2008 statistics show that total trade between the China and Africa was valued at $106.8 billion, up 45.1 per cent in 2007. These fast rising Sino-Africa ties are expected to face a major test in March when Tunis plays host to a rare meeting to scrutinise China’s engagement with the continent.

Chinua Achebe’s latest book,‘The Education of a British-Protected Child’, a ‘compendium of seventeen skilfully written non-fictional pieces’, is an ‘acerbic lampoon on the propagation of colonial stereotypes via the medium of literature,' writes Peter Wuteh Vakunta.

Nigeria's failure to make the progress commensurate with 50 years of nation-building is not just a failure of leadership. It is first and most catastrophically, a failure of followership.

It has taken an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude, causing momentous loss of life, to get the world talking about Haiti and its past. As the world digests the tragedy, it begins to remember and to criticise too. Rebecca Zausmer does a round-up of the commentary and analysis that is flowing fast about Haiti and the actors in its history.

The Harry Chapin Media Awards (HCMA) was created to encourage the media to tell the stories of hunger and economic poverty. The HCMAs honour print and electronic media for outstanding coverage of hunger and economic poverty and the underlying root causes of these problems.

This article attempts to highlight the plight of refugees, asylum seekers, and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) in the Cameroon and to showcase the state of available protection mechanism at their disposal within existing legislation and in the light of international law. It ends with a strong recommendation for the better protection of refugees.

One six-month fellowship is available for a female social scientist from a developing nation, either pre- or post-doctoral, whose work addresses women’s economic and social empowerment in that nation. The goal of the program is twofold: to advance the scholarly careers of women social scientists from the developing world, and to support research that identifies causes of gender inequity in the developing world and that proposes practical solutions for promoting women’s economic and social empowerment.

Freedom House has published its “Freedom in the World 2010: Global Erosion of Freedom” Report. The Report divides up the world into three categories of Free, Partly Free, and Not Free. Accordingly, declines in liberty were registered in 40 countries while gains were made in 16.

Several thousand residents of Jos, in central Nigeria, are displaced after their homes burned in deadly sectarian clashes, according to residents and the local Red Cross. Local authorities have not confirmed the death toll from the 17 January violence but reports put the number at 26, with 300 people injured.

An Exiled Eritrean rights group, Solidarity Association for Justice and Democracy in Eritrea said that Libyan authorities along with representative of the Eritrean government in Tripoli are conspiring to deport hundreds of Eritrean refugees who are Currently languishing in Libyan prisons.

Gender Links, a dynamic Southern African NGO based in Johannesburg that promotes gender equality in and through the media seeks to fill the post of Gender and Media Programme Manager on an initial two year contract basis. Deadline ofr applications is Friday 5 February 2009.

On 11 January 2010, the third anniversary of Eritrean journalist Fessehaye "Joshua" Yohannes' death in detention, Reporters Without Borders wrote to Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, asking him to do everything possible to obtain an improvement in the conditions of journalists imprisoned in Eritrea.

Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) of India is organizing aNational Forum on Mobile Applications The forum is scheduled to be held on April 7-9, 2010 at New Delhi, India. The theme of the Forum is "Mobile Applications for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development". The deadline for submitting the abstracts for the forum is 10th February 2010.

Governments responsible for serious human rights violations have over the past year intensified attacks against human rights defenders and organizations that document abuse, Human Rights Watch has said in issuing its World Report 2010.

The Tanzania government has signed a five-year livestock and fishing agreement with China that would see Chinese firms invest in aquaculture and livestock projects.

The Nigerian Senate has unanimously rejected calls for the declaration of a fresh state of emergency in crisis-ridden north-central Plateau State. Plateau State had been engulfed in sectarian violence, which began Sunday in capital, Jos, and had claimed several lives.

A group of 41 prominent Nigerians, led by former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, were at the National Assembly in Abuja, the Nigerian Federal capital, urging lawmakers to take immediate steps to resolve the current political and constitutional crisis created by the 59 days of absence of President Umar Musa Yar'Adua from the country on account of ill health.

Zimbabwe has suspended its constitution making process following sharp differences within President Robert Mugabe’s unity government over a consultation process that is already behind schedule by several months.

The US embassy in Zimbabwe has confirmed a report in the state-run Herald newspaper that the US would not oppose the restoration of Zimbabwe's voting rights in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The army has taken over responsibility for security in the central city of Jos, Nigeria's Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan has said. At least 65 Christians and 200 Muslims are believed to have died in religious rioting in Jos in recent days.

A Ugandan MP who proposed introducing the death penalty for some gay people has told a newspaper he is willing to change his draft legislation. In an interview with the Daily Monitor, David Bahati said he had talked to the cabinet about the bill and was willing to "amend some clauses".

Sudan would accept the south's secession if southerners were to vote for independence in a referendum next year, President Omar al-Bashir said. Speaking at a ceremony marking five years since the end of the north-south war, he said his Northern Congress Party did not want the south to secede

Amnesty International has called for much stricter controls for the military assistance being given to Somalia's transitional government. The human rights group says weapons are all too often being used against civilians or they end up in the hands of groups opposed to the government.

A team of researchers combine maps, satellite images and participatory mapping techniques to develop an accurate picture of land use among pastoralists in southern Ethiopia.

The Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA) seeks a Program Assistant to provide administrative support to department members in the Nairobi office. Working under the supervision of the Program Officers, the Program Assistant will provide general administrative and programmatic support.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the four year jail term handed down to Tunisian journalist Fahem Boukadous on 13 January by a court for his reporting on the demonstrations against unemployment and corruption in the mining town of Gafsa in 2008.

This workshop aims to provide an academic forum aimed at the discussion of immigration detention in liberal, democratic countries. This practice raises important questions for researchers from different fields of study: What implications does it have for understanding state power and the future governance of communities?

In this week's emerging powers news roundup, the forecast is positive for the South African economy in the wake of its first recession in 17 years, a WEF risk assessment counts sharp slowdown of China as a major threat to future prosperity, and the China-Africa Development Fund invests US$540 million in Africa.

Nearly 80 percent of the 300,000 conflict-related deaths in Darfur were due to diseases like diarrhoea, not violence, Belgian scientists said on Friday. An analysis of deaths dating from 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government of Sudan, showed that after an initial peak of violent deaths in the still-ongoing conflict, diseases associated with diarrhoea became the major killers.

The African Union's top diplomat, Jean Ping, opened talks seeking an end to Madagascar's year-long political crisis with a call to its feuding leaders to respect last year's power-sharing deals.

On Friday 22 January, the "Kennedy 12" will be in court for the eighth time. The five will be expecting judgement in the bail application, while the seven will be seeking relaxation of their bail conditions. The "Kennedy 12" now need your presence, your prayers and your protest more than ever before.

In what is being considered a significant milestone for communications in the country, the number of South Africans to have access to the Internet has hit the five million mark. Research conducted by local analyst house World Wide Worx, in conjunction with Cisco, shows that local Internet penetration has increased to 10%.

The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), a South African-based civil society organisation, is currently accepting applications for its Internship Programme. ACCORD works across Africa to bring creative African solutions to the challenges posed by conflict on the continent.

This week, Libyan bloggers tackled sensitive issues ranging from poverty to corruption, while comparing how government supporters and the opposition differ on the meaning of key historical events.

After a number of textile companies closed up shop, unable to face the onslaught of the slowdown in the markets, the government of Botswana has finally decided to implement a rescue plan.

A project in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, is creatively using "marginal water" to ease water scarcity while helping residents provide food and earn a living. Water scarcity has led urban farmers to turn to treated waste water to grow food within the city limits.

Organisers of a protest march against the expulsion of Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah El Faisal say Kenyan police have arrested up to 400 people and are interrogating them to prove their nationality and try to uncover links to terrorism.

In Malawi, where aids agencies estimate 120,000 children are HIV-positive, school teachers are finding themselves increasingly in the frontline of the epidemic. The National AIDS Council recently carried out a study that found "teachers had not received enough HIV/ART education to carry out their supportive role in paediatric and adolescent care and support".

In the last three decades, changes in the global economy have led to debt and balance of payments crises in many African countries. They desperately needed foreign exchange which they could only get from the World Bank and the IMF. These institutions used this opportunity to expand their influence over the recipients' national policies. This paper discusses country ownership which is a central issue of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. It looks at the contradictory and competing usages of the term - ownership as commitment and ownership as control.