H. Nanjala Nyabola takes a hectic drive through Nairobi's rush hour traffic and concludes that if Kenyans learnt to treat each other with respect on the roads, then there might be more respect in other areas of life.

The French approach to Libya and Côte d'Ivoire shows little understand of the mood of the African people and is more about a futile search for global influence, writes H. Nanjala Nyabola.

With the ‘Hague Six’ attempting to drum up domestic support to deflect the ICC (International Criminal Court) indictments over their role in Kenya’s 2007–08 post-election crisis, H. Nanjala Nyabola laments the willingness of the country’s ‘silent majority’ to simply ‘brush the nasty business of the post-election violence under the rug’.

As evidenced by Ivorians’ experiences in the wake of their country’s disputed election results and the looming threat of civil war, African leaders’ insistence on ignoring pre-established rules severely jeopardises their constituents, writes Cameron Duodu.

'When we listen to our leaders' vigorous condemnations of the human rights abuses and lack of democracy of Qaddafi's and other authoritarian regimes in the Mediterranean we would do well to bear in mind how new-founded and limited is their concern for human rights, and how likely it is that they will try to co-opt any new governments in the region to their war against sub-Saharan migrants,' argues a leading human rights lawyer on the website of the Institute of Race Relations. 'For in the past decade, as well as cheerfully returning dozens of suspected Islamists to torture under cover of the flimsiest of diplomatic assurances, Britain and Europe have used Qaddafi and other repressive north African regimes as front men for policies causing thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean and beyond.'

The final program of the Third Julius Nyerere Intellectual Festival Week for 2011 is available via the link provided.

The ‘people of Libya deserve all our sympathy – for having been obliged to endure the calamitous rule of a man, apparently destined to inflict so much suffering on them,’ writes Cameron Duodu.

Are there clear similarities between leaders’ behaviour in the aftermath of Kenya’s 2007–08 election and the current impasse in Côte d’Ivoire, asks H. Nanjala Nyabola. Is Laurent Gbagbo ‘pulling a Kibaki’?

Julius Nyerere was among ‘the most articulate, intense and militant’ of the first generation of African nationalists. Issa Shivji traces the development of a Pan-Africanist philosopher-king and his struggle to live a more principled politics.

Used as an excuse to prop up dicators across Africa, the doctrine of stability has produced instability rather than reducing it. It’s time for the international community to drop the idea, says H. Nanjala Nyabola.

The ‘Pan-Africanism for the New Generation’ conference at the University of Oxford marks a turning-point in the history of Pan-Africanism, writes Moshe Molefe.

'We call upon the nuclear industry, and the South African government, to take this disaster seriously, and abandon all nuclear plans for our country,' says Earthlife Africa Cape Town in response to the impact of the Japanese earthquake on that country's nuclear power stations. 'Given that proposed sites are all along the coast, we believe that this gamble is unacceptable. Not only are sustainable and safe alternatives cheaper than nuclear power, but they are also better solutions to the creation of decent work and energy security, as well as the best solutions to limit climate change.'

Is Gaddafi crazy, as the Western media would have us believe, asks H. Nanjala Nyabola, or merely good at manipulating a deeply flawed system for his own benefit?

As part of its mission of collaborative peacebuilding, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding
(WANEP) organised a regional workshop at the PACIFIC hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on
22 and 23 February 2011. After two days of discussions and exchange of experiences, the 50 participants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo developed mechanisms and solutions for sustainable and more effective actions, and identified the different actors and organisations for the implementation of the actions.

Supporters beat drums in the slums while workers spruced up his private villa as Haitians prepared on Tuesday for the possible return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide with feverish anticipation. 'Some people are cleaning the streets, others are getting the residence ready, and we are making preparations for a beautiful party,' Rene Civil, a die-hard follower of Haiti's first democratically elected leader, told Agence France-Presse.

Spin the wheel and get a tip to spoil your better half; spend more time together or go out for a romantic evening: A new Ugandan HIV prevention programme hopes a 'love wheel' will encourage couples to seek excitement within their own marriages rather than in the arms outsiders. The wheel, categorised into eight thematic areas such as family, fitness, fun, friends and finances, has a number of tips relating to each theme. Currently stocked in supermarkets in the capital, Kampala, its promoters say they have sold more than 1,500 units since its launch in November 2010.

Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa, talks about the potential of cooperation between countries of the South and the revival of Pan-Africanism. He refers back to the Bamako Appeal and calls for a true, genuine integration between African countries including self-reliant development, agrarian reform, a renewal of the tri-continental approach and the need to work with radical forces from below to transform society. Fall says it is necessary to go beyond the comprador regimes that have failed in Tunisia and Egypt and to put in place a monitoring body to stop the ongoing pillage of resources across the African continent.

Enrique Roman, first vice-president of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), has underlined that the movement in solidarity with Cuba prioritises in 2011 the struggle for the release of the five Cuban antiterrorist heroes incarcerated in the United States. Roman also pointed out that, the more marked the failure of Washington’s policy of isolation against the island the greater the support and the number of actions against the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the White House on Cuba for almost half a century now, the Prensa Latina news agency reported.

Haiti's government has said it was ready to issue a new passport to former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, which would allow him to return after almost seven years in exile in South Africa. 'The government will give assurances that as soon as it receives such a request, it will be swiftly granted,' the information ministry said in a statement. Aristide, who fled the Caribbean country in 2004, formally requested earlier that Haitian authorities issue him a diplomatic passport, and provide guarantees for his safety.

'This call is an appeal to develop wise initiatives to prevent Ivory Coast from going over the edge into disaster. This call addresses itself directly to the decision-makers of the UN, the EU, the Americas, the French, the African Union, and ECOWAS , who, by their actions, are liable to precipitate Ivory Coast and, maybe, the entire West African region into irreparable chaos.'