A record 1,500 migrants, mainly from Somalia and other parts of Africa, died trying to reach European shores in 2011 and the deadly odyssey continues from Libya, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said recently. It said popular uprisings in Tunisia and Libya prompted more people to flee last year, including sub-Saharan migrants working in North Africa, after tighter border measures sharply reduced arrivals in Europe in 2009 and 2010.

IRIN’s latest film, 'Out of Sight', explores the lives of blind undocumented migrants from Zimbabwe as they try and eke out a living begging on the streets of Johannesburg. In the aftermath of xenophobic violence, the South African government put in place a moratorium on deportations to Zimbabwe in 2009, enabling undocumented migrants to regularise their status. But none of the women in this film were able to take advantage of that dispensation. Deportations resumed in October 2011, and to date, more than 10,000 undocumented migrants have been expelled to Zimbabwe, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

February is the hottest month in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, and Mading Ngor, a reporter and presenter for the Catholic-owned Bakhita FM, trudged his way through the heat to cover parliament proceedings last week - only to be thrown unceremoniously out of the assembly. 'Before I had time to argue, four security guards pinned me to the ground and dragged me across the floor, tearing up my trousers,' Ngor, a hard-hitting, critical journalist, told me. The ensuing furor included apologies, a protest, an opinion column, a committee investigation, parliamentary debate, the banning of Ngor from the assembly, and finally, a parliamentary call to revive deliberations over three media bills originally drafted five years ago.

Sixteen Tanzanian human rights defenders were arrested on 9 February. In protest against the Tanzanian authority's act that goes counter their state commitment to protect, respect and fulfill human rights, Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) has drafted a letter urging the Tanzania authorities to release and drops all charges against these activists. They are requesting people to support the 16 activists by:
1. printing and delivering/posting the letter to the president's office in Dar-es-salaam if based in Dar-es-salaam or any part of Tanzania
2. printing and delivering the letter to the Tanzania embassy/consulate in your country if based outside Tanzania,
3. adapting the letter and putting it on your organisation's letter head, signing it and delivering it to the president office or the representative of Tanzania government in your country.

Rethinking development: global and regional alternatives for the development in the South

African applicants should send their applications to:
CODESRIA,
2012 South-South Summer Institute,
BP 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, SENEGAL
Tel: (221) 825 9822: Fax: (221) 824 1289
E-mail: [email][email protected]
Website: www.codesria.org

Asian applicants should send their applications to:
CODESRIA,
2012 South-South Summer Institute,
BP 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, SENEGAL
Tel: (221) 825 9822: Fax: (221) 824 1289
E-mail: [email][email protected]
Website: www.codesria.org

and

CLACSO,
2012 South- South Summer Institute
Callao 875, 3º (1023) Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
Tel: (54 11) 4811-6588 / 4814-2301; Fax: (54 11) 4812-845
E-mail: [email][email protected]
Website: www.clacso.org

Latin American and Caribbean applicants should send their applications to:
CLACSO,
2012 South- South Summer Institute
Callao 875, 3º (1023) Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
Tel: (54 11) 4811-6588 / 4814-2301; Fax: (54 11) 4812-845
E-mail: [email][email protected]
Website: www.clacso.org

Four months ago, Clemence Uzizo, 21, a welder living in Soweto, Johannesburg's most populous suburb, made the mistake of venturing out to a local shop without his asylum-seeker permit. Neither the police who arrested him, nor the immigration officials who detained him, verified Uzizo's legal status before deporting him to Zimbabwe, the country of his birth. 'My permit was at home but I didn't have a cell phone to call to ask someone to bring it,' he told IRIN not long after making a risky and expensive return to South Africa via the Limpopo River. 'Since my father brought me [to South Africa] in 1992 I've lived here, so I don't know anyone in Zimbabwe.'

A little-known Tanzanian academic who played a big role at the University of Dar es Salaam in the 1970s died on 29 January 2011.

Members of parliament Monday 13 February slammed the preliminary report issued by the fact-finding committee probing the 1 February Port Said football massacre that left 71 dead, describing it as 'vague' and 'insufficient'. Hussein Ibrahim, head of the Freedom and Justice Party's (FJP) parliamentary bloc, demanded that the Homeland Security chief in Port Said and General Intelligence officials be summoned to the People's Assembly (PA) to present their official reports on the clashes.

More than 5,000 of the 25,000 young school leavers who were recently recruited into the public service have failed to show up to sign their employment contracts. 'I am a university graduate and they are offering me a monthly salary of $200 plus the equivalent of $40 as rents allowance. There is no way I can accept that kind of salary. Since graduating from the university, I have been farming in the village and what I earn from the farm is triple what they are offering me so I cannot accept that,' one of the recruits who sought anonymity told Africa Review.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce its Small Grants Programme for Thesis Writing for the year 2012. The grants serve as part of the Council’s contribution to the development of the social sciences in Africa, and the continuous renewal and strengthening of research capacities in African universities, through the funding of primary research conducted by postgraduate students and professionals.

The Institute of African Studies journal Nokoko, Volume 2, is available. It includes:
- Editorial Note: The Front Lines and the Margins of a Global Anti-Poverty Movement
Toby Moorsom
- Economics of Afro-Pessimism: The Economics of Perception in African Foreign Direct Investment
Victoria Schorr
- Beyond an Epistemology of Bread, Butter, Culture and Power: Mapping the African Feminist Movement
Sinmi Akin-Aina
- Designed Disempowerment and Hegemonic Benevolence: A critical analysis of individual behavior change HIV/AIDS prevention programming in Sub-Saharan Africa
Imara Ajani Rolston
- “Something Ironic Happened on the Way to the Black Revolution”: The Politics and Power of Definition and Identity Construction within the Historiography of the African Diaspora
Leslie Wells
- Indian Hair, the After-Temple-Life: Class, Gender and Race Representations of the African American Woman in the Human Hair Industry
W. R. Nadège Compaoré
- Two Cities: Guangzhou / Lagos
Wendy Thompson Taiwo

The workshop took place around three main conversations namely: peer learning from the 2011 experiences, learning on innovative strategies to employ in the future from various experts and developing a common plan for the next implementation phase. Various experts provoked conversations around various topics including building people’s power to engage governments (Firoze Manji/Pambazuka), campaigning using digital media for social advocacy (John Kipchumbah/Huduma), play for the union (Valerie Traore/NIYEL), moving from ratification to implementation (Alexandria Muhanji/SOAWR), monitoring and evaluation (Kimberley Bowman/Oxfam and Gavin Steadman/Pamoja), evidence based policy research (Marie LaBerge), how governments navigate policy through to implementation (Dr Michael Chege/Ministry of Finance, Government of Kenya) among others. Click on the link to read the full briefing.

A tribute

Zimbabwe’s independent media regulator says it has asked law enforcement agents to bar the distribution of unregistered foreign newspapers. The ban appears targeted at a weekly newspaper published by Zimbabwean journalists exiled in the UK. South African newspapers such as The Sunday Times and the Mail&Guardian had also taken advantage of the lack of independent media to launch Zimbabwean editions that proved popular.

The rapid pace and intensity of emotion during last years’ revolutionary 18 days in Egypt is reflected in this collection of tweets from key activists of the time, who became known internationally as a result. 'Tweets from Tahrir' is the story of Egypt’s revolution told through the twitter feeds of a handful of activists, now international names as the intense interest that surrounded the uprising propelled them onto the world stage.

On 23 February senior representatives from over 40 governments and multi-lateral organisations will come together in London. The aim is to deliver a new international approach to Somalia, but the jury is out on whether the conference will break the colonial mindset that has dominated approaches to Somalia.

It was French interference in the election of the African Union Commission chairperson which cost the incumbent, former Gabonese foreign minister Jean Ping, his job. Asked about foreign interference, Mozambican Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi declined to mention France by name, but told reporters that it was indeed outside pressure that angered enough African leaders to deprive Ping of the necessary two thirds majority. Ping faced a challenge from South African Home Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, backed by SADC (Southern African Development Community).

FIDA-Uganda is seeking to recruit a Chief Executive Officer with a passion for social transformation for women’s rights, legal excellence, along with strategic vision, drive and excellent people skills.

The UN refugee agency said Friday 3 February it was alarmed by recent reports that Congolese civilians have been tortured and killed by armed groups entering camps for the internally displaced in the volatile province of North Kivu. The agency called for more security in and around the camps.

The main focus of this new entity is to support a growing transgender and intersex movement and to engage regionally in advocacy for the human rights of transgender and intersex people.