I lament with Obama's lies about change followed by a reality of ‘no change’. In fact I cried a week after the elections, because I realised that many of us who stand with marginalised, disenfranchised and chained people in Palestine, Cuba and Afghanistan were let in by too much zeal for change.

As a Ugandan, this resonates with me so well. I remember as a child of the 1980s in Uganda that people were so desperate for change. When Museveni came on board, the entire country literally embraced him, but change soon turned out into a menace and now 22 years down the road, we face a reality of ‘no change’. I hope Europe tames Obama internationally and I really hope Obama can find us some work domestically, because he and his team are now beginning to look like the old wine in new bottles.

Catherine Irura’s article is just so informative. There are things I simply took for granted, like about women during their menstrual cycle – gosh, just unbelievable yet very true at the same time. Keep up the talk on this – this article speaks out loud and clear about the water and sanitation issues in Africa.

Mahmood Mamdani’s presents an excellent, contextualised view of Zimbabwe. The land question is crucial for the country and the region. The MDC was initially mooted partially to diffuse it. The determined action of the West against the Mugabe regime is in part responsible for the present multifaceted crisis. The focus on formal democracy, for all its merits, hides the real issue.

Mahmood Mamdani’s is full of factual errors and brushed out truths, which I have numbered and will address below:

(1) Mamdani states ‘Although their strength lay in the countryside, the war vets formed the only alliance that was both independent of Mugabe and ZANU-PF’. Mugabe was and IS their patron, and is not independent at all.

(2) ‘By the late 1990s, market-led land transfers had dwindled to a trickle.’ Well, ask yourself why. After passing the Land Acquisition Act Mugabe had first refusal on every farm sale and he happily gave out 'expressions of no interest' in buying the land because he didn't care a jot whether the people had access to land or not.

In response to , I agree with your sentiments around attempting to resolve the situation in a peaceful and democratic way. However, all this has been tried many times before in engaging with ZANU-PF. There is no need to wait for any foreign military intervention to de-humanise the people of that nation; ZANU-PF has already succeeded in that respect. As for democracy, no such luxury exists in Zimbabwe because the current regime will ensure that they will win any election at any cost. Furthermore, there will never be any ‘political process’ when faced with this kind of intransigent evil tyranny. As for peace, will this only be possible if ZANU-PF is the one and only ruling party? But then again, maybe you are in favour of one-party states? Your Marxist rhetoric referring to the intervention of ‘imperialist powers’ is, quite frankly, ludicrous. All that is necessary for evil to perpetuate itself is for good men to do nothing.

For the second consecutive year Sierra Leone has come last in the UN Development Programme ranking of human development indicators of 179 countries. Some analysts say Sierra Leone is nonetheless advancing in some areas and that the impact of the country’s 11-year civil war must be taken into account for a full measure of progress.

Kenyan leaders have endorsed the preparation of a new Statute for the Special Tribunal bill to pave way for the establishment of the special tribunal for the post election violence, state media has reported. The tribunal, would seek justice for victims of the 2007 post election violence which killed more than 1,500 and displaced thousands between December 2007 and January 2008.

Members of the Somali parliament allied to Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the president, have said that they are in hiding after they received death threats. The group said on Thursday that they were in Baidoa, in south-central Somalia, after militia men and soldiers entered parliament.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe announced on Friday he had invited rival Morgan Tsvangirai to be sworn-in as prime minister in a shared government, but expressed doubt whether he would accept. Opposition leader Tsvangirai, meanwhile, threatened to ask for a suspension of power-sharing talks if the government did not stop what he called the persecution of political opponents.

Open Access (OA) refers to the immediate and free access for any user to full text online scientific and scholarly material, primarily research articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Open Access means that any user who has access to the Internet, may link, read, download, store, print-off, use, and data-mine the digital content of that article. An Open Access article usually has limited copyright and licensing restrictions.

Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have arrested eight foreign businessmen, accusing them of embezzling around $40 million intended for public works projects, the justice minister said on Friday. The men, including Belgian, Italian, French and Lebanese nationals, had received public funds to build roads and schools after winning tenders in 2006.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Friday he would ask for power-sharing talks with President Robert Mugabe to be suspended if the government did not stop persecuting political opponents. Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, and Mugabe agreed to form a unity government three months ago. Their accord spurred hopes the ruined nation might recover from a deep economic and humanitarian crisis.

SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao has confirmed to Newsreel that it’s secretariat received documents and video evidence from the Zimbabwean government, on alleged MDC banditry training in Botswana. The revelation will outrage the MDC and other pro-democracy activists who claim several abducted activists featured in the video were tortured into making confessions about this ‘military training.’

Meanwhile, people displaced by the project finally receive monetary compensation, nearly four years after being impoverished through a resettlement process that denied them the option of the land compensation they were entitled to. Reuters reports that the World Bank-supported West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) at last delivered its first gas to Ghana on December 11.

The United Nations published a report by its expert panel that supports what the Congolese people have known and been saying for the longest. Now that the world has acknowledged the nature of the 12 year conflict in the Congo, we may finally start to see policy prescriptions that reflect the truth and include what the Congolese have argued for some time now.

Land is at the heart of all economic activity and a subject that has gained prominence the world at large since the 1990s - Land policy reform. Though the challenges vary considerably across regions and countries, the last decade has seen a tremendous increase in the demand for policy advice on land use.

What factors generate election-related violence in fragile states? How can the international community address these? This study from the University of Denver suggests that social structure, political competition, the competence of the electoral administration and the degree of professionalism in the security sector contribute to election-related violence. International influence at mid-rank levels among the perpetrators of violence is limited.

Why are many African states dominated by one political party? Why are ineffective leaders often re-elected by willing African publics? This research from Michigan State University published by Afrobarometer analyses attitudes to political parties in 18 African countries. It finds a significant gapin public trust of ruling and opposition parties, at least in part because Africans value respect for leaders

The introduction of solar power systems to rural communities in East Africa is providing new business opportunities, as well as affordable and safe electricity supplies. Johari lives in the Iringa region of Tanzania. She used to work as a manual labourer, breaking rocks and selling the stones for building material. But now, after a short training course, Johari is assembling and selling small solar panels that can be used to power radios and recharge batteries for lamps and mobile phones.

Ethiopia has missed the deadline set out in a peace deal to withdraw its forces from Somalia, but has promised to go by the end of December. The recent agreement between the transitional government and Islamist opposition set Friday as the deadline. A BBC reporter in the capital says the troops are still in their bases. "Our total withdrawal... will be by the end of this month, the prime minister has made it very clear," Ethiopia's London ambassador told the BBC.