Journalist Tokunbo Ojo, once a resident of Nigeria, writes about his disgust at the treatment he experienced at the hands of US immigration officials at a Canadian border crossing.

The United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) has begun a major campaign to vaccinate thousands of women against tetanus in Mali in an attempt to halt the passing of the disease to newborn babies. Last year tetanus killed 30,000 women in developing countries across the world.

Voting ended on Sunday in the final round of Mali's parliamentary elections, with low turnout to decide most of the seats in the impoverished West African country's assembly.

TB is the single biggest killer in Ethiopia's Somali Region and clinics are few and far between. In the squalid conditions of the camps which dot the region, disease spreads like wildfire.

There has been a low turnout in the West African country of Mali for the first round of parliamentary elections. Correspondents say scepticism about the electoral process, after widespread allegations of corruption in the presidential elections, kept many voters at home.

Established in 1984 in the UK, Islamic Relief is an international NGO seeking to promote sustainable economic and social development by working with local communities - regardless of race, religion or gender - through relief and development activities. We are active in Mali since 1998. Currently, our activities are being implemented in both development and emergency fields. We require an experienced and skilled Programme Manager for our Mali office.

Refugees will return from Djibouti to Somaliland on Saturday, the UN refugee agency UNHCR announced on Wednesday. It said these first voluntary repatriations were taking place after "long negotiations" between the Djibouti and Somaliland authorities. About 14,000 refugees - out of a total of 21,700 - have registered to return.

From painkillers to antibiotics, just about any medicinal drug can be had on the streets of Mali’s towns and villages. Chances are the vendors know absolutely nothing about the chemicals from which the pills are made, or about potential side effects since none are pharmacists nor do they have any licenses to sell drugs. Yet, they and their counterparts elsewhere in West Africa administer a large percentage - estimates range from 30 to 60 percent - of the drugs sold in the subregion.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is due to begin transporting some 11,000 Somali Bantu refugees living in Dadaab refugee camps in northeastern Kenya to Kakuma refugee camp in the northwest from Wednesday, 26 June, in close collaboration with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

On 14 June 2002, RSF called on the government of Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia, to reverse its 5 June ban on all privately-owned radio stations. The Information Ministry announced that "no other voice" could be heard on the air except that of government-run Radio Hargeysa, and that privately-owned stations would not be permitted, because of "potential dangers." It warned anyone with transmitting equipment to hand it over to the authorities and warned those who did not do so would be "prosecuted in court." "This move is a serious obstacle to press freedom and the growth of independent and diverse expression in the region," RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said in a letter to Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin. "The government has taken this step because it knows most of the region's inhabitants get their news from the radio," Ménard added.

ICD is looking to recruit two development workers to work with a range of local
NGOs, LNGOs, in Somaliland assisting in building their capacity and specific
skills for community development activities.

As a key outcome of the Africa Regional Conference on the World Summ it on the Information Society (WSIS) held recently in Bamako, Mali, an African Regional Bureau has been established to work with the WSIS secretariat.

Amadou Toumani Toure has been sworn in as the new president of Mali, during a ceremony in the capital Bamako on Saturday attended by 11 other francophone African leaders. Making democratic history, Malians witnessed for the first time one constitutionally elected leader handing power to another duly elected president.

The United Nations appealed again to Kenya on Friday to move some 5,000 Somali refugees out of a ramshackle camp on the border close to where fighting continues on the Somali side. Some 17 refugees, mainly children, have died of disease and malnutrition in the camp in less than a week, according to spokesman Kris Janowski of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Mali's elections earlier this month marked an important milestone, with a democratically-elected president replaced for the first time. Former army general Amadou Toumani Touré won the election, gaining 64 per cent of the vote. He is scheduled to take office on 8 June.

Mali's Constitutional Court is deliberating whether to validate the results of the first round of presidential elections on 28 April, as the opposition steps up its campaign to have them annulled.

Since Africans have a stake in the Information Society, it is important that they be involved in the preparations of the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, 10-12 December 2003) right from the beginning of the process. All African stakeholders and their partners in development are therefore invited to attend the African Regional Conference in Bamako. Please note that important pre-conference events start on Saturday, May 25. The conference itself begins on Monday, May 28. Deadline for registration is May 20.

Camels helped carry the ballot box to Sahara Desert nomads in Timbuktu and beyond Sunday as a democracy singled out by the West as a model for Africa held a wide-open presidential race. Twenty-four candidates were competing in Mali, West Africa's largest nation and one of the world's poorest. There will be a May 12 runoff if no candidate wins an outright majority.

Mali has mandated two new bodies to ensure transparency in presidential elections due later this month, and allocated equal time on state radio and space in the government newspaper for each candidate, officials in the capital, Bamako, said on Wednesday. Some 24 candidates are vying for the presidency.

Two foreigners were yesterday arrested and powerful communication equipment seized in Nairobi's Eastleigh estate. The police said they impounded two radios, four chargers and six batteries. The radios were used to communicate with militiamen in war-ravaged Somalia.