It took the International Criminal Court ten years to convict and sentence its first offender. As it enters its second decade, is it an impartial court or are some governments manipulating the ICC to investigate cases against rival opposition groups?

The latest assessment of governance in Nigeria paints a gloomy picture of the African giant. It is not that Nigerians do not know their own problems; they must now step up and stop national decay.

After 20 long years of negotiations on a proposed expansion of the Security Council, African countries continue to be left out in the cold – even as African leaders complain that the international community has failed to respond to their demands for two permanent seats in the most powerful body at the United Nations.

The town of An Nahud in southwestern Kordofan yesterday mass demonstrations organized by students of the University of Western Kordofan because of power outages in the city, the deterioration of basic services and the high cost of living. Multiple sources in the area reported that the demonstrations in An Nahud kicked off Monday morning with crowds of students denouncing the regime. The demonstration came after power outages in the town for nine days in a row everywhere except at the homes of the commissioner, emir and head of the security service.

Ghana’s former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, was on Saturday endorsed as the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP) as she continued pushing her ambition to lead the West African state where she was first lady for 19 years. Her breakaway party, formed in May following her humiliating defeat by the late President John Evans Atta Mills at the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) primaries last year, endorsed her by popular acclamation at its maiden national delegates’ congress Kumasi, central Ghana.

King Mswati III of Swaziland is refusing to recognise the vote of no-confidence in his government, an international news agency has revealed for the first time. He is said to be ‘extremely upset’ by the vote and is refusing to meet with the Speaker of the House of Assembly on the issue. The crisis began on 3 October 2012 when the House of Assembly passed a vote of no-confidence in the Swazi government by a majority greater than three-fifths. According to the constitution when this happens the king must sack the cabinet.

Tunisia's ruling coalition, led by the Islamist Ennahdha movement, has said it had agreed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on June 23 with the president being chosen directly by voters. The coalition's agreement early on Sunday on a date for elections and the establishment of an amended parliamentary system come after widespread criticism from the opposition that Ennahdha wants to control the government and avoid elections.

World grain reserves are so dangerously low that severe weather in the US or other food-exporting countries could trigger a hunger crisis next year. Failing harvests in the US, Ukraine and other countries this year have eroded reserves to their lowest level since 1974. The US, which has experienced record heatwaves and droughts in 2012, now holds in reserve a historically low 6.5% of the maize that it expects to consume in the next year, says the United Nations.

Previously unseen images of South Africa's black consciousness hero Steve Biko have been published by Google, 35 years after his violent death in police custody.

The material was made available by the . See

President Francois Hollande looks set to make African leaders sweat at a gathering of French-speaking nations in Democratic Republic of Congo this week, when he attempts to cut murky ties with France's former colonies. Hollande has vowed to promote democracy in a continent known for flawed elections and 'sit-tight' leaders, and, unlike his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, he will travel to Africa without any company executives, something that would 'muddy the waters', one adviser said.

Forget all the rhetoric. Increased access to oil, imposition of pro-corporate economic policy, hostility to China and attempts to gain cooperation in the ‘War on Terror’ are the most important factors in US foreign policy on Africa. The November elections won’t change that.

On 9 October, the Institute for Policy Studies sent the newly appointed World Bank president Dr. Jim Kim a letter signed by 58 organizations from around the world urging him to champion financial transaction taxes (FTT) – a tiny tax on stocks, bonds, currency and other derivatives trades - as an innovative way to raise much-needed money to address climate change, health and other development priorities in poorer countries. The groups – including WWF, Greenpeace, Oxfam, AFL-CIO, World AIDS Campaign, United Methodist Church, and the Main Street Alliance – come from a broad cross-section of civil society and show a growing consensus that it's time for developed countries to get serious about meeting their promises on climate and development finance.

The World Bank has rejected a call to suspend its involvement in large scale agricultural land acquisition following the release of a major report by the international aid agency Oxfam on the negative impact of international land speculation in developing countries. 'We share the concerns Oxfam raised in their report,' the bank stated in an unusually lengthy public rebuttal to the Oxfam Report. 'However, we disagree with Oxfam’s call for a moratorium on World Bank Group…investments in land intensive large-scale agricultural enterprises, especially during a time of rapidly rising global food prices.'

Madagascar is bracing for billion dollar revenue with its flagship Amabatovy mining project set to start exports of nickel and cobalt whose extraction is expected to last 30 years. The project will invest about $5.5 billion, the majority of which is funded by a consortium of 12 banks under the supervision of the World Bank.

Kenya's President Mwaki Kibaki late Tuesday shattered MPs' dream to award themselves a controversial bonus of more than $110,000 each as a send off when he declined to sanction the deal stating the country’s economy was unable to shoulder the extra financial burden. The Head of State refused to assent to the Finance Bill 2012, saying that the country could not afford the colossal perks that the MPs had awarded themselves in form of a severance package totalling $25m.

The panel writing Egypt's new constitution has released an unfinished draft of the document, calling for a public debate on the charter in the face of mounting criticism. The parliament-selected panel is dominated by Islamists. It has come under criticism from liberals and secularists who accuse the panel of seeking to place limits in the new constitution on religious freedoms and women's rights.

The revolution last year brought a dramatic increase in the number of migrants heading for Italian shores after the Tunisia's security forces reduced their patrols. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded 27,000 Tunisians arrivals on Lampedusa out of a total of 60,000 - including those fleeing the Libyan war and migrants from other countries. A crackdown by Italian authorities has meant that this year, many less have successfully made the journey to the island with about 3,300 migrants from all nationalities arriving between January and June.

The US ambassador for war crimes, Stephen Rapp, said a lack of resources impedes the tracing of millions of dollars allegedly stolen by former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who was recently sentenced to 50 years for war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Rapp told the Associated Press that the special court does not have the funds to trace Taylor's assets but some investigations will be done by the UN sanctions committee.

Kenyans have staged a protest in the capital Nairobi against a vote paving the way for members of parliament to be paid $110,000 send-off bonus, with money expected from tax increases. Demonstrators marched after parliament dismissed the majority of wage demands of striking public sector workers, including doctors and teachers - yet it approved the lucrative pay off which will cost the country $24.7m.

Sierra Leone’s international partners and citizens are paying close attention to possible threats to peace ahead of presidential, parliamentary and local elections scheduled for 17 November, which it is hoped will consolidate stability a decade after the end of a civil war and lead to improved living standards. Campaigns are intensifying, especially between historical rivals the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) party and the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), now in opposition. These are the country’s third elections since the war was declared over.