International donors meeting in Dakar next week are expected to finance the prosecution of former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré nearly two decades after his removal from power, according to a coalition of rights organisations. Legal proceedings against Habré - who is accused of thousands of political murders and brutal torture during his rule of Chad from 1982 to 1990 - have been delayed for nearly a decade since he was first indicted in Senegal in February 2000.

Reporters Without Borders has called for the withdrawal of bill which is about to be submitted to parliament and which would allow the authorities to block public access to official documents including judicial decisions, new legislation and public records. Announced on 22 October and called the 'General Law Amendment Bill', the proposed law’s sole aim seems to be to place additional obstacles in the way of access to information and thereby hamper the work of the media even more.

Reporters Without Borders has hailed the release of Abdul Kareem Suleiman Amer, the blogger known as Kareem Amer. He was finally set free on the evening of 15 November, 10 days after completing a four-year jail sentence, and is now reunited with his family. He has decided for the time being to make no statement. The blogger was again subjected to physical mistreatment at the headquarters of the internal security department in Alexandria during the 10 days he was held illegally after 5 November, the date he should have been released.

Doctored photographs of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni showing him as a rap star are damaging his image, his press secretary has told the BBC. The images started appearing in the local media after a rap remix of a song the president sang became a hit ahead of presidential elections next year. Spokesman Tamale Mirundi said those showing the president half-naked and wearing bling were the most offensive.

A Zambia ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) politician has been jailed for assaulting journalists who had gone to cover President Rupiah Banda at the Lusaka International Airport last July. Lusaka Province MMD youth chairman Chris Chalwe was convicted on 9 November by the Lusaka Magistrates Court which found him guilty of assaulting journalists from state-owned Times of Zambia and the privately-owned the Post newspaper when they went to cover President Rupiah Banda at the Lusaka International Airport.

On the strength of the ‘psychological warfare and mind control’ inflicted on its citizens, US society’s increasing militarisation should be treated with acute concern, writes Horace Campbell.

When 14-year-old Judith, not her real name, was raped in Goma, her father decided not to report the matter to the authorities. Instead, the family of the victim sat down with that of the rapist and hammered out a so-called friendly settlement. Irène Ntambuka, programme director at Dynamique des Femmes Juristes, a local NGO that provides legal aid to rape victims, says that such agreements in sexual violence cases are becoming more common, largely because of a lack of trust in the local justice system.

On 30 October, Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services raided a Khartoum office shared by Radio Dabanga and Darfuri human rights activists, arresting 13 people, reports the Washington Post. According to Radio Dabanga's Dutch-based director, Hildebrand Bijleveld, the detainees are being held incommunicado in unknown locations.

While the Ethiopian regime uses its power to keep citizens in darkness, a cadre of young journalists are displaying a courageous commitment to the truth. Alemayehu G. Mariam pays tribute.

The signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) prevented Zimbabwe from continuing to spiral out of control and helped to establish a measure of political and economic stability, says this research report from the Institute for Democracy in Africa. 'However, major concerns remain, given the intransigence of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) specifically over honouring its responsibilities outlined in the GPA...The international community has three options: maintain the status quo, completely lift restrictive measures, and the calibrated lifting of restrictive measures tied to six benchmarks.'

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation has announced issue three of the SA Reconciliation Barometer newsletter. It includes the following articles:
- Albie Sachs: Recipient of the 2009 Reconciliation Award, Jo Higgs
- The search for our shared South Africanness, William Gumede
- ANC revivalism and nonracialism, Tim Murithi

Victims and other affected parties are working on a short deadline to engage with the process that could see up to 149 persons convicted of murder, robbery and theft, pardoned through Special Presidential Pardons. While the Department of Justice has published the names of 149 convicted persons who have been recommended for a presidential pardon, victims affected by these crimes have not been directly informed. The South African Coalition for Transitional Justice (SACTJ) has sought to make victims aware of the process and to inform them of how they can engage with the process to make sure that their voices are heard.

Gender-based violence is a persistent human rights violation in South Africa, especially seeing girls and women of all ages continually enduring incidents of rape and assault. Official estimates that have been criticised as being overly conservative, put the number of women raped in South Africa at 27,750 a year, or three an hour. Last week, an 8th grade girl was allegedly gang raped by three schoolboys on the high school’s premises. The incident was allegedly filmed by students using mobile phones. Media Monitoring Africa says that numerous aspects of how this story has been reported have given cause for concern.

The Fahamu Emerging Powers in Africa Programme is pleased to announce a call for applications for its Journalist Study Tour to India. Four successful applicants will be chosen to participate in a six day study tour. African media professionals in print, broadcast, radio and online fora throughout Africa are encouraged to apply for this study tour. African lecturers from journalism schools and media programmes on the continent may also apply.

The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) and Human Rights Documentation Systems (HURIDOCS) launched a new online database of jurisprudence of the African Human Rights System on 8 November 2010.

After successfully protesting the Protection of Information Bill (the secrecy Bill) the Right2Know Campaign has emerged as a vibrant campaign with significant influence in the public discourse. This rapid growth has raised a number of questions and the R2K Working Groups have called for a National Dialogue amongst campaign supporters to deliberate on matters of the Campaign's scope, strategy, and structure.

The latest issue of the Kakuma News Reflector is now available online. The Kakuma News Reflector (or KANERE) is a refugee free press devoted to independent reporting on human rights and encampment.

The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF) has announced that issue number 11 of 'Zabalaza: A Journal of Southern African Revolutionary Anarchism' is available. It includes:
- At the End of the Baton of South African Pretentions - Warren McGregor (ZACF)
- Electricity Crisis in Protea South - Lekhetho Mtetwa (ZACF)
- Conned by the Courts - Sian Byrne, James Pendlebury (ZACF), Komnas Poziaris
- Death and the Mielieboer - Michael Schmidt
- The Crisis Hits Home: Strategic Unionism or Revolt? - Lucien van der Walt
- Sharpening the Pangas?: Understanding and Preventing future Pogroms - Michael Schmidt
- Riding to Work on Empty Promises - Jonathan P. (ZACF)

The Fahamu Emerging Powers in Africa Programme is pleased to announce a call for applications for its Journalist Study Tour to India. Four successful applicants will be chosen to participate in a 6 day study tour. African media professionals in print, broadcast, radio and online fora throughout Africa are encouraged to apply for this study tour. African lecturers from journalism schools and media programmes on the continent may also apply.

Dozens of NGOs have expressed their 'concern about the continued deterioration of freedom of expression in many parts of Africa in 2010' in a resolution adopted this week at a major gathering of civil society from across the continent. The 'Resolution on Freedom of Expression and Protection of Journalists' came out of the Forum on the Participation of NGOs held in Banjul, The Gambia, in advance of the start of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights ordinary session.