This edition of African Agenda published by Third World Network-Africa in collaboration with Pambazuka News examines the Durban climate change conference in November.

What did the removal of the fuel subsidy mean for the LGBT community in Nigeria amongst other Nigerian citizens? The strike and protests had one positive effect for the LGBT community in that they brought mainstream civil society activists closer to LGBT activists, something that would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago when the anti-gay bill was brought to the Nigerian parliament and no voices from the wider civil society spoke out against it. Some local LGBT activists told Behind the Mask that they regard the current situation as an opportunity to buy time and make allies in their advocacy against the anti-gay bill.

Parliament has directed the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) to halt a 47 per cent power price increase which was announced last week. Legislators on the parliamentary ad hoc committee on energy slapped a moratorium on the implementation of the new power tariffs after officials of ERA failed to produce minutes of the special board meeting, which sanctioned the new tariff regime.

The trial of Egypt’s ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak got underway again on 18 January, a day after his defense team said there was 'no evidence' linking Mubarak to orders to shoot protesters during the 18 days of protests that led to his downfall. Farid al-Deeb, the lead lawyer for the 83-year-old former leader, praised Mubarak, and said the court could not convict the man activists and families of those killed in January and February last year say is responsible for their deaths.

On the anniversary of the revolution, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG), a coalition of 21 IFEX members, urges the Tunisian government to revoke its recent controversial appointments giving media personnel close to the deposed President key posts in the public service media. The IFEX-TMG also further reiterates its call for journalists to be allowed to freely carry out their work, after another journalist was attacked during a demonstration last week.

The Global Information Society Watch 2011 report investigates how governments and internet and mobile phone companies are trying to restrict freedom online - and how citizens are responding to this using the very same technologies. 'Written by internationally-renowned experts, the report brings its readers easy-to-read and yet comprehensive articles, many with policy proposals, on the most important challenges protecting human rights on the internet is facing today,' says lawyer Matthias C. Kettemann, co-chair of the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition.

Stefan Magdalinski, the CEO of Mocality, in an update on his blog, has indicated that the company is currently not considering filing formal charges against Google. Mocality, a Kenyan Business Listing Directory, broke into international limelight after the company found that callers from Google were promising Mocality clients free websites through a non-existent partnership and without Mocality's knowledge. The data scraping allegations have embarrassed the search giant with senior executives in the company admitting wrong doing and publicly apologising to Mocality.

The World Bank has warned the international community to brace for slow growth and economic challenges in 2012 stemming partly from Europe's debt woes. The bank substantially cut its forecasts for growth in both developed and poorer nations in its twice-yearly report.

The Mobile Media Toolkit, published by MobileActive, is a resource to help professional and citizen journalists, news outlets, and media development organisations find, evaluate, and deploy tools for reporting and sharing content on and to mobile devices. The web-based toolkit contains a set of five primary sections, supplemented by additional features and resources that offer users articles and examples specific to certain elements of mobile media production.

Several years ago, Lakes Kamnarok and Ol Bollosat in Kenya were vibrant water bodies that supported and shaped the ecosystems around them. But today they are shells of their former selves, due to heavy siltation caused by human activities. 'Siltation is still happening, the lake is drying up and this is threatening Lake Kamnarok and the wildlife with extinction, besides affecting the lives of people around it,' Elijah Chemitei, senior warden in Baringo County, in the Rift Valley Province, told IPS. 'Much of it is caused by upstream activities like tree-felling and charcoal-burning, agricultural activities, grazing and sand collection.'

A philosopher accused of inciting mass murder in Rwanda will remain in detention until a hearing that may put an end to his 19 years in Canada – or may keep him here for months. The order by the Immigration and Refugee Board keeping Léon Mugesera in custody cleared up a long weekend of confusion about the next steps in the long-running case.

The deaths of tens of thousands of people during the drought in east Africa could have been avoided if the international community, donor governments and humanitarian agencies had responded earlier and more swiftly to clear warning signs that a disaster was in the making, according to a new report.

The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that are being negotiated by the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries on one hand and the European Union on the other are essentially Free Trade Areas covering trade in goods, services, trade related areas and other non trade issues. This report looks into the effects EPAs will have on the countries in Southern Africa, focussing on the effects on the production and value chain of three products; sugar, grapes and cotton.

A new Institute of Development Studies short film examines how the British media portray poverty in developing countries. 'Famine, War and Corruption: The British Media’s Portrayal of the Global South' features interviews with journalists and filmmakers, including Jon Snow (journalist and news presenter, ITN), Caroline Nursey (director, BBC Media Action) and Richard Kavuma (journalist, The Observer, Uganda).

The first day of trial for the two explosives suspects, Maxwell Thanduk’khanya Dlamini and Musa Ngubeni began 12 January amid much drama. This was after police and political activists were engaged in a showdown after the latter were ordered out of the courtroom for being inappropriately dressed. President of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) Mario Masuku, and political activist Mphandlana Shongwe then gave over 10 police officers a tongue-lashing at the Magistrates Court.

On 8 January 1912, South African intellectuals - including pioneering black newspaper publishers Pixley ka Isaka Seme, editor of Abantu-Batho, and John Langalibalele Dube, editor of Ilanga lase Natal - formed Africa's oldest liberation movement, the African National Congress (ANC), in the Wesleyan Church in Bloemfontein. During centennial commemorations of this event, twitter users made the #ANC100 hash tag a global trend. The lively social media debate illustrated both the discomfort many Africans feel toward criticism of their leaders, and the role as scapegoat that the media is currently playing as the ANC struggles to hold onto a decisively positive legacy, says this Committee to Protect Journalists post.

Nigeria's president has announced that the government will subsidise fuel prices to immediately reduce the price to about $2.75 a gallon, amid a crippling nationwide strike over fuel prices in Africa's most populous country. Protests have seen tens of thousands march in cities across the nation. Soldiers barricaded the country's commercial capital of Lagos and the entrances to protest venues in the second-largest city of Kano. Jonathan's speech comes after his attempt to negotiate with labour unions failed late on Sunday night to avert the strike entering a sixth day.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take drastic action against governments of the most dangerous countries for media after it published its annual list of 106 journalists and media personnel killed in 2011. The Federation says 2011 was another bloody year for media and blames governments' failure to uphold their international obligations for the ongoing violence targeting media. In a letter to the UN Secretary General, the IFJ calls for effective implementation of international legal instruments to combat the prevailing culture of impunity for crimes against journalists.

Several events in the last two months have shown that Zimbabwe’s coalition government exists in name only and that Mugabe and his ZANU PF party are now blatantly running a parallel government. Towards the end of December Mugabe unilaterally promoted Three Infantry Brigade Commander Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, to Major-General. Not only did Mugabe snub Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in making the promotions, but in June last year Nyikayaramba had told the ZANU PF controlled Herald newspaper that Tsvangirai was a 'national security threat rather than a political one', and suggested the military should step in to deal with him.

Zimbabwean exporters must scramble to find new markets or risk commercial peril after South Africa slapped an effective import ban on a raft of products in a bid to protect local producers. South Africa is Zimbabwe’s leading market, accounting for about 56 per cent of all exports with China and the United Arab Emirates coming a distant second at 6 per cent. However, under a deal agreed between the government, labour and business organisations, at least 75 per cent of all procurement in Africa’s largest economy must now come from local companies.