‘The tragedy that is unfolding in front of our eyes is not just about the excesses of one industry… It is about the continued and deliberate silencing/sidelining of the majority of humanity by a tiny dictatorial fraction that, for centuries and generations has always gotten away, literally with murder,’ writes Jacques Depelchin.

With the African Union set to hold a Heads of States and Governments Summit in June under the theme ‘Accelerating youth empowerment for sustainable development’, Eyob Balcha expresses serious reservations about the union’s conceptualisation of ‘youth’ and ‘young people’.

Lila Chouli gives a behind-the-scenes view on protests in Burkina Faso. The spontaneous protests might prove that kicking a leader out might not need a formal organisation.

With the 2011 Forbes List of the world’s billionaires recently released – and acutely aware of the huge volume of unaccounted for money found in offshore havens – Joan Baxter discusses the ‘highly stratified world that has become treacherously top-heavy’.

Kenya’s Nubians are a ‘stateless people’, writes Xena Abdul, only recently part-recognised by the Kenyan government and facing day-to-day discrimination around land rights and identity.

A Tunisian court has rejected an appeal by the party of former president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali against a ruling that it be dissolved, state media has reported. A judge had previously ruled on 9 March that Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) be disbanded and its funds seized, provoking street celebrations as one of the last vestiges of the ousted leader's rule was dismantled.

Chad's opposition parties withdrew from the electoral commission on Friday (25 March), putting at risk a delayed presidential election scheduled for next month. Three major opposition candidates in the oil-producing Central African country already said this week they would boycott the vote on concerns it would not be credible.

The rise of independent candidates emerging from the structures of the ANC and its alliance partners was the biggest challenge the ruling party faced in the run-up to the May 18 general elections, Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi warned. 'These people basically showed the middle finger to everyone. It’s the biggest crisis we are facing and if we don’t stop it we are all doomed,' Vavi told the Pretoria News.

After banning the planned mass protests in Equatorial Guinea, government sent out massive police forces to prevent the opposition from taking to the streets on 23 March. Equatorial Guinea's main cities - the capital Malabo and the mainland's main city Bata - were dominated by heavily armed police troops to prevent any possible gathering of persons opposing the repressive regime of lifetime President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

On the day of the planned mass protest in the totalitarian kingdom of Swaziland, 12 April, the powerful trade union COSATU in neighbouring South Africa plans a protest march to 'invade' the kingdom in solidarity. Swazi youths fed up with the autocratic government have announced a day of national protests on 12 April through social media, in particular Facebook, following the North African model.

The record of proceedings in prominent visual artist, Owen Maseko’s Constitutional challenge, is now ready for the Supreme Court after the Bulawayo Provincial Magistrates Court furnished the Supreme Court with five copies of the record including two DVD’s. The visual artist was arrested in March 2010 for staging an exhibition in Bulawayo depicting the 1980’s Matabeleland massacres carried out by troops loyal to President Robert Mugabe’s previous government. Maseko was accused of undermining the authority of or insulting the President and causing offence to persons of a particular race or religion.

The Africa Union (AU) and the NEPAD Agency in collaboration with regional economic communities and partners officially launched the Africa Platform for Development Effectiveness (APDev) during the IV AU/ECA joint annual meeting of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance on Saturday (26 March) in Addis Ababa. Endorsed by the 15th African Union Summit of July 2010, APDev is a physical and virtual multi-stakeholder platform and organising mechanism. It aims at mobilising African policymakers, practitioners and other development stakeholders toward achieving sustainable development results.

The exhumation exercise being carried out by ZANU PF in the Mt Darwin area has received strong criticism from civic groups, that say the rest of the country has been excluded and the careless handling of bodies is disrespectful. They say the exhumers are also missing the opportunity to collect important information about the victims. Strongly worded statements were issued by the Solidarity Peace Trust, the Crisis Coalition and the MDC. Under the theme of 'healing the dead', ZANU PF has claimed that the bodies they are displaying in photographs and on state television were victims of the liberation war and were massacred by the Rhodesian army. But experts have said the appearance of some of the bodies shows they could have died much more recently.

The private finance sector arm of the World Bank Group announced last month that it would invest $300 million to promote mining in Africa. Dr. Aaron Tesfaye, a professor of International Political Economy and African Politics at William Paterson University, said he is not surprised by the announcement because of the economic and security implications mining and strategic metals have for industrialised nations. While the IFC claims to promote poverty reduction through sustainable development in developing countries, it has been criticised because the mining projects it has funded have a track record of causing human rights abuses and massive environmental damage. 'This is bad news for Africans, at least those who aren’t members of the business and political elite,' said Jamie Kneen, Communications Coordinator for MiningWatch Canada.

Nigeria's three main opposition candidates have pulled out of election debates with President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him of 'arrogance'. The three - Nuhu Ribadu, Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Shekarau - are suspicious that he will take part only in a live TV debate largely organised by state-run media. Mr Jonathan refused to take part in a debate last week, organised by NN24 TV, saying he would participate only in one scheduled for next Tuesday run by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria.

The name of the man against whom dozens of protesters rallied in London last week was hardly visible on their placards. Zimbabwean exiles were protesting against the excesses of Robert Mugabe’s regime. But the protesters aimed their anger not at Mr Mugabe but at leaders from Africa and the West who they feel have ignored the crisis besetting the coalition in Zimbabwe.

Gunmen suspected of being members of a radical Islamic sect shot dead a political party youth leader in northeast Nigeria on Sunday, less than a week before elections begin in Africa's most populous nation. The local politician was a member of the opposition All Nigeria People's Party, which has localised support in parts of the north of the country but is not expected to gain the widespread backing needed to win the presidential vote.

Cote d'Ivoire's Alassane Ouattara has rejected the African Union's choice of mediator in the country's crisis. The African Union has appointed former Cape Verde Foreign Minister Jose Brito to mediate the country away from the brink of civil war. And in a later development Mr Gbagbo's camp said it had accepted the choice of Mr Brito as mediator.

The main challengers in Benin's disputed presidential vote have filed appeals over results showing incumbent Boni Yayi won with 53 per cent, the constitutional court said Saturday (26 March). Tension has risen in the small west African country since the vote, with police firing tear gas to disperse opposition protesters in the economic capital Cotonou on Thursday (24 March).

Unless Libyans themselves own the struggle against Gaddafi, opponents to his regime may find that even if he has been removed from power, ‘Gaddafism’ will continue – but this time propped up by the West, Horace Campbell warns.