The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and The Synergy Project of Social and Scientific Systems, Inc. invite you to join the Children Affected by AIDS (CABA) online discussion forum. You can review the online archive of past postings and resources and subscribe to the Children Affected by AIDS Online Forum at http://www.synergyaids.com/Caba/cabaindex.asp

UNHCR’s policy and operational guidelines on involvement with IDPs need greater clarity and consistency, according to a recent review by the refugee agency’s Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit (EPAU). The review analyses certain variables that have influenced or determined UNHCR’s involvement with IDPs – focusing on eight countries over a period of 15 years – with a view to indicating how the agency could be more consistent and predictable in its decision making processes.

BBC reporter Raphael Tenthani and Mabvuto Banda of the independent daily The Nation have been released on bail after being held overnight by police in the capital, Lilongwe. The two journalists were arrested at their homes in the southern city of Blantyre for reporting that the president feared ghosts may haunt the presidential palace.

The ComICT Centre project is going to launch a computer and internet training centre in the rural community of Buea. What marks out this project is its intention to use university graduate volunteers as trainers. There will be three levels of training. Level 1 will impart basic computer knowledge and internet skills. Level 2 will proceed to offer intermediate training in one or more of the following: operating systems, internet access and, Word processing, spreadsheets, desktop publishing, Graphical design, and typing. Level 3 will offer advanced training in hardware and software maintenance, web page design and hosting, networking, computerized accounting, databases, and other related fields.

MTN Rwanda's Tuvugane community payphone initiative, aimed at bringing mobile communication to rural communities, has proved to be even more successful than originally expected. According to the cellular operator, Tuvugane - which means 'we can all talk' - began with the rollout of some 600 payphones, and a year after the launch more than 1 600 mobile payphones are available in the country's rural regions. The Tuvugane initiative is part of MTN's drive to increase teledensity in rural areas throughout its operations and put telecommunications within the reach of even those who cannot afford handsets, says Yvonne Muthien, corporate affairs group executive at MTN.

Ghana has moved from 74th place to 65th place in the World Economic Forum's (WEF's) Networked Readiness Index, published on Wednesday. The index measures the propensity for countries to exploit the opportunities offered by ICT. According to the report, Singapore is the world's number one economy in exploiting information and communication technologies (ICT). South Africa lost the top spot among the 23 African countries covered to Tunisia, which held the 40th position last year, has moved up to 31st place. Other African countries in the index include South Africa (34), Mauritius (47), Botswana (50), Morocco (54), Namibia (55), Egypt (57), Gambia (74) and Nigeria (86). The lowest-ranking country overall was Chad.

The recount of votes cast in Namibia's national elections, held in November last year, has confirmed the ruling party's landslide victory. The results of the recount were announced on Wednesday night. The process began on Sunday after two Namibian opposition parties won a court ruling last week ordering the recount.

After learning that a second draconian press law was secretly promulgated on 28 December, Reporters Without Borders reiterated its appeal to the international community to put pressure on President Yahya Jammeh to stop his mounting crackdown on Gambia's news media. "Gambia's president clearly intends to keep tight control on journalists during a period of unrest and in the approach to a crucial election year," the press freedom organization said. "The silence of his African and European counterparts leaves his hands free to turn Gambia into one of the West African countries that most restrict press freedom."

Reporters Without Borders called on Zimbabwe's government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC) to "immediately" issue an operating licence to the company that publishes The Daily News and The Daily News of Sunday and to accredit all of its journalists, after the supreme court quashed the commission's 2003 decision refusing to do this. The press freedom organization hailed the court's ruling on this point as "a victory" while deploring the judicial system's slowness and the fact that the court refused to recognize the unconstitutionality of Zimbabwe's press law.

Cees J. Hamelink, Professor of International Communication at the University of Amsterdam addresses the role of human rights in helping to determine the potential future of the Internet and cyberspace. While the Internet is often defined as "infinite" or "borderless", Hamelink questions whether the current international human rights regime may be able to provide a solution or guiding light for Internet producers and Internet users through moral standards. In his paper he questions, "How are the basic human rights standards relevant to cyberspace?"

The second issue of Mazi is now available on the Communication for Social Change Consortium's website: (http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?r=http://www.communicationforsocia…). Mazi, which means "together", is the Consortium's online report on trends and issues in communication for social change. This issue includes a conversation with communication scholar Everett Rogers before his death at the end of 2004, case stories on La Primerisma community radio station and a report on a recent meeting on Communiction and Accelerating the Millennium Development Goals. To subscribe to Mazi and receive the magazine by email, please see http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?r=http://www.communicationforsocia… be.php

The March 2005 issue of the Survivors' Rights International newsletter is now available online at: http://www.survivorsrightsinternational.org. Please visit our web page to read our latest newsletter and press release.

Despite rapid adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into administration, education, media and several sectors of the economy, the greatest challenge remains on how the image of these new technologies could be altered to please the majority of the local population who still view them as tools designed for the minority elite.

While many Africans may have never even surfed the web before, a new technology being launched predicts that this can change by the ability to bring internet access via mobile phones. "This is an opportunity to bring Africa into the information age," said Karel Pienaar, chief technology officer at Africa's biggest cell phone operator MTN, which aims to launch 3G in South Africa in June. Further, there are some innovative examples of Africans using technology to tackle the continent's myriad problems: Rural HIV/Aids sufferers in South Africa are monitored by SMS; fishermen in Senegal get tip-offs on which local market is offering the best price for a haul. But these are usually the exception than the rule.

At least 100 schools that would otherwise not afford it have been able to buy computers at lower prices from an NGO that extends Information Technology to rural areas. The NGO, Uconnect imports used computers from Europe and USA, revamps them and supplies them to schools and organisations. The organisation also helps them to network their computer labs and to get Internet connections. In the first year of the project, the organisation distributed hundreds of computers to 60 mostly rural-based schools.

A new service is starting development to support the rapidly emerging movement towards Open Access to research information. The new service, called DOAR - the Directory of Open Access Repositories - will categorise and list the wide variety of Open Access research archives that have grown up around the world.

A public beta of OpenOffice.org 2.0 has been released. The open source office suite replacement not only challenges the proprietary office suites in affordability but is also upping the stakes on the standards of compliance and functionality front as well, according to open source web site Tectonic.

Internews Network is currently seeking a Media Program Manager to oversee a sub-granted media project in Kinshasa, Congo. The Media Program Manager will design, launch, and manage media campaigns to inform the Congolese about elections, DDR, and the transitional government.

After 10 days of intense negotiations at the second preparatory meeting of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), negotiators have reached consensus on the financial mechanisms to bridge the digital divide. However, there is no agreement on the other substantive issue of who should run the internet. As we head to Tunis, there are still big differences, even within the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG), writes Angela Nabwowe and Roland Stanbridge of Highway Africa News Agency in this article on the website of Balancing Act.

The Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) will hold discussion forums themed, “Privacy, human rights and freedom of expression in the information age, myth or reality?” The discussions will aim to bring to light the understanding that people in Africa have on privacy issues in as far as freedom of expression is concerned. The discussion will be held in English and French and will be held from the 7th - 8th April 2005. Visit http://www.dgroups.org/groups/Privacyfreedomofexpression/index.cfm to subscribe in English and http://www.dgroups.org/groups/Laviepriveetlalibertdexpression/ to subscribe in French.