For three days, participants from around Africa and the world will gather to strategise towards the realisation of an African Digital Information Commons. This international event, carried out with a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), will encourage understanding of how alternative approaches to copyright and content-sharing, enabled by digital technologies and electronic networks, can be used in developing countries to enhance education and innovation.

This course will introduce the international field of human rights education (HRE), including presentations of programming approaches, teaching and learning resources, and related theory. The course is intended for educators and trainers working in both the formal and nonformal sectors. Participants will be assisted in the development of a curriculum, training, or plan to use these skills to further their organization's advocacy efforts. Participants might be expected to apply these skills within formal education settings, for staff development within their own organizations, and for outreach and advocacy.

Online fundraising is ten years old. It has moved from the fringes of fundraising to the mainstream. In this now established form of raising money, this article asks what works and what doesn't? And how can a non-profit organisation maximise their online fundraising ability? More importantly, what are the future trends in online fundraising?

The Geneva Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) produced a political declaration and action plan which was adopted by all governments and intended to guide the Tunis 'implementation' phase of the WSIS. However, governments were unable to reach consensus on two issues - both controversial, both complex and highly political, both finding governments from developed and developing countries positioned roughly, in opposing camps - the issues of 'financing mechanisms' (to put it bluntly, who pays) and 'internet governance' (who controls or sets the rules). Governments found a way through this deadlock by requesting the UN Secretary General form task forces that would grapple further with these two issues and produce final reports for consideration by governments during PrepCom 2, February 2005 (financing mechanisms) and PrepCom 3, September 2005 (internet governance). Read this report on internet governance on the website of the Association for Progressive Communications.

Ethiopia may be one of the world's poorest nations but it plans to become information-rich with a massive investment in internet access. Prime minister Meles Zenawi is planning to provide universal net connectivity for the country over the next few years.

The Sahel, a vast region bordering the Sahara Desert and including the countries of Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania, is increasingly referred to by the U.S. military as "the new front in the war on terrorism". There are enough indications, from a security perspective, to justify caution and greater Western involvement. However, the Sahel is not a hotbed of terrorist activity. A misconceived and heavy handed approach could tip the scale the wrong way; serious, balanced, and long-term engagement with the four countries should keep the region peaceful, says the International Crisis Group.

Global Knowledge Partnership, OneWorld Africa and the Open Knowledge Network (OKN) have announced the Africa category winner of the inaugural Yeomans Award for Local Content as The Southern Africa Drought Technology Network (Sadnet), Zimbabwe. (http://www.safireweb.org) Sadnet is a project of the Southern Alliance For Indigenous Resources (SAFIRE) and seeks to establish an information network that links sources of agricultural technical and marketing information with development practitioners and rural communities in drought prone regions of Southern Africa.

The French government ministers, judges and senior police officers are allowing members of the police force to use excessive and sometimes lethal force against suspects of Arab and African origin without fear of serious repercussions, Amnesty International says. In its report 'France: The Search for Justice', through 10 years of documenting and exposing cases, Amnesty International has uncovered evidence of widespread failure of the judicial system to prosecute and punish human rights violations.

I-Network Uganda and the Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) have organised the Uganda ICT Journalism Awards to reward insightful reportage of information and communication technologies (ICTs), which shows a clear grasp of ICT issues by writers and manages to succinctly link ICTs to human development. The works should clearly address current communication policy issues and place people at the centre of these policies by showing how communication policies and actions are affecting them.

On 29 March 2005, Moussa Tchangari, director of the Alternative Media Group, was jailed at the Penal Camp in Daikaina, located about 160km from Niamey. Tchangari, who was charged on two counts of "undermining the authority of the state and calling for an unarmed gathering", is also the communications secretary for the Democratic Coalition of the Civil Society of Niger (CDSCN), one of the organisations calling for the withdrawal of a value added tax imposed on food products, water and electricity earlier this year.

Zimbabwean prosecutors have refused to release two British journalists, using special powers to override a magistrate's order granting them bail. At a 4 April 2005 hearing, Magistrate Never Diza had set bail of one million Zimbabwe dollars (approx. US$165) each for Toby Harnden, chief foreign correspondent for the "Sunday Telegraph", and his photographer colleague Julian Simmonds. Harnden and Simmonds were arrested in Norton, 40 km outside Harare, on 31 March, the day Zimbabwe held parliamentary elections. The pair were charged with covering the election without state accreditation, as required under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

The African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) will hear an application against the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) at its 37th Ordinary Session in Gambia next month. The session runs from April 27 to May 11. Applicants in the case are the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe (IJAZ), Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), and the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) while the respondent is cited as the Republic of Zimbabwe.

Executive Member of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFJA) Tamiru Geda has condemned the thirteen-year long blatant and systematic violations of freedom of expression by the Meles regime, one of the leading African 'predators of the press'. In a statement he sent from Europe (U.K) to EFJA on 26 March, 2005, Tamiru underlined that press freedom is one of the basic human rights that Meles Zenawi continues to violate. "Since Meles Zenawi has come to power, so many journalists have been thrown in jail, beaten, killed, harassed, intimidated, gagged and forced to live in fear."

The Internet Resources Newsletter is a free, monthly, newsletter for academics, students, engineers, scientists and social scientists. The latest newsletter is available at http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn127/irn127.html

The March 2005 issue of Chakula, the newsletter of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) that aims to mobilise African Civil Society for ICT policy for development and social justice, is available. The issue reviews recent ICT policy issues and the WSIS process. If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe to Chakula, please go to: http://lists.sn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/africa-ir-public

Women scientists, engineers and technologists from different African countries have launched a website to help them network. The networking was facilitated by Gender Advisory Board (GAB) East Africa sub-region.

The people of Zimbabwe go to the polls today in a parliamentary election that should tell us something about the power balance in the country that was once a bright star but is now a metaphor for broken dreams and a continuing nightmare both for its people and other Africans.

The 'something' may not be a lot because I do not think that this election will give us an adequate reading of the real state of things. The government sees only victory and the opposition envisages an unfair defeat.

The stand-off between the main opposition, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the consequent pariah status of the country has paralysed the country for almost a decade now.

It is impossible to think of a final peaceful settlement or a way out of the impasse with Mugabe still at the helm of affairs. As I argued on a CNN interview yesterday the septuagenarian ex-Comrade is no longer part of the solution but central to the problem.

However, we all have to banish thoughts of hoping that the old man would do the decent thing and step aside for the sake of his party, country and people. His rhetoric on the campaign trail and belligerent tones do not indicate that Uncle Bob is for turning. He has developed a siege psychosis, grandiose paranoia and neo-fascist mentality which make him see all opponents whether within his party, the government or in the country, as traitors. He believes he is Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe is his. Having been in power for 25 years, Mugabe and his cohorts cannot imagine themselves ever losing power.

Therefore, ZANU (PF), at least the president's main faction of it, will do whatever is possible (both thinkable and unthinkable) to 'win' this election. Intimidation, brazen bribery, manipulation, and whatever tricks in the books of electoral brigandage have been deployed to ensure only one outcome - ZANU (PF) victory.

But this victory will be at an even greater cost this time given the level of dissent in recent months at the very heart of the ZANU (PF) elite itself.

Mugabe is not just fighting 'the MDC kids' but also many of his formerly loyal 'good boys' and veteran geriatrics, including former ministers and top commanders. While the party may lose a few seats to its latest ex-ZANU opposition, this may not be enough to unsettle the regime because they may not translate into more seats for the main opposition, MDC.

The MDC is likely going to hold on to its support base despite all the stratagems of Mugabe's storm troopers and routine violence and intimidation from both the state and its freelance militias.

The European Union has already declared the election a sham. The US government has also been blowing hot on Zimbabwe. Quite ominously both SADC and the AU have not been too vocal beyond expressing pious hopes that there will be free and fair elections and making an appeal to both sides to give peace a chance.

African leaders are really on a tight rope over Zimbabwe because of the racialist overtone of the issues. None of them want to be seen as agents of the West and White interests. Many of them (like other Africans), who may not necessarily agree with Mugabe, are however convinced that the land issue needed to be addressed. So whatever they do, they are damned. But all these have no impact on Zimbabwe. Indeed the more Europeans and Americans make a noise about Mugabe, the better for him to be casting himself as a Pan-Africanist David against Imperialist Goliath, and his domestic opponents, both MDC and non- MDC, as puppets of the West.

For Africans, both on the continent and in the diaspora the one-sided spectacles help make us either more understanding or ambiguous or apologetic (as many have become) towards the old man. On the other hand, MDC's links with largely white farmers and its popularity with anti–Mugabe Westerners make it suspect to many Africans.

There is a very strong hangover of cold war era ideology watered by contemporary Western inconsistency and brazen hypocrisy that makes many Africans instinctively suspect any African leader liked by the West while adulating the one that is hated by them.

Even those who look at the mass base, especially organised largely black working class, urban poor and progressive middle class support for the MDC, are also wary of its ambiguity on a number of key issues about the economy and reconstruction of Zimbabwe after Mugabe. There are fears that an MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai will just be an imitation of the tragedy of yet another populist trade unionist, one Frank Chiluba, in neighbouring Zambia.

However, there is a principle that should guide all of us about Zimbabwe or any other country for that matter - the supremacy of the will of the people, freely expressed, without let or hindrance. If they choose puppets or dimwits, it is their right to do so and they will have another opportunity at the next election to change their minds. It is a right that cannot and should not be ceded to or usurped by a self-serving elite for its perpetuation in office. No leader or party owns the people. Voting wisely is as important as voting unwisely if they so choose!

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

* Please send comments to

Students in Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria can now perform sophisticated engineering and science experiments at MIT - without ever getting on a plane. "If you can't come to the lab, the lab will come to you," said Jesus del Alamo, co-principal investigator on the Africa project and a professor in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Students at three African universities will be able to access five MIT labs via the Internet, thanks to an iLab Project partnership between MIT's Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI), Makerere University (Uganda), the University of Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) and Obafemi Awolowo University (Nigeria).

On 28 March 2005, the Maputo City Court's eighth section, in an unprecedented move, decided to bar the media from covering a libel case involving one of six men sentenced to long prison terms in January 2003 for the murder of Mozambique's foremost investigative journalist, Carlos Cardoso. The case is of great public interest since it pits Attorney General Joaquim Madeira against Momad Assife Abdul Satar (also known as "Nini"). Madeira has alleged that Satar libelled him in open letters published in the weekly "Demos".

Zimbabwe's elections pose serious challenges for Africa's media, faced with reporting a story which splits African public and political opinion in a country with a history of media repression. Media analysts say many African media companies will simply not have the cash to send teams to cover the March 31 parliamentary polls, while others may not get accreditation under the government's strict media laws.