Northern Africa is not the only part of Africa where uprisings are taking place. In countries like Swaziland, Gabon, Cameroon, Djibouti, and Burkina Faso we've seen massive student uprisings and worker demonstrations brutally suppressed in most cases. Editor-in-chief of Pambazuka News Firoze Manji talks to the Real News Network about what's happening in Southern Africa. Watch the .

'The Western bombardment of Gaddafi’s forces in Libya has become an opportunistic public relations ploy for the US Africa Command and a new inroad for US military stronghold on the continent,' writes Horace Campbell.

A new survey by African democracy institute Idasa shows growing dissatisfaction among SA citizens with local government performance, with only one in ten citizens satisfied with the quality of service delivery provided by their district and municipal council. This is a dramatic decline from its previous survey conducted in 2006 which showed four in ten citizens (39.5 per cent) were still satisfied with service delivery by their local government.

The ‘public narrative of an “Arab Spring” excludes much of the world's population both from public attention and concern and from discussion of what meaningful political change might look like and how it can be supported by people in other places,’ argues Oliver Kearns.

Nigeria's elections look set to be particularly unpredictable, but are critical for the future of Africa's most populous country and potential economic giant. This Chatham House paper examines the key electoral issues facing the country and looks at the long-term view of reforms required if Nigeria is to fulfil its potential and avoid the growing dangers stemming from continued corruption and mismanagement.

Three African nations voted for the UN Security Council resolution that opened the door to the Western military intervention in Libya. Demba Moussa Dembele regrets that South Africa, Gabon and Nigeria provided the votes for the resolution to be passed.

'Arise, Africa arise
Let the world see your beauty
Let them note your strength
And know that though brow beaten
You will stand undefeated...'

'We,
Poor Africans
Are impressed with their charm
And are happy when they say
“We are doubling aid to Africa”
Applause
Women ululating
We wait for their benevolence
Which like Godot never arrives...'

The North African protests have renewed enthusiasm for ‘a popularly driven process mass mobilisation’, not only as a means for people to force changes in leadership, but also to ‘demand a greater say in the running of their own lives’. But can the masses sustain their status as 'full-blown political subjects', rather than 'victims' in need of ‘empowerment’, asks Michael Necosmos.

Power transfers from soldiers to civilians, concession speeches, post-poll lawsuits, unprecedented violence - West Africa has seen mixed outcomes in recent elections, and the region’s most populous country and largest economy is up next: Nigerians are scheduled to vote for a president, legislators and state governors in the coming weeks. Various think tanks and rights groups have been examining election-related violence, calling on candidates and new leaders to safeguard Nigerians' rights, suggesting measures for avoiding a repeat of the nearly universally condemned 2007 elections, and recommending what’s needed to seal much-needed reforms. Observers say with these polls Nigeria could either explode or blossom.

Trade in creative goods and services has remained robust despite a decline in global commerce as the result of the world financial crisis, reflecting the potential of the 'creative economy' to boost economic growth particularly in the developing countries, according to a new United Nations report. Global trade in services and products of creativity continued to register an annual average growth of 14 per cent even as world commerce declined by 12 per cent in 2008, according to 'Creative Economy Report 2010: A Feasible Development Option'.

In a time of climate change, decentralized, adaptable and diversified water and energy projects are best suited to respond to increasingly variable and unpredictable weather patterns. Large dams risk becoming uneconomic due to droughts, and unsafe due to more extreme storms. They will also further degrade freshwater ecosystems which are already reeling under the impacts of climate change. In spite of this, the World Bank’s new Energy Strategy calls for increased funding for large dams. According to International Rivers, a strategy that is based on yesterday’s technologies cannot resolve tomorrow’s problems.

Niger inaugurated its new parliament 30 March for a term of five years following an election on 31 January that ended a year of military rule, reports Bloomberg. The parliament has 107 of its full complement of 113 lawmakers after elections in the northern Agadez region were annulled due to irregularities. The vote will be held again on 16 May.

Why are the voices of the people with the real voting power excluded from the presidential debates? Sokari Ekine reports back from the blogosphere on Nigeria’s looming election; Libya and the AU; forced removal in South Africa; female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone; and an SMS-based programme to address the security of sexual minorities in Kenya.

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) announced in early March that world cotton prices had reached a new record of two dollars per pound (0.5 kg) in February. ICAC is a global body representing governments, which raises awareness and promotes cooperative action on issues of cotton worldwide. In Malawi, farmers are happy about the news, reports Inter Press Services. Malawi’s economy is highly dependent on agriculture, with cotton contributing about 32 million dollars in foreign exchange earnings.

The ‘disorder, revolt or revolution in Egypt’ doesn’t ‘change the nature of the debate on restitution nor does it provide any convincing excuse for the retentionists in the Western world’, says Kwame Opoku.

The Tshwane local government election battle has heated up, with revelations from whistleblower website WikiLeaks that the ANC is nervous the DA's 'day dreams' will be realised in the metro. The DA said this confirms the ANC's fears in the capital. According to a WikiLeaks cable which emerged last month, the ANC's Gauteng spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli told an American diplomat that the ANC was bothered that it could possibly lose Tshwane to the DA.

An international company has benefitted from a massive handout of land in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. Alemayehu G. Mariam shows what the devastating consequences of the deal will be for local people.

Drawing upon a range of online reflections and social media activity, Sokari Ekine underlines the high stakes and contested understandings around the ongoing crises in Côte d’Ivoire and Libya and Egypt’s ‘post-revolution’ experience.

IFC-funded mining projects in Africa have ‘a track record of causing human rights abuses and massive environmental damage’, writes Cyril Mychalejko. Can it really claim to be promoting ‘poverty reduction through sustainable development’?