The International Veterinary Science and Medicine School of Dakar, Senegal, has launched an initiative to help pastoralists avoid conflicts, environmental problems and animal diseases during their annual migrations. Instead of relying on conversations at weekly markets, the initiative enables pastoralists to track the movement of herds and obtain information on the state of different pastures by using mobile phones, the Internet and global positioning systems.

A move to outlaw the death penalty in Senegal has ignited a debate about capital punishment in the country. "It is my point of view and my opinion that only God has the right to take someone’s life," said President Abdoulaye Wade during his July 15 announcement of a bill to ban the death penalty.

An article published by Panos has shown the widespread concern amongst civil society, farmers and the rural poor in Senegal towards the government's policy to privatise the groundnut sector. Whilst the government faces pressure from the IMF and the World Bank to speed the process up, Senegal's farmers are still struggling after the government's attempt in 2002 to privatise part of the sector. This move left thousands of rural families on the brink of starvation and the government having to respond with a $23 million bailout package. The groundnut is Senegal's second-largest export earner and contributes 31% of the national GDP.

In contrast to most sub-Saharan African countries, Senegal's successful attempts to check the spread of HIV/AIDS has transformed the country into a model over the last two decades - a source of inspiration in the global fight against the epidemic. Twenty years on Senegal is still having to battle against some die-hard attitudes, including risky sex behaviour among the youth, whose reticence to test - because of societal stigma attached to HIV positive status - is raising tremendous concern.

President Abdoulaye Wade has cancelled his summer holiday and set up an emergency task force to deal with a plague of locusts that threatens to invade the north of Senegal. Officials said swarms of mature locusts had begun laying eggs in the northern province of Matam, prompting fears of large-scale crop destruction by their offspring in a few weeks' time.

Newly-freed newspaper editor Madiambal Diagne has said he hopes his two-week spell in prison will bring about changes to media laws in Senegal, whose reputation as a haven of democracy in West Africa has been dented by the episode, according to a report by UN agency IRIN. Diagne, the editor of independent newspaper Le Quotidien, was jailed on 9 July after he published articles about alleged fraud in the customs service and alleged government interference in the judiciary.

Madiambal Diagne, publication director of the independent Senegalese daily Le Quotidien, was granted a provisional release on July 26 after being held for more than two weeks in prison. Diagne was jailed on July 9 in connection with articles published in Le Quotidien about alleged fraud in the customs service and alleged government interference in the judiciary. The criminal charges against him remain: publishing secret documents; publishing false information; and committing acts likely to cause public unrest.

Mali has signed its third agreement with a neighboring country to fight child trafficking, which UNICEF says occurs in 89 percent of African countries. Senegal joined Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso as signatories to the agreement, which mandates an annual survey of child trafficking to make sure children sent over their borders are kept safe.

Three quarters of Senegalese newspapers were missing from kiosks on Monday in a protest against last week's jailing of the publications director of independent newspaper Le Quotidien, which they described as "a vain attempt to muzzle the press". Le Quotidien's Madiambal Diagne was arrested on Friday, charged with publishing confidential documents, spreading false information and acts which compromise public security.

A new joint UNDP/UNESCO project aims at developing a new breed of committed and responsible leaders in Africa across all spectrum and segments of society. The Foundations for Africa's Future Leadership Project recently launched in Dakar, Senegal, mobilizes university students within and outside the continent, as well as young professionals who recently joined the labour market.

Matam, in the far north of Senegal was chosen to host this year’s fourth annual Africa Malaria day celebrations, with organisers highlighting the vulnerability of children to this potentially fatal mosquito-born disease. "Can we dream, one day, of a malaria-free world?" chanted a group of children to the assembled dignitaries, press and local community. This year, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, whose members include UNICEF, the WHO, the UNDP and the World Bank, worked with the government of Senegal to highlight the risks faced by children.

Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal has once again reshuffled his cabinet, appointing his fourth prime minister in as many years. Idrissa Seck, who had headed the cabinet for the past 15 months, was sacked on Wednesday. He was replaced by Macky Sall, a 43-year-old petroleum engineer and unconditional supporter of Wade, who was previously Interior Minister. Political commentators said there were two main reasons for the reshuffle. Firstly, Wade wished to bring into government the Union for Renewal of Democracy - a small opposition party headed by Djibo Ka. Secondly, political commentators said, the 77-year-old president appeared to have fallen out with Seck and wanted to replace him with someone who would show more unconditional loyalty.

A minor Senegalese politician who has confessed to re-exporting to Europe subsidised anti-retroviral drugs meant for poor Africans is gaining the support of Islamic and human rights organisations who say he is being persecuted by the government. Abdou Latif Gueye, the former president of the international charity Afrique Aide l'Afrique (AAA) has admitted buying anti-retroviral drugs from international drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline for distribution at subsidised prices to people living with AIDS in Senegal and then re-exporting part of the consignment at a profit. However, Gueye, who also heads a small political party, the Rally for Social Democracy (RDS), has been in prison for 16 months awaiting trial.

The Executive Director, who will be based in Dakar, Senegal, will be responsible for directing and managing the OSIWA office and providing leadership and acumen to all aspects of program development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to achieve the foundation’s objectives. The Executive Director should have a demonstrated commitment to open society values, excellent understanding of the social and political context of West Africa and familiarity with organizations and networks in the West Africa region.

Farmers in the field and artisans and fishermen on the sea can use their mobile phones to check prices before they set off and find out where they will get the best offer for their produce. Manobi is a Mobile & Internet added value services operator for the agri-business sector and rural communities. Manobi had developed the T2M, a system that enables users to use their mobile telephone, a PDA or Internet in order to know in real time (i) the price and arrival status of their products at the markets, and (ii) the availability of the same products in the production sites.

Is the world on track to achieve the millennium target of Education for All (EFA) by 2015? Are the six EFA commitments made in April 2000 at the World Education Forum in Dakar being met? How can we plug gaps in knowledge about schooling and improve EFA reporting, monitoring and analysis?

Up to 15,000 displaced people are expected to return to their home villages in Senegal's southern Casamance province this year as a low-level insurgency that has gone on for two decades peters out, but little is being done by the international community to assist them, Refugees International said on Friday. The New York-base pressure group said over 50,000 people had been displaced from their homes as a result of a rebellion by separatist guerrillas in the narrow strip of swampy forested land bounded to the north by Gambia and to the south by Guinea-Bissau.

Balanced above his sea canoe's empty hold, Daouda Wade levels an accusatory finger at four blots on the horizon - factory-sized foreign vessels fishing in the Atlantic off West Africa. "Those big boats have caught everything," the 33-year-old fishing captain says. The European-flagged ships are working in Senegal's waters under a four-year, 64 million-euro (about U.S.$75 million) contract between the European Union and Senegal's government, which says the agreement brings in a steady stream of sorely needed cash. "And now there's nothing left for us, the Africans," Wade says, his 25 sweat-streaked crewmen squatting idly atop unused nets piled in the bottom of the canoe.

West Africa’s HIV-AIDS pandemic has often been overshadowed by the higher infection rates in southern Africa. But the WHO’s latest global HIV-AIDS update warns strongly against complacency. WHO points out that while infection rates have remained broadly stable in Sahelian countries like Mali, The Gambia and Niger, which all have prevalence rates of less than two per cent, the figures are markedly less optimistic in Cote d’Ivoire, where adult prevalence rates have been estimated at between 10 and 12 percent.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), based in Dakar, Senegal invites applications for the post of Assistant Editor for its Publications and Communication Department. This position is considered as one of the key posts in the publications programme of CODESRIA. The successful candidate will function as part of a team in the Department of Publications and Communication of the Secretariat. S/he will work under the overall supervision of the Managing Editor and the Head of the Department.