Zimbabwe's main opposition party says it will not take part in future elections unless the government implements democratic reforms. In a statement, the MDC said that it wanted a new legal framework for elections, with acceptable levels of transparency and fairness.

Mozambique's third multi-party presidential and parliamentary elections will be Wednesday and Thursday 1 and 2 December. Formal campaigning only begins on 17 October, but both major parties have opened their elections offices and begun campaigning in earnest. Elections will be carried out in a manner very similar to previous elections. But there are two significant changes. After widespread complaints about Frelimo using government vehicles and facilities, there is now a ban on the use by a party of any government goods or property ("bens"). And polling station staff, police and journalists can now vote at any polling station; in past years they had been effectively disenfranchised because they were only allowed to vote at the polling station where they were on the register.

A recent article in South Africa's Business Day has highlighted further concerns over the World Bank's handling of the Canadian company, Acres, which was barred from participating in the Bank's projects for three years in July for corruption. The article notes that a month before, Acres was taken over by another engineering firm, Hatch. At present it is not clear if the sanctions will apply to the new firm, and in a recent statement, the Bank said that "it was aware of the acquisition" but has no comment as to how the move relates to the sanctions committee hearing into Acres.

Information you provide is very detailed and up to date. At the same time, I think the articles are very profound and provocative. I, myself, as a scholar who researches African society, am often greatly benefited.

Keep up the good work! From all those who care about Human Rights in Africa.

Prof. Moustapha Hassouna, Tanzania

The United Nations Peace-Building Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) has warned that "the current verbal escalation among the political actors" is endangering the political process in the small West African country ahead of presidential elections next March after years of conflict, including a coup d'état last year. "The Office calls on all political actors to show restraint and to settle all disputes in a peaceful manner as provided for by the law," it said in a statement, offering to help ease the current tension in the framework of its mandate.

Organising general elections in Burundi by 31 October, the deadline for the conclusion of a three-year transitional period, is feasible, says Pierre Nkurunziza, the head of the former largest rebel movement in the country, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD). The CNDD-FDD recently transformed itself into a political party.

Candidates running for the presidency in Zambia will have to hold a high school diploma, a government-appointed committee has recommended in a report into proposed changes to electoral law. The report also suggests that a candidate must collect more than 50% of the vote to win the presidency to avoid minority leaders. President Levy Mwanawasa has said that new electoral regulations will be passed early in 2005 to pave the way to the 2006 elections. The proposed requirements for a minimum academic attainment could keep Michael Sata, leader of the opposition, out of the presidential race.

3,000 armed anti-riot policemen prevented the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)'s proposed protest rally by laying siege to its headquarters it was alleged this week. The Congress president, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, castigated the police for trampling on the people's right to peaceful assembly and vowed that the Congress would not give up engaging the government over the labour reform bill. In a further blow to the opposition, the Abuja High Court also declined an order of injunction sought by the NLC to restrain the National Assembly from further deliberation of the bill.

The United States has called for the building of a "coalition of the willing" to push for regime change to end the crisis in Zimbabwe. The new American ambassador to South Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said quiet diplomacy pursued by South Africa and other African countries in its dealings with the Zimbabwe president needed a review because there was no evidence it was working. She said her country would be willing to be part of a coalition if invited.

The world's poorest countries are in severe danger of failing to meet ambitious economic and development goals set for the next decade, according to a new report from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The report, issued last month, said developing countries are not getting the economic aid they need, blaming contradictory economic policies on trade and aid in the world's industrial countries.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it will work with its labour federation counterparts in Nigeria and Ghana to influence decisions in the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development. Cosatu said that joining forces with the other two unions would strengthen the labour movement in Africa's regional powerhouse economies. This will ensure that the plight of workers and the poor remain key to the agenda of regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community and the Economic Community Of West African States.

Catholic Institute for International Relations

The position holder will be responsible for assisting two organisations in the development of their fundraising strategies and for training their staff in the writing of funding proposals and the creation of marketing strategies. Candidates should hold a relevant degree or qualification and have a minimum of three years experience in organisational development of NGOs or CBOs as well as proven experience in training.

With its focus on skills development, capacity building and employment practice in Africa, this issue of Interim Developments examines recent activities in careers, training and development in Africa and highlights some of the work Interims for Development is doing to build the skills and capacity of Africa’s professional base.

On December 22, 2002, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni paid a ceremonial visit to a textile plant in Kampala, his country's capital city. Two years later the government-subsidized textile factory, built to be an exemplar for the rest of the nation, has suffered worker unrest, as politicians allege exploitation and government corruption. Museveni may still believe, as he once said, that the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act is "the greatest act of fraternity towards Africa by the USA." But to many Ugandans, their country's experience has become an object lesson in the bruising realities of life in the global marketplace.

If they can escape slaughter, endure rape and survive outbreaks of infectious diseases, the thousands of young people uprooted by ethnic conflict in Sudan’s Darfur province still face food shortages that threaten to stunt forever the physical and intellectual growth of their formative years. The sheer immediacy of the moment in Darfur - the scene of one of the great humanitarian crises of the post-Cold War era - overshadows what could be the lifelong consequences of malnutrition on a generation of displaced youngsters.

Police have seized 10 children for DNA testing from the Kenyan home of UK-based evangelist Gilbert Deya. A total of 21 children are now being held by Kenyan police investigating a suspected child-trafficking ring. The children, aged between five weeks and 11 years, were found locked in the house of Archbishop Deya on Friday morning in the capital Nairobi.

Insecurity and widespread poverty caused by the 18-year warfare pitting government forces against insurgents in northern Uganda has made desperate children vulnerable to recruitment as rebel fighters, the United Nations children's Fund (UNICEF) said. "The poverty and insecurity in northern Uganda could make children vulnerable to recruitment into the armed forces," UNICEF's protection officer in Gulu, Rebecca Symington, told IRIN by telephone from the northern town. Many of the children, she added, saw fighting as a form of employment and saw the carrying of arms as the only way to protect themselves and others.

A parliamentary committee has reportedly summoned the chairman of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to explain why the May general election was condemned as flawed by local and international poll observers. MEC chairman Justice James Kalaile is expected to appear before the Parliamentary Committee on Public Appointments and Assets Declaration next month.

Some 206 members of the Somali transitional federal parliament took oath of office on Sunday, paving the way for the formation of a government in the Horn of Africa country that has been ravaged by factional violence since 1991. A total of 214 MPs were scheduled to swear-in, but eight did not make it to the ceremony held in the United Nations complex in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, officials said.