The MDC and ZANU PF parties in the coalition government are reported to be divided over how to respond to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) proposal for a ‘staff monitored program’ that will allow the institution to directly monitor projects that it is funding. A Voice of America report says ZANU PF is opposed to the concept, arguing it would erode the country’s independence, while those in the MDC are embracing the idea.

A 12-year-old Ghanaian student Kwabena Asumadu has been crowned the national winner of the Doodle 4 Google 'Love Football' competition. The competition was for students to design a Google Doodle - the interpretation of the Google logo, around the theme 'Love Football'. Asumadu is now one step closer to being a global winner and will have his logo uploaded on the Google Ghana homepage - - for a day. For his prize he would receive a laptop, dongle, printer and a framed copy of his winning doodle.

The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the African regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), have welcomed the conclusions and outcome of the 27th World Congress of the IFJ, held from 24th - 28th May, in Cadiz, Spain.

International Human Rights Advocates join the Erlinder family in condemning Rwanda's arrest of US Attorney Peter Erlinder and demanding his immediate release. Professor Erlinder, a faculty member at William Mitchell College of Law in the United States and president of the Association des Avocats de la Defense (ADAD), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Defense Lawyers Association, was arrested by the government of Rwanda under the leadership of President Paul Kagame. Peter Erlinder has been arrested in the course of his representation of Rwanda’s opposition leader, Victoire Ingabire.

Main One Cable Company, a submarine cable company offering open access, wholesale broadband capacity in West Africa, and its system supplier, Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications SubCom, have completed the installation of the first phase of its cable system on schedule

Africa’s regulators are increasingly moving to assert their role as the protector of consumer interests in the ICT space. This week the Commissioner responsible for Consumer Affairs told a meeting held by the Liberian Consumers Action Network that it had established a consumer help desk. But if the landscape for ICT consumers is getting more complicated then the responsibilities of companies within the sector is also becoming more demanding.

The crème de la crème of Africa's media are gathering in Uganda's capital Kampala for the prestigious 2010 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards on Saturday. Already some of the 27 finalists from 15 countries had started arriving. They include Uganda's Halima Abdallah Kisule of The EastAfrican and NTV sports reporter Leon Ssenyange.

Licences have been granted to four private daily newspapers in Zimbabwe by a commission set up by the unity government to implement media reforms. The Zimbabwean media is currently dominated by state-run newspapers. One of the licences has been granted to the Daily News, a paper critical of President Robert Mugabe, which was closed down in 2003.

Since 1991, Tostan has brought its holistic, human rights-based, 30-month non-formal education program – the Community Empowerment Program (CEP) – to thousands of communities in ten African countries: Burkina Faso, Djibouti, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Somalia, and Sudan. The goal of the CEP is to provide its participants – 80% of whom are women and girls living in rural areas – with the skills and knowledge to improve their lives in a sustainable way. Developed methodically over the past 20 years through an ongoing process of community consultation and careful revision, the CEP has become today one of the most unique and effective community development programs in Africa.

Mobile phones have already played a significant role in advancing citizen media around the world. They were instrumental in helping capture photos and videos on the streets of Tehran during 2009 protests that followed the elections there. A video captured during that time even won a prestigious journalism award. Mobile phone technology has been used in Namibia to enable more people from around the country to express their views in one of the country’s largest newspapers. In the US, day laborers have been using MMS messages to blog about their daily lives. In South Africa, citizen journalists use SMS, MMS, and other phone-based technologies to submit content and commentary to a local newspaper. The list of examples are plentiful.

The conviction of a gay couple of "gross indecency" and "unnatural acts" has caused an international uproar. Malawi's donors are disappointed and South African trade unionists prepare for protests.Not surprisingly, a court in Blantyre, Malawi's second city, yesterday convicted Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga for committing so-called "unnatural offences" and "indecent practices between males". Mr Monjeza and Mr Chimbalanga were arrested in December 2009 after celebrating their engagement and have been in jail ever since.

Mxit is a massive mobile social network that was started in South Africa a couple years ago. Today, Safaricom announced a partnership with them, using their marketing muscle (7 pages of ads in today’s newspaper) to import Mxit into Kenya.

Journalists' leaders and civil society organisations from across Africa called attention to the dire situation of free expression in many countries last week at the Forum for Non-governmental Organisations (NGO Forum) held on the occasion of 47th Session of African Commission of Human and People's Rights in Banjul, Gambia. Representatives from the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA), National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) and the Syndicat National des Journalistes du Cameroun (SNJC) took part in the forum and worked with other organisations to outline the deteriorating situation of journalists and the state of freedom of expression in many African countries.

The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the regional organization of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in Africa, have launched the report of its solidarity mission to the Cameroon on the attacks on journalists and the press freedom situation, which took place from 3rd to 6th May. The report entitled “JOURNALISTS UNDER FIRE: Report of Solidarity Mission to Cameroon” describes the climate of antagonism and suspicion between media and the government, resulting in increasing attacks on journalists, including harassment, intimidation and trials as well the poor working condition in which Cameroonian journalists work and live.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today expressed its concerns over the increase in press freedom violations in Sudan since the recent elections after the arrest of four journalists and the closure of Rai-Alshab daily newspaper. Taban Bonifacio, online journalist for the Sudanvote.com website was arrested in South Sudan on 23 April while three more journalists of Rai-Alshab newspaper were detained on Sunday 16 May 20

Pan Africa ILGA join all our global human rights organizations and especially the Malawian organization the Center for the Development of People (CEDEP) in condemning the conviction and harsh sentencing of 14 years imprisonment with hard labour by a Magistrate Court in Blantyre, Malawi of Tiwonge ("Tionge") Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza for "unnatural offences" and "indecent practices between males" under Sections 153 and 156 of the Malawi Penal Code

The Movement for Democratic Change has condemned the engagement and involvement of prominent "media hangman" Tafataona Mahoso in the reform of the media industry currently being spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Media Commission. This follows reports that Mahoso, former chairman of controversial Media and Information Commission, has been appointed chief executive officer of the ZMC.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the government of Madagascar to investigate a Saturday raid on the opposition radio station Fréquence Plus that resulted in the arrest of an opposition leader while he was on a live radio programme.

"A new earthquake" is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto's seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation's presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.

Anxieties and impatience over the deliverance of justice lie beneath the surface in Kenya amidst the International Criminal Court's (ICC) investigation, writes L. Muthoni Wanyeki. Wanyeki insists that witnesses and victims must be protected during ICC proceedings, and that this responsibility lies with the very government that failed the country.