The battle of the bandwidth suppliers has begun, with MTN and MWeb not dropping their fees but instead increasing bandwidth to end users. This is a sort of price war in reverse: the prices stay the same but the volume is increased. MWeb is targeting its 300,000 residential customers by increasing the size of its data bundles. Subscribers with a 1GB data cap will now get 2GB for an unchanged R145 per month. Users with a 2GB cap will get 3GB for R219, and 3GB packages rise to 5GB for R299.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the harassment and intimidation campaign against journalists in Guinea and the consistent threats on freedom of expression since the advent of the military junta in the country. “Since the advent of the military junta, we have witnessed more and more threats, and arrests that are squarely designed to intimidate journalists,” declared Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa Office.

UNITAR is pleased to announce its course calendar for 2009 intended for a global audience of finance sector and trade officials. Each course will be conducted by UNITAR over the internet and will last up to six-weeks. High quality training content will be provided by UNITAR for each course, which will form the basis for study, discussions, group work and individual assessments.

August saw the continuation of the chaos in Zimbabwe, with ever more breaches of the GPA being recorded, the majority of which fell into the following categories:
* wanton politically motivated violence, or violence driven by politicians or petty officials, * harassment, and deprivation of freedom, of individuals through contrived arrests on spurious charges, * widespread corruption involving senior public and uniformed figures, * the deprivation of the right to Freedom of Expression, and the abuse thereof, * violent, unconstitutional, invasions and seizures of property and farms, and * deliberate attempts to derail the Constitution-making process.

Following the evictions and burning of the houses of Maasai communities in Loliondo, these You-Tube films, and part II, provide documentary evidence of the abuses allegedly perpetrated by the Government of Tanzania and Ortello Business Company.

Fernando Pacheco

Total broadband adoption in Africa will increase at a CAGR of 28 percent through 2013 as new undersea cables boost Africa's international bandwidth, a new report from Pyramid Research has stated. The report further said the undersea infrastructure will further reduce the number of coastal countries without any cable access from 19 to one.

How do you find the entrepreneurs and innovators in Africa who need investment funding to scale? There are really two big issues at stake. First, how to find the right people. Second, what funding level is needed. You’re not going to find the compelling African entrepreneurs while sitting in an office in the US or Europe. It’s only by spending significant time on the ground in the countries you’re wanting to invest in that you find the people you need to know.

To prevent e-waste in Uganda non-profit organisations IICD and Close The Gap will dismantle and recycle outdated or broken computers in Ugandan schools. More than 2000 cost-efficient high-quality used computers from the Netherlands and other European countries will be sent to schools in Uganda.

The headling in Cape Verde's bilingual A Semana on August 13, (http://www.asemana.publ.cv/spip.php?article44442 or read "Clinton's visit to Cape Verde ignored by American media." And if coverage was sparse, historical perspective was even more strikingly absent. Search for mentions of "Hillary Clinton" and "Amilcar Cabral" on the web, for example. Apart from a few mentions of her landing at the Amilcar Cabral International Airport, the only reference one is likely to find is a Fox News attack on Obama administration green jobs czar Van Jones, because of his affiliation with an organization which once praised Amilcar Cabral in its newsletter.

The Department of Science and Technology's (DST's) decision to step up efforts to get SA's satellite off the ground seems to have paid off. The department announced this morning that the long-awaited SumbandilaSat will take to the skies in 12 days' time from its launch-pad in Baikonur, in Kazakhstan.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the release of Hanevy Ould Dehah, editor of Taqadoumy website, who was charged with “offending public decency” and sentenced to six months imprisonment by the court in Nouakchott. “This is an unduly severe and political judgment, especially as only one of the charges was finally retained,” declared Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa Office. “Our colleague must be released,” he added.

The New York-based media rights group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern about the health of imprisoned editor Abdoulaye Tiemogo, after his transfer from a hospital in Niger's capital, Niamey, to a prison in a remote town. A CPJ statement obtained by PANA quoted Zeinabou , wife of Tiemogo, editor of the weekly Le Canard Déchaîné, as saying the husband is suffering from malaria and is no longer receiving adequate medical attention in a prison in Ouallam, 88 kilometres to the north of Niamey.

Four journalists from Uganda's largest independent newspaper are facing criminal prosecutions, joining four others already charged since 2007, according to local journalists and news reports. Criminal prosecutions against the Monitor are on the rise against the backdrop of mounting national tensions in the lead-up to general elections in 2011. This month, President Yoweri Museveni, who is expected to seek re-election, warned private broadcasters against inciting public discontent with the government.

A federal jury has convicted former United States Congressman William J. Jefferson, 62, of New Orleans, of using his office to corruptly solicit bribes, in deals mainly in African states, the Justice Department has announced. After hearing evidence for more than one month, a jury found Jefferson guilty on 11 charged counts, including solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering and conspiracy.

Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania are set to benefit from affordable communications services following a US$151 million funding boost from the World Bank. The sum marks the third phase of the Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP 3), which aims to connect eastern and southern Africa to reliable and high-capacity communication services.

"Many people had hoped that Kenya's 2007 presidential elections would cement Kenya's democratic progress and would provide a solid foundation for the country to break out of its economic doldrums and begin to achieve some of its enormous economic potential. Instead, the 2007 elections brought trade and commerce to a halt, polarized the country along regional and ethnic lines and for a brief moment nearly brought the country to the edge of civil war." - Johnnie Carson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. This AfricaFocus Bulletin, available on the web but not distributed through e-mail, contains the transcript of the July 22 speech by Carson. Another AfricaFocus Bulletin, on the web and sent out by email, contains excerpt from an analysis by former Kenya National Commission on Human Rights chairperson Maina Kiai and other commentaries on recent Kenyan developments.

On July 30, only days before this week's visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to Kenya, the first stop on her 7-country Africa trip, the Kenyan Cabinet decided to reject special prosecution of those responsible for post-election violence in 2007 and 2008, whether under a domestic special tribunal or by the International Criminal Court (ICC), to which the case has been referred. This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a brief commentary by Muthoni Wanyeki, executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), excerpts from an extended interview with Maina Kiai, the former chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), and links to a number of other related commentaries and reports.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the charges brought by Sudanese authorities against Amal Habani, a female journalist and editor of the column "Tiny Issues" in Ajrass Al Horreya newspaper for having denounced the prosecution of Sudanese women who wear trousers. “This is a blatant violation of freedom of expression. Our colleague just expressed a candid opinion in her column,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa Office. “These charges are nothing more than harassment and must be dropped.“

Niger's President Mamadou Tandja, 71, is claiming victory in a referendum he called to change the constitution and run for a third term in office. Correspondents in the capital, Niamey, say giant posters have gone up in the city bearing a message of thanks to voters from Mr Tandja.