Blogs are playing an increasingly important role for improved governance. Blogs do not face the restraints of commercial print media. The blogosphere is a planet apart from traditional PR departments of public institutions, enabling citizens to share unfiltered information, expose misdeeds, and freely express views. Blogs help make governments and public institutions more accountable. In real time.

Joe Baidoo Ansah, Ghana's Minster of Trade and Industry, on April 24, 2008, interrupted a live-broadcast on Metropolitan Television (Metro TV), an Accra-based TV station, to register his displeasure about the inclusion of Nii Moi Thompson, an opposition spokesman, in the flagship programme "Good Evening Ghana".

The protracted sedition trial against Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist, was on April 24, 2008, adjourned to April 30 by Magistrate Buba Jawo of the Kanifing Magistrates Court. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources in The Gambia reported that the adjournment was due to the absence of defence counsel, Lamin Jobarteh, who was said to be engaged in another case at the Brikama Magistrate Court.

Sahara FM, a privately-owned radio station based in Agadez, the largest city in the northern part of Niger, was on April 22, 2008, shut down indefinitely by the media regulator, the High Communications Council (CSC) for allegedly "inciting ethnic hatred and undermining the morale of the Army".

Uganda has suspended the creation of a communications court pending the harmonisation of relevant laws. Minister for Information and Communication Technology Dr Ham Mulira said the establishment of the tribunal has been suspended because of differences over the transfer of the Broadcasting Department to the ICT ministry. He said the Prime Minister had requested his ministry to stay action on transfer of the department pending further consultations.

Sahara FM, a privately-owned radio station based in Agadez, the largest city in the northern part of Niger, was on April 22, 2008, shut down indefinitely by the media regulator, the High Communications Council (CSC) for allegedly “inciting ethnic hatred and undermining the morale of the Army”.

Mutare public prosecutor Malvern Musarurwa has declined to prosecute freelance journalist Sydney Saize whose trial on allegations of contravening the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and Public Order and Security Act (POSA) was set to commence in the eastern border town on 22 April 2008. Saize, who was arrested on January 18, 2006 and spent three nights in police cells, was facing two separate charges under AIPPA and POSA.

President Robert Mugabe's government is challenging widespread reports of systematic beatings and assaults by the army, police and ZANU-PF militia as part of a campaign dubbed "Operation Mavhoterapapi" (Who did you vote for?). The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claim that since the 29 March poll, in which the ruling ZANU-PF lost their majority in parliament for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, at least 10 of their supporters have been killed and hundreds assaulted.

Reporters Without Borders has learned from local sources that Tura Kubaba, a journalist with the Kunama-language service of state-owned Radio Dimtsi Hafash (“Voice of the Masses”), has been detained in Eritrea since the second half of 2006 and disappeared last year within the country’s prison system.

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) is disturbed by the arrest of prominent and respected radio journalist Abdi Mohammed Ismail, who works for Mogadishu-based privately owned Shabelle Media Network. Abdi Mohammed Ismail, publicly known Abdi Uud, was arrested on 21 April, by recently trained armed forces of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia at Banadir junction of Madina district in Mogadishu. The Transitional Federal Government or its armed forces did not talk about the reason of the arrest.

The Kanifing Magistrate Court trying Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist for alleged sedition on April 21, 2008 restricted the general public from the trial by ruling that only Manneh's family members and two journalists were to be admitted to the court. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that the ruling followed an earlier application filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of The Gambia, Emmanuel Fagbenle.

Africa is set to benefit from a comparative study on the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry. Research for the study, commissioned by the International Development Research Council (IDRC), will begin next month with the aim of bridging the gap of insufficient data and statistics on BPO in many African countries.

Concerns around farm evictions, reports of human rights abuse on farms, and legal access for farm workers, dominated the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) workshop on 18 April 2008 in Pretoria. Titled ‘Farm Dwellers Legal Access Crisis Workshop’, the event brought together representatives from NGOs and government to discuss the difficulties farm dwellers face when accessing legal services.

“Web 2.0 [is] a venture capitalist’s paradise where investors pocket the value produced by unpaid users, ride on the technical innovations of the free software movement and kill off the decentralizing potential of peer-to-peer production.”

Reading the quote above you get the feeling we are being seriously ripped off but still we all — well a good percentage of the world’s cyber addicts — continue to spend our days on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and all the copies from all corners of the globe including Africa.

ICTP Science Dissemination Unit has been monitoring and testing internet connectivity to 45 universities in Africa for the past 12 months. Using at tool called PingER Africa, they track real-time network performances in terms of response time (for a succession of pings) and packet loss percentages.

A Norwegian cement company wants to evict an estimated 3,000 Tanzanian farmers it says are trespassing on its land. The farmers say their families have lived there for generations, and that they were not consulted when the land was sold. After 16 years of conflict Tanzania's highest court is due to reach a verdict soon.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has welcomed an agreement by Sudanese authorities to end censorship after journalist union leaders brought together a group of newspaper editors in a concerted effort to strengthen ethical journalism and media independence in the country.

The International Federation of Journalist (IFJ) has called for the release of the freelance Zimbabwean journalist Frank Chikowore who was arrested on arson charges during an opposition strike. Authorities in Zimbabwe have cracked down on journalists in the country after the ruling party contested the results of presidential and parliamentary elections held almost three weeks ago.

The Summer Term’s courses in human rights are offered in conjunction with the Center for the Study of Human Rights (CSHR) at Columbia University. Established in 1978, the CSHR at Columbia University is committed to providing excellent human rights education to Columbia students, fostering innovative interdisciplinary academic research, and offering its expertise in capacity building to human rights leaders, organizations, and universities around the world

The sedition trial against Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist, was on April 14, 2008, adjourned to April 21 by Magistrate Buba Jawo of the Kanifing Magistrates Court. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that Jawo, adjourned the case on the grounds that defence lawyer, Lamin Jobarteh, was indisposed.