Landmines Struggle Center monitored the deaths of 5 persons and the injury of 7 in 6 mine/UXOs incidents in Egypt during last year. The number of casualties has decreased compared to 1999, which witnessed 37 victims (14 killed/23 injured) and 1998 that witnessed 33 victims (13 killed/20 injured).

A container filled with 380 computers and monitors for schools in Cameroon has just sailed from Boston. It is expected to arrive in the port of Douala, Cameroon on June 12th. The computers were donated by 15 businesses and other organizations to the World Computer Exchange of Hull, Massachusetts. The computers will be arranged in networks of computers in 34 schools with over 17,000 students in the region around Yaounde, Cameroon.

What proposals does the CPT have to stop police ill-treatment? What is the Committee's position on solitary confinement? What has the CPT said about restraining psychiatric patients? What are the Committee's views on the treatment of immigration detainees? These and many other questions can now be answered via a new database launched today by the CPT. It contains the full texts of all published CPT reports, amounting to some 5000 pages of text. Searching has been made as easy and powerful as possible: users can search for any words, but can also select from pre-established lists of keywords, detention places, categories of detained persons and States.

The Namibian Defence Force (NDF) said it participated in a joint operation with the Angolan army that "dislodged" UNITA rebels from Mavinga, a strategic town deep inside Angola, 'The Namibian' reported on Thursday. Army Chief Major-General Martin Shalli was quoted as saying that the joint-operation was carried out last week in southern Angola's Cuando Cubango Province, more than 200 km north of the Namibian border.

Africa has attracted large-scale investors but they have tended to be multinationals building infrastructure. There are far fewer US and European small and medium sized companies willing to take the plunge. This week sees the opening of the Dutch company Explainer DC in Ghana and several of these kinds of investments seem to be in the pipeline. More of which in later issues.

The arguments about the pros and cons of agricultural technology - pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and biotechnology - are widely known. The Green Revolution is touted by some as being one of the great accomplishments of modern society and others as one of the great evils. A distinction is often made between the applications of agricultural technology in developing countries and in developed ones.

The aim of this list is to announce updates to our website and forthcoming events hosted by the Science, Technology and Innovation Program, a joint activity of the Center for International Development at Harvard University and the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.

Bytes for All brought out this issue in special cooperation with BBC World Service and with New Internationalist in Oxford. and used video footage of 'Gujarat Earthquake' and a video clip on 'Men Made Famine in Africa'. We also offer our special thanks to Surface Water Modeling Center in Dhaka, Bangladesh, National Seismological Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, SDNP Pakistan, and Ajith Abraham of Monash University, Australia for their significant contribution in preparing
the issue.

In simple terms Electronic Governance can be defined as giving Citizens the choice of when and where they access government information and services. Putting the Citizen at the centre of government means taking a delivery channel view. This would mean using more and more of Electronics & Information Technology in many of the government functions.

During the June 2000 elections in Zimbabwe, MDC campaigners and other citizens took advantage of the internet and email to promote and disseminate
the aims and objectives of the Movement for Democratic Change. This strategy ran alongside the traditional campaigning of talks, meetings, rallies and word of mouth. Whilst the ruling party used a variety of campaign strategies
from old-fashioned intimidation to exploiting their control of the print and broadcast media, the MDC had no option but to look creatively at other ways of campaigning.

Since our last update over a month back, there has been a tremendous increase in the activities of Digital Governance -an effort to enable emergence of E-governance models in South.

As the taste of wine improves with age, for the record number of thirty-nine exhibitors, one hundred and fifty conference delegates drawn from the Liberia, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, South Africa, UK, USA and over seven thousand visitors who made it to the 5th West Africa Computing, Telecomms & Broadcasting Expo, (AITEC 2001) business couldn't have been better.

Semaine du 18.05.01 au 27.05.01.

Media inadequately covered the Masvingo mayoral elections. The Zimbabwe Independent and The Zimbabwe Mirror (11/5) had no story on the event while The Daily News and The Financial Gazette failed to inform its readers about important electoral issues. However, the Daily News provided the most comprehensive and impartial coverage of the pre-election violence. The state media put on a partisan performance, preferring to urge the public to vote Zanu PF. This message was supported by the prominent coverage given to alleged defections from the MDC to Zanu PF.

What is the best way to teach science? What kind of teacher training makes better science teachers? Donors now tend to fund in-service training (INSET) for teachers already in the classroom rather than pre-service teacher training. But what makes an effective INSET programme? And how can effectiveness be measured? Collaborative research by the Universities of York and Swaziland uses teacher perceptions and student learning outcomes to measure the effectiveness of an INSET programme for junior secondary science in Swaziland and asks whether the INSET methodology could be used in other subject areas.

Search our entire database of funders with the Foundation Directory Online Platinum, a new addition to our popular Web-based subscription services. Platinum offers convenient Web access to over 58,000 profiles of foundations, corporate givers, and grantmaking public charities, as well as a separate searchable file of over 170,000 recently awarded grants. If you are already a subscriber to the Foundation Directory Online, it's easy to upgrade!

Technology has always attracted big dreamers. Think back to the rhetoric of two years ago, when e-commerce was supposed to change the world. Yet, as the economy sputters, there are people who still believe that a computer and a high-speed Internet connection can make a real difference. Some of them can be found at Technology Works for Good (www.technologyworks.org), a Washington group devoted to helping nonprofits connect with the community.

As the sun slips behind the jagged hills of the Transkei, Chief David Lingazwe surveys the land his family has farmed for hundreds of years. He smiles as he tucks a cell-phone into the folds of the traditional blanket he wears to keep out the evening chill. The chief's daughter Bonizwe has just given birth at a government hospital in Bizana, 60 km away. A year ago, Vodacom, one of Africa' biggest mobile technology players, installed a mast and base station in Amambisi village, ending isolation, but also bringing hope to this impoverished community of 30,000.

MediaChannel.org - news, reports, resources and opinion. Featuring content from over 660 media-issues groups worldwide.

Online advertising in Africa is in its infancy and the collapse of internet advertising markets elsewhere do not bode well for its future. Robin Parker argues that this is a short-term view and that despite wider problems of connectivity savvy advertisers will increasingly use web advertising to reach high-spenders across the continent.