An estimated 135,000 children are at risk of polio in Somalia’s port city of Kismayo, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Three years ago, Al-Shabab insurgents banned polio vaccination in Kismayo and other parts of central Somalia.

With a plan to create documentaries on woman's justice issues through local participation of partnering organisations, this video advocacy initiative was launched in 2010 by the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice and WITNESS. The project is producing six gender justice films highlighting sexual and gender-based violence and other gender issues in armed conflicts, fragile states, and post-conflict environments. The first two videos posted are Our Plea, which exposes the attacks of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on communities in the Central African Republic (CAR), and Our Voices Matter, which highlights the multiplicity of perpetrators operating in Eastern Democratic of the Congo (DRC), the lack of accountability for these crimes, and the medical services, psychosocial assistance, and economic support needed by victims/supporters.

The UN refugee agency on Friday welcomed Brazil's recent decision to grant permanent residency to nearly 2,000 former Angolan and Liberian refugees. Brazil's Ministry of Justice issued a decree on October 26 confirming the new status for this group. The measure was adopted by the Brazilian migration authorities following a global UNHCR recommendation in January this year, asking states to apply the cessation clauses on the two refugee situations and recommending countries of asylum to pursue local integration or an alternative status for former refugees.

A new report by the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children details how we can save six million lives over five years simply by improving access to 13 vital products. Using standard UN language, the report focuses on tearing down barriers that limit access to these products by solving regulatory and supply chain issues. The solutions it proposes aren’t simple, but they’re also not controversial, says this article on the site.

A heated debate ensued in Parliament after Kawe lawmaker Halima Mdee moved a private motion calling on the House to adopt a resolution pressing the government to suspend the allocation of huge chunks of land for investment to foreigners. Tabling the motion, the outspoken MP, who also doubles as shadow minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development said increasing land conflicts in various corners of the country had prompted her to call for suspension of allocation of parcels of land to foreign investors.

President Museveni has been in touch with the Congolese rebel group, the M23, and told them to stop fighting, Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga has revealed. Dr Kiyonga told the Sunday Monitor newspaper, in an exclusive interview, that secret meetings have been going on between Ugandan authorities and the rebels fighting President Joseph Kabila’s government, following a request by the Secretary General of International Conference for Great Lakes Region, Mr Ntumba Luaba. The revelation by the minister comes at a time when Uganda is fighting to clear its name with the UN, who, in a leaked report, accused Uganda of supporting the rebel group.

Swaziland Members of Parliament say they are being banned from the radio airwaves by the government. They say it is because of a policy made by the Swazi Cabinet. A row erupted in the House of Assembly when MPs accused Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini of keeping them off the airwaves. In Swaziland broadcasting is state controlled and the PM is editor-in-chief of the SBIS radio stations and the Swazi TV Channel.

This article analyzes the impact of agro-industrial policies on women and the key role that peasant women in the Global North and South play in the production and distribution of food. It analyzes how the dominant agricultural model can incorporate a feminist perspective and how the social movements that work towards food sovereignty can incorporate a feminist perspective.

An Ethiopia woman revealed that she was the victim of sex slavery after she attempted to find work as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia. For H, who asked that her identity remain anonymous, her ordeal began after she took a boat to Yemen, where after two months she was able to cross into Saudi Arabia and was hired by what she told Bikyamasr.com was a 'nice couple' for a 'decent salary.' Tens of thousands of Ethiopian migrants and refugees have entered Yemen since the end of July, according to a new report published by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC).

Iran is making calculated steps to bolster trade in the continent. Due to sanctions, Iran’s economy – heavily dependent on oil revenue - has suffered and inflation has risen. Iran has been trying to use its crude oil as leverage, but trade with the West has gone down.

A 21 October attack in Guinea-Bissau - when soldiers stormed barracks near Bissau's main airport, targeting military figures and leaving six people dead - has provoked more fear than the numerous coups and counter-coups of recent years. The transitional government branded the attack a coup attempt, and accused former colonial power Portugal of backing it in an attempt to propel former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, who is in exile there, back into power. Within days, alleged coup leader Captain Pansau N'Tchama was arrested on the island of Bolama, in the Bijagos archipelago. He is expected to face a military court later in the year.

This paper analyses through empirical data women’s reality in Northern Mozambique related to land tenure. Two different kinship systems coexist in Mozambique, one patrilineal in force in Southern Mozambique and one matrilineal in parts of the centre and North of the country. The paper argues that in the current context, the right of women to access and administer land is being limited not so much by traditional and customary social rules and law, but rather by the adverse socioeconomic context which characterizes the whole peasant sector.

Researchers unveiling critical trial results of a potentially major anti-malaria vaccine are expressing disappointment that the drug’s efficacy levels have proved lower than they had anticipated. Following on decades of research, the third phase of testing on a vaccine known as RTS,S found that the drug reduced malaria rates among infants (age six to 12 weeks) by about a third, far lower than expected. The study, funded largely by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is part of the largest malaria trial ever conducted, taking place in seven African countries.

With South Africa still reeling from mining sector strikes in Marikana, Cosatu has called for nationwide stay-way in the agriculture sector in support of farmworkers in De Doorns who today entered their second week of striking for higher wages. Passop’s organiser in De Doorns, Owen Maromo, said none of the striking farmworkers reported to work. He said about 5,000 strikers had gathered on an open field in the Stofland informal settlement waiting for Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich to address them.

Chinese land grabs in Africa are a media myth and the country's involvement across the continent is nowhere near as dominant as reports suggest, according to regional expert Professor Deborah Brautigam. Speaking at Citywire Berlin 2012 Professor Brautigam, director of the international development programme at John Hopkins University/SAIS and author of 'The Dragon's Gift:The Real Story of China in Africa', said there is a belief that China's investment in Africa is purely to procure land and natural resources for its' own ends. 'I think these myths persist because people are not looking very closely at the evidence and, in fact, they are not interested in looking closely at the evidence,' she said.

Kenya was elected on Monday 12 November to one of the coveted seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council. There was no expressed opposition to Kenya in the 193-nation General Assembly, which decides the make-up of the 47-member council. Kenya was one of five countries nominated to fill five open seats on the Geneva-based council that are reserved for African states.

The mining arm of Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz's business empire has accused the government of Guinea of seeking to 'illegally seize' its assets through a probe into how it won rights to mine part of a major iron ore deposit. Privately owned BSG Resources, which has been working in the West African country with Brazilian mining major Vale, confirmed it had received a letter from a government commission alleging improper behaviour and graft in its winning of rights to develop blocks in the Simandou region.

Egypt's national body for women's issues, the National Council for Women, held a conference on Monday entitled 'Egyptian women reject the draft constitution'. According to the Council's head, Mervat El-Tellawy, the draft constitution has not taken into consideration various international charters and agreements which Egypt has signed. Furthermore, the Al-Azhar document of suggested principles for all parties to abide by while writing the constitution has not been incorporated into the draft.

The plight of women in Swaziland is far from over as parliamentarians opposed the protection of women from stalking. Senators were discussing the longstanding Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill of 2000. The proposed law seeks to protect among others women from unlawful stalking. The senators argued that stalking was part of social cultural norms hence proscribing it will violate the culture of Swazis.

West African heads of state will meet in Abuja on Sunday to adopt a plan for their troops to recapture northern Mali from radical Islamists, the grouping said in a statement. Once approved by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders, the strategy 'will then be transmitted through the African Union, before November 15, to the UN Security Council'.