issue 560) we included :

LIBYA: OVERTHROW NEW LIBYAN GOVERNMENT, SAYS QADDAFI'S DAUGHTER

‘From Egypt to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the people are finding out that the entire process of voting and elections is stacked against change,’ writes Horace Campbell. We need ‘new forms of politics’ to transform our social system.

Pambazuka News speaks to Oakland Institute about the findings of their latest round of in-depth research into land grabs in Africa, from the role played by the energy policies of rich countries and the World Bank to the dangers of a development agenda that fails to heed the negative social, economic and environmental impacts of industrial agrofuel and agroforestry projects.

Two weeks ago, Ethiopia’s last independent weekly stopped publication after its managing editor was ‘forced to flee the country’. Zenawi has ‘finally succeeded in smashing and trashing Ethiopia’s free press,’ writes Alemayehu G. Mariam.

Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzoury’s 'national salvation government' was sworn in on Wednesday 7 December, with the mysterious name of interior minister disclosed just hours before for alleged 'security reasons.' The new government includes 12 ministers from former premier Essam Sharaf’s Cabinet - two of which have been in office since ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s reign: Electricity Minister Hassan Younes and International Cooperation Minister Fayza Aboul Naga. The choice of General Mohamed Ibrahim, former head of the Giza Security Directorate, as the new interior minister heightened the agitation of activists towards the new Cabinet.

A PBS documentary about Cape Town's history as a slave colony and the famous revolt on one of the ships from Madagascar offers much to think through in terms of the relationship between South Africa and the Caribbean, North America and South America.