This report covers the findings of the third week (April 15 to 21, 2012) of monitoring language use on radio under Media Foundation for West Africa’s project on: Promoting issues-based and decent language campaigning in Ghana’s 2012 elections, funded by STAR-Ghana. For the week under review, indecent expressions were recorded on a total of 14 programmes aired on 11 out of the 31 radio stations being monitored under the project.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has presented the maiden report of its language monitoring project, which is aimed at promoting issues-based and decent language campaigning in this year’s elections. The first report was based on monitoring for the first week of April (April 1 to 7, 2012). The report covers findings on the second week of monitoring (April 8 to 14, 2012). In all, monitoring reports were received from 15 out of the 31 selected radio stations that are being monitored under the project. This report is, therefore, based on data gathered from the 15 radio stations, which have been named in the report.

South Africa's economic management is as risky as unsafe sex.

The Secretary General of the Trade Union Congress-Ghana (TUC), Brother Kofi Asamoah, has regretted that despite the laudable economic achievements made by Ghana in recent times, the fact remains that joblessness is on the ascendency in the country. 'The reality is that the unprecedented growth rate has failed to create decent jobs for Ghanaians.'

At least 34 people have been killed in an attack on a cattle market in north-eastern Nigeria, security officials have told the BBC. Another 29 people were injured, said Nigerian military spokesman Col Dahiru Abdussalam. The market in Potiskum, Yobe state, was set on fire by gunmen armed with explosives.

The Ethiopian government has activated a highly restrictive clause which authorises printers to censor the content of newspapers and other publications in the country. The new legal directive forced printers to take the responsibility of the reports or any other contents in any newspaper and other publications.

Nega’s wife, who has been jailed herself for her journalism, said she was accepting the award on behalf of her husband “at a time when freedom of expression and press freedoms are at the lowest point in Ethiopia.”

As Uganda joined the global community in marking World Press Freedom Day, research shows that some media houses in the country have caved in to pressure from the State and no longer report on critical issues affecting the country. Speaking at the release of a report titled: ‘Media Liberalisation in Uganda: Threatening Journalists’ Rights and Freedom’, in Kampala, Mulindwa Mukasa, the executive board chairperson of Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ) said: 'During the Buganda riots, media houses were closed while others were sternly warned to desist from covering the events of the riots. This forced some media houses to lay-off objective journalists and replace them with less critical ones.'

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) has called upon the European Union (EU) to continue to monitor the constitutional reforms that have recently taken place in Morocco. 'The EMHRN is pleased to note that the reforms include the recognition of a multifaceted Moroccan identity and the return of legislative power to the Parliament. While the Network also welcomes the inclusion of the principles of gender parity and the primacy of international law over domestic laws, it wishes to draw attention to the fact that the recognition of these principles remains subject to interpretation,' the organisation said in a statement.

Algeria Solidarity Campaign (ASC) calls for a protest in front of the Algerian Consulate on Saturday, May 5th at 3pm.

Address: 6 Hyde Park Gate, SW7 5EW (5min from High Street Kensington Station).

Fourteen persons, half of them civilians, died in Mali when they were hit by stray bullets following the eruption of violent clashes between troops loyal to the coup plotters and those still supporting the ousted President Toumani Toure, PANA learnt from official sources. In a statement, the Committee for the recovery of democracy and the restoration of the state (CNRDRE), the military junta that ousted Toure in a coup on 22 March, accused 'the intruders' of attacking the Kati barracks, the Malian national broadcaster (ORTM) and the international Bamako-Senou airport with a view to destabilizing the process of returning the country to constitutional order.

Eritrea is the world's most censored country, a new analysis by watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists has found, beating out both North Korea and Syria. Equatorial Guinea also makes it on the list of the world's ten most censored countries in the report released ahead of the World Press Freedom Day.

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Gunmen have shot dead a journalist in Somalia - the fifth such killing this year. Farhan Jeemis Abdulle, a reporter for Radio Daljir, was shot by masked men as he left his office in the north-central town of Galkayo, his colleagues say.

Togolese students arrested on 28 March and 3 April, following demonstrations at the University of Kara, have been released. Students Agnité Massama, Bitsioudi Birénam and Sidiba Mohamed who were arrested on 28 March at the University of Kara, have been released. They are members of the National Union of Pupils and Students of Togo (Union nationale des élèves et étudiants du Togo). A fourth student, Alinki M’claw, was arrested on 3 April and was also released. They had been charged with 'incitement to revolt' (incitation à la révolte) after they organized a general assembly to discuss the government's failure to honour its promise to grant benefits to support students, and scholarships on the basis of merit.

A grenade attack in a Nairobi church has killed one person and injured at least 15 others, police in the Kenyan capital say. Moses Ombati, the deputy police chief for Nairobi, confirmed the number of killed and injured. Charles Owino, deputy spokesman for the Kenyan police, said the grenade was thrown into the God's House of Miracle Church in the capital's Ngara neighbourhood.

The junta in Guinea Bissau has 'unconditionally' released the two leaders seized nearly three weeks ago, state media said Saturday. The two men include the interim President Raimundo Pareira and the former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior. Both men have since been flown to the Ivorian capital, Abidjan.

In Malawi, like most other countries in the region with the exception of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, more than 60 per cent of land is customary, meaning that it is mostly untitled and administered by local chiefs on behalf of the government, with local communities merely enjoying user rights. The system has led to many abuses, with some government officials and chiefs selling off customary lands and dispossessing smallholder farmers who are already competing for dwindling arable land as Malawi’s population increases.

Kenya Palestinian Solidarity Committee supports the freedom struggle and the consequent establishment of a democratic secular state in the entire land of pre-l948 Palestine where Muslims, Christians and Jews choose to live together in political equality, justice and prosperity for all.
They provide solidarity and link with local and international solidarity committees to create awareness of the struggles in the cultural, social, economic and political spheres in occupied Palestine through acitivities like information sharing, education campaigns, film festivals and public fora. They produce regular enewsletters on Palestine from Kenya and is an example of the solidarity coming from African countries. Visit or