I am a desk editor in a newspaper in Botswana and from my experiences I would say everyone involved in the media especially at editor level should read Pambazuka as often as he/she can.

Pambazuka's analyses and features give an intellectually engaging account of our continent and the African diaspora in a way that not any other freely available source ever does. And it has a particularly African Point of View which is paramount because in these challenging times of information overload, sifting through all data and synthesizing out a particularly African position takes time, it helps to find a website like Pambazuka which gathers all useful writings in one place.

We appreciate it my people. We really do. Keep it up

In response to: : I am opposed to any warlike antagonism and empathetic to any innocent people who are the victims of war anywhere. There is no need to take sides here. The only thing that has to happen is a complete cease fire on all sides.

From where I sit here in Canada and from the news that I have access to I see the instigators as being the radical leaders and their followers who for many years have been lobbing bombs into Israel.

The hate that is and has been openly targeted at Israel which represents the Jewish people of the world comes from the leaders of modern fanatical groups.

Their leadership is the origin of these awful, calamitous death ridden clashes and it is they who should be sought out and destroyed.

Unfortunately these cowards who consider themselves prophets continuously lob bombs into Israel and position their attacks from civilian areas inside their own land. When Israel retaliates it's a disaster for sure.

All leaders from all sides must be brought together immediately to one place and commit to a cease fire on all sides. This needs to be governed by an international body of some sort who will monitor the ceasefire and punish severely anyone who breaks the ceasefire. Anyone connected to breaking the ceasefire must be tried as a war criminal and put away forever. End of story.

We can't take sides because taking sides is a sure fired way of keeping this insanity going. It doesn't matter anymore who started it or what religion you believe in.

INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE DYING AND THAT HAS TO STOP!!!!!!!!

I find it interesting that Mukoma Wa Ngugi in ignores the years of radical Muslim attacks on Israelis and Jews world wide. He ignores the stated goal of Hamas and similar organizations to destroy Israel and replace with it with a fundamentalist Muslim state in which Jews would be eliminated.

He ignores the deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians. He ignores the placement of weapons and missile launchers and mortars within populated Palestinian areas.

Of course, he totally ignored the attacks of radical Muslims on other Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and the attacks of Turkey on Kurds. His article once again demonstrates the double standards and hypocrisy that is prevalent in attacks on Israel for defending itself.

I would suggest that the writer become more informed about the entire history of the region and not engage in half truths and anti-semitism.

The chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Jean Ping strongly condemned the seizure of power by elements of the Guinean armed forces and their subsequent suspension of various legal institutions following the death of President Lansana Conté. In addition, the peace and security council (PSC) suspended Guinea from the AU until the return of constitutional order and welcomed the present efforts and coordination between different stakeholders for the rapid return to legitimate governance. However, the new military authorities in the country played down the AU’s decision and analysts suggest that the sanctions will have little or no effect.

The PSC also discussed the situation in Mauritania, expressing its deep concern at the junta’s lack of political will to return to constitutional legality, encouraging efforts being made by Mauritanian parties, international partners and the AU to promote the return of constitutional order within the deadline stipulated by the Lomé Declaration. On Guinea Bissau, the PSC strongly condemned the attack on the residence of President João Bernardo Vieira and commended the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for its initiatives to help the country re-establish political order. Reiterating its deep concern at the prevailing security and humanitarian situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the PSC lauded the mobilisation of the international community to support the peace process in the country and to contribute towards the alleviation of the current humanitarian crisis. In addition, the AU Commission has strongly condemned the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza, appealed to the United Nations Security Council and members of the Quartet to compel Israel to an immediate cease-fire and called upon both parties to the conflict to return to the Truce Agreement.

The PSC also discussed the situation in Somalia, paid tribute to all humanitarian agencies and workers in Somalia, expressed appreciation to countries providing humanitarian aid and called for their continued support. Meanwhile, at a joint news conference, the Burundian and Ugandan defence ministers threatened to withdraw their troops from Somalia if the AU failed to urgently strengthen its peacekeeping mission in the country by providing adequate equipment and enough financial resources. The AU chairperson urged all Somali stakeholders to take the necessary steps for the early appointment of a new president following the resignation of President Abdullahi Yusuf and called on those who have not yet done so to join the on-going peace process.

Still in peace and security related news, the AU Commission chairperson denounced the murder of a Senegalese peacekeeper by militia groups in Darfur while reiterating the AU and UN’s commitment to peacekeeping efforts in the region. While Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe no longer enjoys the trust of the regional body, the Southern African Development Community, to distribute humanitarian aid fairly, the community agreed at a ministerial meeting to launch an urgent international campaign to mobilise financial and material resources for both Zimbabwe and the DRC. The decision followed the food shortages and the outbreak of cholera and a humanitarian disaster respectively in Zimbabwe and DRC.

In regards to regional integration, the AU convened a meeting of Africa’s finance experts, central bank governors, capital market authorities and regulators to discuss economic integration as a weapon against the global economic slowdown and the creation of the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund and the African Investment Bank. The AU Commission chairperson had previously stressed the need to establish stronger African economic communities with greater impact saying that no single country would alone overcome the current challenges of globalisation and financial crisis.

In environmental news, the attempt to expand carbon-trading mechanisms and create rewards for sustainable farming practices on the continent made little progress at the climate change conference in Pozna?, Poland as there were several rival proposals under consideration including the African Climate Solution fronted by the 26 member states of the Common Market For Eastern and Southern Africa.

Finally, the Centre for Citizens’ Participation in the African Union invites civil society and nongovernmental organisations to the fourth Citizens’ Continental Conference on the African Union summit to be held between 16 and 17 January 2009 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

African Writing Magazine, Mamadou N'Dongo, a Senegalese writer and filmmaker and author of Bridge Road and L’Errance de Sidiki Bâ, talks about the roots of Bridge Road in Black American struggles, the art of film in relation the craft of writing, and much more.

Chuma Nwokolo,
Publisher, African Writing.

Local NGOs subcontracted by a multi-million-dollar microfinance programme are taking bribes from borrowers, according to the fund’s directors. Aboubacar Aboudou, the first director of the government-run “microloans to the poorest” programme, told IRIN a lack of oversight and the programme’s rapid growth since its creation in February 2007 has left it open to “unscrupulous intermediaries” hired to process loans.

This paper questions the lending progammes of the World Bank (WB), and discusses the significance of its engagement with developing economies. It analyses the history and economics of international development policy vis-à-vis developing economies, and critiques the political economy of the policy-based intervention of the WB and IMF in the developing world in general and Africa in particular.

Three regional economic blocs have made a giant step towards the long-conceived goal of an African Economic Community, approving the expeditious establishment of an enlarged Free Trade Area (FTA) encompassing 26 Member States in three sub-regions. Meeting at a Tripartite Summit in late 2008 in Uganda, leaders of Member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC) agreed on what many have described as an important milestone towards continental integration as envisaged by the African Union (AU).

The South African Supreme Court of Appeal will hand down judgement in Zuma case that witnesses a face-off between the corruption-tainted Zuma, leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), and axed president Thabo Mbeki. Zuma will hear his fate two days after the ANC releases its 2009 election manifesto in the Eastern Cape on Saturday which names him as its presidential candidate.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has requested a meeting with President Robert Mugabe in a last-ditch effort to salvage a power-sharing deal, an opposition spokesman said on Friday. Tsvangirai and Mugabe signed a unity pact last September, but the agreement appears to be unravelling following a dispute over the control of key ministries and the abduction of several opposition and human rights activists.

The case against human rights activist Jestina Mukoko and her eight other co-accused was once again postponed in the Harare magistrates court on Tuesday, in order for a superior court to rule on the group’s arrest. On Monday a judge ordered that Mukoko receive medical attention before the case proceeded - the second such order after police failed to comply with a previous one, stating Mukoko should be taken to hospital so allegations of torture could be investigated.

With an increasingly laughable judicial system conniving to illegally detain abducted activists, defence lawyers and rights groups are using name and shame tactics to apply pressure for their release. This week lawyer Alec Muchadehama, who is representing 7 MDC activists charged with plotting to overthrow Mugabe’s regime, named several state agents who abducted his clients.

Abdurahman Mohamad Farole has been elected as the new president of Puntland, a regional autonomy. Before his election to the presidency, he was the finance minister and close ally of the outgoing president Adde Musa.

The United Nations is continuing to rush assistance to help those uprooted by clashes in the war-torn far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including victims of violence at the hands of the notorious Ugandan rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Despite some problems, voter identification and registration in Côte d’Ivoire have been positive overall in the run-up to elections, a key element in resolving a political crisis that in 2002 divided the West African country into a rebel-held north and Government-controlled south, a top United Nations official has said.

Extreme poverty will continue to blight sub-Saharan Africa for another 200 years unless action to overcome it is intensified, a new report has suggested. Social Watch, a network of campaigning groups, has devised a measure known as the "basic capabilities index" to assess the level of hardship throughout the world.

A delegation from the International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF) was due here on Thursday for talks with the leader of the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), Moussa Dadis Camara, who seized power 23 December in Guinea, a official source told PANA. The delegation will also meet with new Prime Minister, Kabinet Komara, as well as with several Guinean social and political stakeholders.

Apparently drawing inspiration from the success of Ghana's opposition in the recently-concluded parliamentary and presidential polls, Nigeria's main opposition Action Congress (AC) party has hailed the polls, saying they have shown that a ruling party can be defeated in a free and fair election.

The leader of Mauritania's opposition Rally of Democratic Forces (RDF), Mr. Ahmed Ould Daddah, has said the outcome of the country's national consultations, held 27 December to 6 January by the ruling junta, is against the principles of democracy and Mauritania's national interest. In a declaration which was made public Thursday in Nouakchott, the RDF leader also said the conclusions reached at the consultations could not guarantee peace and national unity, adding that the consultations were held under an atmosphere of utter confusion.

This course is an intensive and practical introduction to System Dynamics, a unique framework for understanding and managing complex development problems. Participants will be introduced to a variety of tools, including mapping techniques and the Threshold 21 simulation model developed by Millennium Institute, which will help them to understand the sources of persistent development problems and identify the best approaches to mitigate them. The course is designed for policy advisors, planning technicians, advocacy and civil society groups, policy research institutions, private foundations, and bilateral development agencies.