The ICC Update keeps its readers informed with up-to-date articles and concise summaries on issues concerning the International Criminal Court. In a few pages, the Update regularly covers the regional updates, media coverage, upcoming events, and resources in the weeks since the last Update. Special articles are often included covering crucial issues and developments. The Update is distributed electronically, by fax and in printed editions to the UN community, the press, and civil society.

Following the demise of the 85-year-old weekly magazine, West Africa, the London-based editorial team has launched a new virtual magazine that they hope will fill the vacuum created by West Africa’s disappearance.

Nigeria is ready to mediate in the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, its foreign minister says. Olu Adeneji told the BBC's Network Africa programme that Eritrea's leader had asked Nigeria to intervene. If confirmed, this would mark a new strategy for Eritrea, which has insisted that the dispute was settled by a 2002 international court ruling.

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has introduced the AISI Media Award programme to encourage more informed coverage of the information society and ICT for development issues in Africa as part of the its AISI Outreach and Communication Programme. The AISI Media Awards is aimed at individual journalists and media institutions based in Africa that are "promoting journalism which contributes to a better understanding of the information society in Africa". The deadline for submissions is 30 April 2004.

Sokwanele has announced the launch of their website: www.sokwanele.com, that aims to support civic action and promote democracy in Zimbabwe through non-violent means. "Sokwanele.com aims to fulfil two functions: the first, which is already underway, is to provide our visitors with regularly updated news from local and international media sources, and original news and images from Sokwanele sources."

Civicus, World Alliance for Citizen Participation, has published a toolkit on fundraising proposals. The toolkit focuses on planning and researching before writing up the proposal, as well as writing and following up on funding proposals. The toolkit is designed to assist with producing effective fundraising proposals and can be used by project managers and organisations committed to increasing the capacity to plan and raise money effectively.

The Umgano Forest Project in South African aims to promote forest as a place of enjoyment and learning. "Our aim is to create a centre for international study, and as a venue for our youth to make friends from multi cultural backgrounds, in an exchange of ideas. The emphasis of our project is for participating research institutions to assist our villages with sustainable development projects, and in turn to allow them to benefit from the research opportunities such programs afford," says their website.

ARTICLE 19 last week published an analysis of the Tanzanian government's Information and Broadcasting Policy. The Policy contains a number of commendable commitments, including to bring Tanzanian law and practice into line with international standards. Other commitments, however, appear to contradict this, as does a recent law on telecommunications. The Tanzanian government adopted a new Information and Broadcasting Policy in October 2003, the culmination of several years' work by a broad coalition of stakeholders, including government representatives, to this end.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for the reinstatement of three journalists who were recently dismissed from the government daily "The Herald" because they worked with the American public radio station Voice of America (VOA). In a 25 February statement, the Media and Information Commission (MIC) said that Zimbabwean journalists' collaboration with VOA ran contrary to "national interests and security," since the station is "among the media outlets that spread lies about this country, contributing to a deterioration in its image."

This issue focuses on the on the link between population and civil society. It includes:
- Secretary general’s message: Working together for a secure world;
- Civil Society News In Brief;
- Population and Civil Society: an introduction;
- HIV/AIDS: Seeking a broad, unified and global approach;
- The population and environment nexus;
- Women and population: an issue of rights rather than fertility control;
- What’s up on the Word Front?
- Classifieds.
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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the detention of Abshir Ali Gabre, news editor at the independent Radio Jawhar, who was recently held overnight on the orders of Somali faction leader Mohamed Omar Habeeb, also known as Mohamed Dere. Dere is chairman of the self-appointed Jawhar administration.

In this third of three reports on e-mail fraud, Go Digital's Tracey Logan meets Nuhu Ribadu, head of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, who is trying to end so-called 419 e-mail scams.

There is lack of critical analysis in ICT reporting and the views of influential spokesmen are almost never challenged by the media. Stories are seldom followed up, the newsrooms seem to wait for the next press release, ministerial announcement, or company cocktail party launching a new product. So the unfolding story of ICT developments in any one country is largely absent. These are some of the key findings of this study which aimed at encouraging journalism and coverage of ICTs and Information Society issues. It reviewed the coverage of ICT issues in the African media, and identified areas of weakness.

I-Network Uganda provides a platform for sharing knowledge and forming partnerships around the use of ICT for development. In the following case study, the “8 Habits of Highly Effective ICT-Enabled Development Initiatives” of Bridges.org were used as a framework to highlight what the initiative has done well. The bridges.org/IICD Case Study Series on ICT-Enabled Development sets out to illustrate how ICT contributes to development in Africa.

The Government has been urged to take a more proactive approach to the development of Information Technology (IT) in order to improve the business environment. Sector players described information and communication technology (ICT) as vital to the growth of any economy and warned that Kenya risked being left behind by its neighbours should the government fail to act promptly.

Among the headlines featured in this issue are:
- Engendering peace agreements: A key strategy for successful reconstruction;
- Towards Beijing plus 10: Which way for southern Africa?
- Gender parity in education: countdown to 2005;
- Rumo a Beijing + 10: Que caminho para África Austral?
- Examining gender dimensions in SADC constitutions;
- Searching for alternative development paths;
- News briefs and Calendar of Events.

The fourth issue of the SADC Barometer, a quarterly analysis by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), which focuses on key issues and trends affecting the Southern African Development Community (SADC), is available. The issue includes:
* Unlikely Bedfellows: The main article warns that although it has an important role to play, ‘civil society’ will not provide the panacea to our social and economic ills in the region. It points out that civil society itself is weak and divided and that SADC institutions are still relatively closed to real partnerships between the public and private sectors.
* Zimbabwe is still on the Agenda! Brendan Vickers looks at the events surrounding the Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, in December and concludes that SADC leaders might have overplayed their hand by rallying behind President Robert Mugabe.
* In the next year five Southern African nations will go to the polls. This is an encouraging sign for democracy and a challenge for civil society. Mike Davies finds out how the media, in particular, can contribute to free and fair elections in the sub-region.
For more information or comment, please contact the SAIIA SADC researcher and SADC Barometer editor, Richard Meissner on +27 (0)11-339-2021, e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected].

"As a journalist, any kind of oppression of the media saddens me profoundly. My heart is heavy as I read, hear and watch the media oppressions in Zimbabwe. I ask myself, is too much to ask if we can only work in a conducive environment in our quest to provide information? Freedom of the press has been lacking for a long time now in Zimbabwe."

The Lesotho chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MILES) has won the bid to host this year's Annual General Meeting of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). At a meeting of the Regional Governing Council of MISA held on Wednesday, February 18 2004, in Pretoria, it was decided by a vote of nine to one to hold the next MISA annual general meeting and conference in Maseru in August 2004. The other bidding chapter was Namibia. It will be the first time that Lesotho will be hosting this prestigious event.

A government ban on the country’s besieged independent journalists' association has been lifted ahead of court action seeking to overturn the ruling, officials told IRIN on Monday. The move came as the former Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA) leadership began legal proceedings against the ban. They are also claiming that the government illegally orchestrated their overthrow and helped establish a new leadership for the troubled 13-year-old association.