On September 16, 2009, Mr. Wale Oluokun, the Radio Nigeria Correspondent for Government House in Owerri, the Imo State capital in South-east Nigeria was beaten and injured by four armed government security agents in the presence of the Imo State Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Henry Ekpe and a couple of other journalists.

On September 20, 2009 at about 6.52 a.m local time, Mr. Bayo Ohu, an assistant news editor with the private daily, The Guardian newspapers was gruesomely murdered in his home in Egbeda, a Lagos suburb by a gang of about six men who riddled his body with bullets. The assassins took away his laptop and mobile phone. No other flat or house in the area was attacked.

The film District 9 that came into cinemas during the end of the summer is about aliens landing in Johannesburg around 30 years ago. They are allowed to live on earth but only in camps around the city. Cheryl Philips categorises the film as a 'socio-politically incorrect, semi-cerebral plot of subterfuge based blatantly on South African apartheid in a Benny Hill-style remake of City of God', in this week's Pambazuka News.

The term arbitrage traditionally refers to taking advantage of the price differential (the gap) between two or more markets. One example is how search engine marketers use arbitrage to make money off of Google Adwords with keyword buying and landing pages. Another is when traders take advantage of differences in exchange rates on currencies in two separate markets.

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains excerpts from several articles with commentary both on U.S. policy and on other aspects of the situation in Somalia. Elizabeth Dickson in Foreign Policy comments on disagreements within the U.S. government about the shipment of arms supplies to the government in Mogadishu. Minnesota Public Radio comments on repeated airport searches of two prominent Somali-American professors at the University of Minnesota.

Media watchdog, the Media Institute for Southern Africa – Zimbabwe, has expressed grave concern over the upsurge of hate speech against the private media and perceived opponents, by members of ZANU PF and the state controlled media. Earlier this week army commander, Lieutenant-General Phillip Valerio Sibanda, berated foreign based Zimbabwean radio stations, accusing them of being at war with Zimbabwe and urged the military to ‘guard against them’. This has been widely seen as meaning that journalists broadcasting into Zimbabwe are legitimate military targets because they threaten the state.

South Africa's Sumbandila Satellite blasted off into space on Thursday evening. The blast-off was accompanied by rousing applause and delight by keen South Africans who had traveled to Baikonur, Kazakhstan to witness the event. Among the guests were Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor. She said the launch of Sumbandila which is Venda for "lead the way" has paved the way for bigger and better things.

The Ugandan government should immediately allow radio stations and programming that it closed down after protests in Kampala last week to return to the air and should investigate the arrest and abuse of a prominent journalist, Robert Kalundi Sserumaga, Human Rights Watch has said.

A multi-country campaign in Africa is using cell phone technology to expose stock-outs of essential medicines at public health facilities and put pressure on governments to address the issue. "Stop the Stock-outs" was launched earlier this year in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia by Health Action International (HAI) Africa, a regional network of NGOs, healthcare providers and civil society organizations, in partnership with Oxfam, the UK-based aid and developmental charity, and civil society organizations in several countries.

The first undersea fibre optic cable, Seacom, reached the east African coast in July 2009. This "Digital Express" is the most important infrastructure investment in eastern Africa since the construction of the Uganda Railway which integrate colonial east Africa into the British Empire.

The ILRF has created the Freedom at Work Toolkit to understanding one of the human rights most widely violated in the workplace: the right to associate freely around the world. Only when this right is in place can we say workers enjoy freedom at work.

International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) has received disturbing news of the arrest of journalist, filmmaker and talk show host, Kalundi Serumaga, on 11 September 2009. It is reported that he has suffered severe beatings, requiring hospital treatment. PEN urgently calls for the release of Kalundi Serumaga, who appears to be detained solely for having spoken on recent clashes in Kampala and nearby Kayunga.

cc Elvira Van Noort In this week's blog roundup, Dibussi Tande reflects on the 4th annual “Digital Citizen Indaba” (DCI), which was held on September 5-6 2009 at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. The Indaba brought together bloggers, podcasters, vodcasters, mobile journalists, citizen reporters, new media practitioners, online industry experts and civil society representatives from Africa and beyond.

On August 28, 2009, President Mamadou Tandja signed into law a bill granting him absolute control over the Supreme Council for Communications (CSC), the country's media regulatory body. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)'s correspondent reported that Article 130 of the new Constitution that was recently adopted under a controversial referendum in early August has reduced the previous 11 members to seven. It also gives the president the power to appoint four members, including the CSC's president.

Police should release Mohamed Osman, director of Radio Horyaal, who has been held without charge since his arrest on Saturday outside parliament in Hargeisa, capital of the breakaway republic of Somaliland, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said.

Six Gambian journalists imprisoned on charges ranging from defamation to "seditious publication" were released on 3 September on a presidential pardon, report the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and other IFEX members. The journalists were convicted for issuing a joint statement holding President Yahya Jammeh's government responsible for journalist Deyda Hydara's murder in 2004.

A Sudanese journalist was convicted on 7 September of "sensational dressing" and jailed for wearing trousers, report the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and the International Press Institute (IPI). Protesters in support of Lubna Ahmed Hussein were beaten outside the court and reporters barred from the proceedings.

Internet cafés are in decline in Senegal. These access points to knowledge and communication, once found on every street corner in Dakar and open day and night, are no longer so widely available. Thanks to the infrastructure and development of bandwidth put in place by incumbent operator Sonatel, the high cost of internet has fallen rapidly, from XOF 1,000 (USD 2.15) or 1,500 (USD 3.25) to XOF 300 (USD 0.65) or 200 (USD 0.43) an hour, making it possible for more people, from students to street vendors to private consultants, to surf the net from home (for those who can afford it) or elsewhere at a relatively accessible price.

On September 10, 2009, in the Mitchells Plain Town Centre, traders were informed that the City of Cape Town would not attend a meeting that was scheduled by Traders. CHATA (Concerned Hawkers and Traders Association) was informed of this cancellation on the grounds that the city claims they cannot negotiate with the Traders. The meeting was intended by CHATA to inform the city of the irregularities and unfair & unconstitutional policies that have been implemented in the renovation and relocation process of the Town Centre.

The Government of Uganda has closed four independently-owned radio stations and suspended their operating licenses for what it called “flouting rules by inciting people, mainly the Baganda tribe, against President Yoweri Museveni, his government and against other tribes”.