At least 15 people were reportedly arrested and eight injured when pro-democracy National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) protestors clashed with police during demonstrations against the Zimbabwe government's proposed Non-Governmental Organisations Bill. Under the Public Order and Security Act, the police must approve all gatherings but had turned down an NCA request to hold the demonstration.

Executive Director of Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) Ollen Mwalubunju has said the 2004 Parliamentary and Presidential Elections was a mockery of the country's democracy.

Next to Brazil, South Africa is said to be one of the most unequal societies in the world, prompting the government to place greater emphasis on poverty alleviation through public works programmes. The multi-billion rand Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) was launched this week at a series of provincial ceremonies. But whether or not the programme will make a significant dent in unemployment and poverty levels is debatable, an analyst told IRIN.

Economic growth in most developing countries has been a story of ups and downs, stability and stagnation. Most developing countries have achieved moderate to rapid growth over medium to short periods of three to ten years, yet maintaining positive growth rates over longer periods has eluded the majority. What accounts for this volatility? Visit the GDNet web site for a special feature containing a wide-range of materials on economic growth from developing country analysts.

Southern Africa represents a "matrix of competing interests and contending difficulties", says an analysis commissioned by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation from the Human Sciences Research Council's Integrated Rural and Regional Development research programme and available on the Southern African Regional Poverty Network website. "Nonetheless, it is one of the more robust regions on the continent, with increased movement toward a free trade area and democratic practice. Many donors and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) alike estimate that southern Africa’s reasonably well-developed infrastructure and diverse natural resource base have the potential to lead the rest of Africa towards a more prosperous 21st century."

Former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz warned on Monday of the perils of development without openness, transparency and accountability. He and other participants in a symposium on "Democracy, Development and the Case for the Developmental State" in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, also argued against blanket privatisations. Developing countries need to respect human rights, have a diverse media and strong political opposition groups, Stiglitz told the senior politicians, business leaders and aid officials attending the symposium, which was organised by an Ethiopian think tank, the Inter-Africa Group.

The chairman of Malawi's Electoral Commission (MEC), Justice Kalaile has resigned from his position, three months after presiding over controversial parliamentary and presidential ballots. The opposition Malawi Congress Party and Mgwirizano coalition are currently disputing the presidential rulings in the high court.

I want to say thank you for being so informative and useful and keep it up. You have kept us informed of what is happening across the continent. For people like us who are so busy and travel a lot, it not only makes good reading on the plane and on the road, but also helps to keep us abreast in a turbulent and unpredictable continent.

I was looking at the news yesterday on SABC cable TV . First was the swearing in ceremony in Nairobi of the Somalia Parliament - mostly men. Then there was the signing in ceremony on the three East African Leaders of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania on some protocol - all men. Then came the Sudanese talk in Abuja - all men. Finally I saw the polio and measles inoculations by UNICEF and Ministry of Health staff at the refugee camp for Darfur refugees - all were women and children. The men enjoy and control political, social and economic power, make decisions on our behalf - mostly bad decision - and we suffer the consequences, They fight wars of which we are the victims. We have to fight to create laws like the protocol (on the rights of women) to give us basic rights as citizens of our own countries. We have to be protected against them. It made me sick yesterday of all days.

And coming from Liberia made me even more sick. I spent the whole of last week in Liberia. The country has no electricity, no water. People without any exception have to get their own drinking water and generate electricity. Wealthy people dig wells in their homes, get purifying plants and use generators to pump the water into their houses. There is no building in the country that is intact, including office buildings. There is no oil company. More than 50% of the country's population is in Monrovia. Yet Charles Taylor was proud to call himself a president of a country. How can you be so wicked to your own people? What have they done to deserve such treatment?

Thanks a lot for the powerful, spot on comment on the ongoing scandal of sacrificing the victims in Darfur to politicking in the absence of any meaningful action (Pambazuka News 171: Comment and Analysis). It is a shame for all of us who seem to be unable once again to do more than to watch in despair and disbelief. It confronts those who care once again with the painful but necessary task of redefining the meaning of international solidarity and how to act accordingly. All the solemn declarations since the genocide in Rwanda a decade ago are hollow lip-service and make a mockery of concerns in the absence of any implementation of the "responsibility to protect", as defined by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty.

The article on the celebrity novelist Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong'o's tragedy on return to Kenya, after 22 years in self-exile, makes good reading (Pambazuka News 171: Pan-African Postcard).

While Kenyans are saddened by this event, it is just one among many incidents that was fortunate to receive hyped publicity. Crime affects us all. We should not be seen to be alarmist when it unfortunately affects VIPs. What I suggest is that in our quest to free our continent of legendary crime, we must get back to the drawing boards. Excellent papers, seminars, workshops and the rest won't just do. They are mistaken for elitism. And truly crime is caused due to social exclusion and marginalization especially to the worlds-apart disparity that separates the majority poor and the rich. We have seen, particularly in cases of rape and violence against women that criminals seem to want to derive pleasure but it often turns out that they merely want to irritate and perform a social protest, which of course is unwelcome.

Lets look at the red-light district that is Nairobi's Koinange Street. The other day I was shocked when I was driving near Teleposta Towers, at around 6.45 pm, and a scantily dressed twilight girl was beckoning me. At first I was confused and thought she had been a victim of crime. When I quickly realized she was not, I sped away and that Wednesday evening I wondered about solutions to such social problems. No one seems to be bothered that it is a problem and many of those in the trade appear to be on average well-off. Prohibitionists believe that prostitution is wrong. On the contrary its proponents believe that it cuts down on HIV/AIDS infections, raises government revenue if legalized and reduces the incidents of rape. Do human rights allow sex with a consenting party who is an adult? Is payment for sex a crime? These and many other questions thirst for answers. So we are at it. My plea to Dr. Tajudeen and other well-wishers is that we need to come together and address Nairobi crime as civil society. This is because lamentations only worsen the situations. Lets do something.

Burundi's president and vice president, representing the country's two main political parties, have agreed to appoint an independent electoral commission to oversee the first democratic elections in more than a decade. The commission will consist of three Hutus and two Tutsis and candidates will be approved by the National Assembly. Despite this positive news, a government spokesperson again warned that an October 31st deadline to hold the election might not be met.

Zimbabwe's government said this week that the MDC had decided to boycott elections because they were scared of losing. Justice Minister Chinamasa also dismissed charges that the government was not prepared to enforce the SADC election guidelines.

The new Chairman of Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Ms Omoigiu, this week accused some bank chiefs of colluding with officials from the Central Bank (CBN) to steal billions of naira from public funds. According to her upwards of N1.028 billion in taxes have been collected by the banks on behalf of government but have not then been remitted into the nation's account. To date no prosecutions over this matter have been undertaken.

Just one week after similar action was taken in Abuja, policemen in Lagos stopped a second scheduled rally of the Nigeria Labour Congress. The police carried out an early morning raid on the organisation's office and then locked the main entrance, only unlocking it again later in the day. Speaking after the event, the state chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP) said that the police action was an" invitation to anarchy" and threatened people's right to free expression.

In a recent article by the Financial Times, it was suggested that the regime of Mr Obiang is an embarrassment to the US, which is showing interest in west African oil and claims a "positive, constructive relationship" with the country. This is despite a recent human rights report by the State Department which said "there was little evidence that the government used the country's oil wealth for the public good. Most oil wealth appears to be concentrated in the hands of top government officials while the majority of the population remained poor."

Nepad's Chief Executive, Pete Ondeng, this week said that corruption had become the greatest stumbling block to Kenya's development, killing the aspirations of millions of ordinary people and denting Kenya's image among development partners. Speaking in Kabarnet, Ondeng urged the Government to strengthen systems that can help the country eliminate the vice from among those entrusted with positions of leadership.

The Media and the Driving Schools Association of Malawi have called upon the new Director of Public Prosecutions and the Anti-Corruption Bureau to turn their attention to the Road Traffic Commission and the proliferation of corruption practices at the Commission over the issuance of SADC licences to clients. The calls follow a spate of horrific road accidents in the country.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has announced the results of a study showing that HIV/AIDS is causing a "long-term decline" in subsistence agricultural production in Mozambique and across sub-Saharan Africa, Agence France-Presse reports. The study, which was based on interviews with about 90 people in Mozambique in 2003, showed that as HIV-positive people become too ill to farm, they stop planting many crops.

The Institute for Policy Studies released a report that shows that most oil projects supported by the World Bank supply industrialized country consumption - not developing countries' energy needs - and almost all benefit large corporations based in those countries. Halliburton leads the pack of companies benefiting from World Bank energy lending. "The Energy Tug-of-War: Winners and Losers in World Bank Fossil Fuel Finance" exposes the leading beneficiaries of 133 financial packages, worth over $10.7 billion, approved by the World Bank Group since 1992. The report was written by the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network (SEEN), a project of the Institute for Policy Studies.

A Costa Rican professor and adviser with a long record of advocating for the protection of human rights has been selected by the United Nations to serve as the world body's Special Rapporteur on the right to education. The UN Commission on Human Rights, based in Geneva, announced that it has appointed Vernor Muñoz Villalobos to the post - which examines obstacles to the right to education and identifies ways to remove them - initially until 2007.