Whenever Mwalimu Nyerere felt he did not understand something, Seithy Chachage writes in this week's Pambazuka News, he sought to "read history backwards". Experience has continually shown us that it is not poverty per se which is the real problem of the world, but rather "the division of mankind into rich and poor", a division which allows a small minority to persistently dominate all others. If attempts at poverty eradication are not to simply replicate seemingly timeless inequalities, Nyerere stressed, social and political development must go hand in hand with economic growth, or indeed even before. What are needed, Chachage concludes, are "historical forms of knowledge" to encourage Africans to intervene in response to their marginalisation and to break from a "life devoid of all forms of arbitrariness—whether class, gender, race [or] communal exclusivity".

Authorities in the Republic of Congo have restricted the movements of several opposition politicians, who claim President Denis Sassou-Nguesso’s July re-election was won through fraud. Electoral disputes in Congo have triggered violence in the past, most notably when a two-year civil war broke out in 1997 after a row between Sassou-Nguesso and former president Pascal Lissouba.

Non-governmental organisations have expressed their satisfaction at the European Commission’s declaration that it would not put "undue pressure" on African and other countries to conclude the controversial trade deals called economic partnership agreements (EPAs)

Four African states threatened late on Thursday to veto any accord in the Doha trade round that did not address their demands for a reduction of Western subsidies for cotton. The negotiations on the product, a mainstay of several African economies, are seen as a touchstone of efforts to create a fairer global trading system in the Doha round, where agreement is sought in 2010.

Cases of serious sexual violence, including the recent rape of at least one woman by soldiers on an invaded farm, are being investigated, as members of the armed forces continue their illegal seizure of the land. The woman, part of a group of more than ninety farm worker families from Karori farm in the Headlands district, was reportedly raped more than a week ago when soldiers evicted them from the farm.

President Robert Mugabe has called for a new start to relations with those Western countries he has spent years insulting for their criticism of his leadership. "Our country remains in a positive stance to enter into fresh, friendly and co-operative relations with all those countries that have been hostile to us in the past," he said yesterday at the first sitting of parliament since a unity government was formed with the former opposition in February.

Farmers in Mauritania will receive financial help to turn milk into butter and cheese, to clean and package the vegetables they grow and to add value to other raw products under a $12 million programme unveiled by the United Nations agency tasked with eradicating rural poverty. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) announced that it will provide a grant of $6 million and a loan of $6 million as part of the scheme, which aims to boost food production and to lower the West African country’s dependence on food imports.

United Nations legal experts are on a 10-day visit to Côte d'Ivoire to study the West African country’s implementation of national laws and its prison administration as well as the judiciary’s interaction with other sectors of society. Two experts from the UN Department Operations Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Agneta Johnson and Gwendolyn Chellam, went to the western region to discuss the redeployment of judicial and prison authorities across the country following years of tensions in the wake of a political and military crisis.

Since the birth of a democratic South Africa in 1994, there are a range of ‘isms that have had, and continue to have, varying degrees of currency and impact on our society. The favourite of the privileged classes and political-economic elites has, of course, always been capitalism while for a sizeable portion of the poor, alongside a few intellectuals and political activists (even within the South African Communist Party) socialism remains the preferred alternative. Some in our midst clearly still hanker for the repressive certainties of fascism and/or monarchism, while others endorse a more traditional communitarianism.

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says the leaders of Kenya's post-election violence should face trial. The key perpetrators are to be tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, but Mr Annan said it was vital that others were tried in Kenya. Mr Annan helped mediate a peace deal after the 2008 violence in which 1,300 were killed and 300,000 displaced.

A deal on who should hold the top posts in Madagascar's power-sharing government faced collapse on Thursday after ousted leader Marc Ravalomanana refused to endorse his rival as president. Ravalomanana had agreed in principle to an agreement struck on Tuesday by the Indian Ocean island's feuding political parties which saw Andry Rajoelina, 35, retain the presidency on the condition he does not contest the next presidential ballot.

In past elections, Frelimo in Tete took a hard line against any opposition, with violence and intimidation, and also obstructed observers. There is a danger that this might happen again, and our journalists are reporting higher levels of violence in Tete than elsewhere. In both 1999 and 2004, Frelimo drove all Renamo activists out of Changara district, there were no Renamo party delegates in the polling stations, and there was extensive ballot box stuffing. In 1999, Renamo houses were burned and the Renamo representative on STAE was driven out of the district.

Founder of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force, one of the most prominent armed groups operating in the Niger Delta region, today Mujahid Dokubo Asari is a member of the main opposition party of Nigeria. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to win elections with the aim to fight the unbalanced oil management in the country, in 2004 he and his armed group stopped oil production but did not damage oil lots.

This week’s Pambazuka News brings you a lecture given by Samir Amin on the 22 September 1997 in memory of Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu. Amin recounts the struggles of independence and post-independence in Africa, struggles that Babu played a major role in. In this eye-opening historical analysis, Amin not only pays tribute to Babu but encourages us to look beyond the populism of the Bandung years and the following comprador societies and instead build on the independence struggles to create genuinely democratic societies in Africa.

The assault and killings suffered by Abahlali baseMjondolo members at Kennedy Road represent a quiet 'coup' and an attack on democracy, write Nigel Gibson and Raj Patel in this week's Pambazuka News. At once a reflection of the ANC's (African National Congress) encouragement of thuggery and the disturbing entrance of an ethnic politics 'unthinkable even in apartheid’s darkest days', the incident was the result of a deliberate attack on an autonomous, grassroots movement. With S'bu Zikode – Abahlali's elected chair – now forced into hiding, the intolerance of poor people's desire for representation and the emergence of 'demons of ethnic hatred' threaten the nation's very stability, the authors conclude.

Following the tragic rape and death of Grace Ushang in Cross River State, Nigeria, Asma’u Joda and Iheoma Obibi deplore the absence of any meaningful protection for the country's women and the Senate's apparent move to exacerbate matters further through the adoption of the Indecent Dressing Bill. If Ushang had merely been wearing khaki trousers – the official uniform of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) organisation with which she worked – then how will Nigeria guarantee the safety of each and every women in the uniformed services at large?

A relevant and thought-provoking poem that questions the priorities of the Kenyan government in relation to the tourism industry is brought to you by Wangui Kamari in this week's Pambazuka News.

While the global fight against poverty has made progress, Zikipediq writes in this week's Pambazuka News, the percentage of poor people in Africa has not reduced. With the global financial crisis threatening to plunge even further numbers into extreme poverty, the international community's support will remain key, along with a long-term view when it comes to supporting development goals.

Tierno Monenembo cries out in anguish at the killing of 157 people by Guinean soldiers on 28 September. Amidst shock at the bloody brutality, the anguish at the loss of sons and daughters, and the apparent treachery of the gods, there is a resurgence of hope. The death of 157 innocent citizens on 28 September also signals a new beginning. For their sake, the popular uprising must push on towards its ultimate goal: the departure of Dadis Camara. An old Soussou proverb serves a warning to the supporters of Camara: 'The snake you feed will be the one that bites you.'

In the wake of the armed African National Congress (ANC) takeover of Kennedy Road, Abahlali baseMjondolo has received support from all over the world.