Africa is lagging behind the rest of the world in developing renewable energy projects with initiatives aimed at producing clean and ‘green’ energy remaining largely under-exploited, warned a new report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The United Nations mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) is closely monitoring efforts to establish a government – including an independent electoral commission – and to resume plans for long-awaited elections in the West African country, where a political crisis following the dissolution of the government last month sparked deadly street protests.

Following a request for additional information from the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier this month, its Prosecutor has named the 20 people he says are most responsible for the deadly post-election ethnic violence which swept Kenya in December 2007 and January 2008.

After the Democratic Republic of Congo cancelled an IFC backed mining contract over disputed payments, the World Bank arm has declared that it will not begin new projects in the country until the dispute is resolved. The IFC is currently active in nine projects in Congo with a commitment of $104.6 million.

Adolescent girls have often been missing in policy and programming. Yet many believe that their well-being the key to eliminating poverty, achieving social justice, stabilizing the population, and preventing foreseeable humanitarian crises.

Since October 2009 a total of 114,017 refugees have fled armed clashes in Equateur Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and found refuge in the Republic of Congo (RoC). These clashes originated in inter-communal disputes over farming and fishing rights but later widened to other parts of the province.

The European Union Election Observation Mission to Sudan should consider the impact of ongoing human rights abuses and insecurity on the elections process, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the mission on March 2, 2010.

The UN has begun talks with Democratic Republic of Congo on withdrawing its peacekeeping mission - the biggest UN operation in the world. UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said his officials would take a month to assess how the pullout of 20,500 personnel could be carried out.

The main opposition party in Togo has claimed widespread irregularities in the country's presidential election. People in Togo voted on Thursday to chose a new head of state - five years after hundreds died following the last, disputed election.

Zimbabwe's power-sharing government looks unlikely to step down in 2011 as planned because it has failed to draw up the reforms needed to ensure free and fair elections, political analysts say.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday that he was prepared to stand for re-election if asked to do so by his Zanu PF party. "If Zanu PF says yes, I will," 86-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, told journalists in a rare press conference. Elections are due in two years.

An Ethiopian opposition politician and parliamentary aspirant was stabbed to death Tuesday and a second one seriously wounded when attackers raided their respective homes in Makalle and Axum in Tigray, 783 km north of Addis Ababa, party officials said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that Gambian authorities had carried out satisfactory economic policies that have contributed to robust economic growth and low inflation. But it warned that Gambia still remained at high risk of debt distress even after extensive debt relief.

Niger's ruling Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) has stopped all demonstrations in support of the military junta which seized power in the West African nation 18 Feb., according to statement from the junta.

Africa has over 120 carbon market projects up and running or in the pipeline,in areas ranging from wind power to forestry schemes, a new assessment, published by the UN Environment Programme, has shown. However, in comparison to the rest of the world, the continent is still lagging behind, with the potential for clean and green energy largely under- exploited.

Nigeria's Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has barred ministers from making public comments as the country's leadership crisis continues. The order was sequel to stinging comments by Minister of Information and Communication, Dora Akunyili, on the secrecy surrounding the lingering ill-health of President Umaru Yar'Adua and the clandestine manner in which he was ferried to Nigeria last week, after spending 93 days in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

As Burundi approaches elections designed to cap the country’s democratic transition after years of civil conflict, there is growing concern about worsening security and limits to political freedom. “The situation is explosive,” Pierre Clavier Mbonimpa, chairman of the Association for the Promotion of Human and Prisoner Rights (APRODH).

Mary Ndlovu paints a desolate picture of the Zimbabwe of now and its political future: ‘The “Unity Government” has stumbled from pillar to post, ending for the time being, paralysed in the intensive or perhaps terminal care unit of the political hospital.’ Ndlovu takes us through the events of the last year and argues that ZANU PF’s tactics have shifted from the defensive to the offensive. Analysing the various options, such as calls for elections now, Ndlovu finds strong reasons to eliminate each. But she ends on a note of hope: ‘Debate on the constitution has… sparked considerable interest and determination to participate. Hopefully… a more active citizenry will eventually evolve, bringing promise of an empowered society which will develop new strategies to put in place a democratic government.’

This latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, analyses the situation resulting from the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that broke the stalemate following failed 2008 presidential elections and led to formation of the unity government in February 2009. It concludes that all domestic signatories of the GPA, as well as the South African mediation, must embrace democratic transformation as the vital objective of the transition.

More than 3,000 local election observers, 6,000 soldiers, and representatives of international election transparency watchdog groups are scattered across Togo on the eve of a presidential election crackling with tension, yet billed as a "national reconciliation" by its leaders.