Robert Chasowa, a student and political activist, was found dead on the campus of Malawi University Polytechnic on 24 September in circumstances that were far from clear. 'Reporters Without Borders deplores the death of this activist and is surprised at the pressure being put on journalists investigating the case,' the organisation said. 'We urge the judicial authorities to conduct an impartial investigation into Chasowa’s death, which took place in particularly worrying circumstances and in a climate hostile to freedom of expression.'

Two people were killed on 17 October during clashes between security operatives and supporters of two LC5 contenders in Nebbi District. One of the victims, Henry Okwai, a trader, was shot as police and army fired live bullets in the air to disperse supporters of Mr Ezrom William Alenyo and Mr Robert Okumu. An eyewitness said Okwai, a resident of Pangero Village in Koch Parish, Nebbi Sub-county was shot in the ribs as he sold secondhand clothes at the Market Square.

Malaysian police say they have broken up a ring of human traffickers who forced Ugandan women into prostitution. Twenty-one women, mainly in their 20s, have been released in a sting operation by the police. They were lured with promises of lucrative jobs, before being sent to China and then Malaysia where they ended up as sex slaves.

Despite a partial victory for Fahamu and others who have raised the? alarm over stripping tens of thousands of Rwandan refugees of ?protection, individuals and organisations are still encouraged to endorse an to halt the measure.

More than 450 economists from over 40 countries have called on the G20 finance ministers, who met in Paris recently, to take urgent action to stop financial speculation in commodity markets driving up food prices and fuelling hunger. 'Excessive financial speculation is contributing to increasing volatility and record food prices, exacerbating global hunger and poverty,’ say the economists in a letter to the finance ministers. ‘With around 1 billion people enduring chronic hunger worldwide, action is urgently needed to curb excessive speculation and its effects on global food prices.'

Teargas and gunshots rocked Kampala on 17 October as police clashed with protestors who turned up for the second phase of the Walk-to-Work demonstrations. Organised by pressure group Activists for Change (A4C), the protests, whose first phase began on 11 April leaving several people dead, maimed or detained by the security forces, are aimed at shedding light on the plight of Ugandans suffering due to high fuel and food prices and rising cost of living.

'From Kyoto, Copenhagen, Cochabamba, Cancun and to Durban: will Africa be incinerated?' is a document issued as a tool for popular education and mobilisation. Of the four documents set out one has been in the centre stage of official negotiations since its origin at the Kyoto Conference of 1997.
At COP15 held in Copenhagen the so-called Copenhagen Accord was contrived by a handful of countries with the aim of truncating accountability in efforts to fight climate change and instead promoting an era of voluntary emissions reduction targets that is not based on science.

Sub-Saharan Africa's economy is expected to grow by 5.25 per cent in 2011, but if global growth slows, South Africa will be particularly hard hit, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday. The IMF predicted that the region's economy would grow 5.75 per cent in 2012. South Africa, a middle-income country with slower growth compared to the regional average, had yet to see its output and employment return to pre-crisis levels.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged the authorities to drop accusations of terrorist activities leveled at five journalists including two Swedish reporters whose trial was due to start in Addis Ababa but was adjourned until 20 October 2011. The arrests of the journalists have sparked widespread criticism from the IFJ European and African groups, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) as well as the Eastern Africa Journalists Associations (EAJA) which have all accused the Ethiopian government of waging a campaign of intimidation against independent media under the cloak of anti-terror legislation.

Johannesburg, South Africa, is home to more than 450,000 forced migrants, including 51,300 legally recognized refugees, 417,700 asylum seekers and others in refugee-like circumstances, says this report from the Women's Refugee Commission. 'A combination of high immigration and high unemployment means many forced migrants face xenophobia daily, resulting in discrimination, exploitation and abuse, often at the hands of the police and government. Women are particularly at risk of sexual harassment and violence every time they sell goods on the street or in flea markets, go to work or take public transportation. Denied access to proper employment, informal outdoor selling is the main occupation of urban forced migrants.'

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and victims’ lawyer Morris Anyah have asked judges to dismiss the challenge on jurisdiction lodged by two of the suspects in Kenya’s second post-election violence case. The two have told the Pre-Trial Chamber II that Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and post-master general Maj Gen Hussein Ali erroneously applied the law when they presented their challenges at the beginning of their Confirmation of Charges Hearings.

The USA, Russia and European countries supplied large quantities of weapons to repressive governments in the Middle East and North Africa before this year’s uprisings despite having evidence of a substantial risk that they could be used to commit serious human rights violations, Amnesty International said in a new report. 'Arms Transfers To The Middle East And North Africa: Lessons For An Effective Arms Trade Treaty' examines arms transfers to Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen since 2005.

Madagascar's de facto premier has resigned along with his cabinet, paving the way for the formation of a new government by consensus, according to a letter. The official letter of resignation was the first step towards ending two years of political stalemate in the country. Albert Camille Vitalis resigned as premier, so a new person could be chosen for the job by November, to create a transitional government that would lead the country to elections in about a year.

A ground-breaking investigation examines the most secret aspect of America's shadowy drone wars and maps out a world of hidden bases dotting the globe, according to Using military documents, press accounts and other open source information, an in-depth analysis by AlterNet has identified at least 60 bases integral to US military and CIA drone operations. 'Over the last decade, the American use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has expanded exponentially as has media coverage of their use. On September 21st, the Wall Street Journal reported that the military has deployed missile-armed MQ-9 Reaper drones on the “island nation of Seychelles to intensify attacks on al Qaeda affiliates, particularly in Somalia.” A day earlier, a Washington Post piece also mentioned the same base on the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago, as well as one in the African nation of Djibouti, another under construction in Ethiopia, and a secret CIA airstrip being built for drones in an unnamed Middle Eastern country (suspected of being Saudi Arabia).'

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has outlined an ambitious road map to improve service delivery in the courts and restore public confidence in the Judiciary. In his address on the state of the Judiciary, on the eve of Mashujaa Day celebrations, Dr Mutunga also said he will strive to help ease backlog of cases and tackle corruption in the corridors of justice. 'We found an institution so frail in its structures, thin on resources, low in confidence, deficient in integrity and weak in its public support,' he said in a candid assessment of the institution.

In October 2011, ARTICLE 19 analysed the Tanzanian Stakeholders’ Proposals on the Media Services Bill. The overall assessment of ARTICLE 19 of the Bill is positive. If enacted, the Bill would be bringing Tanzania closer with international legal standards and best practice governing the right of freedom of expression and freedom of the media.

Women worldwide have been forced or coerced by medical personnel to submit to permanent and irreversible sterilisation procedures, says this report. 'Despite condemnation from the United Nations, cases of forced and coerced sterilization have been reported in North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Women who are poor or stigmatized are most likely to be deemed “unworthy” of reproduction. Perpetrators are seldomly held accountable and victims rarely obtain justice for this violent abuse of their rights.'

Libyans of Malian origin who had taken Libyan citizenship have started returning following the crumbling of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Mali was this week reported to have made preparations for the returnees including some thought to have fought for the on-the-run former Libyan leader. Among those expected to return are mercenaries recruited by Col Gaddafi in his fight against the National Transitional Council fighters.

Gunmen attacked a ship supplying an Exxon Mobil oil platform off the Nigerian coast, the company said on Tuesday, less than three weeks after someone was kidnapped from a vessel at one of its facilities in the same waters. The incident was the latest in a string of attacks on ships in the Gulf of Guinea that experts say is threatening an emerging trade hub and growing source of oil, metals and agricultural products to world markets.

Making some simple, basic changes in education policy can result in many more girls attending school, experts said at a meeting here this week on Gender Equality in Education. Take the case of Kenya. The United Nations says that the country has made huge strides towards the goal of education for all by incorporating gender awareness in school administration. 'We offered free lunches, but not only that, we make sure that sanitary towels were available in schools, and that decreased absenteeism enormously,' Kenya’s minister of education, Prof. Sam Ongeri, told IPS.