The police and municipal government's crackdown on the Abahlali BaseMjondolo (shack dweller's) Movement march on February 27th was yet again a clear indication of the crisis of democracy in South Africa, reports this article on Indymedia South Africa. “The call "No land, No house, No vote" was a stark reminder of how the right to vote must be accompanied by a right to representatives who will support the legitimate demands of poor in the current political arena. This is not the case for Abahlali BaseMjondolo or many of the poor in South Africa.”

Three decades on, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is still a non-country in most senses. The guerrilla war against Morocco may have ended in ceasefire in 1991, but the diplomatic effort to settle its status is stalled. Morocco has made little progress towards the referendum demanded by the United Nations and now the frustration is palpable.

This publication analyses the institutional capacity to implement a 10-year education programme in Niger. It is an abridged version of a fuller evaluation report entitled “Analysis of institutional capacity to implement the 10-year Education Development Programme (PDDE) in the new context of international cooperation” in Niger.

World Bank member nations on Tuesday approved a long-awaited $37 billion debt relief package for 17 impoverished countries that included ways to compensate the development lender for the write-off. The approval brings to an end months of tough negotiations among the World Bank's biggest donors over how to fund future loans by the bank's low-interest lending arm, the International Development Association.

Africa's profile has never been higher, says this article from The Heritage Foundation. During the past 12 months, the leaders of the G-8 agreed at Gleneagles to double aid to $50 billion by 2010, of which 50 percent would go to Africa. But more aid and debt relief is incumbent on improvements in African governance. How should Africa respond, and what is the best way for the continent to promote its own development?

A date has been set for the launch of a body that will seek to make sure development promises to Africa are kept, Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said on Monday. The independent body, to be known as African Monitor, would act as a catalyst to bring a strong African voice to the development debate "and to raise key questions from an African perspective".

Sierra Leone and Liberia have many things in common: They are English-speaking neighbors, home to the descendents of freed slaves (Freetown, Monrovia), have had two identical menaces in the forms of Charles Taylor and Foday Sankoh, have recently ended acrimonious civil wars, and have postwar presidents who were once employees of the United Nations. Notwithstanding these striking similarities, the dissimilarities of their presidents is revealed in their inaugural speeches, according to this article from World Press Review.

Benin is preparing to swear in a new leader, this after a former head of the West African Development Bank won the second round of presidential elections held earlier this month in the West African country. Results issued by the National Autonomous Electoral Commission showed that Boni Yayi garnered an overwhelming majority of votes: 74.51 percent. His challenger, attorney Adrien Houngbedji, received only 25.49 percent. This was reportedly the first time a presidential candidate had won by such a large margin.

Three Burundian ministers representing the Front pour la democratie au Burundi (FRODEBU) in President Pierre Nkurunziza's government reported to work on Monday despite a directive by their party to pull out of government. Health Minister Barnabe Mbonimpa, Agriculture Minister Elie Buzoya and Environment Minister Odette Kayitesi have reportedly refused to comply with FRODEBU's directive to boycott their duties.

For the first time since multiparty politics came to Chad the main opposition has declined to put forth a contender in a presidential election, this time around unanimous in calling for citizens to shun the process. Incumbent President Idriss Deby risks becoming the only serious candidate. As the deadline for candidates passed at midnight on Friday only the Agriculture Minister and three representatives of political parties more or less aligned with the ruling party had submitted their names – along with President Idriss Deby - for the 3 May poll.

Civic education ahead of elections scheduled for June is of "utmost importance" to sensitise the public for the democratic process, the head of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Independent Electoral Commission, Abbé Apollinaire Malu-Malu, has said. Speaking on Tuesday in Brussels at a hearing organised at the European Parliament, Malu-Malu said the commission, known by its French acronym CEI, had proposed a US $40-million budget to international donors for the sensitisation of the public.

South Africa's black middle class is driving a post-apartheid consumer boom in the country, a report has said. The group is responsible for almost a quarter of the 600bn rand ($96m) spent yearly by consumers, the University of Cape Town's Black Diamond study said. Government measures to bring the sector into the mainstream economy have helped its growth, the report added. The black middle class, making up two million of the 45 million population, is expected to grow by 50% a year.

AZUR Development's mission is to provide leadership in the socio-cultural and economic development of the Congo and of Africa in general. AZUR Development is participating in the socio-cultural development of the Congo and of Africa in general. As an apolitical non-profit organization, it is a space for sustainable development created for the love of work: a space for growth and creativity for those who work there. Visit their website for more information.

Pambazuka News is the only way I can think of keeping well informed about African issues from this distance. Without such resources one tends to lose touch.

I found the piece by Hetty Kovach on the IMF "interesting" in that it seemed to be trying to say the same thing that has been said many times (and we all need to hear about the IMF's economic and political machinations as often as possible) in a new way...and maybe there was some variation somewhere. (See

However, I also was left feeling rather exasperated by the absence of a more definitive political analysis of why the IMF has consistently sabotaged the societies of the Majority South - especially African societies ( Kovach used a lot of examples from Africa, especially Southern Africa).

Now that we know the how so well, how about the why. I don't think as many people know this part of the story, nor are there enough writers willing to say it.

The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has hailed a 10-page investigative report focusing on corruption at the World Bank. The article focuses on extensive internal problems at the bank including how “kickbacks, payoffs, bribery, embezzlement, and collusive bidding plague bank-funded projects around the world.” The report estimates that more than 20 percent of the loans distributed by the World Bank, or $4 billion annually, are associated with corrupt practices.

The World Bank's trade programs may have helped open markets over the last two decades but they have not done enough to tackle poverty and boost growth in developing countries' exports, a study has found. An assessment by the institution's Independent Evaluation Group of $38 billion worth of trade programs between 1987-2004 said the bank did not pay enough attention to complimentary measures needed to cushion poor countries and help them adapt to the effects of trade liberalization.

At the Arab League summit in Khartoum, Arab leaders should endorse plans to transform promptly the African Union's mission in Darfur into a United Nations protection force, a coalition of international and Arab human rights organizations have said. In addition, Arab officials should encourage their Sudanese counterparts to accept the transition to a UN force. Arab League leaders will meet in the Sudanese capital for a two-day summit. On the agenda will be the AU proposal to turn the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) into a UN operation.

The African Union will have a 20,000-strong rapid response force in the next four years, an international meeting has been told. Regional blocs have already started assembling personnel for the unified force, said Major-General Ishaya Hassan, chief of general staff of the African Union brigade. "The brigade will then respond to African issues in an African way, since we know our complications better than any other outside brigades," he said.

Mr Avraham Neguise could make history by becoming the first Ethiopian Jew to be elected to the Knesset as Israelis go to the vote. Mr Neguise, who has spent most of his life fighting for the rights of Ethiopian Jews, is the leader of a party known as Atid Echad. It is fielding 10 candidates, five of them Ethiopian Jews. The others include Rabi Yechezkel Stezer, who lives in the US. This is the first time in the history of Israel for Ethiopian Jews to run for national political office. The 100,000 strong Ethiopian community face problems of discrimination in education and jobs and racism in Israel.