cc Who defines true liberation? Watch out for the role of the global elite in manipulating the outcome of the Middle East and North Africa revolutions, writes Nicholas H. Tucker.

cc Dale McKinley explains how black economic empowerment in South Africa has come to be associated with elite accumulation, corruption and extreme inequality.

Building on momentum from a mass voter registration drive, a coalition of several youth empowerment groups and blogs, including Vote or Quench, Enough is Enough Nigeria, Sleeves Up, and Nigerian Leadership Initiative, are calling for the first-ever presidential youth centered debate in Nigeria. Looking ahead to the April elections, the debate would focus on the key issues affecting a critical voting demographic, with the age group of 30 and under representing 70 per cent of the population.

In 2011 Oxfam will launch a new section of its website aimed at development and humanitarian professionals. The new site aims to share Oxfam's policy, practice and research with development practitioners, researchers, advocacy and campaign organisations, and policy formers worldwide. This site will replace the current Oxfam Publications website
Oxfam needs your help and your input by completing a short survey to help influence the development of the new site so that it can better support your work. This survey is an important part of building the new website, and we would be grateful if you could take a few minutes of your time to fill it in. The survey will take no more than 10 minutes to complete and your input is extremely valuable. If possible please share this survey with colleagues and pass it on to your wider networks. The closing date for completion is 25 March. This is the url for the survey:

Benin last month saw mass protests, demanding a delay of the elections planned for 27 February as 1.4 million voters were missing in the electoral roll. The Constitutional Court of Benin ruled in the favour of the country's opposition - backed by crowds of protesters - and delayed the presidential elections for another week, to 13 March, in order to expand the electoral roll further.

The World Bank's new Africa strategy, which was unveiled on Thursday (03 March), carries three main risks, including a volatile global economy, political violence and conflict, and inadequate resources. The new strategy will focus on the three main pillars of competitiveness and employment; vulnerability and resilience; and governance and public sector capacity.

A Zimbabwean magistrate's court has freed 38 activists charged with treason for discussing the mass protests in Egypt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, a lawyer said. 'Of the 46 who were in custody, 38 have been released completely after the state agreed with us that they had no case to answer,' their attorney Alec Muchadehama told Agence France-Presse. But eight others, including Munyaradzi Gwisai, a university lecturer and former lawmaker from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, remained in custody after the court denied them bail.

The investigation into alleged improper conduct and maladministration perpetrated by the National Commissioner of South African Police Service (SAPS), Bheki Cele, and the Minister of Public Works (PW), Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde has been completed and a comprehensive report submitted. It is now up to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to urgently move the process forward, says the Social Justice Coalition. It is in the interest of the Rule of Law and our faith in the Justice system that the case against General Cele and Minister Mahlangu-Nkabinde be brought before the courts, says the Coalition.

As anxiety grows about President Robert Mugabe's health, divisions in Zanu-PF have worsened, with the two main camps angling to succeed the veteran leader intensifying their internal battle for control of the party. Mugabe's health concerns escalated last week when he was rushed to Singapore for what spokesman George Charamba said was 'the last review on his minor cataract operation'.

Three people were killed and 21 injured by an explosive device thrown from a car at an election rally near Nigeria's capital Abuja on Thursday, the latest act of political violence ahead of nationwide polls next month. The device missed the centre of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) rally in the town of Suleja, on the northwestern edge of Abuja, but landed close to where street traders were working, police said.

Soldiers patrolled the Angolan capital Luanda on Sunday as Angolans watched to see if plans for a Monday mass protest against the 31-year rule of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos would materialise. Since last month, rumours have been circulating on the Internet of north Africa-style protests scheduled to begin on 7 March.

With sources indicating that NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is preparing to sign a military partnership treaty with the African Union (AU), Rick Rozoff highlights what is at stake with the organisation’s expansion.

‘As we now stand firmly on the precipice – staring irreversible climate catastrophe and natural resource depletion squarely in the face – the world accelerates its pace in a mad race to the bottom. Running with the baton are the world’s largest environmental NGOs – non-profit organizations. Although the industrial non-profit complex claims to speak for civil society, in reality these groups are the sanctioning agents of a planet which is rapidly becoming completely dominated by corporate control,’ writes Cory Morningstar.

In a letter to Jimmy Manyi, the South African government's spokesperson, cabinet minister Trevor Manuel strongly criticises Manyi’s racist remarks.

‘As all of us, and as the international community continues to give understandable solidarity to the self-proclaimed revolutionaries of Libya, it is also important that we give equal weight the condemnation of reported atrocities now surfacing against dark-skinned people (Black Africans) by the revolutionaries, or by those acting in the name of the revolution,’ writes Wazir Mohamed from Ledestein, Guyana, South America.

David Ntseng reflects on his visit to villages in KwaZulu Natal at the invitation of a Rural Network militant, to see how the communities lived and 'connect their struggles to their daily experiences'. Unless there is 'commitment to organising and mobilising in numbers', efforts to dismantle the forces that condemn people to poverty 'will be in vain', notes Ntseng.

Amidst reports that Ghana is trying to evacuate 10,000 of its citizens from Libya as Arab freedom fighters mistake ordinary black Africans for Gaddafi-hired mercenaries, Cameron Duodu remembers the last time Libya posed a threat to his compatriots.

Zimbabwe's president has threatened to seize foreign firms and boycott their products in retaliation for Western sanctions against him and senior members of his ruling ZANU-PF party. Robert Mugabe made special mention on Wednesday of British-controlled banks and businesses, saying they controlled 400 businesses in the former British colony in southern Africa.

US foreign policy on Haiti, sanctions on Libya, Kenyan leaders and the ICC and the murder of David Kato, Ugandan LGBTI activist, are among the topics featured in this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere, compiled by Sokari Ekine.

It’s time for other nations to start bearing their share of the burden before looking to the US to comment on or validate participants in the next big crisis, argues H. Nanjala Nyabola.