With tensions coming to a head over the past two weeks, Morocco is once again under the international spotlight for its alleged illegal territorial occupation of Western Sahara. In the wake of a raid on the Sahrawi encampment of Gdeim Izik by Moroccan forces on Monday 8 November, Konstantina Isidoros argues that such ‘events shed illuminating insights into Morocco’s illegal occupation’.

Le Protocole de Maputo a été adopté le 11 Juillet 2003 par la Conférence des Chefs d’Etats et de Gouvernement de l’U.A. réunie à Maputo au Mozambique. Par l’adoption du Protocole, les Etats Africains ont reconnu, que malgré la ratification par nombre d’entre eux des instruments juridiques relatifs aux droits des femmes, leur mise en œuvre continue de poser problème et les discriminations contenues dans les différents textes et dans les faits ainsi que les pratiques néfastes à l’égard des femmes persistent encore en Afrique.

Kenya’s engagement with the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa was anything but smooth, but valuable lessons have been learnt by those supporting it, writes Regina Mwanza.

Following the discovery of oil in his country, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will be able to keep a 'full tank', says Gado.

History does not
repeat itself it hangs
Around the neck
like a stone or a talisman…

Media workers in the employ of Nigeria's federal government returned to work last Tuesday after they suspended their three day warning strike over the implementation of a new media salary structure. The suspension came following a meeting with key government officials. Members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Radio, Television and Theatre Workers Union (RATTAWU) had on Monday begun a three-day warning strike to force government to implement a new media pay structure for federal media workers who are said to be earning the lowest in the west African sub region.

Key African countries are allegedly planning to subvert a ban on sales of Zimbabwe’s controversial Chiadzwa diamonds, as a decision on the country’s trade future remains unclear. South Africa, Angola and Namibia are said to be preparing to pass off Zimbabwe’s diamonds as their own, in an effort to subvert the ban still in place by the trade watchdog, the Kimberly Process (KP). Sources quoted by the Standard newspaper revealed that the African countries, with the support of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India and China are frustrated by the stalemate reached by the KP over whether to allow full exports of Chiadzwa diamonds.

Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete appointed a new cabinet last Wednesday, with most senior ministers retaining their positions from the previous government. Kikwete named his cabinet after winning an October 31 general election overshadowed by a record low turnout and allegations of rigging.

The number of new HIV infections is almost one-fifth lower than it was a decade ago, indicating that the world has 'turned the corner in the fight against HIV/AIDS', according to the UNAIDS Global Report on HIV/AIDS. 'The biggest epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa - Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe - have either stabilised or are showing signs of decline,' according to the report.

The lack of transparency and fair political competition, as well as a recent rise in violence in Egypt left little hope that the results would reflect the will of the Egyptian people, according to Freedom House. In the six months since Egypt renewed its long-standing emergency law, authorities have increasingly cracked down on free speech and association, silenced independent media, restricted text messaging services, and obstructed public events.

As Haiti gears up for its forthcoming elections, Jean William Jeanty decries the complete absence of transparency in the country around post-earthquake reconstruction and the ability of foreign companies to usurp Haitian law. With the country gripped by cholera (the ‘natural indicator of underdevelopment’), Jeanty stresses that Haiti’s leaders ‘are trying to rush the elections so that they can perpetuate things the way they are’.

Looking back on the background to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, Norah Matovu Winyi discusses the efforts of the Solidarity for Women’s Rights in Africa Coalition (SOAWR Coalition) to popularise the protocol and push for its widespread ratification, with particular reference to Uganda and Kenya.

Priority will be given to qualified applicants from Senegal, other West African French-speaking countries and Maghreb region.

Over the last century the Indian Ocean region has experienced social, political and cultural reconfigurations that are the outcomes of distinct regional circumstances, but also mirror broader global transformations since the colonial era. This workshop aims to explore how systems of power and approaches to development have shaped the societies of the Indian Ocean rim both in the past and the present.

This Thursday marks the United Nations recognised International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and in an effort to raise awareness about his important issue, Earthlife Africa will be gathering at the Fountain, St. Georges Mall, Strand Street end in Cape Town, on Saturday, 27 November, between 10am and 1pm, to raise their concerns and spread awareness. 'Little known impacts of nuclear radiation on women and children, especially women that are pregnant, must be brought out into the open,' said Earthlife Africa Cape Town’s Gray Maguire. 'The ongoing threat to the unborn in our country is at a higher level than ever before, given plans to build multiple nuclear power stations across the country..

Uganda ranks lower than Rwanda and Kenya in putting in place reforms to facilitate doing business, putting the country at risk of losing investments to its neighbours, which would negatively impact employment, the tax base and general economic growth. That is according to the latest Ease of Doing Business Report 2010 released by the World Bank Group in September. The report ranks countries basing on ten parameters, including business procedures, time required, extent of flexibility and financial cost of starting a business. The other parameters are dealing with construction permits, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business.

Egyptian authorities must independently investigate, without delay, allegations that a young man was tortured to death at a police station in Alexandria, and guarantee the safety of another young man still in custody there, Amnesty International has said. The family of Ahmed Shaaban, a 19-year-old man, allege that he died after being tortured and physically abused by police officers at Sidi Gaber police station on 7 November.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s former vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba has gone on trial before the International Criminal Court here on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Bemba is specifically charged with three counts of war crimes and two of crimes against humanity for the alleged atrocities of about 1,500 fighters of his Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) between October 2002 and March 2003 in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Namibia's land redistribution programme has progressed at a snail'space, with farms not changing hands as fast as government would have wanted. White commercial farmers and inflated prices of land have emerged as a bulwark against much vaunted promises for land. Ongoing flare-ups over ancestral land in cases which have been dramatised by direct defiance of court rulings are only a microcosm of a much bigger problem. The plan by government for blacks to own land is flagging, observers and analysts have concluded.

The African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA) has come out in defence of Zimbabwe after the Kimberley Process chairperson, Boaz Hirsch, declared that no trading would be allowed with regard to Zimbabwe's Marenge diamonds. ADPA executive secretary Edgar de Carvalho on Friday held a media briefing stating that the declaration held no water and that the Kimberly Process had no right to bar Zimbabwe from trading in its diamonds.

Few people from Southern Sudan who live in the north are turning out to enrol as voters for the referenda on the future of the south, the chairperson of the United Nations-appointed panel monitoring the process said today, citing various reasons for the dismal turnout, including lack of awareness and uncertainty. The people of Southern Sudan are scheduled to vote on 9 January on whether the south should secede from the rest of the country, while the final status of Abyei will be determined in a separate vote on the same day, as set out in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended two decades of war between the north and the south.

The person to head the crucial Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) could be known this week, reports The Standard newspaper. 'This will be the highlight of a hectic week in which crucial decisions for Kenya must be made, both within and outside Parliament, but eyes will also be on Justice Miniser Mutula Kilonzo in whose office the process is domiciled. Worries are growing that implemention of the new laws has been hijacked by the politicians who led Kenya to the brink of civil war in 2007. Heightening these fears is the growing conviction that the process has not been entirely devoid of political interference at the highest level of government.'

With the help of a Micro-grant awarded by Rising Voices, AZUR Development organisation trained communication officers of different AIDS organisations in Congo in digital story telling, podcasting, and the creation of blogs. The goal was that these participants would document the stigma and discrimination of people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS in Congo and use them as an advocacy tools.

Work is beginning in Israel on a barrier along the border with Egypt, aimed at stemming the flow of illegal immigrants into the country. The barrier, including an electric fence and surveillance technology, will run for 250km (155 miles).

Burundi is cracking down on civil society, media, and opposition parties in the wake of troubled local and national elections from May through September 2010, Human Rights Watch has said in a new report. The 69-page report, 'Closing Doors?: The Narrowing of Democratic Space in Burundi', documents abuses including torture, arbitrary arrests, banning of opposition activities, and harassment of civil society groups.

Civil society has warned of adverse social and health consequences after the Egyptian government ordered the removal of content related to male and female anatomy, reproductive health and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) from the school curriculum. 'We know most of this material wasn’t being taught, but removing it from the curriculum is a big step backwards,' says Noha Roushdy, researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

The Humbo plateau, some 400 kilometres south of Ethiopia's capital, is in the most densely populated part of Ethiopia. It's a dry and dusty district that has experienced frequent drought; average rainfall is 800-900 mm and temperatures routinely rise to 40 degrees. The stripping of trees has made the low-lying areas susceptible to flooding. But a Clean Development Mechanism project initiated by international development organisation World Vision has organised 40,000 people in the worst-affected areas to regenerate and protect 2,700 hectares of forest land.

Africa has huge economic potential: a billion mostly young people; 40 per cent of the world’s hydroelectric power capacity and vast geothermal and solar resources; 60 per cent of the World’s uncultivated arable land and much more, writes Obadias Ndaba, the regional director of the World Youth Alliance Africa. Africa has great potential for long term economic take off. Africa’s leaders and individual citizens need to make fundamental shifts in the way they do business by focussing on productivity and value addition. This will ensure sustainable economic growth and improved living standards, he writes.

The International Freedom of Expression Exchange Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG), a coalition of 20 IFEX members, is deeply concerned that five years after hosting the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Tunisia remains one of the most repressive countries for independent journalists, bloggers and human rights defenders. Access to the Internet is heavily censored, independent websites are blocked or hacked, and emails and phone calls are intercepted.

Questions have been raised about where the funding for the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone comes from. The tabloid received world publicity for its 'outing' campaign against lesbians and gays.It seems likely that the Rolling Stone’s campaign is designed to increase pressure on the Museveni government, facing a surprisingly strong opposition heading into upcoming elections, to move the Anti-Homosexuality Bill toward passage, says this article.

Looking ahead to the United Nations climate change conference beginning in Cancún next week, a senior official with the world body said that talks could yield real results but was cautious to keep expectations realistic. Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning Robert Orr told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York that he did not expect the conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to deliver a 'final answer' on solving climate change but remained positive about the possibilities.

The Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) says it is ‘extremely angered’ that their application for observer status before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights was rejected. ‘…this decision, if not challenged and reconsidered, will legitimise ongoing state and non-state violence against LGBTI people in Africa.’

By denying observer statues to the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL), the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is endorsing ‘the flagrant impunity’ enjoyed in most African states for violations of the rights of lesbian and gay people, argues Wendy Isaack.

'We find it reprehensible that CAL's application was rejected, considering that they meet all the criteria set out for groups to obtain observer status and that they represent a minority group whose vulnerability to human rights abuse is well documented.'

ACHPR's decision to refuse observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians is inconsistent with the established jurisprudence and work of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, says INTERIGHTS.

The Coalition of African Lesbians meets all the eligibility criteria for observer status. So why has the ACHPR refused to award it to them, asks Joel Nana.

The ACHPR’s refusal to award observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians is further evidence of its desire to silence the voice of African women, writes Rose Wanjiku. It's time to speak out.

‘Can we truly silence a group or deny them a voice at the one place they should feel the safest?’ writes Asha Ramgobin, in a plea for the ACHPR to reconsider its decision not to award the Coalition of African Lesbians observer status.

Alternatives Cameroon, in collaboration with the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL), would like to congratulate the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights for passing a resolution establishing a committee on People Living with HIV/AIDS and Those most at Risk to address the violations of the rights of vulnerable groups, with a specific emphasis on women, children, sex workers, migrants, men who have sex with men and prisoners.

Lydia Alpízar Durán, on behalf of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, writes to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights regarding the denial of the application from the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) for observer status at the commission, news ‘received with great disappointment’.

INTERIGHTS urges the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to reconsider its refusal of observer status for the Coalition for African Lesbians (CAL).

The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) calls on the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights to confirm that it does not reject the rights of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) people.

Renowned radical economist Samir Amin, director of the Third World Forum, chair of the World Forum for Alternatives and one of the best-known thinkers of his generation, visits the UK at the end of the month.

Amin will be speaking at Oxford (29 November), Liverpool (30 November), Edinburgh (1 December) and London (2 December).

For more information, please visit the .

On 13 November, independent reporter and filmmaker Nicolas Rossier, conducted an exclusive two-hour interview with former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the hills of Johannesburg. He spoke with the former president about his life in forced exile, Haiti’s current political situation, and his possible return to Haiti. This is an excerpt of the interview. The interview was re-posted to the website of the Canada Haiti Action Network, with permission of Nicolas Rossier.

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]

The International Journal of Transitional Justice invites submissions for its 2011 special issue titled ‘Civil Society, Social Movements and Transitional Justice,' to be guest edited by Moses Chrispus Okello, Senior Research Advisor, Refugee Law Project and Coordinator, Beyond Juba Project, Uganda and Lucy Hovil, Senior Researcher, Citizenship and Displacement in the Great Lakes region, International Refugee Rights Initiative.

Six independent UN experts have condemned the recent public execution, by firing squad, of two teenage girls in central Somalia, saying the executions are the latest manifestation of the 'appalling human rights crisis that is plaguing the country'. The six experts called on the parties to the conflict 'to immediately refrain from committing acts of extrajudicial executions, torture, stonings, decapitation, amputations and floggings as well as other human rights violations, including with regard to freedom of religion'.

Officers from Bulawayo police’s law and order section say calling for the ratification of the Convention Against Torture and the abolition of torture is offensive and causes disharmony. Chief Superintendent Patrick Moyo summoned representatives of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) over billboards and street pole signs calling for the abolition of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Despite having agreed to a meeting for 12 November, the Forum representatives found most of the billboards already destroyed.