Khadija Sharife considers the role played by the WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables in the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

Police personnel in Accra on 2 February 2011 scuttled a plan picketing by members of the Right to Information (RTI) Coalition at Ghana’s Parliament House to register their displeasure about undue delay of the law makers to pass the bill into law, which was laid in 2009. The RTI Bill went through the first reading on 5 February 2010, it is now before the Joint Communication and Legal Committee of parliament and the committee is expected to conduct a nationwide consultative meeting, but the coalition says the bill is not on the agenda of this session of the house which ends in June, 2011.

The Commission of the African Union invites applications from University lecturers, who intend to undertake postgraduate studies at the PhD level in any reputable Indian University. The applicant must possess a Masters degree with at least 3 years post-graduation experience, and not above be 45 years of age.

Europe's development policy and external lending practices should play a greater role in securing raw materials from key producer regions such as Africa, the European Commission is set to propose in a new policy paper on Wednesday (2 February). The communication will also look at measures to tackle growing fluctuations in global commodity markets, an issue that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made a cornerstone of France's G20 presidency.

From the grassroots to the global, communities and movements are imagining and creating a world where people and planet come before profit, and democracy trumps corporate power. 6 Billion Ways is a day that explores this resistance through discussion, ideas, action and the arts. With speakers and practical workshops for all ages, debates, films, music and art, 6 Billion Ways is your chance to inspire and be inspired, and to make connections with others who want to challenge injustice and inequality, both in the UK and globally.

Fahamu events at 6 Billion Ways include:

- Africa: Empire and Resistance

Africa is still portrayed as a hopeless, famine-struck continent in need of rescue. In this session, leading thinkers will paint a more positive picture, and assess the hopes and prospects for African resistance in the twenty-first century.

Speakers

Samir Amin, Third World Forum, Senegal
Firoze Manji, Fahamu network for social justice
Patrick Bond, Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal

- Film: Tin Town

Promised housing by the South African government, more than a hundred Cape Town families found community through their struggle as squatters on a sandy road known as Symphony Way. Recently moved by court order to an indefinitely temporary relocation area dubbed ‘Tin Town’ or ‘Blikkiesdorp’ in Afrikaans, community members reflect on that road in their past and on the road ahead.

This is a short film followed by a discussion with Firoze Manji, Editor-in-chief at Pambazuka News.

The book 'No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way' will also be launched at the screening.

'I shall leave now for Tahrir Square. My family is already there. My son phoned and said it's fine: the military are running checks and everything's orderly. The questions that are being settled on the streets of Egypt are of concern to everyone. The paramount one for us today is this: can a people's revolution that is determinedly democratic, grass-roots, inclusive and peaceable succeed?'

On 26-28 June 2009, Oxford Transitional Justice Research (OTJR) hosted the international conference, 'Taking Stock of Transitional Justice'. 170 delegates from 36 countries took part in the event, which was held in the Social Sciences Building at the University of Oxford. Featuring 75 presentations by established experts and new thinkers who challenge accepted positions, the conference provided the basis for re-orienting the study and practice of transitional justice. Bringing together speakers and participants from a wide range of geographical areas, with a focus on transitional justice-affected countries, the conference provided a means to foster dialogue and establish long-term working relationships. The podcasts for this event, which include a series on Sudan, are now available from the website provided.

Party of National Unity affiliated parties will consult on how to pull out of the grand coalition its deputy secretary general Jeremiah Kioni said on Sunday, reports the Daily Nation. PNU, which is a key party in President Kibaki’s alliance of parties that brought him to power and which is in the coalition with ODM, had last week indicated that it would want its top decision-making organ to call a conference to discuss withdrawal from the grand coalition.

The inland Niger delta of Mali is a unique wetland ecosystem that supports a million farmers, fishermen, and herders and a rich diversity of wildlife. But now, the country’s president and Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi have begun a major agricultural project that will divert much of the river’s water and threaten the delta’s future.

The Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation is in the process of popularising the highly subsidised malaria drugs now available in the country, reports the Daily Nation. Through the programme, the ministry and the private sector are offering treatments for less than Sh40, effectively bringing down the cost of malaria medicine from a high average of Sh500 per dose. Although these medicines have been around for several months now, many pharmacies have been selling them at prices far above those that have been recommended. This has prompted the current campaign to inform Kenyans that the medicines are available and that they need not buy them at the previous high prices.

The African Union (AU) Friday called for 'appropriate reforms' in Egypt, where protesters have been pushing for President Hosni Mubarak's exit from power. In a statement made available to PANA, AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping expressed regret at the continuing violent protests, which entered its 11th day Friday. He said the Egyptian authorities must institute appropriate reforms and respond to the needs of the protesters, while expressing concern at the violent protests and loss of lives.

The UN-backed Global Fund Against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has announced it is strengthening financial safeguards following corruption claims. The fund, with a budget of almost $22bn (£13.6bn), said the new measures would include a panel of independent experts to review financial procedures.

The purpose of this research paper from the South Centre is to describe, above all, a negotiating process which many have described as historical. More than an analysis on the subject of public health and intellectual property, this is an analysis of a negotiating process which could change the course and the nature of an organisation such as the WHO. It is still too early to say whether this was achieved are not, but we are starting to write a chapter in the history of public health in the 21st century.

Algeria's 19-year state of emergency will be lifted in the 'very near future', state media has quoted Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the president, as saying. During a meeting with ministers on Thursday, the president also said Algerian television and radio, which are controlled by the state, should give airtime to all political parties.

The world is in financial crisis thanks to the reckless behaviour of bankers, say campaigners, yet ordinary people are picking up the tab. Debt activists fear the recession will provide cover for a fresh round of toxic debt to countries in the South. Nick Dearden, director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, an international coalition of about 200 organisations, says there has never been a more important time for activists to meet to discuss collaboration and strategies to bring about real change to the world's economy than now.

'We, the undersigned civil society organisations working to promote freedom of expression around the world, condemn the serious violations of human rights taking place at this critical moment in Egypt. Since pro-democracy activists first began popular protest across Egypt on 25 January, there have been at least three hundred deaths, incidents of physical attacks and brutality, often involving live fire, and
arbitrary arrests and detentions of protestors and journalists. The government has also restricted access to the internet, withdrawn mobile phone services and placed restrictions on independent media.'

South African based refugee rights group, PASSOP, has accused the Zimbabwean government of robbing its citizens in South Africa, where more than a hundred thousand Zim nationals are still waiting for passports. Zimbabweans who have applied for permits to remain in South Africa legally are still waiting for their government to issue them passports so they can get the permits. But the Zim authorities have not made good on their promises to roll out the documents, even shunning meetings with civil society to explain the delay.

Around 09h30 yesterday (4 February), the MEC for Housing Bonginkosi Madikizela, came with police and the Anti-Land Invasions Unit. No one consulted with anyone in the community. They came without warning, without the necessary court documents, and destroyed brick houses and shacks in section 20-21 of Mandela Park. At around 18h00, the Mandela Park community gathered at Andile Nhose community hall to discuss the illegal demolition earlier in the day. Community members decided to take to the streets in a spontaneous demonstration protesting against the actions by Madikizela and the government.

As the government prepares for round two of the shuttle diplomacy in its efforts to seek deferral of the ICC case, a debate is raging on the implications of the move, reports the Daily Nation. And in the raging debate, there is a view that the country is slowly reclaiming its sovereignty and a counter argument that the move is seriously hurting Kenya’s image in the international community.

The African Union commission chairman Jean Ping has been unhappy about Sudan’s lack of progress on handing justice for victims of alleged war crimes committed in Darfur, according to a classified U.S. document obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. Ping’s views came at a meeting he held in January 2009 with representatives of the P-3 group (United States, United Kingdom and France) in London.

Zimbabwe's main rival political parties on Saturday condemned a spate of violent clashes among their supporters, which Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai blames on President Robert Mugabe's youth brigades. In the last two weeks, Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has traded accusations with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party over attacks on some MDC members in townships around the capital Harare, including the burning down of a satellite party office.

Without access to sanitary towels, a girl child in the SADC region may be excluded from her right to education. The Commonwealth Education Fund (CEF) and the Girl Child Network (GCN) have discovered that despite the provision of free schooling by the Kenyan government, more than 800,000 children (mostly girls) continue to forgo the opportunity of education. The CGE and the GCN found that during menstruation, some girls refused to go to school because they cannot access sanitary towels and the school toilets are unsafe or unusable. The high cost of sanitary towels also results in the use of unhygienic sponges, tissue paper and even foliage during menstruation.

The Angolan government is preparing to renew efforts to eradicate polio with support from global partners, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has made polio eradication its top priority. Angola succeeded in stamping out polio for three consecutive years at the beginning of the century, but a strain of the virus prevalent in India reappeared in 2005 and has since spread to the neighbouring countries of Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.

The Royal Advisory Council for Human Rights (CCDH) of Morocco in a unique report confirms the killing of 352 'disappeared' Saharawis from 1958 to 1992. Out of these, over 200 died in military bases and secret detention centres, including children.

The phenomenon of regional warriors in West Africa is rearing its head again today, as Cote d’Ivoire hovers on the brink of civil war. Thousands of combatants roam this fragile region from conflict to conflict, fighting as a means to survive in some of the poorest nations on earth, where peace without proper reintegration has brought not happiness but rather a life of idle deprivation for some former fighters, many of whom were coerced to take up arms as children.

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.

Ugandan gay rights activists have dared Rolling Stone Editor Guiles Muhame to continue outing gays and lesbians in that country, warning that he may be up for a surprise that could end his career or land him in jail. This after Muhame vowed to continue publishing articles outing Ugandan homosexuals despite a recent court ruling that permanently barred the newspaper from publishing such articles and even instructing the Rolling Stone to pay three plaintiffs damages of over 1.5 million Ugandan Shillings.

Freedom of the press could be seriously impacted across the world in the wake of the ongoing political revelations brought about by whistle-blowing websites such as Wikileaks, one of foremost constitutional law experts in the US has said. Speaking at a Personal Democracy Forum event, at New York University, veteran First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams warned governments could use the controversy surrounding the recent release of thousands of confidential diplomatic cables as an excuse to crack down on journalists and publishers.

With serious human rights concerns surrounding the development of the Kajbar dam in Sudan, Peter Bosshard of International Rivers says the companies involved need to respect the interests of local people.

Independent multimedia reporting website Mediahacker reports on WikiLeak documents in which Dominican President Leonel Fernandez expressed concern that a United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) general had been assassinated.

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.

The year 2011 will move southern Africa another step closer to becoming a regional community, as one of the building blocks of a united Africa with its African Economic Community. Southern Africa is expected to take this step towards deeper regional and continental integration when three Regional Economic Communities (RECs) encompassing 26 countries in eastern and southern Africa – almost half of all African countries – approve a plan this year to establish a Grand Free Trade Area (GFTA).

Worldreader.org is testing the idea that e-readers are libraries you can fit in your pocket. The non-profit is piloting a new campaign that would deliver e-readers, like Amazon’s Kindle, to children in Ghanaian schools. The e-readers will function as all-purpose textbooks by providing instantaneous access to the thousands of books now digitally available.

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.

Pambazuka News is pleased to announce the call for submissions for the first annual Pambazuka Samir Amin Award. This award, launched to mark Samir Amin’s 80th birthday in 2011, pays tribute to the extraordinary contribution Samir Amin has made to our understanding of the exploitation of the peoples of Africa and the global South.

An article from the International Journal of Refugee Law argues that advocacy for a new treaty to address climate change-related movement is presently misplaced for a number of reasons. It queries the utility – and, importantly, the policy consequences – of pinning ‘solutions’ to climate change-related displacement on a multilateral instrument, in light of the likely nature of movement, the desires of communities affected by it, and the fact that a treaty will not, without wide ratification and implementation, ‘solve’ the humanitarian issue.

The theme for the 16th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa is 'Towards Greater Unity and Integration through Shared Values'. Arguably, the success story of South-South cooperation around shared values is the African Peer Review Mechanism, says the South African Institute of International Affairs. It is the continent’s home-grown governance tracking system and will be re-examined when African leaders meet on the summit margins. Key agenda items for the APRM forum include Liberia’s accession as the APRM’s 30th member, the much-anticipated peer review of Ethiopia, and progress reports on the National Programmes of Action (NPoAs) from South Africa, Lesotho and Nigeria.

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.

In the State of the Union speech, Barack Obama did get applause for saying that the US stands with the people of Tunisia. Now, he didn’t mention the two decades of support the US had given the dictatorship, notes this article from Alternet. The President did not have anything to say about Egypt - where thousands of people, inspired by Tunisia, were taking to the streets to protest their own repressive government - another one the US has backed for years. Secretary of State Clinton’s official word is that the Egyptian government was 'stable'.