The Malawi Law Society convened a meeting where among others they discussed attempts by former ruling DPP ministers to prevent Joyce Banda from taking over power after President Mutharika’s death. Speaking at a press briefing in Lilongwe President Joyce Banda also hinted that she wants an investigation into attempts by some DPP ministers to prevent her from ascending to the highest office in the country.

At least 18 journalists have been assaulted, injured, or arrested in the past three days (from 5 May), while covering clashes between protesters and thugs and uniformed military personnel in front of the defense ministry in the neighbourhood of Abbassiya in Cairo. The report comes from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and the Tunisian Center for Freedom of the Press have announced a training directory entitled 'Internet and Freedom of Expression'. It is the first Arabic directory containing six of the social media websites and online blogs with an explanation of how to design campaigns over the internet. This was in the occassion of International Day for the freedom of the press in Tunisia.

The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network has welcomed two resolutions adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) raising concerns about the situation of journalists in Somalia and Ethiopia. The 51st Ordinary Session of the ACHPR that took place in Banjul, The Gambia, began on 18th April and concluded 2 May 2012. Members of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net) and its secretariat actively participated in the Commission session, as well as the NGO Forum that took place on 14th-16th April.

Beading is a practice in the Samburu indigenous community of Kenya which involves the sexual engagement and exploitation of girls as young as nine years old by male relatives. Download the newsletter by Kenyan organisation Samburu Women for Education and Development Programme (SWEEDO) to find out more.

The Burundian Interior Minister ordered Human Rights Watch to cancel a news conference in the capital, Bujumbura, on May 2, 2012, that was planned to release a report on political violence in Burundi, Human Rights Watch said. The police also ordered Human Rights Watch to stop distribution of the report in Burundi. The Human Rights Watch report documents the rise of political killings in Burundi from late 2010 to late 2011.

Malawi President Joyce Banda has said she had asked the African Union to prevent Sudan's wanted leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir from attending a summit in her country, saying his visit would have 'implications' for the economy. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Sudan's President Bashir to face charges of masterminding genocide and other war crimes during his nation's Darfur conflict. Malawi angered international donors when it played host to Bashir last year - ICC members countries like Malawi are supposed to arrest people wanted by the global court.

Lawyers in Egypt said that the 14 women detained by the military on Friday were released on Sunday after the legal appeal was accepted by the military prosecutor. A total of 15 women were detained on Friday in the forced eviction of the sit-in near the ministry of defense, and military prosecutor ordered 14 of them to be held for 15 days pending investigation.

This OSISA and AfriMAP report argues that Mozambique’s commitment to providing access to education in a country scared by years of conflict, with an illiteracy rate of 90 per cent in the 1970’s, has yielded strong results. However the sector still faces several difficulties that it must tackle urgently if it is to attain the MDG goal on education and gender parity.

The Private Military & Security Companies (PMSC) newsletter published by contains updates on the impact of these companies on human rights from around the world.

Tunisian demonstrators have gathered in the capital, Tunis, to express solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, Press TV reports. Demonstrators gathered on the major Habib Bourguiba Avenue in the capital on Saturday. The event was organized by a group of Tunisian activists who had gone on a 24-hour hunger strike in support of Palestinian prisoners before the demonstration on Saturday.

A stand-off between central government and a policy advocacy group, the Uganda Land Alliance (ULA), has alarmed national level civil society organisations but seems not to have affected work by grassroots organisations in oil exploration areas. According to a public statement by the ULA, the Minister for Internal Affairs, Hillary Onek, has demanded that the Alliance withdraw a report on ‘land grabbing’ and apologise to the government for bringing Uganda into international disrepute. Onek, the Alliance says, has threatened the group with closure if they fail to meet these conditions. The controversial report, co-published in September 2011 by the Alliance and the international development and campaigning NGO, Oxfam, alleged that the National Forestry Authority evicted some 20,000 people from farmland in Mubende and Kiboga districts, in order to award a concession to the UK-based New Forest Company.

Swaziland is at position 168 among 197 nations in the world for media freedom in a survey just published by Freedom House. The kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is at number 40 among 49 countries in Africa. Freedom House concludes that the media in Swaziland is ‘not free’.

Egypt has seen a new round of violence this week as clashes broke out between protesters and unidentified aggressors at the Ministry of Defense, leaving over 11 people dead and hundreds injured on Wednesday. The thugs, [called ‘beltagia’ locally], were wearing civilian clothes and allegedly sponsored by the military, according to protesters. Al-Azhar students, Salafists, Revolutionary Socialists, the Kefaya Movement and the April 6 Youth Movement have all assembled today at the army’s headquarters to denounce the violence and demand the military’s removal.

In January 2011, after years of civil war, the people of South Sudan voted overwhelmingly for separation from the Republic of Sudan. As part of the process of separation of the two states, people of South Sudanese origin who are habitually resident (in some cases for many decades) in what remains the Republic of Sudan are being stripped of their Sudanese nationality and livelihoods. This is happening irrespective of the relative strength of their connections to either state, and their views on which state they would wish to belong to. This summary of a forthcoming detailed legal commentary from the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA) and AfriMAP looks at the issues created by the respective nationality laws of the two Sudans.

This portal impartially presents the human rights impacts of oil pollution, from all sides. What are the victims, advocates, companies and commentators saying? Are the abuses continuing? Are past abuses being addressed? Are steps being taken to prevent further spills? Do victims have effective remedies? What is the latest news about lawsuits and compensation claims? The portal’s purpose is to keep an ongoing focus on these important issues, and to provide a platform to reflect the continuing public debate.

The Kenyan security forces have committed widespread human rights abuses against ethnic Somalis with total impunity, Human Rights Watch said in a report. Between November 2011 and March 2012, Kenyan police and soldiers arbitrarily arrested and mistreated Kenyan citizens and Somali refugees in North Eastern province in response to attacks by militants suspected of links to Somalia’s Islamist armed movement al-Shabaab.

'The World According to Monsanto' is a full length documentary about biotech company Monsanto's control over the seed and food chain. It can be viewed through the weblink provided.

This hour-long video on the Ndifuna Ukwazi blog contains an interview with Doron Issacs from Equal Education. The video looks at the origins of the organisation. 'The Equal Education approach was to set up youth meetings to get young people to determine what issues were important and what hindered their performance at schools. These evolved into campaigns and activities geared to educating communities and parents on the education system, how to understand their rights and how to work with the education authorities to fix the problems that emerge.'

The National House of Traditional Leaders wants to remove a clause from the Constitution which protects people from being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. City Press reported on Sunday that the organisation was responding to an annual invitation by Parliament's constitutional review committee to submit suggestions for Constitutional amendments.