Reporters Without Borders has voiced its concern after armed men burst into the apartment block of Janet Mba, editor of the magazine The Scroll in Arepo in Ogun State in south-western Nigeria. She escaped attack because she managed to call the police before they could strike. The worldwide press freedom organisation recorded at least 10 cases of physical assaults and eight cases of threats against journalists in the country during 2008.

The investigation into the murder of Paul Abayomi Ogundeji, journalist on the privately-owned daily Thisday, and member of its editorial committee, has been handed to the judicial police, regional authorities in Lagos State said on 20 January. The journalist was shot dead in the Dopemu district of the capital Lagos on 17 August 2008 as he was returning home in his car.

A French weapons firm has acknowledged for the first time that it has sold stun-guns to Senegal, where they have been reportedly used against journalists covering football matches and political protests. At least twice during 2008 Senegalese reporters complained that they were attacked by police clutching tasers -- electronic devices that can immobilise the person at whom they are aimed.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has welcomed the release of Somali journalist, Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi, after 146 days in captivity. Photojournalist, Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi, was abducted on August 23, 2008 with two foreign journalists, namely Amanda Lindout of Canada and Nigel Brenan of Australia. Elmi's two drivers, Mohad Isse and Marwali were also abducted.

Libya's only internet service provider is launching its first commercial wireless network which it says is one of the most advanced in the world. The state-owned firm said only a handful of countries have rolled out the advanced internet connection known as WiMax on such a wide scale. Libya Telecom and Technology aims to start with WiMax coverage, including a mobile feature, in 18 cities.

The Chinese Great Wall Industry Corporation is to replace Nigeria's first-ever communications satellite, which failed in orbit 10 Nov. 2008, according to local media reports. The agreement to replace the satellite, tagged 'NigComSat-1', was signed by the Chinese firm and the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited 12 Dec. 2008.

The Tata-led Neotel consortium and mobile phone giant MTN South Africa have signed an agreement to jointly build a 2 billion rand ($202 million) 5,000-km optical fibre network that will connect all major centres across this country.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the recent wave of threats and attacks on journalists in Sierra alone. Three journalists, namely Gibril Gottor of Radio Kollenten in Kambia, Alex James of Citizen Radio in Freetown and Mama Jalloh of the United Nations radio in Freetown have all received threat messages as a result of their work.

Offering a bursary to as many as 6 young Southern African and as many as 5 young German journalists. The Southern African-German Journalists' Programme is an effort to shape an integrated understanding of another country and region and to foster relations between Africa and Germany. Deadline: January 31 2009

Recognising the work of African governments in the effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for public services delivery. Initiated by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Canada Fund for Africa, the award is an effort to create greater awareness on the role of ICTs in public services and the development process within the framework of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI). Deadline: January 31 2009

In response to Horace Campbell’s :

Hopefully our younger generation have a little more integrity that Horace Campbell. If they do some independent research they'll know Campbell is lying. Fidel Castro is at least more honest. At the end of 1988 he gave a two-hour speech to a full Council of State meeting in Havana. The speech was also broadcast in its entirety on Cuba's domestic radio and television services. Here are some highlights of Castro's speech:

# The next day (13 January 1988) the SADF mounted a strong attack east of the river at Cuito, along a very extended frontline defended by three FAPLA brigades - the 21st, 59th and 25th. There was a 5km gap between the brigades. South Africa dislodged the 21st brigade and the other brigades were threatened. # St Valentine's Day, 14 February, South Africa launched its big offensive against the 59th brigade. The South African's smashed through the lines, marched through the 5km gap between the 21st and 59 brigades and began to surround the 59th brigade. Castro said: "A very difficult situation emerged. They could have gone as far as the bridge and cut off three entire brigades." [Note: Castro seems to be a smart guy. The initial plan that was planned for January was to do just that! One deliberate, phased attack by the two SADF mechanised battalion groups would have resulted in the three FAPLA brigades being cut off, routed and destroyed. Pretoria in its "wisdom" countered this approach and opted for a battle concept that relied on a cautious approach over a protracted period].

# Castro continued: A Cuban tank battalion together with FAPLA tanks launched a violent counter attack. The counter attack stopped the SADF but in the process the Cuban/FAPLA company lost all seven of its tanks and 14 Cubans were killed. The three FAPLA brigades retreated towards the river. [Note: Campbell's version would have the SADF basically defeated at this stage with heavy losses].

# Castro sent a cable to General Ochoa (he was executed for his poor performance) saying: "I will not hide from you the fact that here we are bitter over what happened because it had been foreseen and words of caution were issued on several occasions. We insisted on the readjustment of the frontlines for almost one entire month." [Note: Again Castro is correct and honest - 21 brigade suffered heavy losses and was dislodged on 13 January].

# The situation was extremely dangerous for the FAPLA brigades. Castro sent a cable on 20 February which warned that if South Africa broke through the line of defence, the Angolan forces would find themselves with their back to the river and would face casualties from drowning, attacks and the prisoners could be countless. # Castro said he could not understand why, since 14 February, only two battalions of 21st brigade had gone West of the river, whilst about 3500 FAPLA soldiers were still on the East. "What will happen if tomorrow the enemy breaks through the lines and used all ist strength against the river area,"? Castro raged.

This account by Castro concerning the routing of the three brigades, including very heavy losses inflicted on 59 brigade can easily be verified from the recorded speech. The largely ineffective attacks by the SADF in March 1988 to force all or most FAPLA/Cuban forces West of the Cuito river is well-known. By then, the heart of the battle of Cuito Cuanavale had been won by the SADF (from a purely military strategic and tactical perspective) and the stand-off between the two forces would go on for a few months, from which no victor emerged. Of course the geo-political situation led to the demise of apartheid, but then, who's defending apartheid?

Campbell hopes to re-write history. However, Castro, in his bid to boost his own "heroic role" in the Cuito battle, confirms the hiding given to FAPLA/Cuba and gives us a pretty accurate military historical view.

Viva Castro!

For the first time in years, John Phiri*, a health extension worker in Malawi's central Salima district, does not have to fill in a stack of forms during his monthly round of collecting data to monitor nutrition levels in the community. Now he whips out his mobile phone and texts the data, including the height and weight of the children in the area, while covering his beat.

Reporters Without Borders notes that Nsimba Embete Ponte, the editor of the biweekly L’Interprète, was released on completing a 10-month prison sentence for “insulting” President Joseph Kabila by referring to rumours about his health in a series of articles.

Reporters Without Borders today condemned a three-year prison sentence handed down to Lewis Medjo, managing editor of the weekly La Détente libre, and urged the authorities to allow him bail. He has been in Douala central prison in the west of the country since 22 September 2008.

21st Century Technologies looks set to lay claim to being the first Sub-Saharan operator to roll out a Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) network. It plans to target 10,000 homes in the capital Lagos and has chosen Ericsson as the equipment vendor to deploy the network. The company has ambitious plans to become a Triple Play operator.

Bongani Goniwe said the eviction order that took them by surprise was received on the 25 of November last year. Goniwe said they did not know what to do as they were still pondering the next step. “In our understanding even though the house is in her name according to the “will” she still can’t sell the house because we regard council houses especially in the townships as family houses,” he said.

Rising Voices, the outreach arm of Global Voices, is now accepting project proposals for microgrant funding of up to $5,000 for new media outreach projects. Ideal applicants will present innovative and detailed proposals to teach citizen media techniques to communities that are poorly positioned to discover and take advantage of tools like blogging, video-blogging, and podcasting on their own. Application Deadline: January 18, 2009.

Thank you Horace Cambell for your great analysis of this important battle against racism and colonialism in your essay, . Viewers can see one great video on the battle at:

Mrs. Muyonjo is a housewife in a remote village of Ivukula in Iganga district, Eastern Uganda. She used to ride her bicycle for twenty miles in order to come to the nearest small town with electricity to charge her mobile phone battery. Not any more. One day, she fell victim to unscrupulous individuals. “I will never give my telephone to the village battery chargers again. I gave them my new phone for charging, and they changed my battery and instead returned to me an old battery whose battery life can only last for one day.”

“The current climate of fear is without precedent in recent years in Gabon and is indicative of President Omar Bongo’s readiness to hunt down all those who show too much interest in such subjects as the Bongo family’s possessions and the government’s handling of public funds,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The persecution of journalists must stop at once and the detainees much be released, as they have not been charged.”