‘As the public, we all have a right to know what rules and regulations govern the financial behaviour of our public officials and how they spend our public monies so that we can hold them accountable,’ writes Dale T. McKinley. So why is the South African government so keen to keep the contents of its ministerial handbook out of the public eye?

Following the ‘brutal and often excessive manner’ with which the Ugandan state and law enforcement agencies have responded to citizens' demands for government action to address increased prices, cost of living, growing poverty, inequality in distribution of resources and corruption’, Uganda Women’s Civil Society Organisations have issued a statement highlighting their concerns.

The purpose of agricultural futures contracts is to reduce risks for farmers and the people they supply. But as speculators in search of safe investments pour capital into soft commodities markets, they are driving ‘price inflation way beyond the effects of demand and supply pressures,’ writes Khadija Sharife.

While European interpretations of the events of Egypt’s Tahrir Square see the uprising’s roots through a lens of ‘coloured’ revolutions following the decline of the Soviet Union, Mahmood Mamdani instead stresses the resemblance to South Africa’s Soweto in 1976, a struggle ‘identified with the onset of community-based organisation’.

'Mama, was it a mistake
That I existed without your consent
Something you could not avoid...'

'Man dreams
of far away lands
unknown,
thoughts yearnin'
of unconcealed gems
to fetch and be fetch'd,

to reach the field
of the unknown
but to be desecrat'd
by projects
of food stamps and sorts
yet unknown...'

‘The history of Sudan is a complex one which can’t be reduced to a linear narrative of south versus north,’ writes Yohannes Woldemariam. Can South Sudan resolve the sticking points standing in the way of successful secession?

In a series of two interviews, Ron Singer engages with dissident Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega about the EPRDF (Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front), how his wife was forced to give birth while in prison and the politics of identity.

Sudanese armies were due to begin the pullout of unauthorised troops Tuesday (09 May) to allow for the deployment of the officially-recognised Joint Integrated Units, the only military force allowed in Abyei under UN monitoring. The Abyei Joint Technical Committee (JTC), under the chairmanship of the UN Mission In Sudan (UNMIS), is monitoring the withdrawal of the troops by both sides involved in the Sudanese conflict for years in line with the 2005 deal on security arrangements.

In the wake of President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election in Nigeria, the government is faced with the tricky task of how to diffuse the violent northern Boko Haram sect, writes Cameron Duodu.

Makerere University law professor Joe Oloka-Onyango made a presentation at the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) post-election 2011 conference in Kampala on 27 April 2011. President Museveni, who closed the conference, was very critical of Professor Oloka’s presentation, accusing him of poisoning the minds of ‘our children’. Uganda’s

Ethiopia should build on its long and proud history as a nation rather than allowing itself to be fragmented by ethnic divisions, argues Mammo Muchie, in a reflection on the country’s past and future.

While months of political stand-off between two self-proclaimed Ivorian presidents may have come to an end, genuine political and economic liberation for the country’s people is far from being achieved, writes Maurice Fahe.

As Ugandan citizens take to the streets in protest against rising food and energy prices, Museveni’s government has once again wheeled out its Anti-Homosexual Bill in an attempt to divert attention from the real source of the problems the people face.

For the first time since former President Jerry Rawlings burst onto the Ghanaian political scene in 1979, his much talked about charisma and hold over the ordinary people in the country is to be put to the test on 8 July when his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings stands against President John Atta Mills for the right to lead the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in next year’s election. Already signs that the Rawlings myth has been broken has emerged, reports the Daily Nation.

A new, post-Mubarak Egypt has given both Egyptians and other Arabs alike, hope that Egypt can once again reclaim its role as the focal point from which Arab culture and politics emanate, says this article on Jadaliyya, an independent ezine. 'The opening up of the Rafah border crossing into Gaza and the active promotion of a unity government in the Palestinian Territories are both indications that this is slowly happening. However, Egypt’s regional affiliation is not only with the Middle East, but extends towards its riparian partners along the Nile as well. And on that front, events in the immediate months after the fall of Mubarak indicated that an Egypt in transition, unable to take firm political positions, could be taken advantage of by upstream Nile riparian countries that have for years tried to gain the rights to greater use of the Nile’s water flows.'

Senegalese opposition leaders are protesting a delay in issuing identification cards to youth, a move they say was calculated to deny them votes in the forthcoming elections. In the election to be held in February next year, President Abdoulaye Wade will face three former prime ministers and other veteran politicians in what promises to be the hottest political contest in Senegal since independence. On Tuesday, the opposition accused the ruling party of instituting technical delays in issuing the new identification cards, saying it was intended to sideline thousands of youths from registering.

‘African Sexualities’ is a groundbreaking new volume, forthcoming from Pambazuka Press. As well as using popular culture to help address the ‘what, why, how, when and where’ questions, the book’s contributors provide a critical mapping of African sexualities that informs readers about the plurality and complexities of sexualities on the continent – desires, practices, fantasies, identities, taboos, abuses, violations, stigmas, transgressions and sanctions. At the same time, the contributors pose gender-sensitive and politically aware questions that challenge the reader to interrogate assumptions and hegemonic sexuality discourses, thereby unmapping the intricate and complex terrain of African sexualities.

The following article by ‘African Sexualities’ editor Sylvia Tamale comprises the book’s introduction.

Patrick Bond makes a stinging critique of the recent report of the African Development Bank that claims that ‘one in three Africans is middle class’ and as a result, Africa is ready for ‘take off’.

Niger's appeals court has dropped all corruption charges against ousted President Mamadou Tandja and ordered his release from jail. It said that under the country's law it was not possible to try a head of state after he had left office. Soldiers led the coup in February 2010 - angered that after 10 years in power, he was seeking a third term in office. Tandja was accused of embezzling state funds worth $1m (£670,000). He was also linked to a corrupt fertilizer deal worth between $9m and $10m.