The termination of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) on 1 January 2005 has had a devastating impact on the fragile, emerging, textile economies of many African countries. In Lesotho, for example, in the period between January and June 2005 at least 10 textile factories shut down, leaving over 13,000 people jobless, a huge figure for that small country of some 2.2 million inhabitants (and where the textile industry employed some 54,000 people before the ending of the MFA). Daniel Maraisane, the General Secretary of the Lesotho Clothing and Allied Workers' Union (LECAWU), has been leading the trade union struggle for over 20 years. He discusses the impact of the ending of quotas on Lesotho's workers and gives some insights into the role of trade unions in Africa.

The African kingdom of Lesotho, a nation afflicted by one of the worlds worst AIDS pandemics, is to become the first country in the world to offer HIV tests to its entire population. Its ministers and public health officials will announce a 12 million (7 million) programme this week to test the 1.9 million people living in the mountainous enclave within South Africa for the human immunodeficiency virus. In a groundbreaking move for African healthcare, King Letsie III of Lesotho is likely to become the first monarch to take the test publicly.