South Africa has mostly delegated the care of its poor and vulnerable to NGOs, but with funding drying up, these groups are struggling to keep their heads above water. This Mail&Guardian multimedia presentation provides a visual insight into the situation.

South Sudan has the worst reported maternal mortality rate in the world. A 2012 report entitled Women’s Security in South Sudan: Threats in the Home by Geneva-based think-tank Small Arms Survey (SAS) says a national survey carried out in 2006 indicating 2,054 deaths per 100,000 live births may have been an underestimation.

Authorities in central Nigeria say floods triggered by heavy rains have killed at least 35 people and left several others missing. The flooding has also destroyed or damaged at least 200 homes in Jos city, the Red Cross said on Monday 23 July.

Over the years, the ambiguous nature of the Zimbabwe prostitution law has subjected women to arbitrary arrests and detention if found walking at night in the streets of Harare. Those accused of loitering have to pay a maximum fine of 16.50 euros. Led by prominent activists – including renowned writer and politician Tsitsi Dangarembga, herself a victim of the arrests – over one hundred women rallied at the Africa Unity Square in Harare to express their anger at the ongoing injustice.

Can shopping save the world? The Story of Change urges viewers to put down their credit cards and start exercising their citizen muscles to build a more sustainable, just and fulfilling world.

Arbitrary arrests, kidnappings and torture by armed groups and government forces since the end of Côte d’Ivoire’s bloody 2010-2011 post-election unrest are stifling national reconciliation and causing fear and mistrust among civilians. A local human rights group estimates that around 200 supporters of ousted president Laurent Gbagbo have been detained, mostly in northern Côte d’Ivoire. In the western and central towns of Daloa and Issia, several civilians have been arrested and mistreated.

Madagascar’s army said Sunday 22 July it had put down a mutiny in a military camp Sunday, after clashes in which at least three people were killed. 'Mopping up operations are continuing,' said Rarasoa Ralailomady, the army's chief spokesman. 'A night operation has not been ruled out but the situation is under control.' The army also announced that they had neutralized the mutiny leader nicknamed 'Koto Mainty' aka Black Caporal.

The European Union is to suspend most sanctions against Zimbabwe once it has held a credible referendum on a new constitution, EU foreign ministers say. More than a 100 key individuals have been covered under an EU travel ban and assets freeze imposed in 2002. The sanctions were originally imposed a decade ago in response to human rights abuses and political violence. But sanctions would remain against President Robert Mugabe, AFP news agency quotes EU diplomats as saying.

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI), Bert Koenders, has strongly condemned the attack carried out by some 300 individuals against a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Cote d'Ivoire, which resulted in seven deaths and injuries to 13 people.

It's a dream come true for African women, says Litha Musyimi-Ogana, the African Union's chief pointsperson on gender issues as she hails the election of the first female head of the AU Commission, saying more women in positions of power will spur the continent's resurgence. 'We are extremely elated about the election of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who has broken the glass ceiling by becoming the first elected woman head of the AU Commission. It's good news for Africa and for the African women,' Musyimi-Ogana, director, women, gender and development directorate, in the AU Commission, said.

On 16 July, civil society organisations demanded the postponement of the elections scheduled for August 31 over claims of a lack of adequate provisions for free and fair polls. A day earlier, police arrested several hundred demonstrators for alleged public disorder at the Sao Paolo market. In the coming weeks, Luanda and major cities are likely to experience an upsurge in public protests from opposition parties, war veterans and civil society groups.

While global HIV funding has stayed flat in recent years, poorer countries have quietly been putting more of their own money into financing the HIV response. 'Something very interesting has been happening' in Africa, Bernhard Schwartländer, director of strategy at UNAIDS told a plenary session at the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington DC. Treatment numbers are rising despite stagnant funding. 'A lot of very clever and dedicated people are working very hard in making sure that services are delivered more efficiently, and...more people receive HIV services with the same amount of money.'

The Moroccan government on 2 July confirmed its decision to withdraw support for UN Western Sahara Envoy Christopher Ross. The Moroccan government had earlier announced that it had lost confidence in the UN envoy and accused him of 'biased and unbalanced guidance' in brokering unofficial talks between Morocco and the Polisario.

Human rights organisations have condemned the acts of violence committed on 26 June 2012 against Dr. Stephen Ulimboka, Chairperson of the Special Committee of Doctors, and called for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry mandated to shed light on the circumstances of this aggression so that its authors can be brought to justice. Dr. Ulimboka was kidnapped and beaten while leading a strike by doctors seeking improved working conditions in public hospitals.

After 18 months of having its funding nearly completely cut off by a payment industry blockade, WikiLeaks says it’s finally found a new workaround that allows it to receive credit card donations. And after a legal victory against Visa in Iceland, the group is literally daring the card companies to shut down payments to his site again.

Mali has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate atrocities that have taken place in the country since January 2012, the chief prosecutor said. A mix of local and foreign Islamist fighters, including some fighters linked to al Qaeda, are in control of northern Mali after they hijacked a rebellion initially launched in January by secular Tuareg separatists. About 300,000 people have been displaced in a conflict marked by killings, rapes, torture, and attacks on cultural sites.

Senegal stopped renewing agreements allowing European fishing vessels in its waters in 2006, but now an expanding artisanal fleet and local industrial boats enjoying exclusivity under lax regulations are being blamed for malpractice and degrading the country’s main economic and food resource. 'In terms of environmental degradation, the responsibility is shared. Artisanal fishermen are responsible for habitat destruction. Although industrial vessels and foreign ships are often blamed, artisanal fishermen contribute hugely to the disappearance of species,' said Moustapha Thiam, the director of Senegal’s Maritime Fishing Authority, a Fisheries Ministry department.

An independent, global medical and humanitarian organization says African nations are not receiving adequate international funding to fight HIV/AIDS, leaving them to face catastrophic consequences without enough medication. Experts at Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said Congo is only able to supply anti-retroviral drugs to 15 per cent of the people needing them and 'patients are literally dying on our doorstep'. In a statement released in Johannesburg ahead of the United Nations world AIDS conference in Washington starting 22 July, the organization said countries worst affected by the pandemic were the least able to provide 'the best science' available to fight it.

Cameroon has joined a Congo Basin initiative that uses satellite imagery to monitor changes in forest cover in an effort to curb deforestation and help Central African countries access carbon finance. Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo and Central African Republic (CAR) signed an agreement with the French government and geo-information provider Astrium Services ahead of UN climate talks in South Africa late last year. Cameroon followed this June, gaining a license to use images from the SPOT satellite Earth Observation System which could assist in protecting its rich forest reserve.

UNESCO’s decision to issue a controversial prize sponsored by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea is disappointing and irresponsible, seven civil society groups said. A ceremony to award the prize was scheduled for July 17, 2012, in Paris. Obiang, in power for 33 years, leads a government known for corruption and repression.