A confidential audit report from Norwegian government-owned alcoholic beverage retailer Vinmonopolet has uncovered harassment, unionization prohibitions and salaries below the minimum wage at several of its wine producers in South Africa.

 “August 2 is the anniversary of the beginning of the Second Congo War, so we commemorate it to remind Congolese communities at home and abroad that since that date, millions of Congolese have been killed, raped, kidnapped, and enslaved for our natural resources. We need to remember them and work to bring an end to the killing."

A black middle class in such a socially segregated society merits closer attention as to its definition and its further deconstruction. Which are the characteristics, the aspirations, the self-definition, but also the political orientations of such a group?

Respected humanitarian agencies collected a mountain of donations in the name of Haiti earthquake victims, they largely squandered it, and they then refused to account for it. How did they get donors to give the money? Through exaggerations, truth-twisting and outright lies. And the international press spread those lies and gave them credibility.

The world changed this past week in ways that it may take decades to fully appreciate. With the opening of its first overseas military base in Djibouti, China sent an unmistakable message that its role in the world is changing. The implications for the Middle East and Africa are immediate, but the larger message is that China is no longer pretending to be an inward-looking, exclusively Asian power.

In response to a protest outside a white editor’s home, the South African Editors Forum (SANEF) sought court orders to stop Black First Land First activists from harassing, intimidating and threatening journalists and editors over their reporting. But SANEF did not show similar concern when Black journalists came under attack. Why the double standards?

A South African court has found a police officer guilty of shooting dead 17-year-old protester, Nqobile Nzuza. The judgement sends a strong message to all police officers who act on the instructions of politicians to brutalize unarmed citizens demanding their rights.

Human beings, including Europeans, have migrated throughout history and continue doing so. Migration is, therefore, not a problem; it is part of humanity. What is a problem is failing to understand why people migrate and using recent refugee flows from war-torn countries such as Syria, Iraq and Libya to politicise and militarise the whole issue.

Despite Kagame’s totalitarian regime being infamous for horrendous human rights abuses inside the country and in DR Congo, Rwanda is now a member of the UN Human Rights Council. Rwanda has signaled that it will use its seat to defend its friend, the colonial state of Israel.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Interior Maj. Gen. (rtd) Joseph Nkaissery died suddenly on Saturday, 8 July 2017. Nkaissery is certainly a notorious symbol of human rights abuse and his death brings to an end one of the saddest chapters in Kenyan history.

Instead of being locked in crowded camps surrounded by barbed wire, the 1.2 million refugees in Uganda are given large plots of land in sprawling settlements to build homes or, if they like, small farms. If agrarian life isn’t for them, they can move freely around the country, traveling to towns or to the bustling capital of Kampala, which 95,000 refugees call their home.

There is only one reason why the US is obsessed with North Korea. It allows the US to maintain a massive military presence in East Asia. If not for tensions on the Korean peninsula, the US would lose its rationale for its network of military bases in the region, which are primarily meant to threaten and contain China.

The long settlement of colonialists in South Africa by force of arms has not passed any right to them to own this African land at the expense of its rightful owners. It does not matter how long Europeans have been settlers here. Azania remains the land of African people by right.

Before US diplomats offer any criticism or advice to Venezuela or any other state on issues of democracy and human rights, they should first examine the behavior of their own government in relation to their undemocratic practices and policies, both internally and around the world, and their endless list of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Canada is attempting to project itself as a friend of Africa, Haiti, women and the world. If he is to be believed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a friend of all God’s children. But is he?

Washington has been at war in Africa for years.  But in French-speaking parts of the continent it is Paris that is fully in control. Who becomes president and how national affairs are conducted is a matter determined by the French for their own interest under the colonial-era doctrine of Françafrique. And American tax-payers foot much of the bill for this neo-colonialism.

Stephen Kinuthia Mwangi, administrative coordinator with Mathare Social Justice Centre in Nairobi, was arrested twice for no apparent reason last week. MSJC believes this harassment by the state is a direct result of its work in the slums of Mathare, especially documentation of extrajudicial executions by the police.

There was a time when persecuted Sudanese looked to Jordan,as their only hope to reach a place where their rights and prospects could be valued. That was before the rise of right-wing populism in Europe, the election of Donald Trump, and the VIP welcome extended to Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir in Amman earlier this year. What then is a viable option for those seeking safety?

The Horn of Africa, one of the most geostrategic regions in the world, has strong ties with the Arab world. Gulf nations led by Saudi Arabia have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing Qatar of funding terrorist groups, and supporting Iran, Saudi Arabia’s main rival in the region. If this crisis is left to fester, it will have devastating consequences for nations in the Horn of Africa.

Having lost their parliamentary majority, Prime Minister Theresa May attempted to form an alliance with the Democratic Unionist Party. The DUP is a set of misogynist Bible-beating reactionaries infamous for their diehard opposition to evolution, to manmade climate change, to same sex marriage and to abortion. A coalition with the DUP introduces fascism into British politics and would help install a regime that abandons hypocritical discourse about tolerance and instead relies on violent repression.