Tidiane Kassé

Prince Kum’a Ndumbe III

Sanou Mbaye

Agustín Velloso

The Centre for Citizens’ Participation on the African Union (CCP-AU) seeks an Executive Director to provide strategic direction as well as operational and administrative oversight to the organisation. Based in Kenya (with potential relocation of the position to Addis Ababa) the Executive Director will work closely with and report to the CCP-AU Board of Directors.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for social and economic development in emerging economies have long been a focus of governments, the private sector, and most certainly donors and international development agencies. Yes, despite all the attention garnered on this field, we are seeing a checkered history of ICTs as a tool for development, with both successes and significant failures littering the landscape.

The weak euro and pound make travels to Africa more expensive for Europeans. But the few African countries able to offer all-inclusive packages, like Egypt, tend to become the winners of the 2010 season. Europe is the main market for almost every African tourist destination. Trends on the northern continent thus strongly influence the annual development of this increasingly important industry in Africa.

A $780 million power line commence by close of 2011 linking Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya. According to a senior Zambian government official Israel Phiri the project would be operational 2015. About 1,447 kilometres long, the high voltage transmission line will start at Serenje in the south of Zambia, snake along to Mbeya and Arusha in Tanzania before landing in Kenya's capital Nairobi, Reuters reported.

On 12 May, the United Nations Security Council extended the presence of the United Nations mission in Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) for two weeks until 26 May 2010 to allow for more time to examine a possible revision of the mandate.

In Copenhagen, donor countries pledged to raise US$30 billion in “fast start funds” and an additional US$100 billion a year by 2020 to invest in reducing emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change. Though the commitments are clear, the delivery is uncertain. By the June UNFCCC meetings in Bonn, countries will need to start drafting a set of decisions on the financial architecture to manage and distribute these climate funds.

The World Bank has described its recent increase of 3.13 percent in the voting power of emerging economies as a reform "to enhance voice and participation of developing and transition countries". But the shift has actually decreased a third of African countries’ share of votes.

Guinea's army chief has promised the military will ensure that the 27 June elections proceed smoothly. Colonel Nouhou Thiam, who heads a military task force set up to oversee the polls, said the army would "defend the territory of Guinea." He also promised the army would remain neutral during the elections.

Salva Kiir, the leader of south Sudan's former rebel group the SPLM, has been sworn in as the first elected president of the semi-autonomous southern region. It follows his landslide victory in April's elections, part of the peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between north and south.

Somalia’s president reinstated Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke and his cabinet on Thursday after days of uncertainty following a parliamentary vote of no confidence in them. President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed asked Mr Sharmarke and his ministers to step down after the vote on Sunday. A total 280 MPs had chosen to sack them, according to former speaker Sheikh Aden Madobe, who has since resigned.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has recommended a fresh look at the continent's informal industries, saying new policies to address the quality of jobs and financing were required for their survival. UNECA's chief economics analyst, Adam Elhiraika, said Tuesday that although the informal sector in Africa plays in important role in creating jobs and driving economic growth, the sector faced a series of setbacks, including lack of loans and policy support.

The Constitution Commission that reviewed Angola's constitution, which had been in force since February 2005, was dissolved on Wednesday by the National Assembly during its 12th plenary ordinary session.

Guinea's Interim Head of State, Brig.-Gen. Sekouba Konate, has re-stated his commitment to holding presidential elections 27 June 2010, a ccording to a communique issued by the International Contact Group on Guinea (ICG-G), which met in the nation's capital, Conakry, last weekend.

Ethiopia’s opposition says the style of deploying the police and the army might cause post-election violence if the forces intervene during celebrations of victory or expression of disgust at the vote outcome. Ethiopia’s opposition leader Beyena Petros, the chairman of a coalition of eight opposition parties, Medrek, said he was personally scared that the security forces' misreading of the public mood could cause post-election violence.

A “green revolution” led by Africa’s small farmers, and harnessing the latest technologies and innovations, is vital if the continent is to reduce extreme poverty and hunger by 2015, just two of the eight globally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to a new United Nations report. The 2010 Technology and Innovation Report, issued by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), warns that “ineffective farming techniques and wasteful post-harvest practices” have left sub-Saharan Africa as the region most likely to miss the MDGs on poverty and hunger.

The heads of seven African states are in Yaoundé at the invitation of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their countries’ independence. The seven leaders, who come mostly from central Africa, also took part in the closing ceremony of the international conference “Africa 21”

Zimbabwe’s labour body on Thursday called for fresh elections to choose the country’s next leader, citing “lack of progress” in the 15-month old coalition government between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) that sired Tsvangirai’s MDC party said the government of national unity (GNU) has since inception in February last year been embroiled in disputes which are stalling progress.

The uneasy partners in Zimbabwe's national unity government have one more issue to divide them: President Robert Mugabe's appointment this week of a new Supreme Court judge and four High Court judges without consultation with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, to which his Movement for Democratic Change immediately objected.

Bob Geldof should 'go ahead and sue the ruling minority in Ethiopia', writes ethiopian recycler, following on from an article by Alemayehu G. Mariam.