This book traces the role of politicians and public intellectuals in media, civil society and the academy in producing and disseminating a politically usable historical narrative concerning ideas about patriotism, race, land, human rights and sovereignty. It raises pressing questions about the role of contemporary African intellectuals in the making of democratic societies. In so doing the book adds a new and rich dimension to the study of African politics, which is often diluted by the neglect of ideas.

The protest movement in Egypt has mobilised the young and the middle classes using the Internet and social networks in a challenge to the authorities that has seen both Twitter and Swedish video-streaming site Bambuser blocked. Mobile phones too were unable to get a signal on Tuesday in Tahrir Square in the centre of the capital Cairo, which has been a rallying point for thousands of protesters. Pro-democracy activists countered on Wednesday by disseminating technical advice to overcome these obstacles to enable the mobilisation to continue.

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has signed a new law that allows his information minister to ban publications deemed 'contrary to the public interest', an official said on Wednesday. The new law gives powers to the information minister to ban a publication if he has 'reasonable grounds to believe that the publication or importation of any publication would be contrary to the public interest'.

Not only do journalists accept bribes and media houses accept paid material disguised as news stories, but all too often, reporters and editors are the instigators, extorting money either for publishing favorable stories–or for not publishing damaging ones. With all the organised efforts to support media development and defend press freedom around the world, there has been remarkably little done in any concerted way to reduce the problem of corrupt journalism, says this report.

Algeria launched the Maghreb Digital Library on 23 January in an effort to expand access to information. The initiative was part of a joint endeavour between the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and US-based NGO Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF). The Maghreb Digital Library will help the University of Algiers open to the scientific field through different partnerships; something that would give the sector access to technological media that provide researchers with information and documents needed in their work.

Reporters Without Borders says it is 'dismayed' by the three-year jail sentence and fine of six million Somaliland shillings (around 1,000 dollars) that a court in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway northwestern territory of Somaliland, has passed on Mohamud Abdi Jama, the editor of the independent newspaper Waheen, for allegedly libelling local officials.

An explosive WikiLeaks cable claims that spy boss and President Jacob Zuma confidante Mo Shaik threatened to expose the 'political skeletons' of Zuma’s enemies and reveals that he was cultivated by the Americans as a key informant within the Zuma camp. The fresh revelations are likely to shake the Zuma administration as they involve one of the president’s key allies and the man tasked with running the country’s secret service.

Embattled former SABC CEO Solly Mokoetle received a settlement of R3.4-million following his resignation on Wednesday, says the SABC. 'Mr Mokoetle was paid an equivalent of his 12 months' salary which amounts to R3.4-million inclusive of leave and other entitlements as a full and final settlement,' SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said in a statement on Friday.

Such is the concern about the role the Ivoirian media are playing in ramping up the tension in Côte d’Ivoire that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently warned that International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments could eventually be handed down on those inciting violence. Most of the Ivoirian media is deeply polarised. The state-run Radiotélévision Ivoirienne (RTI), the most widely accessed source of news in the country, is an unwavering champion of Laurent Gbagbo and a persistent vilifier of his internationally-backed rival claimant to the presidency, Alassane Ouattara.

The Zimbabwe GNU Watch provides an overview, month by month, of political developments under the terms set out in the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The sections profiled in monthly outputs may vary depending on events and issues raised in that particular report. Where possible, the relevant article as stipulated in the GPA has been provided.

On 14 January 2011, Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced from office, and by some accounts he thereby became the first political casualty of the age of Wikileaks and social media, states this article.

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research has a number of courses available, including:
- Mediation and Consensus Building for Efficient Diplomacy
- Négociation bilatérale et multilatérale : stratégies et techniques
- Climate Change Diplomacy
- Multilateral Conferences and Diplomacy
- Mediation Skills
- United Nations Protocol
- Information Session on the Structure, Retrieval, and Use of United Nations Documentation

This week’s roundup of the African blogosphere focuses on the departure of Tunisian dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali following popular uprising on the streets of Tunis, and exiled Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier’s mysterious return to Haiti.

As Tunisia experiences remarkable popular protest, many in the Western mainstream media have again focused on the role of the internet and social networking in catalysing socio-political change, writes H. Nanjala Nyabola. But to what extent do these tools foment such change, Nyabola asks, and who are the real heroes behind successful protests?

With mounting protests forcing President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country, the Tunisian people's toppling of a deeply unpopular regime may well 'become a watershed date in the modern history of the Arab World', writes Esam al-Amin. Once a key regional ally of Western governments, Ben Ali's fall from grace has been precipitated by an extraordinary wave of sustained protest. Time will tell if the 'Tunisian revolution' attains lasting change and success, al-Amin concludes.

The latest issue of the Reject Online is now out.
This issue's highlights are:
- Scavengers of the gold mine
- Fear stalks IDP camps as mothers lose babies
- Child loses uterus through repeated sexual assault
- The great Mekatilili wa Menza
- Healer with a touch for broken hearts.

A councillor in a remote district of Binga has revealed that state security agents are compiling a visual database of MDC officials that they suspect are potential candidates in the next elections. The CIOs have already taken photographs of some councilors in Binga, but others have refused to be photographed, saying they know that their images will be used to identify them when violence is unleashed during elections. SW Radio Africa spoke to Councillor Temba Toonse Kunjulu, popularly known as TTK in his Jabuba ward in Binga, who described how he was recently approached by CIOs who asked him if he would be running for a position during the next elections.

The dirty downside of the ICT industry is that computers have to go somewhere when they die and because they are full of potentially toxic materials they cannot simply be dumped in landfills. Uganda’s Government has sought to tackle part of the problem by banning the import of secondhand computers and sparked the law of unintended consequences. Russell Southwood talked to Shakeel Padamsey of Camara and Kyle Spencer of the Uganda Linux Group about what’s happened.

A Nouakchott court on Sunday (16 January) sentenced Oumoulmoumnine Mint Bakar Vall to six months in prison for enslaving two girls, ages 10 and 14, in the city's Arafat neighbourhood. Last week, three human rights activists were handed down six month sentences for taking part in an unauthorised rally over the case. The verdict against the rights defenders, including Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) head Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, was based on charges of assembling and disturbing the public peace, as well as using violence against police officers.

There are countless opportunities for the IT sector in Africa. This was one of the conclusions drawn by Google Ghana’s Country Manager Estelle Akofio-Sowah and local Kenyan IT entrepreneur Kamal Budhabhatti. Both were speaking in the Netherlands at the Fill the Gap event, supported by Dutch organisations IICD and Hivos. Fill the Gap is an annual event about ICT for Development (ICT4D) with a different theme each year. This year’s theme was: IT entrepreneurship in Africa.