The attack on Mali's president Diancounda Traore by angry protesters puts the post-coup transition in the West African country in danger, the UN says. The diplomatic efforts by the west African bloc Ecowas to convince the leaders of the March coup to accept Traore’s 12-month transition have been 'put seriously in danger by these latest developments [and] maybe other options will now have to be considered,' France’s UN ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters in Abidjan.

A government minister has warned workers in the kingdom that they cannot invite trade unionists from overseas to Swaziland without permission. Lufto Dlamini, Minister of Labour and Social Security, said Swazi unions could not have any meetings with organisations which had not informed government of their mission. He was reacting to a meeting that took place 21 May between Swazi unionists and a delegation of workers from the UK and the Netherlands.

Madagascar has a low level of HIV prevalence, and managing its AIDS programme should present no major difficulties. But the apparent advantage of a low infection rate, combined with the ongoing political crisis, has brought its own challenges. Madagascar, and the neighbouring islands states of Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles, are anomalies in the context of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Prevalence is very low - around 0.37 per cent, or 24,000 confirmed cases - and restricted to a few sections of the population. Recent research has revealed that the groups most infected are men having sex with men (14 per cent), intravenous drug users (7 per cent) and prison populations. HIV prevalence among female commercial sex workers is relatively low.

A farmer who says that Heritage Oil dumped dozens of truckloads of waste in a pit dug on his land, a few kilometres north of Murchison Falls National Park, is still waiting for the National Environmental Monitoring Agency (NEMA) to give him the results of tests they conducted in 2009, and for the waste to be removed for permanent disposal elsewhere. Douglas Oluoch, 43, relates that he first came into contact with Heritage in his capacity as a local councillor (LC II) in Purongo sub-county of what is now Nwoya District. In 2008, he says, a Heritage official, who he can identify only as 'Albert', offered to pay him for accepting waste from exploration wells dug within the National Park.

Globally activists are celebrating the decision by the Quakers to divest nearly $1 million of shares from Caterpillar because they sell bulldozers and other equipment to destroy Palestinian lives, homes, trees and land. This courage decision is the beginning of serious disinvestment from Caterpillar. The image below demonstrates how Israel uses Caterpillar bulldozers to destroy Palestinian homes. Similarly, from Australia and the US to Europe, activists globally are celebrating the South African government’s first step in the direction of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign demands, reports the blog,

The International Trade Union Confederation is demanding that the Algerian authorities stop repression of the country’s emerging independent trade union movement. A wave of harassment of members of the National Independent Union of Public Administration Personnel (SNAPAP) has led to seven members of the union’s board, including four women, starting a hunger strike on 6 May. One of them, Fayza Abrakan, has been admitted to hospital in a serious condition.

The daughter of the late ANC veteran Oliver Tambo showed little sympathy for President Jacob Zuma's complaint about a portrait of himself exposing his genitals, The Star reported on Monday. Tselane Tambo posted the following message on a social networking site: 'So the Pres JZ has had his portrait painted and he doesn't like it...He should inspire the reverence he craves...' The 1.85m-high painting titled The Spear is part of Brett Murray's Hail to the Thief II exhibition at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg. The portrait has sparked debate about freedom of expression and the right to dignity and privacy.

The Mozambique government estimates that 80 per cent of its citizens use charcoal to cook. Almost everyone buys it on the informal market (here's an in-depth look at how that works), where it's the cheapest and most readily available cooking fuel. And it's that demand for charcoal that's feeding the plague of deforestation in Mozambique, where thick forests are razed at an increasingly alarming rate.

Vigilantism has resulted in another necklacing in Khayelitsha. Following a spate of robberies in Khayelitsha B Section, a mob of residents stoned and necklaced suspect Andile Mtsholo, 32, after he was accused of stealing cell phones. A bag full of cell phones was found next to his body. This brings to five the number of people killed by necklacing in Khayelitsha over the past few months.

Angolan security and immigration forces have raped and tortured migrants during deportations of hundreds of thousands of people to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said. 'Women and girls have been victims of sexual abuse including gang rape, and of sexual exploitation,' the group said in a report based on 211 interviews conducted since 2009. Angola has deported around 400,000 illegal immigrants - most from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - since 2003, according to UN data.

The African Centre for Biosafety and Trust for Community Outreach and Education have released a new study which provides an overview of the structure of the seed system in South Africa, the types of seed in use and their pros and cons, the legislative and policy environment, and the role of the public sector in seed production and distribution in South Africa. It aims to identify the trends in the seed sector and consider possible points of intervention to advance the agenda of strengthening small-scale resource-poor farmers in control over and access to appropriate seed for seed sovereignty, which sits at the heart of food sovereignty.

The Rendition Project website is the product of a collaborative research project funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. Working closely with Reprieve, a legal action charity which has led the way in investigating secret prisons and representing victims of rendition and torture, the Rendition Project aims to bring together and analyse the huge amount of data on rendition and secret detention in the US-led ‘War on Terror’.

The Malawi government will not arrest two lesbians who got engaged recently in Blantyre because the law on homosexuality is currently under review, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Ralph Kasambara has said. 'Right now the two women will not be arrested or prosecuted, the reason is that the law under which they could have been arrested and consequently prosecuted is under review,' said Kasambara.

Dorothy Dyton and her family have been removed from their land. The government, which owns all customary land, sold it to a sugar company. Like many other African countries, small-scale farmers in Malawi lack secure title to land. And a new law which would allow farmers to register their customary land as private property has stalled in Parliament.

Media Foundation for West Africa,in its bid to promote issues-based and decent language campaigning in Ghana’s 2012 elections, launched a project to monitor and report indecent expression by politicians and political activists in the campaign process. The level of indecent expression increased from nine in the fourth week to 24 in the fifth week covering the period April 29 to May 5, 2012.

Preferably based in London with frequent travel

Saferworld is an independent non-governmental organisation that works to prevent and reduce violent conflict and promote co-operative approaches to security. We work with governments, international organisations and civil society to encourage and support effective policies and practices through advocacy, research and policy development and through supporting the actions of others. We are seeking a senior manager with extensive experience in the areas of conflict prevention, peace- and security- building to help lead Saferworld’s development into the future.

On 17 May 2012, Trans Support Initiative Uganda (TSI-U), a Transgender and Intersex Organization in Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. 'We take this day to remember all the injustice, violence, discrimination and murders that have already occurred to colleagues, relatives and friends. It has not been long since we lost our very own David Kato because of homophobia, Aunt Victoria from Tanzania because of transphobia, the denial to access of medical services more especially HIV/Aids drugs to people like Beyonce and the closure of human rights workshops denying already marginalized people access to information.'

The African Union Commission, in collaboration with South Africa, will hold the first Global African Diaspora Summit on 25 of May 2012 in the southern African nation. The summit will coincide with the African Day. 'The African Union recognises the fact that the African Diaspora, found in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and various parts of the world are an integral part of the continent,' the commission said ahead of the summit.

Thousands of people rallied Saturday in a demonstration by the opposition Unita, to celebrate a surprise court victory that forced the national elections chief to step down months ahead of polls. Dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a photo of Unita boss Isaias Samakuva, with many wearing caps in the party's trademark red and green, thousands sang and danced in a plaza in the Angolan capital.

Brazilian diversified mining major Vale has confirmed that its portfolio includes investments of $7.7-billion in projects in nine African countries. Speaking at a recent seminar on Africa hosted by Brazil’s National Economic and Social Development Bank (better known by its Portuguese initials, BNDES), Vale CEO Murilo Ferreira reaffirmed the importance of Africa in his company’s strategy.? He highlighted that Vale continued to be interested in the continent and specifically cited coal and copper as sectors in which Vale continued to make investments in Africa.