Environmental groups in East Africa are objecting to a U.S. proposal to ease restrictions on the importation of threatened or endangered species, The East African reported yesterday, claiming it will only provide incentive for the hunting and killing of such animals.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has called for the immediate reappearance of the Arabic-language daily "Al-Ayam", which was suspended on 16 November 2003. The organisation has also condemned the harassment of journalists by the security services. One of Sudan's leading dailies, "Al-Ayam", which marked its 50th anniversary in October, has been suspended indefinitely on the order of the state prosecutor in charge.

Ethiopia’s teachers' association condemned on Tuesday the government’s newly introduced “cost-sharing” scheme where students must foot part of their fees. Dr Taye Wolde Semayat, president of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA) told IRIN that the policy put Ethiopia on a “slippery slope” towards privatising education.

The Resource Alliance has announced that its 5th International Workshop on Resource Mobilisation will take place in Johannesburg from 26 to 28 March 2004. The Workshop is a global forum aimed at enhancing the ability of voluntary organisations to mobilise local support.

Public goods or services (supply and access to water, electricity, land, education, health care etc.) and their availability, financing, ownership and management are a generally contested issue in almost all countries in the world. In recognising the impacts of different policies, politics and ideologies on public services, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation together with its partners, is with this Conference staging a forum for discussion, debating, exchanging views and experiences.

Search for Common Ground in Burundi has been in operation since 1995 and is a multi-dimensional program, with four in-country projects aimed at ethnic reconciliation and decreasing levels of distrust and violence: a radio studio (Radio Ijambo), a women's peace centre, a youth project, and an "integration" project. The program has 104 staff in Burundi, mostly local nationals, and support is provided from headquarters in Washington DC and Brussels. The Program Director is based in Bujumbura, Burundi, and is responsible for all aspects of the program.

This international Christian organisation is seeking a fully qualified Financial Director. Must be fluent in English and Portuguese. Must be a Christian. As a member of the Senior Management Team, you will provide leadership in all financial and administration matters, and provide strategic input on these matters to decisions to be made covering all areas of ministry.

This is a full-time appointment for an initial period of one year as of January 2004, with the possibility of extension. The researcher will be based in a field office in Kigali, Rwanda.

The UNEP/Division of Global Environment Facility (GEF) Coordination is primarily responsible for coordination of the participation by UNEP in GEF. It provides the secretariat to the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP). Under the overall authority of the UNEP/GEF Programme Coordination Committee, it organises the review by UNEP of GEF project proposals, as well as relevant project identification, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation activities.

There has been an increase in the primary gross enrollment rate of girls from 19.7% in 1991/92 to 63.0% in 2 001/02, leading Guinea to rank first among African countries for sustained growth in girls’ educational participation, according to the National Equity Committee of Guinea, a consultative body to the Ministry of Pre-University and Civic Education (MEPU-EC) that aims to promote equity between girls and boys and between rural and urban children in terms of access, retention, and achievement in school.

YouthActionNet is now seeking applications for awards to youth leaders and their emerging projects that promote social change and connect youth with local communities. Award recipients will receive US$500, which includes funds for a disposable camera to photo-document their project for an online photo gallery.

The Resource Alliance has announced that its 5th International Workshop on Resource Mobilisation will take place in Johannesburg from 26 to 28 March 2004. The Workshop is a global forum aimed at enhancing the ability of voluntary organisations to mobilise local support.

A crisis at the National Arts Council has led to the freezing of about R4-million in funding for struggling performing artists. The council is the statutory body that distributes funds for the promotion of arts and culture and awards study bursaries.

A new initiative has been launched to promote and coordinate research in Africa on the science of lasers, in a bid to help tackle a range of medical, environmental and agricultural problems facing the continent.

Uganda is not actively recruiting child soldiers into the army, but neither is it trying hard enough to stop them being recruited, a senior officer with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.

President Henrique Rosa has formally opened the first public university in Guinea-Bissau, nearly 30 years after the small West African country achieved independence from Portugal.

"The Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA) supports the striking lecturers because their struggle is legitimate, timely and long overdue. The lecturers strike comes at a time when many workers have resorted to strike action as a way of fighting for their rights in Kenya after the government failed to give them an audience."

Reporters Without Borders has condemned huge libel damages awarded against the Zanzibar independent weekly paper Dira for printing "false and malicious statements" about the children of the autonomous island-state's president, Amani Abeid Karume.

A young girl who was being abused by her father was able to get help after tuning into a talk show hosted by Sandra Ndonye, a participant in an Internews Kenya workshop. The workshop trained students in the production of HIV/AIDS talk show programs, including interviewing, recording and scripting techniques.

It is the middle of the month and the buses headed from Zimbabwe's Bulawayo to Francistown, the border town in neighbouring Botswana, 160km away, are leaving half full. But vehicles driving in the opposite direction, back to Zimbabwe, are overcrowded. That is because traders, mostly women, are returning home.