International Rivers’ new report argues that the World Bank’s top-down approach to infrastructure should be replaced by a strategy that prioritizes the needs of the poor. In its new report, 'Infrastructure for Whom? A Critique of the Infrastructure Strategies of the Group of 20 and the World Bank', International Rivers calls into question the ability of megaprojects to address the needs of the poor. The report instead offers another, more eco-friendly solution.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is launching a call for proposal for all interested researchers and academics in its Multinational Working Group (MWG) on a theme titled: 'Land grabs and food sovereignty in Africa'. MWG is one of the flagship research vehicles that is employed by CODESRIA to promote multi-country, multi-disciplinary and inter-generational reflections on critical questions of concern to the African social science research community. Each MWG will be led by two coordinators who have different specializations and possibly constitute a gender mix. The size of a single MWG should utmost be fifteen researchers. An independent selection committee will screen the proposals and select those that have a relatively better quality and depth. The life span of the project will be 18 months during which time all aspects of the research process should be completed and the final manuscript submitted for publication in a CODESRIA book series.

The MDC-T has embarked on a new diplomatic offensive to galvanise support from the region, for the far-reaching legislative reforms needed in Zimbabwe before elections can be held. The country will again be the focus of attention at next week’s SADC summit in Luanda, Angola, at which regional leaders will discuss the ongoing political crisis blocking implementation of the GPA and election roadmap.

The complex relationship between violence against women (VAW) and information and communication technologies (ICTs) is a critical area of engagement for women's rights activists. ICTs can be used as a tool to stop VAW, while VAW can be facilitated through the use of ICTS. However, few women's rights activists are working actively on this issue. Consequently, a political and legal framing of the intersection between these issues is not established in most countries.

The International Refugee Rights Initiative has launched the seventh paper in its series on Citizenship and Displacement in the Great Lakes Region. The paper, 'Darfurians in South Sudan: negotiating belonging in two Sudans' is about the construction of citizenship, identities and belonging at a moment of profound political change: the secession of South Sudan from the Republic of Sudan (Sudan or North Sudan) that took place on 9 July 2011. The full paper can be accessed through the website of

A South African court Tuesday 22 May convicted one of the two accused black farmworkers in the murder of white supremacist leader Eugene Terre'Blanche. 'After all the evidence given, I conclude that accused number one (Chris Mahlangu) is guilty as charged,' said Judge John Horn in the High Court sitting in Ventersdorp in northwest South Africa. Co-accused Patrick Ndlovu, who was a minor at the time of the crime, was found guilty only of house-breaking, and not guilty on charges of murder and robbery.

The Raise Hope for Congo campaign has launched 'I Am Congo,' a new video series highlighting voices from the ground. The series profiles five inspiring Congolese individuals - Fidel Bafilemba, Amani Matabaro, Denise Siwatula, Petna Ndaliko, and Dominique Bikaba - who are making a difference in their communities.

Revival of Pan-Africanism Forum presents:

Celebrating the Life of Thomas Sankara with a roundtable discussion on
Revolution and Counterrevolution in Africa

The 25th anniversary of the assassination of Thomas Sankara provides a moment for reflection upon Sankara’s life and his contributions to PanAfrican thought and the relevance of his thinking to the uprisings currently in North Africa and beyond.

Speakers include:

Patricia Daley, Lecturer in Geography at Jesus College, University of Oxford

Jeremy Keenan, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, London School of Oriental and African Studies

Gnaka Lagoke, Founder, The Revival of PanAfricanism Forum

Firoze Manji, Editor in Chief, Pambazuka News

Carina Ray, Department of History, Fordham University

Date: 8 June, 2012

Time: 2.30pm - 6.30pm

Location: Habakkuk Room, Jesus College

For more information, please contact
Joseph Kangah [email][email protected] Amber Murrey [email][email protected] or visit us at www.revivalofpanafricanism.org

A minister in Ivory Coast has been sacked over his alleged role in the disappearance of millions of dollars meant for victims of pollution. Adama Bictogo says he has not done anything wrong. The case relates to a 2006 incident in which thousands became ill after toxic waste was dumped in Abidjan.

'The world economy is no less fragile today than it was on the eve of the 2009 Conference. And Developing Economies are just as exposed to downside risks from Advanced Economies as they were then, but their policy space has narrowed in the interim. There can be little doubt that there is a lot Developing Economies could do to strengthen their own fundamentals and reduce dependence on foreign markets, capital and commodities to gain greater autonomy.' This is according to The South Centre's Chief Economist, Dr. Yilmaz Akyüz, who took part as a speaker at the UN General Assembly's two-day Thematic Debate on the State of the World Economy, held in New York on 17-18 May 2012. The presentation can be accessed from the South Centre's website.

As Russia’s new president Vladimir Putin begins a new phase of economic growth, trade experts are keeping a watchful eye on Moscow’s policies with the African continent, which they see as a huge, untapped source of economic opportunity. But experts like Dmitri M. Bondarenko, vice director for research at the Institute for African Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences and a long-time critic of Russia’s stagnant relationship with Africa under Dmitry Medvedev’s administration, is not very hopeful that a new president will bring any change.

Poor countries can expect to see their debt repayments to the rest of the world increase by an average of a third by 2014, as they battle with the consequences of the financial crisis in the west, according to a new report by the Jubilee Debt Campaign. In its report 'The State of Debt', Jubilee uses predictions from the IMF and World Bank to show that among 61 poor countries it analysed, total debt repayments are expected to rise by a third on average over the next two years as a result of the slower growth and shaky financial system in the rest of the world.

Every year, the International Lesbian and Gay Association produces maps on Gay and Lesbian rights in the world as well as its State Sponsored Homophobia report. Most material is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, this year the world map has been also produced in Chinese, Hindi and German. You can download them at the page accessible through the web address provided.

The National Press Commission (CNP), the print media regulatory body has suspended Notre Voie, a privately-owned pro-opposition daily newspaper for four publications. The suspension takes effect from 19 May 2012. According to the Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) correspondent, the decision of the regulatory body follows the publication of material that the commission says amounts to distortion of facts.

About 100 people have died of cholera, although the Ministry of Health put the death toll at 73, while thousands are being hospitalised in different health centres. The number of people affected has increased to 3,111 from 2,200 in March in 13 districts of northern, eastern and western Uganda.

New collection of rendition data brings together records of over 1100 victims and shows involvement of 45 countries

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

Ministry of Information

Press release

A group of rappers in Angola known for their anti-government lyrics have been beaten up in the capital, Luanda. About 15 masked men burst into the house where they were meeting. 'They didn't say a word, they just started to beat the people,' Kady Mixinge, a member of the group who was injured in the raid, told the BBC.

The verdict on 22 May 2012, in the trial of those accused of killing Ernest Manirumva, a Burundian anti-corruption activist, has been a missed opportunity to deliver justice, 20 Burundian and international nongovernmental organizations said today in a joint statement. The outcome was a grave disappointment to those who have campaigned for his killers to be held to account, as potentially important evidence in the case was not pursued. Manirumva had been investigating several sensitive cases at the time of his killing in 2009, including allegations of large-scale police corruption and illegal weapons purchases. 'The Public Prosecutor willfully ignored calls to investigate senior figures within the Burundian security services and national police who may have been involved in the killing of Manirumva,' said Hassan Shire Sheikh, executive director of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project.

As a food crisis continues to spread and levels of severe acute malnutrition continue to rise in Chad, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is expanding the number of emergency malnutrition treatment programs it is operating in the country. Even in a normal year, Chad has one of the highest rates of chronic malnutrition in the world. This year is showing signs of being worse than usual. In early 2012, in some areas of the country, rates of global acute malnutrition as high as 24 per cent have already been reported among children under the age of five.