“The current climate of fear is without precedent in recent years in Gabon and is indicative of President Omar Bongo’s readiness to hunt down all those who show too much interest in such subjects as the Bongo family’s possessions and the government’s handling of public funds,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The persecution of journalists must stop at once and the detainees much be released, as they have not been charged.”

African investors have hatched an ambitious plan to launch a dedicated satellite to beam more bandwidth to the continent. Africans will supply 90 per cent of the funding, with global satellite company Intelsat providing the experience and credibility to get the project done. The main local backer is Convergence Partners, a hi-tech investment fund chaired by Andile Ngcaba, a former Director-General of South Africa’s Department of Communications.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the murder of Hassan Mayow Hassan, a Somali journalist, who was shot dead in the Afgoye District of lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia. "We strongly condemn this killing which marks a violent start of the year for journalists in Somalia," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "There is an urgent need to end violence against journalists in Somalia and all warring factions must refrain from targeting the media.

For some time now the West through its media has focused its attention on Mugabe and Zimbabwe. Aside their giant media houses like the BBC and CNN, Aljazeera have lately joined the bandwagon, running daily documentaries on the impoverishing state of Zimbabwe. They have even been innovative enough by stepping into the world of adverts and clutching such opportunities to further demonize Mugabe and Zimbabwe.

In an article examining the efforts of Angola’s ruling MPLA to harness the media as a tool of social control, Rafael Marques de Morais explores the isolation of alternative media outlets and the regime’s efforts to re-appropriate subversive coverage to its own ends.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has welcomed the signing last November of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for journalists and media workers in Cameroon. In a letter to the Prime Ministre of Cameroon on Wednesday, the IFJ expressed "confidence that the implementation of the agreement will contribute to the professionalisation of the media sector and to the promotion of ethics in the media in Cameroon."

Reporters Without Borders condemns the government's closure of Viva TV on the night of 13 to 14 December 2008, after the station broadcast a message by former president Didier Ratsiraka. The authorities accused the station, owned by the mayor of Antananarivo, of broadcasting statements liable to "disturb public order and security." Ratsiraka has lived in exile in Paris since 2002.

Nosa Abdalla Anglo, 19, was only a year away from joining a secondary school in Khartoum in 2005, but is still in primary school four years later and worries about her chances of going to high school in 2012. Anglo, a returnee to the state of South Kordofan after fleeing the North-South war, which ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, was in an Arabic-medium school in Khartoum but is now enrolled in an English-medium primary school in her village of Karkaraya, on the outskirts of Kadugli, the main town in the state.

The Journal of African Media Studies (JAMS) is a new interdisciplinary journal that provides a forum for debate on the historical and contemporary aspects of media and communication in Africa. It hereby aims to contribute to the on-going re-positioning of media and cultural studies outside the Anglo-American axis.

Black economic empowerment (BEE) is not the reason SA has a skills crisis, but rather institutionalised racism and unwarranted, exorbitant price demands by ICT professionals. This is the message from government and industry commentators, in reaction to the outcry that followed the release of the Department of Labour's (DOL's) national master scarce skills list last week.

Tanzania Telecentre Network (TTN) builds a wireless internet network in Sengerema. It is the first wireless community network in Tanzania, making internet available and affordable to a large number of people living in rural areas. In the first phase, the wireless network connects six community organisations to the internet. In phase 2 and 3, it aims to connect all wards in Sengerema District.

A Chinese business company, ZTE, said it has been offering capacity building training to Ethiopians in a bid to enhance technology transfer and strengthen people-to-people relations between Ethiopia and China. ZTE country chief representative, Zhang Yanmeng told ENA on Wednesday that the company will offer training to 1,000 workers of the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) on ‘Code Division Multiple Access’ (CDMA) network installations.

The Alternative Information Development Centre (AIDC) has recently concluded a merger with Amandla! Publishers and embarked on a new programme under the theme "Dialoguing Alternatives for Social Justice". The programme aims to strengthen movements for social justice through the production of alternative knowledge and by enhancing the institutional capacity of community media organizations and the communication capacity of progressive civil society organizations that facilitates a dialogue giving voice to the poor and marginalized locally and internationally. We are growing our committed and dynamic team and invite applications for the position of Journalist & Coach

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the release of Ebenezer Viwami editor of Alerte Info an independent news agency based in Abidjan the capital. Viwami was arrested last Saturday for allegedly publishing false news on a riot that sparked the very at the prison in Abidjan. "This arrest looks contradictory with the promise of President Laurent Gbagbo not to jail journalists for libel" said Gabriel Baglo the Director of IFJ Africa office. The IFJ calls for the immediate release of Ebenezer Viwami.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the arrest by the security forces in Burkina Faso of four organisers of a big demonstration marking the 10th anniversary of the assassination of investigative journalist, Norbert Zongo, in Burkina Faso. The four are leading members of the Coalition Against Impunity which organised the demonstration in the capital, Ouagadougou, last Saturday, in support of the call for a fast-track inquest into Zongo’s murder.

With the recent sharp decline in Chinese manufacturing output, the global decoupling theory seems to have died a well-deserved death. The idea that developing countries had become less dependent on US economic conditions, and so were insulated from the US crisis, was based on a potent combination of bad analysis and wishful thinking. In fact the first stage of the crisis has primarily affected trade-deficit countries, which included many of the rich countries.

Kenyan citizens and members of PEN International Kenya Chapter, condemn in the strongest terms possible the pattern of unconstitutional and insane legislation playing out in Parliament with the blessings of your Government. By passing your Government’s repugnant Kenya Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2008, Parliament has infringed on both our God-given human rights, and on our constitutionally recognised civic rights to representation and to freedom of expression, association, assembly, thought, communication, and even of dress.

Kenyans for Peace, Truth and Justice (KPTJ) evaluate the state of fundamental freedoms in Kenya, and their verdict is singularly unfavourable. The full statement is a condemnation of the record of the coalition government.

With journalists and protestors in Kenya facing brutal arrests as they challenge governmental efforts to curb media freedom, Cenya Ciyendi laments the repression of groups merely demonstrating for the right to freedom of expression. At a time when the world celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the author condemns the persistence of political self-service and the use of draconian, quasi-colonial measures to quash peaceful protest.

Alice Munyua, of APC Member Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) spoke at the IGF opening ceremony. In her speech, she highlighted the East African Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF) held in early November as the first of its kind in the African region. “[The EAIFG] was initiated from the realisation that there was a need to address very limited participation by Africa stakeholders in not only the Internet Governance Forum but also in other global ICT policy processes.”