While the IMF’s strategic plan for boosting its financial sector surveillance has not been published, the Fund continues to argue that developing countries need more liberal financial systems. Since the financial crisis, the IMF has been trying to boost its work on overseeing risks from the world’s financial system. The IMF’s strategic plan for financial sector surveillance was due to be discussed at the executive board in February, but neither a date for the actual discussion nor any policy papers were released publicly.

The April edition of the Peace and Security Council Report from the Institute of Security Studies has an article which focuses on the situation in Madagascar. 'Against the backdrop of serious obstacles in the process of implementing the Roadmap, the Malagasy military staged protests in March 2012 to air their grievances about poor living and working conditions,' notes the report. 'SADC’s failure to resolutely monitor and guarantee the implementation of the fragile Roadmap risks a relapse into violence in Madagascar,' it says later.

Basile Mahan Gahé, general secretary of the Ivory Coast national trade union center Dignité remains imprisoned in the remote town of Boundiali - some 700 kilometers from the capital Abidjan - together with common criminals. The United Nations' ILO has now formally added its voice to the international protests calling for his release. Use the form available through the link to send a message to President Ouattara (with copies to Ivory Coast embassies in France, Belgium and around the world as well as embassies in Abidjan) calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Basile Mahan Gahé.

China’s economic transformation over three decades has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. But impressive economic growth rates in the world’s largest country have come with heavy environmental costs. The air in many of China’s major cities is the most polluted in the world. The water in many major Chinese rivers is unfit for irrigation. Soils in key agricultural regions are contaminated by heavy metals. Scarce arable land and water resources and important biodiversity are being lost. China’s carbon and nitrous oxide emissions are having serious impacts both in China and at a global scale.

Shares in Cobalt International Energy fell as much as 11 per cent after news that three of the most powerful officials in Angola have held concealed interests in the Goldman Sachs-backed group’s oil venture in the African country. The fall, which wiped $900m off Cobalt’s market capitalisation, came after a Financial Times report detailed the interests.

Swazi riot police detained at least seven activists Saturday on their way to a pro-democracy church service in the central city of Manzini, one of the activists said. Wandile Dludlu from the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) and head of the banned Pudemo opposition Mario Masuku were among those held, Dludlu told AFP.

'Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives' is a series featuring 12 alternative social and economic models which expand the possibilities for justice, equity, and strong community. In the third narrative, Deborah James, a leader in the global movement for economic justice, speaks about how international financial institutions hinder countries’ efforts at poverty alleviation, instead prioritizing corporate interests. She also describes citizens’ efforts to oppose the power of these institutions, and tells of the countries that have made strides toward freeing themselves from the economic chains, providing inspiration to us all.

Lawrence Ozelle pushes aside his tool box and steps forward to confront us as we photograph Kyapaloni market - a trading centre in Kabaale parish, Buseruka sub-county, some twenty kilometre west of Hoima town. 'Who are you people?' he demands. 'Do you want to steal our land?' Ever since oil was discovered nearby, the locals say, they have had no peace. Strangers come to Kabaale on a daily basis. Some promise development, while others come and go quietly.

Government has confirmed Malawi will go ahead to host the African Union summit in June in Lilongwe this year. Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu told Zodiak Radio that hosting the summit would be an honour to late President Bingu wa Mutharika who wanted Malawi to host the summit. Before President Mutharika's death, President Joyce Banda opposed the idea of Malawi hosting the summit due to what she called poor economic situation.

65 Egyptian prisoners in Israeli jails began a open-ended hunger strike, according to a report by the Israeli Yedioth Ahronot, quoted by Egypt’s state-owned news agency MENA. The Israeli Prisons Authority also on announced that three Egyptian detainees began a hunger strike to demand their release. The 65 Egyptians are held in various prisons in the Negev Desert in the South of Israel, according to statements by Ibrahim El-Darawi, head of the Palestinian Studies Center in Cairo.

Drawing on the power of creative and entertaining arts to communicate messages, the 'Creative Arts for Youth HIV/AIDS Prevention – Music and Comics in Chamanculo', project is designed to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, as well as inspire youth to know their HIV status. Community Media for Development (CMFD) will be working with the residents of Chamanculo, a peri-urban community of Maputo, to create music and illustrated comic stories. The music will be the focus of a concert in Chamanculo, be distributed to radio stations, and become part of local band Sigauque Project’s regular repertoire of songs.

The murder of Trayvon Martin is no isolated tragedy. The murder of Black men and women by police and other state officials and by self-appointed 'keepers of the peace' is standard practice in the United States, and essential to the very fabric of the society. Please join us is pressing these demands to hold the United States government accountable for its failure to fully address the systemic problem of institutionalized racism. You can help by endorsing these demands and raising them to the Obama administration and state and local governments in every venue possible.

Launched in March 2012, the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) supports independent African research on conflict-affected countries and neighboring regions of the continent and the integration of African knowledge into global policy communities. The APN promotes the visibility of African peacebuilding knowledge among global and regional centers of scholarly analysis and practical action and makes it accessible to key policymakers at the United Nations and multilateral, regional, and national policymaking institutions by facilitating the transformation of the quality and scale of African research, consolidating the contributions of African researchers and analysts, and connecting African researchers, policy analysts, practitioners, and networks with each other and with policymaking communities around the world.

Over R570-billion will be needed for investment across South Africa's water value chain, in the coming 10 years, according to Minister for Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa. The money is needed to pay for water resources infrastructure, water services and water conservation and demand management across national government, municipalities and the country's existing 12 water boards.

Angola is ending its military mission to help modernise the army in Guinea Bissau as a result of requests from unnamed 'sectors' in the country, Portuguese news agency Lusa quoted Angola's foreign minister as saying. Guinea Bissau is currently in the middle of two rounds of voting to elect a new president to replace Malam Bacai Sanha, who died in a Paris hospital in January after a long illness.

The newest issue of the Kakuma News Reflector is now available online at The Kakuma News Reflector (or KANERE) is a refugee free press devoted to independent reporting on human rights and encampment.

While many Capetownians were running through leafy suburbs from one ocean to another and while others drank and/or sang themselves to stupor in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a unique group of about fifty people staged their second annual Welcome to Hell 'Crucession' from Gugulethu to Khayelitsha. Drenched by the pouring rain despite wearing black garbage bags, we walked, sang and danced a full 16.3 kilometres without even a peep of attention from the local newspapers. I participated in the march, which was organised by the controversial Way of Life Church based in Mandela Park in Khayelitsha because of its message that reminds all of us that 18 years since the fall of the National Party, the ghettoised townships where the poor majority are forced to live, remain a living hell.

Oil transparency activists were disappointed by a ruling against them yesterday in Nakawa High Court, Kampala, but have vowed to continue a legal battle to require the government of Uganda to publish Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) that it has reached with international oil companies. Lady Justice Faith Mwhonda rejected an application from the African Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) and three other civil society organisations for permission to present evidence at an appeal by two journalists against a separate ruling which denied them access to the PSAs.

Whether on billboards along the roads or embroidered on shirt collars, mining companies are ubiquitous in this jungle hub of Ghana's Western Region. 'They take the gold and leave these kinds of things,' says Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, executive director and co-founder of the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM).

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows rose by 16 per cent in 2011 to an estimated US$1.66 trillion, surpassing the pre-crisis levels of 2007, UNCTAD’s latest Global Investment Trends Monitor reports. This growth was due in large part to cross-border mergers and acquisitions and to increased amounts of cash reserves kept in foreign affiliates, the Monitor, No. 9, says. The report notes that much-needed direct investment in new productive assets through greenfield investment projects or capital expenditures in existing foreign affiliates appeared to be limited.