Muhildeen Shikh Mohamed is one of the few Somali men who stood up to defend his wife, Lul Ali Isman when she was gang raped by government security men. His story is among many of the hidden acts of sexual violence in Somalia in which more men need to stand up against this abuse against women

The recent ‘Occupy Parliament’ protests in Kenya elicited negative comments from certain quarters on the use of pigs to equate the rapacity of pigs with that of parliamentarians seeking rapacious salary increases. A defense of the protesters and their means to protest and make their message heard is made

For the cultural initiative to accomplish its good intentions in Africa, it needs to take into cognizance in its plans the cultural and ethnic diversities as well as the size of Africa. The continent is too big and diverse to be treated as a mono-cultural entity

United States President Barack Obama appears to never pass up an opportunity when addressing Afrikan Americans to shift the responsibility for their success to personal effort and not the removal of structural barriers that are connected to white supremacy, sexism and capitalist exploitation

The Democratic Alliance desperately needs struggle credentials because they realise that, in order to advance the agenda of white capital in South Africa, they need to legitimatise themselves in the eyes of backs by dressing in the regalia of the liberation struggle

No matter how vibrant the so-called modern world is and how much technological development exists, it is still be over-shadowed by the impoverished and neglected world within it

Many progressive people in Africa were genuinely outraged on learning that the late President Burnham of Guyana, during whose regime the great black intellectual Walter Rodney was killed in mysterious circumstances, was set to be recognized by South Africa as a champion of African liberation. Thankfully the plan aborted

This latest development is consistent with a trend in the West to justify continued detention in Western museums of artefacts from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The artefacts, mostly acquired through violence, should have been returned to former colonies at independence

The African humanity currently generates, overwhelmingly, the capital resource that at once sustains it and is exported to the Western world. The notion that Africans are in any way dependent on a European/Western world or any other overseas ‘handout’ is at best a myth, at worst an all-out lie

The upsurge of support in the wake of declaring a state of emergency to combat insurgency opens a much-needed window for Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, to change tactics in administering the country

Kenyans must defend the right to protest in all legitimate forms and those who used pigs in the recent Occupy Parliament demonstrations are free to do so, just as those who choose other means have the right to express their views

Genuine all inclusive, society-wide, regional, Africa-led strategies are necessary to resolve the crisis in the Great Lakes region rather than billions of dollars in aid as promised by the World Bank and UN leaders

In a petition, the organisations say the ongoing widespread and systematic nature of human rights violations in Eritrea underlines the need for continued and urgent action by the African Union

Pambazuka News interviewed various officials of the AU Commission and an Oxfam official about the accomplishments of the AU as well as some of the challenges and future of continental integration. Follow the links below to listen to the interviews:

Deputy Chairperson, H.E. Mr. Erastus Mwencha

Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E. Mrs. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace

Oxfam International, Head of Office, Desire Assogbavi

Post-independent African leaders have failed to realise the aspirations and hopes of self-determination and unity of the African people. There are five basic steps that AU member states need to take now to put Africans on the path to full integration

Food security has been a major concern for Africans over the decades but, surpringly, the OAU/AU did little to support agriculture and other forms of food production. This needs to change, beginning with effective support for the small-scale farmer

The AU has now entered the new fifth era of delivery and democracy to avoid uprisings and revolutions and to ensure human security by re-inventing Pan-Africanism for 21st century Africa

Africans yearn to come and go within the continent without visas; to work where they like; and expect to be treated as if they were ‘home’ – despite being far away from the territorial limits into which they were originally born

Address by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Dr. Dlamini Zuma to the Third Pan African Parliament
6 May 2013

A reflection on five decades since the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), while the Pentagon and NATO escalate their war drive on the continent