Voters booed Senegal's president as he went to cast his ballot in elections Sunday, the latest sign of how his decision to seek a third term in office has caused his popularity to plummet and divided a country long considered a model of tolerance. The results issued late Sunday from the polling station where Wade and his family have voted for decades made clear that the aging leader is facing the biggest challenge of his career. Of the 484 votes case at Bureau No. 2 in the Point E neighborhood, Wade received only 102 – not even 22 per cent.

The Wanjiru Kihoro Fellowship Programme aims to contribute to the development of a new generation of African women leaders who are dedicated to utilizing their voices and experience so as to further women's central role in peace building and development work in their country, region and continent. Currently, Femmes Africa Solidarité is offering a position
within the Fellowship Programme to commence in 2012.

Zimbabwe will no longer be represented in this year’s Mr Gay World after the man who intended to compete finally withdrew from the contest. Taurai Zhanje, who last week was verbally attacked by many from his local community, pulled out of the contest citing personal reasons.The 'Mr Gay World' Director for Africa, Coenie Kukkuk said: 'We are sad to loose Taurai, but in Africa, the personal sacrifice for gay and human rights is sometimes too much to expect from people.'

Britain is involved in a secret high-stakes dash for oil in Somalia, with the government offering humanitarian aid and security assistance in the hope of a stake in the beleaguered country's future energy industry. Riven by two decades of conflict that have seen the emergence of a dangerous Islamic insurgency, Somalia is routinely described as the world's most comprehensively 'failed' state, as well as one of its poorest. Its coastline has become a haven for pirates preying on international shipping in the Indian Ocean.

In just one week the city of St. Petersburg could pass an outrageous bill that will make it a crime to read, write, speak or meet to discuss anything considered 'Gay'. St. Petersburg is one of Russia's number one tourist destinations. That's why an international storm of bad publicity will force the Governor to think twice about the cost of signing this bill. This campaign on is calling for your signature to protest against the bill.

The recent rush to acquire farmland in order to meet rising global demands for food and fuel is putting African countries at risk of bearing the social, economic, and environmental costs of global resource scarcity, says a new study by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Many of these costs threaten to arise from the rising direct competition between established land uses and plantation monoculture. At the local level, this can be manifested in environmental degradation, loss of access to socially and economically valuable land resources, and conflicts between subsistence and commercial agriculture.

Former Liberian first lady Jewel Howard Taylor has introduced a bill making homosexuality liable to a death sentence. Jewel is a senator and former president Charles Taylor’s ex-wife. Uganda re-tabled a similar controversial anti-gay bill recently. Homosexuality is outlawed in 38 African countries and it can be punishable by death in Mauritania, Sudan, and northern Nigeria. This Global Voices post summarises the reactions from the blogosphere.

Following controversial utterances made by the Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini during a speech at the KwaZulu Natal legislature opening, there have been concerns raised about the implications this may have on what are already strained relations between South Africans and foreign nationals, particularly Congolese nationals. He was quoted in the Sowetan newspaper as saying: 'I understand that South Africa is a democratic country and welcomes people from different countries who have run away from their countries for different reasons. As a result, South Africa is home to many Africans but I must express my disappointment at the behaviour of these people.' He said this in reference to the recent marches by the Congolese Freedom and Justice Fighters living in South Africa who marched to the Union Building; ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House; and parliament in Cape Town to show their dissatisfaction with the South African government's involvement or lack of in the Congolese elections processes.

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has reiterated the league's stance that it would ignore any suspensions the ANC handed down to him or his fellow leaders in the league, as such sentences would amount to political persecution. The controversial youth leader's statements are the latest in the ongoing battle between the youth league and the ruling party after Malema and several other leaders were suspended by the ANC's national disciplinary committee (NDC) in November after being found guilty of sowing division within the ANC.

Votes are being tallied in Senegal in what is shaping up to be a race for the line between Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall. Wade's former protégé and prime minister Macky Sall's camp said early results showed the two were 'neck-on-neck' and headed to a second round. Spokesman Jean-Paul Dias said Wade was polling between 34 and 36 per cent, while Sall stood between 32 per cent and 34 per cent. 'The second round could thus take place between Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall.'

Experts say that the increasing trends of illicit financial flows are posing a great threat to Africa’s fragile growth as they pump back more dollars to developed countries than those sent to poor African states. Alezar Dessie, a consultant with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, notes that out of every dollar channelled to poor countries, as much as ten dollars may have left going back to rich countries, a back flow that leaves Africa begging.

has launched an 'events' listing. This listing -http://farmlandgrab.org/events - allows you to publish and browse short notices about events related to land grabbing and what people are doing about it. These may be investor summits, film screenings, mobilisations, rallies, conferences, workshops, fact-finding missions or other. 'We hope this new feature will be particularly useful to activists and social movements who are struggling to stop land grabbing all over the world.'

Africa Today with Walter Turner recently hosted Southern African activist Prexy Nesbitt, who spoke about developments in South Africa. Nesbitt speaks about the origins of his work and his connection with Southern Africa.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has welcomed the release of an independent report on Togo that examined allegations that members of the Togolese intelligence agency tortured individuals accused of taking part in an attempted coup d’état in 2009. 'Togo’s national human rights commission found that the prisoners were subjected to physical and moral violence of an inhuman and degrading nature,' Ms. Ravina Shamdasani, OHCHR spokesperson, said in a statement.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Italy violated the rights of Eritrean and Somali migrants by sending them back to Libya. The 13 Eritreans and 11 Somalis were among a group of about 200 people who left Libya on three boats in 2009. Two of the 24 have since died. The court ordered Italy to pay each migrant in the case 15,000 euros (£13,000; $20,000) in damages.

From 27 February to 9 March ministers and civil society delegates will meet at the United Nations for the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). This year’s meeting is especially critical because it will assess how governments have made good on promises at the 52nd session in 2008 to boost financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women. In this Q&A, IPS Correspondent Mathilde Bagneres spoke with Stephanie Seguino, an economics professor at the University of Vermont in the United States, about how women are particularly affected by the current economic crisis, and the role of government in crafting policies that promote not only women’s equality but sustainable development for society as a whole.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

Egypt’s ruling military council pushed ahead on Sunday with plans to begin drafting a new constitution before transferring power to civilian rule, announcing that parliament will meet this week to select the panel tasked with writing the document. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' statement that parliament will begin choosing the 100-member panel on March 3 marked a setback for activist groups who have demanded the military relinquish power before a constitution is written.

In part II of this two-part special on 2012 Elections in Africa, our SOAS Radio interviews Senegalese artists and activists who discuss the political forecast for heavily contested presidential elections. There has been an uproar about standing President Abdoulaye Wade, 85, seeking a third term even though he initially promised to step down after his second term. The bulk of the opposition voices have been young men, with a politicised musical movement gaining momentum in poor communities throughout the country. Their message? They want change, and they want it NOW.

While welcoming aspects of South Africa's new budget announced on 22 February, civil society grouping SECTION 27 says it remains concerned about aspects of the health budget. Even though the health budget has increased, SECTION 27 fears this could be undone by mismanagement, corruption, wasteful expenditure and a lack of capacity for implementation. Amongst other concerns, it notes that increases in allocations for HIV and AIDS programmes will not result in the expected expansion of these programmes unless problems relating to staffing, infrastructure and the payment of service providers are resolved.