I question the wisdom of the African Union (AU) sending South African President Jacob Zuma, who is also the SADC mediator and facilitator on the Zimbabwean crisis, to Libya in an attempt to revive the AU ‘roadmap’ (another AU loaded word) for ending the conflict between Muammar Gaddafi and the anti-Gaddafi uprising. Zuma’s visit to Tripoli occurred amid concerns over Mugabe’s refusal to abide by the SADC roadmap for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.

The World Bank is holding back $40 million in budget support to Malawi because the country hasn’t completed the review of its program with the International Monetary Fund, the Daily Times reported, citing the bank’s country manager. The lender is waiting for a review of reforms to help address persistent external economic imbalances, the Blantyre - based newspaper cited Sandra Bloemenkamp, the World Bank’s manager for Malawi, as saying. The money is for the budget for the fiscal year through June.

Africa’s intellectual history puts into clear perspective the burning issues of our day, including imperialism, globalisation and the culture of terrorism, argues Ayi Kwei Armah in this article from

A number of organisations in Haiti representing social organisations, grassroots movements and people displaced in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake came together over the period 19–21 May 2011 to discuss the country’s housing crisis.

The year 2011 began with a series of shattering, wrathful explosions from the Arab peoples. Is this springtime the inception of a second ‘awakening of the Arab world?', asks Samir Amin.

These are dry days.
I stop to breathe
as if the wall of heat
must be coaxed aside
to let air enter, leave...

Tens of thousands of Haitians turned out to greet democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on his return to his country. Though originally forced into exiled under the Bush administration, Aristide has been treated in much the same fashion by Obama's government, writes Nia Imara.

We have come home
From the bloodless wars
With sunken hearts
Our booths full of pride
From the true massacre of the soul
When we have asked
‘What does it cost
To be loved and left alone’…

Global food prices will remain high and volatile throughout this year and into next despite record food production. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) twice yearly Food Outlook analysis says rising demand will absorb most of the higher output. It says its index of food prices in May was at 232, only six points below February's record high of 237.

Opposition lawmakers on 6 June abandoned President Museveni in Parliament as he delivered his first post-election State-of-the-Nation address, protesting what they said was his tolerance of graft and corrupt individuals in government. Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mr Nandala Mafabi, led from the front as the MPs stormed out of Serena Hotel's Victoria Conference Hall where Parliament had convened. They later denounced what they felt is President Museveni's continued failure to deal with crooked government officials.

Equatorial Guinea has built a multimillion-pound deluxe 'city' to host African leaders while the majority of its people live in dire poverty. Sipopo boasts 52 luxury presidential villas, a conference hall, artificial beach, luxury hotel and the county's first 18-hole golf course. It was built over two years to host an African Union (AU) summit that will last just a week. 'It's definitely a misplaced priority by the Equatorial Guinea government,' said Tutu Alicante, executive director of EG Justice, a group focused on human rights in the west African nation. 'This is a country where 75 per cent of people are living on less than $1 (60p) a day. This attempt to give an image of prosperity is totally misguided.'

'In simple terms, the struggle of the workers of Botswana is a struggle against the neo-liberal restructuring of the public sector, which is about sustained attacks on worker's rights, their conditions and access to services by communities,' says Bongani Masuku, International Relations Secretary, Congress of South African Trade Unions, on 'It is a struggle we all support and continue to wage in our own countries and globally. We support them and call for global solidarity, particularly because for far too long, Botswana has paraded itself as a paragon of democracy on the continent and now that myth is being exposed and debunked. Workers have a right to defend their pay and conditions, as well as demand better services for communities.'

Top lawyers in the Southern African region have told SW Radio Africa that leaders in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are turning their back on human rights, by dissolving the region’s human rights Tribunal. Concern is still high after the shock decision by SADC leaders to close the court, with growing warnings about what this will mean for the rule of law across Southern Africa. The move has been described as regressive and a serious threat to human rights, the rule of law, and the regional bloc’s credibility, because it means there is now no independent court in the region to protect citizens’ rights.

African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has criticised youth league leader Julius Malema for saying senior ANC leaders were plotting to disrupt the league’s elective congress as part of a ploy to oust him. Mantashe said Mr Malema’s claim was an attempt to create a 'scapegoat' before the league congress. His response to the youth league’s claims is the latest indication of a tense relationship between the youth league and its mother body. The league seems unhappy with the current leadership of the ANC and is likely to lobby for its removal next year should Malema be re-elected.

Ghana has a long history of struggle against the inequitable allocation of water - beginning with protests against colonial water policy and, more recently, with opposition to water privatisation that began in the 1990s. Alhassan Adam writes about the history, the challenge to privatisation and the road ahead.

A former Egyptian minister, Youssef Boutros-Ghali has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for squandering public funds and abuse of power. He is also expected to pay a fine of approximately $11 million. The ruling delivered in his absence indicates the country's determination to deal with past mistakes as it prepares for a new dispensation. Youssef Boutros-Ghali, the nephew of former UN Chief Boutros Boutros-Ghali, was a finance minister and a close confidant of Gamal Mubarak, son to the ousted president Hosni Mubarak. Reports that we couldn't verify independently indicate that he is in currently living Beirut. An arrest warrant has been issued by the International Police, the Interpol.

The UN Security Council has called on the Khartoum government to withdraw its forces immediately from the Abyei region, a key area of dispute in the north-south division of Sudan next month. There has been no agreement on which country the oil-producing region should belong to when south Sudan becomes independent on July 9, but the northern military seized it on 21 May 21, sparking fears of a renewed civil war. 'The council demands that the government of Sudan withdraw immediately from the Abyei area,' said a unanimous formal council statement.

Reflecting on the new era of constitution making in East Africa, the Katiba workshop will focus on: the history and legacy of postcolonial constitution making in the East Africa region, the social, political and economic considerations in drafting contemporary constitutions and the problems and challenges of implementing new constitutions. Speakers and Panel Chairs: Dr Willy Mutunga, Prof Yash Pal Ghai, Prof Goran Hyden, Prof Jill Cottrell Ghai, Dr Ambreena Manji, Prof Patrick McAuslan, Dr Linda Musumba, Prof Wanjiku Kabira, Prof Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Dr Ben Sihanya, Abubakar Zein.

'Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sent another of its missions to Swaziland to try to put the Mswati autocracy on track to getting a cash bailout to try to stave off its financial meltdown. The IMF mission revealed that the government has only about a month of spending power left. And it issued stern warnings and rebukes to the king’s puppet Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini about the government’s failure to change its wasteful spending habits.'

The Refugee Law Project (RLP), Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in collaboration with the African Transitional Justice Research Network (ATJRN) is accepting applications to its 2nd Institute for African Transitional Justice (IATJ), an annual week-long residential programme with a focus on Transitional Justice issues in the context of Africa. The Institute, which is scheduled to take place from 20th – 27th November 2011, in Kitgum, Northern Uganda has as its theme: 'Whose Memories Count and at What Cost?'