On this International Day of Rural Women we, the undersigned organisations, call on African governments to end discrimination against rural women in Africa, especially in their access to traditional leadership roles and inheritance rights.

6 October is the anniversary of the first act of terrorism against civilian aviation in the Western hemisphere – the unparalleled Cubana air disaster on the coastline of Barbados on October 6, 1976. Cubana flight 455 was hit by two bombs just after take off from the then Seawell Airport (now the Grantley Adams International Airport) in Barbados

Sudanese security forces are holding the students following a crackdown that raises many questions. Some of the students are reported to have been tortured.

Survival has uncovered serious abuses of Baka “Pygmies” in Southeast Cameroon, at the hands of anti-poaching squads supported and funded by the WWF. Instead of focusing on organized poaching, these squads arrest, beat up and torture Baka people who hunt only to feed their families.

AbM have survived nine years of repression. Despite their heroic victories and struggles in communities, the ruling party and the state continue to unleash violence and lies against the movement. This must stop.

Are assassinations, manipulation of the criminal justice system and intimidation used regularly to protect greedy officials plundering the KwaZulu-Natal public purse? It would seem so when reviewing incidents of violence relating to housing and tender allocations over the last six years in poor communities across Durban.

Farmers, indigenous peoples and NGOs take to streets in ten cities demanding an end to World Bank’s morally bankrupt development

Members of Parliament on 15 September scrapped the proposed tax on kerosene, which would hurt low-income earners. But last week President Museveni revoked Parliament’s decision, saying the government needs taxes from kerosene to finance its Shs15 trillion budget. Call, SMS or email your MP to reject Museveni’s move

Karuturi has seemingly lost control of its operations in Kenya, the Netherlands and Ethiopia, there is not much left for the company to hold onto, except some small operations in India – and a whole lot of debt.

New report shows that resources are transferred from small-scale farmers to multinational agribusinesses. The farmers are trapped in a cycle of debt and dependency on costly external inputs with limited long-term benefit.

This is part of the global campaign to isolate Israel through boycott, divestment and sanctions because of the Jewish nation’s murderous violence and apartheid against the Palestinian people.

The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who were unjustly imprisoned in the United States after being arrested by the FBI on Sept. 12, 1998 and convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami in 2001, in a political prosecution by the U.S. government.

Civil society groups and individuals are piling pressure on the Kenyan justice system to investigate and prosecute a well known writer and newspaper columnist Tony Mochama who allegedly sexually assaulted the celebrated poet

The Transitional Justice Tafakari Forum
Date: 6-10th October 2014
Venue: Kampala
Theme: Towards a self sustaining Transitional Justice in Africa

Fahamu in its efforts to create spaces for dialogue and debate to amplify Africa-centred voices, perspectives and solutions has partnered with Refugee Law Project, a Uganda based organisation to organise a dialogical space for conversation and reflection on the complexities of the current transitional justice policies and processes in addressing the concerns of post-conflict societies in Africa.

The forum brings together representatives from the Civil Society, legal scholars/practitioners, researchers, anthropologists, economists, sociologists and activists working with communities that have been victims of collective violence from Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda.

The Tafakari Forum happening on the 6-7th October 2014, at At Speke Resort Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda followed by an Oral History Tour in Northern Uganda on the 8-9th, 2014.

It aims at realising the following:
• Advance on the ongoing critical analysis of Transitional Justice mechanisms in Africa to unearth their complexities, contestations and contradictions in promoting accountability for past atrocities, justice for victims of violence and reconciliation;
• Deriving of context-based action points in promoting self-sustaining Transitional Justice processes that are considerate of the African realities and contexts.

You can follow the conversations on Twitter #TransitionInAfrica and on live streaming at and engage in this crucial Pan Africa dialogue.

On 23 September 2014, human rights lawyer Ms Wendy Wanja Mutegi was forced to cancel her scheduled community meetings for fear of attack from a group of men who had threatened to harm her if she does not halt her advocacy work on behalf of an indigenous community in Eastern Kenya.

Nigerian security forces have consistently failed to deter and halt attacks on civilians, including mass abductions. There is also mounting evidence of grave human rights violations and possible war crimes, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and acts of torture, committed against civilians by the security forces and local vigilante groups

The alleged sexual assault on the Kenyan poet has sparked a hot discussion in the country social media and literary circles. The accused, a journalist and writer, denies the claim.

Pambazuka News invites articles on the question of Transitional Justice in Africa to help readers make sense of the debate in order to effectively play their roles as citizens of Africa.

Thomas Deve died on September 7, 2014. He was a visionary, Pan-Africanist and thinker in human rights and arts circles. Here is to him at a commemoration held in Nairobi.

BDS South Africa mourns the passing of Palestinian solidarity and student activist, Comrade Yusuf Talia. We also celebrate Cde. Talia’s inspiring life!