Life on the job in Nigeria can be tough. But, it becomes even harder for those who have the misfortune to sustain injuries in the workplace. Daniel Adoga used to operate a grinding machine in a plastic factory, something which cost him his right hand. "I was on night duty that day. We were putting rubber in the machine, and suddenly it caught my hand. Before I knew it, it had started cutting my hand. That was how it happened that day,” he recalls. Nigeria's government makes no provision for employees who become disabled on the job. Employers are expected to bear the cost of treating injured workers. As a result, many injured workers find themselves in dire straits.

A researcher at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London has renewed controversy about whether poor countries are harmed by drug patents by publishing a paper in which he concluded that only 1.4 percent of medicines designated by the World Health Organisation as "essential" are protected by patents in poor nations, the Financial Times reports. After analyzing the medicines in 70 countries, Amir Attaran found that only 19 of the 319 drugs were covered by patents and that in 98.6 percent of cases, developing countries would have no trouble purchasing generic versions of the recommended drugs. Therefore, "poverty, not patents, imposes the greater limitation on access," Attaran concluded.

International Justice Tribune is a new online newsletter launched by four professional journalists who until February 2003 edited the journal Diplomatie Judiciaire. For seven years, their association Réseau Intermedia chronicled the work of international tribunals and legal proceedings related to international justice across the world. Without taking sides over the different forms of justice, International Justice Tribune will continue to record the development of international justice and to provide a forum for the challenges and questions that it raises.

IPS Terra Viva Africa, is a new weekly newsletter covering political, economic and social developments in Africa. It is produced by Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), the world's leading provider of information on global issues. IPS focuses its news coverage on the events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples and nations. For more news and analysis from the Africa region please visit the IPS News website on http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/index.asp.

Jean-Baptiste Hounkonnou, publication director of the Beninese independent daily Le Nouvel Essor, has been granted a provisional release after spending six weeks in jail on criminal defamation charges. On April 27, Benin's Court of Appeal granted Hounkonnou's request for provisional release, and he was freed the same day, according to sources. He is due to reappear in court on May 27 and could face jail time again if he loses the appeal.

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2004, CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights emphasised the importance of press freedom and freedom of expression to democracy, stability and development. While agreeing with UNESCO’s global theme of conflict as a serious threat to the media, CREDO’s Coordinator Rotimi Sankore stated “it is important to pay attention to the causes as well as the consequences of conflict. A significant cause of conflict in many countries is a lack of the freedoms of expression, association, assembly and political participation.” “In this context the greatest threat to the media and individual journalists in Africa remains the legal and institutional framework for media law and practice. Criminal defamation laws, sedition and insult laws, absence of freedom of and access to information, illegal licensing of media outlets and journalists, and systematic intimidation is still being used to attack the media, undermine democracy and pave the way for conflict which in turn, further endangers the media.”

2003 was not a particularly good year for press freedom in Africa, according to an annual report on press freedom from Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF). "Two journalists were killed in Côte d'Ivoire and a third was probably executed in Democratic Republic of Congo. There were many arrests and the independent press was in the process of disappearing in several countries," the report says. RSF says journalists also counted among the targets of systematic repression in Cameroon, Gabon, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Togo and Zimbabwe.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) released on World Press Freedom Day its annual publication, "So This Is Democracy?: State of media freedom in Southern Africa". This is the tenth consecutive year in which MISA has issued this publication, which records incidents of media freedom violations monitored by MISA in the previous year. The current edition therefore details media freedom violations in 2003. MISA issued 188 alerts in 2003 about media freedom and freedom of expression violations in SADC countries. This is a decrease of 9,7 per cent over the 208 alerts recorded in the previous year.

This study documents a crucial dimension of the resistance of Nigerian civil society to a repressive and monumentally corrupt military state in the late 1980s and 1990s in Nigeria. Employing a neo-Gramscian theoretical framework, the study relates how a section of the media defied censorship laws, outright bans, incarceration and the assassination of opposition figures, to prosecute the struggle for democracy. It captures the tensions and contradictions between a pliant section of the media which sought to legitimise the state and a critical section of the same media which, in alliance with radical civil society, invented rebellious outlets to carry on the struggle against dictatorship.

Even within its own ranks, Zimbabwe's ruling party has shown it is intolerant of ambitions hinting at expansion of the tiny independent press. It counts for very little that the government already controls all broadcast media, and that reporters who work for privately-owned publications live in fear of arrest and harassment. Last week a member of parliament (MP) was suspended from ZANU-PF for allegedly courting the publishers of the country's only independent daily newspaper, which was forcibly closed by the government seven months ago.

I wonder whether anyone can help me: I’m looking for good material that will provide me with an overview of civil society in Africa, how it is structured, what are its constituent parts, where new developments are emerging from, where it might be headed, what its relations with African states & global civil society might be, what is exciting about it, what is depressing or worrying, etc, etc. I’d be grateful for pointers to websites, articles, books, etc. Many thanks in advance for your help.

The International Federation of Journalists has called on the Sudanese government to immediately lift repressive measures against foreign press coverage of the unfolding disaster in the west of the country where thousands of civilians have reportedly been massacred in a drama reminiscent of the Rwanda crisis ten years ago.

Zimbabwe's government said it had revised its extradition policy to extradite 70 suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in the oil-rich west African nation of Equatorial Guinea. An official notice said Zimbabwe drafted an extradition treaty for the first time with Equatorial Guinea, effective immediately. The notice meant the 70 suspects could be sent to Equatorial Guinea for trial on allegations of plotting to overthrow that country's government.

Cholera has broken out in eight districts, the health ministry said. Kampala, Kasese, Hoima, Arua, Nebbi, Kabarole, Masindi, and Bundibugyo have continued to report significant numbers of cholera cases since the beginning of this year, the ministry said. "As the rains increase, there is a likelihood of an upsurge of diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera in several parts of the country. Already some districts such as Kampala in Namuwongo parish are experiencing an increase of these diseases. So far seven people are sick while two have been reported dead," said a statement.

Isis-WICCE Information Technology Training programme for women and girls is registering interested persons for the following sessions:
- Introduction to computers and MS Word (starting the week of 10 - 15th May up to the end of the month)
- The Internet and related applications (starting 1st week of June)
Each session accommodates 20 persons. If you are interested please register with Irene Tusiime at Isis-WICCE. Priority is for women and girls. Tel: 543953 Trainees will have free access to the Internet during the training period.

Assiut is the hub of Upper Egypt - a city that has a large university, many educational institutions and a vibrant economic history. However, Assiut also has a chronically high unemployment rate among its educated young people with over 20% being unemployed according to official statistics in 2002. APC member in Egypt, ArabDev, has been working with Assiut Childhood and Development Association (ACDA) to counteract unemployment with IT skills training for the local job market.

Mobile subscriber numbers in Africa have increased by over 1000% between 1998 and 2003 to reach 51.8 million. Mobile user numbers have long passed those of fixed line, which stood at 25.1 million at the end of 2003. In its latest publication African Telecommunication Indicators 2004, issued on the occasion of ITU TELECOM AFRICA 2004 taking place in Cairo, Egypt from 4-8 May, ITU examines the reasons behind the continent’s rapid mobile sector expansion and explores the sector’s future avenues for growth.

Tens of thousands of Congolese expelled from Angola may be in need of psychological support and health care following reports of systematic sexual violence they underwent upon their expulsion, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported. "OCHA calls for an increase in the capacity of health partners already working on the ground and the financing of new partners with expertise in sexual violence and the prevention and transmission of HIV/AIDS," the agency said.

The Anti-Censorship Programme (ACP) of the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has released its third six monthly report highlighting censorship activities and other violations of the right to freedom of expression in South Africa. The report notes with concern that censorship activities are still on the rise, especially in relation to individuals and organisations embarking on popular forms of expression. For instance, it highlights a recent case where the state, without legitimate reasons, prohibited a peaceful demonstration planned by the Anti-Privatisation Forum in Johannesburg. When the Forum's members went ahead with the march in spite of the ban, 57 of them were arrested and arraigned in court.

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN is concerned by the continued detention of Ethiopia journalist, Merid Estifanos, who has been unable to raise the elevated bail demanded of him. Estifanos, the former editor of the independent Amharic weekly newspaper Satenaw, appeared in court on 2 April 2004 to face charges of defamation. He had been led to believe that the charge referred to an alleged defamation of the Ethiopian foreign minister Seyum Mesfin. However, in court, he discovered he was also being charged with defamation of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.