Camfed Zambia this year launched an ambitious child abuse prevention initiative, funded by Irish Aid. Camfed’s Zero Tolerance to Child Abuse Campaign breaks through the culture of silence surrounding child abuse, and calls on all sectors of Zambian society to put an end to it.

At Book Café we have created a place of beauty, joy, togetherness and tolerance; an arts centre that celebrates free expression, where artists work with dignity and audiences appreciate a diverse multitude of perspectives. Since 1997 our Book Cafe in Harare has guaranteed no censorship. It is a refuge from violence and threat that imposes cruel uniformity; a refuge from the denial of free creation that is the antithesis of African values.

Pamberi Trust and African Synergy are independent registered charitable trusts, governed by constitution, and under authority of Board of Trustees.

Today free expression in Zimbabwe is bloodied and torn. Crisis and repression have trampled basic tenets of our social and cultural life. Some of us inside the country have decided to create the kind of life we wish to live; our chosen power is the arts. The humanity and freedom of African arts and its role in fostering social cohesion, is upheld at Book Café in Harare.

At Book Café we have created a place of beauty, joy, togetherness and tolerance; an arts centre that celebrates free expression, where artists work with dignity and audiences appreciate a diverse multitude of perspectives.

Andrew Berends, an established, award-winning American filmmaker and journalist from New York, was detained Sunday August 31st by the Nigerian military along with his translator, Samuel George, and Joe Bussio, the manager of a local bar. Andrew entered Nigeria legally in April 2008 to complete a documentary film. 

Andrew was held in custody without food, sleep, or representation, and with limited water for 36 hours. He was questioned by the army, the police, and the State Security Services in Port Harcourt. He was then temporarily released, with an order to the SSS office at 9AM Tuesday morning. The State Security Services has confiscated his passport and personal property. Andrew's translator, Samuel George, remained in custody over night.

The US State Department is aware of the situation, and an attorney has been retained on Andrew's behalf. We, Andrew's friends, family, and colleagues, are deeply concerned that he has been held without cause and are calling for his safe treatment and immediate release.

* Contact Aaron Soffin at Phone: 917.887.4063 / 212.712.2781 or by email at: [email][email protected]

**Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

It's been three months since I sent out an email appealing for your help as the xenophobic crisis hit Khayelitsha. Your response was overwhelmingly rapid and generous, and has enabled us help the people who ended up living at the Desmond Tutu hall. (By now, most have re-integrated into the community, and about 30 of the original Desmond Tutu hall dwellers are now in the nearby Solomon Mahlangu hall).

The Socialist Student Movement (SSM) is making a call to action for free education against the background of a year of protests at institutions of higher learning, culminating at the closure and beginning of the academic year. Financial exclusions, triggered by exorbitant annual fee increments, academic exclusions, shortages of accommodation, of resources necessary for learning and teaching and of qualified educators have pushed students into battles where they have been faced with brutal state repression, with shootings at for example Wits and the University of Johannesburg.

Men and women of African descent wanted from across the African diaspora to Judge essays written by children aged 8 to 16 years for "The Annual Essay Contest for Children of African Descent". Essays will be submitted in both English and French. Schools in English- and French-speaking Africa and the diaspora are invited to indicate their interest in participating in this contest. Visit: for previous years' winners. [email][email protected]

To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Australian Human Rights Commission is holding a photo competition based on the theme - ‘Dignity and justice for all of us’. The theme reinforces the vision of the Declaration as a commitment to universal dignity and justice, and reinforces how human rights are an inextricable part of our lives – for everyone, everywhere, everyday.

The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) condemns the decision to convene the 7th Parliament of Zimbabwe. It is the Association’s view that the Parliament should have been convened after the completion of the inter party talks between ZANU PF and the MDC. Without an agreement between the two parties, it is very difficult for the Parliament to conduct its business. None the less, CHRA reasserts its demands for legal reforms on Zimbabwe’s local Governance system.

The 2008 Nelson Mandela International Essay Competition on African Security and Development invites entrants to examine the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, explore why it remains such a dysfunctional, conflict-prone state, and speculate on future options for the country.

Following the election of the African National Congress to government in South Africa in 1994, there was great hope and expectation that finally the inequalities that had existed for so long along racial lines would be redressed and black people would see marked improvements in their standard of living and better access to public services such as housing, water and electricity.

Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Prime Minister Raila Odinga will spend Kenya shillings 1.2 Billion (100 million shillings per month) on their households and press units this financial year. Considering the economic condition of Kenyans, poverty levels in our country and the country’s substantial development finance needs, can we afford to pump so much into the personal comfort of so few?

The Open Society Institute’s (OSI) Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) seeks to appoint an Advocacy and Communications Officer, who will be based at the offices of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) in Johannesburg, South Africa. Closing Date for applications is 12th September 2008

Civil society organisations have been and continue to meet in South Africa in the run up to the 4th Annual SADC Summit due to take place at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa on 15-17 August 2008.

Shocking statement? Maybe so, but the name of the new campaign against sexual harassment in Egypt means to grab people's attention. The campaign kicked off in the streets of Cairo, where the problem is most prevalent. Speaking directly to men, the campaign hopes to urge the male population to renounce sexual harassment.

Tanzania said on Friday that a strike by civil servants planned for later this month over delays in salary payments was illegal as there was no dispute in the first place. The Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) has called a three-day strike by government workers from August 25 over what it says are delays paying wages arising from an average 24 percent pay rise that was backdated to January.

Land grabbing remains a challenge in our country. The Eastleigh Community are about to loose their Community Centre which serves them as provincial administration and social facility. This letter is an appeal for support to secure this land for the community.

The 2008 Nelson Mandela International Essay Competition on African Security and Development invites entrants to examine the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, explore why it remains such a dysfunctional, conflict-prone state, and speculate on future options for the country. Will the DRC’s future always be defined by its violent past and will its development always occur within the context of conflict management/resolution? First prize: £1500.

At least 20 people have died after a bomb hidden under a pile of rubbish exploded in Somalia's capital, according to witnesses. Witnesses said the dead in Sunday's blast in Mogadishu's southern K4 neighbourhood were mostly female civilians, 10 of them street cleaners.

To the poor of the world, to all people of good will who work for progressive change... We, the landless and homeless people and associated activists of South Africa, decry the secret campaign by the so-called Workers' Party (PT) government of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul to criminalise, outlaw and otherwise illegitimately harass our landless comrades of the MST.