Following the announcement on 21 August 2012 of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s death, Ethiopia’s new leadership should recommit the State to the full respect of its population’s human rights, especially the freedoms of association, assembly and expression, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) said in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council. The UN High Commissioner on Human Rights has expressed serious alarm about the 'climate of intimidation' against human rights defenders and journalists in Ethiopia.

The Head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom has condemned the recent killing of a Tanzanian journalist, Mr Daudi Mwangosi, and called for an independent investigation into the matter. Mwangosi (40) was killed while covering efforts by police to disperse supporters of opposition party Chadema in Nyololo village, Iringa region on 2 September.

South Sudan accused Sudan on Sunday of air-dropping weapons to rebels, just as the presidents of the African neighbours were about to meet to finalise a border security deal to restart oil exports. Sudan dismissed the charges and any links to rebels in the South, which seceded from Khartoum in July last year under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war. Sudan, in turn, often accuses Juba of supporting rebels in its borderlands.

In the view of the Democratic Left Front (DLF), the crackdown by soldiers and police in Marikana represents a serious escalation of authoritarian repression against the working class by the ANC government. It has declared a de facto state of emergency in the mining sector.

In the last decade, Asian migrants have fanned out through southern Africa, opening shops in small towns and rural backwaters. While consumers in countries facing increasing economic hardships have come to depend on their low prices, local shop owners complain they are being forced out of business, pressuring governments to introduce restrictions on foreign traders. In Malawi, Chinese-owned shops and restaurants have proliferated since the country established diplomatic ties with China in 2007. But the government was recently prompted by bitter complaints from local business owners to introduce legislation preventing foreign traders from operating outside of major cities.

Rebels have set up a de facto administration in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said as the Security Council urged a political solution to the crisis rather than applying sanctions. Ladsous briefed the 15-member Security Council after his recent visit to Congo, or the DRC, and Rwanda, which has been accused by Kinshasa and UN experts of supporting the M23 rebel group. Kigali has repeatedly denied any involvement in the crisis.

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians protested during the revolution that led to the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak. Some of the men and women that took to the streets to reclaim their rights never came back home. The disappeared are neither dead nor alive. There are no government records about their cases, reports

Zambia has rejected a proposal by Australia's Zambezi Resources Ltd to develop a $494 million open cast copper mine in a game reserve, citing environmental concerns, a government agency said. Zambezi Resources' Zambian subsidiary Mwembeshi Resources said in March it planned to start copper production at the Kangaluwe project in the Lower Zambezi National Park by 2015. But a spokeswoman for Zambia's environmental management agency, which has to approve all huge infrastructure projects, told Reuters the project had been rejected.

With mobile subscribers on the rise and a supportive government backing new initiatives, information and communication technologies are taking off in Rwanda. Now, an innovative space invites young entrepreneurs to develop solutions-based technology for the country.

Activists attending the public hearings on the controversial Traditional Courts Bill in Parliament were shocked when women were told debate and comment on the Bill were not welcome. A number of civil society organisations and rural women have travelled to participate in the public hearings on the Bill which has been widely criticised for entrenching gender inequality and possibly subjecting millions of rural South Africans to a ‘second class’ justice system. It is feared that the Bill, which is before Parliament’s Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development, in its current form gives patriarchal traditional courts enormous power to undermine the Constitutional rights of women and children.

Rock drillers at Lonmin's Marikana mine have accepted a 22% overall pay increase to end more than five weeks of crippling and bloody strikes. This increases their salaries to just over R11 000. Other workers will get a 2% increase on top of the 9% increase agreed upon earlier this year.

An organisation known as the South Sudan Land Alliance has been formed to realise the land rights for all the people of South Sudan.

The controversy over 'The Innocence Of Muslims' rumbles on, with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah calling on supporters to demonstrate throughout Lebanon this week. Has this particular incident been different from previous blasphemy rows? In some ways, yes. Perhaps the most interesting was Google's removal of the video from YouTube Egypt and Libya, independent of any court order. This should be of real concern to anyone concerned with freedom on the web. While Google-owned YouTube is not the only video sharing site, its dominance is such that it can severely restrict free speech should it wish.

The Economic Justice Network (EJN), a national coalition of civil society organisations working for socio-economic justice and equitable national development, was recently re-launched to deal with new policy threats affecting Ghanaian livelihoods. Speaking at the launch, Mr Tetteh Hormeku of Third World Network, said governments over the years had sought to deal with economic challenges confronting the country through reliance on foreign investors instead of building local capacities. He said this common policy of successive governments to provide incentives to foreign investors had led to the abuse of the rights of Ghanaians and denial of their livelihoods.

From mid-June to early August this year, Sudan has witnessed nationwide protests directly calling for regime change, sparked by an alarming increase in prices. The protests were met with a massive crackdown on civil liberties, and a wave of arrests by National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Sudan’s security apparatus. While journalists were not disproportionately impacted by the crackdown, what they have experienced during the past few weeks helps paint a picture of a country on the brink of economic collapse and escalating political turmoil.

Uganda’s former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ezra Suruma, has expressed doubt that the government will have the capacity to appropriately utilise expected oil revenues, given problems of corruption, weak budgertary control and lack of ability to absorb an injection of cash. 'I must say that oil frightens me as a possible source of instability if it is not carefully managed. We have had severe political instability since independence. Some of us who still carry or bear the scars of that instability are careful when looking at these issues to ensure that this instability does not come back,' he told a conference.

Egyptian youth expressed their discontent with the government removing a large graffiti mural on the wall of the American University in Cairo (AUC) building on Mohamed Mahmoud street in downtown Cairo late on Tuesday, which had been painted to honor those who died in the January 2011 revolution and the November clashes that occurred on the street. Activists shared a photo on social networking sites showing a man painting over the art and called on street artists to go back and redo the art scene, defying the government’s decision to 'beautify' Tahrir Square its own way.

Less than a year after Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s fatal ouster, preparations are underway for the trial of his son, Saif al-Islam, even as new facts emerge about the involvement of foreign mercenaries in the Libyan crisis and in other African wars. It has emerged that a number of unidentified white South African mercenaries were hired to smuggle the beleaguered Gaddafi and his sons to exile in Niger. Their attempts were, however, thwarted by Nato bombs shortly before rebels shot the strongman dead.

Workers at Lonmin's Marikana mine, west of Pretoria, have just accepted an offer of a 22 per cent overall pay increase, ending weeks of bloody strikes in which dozens died. Police brutality and the exploitation of workers were the defining features of the strike.

More than a year after civil unrest broke out in Burkina Faso, observers and analysts say despite some progress, and sustained support for President Blaise Compaoré, tension between his government and the population remains. Stability in Burkina Faso is vital for regional stability, said a Western diplomat, given the recent conflict in Côte d’Ivoire and the current situation in Mali.