Land is one of the most important assets for millions of poor people in Africa. Equally critical are their rights to this land, which provide social and economic security and an incentive to use natural resources in a sustainable manner.

The land and agriculture sector is waiting with bated breath to see if the new Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Lulu Xingwana, lives up to her fire-eating reputation in this sensitive portfolio. Her supporters say her passion for transformation enables her to tackle thorny issues head on.

Few countries have failed as spectacularly, or as tragically, as Zimbabwe has over the past half decade. Zimbabwe has transformed from one of Africa’s rare success stories into one of its worst economic and humanitarian disasters. But while culpability for Zimbabwe’s collapse is broadly attributed to the policies of President Robert Mugabe, the intricacies of the country’s unraveling remain poorly appreciated - above all, the importance of property rights in the process. That is unfortunate, because the destruction of Zimbabwe, like that of Nicaragua two decades earlier, offers important, cautionary lessons for other developing countries - as grim natural experiments in the hidden architecture of capitalism.

The Namibian government is considering ways to improve its land-reform programme, which has not only been slow, but has also had a negative impact on agricultural production.

The impact of genetically modified foods on food production and trade in East Africa, will be high on the agenda of a meeting convened by an association of African biotechnologists in Nairobi this week. Reports in support of GMOs say that several GMO maize and cotton varieties available locally have the potential of increasing productivity, and lowering the cost of pesticides, thus reducing their impact on the environment. However, concerns have also been raised about GMO's potential risks to the environment and human health.

Countrywide power rationing, which was shelved two months ago in the wake of stable rainfall, would resume towards the end of this month and intensify next month following failure by the rains to fill up Mtera dam, it has been learnt. This has forced the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) to shut down generation at Mtera since March, but the utility firm maximized output at the other hydro plants, which resulted in higher rate of water outflow compared to inflow.

The political instabilities in Nigeria during Abacha's regime in 1993/94, which was an aftermath of the annulment of the June 12, 1992 presidential election won by the late business mogul Chief M.K.O. Abiola created an acute scarcity of kerosene that was seriously felt in different parts of the country. The kerosene scarcity led to the invention of "Abacha Coal-Pot" - a locally made cooking stove that uses charcoal., reports this article by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Crusaders

For years, Zimbabwe's white farmers have felt the wrath of Robert Mugabe, as they have been thrown off their land to make way for soldiers and ruling party cronies. Now, black farmers have also become the focus of his unwelcome attentions. Lot Dube's crops of onions, tomatoes and sweet potatoes were growing nicely when soldiers marched into Insiza district, in the south of the country, set up camp and declared that all crops other than maize would be destroyed.

Mali’s northern desert capital Kidal was back in government hands on Wednesday, a day after Tuareg rebels demanding a better economic deal for the region blitzed a string of barracks. The rebels, who attacked two bases in Kidal and one in Menaka further south, made off with vehicles, arms and munitions.

More than 30 percent of the land in Africa is jointly held by members of a group or community, making common property rights as important as individual rights. In many developing countries, giving individuals title to land has worked well. In Africa, however, titling has led to a weakening of land rights, especially for women and pastoralists, because so much of the land is held in common.

The donor community is ready to fund the implementation of the report on the illegal and irregular allocation of public land. However, they are being discouraged by the uncoordinated manner and slow pace at which the government is dealing with the process. The chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into Illegal and Irregular Allocation of Public Land in Kenya, says that several donor agencies have shown interest in funding the implementation of the report. "But they are being disappointed by lack of political will."

Standing 63rd on the United States Energy Commission country classification "with a strong potential for oil deposits in the world", Senegal hopes to enter the circle of oil-producing nations in the "near future", the latest issue of Dakar weekly "Nouvel Horizon" reported. Currently, large companies with government-granted search permits from various backgrounds are active searching 19 prospecting blocks, the magazine indicated.

Uganda will increase its budget allocation to the energy sector by over Ush100 billion ($57.1 million) in the 2006/07 financial year. According to Ministry of Energy officials, the sector will be allocated Ush240 billion ($137.1 million) which is 80 per cent higher than the Ush133 billion ($76 million) given in the 2005/06 financial year. The money will deal with key sector priorities, such as hydropower generation.

The return of thousands of Liberians from camps across West Africa is fuelling ethnic tension over the ownership of land and homes in northern Nimba county, which saw some of the worst fighting in the civil war. Hundreds of machete-armed youths from the Mano and Gio ethnic groups took to the streets of Nimba's second largest commercial city Ganta last week after rumours circulated that ethnic Mandingos, who have been living in refugee camps in Guinea, were about to attack the city to reclaim their land.

The Nile treaties have always been an aberration. In no other continent have there been strictures imposed on countries exploiting their natural resources the way those surrounding Lake Victoria have been through a treaty none of them was involved in signing. But now things seem to be about to change with the news that the 1929 treaty will be reviewed to allow the East African countries to exploit the lake waters for irrigation, reports the Daily Nation.

Continued attacks from poachers and poor villagers living nearby have led Rwandan officials to announce the closure of the National Volcano Park. "We realized that there was no other way out of this problem. But, we're confident that the awareness campaigns and other projects will enable communities to become conscious of the need to protect their ecological surroundings," Rwanda's tourism and national parks director said.

Chronic power shortages across Africa are undermining investment, industrial development and economic growth and keeping the poorest continent poor, ministers and bankers said on Thursday (May 18).

Canadian and UK aid agencies have announced a major fund for research into how Africa can adapt to climate change.

A new document from the Copy South Research Group argues that: "We are told that we live in the ‘digital revolution’ era and that we can communicate across the globe as we never could before. In fact, restrictive copyright laws still act as a serious barrier to sharing and learning from each other. This is particularly true in countries of the South where three quarters of the population live." Download the full document by visiting their website.

Mountain glaciers in equatorial Africa are on their way to disappearing within two decades, a team of British researchers reports. Located in the Rwenzori Mountains on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the glaciers will be gone within 20 years if current warming continues, the researchers report in this week's online edition of Geophysical Research Letters. The researchers blamed an increase in air temperatures in recent decades for contributing to the decline of the ice fields.