The question no-one wants to answer!

Gbagbo on the run...

Levi Kabwato interviews Professor Lloyd Sachikonye, the author of a recently launched book, ‘When A State Turns on its People: Violence in Zimbabwe’.

'At times shocking, sometimes heart-warming', a new collection of stories compiled by author Sarah Forde, takes us into the worlds of nine teenage girls in Kenya's Kilifi district as they face the challenges of adolescence.

Full of ‘useful pieces of advice’, LeTava Mabilijengo’s book is a refreshing change from the usual portrayal of black women as ‘perpetual victims’, writes Norah Owaraga.

Despite Kenyan leaders' pronouncements on only trying Kenyan suspects within the country's legal system, Al-Amin Kimathi's presence in a Kampala jail suggests otherwise, says Gado.

AwaaZ Magazine invites you to a FREE screening of Venezulan documentary 'Inside the Revolution' on 4 April in Nairobi. Filmed in Caracas in November 2008, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Hugo Chavez’s controversial presidency, this full-length documentary takes a journey into the heart of Venezuela’s revolution to listen to the voices of the people driving the process forward.

On holiday with her streetwise son in Lagos, a British-Nigerian mother is in turmoil. Should she leave her only child in a strict Lagos boarding school, or return him to the ‘battlefields’ of inner London…? A family spanning three generations and two continents meet together in Lagos for the first time in over thirty years. But the joy of reunion also unleashes long-suppressed truths. An
exuberant mix of comedy, tragedy and family drama, Pandora’s Box reveals the heartbreak behind the choices every parent must make.

Oval House Theatre
Tuesday 3 – Sunday 22 May, 2011

London via Lagos is a daring festival of new plays by British-Nigerian playwrights offering three radically different visions of the relationship between Nigeria and the UK. Over ten weeks, from London via Lagos brings to the London stage three innovative and contemporary plays; each with its own perspective spanning the political, the personal, and the domestic. All three dramas investigate today’s Britain and all reflect the vigour and passion of Nigeria.

Oval House Theatre
Tuesday 3 May – Sunday 10 July, 2011

Gaddafi on a mission...

Peter Wuteh Vakunta reviews Nelson Mandela’s ‘Conversations with Myself’. He underlines that ‘Countless books have been written and will continue to be written about this memorable man, but this one towers above them all on account of the intimacies and intricacies it contains.’

The AU might not be able to impose a no-fly zone on Libya or Côte d’Ivoire, but there are other options.

...and its 'coat of arms'.

Kenya takes shuttle diplomacy to another level.

…is not as easy as you think!

Directed and narrated by Yaba Badoe and produced by Amina Mama, 'The Witches of Gambaga' is a sensitive, excellent film capturing the experiences of women accused of witchcraft in the village of Gambaga in northern Ghana, writes Sokari Ekine.

Gaddafi remains firing on all cylinders, says Gado.

While the South African Department of Trade and Industry has stepped up criminalisation of pirated books, movies, and music, consumer patterns show that obtaining pirated media is widely accepted. In fact, a case study in Hanover Park, a poor neighbourhood outside Cape Town where the Association of Progressive Communication investigated CD piracy, most residents made no distinction between pirated and legal goods. Some people interviewed found the concept of piracy completely foreign, and all respondents felt that their use of pirated goods was legitimate, given their economic situation. Average consumers feel they have no choice but to turn to cheaper alternatives because the price of original goods is simply too high for them to afford.

Gado wonders if a bit of mutual support between Gaddafi and Kenya's leaders might arise.

A dire cash flow shortage in Nelson Mandela Bay, the sprawling municipality that includes Port Elizabeth, Despatch and Uitenhage, has resulted in an R800 million cut in spending on key service delivery projects in the municipality - including a project to put an end to the undignified bucket system. The council’s financial woes are mainly due to World Cup spending that was not recouped, and a drop in the revenue collection rate.