A Burundian anti-graft activist detained two weeks ago for criticising the justice minister over alleged corruption was freed Tuesday 21 February. 'I am happy to be freed from prison where I spent two weeks for no reason, because all that I said is true and has been spoken about by several senior officials in the country,' said Faustin Ndikumana. Ndikumana had written in a complaint letter that candidates had been obliged to pay $1,450 for jobs at the judiciary.

European governments have opened the door to a radical offer of 'debt relief' for Arab north African neighbours such as Egypt, EU and governmental sources said. The plan emerged barely 24 hours after eurozone governments backed an unprecedented write-down of Greek sovereign debt held by private investors, one expected to reduce Athens' debt burden by nearly one third, some $141 million.

‘Should Labour and the Left Propose a Global Green Jobs Alternative to Austerity and Climate Change?’

A Belgian court has rejected an application to ban a colonial-era book about the Congolese adventures of the cartoon character Tintin for breaching racism laws. Documents from the court of first instance in Brussels show that it did not believe the 1946 edition of Tintin in the Congo was intended to incite racial hatred, a criteria when deciding if something breaks Belgium's racism laws. In 2007, Congolese campaigner Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo launched legal proceedings to ban the book, arguing its portrayal of Africans was racist.

An Ethiopian politician standing trial for terrorism is said to be injured and in fear for his life after being attacked in his prison cell by a convicted murderer. The leader of the largest opposition party is appealing to Ethiopia's human rights body to intervene in the case. Former Ethiopian president Negasso Gidada sent an urgent appeal to Human Rights Commission chief Teruneh Zenna asking protection for opposition leaders being held at Addis Ababa's Kaliti prison.

A gas-fuelled fire, with flames as high as 5m, may burn for months in waters off the Niger Delta in south-east Nigeria, Chevron has told the BBC. Two workers died after January's explosion at the KS Endeavour exploration rig, owned by the US firm. Friends of the Earth says this is the world's worst such accident in recent years.

There are more than 20 community radio stations in Zambia. Most have a coverage radius of less than 20 kilometres. Yet they are significant to both rural and urban dwellers, whose interests range from politics to agriculture. But Zambia’s progress towards meeting this new demand for information is meeting some obstacles. The country recently dropped four places on the Reporters Without Borders index of press freedom. Gagging of journalists, censorship and political interference have all negatively affected the quality of service delivery to Zambia’s listening audience.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that Swaziland's fiscal crisis has reached a critical point and there is a high risk that the kingdom will be unable to pay its civil servants' wages for the next few months. The report also says that Swaziland's gross domestic product (GDP) will contract by 2 per cent during 2012 and, if the country does not change its 'unsustainable' fiscal policy, its debt-to-GDP ratio could reach more than 80 per cent by 2016.

A local rights group has demanded that parliament repeals a law issued by the ruling military council that allowed for settlements in cases of squandering public funds. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) sent a memo to the People’s Assembly’s legislative and economic committees Wednesday demanding the repeal of a law issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on 3 January to settle with investors under legal investigations in cases of squandering of public funds. The law is an adjustment to the Investments Guarantees and Incentives Law No. 7 of 1997, giving the government full authority to settle with investors in financial corruption probes even if they are referred to criminal courts or are subject to preliminary prison sentences.

Zimbabwe's trade with the European Union increased by 36 per cent last year, reaching 664 million euros from 488 million euros in 2010, the European Union Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Aldo Dell'Ariccia, has said. Meanwhile, trade between the two partners is set to receive a further boost as Zimbabwe is now very close to completing the ratification of an Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU. There are concerns, however, that Zimbabwe's full EPA ratification will pose further challenges for local industry.

The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project (LGEP) has described the Traditional Courts Bill as 'highly anti-democratic, unconstitutional and discriminatory'. The organisation says it is 'extremely concerned' that the Bill puts rural women in a discriminatory position. 'The Bill basically opens the door for women not to approach the customary court but be represented by a man. Women’s rights to equality before the law is compromised in this situation which make it worse for lesbian women since it is the general knowledge that customary law is not favorable to people who have intimate relations with people of the same sex,' said LGEP in a press statement.

Three senior diplomats have resigned from their posts at the Congolese embassy in London and claimed asylum in the UK. Baby Kazadi Moussonzo, first secretary to the ambassador; Mamie Yaya Efunga, another first secretary; and Kabengele Mamba, second secretary, had between them a total of 14 years service at the London embassy. They resigned earlier this month and have issued a lengthy statement denouncing their government, accusing it of presiding over a 'climate of terror'.

This Committee to Protect Journalists page looks at attacks on the press in 2011, shown on a global map and with accompanying articles on censorship, internet restrictions, sexual violence, impunity and imprisonments.

A top military official says that US troops are now deployed in four central African countries as part of US efforts against a brutal rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army. Brian L Losey, the top US special operations commander for Africa, said that US troops are now stationed in bases in Uganda, Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa is seeking an order against the executive mayor of eThekwini (Durban), together with two other senior officials in their personal capacities, to take all the steps necessary to implement a court order requiring housing to be provided to 37 occupants of the Richmond Farm Transit Camp in KwaMashu. The occupiers were evicted from the Siyanda informal settlement in March 2009 in order to allow the construction of a road. One of the conditions of the eviction order was that the occupiers would be provided with permanent housing within a year. The deadline for doing so expired almost two years ago and nothing has been done to comply with the order. This case, if argued, will be important because it will establish whether individual office bearers can be held personally responsible for the state’s failure to perform on specific obligations.

The country's year on year headline inflation for January 2012 stands at 10.3 per cent, up from 9.8 per cent registered in December last year, the National Statistical Office (NSO) says. This development comes barely few days after Lilongwe based Centre for Social Concern (CfSC) noted that prices for basic commodities were still on the rise fortifying fears that an increase in the national inflation rate was imminent. Commenting on the current economic trends, former finance minister Cassim Chilumpha has said Malawians should brace up for tough times lying ahead following the persistent shortage of foreign exchange and fuel which is contributing to the surging inflation.

In a letter submitted to the 8th session of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, Javier Sáchez Anso, a member of International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of La Via Campesina, urges the international community, including the development agencies and the United Nations, to make a significant policy shift toward the full integration of human rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas. 'This policy shift includes policies that prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable people working in rural areas. It includes improvements in the implementation of existing human rights instruments that protect the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas. We feel that the existing instruments are clearly insufficient to ensure the protection of our rights.'

A democratic government must have the capacity to deliver decent services that meet basic needs to enable the Constitutional guarantee of dignity and to confront the epic threat of climate change.

With South Sudan's oil revenues cut off, why should people who have known austerity their whole lives be made to pay for a further round of austerity? asks Nyantung Ahang Beny. Instead the wealthy should pay through taxes hotels and other luxury items while luxury government vehicles should be sold and per diems abolished.

The international community has failed to grapple with the real underlying political and economic issues facing the troubled East African nation of Somalia, which has been surviving without an effective government for over two decades, according to a new study released here. With the country's 3,300-km coastline virtually unprotected, industrial fishing vessels from Europe and Asia have entered the area in large numbers and are plundering Somalia's rich maritime resources. 'Having over-fished their home waters, these sophisticated factory ships are seeking catch in one of the world's richest remaining fishing zones,' says the report published by the New York-based Global Policy Forum (GPF).