Fewer people are dying from AIDS-related illnesses and being infected with the HIV virus than at any time in the last decade, but more progress is needed in prevention, testing and treatment, a report from the United Nations AIDS programme (UNAIDS) said. Fewer people are dying from AIDS-related illnesses, with the number of deaths declining to 1.7 million in 2011. New cases of HIV infections were 2.5 million, the lowest level since 2001, according to UNAIDS figures for the last decade.

Whereas the new regime of President Morsy says it is inclusive, it is troubling that the draft Egyptian constitution says in its first article that Egypt is ‘Islamic’ and ‘Arab’ and is ‘related’ to Africa.

The early results of Libya's parliamentary election show a liberal party in first place in the country's first free vote since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. The election commission on Tuesday said the National Forces Alliance (NFA), led by Mahmoud Jibril, the former interim prime minister, secured 39 of the 80 open seats. Those projections also meant the NFA won only 20 per cent of seats in the 200-seat assembly.

The disastrous privatisation programme in Nigeria is the epitome of greed, avarice and corruption, benefitting a tiny elite at the expense of everyone else.

Ethiopia’s relentless clampdown on freedom of speech and dissent has sparked global outrage. A selection

Muslims have always enjoyed religious freedom like other believers – until recently. Now they are fighting to reclaim their rights.

Reporters Without Borders has voiced its support for the one-day strike planned by Mali’s media, when radio stations will suspend broadcasting and no newspapers will be printed. In a show of solidarity, the organization issues a call for an end to the constant media freedom violations of the past four months.

Senegal stopped renewing agreements allowing European fishing vessels in its waters in 2006, but now an expanding artisanal fleet and local industrial boats enjoying exclusivity under lax regulations are being blamed for malpractice and degrading the country’s main economic and food resource. 'In terms of environmental degradation, the responsibility is shared. Artisanal fishermen are responsible for habitat destruction. Although industrial vessels and foreign ships are often blamed, artisanal fishermen contribute hugely to the disappearance of species,' said Moustapha Thiam, the director of Senegal’s Maritime Fishing Authority, a Fisheries Ministry department.

Read reports by four journalists whose trip to the AU Summit was part of the Emerging Powers in Africa initiative.

At least a hundred protesters arrived at South Africa's parliament on 11 July to demonstrate their disapproval of the ongoing court case by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis against the Indian government over its patent laws. As the case draws to a close, health organizations say a win for the pharmaceutical company will be a loss to the developing world, which sources the bulk of its generic medicines from India. Novartis approached the Indian government six years ago, seeking to register a cancer drug already commonly marketed under the name Gleevec. The patent was denied and a long-running court battle ensued, but at each step Indian courts have ruled against Novartis and the company has appealed.

An independent, global medical and humanitarian organization says African nations are not receiving adequate international funding to fight HIV/AIDS, leaving them to face catastrophic consequences without enough medication. Experts at Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said Congo is only able to supply anti-retroviral drugs to 15 per cent of the people needing them and 'patients are literally dying on our doorstep'. In a statement released in Johannesburg ahead of the United Nations world AIDS conference in Washington starting 22 July, the organization said countries worst affected by the pandemic were the least able to provide 'the best science' available to fight it.

Nigeria's army has warned thousands of Plateau state residents to leave their homes as it begins an operation against those accused of a recent spate of deadly attacks. Some 100 people were killed recently after attacks on villages inhabited by Christian ethnic groups. Two senior politicians then died after gunmen opened fire at a funeral for some of the dead. Reports say thousands of Muslims are refusing to leave. Plateau state straddles the dividing line between the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria and its largely Christian and animist south.

Experts say older people are affected more severely than the rest of the population during displacement. 'People who have energy can resist or run or take away belongings. An old person doesn't have the energy to do all this. So in cases of forced evictions, for instance, they lose a home and lose belongings and also a critical social network,' Protus Waringa, a Kenyan human rights law expert, told IRIN. Globally, an estimated 26.4 million people were displaced by armed conflict, generalized violence and human rights violations at the end of 2011, according to a 2011 overview by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC); the overview noted that there were huge gaps in the data available on older IDPs, with just six out of 50 countries making specific reference to older persons in their data on IDPs.

The British Government on Tuesday 17 July acknowledged that colonial forces in Kenya tortured and abused detainees during the Mau Mau rebellion. Queen’s counsel Guy Mansfield made the first ever official acknowledgement in the British High Court during the hearing of a case filed by three elderly Kenyans. Mr Mansfield told the Kenyans suing for damages that the British Government did not dispute that 'terrible things' happened to them. Before cross-examining witnesses, the lawyer said he did not want to dispute that civilians suffered.

Somalia's interim government has denied allegations of corruption contained in a leaked UN report. It alleged that around 70 per cent of money intended for development and reconstruction in a country racked by 20 years of war was unaccounted for. 'The systematic misappropriation, embezzlement and outright theft of public resources have essentially become a system of governance,' the leaked report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia, published by the Somalia Report website, said.

For months now East Africans have been expectantly waiting for an economic revolution to begin as they anticipate the launch of a new standardised payment system that will integrate the electronic transfer of money in the region. But continued delays in the launch of the system have economists fearing that the weak financial infrastructure here is hindering its implementation. The system, a replica of the Single Euro European Payments Area (SEPA), will make all electronic payments in the East African Community (EAC) domestic ones through harmonised laws, policies and regulations within the region.

As 2015 draws near, Africa has effectively engaged in the process of defining the contours of the post-2015 development agenda, according to a report published in Addis Ababa by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), African Union, African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme. The report, 'Assessing Progress in Africa towards the Millennium Development Goals 2012', was considered and endorsed by the 19th Summit African Union Heads of State and Government, according to ECA’s Information and Communication Service. The report explains ongoing efforts to capture emerging perspectives from Africa on the post-2015 development agenda, but urges countries in the region to remain focused on the MDG targets.

A Sudanese court in Khartoum state sentenced a 23-year-old woman to death by stoning for adultery, a human rights group, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, has reported (ACJPS). Sudan is one of few countries that implements death by stoning as a punishment. Rights groups condemn this cruel method of execution because it is designed to torture the victim and increase their suffering.

Three guards who worked for the security firm G4S have been told they will not face manslaughter charges over the death of Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan refugee who collapsed while being escorted on a flight from Heathrow airport in London 21 months ago. The men worked as guards for the firm, which was contracted to escort deportees for the Home Office when the incident occurred. Mubenga, 46, died after losing consciousness on British Airways flight 77 to Angola, as it waited to take off on the runway.

The final report on the Global Commission on HIV and Law presents a coherent and compelling evidence base on human rights and legal issues relating to HIV. The report entitled 'HIV and the Law: Risks, Rights and Health', cites various laws that obstruct global responses on HIV and calls for their repeal in order to better address factors that increase HIV transmission and infection.

Beijing is eager to rewrite negative perceptions of its growing ties with Africa at a summit this week, citing expanding private investment and a push to shift low-end manufacturing to the continent long seen as a commodities and energy cache for China. Chinese state-owned firms in Africa face criticism for using imported labour to build government-financed projects like roads and hospitals, while pumping out resources and leaving little for local economies, an image Beijing wants to change at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

There are fresh fears that plans are being laid by ZANU PF to dismiss the proposed new constitution, in a move that will ensure there are no voting rights for the Diaspora. There is still no confirmation about when the draft charter will be released, but ZANU PF has repeatedly shown resistance to the document spearheaded by the COPAC team. Robert Mugabe’s party has been advocating for the ‘Kariba Draft’ constitution, which was a negotiated document made well before COPAC was tasked with setting the laws for a new, democratic Zimbabwe.

Cameroon has joined a Congo Basin initiative that uses satellite imagery to monitor changes in forest cover in an effort to curb deforestation and help Central African countries access carbon finance. Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo and Central African Republic (CAR) signed an agreement with the French government and geo-information provider Astrium Services ahead of UN climate talks in South Africa late last year. Cameroon followed this June, gaining a license to use images from the SPOT satellite Earth Observation System which could assist in protecting its rich forest reserve.

Child labour is on the rise in Ghana, particularly in urban areas. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) 2012 State of the World’s Children Report, 34 per cent of Ghanaian children aged between five and 14 years are engaged in child labour – up from 23 per cent in 2003. Emilia Allan, a Child Protection Officer at UNICEF Ghana, noted that Kumasi alone makes up eight per cent of that figure.

'Sex workers rights are human rights' - this is the slogan that Kenyan prostitutes are arming themselves with as they demand their rights.

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“Os políticos são todos corruptos” isso é o que sobressai de uma sondagem realizada na França pelo Instituto de Estudos de Marketing e Opinião Internacional TNS-Sofres, publicada pelo Journal du Dimanche de 28/11/2011 a qual revela que 72% dos franceses acham os políticos franceses “mais corrompidos”.

A senior official in Uganda’s Internal Security Organization (ISO), Major Herbert Asiimwe Muramagi, has been named in a complex land dispute in oil-rich Hoima District where, some locals allege, last year he bought 1,200 hectares from an entity that had no right to sell it.

Please support this appeal for the release of protestor Mohammed Salah, and join the solidarity movement below via: [email][email protected]

News that Eskom plans to seek a nearly 15 per cent electricity price hike this year has sparked a call for greater energy efficiency, while the DA says the state-owned company’s monopoly should be ended. DA deputy energy spokesman David Ross said he would write to the Competition Commission to ask it to examine the case for separating Eskom’s electricity generation and distribution components.

The SACP's national conference ended in a political game of cat and mouse between general secretary Blade Nzimande and Kgalema Motlanthe. The conspicuous absence of top SACP leaders – including its general secretary Blade Nzimande – at the party's fundraising gala dinner in Durban, has been interpreted by some within the ANC-led alliance as a calculated political move to embarrass Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe ahead of the ANC's crucial elective conference in Mangaung in December. Nzimande is a vocal Jacob Zuma supporter and is being pushed by some of the president's backers to stand for ANC deputy president in Mangaung. Motlanthe, meanwhile has the backing by a significant faction within the ANC, particularly its youth and veterans wings, to contest Zuma for the top spot as party president.

Angola's political opposition have accused the National Electoral Commission (CNE) of irregularities ahead of general polls set for late August. 'We call on the CNE to take the necessary decisions to correct these irregularities to ensure that the electoral process is truly free, fair and transparent,' said Abel Chivukuvuku, president of the Broad Convergence of Angolan Salvation (Casa) coalition after meeting the CNE. 'The number of voters is unclear, the CNE cannot say how early or foreign voting will be organised, or give the publication date of the voters' roll.'

The full Supreme Court bench has thrown the coalition government into political turmoil after it ordered President Robert Mugabe to call for a string of by-elections before the end of next month in a shock ruling which could change the current composition of parliament and collapse the Global Political Agreement (GPA).The court’s judgement could lead the country into a mini-general election or leave the main political parties engaged in renewed combat and negotiations over the timing of full general elections. It could also have far-reaching implications, not just for the GPA and inclusive government, but also Sadc facilitation and resolutions.

The global battle for natural resources - from food and water to energy and precious metals – is only beginning, and will intensify to proportions that could mean enormous upheavals for every country, leading academics and business figures told a conference in Oxford. Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser to the UK government, who convened the two-day Resource 2012 conference, told the Guardian: 'We are nowhere near realising the full impact of this yet. We have seen the first indications – rising food prices, pressure on water supplies, a land grab by some countries for mining rights and fertile agricultural land, and rising prices for energy and for key resources [such as] metals. But we need to do far more to deal with these problems before they become even more acute, and we are not doing enough yet.'

Abdirahaman Abdiwali, a leader in the local Somali community, in an interview with the website says the Somali community has contributed to Cape Town’s local economy, but that Somalis are vulnerable to crime when conducting their business. 'Most of these crimes are happening in townships such as Khayelitsha, Delft, Philippe, and Nyanga. For the past three months, sixteen people were killed. Some are still in hospital critically wounded and some were left paralysed. Thirty-six armed robberies were also reported. The criminals operate as a team. They target Somalis who will be coming from the Cash and Carries or other big wholesalers after buying goods for their Spaza shops. Normally they rob them of their goods and bakkies before they reach their shops, or they attack them while they are busy off-loading.'

The Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCO, has been fined U.S.$5 billion over the massive oil spill that occurred at its Bonga oil field on December 20, 2011. This was disclosed by the director general, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, Dr. Peter Idabor, when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Environment.

Malawi's president Joyce Banda and her People's Party led government clock 100 days in office tomorrow amid calls from the civil society and political commentators for her to declare her assets to the public to ensure transparency and accountability in her administration. It is not yet known whether Banda has yet adhered to the Constitutional requirement of declaring assets but since assuming office, Banda, through her private Joyce Banda Foundation and Hilda Mtila Foundation has given out millions of kwachas.

This discussion paper from the Transnational Institute's Agrarian Justice Programme argues that there is a need to come to grips with land issues in a changing global context and to rethink what may be needed to mobilise effectively in such a setting. 'The main frameworks of advocacy that have been employed by some academics, radical researchers and social movement activists have some particular limitations in the context of global land grabbing. Neither land reform nor land tenure security alone are well-equipped to be frameworks for analysis or action in the current conjuncture. Land reform remains important, but its limitations as a call to action are being exposed by the current cycle of land grabbing. Likewise, land tenure security is important, but alone is not enough, since adverse incorporation of the rural working poor classes into the corporate-controlled global food-feed-fuel regime does not necessarily require moving them off the land.'

In a decision outraging campaigners for food sovereignty and agroecological approaches, the Gates Foundation has awarded a $10 million grant to develop genetically modified (GM) crops for use in sub-Saharan Africa. The grant is for the John Innes Centre in Norwich, which hopes to engineer seeds for corn, wheat and rice that will fix nitrogen (take nitrogen from the air) so that the crops would not need fertilizers. But GM Freeze, which campaigns against GM food, crops and patents, says that 'nitrogen fixing wheat and other cereals have been promised by the GM industry for several decades' and that other, non-GM methods are the solution. Pete Riley, campaign director GM Freeze, adds that 'GM is failing to deliver'.

About 120,000 people in the coastal, mid- and far western regions of the self-declared republic of Somaliland require emergency food assistance after four years of failed rains, says Mohamed Mousa Awale, chairman of Somaliland's environment research and disaster preparedness agency. The most affected areas include the Salel Region localities of Asha-Ado, Lughaya, Garba-Dadar, Gargaara and Waraqa-dhigta where some 450 tons of food aid from Djibouti was distributed on 6 July.

A new supply of African blood diamonds is threatening to entrench the rule of Zimbabwean despot Robert Mugabe, just as Britain and other European countries plan to lift sanctions against the regime, it has been claimed. Human rights charity Global Witness says money is being siphoned from diamond mines to finance a 'parallel government' and its secret police force in Zimbabwe, helped by a Chinese businessman. It comes as a row brews over plans to lift travel restrictions and partial asset freezes imposed on some of President Mugabe's ministers by the EU.

The so-called Arab Spring continues to reverberate locally, regionally and geopolitically. The 20 articles in this issue of Forced Migration Review reflect on some of the experiences, challenges and lessons of the Arab Spring in North Africa, the implications of which resonate far wider than the region itself.

Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health on Friday declared a cholera outbreak in the country following the death of five people from the disease. Deputy minister of Health and Sanitation Mahmoud Tarawalie, made the confirmation on Friday while stressing that the authorities were putting measures in place to stem the disease. This follows reports of two deaths because of cases of severe diarrhoea in the provinces. But one of death cases was recorded in one of the slums of the capital, Freetown.

Togolese Prime Minister Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo has resigned. Although no reasons for the resignation were given, TVT said President Faure Gnassingbe accepted the resignation. His resignation comes at a time when the country was preparing itself for the general election to take place at the end of this year.

Voters in the oil-exporting Central African state of Congo Republic have turned out to elect a new parliament, with the ruling party of President Denis Sassou Nguesso and its allies seen holding the majority. Opposition parties have complained about a lack of access to state media during campaigning, and voter turnout was thin at a number of polling stations in the capital Brazzaville, some of which stayed open up to two hours late during the voting on Sunday.

Crucial hearings will begin on Monday 16 July 2012 in the High Court on time limitation periods applicable in the landmark case brought by Kenyan victims of alleged torture during the Kenya Emergency in the 1950s and 1960s. The British Government is arguing that the claims are time-barred and should be struck out, but the victims contend that this is a case in which the Judge should exercise his discretion and allow the claims to proceed. REDRESS, a London-based human rights organisation that helps torture survivors obtain justice and reparation, has made submissions in support of the victims’ claims.

The economic and social prosperity of 130 million people in the East African region - minus those of Burundi - would be affected by how four countries, namely Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, implement their combined $34 billion budget. The three main East African economies raised their spending plans for the 2012/13 fiscal year to fund key infrastructure sectors, but analysts faulted their Finance ministers' sunny dispositions on growth outlook and borrowing proposals. Officials in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania face the challenge of maintaining their recent economic growth rates - among the fastest in Africa - amid global economic uncertainties as well as high inflation and weak currencies at home.

Brief nine of the National Reconciliation and Transitional Justice Audit reveals perspectives on issues of conflict, peace and justice by the community in Nakapiripirit in Karamoja, in the north-east of Uganda. The major concern of the participants in Nakapiripirit was the strained relationship between themselves as citizens in Karamoja and the state ruling them from central level. They said that in their local language, 'state' is 'arirang', which can be translated as 'enemy' or 'violent institution'. According to them, the relationship has been characterized by mutual distrust right from colonial times up to now, coupled with deliberate marginalization and an attempt to take away the Karimojong's way of life. They lamented that the rest of Uganda looks at Karamoja as a region apart and says that 'we shall not wait for Karamoja to develop'. In their view, conflicts in Uganda are a reflection of bad governance practices, such as corruption, unfree and unfair elections, lack of term limits, and an absence of border security. This inspires anger towards the Government and provokes rebellion. Impacts of conflicts include more strained relationships between citizens and the state, and delayed development. In that sense, causes and impacts of conflict constitute a vicious cycle.