The Chiadzwa diamond fields in Marange, Manicaland province are still off-limits for journalists working in the country. This was demonstrated by Friday's incident where freelance journalist Annie Mtalume was arrested on allegations of entering the ' protected' area without a pass. She was detained overnight in Chiadzwa and was only transferred to Mutare on Saturday.

Local government, NGOs, church and IT leaders from the Kasese district in Uganda have launched a project to help give civil society organisations more influence over government planning and development. IICD will help manage the ICT component of this major project funded by the EU.

William Kamkwamba, from Malawi, is a born inventor. When he was 14, he built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap, working from rough plans he found in a library book called Using Energy and modifying them to fit his needs. The windmill he built powers four lights and two radios in his family home.

The Kenyan Government has accused TEAMS shareholders of colluding to fix internet connectivity prices. Information and Communication PS Bitange Ndemo said the shareholders are making a massive 2,000 per cent from selling their capacity before the cable officially goes live. The shareholders have said that they will first have to recoup their investment before lowering the Internet connectivity prices.

Mugabe used an appearance at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) ‘World 2009’ meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday to attack the West for what he called the continued violation of Zimbabwe’s airwaves by foreign based radio stations. In a speech that aptly summed up his regime’s attitude towards media freedom, Mugabe told a Council of Ministers meeting that ‘certain western countries had ‘radio broadcasting systems’ that were targeting ‘his’ country to further their ‘obnoxious regime change agendas’.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has firmly condemned the violence and death threats by the military junta against journalists in Guinea. Mouctar Bah, the Conakry correspondent of Agence France-Presse and Radio France Internationale, Amadou Diallo, the BBC’s correspondent and Mamadou Ba journalist of the satirical newspaper Le Lynx are roughed up by soldiers covering the violent dispersal of an opposition meeting in which more than hundred persons died in September, 28 2009.

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) has sent a letter to Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato calling on the City to reconsider the eviction of the Symphony Way community to Blikkiesdorp. We all face evictions from the City of Cape Town – for a second time. The first time was when we were evicted from the N2 Gateway houses without being given any suitable alternative place to stay. This is why we have been occupying Symphony way for 1 year and 8 months.

Roland Bankole Marke makes a very pertinent and relevant call in this week's Pambazuka News to support African media organizations, not only through reading their articles and moral contributions but by giving more financial support to them. This call does not only come amid a financial crisis that threatens much larger media cooperations but also in relation to the long term sustainability of all free African media organizations. As he points out information is power however, the running of a news website costs money, and this money does not come out of thin air.

The UN World Habitat Day, the attacks against Durban's Abahlali baseMjondolo, the campaign against Nestlé's buying milk from Robert Mugabe and Muammar al-Gaddafi's deal with Europe are among the topics covered in Sokari Ekine's fortnightly round-up of the African blogosphere for Pambazuka News.

On 7 October 2009 at 10:00 am, the Symphony Way pavement dwellers will appear in the Western Cape High Court.

has sent a letter to Mayor Dan Plato calling on the city to reconsider the eviction of the Symphony Way community to Blikkiesdorp.

We all face evictions from the city of Cape Town – for a second time. The first time was when we were evicted from the N2 Gateway houses without being given any suitable alternative place to stay. This is why we have been occupying Symphony way for 1 year and 8 months.

The city wants to put us in .

We refuse to be treated like aliens in our own country! This is why we say Asiyi eBlikkiesdorp! We will not go to tin-cans!

We will get together for our march at Keizergracht Square at 8:00 am and start marching to the High Court at 9:00 am. The march will be as follows: from Keizergracht down Darling Street, left onto Adderley Street, right into Wale Street and then left into Keerom Street where the court is situated.

For more information, contact Kareemah on (+27) 078-492-0943, Aunty Badru on (+27) 072-822-8109 and Evelyn on (+27) 072-748-6864.

To download the letter to Plato, .

* 'Voices from Symphony Way' is a forthcoming publication from Pambazuka Press.

The management of Wal Fadjri told ARTICLE 19 on the phone that the 'talibes' (disciples) of religious leader Serigne Modou Kara Mbacke broke into the premises of the broadcasting company at 14h45 on 25 September 2009 wielding clubs and iron bars. The disciples wrecked part of the equipment in the marketing department and sacked the office of the head of administration.

Simmering animosity and tension between non-governmental organizations and the conservative authorities of donor-dependent Swaziland are threatening to boil over, bringing legislation that could restrict the activities of civil society. "It has been building for some years. The deeper Swaziland sinks into poverty, hunger and AIDS, and the more dependent we become on non-governmental organizations [NGOs], the more hostile government officials, like MPs and some chiefs, become to NGOs," said Amos Ndwandwe, who works as a counsellor for an HIV/AIDS NGO he declined to identify, in the second city, Manzini.

Pressure is mounting on the Tanzanian government following the recent violent evictions of Maasai from their land in Loliondo, Northern Tanzania, to make way for the hunting company, Otterlo Business Corporation (OBC). Local human rights organizations are filing criminal and civil cases against the Tanzanian government on behalf of the affected Maasai people at the High Court in Arusha. More than 100 witnesses are reportedly willing to testify.

On Wednesday close to two hundred thousand people from Arizona to Zanzibar read the last email from ZW News – a daily email compilation of the latest news stories on Zimbabwe. Despite the cost effectiveness and wide subscriber base, the man behind ZW News in the UK, and his colleague in Zimbabwe, have been unable to source funding to keep going.

MISA-Mozambique, a regional chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, has strongly protested the brutal beating of a community radio journalist by members of the country's main opposition party, Renamo, in the northern port of Nacala. The incident occurred on 16 September 2009, the fourth day of the current election campaign.

Eritrea ranks last place on the latest Reporters Without Borders (RSF) index measuring the level of press freedom in 173 countries. Privately owned press have been banished by the authoritarian President Issaias Afeworki since 2001, and the few journalists who dare to criticise the regime are thrown in prison, says RSF. Four journalists have died in detention and, currently, at least 30 journalists and two media workers are believed to be in prison without trial.

In Africa, the argument goes, the information and communications technology (ICT) market has not grown as fast as it could have because of the lack of a conducive policy and regulatory environment. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), by 2007 only 34 African countries had ICT policies, 12 were in the process of drafting one, while seven had not even launched the policy development process.

Every two years beginning in 1999, there has been a Pan African Reading for All Conference, sponsored by the International Development Committee for Africa, the leadership of African councils of the International Reading Association. The conference is independent of government and run by educators in their professional capacities. This AfricaFocus Bulletin, available on the web but not sent out by e-mail, contains one of the two keynote addresses by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and the resolutions and recommendations from the conference.

Taelo Motseki had every reason to wear a broad smile despite the afternoon chill. His family along with 21 others displaced by Phase 1B of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project at Ha Mohale had won a decade-long struggle seeking compensation. On Sep 8, the Ombudsman, Sekara Mafisa, reversed and earlier decision and ruled in their favour, ending what had become a source of both frustration and anger for the 22 households now resettled at Ha Matala, in Lesotho's capital, Maseru.

The report, titled “Media Freedom Kept within Bounds”, unearths evidence-based information from journalists and media managers who recounted unrestrained and vituperative attacks on journalists and media houses. The media professionals signify that Somaliland authorities are responsible for outrages and structural suppression against media.