It's a dream come true for African women, says Litha Musyimi-Ogana, the African Union's chief pointsperson on gender issues as she hails the election of the first female head of the AU Commission, saying more women in positions of power will spur the continent's resurgence. 'We are extremely elated about the election of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who has broken the glass ceiling by becoming the first elected woman head of the AU Commission. It's good news for Africa and for the African women,' Musyimi-Ogana, director, women, gender and development directorate, in the AU Commission, said.

On 16 July, civil society organisations demanded the postponement of the elections scheduled for August 31 over claims of a lack of adequate provisions for free and fair polls. A day earlier, police arrested several hundred demonstrators for alleged public disorder at the Sao Paolo market. In the coming weeks, Luanda and major cities are likely to experience an upsurge in public protests from opposition parties, war veterans and civil society groups.

While global HIV funding has stayed flat in recent years, poorer countries have quietly been putting more of their own money into financing the HIV response. 'Something very interesting has been happening' in Africa, Bernhard Schwartländer, director of strategy at UNAIDS told a plenary session at the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington DC. Treatment numbers are rising despite stagnant funding. 'A lot of very clever and dedicated people are working very hard in making sure that services are delivered more efficiently, and...more people receive HIV services with the same amount of money.'

This course provides a policy lens on social exclusion and marginalisation, providing a theoretical framework for understanding the process by which certain groups are systematically disadvantaged. Furthermore, the course will look at the ways in which systematic discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, caste, descent, gender non-confirmation, age, disability, HIV status, migrant status or where they live, shaped certain communities’ social prospects, access to services and ability to mobilise in defence of their rights.

This Africa Today recording is of a special program highlighting the countries of Mali and Nubia and the efforts to prevent the destruction of Africa’s history. The guests include: Professor Manu Ampim, Dr. Runoko Rashidi, and Shayaam Shabaka.

An estimated one million people in Madagascar are diabetic, but only about half of them know it. Finding the other half presents a major challenge for this large, island nation in which 80 per cent of the population live in rural areas where few people have ever heard of this chronic and potentially deadly disease. With the country’s underfunded public health sector barely functioning, this task has mainly fallen to the Madagascan Diabetes Association which dispatches its doctors and nurses to the provinces to conduct blood sugar tests and raise awareness at fairs, schools and health centres.

The United States said Sunday it is suspending military aid to Rwanda because of 'deep concerns' over evidence it is supporting a mutiny in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. State Department spokeswoman Darby Holladay said Washington 'has decided it can no longer provide foreign military financing appropriated in the current fiscal year to Rwanda.'

Transnational organized crime activities, and the money they generate, appear to play a significant role in perpetuating the instability, lawlessness and violence, particularly in the East of the DRC. It is estimated that in the East of the DRC, there are still between 6,500 and 13,000 active members of armed groups who are benefiting from criminal activity. The Organized Crime and Instability in Central Africa threat assessment describes the interconnections between different criminal actors, outlines the various trafficking flows and identifies some possible options for intervention.

The Forum of National Human Rights Organisations (FONADH), an umbrella organisation of about 15 non-governmental organisations, has strongly condemned the repression of a recent peaceful demonstration by workers of the Copper Mining Company of Mauritania (MCM) that led to the death of one worker and injuries to several others. In a statement issued in Nouakchott, FONADH demanded that the authorities should 'clarify the circumstances of the death of Mohamed Ould Mechdhoufi.' It demanded that those responsible for the death of the worker be brought to justice, saying 'FONADH considers them responsible for the consequences of this barbaric act and demands the immediate release of detained workers'.

Madagascar's deposed ex-president Marc Ravalomanana has arrived in the Seychelles ahead of landmark talks with current leader Andry Rajoelina. The 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), which is mediating in the crisis, is expected to bring the two men face to face on Wednesday. SADC has set a 31 July deadline for the two rivals to settle their differences so that a timetable for elections in Madagascar can be unveiled next week.

President Michael Sata says former president Rupiah Banda is trying to divide Zambians on ethnic lines. Sata says he does not understand why it should be up to Rupiah Banda to decide what race, tribe and region a president should come from. The Post, quoting unknown sources wrote that Rupiah Banda wants Hakainde Hichilema and Nevers Mumba to enter into an alliance but wants it to be led by Hichilema because he doesn’t want a Bemba to rule again, MMD sources have revealed.

International medicines financing mechanism UNITAID will invest more than US$140 million to evaluate point-of-care HIV diagnostic and monitoring technology in seven African countries. New technology could help put more people living with HIV on treatment faster and improve care, UNITAID partners said at the international AIDS conference in Washington DC. Point-of-care (PoC) technology provides health workers with access to complicated test results at the clinic level, but can also change how patients use the health system - not always for the better.

Fixed-term contract to December 2013
Location: London (six months) relocating to regional hub for the remainder of contract
Salary: £60,072 per annum pro rata (London);
Appropriate competitive salary when based in the regional hub

At Amnesty International (AI) we fight injustice on a global scale. To do that well, we need strong and coherent leadership across each of the regions in which we operate. Developing and rolling out our programme strategy for the Africa region that’s exactly what you’ll provide.

Kwame Dawes, Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, is pleased to announce the establishment of the African Poetry Book Fund. Starting in January 2014, the Series will publish four new titles by African poets each year. In addition, the Series will publish an anthology every few years representing themes, ideas and poets from across the African continent. Of the four books published, one will be a winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, and a second will be a new and selected volume by a major African poet. The winner of the Sillerman prize will also receive a $1000 in cash.

The ongoing protests in Sudan have shaken the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to its core, writes Ahmed Kodouda, senior program associate for the East and Horn of Africa Programme at Freedom House. 'To understand the complex challenge the Sudanese people face, it is imperative to unpack the ruling NCP and its internal components. Fundamentally, the NCP administration is an amalgamation of three distinct yet inextricably linked entities: the Sudanese military, the Islamic Movement in Sudan (Sudan's Muslim Brotherhood) and the ruling party (or the clique of individuals and businesses under Bashir).'

In June, the International Rescue Committee, a US based non-governmental organisation, published a report on domestic violence in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone, finding that abuse - including burning, battery, rape and psychological violence - is common in all three West African countries. The report stated that more than 60 per cent of women in the countries examined are survivors of violence, primarily by their intimate partners.

Tunisia's ex-strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been sentenced in absentia to life in prison for complicity in the murders of 43 protesters in the 2011 revolution that toppled him, a military judge has said. Hedi Ayari of the Tunis military court said that Ben Ali was judged with around 40 of his former officials, including General Ali Seriati, ex-head of presidential security, who was given a 20-year prison term.

A global super-rich elite had at least $21 trillion (£13tn) hidden in secret tax havens by the end of 2010, according to a major study. The figure is equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies combined. The Price of Offshore Revisited was written by James Henry, a former chief economist at the consultancy McKinsey, for the Tax Justice Network.

South Africa’s disgraced former police commissioner Jackie Selebi, who also served as the President of Interpol, has received a medical parole, clearing the way for his immediate release from prison. Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele told a media briefing in Pretoria that his department had limited capacity to provide for the palliative care needed by some offenders. He was referring to Selebi’s medical problems, including the need for dialysis because of kidney problems.

Analysts critical of Zimbabwe's draft constitution say it is a flawed collection of compromises that is doomed to be 'thrown away by future nations'. The proposed document, which will be subject to a referendum, was crafted by experts from the main political parties to a power-sharing government that has been in place since a violence-marred 2008 election. The draft curtails presidential powers and limits terms to 10 years.