The government has spent about P451 million in six construction projects supported by the Chinese government in the last three financial years creating 2,171 jobs for locals.The projects employed 143 expatriates, Finance Minister, Baledzi Gaolathe told Parliament. He said the projects included the construction of 104 BHC houses in Gaborone awarded to Complant Botswana in 2001.

Rebels fighting Chadian government troops say they have entered the city of Abeche, as fighting continues. A government official also confirmed that the rebels had entered Abeche, 700km east of the capital N'Djamena.

Interactive Workshops Saturday 23rd - Thursday 28th December Lamu, Kenya.

The International Rescue Committee currently seeks a Program Coordinator for its Sierra Leone program, based in Freetown with frequent travel to the field, Freetown including the Kenema, Kailahun and Kono field sites.

Zimbabwe is particularly affected by the AIDS problem: out of a total of 12 million people, NGO’s estimate that 33.7% are infected with the AIDS virus, approximately 4 million people. The overall objective of the project is to keep people living with HIV alive and to decrease the vulnerability of children and youth affected by HIV and AIDS through VCT, PMTCT activities and HAART treatments.

The Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), Salimata Sawadogo, has used the ongoing 40th extra-ordinary session of the commission to grill African governments for their lack of commitment to human rights obligations.

The Federal Government and the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC) yesterday, reached an agreement to suspend the over one month old strike in the 102 Unity Schools with immediate effect and the teachers asked to return to their duty post.

The Students Loan Trust Fund, which is expected to replace the SSNIT loan scheme, would begin its operations in the next academic year. According to the trustees, the fund intends to issue loans amounting to ¢875.6 billion to students within the next three years. It will be financed through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).

The "Times of Swaziland" newspaper has been sued for E75,000 (approx. US$10,000) by a man accused of recently bombing government structures and who is facing high treason charges at the High Court of Swaziland. Vusi Shongwe states in court papers that on February 8, 2006, the "Times" published his picture on the front page next to a headline saying "Bomber" in bold typeface.

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is seeking an Education Specialist to develop and manage initiatives related to good governance in the public sector, the educational system and NGOs. Knowledge and expertise in open and distance learning (ODL) and in its applications to achieving the Millennium Development Goals in governance and education is essential. Applicants should have a minimum of 10 years of professional experience including 5 years of related international work experience. The position requires proficiency with office technology and a readiness to travel internationally.

Summary: Responsible for the overall management, program direction, legal obligations, interpretation, and stewardship of all AFSC resources in Central Africa. The Representative serves as official representative of the AFSC; manages contacts in Central Africa with government ministries, UN agencies, and local and international NGOs; supervises staff.

Fahamu, Networks for Social Justice, is seeking a dynamic, entrepreneurial and socially committed educator to join us as Programme Director of Fahamu’s Education for Social Justice programme. Based in Nairobi, you will have national, continental and international responsibilities for developing, managing and expanding distance-learning and other capacity building initiatives

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, the international charity tracking the social & environmental conduct (positive & negative) of over 3200 companies worldwide, is seeking a highly-motivated person to be its Africa Researcher & Coordinator.

Between 20-25 participants drawn from policy advocacy coalitions and organisations working on the African Union attended a conference held on the 10-11th November in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Joined by staff from the AU Commission and five African Embassies they offered comments on the preliminary findings and recommendations of research into how African Governments, the AU Commission and CSOs prepared for the January and July 2006 Summits.

The status of sign language usage, inclusive in deaf students' education package in Ethiopian, is very poor, according to a research presented at a workshop on Friday (17 November 2006) under the theme 'Inclusive education and educational problems of the deaf.'

Catholic universities should pay more attention in all their disciplines to the Church's social doctrine, recommended participants at an international conference convoked by the Holy See. Such attention to social doctrine would allow the Gospel to penetrate deeper in the social fiber, in order to defend and promote human dignity, the common good, solidarity, and justice and peace, they stated last Friday (17 November 2006), the first day of the conference.

Hewlett Packard (HP) and UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Monday (20 November 2006) announced the launch of a new project "Piloting Solutions for Reversing Brain Drain into Brain Gain for Africa", which aims to help to reduce brain drain in Africa by providing grid computing technology to universities in Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

The 16th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (16CCEM) will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, on 11-14 December 2006. The theme of the Conference is 'Access to Quality Education: for the Good of All'. Held triennially, these conferences provide an opportunity for Commonwealth Education Ministers from all regions to exchange views and discuss developments in education, review progress over the past three years, and develop strategies for future work.

Rwanda has rejected calls by a French magistrate to indict Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, over his alleged involvement in the death of the country's former leader. Juvenal Habyarimana, Rawanda's former president, was killed when his plane was shot down in 1994.

Four African research institutions yesterday (20 November 2006) revealed their findings on socio-economic consequences of HIV/AIDS in the continent. The Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), the Social Science and Medicine Africa Network (SOMA-Net) and the Union for African Population Studies (UAPS) disclosed their findings at an international conference held under the theme "New Insights and Policy Perspectives".