Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo argues that stopping most aid to Africa would spur economic growth. Even in the middle of this financial crisis, President Obama and other world leaders still find money in their budgets for foreign aid. In fact, some would argue it’s vital to continue giving financial aid to poor countries at a time such as this. Dambisa Moyo goes the other way.

Investigating the impact of the 2003 Extractive Industries Review on a number of African countries, the contributors in this book find that a key dimension of the problem lies in the regulatory frameworks imposed on the African countries by the IMF and World Bank. They aim to convince academics, governments and industry that regulation needs to be reformed to create a mining industry favourable to social and economic development and environmental protection.

, the and ending

cc Returning to DRC for the first time since 1996, Lansana Gberie finds that a little cash comes in handy for dealing with bureaucracy and that it is impossible to get anything done without a ‘fixer’. Considering the conflicts in the country’s history, Gberie notes that in Congo ‘money is always at the centre of the bigger drama of suffering’ and that justice – or the interests of victims of mass atrocities – has had to be subordinated to wider geopolitical interests. Leaving Kinshasa after just over a week, Gberie finds himself feeling that he is ‘in a place whose future has come and gone’.

cc As South African President Jacob Zuma starts legal proceedings against renowned cartoonist Zapiro, for sketches based on Zuma’s appearances in court on rape and corruption charges in 2008, Annar Cassam writes that she isn’t a fan of some of Zapiro’s work either. Cassam comments on two of Zapiro’s cartoons, one which depicts his own personal angst after having ‘lost faith’ in the ANC, and the other which shows what he thinks lies ahead for the majority of voters who voted for the ANC because of what the leadership promised them. Quoting Nelson Mandela, Cassam speaks of the need for South Africans to combine their ‘collective wisdom’ and the ‘talents and energies’ to address the glaring inequalities together. Cassam argues that Zapiro’s cartoons make a mockery of the aspirations of impoversished voters, and encourages citizens to switch parties rather than work with the ANC, which she argues, ‘remains the most important and the most inclusive organisation for the average South African’.

cc In an IT for Change, discusses the history behind the US government's supervision of the Internet, the debate around sovereignty over its basic structures, and the global push for a more democratic approach to overseeing the World Wide Web.

cc Reflecting on the standoff between Uganda and Kenya in the Migingo Island dispute, Korir Sing’Oei considers the nature of each state's claim on the island. With both Uganda and Kenya claiming their right to the island on the strength of colonial-era maps, Sing’Oei states that a resolution on the matter will identify the losing state as having transgressed international law. Pointing out that the Migingo case raises interesting questions around citizenship and Africa's incomplete decolonisation, Sing’Oei argues that greater involvement for the East African Community at large would facilitate dialogue between the two disputing states.

cc Haiti may have been the first black republic, but Anne Khaminwa is unconvinced by

Surveying a history of exploitation of Africa's people and resources, Lord Aikins Adusei denounces the multinational corporations continuing to plunder the continent's natural wealth. Situating today's ongoing exploitation of African resources within an established tradition of external interference, Adusei decries the ability of corporations to avoid paying taxes and keep dictators indifferent to their citizens' plight in their pocket. But with the emergence of China as a viable funding alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the author concludes that the 'second colonialism' driving Euro-American globalisation may be at an end.

It’s in the drop
Of water, rain water that turns into a pool
Breeding ground for jealous ambition
The domicile of lost and downtrodden faith

It’s in the drop
Of silence, pin-drop silence that becomes an echo
Laden with guilt from feigned friendships and half-truths
The emptiness out of years of self-patronisation

It’s in the drop
Of a beat, that swells gently into passionate frenzy
Exploring the vulnerability of my frustrations in living
The dance in honor of you and me, oh yes, we the living dead

It’s in the drop
Of one dollar that the world brands as my daily poverty
Yet in my world, my richness is like mood swings
Undulating between 60 and 80 shillings
60’s my mum’s generation; 80’s my generation

It’s in the drop
The beginning of the pool, the echo, the frenzy,
The unlimited potential to redefine universal perspective
Poverty is only the lack of ideas

cc Reflecting on Kenyan society's unquestioning acceptance of the police's right to intimidate and even kill those labelled as 'Mungiki', Wangari Maathai considers the dubious culture of impunity around harassing those supposedly in league with the Mungiki sect. With the pervasive demonisation of the Mungiki militia group providing an effective cover for the killing of members of the Kikuyu community – Mungiki and non-Mungiki alike – ordinary citizens are reluctant to speak out, both for fear of being accused of supporting the sect and of the reactions of Mungiki militia to criticism. Calling on the political and religious leadership of the Kikuyu community to face up to the challenge in its midst, Maathai urges the country to heal the growing rift between the community and other Kenyans.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/436/56713_Brian_Chikwava_tmb.j… this year's now announced, Mildred Kiconco Barya interviews Brian Chikwava, the 2004 winner of the prize. The winner of the 2009 prize will be announced at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, on Monday 6 July.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/436/56711_bombing_tmb.jpgFollo… the launch of the Nigerian military's latest campaign of violence against communities in the Niger Delta, Sokari Ekine looks at coverage of recent events in the African blogosphere, and finds the response to be ‘disappointingly sparse’. ‘I expected to read that there were Nigerians outraged by this attack on their fellow citizens by the Nigerian military, especially since the Nigerian mainstream media has been uncritical. Unfortunately there wasn’t as much as I had hoped and hope is all too important in the struggle against tyranny,’ says Ekine.

The Institute for Capacity Development (ICD) is pleased to announce to you its short course offerings for the period June – December 2009 in Windhoek, Namibia. ICD invites you; your colleagues and your institution to the management development courses that will enhance your skills and make you more effective at the workplace. ICD courses are aimed at skills transfer and course delivery makes use of you work experience and specific needs and integrated computer based problems and simulations.

The Somaliland political parties have signed an agreement with the Electoral Commission to fix an election date in the Horn of Africa state. The agreement which is derived from a series of negotiations among the political parties and the electoral committee, saw all parties agreeing to 27 September 2009 as the official day for the polls.

A panel consisting of Italian leaders together with international and African leaders has today appealed for focused investments on smallholders farmers in Africa in order to avoid a further and deepening crisis amidst the already ugly scars of the global slum effects.

Niger's president has dissolved parliament after the country's constitutional court ruled against plans to hold a referendum on whether to allow him a third term in office. Mamadou Tandja gave the order to dissolve the legislature on Tuesday, hours after the court said a move by the ruling coalition to hold a public vote on a third presidential term was illegal.

A decade after Nigeria's last military ruler ordered his troops to "forever resist the seduction and temptation of political power", democracy still has a fragile hold on Africa's most populous nation. Nigerians marked 10 straight years of civilian rule on Friday frustrated that corruption remains endemic, poverty widespread and infrastructure shambolic, but fairly confident that the military is unlikely to stage a comeback.

African growth will fall to 2% in 2009 from 5.1% in 2008 and agriculture will prove the continent's best chance of pulling itself from poverty. Most African economies had been growing steadily but the global economic crisis has caused aid flows to fall, slashed demand and prices for its agricultural exports. "GDP growth in Africa has declined from 6.0 percent in 2007 to 5.1 percent in 2008 and is expected to be 2.0 percent in 2009," a report published jointly by the AU and the United Nations Economic Commission (ECA) for Africa said.

The International Development Association (IDA), the arm of the World Bank that makes grants and interest-free, long-term loans to poor countries around the world, lacks effective safeguards against corruption, according to a report by the Bank's own Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). The report concluded that IDA, which currently lends and grants about $10 billion annually to governments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, doesn't protect its funds adequately from theft and diversion.