The 1994 Rwandan genocide was a tragedy that the rest of the world overlooked, writes Alice Gatebuke, and sixteen years later the international community is still turning a blind eye to Rwanda. Recent human rights abuses – the maltreatment of a presidential candidate and the suspension of rights of an American lawyer – and Rwanda’s actions in neighbouring Congo have not been condemned by the international community. Gatebuke, a genocide survivor, argues that present-day violations of universal rights and norms must not be ignored, nor can they be excused by consideration of past acts of evil against Rwandanese people. Rwanda too, she says, must be held to a universal standard.

A civic education session attracts women from Kabete, Nairobi, who listen to educators and MPs deconstruct Kenya's proposed constitution ahead of the 4 August referendum. The event is one of many organised by Warembo ni Yes, a movement conceived by the women's arm of community group Bunge la Mwananchi and created to educate and prompt women to vote yes. Event organiser and Warembo ni Yes sister Grace Ngugi explains why her group reaches out to women, and why women are responding.

The world seems to be paying more attention to genocide deniers in North America and Europe than the facts on the ground about Rwanda, writes Chizzy Mswahili.

Inspired by the atmosphere both at the World Cup in South Africa and at the Cup of Cultures in Berlin, Mphutlane wa Bofelo sees ‘the possibilities for the development of national, continental and international identities, rooted in the acknowledgement and the celebration of diversity as well as the interconnectedness of humanity and the universality of human experiences.’ But, says wa Bofelo, ‘we cannot expect a one-off event like the World Cup to work like a magic wand and spontaneously heal the divisions and tensions of the past and the present.

Chair of the board and CEO of Angolan parastatal Sonangol, Manuel Vicente's 25 per cent shareholding in Grinaker LTA Angola – a company that was awarded two multi-million dollar construction contracts by Sonangol – involves ‘passive corruption and conflict of interest’, writes Rafael Marques de Morais. De Morais takes a look at Vicente's role in the murky relationship between the two organisations and the Banco Africano de Investimentos (BAI) in light of national and international anti-corruption legislation.

Our hope of changing the world has to transcend conventional methods, writes Amira Ali, if we want to create a world for our children in which they are able to live, to grow and ‘become their best possible selves’. This will not happen, muses Ali, ‘unless, we are transformed, re-developed and renewed’. The alternative is to turn ‘our backs on atrocities and malaise, contributing to the cataclysms of the world and succumb to the spiritual hollowness of our lives.’

Once seen as an essential part of South Africa’s liberation struggle, today striking workers and their trade unions are more likely to be perceived as unpatriotic for ‘chasing away foreign economic investment’, writes Mxolisi Makinana. Although the ANC (African National Congress) presents itself as the government of the people, Makinana argues that legislation to regulate strikes is designed to ‘institutionalise the class struggle that continues in the post-apartheid period’.

The East African Community has accelerated negotiations with Europe for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The race is on for negotiators and lobbyists to either let Europe in or keep it out. And so far, influential EPA advocates are in the lead, according to Yash Tandon, former head of the South Centre and critic of African EPAs with Europe. As corporate proponents advance the trade deal, negotiations threaten East African unity at a critical time in its still early development.

With the 2010 World Cup at the halfway point, the blogosphere is starting to take stock of the performance of the six teams representing the continent, and of South Africa as the host country, writes Dibussi Tande.

Following the widely contested result of the Ethiopian elections in May, Alemayehu G. Mariam urges Ethiopian intellectuals to rise and become the ‘tip of the spear of social change’ in the country. Mariam persists to contend Meles Zenawi’s right to the presidency, whilst calling on fellow intellectuals to become advocates of peaceful change and democracy in their homeland through a focus of the intellectual ‘eye’.

I was once a fighter,
A fighter of great prowess,
A fighter of great calibre.
"I am a fighter!" I shouted,
And before I had realised it,
I had won the fight.

My opponents gave way
And surrendered with fear
"You have won," they said,
And grim faced, they left.
Without another glance at me, they saw the fighter,
Carried shoulder high by cheering supporters.

"I am a fighter!" I shouted
But there was nobody to fight,
So I had to relax.

But how can a fighter relax
Except by fighting?
How can a killer repose
Except by killing?
How can a dancer recreate
Except by dancing?
I had to relax too,
I had to repose,
I had to recreate.

"I am a fighter!" I shouted
But my enemies were no longer there,
They had long joined the mocking audience
Looking at me with nobody to fight.

So
I turned grimly to my supporters
Holding me high in worship:
"I am a fighter!" I declared to them.

Boubacar Boris DIOP

Wazir Mohamed

Fodé Roland Diagne

Comoros President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi has signed an African Union-brokered deal, allowing him to stay on power as "interim president" until November. Then, late elections are to be held. According to a statement by the Comoran Union presidency, the agreement that ends the archipelago's constitutional crisis was signed in Moroni, the capital, today. An election timetable is key to the agreement.

The economic crisis has affected the economy of Burkina Faso only in a limited way. Despite dry whether conditions and low cotton prices, GDP growth has only been slightly reduced. According to the latest analysis of the Burkinabe economy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), GDP growth was reduced from 5.2 percent in 2008 to 3.2 percent in 2009.

The seven states comprising the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) group are meeting in Gaborone, Botswana this week following negotiations with the European Union (EU) in Belgium last month. The meeting, which will run from Thursday to Friday, stems from a decision made at the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Heads of State meeting in Namibia on April 22.

Kenya is positioning itself to reap minimum benefits from the expanded market set to be created by the integration of the East African Community (EAC) Common Market which comes into effect on July 1. Both the government and the private sector have lined a series of meetings to ensure the East African nation’s biggest economy makes economic grains from the regional market.

The Ugandan government will compensate about 10,000 people in the country's northern region, who were maimed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels over two decades, ahead of elections next year. One of the most ruthless rebel groups, the LRA waged a brutal but futile insurgency from their bases in northern Ugandan and southern Sudan to dislodge President Yoweri Museveni and establish a theocracy in the east African country.

Zimbabwe has finally launched the programme to rewrite the country’s constitution but financial constraints, political intimidation and violence threaten the 90 day consultation process. Launching the long delayed programme to replace the constitution adopted at independence from Britain in 1980 on Wednesday, President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara made impassioned pleas for peace.

Gambian opposition People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), has proposed the holding of primaries as a way of resolving the thorny issue of selecting a presidential flag-bearer for a united opposition front ahead of the tiny West African nation’s polls. The proposal followed PDOIS's recent congress during which party supporters and executive members adopted 'Agenda 2011', a blueprint spelling out strategies, plans and theories aimed at effecting democratic change in the Gambia.

The international community risks losing the global battle against HIV/AIDS, unless funding for projects to stem the spread of the disease and keep those infected healthy is sustained and increased, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned. "In our global war on AIDS, the international community is on the verge of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," Ban wrote in an editorial opinion published in the Austin American-Statesman, a US-based newspaper.