Libyan security forces have launched a wave of 'arbitary arrests and forced disappearances' in the capital to stamp out protests against Muammar Gaddafi's rule, Human Rights Watch has said. The New York-based group said it compiled evidence from Tripoli residents of scores of people being detained if they helped organise or took part in anti-government protests, or if they were suspected of speaking to foreign media.

Many of Uganda's most science-supportive parliamentarians lost their positions in last month's general election (18 February). Ten MPs, all scientists by training, lost their seats. They had been instrumental in influencing policy and financial appropriations for scientific research.

As the deadline to register candidates for Djibouti's 8 April presidential election has passed, no opposition candidates have registered. The boycott comes as further anti-government protests are planned. Sources confirmed that there will be only two names on the ballot paper: the incumbent President Ismaël Omar Guelleh and Mohammed Warsama, the former President of the Constitutional Court and an ally of President Guelleh.