Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Nigerian storyteller and writer of the acclaimed novels ‘Purple Hibiscus’ and ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ – tells us a tale of ‘the danger of a single story’.

While President Yar'Adua’s absence – since November 2009 – has left a power vacuum in Nigeria, Funmi Feyide-John believes that this ‘cloud has a silver lining’. Feyide-John describes the events and steps that are being taken within Nigeria to fill the presidential seat: Peaceful demonstrations, letters of demand, court cases, discussions amongst legislators and increasing general discontent. She holds that the handing over of power – be it permanently or temporarily – strongly indicates the strength of the people and the giant steps that are being taken to shape a truly Nigerian democracy.

Ordinary Nigerians, Funmi Feyide-John observes, are experiencing a backlash of discrimination worldwide as a result of the attempted suicide bombing on an American flight by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Following the event, Nigeria has been listed as a ‘terror prone’ country. Feyide-John goes on to reveal that despite most Nigerians having denounced Abdulmutallab’s actions and terrorism, the US is denying Nigerian students their visas, Nigerian travellers are subjected to special ‘rules’ and Nigerian community initiatives in the US are being shunned. She notes that Nigerians are receiving no support from the Nigerian government to overcome these problems. Furthermore, Nigeria’s unstable political backdrop at the moment is one that encourages separation. What is needed, Feyide-John concludes, however, is unity.

Eugénio Costa Almeida

André de Oliveira, Jefferson Pinheiro, Sarah Brito e Sergio Valentim

Kenya's coastal and southeastern regions will harvest a bumper maize crop from mid-February following El Nino-enhanced rains that fell in December, according to experts. "The most likely situation between January and March points to significant improvements in food security, especially in the southeastern marginal agricultural livelihood areas," the Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG) said in a report.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the second review of Mali’s economic performance under a programme supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). The decision also allows the government to request a further disbursement amounting to about US$3.1 million, which would bring total disbursements to Mali to SDR 21.99 million (about US$34.1 million).

The spirit in which Parliamentary Service Commissions in democratic countries exist is that of providing parliamentarians with the requisite support and resources to undertake their duty to citizens. The history of the Parliamentary Service Commission in Kenya is replete with impropriety in resource utilisation, reports Transparency International.

The president of Malawi has been chosen to assume the rotating presidency of the African Union, Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader and the body's outgoing chairman, has said.

One of Nigeria's most politically turbulent states goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new governor in a vote seen as a test of the country's ability to hold credible national elections in 2011. vThe governorship vote in southeastern Anambra state is the first in a cycle of state and federal polls culminating in presidential elections next year.

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) is demanding the arrest of a security guard from the University of Zimbabwe, after a student leader was ‘severely’ beaten in a crackdown by police and security guards on a public students meeting.

Dozens of African leaders met in Ethiopia to tackle the challenges facing the continent in the effort to meet the United Nations target of ensuring universal access to malaria control measures by the end of this year. Some 26 heads of State convened the first working session of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) during the annual African Union (AU) summit, which got under way in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai are locked in a fresh power struggle after the former instructed government ministers to report to his two vice-presidents by-passing the Premier – a clear breach of the former foes' power-sharing agreement.

The African Union has weighed in again on the vexed question of Western targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and other officials of his former Zanu PF administration, Harare sources said.

A UN report sys the number of people in southern Sudan in need of food quadrupled during the past year. "The conflicts and drought have increased the number of southerners in need of food aid from 1 million in 2009 to 4.3 million at the beginning of 2010," the report released by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday, said.

Angolan head of state, José Eduardo dos Santos, formed a new government marked by the creation of the post of Vice-president of the Republic which will be occupied by the incumbent speaker of the National Assembly, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos "Nando", according to official sources.

Employees of the African Union (AU) have demanded that the new AU Chairperson should address outstanding demands for benefit and security. The staff urged the new AU Chair, Malawian President Bingu Wa Mutharika, who would be presiding over the 53-member continental organization for the next 12 months, to make sure that they would be beneficiaries of attractive benefit packages.

The World Bank has joined the push to make 2010 a conflict-free year for the African continent, Bank President Robert Zoellick, has said here.'We recognize the pioneering role African regional organizations have played in managing conflict across the continent and we can learn from them,' said Zoellick, who led America's trade diplomacy before moving to the World Bank as President.

The African Union Commission Chief Jean Ping, has informed Eritrea to send an ambassador to represent it in Addis Ababa, the seat of the African Union (AU), despite Eritrea's frosty relations with hosts, Ethiopia.

Nigeria's long-drawn political impasse, caused by the failure of President Umaru Yar'Adua to transfer power to his deputy while on a prolonged medical treatment in Saudi Ara bia, may soon be over, if assurances given Thursday by one of his aides are anything to go by.

A surprise intervention at the weekend by Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations secretary-general, has drawn warnings from senior officials in south Sudan that any outside efforts to influence a referendum next year could lead to further conflict. Mr Ban told an African Union summit at the weekend that he would “work hard” to avoid the secession of south Sudan following the referendum.