A deficit of transformational leadership, dwindling economic fortunes and increasing violence have turned the vast plains of Northern Nigeria into a bastion of despair.

With the closure of gacaca and the winding down of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), many survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda fear that the injustices they suffered will never be repaired.

The current protests have clearly demonstrated that after 23 years in power the Bashir regime’s capacity for coercion is weak and increasingly de-linked from the Sudanese people.

The three human rights organisations are deeply concerned about Moroccan refusal to investigate the assassination of a young Saharawi man, Sai?d Dambar, who was shot dead in the head by a Moroccan policeman on December 21st, 2010.

Kenya has asked several countries to help it recover corrupt cash stashed in overseas accounts, but not all have agreed, the east African country's top legal adviser said. Corruption has blighted the image of east Africa's biggest economy for decades and many Kenyans view efforts to stamp it out as bogus and ineffective. Githu Muigai, Kenya's attorney general, said four territories had agreed to cooperate - Switzerland, Japan, the United Kingdom and Jersey, a British dependency known for its offshore banking.

The World Bank, an institution set up to provide loans to developing countries and reduce global poverty, is often criticised in development circles. Much of this is directed at its failed structural adjustment programmes in the late-1980s which broke a trend of state-led development and introduced a market liberal approach. Questions remain about the bank's approach. Think Africa Press spoke to former World Bank President Robert Zoellick - replaced by Jim Yong Kim - and Peter Chowla of the Bretton Woods Project, an institution which aims to challenge the power of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund while opening the policymaking space and promoting alternative approaches.

Blog Africa is a Country takes issue with the Failed States Index, published by Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace. 'This year, pro forma, almost the entire African continent shows up on the Failed States map in the guiltiest shade of red. The accusation is that with a handful of exceptions, African states are failing in 2012. But what does this tell us? What does it actually mean? Frankly, we have no idea.'

Only nine Angolan parties and coalitions of the 27 that put themselves forward will be permitted to battle it out in upcoming parliamentary elections. 'The Constitutional Court found in favour of nine political bodies, of which five political parties and four coalitions,' the oil-rich nation's top constitutional authority said. The body, which has to okay parties ahead of the polls, considered applications of 27 political bodies, but rejected 18. The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and main opposition National Union for the Independence of Angola (Unita), as well as three other parties, were cleared to take part.

Hundreds of Libyan protesters demanding greater autonomy for the country’s east have stormed the election commission building in the city of Benghazi, setting materials on fire. Chanting slogans in support of federalism on Sunday, the angry protesters, some of whom were armed, occupied the election commission office in the eastern city, took computers and ballot boxes out of the building and began crushing them.

The latest podcast by the Tax Justice Network is available: the edition contains news on celebrity tax avoidance, Greece’s missing billions, what should have been on the G20 agenda and trade mispricing – the tricks of the corruption trade.

A new report by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) says while the linkages between the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development are well understood within Southern Africa, the subregion has not adopted an integrated approach to development. The report, 'Progress towards sustainable development in Southern Africa' prepared with the assistance of the African Development Bank, and circulated at the ongoing Rio+20 conference, says that for this reason, the 'inter-linkages between the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development are fundamentally not being achieved'.

Namibia Dairies, a subsidiary of the Ohlthaver and List Group, loses up to N$20 million a year due to South African predatory pricing practices, while the production of Namibian cheese has already been halted, because the market has been killed by South African products. This was revealed by the Managing Director of Namibia Dairies, Hubertus Hamm, during a visit by Botswana President Lieutenant-General Seretse Khama Ian Khama to the dairy Super Farm at Mariental.

Entrevista com Firoze Manji, redator-chefe de Pambazuka News - Panafrican Voices for Freedom and Justice

Existe um domínio no qual a propaganda ocidental investe de modo especial na opinião pública da África, e esse assunto, alardeado através das suas ONGs cúmplices e seus governos, é o do domínio inexistente e ilusório da chamada “transferência de tecnologia”.

Existe uma lenda colonialista zelosamente conservada afirmadora de que a África estaria melhor repartida nos anos 60 do que os 4 tigres asiáticos: Coreia (do Sul), Taiwan, Malásia e Indonésia.

There are periods in a country’s history when the signs and warnings that that history will soon enter into a dramatically different phase are clear as day. Such is the period today in Haiti, where daily events portend an inauspicious development for the future: the Haitian Army may soon be returning.

Indigenous peoples insist on rights-based approaches and respect for traditional knowledge and practices in Rio+20 outcomes.

‘We are outraged that a vocal minority have hijacked the text on gender and health and blocked mention of sexual and reproductive rights, claiming that these have nothing to do with sustainable development.’

The Democratic Left Front calls for action against destructive corporate interests that are driving the commercialisation and commodification of the natural environment.

One, infinite growth on a finite planet is an exercise in futility. And two, the 20 percent of the world's population living in North America, Europe, and Japan gobbles up 80 percent of the Earth's natural resources. These are the elephants.