The Gambian government has refused to allow a group of civil society organisations to hold a forum on freedom of expression at the African Union Summit in Banjul, reports the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA). MFWA and 14 other free expression organisations have signed a letter protesting the move, saying it violates the African Union's constitution.

A two-member United Nations security team has met Islamist leaders in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. It is the UN's first contact with Mogadishu's new rulers since they took over from the warlords a month ago. Islamist fighters are trying to disarm Abdi Awale Qeydiid, the last of the warlords they defeated in Mogadishu, some 30km from the city.

The African Union has launched the continent's first court that gives states and people equal rights to challenge governments suspected of human rights violations or other infractions. The African Court on Human and People's Rights, established on paper in 1998, will be based in the Tanzanian capital Arusha.

Our attention has been drawn to newsletters circulating pupporting to come from Pambazuka News, usually containing a list of job adverts (often of a dubious nature). Pambazuka News always has a distinct structure. We never publish job adverts independent of the rest of the publication. The English version of the newsletter goes out each Thursday containing the feature article, comments and analyses, letters, Pan African Postcard, Blog Africa roundup and other artilces. On Fridays, the newsletter always has the title Links and Resources, and contains the summary of the remainder sections of the newsletter. Both newsletters have a standardised begining and ending giving information about Pambazuka News and where it is produced. In any case, we're sure our readers will be able to tell the difference from the quality which is the real Pambazuka News!

If you get newsletters that do no conform to this format, please exercise care: someone or somepeople are mimicking Pambazuka News to send out job adverts with, we presume, the intention of stealing your identity or carrying out some kind of fraud.

A number of trade-related issues could potentially lead to conflict. Also wider conflicts could spill over to affect trade. Conflict causes not just immediate trade losses, but also a loss of trust and confidence that affects social relationships and networks. Traders and other businesses can help to reduce conflict.

Federations formed by poor urban people in developing countries are emerging as one of the most significant initiatives for addressing poverty. Their success with involving community members in solving their own problems is being noticed by governments and international agencies. In at least 11 developing countries, federations formed by the urban poor and homeless are involved in community initiatives to improve housing and services and provide more stable income opportunities

NDI seeks a political party and elections expert with international training and program management experience to provide technical assistance to and manage relations with implementing partners in Southern Africa. The position will be based in Johannesburg and will require frequent travel within the region.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf persuaded the UN Security Council to lift the sanctions on Liberia's timber industry. Revenues from the timber industry will be crucial in rebuilding the country's shattered infrastructure and providing employment to the impoverished populace. However, the Security Council has given Monrovia only three months to enact laws to establish full authority and control over the timber-producing areas.

The Zimbabwe report by the African Commission was first not considered because the AU accepted Zimbabwe's argument that it had not been given an opportunity to respond. A year later the AU again failed to adopt it on the grounds that it had not been translated into all the organisation's official languages

The African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), a Pan African regional network of NGOs working across Africa is write in support of your calls for universal total debt cancellation to all African countries, and is calling for further action one year later after the G8 promises on Africa’s Debt. We urge our leaders to continue keeping Africa on the G8 agenda.

Without a doubt, the people roared. And without a doubt the response from the politicians was a whisper, offering $50 billion extra aid by 2010, cancellation of the debt of only 40 countries, and no movement on trade whatsoever. But a whisper is not silence. Those changes have made a difference to some. Not only that, many lives will be saved and futures improved.

There are African presidents who, occasionally, break with the mould and speak the plain truth. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni used to be a great one for that. Corruption today forms the building block of nearly every African political enterprise. Something happened on this fair continent when the euphoria of independence began to fade at the close of the 1960s and the commodity export economies started collapsing in the 1970s, reports the East African.

The World Bank is set to secure funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for two projects that will undermine public debate and aggressively drive GM crops into the heart of peasant agriculture. The two projects, one in West Africa and the other in Latin America, will hasten the spread of GM crops into farmer seed systems and even into certain centres of origin.

Over 80 percent of Kenyans depend directly on agriculture for their livelihood, according to government statistics. But, certain farmers in the East African country find themselves hard pressed to derive the full benefit from their produce, because they cannot add value to it. The African Institute for Capacity Development is equipping farmers to overcome this hurdle, however.

As negotiators again reported "no progress" at international trade negotiations in Geneva, 100 developing nations released a statement saying they were still willing to negotiate but that the chasm between the views of rich and poor countries was huge. Even if a face-saving agreement is reached over the next months, critics said that major powers had already demonstrated that they had no interest in proposals to address developing country concerns.

Swaziland's largest opposition group, the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), has held its annual general meeting in South Africa. The official reason for crossing the border to the town of Nelspruit rather than meeting on home soil is the fear that "royal hit squads masquerading as police would disrupt the conference", said PUDEMO president Mario Masuku.

The United Nations Environmental Programme warned on Tuesday 27 June that Africa will slip further into poverty if its governments fail to adopt eco-friendly policies to sustain and exploit its natural wealth. The agency said the continent's fast-degrading environment faces fresh strains from genetically modified organisms, invasive species and a switch in chemical manufacturing from the developed to the developing world.

Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF on Sunday 2 July said most Zimbabweans are grateful for its rule and dismissed as insignificant a new opposition political party launched at the weekend. Zanu-PF spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira shrugged off calls by the leader of the newly launched United People's Party (UPP), Daniel Shumba, on the ruling party to resign because it had failed to run Zimbabwe properly.

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is not just economics, but a matter of life or death, said Jeffrey Sachs, special adviser to the United Nations secretary general, the Mozambican news agency AIM reported. Rich countries have not yet provided the extra resources needed to meet these targets by the cut-off date of 2015.

Zambia President Levy Mwanawasa declared himself fit on Thursday 29 June to run for a second five-year term in elections later this year despite suffering a mild stroke, state-run radio reported. Opposition leaders have argued Mwanawasa, who has a history of hypertension, should step down because of poor health.