The potential for renewable energy development in Africa is growing as both investors and regional leaders seek a new clean energy frontier. According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), the continent could become a "gold mine" for renewable energy due to abundant hydro, solar and wind resources. This is because the continent has substantial new and renewable energy resources, most of which are under-exploited.

The Ethiopian Government was one of the first to embrace the use of ICT as a way to change Government and improve the efficiency of the economy. The country has a burgeoning ICT sector but it is being held back by the impact of Government policy. However laudable the Government’s intentions, there is an overwhelming mismatch between its rhetoric and the results. Our correspondent takes a look at the elephant in the room that isn’t being dealt with.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki named a close ally, former trade minister Uhuru Kenyatta, on Friday as finance minister of east Africa's biggest economy. Former finance minister Amos Kimunya stepped down last July over the controversial sale of a luxury hotel, but was later cleared of any wrongdoing. On Friday, Kibaki returned Kimunya to the cabinet as his new trade minister.

On Thursday, a Bulawayo magistrate set aside a ruling on a case against the leaders of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), who are facing two ‘nuisance’ charges for organizing demonstrations. Jennie Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu were arrested in October 2008 and June 2008 and were charged under the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act and Miscellaneous Offences Act respectively.

Plans are afoot by the regime to forcibly remove 5000 villagers from the Chiadzwa area in Manicaland province, to facilitate unfettered access to the diamond fields. Newsreel learnt on Thursday that a meeting between Governor Christopher Mushowe and some chiefs and headmen from the area is set to be held on Saturday. Almost all those invited, including the provincial administrator and district administrator for Marange, have close links to the Mugabe regime.

The cholera epidemic has continued to rage out of control across the country with the official death toll fast approaching the 3000 mark – and the mortality rate is not expected to slow down any time soon. Within just a week the reported, and therefore official number of deaths, has increased to 2744 and the new figures come as international aid agencies have expressed fears that the threat has taken over the country’s rural areas.

The new government of Ghana has been warned to be mindful of the World Bank and other international donors' eulogies. Anthony Akoto-Osei, former Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, urged the Atta-Mills government to remain focused on its agenda. The former minister said the government should not rely exclusively on advises from global financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, saying they throw around loans that may tie down the country in circles of debts.

The first son of Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade, is reported to have entered into active politics to succeed his father. Long standing rumours that Karim Wade would be taking to his father's heels settled when he decided to contest the seat of mayor of Dakar.

The flood of Congolese civilians fleeing raids by the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) are in dire need of food, shelter, medicines, clothes and other aid items, and United Nations’ relief will begin reaching them tomorrow despite immense logistical challenges, the Organization’s refugee agency has said today.

Hundreds more troops will arrive in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region within the next two months in an effort to boost protection of civilians, the African Union-United Nations mission there, known as UNAMID, has said. Additional troops are expected to arrive by March from Egypt, South Africa, Senegal and Bangladesh, and later this year, further troops will arrive from Nepal, Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia, UNAMID said.

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been terrorizing the Haut Uélé area of Orientale province in north-east DRC in recent months. The UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), along with partner agencies, visited affected areas from 16-17 January to help them set up an appropriate humanitarian response. In Faradje, the team assessed the damage to property and spoke to those remaining in the town following the deadly LRA attacks, noting the need for protection and psychosocial assistance for civilians.

Kenya's parliament is reconvening shortly, two months before it was due to end its recess to pass legislation setting up a poll violence tribunal. The court will seek to try the ringleaders of the unrest that broke out after the December 2007 elections. This was the recommendation of a commission of inquiry into the clashes.

Guinea's new military government has summoned several ex-ministers and business leaders to appear before a commission investigating graft claims. Some 14 people, including the former ministers for sport and finance and the ex-chief of protocol under the late president, have been called.

"The blood of those dying on daily basis in Zimbabwe will be laid on the feet of Southern African Development Community (SADC) leadership as they are failing to undertake duties they are elected to do" said rights activist Graça Machel in Johannesburg. Machel who is also a member of elders's group who were barred from entering Zimbabwe last Novemember by the Mugabe regime was speaking at the launch of a regional fasting that is meant to last for three months over the Zimbabwe crisis. Organisers of this fasting period believe 'politicians alone could not solve the crisis.'

Over 2,700 people are reported to have now died in Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic - a 20% rise in a week, the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) says. WHO says about 50,000 people have been infected with the preventable disease. The start of the rainy season could lead to even more infections, as water sources become contaminated, aid workers have warned.

Nigeria's main opposition Action Congress (AC) has disowned its presidential candidate in the 2007 general elections and party chief Atiku Abubakar, after he paid a well-publicised visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday. In a statement issued in the capital city of Abuja Wednesday, AC said while it could not decide who its members can visit or determine their friends, the visit was not in the overall interest of the party.

The Director of Mozambique's Central Office for the Fight Against Corruption, Ana Maria Gemo, warned on Tuesday "corruption is not the only ill that undermines the development of the state, but it is certainly the most dangerous". Giving a lecture to an audience of over 500 in Maputo on "Corruption as an obstacle to development", Gemo said what is often referred to as "petty corruption" is widespread and "makes life impossible for citizens".

One of Mauritania's political parties, the Alternative Party, has nominated its president, Mohamed Yehdi Ould Moctar Hacen, as its flag bearer in the 30 May 2009 presidential election in the country, the party said in a statement here Thursday.

Ghanaian President John Evans Atta Mills on Thursday released the initial list of the names of his cabinet and gave an indication that he would fulfil his pledge of 40 per cent of them being women. The list, which included a blend of old and new faces, has been forwarded to parliament for vetting.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration approved lavish benefits for outgoing President John Kufuor, parliament heard on Monday, a move critics said could burden the country's struggling economy. The package, approved on the previous parliament's final day, gives each former president two furnished houses, six chauffeur-driven cars, a tax-free payment linked to time served in office, as well as money for entertainment and foreign travel.