The Nyeleni Newsletter is now available online in three languages: English, Spanish and French. This edition of the newsletter has a special on factory farming. The newsletter is published every two months on the website. Each newsletter comes with an additional document - a list of reports and more references that can be downloaded from the same website.

International Women's Day 2011 will be remembered in Cameroon for more technological reasons. Bouba Kaele, a marketing manager at the South African MTN telecom company in Cameroon, announced on social network Twitter that the Cameroonian Government banned access to twitter via SMS for MTN customers. This news caused anger among the Cameroonian online community.

A tussle over a road gave a glimpse of the inner workings of the Central African Republic government with a leaked US cable suggesting that President Francois Bozize had sought to personally profit from money set aside for the project. The $2.75 million USAid-funded project would have been an integral part of an east-west road that directly responded to the Central African government’s own poverty reduction strategy paper. But according to new WikiLeaks cables, a frenzy of meetings with Mr Bozize and his cronies ahead of the scheduled 26 October 2009 launch of the road works left the US ambassador with the impression that the President was 'personally interested in the monetary benefits that international development money brings'.

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki did not take strong action against Uganda for ‘grabbing’ Migingo Island to politically undermine Prime Minister Raila Odinga. That was the thinking by US embassy officials in Nairobi, as revealed by secret diplomatic cables made public by whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The cable analyses the background to the tiny disputed island on Lake Victoria, the way it has impacted on Kenya-Uganda relations and also become a political dispute in Kenya.

A court in Angola's southwestern province of Namibe sent a journalist to prison without due process over his coverage of a sexual harassment scandal that implicated the province's top judicial official, according to local journalists and news reports. Judge Manuel Araujo sentenced Armando José Chicoca, a freelancer who reports for US government-funded broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) and private Angolan newspapers such as Folha 8, Agora, and O Apostolado, to one year in prison and a fine of 200,000 kwanza (US$2,100), according to news reports.

The Dag Hammarskjöld Journalism Fellowship is open to individuals who: are native of one of the developing countries of Africa, Asia, South America or the Caribbean. Applicants must demonstrate an interest in and commitment to international affairs and to conveying a better understanding of the United Nations to their readers and audiences.

The Youth Electoral Bulletin from Youth Alliance for Democracy (YAD) aims to fill an information gap that exists in communities ahead of possible elections and a referendum following the manipulation of the national broadcaster to serve the interests of a single political party. The Bulletin will be issued on a weekly basis.

Mozambique’s first adventure-fantasy serial radio drama will soon be hitting the airwaves. 'Madjuba: Quest for the Talisman' is an action-packed 13-part radio drama available in Portuguese, Changaan, and Sena, initiated by UNESCO with support from SIDA, produced by CMFD (Community Media for Development) Productions. Follow the tale of a community that gathers nightly around the fire to hear a wise storyteller weave a tale of adventure and fantasy. Little do they know that the magic of the story has transported their stubborn neighbour Arlindo to a far off fantasy world where he has become the unwitting long-awaited hero, Chamwari. As Chamwari seeks the talisman that will transform the land, the village listeners realise that they too have the power to speak up and help make the changes in their community they want to see. Over the course of the story the hero, along with his allies, travel though different lands, each with a task or problem to overcome related to key governance issues: accountability/ transparency, civic participation and the need for a strong civil society, freedom of expression, and political intolerance. The large-scale production involved over 50 local actors and recordings took place in Maputo and Beira. The script was drafted by talented scriptwriter Evaristo Abreu, who has over 25 years experience in the field of drama.

For more information, visit

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has welcomed the resumption of the Radio Kulmiye of its normal operations on 4 March 2011. The radio station had been off air for at least 48 hours following a letter ordering the radio to go temporarily off air from the National Security Agency. The radio immediately went off air upon receiving the letter. The resumption came after the Minister of Information, Posts and Telecommunication, Dr. Abdulkadreem Jama authorised the radio back on air, according to the Kulmiye Radio Director, Osman Abdullahi Guure.

The digital newsletter of the Nordic Africa Institute is aimed at all those who wish to receive regular information on the activities of the Institute, its research, publications and various events on issues related to modern Africa. The newsletter contains comments on current events of importance to Africa and an overview of the Institute’s activities as well as its products. The newsletter is published approximately eight times per year. To subscribe please visit the website available through the address provided.

Alemayehu G. Mariam introduces Africa's leading 'thugtators' - those leaders who cling to power 'solely to accumulate personal wealth for the ruling class'.

The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) met last week to discuss the state of the nation's media in the post-Ben Ali era. 'It's hardly a change,' said Soukaina Abd Samad, SNJT executive office member and Tunisian television journalist. 'The changes in the media did not keep pace with the democratic changes in the country.'

Zambia’s education minister Dora Siliya who is also ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) spokesperson, has in the last few months used Facebook to make important government policy announcements as well as party matters, reports Global Voices. A few days ago, Siliya announced changes in the educational system on Facebook and, as usual, attracted a lot of comments, both positive and negative from some of her 4,950 online 'friends'.

A Senegalese journalist, Basile Niane and his three compatriot students have been selected among the 20 best bloggers of the Mondoblog competition, organized by Radio France International, a press release from RFI, made available to PANA said. In all, 100 francophone bloggers participated in the competition and the 20 best bloggers designated through a week-long training session in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, or Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Fears of Prime Minister Raila Odinga ascending to the presidency after the 2007 general election by close confidantes of President Kibaki have been revealed in a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, reports the Daily Nation. A Cabinet minister warned a US embassy official that Mr Odinga was likely to turn into a dictator if he won the hotly disputed general election.

A large-scale demolition in Lubango, capital of Huíla province, carried out by the government of Angola, has already left in its wake over 5,000 displaced people in the southwest of the country, Global Voices reports.

Ladji Aboubacar Sanogo and Kangbé Yayoro, two reporters of pro-Ouattara Télévision Notre Patrie (TVNP) in Bouaké, the second largest city in Coté d’ I voire were sent back to prison custody on 24 February 2011 after being denied bail by the public prosecutor's office in connection with alleged terrorists activities. Sanogo and Kangbé are facing a charge relating to an 'offence against national security' for working for TVNP, which belongs to the Forces Nouvelles that waged a rebellion against Gbagbo’s government in the early 2000s.

Amandla! TV aims to strengthen the movement for social justice in South Africa through the production of alternative knowledge and facilitating a dialogue giving voice to the poor and marginalized locally and internationally. Visit their Youtube channel to see videos from the recent Conference of the Democratic Left and responses to the South African budget.

Google announced Wednesday it has awarded $2.7 million to the International Press Institute to foster innovation in journalism. The Institute, based in Vienna, will use the grant for its IPI News Innovation Contest, which will fund both non-profit and for-profit projects related to the development of digital news platforms, new business models for journalism and training in digital reporting throughout Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

MENA WATCH has been put together to provide people with broad coverage of up-dates and events from nonviolent actions and people’s movements in the Middle East and North Africa. Each day MENA WATCH will collect articles, reports, analysis and links to blogs and video blogs. Visit