South Africa's internet professionals have accused the government of trying to hijack the worldwide web.

As one of Africa’s poorest countries, Mozambique’s efforts to close the digital divide face the "what comes first, the chicken or the egg?" question. Without content to drive usage, the internet remains largely the tool of the wealthier urban elite ... without content that is useful to the poor majority ... the user base is likely to grow very slowly. But for these people to be able to use content it needs to be free or at a price they can afford. Use at free or low price by people with little or no disposable income does not produce a business model that generates money that can finance content. Artur Manhica looks at the dilemma of Mozambique’s content providers and the wider issues they raise.

The South African network for trauma service providers, Themba Lesizwe, on Monday announced a disbursement of R2.6 million to 14 organisations working with victims of violence and crime in six provinces.

With the South African New Economics (Sane) Views Mailing List we intend to supply sharply focussed information and insights generated by ourselves or from other sources. The list is intended to act as a filter and digest of useful information relevant to New Economics, particularly as this relates to South Africa.

The INASP Newsletter serves as a communication tool for all those interested in the field of information, library and books development. It is published three times a year and printed copies are distributed to more than 1600 libraries, publishers, NGOs, academic institutions, donor agencies, and others worldwide. The Newsletter is also available free online.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants has called for relevant information and materials from organisations globally on the issue of migrants in detention.

Kenya aims to follow Zimbabwe's example with the introduction of its new media law and stiff controls on the political opposition. Journalists and rights activists alike are equally worried.

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express our serious concern at the imprisonment of journalist Christopher Mwoki Kyandi.

Happenings in the present and recent past in Enugu State Of Nigeria have shown the hostility of the incumbent governor, Chimaroke Nnamani, towards fair and objective news reporting by journalists posted to his state. His reactions have been characterised by assault and deportation of journalists from his state.

Hacktivismo (http://hacktivismo.com), purported human rights hacker group, have released a free steganography program which allows activists to exchange banned content over the Internet. This article contains links to the software and various articles about it.

UgaBYTES ICT news updates is a monthly, electronic newsletter produced by The UgaBYTES Initiative. The newsletter brings to the fore opportunities and challenges facing ICTs in rural areas, especially in Africa. The newsletter is intended for practitioners of ICTs for rural development, organizations working for and on behalf of rural communities and ICTs. To subscribe to the UgaBYTES ICT news updates please send a mail to [email protected] and in the subject line include “subscribe”.

WSSD listservers carrying information about the Summit include:
*http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csdlistserver.htm - UN Summit Secretariat listserver;
*http://iisd.ca/enb/2002summit-l.asp - International Institute for Sustainable Development's 2002 Summit list;
*http://www.worldsummit2002.org/ - Heinrich Boell's WSSD newsletter;
*http://lists.healthdev.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?join=earthsummit2002 - Stakeholder Forum's EarthSummit2002 list;
*http://earthsummit.open.ac.uk - Earth Summit for All features discussions on education for sustainable development.

The Sustainable Development Issues Network (SDIN) is a coalition of nongovernmental issue-based caucuses and networks established during the year before the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The purpose of the coalition is to provide mutual support and exchange of information among NGO caucuses and networks promoting sustainable development. We would like to announce and invite you to join a new listserver (http://sdissues.net/sdin/discuss.aspx) hosted by SDIN to encourage substantive discussion and dialogue on the important issues and strategies of concern in the World Summit on Sustainable Development. In the remaining weeks before the Summit there are many topics and questions of concern to participants and observers that will need to be addressed by NGOs.

Is there a role for computers in secondary education in the South? While most schools in the world still lack electricity and phone connections, should pedagogy precede technology? What are the costs of ICT provision? What should schools and education planners consider before trying to join the e-revolution?

Reporters Without Borders says it is shocked at the murder on 26 July of Algerian TV presenter Mourad Belkacem and called on the authorities to investigate at once the circumstances and motives for the killing.

On 29 July, RSF called for the immediate and unconditional release of journalist Guy-Patrick Massoloka, a Banjul-based correspondent for the Pan African News Agency (PANA) of Congolese nationality. Massoloka was arrested by National Intelligence Agency officials on 19 July and is still being held without charge.

On 23 July, Robert Sebufirira, Elly MacDowell Kalisa, and Emmanuel Munyaneza, all journalists with the independent weekly "Umuseso", were sentenced to 30 days of "preventative detention" by a court in Rwanda's capital, Kigali. They are currently in the city's central prison.

Residents of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) have appealed against a government decision to cut basic services to those living in the reserve. Heard on 11 July, the appeal by Roy Sesana and 247 other residents, against a previous High Court ruling against them, was referred back to the High Court in Lobatse.

This is the second in a planned double issue collaboration focusing on Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Africa. The first installment included just some of the all-embracing, bilateral and multilateral Africa initiatives, and some of the policy frameworks developed on a country level. This issue focuses on some of the regional, community, issue-specific and "on-the-ground" ICT initiatives and resources in Africa. We have found such a wealth of resources, we will be publishing a third installment later. It will focus on youth/child initiatives, radio/internet initiatives and information, bulletins and journals, prizes and additional resources and portals.

Your Excellency, The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives is writing to express its support for the statement by the Kenyan Union of Journalists (KUJ) that the offence of criminal libel should be abolished under the new Kenyan constitution. According to an article posted on allAfrica.com, dated 17 July, the KUJ told the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC), that the laws of contempt and criminal libel are "anachronistic and serve no useful purpose in a constitutional democracy". In the same presentation, the journalists' organization said, "Freedom of expression is rendered a big mockery so long as the government can ban publications it finds offensive without reference to the courts of law".