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.'

Reviewing Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem's 'Speaking Truth to Power: Selected Pan-African Postcards', Kenyantraveller lauds Tajudeen's wise yet accessible style: 'The book is never condescending or overly academic, just knowledgable and acerbic enough to get you thinking things through twice.'

The International Organisation for Migration has confirmed that millions of Zimbabweans who left home and settled in foreign countries were economic refugees. 'The assessment we have done so far confirms that many Zimbabweans chose to move in pursuit of better economic opportunities, and with things improving in the country we expect an improvement in the returning of those immigrants,' IOM Deputy Chief of Mission to Zimbabwe, Katie Kerr told journalists on the sidelines of her organisation’s boat donation to the department of Civil Protection in Harare.

The marathon task of counting the ballot in southern Sudan's independence referendum was underway on Sunday after the week-long polling on partitioning Africa's largest nation closed. 'Secession. Secession. Secession', the returning officer intoned on Saturday night as he carefully unfolded each ballot paper cast at a polling station in a school in the southern capital of Juba before pronouncing the voter's choice.

Ng?g? wa Thiong'o, one of the greatest writers, thinkers and philosophers of our time will be the keynote speaker on: Saturday, 22 January 2011, Waterfront Hotel at Jack London Square, 10 Washington St., Oakland.

Plans for a university that will stretch across Africa and be a 'flagship institution of higher education' will go ahead, despite political problems with two of its five planned centres, African Union commissioner and steward of the project, Jean-Pierre Ezin has insisted. The Pan-African University (PAU), which was proposed by the African Union (AU) in 2008, is expected to offer advanced graduate training and postgraduate research opportunities for "the cream of the crop" of African students, according to a draft concept note produced at the time.

We cannot separate ‘the question of human rights and Ubuntu – our linked humanity and our peaceful coexistence with planet earth’ in the pursuit of ‘international peace and security’, writes Horace Campbell.

The College of Arts and Social Science is pleased to announce to all university students a new course onPan African Thought. The course begins this semester, i.e. November 2010.

The deadline for the first call for papers is 31 December 2010. The conference is organised by ?Reading Association of Botswana (RAB) ?International Development Committee - Africa (IDC-A) ?and International Reading Association (IRA). The complete application and conference information is at: All inquiries can be made to: Dr. D. Kasule, [email][email protected]

Attending the NEPAD Forum in Abuja last week, Okello Oculi is disappointed by a lack of enthusiasm for the most interesting ideas raised. Meanwhile, the last-minute trade fair running in parallel to the forum is ‘a success by the mere fact of its taking place’.

As the East African Community seeks further integration, Issa G. Shivji explores the historical beginnings and vision behind such regional changes from a pan-Africanist perspective. Rather than debate specific forms of ‘economic integration’ or ‘political association’, Shivji seeks to discuss ‘whether we are asking the right questions’.

The proposed seminar will focus on:

- Indo-South African Political Relations: Historical Goodwill and Current Issues
- Indo-South African Economic Relations: Challenges of South-South Co-operation
- Indo-South African Strategic Relations: Strategic Partnership and Competing Interests
- Indo-South African Diaspora Relations: 150 Years of Indian Migration to South Africa

Caught up in a riot by passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from China, Okello Oculi connects the event with the flagging fortunes of a town in south eastern Nigeria.

In honour of its 10th anniversary and 500th issue, Pambazuka News was thrilled with web technology blog profile on our publication this week. A widely read site, ReadWriteWeb notes Pambazuka 'is an African website devoted to African news and analysis run by Africans' as part of 'a large, vibrant community of citizen journalists reporting the news from a pan-African point of view and with a focus on social justice'.

In a message commemorating the death of Thomas Sankara on 15 October 1987, Mariam Sankara calls on the people to continue the struggle not only for justice for Thomas Sankara, but also for Africa.

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) has adopted recommendations for an action plan to coordinate with regional and national parliaments to ensure African parliamentary budget support for implementation of the July 2010 African Union Summit Declaration on Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa; the AU Summit Decision for the Eradication of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS; and the September 2010 commitments by African governments at the recent UN MDG 10th year review summit.