The one-year anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday' - when 25 died during clashes with the Egyptian army at a peaceful protest for Christian rights outside Cairo's state media headquarters - is a stark reminder that no one has been held responsible for the deaths of those killed, reports www. english.ahram.org.eg.

Nigeria's attorney general said the country would not appeal an international ruling that handed the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to its neighbour Cameroon ten years ago, despite calls from the Senate to re-open the dispute. Nigeria gave up Bakassi in 2008 after years of political disputes, legal skirmishes and violence that killed dozens of people and nearly pushed the two nations into war. Its decision not to pursue a legal challenge was an attempt to avoid a new diplomatic row over the disputed territory.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the violence inflicted upon a journalist by security forces in Togo on Friday 5 October. According to Independent Journalists Union in Togo (UJIT in French), an IFJ affiliate, journalist Justin Anani was attacked by security forces while covering a protest march organized by two opposition groups, the 'Collectif Sauvons le Togo' and 'Mouvement Arc-en ciel' in the capital Lomé.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has threatened to pull out of the inclusive government if his party supporters continue to be victims of political violence. Speaking in Zaka, Masvingo province this weekend, the Premier said he would soon convene an emergency council meeting to decide whether or not to stay in the inclusive government. The district of Zaka witnessed some of the worst cases of political violence during the 2008 elections. A number of MDC-T supporters were petrol bombed and killed during the orgy of violence, largely perpetrated by soldiers and ZANU PF militia.

Doris Appiah, 57, has bipolar disorder. In her early twenties, she was sent to an overcrowded psychiatric hospital followed by a 'prayer camp' to be treated. She stayed there for five years, at times tied to a wall or forced to fast. Her story is mirrored by thousands of mentally ill people across Ghana, according to a 2 October Human Rights Watch (HRW) report entitled Like a Death Sentence. The government is trying to update the country’s mental health care laws, starting with the passing of the 2012 Mental Health Act. The act is supposed to improve access to mental health services and prevent abuse. But HRW says the law does not go far enough as it only addresses the formal health sector rather than community-based mental healthcare needs.

The United States (US) presidential election will be held on November 6, 2012, and as the campaign enters the home stretch, it's clear that the outcome of the race is likely to have big and lasting implications for the future orientation of the country's foreign policy. The stakes are also substantial for the United States' diplomatic interlocutors, including those on the African continent with some critical actions to undertake on the current Mali crisis and many other issues. Global Voices looks at what bloggers are saying about the elections.

As a large contingent of armed forces and armed militias surround Bani Walid in preparation for a possible assault, Amnesty International has called on the Libyan authorities to avoid unnecessary and excessive use of force in the city and to ensure that medical and other essential supplies are allowed into the city. On 25 September, Libya’s parliament, the General National Congress authorized the Ministries of Interior and Defence to use force if necessary to arrest suspects including those responsible for the alleged torture and killing of Omran Shaaban, credited with capturing Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi on 20 October 2011.

The government of Uganda is planning to establish a US$1 billion-dollar HIV trust fund to finance local HIV programmes. According to a working paper released in September, Justification for Increased and Sustainable Financing for HIV in Uganda, the fund will generate cash through levies on bank transactions and interest, air tickets, beer, soft drinks and cigarettes, as well taxes on goods and services traded within Uganda. Small fees will also be levied on civil servants' salaries; corporate and withholding tax will be increased slightly; and a small tax will be added to telephone calls and to each kilowatt of electricity consumed.

The media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has accused Chad of intimidating journalists and called on the government to halt those actions with immediate effect. It said in a statement that Chadian authorities were abusing the judicial and law enforcement systems to silence news coverage critical of the government's performance, censoring publications and targeting one editor with an unjust criminal conviction.

Relations between the European Union (EU) and SA have soured since the government indicated last month that it was cancelling bilateral investment treaties with the bloc's member states. The government argues that the treaties restrict its ability to transform SA's economy. But its largest trade and investment partner says cancelling them will raise the cost of investment in SA. The EU fears it is a victim of political bias, and feels shunned by SA's growing relationship with China and other Brics nations.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has opened an investigation into publicly funded construction at the private residence of President Jacob Zuma, City Press reported. Reports have estimated the cost of the work to be between R203 million and R238 million.

Several shells have landed in the capital of Sudan's South Kordofan state, near the country's southern border, witnesses say. A UN worker said five shells landed in and around the town of Kadugli, leading aid workers to seek shelter with peacekeepers. Rebels have been fighting in South Kordofan since last year but the state capital has been largely peaceful.

In May 2012, Olam International announced a REDD project for 'sustainable forest management' in the Republic of Congo. The project is a public-private partnership between Olam International’s subsidiary CIB (Congolaise Industrielle des Bois) and the Government of the Republic of Congo. The little information that is available about this proposed REDD project sets off just about all the REDD alarm bells, says this post from Olam International is notorious for its involvement in illegal logging in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2007, the World Bank’s private sector arm the International Finance Corporation sold its shares in Olam International. Greenpeace described Olam International as a 'Congo-trashing company'.

International land investors and biofuel producers have taken over land around the world that could feed nearly 1 billion people. Analysis by Oxfam of several thousand land deals completed in the last decade shows that an area eight times the size of the UK has been left idle by speculators or is being used largely to grow biofuels for US or European vehicles.

Since Bosco Ntaganda’s mutiny in April 2012 and the creation of the 23 March rebel movement (M23), violence has returned to the Kivus. This crisis shows that today’s problems are the same as yesterday’s because the 2008 framework for resolution of the conflict has yet to be put in place, says this briefing from the International Crisis Group. Instead of implementing the 23 March 2009 agreement between the government and the CNDP (National Council for the Defence of the People), the Congolese authorities pretended to integrate the CNDP into political institutions, while the rebel group pretended to integrate into the Congolese army.

Nearly a quarter of Kenyans expect a presidential vote in March to be marred by post-election violence, an opinion poll showed, raising fears of a repeat of unrest in 2007/8 when more than 1,200 people were killed after a disputed ballot. Kenya's 4 March poll will be closely watched and any serious violence is likely to be viewed dimly by the United States which has urged Kenya to hold free and fair elections and to be a role model for Africa.

The faculty of Human and Social Sciences at the University of Tunis closed on Thursday last week and suspended classes for three days after violent confrontations broke out between Islamist and leftist students, causing considerable damage to classrooms and facilities – and promising a difficult academic year to come. The incident at the institution’s oldest faculty revived memories of a long history of clashes at the University of Tunis between leftists and Islamists.

A Cameroon court has suspended sale of a new book which alleges that the country's growth has been held by bogus sects run by people close to the authorities. The move came after country's Science and Research minister, Madeleine Tchuinte, took to court the author of the book titled 'Cameroon Under the Dictatorship of Lodges, Sects, Magico-Anal and Mafia Networks'.

Rwanda’s military intelligence department known as J2 has illegally held scores of civilians in military detention without charge or trial amid credible claims of torture, Amnesty International states in a new report. 'Rwanda: Shrouded in Secrecy: Illegal Detention and Torture by Military Intelligence' reveals unlawful detention, enforced disappearances, as well as allegations of torture by J2. The report details credible accounts of individuals being subjected to serious beatings, electric shocks and sensory deprivation to force confessions during interrogations.

Oil and gas discovers in East Africa have re-ignited long-standing territorial disputes in areas believed to possess significant petroleum deposits. This week, Malawi announced it would take Tanzania to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, over the disputed ownership of Lake Malawi, known in Tanzania as Lake Nyasa. Tanzania claims that colonial era treaties between Great Britain and Germany demarcated the border down the middle of the lake but since independence Malawi has claimed sovereignty over the whole of its northern reaches.